The Trump Georgia Tape: Naked Corruption for All to Hear

Trump was recorded in a one hour phone call with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which Trump begged and cajoled him to "find" 12,000 "missing" votes for Trump. To hear it in its entirety, go to https://youtu.be/NU5a3Kr1Dhw. This is a smoking gun with fingerprints. Never has corruption been so obvious on its face, including a vague threat that by not helping Raffensperger was taking “a big risk.” This makes the premise of his impeachment look like penny-ante crime by comparison. It also sets up this question: how can Republican House and Senate members stand behind him on January 6th? This is sedition, a criminal act, an anti-democracy act, an anti-constitutional act. And for you Trump supporters, this wasn't him just play-acting to make a point. He has himself convinced, and therefore, he believes he is right to do what he is doing. It is a crime. Just believing your own reality is no excuse for a crime of this magnitude. Carl Bernstein of Watergate reporting fame called this tape "Bigger than Watergate" in that it is a much clearer smoking gun. I know that there is part of the Democratic party that would like Trump just to disappear, much as would most of the Republicans. But we cannot any longer let his criminality pass. We are a country of laws. That is our social contract. "Every Vote Counts" is also part of our contract as Americans. Now, we have to prove that we will honor our constitution and call a crime a "crime", and a criminal a "criminal". If we do, w Read the full article

Election Lessons from Thornton Wilder's "Our Town"

This is the way were in the provinces north of New York at the beginning of the twentieth century.This is the way we were in our growing up and in our marrying and in our living and in our dying.— The Stage Manager, Our Town The facts of this election are: it all depends on where you live, where you’ve been and where you’re going. Some people live where they live and that’s that. They were born there, live there, exist there. They know their neighbors, the guys at the bar, and the people that fix their cars. They nod to the grocery store clerk, or the dispensing nurse at he local clinic. They belong to the right religion (whatever the religion) and may be military, white collar, blue collar. Just the like the family next door. Ya gotta get along. Some people never leave town. Oh, maybe a trip to the shore, or the dunes, or to Grandma next state over. But they know what they know and they like it like that. The status quo is comfortable.  Some people do venture out. The adventurous, ambitious, or the victims of circumstance. I spent my first nine years in New York City, Washington Heights. As the oldest child, I had the most exposure to the neighborhood. The neighborhood was mixed— Irish Catholic, Jewish, African-American, Greek, Italian. We mixed in the playgrounds or playing hopscotch or stickball in the streets. We were left out by ourself to play and explore. One of my best friends was the eldest of what would be 11 kids. Read the full article

Pop Cramps: Walk, Drive, Fly You or Your Ballot to the Polls or Drop Box

I've read that some people are booking flights to be in the right place to vote next Tuesday-- that's how important this election is. With a week to go, it's apparent that if you haven't mailed your ballot, it has a chance of not getting there by election day, and the Supreme Court says, at least in Wisconsin, that means your vote can't be counted. And of course, if Trump goes all legal on us in the courts, that can be a precedent on which they could invalidate all ballots received after next Tuesday. Poor Military. Poor invalids. Poor aged. That's the Supreme Court under Trump (and possibly for a very long time). While you're voting, remember that the only way to undo some of the trumpier things his orangeness has done is a straight flush.... we must win the senate, keep the house, and win the White House. State legislatures are up for grabs in some states. Look at the damage Wisconsin Republicans have to that state if you want to see how state houses can undo a sensible Democratic Governor's attempt to control covid or preserve fair elections. What's on the line? Health care. Pre-existing conditions. A woman's right to choose. Equal rights. Equal pay. Out of control Executive pay. Even-handed policing. Voters' rights. The environment. Living without fear from a natural-born dictator. And of course, a real coordinated response against covid. If your state has drop boxes, use them now. If you must vote, bring water, wear layers if you're in the cold, bring an umbrella. Read the full article

Pop Cramps: Vote Like Your Life Depends on It.

I started making t-shirts three years ago when I heard that people were making money on Amazon doing just that. It was in the fall, so I started with Halloween and Christmas shirts and didn't have much luck, but if you saw the designs you'd know why. Like any industry, there are support groups and apps and advisors and podcasts galore available to the fledgling t-shirt entrepreneur. I took advantage of some of that, and eventually I started selling stuff, bit by bit. I was on Amazon and Etsy. My favorite is this one: Vote Like Your Life Depends on It.... Because It Does. I made that one a year ago, already feeling the Trump terrors that we're all now feeling. I haven't sold a ton of them, but I sold some. We're talking enough money monthly to pay a couple of streaming service bills. Amazon is competitive and they've cut their payout rates more than once. But I followed my own advice and voted the other day. My state is a mail-in ballot state, but also has polling locations on election day. I had been checking every day for my ballot to come in the mail, and finally, on the fifth day after ballots were said to be sent out, it did come. When the ballot envelope came, I gingerly placed it on my dining room table where I could see it. I had to work up the strength to open it without damaging it, so I waited two days and kept food far away from it. On the third or fourth day, I slowly approached it and carefully opened it. Read the full article

Pop Cramps: There's Nothing Wrong With "Big Government"

For decades the Republicans have railed against "Big Government". It is inefficient, they say. Could be done better by the private sector, they say. Costs too much in taxes, they say. These arguments make sense to many-- when thing in big government are working. Could it be more efficient? Sure. Could it be trimmed a little here and there? Maybe. Could automation and being more web-centric add speed and efficiency? Yes! But the U.S. Government has never really taken an axe to the mechanisms of government until the last four years. It began silently, as Donald Trump killed vital segments of the government because they were Obama's Ideas. It was furthered by his inaction in filling thousands of vital government posts. The prior administration provided a guidebook; he ignore it. Then after shrinking, ignoring and otherwise abandoning hiring norms, he went to work putting unqualified people at every level of government, many friends or donors, or friends of friends or Fox News spokespeople. These people were more often than not totally opposed to the jobs their departments were supposed to be doing. Much like Orwell's 1984, the head of the EPA was a pro-oil advocate. The Education secretary hated public schools. And even now, the Post Office head owns stock in UPS and Fedex. I can't even begin to list all of these appointments. What all of these people did do, however, is fire anyone that tried to do their job, especially if it involved oversight. Read the full article

Pop Cramps: King Trump's New Normal

Imagine an America where: You can be arrested for not liking Trump. You can be arrested for peaceful protest. You can be arrested for watching CNN or MSNBC. You can be arrested for wearing a mask. You can be arrested for thinking bad thoughts. You can die from the mutating coronavirus. You can die from random bullets shot by Trump's roaming second amendment posse. You can die because you don't have health insurance. You can die because you don't have food. You can't complain. You can't leave the country. You can't cross state lines without a passport. You can't get an abortion or free clinic health care. You must go to church. You must pledge allegiance to Trump. You must attend rallies without a face mask. You must attend re-education. You must eat McDonald's and KFC. You must observe curfew. You must die if you're sick and over 70. You must get a hysterectomy if you're an immigrant or a minority. You must love Mother Russia. This is Trump's horrific new normal. Barr, a packed Supreme Court, a spineless Senate, are his enablers. We're almost there, and if he wins the election, say hello to living in fear. 200,000 lives lost is just the start. 2021 will be evil unleashed. Senate, Congress, Presidency, locals. We must take them all. Read the full article

Celebrating Labor Day and the Labor Movement

My grandparents on my Father's side worked in the Hat Corporation of America factory in Norwalk, Connecticut most of their lives. My grandmother was a seamstress; my grandfather worked in the printing plant making those nice silk logo'd liners that went into men's hats in those days. They were religious and patriotic. My grandfather was chief of the Fire Company (Putnam Hose). My grandmother converted to Catholicism once she came here from Norway (in order to marry my grandfather, who was a staunch Catholic and a Knight of Columbus). She raised three kids, adopted one more, and then went back to work. They survived the great depression, and were a big part of the labor movement, surviving the great Hat Corporation strike that unionized the workers in millinery plants in America. They believed in Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He brought dignity to the workers' lives by creating  the National Labor Relations Act, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Social Security, and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. They were proud members of the millinery union, and knew they would have something of a retirement because of social security. When I chose to start my business after college at Marquette University, it involved staying in Wisconsin rather than moving back to New Jersey. Read the full article

New Trump Tell-All Books Should Help Define the Campaigns

Michael Cohen's Book "Disployal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump" hits the market Tuesday. This will be followed on September 15th by Bob Woodward's Rage, which will have all the goodness you can only expect from one of the greatest reporters of our time. And of course, there will be many more. Read the full article

Trump's "Law and Order" Makes Nixon Look Like Ghandi

Tricky Dick was the first "modern era" law and order candidate. He told us so, every day running up to his election in 1968. With a backdrop of the Chicago convention police response (militaresque) against young convention protesters, major city protests and rioting, and the frustration of the deaths of Dr. King and Bobby Kennedy, yout, white and black, was expressing itself and Nixon wouod have none of that. I was 18 at the time. We were at odds with conventional wisdom and our parents. "Law and Order" was shorthand for "black people". It wasn't about the riots. It was about red-lining neighborhoods, industrialized racism, and pushing back on the demand for true equality. At Marquette, we took over the student union for protest rallies. Jammed against the wall, we heard speakers we didn't know and some we did. One professor braved going on stage and suggested we "use reason". He got laughed off. Who were we supposed to reason with? Nixon won, and the protests continued, soon morphing into an ant-war, anti-vietnam focus. They were a constant. "Who's your date for the revolution?" was the joke, because these had become as much a social event as a social movement, because so much else was cancelled. We were growing up, and growing into who we would be for the rest of our lives. The protests turned more serious, and the draft card burnings and raiding of selective service offices began. National guards called in. Liberal priests leading marches. "4 dead in O-hio. Read the full article

Sacrifices in These Strange Times

I was talking with an old friend the other day, one I had gone to college with in the late 60's. We were both yearbook editors-in-chief back then, and I reminded her that our annual big deal, the reveal of the yearbook at the Journalism schools publication banquet, had been cancelled by the revolution. Student protests were happening big-time, and this was May of 1970-- Vietnam, racism, the environment, the women's movement-- it was all happening. At 4:30 pm we were putting out the programs for our big event in the student union, already dressed up for our Milwaukee Journal photos. A bearded red-haired man dressed in onesie farmer's overalls walk in and said, "Who's in charge?" I took the bait. He calmly explained that if we went ahead with our bourgois banquet we would be overrun with protesters. "And you don't want that", he added. Well, no, I didn't. So I tried the advice a professor had suggested at an open forum on student protests to a room full of protesters--use reason! That didn't work for him and it didn't work for me. He got booed off the stage; I got a blank stare. And I was sympathetic to the cause! But it was a standoff and the faculty cancelled the banquet. Now, in the time of coronavirus, big protests, election frenzy, Black Lives Matter, and more, we're living through a necessary cancel culture. I've never forgotten that day, and now there are days that families, store owners, protesters, politicians, and even police will never forget. Read the full article

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