Year: 2018

This must-read thriller from Wired details the world’s most costly cyberattack to date.

(Not counting the attack that subverted American democracy and cost America its global leadership.)

It leaves me with these “take-aways” —

1. Cyberwarfare (and Russian attacks, in particular, as described in this piece) are a huge threat.  Imagine your life without, say, electricity.
2. It’s a better idea than ever to have a “disaster hoard,” as I’ve been touting for decades.  (“This idea of a disaster hoard, by the way, is not such a foolish one. Nor is it “gloom and doom.” Disasters do occur . . . floods, earthquakes, power outages . . . and it does make sense for every household to accumulate—now, when there’s no need to, at sale prices—enough nonperishables to last a while. Such a modest stockpiling not only protects individuals, it serves the social interest as well. Just as the nation is stronger if it has strategic stockpiles, so is the social fabric a little less susceptible to disruption or panic if everyone has an added layer of security.”)

Start with this — under three minutes.  Denmark responds to Fox News’s ridiculous claims.  You will love it on so many levels.

Then, if you’ve not yet seen “great health care for everybody at a tiny fraction of the cost” . . . if you’re concerned that inflation-adjusted wages are still stagnant while the rich and powerful are growing ever more rich and powerful . . . if you’re beginning to doubt that Mexico will pay for the wall — if, in fact, you’ve not been “winning so much you’ve become tired of winning” — perhaps you should treat yourself to Jonathan Chait’s: ‘Law and Order’ Candidate Donald Trump Is Surrounded By Criminals. (“There is a type of person to whom Trump is attracted, and a type of person who is attracted to Trump. He repels virtue, and is a magnet for sleaze.”)

Not that you’ll learn anything you didn’t know.

Then, if you have time (as usual, I have your whole weekend planned out for you), meet Harvard’s new president, Lawrence Bacow.  What a contrast.  Harvard could have picked a tax-avoiding, truth-avoiding, mob-consorting, Boy Scout-offending, Hitler-speech-reading, Putin-praising sociopath with no experience to lead the university, but instead it chose an Eagle Scout.

Who in 2005 said to the graduating seniors of Tufts (of which he was then president):

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. . . There are lots of ways to earn a living. What is truly important is to lead a meaningful life, to acquire a good name, or as the Talmud would say, a shem tov.

What is a good name? It is the crown that sits atop all your other accomplishments. It comes from the love and respect one earns from parents and children, from friends and colleagues. It comes from being honest and trustworthy with yourself and with others. It means making good on your commitments. People who enjoy a good name always strive to do the right thing, not that which is easy or convenient. They think about others before thinking about themselves. They are helpful because it is the right thing to do….People who enjoy a good name do not yield to temptation, but rather, always embrace decency, honesty, integrity, and humility.…

We have every confidence that you will make your mark in the world, and that you will create for yourself a shem tov, a good name.

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Kind of reminds you of the previous occupant of the White House. Or of this guy, who’d be an interesting choice to come next.

Have a great week-end!

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2. CrushTheMidterms.  It even designs an action plan for you.
3. MobilizeAmerica.

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Have you met Beto O’Rourke?  This is the kind of young leader we need (4 minutes).  It’s just a bonus he would be knocking off Ted Cruz.

Have you met Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez?  Listen to her on health care (6 minutes; 11, for the full interview).  The right will try to paint her as crazy — like all those who favor the free, quality health care of the 36 nations that rank ahead of ours.  But do you know what?  Even if it’s not as simple as flipping a switch to get from here to there (and Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t suggest that it is), she’s not crazy one bit.

Oh!  And have you met Admiral William McRaven?  He was just giving a graduation speech and, years later, writing an open letter — not running for anything.  But he could be just what we need to bring dignity, integrity, inspiration, and achievement back to the White House.

1. Join Team Blue.
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Roger Cohen concludes his recent column (thanks, Glenn!). . .

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. . . Once while visiting a military base, President Lyndon B. Johnson started to walk to the wrong helicopter. A soldier intervened, saying, “That’s your helicopter over there, sir.” Johnson replied, “Son, they are all my helicopters.” It was a pithy example both of presidential power and hubris. In the end, however, Johnson was forced to announce he would not run for reelection. It turned out that none of the helicopters were his.

Trump will soon learn the same lesson. It is not his government, it is ours. It is not his White House, it is ours. The deep state is very deep indeed. It booted Nixon from the White House and compelled Clinton to roll up his sleeve. To Trump, it looks like a monster rising from the swamp. To me, it looks like a shivering soldier at Valley Forge.

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Russia is working to protect Trump and destroy our democracy.

We are quite literally under attack and our “leader” praises theirs.

Let’s hope it’s our founders’ vision, not Putin’s, that ultimately carries the day.

1. Join Team Blue.
2. CrushTheMidterms.  It even designs an action plan for you.
3. MobilizeAmerica.

No need to choose: sign up with all three.

And if you can — click here.

MEANWHILE, several of you have asked what’s up with Borealis — jumping from $5 to $8 in just a few days.  I’d like to think it means something, but the stock seems to have made this leap on the purchase of just a few thousand shares.  If someone else should decide to sell a few thousand (perhaps because he or she died waiting?), it might just as quickly retreat.

I can tell you this much: whoever’s been buying shares — 420 of them yesterday alone, more than $3,000 worth (who HAS that kind of money?) — isn’t buying them from me.  If they’re worth $8, they’re worth a lot more.  So I hold on.

(And if they’re not worth $8, it’s a good thing we bought them with money we could truly afford to lose.)

Fox News nails Trump budget chief: 3.4 million jobs have been added during Trump’s 19 months, but that’s fewer than the 3.7 million during Obama’s last 19 months.  And as noted Friday: Inflation-adjusted wages rose a quarter of a percent per year under President Obama, but have DECLINED under Trump.

Billionaire Nick Hanauer argues:  “Democrats Must Regain the Center . . . by Moving Hard Left.”

A super-important piece every Dem should read.

I don’t agree with every word — but the gist?  Right on.

I’ve previously linked to this awesome graduation speech — Make Your Bed.  It was delivered by a former Navy SEAL, now retired Admiral, in 2014, long before anyone imagined that a draft-avoiding, tax-avoiding, truth-avoiding, mob-consorting, Hitler-speech-reading, Putin-praising sociopath — who had never done anything for his country — would be elected president.  If you missed that speech, or even if you didn’t, watch it now, knowing that this is the guy — William R. McRaven — who penned the open letter to Trump.

You want a Democratic candidate for 2020?  I can think of loads of terrific choices.  But add Admiral McRaven to the list.

In the meantime:

1. Join Team Blue.
2. CrushTheMidterms.  It even designs an action plan for you.
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A simpler time, but a message worth spreading even now?  (Thanks, Mel!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpO6mpYvyqQ

To which my pal Dave responds:

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Thanks for posting that RKO movie clip.  Since buying a house in the California desert and joining Thunderbird Country Club, I’ve learned some more things about Sinatra.  Don’t get me wrong, Old Blue Eyes was a complex character and not without faults.  However:

Thunderbird Country Club traces its origin to the early 1950s and among its earliest members were a number of entertainment types including Bing Crosby, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Hoagy Carmichael, Bob Hope.  However, it was an anti-Semitic club and would not allow Jews to join.  (As for gays, Chris and I are the first gay full members of Thunderbird.  That slow-moving arc bending toward justice.)

So the Marx Brothers, Jack Benny, George Burns, Danny Kaye and other Hollywood Jews decided to build their own country club — Tamarisk.  Another founding member?  Frank Sinatra.  He also wed one of his fellow Tamarisk members, Barbara, who had been married to Zeppo Marx.  And the primary contributor to the Palm Springs reformed Synagogue?  Frank Sinatra.

So for Sinatra that movie clip was more than just a song and propaganda piece.  He actually lived it.

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I try to leave the longer things for weekends, to keep you out of trouble.  With nothing to do, you could be led astray in so many ways; but with Jeremy Grantham’s brilliant The Race Of Our Lives, you will be enlightened, and perhaps spared a bad sunburn, poison ivy, getting lost in the woods, Lyme tick disease, lake leaches, sand-shark bites, a mountain bike accident — really, it’s safer just to stay home.  (My motto: if it’s not paved, it’s not safe.)  Though you may feel the need to go out for a drink afterward.

But just before you settle in with Jeremy . . . did you know all this about Brett Kavanaugh?  I didn’t.  And it’s only 90 seconds.

And could we please frame today’s economy as, a continuation of the Obama economy that was SO strong, even Trump hasn’t killed it yet?

As noted by “the resistance” . . .

1. The unemployment rate dropped two-thirds of one percent each year under President Obama, but just one-third of one percent each year under Trump.
2. Inflation-adjusted wages went up one-quarter of one percent each year under President Obama, and have DECLINED by one-quarter of one percent each year under Trump.
3. The average price of gasoline in President Obama’s last year in office was $2.14 per gallon; under Trump, at $2.87, it’s up 34%.
4. President Obama inherited the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.  Trump inherited the Obama Recovery.

And of course inequality just grows.  Per the Washington Post: CEOs of America’s biggest companies saw their average annual pay surge to $18.9 million in 2017 — up 18%, even as real average hourly earnings for all employees decreased 0.2 percent from July 2017 to July 2018.

But now read Jeremy Grantham and stay indoors, where it’s safe.

Have a great weekend.

[Email subscribers: sorry I missed the deadline for this to go out last night.]

Mostly what we need is for our folks who generally sit out mid-terms not to sit out this mid-term.

The daily outrages, corruption, and incompetence just might impel them to show up.

But there’s something else this year, too: our candidates.

We have great ones!

Like these DCCC “red-to-blue” Congressional challengers.

And Beto O’Rourke to knock off Ted Cruz!

And Stacey Abrams to govern Georgia!

And so many others.

But if we finally do get the kind of mid-term turn-out we always should (because Democratic economic policies are always better for the bottom 99% than Republican economic policies), who knows how deep the change could go?

Here’s a guy who could turn North Dakota blue even though his state is “R+16.”  He’s for taking Medicaid expansion  money; she voted against it. He’s for family farmers; she’s for corporate farmers.  He opposes Trump’s trade war; she supports it.  (And he captained the University of North Dakota football team and plays well with Republican legislators.  Perfect!)

Here’s a pistol-packing Latina so different from the current Texas governor — well, watch her two-minute video and tell me if you don’t think she’s better positioned to address the kitchen-table problems most Texans face.

And it’s not just traditional Democratic voters who may vote D this November.

Independents lean our way.

And Republicans may heed the pleas of conservatives like Max Boot (“I want Democrats to take over“) . . .  George Will (“Vote against the GOP this November“) . . . and Rich Barlow (“I’m a Republican, but I’ll vote Democratic“).

And John Zeigler (“I have never voted for a Democrat for a federal or state office in my life. This year, much to my amazement and disappointment, not only will I likely be voting for Democrats at that level, I will actually be rooting for Democrats to win.)

Me, too.

You, too?

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Here it is.  (Thanks, Mel!)

So worth the four minutes!

So uplifting!

And so worth not destroying it all — as humanity, after so many tens of thousands of years, clearly now has the capacity to do.  We are two minutes from midnight, “the closest we’ve been to the apocalypse since the height of the Cold War.”

It’s worth doing something about:

1. Join Team Blue.
2. CrushTheMidterms.  It even designs an action plan for you.
3. MobilizeAmerica.

No need to choose: sign up with all three.

And if you can — click here.

But first:

Microwave your sponges.  Who knew?  Extend their life . . . and perhaps your own.

And second:

The view from Scotland . . . two minutes not to be missed.  Waaaaay more important than the sponges.

And third:

Yesterday, I appended a short SPRT update.  A Wall Street pal was initially skeptical until he check his Bloomberg and found that Renaissance Technologies owns 6%.  Yes, this is beyond trivial for them; and I assume it’s their algorithms that made the decision, not an actual human.  But in my friend’s words, “They are soooo good and soooo smart and usually so right.”  Which is a guarantee of nothing, but encouraging nonetheless.  We’re in good company.

And now!

Your president and the mob.

Plus:

This is so much bigger than Paul Manafort.

I’m sorry, but as the Scotsman told you, above, this really is an emergency.

So:

1. Join Team Blue.
2. CrushTheMidterms.  It even designs an action plan for you.
3. MobilizeAmerica.

No need to choose: sign up with all three.

And if you can — click here.