DS Wilson: I come to bury Ayn Rand

The renowned evolutionary biologist discusses his novel Atlas Hugged refuting Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. An excerpt:

"My sequel to Atlas Shrugged is titled Atlas Hugged and its protagonist is John Galt’s grandson. Ayn Rand was not a character in her novel, but since anything goes in fiction, I could transport her into mine as Ayn Rant, John I’s lover and John III’s grandmother. Rant’s son, John II, parlays her Objectivist philosophy into a world-destroying libertarian media empire. John III rebels against the evil empire by challenging his father to a duel of speeches. In the process, he brings about a worldwide transformation based on giving. Atlas Hugged is so anti-Rand that it isn’t even being sold. Instead, it is gifted for whatever the reader wishes to give in return. Eat your heart out, Amazon!"

Joy Gray analyzes DSA's AOC interview

Continuing this post, Briahna thinks the interview was loaded and clarifies that AOC never answered whether she and progressives are pushing Biden enough to the left. This is especially frustrating since AOC criticizes "bad faith critique" as sabotaging Party unity, as that was indeed one of the establishment's own strategies to keep progressives down. And ironically enough, used against AOC herself. 

AOC also claims that she is now focusing more on the 'inside' approach, working within government to change it. But the establishment has shown time and again that she has no power in the Party structure and will defeat her proposals at every opportunity. It isn't working.

AOC's real power is what she showed us in the beginning, the 'outside' approach of fighting the corrupt insiders. It is the one we the people responded to and made her the star she is. She needs to return to that firebrand fighting Party politics and then stand up to the latter with the power of her inside vote. And when the Party fights back with corporate media blaming her over a forced vote, then she and her progressive caucus can and must use their own considerable direct communication with we the people to garner support to pressure the establishment. Progressives can win these fights if they have the necessary grit for the fight. We the people demand it.


Wealth tax

How can anyone get by on just $116 billion a year? Outrageous.



Borowitz: Water is a gateway drug that leads to voting

At least for the Georgia Governor.

ATLANTA (The Borowitz Report)—Raising the ante in his ongoing battle with the aqueous substance, Georgia’s governor, Brian Kemp, has declared water “a gateway drug that leads to voting.”

“We’ve consulted a lot of studies on this,” he said. “People are much more likely to vote if they are under the influence of water.”

The governor said that he was considering a number of measures to address water addiction, including stiffer penalties for voting while quenching.

In his starkest warning, Kemp told those who traffic in the banned liquid, “We’re coming after you,” and promised prison time for anyone combining hydrogen and oxygen in illegal water labs.

Expecting reason from Twitiots

Is itself unreasonable.



Corporate Dems show progressives how it's done

Sirota reports that 3 corporate Dems are refusing to vote for Biden's infrastructure and climate plan unless the cap on the SALT deductions is repealed. Note that the repeal will benefit mostly higher income earners. Biden will of course relent and do so because it must pass to implement his agenda. You know, just like the relief Bill had to pass but the progressives refused to use the same tactic to get a $15 minimum wage included. Will progressives learn this simple legislative lesson going forward? It remains to be seen.

Suez Canal ship renamed

Appropriate.



Rising: Leaked Koch audio on For the People Act

Following up on the last two posts, Rising discusses the leaked audio from a Koch group testing various narratives against the For the People's Act. None of them polled well which is why they are all in on the filibuster. Which goes to show that narratives backed by truth about voting rights are more effective than narratives that lie about the issue. Hence use the actual Bill in your framing because it is explicit about what it does. And use the truth about the filibuster being born in racism and propagated by fascists, two things that also don't poll well with we the people.

Johnstone: Narratives rule our world

The stories we create and propagate have tremendous influence. That the spinmeisters spend so much time and money on them should be an indication. Yet the fact that many are oblivious to this make these narratives all the more insidious and us all the easier to control. What stories are you buying? What's the reality under them?



Reich: Kochs and Repugs plot against For the People Act

Their own internal research revealed that people generally support the Bill. So their only hope is to filibuster it so that they can continue to enact anti-voting Bills. You see Article 1, Section 4 of the Constitution states that:

"The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations."

Hence Repugs must filibuster it or have their anti-voting Bills overturned and thus allow free and fair elections, which will ensure they never win again. So it is imperative that the Democrats must eliminate the filibuster and get this passed, no matter what that takes and with no excuses, if we want to retain even the faintest whiff of democracy. The alternative is an accelerating decline into corporate fascism and that is just not acceptable.



Dr. Birx: Covid deaths could have been mitigated or decreased substantially

So now she tells us after all that sucking up to Twitler. And this is supposed to now acquit her complicity in those deaths? Or rehabilitate her image? I think not. She said:

"I look at it this way. The first time we have an excuse. There were about a hundred thousand deaths that came from that original surge. All of the rest of them, in my mind, could have been mitigated or decreased substantially."

Brookings: 400,000 Covid deaths could have been prevented

Hartmann explores the Reuters article on the Brookings Conference:

“The United States squandered both money and lives in its response to the coronavirus pandemic, and it could have avoided nearly 400,000 deaths with a more effective health strategy and trimmed federal spending by hundreds of billions of dollars while still supporting those who needed it.”

Repugnacons were quick to falsely investigate Hillary for just about anything and she was found innocent of all their charges. Yet they haven't the slightest interest in investigating Twitler who committed genocide against the American people. Forget them. Why aren't the Democrats doing so since the evidence in overwhelming that indeed he intentionally committed genocide.

Who needs or wants an assault weapon?

A sick business model that sells to sick people protected by sick laws. Sickening.



This is what liberals want and it's disgusting

From Stephen Brbr at Facecrook with video at this link. Brought to you by the Georgian Patriots Against Hydration.

"Water killed my dad and turned my children gay. Praise be to the elected officials of Georgia for taking a stand against this menace."

Freudian slip?

Definition: 

noun: (in Freudian psychology) an inadvertent mistake in speech or writing that is thought to reveal a person's unconscious motives, wishes, or attitudes.

Only in these voter suppression States they are quite conscious of what they're doing and why.



GA Repugnacons can't understand why their voter laws are racist

Either they are in severe denial of their racism or they are just bad liars. Either way, they are indeed racists in the honored tradition of Georgia.

Repugnacon voter suppression same old racism

Since it disproportionately affects people of color. Coincidence? I think not.

Smart cat

Before you know it they'll all learn it. Take their credit card away from them before it's too late.



Black leaders take action against Dems supporting filibuster

They're doing what Congressional Democrats should be doing to fight it instead of just giving it lip service: A huge ad campaign saying supporting the filibuster is racist. It is most effective, in part because it's true. If only our representatives had the courage to do something like this, actually putting our money where their mouth is. I guess it depends on who is giving them the money and how much.

"Rev. Al Sharpton, the civil rights leader and former presidential candidate, said in an interview that he and others have begun talks to hold town halls and rallies in the home states of senators such as Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), who have said they oppose scrapping the filibuster. 'The pressure that we are going to put on Sinema and Manchin is calling [the filibuster] racist and saying that they are, in effect, supporting racism,' Sharpton said. 'Why would they be wedded to something that has those results? Their voters need to know that.'"

SNL: Weekend Update

If you need a few laughs.

Twitler and Repugnacons did such a great job

Making America great again. We should all be proud.



Repugnacon priorities

 Promote guns, stop votes. It is who they are.



Has AOC changed her tune?

This article as the World Socialist web site thinks so. AOC started as a firebrand critic of the establishment in her own Party but now seems to think that it is being transformed though her and other progressives' efforts. She also now thinks that left-wing opposition to the Party stands in the way of that happy marriage. Has the Party establishment indoctrinated and corralled her into this submission so that she no longer fights but joins them? I don't know that I agree with this view but it certainly causes pause for consideration given her and other progressives using establishment excuses lately for not getting certain things done.

Fast food giant takes credit for killing $15 minimum wage

Sirota obtained internal company documents from Inspire Brands boasting that "we were successful in our advocacy efforts to remove the Raise the Wage Act, which would have increased the federal minimum wage to $15 and eliminated the tip credit." The company is owned by Roark Capital, named after the protagonist in Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead, so you can plainly see their oligarchic (corporate fascistic) agenda.

This is what we're up against in our fight for the wage hike. And the big money from such conglomerates is what fuels establishment Democrats' campaigns so you can plainly see the conflict of interest here. And likely why the Dems didn't fight like hell to get it in the Relief Bill when they could have by overruling the Parliamentarian. This rigged system has got to stop and progressives really need to openly admit their own Party is part of the problem and itself must be vigorously fought.

Ro Khanna's excuses

He was on Hartmann's show today and was asked why he and other progressives did not use their voting block to hold up the Rescue Bill for the inclusion of the $15 minimum wage. I don't remember all of his excuses but for the following.

He first wanted the caller to look at all the good they did. And indeed, they did have some influence over the Bill which included a lot of much needed and beneficial policies. They are to be applauded for that good work. But then he got to the excuses for not forcing a vote in the wage hike.

He said that we don't want to be another Tea Party using tactics like that. I guess that means he finds using the power of the vote to help the American people somewhat crass or dastardly? The Tea Party, by using that power, got immense results from such tactics, arguably transforming the Party into revealing who and what they really are. So progressives using them would have the same positive result in that it would also transform their Party while revealing who and what they really are: Like their counterparts across the isle, also toadies for big money. Plus the liability of upsetting their Party against them isn't much of one, as their own Party hates them anyway. The huge upside is that we the people will sing their praises and elect even more of them since they showed us they're willing to fight for us against a Party many of us think is part of the status quo problem.

Then Khanna said that we had to do it now as it is in order to save America or it would be delayed. First of all, it has already been delayed given the Repugs had the Senate. Secondly, I seriously doubt that Biden would have delayed it much if at all because he had to have this legislative victory or himself lose confidence with the American people. Therefore to block the vote while demanding the wage hike be in it would not fall on the progressives for blocking it but on Biden and the Dem Senators for giving up on it. Sure, the Party would blame them and use the corporate media to reinforce that narrative. But progressives have used their own alternative media power before when they were campaigning and won, so could use their own considerable networks to counter the status quo narrative, even making part of it that it is indeed the status quo in their own Party who are responsible. As we well know, that narrative is quite popular with we the people, who would respond in droves to our representatives, senators and executives to put up or shut up.  And yes, it would bring to the forefront the internal battle in their Party, but we are already well aware of it as is everyone else. So embrace it and use it as leverage. Again, a base or dirty tactic? Only to those whose idealism is part of the problem.

Bottom line is that progressives would win this and every other popular issue that comes up for consideration. It's just that our progressive representatives aren't up for the sort of fight with their own Party to get it done. And us progressive people outside of government find that cowardly and ineffective, and ultimately against their own best interest in keeping their jobs and electing more of them. If/when they start losing elections to the fascists they will have lost the power of their voting block and then the situation will be even worse yet again. They have the power now and need to learn how to use it. No more excuses. Just do it.

Khanna: Voter suppression alert

I commented the following on Khanna's FB page when he posted the meme below. Of course I don't expect a reply.

The only way to stop this fascist takeover of our democracy is to pass HR 1 in the Senate. And the only way to pass it in the Senate is to totally eliminate the filibuster. No, not bring back the talking filibuster or any other half measure. The filibuster itself has always been about the fascist control of the people and nothing more. There is no legitimate excuse to maintain it in any form.

So the question then becomes: Are the progressives willing to take a stand on eliminating it altogether and do whatever it takes to get it done? Including voting down legislation and forcing Democratic opponents to face the consequences? If we don't get this Bill passed then the fascist Republican takeover of government will go unchecked. And if we don't eliminate the filibuster then it is tantamount to being complicit in that takeover. No excuses. Get it done.



The filibuster must completely be eliminated

This is war between democracy and fascism. Since the Repugnacons have lost the last election they have enacted 253 voter suppression Bills in 43 States. All justified it by quoting the debunked Big Lie of voter fraud. This is a blatant, fascist attack on our democracy and we must fight back big and hard. 

Which is exactly what the For the People Act does in protecting our right to vote and fighting the suppression to that right. It must pass in the Senate and to do that the filibuster must be eliminated. No, we don't need to return to the talking filibuster or any other half measures. It has to go. We cannot let Democrats get away with once again surrendering to the fascist assault on our democracy. We must demand that they get rid of the filibuster once and for all. Nothing short of that will save democracy.

A marriage made in hell

And we're the ones who suffer and die. It's only accurate to call them what they are: Fascist murderers.



 

The Confederate filibuster

It is what it is.




The People's power grab

So now we need the progressives in Congress to use their power to defend our civil rights by not approving any legislation until the filibuster is eliminated. Otherwise no legislation outside reconciliation will pass anyway. This is the priority for all of it. Stand and fight for us. We demand it.



Hartmann: The pro-slavery origin of the filibuster

Hartmann

"Once in the Senate, Calhoun invented the filibuster specifically to increase the power of his plantation-owning colleagues and block any sort of anti-slavery legislation. (Calhoun not only defended the right to keep human beings enslaved; in an infamous 1837 speech he called slavery "a positive good.") [...] The filibuster was a useful tool - and excuse for racist Senators - to block any sort of Civil Rights legislation for four generations."

"Today the filibuster is used by special interests to protect their own financial interests such as keeping weapons of war on our streets, killing our children in numbers not seen in any other developed country in the world. [...] Since the 1960s, the filibuster is the favorite tool of well-funded special interests like the American Petroleum Institute, the US Chamber of Commerce, and Big Banking to prevent any sort of meaningful action on climate change, labor rights and consumer protections (among other things)."

The filibuster has always been used by the rich and powerful against the working class and the poor. That is its ONLY purpose. If we truly want a representative government of, for and by we the people then the filibuster must go. Nothing short of that will do. No excuses. Just do it.

Sirota: We don't have time for the filibuster

In his post today he notes a reality: A number of Democrats in the Senate are old and can die or be incapacitated at any time. And some of them are in States with a Repugnacon Governor who can replace them and change the balance of power back to the Repugs. So there is literally no time to waste on toying with changes to the filibuster; it must be eliminated and NOW. That is, if they ever to hope to enact any legislation outside of reconciliation. And if they do not they will surely lose their Congressional control at  the mid-terms. Bottom line: If you're serious about passing legislation then your only option is to fight like hell to eliminate the filibuster altogether. If you do not engage that fight then we don't believe you.

Joy Gray: The real reason progressives didn't fight for $15 wage

Briahna discusses an interview Jayapal did with Grimm. Jayapal did threaten to have the progressive block vote against the entire relief Bill if extended unemployment benefits were not in it. So she was asked why then didn't she use that same power when it came to keeping the $15 minimum wage in it? Her excuse was the Parliamentarian. 

We now know that was not legitimate, since the President of the Senate could overrule the Parliamentarian. We also know that Biden and Harris were against that. So it disingenuous for progressives like Jayapal to give cover to them. Instead progressives should be telling it like it is.* And they should have also refused to withhold their votes for the entire Bill to force Biden to put up or be exposed for surrendering on his promise for a $15 minimum wage. I suppose they figure they have to keep giving in to leadership if they want to stay in the game. But that's a false hope and sorry excuse to we the people since leadership will always thwart them.

*Bernie at least made statements about the ability to overrule the Parliamentarian but he didn't use his own leverage to vote against the Bill. He did do a token Amendment knowing it would not pass. Eight Dems voted against it.

Bernie and Rising wrong about some cancelling

Rising discusses Bernie's recent statement where he said:

"Do I feel particularly comfortable with the then President of the US could not express his views on Twitter? I don't feel comfortable about that."

They go on to argue the if the left wants to censor the views of those they disagree with then that same principle applies to them. That is an erroneous assumption, as it's not just a simple disagreement with views; it's a fight against the sort of outright lies and incitement to violence that Twitler most certainly did and which deserve cancelling. Twitter and other companies did the right thing in banning him.

That is not protected free speech in the 1st Amendment and it is not valid to give it equal freedom as a difference of opinion. If fact, it is expressly not so. That sort of illogic leads directly down the road to fascism. And no, fascism is not just a difference of opinion with democracy; the latter must defeat the former. We cannot let false equivalence arguments about free speech for fascists like Twit go unchallenged.

Sidney Powell's defense

She's being sued by Dominion, the manufacturer that made some of the voting machines used in the last election. She claimed repeatedly that the machines were rigged without any evidence. (Also of note were her other insane conspiracy theories about the election that fed into the lie that Twitler actually won.) So her defense in the lawsuit is: "No reasonable person would conclude [her claims] were truly statements of fact." 

I guess that's an admission that Twitler, Pox Views and all the Twitiots are not reasonable people. We all knew that of course. But further, no reasonable person would believe Powell's ludicrous defense. Not that it matters, as her defense team will do their very best to select jurors without one whit of reason among them.

Gun violence is everywhere

Gun violence is everywhere and nowhere is safe from it. We need to do something about this now. Our lives are literally on the line and I don't want to sacrifice any more of them for a gun manufacturer's profit or an idiot's right to bear harms (intentional spelling).



Contrast and compare

There really is no comparison.



Cox Richardson on the filibuster

In her post yesterday she notes the following, that most Democrats:

"Expressed a wish to preserve at least some version of the filibuster, they are now all saying they might be willing to reform it. This might mean making election bills exempt from the filibuster the way financial bills are, or going back to the system in which stopping a measure actually required talking, rather than simply threatening to talk."

The question remains: Will establishment Dems actually act on filibuster reform? Or is that just more bluster that will fold as usual? If they do the latter they will lose elections going forward. If they do the former and at least exempt election bills from the filibuster they will win elections going forward. Even more importantly, it will reinstate democracy in our system or it will give fascism the upper hand. We the people in droves really must pressure Democrats to ACT on this. Our democracy literally hangs in the balance. And their actions will tell us if they really support democracy or if its just more talk.



The good old days

Brought to you by that commie Eisenhower. 


 

So that's why priests wear it

I'm glad that's cleared up.



Till death do us part?

Seems some marital issues continue even thereafter.


 

Hartmann on the 2nd Amendment

In his blog post today he provides the history of how the 2nd Amendment came to be: It was a concession to southern slave owners to maintain slave patrols. It's all about maintaining slavery, nothing more. We can see this obvious racism in defense of that amendment, it's sole purpose giving white men the power to kill whomever they choose for no good reason other than they are white. Oh, and to allow gun manufacturers to sell their killing machines to the racists. It's time to get rid of it.

Cruz lies about For the Peoples Act

Cruz did admit that if the Bill passes then Repugnacons may never win again. So instead of truthfully reporting what's in the Bill he has to lie. I know, shocking.

Eleveld: Biden could deliver most progressive Presidency

This article is optimistic about Biden's acceptance and inclusion of progressive input, much more so than Obama. For the latter it took citizen "movements that eventually notched some of the biggest wins during the Obama administration [...] by mounting very persistent and highly visible pressure campaigns." While "grassroots pressure is still essential to creating space for Democrats to move left," the author thinks we can make more progress with Biden. But what about Democratic Party leadership and the so-called centrists in the Party?

We need to mount not only "very persistent and highly visible pressure campaigns" against them but also demand that our progressive reps do the same, as well as withholding their votes on key legislation. Yes, the establishment Party and corporate media will go crazy against them. No one said it would be easy. But the sort of campaigning that got them elected on small donations can work again to fight back and win against establishment forces. They just have to be willing to do it. We the people have to do our part and give them constant motivational reminders.

The Humanist Report on the book Lucky

Continuing this post, Figueredo notes that not only were Dem Party establishment completely scared of what they considered Bernie's socialism, they were ambivalent if it was worse than Twiter's fascism. They even thought Biden was incapable of the job but when Bernie started winning primaries they got together in force to thwart his campaign because if Bernie won his evil socialism would ruin their corporate Party. At least Joe was in line with that agenda. Interestingly, Fig points to a World Values Survey that concludes that centrists are more hostile towards democracy than socialists and far right extremists. This book lends support to that conclusion.

Dore: AOC is gaslighting us

While I usually don't agree with Dore and find his tone and style offensive, I have to admit he has a point in this video. And while I generally like AOC's progressive policy priorities as well as her fighting spirit, she is making excuses for why she and her comrades cannot do what's necessary to get done what we the people want. We need to hold her feet to the fire too.

Nader: Democrats and corporate fascism

In this interview Ralph Nader finds the Democratic Party actively complicit in the current era of corporate fascism. He urges progressives to realize the Party is not only not on their side but that they actively thwart them. Nader does find some hope though in that it takes an active citizenry to motivate the progressives in Congress to fiercely fight the establishment in their own Party. Given the above we cannot continue to let our progressive representatives just go along to get along.

However, in the video below Nader notes that progressives in Congress are ignoring him and calls from other active citizen groups. This is troubling given how said progressives are capitulating to the establishment and not engaging in the necessary fight to attain the goals they profess. We also then need to publicly and repeatedly call out progressives for ignoring us and the agenda we hired them to do. No more excuses that the system is holding them back. Fight the f___ing system then if you want our continued votes.


Big If

Insurmountable even? (See wiki on Japan's system.)



Thom Hartmann states the obvious

So why then doesn't the US have a single-payer healthcare system? Even more specifically, why then won't establishment Democrats even support it? Could it be "for profit"?



Paw Patrol

The fear of tech taking over our jobs when in some cases maybe it should.



Conspirituality and Charles Eisenstein

The group Conspirituality has been exploring the intersection of liberal and conservative conspiracy theories. Their very first episode linked below was on Charles Eisenstein, who has emerged as an influencer in the integral and human development communities. I'm curious if any here have watched this episode, and if so what they think about Conspirituality's analysis?
For example, around 30:00 the grandiose flavor of Eisenstein's essay came up. It's a common theme in the current iterations of the developmental milieu, that we are on the verge of the great awakening, and that we know what that is and get to own and dispense it to the ignorant masses.
Which is of course contradictory to the supposed 'not-knowing,' also propounded, that is of course only applied to question pandemic science but not to its own grandiosity. Which, it just so happens, it a common feature of cultish discourse.

Around 31:45 Julian goes into the misuse of so-called non-dual notions of not knowing. That it somehow trumps the duality of our knowing, that we need to avoid such apparently false distinctions between right and wrong, between true and false.
This then gets applied to again question science of the pandemic: How could they possible know what's true about it? But that's what science does: It empirically tests hypothesis and adjusts and further refines, continually getting a better picture of what's going on. One year later after this discussion we now have vaccines because of that process, which will save countless lives. Still the same illogic of applying Eisenstein's original claims are being used now to question the vaccines to the point of conspiracy and the refusal of liberals to take them.

Around 35:00 they mention Jack Adam Weber's rebuttal of Eisenstein.

Around 47:00 they quote Eisenstein on what he calls the 'conspiracy myth' being unfalsifiable. Whereas the participants are aghast in that the conspiracy myths around Covid are indeed falsified via scientific data. But when you question that data as being itself merely a myth from a lesser worldview you enter into your own conspiracy theory.

Kulinsky: New book on how Dem Party hates Bernie

The book is Lucky and documents how the entire establishment's main goal was to defeat Bernie in the primary because they interpreted it as socialism. Imagine that: An agenda that was supported by the majority of Americans, as agenda that focused on helping Americans, was that scary socialism which the establishment Party could not tolerate. It makes sense though, since the Party has long ago given up on we the people and instead has been sucking on Wall Street's corrupt teat. You know, the very thing that we the people despise and will retaliate against in the next elections. Good job Democratic Party.

And by the way the same Party that progressives think they can move left. They still haven't figured out they too are hated by their own Party who will do everything in their considerable power to prevent their evil socialist agenda from taking over. If only progressives accepted reality they would use their own considerable power now to openly fight the establishment and force them to implement the people's agenda. But unfortunately they don't know how to use power yet.

Schumer: We will get bold change

Colbert is specifically asking him if he supports at least changes to the filibuster to get legislation passed. He said he does and that they will get legislation done. Excuse me if I'm skeptical, given the first big lose in the Senate on including the minimum wage in the rescue Bill when they could have. Good rhetoric Schumer, but I'll believe it when I see it.

Fact check on mask mandates

From this source. That is, if you accept CDC data. If you do not then you've come to the wrong place.

"A study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that state-issued mask mandates were associated with significant decreases in daily COVID-19 case and death growth rates. Yet some conservative outlets and social media users falsely claim the study shows mask mandates have a negligible impact on COVID-19 outcomes."

Hartmann on Paul's idiocy

Hartmann lays into Rand Paul in his blog today appropriately calling him a maskhole and a danger to society. What Paul is doing is laying the ground for an entirely new recurrence. It is still unknown whether those vaccinated can still spread covid, so as Fauci rightly pointed out that's why we still need to wears masks and social distance in public: To protect OTHERS. But that's something completely missing from the Repugnacon worldview, as they are only focused on themselves.

Fauci and Paul

This meme sums up nicely Fauci recently schooling Paul on the pandemic, again.




Ball: Why was Katie Porter kicked off the financial services committee?

Porter has been an inspiring and competent firebrand on that committee so far, so why was she let go? This is exactly why leadership in the Party are the ones that have to go. Since that seems nearly impossible, perhaps it's time that progressives give up on the fantasy that the Party can be changed from the inside? To let go of a Party that will never accept them and always deter them? 

"I think that the real thing that this exposes is that so much of what is valued in the Democratic Party is not ideology, is not expertise, is not competence; it's just your willingness to completely have fealty to whatever leadership wants you to. The bottom line is don't rock the boat and you'll succeed. That's how you end up with the very lackluster and uninspiring Party we see before us today" (5:12).

Why is Jesus depicted as white?

When he most clearly was not?



Important vaccine announcement

This happened yesterday and is important information for our age group.

A friend had his 2nd dose of the vaccine at the Vaccination Center after 

which he began to have blurred vision on the way home.  When he got 

home, he called the Vaccination Center for advice and to ask if he should 

go see a doctor, or be hospitalized.

He was told NOT to go to a doctor or a hospital, but to return to the 

Vaccination Center immediately to pick up his glasses.

 

Origins of the filibuster

And the fascist Repugnacon Party is carrying on that tradition with their contemporary use of it. The filibuster has to go if we want democracy and now is the time to do it.



Hartmann: States with Repugnacon Governors have more Covid deaths

In his blog post today he makes the case that the Repug Party is a death cult. He starts with a study from the American Journal of Preventive Medicine on the stat in the title above. The cause is leaders messaging that mask wearing and social distancing are not that important. Hartmann goes on to several other indications that their Party is a modern-day death cult, like letting kids die in cages, unnecessary wars, lack of Medicaid expansion, voting against violence against women protection, affection for Nazi, Confederate and Satanic symbols, their support of killing unarmed black men etc. They worship fascism and death to everyone else. Welcome to the modern Repugnacon Party.

May I have this dance?

The new CDC guideline for those who have been fully vaccinated is that they can meet in private without masks or social distancing. In public though the masking and social distancing are still in place. Hence dancing in public is still a no. I'm putting this out there for others who have been fully vaccinated too (like me) to open the possibility of getting together privately in homes to do some social dancing again.

For the People Act

Continuing the last post, here's Congress' summary of what this Bill does (copied below). No wonder it scares the living shit out of Repugnacons, who simply cannot allow fair voting because they'll never win again.

"This bill addresses voter access, election integrity and security, campaign finance, and ethics for the three branches of government.

"Specifically, the bill expands voter registration (e.g., automatic and same-day registration) and voting access (e.g., vote-by-mail and early voting). It also limits removing voters from voter rolls.

"The bill requires states to establish independent redistricting commissions to carry out congressional redistricting.

"Additionally, the bill sets forth provisions related to election security, including sharing intelligence information with state election officials, supporting states in securing their election systems, developing a national strategy to protect U.S. democratic institutions, establishing in the legislative branch the National Commission to Protect United States Democratic Institutions, and other provisions to improve the cybersecurity of election systems.

"Further, the bill addresses campaign finance, including by expanding the prohibition on campaign spending by foreign nationals, requiring additional disclosure of campaign-related fundraising and spending, requiring additional disclaimers regarding certain political advertising, and establishing an alternative campaign funding system for certain federal offices.

"The bill addresses ethics in all three branches of government, including by requiring a code of conduct for Supreme Court Justices, prohibiting Members of the House from serving on the board of a for-profit entity, and establishing additional conflict-of-interest and ethics provisions for federal employees and the White House.

"The Bill requires the President, the Vice President, and certain candidates for those offices to disclose 10 years of tax returns."


Reich: We've got Moscow Mitch scared

So we have to stick to our commitment to at the very least modify the filibuster to get For the People Act passed. There are no excuses; just do it.



The role of emotional intelligence

In detecting fake news on Facebook. Educational attainment is also important. Hence why Repugnacons fiercely try to prevent any form of intelligence from developing, instead intentionally and constantly feeding us emotionally charged propaganda like good Nazis. From this journal article:

"Recent studies have started to focus on the psychological factors which might make some individuals less likely to fall for fake news. Here, we adopt that approach to assess whether individuals who show high levels of ‘emotional intelligence’ (EQ) are less likely to fall for fake news items. That is, are individuals who are better able to disregard the emotionally charged content of such items, better equipped to assess the veracity of the information. [...] We also report a similar effect for higher levels of educational attainment."


Sawant: It's time for open combat with the Dem Party establishment

Recall AOC putting off withholding the vote on Pelosi for Speaker to demand Medicare For All, saying that progressives should save such power plays for something more achievable. Well, including a minimum wage hike was one of those issues and again they failed to exercise their power.
Sawant makes the accurate point that it's not about whether AOC or other progressives in Congress are genuine; it's whether their strategy of trying to work with the establishment in their own Party is working or not. And clearly it is not. So it's time to give up that ineffective strategy and declare open combat on them, to start using the power of progressive votes to force issues.
That sort of fight is what we the people want to see. It's what wins elections and what the establishment is doing is exactly what loses them. If only Congressional progressives can accept this obvious fact and do what's necessary. The establishment does not want unity with progressives; they just want to string them along. It's time to call out the obstructers and quit making excuses for them. It's time to openly fight them. Our democracy depends on it.

"I see dead people"

Says the kid from the movie The Sixth Sense observing spring break.



Coincidence?

I think not.




The truth about Dems

The further truth is that the establishment in their own Party decided what was in and not in there. And that progressives had the power to force keeping in popular provisions but didn't use it.



A match made in hell

The Repugnacon Party and fascism.



The talking filibuster

This is the latest Democratic strategy since they are unlikely to abolish the filibuster altogether. The idea is to take it back to the days when the minority had to keep talking on the floor to maintain a filibuster. Apparently Manchin is open to the idea. Biden said he prefers to keep it as it is? Why? We can't read his mind but it does provide cover to pretend to support progressive ideas knowing they'll never pass a filibuster.

Dr. Seuss publisher raking in the cash

Following up on this post, Dr. Seuss is raking in the money over the cancelled books controversy. The previous post asks if they intentionally created the 'crisis' and it would appear that they did. There is no shortage of fools to be manipulated by big business.

"The decision by Dr. Seuss Enterprises to end publication of six lesser books even most Seuss fans have never heard of due to the inclusion of racist drawings—Seuss had as complicated a history of race and bigotry as innumerable other authors of his time, but the particular images in question are so nasty that news reports on the decision are refusing to even show them—is resulting in the Dr. Seuss estate now raking in money Hand. Over. Fist."


The Nazification of the Repugnacon Party

This teacher and historian documents how that Party has become fascist and needs to be cancelled. 

"I’m calling them American Nazis, who adapted the playbook of the Third Reich. Trump may be gone but Trumpism is not. As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, they prioritized their 'whiteness over democracy.' This is highlighted by their implacable attack on voting rights. Republicans who encouraged this dangerous resurrection of fascism are already trying to erase what happened or describe it as simply a 'First Amendment Protest.' These apologists trying to launder their shredded reputations should be denied jobs, media opportunities, publishing contracts, and all other opportunities to spread their contempt for democracy."

Fascists hate democracy

And those who fight for it. TFB, we'll keep defending it.


 

Fiona Apple is back

She was an old fav back in the day. But she's been out of the scene for quite a while. Now she's back and won a Grammy for Best Rock Performance and Best Alternative Album. (Heavy Balloon is my fav so far.) The winning song is below and it is creative and different. I'm guessing it will grow on me but we'll see.

What's wrong with this picture?

 


How many will reject the Covid relief payment?

This meme highlights the absurdity of their ideology. And the absurdity of trying to compromise with it.



Resume enhancer

Points for creativity.



Poll: Vaccine hesitancy

Here's the poll referenced in the meme below. Hmmm, now what do they all have in common?



 

John Nichols at Progressive Democrats of America

He was the special guest Speaker Wed. evening. He emphasized (67:00) that we have the power to make the Senate rules on reconciliation to whatever we want. And we will have to override the Parliamentarian to do it but again we have the power and we have to use it. And yes, we'll have to heavily pressure some in the Democratic Party, including leaders, to get it done. But if we can't do this then "how are we different from having Mitch McConnell there?" (68:15). And we didn't do this in the Senate with the $15 minimum wage.

While he didn't say this, for me that sort of pressure would have included the House progressives standing firm on voting no on the Covid relief Bill until it contained the $15 minimum wage. Jayapal threatened to do it but it turned out to be empty. They had the power to hold it up and force that inclusion but they surrendered. The Repugnacons didn't budge, Manchin didn't budge and they let them win on the issue. Progressives need to learn to use the power they have right now to force issues or the result will be the same as "having Mitch McConnell there." Having moral victories is no longer good enough when we can have real ones.

Stacey Abrams on fighting for democracy

And against the flood of Repugnacon legislation across our land that is continuing to disenfranchise people from voting.


Why is Facecrook allowing a fake AOC conspiracy theory?

I thought they were fact-checking this sort of thing. So why this glaring omission?

Repugnacons don't care

From Meidas Touch: A pop song parody of Icona Pop's "I love it" on Repugnacon inhumanity.


Bernie: You can afford to pay them more

So why aren't the mega-companies like Amazon and Walmart doing it? It comes down to corporate crapitalism and the mistaken notion of heroic individualism as the supreme value. Which of course is contradictory in that these companies rely on the socialism of the State to provide desperate workers and a welfare system to fill in the gaps of their low pay. In a word: greed.

Unfair comparison?

Continuing the last post, I received some pushback that you can't compare a small country like Norway with a big one like the US. The Democracy Index (which itself is correlated with the World Happiness Report), easily counters that. It looks not just at individual countries but regions. E.g., North American scores high but only because Canada is 5 while the US is 18. Western Europe is 2nd highest and part of that is the European Union, which has quite a high total population (447 million).* It really has a lot more to do with a region's organizing socio-economic system, the point of the meme: Social democracy v. corporate capitalism.

* Granted, Norway isn't in the EU. But a number of other countries are that scored high on happiness and democracy, like Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, France, Germany.

Norway v. United States

Democratic socialism v. corporate capitalism. Almost the same average personal tax rate but what a difference. Oh, and Norway is now 5th and the US is now 18th in the 2020 World Happiness Report. And Norway is 1st and the US is 25th in the 2020 Democracy Index.



Legitimate criticism of cancel culture

In this segment of Real Time Maher discusses a Burger King ad that brings to light female stereotypes with a joking, attention getting headline: Women belong in the kitchen. The ad goes on to explain that they want to remediate the unbalance of female chefs. And yet the politically correct cancel culture just took the headline at face value and got offended at a misogyny that wasn't there. As is Maher's wont, he then extended the point with honest ads from other companies that are sure to rile the politically correct and make the rest of us laugh.

The rigged rules of the game

And yet we accept this as if there is no alternative. That's just the way it is, right? Wrong. There are alternatives and they work if we'd but look outside our bubble. But the corporate crapitalists keep feeding us the illusion of the American dream knowing it's no longer possible for most. Wake TF America and demand better.



Is this what Dr. Seuss publisher did?

Deliberately manipulate already triggered people to prop up their business? Sounds like crapitalism's usual mode of operation.



Where the money goes for medical bills

Not mentioned in the meme is that a significant amount of medical bill money goes to bribing Congress, including Democrats, to keep this corrupt scheme in place. Medicare For All solves both and why it is so resisted, including Democrats like Biden. 



The real voter fraud

Brought to you by the lie, cheat and steal Party. Yes, the Democratic Party has issues but none so egregious as this.




Welcome to crapitalism

This is how it was designed to operate. We need to understand that and change it if we have any hope of having a fair system that works for all. 



Those poor billionaires

Don't you just feel sorry for them for the horrible burden of contributing fairly to a society that gave them so much?



Songs, lyrics, poems

Songs, lyrics, poems and other writing/media

Here are about a dozen songs I've recorded at YouTube.* And this link is to my lyrics and poems folder at Google docs, mostly from my ...