Scattershots – 22feb20 (updated 25feb20)

George Rebane

Surprise! – school costs are projected to double their budgeted income.  Well, not really.  It’s only a surprise to our progressives who either skipped or failed Econ 101.  The 22feb20 Union cites a report by WestEd that projects the coming “silent recession” in our schools (here) This was known to most of us years ago (2008) when its first ignored signs became apparent.  The schools will “likely be running deficits soon because of factors like the rising rate of pensions, special education costs, and rising staff costs, along with the price of health care.”  With state socialism running wild and teachers’ unions sitting in the catbird seat, whoulda thought?  In Nevada County we are holding emergency meetings at the school district “in an attempt to get ahead of the possible (?!) problems.”  And guess what is the big unfunded gorilla in the room – can you spell ‘CalSTRS’?  As usual, no one is discussing cutting the schools’ ridiculous cost structure, but only how best to raise taxes to pay off the new bonds that must be floated to cover the deficits.

The mood of California’s disgruntled Democrats is correctly captured by our beloved liberal cartoonist Bob Crabb.  You see, they already control the state with an electorate of gimmes having voted in the Sacramento super-majorities, and a double dummy governor who’s competing with Bernie for the Time's cover picture of the ‘Socialist of the Year’.  But there’s a bit of northern California that still remains mostly Republican and conservative, and that must not be tolerated to complete a true-Blue, one-party state – any vestige of remaining representation of the knuckle draggers in Sacramento must be purged.  And Mr Crabb is up to promoting that in his cartoon which I filched from the pages of the 22feb20 Union.

The fair share between pay and profits, that is the consuming question for America’s socialists, who, of course, know the answer.  Jon Sindreu in the 22feb20 WSJ gives the issue a workmanlike airing (here).  There he points out that “there has been a lot of attention paid to how much of national income goes to profits instead of workers’ pay. Labor’s share of gross domestic product remained close to a postcrisis low in 2019 amid record corporate earnings, according to the latest U.S. data.”  And the stability between pay and profits during most of the 20th century started tilting toward profits, which predictably has gotten up the dander of our ‘workers, throw off your chains’ leftwing.  A deeper look reveals no untoward imbalance, save that since 1980 competition has forced industries to consolidate, and technology started replacing labor’s share of productivity contributions.  This, of course, has caused labor’s share of GDP to decrease since the remaining jobs are tending to a dumbbell shaped distribution of pay, with the big hump consisting of lower wage ‘commodity level’ jobs.  If we want to maintain and grow our QoL, then start thinking again of systemic unemployment, universal basic income, and perhaps even non-profit service corporations.

[23feb20 update]  One of the Democrat Big Lies is that Russia is backing Trump in 2020.  This not only a lie, but blatant idiocy for anyone to believe such tripe.  We have pointed out how Trump’s walk is what people should focus on, not his public talk about Russia which is firm yet relatively mild-mannered.  For those snuffies unfamiliar with public/private negotiations, this is what you do to maximize your position in deal making – talk softly while wielding a big stick.  As John Hinderaker explains in ‘You Don’t Need a Spy to Know Which Way the Russian Wind Blows’ - "Donald Trump is anathema to the rulers of Russia. Not only has he armed the Ukrainians, he has re-invigorated NATO by insisting that members take an interest in their own defense; stood up to and badly wounded Russia’s key ally, Iran; overseen an expansion and strengthening of American armed forces; and, most important, encouraged fracking and other development of U.S. oil and gas resources, which has kept down the global price of oil. … It is blindingly obvious that the Russians would prefer any Democrat to President Trump. All of the Democrats have promised to limit U.S. production of oil and gas, which no doubt sounds like pure insanity to Putin but is music to his ears. Equally important, they all vow to shrink America’s armed forces and never to use them under any foreseeable circumstances. And they all would pursue a soft line toward Iran." (more here and H/T to correspondent)

[24feb20 update]  There is a Sanders Silver Lining.  What many of us have been saying for years about the true social and governance objectives of the Democratic Party are now visible to all as the curtain has been pulled aside to reveal their true aims for a fundamentally transformed America.  It is clear that communism is the ultimate goal, and proto-communist policies, should Team Bernie et al prevail, are the first steps.  But first, our guns have got to go as the government’s guns come out to make us heel.

[25feb20 update]  Google full-page ad in the 25feb20 WSJ touting their cloud services has the banner – The Home Depot is solving for empowering doers to get more done.  Huh??!

From the immortal Robert Burns “O, wad some Power the giftie gie us/ To see oursels as others see us! …"  - Since George W. Bush I have been writing about the fundamentalist hijacked Republican Party. It is 2020 and the GOP Jihad continues on with the new moniker of the Trump Party. … Leaderless and adrift, the far-right hoards of white Republican religious purists are still trying to purge the country of decency, morality and moderation instilling their brand of anti-abortion and anti-immigration and science denial. … I understand the necessity of an opposition, but the Republicans are completely AWOL, in that regard. The Republican Party is becoming a group of fringe right-wingers lacking the moderation of centrists. Get ready for the Trump-Republican 2020 campaign of lies as they play to the wealthy, religious and conservatives. What a god-awful mess. May they self-destruct.  Ron Lowe, Nevada City (from Letters in the 25feb20 Union)

And in the same vein from Thomas Elias’ ‘California carrying the national economy’ , we learn that instead of all the growing problems the state has been having under decades of Democrat rule with workers and companies leaving, highest taxes/fees/regulations, welfare capital of the nation, illegals and gimmes arriving, and crap-infested cities full of indigent homeless and addicts living in the streets, and … .  All of that is wrong, and California is really “the envy of the nation” as we were told the other day by Governor Goofy Gavin.  Since the state has a couple or three counties that are home to major corporations raking gazillions of revenues from manufactories and server centers all over the world, all is well – better than well, it’s just peachy.  When county GDPs are tallied like that, then it’s easy to see how places like India and China can also have several small concentrations of outfits that produce enormous wealth which doesn’t accrue to the surrounding countryside where people are in dire straits.  Don’t know whether the arch leftwing columnist Elias is a bit teched, but he’s sure betting that his readers are.

Comments

[Gregory]

Checking Open Secrets for funding... LaMalfa isn't getting cash from the NRA.

Earl, where'd you get that from?

[rl crabb]

F*ck the Democrats. I'll probably vote for Dhanuka.

[scenes]

re: Gregory@2:23PM

If you go to 2016, not the other years, you'll see $2k from the NRA. Probably an automatic amount they give to everyone not on their bad person list.

It's the same amount as LaMalfa got from the United Egg Association in 2018, but that wouldn't make for quite so hilarious a gag.

I don't mind the writing so much as the drawings. Gack. To be fair, it takes some skill to be a good cartoonist.

[Gregory]

looks like crabbman is still butthurt over AB5, but this race is federal, not state.

re crabb's drawing skills... the devil is in the details... like the barrels of the shotgun... looks like a double 30-'06 to me.

for bad 'tooning, Pastis is hard to beat:
https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2015/01/22

[Scott O]

scenes 4:08 - Really? I think Bob's cartooning is fine. It's the political commentary that falls down. He often has good commentary on the foibles of society in general, but the LaMalfa depiction as a violent thug who won't leave office peacefully is just moronic slander.
Dhanuka? Just checked his web site. What a laugh. His comments on 'ending homelessness' shows he hasn't got a single clue about the homeless problem. And he's going to lower health care costs and lower taxes and regulations.
I wish him well.

[Bill Tozer]

Re: Crabbie Patty. I personally liked Big Foot on the coastal range myself. Happy big guy.

Scott @ 4:48 pm
Homelessness? Put them in homes and then what? Gotta pay the monthly rent. Gotta answer the bell. Kinda hard when the bad habits interfere with going to work. Glenn County tried that way back in the Clinton welfare reform days and learned the gist of the problem.

Glenn County took the chronically unemployment...those on welfare. Put them in an apartment with two months rent and even secured them a job. After a week or two, they couldn’t make it to work, lost the apartment when the free rent ran out, and back to square one. What the County discovered was they had to take care of the drug and alcohol problems first.

All in all, Glenn County or Lake County have about the same demographics as Nevada County, about the same population per square mile, have the same problems as us.

So again, put them in “homes” and then what?? You walk twenty miles into the woods, you gotta walk twenty miles out.

[Don Bessee]

Cant wait for the down ticket impacts of comrade Bernie -

During MSNBC’s Nevada caucus coverage on Saturday, host Chris Matthews stated that 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) will win the Democratic nomination unless there is some shift in the race, but “it’s a little late to stop him,” and that there is “so much” opposition research on Sanders and Republicans will “kill him.”

Matthews said, “[I]t looks like Bernie Sanders is hard to beat right now. I’m with Carville all the way in terms of the dangers of what lurks — what lies ahead in November. I’m very much aware of them. They’re sitting on so much oppo research on Bernie, what he said in the past about world affairs, how far left he is. I’m not sure how far left he is, but they’re going to make the most of that in terms of world politics. They’re going to kill him.”

He added, “I think it’s a little late to stop him, and I think that’s the problem.” And that Sanders has won the majority of the left wing of the Democratic Party, and “It is pretty much over, unless that changes. I was reading last night…about the fall of France, in the summer of 1940, and the General, Reynaud, calls up Churchill and says, it’s over. And Churchill says, how can it be? You’ve got the greatest army in Europe. How can it be over? He said, it’s over.”

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2020/02/22/matthews-a-little-late-to-stop-sanders-in-primary-gop-will-kill-him/

;-)

[Don Bessee]

Bengazi movie susan should know and they wrote the swamp creature book, no wonder she sounds nervous. -

Friday during an interview that aired on MSNBC, former National Security Adviser and U.N. ambassador Susan Rice criticized Richard Grenell, President Donald Trump’s pick to acting Director of National Intelligence.

Rice called him “dishonest,” as well as other criticisms, and complained he was put in the job to use intelligence tools for political purposes.

“The problem is that Rick Grenell is one of the most massively dishonest people I’ve ever encountered,” Rice said. “I’m not using this language lightly. He is a hack and a shill, and that’s all he’s ever been.”

“And he has been put in that job for one reason only, which is to turn the intelligence community into a tool for the president’s re-election,” she added.

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2020/02/22/susan-rice-acting-dni-grenell-a-hack-and-a-shill-one-of-the-most-nasty-dishonest-people-ive-ever-encountered/

;-)

[Gregory]

db 610pm

And Susan Rice was the harpy who spread the word that Benghazi was a protest over a very bad video that no one had seen, in order to keep Romney out of the White House?

"“And he has been put in that job for one reason only, which is to turn the intelligence community into a tool for the president’s re-election,” she added."

I guess she'd know.

[Bill Tozer]

Lest we forget, Susan Rice was the go to Gal. First, they send the UN Ambassador Rice out to the Sunday press shows after Benghazi 9/11 and the promoted her and she ran the unmasking and dissimulation so all could see and leak.

Did like her CYA e-mail she literally wrote as Trump was being sworn in late January. Something to do with Jan 4th or 5th meeting. The day they were all gathered trying to figure out what to tell Trump after they have been spying on and in his campaign. Biden was there, Kerry was there, Comey, Rice, Kerry....,Clapper. Everything done by the book. Comey was to deliver the Internet rumor about the golden shower and was whisked away back to Washington while furiously typing everything that Trump said and his reaction....including Trump hoping they catch the bad guys. You are not under investigation, sir.

Yep, a FBI Director briefing the President-elect in what they unbelievably spun as a private dinner, off the clock, just two guys doing a casual meet and greet...all personal, not work related.

Susan Rice. The go to gal

[scenes]

ScottO: "scenes 4:08 - Really? I think Bob's cartooning is fine."

It's needlessly mean of me, I apologize to Mr. Crabb.

A problem with media of any kind is that we are all exposed to the very best of everything. Music, visual arts, writing. All for free if you like. Anyone who tries to do that as either hobby or profession can't help but be compared to the very best of their trade.

[Don Bessee]

It will be nice when the socialist dems stop saying free university for everyone regardless of societal benefit. Way too many useless degrees out there, just ask their parents. Thar be bucks a plenty for someone who wants actually work. Hell they might even find that 175k for mom or dad in some markets lets your family live like a million plus in SF.

https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2020/02/22/demand-for-u-s-welding-jobs-grows-as-student-interest-in-trade-school-declines/

;-)

[Bill Tozer]

My State is garbage with a Ken Doll governor

Sad but true.

https://www.facebook.com/1435071773455316/posts/2419025681726582/

[Gregory]

Gavin Newsom is California's Special Ed Governor.

[Gregory]

Gavin Newsom is California's Special Ed Governor.

Meaning he was in Special Ed.

The fakebook link Toes has at his 1111pm is the best illustration of Gov. Gavin's Specially Educated past I've ever seen and heard.

Fasten your seatbelts.

[odlaw]

,,,George is wrong as usual in his Sanders silver lining screed using the technique that if you repeat a thing often enough people might actually believe it... but, hey now that we know what he is up to we can MoveOn.org...

The real silver lining to a Sanders nomination is that Sanders is not universally liked by Democrats...just the ones who vote for him in primaries...

If Sanders does somehow gain the favor of the Super Delegates and gets the nomination it will result in a moderate 3rd party candidate which will ensure a Trump win...

Its a Win Win for Conservos!!!

[Scott O]

adlib 4:09 - How is George wrong? The whole point of being a 'progressive' is to be progressively more socialist. Where does it stop? Just what is the limit to taxation? In CA the Dems are calling for seizing private homes. For forcing stores to arrange their wares to match a government dictate. If you keep calling for more and more govt control, it will end up as communism. Unless there is a limit, but I haven't heard of anyone on the left saying if there is a limit or where that limit might be.

[Gregory]

"[24feb20 update] There is a Sanders Silver Lining. What many of us have been saying for years about the true social and governance objectives of the Democratic Party are now revealed as the curtain has been pulled aside to reveal the true aims and the fundamentally transformed future for all America. It is clear that communism is the goal, and proto-communist policies, should Team Bernie et al prevail, are the first steps. But first, our guns have got to go as the government’s guns come out to make us heel."

This is nuts. That Marxist Bernie and his Gulag loving goons are having a measure of success says little to nothing about the majority of Democrats who are just in it for minor greed. You know, their birthright to a mansion on the Vinyard and invites to all the A-lister parties.

[Don Bessee]

Been there done that but the Bernie bros are ignorant of history or they wouldn't be Bernie bros -

The history of socialism in America did not begin with Bernie Sanders or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Rather, it began in 1825 on the banks of the Wabash River in Indiana.

New Harmony was to be a "community of equality" heralding a new way of life. Owen's followers would soon coin a new name for his vision: "utopian socialism."

The quest to do away with private property would animate the philosophy of socialism for the next 150 years.

Intellectuals were drawn to Owen and the promise of New Harmony, but managing the community's resources without individual ownership proved highly inefficient. One New Harmony member wrote that "even salads were deposited in the store to be handed out, making 10,000 unnecessary steps [and] causing them to come to the tables in a wilted, deadened state."

After two years, several re-organizations, and seven different constitutions, Owen's great experiment collapsed.

Owen's son, Robert Dale Owen, stayed at New Harmony after its collapse and went on to serve two terms in Congress. He had a different assessment of his father's experiment, writing: "All cooperative schemes which provide equal remuneration to the skilled and industrious and the ignorant and idle must work their own downfall. For by this unjust plan they must of necessity eliminate the valuable members and retain only the improvident, unskilled and vicious."

https://www.foxnews.com/media/new-harmony-unauthorized-history-socialism-fox-nation

;-)

[Bill Tozer]

Re: [23feb20 update] One of the Democrat Big Lies is that Russia is backing Trump in 2020

‘Is the Intelligence Community planning to meddle in 2020 election?’

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/is-the-intel-community-planning-to-meddle-in-2020-election

[Scott O]

Gregory 5:38 - "...says little to nothing about the majority of Democrats who are just in it for minor greed. You know, their birthright to a mansion on the Vinyard and invites to all the A-lister parties."
Do you mean like Bernie's 3 homes including a 600K lakeside shack?
There were plenty of well connected commies in Russia that had dachas while the masses went hungry.
Just because the 'moderate' Dems aren't as far left as Bernie doesn't hide the fact that the Dem party is moving inexorably towards communism. I'm sure most will honestly deny it, they have no personal intent, but then just ask them where the limit of govt control is? Or what is the limit of govt taxation. They will have no answer. Just as the 'moderate' Dems of 20 years ago would scoff at what the moderate Dems are now proposing.
How far do you think Bernie would go in national politics just 10 years ago? The average Dem would have told you then that you were insane. Now look at his chances. If he continues his run through Super Tuesday, the DNC is going to have to start thinking about 'helping' Sanders with another cardiac event.
It isn't always a matter of the Dems pushing the limit, sometimes it's just the Dems following the left edge of the populace. It hardly matters if the horse is leading the cart, or the horse is trying to just keep from being run over by the cart - that cart is heading towards an economy completely controlled by the govt. It might take 50 years or 100 years, but I see nothing to sway the direction they're headed.

[scenes]

ScottO: "the Dem party is moving inexorably towards communism"

...or something equally as bad. It isn't like Republicans are entirely free from blame here. The tendency for power to centralize is almost a universal constant.

What should be interesting this time around as everyone nudges towards the normal pyramid of nomenklatura, bureaucracy (both .gov and .gov sanctioned private companies), hoi polloi, is the new ability to surveil this last group combined with less need for them generally.

It isn't just the evil Chinese social scores and face recognition, check out the business of Employee Monitoring Software sometime and add a decade or two of technical advancement atop that.

It doesn't seem to me that the political definitions of the past are perfect analogies for what we're going to see. Given that control systems on people are getting so much better (both soft and hard), when the levee finally breaks it'll be an unfortunately tall one. It's like putting off an economic recession for too long.

[George Rebane]

scenes 944am - Putting both parties under the same tent, when only one is on a tear to collectivism, seems a bit of a stretch. Can you expand a bit on this dissertation?

[scenes]

"Can you expand a bit on this dissertation?"

I'm not saying that they are the same, but that they both have lead to larger and more intrusive government, just at different rates.

Generally, I'd say that the rank and file Republicans are somewhat disconnected from the party leadership. Everyone loves spending in their district, the Bush II Whitehouse was in the pockets of some New York banks, the worldwide military spending is a product of both parties, the modern surveillance machinery is a product of both parties.

Basically, a 19th C. Republican (or Goldwater) would be aghast at everyone.

Now, the fact that beginning with Obama (his fault? dunno.) the Democrats went completely off the rails is a different matter. The Republicans are the clear winners in the sanity game. However, they don't always do what they say they should do.

[scenes]

GeorgeR@10:38AM

It's also worth noting that the partial blame for getting where we are you can apportion to the Republican elite was not the main point of my post.

[Scott O]

scenes 9:44 and George 10:38 - Probably I shouldn't use the term 'communism'. It's a loaded term carrying a lot of baggage. Makes some folks imagine that I believe the DNC meets at midnight in a secret room and pulls the drapes to reveal a portrait of Marx or Lenin or both.
Maybe just call it a govt controlled society and economy? As scenes points out, we're well on our way with private businesses and peoples' homes filling in the gaps of surveillance.(Ring!) It is the natural tendency of govt to acquire power over its citizens and the natural desire of citizens (humans) to want security. Both are needed to a point, but the American govt has been stepping over the line for decades now and citizens are starting to accept (or even desire) a surveillance network that is great on paper, but has the potential to be horribly abused by the govt.
George - I don't see that scenes is trying to say that there is no difference between the Dems and the Rs as to general direction and speed in arrival, just that there are plenty of Rs that have been and are now in power that have many ideas of governance that work well with the collectivists on the other side of the aisle. Compare Rockefeller, Romney, Ah-Nold and the like with folks like McClintock and Rand Paul. The Rs in general don't seem to have too much desire for fiscal prudency vs the Dems who have no intelligence at all when it comes to finances. Well - other than to finance their own luxurious lifestyles. Make no mistake - our country's financial irresponsibilty will lead to a situation that will be ripe for vastly increased govt control over the economy. From the standpoint of the left, what's not to like?
The left has control over our educational system and most all of the popular entertainment outlets as well as a formidable footprint in the dissemination of information. Coupled with a run towards pure democracy, we are in serious trouble and there are those (of all political stripes) saying the Rs should 'get with it' and become relevant to survive. And sadly, I see that happening here and there by some R politicians.

[George Rebane]

Gentlemen - I do understand the nuances of degrees between the parties. I just wanted to check that we all have the same understanding. I will pick a nit though - "... worldwide military spending is a product of both parties." Perhaps so, but the Dems don't spend enough on our military to keep us current, and there's always a catch-up required when the Repubs regain control (like now). Bottom line, you can't sell what you don't develop and buy from your own military-industrial complex.

[scenes]

scotto: "Probably I shouldn't use the term 'communism'. It's a loaded term carrying a lot of baggage. Makes some folks imagine that I believe the DNC meets at midnight in a secret room and pulls the drapes to reveal a portrait of Marx or Lenin or both."

It really is worth thinking about the endgame for the Blue Mob. Since it's a coalition rather than a hivemind (I think), they've cut quite a few deals in order to support each other. One thing they do seem to jointly dislike is Western Civilization, but being against something (ie. 'Emerianism') is not much of a philosophy.

Russian Communism, as a counterexample, tacked hard between ethnonationalism and the joys of diversity, but the end result was essentially Russians running a good-sized empire. No surprise there. Communism doesn't imply tribalism or lack thereof. However, it does imply constant growth in order to squash external examples of more successful systems.

My guess for the Blue Mob endgame is Yugoslavia. A coalition of angry groups all trying to rifle the public purse but held down by a central government. The moment that the boot lifts up it spins out of control. It's less communism than it is a den of thieves.

[George Rebane]

Well yes, communism has ALWAYS wound up being led by a den of thieves, and that also explains why their controlling elites have always been from the same tribe – trust. As we have said for years, people like to be with and do business with people who are most like themselves, and that means a common culture counts – even among thieves most of all. For those who keep track of the debate about the ups and downs of today’s capitalism, I strongly recommend the essays of Branko Milanovic, a much-read left-of-center economics professor currently at CUNY, and formerly lead economist at the World Bank (focuses on economic orders and inequality). I’m now plowing through his Capitalism Alone: The Future of the System that Rules the World. I recommend it to you. Milanovic makes a good case that progressivism is today definitely in the “proto-communist” stage viz its public policy objectives.

[scenes]

"Capitalism Alone: The Future of the System that Rules the World."

I grabbed a copy, I'll take a look.

[robert Cross]

"Communism......does imply constant growth in order to squash external examples of more successful systems."

In this regard how is corporate capitalism any different?

[Walt]

It's worked GREAT in Cuba Babs,,, Right?
How's Venezuela been lately?(the Ruling class is living large)
I will take capitalism over your commieism any day.

[Walt]

Even "local" news is running Shorty's bogus ads.
Bloomers wasn't mayor when 9/11 hit. Yet his ad implies he was.

[Scott O]

Bobby X 2:32 - "In this regard how is corporate capitalism any different?"
Are you talking about corporatism, or free market capitalism?
I don't think anyone here is for corporatism.
As far as free market capitalism trying to "squash external examples of more successful systems." - that would be difficult as there are no better systems. Unless you're bone lazy, and then freebie-ism ala Sanders is your ideal.

[scenes]

XXXX: ""Communism......does imply constant growth in order to squash external examples of more successful systems."
In this regard how is corporate capitalism any different?"

What is a more successful system?

Put another way, how many people attempt to escape highly capitalistic countries?

People seem to forget the essential difference between Trump's Wall and the one in Berlin. It's a matter of the direction of flow.

I suppose in this sense of pushing outwards, I'm simply agreeing with Trotsky. "The completion of the socialist revolution within national limits is unthinkable."

[Scott O]

scenes 1:57 - "It really is worth thinking about the endgame for the Blue Mob."
The Dem pols?
Most of them are just thinking about getting elected, or re-elected.
The Dem proles?
They want the govt to go after people they don't agree with or like and to have the govt fix all their problems - personal, health and financial.
There are a breed of Dems or ones that work with Dems (ie Sanders) that do have longer range goals. Policy wonks, back room operators, big money donors, a few politicians, essayists, commentators and the like. Occasionally, they let slip some real eye-openers.

[Scott O]

scenes 6:13 - ""The completion of the socialist revolution within national limits is unthinkable."
Aye - collectivism can not exist if it has to compete. The whole point is to make all competition - internal and external - nonexistent.
The Soviet Union collapsed not because of military invasion, but because of the information of a vastly superior system that it could not compete with.
Our country's collapse could very well happen because the populace becomes spoiled and complacent and starts to believe in a nonexistent 'better' system.

[Walt]

Enjoying the dumpster fire of a debate?
Even the audience is showing their disgust.

[scenes]

re: Scotto@6:19PM

In terms of endgame, I'm thinking about where we end up with millions of the Blue Mob tugging on a rope in their own direction. No plan or target needed, just a random walk to some unknown place, and probably not one that anyone likes.

[Bill Tozer]

Brother Walt @ 6:37 pm

Holy smokes. Thanks for the reminder. You weren’t kidding. Look what I missed so far:

“The first question at the Charleston, South Carolina, debate went to Bernie Sanders, who quickly became the target of the other six Democrats on stage Tuesday night.

"CBS Evening News" anchor Norah O'Donnell kicked off the debate by noting to Sanders that unemployment hasn't been "this low for this long in 50 years." She asked him,
"Here in South Carolina, the unemployment rate is even lower. How will you convince voters that a democratic socialist will do better for this economy?"

“Sanders answered by hitting Michael Bloomberg, saying "the economy is doing really great for people like Mr. Bloomberg." That comment led to a retort by Bloomberg that "Russia is helping you get elected so you lose" to President Trump.”
————
(This is on topic. Isn’t the topic friggin Commie Bastards??) If socialistic Commie Bastards we’re in charge, the popcorn I am enjoying, would not taste same, look the same, of be available and abundant of the grocery store shelves.

[Don Bessee]

Mini mike fudging the NDA issue, that's not going to play well with the wokesters! LOL -

WASHINGTON (AP) — Seven Democratic presidential contenders staged their final debate before contests in South Carolina and Super Tuesday deliver more than one-third of the delegates needed to clinch the nomination.

A look at how their claims in Charleston on Tuesday night compare with the facts:

MIKE BLOOMBERG, responding to Elizabeth Warren’s demand that he lift non-disclosure agreements for all women who signed them: “We are doing that, senator.”
THE FACTS: He hasn’t done that.

Bloomberg agreed to release three women from non-disclosure agreements in situations where they specifically identified an issue with him. But many more former Bloomberg employees have signed such agreements, having to do with the culture and work environment at his company. He hasn’t freed them from their obligation to stay quiet about their complaints.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ap-fact-check-claims-democratic-020733469.html

;-)

[Scott O]

scenes 6:55 - "No plan or target needed, just a random walk to some unknown place, and probably not one that anyone likes."
A plan or target may not be needed but there are plenty of people that have a plan. The walk may appear random, but it actually follows a basic direction laid out long, long, ago. It involves human nature and inclination. It hasn't changed since we first came on the scene. There are all sorts of iterations and variations but there have always been people that want power over the others. Maybe with good intentions - "I know better and these little children need my guidance" and maybe just - "these idiots are ripe for doing my bidding". Our fore-fathers knew what humans are capable of and tried to set up a "government of laws and not a government of men". As Franklin famously replied - "a republic, if you can keep it".
"...not one that anyone likes." For most of us, no. But there will be just a few at the top that will like it just fine.
Stalin, Castro, and Mao thought it just peachy!

[Scott O]

BT 7:06 - Interesting that Norah's question wasn't aimed at the lot of them.

[Walt]

So who's the bigger commie? Burnie? Or Shorty?
https://dailycaller.com/2020/02/25/bloomberg-bought-democrats-house/
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg stated during the Democratic debate Tuesday night that he “bought” the Democrats’ majority in the House of Representatives.

“They talk about 40 Democrats, 21 of those were people that I spent $100 million to help elect,” Bloomberg said. “All of the new Democrats that came in and put Nancy Pelosi in charge, and gave the Congress the ability to control this president, I bought, I got them.”

"Buying" the lawmakers is pretty damned Commie in anyone's book.

[Bill Tozer]

Re: [23feb20 update] One of the Democrat Big Lies is that Russia is backing Trump in 2020.

OUR WACKY NEWS MEDIA

“First, MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell, who says that Vladimir Putin dictated the appointment of Richard Grenell as Acting Director of National Intelligence, because President Trump is a “Russian operative.”......

“Speaking of the Russians, they have become the Democratic Party’s foreign policy obsession. How ironic! During the Cold War, when Russia controlled a vast empire dedicated to the destruction of the United States of America, most post-Kennedy Democrats couldn’t say a bad word about them. Anti-anti-Communism was their default position. And some Democrats still revere, or did until recently, the defunct Soviet Union. But suddenly, it seems that there is a Russian under every bed. To quote the Grass Roots, where were you when I needed you?

Hence this exchange between President Trump and CNN’s Democratic Party operative Jim Acosta:”......oh, the excitement!

“The idea that the Russians had anything to do with President Trump’s 2016 victory over Hillary Clinton is ridiculous, but it has ossified into dogma among Democrats. Their expressed fear that the Russians might “meddle” again in 2020 is merely a cover for their apprehension that Donald Trump will once again defeat a weak Democratic nominee.”

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/02/our-wacky-news-media.php

[Bill Tozer]

Re: “24feb20 update] There is a Sanders Silver Lining. What many of us have been saying for years about the true social and governance objectives of the Democratic Party are now visible to all as the curtain has been pulled aside to reveal their true aims for a fundamentally transformed America. It is clear that communism is the ultimate goal, and proto-communist policies, should Team Bernie et al prevail, are the first steps.”
——-
‘After Nevada, The Real Race Comes Into View’
‘It’s a bare-knuckles fight between Trump, Bloomberg, and Sanders now.’

“In any case, he is the alternative, the last train leaving the station before the Old Democracy delivers itself over to a suicide ride conducted by Sanders.

It is not clear how Sanders could gain more than one-third of the vote in a general election, with his advocacy of wrenching all healthcare out of the hands of the public and subjecting everyone to a compulsory federal plan, the Green Terror, open borders, abortion verging on infanticide, confiscation of guns, and entertainment of reparations for African and Native Americans, free university tuition and forgiveness of $1 trillion worth of student loans, and blood-curdling tax increases on any individuals and corporations with any income and accumulated wealth. This would leave President Trump winning by over 40 million votes. (The previous largest plurality was Richard Nixon in 1972 by 18 million votes over George McGovern, in an electorate of 77 million, about half of the present one).

Fortunately for the Democrats, Mayor Bloomberg’s ego is about as capacious as President Trump’s and he will shake-off his weak opening performance and in 10 days will be all that stands in the way of an electoral massacre of the Democrats.“

https://amgreatness.com/2020/02/24/after-nevada-the-real-race-comes-into-view/

[Bill Tozer]

Guess this goes here. Good Bernie story. Fair to Bernie, doesn’t call him a full blown Marxist like I do. :)

https://www.city-journal.org/bernie-sanders-socialist-vision