Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
GOP Filibusters Voting Rights Bill -- The Senate voted last night on bringing a voting rights bill to the floor for debate. The party line vote resulted in a 50-50 tie, which usually would be broken by the Vice President of the United States in her capacity as President of the Senate. However, this particular vote required 60 yeas to succeed. The GOP filibuster has halted this measure without debate. With the GOP attacking voting rights at the state level, a federal law is the only counter-measure that will work. The issue now is whether the Democrats are willing to let the GOP tilt the electoral playing field in their favor for a decade or two. [23 June]
Spain Pardons Catalan Separatists -- In 2017, the leaders of the Catalan independence movement held a referendum on the question of continued membership in the Spanish kingdom. The measure passed because the pro-unity forces boycotted. The Spanish government also denied the legislation necessary to make the plebiscite "legal," as if people voting could be illegal in a demoratic country. As a result of the latter, the leaders of the Catalan movement were sentenced to jail time. Today, the Spanish government has pardoned them. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez hopes this opens a path to reconciliation. He is making a long-shot wager. [22 June]
Iran Elects Hardliner Raisi President -- The people of Iran were allowed to vote for a new president last week, and the winner is a hardliner named Sayyid Ebrahim Raisol-Saditi, more popularly known as Ebrahim Raisi. He is currently the Chief Justice of Iran, and he will take over the presidency in August. As the second highest official in the government after the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, he will guide Iran for the next few years subject only to vetoes from the Supreme Leader himself. This bodes poorly for the people of Iran, but there is some hope on the international scene because he is positioned to do things without fear of being outflanked. It took a hardliner like President Nixon to go to China. It may take a hardliner like President Raisi to turn down the tensions in the Middle East. [21 June]
LibDems Win Chesham and Amersham By-Election -- The constituency of Chesham and Amersham north-west of London has been at Tory stronghold since the seat was created in 1974. At the last general election, Welsh Secretary Dame Cheryl Gillan won election with more than half the vote. Yesterday, the Liberal Democrats won the by-election occasioned by her passing with 56.7% of the vote and a swing to the LibDems of more than 25%. The Greens came third, and Labour was a distant fourth, losing its deposit and winning just 622 votes. The LibDems are claiming this shows the changing nature of Britain's political map, profiting from Remain voters in Tory seats having nowhere to go except to them. This journal worries that this LibDem revival is yet another mirage. [18 June]
Feds Make Juneteenth a National Holiday -- The US Congress passed a resolution yesterday by huge, bipartisan margins that made Juneteenth a national holiday. Today, President Biden signed it into law. So, tomorrow is going to be a day off for federal workers and should be for everyone else. The nation was founded on the idea that all men are created equal. June 19 is the anniversary of the announcement in Galveston to black Americans in 1865 that slavery had been abolished. What could be a better event for acknowledgment that the end of chattel slavery? [17 June]
© Copyright 2021 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
Volume XIX, Number 79
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