October 30, 2017

Hillary and Mueller Time

October 30, 2017

This Mueller Time! Video is Perfect for The Night Before Monday Arrests

I just came across this video and it is so perfect with tomorrow's looming arrest hopefully.
It's perfect

October 25, 2017

The Reason the GOP are Investigating Urianium Deal: Discrediting Mueller UPDATE: Video

I am watching Cspan Washington Journal. A republican congressman, Chris Stewart, is on and discussing the Uranium Deal.
He says it is not to target Hillary
It is to investigate the Obama Justice Dept and FBI and their role in this.

So, the republicans are screeching Uranium Deal not because they want to go after Hillary and Obama, but, to discredit Mueller.

Mueller was the head of the FBI at the time.

It is too soon for me to post a link to the video right now.

Video up. The part about Mueller is at 12 minut

https://www.c-span.org/video/?436248-3/washington-journal-representative-chris-stewart-rut-discusses-us-operations-niger

October 22, 2017

DNC Party Meeting Leaves Progressives Furious over Purge

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tom-perez-ousts-keith-ellison-loyalists_us_59ea6a44e4b0a484d0634a08?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

At the DNC Party Meeting Tom Perez purged top officials who backed Keith Ellison for Party Chair and Bernie Sanders in the Primaries.

“It’s a slap in the face to the activists in the party that are working so hard to make the party more responsive to the grassroots,” said Charles Chamberlain, executive director of Democracy for America, a digital grassroots group. “The idea that you’re going to purge Ellison supporters and bring the party together doesn’t make any sense at all.”

Becky Bond, founder of Knock Every Door and a veteran of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 Democratic presidential campaign, argued that the decision to remove Ellison surrogates puts Ellison, whom Perez brought on as deputy DNC chairman, in a “really hard place.”

Many activists feel Ellison is being ignored as well the voices of party activists themselves. Ellison's supporters lost spot on influential committees, many long time DNC officials. This included the first transgender member, Barbara Casbar.

Reformers hope that the party will accept a dramatically reduced role for superdelegates ― the party officials who can vote in presidential primaries independent of the will of the primary voters in their state ― as well make it easier for independents to participate in primaries and other party functions.

“I don’t know what the Rules Committee is going to do,” Bond said of their forthcoming assessment of the Unity Commission’s recommendations. “But I know that there are five Clinton-appointed Unity Commission members on the Rules Committee and no Bernie-appointed ones now that Perez has shaken it up.”

It looks like the hope for the party to become more inclusive and unifired, as well as more people centered and less influenced by neoliberal, center right, is not going to happen anytime soon.

October 19, 2017

From TPM: 'NBC News: Longtime DNC Officials Ousted Under Chairman Perez'

Just as Trump is falling apart, Mueller is closing in and the GOP is infighting, the democrats are going to go into stupid by this boneheaded move.
Tom Perez has decided to play purge the ranks.
And the DNC, as well as rank and file democrats are going to explode.

I don't know what possess Perez to decide to stack the DNC and purge the voices of those who are not in agreement with neoliberal centrism.

We need all ideas and voices of the party. We need to grow and we need to listen to the people and be responsive to those everyday needs and ideas.

Face palm for what Perez is doing.

Read the article.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/nbc-longtime-dnc-officials-ousted

October 19, 2017

To The Post "I Miss the Old Days..."

I am posting this because an answer is too long.

I have watched Politics since I was a kid in the 60s. I remember getting ready for school and watching the conventions on television before grade school. It was fascinating.

I've done alot of researching and it seems that alot of the changes that have hurt both parties began in the 1970a. From the Powell letter, to the gop backroom powers (Usually millionaire businessmen) building a media and misinformation infrastructure, to the politicization of the evangelical community, to our own democratic party turning away from New Deal politics and building up the DLC and Neoliberal economic thinking.

It seems the roots of all the things that have taken our country from a powerhouse that was always Can Do, Reach for the Stars, and moving forward to one that on the Democracy Index was recently downgraded to Flawed Democracy.

All the things we blame today like conservative media like Fox and Rush, ect., are just symptoms.

The real culprits were the wealthy businessmen who strategized how to take down the New Deal and Unions and regain their positions of the true ruling class as it was pre-New Deal.

They wanted to take down labor and its power, destroy the unions and wipe out the protections for workers, as well as their getting paid so well.

In the late 70s and early 80s you heard alot about De-industrialization. Taking America from an industrial society to a service economy. Even at 20 I knew that was a bad idea as I knew in service jobs the pay stunk. I knew that was trouble. As well as the taking down of Unions, beginning with Reagan and the Air Traffic Controllers.

But, with the Tax Cuts for the millionaires and big business, you had the real culprit that made much of the agenda possible.

As the money and salaries began to stagnate for the middle class, windfalls were given to the Kochs and Merciers. And many of these millionaires, now becoming billionaires, wanted to play in politics even more. They wanted to decide the laws and what was and was not to happen. They stop legislation from happening and making a congress do nothing. They could dictate the running of the country according to their whims. From bad Trade deals to Voter Suppression to destroying public schools.

And they decided the politicians. Those to primary. Which caused many of them to go from intelligent adults to clowns and goofy legislation to harmful bills that would hurt millions of everyday people.

They funded the media that pushed their message like so many talking heads like Rush to Conservative Newspapers to Blogs. Look at Bannon. His war against establishment republicans is partly because of his wacked ideas but, its also because he is being funded by the wackjob Merciers. All because Princess Rebekka Mercier wants to play in politics.

The democrats have been unable to really fight all this since they decided to jump into the 'Me Too' game of courting big money, cozying up to Wall Street and Silicon Valley. When they turned their back on the New Deal to embrace Neoliberalism they lost the high ground in which to fight back. So, they lost their voice and much of their fight.

October 9, 2017

This Video is so uplifting

I was following a link someone posted on their thread here and was looking at some of the stories.
One of them was this beautiful video.
A 9 year old Downs Syndrome boy singing to Whitney Houston.
Watch this video and tell me it does not make you smile and feel great

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2017/08/joy-watching-9-year-old-downs-syndrome-singing-whitney-houston/

October 7, 2017

Rethinking Puerto Rico

Ever since Hurricane Maria slammed into the island and destroyed it, leaving it without power or water or food and massive destruction, I have thought Trump's lack of help to Puerto Rico was because he either did not know it was part of the US or that he saw it as a Latin island and racism and all.

Until tonight.

With another Hurricane heading for the US, this time going into the Gulf of Mexico and looking to wreak havoc in Louisiana, I felt this time the Trump Adm. would help. Like they did with Texas and Florida.

But, what would Trump do if an outbreak of destructive tornadoes laid its wrath on Illinois? And we found our state in emergency with many towns laid bare.

He would ignore us.

Why?

Because this is a state that is known as a Blue State. This state did not vote for Trump. We voted Hillary.

And we are Obama's state.

I am beginning to think at least some of Trump's twiddling his thumbs while Puerto Rico suffers has to do with it being a known democratic island that voted Hillary.

October 5, 2017

Stephen C. Paddock

There is very little information about Mr. Paddock, the man who murdered 58 people and left 489 injured.

Even in light of a couple of days with police and an army of reporters digging through his background and life, very little about him is known.

He was not close with his family and was not on speaking terms with 2 of his 3 brothers. His mother is 90 and in a nursing home.
No close friends or neighbors. He moved around alot. No activity on social media.

The only thing that stands out is that his father was a bank robber with suicidal tendencies and a 'psychotic'.

Nothing is said about the father's psychosis.

But, one thing I've learned is that illnesses tend to run in families. It is amazing how much of the medical problems people have can be traced to someone in their family and not always just immediate family.

If the dad had suicidal tendencies, was he suffering from depression, which is something that can run in families. And what was the psychosis?

Sometimes things like this do not manifest themselves in your early years.

I know people who were perfectly okay who became mentally off in their 40s and 50s and family history had some mental illness of some kind involved.

I have no education in the medical field. This is just my observation and what I've seen over life and have experienced myself.

But, I just cannot shake the feeling that Mr. Paddock's actions can be traced to his father. Something triggered it, Somewhere along the way he destabilized. Maybe he was never stable but, was so high functioning and in his life he was able to maintain a rather low profile and go through life not really knowing people or being close to anyone that everything flew under the radar.

But, I am hoping there is a look at the link between his father and him.

October 3, 2017

A Ray of Light in the Face of the Las Vegas Shooting

The murder of 59 innocent people and injuries to 527 others is something you would think nothing positive could come out of.

But, as I was discussing the shooting with a neighbor I realized there was one positive ray of light in all the darkness and sadness.

While bullets were flying and people were running to save their lives, many stopped at risk to their own lives to help someone, strangers, they saw bleeding from gunshot wounds.

Instinct would say to run. Run to save your life.

And yet, so many everyday people stopped to help others.

Of course, all the off duty medical and police people who happened to be there for the concert were amazing and they saved so many lives.

But, I am talking about everyday people like you and me. They faced the hail of bullets to help strangers who were wounded and to me, that gives me hope for our country and society.

All the ugliness of the last year. All the depressing, selfish, greedy, nasty things that have happened in this country make you feel there is no hope. They were are going down into oblivion. That our society is coming apart in the face of evil and fascism.

And then, Sunday night so many everyday people became real heroes. So many acted with compassion and with so much selflessness.

There is hope.