Book Review: Profiles in Ignorance-How America’s Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber by Andy Borowitz

It seems to me, that when it comes to politics, especially for the current state of the GOP, ignorance isn’t a hindrance. Currently, Lauren Boebert, who dropped out of high school and kept flunking her GED tests, is a member of Congress. To me, this is a tragedy. But apparently her constituents in Colorado are perfectly fine with having a willfully ignorant moron representing them. Boebert is now in her second term in Congress.

Yes, the embrace of idiocy makes me want to throw things. And it turns out accepting stupidity in our politicians isn’t exactly a new thing for the GOP. It’s been going on for decades. And political satirist, Andy Borowitz, takes on this phenomenon is his book Profiles in Ignorance: How America’s Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber.

According to Borowitz there are three stages of ignorance-ridicule, acceptance, and finally, celebration.

In ridicule Borowitz discusses how an affable but dim B-list actor named Ronald Reagan because President for two terms, and how so many of his shitty policies are still having a negative impact on the United States today. Even Reagan’s speech writer called him a “barren terrain.” And remember when Dan Quayle misspelled potato? What did we do? We mocked and laughed, and thought things can’t get worse than Dan Quayle misspelling potato. But I digress.

The next stage is acceptance, where many people accepted good old boy President like George W. Bush even though he didn’t have much going on upstairs because he was the type of guy you could have a beer with. Why would we want an egghead who cares about the planet and shit like Al Gore? And who cares if Sarah Palin meandered through five different colleges and thought Africa was a country. She’s a folksy hockey mom, you betcha!

Now we’re at the most dangerous phase, the celebration phase of ignorance in politics. Our country barely survived the Trump as President, and now he’s the leading GOP candidate for the 2024 Presidential election. Several smooth brains who are also liars, uneducated, do-nothing howler monkeys like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and George Santos are in Congress. And even politicians who are relatively smart and highly-educated like Senator Ted Cruz and Governor of Florida and GOP Presidential candidate, Ron DeSantis are dumbing themselves down to appeal to voters. I don’t know about you, but I want my representatives in politics from President to my state Senator to be smart and to be willing to show it.

Of course, Republican politicians aren’t the only ones who act stupidly. Former mayor of Washington D.C., the late Marion Barry was caught smoking crack and it was filmed. And former president, Bill Clinton, had an affair with Monica Lewinsky, lied about, and got impeached. But for the most part, it’s the Republican party that has been acting like idiots and even reveling in it.

Is there hope for us who are disgusted by the embrace of idiocy in our political sphere? In the final chapter, “Conclusion: Democracy’s Braking System,” Borowitz gives us some ideas on how to fix this. Sure, we can vote, stay informed, and donate to various campaigns of candidates who aren’t mentally deficient. But Borowitz behooves the reader to get involved in the grass roots level of politics. And there are quite a few examples of how we can do this, which he lays out in book. And because so many of my readers are total braniacs, I’m sure they can figure out what they can do to insure the stupid people don’t totally screw things up…forever.

Book Review: Not Your Father’s America-An Adventure Raising Triplets in a Country Being Changed by Greed by Cort Casady

Being a woman without children, I can only imagine what it’s like to raise one child. But what about raising three children, and not three children born consecutively, but all at once. Yes. TRIPLETS! Raising triplets is a huge undertaking, one that TV writer Cort Casady along with his wife Barbara are quite familiar with. They raised three triplet boys, Jackson, Carter, and Braeden, and Casady documents the raising of his three boys in his memoir Not Your Father’s America: An Adventure Raising Triplets in a Country Being Changed by Greed.

Cort and Barbara met, fell in love, and got married. They knew they truly wanted children, but the process of getting pregnant wasn’t exactly easy (though initially, I’m sure they had fun trying-wink). Having difficulties, Cort and Casady resorted to IVF and other fertility treatments, which I am now very familiar with.

However, there was heartbreak in conceiving a child. They lost a baby early on, and were devastated? We’re Cort and Barbara never going to have children? But soon Barbara was pregnant with triplets, which truly threw them for a loop. There was talk of elimination of one or two of the embryos, but Cort and Barbara decided to keep all of them. Knowing being a woman of a certain age (Cort and Barbara became parents when most of their peers were sending their oldest to college), Barbara to extra care of herself and her pregnancy.

The Casady boys were born in January of 1995. Being multiples, they were underweight and had some health issues that needed to be attended to. But soon Carter, Jackson, and Braeden were safely home with their parents. And that’s when the fun, and a lot of hard work began. Fortunately, Cort and Barbara had a lot of help from family, friends, and several nannies, though it did take time to get the nanny situation figured out. It truly does take a village to raise a child, or in this case, three children.

Cort lovingly records Carter, Jackson, and Braeden’s development and progress from babyhood through childhood onto the teen years and then young adulthood and college. No small detail escapes Cort. And to think about it no details are small. It’s a major accomplishment to learn how to walk, go to school the first time, travel to a new place, and figure out one’s place in the world. And what I appreciate it, is how Cort and Barbara encourage their boys to be unique individuals with their own separate ideas, talents, and skills. Often parents think their children should be carbon copies of each other, especially those who are multiples. Cort and Barb don’t do that.

But Cort does so much more than cover his son’s growing up. He also covers the major events that have occurred during their lives (and ours), and how it has affected so many people. Though very young when September 11th happened (the triplets were in first grade), the boys knew something very bad had happened. How do you explain this horrific act of terror to children when adults could barely explain it to themselves?

Cort also discusses corporate malfeasance and greed. Remember Enron? And then there was the fall of financial institutions thought too big to fail and a recession that hurt countless Americans. Sadly, it seems corporate malfeasance and greed is built into the fabric of our society.

Cort doesn’t pretend to have all the answers, and he knows politics and social issues are very thorny topics. But I do appreciate how he is concerned about various issues that have harmed everything from our political landscape to our environment to the world of finance and business.

But ultimately, Not Your Father’s America is one father’s love letter to his boys. At times it may seem Cort is bragging, but Cort has a lot to brag about. Carter, Jackson, and Braeden have grown up to be wonderful young men. In a world where we hear about so much abuse parents do to their children, it’s lovely to come across a father who not only loves his sons, he also likes them a whole lot, too.

Book Review: Race and Reckoning-From Founding Fathers to Today’s Disruptors by Ellis Cose

In a time where people are freaking out over CRT being taught in grade schools (it’s not), hate crimes against people of color are too numerous, and Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida wants to cut AP African American Studies from high schools because he doesn’t think it has any educational value, Ellis Cose’s book Race and Reckoning: From Founding Fathers to Today’s Disrupters is a very needed and important book.

Race and Reckoning takes a very comprehensive look at the entities and actions and how they affected various races and America as a whole. Ellis muses on slavery, the New Deal, Jim Crow, the Covid Pandemic. He talks about the seminal labor and decisive resolutions that resulted in inequity, disinformation, and other problematic outcomes even in the modern age. And this labor and resolutions didn’t just affect people who were around when they were implemented. They have affected generations after.

Race and Reckoning examines America’s history, slavery, bigotry and exclusion of Asians, the removal of Indigenous people from their native lands and so much more. And America has prospered in the wake of this bigotry take advantage of the work of people seen as “lesser.” Even after people proved themselves and served their country, they still faced discrimination. African American soldiers and veterans were denied benefits that went to their white peers. Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps during World War II. And we can’t forget how Black people were denied the right to vote in the days of Jim Crow.

Now in 2023, there are people who think racism is no longer a problem. We’re living in a post-racial world. After all, Barack Obama was President for 12 years. Vice President, Kamala Harris, is both Black and Asian. Certainly, she’s in a position of power. We have many more people of color who are successful and in notable positions in everything-politics, media, business, sports, and entertainment.

But to anyone who has been paying attention, we are not living in a post-racial world here in the United States. Racism is still so much a vile problem we are still dealing with. And Race and Reckoning explains this is a way that is both thought-provoking and maddening.

I got quite the education reading Race and Reckoning. This book filled in so many gaps that were lacking in my formal schooling. I recall learning about the Civil War, but truly learning about the horrors of slavery were barely mentioned. Instead, our class watched “Gone With the Wind.” Sure, that movie is a classic, but it’s hardly an honest depiction of slavery during the those times. I never learned about internment camps during World War II or the removal of the Indigenous people. I’m angry that my schooling was so lacking, but I’m very grateful for Ellis Cose’s Race and Reckoning. This book may not be on Ron DeSantis’ reading list, but it should be on yours.

Book Review: American Psychosis-A Historical Investigation of How the Republican Party Went Crazy by David Corn

Years ago, when I was in college, I took a political science class. In this class, we learned about Robert “Fighting Bob” La Follette, who was a member of the United States Congress, a Wisconsin Governor, and later a member of the United States Senate. Fighting Bob fought for worker’s rights and against both corporate and political corruption. He was pretty much the Bernie Sanders of his day. And he was a Republican.

Okay, have you picked yourself up off the floor? I have to admit, I, along with my classmates, was pretty shocked to find this out. Our professor saw our faces, and said, “Well, the Republican party has changed quite a bit since then.”

Has it ever. The Republican Party is far different than when Abraham Lincoln was our first Republican president in the 1860s and when Fighting Bob was around. And David Corn explains how the GOP changed in his riveting and very thorough book, American Psychosis: A Historical Investigation of How the Republican Party Went Crazy.

American Psychosis begins with the 1964 Republican National Convention at Cow Palace in San Francisco. Barry Goldwater was the the presumptive Republican nominee and quite far right wing, especially at a time when many Republicans were quite moderate, even some were liberal. Goldwater’s extreme views would take over the GOP, and in just over a half a century, would end up with Trump’s horrifying presidency and the attack on the Capitol, January 6th, 2021.

From that introduction, Corn goes into painstaking detail of how we ended up with the tea party, MAGA, and other miscreants of today’s Republican party. He begins by telling the reader about the Republican party’s humble roots when Abraham Lincoln was President and the Union was victorious in the Civil War. But it wasn’t long before the Republican Party shifted and went off the rails, embracing bigotry, corporate interests, and the Red Scare of Joe McCarthy. The United States saw the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, McCarthyism, the John Birch Society, the extreme Religious Right, Reaganomics with trickle down economics, right wing media like Fox News, the Tea Party, and the Trump presidency.

American Psychosis is filled with names, dates, places, and information on how the GOP sunk so low. The Republican Party has not shied away from embracing fanaticism, tribalism, bigotry, anti-intellectualism, and paranoia to gather followers, garner votes, seize power, which has ended up brutalizing American citizens and people throughout the world. To this day, I can’t think of any Republican policies that have positively affected me.

This books is so detailed covering the likes of Joe McCarthy, Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, and now the Trump. At times I thought I would have to set up a spread sheet to keep up with all the GOP miscreants named in American Psychosis. Though I do hope the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Jerry Falwell, and Phyllis Schlafly are each roasting on a spit in hell.

I’ll be the first to admit the Democratic Party has its faults; but it hasn’t become so completely off the rails like today’s GOP. There is no Democratic version of Marjorie Taylor Greene or the newly elected George Santos. Corn doesn’t really offer any solutions for the Republican Party to get back on track. That’s not his responsibility. But it is high time Republicans take a good look in the mirror and realize they might not have much of a party in a few years. American Psychosis is a book that should be read by every American who gives a crap about our country.

Book Review: American Woman-The Poll Dance: Women and Voting by Kimberley A. Johnson

It’s a week away from the midterm elections, and a lot of things are at stake. Even though we think Presidential elections are very important, so are the midterms. And it’s especially important for women in this day and age. Just as we think we’ve come so far, some nefarious forces are trying to push us back into the 19th century. We need to fight against these forces. And one of he best way to do it is by voting.

Author, actress, and activist Kimberley A. Johnson shares this sentiment, and she states her case in her fabulous book American Woman-The Poll Dance: Women and Voting.

I first became aware of Johnson when I found her on Facebook. She discussed a host of issues, especially how they affected women, and proudly called herself a feminist. I felt like I found a kindred spirit and continue to follow her on social media to this day.

Johnson covers so many topics and how a woman’s right to vote is so important. These issues include the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), rape and sexual assault, abortion, birth control and body autonomy, unions and the workplace, equal pay for equal work, and sexual harassment on the job.

And because the personal is political, Johnson shares personal stories from her childhood to her work as an actress and salesperson. Johnson is quite honest, telling us the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Johnson also shares the stories of women of all ages and isn’t afraid to rake anti-feminists over the coals.

American Woman is written in a very down to earth style that is never dry and boring. Plus, it is obvious Johnson has done her research and homework.

A lot has happened since American Woman was published in 2014. Donald Trump was elected to the highest office in the United States and his MAGA followers make the Tea Party look like, well, a tea party The Trump presidency was pretty much a shit show, and Trump lost in 2020 to Joe Biden. However, far too many didn’t accept the results of the election and stormed the US capitol on January 6th, 2021.

We also dealt with the global Covid-19 pandemic, the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, the restriction of voting rights, school and mass shootings, and environmental degradation. The late Ruth Bader Ginsburg was replaced by the odious Amy Coney Barrett. And women lost their reproductive rights with the overturn of Roe V. Wade this past June.

All of this is enough to make you want to hide under the covers. But I try to remain hopeful. A lot of people are really pissed off and want a better country and society for all of us. I’ve noticed a great deal of activism among Generation Z who are just starting out their young lives and realize things are messed up. As a member of Generation X, I support them.

So much is at stake. Not only is our vote a right, our lives depend on it!

The Problem with Everything-My Journey Through the New Culture Wars by Meghan Daum

In her 2019 book, The Problem with Everything: My Journey Through the New Culture Wars, author Meghan Daum takes on a host of topics. These topics include the Trump presidency, feminism in the modern day, cancel culture, and the differences between Gen X and Millennials.

In The Problem With Everything, Daum writes about being a kid in the 1970s, a time of of the TV show Zoom and when girls weren’t forced into the color pink. Things were a bit more unisex back then. She writes about the 1980s, when women were climbing the corporate ladder, yet were admonished as selfish careerists in a time of latchkey kids. And she also covers the 1990s, when she was in college and an intern in New York City. She looks back at these decades and compares them to the modern day. How have things changed? How have things not changed?

One things Daum talks about is the cancellation of people who may have a difference of opinion. She wonders where is the nuance and critical thinking when it comes to various issues. Perhaps, in the day of social media, where one tweet can be misconstrued, this may no longer be the case. Everything is so black and white. Will we ever embrace the gray in-between? Will conservatives and liberals offer each other an olive branch?

When it comes to feminism, Daum thinks it has accomplished most things. And yes, many women are better off than their grandmothers. But we still have a long way to go. She also questions the feminism of Millennials, which can come across as both celebrating victimization and calling oneself a “badass.” We’ve gone from Riot Grrrl to #Girlboss, but what does it mean? I know one, thing. Gen X feminists were also looked down upon back in the 1990s.

Daum also discusses the dissolution of her marriage, the state of the college campus then and now, and how people are afraid of the most mildest of criticism, worried they will be brandished a racist, homophobe, or misogynist. There’s really a lot to unpack these days.

I found Daum’s writing to be enlightening and interesting even though I didn’t agree with her on everything. But she does bring up some very compelling ideas that should provoke debate and discussion. And I wonder what Daum’s take on the issues she she could write about in 2022 in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the January 6th insurrection, and the overturn of Roe V. Wade. Perhaps Daum will cover these things in her next book. I know if she does, I will definitely read it.

Graphic and Novel

Book Review: Becoming Michelle Obama by Michelle Obama

Even my cat, Pokey Jones, liked this book!

Once upon a time, in land called the south side of Chicago, lived a girl named Michelle Robinson. Instead of living in a huge castle, she lived in a modest house on a street called Euclid Avenue. And instead of having to deal with an evil stepmother, she had two loving parents and a protective older brother. Like a lot of girls, Michelle Robinson dreamed of adventures that would take her beyond her humble roots and finding her own Prince Charming. She did that and so much more, thus becoming the history-making first lady Michelle Obama, not only the first black first lady (not to mention one of the most educated and admired, and if I may dip my toes into the shallow end of the pool, one of the most stylish first ladies, in the history of the United States).

Unless you’ve been living under a rock or are so “unwoke” you might as well be in a coma, you are fully aware of Michelle Obama’s years of living in the White House – her “Let’s Move” campaign to alleviate childhood obesity, her work with second lady Dr. Jill Biden on veterans’ issues, her loving marriage to President Barack Obama, and her challenges of raising two children in the White House under the glare of the media. This is a very compelling part of Becoming, and Mrs. Obama is fully honest about the good, the bad, and the ugly she dealt with during the White House years.

However, most of Becoming focuses on Mrs. Obama’s life before her time as First Lady, and it is both extraordinary and ordinary, which I’m sure a lot of readers with relate to.

Mrs. Obama describes these years in rich detail that had me riveted. Her family was firm and loving, inspiring her to be a striver and excel in whatever she pursued. She writes about teachers who supported her from grade school through law school. She lovingly mentions the girlfriends who inspired her, and are still with her today (even if one standout friend is only with her in spirit). Mrs. Obama discusses the various mentors she was blessed with while navigating the difficulties in the workplace. And she’s brutally honest about these privileges and her gratitude seems truly sincere.

However, she also had to deal with the thorny issues of both racism and sexism, and plenty of naysayers who claimed she’d never make it. For instance, one person tried to convince Mrs. Obama that she wasn’t Ivy League material. Ha, she showed this person, didn’t she?

And yes, Mrs. Obama also dishes on a certain fellow named Barack Obama, from her initial meeting when she was his mentor to her twenty-five plus years of their marriage.

But just as Mrs. Obama is grateful for her blessings, she is also honest about the trials and tribulations she faced personally. Prince Charming was sometimes a bit of a challenge and often their marriage was less than ideal. Mrs. Obama also faced issues with having children, finally reverting to using fertility treatments and later giving birth to her cherished daughters Malia and Sasha. In other words, her life is at turn both typical and atypical, one that inspires and one that a lot of us can relate to.

Now, it’s no secret I’m a huge fan of Michelle Obama. However, as a book reviewer I realize I must be truthful of my assessment of Becoming. Not to be gross, but you can’t crap on a cone and expect me to call it ice cream. Thank goodness, Becoming is a sundae of a read and truly exceeded my expectation. It’s both down to earth and out of this world, one that takes a treasured place on my book shelf. I can’t recommend it enough.

Book Review: The View from Flyover Country-Dispatches from the Forgotten America by Sarah Kedzior

When not being ignored by the two coasts, flyover country is being celebrated as where the “real Americans” live, usually by conservative pundits. And to these pundits, real Americans are defined as white and for the most part living in the suburbs or rural areas who define themselves as conservative Christians.

But not so fast, living in flyover country, I know we are a much more diverse bunch and so does Sarah Kedzior, which she sums up in her collection of essays The View from Flyover Country-Dispatches from the Forgotten America.

A reporter for Al Jazeera America and residing in St. Louis, Missouri, Kedzior’s essays focus on such thorny topics as race, income inequality, the friction among generations, education, foreign policy, the media, women’s issues and so much more.

Kedzior starts off The View from Flyover Country with an introduction rolling out what her collection of essays is all about, giving the reader a clear idea on what to expect among its six parts.

In Part One, Flyover Country, Kedzior defines flyover country and topics such as how expensive cities are killing creatives and hipster economics.

Part Two, Post-Employments, explains issues of survival, how workers are paying a steep price, zilch opportunities and how sometimes these issues make people do extreme things like lighting themselves on fire.

Race and religion define Part Three, where Kedzior writes about the tragedy of Trayvon Martin’s murder, Black Lives Matter, and what happened in Ferguson in the wake of Mike Brown being gunned down by police.

In Part Four Kedzior examines the broken promise of a higher education, and how school debt has crippled countless smart, hard-working and talented graduates. She also decries the deplorable pay of adjunct professors who work tirelessly to educate our students.

Part Five is a careful examination of our media and how gaining access seems to be only available to the well-connected elite (don’t I know it!) and the problem of fringe media in the Internet age.

Foreign policy makes up Part Six when it comes to gender, Edward Snowden, the situation in Iraq and basic human rights.

Finally, Kedzior sums things up with a standout essay on the importance of complaining. If people didn’t complain, women wouldn’t have the right to vote, black people would still be at the back of the bus, and gay people wouldn’t be able to marry those they love.

While reading The View Flyover Country, I marked several pages with post-it notes and wrote down some key quotes and passages in my well-worn notebook. Kedzior writes in a down-to-earth way with smarts and clarity. She truly cares about these issues and implores us to also care about them.

The View from Flyover Country is a treasure of a book and is ideal for both the college classroom and book discussion groups everywhere.

Book Review: The Common Good by Robert B. Reich

Considering I gave Robert B. Reich’s Saving Capitalism a rave review, it’s no secret I’m a huge fan of the former secretary of Labor under President Clinton. So I am thrilled to give Reich’s latest book, The Common Good, another rave review.

The Common Good is a call to arms to anyone who cares about the state of our country and all of its citizens.

And when I mention a call to arms I don’t mean guns and ammunition. This book is a call for us to bring a sense of empathy, sensibility and basic human decency when it comes to politics, business, religion, education, media, activism, and our communities as a whole. And The Common Good is written in an enthusiastic and perceptive manner that will connect with a wide audience.

The Common Good is divided into three distinct parts:

1. What Is the Common Good?

2. What Happened to the Common Good?

3. Can the Common Good By Restored?

Part one is a primer on the common good. It starts out using the sheer awfulness of Martin Shrekeli and how he fully encompasses what is not the common good.

As part one moves on Reich explains both the common good most of us share and origins of the common good.

In part two Reich examines what exactly happened to our nation’s common good through a 3-prong dismantling of the common good’s structure. Believe me, it’s not pretty.

But before readers gnash their teeth in despair, Reich wraps things up with a manifesto on how we can restore the common good, which includes leadership we can trust, the use of honor and shame, resurrecting truth and finally but most importantly reviving civic education for all citizens starting in grade school and high school.

Some of ideas may be a bit difficult to implement and others will be quite simple. But all are vital.

The Common Good is written in an audience-friendly style that instructs and inspires and will hold your interest long after you are done reading it.  I can’t recommend it enough. The Common Good is both timely and timeless.