TRUMP AND HIS RUSSIAN DEPENDENCE: WHERE ECONOMIC CORRUTION MEETS CORRUPTING DEMOCRACY   Donald Trump is doing his best to align the United States of America with the kleptocracy dictatorship of Russia. In the last week alone he has condemned Ukrainian civilians and soldiers to die needlessly, mouthed all the talking points of Russia, cancelled the surveillance of Russian cyber criminal networks and election interference campaigns among other paths to harm America. That is a small portion of his betrayal of our democracy, economy, security and aspirational values. The question is why is Trump a Chump (or worse) for Russia? [...]

In 1965 I was part of a campus group based at the University of Pennsylvania that was actually an amalgam of a campus NAACP chapter, a Committee to End the War in Vietnam, SDS, and a nascent draft resistance group. When the demonstrations in Selma attracted national attention and there was an announcement that they were going to march from Selma to Montgomery for voting rights we knew something important was happening and wanted to support that. Sitting in and being removed from federal buildings was sort of old hat but it was an easy place to start. At [...]

SUMMARY: The proposal to build a sports arena on Market Street East needs a full public evaluation to determine whether it will serve Philadelphia. I have prepared this paper to urge that public process because I believe there is substantial evidence that building the arena on Market Street fails Philadelphia in several respects: It fails to maximize employment opportunities for long term economic growth. It fails to maximize construction employment. It harms Chinatown which has been under pressure from developers for decades. It harms Old City, Washington Square West, and other surrounding communities. It creates a major healthcare problem [...]

The Supreme Court is not only broken. It is also a threat to democracy and to the rights so important to all of us. To reform the court we need to defeat Trump and vote all down the line for Democrats or Working Family Party candidates to make sure that Court Reform goes forward. This posting is long, but makes the case of how corrupt our current court is. Please read it and if you agree with it SHARE IT. With apologies to Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson it is now urgent that we call out the rogue and illegitimate Supreme [...]

I have been voting since 1968, that is 14 elections for President. In all this time, especially on issues of foreign policy every candidate I have voted for, with the possible exception of Jimmy Carter, has had serious flaws. This year is no exception. I suspect I am not alone in having this problem. However, given what is at stake in 2024 I will vote for, and urge others to vote for Biden and Harris to prevent Trump and his insurrectionist thugs from gaining power. Despite the shortcomings of Biden, especially with regard to justice for Palestine and a [...]

The war on Christmas is rolling along and Fox News has the proof! So, a while back the Daily Kos published an account of a Fox News show hosted by a guy named Jesse Watters in which he interviewed a cultural critic. Riley Gaines who seems to have earned that title when she tied for fifth place in a swimming meet. Anyway Ms. Gaines challenged us to be outraged by the existence of a disabled African American Santa in a wheelchair. She contended that this was proof of the war on Christmas. Well, I wanted to see for myself, [...]