“The idea that you have to be protected from any kind of uncomfortable emotion is one I absolutely do not subscribe to.” -- John Cleese
Christ Stopped at Ramallah
"Like all forms of tribalism, Identity replaces shared truths with private property. The Politics of Identity are therefore ideal expressions of capitalist economics. They also serve, quite directly, to kill mass numbers of our fellow human beings. All in the name of my pain trumping your pain. The embrace of the Holocaust as the defining act of inhumanity to which nothing else can ever be compared blinds those embracing its sonorities to other kinds of oppression and carnage, creating a deep perversity of meaning: making the condemnation of this towering act of evil the reason to ignore the rest, or to derogate them as inferior to the full-on nightmare of Nazi genocide. Merry Christmas, Palestinians." --- Joan Clams Bodenheim
He didn't know the half of it
America is the only nation in history which miraculously has gone from barbarism to degeneracy without the usual interval of civilization. -- Georges Clemenceau
Why can't Jaws be a Russian submarine?
Hollywood may have gotten a little more woke of late, but every screenwriter who has ever had a pitch meeting go off the rails will appreciate this one:
“I was told how one studio head said in a meeting, ‘This script is fantastic. Let’s get Julia Roberts to play Harriet Tubman.' When someone pointed out that Roberts couldn’t be Tubman, the executive responded, ‘It was so long ago. No one is going to know the difference’” (Gregory Allen Howard, writer-producer of the Tubman biopic, recounting early days of two-plus decades trying to get the film off the ground).Even now, it's an even bet there is more than one development gnome hoping to route the Underground Railroad through Wakanda.
Truth in sloganizing
Joe Biden's campaign slogan, “Our Best Days Still Lie Ahead,” is lame bordering on pathetic. Can't one of his corporate underwriters contribute its marketing team for an hour or two to spin something catchy? In light of his comments on marijuana this week, I submit "No Pot in Any Chicken." More apt, given his campaign so far, might be the old MBA dictum, "Good Enough Is Good Enough." Or he could save time and money by unpack now the tattered "The Lesser of Two Evils" banner, the de facto campaign message of every Democratic presidential campaign, save 2008, of the last 40 years.
Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and the millions of voters that agree with them are freaking out the billionaires.
The illustration is by Victor Juhasz.
Seem familiar?
Israel is doing to Palestinians no less than the United States did to Native Americans: stealing their land, penning them in reservations, impoverishing them, killing them.
Sanders, AOC Unveil $180 Billion Green New Deal for Public Housing
The legislation aims to repair and upgrade public housing by securing renewable energy sources for approximately one million federally owned public housing units, affecting some two million people.
Beauty is in the eye of the officeholder
The folks at UglyJerry made a font out of congressional districts, many of them twisted into alphabetical shapes by gerrymandering.
They want you to urge your congressperson to do something about it.
The biggest city in the US is joining a voting reform movement.
"New York City has become the latest -- and most populous -- city to adopt ranked-choice voting, a major milestone for voting reform efforts.
"Voters in the city overwhelmingly approved Ballot Question 1 on Tuesday, enabling voters to begin using ranked-choice voting in local primary and special elections beginning in 2021.
"New York City joins 20 other cities around the country, as well as multiple states, that have already started using this method in various elections. Maine, notably, implemented ranked-choice voting for the first time in a federal election in 2018.
"Ranked-choice voting works much like its name suggests. Instead of picking just one candidate on the ballot, voters rank their top five in order of preference.
"Once those votes are cast, they are counted in the following way, Lee Drutman explains:
"Ranked-choice voting lets voters mark their first-choice candidate first, their second-choice candidate second, their third-choice candidate third, and so on. Each voter has only one vote but can indicate their backup choices: If one candidate has an outright majority of first-place rankings, that candidate wins, just like a traditional election."Advocates of ranked-choice voting argue that it has many benefits. Because candidates need broad-based support to win, they are forced to engage with a wide range of voters, including groups that do not always see outreach from political campaigns. Additionally, studies have found that ranked-choice voting increases the number of minority and women candidates who vie for elected office, partly because ranked-choice campaigning is less negative.
"But if no candidate has a majority in the first round, the candidate in last place is eliminated. Voters who had ranked that candidate first have their votes transferred to the candidate they ranked second. This process continues until a single candidate gathers a majority.
"In addition to shifting the nature of campaigns, ranked-choice voting also gives voters more freedom to consider the full slate of candidates. Because of the way that votes are tallied, an individual could feel free to pick their favorite option without worrying that in doing so they are acting as a 'spoiler' who contributes to the victory of an unfavorable or unpopular candidate.
"Opponents of ranked-choice voting argue that it complicates the process too much, both when it comes to voting and tabulating results.
"Overall, New York City’s decision to adopt the ballot measure — though it will only affect a specific set of races — will serve as a good test case for ranked-choice voting, and it signals growing momentum for this voting reform."
The rest of the story:
✓ New York City adopts ranked-choice voting, a major milestone for the reform by Li Zhou (Vox)
✓ How does ranked choice voting work? (The Committee for Ranked Choice Voting)
✓Voter Choice for Massachusetts is a campaign to place a question on the 2020 ballot that would bring Ranked Choice Voting to Massachusetts elections starting in 2022.
Bernie Sanders is Not a Radical, He Has Mass Support for Positions on Healthcare & Taxes
From 2016. True then. True now.
Trick or Treat
A lot of people on the streets today apparently still wearing their "homeless" costumes from last night.
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