Beggars Banquet (More Post-Election Reflections)

By Stacey Abrams, Michael Brod, Nick Bromell, Robert Chametzky, Kristi Coulter, Leslie Epstein, Bruce Jackson, Bob Levin, C. Liegh McIness, Zuzu Myers, Asha Sanaker, Aram Saroyan, Budd Shenkin, Tom Smucker, Scott Spencer, Alison Stone, Laurie Stone, Bill Svelmoe, and this walker in the city…

New York Minute

New York Man IMG_0755 (10)_Moment

Click the link to watch Michael Rapaport (it may take a few seconds to access the video): IMG_0755 (10)

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Choosey Beggars (Election 2020)

By Bernard Avishai, Paul Baicich, Russell Banks, Sue Bergeron, Michael Brod, Nick Bromell, Robert Chametzky, Kristi Coulter (x2), Benj DeMott, Chauncy DeVega, Mark Dudzic, Donna Gaines, Richard Goldstein, Karen Hornick, Bob Ingram, Bruce Jackson, Summer Lee, Bob Levin, Bob Liss, Leslie Lopez, C. Liegh McIness (2), Greil Marcus, Dennis Myers, Nathan Osborne, Ron Primeau, Lee Russell, Ruby Sales, Aram Saroyan, Budd Shenkin, Fredric Smoler, Tom Smucker, Laurie Stone, & Bill Svelmoe.

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True Crime

Just now at the age of 76, for the first time in my life, I was the victim of a crime. It was done largely over the internet, through emails, texts, and digital bank transfers, and I never laid eyes on the perpetrator, or spoke with her over the phone, or knew her address.

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The Bag I’m In

Things being as they were, when it became clear COVID would close the gym, I started hunting something new to punch. A heavy bag, I should say, besides being a fit way for any sentient being to respond to the world, aids your average septuagenarian’s anaerobic condition, hand-eye co-ordination, and balance – so’s he don’t fall on his nose when going down the hall for the night squirt.

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The Life of Little Richard and Deaths of Despair (A Review of Six Reports on the American Grind)

Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism, Anne Case and Angus Deaton, 2020.
The Meritocracy Trap, Daniel Markovitz, 2019.
On the Clock, Emily Guendelsberger, 2019.
A Collective Bargain, Jane McAlevey, 2020.
the case for A JOB GUARANTEE, Pavlina Tcherneva, 2020.
A Brief History of Fascist Lies, Federico Finchelstein, 2020.

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On Diversity and Tolerance: James Fitzjames Stephen vs John Stuart Mill

First of the Month readers might not warm to a Victorian criminal lawyer and judge who believed that law and morals were inseparably linked and for whom capital punishment was the bedrock of an effective system of justice. Offenders would emerge from the court presided over by James Fitzjames Stephen (1829-94) with their character in shreds and facing either a long and harsh period of incarceration, or the gallows.  The judge, Stephen believed, was merely the servant of the public’s sense of righteous indignation, and was duty bound not to disappoint.

However, law enforcement was only the day job for Stephen; he doubled as a prolific and combative writer who waded into every controversy – political, literary, theological, and scientific – that unsettled his age. He has recently featured in Russell Jacoby’s perceptive book, On diversity: the eclipse of the individual in a global age, as the robust critic of John Stuart Mill.

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Grazing with the Goats

So much was unique about the Lakers’ championship run in this year of the bubble, the suspension of play, the interpenetration of NBA business and progressive political action, the back-to-back erasures of 3-1 series leads by the inspired Denver Nuggets.  So much that we might fail to appreciate the degree to which we were witnessing the majestic raising of the bar for dominant duos in league history, just as the Lakers’ 16-5 playoff record proved their greatness.

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