I saw a poll the other day showing that lots of Republicans now believe that Trump was a better president than Reagan.
I didn't like either president, but Reagan had an emollient quality which was the opposite of Trump's abrasive mode. It's the difference between the man whose Eleventh Commandment was: speak no ill of any Republican and the man who accused his vice president of lacking courage on Jan. 6.
Sometimes what doesn't happen is more informative than what does.
Take Jan. 6. Trump promised his people at the rally that he would walk with them down to the Capitol.
He didn't? Why? Why lie to his devoted followers who'd come from all over the country to hear his words and support his cause? Why take the risk they'd turn on him for lying to them?
If the gathering at the Capitol was going to "peacefully and patriotically make their voices heard" there wouldn't seem to be much reason for Trump to cop out, to be a p***y as he calls his critics.
Just maybe he suspected that it wouldn't be peaceful? Just maybe he thought there might be some danger there? Just maybe he knew there could be violence and he was fine with that? Or just maybe he's a coward?
I may have said I would have preferred no impeachment trial. Instead I would have preferred a censure plus passage of a bill(s) to tighten the laws which Trump violated or found very elastic. Hopefully we'll still going to get some tightening, if nothing else.
Maybe we can now allow Trump to fade into the dustbin of history?
As described by Sen. Warnock's website the Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act:
"The Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act would provide $5 billion to America’s Black, indigenous, Hispanic, and farmers of color who, in addition to being hard-hit by the current public health and economic emergencies, have long struggled to keep their farms and ownership of their land in rural communities due to discrimination by USDA and other government agencies.
The Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act is supported by Rural Coalition, National Black Farmers Association (NBFA), Black Belt Justice Center, Black Farmers’ Appeal: Cancel Pigford Debt Campaign"
"While CCC operates according to a large number of statutory authorities, its broad powers allow it to carry out almost any operation required to meet the objectives of supporting U.S. agriculture"
That's from this CRS report on CCC.
I note from the report that in previous posts on CCC I missed an important element. In response to 2009 actions by the Obama administration Congress put limits on CCC authority in FY2012-2017, but failed to renew the restrictions in 2018 on.
That should be a click bait blog title, shouldn't it?
I think we switched from having a bull to artificial insemination around 1945 or so. I do remember when the basement of the barn, where the bull had been kept, was floored with concrete in preparation for having hens there.
I remember when I was banned from the barn when the inseminator came, because the process of insemination was not fit for my young eyes. I remember dad discussing the virtues of different sires in choosing the semen to be used.
It's been a long long time since then. I was struck by this piece on the dam of the bull of the century, RORA Elevation. 9 million descendants of one bull--amazing.
I'm pessimistic about Democratic chances in 2022 to maintain the House majority. The Senate may be easier.
Here's a map for the Senate, showing Pennsylvania as a tossup and Georgia as leaning Democratic. I'm not sure about Georgia; the Republicans are working on changing the rules for voting. On the other hand, Sen. Warnock did do better than Ossoff.
In the House give the Republicans a pickup of 8-10 seats from redistricting and add in the historical loss by the majority party in mid-year elections and things look grim.
It's possible that Biden and the Democrats do a great job on covid and the economy, foreign affairs don't erupt into anything major, and the Republicans experience a lot of intra-party conflict resulting in weak candidates. It's possible, but I'm not hopeful.
Perhaps the strongest argument in Trump's impeachment trial is the fear of setting a bad precedent. It should be taken seriously. When I studied American government, the idea that a president could ever be impeached was not a serious issue. When Watergate occurred there was a quick surge of research, trying to figure out the pros and cons, the procedure for impeachment.
We went ahead with the process to impeach the president. I haven't researched, but I'd guess that some serious people then said it was unlikely there would be another impeachment in the 20th century. But there was.
We went through the Clinton impeachment--that experience plus some changes in social mores may have set another precedent--we don't want another impeachment over private behavior, and hopefully future presidents have learned to handle scandals better.
So now we've impeached Trump twice. I hope the precedent we've set is never to elect a person like him again.
Politico has a long piece on Black Prohibitionism by a political science prof, Mark Lawrence Schrad.
My mother was death on alcohol. I never quite understood it. As I've gotten older I wonder whether someone in the family was a drunk. I don't know of any likely candidate, but her vehemence makes me wonder.
Anyhow, the piece puts prohibition back into the context of Progressive Era ideas to improve human life. Some of those ideas are still considered good (secret ballot), some are now considered bad (eugenics), some have seen their reputation vary over the years (referendums, city managers, experts).
I'm not sure on prohibition. We're in the process of legalizing marijuana, partially on the grounds it's less dangerous than alcohol. I've still enough puritan in me to believe that life is hard and one should not try to round off the corners. Some of the critics of prohibition see it as reflecting WASP prejudice against recent immigrants who frequented saloons. But then I read Samantha Powers memoir which deals with the alcoholism of her father (very interesting).
My current bottom line is it's good to have people on both sides of the issue--not good for one side to have it all their own way.
