1. Tax Fairness Everyone likes government programs that benefit themselves; we just don’t want to pay for them. Consequently, President Biden’s tax plan is hugely popular with we common folk, because it calls for somebody else to pay for the goodies. Good for us! Not so good for the proposed payers. On the other hand,… [read more]
Indicting Administration Officials & The Extremist Oath
By the end of his term, 138 of Reagan’s administration officials had been convicted, had been indicted or had been the subject of investigations for official misconduct and/or criminal violations. Reagan had been a B-list actor. Once in office he was apparently attempting to play the part of Richard Nixon.* While there were 26 Reaganites… [read more]
Bridging the Divide
Approximately 40% of Americans identify as Republicans. That includes traditional conservatives, centrists and hair-on-fire extremists. A new poll shows that 44% of them say they refuse and will continue to refuse to be vaccinated against the worldwide pandemic that has already killed nearly 600,000 Americans. Some say they’re all about individual freedom and nobody is… [read more]
The Speech I Wanted President Biden to Give Last Night
In The United States House of Representatives Sergeant at Arms: Madam Speaker: the President of the United States President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.: Speaker Pelosi, Vice-President Harris, Members of the Supreme Court, Senators, Representatives and guests, we’re here tonight for an accounting of the condition of the United States of America – something of a… [read more]
Who Should Get Out of Jail Free?
The triple convictions of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd prompted a variety of reactions including relief, joy, renewed hope, satisfaction, release and more. There was a palpable and stated sense of rightness that justice had been done. And there was another verse to this song. Tucker Carlson went on a fresh, yet… [read more]
Speak
On Saturday I attended the Rally After the Verdict, organized by the Abolition Coalition of Skokie, IL and supported by the NAACP of Evanston. The point, of course, was to open eyes to the need for action, that the verdict isn’t the end of the story. Indeed, some don’t even see it as a victory…. [read more]
The Names
Daunte Wright Rayshard Brooks Daniel Prude Breonna Taylor Attatiana Jefferson Aura Rosser Stephon Clark Botham Jean Philando Castile Alton Sterling Freddie Gray Janisha Fonville Eric Garner Michelle Cusseaux Akai Gurley Gabrielle Nevarez Tamir Rice Michael Brown Tanisha Anderson and of course, Rodney King* Those are just a few of the Black people who have been… [read more]
Pizza and Water
The issue is not whether it should be illegal to give a slice of pizza and a bottle of water to an old lady waiting in line for hours to vote on a Tuesday in November in Georgia. Focusing there completely misses the point. Our brilliant and frightened (read: deranged) White supremacist citizens know that… [read more]
RepublicanLand
This is not just another rant about anti-democracy, anti-fact, anti-truth, anti-progress Republicans. Sure, this is a rant and it’s fun to bash the bullies, but what Republicans are doing is amplifying their ingrained dishonesty to the point of imperiling our national bedrock. So, this is a semaphore signal or perhaps the ride of a descendant… [read more]
We’re Still Not Free
Can you believe we’re still having conversations about basic Covid stuff? I mean, we’ve known what to do to defeat this pandemic for most of a year and the rising availability of vaccines has greatly enhanced our ability to fight it, but still over 60,000 Americans test positive every day and our hospitals are filling… [read more]
