Category Archives: Blogs' Archive

With regard to CNN presenting a 6 week old poll as if it were fresh news (which they did at least twice in one day) and the Los Angeles Times not reporting on Bernie’s Venice Rally at all, Bernie’s press secretary, Briahna Joy Gray, said “‘Honestly, this is just embarrassing for the campaigns that need this kind of boost to appear competitive after having a bad week,” which was a great response, and totally in keeping with the tenor or the Sanders campaign, even if it is not the response (sue the fuckers) that I would prefer.
I really like this Briahna Joy Gray. Part of that is just me being a pervy old man and her an attractive young woman, but she’s also very eloquent. I saw her a few days ago as a guest on Rising, the program with Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti. They had spokespeople on from the Buttigieg campaign and the Warren campaign as well, but they just couldn’t compete. Team Biden was invited to send somebody, but didn’t bother.
Admittedly, the program is pro-Bernie, but the questions were fair, and she was the only one of the three that could make a case for her candidate, whereas the Buttigieg spokeswoman and the Warren spokesman were mostly sniping at each other.
Also, I thought “Well, she is good, but she has an unfair advantage here. She’s arguing for Bernie, whose policies have been consistent for years and they are good policies, whereas the other two are trying to defend the indefensible.” Looked at that way, they all did a real good job.
Anyway, Briahna Joy Gray. I sure hope we start hearing a lot more from her.

And now begins my favorite time of the year. That 11 months in which we do not have to watch Love, Actually, Home Alone or Home Alone 2, in which the shops are less crowded, the music less predictable. I am a terrible Grinch.
Actually, it wasn’t a bad Christmas at all. I got a couple of books and a new, very ergonomic chair from IKEA. The kids were all very happy. We ate well, although a large portion of the Czech Christmas dinner does not seem celebratory to me. More of a ritual you have to go through.
Tomorrow we are off to Poland for 5 days, and I’m quite looking forward. We’ll be visiting Gdansk, where I’ve never been before, and I’m quite looking forward to it. And to the next 11 months.

It gets a little bit tiresome saying “A new low,” because we say it so often. We say it about Trump, the Tories in England, the press, the DNC, and oh so many others. But, as long as it keeps being true we need to keep saying it, or they will just assume they got away with that one and go ahead and take the bar down yet another notch, until you’d think a snake couldn’t slither under it, and then they do.
Well, this time it was the press. Specifically CNN. They just released a new poll showing Bernie in 4th place in Iowa, which struck some people as weird because Bernie’s been polling at 1st or 2nd the past couple of weeks, his debate performance was solid, he’s had several big rallies and a slew of new endorsements in recent days, and there’s no apparent reason for a drop.
Then some eagle eyed viewers on Twitter and Reddit took a look at the date on the poll. November 8-13. So, why are they showing a month old poll now? Your guess may or may not be as good as mine, but my guess is they just didn’t want to show a poll Bernie was winning.
It was such an egregious violation of journalistic ethics that Julian Castro, who is running AGAINST Bernie Sanders for the nomination, called them out on it. Thank you, Julian Castro!
This election is turning into a scientific experiment. Can the press lie often enough, and forcefully enough, that they can change people’s opinions? If so, we are doomed and Rupert Murdoch becomes de facto King of the World. If not, if there is a limit beyond which their bullshit becomes evident as bullshit and people stop taking them seriously, except maybe for the weather and sports scores, then Bernie Sanders will be the next president of the United States.

And now the days are getting longer again, which is of course the reason for a major holiday at this time of year. It’s been called Christmas for the last thousand years or so, Yule before that and Saturnalia before that, but there has always been a holiday at midwinter to celebrate the days getting longer again, the return of the sun.
Like American Thanksgiving, and also like Hannukah, the eight day Jewish festival of light which has just begun, it is a holiday of survival. Our continued existence, which had been cast into doubt, is once again reassured.
Of course, a lot of people do like winter. They enjoy the skiing and the ice skating and the sledding and the snowball fights, and a glass of hot cocoa and maybe a bit of brandy afterwards in a snug, indoor environment. They love the spectacular beauty of the snow covering everything, and the brilliant rays of the sun reflected off it.
But, a couple of thousand years ago, when these holidays had their origins, winter was probably less popular. Winter was something which could kill you. Either directly, if you were caught out too far from shelter when the temperature dropped too quickly, or indirectly, because food became scarce in winter. None of it was growing in the fields, and many animals were hidden underground, asleep.
So, the first sign of the ending of winter was met with great rejoicing. And so it should be.
May this year be the end of our long, dark political winter and the beginning of a new era – of peace on Earth and good will to all men.
You know what I’m talking about.

I just saw a thing, forgot the source and I’m not going to look for it, about how only 5 candidates have qualified for the January debate. Meaning Steyer and Yang would be out, and there would only be five candidates on stage.
Our man Bernie, lyin’ Liz Warren, Fingers Malarkey, Mayo Pete, and Amy Klobuchar, who is so insignificant she hasn’t earned a nickname yet but she apparently did O.K. at the last debate and I know one of my brothers likes her.
This would be a very positive development for Bernie if it plays out and I think it will. Yang is only one poll away so he could still pull it off but, although he wins a lot of online polls because his followers are all tech geeks and know how to work those things, in the real world he’s done nothing to expand on that base. Steyer is even less likely to qualify.
What I think is happening is this. The DNC, realizing Bernie’s popularity and scared shitless he could actually become president and end all the corruption which they love, flooded the field with candidates and came up with this rule that Super Delegates could vote if nobody got over 50% on the first ballot. With 10 or 20 serious candidates, they figured their chances of keeping Bernie below 50% on the first ballot were pretty good, in which case they’d just go into a back room, smoke cigars, and come up with some total lightweight corporate tool who they could call a ‘compromise candidate’ and then try to guilt the Bernie people into voting for them again, which wouldn’t work but at least they would have stopped Bernie and Trump isn’t going to stop them from having their corruption.
But, the flooding came too early and was too heavy and now the waters are receding and only four candidates besides Bernie are still standing, with more than a month to go before the first primary.
Four seriously flawed candidates.
Pete took a spanking at the last debate. Even though he’s not the only one taking billionaire money, he is now the face of it. He probably will never hold elective office again, but has a bright future ahead of him as a network pundit. He looks professional, speaks nicely, will say anything the rich overlords tell him to, and is gayer than Anderson Cooper. He’ll do very well.
Despite everybody bashing on Pete, when Elizabeth Warren tried it a bit of the mud spattered on herself. She’s the one I was most worried about but she’s slipping in the polls. I guess “Almost as good as Bernie, and a woman” was not a good enough theme.
Biden still has the problem of being old and senile and that’s not going to go away. “Don’t let him speak in public too often” is not a winning strategy and it can’t be maintained. Also, the Burisma thing. Everybody knows about that now.
Which brings us to Amy Klobuchar. I must admit, if we are just talking inside baseball, the winnowing is as good for her as it is for Bernie. Probably even more so as she was being almost completely overlooked. So, a lot of the ABB crowd may wind up gravitating toward her. However “I’ve passed three farm bills” doesn’t quite have the fire and passion of “I’m here to rip Monsanto a new asshole.”
We’ll see. The first caucus state is a farm state, and I think it’s going to go for Bernie in a big way.