Category Archives: Blogs' Archive

Yeah, so Mike Bloomfield and Deval Patrick have joined the race, which sort of devalues all of the debates that have been held so far, but never mind that.
Billionaire Mike Bloomfield becomes the second billionaire in the race (on the Democratic side) and the second former Republican (after Warren) and the second mayor (after Buttigieg) who is thoroughly despised by his African-American constituents, which is kind of a key demographic for the Democrats.
Patrick Deval is a former governor of Massachusetts, but is closely linked (along with Mitt Romney) to Bain Capital. He is a black man but, like Corey Booker, he’s nothing but a grifter and unlikely to gain the votes of people who are struggling to get by.
Neither one of them has a snowball’s chance in hell of becoming president, so why are they even getting into the race?
Here’s my theory, call me crazy if you like.
The DNC, whose main goal is denying Bernie the nomination at all costs, is not only worried that Elizabeth Warren won’t make it across the finish line, based on her limited demographic, and a few little scandals here and there (the Indian thing is nothing compared to the daughter-being-a-health-care-for-profit executive thing), but that she plus all the other losers in the campaign won’t be enough to stop Bernie from getting 51% on the first ballot. So, they’re flooding the field a bit more. Their logic is that if Patrick can get 5% of the delegates, and Bloomberg say 2%, that means that Warren, Biden, Buttigieg, Harris, Klobuchar et alii only need to get 44% of the delegates between them and it goes to the 2nd ballot, where the DNC can do whatever they want.
If Bernie continues to surge, they will add still more candidates.

I guess the impeachment began today, or at least the hearings of the investigation to decide whether to have an impeachment or not began, but it’s the same thing. From what I’ve heard, the most exciting event of the day was that a drag queen from New Jersey was in attendance.

That’s O.K. The important thing is that it has begun. There will be hearing every day for a while, and on some of those days things will leak out that will lead to other things that will lead to other things, and on other days there will be a lot of people saying “I don’t recall” 56 times in a row and that doesn’t look very good, either.
And, on some of those days, Trump supporters in the House and Senate will say “That’s it, the bozo crossed the line that time, I’m out” and another pundit will suddenly turn on him, and this will have a cumulative effect because there won’t be any turning the other way.
Of course, it will be the Ukrainian thing highlighted in the hearings, and in the news, for now, and that’s not bad. He’s guilty as sin and the extra added bonus is that it shines a light on Biden’s corruption as well.
There are dozens of other incidents and issues that should be highlighted as well, Ivanka’s exceptions to the tariffs, weekends at Mar a Lago paid for by the taxpayers, the connection between Anthony Kennedy’s resignation and forgiveness of Trump’s debt by Deutschebank, and his taxes, OMG I do hope they eventually get to his taxes.
But I’m not too bothered if it doesn’t happen in a hurry. The best thing that can happen for the Democrats is if they can drag this out until the middle of next summer and the Republicans will be forced to choose between backing someone who might get sacked in disgrace and then thrown in jail on state charges sometime in October, or pick another candidate.

I find it very unfair that Tulsi Gabbard gets so much criticism because a few right-wingers here and there have endorsed her. David Duke is the most notable of these. It is weird, because she’s not exactly pure white, and I suspect it’s just that she’s physically attractive (or else it’s deliberate shit-stirring on his part) but either way, it does not mean that Tulsi is a right winger, or condones those people.
On the other hand, I have noticed a tendency among Sanders supporters to reject any tainted support. The tl;dr version of this blog is that I think maybe we’re going a bit over the top. I love the purity of Sanders’ message, but politics is, indeed, messy.
Peter Daou is a former Hillary person who is now openly supportive of Bernie, and tweets brilliant tweets. A lot of Sanders supporters have trouble accepting this, and say things like ‘He’s still a piece of shit” which isn’t very nice, and certainly not very productive. If someone shows up late for the party, they should still be welcome to the party, especially if they bring wine.
You still see Sanders supporters talking shit about Sarah Silverman, which is, to use her own word, ridiculous. 2016 is over. This is the 2020 election.
And, I’ve seen plenty of skepticism on the left about Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian’s endorsement of Bernie. Lighten up, people. Watch their show, don’t watch their show, but an endorsement is an endorsement.
Today, in the news, there was a bit that actually came from the Sanders’ campaign. He’d been given a donation by a billionaire, and they (the campaign) sent the check back immediately.
On the one hand, the donation was only for $470 (no idea why she chose that amount), but it’s not the kind of billionaire donation that is an attempt to influence policy. Maybe she’s just a very rich lady who truly thinks Sanders is the best for the job. So, I kind of think the money should have been accepted. Yes, there is a class war going on. That doesn’t mean all billionaires are evil, that we shouldn’t ever try to deal with them as individuals.
Then I saw that she’d also donated to Harris and O’Rourke. O.K., that part I don’t understand, but it still doesn’t mean she expected any quid pro quo.
Don’t get me wrong. I feel Sanders is the best man for the job because he’s the candidate with the most comprehensive plan for saving the planet, with the best plan for creating jobs and eliminating homelessness. He’s the candidate who will work hardest for universal health care, legalize marijuana and close private prisons, clear student debt and make universities free, and much, much more.
And I agree with him that billionaires, by and large, are a blight on society. This is just a slight disagreement about tone and tactics.

I am very concerned about what appears to be a coup in Bolivia, where the military, after weeks of political unrest, intervened to remove President Evo Morales. The U.S. must call for an end to violence and support Bolivia’s democratic institutions – Bernie Sanders

I agree totally, except that where Bernie says ‘appears to be a coup,’ he is being diplomatic. The Bolivian military forced Morales – the legally elected, left leaning president of Bolivia – to step down. That’s beyond ‘appears to be a coup.’ That’s a coup.
It’s depressing. It seems to be a done deal and there’s little anyone can do about it, although they say there will be another election. If it’s a fair one, it’s quite likely that Morales, or someone very like him, would win again, but the chances of it being fair are slight, if it even happens.
The reason for the coup, it seems, is lithium. Lithium ion batteries are used in mobile phones, and electric cars, and lithium is also used in the manufacture of nuclear weapons. It’s fairly rare, and therefore expensive, and apparently Bolivia has a lot of it. Morales wanted to nationalize the industry, just like Mohammed Mosadegh wanted to nationalize the Iranian oil industry in 1953. The CIA sponsored coup against him then has led to all of the problems between the U.S. and Iran to this day.
Nationalization means that foreign corporations won’t get any of that money, and they aren’t standing still for that.
One person commenting on Facebook said “Are we actually going to have to kill all the rich people before we get justice in this world?” Unfortunately, it’s sure looking that way.

I was a bit worried about Warren for a while. Kamala Harris’s campaign imploded as soon as Tulsi Gabbard put a spotlight on her atrocious record as California’s attorney general, and Biden says so much stupid stuff he’s like the DNC’s own version of Trump. But Warren has been gaining in the polls, and I’ve seen a lot of people I thought were progressive saying things like “well, maybe she’s not so bad” and, despite the fact that I consider her speaking style and her exaggerated gestures to be scripted and phony, clearly a lot of other people don’t view her that way.
So, I was getting nervous. Then, there was her answer to Amy Goodman’s question today at an ‘Environmental Justice Forum’ in South Carolina. The question was (and I’m not trying for exact words here) “Do you think because the first two states in the race are Iowa and New Hampshire, which are whiter than marshmallows in a snowstorm, and then you come down here to South Carolina, which is not, that the schedule should be changed.”
First, she interrupted the question with a joke, saying “You’re not going to try to make me criticize Iowa and New Hampshire, are you?” but when she tries to tell jokes, it reminds me of Hillary Clinton trying to tell jokes, and that is not a good thing.
Then, she said “You know, I’m just a player in the game, but I will say I’m very glad to be in South Carolina!”
Admittedly, I don’t particularly think the order is unfair, or a really big deal, but this was a softball question. Warren could have pivoted to the electoral college, which her base hates worse than Russians, and for the same reasons. Or she could have delivered a very noble speech about how white people and black people both need health care, about how parents in Iowa and in South Carolina want their children to go to better schools. Or she could have said “I don’t have an opinion on that. I’m more focused on policies than on politics. Blah blah blah, one person, one vote, 50 state campaign, and so on…” That would have been an O.K. answer, too.
But “I’m just a player in the game…” That would be lame even for an athlete in a post-game interview. Basically, she didn’t answer the question.
Of course, I don’t think this little Q and A spells the end for her campaign. I’ve seen it on Twitter, and on several Bernie pages, but it wasn’t a big deal unless you’re majorly partisan and it may not get picked up by the mainstream press at all.
But it does prove to me that she’s a lightweight, not adept enough as either politician or performer to pull this off.