Happy New Year!

I wish all readers of Progressives Chat a safe, enjoyable, Happy New Year!

Here is looking ahead to 2019…

Merry Christmas!

During this week, there will be just one blog entry thread.

For all who observe the holiday, I wish readers of Progressives Chat a Merry Christmas!

Here, in alphabetical order according to song title, are five selections of holiday music:

A Segue To Christmas: ‘SCTV’

A couple weeks prior to posting this blog entry, I was coming across videos of the Toronto, Canada comedy troupe Second City Television—also known as SCTV—which were utterly remarkable. (For more information: Second City Television.)

The variety series took shots at celebrities and some cultures for which, from 1976 to 1984, were relevant for the times. (Well, some if it isn’t limiting to just that particular period of time. There is some content, from these videos, which would or would not play here in 2018.)

Among the cast of SCTV: John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin (whose performance was nominated for a 1982 Emmy), Rick Moranis, Catherine O’Hara, Martin Short, and Dave Thomas. (The cast were among the staff who won Emmys in 1982 and 1983 for Outstanding Writing in a Variety Series; well, Moranis, O’Hara, and Thomas won in 1982 while Short won in 1983. I have not posted any videos including Short.)

Due to the fact that next week is Christmas, and the following week is New Year’s, I am letting those particular weeks have just one thread each [Mondays, December 24 and 31, 2018]. This one blog topic, good for the weekend, will tie in with Christmas. (Other videos have nothing to do with Christmas. This is mostly an entertainment-related blog topic.)

Christmas

Celebrity

Celebrity & Politics

Politics

The Best of 2018

Last year, my first calendar year with Progressives Chat, I wrote and posted an entry on “The Best of 2017” [The Best of 2017].

With “The Best of 2018,” I gave myself a rule: No more than one video can be listed from the same source. But, I will confess: This is what personally appealed to me, very strongly, for subject matter and how well these videos were executed.

One source not listed: Jamarl Thomas. He deserves honorable mention particularly for his 2018 videos on United Kingdom politics—for Brexit—and with regard for prime minister and Conservative leader Theresa May vs. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

“The Best of 2018” is posted on this date [Monday, December 17, 2018], two weeks prior to the actual end of 2018, because the topic I have scheduled for Friday [December 21, 2018] will be entertainment-related. It will also be a segue to Christmas. For the next two weeks, the last two weeks of 2018, I will have just one thread on Mondays [December 24 and 31, 2018].

(Side Note: On the Saturday, December 15, 2018 The Jimmy Dore Show, it was mentioned Dore interviewed Ralph Nader just recently. Dore said the video, however many parts, will get released. I don’t know when that will be. But, even if I wait until January 2019, I intend to post it as a blog topic for Progressives Chat.)

#01 “Hillary Clinton: I Got More Votes In The Places That Matter”
Secular Talk [March 16, 2018]

Kyle Kulinski covers Hillary Clinton’s controversial comments, in India, about her Election 2016 loss and how she explains that voters—apparently outside her 20 carried states—were backwards in denying her election to the presidency of the United States. When Hillary Clinton expressed this, it became the best example yet why she was never worthy of the presidency of the United States. This topic was covered, as well, by the likes of The Humanist Report’s Mike Figueredo and The Jimmy Dore Show’s Jimmy Dore. But, the one (of the three) who assessed it best—for being direct and insightful—was Secular Talk’s Kyle Kulinski.

#02 “Ocasio–Cortez Calls Out the ‘How to We Pay For It’ Double Standard”
The Humanist Report [August 21, 2018]

The Humanist Report’s Mike Figueredo comments on Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez, in a CNN interview with Chris Cuomo, who was challenged on the cost of Medicare for All. (“The sticker shock.”) The 29-year-old U.S. House Rep.-Elect, at the time the Democratic nominee who unseated the renomination bid of incumbent Joe Crowley from New York #14, turns the tables on Cuomo and addresses hypocrisies of such arguments opposing Medicare for All.

#03 “Obama Joins Club of the Super Rich
— Defends Global Capitalism in Lecture”
The Real News [July 29, 2018]

The Real News had an excellent three-part segment, which was one of my blog topics [‘Obama Says Inequality Led to Rise of the Right, but Takes No Responsibility for It’], and this is the first part of a discussion between host Paul Jay and guest Leo Panitch, co-author of The Making of Global Capitalism: The Political Enemy of American Empire (2012). The two examine just how not only wed is Obama to the “Super Rich” but that he embraces them (while understanding their destruction).

#04 “Michelle Obama Shames Women
— Offers Them Nothing”
The Jimmy Dore Show [June 6, 2018]

Although it wasn’t the most important subject, this was my favorite 2018 video from The Jimmy Dore Show as Jimmy Dore pulls no punches of previous First Lady Michelle Obama voter-shaming people—especially women—who allowed for Donald Trump to defeat Hillary Clinton in the United States presidential election of 2016. Kudos also go to Jimmy Dore’s wife, Stef Zamorano, who is terrifically funny as she mocks the condescending attitude by Michelle Obama: “Jimmy—I’m sitting here, next to Ron and Arnold and you, and I’m trying to figure out, ‘Where’s my place in this world as a woman? I’m helpless. I need another woman to tell me how to feel about being a woman.”

#05 “Secretly Taped Audio Reveals Democratic Leadership
Pressuring Progressive to Leave Race”
The Intercept [April 26, 2018]

Caught on audio was the Democratic Party’s No. 2 leader in the U.S. House, Steny Hoyer [D–Maryland #05), telling candidate Levi Tillemann the party had selected Jason Crow to be the nominee for Colorado #06. This came from a report by The Intercept’s Lee Fang [Secretly Taped Audio Reveals Democratic Leadership Pressuring Progressive to Leave Race]. Afterward, the controversy moved the despicable superdelegate Elaine Kamarck, in an attempt to justify this corruption, to write a piece in defense [Actually, National Democrats Should Interfere in Primaries]. (Refer to “The Best of 2017” link. You will see Elaine Kamarck interviewed by The Young Turks’s Emma Vigeland.) This was yet one more reason why, as I had in 2016, refrained from having voted for a single Democratic nominee and/or incumbent from my general-election ballot in 2018.

May Day

Wednesday [December 12, 2018] was quite a day for United Kingdom prime minister Theresa May.

The 62-year-old faced a Confidence—or, a No-Confidence—vote for whether she would continue as leader of the Conservative Party.

The outcome was 200 votes in favor. So, May survived. But, 117 were opposed to her continuation.

(Coverage is provided in the above video, from CBS News, and May speaks past the mark of 26:45.)

While the U.K. has a parliamentary system, numbers wise this is not good. It is not good to have 36 percent of one’s party not supporting its leader. That is an outcome, and one can apply it here in the U.S., that is not good for a political party and its leader. It is not good for the Conservatives in the U.K.

Jamarl Thomas has posted lots of good content from his uploaded videos to YouTube. He live-streams a lot. Thomas has given plenty of his attention to U.K. politics. He is correct—it is fascinating. The members of Parliament debate in the U.K. Here in the U.S, it is a p.r., as with the latest example of president Donald Trump meeting up with the congressional leaders of the Democratic Party, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, to supposedly discuss building a border wall. It was just more fake theatrical nonsense aimed at the True Believers (those loyal to either Team Red or Team Blue). And I will post, just below, video of Thomas covering this vote.

Although I don’t follow U.K. politics enough, I think Theresa May—dealing miserably with Brexit—is a failure. She needs to go. The next prime minister of the United Kingdom needs to be Jeremy Corbyn.

The 2018 U.S. House Midterm Elections, One Month Later

The 2018 midterm elections for U.S. House: 

Light shades are the net gains. 

Republicans won three pickups. 

Democrats won either forty-three or forty-four pickups. 

Democrats, having flipped the House, won an overall net gain of at least +40.

After Election Day, in presidential and midterm election cycles, it can take roughly a month for a precious few races to get called. Sometimes, they are ones for U.S. House. This turned out to be the case during the week which followed Thanksgiving. There was a false call for California #21 in favor of Republican incumbent David Valadao. But, there was still outstanding vote. Once it was actually done, the winner was Democratic challenger T.J. Cox. As of December 8, 2018, the race for North Carolina #09—which was retracted by the Associated Press (AP retracts call in North Carolina Congress race and Democrat officially withdraws concession in North Carolina race amid election fraud investigation)—is still outstanding. (On the above map, for the U.S. House elections results, that congressional district appears in a neutral color.)

The 2018 Democrats, who entered the [Election Day | November 6, 2018] midterm elections with 195 in the U.S. House, flipped control of the lower chamber with not only their needed +23 but with at least +40 net gains in seats.

The Democratic Party will enter the next Congress, in January 2019, with a new majority of at least 235 to the 199 or 200 seats for the Republicans. And, if you would like, you can see where the 2018 Democrats achieved this on the above map. (This manifest from 21 states. It would be 22 if that outstanding race flips Democratic in North Carolina. Seven of the net gains came from California.  You can look at the map more closely on a tablet or a smartphone.)



EFFECTIVE 12.10.2018 @ 12:00 a.m. ET: Wikipedia [ 2018 United States House of Representatives — Elections ] has it the 2018 Democrats won the U.S. Popular Vote, for the U.S. House, by +8.57 percentage points. It was 53.41 percent for the Democrats; 44.84 percent for the Republicans. (My elections prediction was the 2018 Democrats—while winning a majority pickup of the U.S. House—would end up winning the U.S. Popular Vote by +8.50 and a net gain of +35 seats. Link: Election Predictions.)

This is not to say, necessarily, these are the final numbers. (Last week, Dave Wasserman kept updating these on his Twitter page. And, of course, so has Wikipedia. But, I wanted to get this completed here while we are still in 2018. So, a cut-off is necessary.)

Going by that latest, what this means is the 2016-to-2018 national shift was Democratic +9.65. (The 2016 Republicans won the U.S. Popular Vote, for the U.S. House, by +1.08. It was Republican 49.11 percent; Democratic 48.03 percent.) 

With a net gain of +40 seats, the 2018 Democrats won an average of +4.15 seats with each percentage point nationally shifted in their direction. 

With a net gain of +41 seats, the 2018 Democrats won an average of +4.24 seats with each percentage point nationally shifted in their direction. 

From the previous midterm elections—in which the U.S. House flipped to the White House opposition party (which occurred in 1946, 1954, 1994, 2006, and 2010)—the historical average over those five cycles was +3.64 net gains in seats with each nationally shifted percentage point. (This is keeping in mind the U.S. Popular Vote, for U.S. House, was not recorded before the 1940s.)

If the 2018 Democrats won +40 net gains in seats, they raised that historical average to +3.72 net gains in seats over what are now six applicable midterm cycles (of the U.S. House having flipped to the White House opposition party).

If the 2018 Democrats won +41 net gains in seats, they raised that historical average to +3.74 net gains in seats over what are now six applicable midterm cycles (of the U.S. House having flipped to the White House opposition party).

While the 2018 midterm election period was still in progress, Five Thirty Eight’s Nate Silver had it figured the 2018 Democrats needed to win the popular vote by +5.5 in order to reach the +23 seats needed to flip the House. I went with the whole number of +6. 

It turns out the 2018 Democrats performed higher than historical average and were able to reach their necessary +23 by winning the U.S. Popular Vote by +4.47 percentage points (if their net gain is +40) or +4.35 percentage points (if their net gain is +41).

(Wikipedia has it Minnesota #07 was the tipping point seat with the 2018 Democrats having flipped the U.S House. Its margin was +4.26.)

In summary (and electorally): The 2018 midterm election voters were absolutely determined to flip the U.S. House from Republican to Democratic; the voters were able to deliver the House to the Democrats with a popular-vote margin of +4.47 (or, better, +4.35) percentage points; and the voters also nearly doubled that popular-vote margin and, by doing so, almost doubled the Democrats’ necessary net gains in seats to make this result decisive. (Yes, it was a wave election. For the United States House of Representatives.)

Now, that is just one part of electoral politics. Following such a thing can be like keeping track of a sport. It can be fun. What comes after that is something else. Ralph Nader has said it before: After the Democrats have won a given election cycle, he asks, “What did you win?” Meaning, for the voters who were strongly for the Democrats—“What did you win?” That is the question especially all self-identified Democratic voters should be asking themselves. I don’t sense they do. With these 2018 midterm election results, I don’t think many of them will. Here, for one’s consideration, is an example of what the 2018 [U.S. House] Democratic voters have won:

Remembering Linda Creed

I was listening to some music from a genre I have always enjoyed, R&B, and from a period for which I am fond, the early-1970s, and came across particular songs which were co-written by Linda Creed.

I was aware Creed died April 10, 1986, at age 37, from breast cancer. But, as I was looking her up on Wikipedia, I found that Thursday [December 6, 2018] would have been her 70th birthday.

According to the April 13, 1986 New York Times, with its obituary on Linda Creed, “Working with her songwriting partner, Thom Bell, [Linda] Creed was known throughout the recording industry but turned down offers to appear on The Tonight Show and other television programs, preferring to maintain a quiet family life.” (Link: Linda Creed, Songwriter, 37; Known for the ‘Philly Sound’.)

Creed co-wrote music for The Stylistics, during the first half of the 1970s, with Thom Bell. This included “Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart),” from the group’s self-titled debut album of 1971. (It was later recorded in a duo by Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye and, a personal favorite of mine, Patti Austin.) More tracks for the group for which Creed had written included “People Make the World Go Round,” “Break Up to Make Up,” and “You Make Me Feel Brand New.”

(Thom Bell, who turned 75 this past January 26, was the first-ever winner of the [1974] Grammy for Producer of the Year [Non Classical]. This was for recordings not only by The Stylistics but especially The Spinners, with their LP Mighty Love, which included the title track, as well as the group’s No. 1 Billboard hit collaboration with Dionne Warwick, “Then Came You.” A Seattle Times interview, with Bell, from February 2018, is here: A Hall of Fame hitmaker finds happiness and harmony in Bellingham.)

With her background in Philadelphia soul, and that she joined Bell to work for Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff’s Philadelphia International Records, the launch of Linda Creed’s career began in 1970. This was with Dusty Springfield, one year after that singer’s legendary Dusty in Memphis album (which included the supreme “Son of a Preacher Man”), who recorded Creed’s song “Free Girl.” (Side note: Just to show that you can connect many things to politics—Gamble, Huff, and Anthony Jackson wrote The O’Jays’s 1974 hit “For the Love of Money,” which was used a good 30 years later as the opening theme music for then-future U.S. president Donald Trump’s NBC reality–competition series The Apprentice.)

Creed co-wrote, with Michael Masser, “The Greatest Love of All,” which was featured in the 1977 biopic movie on boxer Muhammad Ali, The Greatest. According to Wikipedia, “The lyrics of the song were written in the midst of [Creed’s] struggle with breast cancer. The words describe her feelings about coping with great challenges that one must face in life, being strong during those challenges whether you succeed or fail, and passing that strength on to children to carry with them into their adult lives.” 

Linda Creed was survived by her husband, music promoter Stephen Epstein, and their two daughters.

In 1987, family and friends established the Linda Creed Breast Cancer Foundation. (Link: http://lindacreed.org.)

In 1992, six years after her death, Linda Creed was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. (Link: https://www.songhall.org and https://www.songhall.org/profile/Linda_Creed.)

Below are some of Creed’s songs. They include the separate recordings of “Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)” by The Stylistics and Patti Austin and “The Greatest Love of All” by George Benson and Whitney Houston (whose version garnered her a 1986 Grammy nomination for the top award, Record of the Year).

‘Special Guest Peter Douche’

This past Saturday, December 1, 2018, Uphill Media uploaded an interview of Progressive Weekly Review with “Special Guest Peter Douche.”

The video lasts well over an hour. But, the interview ends just after 49 minutes. I make this available, here at Progressives Chat, for anyone who may be interested.