Time to Think

The Stakes Just Got Higher!

By Hank Silverberg

My wife and I will be voting this week. Here in Virginia early in-person voting began last Friday. So far there have been reports of long lines. In Fairfax County, Virginia, there were reports of dozens of Trump supporters showing up not to vote, but to chant and wave flags and intimidate the people who are there to vote.

That's not a problem for me. If I run into one of those "Trump Trains" at my polling place, I will simply smile at them and wave and then go in and vote blue.

For the record it is illegal to stand outside a polling place and intimidate voters. And there are other restrictions on how close you can get to the polls to promote a candidate. So far there have been no reports of actual physical contact between opposing sides, though I suppose it will happen somewhere in the country over the next few months because the country is definitely polarized.

If you are worried about Covid-19 and want to vote by mail you can avoid the USPS and the shenanigans instituted by Trump's Postmaster General, whom I have written about the past few weeks, and simply drop off your mail-in or absentee ballot at any of the early voting spots or those strategically placed lock boxes.

I suspect the long lines we saw the first week of early voting will dissipate, and I will be able to walk right in, mask on, and cast my vote rather quickly this week. No matter what happens, it's more important now than ever.

https://www.nbcnews.com/video/trump-supporters-demonstrate-at-early-voting-sites-in-virginia-92140613713

(Courtesy of SCOTUS)

The death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has increased the stakes for this election, which won't just decide policy for the next four years, but maybe for the next 30.

I won't even try to write about the remarkable career of Justice Ginsburg. Many others have already done that, probably much better than I ever could. But I do have some thoughts about what's at stake now that she has left us.

Donald Trump wants to make a third appointment to the Supreme Court. He has already had a major impact on the court, turning it distinctively to the right, at the same time much of the country drifts distinctively back towards the center where it usually is.

Technically, according to the Constitution, Trump is supposed to nominate a replacement. He is the sitting President. But a distinct precedent was set four years ago when the Republicans refused to consider an appointment by President Obama "because it was an election year."

Justice Antonin Scalia died in February of 2016, in the early part of the election season before Trump or Hillary Clinton had even been nominated. Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell then said he would not allow Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland to go to the Senate floor for a vote. He argued that the voters had given the Senate a Republican majority in the 2014 election and the mood of the country demanded it.

Now, with the death of Justice Ginsburg just two months before the election, McConnell has changed his tune and will try to push through anyone Trump nominates no matter what the voters say this year. The hypocrisy is disgusting. But that is nothing new for McConnell and other Republicans like Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz.

Anyone appointed this year could potentially serve on the court for 30 or 35 years. And since Mr. Trump's first two appointments were distinctly conservatives, it is unlikely anyone he chooses this time will be any different. That leaves key decisions the court might make, like another challenge to Roe Vs Wade, in the hands of the right wing. It doesn't always turn out that way. Some justices have proven less conservative or less liberal once they get onto the court, but we won't know that for sure until a case comes up. The court will be very unbalanced for the first time in more than a century.

Gun control laws and the Affordable Care Act could be among the first casualties of a more conservative court. Decisions threatening Equal Employment Opportunity, pay equity for women and workers rights could soon follow. They may not all be destroyed, but losing any one of them would set this country back decades.

All is not lost, though. Democrats would need four more votes to reject a Trump nominee. Two Republican Senators, and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Susan Collins (R-ME), have indicated they would not vote on such a nominee BEFORE the election. If one other Senator, perhaps one who is in a close election before November 3 or a lame duck after November 3rd will join them the appointment could be blocked. There is no guarantee of course. Collins and Murkowski had made similar comments with the impeachment trial and then voted "not guilty." A landslide election victory for Biden could make a difference. Mitt Romney, (R-UT) had originally said he would not vote on a nominee before the inauguration, but has since changed his mind. With election pressure gone, he could change it again.

Four senators would have to vote "no" for a Trump nominee to be rejected.

That fourth vote could come from Mark Kelly, the Democratic Senate candidate in Arizona. If he wins on November 3rd, under Arizona law he would begin his term right away, since the current Senator was appointed ironically to the seat left vacant by John McCain's death. https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2020/09/20/arizona-senate-race-could-impact-confirmation-of-new-justice

The voters have noticed. Campaign contributions to Democratic candidates jumped significantly within 24 hours of Justice Ginsburg's death.

And a poll done by Reuters this weekend indicates that 62% of the public, including most Republicans, believe the person elected president in November should pick the new Supreme Court Justice.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-ginsburg-poll-idUSKCN26B0TN

Your vote matters now, more than ever. Even if Joe Biden wins the election though, Trump may get produce one last disaster--approval of an ultra-conservative judge to fill Ginsburg's seat.

Of Note:

"Those who forget the past are condemned to relive it."

The origin of that quote above, one of my favorites, is in dispute, but its meaning is not. We can learn an awful lot from history. And that's why a new study out on young people's knowledge of the Holocaust is shocking, and frankly unsettling.

The U.S. Millennial Holocaust Knowledge and Awareness Survey,
done in all 50 states, shows a distinct lack of factual knowledge among Millennials and Generation Z. Sixty-three percent of those questioned did not know that six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis. And although there were 40,000 camps and ghettos where people were killed in very large numbers between 1933 and 1945, only 48% of those questioned could name one.

(General Dwight Eisenhower (center, wearing officer's cap) and other high-ranking U.S. Army officers view the bodies of prisoners who were killed during the evacuation of Ohrdruf, while on a tour of the newly liberated concentration camp in April 1945.Courtesy United States Holocaust Memorial Museum/National Archives)

Even more shocking in the survey:

"The state-by-state analysis yielded a particularly disquieting finding that nearly 20 percent of Millennials and Gen Z in New York feel the Jews caused the Holocaust".

New York is the home to 1.7 million Jews, the highest number in any individual place in the United States.

The report also says that 49% of this same nationwide group have witnessed a denial or distortion of the Holocaust on social media or elsewhere online.

You can go to an interactive map at this link to see a state-by-state breakdown of the survey:

http://www.claimscon.org/millennial-study/

It is clear to me that the results of this survey show a distinct failure in our education system at the high school and college level. The question remains: does that condemn us to relive another Holocaust?

And then there is this:

Is Greenland melting? Scientists say they have more evidence that climate change is having a big impact. A huge chunk of Greenland's ice cap has broken off this month in the far northeast Artic. We are talking very big-- 42.3 square miles.

The ice shelf has lost 62 square miles since 1999. That's an area nearly twice the size of Manhattan.

(Satellite photo of the ice chunk, courtesy
of the European Space Agency)

In August, a study showed Greenland had lost a record amount of ice in 2019, a year which was extra warm. It was enough ice melt to cover all of California in four feet of water.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottsnowden/2020/09/17/worlds-glaciers-continue-to-melt/#50556be265ff

The implications are obvious. All that water goes into the ocean and threatens shorelines worldwide. Think about that the next time you hear about beach erosion in general or "storm surge" during a hurricane.

And finally, some entertainment with a distinct message:

I am not a fan of country music, and frankly I had never heard of Tyler Childers before this week. But he has done something unique.

He has put out a song called "Long Violent History" with some lyrics designed to make you think.

The song has a double meaning and Childers felt it was necessary to go on Youtube and explain the song "so that it would not be misunderstood."

Here's the song:

Listen to Childers' full explanation and you'll understand:

It was a nice job getting a good message across.

(Note to my readers. I have removed all ads from my Blog except the one for my own book. They were clogging up the works. I am still looking for someone who wishes to publish this blog for a small fee)

(Your suggestions and comments are welcome)