Protest

February 20, 1991 If things get bad enough you can bet protests will, too This letter was written in response to columnist Don Hannula’s column that began, “Another war. Another debate on the precious right of dissent.” Editor, The Seattle Times: Another war, another round of calls for “responsible dissent” that stops short of naming the problem and having an effect upon it. Professor Michael Lerner’s teaching career was indeed destroyed by the way he opposed the Vietnam War. He brought the issues into the classroom and involved his students in the reality, the necessity, of acting against the war – a war that defined an entire generation. (Don Hannula’s column, Feb. 6) The anti-war movement was the best learning experience of my education. Among other things, it prepared me to understand and oppose the present war. Perhaps things will be different this time. So far, the opposition to the Gulf War is broad, well-mannered – and, so far, ineffective. What will happen if the war drags on, costs and casualties mount, the draft is reinstated? What will be the expression of the tragedy of loved ones dying, the fear of being drafted, the anger at the destruction done to innocent civilians in Iraq? Will people tire of the openly acknowledged military censorship of the news and the complicity of the media? And speaking of complicity, what about our representatives in Congress, who spoke out so boldly until Jan. 16 and then jumped in line? How will people express their frustration with them? The anti-Vietnam War movement was successful, which is a good reason to look there for lessons. The war tore our society apart (not to mention its effect on Indochina). It was an injustice so powerful that huge segments of this country opposed it in any way they could. That included militant students and other young people, whose strategy was “Raise the price.” Make the war so expensive, in broken glass, civil disorder, and alienation from established institutions, that it would be too costly for the government to pursue. If this happens again, it is George Bush who is leading us there. If things get bad enough, people will do what they have to do to put a stop to it. The blame will not rest on the few college professors who have the courage to teach about the most important issue of our time. Roger Lippman Published

October 17, 1996 Editor, The Seattle Times: Your obituary of former assistant attorney general James Wilson [Oct. 16] brings to mind my one encounter with him: his unsuccessful prosecution of me and several other anti-war activists for our participation in a 1969 demonstration at the University of Washington. He had known my mother many years earlier through membership in the Americans for Democratic Action. During a break in the trial, they recognized each other in the hallway, though he must not have realized she was related to me. He said to her, "Isn't it a shame how kids get to be criminals these days?" She responded, "I think you are the real criminal." What more could one ask from a mom? Roger Lippman Mom at age 82

December 8, 1999 Editor, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Assistant Police Chief Ed Joiner says (P-I, 12-8-99) that "in a perfect world" the police would have have liked to create "a deserted core where the [WTO] conference took place," shutting that part of the city to everyone else - shoppers, workers, and protesters alike - like they would in a military dictatorship. If anyone should be falling on his own sword after this affair, it would be Joiner, the man who ordered the police to use tear gas and rubber bullets against thousands of non-violent protesters and out-of-luck Capitol Hill residents. If a new police chief is to be chosen from the ranks of the SPD, let's hope it's not someone from Joiner's culture. Meanwhile, Bill Bryant, a Seattle consultant on international trade, was reported to have said, "If this were run by corporate elites, the trains would have run on time." He should take this obvious allusion to Italian fascism and move to Singapore, where he and Joiner would probably be more appreciated than in Seattle. These two wishful practitioners of a police state are well in tune with the ethos of the WTO - unelected tribunals serving only corporate interests as they meet in secret to strike down environmental protection and worker safety laws. Roger Lippman

January 4, 2000 Editor, the Point Reyes Light: We were delighted to read that another person lives, as we do, in Inverness and Seattle, but we object to John Coney pretending to speak for Seattle or Seattleites. (Guest Column, 12/30/99.) We were there for the WTO protests and Coney is dead wrong on a number of points. Coney’s portrayal of "tens of thousands … harboring vandals" and "mass vandalism" is more distorted than the worst media accounts. In fact, some 5,000-6,000 peaceful protesters, ourselves included, blocked access to the Paramount Theatre and the Convention Center early in the morning Tuesday, November 30, shutting down the meeting. In the afternoon, tens of thousands (estimates range from 35,000 – 70,000) marched from the Seattle Center to downtown Seattle, and, yes, filled up many streets. All of this was nonviolent and had the air of a huge mobile celebration, with people in costumes, huge puppets, signs, street theater and dance. Meanwhile, it is well documented that police started tear-gassing nonviolent protesters early in the day. We ourselves were tear-gassed multiple times as we peacefully expressed our anti-WTO views in the streets. People were shot at with hard rubber pellets; police ripped gas masks off people’s heads and squirted pepper spray in their faces. Anyone who experienced what we did or saw the police violence on TV would be reminded of the Chicago police attacks on peaceful demonstrators at the 1968 Democratic convention, albeit in a decaffeinated 90s Seattle version. It’s amusing that Coney is upset that "even Bill Ruckelshaus, former EPA administrator, was tear-gassed." And what, we might ask, was Mr. Ruckelshaus doing there? Not protesting the anti-environmental actions of the WTO, that’s for sure. The high-ranking executive of Weyerhauser was undoubtedly there to advocate for the proposed "Free Logging Agreement," which would accelerate elimination of all tariffs on wood products worldwide, leading to a significant decrease in environmental protection for forests. The people who bring us deforestation here in Ecotopia will be empowered to do the same in Chile, etc. Where Coney gets his assertion that police were given misinformation by organizers is a mystery to us. While the police didn’t know the specifics of how each affinity group would block its corner (no one knew all the plans), the goal of the morning activities, organized through the Direct Action Network, was to shut down the WTO. This had been announced publicly, and the start time and location for the morning direct action were printed in the Seattle Times along with the rest of the day’s schedule for the official and protest meetings! What Coney describes as "mass vandalism" amounts to windows being broken in a few chain stores. While the property destruction was unnecessary and unfortunate, diverting attention from the important issues about the WTO, it’s wrong to use these few incidents to characterize the entire event. Coney urges demonstrators to "learn how to send their messages through the American party system and the processes of democracy." The American party system brought us NAFTA and the WTO, with Congress adopting them despite massive public opposition. The Seattle protests put before the whole world the defects of the WTO that Coney enumerates. As we chanted in Seattle, "This is what democracy looks like!" How is peaceful protest not a process of democracy? We experienced the strength of environmental, labor, and pro-democracy forces when they unite to speak out forcefully in the tradition of movements of the past four decades. And we Seattleites couldn’t take on the whole World Trade Organization by ourselves. That’s why we were honored and pleased to have the company of thousands of others from the Bay Area and at least six continents. Should the powers that be of West Marin ever do something as foolhardy as Seattle’s leaders did, and invite the enemy of all progress to convene here, we hope that the good people of Seattle will return the favor and help us shut down the town. Rae Levine and Roger Lippman Inverness, CA Published

 

 

Media

April 3, 1986 Philippines Report - Now We Get the Truth About Marcos, but Not Whole Truth Editor, The Seattle Times: Each day I am astonished at the great extent to which the truth is being told about events in the Philippines - at least, that portion of the truth which does not implicate U.S. government and business in Marcos' many years of plunder and oppression. When previously have the "security forces" of a pro-U.S. dictator been regularly referred to in these pages as goons and assassins? How about 1984 in El Salvador, on the occasion of that country's rigged election? Not exactly. Maybe in reference to Turkey, South Korea, or Guatemala? Nooooo. It is unfortunate that the media have to wait for the Reagan administration's approval before energetically reporting on the crimes of a U.S. ally. After things settle down in Manila, how about dispatching (Times reporter) Dick Clever with investigative carte blanche to Chile? Roger Lippman Published

December 15, 1993 Editor, The New Yorker: When I was in high school in Sacramento and following state politics closely, Robert Monagan, a young, attractive Republican from Tracy, was elected to the State Assembly. He rose quickly to become GOP leader in that body, and his upward momentum carried him to a significant role, possibly not culpable, in Nixon's felonious re-election campaign. Of course it was all downhill for much of the gang after that episode. Monagan is now known primarily as the eponym of a brief stretch of Interstate highway that carries the less fortunate through Tracy on their way to Stockton, presently the per capita murder capital of the U.S. None of this is very interesting, but who knows what your fact checkers might have uncovered had they been on their toes when reviewing your December 13 article on the recent Ed Rollins affair. They missed the fact that Monagan's name was misspelled repeatedly, by the distinguished Sidney Blumenthal, no less. At least we know that the author doesn't drive to Stockton very often. Roger Lippman

May 21, 1997 Editor, The Seattle Times: The Times has devoted substantial space to recent dramatic revelations of the thoroughgoing brutality and greed of the Mobutu regime, which had plunged a nation rich in resources into poverty worse than existed under colonialism. There has even been the occasional acknowledgement that it was U.S. policy and money that helped create and maintain Mobutu's dictatorship. But precious little of this was reported during his 30-plus years of kleptocracy. The critical time to report on such regimes is while they are in power. That information could perhaps have had an impact on persistent, repeated U.S. government and corporate support for Mobutu. Meanwhile, militaristic dictatorships continue in power in countries such as Indonesia. A little more light shed on those governments and the U.S. role in maintaining them - and profiting from them - would be most welcome. Roger Lippman

April 25, 1998 Editor, The Seattle Times: Today, curiously, I received the Times Eastside Edition, even though I live in central Seattle. I tried to remain calm and read it anyway. However, on page 4, I found the headline "Chilean president reports big victory against guerrillas." The story related how President Alberto Fujimori claimed a major victory against Peru's Shining Path. They may believe this stuff in Bellevue, but I remain unconvinced that Fujimori is president of Chile. Roger Lippman

July 30, 1998 Editor, The New Yorker: Peter Boyer's examination of the CNN story alleging U.S. military assassination of defectors during the Vietnam War (August 3, 1998) fails to raise the one question foremost in my mind: Did it actually happen? Ever since the story broke and was hastily retracted, the media and other commentators have focused primarily on allegations of sloppy reporting. The facts of the story have by and large been ignored, except by the authors, who stand by them. Some in government still anguish over the "lessons of Vietnam." As an anti-war activist I learned the lesson of Vietnam 30 years ago, namely the government and the media lie, especially about Vietnam. As Todd Gitlin wrote at the time, "They lie daily, they lie in patterns, they invent lies and peddle the powerful's, maybe they apologize and they lie again, by commission and omission: they lie, we might say, chronically, predictably. ..." Though plausible, the CNN story may or may not have been correct. There's certainly no reason to believe the well-connected deniers. But the current coverage serves only to distract us from the real issue. How about someone investigating the story itself? And while we're at it, if we used poison gas on our own citizens, who else did we use it on? Roger Lippman

August 4,1998 Editor, The Seattle Times: I am astounded that in the lead sentence of the main front page story, you print the statement that "U.S. Marines invaded [Grenada] to oust Cuban forces" in 1983. (Times, August 3, from a Washington Post report.) Not even Ronald Reagan, in the depths of his anti-communist delirium, claimed that as his justification for military intervention in Grenada. As the story gets around to explaining, the ostensible purpose of the invasion was to protect the U.S. medical students in Grenada. A little more attention to accuracy on the part of your editors is in order. Mindlessly reprinting dispatches from other papers is not quality journalism. Roger Lippman

June 14, 2020 Sports editor, The Seattle Times: It was interesting to read the Times Sports Moment bracket this morning, but the listings have some glaring omissions. In what sport have Seattle teams won more championships than in any other? Where do Seattle teams own most of the sport’s records? Hydroplane racing, of course. Slo-Mo-Shun IV’s 1950 world mile speed record, followed by five straight Stan Sayres Gold Cup victories, would be my top pick. Or, if you want a single instance, how about Mark Evans’ flip-and-win? After that faux pas is corrected, there are a couple other feats that should be in the top rankings: Seattle U defeating the Harlem Globetrotters, and the one-eyed Husky quarterback as Rose Bowl MVP twice in a row – first time ever. Roger Lippman

September 1, 2020 Dear Seattle Times editors, This letter is addressed to whoever edited (and also to that editor’s supervisors) yesterday’s article “‘Lives are at stake’: Killing of Patriot Prayer supporter amid protests leaves Portland reeling,” by distinguished reporter Hal Bernton. The on-line version uses the phrase “left-wing militants,” but in the print version (on page 6) that was twice replaced by “left-wing extremists.” Given that the on-line version is time-stamped August 30, 8:32 PM, presumably well before the paper edition was composed and printed, it appears that the author’s original wording was changed by Times office editors. The editor’s choice of wording is ill-advised, especially given that the violent right-wing, pro-Trump participants are not ever characterized as “extremist” in the article. I request a printed retraction, correction, and apology for this editorial intervention. Here is my suggested wording for your notice, which you may wish to edit as appropriate: In the article “‘Lives are at stake’: Killing of Patriot Prayer supporter amid protests leaves Portland reeling” (August 31, pages 1 and 6), the reporter’s phrase “left-wing militants,” describing anti-Trump, anti-racist protestors in Portland, was twice changed by Times editors to “left-wing extremists.” The Times regrets this change. We believe that our prior reporting demonstrates that it is not the position of the Times that the numerous citizens who proclaim that Black lives matter are extremists. Nor is it the Times position that protests against Trump’s record of endorsement of right-wing, racist, neo-Nazi groups should be viewed as extremist. The unauthorized changes to the article were made by an assistant editor who has been found to be part of a neo-Nazi sleeper cell attempting to infiltrate the Times. Needless to say, that person’s employment has been terminated by the Times. I look forward to your reply and explanation. Roger Lippman No response!

July 12, 2021 Editor, The New Yorker, The first I ever heard of Sun Ra (and, frankly, just about the last time until this month) was late in the 1960s, when his name appeared on the tally of votes for student body president of Reed College. Like the US Constitution, which does not specify that the Speaker of the House must be an elected representative, Reed’s governing papers are silent on the question of whether the student officers shall be enrolled in the college in good standing. But no matter. Mr. Ra polled in the very low single digits among the write-ins, within a poetic list of the comparably creative but obscure. Roger Lippman

 

Miscellaneous
September 25, 1989 Exxon Card Center Houston, TX Hello, Thank you for sending me a new Exxon credit card. This gives me another opportunity to tell you that I won't be needing it. I will not be purchasing any more Exxon products until you have cleaned up the oil spill in Alaska, returning the environment to its previous condition, and also taken steps to insure that your company will never again be responsible for an oil spill. I am returning my card, in two convenient pieces. Roger Lippman enclosures (2)
August 2, 1990 Editor, The Seattle Times, Yesterday's op-ed piece on the Blue Angels clearly covered the multitude of reasons why the annual air show is offensive to many Seattleites. It was interesting to learn from the sports pages of the same day that hydroplane testing on Saturday is precluded by noise regulations. Of course, these same noise regulations do not apply to air traffic because it is under the jurisdiction of the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA has long made clear its disregard of local noise regulations by routing loud, low-flying commercial jets over residential neighborhoods such as mine near central Lake Washington. Seafair seems to be a law unto itself as well. Before next year, people should pressure the city to force Seafair to reduce or eliminate the impact of the Blue Angels. Meanwhile, we are subjected again this year to the anachronistic behavior of the Blue Angels, which makes half of Seattle feel like Vietnam under Nixon's siege. Roger Lippman
April 12, 1991 To: Ron Sims, King County Councilmember Dear Mr. Sims: I read in the Seattle Times of April 11 that Councilmember Kent Pullen is proposing to buy a helicopter for the King County Police so that they can conduct a drug war on King County citizens from the air. I certainly hope you are not supporting this crazy scheme. The Sheriff plans to equip it with “infrared devices that can track heat sources such as lights used to grow marijuana.” Can you imagine the likelihood of mistaken identification of heat sources in people’s homes, and the resulting police crashing through people’s doors while a helicopter hovers overhead? I don’t think this is the kind of protection the people of King County want or need. The skies of the City of Seattle became much more peaceful sometime in the mid-Seventies after the Seattle police helicopter crashed while looking for marijuana growing in the Arboretum, and the City Council was so annoyed that it refused to pay for another one. I encourage you to oppose the proposal for a county police helicopter. Please let me know your position on this issue. Roger Lippman No response!
April 21, 1991 Editor, The Seattle Times: The Times (April 8) reports that major traffic and parking problems are expected from the new sports arena next to the Kingdome. But wait! The city of Seattle is still dripping with yellow ribbons and American flags that proclaim, “I’m proud that (someone other than me) fought a war so I’ll have enough cheap gasoline to drive to a ball game in a mostly empty car.” Well, it doesn’t look like that will work much longer. Instead of locking ourselves into ever-worsening traffic and future military expeditions to guarantee cheap oil, I propose the following: 1. Parking lots at the Kingdome and arena shall be used by buses only. Design the parking lot at the new arena with this in mind. 2. Limit parking within a mile of the stadium to two hours during events, thus preventing game-goers from parking on the streets nearby. (Sounds harsh? This is essentially the situation around Husky Stadium on game days.) Also impose a special tax on event parking in parking lots in the area, with a possible exception for carpools. 3. Vastly improve public transportation to the stadium for events. Get Metro to coordinate with stadium schedulers. Run shuttles from various parts of town and the suburbs. Make them cheap enough that people will actually use them. And get the private sector involved by encouraging espresso carts at each Metro staging area. Roger Lippman
April 23, 1992 Let’s hope students learned about political compromise [Not exactly my point.]  Editor, The Seattle Times: It was heartening to read about young students encouraging the state Legislature to ban non-biodegradable balloons that can kill animals that eat them. (The Times, April 18) The ban passed the House but died in the Senate, and the reporter notes that the students learned something about the political process in the bargain. Let’s hope that they learned the meaning of “pro-business,” a euphemism commonly heard these days. Usually it means “Republican,” or sometimes “pro-business Democrat,” as in “Paul Tsongas.” What it really means is, we’re more interested in a company’s right to make a profit than we are in the well-being of the Earth and its inhabitants. And we are so reflexively in favor of the former that we can’t even visualize a compromise to allow both. If students can learn that lesson in elementary school, there may be a chance for democracy. And if the Times reporter had bothered to identify the senators who killed the bill, those of us who are already voting could remember to do something about it as the next election. Roger Lippman, Seattle Published
August 21, 1992 Councilmember Cheryl Chow Chair, Parks Committee Municipal Building Seattle, WA 98104 Dear Councilmember Chow: I imagine you have noticed the growing number of critical articles and letters appearing in the newspapers at Seafair time each year, regarding the appearance in Seattle of the Blue Angels. While I enjoy many Seafair activities and even admit to a certain fascination with the Blue Angels, I object to their annual appearance for several reasons, including: Noise. These planes terrify children, animals, even adults who live or work right under their flight path, which in places is quite low. Pollution. According to an article in the Times a couple years ago, the planes use 45,000 gallons of jet fuel, plus 1,800 gallons of paraffin smoke oil. The exhaust and smoke fumes are so thick that they linger over Lake Washington. Expense. An average Blue Angels show costs the Navy over $185,000. This is our tax dollars at work. Plus, Seafair, Inc. kicked in $12,000 for this year's show. Militarism. Certainly by now, this overt display of aggressive military capability is out of date and has no place as a centerpiece of a major civic celebration. As I understand it, the Seafair organization requires a number of permits from the City to put on the annual festivities. As these permits are negotiated for next year's Seafair, I urge that the Parks Department pressure Seafair to at least reduce the frequency of the Blue Angels performances. Maybe if we had a year's respite from the planes, people would realize we can get along quite well without them. Judging by the commentaries in the newspaper, I think you will get a lot of public support for taking some action. Please let me know your feelings about this issue. Roger Lippman cc: Mayor Norm Rice Vic Embry, Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation No response!
December 3, 1995 Editor, The Seattle Times: The Times, reporting that the Blue Angels may return to Seattle next summer, states that "Although the Blue Angels have never had an accident at Seafair, fatal air-show accidents have happened elsewhere." [12-3-95] The article fails to note that one of those fatal accidents happened right outside Seattle. In April 1962, one of the Air Force Thunderbirds crashed within a mile of my childhood home, killing two elderly residents. This plane had been on an air-show route over Lake Washington, but after a mechanical problem, it unexpectedly shifted course and destroyed two homes upon impact. I am among hundreds of residents who had been terrorized annually by these planes flying within 100 feet of my house at hundreds of miles per hour. This year, Seattle residents were able to more fully enjoy the rest of Seafair's activities without the Blue Angels. The Blue Angels are objectionable for several reasons, including: Noise. These planes terrify children, animals, even adults who live or work under their flight path, which in places is quite low. Pollution. According to an article in the Times a few years ago, the planes use 45,000 gallons of jet fuel, plus 1,800 gallons of paraffin smoke oil. The exhaust and smoke fumes were so thick that they lingered over Lake Washington. Expense. An average Blue Angels show costs the Navy over $185,000. This is our tax dollars at work. Seafair, Inc. kicked in an additional $12,000 for a recent show. Militarism. Certainly by now, this overt display of aggressive military capability is out of date and has no place as a centerpiece of a major civic celebration. Roger Lippman
March 18,1996 Editor, The Seattle Times: A county consultant recommends that the Kingdome not allow fans to bring in their own food and drink. (Times, March 17) This will compel people to buy more of the low-quality, overpriced concession food that, we now learn, is hazardous to our health due to negligence on the part of the concessionaire. Is this the purpose of County government? Instead, why not allow a variety of concessionaires, each trying to outdo the next in quality food and reasonable pricing? Then maybe people would want to buy the food. Roger Lippman
January 2, 1999 Editor, The San Francisco Chronicle: Your reporter David Abel (Chronicle, January 1) went to Cuba and managed to find some things wrong. Surprise. After 40 continuous years of U.S. economic, political, and/or military aggression against Cuba, no wonder there are problems there. An interesting report might have looked at the Cuban standard of living, compared it favorably with other poor Caribbean nations, and gone on to consider how things would be if Cuba were left alone by its powerful neighbor, or even encouraged in its independent experiment. The reporter was so determined not to acknowledge the positive accomplishments of the Cuban revolution that he seems to have forgotten how to string a sentence together.      "Once a crime that brought time in jail, now Cubans can barely survive without using dollars." Hello? Do you still have copy editors there at the Chronicle? Roger Lippman
July 3, 1999 If the FBI wants its bug, maybe we can make a deal Editor, The Seattle Times: I read with interest your June 20 article on electronic tracking devices and their possible application to humans, pets, and vehicles. (“Implanted microchip? Futuristic tracking idea might be on track.”) While the FBI, characteristically, declines to comment on whether it would use such devices, it has been using them on vehicles for many years. In the early 1970s, a friend who traveled in leftist circles found an electronic tracking device attached inside his car’s fender. He took the bug apart and gave it to me. Soon after the device stopped transmitting, the FBI visited my friend to demand its return. Ironically, the car had a blown engine and had not moved since the device was attached. If the FBI still wants its bug back, perhaps we can make a deal. It’s around here somewhere. Roger Lippman Published
October 13, 1999 Editor, The San Francisco Bay Guardian: How interesting it is to read that San Francisco is about to spend most of a million dollars for an electronic tracking system, so riders can know when the next bus is coming. In Seattle we have a different method. Believe it or not, the buses run on a schedule, which is posted at most bus stops. This high-tech solution costs next to nothing, and anybody with a state-of-the-art wristwatch can know when the next bus will arrive. If that tempts you to move here, don't forget that it rains all the time. Roger Lippman Seattle
January 2001 Great Timing Editor, San Francisco Chronicle Magazine: It's pretty funny that Stewart Brand and friends built a 10,000-year clock that rang in the new millennium a year early (Chronicle, December 31, 2000). If you're going to blunder, there's nothing like preserving your screwup for a hundred centuries of posterity. Even the funny papers now recognize that the millennium actually starts this year. It's not unlike the recent presidential election. Lots of people are pretending that Bush was elected, but within the year it will be obvious to all that Gore won Florida and the electoral vote. Roger Lippman Published
January 19, 2009 NEWSPAPERS Editor, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer: In the January 18 P-I, State Sen. Jim McDermott bemoans the "dire straights of the newspaper business." Maybe he'd feel better if he read The Stranger. Roger Lippman Published
January 11, 2010 Growing Up Distracted Editor, The New York Times Re: “Old Fogies by Their 20s” (Week in Review, Jan. 10): “I worry that young people won’t be able to summon the capacity to focus and concentrate when they need to,” an official of the Kaiser Family Foundation was quoted in the article as saying, referring to the technology habits of younger generations. I can just imagine flying in an airplane, in 20 years or so, and the pilots would be so engrossed with electronic toys, and so incapable of multitasking, that they might not even notice if we missed our destination by 150 miles. But that could never happen. Roger Lippman, Seattle Published (January 21, 2010)  What I described in the second paragraph had just happened.
September 2013 They Said I Was a Communist Editor, Reed Magazine: Chris Lydgate’s absorbing article about the invention of a new sign language by Nicaraguan children is marred by a flawed assumption. He refers to the Sandinista government of Nicaragua as a “Communist regime.” Maybe he picked this up from U.S. government officials, like Ronald Reagan and Jesse Helms, but the Sandinista government was not avowedly Communist, nor was it considered so by informed observers. Among those observers I include thousands of North American volunteers, such as myself, who went to Nicaragua after the 1979 revolution to share our skills and assist with the sort of humanitarian development that had been so lacking under the Somoza dictatorship. (I worked on a rural solar electrification project, along with comrades of the Portland engineer Ben Linder, who was killed by the Reagan-funded contras.) For us “Sandalistas” and for so many of the Nicaraguans we worked alongside, the greatness of the Sandinista revolution was that its leaders and millions of participants applied the resources of the country to improving the lives of its citizens. It is distressing that some, who are perhaps unfamiliar with the events there, categorize that revolution with the disparaging language used by those who murderously worked to destroy progress in Nicaragua. Roger Lippman Published EDITOR'S NOTE: Yikes! Thanks for sorting the leftists from the rightists. Roger preparing a solar panel for installation in a remote Nicaraguan community, 1988
February 13, 2020 Editor, The New Yorker: When Adam Gopnik (Uncivil Wars, 2/10/2020) wrote that "The 'sixties' as a continuous cultural period began in 1964, with the Beatles on 'The Ed Sullivan Show,'" it may have been a throw-away line, but it hit the rim, if you'll pardon my mixed metaphor. Surely a cultural phenomenon as significant and defining as sixties rock music was the civil rights movement, which could be dated to the North Carolina Woolworths sit-in that started just about on time, February 1, 1960. One couldn't say that it has ended. And just months later began another culturally defining movement of the sixties, when, in an early foreshock of the New Left, hundreds protested then-fading McCarthyism at the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings in San Francisco. As for Gopnik's suggestion that rock culture ended in 1989, I differ with that as well. I'd give it to the late seventies, maybe to the time of Reagan's inauguration. Who ever heard of eighties nostalgia? Roger Lippman
March 29, 2020 Editor, The New York Times: Strange as it may seem – especially to those who weren’t around when Ronald Reagan mishandled the AIDS epidemic – the COVID-19 virus outbreak has become a partisan political issue. But nothing should surprise us with Bizarro-man as President. His fragile, oversized ego will not allow him to admit that from the beginning he bungled his responsibility to promote the general welfare. Rather, he was and remains more interested in protecting certain economic interests. Only the reality check of a friend in the hospital has kept him from sending us out to Easter services, which would of course worsen the epidemic exponentially. What part of infectious disease does he not understand? Incredibly, Trump’s cult-like followers erupt on Twitter, suspicious of the nation’s leading public-health officer because he takes his job seriously. Imagine the amount of self-control required on the part of Dr. Fauci to do nothing more provocative than bury his head in his hand when forced to stand there listening to Trump’s daily delusions. Get ready for those among his “base” whose conceptual abilities, like Trump’s, are limited to 280 characters, to discover that Fauci was tied up with Hillary Clinton’s child-sacrifice ring beneath a pizza parlor. And the governors who want people to go about their normal business? Truly a basket of deplorables. Roger Lippman
May 22, 2020 Editor, The New Yorker: A hundred years ago, as related in these pages last November, Booth Tarkington, having been placed on a New York Times list of the greatest contemporary men, declared, “you can’t say who are the 10 greatest with any more authority than you can say who are the 13 damndest fools.” The cultural evolution we have seen in recent years has changed all that. It is now possible to compile a highly accurate list of the damndest fools. It would be composed of those who, following the exhortations of the loudest sociopath in the neighborhood, drink poison or pop dangerous pills to protect themselves against a disease they do not have. Ironically, it worked for them, because they are now dead. This is as good an example as any of what Adam Gopnik once declared to be “the intractable power of pure stupidity,” though I suppose that death from pure stupidity makes its power somewhat more tractable. Of course, the list of 13 has plenty of room for expansion these days. That would start with the Republican officials who have sold what might have passed as their souls to Trump when they at one time knew better. Next will be those leftists who, finding Biden not a pure enough alternative to the fascist danger, will sit this one out. Remember “There’s no difference between Bush and Gore”? We’re still paying for that one. Only this time, the stakes are even higher. Privileged white boys may not get that, but I hope everyone else will. Roger Lippman
August 24, 2020 Editor, The Seattle Times, In his latest uninformed political interference, Trump accused the Food and Drug Administration of “impeding enrollment in clinical trials” for coronavirus vaccines. (Times, August 23.) I suggest a compromise that should satisfy everyone. Let’s have all White House senior staff, from the president on down, along with Trump’s Republican Congressional supporters, enroll in clinical trials for these vaccines, which are as-yet not proven safe or effective. If it works, great! Trump will have actually done something useful. If it doesn’t work and there is no protection, or there are harmful side-effects, so it goes. Back to the drawing board – perhaps with less interference. Meanwhile, all those Trump sycophants who think they know better than the scientists could take a good swig of oleandrin, the extract of a highly toxic plant lately favored by Trump. Better than bleach – it’s organic! Roger Lippman
March 14, 2021 Trevor Noah, The Daily Show: After Nixon's abdication, Jules Feiffer observed, "Nothing happened today ... nothing happened yesterday ... nothing has happened for WEEKS now." We're there once more, it's comforting to observe, and it's bad news only for reporters and satirists. Take a few weeks off, Trevor, and come back when Trump is indicted and things get interesting again. Meanwhile, don't dissipate your creativity and squander your following by being reduced to talking about Biden taking a piss. Roger Lippman
September 2, 2021 Editor, The Seattle Times: Re: Washington Ferries cruise toward rocky Labor Day “Rumors abound that some workers might skip holiday shifts to protest mandatory vaccinations.” That is, to protect their right to get sick. Roger Lippman

Roger Lippman's Home Page