The Year in Review
My 2020 retrospective
What a year.
It started with near-war with Iran, continued with a global pandemic and the explosion of the next chapter of the Civil Rights Movement, and ended with the political upheaval of an election the result of which the current president refuses to accept.
In that time I lost my job and returned to original reporting and broke a few huge stories, and also got to write some fun pieces for places I’d wanted to work with for a long while. And—last but not least—I got to put more time and energy into this newsletter which, with your support, has grown its subscriber list. Thank you all for reading.
Here are the stories I’m most proud of from 2020.
Bodycam Video Shows 'Mob Mentality' of Boston Police Who Responded to George Floyd Protests, Lawyer Says
December 18, The Appeal
One of my latest stories is also one of my biggest—ever. Over 66 hours of body camera footage from the Boston Police Department from the night of May 31 show officers abusing, attacking, and pepper-spraying protesters without provocation, and laughing about doing so.
“We gotta start spraying more,” the officer wearing camera X81417350 says.
“You out?” he asks another police officer offscreen, holding up a can of pepper spray. “I got a little left.”
“I want to hit this asshole,” he says, gesturing toward the young man being pushed back. “I’ve used two of these already—I’ve got a little left, I want to hit this kid.”
The story has already had major ripple effects in Boston and Massachusetts politics.
Stay tuned for more.
Party Leaders Investigating Origin of Anti-Morse Campaign Helped Orchestrate It, Documents Reveal
August 14, The Intercept
In August, shortly after parting ways with Common Dreams, I was able to break the connection between the Massachusetts Democratic Party and the smear campaign against then-candidate for Congress Alex Morse, who was running to replace Rep. Richard Neal in the 1st District primary.
Reporting at The Intercept had already delved into the backgrounds of students involved in accusing Morse of impropriety before I joined the story with the Mass Dems scoop.
Behind the scenes, the state party had been coordinating with the College Democrats of Massachusetts to launch those very allegations, according to five sources within the state party and connected to the CDMA, a review of messages between party leadership and CDMA leadership, and call records obtained by The Intercept. The documents show that the Massachusetts Democratic Party’s executive director Veronica Martinez and chair Gus Bickford connected the students with attorneys: among them was the powerful state party figure and attorney Jim Roosevelt, who worked with the college group on a letter alleging Morse behaved inappropriately.
That kind of memory hole is a nightmare
July 12, 2020, Hellworld
In July, I penned an essay on the grifters behind the Lincoln Project for Luke O’Neil’s Hellworld newsletter. After months of watching the right-wing ghouls who conceived of the group as a clever way to fleece gullible liberals, Luke gave me the opportunity to vent my feelings on the situation.
It's more than these extreme examples of right-wing hate and bigotry found throughout the group's members' pasts. The fact is that the coalition is made up of people who until very recently were happily ensconced in the GOP—meaning that it's not the policies pursued and beliefs espoused by Trump that are the issue. It’s just his delivery.
This is not an abstract issue. The president is part and parcel of the entire Republican project and its logical conclusion after five decades of cultivating an increasingly enraged white base filled with economic and cultural grievances for which the GOP has blamed on the uneven but inexorable march to greater equality in American society.
The Bush Rehabilitation Trap
September 1, The New Republic
Holding the right responsible for its actions was a theme I returned to often this year. At The New Republic, I expounded on the idea that Republicans shouldn’t be forgiven for their past—even when the present is as horrible as it’s benn
The message is becoming all the more acute as we head into the third decade of the new millennium. Bush, whose time in office set the U.S. on its current course of war, privatization, and financial ruin, is on the road to being absolved of his responsibility for the current chaos because Trump’s misrule has been a debacle sufficient to occlude the memory of those grievous sins. More than a decade since he left office with a historically abysmal 22 percent approval rating, Bush is today treated not just as a statesman but even as something of a cuddly old man, whose paintings of dogs and veterans and friendship with Michelle Obama have become the subject of fawning coverage in news media that elides the facts of his record.
If Democrats win, they need to enact a transformative agenda, fully prosecute Trump — and ignore any hand-wringing from pundits
October 30, Business Insider
Rather than adopt the right-wing’s approach, I argued at Insider just before the election, Democrats should reject the austerity neoliberalism of the party’s last four decades and take a different approach.
Deficit hawks in the former vice president's orbit have since the summer described a need to cut back on spending, despite the need for aggressive spending to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis that followed the disease's outbreak. Handling these myriad issues will require a concerted effort to undo the damage from a year's worth of the pandemic's mishandling and chaos from President Donald Trump and the last four years of a steady assault on nearly every facet of the federal government save for the security state. Money should not be a concern.
Could Elizabeth Warren Be the Next Treasury Secretary?
November 9, The Nation
Even before Biden’s victory was clear, the incoming president and his team were sending a message to progressives: your people won’t be in the Cabinet. For supporters of Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, the pill was hard to swallow—and they told me why.
New York state Senator Alessandra Biaggi, a strong Warren supporter, said she saw rejecting Warren as an insult to those in the progressive movement who have energized the Democrats throughout the Trump era.
“In many ways, this is like a smack in the face to the people who have been pushing so hard for these past three and half years to push back and grab the power in a way that will give Democrats a voice,” Biaggi told me. “And I don’t think you can deny that is a real issue.”
"What the Moment Requires." Progressive Leaders Talk Transition and Democratic Party Politics
December 17, Blue Tent
My first long feature at Blue Tent delved into how progressive groups are approaching the reality of a Biden presidency. I talked to leaders about their strategies going forward—and got some spicy takes on Biden’s selection of Center for American Progress head Neera Tanden to take the reins at OMB.
“We helped win Democratic seats around the nation,” New York State Rep. Yuh-Line Niou, a rising progressive leader in the state, told Blue Tent. “Like it or not, we are a large group of voters.”
The competing impulses to cooperate with the party and make demands are leaving progressive leaders in a bind as they balance their desire to influence policy making with the need to push the incoming administration to the left.
"It's All About Money": Mental Health System Leaving Unprofitable Patients In Need of Care Behind
September 27, The Flashpoint
And here, at The Flashpoint, I looked at the country’s mental health system and the myriad ways patients are being failed.
All of the experts The Flashpoint talked to confirmed, to one degree or another, that patients are dumped from facilities frequently. Reasons vary, but one theme is constant—patients with challenging conditions and treatment plans are all too often seen as more trouble than they’re worth.
“Specific hospitals also are known to deny inpatient services and will tell us that there is nothing they can do besides change the medication,” said Maria, a social worker in Pittsburgh.
Thanks for reading this year!
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Looking forward to 2021 and please keep sending me tips.
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