The second Democratic debate

Once again, I did not have time to watch the second night of the Democratic primary debate. To be quite honest, there was really nobody on the stage last night that I was particularly interested in, except for Julian Castro whom I’d like to learn more about. The top three in the polls of Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Cory Booker tend to leave me cold. I see them all as party establishment candidates, with Biden and Harris having very problematic records as well, while it is not clear exactly what Booker stands for. Booker strikes me as a charismatic, highly skilled and ambitious politician but one who will be too willing to accommodate powerful interests.
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Elizabeth Warren puts Chris Matthews in his place

After the debate, Chris Matthews of MSNBC kept badgering Elizabeth Warren about how much Medicare for All will raise taxes. That is the Republican talking point and the one pushed by the corporate mainstream media and the political establishment who are defenders of the private health insurance companies. Warren refused to accept his framing of the question and instead focused laser-like on the fact that she and Bernie Sanders have been emphasizing, that overall health care costs will go down and people will not go bankrupt or suffer serious financial hardship because of medical bills.

Mathews is a blowhard and a shill for corporate America.

This does not make sense to me

Yesterday we had another mass shooting in the US where a man went to a public food festival with an assault rifle and then opened fire indiscriminately, killing three people (including two children) and injuring 12 before being killed by security. The man had apparently referenced a white supremacist book on Facebook just before he went on his killing spree. This is just the latest in violence in the US that has been committed by people affiliated with white supremacists, who seem to be emboldened by Donald Trump’s coddling of them.
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How racist is America?

When something outrageous happens in the US, such as acts of mass murder or cruelty or racism, politicians and even members of the public tend to distance themselves from it by portraying them as irrational and inexplicable aberrations, commonly using the phraseology of “This is not who we are”. I have mentioned before how such a statement is deeply disingenuous. Given the long and deep history of racism, genocide, and violence in the US, to act as if such acts are contrary to wholesome values that have always been upheld cannot be justified. It would be better to say “This is not who we should be”, because rather than smugly adopting a mantle of righteousness, such a sentiment is at least aspirational and recognizes the need for improvement
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John Oliver on Boris Johnson

While we in the US are depressed at the thought of having such a blatantly racist president, let us spare a thought for our friends across the Atlantic in the UK who also have a nasty piece of work in their new prime minister Boris Johnson. The ‘special relationship’ between the US and the UK was always more of a meaningless slogan than reflecting a genuine reality, but it may be true for just these two unprincipled individuals who seem to be made for each other.

The one advantage that people in the UK have over us is that it is always possible that the government will collapse leading to new elections and a new prime minister, while we are stuck with this president at least until January 2021.

John Oliver delivers the bad news about Johnson. (Language advisory)

Trump doubles down on racism

Donald Trump has made it clear that his re-election campaign will be based on straight-up racist appeals. After telling four congresswomen of color to go back to where they came from, he then turned his fire on congressman Elijah Cummings and said that the city of Baltimore which is encompassed by the district he represents is ‘rat-infested’. Do I need to mention that the city is majority African-American?
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Film review: Hail Satan? (2019)

I recently watched this documentary on The Satanic Temple that I previewed earlier. It is an enjoyable film, informative and quite funny in parts, that looks at the origins of the group, what their aims are, and how they set about trying to achieve their goals. It seemed to have started out as a lark to troll religious conservatives, with stunts such as members dressed in what people think is appropriate Satanic dress holding a press conference on the steps of the Florida state capitol building to endorse right wing Florida governor Rick Scott, who clearly did not want their endorsement.
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Scam artists target conservatives for grifts

Donald Trump and his family have always been grifters, as should have been obvious to sentient being, and yet he managed to persuade large numbers of conservative voters that he should be president. So it should be no surprise that his presidency is just filled with grifters, from his family members to his cabinet members to other people in the administration. But his conservative base seems to be remaining devoted to him and because of that devotion, seem to be willing to overlook grifting or not even be aware that grifting is going on.
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Bernie Sanders corrects the record

One of the charges made against Bernie Sanders by his critics (and was made by Hillary Clinton’s supporters during the 2016 campaign) is that he has been insufficiently sensitive to the concerns of women. But he has always been a stalwart defender of the rights of women right from the beginnings of his political career.

This short video from his campaign seeks to set the record straight.

Boris Johnson, Dominic Cummings, and Brexit

I had never heard about Dominic Cummings and the pivotal role he had played as the chief strategist in the Leave campaign on Brexit until I saw the film Brexit that starred Benedict Cumberbatch as Cummins that I reviewed here. Cummings was instrumental in using micro-targeting of voters and promoting the nationalistic idea that the UK had thrown away its sovereignty by joining the EU and that it was time to take back control. He also promoted the lie that the UK was sending 350 millions pounds to the EU every week and by leaving they could us all that money for the much-beloved National Health Service.
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