How Much Better Off Would The Country Be If The Two Establishment Parties Just Disappeared?

Apparently George Washington was both prescient and correct when he warned, in his "farewell address" (1796), that political parties serve "always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection."

The Founders made a big mistake, though-- still not corrected all these years later-- in not including the choice "none of the above"-- in all elections. The country's politics would likely be a lot different-- and probably not worse.

Yesterday we had Washington's prescient on full display on day one of The Trump Show, a "convention" with no platform, just a shameful and repulsive pledge of allegiance to a cult of personality presidency. In effect, this is the 2020 Republican Party platform:

WHEREAS, The RNC enthusiastically supports President Trump and continues to reject the policy positions of the Obama-Biden Administration, as well as those espoused by the Democratic National Committee today; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the Republican Party has and will continue to enthusiastically support the President’s America-first agenda;

RESOVLVED, That the 2020 Republican National Convention will adjourn without adopting a new platform until the 2024 Republican National Convention;

RESOLVED, That the 2020 Republican National Convention calls on the media to engage in accurate and unbiased reporting, especially as it relates to the strong support of the RNC for President Trump and his Administration; and

RESOLVED, That any motion to amend the 2016 Platform or to adopt a new platform, including any motion to suspend the procedures that will allow doing so, will be ruled out of order.

Although no sitting Republican members of Congress have the guts to stand up to the Nazification of the GOP, yesterday Fox News reported that that a couple dozen ex members of Congress have endorsed Biden. Three are conservative former senators: Jeff Flake (AZ), John Warner (VA) and Gordon Humphrey (NH). And former members of the House include:

• Steve Bartlett (TX)
• Bill Clinger (PA)
• Tom Coleman (MO)
• Charlie Dent (PA)
• Charles Djou (HI)
• Mickey Edwards (OK)
• Wayne Gilchrest (MD)
• Jim Greenwood (PA)
• Bob Inglis (SC)
• Jim Kolbe (AZ)
• Steve Kuykendall (CA)
• Ray LaHood (IL)
• Jim Leach (IA)
• Connie Morella (MD)
• Mike Parker (MS)
• Jack Quinn (NY)
• Claudine Schneider (RI)
• Chris Shays (CT)
• Peter Smith (VT)
• Alan Steelman (TX)
• Bill Whitehurst (VA)
• Dick Zimmer (NJ)
• Jim Walsh (NY)

Former Staten Island Republican Congresswoman Susan Molinari spoke at the Democratic Convention last week and also endorsed Biden. Lookin' good for Biden, right? Yeah, I guess. Trump is down by about 10 points in the new CBS/YouGov poll. But-- look again-- independent voters seem to have drifted back in Trump's direction-- and that should be very worrying.

What did you make of the video up top? As someone who supports clean government, abhors corruption and doesn't believe in voting for lesser evils, there's nothing on earth that would get me to ever vote for Biden (let alone Trump), but I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from following their own conscience and telling themselves that getting rid of Trump-- the existential threat-- and then "dealing with" the lesser threat once Biden is in the White House, is paramount. Best of luck with that, kids.

This was an encouraging MI-06 poll result yesterday. Hoadley is a progressive state Rep and Upton is a hereditary multimillionaire and Trump enabler:

I posted it on Twitter and one wag replied: When is Biden going to endorse Upton, something he did in 2018, helping the conservative Republican win against a progressive Democrat.

Have you read about the People's Party convention coming up next Sunday, August 30? Speakers include Cornel West, Nina Turner, Jimmy Dore, Ryan Knight, Marianne Williamson and Mike Gravel. I won't argue with this and wish them all the best and will do what I can to help support them in my own small way. I mean doesn't this sound good?

Our vision is a major new progressive populist party that will deliver what regular people take for granted in so many other countries: single-payer health care, free public college, money out of politics, an infrastructure jobs program, a $15 minimum wage, financial regulations, and more.

We need actual representation in our government. A majority of people in the US don’t feel represented by either the Democratic or Republican parties. We’ve watched these parties turn their backs on us to answer every call of the billionaires and donors. Overwhelming numbers of Americans understand these parties cannot be salvaged. Polls show that almost two out of three Americans are now calling for a major new party.  It’s time to build the party we’re looking for-- one that brings us all together.

When the pandemic hit, the Democrats and Republicans spent trillions of dollars bailing out Wall Street while leaving tens of millions of people unable to afford food and housing. Movement for a People’s Party, along with our partner organizations, led more than fifty rallies, on two different Saturdays in July, to let members of Congress know: “Do the right thing, help the people, or we will evict you from office!”

The Movement for a People’s Party continues to stand in solidarity with the communities whose pain and struggle have been deeply exacerbated these past few months.

At Too Much Information yesterday, David Sirota went after Rahm Emanuel and the corrupt Republican wing the Democratic Party he represents. "Progressives," wrote Sirota, "are told to keep quiet until after the election-- meanwhile, corporate Dems are blasting out divisive ideological messages that could demoralize Democratic voters and depress turnout... [A]t the very moment many good progressives are blunting their criticism and making clear that defeating Trump is of utmost importance, Corporate Democrats aren’t being asked to wait or hold their tongues. In fact, they are doing the opposite: Rahm Emanuel-- who has been advising Biden-- just went on television to show that the corporate wing of the party is intent on using the stretch run of the Most Important Election Of Our Lifetime™ not to doggedly focus on actually winning the election, but to instead try to predetermine post-election policy outcomes. Emanuel and his ilk depict themselves as evincing a non-ideological “just win, baby” attitude. But they are most decidedly pushing a very clear corporate ideology-- and they are doing so in dangerously divisive ways that could depress the big turnout that’s desperately needed to defeat Trump."





Emanuel was exulting in the defeat of popular progressive agenda items: "[T]here’s no new Green Deal, there’s no Medicare For All, probably the single two topics that were discussed the most. That’s not even in the platform."

Emanuel also isn’t just some random blowhard pundit spewing a corporate line. The Chicago Tribune in May reported that “Emanuel is having regular conversations with presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his top advisers about economic policy."

So when Emanuel is refusing to self-censor in the name of “unity” and making these kinds of divisive declarations that stomp on progressive voters, he’s speaking from a position of real power. And he’s not just tweeting these comments, which could depress voter enthusiasm. He’s making them to a giant national television audience.

Corporate Democrats Are Not Holding Their Tongues

Now sure, you could try to write off Emanuel’s rhetoric as just the anomalous bloviations of notorious super-villain who pushed NAFTA and anti-immigration policies and who famously called progressives “f-ing retarded.” But sorry, this isn’t a one-off-- this is part of a larger pattern over the last few weeks and months.

As progressives are told to keep quiet, Democratic Party officials engineered a convention light on policy proposals, but one that gave prime convention speaking slots to the anti-climate-science, anti-union former Republican Gov. John Kasich of Ohio and to Colin Powell, who lied America into a war that killed hundreds of thousands of people. In his CNBC interview, Emanuel said “this will be the year of the Biden Republican”-- and he noted that promoting these figures was designed to help Biden deliberately send an anti-progressive message to voters because “John Kasich and Colin Powell don’t exactly endorse (or) support big-P progressive policies.”

This is the kind of move that is potentially disillusioning for Democratic voters who were previously told that a Democratic victory isn’t just a return to status quo-- but a step forward in strengthening the movements for climate action, worker rights and a more sane foreign policy.

Similarly, as progressives are told to shut the hell up, Democratic aides on Capitol Hill leaked word that the party’s lawmakers may immediately replay the 2009 debacle and block a public health insurance option after the election-- a move that is potentially demotivating for millions of Americans currently losing their private health insurance.

As progressives are told to mute themselves, Team Biden last week publicly signaled that a new Democratic president might prioritize deficit reduction and budget austerity in the middle of an economic crisis-- a move that is potentially deflating for millions of voters who have previously been told that President Biden’s agenda makes him the next FDR.

As progressives are told to keep quiet, Biden’s campaign leaks to Politico that the transition team building Biden’s prospective administration is being advised by Wall Street pal Larry Summers and former corporate super-lobbyist Steve Richetti.

And as progressives are told to muzzle themselves, Corporate Democrats went scorched earth and spent $15 million to intervene in primaries, stymie progressive Democratic candidates and tilt intraparty contests to business-friendly candidates. Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi works to unseat Democratic Sen. Ed Markey, one of the Senate’s few progressive lawmakers, and to crush a spirited primary challenge to Rep. Richard Neal, who has used his committee chairmanship to block even modest health care reforms.

‘Hold the line. Win. Lead.’

Clearly, this is a coordinated campaign by the right-wing of the Democratic Party to prioritize its policy goals above everything-- even motivating core Democratic voters to turnout in record numbers during the general election.

The best response to such an onslaught isn’t to ignore it or succumb to dishonest unity-themed demands for silence and fealty. After all, the folks making those demands don’t actually want unity-- they are aiming for corporate victory at all costs, even if waging a war for that intraparty win could depress enthusiasm for the Democratic ticket.

The smarter response is to follow the lead of Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who last week pushed back against the Corporate Democrats’ attempt to resurrect GOP-style austerity politics. Rather than just sitting there and staying silent, she declared that if the party wins in November, it must make “massive investment in our country or it will fall apart. This is not a joke. To adopt GOP deficit-hawking now, when millions of lives are at stake, is utterly irresponsible. Hold the line. Win. Lead.”

The brilliance of this kind of response is that it accomplishes two objectives: It stands up for a real change, and it reassures Democratic voters that there are at least some people who are serious about going to Washington and fighting for what the party purports to believe in.

Put another way, it fortifies the progressive agenda and it helps energize Democratic voters to turn out, because it casts the election not just as a meaningless charade that won’t matter after November because everyone will sell out anyway. It instead depicts the election as an event with high stakes beyond Trump-- a turning point that can create new policies that will actually matter in people’s lived experience.

This is how you avoid the 1988-Dukakis-collapse debacle and motivate the big turnout that can defeat Trump.

You don’t tell voters that “nothing would fundamentally change.”

You don’t blast out a story about how the Democratic presidential nominee told his Wall Street donors that he isn’t proposing new legislation to change corporate behavior.

You don’t turn your party convention into a pageant for Republican icons.

You don’t have the disgraced-mayor-turned-Wall-Street guy advise your presidential candidate-- or have him go on Corporate America’s favorite television station during a health care emergency and a climate crisis to effectively laugh at progressives who are pushing Medicare for All and a Green New Deal.

To paraphrase one of the best tweets in history, you don’t try to turn the election into a centrist rally for the idea that better things aren’t possible-- and you sure as hell don’t ask progressives to shut up.

You instead focus intently on telling your party’s voters how the election will materially improve their lives.

Of course, the Democratic Party machine and the Biden campaign aren’t really interested in doing that right now. They want to run an anti-Trump campaign, and nothing else.

In light of that, progressives shouldn’t unilaterally disarm and stay silent when Corporate Democrats are getting bolder and more brazen about using this pre-election period to push their depressing, better-things-aren’t-possible policy agenda.

Staying quiet in the face of that pablum doesn’t help. The real way to help boost turnout and energize voters is for progressives to push back against the corporate propaganda and make clear that-- whether the establishment likes it or not-- this election can and will offer the opportunity to achieve something even bigger than just getting rid of Trump.

Enabling Trump-- That's What Congressional Republicans Continue To Do

Trump by Joel Peter Witkin

In 1790, the first president of the United States, wrote a letter to the congregants of the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, which said, in part, that "the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support... May the children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig-tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid. May the father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his own due time and way everlastingly happy."

Sunday, Jewish community leaders in Pittsburgh sent a letter to the current occupant of the White House, an illegitimate, fake president who stokes hatred and bigotry to unite his violent, hate-filled, moron followers.

President Trump:

Yesterday, a gunman slaughtered 11 Americans during Shabbat morning services. We mourn with the victims’ families and pray for the wounded. Here in Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood, we express gratitude for the first responders and for the outpouring of support from our neighbors near and far. We are committed to healing as a community while we recommit ourselves to repairing our nation.

For the past three years your words and your policies have emboldened a growing white nationalist movement. You yourself called the murderer evil, but yesterday’s violence is the direct culmination of your influence.

President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you fully denounce white nationalism.

Our Jewish community is not the only group you have targeted.  You have also deliberately undermined the safety of people of color, Muslims, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities. Yesterday’s massacre is not the first act of terror you incited against a minority group in our country.

President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you stop targeting and endangering all minorities.

The murderer’s last public statement invoked the compassionate work of the Jewish refugee service HIAS at the end of a week in which you spread lies and sowed fear about migrant families in Central America. He killed Jews in order to undermine the efforts of all those who find shared humanity with immigrants and refugees.

President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you cease your assault on immigrants and refugees.

The Torah teaches that every human being is made b’tzelem Elohim, in the image of God.

This means all of us.

In our neighbors, Americans, and people worldwide who have reached out to give our community strength, there we find the image of God.  While we cannot speak for all Pittsburghers, or even all Jewish Pittsburghers, we know we speak for a diverse and unified group when we say:

President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you commit yourself to compassionate, democratic policies that recognize the dignity of all of us.

Melania will go to Pittsburgh with Trumpanzee. I bet she doesn't wear that fetching "I Don't Give A Damn" designer jacket this time. It might unsettled the Adelsons and other wealthy kapos and court Jews.

Charlie Dent is a mainstream conservative-- albeit with a 93% Trump adhesion record-- from Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley. He retired from Congress in May and the heart of his old district (now PA-07) will likely go to Democrat Susan Wild. On Thursday, Dent was on a CNN panel when he was asked about his former House colleague Ron DeSantis taking contributions from Nazis in his gubernatorial race. Steven Alembik, who once called President Obama a "Muslim nigger," has given DeSantis thousands of dollars. Dent's response was that he wasn’t aware of it "I certainly would’ve returned it... if he’s getting contributions from people who have this type of history, I would certainly just send it back. I don’t understand why he would hang on to it."



If I lived in Allentown-- I used to live just north of there in Stroudsburg-- I would have admired Dent for that... but because I disagree with him on fundamental issues, I still would not have voted for him. Sure, good for ex-Congressman Dent. But... that's it. Look at that voting record linked in the first sentence of the first paragraph!

It gets worse. Trump and DeSantis are brothers from another mother-- and Trump got him the nomination and has two more rallies in Florida for him in the next week. There are no Republicans in Congress standing up to Trump's poisonous, divisive rhetoric, not even in the mild way Dent stood up against DeSantis. Monday, Bernie wrote to his supporters that "Trump is going to try to divide us in this final week before the election. He is going to try to pit us against each other by race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, immigration status and however he can do it. He is desperate to do it because he knows that if working people, young people, and people of color stand united, we are going to win. If he can divide us up, right-wing Republicans and the big-money interests will win. What I saw on my tour was a people who are united. People who know that real change is possible when large numbers of ordinary Americans speak out, get involved in the democratic process, and vote. Progressive change is coming." Not if Trump-- and his Republican enablers can stop it. And Trump doesn't believe in any kinds of boundaries. He's in it to win it. For him it's all "Fuck the norms; fuck the rules."

Chuck Todd and his crew noted that "Tragedy and terror have dominated the last 72 hours in American politics." It was all about the #MAGAbomber in Florida and the #MAGAshooter in Pittsburgh. "Both," they wrote, "appear to be products of our toxic political environment. Sayoc was a Trump fan who plastered his white van with Trump and 'Make America Great Again' paraphernalia. The accused shooter in Pittsburg posted conspiracy theories and messages about the migrant caravan walking to the U.S.-Mexico border."

But there is a fundamental divide about our current politics-- the overheated and demeaning rhetoric, the inability to compromise, partisanship all the time. While most politicians, Democrats and Republicans, see this as a problem, President Trump sees it as an opportunity. Something to exploit. Something to help turn out his voters.

Consider Trump’s rally in Illinois on Saturday just hours after the shooting in Pittsburgh. The president first addressed the tragedy and condemned the killings. “This evil anti-Semitic attack is an assault on all of us. It’s an assault on humanity. It will require all of us working together to extract the hateful poison of anti-Semitism,” he said.

But then he returned his attention to his familiar targets. On the caravan: “Republicans want no crime, and no caravans, right?... This will be election of caravans, Kavanaugh, law and order and common sense.”

On Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters: “Now I did a little tiny bit of research and Mike's opponent, Brendan Kelly, is a vote for Nancy Pelosi, and of course, Maxine Waters, and their job-killing agenda.”

On Elizabeth Warren: “We can’t use Pocahontas anymore, she’s got no Indian blood!” he said. “I have more than she does, and I have none. So I can’t call her Pocahontas anymore, but I think I will anyway, do you mind?”

On his critics and opponents: “You have the haters and they continue to hate. These are foolish and very stupid people. Very stupid.”

John Cohen, counter-terrorism expert at Rutgers University, told NPR this morning that this kind of political rhetoric is dangerous. “Our political rhetoric has become much more demonizing. Your opponent isn’t just somebody you disagree with; it is somebody who is corrupt, it is evil. Problems such as immigration are not simply problems of resources and problems of policy; but the people who are coming here are treated as criminals.”

Trump tweeted last night and this morning that it was unfair to blame him for the pipe bomb scare and the shooting in Pittsburgh. “The Fake News is doing everything in their power to blame Republicans, Conservatives and me for the division and hatred that has been going on for so long in our Country. Actually, it is their Fake & Dishonest reporting which is causing problems far greater than they understand!”

But how can the president participate in finding a solution to the division and hatred when he doesn’t see them as problems-- but instead conditions to exploit?

And while the president views the criticism of his leadership as an opportunity to showcase himself as a victim to fire up his base, the silence of the rest of the GOP is what’s so loud this time.

Compare this moment with the aftermath of Charlottesville. There haven’t been any Republicans who have distanced themselves from Trump. It shows just how much of the GOP’s elected leadership fears the divisive tone Trump has set is actually the KEY to stoking the base for the election.

Let that sink in.

WILL THE LAST 72 HOURS OF NEWS BE THE FINAL ISSUE-EVENTS OF THE 2018 CAMPAIGN?

With eight days to go until the 2018 midterms, it is very possible that the pipe bomb scare and shootings in Pittsburgh are the final issue-events of this campaign season. Of course, there’s still plenty of time for another event or story. But with eight days left...

TRUMP, GOP DEFIANT THAT INCENDIARY RHETORIC DIDN’T CAUSE THE RECENT VIOLENCE

The Washington Post: “President Trump and his Republican allies remained defiant Sunday amid allegations from critics that Trump’s incendiary attacks on political rivals and racially charged rhetoric on the campaign trail bear some culpability for the climate surrounding a spate of violence in the United States.”

More: “Trump, who has faced calls to tone down his public statements, signaled that he would do no such thing-- berating billionaire liberal activist Tom Steyer, a target of a mail bomb sent by a Trump supporter, as a ‘crazed & stumbling lunatic’ on Twitter, after Steyer said on CNN that Trump and the Republican Party have created an atmosphere of ‘political violence.’”

Vice President Mike Pence told NBC’s Vaughn Hillyard this when asked about Trump’s language: "Look, everyone has their own style, and frankly, people on both sides of the aisle use strong language..."

TRUMP “READS THE DUTIFUL WORDS OF UNITY AND GRIEF … THAT AIDES PUT IN FRONT OF HIM, BUT HE REFUSES TO STICK TO THE SCRIPT”

The New York Times: “The president has made clear he does not see national harmony as his mission. He mocks the notion of being ‘presidential,’ and the crowds at his rallies egg him on, eager for him to ‘tone it up’ rather than ‘tone it down,’ as he puts it. He reads the dutiful words of unity and grief and determination that aides put in front of him, but he refuses to stick to the script. His people want a fighter, in his view, and he plans to give it to them. If the mandarins of Washington and the cable channels tut-tut over his language, it is because they are out to get him.”

Best of luck with that attitude. A poll released yesterday by the non-partisan Public Religion Research Institute found that a majority of Americans say there is nothing that Señor Trumpanzee could do to change their opinion of him. More than four in ten (46%) say they disapprove of Trump’s job performance and that there is nothing he could do to win their approval, while 14% say they approve of Trump and that there is nothing he could do to lose their approval. By contrast, four in ten Americans either approve (27%) or disapprove (13%) of the president but say that there is something he could do to change their mind. Among Democrats, almost eight in ten (78%) say they disapprove of the president and there is nothing he can do to win their approval, while 12% disapprove but say there is something he could do win their approval. By contrast, nearly four in ten (37%) Republicans say they approve of the president and that there is nothing he can do to lose their support. A slim majority (51%) of Republicans approve of Trump but say there is something he could do lose their approval."

This morning, though, the Washington Post reported that congressional leaders from both parties-- McConnell, Ryan, Schumer and Pelosi-- have all declined invitations to join Trump on his visit to Pittsburgh, where the city's mayor and most Jewish leaders have pleaded for him to stay away since his regime has fueled anti-Semitism through their rhetoric before and after Saturday’s massacre. CNN reported that "A spate of local and state officials also said they would not appear with Trump when he visits a hospital and pays respects to the 11 victims of Saturday’s massacre."

"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed."

-Proverbs 31:8

Stressful Christmas? At Least You’re Not George Washington-- A Guest Post By James Thompson

Christmas is approaching and it’s time to get into the holiday spirit. For some, this is stressful. But cheer up! At least you’re not George Washington. That man had real problems.

I’m writing this in my cluttered but comfortable office, but 239 years ago, George Washington and 3000 of his battered Continentals were huddled in makeshift encampments on the west bank of the Delaware River. Washington had ordered them to cross the river the day before to escape an approaching British army commanded by King George’s most effective general, Lord Charles Cornwallis. The wrathful Britain and his 9,500 redcoats had chased Washington for 90 harrowing miles after forcing him to abandon Fort Lee on the Hudson River 18 days before.

A variety of demoralizing thoughts probably passed through Washington’s weary mind as he sat alone in his frigid tent. In the weeks before his retreat, he had led his army through a series of devastating defeats. In the process of losing New York, his forces had been decimated and his country’s struggle for political independence had been driven to the edge of collapse. The lives of his men and his own life were still in peril. The situation was dire to say the least.

A Most Hellish Scene

On 7 December 1776, Washington had ordered the remnant of his army to use all available means to get from the Jersey side of the Delaware to comparative safety on its Pennsylvania shore. Amazingly, artist Charles Willson Peale witnessed the spectacle. He had gone to Trenton with his Philadelphia militia to join Washington on the assumption that Washington still commanded a fighting force. Instead, he watched an exhausted, disorganized mob (which included his brother) spend its last ounces of energy to get out of harm’s way. Peale later described the event as “the most hellish scene I have ever beheld.”

Washington’s prospects were as bleak as Pennsylvania’s winter landscape. Only 15 percent of the men he commanded during the siege of Boston were still with him. Enlistments for many of these men would be up at the end of the year. Senior British commander William Howe supposed that if he left the Americans alone, they would all go home. As Washington’s army dissolved, the war would end. I suppose this idea put the King’s military commander in merry Christmas spirits.

What Howe did not factor into his calculation was the character of the American general, who I consider the greatest man in history-- a position I defend in my latest book George Washington’s Mulatto Man: Who Was Billy Lee? (Commonwealth Books of Virginia). Washington’s decisions in the last three weeks of December 1776 and the first week of 1777 illustrate the leadership qualities that earned him this exalted title. Instead of giving up in the face of overwhelming odds, said William Dwyer, Washington determined to make “a bold stroke that might save the collapsing revolution.”

Men like Peale answered Washington’s call and rallied to his side. By Christmas day, 6000 men were in his ranks. That night, on crammed barges, these intrepid men crossed back over the ice-choked Delaware. Many of us know Immanuel Leutz’s painting of Washington standing mid-ship on one of these laden vessels [above]. He is the embodiment of American spirit, defying the elements as his men force their way through the crushing ice. Pulling an oar at his knee is his faithful servant, Billy Lee. Holding the flag at his shoulder is his fellow Virginian and future President, Lieutenant James Monroe. What a scene!

The Fox Escapes

At daybreak, Washington’s patchwork army surprised and captured the Hessian garrison at Trenton. After this unlikely victory, Washington brought his men, his Hessian prisoners, and the supplies he captured back to Pennsylvania. On the 28th, he learned that Cornwallis and his army of veterans were racing to Trenton to redeem the situation. In a moment of seeming madness, Washington ordered his men back across the Delaware to meet the Englishman and his bloodthirsty legion. Dug in on the south side of Assunpink Creek, his citizen soldiers withstood three furious assaults. As darkness settled over the battlefield the afternoon of 2 January, the confident British commander suspended his attack. “We’ll bag the fox in the morning,” Cornwallis told his officers before retiring. “My lord,” his quartermaster protested, “if you trust these people tonight, you will see nothing of them in the morning.”

Visions of sugarplums-- being the honor of suppressing the American rebellion against his king-- may have danced through Cornwallis’s dreams.  But while he slept, the fox escaped. Just as William Erskine predicted, Washington stole away during the night. Marching on an unmarked “byroad,” he led his exhausted men to Princeton. There he defeated Cornwallis’s rearguard and completed his bold stroke. By doing what seemed impossible, Washington saved the imperiled American cause. He went on from there to win the American Revolution. When it was over, this unconquerable man led his countrymen in creating history’s first “government by the people.”

I find these Christmastime events a reassuring point of reference for today’s uncertain world. Perhaps you will too. Merry Christmas.

----

James Thompson studied art at the Delaware Art Museum and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in philosophy from the University of Virginia. For several years, he lived across the Rivanna River from Monticello on the Shadwell farm of Jefferson's eldest daughter, Martha Jefferson Randolph. Thompson cultivated his interest in the history of ideas teaching courses in philosophy, religion, and ethics and in western civilization at Strayer University in Alexandria, Va. He is the author of seven books, including The Birth of Virginia’s Aristocracy (2010), The Dubious Achievement of the First Continental Congress (2011), and Thomas Jefferson’s Enlightenment-- Paris 1785 (2014), all published by Commonwealth Books of Virginia.

If you want to visit the museum on the site of Teddy Roosevelt's birth and boyhood, you'll have to wait a year

Regardless of what the National Park Service says, Theodore Roosevelt's birthplace hasn't existed for nearly 200 years. For the next year, the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site -- on the site of TR's birthplace -- will be closed for renovation.

GRAMERCY -- Theodore Roosevelt's birthplace is getting a major renovation to upgrade its fire and electric systems and make the museum more ADA accessible, officials said.

-- the start of a DNAinfo NY report, "Teddy Roosevelt's
Birthplace Closing for $3.7M in Renovations"

by Ken

Since all things Roosevelt are hot now, in the wake of the most recent Ken Burns docu-series, I thought fans would want to know about this not-quite-breaking news. But before we proceed, we have to correct something the writer of DNAinfo New York piece herself knows is incorrect, as she makes clear deeper into the piece.

The brownstone — which features five period rooms, two museum galleries and a bookstore — had been demolished in 1916. It was then rebuilt in 1919 by the Women's Roosevelt Memorial Association with the help of Roosevelt's widow and sister in a bid to look as similar to the original as possible.

So, notwithstanding the heading you'll find at the National Park Service Web page linked in that DNAinfo NY opening paragraph, as illustrated above, what has been closed is not TR's birthplace, which hasn't existed for almost a century -- and even then what stood on the site didn't bear much resemblance to the "birthplace" as young Teddy would have known it.

What's more, half of the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site was ever the site of TR's birthplace, though the other half of the site does have a historical connection. The National Park Service knows all about this too, because within its "Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace" Web page, there's a page that gets the story pretty much right, as far as I can tell. (This is the page linked at "Women's Roosevelt Memorial Association" in the later paragraph above.)

On November 30, 1919, the Woman's Roosevelt Memorial Association paid off the $25,043.63 mortgage on 28 E. 20th Street, thereby acquiring ownership of Theodore Roosevelt's birthplace, as well as the adjoining 26 E. 20th St. property that was once owned by Theodore's uncle, Robert Roosevelt. This transaction completed the first step in a long process of restoring and renovating the late president's childhood home into a memorial. However, 28 an 26 E. 20th Street in 1919 was a much different place than it had been when Theodore was born there in 1858.

With the evolution of the Gramercy area into an increasingly commercial district in the mid-late 19th century, the Roosevelts decided to move uptown to 6 W. 57th Street in 1873. By 1898, the once neo-gothic brownstones of 20th Street had been transformed into storefronts. While celebrating TR's 47th birthday in 1905, the Roosevelt Home Club decided to buy 28 E. 20th Street, in hopes of preserving its initial structure from further renovations and maintaining the site as a National Landmark. However, in 1916, the group let go of the building, and it was then transformed into a two-story café. Roosevelt declined the opportunity to preserve the mantelpieces or any other part of the house before its demolition.

In 1919, shortly after TR's death, the Women's Roosevelt Memorial Association purchased the 20th street properties and established very specific plans for the buildings' restorations. 28 E. 20th Street was to be a meticulous reproduction of Roosevelt's home as it was in his childhood, complete with family portraits, original furniture, and other Roosevelt heirlooms. Any original pieces that could not be salvaged were to be reproduced exactly. The 26 E. 20th Street home would be renovated into a museum and a library, holding influential works in addition Theodore's own writings. The fourth and fifth floors of both buildings would hold auditoriums where New York school children could attend assemblies on the history of the country and the state, as well as the life and work of the Theodore Roosevelt. The Women's Roosevelt Memorial Association wanted to transform the buildings into more than just museums; they wanted to create an interactive experience to promote the principles that helped shape Theodore's strong character.

On January 6, 1921, the second anniversary of Theodore's death, General Leonard Wood, former commander of the Rough Riders, laid the cornerstone of the Roosevelt House, officially marking the renovation commencement. The memorial was formally opened to the public on October 27, 1923, which would have been Theodore's 65th birthday. Three hundred people attended the opening ceremony inside the newly restored house. Tributes were made from General Wood, President Calvin Coolidge, James Garfield, Secretary of the Interior in the Roosevelt Cabinet; Governor Pinchot of Pennsylvania, Chief Forester during the Roosevelt presidency; and Theodore Roosevelt, TR's eldest son.

As articulated by the Woman's Roosevelt Memorial Association, the Roosevelt house was to be a living testament to the president's great American spirit; "a place where his voice may, year after year, be clearly and strongly heard". The association hoped the late president's former home would promulgate Theodore's ideals of courage, fairness, service, and perseverance, especially to the country's youth. The memorial would be national center for Americanization and an inspiration of greatness for generations to come.

So the cumbersome verbiage of the name "Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site" actually makes the thing correct, in the same way that the cumbersome name "Federal Hall National Memorial," for the building at the intersection of Wall, Nassau, and Broad Streets in Lower Manhattan's Financial District, is a correct designation for the building that now stands on the site of the Federal Hall where George Washington took the oath of office as the first president of the United States in 1789 -- but "Federal Hall" is not correct.


Standing there on his pedestal in front of Federal Hall National Memorial, George Washington is probably wondering what happened to the "Federal Hall" on whose balcony he famously took the presidential oath of office.

And here there's no issue of "look-alike" reconstruction. It's hardly a secret that the building that was known as Federal Hall in 1789 (built in 1700 in smaller form as NYC's second City Hall was torn down, after going through several other uses (there was hardly any call for a Federal Hall in NYC once the capital was moved to Philadelphia and then Washington, DC),  including once again serving as City Hall, in 1812, when the new City Hall (still in service) opened. The building that replaced it, a decade in the building before its opening in 1842 as the first U.S. Customs House, was never meant to bear any resemblance to Federal Hall; its significance-by-location was recognized only much later, with its designation in 1939 as Federal Hall National Memorial National Historic Site. (Now there's a mouthful.)

No, the cars aren't original either.

The "TR's birthplace" situation more closely resembles that of a different famous Lower Manhattan site, also associated with George Washington, "Fraunces Tavern." Visitors flock to the corner of Pearl and Broad Streets, maybe a quarter-mile south of Federal Hall National Memorial, and often think they're looking at the historic tavern that was a favorite haunt of George when he was in New York, the Queen's Head (for the portrait of Queen Charlotte on the building front), run by his supporter Samuel Fraunces. The thing is, the building that housed the historic tavern, after an additional century-plus of extensive damage and alteration, was finally slated for demolition. What's there now, completed in 1907, is a purported "replica" of the original -- a neat trick considering what sketchy knowledge there was of what the original looked like. (Just to confuse matters further, the building-that-isn't-Fraunces Tavern was designated as a NYC landmark in 1965. Since 1977 so has been the lovely block of old buildings it anchors on Pearl Street.)

No doubt the replica of TR's birthplace is a good deal more plausible, since presumably better information is available, and/or more plausibly conjecturable, about the actual birthplace, including its state when the future NYC police commissioner, NYS governor, and U.S. president was born, in 1858.

AS FOR THE RENOVATIONS TO THE SITE --

National Park Service spokesman Liam Strain describes the rehabbing of the TR birthplace site as "very delicate work," reports DNAinfo NY's Sybile Penhirin.

Strain said crews began removing artifacts from the home and relocating them to a secure facility and plan to begin renovation work this summer.

"We need to do work that doesn’t destroy the fabric of the home, it’s not like a private home where you could just remove walls. We have to be as minimally invasive as possible." . . .

The federal agency, which had been wanting to do the renovation work for the past several years, recently received 3.7 million to conduct "necessary and important improvements" at the historical site, officials said.

The museum's entire electric system, which dates back to when it opened to the public in the 1920's, will be replaced, Strain said. The fire alarm and sprinklers will also be swapped out for modern ones, which will be less likely to damage the museum's collection in the case they go off, he added.

The changes will also make the house more accessible to mobility-impaired visitors by adding two chair-lifts, one on the stairwell at the entrance level and another one that will go from the third floor to the auditorium on the fourth floor.

There is currently an elevator in the building, but it only goes up to the third floor of the four-story building. In addition, the auditorium hasn't been used for at least three years because the space wasn't accessible to everyone, Liam said.

A contractor for the work hasn't been chosen yet. NPS will put out a request for bids in July, with work expected to commence in August, Strain said.

Roosevelt, the only United States President born in the city, was born in the brownstone in 1858 and lived there until he was 14 years old.

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Obama-- That Gun Grabber

Aldo Moro before he was murdered

People who were happy that so many gun nuts shot each other at gun nut shows on Gun Appreciation Day Saturday are just meanies. Digby outlined a far better object for liberal Schadenfreude-- the self-inflicted and debilitating psychosis of the Republican base currently manifesting itself as a delusional right wing tenet of belief that the massacre at Sandy Hook never happened and that all those children are still alive and the grieving parents are actors hired by gun-grabber Obama. Are you wondering why no sincere person with a 3-digit IQ takes the Republican Party seriously any longer?

The leading version of the "Sandy Hook Hoax" theory, such as it is, holds that the incident was staged by the White House as a prelude to disarming America. Many of its claims are rooted in contradictory and confusing media statements that came out of the chaos of the first hours of the shooting, and which are virtually always present in such chaotic moments. (Similar confused media reporting served as the basis of the 9/11 Truth movement.)

Over 11 million people have already watched this video pushing the right-wing Sandy Hook Hoax conspiracy. I can't wait for someone to ask Michele Bachmann, Steve King, Steve Stockman, Paul Broun, Trey Radel, Louie Gohmert, Mike Coffman, Lynn Westmoreland, Tim Huelskamp, Phil Gingrey and Virginia Foxx about it! Would anyone in the House Crackpot Caucus dare publicly cast aspersions on such an article of Republican faith, exactly what they use to replace science and reality with as part of their collective world view?



Did someone say "reality?" This is reality: since 1968 more Americans have died from gunfire than died in all the wars of this country's history. And that's not a conspiracy theory or any kind of theory.

Who remembers Aldo Moro. He was twice the Prime Minister of Italy and in 1978 he was kidnapped and then murdered by the Red Brigades-- yes, there was once a militant, violent, armed, revolutionary movement. Back then the NRA was a big proponent of gun control and background checks and, especially of keeping weapons out of the hands of radicals (and particularly African American radicals). Anyway, last Monday Prospero Gallinari, the brigatista convicted-- probably wrongly-- of assassinating Moro, had a heart attack and died. During the desperate hunt for Moro-- the Red Brigades held him for 2 months before shooting him-- some in the security apparatus suggested torturing a brigatista they had in custody. The general in charge said "Italy can survive the loss of Aldo Moro. It would not survive the introduction of torture." Those crazy Italians, right? Although it wasn't an Italian general who said "Should any American soldier be so base and infamous as to injure any [prisoner]... I do most earnestly enjoin you to bring him to such severe and exemplary punishment as the enormity of the crime may require. Should it extend to death itself, it will not be disproportional to its guilt at such a time and in such a cause… for by such conduct they bring shame, disgrace and ruin to themselves and their country.” That was General George Washington (September 14, 1775) beginning an American military tradition that we do not torture, a tradition ended by George W. Bush. Sorry for the tangent. Let's get back to the main point here: Rush Limbaugh, Rep. John Lewis and the NRA.

Over a decade before the Red Brigades kidnapped and murdered Aldo Moro, Martin Luther King, Jr. was leading a movement of nonviolence to complete the freeing of African American slaves in the Deep South. John Lewis was one of his disciples and was severely beaten by uniformed, state-sanctioned Alabama fascists. The other day Rush Limbaugh implied Lewis should have had a gun. "If a lot of African-Americans back in the '60s had guns and the legal right to use them for self-defense, you think they would have needed Selma?... If John Lewis, who says he was beat upside the head, if John Lewis had had a gun, would he have been beat upside the head on the bridge?"



Rep. Lewis, who many people consider the conscience of the Congress doesn't agree with Limbaugh's vision. This is the press release his office sent out after Limbaugh's show:

In an effort to encourage people to resist new gun control legislation, a statement was made on The Rush Limbaugh Show today which misrepresents Civil Rights Movement history. In the shadow of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, in the year we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington in August, and a little more than a month before the annual celebration of the events in Selma, Rep. John Lewis was glad to address this inaccuracy.

"Our goal in the Civil Rights Movement was not to injure or destroy but to build a sense of community, to reconcile people to the true oneness of all humanity," said Rep. John Lewis. "African Americans in the 60s could have chosen to arm themselves, but we made a conscious decision not to. We were convinced that peace could not be achieved through violence. Violence begets violence, and we believed the only way to achieve peaceful ends was through peaceful means. We took a stand against an unjust system, and we decided to use this faith as our shield and the power of compassion as our defense.

"And that is why this nation celebrates the genius and the elegance of Martin Luther King Jr.'s work and philosophy. Through the power of non-violent action, Dr. King accomplished something that no movement, no action of government, no war, no legislation, or strategy of politics had ever achieved in this nation's history. It was non-violence that not only brought an end to legalized segregation and racial discrimination, but Dr. King's peaceful work changed the hearts of millions of Americans who stood up for justice and rejected the injury of violence forever."

WHAT HAPPENED IN SELMA ALABAMA?

On March 7, 1965, 600 peaceful nonviolent Civil Rights workers attempted to march from Selma to Montgomery to demonstrate the need for voting rights in Alabama. The march was led by John Lewis and Hosea Williams. They were met on the Edmund Pettus Bridge by Alabama state troopers who beat the unarmed marchers. Lewis suffered a concussion on the bridge. A few days after the march President Lyndon Johnson introduced a bill to the Congress which became the Voting Rights Act of 1965, described as one of the most effective pieces of legislation Congress has issued in the past 50 years. An important section of the Voting Rights Act is currently in jeopardy and will be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court in February.

David Frum, like Limbaugh a conservative Republican but, unlike Limbaugh, not a racist, mused aloud that "Lewis resisted the temptation to add the question: 'I wonder what Rush Limbaugh would say about a black protester who actually did fire upon state troopers and sheriff's deputies?'" Yes, that was when extreme right-wingers and the NRA was very much in favor of gun control. It was before the NRA became a lobbying group for weapons manufacturers.