We've made it part of our DNA, our running commentary that we shouldn't be pandering to the 1%, the white well-connected who seem to get all the favors from government.

Yet here we are, after a year of pandering to 1% of the population, 2 of the whitest states in the Union, 1 of which subsists on government corn subsidies, ethanol supports and other handouts that would make a supposed welfare queen blanche, 3.4% unemployment. Its industry pretty much all revolves around food and livestock production, including supporting manufacturing, with typical huge industrial agro firms progressives love to hate (and the leading hog producer and egg producer that animal rights advocates love to infiltrate - now largely illegal), along with a strong Des Moines insurance industry. Central to Iowa's survival is the atrocious modern "factory farm", along with key enablers like exemption of "agricultural runoff" from the Clean Water Act, abetting the high level of nitrates and animal waste flowing into Des Moines water system. While corporate farms for produce are largely prohibited, they instead exist as "contract farms" that look but don't behave like private farms. The conservative governor has opted out of Medicare expansion (1 of 15 states to do so).

I recalled a scene I viewed when my grandkids appeared at my apartment last month.

Seany had proceeded to 'install' his DVD player into my TV; Everything worked, eventually.

He played some Disney 'Ice' film. Precious was so enrapt by this presentation
that she mouthed the words to the songs. 

But there was this interruption: Daddy, Daddy, you must remove the wolves....

Seany quickly fast forwarded the blood-thirsty wolf scenes.

Worldly wisdom has it that Sanders supporters are sentimental while Clinton's cohorts are cerebral.  In endorsing Hillary, the Des Moines Register decided:

We've all heard it, many progressive men tell me, "Ahh Elizabeth Warren, I would vote for her". Elizabeth Warren is the election year "Acceptable Woman", even though she isn't running.   Thanks, good to know who the Acceptable Woman is as deemed by mostly white men.

Jeff Varasano is a native New Yorker whose work in the tech industry brought him to Atlanta in the early 2000s. Because Atlanta had no pizza remotely as good as that turned out by even mediocre New York slice joints much less top-end pizzerias like Patsy's in Harlem or Sally's in New Haven, Varasano dedicated himself to replicating  Patsy's classic New York pie.

JUMP TO JANUARY 30TH, 2017

President Trump choked to death, choking on some shrimp aperitif at one of his hotels on Thursday last week. 

The deceased really choked on his own vomit, but it was better for the country that
the doctors centered in on the aperitif. The CIA denied any involvement.

The nation mourned this death for 48 hours while his Vice-President, Sarah Palin took over the 'chains' of government. (her words, not mine)

Years ago I watched a movie about WWII. It was black & white (so really old). It was all about some German spies who were being schooled in colloquial American language, such as who they wanted to win the World Series, and other theoretically "loyalty" questions in order that they could get onto US Navy ships and wreak havoc. They learned the typical "rah rah" type of one team over the other, they learned accents, etc, and finally they were deemed ready to begin their operation, which would sink the whole US Fleet.

Let's talk about Health Care, again, issues that will have to be settled before we can move the nation towards adopting a single payer legislative framework.  What does it take to move America in this direction. 

We are behind, there is no doubt about it, 70+ years behind all the other developed nations systems.  Should we have done something before this? Yes, but we didn't and we have to deal with that in a very realistic manner. We must recognize there are steps that must be taken in order to secure that is the future of our healthcare system. 

White working and middle-class people look at what the two major parties have done over the past 35 years and they see each one pursuing policies that assure one percent of the people get 50% of the pie. Republicans say in barely coded language that A) they will give non-affluent whites first dibs at the crumbs the rich leave behind while B) Democrats will give first dibs to blacks, immigrants, gays, and liburals (most of whom are in the 1% anyway).