Voting Republican is Deadly

Republican politicians typically talk about freedom, low taxes, and against big government. The result of their actions in support of those notions is often not in the best interests of their constituents not even the folks that voted for them or simply contrary their claims.

A case in point is the COVID-19 pandemic and the high proportion of deaths among Republicans versus Democrats. In research conducted by Yale University School of Management’s Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham and Jacob Wallace and Jason L. Schwartz of the Yale School of Public Health they found that excess deaths during the pandemic were 76% higher among Republicans than Democrats in Ohio and Florida. In another study Mauricio Santillana, a professor specializing in epidemiology at Northeastern Univesity and a team of researchers studied 2,000 counties across the country and found that the median death rate for counties with the strongest Republican leaning was between 40% and 300% higher than the counties that leaned Democrat. Santillana believes this is symptomatic of a heavily politicized public health crisis. The combination of failure to enact strong public health measures and spouting misinformation was deadly. Lots of freedom and anti-big government rhetoric from the state’s Republicans including Gov. Abbott regarding mask mandates and lockdowns.

The Texas Tribune recently reported that “Fatal crashes in rural areas accounted for 51% of Texas’ 4,489 traffic fatalities in 2021, even though only about 10% of the state’s population lives in a rural area, according to data from the state’s department of transportation.” Many of those crashes are due to lack of safety precautions like shoulders or guardrails that are generally found on more urban highways. The high rate of fatalities is also due to high speeds and failure to wear seatbelts; think “freedom” rhetoric. Nationally the trend is similar though not quite as drastic as here in Texas. We all know that rural counties have mostly Republican voters and are run by Republican elected officials and that Texas is governed by Republicans at the state level so there are only Republicans to blame for this disparity. On the other hand they claim to be keeping your taxes low.

The Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee report called for by the Texas legislature was delayed three months and released early in December. The report estimates that up to 90% of the maternal deaths may have been preventable. Severe medical complications from pregnancy and childbirth also increased drastically between 2018 at 58.2 per 10,000 and 2020 at 72.7 cases per 10,000 deliveries in Texas. Advocates for maternal medical care suggest the report was delayed for political reasons otherwise it would have embarrassed government officials right before the election.

Obstetric hemorrhage was the leading cause of pregnancy-related death in Texas, accounting for a quarter of cases. The most common cause of hemorrhage deaths was ectopic pregnancies, in which a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus. Left untreated, these nonviable pregnancies can rupture, causing life-threatening complications such as severe blood loss and sepsis. If the woman doesn't mis-carry the only treatment is an abortion. Given the state’s near-total abortion ban you can see where death is a very real possibility. Knowing who voted for and signed into law the Texas abortion ban there is no doubt who is to blame. Being a new mother in Texas is more dangerous to life and health than most other states. Republicans are pro-life unless you’re a pregnant woman.

Voting Republican is risking your life and the lives of your loved ones.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - December 28, 2022

School Vouchers Eliminate Taxpayer Control

School voucher supporters believe they will finally manage to pass a bill with backing from families displeased with public schools in the last two years over pandemic response rules and about how race and history are taught. Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and the Texas GOP have already listed taxpayer-funded alternatives to sending a child to the local public school as a legislative priority for next year.

State Senator Mayes Middleton, R-Wallisville has filed the most comprehensive bill on the topic so far. Middleton claims “What my bill would do is it would empower every single parent in the state of Texas to choose which education works best for their children’s unique educational needs.” Middleton and other voucher advocates  fail to mention that such empowerment only applies to Texans who live in areas with such alternative schools or at least a population large enough to support one and transportation to get the child to that alternative location. Private schools also need not accept all children who wish to enroll.

HB 557 by Cody Vasut (R-Angleton ), HB 619 by Matt Shaheen (R-Plano), and SB 176 by Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston)​ are various forms of voucher bills that have one thing in common: diverting taxpayer dollars away from real public schools. HB 983 by Rep. Terri Leo-Wilson (R-Galveston) would remove the last sliver of local control that elected officials have regarding charter schools, which is where they are built or located. Leo-Wilson’s bill would allow charter schools to avoid the only smidgen of local oversight in existence since charters do not have elected boards, do not need voter approval for new buildings, and do not hold local meetings to determine where best to build for the community, the way real public schools do. Taxpayer dollars going to private schools is an attack on transparent, accountable governance, as private schools are largely unregulated and not required to hold public meetings, have boards elected by taxpayers, or publicly disclose spending or other records the way public schools must.

Vouchers are a fiscal drain on the public education system and those taxpayer dollars should go toward improving our neighborhood schools instead.

I’d like to see support of increasing teacher pay and decreasing teacher workloads, such as lower class sizes not just lower student to teacher ratios which still allow well over 30 students per classroom. We all need to recognize that continuing to allow teachers and support staff to be overworked to the point of burnout is counter-productive. Expecting teachers to provide the quality of education our students deserve without the resources they need is just asking them to find other jobs.

I don’t know about you but I’m not happy about the notion of my taxes going to pay someone teaching a religion class. I’m pretty sure that even Republicans would object to that if they considered that their taxes could go to paying for tuition to religious schools that aren’t Christian. Considering some of the intolerant remarks coming out of the mouths of Dan Patrick and his followers, how do you think they’d react to school vouchers to a Muslim school? Some of those folks might have a stroke.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - December 21, 2022

Right-wing Violence Rises

In the research paper "A comparison of political violence by left-wing, right-wing, and Islamist extremists in the United States and the world" by Katarzyna Jasko et.al. the authors state "we find that radical acts perpetrated by individuals associated with left-wing causes are less likely to be violent. In the United States, we find no difference between the level of violence perpetrated by right-wing and Islamist extremists." They then go on to show the data that proves their assertion. You may often here conservatives especially Fox News personalities, Breirbart, and others claim that leftists are the source of most violence but they never show you any evidence to back up their claims. The General Accountability Office reports that "Of the 85 violent extremist incidents that resulted in death since September 12, 2001, far right wing violent extremist groups were responsible for 62 (73 percent) while radical Islamist violent extremists were responsible for 23 (27 percent).”

That's important because a new tactic has been spreading across the country over the last several months, you might have heard about the 40,000-plus North Carolinians who were without electricity a week or so ago because someone broke into power sub-stations and shot up critical equipment causing localized blackouts. That's a tactic that right wing extremist groups on the internet have been talking about a lot lately going so far as to offer recommendations on how to do the most damage complete with photos of the equipment to look for and how to best damage it. The FBI is still investigation the attack so we can't know for sure that this particular instance was due to neo-Nazi perpetrators but it sure matches their self-published plans closely according to Rita Katz, founder and executive director of the SITE Intelligence Group, who told Newsweek that the Moore County attack is consistent with recent online neo-Nazi messaging. "The sabotage against the North Carolina substation aligns perfectly with directives and methods seen in accelerationist neo-Nazi communities," Katz said. "If this was indeed a far-right terrorist attack, my worry is that it will serve as a proof of concept for other far-right extremists.”

Just a few weeks before the North Carolina incidents there were at least six different attacks on power substations were reported to the FBI in Washington and Oregon. In recent months there have been at least half a dozen “substation intrusion events” though none involved vandalism by gunfire. Instead, the Florida intrusions involved people manually turning off the power substations by tripping switches. Most of these incidents resulted in brief outages that were quickly restored. What's really frightening about the Florida attacks is that it shows the involvement of people who know how the equipment works.

In January, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warned that American extremists have begun exhibiting a worrisome interest in attacking the power grid as a means of disrupting the country. Far-right domestic extremists “have developed credible, specific plans to attack electricity infrastructure since at least 2020, identifying the electric grid as a particularly attractive target given its interdependency with other infrastructure sectors,” according to the DHS report.

It’s unfortunate that unlike Presidents George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan who denounced racist figures like Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke when they tried to enter mainstream politics Donald Trump uses their rhetoric. If today’s Republican leaders were really patriots they would speak out, like their predecessors in opposition to the hateful messages that inspire such attacks. We know what it means that they don’t.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - December 14, 2022

Republicans Weak

While thousands of high school girls in Iran lead nationwide protests risking arrest or death in a fight for freedom from the oppression of a government by religious leaders, Russian men either accept being conscripted into a war of conquest with Ukraine or run away seeking asylum in other countries including the United States.

Protests began in Tehran September 16 as a reaction to the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested by the Guidance Patrol for wearing an "improper" hijab in violation of Iran's mandatory hijab law. Human rights group HRANA said that as of Friday 469 protesters had been killed, including 64 children, some as young as 9 years old. It said 61 government security forces had also been killed. More than 18,000 protesters are believed to have been arrested.

Russia invaded Ukraine in March and took control of vast sections of the country in weeks but failed to capture the capitol, Kyiv. Since then Ukrainian defenders with the aid of weapons provided by NATO countries including the United States have thrown Russian troops out of much of their country. Most recently Russian forces withdrew from Kherson, the only regional capitol, they’d managed to capture. Russian troops have suffered losses in the tens of thousands. While there have been some protests in Russia they’ve been quashed by local security forces.

Russian men apparently aren’t nearly as brave as Iranian teenage girls.

It was just a year ago that Senator Ted Cruz claimed that Russia’s manly army, in which same sex relationships are illegal, was a model that our armed forces should emulate. Now, those same manly men docilely accept being conscripted and thrown into the meat grinder that the attempt to conquer Ukraine has become; knowing they’ll receive no training, no winter coats or boots, and 50 year old weapons. Cruz claimed that our “woke” armed forces weren’t as effective as they could be because we have learned to accept LGBTQ service members.  Instead, it is the “woke” Ukrainian military which has thrown back the Russian aggressors and continues the fight to free their countrymen.

In 1995 George W. Bush said about his meeting with Vladimir Putin; “I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. I was able to get a sense of his soul.” Earlier this year Donald Trump spoke to a crowd at a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago about Putin’s invasion; “I’d say that’s pretty smart. He’s taking over a country, really a vast, vast location, a great piece of land with a lot of people, and just walking right in. I mean, he’s taking over a country for two dollars’ worth of sanctions.”

Recent polls now show that 48% of Republicans think the United States is spending too much on weapons and support for Ukraine. Senator elect J. D. Vance of Ohio said earlier this year; “I gotta be honest with you, I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or the other.” Trump’s former Chief Strategist Steve Bannon said; “Every member of Conservative Inc. that backs this Ukraine war is a simp.” Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green just weeks ago said that; “Under Republicans, not another penny will go to Ukraine.”

What is it with Republicans praising authoritarian leaders like Putin? Why are they unwilling to assist those who are trying to defend their homes, their freedom, their democracy?

Published in the Seguin Gazette - December 7, 2022