The Eleventh

Not the Headlines, This week in history, Johnny and Amber.
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The Eleventh
Well, hello, there! Welcome to this edition of the Listening Tube! I’m your host, Bob Woodley. This time, we’ll hear about why the original American colonies became British, how the Soviet Union was broken up, and how the Polio vaccine was introduced to the masses. But first, (not the headlines!)
Well, it seems there’s no end to the Chinese Communist Party’s desire to control the people there. The people who brought us the Covid-19 pandemic are still dealing with the aftermath of the virus, having locked down the entire city of Shanghai and its 25-million residents. What little information about the lockdown that gets out of the country is horrible to hear, as there have been stories about people being beaten and tased for not cooperating with authorities, as well as tales of starvation and death due to the lack of available food and medicine. According to an article on the NDTV website, drones are being used to keep the people in check and issue warnings to apartment dwellers, and robot dogs are roaming the deserted streets, patrolling for wanderers. Shanghai citizens are beginning to revolt, and are using China’s own national anthem as a rallying cry. Since 1978, “March of the Volunteers” has been recognized as China’s national anthem. It begins with the line, “Arise, ye who refuse to be slaves.” The line quickly became a hashtag subject on Chinese social media as a means to display the people’s dissatisfaction with the now 4-week-old Shanghai lockdown, and to inspire people to disobey the all-powerful communist government. So what did the all-powerful communist government do? They banned the line. The Chinese Communist government actually banned the first line of their own national anthem. It makes me wonder how powerful a government can be if they fear the words in their own national song. How insecure must the Chinese Communist Party be that they have to censor their own national anthem? How subservient must the people of China be that they are willing to accept their government censoring the very words every school kid in China since 1978 has learned to sing and recite from memory? To sing in honor of his or her own country? How abandoned they must feel to be told by their own government that the national anthem is now verbotten? Here’s the best part: In 2017, China introduced to the people its National Anthem Law. The law establishes when and where the anthem should be performed, and that the lyrics must not be maliciously modified, played or sung in distorted or disrespectful way. Violators can be held criminally liable. But when the all-powerful Chinese Communist Party remove the first line of the song, well, that’s okay. Just one question: Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave?
A judge in Arizona has concluded that Law Enforcement isn’t a profession. So the next time you see a police officer or detective, tell them to get a job! On second thought, you might not want to do that. But the story from the Arizona Republic says a Maricopa County Superior Court Judge has ruled that law enforcement isn’t a profession as a way to justify too many people with law enforcement backgrounds are on Arizona’s Board of Executive Clemency. These are the people who make life and death decisions about convicted killers on death row. In Arizona, the governor can commute a death sentence only if the clemency board recommends it. Therefore, Arizona law says that the board cannot consist of more than two people from the same profession. The goal is to get a good mix of people and backgrounds and opinions when deciding if an inmate will or will not be put to death for their crime. Representatives of a death row inmate filed a petition with the court challenging the legality of the board for having too many people with law enforcement backgrounds. Specifically, three of them, two of which retired from the Phoenix PD and another who’s worked for different agencies throughout his law enforcement career. But now it turns out that they may have had careers, but not a profession. The board in question has five members, but only four of the seats are currently occupied. That means that three of the four members are from law enforcement. Well, it seems reasonable to me to wonder if having a three-fourths majority who are pro-law enforcement might result in less clemency. Since 1977, according to death penalty info dot org, Arizona has never granted clemency to a death row inmate. Neighboring New Mexico has had five since then, and Colorado 3. So there are two dynamics at work here. One, we may have a corrupt clemency board and a judge who’s trying to keep it that way, and two, the judge just ruled that being a police officer isn’t a profession. So, are they volunteers? Do they do it just for the cool belt with all the gadgets and a car with a radio on which regular people aren’t allowed to talk? The judge said, in his ruling, that “Historically, law enforcement has not been thought of as a profession.” He went on to say, “It is not regulated as other professions are, and has little of the characteristics of what is typically considered a profession.” Except that they get paid to do it! That’s what a professional is, somebody who gets paid for what they do! It doesn’t matter if its a regulated job, or even if it’s a legal job. If you make money at it, you’re a professional, thus you are practicing a profession! For example, if I were making any money at all by doing this podcast, I would be a professional podcaster! But I’m not! I’m an amateur podcaster! I don’t get the cool belt or the radio. For this judge to outright defy reality by concluding that law enforcement is not a profession is an insult to the good people of Maricopa County and the rest of Arizona, not to mention the thousands of law enforcement professionals who feed him a steady supply of work. Here’s one of those situations where a cop can say to the judge, “I pay your salary!” because they’re professionals, and they pay taxes, and they pay taxes because they’re professionals. There’s still the issue of the clemency board that has only four active members and three of them are law enforcement. Now, did the judge disrespect the entire law enforcement community just to keep some buddies happy? Does he want to keep death row inmates from having any chance at clemency? The judge made up a new employment classification in order to skirt around a law intended to keep the board fair. I would think that a judge would want to be fair and uphold the law. But neither is being done by this judge in this circumstance. The lawyers for the inmate who first petitioned the court are considering an appeal. In the meantime, policemen and investigators and solver of crimes and keepers of the peace in Arizona are left wondering what they are if not professionals. I know one could argue that there are those in law enforcement who don’t act like professionals, but those are individual cases, not an occupational category. Should the appeal process be pursued, all the cops are going to be rooting for the lawyers of the convicted murderer to prove that the people who work in law enforcement are professionals, and a Superior Court Judge is a fraud.
It’s finally time to get back to the office at JP Morgan. According to an article in Business Insider, JP Morgan’s CEO sent a letter to stockholders saying that half of the global employees will be required to report to the office five days a week. But only half of them. Forty percent will have a hybrid schedule of home and office work, and the last 10 percent don’t have to come to the office at all. They’re probably the ones nobody likes anyway. “No, no. We can do this without Joe and Marty. That’s fine. Really.” Actually, ten percent is more than just Joe and Marty. JP Morgan employs over 270,000 folks around the world. But the more people who continue to work from home, the more empty office buildings we’re gonna have, and that’s not good for the banking industry, who, ironically, are doing all they can to get you to do your banking from home. Closing local bank buildings along the way. So, two years after the pandemic began, more than a quarter-million people will have to get out of bed and show and go to work like the rest of us who already have, or those of us who never stopped going to work. But hey, it’s good news, right? They’ll get to see old associates again, renew friendships that languished during the pandemic’s effects. You get to build camaraderie again and practice teamwork and social skills that may have deteriorated. Get back to normal! But, no. One employee in London told the magazine that, “At JP Morgan, nobody trusts you. The higher ups don’s trust you to do your job if they’re not constantly watching you in the office.” A London executive with the company said the managers don’t like it either, as they don’t know what will happen if they don’t get 100 percent compliance out of their teams. In other words, they’re worried that the people who they pay to show up at work aren’t going to show up at work, and they’re not sure if there’s anything they can do about it. Meanwhile, the rank and file who are the ones expected to show up to work at the office are offended that their employer is keeping track of attendance. Every time they swipe their ID to enter the building, it’s duly noted. This is somehow seen as a lack of trust and creating what one employee called a “fear of God” and “panic” over the attendance quotas. The word panic was used in several quotes from JP Morgan sources for the story, almost as if it was an agreed-upon talking point among the talkers. Fear of God was also cited more than once. Are they referring to the company CEO? It sounds like the entire rank-and-file at JP Morgan is walking around on eggshells, afraid of what’s going to happen next. It reminds me of back in the day, when a worker used to have to stand in line with all the other employees at the factory every morning at the start of the shift, a constant shuffle of feet stuffed into steel-toed boots gradually making their way up to the front of the line, where they’d look for the time card with their name on it, punch the time on the card with the machine that printed black if you were on time and red if you were late. There was no panic about attendance then. The voice of God came over the loudspeakers on the ceiling of the factory floor, and all you hoped for was that it wouldn’t call your name. You earned a good living because you put your time in and you weren’t surprised that you’re employer expected you to show up for work every day. For most of us, that’s how life still is, and we go to work. But the employees at JP Morgan are claiming micromanagement, and the two who were quoted by the magazine said they were seeking employment elsewhere. And that’s their right. If they can find someone who will pay them to not come to the office, then more power to them. I wish I could roll out of bed and into my studio and write and talk all day, but I have a job that requires me to report to the office. I knew that when I took the job. If you’ve worked for JP Morgan more than two years, you did, too. Now go back to work.
Let’s go back liner
While researching what happened this week in history, I noticed a few related entries that happened over a long time span, but happened during this week. So I won’t always be going in chronological order. Even so, the first thing I think needs to be mentioned is that this week in 1516 Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria endorses "The German Beer Purity Law.” Of course, the German language has one word for that, “Reinheitsgebot.” it’s added to it standards for the sale of beer in Bavaria, ensuring beer is only brewed from three ingredients – water, malt and hops. The fun part for brewers is to find new ways to prepare the ingredients and at what proportions to use them to create new varieties. Luckily, it’s not a law everywhere, so the varieties of beer continue to evolve to meet consumer tastes.
This week in 1492, Christopher Columbus sights "Isabela", now Fortune Island/Long Cay, in the Bahamas. Not a bad place to be prior to hurricane season. Being an explorer, he didn’t stay long.
1607, the 1st British to establish an American colony land at Cape Henry, Virginia. And in 1773,the British Parliament passes the Tea Act. As you may have learned in history class, Boston doesn’t like this tea tax, and a group called the Sons of Liberty dressed as Native Americans dump a boatload of tea into the Boston Harbor in protest the following December. Many say it led to the American Revolution. Today’s Tea Party faction of the Republican party gets their inspiration from the event.
In 1781, British forces sign terms of surrender, ending the US Revolutionary War. These last three events, not the beer thing, are all related, and all happened this year in history. But a lot happened between 1492, when Christopher Columbus knocked on the door of north America, and nearly 300 years later when the Revolutionary war ended. But what I was wondering is if Christopher Columbus was exploring on behalf of the Spanish monarchy, how did the British monarchy end up ruling the colonies?
Look that up liner
Well, as it turn out, Christopher Columbus did most of his exploring south of what is now the United States, but he did open the door for other European powers to explore the new world. There was a difference between the exploration goals of the Spanish and the British. I read several articles during the research on Wikipedia and other sources that indicated the Spanish were more interested in finding wealth and bringing it back to Spain, while the British were interested in expanding their territories. So almost a hundred years after Columbus, Sir Walter Raleigh unsuccessfully tried to establish a colony. It wasn’t until 1607 that Jamestown finally stuck. Either way, European exploration didn’t work out well for the peoples they found along the way.
This week in 1897 Grant's Tomb was dedicated. The dedication gave rise to the question that all elementary school teachers look forward to asking their class, and has for decades confounded students who are sure it’s a trick question because of the obvious answer. The question “Who’s buried in Grant’s Tomb?” will result in all sorts of responses except for the correct one: General Grant. Sometimes the answer’s staring you right in the face.
In 1900 the New York Journal defines the word "hillbillie" as a free and untrammeled white citizen of Alabama who lives in the hills, has no means to speak of, dresses as he can, talks as he pleases, drinks whiskey when he gets it, and fires off his revolver as the fancy takes him. Well, this slang term for a white person is wholly inaccurate. If he has no means to speak of, how is it he possesses a revolver and ammunition?
1901 New York becomes 1st state requiring license plates for cars. Just seven years later this week in 1908, Mr & Mrs Jacob Murdock and their children depart Los Angeles in a Packard Thirty, endeavoring to become 1st family to travel across United States by car; they arrive in NYC 32 days, 5 hours and 25 minutes later, and probably ticketed for not having a license plate on the car.
In 1905 Whites win right to vote in South Africa. Whaaaaaa? Bob, you must’ve mean Blacks win the right to vo...noooo. You heard that correctly. And by the way, it was only white men. White women couldn’t vote until 1930.
This week in 1928, the Fathometer, which measures underwater depth, was patented. This week in 2022, it was repurposed as a device to measure President Biden’s popularity.
In 1937, the US Social Security system makes its first benefit payment. That was the only guy who got all of his money back. I’m just kidding. I don’t know that for a fact.
This week in 1954, a nationwide test of the Salk anti-polio vaccine begins. The anniversary of this test adds some perspective to the controversies of today’s ideological battle over the Covid-19 vaccines. In the early half of the 1900’s, polio was wreaking havoc on society. This ancient infectious disease was most common in children, can result in paralysis, and reached epidemic proportions. Without any proof that it was safe, or that it would work, nearly 2-million children in the US, Canada and Finland were participants in field trials. An article on history dot com says the trials were the first to use the double-blind method of testing, during which neither the patient nor doctor knew if the vaccine was the real thing or a placebo. Polio was so rampant, and so devastating that the parents of 1.8 million kids were willing to let them be part of an experiment that could someday prevent this disease from spreading. We should thank those trusting moms and dads. Because of them, about a year later, it was announced that the vaccine was safe and became a part of childhood immunizations in America. Within decades, the disease would be non-existent in the Western Hemisphere. Now imagine if we tried to do that today. The skepticism and distrust among us would prevent us from success.
Also in 1954, the USSR Supreme Soviet transfers the Crimea from the Russian republic to the Ukrainian republic. Eight years ago, in 2014, Vladimir Putin took back the Crimean peninsula simply by invading it and staying there. This year, he tried to do that to all of Ukraine, thinking it would be as simple as driving into the country. He was wrong.
Speaking of the Soviet Union, it was this week in 1991 that USSR grants its republics the right to secede under certain conditions. This was the end of the Soviet Union as we knew it, and what many, including myself, hoped was the end of the cold war. As it turns out, it was just a delay. The cold war exists again today because of Putin, but the total collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 took many by surprise. Interestingly, it was actually the Russian republic that left the Soviet bloc first. All fifteen republics followed Russia’s lead, according to the US State Department.
Now here’s something that chaps my behind: In 1965, RC Duncan patents "Pampers" disposable diapers. Now, if you’re a parent of a baby who wears diapers, you probably think disposable diapers are the best thing since sliced bread, and that’s only because bread smells better. But disposable diapers are one of those products that was developed without the end-result (no pun intended) being taken into consideration. Just like plastic bottles and grocery bags, disposable diapers are clogging our landfills and doing considerable damage to our environment. The super absorbent polymer that makes disposable diapers work is toxic to wildlife, marine life and human life. A quick internet search provides countless articles on the subject. Disposable diapers contribute to pollution of our ground water as well. This week is Earth Day, and I encourage businesses small and large to think about the packaging they use and the products they sell and the impact those products will have over the lifetime of them. For those of you who buy water in single-serving plastic bottles, please stop! As we’ve heard before, microplastics have now been detected in our bloodstreams. If you want to save the earth, you don’t have to buy a Tesla, you just have to be wise about the products you buy and how you dispose of waste.
Liner
Now I would like to take a few moments to talk about the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard situation. But let me preface it by saying that we only have one side of the story up to this point, and that’s the side of Johnny Depp. He’s been questioned by his side and has also gone through cross-examination. I think it’s safe to say neither party here is guilt-free. They both played a role in how they got to where they are today. But as I watched some of the Depp testimony, I couldn’t help but be reminded that I’ve been witness to similar relationships. I must say I felt sorry for Johnny Depp, because I’ve seen other women behave like he says Amber Heard did. The difference is that Amber Heard had already written the ending to her tragic story, and Johnny Depp was the mark. I got the sense that he truly loved her, and that she never loved him. Her modus operandi was to pick and prod and pick and prod, trying to get him to react. She wanted to be abused, and took great steps to insure that her victimhood would be just as she envisioned. Except Johhny Depp didn’t stick to the script. When her poking and prodding didn’t produce the results she wanted, she had to increase the intensity of the prodding. In the meantime, Depp has found himself in a state of confusion as to why he even married this monster who’s not happy unless she’s miserable. He begins to avoid her, which makes her even more determined. She couldn’t understand how he could keep his cool despite her best efforts to become a victim of his rage. That led to more frustration on her part, to the point that she became the abuser. She was already a mental abuser, and then became a physical abuser as well. Now, Johnny Depp says he never hit her, or any woman. She struck him on numerous occasions, most often out of the frustration she felt because he wouldn’t hit her. She needed him to hit her. It’s the perfect ending to her tragic story of being the victim. But when the story didn’t develop the way she had envisioned it, she stuck with the ending that she had written before the story began. That ending was the OP-ED she wrote for the Washington Post. Now, some people are saying the ACLU wrote the piece for her, but it’s written in the part of the first person and it fits perfectly with plan. Amber Heard tried her hardest become a victim, and when it didn’t work, she claimed she was anyway. She had already made up her mind that she was a victim. The tragic story was going to have the ending she wanted regardless of Johnny Depp’s refusal to participate. This was 2018, shortly after the “Me, too” movement re-emerged following the Harvey Weinstein allegations. People were ready to accept the idea that domestic abuse was much more common than we thought. The timing was perfect for Amber Heard to chime in with her story. I’m sure a lawyer kept Johnny Depp’s name out of the article, in anticipation of what we’re witnessing today. I’m not sure that’ll help her case. Still, it’s a steep hill to climb for Depp’s legal team. To prove malice in this case is a high bar, so I’m not sure how it will all turn out. I don’t know if Amber Heard is dating anybody right now, but my guess is that she’ll never be asked out on a date again for the rest of her life. Based on the behavior described by her ex-husband, she’s an insecure, manipulative psychopath who should be put into an institution before she hurts anybody else. And I hope she doesn’t sue me for defamation. I certainly don’t need the ACLU to write my scripts for me. Am I careful, I mean really careful about what I say on this program? Abso-tively! Here’s the thing, though; I would never let a lawyer or anybody else read my script ahead of time to make sure I’m not saying something I shouldn’t be saying. That would be like letting somebody censor me. I’m the only one I want censoring me. I won’t abuse my censorship authority, nor will I take advantage of my leniency toward my own opinions!
Did I tell you I love teachers? Well, I do. It’s their unions I have a problem with. Last episode, we heard about the National Education Association. This time, it’s the American Federation of Teachers, and their president, Randi Weingarten. She was talking with a left-leaning television news host about Florida’s new Parental Rights law, and she called it propaganda. She called it misinformation, and said that this how wars start. This is how hatred starts. Really, Randi? I think the parallel Randi was trying to draw here is a comparison of a parental right law to how the Jews were singled out in Nazi Germany. Can you show me, Randi, where the propaganda is in the bill? Can you show me, Randi, where the misinformation is in the bill? No. You can’t. Because it’s not there. Sure, we get that it’s your job to protect the union. We get that. But what I don’t get is why anything suggested by the right is automatically denounced regardless of its content or intent. Tell me how, Randi, a parental rights law is going to start a war. Or was that just a union dog-whistle? Did Randi Weingarten just give the order to begin a violent revolt by teacher’s unions against the parents who supply the students they need to justify their employment? An how does the hatred start, Randi? You call this law an affront to trans kids, when trans kids aren’t even mentioned in the bill. Gays are not mentioned in the bill. Heterosexuals are not mentioned in this bill. This bill does not discriminate in any way, nor does it single out any group of people from others. If a bill like this is where hate begins, who’s doing the hating? As far as I can tell, it’s the progressives who are fomenting the hate. It’s the progressives who are making up lies about the law to stir up emotions over a subject that the law takes no sides on. The American Federation of Teachers claims to support parental involvement in education, but then accuses what they refer to as “vocal minorities” who want to marginalize kids and censor teachers. Well, first of all, it’s not a vocal minority. A majority of Americans as well as a majority of Floridians support the law. And if the truth is told, many teachers need to censored. Too many teachers are taking it upon themselves to promote issues and agendas that have no place in the classroom. Academics who write the textbooks for our kids are including subject matter that sometimes isn’t at all related to the subject being studied, but instead promotes some lifestyle choice or questions a student’s social ideals. Most people don’t have any desire to marginalize a subgroup of kids. Most people just want kids to be kids and want the adults to let them be kids for as long as they are kids. Nobody wants to ban books, either! But when kids were learning at home, and parents saw the curriculum for themselves, a lot of them were shocked at what they saw. I’m not surprised that all school books are being scrutinized by concerned parents. They’ve been letting the school boards get away with using textbooks that may or may not have been written for the sole purpose of education. If Randi Weingarten is the best the teachers can come up with to represent them, why should we trust them when they tell us they know what’s best for our children? She’s just another example of how the teacher’s unions are only in it for themselves. All they crave is a firm grip on their power and a way to get more. They don’t care about your children, they don’t care about education. Our students are failing in so many ways compared to students from other countries similar to ours. Our students are not prepared for post-secondary education, our students are not prepared to contribute to society in a meaningful and productive way. Our classroom instruction has deteriorated to the point of embarrassment. The blame lies with parents who don’t get involved in the academic practices of their children, and the teachers unions who try to keep parents from getting involved in the academic practices of their students.
The Listening Tube is written and produced by yours truly. Copyright 2022. Thank you for being a part of the Listening Tube. I’m your host, Bob Woodley for thou ad infinitum.