RufusTFirefly

You know how some kids cover their eyes and chant, “You can’t see me! You can’t see me!”

If the leaders of Party think simply by pretending that Joe isn’t a liar, a warmonger, an alleged sexual predator, a water boy for the credit card industry, and an addled old man in cognitive decline, that no one else will notice, they are in serious denial.

“I’m not on your team. I’m on Team Working Class.”

@coldmountaintrail

I just consulted Campaign of the Century (I hadn’t read it in 20 years) and it turns out that what Sinclair was expecting from the President was not an explicit endorsement for his candidacy but an endorsement for Sinclair’s policy of “production for use.” But that would’ve been yuge. Here’s an excerpt from the Oct. 17, 1934,…[Read more]

@haikugal

If you’re a political junkie who likes a certain kind of history, it’s a page turner. Even though it documents a time long past, I often found myself excitedly wondering “what’s going to happen tomorrow?” as though I had traveled back in time to 1934. The fact that Mitchell organizes the book by the days of the calendar makes it very…[Read more]

@coldmountaintrail

I’m afraid I was deliberately over-simplifying.

Whitaker and Baxter definitely played a key role. The fact that Sinclair was a prolific writer made it relatively easy for them to find quotes from his books that seemed damning or inflammatory when taken out of context.

In addition, the Hollywood studio heads used their power…[Read more]

Despite what Fraser says, EPIC (“End Poverty in California”) definitely did not predate FDR’s presidency.

It was introduced as part of Upton Sinclair’s platform in the 1934 California Gubernatorial election. Sinclair, an avowed socialist, who registered as a Democrat (sound familiar?) shocked the California Democratic Party by winning the…[Read more]

Ultimately, we saw what kind of person he really was.

Only time tells who can truly resist the siren song.

Progressive hopes have crashed and burned for decades. What’s so extraordinary about Bernie is how constant he’s remained despite extraordinary pressures.

Oh wait. Those people have been laid off and have lost those well-loved private insurance plans. Love can be cruel.

Even before the onset of the virus, the argument in favor of keeping private insurance was pathetic. Now it’s absurd, tragically so.

Bernie. Bernie… something. It’s on the tip of my tongue.

Gib: [encounters a padlocked trailer while he and Alison desperately attempt to get out of the torrential rain] It’s locked! Good! This is very good! It’s important that this place should have an air-tight security system… in the middle of nowhere!
Alison: [digs through her bag] I might have a nail file… I have a credit card. I have a credit…[Read more]

I’m only surprised, @carolina, that you didn’t mention JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters, by theologian James W. Douglass. The tragic trajectory of Kennedy’s change of heart is sketched out beautifully in that sad, poetic, unforgettable book.

“Black people view Bernie Sanders the way the rest of the country views Marianne Williamson.”

I’m a huge Bernie supporter, but I’m afraid this makes sense to me.

… yet I haven’t gotten over it either.

Unfortunately, it’s one of my earliest memories.

Don’t mean to unload on you, @pademd, but it should be FUCKING FREE!

The U.S government can foot the bill. Trust me, even in this current economic meltdown, they can afford it.

They came, they saw, they died. On stage.

Comedian: Well, there’s a nice-looking young man over there. Hi, how’d ya die?
Daniel Miller: On stage, like you.

@ohiobarbarian

OT, I realize, but it seems as though quite a few people I know have had plantar fascitis recently. It’s not like a new term I’ve just learned that suddenly becomes more salient. Never had it (knock on wood), but I’ve been aware of the condition for 25 plus years, and it seems anecdotally to be more prevalent lately. Perhaps it’s…[Read more]

@sffh

Any idea? I just recently learned that Ritalin was named after Rita, the wife of the guy who developed the drug. (Wait. Did I learn that here?)

I know of a woman who had an old Corvair that she called Ralphie. It was named after Mr. Nader.

@sffh
It’s like the last few general elections. Sometimes you just have to grin and bear it.