Author: A.T.

Barney Frank, Water Volleyball Player — and More

Sixty years ago, my college roommates and I had the great good fortune to be assigned to a dorm whose five resident tutors included a 25-year-old Bayonne-born cigar chomping grad student named Barney Frank.

Although he was an order of magnitude smarter and more important, we had a lot in common (I, too, am a left-handed, Jewish, gay Democrat) and enjoyed a 60-year friendship.

I thought yesterday’s New York Times obit was magnificent:

Barney Frank, Gay Pioneer and Liberal Stalwart in Congress, Dies at 86

Subhead:

Often voted the “brainiest,” “funniest” and “most eloquent” member of the House, he was also the first to come out voluntarily and helped normalize being openly gay in public office.

Lead graph:

Barney Frank, the brassy, lightning-quick former Massachusetts representative who for decades was the most prominent gay politician in the country and who was an author of the most significant overhaul of the nation’s financial regulations since the Great Depression, died on Tuesday at his home in Ogunquit, Maine. He was 86.

I think you’ll enjoy reading it.

It ends with reference to his forthcoming book, The Hard Path to Unity: Why We Must Reform the Left to Rescue Democracy.

The book is — don’t hate me for saying this, Barney — a little dense in this age of short attention spans.

And it doesn’t come out until September 15.

But Jamie Kirchick’s piece in the current Atlantic — Barney Frank’s Second Coming-Out — solves both those problems.  You’ll get the essence of the book in just a few minutes and without having to wait. 

In his final act, the liberal stalwart wants to save his party from ideologues.

Every Democrat should read this piece — especially our wonderfully idealistic Democrats on the far left, to whom the book is largely addressed.

Barney shared almost all their goals but realized that, all too often, “the perfect is the enemy of the good.”

It’s that old Ralph Nader thing again.  Ralph was SO much better than Gore (at least in his own mind and the minds of his voters) . . . yet by not settling for Gore, he got Bush ’43, the war in Iraq, giant tax cuts for the rich, an exploding deficit, and (among other things) a right-leaning Supreme Court that ultimately paved the way for Trump.

If you read the Times and then the Atlantic, you’ll know Barney well.

(If you’d like the full story in his own voice, listen to his autobiography.  Or watch Compared to What: The Improbable Journey of Barney Frank, a 2014 documentary.  Here’s the 2-minute trailer.)

A few things I might add:

> In the dining hall, everyone wanted to sit with Barney, especially the Government majors.  Tables of 8 would regularly have 12 or 14 people crowded around, trays on laps, straining to hear, as one bright Harvard student after another tried to challenge Barney on whatever was in the news — and got destroyed, leaving the rest of us in tears of laughter.

I was never brave (or informed) enough to try, but I loved watching . . . and came to notice that Barney looked at the same guys I did.  So there was someone else among the 5,000 undergraduates and 10,000 grad students who was mis-wired like me — a regular guy attracted to regular guys!  (There were more like 1,500 of us, but all of us too deep in the closet to reveal ourselves.)

Barney didn’t figure me out, and I didn’t say anything to Barney until much later, after my book came out. (Not the investment guide.)

> CUT TO:  Barney visiting on Fire Island, where a bunch of us play water volleyball on sunny weekends.  (“If you can stand in five feet of water and have a sense of humor, you’ll be a star.”)

At first we figured that Barney, by then Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, would be our “Celebrity Ball Boy” but in fact he jumped in and turned out to be quite good.  We called him “the Gavel.”

> CUT TO: a week of his recovery spent back out at the beach after his quintuple by-pass.  His father had died very young of a heart attack, and he seemed to be headed in the same direction.  But damned if he didn’t power through to 86, accomplishing so much along the way.

> CUT TO: a dinner with six or eight of us where I was making some pro-Democratic pitch, and maybe getting a little carried away in my enthusiasm — we were all just friends having fun and I was trying to make my friends laugh — when suddenly Barney slammed the table with his fist and said “No!  Don’t oversell!”

We were all a little startled.  I had needlessly exaggerated something.  But hey — I was just having fun, among like-minded friends — but NO! he slammed his hand again.  “Don’t ever do that!”  It’s a terrible mistake in arguing your case, he bellowed, to exaggerate and give the other side something on which to prove you wrong, calling into question everything else you said.  Long before he finished berating me, I knew he was right:  I hate when our side does that, as we occasionally do.

> CUT TO: I am a groomsman in Barney’s wedding to Jim.  Nancy Pelosi and John Kerry with Barney’s family, friends, and colleagues are on one side of the aisle; Jim’s surfing buddies on the other.  The Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is presiding.  And then dancing after the dinner — you can see great photos in the Times obit.  And all I could think of was how far we had come from 1965, when no one dared even say he was gay . . . to this joyful wedding.  Which I got to talk about a few weeks later in front of thousands of delegates and press at the Democratic National Convention.

So much of this progress was because of Barney.

I am so proud to have been his friend.

 

Quick Takes . . .

LEAVING MAGA

This guy voted for Trump 3 times but calls in to C-SPAN to say he’s had it — he’s leaving MAGA (3 minutes).  I love that he plugs LeavingMAGA at the end.  It’s catching on.  This is not what they voted for.  We’re gonna win.

PROTECTING PEDOPHILES

Nothing is more important to Trump than defying the law requiring release of the Epstein files.  So nothing was more important than wreaking vengeance and retribution on Republican Thomas Massie for co-sponsoring the Epstein Files Transparency Act.  Massie’s defeat last night was a sweet victory for adjudicated rapist and alleged pedophile Trump and for all his loyal followers.

As for Epstein’s partner in crime, imprisoned Ghislaine Maxwell, Trump “wishes her well” and may pardon her once all this dies down.  He’s already moved her to a more comfortable cell.

WINNING IN TEXAS

James Talarico may be facing Ken Paxton in the general election, thanks to Trump’s endorsement.  And I do mean thanks: I believe Talarico will beat Cornyn if he wins the Republican primary run-off; but Paxton is clearly the guy we’d prefer to run against.

LOSING IN CRYPTO

“Before You Invest in Crypto,” David Korn headlines his Our Land newsletter, “Watch This Film” — Everyone Is Lying To You For Money, a documentary by Ben McKenzie.

KORN: There’s a chilling moment in the film when you ask Dan Davies, the economist and fraud expert, whether all of crypto is a scam, and he does not challenge that idea. It that your bottom-line belief? It’s just a con and eventually there will be a reckoning?

McKENZIE:  Crypto is only good for two things: gambling—is the price going to go up or down?—and crime. The amount of crime that crypto facilitates is staggering. There’s a crypto company, Chainanalysis, that estimated $154 billion of criminal activity was facilitated via crypto last year alone. There’s the bubble idea that the price could, over time, keep going up, as new people flock to crypto as the story continues to spread. And then crime gives it a use case, a reason to be valuable.

In my congressional testimony, I described as a Ponzi scheme. What is Trump’s thing, if not a Ponzi scheme, right? His meme coin is down 96 percent. It’s all a penny stock, a pump-and-dump, a Ponzi scheme—pick your metaphor. It’s not a legitimate investment. That’s 99 percent of it. Then there’s crime on top of it. And what’s most troubling is that if crypto gets further into our regulated system, as it’s threatening to do this with the Genius Act that passed and the proposed Clarity Act, then the repercussions could be huge. Because if it does crash again—and I will remind people that crypto has crashed many times in its brief but sordid history—it could contribute to the next version of a subprime crisis. That would be incredibly ironic, given the crypto was supposedly a reaction to that crisis.

→ Not yet streaming — but you get the gist.

TEACHING CIVICS

Reacting to yesterday’s post (Teaching Civics, Not Dogma):

Kris M.: “Totally agree.  Civics education is absolutely vital to democratic governance.   If I were in charge, every school in the country would be required to post the Preamble to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights in every classroom, grades 2 -12, and provide age-appropriate lessons and discussions on government.  Younger students could have it read to them, as they read along, and learn vocabulary words.  Higher grade levels could have group discussions, write short papers on what the amendments mean, research the writers of the document, etc.  The Preamble tells us who the government is and why it was created, and the Bill of Rights tells us what our government cannot do.  The rest of the Constitution is likely more appropriate for the higher grades and high school.  Equipping everyone with a knowledge of how our country was designed to function is critical to keeping this experiment going.  There’s a lot of power in the words we read and say every day from childhood on.  One of my favorite protest signs: ‘I didn’t pledge liberty and justice for all every day to settle for anything less.’ Maybe embedding the opening words of the Preamble in the minds of our people will create more engaged citizens: ‘We the people….in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility . . .’ ”

 

Teaching Civics, Not Dogma — Some Actual GOOD News

RELIGION*

Heather Cox Richardson:

Thousands of people gathered today on the National Mall to engage in an eight-hour taxpayer-funded evangelical worship event to “rededicate” the nation to Christianity.

. . .

Rather than basing the United States on religion, the nation’s founders and framers, as well as Americans of later generations, sought to instill in Americans reverence for the nation’s core political values, especially the right of self-government and the checks and balances that made that self-government possible. . . .

That civic religion unified the nation, but it did more than that. It also instructed Americans on the rights and duties of citizens who live in a nation that rests on “We the People.” They must think for themselves, question elected officials, and take an active role in their government.

Replacing Americans’ civic identity with Christian nationalism destroys that vitally important understanding of the role of citizens in a democracy. Instead, it demands that Americans do as they are told, turning them into subjects.

The theme of obeying the leader runs deep in Trump’s politics, and in MAGA more generally. The Bible passage Trump read on video today emphasizes obedience, warning the chosen people that if they “forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you,” then they will be destroyed. Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin read the same passage at the January 6, 2021, insurrection, suggesting that overturning democracy for Trump was obeying the Lord. Laura Jedeed of Firewalled Media reported that vendors at today’s event handed out buttons that said: “WIVES SUBMIT, HUSBANDS LOVE, CHILDREN OBEY.”

But blindly obeying authority has never been the story of America.

As with anything HCR writes — and even more so than most — it’s worth reading in full.

(And as with almost anything Trump touches, it’s worse than you think.)

 

CIVICS

The solution to our problems, a wise friend noted upon reading Ms. Richardson’s column, is that we should teach civics!

So true.

And, as if on cue, the New York Times offered this yesterday:

Nothing Beats Polarization Like Civics Education

. . . Frequently, when people decry the state of our politics, the conversation always lands in the same place: a lament that we just don’t have civic education any more. I want people to know that this is no longer true. The decline of civic education hit bottom about a decade ago and is at last on the rebound. That fact brings me hope.

. . .

Most shocking to me: my students had never previously encountered the Declaration of Independence. When I saw the power of that text for them and registered that their inheritance had been withheld from them, I made it a crusade to change that for others.

After I subsequently published a book about the Declaration, educators all over the country began reaching out asking me to make resources for their classrooms. That is what showed me the hunger for renewal in civic learning. Eventually I set up an organization to develop civic education curricular materials. . . .

Also so worth reading in full.  Not least to see how the left and the right in their group found common ground on what to teach and how to teach it.

Reflective patriotism (as opposed to reflexive — “my country right or wrong”).

Successful civic education teaches students to defeat polarization not by teaching nonpolarizing answers to hard questions, but by teaching how to form relationships with people who may disagree with them, to identify shared values despite difference, and then to wrestle their way to new solutions and, when necessary, compromises.

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor liked to note that democracy is not “passed down through the gene pool.” Rather, “it must be taught and learned anew by each generation.”

. . .

The arc of civic education data indicates that in 2016 this country hit a low in our failure to transmit love of democracy to the next generation. Now we’re on the rebound. 

Hats off to you for being involved.

*Have you found time to listen to (or read) Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person’s Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds?  As oft-noted: it’s so interesting and informative.

 

That China Trip — How Many Stars Would You Give It Out of 10?

Here’s the review from Meidas Touch:

. . . Let me just say that what happened in Beijing was the maybe single most embarrassing foreign policy trip in modern American history.

Donald Trump went to Beijing and completely bent the knee to Xi Jinping.

Trump kept praising Xi Jinping’s strength, talking about how powerful Xi was, almost like Trump desperately wanted Xi to like him. It was bizarre to watch. Meanwhile, Xi Jinping was focused on actual geopolitical strategy and projecting China’s dominance to the world.

And what exactly did the United States get out of this trip?

Nothing.

No semiconductor deals. Nothing on the Strait of Hormuz. Nothing on trade [Maybe a big order for Boeing? — A.T.].  Nothing on Taiwan. Zero deals. Zero wins.

In fact, Xi Jinping looked Donald Trump in the face and referred to America as a declining nation right there in front of the world and Trump just took it. No pushback whatsoever.

And then things somehow got worse.

Trump admitted he discussed Taiwan with Xi Jinping in terms of whether the United States should even continue providing Taiwan with weapons. Think about how outrageous that is. American presidents do not consult China about whether we should support Taiwan.

Then Trump went on Fox and referred to Taiwan as “some small island 9,500 miles away” and questioned why America should even help them.

That statement showed such a dangerous misunderstanding of history and geopolitics. Taiwan is one of America’s most important democratic allies in Asia and a critical pillar of global stability and semiconductor manufacturing.

But this is what Trump does.

He attacks allies he perceives as weaker while praising authoritarian strongmen.

He attacks Ukraine. He attacks Taiwan. He attacks Canada and calls it the 51st state. He attacks Greenland and Denmark. He attacks NATO. He attacks Europe. He just withdrew thousands of troops headed to Poland, one of our strongest allies.

And meanwhile, he praises leaders who openly want to weaken the United States.

Let me grab another sip of coffee here because honestly, watching this unfold this week was infuriating.

Following Trump’s disastrous trip, Iran’s top parliament leaders started openly talking about a “new world order” and the rise of BRICS, the rise of the so-called Global South, and the decline of the United States.

Think about how dangerous that is.

America now looks weak internationally because Trump projects weakness. He confuses surrender with strength. He confuses flattery with diplomacy.

And I remember when Republicans spent years pretending they were “China hawks.” They attacked Obama. They attacked Biden. They claimed Democrats were weak on China.

But Democrats stood up to Xi Jinping. Democrats supported Taiwan. Democrats called Xi what a dictator to his face.

Donald Trump, on the other hand, seems to have this bizarre obsession with Xi Jinping where he craves approval from authoritarian leaders while attacking democratic allies.

So here we are on Sunday morning.

Iran continues threatening global shipping routes and the Strait of Hormuz remains a major flashpoint. There’s increasing talk of broader regional war again, which could trigger global economic catastrophe and send markets into absolute freefall.

Trump is such a reckless decision-maker, and so easily manipulated by stronger personalities around him, that it genuinely feels like we’re moving toward even greater instability.

Jim David argues:

TRUMP IS KILLING AMERICA, AND IT’S DELIBERATE.

I don’t think his goal is to kill America, though that’s a consequence; and I don’t think he has formulated goals — just appetites: to be the richest, most powerful man who ever lived, the center of global attention.

Join Indivisible!

Support the opposition!

We’re going to win in November and again in 2028 — and rejoin our traditional democratic allies in striving to make a better, freer, fairer, more prosperous world.

 

Trump In China II

Yesterday‘s perspective on Trump’s trip was that “we don’t have the cards.”

Today’s, from Robert Reich, is that the remarkable CEOs with him look to grow their profits more than they look to make America great again.

It won’t surprise you to know I am one of those who agree with Pete: Trump has been doing just the opposite (90 seconds).

To Putin’s delight.

BONUS

Stuart Stevens:

How Roger Wicker Enabled the Dismantling of the U.S. Military

I’ve known the Senator for decades. Seeing him usher in Pete Hegseth and the purge of our military leaders is both tragedy and farce.

 

Your Health and Lungs; China and Jobs

YOUR HEALTH

Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding:

The U.S. now has no confirmed CDC director, no FDA commissioner, no Surgeon General, an NIH director with no medical license, and the last Acting CDC Director was a George Bush speechwriter. In fact—the only doctor/scientist we have in the White House is… Dr Oz.

And the brain of our Health Secretary was partly eaten by a worm.

YOUR LUNGS

About Half of Patients with Metastatic Lung Cancer Don’t Get Treatment

New drugs have made America’s deadliest cancer more treatable than ever. So why aren’t they reaching patients?

Spread the word to the other half.

TRUMP GOES TO CHINA

I found this perspective sad but important.  We no longer have the cards.

ANDREW YANG ON AI AND JOBS

The world’s leaders, and certainly our own, need to be thinking about this.  

(As I reported a decade or so ago, Ray Kurzweil predicted Europe would have Universal Basic Income by 2032 and the U.S., last to adopt it, in 2038.)

 

Us Vs. Them

CALLING A DRIVERLESS CAB

For those of who think TSLA is overvalued at 405X earnings, this story is a lot of fun.

AND WHY NOT CALL IT WITH YOUR $499 MADE-IN-AMERICA GOLD TRUMP PHONE?

The ‘Trump Phone’ Has Been Repeatedly Delayed and Will No Longer Be Made in the U.S.

The Trump boys have thus far collected $59 million in deposits from nearly 600,000 MAGAns and will presumably never, ever deliver the promised phone.  But Republican lawmakers are okay with scams and war crimes, with pardoning drug dealers and protecting pedophiles, with favoring dictators over democracies, with attacking the press and the Pope, because . . . well, you know.  They’re the good guys.  With the concept of a plan for “great health care at a tiny fraction of the price” now 10 years in development.  Who were robbed of the presidency in 2020, which they won by a landslide.  Who think Putin is a genius and wish Ghisliane Maxwell well.

Still, might these Trump phones be the final straw for some of the 600,000?

To whom I say:

Having doubts?

You’re not alone.

A welcoming, nonjudgmental community is there for you when you’re ready:

leavingMAGA.org

US VS. THEM

An otherwise-impressive 23-year-old texted me yesterday:

I can’t get too caught up playing into us vs them politics… I opt out.

I replied:

The “us” are people who believe in the rule of law, competence, science and democracy (and reproductive rights and LGBT equality and empathy). The “them” currently control all three branches of government.

To my surprise, he replied, “all true” — and was open to my entreaty to opt IN.

Who knows?  If we all keep at it, this could be the year a lot of young people do.

 

Netanyahu And Trump

NETANYAHU AND TRUMP

‘They have screwed each other pretty badly’: tensions emerge in Netanyahu-Trump alliance

“He told Trump: ‘The Iranian economy is in shambles. The people are on the precipice of revolt. The Revolutionary Guards are losing control. Life in Iran is intolerable. This is our time,’” Pinkas said. “‘What we could do together is bring down the regime … think that together, jointly, we can win the war in three, four days.’”

According to multiple reports, US intelligence and military officials stressed the risk that Iran could attack US allies in the Gulf and close the strait of Hormuz. But Netanyahu – and US administration hawks including the defence secretary, Pete Hegseth – prevailed, arguing that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were overrated and would not have the strength to hit back.

They were proved wrong on every count.

86 THE SEASHELLS

Blanche Is Bluffing.

An interesting essay on how prosecutions usually work.  Back when the rule of law was taken as a serious thing.

EPSTEIN

Well?  Are the Republicans, who control all three branches of government, ready to stop protecting powerful pedophiles?

CIAO BELLA!

If all goes according to plan, I am “abroad” as you read this.  If some amazing thing happens this week and you find me posting about “the happiest cities in America” — or not posting at all — it’s because I haven’t been able to figure out the Internet.  Rest assured, I will extend your subscription to make up for any lost days.