* I never knew the melancholy opening verse to "White Christmas." I knew some of the background in Berlin's life, but did not know of his heartache he suffered during a particular Christmas, i.e. the loss of a child. This was a great op-ed for Christmas Day.
* When I saw the Uber company's CEO selling off the remaining stock, I thought immediately of this Steve Miller Band song.
* I think this Genesis "Christmas" song, from their 1977 album, Wind & Wuthering, may be appropriate for our current times, especially in the Anglo and American societies.
* When I saw the Uber company's CEO selling off the remaining stock, I thought immediately of this Steve Miller Band song.
* Over my years of representing companies in court, I have thought more and more about whether we should reform franchise law in the way the late Obama administration was finally beginning to do. People wear McDonald's uniforms, and the signs, products, and accoutrements are bought from and show McDonald's, but the employees work for some largely nameless franchisee, usually hiding behind an limited liability company to avoid personal responsibility. The franchisee pushes down his or her costs, starting with labor, under the pressures, in the form of "fees," charged by the ultimately in charge corporation. And, when workers think they can band together as they did in the 1930s against General Motors in multiple factories across the land, the workers find there are all these individual franchise holders who are not related to each other, even though they all look and act alike. I look back and realized those who passed franchise laws were more worried about how the ultimately in charge corporations were ripping off the franchisees. However, over the decades, and with the protections, franchisees have been making oodles of money off far more exploited employees--with no real protections for employees and employees barred from organizing against the behemoths. This NLRB ruling from the Trump administration is another example of how Trump pursues fascistic oriented policies, while dividing the working classes along cultural issues.
* I applaud this church for paying medical debts of over $5 million, but we should also continue to strive to live in a society where that is no longer necessary. For us, we are still paying for medical services on a monthly basis, with us still owing over $1,000 after months of monthly payments. Those who say cancer can lead to bankruptcy in the US are correct, though we had made enough coin to withstand the costs outside of insurance. We are one of the relatively lucky ones.
* I am of mixed emotions about this bill, but its humaneness is a major plus. Still, I winced when the fellow said he just can't find Americans to pick crops because he did not complete his sentence. It should be he can't find Americans to pick crops on land he owns because he won't pay enough. If he did pay someone to do backbreaking work he no longer wants to do, it would cut into his vast profits he makes off exploited labor.
* And it is extraordinary the Los Angeles Times did not cover Bernie Sanders' massive rally in Venice, CA this past week. The Times published a couple of letters to the editor today criticizing the Times, but the venerable newspaper has not apologized. Also, don't mind the schmuck from San Diego who writes his anti-Sanders' screed. He obviously spends his days watching MSNBC. He's most likely also a Boomer, as in "Ok, Boomer." I may have even met this guy in my Jewish president of a synagogue travels in San Diego. Sigh.
* From David Brin's FB page (I am not on it, as I doubt he would friend me, but he is on another FB's friend list), and it is a great one for today and other family holiday gatherings:
"- Whether human generated CO2 is turning oceans acid.
"- Whether you can write down (right now) the name of more than one fact-profession not attacked by Fox. (Science, teaching, journalism, intel or FBI... no quibbling.)
"- Whether picking a dozen at RANDOM from the list of 15,000 Trumpian lies will result in more than three have any truth to them.
"- Whether Putin called the fall of the USSR the 20th Century's worst tragedy, or whether he and his pals and "ex" KGB consist of nearly all the same men, doing the same things, with the same goals. And whether Putin/Fox hate George Soros because he toppled the Soviet empire.
"- Whether those screaming "fake news" have ever offered to help set up a real, nonpartisan fact-checking service.
"- Whether any TEN other presidents have been 'betrayed' by as many men who were "great guys" just months before, and what that says about DT's character judgement.
"Notice the common thread. Each goes to the heart of the matter but NOT in a way your redder cuz has pre-prepared memes for. Each is a matter of verifiable fact and not raving opinion, like "no collusion!"
"Anyway, nothing shuts them down... and will get things back to a peaceful dinner at grandma's... better than making THEM desperate to change the subject.
"May you and yours all have joy and may God bless America and this Great Experiment in freedom and tolerance and progress. And science."
And it is definitely true, as the other matters Brin cites are true, that Soros' currency manipulations centered on the Eastern European Communist dictatorships and the old Soviet Union dictatorship. See here and here. Also, see this article from The Guardian, which provides a critique of Soros that is reasonable and not conspiracy-anti-Semitic laden, and this note from a Stanford economist, showing how a person with Soros' money can go from Superman to Zod in an instant It is an amazing piece of propaganda how Soros' open society initiatives are turned into sinister conspiracies. Oh, and the Putin stuff is true, too, which is why I keep comparing Trumpists to American Stalinists, and keep saying they need to apologize to Alger Hiss and definitely Harry Dexter White.
