The Presidential Events: May 2022

May 2022 had fewer noteworthy events than normal. I am partially to blame. I could have captured more details about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I could have recorded more details about mass shootings. But generally, there were fewer events because the Biden administration is quiet. As president Trump enjoyed making noise. But the Biden administration isn't loud, crazy, or chaotic. They know midterms are coming, and have decided to slow down. The Biden administration isn't doing much for good or for ill. They are allowing whatever is happening right now to run its course.

Contractors:

Biden has always loved contractors. Regular readers will remember that Biden asked Congress for the largest military budget in the history of the United States. Biden traveled embraced military contractor Lockheed Martin, publicly visiting a Javelin missile factory. Similarly, Biden awarded $10 billion as a federal contract to Amazon. He did this, despite his 2020 primary promise to “ensure federal contracts only go to employers who sign neutrality agreements committing not to run anti-union campaigns.” This is despite Amazon's obvious and heavy handed attempts to crush a unionization effort among its workers.

The Environment:

Wildfire season started early in the American West as Biden dithered on climate change, and J.P Morgan encouraged spending $400 billion to subsidize oil production.

The Supreme Court:

The process of placing objective, neutral judges on the Supreme Court is such an expensive business, where shell companies and donors pay billions for no benefit at all, that the Justices imagine money has no corrupting influence on politics. Therefore it's not surprising the Court ruled that candidates can raise funds after their elections to repay money they loaned to the campaign. It isn't enough that wealthy people can loan an unlimited amount of their own money to their own campaign, or that billionaires can give extravagant gifts to politicians and receive favors in return. This court will continue to push the issue, slashing campaign finance law to the bone, and then breaking it open to drink the marrow. All so donors can buy politicians and place them securely in their breast pocket.

A leaked draft showed the court is prepared to reverse its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. Beyond the obvious consequences, Alito's decision also strikes at the heart of civil rights. If a right is not enumerated, does it not exist? Amendment IX of the Bill of Rights reminds the judges that just the Constitution lists a number of rights, this does not exclude unlisted rights. Conservative justices may see the end of Roe as opening the door to strike down other decisions protecting a person's right to sexual relations, privacy, and racial equality.

Why is this Biden's problem? Because the court seems prepared to strike down numerous precedents, and the President isn't moving aggressively enough to counter the conservatively stacked court.

Russian Invasion of Ukraine:

Russia switched its focus from taking Kiev in a swift war, to advancing from the east into Ukraine. Nearing day one-hundred of the conflict, Biden sent advanced rocket systems, helicopters, and anti-tank weapons to help Ukraine defend itself.

But the two biggest stories of the month were;

Gun Violence and Mass Shootings:

Early in May, ten people were killed by a racist, white supremacist shooter in Buffalo, New York. The end of the month saw an eighteen year old wound seventeen and kill twenty-one at Robb Elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. The Gun Violence Archive recorded sixty-three mass shootings in May. A mass shooting is defined as a shooting where at least four people are wounded or killed, but many of these shootings involve more. Ten people were injured in a shooting on May 30^th in Charleston, South Carolina. Four were killed (and one injured), in Stanwood, Michigan on May 27^th. The day before the Buffalo shooting, 17 people were wounded in downtown Milwaukee. 2022 already has 27 school shootings. And yet Biden had the temerity to say Mitch McConnell and others were “rational Republicans,” who would compromise on gun control. I don't give much mind to the conspiracy theory that Biden is suffering from such severe dementia he can't tie his own shoes in the morning, but has he been awake for even a second of his own Presidency? There will be no gun control bill passing through the Senate (If there is, it will be so bipartisan, as to be completely useless).

Finally, the biggest story people are avoiding, The Coronavirus:

I finally contracted Covid. After avoiding it for two years, I got it, and it was mild. The recovery was eased because I am a stay at home dad, and my wife could use her many sick days she had accumulated as a teacher to take the time off and care for us, and then spend time recovering. Without these advantages, our recovery would have been difficult. Many Americans do not have paid sick days, or a stay at home parent. Unfortunately, one million Americans have not been as lucky. The United States passed this grim milestone with no public ceremony of remembrance.

In May daily cases rose from 56,000 to 98,000. Hospitalizations nearly doubled from 15,000 to 27,000. Thankfully deaths decreased from 320 to 298, but are likely to rise as they often follow hospitalizations, only slightly delayed. Deaths per case are down significantly from the worst days of the pandemic, but there are other issues to consider. A scientific study, considering anti-viral treatments and surveillance data, suggests cases may be thirty times more common than accounted for. This makes sense. My family didn't know how to report our infection. We informed my son's school and his doctor. I tried to tell my doctor, but they said I had to make an appointment, which I didn't. Did any of those entities inform the official counter of cases? I doubt it. A thirty-fold error should not be easily dismissed. Then, in a little reported study, the CDC announced that one in five Covid survivors develop long-term symptoms. Often called long Covid, these symptoms can last a few weeks, but also as long as months or even years, and include issues for the heart, lung, kidney, intestines, and brain. There is currently no scientific consensus on what causes long Covid and no treatment, though another study indicated at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine reduced the risk of long Covid by 13%.

Also, being sick with the coronavirus doesn't offer much protection against future infections from other variants, and with an apparently exhausted public, and an endless number of willing hosts, this won't be over any time soon.

Recent:

Wildermyth: Setting Off On A Troubling Adventure

Relevant:

The Presidential Events: April 2022

On This Earth Day, Everyone, Especially the Powerful, Are Still Acting Like Everything Is Normal

The Supreme Court Case that Made Trump (And The Justice to Remake Money in Politics)