October 28, 2016: James Comey Kneecaps Hillary Clinton

October 28, 2016, 10 years ago: James Comey, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, sends a letter to members of Congress, advising them that the FBI was reviewing more emails written by, and to, the Democratic Party's nominee for President, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Members of Congress revealed the information to the public within minutes.

Comey's boss, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, could have stepped in, and reminded the country that nothing in those emails revealed any criminal activity, committed by anyone, including Secretary Clinton. So could Holder's boss, President Barack Obama, leaving office the following January 20, as he was limited to 2 terms in office. But neither did, to avoid the appearance of trying to "fix" the election -- as if Comey hadn't already tried that.

And so, "the appearance of impropriety" fed into the myth of Mrs. Clinton, and of her husband, Bill Clinton, as unethical, which the Republican Party had been pushing since he began his 1st campaign for President, 25 years to the month earlier.

It may have made all the difference in the election, throwing it to the Republicans' nominee for President: A spectacularly failed businessman with no political experience, of malignant narcissism, of disgusting racism, of unacceptable misogyny, and compromised in disastrous ways. His name was Donald Trump.

Trump won 306 Electoral Votes, Clinton 232 -- although, with "faithless electors" kicking in, it turned out to be 304-227 in Trump's favor. Trump won Michigan by less than 11,000 votes, Wisconsin by less than 23,000, and Pennsylvania by less than 45,000. Had those 3 States gone the other way, presuming no faithless electors, the Electoral Vote would have been 278-260 in Clinton's favor.

To borrow a term Trump would appreciate, given his love of the Mob: Comey kneecapped Clinton.

And how did Trump thank Comey for this? By firing him. James Comey ended up as the one figure from the 2016 Presidential election who was hated by both sides -- although, in the Republicans' case, it was for what he did after it.

*

October 28, 2016 was a Friday. Game 3 of the World Series was played, the 1st World Series game played at Wrigley Field in 71 years. The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago Cubs, 1-0. Coco Crisp singled Michael Martínez home with the game's only run in the top of the 7th inning. Josh Tomlin, Andrew Miller (winning pitcher), Bryan Shaw and Cody Allen combined on a 5-hit shutout. But the Cubs won the World Series in Game 7. 

Sheik, Russia and Roll!

To the tune of the 1954 rhythm & blues classic "Shake, Rattle and Roll," the "cleaner" (but no less sexist) Bill Haley version rather than the original by Big Joe Turner:

Get out to that rally, and rattle those MAGA fans.
Get out to that rally, and rattle those MAGA fans.
And don't let 'em know that you're Vlad Putin's man.

I said, Sheik, Russia and roll!
I said, Sheik, Russia and roll!
I said, Sheik, Russia and roll!
I said, Sheik, Russia and roll!
Well, you never do nothin', but shake America's soul!

Wearin' those blue suits, your hair done up so weird.
Wearin' those blue suits, your hair done up so weird.
And Mohammed bin Salman is glad your checks have cleared.

I said, Sheik, Russia and roll!
I said, Sheik, Russia and roll!
I said, Sheik, Russia and roll!
I said, Sheik, Russia and roll!
Well, you never do nothin', but shake America's soul!

I'm like a bug-eyed cat, screamin' in a groc'ry store!
I'm like a bug-eyed cat, screamin' in a groc'ry store!
You said you'd stop inflation, but it's still growin' more!

I believe you're doin' us wrong, and now I know
I didn't have to change this verse, and now I know:
The more I work, the faster my money goes!

I said, Sheik, Russia and roll!
I said, Sheik, Russia and roll!
I said, Sheik, Russia and roll!
I said, Sheik, Russia and roll!
Well, you never do nothin', but shake America's soul!

Sheik, Russia and roll!

October 7, 2016: The Trump "Access Hollywood" Tape Is Released

Left to right: Billy Bush, Donald Trump and Arianne Zucker

October 7, 2016, 10 yeares ago: It is 32 days until the Presidential election, between the Democratic Party's nominee, Hillary Clinton, former First Lady, Senator from New York, and Secretary of State; and the Republican Party's nominee, Donald Trump, a man with no political experience, and whose experience as a billionaire businessman was built on lies -- for example, the lie that he was a billionaire, rather than a billion dollars in debt.

The Washington Post releases a videotape from a never-aired interview on the NBC show Access Hollywood that correspondent Billy Bush -- a cousin of then-President George W. Bush -- did of The Apprentice star Donald Trump on September 16, 2005. On the tape, Trump and Bush are on a tour bus, outside the Hollywood studio where NBC taped the soap opera Days of Our Lives. Arianne Zucker, one of the show's stars, was waiting to greet them.

While waiting for the signal to get off the bus, Trump started talking about Bush's co-host on Access Hollywood, Nancy O'Dell:

I moved on her, and I failed. I'll admit it. I did try and fuck her. She was married. And I moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said, "I'll show you where they have some nice furniture." I took her out furniture -- I moved on her like a bitch. But I couldn't get there. And she was married. Then, all of a sudden, I see her, she's now got the big phony tits and everything. She's totally changed her look.

That was bad enough. But there's a difference between sounding like a sexist pig who cheats on his wife, which Trump was already known to be; and sounding like a violent criminal. As they got ready to get off the bus, Trump started talking about Zucker, and then confessed to committing sexual assault on multiple occasions:

I better use some Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her. You know, I'm automatically attracted to beautiful -- I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab 'em by the pussy. You can do anything.

Zucker was also married at the time, to her co-star, Kyle Lowder. They have since divorced.

NBC kept the tape hidden, because Trump's reality show, The Apprentice, meant big ratings, and thus big money, for them. At the time, the tape would have destroyed Trump, and ruined the show.

But by the time the tape was released, Trump was the Republican nominee for President, running against a woman. It should have destroyed him.

Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Republicans' 2012 nominee for Vice President, canceled a campaign appearance with him set for the next day, saying in a released statement, "I am sickened by what I heard today. Women are to be championed and revered, not objectified."

In a televised interview, Senator Mike Lee of Utah directed these words at Trump: "Step down. Allow someone else to carry the banner of these principles, rather than weighing down the very principles that will help us win in November." And Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Preibus told Trump, "You need to step aside, or you are going to suffer a historic landslide of a defeat."

Trump released this statement: "This was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago. Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course -- not even close. I apologize if anyone was offended."

Of course: The classic "if anyone was offended" apology, when he knew damn well that millions of people, including millions in his own Party, were offended. Equally "of course": "Whataboutism," bringing the opposition, and in particular his opponent's husband, the former President, into it.

Trump was lying, of course. There is no way in hell that Bill Clinton would say something worse than what Trump said. You gotta be an actual Ku Klux Klansman to say something worse than that.

Trump doubled down. In a televised interview that night, he said, "Bill Clinton has actually abused women. And Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed and intimidated his victims."

Up to that point, Bill Clinton was the most-investigated President in American history, much more so than Trump was during his 1st term in office. There is no proof that Clinton has ever abused a woman.

Trump did not give a damn what the truth was. He knew that there were millions of people in America who would believe every word he said, because he had given them permission to be bigoted in public again, and they were grateful to him for this, to the point of near-worship.

He also knew that there were millions of people in America who wanted tax cuts for the rich, deregulation of business, an end to civil rights progress, and the overturning of Roe v. Wade; and that they wanted these things so much, that they would vote for the Devil himself if he were the Republican nominee for President.

Campaigning in the Iowa Caucuses on January 23, 2016, Trump said, "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK?" He didn't say he wouldn't be arrested. He said he wouldn't lose any voters. And he was probably right about that.

The one thing Trump believed could stop him is if he stopped himself. He saw dropping out of the race as a sign of weakness. And the appearance of weakness was the one thing he hated more than nonwhite people. So he made himself look defiant, bullish, strong, standing up to his enemies.

The RNC could have removed him from the ticket. They gambled that they had a better chance of winning with him than without him.

Trump's wife Melania said, "The words my husband used are unacceptable and offensive to me. This does not represent the man that I know." She added that she hoped "people will accept his apology, as I have." Only she knew for sure whether she was telling the truth at that moment.

Things actually got worse for Trump that day: U.S. intelligence agencies publicly accused the Russian government of using computer hacking to interfere with the U.S. election process. Trump had previously invited them to do it: At a news conference the preceding July 27, he said, "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing, I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press."

And, also on October 7, WikiLeaks -- run by convicted rapist Julian Assange, who had ties to Russia -- released thousands of private emails from inside the Clinton campaign. And that may have, literally, made all the difference in the world: It gave a little more life to Trump's claims of his opponent as "Crooked Hillary," even though there was nothing in the emails that suggested any criminal activity on her part.

Two nights later, there was a Presidential debate, at Washington University in St. Louis, which had hosted such debates before. Trump not only invited, but held a press conference with, and seated in the front row of the debate, 3 women who had previously accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct: Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey and Juanita Broaddrick, all of whose accusations had been proven false. Interestingly, he did not invite Monica Lewinsky, whose story, which did not include any form of abuse on the President's part, was proven true. Or, if he did invite her, she turned him down.

The idea of putting those women in the front row was that Hillary would have seen them, been reminded of Bill's cheating on her, and been thrown off her game. She wasn't: As she did in the other 2 debates, she kicked his ass.

Nevertheless, Trump again reiterated his lies about Bill, and his lies about Hillary, and his lies about the Democrats, and his lies about himself. And the rubes bought it. As the historian Will Durant put it, "You can't fool all of the people all of the time, but you can fool enough of them to be elected the leader of a country."

As a result of the tape being released, the only person who had to step down from any role was Billy Bush, who did nothing wrong -- except, I suppose, remain silent about the tape for 11 years. By 2016, he was a correspondent on NBC's The Today Show, and he had to resign that post. In 2019, he was back on the air, on another show-business-themed show, Extra! -- which had been on NBC, but had since moved to, of course, Fox.

Presidential Approval Rating Peaks and Valleys, 1933-2026

From The Moment with Katy Tur, October 2, 2026

According to polling presented on MS Now yesterday, on The Moment with Katy Tur, by Tur, Trump is at 82 percent disapproval on the issue of the cost of living. That's on one issue, not overall.

In contrast, the following Presidents were at the following peak levels of disapproval on the following issues: Lyndon Johnson on the Vietnam War, 57; Richard Nixon on the Watergate scandal, 71; Jimmy Carter on the economy overall, 74; George W. Bush on the economy overall, 77, and on the Iraq War, 70; and Joe Biden on the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, 62.

Not listed in that graphic, apparently because they didn't have as much as 57 percent on any particular issue, which I, having lived through every President since Nixon, find hard to believe: Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

So I got curious: When were Presidents at their most popular, overall; and least? Here's the figures I found, with sources listed in the link, starting in the modern era:

* Franklin D. Roosevelt: Highest: 84 percent in a poll ending January 13, 1942, in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the country rallying around itself, its troops, and its President; Lowest, 48, August 24, 1939, after the 1937-38 "Roosevelt Recession," but before the start of World War II.

* Harry S Truman: Highest: 87, June 5, 1945, in the wake of V-E Day in the closing days of World War II; Lowest, 22, February 14, 1952, at the depth of the Korean War, and with some Democratic scandals that would seem like penny-ante stuff by the time of Watergate.

* Dwight D. Eisenhower: Highest: 78, November 22, 1955, after recovering from his heart attack 2 months earlier; Lowest, 48, April 1, 1958, at the depth of the worst recession the country had seen since the end of the Great Depression, but one that would be surpassed many times starting in 1973.

* John F. Kennedy: Highest: 83, May 3, 1961, ironically in the wake of the failed Bay of Pigs operation, with people appreciating that he took full responsibility for it, instead of blaming Ike, the CIA, or anybody else; Lowest, 56, September 17, 1963, after he'd lost much of the South with his civil rights bill, but he was still personally popular.

* Lyndon B. Johnson: Highest, 80, March 5, 1964, in the wake of the JFK assassination and his promise of a War On Poverty; Lowest, 35, August 12, 1968, with the Vietnam War and race riots both seeming to have no end in sight.

* Richard Nixon: Highest, 70, February 15, 1973, after he'd won a 2nd term and "ended the Vietnam War," but before Watergate emerged as an issue; Lowest, 23, January 7, 1974, oddly not right before he resigned.

* Gerald Ford: Highest, 71, August 19, 1974, right after he'd replaced Nixon and given a unifying "not an Inaugural Address"; Lowest, 37, January 13, 1975, after his pardon of Nixon, and with the recession Nixon dumped in his lap having had inflation added to it.

* Jimmy Carter: Highest, 75, March 21, 1977, in his 1st 100 days; Lowest, 28, July 2, 1979, oddly, right before his "Crisis of Confidence" speech, before the Iran Hostage Crisis, the OPEC moves raising gas prices, the accompanying inflation with everything else, or the high interest rates.

* Ronald Reagan: Highest, 68, May 11, 1981, after both his 1st 100 days and his recovering from an assassination attempt; Lowest, 35, January 31, 1983, with unemployment at 11 percent, it's highest non-COVID point since the end of the Great Depression.

* George H.W. Bush: Highest, 89, March 3, 1991, just as he ended the Persian Gulf War; Lowest, 29, August 2, 1992, with the deepest recession yet since the end of the Great Depression, and with the Democrats having just had a successful Convention, but before his Party's Convention made things worse.

So far, all of these polls were by the Gallup Organization. These were not, with one exception:

* Bill Clinton: Highest, 73, by CBS News and The New York Times, January 27, 1998, 6 days after the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke, a day after his finger-wagging denial of the charges, and right after his State of the Union Address, so at a low point in his Administration, he was at his most popular; Lowest, 36, by Time magazine and CNN, May 27, 1993, right after his 1st 100 days, which had a few public-relations missepts.

* George W. Bush: Highest, 92, by ABC News, October 9, 2001, right after he'd begun bombing Afghanistan in retaliation for the 9/11 attacks; Lowest, 19, by the American Research Group, February 19, 2008, with a recession getting bad and the Iraq War having no end in sight, even though things would get much worse economically.

* Barack Obama: Highest, 76, by CNN, February 8, 2009, right after his Inauguration; Lowest, 37, by Gallup, September 11, 2011, 4 months after he killed Osama bin Laden, after Republicans had started running against him, including airing TV commercials against him, but before the 2012 Primaries started, and he wasn't airing his own ads yet.

* Joe Biden: Highest, 63, by the Associated Press, May 3, 2021, around the end of his 1st 100 days; Lowest, 31, by Quinnipiac University, July 18, 2022, around the time that inflation got the highest under him.

* Donald Trump, and these are the extremes for both of his terms combined, so far: Highest, 49, by McLaughlin & Associates, March 24, 2019, before his 1st impeachment, COVID, and the COVID-induced recession; Lowest, 29, Pew Research, January 12, 2021, after the January 6 insurrection, and right before his 2nd impeachment.

Therefore, they can be ranked as follows:

Highest: Dubya Bush 92, Daddy Bush 89, Truman 87, FDR 84, JFK 83, LBJ 80, Ike 78, Obama 76, Carter 75, Clinton 73, Ford 71, Nixon 70, Reagan 68, Biden 63, Trump 49. Surprise: Reagan was never as popular as Carter or Clinton at his peak, and Trump has never had a majority.

Lowest: JFK 56, FDR 48, Ike 48, Obama 37, Ford 37, Clinton 36, LBJ 35, Reagan 35, Biden 31, Daddy Bush 29, Trump 29, Carter 28, Nixon 23, Truman 22, Dubya Bush 19. Another surprise: LBJ and Clinton never got as low as Reagan; but Truman was lower than all of them except Dubya.

How about their average approval rating? These are all from Gallup, and they didn't list FDR's: JFK 70.1, Ike 65.0, Daddy Bush 60.9, LBJ 55.1, Clinton 55.1, Reagan 52.8, Dubya Bush 49.4, Nixon 49.0, Obama 47.9, Ford 47.2, Carter 45.5, Truman 45.4, Biden 42.2, Trump 41.1.

Think about that: Not only is Trump's the lowest, but even with him, and (as Rush Limbaugh would have said about Clinton) his willing accomplices in the media, bad-mouthing Biden for 5 years straight (counting the 2020 campaign), Biden's average was still higher than Trump's.

What does this mean? Basically, it means that there are certain rules to being President:

* Don't have a "Depression." Herbert Hoover, the last President before this list, had THE one. Nixon had one. Ford suffered for it, too. Carter was seen as having one, but it wasn't one. Reagan had one. Both Bushes had one. Biden was seen as having one, but it wasn't one. Trump is now on his 2nd.

* Don't have a "Vietnam." LBJ had one. Carter had won, in Iran. Reagan got out of one, in Lebanon. Dubya had one, in Iraq. Biden sort-of had one, in Afghanistan, although it was based on a Trump policy, which he didn't change. Trump now has one, in Iran.

* Don't have a Watergate. Truman sort-of had one, the various "corruption" scandals in his Administration. Nixon had THE one. Ford suffered for it, too. Reagan had one, Iran-Contra, but survived it. Clinton didn't have one, not that Republicans didn't try to say he had several. Dubya had one, the Scooter Libby vs. Valerie Plame story. Trump had one, getting impeached over trying to blackmail Ukraine.

* Don't screw up a hurricane. Nixon and Daddy Bush had particularly bad ones in both Year 1 and Year 4, but each responded properly, and while both had their Presidencies end earlier than they would have liked, their hurricane responses had nothing to do with it. Dubya Bush had the worst one in the modern era, and it basically ended his "9/11 untouchability," before his "Vietnam" could make things worse. Obama had one just a few days before voters had to decide whether to re-elect him, but he handled it right, though he probably would have won the most-affected States anyway. Trump screwed up a hurricane in Year 1, and hardly anybody even remembers that now, because he's done so many other horrible things.

* Don't screw up a pandemic. So far, only 4 Presidents have faced this problem. In 1918, Woodrow Wilson put up measures to fight the Spanish Flu, and we may never know how many people those measures saved. Obama faced Ebola in 2014, and his measures meant that literally no Americans died from it, and just one person on American soil, a visiting Liberian. The Obama Administration "wrote a pandemic playbook," because they knew something like that would happen someday, and we had to be prepared. Trump threw it out, because it was "written" by a black man. The result was the estimation that about 70 percent of the people who died from COVID wouldn't have if Trump had kept and followed the playbook. Biden was left to deal with the aftermath, and handled it as well as could have been hoped by that point.

So that's 5 rules. And Trump has broken them all. But only the "Depression" and the "Vietnam" seem to have hurt him in this 2nd term.

These polling averages also suggest that there will always be a core group that will support either party, no matter what; and a larger mass of people in between who are willing to change their minds to adjust to changing circumstances, and who do, whether the President or the media like it or not.

It's also worth noting that, once you take out FDR's 2 extra terms, most Presidents that managed to win a 2nd (or 1st full) term averaged better polling in their 1st term than in their 2nd. The exceptions, so far, have been Reagan, Clinton and Obama.

But now, as Year 6 of his Presidency is moving into its latter stages, and he is almost halfway through the 2nd term he won on the basis of fear of immigrants, inflation, and the issue of war & peace, Trump is facing blowback on the latter 2 issues, from people who had been his people all the way.

It is not enough to make them call their Congressmen and ask for his 3rd impeachment. It is not enough to make them call their Senators and ask for his conviction and removal through an impeachment trial. It is certainly not enough to make enough Republican Senators, plus Democrat John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, join every other Democratic Senator to make 67, enough to remove him.

But it might become enough to make supporters of his, who know he's not literally on the ballot in the elections to be held on November 3, either vote Democratic for the first time in who-knows-how-long-if-ever, or stay home, and lead to big Democratic victories.

Because now, Trump's policies are directly hurting them. And it's been almost 2 years: Blaming a President who hasn't been in office in that time, or the Democrats who don't hold Congressional majorities and are blocked from making policy, won't work. This is on him, and it is on his Party.

And if enough Republicans lose for the ones that are left to blame him for their new minority status, that might be enough to shake his 34-Senator firewall. And, instead of a literal wall he built that does little to keep immigrants from entering the country, it may just be that figurative wall collapsing that ends his Presidency.

Unless, of course, his health catches up to him first.

September 1, 2016: Colin Kaepernick Takes a Knee

September 1, 2016, 10 years ago: The San Francisco 49ers beat the San Diego Chargers, 31-21 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, in their last preseason game. Like any preseason game, the result doesn't matter. This time, it mattered less than ever.

Instead of standing while the National Anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner," was played before the game, 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick got down on one knee for the duration of the song.

He did this in protest of the many recent cases of police brutality. This earned him a bit of praise, and also a lot of nasty blowback from racists, who said he was "disgracing the Anthem" and "disgracing the American flag."

These people were not idiots, though many of the people they pander to are: They were liars. His gesture didn't have a damned thing to do with the flag. It had to do with white cops murdering unarmed black suspects who have been convicted of nothing, and knowing they will get away with it, because the men in power let them get away with it.

But they managed to redefine his protest, so that people didn't get the message that police brutality was a problem.

As a result, nothing changed. That was my only problem with the gesture: It didn't work. But he kept on doing it long after it became obvious that racist cops were still going to beat, and sometimes even murder, unarmed black people.

The people who attacked Kaepernick for his protest were not only disrespecting the 1st Amendment, one of the biggest things for which the flag stands. If they didn't respect his right, then the flag they claimed to love so much means nothing. By attacking Kaepernick for his protest, they were endorsing the cold-blooded murder of unarmed black people by white cops.

See? That's an extreme way to put it, but such a thing works both ways. If Kap is "un-American," then those people were racist. Or, they could have simply admitted that Kap has a point, and try to take that point away from him, by taking steps to solve the problem. That way, everybody would have won. Except the actual racists.

The 49ers went on to have a horrible season, going 2-14. Statistically, Kaepernick wasn't much below what he had previously done, including taking the 49ers to Super Bowl XLVII in the 2012 season. In 2016, he completed 59.2 percent of his passes, for 2,241 yards, 16 touchdowns and only 4 interceptions. He also rushed for 468 yards. The position of quarterback was not the 49ers' problem.

Their defense was the problem: Following a 28-0 win over the Los Angeles Rams in their regular-season opener, they allowed the 6-10 Carolina Panthers to score 46, the 7-9 Buffalo Bills to score 45, the 7-9 New Orleans Saints and the Atlanta Falcons to each score 41, the Seattle Seahawks to score 37, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to score 34, the Arizona Cardinals to score 33, the Miami Dolphins to score 31, and the New England Patriots to score 30.

Their only other win came near the end of the season, also over the 4-12 Rams, on Christmas Eve. Of their 14 losses, only 5 were within 7 points, so even if they'd won all of those, they still would have been 7-9 and missed the Playoffs. Head coach Chip Kelly and general manager Trent Baalke were both fired.

On New Year's Day, January 1, 2017, with Donald Trump, who called Kapernick "that son of a bitch" in a public speech, having ridden a wave of bigotry -- and Russian meddling -- to become President-elect, the 49ers lost their season finale to the Seahawks, 25-23. Kaepernick completed 17 out of 22 passes, for 215 yards, throwing a touchdown pass, and no interceptions. He was 29 years old, hardly old for a quarterback.

He has never thrown another professional pass, in any league on Earth. You see, in the NFL, you can do anything you want, as long as you don't embarrass your team or the League. Once you do that, they are done with you. And Kaepernick had embarrassed the National Football League. Other leagues, such as the Canadian Football League, didn't want him to do the same to theirs, so they didn't sign him, either.

He wasn't officially banned. He was -- pardon the choice of word, which originally had nothing to do with race -- blackballed. As Mike Lupica insinuated in his column in the New York Daily News, every single team organization in the NFL, some of whom desperately needed improvement at the position of quarterback, was sending a message: "We would rather go 0-16 for what would have been the rest of Colin Kapernick's career than have him play for our team."

A corollary to that message could have been, "We would rather have bigots pay for tickets, parking, food, souvenirs, etc. than take the money of Kaepernick's supporters." But even that didn't really enter into it. Every bigot is an asshole, but not every asshole is a bigot. For the team owners, this wasn't about money. If there is one thing that a rich person values more than money, it is control.

And the NFL team owners could not control Colin Kaepernick. So they acted as though he didn't even exist. They could not control him, so they denied him.

On February 2, 2020, with Jimmy Garoppolo as quarterback, the 49ers played in Super Bowl LIV, losing to the Kansas City Chiefs, 31-20. On January 20, 2023, the 49ers were in the NFC Championship Game, playing the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. In the 2022 season opener, Trey Lance was their starting quarterback, but he got hurt on September 18. From then until December 4, it was Garoppolo, but he was injured. From then onward, it was Brock Purdy, but he was injured early in that Championship Game. They had signed a previous quarterback, Josh Johnson, as an emergency backup after the December 4 game, and he stepped in for the NFC Championship, but left the game with a concussion in the 3rd quarter. Purdy was pressed back in for emergency duty, and threw 4 passes, completing them all, but for a total of 23 yards. The Niners lost, 31-7.

Colin Kaepernick was 35 years old. He should still have been the starting quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, a team that has won 5 Super Bowls. If he had been, they might have won a 6th Super Bowl, and even a 7th.

On November 3, 2026, barring a medical calamity, he will turn 39. To put that in perspective: Aaron Rodgers, now with the Pittsburgh Steelers, is 42; Joe Flacco, now with the Cincinnati Bengals, is 41; and the aforementioned Josh Johnson, also now with the Bengals, is 40. Matthew Stafford of the Los Angeles Rams and Kirk Cousins of the Las Vegas Raiders are both expected to start for their teams this season, at 38.

If Kaepernick wanted to make a comeback now, and were permitted to do so, he would be very rusty, but he wouldn't be the oldest quarterback in the NFL.

Conservatism Is a Racist Ideology

Today, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld "birthright citizenship."

In a case abbreviated as Trump v. Barbara, the Court recognized that it is explicitly guaranteed to anyone born under the legal "jurisdiction" of the U.S. federal government by the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, adopted on July 9, 1868), which states: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

The vote was narrow as hell, though: 5-4. As expected, Associate Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Katanji Brown Jackson, liberals appointed by Presidents of the Democratic Party, supported birthright citizenship. But so did Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, both conservative Justices appointed by Presidents of the Republican Party -- including Barrett, appointed by Donald Trump.

The other four Associate Justices, all archconservatives appointed by Republican Presidents, voted against it: Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.

Once again, the Supreme Court matters. Trump -- or, if something happens to him, Vice President JD Vance taking his place -- has two and a half years left in his term. And Thomas is 78 years old, Alito is 76, Sotomayor is 72, and Roberts is 71. There's a huge chance that whoever is President between now and January 20, 2029 will have to replace one of them, and a good chance that he'll have to replace at least two. The President elected on November 7, 2028 and taking office on January 20, 2029 will almost certainly inherit those new Justices, and, if not, have to replace them and the others.

Since taking office for a 2nd term as President on January 20, 2025, Donald Trump has demanded that the U.S. Supreme Court ignore this vital part of the Constitution, and declare that only children born to parents who are both citizens of the U.S. shall be recognized as citizens of the U.S.

This is anti-immigration rhetoric, aimed largely at black and Spanish-speaking people. It is racist. It is disgusting. It is immoral. It is un-American. And, while the 1st Amendment means that this shouldn't be an issue, so many people claiming it to be true also lie and say they follow Jesus, so I'm going to add this: It is un-Christian.

*

Conservatism is the ideology of racism. From 1837 onward, after the populist Andrew Jackson left office, the Democratic Party was the party of conservatism. Then, after the American Civil War, without Abraham Lincoln to keep an eye on them any longer, the members of the Republican Party saw how much money they'd made on railroads and armaments, and decided they didn't want to pay taxes on that income, and became conservative. This led to the Compromise of 1877, which ended Reconstruction, and thus ended the official move for civil rights in America, for black people and for women. (Hispanics weren't even being considered, although there were moves, even then, to limit immigration from Asia.)

So, at this point, we had two conservative parties, to the point where the Republicans threw former President Theodore Roosevelt out in 1912, when he campaigned to return to the office, on things like universal health coverage and old-age pensions -- essentially, what became Social Security.

Starting in 1932, with Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal, the Democratic Party returned to liberalism, except for their Southern wing, which, while taking in the money from New Deal's liberal projects, remained racist and conservative.

In 1964, the outside-the-South Democrats joined with reasonable Republicans to pass the Civil Rights Act. The most conservative Republicans appealed to the Southern Democrats, and say, "You don't like it? Join us." And they did. And that's where we are now.

So when Republicans call the Democrats the party of racism and the party of the Ku Klux Klan, it's no more true today than the Republicans being the party of Lincoln. Today's racists are united in their support of the Republicans, and of Donald Trump.

And let's drop this myth of "Conservatism is opposed to big government." Conservatives have always believed in big government when it comes to fighting their enemies. Since World War II, they've never had a problem with expanding the Department of Defense, or the CIA, or the FBI. Because that involves spending taxpayers' money. The only time they want smaller government is when bigger government makes them spend more of their own money.

Preview for the World Cup We Deserved -- But Not the One We Wanted

In 1966, during the World Cup in England, FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Football Association, the governing body for world soccer, having already chosen Mexico as the host for the 1970 World Cup, chose the host nations for the World Cups of 1974, 1978 and 1982. For 1974, they chose West Germany. For 1978, they chose Argentina. For 1982, they chose Spain.

This was not especially unusual: They seemed to alternate between Europe and South America, occasionally mixing it up, and would continue to do so until Asia and Africa began to be more represented:

The Americas: 1930 in Uruguay, 1950 in Brazil, 1962 in Chile, 1970 in Mexico, 1978 in Argentina, 1986 in Mexico, 1994 in the United States, 2014 in Brazil; and now, 2026 in a joint effort between the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Europe: 1934 in Italy (then run by the Fascist dictatorship of Benito Mussolini), 1938 in France, 1954 in Switzerland, 1958 in Sweden (two straight in Europe), 1966 in England, 1974 in West Germany, 1982 in Spain, 1990 in Italy, 1998 in France, 2006 in a united Germany, 2018 in Russia.

Asia: 2002 was a joint effort between Japan and South Korea; and 2022 in Qatar.

Africa: 2010 in South Africa.

The 1942 edition was canceled due to World War II, and the 1946 edition was canceled due to The War's aftermath, in each case before a host nation could be chosen.

In 1966, out of West Germany, Argentina and Spain, Spain seemed to be the most controversial choice, since it was then run by a Fascist government. By 1982, it would be a thriving democracy.

But in 1976, Argentina fell to a Fascist military dictatorship, and the 1978 World Cup was a morass of corruption. The host nation could have won honestly. It won, but did not do so honestly. Fans, and even players, feared for their safety. Everything that was feared for Italy 1934 and Spain '82, but which those tournaments avoided, came too close to happening at Argentina '78.

In 1974, the South American nation of Colombia was selected for 1986. But, between financial concerns and the country's ongoing drug conflicts, its government bowed out in 1982, the only time a country has withdrawn from hosting a World Cup. Since it was the Americas' turn, and Mexico had the infrastructure in place, it was held there again.

In 1994, America hosted. With so many big cities with big stadiums, it was the highest-attended World Cup ever, with several legends putting on great performances. It was a great tournament -- until the Final, when Brazil and Italy, 2 teams that should have put on a great show, put on a 0-0 snoozefest that Brazil won on penalties. But that put the U.S. in the running to host again.

Gaps between a first and second hosting: Mexico, 16 years; the U.S., 32 years; Germany, 32 years; Italy, 56 years; France, 60 years; Brazil, 64 years.

During the 2018 World Cup, with Asian and Europe having hosted the last 2, FIFA was going to choose an Americas bid or an African bid. The joint U.S.-Canada-Mexico bid was chosen. The only other country to bid was Morocco, and they regrouped, setting up their own joint bid, accepted for 2030: Morocco, Spain and Portugal. It will be the 1st World Cup spread over 2 different continents, giving Africa a 2nd tournament, 20 years after its 1st, but also keeping with the usual Europe/Americas alternation.

But 2026 was thought to be the right year for America to host, in conjunction with celebrations for the 250th Anniversary of American independence. It was going to be a great Summer.

Then Donald Trump got back into the White House. And he had hijacked the America 250 celebrations. Don't even get me started on a UFC stage on the White House grounds that's taller than the White House itself.

Iran qualified for the World Cup. Then Trump started a war with them. He brought back his travel bans, which have affected Iran and some other qualifying countries, mostly-black ones: Haiti, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast). The proclamation includes an exemption for any athlete or member of an athletic team, including coaches, persons performing a necessary support role, and immediate relatives, traveling for the World Cup, the Olympics, or other major sporting events -- but not for the traveling fans of said national teams.

Then there's the transit issues. I thought the rail spur that New Jersey Transit built from Secaucus Junction to the Meadowlands Sports Complex would ease arrivals and departures at MetLife Stadium, and (ha, ha) reduce car traffic. But NJT jacked up the price of a ticket from Penn Station to the Meadowlands from $13 to $150!

After work by Governors Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey and Kathy Hochul of New York, it's down to $98. I'm reminded of something Malcolm X said, over issues far more important: "If you stick a knife nine inches into my back, and pull it out six inches, that's not progress." (Not that I'm blaming the Governors.)

And too many of the stadiums are suburban islands in a sea of parking, with inadequate or nonexistent public transit access: MetLife, Gillette Stadium outside Boston, Hard Rock Stadium outside Miami, Arrowhead Stadium on the outskirts of Kansas City, AT&T Stadium outside Dallas, SoFi Stadium outside Los Angeles, Levi's Stadium in the San Francisco Bay Area. (And we're expected to give FIFA credit for temporarily replacing the corporate names on these venues with their cities' names? Uh-uh!)

The whole thing is a mess, before a single ball is kicked. It wasn't like this in 1994. But then, in 1994, our President was Bill Clinton. In 2026, it's Donald Trump.

To paraphrase The Dark Knight, maybe this is the World Cup that November 2024 America deserved, but it sure as hell isn't the one that American soccer fans wanted.

*

Anyway, here's predictions:

* Group A: Mexico 1st, South Korea 2nd, Czechia one of the 3rd-place advancers, South Africa out.

* Group B: Switzerland 1st, Bosnia and Herzegovina 2nd, Canada one of the 3rd-place advancers, Qatar out.

* Group C: Brazil 1st, Morocco 2nd, Scotland and Haiti out.

* Group D: Turkey 1st, USA 2nd, Paraguay one of the 3rd-place advancers, Australia out.

* Group E: Germany 1st, Côte d'Ivoire 2nd, Ecuador one of the 3rd-place advancers, Curaçao out.

* Group F: Netherlands 1st, Sweden 2nd, Japan one of the 3rd-place advancers, Tunisia out.

* Group G: Belgium 1st, Egypt 2nd, Iran and New Zealand out.

* Group H: Spain 1st, Uruguay 2nd, Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia out.

* Group I: France 1st, Senegal 2nd, Norway one of the 3rd-place advancers, Iraq out.

* Group J: Argentina 1st, Austria 2nd, Algeria one of the 3rd-place advancers, Jordan out.

* Group K: Colombia 1st, Portugal 2nd, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uzbekistan out.

* Group L: Croatia 1st, Ghana 2nd, England one of the 3rd-place advancers, Panama out. This may be the closest thing this World Cup has to a "Group of Death."

* Round of 32: South Korea over Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil over Sweden, Germany over Paraguay, Morocco in an upset over the Netherlands (although, given Morocco's run to the Semifinal last time, it's not that big of an upset), Côte d'Ivoire over Senegal, France over Japan, Mexico over Norway, Croatia over Ecuador, Belgium over Czechia, Turkey over Canada, Spain over Austria, Ghana over Portugal to end Cristiano Ronaldo's World Cup play, Switzerland over Algeria, USA over Egypt, Argentina over Uruguay in the best rivalry of the Round, Colombia over England.

* Round of 16: Morocco over South Korea, France over Germany, Brazil over Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia over Mexico, Spain over Ghana, Belgium over Turkey, Argentina over USA (who's kidding who), Colombia over Switzerland.

* Quarterfinals: France over Morocco, Spain over Belgium, Brazil over Croatia, Argentina over Colombia.

* Semifinals: Spain over France, Argentina over  Brazil in a big rivalry.

* Final: Spain over Argentina.

Who do I really want to win? I'm not sure I want a country that voted for Trump twice, and came close a 3rd time, to win. So, France.

It all gets underway today, at 3:00 PM, U.S. Eastern Time, at Estadio Banorte in Mexico City, as Mexico takes on South Africa.

*

It's a good day to do a countdown:

* Days until the next World Cup: 0. Today.

* Days until the next U.S. soccer team game: 1, tomorrow night at 9:00 PM, Eastern Time, vs. the South American nation of Paraguay, at SoFi Stadium, outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* Days until the next Yankees-Red Sox series: 26, on Thursday, June 25, at 7:10 PM, at Fenway Park. Just 2 weeks.

* Days until the World Cup Final: 38, on Sunday, July 19, at MetLife Stadium at the Meadowlands.

* Days until the next New York Red Bulls game: 41, on Wednesday, July 22, at 7:30 PM, away to the Philadelphia Union, at Subaru Park in Chester, Pennsylvania. It's that far off because of the World Cup. Under 6 weeks.

* Days until the next Red Bulls "derby" game: See the previous answer.

* Days until the next Arsenal match: 55, on Wednesday, August 5, at 2:30 PM U.S. Eastern Time, against Spanish team Real Betis, in a preseason friendly, at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Under 8 weeks.

* Days until the New Jersey Devils open their 2026-27 regular season: Unknown, as the schedule has not been released yet. The season usually begins on the 1st Thursday in October, which, this year, is October 1. If so, that's 112 days. Under 4 months.

* Days until the next New Jersey Devils rivalry game: See the previous answer.

* Days until the new Premier League season opens: 73, on August 23. Arsenal's opponent is as yet unknown. And, of course, given the British TV networks, the game could be moved up a day or two.

* Days until the next North London Derby: Unknown. The teams never open the season against each other, so it will probably be longer than that. They have played each other in August, but it's usually once in October or November in N5, then once in February or March in N17, and the occasional cup tie.

* Days until the next East Brunswick High School football game: 78, on Friday night, August 22, at 6:00 PM, home to John F. Kennedy Memorial High School, of the Iselin section of Woodbridge. A little over 11 weeks.

* Days until the next Rutgers football game: 84, on Thursday, September 3, at 6:00 PM, home to the University of Massachusetts. Just 12 weeks.

* Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge football game: 127, on Friday, October 16, at Vince Lombardi Field in Old Bridge. A little over 4 months.

* Days until the next election for the U.S. Congress and for the Governor of New York: 145, on Tuesday, November 3. Under 5 months. In New Jersey, polls are open from 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM. In New York, they're open from 6:00 AM to 9:00 PM. If Trump is to be held accountable for anything, the voters must give the Democratic Party control of each house of Congress.

* Days until the next Rutgers-Penn State game: 163, on Saturday, November 21, at a time TBA, at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania. Under 6 months.

* Days until the next Summer Olympics: 764, on July 14, 2028, in Los Angeles. A little over 2 years. If Trump is still hanging on by that point, perhaps there will be another boycott.

* Days until the next election for the President of the United States: 880, on Tuesday, November 7, 2028. Under 2 1/2 years, or a little under 29 months. Time to end the Trump Era for once and for all, and to make America good again.

* Days until the next Inauguration for the President of the United States: 954, on Saturday, January 20, 2029, at 12:00 Noon. Under 3 years, or a little over 31 months. And stay out, you fat Fascist son of a bitch.

* Days until the next elections for the Governor of New Jersey and the Mayor of New York City: 1,244, on Tuesday, November 6, 2029. I am fully confident that Governor Mikie Sherrill can govern the State well enough to convince voters to re-elect her. I am not at all confident that Kid Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, who has already screwed up two blizzards, can keep himself popular enough to avoid a primary challenge. He might even open the door for a competent, though probably evil, Republican to win.

* Days until the next Winter Olympics: 1,331, on February 1, 2030. The next ones will be held at various locations in the French Alps, a region that has included the sites of the Winter Olympics in 1924, the 1st one, in Chamonix; 1968, Grenoble; and 1992, Albertville.

In fact, a lot of the Winter Olympics have been held in the Alps: 1928 and 1948 in St. Moritz, Switzerland; 1936 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany; 1956 and 2026 in Milan and Cortina, Italy; 1964 and 1976 in Innsbruck, Austria; and 2006 in Turin, Italy. Indeed, from Grenoble in the west to Milan in the east, it's only 230 miles, or roughly the distance between Midtown Manhattan and downtown Washington, D.C.

* Days until the next World Cup after this one: 1,458, on June 8, 2030, in Spain, Portugal and Morocco.

All Right, You Primitive Screwheads...

In the words of the immortal Bruce Campbell, playing Ash Williams in the 1993 film Army of Darkness...

All right, you primitive screwheads, listen up!

An innocent man does whatever it takes to prove his innocence. He does not do whatever it takes to gain immunity from prosecution.

A President who has just faced an assassination attempt does not worry about his shoes, pump his fist, yell, "Fight! Fight! Fight!" or promote a ballroom project. A President who staged an assassination attempt does that.

When people tell you, "The Supreme Court is on the ballot," believe them.

Bernie Sanders was not robbed by the Democratic National Committee. Quite the opposite: Just by letting him into their Primaries, they bent over backwards to accommodate him. He wasn't robbed by the DNC. He was rejected by Democratic voters, who knew that he had been talking trash about their Party for half a century.

What Israel is doing is Gaza is bad, but it is not genocide. It is in response to an act of genocide.

What Russia is attempting in Ukraine is an attempt to not only conquer the country, but to wipe out its culture and impose its own. That is genocide.

The new Yankee Stadium is not a "little league park." The proof of this is that the Yankees can hit anywhere.

Derek Jeter was an excellent defensive shortstop. Your "defensive metrics" are meaningless.

Large amounts of money were never going to be enough to save the Mets.

"Wins Above Replacement" has no value. Actual winning has value.

No one has ever proven that Roger Clemens used steroids, and David Ortiz and Barry Bonds did each fail a steroid test.

The two biggest wastes of time that ESPN covers happen practically back-to-back: The Masters and the NFL Draft.

Aaron Rodgers may still be talented, but in the ways that matter, he is a bum.

The Liberty Mutual commercials -- both the ones at the Statue of Liberty and the LiMu Emu & Doug ads -- have run their course, and it's time to retire them.

Speaking of TV commercials: If it takes longer to mention the side effects of a drug than its benefits, and you need people to dance in your commercial, it's time to pull the drug. And the commercial. And do more testing on both.

That said, Zepbound has worked for me. I've lost 20 pounds. That said, I don't know if it, or any other drug, is right for you. Talk to your doctor.

Charles Barkley has lost over 100 pounds on a different GLP-1 drug, but just because a celebrity uses a product doesn't mean it's good. Shaquille O'Neal endorses Icy Hot, but it did nothing for me.

East Brunswick needs a Wegmans. I'll settle for New Brunswick, North Brunswick, Sayreville or Old Bridge. Manalapan, Woodbridge, Bridgewater and West Windsor are just too far.

It's "I couldn't care less," not "I could care less."

 
The past tense of "slay" is "slew," not "slayed."
 
Some of you literally don't know what "literally" means.
 
I'll relax when I'm ready. Telling me to relax makes me less relaxed.
 
And Dunkin tastes better than Starbucks. And it's cheaper, too.

As you were!

What Would You Say to Him?

What would you say to him? Here's what I would say:

You're 26. That means you were 21 when he left office the first time. You were an adult. You were capable of knowing what was going on.

He had a record in the office. You were capable of knowing the truth. You either didn't bother to find it out; or you did, and you chose to ignore it, and yo voted for him, anyway.

And now, you feel betrayed.

For this, you do not deserve my sympathy. You made your choice. So did 77 million other people. And now, all of us, whether we deserve it or not, we have to live with it.

Next time, take this feeling of betrayal, and remember that it isn't just Trump, it's the Republican Party as a whole, that betrayed you, and vote for the Democratic nominee for President. And if he -- or she -- wins, then things will get better, as they always do.

Vance the Bully's Flunky

Look, at this point, to paraphrase the opening of the TV show Castle, there are two kinds of people: Psychopaths, and people who want Donald Trump out of the Presidency.

The problem is, that would leave "JD Vance," as he currently writes his name, with no periods on the initials, like CC Sabathia, as President. And, given who he owes, the tech bros, he might be as problematic as Trump, who owes the Russians and the Saudis.

But check out the pictures above. The picture on the left makes him look like one of the flunkies that always hung around school bullies. Those bastards always had them. Remember? Scut Farkas of A Christmas Story had two of them, and Biff Tannen of Back to the Future had three. Two or three was standard for them.

Vance is a flunky to Trump the bully. As are Stephen Miller, Steve Bannon, Pete Hegseth, etc.

But those flunkies never managed to succeed the bully. Even in Heathers, it didn't quite work. Then again, that film's real villain was also named J.D.

Vance is a complete phony, always re-inventing himself to please whoever can help him. That's one thing he has in common with Trump: Trump takes the last thing somebody told him that he liked -- whether it's "Wind power causes cancer," or "The immigrants are eating the dogs, they're eating the cats," or something else that's too fucking stupid to take seriously -- and then he tells the media, often preceding it with, "You know, a lot of people are saying... " when he only heard it from one person.

The current rumor is that the Republicans will wait to allow Trump to be removed through impeachment sometime after the midpoint of his term, January 20, 2027, so that the conditions of the 22nd Amendment will allow Vance -- who, at age 42, would be the youngest President ever, breaking Theodore Roosevelt's record, as long as he takes office before June 20, 2027 -- to run for a full 1st term in 2028 and a full 2nd term in 2032.

The problem with that is, the Democrats are almost certainly going to take the House of Representatives in this November's election. They have a much less likely chance of taking the Senate. But impeachment not long after the change of power on January 3, 2027 seems likely. Would they get enough Republican Senators to make 67, a 2/3rds majority, to remove him at that point? Or would they rely on the Cabinet to invoke Article 4 of the 25th Amendment, and remove him for unfitness, when Trump seems to have built a Cabinet based on loyalty, to guard against that very possibility?

We will see.

Yankees and Mets Under Presidents

April 17, 1956, Opening Day, Griffith Stadium in Washington:

President Dwight D. Eisenhower throws out the first ball,

as Yankee manager Casey Stengel and

Washington Senators owner Calvin Griffith look on.

The Yankees won, 10-4.

Today is Presidents Day. Or, as we should call it until we have a President again, the 3rd Monday in February.

The Curse of Ike? Since 1958, when Dwight D. Eisenhower was President, and the Yankees won the World Series:

Under Democratic Presidents, the Yankees have won 12 Pennants and 9 World Series.

Under Republican Presidents, the Yankees have won 5 Pennants and no World Series.

The Mets?

Under Republican Presidents, 5 postseason appearances (but none since 2006), 3 Pennants, 2 World Championships.

Under Democratic Presidents, 6 postseason appearances, 2 Pennants, no World Championships.

Make of this phenomenon what you want, but the facts are clear:

* If you want the Yankees to win, vote Democratic.

* If you want the Mets to win, vote Republican.

Actually, given economics, social policy, and foreign policy, the facts are clear:

* If you want Americans to be better off, vote Democratic.

* If you don't, vote Republican.

Seeking an Uneasy Peace

A few nights ago, I had a dream that I was hearing a song I'd never heard before. Sam Cooke, maybe the smoothest singer of the 20th Century, and a charter inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, was singing it. The backing track was definitely in his style. It was like finding buried treasure.

But there's no way this song would have been released as a record, because it was racially motivated. Sam sung of visiting Chinatown, on Addison Road. He dragged out the A on "Addison," not like a New York or Newark accent, but beautifully.

There is no Addison Road in Sam's hometown of Chicago, but there is an Addison Street, on the North Side, and Wrigley Field, home of baseball's Chicago Cubs, is at its intersection with Clark Street. There is a song titled "Allison Road," but that was a hit for The Gin Blossoms, in 1994, 30 years after Sam's life came to a tragic and suspicious end at a "no-tell motel" in Los Angeles.

And Chicago does have a Chinatown, but it's on the South Side. Sam grew up, at 724 E. 36th Street, in a neighborhood known as Bronzeville for having so many black people living there. (A housing project is now on the site, facing Ellis Park.) Chicago's Chinatown is about a mile to the northwest, usually said to be bounded by 18th Street, Clark Street, Cermak Road (formerly 20th Street) and the South Branch of the Chicago River.

In the song, Sam spoke of his "brothers," which I took to mean a group of black men, meeting with the men of Chinatown, and teaming up in an "uneasy peace." I took "Uneasy Peace" to be the title of the song.

To my dismay, I woke up after hearing only the 1st verse. Would such an alliance have worked? Would they have moved on to a team-up with Latinos, of which Chicago already had many? There was a rise in Native American activism by the end of the 1960s, and even in 1965, Johnny Cash had an album of songs about "Indians," called Bitter Tears, so maybe they could have been added to the "uneasy peace."

I wanted to hear what happened next. Now, I never will. But I know this: If the song were real, Sam couldn't have released it. If the musical South Pacific (on stage in 1949 and in film in 1958) had to use Polynesian people as a stand-in for black people, and the musical West Side Story (on stage in 1957 and in film in 1961) had to use Puerto Ricans as an analogue for blacks, and the people backing those stories needed to use allegories to get their point of "bigotry is bad" across, there's no way the white establishment would have let Sam use a song about African-Americans and Asian-Americans teaming up, for a fight with a white gang, or simply to stand up for their rights to the white establishment.

Given that he was killed 5 months after the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a little over a year after the March On Washington and the Birmingham Church Bombing, a year and a half after the assassination of Medgar Evers, 3 months before Bloody Sunday in Selma, and 8 months before the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed and the Watts riot broke out not far from where he was killed, there's no way even someone with Sam's clout would have gotten away with it.

No way. Radio networks would have told their disc jockey not to play it. Sponsors of those networks would have stepped in to tell them, "Don't play it," even before the networks could tell their DJs. The people who bankrolled newspapers wouldn't have allowed print ads for the record.

Forget TV. Sam was signed to RCA Victor Records, which gave him a good deal of leeway, but not that much, and RCA also owned NBC, so Sam wasn't going to be singing that song on The Tonight Show or in a "spectacular." (By the end of the 1960s, they were being called "specials.") Ed Sullivan liked Sam, gave him his national TV debut in 1957, and had no problem with putting black people "here, on this great stage" on his "really big shew," from the beginning to the end; but CBS chairman Bill Paley and his lawyers would have put the kibosh on having Sam sing such a song. Even Sam's unintentional farewell song, the powerful but hardly offensive "A Change Is Gonna Come," might not have been allowed on the air.

Would the song have helped to widen the dialogue on race relations? Would it have helped Asians as well as blacks? Would it have helped to forge, if nothing else, an "uneasy peace" between both groups and white people? Or would it have angered white people to the point of making things worse?

I'd like to think the 2nd and 3rd verses of the song would have had a theme of, "Listen to us. Listen to your black, brown, yellow and red brothers and sisters. Your national creed says, 'All men are created equal.' That includes us. We're not asking for special treatment, just equal treatment. Give us the same chances you give each other."

It would have been a powerful message in 1965. It would be a powerful message in 2026, with Donald Trump sending men with Nazi-style tactics to round people up in Portland, Maine and Portland, Oregon -- and, apparently, to murder people in cold blood in Minneapolis.

When I heard Bruce Springsteen's rush-written, but superbly-written, new song "The Streets of Minneapolis" -- a very different song from his epic "The Streets of Philadelphia" -- and then an even angrier song on the subject by British singer Billy Bragg, I wrote this online:

Bruce Springsteen is 76. Billy Bragg is 68.

Beyoncé is 44. Bruno Mars is 40. Lady Gaga is 39. Kendrick Lamar is 38. Taylor Swift is 36. Morgan Wallen and Ariana Grande are 32. Megan Thee Stallion and Post Malone are 30. Sabrina Carpenter is 26.

What are they doing?

The implication being that these are performers in their prime, who reach more music fans than anybody else, and thus should be doing what these old men are doing, but aren't.

Less than 24 hours after I posted it, Lady Gaga released a cover of Mr. Rogers' theme song, "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" A lot of people said it was just what we need at this time. It doesn't directly address the subject at hand, any more than did Elvis Presley's "If I Can Dream," which closed his 1968 "Comeback Special." But, like that song, it seems to send a message of hope and brotherhood. So Gaga is off the hook: She rose to the occasion.

The rest of them, they're "on the clock." Time for them to step up. Taylor talks a good game, but she really doesn't back it up well. Megan is great on personal empowerment, but she hasn't tried to do a rally-the-people song. Kendrick has, but "Not Like Us" isn't on the same level as what Bruce just did.

One of these people needs to step up, the way Bruce did, before other old men like Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan and Paul Simon do so. Sam Cooke would be 95 if he had lived, so he'd almost certainly be out of the picture, anyway.

But we need the great performers of this time to stand up and make themselves heard on the great issues of the day, as has happened before. Bruce must be feeling like the old women at protests holding up signs referring to their previous activism.

At this point, an "uneasy peace" would be preferable to the "cold civil war" that Trump launched in 2015, and, from then until June 2020, and against from November 2024 until this week, seemed to be winning.

Now, the outcome is again in doubt. It's time for the great artists to launch "D-Day."

I don't know if there will be a "Hiroshima," but there must be a "Battleship Missouri Surrender."