Columns

With the long-awaited Mueller hearings now behind us, I find myself fixated on one unexpected take-away from the historic multi-network simulcast. 

As I clicked from one broadcast channel to another, I was struck by an odd singularity: Between sessions, on every half-time chat-fest, I discovered female reporters uniformly outfitted in matching red dresses. 

For a moment, I thought I was streaming The Handmaid's Tale. 

It looked like Norah O'Donnell, Judy Woodruff, et al., all showed up for work wearing the same red dress—with matching lipstick and hairstyles, to boot. 

Fortunately, there was some visual relief to be had: The dark-haired female reporters filing live updates from the scene all seemed to be dressed in blue. 

Why Trump Has to Run in 2020 

As Robert Mueller pointed out: "You can't indict a sitting president." (And, as many have observed, no recent president has spent more time "sitting" than Donald Trump.) 

Trump doesn't need Rudy Giuliani to tell him that, if he fails to win re-election, his next term could be a jail term. The only way Trump can stay out of jail is to win a second term as president. If he does that, the five-year statute of limitations will have run out and he can retire happily to Mar-a-Lago. 

The Founding Fathers School Trump 

America's Founding Fathers had a different spin on Mr. Trump's racist "go back to where you came from" memes. Here are some of their musings: 

Samuel Adams on "America: Love It or Leave It": 

If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen. 

George Washington on Immigrants: 

I had always hoped that this land might become a safe and agreeable asylum to the virtuous and persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong. 

George Washington on Political Corruption: 

However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion....The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. 

Ben Franklin on Mass-incarceration: 

That it is better 100 guilty Persons should escape than that one innocent Person should suffer, is a Maxim that has been long and generally approved. 

Thomas Jefferson on "Strict Constructionist" Supreme Court Judges: 

I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and Constitutions. But laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors. 

John Adams on Capitalism versus Socialism: 

Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, the people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government; and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness require it. 

Thomas Paine on Ideologues: 

To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead. 

Berkeley Goes Gender-Neutral 

On July 16, Berkeley took pioneering action to remove male-centric language from all City documents. Manholes became "maintenance holes" and manpower was replaced by "human effort." As councilmember Rigel Robinson explained: 

"Having a male-centric municipal code is inaccurate and not reflective of our reality. Women and non-binary individuals are just as entitled to accurate representation. Our laws are for everyone, and our municipal code should reflect that." 

Changing the wording of City documents to reflect gender equality is a good move but there seem to be some potholes along this new path. While nouns can easily be "demanified" (c.f. established alternatives like "firefighters" and "police officers"), pronouns are trickier. Revised city documents now will replace gendered pronouns, such as "he" and "she" with "they." 

That can be problematic when, for example, you might wish to call someone's attention to two people of two sexes standing on the other side of a large room. Let's say one of them is a man about to snatch the purse of a woman standing nearby. What do you say? "Watch out! They is about to rob them!"? 

Sheesh! That gets confusing. 

But wait! Maybe "sheesh" is a solution. Instead of saying "she" or "he," we could say "sheesh." Instead of "her" or "him," we could say "herm." 

Trump Praised for Supporting Minorities? Fake News 

Following in the wake of Der Trump's racist potshots at four women members of Congress, a post appeared on Facebook claiming that Trump had once been honored for "his history of looking out for minorities." The post (since removed by Facebook) read: 

"There are only 3 people that won the Ellis Island Award for their work within the black community … 1. Rosa Parks 2. Muhammad Ali 3. Donald Trump … yet ‘squad’ wants you to believe he’s racist." 

There is, in fact, a photo of Trump posing with fellow Award-winners Ali and Parks but, as Politifact points out, while Trump was, in fact, presented with the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, it was not for "work within the black community." Instead, it was for "professional contributions that benefited New York City as a developer, as well as for his German heritage." (The uncropped photo shows all six award-winners, including Joe DiMaggio, Victor Borge, and anti-LGBTQ bigot Anita Bryant.) 

Not a Deepfake: Welcome to Our Real Alternative Universe 

There is another meme in circulation that is intended to promote the idea that Trump is not a racist. But, in this case, the brief video ("Jesse Jackson praises and thanks Donald Trump for a lifetime of service to African Americans") is real. It was posted to YouTube on January 13, 2018 but it actually dates from January 14, 1998. 

Give Us a BOOST 

At rally in a recent North Carolina, Donald Trump redundanatly described "The Squad," a team of four progressive congresswomen as “hate-filled extremists” who "hate America." One member of The Squad, congressmember Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich), has proposed a "bold and uncompromising anti-poverty plan that respects the ability of low-income people to make their own choices." Her BOOST Act would provide an annual grant of $3,000 to every low-income adult American and $6,000 to low-income families. Predictably, the GOP's conservative leaders and right-wing pundits are attacking the proposal as "deeply immoral" and "disastrous." 

To me, the BOOST Act looks like the kind of approach you would expect from someone who actually loves their country—especially its poorest citizens. 

Here's something we can do to Thump Trump: Sign a petition demanding that Congress Stand with Rep. Rashida Tlaib: Create a cash-based safety net 

Time to Change the Sparkplugs? 

Since mid-May, Oil Change International has released six major pieces of research in hopes of accelerating our response to the looming climate crisis. The reports include: "Sea Change: Climate Emergency, Jobs and Managing the Phase-Out of UK Oil and Gas Extraction" (May 5, 2019); "Burning the Gas ‘Bridge Fuel’ Myth: Why Gas Is Not Clean, Cheap, or Necessary" (May 30, 2019); and "G20 Coal Subsidies: Tracking Government Support to a Fading Industry" (June 24, 2019). 

So was it intentional, a flub, or tongue-in-cheek when OCI's press release proclaimed: "We do a lot of research at Oil Change International, and right now we’re firing on all cylinders." 

As anyone from Henry Ford to Elon Musk could tell you, "firing on all cylinders" is a figure of speech drawn from the operation of internal combustion engines. 

CODEPINK's Message: BTS Yes, MBS No 

CODEPINK activists recently celebrated a successful campaign to convince singer Nicki Minaj to cancel a scheduled performance in Saudi Arabia—whose ruler, Mohammad Bin Salman (MBS), is widely suspected of ordering the brutal chainsaw murder of Washington Post reporter Jamal Kashoggi. 

Now the challenge is to persuade the South Korean boy-band, BTS, to cancel their scheduled October 11 show in Riyadh. 

The seven members of BTS—aka the Bangtan Boys—are the first group since the Beatles to produce three #1 albums in less than a year. This is due, CODEPINK notes, to lyrics that "address issues like mental health, loss, self-love, and the troubles of school-age youth. 

"But what about Yemeni youth? Since 2015, 85,000 Yemeni children have died of malnutrition as a result of the Saudi/UAE bombing campaign"—a campaign that is supported by the US. 

CODEPINK notes tat BTS "has an enormous fan base among the LGBTQ+ community. But in Saudi Arabia, homosexuality is illegal. Just three months ago, the kingdom executed five men for the “crime” of homosexuality — their confessions were exacted through torture."  

ACTION: You can sign the letter to BTS here.