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Friday, February 21, 2020

On the 2020 Las Vegas, Nevada Debate

The debate was interesting. It outlined the continued crisis of the Democratic Party among progressives and moderates. Nothing is new under the sun. This crisis went on in 1968, 1972, and in 1980 between Edward Kennedy plus Jimmy Carter. The question is what direction will the Democratic Party go. The vast majority of young people are progressives while the vast majority of older people in the Democratic Party are more centrist. So, this generational divide will not be solved so easily. The debate in Las Vegas, Nevada was very heated. Some have sad that it was the most heated of the debates so far. The Democratic establishment seeks to do the slick plan to allow Bernie Sanders to win many delegates while being not the victor at the convention in Milwaukee because of the influence of the superdelegates. Like always, Matthews and other moderates on MSNBC had a meltdown, since their arch-nemesis Bernie Sanders haven't been taken down. Donny Deutsch on MSNBC said that he would vote for Trump than Sanders which shows his hypocrisy. I feel like I'm looking at FOX News when I hear MSNBC hosts bash Bernie Sanders. The acts from some in MSNBC (not everyone at MSNBC, so I want to make that clear) proves that the media is not liberal or progressive. Most of the media is centrist or neoliberal. The Root's Jason Johnson paraded the lie that Bernie hasn't experienced much scrutiny from other candidates when tons of candidates have questioned Bernie Sanders in many debates.

The media in many cases have outlined legitimate critiques about Sanders' record, and in other cases, some in the corporate media have used lies about him. The most powerful person in the debate was Elizabeth Warren. She exposed Michael Bloomberg's scandals, contradictions, and bad policies from stop and frisk, allegations of sexism, and other matters. Elizabeth Warren was eloquent, powerful, and stayed on message. She spoke like a poet, attacked like a lawyer, and stood up for the people. Bernie Sanders was also strong in outlining his criticisms of economic inequality, racism, and other injustices. Bernie Sanders was the most consistent to describe his message to the public. He is obviously the most progressive candidate. The moderates on stage ironically attacked each other. Pete Buttegieg and Amy Klobuchar debated each other on issues ranging from immigration to other matters. Klobuchar said that Pete is wrong to question her intelligence on a question about who is the President of Mexico. Joe Biden opposed the political views of Michael Bloomberg from stop and frisk to the NDA subject.

Bernie Sanders rejected Bloomberg's lying charge that he is a communist by saying that the super wealthy have massive socialism in terms of tax breaks, etc., while the working class experiences rugged individualism (as said by the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1967 from this Three Evils Speech). Bloomberg fails to see that democratic socialism is completely different than Stalinist Communism. There are even different variations of communism. As the stop Bernie movement has failed so far, the corporate media and the Democratic establishment are freaking out. Bernie Sanders is actually a neo-New Dealer in the mold of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He is not as extreme as some characterize him as. Bernie Sanders favors social democracy. They or the establishment hates revolutionary change, and we welcome their hatred. Buttegieg's lie about us, who want revolution, by saying that we desire to exclude others. That is fantasy. Revolutionary change brought an end to the Confederacy, Jim Crow apartheid, massive smog epidemics in many places, and other evils. These revolutionary changes existed as a product of bringing people together in common cause (via grassroots movements) to eradicate horrendous evils in our land. Buttegieg wouldn't dare say to the faces of the homeless, those who can't afford health care, and the victims of racial profiling that we don't need structural change. Pete Buttegieg is funded by Wall Street interests.

We have 540 billionaires living the high life while 21 percent of all U.S. children live in families with incomes below the federal poverty threshold. The 0.1 percent of all Americans have more wealth than the bottom 90 percent of Americans. America is 12th in all 12 industrialized nations in life expectancy, while the U.S. has the most expensive health care system on Earth. Socialism is not responsible for these realities. We know which economic system is responsible for these tragedies. One telling part of the debate is when the moderate asked all candidates if the person with the most delegates or the most votes should be the nominee. Every single candidate candidate said no except Bernie Sanders. The rest of the candidates wanted the process to be played out. This tells me that democracy is under threat. We want people with the most votes to win primaries and caucuses. That is what voting is all about. Almost 800 unelected superdelegates is a real problem to the concept of democracy. We reject war mongering, corporate domination, monopolism, economic inequality, and injustice in general. The Las Vegas debate didn't mention anything on foreign policy issues like the coronavirus, struggles in Latin America, China, the Middle East, the fascist far right in Europe, etc. Therefore, the debate made it clear that Warren and Bernie are the most progressive candidates with the best vision among the Democratic field.


Some very sad news is the passing away of Ja'net Dubois at the age of 74. She was an actress, a mother, and a lover of the arts. For decades, she has worked on many films and had 3 children. We appreciate her humor, charisma, strength, and honesty. Now, she continues to belong to the ages as a legendary human being. She passed away in her sleep. She was born in the Northeast, and she was raised in Amityville, New York on Long Island. She worked in acting back in the 1960's in the Broadway play of Golden Boy (with Sammy Davis Jr. and Lou Gossett Jr. back in 1964). She was in the TV movie J.T. in 1969. She was in the soap opera Love of Life from 1970 to 1972 with the role of Loretta Allen. She was the first African American woman as a regular cast member on a daily series. She loved to dance. In 1992, DuBois, Danny Glover, and Ayuko Babu co-founded the Pan-African Film and Arts Festival in Los Angeles. She won an Emmy Awards. She loved her city of Amityville, New York. She was a legend.

Rest in Power Sister Ja'net Dubois.


By Timothy



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