Friday Grab Bag: Donald Trump is going truly, terribly mad

As spectacular as Michelle Obama's speech in New Hampshire was on Thursday, equally as unsettling was Donald Trump's rant in Florida on the same day. As Trump takes on more and more a Hitlerian tone, the paranoid megalomaniac looking for broad-based conspiracies by unnamed conspirators to explain his own failings, it occurs to me that American liberals and conservatives fixate on different years when they draw lessons about Hitler from 1933 to 1945. 

Conservatives obsess with 1938, and they hold out Neville Chamberlain as its most reviled villain. That year to them marks the low point of Western democratic weakness. In the face of a fascist's endless appetite for land in Europe, Chamberlain buckled under pressure, acceded to Hitler's demands over the Sudetenland and consequently, invited a European war. American conservatives hold up Winston Churchill as the antithesis of this - quintessential British bulldog, stout, resolute, clear-eyed, unafraid. It was Churchill who said in a 1940 radio address, "each one hopes that if he feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last." 

In a recent opinion piece in the Washington Post, Fareed Zakaria observes that over the past 18 months, very much like their caricature of the hated Chamberlain, Republican leaders have done nothing but appease Trump as he slowly annexed their party, 

The Republican establishment could have stopped Trump but instead surrendered to him months, perhaps years, ago. When they want to criticize opponents for being weak-kneed, Republicans often recall Neville Chamberlain and his policy of appeasing Adolph Hitler. And yet that is exactly the approach that the party's senior leaders took with Trump -- appeasing him in the hope that doing so would satisfy his appetites.

Can you spell "crocodile?"

To liberals, the crucial year isn't 1938. It's 1933. That was the year when the people, broadly defined, had the chance to stop Hitler at the ballot box. (It is important to remember that Hitler actually lost the 1932 German presidential election. It was his appointment as chancellor in the following January by newly-elected German president von Hindenburg that began his ascent to power.) Liberals are clear, the time to stop a madman is now, when the people still have a say. 

Americans will endure the next 24 days watching one of the candidates grow increasingly unhinged, a shadow boxer apparently less interested in leading his country than in landing punches against his enemies both real and imagined. 

We must hope that unlike Germany in 1933, our democratic institutions and our leaders and the social mores that underpin them are sufficiently strong to endure charges of "lies, plans and fraud," charges that will undoubtedly emerge not only from Trump's mouth, but also from his increasing agitated, threatening and potentially violent supporters. 

In that sense, maybe conservatives are right. If we get to our own 1938, it will already be too late.

Dr. Bernard "Joe" Lavins, Jr., bicyclist. Died October 5, 2016

Fellow bicyclists came out to Porter Square in numbers last night to remember Dr. Bernard "Joe" Lavins Jr., 60, an avid bike commuter who was killed last Wednesday as he transited through that busy Cambridge intersection on his morning ride into work.

An estimated 100 participants sang songs, read poems and listened attentively to Reverend Laura Everett from the Massachusetts Council of Churches as she led the dedication of the Ghost Bike, the urban memorial marking the death or injury of a cyclist.



Friends and co-workers from Ironwood Pharmaceuticals where Joe worked joined riders who had never met the man as they stood silently on a brisk night reflecting on a life lived. Members of Cambridge police and elected officials were on hand as well. Colleagues remembered Joe as someone who didn't want to waste time in his car every morning, so two years ago he decided to ride in to work from his home in Lexington.

On October 5th, as Joe was pedaling through Porter Square, he was hit by an 18-wheel tractor trailer truck. Reports say he was rolled under the wheels and suffered extensive damage to his body. A police officer last night remarked that in 30 years on the job, he had never seen a bike accident this bad.  Unspoken but not unthought, many a rider considered their own fate. "There but for the grace of God go I," one said.

Joe Lavins leaves behind a wife and daughter.

If you would like to learn more about efforts to make our streets safe, read about Vision Zero at visionzerocoalition.org. Transportation Alternatives, a New York based organization, is planning a conference on Vision Zero next year. Check back here for more information about that.

Three good things Donald Trump has done for the Republican Party

Here are three good things Donald Trump has done for the Republican Party, and this is a non-ironic list:

1. He has broken the decades-long stranglehold Christian theocrats have had over the party.
2. He has halted, at least temporarily, the mindless genuflecting of its policy professionals to the Tax Cut Gods.
3. He has exposed the monochrome whiteness of the party which in turn has exposed its racism.

The fact his candidacy also has distorted the party beyond recognition and turned it into a fringe, minority opposition group of racists, fascists, xenophobes, Know Nothings, misogynists and other anti-American malcontents will have wait for another blog post.

Ken Bone, American hero in a red sweater

[UPDATE (Oct 14): The Daily Beast is now reporting that Ken Bone has a "disturbing Reddit history," which is apparently connected to porn. The disappointment on Facebook is palpable. I'm not going to read what he wrote, but it's not surprising that a man with a 'stache and a red sweater can go one of two ways. We all assumed he was going to go this way, but it looks like he's going that way. So much for baseball apple pie and Chevrolet (to quote an old ad jingle of my youth). I assume I join many when I say that in this year in particular, we don't need any more exposes on the subject of the human male.]

I'm going to join the bandwagon on this one. Ken Bone, you have ...

1. Saved the republic
2. Invented a Halloween costume
3. Taken a photograph with a disposable camera
4. Shaken Bill Clinton's hand
5. Ridden off into the sunset

And most importantly, inspired The Ballad of Ken Bone (courtesy of Jonathan Mann).

Donald Trump said our biggest problem is political correctness

"I think the big problem this country has is being politically correct," Trump said in 2015.

He continued, "I don't, frankly, have time for political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn't have time, either."

I wonder if he's been having any second thoughts today as to whether he should have carved out some time for political correctness in his discourse.

Friday Grab Bag: Portraits of Cambridge; Red Line #2; F1 in Texas; Shirts in CT

It's Friday, so it's the Grab Bag ...

Portraits of Cambridge - I want to photograph you!
If you live, work or play in Cambridge, I want to take your photograph! I am working on a project I'm calling Portraits of Cambridge, which is exactly what it sounds. I am taking photos of people who are connected to Cantabrigia in some way - live, work or play - and I want to include you! So, if I haven't taken your photo yet, please reach out to me, and let's set up a time. I can be reached at info(at)samseidel.org.

Here are some that I've done already ...

Riding the Red Line, Segment #2
We need an updated version of Ulysses, James Joyce's classic, but instead of setting it in Dublin, it should be set in Boston, and what's more, on the Red Line. Combine the narrative power of Odysseus' original wanderings back to Ithaca with Leopold Bloom's meanderings through the streets of Dublin, do it all in a bright North American context, and voila, instant classic. Of course, the Red Line is such an interesting piece of infrastructure too, since it connects so many important parts of Boston from universities to political centers to business and innovation hubs to housing. A lot needs to be said about the Red Line.  Will I write it? I doubt it. Maybe I should hand this over to Runcible Greevey to work on. He will find the right words. Regardless, I've been scouting out locations for the story, and after covering the Cambridge locations in prior post (see here for more on that), I'm offering some photos of Segment #2, the first stops over the Charles River -- Charles MGH, Park Street and Downtown Crossing.

CHARLES MGH ...

PARK STREET ...

DOWNTOWN CROSSING ...

Formula 1 in Texas
In two weeks time, I'll be down in Texas with my dad viewing the U.S. Grand Prix in a showdown at the Circuit of the Americas. The supremacy of the Mercedes team will not be challenged, as Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton battle for the top spot, but the Red Bull team with Daniel Ricciardo are making great strides. I can't wait.

F1: Mercedes is dominant

Tuckerman & Co.
My friend Jonas Clark and his wife Amanda Rinderle started a company in Connecticut.
It makes shirts.
It is called Tuckerman & Co.
I thought you should know.

Development, Politics & Technology
Wednesday's post about the demolition of Penn Station in NYC and the creation of the TWA Terminal at JFK is not as profound as I thought when I wrote it, but it does express a genuine insight: technological advances are related to the politics of their age and they always impact development and planning decisions on the ground. More needs to be explored about this topic, but I was rather proud of noticing that the old Penn Station was being torn down just as the Age of Rail was giving way to the Age of Flight. The year was 1962-63, and as it happened, the Saarinen TWA Terminal was opening at JFK Airport. There could be few better metaphors for this transition than the destruction of the old and the construction of the new. That the old station was designed with classical examples in mind, and the new terminal was Modernist through and through, can only go to emphasize the point even more.

McKim, Mead & White v. Eero Saarinen; John F. Kennedy presiding

As much as I rue the destruction of the old Penn Station (see yesterday's post for more on this), I realize that just as the McKim, Mead & White building was coming down, the new Eero Saarinen TWA Terminal at JFK Airport (then still called Idlewild) was going up.

The facade of the old Penn Station is all that remains as the new Madison Square Garden rises in the background

TWA Terminal, JFK Airport, Saarinen's masterpiece

In one short span, 1962 and '63, the old technology (rail) was giving way to the new technology (aviation) and that change was being reflected both in buildings and in architecture. The classically-inspired structures of the previous era were being replaced by the modernist structures of the new. All of this happened during the brief three-year presidency of John F. Kennedy. 

In other words, this was a time of tremendous change, with politics and technology and architectural design and planning moving hand-in-hand. A bright new young president, a world speeding up in the jet age (with space exploration next), buildings going up and coming down: the ferment of change and the advent of The New were in the air. One can understand why this was such a heady time for those, like my parents, who lived through it.

An architect's version of a Waiting Room, circa 1910 (Penn Station, NYC)

An architect's version of a Waiting Room, circa 1962 (TWA Terminal, NYC)

It's not hard to imagine such changes though. We are living through such a moment ourselves, at least on the technology side (our politics seems retrograde and is lagging significantly behind). The world has speeded up again since the jet age. The laptop computer and now the hand-held device have added yet another hyperwarping of speed and time and space for humans, with a paradoxical result that trains are now back in fashion. Perhaps they offer a more humane form of travel.

And honestly, who would have thunk it? When those white middle-class middle-aged New Yorkers put on their suits and ties and donned their finest pearls to form a picket line to protect the old lady from demolition, so unaccustomed to political activism though they were, they may have had an inkling they would lose that battle. Little did they know however that their action would help to redefine the meaning of "war."

They do not look like '60s radicals, but they played their part

Penn Station reborn

For erstwhile New Yorkers, there is always the lingering hope that a romantic Penn Station will come again to the West Side of Manhattan.

The original 1910 building with its dancing arches and steel and glass train shed was an image in black and white fantasy. Inspired by the Gare d'Orsay in Paris and modeled on the Baths of Caracalla in ancient Rome, architects McKim, Mead & White gave New Yorkers an envy of the world in an era when transportation and grand design rode comfortably together.

Of course, in a city as bustling as New York, nothing lasts forever and by 1963, the forces of modernism and urban renewal combined to tear down this gem. In a move that has left a bitter taste for Gothamites ever since, a move that helped galvanize historic preservation efforts there and beyond, the old station was replaced by the aggressive, imposing and unfriendly current Penn Station and Madison Square Garden.

Recently, New York Times architecture critic Michael Kimmelman reviewed one of the ideas about bringing a better transportation hub to West 33rd Street. The scheme combines the existing Garden with the Farley Post Office building across Eighth Avenue to give North America's busiest train terminal a grandeur it unquestionably deserves. The article employs clever graphics to help the reader envision a space transformed, and the purpose of my blog post is not to opine on Penn in the 21st century, but rather to direct you, dear reader, to the Kimmelman article.

If you are at all interested in these topics, I recommend you click HERE to go to the Times Opinion Piece.

It's worth the look.