Category: News

  • Biden Is Winning, Now Walk the Walk People

    Okay… I have to admit it, and be honest about it; Joe Biden did it. He hasn’t clinched the nomination, but he did the things you need to do to win. Biden had the turn out, grew his supporters, and outperformed everyone’s expectations.

    I am a Bernie supporter, and I do believe that we need to make serious, major changes in this country. The only candidate I see who has the resolve to do that is Bernie. I know he’s not out of it, but all of us in the Sanders camp have to take a very hard look at the fact that the youth vote didn’t show up, which was a huge kick in the crotch. And though in roads were made with the Latino vote coming out, no other demographic voting block grew for Sanders, which makes it look like Bernie has hit a ceiling. It hurts to say that, but those are the facts.

    What I really took away from Biden doing so well is that the idea of beating Trump is more important to Democrats than changing the fundamental structure the country. Basically, when it comes to policy, Biden is saying that he will be a third Obama term with tweaks. I wish that weren’t true, but it’s what happened.

    Now, I will hold out hope for Bernie, but I am fully prepared to do what I had asked moderates to do is Bernie won; I will support Joe, and I will work towards his election.

  • DNC Tries to Stop Bernie: Don’t Deny the People Their Choice

    I never held much stock in the idea that centrist Democrats would actually band together and try to stop Bernie from getting the nomination, but after Pete, Beto, and Amy all showed up for Biden yesterday, I am beginning to think that a fix, though not in, might be in the works.

    When I read Michelle Goldberg this morning, and her take is that Bernie cannot attract new voters to win against Trump, it really started to sink in how much Bernie scares the crap out of mainstream Democrats.

    For this piece, I will do a thought exercise. This is not what I currently believe, but I want to do an experiment.

    Let’s just say that all of the middle of the road Democrats all are right about Bernie; if Sanders gets the nomination, he loses to Trump. Well, how did that happen and what does that mean?

    If the centrists continue down their path of trying to pack the vote against Bernie, and create a contested convention where Sanders loses the nomination, then the centrists have just handed Trump a victory. It plays into the narrative that “elitists” know better than the people, and that’s how democracy dies, they would say. Also, if the Democrats do this, then the majority of Bernie supporters won’t show up. (They did it in 2016, remember?) Finally, it sends the message to the people of this country that incremental to no change is better. Sadly, mainstream Democrats aren’t listening to the rest of this country who are actually hurting, which is why they are looking for a Bernie to shake things up. That was a big reason why people voted for Trump, and the mainstream Republicans tried to do the same thing to derail that nomination. They failed and we got Trump.

    I don’t know for certain what the right answer is. Luckily, no one does, but denying voters their choice is not a solution. It will only make things worse.

  • Don’t Eat Your Own

    Ung… That’s how I feel about people supporting candidates in the same political party.

    Forest for the trees, and forgetting who the real problem is, seems to be happening a little too much.

    I see it from supporters for all candidates. When trying to have a conversation about the differences and what that would mean if that person got elected, what I find is that everyone is claiming that the other candidates are the second coming of evil… after Trump that is.

    And then everyone ends with, “But I’ll vote for whoever gets the nomination.”

    Will you?

    Really?

    You can’t tell me how awful Sanders is, and then I am supposed to believe that you will vote for Sanders when it comes down to it? Even though you just told me that he will lose to Trump. You aren’t going to think that the cause is lost and just stay home?

    That’s what I fear, because Bernie fans did that in 2016, or they went for Trump… Which boggles my mind, but the more research I read up on, it makes a little sense now; Populism.

    The democrats need to chill out.

    No one is that evil, and the easiest way to make someone electable is to show up and vote.

    I can see Biden getting to nomination, and I see Bernie fans again staying home. And I can see Bernie getting it, and all the moderates then will think the game is over, and they will stay home.

    We need to think about this process as Thanksgiving; your family may annoy the crap outta you, but you are going to show up anyway.

  • Who Can Afford That?

    I can admit that two weeks ago, I didn’t think the coronavirus would be something that we in the United States would have to worry about. The world had done a very good job at containing Ebola, and with the outbreak in China, a nation not known for caring about the rights of its citizens, it would be quarantined just like they had done with SARS.

    So, I was wrong.

    At least in the sense that we here in the US need to prepared for the possibility of an outbreak of the disease within our boarders. I don’t see that as a fearful reacting, but more a matter of being logical.

    The one thing that has jumped out at me from the NYC and NY state press conferences (I won’t even get into the ridiculousness of Trump’s press conference) is that both the mayor and governor were telling people that if an outbreak happens, “just stay home, and don’t go to school.”

    Clearly, we should all do that.

    And…

    Clearly, half of us out that can’t afford to do that.

    Half of the people out there is this city and state live paycheck to paycheck, and if they miss a day of work they fall behind. Are landlords going to let people pay their rent late? Are banks going to let mortgage and credit card payments be late? How about internet and cable companies? (I know ConEd doesn’t care, coz they don’t shut off power to anyone.) Are all those bills going to wait until the threat is over?

    There is a domino effect here when large groups of people don’t go to work and don’t get paid. I see the how the world economy is grinding to a halt just by the way the stock markets are beginning to fall off a cliff.

    Again, who is thinking about the people that are just hanging on to the edges of this economy?

  • It’s Here

    My first February in New York was back in 2007. What I remember most was that the week leading up to Valentine’s, the temperature never got above 30 degrees. For a kid who grew up in Texas, where fridge weather was 40 degrees, I thought I would never be warm again. And I was running around the City in Black canvas All-Stars, so the fact that I still have all of my toes is pretty impressive.

    Now that we are back in New York, and February is drawing to a close, there has only been one day when the high temperature was below freezing. This is pretty shocking to me as February is the coldest month of the year here. And what it actually feels like is the start of Spring around here.

    We have to admit that climate change isn’t coming; its already here.

    It was apparent that the climate had changed in out 18 months in California. In that time, it went from, “Who odd that this weather disaster happened again,” to “We should just plan on this weather disaster every year now.”

    Australia knows that it is here.

    When we moved back, my daughter was excited that we would get to be around snow again. This Winter of 19/20 has a good likelihood of having no snow at all.

    I know that we can come together and stop this from getting worse. It will take commitment, political drive, and sacrifices from every corner of the world.

    I just wonder if we will ever return to the way the climate used to be.