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The Life magazine dated November 22, 1963, which would have arrived on newsstands around November 15, featured a terrifying story by Theodore White, author of the groundbreaking bestseller The Making of the President 1960. Titled "Racial Collision," and subtitled "the Negro-white problem is greatest in the North where the Negro is taking over the cities—and being strangled by them," it was a terrifying intimation of an imminent racial holocaust. The first of two parts, the conclusion ran in the issue dated November 29—which ordinarily would have appeared on newsstands on November 22 but was held back to put the martyred President Kennedy on the cover, and to include, inside, several thousand words of what must have been some very speedily written copy about his death. That second part was even scarier. It reported terrors like Adam Clayton Powell's call for " 'a Birmingham explosion in New York City' this fall"; Communist infiltration of Martin Luther King Jr.'s inner circle; a civil rights group's fears that it would be labeled "a front for the white man" unless a peaceful march was turned into "a violent putsch on government offices"; and some protesters&rssquo; demand for cash reparations for slavery—"There is a warning if such sin-gold is not paid by white Americans to black Americans, the 'power structure' is inviting 'social chaos.' " And it quoted James Forman of the Southern Nonviolent Coordinating Committee reaching the following unsettling conclusion: "85% of all Negroes do not adhere to nonviolence."
Such foreboding was entirely typical of that very tense summer and fall—and the culmination of fears that had been mounting ever since the Bay of Pigs and the Berlin Crisis and the Cuban missile crisis and the Oxford, Mississippi, crisis of 1961 and 1962. The fear escalated after Bull Connor's fire hoses in Birmingham in the spring of 1963 unleashed what felt to whites like an uncontainable torrent of black rage across the country: in Columbus, Ohio, two men chained themselves to furniture in the state Capitol; in Boston, a black parent told the segregationist city school board "it is too late for pleading, begging, requesting, or even reasoning." Whites thereby reacted against the rage: George Wallace stood in the schoolhouse door at the University of Alabama. Medgar Evers was shot. Barry Goldwater began looking good to Republicans—and rival bands of Goldwaterites turned the Young Republican National Federation's convention into a near-riot.
It felt like riots were breaking out everywhere.
On September 15, Birmingham's Sixteenth Street Baptist Church was bombed by Klansmen, killing four little girls.
In Dallas, on October 24, United Nations ambassador Adlai Stevenson was shouted down, spat upon, and physically assaulted on the street by right-wingers.
In Saigon, on November 2, South Vietnam's president Ngo Dinh Diem was assassinated in a US- backed coup.
And in Dallas, on November 22, President Kennedy was supposed to give a speech addressing the widespread feeling that America had become a very scary place, specifically as regarded the 1963 version of Tea Partiers, who had become so scary that many people presumed that they had been the ones that shot him. "In a world of complex and continuing problems, in a world full of frustrations and irritations," ran the text he was killed before he could deliver, "voices are heard in the land…preaching doctrines wholly unrelated to reality, wholly unsuited to the sixties, doctrines which apparently assume that…vituperation is as good as victory and peace is a sign of weakness…. At a time when we are steadily reducing the number of federal employees serving every thousand citizens, they fear those supposed hordes of civil servants, far more than the actual hordes of opposing armies."
This was the world that Theodore White, in his next article in Life after his near-prediction of race war proclaimed, until the day John F. Kennedy was killed, "Don't let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment, that was known as Camelot."
* * *
The story of how the myth of Camelot was invented is wonderfully told in a great little book from 1995 that I've never seen referenced before, Theodore H. White and Journalism as Illusion, by media scholar Joyce Hoffman. It begins:
Theodore H. White was in a dentist's chair on the Upper East Side of Manhattan on a Friday morning in late November 1963, when he learned that Jacqueline Kennedy had telephoned to say she needed him. One week had passed since President John F. Kennedy's assassination in Dallas, and now his widow was beseeching the journalist, whom she considered an old friend, to come to Hyannisport. She had something she wanted Life magazine to say to America, and White, she insisted, had to bear the message…. She had summoned White because she was angry, very angry. All week newspaper pundits had served up their instant appraisals of the brief and abruptly ended Kennedy administration. Arthur Krock's New York Times column had especially rankled her…a lament about the failure of 'even advanced democracy and self-government to extirpate in mankind the resort to anarchy…. Walter Lippmann's "Today and Tomorrow'" column just four days after the assassination had spoken of the forces of hatred and ungovernability and how "habit of intemperate speech and thought had become deeply ingrained. It is deepened by the strains of war and the frustrations of this revolutionary age."
In other words, commentators commentated accurately on the mood of the country. But "Mrs. Kennedy wanted White to rescue her husband's memory from these men. History should celebrate the Kennedy years as a time of hope and magic, she insisted. White sat mesmerized for more than two hours, listening to the rambling and disjointed monologue…. She sneered at the 'bitter old men' who wrote history." (That's me!) "Finally, she came to the thought that had become her obsession, a thought embodied in the lyrics of the the Broadway musical—Camelot. Over and over again, she and the president had listened to the words sing out of their ten-year-old Victrola…"
What came next is pretty damned astonishing, a nadir in the history of court journalism, something that better belongs in the annals of the Kremlin. White retreated around midnight to draft his article in the maid's room, "mindful that Life was holding its presses at a cost of $30,000 an hour. When he finished, Mrs. Kennedy took a pencil to White's work, crossing out some of his words and adding her own in the margins. She hovered near the kitchen telephone—adamant that her Camelot portrayal remain the dominant theme—as he dictated the revised version to his editors." The article came out. Arthur Schlesinger, baffled, said, "Jack Kennedy never spoke of Camelot." One Kennedy hand said, "If Jack Kennedy heard this stuff about Camelot, he would have vomited."
The whole thing is a great object lesson in the horrors of access journalism—and access history. ("The notes of White's interview with Jacqueline Kennedy," writes Joyce Hoffman, "known as the 'Camelot Papers,' which White donated to the John F. Kennedy library in 1969, remained under restriction until May 19, 1995, one year after the death of Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis.") If you hate the kind of writing Bob Woodward does now; if you hate Politico or, going back further, if you hate the kind of things Sally Quinn wrote on Monicagate (" 'He came in here and he trashed the place,' says Washington Post columnist David Broder, 'and it's not his place.' "), or the childish abuse and systematic distortions meted out to Al Gore in 2000 because he didn't fit into the Washington insiders' village, blame Camelot—or "Camelot." If you heard the public radio documentary this morning We Knew JFK: Unheard Stories from the Kennedy Archive and were as astonished as I was at how many journalists blithely based their admiration for the thirty-sixth president on the nice cocktails he and "Jackie" poured in the White House, or if you've seen David Auburn's neat Broadway play from last year, The Columnist, which depicts the incestuous coziness between Joseph Alsop and John F. Kennedy, you know what I mean.
Teddy White, about whom I have complicated feelings, was a crucial conveyor belt in advancing this awful cultural trend—"High Broderism," some of our better bloggers used to call it—and Hoffman's book is an important primer for anyone who wants to learn how it happened. A child of Boston's Jewish ghetto, Teddy (or, in his parents' Yiddish-speaking mouths, "Tuddy") White made his way as a scholarship boy to Harvard, where he came to identify with the clubby culture of the WASP with the zeal of the convert, with all the pseudo-aristocratic abuses of democratic culture that entailed. "White's style of journalism," Hoffman explains, "fit a model established by a generation of influential column and reporters who had functioned as a subsidiary of government during World War II and the postwar years…a patriot first and a journalist second."
Twenty-five years before his "Camelot" coup, she notes, "he had written stories from China that had portrayed Chiang Kai-shek as a similarly heroic character." Then he realized he was wrong, but it was too late—he had helped create the Frankenstein's monster's of America's romance with Chiang, and thus the McCarthyite reaction to China's fall to Communism, too; he then had to watch helplessly as that reaction devoured some of his friends. Hoffman argues White then helped created the myth of the presidency itself as some sort of American regency. He was the first to capitalize "Oval Office." She tells an amazing story of how an interview with Kennedy there, for the last chapter of Making of the President, in which the new president, in his underwear being fitted for a suit, gossips altogether un-presidentially, coarsely insults Nixon and obsesses over how much money White will make on his book. Out of that unpromising raw material, White crafted a panegyric to a godlike man who commanded the eighteen-button telephone console on his desk like "the sword and the mace in the politics of the middle ages."
White had identified so closely with JFK on the 1960 campaign trail that he wore a Kennedy campaign button. When the manuscript was complete, he showed it to both "Bobby" and "Jack," acceding to RFK's requested revisions. He didn't extend the same courtesy to Nixon. But then again, Nixon didn't invite Teddy White to his cocktail parties. Here's a diary entry from 1962: "Mad night at Bobby's great fun. He set the Caroline [the Kennedys' pet name for Air Force One] up from Washington, we got aboard at 5:00 followed by Harry Belafonte and his wife Julie…"
This sort of thing had real consequences for the country. It is one of the Big Ideas of my first book, Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus, that just this sort of consensus-besotted denial of the roiling tensions beneath America's consensus facade in the early 1960s—the time "before the storm"—made the storms of the later 1960s so much nastier than they would have been, had Americans been better been prepared to accept the ineluctably divisive reality of American life. Instead, the tension burst forth like the return of the repressed.
Anyway, here's a new Big Idea: journalist sycophants like White helped give us Watergate.
Consider: White felt so guilty at having slighted Nixon in Making of the President 1960 that he turned Making of the President 1968 into a virtual love letter to him, and sent him the book with a fulsome apology. Making of the President 1972 sucked up to Nixon even worse. But then, oops—I discovered this in research for the book I'm finishing now—White had to postpone publication so he could tack on a chapter about a little thing called Watergate, whose seriousness caught him completely by surprise.
Indeed, it was largely the clubbiness of the Washington village press corps that let Nixon get away with Watergate and still win his landslide in 1972. (Read Tim Crouse's Boys on the Bus for the full story.) Call it Camelot's revenge: the class of court scribes who made it their profession to uphold a make-believe version of America free of conflict and ruled by noble men helped Nixon get away with it for so long—because, after all, America was ruled by noble men.
Don't let that be forgot. For who knows what latter-day sycophants and suck-ups in the media might let our leaders get away with next.
Chicago's deportation blockade. (Credit: Sarah Jane Rhee)
E-mail questions, tips or proposals to firstname.lastname@example.com. For earlier dispatches, check out the previous post. Edited by James Cersonsky (@cersonsky).
1. On Deportation Day, Youth Blockade the Bus
On November 19, twelve undocumented immigrants and allies temporarily stopped a bus that was headed toward O'Hare Airport to drop off a group of people set to be deported that day. Six of the participants, including myself, stopped the bus by attaching ourselves to one another and to the vehicle with lock-boxes. Inside the bus was Octavio Nava-Cabrera, who several participants in the action had gotten to know through the work and support they had provided for his anti-deportation campaign. Also on the bus was Brigido Acosta, who has a decades-old removal order. After an hour, the participants were detached and the bus made its way to O'Hare. Octavio and Brigido, along with the others on the bus, were deported. We will continue to support our families and continue to demand deportations stop.
—Arianna Salgado
2. As UC Stalls, Grad Students Strike
On November 20, graduate students in the UAW Local 2865 Academic Workers union at the University of California held a statewide strike in solidarity with striking service workers. AFSCME 3299 represents custodial staff, shuttle drivers, nurses' aids and other workers throughout the UC system, and has been in contract bargaining with the UC for more than a year. Last Spring, AFSCME 3299 patient care workers at UC medical facilities held a two-day strike to draw attention to dangerous short-staffing. According to workers, UC managers engaged in a number of unfair labor practices in the run up to that action, including threats and intimidation; the November 20 strike was a response to those tactics. The tutors, teaching assistants and instructors of the UAW 2865 stood on the picket lines to denounce management's actions. After UAW members announced our intent to walk out in solidarity, management began to harass us as well. In such moments, the truth of that old slogan really shines: an injury to one is an injury to all.
—Robert Cavooris
3. In Albuquerque, a Reproductive Justice Majority
This summer, out-of-state activists gathered signatures to place a measure on the Albuquerque ballot that would ban abortion after twenty weeks, the first of its kind to be introduced in a municipal-level election. Alongside other organizations, Young Women United lead the Respect ABQ Women campaign, reflecting the experiences of New Mexican communities of color, people of faith and young people. Leading up to November 19, when voters rejected the measure, young women of color played a key role in mobilizing the student population, leading the campaign's social media strategy, canvassing and coordinating rides to the polls. Now, with growing energy and support from our communities, we are launching a public education campaign to decriminalize substance use in pregnancy.
—Alicia Chavez
4. In Honolulu, a Generational Alliance for Equality
"Hawaii can either be the fifteenth state (to legalize gay marriage) or the fiftieth." This line stuck with me throughout the many days of legislative testimony from the people of Hawaii. On November 2, after days of waiting—I was 3,942nd in line—I joined other Gay-Straight Alliance members to speak in front of the House, the most liberating experience I've had in my life. Although the battle for marriage equality is over, barriers to full equality in Hawaii remain, especially for young people—from social media bullying to derogatory language in daily conversation. In my GSA Club, we are working to address these problems by holding weekly meetings for members of the LGBTQ community, and straight allies, at my school.
—Evelyn Chow
5. Athlete's Death Sparks a Southern Groundswell
In January, 17-year-old Kendrick Johnson walked into Lowndes High School in Valdosta, Georgia, with a book bag and came out in a body bag. The star athlete was found headfirst in a rolled up wrestling mat. From the beginning, the details of the case have been murky. In the initial autopsy, Johnson's death was labeled "accidental"—he fell into the wrestling mat and choked. But a second autopsy revealed there was definite trauma to his body. Two weeks ago, the coroner's report was released, stating that the evidence was compromised. Meanwhile, Johnson's family has been sitting outside the courthouse for ten months, Monday through Friday, demanding the truth. On November 8, Dream Defenders journeyed from Tallahassee to Valdosta to meet with Justice For KJ, a group that formed at Valdosta State University. The following week, some Dream Defenders returned to Valdosta to document the faces and factors involved, which will be pulled together to create a video.
—Dream Defenders
6. Dean's Resignation Puts Race on Trial
On November 15, a coalition of students rallied for racial equality at the University of Cincinnati. For the first thirty minutes, ten students held signs expressing concerns about racial tension. Within the next hour, fifty more joined them. Among the 42,000 students at UC, 9 percent are black and 84 percent of the newest class of incoming students are white. Racial tension has always existed, but it became more palpable in the recent case of Dr. Ronald Jackson, the first black dean of UC's largest college, the College of Arts and Sciences. This fall, Jackson resigned amid constant scrutiny, a lack of support by university officials and a racist cartoon.
—Justin Christopher
7. Oregon's Agenda
On November 15 and 17, more than 500 students from across Oregon, as well as a delegation from Washington, came to Eugene for the annual Oregon Students of Color Conference, this year themed "Opening Eyes in a Colorblind World: Connecting the Dots Between Shared Oppressions." We addressed violence against women of color, the history of OSCC, grassroots organizing strategy and our statewide legislative agenda. Following this year's passage of tuition equity, OSCC will be moving forward with public safety reform, focusing on reforming mandatory minimum sentencing, finding more funding for victims' services, fighting recidivism and implementing cultural competency training for K-12 faculty and staff. We are also supporting the Oregon Students Equal Rights Alliance to add teeth to K-12 bullying policies.
—Beatriz Gutierrez
8. CUNY's Charade
From skyrocketing tuition, to the appointment of General Petraeus at the Macaulay Honors College, to the eviction of the Morales-Shakur Center from its student and community-run space at City College, CUNY students are facing an increasingly militarized, less accessible university. Throughout the fall semester, campus leaders have been working across the CUNY system to build alliances that target the Board of Trustees and campus administrators for their complicity in these policies. This week, students from across CUNY launched a week of action against debt, corporate power, militarism and racism. On Monday, November 25, this will culminate in a direct action at the CUNY Board of Trustees meeting, where we will theatrically crash the wedding between our administrators and corporate interests.
—New York Students Rising
9. When Will ED Act on Gender-Based Violence?
Student organizers continue to push the US Department of Education to improve enforcement of civil rights law regarding gender-based violence. The ED ACT NOW campaign kicked off last July with a rally in front of department headquarters in Washington, where student activists delivered a petition signed by more than 174,000 supporters, followed by meetings with officials from ED, the Department of Justice and the White House. We've seen some important initial victories: in August, ED instructed regional investigators to speed up their work so that survivors don't have to wait years for justice, and just this month, department officials promised to post the findings of future investigations online. But this is only a start. This winter, ED ACT NOW is ramping up demands for transparency regarding current and past investigations into colleges and the results of those investigations; and a guidance to improve universities' responses to same-sex violence and male survivors. We are calling on students and supporters to take further action online.
10. What Can Congress Do About the School-to-Prison Pipeline?
Over the past six weeks, North Carolina students have marched, spoken out and mobilized at school board meetings to end the school-to-prison pipeline. On November 21, Ramiyah Robinson, a 14-year-old member of NC HEAT, joined organizers from across the country to brief Congress about school pushout policies. The Dignity in Schools Campaign organized the speakers for a Senate briefing sponsored by Dick Durbin and Chris Murphy. As more students than ever are being suspended, expelled and arrested at school, students will continue advocating for federal policies such as the Youth PROMISE Act and the school discipline provisions of the Strengthening America's Schools Act, as well as local policy that promotes restorative justice.
—Youth Organizing Institute
Because I write about race and racism in the United States, I'm often asked some variation of this question: are things better now?
I don't mean to be condescending when I answer, but usually my response is frustrated laughter followed by a firm "no." It's the most polite thing I can think to do in the moment. At least, it's more polite than saying, "That's a stupid fucking question."
But that's how I actually feel. It sounds harsh, but I truly believe "Are things better?" is one of the most useless questions in a discussion about racism. It's another in a repertoire of rhetorical tricks we use in this country to avoid the hard work of addressing racism in its modern form. By reframing the conversation around how much progress has been made, we further the false narrative that racism is a problem that belongs to history. While we pat ourselves on the back for not being as horrible as we once were, we allow racism to become further entrenched in every aspect of American life.
Of course we're doing better than chattel slavery. Of course we're doing better than legal segregation. But what material benefit do we get from the comparison?
What good is better to Renisha McBride, Trayvon Martin or Aiyana Stanley-Jones? Does better bring back Jordan Davis, Rekia Boyd and Jonathan Ferrell? Do the millions of black youth who experience stop-and-frisk console themselves by noting how much better things have gotten since the 1860s? Is chronic unemployment made better because there are no longer "whites only" signs decorating the South? Will children in Chicago, Philadelphia and DC sleep well at night knowing that even though their schools are closing and their educational opportunities are being ripped away from them, things are better? Does a racist, for-profit, prison-industrial complex really count as better?
That's what gets swept aside when we focus so much of the narrative of progress. We absolve the evil of racism in its current form. I don't wish to contend that we should not look back at our history. We should, and often. Nor am I saying we shouldn't celebrate our progress. There's nothing inherently wrong with doing so. But I do believe we keep relearning the wrong lesson.
When we look at how far we've come, we conveniently omit what got us here: the tireless and thankless work of people with a radical vision of a society based on fairness, the blood of young people willing to die for their right to assert themselves as full human beings, and a mix of compassion and political opportunism that turned powerful people into unlikely allies. And it will likely take more of the same to get us where we need to go.
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We delude ourselves into thinking that, with time, things just get better. Insomuch as we're willing to admit that racism is still a problem today, we conclude that it will no longer be such once older generations die off. At our peril, we ignore how invested we have become in those racist institutions those older generations created. It's not just a matter of changing attitudes about skin color. We have to be willing to challenge systems of power. So long as we're caught up in celebrating our "progress," we neglect the opportunity to do the necessary work required to actually uproot racism and white supremacy.
It may not be true when I tell people who ask that, no, things have not gotten any better with regards to racism. But I'm also tired of having to say "we've made a lot of progress" a dozen times in order to get people to listen about the issues that plague us today. But I will stop saying, "No," as much as I may want to out of frustration. And I won't be rude and say, "That's a stupid fucking question." I will start saying, "Yes, but it really doesn't matter."
Mychal Denzel Smith on the murder of Renisha McBride.
"The right to vote in a free American election is the most powerful and precious right in the world—and it must not be denied on the grounds of race or color. It is a potent key to achieving other rights of citizenship. For American history—both recent and past—clearly reveals that the power of the ballot has enabled those who achieve it to win other achievements as well, to gain a full voice in the affairs of their state and nation, and to see their interests represented in the governmental bodies which affect their future. In a free society, those with the power to govern are necessarily responsive to those with the right to vote."
—John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Special Message to the Congress on Civil Rights, 1963
There has been much honoring of the memory of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy this week, and rightly so. He was dynamic figure who preached a "new generation of leadership" vision that still serves as an antithesis to the listless, austerity-burdened rhetoric of so many of today's political figures—including some in Kennedy's own Democratic party.
Kennedy saw himself as a liberal reformer, declaring in 1960: "If by a 'Liberal' they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people—their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties—someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a 'Liberal,' then I'm proud to say I'm a 'Liberal.' "
Kennedy was ardently in favor of religious tolerance, respect for immigrants and labor rights (in 1962 he signed Executive Order 10988, which established the right of most federal workers to bargain collectively). Yes, in his service as a senator from Massachusetts and later as the nation's thirty-fifth president, Kennedy was a politician of his times, which meant that he could disappoint; surely, he was slower than need be when it came to challenging Cold War dogmas and in calling out Southern resistance to social and economic justice. But Kennedy evolved, as did the nation he led, during the course of his short but transformational presidency.
Kennedy devoted much of the last year of his life to advocacy on behalf of voting rights. His great civil rights address—delivered in the last year of his presidency from the Oval Office to a national television and radio audience—argued that "it ought to be possible for American citizens of any color to register and to vote in a free election without interference or fear of reprisal."
Fifty years after his assassination, Kennedy can be honored in many ways. But a renewal of his liberal commitment to voting rights would surely be a fine place to begin. The Twenty-fourth Amendment to the Constitution, which eliminated the poll tax, was placed on the national agenda by Kennedy, who made it his personal mission to eliminate the wealth barrier to voting.
Politically savvy, the president knew that enacting a constitutional amendment would be difficult, but he argued for going "the hard way" because of an understanding of the need to go around Southern resistance in the Senate and because of a determination on lock in voting-rights gains.
Kennedy promoted the amendment in speeches and letters to the Congress, and then in a steady stream of telegrams and phone calls that prodded governors and legislators across the country to get their states on board.
In the last months before his death, Kennedy was in the thick of the struggle for voting rights, telling Americans: "Finally, the 87th Congress—after 20 years of effort—passed and referred to the states for ratification a Constitutional Amendment to prohibit the levying of poll taxes as a condition to voting. I urge every state legislature to take prompt action on this matter and to outlaw the poll tax—which has too long been an outmoded and arbitrary bar to voting participation by minority groups and others—as the 24th Amendment to the Constitution."
Beyond the bully pulpit, the president exchanged notes with governors such as Wisconsin's John Reynolds regarding the details of legislative debates and votes. To a far greater extent than was known at the time, Kennedy personally managed the ratification process.
Thirty-six states ratified the amendment before Kennedy's assassination—two short of the needed total. Kennedy and others hoped that Texas might break with other states and support the amendment. A statewide referendum on November 9, 1963, proposed to repeal that state's poll tax and the campaign was intense. Opponents of repeal argued that people of color would "flood the polls" if the economic barrier to voting was removed. Supporters distributed literature that declared: "President Kennedy Wants You to Vote Saturday, November 9, to Repeal the Poll Tax."
A special message from Kennedy read: "I share the conviction that the right to vote should not be denied or abridged because of the failure to pay a poll tax."
The literature made the connection to the civil rights movement, urging a "yes" vote: "For Better Job Opportunities, For Better Housing, For Equality and Dignity, For Freedom."
Unfortunately, a majority of Texas voters saw the change as a threat. The rejected repeal less that two weeks before Kennedy made his trip to Dallas. Yet the president continued his advocacy, getting prominent Texans such as Vice President Lyndon Johnson and US Senator Ralph Yarborough to lend their names to the effort.
Kennedy died without seeing his amendment added to the Constitution.
But his labors were not in vain.
The final states, Maine and South Dakota, signaled their approval in the weeks after the president's death
When the Twenty-fourth Amendment was added to the Constitution in January 1964, the change in the founding document was heralded with front-page headlines in newspapers and broadcast reports from coast to coast—except, notably, in Southern states where too many media outlets had aligned themselves with the massive resistance to civil-rights legislation, even when that legislation took the form of a constitutional amendment.
The constitutional elimination of the barrier Kennedy derided as "the property qualification" for voting signaled the arrival of what the late president had hoped for: "another turning point in the history of the great Republic." With the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, it seemed, finally, that the nation might move "beyond the new frontiers" of which Kennedy had spoken.
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Unfortunately, as the historian Eric Foner reminds us, the history of the right to vote in America is one of expansion and contraction. And the rights Kennedy and so many others fought to expand have been contracting with the passage of restrictive "Voter ID" laws, attacks on early voting and same-day registration, and a US Supreme Court move to gut the Voting Rights Act. Responding to the legislative and judicial assaults on the voting rights, Wisconsin Congressman Mark Pocan and Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison have returned to the constitutional route that John Kennedy charted when he set out to end polls taxes and property qualifications as a barrier to voting.
With support from groups such as FairVote and Color of Change, the struggle for a constitutional guarantee of voting rights has gone national. Communities across the country are passing resolutions urging Congress to approve the amendment and send it to the states. As in the period before Kennedy embraced the campaign for an amendment banning the poll tax, there is a burgeoning grassroots campaign for constitutional intervention on behalf of voting rights.
The Pocan-Ellison proposal states in simple language the values that voting-rights campaigners have championed for decades: "Every citizen of the United States, who is of legal voting age, shall have the fundamental right to vote in any public election held in the jurisdiction in which the citizen resides," and "Congress shall have the power to enforce and implement this article by appropriate legislation."
Or as John Fitzgerald Kennedy put it in 1963: "It is necessary [to] free the forces of our democratic system…promptly insuring the franchise to all citizens, making it possible for their elected officials to be truly responsive to all their constituents."
Ari Berman describes the contemporary resurgence of Jim Crow throughout the United States.
There are times when the line between shock, rage and sadness become so blurred it is impossible to know when the flow of emotion ends or begins. The shock and rage come from hearing about an African-American student violently tormented by his three white housemates at San Jose State University. Thrown together randomly as first-year students tend to be, Logan Beaschler, 18, Joseph Bomgardner, 19, and Colin Warren, 18 found common cause in acts of racist sadism against their fourth housemate. They at times forced a bike lock around the neck of this young man. They barricaded him in his room. They nicknamed him "three-fifths" or "fraction" in reference to the three-fifths Compromise of 1787 that decreed slaves to be less than a full person. They hung confederate flags outside their room. They scrawled swastikas on white boards and hung pictures of Adolf Hitler. Let's say their names again: Logan Beaschler, Joseph Bomgardner and Colin Warren, three people who made their dorm into a fascist chamber of horrors for their own amusement.
Arrests have been made, the school is holding its own investigation, and students are rallying, and that is all well and good. The shock and rage becomes sadness, however, because this is not just any old university. This is San Jose State, also known as Speed City, also known as the place where John Carlos and Tommie Smith won NCAA national championships, learned the skills to set Olympic sprint records, and learned the politics to compel them to raise their fists at the 1968 Olympics. It was the place where Dr. Harry Edwards combined anti-racist militancy with sociology and sports, to create a synthesis that led to the formation of the Olympic Project for Human Rights. It is the place where Lee Evans and Ron Davis showed the world that athletic excellence could be used as leverage to fight for dignity and make history. It is the place where that history is commemorated by the remarkable twenty-eight-foot statues of Carlos and Smith that stand in the middle of campus.
I spoke to John Carlos and I cannot do justice to the sadness in his voice.
"This is a heartbreaking situation," he said. "At San Jose State that monument was established to promote diversity, love, understanding and respect. It is very difficult for me wake up and think that the school would be a place where students feel they can act in such a manner and think they can just abuse a person of color in such a way. Once again we are bitten by the ugly bear of racism. I would hope San Jose State would deal with this in as firm a matter as possible. This cannot stand."
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Pressure to make sure San Jose State truly confronts what has happened will be necessary. In recent years, San Jose State has made a concerted effort to cut itself off from its history and anti-racist traditions. It is currently being sued by former cross-country coach Ron Davis, the same Ron Davis mentioned above who was a part of those historic teams of the 1960s and a member of the school's athletic hall of fame. Mr. Davis is claiming racial bias and discrimination led to his firing. He was fired after the school hired Gene Bleymaier, the fired former athletic director of Boise State, who turned that school into a national football powerhouse. Bleymaier is attempting to transform the San Jose State football team into a similar kind of cash cow and a haven for sponsors. Anti-racist history and corporate football don't mix, and Ron Davis believes that he was a casualty of a new administration with new priorities.
A school that disrespects its own history and its own legacy as an iconic center of African-American liberation reaps what it sows. In this case, several residential assistants apparently knew to some extent what was happening, saw the Confederate flags and did nothing. Yes, Messrs. Logan Beaschler, Joseph Bomgardner and Colin Warren deserve to be punished to the fullest extent. But this is a school that needs to take a long, hard look at itself. If you are going to be home to "the statue," you had better be worthy of what it represents.
Dave Zirin looks at the legacy of John Carlos and Tommie Smith.
—Aaron Cantú focuses on the War on Drugs and mass incarceration, social inequality and post-capitalist institutional design.
Follow @aaronmiguel_
"The new debtors' prisons." The Economist, November 16, 2013.
To be ensnared within the mass incarceration system means to be either in prison, on parole or probation. In most places, the public offices that manage these three services are overburdened and broke, so private ventures have picked up the extra slack for profit. Private probation companies are especially nefarious, extorting payment from probationers to not only cover municipal court costs but also to enrich their own bottom line. They are a debt collection industry. Worst of all is if probationers can't pay, they often end up in jail—even if their original charge was a non-jailable offense. Ironically, this usually ends up costing the presiding municipality more money, since it is so expensive to imprison somebody.
—Owen Davis focuses on public education, media and the effects of social inequality.
Follow @opffer
"Detained border crossers may find themselves sent to 'the freezers,'" by Rachel Bale. The Center for Investigative Reporting, November 18, 2013.
Immigrants arrested by US Border Patrol have heard tell of what awaits them: las hieleras, or "the freezers." These are frigid, fluorescent-lit chambers where detainees are crammed for days without bedding or privacy. Though some immigrants will fight deportation or rightfully claim asylum, such as the Salvadoran family fleeing gang violence profiled in the piece, detainees are kept in a harsh confinement that likely violates international human rights standards. Meanwhile, our brave lawmakers in the Senate have stripped language from immigration legislation requiring "limits on the number of people held in a cell, adequate climate control, potable water, hygiene items and access to medical care" for detained border crossers.
—Omar Ghabra focuses on Syria and Middle Eastern politics.
Follow @omarghabra
"Lebanon and the Long Reach of Syria's Conflict" by Dexter Filkins. The New Yorker, November 20, 2013.
The recent bombing of the Iranian embassy in Beirut is the latest of many ominous signs that Hezbollah and Iran's decision to intervene in Syria has made this a regional, sectarian conflict. Filkins puts this latest bombing into the context of the events in Syria over the past year, since the Iranians and their proxy militia in Lebanon turned the tide of the Syrian war in Assad's favor.
—Hannah Gold focuses on gender politics, pop culture and art.
"Radical Hospitality," by Danya Lagos. Hypocrite Reader, November 2013.
Lagos astutely points out in her manifesto that the Radical Hospitality movement (coming to a museum near you), with its emphasis on giving its guests the choicest, most transporting experience possible, has become the moral equivalent of a hipster beer tasting. In these "artist-directed meal installations" that have come to define the movement, the bourgeois fantasy of sourcing the most exotic ingredients possible has merely transitioned to a new focus on ingredients that are so local they are not to be believed. This manifesto suggests a new paradigm for radical hospitality: the art of caring for others, as opposed to the art of impressing others. Radical hospitality could do so much more—it could welcome outsiders and strangers, create communities rather than produce waste, promote gender equality, "transmit emancipatory ideals" and fill bellies.
—Allegra Kirkland focuses on immigration, urban issues and US-Latin American relations.
Follow @allegrakirkland
"Border Patrol International," by Todd Miller. TomDispatch, November 19, 2013.
My college history professor used to say that borders are something that strong states impose on weaker ones. These imaginary lines, drawn on contiguous landmasses, define the spaces in which we live and who belongs inside them. In countries like the United States, however, such physical manifestations of hard power have morphed into a more abstract global project. This fascinating piece documents how interpretations of national defense have evolved since 9/11, with immense sums now spent on establishing, equipping and training border patrols in areas of US interest, from the Dominican Republican to Afghanistan. As Miller writes, "'Homeland security' no longer stays in the homeland: it's mobile, it's rapid, and it's international."
—Abbie Nehring focuses on muck reads, transparency, and investigative reporting.
"Heroes and Crusaders," by Bill Keller. The New York Times, November 17, 2013.
If you're curious about the genesis of the word "muckraker" as it's used today, I suggest Doris Kearns Goodwin's latest book, Bully Pulpit, or perhaps at least Bill Keller's review in this week's New York Times Book Review. It asserts that, like Team of Rivals, Goodwin's earlier book about how Lincoln built his cabinet, this volume invites surprisingly contemporary comparisons to present day through its portrayal of the relationships between power, profit and the scrutiny of the press. Bully Pulpit masquerades as a dual biography of Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, who shared one of the greatest friendships of the century, but the thread that runs throughout is the rise of the muckraking journalists who challenged them at every turn and were allowed to question Roosevelt even "during his midday shave." There's even a great illustration by Paul Rogers that seems to sum up the zeitgeist of the early 20th century as narrated by Goodwin.
—Nicolas Niarchos focuses on international and European relations and national security.
Follow @PerneInAGyre
"Last Jew in Afghanistan faces ruin as kebabs fail to sell," by Jessica Donati and Mirwais Harooni. Reuters, November 12, 2013.
The Jewish community in Afghanistan has dwindled from several thousand strong at the beginning of the 20th Century to one—Zabulon Simintov. And now he's closing his Kabul kebab shop, which also houses the nation's only synagogue. Donati and Harooni's piece artfully mixes Simintov's story with the on-the-ground realities of life in Afghanistan today: the security situation is so bad there that customers have dwindled and it's too risky to run a business. Simintov blames his woes on the US-led invasion in 2001. "It is better to see a dog than to see an American," he said. "If the situation in the country gets worse, I will escape."
—Andrés Pertierra focuses on Latin America with an emphasis on Cuba.
Follow @ASPertierra
"A Lesson From Cuba on Race," by Alejandro De La Fuente. The New York Times, November 17, 2013.
Renowned Cuban intellectual Alejandro de la Fuente debates the relationship between race and economic inequalities, using post-1959 Cuba as case study. Cuba has done more than any other country in the hemisphere, he says, to eradicate racism and economic inequalities that reinforce it, yet the culture of discrimination is still is alive and well today. This culture is just as important as material differences and should serve as a lesson for other countries in the Americas.
—Dylan Tokar focuses on Latin America, politics and literature.
Follow @dgtokar
"Inside The One-Man Intelligence Unit That Exposed The Secrets And Atrocities Of Syria's War," by Bianca Bosker. Huffington Post, November 18, 2013.
The subject of Bosker's profile is Eliot Higgins, better known as the blogger Brown Moses. Higgins began writing about Syria in 2012, and he has since become an expert at identifying the weapons used in the conflict by mining the social media that has been pouring out of the country via the Internet. See also Patrick Radden Keefe's profile in The New Yorker and this multimedia presentation by NGO Tactical Tech.
—Elaine Yu focuses on feminism, health, and East and Southeast Asia.
"Udacity's Sebastian Thrun, Godfather Of Free Online Education, Changes Course," by Max Chafkin. Fast Company, November 14, 2013.
This may not be an open critique (or a casual Foucauldian one) of MOOCs, but the essay shows why Massive Open Online Courses aren't the revolution its founder envisioned, why tech-innovation-branding giants are contradicting themselves (there's only so much you can corporatize out of education), and why it does little to address the structural problems of uneven access and other inequalities, despite the alluring premises of free or low-cost education, and of celebrity professors being commercially (but not personally) accessible.
Like most media and political writers, I often let bygones be bygones, painful as that may be. Then there are the especially tragic or high-stakes cases. For example, the media failures in the run-up to the Iraq war, given the consequences. This explains my reaction to the Columbia Journalism Review's announcing yesterday, after a widely watched search, that it was hiring Liz Spayd, late of The Washington Post, as its new editor and publisher.
Now, I suppose I should review her entire career, for context, though others are doing it and you can read about it in plenty of places. And here's a memo from Steve Coll, dean of the Columbia Journalism School (and a Washington Post vet himself) on the hiring, and Spayd's own reaction. She was managing editor of the Post or its website for many years until last year, and obviously supervised a good deal of important work (and some not so terrific, of course). But I am moved to recall, and then let go, one famous 2004 article, also at the Post, by Howard Kurtz, which I highlighted in my book on those media failures and Iraq, So Wrong for So Long.
In a nutshell: The New York Times, under Bill Keller, had printed as an editors' note a very brief and very limited semi-apology for its horrific coverage during the run-up to the war, dubbed a "mini-culpa" by Jack Shafer. The Post, almost equally but not so famously guilty, didn't even do that, to its shame, leaving it to one of its reporters, i.e., Kurtz, to report it out. His piece made the paper look pretty bad, with some embarrassing quotes from editor Len Downie, Bob Woodward and Karen DeYoung, among others, usually along the lines of, "Well, what could we do?" And there was this passage about Spayd:
Liz Spayd, the assistant managing editor for national news, says The Post's overall record was strong.
"I believe we pushed as hard or harder than anyone to question the administration's assertions on all kinds of subjects related to the war…. Do I wish we would have had more and pushed harder and deeper into questions of whether they possessed weapons of mass destruction? Absolutely," she said. "Do I feel we owe our readers an apology? I don't think so."
Of course, the paper's editorial page was even worse, making the news disaster that much more damaging.
In some ways, the "hero" of the Kurtz piece was Walter Pincus, the longtime national security reporter who had tried to get more skeptical stories on Iraq WMD in the paper (or get them on the front-page).
But while Pincus was ferreting out information "from sources I've used for years," some in the Post newsroom were questioning his work. Editors complained that he was "cryptic," as one put it, and that his hard-to-follow stories had to be heavily rewritten.
Spayd declined to discuss Pincus's writing but said that "stories on intelligence are always difficult to edit and parse and to ensure their accuracy and get into the paper."
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The much-respected Michael Getler later reviewed his years as ombudsman at the Post from 2000 to 2005, and offered a strong critique of the role of the paper's editors in the Iraq WMD disaster. He observed:
I should say at this point the Post is an excellent paper, and it also did some excellent reporting before the war—more than you might think. But I also had a catbird seat watching it stumble and, while my observations are necessarily about the Post, they may be more broadly applicable. From where I sat, there were two newsroom failures, in particular, at the root of what went wrong with pre-war reporting. One was a failure to pay enough attention to events that unfolded in public, rather than just the exclusive stuff that all major newspapers like to develop. The other was a failure of editors and editing up and down the line that resulted in a focus on getting ready for a war that was coming rather than the obligation to put the alternative case in front of readers in a prominent way. This resulted in far too many stories, including some very important ones, being either missed, underplayed, or buried.
Getler chronicles the many important stories the Post either did not cover or buried deep inside the paper (including reports on large antiwar marches). Then he adds:
Here's a brief sampling of additional Post headlines that, rather stunningly, failed to make the front of the newspaper: "Observers: Evidence for War Lacking," "U.N. Finds No Proof of Nuclear Program," "Bin Laden-Hussein Link Hazy," "U.S. Lacks Specifics on Banned Arms," "Legality of War Is a Matter of Debate," and "Bush Clings to Dubious Allegations About Iraq." In short, it wasn't the case that important, challenging reporting wasn't done. It just wasn't highlighted.
Of course, Liz Spayd was just one of a group of editors and hardly deserves full blame for the Post's performance. But she did defend that record afterward—and said no apology was needed.
Greg Mitchell lambasts the New York Times for its "mini-culpa" on faulty Iraq War coverage.
Thursday morning, as Senate majority leader Harry Reid was on the floor guiding his caucus through the necessary steps to scrap the sixty-vote threshold on judicial and executive branch nominations, Heritage Action sent out a strongly worded alert. "For Harry Reid and President Obama, this is not about a couple circuit court judges; this is an attempt to remake America to reflect their unworkable and unpopular progressive vision."
In many senses this is a crazy thing to say; as scholars of the Senate correctly note, Thursday's maneuver simply returns the body to its constitutional and historic norms, wherein the president is able to effectively staff the executive branch and federal judiciary. The sixty-vote threshold was a relatively recent aberration, wielded to the extreme by the Republican minority in the Senate.
But in practical context, Heritage is actually correct. Filibuster reform is a victory for progressive politics.
Recall that the biggest historical achievement of the filibuster was to delay a federal anti-lynching law and then to delay enactment of civil rights legislation in the 1950s. Today, it's one of the most powerful tools for conservative politicians: just in recent months, they have used it to dramatically delay or stop a Democratic president from filling crucial posts at a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, designed to protect Americans from rapacious financial companies; to keep seats on the National Labor Relations Board empty; and to prevent the president from appointing judges to the federal bench who can counterbalance the right-wing ideologues placed there by George W. Bush. (Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, who were both reluctant to embrace rules reform, were reportedly finally swayed last month when a Bush-appointed judge on the District of Columbia Appeals Court ruled against the contraception mandate in the Affordable Care Act as an infringement upon religious liberty.)
In short, the filibuster provided one more pump-brake on the slow but sure recent leftward trend in American politics; it was of utility only to the minority party, which is of course the ossifying, conservative GOP.
After Senate Democrats finally executed the rule change Thursday afternoon, and after Reid and his leadership team held a relatively somber news conference where Reid said it was "not a time to celebrate," Reid and some of the Senators behind the push for rules reform—Jeff Merkley, Tom Udall, Chuck Schumer and Tom Harkin—met with progressive groups in a room off the Senate chamber. (The Nation and a small handful of reporters were invited to observe.)
The people in the room and the outright celebratory nature of the meeting belied the true ramifications of Thursday's rule change for progressive politics. The Senators entered to thunderous applause and more than a few hoots and hollers, and behind their podium stood many members of the Congressional Black Caucus and representatives from a wide array of progressive groups like, for example, the Sierra Club.
Many people in the room were responsible for mobilizing public support for a relatively obscure Senate rule change—groups like Democracy for America, CREDO Action and Daily Kos, which arrived at the meeting with 285,000 signatures supporting filibuster reform.
Progressive organizing was indeed crucial to changing the filibuster, with Senators like Merkley and Udall working the inside game while the outside groups got the public riled up. Many Democratic senators—including Reid—didn't want to do rules reform back in 2009 when the GOP began its unprecedented obstruction, and it took a lot of convincing.
They were candid about this fact during the Thursday meeting. "There were some people that needed to be convinced, and—we don't need to go into that—but they are convinced," Harkin said, as the room erupted in laughter.
"[Merkley and Udall] brought this idea to me, and in my heart I knew they were right, but I couldn't accept that they were," Reid said of his initial reluctance. "I wanted to try to get along. For two Congresses I tried to get along…we tried and tried and tried."
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Though the assembled progressives were ebullient, they also hinted that the push wasn't over. Progressive legislation, too, has often fallen victim to the filibuster. Few people remember that, before Republicans took over the House, Democrats passed out a cap-and-trade climate bill and the Disclose Act, a major piece of campaign finance legislation—both of which died in the Senate despite a Democratic majority.
"Let no one think our work is finished," Merkley declared at the end of his remarks. "What was accomplished today was tremendous. I am looking forward to Mel Watt being the Federal Housing Finance Authority director. I am looking forward to President Obama having his fair opportunity to fill judicial vacancies."
"But I am also looking forward to the moment when we can have legislation come to the floor of the US Senate and have a fair chance of getting an up-and-down vote, to do right by working Americans," Merkley concluded, and left the podium to raucous applause.
Todd Gitlin on how students are leading the fight against climate change.
My new "Think Again" column is called "Murdoch and Ailes were "Right from the Start" and it's about new and not-so-new revelations from a new book about you know who.
Alter-reviews, special guitar gods edition:
Eric Clapton, Unplugged
Eric Clapton, Give Me Strength: the 1974-75 Recordings
Eric Clapton et al, Crossroads Festival Blu-ray and CD
The Allman Brothers Band, Brothers and Sisters (deluxe)
Grateful Dead, Dave's Picks, Vol. 8
Garcia Live, Volume 3, December 14-15, 1974 Northwest Tour,
It's been a rich autumn for old Eric Clapton releases. There's a nice new two-CD/DVD version of "Unplugged," from 1992, the album that launched the whole movement. Clapton's willingness to go in new directions has always distinguishd him from other guitar gods and these peformances tend to justify themselves, though not always, and especially not in the case of "Layla," which is a travesty. There are a few new versions on the cd including a cover of "Big Maceo" Merriweather's "Worried Life Blues," an alternate take of "Walkin' Blues" and early versions of "Circus" and "My Father's Eyes" and an hour of rehearsal footage on the DVD, which is pretty cool to watch once or twice. (It's also surprisingly cheap.)
I first discovered Clapton around 1974 or so and he was my pre-Born to Run favorite musician for "Layla" and the first solo album. I was so excited when he returned to recording and touring and a little shocked and disappointed at how mellow it all sounded; next to no guitar solos at all. But the dude was a prophet and this was where music was going; it caught up in the early eighties, and the stuff has worn tremendously well. You can now pay a lot of money for "Eric Clapton--Give Me Strength: The 1974-75 Recordings," which is five CDs and a Bluray--or so they tell me, I only got the download.
It's got 461 Ocean Boulevard, There's One In Every Crowd and the live E.C. Was Here—standing as one of the most remarkable rebirths in rock's history plus live tracks from Long Beach Arena (including unreleased versions of Crossroads, I Shot The Sheriff, Layla and Little Wing), the Hammersmith Odeon, Nassau Coliseum and Providence Civic Center; The Freddie King Criteria Studio Sessions featuring the previously unreleased versions of "Boogie Funk" and the full unreleased 22 minute version of "Gambling Woman Blues"
I saw last year's editions of Eric's "Crossroads Festival" shows last year at the Garden. Among the highlights were the surprise pairing of John Mayer and Keith Urban for the Beatles' "Don't Let Me Down," which turns out to be a much better song than I previously realized, Keith Richards and Eric doing "Key to the Highway." Vince Gill performing "Tumbling Dice" with Keith Urban and Albert Lee and members of the Allman Brothers and by far, Eric and ABB doing my favorite song, of late, "Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad," and truth be told they could have played more together since they had a whole set worked out at the Beacon a few years ago, which made for two of the greatest shows I've ever seen. The hype for Gary Clark Jr. struck me as a washout however and Clapton did not have to open the shows (and this Bluray) with his sappiest and most McCartney-at-his-most-mawkish songs. So plan to do some fast-forwarding on this terrific sounding Bluray depending on your taste. Not all of it will be loved by everyone but with so many acts—I didn't even mention Keith and Eric on "Key to the Highway" or Eric and Robbie R, Jeff Back or Buddy Guy or that 14 year old kid Quinn Sullivan, or the acoustic peformance by Warren, Derek and Gregg, especially on "The Needle and the Damage Done," so it's hard not to want to have this no matter what your taste in guitar gods. Eric closes well, too, with "Sunshine." There's a highlight two cd package as well. Both are pretty decently priced.
And speaking of my favorite band, I somehow neglected to mention the beautiful package put together to mark the 40th anniversary of the Allman Brothers Band's fifth album, "Brothers and Sisters." They were in terrible shape, but it's a damn fine record and this is a lovely package. Duane died in the fall of 1971. 1973's Berry Oakley died early in the recording of this album. They were replaced by pianist Chuck Leavell and Lamar Williams, but also by an expanded role for Dickie Betts. It was their best selling album ever--clearly their most radio friendly and now we get in the "Super Deluxe Edition" a disc of previously unreleased Jams, Rehearsals, and Outtakes, and a complete show on two cds from Winterland in September, 1973. It all sparkles and came before the band destroyed itself--in that iteration--with more drugs than anyone could do and arena shows that ended their rapport with their audience. Thank goodness it was only temporary, though nobody would have guessed it at the time--what with Gregg marrying Cher and falling asleep in bowls of spaghetti
Finally, speaking of my other favorite band, there's now a "Dave Picks, Volume 8": the last of the limited edition releases in this series this year. It's a complete show from 11/30/80 at the Fox Theatre, Atlanta, GA. The highlight for me was the incredible "Scarlet>Fire," but maybe not for you. (Again, these were not their best years.) It's three CDs and you gotta register at the Dead website because they all sell out immediately. And hey, you can watch "Dave" talk about his work, here. He's pretty smart.
And if that's not enough for you, you can order GarciaLive Volume Three: December 14-15, 1974 Northwest Tour, 3 CD Set featuring over 2 1/2 hours of previously unreleased music mastered from original soundboard recordings. Jazzier than usual, but with a nice rapport within the Legion of Mary band featuring Merle Sanders Wonderful 18 minute "Boogie On Reggae Woman" to open. Two "Night They Drove Old Dixie Down"s though, is one too many, minimum. The Dead were on hiatus and this was one of Jerry's most fruitful periods, musically, so it's a nice if non-essential addition to the oeuvre. More here.
Gone Nuclear: The Media Missed the GOP's Filibuster War on Government
By Reed Richardson
What Sen. Harry Reid did Thursday wasn't a win for Democrats as much as it was a triumph for democracy. That the Washington conventional wisdom likely won't characterize it that way, though, shouldn't be surprising. For far too long, the Beltway media has, by turns, overlooked, enabled, and normalized what has been a relentless, unprecedented siege campaign by Senate Republicans against Constitutional privilege and White House authority. Once a rare, last-ditch bureaucratic maneuver on the part of the minority, filibusters are no longer about extending actual debate on legislation or questioning the fitness of a political appointee. Instead, having been deployed a record 446 times since 2006, they've effectively been weaponized by the GOP as an extra-Constitutional end run around settled law. So, to say Reid "went nuclear" on the Senate rules Thursday is to ignore seven years of overwhelming evidence that the Republicans blew them up first.
Nevertheless, this week's press coverage of Republican filibusters leading up to the nuclear option was more of the same old objective ambiguity. On Monday, for example, there was the Associated Press, vaguely talking about how Obama's nomination of Judge Robert Wilkins to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals "[fell] short of the 60 votes required to advance" with nary a mention of the word "filibuster" anywhere. Even when the press does accurately describe the obstruction, as the Washington Post did last week in a story about the GOP filibuster of D.C Circuit nominee Judge Nina Pillard, it undermines the reality by trotting artificially balanced anecdotes as part of the old "both sides" canard. Dig down into the data, however, and you find that the GOP has blocked judicial nominees at a higher rate than at any other time in U.S. history.
Over time, the media's steady use of euphemisms and false equivalence has buried the larger narrative of Republican filibuster abuse. Likewise, it compartmentalizes each round of executive or judicial nominations into discrete events, which only allows the GOP to escape real accountability for their egregious abuse. For instance, when NBC News's political tip sheet First Read previewed Reid's "nuclear option" move Thursday, note that it only did so with respect to the three most recent judicial nominees blocked by the GOP.
"And so after Senate Republican filibustered President Obama's nominees to sit on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals—not on concerns about ideology or qualifications, but over the president's ability to appoint ANYONE to these vacancies—Senate Democrats are poised to change the rules via the so-called 'nuclear option'"
No. No. NO. While credit is due for highlighting the intellectual dishonesty of Republicans, this kind of short-sighted analysis of Democratic motives would be laughable if the stakes weren't so high. This incredibly simplistic explanation leaves the reader with the mistaken impression that, though Republicans are being stubborn, Harry Reid just up and changed the rules in something resembling a fit of pique after a rough couple of weeks.
This is not a new phenomenon, unfortunately. Over and over, the Beltway media has examined these filibuster events through a blinkered, ahistorical prism. Thus, no mention of how Obama has tried several times to fill these same D.C. Circuit Court vacancies since he first took office in 2009, to no avail. Or that one of these court vacancies was created more than eight years ago when John Roberts—yes, that John Roberts—was elevated to the Supreme Court. Also routinely left out of the coverage, the dozens of filibusters of other federal judicial appointees as well as the heads of numerous executive agencies, like the CFPB, NLRB, FCC, CIA, and EPA. And let's not forget the time Republicans attempted the first-ever filibuster a Cabinet nominee. Indeed, Republican filibusters have become so de rigueur in the Senate that, on several occasions, some in the GOP have thought nothing of threatening to block every single White House nominee, regardless of merit or need.
To be fair, some of the blame for this situation must be directed back at Senate Democrats and the White House. For too long, Reid and a few of his more tradition-bound Senate colleagues have enabled GOP intransigence through ill-advised, one-off filibuster moratoria that Republicans have demonstrated no compunction about discarding at their leisure. What's more, this constant Republican stonewalling has inculcated a noticeable hesitancy on the part of the administration in terms of putting forth nominations. And too often both Reid and the White House seem to mistake willful, partisan obstruction with good faith disagreement. Spending months or even years searching and vetting highly qualified nominees only to have them summarily dismissed over and over should have long ago taught Reid the lesson he only fully learned this week.
Breaking the logjam this way, some media naysayers worry, will forever change the Senate, making it operate more like the House. And that's probably true, but the operative word in that sentence is, well, operate. For, right now, the Senate is a broken legislative body, hijacked by a spiteful few extremists who are wholly uninterested in performing even the most routine aspects of government business.
While that obvious point isn't lost on even the most process-obsessed members of the Washington press corps, time and again news organizations have failed to draw a bright line between Senate Republicans' filibuster abuse and the dangerously anti-democratic precedent set by their behavior. Lacking any kind of pushback from the press, is it any wonder Republicans kept pushing further and further? As a result, they felt free to intentionally hamstring regulatory agencies for years by leaving them short-staffed and without leadership, effectively undermining the executive branch's Article I authority. And why not consistently flout the president's judicial appointees—to, say, maintain Republican dominance on the D.C. Appeals Court? It only negates the electoral mandate provided by the public. Hey, it's not like the press is really going to notice.
But make no mistake, even though it may fly underneath the radar of almost every big-name pundit, tilting the balance on the D.C. Appeals Court matters. For most of Obama's tenure, the court has been split evenly, with more Republican appointees enjoying seniority. As a result, its been a friendly legal ground to enable all manner of successful right-wing regulatory challenges, whether it's cracking down on labor organizing to unraveling the Affordable Care Act's free contraception rules or undoing tougher Dodd-Frank regulations on out-of-control CEO pay. And it figures to loom large in the administration's upcoming push for stricter carbon emissions rules for power plants. Outrageously, Republicans have responded with thinly veiled partisan arguments about workload to argue for cutting back the number of D.C. Circuit judges. (Phony arguments that are little more than rank hypocrisy.) Reid's move will ensure that the court gets its full complement of judges and that overturning tougher environmental regulations among other liberal policy priorities just became a much tougher road for conservatives.
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But it's not just judicial appointees that can have a far-reaching impact. This past week, we saw what it can mean for workers and people in low-income areas when the Senate nominations process functions as intended. After scuffling along for years with only a minimum quorom, a now fully-staffed and fully-engaged NLRB handed down a major ruling against Walmart Monday one that penalized the company for illegally disciplining and firing employees who had participated in labor strikes. Likewise, on Wednesday, the newly created CFPB—whose inaugural director was only just approved by the Senate this past summer after a long filibuster fight—announced its first major settlement against predatory lenders.
With a rabidly conservative Republican majority in the House making legislative progress all but impossible, legal rulings and enforcement actions represent the best shot at policy success for Democrats until 2015, at the earliest. Not coincidentally, it's precisely the kind of duly-earned progress the Senate GOP's filibuster abuse would have kept on unfairly delaying had Reid not acted. In the end, the story of Thursday's "nuclear option" is mostly a tale of winners, though—our democracy first and foremost, but both Democrats and Republicans too, since the move ultimately makes government more responsive and actually enhances the value of winning elections. (The next GOP Senate Majority Leader will no doubt come to appreciate Reid's decision when there's a Republican in the White House). Perhaps the only real loser in all this is the Beltway media, which showed once again that it can miss a big story up to and even after the moment it blows up.
Contact me directly at reedfrichardson (at) gmail dot com.
I'm on Twitter here—(at)reedfrich.
Editor's note: To contact Eric Alterman, use this form.
In an observant post last week, the blogger Braze noted one of the difficulties with using Spoonerisms as the basis for cryptic clueing. A Spoonerism—in which the corresponding sounds of two words are swapped, for example to render "The Lord is a loving shepherd" as "The Lord is a shoving leopard"—is a well-established genre of wordplay, and possibilities for using them abound.
The problem, as Braze pointed out, is that there's no way to flag a Spoonerism without explicitly invoking Spooner—which instantly gives the game away. He's absolutely right. We've been searching for years for some alternative indicator for a Spoonerism, but with no success. In fact, every clue we've ever published that was based on a Spoonerism mentioned Spooner himself.
(Spoonerisms are so named after the Rev. William Spooner, a famously absent-minded Oxford professor who—like Yogi Berra after him—had many more malapropisms attributed to him than are likely to be genuine. A favorite Spooner anecdote, unrelated to Spoonerisms, has him preaching a long Sunday sermon, taking his seat, and then remounting the pulpit to add, "Every time I mentioned Aristotle, I meant St. Paul.")
Here are a couple of examples from the files:
EASY CHAIR Spooner's tacky first-born gets a comfy seat (4,5)
RUB NOSES Spooner's point: flowers kiss on the tundra (3,5)
NEW DEAL Roosevelt's program, as expected: genuflect to Rev. Spooner (3,4)
But Spoonerisms are only one example of a whole range of wordplay that goes beyond the standard typology of anagrams, reversals, charades and so on. It's not uncommon for us to come across a bit of wordplay that fits more easily into the world of Will Shortz's weekly NPR challenge, which comes with explicit instructions ("Take an eight-letter name, then delete one letter and reverse the remainder…") than the more elliptical style of cryptic crosswords.
Just recently, for instance, we had a puzzle that included the word FIRMWARE. The clue was based on the observation that if you swap the last letters of FIRM and WARE you get FIRE and WARM—a sort of non-phonetic last-letter Spoonerism variant. There's no obvious way to flag that, so we wound up simply describing the process, albeit somewhat cryptically:
FIRMWARE Permanent programs can heat up if terminals are interchanged (8)
Another example was this clue, based on a very specific letter substitution:
VISCOUNT Aristocrat's price markdown, initially reduced by 99% (8)
Again, there is no specific name for this kind of wordplay, and so the constructor can do no more than suggest how it works. The result, as the Rev. Spooner might say, is a cladistic Sioux.
What do you think about Spoonerisms and other unusual wordplay? Please share here, along with any quibbles, questions, kudos or complaints about the current puzzle or any previous puzzle. To comment (and see other readers' comments), please click on this post's title and scroll to the bottom of the resulting screen.
And here are three links:
• The current puzzle
• Our puzzle-solving guidelines
• A Nation puzzle solver's blog where you can ask for and offer hints, and where every one of our clues is explained in detail.


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GRiSP links |
GRiSP partners
GRiSP news
Research themes | Why rice | Potential impact The Global Rice Science Partnership (GRiSP), the CGIAR Research Program on Rice, provides a single strategic plan and unique new partnership platform for impact-oriented rice research for development – it is designed to more effectively solve development challenges. A US$20 investment in GRiSP will lift one person out of poverty. It streamlines current rice research for development activities of the CGIAR and aligns it with more than 900 rice research and development partners worldwide to:
MissionGRiSP's mission is to reduce poverty and hunger, improve human health and nutrition, reduce the environmental footprint, and enhance the ecosystem resilience of rice production systems through high-quality international rice research, partnership, and leadership. Research themesTheme 1: Harnessing genetic diversity to chart new productivity, quality, and health horizons Theme 2: Accelerating the development, delivery, and adoption of improved rice varieties Theme 3: Ecological and sustainable management of rice-based production systems Theme 4: Extracting more value from rice harvests through improved quality, processing, market systems, and new products Theme 5: Technology evaluations, targeting, and policy options for enhanced impact Theme 6: Supporting the growth of the global rice sector
Global Rice Science Partnership (GRiSP)
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subset: commoncrawl


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4 Records
Largest Group Of People Dressed As Cartoon Characters In A Parade
Kade Hill led 89 students from the Maine Arts Camp in a parade while dressed as cartoon characters.
Largest Group Of People Dressed As Zombies Parading On The 4th Of July
A total of 81 people organized by Terror Technologies gathered in celebration of the Riverside Park Friendship Festival 4th Of July Parade while dressed as zombies. The event benefitted their chosen charity.
Shortest Song About A Rainbow Parade
Jonathan Mann sang a song about the Rainbow Parade that lasted 54.84 seconds. He set the record to celebrate RecordSetter World Record Day.
Jessi Arrington led 179 people together to form the world's largest rainbow parade, which marched across the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City.
The record was set as part of RecordSetter World Record Day and was adjudicated by RecordSetter officials Dan Rollman and Emily Miethner.


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Our Mission
The Learning Portal for Design, Monitoring & Evaluation (DM&E) for Peacebuilding is a community of practice for DM&E peacebuilding professionals. It provides a transparent and collaborative space for the sharing of:
- Evaluation reports and data
- Methodologies and tools
- Best and emerging practices
- DM&E events and opportunities
By making this material easily accesible we hope to improve the practice of DM&E for peacebuilding and increase the effectiveness of peacebuilding programs.
5 Reasons to Sign Up!
- Find and access a range of resources for DM&E for peacebuilding
- Find DM&E events, jobs, consultants and funding
- Connect with like-minded peers
- Contribute your knowledge and best practices
- It's free!


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2:25 - Game cancelled. Rescheduled for tomorrow at 7:05. See you back then. Please send warm clothing to me at Midtown East Courtyard Marriott.
2:22 - And as I write that it stops raining altogether. Crowd reacts with cheers. But will they play? Or is it due to start pouring again in a couple of minutes. See for yourself.
2:19 - Rumours floating that the game has been cancelled and they'll try again tomorrow night (it's due to rain all day tomorrow). Just rumours at this point. If that's the case, I'm going to come to the park wrapped in the duvet off my hotel bed. It's going to be chill-ay.
2:09 - A.J. Burnett, Scott Downs and Brian Tallet walk out to left-field and start tossing the ball around. They get a big roar and Burnett tips his cap.
2:02 - Yanks manager Joe Girardi and GM Brian Cashman now standing in shallow right-field with an official, apparently inspecting the turf. Crowd going bonkers. Girardi stops to sign autographs.
Whaddya think Grif? "Girardi didn't go very far out there to inspect the turf"
Meaning? "I think they've already made their decision."
Can I quote you in the blog? "You're going to anyway."
This is why Grif is the dean.
1:50 - Uh oh. Weather reports "no longer look promising," the stadium announcer tells us. The crowd responds with a chorus of boos. It could get ugly on 161st Street.
1:42 - Rain starting to taper off a bit. The braver fans are beginning to come out from under the awnings. They've been packed in there like cattle for the better part of an hour. Baseball may be imminent. We'll know when the players start filing into the dugouts.
1:15 - They're now saying the game will start "some time after two."
YES network's John Sterling makes the announcement and adds, "Hopefully the game will get played and hopefully it's a Yankee victory." Only in New York do they add that bit of homerism. Well, maybe Boston, too.
1:02 - Still no word on when this game will start. Most of the Toronto media contingent has gathered in the outdoor pressbox, where its cold enough to see your breath. Who forgot to wear their woolens? Even Grif is wearing a sport coat. MLB.com's Jordan Bastian just cracked open his new scorebook. "This is all very exciting," Bastian says, not sounding very excited.
None of the New York media horde is up here. There is a strange cultural twitch that prevents NYC writers from coming up to the pressbox more than 30 seconds before first pitch. The higher you stand in the New York media pecking order, the later you leave it to arrive. Some NY writers don't even watch the game live - they prefer to stay in the media bunker in the basement beside the clubhouses and watch the game on TV. Only in New York.
12:58 - Now its 'Umbrella'. At least we've musically cracked the new century.
12:56 - Now it's 'Who Stopped the Rain' by John Fogerty. Between this and 'Center Field', John Fogerty is the worst thing to ever happen to baseball.
I am wishing that I owned the concession on official New York Yankees rain slickers. I wish I owned the New York Yankee concession on anything.
12:49 - Now they're playing 'Pennies From Heaven' by Sinatra. Bring back the organ.
12:34 - Here are the line-ups:
1 - David Eckstein
2 - Shannon Stewart
3 - Alex Rios
4 - Vernon Wells
5 - Frank Thomas
6 - Lyle Overbay
7 - Aaron Hill
8 - Marco Scutaro
9 - Gregg Zaun
SP: Roy Halladay
NY Yankees
1 - Johnny Damon
2 - Derek Jeter
3 - Bobby Abreu
4 - A-Rod
5 - Jason Giambi
6 - Robinson Cano
7 - Jorge Posada
8 - Hideki Matsui
9 - Melky Cabrera
SP: Chien-Ming Wang
They're playing 'Quando Quando Quando' on the organ. Soggy natives growing restless.
12:19 - Okay, they've decided to delay the game. The start time is 'to be determined'. The good news is they insist that the weather is due to improve and that they will play this afternoon.
12:14 p.m. - Less than an hour till game time and the rain continues to come down here in the Bronx. It's not coming down hard, but Grif feels sure that they won't start under these conditions. At least it's not that cold.
News is the clubhouse all concerns Alex Rios' 'will he or won't he' big league deal. It now seems pretty clear that he will. The club is ironing out the final details on Rios' 6-year, $65 million (U.S.) deal. GM J.P. Ricciardi is so sure that this will work out, that's he's extended his Opening Day deadline. Rios said the deal wasn't done a few minutes ago, but couldn't help but notice a conga line of teammates running up to shake his hand. I think this thing is all but signed. Interestingly, Ricciardi said there is no opt-out for Rios in the deal's current incarnation.
It's more than a little bit cool to be here for the last season starter at Yankee Stadium (for a great behind-the-scenes look at the park, check out Tyler Kepner's photo slideshow at the New York Times).
Cathal Kelly


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Brent set for biggest weekly gain in 2 monthsBrent futures rose above $109 a barrel on Friday on expectations of steady demand growth as the manufacturing sector in China, the world's second-biggest oil consumer, expanded at its fastest pace in 18 months. The European be More… |
IMF warns on oil price shock for MenaThe International Monetary Fund has warned that a sustained drop in oil prices could leave many Middle Eastern and North African exporters in the red because of surging spending, a report said. The warning came in the IMF's ne More… |
Middle East turmoil helps Opec revenuesTurmoil in the Mena region has been awful for the people of the region. The same cannot be said for Opec, the oil group. The long list of crises - violence in Iraq, fear of sectarian spillover from the Syrian conflict, oil worker strikes in Liby More… |
High oil prices 'hurting Iran exports'Iran's oil exports are being hurt by current high prices that make it more economical for rivals like the US to produce more costly oil, Iran's new energy minister said in an interview published by his ministry's website. More… |
Oman's growth outlook 'vulnerable to oil prices'Oman's A1 rating with stable outlook is based on the economy's robust growth outlook and the government's sound fiscal metrics, but both are vulnerable to a downturn in global oil prices, said Moody's Investors Service in a repor More… |
Saudi among 'best performing G20 countries'Saudi Arabia has been one of the best performing G20 economies in recent years, and has supported the global economy through its stabilizing role in the global oil market, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was quoted as saying in a report. More… |
UAE economic growth to hit 3.6pc: IMFThe UAE is witnessing an economic revival as a direct result of rising oil prices and non-oil economic activities backed by investments, trade and tourism, an IMF report has said. The IMF final report on the UA More… |
Brent price decline to shrink gap with US crudeBrent crude oil prices will decline further this year and next, pressured by a potential slowdown in Chinese oil demand growth and swelling supplies, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday. But U.S. light crude futures, also known as W More… |
GCC: Positive outlook despite oil price dipThe fall in oil prices to below $100 per barrel over the past few weeks has triggered some concerns over the potential impact on the Gulf region's economy. Brent crude prices fell by some 19 per cent from their peak of $119 More… |
Oil jumps in thin tradeOil prices jumped unexpectedly on Wednesday, with US crude reaching its highest in more than two months as technical buying and hopes for a last-minute deal to avert a US fiscal crisis fuelled an abrupt year-end rally. More… |


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Design by Alberto Saggia and Valerio Sommella, 2013. "The name of the collection - explains designer Valerio Sommalla - is tied to the shape of Japanese Mochi rice cakes". These are traditional Japanese cakes made of ground and beaten rice which is used to obtain a soft white paste and is subsequently given a rounded shape. The same soft shapes are realized in satin-finish white blown-glass to form the Lumi - Mochi collection. The new clustered versions are a natural evolution of the series. The Lumi - Mochi F07A29 features 13 suspended diffusers from one central round canopy. The diffusers are satin-finish white blown glass, the canopy is steel and powder coated aluminum. Pendant heights are field-adjustable and designed to hang at random heights. Line-voltage halogen light source provides easy dimming and operation. Provides diffused ambient illumination. Material(s): Blown Glass, Metal Dimensions:
Lamp Type: HALOGEN Bulbs: 13 X 20W 120V G9 halogen lamps (not included) Listing: ETL CETL Model(s): F07A29A01 Valerio SommellaValerio Sommella, born in Cortona, Italy in 1980, graduated cum laude from the Politecnico of Milan in 2004 and started working with Stefano Giovannoni. In 2007 he left Milan and moved to Amsterdam where he joined Marcel Wanders' team until 2009, when he decided to start his own design studio. He returned to Italy and settled in Milan where he designs products in different design fields, from furniture to consumer electronic goods for both Italian and international clients. See other lights/products from Valerio SommellaAlberto SaggiaAlbert Saggia was born in Novara, Italy in 1978. He majored in Industrial Design with an emphasis in lighting at Milan Polytechnic University. Immediately after leaving the university in 2004, he began working with Metis Lighting in Milan, a collaboration that still continues today, focusing on lighting design and the development of custom-made lighting solutions. Since 2009 he had worked as a lighting designer for Fabbian. See other lights/products from Alberto SaggiaFabbianFor over 46 years, Fabbian has been introducing innovations in the lighting field from the Venice hinterland. With over 28 architects and designers, they have redefined how lighting integrates into modern environments. From their trademark designs in ceiling light fixtures, floor lamps and wall sconces, to the advanced engineering of their pendant and suspension lamps Fabbian is a hallmark of modern Italian lighting.
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Free Shipping. Price Guarantee. Easy Returns. It's good to shop at YLighting.At YLighting, we are so confident that the Lumi - Mochi F07A29 Pendant Light will make you happy that we offer a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee and our 100% Price Guarantee. What's more, we also offer Free Shipping on orders over $75 . |