Ruth Bader Ginsburg rests at the Supreme Court Portico.
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Tuesday was Bagel Day at the software development center, and I favored Bagels & Baguettes near Stanton Park. There was a line when I got there, around 8:30 AM. The shop was near the Senate office buildings and the Heritage Foundation, so there was a TV tuned to CNN to keep news-obsessed customers occupied.
By the time I got my two dozen hot bagels, the damnedest thing was on that television. An airplane had crashed into a World Trade Center tower in New York, and the building was on fire. It was September 11, 2001.
I went to the office break room and put out the bagels, cream cheese, and smoked salmon. I guess I was making coffee when the second plane hit the other tower. I figured people still had to eat.
Despite America’s founding principles, politics perpetuates taxation without representation in the United States. Kimberly Mas and Madeline Marshall explore why Washington DC is not a state in this Vox video.
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The DC NFL team has replaced its racist name with a generic one: “Washington Football Team.” If only they could replace Dan Snyder with a generic “Washington Football Team Owner.”
More:
“Washington NFL team to temporarily rebrand as ‘Washington Football Team.'” Orion Rummler, Axios
“NFL franchise to go by ‘Washington Football Team’ this season, delaying permanent name change,” Les Carpenter and Mark Maske, Washington Post
“Washington NFL team to use ‘Washington Football Team’ for 2020 season,” Adam Schefter, ESPN
“D.C. NFL Team To Call Itself ‘Washington Football Team’ In 2020 Until New Name Is Decided,” Jordan Pascale, DCist
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Last week, DC’s professional foorball team announced that its name, an historic racial slur, was “under review,” evoking the image of a booth full of league replay officials staring at a slo-mo recording of the letters r-e-d-s-k-i-n-s. Owner Dan Snyder once said he would “NEVER change the name of the team,” but that play is clearly out-of-bounds in today’s climate of heightened racial awareness.
It wasn’t the death of George Floyd or kneeling team players that changed Snyder’s narrow mind, but his own bottom line — sponsors, investors, and business partners are applying pressure. Nike, Target, Walmart, Amazon, and Dick’s Sporting Goods have removed DC team-branded merchandise from their websites and stores. How’s this for irony: FedEx, which owns naming rights for the DC squad’s stadium, now wants the team to change its own name.
Although nobody has suggested renaming the squad “Washington Rappas” in honor of the region’s Rappahannock people, there is no shortage of suggested team names and logos. The current fan favorite is “Washington Redtails,” after WWII’s African American 332nd Fighter Group (maybe you saw the movie). In an only-in-Washington move, two local lawyers have already submitted a trademark application for “Washington Redtails.” Hey, how about calling the team “The Litigators”?
A name change is expected by September.
More:
“D.C. NFL Team Considering Name Change After Public And Corporate Outcry,” Eliza Berkon, WAMU
“An NFL Name Change That Has Been a Long Time Coming,” Leonard Shapiro, Washington City Paper
“FedEx asks ‘the team in Washington’ to dump racist nickname as Nike pulls gear,” The Guardian
“Daniel Snyder no longer has a choice, and he knows it. Battle over name has reached its endgame.” Jerry Brewer, Washington Post
“Lawmakers And FedEx Urge D.C.’s NFL Team To Change Its Name Amid Bid For RFK Stadium,” Kavitha Cardoza, DCist
“Trump Supports Washington Team Name. Retailers Pull Merchandise.” Ken Belsen, New York Times
Update:
“FedEx Made a Demand Dan Snyder Couldn’t Afford to Dismiss,” Ken Belson and Kevin Draper, New York Times
The Smithsonian Folklife Festival is back in Washington DC, from June 24th to July 4th, but you won’t find it on the National Mall. It’s gone vitual, like everything else during this pandemic. Here’s the schedule. You can’t go to the food concessions this year, but they’ve promised a gift shop.
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On Monday, federal police forces used tear gas and rubber bullets to remove peaceful protesters from Washington’s Lafayette Square, across the street from the White House. What was the protest about? Police brutality.
The police, from a variety of federal agencies, used force and munitions against a nonviolent 1st Amendent protest so that President Donald Trump could pose for photographs in front of historic St. John’s Episcopal Church, holding a Bible.
The District of Columbia recieved few of the medical supplies requested from the federal government’s Strategic National Stockpile:
“The District got none of the hospital ventilators, safety goggles and hand sanitizer it asked for and received less than one percent of a requested 663,760 gloves and 1,132,478 respirator masks that officials requested.”
“D.C. City Administrator Rashad M. Young told D.C. Council members and the mayor’s office during a telephone call that he did a ‘readout’ Tuesday ‘of what we asked for and what we got, and it was pretty much nothing from them.’”
— “Federal government gave D.C. a fraction of what it sought to fight coronavirus,” Antonio Olivo, Jenna Portnoy and Fenit Nirappil, Washington Post
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Despite the best efforts of a holdout Tea Party loon, Congress finally passed a $2 Trillion stimulus package last week, the first step in shoring up the U.S. in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of this federal response, each state government will receive at least $1.25 billion. The District of Columbia will receive $500,000.
Since DC is regarded as a state when it comes to federal grants, highway funding, education dollars and food assistance, many here feel that someone in the Administration or GOP leadership actively and intentionally shafted the District when the bill was crafted in the Senate.
The District’s population — 702,455 people — is greater than that of two states, Wyoming and Vermont. Unlike U.S. territories, DC residents pay federal taxes, the most in federal taxes per capita than any other state. The coronavirus relief bill originated in the GOP-controlled Senate, and DC has no senators, so here we are. There’s a reason DC license plates read “Taxation Without Representation.”
Bus deck, Union Station, Washington DC
D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine and the District Department of Energy and Environment have filed a lawsuit claiming Greyhound buses regularly disregard the District’s three-minute idling limit, polluting the air and endangering the health of workers, riders, and DC residents and visitors. The suit against the bus company is based on a DDOE study conducted at the Union Station bus deck, and the DA seeks reimbursement for investigation costs and $216,000 in penalties.
Washington DC is filled with idling intercity, charter, tourist, and commuter buses every day, but you’ve got to start somewhere.
More:
“D.C. sues Greyhound over buses idling at Union Station,” Justin Wm. Moyer, Washington Post
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