Sanity Sunday Musical Break- Tribute to John Lennon

by Nomad

Unimaginable

Yesterday marked the anniversary of the death of ex-Beatle John Lennon. It is just impossible for me to believe that 38 years have passed since that senseless murder outside the Dakota Apartment Building on 72nd and Central Park West.

The Truth about Food Stamps and the Right to Access to Affordable Food

by Nomad

A Kentucky Congressman's tweet about food stamps demonstrates how detached the GOP is when it comes to the economic realities of hunger in America.

The Right to Affordable Food

The other day, I read that a Republican congressman from Kentucky, Thomas Massie, facetiously asked, if affordable healthcare is a right, whether Americans should also have a right to food.

The tweet was, our source tells us, "an attempt to combat criticism from Democrats of conservative lawmakers’ proposals to reform the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)."

If healthcare is a right, is food as well?

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) November 29, 2018

Even though Massie probably didn't realize it, he brings up a good point. Why shouldn't affordable food for all Americans be a right in the world's richest countries? Can't we as a nation afford to feed our poor?

And, while we're at it, why not a right to have access to clean water or clean air? Safe working conditions and job security?

Piecing Together the Trump-Russian Conspiracy Puzzle

by Nomad

Like an immense jigsaw puzzle, the full picture of the Trump-Russian conspiracy has often been hard to view in its entirety. There's a good reason for that. No doubt about it, it's extremely complex. But more than that, the relationship and the importance of each piece of evidence keep changing.
What seems inexplicable today can suddenly seem critical tomorrow. For an amateur investigator trying to understand what took place, it is a daunting task.
We saw that this week when Trump's former lawyer (and problem-solver) appeared in court.

Sanity Sunday Musical Break- Chill Mix

by Nomad

Time to kick back and mull over the events of the past week and to try and speculate what's to come. Watching the president helpless thrash and flail as the ship of state slowly begins to right itself is, in a strange way, entertaining and reassuring.

This week's Sanity Sunday Musical break is a pretty random mix of relaxing "chill" tunes. Hope you enjoy the selection.

The Truth about Donald Trump's Particular Kind of Lies

by Lee McIntyre, Boston University

President Donald Trump speaks to the media outside of the White House. AP/Evan Vucci

Recently, I heard an interesting remark by Russian-born journalist Masha Gessen. She compared three larger-than-life politicians, Vladimir Putin, Silvio Berlusconi, and Donald Trump. Specifically, she compared the manner in which they deceive the public and why they do so.

The way Putin lies, the way Berlusconi lies, and the way Trump lies are exactly the same. They all lie in a blatant way, you know... They do something that to Americans has been very difficult to absorb which is that they lie about things that are obviously not true in order to assert power.