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Put the bartenders in charge

4/18/2019

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Charles City Press, 4-18-19

His name was Joe, and he tended bar at place called Fitzpatrick’s in Iowa City back in the late 1980s.
​

As the song goes, he was “quick with a joke, or to light up your smoke,” although I didn’t smoke, and I honestly don’t know much more about the guy.

It’s been 30 years since I’ve seen him, and I have no idea what became of him.

But if he ran for president of the United States, I’d probably vote for him in a second.

Fitzpatrick’s was located just a block away from my apartment when I was in college, and it was a good place to stop on my way home, walking back from my classes on campus. In fact, I stopped there a lot — so often that when I walked in, Joe would have my Miller Genuine Draft poured before the door closed behind me.

The bar was mostly empty that time of the day, and often it was just Joe and me, talking about whatever there was to talk about — politics, movies, women, our families, classes, the Cubs, the Hawkeyes, religion, music — anything on our minds was fair game. Joe had a unique and interesting insight into just about every topic, but he also had a unique way of listening and understanding.

He liked to paraphrase Mark Twain. “It’s not what you don’t know that will kill you, James,” he’d sometimes say to me. “It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”

That’s the kind of thing you need to hear from a bartender. Thanks to Joe, I’ve come to believe that bartenders are the backbone of society.

Fast forward to present day, and we have a woman known as “AOC.” She’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a recently-elected representative of New York’s 14th congressional district — the Bronx. At age 29, she is the youngest woman to ever serve in the U.S. Congress.

She advocates for some ideas that seem crazy, at best, to some people, and so she’s become an easy target for her political adversaries.

Among other things, she supports a progressive, socialist-leaning platform that includes free Medicare for all, the much-misunderstood “Green New Deal,” abolishing ICE, free college and trade school, and much higher tax rates for people with incomes over $10 million per year.

She is frequently attacked for those points of view, and that’s fair. All ideas need to be scrutinized, and when you’re an elected official, you should expect to be proverbially slapped around a little when your ideas seem, on the surface, to be out of step with conventional wisdom.

But what isn’t fair, to me, is the fact that she’s being personally attacked because she once worked as a bartender.

Even the president of the United States has called AOC out publicly because she once tended bar and waited tables.

“The Green New Deal, done by a young bartender, 29 years old,” the president mocked, to snide cheers from other elected officials of his party. “A young bartender, young wonderful woman.”

As if serving beer somehow disqualifies a person from being taken seriously. The representatives and pundits who are mocking and jeering AOC for tending bar have obviously never done any real work in their lives, and they don’t understand the importance of a good bartender.

Beer is of significant importance to our nation’s history. Thomas Jefferson wrote much of the Declaration of Independence in a bar —Philadelphia’s Indian Queen Tavern. Did his bartender help him? It seems to me that the idea that government should derive its power “from the consent of the governed” is exactly the kind of thing Joe would have said to me 30 years ago as he cleaned the mugs and wiped off the tables at Fitzpatrick’s.

John and Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry and James Madison were all on record as strong believers in the unifying power of beer, and all vigorously promoted the brewing industry in the colonies.

George Washington, still the father of the country, operated a small brewery at Mount Vernon. It is well-known that during the Revolutionary War, Washington insisted that his soldiers receive a quart of beer as part of their daily rations.

And aside from all that, is there anything more American than the idea that someone can rise up from a poor, working-class background and become an elected official, or even something more? To me, that’s the whole point of being an American — it’s why I like living here.

And AOC isn’t just a “young bartender.” She actually has over a decade of formidable political experience with various campaigns and grassroots organizations. Before running for Congress, she served as an educational director for the 2017 Northeast Collegiate World Series for the National Hispanic Institute. She graduated with Latin honors from Boston University with degrees in international relations and economics. She also founded her own successful publishing company, Brook Avenue Press. All that, and she isn’t even 30 years old.

Her ideas may seem crazy to you, but they are legitimate ideas, worthy of discussion.

I have no idea if AOC was as good at tending bar as my old friend, Joe, but she took a job working 18-hour shifts as a bartender and a waitress after her father died. Her mother, who cleaned houses and drove a school bus, wasn’t going to be able to keep up with the payments on her home without some help.

So AOC put in the work to help her mother fight foreclosure.

I think we need more people like that governing — at the consent of the governed — not fewer. And I certainly believe that if you’re going to disparage AOC, you should be criticizing her policies, not mocking her because she once worked for a living.

If my old friend Joe had told me 30 years ago that the United States Congress was one day going to be filled with working-class people like bartenders, bus drivers, nurses, teachers, farmers and factory workers, my reply would have been simple and straightforward.
​

“I’ll drink to that.”

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General summary of the Mueller Report

4/18/2019

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By Jared Yates Sexton


(Jared Yates Sexton (born October 7, 1981) is an American author and political commentator from Linton, Indiana. He is an associate professor in the Department of Writing and Linguistics at Georgia Southern University. He has been a a regular contributor to The New Republic and The New York Times.)


All right. I just finished the Mueller Report. I'm going to combine the most shocking and important revelations in one thread. Long and short: there was collusion, there was obstruction, Donald Trump needs to be removed from office. Immediately.

Mueller found that Russia was actively interested in electing Trump president, as early as his announcement, if not earlier. Operations began just as Trump Campaign took off. Obvious the two are parallel organizations that occasionally worked together, had the same goals.

Multiple members of the Trump Campaign were approached by Russia. They were receptive sometimes, other times they just proceeded with knowledge that Russia was interfering on their behalf. They were not ignorant of the fact that Russia was interfering, not at all.


Trump and Cohen continued work on Trump Tower Moscow deal while actively misleading the public as to whether he had business in Russia. He knowingly lied to the American public while Cohen worked with people who seemingly thought the hotel and the election were intertwined.


Perhaps the most critical piece of information is that the Trump Campaign knew that the DNC emails were going to be released before they were. They had an active, multi-pronged plan in place to capitalize off the communications stolen by the Russian government.


Mueller found that Donald Trump, himself, knew that Wikileaks had the DNC emails before they were released and was in contact with campaign members and people outside of campaign and planned how to capitalize off their release.


Trump's call for Russia to find Clinton's emails was fruitful. Within hours they followed his call and worked to find them. Despite saying it was just a TV stunt, he repeated the call off-camera. It was collusion in real time and in the light of public. No other way to say it.


As for the Trump Tower meeting, Mueller believed that Donald Trump Jr and Jared Kushner committed crimes, but worried that courts would lose the thread on legal definition of the crime and wasn't sure what the $ value of Clinton dirt was and if it was enough.


Paul Manafort was especially lousy in the collusion front. He obviously had financial incentive and discussed battleground states with Russian individual, including Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, leading to suspicion that there were targeted efforts or interference.


Manafort discussing battleground states with Russia is really, really unsettling. There's a ton of new ground here to cover and who knows what it led to and what can be proven. You could make an argument that this is possible what turned the election.


In terms of obstruction, it is quite obvious that Mueller was communicating that there were SEVERAL instances of obstruction, SEVERAL instances of attempted obstruction, and that Congress should address the issue.


Trump actively wanted Mueller out of the investigation, said as much repeatedly. He wanted to fire him and worried that his appointment would be "the end" of his presidency.


Trump repeatedly told his subordinates to obstruct justice. He had them contact the principals, including Comey and Flynn, in order to take their temperature and communicate what Trump thought. It was a giant game of illegal telephone.


Trump repeatedly would call Comey, take his temperature, and try and get him to take it easy on Flynn. He had Reince Priebus contact Flynn, take his temperature, seemingly try and work him in order to keep his loyalty.


Multiple people in Trump's orbit declined to perform actions they thought were obstruction, including Chris Christie, who counseled Trump on how to not obstruct justice and watched him do it anyway.


After it was revealed that Mike Flynn had illicit contact with Russia, Trump shook his hand and told him he'd be taken care of. It seems as if the exchange was a promise that Trump would help him with the fallout.


Trump continually and actively addressed those in his orbit to either lie or coverup what they'd done wrong. He was constantly worried people would roll on him and constantly sought to get their stories straight in case of investigation.


In a bizarre situation, Trump said outloud that he wanted an Attorney General who would protect him. He said he believed the AG position wasn't independent. He wanted an individual who would "protect him" and wouldn't mind keeping him illegal informed of investigations.


Trump knew that false testimony had been provided, particularly in Cohen's case. He was aware of a crime being committed and allowed it.


Trump wanted to obstruct even more than he did, but the only thing keeping him from doing so was that those around him didn't want to be accessories to a crime. Don McGahn said he wanted him to do "crazy shit" and refused.


Now, the big, big, big takeaways. Mueller wrote this report in such a way as to send a message that the investigation was not the end all be all of this matter. It's obvious he was keenly aware that there was still much work to do in regards to both collusion and obstruction.


In collusion, Mueller repeatedly mentions that he was hindered by the Trump team either lying or else not providing information. He said they destroyed evidence and stonewalled him. That's why he couldn't establish the charge in totality.


In terms of obstruction, Mueller was clearly putting the matter in the hands of Congress. This is a full and explicit layout of impeachable, high crimes. He was not intending Barr to steamroll over this thing. Not at all.


What's more, Barr not only lied, it appears he actively obstructed justice by misrepresenting the report in his summary. This wasn't just a partisan structuring, it was an attempt to try and save Donald Trump and the administration.


What William Barr did here is beyond disgusting and beyond shameful. He should be removed from office and there should be ramifications. This is, to put it bluntly, a massive and indefensible act of cover-up a systematic and overwhelming crime.


The Trump Campaign and the Trump Organization are criminal enterprises. The only difference between them and the infamous "mob" is that their crimes are explicitly white collar and international in nature. They acted with an intention to commit crimes, over and over.


It's impossible to read this report and not notice how careful they were to skirt the line of collusion and obstruction. They were obviously aware of what they were doing and that this is even a matter of discussion is an indictment of our political and judicial system.


This last thing, I want to preface by saying I don't say this lightly. It makes me unbelievably sad and depressed that this has happened. But we have a criminal president and he must be removed. It has to happen.


From the moment Donald Trump announced his campaign he engaged in one unethical and criminal act after another. It's in black and white that he and the people around him are happy traitors who put their wealth and power above the country's well-being.


Trump and his cronies made a decision to put power and wealth above the country. They actively sought help in undermining our democratic process. They didn't report constant Russian contacts or offers to help. They're traitors. That's it. They're traitors.


We can sit here and parse out legal definitions, but I don't know how you get to anything else. We can talk about the word collusion or obstruction, but they actively sought help from a foreign adversary to interfere in the election of the Presidency of the United States.


The House of Representatives must vote to impeach Donald Trump. I don't care if it won't carry out in the Senate. It's what impeachment exists to do. It's their constitutional obligation to impeach him for high crimes.


Republicans have a duty to remove Donald Trump from office. They can hide behind partisanship all they want, but it's right here in the open that he's betrayed the company and broken the laws. They need to realize that duty is higher than party. And it needs to happen now.


We are in a crisis. We have to recognize that. Right now, we have a criminally compromised president. If he's allowed to get through this unscathed, we're never, ever going back. This is a four-alarm fire and we have to treat it as such.


Right. Now.


There's no defending this. There's no spinning it. There's no rebuttal that can put this away. This is a massive and unbelievable crime on a scale before unseen. We need to get rid of the Trump Presidency before it destroys us, before it rots us from the inside out.
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The day I was touched by Joe Biden

4/4/2019

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Charles City Press, 4-4-19

It was almost seven years ago, and I was working as a sports editor for the Ottumwa Courier in Ottumwa, Iowa, and I needed to get to whatever my assignment was. Probably a ball game somewhere.

But I was trapped in the parking lot. I was gonna be late.

The reason, I soon learned, was because the Vice-President of the United States was across the street. His caravan was taking up an entire city block.

Joe Biden was talking to some supporters at the county Democratic headquarters, and everything was at a standstill. A crowd was forming, people maybe hoping to get a glimpse of the man.

Although I have some deeply-held political views, politics was not my beat. I didn’t really have an opinion of Joe Biden, positive or negative. It was more negative than positive at that moment, because Joe Biden was gonna make me late.

I walked over to where the onlookers were waiting, and was able to ask a person, who I assumed was a Secret Service officer, what the deal was. She was a woman, and I told her I had an event I needed to be at in a few minutes. I wondered if there was any way I could get out of there.

“You’re gonna be late,” she told me, in an all-business, deadpan voice.

So I stood there and waited. I asked her if she thought Biden would be coming over to talk to the crowd outside the headquarters. She wouldn’t say.

She then asked to look at my ID. I showed it to her. She had me open my camera bag, to make sure I had only camera stuff in there.

I don’t think she was suspicious of me, I think that she thought if she hassled me a little I’d quit asking her stupid questions. She was right.

Finally, Biden came out of the building, and sure enough, he jogged across the street to shake hands with people.

I was still late, but now this was cool. A chance to shake the Vice-President’s hand is a cool thing, whether you’re a fan of the guy or not.

As he approached me, I tried to think of something intelligent to say, since it isn’t all that often someone gets a moment with the Vice-President of the United States. Everyone else was saying things like, “give ‘em hell, Joe!” I thought that seemed pretty unoriginal and inconsequential. I thought maybe I should say something to get the message across that sometimes decisions in Washington can directly impact regular folks at home.

“Thank you, sir, for helping wind things down in Iraq,” I mumbled as I shook his hand. “Thanks for getting most of our troops home.”

He hesitated, then looked me in the eye.

“Did you have family serving over there?” he asked me.

“Some friends served,” I replied. “And my cousin, Mike, was killed over there in August of 2005.”

Suddenly, the handshaking stopped, and instead he placed his other hand on my arm and pulled me in, an inch closer. I had his full attention.

“Oh no! What happened to your cousin?”

And while a bunch of regular people and some Secret Service agents waited, impatiently, I gave the Vice-President of the United States a 30-second abbreviated history of my cousin, Sgt. 1st Class Michael A. Benson.

It wasn’t hard. Over the previous seven years, I’d memorized the story. Biden held my hand firmly in his hands as I told it, giving me reassurance and letting me know Mike’s story was the only thing in the world he cared about, at least until I was done telling it.

The story goes something like this:

He enlisted in 1985 after graduating from Winona Senior High School in Minnesota. During his two decades in the U.S. Army, he was awarded at least 23 medals, awards, or decorations in recognition of his outstanding military service.

He served in the first Gulf War, Operation Desert Storm, where he helped clear minefields in northern Iraq. He saw time in many other hotspots, and in some places he was not allowed to reveal. He worked his way up from ammunition bearer to squad leader to recruiter to trainer. He was in Iraq assigned to train Iraqi police and security forces. He was in his final year of service. 


He did not have to go to Iraq, but he wanted to. 

He was always a soldier, a teacher and a student. He was described by some who served with him as a person who never looked for a fight, but never backed down from one. He often told people that his middle initial, “A,” stood for “Airborne.” He was obviously proud that he earned that designation as part of his service.

On August 2, 2005, Mike was riding in a gunner’s turret in Baghdad when a suicide bomber driving a car that was carrying an improvised explosive device attacked his three-vehicle convoy, resulting in his sustaining severe head wounds. He was initially transferred from Iraq to a hospital in Germany where he was awarded a Purple Heart, and, while he did not immediately perish from his injuries, he died in a military hospital in Maryland on August 10, 2005. He died on American soil.

I probably didn’t say all of that, I rushed and mumbled my way through it, but I know I said this last part.

“I hadn’t seen him face to face for many years, but he will always be a hero to me.”

When I got to that last sentence, I started to choke up, as I often do when I talk about Mike.

“He’s a hero to me,” I said.

And Biden choked up, too, and had a tear in his eye, honest to God.

He put an arm around my shoulder, and pulled me close to him in something of a “man-hug,” leaned his face in, very close to mine, and talked into my ear, words only I could hear.

“Mike is my hero, too,” Biden said. “Let’s never forget our heroes, brother.”

Then he continued on, glad-handing the crowd, and I finally got to go cover my ball game.

I was impressed. I felt as if I had made a connection. I felt like he would probably remember the things I had told him about my cousin. I have no idea if that’s the case, but that’s how Biden made me feel.

Was the touching and the closeness uncomfortable for me? Yes, a little.

Was it appropriate? Absolutely. I can’t think of a more appropriate way to handle that situation. The act of making me uncomfortable for a moment ultimately gave me comfort. That’s the healing power of the human touch.

Now, I admit, I am not a woman, and a woman may not have felt the same way I felt about the exchange. Many men, I’m sure, would also not like to be touched that way by another man. Certainly, each individual has a right to determine what kind of contact is and is not appropriate to them.

But honestly, after my own exchange with Joe Biden, I find these recent stories about how his “handsy” behavior made them feel more than a little bit disingenuous.

Does this mean I’d support Joe Biden if he runs for President? Not at all. The world is not binary, and binary thought is killing us as a nation. My brief exchange with Joe Biden has nothing to do with whether or not I believe he’d be a good President, or a better President than anyone else. It takes a lot more than that to convince me one way or the other, and hopefully it will take a lot more than that to convince you.

But by way of quick comparison, let’s talk about a President who, rather than trying to provide comfort, instead mocks the parents of fallen soldiers, mocks a former POW who’s recently died of brain cancer, and insults the wife of a man who died honorably under his watch.

Let’s talk about a President who is not just “handsy,” but has been accused by several women of sexual assault and harassment, and who actually brags about grabbing them in places where you’re just not supposed to grab people.

If you’re rejecting Biden as a possible President simply because you find his behavior in these recent alleged stories inappropriate, that’s absolutely your right.

Just remember you’ll be sweeping away a molehill, under the shadow of a big, unstable mountain.

By the way, if you were wondering, my cousin’s real middle name was not “Airborne.” It was “Allen.”
​

And Joe Biden said he liked that I told him that.

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