"Eventually there'll be a plan to replant" the clear-cut tree cover, but of course no one can say what or when that might be.

At the October 20 council meeting, CM David Barksdale was quick to provide the answer (above) to a question that none of his colleagues had asked. was it because NAC did?

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2016
Clear Cut New Albany: Down go the first three of Judge Cody's street trees. Lord, how I detest this place at times.

Points to remember beyond the predictably indeterminate "plan" to replant include the amazing fact that the city has yet to chop down a healthy tree; as with unanimous vote totals during Communist electoral times, New Albany's street trees are 98.8% diseased, forever and always.

Also, the equation encompassed on the death certificate is nearly always presented in a false binary format: It's the tree OR the sidewalk. In an era of ubiquity in construction techniques, that's utter hogwash. It's easier to fell the tree, but this isn't the only "choice" available to thinkers stuck inside impermeable boxes.

Then there's the oldest excuse of all: "Our Tree Board is underfunded and neglected and does what it can." As though there's no way to fix that, but lest we forget, the Tree Board is an appendage of the Board of Works, and might be fixed any time the mayor desires. First he'd have to think, and therein lies the problem.

Finally, it's helpful to be wary of the city's historic preservation contingent, with whom I agree often, though not always. There are documented instances of preservationists grabbing their chain saws when a tree is blocking the pristine view of a lovely old home (generally, the view as enjoyed from a passing car speeding down a one-way street). That's not arbor; that's arson.

Perhaps the cloistered committee of captive usual suspects and yes-men toiling behind closed doors to formulate the purportedly "comprehensive" campaign finance plan (it should take us through a mayoral bid by the incumbent's yet-to-be-conceived grandson) could work something into it about trees?

You know, shade during times of climate change -- or don't they believe in climate change?

File under: The Chronicles of New Gahania.

Cornel West: "The rule of Big Money and its attendant culture of cupidity and mendacity have led to our grand moment of spiritual blackout."

But hey -- WATER PARK!

Spiritual blackout in America: Election 2016, by Cornel West (Boston Globe)

THE MOST FRIGHTENING feature of the civic melancholia in present-day America is the relative collapse of integrity, honesty, and decency — an undeniable spiritual blackout of grand proportions. The sad spectacle of the presidential election is no surprise. Rather, the neofascist catastrophe called Donald Trump and the neoliberal disaster named Hillary Clinton are predictable symbols of our spiritual blackout. Trump dislodged an inert conservative establishment by unleashing an ugly contempt for liberal elites and vulnerable citizens of color — and the mainstream media followed every performance (even his tweets!) for financial gain. Clinton laid bare a dishonest liberal establishment that was unfair to Bernie Sanders and obsessed with winning at any cost — and the mainstream media selectively weighed in for pecuniary ends.

In short, the rule of Big Money and its attendant culture of cupidity and mendacity have led to our grand moment of spiritual blackout.

Rice Bowl Korean Restaurant is a delightful addition to New Albany's diverse dining scene.

You may recall our recent journey to Wisconsin, during which we evaded Harvest Homecoming and were introduced to a marvelous Madison institution known as the Mini Hot Pot.

Armed with this information, be aware that Rice Bowl Korean Restaurant's house specials include two simplified variations on the theme of hot pot, which guests can have cooked in the kitchen and kept warm on a portable tabletop heater, or can cook at the table as in Madison.

The advent of Rice Bowl has been accompanied by almost universally favorable reviews.

Rice Bowl Korean Restaurant

Authentic Korean and Japanese Food served steaming hot and fresh. Unmatched Flavor finest fresh ingredients. Fast attentive friendly service and advice. We treat you like family. If you need anything special let us know. Your happiness is our number one job. Ask about our Party room for special events like receptions and business meetings. We have Lots of Parking in the rear and ramps for easy access. We look forward to welcoming you to enjoy a fine dining or lunch experience.

The restaurant is located on Grant Line Road, next to Aldi. It's open for business Monday through Thursday from 11:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 11:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.; and is closed on Sunday.

By the way, in the photo above, I'm examining a bacon-wrapped shrimp, which preceded an entree of K-2 (bibimbap with beef and kimchi).

Update at 640 State Street: Falling Run Commons, then and now.

The previous tenant's decision to paint stone orange is regrettable, but Matt's done with it as he's been able.

June 1, 2016
McMahan to tackle renovating the 22,000-sq-ft building at 640 State Street, henceforth dubbed Falling Run Commons.

MDM Management, LLC

Our big fat Hibbardendum (1): Follow the PAC-besotted usual suspects' beak wetting in the $87 million schools referendum.

As a preface to this daily ritualistic banging of heads against award-winning splash park water slides, has anyone noticed that D.J. Hines serves as a member of the NA-FC school board member right up until his testimonials are needed for the pro-referendum effort, at which point he reverts yet again to humble real estate mogul?

Do they really believe we don't notice things like this? But Tom Jones over at the Hartfield Company -- that guy can still effing bring it.

It's not unusual at all, so the Courier-Journal's Kirsten Clark follows the money, including D.J.'s cool thousand, in a survey of the most concentrated lobbying effort on behalf of beak-wetting-as-usual in Floyd County since ... since ... well, since when?

This well-lubricated, pile-driven offensive might well be classified as sui generis -- and you can look it up, Shane, though I doubt you'l bother. The underlining is mine.

Campaigns ramp up spending in school referendum

Political action committees on both sides of a $87-million referendum for Floyd County schools have upped their organization and spending from last year after a similar attempt to improve school buildings failed by a narrow margin.

"The Families for Floyd County PAC has done things differently this time," said Michele Day, an organizer of pro-referendum PAC, which is campaigning on behalf of New Albany-Floyd County Schools. "The PAC is considerably larger than it was previously."

On the other side of the issue, a Greenville-based citizens group this year formed its own PAC, not so much to be more competitive with Families for Floyd County, but just as a safety precaution, said P.J. Moore, speaking on behalf of Preserve and Protect Floyd County. While the group spent more than last year, it's still less than a tenth of the pro-referendum PAC.

"They've doubled down. They've increased the bond. They've hired a PR firm so they can be slick about it," Moore said. "It's David versus Goliath, and Goliath is cheating."

Families for Floyd County has nearly doubled its spending over last year – which organizers at the time called a “grassroots” effort of less than $10,000 – with tens of thousands of dollars poured into mailers, signs and other advertising, records show. In contrast, Preserve and Protect Floyd County spent just under $1,800, records show.

Moore's "David versus Goliath" analogy is apt, and while my previous comparison to the pre-Brexit mood in the United Kingdom still resonates ...

ON THE AVENUES: It’s our big fat Hibbardendum, and Jeff Gahan is carrying the superintendent across the threshold as Metro United Way tosses rice and One Southern Indiana steals all the liquor.

... the "leave" campaign across the pond was able to match the sheer weight of monied "remain" endorsements from society's best and brightest with invaluable assistance from the tabloid press.

There has been no such counter-balance during our most recent referendum push, with the possible exception of NA Confidential's persistent gutter journalism, because as Mayor Jeff Gahan once noted, we've "never done anything in a positive manner to help the city of New Albany.”

Hear hear! But enough about the wording on NAC's ceremonial plaque, to be nailed to the alley facing a deforested verge during the approaching end times, and back to the referendum itself.

Did it fail "by a narrow margin" last time out?

Not exactly. Here's an excerpt from WDRB's coverage in May, 2015.

New Albany Floyd County Schools tax referendum fails in Indiana primary

Voters in Floyd County rejected an $80 million plan to build two new schools and renovate three others in a special referendum on the Indiana primary ballot Tuesday. The measure was voted down with almost 55 percent of voters saying no. According to Floyd County's election returns, 5,524 ballots were cast, with 2,531 voting 'yes' and 2,993 voting 'no'.

Granted, it was a primary election, and vote totals were low (you don't think Bruce "Bags Packed" Hibbard gamed that slot on purpose, do you?), yet it's inaccurate to characterize a 55-45 tally as "narrow." That's landslide territory these days, in this sad-sack country.

As of Saturday, more than 18,000 early votes in the 2016 general election have been cast in Floyd County. Will far heavier voting during a presidential election season alter the percentages? Obviously, we have no public polling numbers on the referendum, and Nate Silver cannot participate in the discussion.

I've no way of handicapping the referendum vote, and won't try. The Green Mouse says Hibbard will be down the road in 2017, yea or nay. One local wag put it like this way:

Don't want to say the referendum is dead ... but it has gone to a farm in the country where it can run and play out the rest of its days.

I'm not so sure, but if "no" wins again, I'd advise all and sundry to take a look at the off-the-grid methodology of Preserve and Protect Floyd County, a virtually invisible PAC with almost no electronic presence, which still manages to inspire fear and loathing on the part of community pillars. I like medicine like that.

Waiter, I'll have some of what they're having, please.

Back to Brother Tom, in a track recorded during the early days of consolidation.

What's new, pussycat?

Nothing, and that's the problem.

See also:

Our big fat Hibbardendum (2): The more things stay the same, or our school bond referendum, 2016.

Our big fat Hibbardendum (3): City voters, take note, because just as in 2015, the NA-FC bond referendum is a "driving oriented, suburban school model."

ON THE AVENUES: It’s our big fat Hibbardendum, and Jeff Gahan is carrying the superintendent across the threshold as Metro United Way tosses rice and One Southern Indiana steals all the liquor.

Our big fat Hibbardendum (2): The more things stay the same, or our school bond referendum, 2016.

I was asked to "clarify" my stance on the school bond referendum in the wake of Friday's day-late column.

ON THE AVENUES: It’s our big fat Hibbardendum, and Jeff Gahan is carrying the superintendent across the threshold as Metro United Way tosses rice and One Southern Indiana steals all the liquor.

... as with the vote that preceded it, the stated terms of this referendum are fundamentally deceptive. The chicanery accompanying them is rampant and frankly odious. This exercise is about bright shiny objects, not the education of kids. This is not a community discussion about the future of education. It’s a top-down edict, and a call for the rabble to bow to their betters, form a line and stand in order.

Seeing as nothing much has changed since Bruce Hibbard's first might heave at the bond issue Wheel of Fortune in May of 2015 -- apart from the corporation's target number increasing to $87 million -- my words at the time should suffice. The following was originally published on May 4, 2015 as "On the school bond referendum," and I stand by it.

See also:

Our big fat Hibbardendum (1): Follow the PAC-besotted usual suspects' beak wetting in the $87 million schools referendum. 

Our big fat Hibbardendum (3): City voters, take note, because just as in 2015, the NA-FC bond referendum is a "driving oriented, suburban school model."

ON THE AVENUES: It’s our big fat Hibbardendum, and Jeff Gahan is carrying the superintendent across the threshold as Metro United Way tosses rice and One Southern Indiana steals all the liquor.

---

There were 106 posts at NA Confidential in April, 2015, and to my surprise, this one took the title of most viewed.

News release: "Greenville Concerned Citizens, Inc. (has) voted to oppose the upcoming $80 million school bond referendum."

Obviously, there exists a palpable level of interest in the school bond referendum, which impacts the entire county, but is appearing on the ballot during a city election cycle, during the often forgotten primary. This fact alone might provide a modicum of insight as to why some residents might be piqued, apart from the relative merits of the referendum's "for" and "against."

From the start, there has been a well-organized, prolific advocacy effort for a "yes" vote: Families for Floyd County. It's a well-named PAC, too; it's hard to imagine the converse, as in Families AGAINST Floyd County.

Meanwhile, by its own admission, the organized "vote no" push was slow in getting off the ground, and in spite of the press release here at the blog that performed so well, the News and Tribune didn't pay very much attention until after the Louisville Courier-Journal tipped things off.

Group rallies against $80M Floyd referendum, by Kirsten Clark

In the final weeks before an $80 million referendum for New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corporation appears on the ballot, a group of concerned citizens has been rallying against it, calling some of the proposed construction it would fund "completely unnecessary" and the school administration's actions "sneaky."

Shortly thereafter, N and T revealed the counter-punch.

Greenville group may have illegal sign campaign, by Jerod Clapp

... Pete Palmer, a local attorney and president of Families for Floyd County — a PAC encouraging voters to favor the referendum — said he may file a formal complaint against Greenville Concerned Citizens.

“I am exploring the issue because I think the manner in which they have approached this is unfair,” Palmer said. “To the extent I consider it to be a violation of Indiana election law, I consider it to be an appropriate remedy.”

Speaking only for myself, I find it very disappointing that the well-heeled Families for Floyd County would seek intimidation via technicality. The pro-bond PAC has been ubiquitous in presenting its case in favor of the school bond issue.

Need it crush dissenting viewpoints to succeed?

---

There simply isn't space here to recap the many instructive conversations taking place recently on Facebook about the school bond issue. Thanks to all who have taken part. To me, perhaps the best short summary remains Jeff G's Fb post several weeks back, which is clear and economical in explaining the case against.

The school referendum on the primary ballot in Floyd County attempts to refute both science and basic economics, assuring the school corporation continues on the wholly unsustainable path started with closing smaller, walkable, neighborhood schools. Proponents of the referendum have continually attempted to separate the school closings from the referendum but both are part of the exact same plan-- a reliance on fewer, larger, driving-oriented school campuses. This is a school corporation that thinks nothing of purchasing and demolishing hundred-year-old housing to build more parking lots. All the pro-kids, pro-community, pro-environment arguments made in response to the proposed closings are still true and applicable. This referendum just insures that they won't ever be taken seriously until we reach genuine crisis stage, something that will occur sooner if the referendum passes. We can deal with reality now as a part of an improved referendum or we can stick our heads in the sand with this one and continue pretending as though a misguided 60s era model will work ad infinitum. Looking forward rather than backward requires voting NO.

Consequently, there exist two fundamental considerations pertaining to the "yea or nay" thought process as it exists in my own interior world.

First, while I believe we always should do things "for the kids," which is to say, "for the future," parsing the equation and defining the meaning of "things" is by no means simple, and the process lends itself to deployment as an emotional argument -- which I view proponents as having done in this instance. What must we do for the kids? Build better buildings. Why? Because better buildings lead to better education. Are there alternatives? Not really -- after all, it's for the kids. The argument is emotional, and circular.

Second, the bond proposal cannot be divorced from its progenitor. The NA-FC school corporation is the very essence of 800-lb gorilla, absorbing huge amounts of money and sucking the air out of rooms from Silver Creek to the Harrison County line, and yet existing forever as an autonomous, extra-governmental entity. There is little or no connectivity between school corporation leadership and the community; if the city resolves to pour money into neighborhood revitalization, you can almost bet your paycheck that the neighborhood school located there is next to be shuttered, with the decision-making process customarily based on a staggering degree of non-transparency, and absent communication with elected officials.

As recently as mid-April, during the run-up to the referendum, and almost as though school corporation administrators were bound and determined to prove once and for all how utterly tone deaf to criticism they can be, the upper echelon reacted harshly and openly to suggestions that it might do more to inform the public about agenda items at school board meetings:

“We wrote to you so you could make good decisions,” (deputy superintendent Brad) Snyder said. “We didn’t write to 70,000 people. We didn’t write to people who have axes to grind or issues against us. If we start writing that way, our vernacular, our language will probably shift to nouns and verbs. Our relationships will change and we will be required to do less work.”

Some will say that voting "no" as a form of protest, as I have done, is improper, seeing as it places children in the position of suffering collateral damage. I cannot entirely dismiss this objection. There are opportunity costs to all decisions, and we rely on our minds and consciences to help in the process of weighing them. But in the end, if we're genuinely serious about long-term futures, then there must be an open, principled break with unhelpful policies and behaviors from the past.

Education, community, sustainability, connectivity ... it's a minefield. The school bond referendum was a tough call for me. I merely hope that we can agree to disagree.

Our big fat Hibbardendum (3): City voters, take note, because just as in 2015, the NA-FC bond referendum is a "driving oriented, suburban school model."

Originally published on April 6, 2015. 

The "yes" arguments favoring the 2016 variant of the school corporation's bond referendum are essentially the same as before, when it was defeated by voters during the 2015 primary election. Perhaps unsurprisingly, so are the "no" arguments. Here is one of them. See also:

Our big fat Hibbardendum (1): Follow the PAC-besotted usual suspects' beak wetting in the $87 million schools referendum. 

Our big fat Hibbardendum (2): The more things stay the same, or our school bond referendum, 2016.

ON THE AVENUES: It’s our big fat Hibbardendum, and Jeff Gahan is carrying the superintendent across the threshold as Metro United Way tosses rice and One Southern Indiana steals all the liquor.

---

Unctuous, thy name is Bruce Hibbard.

Back in February, when the reigning superintendent of the NA-FC schools appeared at a city council work session along with Brad "Actually Earns HIS Pay" Snyder to tout the May referendum, at-large councilman John Gonder cut straight to the chase and said aloud what everyone in the room should have been thinking.

Gonder said school officials didn’t actively lobby the public in support of Silver Street Elementary School when it was on the chopping block.

Now the system is wanting to build larger facilities while a school that children once could walk to has been closed, Gonder added.

“I do think that the school corporation has a strong responsibility to neighborhoods in the city,” he said.

Of course, "neighborhoods in the city" have tended to be the last thing on the school corporation's mind, apart from demolishing houses near existing schools (does Dan Coffey get a cut of that CCE action, too?), but if we were expecting introspection from Hibbard, it wasn't happening.

The decision to close those schools — which was made almost five years ago — was in reaction to state funding cuts and other issues facing the system at the time, Hibbard said.

“When we closed those four schools, we didn’t need those four schools,” Hibbard said. “It was really about efficiency for the district so we could survive.”

In short: The school corporation, without which Hibbard's pay packet is rerouted to a tar paper-lined sewer ditch on West 9th Street, must live even if our neighborhoods die.

A subsequent suggestion that "efficiencies" in school administration might include periodic examinations of past policy failures and current golden parachutes was greeted with disingenuousness in the form of Hibbard's gurgling sounds and palpable condescension; apparently Snyder is quite accustomed to dual duty as primary plan presenter and bucket o'sawdust-bearing cleaner of his boss's puke piles.

As the referendum's primary slot draws nearer, let's fast forward to last week's NAC post about the built-in lies of America's transportation system.

Marohn on transportation funding: "Facing the Unknown with Courage."

... We’re locked into a transportation system that requires us to lie to ourselves about what we can know about the future and then spend huge amounts to support that lie. When we underestimate our needs, it confirms our bias for building more. When we overestimate, we can explain it away – if we are ever asked to, which we hardly ever are – by citing factors beyond our control (oil price, recession, fickle humans, etc…). This is a dumb system.

JeffG, from whom the link was borrowed, then used Marohn's main point as a mirror, and held it up to the school corporation.

(Marohn's point) pretty well sums up the upcoming school referendum, too, in which the school corporation seeks to solidify its commitment to a driving oriented, suburban school model for the foreseeable future.

NA-FC buses already drive enough to circle the globe multiple times in less than a week. We know that's extremely costly and not sustainable. We know that children, neighborhoods, and our biosphere do better with walkable, neighborhood schools. But, when I suggest refocusing efforts on such walkable schools, I'm told I'm rehashing previous decisions.

The truth is, the current $120 million plan is the one looking backward, extending and exacerbating the misguided trends of the 50s and 60s while ignoring current and future reality. We can't afford the vehicles, roads, and fuel usage we have now, so what's the school plan? To use what's being called a rare financial opportunity to make sure we keep it that way for as long as possible.

We've often made the argument that the single worst aspect of New Albany's archaic one-way street grid is the way it incessantly rows in the opposite direction, 24 hours each day, negating all expenditures and well-intentioned efforts to revitalize urban neighborhoods. The school corporation often functions in similar fashion. It would be easier to support this referendum if it might somehow be a part of a deal to bring Hibbard to the table, to improve the school corporation as a participating stakeholder in the process of civic improvement, rather than an entity seemingly always pursuing autonomous agendas. Pie in the sky, perhaps.

Meanwhile ...

From what can be seen on-line and in social media, pending corrections, the only two May primary candidates to make public their views on the referendum are Al Knable (at-large council) and Cliff Staten (6th district council), both in favor.

There doesn't seem to be an organized anti-referendum effort, although the comments appended to two posts from January in the Floyd County IN, GOP group at Facebook, most of them by former Floyd County Republican Party chairman Dave Matthews, amply summarize the opposition from a "no new taxes" perspective.

First one
Second one

The pro-referendum case is made on Facebook at Families for Floyd County (the group's web site is here).

A final link: Referendum tax rate slightly higher than estimated for NA-FC Schools (Jerod Clapp, News and Tribune).

 ... (Snyder) said the district’s reasoning with the .1937 rate was to anticipate some growth in the assessed valuation of properties across the county.

The DLGF came back and told them to avoid assuming any growth in the values and keep them essentially flat, slightly raising the estimated rate.

Let's avoid the TIF discussion for now, shall we? It's only Monday morning, and we're already exhausted.

Sad but compelling baseball reading: "The tortured life of Eric Show."

"Show sat down after Rose's famous hit" (ESPN)

The World Series was enjoyable. As an A's fan and a history buff, it didn't matter to me which team came out on top. Either way, "old school" values were being served -- except when Jon Lester refuses to throw to first. That's just bizarre, and it's something John McGraw wouldn't have tolerated.

Sitting at home, drinking beer and watching the games, there was plenty of time to kill, and one of the joys of being a baseball fan in the electronic era is instant recall, statistically speaking. In spite of being mathematically challenged, I've always loved looking at baseball stats.

Full disclosure urges me to reveal that when it comes to baseball statistics, I'm a proud and unrepentant Luddite. WAR is where my dad was from 1942 - 1945, not "wins above replacement," the calculation of which I'd be unable to explain with the proverbial gun held to my temple.

It's unclear to me how a break in the action led me to Baseball Reference Dot Com, though it's probably because the San Diego Padres famously defeated the Chicago Cubs in the playoffs in 1984. Whatever the reason, soon I was scanning rosters from 32 years ago (say it ain't so), and there was the name of Padres pitcher Eric Show (pronounced Schau, if memory serves).

Show?

He died young, didn't he?

I had no idea just how young, or knew anything about the back story. It's a long, sad read, which begins with Show surrendering Pete Rose's career record-setting hit.

The tortured life of Eric Show, by Tom Friend (ESPN; September 11, 2010)

SAN DIEGO -- Back then, the news came in on Teletype, not over the Internet. Pete Rose had just slapped two hits at Wrigley Field, bringing his career total to 4,191, and somewhere up there, Ty Cobb was fidgeting … or having a gin and tonic. One more base hit and Rose would break Cobb's all-time hits record, a mark that had stood for nearly 60 years. Everyone in baseball wanted a bird's-eye view, but one team in particular was about to see it up close and maybe too personal: the woebegone 1985 San Diego Padres.

A year after reaching their first World Series, the Padres had gone into something of a tailspin. On Sept. 8, the day Rose tied Cobb, a talented San Diego club that featured Tony Gwynn, Steve Garvey and Goose Gossage was in third place, 10 games out. The team was toast. The only good news, depending on how you looked at it, was that the Padres were headed to Cincinnati for three games with the Reds. They'd probably get to witness history, although, on the other hand, one of their pitchers would have to serve up history. One of them was going to live in infamy.

Who was it going to be? As the team dressed in its home clubhouse that Sunday -- about to board a flight to Ohio -- all eyes turned to the next three men in the starting rotation. One of them was a left-hander, Dave Dravecky, his hair slicked back after a shower, his pulse strikingly calm. Another was LaMarr Hoyt, a former Cy Young Award winner who already was planning to jam Rose with inside fastballs. But a third pitcher sat disconnected at his locker, eyes darting, frown palpable. On his shelf were a book by Ayn Rand and a cassette player full of American jazz. His clothes were black and purple. He carried a guitar. He looked out of place. His own catcher, Terry Kennedy, liked to call him "Angry Young Man" to his face, partly to get under his skin, but also because Kennedy sensed "bad s--- always seemed to follow him around."

So this was what the Padres were going to throw at Rose the next three days in Cincinnati. And as the team bus pulled out of Jack Murphy Stadium, the players couldn't help but think of Jack Murphy's Law: Anything that can go wrong will go wrong for Eric Show.

"One of the many things that makes Donald Trump angry is that Bernie Sanders does not seem to hold grudges."

It's a fast read, a good read, and a better excuse to repost these two photos of Bernie Sanders at The Exchange in May, 2016, when he WON the Indiana Democratic primary.

Come what may ... they can't take THAT away from me.

BERNIE SANDERS’S HARD FIGHT FOR HILLARY CLINTON, by Amy Davidson (The New Yorker)

... Since conceding defeat in the primaries, Sanders has been one of the real champions of this campaign. He let his supporters yell at him and deride him as a sellout in bleak delegate breakfasts at the Democratic National Convention, in Philadelphia, as he endorsed Clinton and explained why they needed to do the same. He made getting support for her his priority, putting aside any subtle, undermining gestures that might have better preserved his rebel-rock-star status. He has kept doing so despite other revelations in the Podesta e-mails, ones that are not about him personally but about issues that he believes in—for example, about money in politics, as exemplified by the Clinton team’s nurturing of donors. And he has earned the right to negotiate hard on such issues in the future.

Weekend MUST READ: "The Big Con: what is really at stake in this US election."

"The New Deal"

America, you really must get your shit together. I'm getting older, and tired of waiting. History, anyone?

The Big Con: what is really at stake in this US election, by Ben Fountain (The Guardian)

Big government helped make America great but it was so successful its effect has become invisible. Anti-Washington hatred helps only the super-rich and puts progress at risk for millions living with wage stagnation and rising inequality

The collective memory of America is short. During the 2010 midterm elections, it seemed like every other house in my north Dallas neighborhood sported a “Had Enough? Vote Republican!” yard sign. As if it had been two hundred years, instead of two, since the US economy was on the brink of collapse, with panicked credit markets, huge banks and insurance companies about to topple into the void, a flatlining auto industry, the Dow Jones plunging toward 6500, and job losses topping 700,000 a month, not to mention the wars that had turned the budget surpluses of the late Bill Clinton years into massive deficits, all courtesy of a two-term Republican president whose party controlled Congress for six of the last eight years. Yes, please! Take us back to the good old days of 2008!

Two years. The perpetual fog of American forgetting-gas had done its work. If two years are all it took to erase the memory of the worst economic meltdown since the Great Depression, then we shouldn’t hope for much awareness of that earlier crisis some 80 years ago, though there are a few old heads still around who lived it, and the experience of those times can be found readily enough in the archives and histories of the era ...

An Elector Day story ... and Bank Street Brewhouse changes its name to NABC Cafe and Brewhouse.

Scroll down and learn how Elector Ale came to be 14 years ago, but first, as you can see, Bank Street Brewhouse has a new name.

Since the guy who founded the business and wrote something like 96.7% of the press releases no longer is affiliated with the business, we might be waiting a bit for an explanation, though I'm sure it falls under the all-purpose heading of "rebranding."

And, before anyone asks, what I wrote in May remains the case: Here's the latest in the Great NABC Non-Buyout Saga of 2016.

On a more sensible note, it appears that the august (November?) institution of Elector Day has not been abandoned, and that popularly-priced pints of the elixir are available Tuesday at both locations, BSB (oops, the Cafe) and the original Pizzeria & Public House location on the north side.

While I may no longer be involved in the business, it is a matter of pride that Elector has survived three and a half White House terms, and (hopefully) will persist into a fifth residency.

As such, here's a freebie -- written in 2014, updated for now. It's okay; you can pay me later at the usual piece rate.

---

Elector was born 14 years ago on Election Day, 2002.

Now it is the year 2016, and on November 8, Elector’s birthday will be celebrated at both NABC locations with big cuts in the “poll” tax: $2 Imperial pints of Elector, all day long, and $6.66 growler refills of Elector, all day long.

No longer must we labor under the delusion of an election day prohibition on alcohol sales, so drink early and vote often.

Here is the Elector Story.

Elector’s conceptual roots extend to the beginnings of NABC’s original garage brewery off Grant Line Road — now the Research & Development Brewery.

Elector was the third recipe brewed by NABC’s founding brewer, Michael Borchers, and his assistant, Joey Burns, and was made for the very first time on Election Day, 2002.

Brew day happened to be the mid-term congressional election following the disputed presidential race of 2000, in which Al Gore won the popular vote nationwide, but lost the White House owing to Florida’s uncounted hanging chads and the state’s subsequent votes for George W. Bush in the Electoral College.

Needless to say, as subversive leftists (and craft brewers, who always should be subversive leftists), this political outcome was still somewhat fresh in our minds in 2002 as Michael concocted an initially modest plan to follow Community Dark and Beak’s Best with a traditional English-style seasonal winter warmer.

Brew day was uneventful, but as the fermentation proceeded and time rolled past, it became obvious that the new batch of winter warmer was going to have a deeper burgundy color than planned, and also was considerably hoppier than the intended style should ever be.

Well, there’s nothing wrong with that, as it turned out.

The resulting hybrid was delicious, full-bodied and aggressively hopped, and we concluded that while the intent had been tamer winter warmer, the result was something else – Imperial Red, in our reckoning – and we went forward with the results.

These days, I prefer to call it Elector-Style Ale, such is the beer’s uniqueness. It is a one-off, and stylistically, there is no classification except fine flavor.

Before the finished character of our newly hybridized ale had become apparent, we’d already started the process of hybridizing its name, something that arose out of drunken mischief (imagine that) when after much discussion, Joey suggested Elector in reference to the Electoral College and the way it made the popular vote pointless, and by extension, democracy itself somewhat redundant.

I replied that the “-tor” suffix would suggest Doppelbock in the minds of knowledgeable drinkers, and of course we had no intention of producing a beer remotely close to Doppelbock.

Joey: “Right.”

Roger: “Right.”

Good, then we’re agreed … Elector it would be.

Now it’s fourteen years later, and I feel just as strongly as I did then: An Elector in hand is well worth two Bushes in retirement, any election day, and in fact, any time of the year. Elector’s back story would be sufficient to render it an iconic brand, and Tony Beard’s graphics greatly add to the mystique — but of course, it’s the liquid in the glass that really matters.

Dear Mr. Duggins: "The solutions to many of our most entrenched problems are likely to come from the bottom up not the top down."

First, the details.

I've emphasized one aspect of this program to "champion" independent, locally-owned businesses.

• access to capital
• a level playing field i.e. governments should stop favoring big corporations through subsidies, infrastructure and awarding contracts
• laws against monopolies enforced
• laws that allow cooperative ownership of real estate and community investments. While somewhat off topic, she also suggested the effects of gentrification also could be mitigated by community land trusts which, if formed early enough, could buy up properties to control the rise in rents
• easing business licensing, permitting and zoning, which are nearly impossible in Chicago due to the strong effect of political influence

Next time you run into David Duggins holding court at Quills, often in the act of entertaining an out-of-towner with promises of boilerplate tax abatements and subsidies, remind him of the virtues of locally-owned businesses, and enjoy the economic development director's nervous laugh. That's because what's "cool" for Duggins isn't necessarily best for the community.

Community Allies: the virtue of locally-owned businesses, by Bruce Nesmith (Holy Mountain)

As Cedar Rapids prepares to welcome two more strip malls on the edge of town, and one of our malls announces a new franchise tenant, it's instructive and inspiring to hear evidence that the most potent tax-gathering areas in towns of any size are downtowns and Main Streets, and that locally-owned businesses contribute far above their weight when it comes to developing strong communities. Those messages were crisply presented by Ellen Shepard in a talk Friday at Loyola University's Center for Urban Research and Learning. Ms. Shepard is the founder and CEO of Community Allies, which works with communities to develop organizations and leadership, facilitate community engagement, and "to grow stronger from within." Prior to that she headed the chamber of commerce in Andersonville, a neighborhood on the north side of Chicago.

La Chasse is hosting a Capriole Farms Goat Cheese Dinner on November 14, and you need to go.

I seldom promote events occurring across the wide expanse of water, over yonder in the big city, but this one's special for numerous Hoosier reasons.

La Chasse is a restaurant located at 1359 Bardstown Road in Louisville, in the space where Palermo Viejo operated for many years.

Rustic wood-fired European cuisine, located in the heart of the heart of the Highlands, with boutique wines and craft cocktails.

On Monday, November 14 at 7:00 p.m., La Chasse is hosting a Capriole Farms Goat Cheese Dinner.

Most readers already know about Capriole Farms in Greenville, Indiana, and its legendary Capriole Farmstead Goat Cheeses, as crafted by the equally renowned Judy Schad.

But there's more: The acclaimed La Chasse is Isaac Fox's restaurant. Old-timers will remember Isaac from Bistro New Albany and Speakeasy.

Finally, the evening's wine is from Vintner Select, employer of my longtime friend Kevin Lowber, who'll be on hand, too. Because there seem to be few images of Kevin on the Interwebz, let's embarrass him with a shot from 2001, aboard a speeding train in Belgium -- with beers and salami.

As for the dinner, the Confidentials have reserved, and you can, too. The La Chasse phone number is 502.822.3963

ON THE AVENUES: It’s our big fat Hibbardendum, and Jeff Gahan is carrying the superintendent across the threshold as Metro United Way tosses rice and One Southern Indiana steals all the liquor.

ON THE AVENUES: It’s our big fat Hibbardendum, and Jeff Gahan is carrying the superintendent across the threshold as Metro United Way tosses rice and One Southern Indiana steals all the liquor.

A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

It's extremely bad form for Gahan to be using our tax dollars to push the referendum. Yet one more reason to vote no. Also noteworthy along ethical lines is how the PAC (Families For Floyd County) threatened to sue last time over a bunch of neighbors putting out yard signs but seem to have no problem with this. The longer this type of chicanery goes on, the less I and others are inclined to financially support those who so consistently perform it.
-- Bluegill

On October 31 a typically breathless post appeared at New Albany's stand-alone City Hall web site, which begs the first of many questions almost certain to remain unasked by local reporters, their perennial omissions being why I crawl back from my stupor most weeks to make some semblance of an effort in this space, because damn it, someone should.

Why does City Hall need its own official web site when the City of New Albany already has one?

There it was, a strange Twilight Zone head-scratcher of a pre-election promo by an elected political entity, for a property tax referendum to which it has no direct connection – unless, of course, Mayor Jeff Gahan already has plotted a wee puddle for campaign finance beak-wetting amid $87 million, and yes, while they may be little puddles, they cumulatively add up to more than small beer.

Did you know that in 2015, Dan Cristiani Excavating was one of the city’s best-remunerated vendors at $650,214?

Just a spoonful of beak-wetting elixir from a splash pad like this goes a long way in staging a State Senate race, doesn’t it?

Right, Jeff?

Right, Chuck?

C’mon, guys, who is it going to be? Inquiring minds want to know ... and flee.

As an aside, in September, when the Floyd County Democratic Party publicly endorsed the Hibbardendum, teacher/candidate/sacrificial lamb/bro-in-law Steve Bonifer introduced the enabling resolution, prompting yet another question.

Who’ll be the next AARP-member teacher to run against incumbent Ed Clere in 2018?

---

City Hall’s virtual advertisement boosting the Hibbardendum sought yet again to convey the heroic inevitability of the NA-FC school corporation’s ballot initiative, primarily by gathering together in one spot as many slavish endorsements by local elites as permitted by OSHA standards of pile-driven redundancy. It slipped around like a greased pig, from one presumed community pillar to the next.

It was as though Team Gahan's functionaries were slouched on a grimy one-way street corner selling NA anchor seal pencils, apparently without a parks opening ribbon to cut or a tax abatement to lavish on reluctant industrial park occupants, its shiny paean of a press release apple being polished, and celebrating the Hibbardendum by endeavoring mightily to toss any remaining intellectual integrity out the window.

Something that's awfully hard to do when you inhabit a bunker.

There was a predictable reminder of Gahan’s previous personal endorsement, presumably written by one of his many immediate family members employed by … that’s right, the school corporation. You could tell Gahan didn't write it himself, as it came perilously close to coherence.

After touring the schools and reviewing the conditions in New Albany and Floyd County, I am excited to support the many improvements in store for our students in New Albany-Floyd County Schools.

Or, translated: “Ask not what Bruce Hibbard can do for you, ask what you can do for Bruce Hibbard.” It’s not exactly JFK, but at least spellcheck was activated.

Next came a gushing tout from the Southern Indiana Realtors Association.

“We fully support the NAFCS Referendum which will bring much needed improvements to nine area schools,” stated Sara White, President-elect of the Southern Indiana Realtors Association and managing broker for Semonin Realtors Southern Indiana.

Try finding it on SIRA’s web site; more on that in a moment.

My personal favorite was the link to a letter from Tsar Hibbard himself, a man whose bags have been kept packed since arrival, 24-7-365, in expectation of verdant pastures to come, just over that glorious horizon where the golden parachutes grow like greenhouse ganja ... if Prosser were located in California.

In this era of competition for students, NAFCS is doing quite well. For the sixth consecutive school year, we have a record of number of transfer students! This provides our operating fund with over four million dollars of added revenue. Why are so many people choosing NAFCS? Our leadership team believes there is a simple answer: It’s our teachers and support staff. We have the hardest working, incredibly intelligent and most collaborative group of people working with our students. Furthermore, our entire staff embraces a model based upon results and improvement. This is why NAFCS provides our community with highly rated rigorous academic programs, championship athletic teams and world-class performing arts.

Please Vote “Yes” for NAFCS!

Given that Hibbard and the school system are prohibited from engaging in pro-referendum agitprop, this paragraph is highly instructive. It reveals that the primary mission of today’s school corporation is to lure students away from other neighboring school corporations, hence the importance of artificial turf on football fields and gold-plated bathroom fixtures last seen being looted from a fleeing Mobutu’s presidential palace in Zaire.

Consequently, when it came time to design a graphic interface for recruitment signs, a remarkable coincidence occurred. The imagery of saying “yes” to the general concept of NA-FC schools almost exactly mirrored that of saying “yes” to this particular property tax referendum, such that when Hibbard closes his pep talk with a resounding “yes” to schools, well, he’s not saying anything about the vote, just the rah-rah.

Clever devils, aren’t they?

---

Wile E. Coyote isn’t the only genius enrolled in this adult education outreach program.

According to City Hall, One Southern Indiana has thrown its considerable dead-as-roadkill weight behind the Hibbardendum, as Wendy Dant Chesser indicated in a letter to the News and Tribune, dated October 30, though found only on City Hall's web site, not anywhere on the newspaper's, except that interestingly, on September 19, in a newspaper article about the Democratic Party’s gratifyingly Boniferian resolution, it was mentioned that 1Si already had endorsed it.

Well, hell, everyone has endorsed it.

The NAACP, the NCAA, the SPCA, the CIA, the FBI, the city’s fire chief, its police chief, the building commissioner, and surely five or six bushels of indifferent city officials and employees who astutely reason that their failure to be seen plumping for the featherbedding might result in skinnier pay packets, or even worse, a 1:00 a.m. phone call from His Serene Highness.

Couldn't they at least get their dates straight?

Meanwhile, with the upper strata ready to start moving some dirt, Metro United Way has made a late entry into the fray with this.

Just today, committed community partners Metro United Way released an endorsement of the NAFCS Referendum.

“Metro United Way’s top priorities are for our young children to arrive at kindergarten prepared to succeed and for our students to graduate on time, prepared for college, life and career. We are also know that learning environments play a large role in student success. That is why, we are hopeful that the New Albany Floyd County School referendum will be embraced by the Floyd County community on November 8th,” stated Joe Tolan, President & CEO of Metro United Way.

Just like City Hall’s recitation of the Southern Indiana Realtors Association servile bootlicking, Metro United Way’s mash note seems to exist at no other planetary portal than City Hall’s own propaganda arm.

Why?

Since Tuesday, I’ve been asking Metro United Way for clarification. I was asked to please move the conversation from public social media (where folks can see it) to private messaging (where they can't), and I did, with the entirely expected result being three days of absolute do-nothing stonewalling.

Metro United Way, whose board includes a who's who of regional luminaries, including NAFC schools lifer Dr. Louis Jensen, briefly waved off questions about its 501(c)3 non-profit status before retreating into hiding.

How is this organization in any position to "endorse" the Hibbardendum?

Moreover, and the overall gist of my rant, why is the city of New Albany expending tax dollars to serve as the central information, argumentum ad verecundiam portal in support of the school corporation’s pitch for property tax dollars?

Were the SIRA and Metro United Way testimonials handed directly to Gahan?

Does Gahan work for the citizens of New Albany, or Bruce Hibbard?

I’m reminded of the top-down tone of pre-Brexit in the United Kingdom, as every last representative of usual-suspect officialdom took a turn shilling for a “stay” vote, perhaps never bothering to look outside, at the restless and sometimes angry crowds, their middle fingers raised to the heavens, because how many times must one be compelled to remind these wankers in official circles that the usual finger-wagging hypocrites quite simply are loathed?

To close, I’ll speak for myself, and for me alone.

I’ve never been cut from the anti-tax bolt of cloth. My mom was a teacher, and I've been around teachers my whole life. We’ve no children, but are perfectly willing to pay our fair share for education.

However, as with the vote that preceded it, the stated terms of this referendum are fundamentally deceptive. The chicanery accompanying them is rampant and frankly odious. This exercise is about bright shiny objects, not the education of kids. This is not a community discussion about the future of education. It’s a top-down edict, and a call for the rabble to bow to their betters, form a line and stand in order.

Consequently, it's no wonder Mayor Gahan is so attached to the grandeur of the Hibbardendum. It's exactly the same level of Disneymandered Potemkin Village Boondoggling that prefaces the sluices of his municipal governance in New Albany. The greased pig I mentioned earlier? He's in slop.

I'm ready to have a community-wide discussion about what's best for children. Anytime, anywhere -- and this referendum isn't it. Not even close. I voted against it, and I understand this act will offend some readers.

But I believe the opprobrium should be directed against the school corporation's upper management, especially Hibbard, because in the process of making a bad case for its own bad idea, it has insulted our intelligence, again, and again, and again.

In the end, it wasn't necessary for me to take into consideration the phalanx of "business as usual" pimps brought together by the Genius of the Flood Plain to perform some soft shoe and clink a few glasses.

But thanks just the same, mayor. The refresher course is much appreciated, and I'll just pass on the entree.

(Updated on Sunday, November 6)

Our big fat Hibbardendum (1): Follow the PAC-besotted usual suspects' beak wetting in the $87 million schools referendum. 

Our big fat Hibbardendum (2): The more things stay the same, or our school bond referendum, 2016.

Our big fat Hibbardendum (3): City voters, take note, because just as in 2015, the NA-FC bond referendum is a "driving oriented, suburban school model."

---

October 27: ON THE AVENUES: It's NAC's 12th birthday, and the beatings will continue until morale improves.

October 20: ON THE AVENUES: Key events in the New Albanian rebirth, but first, a piccolo of grappa, per favore.

October 13: ON THE AVENUES: They're coming to take me away.

October 6: ON THE AVENUES: His nose knows tolls and polls (2010).

No, Adam Dickey didn't send us this link: "Only Socialism Can Defeat Trumpism."

Olbermann, The Closer, Ep. 37: "This Weekend, Let’s Be Angry. But Not Afraid!"

How sweet is is to have the old -isms back for another run.

Americans—especially young adults and minorities—don’t see Sanders as a dinosaur trading on nostalgia or harking back to an irredeemable past. Instead, they see capitalism as a key source of their troubles.

Yep.

Only Socialism Can Defeat Trumpism, by Nicole Aschoff and Bhaskar Sunkara (The Nation)

Millions of ordinary people are ready for an alternative, one pointed to by the success of Bernie Sanders.

 ... The Democratic Party must ponder a tough question: How much of Trump’s support among the white working class can really be chalked up to Republican propaganda and race-baiting, or is a good deal of populist anger rooted in the Democrats’ hypocrisy on economic issues? If the past eight years of Obama recovery haven’t benefited these workers, why would they be enthused to rally beyond his anointed successor?

He's melting: If the newspapers won't ask David Duggins hard questions, maybe a bucket of water is the answer.

In these two articles by the News and Tribune's Danielle Grady, there are so many questions to be asked, and so few questions actually asked.

Are they ever asked? I really want to know. If I can think of these questions (and others) while reading, then ...

Industrial development growing in New Albany

FireKing Security Group to be first tenant in Industrial Park West

... David Duggins, New Albany’s director of economic development and redevelopment, said that three years isn’t that long of a time to search for a tenant — a good one, at least.

Is there any evidence for this assertion, or perhaps a corresponding example?

Did the city show property to five potential tenants in three years out of taste and discernment, or because its development hand is so exceedingly weak?

The Carlisle Family was attracted to the Industrial Park partly because of the tax abatements the city offered them. They city approved one abatement for the $6.5 million the Carlisle Family is investing into its new building, while also approving a tax abatement for the $2.2 million worth of manufacturing and IT equipment FireKing is investing into the new location.

Lots and lots of boilerplate tax abatements. The city is adept at giving away money to bigger companies. What sort of programs exist to "assist" smaller start-ups?

“We think that once FireKing gets built up, it’ll really help spur more development because if you don’t know it’s there, you really don’t know it’s there,” he said.

Was that Duggins speaking, or the late Yogi Berra?

Finally, how does the headline "industrial development growing" jibe with the article's conclusion: "Grant Line Industrial Park West might be one of the last frontiers for industry in the city. New Albany is almost out of industrial space, said Duggins."

Let's move on to a second collection of unchallenged smoke-blowing, this time on site at The Break Wind Lofts at Duggins Flats ... and waiter, may I have another plaque?

With cream on top?

The Breakwater apartment complex in New Albany starts accepting tenants

First building opens in mid-December

... The city of New Albany has been happy with how The Breakwater has been coming along — especially regarding the types of tenants it is attracting.

“We want people to live in downtown that are excited to be in downtown,” said David Duggins, New Albany’s director of economic development and redevelopment.

And the apartment complex just looks nice, Duggins said.

“When you go out there, it’s cool, and I think that’s hard to accomplish sometimes,” he said.

So many questions.

How cool are the sewer tap-in waivers and other public subsidies enabling a private for-profit enterprise to be given its special leg-up?

Given these subsidies, isn't the city also subsidizing future retail occupants of the old Coyle building, these being subsidies unavailable to other small business owners?

Duggins has denied two-way streets ever came up during these subsidy negotiations, but at least one Flaherty Collins employee has indicated otherwise.

Which is it? Because if this did in fact arise, and if assurances were made by the city to this effect, then every subsequent protest of "two-way streets aren't a done deal" was a lie (yeah, Irv -- you can use that).

But wait -- it's cool, dude.

After all, Duggins isn't so much a director of economic development as a style arbiter. He's Gianni Versace, reincarnated, and Jeff Gahan believes it.

If that doesn't terrify you, nothing will.

What city is this, anyway?

Top Ten posts at NA Confidential for October, 2016.

It wasn't even close, folks -- you LOVED the newly painted Honey Creme. 

Thanks for reading NA Confidential, where we enjoy burrowing beneath the headlines to offer unique local perspectives. October continued a recent trend in heightened readership, testifying to a keen interest in local stories, perhaps because they're being chronically under-served elsewhere.

The list begins with five "honorable mention" posts, before concluding with the Top Ten, escalating to No. 1. Stats are derived from Google's internal numbers listings.

FIVE HONORABLE MENTION

396

Indie food & drink behind the booths: Floyd County Brewing Company and Habana Blues.

404

Clear Cut New Albany: Down go the first three of Judge Cody's street trees. Lord, how I detest this place at times.

412

"They just killed my business" ... and other incredible tales as "Harvest Homecoming creates parking dilemma at Underground Station."

414

ON THE AVENUES: They're coming to take me away.

428

Pre-election striping: By Mayor Gahan's usual standards, this ALMOST qualifies as political courage.

TOP TEN

437

WITHIN CITY LIMITS: Episode XI, What Have I Been Up To?

454

BREAKING: City of New Albany transitioning to new civic identity as HarvestHomeComingStan.

468

Jeff Speck on HWC Engineering's bicycle-free, two-way streets abortion: "I guess that's what you get when you ask engineers who do not value biking to change a plan."

469

Coqui's Cafe will regroup and relocate: "We have outgrown our little diner on the corner of Bank and Market. Sunday was our last day at that location."

483

A reminder: Biers on Parade, today, 2 - 6 p.m. at the Farmers Market.

527

Guest columnist Nick Vaughn: We must stand together and renounce Donald Trump.

587

The impending grandeur of breaking wind (or, All About The Breakwater).

670

Upper Spring work continues as drivers somehow manage to pay attention in spite of their boiling anger.

767

Preview: 410 Bakery coming to 140 East Main Street in downtown New Albany.

2,079

See the sweet new public doughnut art at NA's classic Honey Creme Donuts.

1. Great again? "Forget fear and loathing. The US election inspires projectile vomiting."

Money into influence? That's not restricted to the major party candidates, is it?

Forget fear and loathing. The US election inspires projectile vomiting, by Barbara Ehrenreich (The Guardian)

The most sordid side of our democracy has been laid out for all to see. But that’s only the beginning: whoever wins, the mutual revulsion will only intensify

... (Trump's) supporters – generally portrayed as laid-off blue-collar workers who, in the absence of unions, have devoted themselves to the cause of whiteness – cheer on each of his macro-aggressions. To them, he is a giant middle finger in the face of the bipartisan political elite, and the crazier he acts, the more resounding this fuck-you gets. It doesn’t matter that most of Trump’s assertions can’t stand up to fact-checking; ignorance has been enshrined by an entire alternative media, stretching from Fox News to Stormfront on the Nazi-leaning right.

On the liberal left, tragically, we do not have Bernie Sanders, who would have dispatched Trump’s populist pretensions with a wrist flick. But no, representing the side of tolerance, good government and cosmopolitanism, we have the very epitome of Democratic party elitism, a woman who labeled half of Trump’s supporters “deplorables”, a politician who is so robotic that any efforts to analyze her motives risk the charge of anthropomorphism. Consider her statement on the Standing Rock occupation in North Dakota, which could have been issued by an unmanned typewriter. As soldiers and police bore down on the protesters, she urged all parties – tribal peoples and the pipeline company that threatens their culture and habitat – “to find a path forward that serves the broadest public interest”.

If a withering cynicism hangs over the land it’s because both candidates share a Tony-Blairish zeal for turning money into influence and vice versa. He has his Trump Foundation, whose largest beneficiary was reportedly a fountain in need of renovations that faces the Trump Plaza hotel. She has the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation, which shares some of its revenues with the global poor, but also emits a stench of corruption which, according to leaked emails, even the ever tractable Chelsea could not help noticing ...