Pulitzer winner Chris Hedges: These “are the good times—compared to what’s coming next”

Salon has an interesting interview with former New York Times journalist, Pulitzer Prize winner, and Emmy nominee Chris Hedges.

(Thank you, for posting it in the comments section, cathyx!)

Here is the link:

Pulitzer winner Chris Hedges: These “are the good times—compared to what’s coming next”

(Next blog topic will be Friday, May 1, 2020, at 06:00 a.m. ET.)

Sheepdog Alert

Noam Chomsky.

Norman Soloman.

And everybody involved in a 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries campaign that was—and was not—Joe Biden’s.

It is that time—that time of arrival—that is Sheepdog Season.

Sheepdog Alert!

Democrats ramp up their sheepdogging especially when they know they have a lousy candidate.

Please be advised to remain on alert for those—very much including progressives who one may generally trust (or used to trust)—who will sheepdog for the Democratic Party, and for presumptive 2020 nominee and corporate tool Joe Biden, on the way to Election Day.

The first of May arrives this coming Friday. We may be in for a long six months.


Sources:

• Mehdi Hassan and Noam Chomsky on Biden vs. Trump (includes, within, an embedded video)

• Some Progressives Are in Denial About Trump’s Fascist Momentum

‘Glenn Greenwald on Noam Chomsky Favouring Biden Over Trump & Voting for Lesser of Two Evils’

There was an interview, published to YouTube on April 15, 2020, with Glenn Greenwald on acTVism Munich.

The first clip, baring the title of this blog’s topic, with a running time of 10 minutes, hones in on Greenwald responding to Noam Chomsky trying to get people to vote for Joe Biden in the general election. (My opinion: Chomsky, for all his talk, is a Democrat. And, from one presidential election cycle to the next, he regularly sheepdogs for them.)

The second video is the entire interview with a running time of 52 minutes.

CBS Salutes Prince

CBS is broadcasting a tribute concert to the late Grammy and Oscar winning singer and songwriter Prince (June 7, 1958–April 21, 2016).

It is scheduled for Tuesday, April 21, 2020, at 09:00 p.m. ET.

The special is titled Let’s Go Crazy: The Grammy Salute to Prince.

Here are links to reports on the special:
 • “Let's Go Crazy: The GRAMMY Salute To Prince” To Air April 21 On CBS Featuring John Legend, H.E.R., Usher & More
 • ‘Let's Go Crazy: The Grammy Salute to Prince’ Set to Air on the 4th Anniversary of His Death

(Side note: I am not pleased with the special’s inclusion of John Legend.)


I grew up, during the 1970s and 1980s, with music from Prince. And I don’t feel it is necessary to write about his life when there is plenty of that information, for those in need, on the Internet.

I have, in recent months, grabbed more and more of his music from my Apple Music account. (This is well before the U.S. arrival of COVID–19. I would be out for walks and listed to some music from this master.) I have some hard CDs saved to to my iTunes—albums like the 1984 soundtrack to Purple Rain and the 1987 LP Sign o’ the Times (both Grammy nominees for Album of the Year)—but I have been going for anything that springs to mind by Prince.

Prince was a bold and unique visionary. He was very controversial; mainly, of course, because of the sexual content from numerous songs. But, that is part of the mark of a great artist—being not like others—and letting the squares deal or not deal.

I also have gratitude to Prince for writing one of my favorite songs from the 1980s, “I Feel for You,” which was a phenomenal hit for the luminous R&B legend Chaka Khan (who won the 1984 Grammy for Female R&B Vocal Performance while Prince also won as songwriter for R&B Song).

The following is a selection of music—really a small amount to sample (I don’t want to overload)—that personally delights me. For any Progressives Chat reader with thoughts about Prince—whether it his music or the artist (or both)—please share.

 • “I Wanna Be Your Lover” (1979), from the album Prince, was from the Disco era but did not play like Disco. It stood out as pure R&B—very fresh (even today its sound is fresh)—and showed that Prince, 21 in the year 1979, had a bright future ahead of him.

♯♯♯

 • “1999” (1982), from the album 1999, was an exciting and knockout punch. Extraordinarily joyous—putting it into a category, by an artist not categorized, was silly. It’s a brilliant piece of music.

♯♯♯

 • “Little Red Corvette” (1983), from the album 1999, was a pulsating and thrilling piece. It starts out slowly but kicks into high gear—and it doesn’t let go. It is also, as much of Prince’s music, provocative. It’s a classic.

♯♯♯

 • “Let’s Go Crazy” (1984), from the soundtrack Purple Rain, was a Pop sensation and a thrilling, elaborate song-opener to his feature film.

♯♯♯

 • “Sign o’ the Times” (1987), from Sign o’ the Times, synched R&B and Funk with some Blues. A very interesting album—which includes his duet with Sheena Easton (“U Got the Look”)—but the LP’s title track has really stayed with me after all this time.

♯♯♯

 • BONUS • “Colonized Mind” (2009), from Lotusflow3r, is included in addition to the prior five videos because it is an example why Prince—even though so much of his material was with focuses on sexual nature—was also politically aware: “Upload: a 2 party system | The lesser of 2 dangers | Illusion of choice; Download: a veiled form of fascism | Nothing really ever changes | U never had a voice.” “Colonized Mind” was released one year after the Economic Meltdown of 2008 and in the first year of the presidency of Barack Obama.

‘Obama Gaslights’ … Sanders Urges His Primaries Voters to Back Biden … Rejecting Green Party Candidate Hawkins

A video of 44th U.S. president Barack Obama endorsing 47th U.S. vice president Joe Biden for the presidency of the United States has me, ordinarily, not wanting to give it any of my attention. After all, I have reached the point in which I generally do not want to read about or hear from Obama. (I like that U.S. president Donald Trump, once asked if he heard a speech delivered the night before by Obama, said no—he was not interested because, quite frankly, Trump is bored by Obama.) I made an exception. Jimmy Dore—and wife Stef Zamorano—delivered perceptively and terrifically in their responses to Obama’s bullshit in this segment of The Jimmy Dore Show.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

One week after bowing out of the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries, by “suspending” his campaign, Vermont U.S. senator Bernie Sanders endorsed this week presumptive nominee Joe Biden for the party’s nomination and for the presidency of the United States.

I don’t have as strong a reaction as some.

The reason is because I am not surprised.

Sanders upset his voting-supporters because he pushed the usual corporate Democratic Party Establishment narrative—that Republican incumbent U.S. president Donald Trump is the most dangerous U.S. president ever (or whatever the exact words; and that has to, presumptuously, be the No. 1 general-election motivator for voters)—and Sanders went so far as to take preventive action to scold his primaries voters who will not fall in line in the general election.

One may question what, if anything, is gained by this.

One may also question if Sanders was threatened.

One may as well question whether this is an effort to sheepdog actual progressives—and Bernie Sanders’s primaries voters—into the Democratic Party, in general, for the 2020 United States presidential election (come November 3, 2020).

I have reached the conclusion that, more than anything, Bernie Sanders is propping up a corrupt, corporate, Democratic Party Establishment—for however many reasons specifically explain his actions (the primaries candidates did sign on for promising to endorse the eventual nominee)—and the overall decision, come Election Day, is up to his primaries voters along with the rest of the participating electorate.

Fall in line?

Or…

Fall out?

In the following video is an another perceptive take by The Political Vigilante’s Graham Elwood.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

The below video is MCSC Network’s Niko House covering Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins. Hawkins is considered the frontrunner for that party’s 2020 presidential nomination. (In 2016, I voted in the general election for Green Party nominee Jill Stein. I should have done so as well in 2012. But, I didn’t totally fail. And I won’t fail here.) And, if he succeeds, Hawkins and his party will not receive any of my votes in the general election. House does really well with explaining why Hawkins is unacceptable. (Jimmy Dore has, perhaps a couple times, also mentioned on his program that Hawkins should be rejected.) But, the following video’s clips really capture why a presidential nomination—for what is supposed to be the left-wing Green Party—would be obscene should it go specifically to Howie Hawkins.

Jimmy Dore Is Correct!

The recent Jimmy Dore Show criticisms, by the host and toward 2016 and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, are necessary.

There have been people, especially at a truly progressive discussion site at which I participate, who voted the nomination to Sanders in 2016 and have followed Dore. They feel the host has gone overboard.

I don’t think so.

I think whether Dore has overdone it is not the point.

While it is the case that the Democratic Party Establishment is corrupt—and will do all they can to stop the actual left from reaching meaningful power in the party much less a presidential nomination—the criticisms of a candidate Sanders are necessary with focus on what he could and should have done differently. That they may have made enough difference.

The first thing Sanders should have done was strategize against Joe Biden. This would have required acknowledging Biden, for the primaries, as Sanders’s enemy. I don’t think he did. The fact that Zephyr Teachout researched and wrote about a then-U.S. senator Biden having been an enemy to proponents of Social Security, and did so repeatedly over a thirty-year period, and Sanders opted to soften that blow against Biden, showed Sanders was not fighting for the nomination. Sanders was more interested in so-called decorum. What he did, with that example, was protect Biden.

The fact that Biden was no friend to Blacks historically, unlike Sanders (who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s), and that Sanders did not use it as ammunition to win over—or to at least dent Biden’s margins—with Blacks tells me Sanders did not seriously go after the Black vote in 2020.

Who Sanders has in his campaign—any party establishment figures—certainly plays a role. But, ultimately, the cold, harsh reality of win-or-lose U.S. politics ultimately rests with the candidate.

The nomination was winnable.

Jimmy Dore is coming down on Bernie Sanders, in part, because he is aware Sanders did not actually do what he could to win the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

It isn’t just Jimmy Dore.



The first video, below, is titled “Trump Shows Bernie How to Win Pres. Election.” Its running time is 13 minutes. It was published to YouTube on Monday, April 6, 2020.

Adding to this, with a second video, is Jamarl Thomas. The second video, with a running time of 25 minutes, is titled “Bernie Sanders’ Campaign Weakness Is Just Nauseating At this Point.” It was published to YouTube on April 7, just shortly before Sanders “suspended” his campaign.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

A new blog topic will be posted tomorrow [Monday, April 13, 2020].

‘Resistance Growing to Covid–Capitalism’

Glen Ford writes another insightful piece for Black Agenda Report.

It was published just yesterday [Thursday, April 9, 2020].

Link:

Resistance Growing to Covid–Capitalism

The 2020 Democrats Who Are Wanting to Unseat Trump May Also Want A 10-Point National Shift

There are many people who are not thinking, right now, of the 2020 United States presidential election. But, at the same time, there are many people who are.

For those wanting Republican incumbent United States president Donald Trump out of office—which means having to unseat him—they are looking to the coronavirus (COVID–19) pandemic and the economy as catalysts should it turn out the 2020 Democrats win a pickup of the presidency.

They could end up getting what they supposedly want.

The 2020 Democratic presidential nomination will likely to go to Joe Biden. Now, please never mind for the moment whether any of the theories about Biden ending up not going on to become the official nominee will actually play out.

Think in terms of: Republican [Incumbent U.S. President and White House Party] vs. Democratic [Opposition Party Challenger and Nominee].

Historical patterns, in most previous United States presidential elections in which an opposition-party challenger unseated an incumbent president, resulted in a national shift (from the previous election cycle) in the U.S. Popular Vote of at least +10 percentage points. 

We have seen ten incumbent United States presidents unseated. Five occurred during the 20th century. All five applicable 20th-century election cycles saw that prevailing challenger nationally shift at least +10 points. 

(The U.S. Popular Vote has been recorded since 1824. One prior incumbent, an 1800 John Adams, was unseated. So, I take into consideration nine applicable cycles. Six of the nine—with the 19th-century example of 1840 Whig Party challenger William Henry Harrison having unseated Democratic incumbent Martin Van Buren—apply overall.)

• 1912: Democratic challenger Woodrow Wilson unseated Republican incumbent William Howard Taft. The 1908 Margin: Republican +8.53. The 1912 Margin: Democratic +18.65. The 1908-to-1912 National Shift: Democratic +27.18.

• 1932: Democratic challenger Franklin Roosevelt unseated Republican incumbent Herbert Hoover. The 1928 Margin: Republican +17.43. The 1932 Margin: Democratic +17.76. The 1928-to-1932 National Shift: Democratic +35.19.

• 1976: Democratic challenger Jimmy Carter unseated Republican incumbent Gerald Ford (never elected vice president or president). The 1972 Margin: Republican +23.15. The 1976 Margin: Democratic +2.06. The 1972-to-1976 National Shift: Democratic +25.21.

• 1980: Republican challenger Ronald Reagan unseated Democratic incumbent Jimmy Carter. (This was the only occurrence, during the 20th century, of two consecutive elections having switched the White House party. They were also the unseating of incumbent presidents.) The 1976 Margin: Democratic +2.06. The 1980 Margin: Republican +9.74. The 1976-to-1980 National Shift: Republican +11.80.

• 1992: Democratic challenger Bill Clinton unseated Republican incumbent George Bush. The 1988 Margin: Republican +7.73. The 1992 Margin: Democratic +5.56. The 1988-to-1992 National Shift: Democratic +13.29.

What this does to an electoral map is take at least ten states and flip them. You can figure an average net gain of +1 state with each percentage point that becomes nationally shifted in the direction of a pickup winning Republican or Democrat. (This is also true in presidential elections in which the White House party switches. Those are term-limited cycles, when incumbents are ineligible, and the nation has to elect a new president. This was applicable in more recent years such as 2000, 2008, and 2016.)

• 1912 Democratic pickup winner Woodrow Wilson went from 1908 Democratic nominee William Jenning Bryan’s 17 states to 40 states. (Included in states count, but they were not pickups, were first-time participating states New Mexico and Arizona. They were admitted into the union that very year.) A net gain of +23 states.

• 1932 Democratic pickup winner Franklin Roosevelt went from 1928 Democratic nominee Al Smith’s 8 states to 42 states. A net gain of +34 states.

• 1976 Democratic pickup winner Jimmy Carter went from 1972 Democratic nominee George McGovern’s 1 state (plus District of Columbia) to 23 states. A net gain of +22 states.

• 1980 Republican pickup winner Ronald Reagan went from unseated 1976 Republican incumbent and nominee Gerald Ford’s 27 states to 44 states. A net gain of +17 states.

• 1992 Democratic pickup winner Bill Clinton went from 1988 Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis’s 10 states to 32 states. A net gain of +22 states.

In 2016, the Democrats—after having won the two previous election cycles of 2008 and 2012 (with Barack Obama)—lost with nominee Hillary Clinton having carried 20 states (plus District of Columbia). A 2020 Democratic pickup of the presidency, with the unseating of a Republican incumbent president (specifically Donald Trump), with this historical pattern, would see that pickup winning Democrat: win the U.S. Popular Vote by at least +8 percentage points (from Clinton’s +2.09; had 2016 been a normally aligned pattern, Democrats’ margin would have been an estimated –2); experience a net gain of at least +10 percentage points in the U.S. Popular Vote (going from –2 to at least +8); and win in the Electoral College with the 2016 electoral map along with pickups of least +10 states to finish with a minimum of 30 states. (The above map, with those in yellow, show the involved states in such a scenario.)

Now, I haven’t been checking too many sites lately for election prognostications. But, Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball shows a map estimate which remains essentially the same as months ago—perhaps going back to, say, 2018. Crystal Ball’s estimate is that the 2020 Democrats may flip Michigan while other states which Democrats should be able to flip—Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are most obvious—are either in tossup or, like with bellwether Florida, Lean Republican hold. In a presidential election which switches the White House party, and with several percentage points nationally shifting toward the opposition party and its nominee, plenty more be happening.

Listed in order on the Republican side (Democratic in parentheses) is a reminder of their 2016 margins. (The 2016 Republican pickups appear in italics.)

— (—) Maine’s 2nd Congressional District +10.28 (–10.28)

21 (30) Iowa +9.41 (–9.41)

22 (29) Texas +8.98 (–8.98)

23 (28) Ohio +8.07 (–8.07)

24 (27) Georgia +5.10 (–5.10)

25 (26) North Carolina +3.66 (–3.66)

26 (25) Arizona +3.50 (–3.50)

— (—) Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District +2.23 (–2.23)

27 (24) Florida +1.19 (–1.19)

28 (23) Wisconsin +0.76 (–0.76) — Tipping-point state (the Republicans’ cumulative 270th electoral vote for Trump—which would have been the Democrats’ cumulative 278th electoral vote for losing nominee Hillary Clinton—from Election 2016)!

29 (22) Pennsylvania +0.72 (–0.72)

30 (21) Michigan +0.22 (–0.22)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

A Note on Future Topics: I have plans to post more on this type of topic beginning in May here at Progressives Chat. I will do so for the six consecutive months of May to October. This will serve as a segue to the general election in November. There will be a number of them. But, they will not be with every scheduled blog topic date. So, here is hoping this particular topic is insightful.

‘The United States Is Run By Sociopaths’

Fault Lines co-host Garland Nixon has a video, above, that is delightfully titled “The United States Is Run By Sociopaths.”

It was published to YouTube, last week, on Friday, March 27, 2020.

Here is the written description of the 33-minute video:

“The United States Congress and Presidency is increasing sanctions on countries that are suffering from a pandemic. They are attempting to overthrow the leader of a Venezuela as that [nation] faces the same plight. Meanwhile at home, the American people are told to shelter in place with no food and sustenance as they pass an economic stimulus bill that gives a fortune to their corporate donors and virtually nothing to the soon to be starving masses. It’s time to recognize that the government of the United States displays the characteristics of psychopathic behavior and that we must act to replace the current leaders with a complete new crop.”