Columnists

The most recent Quinnipiac Poll (https://poll.qu.edu/poll-release?releaseid=3810) illustrates how polarized the US has become: 66 percent of respondents do not want Donald Trump to (re)run for President. Nonetheless, 66 percent of Republicans would like him to run. (Not surprisingly, the same percentage of Republicans do not believe that Biden's 2020 victory was legitimate.) It's a dismaying and, somewhat, disheartening statistic that illustrates how divided the United States has become. To better understand this, it's useful to examine polarization in California. -more-

Honoring the Dead (But Only Some of Them)

On Memorial Day, Joe Biden followed in the footsteps of other presidents and laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier—and thereby promoted in a decades-long cover-up.

According to a Brown University study: "At least 800,000 people have been killed by direct war violence in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and Pakistan." The casualties included "thousands of service members and… thousands of contractors" (read: "mercenaries") but "the vast majority of people killed are civilians. More than 310,000 civilians have been killed in the fighting since 2001." By some estimates, while 9.7 million soldiers have died in wars, around 10 million civilians have been recorded as "collateral damage."

If soldiers are "laying down their lives" (a phrase that makes a brutal death sound like an act of voluntary sacrifice) to "defend" human freedoms, why do we not also honor the majority of war's "fallen"—the innocent civilians whose freedoms are supposedly the justification for waging bloody conflicts?

What are the odds that a "Tomb of the Unknown Civilian Family" might be added to the architecture at the Arlington Cemetery? (It's more likely that Congress would fund construction of a "Tomb of the Unknown Military Contractor.") -more-

I am very disappointed in U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez of the Southern District of California's ruling overturning California’s ban on assault weapons, and his 2019 decision overturning California's ban on large capacity magazines, calling such restrictions a violation of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This latter decision was affirmed by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals although the 9th Circuit agreed to rehear the case en banc on June 22, 2021. In my opinion, Judge Benitez misapplied Heller by mischaracterizing the killing power of assault weapons. -more-

The antithesis of human dignity could be humiliation. Many persons with psychiatric illness experience numerous humiliating situations in our lives. Being physically restrained, being forcibly medicated, being put in a courtroom in handcuffs, and, upon a semblance of recovery, being put in a minimum-wage, brainless job, with a job coach to tell you how to sweep a floor, are humiliating scenarios to which mentally ill people are subject. -more-

My husband and I were in Greece in August 1991 when we heard from a stranger on the street that there was a coup in the Soviet Union. The August coup failed, but by December 26, 1991 it was over. The Soviet Union was dissolved.

As I watch the reports of the ballot counts in Arizona, the entire spectacle is unsettling. No matter how ridiculous the conspiracy theories sound, there are masses that believe and cling to what is called the “big lie” : that Trump won the election. The results of the May 21, 2021 IPSOS/Reuters Poll were alarming. Even though the number surveyed was 2007, 30% of all respondents (53% of Republicans) believed Trump won the election.

The more centrist Democratic-leaning pundits started shifting their comments this last week to a much stronger cautionary message, a warning of being at a crossroads: democracy or authoritarianism. Thankfully, on Friday Facebook suspended Trump for two years, but that doesn’t stop the rumors that Trump and his followers believe he will be restored to the presidency in August. There is nothing that should be reassuring. I would argue that the reported trips of Republicans to Mar-a-Lago to “kiss the ring” of Donald Trump is to say “I am with you” not from some level of “fear” of Donald Trump.

Moving on from this unsettling picture: What has our local government been up to this last week?

At the Agenda and Rules Committee meeting this week with an expected return to some level of pre-pandemic normalcy, the discussion ensued about how to manage meetings: in-person, continue Zoom or some hybrid model? The City Manager said the technology is available for a hybrid model for council meetings at 1231 Addison (the school district board room), but not at the locations where commissions meet. Many of the rooms are small and all lack the technology for a hybrid model. -more-