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The Wizard and the Hillbilly: Weird Politics
Picture Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, as young, beautiful Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz," being blown away in a storm and, in the end, coming face to face with the scary wizard.
And there he is, a blowhard behind a green curtain, shouting into the wind. In the movie, the wizard looks like former President ...Read more
The Changing Meaning of 'Work' -- And the Idea of 'Boss Man'
"Big Boss Man," an old song by blues legend Jimmy Reed, still packs a potent political punch for today's working class:
You got me workin', boss man, working 'round the clock
I wanna little drink of water, but you won't let Jimmy stop
Big boss man, can't you hear me when I call?
But then, Reed urges workers to see how small the ...Read more
Maybe It’s In the Air. A Timely Step Toward Semiretirement.
As one who sympathized and empathized with President Joe Biden, I was relieved when he decided to step aside for a younger generation of presidential contenders.
Seeing the unmitigated joy — and relief — that seemed to erupt nationwide, suddenly I, too, decided to take a symbolic step toward semiretirement just in time for this year’s ...Read more
Tower of Babble: It's a Lot Worse Than 'Weird'
On the bright side, the Trump era has doubtless reinforced the age-old nostrum that in America, absolutely anyone can be president. Shallow, unread and uninterested, fundamentally infantile and deeply narcissistic, Donald Trump's enduring lesson to America is this: just say anything.
And say anything Mr. Trump has. The Carnival Barker-in-...Read more
The Bitter Biden Story Could Be Baloney
Joe Biden's decision to leave the Democratic National Convention right after opening night makes sense. Being president is a full-time job, and he has to get back to the office.
But the more sexy story is that Biden's decision to not stick around reflects bitterness over how party officials pressured him to withdraw from the race. That he ...Read more
Why a Harris Presidency Promises Hope for LGBTQ Rights
For the past four years, the Biden-Harris administration has made LGBTQ rights a cornerstone of its policy agenda. Among other efforts, the Biden-Harris administration has consistently sued states to block anti-trans laws and policies, including asking the Supreme Court to lift bans on medically necessary health care for trans adolescents.
...Read more
We Thank You, Joe
Tonight’s opening of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago will be an opportunity for the Democratic Party and the nation to take stock of Joe Biden’s term of office and thank him for his service.
He still has five months to go as president, of course, but the baton has been passed.
Biden’s singular achievement has been to change...Read more
Beyond Boring
Donald Trump, with his familiar rants and raves, is definitely boring. But it's beyond that.
He is a man who is out of control. He often sounds demented and divorced from reality, raising the question of whether he really is suffering from progressive dementia. It certainly sounds like it.
For weeks now, his aides and allies have been urging...Read more
Don't Negotiate Against Yourselves, Lefties
Anyone who has experience haggling at a flea market has intuited the basics of negotiating. If a seller offers the item you want at a fire-sale price that you're unlikely to find elsewhere, smile, pay the asking price and walk away before they change their mind. If the requested price is many times higher than you're willing to pay, just walk ...Read more
Why Books by W. Bruce Cameron Are a Family Staple
Every reader has a favorite book and a favorite author. Every parent has a one they'd love to pass on to their children. In our family, that author is W. Bruce Cameron, and in a plot twist, he's an author my daughter and I discovered together.
Cameron's book "A Dog's Purpose" hit the shelves in 2010, and though an adult novel, it quickly became...Read more
Down in the Mine With JD Vance
"Come and listen you fellers, so young and so fine
And seek not your fortune in the dark dreary mines
It will form as a habit and seep in your soul
'Til the stream of your blood is as black as the coal."
-- Merle Travis, "Dark as a Dungeon"
It's a coal mining song, is what it is, a hill ballad, a labor song, a lyric of damp and dust and ...Read more
More and More Evident: Trump Totally Bonkers
It’s always fun to be in San Francisco. It was especially fun last weekend when, during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump stunned California political reporters with his account of a near-death experience in a helicopter with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, where Brown never stopped trashing his former girlfriend, Kamala ...Read more
Suddenly, Retribution Changes Sides
The Harris-Walz campaign radiates sunshine and good times to come. Donald Trump, on the other hand, spreads gloom through his lame insults and crazy delusions. What's happening is that Trump's nastiness now bounces like a pink Spalding ball off the Democrats' reinforced concrete of jubilation. The superior crowd sizes and tightening poll ...Read more
Religious Freedom on Campus
"Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith. This fact is so unimaginable and so abhorrent to our constitutional guarantee of religious freedom that it bears repeating."
So wrote Judge Mark C. Scarsi in issuing a preliminary injunction this week to three Jewish students who sued...Read more
The Trump Crack-Up
As the Harris-Walz team soars (polls are already showing Kamala taking the lead), Trump is cracking up.
His ego can’t take it. He is freaking out that his opponent — a Black woman — has more energy and momentum behind her than he has.
Last Thursday, after 10 days of Kamala in the limelight, Trump was so desperate for attention that he ...Read more
Walz Catches Light, Leaves Trump in Dark
With one word, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz changed the public conversation: "joy." That word stumped and trumped former President Donald Trump's brand of rage. He looks fit to be tied in that very long red tie.
When Walz joined Vice President Kamala Harris as her running mate, he thanked her for bringing back the joy in politics. He added, the ...Read more
A Flock of Rich Plutocratic Democrats Want Lina Khan's Head. Why?
We've recently learned about Project 2025, the GOP's scheme to let corporate agents take over our government. But what about the less visible effort to make Democrats install corporate-subservient officials who'll expand their monopoly power?
High-finance finaglers of Wall Street and Silicon Valley are quietly demanding that Kamala Harris ...Read more
Too Close for Comfort: The Pro-Hamas Crowd Dislikes the KKK Comparison
Families paying $100,000 a year to send their kid to Columbia University shouldn't think they're not getting their money's worth. Extracurricular activities aren't limited to Ultimate Frisbee and the fencing club, because there's ever so much more to choose from. There's the student group known as Columbia University Apartheid Divest, one of ...Read more
Will Walz Keep Nebraska's Blue Dot Blue?
The 2024 presidential election, we are told, will be decided in a handful of battleground states. The race is so tight that a single Electoral College vote could determine the outcome. And that explains the great focus on Nebraska's 2nd congressional district, which often votes Democrat but not always.
Nebraska is one of only two states that ...Read more
How Kamala Harris Can Secure Federal Abortion Protection Once and For All
The Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade set off a wave of new attacks on abortion, causing a catastrophic public health crisis and rapidly eroding our civil liberties and reproductive freedom. So far, 14 states have banned abortion completely, and others have severely limited access to abortion by criminalizing it after the ...Read more