Volume 265 | No. 4

From a Doctor, No Less

To the Editor: Joe Biden has been running political ads featuring anonymous “doctors” claiming “Joe Biden has a plan” to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. Really? I have yet to hear any details of this wonderful “plan” that will rid our country of this contagious virus. I have seen Joe Biden holding up a common blue surgical mask stating “wear the mask.” Sorry Joe, but the generic blue paper mask is well documented to be unprotective against viruses. A recent study even showed a group of patients with Covid-19 had overwhelmingly been wearing masks Only the N-95 mask protects against viruses and it is not being …

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The Anti-Racist Revolution

by Robert C. Koehler The nation has less than two weeks left to live in its comfort zone of platitudes. This is by far the most ominous election buildup of my (fairly lengthy at this point) lifetime. What will happen on Nov. 3 and thereafter? Will all the votes be counted? Presuming Trump loses, will he leave office? Are we approaching the end of our…uh, democracy? A real democracy, of course, has always been a terrible inconvenience to those in power, which is why, in the nearly two hundred and fifty years of the nation’s existence, voting—as well as acknowledgment of certain people’s humanity—has been …

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Who Are We?

Dear Editor, Joe Biden says this election expresses who we are. Are we a nation that believes life is a jungle, a zero-sum game in which you eat or get eaten, dominate or be dominated, take what you can and try to prevent it from being taken? Do we believe that “America First” is the way to live in our community of nations and “me first” in our community of neighbors? Or…are we a nation that believes in cooperation, that helping each other helps us as well, that our collective well-being gives each of us a better, safer, more prosperous life? This election will express …

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Granny D: Still Relevant As Ever

Dear Editor: Just had a journey down Memory Lane, reading a new book’s draft—Doris “Granny D” Haddock’s speeches, given as she walked 3,000+ miles from California to Washington, D.C., speaking for campaign finance reform when she was 89 and 90 (1999-2000). My draft is by way of group-sharing the editing task. I had assigned pages. I loved hearing Granny D again. Sentences speak to me during our election-time now: “Fairness and leadership are everything to the life of democracy” (p. 46) “Where are our leaders and our representatives at this critical moment, when the shape of our economy and our jobs are in the balance, …

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Rogue Editor Tells Truth!

To the extent the Brooklyn Daily Eagle is remembered today, it is largely because of Walt Whitman. The poet edited the Eagle from 1846 to 1848, and returned for a second stint about a decade later. We recently stumbled upon another modest reason for remembering the Eagle: it published, on Sunday, August 5, 1883—as the ailing Whitman, 64, languished 100 miles away in Camden, New Jersey—an 1,800 word item on “The Origin and Growth” of The Twilight Club, “A Successful Club Which Has Neither Club House Nor Caterer.” Now, the Twilight Club itself could probably be safely forgotten, had it not provided a platform for …

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The Devil’s Dictionary

by Ambrose Bierce Labor, n. One of the processes by which A acquires property for B. Lawful, adj. Compatible with the will of a judge having jurisdiction. Lawyer, n. One skilled in circumvention of the law. Liar, n. A lawyer with a roving commission. Liberty, n. One of Imagination’s most precious possessions. Litigant, n. A person about to give up his skin for the hope of retaining his bones. Loquacity, n. A disorder which renders the sufferer unable to curb his tongue when you wish to talk.