* The next time we hear someone ragging against California, start with this analysis. And let's also remember Blue States tend to subsidize Red States when measuring how much federal taxes Blue States pay compared to the benefits received, and Red States getting more in federal benefits than what they pay in federal taxes. Those Trumpists trumpeting unemployment figures (which again for those not knowing this, includes part timers seeking full time work as "employed") and the "strong" economy, while ripping into Blue States, starting with CA, really need this perspective. And here is some important perspective from the ever-valuable Business reporter at the LA Times, Michael Hiltzik, regarding CA's new law challenging the abuses of the so-called "gig" economy. It is important not to believe a corporation's press release about why there are mass layoffs. When they blame a pro-worker law, they are often lying and trying to cover up their own greed.
* Michael Moore and I have been rhetorically tracking more than I can ever recall. His analysis on Democracy Now! this week is one important insight after another, starting with something I did not know, which is that 90,000 voters in African-American neighborhoods throughout Michigan voted for nearly every elected office in November 2016 except president. When we consider Trump won Michigan by less than 12,000 votes, that is remarkably profound. When we consider what Moore does not say, but anyone who knows Moore knows he knows, Bernie won the 2016 Michigan primary in a decisive way over Hillary Clinton. And let's plug here what should be required viewing for Democratic Party voters over the remainder of this holiday season, and is free on Amazon Prime, "Fahrenheit 11/9." To think this is about Trump is to be very much mistaken. This is about the corporate media, the 2016 Democratic Party primary, and how the rules favored Clinton to a remarkably disgusting degree, and the vacuousness that is Barack Obama. The Wife, watching Obama's performance in Flint, MI, and it was a performance, was so disgusted, she said, with almost a vomit, she would never trust anything Obama ever said again.
* This is amusing. Bernie Sanders visits the LA Times editorial board, an editorial board that fears him and despises him--and if it does not, they fear for their jobs. They were on their best behavior, but they know what they do every single day, which is to attempt to convince their readers and beyond not to vote for Sanders.
* It is strange for Chuck Todd to say he was naive about how Republican operatives and politicians would come onto his show to distort or lie, and not see that this is a coordinated operation. Chuck Todd obviously knew what he was doing all these years. Certainly, he had to have read some of the press criticism from FAIR, and various writers. He styled himself as an intellectual all these years, a wise man who supposedly knew a lot and read a lot. To suddenly say he was merely "naive" is some sort of strange cop-out that now seems to be boomeranging back against him. Oh well. Good riddance if he loses his perch the way David Gregory did. Still, expect someone worse, like the vacuous Katy Tur. That is the way of corporate owned media.
* Cultural history is endlessly fascinating. David Susskind was important teacher for me, growing up in the 1960s. I was too young in the early 1960s to appreciate this cultural history about how he came to interview Martin Luther King, Jr., and saved his career from right wing censors, but I started watching him in the late 1960s. I saw him interview Gore Vidal, with whom I immediately was fascinated, and then saw this episode about "How to be Jewish Son," which was liberating to me.
* First, people told me it was ridiculous to think Trump would ever be impeached. Now, they say he can't be removed. Yet, the walls are starting to crack among right wing and Republican oriented ranks. Yes, so far, it is only Christianity Today, the lead political reporter at the Christian Post, Matt Lewis, David French and Ramesh Ponnuru at The National Review, Judge Napolitano at FoxNews, and former Republican congressmen such as Dave Trott (R-MI). However, the impeachment trial has not yet begun in the Senate, and it will be interesting to see what happens. I like Adam Schiff now has his eye more firmly on Vice President Pence's role in the Ukranian shakedown. Pence should be impeached and removed, too. For months, I have been saying, if this occurs, Nancy Pelosi would take over as president, but she would be wise to follow her bi-partisan instincts for a good cause for our society--as opposed to her usual bad judgment in trying to be bi-partisan. She would, in that instance, be able to find a decent Republican congressperson to serve as VP, and be co-presidents for the remainder of the Trump-Pence term. I have also said this process does not help Democrats for 2020 because Republicans would be free to nominate a new face who is not as vulgar as Trump nor as compromised by foreign interests the way Trump has been. As I have written before, I see Trump as a danger to what remains of our Republic, with an accent on "remains."
* Here is an interesting interview with a left wing commentator, Michael Brooks, at The Hill's online show, Rising, about the consequences from global corporate economics. While I continue to worry the Fascist International has the immediate upper hand, due largely to older, European and European Americans forming coalitions with Chinese economic/political elites, Saudis, and even Israelis and Turks, my hopeful side says we are at the pre-dawn of a global movement of workers and remaining peasants. By mid century, assuming climate crises don't throw this off, we could even hope for a true Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) type of union organizing. It remains sad the term "Neo-liberalism" continues to confuse Americans, as what the term refers to is global corporate dominated capitalism. I am sure this use of the phrase "Neo-liberalism" confuses many a white working class Trump voter who may otherwise be willing to consider Bernie Sanders or economically populist Democrats.
* The important thing I find in this chart about worker income and those in the top 1% and 0.1%, having seen it and absorbed it before, is how the inequality begins to charge in 1979, the first year after President Carter signed the capital gains tax cut in July or August 1978. I was in DC when that was passing both houses of Congress, and saw, first hand, how the owners of this nation work, and how the true coalition of Southern Democrats and Republicans worked in Congress. It was the summer when Carter openly said to Democratic Congress people, including Senators, he would not sign any labor law reform that had been painstakingly developed, and would not support raising the minimum wage above current cost of living, to get the minimum wage back on the track it had last been in 1968. Carter was the first Neo-liberal president, notwithstanding his being the second best ex-president in US history, with John Quincy Adams being the best.
