‘The Plan to Trip Up Trump’

Here is an excellent report from Consortium News: The Plan to Trip Up Trump.

‘FULL Story: Trump/Biden–Ukraine Corruption & Impeachment Media’

Discussing the topic are the host of The Jimmy Dore Show and his journalist–guest Aaron Maté.

Happy Anniversary, ‘Progressives Chat’!

It was two years ago this week—actually, it was the date of Monday, September 25, 2017—that marked the official beginning of Progressives Chat.

I launched this website to pick up from The Far Left Chat (and its sequel) by cathyx. I did not want to lose having a blog site for progressives—ones who were more aligned with Bernie Sanders (not Hillary Clinton) from the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries—as it is more relatable and very comfortable given we are basically on the same page for politics.

The timing coincided with the start of the 2017–18 television season. The date of this blog topic is also the first day of 2019–20 television season. It is pretty cool it worked out that way because I, a past television junkie (I now watch regularly less than five of the broadcast networks’s series), am good at recalling the calendar.

I want to thank cathyx for helping me create and launch Progressives Chat. I want to thank everyone who has posted comments. I will keep this going for however much longer it will last.

I want to leave this with a video. I am a private person. And this means I haven’t revealed much about myself. I will keep myself private, for the most part, but I will reveal the following: My name is not Candy. It is Dave. I go by Candy83 because, from 1983–1997, I had a beautiful beagle who I named Candy and have since not had any more dogs. I have never been good at creating user names for discussion forums requiring registered membership. I go with something I know I will not forget. I chose CoolBlue71, for Twitter, because blue is generally my favorite color; it is a cool hue on the color wheel; and I was born in the year 1971. I live in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan.

(Everyone should go ahead and still refer to me by Candy83, or Candy, because it is my user name.)

On Friday, August 30, 2019, I called The Tim Black Show (a.k.a. TBTV) to share a little information and insight. (He runs a live program, taking calls, on Friday nights. Duration tends to be around three hours.) In the following video, you can hear me speak around the mark of 2:26:50. Host Tim Black, when taking a call, tends to prompt the upcoming caller he/she is about to go live by referring to the person’s area code. I am in 313 (which is Detroit, Michigan). So, if you want to hear me, go ahead and play the video. (It was published to YouTube on Sunday, September 1, 2019.)

Graham Elwood, Tulsi Gabbard, CAA, and the Emmy Awards

There is a terrific video, which was published to YouTube on September 12, 2019, by Graham Elwood.

It is titled “High Powered Hollywood Agencies Push Tulsi Smear Campaign.”

Elwood, 50, has been an actor, director, a writer, a producer. Source: Graham Elwood.

In this video, he references a Medium piece, written by Robbie Jaeger, titled “Tulsi Gabbard Has Enemies In High Places”.

What is remarkable is the shaping of a Hollywood culture that has me also reflecting on why I have been turned off by a lot of what is produced today. (I rarely go to the movies. I used to love to do that. I used to be a TV junkie for first-run broadcast-network series. Now, I am down to five—and not at the same time.) Part of this is also not finding a number of today’s “stars” appealing. (I have, throughout the past few years, been questioning “Why is this person a star?”) And, yes, they have been, and they are, selected for us.

This has me noting the 71st Emmy Awards, scheduled for its live presentation on Sunday, on Fox, and which will give prizes for the 2018–19 television season. Frankly, I don’t want to be brothered. (I can get ahold of the winners’ list afterward.) Two years ago, I was turned off when the first half-hour was a Let’s Shit on Trump display. It was the 45th U.S. president’s first year in office. I understood taking shots at him. But, it went on too long. (I switched channels after I had enough.) The Emmys, while needing to provide entertainment, and the politics have its role in awards ceremonies, are supposed to be most especially focused on celebrating the excellence from a previous television season; not to become a display for a number of CAA members (like 2017 host Stephen Colbert) kissing up to authority to earn their keep.

This is, so far, one of my favorite videos of 2019.

‘Bernie Sanders and the Realignment of the American Left’

Rob Urie has written an insightful piece, published Friday, September 13, 2019, at CounterPunch. 

Here is the link: Bernie Sanders and the Realignment of the American Left.

‘Why Elizabeth Warren Would Lose To Trump’

The Jimmy Dore Show published on Thursday, September 12, 2019 a discussion welcoming guest Katie Halper on why a nominee U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren would not unseat incumbent 45th U.S. president Donald Trump in the 2020 United States presidential election.

I have reasons, before even watching this video, why I think Warren would not unseat Trump. They may be ones not on the minds of some people. But, I will share here.

Warren is not a leader.

In the early 2010s, while Barack Obama was in office as the nation’s 44th president, I would see Warren in interviews—including on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher—and she shined.

In 2016, Warren opted to not run for president of the United States. People wanted her to do that. I figured, at the time, she does not want to be president. That not every person in office wants to eventually become president.

I figured this because Warren signed a letter, circa 2014, encouraging Hillary Clinton to run for president. During 2016, while the primaries were in progress, Warren refrained from endorsing either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. People who follow politics knew damn well Warren is politically closer to Sanders. She waited for the primaries to end, with the last contest having played out, and then went on Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC program to endorse Hillary.

After the endorsement, and while the general election was in progress, Elizabeth Warren took to Twitter to do her best to out-tweet Trump on Twitter.

I think of Trump as the U.S.’s first troll president. A troll in the sense of an Internet troll. The Internet is our most immediate access to the world. And Trump knows this. A part of the campaign approach of Trump, and here we are in his third full year in office, is to consistently demand and command attention. And it has worked for Trump.

This brings me to remembering the approaches of Warren:

· She did not recognize that she needed to step up and run for president of the United States in 2016.

· She did not endorse a candidate for nomination while the Democratic presidential primaries were in progress in 2016.

· She may have—I don’t recall whether she succeeded—trumped Trump on Twitter in 2016.

I could list more reasons. But, sometimes three bullet points are enough examples. And it leads me to this conclusion: These actions do not come across as the makings of a future leader of the free world.

iPhone 11

On Tuesday, September 10, 2019, Apple had a live-streaming presentation of its upcoming products. This obviously includes the iPhone 11.

I have the iPhone 6 Plus, which was a 2014 model that I purchased in 2015. It works fine. But, because it is my first smartphone (well, I had a prior box phone; a starter type that did not suffice), I don’t know how long I will have it before moving into a newer or new model. I anticipate keeping it at least one more year. So, I figure I will not be buying the iPhone 11.

This is what helped me avoid watching Apple’s live-stream presentation of its upcoming products. I was not available. And I have not yet bothered to watch it from either YouTube or Apple’s app.

I feel good just watching others, with their published YouTube videos, talk about the new model. I especially prefer looking to a person I generally trust for his reviews of electronics. His name is Marques Brownlee. He has been on guest on Joe Rogan’s program. And Brownlee has an approach to reviewing products that are, for his audience, relatable and insightful.

I want to also present the link to a report about a change in buying pattern. The rate in which people—people who are consumers—buy a new smartphone has become less frequent. This does not surprise me. But, the report, published August 21, 2019, was well-worthy of my having read it. Perhaps readers of Progressives Chat will agree. So, I will share it here: ‘The two year upgrade cycle is dead,’ according to new survey.

Following are the two iPhone 11 videos by Marques Brownlee:

‘Danny Sjursen: Fighting “Forever War”’

The Zero Hour’s R.J. Eskow interview veteran soldier Danny Sjursen. This is not the first such interview. But, it is well-worth watching because of Sjursen’s understanding of the military industrial complex, and it is why we keep having one war followed by the next while not meaningfully improving the well-being of the lives of the people of the United States.

The interview lasts just over a half-hour. (It was published to YouTube on Friday, September 6, 2019.) One criticism I have is of Eskow. He is not alone in this; but, it can become distracting when a host asks a guest an important question but, before the guest answers, the host—thinking it is for purposes of further clarity (even when it is not necessary)—goes off on a tangent. It is remarkable the guest doesn’t lose focus by forgetting what was asked. Eskow does it at least a couple times. Thankfully, Sjursen does not lose track.

Matt Taibbi and Katie Halper Interview Jimmy Dore

Published Thursday, September 5, 2019, at approximately 04:00 p.m. ET, is the third installment of Rolling Stone “Useful Idiots” hosted by Matt Taibbi and Katie Halper.

Taibbi and Halper discuss the fact-checking Washington Post and media bias against Bernie Sanders (who turns 78 on Sunday). They later interview guest Jimmy Dore.

A Labor Day with ‘Company Man’

I wish everyone a Happy Labor Day.

Now, I don’t want to come across as if I am saluting well-known corporations. But, I have come across some well-researched videos. And I respect the labor that went into them.

I have been finding it very interesting to watch the videos by YouTube member Company Man.

For the last two years, Company Man has gone over the histories of numerous companies—their good and bad times—and his videos are only a few short minutes. It can be pretty remarkable. 

I will post five select videos by Company Man.

Here is a link to his site (followed by the below videos): YouTube — Company Man.