Category Archives: Blogs' Archive

I just went down to the store to get some things for lunch, because we really missed the boat on this whole stock up for two weeks thing. We may even be down to our last 10 rolls or so of toilet paper.
I was a bit surprised at what I saw. There were a normal number of people in the park, and the traffic was fairly light. On a Sunday morning at 11:30 a.m. that is not surprising. In the supermarket itself, I did see one person wearing a mask, but there were no long lines of panicked shoppers. There were about 10 people in line when I got to the checkout and they opened another register, so I was 2nd in line.
The meat section and the dairy section looked a bit depleted, but not empty, and I found everything I needed without any problems.
Yet, the schools are closed till the end of the month at least, the borders are semi-closed, and the end of the world is nigh, if you watch the news.
On my way home, I noticed once again that people seemed to be outside, enjoying the sunny day, in roughly average numbers, and that most of the bushes have hard, little, bright green buds on them. In two weeks, Czechia will be a green paradise again.
Not trying to cause a riot, or even an argument. But, I suspect the whole Corona Virus panic thing is bullshit.

In some ways it’s been a rather productive day. We (well, Helena really) got my Rheets 2019 book finished and sent off to the publisher, so that will be available on Amazon soon and on Kindle shortly after that.
I don’t really expect anybody to buy the Rheets books, it’s not great poetry, it’s more of a writing exercise for me, but I put one out every year because self-publishing is so easy and I like saying I’ve written 23 books of poetry, rather than the 15 or so that it would be without them.
Then, I decided it was about time to put together my poems from the last 6 months or so of poetry readings to see if I’ve got enough for another book yet, and I am so, so close. Haven’t chosen a title yet, and I probably need another five or 10 poems to get it to a proper length, but I expect to get it done in a few days.
I decided yesterday that quarantine would be a good time to get some writing done, so that’s what I’ll focus on.
But, when I make resolutions, I often screw up immediately. I went to bed last night without writing my blog, which I do sometimes, intending to write it in the morning. But, even though I had nothing but free time this morning, I just forgot.
So, basically, the blog skipped a day. My bad. But the progress on the two books kind of balances things out.

Of course, I’m expecting a good result from the debate Sunday night, but a lot of people on my Sanders pages seem to be counting on a full blown Biden meltdown.
I wouldn’t expect that. His handlers know a debate is coming, they are prepping, he may be fed the answers in advance, and he’s already been through several debates. There was the one where his eye was bleeding, and the one with the ‘leave the phonographs on all night’ speech. It takes a lot before regular newspapers will say anything bad about Biden.
But, this is the first time one on one with Bernie. A lot of people on Sanders pages are urging him to take off the gloves, to go after Biden hard, and damn, there is sure plenty of material, and I’m tempted to say the same. But Bernie has got as far as he has by being Bernie. Polite, diplomatic. Plain spoken. Presenting his own policies and forcing other candidates to deal with it. And he’s usually right to do so.
So, that’s what I expect. But, I’d like it if everybody who watches pays attention, not just to what the candidates say, but to their speech patterns. Is Biden in full command of a sentence from beginning to end? Can you understand all of his words? Are some of them mispronounced?
These are not the signs of a good candidate. These are definitely not the signs of a good president.

As far as this obnoxious electability argument goes, here are a few reasons why Sanders is the more electable candidate against Trump.
1. He is on the right side of almost every issue. This would not be so impressive if he had changed his position to be on the right side, as Joe Biden has by saying he marched in the civil rights moment (he did not). Bernie Sanders held a gay pride parade in Burlington in 1982. It was definitely not the popular position. Now it is. He’s been fighting for health care for all for decades. Joe Biden is still opposed to it.
2. He has very little baggage. No major scandals, sexual, financial or otherwise. None of his relatives are even involved in shady dealings. Lots of Biden’s relatives (his son, Hunter and his brother James) are. Joe himself has had scandals related to plagiarism, lying, nepotism, and unwanted sexual contact.
3. He speaks clearly and coherently, whereas as Biden does not. I’ve had a few concern trolls (tone police) tell me in the past few days that I’m being offensive to sufferers of Alzheimer’s to say that Biden has it. Sorry, but Biden does. Trump will definitely mention that in the debates, if we have Biden as the nominee.
4. The nature of the election after July. If Bernie is the nominee, we will be talking about health care, which a clear majority of Americans want, saving the planet, which almost everybody wants, creating jobs, legalizing marijuana, ending student debt, making college free, ending private prisons, and many other things which will materially improve the lives of many, many Americans. If Biden gets the nomination all of that is swept off the table and we will be talking about a shit sandwich. You might try and find a better slogan, like “No Malarkey,” but it will come down to the shit sandwich thing, just like in 2016, because Biden doesn’t have anything else going for him. And if the very best argument you have for your candidate is that he’s a shit sandwich, then you really should be looking for another candidate.

If you want to phrase it as a sports analogy, which people seem to like to do, we are just about up to half-time. Sure, we’re down by a touchdown or two but we are far from out. The results of yesterday will be a delegate split, perhaps expanding Biden’s lead slightly, but there is still a second half to be played, and that will begin with the next debate.
CNN wants the candidates to sit down, so all the blood won’t go to Biden’s legs and he’ll start talking about leaving the record player on all night or something equally ridiculous. The press will under report it, say he had a great debate, and we will all have a film clip to share, and share again, and share again.
They have not finished counting in Michigan or Washington as of yet (Wednesday, March 13, 11:20 a.m., European Central Time, and we don’t spring forward for another couple of weeks, so you can do the calculations if you like), which is a sign that Bernie is doing better than they all are reporting.
And the reporting is followed, like a wave, by all the vbnmw people on the internet, trying to gaslight us into submission. That will not happen.
Bernie is still in the running. Bernie is a rock.