Hamilton Nolan on Joe Biden’s latest political life.

Excerpted from THE GUARDIAN:

I am not mad at Joe Biden. He is a type. His type is “The Old Way of Doing Things.” Now that he is in the race, his type is represented. He rounds out the field. Now, Democratic voters truly have the entire buffet of choices, from “True Leftist Insurgent” to “Bland, Winning Young Résumé-Polisher” to “Indistinguishable Ambitious Congresspersons” to “The Same Old Kind of White Guy As Always”.

This is nothing to fear. This is healthy. This is a perfect referendum on where our country is now. Joe Biden, the avatar of the past, believes that he’s well positioned because after the shock of the Trump years, people want to go back to where we were. Wrong. People want to go somewhere new. I fully expect Joe Biden to step out of his campaign headquarters and fall directly into the huge pit that has opened up as America moved tectonically to the left. There is nothing scary about the candidate that represents the political philosophy that produced in the public the deadly cynicism that gave us Donald Trump. This plain fact will never be accepted by the sort of people who believe that Joe Biden is the answer, because accepting it is an indictment of an entire generation of leaders who consider themselves quite successful.

The Republican party has long been a corrupt tool for serving the interests of the rich by lying to the poor; dwelling on their role in bringing us here is like scolding an alligator for biting off your hand after you stuck it in his mouth. The Democrats are the ones who were supposed to save us. It was their failure in this duty that allowed the catastrophes to pile up. They failed to stop the post-Reagan explosion of economic inequality; they failed to stop the militarism that has embroiled us in endless war; they failed to argue for things like healthcare and education as rights rather than purchases; they fed our most vulnerable citizens to an evil machine labeled “criminal justice” in exchange for votes from racists. They earned their turn in power by agreeing not to use that power for the common good. And here we are: incredibly divided, hopelessly unequal, justifiably sick of our broken institutions, and very, very angry.

Good luck on the campaign trail, Joe. You’re about to meet an America that has already left you behind. I’m sorry you’ll have to find out the hard way.

New Audio: 3 MEMORIES OF COLLEGE 1977

Poetry Video BERLIN TRAVEL POEM

https://youtu.be/KA_xnRocrpQ

TIME’s David French on Trump’s weakness.

Excerpt from TIME magazine column post-Mueller Report:

It’s difficult to overestimate the extent to which Trump’s appeal to his core supporters is built around the notion that — regardless of his other flaws — he possesses a core strength, a willingness to “fight” and an ability to strike a degree of fear in the hearts of his opponents. I live in the heart of Trump country in Tennessee, and I have consistently heard the same refrain from his most loyal supporters. Trump, as they say, “kicks ass.” He was the ultimate alpha male, a political version of Tony Soprano, a formidable boss who commands an army of loyal consiglieri. Cross him at your peril.

But now, thanks to the Mueller report, his “fights” look more like temper tantrums, and those closest to him — including low men like Lewandowski and far-more-noble men like former White House counsel Donald McGahn — understand that his fury is passing and his directives are unreliable, seemingly transitory and easily forgotten or disregarded.

Moreover, his vaunted personal judgment — an image cultivated through years of careful television production on The Apprentice — has been exposed as well. When one reads Robert Mueller’s account of Trump’s own campaign chair’s extraordinary efforts to maintain an encrypted connection to Ukrainian and Russian oligarchs, it’s plain that Trump was played. Paul Manafort used Trump’s gullibility as a business opportunity.

Jamil Smith on the Democratic Party’s unwillingness to impeach.

[At this writing, Elizabeth Warren is the first 2020 Democratic Presidential candidate to support impeachment of Donald Trump.]

Excerpt from Jamil Smith’s ROLLING STONE Trump Impeachment article:
If Democrats were smarter, they would understand that initiating the impeachment of Trump might actually galvanize their base because it would demonstrate that leadership was willing to take the obvious, the logical and the constitutional step once presented with such an abundance of evidence. They would grasp that the visual of their party standing up to a president wedded equally to corruption and to his assortment of bigotries would be appealing to an electorate where black voters are increasingly driving the conversation. Democrats would seize upon the Mueller Report as a flashpoint for organization and recruitment, rather than take the task of prosecution that the Constitution assigned to Congress, hand it off to voters and call that “democracy.” It is up to us as citizens to choose our elected officials, not to do their jobs for them.

Found Poem created from Trump answers to Mueller questions

No recollection
No independent recollection
I do not recall
I have become aware
I have no recollection
I have no recollection
I do not remember the date
At this point in time
I have no recollection
Of any particular conversation
Where it occurred
Or who the participants were
I vaguely remember
I had no knowledge
Nor do I remember being aware

Newly recorded poem Not Quite Reconciled

From my 2015 chapbook One Corner of the Sky, on Amazon Kindle.

Old poem POETRY HOST'S LAMENT

Poem written sometime around 2003-2004 inspired by a long-dead reading at a long-dead independent bookstore near the Pacific Ocean.

POETRY HOST’S LAMENT

The first open reader of the night

was a man reading a single poem.

Unfortunately, he didn’t hear the alarm

that signaled that his six minutes were up.

The poet continued to read.

I got up from my seat

and moved towards the podium.

The poet said:

“I’m sorry but I can’t stop now.

This poem needs to be read in its entirety

for its impact to be felt.”

I asked:

“How much longer is this poem?”

The poet said:

“Another ten minutes.”

I responded:

“Well, you can come back next week

and read the next six minutes of your poem.”

The poet said in a loud, angry voice:

“THIS IS AMERICA!  YOU CAN’T STOP

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION!”

At this point, I motioned for my co-host to join me.

We grabbed the poet by each arm and walked him

out of the room.

“You [expletives deleted]!” screamed the poet

as he was politely but firmly escorted

out the front door.

When I returned to the podium, I said:

“Some people only want to hear themselves.”

Someday, I hope to find a venue that will pay me

for being a poetry host.

Someday, maybe pigs will fly.

Belated tribute to Record Store Day 2019

New Poem: For National Poetry Month 2019

for one month cleaved from twelve
take your verses to the coastline
cast them onto the water
with full confidence they will rest
on top of a temporary layer
of sugarcane that looks like plexiglass
>
this blessed state
expires at the click of midnight
on the not-so-merry First of May
when the sugarcane dissolves
literary creations submerge yet again
as public indifference reasserts itself
>
we will never see a National Poetry Year

New Poem: Not Giving Way

big old dinosaurs stomp and roar
yellow orange President
wants to re-persecute immigrants
to further harden hearts without minds
maintenance man from recent past
talks of circular firing squad
almost 18 months before election
House mother tells young daughter
I’m not ready to advance your ideas
just wait your turn, stay patient
then a few years later,
I’ll think about it and say no
>
hey reasonable dispassionate Democrats
the middle of the political road
will lead to the barbed-wire ditch
and re-elections and rationalizations
and third-party scapegoating
>
I don’t want to live through this again

Moira Donegan on excuses made for Joe Biden’s behavior

Excerpted from THE GUARDIAN:
The argument that Biden’s inappropriate touching of women is somehow innocent also implies that feminists who object to Biden’s brand of touching have set the bar for women’s public dignity too high – especially considering who’s currently in the White House. Wouldn’t you rather have the infantilizing shoulder rubs and hair kisses of Joe Biden, the thinking goes, than the boorish pussy grabbing of Donald Trump? To those who argue that while Trump’s alleged harassment is unacceptable, Biden’s is tolerable, I would reply firmly that women should not have to accept either. A culture that does not tolerate sexual harassment – the kind of culture that ours must become – must not allow for lesser evils to continue simply because worse violations exist. It must value women more highly than that.

Full column available here: 
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/02/joe-biden-inapprorpriate-touching-lucy-flores?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other