Tuesday, July 26, 2016

My Hillary Clinton wishlist.

After some thought, I've decided to be (with reservations) supportive of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic presidential campaign (the U.S. can ill-afford to be ruled by the Trump/Pence/Ryan troika) .  I'm not going to castigate people who are still unwilling to support her (since they received plenty of vitriol during the primaries), but--having cast a primary vote for Bernie Sanders--I believe the seeds of future progressivism in the Democratic Party need to grow instead of being yanked in a moment of fury.  There needs to be more "democracy" in the party if it wants to be a viable alternative to Republicanism in the 2018 midterms, 2020 election, etc.

Now, onto the Hillary wishlist:

1. Please stop regarding Bernie Sanders supporters and Occupy Wall Street as irritants who bang on limousine doors during a leisurely ride through Manhattan.   Take them seriously and erect a firewall between yourself and Goldman Sachs/JP Morgan Chase/hedge funds, etc.  Government regulations to prevent Wall Street abuse of/stealing from the nonwealthy--not a bad thing at all.

2. Ensure that future government e-mails are on a much more secure government server so no further controversy over personal servers plagues yourself or others in your White House.

3. Put more distance between your forthcoming administration and your husband's past one.  It's not the 90s anymore and Dick Morris-esque triangulation and draconian welfare policies/mass incarceration/private prison support are hurtful, to say the least.

4. With regards to foreign policy, regime change causes more terrorism than it prevents--whether it's the Left's "Smart Power" or the Right's "they'll greet us as liberators" neocon values.




Sunday, July 24, 2016

Re the reaction to DNC leaks.

Among the pushback rationalizations you will likely hear from those who want the Hillary train to run on time:
A. Assange is Bad Bad Bad!
B. These leaks might be connected to Putin
C. Bernie would have lost anyway
D. You're a child if you object to what the DNC did

In terms of the DNC and now almost departed chairperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz, I'll quote
70s TV cop Tony Baretta:
"If you can't do the time, don't do the crime."

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

New poem inspired by old song: LIFE DURING TRUMPTIME.

this ain't no party
this ain't no Chili's
this ain't no fooling around
this ain't no Trump Tower
this ain't no Mar A Lago
we don't have time for that now

we dress like cowboys
we dress like churchgoers
we all stand up and vote
we do not worry
about plagiarized speeches
it's all Hillary's fault

[repeat first verse]

don't want democracy
don't want free public college
just wanna open carry our guns
don't like working more for less
it just makes us stressed
marching up and down the streets

take us back Donald
carry us back to old America
make it okay to be bigoted again
don't wanna worry about political correctness
sensitivity is a sin

[repeat first verse]


Tuesday, July 12, 2016

New poem: THE UNITED STATES OF NEW YORK

New York is the real America
and the rest of us live in one big Outer Borough
learning the hard hard way
to treat democracy as a sort of treason
and civil disobedience as punishable by death
for we have no right to interfere
with the businesses that rule the world
and we have no business at all
penalizing successful people
when they allow their ugliness to show
>
which President of USNY will we choose:
the loud racist man who puts his last name on everything
or the woman who wants to keep giving war a chance
>
whatever they say now,
neither one of them give a damn about serfs--
only the landowners buying influence and power
>
and now it’s time
for us in New York Nation to be quiet
stop hoping for change
go to sleep early
and wander the Outer Boroughs
playing Pokemon Go
in hopes of qualifying
for the final championship
to be held at Times Square

Monday, July 11, 2016

New poem: WHAT MICAH DID

he took the fragile state
of police/African American public relations
and stabbed it over and over
before the Dallas Police robot
bearing the death sentence of C4
dynamited him into the Lake of Fire
>
he gave television an easier story to tell
than the previous two days about
police shootings of black men
following the rules of their respective states
and carrying licensed legal weapons
>
he enabled cable news
to again display the narrative of
beleaguered good vs evil that comes out of nowhere
and show funerals, interfaith services and press conferences,
reducing airtime for conversations
about asking for misbehaving police
to be held accountable for their overreactions
and how this isn’t equal to
praising the police who engage with communities
instead of holding them in perpetual contempt
>
pull out the rusty knife-blade of Micah’s hatred
and return to attempting to understand
other people as people
instead of Others to be feared and hated and shot on sight

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Two polarized views of the past week's violence.

First, the conservative whitesplaining view, as seen on Facebook (name of poster redacted):
Are you aware more blacks are murdered by other blacks than cops. The blacks that are shot by cops are not the average upstanding good citizens. Quit demonizing cops and causing a division. You should support cops! "Black lives matter" is a racist hate group! Criminals and racists are who you are supporting. There are good and bad in all colors. The black hate groups that you support are not doing the good blacks a favor. Stop painting everyone with a broad brush...THAT's being racist!

Second, the following post from Instagram (name of poster also redacted): 


Don't lose sight of the issues here. The disparity still exists even in this recent tragedy and we will not be silenced #blacklivesmatter✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿
Don't lose sight of the issues here. The disparity still exists even in this recent tragedy and we will not be silenced #blacklivesmatter✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿


Saturday, July 2, 2016

The Robert De Niro poll.

Recently on Twitter, I ran a poll with regards to Robert De Niro's determination to keep working regardless of the project's quality (except when he works for David O. Russell).

The responses were minimal, but here's a link to the poll:
https://twitter.com/TVMCCA/status/748601184265469952