‘Bombshell: DEA, Congress, & Obama Complicit In Opioid Epidemic’

This was YouTube-uploaded just yesterday [Wednesday, October 18, 2017] from The Jimmy Dore Show.

‘Bernie Sanders is not a Democrat’

During what may have been the entire period, and then following the United States presidential election of 2016, some of the push against Bernie Sanders—and his supporters—have been to say that he is not even a Democrat.

It is the fact that Bernie Sanders is not officially affiliated with the Democratic Party, even though he caucuses with the Democrats in Congress, and the count for Senate Democrats is typically recorded as 48. (That is, 46 officially affiliated with the Democratic Party and two independents—Maine’s Angus King and the junior U.S. senator from Vermont—to bring the Democrats’ total to 48.)

I never took this seriously. (Come to think—it’s a bonus.) But, I came across at a discussion site people who have found this from Good, Loyal Democrats—really the people who supported (and are #StillWithHer) for nomination Hillary Clinton—to be arrogant, not credible, and not persuasive.

I have my own theory. And I wrote the following:

The people saying Bernie Sanders not being a Democrat means one thing: they want to control him. 

That is why they—the Democratic Party Establishment, the pundits, the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries voters who voted the nomination to Hillary Clinton—push this narrative.

‘George Carlin on why “It’s important not to give a shit”’

Here is the late comedian George Carlin (1937–2008) on going against the grain—which speaks to what the establishment wants and his not following “the middle of the road.”

‘Picket Fences’

David E. Kelley, recently a 2016–17 Emmy nominee for writing in a limited series or movie for best miniseries winner HBO’s Big Little Lies, created this next anniversary premiere, Picket Fences.

Debuting September 18, 1992, on CBS, it has now been 25 years since this strange but controversial series aired for four seasons on Friday nights. Set in the fictional town of Rome, Wisconsin, and with a small-town atmosphere where everything in the world seems to be happening in Rome, Wikipedia.org presents the following description of Picket Fences:

“The show dealt with unusual topics for prime-time television such as abortion, incest, homophobia and LGBT adoption, transsexuality, racism, belief in God, medical ethics, polygamy, polyamory, adolescent sexuality (including nocturnal emission), date rape, cryonics, the Holocaust, shoe fetishism, masturbation, animal sacrifice, spontaneous combustion, and constitutional rights. Illustrative of the subject matter is that the regular cast included a judge, two lawyers, and a medical examiner. Religious issues were frequently discussed, and the town's Roman Catholic and Episcopal priests were frequently recurring characters.”

Rome is represented by sheriff Jimmy Brock (Tom Skerritt) and his physician wife Jill (Kathy Baker). Working for Jimmy are police officers Kenny Locos (Costas Mandylor) and Maxine Stewart (Lauren Holly) and secretary Ginny Weedon (Zelda Rubinstein). Many of the court cases are presided by judge Henry Bone (Ray Walston) with arguments by the bombastic defense attorney Douglas Wambaugh (Fyvush Finkel) and, beginning with the second season, D.A. John Littleton (Don Cheadle). The city gets its share of mayors, including in the second season Rachel Harris (Leigh Taylor–Young), who is eventually ousted from office because of her past as a porn star. Jimmy and Jill’s children are Kimberly (Holly Marie Combs), Matthew (Justin Shenkarow), and Zack (Adam Wylie).

One Picket Fences storyline which stood out, very politically, was desegregation. It aired during the third season, on October 14, 1994. It was titled “Enemy Lines.” This episode had then-acting mayor Jill defying a busing order by federal judge Harold Nance (Paul Winfield, whose performance won him the 1994–95 Emmy for guest actor in a drama series).

Picket Fences was never a ratings winner. It peaked at No. 61 with the 1993–94 season. It was a blockbuster at the Emmys, winning for its premiere 1992–93 season the top three categories of its genre: outstanding drama series, lead actor for Tom Skerritt, and lead actress for Kathy Baker. It repeated winning the series prize, over the favored debut season of ABC’s NYPD Blue, for 1993–94 and which also resulted in supporting-acting wins for Fyvush Finkel and Leigh Taylor–Young and guest actor Richard Kiley (playing Jill’s father). The 1994–95 and 1995–96 seasons reaped lead actress and supporting actor wins for Kathy Baker and Ray Walston. Picket Fences achieved all this despite never having been nominated for directing or writing—something that doesn’t normally happen for any winning best comedy or drama series these days. (They usually get a nomination slot to back up being able to win for best drama or comedy series. The NBC sitcom Friends was the last to pull off a series win without a directing or writing nod. That goes back to 2002.)

Below is a YouTube-uploaded video, not in good quality, of the above-mentioned episode “Enemy Lines” of Picket Fences.

Open Weekend

This “Open Weekend” thread is a regular thing for Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

Please take this October 13–15, 2017 Progressives Chat to wherever you may want it to go.

Videos! Videos! I Have Lots of Videos!

Friday [October 13, 2017] is the “Open Weekend” thread. So, prior to this weekend, there are six videos I want to share. I decided to make them available in this [Thursday,] October 12, 2017 thread as its topic [“Videos! Videos! I Have Lots of Videos!”]. 

There is no rule here that people have to stick to discussing a given day’s topic. I am aware that people appreciate much of these videos—and that we share others we come across—thanks to their information and insights.

Tim Black and H.A. Goodman discuss President Donald Trump, Colin Kaepernick, Eminem, the Democratic Party, and more on the [special Wednesday, October 11, 2017] edition of No Sell Outs.

Jimmy Dore has three videos: the first is NBC’s Chuck Todd lying about Medicare For All and smearing Bernie Sanders; the second is 47th vice president of the United States Joe Biden with terrible strategy; and the third is about union workers picketing The Washington Post.

Jamarl Thomas has two videos: the first is noting that it is not necessarily Republicans but Democrats who are the major political party posing a bigger problem for citizens; the second is about 42nd president of the United States Bill Clinton’s reaction to Hillary Clinton and her reaction—including her book—to her losing Election 2016 to Donald Trump.

Interview with Chris Hedges

There is a very interesting interview between WSWS’s David North and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Chris Hedges titled, “The elites have no credibility left: An interview with journalist Chris Hedges.”

Here is the link: http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/10/06/hedg-o06.html .

The interview covers such topics as the Democratic Party (“The Democratic Party doesn’t actually function as a political party”); Russia (“It’s as ridiculous as Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction”); and his former employer The New York Times (which Hedges describes as “a hermetically sealed echo chamber,” and that “Thomas Friedman and David Brooks may as well write for the Onion”).

It is worth reading.