#blrotd

Ahhhhhhh... the penultimate pre-hiatus entry of BLROTD.

As with yesterday’s piece, today I bend the rules of the longread to bring you a longform... podcast.

Clocking in at just about three hours, the episode is an installment of standup comedian Ari Shaffir’s podcast “Skeptic Tank” from last September.  Titled “All Who Wander Are Not Lost,” after the famous J.R.R. Tolkien saying, Shaffir interviews Henry Rollins, former lead singer of punk band Black Flag and current world traveler/actor/storyteller.  The conversation was brought to my attention by my friend Donaldo, the same person who alerted me to the NPR podcast about the Mercers, which I talk a little about here and here.

I had never heard Shaffir’s podcast before, but apparently it’s pretty popular.  Though I found his intro to be a little overlong (especially the weeeeeiiiiiiiird aside about King Kong), his time with Rollins was fascinating.  I had heard Rollins’ name before, but didn’t really know anything about him- finding out that he devoted his life to traveling, meeting people, taking photographs and writing (especially after his seemingly quite different former life as part of Black Flag) was inspiring and heartening.

Why heartening?  Well, as I prepare to embark on a trip during which I will visit 10 different countries, having just visited the whole eastern (and some of the midwestern) United States, I’ve finally begun to explore my wanderlust.  It’s always been there, I just haven’t known how to indulge it.  Lately, I’ve been lucky enough to have the time and money (at least for a little while longer) to get out and see the world, something that transportation has made easier than ever but that precious few people actually do.

I recommend listening to the entire interview- if you’re a podcast person like me, it’ll fly by.  There’s plenty in it about life, aging, people, and the importance of listening to oneself, but one line in particular really stuck with me.  At one point, as he recounts a particularly exciting anecdote, Rollins says something to the effect of “Man... the provenance of it all.”

Although I’m not entirely sure what he meant by this, I took it as Rollins touching on how interconnected we all are.  He seems, throughout the interview, to be in awe of the places he’s been and the things he’s done.  It’s a beautiful sentiment, and one that traveling has a way of engendering- as he says in another moment, it’s hard to get someone to fight in a war when they’ve spent time with the people they would be fighting.

(Note: in the former section, Rollins may have actually said “providence,” in which case I like the idea just as much, because there is so much luck involved with us even being born into the world, let alone into our unique and special lives.  I would re-listen but I have no idea where it was and... well, the show is three hours.  Either way- I like it.  I like it so much.)

So kick back, relax, and prepare for/avoid your family on Easter by listening to a man, as he would say, groove on our world for a little bit.

Here at Brett’s Long Read of the Day, especially as it comes to a close for a while (more on that here), we’re all about expanding our horizons.  In a previous edition, in lieu of a written piece, I featured a short webseries (produced by my friend’s company, Redfitz) called “Conflict.”  It is a stirring, emotional look at photographers of conflict - from domestic violence to civil war - and the dangers they face to make abstract violence real.

Today (or, rather, a few days ago, as I’m catching up this week in advance of my trip), a similar example of immediate visual storytelling caught my eye.  This time, it comes from a champion of the written word- the old Gray Lady herself, The New York Times.  Though print and video are distinctly different mediums (and many would argue that the ubiquity and ascendancy of the latter has severely damaged the former), when the two combine it is a sight to be seen (or, dare I say... read).  As someone who loves journalism (duh), a great documentary can give me the same satisfaction as a great longread, or even a great full-length book.  Such was the case with “Conflict,” and such is the case with today’s short Times documentary, entitled The Forger.

It’s based on the book Adolfo Kaminsky: A Forger’s Life by Kaminsky’s daughter, Sarah Kaminsky.  In a little under 20 minutes, the film gives a simple, beautiful overview of the elder Kaminsky’s incredible life as a forger of identity cards for fellow Jews during the Holocaust.  Complete with elegant visuals of swirling inks and atmospheric animation, along with first-person interviews with both Adolfo and Sarah, it becomes very moving very quickly.

At one point while watching, as Adolfo spoke of how he once made 300 fake identity cards in three days (without really sleeping, at a rate of about one every two minutes), I had the thought that he was perhaps the greatest person who ever lived.  And I’m not sure that’s far from the truth.  But, due both to individuals’ tendency towards navel gazing and the unfathomable scope of world events, it’s easy to forget that there have been millions like him throughout human history.  People who will never live on in a book, or a documentary, or even a memory beyond that of someone they helped.  Yet their deeds are selfless and important beyond measure.

To paraphrase Sarah Kaminsky from the end of the piece, The Forger is a tale of how the most normal of people can have the most extraordinary impact on humanity.  And in these days of bombs and madmen, we need those people - and their stories - more than ever.  

In honor of yesterday’s horrendous video of the Chicago airport police partnering with United Airlines in an unprecedented show of force towards one of the airline’s customers, today’s shortishread concerns the unhealthy consolidation that’s been driving the decline in American airline companies’ quality of service, even as their fares climb ever upwards.

Eric Levitz from New York Magazine’s “Daily Intelligencer” writes not only of this phenomenon’s unhealthy effect on individual consumers, but of the what of major carriers’ actions mean for mid-sized American cities.  I have at times found myself in various US cities or towns with seemingly superfluous airports and wondered about why they are there.  Some appear totally nonfunctional; others would appear to cater to private flyers only.  But I never really think about how some of these airports (did you know St. Louis has two right near downtown?) were once widely used, and have since fallen into disuse or disrepair.  In his short article, Levitz gives a nice overview of the post-deregulation market forces and corporate decisions that led to a few large, greedy companies dominating our skies.  He also notes that, though deregulation was assumed to hurt mid-sized markets at least a little, it did not even result in the lower prices that it almost solely existed to promote.

And speaking of said prices, what I found to be the most infuriating aspect of all this is something Levitz only touches on- despite massive public subsidies and an industry with startup costs that make new players scarce, airlines still manage to lose money.  They seem to be doing better lately, but in the decade before this they lost tens of billions.  How does this happen?  Well... maybe such a natural monopoly should be fairly regulated after all.  At one point, an optimistic Levitz seems to hint at that fact:

"Still, it seems doubtful that our government will let a giant, profit-starved, private monopoly torture its customers and suffocate regional economies in perpetuity."

No offense to Levitz, but I respectfully disagree.  Though he goes on to note that, thanks to the current administration, airlines will likely continue to have their way for 4-8 years, I would venture a guess that nothing will change after Trump and his ilk are long gone.  Why?  Simple: Airlines have money.  Money begets lobbyists.  Lobbyists beget laws.  Laws help airlines.  Lather, rinse, repeat.

Just another chapter in the great incidence of regulatory capture that is our beloved US government.

Back on the horse, guys... after my Gleason-related emotional delay on Friday night, which resulted in a Friday longread posted on Monday, I’ve become somewhat derelict in my duties.  But that ends now- today you’ll be getting two, maybe three of these babies to chew on during your after-work relaxation...

The first comes to us courtesy of Brendan O’Connor over at Fusion.  There’s been a lot of talk lately, mostly from those on the right, of convening a new Constitutional Convention, something that hasn’t been done since the original back in 1787.  The possibility for such an action is provided for in the Constitution itself, as part of Article V, which has famously been used to amend the Constitution 27 times so far.  It turns out the founders were so very preoccupied with the tyranny of the state that they allowed, in the event of a runaway federal government, for state legislatures to take matters into their own hands and pass Constitutional amendments they deemed necessary.  Seems fine - even noble - right?  Well...

The main people pushing for such a convention in order to break our invisible chains of bureaucracy are A) billionaires like the Kochs and Mercers (the latter of whom I talked about here) and B) people like Michael Farris, “a religious conservative and founder of the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) who now serves as the CEO and general counsel of Alliance Defending Freedom, one of the largest and most influential entities on the Christian right.”  These are hardly downtrodden, middle-class Americans.  For the most part, they are fabulously wealthy and/or influential business and spiritual leaders who are somehow still uncomfortable with how the federal government works despite their disproportionate ability to influence each and every election through the use of dark money.  And there’s an ironic word for the power they are trying to bring to bear on our political process (as screwed up as it may currently be): tyranny.

In his piece, O’Connor does a nice job of tying up the loose ends of donations, legislation, and lobbying to show who is pushing hardest for this good-in-theory, terrible-in-practice Constitutional Convention.  And lest you think such massive, country-altering action is impossible, take heed of the words of one of the state legislators mentioned in the piece.

“‘You really don’t need people to do this,’ an Article V proponent told Wisconsin state representative Chris Taylor, a Democrat who attended an ALEC summit in 2013 and wrote about the experience. ‘You just need control over the legislature and you need money, and we have both.’”

As for what they may want, O’Connor notes the aims of one serious proponent, Texas Governor Greg Abbott:

“Abbott proposes, for example, prohibiting Congress from regulating activity that occurs wholly within a single state, restricting the ability of administrative agencies to write federal regulations, and allowing a two-thirds majority of state legislatures to overturn a federal law or regulation.”

Chilling.

The solution?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Get the money out of politics.

Hey Guys,

Yes... this is late.  BUT... I promise I have a VERY GOOD EXCUSE as to why...

I had this whole writeup queued up and ready to go midday Friday.  I decided to wait to post it so I could contemplate it for a little longer and maybe make a couple changes.  Then I made a huge mistake... except it wasn’t a huge mistake, it was a great decision, and it relates to a prior longread on this here site...

Yup, I finally watched Gleason.

Oh man, guys... ohhhhhh maaannnnn.  It was everything I expected and more.  I cried start to finish, and I somehow came out of it with even more respect for both Steve and his wife Michel.  It’s a heartbreaking, real, transcendent, and unnerving look at humanity in its rawest form.  I couldn’t possibly recommend it more highly, if you’re in the market to remember what it feels like to live.

OK, now... ONTO THE LONGREAD:

Several weeks ago, I finally watched Ava DuVernay's documentary Thirteenth on Netflix.  It's a stunning look at the legacy of slavery and racism in America, specifically with regard to how both impact America's absurd prison population.  It touches on a lot of things we tend not to think about- electoral disenfranchisement of felons, joint lawmaking between representatives and corporations, and forced, cheap-or-free labor.

The latter is the subject of today's longread.  About a month ago, Kristine Phillips wrote in the Washington Post about a major lawsuit brought by a number of current and former ICE detainees, who claim they were essentially forced into slavery during their detainment at private prison facilities.  Inmates - despite very possibly having done nothing wrong - were reportedly forced to perform maintenance or complete other tasks for $1 a day, and were threatened with solitary confinement if they didn't comply.

I could write a book about all the things wrong with the very idea of private prisons, but the Trump administration has seemed to embrace them with open arms.  Before leaving office, Barack Obama tried to put into place measures that would dramatically reduce and/or eliminate government use of such facilities, only to have this administration succinctly dismiss them.  From Phillips:

"In a one-paragraph memo last week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded the previous directive to the Bureau of Prisons to either reduce or decline to renew private-prison contracts as they came due, The Washington Post’s Matt Zapotosky reported."

This, in a nutshell, is why it was so dangerous and irresponsible to elect Donald Trump president.  In the same way he decided on military action against the Syrian government without consulting Congress, one of his equally callous cronies was able to set back potential progress on prison reform with the stroke of a pen.  And he did it in the name of... well, money.  Phillips is sure to point out that the country's two largest for-profit incarceration companies gave $500,000 to celebrations surrounding Donald Trump's inaugural (three words, by the way, I still can't believe I'm typing).

Welcome to 2017, where people can be hauled off of planes and/or imprisoned against their will, due only to the fact that they may be guilty of some minor infraction.  Or, more likely, because they were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.  And with Sessions’ newly announced “War on Drugs” redux, it appears he’ll be trying to employ more (white) people as hired thugs in order to round up (black and brown) people and incarcerate them in those numerous private prisons.  I don’t know about you, but I sure am tired of winning.

So, so tired.

It’s been a weird day.  Obviously there’s plenty to say about Donald Trump’s attack on Syria, and about recent revelations regarding the investigation into his campaign.  But all this must be put on hold.  Why?

Because Steve Bannon called Jared Kushner a “cuck.”

Repeat: Steve Bannon called Jared Kushner a cuck.

Thank you, Asawin Suebsaeng of The Daily Beast.  Thank you.

Today’s installment of BLROTD is another throwback- and, like at least one other throwback on this blog, it concerns the Green Bay Packers.

I’ve been a rabid Packers fan since I was about 6.  In the intervening years, I’ve visited Lambeau Field, become an owner of the team, and watched Aaron Rodgers get drafted... in person.  I’ve also managed to read a lot - and I mean a lot - about the team.

One of the writers I’ve read most is a man named Bob McGinn.  As with all beat writers, he’s known much more for his observations than his persona- observations he’s made over a 40+ year career.  He writes for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, which together with the Green Bay Press-Gazette forms the twin pillars of Packers journalism (at least as far as I’m concerned).  I remember one summer in particular, during college, I read about all there was to read about the Packers’ offseason.  I had my first (and, to this day, only) office job, and between projects I would turn on Internet radio (those were the days) and go back and forth between the two papers’ websites.  This was before either had a paywall, so I could get my fill of Packers coverage for free.  And get my fill I did...

Today, in a well-deserved piece by Greg Bishop of Sports Illustrated, the lens is turned back on McGinn, in appreciation of his long and storied career.  It’s a career that has been the model of consistency.  And though McGinn has not courted praise, he deserves it nonetheless.  To wit:

"That’s the thing about McGinn. Stars retire. Coaches get fired. Regimes change. But his stories are always in the paper, as consistent as the 'G' on the Packers’ helmets."

That about sums it up.  Bob McGinn has spent his life obsessing over every detail of a revolving door profession- even casual fans have surely heard that the NFL stands for “Not For Long.”  Yet he has written enough to, as Bishop describes, fill a good-sized office full of filing cabinets.  Indeed, McGinn seems to live how he writes- keeping track of every detail, organizing everything, and chronicling until he just can’t anymore.

Today’s is really just a beautiful piece.  It gives life to someone who is to many just a byline.  In some ways, it’s the perfect article for this feature, as it embodies the core intention of this space.

Incidentally, a song referenced in the piece - "Sweet Southern Comfort" by Buddy Jewell - was on a country mixtape an old girlfriend made me prior to that aforementioned summer.  And, because of said mixtape, it just so happens that the Internet radio I was listening to was all country... meaning I probably listened to that song while reading a Bob McGinn piece.

Enjoy: https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/01/20/green-bay-packers-bob-mcginn

I think I’ve established by now that Brett’s Long Read of the Day is just a name, and not entirely reflective of the fare featured on this... feature.  It was started as a showcase for longreads, and longreads there shall be, but sometimes I’ll choose to spotlight something a little shorter, especially if it concerns a subject about which I didn’t previously know or that I think people should examine.

Case in point: today’s piece from Lee Fang of The Intercept.

Before reading, I didn’t really give a shit about Donald Trump's pick for FDA chief, but I now realize I should.  Every American who counts him or herself a friend of other Americans should, as the opioid epidemic is real and it is frightening.  I remember talking to a woman on my recent trip (about which I'm writing a book- I'll be posting an update soon, but in the meantime check it out here) who said that at least twenty people from her high school class had OD’ed.  Those cases may have included other drugs (crystal meth, heroin (for which opioid pills are often a gateway)) but there's little debate that opioid abuse is rampant.  As this article points out, "The opioid crisis claims more than 16,000 lives from overdose deaths every year."  And, perhaps a more chilling statistic: "As we’ve reported, Americans consume about 81 percent of the global supply of oxycodone products (the active ingredient in OxyContin) and almost 100 percent of hydrocodone (the active ingredient used in brands such as Vicodin)." 

Donald Trump, along with many actual politicians, has talked a big game about opioid addiction as of late.  Lame-duck Governor Chris Christie, who was recently appointed by Trumpers to head a national opioid task force, has actually used some of his dwindling credibility to confront the issue in New Jersey, taking some significant steps in the process.  But, by and large, few leaders have taken measurable steps to stem the tide of these powerful drugs.  And even in Christie’s case, the focus seems to be more on the symptoms than on the underlying cause.  Indeed, as Trump rolls out Christie’s new task force, he intends to cut a major White House organization that has fought drug abuse for three decades.  And, as Fang points out in his article, Trump is also poised to make a man who’s taken thousands from major opioid manufacturers the head of the FDA.  That’s right: The subject of today’s longread is a man whose appointment Fang’s colleague Jon Schwarz called “one of the most shockingly cynical things I’ve ever seen in politics.”  Talk about missing the forest for the trees.

Sadly, in Trump’s case, we have no reason to believe he sees the trees, either.