Stand With Mallory!

 

Last week a fellow Senator, a Republican, attacked a Democratic legislator in Michigan and accused her of being a “groomer for sexualizing children” since she did not agree with attacks from the right on the educational system. The senator used her claims to raise money for her campaign. Senator, Mallory McMorrow stood up to the claims of her accuser with these words:

“So, who am I? I am a straight, white, Christian, married, suburban mom who knows that the very notion that learning about slavery or redlining or systemic racism somehow means that children are being taught to feel bad or hate themselves because they are white is absolute nonsense.

I want every child in this state to feel seen, heard, and supported, not marginalized and targeted because they are not straight, white, and Christian.

And if more people like me, who are not in a minority group, who are not under attack, stand up and call it out as hateful, hollow nonsense, then we take away its power.”

In an interview with John Yang on PBS she added: “But I just thought about, if I felt as horrible as I did on Monday, how much worse it must feel every single day if you are the parent of a trans child, if you are a member of the gay community who gets called a pedophile or a groomer every single day.

And I realized that we have to do a lot more.

And I know that there are thousands, if not millions, just like me, who don’t want our kids to grow up in a place that is hateful and malicious towards anybody who is different.”

First, I applaud her words and wish they had been said earlier, before these hateful incidents spread across the country. Educators and elected officials are being attacked, much as Mallory was. Members of communities who are gay or trans had been living peacefully in their neighborhoods are being accused of “grooming children,” if they interact with youngsters in their daily jobs or neighborhood activities. Do these people even know what grooming is? This reminds me of the QAnon conspiracy theories that led a man from NC to come to DC to shoot up a pizza parlor and try to rescue the children he believed were trapped in the building's basement by supporters of Hillary Clinton.

This is the year of the mid-terms and the Republicans are pulling out all of their old tricks:

{Scare parents that their children are being threatened in their schools with early lessons in sexuality? Check! Scare white parents that their white children are being guilt tripped because slavery existed and their school mentioned it?

Scare parents by claiming that a gay teacher might make their child gay? Fire that teacher!

Scare parents that their school libraries are exposing children to books with racial themes, sexual messages, or critical race theories? Convince parents that their elected school board members do not have the child's best interests in mind?}

Meanwhile, as statehouses focus their energies on such negative issues, potholes are not being filled, bridges are not being repaired, critical thinking is not being advanced, and our country is poorer for this.

Just as soccer Moms changed hearts and minds twenty years ago, now we need those other Moms who are like Mallory and dislike what they are seeing, to stand up and speak out. We need to let others know that teaching hate will not be permitted in our schools, on our sports teams, or at the neighborhood playgrounds. Too many have remained silent for too long and this inaction has allowed the haters to gain a foothold on the American psyche. The right has long used children as scapegoats for their divisive issues, as pawns in their book banning efforts and as the victims of their scare techniques. Anti-Covid efforts focused on the distance learning enforced in many school districts to keep children safe before vaccines existed; the right claimed that teachers just did not want to return to work and were hurting children by asking for safe classrooms with good ventilation and accommodations for teachers with health concerns.

Why do we see campaigns such as these cycle back every few years? Because they work, that is why. Do you remember the nursery/daycare scares back in the 80’s when teachers were accused of child sexual abuse and devil worship? After thousands of claims across the country-few of which were actually borne out as the Washington Post reported in a book review about the scares (We Believe the Children, written by Richard Peck):

“…the conservative backlash against feminism, which had encouraged women to work outside the home (with its resultant need for day care); and the reality that the patriarchal nuclear family had not just changed, it had become “incoherent.” Conservative evangelicals had just helped elect President Ronald Reagan, and many of them believed that “porn, gays, and women had run amok.”

Even though most of the charges were dropped or defendants acquitted or convictions overturned, few apologies were ever given to those falsely accused; some authorities have likened the hysteria seen to the Salem witch trials. We see Governor DeSantis in Florida asking children to report their teachers; Governor Youngkin claims his parent complaint hotline is privileged communication and that he is not required to share the complaints with the press. Several entities are now suing him under the Freedom of Information Act to get this information supposedly about schools with divisive practices. Is this really what the American public wants?

In a wide-ranging speech this past week at Stanford University, former President Obama called out the tech industry for its lack of monitoring of internet communications and by this neglect, fostering hate speech. He said that these actions are significantly weakening our democracy. Below are some of his remarks as reported by the Guardian:

“People are dying because of disinformation’

Obama’s speech called attention to the grave impacts of disinformation and misinformation – including manipulation of the 2016 and 2020 elections and the rise of anti-vaccination sentiments.

He was candid about regrets he had surrounding Donald Trump’s election, saying his administration had long known that Russia had an incentive to manipulate US democracy, but he underestimated the effectiveness of the efforts. “What still nags at me is my failure to appreciate at the time just how susceptible we had become to lies and conspiracy theories,” Obama said. “Today’s social media has a grimness to it,” he said. “We’re so fatalistic about the steady stream of bile and vitriol that’s on there. But it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, if we’re going to succeed, it can’t be that way.”

Obama’s tone harkens back to an age of tech before the 2016 elections shook the world’s faith in companies like Facebook. His presidency took place at a time when social media was still thought of as a force for good-stoking democratic revolutions like the Arab Spring.

Stories of eccentric Billionaire Libertarian Elon Musk trying to buy Twitter have caused an uproar in many circles as few expect that, if he succeeds, his efforts will further the issue of free speech, since he has long spoken out against any restraints on speech, even divisive speech. I certainly hope that this move fails. Some fear that he would again allow former president DJT to return to Twitter, from which he previously had been banned for his lifetime, after the events of January 6^th 2020. Since the attempt to set up a rival internet presence for him has largely failed, he would probably welcome a return to unfettered public comments. I certainly hope that this does not happen.

Some positive news tonight-French President Emmanuel Macron won re-election as President by approximately 58.6% in unofficial results over former rival and Putin fan, Marine LePen. Europe and America, which had been holding their collective breaths after a closer than expected first round of ballots, now let their breaths out. The French people voiced their displeasure with the President in the first election but came home and did their duty in the final. I wonder where this leaves LePen? After two defeats, is the right still a significant force or will it be replaced by a further right group down the road? This sends a blow to the authoritarian movement which has been prominent in Europe, especially with the reelection of Viktor Orban in Hungary. The president of Poland, has on the other hand, softened his strident militancy with the arrival of millions of Ukrainians in his country. Perhaps he too fears the Russian bear nearing his borders. Russia threatened to expand past the borders of Ukraine, should it succeed there.

Meanwhile, back on the COVID front, a Florida judge (appointed after the 2020 election by a lame duck Congress) who was deemed unqualified by the ABA, struck down the national mandate for masks on transport and extended it to the nation at large. So, overnight, masks were removed, with some airline passengers tossing their masks into the air. I cringe as I see covid particles, which had been contained, flying around the plane. But maybe I have a vivid imagination here! I certainly fear further decisions by others of her cohort, equally unqualified!

Guess that does it for now!
‘Til next week, Peace

Spring Forward?

Spring has long been symbolic of rebirth, renewal, and growth. We, here in the DC/MD/VA areas, see beautiful seasonal changes as the cherry blossoms, redbud, dogwood, forsythia, and other trees burst into bloom on nearly every corner, while the wind blows petals around instead of snowflakes. Fragrant hyacinths bloom along sidewalks; daffodils and tulips bravely wave their petals in the spring breezes. Iris and lilies poke green shoots up through the winter-weary soil, while hydrangea and rhododendron buds swell with the promise of upcoming beauty.

Earth Day 2022

Can you believe that Earth Day has endured since 1970, despite all odds against it?

However, while Mother Earth is doing her best to remind us of her virtues, many ugly situations remain as we approach another annual celebration of Earth Day. Too often, global climate change, extreme warming, severe storms, excessive rainfalls, and coastal sea encroachment are disregarded in our day-to-day lives and mentioned only as a new disaster strikes another part of the world. The west coast remains in a prolonged drought while Louisiana struggles to recover from repeated hurricanes, torrential downpours, and other severe storms such as tornadoes.

In a stark warning, the United Nations released its annual report (IPCC-the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) on climate and stated:

A new flagship UN report on climate change released Monday indicates “that harmful carbon emissions from 2010 to 2019 have never been higher in human history, [and] is proof that the world is on a ‘fast- track’ to disaster, [Secretary-General] António Guterres has warned, with scientists arguing that it’s ‘now or never’ to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.” He further stated that unless governments across the world act now, changes could be irreversible and the world could become uninhabitable.

The Paris Accords in 2015 pledged to keep global temperatures under 1.5 degrees Celsius or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, but those numbers were almost doubled in the last decade. He warned that the 197 nations who signed the accords need to do better at meeting the goals decided upon at that conference. The report, however, found a few encouraging facts to share. The top ones are noted below:

1.    Electric vehicles are on the rise.

2.    Costs are decreasing for low emission technologies.

3.    Mitigation laws are expanding.

4.    It is still possible to change industrial emissions.

5.    Cities present good opportunities for climate action.

6.    Various economic measures are being employed.

7.    People care and they are engaged.

8.    CO2 removal is essential and complicated.

The nations in this world cannot look away and pretend that this is only a problem for the rich nations, all populations are affected when temperatures hit extreme levels. Many nations are harmed when drought strikes a formerly fertile valley and it can no longer produce the volume of products it used to grow. Coastal communities across the globe are concerned about sea-level rise and the threats posed to their nation and its people. Billions of dollars of vacation homes in resort communities are on the path of severe storms more frequently; states have to decide whether to allow the owners to rebuild or lose the tax revenue now to protect lives in the future.

In an important cover article, Time Magazine recently addressed the issue of how business will affect future changes in the global climate. The article noted that just 100 companies are responsible for 70% of the worlds’ emissions, so they are the ones most equipped to make the necessary changes. When DJT pulled America out of the Paris accords, many corporations decided they needed to evaluate how they could make the changes without government assistance. These were the companies that increased the use of electric vehicles, looked at smarter packaging, and use of alternative energy sources such as solar and wind. Since they can make these changes on a larger scale than an average homeowner, their impact will be greater. This is not to say that industry no longer pollutes, that is certainly not true as drive by many manufacturing plants can demonstrate, however, multiple industries are trying to make a difference. However, still, both homeowners and businesses can use the Earth Day mantra: reduce, reuse, recycle.

Climate changes also affect the military trying to wage battles in areas of extreme heat. After seeing the troubles his forces found in the heat of Iraq, a British military officer looked at ways military operations would change as they faced a different climate. He described the following in a recent article in The Washington Post:

“Perhaps most ominously, it lists the many ways global warming will destabilize nations and alliances across the world. Oil-rich nations such as Saudi Arabia will be upended if they have no takers for their main product and they become less strategically important. Access to the rare earth elements needed for batteries and circuitry could lead to clashes between China and the United States in places such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Greenland. Countries where water shortages are likely — such as Iraq and Somalia — will probably face even more conflicts.”

The American military has long structured war games on issues of countries with water and those without; will migration result as rivers dry up? Will wars be fought over water supplies and the inability to grow crops? Many economists are concerned today over the war in Ukraine as Ukraine annually produces grain for many countries in northern Africa and the Middle East; no other country produces the same amounts. With the war raging around them, farmers could not plant their usual crops for grains and other commodities this year. Where will the grain come from this year?

Earth Day 2022 is a somber commemoration. I hope everyone will take this day seriously.

On another note, the Maryland legislative session for 2022 ended this week and was marked by overrides of vetoed legislation from Governor Hogan. When bills are sent to the governor more than ten days before the end of the session, the governor must decide about the bill before it can become law. He can sign it, veto it, or let it become law without a signature. If the session is still on, the legislature has a chance to override the veto. If a bill is sent to the governor at the end of the session, and vetoed, overrides must wait until a special session, if there is one, or the start of the next legislative year. This year, several bills were vetoed and overridden by the legislators. One of them was the bill that extended the providers who could perform abortions to nurse practitioners and midwives. Maryland Matters discussed them here:  

The governor claimed the bill would endanger the health of women. Over 50% of abortions occur using oral medications and do not require surgery, so his veto was overridden. Contrary to Republican claims, the bill does not allow for termination of pregnancies beyond current established limits-which seem in flux, while waiting for the Supreme Court to decide pending cases. Many pundits believe he is polishing his right-wing “creds” so he can run for president in 2024. Another veto involved the Family leave Bill that will provide up to 12 weeks of partially paid family leave beginning in 2025. Cost-share provisions will be defined by the State Department of Labor before implementation. Another involved collective bargaining while another allowed investigation of improper wages.

On an interesting note, Delegate Al Carr decided to not run again in his Kensington District but chose to run in the newly created County Council District 4. Council member, Tom Hucker, who represented a local Montgomery County Council District, dropped his bid for County Executive and decided to run for an at-large spot on the Council. The filing deadline, which had been extended because of the Primary date change, has now closed.

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Brief COVID notes: China continued its drastic lockdowns of several cities, including Shanghai, its’ largest city. Residents are confined to their homes and cannot go out for food or medicine, but can order in; those who test positive, regardless of symptoms, are taken to a quarantine center. These strong-arm tactics have caused many in China to push back, with little success. The vaccine developed by the Chinese is not quite as effective as those developed in Europe and the US.

In the US, the B.A.2 variant has become dominant, but two new sub-variants have been identified. Case counts are again increasing across the country and have shown a 38% rise in recent days, although hospital rates remain low. The New York Times reports that the US is nearing a death toll of one million, although many feel the numbers are actually higher. There have been over 80 million reported cases here, with over 7 million deaths worldwide; that number is considered an under-count, as numbers from China, Russia, and India have been tallied incompletely. Currently, DC is near the top of the states/areas reporting fresh cases, while Maryland is about 25^th. Several local colleges have again started requiring masks or virtual classes for their students.

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This week marked 50 years of pandas at the DC National Zoo, so the

Pandas got a celebratory iced fruit cake, which they seemed to enjoy.   

The news from Ukraine remains disheartening; it is tragic what Putin is doing to that country and its’ people.

“Til next week, hope for peace. 

Mid-Terms Loom

 

Will Rogers famously said: “I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.” The Democrats are not like the Republicans in many ways, and that is mostly a good thing. However, sometimes I wonder why they just don’t get their act together and get some important legislation passed for the good of us all. I agree that Senator Manchin gets to have his moment, as does Senator Sinema, but I really believe they should have put their petty grievances aside, found some way to compromise, and pass President Biden’s legislation program and voting rights reforms. Pretty soon it will be too late to effect meaningful change before the November mid-terms if it is not already too late.

The media pundits are already musing about projected Democratic Party losses in the November mid-terms, even as some of the Republican national redistricting moves have been denied by the courts, leaving the trends to be more favorable for the Democrats. At the same time, it appears that few state legislatures will have competitive districts and will continue to pass cultural laws whenever the Republicans are in charge. The voting restrictions, now in place in many Southern states, are expected to deny valid minority voters a ballot in many instances, and compress their voting opportunities in others. 538 reports that President Biden’s popularity continues to hover around 42% in a composite of polls with disapproval rates around 53%.

At this point in their Presidencies, Obama was slightly ahead of Biden’s numbers with a 47.8% showing while DJT was at 40.6%, GW Bush, after the 911 event, demonstrated sky-high numbers around 74.9%. So how can Democrats re-group and re-position their party before the fall elections? Republicans counter Democratic successes with COVID case decreases and a widespread vaccine program, with continued campaigns against masks, vaccines, and the previous losses for in-school education access, ignoring the reality that most school shut-downs occurred before Biden was elected. As Governors in Florida and Texas prohibited mask programs, they undoubtedly prolonged the virus outbreaks in their states. Axios reported that early outbreaks were in Democratic states, but the disease was deadlier in red states, especially after the vaccine was available and those states were slow to adopt the vaccine. So, should the pandemic be an issue in the mid-terms? It certainly was in the election in 2020, but to my way of thinking, it should no longer be the dominant issue in the fall, unless another variant invades our shores.

Democrats can point to several successes, such as the American Rescue Fund (ARF) relief that sent checks to most homes and the earned income tax credit that helped families with children. They assisted businesses with impact aid and small business funding, and unemployed workers with extended periods of unemployment checks. The government provided vaccines to states for distribution and patients received them at no cost. The bi-partisan infrastructure plan is already at work planning to replace bridges, repair failing water and sewage systems, increase broadband access, improve public transit, and modernize airports across the country, to just mention a few of the projects in its’ scope. Democrats should be out there cheering for all of these programs.

The confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson should be another plus for the Democrats and should please an important Democratic constituency-women, especially African American women, who usually favor Democrats in large numbers. The Culture wars stirred up by demagogic Republicans about CRT and Pedophilia were their attempts to bring in the PTA Moms who were moved by issues of school control and curriculum bending brought out by Gov Youngkin when he ran in Virginia last year. The Republican Senators and their racist remarks, thinly veiled, should have been countered by the Democratic Senators more forcefully; I believe that Senator Booker should not have been the only one to make a strong case for Judge Jackson. When the Republicans were ranting and practically foaming at the mouth in their denial of basic civility in their questioning, they should have been called out by the Democrats. Last, disobeying the rules of the Senate, Rand Paul, and Lindsey Graham, in a final sign of disrespect at the confirmation vote, refused to put on ties and meet the Senate dress code, so voted no from the cloakroom door. Once the vote was final, and the Democrats stood and applauded, the Republicans left the room, except for Senator Romney; Senators Collins and Murkowski had joined him in approval votes for Judge Jackson, so they can tally the vote as bi-partisan.

However, two other issues are not yet plusses for the Dems, those are Voting Rights reforms and immigration reform. Progressives expected both of these to be high on the Presidents’ must pass list, but they got pushed aside in favor of the relief bills mentioned above. The social issues in the Build Back Better Law should also have been passed as the party leaders assured Progressives that they would be, but two of their own, Senators Manchin and Sinema, torpedoed these efforts. That is the problem with an evenly divided Senate, the Democrats do not have the luxury of saying okay, to even one senator to avoid supporting a Democratic bill as the Republicans will not step up even though they might well support the issue if their leadership does not allow it.

Most Progressive organizations lobbied heavily for voting rights legislation; the Democrats even dropped their own proposal in favor of one tailored by Manchin, who said he could find ten Republicans to support it and thus beat the filibuster. Didn’t happen, did it, Joe? So, what is next? Maybe they can bring it back again in some watered-down version that might work, but we are again getting short on time. Hispanic voters expected immigration reforms, legislation for a permanent solution for dreamers, and border crossing abuses corrected. Still, we saw the mistreatment of Haitian refugees and the deportation of thousands, and no remedies are yet in sight. And, they say, another “caravan” is on its’ way, just in time to give fodder to the rights wing fear mongers.

QAnon is big on flaming out the child trafficking and molesting issues, so I guess that bunch was happy with the ranting. I do worry that the suburban women who swung heavily for Democrats in the 2018 mid-terms are being swayed by contentious school board meetings about CRT and racism and, as our nation becomes more diverse, by attempts against educators who see us as a nation of many cultures and teach tolerance of those differences. Issues in Florida about “don’t say gay” and in Texas against trans teens are leading our children, who do live in an open society, in the wrong directions, I believe. Although there appear to be fewer than 50 trans teens competing across the country in high school athletic events, the rhetoric on the right would have one believe that every high school student is being challenged by a trans contender. Facts do matter.

Dana Milbank wrote in the Washington Post about issues with the Republican Party objecting to the Democratic Committee Chair Jamie Harrison’s characterization of them as a party built on “fraud, fear, and fascism” after Senator Cotton described Judge Jackson as a Nazi sympathizer. You can read his article here:

This is his concluding paragraph:

Is the GOP “a party built on fraud, fear, and fascism”? Certainly, not all Republicans think this way. But too many others are subverting democracy, cavorting with white nationalists, spreading racist fears, and fantasizing about extrajudicial punishment for political opponents and the media. For them, the jackboot fits.

The Democratic Party needs to develop a positive message about all that is right with this country and find people where they are and say, as President Biden did recently in Poland: “Be not afraid.” Do not allow those who would spread fear and hatred to win; they will lessen our resolve as Americans to be both a good and great country.

Now for a few comments about the War in Ukraine.

Horrors increase with each day. First one city, then another with bodies in basements and churchyards, then the use of cluster bombs against a train station where civilians were gathering in an attempt to flee the fighting. Barbarism is the aim of the invaders who, it seems, are intent on turning a civilized country to rubble, disregarding how many civilians they might kill. A Russian General infamous for his atrocities in Syria has now been placed in charge of the latest onslaught. Some diplomats think Putin wants to finish the war and win by May 9^th, a holiday in Russia that commemorates victory over the Nazis in World War II, so he can link the two (perhaps that is why he keeps characterizing his invasion as fighting Nazis). This also means many authorities believe Putin will not negotiate for a ceasefire or peace talks until his objectives are met.

Zelensky continues to voice his plea for weapons now to parliaments and assemblies across the world, trying to save his beleaguered country before more devastation occurs. Meanwhile, Western nations are rushing in more and stronger weapons. Former nearby Soviet allied nations, some fearing they might be next if Putin succeeds, are increasing their support as well. Meanwhile, Putin sympathizer and former candidate Marie LePen in France has drawn enough votes in the French preliminary election to again meet French President Macron in a run-off in a few weeks. As of now, Macron has 27.4% to LePen’s 24.3% with the other 50% divided among many parties on the right and left. I hope that the French people see the sense of keeping their president as LePen would pull France out of NATO and reduce support for Ukraine.

In Russia, symptoms of Stalinism are infecting the general populace as the authorities increase propaganda about the war and stifle dissent. Lists of those who are seen as dissenters are being shared. Putin has called for ridding the nation of scum and a need for self-purification; some now wonder if urges are to resume? The Washington Post had a frightening article about children recording and reporting their teachers for remarks against the fighting; the authorities fined and fired the teachers. The New York Times also reported on these societal changes.

Just a word to those Republicans who supported Orban and Putin-is this what you want your children to do? It seems in Florida and in Virginia, that is exactly what they want to be done, as parents and students were encouraged to tell the governors about educators who did not follow the state directives on education or teachers who encouraged masks. What is happening in this country? Do none of these horrors bring home the significance of dancing with a dictator? Do some Americans no longer respect our hard-won freedoms and the democracy most of us try to preserve? Let me know what you think.

Guess that does it for tonight. I will have to discuss the Maryland redistricting and Hogan’s veto overrides next week.

“Til next week-hope for peace.

Bodies in the Streets

The news tonight showed horrific pictures of bodies in the streets after Russian troops retreated from the sites near Kyiv, where they had bombarded the urban and suburban cities. Some bodies showed shots to the head while handcuffed. The authorities found hundreds of bodies in mass graves after an apparent city-wide massacre; the troops planted the area with land mines, while some bodies were booby-trapped with explosives.

Merriam Webster defines a massacre as “the act or an instance of killing a number of usually helpless or unresisting human beings under circumstances of atrocity or cruelty.”

The authorities in Ukraine claim these actions are genocide and even more heinous than the excesses of ISIS or a single war crime-these are systematic and deliberate multiple crimes-killings of civilians. The refusal in the south to allow the Red Cross, or Doctors without Borders into the devastated and besieged city of Mariupol for humane rescues of civilians and delivery of medicines and food, is also beyond what the civilized world sees as acceptable behavior. When the rescue corridors were set up and residents came out to escape, frequently the exits were denied for no apparent reason or the caravans were fired on. Polls state that Russian citizens support Putin and this war as they are being lied to and told that no civilians or cities are harmed and Nazis are being defeated. I wonder if they will ever learn the truth or react differently when their sons do not return.

I believe that you, ‘gentle reader’, as they say, are as troubled by these photos as am I. But, I wonder, do you also feel as powerless as I do? I see an organized, democratic country that offered no military threat to Russia, being invaded, its populace traumatized and its urban centers pummeled into dust at the whim of a tyrant. Since no country in the West will battle the Russian dictator with armed forces, (and I do understand that nuclear weapons threats are real deterrents), just what can these countries do? Sanctions are long-term issues, but what will stop this madman? I see more heavy arms being sent to Ukraine but agree that some airplanes are necessary, even as I also agree that a NATO no-fly zone is not workable because of the greater risk of confrontation with Russian pilots. The U.S. and others in NATO are trying to find which are the best options moving forward. There are no simple answers here. Pundits have said that Putin thought Zelensky would leave the country and his countrymen would welcome the Russians. When that did not happen, and the Ukrainians fought back fiercely, Putin then leveled the cities, hoping would topple the President or drive him to beg for respite. So far that has not happened and the Ukrainians have conceded nothing. However, many of their cities are destroyed. Who will put them back together again? Will I assess reparations against Russian holdings? What will happen to the millions who have fled; will they have a country to return to? Think how long it took Europe and England to recover from the last continent-wide war; it took decades.

The Ukrainian forces killed many Russian soldiers during the various battles, but frequently the invading troops left the bodies at that spot. As one who grew up placing flowers on the graves of fallen relatives and veterans from World War II, I cannot imagine the pain the families of these soldiers will have in never finding closure for their deaths. However, Russian propaganda claims military deaths have been only in the low hundreds, while NATO and the Ukrainians claim that up to 15,000 Russian soldiers have died so far. All Russian males between 18 and 27 are subject to military conscription for one year, depending on the needs of the state. Currently, U.S. estimates are that up to one-quarter of the active-duty Russian troops in Ukraine are conscripts, even though Putin has denied that they are being used in messages to his country. Last week Russia announced that around 130,000 conscripts are being called up now. Reports show he is also looking for mercenaries and has asked Chechen and Syrian forces to volunteer to help in his invasion. Belarus was also asked to provide troops but has held back because of domestic insecurities; Russia even held pre-invasion exercises in Belarus and many thought its troops would join, but since the fraudulent election there recently, Belarus is unstable.

Other reports note that possibly the Wagner troops are being activated for use in Ukraine. Wagner troops are Putin’s answer to the private forces used by the U.S. in Iraq, then called Blackwater. According to the Intercept, Wagner provided mercenaries to assist Russian forces when they invaded the Crimean area of Ukraine. It is important to note that the Wagner forces have been under U.S. sanctions for murders and military activities since 2014. The EU has also sanctioned this group for mercenary activities, according to Lawfare.com. The Economist reports that over 400 mercenaries from this shadowy group were sent to Ukraine to murder Zelensky and others important in the government. A leader of the secret Russian Troll farm, the Internet Research Agency, is thought to be a funding source for this group. Others, however, have called the group Putin’s private army. Its’ presence across Africa is growing; as both China and Russia are looking to control the precious minerals yet to be discovered in many parts of this under-explored continent.

The former leader of the Blackwater forces, Erik Prince, (brother of our former education secretary, Betsy DeVos) was said to have offered to join with the Wagner mercenary troops in actions in Libya, Syria, and several African nations where Russia is attempting to gain a foothold. There is no information about what relationship the previous administration had with Prince although, he donated to the MAGA campaign and held shadowy meetings outside the U.S. with some administration associates. There have been claims he was involved with shady operations and arms sales. A jury acquitted his Blackwater forces of the unprovoked murder of Iraqi citizens; he renamed the mercenary group Xe Services and sold it to a private investor group. At one time, it held contracts for the State Department and the CIA for security services worth millions of dollars and was considered the largest private military force in the world. He has now formed a third force called Academi and, according to the Atlantic, even offered to take over the security in Afghanistan to allow U.S. forces to be sent home. He tried to oust the UN troops in Libya but failed in this attempt a few years ago.

When the U. S, military fights in a conflict, it is supposed to follow the Military Code of Conduct. Other countries follow a similar code as well; it allows for fair treatment of prisoners and captured civilians and stands against massive devastation and murder of non-combatants as is now happening in Ukraine. Private armies are seldom under such restraints and are often answerable to no codes of conduct, nor are they acknowledged by those who hired them in many cases. I do not know what kind of training the Russian forces have had, but I know that they have engaged in unrestrained savagery previously in Chechnya and Syria. The Taliban defeated them in Afghanistan and the Russians left Chechnya without a victory. Perhaps the lack of any consequences after these actions and the invasions in Crimea made the Russian government and Putin believe they could act savagely, with impunity, and have no pushback.

Maybe, because this war is now happening in a Western-leaning democratic government in Europe and not in some far-off land that many cannot locate on a map, the reactions feel closer to us all. This should not be the case; any unnecessary human death diminishes us all as we should believe that we share a common humanity. Some have faulted television reporters for feeling closer to these tragedies because many of the fleeing families look like theirs; they might be blonde and blue-eyed and speaking English. But it seems to be true that these deaths are being presented as more horrific than those victims of Buddhist riots against the Rohingya or ISIS slaughtering the Yazidi, or the killing of schoolgirls by extremists in Nigeria. Each death in these unnecessary and also horrific events causes a parent, child, or spouse to have pain and mourn.

We call ourselves civilized, but sometimes, I wonder just what can we each do to make this world better when so much energy is spent on making it worse.

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COVID notes: China is having a significant outbreak of the Omicron variant and has locked down parts of several urban centers. The BA.2 variant is active across Europe and is now the dominant force in the U.S. The CDC is advising residents over 65 to get a second booster of either the Pfizer or the Moderna vaccines. Moderna is close to requesting preliminary approval for a children’s vaccine for the 2-5-year-old range. Maryland has seen an 8% rise in cases over the last two weeks. One in six Marylanders has contracted this virus. Washington DC is also among the areas showing higher recent case numbers. This variant is said to be easily transmissible, but not as virulent. Scientists have voiced amazement at the speed with which the virus is mutating into more unique variants and are concerned that it is here to stay in multiple forms. Vaccine producers are trying to find a vaccine that is more widely applicable to these changes.

COVID Stats – NY Times

U.S. Total cases: 80,056,903.  New Cases: 27,088.

Total Deaths: 980,027.  New Deaths: 649.

Maryland Total Cases: 1,012,621. New Cases: 323.

Total Deaths: 14,347. New Deaths: 4.

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So that is about all for now. 

Tidbits: 

Hopefully, some Republicans will vote their conscience and not their party and approve of Judge Jackson. Meanwhile, the January 6^th Committee is finding gaps in White House record-keeping; are you surprised? Justice Thomas’ wife lobbied the White House before and after the last election, but he has not recused himself about issues concerning the election. And last, the former disgraced president held a rally using the theme-Save America (from or for what I am unsure). He claimed The Russians would not have invaded had he been president. Oh, and there is another caravan coming just in time for the mid-terms!

“Til next week-Hope for Peace!