Mitch McConnell, the Defeated Former President , Rick Scott, and Shane Gillis
(Without going there right now, sooner or later
we must deal with the ethical standards expected to be met by public officials,
and the far looser standards permissible in the private sector. The two should never be confused, but often
they are. A quick example of the latter might
be the very, very, small print on
pharmaceutical ads and class action law firm ads on TV that are there for only
a few seconds and physically impossible to read in that period … but do serve
to satisfy some legal requirement.)
So when the DFP said
that Senate G.O.P. leader McConnell, by voting to continue to fund the
government, manifested a ‘death wish,’ he wasn’t ordering an assassination, but
if that were to happen, I am sure the assassin, if he survived, would say he
was only following the DFP’s advice who would
tearfully comment, ‘Who, Me?’ And darn
it, the DFP would get away with it, despite the weight those two words carried.
Such words are just like the magnificent views
which sold them on their purchase that buyers of real estate find out were
from carefully staged photos taken years earlier. Words matter.
Especially when used by liars.
In any event, it served to undermine McConnell
in the eyes of those Republicans who would prefer an autocratic government to a
democratically chosen one. And the DFP’s racist remarks about McConnell’s wife only served
to endear him to his racist supporters, one of his higher priorities. Spelling
a word incorrectly in his news release only served to further endear him to
them, because lack of a decent education is one of the things of which they are
proud.
Florida’s Senator Rick Scott, who
should have served time for fleecing Medicare when he headed a hospital
conglomerate, but who had good lawyers, when asked to comment on the DFP’s (whose defeat he still hasn’t acknowledged)
remarks, merely said ‘It’s never,
ever OK to be a racist.’
Which brings us to Shane Gillis.
I’m not up to date on standup comics, a field
in which I understand Gillis is near the top. A few years ago, his hiring
by Saturday Night Live was canceled when some of his performances were
revealed to be clearly racist or homophobic. They are, but unbelievably, in a good-natured
way. There was an interesting article about him in a recent New Yorker,
before which I never had even heard of him.
I recall two comments from the article attributed to Gillis.
First, he says he tries to appear like one of
the guys sitting at the bar in whatever place he was performing, who gets up,
grabs the mike, and says what’s on his mind, throwing in a few four-letter
words. That’s Gillis’ schtick. Being from a
small town in central Pennsylvania, it’s easy for him without any role playing.
But his comments on racism were what
really got to me when one pauses to think about them.
Gillis says that racism is like hunger. Stop
and think about that. That's what he tries to get his audience to do. Well, I did and I’ve come up with some thoughts on it. All I can quote Gillis as
saying is that 'racism
isn't a yes or no thing. It's like being hungry. Like yeah you're not
racist...right now.’ He leaves the next thoughts to
you. And here are mine:
We all are against hunger. Everyone should have enough to eat. But you only begin to know what hunger is
when you don’t have enough to eat and become hungry. Until then, hunger is
something it’s nice and easy to oppose.
Go a few days without eating and you will then be better able to define
hunger.
Racism is nice and easy to oppose too, at least
until you experience it, just like getting hungry when you lack food.
This experience can be as a victim, as is the case with being ‘profiled’ by police or not getting a job or not being accepted in a college because of skin color or ethnicity or even not getting that job or not being accepted in that college because of ‘affirmative action’ to promote diversity (expect a Supreme Court decision on this during their current session), or not as a victim at all but as a practitioner of racism by your deciding, for example, to shop for a house only in areas with ‘good schools,’ usually a euphemism for describing schools with few minority students. Any of these kinds of experiences should serve to better define racism in your mind, for better or for worse.
Then saying ‘It’s never, ever OK to be a racist,’ as Senator Rick Scott answered Dana Bash’s question Sunday on CNN’s ‘State of the Nation,’ is a totally inadequate answer. Anyone can say those words, but have they ever experienced racism, as a victim or as practicing it, validating their answer as something more than just meaningless pretty words?
Conservatives try
to charge some liberals with being undercover racists by trying to make the
point that it’s easy to support liberal immigration policies when there are no
immigrants in their area. But that charge
doesn’t automatically make one a racist any more than defining it by one’s own
experiences necessarily does. To answer
that part of the question, and this is the hard part, requires occasional
looking in a mirror … regardless of how one defines racism before looking
there.
Which brings us back to Shane Gillis for a
second: He pokes fun at both ends of the political and social spectrum. No one
escapes. He jokes about things which should be beyond humor. He makes fun of the Special Olympics but has
coached a basketball team for that organization. He is someone to keep an eye
on. Crack open a can of beer (that’s the
way Gillis would put it), drink some, spill the rest on the floor for some
aroma and watch him for free at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKUpf1Vx0vs where
most of his material appears, including his thoughts on who was America’s
funniest president.
Then make up your mind. Let me know.
JL
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Please Forward this Blog posting to
your friends, relatives, and neighbors.
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A Fishy
Pun
The Native American word, at least in Florida, for ‘flowing water’ translates as ‘hatchee’ and is an ending for many place names in that State. Could it be that a species of fish which might inhabit some of our local ‘hatchees’ is the salmon and that is where the word ‘Loxahatchee’ comes from?
Thirty-One Days Remain!
The most
important voters in the November 8 elections are those of women, who should be infuriated
by the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe vs. Wade and Republican support, at both
the national and State levels, for diminishing a woman’s right to privacy
concerning decisions made by her and her physicians.
Similarly,
Republican support on the State level of reducing minority voting rights
through gerrymandering and reduced voting opportunities should be opposed by
all, especially persons of color and other minorities.
These are the
voters that can make a difference in what happens on November 8.
The facts about the DFP, the documents he
stole from the government, his lies, the corrupted candidacies of those running
for office on a platform of denial of his defeat … all of that is treated by
too many Republicans as just ‘fake news,’ and many who know better just don’t
care, any means justifying their desire to control Congress, control more State
governments, and dismantle democracy in America. That is why the
votes of women and persons of colors are so crucial and so necessary on
November 8, or earlier where voting is permitted in person or by mail. (I have already voted
by mail.) With that in mind, read on!
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The following
is the message posted on this blog on September 25, 2022. As we draw nearer to Election Day, its
importance grows.
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In Regard to the Upcoming Election, in Only 31 Days:
·
If you support the right of
a woman to choose to have an abortion, or
·
If you support increased gun
control measures to reduce the frequency of mass murders, or
·
If you support a broadening,
not a narrowing, of access to voting for all Americans, regardless of race or
ethnicity,
In Florida, your choice is a
simple one. Governor DeSantis, Senator Rubio, and almost all Republican
legislators in Congress and State legislatures OPPOSE these things. Democrats, like Val Demings and Charlie Crist SUPPORT them.
(And if you are not a Florida voter, the same kinds
of simple choices will be on your ballot in your State.)
That is why you should only vote
for Democrats and get your like-minded friends and relatives to do the same. Please remember
that a vote for any Republican
who does not denounce the defeated former president, in any election
whatsoever, is actually a vote for the replacement of democracy with the
authoritarian rule he represents.
In addition, you should make a
commitment to personally work hard to bring about the election victories on
November 8 that are necessary to help democracy survive in the United States of
America. Your help is sorely needed. Without your efforts, these
victories just will not happen, and democracy will suffer.
It comes down
to:
·
Registering
voters,
·
Making
telephone calls,
·
Sending
emails,
·
Writing
postal cards,
·
Knocking
on doors.
Here
is some contact information to help you do these essential things:
activateamerica.vote …. Visit this
website to connect with national phonebanks, email, and postal card writing
campaigns keyed to crucial races.
Palm Beach County Democratic
Party - 561 562 8102 (sign up for local programs in
which you can participate.) Elsewhere,
just call your local Democratic Party.
Palm Beach County Supervisor of
Elections - 561 656 6200 (for registration
and voting location information). Elsewhere, just call your local Supervisor of
Elections.
The websites of candidates such
as Val Demings and Charlie Crist both offer the opportunity to make donations
to pay for their campaigns. TV ads and
signs are not inexpensive.
Get to work now. Don’t put it off until tomorrow. Too much is at stake. I’ve given you all the contacts you
need. Democracy depends on you!
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Please Forward this Blog posting to
your friends, relatives, and neighbors.
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JL
Forwarded This Blog Posting?
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