Blog Posts

Dianne Feinstein is vulnerable

The California Democratic Party (CDP) declined to endorse anybody in this year’s U.S. Senate race. Since the two most popular candidates are Democrats - one of whom will almost certainly win in November - some may see nothing more than a decision not to upset an apple cart that’s rolling downhill.

Still, the result is surprising if only because front runner Dianne Feinstein could muster only 37% of the vote of CDP delegates. Feinstein of course is the octogenarian San Franciscan who rose to national prominence forty years ago in the aftermath of the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. Little known Kevin de Leόn copped 54% of the vote.

This is how Democrats win

It looks like the Democrats have picked up a seat in the Missouri state house. 20-something Mike Revis won in a district that went for Trump by over 30 points. How'd he do it? He ran as a progressive populist. The first two of five issues at his website:

1) "Support public education" over charter schools.

2) "Defend the rights of working people" and oppose right to work which he calls a "bad idea pushed by corporations to lower wages."

Oprah for President?

After delivering a powerful speech at the Golden Globes, Oprah Winfrey is being touted as a potential Democratic Presidential candidate. In response, at least one liberal website - DailyKos - posted an article bashing her for allegedly supporting America's destruction of Iraq beginning March 2003. It is true that she aired a program in October 2002 that was light on facts and heavy on pro-war propaganda.

But to Oprah's credit in the months immediately preceding "Shock and Awe," she gave significant time to anti-war activists like Phil Donahue. She earned Michael Moore's praise for televising a 1980s photo of Donald Rumsfeld shaking Saddam Hussein's hand.

Georgetown’s anti-union position is contrary to its commitment to social justice

As a 1990 graduate of Georgetown University’s law school and the father of an undergraduate, I was disappointed to read that the university is attempting to thwart the unionization efforts of working graduate students [“Georgetown declines to support union effort,” Metro, Dec. 7].

A Pelosi/Raskin Townhall

A raucous standing room only crowd greeted House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-8) at Rockville's Luxmanor Elementary School cafeteria early Saturday (Nov 4) morning. The Democratic representatives along with several Montgomery County residents came to discuss the dangers to Maryland and the nation that they see in the Republican House tax bill.

Speaking first at the town hall he had organized, Raskin attacked the plan for being largely composed of corporate giveaways. These include a drop in the corporate tax rate from 35% to 12% on income currently stashed overseas and 10% on profits from transnational activities. Deriding the bill as the “billionaire tax break and job cutting plan,” Raskin noted also that the Republican plan slashes $1.5 trillion from Medicare and Medicaid over a decade.

Reforming Weinstein's Hollywood

Former movie producer Harvey Weinstein is a serial sexual harasser, exercises zero anger management, and abuses nearly everybody with whom he has contact. He is one among a number of powerful, or once powerful, Hollywood men who share some or all of these behaviors and characteristics. Trying to avoid the rapists, gropers, and grinders is, therefore, a very serious dilemma for women in the entertainment industry. Sadly, it’s not the only one.

The Clinton Double Standard?

Branko Marcetic has a strong piece at the Jacobin called the Clinton Double Standard. He argues that liberals have given the Clintons a pass for harassing behavior that is not dissimilar to what Harvey Weinstein, Bill O'Reilly, and other are alleged to have done. What makes the article especially trenchant is that Marcetic provides an out for pro-Clinton liberals.

Pawns in the Game

While watching the documentary Don’t Look Back about Bob Dylan’s 1965 tour of England, I was struck, as so many others have been, by the dichotomy between Dylan the young man and Dylan the artist. As a man, he comes across as immature, petulant, and sometimes downright nasty. As an artist, his musical genius shines through every guitar strum, harmonica chord, and whiny nasally sung note. In one uncomfortable hotel room scene, Dylan wields his multifarious talents - he’s a master songwriter, lyricist, guitar player, and troubador - as weapons against the outclassed Donovan. But Dylan also evinces humanity, humility, and empathy in his public performances.

Democratic Opportunity

The Democrats have a great chance to win back many of the working class Midwesterners who were pivotal in last year’s election even if some Trump voters are deplorable racists who cannot be reached through rational argument. A study by professors from the University of Minnesota and Boston University concludes that Hillary Clinton’s narrow loss may be attributed to her relative hawkishness. For example, Trump came out in opposition to the Iraq War far earlier than Clinton grudgingly admitted it was a mistake. Likewise, analyses from such disparate and credible sources as Scientific American, CNN, and Fortune Magazine see Trump’s opposition to free trade as an important factor in his victory.

MD has a lot to lose if Obamacare is repealed

Maryland, particularly Montgomery County, has become a bright spot in the national health-care picture. From 2012 to 2015, subsidies to health insurance purchasers and the expansion of Maryland’s Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act caused the percentage of uninsured Marylanders to fall from 10.1 percent to 6.7 percent. The national average is 9.4 percent. . .

Read the rest of my Washington Post op-ed here.

Pages

TypeTitleAuthorRepliesLast updated
LinkMother Jones is Reaching out to Alternative Party Voters HSG24 weeks 2 hours ago
LinkRussia's impact on the 2016 Presidential election was virtually nil HSG51 year 2 months ago
Link11 years later Libya is still a failed state - thanks Hillary! HSG11 year 6 months ago
LinkIrony or hypocrisy? AOC calls out Pelosi for supporting Cuellar. HSG121 year 9 months ago
LinkRussiagate was a Clinton-concocted hoax [no matter how loudly PP squawks] HSG181 year 9 months ago
LinkOh the Absurdity! HSG141 year 11 months ago
LinkCasino gambling turns nuns and grandmothers into grand thieves HSG12 years 1 month ago
LinkTime to end race-based Affirmative Action? HSG12 years 1 month ago
LinkOnly redistribution from the rich to everybody else can possibly save us HSG42 years 1 month ago
LinkBiden's loss is big win for environmentalists and everybody who doesn't own an oil company HSG02 years 1 month ago
LinkInsider Trading: Congress is a swamp all right! HSG52 years 2 months ago
LinkSame as the old boss HSG02 years 2 months ago
LinkBiden Administration Backs Oil Sands Pipeline Project HSG12 years 2 months ago
LinkBiden approves oil and gas drilling at a faster rate than Trump did HSG52 years 2 months ago
LinkEffects of Globalization on the Environment HSG52 years 2 months ago
LinkOcean warming heat record HSG12 years 2 months ago
LinkBiden-Cheney 2024!? HSG12 years 2 months ago
LinkNYT is Shocked (shocked I tell you) that Democratic Voters don't Trust the Democratic Party?! HSG42 years 2 months ago
LinkTragically we listened to the worst people in the world and opted to destroy the planet HSG52 years 2 months ago
Link"Free trade" has destroyed millions of American lives and explains Trump HSG32 years 3 months ago
LinkAnalysis shows Brexit caused £12 billion of lost trade in October artappraiser32 years 3 months ago
Link Corrupting science: Shunning forensic expertise, OPCW left Douma, Syria murders unsolved A Guy Called LULU282 years 3 months ago
Link"Free trade" is destroying our planet HSG22 years 4 months ago
LinkHow the U.S. Hid an Airstrike That Killed Dozens of Civilians in Syria artappraiser102 years 4 months ago
LinkLost Jobs, Lost Democrats HSG52 years 4 months ago

Pages

Latest Comments