legislating in the twilight zone

I couldn't write about last week until this week because there's been so much to process.  Beginning with a rescheduled Council meeting (WTF!?) and ending the week with the news that our governor and his wife have COVID.  

Yes, a rescheduled Council meeting.  Following 20 minutes of a silent webex meeting, our director came on the line to advise us that the meeting would have to be rescheduled due to a technical error.  Turns out our meeting notice (which, by law, requires 24 hours notice) included the wrong webex link.  (To be honest, it's a miracle that hasn't happened before now.  With so many different links for different audiences in each meeting, what a nightmare!)

Then our meeting was...(this is where I'd like to insert the #SMH emoji).  

The Chair was out of town (on a well-deserved holiday), and our Vice Chair ran her first meeting, and it showed.  On top of the unpracticed chair, we had 440 public comments (which, at 3 minutes a pop, would've made for a really long night).  It took 15 minutes just to sort through all of the motions to limit the comments to two hours.  And that mess set the tone for the whole meeting.

The public comments were a perfect example of the me-me-me centricity of our society today.  "I don't care if there is a global pandemic.  My kids need to be in sports."  "This pandemic is being blown out of proportion.  My kids need to play sports."  "My kid will lose her sports scholarship if she sits out the season."

That last one really gets me.  The first two are so fucking selfish, I just can't.  That latter bit makes me the angriest.  If this is true, and sports scouts aren't finding innovative ways to seek out and reward talent, they are deepening the divide between science, humanity, and the sense that we're in this together.  

And to react, our school districts are moving sports to outer districts with fewer COVID restrictions, and teaching our kids (but only the schools that are predominately white and wealthy (while our schools in lower income school districts don't have this option #systemicracism)) that the rules don't apply to them.

Leading in a crisis is hard for so many reasons, not the least of which being no good answers and a very hazy view of what outcome may be, but because this particular moment is fraught with such divisiveness and viciousness, making decisions at all feels impossible.   

hypocrisy by ordinance

This week in County politics, the youth sports crowd is on the offensive, the municipalities find a path to CARES Act money, one of my friends and allies has turned coat, and I find election season vitriol carrying on.  For me (and many others), the biggest issue is an ordinance proposal on the agenda that would limit the County Executive's power in future pandemics.  

For starters, I hope we won't ever need such an ordinance, and that this pandemic is a once in a century kinda deal.  Secondly, one of the primary reasons we elect an Executive is to lead during a crisis.  And finally, the very party proposing this legislation, which incidentally gives them an outsized voice by requiring a 2/3 majority to continue a state of emergency, doesn't even take the current pandemic seriously.

I honestly can't tell if this is simple election season shenanigans, or if anyone in the democratic majority can take this legislation seriously (and the fact that one of the democrats on the Council seems to find fitness here is both baffling and disappointing), but it is truly a piece of trash.

I'll go back to my original points.  A time of crisis is no time to have too many cooks in the kitchen, and giving power to decide whether a pandemic is really an emergency to a bunch of politicians is absurd.  In a time of crisis, an executive can assemble the strongest possible team of experts in whatever the crisis.  In this pandemic, that includes public health experts, humanitarian relief experts, and economic rescue experts.  In the legislative branch, I too can go find my experts, and spend all day every day trying to understand all of these moving pieces...oh wait, no I can't.  I have two kids and another job.  This is the job the executive is elected to do. 

The very best part is that the GOP has downplayed this pandemic since the day it hit our shores.  They have, and continue to, mock mask wearing, flaunt the lack of social distancing, and put their own selfish wants ahead of our collective best interests.  AND they want us to believe they should be the ones making decisions about public policy in future pandemics.  The chutzpah of it all is mind blowing.  

And for the youth sports crowd, I want all of our kids to get back to normal life as soon as possible.  I want the kids in my life back in school, back on the basketball court, and back in the stands supporting each other.  But until we as a society can show that we're listening to public health officials and doing everything we can to mitigate the spread of this disease, and whatever one may come next, I simply do not trust you enough to press to reopen.

Until we can all start being in this thing together, I'm standing strong for the recommendations of the public health experts.

~k

back home on the music box steps

I started this blog during a transformational time in my life.  I was on the heels of a marriage ending, the beginning of a hobby in politics, and learning to live on my own amidst the magic of the Music Box Steps.  

Since that transformation, I've moved to two different time zones, married again, birthed two babies, divorced again, and somehow managed to build a successful career and an equally successful (depending on your viewpoint) hobby in politics.  

As I once again find myself in the middle of a transformation, I feel pulled back to this place, where it all began, and where it fell off when I rerouted my life to become a mom.  

Politics has become a serious side hustle, where I'm Councilwoman on the St. Louis County Council.  It was become all-consuming at times, all-rewarding in others, and a place where I'm consistently awestruck by the viciousness that waits around every corner.  

I need a place to process what it's like to navigate the dirty world of politics, while spending the rest of my time helping people rise to their potential, and to figure out how to see through the haze of hate to stay focused on doing good wherever I can and for as long as I can.

That place is here.  On the Music Box Steps.

~k

the evolution of dog

miss scarlet was the love of my life...just a few short years ago.  her antics tickled me pink, her sweet but sassy little attitude melted my heart, and the way she could brighten my day with a little bat of those baby browns more than made up for how much of a pain in the ass she is.  she was the baby of the house, until the human baby came in and stole her thunder.

for the first week of life with a tiny human, scarlet barked at the baby.  the second week she left the room when the baby was around.  and for the next several months, she gradually learned to tolerate the baby. when food started to drop from above when baby was sitting in the kitchen, scarlet's acceptance took root.  and now that baby is up and around, and starting to play a meek game of tug of war, scarlet is taking on the role of big sister.

i'll probably shed a wee tear of joy when she gives up her spot at the foot of my bed for a warm spot in the bed with the tiny human...someday.

~k

head in sand

and about the environment.

this is something else i just don't get.  even if you think climate change is a hoax (and really? really?), why are you so opposed to cleaning up dirty air, requiring industries to keep paint and oil out of our drinking water and crops, and limiting the amount of crap we all put into landfills?  why?

why is the only dude in my neighborhood that doesn't use the FREE recycling bins provided by our city (a no-sort container for aluminum, glass, paper, plastic, textiles, cardboard, etc) one of those batshit republicans with the "who is john galt" bumper sticker on his old jeep cherokee...right next to the obama as the joker sticker?  because he's making a statement that he doesn't believe in recycling?  or is it that he is so unbelievably selfish he doesn't care that he's leaving a slightly dirtier world to his children?

and do you no-government-ever-at-all people honestly believe that businesses and industries will benevolently pay to dispose of toxic materials because it is the right thing to do?    fuck no.  without regulations, they would be dumping every single toxicity they manufacture into the air, ground, creeks, rivers, lakes and oceans, contaminating everything you breathe, eat, wear, and shit.

and is it such a bad idea to invest in the manufacturing jobs of tomorrow?  i mean, get a clue.  coal mines, oil fields, and all that is dirty is going away (and honestly, do you really want to work in any of those nasty ass industries?).  we need to invest in clean energy, renewables, and the related maintenance technologies so that china doesn't take that market.  the world is going green.  period.  we can either lead the way or we can resist ourselves into a dark, dirty, uninhabitable, bankrupt america that looks more like the districts of panem than the country we see today.

yeah, yeah, yeah, "we don't have the money".  we have the money, we just spend it poorly...no argument there.  the difference between you and me and money is that you blew it when you took down the economy and started (and want to keep blowing it on) unnecessary and strategically bankrupt wars and tax breaks for people who don't reinvest those savings in america.  i'd rather spend it to clean up, rebuild, educate and rehire america.

it would be awesome if you'd get your head out of your ass so we could all work together, to really talk about where we can intelligently reallocate our limited funds, and get this ship turned in the right direction.  but so long as you're focused on the earth being 6,000 years old, regulating my uterus, and stockpiling assault weapons to protect yourself from the muslim president, there's no way we can have an intelligent conversation with you...because you are proof that we aren't spending enough money on education.

~k

the hearing

[benghazi was] "the worst tragedy since 9/11".  wow, what color is the sky in rand paul's world?

does he get the newspaper at his house?  or own a television, or computer?  i guess no one ever told him about the wars that've been killing americans for 12 years, newtown, connecticut, or the hostages killed in algeria this week.

i've never quite been able to wrap my mind around this benghazi "scandal".  our embassy was attacked.  four american diplomats died.  yes, it was a terrible tragedy.  but it happened in the most dangerous part of the world...to people who accepted that as a possible outcome when they signed up for a post in _libya_.

there's a special kind of someone who wants so desperately to see the world become a better place, he's willing to put his life on the line to help birth a new democracy.  someone who wanted to build a democracy in a region that's been ravaged throughout history, and conditioned to fear and even hate a country he loves.  that was christopher stevens.  he didn't want to die.  he didn't want his comprades to die either.  no one did.  and no one meant for this to happen.  it is a terrible tragedy, and a loss to all americans.  and yes, mistakes were made, security was sparse, and the negligence cost four americans their lives, but this witch-hunt by senate republicans is incomprehensible.

this is the same fucking party that bullshit its way into a war with iraq...a war, incidentally, that has cost 4488 american lives.  and now they demand that heads must roll because the declassified talking points provided to the morning-show-stooge (i'm sorry madame ambassador--i don't actually think you a stooge. it's mere wordery) were "misleading".  the effrontery exceeds my comprehension.

like, i don't even know what else to say...

~k

guns and rules

i don't get the whole guns thing.  at all.

i don't care if you have guns.  have all the guns you want.  shoot every deer and pheasant between here and mt. rushmore for all i care.  have two guns.  five.  ten even.  i. do. not. care.  but tell me why it is that a background check bears any resemblance to an infringement of your constitutional rights.  tell me why a ban on high capacity magazines and the amount of ammunition you can buy is akin to being packed naked into an overcrowded box car and shipped to a camp that will kill you.  and then tell me why--and i want a really good reason--why any civilian has any need whatsoever for military weapons (cuz i know you're not hunting with them).

from where i sit, the only thing i can come up with is paranoia.

maybe it's paranoia that the neighbor (or the neighbor's kid) is going to rob you and set your house on fire. or maybe it's fear that the government is going to come throw you out of their own home.  or both.  either way, what the fuck kind of fear is defining your life?

stop.  think about this.  could the government become so oppressive that it storms into your home and makes a slave of you and your family?   fuck. no. it. couldn't.  this country is too big, has waaaaaaay too many people, and waaaaay too strong of a standing armed forces.  and even if something powerful enough to overtake our government and army (not a even a real live socialist kenyan muslim president could pull that off) does exist, the arsenal in the basement isn't going to do shit for you.  and more likely than the government takeover, is the possibility that your arsenal could be used (accidentally or otherwise) to cause you and others great devastation.  think about that for a minute.

and then let's talk about your constitutional rights.

if you still want guns, have your guns.  but get the same kind of licensing i am required to own and operate a _car_ (this is such a "duh" for me). i mean...will people without a license be able to get a gun?  i'm sure.  but we have to start somewhere.  keeping gun ownership from the people who have proven themselves to be bad or mentally unstable (and let experts in the fields of criminals and insanity define who that it) is the smart thing to do.  making sure that people with guns are educated about them is the smart thing to do.  limiting the number of rounds in a magazine could save a life, five lives, maybe even 10 or 20.  how is that not worth the minor inconvenience to you to having to reload before blowing the guts out of the next deer that happens into the slaughter?

guns are really dangerous.  they need rules.  and, frankly, anyone objecting to reasonable gun safety rules seems pretty irrational.  and those of you vociferously objecting to gun safety rules...well, you look like a fucking whack job.

~k