51吃瓜

[We鈥檙e going to try something new here at 51吃瓜. I live in a small, quirky carriage house in Washington, DC, and this column is my view of DC as I see things. If I don鈥檛 get too much hate mail, then maybe we鈥檒l keep it rolling. On the other hand, if I get enough hate mail, maybe I鈥檒l keep doing it 鈥渏ust for the sake of my own stupid pleasure.鈥� Let鈥檚 find out.

P.S. Each heading is a quote from something somewhere or other. To the person who emails me 11 correct identifications, I鈥檒l buy you a drink at Martin鈥檚 Tavern鈥�or we can have a friendly chat over the phone while 滨鈥檓 at Martin鈥檚 having a drink. Why 11? Because that鈥檚 how we play around here.]

鈥淲ater, water every where, / Nor any drop to drink.鈥�

After spending trillions and trillions of dollars on COVID, much of it recklessly, Congress is digging through the couch cushions to find another $10 billion for actual COVID treatment. How did this happen? 

Start off with the fact that most of the money was thrown at transfer payments, not on treatment. To a degree this was entirely understandable, but the level of fraud that has come to light is staggering. Both parties spent like drunken sailors, but the most egregious was US President Joe Biden鈥檚 $1.9 trillion extravaganza as the pandemic was waning. That law, amongst other things, bought tremendous 鈥渞elief鈥� to the poor, pitiful state governments that are presently drowning in cash. We also had a million other things that were tangentially related to treating the coronavirus. Oh, and we bought inflation with that money. Maybe you鈥檝e heard something about that?

滨鈥檓 not saying the Republicans were any less scattershot, but they spent the money when a) the virus was a real unknown, and we were going into the lockdown blind, and b) we had not developed an actual, real, very good vaccine. When Biden splurged cash, several vaccines were already in production. The issue now seems to be whether to use unspent funds from other COVID programs to spend it on鈥� wait for it鈥� actual COVID treatment. What an idea! Yet here we are in a panic over what is, relative to other COVID spending, a drop in the bucket.

Speaking of panic鈥� 

鈥淚t was like when you make a move in chess and just as you take your finger off the piece, you see the mistake you鈥檝e made, and there鈥檚 this panic because you don鈥檛 know yet the scale of disaster you鈥檝e left yourself open to.鈥�

Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona must be in a panic these days. Around the turn of the year he was perp-walked into a volley of machine gun fire on the Build Back Better bill that failed, and his 鈥測ea鈥� vote has come back to haunt him. Perhaps that鈥檚 why he鈥檚 so eager to embrace . 

Title 42 was a Trump administration program that prevented immigrants from entering the US during COVID. Lifting such a restriction is understandable now that the pandemic is on the wane. However, this does not jive with retaining restrictions that the Biden administration seems to be fond of. The Department of Justice is appealing the revocation of the public transportation mask mandate by the court. 

This inconsistency is largely immaterial relative to the burning issue of asylum seekers. The 鈥淩emain in Mexico鈥� policy keeps asylum seekers south of the border while their claims are heard in the US. The Biden administration sought to end this policy, which Texas is currently enforcing. The administration’s lawyers took Texas to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, April 26. Clearly, immigration will be on the ballot come midterms in November.

The combination of 鈥淩emain in Mexico鈥� and Title 42 prevented the spread of COVID and avoided a bum-rush to the US border. If both of them were to go, there would be a tsunami of immigration. The Democrats in swing states might find voters would like them to be giving a damn about this issue, which hits headlines as immigrants surge and families are inevitably broken up every summer.

鈥淭his is family business,
And this is for everybody standin鈥� with us鈥�

And while we鈥檙e talking about dealing with families, there鈥檚 a distinct disjoint between the rhetoric surrounding Florida鈥檚 鈥淒on鈥檛 say gay鈥� , a mischievously if ingeniously labeled piece of legislation, and its popularity. This law does not want kindergarten children taught liberal sex education. When told what鈥檚 in the law and not just spoonfed the hashtag du jour, folks seem to like it. Go figure.

Polite circles won鈥檛 mention this, but according to a by Public Opinion Strategies, Democratic voters support the law by 55% to 29%. Biden voters swing 53% to 30% in its favor. Even those who 鈥渒now someone LGBTQ鈥� go 61% for and 28% against, and just to show that Disney is on the wrong side of this, parents like the law to the tune of 67% to 24%. Disney brought a knife to a gunfight by supporting this law. 

Social mores may have brought 鈥渁 whole new world,鈥� but Disney seemed to have wished upon the wrong star, and its special treatment by the state of Florida is over. Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law that revokes the status of Disney鈥檚 independent district, Reedy Creek. There鈥檚 now even talk of taking away the entertainment behemoth鈥檚 preferential copyright treatment.

Turns out running your own independent 鈥淢agic Kingdom鈥� is a lot less expensive than letting the government run the show. Sure, Disney could probably fix potholes and run emergency services and utilities better and cheaper. Once the new law takes effect, Disney will also lose control of land use, building standards, and environmental protection that it has enjoyed for decades. Insiders predict Disney will have to pony up of dollars annually to the government now and join the hoi polloi.

If Disney is going to support progressive policies, what could be more progressive than letting government get more involved? frets that Disney will no longer be able 鈥渢o manage its own streets, permitting, bond issuance, and so forth.鈥� Wait, I thought corporate control over things government usually does was a great threat to 鈥渙ur democracy.鈥� At least that is what left-leaning publications like Slate tell me.

But lo and behold, even Mother Jones is defending corporate personhood, an idea hitherto hated by Democrats, with a stating Disney鈥檚 Civil Rights were violated. To be fair, Mother Jones has said it stands against corporate personhood but dislikes Republican hypocrisy. However, the defense of Disney鈥檚 special privileges by blue-blooded Democrat-supporting publications certainly seems incongruous. However, there might be a way out of this Disney-Florida impasse. The law doesn鈥檛 come into force until June 1, 2023, so there鈥檚 plenty of negotiating to be had.

Part of the problem was the over-the-top language Disney鈥檚 CEO Bob Chapek chose when he the Florida bill 鈥測et another challenge to basic human rights.鈥� Mr. Chapek, Bob. May I call you Bob? Bob, didja read the bill? This isn鈥檛 Bucha where basic human rights are being violated. No cluster munitions spray labeled 鈥渇or the children” are being dropped. These are first world concerns at best. A pertinent section of the law reads 鈥淐lassroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-appropriate.鈥� Bob, take a deep breath: this is not exactly a Nuremberg Trial transcript.

When I think of Bob鈥檚 situation, it reminds me of what happened to Rob Manfred, the commissioner of Major League Baseball (MLB). He moved last year鈥檚 All-Star Game from Georgia to Colorado in the wake of the supposed 鈥渧oting rights鈥� kerfuffle. He was then reminded of MLB鈥檚 cozy relationship with China and the fact that though he opposed showing ID to vote, you needed one just to work concessions at the game. So, Mr. Manfred was against IDs for the purposes of voting, but in favor of them if you wanted to hawk beer under his banner. Because鈥� yeah, that totally makes sense. Finally, there was this . Turns out the Commish is a member of the tony Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia. Was he going to stand by his principles and resign from such a toxic Georgian institution? Apparently not. All of this over a bill he likely didn’t or understand.

I have no horse in this race, except I wish companies would simply stick to their knitting and stop virtue signaling at every turn. For years companies figured it was worth the signal to prevent marches, employee walkouts, and internet shenanigans, and that more conservative minds would grit their teeth and get on with life, but that thinking may be coming to an end. Fine by me.

One of the underreported friends lost by the US is Saudi Arabia. Recently the Saudis have cogitated on the idea of accepting yuan for oil, thus undermining the petrodollar. Who can blame them? Biden has done everything possible to infuriate our ally.

Those in the Biden Administration scratch their heads and wonder why the Saudis won鈥檛 play ball and just pump more oil, but a quick recap leaves little to the imagination. Start off by campaigning with the friendly of calling the House of Saud a 鈥減ariah.鈥� Then declare that Saudi Arabia would 鈥減ay the price鈥� for, amongst other things, having a government with 鈥渧ery little social redeeming value,鈥� and you start to get the picture.

After such pronunciations, Biden went on to withhold support for Saudis鈥� defense against the Houthis and no longer designate this Yemeni group as terrorist. His administration withheld Patriot missiles from the Saudis, fundamentally breaking the long understanding that the US provided the Saudis defense cover while they dutifully pumped oil. Also of note was Biden鈥檚 decision to release a CIA report in February 2021 that said Mohammed bin Salman, AKA MBS, was responsible for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Come September, MBS was so hot on the subject he started at Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, when asked about the murder.

To top it off, the Biden administration has further inflamed relations with Saudi Arabia by trying to cobble together a nuclear pact with the Iranian regime, the sworn enemy of the Arabs. This project seems doomed. For all the humiliating US prostrations before Iran, including an offer to drop the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps from the terrorist list, the Ayatollahs appear unmoved. US flirtations with Iran might not have succeeded but it has caught the eye of Saudi Arabia, and it鈥檚 not winning Biden any friends over there. Even before recent Saudi-US tensions, the Asia Pivot under Barack Obama and the flaming dumpster fire left behind by Biden in Afghanistan were perceived as waning US interest in the Middle East.

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Having run an expensive election campaign, Biden should know that money talks. Beijing purchases 1.8 million barrels of Saudi oil per day and the Kingdom has become China’s. The petrodollar may soon be in limbo, and with it the old deal between the US and Saudi Arabia that originally propped up the dollar. Starting in 1974, Saudi Arabia agreed to price oil in dollars in return for Washington providing arms, oilfield security, and defense cover to Riyadh. Now we have a situation where Saudi and the United Arab Emirates won鈥檛 even take Biden鈥檚 call, won鈥檛 pump more oil, and MBS is yelling that the US should 鈥渇orget about its request to boost oil production.鈥� Hell鈥檚 bells.

HMU @: christopher.roper.schell@fairobserver.com

The views expressed in this article are the author鈥檚 own and do not necessarily reflect 51吃瓜鈥檚 editorial policy.