Author: admin

It is a sad fact of life that no matter what you do, you can’t really save people from themselves.

I am still trying to come to terms with that.

Today one of my students, who is from China, told me that he discovered my blog yesterday. He asked if I was worried that putting my opinions right out in public might get me in trouble.

I responded that on the contrary, I see it as my responsibility as a citizen of the United States to do my part to stand up for our democracy, and to fight autocratic political shifts which threaten that democracy. Then I told him an old joke from Ronald Reagan:

“Two men, an American and a Russian, were arguing. The American said, “in my country I can go to the White House, walk to the president’s office and pound the desk and say ‘Mr president! I don’t like how you’re running things in this country!'” The Russian said “I can do that too!”

“Really?”

“Yes! I can go to the Kremlin, walk into the general secretary’s office and pound the desk and say, Mr. Secretary, I don’t like how Reagan is running his country!”

Somehow I don’t think our current president would get that joke. An that’s why I need to keep speaking up.

I don’t think there is anyone left in the U.S., if they are being honest, who still believes that the president is compos mentis. It must be difficult for the people around him to continue to pretend otherwise.

Here in NYC, we are therefore facing a crisis. The Defecator in Chief has already starting sending violent goons into our city.

I think Nancy Pelosi has the right idea. Those of us who still believe in the United States of America, in democracy, in respect for our Constitution, and frankly in basic decency, should accept that this is an invasion by forces that are actively trying to destroy our nation.

When the hired goons show up and try to attack our city’s citizens, our police should arrest them, just as any criminals would be arrested. We should have zero tolerance for this nonsense.

One thing I can say for Mamdani: Of the three mayoral candidates, he is by far the one most likely to defend this city against these creepy idiots.

Speaking of the No Kings march, I find that I cannot get out of my head the image of a 78 year old toddler, sporting a stupid toy crown on his head, gleefully defecating on millions of Americans.

Was the intent to disgust the nation? To make sure that everyone who voted for him would understand that they had made a terrible mistake?

Or are we simply witnessing the complete unraveling of a human mind? Which by itself would be sad.

Except that this particular unraveling human mind has the ability to launch nuclear strikes.

I ended yesterday’s post with a question: What is the actual strategic impact of the fact that seven million protesters showed up this past Saturday?

Seven million is not enough to convincingly sway national elections, since it could be argued that those were mostly people who didn’t vote for you-know-who. But here’s a clue:

Someone I know told me the other day that he tried to write a letter to the New York Times on this topic, and his letter was blocked. His theory was that it was blocked because he used the phrase “general strike”.

Those two words together are very powerful in America. This is, after all, a capitalist country, and corporations take their bottom lines very seriously.

For example, in the wake of the Jimmy Kimmel incident, we and many others summarily cancelled our subscription to Disney Plus. It took only three days after that for Disney to bring Kimmel back on the air. Clientes locuti sunt.

These days, politicians are largely funded by corporations, in the wake of the Citizens United decision. So when corporations speak, politicians must listen. And when consumers speak, corporations listen.

Which shows the real strategic power of a seven million person protest: The implied threat of a general strike.

Pretty powerful stuff. No wonder the New York Times is afraid to talk about it.

The No Kings protest two days ago was the largest single day political protest in American History. I looked it up.

But what does that mean, from a strategic point of view? When seven million Americans from cities to small towns all across the nation take to the streets in peaceful protest on the same day, how might that impact what happens next?

More tomorrow.

Today is the birthday of the poet Leigh Hunt. A friend and publisher of Keats, Shelley, Browning and Tennyson, he was known for many things.

But when I was a child, he was known to me as the author of one of my favorite poems. I think it was the very first poem I ever memorized:

Jenny kiss’d me when we met,
      Jumping from the chair she sat in;
Time, you thief, who love to get
      Sweets into your list, put that in!
Say I’m weary, say I’m sad,
      Say that health and wealth have miss’d me,
Say I’m growing old, but add
      Jenny kiss’d me.

I spent much of the day today at a wedding. It was deeply moving and delightful.

And I realized two things. One was that the worst thing about weddings are the speeches.

The other thing? That the best thing about weddings are the speeches.

There seems to be some controversy about this weekend’s “No Kings” march. But why would it be controversial that U.S. citizens don’t want anybody to act like a king?

You would think that this would be one principle that every American could agree upon. Our Founding Fathers repudiated the very principle of royalty. Rather, they asserted, power should ultimately rest with the citizenry itself.

That is why the purpose of government, according to our U.S. Constitution, is to serve the will of the citizenry. And yet, in recent months, U.S. citizens are being violently attacked and detained simply for exercising their First Amendment right to free speech.

I am starting to think that our government has lost sight of what this nation is all about.

I watched the NYC mayoral debate this evening. In assessing the three candidates, I keep going back to a bar analogy. One of the candidates is like that cool smart friend you like to meet at the bar, just to hang out and discuss ways to make the world better.

The second is like that old guy from the neighborhood who tells stories about what the city was like back in the day. The third is like that older guy down the bar who is acting friendly, but is really just trying to hit on your hot young girlfriend.

I won’t tell you which is which. That would be partisan.