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writing for godot

All These Things I Don’t Think I Remember and Covid-19

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Written by Sinclair Noe   
Thursday, 12 March 2020 07:35

 

By Sinclair Noe

My mind is sometimes like an old bucket collecting rainwater; I retain a good amount and then it spills over. With the Covid-19 overload of information and misinformation, I realize there are several things, important things, that I don’t think I remember. I don't know if the misdirection is intentional, but it is disturbing.

It might shock you to recall the Supreme Court is still in session and still serving up fluffy partisanship for Trump’s emergency petitions – perhaps you heard Justice Sotomayor’s accusations of conservative bias. Sotomayor’s timing was terrible, leveling the charges just as the coronavirus was ramping up. Now, US District Court Judge Lynn Adelman has picked up the baton and offers a list; the Roberts Court has supported voter suppression and gerrymandering; the court continues to privilege the wealthy and corporations over ordinary citizens – not much new there. Judge Adelman warns the court’s long, slow assault on democracy means “We are thus in a new and arguably dangerous phase in American history.” Welcome to the resistance, your honor.

Too late. On the same day Trump announced a ban on travel between the US and the European Union (minus the UK, because that’s where Trump has three golf courses), the Supreme Court said the administration may continue its “Remain in Mexico” policy for asylum seekers. This means the refugees on the southern border must remain in huddled masses (60,000-plus) just south of the border, without work, without healthcare, without means, without hygienic conditions, without golf, without hope. What could go wrong?

I have a vague recollection of children in cages. I guess that is still going on. Have you heard anything recently about the systematic child abuse at the ICE concentration camps? Nope, not a peep.

Meanwhile, the Supremes announced they will schedule a hearing for a lawsuit that could wipe out Obamacare on a technicality. The case is considered very weak and chances are low that Umpire Roberts will call a strikeout against Obamacare, but..., (see above). Best guess is that the Supremes are conducting an experiment to see if irony can die in a pandemic.

In yet another test, Trump seems to be challenging the concept of social Darwinism. A few days ago, at Mar-a-Lago, Trump met with Fabio Wajngarten, the press secretary for Brazilian president Bolsonaro. Fabio and Trump exchanged baseball caps and shook hands. A few days later and Fabio tested positive for Covid-19. Irony seems to be winning.

SCOTUS will also hear a case on faithless electors, or electoral college voters who might go rogue. Sotomayor recused herself because she has an old family friendship with one of the parties in the case. Sotomayor should consider forsaking all friendships, for the sake of democracy.

I nearly forgot the trifecta: Trump v. Mazars/Vance/Deutsche Bank – those cases that could finally reveal Trump’s taxes and financial falderal with Russian money laundering oligarchs, theoretically.  It is a near certainty that the taxes/financials are just dripping with malfeasance and felonies, but we might never know for sure. A bad ruling here could surgically remove any semblance of oversight, or a spine, that might remain in Congress.

Texas, Louisiana, Alabama just executed a death row inmate. Nathaniel Woods was accused of masterminding an ambush of police as they tried to arrest him on a drug charge back in 2004. Another man in the house admitted to shooting and killing three policemen; the shooter claims Woods was not involved in the shootings. Martin Luther King III and Kim Kardashian West intervened in the case. The Supreme Court issued a stay of execution and then - psyche – lifted it. Woods was convicted by 10 out of the 12 jurors; it wasn’t unanimous. Woods was a black man. I’m shocked, shocked I tell you.

There are other things the Supremes are dealing with: guns and abortion, but that all pales in the ethereal mist of a pandemic.

Speaking of gerrymandering, it won’t be long now until you get your Census forms. Did you forget? Complete the form and mail it in. Do not make them come to your door for the vital info. In the past, many minority communities were undercounted; fear was a major factor. Now, old folks are scared to go outside, much less answer the door.

Who won the war? The Trade War with China. Is it over? Did we win?

Before Covid-19 destroyed our collective memory, the biggest existential threat was the climate catastrophe. Polar ice caps are melting six times faster than in the 1990s. The Thwaite Glacier was melting. Remember the cartoons where the coyote ran off the edge of a cliff and for a few moments he just hung in the air before inevitably falling, and hitting with a dull thud and a puff of dust? The Thwaites Glacier is like the coyote, except the puff of dust is replaced with a splash in the ocean and sea level rise of 3 to 15 feet. Shanghai, Mumbai and Miami would all flood and drown. The poorer parts of the planet would invariably suffer worst; in this way, Covid-19 and the Thwaite Glacier share something in common.

In the deep recesses of my hippocampus, I seem to recall a presidential election. For some ungodly reason, the guy with the Medicare for All plan is trailing because the electorate has been brainwashed by corporate mediabelieves universal healthcare is too expensive. Seriously, I can’t make this up. A virus doesn’t have respect for socialism, capitalism, or any other ism but if everyone had access to medical care, it might be a good thing. Trump hasn’t figured it out yet. He thinks he can talk/tweet his way out of this problem. A virus doesn’t care if you call it a hoax. A virus doesn’t care if banks are fully capitalized, so a Fed bailout is just a sign of desperation. The US doesn’t make much anymore. We are a service economy. If the services are not sold, they can’t be stockpiled in inventory and sold later. Pandemics are bad for business and even worse for people. This economics stuff is pretty simple.

My wife just returned home. She was out hunting Purell and Clorox wipes. I went to the store yesterday but the shelves were bare. I don’t know how, but she managed to hoard buy a bunch of stuff. The counter top is  covered in various disinfectants. She also purchased a cute little purple taser device. I don’t know what she plans to do with the taser, but I won’t forget to use the Purell.

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