What We're Reading Now
A weekly drill-down via an online political article (or two or three) that we find especially timely. In light of—and as an antidote to—the dangerously misinformed Trumpist narratives that make their way onto the internet these days, we're happy to report that there are dozens of progressive magazines and other media outlets working in enlightened and informed counterpoint to the right wing's version of "news."
Summary of the Week
June 19, 2020
What We’ve read
Amidst the ongoing pandemic crisis and abject failings of the White House on virtually every related front (not to mention most other things it touches), the existence of independent, progressive media and news outlets is more important than ever. Sadly, one of our most trusted news websites, Truthdig, recently went on hiatus due to a labor dispute between the two owners.
But in a fantastic development, the political journalist half of that brain trust, the highly respected Robert Scheer, has now branched off to launch Scheerpost. This new site has a look and feel similar to Truthdig and, more importantly, engages some of the same contributors—including Juan Cole, Chris Hedges, Tom Engelhardt, and the inimitable political cartoonist, Mr. Fish.
For both its hard-hitting investigative journalism and dignified moral stance, Robert Scheer's new website deserves a visit by anyone looking for conscientious reporting (along with a healthy dose of sanity) on the crazy world in which we find ourselves. Scheerpost comes highly recommended by Indivisible Napa.
June 12, 2020
What We’ve read
Another week gone by, another horrifying and uniquely Trumpist moment: this country's so-called president had the gall to accuse peace activist Martin Gugino of possibly being "an ANTIFA provocateur." Gugino was the victim, now famously, of brazen police brutality caught on camera last week during a Buffalo, NY protest against police brutality. In an excellent piece on Slate.com on June 9th, "What the Video From Buffalo Has Revealed to White America," staff writer Lili Loufbourow drives home a carefully delineated point that increasing numbers of those White Americans are beginning to understand: "The police are out of control," she writes. And instead of doing his job and leading the country, Trump's only response is to throw gas on the flames of justified public protest. "But," Loufbourow notes optimistically, "if Trump has perfected the politics of distraction ... these protests have somehow—despite or maybe because of the proliferation of shocking, unwarranted violence—done the opposite. They keep focusing Americans’ numb and unexercised attention on the problem." We won't sugarcoat it: the Slate article otherwise contains little good news. But we think its message serves as a particularly powerful reminder during this week of reflection on the life and death of George Floyd: Trump MUST be defeated in November if concepts like police reform and social justice have any hope of becoming realities in our collective future.
June 5, 2020
What We’ve read
On June 3rd, in the middle of one of the most tumultuous weeks in recent U.S. history, The Atlantic's celebrated editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, wrote an article for the magazine with a shocking headline: "James Mattis Denounces President Trump, Describes Him as a Threat to the Constitution."
Shocking on its face because of the constitutional threat this so-called president continues to snowball into on a daily basis—but more specifically because of the restraint Mattis, who Goldberg in an earlier Atlantic article rers to as "perhaps the most revered living Marine," has always shown in his capacity as a military officer when talking politics.
Those gloves, according to the Atlantic journalist, are now decidedly off. "[Mattis] has now broken his silence, writing an extraordinary broadside in which he denounces the president for dividing the nation, and accuses him of ordering the U.S. military to violate the constitutional rights of American citizens."
For Indivisible members and supporters, Jeffrey Goldberg's story is a must-read that goes to the heart of our mission not be divided as voters or citizens—or as a nation.
May 29, 2020
This past week on Salon.com, contributor Heather Digby Parton has two relatively quick reads that highlight what a grave menace the current occupant of the White House is to American society — including to his own rabid base, a cult-like segment of the U.S. population that emulates their dear leader's insanely cavalier attitudes toward the coronavirus pandemic.
Your election angst is real: Trump's gonna cheat and it could be total hell
In the first piece from May 27th, "Your election angst is real: Trump's gonna cheat and it could be total hell," the accomplished political journalist expresses a not-understated regret at the result of the 2016 presidential election, followed by her justifiable fear that it could happen all over again in less than six months. "The truth is that Democrats aren't paranoid about Trump winning again because they think he is a political savant," Parton writes. "They're paranoid because the system is failing" under the watch of Congress, and the Republican-controlled senate in particular.
Donald Trump unmasked: Culture-war nihilism is his last line of defense And today, "Digby," as the reporter is known to her colleagues, contributed a story that delves into the cult of personality that is the Republican Party in 2020. In "Donald Trump unmasked: Culture-war nihilism is his last line of defense," she writes, ominously, "In order to maintain his supporters' devotion, Trump has stoked the culture wars at every turn, ruthlessly dividing the country in order to keep his fans engaged. They receive such hypocritical gestures of solidarity as his newfound "pro-life" zealotry with enthusiastic gratitude — but what they really love are his brutal assaults on those they consider their political and cultural enemies. In that, Trump and his base are one." Our message at Indivisible is very clear: Americans need to get out and vote, in huge numbers and in-person (if it's safe to do so); or otherwise demand vote-by-mail in November. In either voting scenario, the desperate truth is that Trump must be defeated if America is going to find its way again as a civilized nation.
Summary of the Week
May 22, 2020
Is America too libertarian to deal with the coronavirus?
On the American proclivity to libertarianism, Vox.com Interviews Writer Sean Illing spoke to Keith Humphreys, a Stanford University professor who works on addiction and public health policy. Humphreys had written a May 14th column in the Washington Post about how "a lot of his public health colleagues weren’t thinking seriously enough about the cultural obstacles that might undercut the country’s efforts to test, trace, and isolate Americans" who might have contracted the coronavirus.
In his Vox piece, Illing quotes Humphreys saying, "I’ve seen this dynamic play out over and over again in different contexts and I worry it will be the thing that limits what we’re able to do in our efforts to stamp out this virus." He then adds, "I don’t think we can reconcile our libertarianism with the need for a sense of shared purpose in a time of crisis."
Optimistically, the Stanford professor notes that he suspects "most people will follow their local leaders when the restrictions are wise and explained decently." Humphreys was referring in this quote to Californians trusting in their governor Gavin Newsom's leadership. But we at Indivisible have to wonder if other U.S. state populations and their elected officials will do the same—and, if not, at what cost to public health and the eradication of Covid-19?
Summary of the Week
May 15, 2020
We’ve read—though not necessarily enjoyed
The first, from May 13th on Slate.com and written by Jeremy Stahl, is titled “Not Even the People Ranting About ‘Obamagate’ Know What It Is.” Slate’s Senior Editor attempts to go down the rabbit hole of the Republican Party's "Obamagate" fantasy, the “biggest political crime in American history,” as described, of course, via tweet by President Trump.
“Perhaps unsurprisingly, ‘Obamagate’ didn’t spring forth wholecloth from Trump’s brain,” Stahl writes, “but came directly from the conservative media apparatus that contributes to roughly 95 percent of the president’s mental space.”
Federal Whistleblower Rick Bright Tells Congress
The second piece, published yesterday on The Intercept, is a shocking report by health and environmental reporter Sharon Lerner on the Trump administration’s mismanagement of the coronavirus crisis. Titled “Federal Whistleblower Rick Bright Tells Congress How Trump Officials Bungled Coronavirus Preparations,” the article details the retaliatory ouster last month of the director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.
“’We should have been doing everything possible, placing orders early, ramping up supply. It should have been a high priority,’” Lerner quotes Rick Bright testifying to a House subcommittee yesterday about the Trump administration's dismal policy failures in dealing with the pandemic. “’I was met with indifference…There were a number of excuses but never any action.’”
Summary of the Week
May 8, 2020
Whose Freedom Counts?
In an outstanding piece by Slate.com's Mary Harris on May 7th, the news editor dissects the increasingly shocking right-wing "freedom" protests against commonsense, science-driven public safety measures across the U.S. "Beyond a profound misunderstanding of the relationship between broad state police powers and federal constitutional rights in the midst of a deadly pandemic," Harris writes, "this definition of freedom is perplexing, chiefly because it seems to assume not simply that other people should die for your individual liberties, but also that you have an affirmative right to harm, threaten, and even kill anyone who stands in the way of your exercising of the freedoms you demand."
In the opinion of Indivisible Napa, it's an absolute must-read.
What are we watching?
An incredible documentary about the journey of four female Democrats who decided to run for Congress in the 2018 United States elections: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Amy Vilela of Nevada, Cori Bush of Missouri, and Paula Jean Swearengin of West Virginia. Vilela, Bush, and Swearengin lost in the primary round, but Ocasio-Cortez won the election.