Category Archives: Blogs' Archive

Very often on Facebook, particularly on the Bernie sites I frequent, you get somebody who takes it upon themselves to be the hall monitor, and they tell everybody “we should be nice to this group, or that group, and not say things like ‘you’re an ignorant fucking pile of shit, why don’t you go die in a fire’ and I can see their point. I even try to abide by it, generally, and I’m down to less than one or two ‘fuck you, asshole’ s per day, but it’s a struggle.
Just 2 minutes ago, somebody was admonishing everybody in Bernie world not to say “OK Boomer” because this would cause old people not to vote for Bernie because they would all be so insulted by the insidious ageist slur that they’ll probably go out and vote for Trump because they will be so hurt and alienated.
As a 65 year old man, right solid in the middle of the boomer generation, I can assure you, it’s really not that big a deal. We’re not likely to get shot by the police, so there’s no need for a ‘Boomers Lives Matter’ movement.
Boomer, by itself, isn’t even a derogatory term. It’s the name given to the generation born in the 20 years or so after WWII.
Also, it’s really hard to deny that this generation, my generation, has left the world in a pretty messed up state. I doubt we’re actually any worse, morally, than previous generations. Whatever generation the Spanish Inquisition was in, they were pretty bad, too. But, we’ve been a fuck-up generation with lots of powerful technology, to the point where we’ve endangered the species.
But, mostly: It’s just a joke. A meme. A funny slang phrase that’s going around. Nobody’s going to change their vote over it. Lighten up.

The results of the off year election continue to trickle in, and are encouraging indeed. Kshama Sawant, who was behind in the polls, now seems destined to hang on to her Seattle City Council seat.
If this were just a left/right issue (she is very much on the left, an open socialist) I would still be happy, but since it is emblematic of a greater issue, I am ecstatic.
Her win means that money isn’t everything in politics. It has its limits.
Jeff Bezos, richest man in the world, worth nearly 200 billion dollars, really, really wanted to bring her down. He spent over a million dollars to support her opponent. Now, ‘over a million dollars’ may not sound like a lot, and to somebody like Jeff Bezos it is, indeed, pocket change. But for a city council seat election, it is a massive amount of money.
Bezos was not happy with Seattle raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, because they’d like to pay their employees a lot less, and he was double unhappy with a per head employee tax of $275 (i.e. for every employee you have, you have to pay $275), which was meant to subsidize affordable housing.
Since I’m in favor of big corporations being taxed all over the place, until they’ve funded a utopian, green paradise where everybody lives happily ever after, I’m obviously on Kshama’s side.
But the real reason I am overjoyed with her win is that it shows there is a limit. If billionaires throw too much money into a campaign, at some point it becomes obvious and people start saying “Hey, wait a minute. Why are these evil, rich bastards spending so much money on this candidate, or this issue, or this party?”
And they’ll vote the other way. That is a beautiful thing.

So, now they are talking about Michael Bloomberg entering the race on the Democratic side, which is a little bit ridiculous. When you start with approximately 30 candidates, and it’s whittled down to about 12 or so, it’s kind of ridiculous for anybody to jump in at that point. Technically legal, I suppose, but sneaky and unsportsmanlike. If he’s attended the earlier debates, he might have felt the wrath of Tulsi Gabbard, or had some scandals in his past exposed. Or, at any rate, his ideas would have been up for scrutiny.
What are his ideas, anyway? I’m not sure. He was mayor of New York City for a while, which gives him the experience and the credibility for the job, but he wasn’t a totally awesome and beloved mayor like Bernie Sanders. To be fair, I don’t think he was as universally hated by the black people of New York as Buttigieg is by the black people of South Bend, but I don’t know. I’m sure New Yorkers will weigh in with their opinions if he gets into the race.
The fact that he’s a billionaire doesn’t distinguish him. Even though Beto O’Rourke is out of the race, Tom Steyer is still in, so billionaire is not a unique qualification, and most Democratic voters don’t even see it as a plus.
The reason he’s considering a run is obvious. With Biden and Harris falling by the wayside, and Mayor Pete failing to pick up the slack, he probably figures there is room in the race for a “centrist” (i.e. conservative) Democrat. He is wrong.
The reason Biden and Harris and Buttigieg have failed, and the reason Liz Warren will eventually as well, is simply that they are not Bernie. Bloomberg isn’t Bernie either. Even though most Bernie supporters love Tulsi Gabbard as well, she is also not Bernie.
Nobody is Bernie except for Bernie, and Bernie is the one the people want.

So, there were some off year elections in a few different places around the U.S. today and it’s being reported as a blue wave, which is good, I’m very happy about that. But, the one question I have, and which I’m still not sure about even now when the dust has well settled, is “are these Bernie Sanders Democrats or just run of the mill not going to be worth a damn Democrats.”
With the Kentucky governor’s race, it appears at least that we got a really horrible person out, and Andy Bashear has said some good things about health care. In the ‘don’t get too excited’ column, he’s from a politically dynastic family and he supported Hillary Clinton in 2016.
In Virginia, both chambers of the state congress now have Democratic majorities, which is pretty major. I hope at least some the new members will be from the more progressive wing of the party.
There were a couple of victories which were very satisfying, more for their symbolic significance than any change they will bring, but who knows? It’s a cumulative thing, so every win counts. Juli Briskman, who is best known as ‘that lady on the bicycle who gave Trump the finger’ got elected to the Loudoun County, Virginia (where Trump has a golf course) Board of Supervisors. And, in Mike Pence’s home town of Columbus, Indiana, they now have a Democratic city council for the first time in, like, forever.

Overall assessment: It was a pretty good day. Certainly as good as could have been expected.

Remember, remember, the 5th of November
Gunpowder, treason, and plot
I see no reason, the gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot

I am not English, but their history is a part of world history, and since it is Guy Fawkes’ Day it is time for my annual Guy Fawkes conspiracy theory blog.
I’d never thought of it before 9/11, in which case there is a massive amount of evidence that it was an inside job. But, then, reflecting back a bit, there is also a massive amount of information that points to JFK being the victim of an insider conspiracy and not just one nut with a rifle.
Still, 400 years from now, if humanity is lucky enough to survive for so long, the official versions – that Kennedy was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald and that crazed Arab terrorists with box cutters caused all of the damage on September 11th, 2001 – will be the version that is taught in schools, the version that is served up on Wikipedia, and the version that most people except without question.
That is the narrative.
But, it says right there on the Guy Fawkes Wikipedia page, that the ‘conspirators’ were arrested, tortured, and executed. Tortured. Until they gave a full confession. Well, that proves they did it, eh?
And it’s not as if it was questioned by the press of the day. There really wasn’t much press at the time.
And James I had plenty of motive. His hold on the throne was tenuous. He needed something to boost his popularity (and sales of his bibles) So, fabricating a plot to overthrow the government and hanging a few Catholics for it probably seemed like a real good idea.
And it worked.
I’m not saying I can prove this right. But I am saying nobody can prove it wrong.