OW | A Change for ‘Progressives Chat’

This past June, I reduced posting blog entries to no more than two days per week.

I made that decision when I was approaching a vacation, during the second week of June, and I anticipated that I may not feel like preparing more blog entry postings on a three-days-per-week schedule.

I have found, during this summer, that I haven’t been feeling much up to posting blog entries more than two times per week. Sometimes, I don’t know what to write. But, when I come up with a blog entry, I write at least a little something related to a given blog entry which gets posted.

This two-days-per-week summer schedule has actually worked out better than I expected. (I have noticed a really good amount of comments.) This simply divides—but organizes—a given week into two parts: the beginning of the work week [Monday]; the end of the work week [Friday].

Beginning in September, I am going to drop labeling Friday blog postings as “Open Weekend” or “OW” (short for Open Weekend). There is no point to continuing with it. I started Progressives Chat last September 25. So, counting this month of August, there have been twelve consecutive months of including an Open Weekend. That is, in a way, enough to call that a year.

Thank you, to everyone, and I wish you all a safe and pleasant Labor Day Weekend.

‘The Vichy Democrats’

On the Progressives Chat list of Recommendations is the discussion site Jackpine Radicals (link: https://jackpineradicals.com). Although this was delayed, because of other topics needing to be posted as blog entries, I offer a July 7, 2018 thread which was interesting: “The Vichy Democrats” (link: https://jackpineradicals.com/boards/topic/the-vichy-democrats/). The topic author is Ohio Barbarian. It was a look at the current Democratic Party [Establishment] being a reminder of Vichy France from the period when Adolf Hitler was chancellor of Germany. Here is a screen shot from that opening post. (This is just a part of that thread’s opening post.) I welcome readers to offer their two-cents in reaction to that thread.

OW | EMILY’s List

In machine politics of the Democratic Party, where the endorsements are pedaled as important, and sometimes they are, the purpose of consolidating support for a particular candidate is to control who may rise to the top with, for example, winning primaries. Helping with this is EMILY’s List.

EMILY’s List, described by Wikipedia as an “American political action committee (PAC) that aims to help elect pro-choice Democratic female candidates to office,” is a part of that machine. Candidates want to be endorsed by EMILY’s List.

EMILY’s List has had some controversy for a few years. (A good piece, although I don’t like The Daily Beast, due to Chelsea Clinton’s connection, was written in 2014: Progressive Left’s Latest Target: EMILY’s List.) It is in the practice of endorsing Democratic Party nominations for candidates who are in line with the corporatism of the Democratic Party Establishment—that is where EMILY’s List is—and doing so without regard for individual candidates’ policy positions.

I support choice. But, I do not respect EMILY’s List. I now find myself repelled by this PAC.


On Tuesday, August 7, 2018, Down With Tyranny presented this excellent piece.


Of Course EMILY’s List Doesn’t Hate Women—Just Progressive Women

An Update on Progressives Chat: I added this week to the Recommendations list the site Naked Capitalism. I admit to not having previously been at the site much. But, I came across it and, after checking it out, I looked at archives including coverage of Election 2016 (and many of its readers’ comments). Naked Capitalism may be a worthy addition. If any reader disagrees, please let me know.





And now for this Open Weekend [OW]…

‘The Falling of the American Empire’

A podcast of Ralph Nader Radio Hour was made available last Saturday [August 18, 2018].

Nader interviews Chris Hedges.

Nader and Hedges discuss the latter’s new book, America: The Farewell Tour.

“I don’t think the collapse of empire is necessarily a negative. At this point, empire has become a deeply destructive force not only for our own country but globally. We see with endless warfare—seventeen years of warfare now in the Middle East—the inability of the corporate state to deal in a rational way with climate change or restrict or control the financial institutions that have become completely predatory and have already reconfigured the United States into an oligarchy, where it becomes impossible to vote against the interests of Goldman Sachs or Citibank or Raytheon or any of these other large corporations.” —Chris Hedges

OW | Aretha Franklin (1942–2018)

ARETHA FRANKLIN
March 25, 1942–August 16, 2018

Legendary singer Aretha Franklin died today, August 16, 2018, at age 76 from cancer.

I came across the news during the hour of 10:00 a.m. ET. During the hour of 11:00 a.m. ET, I quickly got this new blog entry going.

This is an early “Open Weekend,” appreciating her music with the inclusion of four videos from four separate decades (1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s) by the Queen of Soul.

Since this thread discusses politics, we can keep in mind her music—and her career—reached stardom during the Civil Rights era.

‘Would the American people be better served by a Movement for a People's Party?’

On Contact host Chris Hedges interviews Nick Brana, who was part of Bernie Sanders’s 2016 presidential campaign, about leaving behind the Democratic Party for the creation of a replacement. This video was uploaded to YouTube over the past weekend. So, the timing is good to share it here.

OW | The Deplatforming of Alex Jones

An interesting week is coming to an end. In addition to some primaries, which included my home state Michigan, came news of Facebook, Apple, YouTube, and Spotify striking against the very controversial Alex Jones. (Disclosure: I never watched him to have a strongly informed opinion. For what little I was able to catch in more recent years…I figured him to be like the televangelists who were caught up in scandals in the late-1980s, perhaps early-1990s as well.)

My position on the deplatforming of Alex Jones is that this isn’t about just Alex Jones. This is about corporations working with the powerful elites to silence dissent. Alex Jones, for this week, has been held up as an example. But, with the demonetizing against YouTube progressives—the actual left— there is more is to come.

Jimmy Dore has some videos addressing this topic which follow this paragraph. One was uploaded to YouTube in time for this blog entry. Near the end of the second, he mentions more are coming. The third one I caught at 05:40 a.m. ET—which was me making sure to include it before getting this blog entry posted for 06:00 a.m. ET. (So I didn’t watch it by that time.) If this weekend’s timing works out, I will update this blog entry to include however many more may come. Anyone else who catches them, and posts them in the comments, has my appreciation—and, again, I will update this blog entry for those to cover this “Open Weekend.”

‘Obama Says Inequality Led to Rise of the Right, but Takes No Responsibility for It’

Last week, I posted a blog entry from The Real News on the video, “Obama Joins Club of the Super-Rich—Defends Global Capitalism in Lecture.” That video is re-posted first. Follow-up, from a two-parter, is the very title of this blog entry. I think readers of Progressives Chat will appreciate this.



UPDATE—08.07.2018 @ 02:30 p.m. ET: The following video just came to my attention. I revise this blog entry to include it here:

OW | Michigan Democratic Primaries

Photo: WDIV–TV (ClickOnDetroit.com)

Next Tuesday, August 7, 2018, will be the primaries in a number of states. This includes my home state Michigan.

My state’s senior United States senator, Debbie Stabenow, is running for re-nomination unopposed. My congress person, who endorsed Hillary Clinton prior to the February 1, 2016 Iowa caucuses, is unopposed. And then there is the gubernatorial. Both Stabenow and my congressional rep have endorsed this candidate.

This candidate is Gretchen Whitmer. She is, like any typical establishment Democrat, not on board for Medicare for All. She gives the usual standard issue line about protecting the Affordable Care Act. So, naturally, I say no to Gretchen Whitmer. Another candidate is Shri Thanedar. He is pretending he’s in line politically with Bernie Sanders. Yet there is video, from YouTube, showing him cheering at a meeting for Florida U.S. senator and 2016 Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio. I dismiss Thanedar. The third candidate is Abdul El–Sayed. He is the progressive whose policies and leadership ideas—including wanting Medicare For All—are in line with Bernie Sanders. (Sanders has endorsed El–Sayed.) I would support El–Sayed.

Next Tuesday, I will vote in the Democratic primary and vote the 2018 Michigan gubernatorial nomination to Abdul El–Sayed. If he wins the nomination, I will vote for him in the general election. If anyone else—and the polls have it favored to be Whitmer—wins this nomination, I will not vote in the general election for that nominated candidate. Not only that—I will not vote for the Democratic Party, for any office, in the general election.

I came across the following video, at YouTube, in which one person gives his take on this race.

And now for this Open Weekend [OW]…