Category Archives: de rebus politicis

I love Bo French (my post this week for Southeast Texas Impact Initiative).

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My post this week for Southeast Texas Impact Initiative.

I love Bo French!

Yes, I actually did write that. And it’s true. I am thankful for Bo French.

Here’s the reason why. His idiotic and infamously fetid racist rants on social media have forced the Republican Party to own up to its racism problem. Racism and race-driven strategies and attitudes have become so pervasive and common in the GOP that now, even politicians like John Cornyn, no progressive flower, feel compelled to condemn overt racism.

There are myriad examples of how it’s become increasingly accepted in Republican circles that you can make racist statements, even wildly mendacious proclamations, with no serious consequences. On the contrary, “welcome to the party” is what most Republicans seem to be saying. Maybe we’re still in the wink-wink, if-you-know-you-know phase of this absorbing trend in conservative circles. But with Bo French, it feels like we’ve finally reached a threshold where decency might actually prevail — for a change.

Here’s a social media post from Paul Ingrassia, who currently serves as a U.S. government attorney: “I do have a Nazi streak in me from time to time, I will admit it.”

Here’s a text he sent to fellow Republican operatives: “We need competent white men in positions of leadership. The founding fathers were wrong that all men are created equal… We need to reject that part of our heritage.”

Ron DeSantis fired his aide Nate Hochman after the latter posted an image of the Florida politician with a bold Nazi symbol as backdrop. Hochman is currently writing speeches for Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

In January of this year, the U.S. Department of Labor posted a Nazi slogan on its social media: “One Homeland. One People. One Heritage,” an echo of the German “Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer” (“one people, one realm, one leader”). “Remember who you are, American,” wrote the government employee who shared the video that included the authoritarian motto.

(Thank you to Times opinion writer Jamelle Bouie and the Nation for the above examples of blatant racism expressed by government workers.)

And let’s not forget Elon Musk, the world’s favorite antisemite (he recently took over Mel Gibson’s role as the world’s most loved Jew hater). When a user posted that Jews advance “dialectical hatred against whites,” Musk responded by writing: “You have said the actual truth.” And that’s just one of the overtly racist posts he’s shared on X, the platform he owns and controls.

As Bouie asked plaintively, why does Musk get a pass? Why do any of them get a pass, for that matter?

It’s because of the GOP’s deep-seated racism. Remember the infamous 1981 quote from prolific Republican strategist Lee Atwater (who later repented for the racist tactics his office used to help get Ronald Reagan elected): “Y’all don’t quote me on this. You start out in 1954 by saying, ‘n—– n—–, n—–.’ By 1968, you can’t say ‘n—–’ — that hurts you. Backfires. So, you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights and all that stuff.”

I’m not making this up. Just Google it.

Atwater was explaining how he had modified and improved Nixon’s shameful “Southern Strategy,” a race-driven approach to politics that helped to get Nixon elected.

Bo French (who are bigger threat to America, he asked on social media, Muslims or Jews?) is forcing GOP leaders to take sides in the race-baiting race to the bottom. Whether this will help them get elected is another question. But at least, even the GOP is learning to call a fig a fig.

Thanks for reading my post this week for Southeast Texas Impact Initiative (click here to read and support), a grassroots group advocating for progressive issues in one of the most conservative corners of our country. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber.

AI as Messiah.

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The Jewish Talmud is a 2,711-page commentary on rabbinic law. It was compiled by Jewish scholars in the 6th century C.E.

It includes a terrifying warning about the coming of the Messiah: “In the generation of the coming of the Son of David, disciples of the sages will be few in number, and as for the others, they will see sorrow and grief. Many troubles and evil laws will be made, each new evil quickly coming before the other has ended.”

A description of harrowing events follows. “There will be a great famine,” say the sages, “and men, women, children, the pious, and men of action will die, and the Torah [the Five Books of Moses] is forgotten by those who study it.”

That’s not the half of it, by the way.

Here’s the scariest part: “And the truth will be lacking… truth will become like so many flocks and walk away.”

In the ensuing discussion, one Rabbi reveals his trepidation. I eagerly await the Messiah, he says, but I don’t want to be around when the Messiah gets here (I’m paraphrasing).

It’s one of the great conundrums in the Judeo-Christian vision of the world: the arrival of the Messiah is a good thing (depending on your world view) but it will also bring about massive destruction and despair. Jews may want the Messiah to come (for the first time), and Christians may want the Messiah to come again, but the lead-up ain’t gonna be pretty.

It’s hard not to see the parallels between these Talmudic admonitions and the recent alarm about artificial intelligence.

Seemingly, we all want AI to come but we’re afraid of what’s taking shape in the meantime. Even more disconcerting is how the people who are making AI often talk about it in Messianic terms. They claim that it’s going to bring about a utopia where there will be abundance for all. Its superhuman capabilities will unleash our creativity in powerful and previously unimagined ways. Yet the people who are making it are also scared shitless about what could and is already going wrong.

It’s abundantly clear that the Trump administration’s chief concern is that the Chinese don’t “win” the AI “race.” The president’s laissez-faire attitude, greased up by the AI builders’ financial and moral support, reflects his zero-sum approach. If people get hurt along the way, so be it, at least in Trump’s view. (Plus, he’s more concerned right now with the renaming of the Kennedy Center than the annihilation of its theater-going public.)

As for the AI builders themselves, they’ve already written humanity off. Peter Thiel infamously hesitated when then Times journalist Ross Douthat asked him: “You would prefer the human race to endure, right?” Elon Musk wouldn’t be planning a vacation spot on Mars if he weren’t already convinced that climate change is inevitable. Hell, let’s build more data centers and speed the process up through focused environmental degradation and misspent but otherwise much-needed resources!

The only good news to emerge in recent weeks is that Republicans and Democrats have soured on data centers. It seems to be the one issue that unites both parties. And the bottom line is that politicians are taking note because the overwhelming majority of Americans oppose data centers (at least in their neighborhoods). Could this be the issue to bring the Left and Right together? It’s incredible to hear competing TV ads where Bernie Sanders and Greg Abbott are both warning us about the ills of AI.

Whether you trend left or right, now is the time to support politicians who will hold the tech oligarchs accountable.

Of course, if AI decides it no longer has any use for us, it won’t matter if we’re Republican or Democrat. To summon an ancient Jewish legend, the Golem may have seemed like an answer to the Jews’ problems. But once it was unleashed, it proved impossible to contain.

Thanks for reading my post today for Southeast Texas Impact Initiative, a grassroots group advocating for progressive issues in one of the most conservative corners of our country. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Is Italy’s Fascist party coming back as right wing extremism continues to rise in EU with German election?

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During my early years as a student in Italy in the late 1980s, I would soak in the stories about war times told by my Italian friends’ parents and grandparents. I could see their faces in the characters of Neo-Realist movies shot in the years immediately following WWII. To me, they were superheroes. In my mind, they made the greatest sacrifices for their principles and morals when they refused to join the (historic) Fascist party. Many of them were partisans. Nearly all of those people are gone today.

My warm memories from those years make it all the more difficult to wrap my mind around what’s happening in Italy and Europe right now. In Germany, AfD, the extremist right-wing party previously shunned by mainstream politicians, is now positioned to govern an East German region. There are fears that the party’s rise is unstoppable at this point.

In my beloved Italy, a new extremist rightwing figure is on the rise: Vannacci, a former general who has essentially proposed that the historic Fascist party be reinstated. There’s even a chance that he will outflank the “post-Fascist” party established by premier Meloni. His policies align almost seamlessly with MAGA. His use of one of the Fascists’ notorious mottoes has become an Italian cultural flashpoint. When he says “me ne frego,” anglophone media has been translating it as “I don’t care.” In tone, attitude, and vibe (including historical vibe), it’s more akin to the MAGA motto “fuck your feelings.”

I’m doing a little bit of wine writing on the side these days as I focus on my writing and translation projects. But I still keep up with Italian politics and a few of my Italian friends from my years in wine. As Europe faces its most robust rightwing wave in a generation, Italian winemakers are dealing with one of the most challenging harvests in memory (remember the colossal EU heatwave this summer?).

I recently devoured one of the most moving pieces of wine writing I’ve ever read. It was by an Italian friend who’s facing tough times after a next-to impossible vintage. It’s like a metaphor for a burning Europe. Stay tuned: I’ll share an excerpted translation later this week.

Keep the faith!

Above: a plaque in Milan commemorating the death of a partisan at the hands of the Nazis.