Friends, The same Republican state lawmakers who are prohibiting transgender care for young people and barring them from using school bathrooms or playing on sports teams according to their gender identity — all in the name of “protecting children” — are actively subjecting children to more gun violence and pushing younger children into more dangerous jobs. Consider Arkansas, which in April 2021 became the first state to outlaw transition-related medical treatment for minors. A few month ago, af...
May 02, 2023•5 min
Friends, Welcome back to another Saturday coffee klatch with Heather Lofthouse (executive director of Inequality Media and my former student) where we look at the highs and lows and even lowers of the week. Today, we examine: — Joe Biden’s unsurprising announcement that he’s running for reelection. But what does it really mean, and what are his chances? — Kevin McCarthy and the radical House Republicans’ gonzo demands for raising the debt ceiling. What are Biden’s options? — Radical Republicans ...
Apr 29, 2023•23 min
Friends, Ever since word got out that I’ll be retiring from teaching at the end of this semester, people have been asking me what I’ll be doing next? I try to respond politely, but the question annoys the hell out of me. I’m reminded of singer-songwriter Willie Nelson’s response to a fan who asked him when he’ll be retiring: “Retiring from what? ” Most people who “retire” usually stop what they call “working” and begin what they call “playing.” But what if your work is also your play? What if it...
Apr 20, 2023•3 min
Welcome back to my Saturday coffee klatch with Heather Lofthouse, when we consider the lows and lower points of the week. Today we look at: — The latest revelations about Clarence Thomas’s corruption — financial gifts from Harlan Crow that by law must be reported. Will Thomas finally be held accountable? — The district court ruling in Texas that overruled the FDA’s decision that a major abortion medication is safe and effective, which has gone to the Supreme Court. Why did the Supreme Court ever...
Apr 16, 2023•22 min
Friends, The $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News — which starts Monday, with jury selection tomorrow — has uncovered a trove of damning text messages and emails showing that Fox News hosts like Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham knowingly lied to their viewers about false claims of voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election. A few weeks ago, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis ruled that the evidence made it “CRYSTAL clear that none of the statements relating to Dominion ...
Apr 12, 2023•2 min
Friends, Welcome back to my Saturday coffee klatch with Heather Lofthouse, executive director of Inequality Media Civic Action (and my former student), where we examine the lows and even lowers of the week. Today we look at: — Consequences of the Trump indictment: The Grifter-in-Chief rakes in more money and surges to the top of the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. — Tennessee’s return to Jim Crow: The legislature throws out two Black Democrats for protesting the state’s wea...
Apr 08, 2023•21 min
Friends, Welcome back to my Saturday coffee klatch with Heather Lofthouse (executive director of Inequality Media Civic Action, and my former student), where we examine the lows and even lowers of the preceding week. Today we talk about: — Trump’s indictment, and what it really means. — Starbucks’ anti-labor strategy, and what we should do about it. — The Gwyneth Paltrow case, and why it’s gotten so much attention. — My course, starting next Friday right here on this Substack. So grab a cup, pul...
Apr 01, 2023•18 min
Friends, Welcome back to my Saturday coffee klatch with Heather Lofthouse (executive director of Inequality Media Civic Action, and my former student), where we talk about the lows and the absurdities of the week. So grab a cup and pull up a chair. Today, we look at: — What really happened to Silicon Valley and the other small and medium-sized banks that got bailed out. — Whether this signals the beginning of a period of financial tumult and chaos on Wall Street, in the stock and bond markets, a...
Mar 19, 2023•16 min
Welcome back to today’s coffee klatch, where Heather Lofthouse (executive director of Inequality Media Civic Action and my former student) and I delve into the week’s highs and lows. So grab a cup, pull up a chair, and take our poll (if you wish). Today’s topics: — Friday’s jobs report, and why the big news is wages. — Thursday’s Biden budget, and why the big news is that it’s all a theatrical production designed to counter House Republicans. — Why Wall Street now regards good economic news as b...
Mar 12, 2023•21 min
Friends, Welcome back to our Saturday coffee klatch with Heather Lofthouse (Executive Director of Inequality Media Civic Action, and my former student), as we plumb the depths of the past week. Grab a cup, pull up a chair, take our poll (if you wish), and join us. Today we explore: — Alex Murdaugh’s sentence for murder, and why the country is so fixated on this case. — The revolt of the citizens of East Palestine, Ohio, against the Norfolk Southern Railway, and how they exemplify what’s gone wro...
Mar 05, 2023•16 min
Friends, For nearly two decades, major corporations have touted principles known as E.S.G. (short for environmental, social, and governance factors), ostensibly by focusing their businesses on these concerns as well as on profits. But now Republicans are taking aim at this approach, calling it “woke capitalism” and using it to demonstrate that Democrats and progressives are trying to impose their views on the rest of society. In other words, the fight over E.S.G. is extending America’s culture w...
Mar 03, 2023•7 min
Friends, After Scott Adams, the creator of “Dilbert,” called Black people a “hate group” and said, “I don’t want to have anything to do with them” and that white people should “get the hell away from Black people,” media outlets have dropped his comic strip. In response, last Sunday Twitter chief Elon Musk blasted the media as being “racist against whites and Asians.” He offered no criticism of Adams’s comments. Later, Musk agreed with a tweet that said “Adams’ comments weren’t good” but “there’...
Mar 02, 2023•3 min
Friends, Artificial intelligence (AI) is finally hitting the economy and society big time. Bing’s chatbot (Microsoft plans a wide release soon) is capable of long, open-ended text conversations on virtually any topic. It’s caused a Times columnist to become “deeply unsettled, even frightened.” Google engineer Blake Lemoine was fired after claiming that the firm’s AI model, LaMDA, is “sentient.” It’s causing professors like me to wonder how to distinguish between student writing on exams and AI w...
Feb 27, 2023•4 min
Welcome back to our Saturday coffee klatch, where Heather Lofthouse (executive director of Inequality Media Civic Action, and my former student) and I examine the highlights and lowlights of the week. Today we look into: — Kevin McCarthy’s decision to give Fox News’s Tucker Carlson exclusive access to 40 hours of surveillance video from January 6, 2021. Is this a way for House Republicans to plant a “false flag” narrative about what happened on that fateful day? — Two dangerous illustrations of ...
Feb 26, 2023•17 min
Friends, The two men most likely to square off for the presidency of the United States next Election Day have held notably different conversations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. On July 25, 2019, then President Donald Trump spoke with Zelensky from the White House residence, ostensibly to congratulate Zelensky on his election. During that conversation, Trump reminded Zelensky that “the United States has been very good to Ukraine.” Trump knew full well that Zelensky was desperate fo...
Feb 23, 2023•6 min
Friends, Welcome back to our Saturday coffee klatch where Heather Lofthouse (executive director of Inequality Media Civic Action, and my former student) and I discuss the highlights and lowlights of the week. Today we focus on: — The likely indictment of Donald Trump — Hypocrisy at Fox News — Why Nikki Haley doesn’t stand a chance — Senator John Fetterman’s clinical depression — Norfolk Southern Railway’s lobbying — Why the Fed thinks great economic news is awful — The U.S. Department of Labor P...
Feb 18, 2023•19 min
Friends, Last Tuesday, House Republicans stood for a 43-minute recitation of the United States Constitution. This came just after Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee instituted a requirement to recite the Pledge of Allegiance before each meeting. Further pledges, flag salutes, and Constitution recitations are planned. Why are Democrats allowing Republicans to blanket themselves with conspicuous displays of patriotism, especially when the GOP has become the party of traitorousness and tr...
Feb 16, 2023•6 min
Friends, At President Biden’s State of the Union address last week, Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene repeatedly yelled “Liar!,” Tennessee Republican Rep. Andy Ogles shouted, “It’s your fault!,” and another Republican yelled “B******t!” Fourteen years ago, Republican Rep. Joe Wilson was formally rebuked by the whole House after shouting “you lie” at Obama. Yet now, anything goes. Meanwhile, Rep. George Santos remains in Congress despite mounting revelations of outright lies, fabrica...
Feb 14, 2023•6 min
Friends, I don’t know about you, but I look at the next 20 months leading up to the 2024 presidential election with some dread. That’s not because I’m especially worried Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis or someone equally horrific will be elected. I’m dreading the next 20 months because the entire process of selecting our president has become so fraught, divisive, and arbitrary that it threatens the foundation of our democracy. So today I want to share with you a little political hope — not my mothe...
Feb 13, 2023•8 min
Welcome back to our Saturday coffee klatch with Heather Lofthouse, executive director of Inequality Media Civic Action (and my former student), where we explore the highs and lows of the past week. Pull up a chair and grab a cup. On today’s docket: — Biden’s State of the Union address. Why we think it ranks as one of the best ever. — George Santos, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and other raving Republicans. Why have congressional Republicans gone stark raving mad? — The terrible traged...
Feb 11, 2023•16 min
My friends, As I mentioned last night, I thought Biden’s second State of the Union address was superb. It was one of the best State of the Union speeches I’ve witnessed — and I’ve witnessed many. Biden’s record so far has also been impressive — even though for the first two years of his presidency, the Democrats held a razor-thin congressional majority, and the Republican Party has become more traitorous and treacherous than at any time in modern American history. Yet despite Biden’s impressive ...
Feb 08, 2023•2 min
Welcome back to my Saturday coffee klatch with Heather Lofthouse, executive director of Inequality Media Civic Action (and my former student), when we review the highs and lows of the week. Today we look at: — Friday’s extraordinary labor report, showing that 517,000 new jobs were created in January, almost double the number in December. How is the Fed likely to react? — Kevin McCarthy’s moves on the debt ceiling and on committee assignments in the Republican House. Why is he putting Marjorie Ta...
Feb 04, 2023•14 min
Friends, Speaker Kevin McCarthy said this week that Republicans will not call for cuts in Social Security or Medicare as they wheel and deal over the debt ceiling. He has promised to take Social Security and Medicare cuts “ off the table .” Here are 10 reasons why you shouldn’t believe him: 1. It’s incredibly difficult to cut federal spending without touching Social Security and Medicare. Social Security and Medicare together comprise over a third of the federal budget. Everything else (except d...
Feb 03, 2023•4 min
Friends, Good morning, and welcome back to another Saturday morning coffee klatch with my guest Heather Lofthouse, who runs Inequality Media Civic Action and was also my student long ago. (I recently did a back-of-the-envelope estimate on how many of my former students are out there after 42 years of teaching, and it came to 28,000!) Each Saturday we talk about the highs and lows of the previous week. This week it was mostly lows: Mass killings. Why can’t we seem to be able to do anything about ...
Jan 28, 2023•18 min
Friends, Weeks after Elon Musk’s decision to reinstate Donald Trump on Twitter, Meta (the parent company of Facebook and Instagram) yesterday announced it will allow Trump back on its platforms, too. “The public should be able to hear what their politicians are saying — the good, the bad and the ugly — so that they can make informed choices at the ballot box,” wrote Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs and the U.K.’s former deputy prime minister, in a blog post announcing the decision ...
Jan 27, 2023•4 min
Friends, Welcome back to my Saturday coffee klatch with Heather Lofthouse, executive director of Inequality Media Civic Action (and my former student). This morning we take a look at the past week, in particular: — The debt ceiling scare, and the House Republicans’ attempt to hold the full faith and credit of the U.S. hostage to their demands. — George Santos, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and other luminaries of the new Republican House. — Supreme Court leaks, who Sherlock Holmes woul...
Jan 21, 2023•19 min
Friends, My good wishes to you on this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. I live in California, near the coast. Since the week after Christmas, we have been pummeled by eight “atmospheric rivers,” a weather phenomenon that summons moisture into a powerful band and then unleashes intense blasts of precipitation. The stream next to my house has become a river and some of the roads I rely on are impassible. I’m one of the lucky ones. At least 19 people have died as storms continue to cause widespread flo...
Jan 16, 2023•4 min
Welcome back to my Saturday coffee klatch with Heather Lofthouse, executive director of Inequality Media Civic Action (and my former student). In response to our discussion last week about work and family — and our New Year’s resolutions for how to better balance them — many of you asked how we actually spend our days. So that’s the topic of today’s klatch. (We’ll return to politics, economics, and all the other big topics next week.) Please grab a cup and pull up a chair. And also take our poll...
Jan 14, 2023•11 min
Welcome back to my Saturday coffee klatch with Heather Lofthouse, executive director of Inequality Media Civic Action (and my former student), where we usually talk about the highs and low of the prior week. But with the new year just beginning and House Republicans tied up in knots, we thought we’d make today’s klatch a bit more personal: How we and others we know are trying to both do our work and still have a life. Grab a cup and pull up a chair. And please be sure to take our poll and add yo...
Jan 07, 2023•13 min
Friends, Welcome to the challenges of 2023. Today I want to talk about one of the first. When the 118th Congress is sworn in tomorrow, Republicans will hold very narrow control of the House — 222 seats to the Democrat’s 213. The first thing they’ll do is vote for the next Speaker (who’ll determine the agenda for the House, what bills make it to the floor, the fate of critical legislation such as spending bills, and the House’s negotiating positions with Senate leaders and the White House). The m...
Jan 02, 2023•6 min
