As neurologists gradually uncover the secrets of the brain, we have been learning more and more about how we make, store and recall our memories, specifically how individualized they appear to be. Even when multiple people witness a single event, their individual recollections almost always contradict each other in major details.
Tis renders eyewitness testimony in court or to journalists problematic. Yet both the courts and journalists continue to rely on it, for understandable reasons.
The flip side of memory is forgetting, and medical science is hard at work on that subject as well. With dementia, Alzheimers, and plain old-fashioned forgetfulness recognized as social issues, researchers seek the causes and possible solutions to the problem of forgetting.
Part of forgetting seems to be a matter of choice. We'd prefer to bury unpleasant memories, so we do that.
What interests me more than the individual issues, however, is the collective forgetfulness rampant in our society. It feels to me that we all now are yearning to forget the past four years, when IMHO we suffered the equivalent of a near miss by a political asteroid. We dodged it, for now, but we simply cannot afford to forget the outrages that we have witnessed under Trump.
Because they are still happening and they will continue to happen.
I fear that all we have gained by electing Biden is a temporary respite from the onset of authoritarianism in America.
Right now we have just lived through the opening chapter of a dangerous moment of history, and our duty is to examine it and remind each other and commit to stop the further erosion of democracy however and whenever it recurs.
Otherwise this will have been a pyrrhic victory and we will be doomed to find that after missing us that asteroid swung around and is headed our way again.
***
Thursday was the 36th anniversary of one of the world's worst industrial disasters at a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India. And although I noticed an article in the Hindustan Times, I didn't see any mentions in the U.S. press.
The explosion at the facility was not only an Indian problem; it was an American problem. Union Carbide was an American company using American technology, which was demonstrably inferior to the safer methods developed by German and Japanese companies.
As I described in my book "The Bhopal Syndrome," when they heard the emergency alarm ring, villagers living in the shadow of the plant ran toward it, to try and help out, not away from it, which would have saved their lives.
Thousands died as a result.
In the aftermath of the disaster, it was revealed that Union Carbide never told the people living nearby how dangerous the chemicals mixed there were, nor how to protect themselves should an explosion occur.
It's a shameful date in American history; one we cannot allow ourselves to forget or forgive. In my book, I concluded that the solution to preventing similar disasters was more democracy in the form of freedom of information (FOIA) about chemical plants and the right to know (RTK) what is happening inside manufacturing facilities nearby.
Two simple tools and two of the key building blocks of democracy. The world has embraced those principles to a greater extent in recent decades but chemical plant explosions still occur.
We cannot afford to forget that.
***
The latest news to remember:
* 2,596 Trades in One Term: Inside Senator Perdue’s Stock Portfolio -- The Georgia Republican’s stock trades have far outpaced those of his Senate colleagues and have included a range of companies within his Senate committees’ oversight, an analysis shows. (NYT)
* Georgia Republicans Contort Themselves to Avoid Trump’s Fury -- Many in the state G.O.P. are expending significant effort to seek cover from the president’s outrage over his defeat, hoping to retain the support of his base. (NYT)
* Sidney Powell, a former lawyer for the Trump campaign, told Georgia residents to boycott the Senate runoffs on Jan. 5 because their state’s voting machines are archaic and cannot be trusted. The conspiracy theorist made the eyebrow-raising remarks during a “Stop the Steal” rally in Atlanta. The two runoffs will decide which party ends up controlling power in the Senate. [HuffPost]
* Among first acts, Biden to call for 100 days of mask-wearing (AP)
* Covid Shrinks the Labor Market, Pushing Out Women and Baby Boomers -- Nearly four million Americans have stopped working or looking for jobs, a 2.2% contraction of the U.S. work force. A smaller labor market leaves fewer workers to build machines and clean tables, restraining the economy’s long-term prospects. (WSJ)
* This pandemic has exposed our nation’s broken caregiving system (WashPo)
* The official serving as Trump’s eyes and ears at the Justice Department has been banned from the building after trying to pressure staffers to give up sensitive information about election fraud and other matters she could relay to the White House, three people familiar with the matter say. Heidi Stirrup, an ally of top Trump adviser Stephen Miller, was quietly installed at the Justice Department as a White House liaison a few months ago. She was told within the last two weeks to vacate the building after top Justice officials learned of her efforts to collect insider information about ongoing cases and the department’s work on election fraud, the people said. (AP)
* As Hospitals Fill, Travel Nurses Race to Virus Hot Spots -- Demand is rising for nurses who work on contract. It is a nomadic existence and, in a pandemic, a high-risk one. “I was totally unprepared for the reality,” one recalled. (NYT)
* Former President Barack Obama said he planned to take a COVID-19 vaccine, possibly on television in an effort to encourage Americans to do the same, if officials said it was safe. Former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton also said they'd support a vaccine deemed to be safe by public health officials. Bush’s chief of staff told CNN: “When the time is right, [Bush] wants to do what he can to help encourage his fellow citizens to get vaccinated.” [HuffPost]
* Millions of Californians will likely find themselves under a regional stay-at-home order once again under new restrictions announced Thursday by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The new order will take hold in regions where hospitals are feeling the squeeze on capacity to treat the incoming surge of Covid-19 patients. A strict stay-at home order will go into effect 48 hours after hospital intensive care unit capacity drops below 15% in one of five regions the state is divided into: Northern California, Bay Area, Greater Sacramento, San Joaquin Valley and Southern California. (CNN)
* Powerful gusts pushed flames from a wildfire through Southern California canyons on Thursday, one of several blazes that burned near homes and forced residents to flee amid elevated fire risk for most of the region that prompted utilities to cut off power to hundreds of thousands. (AP)
* Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin sparred over COVID-19 relief funding during a House Financial Services Committee hearing. Porter questioned Mnuchin’s plan to claw back $455 billion in unspent stimulus package funding to the Treasury’s general fund, which would make it harder for his successor to access the money. She noted that funds can't be transferred back to the Treasury sooner than Jan. 1, 2026. "Is it currently the year 2026? Yes or no,” Porter asked. [HuffPost]
* U.S. to withdraw some Baghdad embassy staff as tensions with Iran and its allies spike (WashPo)
* The parents of at least 628 migrant children who were separated from their families by the Trump administration in 2017 and 2018 still haven’t been located, lawyers tasked with reuniting the families said in a court filing. The affected children — whose families were torn asunder under the Trump administration’s so-called zero tolerance border policy — have now been without their parents for at least two years. [HuffPost]
* Mexico has counted more than 79,000 missing, reflecting a collapse of order in America’s neighbor (WashPo)
* Barry Gibb Has a Mission: ‘Keep the Music Alive’ -- The last Bee Gee looks back at his wide-ranging catalog of hits, and ahead to an album of duets that spotlights his first love, country music. (NYT)
* LeBron James signed a two-year, $85 million contract extension with the Lakers. [ESPN]
* 4-Year-Old’s Optimism Just Making Things Worse For Area Family (The Onion)
***
You Don't Own Me
I'm not just one of your many toys
You don't own me
Don't say I can't go with other boys
Don't tell me what to say
And please, when I go out with you
Don't put me on display 'cause
Don't try to change me in any way
You don't own me
Don't tie me down 'cause I'd never stay
I don't tell you what to do
So just let me be myself
That's all I ask of you
I'm free and I love to be free
To live my life the way I want
To say and do whatever I please
Oh, don't tell me what to say
And please, when I go out with you
Don't put me on display
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