Political Crimes & Misdemeanors

The season opener at Berkeley Rep, "It Can't Happen Here," is a cautionary tale. Adapted from the Sinclair Lewis novel, it's reviewed in this week's issue.

The tale of a fascist demagogue who gets elected President, it's meant to serve as a wake-up call, a stinging satire. But anyone who thinks it can't happen here is in need of a reality check. Not only can it happen here, it has happened here. In our lifetime, we've seen a US president set out to subvert the Constitution (Watergate); a White House cabal sell illegal arms to a sworn enemy, then use the proceeds to fund an illegal insurgency abroad (Iran/Contra); and a national party steal the presidential election from the candidate who won the popular vote and, had the vote count been allowed to proceed, the electoral college (Bush v. Gore ). That's not even to mention invading a sovereign nation under false pretenses (Poland, whoops we mean Iraq).

The common denominator for all these high crimes? Why, the GOP, the same party enabling the latest demagogue. So fie on them and their candidate! As editorial columnist Gail Collins wrote in The New York Times this week, voting for Donald Trump as an instrument of change is "the kind of change you get if you decide to remove the trash by driving a bulldozer through the kitchen."

Therefore our vote for most ingenious magazine cover design of the year is this new issue of Adbusters, a self-described "not-for-profit magazine fighting back against the hostile takeover of our psychological, physical and cultural environments by commercial forces." It packs a visual wallop. We're usually not such a big fan of Nazi analogies because it cheapens the brand, but what Adbusters does with the Universal Product Code is pure genius, worthy of a John Heartfield (anti-Nazi photomontage artist) for the digital age.

As an antidote to the chaos of this year's presidential campaign, we've been listening to some of our favorite classic Broadway cast recordings. Isn't that just like a queen? "Fiorello," the 1959 Broadway musical by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, is based on the life of the reformer Republican (!) mayor of New York City Fiorello LaGuardia. Its classic "Little Tin Box" is an effective indictment of the corruption of Tammany Hall, and by extension, of all political machines. "Candide," the Leonard Bernstein operetta based on the Voltaire novel, is an effective indictment of Pollyanna-ish innocence, and by extension, of cynicism. After all, if we don't live in "The Best of All Possible Worlds," who does?

It always feels like political theatre during presidential election years, but this year is more Theatre of the Absurd than it is Camelot.

City Lights

Friends visiting San Francisco from points beyond are always wanting to get high - we mean, somewhere far above the ground to get a bird's-eye view of the city and the Bay, preferably while drinking alcohol. We take them to all the usual places. Now that includes the Cityscape San Francisco Lounge, way high on the 46th floor of the Hilton San Francisco Union Square. The hotel took us for a press date up to the Lounge the other night. We're such hussies and incidentally quite a cheap date.

Cityscape has a 360-degree panoramic view of the Bay Area, and our hosts apologized profusely the night we were there, for our fair city's famous pea-soup fog had completely socked in the immediate visual environment. But that was OK, because while we're sure the view is spectacular on clear nights, we also love the feeling of floating above the clouds. True SF lifers that we are, Karl the Fog is our friend. The city lights twinkled underfoot.

Go here for cocktails and appetizers, as there isn't a full menu, but instead some very tempting nibbles. The big hit on our bites tray was the ahi-salmon-hamachi poke with sweet onion, inamona jus, wasabi and lotus root crisps. But everything on offer was good, including a spiced cucumber salad, yum, charcuterie and cheese. We'll be returning to the 46th floor with friends (open 5 p.m.-Midnight) and getting them high.