When Sharon and I announced that we would be moving to Florida at a dinner in Marin County with some of closest friends, the reaction was a combination of general sadness and extreme incredulity.
“Florida? Did you say, Florida?”
Continue reading “Florida, my Florida”
Once upon a time there was a land where almost no one visited. The land was unblessed, except for one thing. Black, dusty stuff that came out of the ground. No one in this land knew what to do with this black, dusty stuff until one cold winter day, a man living in this unblessed land, after lighting his pipe, threw the still flaming match on a pile of the black, dusty stuff and, wonder of wonders, the black, dusty ignited, warming the man and all his friends nearby. On that day, no one in this unblessed land where almost no one visited was ever cold again.
Unfortunately, the black, dusty stuff didn’t come out of the ground by itself; it had to be taken out from deep below the ground, in places called mines, by men with picks and shovels. The work was hard and the men often got sick from the black dust the black stuff spread. The sickness these hard working men got became known as “black lung disease.” The miners, as they became to be called, made little money, barely providing for their families. The sons of these miners followed their fathers into the mines; their daughters married other miners. And so it went.
Although education wasn’t a priority for the people of this land, there was one thing they knew well. And that was the difference between north and south and east and west. And that the land just to the east of their land where almost no one ever visited was named, “Virginia.” So, in their geographic wisdom these people named their land, “West Virginia.” But, alas, the aura of Virginia didn’t rub off and they remained poor.
Many years later an ambitious boy from this land that almost no one visited, this land now called West Virginia, was born. Unlike many of their neighbors, the men from this boy’s family did not go under the ground with picks and shovels; this boy’s family were merchants and didn’t want this boy to become a miner. So, they sent him to college. The boy’s name was Joe.
When Joe went to college he discovered that he liked to party. So, although the most popular parties were the ones thrown by the GammaOmegaPi (ΓΩΠ)fraternity (or GOP), ambitious Joe thought it would be better for his ambitions to go to the parties run by the the school’s smaller, “Jackass Club” (soon to be called the “Donkey Club,” then, simply, the “Dems”) where there would be less competition and he could more easily become one of the leaders.
It worked, and soon after, Joe rose to the top, not only of the Dems but of all of the land now called West Virginia – ultimately to be named King of the Land.
But Joe was not happy being King. Despite having heard that much further north there was another king, Max of Bialystok, also known as the King of Old Broadway, was fond of saying, “It’s good to be King,” Joe didn’t think it was good. Frankly, he didn’t like all the work the King of West Virginia had to do. And he certainly didn’t like having to meet with the poor, poorly educated black-faced miners with black lung disease and their barely educated families (black-faced and diseased due to the dust from the black, dusty stuff, now called coal, that they had to dig up from the ground).
So King Joe abdicated and, still a Dem in a land where the majority of the people love the GOP, became Joe, Duke of Manchin, and was surprisingly elected to be something known as a senator where he was able to play out his ambitions across all the lands that made up the Empire of America.
Although when Joe, Duke of Manchin came to the Senate he was still a Dem, he realized that because the land of West Virginia, where no one ever visited, loved the GOP so much, he would have to call himself a Dem but act like GammaOmegaPi or he would end up going home to West Virginia, no longer a duke and with no one visiting him – because no one ever visited the land now called West Virginia. So, Joe, Duke of Manchin became known as a “DINO,” a “Dem In Name Only.”
As Joe, Duke of Manchin learned more and more about the rules of this place they called the Senate, he became more and more enamored of them. One rule he learned about was a thing called the “filibuster.” But since Joe, Duke of Manchin had only heard the word but never saw it written down, he first thought it was a “Phillybuster,” similar to a sandwich delicacy created in a land just north of West Virginia, in a land called Philadelphia, called a “Philly cheese steak,” only bigger and bustier.
But soon Joe, Duke of Manchin learned that the filibuster was not a sandwich and was, in fact, first established by an evil man named Sir Aaron of Burr, and was an arcane rule, that threatened democracy throughout the land. He also heard from his fellow Dems that this filibuster must be overturned if democratic legislation was to be passed and democracy was to survive. But true to his DINO status, Joe, Duke of Manchin sided with his old GOP friends and would not vote to overturn the filibuster no matter the consequences, saying, it was an institution of the Senate and that he was keeping with the wishes of his mentor from the land of West Virginia, Lord Robert of Byrd. The Duke’s position on the filibuster was derided by his Dem colleagues but was greeted by the senior GOP leader, Count McConnell of Moscow with many huzzahs!
As for the Duke’s Dem friends, even more difficult for them to understand than his position on the filibuster was his vote against a proposed law, the For the People Act, that would, in an effort to help to preserve American democracy, roll back dozens of partisan laws being passed by Republican state legislatures to limit early and mail-in voting, empower bi-partisan poll watchers, restrict partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts, strike down hurdles to voting and bring transparency to a murky campaign finance system. Among dozens of other provisions, it would also require states to offer 15 days of early voting and allow no excuse absentee balloting.
The Duke, not noting the irony, explained his position this way. “The fundamental right to vote has itself become overtly politicized. I believe that partisan voting legislation will destroy the already weakening binds of our democracy, and for that reason, I will vote against the For the People Act.”
When confronted by voting rights expert, Reb Ari Berman of Brooklyn, who said, “I don’t recall Republicans asking for bipartisan support before they introduced 400 voter suppression bills & enacted 22 new voter suppression laws in 14 states so far this year, ” Joe, Duke of Manchin said that he was late for a meeting and was not addressing any questions. Reb Ari of Brooklyn never asked the Duke about the irony of his position, remembering that neither DINOs nor GOP members understood the meaning of the word.
Although the filibuster remained and the For the People Act was not passed, the Dems, in spite of DINOs like Joe, the Duke of Manchin and Kyrsten, Baroness of Sinema, rallied their forces and overcame GOP efforts to suppress voting; they won significant majorities in the elections in the year 2022.
And, Joe, Duke of Manchin? Despite his DINO status, and true to the nature of the land of West Virginia, the land that no one visited, he ran for reelection in the year 2024 as a Dem and was handedly defeated by a bonafide member of the GOP party. But by this point, it didn’t matter. And, neither did the filibuster. Why? Because the efforts of the Dems to overcome partisan voter suppression laws were so successful they ended up controlling this place called the Senate 62-40*. And everyone, except Joe, Duke of Manchin and Count McConnell of Moscow lived happily ever after under the loving reign of Queen Kamala of Oakland who was followed by King Pete of Buttigieg, who was followed by…
Wait, me thinks this fable is getting ahead of itself.
(*By 2023 the land known as Washington DC had become what is known as a state and was awarded two senators, expanding the Senate to 102 members. And, in 2025, the land known as Puerto Rico also became a state and was also awarded two senators, further expanding the Senate to 104 members. Subsequent to this second expansion, in the election of 2026, the Dems controlled this newly expanded Senate, 64-40.)
Before we get deep into the headlined story, I thought it might be fun if we’d first take a break and warm up with the first annual Around the Block “One Of These Things Is Not Like The Others” contest. The rules are simple: look at the images below and put an “X” under the image you believe is not like the others. I’ll give you a few minutes to choose and then, because Around the Block has not yet evolved into an interactive blog, provide the answers below.
So, now it’s time to play,
“One Of These Things Is Not Like The Others”
I’ll give you time to think.
Ok, I understand a few of you are struggling to come up with the answer, so I’ll provide you with a hint:
I know, I know. This is tricky. I mean there are two Ruger assault weapons, but they’re different…one’s a rifle, the other a pistol. And a Swiss Army Knife? Clearly different, you say.
Well, time’s up. And the answer: not one of those things is different. In fact, they’re all the same. At least according to the Federal judge who overturned California’s 22-year old ban on assault weapons.
How so? This is how so:
As reported by CNN,
In a ruling that compared the AR-15 to a Swiss Army knife, a federal judge overturned California’s longtime ban on assault weapons on Friday, ruling it violates the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms.
According to the ruling by U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez of San Diego, the assault weapons ban deprives Californians from owning assault-style weapons commonly allowed in other states. Benitez issued a permanent injunction Friday so the law cannot be enforced.
“Like the Swiss Army Knife, the popular AR-15 rifle is a perfect combination of home defense weapon and homeland defense equipment,” Benitez said in the ruling. “Firearms deemed as ‘assault weapons’ are fairly ordinary, popular, modern rifles.”
Just to put your mind at ease that this wasn’t a sudden epiphany on the fine judge’s part, CNN went on to report that “…Last year, Benitez ruled California’s ban on high-capacity magazines was unconstitutional. He also struck down the state’s restriction on remote purchases of gun ammunition.”
Now, as heinous as this ruling appears, and it will be appealed by the state, there is this one niggling question. According to reporting from the San Francisco Chronicle,
California, the most populous state in the nation and home to some of its strictest gun laws, was also the site of the most active shooter incidents over the past two decades, according to a new FBI report.
The Golden State saw 42 active shooter incidents between 2000 and 2019, a figure more than 50% higher than the 27 shootings recorded in Florida, the state with the second-highest number of such attacks.
So, I guess the question is, do laws really matter? I believe they do. But while we’re thinking about and writing these laws, not just at the state but at the Federal level as well, there’s another critical path: How about a complete re-interpretation of one of the most abused amendments to the Constitution. Yes, you originalists out there, do you really think the Founders meant to protect the rights of people to carry and use the kinds of weapons freely (and now in California, more freely) available when they wrote this convoluted Second Amendment sentence:
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
The late, not-so-great NRA is fond of saying, “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” Or, “It’s not a gun issue, it’s a mental health issue.” I guess that sentiment is why we’re supposed to have waiting periods and background checks. But then there’s Texas and Tennessee which, along with 19 other states, have laws that allow the carrying of handguns, both openly and concealed, without a license or the need for training. Will background checks and waiting periods be next on the gun control chopping block. Crazy!
Finally, while I’m on the subject of crazy:
Former President Donald Trump said a radio host’s suggestion that he run for a House seat in 2022 in a bid to become Speaker and consequently launch an impeachment investigation against President Joe Biden was “very interesting.”
During an interview on Friday afternoon with VRAinsider.com, far-right radio host Wayne Allyn Root suggested that Trump runs for Congress in a bid to “wipe” Biden out.
“Why not, instead of waiting for 2024, and I’m hoping you’ll run in 2024, but why not run in 2022 for the United States Congress? A House seat in Florida. Win big. Lead us to a dramatic landslide victory. Take the House by 50 seats,” Root said.
“Then you become the Speaker of the House, lead the impeachment of Biden and start criminal investigations against Biden. You’ll wipe him out for this last two years,” the radio host continued.
When Katharine Lee Bates wrote these words at the turn of the 20th Century, do you think she could have ever imagined an America like ours?
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
Around the Block has been quiet for a while. It’s not because I haven’t had any things I’ve wanted to say; there’s plenty to say: Trump is back; “Trumpism” never went away; Pence is still acting the toady; Matt Gaetz is a moron (yes, he did retweet a Memorial Day tribute to that great American soldier-hero Lee Harvey Oswald); Marjorie Taylor Greene is still an anti-Semitic racist (yes, she did equate wearing a mask with the yellow stars the Nazis forced Jews to wear during the Holocaust, calling them, I believe, “Gold Stars”); a woman in Tennessee fashioned one of those “Gold Stars” with a new inscription, replacing the word “Jude” with “Mask-less”; Republicans in the Senate used the the first filibuster of 2021 to stop passage of the establishment of the January 6th Commission charged with investigating the Capitol insurrection; voter suppression laws and regulations continue to spread among the Red States like poison ivy; endless, bogus and flawed recounts of a legitimate election held over six months ago continue; Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy are still, well, indescribable; Israel is a mess; and Hurricane Season in Florida officially began this week.
Suffice it to say, there’s been plenty of material.
Continue reading “The revelations of a road trip”
(*”Diary” is the Daily Kos term for a story.)
I frequently re-post Around the Block in the Daily Kos. A reader there responded to my recent column, “If you can’t ‘beat em,’ ‘cheat em'”. https://around-the-block.com/2021/05/08/if-you-cant-beat-em-cheat-em/.
Here’s that comment:
“When the only way we seem to be able to fight these outrageous laws is with sarcastic diaries and comments and irony on political message boards, we’ve got a huge f*****g problem. I’m sick of and disgusted by all these voter suppressions, but sending nasty messages to Manchin to fight them seems to have zero effect as well. Still waiting for someone who has an ingenious solution.”
Continue reading ““I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!””
Well, it’s official – my adopted state of Florida has joined a growing list of Republican-led states in making it more difficult to vote.
The Florida law, signed by the current heart throb of the right, Governor Ron DeSantis, is particularly egregious. During a bill-signing ceremony in West Palm Beach broadcast exclusively by Fox News, DeSantis praised the Florida legislation as the “strongest election integrity measures in the country.” He said this despite the fact that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
Continue reading “If you can’t ‘beat em,’ ‘cheat em!’”
Many Around the Block readers know that I spend a fair amount of time in Knoxville, Tennessee. Why? Well, it’s not just because Knoxville is a pleasant, mid-size city set at the foot of the picturesque Smokey Mountains. It’s not because of its vibrant downtown scene centered around the main drag, Gay Street (I kid you not). And not because it is the home of the main campus of the University of Tennessee giving the city a hint of college-town sensibility (the great Peyton Manning went to UT – the street right by the football stadium is actually called “Peyton Manning Pass” – I guess if there’s a Dan Marino Blvd. in Miami, anything is possible. Although you’ve got to admit the “Pass” thing is clever in its way). No, it’s because Knoxville is where my oldest nephew lives with two of my great nieces and one great nephew. (Why they’re not called my grand nieces and nephews I really can’t say.)
Knoxville was in the news this week. And not in a good way. In a week in which the the trial of Derek Chauvin, the alleged murderer of George Floyd dragged on; in a week in which a Brooklyn Center, MN police officer shot and killed a black man, Daunte Wright, during a traffic stop; it was also a week where there was a deadly shooting at the Austin-East Magnet High School in the northeast section of Knoxville.
The news of the shooting at Austin-East made the national media, but generally buried deep inside the paper or as a :30 second mention on cable news.
Why?
Well first, it wasn’t about a cop shooting a black man. Not only was it a black-on-black shooting, you know the kind that happens in Chicago all the time and is the Republican go-to when gun control is mentioned, it was the fifth fatal shooting at this school in 2021. Not good. Not tolerable. And, I’m sure while caused by many factors, including socio-economic demographics, the availability of guns was one of the reasons.
But here’s the thing.
On April 8, a mere four days before the Austin-East shooting, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed the permit-less carry bill, also known as the constitutional carry bill, after the Tennessee House passed it last week. The law goes into effect on July 1.
Here’s a photo of Governor Lee, introducing the bill, surrounded by more than 40 members of the Tennessee General Assembly, supporting the “God-given” and constitutionally-protected Second Amendment rights of Tennesseans with a Constitutional Carry bill.
Obviously, there’s no cause and effect between this bill and the shooting; the law doesn’t go into effect until July. But think about the juxtaposition of the two events.
Just to be clear about what this law is about, take a look:
The legislation allows military members ages 18 to 20, and adults 20 and older to carry open or concealed handguns without a permit. Currently, gun owners have to take a training course before carrying a handgun.
According to News Channel 5 in Nashville, “While the bill was a priority this year for Gov. Lee, it has received criticism from numerous groups, including law enforcement over concerns it would increase crime. However, supporters claim they’re supporting 2nd Amendment rights.
Really? Second Amendment rights? Well yes. I guess the argument from our originalist Constitutional scholars (of which I’m sure there are many in the Tennessee legislature), goes something like this: “The Founders ain’t said nothing about them-there gun permits.”
As outrageous as this all is, the reason I’m really writing about it is that a curious thing happened to me as I was reading and thinking about the shooting, about the law and about my family living in what now has to be considered a state as loony, and perhaps more deadly, than my own state of Florida. (Yes…Bill Lee has now broken into the top five dumbest governors in America, a list that includes, Ron DeSantis, Brian Kemp, Greg Abbot and, sorry to say, Andrew Cuomo.)
Oh, yeah – the curious thing.
I have a real good friend; some might consider him one of my best friends. I’ve known this friend for over 50 years, so he’s certainly one of my oldest. Not only are we friends, our families are as well, as the many photos and movies of my daughters and his sons growing up together will attest to.
My friend and I are similar in many respects. We’re about the same age. We both grew up in Jewish middle class outer-borough families (he in Queens, I in Brooklyn) and we both eventually ended up in South Florida. Pre-Covid I saw my friend every week for Happy Hour and we went out to dinner as couples as often as we could. There’s this one thing however. On politics, I’m pretty far left; my friend is as far to the right as one can get. Despite the fact that we disagree on almost anything of import (except the excellent Happy Hour value the B.R. Cohn Silver Cabernet is), we always have a great time together.
One more thing. My friend is gun owner, has a concealed weapon permit and is generally “packing” whenever we go out. And no, that fact does not make me feel safer when we’re out together despite his statements to the contrary.
Knowing that my nephew and family lives in Tennessee, my friend called me on Monday right after the shooting in Knoxville to make sure everyone was OK. After assuring him that they were fine and that the incident was in an area far from where they lived, I mentioned my astonishment and anger that Tennessee had just passed the “Constitutional Carry Law” described above.
Guess what? My gun-toting, NRA card-carrying, Fox News-junkie best friend agreed with me. In fact, he said, “What are they crazy? No one who hasn’t been trained and received certification should have a gun. And open carry is nuts. Open carry gives these criminals the jump on cops who have to have their weapons secured on their belt.”
Wow, I told my friend, “We agree on something that has to do with gun control. I’m going to mark this date on my calendar.” Of course, he then went on to say that regarding all the cop homicides, that most of the people the cops killed were “criminals” so there is some justification for the police actions at these “traffic stops.”
Ah, well – B.R. Cohn Silver and the “Constitutional Carry Law.” Two out of three ain’t bad!
Around the Block: Good evening Senator McConnell. Thank you for agreeing to this sit down. This is an exciting moment for Around the Block and our readers.
Continue reading “Mitch McConnell to Corporate America: “STAY OUT OF POLITICS!””
Donald Trump’s hometown newspaper, the Palm Beach Post, ran a front-page story today headlined, “Talk of a Donald Trump presidential library has some open records watchdogs wary.”
As you can tell by that headline, the thrust of the story concerned whether Trump should actually be “entrusted with a presidential library? And if so, who should be in charge of telling the story of the Trump presidency?
Continue reading “Presidential Library and Trump is a contradiction in terms”
*I translated the headline because, despite his Cuban family heritage, the junior senator from Texas, Ted Cruz, does not speak Spanish, “very well.”
I’m writing about these two “esteemed” senators today because they’ve both recently been in the news – Cruz for his very publicized sojourn to the Southern border; Rubio for his not so well-known concerns about UFOs.
Continue reading “Rubio y Cruz: Como dos guisantes podridos en una vaina.*”
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