Bernie Sanders’s Where we go from Here is a book recapping his efforts to bring about a more progressive America in the era of Donald Trump. As someone who has supported Bernie and donated to his campaign, I was excited to read the book. Now that I have finished, I can say something really left me thinking.
Michele Alexander’s The new Jim Crow: mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness is one of the most important books I have read in a long time. Alexander demonstrates in revolting clarity how America has used the facially-neutral war on drugs as the current way of controlling and punishing black people, especially black men.
Bans of plastic straws and bags has been in the news for months. Yesterday, Donald Trump gave a speech at a developing Shell factory that will someday produce a million tons of plastic each year.
Stories of dead animals washing ashore with stomachs full of plastic have become heartbreakingly familiar. Efforts to remove a fraction of the tons of plastic polluting our oceans are getting some traction.
The political disconnect between those promoting plastic and those recognizing the damage caused by too much plastic highlights the political disconnect of the time that will someday be seen as a primary reason behind earth’s decline. Currently, it doesn’t look like too many want to stand with earth.
Yesterday, Joe Biden gave a speech in Burlington, Iowa where he criticized Donald Trump for failing to condemn white supremacy. Biden accused Trump of “fanning the flames.” Biden’s seminal message was that Donald trump is encouraging white supremacy. All we have to do is beat Trump, and things can return to a more normal state of affairs. Biden’s too simplistic message misses the point.
There is rightly tons of focus on beating Donald Trump. Democrats will beat Donald Trump. At this point, most Republicans believe Democrats will maintain the House. Winning the presidency and holding the House won’t matter as much unless Moscow Mitch no longer leads the Senate.
I have been very critical of Robert Muller. I shared my thoughts on Muller’s report. Yesterday, I wrote questions I wanted to see Muller answer today. With as much as I have read about, listened to, and thought about Muller and his report, I would have never imagined his testimony going the way it did.
We are hours away from Robert Muller testifying before the House intelligence and judiciary committees. Even though Muller doesn’t want to testify, and he pledges to stay within the confines of his report, tomorrow’s testimony is critical.
When They See Us is a 4-part Netflix series about the so-called Central Park Five. The story of the Central Park Five has been part of the discussion over the last few years because Donald Trump wrote a letter in all of New York City’s major papers urging the death penalty for the five boys who were between 14 and 16 years old.
While Trump’s involvement should be discussed because its even more evidence of his racism, the most important part of the story has been ignored.
This version of news updates has stories on adding a citizenship question to the census, pay for the women’s soccer team, the legality of the Affordable Care Act, and Iran enriching uranium.
Mueller finally spoke! My thoughts on this are contained in three sections: what he said; unanswered questions; and thoughts on Muller.
