poverty

Should he stay or should he go?

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President Trump Returns from New

Anyone who has spent even the slightest miniscule of moment in time around here knows what I think about that question…

However, after listening to most of the Supreme Court hearing yesterday (yeah, I know, I know… I need to get a life obvs) but be that as it may, it didn’t take long for me to realize that it isn’t even going to be close as to how the Supremes are going to decide — Trump will not be denied ballot access by them. Even the left of center Supreme ones were unable to contain their skepticism of the argument before them, either of that argued by the lawyer representing those heroes bringing the suit, or of that by the one arguing for the state.

Justices across the ideological spectrum expressed skepticism about several aspects of a ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court that Mr. Trump’s conduct in trying to subvert the 2020 race made him ineligible to hold office under a constitutional provision that bars people who have sworn to support the Constitution and then engaged in insurrection.

Supreme Court Justices Appear Skeptical of Arguments to Kick Trump Off State Ballots, New York Times, February 8, 2024

Actually, I do have ever so slightly mixed emotions about the argument myself, especially since Trumpadump was never convicted of insurrection by a court as far as I know; although, he was certainly convicted by his words and deeds in the court of common sense, at least the one governed by yours truly.

What miffed me most about yesterday’s hearing, besides the fact that the ruling will not go the way of common sense, was “Justice” Alito’s argument, or line of questioning, concerning his concern that if the Supremes were to rule that Trump is to be denied ballot access nationally, that the ruling could cause serious national strife (my words poorly paraphrasing his).

For one, as long as Trump continues to breathe, he will cause strife, nationally and beyond, just by continuing to breathe, so what’s a little more on his account, especially when it’s for such a worthy cause?

For two, why should such a concern even be considered in regards to the constitutionality of the case before them, or of any case for that matter?

I mean, if we allow such emotional concerns to govern our rule of law, if we are concerned that a constitutional ruling might cause harm, then obviously the parent(s) of a family struggling below the poverty line should be allowed to steal from the local X-Mart to feed their malnourished children, right?

I mean, now there’s some strife that is being faced by far too many families nationally, yet if a parent were to be caught stealing to feed their family as often as Trump has been caught for all his countless illegalities, then 9 times out 9, that parent will go straight to prison – even more so if race is factored in. Right?

Right?!

Anyway…

#joestrummersghostforpresident

The Pandemic of/and Poverty

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Americans felt the effects of this kind of spending* during the coronavirus pandemic, when the government extended unemployment benefits and sent close to $1 trillion in direct stimulus payments to about 85 percent of households. This temporary expansion of the social safety net caused poverty to drop to the lowest levels on record in the United States (underlining emphasis mine).

Extreme Poverty Has Been Sharply Cut. What Has Changed?, New York Times, December 2, 2021
Wikipedia

Now seems like a good time to deeply consider implementing a national universal basic income initiative, no?

If I were king** for a day of these less than United States, I would mandate UBI and the only requirements to receive it for those subjects of mine so impoverished would be for the entire household to receive regular health checkups and for all school-age children within the household to stay in school, similar to succeeding initiatives to end extreme poverty in other countries… such as Mexico as discussed in the referenced NYT article.

But what do I know, I’m just a caveman**…

*social initiatives to end extreme poverty, defined by the United Nations as a household having to survive on less than $1.90 a day

**non-gender specific

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PSA: I have a new newsletter initiative coming online soon. My old newsletter, Newsletter Love, one hosted through the clunky Mailchimp service which made it hard for me to get motivated to attend to it properly, is being superseded by a new newsletter hosted by SUBSTACK, a super smooth provider.

The newsletter is called HumanZen: one man’s attempt to discover the Zen of being human…

Each new edition will be delivered weekly on Sundays. All new subscribers will still receive a copy of my short story collection LEAVE: And Other Stories Short and Shorter.

To learn more about the newsletter and subscribe, venture forth to here.

Empty Words of the Privileged

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It’s hard to believe so many people have to live so miserably in the richest, most powerful country in the world.


This has become cliché and empty to say, especially from those of us speaking from our privilege, but since there are so many pockets of wretched poverty all around the country such as described in the following article, it’s hard not to say it.

Courtesy New York Times

“Hundreds of miles of roads are unpaved, so it can take up to three hours to get a sick person to help. It’s difficult to self-isolate because families live in one-room homes called hogans. Up to 40 percent of Navajo households don’t have running water, making it hard to wash hands. Cellphone service and Wi-Fi are limited, so it’s difficult to keep in touch and to get information about the epidemic.”

A Life on and Off the Navajo Nation, New York Times, May 13, 2020

#alonetogetherwithourprivilege

National Nervous Breakdown

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Maybe it’s just because I’m off work recovering from cancer and have more time to pay attention to current events, but it seems to me that insane violent crimes are happening almost daily. Just this week, a doctor at Johns Hopkins hospital was shot by the son of a patient. The son ended up also shooting the patient, his mother, and then himself. The week before that, there was the Discovery building hostage situation, and several weeks before that there was the mother who drowned her children. I could go on and on with all the insanity that has been happening in the past year or two but this post has already depressed me enough so I won’t.

Instinctively, I want to say that it is the bad economy and the stress that it has been inflicting on our nation as a whole that is responsible for all these insane violent crimes; however, after a quick search of the topic, I’ve found that, according to the FBI, violent crime has actually been decreasing, even during the economic crisis.

I’m no expert, but after thinking about it for a bit, it seems to me that violent crimes—murders, rapes, assaults—which are tragic enough, are not the same as these insane violent crimes—shooting a doctor and then your mother in a hospital, taking hostages because you hate people for killing the earth, drowning your children and then making it look like an accident, or dressing up as Santa Claus and going on a killing rampage—so maybe the FBI statistics don’t really apply here. Maybe, but I really don’t know.

What I do know is that as long as we have a significant portion of our population raised and socialized in violent, abusive, poverty-ridden environments, then we’re going to continue to have a portion of our population suffering from the violent crimes that are committed as a result of this environment and socialization. And as long as these violent crimes are isolated to just a portion of our population, then the majority of the population will, unfortunately, be able to easily turn a blind eye to most of it.

But when the entire population is suffering under economic stress, debt, ineffectual national leaders, divisive, vindictive politics, perpetual war, nuclear brinkmanship, excessive military buildup, constant threat of terrorism, and an increasing feeling of no hope of change for the better, like it is now, then we all are going to suffer from it, no one is going to be able to turn a blind eye toward it, and, if things don’t change soon, the entire population will eventually have a national nervous breakdown from it.

Perhaps all of these insane violent crimes that have been happening recently are the first cracks in our national psyche.