Not entirely sure how this happened. Found on my morning walk. Pretty good test of the night mode on my phone’s camera, no?
In Closing: “Centrist” Democrat decoder ring; ultra-processed foods; and yet more reasons why I really hope the Democratic party comes to their senses and doesn’t try to ram Good Old, Sensible, Pragmatic, Bidness As Usual, Joe Biden down our throats.
Hey folks, sorry for light posting. Life got in the way of writing. Hope to return to a more regular schedule Shortly.
Poor Chuck: Don’t get me wrong, I consider Chuck to be one of the problems with the modern Democratic Party — although it’s possible he’s just a symptom. Anyway, he sure is taking heat for this government shutdown ending. Like lots of source links? Enjoy.
More on kids: it ain’t easy being a poor kid in America.
An actual expert: An Obstetrician on the topic of late term abortion.
Rent: Unfortunately, the big institutions that brought us the housing crisis aren’t particularly interested in being nice landlords either. Hmm, maybe that’s why rental law is governed on the state level.
Go Vegas!: First, here’s some fun and free/cheap things to do in town. Oh yeah, and Go Golden Knights!
And finally,
Whiskey: turns out it kills germs.
I’ve had both right and left leaning links today. Turns out that when you return to the true center, you find both truth and untruth on virtually every point of the political spectrum.
The Democratic Party has decided to double down on Superdelegates. In short, that means that the Party will decide who you will vote for without any pesky interference from voters, thank you very much. They do not see how anointing a candidate could possibly have contributed to What Happened. They do not see how tired many people are of holding their nose and voting for The Chosen One because hey, who else are you gonna vote for?
Many years before I was born, a science-fiction author named Robert Heinlein wrote a book called Take Back Your Government. One of the things he advocated was to get involved in your local party politics. And further, he reminded us that if what you thought was “your” party turned out not to be anymore? Join the other one and work for what you believe in there.
I have heard from reliable sources that the local Democratic Party isn’t any more open to opposing viewpoints than the national organization. I mean heck, they turned their back on Nevada’s gubernatorial candidate because… well because “none of the above” actually won the primary (not complaining; Sandoval has been a decent Governor). But they aren’t above supporting people awaiting indictment.
In Closing: net neutrality; it will be interesting to see how the “gun control” argument changes post Vegas; confiscating assets is big money; cannabis and opioids; potentially, the end of an era in Japan.
I know this is not a popular opinion on “the Left”, but here it is. The DNC and Clinton supporters need to stop blaming Comey and the Russians. Why?
Because the only reason Comey and the Russians mattered is that they themselves were doing stupid stuff. The DNC rigged the election to ensure Hillary’s coronation nomination — and now they want to argue that they had the right to do so. The DNC and HRC (both as Secretary of State and as a candidate) put stupid stuff in emails. Clinton’s people are the ones who used ridiculously bad internet security — and at one point turned it completely off in a virtual welcome sign to hackers. Don’t do stupid stuff and you don’t have to worry about getting caught doing stupid stuff. Funny how that works.
Blaming Comey and the Russians? Bobby Brady broke the vase by throwing his football in the house, but you want to blame Cindy Brady for tattling!
Furthermore, the Democrats refused to address the issues important to most Americans — hint, it’s still the economy, stupid — instead focusing on fluffy social issues to the point where many white men I knew were saying that clearly there was no “inclusion” meant for them. The bottom line is that if the Democrats choose to double down on politics as usual and to hell with actual progressive ideas, they will lose more elections. Oh, and let’s not forget Huma and Weiner. The popular vote? Oh please, not knowing that you need electoral votes to win a presidential election is just plain political incompetence.
And finally, can we please stop pretending that Obama was any kind of progressive or liberal? For pity sake, he’s more conservative than Nixon.
In Closing: Believe; poverty; I should never have looked at this recipe; PayPal.
First of all, I’d like to start by saying that the name of the proposed legislation to “repeal and replace Obamacare” is called “World’s Greatest Healthcare Plan of 2017.” That’s a seriously great title, folks.
So my prediction is as follows: there will be enough voices on the Left saying it does not go far enough and enough voices on the Right saying it doesn’t go nearly far enough that no bill will be passed. Afterwards, each side will congratulate themselves on thwarting the other.
The fact remains that any plan that depends at all on employer coverage will never cover all children. That’s because children don’t have employers. And — I will say this every time it’s brought up — don’t tell me we can’t have true universal single payer coverage for children, because Howard Dean did it in his state.
In Closing: vouchers; I guess most-mortems are easier than admitting that Hillary could possibly have lost without outside help; yoga; right; Alcoholics Anonymous; and I don’t even know where to begin about the stupidity of a “day without women.”
Dear Democrats on the Internet:
Have you lost your everlovin mind?
We just finished an election where the American voters rejected not just one, but two political dynasties. Furthermore, just about everybody except Maddie Albright rejected the notion of “vote for the girl ’cause she’s a girl.” And finally, voters rejected the notion of a “everything is fine nothing is broken” politics-as-usual candidate.
Michelle Obama would be a terrible choice for Democratic nominee in 2020. Not because she’s a woman. Not because she’s black. Not even because certain Republicans have spent the last 8 years criticizing literally everything about her.
Because we don’t pass down the Presidency like it’s some kind of crown.
And furthermore, she’s not interested.
Why a picture of Joe Biden? Why not? It’s a pretty cool picture of him!
The Democratic National Convention was this week, so I’d like to share some miscellaneous musings.
On the Email Hack: So some are accusing the Russians of orchestrating this hack to manipulate our elections. None of these people are saying that the emails in question are fake, forged, false, or anything of the sort. So it sounds very suspiciously like they are mad they got caught. The FBI is investigating, but remember this: they are investigating the hack, not the fact that these emails seem to indicate that the Democratic primaries were rigged. And no, Trump did not invite the Russians to hack more. He made a joke about how maybe they have the missing emails. So shut up already about this “threat” to “security.” Remember which candidate had security features turned off on the private email server. This is the online equivalent of closing the store for the night and leaving the door unlocked.
And one more reminder: Read the last few lines. Now repeat after me: Never put anything on the internet that you wouldn’t proudly show to your mother, your boss, and a judge.
On Kaine: People keep saying he’s a Progressive. Ok, Hillary keeps saying he’s a progressive. I don’t see anything to justify that statement. He’s not just in favor of the TPP — at least he was until days ago — he voted to fast-track it. He’s pro-“life”. He’s “tough on crime.” Whoop-dee-doo he speaks Spanish. And did you know he used to be the DNC chair?
On Little Debbie: You know I don’t give political nicknames lightly. Little Debbie Wasserman-Schultz has achieved this dubious honor. She deserves the lawsuit she’s received from rigging the primaries, and more. Matt Taibi graciously calls it a “slanted campaign.” I am frustrated with Democrats who are willing to ignore this and say fuggedaboutit just because they find the opposing candidate scary.
On Bernie: Some people called him a sell-out, but what the hell else was he going to do? Change parties? The man played his role of The Grown Up In The Room and he did it with grace.
On Bernie Supporters: There is mounting evidence that they are getting a raw deal to follow up the non-binding pat on the head of “the most progressive Democratic party platform evar!” Interesting how many times it mentions Mr. Trump. I do not quite think that the Democratic party understands that they do in fact need those voters not just for Hillary, but for all the down-ticket races as well.
Yeah yeah yeah woman President: Michelle Obama said “And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters and all our sons and daughters now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States.” No, your daughters can be President, probably Chelsea and Dubya’s girls too. The rest of us, not so much. And no, it isn’t that America isn’t ready for a woman President. For pity sake, India, a nation with a less-than-stellar record on women’s rights, has had a female head of state. Whether any given American kid can become President boils down to money, and what college you went to, and who you know, and a bunch of things that boil down to the fact that most of us will get no closer to the White House than a tour.
And One Last Thing: Fact Checking Hillary and Donald respectively.
Another Bad Trade Agreement: TTIP is turning out to be a bad deal too. At least the Europeans seem to have figured that out. It’s yet another deal so bad, they can’t actually let people know what’s in it.
Democrats: More than a few choice words about Hillary, Bernie, and the future of the Democratic Party (which can’t get rid of Debbie quickly enough for me).
Losers: On keeping weight off once you’ve lost it. Hint: if you go back to the stuff that made you fat, you will get fat again. Oh, and here’s some free exercise tips.
I’ll believe it when it’s law:A law has been proposed in Congress saying that companies can’t prevent you from saying not nice things about them online. I seriously doubt their corporate masters will allow this to come to pass.
Can’t decide if this is innumeracy or racism: Economist removed from plane for doing a differential equation.
Don’t forget about the NSA: They are doing more warrantless searching of American citizens than ever.
So Scott Pelley pointed out that it’s “only” 594 days until the 2016 elections and what were candidates waiting for. Um, what?
So anyway I have this survey from the Democrats about Hillary’s potential presidential bid. I notice there’s not an option for “No, I don’t think she should run at all!” And no, I don’t want candidates who have to be “pressed” to run on progressive ideals; I want an actual progressive to run! Better yet, I want that progressive to stay progressive after election day.
No, not Elizabeth Warren. She’s more important where she is.
In Closing: Waah; interesting; throwback; the radioactive man; on Obamacare.
So today I received a “One question poll” on which Democratic accomplishments make me the most proud. Let’s examine these a little more closely.
Health Care Reform: You mean Romneycare 2.0? I concede that Obamacare is an improvement over what we had. However, it still “fixes” the problem by forcing us to do business with the very profitable corporations that got us into this mess. I’d feel better if there were a public option. I’d feel a lot better if there were some concession that kids can’t control coverage: they don’t have employers to provide it and they don’t have a way to make their parents able to afford coverage. Don’t tell me this can’t be fixed, because Howard Dean DID. By the way, it’s not in any way health care reform, but rather health care insurance reform.
60 Straight Months of Private Job Sector Growth: Tell that to JP. If the there’s so much job growth, how come there’s no wage growth? How come Forbes has to promise it will start any minute now? How come underemployment is such a huge problem?
Rescuing the Auto Industry: Yeah, I guess they did that. Of course the corner that used to have a HUUUUGE Chevy dealer in town is now a vacant lot.
Reforming Wall Street: Big reform. Now the bankers have to be more careful how they screw you. Too Big To Fail still exists, banks still only follow their own rules, very few corporate criminals have ever even been charged let alone convicted, and the attempts to water down an already watered down law continue.
Historic Action on Climate Change: Really? Activists had to work too hard to kill Keystone XL, the gas industry still markets itself as “clean,” and we’re all excited about a “target“?
Expanding Equality: I have not the faintest idea what they’re talking about.
So six items, all but one done at best halfway. I am not proud at all.
In closing: my mom would have liked that manager; still an awful idea; not all ideas are equal.