A Promised Land

America as a Developing Country

Norway???

The good, the bad and the ugly of GM’s Super Bowl ad.

If you watched the Super Bowl, or even if you didn’t, you might well have seen the General Motors ad that features Will Ferrell pitching GM’s electric vehicles. It opens with Ferrell explaining that “Norway sells way more electric cars per capita than the U.S.” He then declares, “Well, I won’t stand for it,” before punching a globe and claiming that, with GM’s new electric battery, “we’re going to crush those lugers. CRUSH THEM! Let’s go, America.”

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From Russia, With Love

Lessons for the Republicans’ leadership, starting with 1917.

Adopting a policy of “no enemies to the left,” Russian prime minister Alexander Kerensky freed Vladimir Lenin from jail shortly after he tried but failed to overthrow Kerensky’s government in July of 1917.

In November, Lenin succeeded.

An excellent essay by Slate’s Fred Kaplan draws parallels between Kerensky and most of today’s Republican leaders. Kerensky thought that his greatest threat was forces seeking to return czarist rule to his country. He accordingly sought to align with the very Marxists who soon toppled him.

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Go Global

To fight Covid, there's no alternative.

“Vaccine Nationalism”

As vaccinations bring the first flicker of light at the end of the Covid tunnel, the emergence of more transmissible and somewhat vaccine-resistant variants seem to stand in the way.

But there’s a path forward. In fact, as a matter of both principle and self-preservation, it’s the only path: Go global. Get the whole world vaccinated much more quickly than currently planned.

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Free at Last

Scattered thoughts, hopes and dreams, on a most memorable and emotional day.

Shared Sentiments

Lots of folks are sharing similar sentiments about inauguration day. A college friend emailed: “I can’t tell you how many people said to me today that it felt like the tension level just went down everywhere around them. I think we’ve all been living with the nerve endings on the outside of our bodies for four years  I look forward to better, healthier, more generous times.” Amen.

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The Rising

I’ll say a few things. An incredible video says it all.

Bruce Springsteen wrote “The Rising” in response to 9/11. Like many of his songs, its beauty lies in the ears of the beholder, its intent subject to interpretation.

While “The Rising” is clearly about 9/11, it’s also about so much more. Released in 2002, it’s timeless in the intense feelings it conveys. Yet it’s also rooted in each of the tense times and turning points it’s addressed in the years since then.

As we arise from the nightmare of the last four years, this is one of those times.

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