The two-party system leaves me a choice between white Christian nationalist dictatorship and its enablers

benfell

Pittsburgh

Unauthorized violence

So the mayor, Ed Gainey, toured the South Side and he didn’t like what he saw.

“We saw open containers, we saw clear public intoxication, we saw fights, we saw people who were clearly underage,” said [City Councilman Bruce] Kraus, whose district includes East Carson Street. “([Mayor Ed] Gainey) kept saying, ‘This is not good, this is not sustainable.’”[1]

To tell you the truth, I don’t think there’s a lot about Pittsburgh generally that’s sustainable. The mayor started his tour at 1 am.[2] I cut off orders at 7:30 pm, and, after stopping for a car wash and gas and driving home, am generally off the road by 9:00 pm. I don’t even come close to seeing the half of it. But I’m old enough to know trouble when I see it and the South Side is trouble.[3]

Michael Pound, “City councilman: South Side walk was an ‘eye-opener’ for Mayor Gainey,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 11, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2022/06/11/gainey-city-officials-walk-south-side-east-carson-safety-gun-violence/stories/202206110037

Abortion

“Joe Biden is missing in action right now. This is a crisis, and he’s nowhere to be found, he’s not giving us a plan,” said Renee Bracey Sherman, founder and executive director of We Testify, an organization that represents those who have had abortions. “We showed up in November 2020 and handed you the White House, the House, and the Senate. Do your fucking job that you were elected to do.”[4]

It’s just been on one issue after another that the Democrats need to “[d]o your fucking job that you were elected to do.”

As I wrote previously,

The Democrats will see their reward in the 2022 and 2024 elections, and we will see it as their richly deserved defeat clears the way for a right-wing dictatorship,[5] and even more so than usual, I’m pissing into the wind here.[6]

As bad as a white Christian nationalist dictatorship will be, I understand all too well that it has been Democratic dithering and the party’s infatuation with neoliberalism that is the very reason that dictatorship arises; the two-party system leaves me a choice between dictatorship and its enablers, which is why I’m still voting Green.

Scott Bixby, “Activists Tell Biden to ‘Do Your F*cking Job’ and Protect Abortion Rights,” Daily Beast, June 12, 2022, https://www.thedailybeast.com/activists-tell-biden-to-do-your-fcking-job-and-protect-abortion-rights

COVID-19 Pandemic

The original discovery of [Drew] Weissman, a professor of vaccine research in the Perelman School of Medicine, and [Katalin] Karikó, an adjunct professor of neurosurgery at [University of Pennsylvania] and a senior vice president at BioNTech in Germany, was that chemically modifying the mRNA [messenger ribonucleic acid] enabled it to slip past the immune system so it could deliver its instructions.[7]

But remember: A vaccination card or scar is the mark of the devil, according to signs I see posted around Pittsburgh.

Harold Brubaker, “Research behind COVID-19 vaccines reaps close to $1 billion in royalties for Penn,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 12, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/business/penn-covid-vaccine-technology-mrna-royalties-revenue-20220612.html

Gun nuttery

When is a deal not a deal?

Under the tentative deal, a federal grant program would encourage states to implement red-flag laws that allow authorities to keep guns away from people found by a judge to represent a potential threat to themselves or others, while federal criminal background checks for gun buyers younger than 21 would include a mandatory search of juvenile justice and mental health records for the first time.

Other provisions would prevent gun sales to a broader group of domestic violence offenders, closing what is often called the “boyfriend loophole”; clarify which gun sellers are required to register as federal firearms dealers and, thus, run background checks on customers; and establish new federal offenses related to gun trafficking.

The agreement does not include a provision supported by President Biden, congressional Democrats and a handful of Republicans that would raise the minimum age for the purchase of at least some rifles from 18 to 21. Handguns are already subject to a federal 21-and-older rule. . . .

Other provisions would funnel billions of new federal dollars into mental health care and school security programs, funding behavioral intervention programs, new campus infrastructure and armed officers. One cornerstone of the deal is legislation sponsored by Sens. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) to establish a nationwide network of “community behavioral health clinics,” though the framework does not yet include an agreed funding level for that program or others.[8]

But don’t your breath: The bill hasn’t yet been written,[9] and

“The details will be critical for Republicans, particularly the firearms-related provisions [including red-flag laws, closing the boyfriend loophole, firearms licensee provisions],” said a GOP aide familiar with the talks. “One or more of these principles could be dropped if text is not agreed to.”[10]

The money might also be an issue.[11] In short, all this so far amounts to public relations. And not much more.

Mike DeBonis and Leigh Ann Caldwell, “Senators strike bipartisan gun deal, heralding potential breakthrough,” Washington Post, June 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/12/senate-gun-deal-framework/

  1. [1]Michael Pound, “City councilman: South Side walk was an ‘eye-opener’ for Mayor Gainey,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 11, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2022/06/11/gainey-city-officials-walk-south-side-east-carson-safety-gun-violence/stories/202206110037↩
  2. [2]Michael Pound, “City councilman: South Side walk was an ‘eye-opener’ for Mayor Gainey,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 11, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2022/06/11/gainey-city-officials-walk-south-side-east-carson-safety-gun-violence/stories/202206110037↩
  3. [3]David Benfell, “Night time is the right time to confuse your gun for your penis,” Not Housebroken, June 7, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/06/05/night-time-is-the-right-time-to-confuse-your-gun-for-your-penis/↩
  4. [4]Scott Bixby, “Activists Tell Biden to ‘Do Your F*cking Job’ and Protect Abortion Rights,” Daily Beast, June 12, 2022, https://www.thedailybeast.com/activists-tell-biden-to-do-your-fcking-job-and-protect-abortion-rights↩
  5. [5]David Benfell, “My 2024 forecast,” Not Housebroken, March 10, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/03/10/my-2024-forecast/↩
  6. [6]David Benfell, “The illusory solidarity of the Left,” Not Housebroken, May 3, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/05/03/the-illusory-solidarity-of-the-left/↩
  7. [7]Harold Brubaker, “Research behind COVID-19 vaccines reaps close to $1 billion in royalties for Penn,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 12, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/business/penn-covid-vaccine-technology-mrna-royalties-revenue-20220612.html↩
  8. [8]Mike DeBonis and Leigh Ann Caldwell, “Senators strike bipartisan gun deal, heralding potential breakthrough,” Washington Post, June 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/12/senate-gun-deal-framework/↩
  9. [9]Mike DeBonis and Leigh Ann Caldwell, “Senators strike bipartisan gun deal, heralding potential breakthrough,” Washington Post, June 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/12/senate-gun-deal-framework/↩
  10. [10]Mike DeBonis and Leigh Ann Caldwell, “Senators strike bipartisan gun deal, heralding potential breakthrough,” Washington Post, June 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/12/senate-gun-deal-framework/↩
  11. [11]Mike DeBonis and Leigh Ann Caldwell, “Senators strike bipartisan gun deal, heralding potential breakthrough,” Washington Post, June 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/12/senate-gun-deal-framework/↩

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