Category Archives: Blogs' Archive

The thing about refusing PAC and corporate donations, the problem with it, is that it puts the candidate at a financial disadvantage.  It gives you the moral high ground, but if moral high ground were enough to win elections, the Earth wouldn’t be in the predicament it’s in.  But, that’s where we are with Tulsi Gabbard, and I prefer that position to any other.
Of course, Bernie Sanders was quite successful with his $27 donations, but he didn’t win and a lot of people felt tapped out.  Hard to say if the spigot is going to be as open this time around.  Also, when you think about it, they will always be able to outspend us.  Bernie raised a lot, but he was still outspent.  The corporate owned candidates have limitless funding.  The corporations could easily spend way more than they are.  And they will, when they are seriously threatened.
But, we have another thing going for us besides money.  We have the internet, and an army of people who know how to use it. (I don’t count myself in that number.  I just write a blog that nobody reads.)  Anyway, I saw an awesome ad for Tulsi today.  The cool thing about it was, it wasn’t an official Tulsi ad.  Just some guy, on his home computer, who is reasonably competent at editing video.  The story takes place during the final battle in The Lord of the Rings, when all of the armies are massed at the edge of Mordor.  Of course, the Elves and Dwarves, etc… are labeled progressive, and the Orcs and other bad guys are labeled conservatives, and special interests, and corporate media.  It was awesome.  I doubt even that anybody can get sued over it since it’s not an official campaign video, just some guy exercising his right of free speech with a bit of film that’s so very well known it has become part of the public consciousness.
Of course, Kamala Harris or Elizabeth Warren could have fans that make ads for them, but they could never pull this off.  Why?  Because, when you’re talking about an epic, heroic battle of good vs. evil, they would look ridiculous.  They are just not  that  good.

I’m sorry that Petra Kvitova didn’t win the Australian open because she’s Czech and she’s awesome, but I’m happy for Naomi Osaka, she deserves this, a clean win, after the fans acted like  such assholes to her when she beat Serena a while back in the American open.

There was an explosion at a port in Venezuela  today.  Not too  much news on it yet.  Could be CIA, I suppose, but at this point it could  also be an accidental explosion.  That does happen sometimes in places where there’s lots of oil.  So,  it doesn’t fit into the Maduro v. USA narrative yet, but it is evidence that we should  switch to solar and wind  as soon as possible.

Tulsi Gabbard has come out with her 2nd campaign ad and I think it’s a thing of beauty.  But, of course I would, since I am already a fan.  If you’re still rooting for  somebody else, maybe take a look here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0dKdg0lACE

You can fast forward through Nico House blithering on.  I  like the guy, he’s on the right  side, but he’s not the story.  Nico House, although he’s a commentator and not a comic, reminds me a bit of Jimmy Dore and Lee Camp.  I respect them all, and generally  agree with them, but their humor, their basic joke, is throwing up their hands and saying “Can you believe how crazy these people are?”  It’s true, but it’s a bit redundant.

Anyway,  back to the ad.  If the pattern I’ve seen so far (in two ads, so maybe it isn’t actually a pattern, but I hope it is) holds true, it is one issue, one ad.  The first one was about how we need to have peace and not  war, and this one was about how we need to get over the religious thing, because not everybody  is a Christian.
If she keeps up with that, she gives her fans something easy to link to when we are defending her against the flaming firehose of horseshit, which they apparently plan to keep hooked up to the magical horseshit tank that never goes empty.  She also develops a library of videos that can  be watched  again and  again, in which her policies are clearly spelled out, and when the narrator at the debates asks her a dumb question,  which they will, she’ll be able to say, “Well, Tucker, as you  have already heard  me say ….”  Again and again.
It’ll be cool.

I remember seeing COPS when it first came out and thinking, “My God, this can’t be constitutional, this really shouldn’t be legal, it’s totally jeopardizing people’s chances for a fair trial, and  it’s making what should be a serious civic responsibility into an entertainment event.”  After I’d watched it two or three times I found myself thinking “Damn, sure is compelling television, though, ain’t it?”
That’s kind of what I thought about the arrest of Roger Stone.  It was a bit ridiculous to see all these guys in military gear, as if they expected him to have a cannon behind the door or at least be sniping at them from an upstairs window, but of course it’s better for the ratings than a couple  of guys in suits, saying ‘would you come with us, please?”
And boy, do you know they wanted those ratings.  That’s  why the camera crews were there in the first place.  I’m sure they weren’t  just hanging around in front of  Roger Stone’s house on the off chance that something might happen.  Somebody gave them a heads up.

It’s compelling TV.  In fact, if they arrested one Trump confidante a week, they’d have a popular show that could run for at least a year.  But, some of the Trump apologist types who keep popping up on my Facebook page, I’ve no idea how, I didn’t invite them, have pointed out that this was a really inappropriate way to arrest somebody, and I have to admit they are correct on this.  It’s the kind of thing you enjoy when the arrestee is somebody you don’t like, and it enrages you when it’s somebody you think is a good guy.

But it’s not right.  Just as there should be separation between Church and State, there should be separation between law enforcement and entertainment.  These are not compatible things.

O.K., the shutdown is over, the U.S. government will reopen (for 3 weeks at any rate ), and I’ve seen some media outlets hailing Nancy Pelosi as a political genius.   She is not a political genius.  The shutdown lasted longer than a month, and Nancy Pelosi didn’t actually do anything, except to be there at the beginning of it and to still be there at the end of it.  Democratic loyalists are willing to give her points just for not being Donald Trump, and that’s not enough.
They are saying that it’s because Pelosi wouldn’t let him deliver his State of the  Union speech.  I doubt that.  Addresses in front of Congress is not his favorite method of communication.
Pelosi sure is supporting Trump in his failed attempt to pull  off a coup in Venezuela.  Most of the Democrats are.  I’m very happy that Tulsi Gabbard was  swift and firm (and somewhat humourous) in her objection to it.  Basically, she said if American’s are going to interfere in Venezuela, they can shut the hell up forevermore about Russian interference in American elections.
Which I think is not a real thing, anyway.  Oh, we know about the troll farm in St. Petersburg, and the Satan arm wrestling with Jesus meme, but that hardly proves government level collusion.  We know Maria Butina donated at lot of money to the NRA, they have gun nuts in Russia, too, apparently, but it’s not her fault the NRA turned around and donated that money to the GOP.
Of course, the Mueller report should come out soon, and maybe we’ll see more.  Maybe not.  In any event, they’ve already got enough to impeach.  Unless and until Nancy Pelosi moves to do that, she get no credit at all from me.

I could be proven wrong by tomorrow morning’s headlines, of course, it’s a situation that could change very quickly, but from what I’ve heard so far, what’s going on  in Venezuela could best be described as a ‘failed coup.’
Maduro is still in office, the military says they’re behind him, there is no part  of the country where he doesn’t have control, and many thousands of people were marching in support of him in the streets of Caracas today.
Of course, many thousands were marching in favor of the coup plotters as well. That’s been the situation in Venezuela since the days of Chavez.  Both sides can mobilize several  thousand people to get out on  the street at very short notice, and do.
It may be an oversimplification (everything I write, every political argument that exists, is an oversimplification; human society is insanely complex, and nobody can understand the impact everything has on everything else), but it seems to be divided on rich/poor lines.  Poor people love Maduro as they loved Chavez, and rich people  hate him, probably because he’s not letting them make money fast enough.
However it turns out, I think it’s shocking that the U.S. should be so blatant in trying to overthrow the elected government of a sovereign nation, although I shouldn’t be.  It’s definitely a pattern.  It’s also kind of amazing that Trump can  pull  this shit while the government is officially ‘shut down.’  Apparently not the part of the government that works to overthrow other governments.  (Juan Guaido did not come  up with  this  all  on  his own, I’m sure)

I am not surprised that Bolsonaro, and some other South American puppet governments, are standing with Trump.  I am surprised at Trudeau backing him, though.  We all loved him when he appointed an extremely diverse cabinet,  but he’s proven  since then that he is basically a friend of the oil companies.
I will  be  following this situation closely.