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GELFAND'S WORLD - There will be mass marches and rallies across the United States this Saturday to protest the outrages being perpetrated by the Trump administration. The defenders of Trump policies such as Speaker Mike Johnson call them hate rallies and question the patriotism of the participants. The truth is, of course, quite the opposite. The failure to defend American values belongs to Mike Johnson, to the rest of the Republicans who have enabled Donald Trump, and to Trump himself. They are being un-American in their refusal to stand up for freedom of speech, of the press, and of religion. That’s what protestors mean when they say that we should have no kings. There is no need to write a defense of this point – it is entirely obvious. Something as simple as Trump’s repeated threat to revoke tv broadcast licenses for making fun of him is all the example you need. But Trump has gone over the edge more recently in talking about arresting his enemies – he thinks of them as enemies, although the rest of us would think of them as political opponents. Adam Schiff comes to mind as one of the real Americans coming under attack.
And these attacks on traditional Americans and on traditional American liberties are another reason for Democrats to refuse to join in ending the government shutdown. As long as Trump and his supporters continue to engage in hate speech themselves – and it is hate speech which is aimed at the normal, majority contingent – the congressional Democrats should refuse to play.
Mike Johnson might start the process by apologizing for attacking the motives of ordinary Americans and by swearing in the newly elected member of the House of Representatives. The problem for Mike Johnson is that this act could provide the final signature on the petition to get the Epstein files released. It ought to be a clue, this refusal by Johnson to act on a simple responsibility, but it’s no secret what he is trying to keep hidden. So who is the hater who is trying to protect actions aimed at weakening the United States?
Stirred, not Shaken
Thursday, October 16 was supposed to be the Great Shakeout. This was to be a day on which – at precisely 10:16 AM – everyone would imagine a major earthquake. We were supposed to “drop, cover, and hold on.” It is supposed to be a reminder not only to you and me, but to local government, that there is always the danger of a major earthquake and that we should prepare ourselves accordingly.
At one point, a previous mayor asked neighborhood councils to develop emergency plans for their regions. Many of us dutifully complied. (My neighborhood council worked with the Fire Department to have Community Emergency Response training offered to our residents, and we positioned emergency supplies for volunteer first responders.)
So what has the city done? Here is one non-example. For more than 5 years, we have been asking the city’s Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (which is supposed to assist neighborhood councils) merely to add one page to its website which would supply links to emergency information sites. Everyone (including DONE representatives) agreed that this would be a good thing. Well, let’s examine the record, as they say, in terms of that website.
The whole thing is available at EmpowerLA.org.
No emergency page, there, although perhaps we should give them another 5 years.
Or, you could take a look at the DONE website calendar.
Nobody could even remember to put the Great Shakeout on the calendar.
What’s going on here is what we’ve come to expect from so many other facets of city government. They pay lip service to an important issue, but fail to act effectively. Considering that a major earthquake could kill upwards of a thousand people and injure fifty times that number, you would think they would take it seriously. But then again, you would think that city government would take seriously the idea of balancing its own budget.
What is missing is a serious attempt by the government to educate the public. Let’s think about a counter-example. Remember that project to widen the 405 – the effort that was predicted to be “carmaggedon”? Remember how they began warning us months in advance, and on every single day in the week leading up to the start of construction? Remember how it was covered on local television?
So how much did our city government communicate to the public about earthquake preparedness, much less the Great Shakeout?
Not much.
And one more thing. They are always telling us to drop, cover, and hold on. Can anybody tell me exactly what this is supposed to mean? I have a vague idea that it means the following:
Make sure that wherever you are, there is a substantially built table, preferably a dining room table that would seat at least 8 people, and make sure that it is built strongly enough that it can support the ceiling and the second story of your house if they should collapse over that table. Always be close enough to get under it within the first few seconds of an earthquake. Then practice diving under that table (“drop”) and grab one of its legs (“hold on”).
And then think of the following: Even in small earthquakes, I don’t move much. It’s hard enough just to (1) come to the realization that “this is an earthquake” and (2) just endure it without moving. The idea of trying to walk across a floor that is moving up and down or side to side is, it seems to me, pretty unreasonable. Not to mention that I don’t have a large dining room table.
I’m just trying to point out that the prescription for dealing with a major earthquake seems unlikely to be of much use for the vast majority of us. I wonder if any agency has actually tested this recommendation under realistic conditions. If so, I would like to see the videos.
(Bob Gelfand writes on science, culture, and politics for CityWatch. He can be reached at [email protected])
