One of my students works at a grocery and he’s scared. So I looked over the advisory panel on reopening the state appointed by Governor Charlie Baker to see who is looking out for my student’s health and well-being. The answer is: no one. Not a single solitary member is looking out for workers. No…
Month: April 2020
Republicans Sprint to Place Democracy in Chains (with a Boston Liberty Rally Postscript)
With the likely defeat of Donald Trump in November and a possible Democratic takeover of the Senate, Republicans must quickly exploit the coronavirus crisis to reorient American democracy toward oligarchy—the supremacy of property. Some of the sharpest writing on American politics has come from historian Heather Cox Richardson. In her April 19 Letters from an…
The Growing Koch Presence in Massachusetts
There is an essential piece in today’s Washington Post about the ReOpen America campaign, Inside the conservative networks backing anti-quarantine protests and no quote is more important for Massachusetts than this one from Professor Robert Brulle, who exposed the Koch Brothers funding of the climate denial industry: “The involvement of the Koch institutional apparatus in…
Politics of Coronavirus: The Globe’s “Typical” Parent Happens to Head Privatization Front Massachusetts Parents United
Today in Frustrated with Home Schooling, Parents Declare: Class Dismissed the Boston Globe transmits the story of a typical parent struggling with educating kids at home. But the parent is actually a highly paid privatization advocate on the Walton family’s political payroll. How does this happen? Obviously it’s a real story. Parents are stressed, especially…
Running in Massachusetts During COVID-19: Public Health vs. Appearing on the Ballot
Citizens of Wisconsin risked their lives to vote last week. Because of actions by their state legislature, upheld by a 5-4 a Supreme Court decision, Wisconsin residents were forced to choose between exercising their right to cast a ballot and protecting their health – as well as the health of all with whom they come…
Politics of Coronavirus: “And the courts gave them justice as justice is given by well-mannered thugs”
Yesterday’s Supreme Court decision requiring Wisconsin to go ahead with in-person voting today is one of the worst in a recent series of ignominious rulings. Its five member Republican majority is playing its partisan role—suppressing votes for a party that cannot command a majority in fair elections. As Heather Cox Richardson explains in today’s Letters…
Our Lack of Preparedness is Killing Us
From inadequate testing to a widespread shortage of personal protective equipment, the United States government’s response to COVID-19 has been plagued by a series of critical missteps. And while it is premature to pinpoint the exact cause of all of these failures, one thing is abundantly clear: Chronic underinvestment in emergency preparedness has undermined the…
Twitter’s Suggestions: Evidence of Right Wing Social Media Superiority
Last summer I read an interview with Sociologist Jen Schradie about her book, The Revolution That Wasn’t. Schradie’s surprising thesis was that conservatives, not progressives, have become the dominant political activists on the internet. With far greater financial resources and a base much more focused on political power than policy specifics, conservative activists have been…
Politics of Coronavirus: Democracy or Oligarchy?
Never listen to anyone tell you to put aside politics in a time of crisis. The politics of coronavirus provides another battleground in the American contest between oligarchy and democracy, a fight oligarchs have been winning for decades. This is on my mind today having just finished reading Heather Cox Richardson’s How the South Won…
Trump and Voter Suppression
An odd byproduct of Donald Trump being extremely stupid is that he sometimes says the quiet parts out loud. He did that the other day when he all but admitted that Republican electoral prospects depend on voter suppression. From the Washington Post’s Aaron Blake: In an interview on “Fox…