In case anyone thinks otherwise, (and maybe no one does) misogyny and sexism are, among other things, working class issues, not a diversion from more pressing concerns of working people. In fact, I would think if Richard Trumka, the President of the AFL-CIO, would speak to these issues that are now, thanks to Trump, front and center in the news, it would be electrifying. Remember at a critical juncture of the presidential campaign in 2008, he addressed the issue of racism to great effect. A similar initiative at this moment, but this time addressing Trump’s misogyny and sexism in the workplace and society generally would be similarly impactful.

Heard news this morning that Bob Dylan won Nobel Prize in Literatture and immediately threw on “Bringing It All Back Home.” Actually been into a bit of a Dylan frame of mind as of late. Been buying up early Dylan CDs in a really incredible local store that sells old CDs and Vinyls – not to mention offers “free” small Hershey chocolates to patrons. Anyway the guy has an extraordinary gift that he has been kind enough to share with the rest of us, and especially my generation. Here is the first song on the aforementioned CD

This is a powerfully insightful article in my opinion. It reveals much about the role and costs of sexism, patriarchy, and misogyny in our politics and culture. What it doesn’t say is that too many left and progressive people failed to understand this dynamic in the current elections from the very start. But this shouldn’t come as a big surprise. It has a history.

I almost felt dirty after listening to Trump’s bullying, lying, and demagogic rants in last night’s debate. But I wasn’t surprised. What else is to be expected from a gutter rat like Trump, and his gutter mates – Chris Christie and Rudy Giuliani – who prepped him for the debate. Such deplorable posturing and pontificating may temporarily excite Trump’s base, which hasn’t had much to get excited about lately. But my guess is that it didn’t reach beyond that base, and probably hurt him among the shrinking circle of undecideds.

The audio tape of Trump bragging about his sexual assaults on women is of a piece with the rampant and longstanding sexism directed at Hillary Clinton. Too many on the left, while rightly assailing Trump, have been slow to even acknowledge the other side of this sexist coin. Bill Moyers, on the other hand, gets it right in a recent article, explaining why the race is so tight.

“My point is that Hillary Clinton has been demonized by the right and its media for a quarter-century now. She didn’t bake cookies, as she once said maladroitly. She stepped out of the conventional First Lady role — the first since Eleanor Roosevelt — to try reforming medical care as a sort of deputy president. “Buy one,” as Bill Clinton once said about his family, “get one free.” She represented American feminism at the 1995 United Nations Fourth World Congress on Women, declaring resoundingly that “women’s rights are human rights.” For such sins, in the eyes of freaked-out men, she is the ultimate uppity woman. In the eyes of a critical mass of Americans, two decades — two decades — of demonization have rendered her the female Antichrist.

Which is, to my mind, the single greatest reason why we are slogging through the slime of a single-digit race.”