Hurry Up, Robert Mueller October 17, 2018October 16, 2018 I’ve pre-ordered Proof of Collusion: How Trump Betrayed America. If the author is right, “it’s even worse than we thought,” as they say. Here’s a 25-paragraph preview, with four postscripts –the last of which summarizes: At the end of every decision Donald Trump has ever made is a profit motive—same with Kushner. If you think suddenly their motives changed with respect to the endlessly rich Saudi Crown Prince, you are—excuse my saying it—yet another in a lifetime of Trump chumps. Did we really withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal to further Trump/Kushner financial interests? It appears so. Are we really abandoning our democratic allies in favor of journalist-murderers to make Trump more money? Hurry up, Robert Mueller! In the meantime: Vote! Volunteer! Give!
Read This Book Or I’ll Shoot This Dog* October 16, 2018October 14, 2018 Do you know Hillbilly Elegy or Nomadland? Heartrending personal stories of the nittiest, grittiest, most granular kind. The hopelessness of people falling out of the middle class into despair. The War On Normal People is all that — but from 30,000 feet, with SOLUTIONS. You’ll want to kill yourself as you read the first two thirds (how’s that for a blurb?) . . . but then take enormous heart as you read the solutions. Which is why this could well be the most important book you read, or listen to, all year. Free, if you haven’t listened to an Audible book before. (I “read” it at 1.5X speed in under 5 hours.) Basically, as I’ve written before, this is mankind’s challenge. We have the technology and resources for everyone on the planet to be decently fed, sheltered, clothed, entertained, and cared for. But can we learn to live with each other in ways that allow everyone to share in that good fortune? So much is possible if we get it right. The future is bleak beyond words if we don’t. Read this book. *Or else. BONUS: “If the US has someone whom historians will look back on as the gravedigger of American democracy, it is Mitch McConnell.” (Thanks, Paul!) Vote. Volunteer. Give. You don’t even need to know who the candidates are — just vote!
Watch This New Disney Clip October 14, 2018October 14, 2018 So much to do! Indeed, I’m posting this a day early to give you extra time to do it: Give these amazing women 78 seconds of your time. Democrats have so many amazing young candidates! We’re gonna win! Watch this 4-minute Disney short. Not what you’d expect, but spot on. Share it! Throw a postcard party — or throw one all by yourself, just you, as you listen to Hamilton. Either way, don’t throw away your shot! 1. Start by texting HELLO to Abby the Address Bot at 484-275-2229. You’ll need to get verified to show you’re real and know how to write a postcard legibly. 2. Once approved, organize a bunch of friends to spend a few hours writing postcards. You get clear instructions along with what you should include on the postcards. 3. In addition to food/drinks, buy pens, stamps, and postcards — which are relatively cheap. My friend Chris Maggiano recommends this vendor (100 for $11.49) “because they’re made in the US by ‘a feminist and ReSister.'” 4. Once you’re done, follow the instructions on sending them out. Watch this amazing Rachel Maddow clip when your postcard-writing energy flags. It’s about the egregious ways Georgia’s secretary of state has managed to keep people of color from voting — and will rev you right back up. It reminds us yet again that, while most Republicans aren’t racists — obviously — all racists are Republicans. Then, when your energy flags again, watch this one, out of Texas. Black college kids indicted for voting; a white guy arrested once “the authorities” found out he was a Democrat. And then, if you have any blank postcards left, read how Jared Kushner “likely paid no taxes” as his net worth nearly quintuped to $324 million. FEEDBACK: In response to my Minority Rules post, mentioning that 5 of the 9 Justices are Catholic, several of you noted — rightly — that a third of the Supreme Court Justices are Jewish, even further out of proportion to their percentage of the population. I’d point out that one-third does not a majority make. And that the Catholic Church seems to want impose government restrictions on non-Catholics’ behavior. I’m not sure there are equivalent efforts from the chief rabbi (whoever she is — do we have one?). But I totally don’t want to make too much of this, let alone suggest religious quotas or tests on the Court. Hurrah for Jews, Jesuits, and everybody else! Thanks for your feedback.
Astounding October 12, 2018October 11, 2018 From this interview with Craig Unger, author of House of Trump, House of Putin: The Untold Story of Donald Trump and the Russian Mafia: . . . It is astounding. When John Brennan lost his security clearance the contrast was so stark — there is no way in the world Donald Trump would have received a security clearance and he is president of the United States. Donald Trump has had contacts with the Russian mafia for 35 years. His properties have laundered money for them. The Russian mafia are connected to Russian intelligence. They’re living and have been working in Trump’s building. Trump has even partnered with them. There are so many ways in which he’s compromised. . . . [And] as I explain in my new book, the Russians didn’t just go after Donald Trump: They went after the entire Republican Party. There is Russian money going into the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, the NRA, and then to Republican officials and candidates directly. . . . Trump ignores climate change — an existential threat to mankind. He ignores the Russian attack that installed him as our president. (If one guy can make a nonexistent restaurant the #1 top-rated restaurant in all of London, are you seriously going to tell me that thousands of Russian intelligence operatives can’t manipulate a minuscule percentage of opinions in America? Really? You believe that?) And so, while we wait — and wait — and wait — for Robert Mueller, the path forward could not be more clear: Vote. Volunteer. Give. You don’t even need to know who the candidates are — just vote. And ask your kids and grandkids — if they care about climate change or the cost of college or gun safety or equal rights or health care or so much else — to spread that word to all their friends.
You Don’t NEED To Know The Candidates — Just Vote October 11, 2018October 10, 2018 It sounds wrong . . . but as this essay makes clear, you just need to have a general sense of which side you’re on. Or closest to. Are you more with Taylor Swift and Michelle Obama and Mike Bloomberg and Ellen and Hillary and Beto and Bernie and the Pope? Or with Mitch McConnell and Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin and David Duke and Paul Manafort and Ted Cruz and the NRA and the Duck Dynasty guy and the climate deniers? Speaking of the climate — did you notice that our species has barely a dozen years to mitigate catastrophe? Are you on the team that’s amused Trump defrauded the government — i.e., his fellow taxpayers — out of half a billion dollars? And think it’s okay that he lies all the time, with nary a peep from the Republicans in Congress? Or the team that’s generally appalled by lying, cheating, bullying, and fondness for murderous dictators? To me, obviously, the choice is clear. As it is — confoundingly, I’ll admit — to many who disagree with me, not all of whom carry torches. But my point is that most people have a sense which side they’re on. And that those on mine — even if they can’t name their two Senators, let alone their state senators — should go out and vote Democrat and get all their friends to do likewise. It’s not complicated; yet everything depends on it. Vote. Volunteer. Give.
The War On Normal People October 10, 2018October 9, 2018 I’ve written before about the need for Universal Basic Income (which Ray Kurzweil says much of the advanced world will have in the early 2030s and that we will have 20 years from now). The War on Normal People: The Truth About America’s Disappearing Jobs and Why Universal Basic Income Is Our Future brings that all to life in a compelling, sobering way. (Thanks, Ira!) Boy, does the accelerating pace of change ever call for smart, thoughtful, empathetic, science-believing leaders. Vote. Volunteer. Give. Here is a remarkable analysis of our new Justice.
What Dr. Ford and Justice Kavanaugh Have In Common October 9, 2018October 8, 2018 They both volunteered for polygraph examinations (except for Brett). They both passed their polygraph (except for Brett). Neither one had a single thing to gain by lying (except for Brett). And Susan Collins is certain they’re both telling the truth. It’s just that Dr. Ford, someplace along the line, forgot who scarred her for life. It would be so terribly unfair, Susan Collins believes, not to give Brett this lifetime appointment. But what about the other 330 million of us? Is it the best outcome for us? Or even for the Court itself? On that last point, Mark Joseph Stern argues — maybe not. Vote. Volunteer. Give.
Minority Rules October 7, 2018 DEALS: I’ve told you about the card that pays you $500 to carry it (after you’d spent $3,000) and gives you 4% back on your dining and entertainment. (Granted, you’d get 90% back if you stayed home with a pizza and watched TV.) Now, here’s Seated, an app that suggests restaurants you might want to try — and that gives cash rewards at Amazon, Lyft, or Starbucks if you do. For example, were I to make a reservation at a restaurant a short walk from me today — a restaurant I already like, by the way — and were the check to be $52 or more “pre-tax-and-tip” — I’d get 24% back. (And another 4% off the entire bill if I paid with that credit card.) Thanks, Brian! INTRODUCING HOTLIST.VOTE: Designed especially for college kids who may have the option of registering with either their campus or their home address. You enter your zip code, and if it’s not in a contested Congressional district, it invites you to try your other zip code, where your vote would matter more. THREE CORROBORATING WITNESSES: They all say he lied under oath. Should he go to jail? Certainly not. Should he lose his current amazingly good lifetime job? Realistically not. But should he have been given a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court? These three Yalies say no. Your view? Do you think there’s a chance the three of them (and Dr. Ford) are telling the truth? Does it matter? MINORITY RULES: With sixty-eight times as many people as Wyoming, California nonetheless has the same number of Senate seats. This is how the Founders wrote the Constitution, to be sure; but did they ever imagine there would even be a state called Wyoming? This is the current state of our democracy, where Republicans have lost the popular vote in six of the last seven presidential elections but control all three branches of government. They’re fine with that, too. The Founders, after all, said only propertied white men had the right to vote. As to the Court, the 78% of us who are not Catholic are now in the minority. At 22% of the U.S. population, Catholics hold a majority of seats on the Court. THE US-MEXICO-CANADA TRADE DEAL: As analyzed by the Peterson Institute (Pete Peterson was Nixon’s Commerce Secretary): . . . it could have been worse . . . the pact succeeds in partially updating the 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) by imposing new obligations for enhanced environmental policies and labor practices, curbing state-owned enterprises, and fostering digital trade. These provisions improve incrementally but usefully upon the high standards for these policy areas developed in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which the three countries signed onto during the Barack Obama administration, only to have President Donald Trump cancel the treaty in his first week in office. In these areas, not very contentious in North America, the provisions in the USMCA set some good precedents for future trade accords. . . . [But] contrary to President Trump’s claims, the new pact . . . imposes new restrictions that will impede regional trade and investment, stifling the potential for economic growth. On autos, the deal is innovative in a perverse way: It is the first free trade agreement (FTA) negotiated by the United States that raises rather than lowers barriers to trade and investment. It adds layer upon layer of costly new regulations that producers must follow to qualify for NAFTA’s low tariffs—layers virtually certain to drive up costs of autos for consumers and very likely reduce US jobs in the auto sector. . . . . . The implications of the deal for other sectors are mixed and not very significant. . . . [In all], a step backwards on trade and investment in the United States and the region as a whole that, while not as damaging as it could have been, will do little or nothing to help workers, consumers, and the economies of North America.
The Democratic Message October 4, 2018 But first: Was Kavanaugh truthful and forthcoming under oath? Herewith a compendium that argues otherwise. (A couple of the items are truly quibbles; but the rest? Seems to me a Supreme Court Justice should be, in temperament and integrity, beyond reproach. And ideally, not someone with a nationally televised record of despising Democrats or Republicans. It’s a job interview, not a trial. If the employer has some serious doubts, he or she, — or in this case, we — should move on to an applicant about whom there would be no serious doubts. Especially when hiring someone for a lifetime. That may not be entirely fair to the applicant. But that’s just one person’s disappointment. At stake is the well-being, over the next 30 years, over hundreds of millions.) Next: Randall B: “My wife and I went to Fahrenheit 11/9 tonight, due in great measure to your encouragement. Given your DNC experience, I am really interested in your take on his indictment of the Democratic party. If you agree with his criticism, what course of action would you recommend to a loyal, but concerned, Democrat? If you do not agree, why not?” ☞ Great question. (I had thought of addressing this in the initial post, but wanted to keep that brief.) Two things jumped out at me. First, the film makes it look as though the election was stolen from Bernie, and that’s just not the case, as I’ve written here, mainly (Not Rigged!), but also here and here. The DNC had zero to do with Hillary backers’ giving her a two-year head start (“Ready for Hillary“) over Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley, Jim Webb, and Lincoln Chafee. Had Bernie’s folks also begun bus tours in 2014, things might have been different; but as it was, Hillary got nearly 16 million votes to Bernie’s 12 million. And I think it’s hard for anyone to argue that by the time the voting started, Bernie’s candidacy was not all but universally known. It was — rightly — nightly national news. Second was the general portrayal of the DNC as — while maybe not as bad as the RNC — basically a corporate tool. But that’s just not true. Most of the DNC’s 450 or so members are neither corporate nor particularly affluent. And its chair — where most of the decisions get made — is a Latino champion of labor. Of its eleven other officers, only one is a straight non-Hispanic Caucasian. And only one is a Wall Streeter. And if you read his bio — as I hope you will — I think it will leave you feeling pretty good that [Understatement ON] he’s no Wilbur Ross [OFF]. Finally: Democratic donors frequently ask, especially in a non-Presidential year when there’s no single standard-bearer: what’s the Democratic message? But as former Congressman Steve Israel argues, “A message that resonates in downtown Brooklyn, New York, could backfire in Brooklyn, Iowa—which happens to be located in a Republican district that’s now highly competitive.” We don’t need a single message. Yes, it would certainly be great if we Democrats had better discipline, repeating the same two or three short, simple mantras over and over. E.g.: “The incredible Obama recovery was so strong, even Trump hasn’t yet killed it . . . though with his massive borrowing to cut taxes on the rich he’s certainly laying the seeds of the next crisis . . . ” (Already that’s too many words. I get it.) But there’s no magic slogan that will power the massive blue wave needed to pull the country out of its tailspin November 6. We just each need to vote, volunteer, and give. Have a great weekend!
Graphicacy October 3, 2018 My pal Tommy gave this TED talk a few months ago, taking us all the way from oracy, literacy, and numeracy through to graphicacy — his specialty — in six minutes. (Note especially the graphic of 2-letter Scrabble words.) The famed Randy Rainbow re-imagines “Camelot” (“Kavanaugh“). Long-time readers know that my infrastructure play — Great Lakes Dredge & Dock (“silt accumulates”) — has been at best a sleepy disappointment (after an initial great run with warrants and such). Now that GLDD is showing signs of life, what to do? This analysis suggests holding on. Vote, volunteer, give.