If power is measured by corporate endorsements and
the kiss-up antics of Democratic politicians, the movement popularly
known as “Black Lives Matter” is awesomely powerful, its name painted into the streets of
cities across the nation. Record-breaking contributions have also
flowed to a broad range of social justice organizations from the
public-at-large, with bail funds amassing almost $100 million . Even tiny projects have seen their previously forlorn GoFundMe accounts suddenly stuffed with contributions.
The cash windfall alone is enough to make one giddy – including
life-long activists old enough to have participated in the radical mass
movements of half a century ago. The “fascist pigs” have not been
“offed,” but some of them have been indicted and Democratic politicians
now claim they want to rein in the ‘warrior cops” that only yesterday
were hailed as “heroes” of the constant “wars” waged against Black and
brown America. “Policing” as we have known it has been discredited in
ways that cannot easily be reversed, with 70 percent of white people
under age 45 agreeing that George Floyd’s killing was part of “a broader
pattern of excessive police violence toward African-Americans.” Sixty
percent of white folks of all ages told New York Times pollsters they
feel “positively” about the “Black Lives Matter” movement – meaning a
significant slice of Trump supporters object to police behavior, as do
overwhelming percentages of Black and brown Americans.
There is no doubt that, in the arena of public perception, we have
witnessed a stunning rout of the forces that erected the modern Black
Mass Incarceration State in response to the Black rebellions and radical
movements of the 1960s. The Democratic Party – whose politicians of all
races have for five decades been the hands-on urban managers of the
world’s largest police state – pretends to have suddenly seen the light.
In Covid-19/Great Depression Two America, the servants of capital say
we are all Black Lives Matter -- until the “crisis of legitimacy” passes.
But the oligarchs that rule this country and both its corporate
parties have no intention of dismantling the racist police state, beyond
staffing the blue legions with more Black, brown and female officers,
embedding the multiracial occupation army deeper in our communities and
increasing their intelligence capabilities. The “reforms” trotted out by
local and national Democrats do not alter -- but rather, enhance and
make culturally more palatable – the police mission to contain, control
and politically neutralize Black America.
-- Glen Ford, "Don’t Let the Democratic Party Bury the Movement" (BLACK AGENDA REPORT).
Monday, July 13, 2020
Truest statement of the week II
With the unveiling of Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden’s “joint task
force” proposals for the 2020 Democratic Party platform, Sanders has put
the final nail in the coffin of his so-called “political revolution.”
The joint task force initiative was first announced when Sanders gave his endorsement of Biden in mid-April. The task forces were composed of leading members of the Sanders and Biden campaigns, including two members of the Democratic Socialists of America: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. The initiative was meant to promote “party unity” ahead of the election.
The result of the Biden-Sanders collaboration is nothing short of a total repudiation of all the central pillars of Sanders’ campaign amid the greatest social and economic catastrophe in US history.
-- Genevieve Leigh, "Sanders-Biden task forces and the debacle of Sanders' 'political revolution'" (WSWS).
The joint task force initiative was first announced when Sanders gave his endorsement of Biden in mid-April. The task forces were composed of leading members of the Sanders and Biden campaigns, including two members of the Democratic Socialists of America: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. The initiative was meant to promote “party unity” ahead of the election.
The result of the Biden-Sanders collaboration is nothing short of a total repudiation of all the central pillars of Sanders’ campaign amid the greatest social and economic catastrophe in US history.
-- Genevieve Leigh, "Sanders-Biden task forces and the debacle of Sanders' 'political revolution'" (WSWS).
A note to our readers
Hey --
Sunday here on the west coast. Are you shocked? Us too.
Let's thank all who participated this edition which includes Dallas and the following:
The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess and Ava,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Trina of Trina's Kitchen,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Trina of Trina's Kitchen,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.
And what did we come up with?
Glen Ford gets another truest.
Genevieve Leigh gets a truest.
They're just targets now, right? That's the plan?
Ava and C.I. weigh in on WARRIOR NUN.
Saturday, Howie Hawkins became the Green Party's presidential nominee.
A book to check out.
What we listened to while working on this edition.
Repost.
Repost.
Repost.
Repost.
Mike and the gang wrote this and we thank them for it.
Peace,
-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.
Editorial: Still no plan
Last week, we wondered "Editorial: What are the goals?" There are no goals. There is no plan to withdraw all US troops from Iraq. Last Thursday, Ellen Mitchell (THE HILL) reported:
When does it end, when does the Iraq War end, when are US troops not in Iraq?
Last week, a US military convoy was attacked. Iranian journalist Habib Abdolhossein Tweeted:
When do US troops get to come home?
When does the US government stop using them to prop up a government that doesn't really exist?
There is no plan in place. 17 years later and there's still no plan.
The US government was happy to lie the country into war and it was happy to rush to war. But it's not eager to plan how to extract the country from this never-ending war.
The top U.S. general in the Middle East predicts that a small amount
of U.S. troops will remain in Iraq for the foreseeable future.
“I believe that going forward, they’re going to want us to be with them,” U.S. Central Command head Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie told reporters Tuesday after he met with Iraq’s new prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, according to The Associated Press.
“I don’t sense there’s a mood right now for us to depart precipitously. And I’m pretty confident of that.”
“I believe that going forward, they’re going to want us to be with them,” U.S. Central Command head Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie told reporters Tuesday after he met with Iraq’s new prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, according to The Associated Press.
“I don’t sense there’s a mood right now for us to depart precipitously. And I’m pretty confident of that.”
When does it end, when does the Iraq War end, when are US troops not in Iraq?
Last week, a US military convoy was attacked. Iranian journalist Habib Abdolhossein Tweeted:
Some unconfirmed reports suggest at least 3 people (most probably #Americans) have been killed in alleged attack on #US military logistics convoy in Al Diwaniya south of Baghdad. An #Iraqi militant group has claimed responsibility, saying roadside bomb hit the convoy.
2:47 PM · Jul 11, 2020
When do US troops get to come home?
When does the US government stop using them to prop up a government that doesn't really exist?
There is no plan in place. 17 years later and there's still no plan.
The US government was happy to lie the country into war and it was happy to rush to war. But it's not eager to plan how to extract the country from this never-ending war.
TV: The Chatty Nun
When you're an abled kid and watching a show like THE BIONIC WOMAN or THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN, you might -- as some have shared with us -- wish you were in a parachute or rocket accident so you could get a pair of bionic legs, a bionic arm and either a bionic ear or eye.
That's a sense of wonder and adventure that shouldn't be discounted. By the same token, when disability/challenge is used as a plot point and as a temporary one, we should be aware how that plays out -- specifically at a time when the US government is deploying men and women to war zones where they will get injured (or killed).
Season four of ARROW, for example, was outright disgusting as it left Felicity disabled and we all knew it was a stunt. Stan had blogged about ARROW, watching it each week. On January 28, 2016, he did his final post (the show would run for four more seaons):
Sorry, I'm done with ARROW.
I was mad watching the latest episode and turned it off around the time the now paralyzed Felicity couldn't reach a cabinet.
I might have hung around if this were the new Felicity.
But to put her through this and the audience through it only to later reverse it (as the nervous show runners are already telling the press)?
That's insulting.
All around.
Including the reality that some viewers of Arrow are challenged or disabled and they will not have a miracle cure.
I'm just not into this show anymore.
The Iraq War and the Afghanistan War have both failed to create peace but they have produced many deaths and a lot more wounded. Maybe show runners should be aware of that when running their shows?
It's hard to watch WARRIOR NUN, NETFLIX's latest superhero TV show, without thinking about that as the heroine, Ava, becomes heroic only after she gains the ability to walk.
Rosie Knight (NERDIST) observes, "As we learn in the first episode of the show, Ava was quadriplegic, a wheelchair user raised by sadistic nuns in a strange and secretive sect. Granted, at first, the tropey setup does appear to offer up the chance to explore the abuse of disabled people at the hands of those who care for them. But instead, we get a story about a hero who couldn’t save the world until she became able-bodied, steeped in the ever-present Hollywood message that a life as a disabled person isn’t one worth living."
It should be noted that WARRIOR NUN is based on Ben Dunn's comic of the same name. It should further be noted that no such trope exists in the comic -- nor does the character Ava.
Simon Berry, creator of the TV series and sole writer credited for the first episode, needs to explain why he felt the need to engage in such tropes? Rosie Knight also points out:
The strangest thing about Warrior Nun is that they only introduce Ava's disability as a "tragic" footnote so it can seem like she's overcome something. (Her mother died in a car crash and she was raised by abusive nuns; isn't that a "tragic" enough back story?) In fact, her disability is really only centered briefly so that when she's "cured" the creators can show her running joyously over the beach, the camera lingering on her now "working" legs and dancing wildly in a small bar… as if people in wheelchairs can experience neither the joy of dancing nor beautiful scenery.
This is a serious problem. Sadly, it's not the show's only problem.
There's also the excessive dialogue -- which isn't even bad exposition because the useless chatter is not about setting up anything. But how the supporting characters do blather on -- and about nothing. It's like one of those bad DOCKERS TV commercials or a season one episode of ALIAS where we they take a 'breather' from the action and spy moves to sit outside at a wooden picnic table and dish, dish, dish.
Vapid, for those not wise to this already, is not an attractive color.
And characters obsessed with trivial nonsense -- as Ava's new 'friends' are (she notes they were friends with each other, but not her friends) -- are not fascinating or interesting so repeated interludes with these characters serve no dramatic purpose nor will they turn a bad superhero series into an Igmar Bergman film.
What they do is spoil every early episode.
They're in episode four, these awful characters, but by then, the show finally has revealed larger themes and a larger purpose.
It's finally interesting.
That it took four episodes to get to that point is a huge problem.
Another problem emerges in episode eight. Beatrice has been an interesting supporting character. In episode eight, she helps Ava who is struggling with her powers. The scene suggests more than it shows or tells. Beatrice explains a WWII nun had problems as well and why -- she was a lesbian and when she's imprisoned by Nazis for being a lesbian, she goes into a rage that unlocks her powers.
The scene suggests that Beatrice herself is a lesbian and possibly Ava is either bi-sexual or a lesbian.
Suggests.
And then never brings it up again in that episode or the two that follow.
What might have been characterization instead merely passes for titillation.
And they could use more of Beatrice because Kristina Tonteri-Young is a strong actress. Alba Baptista, who plays Ava, is also an engaging actress. Otherwise? The series is cast with an international body of unknowns -- and after one or two episodes, you start to realize why they never broke out in their own country or any other.
WARRIOR NUN could be so many things -- sadly, even after the show picks up the pace in episode four, it's still actually not enough to warrant ten episodes -- let alone the second season some viewers are already demanding on Twitter. Instead of creating a fascinating world, it relies on worlds created by others -- not just the comic book it's based upon but also films like LOST SOUL, THE EXORCIST, DOMINION, STIGMATA with a dash of THE DA VINCI CODE stirred into the motley mix. In the end, WARRIOR NUN doesn't live up to expectations; in fact, it doesn't even live up to its title.
That's a sense of wonder and adventure that shouldn't be discounted. By the same token, when disability/challenge is used as a plot point and as a temporary one, we should be aware how that plays out -- specifically at a time when the US government is deploying men and women to war zones where they will get injured (or killed).
Season four of ARROW, for example, was outright disgusting as it left Felicity disabled and we all knew it was a stunt. Stan had blogged about ARROW, watching it each week. On January 28, 2016, he did his final post (the show would run for four more seaons):
Sorry, I'm done with ARROW.
I was mad watching the latest episode and turned it off around the time the now paralyzed Felicity couldn't reach a cabinet.
I might have hung around if this were the new Felicity.
But to put her through this and the audience through it only to later reverse it (as the nervous show runners are already telling the press)?
That's insulting.
All around.
Including the reality that some viewers of Arrow are challenged or disabled and they will not have a miracle cure.
I'm just not into this show anymore.
The Iraq War and the Afghanistan War have both failed to create peace but they have produced many deaths and a lot more wounded. Maybe show runners should be aware of that when running their shows?
It's hard to watch WARRIOR NUN, NETFLIX's latest superhero TV show, without thinking about that as the heroine, Ava, becomes heroic only after she gains the ability to walk.
Rosie Knight (NERDIST) observes, "As we learn in the first episode of the show, Ava was quadriplegic, a wheelchair user raised by sadistic nuns in a strange and secretive sect. Granted, at first, the tropey setup does appear to offer up the chance to explore the abuse of disabled people at the hands of those who care for them. But instead, we get a story about a hero who couldn’t save the world until she became able-bodied, steeped in the ever-present Hollywood message that a life as a disabled person isn’t one worth living."
It should be noted that WARRIOR NUN is based on Ben Dunn's comic of the same name. It should further be noted that no such trope exists in the comic -- nor does the character Ava.
Simon Berry, creator of the TV series and sole writer credited for the first episode, needs to explain why he felt the need to engage in such tropes? Rosie Knight also points out:
The strangest thing about Warrior Nun is that they only introduce Ava's disability as a "tragic" footnote so it can seem like she's overcome something. (Her mother died in a car crash and she was raised by abusive nuns; isn't that a "tragic" enough back story?) In fact, her disability is really only centered briefly so that when she's "cured" the creators can show her running joyously over the beach, the camera lingering on her now "working" legs and dancing wildly in a small bar… as if people in wheelchairs can experience neither the joy of dancing nor beautiful scenery.
This is a serious problem. Sadly, it's not the show's only problem.
There's also the excessive dialogue -- which isn't even bad exposition because the useless chatter is not about setting up anything. But how the supporting characters do blather on -- and about nothing. It's like one of those bad DOCKERS TV commercials or a season one episode of ALIAS where we they take a 'breather' from the action and spy moves to sit outside at a wooden picnic table and dish, dish, dish.
Vapid, for those not wise to this already, is not an attractive color.
And characters obsessed with trivial nonsense -- as Ava's new 'friends' are (she notes they were friends with each other, but not her friends) -- are not fascinating or interesting so repeated interludes with these characters serve no dramatic purpose nor will they turn a bad superhero series into an Igmar Bergman film.
What they do is spoil every early episode.
They're in episode four, these awful characters, but by then, the show finally has revealed larger themes and a larger purpose.
It's finally interesting.
That it took four episodes to get to that point is a huge problem.
Another problem emerges in episode eight. Beatrice has been an interesting supporting character. In episode eight, she helps Ava who is struggling with her powers. The scene suggests more than it shows or tells. Beatrice explains a WWII nun had problems as well and why -- she was a lesbian and when she's imprisoned by Nazis for being a lesbian, she goes into a rage that unlocks her powers.
The scene suggests that Beatrice herself is a lesbian and possibly Ava is either bi-sexual or a lesbian.
Suggests.
And then never brings it up again in that episode or the two that follow.
What might have been characterization instead merely passes for titillation.
And they could use more of Beatrice because Kristina Tonteri-Young is a strong actress. Alba Baptista, who plays Ava, is also an engaging actress. Otherwise? The series is cast with an international body of unknowns -- and after one or two episodes, you start to realize why they never broke out in their own country or any other.
WARRIOR NUN could be so many things -- sadly, even after the show picks up the pace in episode four, it's still actually not enough to warrant ten episodes -- let alone the second season some viewers are already demanding on Twitter. Instead of creating a fascinating world, it relies on worlds created by others -- not just the comic book it's based upon but also films like LOST SOUL, THE EXORCIST, DOMINION, STIGMATA with a dash of THE DA VINCI CODE stirred into the motley mix. In the end, WARRIOR NUN doesn't live up to expectations; in fact, it doesn't even live up to its title.
Howie Hawkins is the Green Party's presidential nominee
Howie Hawkins in the Green Party's presidential nominee. Prior to yesterday, the declared presidential candidates in the US included Gloria La Riva, Joseph Kishore and Jo Jorgensen. Howie, like the Democratic Party's Joe Biden, was the presumed nominee but he was not officially the nominee. Last night, Howie moved from presumed to official. Teri Weaver (SYRACUSE.COM) reports:
It’s official: Howie Hawkins, a tireless and perennial Green Party candidate in Syracuse and across New York, is running for president.
Hawkins
officially won the designation today during the Green Party’s virtual
convention. The selection marks the 25th time Hawkins has run for
office, and his first national campaign.
Howie
is the only new presidential candidate for this month. Next month, at
the Democratic Party's convention, Joe Biden is expected to be declared
the party's presidential candidate.
Howie is not just a longtime Green Party member, he co-founded the US Green Party in August of 1991. WSYR TV notes, "Hawkins has run for the governor of New York three times, a seat in
the Senate, a seat in the House of Representatives, and he ran for
Syracuse Mayor in 2017. Hawkins never won any of these elections, but he has helped the Green
Party gain popularity throughout New York State in recent years." Robert Harding (THE AUBURN CITIZEN) notes:
On Saturday, Hawkins officially became
the Green Party's nominee for president. He received 210 of the 355
votes on the first ballot to win the nomination at the party's
convention, which was held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The
presidential bid is the culmination of a lifetime of activism and
nearly two dozen political campaigns. Hawkins, a retired UPS employee
and Teamster who lives in Syracuse, was asked to run for president eight
years ago. He declined because of his work obligations.
[. . .]
As the Green Party's presidential
nominee, one of Hawkins' main goals is to appear on the general election
ballot in every state and the District of Columbia. That's important,
he explained, because it could give the Green Party ballot access for
future elections.
So far,
Hawkins and his running mate, Angela Walker, are on the ballot in nearly
30 states. He admitted it has been challenging because of the COVID-19
pandemic. While some states eased their rules for securing a spot on the
ballot, others did not.
You might not think
ballot access would be an issue in a democracy, but it is. The US
offers the illusion that Americans can freely choose who to vote for but
even when you cut through the online bullying by the Debra Messings of
the country, you're still left with the reality that the so-called
'presidential debates' are controlled by the Democratic and the
Republican Parties (not the people of the US) and they exclude all other
candidates. As for ballot access, earlier this week, SEP presidential
candidate Joseph Kishore wrote about the fight to get on the ballot in
the so-called democratic state of Michigan in "Michigan court rules that SEP must gather signatures despite pandemic" (WSWS).
Many
reforms are needed in US elections -- including ranked choice voting.
The news of Howie Hawkin's victory may be ignored by the press
because it goes to just how unfair 'democracy' in the US is when
candidates have to fight for ballot access. Or it could just be part of
the corporate press again refusing to do their job: Inform the American
people. At any rate, a search of AP's website shows, as of Sunday afternoon (one day after he secured the presidential nomination), not one story about Howie Hawkins in 2020 -- let alone one of him winning the nomination.
Instead of providing actual news,
the corporate press prefers to shape opinion. That's not their job. But as the late Edward S.
Herman repeatedly documented over the years as a media critic, it is
what they perceive as their role.
Friday, CSPAN did what it was created by Congress for and, on WASHINGTON JOURNAL, interviewed Howie.
Another
victory that Howie's campaign had earlier this week was in meeting the
criteria for matching federal funds. July 9th, his campaign noted:
Federal law requires that campaigns raised $5,000 in 20 states in
increments of up to $250 per individual. Today, Virginia became the 20th
state and put the campaign over the top. Donations will qualify for
matching funds up to the last day of the Republican Convention, August
27.
Matching funds must be spent for primary activities, including ballot access petitioning. For the general election, there are public campaign grants for parties that received over 5% of the popular vote in the previous election, which the Green Party did not do in 2016. The campaign will have to raise funds separately for the fall general election. No other campaign in 2020 has qualified for matching funds. The Democrats and Republicans reject matching funds because they can raise more money from the millionaires and billionaires who they represent, and no other third-party has achieved matching funds.
The campaign has raised nearly $220,000, from more than 4,000 people in more than 7,000 donations.
Hawkins/Walker plans to use the matching funds to get on the ballot in 50 states and Washington, DC by hiring ballot access petitioners. This is especially difficult during the COVID crisis. Attached are pictures of Hawkins/Walker petitioners gathering signatures. Hawkins/Walker will use much of the matching funds to hire petitioners.
Matching funds must be spent for primary activities, including ballot access petitioning. For the general election, there are public campaign grants for parties that received over 5% of the popular vote in the previous election, which the Green Party did not do in 2016. The campaign will have to raise funds separately for the fall general election. No other campaign in 2020 has qualified for matching funds. The Democrats and Republicans reject matching funds because they can raise more money from the millionaires and billionaires who they represent, and no other third-party has achieved matching funds.
The campaign has raised nearly $220,000, from more than 4,000 people in more than 7,000 donations.
Hawkins/Walker plans to use the matching funds to get on the ballot in 50 states and Washington, DC by hiring ballot access petitioners. This is especially difficult during the COVID crisis. Attached are pictures of Hawkins/Walker petitioners gathering signatures. Hawkins/Walker will use much of the matching funds to hire petitioners.
The Green Party quotes Howie declaring in his acceptance speech:
Our
campaign will reach out to the tens of millions of voters
who are not represented by the two parties of the millionaires and
billionaires, to the independent voters who have rejected both parties
and to the ‘hold your nose’ voters who reluctantly vote for candidates
they do not like, from political parties they do not trust. [. . .] The
US is a bi-partisan failed state. We need real solutions to the
life-or-death problems we face: Covid-19, racism, economic inequality,
climate change and the new nuclear arms race. The
mishandling of the COVID pandemic has resulted in more than 135,000
deaths. The collapse of the economy has 47.2 percent of working-age
people without work while the bi-partisans are bailing out their wealthy
friends and families. The people are rising up against racism and
police violence but Trump and Biden respond with violence. Neither party
will confront the climate crisis but instead continue building fossil
fuel infrastructure that heighten the crisis. And, the nuclear arms race
is escalating while never-ending wars continue.
Cami Mondeaux (KSL NEWS RADIO) notes, "Hawkins was the first to propose the Green New Deal in 2010, advocating
for legislation that addresses climate change and economic inequality. A
decade later, Hawkins has used the deal as the central theme of his
campaign." The Green New Deal is now a plan advocated by many of various political stripes. This is an example of the power of third parties outside the corporate duopoly -- they can raised needed issues and bring public attention to these issues. This campaign could popularize other needed actions as well as increase awareness of the Green Party and help them move closer towards ballot access in all fifty states.
This is what some see the purpose of the party to be in 2020, not actually winning the election. We have argued in the past -- and continue to argue today -- that any presidential candidate should run their campaign as though they intend to win the presidency. If they fail to do so, they aren't really a candidate for the presidency.
Some critics of Howie's argue that he's not a real candidate. Dario Hunter, who also sough the Green Party's presidential nomination, lodged complaints against Howie and stated that the campaign was fixed by some Green leaders. If the campaign was unfair, proof would be good to supply and not just accusations. We're not calling Dario a liar, we are saying he made charges and didn't follow through. The lack of follow through has been a real problem for Dario. In fact, it's why those of us writing this piece who are Green switched from Dario to Howie. We agreed and more closely aligned with Dario. But long before COVID19, Dario failed to run a real campaign. No, the corporate press is not going to cover third party candidates. Thats why you better have a social media presence. Dario had none. He might go a week without Tweeting. His campaign page -- on FACEBOOK -- rarely updated. How could you get the word out on a candidate who did nothing?
By contrast, on Twitter, Howie and his campaign updated daily -- and, in fact, updated repeatedly each day. They also had a campaign site that regularly posted new content.
It was clear that Howie was running an actual campaign.
Let's say Dario is accurate and the campaign was fixed. So what? It's not like Dario was fighting for the nomination at the start of 2020 -- or even really trying for it.
Jimmy Dore is someone we respect and he has voiced serious concerns about Howie and his campaign. Here's our problem with Jimmy's criticism -- criticism that may be valid. When Jimmy's talking about how he doesn't feel Howie will push hard enough and he feels Howie echoes CIA talking points, we're on board. But then he goes to Jesse Ventura.
A number of people wanted Jesse to seek the Green Party nomination and, earlier this year, he flirted with doing so. Then the former governor of Michigan decided he would not campaign for it. He did say, however, that he would accept the nomination if he was drafted.
If you're going to question whether the Green Party ran a fair campaign, that's fine, do so. But you undercut your own argument when you then start saying that the nomination should have gone to Jesse Ventura.
Jesse chose not to run. His choice. To give the nomination to a candidate who didn't even run for the nomination? That's going to look like a fixed race.
We harbor no ill will towards the former wrestler but we don't see how gifting him with a nomination -- over Howie, over Dario, over everyone that ran for it -- would look like a fair and transparent process.
Howie is the nominee. That doesn't mean he's above criticism. That doesn't mean everyone has to rally behind him. That doesn't mean he shouldn't be called out and pressured. But if you're arguing that the process wasn't fair, you shouldn't also be arguing that the nomination should have gone to a person who didn't even run for it.
Following his victory, Howie Tweeted:
We are honored to officially be the
nominees for President & Vice President! Thank you to Greens around the country who voted for us in the Green primaries! Thank you to our donors and volunteers! Get involved in our #LeftUnity campaign at howiehawkins.us
nominees for President & Vice President! Thank you to Greens around the country who voted for us in the Green primaries! Thank you to our donors and volunteers! Get involved in our #LeftUnity campaign at howiehawkins.us
------------
This report is built around C.I.'s "Howie Hawkins declared Green Party presidential nominee as US military convoy attacked in Iraq" that went up Saturday night.
Summer book read
Ava and C.I. praised Stephen Rebello's DOLLS! DOLLS! DOLLS: DEEP INSIDE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, THE MOST BELOVED BAD BOOK AND MOVIE OF ALL TIME. In "TV: The day TCM died," they wrote:
Sidebar, read Stephen's new book DOLLS! DOLLS! DEEP INSIDE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS -- THE MOST BELOVED BAD BOOK AND MOVIE OF ALL TIME -- it's wonderful.
Rebecca loves the book and is blogging about it at her site.
Author Stephen Rebello discusses his new book with Jim Ryan in the video below.
This edition's playlist
1) Diana Ross' SUPERTONIC MIXES.
2) Ricky Martin's PAUSA.
3) Bob Dylan's ROUGH AND ROWDY WAYS.
4) Ronnie Spector's ENGLISH HEART.
5) Janet Jackson's UNBREAKABLE.
6) Harry Style's FINE LINE.
7) Hamilton Leithauser's THE LOVES OF YOUR LIFE .
8) Sam Smith's IN THE LONELY HOUR DROWNING SHADOW EDITION.
9) Fiona Apple's FETCH THE BOLT CUTTERS.
10) Dionne Warwick's SHE'S BACK.
Hawkins Nomination Speech
Yesterday, Howie Hawkins became the Green Party's presidential candidate. This was the speech he gave to the convention.
Nomination Speech
I want to start by acknowledging and thanking all the Greens who have persisted, through some negativity, but particularly through the difficult circumstances of this Covid pandemic, to conduct our Green primaries and this convention.
You’re volunteers. You’ve worked so hard. You should be proud of yourselves.
I want to thank my campaign team. I’ve never been part of a campaign with so many people stepping up to volunteer and work so hard and so well.
And thank you to Angela Walker for stepping up to be my running mate. Angela will be a great messenger for the Green Party
And thank you to the over 4,000 campaign contributors who this week qualified our campaign for federal primary matching funds.
We’ll soon have another $200,000 that we’ll plow back into ballot access to get the Green Party on all 52 ballots – the 50 states, DC, and the advisory vote in Guam.
I’m honored and humbled by your votes for me in the primaries. I will do my best to live up to your hopes and expectations.
And now the Green Party moves forward, standing on the shoulders of Jill Stein, and her running mates, Cheri Honkala and Ajamu Baraka.
They brought the Green Party to another level in 2012 and again 2016.
Jill used to say, “We have to vote like our lives depend on it, because they do.”
That is even more true today, as we face a host of life-or-death issues.
The Covid pandemic shows us that the two governing parties are presiding over a failed state.
With 4% of the world’s population, we have 25% of the world’s Covid infections. We are on pace to have a quarter of a million Covid deaths by the election.
Trump has just given up. Covid won. Trump is a loser.
But where the hell is Joe Biden? He lives within commuter distance of the White House press corps. He can command their attention. He should be holding news conferences and pounding away at what we need now – a test, trace, and isolate program to suppress the virus, like most other organized countries around the world.
The silence of Biden, and the political leadership of both major parties, on demanding an emergency test, trace, and isolate program is complicity in hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths.
The failure of the two-party corporate state is why the Green Party now has to step into this political vacuum and advance real solutions to the life-or-death issues we face.
Like the centuries-old pandemic of racism and police brutality we are now protesting in the streets.
Reforms to policing techniques are not enough. When the police police themselves, they get away with murder. We demand community control of the police.
Defunding the police is not enough. We demand defunding the military, too. Only then will we have enough resources to invest in the jobs, housing, schools, health care, and public services that are needed in racially-oppressed communities that been segregated, discriminated against, and exploited for generations, right up to present day.
The climate meltdown is a life-or-death issue. Jill Stein put the Green New Deal, the signature issue of the Green Party in the 2010s, on to the national agenda.
But the Democrats have taken the slogan and watered down the content.
We are here to campaign for the full-strength Green New Deal, for zero-to-negative carbon emissions and 100% clean energy by 2030.
Our ecosocialist Green New Deal will create 38 million jobs. In the midst of this Covid economic depression, we now need the Green New Deal for economic recovery as well as climate recovery.
Inequality is killing us. After 50 years of stagnant wages and growing economic inequality, working class life expectancy is going down.
We will enact an Economic Bill of Rights to end poverty and economic despair, including a job guarantee, a guaranteed income above poverty, and Medicare for All.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has moved its Doomsday Clock the closest it’s ever been to midnight
We will take peace initiatives: a 75% cut in military spending, withdrawal from the endless wars, pledge no first use of nuclear weapons, and disarm to a minimum credible deterrent.
And on the basis of those tension-reducing peace initiatives, we will go to the other eight nuclear powers to negotiate mutual and complete nuclear disarmament. We will go there with the support of the 122 non-nuclear nations who agreed to the text of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons three years ago.
The International Campaign for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons received the Nobel Peace Prize for that achievement, but hardly anybody in this country even knows that.
None of the major party candidates have talked about this issue. It should be a top campaign issue and we’ll make it one.
These are life-or-death issues. The two-party corporate state has failed. It’s time for the Green Party to provide the real solutions.
Our lives depend on it. We’re running out of time. And real solution can’t wait.
So let us now unite, and support our Green candidates, up and down the ballot, with all we’ve got to give.
Thank you.
I want to start by acknowledging and thanking all the Greens who have persisted, through some negativity, but particularly through the difficult circumstances of this Covid pandemic, to conduct our Green primaries and this convention.
You’re volunteers. You’ve worked so hard. You should be proud of yourselves.
I want to thank my campaign team. I’ve never been part of a campaign with so many people stepping up to volunteer and work so hard and so well.
And thank you to Angela Walker for stepping up to be my running mate. Angela will be a great messenger for the Green Party
And thank you to the over 4,000 campaign contributors who this week qualified our campaign for federal primary matching funds.
We’ll soon have another $200,000 that we’ll plow back into ballot access to get the Green Party on all 52 ballots – the 50 states, DC, and the advisory vote in Guam.
I’m honored and humbled by your votes for me in the primaries. I will do my best to live up to your hopes and expectations.
And now the Green Party moves forward, standing on the shoulders of Jill Stein, and her running mates, Cheri Honkala and Ajamu Baraka.
They brought the Green Party to another level in 2012 and again 2016.
Jill used to say, “We have to vote like our lives depend on it, because they do.”
That is even more true today, as we face a host of life-or-death issues.
The Covid pandemic shows us that the two governing parties are presiding over a failed state.
With 4% of the world’s population, we have 25% of the world’s Covid infections. We are on pace to have a quarter of a million Covid deaths by the election.
Trump has just given up. Covid won. Trump is a loser.
But where the hell is Joe Biden? He lives within commuter distance of the White House press corps. He can command their attention. He should be holding news conferences and pounding away at what we need now – a test, trace, and isolate program to suppress the virus, like most other organized countries around the world.
The silence of Biden, and the political leadership of both major parties, on demanding an emergency test, trace, and isolate program is complicity in hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths.
The failure of the two-party corporate state is why the Green Party now has to step into this political vacuum and advance real solutions to the life-or-death issues we face.
Like the centuries-old pandemic of racism and police brutality we are now protesting in the streets.
Reforms to policing techniques are not enough. When the police police themselves, they get away with murder. We demand community control of the police.
Defunding the police is not enough. We demand defunding the military, too. Only then will we have enough resources to invest in the jobs, housing, schools, health care, and public services that are needed in racially-oppressed communities that been segregated, discriminated against, and exploited for generations, right up to present day.
The climate meltdown is a life-or-death issue. Jill Stein put the Green New Deal, the signature issue of the Green Party in the 2010s, on to the national agenda.
But the Democrats have taken the slogan and watered down the content.
We are here to campaign for the full-strength Green New Deal, for zero-to-negative carbon emissions and 100% clean energy by 2030.
Our ecosocialist Green New Deal will create 38 million jobs. In the midst of this Covid economic depression, we now need the Green New Deal for economic recovery as well as climate recovery.
Inequality is killing us. After 50 years of stagnant wages and growing economic inequality, working class life expectancy is going down.
We will enact an Economic Bill of Rights to end poverty and economic despair, including a job guarantee, a guaranteed income above poverty, and Medicare for All.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has moved its Doomsday Clock the closest it’s ever been to midnight
We will take peace initiatives: a 75% cut in military spending, withdrawal from the endless wars, pledge no first use of nuclear weapons, and disarm to a minimum credible deterrent.
And on the basis of those tension-reducing peace initiatives, we will go to the other eight nuclear powers to negotiate mutual and complete nuclear disarmament. We will go there with the support of the 122 non-nuclear nations who agreed to the text of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons three years ago.
The International Campaign for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons received the Nobel Peace Prize for that achievement, but hardly anybody in this country even knows that.
None of the major party candidates have talked about this issue. It should be a top campaign issue and we’ll make it one.
These are life-or-death issues. The two-party corporate state has failed. It’s time for the Green Party to provide the real solutions.
Our lives depend on it. We’re running out of time. And real solution can’t wait.
So let us now unite, and support our Green candidates, up and down the ballot, with all we’ve got to give.
Thank you.
###
Libertarian presidential nominee declares CARES Act a Trojan horse
Jo Jorgensen is the Libertarian Party's presidential nominee
Dr. Jo Jorgensen says program will cost taxpayers $16K each
ORLANDO,
Fla.— “The $1,200 check politicians sent some of you is going to cost
you more than $16,000,” said Dr. Jo Jorgensen of the so-called CARES
Act, passed by Democratic and Republican lawmakers in March. “It’s a
Trojan horse.”
Dr. Jo Jorgensen is the 2020 Libertarian presidential nominee; she delivered her acceptance speech on Friday at the Libertarian National Convention, which runs through one o’clock on Sunday in Orlando.
“Like a gift of a wooden sculpture filled with soldiers ready to attack, politicians may have sent you $1,200 under the CARES Act, and maybe they threw a bonus in with your unemployment checks,” she explained. “But if you are the average taxpayer, you will pony up $16,050 to pay for all the pork that they handed out to special interests along with it.”
The $2.3 trillion CARES Act will be paid for by American workers in the form of future taxes and devaluation of the dollar.”
Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress are getting ready to pass yet another massive stimulus bill with a staggering price tag of between one and three trillion dollars.
“Rather than pass another pork-barrel bill that will cost taxpayers much more in future taxes and inflation than the amount of their measly payouts, lawmakers need to end government-mandated shutdowns so people can get back to work, businesses can survive, and life can return to normal,” she said.
“Today there’s nothing people need more than jobs,” said Jorgensen. “And if we don’t restore a fully functioning economy, many businesses and jobs will be lost in spite of these bills. So the best way to create jobs is to open the economy and allow, not politicians, but individuals and businesses to decide for themselves how best to weigh the risks of the pandemic versus their economic well-being.”
For questions about the convention or to schedule an interview with Dr. Jorgensen, contact:
• Jim Turney, Jorgensen 2020 Florida state director: (407) 587-6462, JoJ2020FL@GMail.com
• Elizabeth C. Brierly, Jorgensen 2020 media managing director: (408) 930-4172, Media@JoJ2020.com
Dr. Jo Jorgensen is the 2020 Libertarian presidential nominee; she delivered her acceptance speech on Friday at the Libertarian National Convention, which runs through one o’clock on Sunday in Orlando.
“Like a gift of a wooden sculpture filled with soldiers ready to attack, politicians may have sent you $1,200 under the CARES Act, and maybe they threw a bonus in with your unemployment checks,” she explained. “But if you are the average taxpayer, you will pony up $16,050 to pay for all the pork that they handed out to special interests along with it.”
The $2.3 trillion CARES Act will be paid for by American workers in the form of future taxes and devaluation of the dollar.”
Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress are getting ready to pass yet another massive stimulus bill with a staggering price tag of between one and three trillion dollars.
“Rather than pass another pork-barrel bill that will cost taxpayers much more in future taxes and inflation than the amount of their measly payouts, lawmakers need to end government-mandated shutdowns so people can get back to work, businesses can survive, and life can return to normal,” she said.
“Today there’s nothing people need more than jobs,” said Jorgensen. “And if we don’t restore a fully functioning economy, many businesses and jobs will be lost in spite of these bills. So the best way to create jobs is to open the economy and allow, not politicians, but individuals and businesses to decide for themselves how best to weigh the risks of the pandemic versus their economic well-being.”
For questions about the convention or to schedule an interview with Dr. Jorgensen, contact:
• Jim Turney, Jorgensen 2020 Florida state director: (407) 587-6462, JoJ2020FL@GMail.com
• Elizabeth C. Brierly, Jorgensen 2020 media managing director: (408) 930-4172, Media@JoJ2020.com
Michigan court rules that SEP must gather signatures despite pandemic
[Joseph Kishore is the SEP's presidential candidate]
La Riva: Don’t scapegoat the anti-racist movement!
Gloira La Riva is the presidential nominee for the Party of Socialism and Liberation
La Riva: Don’t scapegoat the anti-racist movement!
Socialist presidential candidate Gloria La Riva spoke out against the attempt to discredit the movement organizing against police terror and racism. The following is her statement.
“With tight uniformity and coordination, the corporate media is leading with headlines about 'community violence' over the holiday weekend. Politicians are attempting to falsely and opportunistically tie this to protests. Don’t scapegoat the movement that is fighting for justice!”
“Politicians and the media are insinuating that if the protest demands to defund the police are carried out, that we will see more of this violence. That is completely false. “The police don’t actually stop violent crime, they only respond to incidents, and many times the police only escalate the situation rather than help.
“Defunding the police means finding alternative, safe ways to resolve disputes, to help people suffering mental crises, to de escalate tensions, not have armed police terrorize Black and Brown communities.
“Some of the media goes even further saying the protesters have created a lawlessness directly responsible for the recent murders. This was most blatantly carried out in Atlanta, Georgia where the city cleared out the Rayshard Brooks Peace Center after the tragic murder of an eight-year-old girl, Secoriea Turner. Protest organizers clearly explained the killing was not actually at its location, and of course, none of the protesters were involved whatsoever.
“The murder of the eight-year-old child Secoriea is a terrible tragedy. But it is an outrage to use such a young life lost to score political points against the tremendous, unprecedented movement against racism.”
“Trump is responsible for encouraging in the most vile way, police and fascist violence against oppressed communities and protesters. I strongly denounce his white supremacist attacks. And the Democratic officials should not be off the hook for their responsibility, either. In Democratic-led cities like Atlanta, Seattle, Chicago, New York City and Washington DC, the officials are employing policies and rhetoric against the anti-racist, anti-police movement.
“We have come too far to be turned back now. The massive and sustained protests — the largest numbers of protests in U.S. history — have changed public opinion and greater awareness. I and my co-members in the Party for Socialism and Liberation, in California’s Peace and Freedom Party, in Vermont’s Liberty Union Party, and all justice-loving people, we will continue to be an active part of this historic, earth-shaking movement!”
Highlights
This piece is written by Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix, Kat of Kat's Korner, Betty of Thomas Friedman is a Great Man, Mike of Mikey Likes It!, Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz, Ruth of Ruth's Report, Marcia of SICKOFITRADLZ, Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends, Ann of Ann's Mega Dub, Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts and Wally of The Daily Jot. Unless otherwise noted, we picked all highlights.
"Howie Hawkins declared Green Party presidential no..." -- most requested highlight by readers of this site.
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"Tuna salad, Robert Parry" and "Spinach Salad in the Kitchen" -- Ruth and Trina offer recipes.
"Iraq snapshot," "Iraq snapshot," "Iraq snapshot," "Iraq snapshot," "Iraq snapshot," "Iraq: Coronavirus, rocket attack, defending the bo...,," "The wealthy tax cheats, plus Charlie Puth and George Harrison," "Two idiots: Thomas Klikauer – Norman Simms," "One sings new songs, the other sticks to old tunes," "Jimmy Dore," "We were never all in this together," "Patrick Martin reports on Biden," "The one real gift of the pandemic," "God be with the nurses at St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet," "Sweatshop labor?." "Howie -- I'm still supporting Howie," "Vanessa Guillen," "Video reports on Ghislaine Maxwell," "Ghislaine," "A better world," "Curiosity," "L'oreal's glamour image goes down the toilet," "Excited?," "Toxic workplace," "Christopher Steele was always a liar," "Don't glamorize it or pretend consent was involved" and ""Barack needs Joe as president to keep the secrets about the conspiracy secret" -- news coverage in the community.
"valley of the dolls - susan hayward and dionne warwick," "patty duke," "poor judy""Rebecca's covering the new VALLEY OF THE DOLLS book," "natalie wood could have had another hit film, candice bergen could have been a movie star," and "Stephen Rebello's DOLLS! DOLLS! DOLLS!" -- Rebecca's covering the new book about VALLEY OF THE DOLLS at her site.
"Aretha performing "Don't Play That Song." That'...,""The Chicks are back -- kind of, sort of -- this time with lies from Natalie," "5 great Barbra Streisand tracks" and "Sam Smith's new video" -- music coverage in the community.
"Are you going to sample Peacock?," "BLONDIE ON A BUDGET," "Brandis Kemp," "Stuck in the 80s -- MARVEL AGENTS OF SHIELD," "NETFLIX's latest trouble," "Thandie Newton talks about racism in Hollywood," "L'oreal's glamour image goes down the toilet," ,"Amos & Andy time," "James Dean was gay," "i like jude law but ...," "BLINDSPOT -- second episode from Thursday," "Patterson lives! BLINDSPOT," "PEACOCK TV is coming," "When a gold digger loves fame," "Halle Berry Pulls Out of Transgender Film Role After Backlash," "The need for TV movies and mini-series to be available for streaming" and "Hope is gone -- another sign of how bad 2020 is" -- TV and movie coverage in the community.
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