Crimes Against Humanity

In the last weeks of June in the year 2022 the Supreme Court of the Unites States (SCOTUS) rescinded federal protection of common sense gun laws and a woman's reproductive rights. In the act of doing so they also weakened the separation of church and state and endangered constitutional guarantees to such basic constitutional precepts as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 

And I'm all for it.

This is a simple case, and a common case, of fundamentalism taking over the judiciary. It happens. But it may be a blessing in disguise. 

First, let's look at the premise of these two cases:

1. New York's concealed carry gun laws (in effect for nearly 100 years). This law stated, among other things, that a person that wants to carry a firearm outside their home had to show cause as to why they needed to. 

SCOTUS interpreted the 2nd amendment of the constitution to mean, literally, a persons right to carry arms will not be infringed. Period. In other words, the onus is on the State to determine why a citizen cannot carry arms - it's not the citizens responsibility to show why they can. The Constitution says they can. Score one for SCOTUS.

2. The Roe vs. Wade (Row) decision that was interpreted to allow a woman's right to abortion was overturned. The Row so called "abortion rights" decision was actually based on a right to personal privacy - not on reproductive rights.

Again SCOTUS rightfully established that reproductive rights are not guaranteed protection in the Constitution, per se. They asserted the association of personal privacy to a reproductive decision in Roe was far and away too separate to be joined in a legal context.

Ramifications of overturning Row:

If reproductive rights are not associated with personal freedoms or privacy in the Constitution, then there may be a complete set of religious social "anti-choice" targets (atheism, adultery, same sex marriage, LGTBQ rights, transexual medical procedures, sex education,...) that States can now legally impose laws against. 

Likewise, other states and private parties, individuals and corporations that defy another State's anti-choice laws could be liable, under said laws, to be sued - and individuals that aid and abed those seeking rights elsewhere could be fined and/or imprisoned in the subject state.

The Blessing:

With a clear majority of American's supporting the right to personal choice - from reproduction to firearms, the time may be right for the progressive left in this country to move our congressional makeup back to the center - where the rest of the western world has been for some time.

With enough votes, we can update the Constitution with reproductive rights and place restrictions - if not replace entirely - the 2nd amendment. But the 2nd amendment is really the harder one to address.

2nd Amendment Details:

The actual wording of the second amendment has always been ambiguous:

“...a well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

It's that darn comma between "State" and "the right". It's almost as if it denotes a parenthetical clarification as to what allows an effective Militia - not a singular pronouncement for all citizens. If the word "and" was used in place of the comma, there would be no question as to the intent of the amendment. The author HAD to know that this was going to be scrutinized endlessly for centuries. So why the ambiguity?

The answer may be in the document that inspired the U.S. Bill of Rights in the first place. The English "Bill of Rights" of 1688. It declared: 

"Protestants may have arms for their defence [sic] suitable to their conditions and as allowed by law." 

If this truly was the inspiration for the 2nd amendment, it is clear that the Right was indeed meant to subject to some laws. The author of the 2nd amendment may have simply assumed the "allowed by law" clause was as unnecessary as the reference to "Protestants".

In any case, the amendment has made the U.S. into a sick Wild West show with innocent civilians and children paying the price.

Citizen militias (not controlled by the State as suggested in the amendment) are arming thousands, carrying guns to protests, and mounting insurrection at the bidding of mentally ill leaders. It's time to clean it up and make it relevant to the modern world. Or the amendment that was supposed to prevent an armed overthrow of democratic government may very well be the cause of it.

JB

Ivan the Terrible

Most school children have heard of Ivan the Terrible. Ivan IV Vasilyevich was famous for two things: First, establishing the Russian Tzar as a dangerous, powerful, and formidable autocrat; and second, the transformation of the city-state Moscow into the first Russian Empire.

Born Grand Prince of Moscow in 1531, Ivan the IV ruled from the age of three. He was made ruler as a dying whish of his father, Ivan III.  His father’s death spawned a series of plots and intrigue by powerful "advisors" to the ruler - including the poisoning of his mother when he was eight - and finally culminated in his ascension in 1547, at the age of 16, to Tsar.

In early life he did many very progressive and popular things, like revising the Rule of Law, establishing the first Russian parliament, expanding Christianity, standardizing orthodoxy, and introducing the printing press – to name only a few.

In older life, he personified the axiom: “Absolute power corrupts absolutely”.  Whether it was dementia or power mad brutality, we may never know. But in time he helped characterize the position of Tsar as one accountable to no earthly authority - but only to God.

His wars in Crimea, Siberia, Poland & Turkey, among others, were brutal attacks on citizens and rulers alike. His military exploits crippled the Russian economy, and at his death, Russia entered what was called the “Time of Troubles” where people starved, and the oligarchs took divided control of a devastated country.  

Today a modern Ivan the Terrible is at the helm of Russia. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin has stolen the playbook of Ivan Vasilyevich. In his autocratic position of absolute power, he yearns to rebuild the communist Soviet Union by any means necessary.

Vladimir the Terrible is writing his legacy in real time – as we watch.  Unlike the Tsars of the past, today’s power mad dystopian ruler can put his evil on display for the world to see. As he laughs and threatens nuclear war if he is opposed – the 5 o’clock news details the brutality and suffering of a nation that posed no threat.  No threat in any way. Their only fault: Serving as a reminder of the power that was once the façade of the USSR.

Held together by force, fear and propaganda, the old USSR could not endure in the face of increasing challenges to its antiquated economic and technical shortcomings. Many of the western regions of the failed USSR sought independence once again – and that, to Putin’s way of thinking – was a wrong that needed correcting.

Ukraine is a nation of the proud and the imperfect. It’s only been independent from the USSR for thirty years. Many of the old communist influencers are still there. It still struggles to balance a thirst for democracy with a history of communist political and economic corruption. But they were making progress. Real progress. Progress the entire world was monitoring – from the European Union to NATO – and yes – to Putin.

Putin and his oligarchs once felt that Ukraine would slowly dissolve back into Russia. The eastern provinces were already break-away areas that Russian military "advisors" propped up. Russia took the Crimea by force in 2014 as a display of their resolve. Putin clearly expected the rest of Ukraine would simply fall in line in time. Once it became obvious that his wishes were not being honored by the Ukrainian politic, he resorted to the only tactic absolute corruption has left.

Russian armed forces are capable. While they still may lack the organization and control of a democratic force, they are more than Ukraine can reasonably hope to defend against. Over time, the shear force of destruction and death will make it impossible to resist.

Many politicians and pundits in the U.S. have tried to figure out Putin’s “End Game”.  What is he trying to achieve? Nothing. What has Ukraine done to deserve this? Nothing. What does Ukraine have that Russa desperately needs? Nothing.  What will Putin do with Ukraine once he is victorious? Nothing.

He simply wants to rule it. Period. He does not care if it is a pile of rubble and blood stained streets. It will be his.

I can see why Trump thinks so highly of him.

JB

Anti-truth Vaccine Politics

I have done a couple posts on my take on Anti-Vaxx politics.  In my prior post, Death to the Heroes, I opined that first responders were the most important group that MUST vaccinate against Covid – for the protection of the population in general, and their patients in particular. In my Anti-Vaxx II post, I warned against generalizing the reasons for not vaccinating.  There are people who feel it’s an abundance of caution – or fear of negative reactions – or fear of needles – that keeps them from getting vaccinations.

But the data is clear. Ninety-five percent of those refusing vaccines are not cautious. They are politically aligned with a ‘personal right of refusal’.  It’s their constitutional right to refuse. It’s as simple as that.

These people are predominately Republican, white, and biased. They are over 80% Trump supporters and avid followers of Fox News and similar biased right wing news sources. They hold a palpable hate for liberals and progressives – and the scientific institutions or policies they support.

It’s not important that they can never cite any progressive program, decision, law, or regulation that has affected them personally. It’s not about actual facts, experiences or outcomes. It’s about politics.

I saw this graphic (scientifically developed and peer reviewed) from the CDC. Digest it.

Source: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7105e1.htm

The CDC is a civilian body. It is NOT a government agency and cannot be controlled by the President or Congress (Trump had many frustrations with the CDC but was powerless to control it).  The right-wing media – and even some left-leaning media – get this wrong. They think the CDC and the FDA are controlled in the same way. Nothing could be further from the truth. The CDC was intentionality made to be independent from governmental and political pressure. It’s pure science. Pure medicine. Pure research.

The illustrations show – beyond any doubt – that the Omicron strain of Covid was an unvaccinated pandemic. It took a highly contagious variant to illustrate the truth. The first illustration above is based on positive tests; and the second on hospitalizations.

What these illustrations DO NOT show is how many of the vaccinated or vulnerable were infected by the unvaccinated. The contagion level of an unvaccinated person is many times that of a vaccinated person. Enough to break-through the fragile immune barrier older, or immunocompromised, individuals have - even with a vaccine. Nor does it show how many hospital beds were occupied by the unvaccinated that were desperately needed by the ill or injured.

How many deaths, I wonder, due to these people’s need to practice a political ‘right of refusal’ account for?

We will never know.

JB