Iowa's Republicans Don't Care What You Think

 This week Republicans in our state decided that you don't need unemployment insurance for 26 weeks and that 16 weeks is plenty unless your company packs up and leaves. Also, they don't care if you have to work for less than you did before you were laid-off as you'll have to accept a job that pays as little as 60% of your former earnings or be cut off from your benefits at 8 weeks. You see, Iowa has 50,000 jobs that need to be filled and only about 29,000 people who are seeking work. Oh, and no they did not raise Iowa’s minimum wage to $15, or restore collective bargaining rights, or prohibit asking about criminal history on a job application, or even invest in affordable housing which Democrats tacked on as amendments. Republicans rejected those amendments.

What else don't they care about? They don't care if you are told if the well on your property is safe to drink. They passed a bill telling landowners that it is perfectly dandy to sell a property without having groundwater hazard statements. Nitrites, they're what's for dinner!

Republicans also think that junior and senior college students should only get $12 million in scholarships for studying what they see as "in-demand" jobs and universities can expect no additional funding. They ain't paying for no darn Liberal Arts degrees.

Republicans also don't care who the governor appoints and are planning on ending the Senate approval of many of the governor’s appointees.  Their philosophy is "Let the Executive do the Executive thing."

The Notable KBJ

 

To hear it, you'd think that Ketanji Brown Jackson was CRT incarnate instead of a well-qualified nominee for the US Supreme Court. You'd think that a person sitting on the second-highest court in the land with a decade of judicial experience could be expected to be questioned about her legal qualifications rather than the amount of time spent in church or (on a scale of 1 to 10) what her level of "faith" is.

But this is the nature of US politics where every high profile process has to be slathered in political rhetoric and shape the issues that the next election will be the battlefield for. A sane person or a sober judge might find this laughable unless they are sitting in the presence of these political provocateurs seeking their blessing to adjudicate law at the highest level in the land. Also knowing that both sides are trying to bend the will of the court to their POV does not make it easier to sit there and get the good cop/bad cop treatment.

To her credit and patience, this notable judge who is a Harvard Law School product has handled herself with aplomb and dignity when asked about her faith, Judge Brown Jackson said "Personally, my faith is very important, but as you know, there is no religious test under Article six and it is very important to set aside one's personal views and the role of judge." Responding to Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa "about a speech she had delivered citing Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., she told the senators how one generation could go from the racially segregated schools her parents attended in Florida to her sitting before the Senate, nominated to the high court. "The fact that you can come that far was, to me, a testament to the hope and the promise of this country, the greatness of America," she said."

233 years is more than enough of time for a Black woman to be seated on the Supreme Court and Judge Brown Jackson is highly qualified to join the ranks. As always, Senate hearings may be about many things, but they are always about the preservation or expansion of power. It is my servant hope that despite the theatrics and the playing to the camera, that ultimately the votes will fall in favor of her confirmation based on the content of her character and her ability to adjudicate.

There Is No Such Thing as Gunplay

 One of the weirder things about guns is the colorful vocabulary that accompanies them. Among these, the word gunplay is actually a misnomer. There is nothing playful about a gun. Merriam-Webster defines gunplay as "the shooting of small arms with intent to scare or kill." You tell me, is that playful? Nonetheless, each year children find their parents' or siblings' firearms lying about and horrible things either happen to them or to their family members. For instance, this weekend in Dolton, Illinois, a three-year-old got ahold of a firearm and while playing with it, accidentally shot and killed his 22-year-old mother from the back seat of their van in a parking lot of a grocery store. In Nashville, another toddler shot himself in the head with his mother's handgun he got out her purse. Fortunately, that toddler lived. Similarly, a sibling shot another sibling in Louisiana while playing with a gun.

Guns are deadly and are intended to be that. They are not toys. Can we at least recognize that treatin them as anything less than the instruments of death that they are is making them that much more lethal in the hands of those they should never be in--kids. Kids should be able to play and play safely. They can't be held accountable for the laxness of their family members who are playing with the devil by not securing their firearms. Anyone who is as careless as to leave their gun unsecured is a person who really ought not to have one. Like all rights we have, we do risk losing them by acting in less than responsible and, I would add, criminal ways. Can we agree that the 2nd amendment does have one important limit, people who are not responsible or lack the mental capacity to take care of securing their guns should not be given a pass when someone ends up dead due to their irresponsibility.

Standing with Ukraine While the World Stands Watching

 

It is a terrible time to be a human being on this planet unless you are a despot or oligarch with the world or regional domination on your mind. If you are a decent human being, you would never choose to unleash military might on your neighbor. And if you aren't one, you'd not do so unless it was for the sole purpose to bend them to your will. As I and many of us watched in disbelief as the Russian army began its assault on Ukraine a few days ago, I was happy to see the Russian people in the streets protesting their nation's siege -- something that these people do at great peril given their government's totalitarian and punitive nature. At the same time, I admire the tenacity of the Ukrainian leadership as they defend themselves against this assault with support mostly through economic sanctions by observing nations, support for their infrastructure, and armaments provided by the same. 

Certainly, this is a difficult situation. Russia has made overtures before, but with it threatening to use its nuclear capabilities, what sane leader is going to escalate that threat? While the US and its NATO allies are lending support and placing troops in neighboring countries, the Russian regime is banking on them letting Russia decimate Ukraine to achieve their goal of regime change and perhaps, reunifying another piece of the former Soviet Union. 

Thankfully, the leadership of Ukraine is not kowtowing to that sentiment and neither are its people. They are engaged in a war they did not choose, but they are engaged to show the world and Russia that they will not be stepped on so a madman can seize power. And they are doing this risking it all. Lives hang in the balance and it doesn't help to know that there is no cavalry coming. One might even say this is so Ukrainian. 

Perhaps, this is something that free nations should keep in mind. Even in a fractured place like the US, I hope we still believe that freedom is only possible with true democracy. Nationalistic tendencies are categorically ill-advised, except in the rejection of imposed other-nation pressure. We are only as good as what we are willing to defend. So far what we are willing to defend is having the US and its NATO partners being pulled into a war that would likely be like a Molotov cocktail, an incendiary device where world peace is concerned.