Goodbye…!

2020 will be remembered as the year of the COVID–19 pandemic which is still in effect.

2020 also marks the year I lost my father.

It happened on Christmas Day. This last Friday, December 25, 2020.

I was with my father when he had his stroke in October.

We lived together.

I was with my father when he died, at age 88, during the early morning hours on Christmas Day.

As one who has always liked Christmas, for how it can bring people together, I will not look to the day as one I want to avoid but one I want to continue to appreciate. It is a good day. It is also my father’s day.

My father died at home with in-home Hospice. 

I was his caregiver. 

During the early period of his dying process, we talked. 

We were able to let each other know that we loved and were fortunate to have each other. Our family. Our lives. 

It was really good we talked. 

He told me, among a number of things, “[As a father], I made sure you [and your sibling] were provided for financially, emotionally, and spiritually.”

He did. My father, unlike my sibling and I, was not so fortunate. His father was present only financially.

My mother died at age 62 in 1998. (She was within weeks from turning 63.) She was 3 years younger than my father. He ended up with a lifespan of 25 more years than his wife. “I was married to a wonderful woman.” He said, after her death, his life was never the same. He missed her.

I will be turning 50 in 2021. I don’t look forward to that milestone of a birthday and age. But, I do look forward to moving past what I now label “The Worst Year Ever.”

2020 is…The Worst Year Ever.

Goodbye…Worst Year Ever!

Goodbye…To My Father!

While my life will be going through more changes, I will continue Progressives Chat with a regular schedule of blog topic posts on Mondays. I appreciate it. I know readers, who comment, do as well.

Although the word hope can mean little for some…I am hoping that this darkness that has been 2020 will bring us to light in 2021.

A ‘Merry’ Time with ‘Schitt’s Creek’

 

In 2018, during the week of Christmas, my blog topic [A Segue To Christmas: ‘SCTV’] featured videos from SCTV Network.  

As an early Christmas present for myself, I recently completed having viewed all episodes of the comedy series Schitt’s Creek.

It premiered on Pop TV in 2015 and ran for six seasons and concluded in 2020.

Created by father and son Eugene and Daniel Levy, the latter envisioned a series about characters who are wealthy but lose it all, or nearly all, and have to start over again. 

Schitt’s Creek is about the Rose family adjusting to their new life. They own this small town, called Schitt’s Creek, which the father bought for his son years ago as a joke. Well, the joke is on them.

Johnny Rose (Eugene Levy) is a former video store magnate who was defrauded by his business partner. His wife, Moira (Catherine O’Hara), is a former soap-opera actress who is wanting her star to shine again. Their adult children, David (Daniel Levy) and Alexis (Annie Murphy), are looking to branch out independently. 

The Roses are reduced to living in a motel run by its clerk Stevie Budd (Emily Hampshire). 

The Roses—especially the parents—are often challenged by mayor Roland (Chris Elliott) and his teacher wife Jocelyn Schitt (Jennifer Robertson).

Along the way, the adult children do find romantic partners—for David, it is business partner Patrick Brewer (Noah Reid); for Alexis, it is veterinarian Ted Mullins (Daniel Milligan)—and they may or may not be enough.

The first two seasons take their time developing. And the characters, and their stories, grow very nicely as Schitt’s Creek soars.

One of my favorite scenes has Johnny and Moira having dinner with old friends. The friends disparage Schitt’s Creek for being lowly, backward, and unworthy. But Johnny, with having an epiphany, speaks of how these old friends abandoned them yet the people of this small town have been there for the Roses since they arrived. It is a nice moment that speaks to one being able to recognize who are his true friends.

Schitt’s Creek did not catch on right away. What catapulted it were repeats made available for streaming on Netflix. (Yes, I streamed the episodes from Netflix.) The fifth season garnered key Emmy nominations, for the 2018–19 television season, for Outstanding Comedy Series, Lead Actor Eugene Levy, and Lead Actress Catherine O’Hara. (Winners were Amazon Prime Video’s Fleabag and its star Phoebe Waller–Bridge and Bill Hader of HBO’s Barry.) But with its sixth and final season, the 2019–20 television season, Schitt’s Creek became the first regular television season to win for all four series-regular performance categories (Lead Actor Levy; Lead Actress O’Hara; Supporting Actor Levy; Supporting Actress Murphy) along with Series, Directing, and Writing. (Daniel became the first to win for performance, Directing, Writing, and as co-producer for Series.)

Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara also won Emmys, as writers, for SCTV Network. Eugene, 74, and Catherine, 66, have been two of the most daring comedic actors of the last four decades.And they are terrific once again on Schitt’s Creek. One can tell, with this series, why the two—along with Eugene’s son Daniel Levy, 37, and Annie Murphy, 34—were prized. Schitt’s Creek is fresh and funny.

Although I cannot assume all readers of Progressives Chat recognize and observe Christmas, I want everyone to have a safe and enjoyable holiday period.

‘In the End We Will All Pay for the Cowardice of the Liberal Class’

Last week, Jimmy Dore suggested—make that urged—his viewers, and really all true progressives, to contact the supposedly true progressive members of the Democratic-majority United States House of Representatives. This includes, of course, New York’s Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez and Minnesota’s Ilhan Omar. 

With the post-2020 Democrats heading into the next Congress with 222 seats—it takes 218 for majority—the supposedly true progressives can use their numbers to prevent California’s Nancy Pelosi from winning re-election as speaker if she does not, at the very least, bring to the floor of the U.S. House a vote on Medicare for All.

I support this move. 

I support it because it is, as Dore describes, leverage. 

I support it because these so-called true progressives should be using their leverage if Pelosi wants to continue as speaker. 

I support it because these supposedly true progressives have gone on the record saying they support and want Medicare for All. 

I support this move because these so-called true progressives should be revealing themselves for just how serious they are when they said they support and want Medicare for All.

I am ready for these so-called true progressives in the U.S. House to use their leverage.

If they don’t use their leverage, they can be included among the cowards in the “Liberal Class” as described by Chris Hedges in his piece that is this week’s blog topic. (Its link: In the End We Will All Pay for the Cowardice of the Liberal Class.)

‘America Closes Down—People Get Shafted As Monopolies Take Over!’

Jimmy Dore addresses the trajectory of shutdowns of restaurants, as one example, and how the CARES Act set it in motion to what we are lately seeing play out.

‘Glenn Greenwald—The Complete Interview!’

Jimmy Dore recently interviewed Glenn Greenwald on a number of topics which includes the attorney’s and journalist’s recent exit from The Intercept.

Happy Thanksgiving 2020!

May it be a safe and pleasant holiday for all here at Progressives Chat.

The State of Ohio: A Bellwether No More

For the first time since 1960, the state of Ohio did not vote with the winner of the recent 2020 United States presidential election.

I was born in 1971.

During my lifetime, prior to 2020, the only state carried by all presidential winners in that period was Ohio.

Ohio voted with the winners of Elections 1964 to 2016. 

This was a period of 52 years and 14 consecutive cycles.

The 2016 result had many sensing Ohio was on the verge of ending its bellwether status. It was a Republican pickup for Donald Trump by +8.07 percentage points while he lost the U.S. Popular Vote by –2.09. So, it was 10.16 points more Republican than the nation. But, had Trump won the U.S. Popular Vote, I estimate his margin would have between +2.15 to +2.64, so that adjustment made Ohio more like +5.43 to +5.92 points more Republican.

The 2020 results make it more clear. The margin in Ohio was similar—over +8 points. But, with a Democratic pickup of the presidency to Joe Biden with a national margin of +3 or +4, Ohio voted +11 or +12 points more Republican than the nation.

Since 1968, every time the White House switched parties, a Republican or a Democratic pickup winner won over to his party at least one state which has since not voted for the party which lost it.

Here were those applicable:

• 1968 Republican pickup winner Richard Nixon: *Alaska, Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska [statewide], North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. (Alaska first voted in 1960. It carried Democratic just once—specifically for 1964 Lyndon Johnson.)

• 1976 Democratic pickup winner Jimmy Carter: Minnesota.

• 1980 Republican pickup winner Ronald Reagan: Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas.

• 1992 Democratic pickup winner Bill Clinton: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine [statewide], Maryland, New Jersey, and Vermont.

• 2000 Republican pickup winner George W. Bush: Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

• 2008 Democratic pickup winner Barack Obama: Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Virginia. 

• 2016 Republican pickup winner Donald Trump: Florida, Iowa, and Ohio. (Also a pickup: non-state Maine’s 2nd Congressional District.)

The 2020 Democratic pickups for Joe Biden are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. (Also a pickup: non-state Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District.)

It is too soon to say anything about the 2020 Democratic pickups. But, my feeling is that the Rust Belt trio are now the best bellwether states. That the next time the White House switches from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party, those three will flip and carry. So, it may be that, with Election 2020, Arizona and Georgia will have realigned to the Democrats.

We have yet to find out if any of the 2016 Republican pickups, which did not flip as 2020 Democratic pickups, can be won back. I consider Florida as feasible. (Unseated Trump held it by +3 points while he lost nationally by the roughly the same.) But, I am writing off Iowa (with a similar margin as the Buckeye State). And that brings me to even more about Ohio.

Ohio was on an incredible streak: 14 consecutive cycles. Historically, the record belongs to both Nevada and New Mexico. Since the latter first voted in 1912, the year it was admitted into the union as the 47th state, the two voted with all winners for the next 60 years until 1972. During that period, Nevada and New Mexico voted with all winners in 16 consecutive cycles. So, a 2020 Ohio was facing the following possibilities: make it 15 in a row; match the record; surpass the record; or end its streak.

It may be refreshing to no longer defer to Ohio as the leading influence in U.S. presidential elections. Nothing goes on forever. We have had other bellwethers. California and Illinois voted for 22 and 23 of the 25 winners of the 20th century. Missouri voted for all winners, except in 1956, from 1904 to 2004. Tennessee voted with all winners, except in 1924 and 1960, from 1912 to 2004. And there are the pair Nevada and New Mexico. After so long, they dropped off—and they ended up realigning to one of the two major political parties. And, so, as Ohio goes…so goes the nation [no more].

Responding to Election 2020

Last week’s 2020 presidential election—the 59th in the history of the United States—turned out to be a result of Democratic challenger Joe Biden having unseated Republican incumbent Donald Trump.

Biden held the 2016 map for the Democrats—with carriage of 20 states, District of Columbia, and 232 electoral votes—and won pickups of the three Rust Belt bellwethers Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania along with Arizona and Georgia and Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District. (By this publication’s date some projected Arizona while none have projected Georgia.) Biden will likely end up with 25 states, plus Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District (area of Omaha), District of Columbia, and 306 electoral votes. (That was the original electoral-vote score for 2016 Republican pickup winner Trump.)

So, it is time to give a breakdown of what I observed.

Polls Failure

In my predictions, I thought Joe Biden would win the U.S. Popular Vote by +9 with carriage of 30 states. Formula is to take the percentage-points margin, in the U.S. Popular Vote, and add +21 or +22 for the amount of carried states. With exception of 1992, prevailing Democrats have been on that pattern since 1960. But, with the results not complete, it turns out Biden will probably win the U.S. Popular Vote by either +3 or +4 with carriage of 25 states. So, the formula sticks. But what stinks is the polling. I am not in the business of polling. Clearly some of those who are may not be well-suited. The narrative was a Democratic landslide—possibly up to 30 states and 413 electoral votes—but instead there will be five less states and 107 fewer electoral votes. This also means that 2020 Democratic wave was not enough to deliver the U.S. Senate. (Well, unless the two runoff races in Georgia see the Democrats win pickups to get the upper chamber’s numbers to 50-vs.-50.) It is no wonder people do not trust polls.

Trump Threatens to Sue

Donald Trump wants to sue for losing three Top 10 populous states—which would bring him down from having carried seven in 2016 to four in 2020—along with the other two states ranking in the Top 20 and a congressional district. Is anyone, who is not usually fooled into believing everything said or reported, taking this seriously? Trump is our nation’s first troll president. Come January 20, 2021, at 12:00 p.m. ET, is the beginning of the next presidential period. True if it were to be a second term for Trump. True with it becoming a first term for Biden. Trump will be out of the White House whether or not he minds.

Democrats Lose Seats in the U.S. House

Yes. In 2018, when they won a majority pickup of the U.S. House, the Democrats won the U.S. Popular Vote by +8.56. (It was Democratic 53.41% vs. Republican 44.85%.) Not matching that national margin (it has yet to be determined but is likely close to the presidential national margin) means the 2020 Democrats did not gain seats, as they could have with a presidential U.S. Popular Vote of +9, but that the overall net gains were won by the Republicans. So, numerous corporate freshman from the Class of 2018 are out, including Clinton cabinet member Donna Shalala of Florida #27. 

A Sense of Underwhelming

The Democratic Wave turned out to be a Moderate Blue Wave. Yes—it was sufficient. But, other than the electoral results, I don’t find it impressive. I find it underwhelming. Republican incumbent Trump, for having presided over COVID–19, should have been landslided out of office. Then again, Democratic nominee Joe Biden is underwhelming. Strangely, the results are more understandable—that the Democrats are not truly the answer—and, so, that is why I am underwhelmed.

Wise Choice

I am satisfied with my decision to not vote in the 2020 United States presidential election. Trump and Biden are terrible. The Green Party nomination was rigged. And I wasn’t focused, due to personal reasons, on for whom else I could write-in vote. This Wise Choice is actually a relatable choice. Plenty of voting-eligible U.S. citizens refrain from voting. It is due to an unworthiness of the candidates and a corrupt and alienating political system. So, it is very understandable.

Election 2020 Week … ‘The Billionaires’ Duopoly Wins on Tuesday’

As originally planned, “Election 2020 Week” is meant to cover Election Day and Election Night

I encourage readers of Progressives Chat to comment on any part of the general election.

(I do not know how much I will participate.)

In the meantime, here is a recommended piece by Black Agenda Report’s Glen Ford:

The Billionaires’ Duopoly Wins on Tuesday

Election 2020: Final Predictions

 

“Election 2020: Final Predictions” can be summed up as follows: The Democrats Will Win the Trifecta. 

This means Democratic pickups for U.S. President—with Joe Biden unseating Donald Trump (who will become the 11th such in our nation’s history)—along with new majority control of the U.S. Senate. The U.S. House is already in the column for the Democrats, a majority pickup in the midterm elections of 2018, so it adds up. COVID–19. On the watch of Trump. Democratic Wave. A trifecta.

The top map is for U.S. President. Estimate: Joe Biden 54% vs. Donald Trump 45%. A 9-point margin in the U.S. Popular Vote. Carriage of 30 states (up from the 2016 result of 20 states), with net gains of +10 states and two congressional districts—Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District and Maine’s 2nd Congressional District—all appearing in light blue, and a total of 413 electoral votes (up from the 2016 result of a mathematical 232 electoral votes). 

The above map is for U.S. Senate. Current status: Republican 53 vs. Democratic 47. I am predicting the Democrats will end up with 54 seats. A net gain of +7. Republicans win a pickup of normally Republican-aligned Alabama. (Hence, the use of light red.) That adjusts it to: Republican 54 vs. Democratic 46. The Democrats will flip the U.S. Senate by winning counter-pickups of +8 seats. So, that is why the net gain will be: Democratic +7. 

No map is given for U.S. House. Format here is not friendly for getting a good look at the nation’s 435 individual congressional districts. I estimate the Democrats will win a net gain of around +10 seats. (The U.S. Popular Vote for U.S. House will be close to that of U.S. President.) The state most prominent will be Texas. Donald Trump carried it, in 2016, by +800k-plus votes. For that raw-vote margin to get reduced so significantly means there will be state Republican-held seats which will flip Democratic. 

I will make one more prediction: Joe Biden will not be a good U.S. president. 

The blog topic next week, Monday, November 2, 2020, will simply be titled “2020 Election Week.” I don’t know what my availability will be at the time. But, it may be used as a thread for readers to comment on Election Day and Election Night.

Companion States

We are now two weeks from the Election Day scheduled for Tuesday, November 3, 2020.

The Democrats, who are heavily favored to win back the presidency of the United States, have a potential to flip nearly or, in fact, ten states. (There is also potential for an eleventh.) 

The ten states, in my estimated order, are (* 2016 Republican pickup): * Michigan; * Pennsylvania; * Wisconsin (tipping-point state from 2016); Arizona; * Florida; non-state Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District; North Carolina; Georgia; * Iowa; non-state * Maine’s 2nd Congressional District; * Ohio; Texas; and, if reaching an eleventh pickup, South Carolina. (The Palmetto State, while this may be surprising to some, reportedly has its U.S. Senate race in Tossup. Source: South Carolina Senate Moves To [Tossup]. And I don’t think the winner of that race will finish dramatically higher in margin than the presidential candidate who carries the state. This is with a scenario of a same-party outcome for both races.)

A number of these would-be pickup states are not very surprising. They have a pattern: A pair here and there which have voted alike over a long period of time. I call them Companion States. This is not a thorough history (certainly to not include every state), and I am not tracing them all back to their first presidential-election year of having voted. I chose to cite a good number of states which do stand out historically. The above map shows a color-coding for particular pairs followed by, below, their details.

* * * * *

Elections 2016 and 2020—Key States

✔ Pennsylvania and Michigan. Since the Republicans first won the presidency of the United States with Abraham Lincoln, the two states have carried the same in all but three elections (1932, 1940, and 1976) since 1860. When they disagreed twice in the 1930s and 1940s, Democrat Franklin Roosevelt carried both in three of his four elections—at a time when the Democrats’ base was in the South and the Republicans’ base was in the North—with their occurrences (not voting with the winner) timed differently: Pennsylvania was one of six states which backed unseated Herbert Hoover; Michigan flipped and carried for Wendell Wilkie of neighboring Indiana. In 1976, Michigan was home state for the Republican incumbent U.S. president (who carried his home state while he became unseated)—and Pennsylvania flipped for the Democratic challenger and pickup winner. They aligned in 37 of the last 40 cycles for 92.50 percent.

✔ Wisconsin and Iowa. With exceptions in 1976 and 2004, the two states carried the same since 1944. When they voted differently in 1976 and 2004—both times Iowa carried Republican (1976 unseated Gerald Ford; 2004 re-elected George W. Bush) while Wisconsin carried Democratic (1976 pickup winner Jimmy Carter; 2004 nominee John Kerry)—their margins spread were only 2.68 and 1.05 percentage points. They aligned in 17 of the last 19 cycles for 89.47 percent. 

✔ Florida and Ohio. The latter has been on bellwether status since 1896 (not siding with the winners in 1944 and 1960). The former has been on bellwether status since 1928 (not siding with the Democratic presidential pickup winners in 1960 and 1992). The two bellwether states carried the same in all cycles with exceptions of 1944 and 1992 since 1928. They aligned in 21 of the last 23 cycles for 91.30 percent.

Those were the 2016 Republican pickups states for Donald Trump. The following pairs are 2012-to-2016 Republican holds which are susceptible to becoming 2020 Democratic pickups:

✔ Georgia and Arizona. The two states do not have an impressively long-term alignment. (Since 1984, they carried the same in 7 of 9 cycles for 77.77 percent.) But, since 1988, their margins were within five percentage points in spread in all cycles except 2000 and 2004. They carried differently in 1992 and 1996: Bill Clinton flipped Georgia in 1992; he lost it (to Bob Dole) in 1996; and, with re-election, Clinton counter-flipped Arizona (after it was in the column for unseated George Bush in 1992). Yet, in those two cycles of carrying and coloring differently, they were less than five points in spread. Since 1988, their margins spread were: 0.96, 2.54, 3.40, 5.41, 6.16, 3.28, 1.23, and 1.60 percentage points. Average, over those 8 cycles, was 3.07 percentage points in margins spread. This makes it more likely the two vote the same again here in 2020.

✔ Texas and North Carolina. The two states have voted the same, with exception of 2008, since 1972. They aligned in 11 of the last 12 cycles for 91.66 percent.

✔ Texas and South Carolina. The two states have voted the same in all of the 12 last cycles of 1972 to 2016 for 100 percent.

✔ Texas and the Carolinas. South is closer to Texas with respect for margins and rank. In 2008, 2012, and 2016, they performed 2.79, 5.31, and 5.49 points in spread. And they were two states apart in rank in 2016. (South Carolina and Texas were Donald Trump’s Nos. 20 and 22 best states, making Texas and South Carolina Hillary Clinton’s Nos. 29 and 31 best states.) And it is anticipated, for the 2020 Democrats, Texas and South Carolina will be their Nos. 30 and 31 best states. (North Carolina, which is not colored on the above map, will probably come in at No. 26. Since 1992, presidential winners carried an average 29 states with the range between 26 and 32.)

Election 2020: Non-Key States

There are other pairs of states with longterm likeness in their voting. They are not considered instrumental in deciding Election 2020. They are aligned with either major party; which is why I color-coded them in warm or cool colors; avoiding today’s red-vs.-blue paradigm but logically keeping in mind red is a warm and blue is a cool color as to slyly indicate their current party-preferred alignment. They are also worthy of note as Companion States.

✔ California and Illinois. With exception of 1960 Democratic pickup winner John Kennedy—who narrowly flipped the latter while narrowly missing the former—they aligned in 24 of the last 25 cycles (dating back to 1920) for 96 percent.

✔ New York and Massachusetts. Since 1932, with exceptions in 1948 and 1972 (when the latter was the only state to carry for losing Democrat George McGovern; the former carried Republican both times), they aligned in 20 of the last 22 cycles for 90.90 percent.

✔ Washington and Oregon. Since 1920, with exceptions of 1948 and 1968 (the former carried Democratic while the latter carried Republican both times), they aligned in 23 of the last 25 cycles for 92 percent.

✔ Virginia and Colorado. Since 1948, with exception of 1992 (when the former sided with unseated Republican incumbent George Bush while the latter flipped for Democratic challenger and pickup winner Bill Clinton), they aligned in 17 of the last 18 cycles for 94.44 percent.

✔ Tennessee and Kentucky. The former (a little more so than the latter) was a bellwether state, siding with all but two presidential winners (in 1924 and 1960), from 1912 to 2004. Since 1900, with exceptions of 1920, 1924, and 1952, they aligned in 27 of the last 30 cycles for 90 percent.

✔ Indiana and Missouri. Like the above Georgia and Arizona, this pair does not have a longterm likeness. But, beginning in 2008, even in that Democratic pickup year when they carried differently (Indiana was a Democratic pickup for Barack Obama while Missouri lost its bellwether status siding with losing Republican John McCain), their margins spread were incredibly close to each other: 1.16, 0.84, and 0.50.

✔ Alabama and Mississippi. Since their first vote in 1820, the two disagreed only in 1840 and 1960. They seceded from the Union and did not vote in 1864 (Alabama) and 1868 (Mississippi, both elections). Discounting the two cycles, and also setting aside 1960 (when Harry Byrd, not an official candidate, won the popular vote in Mississippi), they aligned in 46 of 47 cycles for 97.87 percent.

✔ Nevada and New Mexico. Since the latter joined the union and first voted in 1912, they disagreed only in 2000 (when New Mexico barely carried for U.S. Popular Vote winner Al Gore and Nevada barely flipped and carried for Republican pickup winner George W. Bush). They aligned in 26 of the last 27 cycles for 96.29 percent.

✔ Hawaii and Rhode Island. Since the former joined the union and voted for the first time in 1960, they aligned in all of the last 15 cycles—Democratic every time except for the 49-state re-elections of 1972 Richard Nixon and 1984 Ronald Reagan—for 100 percent.

On the Ballot

In late-September 2020, I received my general-election ballot, with respect to my specific location of residence, in my home state of Michigan. 

On the Ballot, for U.S. President, are: Democrat Joe Biden; Republican incumbent Donald Trump; Libertarian Jo Jorgensen; U.S. Taxpayers’s Don Blankenship; Green’s Howie Hawkins; and Natural Law’s Rocky De La Fuente. (For the first time that I can remember, during my adult life, the Democrats are on the first line; it used to be the Republicans. I mentioned them in their listed order.)

There is a line below those listed that is blank. That would be for Write-In.

There is nothing for, say, Party of Socialism and Liberation nominee Gloria La Riva. (Her website says she is on the ballot in 15 states and is a Write-In candidate in 13, neither of which applies to Michigan. Source: Gloria La Riva.)

With three weeks until the scheduled date of the general election, which is Tuesday, November 3, 2020, I don’t know exactly for whom I will vote. I don’t know, for certain, if I will vote. I do know that none of those listed for U.S. President will receive my vote. This especially means I will not vote for either of the two major U.S. political parties—neither represents me—in any race in which they are On the Ballot.

Due to COVID–19, I consider 2020 to be a Lost Year.

This Lost Year is also greatly applicable to the 2020 United States presidential election.

Regarding Donald Trump with COVID–19…

Last Friday [October 2, 2020], news hit that U.S. president Donald Trump has been diagnosed with COVID–19. (The above picture is Trump, from last Friday, have been taken by helicopter to Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.)

Melania Trump has also received the diagnosis.

Three Republican U.S. senators were also diagnosed: Utah’s Mike Lee, Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson and, as he is also on the 2020 schedule for possible re-election, North Carolina’s Thom Tillis.

Add to that list former New Jersey governor Chris Christie.

Same with Trump’s counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway.

There may be more to come. 

Progressives Chat readers are well-aware.

My reaction is that I simply wish that COVID–19 never happened in the first place. I do not want anyone getting it. I certainly never did. So, I am sorry this has happened to anyone. Generally, I am sorry.

I am not surprised. 

With an election coming up, four weeks from now, Trump has been rolling the dice on this pandemic crisis with an effort to electorally save himself and possibly eke out a bare re-election. And he basically told the nation’s people it isn’t so bad. That there is overreaction. Now, Trump has it.

Part of the reason why I am not overcome with emotion for Trump and these Republicans—and why I would not feel greatly upset if it were so with Joe Biden and the likewise power players in the Democratic Party—is that they will be taken care of by The People. Both Trump and Biden—and their political parties—have in common making sure The People are not taken care of in this pandemic with Medicare for All. (Now, more than ever before, we need Medicare for All.) So, they are protected. We are not.

I did not timely respond, in the Comments section from last Friday, because I felt no urgency to do so. We are in a period where the presidency of the United States—really, who and what represents in U.S. politics—is at an absolute low. So, I don’t feel compelled to become greatly concerned for them.

When the Democrats Step In It…They ‘Step’ In It

The September 18, 2020 death of U.S. Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, from cancer at age 87, has the Democrats in the position of supposedly trying to stop the Republicans—who hold majority control of the U.S. Senate—from getting through U.S. president Donald Trump’s nominated replacement, from the Seventh Circuit of Court Appeals and South Bend, Indiana, Amy Coney Barrett.

For those who are perhaps impressionable, this is a big election issue. 

I don’t think it is. 

COVID–19 is the top issue. 

Contrary to what the Democrats routinely pedal, the U.S. Supreme Court is not most urgent in the minds of all voters. 

Here in 2020, surviving COVID–19 has most everyone concerned and focused.

I find myself not giving a shit about the U.S. Supreme Court. There is no reason. The Democrats don’t care. Yes, they give lip service to caring. They use bringing up the fate of the Supreme Court to motivate fearful people—those who normally lean to their so-called political party—to vote for them in presidential elections. It is tied in with their contrived message, “This is the most important election of our lifetime,” as the Democrats promised in 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016 and, as it is pending, 2020.

I harken back to 2009 or 2010. This was the first year or so of the presidency of Barack Obama. The Democrats won their presidential pickup, with Obama, in 2008. During that period, Ruth Bader Ginsburg had already been diagnosed with cancer. One comment came from Jim Bunning. This was the former MLB pitcher who became a politician and a Republican U.S. senator from Kentucky. Bunning was told by a future majority leader and fellow Kentuckian Mitch McConnell to not run for possible re-election, in 2010, because Bunning barely prevailed in 2004 and was personally unpopular in their state. Bunning opted for retirement. His successor turned out to be Rand Paul. While he was still in the U.S. Senate, Bunning speculated that Ginsburg would step down from the U.S. Supreme Court because she was struggling to stay alive. Well, he was wrong on two counts: She did not step down. And her struggle to stay alive resulted in Ginsburg having outlived Bunning (who died in 2017). But there was some wisdom in what was mentioned by Bunning: Ginsburg should have stepped down.

Had Ruth Bader Ginsburg stepped down a good ten years ago, during the presidency of Barack Obama, and while the Democrats held majorities in both houses of Congress (the Republicans flipped the U.S. Senate with the midterm elections of 2014), the Democrats would not be in their position here in 2020.

I don’t take pleasure in the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. (Certainly not. Not at all.)

I don’t sympathize with the Democrats. (Certainly not this so-called political party in its current form.)

The Democrats are, No. 1, screwing over the actual left of this country.

The Democrats are also, No. 2, screwing over themselves with their sheer political stupidity with this 2010-vs-2020 example of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 

The Democrats are, No. 3, wanting people who would normally lean toward them to “Vote Blue No Matter Who” after the corrupt, corporate party establishment—especially its previous U.S. president—screwed them once again with rigging the 2020 presidential nomination for a candidate who opposes [the actual progressives’] agenda.

I don’t think this is difficult to understand.

The main differences between the Republican and the Democratic parties are their brands.

The key difference between the Republicans and the Democrats, for how they operate, is this simple: The Republicans stab you in your gut. The Democrats stab you in your back.

What is amusing about this situation is a reminder, for those who need it, and for those who don’t want to be reminded, that When the Democrats Step In It…They Step In It.

An Anniversary with Change

This Friday, September 25, 2020, marks the three-year anniversary of Progressives Chat.

This blog site was created, and with the help of cathyx, in the aftermath of The Far Left Chat having ended at some point during September 2017.

In the early period of Progressives Chat, I published blog topics five days per week, which included ones on Fridays titled “Open Weekend.”

I later reduced blog topics to three days per week.

Afterward, I brought them down to two days per week.

Last month, it was suggested by cathyx—and the comment received a consensus of Likes—that publishing a blog topic [thread] just once per week may be better for Progressives Chat.

I agree.

In fact, I thought of making this change effective with the start of 2021. (That would have been the date of January 4, 2021.) But, timing it with the beginning of this month, September 2020, also works with respect to this anniversary.

A concern I did have was a second issue, happening in a given week, which may be necessary for its own blog topic. I realize the solution is to maintain one thread which is in effect for the period of one week. And if anything more comes up, I will revise that applicable week’s blog topic by adding an entry. In such case, I will note the date and time of an addition.

The weeklong blog topics from Mondays, August 31 as well as September 7 and 14, 2020 should be considered a segue to making this move. August 31 (“Election 2020: Two Months Out”) was timed closely with both its topic as well as the beginning of September and Labor Day on September 7, 2020. (Memorial Day and Labor Day have people normally often thinking of Holiday Weekends. The extended time. For those who still get that.) And then there was last week’s blog topic—on the television-premiere anniversaries of two classic sitcoms (CBS’s The Mary Tyler Moore Show and NBC’s The Golden Girls)—to further help with the timing of this “An Anniversary with Change” for Progressives Chat.

We can take this current month, September 2020, and note it as the beginning of Progressives Chat having switched to a regular schedule of one blog topic thread per week.

The regular posting schedule will continue to be on Mondays at 06:00 a.m. ET. 

‘Mary Tyler Moore’ and ‘Golden Girls’

It was 50 years ago this week which marked the premiere of the groundbreaking CBS comedy series The Mary Tyler Moore Show. 

Saturday, September 19, 1970.

It was 35 years ago on this blog’s publishing date which marked the debut of another timely situation comedy series, NBC’s The Golden Girls. 

Saturday, September 14, 1985.

I was born in 1971. I could not at such a young age watch The Mary Tyler Moore Show, with it being able to resonate for me, because I was too young. It went off the air in 1977. So, I played some catchup on TBS, in 1985, and was more focused when Nickelodeon’s Nick at Nite premiered the classic in 1992.

I was there for The Golden Girls when it premiered. I was 14. I was newly in high school. The series carried for me—meaning, I followed it regularly—throughout the rest of those years.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show ran seven seasons, with its finale on March 19, 1977.

The Golden Girls also ran seven years, with its finale on May 9, 1992, before CBS picked it up, re-titled it The Golden Palace, sans one of its stars, and broadcast it during the 1992–93 season.

They were both socially relevant. 

Mary Richards, a competent single woman of age 30, found a career and a lively personal life which included important friendships in 1970s Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

The three females leads—divorcée Dorothy Zbornak and widows Rose Nylund and Blanche Deveraux; along Dorothy’s 80-year-old widowed mother Sophia Petrillo—shared living expenses in a house in 1980s Miami, Florida.

The casts were remarkable. Mary Tyler Moore—along with the star herself—was aided by superb cast mates Edward Asner, Valerie Harper, Gavin MacLeod, Ted Knight, Cloris Leachman, John Amos, Georgia Engel, and Betty White. And White was likewise golden on that other Golden sitcom, with her and fellow leads Beatrice Arthur and Rue McClanahan backed in support by a sublime Estelle Getty.

Both series won their share of Emmys, with The Mary Tyler Moore Show winning the top Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series in each of its last three seasons (1975, 1976, and 1977) and The Golden Girls winning that top prize in each of its first two seasons (1986 and 1987).

I nowadays don’t watch the current era’s television comedies, certainly not as much as I did in the past, because I really don’t make a point of following too many television series from any genre. And, frankly, I am not young. I like not giving so much of my time to watching many television series on a regular basis. These two series brought intelligence to the genre. They elevated the medium.

Here are five memorable episodes each from both series (listed in the order of their broadcast):

The Mary Tyler Moore Show

“Love Is All Around [‘Pilot’]” (S01E01; 09.19.1970)—Mary’s move to Minneapolis, Minnesota includes apparent obstacles in a cranky new boss, Lou, and a combatant neighbor, Rhoda.

“The Lou and Edie Story” (S04E04; 10.06.1973)—Lou is devastated as his marriage to Edie (guest star Priscilla Morrill) is ending and, despite his efforts, she wants a separation.

“Will Mary Richards Go to Jail?” (S05E01; 09.14.1974)—Mary has an anonymous source she refuses to reveal.

📺 “Chuckles Bites the Dust” (S06E07; 10.25.1975)—After WJM’s Chuckles the Clown is killed in a strange accident, Mary is appalled by the behavior of her co-workers.

“The Last Show” (S07E24; 03.19.1977)—With new management, everyone’s job is on the line. And the overall outcomes are sure to change the lives of employees Mary, Lou, Murray, Ted, and Sue Ann.

The Golden Girls

“The Engagement [‘Pilot’]” (S01E01; 09.14.1985)—Home owner Blanche rushes to marry a man she shouldn’t trust, and Dorothy juggles between her mother Sophia’s arrival and Rose protecting Blanche.

“A Little Romance” (S01E12; 12.07.1985)—Rose is challenged by prejudice in her relationship with a short and kind man (guest star Brent Collins).

“Isn’t It Romantic?” (S02E05; 11.08.1986)—Following the arrival of Dorothy’s recently widowed friend, Jean (guest star Lois Nettleton), a complication happens.

📺 “Twas the Nightmare Before Christmas” (S02E11; 12.20.1986)—The Girls have plans to go away for Christmas; they exchange gifts (most memorable comes from Blanche); and they suffer mishaps. 

“Old Friends” (S03E01; 09.19.1987)—A new and unexpected friendship develops between Sophia and a likewise blunt Alvin (guest star Joe Seneca).

Here are two videos—one scene each—from The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Golden Girls:

Labor Day Week

I wish everyone a pleasant and safe Labor Day.

Election 2020: Two Months Out

With this blog topic published Monday, August 31, 2020, one day before the beginning of September, we are at a point that is good enough to say we are two months from the general election that is scheduled for Tuesday, November 3, 2020.

I perceive no change in the status of the race of which I had previously written and published. Oh, sure—there are some people saying the race is tightening. But, I have looked at the polls from those indicating it is “tightening” and they report national margins that are Democratic +4 or +5. 

The problem: Even though I haven’t lately monitored state-to-state polls, in recent times the indication is that Republican incumbent U.S. president Donald Trump is underperforming possibly everywhere. In presidential elections which switch the White House party, there are typically more than 40 states which shift away from the incumbent and toward to the opposition party. (1980 Republican pickup winner Ronald Reagan, 1992 Democratic pickup winner Bill Clinton, and 2000 Republican pickup winner George W. Bush each saw 49 states shifted their prior presidential-election margins in their direction.) In Trump’s case, all 50 states may shift their 2016-to-2020 margins away from him and toward Democratic nominee Joe Biden. (That actually happened with 1976 Democratic pickup winner Jimmy Carter.)

In the Top 10 populous states, a 2016 Donald Trump carried seven. Three were 2016 Republican holds. Four were 2016 Republican pickups. In the 2012-to-2016 Republican states—Texas, Georgia, and North Carolina—he carried them by a collective +1.25 million or more raw votes. And he may lose them all. (Texas is his best potential narrow hold here in 2020.) In the 2012-to-2016 Democratic-to-Republican pickups—Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan—he carried them by a collective 600,000 or more raw votes. He may lose them all. (Ohio is his best potential narrow hold here in 2020.) These are 7 of the 30 states he carried. 54 percent of the nation’s people live in a state which ranks among the Top 10. (This includes me.) For those living in a state with ranks among the Top 20—New Jersey, Virginia, Washington, Arizona, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Indiana, Missouri, Maryland, and Wisconsin—they comprise 75 percent of the nation’s residents. And Trump—who in 2016 also carried Arizona, Tennessee, Indiana, Missouri, and a Republican pickup of Wisconsin (that year’s tipping-point state)—he is underperforming in each of them as well, and is likely to lose Arizona and Wisconsin. So, a 2016 Trump carried 12 of the nation’s Top 20 populous states. Here in 2020, polling for Trump shows him underperforming in all of them. (Note: It has been said, many times, that no Republican has won the presidency without carrying Ohio. Well, for states 100 years or more in age—and this is also applicable to North Dakota—this is also true with Arizona.)

My point is that these numbers—these shifts—tend to add up faster than some people realize. In 2016, Donald Trump’s Republican pickup of the presidency did not include the U.S. Popular Vote. His raw-vote margin was –2.8 million. His percentage-points margin was –2.09. So, for 2016 losing Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, her margins were +2.8 million (raw votes) and +2.09 (percentage points). It would not be surprising, with a 2020 Democratic pickup of the presidency, from 140 million votes cast (up from the 138 million in 2016), to see the raw-vote margin hit +10 million with a percentage-points margin in the high single-digits (perhaps even +10).

Election 2020 is shaping up to become a Democratic wave—pickups for U.S. President and majority-control of the U.S. Senate, and a party hold for U.S. House—and it is a matter of estimating (some would prefer to use the word guessing) the percentage-points margin. They help to determine states count. I think 2020 Democratic nominee Joe Biden is liable to win with a margin between +8 to +10. (Meaning, I would estimate Donald Trump gets 44 or 45 percent. Joe Biden would receive 53 or 54 percent. In 2016, Trump received 45.93 to the 48.02 percent for Hillary Clinton.) Given this period’s electoral structure, and that since 1960 (except 1992 Bill Clinton) prevailing Democrats tend to carry +21 or +22 states in excess of their percentage-points margin in the U.S. Popular Vote, this would indicate carriage of 29 to 32 states. (In 2016, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton carried 20 states.) Very possibly this could result in carriage of all of the nation’s Top 10 populous states. (Which is rare.) And this would be in line with an ongoing pattern since 1992. That presidential winners have averaged 29 carried states. The range has been 26 to 32 carried states.

Republican incumbent Donald Trump is in position to become the eleventh unseated president in United States history, with what would become a Democratic pickup of the presidency for Joe Biden, due to COVID–19. This pandemic crisis, particularly here in the United States, is the focus of the people. The voting electorate. COVID–19 will make election of Biden happen. And for those who are wanting Trump out, COVID–19 is what will make that happen. 

I am not supportive of Joe Biden. I will not vote for him. But, I am one who likes to be aware, for as much as I can ask myself to be, and no matter how I may think and/or feel, of what is likely to happen.

In an early-August 2020 report in New York Times, Allan Licthman, a professor known for being accurate since the 1980s and for his book The Keys to the White House, went ahead and predicted Joe Biden will unseat Donald Trump. (Warning: There is a paywall.)

He Predicted Trump’s Win in 2016. Now He’s Ready to Call 2020.

There is something more I want to mention.

At another discussion site, a person asked, What can Trump do to prevent losing? I wrote, “Medicare for All.” (I wanted to make my answer short and direct.) Due to the fact that this was not at a site exclusively for people of one particular political ideology, my suggestion received no response. But, there was one person who later wrote and posted that what would help Trump is if he were to tweet less on Twitter.

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In the meantime, I want to share another excellent piece by Black Agenda Report’s Glen Ford. It was published last Thursday, August 27, 2020. I think Progressives Chat readers may appreciate it.

Biden Offers Nothing But More War, Austerity and White Supremacy – Without Trump

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Note to Readers: Given the fact that Progressives Chat blog topic threads will now run a full week, we do have a holiday weekend coming up. Labor Day Weekend. May it be a safe and pleasant one for us all.

Darling Lily

Emmy, Tony, and Grammy winner Lily Tomlin turns 81 next Tuesday.

She was born September 1, 1939, in Detroit, Michigan.

Lily Tomlin—who has been married to longtime collaborator Jane Wagner since 2013—has experienced, over the last several years, a career resurgence. This includes Tomlin’s Emmy nominated work on Netflix’s Grace and Frankie—also starring Jane Fonda, Martin Sheen, and Sam Waterston—and she came close to a 2015 Oscar nomination for her performance in Grandma. (Tomlin received a 1975 nomination for Robert Altman’s groundbreaking Nashville.) In 2014, Tomlin was one of the Kennedy Center honorees.

I was thinking of a political comment by Tomlin, which I heard a good forty years ago, which has stayed in my memory after all this time. But, before I quote it, there are more insights by Tomlin which are also worthy.

“Just remember—we’re all in this alone.”

“After all…in private, we’re all misfits.”

“Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.”

“Reality is the leading cause of stress among those in touch with it.”

 — A joke about her relationship with her mother… —

“When I was growing up, my mother told me a lot of things which later turned out not to be true. She told me: … The men in Washington wouldn’t be there if they didn’t know what they were doing.”

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Note to Readers: Beginning next week, on Monday, August 31, 2020, at 06:00 a.m. ET, Progressives Chat blog topic threads will run for a full week. I will address this in the September 21 Progressives Chat.

The 2020 Democratic Ticket for…‘Relief’

On Tuesday, August 11, 2020, it became official: Joe Biden chose Kamala Harris to be his 2020 vice-presidential running mate on the Democratic ticket.

Last week was the 2020 Democratic National Convention.

I did not watch the convention.

I did not timely write and publish my reaction to Biden selecting Harris.

Until now.

This blog topic is my belated reaction. (And, frankly, my delay is appropriate.) 

I may surprise readers.

I may not.

My reaction is…relief.

I am relieved the 2020 Democratic ticket will be Joe Biden, of Delaware, and Kamala Harris, of California, and I will explain why.

My last vote for the Democrats, in a general election, was the 2014 midterm elections. That was during the presidency of Democrat Barack Obama with the Republicans having won that year a majority-control pickup of the United States Senate.

I denied the Democrats after the DNC rigged the presidential primaries for Hillary Clinton in 2016.

I denied the Democrats after they likewise shoved more corporate Democrats in the primaries and, eventually, the general in the 2018 midterm elections. (They knew, based on historical voting pattern, they would be the party to win the overall gains in the midterm elections of 2018 off Republican incumbent U.S. president Donald Trump.)

Here in 2020, I will once again deny the Democrats even while they are favored to win—thanks to COVID–19—pickups for both U.S. President and U.S. Senate. 

Since 2016, the masks have come off the faces of the Democratic Party. It has also come off the faces of many of their self-identified Democratic voters. And, in its current form, I will not vote for Team Blue. I will not vote for it because they are not on the left, are not moderate, and are actually right-wing. 

I do not self-identify with the Democratic Party. I do not self-identify with either major U.S. political party. To self-identify means to take that on—that is, as a self-identified Republican or a self-identified Democrat—as part of one’s identity. It is pride for many who do self-identify. They are very proud. But, the funny thing is, in elections—especially U.S. President—won by one’s preferred party, the one question that stumps a Loyal Republican or Loyal Democrat is,“What, to be specific, did you win?” No matter the words they use, that Loyal Republican’s or Loyal Democrat’s answer—that one’s team color has the presidency (while the other political party does not)—is all they have. 

This ticket—Biden and Harris—is one by and for the rulers of the Democratic Party who are among the oligarchs. Those involved intend to make sure, as they have for at least four decade, no real progressive (at least by U.S. standards)—not anyone who can take the country truly to the left (again, by U.S. standards) on economics and on a single payer healthcare system and on the Military Industrial Complex—will reach meaningful power. That is designed to prevent nomination to the higher and/or highest levels of office for anyone who they consider a threat. Biden/Harris is a Dream Ticket for the oligarchs and those who serve them under the banner of the Democratic Party. 

It is very good, after my previous willingness to vote for them in general elections, to be able to move past this point and consider myself divorced from the Democratic Party. It is a strong feeling of…relief.

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Note to Readers: The next blog topic will be published Friday, August 28, 2020, at 06:00 a.m. ET. I will also have a “Note to Readers” regarding Progressives Chat.

‘Unapologetic’ and ‘Obvious’

Unaplogetic has a video titled “Kyle Kulinski & Krystal Ball Keep Pushing Failed Takeover Of Dem Party.” 

I found myself, while viewing it, reading some comments from viewers.

It turns out both Unapologetic and a commenter named Captain Obvious are really perceptive.

The video is by Unapologetic.

Here are a couple comments (with some editing for clarification) by Captain Obvious:

Kyle Kulinski claims that he and Cenk Uygur did extensive research into the question of whether Leftists/progressives should attempt to take over the Democratic Party or start a 3rd party back in 2016 before starting the Justice Democrats. However, the 1st problem with this claim is that neither one of them has shared this “research” with the public so that we might all look at it. Both of them have only claimed to have done the research—so, just trust them on the correctness of the conclusion. The 2nd problem with all of this is that both Cenk and Kyle acted fairly surprised about the Donna Brazile ‘revelations’ in her [2017] book [Hacks…] about the DNC rigging of the 2016 Dem primary. Bear in mind that the timing of the Brazile revelations were after the forming of the Justice Democrats. So. if the rigging of the 2016 Dem primary was news to Cenk and Kyle when Donna Brazile published her book, then how could it have been a factor they considered in their “research”?

The 3rd problem with all of this is Kyle makes no adjustments in his outlook based on new evidence. Kyle has told Niko House that he is now agnostic towards the idea of election fraud particularly pertaining to the differences between the exit polls and vote results. However, this apparently never causes him to reconsider the conclusion of his supposed extensive “research into the matter. So, even when Kyle seems to be leaning into believing that the Dems might be outright cheating in their primaries, as indicated by the exit polls, he still never says a word about what all of that could mean in regards to taking over the party vs. building a new one. So, what Kyle does instead is what Cenk Uygur does—and that’s just [to] ignore it all. Since there were no WikiLeaks reveal or Donna Brazile book this time, in 2020, just pretend all the same issues of election fraud that happened in 2016 didn’t just happen again this time in 2020—and run with the MSM narrative that Sanders lost, fair and square, in a mostly free and fair primary. Ignore the widespread election integrity/election fraud issues in the Dem party because, if you do focus on it, it’s pretty apparent that Cenk and Kyle reached the wrong conclusion in their supposed “research” that they never published for others to see. In fact, I’d bet money their “research” was nothing more than a conversation in which Cenk told Kyle that starting a 3rd party would be too hard and Kyle agreed with little to no pushback.

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My stance is that the Dems are no longer a real political party at all and, therefore, must be destroyed and replaced by 3rd party—or no change will ever happen except for the change of things getting even worse. 

When I say the Dems are not a real political party, I mean that they don’t function as one. A political party is a collection of people with a shared worldview and a policy agenda. That policy agenda is stated in the party platform. That the Democratic Party platform is utterly meaningless, and bears no resemblance to the reality of how Dems operate in office, proves my point about the Dems not being a real political party. What the Dems are is a fundraising corporation and a mechanism of control designed to flush away all of the Left’s efforts to obtain progressive policy. The main function of the Dems is simply to maximize fundraising profits which therefore makes them, first and foremost, a fundraising corporation. The Dems are more than willing to lose elections, even thousands of seats nationwide, if they squeeze out even more money from corporate donors. While that doesn’t necessarily mean that any one particular Dem wants to lose a race they are running in, it does mean that fundraising is more important to Dems than winning elections as a whole. The policy the Dems produce in office is simply a function of the perpetual effort to maximize fundraising profits. This model happens to work because Democrats know the Republicans will also, when in office, only produce the same corporate policy which will inevitably cause a voter backlash. This is known as The Seesaw Effect. Both corporate “parties” are simply continually trading places as the party with the temporary majority share of power as Americans are so conditioned and brainwashed against building new parties that voters flip-flop back and forth between two ever-worsening choices. And all of this is why I have come to believe that Lefties/progressive who run in the Dem party, even if they win, are doing more harm than good. Because of how badly the Dems cheats the Left in their rigged Dem primaries, every progressive Dem who makes it through the gauntlet of a rigged Dem primary creates false hope in other Lefties that change is just right around the corner—and the DemEnter strategy is correct—when none of that is true. While a pitiful handful of progressive Dems might make it through the rigged Dem primaries, the vast majority won’t and can’t. This makes the ones who do make it through a sort of mirage the Left is spellbound by. And that mirage will keep the Left crawling forward like a dying man in the desert, achieving nothing, for decades.

‘FBI Caught Faking Documents To Russia-Gate!’

 

Jimmy Dore recently welcomed his guest, Aaron Maté, to discuss what we had already figured. But, of course, it is one more video worthy of the archives as a blog topic here on Progressives Chat.

Happy Birthday!

…To me.

I am now 49 years old.

No rush for next year! (Well, except to get rid of COVID–19.)

I do have a music connection.

Madonna was born on this day in 1958. (She turns 62.)

Elvis Presley died on this day in 1977. (He was born January 8, 1935 and was 42.)

Aretha Franklin died on this day in 2018. (She was born March 25, 1942 and was 76.)

(This blog topic is good only on this published date. Progressives Chat blog topics will resume this week with regular schedules of Monday and Friday. That is, August 17 and 21, 2020, at 06:00 a.m. ET.)

Repudiating Cenk Uygur and ‘The Young Turks’

MCSC Network had a video last week saying The Young Turks has sold its e-mail list to Joe Biden’s campaign. (It appears I am on the list. I checked the archives of my e-mails. And, sure enough—I received an e-mail from the Biden campaign. I also have received e-mails from The Young Turks, including soliciting for fundraising, which is interesting because I stopped being a member there circa 2016, as Cenk and TYT got behind Hillary Clinton.) The below video captures some of what is going on. I advise going to Rokfin, to check out HLM (formerly Hard Lens Media), for its July 29, 2020 program. (I did not see it published to YouTube.) HLM is referenced in the below MCSC Network video.

Not only is it time, it is also past time, to repudiate The Young Turks.

Cenk Uygur.

The organization.

The Young Turks.

Cenk Uygur sold out—and he sold out—The Young Turks by taking $20 million from Jeffrey Katzenberg and, eventually, he sold out in order to serve the corrupt, corporate, Democratic Party Establishment

Cenk Uygur and The Young Turks are not to be trusted.

Cenk Uygur and The Young Turks are to be repudiated.

Joe Rogan Turns 53

Joe Rogan turns 53 on Tuesday. 

Rogan was born August 11, 1967, in Newark, New Jersey. He spent much of his childhood and early adulthood living in Boston, Massachusetts. 

Joe Rogan, now famous for his The Joe Rogan Experience—which Spotify recently offered up $100 million for multi-year licensing rights for his podcast—is also an actor (the 1995–99 NBC comedy series NewsRadio, which also starred Dave Foley, Maura Tierney, Andy Dick, Khandi Alexander, Stephen Root, Vicki Lewis and, at the time of his death, Phil Hartman); a television-reality host (NBC’s 2001–06 and 2011–12 Fear Factor); a UFC commentator; and, of course, a standup comedian (with numerous albums and television specials).

Rogan is also a hell of an interviewer. I sense, with his The Joe Rogan Experience, he is this generation’s Johnny Carson. Like Carson, Rogan is a very engaging host, and interviewer, who is focused on and interested in his program’s guests. Not a lot of people can pull this off—and I count ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel, CBS’s Stephen Colbert, and NBC’s Jimmy Fallon among late-nighters who do not—with the consistent excellence as Rogan interviews numerous and various people of different stripes.

In his personal life, Joe Rogan is married since 2009 to Jessica Ditzel. They have three daughters. Rogan recently announced he, and The Joe Rogan Experience, will move from California to Texas.

Sprint—No More

I am 48 years old.

I have had a cell phone since the late-1990s.

I made a switch, in 2001, to Sprint with my connection to an employer giving me discounts.

This was in a period of my using a basic phone.

I was a late bloomer; but, finally, in 2015 I decided to move to a smartphone. 

I did my research, read Consumer Reports, and found that it would be necessary for me to switch providers. I was out of contract and, so, it was no problem. The best reviews for regard for overall service were with most favorable with Verizon—and that it is where I moved.

Five years later, and still with Verizon, and now T–Mobile has acquired Sprint. 

On August 2, the Sprint website ended. Try to go to the site, and it will take you to T–Mobile. (If you go to Wikipedia, it writes of Sprint for what it was; not is.)

Whenever an acquisition happens, it tends to be good for one faction—the corporation. Well, maybe the stockholders as well. Not always. An example with that is AT&T having acquired DirecTV in 2014, with the FCC giving approval in 2015, and with it becoming official shortly afterward. Nowadays, the financial experts think AT&T—which also owns HBO and others—fucked up and should get rid of DirecTV.

For some time, the four traditional mobile U.S. carriers were: Verizon, AT&T, T–Mobile, and Sprint. That was the order of their numbers in subscriptions. Sprint fell behind by, frankly, not getting with the times and by not making the right choices in continuing to build. In investing in itself. It became so bad for Sprint that it relinquished its former No. 3 spot to T–Mobile.

My choice with Verizon has to do with overall monthly plan cost. Four people, including myself, are on my account. How we use it. And that the service is good. But, if that changes, I have no problem moving on. And, perhaps, such a move may lead me to try T–Mobile.

It is interesting, especially in recent years, to see well-recognized brands go under. Whether it is in telecommunications or in other industry—like financial or retail—it serves as a reminder that no matter how strong that institution or that corporation had appeared to be, for quite some time, it can still end up with people leading it to its grave.

Election 2020: Three Months Out

Tuesday, August 4, 2020 marks 12 weeks from the scheduled date of the 2020 United States presidential election of Tuesday, November 3, 2020.

Recently, 45th United States president Donald Trump talked up possibly postponing the election. That would take Congress to approve that. Not likely would this happen especially with the fact that the United States House of Representatives is in the column for the Democrats. And it is one more thing thrown out there, by Trump, which a Trump-derangement-sufferer may take seriously while I do not.

It is Primary Day in my home state Michigan. (I haven’t kept track with others.) Not a presidential primary. (That was in March.) It is for down-ballot races including United States Senate and other offices. 

In the midterm elections of 2018, Michigan voters approved a proposal for more convenient voting which includes absentee voting. With the coronavirus pandemic, people are going for it. So am I. And I recently applied to be moved to voting in primaries and general elections via absentee voting on a permanent basis.

Last week, I received my ballot. I voted. I mailed it in. It is done. (Perhaps it will be no surprise—I voted against incumbent and establishment-preferred Democrats who are seeking re-nomination.)

Onto the general election which, at this point, is “Three Months Out”: I perceive there is no change in how this election is liable to play out. That COVID–19 is sinking the re-election prospects of Republican incumbent Donald Trump and is poised to take down Republicans’ attempts to hold the U.S. Senate. (A U.S. Popular Vote margin of Democratic +4 and +5 would deliver pickups for U.S. President and U.S. Senate to the Democratic Party.)

When it comes to percentage-points margins—to win by however many points nationally—it is in increments of +1 that helps to deliver an extra carried state. The Democrats are on a pattern, since 1960, of usually carrying +21 or +22 in excess of their U.S. Popular Vote margin. I sense this is a 9- or 10-point race for the Democrats to win the a pickup of the presidency with that indicated U.S. Popular Vote margin level. That would take the 2016-to-2020 Democrats from the 20 states, plus District of Columbia, carried by 2016 losing nominee Hillary Clinton, and yield carriage of 30 to 32 states for pickup winner Joe Biden. (The above map’s color key: Blue, as 2016-to-2020 Democratic Holds; Yellow, for those susceptible to flip from 2016 Republican to 2020 Democratic to reach carriage of up to 30 states. If 32 states were reached, I would estimate potential with two of the following: Alaska, Kansas, Montana, South Carolina, and Utah.)

Anyone who watches a program like The Hill’s The Rising can catch clips of hosts Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti going over latest poll numbers. (They have done a lot of that over the last two months.) Kyle Kulinski’s Secular Talk also has this covered. So does and has Jamarl Thomas. After a while, it feels like this repeats itself. But, this is for a general understanding of what is the trajectory of Election 2020. It is useful to people who may not follow electoral politics. Election 2020 is about COVID–19. And these polls, for one wanting a basic understanding, is indicating a voting electorate that is saying President Trump, seeking a second term in the midst of COVID–19, is highly likely not going to get re-elected.