Properly Subversive/Sherman R. Frederick
When California favorite daughter Kamala Harris talks about dispersing federal disaster aid based on “equity”, it sounds silly. And, to be perfectly honest, a bit icky.
Do you think she hears herself when she says race-based stuff like that?
In case you missed it: As killer hurricanes slammed into Puerto Rico and Florida and then moved up the East Coast, Vice President Harris told Priyanka Chopra at the Democratic National Committee’s Women’s Leadership Forum that “We have to address (national disasters) in a way that is about giving resources based on equity, understanding that we fight for equality, but we also need to fight for equity. If we want people to be in an equal place sometimes we need to take into account those disparities and do that work.”
We’ve heard the VP parse the words “equity” and “equality” before, but now it comes in the context of disaster relief. How does that work, exactly? It’s a legit question, which so far she has refused to explain.
It brought the Vice President a hailstorm of criticism.
The rapid response director for Florida, Christina Pushaw, fired back: “If a hurricane hits a state, we should expect the government to help all those affected: black, brown white, purple, green.”
Soon to be Twitter boss Elon Musk put a finer point on it: Resource allocation “should be according to greatest need, not race or anything else.”
The VP needs to explain what she means because it leaves the distinct impression that if she were ever president during a national disaster, federal help would arrive not based on need, but on skin color.
If, say, a major earthquake struck here, would the Harris administration have aid workers pass over those suffering in Mill Valley to first help Marin City?
Seriously?
That can’t be what she’s saying when she advocates “giving resources based on equity.” So, stop ducking legit questions on this, madame VP, and explain yourself.
OOPS
This note comes from the latest newsletter from County Supervisor Stephanie Moulton-Peters.
“Dear Friends and Neighbors in Southern Marin,
“The Community Conversation Zoom with District 3 Supervisor Stephanie Moulton-Peters and District 4 Supervisor Dennis Rodoni scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 4 at 6 p.m. is postponed as it is Yom Kippur, and we want to make sure all our constituents have the opportunity to attend the zoom event. We will be in touch soon with the rescheduled date.”
Talk about a calendar faux paux. Please remember for future reference, dear Marin County Commissioners, that Hanukkah begins Dec. 19.
Also, Dec. 25 is kind of a big deal, too.
YOGI ON JAZZ
For all my musically challenged friends, here’s Yogi Berra explaining Jazz. Enjoy.
Interviewer: Can you explain jazz?
Yogi: I can’t, but I will. Ninety percent of all jazz is half improvisation. The other half is the part people play while others are playing something they never played with anyone who played that part. So if you play the wrong part, it’s right. If you play the right part, it might be right if you play it wrong enough. But if you play it too right, it’s wrong.
Interviewer: I don’t understand.
Yogi: Anyone who understands jazz knows that you can’t understand it. It’s too complicated. That’s what’s so simple about it.
Interviewer: Do you understand it?
Yogi: No. That’s why I can explain it. If I understood it, I wouldn’t know anything about it.
Interviewer: Are there any great jazz players alive today?
Yogi: No. All the great jazz players alive today are dead. Except for the ones that are still alive. But so many of them are dead, that the ones that are still alive are dying to be like the ones that are dead. Some would kill for it.
Interviewer: What is syncopation?
Yogi: That’s when the note that you should hear now happens either before or after you hear it. In jazz, you don’t hear notes when they happen because that would be some other type of music. Other types of music can be jazz, but only if they’re the same as something different from those other kinds.
Interviewer: Now I really don’t understand.
Yogi: I haven’t taught you enough for you to not understand jazz that well.
(H/T Steve Chalke at allaboutjazz.com.)
ONE MORE THING
– I bought 14 mangoes and didn’t tell my wife so she bought 9 mangoes. Now, we are the people from those math problems.
– Women don’t ask for much. They just want equality, respect, body autonomy, several jeweled crowns, five small (or two large) dragons, a pack of obedient attack wolves, and pockets in every garment.
– Since my diabetes diagnosis I only go to restaurants serving larger portions of vegetables. It’s the path of feast resistance.
That’ll do it for this week. Can you believe it’s mid-October? Until next week avoid soreheads, laugh a little and always question authority.
(“Properly Subversive” is commentary written by Sherman R. Frederick for Marinscope Community Newspapers, the “mother ship” of the Novato Advance, San Rafael News-Pointer, Mill Valley Herald, Ross Valley Reporter, Twin City Times and the Sausalito Marin Scope. Mr. Frederick is an award-winning journalist and co-founder of Battle Born Media, a news organization dedicated to the preservation of community newspapers. You can reach him by email at shermfrederick@gmail.com.)
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