Highbrow Magazine - congress https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/congress en The Ukraine Quandary: Assessing Conservative Resistance to Further Financial Commitments https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/24512-reducing-funding-ukraine-will-pose-threat-global-security <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 03/11/2024 - 15:00</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1ukraine_depositphotos.jpg?itok=_2N0FwTM"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1ukraine_depositphotos.jpg?itok=_2N0FwTM" width="480" height="312" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">This February, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III reaffirmed America’s steadfast commitment <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3676925/austin-affirms-us-led-coalition-stands-with-ukraine/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">to supporting Ukraine</a>, emphasizing its crucial role in ensuring the ongoing security of not just the United States, but also Europe and the world at large. Austin emphasized, "The battle against Russia's aggression will shape global security for years to come." Nevertheless, there are voices within Congress advocating for a reduction or cessation of <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3676925/austin-affirms-us-led-coalition-stands-with-ukraine/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">funding for Ukraine</a>.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The latest debate in Congress centers around a <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/senate-passes-95-billion-aid-package-for-ukraine-and-israel-fate-uncertain-in-house" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">$95 billion funding bill</a>, with $60 billion allocated to Ukraine and the remainder earmarked for supporting Israel, Taiwan, and bolstering US Naval forces combating the Iranian-backed Houthis in the Red Sea. While some mainstream media outlets and the White House depict Republican hesitancy to endorse the bill as a withdrawal of support for all these causes, the reality is different. Republicans are primarily expressing reservations regarding support for Ukraine, while maintaining steadfast support for Israel, Taiwan, and counterterrorism efforts. President Biden rightly pointed out that rejecting the bill plays <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-aid-congress-senate-5fdcf8cb1964681dcce0f4fe7b9a0f86" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">right into Putin’s hands</a>. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2ukraineoil_0.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Echoing the sentiment of the president, Secretary Austin remarked, "<a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3676925/austin-affirms-us-led-coalition-stands-with-ukraine/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">The Kremlin continues</a> to gamble on our collective waning interest in Ukraine, anticipating our support to dwindle and fade away." This observation aligns with independent studies revealing that both Russia and China exploit the rising war funding weariness among the United States and its allies. Whenever foreign military aid funding faces delays in Congress, Beijing is quick to tell nations like Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, and <a href="https://english.news.cn/20230929/15f3e0938cf84320858556f2a1bf3d6b/c.html" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">other nations</a> with territorial disputes with China—that the U.S. is an <a href="https://time.com/6590369/china-says-trump-abandon-taiwan-election/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">unreliable partner</a>. The underlying message is for these nations to capitulate to China's demands rather than counting on the U.S. to defend them. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Beijing's tactic hasn't been effective thus far, especially since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas conflict. Initially, China promoted a narrative suggesting that the US would abandon Israel, implying that Taiwan and others should align with Beijing. However, with the US reaffirming its commitment to funding Israel, China has shifted its messaging, arguing that the US is overextended and cannot sustain support for both Ukraine and Taiwan. In reality, US aid to Israel and Taiwan makes up only a small fraction of the assistance provided to Ukraine, and none of the funding debates are focused on reducing support for either Israel or Taiwan.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Russia is also capitalizing on <a href="https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/10/02/kremlin-says-ukraine-fatigue-will-grow-after-us-congress-drops-aid-from-spending-package-a82630" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">the narrative of funding</a> fatigue. The Kremlin perceives that decadence and selfishness of the West, along with <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/russias-war-woke" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">liberal social movements</a>, are eroding US commitment to either engage in warfare or continue supporting Ukraine financially. What's interesting about this line of reasoning is that while US liberals and Democrats advocate for ongoing funding for Ukraine, they also tend to advocate for socially liberal movements. In contrast, conservatives oppose such initiatives, and Moscow has exploited these sentiments, positioning itself as <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/05/29/russia-ukraine-united-states-vietnam-war-putin-trump-desantis-anti-woke/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">an anti-woke</a>, anti-globalist force safeguarding Christian values. Ironically, Russia itself has one of the poorest records of <a href="https://www.uscirf.gov/countries/russia" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">religious freedom</a> in Europe.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2ukraine_depositphotos.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Even among the majority of conservatives who reject the notion that Russia champions traditional family, religious, and social values, there's widespread fatigue regarding <a href="https://www.economist.com/europe/2023/11/27/ukraines-new-enemy-war-fatigue-in-the-west" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">funding for war</a>. The conflict has imposed significant economic strain, with escalating fuel and food prices affecting numerous countries. The continuous stream of news detailing the horrors of the war can lead to emotional desensitization for many individuals. Media coverage of the conflict has either diminished or become lost in the background noise of the overly saturated media landscape. Even discussions about funding allocations are losing their audience, as reports of <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-26/government-shutdown-q-a-will-it-shut-down-and-what-you-should-know" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">looming government shutdowns</a> have surfaced repeatedly over the past four years. Citizens who are concerned by the threat of their own government shutting down are less likely to care about funding for a foreign government. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The top concerns for Republicans revolve <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/first-read/poll-republicans-advantages-immigration-crime-economy-rcna117054" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">around the economy</a>, crime, and immigration. While continued funding for Ukraine may momentarily benefit some defense contractors, in the long run, it will only add to the US debt and exacerbate economic woes. Rampant crime and <a href="https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">drug-related deaths</a> plague <a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/01/26/crime-rates-continue-explode-blue-cities-despite-medias-narrative-contrary/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">the US</a>, particularly in areas where law enforcement is hamstrung in its ability to fight crime. Additionally, <a href="https://news.wisc.edu/incarceration-rates-falling-in-every-us-state-drive-significant-shifts-in-risk-of-prison-for-marginalized-groups/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">incarceration rates</a> are declining while crimes committed by <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/03/05/opinion/how-bail-reform-drove-a-66-recidivism-rate-for-repeat-crooks/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">repeat offenders</a> are on the rise. Illegal immigration remains a pressing issue. Drug cartels pose a significant threat, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/9/mexicos-president-slams-calls-for-us-military-to-target-cartels" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">destabilizing Mexico</a> and increasingly endangering US national security through the smuggling of drugs, <a href="https://homeland.house.gov/2023/12/14/now-nobody-crosses-without-paying-senior-border-patrol-agents-describe-unprecedented-cartel-control-at-southwest-border/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">people, criminals</a>, and gang members into the country. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The US allies in Europe see a potential Putin victory as a threat to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-12-19/ukraine-running-out-of-help-has-us-allies-fearing-putin-will-win-the-war" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">their national security</a>, and that assessment is probably correct. Even those close to Putin are suggesting that after a victory in Ukraine, Russian forces will <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/russia-armenia-tv-threat-latest-1875852" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">roll on into Europe</a>. As a result, the Europeans arrive at the conclusion that because their security is imperiled, the US must continue funding Ukraine. And this is where the argument breaks down: US Republicans believe that if Europe’s security is at risk, Europe should defend itself and not rely on the U.S.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/5ukraineoil_0.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The United States accounts for <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/alarm-nato-weak-military-empty-arsenals-europe-a72b23f4" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">70 percent of NATO's</a> total defense spending. Since NATO's establishment, nearly all member nations have consistently fallen short of the 2 percent funding requirement year after year. While most NATO members have increased their defense spending since the Ukraine war began, as of 2023, <a href="https://breakingdefense.com/2023/03/only-7-nato-members-hit-alliances-2-percent-gdp-defense-spending-target-in-2022/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">only six members</a>, aside from the US, met the 2 percent target. Currently, <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2024-02-12/only-35-of-nato-countries-meet-the-groups-defense-spending-target#:~:text=The%20other%20countries%20estimated%20to,the%20countries%20that%20didn't." style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">35 percent are projected</a> to reach the target by 2025, which does not account for the fact that the US has a massive arsenal built up over decades by hitting or exceeding the target year after year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The United Kingdom and France, arguably possessing the most potent militaries apart from the US, still face limitations in their ability to engage in large-scale warfare. Together, they possess around 200 pieces of artillery and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/alarm-nato-weak-military-empty-arsenals-europe-a72b23f4" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">fewer than 200 tanks</a>, while the entirety of Europe has only <a href="https://fairbd.net/aircraft-carriers-by-nation/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">four operational aircraft carriers</a>. Additionally, only <a href="https://247wallst.com/special-report/2023/06/18/nato-countries-that-have-mandatory-military-service/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">nine out of 31</a> NATO members have mandatory military conscription.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Therefore, the “funding fatigue” for Ukraine primarily originates from a main source: Conservatives in the U.S. who prioritize addressing domestic issues, as well as focusing on Taiwan, China, Israel, and counterterrorism – and that Europe should assume greater responsibility for its defense and cease relying on US military assistance.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Author Bio:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>Antonio Graceffo, a </em>Highbrow Magazine<em> contributor, is a Ph.D. and also holds a China-MBA from Shanghai Jiaotong University. He works as an economics professor and China economic analyst, writing for various international media. Some of his books include: The Wrestler’s Dissertation, Warrior Odyssey, Beyond the Belt and Road: China’s Global Economic Expansion, and A Short Course on the Chinese Economy.</em></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>For Highbrow Magazine</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>Photo Credits: <a href="https://depositphotos.com/stock-photography.html" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Depositphotos.com</a>;</em> </strong><em><strong>The President Of Ukraine (</strong></em><strong><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/president_of_ukraine/52004973591" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Flickr,</em></a><em> Creative Commons);</em> <em>Donkey Hote (</em><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vladimir_Putin_-_Caricature_%2848068742377%29.jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Wikimedia.org</em></a><em>, Creative Commons).</em></strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/ukraine" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">ukraine</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/war-ukraine" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">war in Ukraine</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/russia" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Russia</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/zelensky" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Zelensky</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/putin" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Putin</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/congress" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">congress</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/republicans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Republicans</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/war-fatigue" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">war fatigue</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/lloyd-austin" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Lloyd Austin</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/president-biden" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">president biden</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/funding-ukraine" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">funding for Ukraine</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/europe" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Europe</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/global-security" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">global security</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/ukrainians" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Ukrainians</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Antonio Graceffo</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 11 Mar 2024 19:00:33 +0000 tara 13097 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/24512-reducing-funding-ukraine-will-pose-threat-global-security#comments The Debt Ceiling, Monetary Policy, and Inflation https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/23973-debt-ceiling-monetary-policy-and-inflation <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Tue, 05/16/2023 - 21:23</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1debtceiling.jpg?itok=ISR1FAcw"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1debtceiling.jpg?itok=ISR1FAcw" width="480" height="241" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">As the U.S. default deadline looms, Treasury <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/08/debt-ceiling-janet-yellen-says-default-would-be-economic-catastrophe.html" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Secretary Janet Yellen</a> said that failing to raise the debt ceiling would be an economic catastrophe. The U.S. debt ceiling is a legal cap, set by Congress, limiting the amount that the Treasury can borrow. The reason that the debt ceiling must be raised is because the government has already outspent its available funds and needs to borrow more. Secretary Yellen and other supporters of raising the debt ceiling fear that the U.S. will not be able to meet its upcoming obligations and will, for the first time in history, default on its debts. Those opposing the raising of the debt ceiling believe that if the government would reduce waste, it would be able to function within the existing limits. Further, they point out that raising the debt ceiling perpetuates a trend of government deficit spending, adding to the national debt, which already stands <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/02/14/facts-about-the-us-national-debt/#:~:text=Nearly%20all%20of%20that%20debt,the%20fourth%20quarter%20of%202022." style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">at $31.38 trillion</a>.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">When the Founding Fathers designed the U.S. government, it was determined that the three branches, executive, legislative, and judicial would all be independent of one another, but with checks and balances to prevent any of the three from seizing control. While the president makes a budget, through the Office of Management and Budget, the actual spending must be approved by Congress, through the Congressional Budget Office. Because Congress is the only branch that is directly elected by the citizenry, the Founding Fathers believed that Congress should have control over how citizens’ tax dollars were spent. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2debtceiling.jpg" style="height:434px; width:650px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The last time the government had <a href="https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/national-deficit/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">a budget surplus</a> was in 2001. That means that each year, since then, the government has spent more than it earned in tax revenue. The reasons for this spending are many and complex. One issue is that politicians are focused on reelection. By spending on social programs or championing spending that impacts people’s lives directly, politicians can “buy” votes. Much of this spending, however, does long-term harm, but a president will only be in office for a maximum of eight years. So, there is a tendency to “kick the can down the road” and let the new administration deal with the mess. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Congressional representatives, on the other hand, have no term limits, a policy that was meant to invoke forward thinking, as congresspersons could potentially still be in office when the misspending of the past came due. In practice, however, the lack of term limits means that they are always thinking about reelection. Consequently, no senator or representative wants to be the one who killed an existing spending program that voters had come to expect. The end result is that both the president and Congress are motivated to spend. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">In times of economic downturn, such as the 2008 financial crisis or the pandemic lockdowns, the government enacts expansionary fiscal and monetary policy to “stimulate” the economy and create jobs. These policies also create inflation and many economists argue that the growth is illusory. The pandemic-related spending and stimulus caused inflation <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/12/heres-the-inflation-breakdown-for-december-2022-in-one-chart.html#:~:text=Pandemic%2Dera%20inflation%20peaked%20at%209.1%25%20in%20June%202022." style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">to reach 9.1%</a> in June 2022. Total spending on the pandemic was <a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-23-106647" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">roughly $4.6 trillion</a>. But just counting direct cash payments, the average American received <a href="https://www.pandemicoversight.gov/news/articles/update-three-rounds-stimulus-checks-see-how-many-went-out-and-how-much" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">about $3,500</a>. That $3,500 was quickly absorbed by everything from groceries to gasoline going up in price. Meanwhile, $4.6 trillion dollars of newly-created money was spent, ultimately increasing the debt, expanding the money supply, and decreasing the value of the dollar. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3debtceiling.jpg" style="height:435px; width:652px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">To cope with the inflation, the government released the Inflation Reduction Act, which called for <a href="https://www.democrats.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/inflation_reduction_act_one_page_summary.pdf" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">$433 billion</a> worth of additional spending, partially supported by an increase in taxes. The idea that the government could spend itself out of crisis, including spending itself out of inflation, dates back to British economist John Maynard Keynes. Keynes rose to prominence during the early part of the 20<sup>th</sup> Century becoming a primary influence for The New Deal, as well as fiscal and monetary policy of the U.S. and other major economies. He believed that by increasing the money supply, the central authority could restore the country to full employment, and that along with full employment, would come real growth. To achieve these goals, Keynes encouraged increased government expenditure, deficit spending, and lower taxes to stimulate demand. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">During her tenure as Fed chairperson, Yellen identified the role of the Fed as focusing on monetary policy, promoting stability, and avoiding a financial crisis “that could choke off credit to <a href="https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/statements-speeches-janet-l-yellen-930/goals-monetary-policy-pursue-576500" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">consumers and businesses</a>”. In addition, she defined monetary policy as “central bank actions aimed at <a href="https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/statements-speeches-janet-l-yellen-930/goals-monetary-policy-pursue-576500" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">influencing interest rates</a>…to help foster a healthy economy.” These policies were evident in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis. It was credit expansion and gambling on bad debts that caused the crisis. And yet, the Fed’s reaction was to slash interest rates, encouraging more borrowing and spending. More recently, after the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, the Treasury, along with the Fed and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation provided hundreds of billions in low-interest loans to SVB and other banks facing a liquidity crunch. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">This credit expansion was taken in spite of the fact that the failure of these banks was caused by credit expansion. Additionally, while the country is already facing high inflation, it would make sense to allow credit to dry up, and to discourage borrowing and spending. Instead, these bailouts will not only fuel the fire of the current inflation, but also cause future inflation and debt, while rewarding reckless banking policies. This will result in future bailouts, future stimulus, and continued inflation and debt. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The cutting of interest rates as well as the expansion of government spending and debt causes the boom-and-bust cycles that plague the economy. When interest rates are unnaturally low, as they were from 2008 until last year, borrowing and expansion is encouraged, creating inflation. When government spending and debt is high, even in the face of high interest rates, the result is more inflation. After the boom, a bust must come to bring the market back to reality. But the bust would be unpopular. Yellen said deflation leads to <a href="https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/statements-speeches-janet-l-yellen-930/goals-monetary-policy-pursue-576500" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">economic stagnation</a>, as employers either cut jobs or wages. And so, U.S. policies tend to be inflationary, in order to soften the blow.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Right now, the battle to raise the debt limit is being drawn along party lines. Unfortunately, neither political party can boast greater fiscal and monetary responsibility. Both parties have been guilty of deficit spending and presidents from both parties have asked Congress to raise the debt limit in the past. The economic reality, however, is that frequently raising the debt ceiling defeats the purpose of having a debt ceiling. Instead of forcing the government to work within its budget, the government will continue to increase the national debt, and we will all pay the price in the future. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Author Bio:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>Antonio Graceffo, a </em>Highbrow Magazine<em> contributor, is a Ph.D. and also holds a China-MBA from Shanghai Jiaotong University. He works as an economics professor and China economics analyst, writing for various international media. Some of his books include: The Wrestler’s Dissertation, Warrior Odyssey, Beyond the Belt and Road: China’s Global Economic Expansion, and A Short Course on the Chinese Economy.</em></strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>For Highbrow Magazine</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Image Sources:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--EpicTop10 (<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/182229932@N07/48354004862" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Flickr</a>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--Federal Reserve (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Janet_Yellen_%2823712797651%29.jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Wikimedia</a>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--Blue Diamond Gallery (<a href="https://www.thebluediamondgallery.com/financial03/i/inflation.html" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Creative Commons</a>)</em></span></span></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/debt-ceiling" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">debt ceiling</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/janet-yellen" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">janet yellen</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/treasury" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the treasury</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/congress" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">congress</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/president-biden" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">president biden</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/inflation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">inflation</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/budget-surplus" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">budget surplus</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/us-economy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">u.s. economy</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Antonio Graceffo</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">In Slider</div></div></div> Wed, 17 May 2023 01:23:54 +0000 tara 11885 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/23973-debt-ceiling-monetary-policy-and-inflation#comments We Can’t All Get Along -- Remembering Rodney King’s Forsaken Plea https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/23492-we-can-t-all-get-along-remembering-rodney-king-s-forsaken-plea <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Thu, 03/23/2023 - 16:09</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1getalong.jpg?itok=T3uy0qUg"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1getalong.jpg?itok=T3uy0qUg" width="480" height="320" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Opinion:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">What struck me immediately in what I initially thought would be a day of enduring bureaucracy at its finest was witnessing a group of kids in a situation where they cooperated and helped each other out, which is what’s referred to as “acting like an adult.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">I say this after guiding my relatives, visitors from out of town, to a foreign country’s embassy in Washington D.C. The family, consisting of father and mother and their two young children, had driven all night from Florida to have their passports renewed and then to return home early the next morning.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">My hope was to just get this document process over with as quickly as possible and that no complications would arise to make the family’s 12-hour, 706-mile odyssey to D.C. an exercise in futility.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">But as John Lennon once said, “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” In this case, I found what happened was totally unexpected in this most prosaic of settings.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> </span></span></p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2getalong.jpg" style="height:335px; width:650px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">After we arrived at the embassy’s passport office, the proceedings that followed prompted me to remember Rodney King, the victim of police brutality in Los Angeles in 1991. Later, after he had recovered from the attack, King asked the iconic question in reaction to rioting in South Central Los Angeles in 1992, “People, I just want to say, can we all get along?”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">It was only a few seconds after the tedious passport renewal process was to begin at the embassy that the family’s two young children had already found ways to entertain themselves. They sat down at a table with other children playing with a Lego set filled with building blocks and bricks. For them, this place represented just another chance to have fun.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">It was the parents who had to endure the patience of Job while they waited to get their documents stamped and the families’ pictures taken for their passports.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">When I see a group of kids together, I think of <em>Lord of the Flies</em>, about a bunch of schoolboys marooned on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempts to govern themselves.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> </span></span></p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3getalong.jpg" style="height:323px; width:652px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">But what intrigued me was that this was no <em>Lord of the Flies</em> scenario. Rather, these kids, initially strangers, became immediately engaged in a group project to put the building sets together in what I would term an illuminating model of cooperation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">One little boy, who couldn't have been much older than 4, introduced himself to my relatives’ daughter and then asked, “What’s your name? How old are you?”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The daughter, who’s 8 and rather shy, offered a cautious smile but didn’t immediately reply to his questions. After she got more comfortable, she acted with a sense of immense purpose and determination to tutor this younger kid on how one of the blocks was supposed to fit into another block. I was impressed by this boy thanking the girl for her help. Then he asked my relatives’ son, who’s 5, to help him construct the next block formation. What was striking is how easily they cooperated in their joint project.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">This example of getting along came in marked contrast to how some legislators in Congress (mis)behaved during President Biden’s February 7 State of the Union address. As Biden talked about how a minority of GOP members aimed to cut spending for the Social Security and Medicare programs, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and a few of her fellow Republicans interrupted the speech by booing, shouting out rude objections, and generally making fools of themselves.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> </span></span></p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/4getalong.jpg" style="height:435px; width:652px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“Liar,” Greene repeatedly yelled at Biden from the back of the House chamber, as she leaped up gesturing with a thumbs down.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The outburst by Greene and other brats prompted former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger to remark after the speech: “My fellow Republicans...you really want this as a role model for your kids? Do you really think the next generation will want to be part of this? I don’t think so.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The shouting conjured up that old saying that it’s “better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">It was also a reminder of another act of an adult’s incivility back in 2009 when Republican Congressman Joe Wilson shouted at then President Barack Obama, “You Lie,” during Obama’s healthcare speech to Congress. After the speech, members of both parties condemned the heckling. Wilson subsequently apologized for his outburst by saying he allowed his emotions to get the best of him.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> </span></span></p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/5getalong.jpg" style="height:366px; width:650px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Not all the children playing at the building-blocks table could maintain their mature behavior after being thrown into an unfamiliar situation. One girl, probably 3 or 4, started throwing a tantrum when the mother pulled her away to have her picture taken.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The girl, I think, was particularly upset about not being allowed to play with her new-found friends. She cried the equivalent of “let me stay here,” but to no avail. Welcome to the adult world, I thought as the camera snapped her photo. Immediately after, she stopped crying and raced back to rejoin her playmates.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Upon our departure, their little boy offered heartfelt goodbyes to his new friends. The friends offered their own endearing goodbyes and that maybe they would see each other again.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Watching how these kids made instant friendships and then had to leave each other reminded me of  Shakespeare’s quote from <em>Romeo and Juliet</em> that “parting is such sweet sorrow.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">But the little boy and girl from my relatives’ family left with smiles on their faces. They were vivid and gratifying answers to Rodney King’s immortal question of “Can we all get along?”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/6getalong.jpg" style="height:434px; width:650px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Author Bio:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>Eric Green, a </em>Highbrow Magazine<em> contributor, is a former newspaper reporter, U.S. congressional press aide, English-as-a-second-language teacher, and now a freelance writer in the Washington D.C. area. His articles have appeared in various newspapers and websites, including the </em>Washington Post<em> and </em>Baltimore Sun.</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>For Highbrow Magazine</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Image Sources:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--Victoria Watercolor (<a href="https://pixabay.com/photos/kids-play-games-childhood-4926029/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Pixabay</a>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--12019 (<a href="https://pixabay.com/photos/washington-monument-sunset-twilight-1628558/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Pixabay</a>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--Geralt (<a href="https://pixabay.com/illustrations/wlan-web-friends-community-sms-2088659/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Pixabay</a>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--Justin Hoch (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RodneyKingApr2012.jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Wikimedia</a>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--12019 (<a href="https://pixabay.com/photos/fort-lauderdale-florida-sea-ocean-1975405/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Pixabay</a>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--The White House (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:President_Joe_Biden_speaking_at_the_joint_session_of_Congress.jpg">Wikimedia.org</a>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/rodney-king" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Rodney King</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/getting-along" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">getting along</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/cant-get-along" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">can&#039;t get along</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/president-biden" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">president biden</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/republicans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Republicans</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/congress" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">congress</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/marjorie-taylor-greene" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">marjorie taylor greene</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/gop" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">GOP</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/acting-adults" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">acting like adults</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/washington-dc" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Washington DC</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/conflict" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">conflict</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Eric Green</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">In Slider</div></div></div> Thu, 23 Mar 2023 20:09:42 +0000 tara 11755 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/23492-we-can-t-all-get-along-remembering-rodney-king-s-forsaken-plea#comments Confidence in the Supreme Court Is Declining – For a Valid Reason https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/21003-confidence-supreme-court-declining-valid-reason <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 08/08/2022 - 10:53</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1supremecourt_rep._carbajal-wikipedia_0.jpg?itok=gm0bAE6c"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1supremecourt_rep._carbajal-wikipedia_0.jpg?itok=gm0bAE6c" width="480" height="359" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/16/jan-6-panel-leaders-prepare-to-call-ginni-thomas-00040208" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">Recent evidence</a> showing that Virginia Thomas, wife of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/24/us/politics/ginni-thomas-trump-mark-meadows.html" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">sent at least 29 text messages</a> to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows urging him to help <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/20/us/politics/ginni-thomas-election-trump.html" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">overturn the 2020 election</a> has reignited a long-simmering debate about judicial ethics and the nation’s highest court.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><a href="https://judicialstudies.duke.edu/2019/11/what-does-fair-and-impartial-judiciary-mean-and-why-is-it-important/" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">Fair and impartial</a> judges are <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-04-02-0241" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">essential</a> to the health and legitimacy of the judicial system and are a critical component of the system of government established in the U.S. Constitution.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">In the past, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/28/thomas-ginsburg-past-recusals/" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">both liberal and conservative justices’ actions</a> have raised questions about ethical standards for the court. <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/conflict-interest-supreme-court-justices-stocks" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">Justice Stephen Breyer’s wife</a> owned personal stock in a company involved in a Supreme Court case, for example, and former Justice Antonin Scalia <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/scalia-cheney-trip-raises-eyebrows/" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">went duck hunting with then-Vice President</a> Dick Cheney in 2003 when the court was considering a case focused on Cheney.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Legal scholars and pundits have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/25/us/supreme-court-clarence-thomas-recusal.html" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">debated</a> whether given justices should have voluntarily removed themselves from particular cases given potential conflicts of interest.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">As <a href="https://www.everingsmuth.com/" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">a Supreme Court scholar</a>, I think it is important to recognize that there is no formal code of conduct guiding the work of the Supreme Court, which contributes to a lack of clarity regarding the ethical boundaries for justices.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/4supremecourt_supremecourtdotgov.jpg" style="height:434px; width:651px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>A code of ethics for some judges, not all</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Unlike Supreme Court justices, other federal judges follow a <a href="https://www.uscourts.gov/judges-judgeships/code-conduct-united-states-judges" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">code of conduct</a> developed by the Judicial Conference, a government <a href="https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/governance-judicial-conference" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">policymaking group for lower federal courts</a>.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The code outlines ethical principles for judges, saying that they should remain independent and abstain from political activity, like giving money to a political candidate.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The code also has a process <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/publicinfo/year-end/2011year-endreport.pdf" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">for reviewing</a> if and when judges should not participate in a case because of a conflict of interest.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">But the Judicial Conference does not have any authority over the Supreme Court.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">So, as <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/publicinfo/year-end/2011year-endreport.pdf" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">Chief Justice John Roberts has pointed out</a>, the code does not apply to the Supreme Court – and does not “adequately answer some of the ethical considerations unique to the Supreme Court.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">A <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/455" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">federal law</a> applying to both Supreme Court justices and lower court judges does say that judges should remove themselves from a case when their “impartiality might reasonably be questioned.” This process is <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/recusal" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">known as recusal</a>.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">While this law applies to Supreme Court justices, it does not cover other areas, such as political activity, that are part of the code of conduct for lower court judges.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">It is also difficult to enforce this law with Supreme Court justices, since there is no higher judicial body in the country that can review the justices’ actions. Congress could pursue impeachment of a justice for violating this law. But, as is the case for other government officials, if the House of Representatives votes to impeach a justice, removal from office still requires a two-thirds Senate vote – a very tall order.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1clarencethomas_supreme_court.jpg" style="height:600px; width:480px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Designed for independence – not accountability</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The U.S. Supreme Court was designed to operate differently from the legislative and the executive branches.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Presidents appoint Supreme Court justices to lifetime positions, making it possible for them to make decisions independent of politics and the pressure of elections – even if those decisions are at times unpopular.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The U.S. Constitution’s writers developed some important constraints on the court that were intended to balance out this lack of public accountability.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">For example, the country’s <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-04-02-0241" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">founders noted</a> that the judiciary must rely on Congress for funding and lacks an army or other mechanisms for directly enforcing its own decisions.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/limits-of-judicial-independence/1EBA3F818DC4DC18FA085DBAAD8CE360" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">Some scholars argue</a> that because of this, the court strives not to stray too far from public opinion, because doing so could damage people’s respect for the court – and its authority.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">If people do not think the court is legitimate, its decisions could be <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1789-1850/31us515" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">ignored</a> or not fully <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1955/349us294" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">carried out</a>.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>The court’s decline in public support</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Several <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/394103/confidence-supreme-court-sinks-historic-low.aspx" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">polls show</a> that public support for the Supreme Court has been declining to historic lows, even before the court’s <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">controversial ruling</a> on abortion rights in June.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">A July 2022 <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/20/politics/supreme-court-job-approval-marquette-poll/index.html" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">Marquette Law School poll</a> showed that 61% of individuals disapprove of the court’s work. This same poll showed that 60% of people approved of the court in July 2021.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Several factors contribute to this decrease in esteem for the court.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">There is a <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2022/02/02/publics-views-of-supreme-court-turned-more-negative-before-news-of-breyers-retirement/" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">growing perception</a> that partisan politics – rather than neutral legal analysis – is driving the court.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">In September 2019, 50% of the public viewed the court as “moderate,” while only 21% reported this in <a href="https://law.marquette.edu/poll/2022/07/20/mlspsc09-court-press-release/" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">July 2022</a>. During that same time period, the percentage of those viewing the court as “very conservative” increased from 5% to 34%.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision to overturn <em>Roe v. Wade</em> also contributed to the perception that it has become more political – in part because it represented a major policy shift. This is also connected to the fact that some justices <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/collins-manchin-misled-kavanaugh-gorsuch-abortion-rights-rcna35230" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">made comments</a> during their confirmation process that were interpreted as indicating that the constitutional right to an abortion was settled law – and then voted to undo this protection.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1amyconeybarrett_supreme_court-wikimedia.jpg" style="height:650px; width:539px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>A drying ‘reservoir of goodwill’</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24363602" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">Scholars have shown</a> that the Supreme Court has a substantial “reservoir of goodwill” that has insulated the court from long-term effects of past controversial decisions, such as <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2000/00-949" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline"><em>Bush v. Gore</em></a> in 2000, when the court ruled in President George W. Bush’s favor regarding an election recount dispute.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Democratic lawmakers have <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/29/democrats-urge-supreme-courts-clarence-thomas-to-recuse-himself-from-election-cases.html" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">called</a> for Thomas to recuse himself from court cases that address the 2020 election or the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Thomas was the only justice who dissented from the Supreme Court’s <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-supreme-court-formally-ends-trumps-fight-over-capitol-attack-records-2022-02-22/" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">early 2022 decision</a> to refuse former President Donald Trump’s request to withhold documents from the U.S. House committee investigating the Capitol attacks.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“This is a textbook case for removing him, recusing him from these decisions,” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/27/clarence-ginni-thomas-supreme-court-texts/" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">said Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar</a>.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Thomas has not indicated whether he would recuse himself from future cases about this issue.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">This position, combined with <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2022/07/06/majority-of-public-disapproves-of-supreme-courts-decision-to-overturn-roe-v-wade/" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">public opposition</a> to the court’s abortion decision and low levels of overall <a href="https://law.marquette.edu/poll/2022/07/20/mlspsc09-court-press-release/" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">public approval</a>, suggests the court may be testing the limits of its “reservoir of goodwill.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Author Bio:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>Eve Ringsmith is an associate professor of political science at Oklahoma State University.</em></strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>This article was originally published in </strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/confidence-in-the-supreme-court-is-declining-but-there-is-no-easy-way-to-oversee-justices-and-their-politics-187233" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline"><strong>the Conversation</strong></a><strong>. It’s republished here with permission under a Creative Commons license.</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Highbrow Magazine                        </strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Image Sources: </strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--Fred Schilling - Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States (Supremecourt.gov, <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States_-_Roberts_Court_2020.jpg" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">Wikimedia.org</a>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--Steve Petteway – Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States (Supremecourt.gov, <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clarence_Thomas,_official_SCOTUS_portrait,_crop.jpg" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">Wikimedia.org</a>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--Rep. Salud Carbajal (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:My_Right_My_Decision_rally_United_States_Supreme_Court_%28March_4,_2020%29_05.jpg" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">Wikimedia.org</a>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--U.S. Supreme Court (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Amy_Coney_Barrett.png" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">Wikimedia.org</a>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/us-supreme-court" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">U.S. Supreme Court</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/supreme-court" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Supreme Court</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/supreme-court-justices" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Supreme Court Justices</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/brett-kavanaugh" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">brett kavanaugh</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/amey-coney-barrett" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">amey coney barrett</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/clarence-thomas" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">clarence thomas</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/ginny-thomas" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">ginny thomas</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/republicans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Republicans</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/law-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the law</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/roe-v" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">roe v</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/wade" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">wade</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/congress" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">congress</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Eve Ringsmith</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">In Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 08 Aug 2022 14:53:46 +0000 tara 11242 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/21003-confidence-supreme-court-declining-valid-reason#comments The Modern Presidency: Wherefore Art Thou, American Legislature? https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/11253-modern-presidency-wherefore-art-thou-american-legislature <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Tue, 02/09/2021 - 10:35</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1congress.jpg?itok=kc61thYp"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1congress.jpg?itok=kc61thYp" width="480" height="320" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong>Opinion:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>One of the important takeaways from this presidential election and its aftermath, more than the win or loss and explanations of why, has to do with the perception of the top office's importance and the gravity of the executive office.</p> <p> </p> <p>In one sense, it's easy to see voters caring about the down-ballot races. The number of undervoted ballots, where only the top race is voted, actually <a href="https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/nov/20/sidney-powell/sidney-powell-claim-450000-votes-were-only-biden-k/" style="color:navy; text-decoration:underline">declined</a> in several key swing states. It's an easy measure of voters viewing the office of the presidency as more important than everything else on the ballot.</p> <p> </p> <p>Even though these numbers have dropped, we see other areas in which concern over the scale and scope of the presidency lurks behind charged partisan rhetoric. Be it Glenn Beck's nonsensical concerns of a dictatorship arising from the nascent Obama administration in 2008; the fears of Donald Trump crashing through norms that seemed, for much of 2017 and 2018, to hit the pages of <em>The Washington Post </em>weekly; or the most recent claim, by Scott Adams, that the Republican Party will never win another presidential election because of its recent loss, the consequences of a change in the inhabitant of the Oval Office have been regularly overstated by the media. A fever pitch is reached by one media group, loosely affiliated with partisans of one side, when the other's candidate of choice wins.</p> <p> </p> <p>What's missing is a reflective look at what causes this fever pitch -- in extreme and dangerous tones with potentially real consequences.</p> <p> </p> <p>A flashpoint of this contention has been the executive order. Most notably, President Obama's <a href="https://www.npr.org/2014/01/20/263766043/wielding-a-pen-and-a-phone-obama-goes-it-alone" style="color:navy; text-decoration:underline">statement</a> that “I've got a pen and I've got a phone,” which covered more than actions requiring the secrecy and dispatch that other areas in which the presidency is accorded a freer hand, namely foreign policy: “Helping to make sure our kids are getting the best education possible, making sure that our businesses are getting the kind of support and help they need to grow and advance, to make sure that people are getting the skills that they need to get those jobs that our businesses are creating.”</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1obama_obamawhitehousearchives.jpg" style="height:400px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Reader, please note: All these require definition, as explained in Harold Lasswell’s book, <em>Politics: Who Gets What, When, How</em>. What is the best education? What environments require what kind of support? If you're wondering where the legislature comes into the picture, this is exactly where it ought to: these are choices regarding who gets what, when, and how, typically seen as the province of the political — and, as such, a question to be deliberated in the legislature.</p> <p> </p> <p>It's easy to critique President Obama for this. We know what comes next. But even when Donald Trump did become president, no major effort was made to curtail executive power via the legislature. For obvious reasons, the Republicans made no effort; on the other side of the aisle, the efforts took a more litigious form. The political branches brought problems to the third branch, the federal courts.</p> <p> </p> <p>At their least effective, lawsuits used Trump's motivation to act as a vector for the travel ban; they also appeared to offer complications only when moving in one direction on DACA. No efforts were made to lower the stakes of a change in executive orders through legislation, nor were any major deals made.</p> <p> </p> <p>It's possible to say nobody has been good at wheeling and dealing since John Boehner was all but chased off Capitol Hill by his own caucus. Instead, the public was treated to the spectacle of political branches attempting to rope the courts into their quests.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/trumpillustration_michael_bechetti_0.jpg" style="height:526px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Pen-and-phone constitutionalism has a sort of addictive quality to it. Despite having a majority in the House and a tiebreaking potential in the Senate, we still witness <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/6-state-attorneys-general-warn-biden-over-potential-presidential-overreach_3674617.html" style="color:navy; text-decoration:underline">President Biden taking actions</a> on his own initiative, rather than attempting a more durable change through coaxing the legislature into action.</p> <p> </p> <p>Some might claim such an effort is necessary to avoid obstruction in the legislature, particularly the Senate, but this strikes at a fundamental problem: an inability to negotiate and bargain, perhaps a lack of prioritization of platform planks.</p> <p> </p> <p>The “missing-in-action” legislature is a late disappointment in American politics, especially considering its original design. Successfully lowering the stakes of presidential races will require more input from the legislative branch, particularly a more active, detail-oriented role in making the rules and regulations that affect Americans’ day-to-day lives.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>Adam Gravano is a contributing writer at</em> Highbrow Magazine.</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>For Highbrow Magazine</strong></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Image Sources:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><em>Lawrence Jackson (Whitehouse.gov, <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Obama_Health_Care_Speech_to_Joint_Session_of_Congress.jpg" style="color:navy; text-decoration:underline">Wikimedia</a>, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p><em>Sonya N. Hebert (Obama White House Archives, <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2013/01/21/second-inauguration-barack-obama" style="color:navy; text-decoration:underline">Creative Commons</a>)</em></p> <p><em>Illustration by Michael Bechetti for Highbrow Magazine</em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/congress" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">congress</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/congress-persons" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">congress persons</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/politicians" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">politicians</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/american-legislature" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">american legislature</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/american-government" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">american government</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/obama" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Obama</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/joe-biden" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">joe biden</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/donald-trump" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Donald Trump</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/diplomacy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">diplomacy</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/executive-orders" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">executive orders</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Adam Gravano</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Tue, 09 Feb 2021 15:35:05 +0000 tara 10154 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/11253-modern-presidency-wherefore-art-thou-american-legislature#comments How COVID-19 Changed America and the World Forever https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/10886-how-covid-changed-america-and-world-forever <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Sun, 09/27/2020 - 18:00</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/6coronavirus_alexandra_koch_-_pixabay.jpg?itok=pmYHPZ3H"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/6coronavirus_alexandra_koch_-_pixabay.jpg?itok=pmYHPZ3H" width="480" height="270" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p>Plagues, pestilence, and pandemics have always been an essential part of human existence since the dawn of recorded history. As we are now painfully aware, they are very much a part of modern life as well. Silent microbial killers have shaken and toppled civilizations in the past. Today, thanks to improvements in global transportation and technology, deadly viruses can spread faster than ever. Although humans have shown remarkable resilience in the face of adversity, these cataclysmic events have left a profound mark on every society and generation, including our own.</p> <p> </p> <p>Epidemics force us to re-examine our relationship with each other, and - for those of us who are religiously inclined - our relationship with our Creator. Pandemics necessarily involve issues of life and death. They inevitably force us to come to grips with fundamental moral and existential questions. What is the good, the just, and the right thing to do in a global health crisis? What should we avoid doing? What sacrifices are we willing to make individually for the common good? How long are we prepared to make those sacrifices as the epidemic drags on from weeks into months, and possibly years? Are our leaders telling us the truth about these life-and-death matters? Are they interested in the health, safety, and survival of the maximum number of our fellow citizens, or are they acting in their own political and financial self- interest? In a pandemic, one person’s actions or inactions – especially if they are in a leadership position - can have a profound effect on what happens to the rest of us. One infected person who does not abide by the rules of quarantine is jeopardizing countless others.</p> <p> </p> <p>By now, we all know that the COVID-19 virus – unchecked by social distancing and other mitigation measures - can spread through an entire community like wildfire through dry brush. It has been said that a butterfly can bat its wings in one part of the world and create a ripple effect that becomes a hurricane on the other. Our fates are more interconnected than ever before. Yet, at the same time, we are so separated and isolated from one another.</p> <p> </p> <p>In the pre-COVID-19 era, almost all of us were so wrapped up with the daily demands of family and our work that we had little time to reflect on the bigger picture. What are we doing here, and what is our place in the cosmos? Once we had to stay home, we had time to think about fundamental issues concerning the welfare and survival of our communities, our country, our way of life, and the planet.</p> <p> </p> <p>Some of us who can’t stand to have the TV on all of the time welcomed the silence. We took the time to read books (or even write them), take long walks, smell the flowers, or just let our minds wander to wherever they may take us. For me, the gnawing question that kept rising to the fore was: How did we get to this point? How can it be that we have been collectively brought to our knees by a single new virus? How did it happen with all the technological and scientific advances, with the “wonder drugs” and vaccines that have eliminated polio, measles, and smallpox?</p> <p> </p> <p>Since the end of World War II, our society has faced several pandemics and public health emergencies. Still, none of them have closed down all of our businesses, our schools, and driven us in fear into our homes, knowing that there is no cure and no vaccine? In 1957, a vaccine for the Asian Flu was developed between the time that it was first reported in Hong Kong in April of that year to the time that American schools started opening up in the Fall. U.S. government scientists and private industry saw that an epidemic was coming, mobilized their collective resources, and came up with a prompt solution. In 2003, during the first SARS pandemic, our federal government rose to the occasion. It minimized the potential impact of this deadly virus.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1mccallionbook.jpg" style="height:520px; width:347px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>The U.S. government also responded admirably to the Ebola crisis of 2014. In the aftermath, critical government agencies were established as early warning systems against the next outbreak. We all expected that our country would be prepared to face the next challenge with equal efficiency and effectiveness. We were sorely mistaken in the assumption.</p> <p> </p> <p>We could not have foreseen that an accidental president would move into the White House, and then proceeded to dismantle the carefully crafted government plans designed to prepare for the next viral pandemic. The government’s testing capabilities were woefully inadequate. The government stockpiles of necessary N95 and surgical masks, mechanical ventilators, and other essential medical supplies and equipment were depleted. There was no coherent federal response plan in place to deal with the crisis.</p> <p> </p> <p>We now know the federal government knew as early as November of 2019 that a new and virulent virus was wreaking havoc in China. The White House and the rest of the federal government also knew from intelligence reports that it was likely this virus would spread to the U.S. within a matter of weeks. Nevertheless, the Trump Administration failed to heed the alarm bells that were ringing and the warning lights that were flashing, or simply ignored them. Either way, the result was the same: Critical weeks and months were squandered that should have been effectively used to prepare for the public health onslaught that was surely on its way.</p> <p> </p> <p>As detailed in this book, U.S. officials knew about the virus outbreak in Wuhan, China, as early as November and December 2019. By early January 2020, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) was already in touch with its counterpart in China about this virus outbreak, and China provided the U.S. with the complete set of genetic material of the coronavirus. Also, in early January, the U.S. Department of Health and Hospital Services (HHS) had already started drawing up contingency plans for enforcing the Defense Production Act (DPA), which enables the government to compel private companies to produce equipment or devices critical to the country’s security. However, disputes within HHS and the White House prevented the government from implementing the DPA for many weeks. By January 18, Trump got a full briefing on the coronavirus threat to the U.S. from his HHS Secretary, Alex Azar. Trump’s response was to discount the threat, telling Azar that he was “an alarmist.” Throughout January and thereafter, he was also being briefed on the risks of the pandemic spreading to the U.S. in the daily briefings that were compiled for him by U.S. intelligence agencies.</p> <p> </p> <p>The U.S. reported its first confirmed coronavirus case on January 21, which was a U.S. citizen in Washington State who had recently returned from a trip to Wuhan, China. The U.S. thus knew by the second half of January that the virus was already in this country and that the prudent course of action would be to impose social distancing and other mitigation measures designed to slow the spread of the virus. Not only did the U.S. fail to take any steps to stop the virus’s spread, but President Trump repeatedly downplayed the risk to the country. Indeed, on January 22, when asked while he was at the global economic forum in Davos, Switzerland, whether he was worried about a potential pandemic, Trump responded: “No. Not at all. And we have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China... It’s going to be just fine.”</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1trump-coronavirus_shelah_craighead_-_whitehousedotgov.jpg" style="height:401px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>On January 29, President Trump and other senior White House officials were advised of a memo prepared by Senior White House Advisor Peter Navarro, warning that the coronavirus could cause as many as 500,000 deaths worldwide and trillions in economic damage, much of it in the U.S. The following day, January 30, H.H.S. Secretary Azar again warned Trump about the “possibility of a pandemic.” Nevertheless, the U.S. failed to take any action in either January or February to restrict the spread of the virus that was already documented to be spreading in the U.S., although the Trump Administration did declare a public health emergency and banned non-U.S. citizens from entering the country from Hubei Province in China. However, 300,000 people had already traveled to the U.S. from China during the month before the ban. Also, more than 40,000 people traveled from China to the U.S. after the January 31 partial ban, and around 430,000 total between the December 31, 2019 disclosure of the outbreak by China and April 4.</p> <p> </p> <p>Throughout February 2020, the Trump Administration continued its default policy of doing nothing to try to stop the spread of the virus in the U.S., while continuing to lull the American public into a false sense of security. On February 10, for example, Trump continued to reassure the American people: “I think the virus is going to be — it’s going to be fine.” On February 14, Trump reassuringly – and falsely – misrepresented the scope of the problem: “We have a very small number of people in the country, right now, with it. It’s like around 12. Many of them are getting better. Some are fully recovered already. So we’re in very good shape.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Behind the scenes, however, Trump and his senior officials continued to receive dire warnings that the pandemic spreading in the U.S. would have catastrophic results. On February 14, for example, a White House advisory group headed by Dr. Robert Kadlec, HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), prepared a memo in coordination with the National Security Council, entitled “U.S. Government Response to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus,” documenting the drastic measures that were needed to combat the coronavirus’ spread, including stay-at-home orders, bans on public gatherings and sporting events, school closures and social distancing. Nevertheless, Trump and his senior officials continued to ignore this rapidly growing crisis. They refused to make the hard decisions needed to stem the spread of the virus and to tell the American public the truth about the looming threat they were facing.</p> <p> </p> <p>By late February, a leading Homeland Security medical officer and other experts concluded that the U.S. had already lost the fight to contain the virus and that the country needed to immediately switch to mitigation efforts such as social distancing and stay-at-home orders to stem the spread of the virus. Also, in late February, the White House coronavirus task force conducted a mockup exercise of the pandemic, predicting that there would be 110 million infections, 7.7 million hospitalizations, and 586,000 deaths. The White House task force also presented President Trump with a plan setting forth the “Four Steps to Mitigation,” including recommendations for social distancing and other restrictions. President Trump, however, ignored all such warnings and recommendations. Instead, Trump continued with his optimistic happy-talk, saying, as he did no February 19: “I think it’s going to work out fine. I think when we get into April, in the warmer weather, that has a very negative effect on that and that type of a virus.”</p> <p> </p> <p>In early March, the White House continued to refuse to warn the American public of the catastrophic pandemic descending on the U.S. or to urge the implementation of stay-at-home orders and other mitigation measures on a nationwide basis. The White House also ratcheted up its opposition to any vigorous pandemic response efforts by attacking the media and democratically elected representatives who were trying to sound the alarm about the spreading pandemic. For example, on March 9, Trump went into attack mode: “The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, is doing everything within its semi-considerable power (it used to be greater!) to inflame the coronavirus situation, far beyond what the facts would warrant. Surgeon General, ‘The risk is low to the average American.’” Trump also erroneously compared Covid-19 to the common flu: “So last year, 37,000 Americans died from the common flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life &amp; the economy go on. At this moment, there are 546 confirmed cases of Coronavirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!”</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1blacklivesmatter_anthony_quintano-flickr_0.jpg" style="height:401px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Similarly, on March 11, Trump gave an Oval Office address, stating: “[For] the vast majority of Americans, the risk is very, very low.” He also continued to resist calls for social distancing, school closures, and other steps that would imperil the economy. The following day, on March 12, the Trump administration postponed the Director of National Intelligence’s (DNI’s) annual U.S. World Wide Threat Assessment, warning that the US was unprepared for the global pandemic. On March 13, HHS completed a study “not for public distribution” that assumed the COVID-19 “pandemic will last 18 months or longer and could include multiple waves of illness.” It also concluded that the “supply chain and transportation impacts” would “likely result in significant shortages.” Still, the White House took no action. On March 16, in a conference call with Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and several other governors, Trump essentially washed his hands of any federal responsibility for the pandemic response efforts, telling the governors that they were basically on their own in stocking up on gear such as respirators and ventilators.</p> <p> </p> <p>In retrospect, the most critical week for the U.S. to have taken action was the first two weeks of March. During the first week of March, from Sunday, March 1 to March 8, 2020, the number of coronavirus cases grew from only a handful to 500 coronavirus infections reported nationwide. However, the following Sunday, March 15, the number of confirmed cases had jumped to 2,000, with dozens of reported deaths.</p> <p> </p> <p>During the first half of March, there was still a chance that public health officials might be able to contain the pandemic in this country through shutdown orders and other mitigation measures. But the federal government did nothing, and in fact, President Trump continued to downplay the seriousness of the pandemic. His soothing words tended to lull the American public into a false sense of security. The shutdown orders did not come until later in the coronavirus epicenters such as New York, Illinois, and Ohio.</p> <p> </p> <p>So, what would have happened if the federal government had acted with the degree of vigilance that we had come to expect from the Ebola crisis and other pandemic threats? What if those sweeping measures imposed on or after March 15 — a federal warning against large gatherings, health screenings at airports, states of emergency declared, etc. -had been announced one or two weeks earlier?</p> <p> </p> <p>A group of Columbia University epidemiologists calculated that if social distancing and other mitigation measures had been put in place by March 1, then 54,000 Americans who subsequently died from the coronavirus would still be alive. And if those measures had been adopted one week later, on March 8, then 36,000 fewer American lives would have been lost, which would have meant that about 40 percent of the 93,000 COVID-related deaths in the U.S. reported as of the date of the study (May 20) would likely still be alive.</p> <p> </p> <p>By May 2020, the coronavirus crisis had already mutated into the worst economic crisis this country has faced since the Great Depression of the 1930s. More than 40 million people - one in four American workers - had filed for unemployment benefits since the coronavirus pandemic forced most of the U.S. economy to shut down in March. This economic hardship fell the hardest – as it always had – on the poor, Native Americans, and people of color. The virus had descended on black, brown, poor white, inner-city, rural and Native American communities like a heat-seeking missile, targeting the most vulnerable in our society who had already been beaten down by grinding poverty, chronic illness, diabetes, high blood pressure, opioid abuse, lack of educational and job opportunities, and hopelessness. A vast underclass in the country had been growing for decades, barely scraping by week after week and month after month, living from payday to payday until their jobs suddenly evaporated and they were unemployed.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/5georgefloyd_lorie_shaull_-_flickr.jpg" style="height:400px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Then the hopelessness and frustration caused by the public health crisis and the ensuing economic crisis collided with an even more toxic element that had been there all along, namely, the structural racism and brutality already ingrained in American life. These three elements – the virus, the economic meltdown, and racism – formed a combustible and toxic brew that exploded throughout the country. We learned to our horror that a young Black man in Georgia, Ahmaud Arbery, had been gunned down and murdered by three white men while he was out for a jog in broad daylight. Also, in Louisville, Kentucky, an unarmed black woman, Breonna Taylor, was shot by police in her own apartment while they were executing a “no-knock” warrant. They ended up literally executing Ms. Taylor with multiple gunshot wounds.</p> <p> </p> <p>The simmering rage in black communities around the country finally boiled over into demonstrations and protests after George Floyd, another black man, died while in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25. A video of the incident, which quickly went viral, showed Floyd handcuffed on the ground with a white police officer kneeling on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds while he pleaded for his life, repeatedly saying, “I can’t breathe.” These were the same last words spoken by Eric Garner, yet another black victim of police brutality, just before he too died on July 17, 2014, in New York City. It also turned out that George Floyd was infected with the coronavirus, but it was the systemic virus of racism that killed him.</p> <p> </p> <p>The demonstrations that first erupted in Minneapolis were reasonably peaceful until a full four days after Floyd’s murder, when former police officer Derek Chauvin – who had been fired along with three fellow officers immediately after the incident - still was not in police custody and not charged with a crime. After a night of violent protests, fires and looting ripped through Minneapolis and neighboring St. Paul on May 28, Chauvin was finally taken into custody on Friday, May 29. Mostly peaceful demonstrations took place in almost every major city around the country, with some violence erupting, and the police overreacting in several cities, including New York City.<br />  </p> <p>The demonstrators demanded that America acknowledge that Black Lives Matter and that the gratuitous killing of young Black men by the police and white vigilantes had to stop. The response to demonstrators demanding an end to police brutality of Black people was met, in many cases, with even more police brutality.</p> <p> </p> <p>The demands of many demonstrators - many of whom were white, Hispanic, and Asian - expanded to include demands for the elimination of systemic racism in all aspects of American society, including employment, education, and housing. The issue of reparations to the African-American community for 401 years of slavery, degradation, and discrimination also rose to the fore, and it seemed like a healthy debate was suddenly emerging as to long-needed reforms of the criminal justice system and policing in America. Confederate statues came down and, even more incredibly, NASCAR banned the Confederate flag, which had been a mainstay at such events forever (or so it seemed).</p> <p> </p> <p>Some of the demonstrations in Washington, D.C. took place in the historic Lafayette Park, immediately adjacent to the White House. Although generally peaceful, during a particularly boisterous Friday night demonstration that spilled over to an area close to the White House, the U.S. Secret Service moved President Trump and his family to a secure bunker in the basement of the White House. This bunker had last been used by Vice President Dick Cheney in the uncertain days following the September 11 terrorist attacks. When asked about it by reporters, Trump denied having hidden in the bunker, concocting a typically nonsensical story about having been down in the basement to “inspect” the bunker, as if bunker inspections were a previously undisclosed part of the president’s job description.</p> <p> </p> <p>Trump sat stewing in the White House all weekend, becoming increasingly irate over the press coverage characterizing him as having “hidden” in the basement bunker, making him look fearful and weak, the two adjectives that he most hated, except when used to describe anyone other than himself. And when he took a break and went to look out one of the White House windows, he became even more furious as he helplessly watched as Washington’s mayor ordered the installation of a new street sign renaming the square across from the White House as “Black Lives Matter Plaza.” To add insult to injury, the words “BLACK LIVES MATTER” were now written on the street in bright yellow giant block letters so they could be plainly seen from the White House.</p> <p> </p> <p>Some bold, or even reckless, action had to be taken to prove that he was strong and tough. Trump feared that the public narrative was slipping away from him, and even his Secretary of Defense, Mark Esper, was starting to publicly express misgivings about ordering in federal troops to Washington, D.C. and creating a “Battlespace America” plan to confront the still growing demonstrations that were taking place now every night. Attorney General Bill Barr, however, had no such concerns about the potential for massive violations of the civil rights of peaceful demonstrators exercising their First Amendment rights of free speech and assembly. “General” Barr (as he liked to be called) took charge of the military-style response to the demonstrations outside the White House, calling in U.S. Bureau of Prisons riot police from as far away as Texas. These federal officers, who had a well-deserved reputation for quickly quelling prison riots through the use of “maximum lethality” if necessary, were part of the plan by Trump and Barr to “get tough” with the demonstrators and to “dominate” the D.C. battlefield. Other federal officers from multiple organizations flooded into Washington, but their names and affiliations were impossible to decipher since they were stripped of their insignias and other means of identification. These federal officers eerily resembled the unidentified Russian paratroopers sent by Putin to annex Crimea in 2014, who were referred to as “little green men,” since their green uniforms had been stripped of all insignias.</p> <p> </p> <p>On Monday afternoon, June 1, a snap decision was made by Trump that he would show America and the entire world that he was in total control of the situation and fearless enough to actually exit the White House on foot and then walk - with assorted military and non-military advisors - the short distance to St. John’s Church on the other side of Lafayette Square.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>This is an excerpt from Kenneth Foard McCallion’s new book, </em></strong><a href="https://www.amazon.com/COVID-19-Virus-changed-America-World/dp/0997929286/"><strong><em>Covid19: The Virus That Changed America and the World</em></strong><strong><em>  </em></strong></a><strong><em>(Bryant Park Press).  Printed with permission.</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Highbrow Magazine</strong></p> <p>                                                                                                                                    </p> <p><strong>Image Sources:</strong></p> <p><em>--Bryant Park Press</em></p> <p><em>--Alexandra Koch (</em><a href="https://pixabay.com/photos/virus-america-statue-of-liberty-5007055/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Pixabay</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)                           </em></p> <p><em>--Anthony Quintano (</em><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/quintanomedia/49984521671" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Flickr</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)           </em></p> <p><em>--Shealah Craighead (</em><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/49659236886/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Whitehouse.gov</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p><em>--Lorie Shaull (<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/number7cloud/49959004213" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Flickr</a>, Creative Commons)</em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/kenneth-foard-mccallion" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Kenneth Foard McCallion</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/covid-19-virus-changed-america-and-world" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Covid-19: The Virus That Changed America and the World</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-books" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new books</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/coronavirus" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">coronavirus</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/pandemic" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">pandemic</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/president-trump" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">president trump</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/william-barr" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">william barr</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/black-lives-matter" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">black lives matter</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/george-floyd" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">George Floyd</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/united-states" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">United States</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/pandemic-deaths" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">pandemic deaths</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/congress" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">congress</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/racial-discrimination" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">racial discrimination</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Kenneth Foard McCallion</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Sun, 27 Sep 2020 22:00:10 +0000 tara 9862 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/10886-how-covid-changed-america-and-world-forever#comments Will James Comey’s Testimony Sink Trump? https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/7597-will-james-comey-s-testimony-sink-trump <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Sun, 06/11/2017 - 14:35</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1comey.jpg?itok=SSekpJCL"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1comey.jpg?itok=SSekpJCL" width="480" height="270" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong>From our content partner <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2017/06/it-will-take-more-than-comeys-testimony-to-sink-trump.php">New America Media</a></strong>:</p> <p> </p> <p>There are three hopes in many circles about the testimony of former FBI Director James Comey before the Senate Intelligence Committee. And all track back to one thing: Will there be anything to come out of it to provide grounds for bringing impeachment charges against Trump? The first is that Comey can back up his now famed memo in which he asserts Trump demanded he stand down from investigations into then-National Security Advisor Mike Flynn and the Russia election-meddling connection. The second tracks back to the first hope: That Comey has added documents or even a tape in which Trump actually orders him to back off. The third is that Comey can provide just enough drama in his testimony to make it good media theater.</p> <p> </p> <p>Those hopes almost certainly will be dashed. The so-called “impeachment clause” in the Constitution lists the thoroughly ambiguous, “high crimes and misdemeanors” as one of the crimes that a sitting president must commit for the House to initiate the action and then the Senate to convict. In Trump’s case, this would fall into the category of obstruction of justice. The Comey memo isn’t enough. Trump will continue to deny that he ordered him to back off from the investigation. Short of a signature from Trump on a memo ordering Comey to back off, it will just be another case of “he-said, she-said.” Even if the conversation did take place as Comey claims, Trump will pooh-pooh it by claiming that this was just shop talk banter, and there was no malicious intent behind it. The key words in the alleged memo are “I hope you can let this go.” This comes nowhere near the requirement to bring a criminal case against Trump, that could only come as a direct order.</p> <p> </p> <p>The only drama so far in the Comey-Trump tit-for-tat is Comey’s firing. This has gotten tons of print ink and hour after hour of cable news chatter. However, testimony before a congressional committee is an entirely different matter. Most of it is long-winded, dry, and almost never produces anything close to the required “gotcha moment,” or a quote that can change the course of political events. Comey is the consummate just-the-facts-Ma’ am bureaucrat. The only fact that he’s alleged about Trump is that he made a note about the conversation that he had with him about Flynn. This is hardly Nixonian Watergate stuff. That came complete with tapes of Nixon blatantly orchestrating ways to obstruct justice in the criminal probes of his henchmen.</p> <p> </p> <p>The ones who have beat the drums loudest for something, anything from Comey, to nail Trump on have been congressional Democrats. The few Republican senators who have raised eyebrows about Trump’s conduct have given absolutely no indication that they see anything in Comey’s dealings with Trump that rise to the level of criminal misconduct. The worst that can happen is that GOP leaders will continue to try and figure out ways to further distance themselves from Trump and figure out more ways to get around his antics to ram through their retrograde healthcare and tax reform plans.</p> <p> </p> <p>What’s left after Comey is the independent probe by former FBI director Robert Mueller. He’ll be looking at wide-ranging and entangled business and political dealings of Trump and his associates with the Russians to determine if there was perjury, witness intimidation or obstruction of justice by Trump or any of the others in the Russia connection. Or, at the very least blatant favoritism.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/1trump_3.jpg" style="height:352px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Trump has been battered so long by the allegations of playing footsie with the Russians to steal the election, engage in sordid business deals, and jeopardize national security in the process that he’s developed effective duck-and-dodge counter measures. They include pointed denials, blame and finger-pointing at his political enemies, mostly Democrats, and at a “fake news media” that’s out to smear him to bump up ratings.</p> <p> </p> <p>He has a legal team that is well-versed on the rules about what public officials can do when it comes to business and government here. They know that eyes are carefully watching him to catch him in any dirty dealing. So, Trump doing something crudely illegal is almost unimaginable. This brings it back to the hope that somewhere there’s a smoking gun tape with Trump’s voice or a memo with Trump's signature that proves beyond any legal doubt that he committed some act that falls within the constitutional parameter of what is an impeachable act.</p> <p> </p> <p>The saving grace in the Comey testimony is that he is testifying and that he did keep a memo of the conversation with Trump about Flynn and Russia. It doesn’t prove criminal malice and it’s not enough to impeach. But it does pile on even more doubt about Trump’s dubious conduct and dealings, and more importantly, his fitness to be called president.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He is author of Cosby: The Clash of Race, Sex and Celebrity (Amazon Kindle). He is a weekly co-host of the Al Sharpton Show on Radio One. He is the host of the weekly Hutchinson Report on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles and the Pacifica Network.</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>From our content partner <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2017/06/it-will-take-more-than-comeys-testimony-to-sink-trump.php">New America Media</a></strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/james-comey" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">james comey</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/donald-trump" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Donald Trump</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/comey-testimony" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">comey testimony</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/congress" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">congress</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/obstruction-justice" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">obstruction of justice</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/impeachment" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">impeachment</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Earl Ofari Hutchinson </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">New America Media</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Sun, 11 Jun 2017 18:35:17 +0000 tara 7565 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/7597-will-james-comey-s-testimony-sink-trump#comments The Problem With the Republican Healthcare Plan https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/7582-problem-republican-healthcare-plan <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Sun, 05/28/2017 - 14:12</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1trumpryan.jpg?itok=tRYjwl87"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1trumpryan.jpg?itok=tRYjwl87" width="480" height="270" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p>There was something sublimely degrading about the beer bash President Donald Trump threw May 4 for House Republicans who passed his health care bill by the narrowest of partisan margins.</p> <p> </p> <p>Start with the host, who will say or do anything. By now it’s apparent that the president is untethered to reality. If he were to be impeached, a compassionate chief justice might declare him incompetent to stand trial because he lacks the mental capacity to be responsible for his words or acts.</p> <p> </p> <p>But the Republicans who sniffed his musk last week aren’t blissed by the clueless stupor his narcissism affords him. They’re fearful of their constituents. No wonder that, of the 217 congress members who voted his way, only two — one in Idaho, one in upstate New York — held district town halls this past weekend. They did not go at all well. When the rest of the cowering Republican conference is forced to face their voters, it will be similarly ugly.</p> <p> </p> <p>They must be baffled by how devoid of mojo their old battle cries have become. “Jobs-killing Obamacare” packs no punch in an economy that’s added more than 10 million jobs since the Affordable Care Act passed. “Disaster” and “death spiral” sound demented to someone who’s gone from no insurance to comprehensive coverage. “Higher premiums, higher deductibles, higher co-pays” may in some cases be accurate, but for Americans long suffering from rising prices, the real news is the slowing of the rate of increase.</p> <p> </p> <p>Republican capitulation to the Freedom Caucus’ demand to torpedo Obamacare’s coverage of pre-existing conditions has prompted hundreds of heartbreaking — and televised — stories of congenital defects, deadly tumors, chronic ailments, addictions and mental illnesses, whose long-term treatment was until recently made affordable by irrevocable insurance, but which now is slated for sacrifice in exchange for a trillion-dollar cut to Medicaid and a humongous tax cut for the wealthiest.</p> <p> </p> <p>Not only will those stories, juxtaposed with Rose Garden revelry, make for mercilessly effective ads in the coming midterm campaign; they also sound the death knell for the most toxic trope in the Republican rhetorical armory: the stigma of the unworthy unhealthy.</p> <p> </p> <p>The label descends from the widespread distinction, as recent as a century ago, between the worthy and the unworthy poor. The worthy poor — widows, orphans, the blind — were indigent through no fault of their own, victims of random misfortune, life’s vicissitudes, circumstances beyond their control. But the unworthy poor were the cause of their own impoverishment. Lazy, morally weak, addled by drink, gamblers: They had only themselves to blame. The worthy poor deserved charity; the unworthy, a kick in the pants.</p> <p> </p> <p>The Depression altered the presumption that bootstrapping is the royal road to success. If there aren’t any jobs, it doesn’t matter how much moxie you have. From our common catastrophe came a new compact. Every person is worthy of basic human decency, a safety net to catch us, a freedom from want we pledge to one another. To secure it? Not the market, not inheritance, not the luck of our genes — the government. And so from Social Security to Medicare, unemployment insurance to food stamps, we committed public resources to promote the public good.</p> <p> </p> <p><br /> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/mediumcongress_11.jpg" style="height:382px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Universal health care was always the outlier in America — not just the notion that government should provide it, but the idea that it’s an inalienable right. You could see that wariness, stoked by decades of propaganda, in a Wall Street Journal-Harris poll two years before Obama was elected. Asked whether unhealthy people should pay more for insurance, a majority of Americans – 53 percent – said yes. You can hear that same animus today in Alabama Republican Rep. Mo Brooks’ defense of Trumpcare: “It will allow insurance companies to require people who have higher health costs to contribute more to the insurance pool that helps offset all these costs, thereby reducing the cost to those people who lead good lives. They’re healthy, they’ve done the things to keep their bodies healthy, and right now, those are the people who have done the things the right way that are seeing their costs skyrocketing.”</p> <p> </p> <p>“Moral hazard” is how economists describe the ability to evade the bad consequences of risky decisions. The Wall Street bailout, which prevented a global meltdown, absolved the banks of having hell to pay. I get why House Republicans almost sank it; it maddened me, too. To them, the ACA’s passage two years later reprised that escape from accountability. It didn’t penalize people enough for being addicted to nicotine, for consuming the sugar and fat marketed to them, for escaping a stressful day with a sedentary night.</p> <p> </p> <p>The ACA has helped millions of Americans with illnesses unrelated to personal decisions get access to healthcare. At the same time, it established a no-fault policy for having made choices that are bad for you. Under current law, your right to treatment doesn’t depend on how or why you became dependent on opioids or alcohol, or whether your high blood pressure or cholesterol might have been prevented by behavior change. All that counts is that you’re seeking a path to health. We don’t punish the sick for being unhealthy; life has done that enough. There are not the worthy unhealthy and the unworthy unhealthy. All there is is us.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>This column was first published in the <a href="http://jewishjournal.com/opinion/marty_kaplan/218790/stigma-unworthy-unhealthy/">Jewish Journal</a>.</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio: </strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>Marty Kaplan is the Norman Lear Professor of Entertainment, Media and Society and directs the Norman Lear Center at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.  In the Carter Administration he served as chief speechwriter to Vice President Walter F. Mondale.</em></strong></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/affordable-care-act" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Affordable Care Act</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/aca" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">ACA</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/ahca" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">ahca</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/republicans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Republicans</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/paul-ryan" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Paul Ryan</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/donald-trump" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Donald Trump</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/healthcare" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">healthcare</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/congress" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">congress</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Marty Kaplan</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Google Images</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Sun, 28 May 2017 18:12:15 +0000 tara 7534 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/7582-problem-republican-healthcare-plan#comments Why Mike Pence Would Be Worse Than Trump https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/7574-why-mike-pence-would-be-worse-trump <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Sun, 05/21/2017 - 15:05</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/2pence.jpg?itok=mJJeztw4"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/2pence.jpg?itok=mJJeztw4" width="480" height="268" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong>From our content partner <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2017/05/there-has-never-been-a.php">New America Media</a></strong>:</p> <p> </p> <p>There has never been a single moment before, during, and now especially after, the election of #45 Trump that the call for his impeachment hasn’t been loudly screamed. The impeachment talk thermometer now blazes hotter with the allegations that Trump badgered former FBI Director James Comey to scrap the Trump-Russia ties investigation, and then summarily fired him, told him too lay off investigating former national security adviser, Mike Flynn, and has obstructed justice at every turn.</p> <p> </p> <p>This charge is almost certainly the charge that would have been brought against Nixon in the Watergate saga, and was brought against President Clinton in the House impeachment charges against Clinton.</p> <p> </p> <p>It can’t be brought yet with Trump. The GOP-controlled Congress barring smoking gun proof would never bring an impeachment count against him.</p> <p> </p> <p>Despite the endless chatter about impeachment, and the obsessive yearning by millions to get the guy out of the White House, it’s a good thing that Trump isn’t likely to go anywhere for now. You get Mike Pence.</p> <p> </p> <p>There are terrifying reasons why this would be a catastrophe of epic proportions. Pence is practically the made-in-heaven poster boy for turning the clock back a half-century or more. His primitive record on gay rights, civil rights, civil liberties, and education is well-known. His anti-position on same sex marriage, public school emphasis, union protections, hate crimes laws, corporate checks, and equitable corporate taxing, separation of church and state during his stint as Indiana governor are equally well-known. Every major liberal and progressive activist group on these issues has consistently given him straight F's on their report cards for elected officials. While every conservative and ultra-conservative group has given him straight A's on their legislative report card.</p> <p> </p> <p>A President Pence would move quickly, adeptly, and expertly at trying to ram legislation and initiatives through Congress and via executive order fiat to gut or eliminate every one of these protections.</p> <p> </p> <p>The key word here is expertly. He knows the legislative process through and through. He is part and parcel of the GOP establishment. GOP senators and congresspersons are comfortable with him. He would smile affably, make no bombastic, outrageous statements or tweets, and work quietly and businesslike behind the scenes to implement his agenda. His quiet, businesslike manner was on full display when he cast the deciding vote as VP and President of the Senate on the confirmation of hotly disputed Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, and the vote to defund Planned Parenthood. He did it without fanfare, attacks on the Democrats and the handful of Republicans who opposed her. There were no tweets. This paid double dividends for him, Trump the GOP, and ultra-conservatives. He got DeVos in, and the defunding of Planned Parenthood, and he did it without drawing any real media or public fire for his vote.</p> <p> </p> <p><br /> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/1trump_2.jpg" style="height:352px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>On the issues, such as building a border wall, immigrant restrictions, eliminating the Affordable Care, and a full-scale assault on public education, Pence would not do or say anything inflammatory to stir tens of thousands to immediately sprint to the streets in anger, or have Hollywood celebrities thundering at him from nationally televised film award ceremonies, or have legions of advocacy groups furiously taking out ads and sending out action alerts on something outrageous that came of his mouth.</p> <p> </p> <p>However, the result would be the same. He’d figure out a way to get the money and the congressional support to build a border barrier. He’d institute tighter immigration controls with the full support of Congress. He’d come up with a plan that the GOP and maybe even some Democrats could agree on to dump Obamacare. He’d gradually increase funding and resources, and shape policy directives for vouchers, religious schools, and charter schools. He’d get rid of the Common Core requirement along the way.</p> <p> </p> <p>Maybe the most compelling reason of all, though, for keeping Trump in the White House—no matter what—is that he could have colossal PR and political shelf value for the Democrats in the 2018 mid-term elections. There are roughly 25 to 30 congressional seats that are considered in play for the Democrats.</p> <p> </p> <p>Winning those seats would effectively give the Democrats the much-needed legislative breathing space to hector, slow down, and even stymie much if not all of Trump and the GOP’s right-wing agenda for the remaining two years of his term. The caveat, though, is that Trump’s bumbles, stumbles, BS, poll unpopularity, and impeachment talk alone won’t deliver those seats to the Democrats. It’s going to take hard work, a real ground game, boots on the ground and a full-throated voter mobilization campaign to win those seats.</p> <p> </p> <p>The impeachment clamor won’t go away. It will likely dog #45 every second of his White House tenure. But thank goodness talk of impeachment is one thing, action is another. That’s why I again ask, do you want Pence?</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He is the author of the new ebook How the Democrats Can Win in The Trump Era (Amazon Kindle).</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>From our content partner <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2017/05/there-has-never-been-a.php">New America Media</a></strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/mike-pence" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">mike pence</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/donald-trump" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Donald Trump</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/white-house" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">White House</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/impeachment" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">impeachment</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/impeaching-trump" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">impeaching trump</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/congress" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">congress</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/republicans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Republicans</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/democrats" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Democrats</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Earl Ofari Hutchinson </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Flickr (Creative Commons); Wikipedia Commons</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Sun, 21 May 2017 19:05:49 +0000 tara 7524 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/7574-why-mike-pence-would-be-worse-trump#comments Impeaching Trump Is Not an Option Yet https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/7519-impeaching-trump-not-option-yet <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Sun, 04/23/2017 - 13:38</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/12trump_0.jpg?itok=3mtANePP"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/12trump_0.jpg?itok=3mtANePP" width="480" height="319" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong>From our content partner <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2017/04/impeaching-trump-is-not-an-option----yet.php">New America Media</a></strong>:</p> <p> </p> <p>Few subjects have been more hotly debated, scrutinized, and endlessly rehashed, than whether #45 can or will be impeached. A deluge of petitions has been circulated online, and tens of thousands of signatures have been gathered for his removal. The issue of a Trump impeachment roared back on the public and media plate at a recent anti-Trump tax disclosure rally in Washington D.C. where speaker after speaker called for his head by way of impeachment.</p> <p> </p> <p>The article in the Constitution, the so-called “impeachment clause,” on the surface seems clear enough. A president can be impeached for committing treason, bribery, or the vague, hazy and thoroughly ambiguous, “high crimes and misdemeanors.” The House would initiate the action and then the Senate would have to convict him. That’s never happened.</p> <p> </p> <p>At this point, there’s little chance that can happen with Trump either. The biggest knock against him is that he has grotesquely violated the Foreign Emoluments Clause by refusing to fully divest himself of his business holdings. This supposedly puts him squarely in conflict of interest and, even more damaging, leaves him wide open to the charge that he is selling political favors to enrich his businesses.</p> <p> </p> <p>Trump took that allegation off the table when he supposedly plopped his business interests in a hands-off trust administered by family members and a board. Trump as usual was being disingenuous. He can still draw income from the trust with the approval of the board. And what are the odds of the board, in this case, his family saying no to him?</p> <p> </p> <p>The problem, though, in trying to nail Trump for mixing and mingling his business affairs with his government office is proving that he fattened his account by selling favors. There must be proof that Trump got a gift, donation, bribe from, or turned a business deal with a foreign government and, in return, that government got a clearly defined, tangible benefit from the deal with Trump. There’s the huge cry that foreign leaders and governments are spending cash to stay at Trump hotels or rent space in his various other real estate holdings.</p> <p> </p> <p>But that doesn’t mean that Trump has promised them favors, let alone that they have received any political favors from their presence there and the money they spent there. It would take ironclad evidence that Government X spent say $100,000 on a hotel suite at a Trump hotel or golf resort and then Trump facilitated an exclusive contract from say the Department of Energy to purchase oil, or gas supply equipment from Government X. There would have to be a paper trail to tie Trump to such a deal.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/2putin.jpg" style="height:436px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Trump’s team is well-versed on the rules about what public officials can do when it comes to business and government here. They know that eyes are carefully watching him to catch him in any dirty dealing. So, Trump doing something that crudely illegal is almost unimaginable. Another possible charge bandied about is that with the lawsuits he’s been hit with, his tax disclosure dodges, and accusations of borderline shady deals, that a case can be made that he perjured himself in his disclosures or, more likely, non-disclosure of his financial dealings.</p> <p> </p> <p>Trump avoided that potential trap in one big lawsuit, the Trump University scam. He settled before the case moved to trial. Thus, he avoided subjecting himself to having to answer questions in lengthy and potentially damaging depositions. Trump has a phalanx of top gun attorneys around him who know all the ins and outs of depositions and interrogatories and carefully advise him on what is legally permissible to say and what to keep quiet on.</p> <p> </p> <p>The charge that has drawn the most scrutiny and poses a potential impeachment charge is Trump’s Russia connection. One focus of this is whether Trump colluded with the Russians in their open meddling in the U.S. presidential election to tip the vote to him in three key states. Another is whether his entangled business dealings with the Russians rises to the level of blatant favoritism. Something of course could turn up in a deep probe congressional investigation of his supposed tie with the Russians.</p> <p> </p> <p>The two problems with this are that the likelihood of a GOP congressional committee taking on such a probe is slim to none. The election tampering angle is near impossible to prove. It would take smoking gun proof that Trump directed Putin and his cronies to cook the election books for him.</p> <p> </p> <p>So, for now we’re back to square one. Lots of talk, speculation and hope that #45 can be tripped up enough to bring a strong case for his removal. But to make that case it’s going to take solid evidence of wrongdoing that meets the high Constitutional bar to oust a president. That’s never happened in the nation’s history. But, there’s four years for something to happen to reach that bar with Trump.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He is the author of the forthcoming ebook How the Democrats Can Win in The Trump Era (Amazon Kindle).  </em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>From our content partner <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2017/04/impeaching-trump-is-not-an-option----yet.php">New America Media</a></strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/donald-trump" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Donald Trump</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/impeach-trump" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">impeach trump</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/impeachment" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">impeachment</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/democrats" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Democrats</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/republicans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Republicans</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/senate-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">senate</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/congress" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">congress</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/white-house" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">White House</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Earl Ofari Hutchinson </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">New America Media; Wikipedia Commons</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Sun, 23 Apr 2017 17:38:34 +0000 tara 7487 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/7519-impeaching-trump-not-option-yet#comments