By Bob Gaydos 

Kamala Harris, accepting the nomination as Democratic Party presidential candidate.

   Well, that was unconventional. At least for Democrats.

     From Lil Jon to Oprah to Bill and Hillary and Barack and Michelle to the Gen Z’s and Old Joe, the Democrats (and a few sane Republicans) had a grand old time in Chicago reminding the rest of the country what it means to be a proud American and the threat Donald Trump and the Republican Party pose to that idea.

      America needed the wake up call.

      Four nights of joy and optimism culminated in the nomination of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party’s nominee to run for president of the United States. Historic and hopeful.

       It is fair to say that there has been a profound mood swing in America in the short time since Joe Biden said he was once too young to be a senator and is now apparently too old to be president, handing the reins of power to a black/South Asian/American woman with apparently just the right attitude and resume to dispose of an aging, self-absorbed felon whose only interest in America is how to fleece it.

       Hope and joy are contagious. They can spread quickly, especially when there is a concerted effort to share them. Democrats, working together and setting aside differences for the moment, have decided to share the wealth. The moment is that important.

       Harris, adapting quickly to the role of party standard bearer, delivered a powerful acceptance speech, reminding Americans that Trump is an “unserious man” who represents a serious threat to the freedoms they cherish and typically take for granted. But this is not the time for taking things for granted. This is the time for action, she and speaker after speaker at the convention reminded Americans. It’s time to work together, setting differences aside for now, to protect and preserve democracy.

     For Democrats, very unconventional. For all Americans, very much needed.

                            ***

     Meanwhile, in the world of lies and delusion, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. abandoned his third-party candidacy for president, endorsing Trump as a man who shares Kennedy’s views on America’s future. Birds of a feather.

      Kennedy, hoping that his endorsement will result in a role in a Trump presidency, said the Harris campaign never returned his calls. Another plus for them.

    However, Kennedy’s siblings sent him a message. They issued a public statement dismissing everything he stands for and calling his endorsement of Trump “a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear.”

      The Kennedy endorsement wasn’t expected to do much for Trump vote wise either.

        All in all, a good week for America.

    rjgaydos@gmail.com      

By Bob Gaydos

Rapper Lil Jon juices, the Democratic national convention.

 Chicago (cue music)

     “Mr. Chairman! The great state of Euphoria, where men are proud fathers and women are allowed to come out of the kitchen and be corporate executives, where we teach real history in our schools and don’t ban books, where the concept of equal rights is embraced, where LGBTQ spells freedom, where no one is above the law, where the air is clean and we like it that way … the state of rock and roll and hip hop and anything Willie Nelson does, where there are no white, brown or black jobs, where veterans are respected and democracy cherished, the state of presidents and patriots, poets and perfect sunsets … Euphoria, where the right to vote and the right to choose are sacred, where we love our country and honor our commitments, the state full of hope for the future of America, proudly casts all 47 of its votes for the next president of the United States, the first black/Asian woman president of the United States, the tough, young, smart prosecutor who we think once went to school here or at least we wish she had, the current Vice President of the United States … KAMALA HARRIS!”

 Milwaukee

     “Mr. Chairman, the state of Submission, where real men carry guns and all women carry babies, where we protect our children from pornographic literature and communist ideas, where people know their place and the only votes that count are the ones we say count, the state that knows best what is best for its citizens, casts its however many votes you say we have for the overweight, old sex offender with the orange hair and big wad of tape on his ear who was just convicted of 34 felonies, is accused of attempting a coup, is buddies with Vladimir Putin and wants to protect America from sharks, social security and windmills … the man who once bankrupted a casino and said Covid would pass quickly, the great leader of our party … the former… umm, Trump.”

rjgaydos@gmail.com

By Michael Kaufman

Colin Kaeperneck … kneeling to make a point

Why is it that no one seems to be addressing the serious national problem of white-on-white crime? Did you know that 85 percent of all homicides of white people in the United States are committed by other white people? Or that most victims of white pedophile clergymen are white children? Speaking of child molesters, weren’t all of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s victims white youths? And when it comes to gun violence, nobody can shoot white schoolchildren, teachers, moviegoers, celebrities, or elected officials better than a white guy.  And let’s not forget the Unabomber, Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy (white guys all).

In our region alone reports of white on white crime appear regularly in the media, although never identified as such. Recent headlines include “Two men plead guilty to elder abuse,” “Kayak murder case could begin in October,” and “RABBI CHARGED IN KJ MURDER PLOT.” So far I haven’t heard anyone say that the “white community needs to have a conversation” about the problem.

On the other hand I have heard many white people decry “black-on-black” crime when talking about shootings in black neighborhoods in cities such as Chicago and Detroit. Last week I heard a white talk-radio host in New York say the black community in Chicago needs to have a conversation about the black on black shootings in that city.

“Suddenly everyone is having a ‘conversation,’” wrote the late great journalist Alexander Cockburn in 2008. “The word has come of age. I see it bowing and scraping on the opinion pages and TV talk shows three or four times a day.” In the above example it is obvious the talk-radio host has no personal contact with anyone who actually lives in a low-income, inner city neighborhood beset by a host of problems including street crime and gun violence.

The rhetorical call for a conversation was part of a longer rant that began with a criticism of Colin Kaepernick, San Francisco 49ers quarterback, who has chosen to kneel when the National Anthem is played prior to a game. Kaepernick says it is his way of drawing attention to the ongoing mistreatment of people of color in the United States and an expression of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. According to the talk-show host, Kaepernick is being disrespectful to veterans: “My father is a veteran and maybe that’s why I feel so patriotic … I know there are still some problems with regard to race in this country. I get that, but …” And that’s when the call came for the black community to have a conversation.

Do the people who say these things realize how obnoxious and patronizing they are? Do they not know that people talk to one another about conditions in their neighborhoods?  Ironically, the neighborhoods in question are the same low-income areas once inhabited by Jewish, Italian, and Irish immigrants who faced similar conditions.

The Purple Gang in 1920s Detroit, for example (composed entirely of Jews), has been described as “the most efficiently organized gang of killers in the United States.” According to the Detroit police it killed more people than Al Capone’s mob in Chicago. Most of its victims were other Jews. Members of the Purple Gang grew up in an east side neighborhood described by historian Robert Rockaway as “one of the least desirable areas of Detroit in which to live.” The district was “more crowded, had higher rents, and higher disease and death rates than other parts of the city,” wrote Rockaway.  An article published in the Jewish American, Detroit’s Anglo-Jewish weekly newspaper, deplored the prevalence of “tenement houses that are actually unfit to live in: old, decrepit, polluted and infected hovels, where human beings endeavor to exist and where a young generation is reared.”

“The members of the Purple Gang were bred in this environment,” said R0ckaway. The gang extorted protection money from cleaning and drying businesses, almost all of which were owned by Jews. Those who didn’t pay were subjected to fires, dynamiting, stink bombs, thefts, beatings and kidnappings, and at least two were murdered in cold blood. Would it have been any different if a Gentile on the radio told the Jews in Detroit that they should have a conversation?

Michael can be reached at Michael@zestoforange.com.