Recent Posts

Ian Penman claims that John Lennon and Yoko Ono engaged in ‘fuzzy political gestures lacking any real slog or engagement’ (LRB, 17 June). That’s not the way Richard Nixon saw it.  In 1972, after they moved to New York City, he ordered their deportation – to put an end to their political campaigning against him and the war in Vietnam. . . .
… continued in the LRB “Letters,” HERE

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World politics after the Biden-Putin Summit: Katrina vanden Heuvel argues that we need to rethink what real security means, and that it can’t mean a new cold war, but joint action with Russia and China on climate change, pandemics, and the threat of nuclear war.
Also: Amy Wilentz comments on Haiti after the assassination of its unloved president—and the necessity of following grassroots progressive civil society groups in finding a path forward towards free and fair elections.  7-14-2021

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Biden’s Big Budget: Harold Meyerson comments on the Democrats’ agreement to spend $3.5 trillion, and on Bernie’s new status as the architect of some of the most progressive elements of the bill. Plus: plutocrats in space.
Also: triumphs and disasters of the sixties: there’s a new book about the movements of that decade, about some of heroes, and some of the problems. The authors are the brother and sister team David Talbot and Margaret Talbot–David is the founder of Salon.com, and Margaret writes for the New Yorker. The book is called “By the Light of Burning Dreams.”
Plus: our TV critic Ella Taylor talks about ‘Roadrunner,’ a new documentary about Anthony Bourdain, whose massively popular TV shows about food around the world came to focus on politics more than cooking. Bourdain committed suicide in 2018. The film is made by Morgan Neville, whose previous work includes “20 feet from stardom,” the great film about backup singers, and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” about Mister Rogers.  7-15-2021

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“Utopian” has been a term of abuse in politics for a long time now, synonymous with “irrational” and “impossible.” Instead, we are told, we should focus on realistic plans to improve things. But The Nation is publishing a special issue in defense of utopia. Jeet Heer explains how the dreams of a good society keep hope alive and expose the inadequacy of present structures.
Also: the Los Angeles neighborhood of Boyle Heights is known today as the heartland of Chicano culture. Historian George Sanchez explains how its multicultural, interracial past made it a bastion of progressive democracy. His new book is Boyle Heights.  7-8-2021

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The Supremes gave the green light last week to Republican moves to make it harder to vote — that gives Democrats and voting rights groups more work to do. Harold Meyerson comments.
Also: “Critical Race Theory” has been attacked on Fox News nearly 1300 times. It’s being banned from public schools and colleges in something like 15 Republican states. But what IS “critical race theory”? And why is this happening now? Kimberlé Crenshaw explains; she teaches law at Columbia and UCLA, and she’s probably the most prominent figure associated with critical race theory—she coined the term 30 years ago. She’s also creator of the concept “intersectionality.” And the hashtag #SayHerName.
Also later in the hour: our TV critic Ella Taylor talks about “Summer of Soul”, a documentary about a music festival in a park in Harlem in 1969 –it’s the most powerful and moving thing I’ve seen about the sixties anywhere – and the story it tells was completely forgotten –the footage sat in a basement for nearly 50 years, and no one cared. Also: “No Sudden Move,” a new caper film by Steven Soderbergh starring Don Cheadle and Benecio del Toro.  7-8-2021

Jon Wiener: We’re a little late talking about Critical Race Theory (CRT). In the past three and a half months, the Fox News Channel has talked about it nearly 1,300 times. It’s being banned from public schools and colleges in something like 13 Republican states. But what is critical race theory? And why is this happening now? The first thing you ever published on the topic was in the Harvard Law Review a long time ago—in 1988.
Kimberlé Crenshaw: “Race, Reform, and Retrenchment.” The basic point of that article was that wherever there is race reform, there’s inevitably retrenchment, and sometimes the retrenchment can be more powerful than the reform itself. And some of what we are experiencing right now is exactly that.
… continued at TheNation.com, HERE   7-5-2021

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“Critical Race Theory” has been attacked on Fox News nearly 1300 times.  It’s being banned from public schools and colleges in something like 15 Republican states.  But what IS “critical race theory”?  And why is this happening now?  Kimberlé Crenshaw explains; she teaches law at Columbia and UCLA, and she’s probably the most prominent figure associated with critical race theory—she coined the term 30 years ago.  She’s also creator of the concept “intersectionality.”
Also: there’s a new book about the sixties–about the heroism, and the disasters, of the movements of that decade.  The authors are the brother and sister team David Talbot and Margaret Talbot–David is the founder of Salon.com, and Margaret writes for the New Yorker. 7/1/2021

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First, the divorce last May, and then Warren Buffett resigned as a trustee last week; so, who exactly IS Bill Gates, the second richest man in the world, giving his money to? Tim Schwab, writer of award-winning reports on the Gates Foundation, explains.
Next Up: the political transformation of Kyrsten Sinema: Aida Chavez of The Intercept reports.
Also: Dr. Seuss Enterprises took six of his books out of print because they contained racist drawings. Katha Pollitt comments.
And, Obama’s best-selling autobiography, “A Promised Land” reminds us of a time when Donald Trump barely existed on our political landscape and in our consciousness. Historian Eric Foner comments.  7/1/2021

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Voting rights suffered a defeat in the Senate this week, but really it’s just the latest battle in a continuing struggle—and if anything, it clarifies the real problem: the filibuster must go, at least for voting rights legislation. John Nichols says it’s now up to grassroots groups to go to work on reluctant Democrats during the July 4 break.
Also, here’s an idea: Create a new Federal Writers Project, hiring a thousand out of work writers and journalists to document American lives during the pandemic year. It’s in a bill proposed in the House by Los Angeles Representative Ted Lieu. David Kipen explains; he’s former director of literature for the National Endowment for the Arts, and it was his idea.  6/23/2021

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Tuesday Republicans blocked the Senate from even beginning to consider voting rights legislation. Chuck Schumer said afterwards, “In the fight for voting rights, this vote was the starting gun, not the finish.” Now what? Harold Meyerson comments.
Also: Most of us think of Jimmy Carter as a failure as president, the Democrat who opened the door to Reagan, and the only president whose work AFTER leaving office was better than his work IN office. Kai Bird says we need to reconsider Carter and his presidency: He had more accomplishments, and was more complicated, than people realized. Kai’s new book is called “The Outlier: The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter.”
And Ella Taylor talks about LA’s rebel nuns of the sixties – Sister Corita and her friends at Immaculate Heart College. They’re the subject of a new documentary, called “Rebel Hearts.” 6-23-2021