A short point about the Syria strike
I wrote a diary hours after the strike making a lot of the same points others later posted, and a few others, I didn’t post because of a power outage. But since they’ve largely been made, just one...
View ArticleA sobering historical reminder how hard the American people need to fight to...
Richard Nixon was horribly corrupt. His whole political career was built on wealthy people picking him to serve them and funding him. He had personal slush funds, he had literal mob payments of...
View ArticleA little perspective on trump so far versus previous Republicans
trump is as bad a person as we think. Horribly corrupt, incompetent, deluded, rather evil.But it’s not a bad idea, as I see some yearn for how ‘all the Republicans in the past weren’t as bad as this’,...
View ArticleA next step the anti-democracy Republicans want to destroy the constitution
People are always surprised by each new measure to gut the constitution — its power for the people — because the plutocrats at war with it don’t lay out their plan.Grover Norquist made this point when...
View ArticleAn idea to bring out the vote
We already have had great participation in protests. Of course the protesters would rather not have to, because we won the election, because people voted. Here’s an idea. Plan and widely publicize...
View ArticleHow trump (or a Republican on his coattails) wins in 2020
I’ve though this for some time but didn’t want to post it lest it have any chance of helping Republicans. Remote chance but still.But now I don’t think it’s any secret, so let’s just say it. I suspect,...
View ArticleQuick, how much has the CFPB saved the American people?
I think a lot of us know the CFPB is ‘good’, ‘on our side’, Elizabeth Warren’s creation with Obama’s support, so we’re for it. But if we can’t answer the actual good it’s done, what are the odds that...
View ArticleWe've lost France
Sorry this is not a thorough commentary on the French election.But in short, the runoff is between the trump of France radical right, and an ‘indepndent Centrist’.So the idea of semi-socialist,...
View ArticleThis CNN story seems to have serious problems
I’m reacting to something I saw. I’d like to hear if I have anything wrong.I remember a CNN story where a ‘voter panel’ of trump voters was interviewed for them to respond to trump’s claims of millions...
View ArticleIt's ok to use public money to implement free speech
Here’s my point. There’s a worldview that’s allegedly been in vogue the last 500 years — since ‘the enlightenment’— about how human beings are able to be ‘rational’.This has led to a gradual shift from...
View ArticleA little propaganda idea
You know how we use blue and red for the parties? How about we use blue and orange while trump is president, to rub it in and smear them with him?His ratings are terrible and only going down and...
View ArticleWill history repeat itself with how Republicans pass the AHCA?
A reminder, or bit of history for those who weren’t aware of how Republicans passed Medicare Part D under Bush.Big Pharma was Republicans’ #1 donor industry. Republicans were very much pay for play,...
View ArticleA bit of a rant on the right-wing argument about 'originalism'
Republicans want bad things. And we still have a democracy for now. So, they predictably want to represent their bad things as good things.One of these sheep outfits the republicans like to dress their...
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Book Club: "the Devil's Chessboard" by David Talbot
Our news is very important. But I think books play a critical role in being informed.I might post a book from time to time if there’s interest.The Devil’s Chessboard is a biography of Allen Dulles —...
View ArticleWhat a crazy system we have for democracy to function
Sorry to take a break from the headlines of the day, but let’s look at this for a moment. The theory of our system is, everyone gets one vote, preventing the few most powerful from ruling, and the...
View ArticleThey're not donors. They're anti-democracy and anti-voter.
We could have a system where elections are auctioned. It would give the most wealthy the disproportionate representation they want.It would even have a side benefit the money could go into the public...
View ArticleHistorical note: when France's President de Gaulle was nearly overthrown,...
I think we in America mostly vaguely remember France’s President de Gaulle as a ‘very French’ president who was a strong advocate for France and sometimes tricky to interact with for us.I’m not sure...
View ArticleLet's support progressive businesses
We talk a lot about ‘call the members of Congress’, which often means ‘call the people who get 99% of their campaign money from the interests you want them to vote against’. It’s worth doing, but how...
View ArticleI might disagree with your opinion, but I'll defend your right to say it. But.
If I were talking to a person, that old saying is right.But when I’m talking to someone who isn’t expressing an opinion, but is writing a check for $10 million to hire someone to do their bidding and...
View ArticleName for the Republican healthcare Bill
It’s often called ‘trumpcare’. I don’t care for that, because it sounds too much like a legitimate ‘trumpversion of healthcare’ as if it’s also a well-intended healthcare plan. It’s not. Its whole...
View ArticleImpeaching a Republican president is a lot harder than most understand
People are getting excited about how the firing of Comey accelerates the trump scandal toward his being held accountable. I need to pour a bucket of cold water for now. Recapping Watergate: Watergate...
View ArticleA danger trump poses, a reason the radical right back him, we don't hear often
Put aside for a moment what trump does or signs or doesn’t do we talk about daily.There’s a bigger issue here. For the one reader who hasn’t seen the quote, Louis Brandeis said:We can have democracy,...
View ArticleLet's demand trump follow his own rule on firing department heads disliked by...
So, when trump couldn’t get away with saying he fired Comey for his actions on Hillary, he changed the reason to say it was because Comey was disliked in the department.A lie, but he stated the...
View ArticleWhich media to support?
Specificially, I’m wondering what the opinion is on the Washington Post. I think it has a mix of good and bad, I’m not a fan of supporting Jeff Bezos more particularly. They have a sale on for $39/year...
View ArticleRefocus the resistance on the Republican Party and its donors, now
Politically, we’d like Democrats to win. trump could actually be an asset to that.What we’re looking at now is that when Republicans realize it, and some already do, they have no interest in keeping...
View ArticleIs Dershowitz's comment against the special counsel role correct it could...
I’m not crazy about Alan Dershowitz. When I went to google his recent article on the special counsel, the top three results were for Fox, Breitbart, and Newsmax.But reading the article he seems to have...
View ArticleShort fiction - I've invented a machine that sends out waves that change...
I’ve invented a machine that sends waves, similar to radio waves, across the country, and it changes voters’ opinions.I’m pretty excited and look forward to getting some things passed I’ve long wanted....
View ArticleSatirical suggestion: Let's allow buying votes.
Issues with the current system: - Wealthy interests have most of the money, and they use it to influence public opinion, by spending billions on advertising and media industries.- There is too much...
View ArticleA note on authoritarianism
How about we build an authoritarian apparatus within the US — be prepared to crack down on citizens, on dissent? Doesn’t sound very good, does it? Not something politicians can win on easily? So how do...
View ArticleMedia: start reporting propaganda as propaganda
The media has struggled with what to do when a president tells frequent, egregious lies. The normal culture of gentle correction no longer fits the behavior — they have to look at the word “lie”....
View ArticleDemocrats need to sell POLICIES to the American people, not just candidates
Perhaps the most un-American act by a president in the history of the country was Ronald Reagan’s selling the American people the message that their government was their enemy.That one act has led to...
View ArticleBook idea: "Profiles in Cowardice"
John Kennedy wrote “Profiles in Courage” to promote the idea and public support for politicians trying to ‘do the right thing’ when it threatened their power.To further that purpose, I think the book...
View ArticleResponding to trump officials' refusal to answer questions to Democratic...
Unsurprisingly, trump officials are pushing the envelope with a novel claim for refusing to answer Democratic Senators’ questions.They could claim that trump is asserting ‘executive privilege’, which...
View ArticleHow Congress should talk about the Russian election interference
Russia’s politics are those of a former superpower, gripped by kleptocracy — the people want to feel important and powerful.When Putin seized Crimea, his approval rating shot up from the low 60’s to...
View ArticleA frame for trump
trump is waging war on the American presidency and American values.I think that is the ‘frame’ we should suggest and discuss him in.Every time his behavior is below the dignity of the office, every...
View ArticleTax Reform is as important as healthcare policy
The policy on tax reform is likely the most important policy issue this year. Moreso than healthcare repeal, which was a miniature version of tax reform — cutting taxes on the rich and spending on the...
View ArticleAn idea how to save healthcare
One plan to save healthcare would carry the price tag of throwing Obama under the bus.Hopefully, he’d accept that price for the benefit.As we know, on the one hand Republicans are one vote short of...
View ArticleDon't think for a moment that the 'Republican civil war' will prevent their...
People WANT a hopeful message — ‘The civil war among Republicans will keep them from being able to do the terrible things they want! What a relief!’No, it won’t.The whole reason for being of the...
View ArticleThere is no such thing as the "alt-left"
The phrase is nothing but a lie and a smear of some on the left against others.The phrase “alt-right” itself is nothing but a ‘new name’ to try to put sheep’s clothing on the fix of racists, since our...
View ArticleI want to make this commercial for trump voters to watch
Picture a nice looking, white man, sitting on a stool, with a MAGA cap. He looks ‘normal’.I’m standing next to him with a microphone, talking about him as he watches. I say: “This is an American...
View ArticleBeware deals with Republicans
When Republicans realize it, there’s a deal they can push on Democrats: Offer opposition to racism, in exchange for concessions on economics.They’ll side with you against trump and neo-Nazis, if you...
View ArticleElephants are being abused and need our protection
Put aside the real issue of all the terrible things elephants face.This diary is about another abuse of them: their non-consensual use as the symbol for Republicans.Elephants are great. They are quite...
View ArticleScandal fatigue: how to control public opinion, one technique
So, trump is quite bad — and we can imagine it getting even worse, if, say, the Russia investigation finds even more. So, why can’t the country do better at responding to trump as a scandal, a threat,...
View ArticleI have an idea for an activist project
And here it is: Create a ‘Traitor Park’ of statues.Everywhere the battle is about tearing down confederate statues. Today I saw a report that they are being put up on private land in response. So...
View ArticleCan we organize a boycott of tenants of Jared Kushner's building?
We’ve been seeing stories how Kushner has a lot of debt for his Manhattan building — which he bought for almost nothing down as the most expensive building sold in NYC. Now, besides the story showing...
View ArticleDemocracy relies on a rational citizenry. Could be it we don't have that?
In terms of human history, likely the single biggest inflection point we recognize is ‘the Enlightenment’— when we went from Dark Ages to Renaissance and began a great increase in education, in the...
View ArticleI'd like to add a talking point to the Democratic Party agenda: Reagan was...
Post-Eisenhower, the only Republican president who has not ended his presidency in political tatters is Ronald Reagan. The view that he was a ‘great president’ mostly, that he improved the direction of...
View ArticleHow to sell Medicare for All: Stop throwing away over a trillion dollars...
Politically, Americans — not only including but especially Republicans and Independents — are conditioned to the message of ‘cutting wasteful spending’.However much they’re ideologically indoctrinated...
View ArticleAs a supporter of Medicare for All: Fight the current Republican bill to...
Too much of the discussion involves attacking advocates of Medicare for All claiming they’re threatening to reduce the fight against the repeal now being pushed. It’s a false claim. Medicare for All...
View ArticleThe optimal, limited role of the private sector
I think everyone agrees — and yes, that’s saying a lot — that both the government and private sectors have a role to play. The balance varies by an extreme amount, but no one I know of thinks the...
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