Here’s the magnificent Brittney Howard and Alabama Shakes performing a song for our time. Brittney rips it!

If you’re surprised by Trump’s support from evangelicals even in the midst of his complete mishandling of the current pandemic, bear this mind. At the outset of the HIV/Aids epidemic that ravaged and stole the lives of so many young (and older) men, Jerry Falwell, the evangelical preacher and mouthpiece of the Moral Majority had this to say, “AIDS is not just God’s punishment of homosexuals, it is God’s punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals.”

Don’t forget to remind your family and friends that Barack Obama is making a commencement speech to the graduating class of 2020 tonight. Some networks and media sites are carrying it. The contrast between the former president and the current one will be stark and unmistakable. Thus the speech to a national audience will be a political event, even if that isn’t its intention. Obama will likely mention the devastating and deadly impacts of a pandemic as well as the growing crisis of governance that exists, as a result of lies, decisions, and actions of Trump and his Republican enablers.

Bravo to Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats for passage of a much needed 3 trillion dollar stimulus bill. Both McConnell and Trump say its “dead on arrival.” No surprise. They have made the calculus that the House bill would delay the reopening of the economy, which, in their twisted view, is bad for their election chances as well as “business.” That the forced resumption of economic activity will result, according to experts, in the unnecessary loss of untold number of lives is a bargain that Trump and McConnell are ready to make. In fact, they are eager, to make. Can you think of anything more callous, cynical, and macabre?

There seems to be a lot of consternation over the refusal of much of the leadership of DSA and Jacobin magazine, or at least its editor, to support Joe Biden. I have to admit it bothers me a bit, but a good glass of wine or beer takes me to a better place.

Seriously though, I keep in mind that neither one nor the other, nor both taken together are any more than a sliver of the broad band of young people who are tacking in a progressive and left direction and will vote for Joe Biden come this fall.