Golden Trump & Golden Globes

As Biden backs Amazon workers. Plus: John Oliver roasts Cuomo, and music by Natalie Merchant & Michael Stipe, Roger Waters & Van Morrison, and the Byrds.

A new week begins. In case you took a break from these postings all weekend, let me suggest that you check out chapter two of my memoir-in-progress from Saturday on interviewing a troubled Ray Davies of the Kinks (despite his recent “Lola” success) back in 1971. And then catch up with my tribute to Sam Cooke yesterday via fifteen songs or videos with biographical notes between them. And now, onward. Feel free to Comment or Share. Or subscribe—it’s free!

News & Politics

Lot of people commenting on a surprising Joe Biden tweet last night, inspired by labor actions led by Amazon workers. Here’s the tweet: “Workers in Alabama— and all across America—are voting on whether to organize a union in their workplace. It’s a vitally important choice—one that should be made without intimidation or threats by employers. Every worker should have a free and fair choice to join a union.” Biden also released a video adding, "I have long said America wasn't built by Wall Street. It was built by the middle class, and unions built the middle class."

Bill McKibben, for example, responded this way: “This is pretty remarkable. I don't ever remember a president doing anything like this. Thank you.” Historian Erik Loomis called it “arguably the most pro-union public statement by a president in support of unions in the entirety of American history.”

I covered extensively ace reporter Donald G. McNeil getting forced out at the NY Times after the “N-word” controversy broke. He promised to weigh in once he was gone, and now he has. “It’s been quite baffling and painful for me to have people assume I’m a racist and believe that I said the ridiculous things I’m accused of saying — that ‘racism is over,’ that ‘white supremacy doesn’t exist,’ or ‘white privilege doesn’t exist,’ or that I defended the use of blackface or said horrible things about black teenagers in general.” He ends Part I with: “What’s happened to me has been called a ‘witch hunt.’ It isn’t. It’s a series of misunderstandings and blunders.” Later he declares: “Since this episode began, I have been willing to apologize for any actual offense I’d given — but not to agree to the [Daily] Beast’s characterization of me, which I felt made me sound like a drunken racist roaring around Peru insulting everyone in sight.”

Has posted four lengthy parts in all. Closes with:

Obviously, I badly misjudged my audience in Peru that year. I thought I was generally arguing in favor of open-mindedness and tolerance — but it clearly didn’t come across that way. And my bristliness makes me an imperfect pedagogue for sensitive teenagers. Although the students liked me in 2018, some of those in 2019 clearly detested me. I do not see why their complaints should have ended my career at the Times two years later. But they did. And now I’d like to put this behind me. I had hoped to be remembered as a good science reporter whose work saved lives. Not for this.

John Oliver’s opening segment last night on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s burgeoning problems. His main segment followed on policing issues.

Speaking of Cuomo, apparently the hottest new conspiracy theory racing through nutty right-wing ranks—and given oxygen yesterday by Devin Nunes and Maria Bartiromo—is that that the Dems and the Deep State are trying to squash Cuomo so that VP Harris can run unopposed in 2024 for some reason). Though I guess they’d have to dump Biden first.

Could only laugh last night about grand old lefty-liberal Jane Fonda awarded the Golden Globes’ annual Cecil B. DeMille Award—that director was one of the most right-wing and blacklist-backing men in Hollywood in his day. Jane did take the opportunity to argue for more “inclusion” in Hollywood, the opposite of what DeMille stood for…. One other note: Now producers of Mank know how Upton Sinclair felt after the 1934 governor’s race featured in that movie—they won the “primary” (most Globe nominations) but came up empty in the finals. In both cases, making Irving Thalberg happy, no doubt.

From The Onion, all too plausible:

TALLAHASSEE, FL—In an effort to streamline the state’s electoral process, Florida Republicans introduced a new bill to the legislature Thursday that would establish ballotless voting in disenfranchised communities. “We’ve eliminated the complex and insecure process of casting a ballot so that voters from under served communities don’t have to worry about going to the polls or mailing anything in,” said co-sponsor Rep. Chris Sprowls of the popular proposal, which had already garnered unanimous support among Republicans in the House and Senate. “Come voting day, voters will be able to walk right up to the doors of their polling place, then turn around. No lines, no worry. We’ve listened to your concerns, and are confident that ballotless voting will address them.” At press time, Sprowls added that the bill would also help fight voter fraud by eliminating the likelihood of votes being erroneously counted.

NY Times with a good tick-tock on how Trumpists spread lies on social media about January 6 being an antifa or leftwing plot.

Barry Blitt of The New Yorker covers Manhattan prosecutors finally examining Trump’s tax returns:

Fifty years ago today—though it was mainly forgotten until the events of January 6—a bomb planted by leftist revolutionaries, likely from the Weather Underground, exploded at the U.S. Capitol. The aim was partly to “bring the Vietnam war home” and thus end it. No one died but much damage was done and the case remains unsolved to this day. Lawrence Roberts has a detailed piece about it at Politico.

I was always interested in this as two of my best friends, Stew Albert and Judy Gumbo (also writers for me at Crawdaddy), were among the suspects for awhile, though clearly innocent. But as Roberts points out, while the bombing appeared to have little political effect at the time, it drove Nixon buggy, which helped lead to the paranoia that resulted in the Watergate break-in and so much more—and, in a sense, a win for the bombers as Nixon was forced out of office and the war ended. My friends became FBI COINTEPRO targets (so I suffered from some spying as well) and later earned a nice monetary settlement from the feds. Photo below: Stew and Judy in 1971 after being subpoenaed in the bombing case.

The New Yorker reviews the Barack and Bruce gabfests on Spotify:

They were drawn together as fellow “outsiders.” That they are both rich and famous goes unmentioned, as does their 2017 yacht trip with Oprah Winfrey and Tom Hanks, off the coast of Tahiti. It’s almost too easy to poke fun at the whole thing. I dare you to name something more archetypally boomer than these two cherished idols—the Boss and the Chief—dubbing themselves rebellious in a Spotify-exclusive podcast, sponsored by Comcast and Dollar Shave Club. (“How do I handle grooming below the belt?” the ad spot asks; mercifully, neither host is made to read it.)

Washington Post with a welcome slam at creepy Rep. Madison Cawthorn: “The story of Cawthorn’s rise is, by any measure, an extraordinary accomplishment at a young age by a man who suffered a horrific injury. But an examination by The Post of how he ascended so quickly shows how even one of the most neophyte elected Republicans is adopting the Trump playbook, making false statements about his background, issuing baseless allegations about voter fraud and demonizing his political opponents.”

Music

Sad date in history, as on March 1, 1966, it was announced that Gene Clark had left the Byrds, allegedly over fear of flying (he had hastily fled an airliner at the start of a tour), although there is still some doubts about that as the cause. He had been the group’s best singer and songwriter and went on to an uneven solo career filled with numerous amazing songs and performances. Much more onhim in the the future but for now an early Gene/Byrds standout (one of the greatest rock song ever)—as the boys record several glorious takes in 1965.

Also on this date, but in 1973, Pink Floyd released its Dark Side of the Moon, which surprisingly became one of the biggest selling albums of all-time. But my favorite Floyd is from The Wall, so you can get “Comfortably Numb” here with Roger Waters, Van Morrison, Levon Helm and Rick Danko.

Film

My first film, Atomic Cover-up, has been selected by the major Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose for its U.S. premiere later this month. Page for film just up today, more to come, including dates and ticket info. Of course it will be virtual, though a thirty-minute interview will follow. Trailer:

Ta-Nehisi Coates to pen yet another Superman reboot for J.J. Abrams. Really? Let me know how it turns out.

Carlos Greaves of The New Yorker imagines 1980s movies if they had been made with people of color. A sampling:

“E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial”: As Cambodian refugees themselves, Elliott and his family are able to walk E.T. through the asylum process.

“Footloose”: The same plot but with better dancing.

“Raiders of the Lost Ark”: Indiana Jones steals artifacts from American museums and returns them to their rightful countries of origin.

“Caddyshack”: People of color would not have agreed to make this film​.

Books

Colson Whitehead was on 60 Minutes last night talking about how he came to write Underground Railroad (a few days ago I posted the trailer for the upcoming Barry Jenkins series). His Nickel Boys follow-up was also great.

Song Pick of the Day

Natalie Merchant and Michael Stipe bumping and dancing like a couple of Maniacs at the 1993 MTV Clinton “Inaugural Ball” with classic “To Sir With Love” (I still prefer the Al Green, though) and “Candy Everybody Wants.”

Greg Mitchell is the author of a dozen books, including the bestseller The Tunnels (on escapes under the Berlin Wall), the current The Beginning or the End (on MGM’s wild atomic bomb movie), and The Campaign of the Century (on Upton Sinclair’s left-wing race for governor of California), which was recently picked by the Wall St. Journal as one of five greatest books ever about an election. For nearly all of the 1970s he was the #2 editor at the legendary Crawdaddy. Later he served as longtime editor of Editor & Publisher magazine. He recently co-produced a film about Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and now has written and directed his first feature, Atomic Cover-up, which will have its American premiere at a festival this spring.