Happy Birthday, Jimmy Dore! … An Important Choice

Monday, July 26, 2021 marks the 56th birthday of Jimmy Dore.

🎈 🎂 Happy Birthday, Jimmy Dore! 🎂 🎈

An Important Choice

It is very interesting to read and listen to those who urge vaccination try to scold or even demonize those who have not had at least one vaccination shot. (That they do this against people for whom the vaccine is available.)

The pandemic has been very hard on people. The vaccine is new. It does not, at least not at this point, guarantee one will not get COVID. It also does not guarantee one will not get sick from the vaccine. So, for some people, to make a decision is not done loosely. There are people who say they will never get the shot. There are people, like myself, who are not saying never but are in a wait-and-see mode. For the people who have done it, and that they did not have a problem, that is good that it worked out for them. For the people who have done it, and have had any problems, and maybe some of them are still having problems, that is something else. It is not unreasonable to choose to not have the shots from a vaccine that is, at this point, experimental. With more than one company involved, none has yet been approved by the FDA. So, it would be wise for those who scold people who have not yet been vaccinated to make an effort to understand. If they’re not going to make that effort, and this is coming from a number of people of a particular political persuasion, they should be reminded that no one can walk in the shoes of another person. People, still at this point in United States history, have choice.

Kim Iversen, in the below six-minute video, published to YouTube on July 20, 2021, addresses this topic. It has to do with the crackdown on misinformation. Iversen includes interesting polling information which is surprising. It furthers my point about my choice, at least so far, and why—as mentioned earlier—no one else has my [one’s] mind and body. I strongly suggest readers make sure to watch the video.

‘The Left’s Curious Silence About the Medicare For All Demonstrations’

Counterpunch is newly added to “Recommendations” as this thoughtful piece is the topic for this week. 

It is good timing. The March for Medicare for All, in many populous U.S. cities, is scheduled for this Saturday [July 24, 2021].

Here is the link:

The Left’s Curious Silence About the Medicare For All Demonstrations

Here is the link to the March for Medicare for All:

March for Medicare for All

‘No’ to the Ds, Nina Turner, and Jamarl Thomas

The special election of Ohio’s 11th Congressional District has a scheduled primary in August.

On the Democratic side, former state senator Nina Turner is trying to win nomination for the seat formerly held by Marcia Fudge, who is now in Joe Biden’s presidential administration serving as United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Due to Turner having been connected to Bernie Sanders, predictably the corrupt, corporate, party-establishment figures—including the likes of Hillary Clinton and Jim Clyburn—are trying to make sure nomination for Turner does not happen. So, their approved candidate is Shontel Brown, chairwoman of Cuyahoga County Democratic Party.

Now, if this was 2016, 2018, or even 2020, I might be inclined to kick in a donation to possibly help Turner. That I would be really, really, really wanting to do that. But, we are past that point.

The problem is the…Party.

I see the Democratic Party as a sham. And, from those who remember my April 26, 2021 blog topic [The Three G’s], they are: Gaslighters, Gatekeepers, and Grifters. 

That is what what the Ds have to offer: Gaslighting, Gatekeeping, and Grifting.

The Ds don’t move me to want to support and vote for them. 

The Ds repel me. 

The Ds move me to make a point to not support and vote for them [especially in general elections].

So, I am saying “No” to the Democratic Party, in its entirety, and this means the same to Nina Turner.

I am also saying “No” to Jamarl Thomas.

“Recommendations” Updates 

Last week, I made changes to the “Recommendations” list. So, count this Update as Week #02.

Gone is Jamarl Thomas. 

What moved me to this decision was after he welcomed last week a particular guest, activist Lauren Steiner, on Sputnik’s Fault Lines. (I posted video of this in last week’s comments section.) 

The co-host and guest talked about fighting amongst the left in a way which made [Thomas and Steiner] sound like they were not sufficiently briefed—or they were, possibly willfully, out of touch. What went down—The Young Turks’s Ana Kasparian’s and Cenk Uygur’s McCarthyite-like smears against journalist Aaron Maté and fellow content creator and comedian Jimmy Dore (and Kasparian having blackmailed Dore with a lie that he sexually harassed her more than seven years prior)—is serious. I wasn’t at all pleased, and certainly not appreciative, of that Thomas–Steiner discussion. 

This compelled me to look over Thomas’s Videos page on YouTube. It now lists numerous simulcasts of his talk-radio program Fault Lines (which he co-hosts with Shane Stranahan). One can find those same installments on the YouTube Videos page of Fault Lines. The program is on weekdays. Each runs three hours. Independent of his day job, Thomas’s other Videos content isn’t particularly strong enough for me to keep him recommended. 

One positive thing about Jamarl Thomas is this: My de-listing him is, at this point, not for comparably egregious reasons for which I made the same decision with Secular Talk’s Kyle Kulinski. 

Replacing Jamarl Thomas on “Recommendations” is Primo Radical.

Since Primo Radical established its YouTube channel in 2015, and its content has been posted in the comments section by Progressives Chat regulars, I sense this will be a good choice.

‘Franc Analysis’ Interviews Caleb Maupin … ‘Recommendations’ Changes

Writer, journalist, and political analyst Caleb Maupin is the guest on Franc Analysis.

Maupin is seen with one of his books, BreadTube Serves Imperialism: Examining The New Brand of Internet Pseudo-Socialism.

It is a very interesting discussion, which was published to YouTube last Thursday [July 1, 2021], which gives insight to economic systems—capitalism, communism, socialism—with other countries and here.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Changes have been made to Progressives Chat’s listing of “Recommendations.”

No longer recommended are Secular Talk, with Kyle Kulinski, and Breaking Points, with Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti.

My decision was an easy one with Kulinski. One may refer to his June 30, 2021 video, Kyle Addresses Jimmy Dore & Aaron Mate vs TYT, which was a dishonest response to Jimmy Dore regarding especially Aaron Maté on the receiving end of McCarthyism-type attacks by The Young Turks’s Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian. (Kulinski, whose Secular Talk is part of TYT Networks, was dismissive of the attacks—describing it as “drama”—and he deceitfully propped up Kasparian by not mentioning her Twitter DM attempt to blackmail Dore.) Since Dore responded, in a July 1, 2021 livestream [Kyle Kulinski Omits Ana Kasparian's Blackmail Of Jimmy Dore From Video], what was also revealed is that Ball—who co-hosts with Kulinski Krystal Kyle & Friends—is also dishonest. After I viewed what Kulinski was really saying in his video, it should be renamed: I Will Now Remove My Mask.

Replacing them are three from Niko House’s MCSC Network: Fiorella Isabel’s and Craig “Pasta” Jardula’s The Convo Couch, Jesse Zurawell’s and Misty Winston’s Facts on the Ground, and Franco’s Franc Anaylsis. (Kudos to Franco for his warnings about Kulinski! I urgently recommend viewing the first of the following June 2021 videos, Krystal Ball and Kyle Kulinski Normalize Vaush and Kyle Gives Horrible Defense to Criticisms, which I will link below, and Jimmy Dore vs Secular Talk? Is Kyle Kulinski About to be Unmasked?)

Also joining “Recommendations” among video content are Fred Hampton Leftists (https://www.fredhamptonleftists.com/about/) and Sabby Sabs (with FHL’s Sabrina Salvati).

I also added one non-video entry. For a while, Caitlin Johnstone was on Medium. But, she now has her own website. I am pleased to now include her among “Recommendations.”

In addition to these “Recommendations,” I reorganized the list. While I respect Jamarl Thomas, I don’t frequent his videos so much nowadays because most of his time is spent as co-host of Sputnik’s Fault Lines with Shane Stanahan. (Shane’s father, Lee, used to co-host the program with Garland Nixon. It runs three hours during weekday mornings.) So, prioritizing Thomas at No. 2 is no longer applicable to the needs of “Recommendations.” I went ahead and moved up Jimmy Dore Show regular guests Ron Placone and Graham Elwood, with their own respective channels, to follow Dore. Since Kim Iversen has some similar themes in her content as Elwood, she is now in the fourth slot. This isn’t totally based on a numbered order of importance. (I personally watch Hard Lens Media second to The Jimmy Dore Show.) It is for purpose of being logical enough. For example: The Grayzone—with Max Blumenthal, Ben Norton, Aaron Maté, and Blumenthal’s wife Arya Parampil—is available in both video and non-video form. So, The Grayzone appears further down the list to the point in which it segues from video to non-video with both its YouTube channel and its website. This may not be difficult to follow.

There is more for me to mention.

The motivation for Kyle Kulinski, I figure, although it is not of particular importance to me to be accurate, is based on his career and money. Kulinski is now with Krystal Ball, a multimillionaire, past congressional nominee, and former MSNBC anchor, with their program. So, his Secular Talk may as well be considered a video diary. Produced and published however often. No real credible—certainly not a compelling—reason why it should continue to exist. 

Due to my personal loss, a few months ago, I wasn’t paying much attention during the first half of 2021 to Kulinski. I did come across, wherever else it was exactly, numerous comments by people who mentioned they unsubscribed within the last six months or a year or two years from Secular Talk. (This reminded me of my exit from The Young Turks, after 2016, well before their very recent, undeniable unmasking.) 

I owe a thank-you to Franco of Franc Anaylsis. He alerted me in a way that moved me necessarily. In his [below] video about Kulinski and Ball recently hosting an unsavory guest, one who is generally unfamiliar to me and who goes by the name Vaush, Franco—who has other recommendations of worthy content creators—summed up what has become of Secular Talk: “…Kyle Kulinski’s entire channel is just confirmation-bias porn. Like, I get just as much information reading Kyle Kulinski’s thumbnails as I do if I watch his videos. It’s a huge waste of time for me.…”

I will conclude with the following: If anyone comes across and wants to post videos from those who are no longer recommended, I will not object. I do not want to run Progressives Chat in a way which would suggest to readers I am telling anyone what he or she may or may not post in the comments. I will, of course, maintain control of “Recommendations.”