Saideman's Semi-Spew: Quarantine, Week 17: Dizzy

Last week, I discussed how I felt things were breaking. This week was such a mix of good news and bad news that it was perhaps the most dizzying of q-weeks. The different Supreme Court decisions were dizzying themselves, both better than expected and about as bad as can be expected. The contrast between the President actually not being above the law in theory and then absolutely above it in practice with Roger Stone's commutation was like a whiplash. The progress made in Canada and in NY and MA combined with the pandemic doing the exponential dance in Texas, Arizona, and, alas, California was enough to spin anyone around. I keep on realizing that Mrs. Spew and myself (and Furloughed Spew out in LA) are pretty lucky, but then again, the Mrs and I were supposed to be on a safari this week.

Even the big SCOTUS decision regarding Trump's taxes was dizzying. Woot, the President is not above the law. Oh damn, this is likely to kick the tax reveal until after the election. Trump's lawyers sought to play the clock, and they won on that score (probably). Which sucks. It was striking that the vote was 7-2 on the specifics and then 9-0 on the major principles. Of course, Alito and Thomas can vote that way when it is a foregone conclusion. Still, an impressive statement. I still have no idea what Kavanaugh is doing. That the decision must have caused Trump a great deal of stress and anger is a good thing. He has had so much impunity in his life that any cuts and bruises, minor as they might be in their practical impact, must hurt quite a bit, and, yes, I want Trump to hurt. I really hope the implication of the logic of the decision causes the next Department of Justice (the current one is utterly broken) to kill the whole concept that a sitting president can't be prosecuted--remember that decision that disarmed Mueller (or that Mueller let disarm himself)?

We saw the Stone commutation/pardon coming. Stone advertised that he was staying silent for exactly this reason--these guys are not subtle about anything. So, Trump commits one of the clearest abuses of power, one that was clearly imagined when the Framers were discussing impeachment. Now that it has happened, well, hey, impeach the guy again? Actually, why the hell not? Any impeachable offense should be investigated and then should be processed. Let the GOP Senate vote again to protect Trump in the days ahead of the election. Sure, there is not much time, but the investigation can be short--just collect Stone's statements where he incriminates Trump, vote in the House, and then let the GOP in the Senate incriminate themselves.

The government responses to the pandemic are just so aggravating, frustrating, and,yes, maddening. The good news is that in much of Canada, the numbers are going down. Ottawa had something like four new cases last week, and the new death toll in Ontario is approaching zero. The bad news is that the United States in most maps looks like a sea of disease. It didn't have to be this way--the South and Southwest had plenty of time to get things right. They opened before they closed, the governors made it harder for localities to require masks, and so on. The Canadian frustration that too little thought and effort went into figuring out the school problem with too much focus on bars and restaurants is also an American problem. It is just that the American situation is so much worse that the schools are eclipsed for semi-decent reasons there right now. In Canada, the frustration of parents and educators is reaching a boil--we shall see if it leads to something. I talked about this last week, and not much progress in policy has been made but the debate is shifting.

My wife and I continued our exploration of rural Ontario, as we drove to Perth. It is a neat town with lots of shops for all kinds of stuff and our destination--the Perth Pie Company. Oh and a mammoth cheese display. We then hiked through a watershed park, in part inspired by all of those nature shows we watched when Furloughed Spew was just Kid Spew. Not quote the nature experience we had in mind six months ago. Our plans involved going to a conference near Capetown and then going to Krueger park to see the Big 5 (lions, hippos, rhinos, giraffes, and, um, lions?) and then onto Victoria Falls. We had planned to splurge because it would be a once in a lifetime experience. Well, we pushed the deposit until next year (we think, the company may or may not exist anymore), but realizing that we could have been doing something a bit more special than Perth stung a bit. But again, we are lucky, as the only price we have paid thus far is some stress shopping led to some money spent on stuff we did not need (new leather backpack and travel bag, for example). Our friends with school-age kids are aging before our eyes, and there is very little I can do to help them.

On the higher ed teaching front, the personal was far better than the news. My co-teaching and I have made progress on organizing our fall class, so now the real hard part--taping myself deliver some coherent mini-lectures. The American news, as always, was awful with new regulations forcing schools to either have face to face classes or their international students will be kicked out of the country. This is both a moral problem and a financial one. A financial one since so many places rely on international students paying elevated tuition. Tensions between US/Canada and China plus the pandemic will make a dent there already, but kicking out most international students will absolutely gut already precarious university budgets and push more than a few colleges into bankruptcy/closure. Then there is the moral problem--universities are already struggling with balancing risk to students versus financial health. Now they have to consider what happens to students who can't study their topics back at home (think about the social sciences). Oh, and there is also a larger economic issue--education has been a great export for the US. This is simply bad for the US economy. Oh, and bad for "soft power" as well. Just an awful decision that only xenophobes who hate universities can like (yes, Stephen Miller remains too powerful).

Oh, and there is racism in my neighborhood. The bike path in this story is one I use frequently. The woman who called 911 because of a Black Canadian resting on the path's bridge could easily have gone by him without risking exposure to the virus. So, instead, she exposed him to a dose of racism.

So, yeah, a pretty frustrating week. So, here's two bits of pop culture that might help. Since I am rewatching Star Wars: Rebels, which is more delightful the second time around (perhaps because my TV has a better sound system, and this show has such great Star Wars sound), how about: