On Memorial Day [Monday, May 28, 2018] was this YouTube-uploaded video by Jamarl Thomas, “Progressives Are Not Democrats! Full Stop! The Sooner The Left Accepts It, The Sooner We Proceed.” (Italics are used in place of all-caps.) Thomas makes a lot of good points which I think readers may appreciate.
UPDATE: May 29, 2018 @ 11:00 p.m. ET:
Disqus was down tonight. It returned around 10:30 p.m. ET. I noted it with a comment. I will leave that alone. I had a thread, briefly, on the matter. I have since deleted it. The next blog entry, here at Progressives Chat, will be this Friday [June 1, 2018].
A few years ago, I was at a political discussion site. A forum member, on the day of the holiday, started a thread with the greeting, “Happy Memorial Day!” Another forum member responded, saying something along the lines, “What the hell is ‘Happy’ about Memorial Day?!”
I will not make that mistake. I will wish readers a safe holiday. Safe may be the best word for me to use when applying a greeting to this holiday. It is a sad holiday. So, I won’t wish readers a pleasant holiday. So, playing it safe, I will setting for using the word safe.
This “Open Weekend”—but really a holiday weekend—thread will get extended by one day to cover Friday, May 25 to Monday, May 28, 2018.
Progressives Chat will get its next blog entry and thread on Tuesday, May 29, 2018.
This Saturday [May 26, 2018] will mark the 69th birthday of the leader of the United Kingdom’s Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn. (I cover this today because of the upcoming, holiday weekend. So, this is an early start.)
I have not made a point of following much U.K. politics. But, from what I have tuned in, it is clear to me that current prime minister Theresa May, and so many of her fellow Tories, is corrupt and unworthy. She’s there anyway. But, similar to the United States, the voters there are not moving themselves fast enough. The prime minister of the U.K. should be Jeremy Corbyn.
I have come across some thrilling clips of Jeremy Corbyn. Many in the United States see Vermont U.S. senator Bernie Sanders as the equivalent to the U.K.’s Jeremy Corbyn. (Sanders’s birthday isn’t until September.) With Corbyn, I perceive him as more successful than Sanders because, in part, I sense the U.K.’s Labour Party is not at such a corrupt level as is the U.S.’s Democratic Party. So, the U.K.—and with all the corrupt forms over there, like the media, continue to try to take down Jeremy Corbyn—will probably get even more interesting.
I will provide a link, from Wikipedia, that is general information on Jeremy Corbyn. That will be followed by a few YouTube-uploaded videos.
(Quick note: I wanted to post this as a blog entry much sooner than on this date. But, other news and/or topics came up. With the week of May 21, 2018 leading to Memorial Day weekend, I figure squeezing this on this posting date is better late[r] than never.)
Elaine Kamarck, a Democratic Party superdelegate who was part of Al Gore’s failed 2000 campaign, and who hails from the Brookings Institution, and who is a corporate Democrat, wrote a piece from a few days ago in The New York Times. “Actually, National Democrats Should Interfere in Primaries” is the title. Link: DCCC Democratic Primaries Interference.
Kamarck—who was interviewed several months ago in a report covered by The Young Turks’s Emma Vigeland—argued in favor of keeping the superdelegates nomination system. And, in this New York Times piece, she argues for the national Democratic Party having its say who gets to win primaries.
I am opposed to Elaine Kamarck and her precious superdelegates. Years ago, I did not consider this because I was not aware. (I did not always follow politics.) But, with over 30 million votes cast for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, and 700 or so being superdelegates, what that means is that each individual superdelegate’s weight in vote was worth over 40,000 votes.
The Democratic Party Establishment, delivering from time to time talking points on who every vote should count and that the Electoral College distorts the will of the people (because of Elections 2000 and 2016 delivering split outcomes), are in no right position to argue for abolishing the Electoral College yet keep their superdelegates nomination system. And, come to think, the Republican Party has no such system that is comparable.
The Democratic Party Establishment—and this very much includes Elaine Kamarck—wants to tell voters who they may have as a Democratic nominee. (Elaine Kamarck, and her ilk, want corporate Democrats.) I will not comply. Come to think: Not everyone can get what he wants. While I may not be able to get a truly progressive Democratic Party nominee, at least the Democratic Party will be not be able to receive any of my general-election votes. This was what I did in 2016. And, yes, it is possible for me to vote for the officially named Republican Party. After all, this opens up something in the way of an opportunity.
I have linked the following video from Jamarl Thomas.
The Jimmy Dore Show’s Ron Placone has his own YouTube channel. I have updated with a link for the sidebar “Recommendations.” (In that column, I also added three more: Graham Elwood, The Zero Hour with RJ Eskow, and World Socialist Web Site. The total “Recommendations” are now 25.)
I happened upon Placone’s channel and, to my pleasant surprise, he was having at least one parody discussion with “Peter Douche.” So, why not share? Well, there are a good number of individual videos already uploaded to YouTube. I don’t want to overwhelm with the sharing. They would be too much to post here with this given day’s blog entry. So, what I will do is post a link. Readers can go there and have some fun. The link will be followed by three videos.
Cynthia McKinney, born in 1955, was in the U.S. House of Representatives, from 1993–2004 and 2005–2006, and from the 4th Congressional District of Georgia. Six non-consecutive terms. Twelve years. She was with the Democratic Party. McKinney left that political party for the Green Party in 2007. She was the Green Party’s 2008 nominee for president of the United States. And McKinney is interviewed by Jamarl Thomas. The running time is one hour. This video was streamed live on Monday [May 14, 2018]. And I think readers will appreciate it.
“Americans are gathering the courage to just say no. We are saying no to addictive consumer lifestyles. We are saying no to wars and corporate takeover and the IMF loans that gobble up people and their resources.”
“The situation in the United States is becoming more dire for average ordinary Americans and the last thing we need to do is to spend money on death, destruction and war.”
My first regular blog entry, here at Progressives Chat, was on Monday, September 25, 2017.
That was the first day of the 2017–18 television season.
We are nearly at the end of the 2017–18 season. The broadcast networks will wrap up all first-run episodes by the time the month is over. (Really, it tends to happen before Memorial Day.) So, I will do some reflecting.
I grew up during the 1970s and 1980s. I watched a lot of individual television series. And I tuned in regularly to the broadcast networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC. (Fox did not come along until 1986.)
During the 2017–18 season, I followed five broadcast series: ABC freshmen The Good Doctor, starring Freddie Highmore as a surgical resident who has autism; Kevin (Probably) Saves the World, a not-too-serious drama series starring Jason Ritter as a chosen one who helps people improve their lives; and the reboot of Roseanne (originally 1988–1997), which does not call for description, and which garnered most attention because star Roseanne Barr voted in 2016 for Donald Trump. I was also following CBS’s NCIS, which is fifteen years old, starring Mark Harmon as the top special agent of a military criminal investigation unit in Washington, D.C. (much attention was given it recently for cast member Pauley Perrette, a series original, having left after fifteen seasons); as well as Scorpion, starring Elyes Gabel and Katharine McPhee, about a private company of geniuses—with guidance by two normal human beings—who are contracted by the federal government to solve problems. (I also watch HBO’s Emmy winning Game of Thrones. It last ran in Summer 2017.)
All of these are entertainment. But, if I could have only watched one from the broadcast networks, I would have selected The Good Doctor. This is one that snuck up on me. (It also did that to Scorpion. Long story short: With both sharing the same time-period—Mondays at 10 p.m. ET—the premiere season of the ABC drama, which for most of the season it ranked in the Top 10, dethroned the CBS series with winning to a point that the latter’s ratings collapsed and, after four seasons, was canceled the past weekend by CBS. ABC also canceled Kevin. The other trio of ABC and CBS series—all in the Top 10—will return next season.) What made The Good Doctor so special to be such a hit? I figure it stands out from the rest of the dramas on the broadcast networks—that it is not like many other series. Most of what I see as dramas appearing on broadcast networks are a combination of procedural and escapist fare. This may has also been a big appeal with NBC’s This Is Us, a sensational rookie from the 2016–17 season, which covers generations in the lives of the individuals who are a family. So, with the 2017–18 season, this is my guess with ABC’s The Good Doctor.
The Good Doctor is adapted from the same-titled South Korean series, with the U.S. rights bought by former Lost and Hawaii Five–O costar Daniel Dae Kim, and its protagonist is Shaun Murphy who is played by Freddie Highmore. He is challenged with becoming fully functional while finding out how much he can trust those around him. He is most able to trust his mentor and his colleague. All three actors in these roles—series lead Highmore (most prominent in the first two above videos; the second is a scene from the series pilot “Burnt Food”) and supporting players Richard Schiff and Antonia Thomas (from the third video which is a scene from the episode “Not Fake”)—delivered award-worthy performances. (Schiff won an Emmy for NBC’s The West Wing in 2000.) The Good Doctor is a series which works because it is engaging and intelligent.
I don’t make a point of watching every acclaimed television series that are considered musts. I don’t want to give such a demanding amount of my personal time. There are lot of acclaimed series from basic-cable, premium-cable, and streaming networks. A few years ago, I checked out the political House of Cards, on Netflix, which came a couple decades after PBS ran it as a miniseries. I tuned out after one season. (I was not fascinated by it.) I recently streamed, say, three episodes of Hulu’s Emmy winning The Handmaid’s Tale, adapted from Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel, about a totalitarian form of government and the abuses of women. That was more than enough for me. So, I am sticking with what may seem lighter fare. And I think what that does for me is give me some breaks from the seriousness that is politics. Many of us have our different, and some have similar, ideas on what is entertaining. But, I am just thankful there is anything on that is entertaining and worthy of my time.
I will ask readers this question:What series, even if there was just one, did you watch during this [2017–18] television season? (If nothing applied, I will re-phrase: What was, if anything, your TV entertainment?)
Jimmy Dore YouTube-uploaded just yesterday [Thursday, May 10, 2018] a multi-part interview with former professional wrestler and 38th Governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura.
From The Jimmy Dore Show, here is a multi-part interview with Peter Joseph, author of The New Human Rights’ Movement, which covers economics such as neoliberalism and how other countries operate.
The Intercept has an interesting interview between Jeremy Scahill and Ralph Nader.
It was posted on April 29, 2018. I did not became aware until this past Friday [May 4, 2018].
Among the issues covered by Scahill and Nader are Donald Trump’s presidency and his administration of neocons and warmongers, the auto manufacturing industry for the potential for driverless cars, and the state of the Democratic Party which includes the DNC’s recent lawsuit.
Due to the fact that I do not trust the corrupt, corporate Democratic Party [Establishment]—and I am not trusting of them since the Democratic presidential primaries of 2016—I was particularly interested in what Nader had to say about them.
I will provide a link to the interview. It is long. Following is a section of particular interest.
[Jeremy Scahill]: On a different subject, Ralph, as you’re aware, last Friday [April 27, 2018], the Democratic National Committee filed this lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan against the Russian government, the [Donald] Trump campaign, individuals that the DNC alleges participated in interfering in the U.S. electoral process in 2016, and they also named WikiLeaks as a party in the lawsuit, even though the suit itself doesn’t allege that WikiLeaks participated in hacking or knew in advance about it at all, it just says WikiLeaks was publishing the hacked e-mails.
That part of it, to those of us in the media that follow these issues, is chilling because what they’re essentially saying is that news organizations or publishers that publish hacked or stolen material which every publication in this country has done repeatedly, that that’s a criminal or an activity that should be sanctioned or punished.
What is your analysis of this DNC lawsuit naming the Russian government, WikiLeaks, Trump campaign, etc.?
[Ralph Nader]: Well, first of all, I think it’s an insurance policy in case the [Robert] Mueller investigation fizzles, doesn’t come up with conspiracies, doesn’t come up with indictments at the top. They already are starting in terms of indictments at the bottom, in terms of operatives under the Trump campaign. That’s one.
The second is the Democratic National Committee wants to raise money, and it’s a great fundraiser.
The third is that when you file a civil lawsuit like that, you’re much freer to try to get information under subpoena and depositions and get information maybe that the Mueller investigation chooses not to get or not to disclose or the Justice Department.
And four, there’s been criticism that the Democratic National Committee is moribund, it’s hunkering down and it wants to show that it’s in the center of the action.
They got an aggressive plaintiff lawyer’s firm, Cohen Milstein, that know what they’re doing, that have been around a long time, and they’re very aggressive, and I’m sure they’re taking it on a contingent fee, plus expenses. So what’s not to like? From the head of the Democratic National Committee, [Tom] Perez, who will not meet with citizen groups who want to suggest a winning agenda for the Democrats in [2018 and/or 2020; Ed. note: Nader was quoted as saying “2016” but likely meant 2018 and/or 2020].
This “Open Weekend” thread is a regular thing for Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Please take this Progressives Chat to wherever you may want it to go.
