Democratic members of Texas’s legislature have absented themselves for votes on voting rights to deprive the body of a quorum (“smallest number of people who must be present at a meeting so that official decisions can be made.” Black’s Law Dictionary, 10th ed., 2014, p. 1446).

Texas GOP politicians were just as miffed as Democratic members of Oregon’s legislature when GOP members there walked out earlier this year. The GOP was angry in 2011 in Indiana when Democratic members... There…

Tonight at 9 p.m., on “Mouthwash,” John Schmitz’s FB podcast, the topic: Critical Race Theory (“CRT”). Florida’s education regs say it is a view that racism “is embedded in our society and legal systems to uphold supremacy of white persons.”

After the Civil War, the Party that pushed for equality was the Republican. The Democratic Party came to rely upon the “Solid South” for votes of electors and Congress. When President Truman ordered the military be integrated, the Democratic Party…

On Tues, July 13, 9 p.m., on “Mouthwash,” John Schmitz’s FB podcast, the topic: Critical Race Theory (“CRT”), i.e., a view that racism “is embedded in our society and legal systems to uphold supremacy of white persons.” From 1789 to 1865 the racism in our system was clear.

A second period of institutionalized racism began in 1865 and ran to 1954. Amendment XIII, §1, ratified on 12/18/1865, abolished slavery, but it did not abolish “racism embedded in our society and legal systems to…

Racism: our schools should teach kids about it. Tues, July 13, 9 p.m., on “Mouthwash,” John Schmitz’s FB podcast, the topic: Critical Race Theory (“CRT”), i.e., a view that racism “is embedded in our society and legal systems to uphold supremacy of white persons.”

Three periods reflect ways our “legal systems uphold supremacy of white persons.” From 1789 to 1865, racism was built into the Constitution (“three fifths of all other persons” (Art. I, § 2); “Importation of such Persons”…

Next Tuesday at 9 p.m. the topic for “Mouthwash,” the FB podcast hosted by John Scmitz, will be Critical Race Theory (“CRT”). Florida says CRT teaches racism is not a product of prejudice, but “is embedded in our society and legal systems to uphold supremacy of white persons.”

If not accurate as a description of CRT, it is accurate as a description of the USA’s history. Only euphemisms describe slavery in The Constitution (“three fifths of all other persons” (Art. I, § 2);…

A “Medical Liberty Parade” is being staged this Sunday in Indianapolis. People who oppose vaccinations place a greater value on the right of an individual to make a decision regarding the individual’s health care than on others’ safety and lives.

There are few things more invasive than people, acting under color and title of law, reaching into the bodies to decide for those others what is best for them. The notice, on Facebook, for the parade has red-white-and blue piping, of…

“God and Country” is the title of gatherings staged by Micah Beckwith, a right-wing minister who believes no separation of church and State exists under The Constitution. (Hint: many of The Framers were deists who believed in a natural “god.”)

If a person chooses to believe one entity created everything, even galaxies billions of light years away, it is absurd to yolk that belief to control of a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people,” i.e., bootstrap to power…

Aside from matters related to baseball (e.g., that the DH sucks), I don’t often agree with my conservative friend, Paul Ogden. I disagree, in part, with his recent blog (Ogden on Politics) on the Justice Department’s Legal Challenge to Georgia’s Election Law.

He wrote: “The worst thing about the lawsuit is that it contributes to the Democratic delusion of focusing on the casting of votes when the Democrats should be focused on the counting of those votes.” Mr Ogden is correct when he…

Critical Race Theory (“CRT”), as described in new rules governing public schools in Florida,

asserts “that racism is not merely the product of prejudice, but ... is embedded in American society and its legal systems in order to uphold the supremacy of white persons.”

One argument I have not heard from sycophants of trump is that slavery never existed in this country. The evidence, for such narrow minds as theirs, is persuasive. After all, no living person can state she or he saw…

Indiana AG Todd Rokita is concerned that “National discourse around political and social issues has created negative and polarizing effects on teachers, school administrators, students, and families.” His solution would be recourse to St Francis University - STFU.

Rokita is following other Republican politicians who are offended by kids being taught Critical Race Theory (“CRT”). Florida’s new rules, a template for the ignorant, bans CRT. However, the rule fairly describes what should…

HELP: I ask a special favor of my friends here. I met a very special woman. She’s funny and smart and inquisitive. Our talk traversed gerunds, Latin, English and French. We reached cinema and “The Year of living Dangerously.” (She looked it up on her phone.)

We only exchanged first names in an office waiting area in Greenwood, Indiana. I came out of my meeting and she had left. If anyone knows a woman who met a guy on Tuesday, 6/15, with whom she had such a conversation and she shows…

Florida has acted to stop the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT). CRT is premised on the idea that racism is built into the structure of this country’s government. It would appear that Florida now requires that instruction be “factual and objective.” That should be a given. There’s more.

Instruction “may not suppress or distort significant historical events, such as the Holocaust, and may not define American history as something other than the creation of a new nation based…

I want to thank everyone who expressed condolences over the passing of my little fur girl Delilah. I have started to read up on how best to go about adopting three or four very young shelter/abandoned feline-Americans.

(I know: there are older kitties out there that need homes, but young ones need homes, too & . I’ve grieved enough over the past few years.) I’ll try to give updates on what I have learned. Also I welcome any advice.

This is the day upon which I entered this…

I was 11. On my dresser was a photo from the first day of school that year. My dog Princess, whom my parents acquired about the same time as I was born, and I stood next to each other on my parents’ front porch. Shortly after, as I looked at that photo, I realized my mortality.

We were about the same age, but she was over 70, in dog years. When I thought of that I was sad, because creatures die when they get so old. But then I thought, one day I would be so old as to die. I said…

Kroger Pharmacy/Nora came through for me several times over the last few years. Staff saved me money, expedited orders and shone through as professionals concerned more about people in of prescriptions and questions about health.

On Monday I called in a prescription refill. The recording said I could pick it up the next day, but I was told it is on back-order. I returned the next & received the same response: back-order.I called the pharmacy the next day, was told the same…

A person’s right to vote is a basic right. President Lyndon Johnson said, “In our system the first and most vital of all our rights is the right to vote.” An individual’s vote might seem lost in a sea of others’ votes. The smaller the election, the greater the impact of one vote.

In no place is the effect of one vote so great as when the individual is a member of a jury. When Edith Bunker held out as a lone juror for an acquittal, comedy served up a serious act of courage. “All in the…

Pentagon budget people are not known for saving money. To say someone spends money “like a drunken sailor” has an inherently martial ring. Members of Congress even throw more money at our national defense than the Department of Defense (“DoD”) has requested.

We should not be surprised that DoD can tighten its belt, albeit in perverse ways. Basic things about warfare (even when “war” is not declared) are toxins. Things blown up and people killed means harmful chemicals. Agent Orange…

Indiana’s AG Todd Rokita wants kids taught a version of history that is not critical. He opposes critical race theory in American history and civics curricula. Let’s imagine what he wants kids to be taught. Imagine, if you will...

Washington didn’t lie about chopping down a cherry tree or owning slaves. Jefferson wrote The Declaration of Independence and didn’t own slaves. Jackson beat the British at New Orleans, and didn’t own slaves. Maybe there is a theme.

If you go to a…

As Indiana’s AG Todd Rokita doesn’t determine policy. His latest action is to join 20 other state AGs “calling on the Biden administration to reconsider proposals aimed at imposing critical race theory into American history and civics curriculum.”

“Critical race theory is an academic concept that is more than 40 years old. The core idea is that racism is a social construct, and that it is not merely the product of individual bias or prejudice, but also something embedded in legal…