Wow! 2024 is less than a month old and the news is already vying with the year just past for the gloom-and-doom prize:
Toast and Milquetoast
Ron DeSantis’ only presidential play was in Iowa. Despite spending upwards of $160 million and “doing a Grassley” (what Iowans call visiting all 99 counties), he finished a distant second in this week’s Iowa caucuses. The more people got to hear, see and know him, the more they reacted negatively to his failed attempts to come across as human, along with his weirdness and graveside manner. So now that he is effectively toast, he will soon return to the Florida Panhandle to lick his wounds and get back to the business of transforming Florida into Hungary.
Icky Nikki Haley, a political contortionist who rivals gymnast Simone Biles for her twisty legerdemain, could still make some noise in New Hampshire despite her third-place finish in Iowa and dread of saying anything that might offend MAGA voters whom she has no hope of winning over. Nevertheless, what little remains of the beaten and tattered traditional conservative Republican Party views her as the only hope of stopping the Trump juggernaut. A milquetoast candidate who is afraid to say that the Civil War was about slavery for fear of antagonizing Trump’s white supremacist base is, sadly, the best they’ve got. She is so timid she won’t even respond to Trump’s racist attacks on her.
So on to New Hampshire, like Iowa totally unrepresentative of America, yet disproportionately influential in selecting presidents. Iowa’s dour, Grant Wood-like farmers and white evangelicals who pretzled themselves into knots justifying their support for a total reprobate who is the antithesis of their purported biblical values and laughs at them behind their backs are now history. Instead, New Hampshire offers candidates somewhat less superficially virtuous, centrist Massachusetts transplants. Other than snow and bitterly cold weather, all the two states have in common is an almost complete absence of minority populations.
That dearth will be compensated for when the campaigns move on to the next primary states, South Carolina and Nevada, both of which have large minority populations. Former South Carolina governor Haley trails far behind Trump in her home state. If she loses there, which is likely, she too will be toast, albeit a rather limp variety thereof. At that point, the horror and inevitably of Trump as the Republican nominee will become reality.
Wherefore Art Thou, Lloyd?
Do we really want a Secretary of Defense who has abysmal judgment? I think not. This position is the second in command when it comes to military decision-making, including launching global thermonuclear war. Austin went AWOL while the administration was consumed with monitoring two major wars and potentially becoming involved in a third involving Yemeni Houthi terrorists, while also combatting Iran-induced daily attacks on U.S. troops and fending off China’s aggressive actions toward Taiwan.
What is perhaps most surprising about Secretary Austin’s truancy and lack of transparency about his medical condition is that it revealed that the President and Secretary of Defense do not talk to one another every day. That would be shocking in any era.
I don’t expect Biden to fire Austin. He quite correctly fears likely backlash from the African-American community, not a good look for him in an election year. However, Democrats properly concerned about national security should urge the Secretary to resign as soon as possible. He could cite his health as a valid reason for leaving the scene.
Hungry Kids
The federal Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) Program was launched during the Covid-19 pandemic to provide low-income families with $120 per child to purchase food during the summer months. Forty-eight states initially participated, and the two laggards, Louisiana and Idaho, eventually joined in. The program became permanent when the pandemic ended. Families can use the money, which comes loaded on a prepaid card, to buy their own food and cook at home.
States had to notify the federal government by January 1 if they planned to participate in the Summer EBT Program in 2024. Only 35 states, with more than 20 million eligible children, opted in. The other 15 states, all led by Republican governors, said “no thank you, let our poor children starve.” Almost 10 million children will go hungry this summer.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, whose family likely have full stomachs year-round, and who desperately wants to be Donald Trump’s running mate, said in refusing the federal EBT funds: “Federal money often comes with strings attached, and more of it is often not a good thing,”
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, cited “childhood obesity” as a justification for refusing EBT funds. This despite studies showing that the program helps kids eat more fresh fruits and vegetables.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt claimed falsely that the program was not “fully vetted” and would help relatively few children. It is estimated that 403,000 school-aged children in Oklahoma would qualify for food benefits.
Jim Pillen, the Republican Governor of Nebraska is denying his state’s food insecure families EBT benefits because “I don’t believe in welfare.”
This kind of policy should seem like a slam-dunk for any governor. Summer EBT is fully federally-funded.
Should Trump be returned to power, this cruelty toward low-income families promoted by red-state governors will probably become national policy. Apparently the sanctity of human life does not encompass having enough to eat in order to stay alive.
I can’t wait to see what February will bring.
Dick Hermann
January 20, 2024
Toast and Milquetoast
Ron DeSantis’ only presidential play was in Iowa. Despite spending upwards of $160 million and “doing a Grassley” (what Iowans call visiting all 99 counties), he finished a distant second in this week’s Iowa caucuses. The more people got to hear, see and know him, the more they reacted negatively to his failed attempts to come across as human, along with his weirdness and graveside manner. So now that he is effectively toast, he will soon return to the Florida Panhandle to lick his wounds and get back to the business of transforming Florida into Hungary.
Icky Nikki Haley, a political contortionist who rivals gymnast Simone Biles for her twisty legerdemain, could still make some noise in New Hampshire despite her third-place finish in Iowa and dread of saying anything that might offend MAGA voters whom she has no hope of winning over. Nevertheless, what little remains of the beaten and tattered traditional conservative Republican Party views her as the only hope of stopping the Trump juggernaut. A milquetoast candidate who is afraid to say that the Civil War was about slavery for fear of antagonizing Trump’s white supremacist base is, sadly, the best they’ve got. She is so timid she won’t even respond to Trump’s racist attacks on her.
So on to New Hampshire, like Iowa totally unrepresentative of America, yet disproportionately influential in selecting presidents. Iowa’s dour, Grant Wood-like farmers and white evangelicals who pretzled themselves into knots justifying their support for a total reprobate who is the antithesis of their purported biblical values and laughs at them behind their backs are now history. Instead, New Hampshire offers candidates somewhat less superficially virtuous, centrist Massachusetts transplants. Other than snow and bitterly cold weather, all the two states have in common is an almost complete absence of minority populations.
That dearth will be compensated for when the campaigns move on to the next primary states, South Carolina and Nevada, both of which have large minority populations. Former South Carolina governor Haley trails far behind Trump in her home state. If she loses there, which is likely, she too will be toast, albeit a rather limp variety thereof. At that point, the horror and inevitably of Trump as the Republican nominee will become reality.
Wherefore Art Thou, Lloyd?
Do we really want a Secretary of Defense who has abysmal judgment? I think not. This position is the second in command when it comes to military decision-making, including launching global thermonuclear war. Austin went AWOL while the administration was consumed with monitoring two major wars and potentially becoming involved in a third involving Yemeni Houthi terrorists, while also combatting Iran-induced daily attacks on U.S. troops and fending off China’s aggressive actions toward Taiwan.
What is perhaps most surprising about Secretary Austin’s truancy and lack of transparency about his medical condition is that it revealed that the President and Secretary of Defense do not talk to one another every day. That would be shocking in any era.
I don’t expect Biden to fire Austin. He quite correctly fears likely backlash from the African-American community, not a good look for him in an election year. However, Democrats properly concerned about national security should urge the Secretary to resign as soon as possible. He could cite his health as a valid reason for leaving the scene.
Hungry Kids
The federal Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) Program was launched during the Covid-19 pandemic to provide low-income families with $120 per child to purchase food during the summer months. Forty-eight states initially participated, and the two laggards, Louisiana and Idaho, eventually joined in. The program became permanent when the pandemic ended. Families can use the money, which comes loaded on a prepaid card, to buy their own food and cook at home.
States had to notify the federal government by January 1 if they planned to participate in the Summer EBT Program in 2024. Only 35 states, with more than 20 million eligible children, opted in. The other 15 states, all led by Republican governors, said “no thank you, let our poor children starve.” Almost 10 million children will go hungry this summer.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, whose family likely have full stomachs year-round, and who desperately wants to be Donald Trump’s running mate, said in refusing the federal EBT funds: “Federal money often comes with strings attached, and more of it is often not a good thing,”
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, cited “childhood obesity” as a justification for refusing EBT funds. This despite studies showing that the program helps kids eat more fresh fruits and vegetables.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt claimed falsely that the program was not “fully vetted” and would help relatively few children. It is estimated that 403,000 school-aged children in Oklahoma would qualify for food benefits.
Jim Pillen, the Republican Governor of Nebraska is denying his state’s food insecure families EBT benefits because “I don’t believe in welfare.”
This kind of policy should seem like a slam-dunk for any governor. Summer EBT is fully federally-funded.
Should Trump be returned to power, this cruelty toward low-income families promoted by red-state governors will probably become national policy. Apparently the sanctity of human life does not encompass having enough to eat in order to stay alive.
I can’t wait to see what February will bring.
Dick Hermann
January 20, 2024
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