Day 44 – The Proper Response

Thursday March 4, 2021

There were several items reported yesterday that we can look at in terms of not only what happened but how we as a people, as a society, as a nation should respond.

At one end we have Andrew Cuomo and the accusations leveled against him of sexual harassment, at the other we have Ron Johnson demanding the whole Covid Relief bill be read out loud, and then we have Elaine Chao who used her office as Secretary of Transportation to boost her father’s status and sister’s position as head of a major Chinese shipping company. There is also the fact that she never sold the shares she had in Vulcan, a major supplier of rock and stone to highway projects. There is also the testimony of the Pentagon officials about what went on January 6^th and why the response took so long. 

It is still not clear to me what the reason was for the slow response and who is responsible for that slow response at the Pentagon. There were troops loaded in buses and waiting to go. Yet, it took hours to get the word. Michael Flynn’s brother, Charles, was in the meetings. It seems he or someone next to him didn’t want to send the troops for a claim of “bad optics.” I have never heard the military was worried about “optics” before. 

Then we get to Ron Johnson. Why does he want the whole bill read into the Congressional Record? The only reason people say is to slow the thing down. Why would you want to slow relief down? Be it for the American people or for himself and the people at the Capitol that were in fear for their lives? Mr. Johnson has offered his reason in terms of the Capitol. It wasn’t what everyone saw. According to Mr. Johnson it was people, actors, dressed up to look like Trump supporters. It was a few bad actors. The rest were peaceful protestors. Some egged on by Antifa. 

These sort of people seem to be operating as a cabal to destroy our country. They want to replace it with something else. Maybe, it’s already here and they want to keep it? How else do you explain the over 250 bills in state legislatures aimed at limiting voting?

We need to get rid of them.

Let’s move on to Elaine Chao. She repeatedly used her position to bolster her family members and their position in a major Chinese shipping company while she was in office. She brought her dad along on official trips. What can she claim, she didn’t know? I mean you are married to the leading Republican Senator and you want to claim you don’t know? No. You knew. You didn’t care or didn’t think it was a big deal or even if it was so what? Do I have that about right?

Let’s move on to Andrew Cuomo. Okay, three women say he did or said things that made them feel uncomfortable and many have said his words and actions were inappropriate. Okay. So, what should we do? Crucify him? Or something less? How much less? Let’s take the example of Al Franken. There was a gag photo of him back in his SNL days where he pretended to touch a woman’s breast when she was sleeping. There were doctored pictures of him which alleged that he was too chummy by having his hand around a woman’s waist. Actually, the doctored photo showed him to have his shoulder halfway into her chest. There was a claim that in a reversal for a skit he repeatedly wanted to practice the kissing scene. This by a woman who was trying to promote her new talk show and was a pal of Roger Stone. The Dems, headed by Kirsten Gillibrand put so much pressure on him that he resigned his seat, and we lost one of the truly bright lights of the Democratic party.

Cuomo probably acted inappropriately, but how bad was it? Should we lose him as a leader? What he did to save New York was courageous and outstanding. I’m not saying that forgives his actions, but come on. Should he resign? I don’t think so. Should he apologize? Yes, and he has. What about some policies and procedures put in place so woman or anyone sexually harassed can have an avenue to complain and behaviors of those doing the harassing can be given a chance to reform? I for one have put my arm around a woman in a group photo without asking. I never thought much of it until I heard that Obama before having a group photo taken asked permission of a woman he was going to be standing next to in the photo. That made me realize that my actions may have made a woman feel uncomfortable. Was it my intention? No. 

I think there is world of difference between the actions of Cuomo and Franken versus say Bill O’Reilly or Roger Ailes. ( Funny thing – when I put in “Ailes” the spell corrector wanted to change it to “Lies” – Roger Lies. How did it know? )

Now in the case of Cuomo he apparently held a woman’s face in his hands and asked, “Can I kiss you?” She felt uncomfortable. Okay. I get that. Maybe this is “a teachable moment”? What could she have said and done in that moment? I get that she was surprised, but maybe another woman can learn from this? Thinking back and knowing how she felt how could she have reacted differently? She could have said, “Yuck. No. You nasty old man!” Or she could have said, “I’m really uncomfortable with that. I don’t think that’s appropriate.” I think a little training on both sides is in order. Now, what if Cuomo continues to do this sort of thing? What if he demonstrates he has learned nothing? Then we have a different situation.

Meanwhile, Texas and Mississippi have problems. The white guys as governors see no problems and have declared their states are now open. No more masks needed. This while their Covid numbers are starting to go up in their states and while parts of their states are without water or electricity. It’s interesting to me that the people who are in charge of the cities and trying to fix things are black, brown, and hispanic while the people denying anything is a problem, and who have for years not come to the aid of those cities are white.

PS The Crater at Petersburg National Battlefield. This is where the Union soldiers dug a tunnel over 500 feet long and placed four tons of explosives, which they blew up and punched a hole in the Confederate line. That was the only thing that went right for them that day. The Union soldiers rushed forward and went into the hole. The Conderates regrouped and came back and shot those in the hole from the rim. Lincoln said afterwards of the general in charge that only he could snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

There’s more to the story. The men who dug the tunnel were miners from Pennsylvania. It took them nine months to do it. Others didn’t believe it would work and so gave them inadequate tools. They had to use crates to move the dirt out. They also weren’t given all the explosives they asked for and the fuses weren’t very good and had to be spliced together. When lit they failed at the splice.

Some soldiers were trained in what to do once the explosion happened. They were black, ie from a “colored” regiment. Grant said afterwards they were held back. “Bad optics”? They were sent in when it was too late and they made the largest advance of any.

The Crater doesn’t look like much now. There’s a marker near here that declares how bravely the Confederate soldiers fought. 

Interestingly, they had to come up with a way to ventilate the tunnel. Halfway in they built a ventilation shaft covered in canvas. Below it they placed a small fire and closed the entrance to the tunnel. This meant the fire had to grab the air in the tunnel, which rose and was then replaced with “good air” and thus the miners were able to keep breathing and working.