America has just celebrated a new national holiday, June 19 (“Juneteenth”). It was the date in 1865 when a Union general arrived in Galveston, Texas to announce that slavery had been abolished in America. Actually three quarters of the states, many of them with Federally-controlled governments, did not ratify the Thirteenth Amendment that abolished slavery until almost six months later, but let’s overlook that.

On May 14, the House passed JRH.6 a “Joint resolution relating to racism as a public health emergency.” The resolution draftees claim Covid-19 is a public health emergency which has worsened and exposed the racism emergency.

On April 16, Bill Maher gave a scathing, pointed monologue that somehow managed to get his left-leaning audience to laugh at themselves.

The awful events of January 6 at the US Capitol revived talk of the crime of sedition. That crime is defined in the law books as “overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that tends toward incitement of discontent or rebellion against the established order.”

It has been quite a long time since we heard “15 days to slow the spread.” Which is why this tweet made me chuckle. I’d probably select “D,” “15 days to slow the spread” is closest to “a poetic framework.”

The House Commerce and Economic Development Committee took up H.366., An act relating to promoting economic opportunity for BIPOC-owned businesses. The bill is short; the meat of which reads:

“The Department of Economic Development shall design and implement the Black, Indigenous, and Persons of Color (BIPOC) Business Development Program, the purposes of which are: (1) to provide BIPOC-owned businesses with technical assistance, including financial literacy, digital literacy, and marketing; (2) to promote State and federal contract bid opportunities to BIPOC owned businesses; and (3) to provide training to business technical assistance providers to reduce bias in service delivery.

Back in 2005 Congress enacted and President Bush signed the “Protection of Lawful Commerce in Firearms Act”. The act was prompted by an effort by a anti-Second Amendment groups to hold firearms manufacturers. distributors and retailers legally liable for crimes committed by persons using a firearm.

On February 20 President Biden did something above and beyond his month long campaign to reward and placate the various groups that brought about his election.

On February 16, Rep. Hal Colston, (D-Winooski) gave the daily devotional on the virtual floor of the Vermont House. Afterward, Rep. Scott Beck (R-St. Johnsbury) took the unusual action of requesting that it be put in the House journal. The devotional is a diatribe of all things Colston considers racist.