Category Archives: No category

It’s The Inequality, Stupid.

Americana, Current Affairs, No category

We live in a system that’s stealing from us. Graham Platner Tou Tube ad.

AOC is in the house now. So AOC, you don’t even need a name anymore. You can go anywhere in the world, you say AOC and they know who you are. David Axelrod, while introducing Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at a public interview in front of a packed house at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics.

They assume my ambition is positional. They assume my ambition is a title or a seat, and my ambition is way bigger than that. My ambition is to change this country. Presidents come and go, Senate and House seats, elected officials come and go, but single-payer health care is forever, a living wage is forever. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at that interview.

I heard that someone was flying a plane with a banner that said This is Trump country… It sure don’t look like it today. I don’t think this is Trump country. This is our country. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez just before her speech in Folsom, California.

We Liberals seem to have an all-purpose answer for why so many people voted for Donald Trump. “They’re stupid,” or “They only watch FOX News”, which sort of means the same thing. I don’t buy that generalization. Sure, some people are stupid, and some are not interested in politics or current events – as we used to call it. – enough to be informed, but most people know that most people are being screwed by the few the system is serving.

A large number of people voted for Trump because they were desperate. They hoped Trump might stop the economic screwing they were getting from powerful economic interests. They were so desperate that they had even voted for a black man with a Muslim name, Barrak Husain Obama. Obama was a Washington outsider, and, while the change he brought was real, it was minimal rather than substantial. When Trump ran in 2016, he said he was already rich and didn’t need any more money, so he could bring real change. Of course, that was a lie. The funny thing about money, not funny Ha Ha, but funny unexpected, is the more a person has, the more they want. Very few people get very rich and say, “I don’t need any more money”. Trump said it, but – obviously – Trump didn’t really mean it.

I thought that the voting public was still so desperate that they would be willing to try a woman, even a Latina woman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Now I’m not so sure. Now I think that the country is more sexist and, probably, more racist than I thought a couple of months ago, but that is not the main reason I’ve changed my mind. The main reason is that AOC – a handle I’ll use for the rest of this – is a fiscal populist, and the Democratic Party leadership, while socially liberal, is fiscally conservative. Even more importantly, the Liberal Media establishment, like the New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Los Angeles Times, and CBS, and NBC, and ad infinitum, are fiscally conservative. They are aligned with what they call the Centrists (as if that were a virtue). Politicians who think we should have a one-payer health system, or a fair Minimum Wage, are called Extremists by the so-called Liberal Media.

Since I started to write this post – way longer ago than I’m ready to admit – several things have happened that are starting to make me change my mind. A new poll by the highly regarded AtlasIntel has AOC leading a crowded, hypothetical 2028 Democratic primary field. In that poll, AOC narrowly edged out former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for the top spot. Twenty-twenty-eight will be a good year to be a Democrat running for president, for what I think are obvious reasons, but getting the Democratic nomination for a woman, a Latina, and most importantly, a fiscal Liberal, will be hard.

I’m convinced, for two reasons, however, that AOC will try. First, when she was sworn into Congress in January 2019, she wore large hoop earrings and bright red lipstick. She said she was inspired by Jusyice Sotamayer and said: “Next time someone tells Bronx girls to take off their hoops, they can just say they’re dressing like a Congresswoman.” It was a badge of honor she was not going to change, but she toned down both her lipstick color and the size of her earrings.

Still, the biggest reason I think AOC will run for President is that she is campaigning outside of her district and, even, outside New York, although AOC is not calling it campaigning. Last year, AOC and Bernie Sanders went on the “Fighting Oligarchy” National Tour, during which they campaigned in 21 states (Los Angeles, Folsom, and Bakersfield in California; Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Bethlehem in Pennsylvania; Iowa City and Davenport in Iowa). This year, she has campaigned for Sam Forstag in Montana, Chriss Rab in Pennsylvania, and Analilia Mejia in New Jersey.

Nobody ever wins the first time they run for office. Nobody’s ever supposed to win their first bid for office. Nobody’s ever supposed to win without taking lobbyists’ money. No one’s ever supposed to defeat an incumbent. No one’s ever supposed to run a grassroots campaign without running any ads on television. We did all of those things. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Precious Mae

No category

Bringing a pet into a home is a long-term commitment that often spans a decade or more, depending on the species. It requires a consistent investment of time, finances, and emotional energy. A sidenote by Gemini, who – which? – identifies itself as a family of multimodal large language models developed by Google DeepMind, and ended its self-identification with the following creepy question: I noticed you’re currently working on a post for your blog about Precious Mae. I am truly sorry for your loss; sixteen years is a remarkable journey to share with a companion. Would you like some help refining that tribute or perhaps selecting some photos of her to include?

Precious Mae, our beloved cat, died yesterday, leaving a big hole in our family. She first came into our lives on September 10, 2010, and left us on May 10, 2026. Her quiet presence filled our home, which now seems empty without her.

After she had lived with us for a year, I wrote: She is never nasty, often sweet, usually interesting, and always marches to her own drum. Almost any time of the day or night, if we are inside and walk towards a door, she will streak over to get out. And then, bam! she is gone. Often for the rest of the day or night. As she got older, Precous Mae became more of an indoor cat, but she never became nasty, staying sweet and interesting. Still, she always marched to her own drum.

We miss her terribly.

The Russo-Ukraine War: Four Horrifying Years In

No category

 Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. ― Margaret Mead

They’re dying, Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I’ll have that done — I’ll have that done in 24 hours. Donald Trump during a CNN town hall in May 2023.

Three years ago, one year after the Tussian attack on Ukraine, I wrote, When Ukraine stopped the initial Russian attack, a year ago, and then drove several Russian elite units back across the border, it seemed to me that the war would be over soon… Now, a year after it started, it looks like this war will go on forever. It seems everybody is digging in for the long term, and the killing will go on.

The killing and maiming did go on, and it is still going on. Just how many soldiers have been killed and maimed on each side is hard to pin down; still, all the numbers point to Russia having about 1.2 million casualties, including well over 200,000 deaths. By outside accounts, Russia is now losing soldiers at a rate that is higher than they can recruit replacements. As somebody on the podcast Ukraine Today said, “More and more Russians are starting to realize enlisting is a one-way ticket.” But changing from a voluntary army to a conscription army will not be popular.

In the meanwhile, Trump has attacked Iran, ignoring such niceties as running the idea past Congress (atleast, he didn’t call it a Special Military Operation, like Putin did). I could rant and rave about it, but not as well as Congressperson Ocasio-Cortez, so I’m going to quote her.

The American people are once again dragged into a war they did not want by a president who does not care about the long-term consequences of his actions. This war is unlawful. It is unnecessary. And it will be catastrophic.

Just this week, Iran and the United States were negotiating key measures that could have staved off war. The President walked away from these discussions and chose war instead. President Trump flippantly acknowledged the possibility of American casualties, stating “that often happens in war.

Mr. President: this was not an inevitability. This is a deliberate choice of aggression when diplomacy and security were within reach. Stop lying to the American people.

Violence begets violence. We learned this lesson in Iraq. We learned this lesson in Afghanistan. And we are about to learn it again in Iran. Bombs have yet to create enduring democracies in the region, and this will be no different.

The whole thing is sad more than scary, as of March 3, 2026, about 787 Iranians have been killed, 6 American Army grunts – well, one officer, four sergeants, and one spec 5 – and 11 Israelis. Trump may be right that this carnage will end in a week, he certainetly has more information than I do – well, access to information , anyway, much of which he seems to ignore – but wars usually take on a unplanned and often unwanted trajectory and I don’t think this will be an exception.