Category Archives: Blogs' Archive

Normally I avoid the fantasy politics topics, like “Michelle Obama should run for president,” or “They should change the constitution so AOC could run” or maybe “We should vote for Biden and then try to force him to the left,” but these are times when real politics offer little hope of even entertainment value, much less actual solutions for the problems facing the world.
So, here’s one. One term governor of Minnesota and former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura is thinking about running for president. On the Green Ticket. That part’s not made up. The thing is, the Green Party already has a candidate in Howie Hawkins, who’s never held a higher political office than maybe union manager, but his platform is essentially the same as Bernie Sanders’.
I think they should debate. I think they should debate once a week, maybe twice a week. Just Jessie and Howie, two rational adults talking about the environment, talking about legal weed, talking about wealth inequality, talking about electoral reform, talking about Medicare, talking about all those issues that Trump or Biden will never talk about. Nor will they every be two rational adults.
I think the moderators should be Krystal and Joe Rogan, and I think (once this quarantine is over) it should be done in front of a live, and vocal studio audience.
Until then, it could be just each of them in a studio. The American people would get a 3rd choice on the ballot in November, and the election would be interesting again.

There was an article in the Guardian today about how the U.S. government is releasing 3 videos, which head already been leaked, the earliest in 2007 and the most recent in 2017.
This will have zero impact. Most people won’t even hear about it. And now it’s old news.
Of those who do hear about it, many of us who would like there to be intelligent beings from remote start systems with the capability of traveling through space, just like in Star Trek, will see it as evidence and say “there couldn’t possibly be any other explanation.” Those of a more cynical bent will say these prove nothing at all.
I suppose, by themselves, they don’t. We won’t really have proof until, if ever, they decide to contact us. My problem is more with the government secrecy. Why weren’t all these videos available to the public at the time they were made? How is it of any advantage to the people of the human race that their governing bodies have information that we do not?
It doesn’t. They are just so used to keeping secrets, and lying to people, that they fear any chink in that dam, because of the huge torrent of shit that would pour forth across the land.

The New York Democratic Party has canceled their primary. Well, as my cousin from New York pointed out, not technically, because they’ve only canceled the presidential portion.
After stripping 200,000 people from the voter rolls in New York in 2016, and getting away with it, they’ve decided to go whole hog. No vote for you, New York Democrats. You do not get any say whatsoever in who the Democratic nominee is this year. None. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. If I were a resident of New York, I would be seriously pissed off. I mean, ready to burn something down pissed off. Ready to vote for Trump pissed off.
In fact, by canceling the primary, I believe New York Democrats may have accomplished the unthinkable and put New York into play.
Even people who support Biden (and if you’ve been saying blue no matter who from the beginning, you are supporting Biden. You may tell me ‘he wasn’t my first choice’ but when you said you’d vote for anybody, this is the shit you get) should be angry at this.
Up till this morning, they had that pathetic little argument that ‘we respect Bernie for pushing health care and the environment and fair wages into the spotlight, and intend to work on those things in small increments’ Now, they’ve thrown that out the window. This shows no respect at all.
And so, they deserve none in return.

My latest Netflix binge watch, discovered it this afternoon and I’m about halfway through it, is Maniac. It reminds me somehow of Russian Doll, as far as overall level of weirdness.
It’s set in a strange future, it’s almost indistinguishable from the present except the tour guide at the very beginning said to the group. “Welcome to America, on your left you have the Statue of Super Liberty” and it was a huge and magnificent statue which doesn’t actually exist, and they’ve got a thing called AdBuddy which is always offered as a payment option and you just have to listen to a ton of ads. And poop eating robot dogs.
Anyway, our two heroes are Annie, who is smoking hot in a very bitchy sort of way, plus she’s a junkie, and meek mannered Owen, who thinks he’s on a mission to save the world or some shit.
They both wind up part of a drug trial/psychological test which involves a sentient computer, a whole bunch of screaming in Japanese, and a very weird trip inside their minds.
I’m enjoying it, but a bit afraid there will never be an actual resolution.

Yesterday we took a bike ride to the Prague Botanical Gardens, because they are open now, the restrictions are lifting. But, it still feels strange and unnatural to wear a mask while riding a bike, not to mention a bit hard on the old breathing. It’s only a 6 kilometer ride, almost all on easy, paved, flat trails and only the last 4 or 5 blocks seriously uphill, but I was winded and sweating by the time we got there.
We’re still not completely free because we have to move a mask just to take a drink of water. We’re still not completely free because we are very conscientious of standing too close to other people. (although I can see an advantage to that. While shopping at Albert the other day, they had stickers on the ground telling people in the checkout line where to stand, so we were not close to each other. The line looked significantly longer, stretching back into the stacks, but it moved the same and maybe, in some ways, that’s an improvement that should be continued)
Anyway, the Botanical Garden itself was lovely. Much, much larger than the last time I saw it. Although quite a bit of the extension was just a walk in the woods which you can get in any Czech park, the big cactus garden was impressive. The wetlands exhibit consisted of a small pond and a muddy patch, but it looked nice and had a little wooden bridge.
And, from where it’s situated, the views over Prague are vast, sweeping and all those other adjectives they put in tourist brochures.
It was a day of psychic rejuvenation, and good to be outside.