It was Quite a Week!

This was a week to celebrate, commemorate and consider.

In Maryland, we celebrated the inauguration of the first Black Governor in the state's history-Democrat Wes Moore. (There have been two Black Lieutenant Governors, both Republicans and three black candidates for governor over recent years. Michael Steele ran on the Republican side and Anthony Brown and Ben Jealous ran for the Democrats, but none were successful.) In his victory, Moore becomes the third elected Black governor in US history. Virginia elected Democrat Doug Wilder decades ago. Deval Patrick, a Republican, recently stepped down from his post in Massachusetts.

Moore's choice of Aruna Miller as Lieutenant Governor marks her as the first immigrant in that office; Miller, an engineer, and former delegate immigrated from India as a child.

Brooke Lierman, in the office of Comptroller, is the first woman ever elected to serve in that position while former Congressman Anthony Brown is the first Black Attorney General in MD.

Moore campaigned on leaving no one behind in Maryland and echoed those words in his inaugural speech. He wants to have a state that works for all of its people, not just a few. The public expects him to look acutely at poverty in the state and issues involving criminal justice reform. Maryland has had several high-profile cases recently where prisoners have been released after years of wrongly being incarcerated. In one of his first acts as Governor, Moore released millions of dollars allocated by the legislature for creating a structure for the business of marijuana dispensaries and funding education for additional providers for abortion services, that former Governor Hogan would not release early. The funds covered other legislation as well.

According to Pew Research, Maryland is eighth in the number of states with significant populations of eligible Black voters.

“As of 2020, eight states are home to about half of all Black eligible voters in the United States. Texas has the largest number, with 2.7 million, followed by Georgia and Florida (each 2.5 million). Rounding out the top eight are New York (2.3 million), California (2.0 million), North Carolina (1.8 million), and Maryland and Illinois (1.4 million each). Together, these states account for 52% of Black eligible voters in the 50 states and D.C.”

And, according to the Washington Post, Black voters turned out in high numbers to elect Wes Moore, who got 53% of the white voters in pre-election polls, and 80% of the black votes in the same polls. Moore won with a margin of 64% of the total vote, beating his ultra-conservative opponent by over 30 points.

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This week also saw Americans remembering the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the anniversary of his birth and the holiday that commemorates it. Across the nation, people engaged in service projects for their communities in his honor. President Biden spoke at church services in Atlanta at Dr. King's church, Ebenezer Baptist, where Senator Warnock now preaches. He mentioned the voting rights legislation that John Lewis had supported before his death. I doubt that anything will be done in Congress to pass meaningful legislation. I believe that was a big failing of Senator Schumer and President Biden, that they did not get these voting protection bills passed. According to CNN, polls have shown that Black voter participation was lower in the midterms. Was it because of voter suppression, apathy, or poor candidates in some races; I do not know. I believe Georgia was an exception to this statistic as Black voters showed up for the general election and the run-off. If the President runs again in 2024, he will need Black voters, especially in urban areas to show up at the polls and be surrogates for his campaign.

Interesting note: After two run-offs in which the Democrats won, Governor Kemp in Georgia has proposed doing away with the requirement for a run-off if no candidate gets less than 50% of the vote. They originally established the law to suppress the Black voter turnout.

Another interesting note: In Mississippi and Alabama, they know the holiday as King-Lee Day as the day jointly celebrates Confederate General Robert E Lee along with Dr. King. Hey guys, you lost the war! Get over it!

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Issues to consider: In an interesting article in The New York Times, environmentalist and director of The Third Act, Bill McKibben writes he believes that older Americans who usually vote Republican are switching away from Republicans, such as Florida's Villages! He contends that:

"But in the 63 most competitive congressional districts, the places where big money was spent on ads and where the margin in the House was decided, polling by AARP, an advocacy group for people over 50, found some fascinating numbers. In early summer, Republicans had a sturdy lead among older voters in 50 of those districts, up 50 percent to 40 percent. Those had Republicans salivating. But on Election Day, voters over 65 actually broke for Democrats in those districts, 49 to 46."

He believes the issues such as climate change and environmental concerns, as well as the Dobbs decision, were major reasons voters changed their minds. Exit polls showed that for women over 50, the Dobbs decision influenced their vote to choose a Democrat 2 to 1..  Of course, the Republican demands by Senator Scott of Florida to weaken or reauthorize Medicare and Social Security every five years were also major concerns. Medicare and Social Security have been described as the third rail of politics, the place where it is suicidal to go, but some millionaires in the Senate such as Scott and Ron Johnson do not seem to care. McKibben notes that for 40% of all retirees, Social Security is all they have for income. Another significant measure mentioned by older voters was the threat to democracy they perceived.

He concludes by noting that ten thousand Americans turn 60 every day and that today's older voters are not your parents' grandparents!

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On that note, this week also saw the 50^th anniversary of the Supreme Court's original decision on Roe. For many, that used to be a day to celebrate, no longer. Washington DC has long seen those opposed to the Roe decision come to DC every January to march against this decision. Area Catholic and other religious schools have bused students in to march in what they call pro-life demonstrations. This year they were still here but, sadly, were celebrating. There were small counter-demonstrations here, but larger ones across the country where marchers supported Roe. The pro-life demonstrators were calling for a nationwide abortion ban, while their opponents were marching to codify Roe options in state constitutions where abortion is still legal since an attempt to do so at the Federal level last year failed.

I do not understand why the same people who want to prohibit choice in pregnancies are also the ones who do not support Medicaid funding or Snap funds or daycare options for working mothers. According to the 19^th a news site, legislators in Oklahoma are planning to introduce felony penalties against pregnant women who take abortion pills; although some claim that the law will just target providers. A similar law proposed in Louisiana did not pass. Just today, President Biden loosened restrictions on medication abortions and made the medication (Mifepristone) available without an in-person physician visit. Misoprostol is the second medication and like Mifepristone can now be dispensed by pharmacies with valid prescriptions, instead of only in clinics. (The two medications are taken in sequence days apart.) States, where abortions are banned, are currently trying to work around mail-order prescription availability. Some have even tried to determine who was ordering the medications and make that illegal. Kaiser Family Foundation discusses the issues here.

Meanwhile, horror stories continue as providers are afraid to treat women with tubal or ectopic pregnancies or care for those having first-trimester miscarriages in states such as Texas with strict bans. Did none of these legislators ever have a spouse who had a miscarriage? Do they not understand these are not unusual occurrences? They occur in one out of every three pregnancies or, according to NIH, about 26% of all pregnancies before 20 weeks, with most occurring in the first trimester. The medical terms "spontaneous abortion" and "miscarriage" are used interchangeably. Legislators who either do not care to understand pregnancy, do not know what causes pregnancies, or have never been pregnant should not try to legislate areas where they know little. And women who know better should act better.

‘Til next week-Peace!