They want to help each other

    Brought tears to my eyes. Berlin, today:

    Michael Maiello's picture

    Go Nixon, Go!

    I wasn't planning on enthusiastically supporting Cynthia Nixon's bid to become New York's governor, which should lead to a primary challenge against incumbent Andrew Cuomo, absent shenanigans.  I was planning, instead, to hear her out, given that I am largely unsatisfied with Andrew, who has proven annoyed me by feuding with New York City mayor Bill de Blasio when he should be doing right by the people who pay most of the taxes around here. which is us New Yorkers.

    Topics: 
    Danny Cardwell's picture

    Highland County's Forgotten Child

    "On this day in 1857, Mary Gordon, a "free" black child of about 2 years old, was bound out as an apprentice to Stuart C. Slaven until age 18 to learn the business of housekeeping. Slaven was ordered to pay Mary $25 when she reached the age of 18; Mary died at age 16."

    Topics: 
    Richard Day's picture

    MAXINE WATERS ROCKS!

    Maxine Waters: Devin Nunes Is A "Messenger Boy" For "Don the Con Man" Trump!

    I just love this lady!

    She is a low IQ individual?

    I have been thinking about 'themes' for next year?

    Maxine has kind of decided this issue for me.

    Some member of Rubio's advisory commission got him to go on a rage; attempting to use the same tactics as Trump.

    Oh look, he is orange.

    Oh look, he is an idiot.

    Oh look, he is a no-nothing.

    Obviously it did not work in 2016.

    Michael Maiello's picture

    Do You Have The Right to Secrets?

    The world is not consistent on this point, but I think I've been pretty reliably of the belief that people's consensual and private romantic entanglements really aren't anybody else's business, absent naked hypocrisy on the issue by people in public life. That way, I can forgive Bill Clinton and John Edwards their affairs and not so much Newt Gingrich, who is a public scold and worse.

    Topics: 
    Danny Cardwell's picture

    Life Goes On, So Should We

    How many brothers fell victim to the streets?


    In May of 2001 I had a nervous breakdown. I completely came apart at the seams. When I look back on that day- and the events that led up to it- I can't believe it didn't come sooner.

    Topics: 

    Personal Best: Roger Bannister laps in at 88

    Back in a still rough post-war era reviving personal dreams - measurable, daunting, somehow achievable.

    It's not that other sports measures aren't great, or that the 4-minute mile wasn't in a way much more arbitrary than the ascent of Everest, but still, a definite challenge in an age of breaking the sound barrier and other advances.

    Topics: 
    Doctor Cleveland's picture

    Partial List of Hope Hicks's White House Duties

    White lies
    Little fibs
    Harmless prevarications
    Genteel fictions
    Telling the truth mainly, but stretchin' it some
    Artful misdirection
    Poetic license
    Ramona's picture

    While Trump is Stealing the Show his Cronies are Stealing us Blind

    I'm sick of hearing Trump, seeing Trump, laughing at Trump, agonizing over Trump. I'm sick of Donald J. Trump, the squatter in the White House, making a mockery of our presidency.

    He's a president like a third rate comic spoofing the highest job in the land would be president. His stake is only in drawing an audience; he has no feeling for what the real job would be like. It's  beyond his capacity to get that deep into the role, and nothing says he has to. He revels in his "free to be me" rhetoric and the crowds keep on coming.
     

    Topics: 

    Dianne Feinstein is vulnerable

    The California Democratic Party (CDP) declined to endorse anybody in this year’s U.S. Senate race. Since the two most popular candidates are Democrats - one of whom will almost certainly win in November - some may see nothing more than a decision not to upset an apple cart that’s rolling downhill.

    Still, the result is surprising if only because front runner Dianne Feinstein could muster only 37% of the vote of CDP delegates. Feinstein of course is the octogenarian San Franciscan who rose to national prominence forty years ago in the aftermath of the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. Little known Kevin de Leόn copped 54% of the vote.

    The Accidental Revolution

    A funny thing has happened to the Revolution on steroids that was supposed to take us by storm. The complaints that would define us turned out to be lukewarm after all (seems whites in flyover country were less than worried about jobs, and the need for free education hasn't been dominating the front pages (yet?), while others like $12/$15 minimum wage are less than likely to get a national listening under current government).

    But several issues have gained traction - some old, some new, some red, some blue... #MeToo may be receiving some deflection, but it appears it's real beyond pink pussyhats and the casting couches of Hollywood. Even Fox had a heretic on its CPAC review, and tried quickly to veer off into "poor accused men", before going viral.

    #RussiaGate is now in full scandal mode with domestic and foreign indictments, full charges against Manafort, Gates in full confessional flip mode, and the Nunes Memo now rebutted and exploded all over GOP faces.

    #BlackLivesMatter is a thing - the smear job against black athletes has finally failed, and worries about blacks' security and well-being have gained prominence over traditional canards about the troops and the needs of sport fans, while Michael Steele just blew the racist club out of the CPAC water.

    Doctor Cleveland's picture

    The Deputy Who Didn't Shoot

    People, including the President of the United States, are heaping scorn and shame on the Broward County Deputy who was assigned to protect Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, but who did not go into the building to confront the Parkland shooter. He has lost his job. He will probably never live this down, and may never get over his guilt. I don't particularly admire him, but we should not pretend for a second that he is the reason that lives were lost. I might hope and wish he'd gone into that building, but his behavior was completely normal.

    Topics: 
    barefooted's picture

    Who Could Argue?

    I was a child in the sixties, and grew up with Billy Graham on our little black and white TV.  We weren't an overtly Christian family (far too admittedly dysfunctional), but he was my parental attempt at being mainstream, I suppose.  My Mom loved him, so I did. 

    In a past life I was very close to someone who worked for  Samaritan's Purse as first a missionary and then, eventually, a numbers cruncher.  As the former, his family suffered due to his long absences and meager pay.  The latter came to pass because four kids and a wife finally said no more to both.  Even as true believers, the family complaints (and questions) were eventually enough to make the difference.  He was able to stay closer to home, though his pay was still minimal.

    Orion's picture

    How America May Amend Its Gun Culture

    During the 1960s and 1970s, the Vietnam war dragged on for over a decade. Opposition to a military draft that required youth to become involved in it, regardless of what they thought of it, led to the burning of draft cards, marches on Washington D.C., and, eventually, the elimination of the military draft in the country, and the end of the war itself.

    That didn't mean America suddenly became pacifist. No, that would be naive to find possible. However, America never again tried drafting anyone. Wars proliferated after the Vietnam war on a smaller but more numerous and clandestine scale, including in neighboring Cambodia, throughout Latin America in the following decade, and in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa after that. War for the U.S. became more and more remote, culminating with Bush's all volunteer occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq and Obama's drone wars. Tours of duty were extended again and again and bombing done from thousands of miles away, with a draft being avoided as much as possible.

    A DocuDramaDrop

    Some reporters are better than others. One of the better ones, one whom I would rate among the best, recently died. I rate Robert Parry as among the best based on his decades long body of work and am not surprised to see that so many respected reporters  and pundits agree. I believe, as he did, that a good reporter, as well as every citizen who exercises his/her right to vote, should always be skeptical of anything being told by any government, especially his/her own government.

    Michael Maiello's picture

    I Really Want To Go Into The Cockpit (And It's My Right)

    I'm a good person and not at all crazy or harmful to anybody in any way.  It's just that when I fly, I have my preferences.  Some people like to drink.  Some people nap.  Some read or watch movies or listen to music.  I like to go into the cockpit to talk with the crew.  I've been doing it since I was a kid.  They used to give you little plastic wings to pin to your shirt on American Airlines and TWA. There is nothing more sacred and American than this.

    Topics: 
    Richard Day's picture

    COMMODITIES

    There are new proposals concerning SNAP coming from the right and the WH
    and the Repubs, but these proposals are not new.
    Repubs have despised the food stamp program for decades.
    I live on a small though median (it turns out) Social
    Security payment once a month.
    I also receive subsidized housing (30% + cable).
    I am doing fine.
    For some reason that I will never understand I receive
    fifteen bucks in food stamps.
    tmccarthy0's picture

    Only Once, Why Women Don’t Tell

    In 1984, I learned about "only once." I lived in Glendale, Colorado, where I worked at a comedy club where Roseanne Barr often performed, in fact lots of pre-famous and famous comedians performed. It was a fun job and the tips were pretty good. I had a boyfriend at the time of course, and as usual I got off work late and met him at my apartment.

    I don’t really know what happened to tell you the truth, but suddenly my jaw hurt, he punched me and I landed on the floor hard. He was screaming at me and I couldn’t speak. My jaw hurt, I was pretty sure he broke it. And again I don’t know what happened by suddenly I was hanging by my fingertips on the windowsill of my bedroom. I honestly don’t know how I got out there, I think he was trying to kill me, and he was pounding on my fingers of course I slipped. I lived on the third story of the building.  I’m sure the events to this day are not completely accurate, because I was already semi-conscious.

    Danny Cardwell's picture

    Thoughts On Education

    Last July, I got an email from a friend who was in the process of finishing a Master’s degree in Special Education. She asked if I would complete a survey related to her research. I didn’t hesitate. A few days later she sent me a list of questions about my past experiences and my current thoughts about public school education. Listed below are some of my experiences, observations, and suggestions educators might want to consider.

    Topics: 

    Pages

    Latest Comments