Author: lobotero

I have been a radical, labor organizer, writer, lecturer, teacher, analyst, political activist , convention delegate and I still have my sanity--who knew?

Are The Votes Being Bought?

There has been a record amount of people going to vote and likewise a record amount of billionaires buying votes wherever they can…..

Some of the richest people in the US have spent unprecedented sums of money to influence the outcome of the 2026 midterm elections, and a Sunday report in The New York Times estimated that the top 20 biggest donors alone have spent a combined $2 billion in federal races this cycle.

The single largest funder of the 2026 midterms, by a wide margin, is far-right billionaire Elon Musk, who has shoveled nearly $450 million to help GOP candidates.

In fact, pro-Republican donors account for the five largest individual contributors to midterm races.

In addition to Musk, the other largest donors this cycle are industrialists Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, who have given $150 million to help elect Republicans; flagship GOP Senate super PAC One Nation, which has spent $138 million; venture capitalists Marc Andreesen and Ben Horowitz, who have given $116 million; and hedge fund investor Jeff Yass, who has given $110 million.

On the Democratic side, the top spenders have been flagship Democratic Senate super PAC Majority Forward, which has spent $104 million, and George and Alexander Soros, who have given $103 million.

The Times’ report echoes an analysis published last week by the Brennan Center for Justice showing that the 40 largest individual donors to the 2026 elections had spent a combined $2.4 billion as of mid-October.

According to Brennan, this represents the single largest amount of money spent on a midterm election ever since the US Supreme Court’s landmark 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. FEC unleashed limitless political campaign spending.

The Brennan analysis reveals that the spending of the very largest donors has grown dramatically over the last decade.

“The donations coming from the top 40 donors for the midterms total eight times the amount from the top 40 donors by mid-October in the 2014 midterms (the first full midterm cycle after Citizens United), adjusted for inflation,” the analysis explains. “The cutoff to be in the top 40 has also increased to 10 times what it was four cycles ago, to $25 million.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2026-midterms-top-donors

None of this should be a surprise to anyone capable of following the money….but no matter the winners we will get the best government money can buy.

The only winners in this election will most likely be the oligarchs…..not us peasants.

Can you see it?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Election Day–2026 (Cond)

The day has finally come and we will make our wishes known through our vote….for better or worse….the decision will be made.

Here’s what is known at this time….

Election Day is here. Just don’t expect Election Day night to answer all the midterms’ burning questions. Tight races, mail voting rules, and ranked-choice systems in states like Alaska, Maine, Arizona, and California mean some key contests—and possibly control of Congress—could take days or even weeks to sort out, reports the New York Times.

  • The consensus: As anyone following coverage this year knows, forecasters give Democrats a great chance of flipping the House and a decent chance of flipping the Senate. Nate Silver, for example, puts the percentages for those outcomes at 95% and 80%, respectively, at his Silver Bulletin.
  • Poll caveat: Nate Cohn of the New York Times notes that Trump-era polls have previously underestimated Republican support, and there’s a “real possibility” of that happening again. The president’s supporters tend not to respond to pollsters’ queries.
  • You pick:The Wall Street Journal has a detailed look at state-by-state forecasts, and its tool allows readers to make their own projections.
  • record: Tuesday might be Election Day, but a record number of people already have cast their ballots, reports USA Today. The University of Florida Election Lab puts the figure at roughly 54 million.
  • Early results: Axios cautions those watching results come in Tuesday night against drawing early conclusions, mainly because right-leaning states such as Florida report first. “In every national election since 2018, the House and Senate votes counted by 9pm ET were 4 to 9 percentage points more Republican than the final result,” its analysis notes.

That is just about everything you could possibly want to know….with the exception of the winners…..that will be a post for tomorrow or as soon as the winners are known.

The turn out looks pretty good which I was not expecting here in my state of Mississippi….this is a Deep Red State and most think it is a fore drawn conclusion on who the winners will be….

What will the outcome be….a reinforcement of Donny and his destructive policies or possibly a new way forward?

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Election Day–2026

Today is the big day!  The day when Americans could make a difference.

They tell us there is good news as we ready our vote….

The election eve math looks promising for Democrats in both the Senate and House. A final New York Times/Siena poll of seven key Senate battlegrounds finds Democratic candidates leading in five Republican-held states—Kansas (5 points), Maine (6 points), Ohio (5 points), Texas (7 points), and Alaska (2 points)—and essentially tied in Iowa. In Michigan, the only surveyed seat they already control, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed is up by double digits (11), though the poll was taken before the weekend stunner that saw Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens endorsing Republican Mike Rogers in the race.

The shift is tied to sour views of President Trump’s economic stewardship: Only 38% of likely voters in these states approve of his performance. Voters now give Democrats a clear edge on handling the cost of living, foreign wars, and “what’s best for ordinary people.” Democrats are also winning independents, younger voters, and Latinos. Pollsters caution that late-deciding voters are breaking Republican, but if these numbers hold, Democrats would capture the Senate. They need a net flip of four seats. As for the House, it’s essentially “Democrats’ to lose,” reports the Washington Post. They need a net flip of three seats, and scores of competitive races have been shifting in the party’s favor, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.

That looks promising but we know just how unreliable polls and such have been in the last 20 years.

We shall see how inaccurate these are this time around……

AS we Americans go to the polls to vote our desires for government there will be an large portion of those votes for Donny and his choices.  Ever since he, Donny, won years ago people have been trying to make sense of why so much loyalty to one that is hurting them in so many way.

Why do these people refuse to withhold their allegiance?

There is a few answers….

President Donald Trump’s approval ratings are cratering. Even his Make America Great Again, or MAGA, diehards have reservations.

This fact was evident to me when I attended MAGA rallies in three states on Oct. 24-25, 2026. One was a Turning Point USA get-out-the-vote event outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Along with a few dozen America First stalwarts wearing white “America the Beautiful” caps, I sat on a wooden table under a small picnic pavilion listening to speakers such as MAGA activist Scott Presler and Trump-endorsed U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser. Meuser reeled off MAGA talking points, including the supposed threat posed by transgender athletes and bathroom use, immigrant voter fraud and the “billionaire anarchist George Soros.”

Remarkably, the speakers barely mentioned Trump. The audience clapped politely, but the energy was tepid compared to the many MAGA rallies I attended in 2024, when the Pennsylvania landscape was dotted with Trump and MAGA signs. This time I saw none.

The numbers bear out what I observed.

A mid-October 2026 poll found that only a third of U.S. adults approve of the job Trump is doing; 71% feel the country is on the wrong track. The majority of Americans are pessimistic. A growing number worry about government corruption.

The reason?

There’s the war with Iran that has resulted in U.S. soldiers being killed and wounded. The conflict is costing billions of dollars and spiked the price of gas. But most of all, Trump has lost support on the economy amid growing inflation and an affordability crisis.

Remarkably, despite the headwinds, many of Trump’s MAGA loyalists still back him. This point was underscored by the Harrisburg event I attended as well as Trump’s midterm rallies, where attendees still enthusiastically chant “U.S.A.” and are decked out in red caps and MAGA merch.

Why?

https://www.alternet.org/trump-rally-fan/

What comes to my mind is….a successful propaganda machine.

Plus the bigotry that lay hidden for many years was allowed to come forward into the world of Donny….and his supporters do not want to return to the days when they had to hide their hatred.

No matter what he does to destroy their lives he will continue to get their support….I know….it sounds stupid….well it is!

What do you think is the reason for this misplaced loyalty?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

What Do I Believe?

Tomorrow we go to the polls and I thought I would let my readers know just what I am looking for in a candidate.

I am always ask what I tend to do if I do not support either party and mostly recently by a very loyal reader, Nan….so to let everyone know just what it is I am looking for in a candidate I am re-post something I wrote almost 20 years years ago…

 

Professor, What Do You Believe In?

As you can see I am very particular on what I want from a candidate….and I have been disappointed in everything the Dems have done and said in the past 30 years….they are failing the American people all in the name of donors.

Any questions?

Go vote and help make America a better place….I hope….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

If Dems Win–What Then?

Tomorrow is the big day….we go to our polling stations and cast our vote for the candidate we like…and if the ‘pundits’ are right (which are seldom happenings) and the Dems win big in Congress what can we expect?

Most readers know what I think of the corporate Dems we have now and what they are not capable of doing.

First the bold face lies from the Right of Dems and socialism is just plain ignorance speaking….and the reason why is that Dems hate the Left and have for many years….

“I would rather the Republicans keep the House by five than the Democrats win by five, because if that happens, they’re hostage to the DSA. Hakeem cannot move. There’s no place for him to go.” – James Carville

Polls indicate that Democrats can win control of the House of Representatives in the November 3, 2026 mid-term elections. If accurate, left leaning Democrats may win some of those seats and those victories would mean that voters are looking for progressive change. But James Carville, eminence grise of conservative Democrats, wants to disempower them and their voters before any of them even get to Washington. So great is his antipathy that he would prefer a Republican victory to giving the left any opportunity to give Democratic Party voters what they want.

Carville had famously said of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), “I wish they’d take the word Democrat out of their name. I have no idea why the democratic socialists — if you hate the Democratic Party so much, well, then don’t use our godd*mn. Go think of your own name.” The tantrum may have been silly but the intent was deadly serious. The Democratic Party will not permit any possibility of change, and even small reforms have been declared off limits. Just in case there was any confusion, Carville said so in public in a conversation with right winger Bill Kristol.

https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-democratic-party-still-hates-the-left/

Carville is a loud mouth dinosaur that needs to climb back in the hole from which he came…..and let progress move forward we have had enough of his ilk with the corporate Dems we have now.

But the question is if Dems win, what then?

Much to the hope and fear of progressive Democrats and Republicans alike, if the Democrats win control of the U.S. Congress this November, do not expect socialism to be enacted into law.

Increasingly, Donald Trump and the Republicans are using the dirty word of socialism against Democrats, much as they have engaged in red baiting for decades. Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden have all been accused of being socialists, if not communists. Apparently, anyone who disagrees with Republicans is now a socialist. But the political effectiveness of this accusation is changing.

Millennials and Generation Z did not grow up during the McCarthy era or the Cold War. They do not necessarily associate socialism with the same stigma that shaped the political attitudes of the Silent Generation, Baby Boomers, and perhaps even Generation X. Moreover, capitalism is not working particularly well for many younger Americans. They confront skyrocketing housing prices, expensive healthcare, crushing educational debt, and the disappearance of the American Dream. Now they face artificial intelligence potentially eliminating the jobs they hoped would provide economic security. For them, socialism no longer sounds so frightening. It might even sound appealing.

This helps explain the popularity of politicians such as Bernie Sanders and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. They offer alternatives to a winner-take-all capitalist economy that has produced extraordinary concentrations of wealth and economic inequality. Yet even if Democrats win both the House and Senate, the prospects for enacting anything resembling socialism are exceedingly slim.

Read On….

https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/10/28/if-the-democrats-win-what-then/

For me the more actual progressives, the Left if we so desire, the better off the people of this country will be….with enough maybe they can find a way to light fires under the more spineless among them.

Anyone see it differently?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Last Week At The Sh*t Show–01Nov26

Did you remember to Fall back?

We start a new month and Donny ‘s mouth has not taken a break in 2 years….but what would I wrote without his constant regurgitation?

Donny now thinks he deserves yet another honor….

Not only is Donald Trump bringing up the Nobel Peace Prize again, but he’s now claiming he deserves the Pulitzer Prize too.

It was October of last year when Trump learned he had lost out on the Nobel Peace Prize despite months of claiming he deserved it for having “ended seven wars” in his second term.

Speaking at a rally on Wednesday (October 21), the president returned once again to the same topic, also saying he should have been awarded the Pulitzer.

Speaking in front of crowds in South Carolina, Trump said: “I didn’t get the Nobel Prize. I didn’t get the Pulitzer. I should have gotten a Pulitzer for writing, too.

https://www.indy100.com/politics/trump/trump-nobel-pulitzer-prize

Yes he is serious but a prize for what?

Donny keeps showing his ignorance….

The View co-host and former White House special assistant, Alyssa Farah Griffin, shared a comical story about her former boss Donald Trump.

“Hand on my heart, my first day at the White House, Trump asked me if I knew what the H stood for [in Jesus H. Christ],” she penned on X. “I said no. He said Horatio.”

She shared the anecdote in response to a social media user asking about the origin of the common interjection

Hand on my heart, my first day at the White House, Trump asked me if I knew what the H stood for. I said no. He said Horatio.

In the phrase “Jesus H. Christ,” the letter “H” does not represent a real middle name; linguists and historians note it derives from the Greek monogram of Jesus’ name (IHS), but the exact origin of the middle letter remains uncertain

(okmagazine.com)

Typical ego centric a/hole….has an answer for everything and it is always wrong.

How about a huge statue of Donny?

As debate intensifies over a proposed 250-foot statue of Donald Trump, a fundamental constitutional question remains: Does Congress have the authority to approve such a monument? At the center of the president’s argument is a century-old law that Trump and his allies may invoke to justify the project, though critics dismiss the proposed monument as a vanity project.

The central question is whether a 1925 law gives Trump the authority to build the arch, despite more recent language mentioning congressional approval for new monuments in the nation’s capital. The administration argues that Congress already approved the project based on the 1925 law, highlighting an unrealized plan by the Arlington Memorial Bridge Commission from the 1920s, which proposed two tall, narrow columns spaced far apart at the western end of a new bridge across the Potomac River. The administration says the proposed arch follows the original vision of that plan.

https://www.alternet.org/arch/

Can you think of anything more hideous?

More prize crap.

The last thing any country — whether it is in a golden age, engulfed in a pointless war, or mired in an affordability crisis — needs is a leader who isn’t focused on the pressing issues of the day, such as the nation’s ballrooms and golf courses, or which athlete does what before games. And because we know negative press coverage distresses Donald Trump, we have taken it upon ourselves to highlight the president’s many accomplishments, like his ability to correctly point out a giraffe among images of four different animals. This allows voters to make an informed decision as to whether they want this man to continue enjoying unchecked power or not.

In that spirit, we are happy to report that Trump reached another milestone on Thursday night when he became the recipient of Iowa’s coveted “Man of the Century” award. Granted, there are those in the media who will argue that this prize, which comes with a fancy piece of paper in a pretty nice frame (gilded, of course), cannot be “coveted” since it was created this week for the sole purpose of sucking up to the president. However, now that it exists, we are certain that it will be bestowed on another deserving recipient in 2126, who will then covet it for sure.

Trump Earns Iowa’s Prestigious ‘Man of the Century’ Award

This is a chuckle….

People from Norway are not accepted….

Norway joined a club to which it doesn’t want to belong over the weekend: “the list of countries (President) Trump has abused in vulgar terms,” as Reuters puts it. At a Michigan rally, Trump called Norway a “s–house country,” said “Norway sucks,” and threatened that the US would accept fewer Norwegian immigrants, per the New York Times. Trump made the remarks while noting that he did not receive the Nobel Peace Prize this year. “So I don’t want anybody from Norway,” he said. “I don’t want anything to do with Norway.”

In response, a government official in Oslo stressed that Norway has no say in selecting winners. “He knows very well that the Nobel committee is independent,” Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide told Norwegian broadcaster NRK. “We have reminded him of that, in case anyone is wondering, and that is still the case.” The Nobel Institute likewise underscored its independence. Reuters notes that Trump has also used the “s—house” term to describe nations including Haiti, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen.

Donny sez he does not care about high gas prices….

President Donald Trump said Saturday that he doesn’t “give a damn” about criticism of his boasts that the U.S. is profiting from soaring oil prices, even as Americans continue to pay far more at the pump than they did a year ago.

The remarks are the latest in a string of comments downplaying the cost of fuel during the war with Iran. Earlier this month, Trump argued that high gas prices are good for Americans, and in August he told rallygoers that $4 gas is “OK” and that he would “never apologize.” He has also called higher prices “a very small price to pay” for stopping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, a comment that drew fury when he added, “Let ’em take out Los Angeles.”

Speaking at a midterm campaign rally at the Guardian Centers in Perry, Georgia, Trump claimed that oil buyers were flocking to American producers because of the conflict in the Middle East.

Trump Declares He Doesn’t ‘Give A Damn’ About Gas Prices, Boasts U.S. Is ‘Making A Frickin Fortune’ From Iran War Oil Spike At Rally

How can one man be so full of sh*t?

Pistol Pete may be eyeing a senate seat…..

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is reportedly “angling” for a Senate seat over fears House Democrats plan to launch an impeachment investigation into his tenure after the midterms.

According to Puck, the secretary is interested in succeeding Tennessee’s incumbent Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn should she win her race to be the state’s next governor against Democratic rival Jerri Green, as she is currently on course to do.

If Blackburn does secure the keys to the governor’s mansion, Hegseth is reportedly hopeful of her appointing him to her vacant seat, rather than waiting for congressional Democrats to come after him and attempt to force him out of office – or for President Donald Trump to fire him.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/hegseth-senate-tennessee-trump-marsha-blackburn-b3073270.html

That is just about enough disgusting news….

To enlighten things up…..I was thinking about my Mom and one of her favorite songs….we had it on an old 78 and she would play it when she was doing work around the house….that is until it wore out.

She adored this song…..my memories of her always makes me smile.

I hope everyone has a great day and a great November and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

IST Saturday News Dump–31Oct26

BOO!  Today is the day that kids have been dreaming about….a wealth of sweets and scary stuff….yep it is Halloween.

Local–Cooler temps but still no rain for almost 2 months….my yard is looking like the Mojave.

Personal–I recently got a letter from Donny saying that I will get an extra $90 on my social security….that ought to make things better (sarcasm)….

I start my ‘Dump” with a quick history lesson of the day….

The origins of the Halloween holiday date back thousands of years. Here is the story of the traces of the original lore that remain and how we went from carving turnips in the British Isles to spending $3 billion on candy annually in the United States. Halloween as we know it is a secular celebration with roots in the Celtic harvest festival of Samhain, which was observed in ancient Britain and Ireland on November 1st. Samhain marked the halfway point between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice, the beginning of the new year. This coincided with a seasonal harvest and the start of winter preparations. This was also the day during which the Celts believed that the veil between the mortal and the supernatural was thinnest. Priests held rituals, and people lit bonfires to brighten the dark to scare away supernatural beings. People donned masks to disguise themselves from the ghosts, faeries, and demons that were thought to roam this night. In the 7th century, Pope Boniface IV established All Saints’ Day in May. The date of this celebration was later moved to November 1st, possibly to overshadow any pagan traditions of Samhain, possibly because coinciding with the harvest meant there were more resources available at that time of year. Either way, this made the night before, October 31st, All Saints’ Eve or All Hallows’ Eve, hence Halloween. Later, All Souls’ Day was proclaimed on November 2nd, introducing another Christian religious holiday to the period. Together, beginning with Halloween on October 31st, these three days are sometimes called Allhallowtide. By the end of the 15th century, All Hallows’ Eve had become a blend of sacred and secular.  Secular celebrations remained especially strong in Britain, Ireland, and Scotland. One of the customs in Ireland in the 1800s involved carving vegetables—usually turnips, potatoes, or beets—into frightening faces to scare off spirits. These designs evolved to hold candles, as metal lanterns were prohibitively expensive for most people. A museum in Ireland is still exhibiting a preserved “ghost turnip” today. When a number of Irish people immigrated to the United States in the mid-1800s to escape the Great Famine, they brought their Halloween traditions with them. They found pumpkins and other gourds, native to America, especially suitable for carving, giving rise to the now ubiquitous jack o’lanterns. Halloween grew in popularity, becoming one of the primary holidays in the United States by the 20th century.

(britannica.com)

Now that I have bored you to death I will move on to the other stuff I have lined up….

As a cancer patient I am always looking for reports that would help others that may get this terrible diagnosis….

A single snapshot of a cancer patient’s face may someday help forecast how long they’ll live. Researchers at Mass General Brigham say they’ve built an AI model, FAHR-FaceSurvival, that estimates mortality risk using only a facial photograph, according to a study in Lancet Digital Health. Among patients whose scores landed in the top 10% for risk, about half died within 90 days; in the lowest 10%, roughly 2% did, the Washington Post reports.

The system grew out of an earlier tool, FaceAge, which guesses a person’s “biological age”; that system collects different information about a patient’s health, per the Guardian. Attention maps suggest the new AI focuses on areas below the eyes and along the nose, though scientists don’t yet know what precise signals it’s reading. Outside experts call the work intriguing, per the Post, but stress that it must prove it adds information beyond what doctors can already see—and that it avoids encoding racial or other biases.

But can AI be trusted with this task?

We have all heard about the rush to build AI data centers, right?  Finland just screwed itself….

Earlier in October, Finnish authorities ordered Google’s affiliate data center developer Tuike Finland Oy to immediately suspend the illegal cutting of some 1,300 acres of forest. The tech giant was given a week to draft a report explaining its actions, which soon became a flashpoint for Europe’s growing outrage over the data center boom.

As the anger grew, reporters descended on the scene — and what they found is a clear-cut example of the AI revolution’s impact on the environment.

New reporting by the Guardian shed fresh light on the impacts of Google’s deforestation. After the 1,300 acres of pristine boreal forests were reduced to tracts of mud and stumps, fauna which once called the woods home has been forced to vacate.

In the felling-site near the Finnish village of Otanmäki, the ensuing loss of prey has forced packs of wolves to search for food elsewhere: nearby villages.

https://futurism.com/future-society/wolves-finland-google-ai-data-centers

Let me guess….the answer to this problem will be to kill the wolves.

Exotic food….you know what I mean….like bear kidneys for virility and other such nonsense….well there is a new one….

When journalist Sophie Haigney was talking to a friend about her fascination with some of the more outlandish-sounding diets out there, her friend came up with the term “dark nutrition.” And in a piece for the New York Times Magazine, Haigney digs right in. The story, for example, opens with influencer Kelly Pi sampling raw buffalo brains. It turns out that everything is raw for Pi, who eschews the cooking of anything, even the roadkill she occasionally scavenges. If that sounds crazy to you, Pi counters that the typical American diet of processed foods and alcohol—people “are basically poisoning themselves”—sounds crazy to her. Haigney heard this same argument again and again as she interviewed people on the fringes of nutritional thinking.

“Some avoided specific vitamins, or disavowed seed oils, or believed that vegetables were unhealthy,” she writes. “Some swore by organ meats, some by cane sugar. Some snacked on raw chicken or took large doses of supplements. However weird their diets seemed, they told me, the standard American diet—filled as it is with pesticides and preservatives, dyes and junk—was weirder.” Haigney’s story is less about evaluating the diets’ nutritional merits than about exploring why people adopt them. As it turns out, many interviewees described turning to unconventional diets in response to health problems. The story also discusses the “n of one” principle popular in dark-nutrition circles, “the idea that the only way to learn what is good for you is by ignoring broad samples and experimenting on your unique self.” Read the full story, in which Haigney samples some of the fare herself.

These food trends are stupid and pathetic.

In the age of Donny books appear to be the enemy and ruination of society so what do they do….ban them…..

PEN America released a report on Monday documenting nearly 12,000 book bans involving more than 7,300 individual titles in US schools during the 2025-2026 school year, which the organization said were the largest censorship case numbers it had ever recorded.

The state of Texas accounted for more than 8,100 book bans—roughly three-fourths of the nationwide total and more than double that of Florida, which was the second-most censorious state with over 3,200 book bans.

PEN America said that the surge in Texas book bans came from SB 13, a state law passed in 2025 that banned a broad array of books that censorship proponents view as “profane” or “indecent.”

According to PEN America, the Texas book bans carried out over the last year have been particularly broad because officials in the state used artificial intelligence to make a recommended list of banned books.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/book-bans-texas-florida

Florida and Texas….no surprise from the two most ass kissing states….right?

How about a ban on cellphones?

The Wall Street Journal recently explored the issue of phones in restaurants, noting that many eating establishments have come to resemble “scroll zones that simply serve food and drinks.” The paper had earlier declared, “phones are becoming the new cigarettes.” You might think that very few individuals would appreciate their dinner companions staring down at their Apple devices during shared outings, but, then again, you often see whole tables absorbed in scrolling as a way to avoid actually communicating with each other or just to stave off social awkwardness, thereby often increasing the awkwardness.

Why Some Restaurants Are Starting to Ban Cell Phones (and Why Customers Are Loving It)

I think it is a good idea….how about you?

That does it for me today….I hope everyone has a wonderful Halloween and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Death Of The Corporate Dems?

Just a few days before the polls open and people rush to vote….

I have made my thoughts clear that Bubba Clinton and his DLC group killed the Democratic Party for that was when they became no better than the GOP in their embracing of corporate donors.

But I am told be some that those days of Dems sucking up to corporate donors is drawing to a close….

Most discussions about the Democratic Party in this election cycle focus on the remarkable rise of progressive Democrats (such as Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon, a democratic socialist who yesterday scored an upset win in the Democratic contest for the Florida Senate).

An equally big story is the remarkable decline of corporate Democrats.

Some Democrats worry about this. My old friend Democratic strategist James Carville compares the current wave of progressive primary wins to progressive campaigns in 2016 — especially that of Bernie Sanders — that he believes fractured the Democratic coalition.

“Bernie Sanders is the reason that Donald Trump is president,” Carville said recently, claiming that Bernie’s primary challenge to Hillary Clinton convinced voters in battleground states that establishment Democrats were no different from establishment Republicans, thereby weakening her prospects in the general election.

Even if James is right about 2016 (and I don’t believe he is) his assessment is irrelevant now because we’re at a radically different point in American politics than we were 10 years ago.

The silver lining on the dark storm cloud of Trump and his detestable regime is that it has exposed the greed, venality, cupidity, and corruption of America’s corporate elite.

https://www.alternet.org/progressive-democrats-2677726334/

Sorry but I do not see those days being over….just a reset and a new way to get their graft.

On a side note:  James Carville was an proponent of the Dems switching from representing the people to sucking up to corporations….he is a dinosaur and a very vocal one….progressives are sick to this twat and his mouth….

The “Ragin’ Cajun” first rose to national prominence in 1991 by encouraging Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, who had just announced his presidential bid, to point out to a strapped country that the economy wasn’t doing so hot. At the same time, Carville encouraged Democrats to carve up the welfare state that was buoying Americans taking the brunt of the economic downturn. Democrats had been locked out of the White House since 1980, and they were willing to try anything to win. These counterintuitive policy solutions were assumed to be smart, and Clinton’s victory in November 1992 proved it. Carville was a kingmaker, and his “please nobody” politics were the Democratic Party’s future.

A congressional wash-out just two years later couldn’t knock the bloom off the Third Way rose among Washington’s Democratic consultant class. Carville’s reputation for colorful turns of phrase, and his tendency to stomp on any calls for the party to move left, made him a favorite of cable news programmers looking to make entertaining television.

Now 81, Carville has remained a stock choice for cheap heat, even as his positions became more predictable, such as a recent slam on left-wing media personality Hasan Piker in which he called the streamer a “raving antisemite” due to Piker’s opposition to America’s support of Israel and his comment that he would “vote for Hamas over Israel every single time.” As progressives and democratic socialists have notched recent wins across the country, Carville has been there to tell the activist wing of the Democratic Party to pipe down and tack toward Republican stances on issues like transgender rights and police reform.

https://www.salon.com/2026/08/14/time-for-james-carville-to-sit-down-and-shut-up/

I agree….it is time for him to sit down and STFU.

It is time for a change….we have had nothing but conservs running this country and they came from both sides of the aisle….it is time for real change and the status quo will not bring about.

Am I wrong?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

BiBi Pulls A Donny

The Israeli election has been a close one but it appears that BiBi may have pulled it off…..but he is blaming the Arab parties for the closeness of the turn out to the point of claiming vote fraud by these parties…..

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said rival Arab parties cheated in his country’s elections after exit polls indicated his coalition failed to capture a majority in the Knesset, pushing the Middle Eastern democracy into a political deadlock.

Netanyahu’s Likud party and its allies outperformed expectations on Tuesday. But with results still trickling in on Wednesday evening, the prime minister failed to keep his majority in the Israeli parliament. There is still no clear winner. The opposition bloc, led by Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party, remains Likud’s top rival. But two Arab parties, the Joint List and Ra’am, outperformed as they gained seats, drawing historic support as they are to win their largest-ever share of the vote.

Netanyahu said the Arab parties had stolen the election, claiming they are guilty of criminal offenses of bribery, threats, violence, forgeries, and the use of prohibited software to mobilize voters.

Does that sound at all familiar?

It should….he is pulling a Donny by accusing opponents of voter fraud.

He has been a lying POS for decades and will do whatever it takes to stay in power.

But his antics and accusations are turning ex-supporters off….

Ronald Lauder, the American billionaire who heads the World Jewish Congress and was once a close confidant of Benjamin Netanyahu, has accused the Israeli prime minister of sacrificing opportunities for peace to protect his political career.

In an interview with Haaretz published last week, ahead of the Israeli elections, the longstanding supporter of Israel described his disillusionment with Netanyahu, claiming he abandoned a negotiated peace agreement with Syria and Lebanon in the late 1990s despite having approved its terms.

The former ambassador also accused Netanyahu of undermining democracy and empowering far-right ministers whose policies are damaging Israel’s relationships with Arab neighbours, western governments and Jewish communities abroad.

“He chose politics over peace. He put his political future before the deal,” Lauder said of the negotiations with Syria. “That’s where he lost me. I saw him afterward, but it was never the same. He betrayed me.”

The comments come from a figure who helped Netanyahu build influential connections in the US and spent decades supporting Israeli institutions and Jewish organisations worldwide.

…

By Thursday morning, with roughly 91 percent of votes counted, his bloc was projected to win 53 seats, against 48 for Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot’s camp and 19 for parties representing Palestinian citizens of Israel, leaving neither main bloc with the 61 seats needed for a majority.

Netanyahu could retain power by securing opposition defections or negotiating a unity government, potentially excluding his far-right allies. If coalition talks fail, another election could follow, allowing him to remain caretaker prime minister in the meantime.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/netanyahu-chose-politics-over-peace-former-confidant-ronald-lauder-says

If BiBi is to remain he must put together a coalition and you can bet he will hit up the Right for support and if he gets it then it will be all out genocide against Palestinians….

This is really a sad turn for the region and the especially for the Arabs that stand in Israel’s way to a mini empire in the Levant.

Dark days are coming for the region.

Update:

Israel’s election is over, but the wrangling to form a new government is just beginning. Final tallies show Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc taking 53 of 120 Knesset seats, while Gadi Eisenkot’s camp captured 48—leaving both short of the 61 needed to govern. Netanyahu’s bloc had a majority of 68 seats in the previous Knesset. The results must still be certified and handed to President Isaac Herzog next week, after which he’ll tap the politician he thinks is likeliest to assemble a coalition, NBC News reports.

  • Netanyahu’s Likud party will remain the largest in the Knesset with 27 seats, down from 32. Eisenkot’s centrist Yashar party, founded last year, will be the second-largest, with 21

The real shake-up: parties representing Israel’s Arab minority won 19 seats amid record turnout from Palestinian citizens of Israel, positioning them as potential kingmakers. Yet both main blocs have said they won’t partner with the two largest Arab factions, Ra’am and the Joint List. Yair Golan, leader of the small, left-wing Democrats party, is openly urging a coalition that includes them. Protesters gathered outside Eisenkot’s home on Thursday, calling for him to partner with Israeli Arab parties to prevent Netanyahu from serving another term, France24 reports.

After Herzog chooses a candidate, they will have 28 days to try to assemble a majority, plus a possible 14-day extension, the New York Times reports. If the weeks of negotiations ahead fail to produce a government, Israel will face another election early next year, a scenario that Herzog says he will do everything in his power to avoid, the AP reports. Likud has alleged, without evidence, that the election was “stolen” by the Arab parties, reports Politico. In a post on X Friday, Netanyahu said it is “forbidden” to form a coalition with Arab parties.

What will BiBi do?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

“Just Do Something”

With all the attacks on our lives from the lunatics on the Right my question is why are we, as Americans, doing something?

Yep from time to time we have these cute little protests that garner a bit of press but they are not doing anything to change things.

It is time for Americans to once again to hit the streets and make their dissatisfaction known.

There’s a lot of hurt, frustration, and anger over the lack of American action in ‘doing’ something — anything to stop America’s support of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, US/Israeli destruction and destabilization of the region, and now, the duo’s senseless War against Iran.

Justifiably so.

Over the last few weeks in particular, I’ve had the opportunity to have a number of painful conversations with Palestinians and Iranians in the blast zone of America’s failed and flailing foreign policy. My experience over the years has only been reinforced by these conversations. Namely, that while there is a lot of hurt and anger, there is even more confusion. Where is America?

Why aren’t you doing anything?
Why don’t Americans stop this?
Why don’t Americans do anything at all?

America should be in the streets en masse. Americans should be organized to take any and all action necessary to stop genocide, the proliferation of terrorism, and now the immoral and unfounded war against Iran. I’m personally disgusted by American complacency and total lack of awareness, much less positive action — but do you really think the America that trains the hit squads and torture squads abroad is really so different at home?

…

America is not absent from action because nothing is wrong. America is not absent because no one here cares. America is absent because this country has spent decades making collective political action geographically unnatural, economically dangerous, socially isolating, politically disorienting, and — whenever it starts to become effective — punishable through job loss, criminal prosecution and imprisonment, or death. The business class, the media apparatus, the donor class, the party system, the state, and the state’s enforcement classes have all worked to build a public that is fragmented and atomized, exhausted and broke, frightened and paranoid, unimaginably misinformed and confused, and thus, nearly impossible to organize into any force capable of threatening their entrenched structures.

https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-americans-dont-just-do-something-a-letter-to-everyone-in-the-blast-radius/

Should we look to France for a little inspiration?  How about Albania?

https://thefulcrum.us/ethics-leadership/lessons-from-french-protests-democracy-governance

I am sorry but the time to sit by and hope things will change is over….time for Americans to stop acting like whipped sheep and take it to the bloody streets!

Go big or go home….

whimper in the corner and wait.

Not my style.

Time to wake this country up and get the masses moving.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”