Terry H. Schwadron
Sept. 23, 2021
How about we just tell every critic and pol, left and right, that they are justifiably angry to see the scenes of thousands of Haitians or former Haitians gathering at the Texas border.
Those calling out the scenes of using horse reins to drive migrants into the river are right. Those outraged that planeload of Haitians transplanted to South America have decided that this is the moment to cross multiple borders to enter the U.S. are right. …
Terry H. Schwadron
Sept. 22, 2021
Amid worldwide outbreaks of floods and fires, polar melting, and ocean rise, you would think climate change would be ringing more bells at the United Nations’ annual assembly of global leaders.
Reporting out of the UN meetings may be showing “faint signs of progress” on the financial end of fighting climate change, but they certainly not to practical actions to stop emissions of heat-trapping gases.
It is a seemingly unfortunate, remarkable parallel with global response to covid, refugee crises, hunger, terrorism, tribalism, unequal economics, and militarism, among other ills.
It was in this context…
Terry H. Schwadron
Sept. 21, 2021
The only two things clear about Joe Biden’s big, $3.5-trillion social services bill is that Biden has bet his presidency on it and that he’s having trouble corralling his own Democrats. Republicans, naturally, stand opposed to the whole idea of the bill, and are feasting on dissension among opponents.
An adverse ruling from the Senate parliamentarian has ruled out including immigration measures under the strict rules for the “budget reconciliation” approach that Democrats want to use to avoid a Republican filibuster. …
Terry H. Schwadron
Sept 20, 2021
Other than through promotion by Republican politicians, it is all a bit of a mystery why the vaccine-resistant are turning in big numbers instead to the use of injections of monoclonal antibodies.
Republican governors including Ron DeSantis of Florida are not only pushing infusions of antibodies as an alternative treatment to covid vaccines, but complaining bitterly now that the federal government is acceding to his suggestion and trying to distribute it to other states, in DeSantis’ mind, at least, taking some of the desired treatments away from Florida for other areas.
It’s been a…
Terry H. Schwadron
Sept. 19, 2021
The anti-vaxx protest government mandates is in full swing, fueled, and amped by non-stop support from right-leaning commentators and celebrities, various evangelical ministers and what look to be lawsuits by the basketful.
Curiously, the goals of protest seem aimed both at allowing for individual “choice” over mandates, and, well, mandating that the executive orders themselves be declared unconstitutional. Choice for me, no choice for Joe Biden.
Despite thousands of covid-positive tests and 10 departmental death, some 3,000 Los Angeles Police Department employees are planning to seek exemptions from getting the covid vaccine, and a…
Terry H. Schwadron
Sept. 18. 2021
My habit is to read the news hoping to get beyond the specific incident or remark making it a news event to determine if it fits into a context that makes it useful to notice. Otherwise, the daily outrage is just noise, particularly in our highly partisan country.
The news item about Special Counsel John Durham finally bringing a second legal action after two years of researching the origins of the probes of Russian ties to the 2016 Donald Trump campaign only seems to matter for its paucity.
Targeted is a lawyer, unknown to…
Terry H. Schwadron
Sept. 17, 2021
We’re becoming inured to repeated Outrage — usually partisan — upon seeing an event or hearing some public statement.
What is concerning about Outrage is not the pushback, but the apparent need to attack the event or statement rather than what gave rise to it.
When news broke this week about moves by Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, to rein in possible orders from an erratic Donald Trump for nuclear attacks or other irrational military moves in Trump’s last days and weeks, the Outrage filling television airwaves was more over whether…
Terry H. Schwadron
Sept. 16, 2021
We appear to have a new compromise proposal in the Senate to bolster voter rights, at least among Democrats, and a new challenge that comes with it.
Here’s the news, from The Washington Post, which obtained a summary of the would-be compromise: Democrats meeting by themselves are circling the wagons around a new Freedom to Vote Act that retains significant portions of what Democrats in the House backed, only to be blocked in the Senate, but that drops several more contentious elements.
No one is covering up the obvious here, that the compromise has…
Terry H. Schwadron
Sept. 15, 2021
Let’s help Sen. Joe Manchin decide just how much the government should spend to expand education, health care, childcare and invest in climate.
Manchin repeatedly seems unable to say what he will support, only what he will not — namely, the $3.5 trillion spending package that Joe Biden has advanced, and which progressive Democrats are pressing to present for a one-time push through the clogged Congressional pipeline through “reconciliation” rather than waiting for mountains to move to prompt 10 Republicans or more to defect from anti-Democrat glue to offer cross-party votes in favor.
All…
Terry H. Schwadron
Sept. 14, 2021
We all recognize that journalism has taken a hit in the culture wars.
Too much of our understanding is reflecting “news” reports that often are “opinion,” and too much selected information that tends to support the outlook of viewers or readers of a particular political persuasion. In other words, we’re increasingly only accepting of news that comports with our own political instincts.
As we know, that image about media accelerated under Donald Trump’s time in office, and we hear tons about how “right-wing media” or “the socialist New York Times” skewed the news to…
