Harper's Review of the Week

I am tweeting this for the record in the sure and certain knowledge that even the smallest detail of our American experience should be recorded and remembered. 

Hope you enjoy. 

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May 2, 2017 By Joe Kloc          U.S. president Donald Trump, who once hosted a radio show on which he discussed how there was "no question about it" that Britney Spears had "gone down" in sexiness because she got married, gave himself an "A" for his performance in his first 100 days in office, a time period during which he implied Frederick Douglass was still alive at a breakfast celebrating the start of Black History Month; said on the eve of Martin Luther King, Jr., Day that Georgia representative and Freedom Rider John Lewis was "all talk"; commented at the National Prayer Breakfast that he wanted to "pray for" Arnold Schwarzenegger's "poor ratings" on The Celebrity Apprentice; accused former president Barack Obama of "wiretapping" Trump Tower in Manhattan, which the FBI had legally surveilled for two years as part of an investigation into the money-laundering ring of a Russian mafia boss known as "Little Taiwanese"; ordered the launching of 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles valued at $60 million at an airfield in Syria, which he described as an attack on Iraq that he carried out while eating "the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake" and which his secretary of commerce, Wilbur Ross, referred to as "after-dinner entertainment" that "didn't cost the president anything"; and played golf more than twice as often as the previous three presidents combined, despite having once criticizing Obama for golfing "while America goes down the drain." "I don't stand by anything," Trump said. Trump told interviewers that he thought being president "would be easier," and that the constitutional system of checks and balances is "a really bad thing for the country." Reince Priebus, Trump's chief of staff, said that Trump, who has tweeted that the media is "the enemy of the American people," was considering abolishing the First Amendment. Trump, a former casino owner who once paid $1 million for an ad campaign alleging that the Mohawk people were cocaine traffickers and on another occasion claimed he "might have more Indian blood than a lot of the so-called Indians," said that his campaign for president was "most like" the "very mean and nasty campaign" of former president Andrew Jackson, a slave owner and frequent cockfighting gambler who signed legislation that forcibly removed indigenous tribes from the southeastern United States. Trump praised as a "smart cookie" North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who has executed hundreds of people for offenses such as slouching and having a bad attitude, and invited to the White House Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte, who has been accused of ordering the extrajudicial killings of 8,000 people. "I am tied up," responded Duterte, who added that he had already made plans to visit Russia, the government of which the FBI and both houses of Congress are currently investigating for interfering in the 2016 presidential race in order to elect Trump, whose Las Vegas steakhouse was once shut down for serving customers two-week-old tomato sauce and a five-month-old duck. "We," said Press Secretary Sean Spicer, "want to start talking about the next 100 days."  Sources are footnoted at the permanent URL  for this Weekly Review. Comments, clarifications, and corrections are always welcome at harpers-weekly@harpers.org. Please note that your letter may be included in next week's mailing and on Harpers.org. © 2017 Harper's Magazine Foundation

It's embarrassing

I begin each day with coffee, English muffin, and the local newspaper, The Island Packet. It is a ritual I began when I retired a couple of decades ago. Former Chief Justice Earl Warren started his morning paper with the sports section because it is “about winners” and the front section is “about losers.” I wade right in, however, and take on the front section, then sports and end with the comics and feel good stories.

Today, before I left page 7 of the 10 page front section I felt embarrassed for our country and personally down hearted that we have in many quarters not advanced much in the last 50 or 60 years. Discrimination, hate and meanness still reverberate throughout many segments of society.

In Oxford, Mississippi, members of a fraternity hung a noose and old confederate flag on the statue of James Meredith, the first black to enter the University of Mississippi in 1962. The offenders have been kicked out of the fraternity and the fraternity chapter has been suspended indefinitely by the national organization. While the response is good, the basic act itself is vile and contemptible.

Down in Texas, the rock guitarist, Ted Nugent, on the campaign trail for a gubernatorial candidate publicly called President Obama a “subhuman mongrel.” Later as protests arose he went on a radio station to apologize – not to the President – but on behalf of “much better men than myself.” Obviously, referring to the candidate with whom he was stumping for votes. Such insults are the stuff of meanness, hatefulness and stupidity. They demean all of us and are unworthy of Americans.

And then there is the Arizona legislature, which it is fair to say, leads the country in anti-immigration legislation and other progressive acts called for in the 21^st Century. This time gay rights are the focus of the legislative ire.  Over “shrill objections” of Democrats and three Republicans, a bill has been passed, and is on the governor’s desk, which allows business owners with strongly held religious beliefs to deny service to gays. (It doesn’t say how to identify gay people.) Opponents of the measure said it was clearly designed to allow discrimination against gays. Governor Jan Brewer’s decision may come next week. The business community considers the bill another “black eye” for the state, and a major distraction as Arizona prepares to host the Super Bowl next year. Reportedly four companies have put on hold plans to open facilities in Arizona until they see if the bill becomes law.

And this is just three stories on one day. Tomorrow it will be something else. It is embarrassing.We are better than this; if only we would act it.

Indian givers

Remember when you were a child on the playground and someone gave you something and then took it back? You called such people "Indian givers." Well, those people grew up and some of them are in the whiskey business. 
Isabel Lloyd, deputy editor of "Intelligent Life" reports on this in The gift that stops giving,  - A humorous account of a gift of a large and unusually expensive bottle of whiskey that landed on her desk—accompanied by a card explaining that the manufacturers wished to "gift it" to her for Christmas.
Read the essay, smile and ask yourself, "Would I have drunk the whiskey?"
Merry Christmas to all my readers.
(Complete blog is here.)

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In memory of Trayvon Martin

I wear a hoodie on occasion but this is no reason to shoot me and it was no reason to fear or shoot a 17-year old African-American youth in Sanford, Fla. on February 26. The Grand Jury and/or the Justice Department need to get to the bottom of this. 

Electric shock for Limbaugh

Hardly anyone in the United States isn't aware of Rush Limbaugh's insult of a Georgetown law student for her testimony about insurance coverage for birth control pills. His ugly version is twisted 180 degrees opposite what the student testified about. Here is some information excerpted from The Loyal Opposition blog, The New York Times,  March 2, 2012: 

"Do the Right Thing

"By ANDREW ROSENTHAL

"Intolerance and character assassination are so ubiquitous in political discourse that it’s important to take note when someone calls out bad behavior, withstands it, or bothers to apologize for it.
*****
"The next person who deserves a bit of positive attention is Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown University law student.
"At a Congressional hearing in mid-February on the Obama administration’s new contraception rules, Ms. Fluke testified that birth control can cost women up to $3,000 over the course of law school. She also told the House Oversight Committee about a friend who was prescribed birth control pills as part of her cancer treatment (a common occurrence) but had to buy them herself because Georgetown’s health insurance did not cover it (also a common occurrence).
"She was eminently reasonable. But, this week, Rush Limbaugh attacked her repeatedly on his radio show. He twisted what Ms. Fluke said beyond recognition and claimed she was trying to get taxpayers to subsidize her sex life, which is entirely irrelevant to this conversation. Mr. Limbaugh called her a “slut” who wanted to be paid to have sex.
"(After he heard about Mr. Limbaugh’s comments, Mr. Obama called Ms. Fluke to thank her for backing his policies despite the onslaught, and to see how she was doing. I think he deserves praise, but he’s not one of the three because the effort cost him no political capital.)"

Earlier this week I expressed the idea of starting a fund to take Rush Limbaugh out for an afternoon of electric shock. Learning more details of how he twisted Ms. Fluke's testimony leads me to think a full day might be in order.

A lighted faucet in your life?

Judith Martin, Miss Manners to the socially conscious, answered three questions in a recent newspaper column and began each answer with "Where were you...", as in Where were you during history class? Where were you doing civics class? and Where were you during posture class? My question is, Where was her editor when these three Q&As were being combined to form one column?

NBA owners followed the NFL owners and locked out the players. Will we be without professional football and basketball in 2911? I'm taking a peek at the Canadian Football League on TV. Don't know all the players yet but that's a small problem. I did see part of a game last Saturday night and uttered a big "WOW" at one spectacular pass play. I am betting the NFL lockout will end first. There is too much money on the table to be ignored.

Given inflation and the dwindling value of the dollar, I have not for several years bent over on the street to pickup anything less than a fifty cent piece, but just to cover all bets in case the national debt ceiling is not raised and the country goes broke, I bent over twice this week and picked up a penny and a quarter. I will miss that Social Security check but probably not as much as China and Japan who won't receive the interest payments on the American bonds they hold.

This is what America has been waiting for: "The VuPoint Temperature Sensitive LED Faucet Light (FL-IW1-VP) is a lighted aerator for your faucet that makes your water glow. When the water makes contact with the temperature-sensing metal pin in the unit, it will trigger the red LED light for hot water and the blue LED light for cold water. The intelligent sensor activates with hot or cold water, making it fun for all ages to watch the water change color. The light fits most standard faucets, and is easy to install."

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