#TheGoodWife Last year of the Good Wife? Say it ain't so...

Why the Ta-Nehisi Coates Desire for Reparations is Politically Silly. Short Verson: We lose all Reagan Democrats.

I wanted to comment in full about some of the sillier implications of Ta Nehisi Coates statements about the pipe dream of reparations but twitter's character limit makes that impossible. Until then here's a long winded rebuttal (also in Pic form) that explains the problems in under 600 words I hope. Yes I'm African American and I'm a proud Bernie supporter, who I think is the closest I'll get to FDR in my lifetime.

This is a handy rebuttal to this article:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/01/bernie-sanders-liberal-imagination/425022/

One: Demanding reparations for black people is political suicide. One of the reasons we have a tough time expanding New Deal/Great Society programs is that the GOP has essentially blackfaced decent social programs or Reagan's welfare queen myth still lives large. Imagine what would happen if a white presidential candidate openly supported"giving away" things to black folks, even it was justified and I've read your work and I think it is. Politically, though, its not feasible and isn't a standard applied to black presidents or any other white candidate in the race. We would lose all white working class votes.

Two: The short term goal of African Americans should be retaking both the house and senate.  The GOP is our biggest enemy. The GOP is as an openly racist, even openly fascist party. They have to be defeated everywhere not just for black folks but for everyone. The best programs for Blacks came with the New Deal/Great Society programs that help every older African American I know, for example: Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. These bills were only passed when Democrats had all the three branches: house, senate and executive. Bernie Sanders is the only person who has openly embraced the winning 50 state strategy and retaking the house, which will be really hard because of very effective GOP gerrymandering. It needs to be pointed out that Hillary's weaker proposals won't pass either through a republican house. Also, you can't get to two if you embrace race dividing reparations.

Three: Class trumps race when you're a minority. When you're a minority and you remember that -- losing three presidential elections in a row reminds you -- class is the only way to go. Let's raise the min wage for everyone.  2 to 4 trillion in infrastructure jobs for everyone. A public healthcare option for everyone. Free post secondary education for everyone, etc. These are all winners politically and this is why Bernie is surging. Or what would you prefer to be discussed if Bernie were to win the presidency and take back both chambers? Basic income for everyone that would meet basic needs or reparations? Both would help black people quite a bit but only one is politically feasible. I would go with Basic Income proposals. Better to win with class than lose on race. Hey maybe the citizens of Wakanda can do that, if they ever get to vote for their benevolent Saudi Arabia like Black Panther kings. Please keep your policy proposals limited to comics....

Four: You've missed the point of superior European living standards. Yes, since you've been to France I can only assume that bigotry exists in Europe. However, I can also assume that its nothing like where black towns are poisoned by lead or there's a whole prison industrial complex dedicated to putting people of color in jail  or where black people are killed every other day by the cops under questionable circumstances and a whole list of other terrible things that you've written in depth about. I assume that blacks in Norway (all four of them) get the six week mandatory vacations and the guaranteed one year parental leave as well. Must be awful for them. We can live that badly too but only if we stress class remedies not racially specific ones. If Bernie got us to half of the living standards of Western Europe, then that would benefit black people as much or more than reparations, especially if it included basic income. These aren't bandages. These are bootstraps.

A Philip Shropshire Meme PIC

www.threeriversonline.com

http://worldtv.com/the_acid_jazz_channel/

#TheColony Creed is back! Possibly the best of a slew of pretty good science fiction shows that have aired recently...

"Puppies and Rainbows" #philsbandnames

Taken from a bad critique of the Sanders healthcare plan by Ezra Klein. And sort of already rebutted by a physicians group that favors single payer.

#TheGoodWife I thought Florick was O Malley?

#TheGoodWife You picked wrong on Iowa. It will be #BernieSanders one, Hillary two. Who cares about O Malley...

#TheGoodWife Hiring someone who has filed a complaint against you for not hiring them is valid.

That is a valid defense. That no one has ever offered me.

#TheGoodWife I'm calling BS on the overactive state EEOC. The feds have been very aggressive but the state anti discrim groups: worthless.

I've used two state EEOC services, one for Indiana and one for Pennsylvania. They were both worthless. You can find my encounter with Catherine Leete here. I later got a settlement there in a case I can't talk about. Where the federal EEOC has negotiated settlements for me over the last 20 years totaling 27 grand, also in cases I can't talk about, at least not for a few years yet. The federal EEOC is way better. In fact, companies have sued the federal EEOC for being too aggressive with their settlement demands. 

#MMA Full vid. Gabi Garcia almost loses in her debut and why the UFC doesn't have a lady's heavyweight division

That was surprisingly competitive. The other lady, or Lei D Tata, put up a better fight than I thought she would. Gabi gets tagged and goes down early. But she got back up and proceeded to fight. Both ladies looked awful technically.  Still, that's the complaint against the men as well. The heavier you get the less the skill. I actually think that's why the UFC doesn't have bigger divisions for the ladies. Who would fill those positions?

Lei, a pro wrestler, fought pretty much like you would think a pro wrestler would fight. When she got tagged she went down and stayed down. I don't blame her. Plus I think it probably hurt. Quite a bit.

But it was pretty entertaining. I wish the UFC would create new lady divisions. Maybe one just for Gabi and certainly lightweight. Really, what they have to do, is take the best lady fighters -- I would look at Olympic caliber fighters like Rousey -- and expand it to Olympic level karate, boxing, wresting (or what's left of it...greco?), judo and Tae Kwan do. I'm sure you could find 10 or 20. I mean what else can you do with those skills. And that's your division. Coach em up. Their skills will develop just as we've seen the skills develop in the lady's division.

(Hey UFC: recruit reigning Olymic Taekwando Gold Medal Champ Milica Mandic.)



Or American boxing gold champion Claressa Shields.




Here's the full vid of the fight. Don't know how long this will be up. Look at Gabi's upper body compared to Big John the ref. Jeez what a freak.

#TheIntercept Why Pierre Omidyar Needs a Super Pac and an Online TV News Channel @pierre

(I wrote this in the comments section for this Intercept article. )

Boy I sure hope Pierre is mad about that, even though technically he’s from France its hard to see how he would pass Trump’s Muslim affiliation test. I’m guessing that will be a very racist test. Now he can start a First Look Media online television station. This would include the Young Turks, Democracy Now, the Real News, Abby Martin, people fired by MSNBC. Lots of contenders. Or just buy one. I’d buy something like the Esquire channel and just add news blocks if I had 1 billion to burn.

Of course, as I mentioned on twitter: why doesn’t Pierre have a political pac? I have one, which is a bit underfunded, as in not funded, called the Greater Good Coalition.

Here’s two things we could do with money.

1. We could fully adopt the Ben Jealous Plan which would turn states like Georgia and Texas blue simply be registering unregistered black and Latino voters. He’s estimated a cost of $60 million. I’ve crunched the numbers as a longtime doorknocker and canvass director (knocked on more than 30000 doors.) and I’m pretty sure you could do it for $20 million dollars. I think you could also do it before November 2016 if you start in the next month or so.

What are the implications of achieving the Ben Jealous plan? It would mean that the Democrats would have electoral lock in for the presidency and probably gain enough house seats to retake the US house, even though the gerrymandering done by the GOP is at a high level.

2. You could spend another 25 million by yourself or in coalition with the Tom Steyers and Nick Hanaurs of this world, and retake the US house. This would put anywhere from 30 to 50 field canvasses in at least 40 races so that could retake the US house. Nothing decent gets done without Dem majorities in the US House and US Senate. Bernie Sanders could win the presidency and you would still get the same awful policies.

If Omidyvar , and the left coalition of left big spenders, were to spend 50 million on just those two campaigns, then you could beat the 1 billion or so being spent by the Koch Brothers and Sheldon Adelson.

But Phil, Pierre is saying as he’s writing the check because I’m optimistic, why can’t the DNC do that? Because, and you make the check out to the Greater Good Coalition, its not entirely clear that the Dems want to retake the House or the Senate. Notice how little Hillary talks about retaking congress. Sanders at least hints at it because he can’t get anything done without retaking the house and the senate. I think the dems made a deal to not contest congressional control to their big donors. I can’t prove this its just a gut feeling. The only group that’s tried to influence congressional or state house races in my state of PA is Working Families. And they’be been inactive for three years. Labor has completely failed to move the needle or they’re happy with pro labor republicans, which is a very foohardy relationship. Or just ask the right to work state of Indiana.

So if Mr. Omidyar is really mad and wants to do something about it here’s his chance.

Philip Shropshire
http://www.threeriversonline.com
http://worldtv.com/the_acid_jazz_channel/

PS: Here are some links about this:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/6/18/1307689/-How-Dems-could-turn-the-south-blue-massive-voter-registration

http://greatergoodcoalition.blogspot.com/

#ChildhoodsEnd So far they do seem like nice Overloards. They're not lizard people like in V...Of course that's how it started.

The V aliens being all friendly and stuff.

#childhoodsend The first two minutes: Pretty Good! Never read this novel...

Looks mature.

"ISIS Cosby" #philsbandnames SNL

#JessicaJones intro theme is outstanding. Has good music and is well drawn. Art from The Great David Mack?

Here's the theme.

#SouthPark A superior episode and one of the only cartoons that has ever intelligently addressed the problem of the modern press.

I was also very impressed by the Ex Machina reference. But you really can't use the word "retarded" anymore. I think I can get over that...Also: if Geico wants to give me 26 million dollars for sponsored content I'm pretty sure I'm not as ethical as that handicapable character.

#FARGO Wait, is the Ted Danson character doing an early 70s CSI thing....

#Fargo Okay ISIS is on the move. Get me Bourne, 3 of the living Bonds and that passive aggressive butcher...Ed Blumquist.

#FARGO Time for another exciting episode of "Ed Blumquist: The Accidental Assassin"

Those guys that tried to kill him y'know had it comin' you betcha!

#CBSNEWS Horrible story about Ohio\s marijuana legalization that doesn't mention the Colorado gains at all.

Instead they quote the usual suspects about "think of the children". We already have the metrics from Colorado's experiments. None of those horrible things happened. Their schools look to be fully funded. The monopoly aspect of the Ohio legalization efforts does sound band. That doesn't sound like entrepreneurship to me but republican crony capitalism. I hear there's another ballot that would make the monopoly aspect illegal. I hope Ohioans vote yes on legalization and yes to no monopoly on who could sell it.

I don't do drugs by the way. I just like good policy. Here's a story that I wish they could have found.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/01/one_year_in_colorado_s_great_pot_experiment_has_been_a_sweeping_success.html

And the money shot:

Likewise, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has said he’s now “cautiously optimistic” about how things will ultimately pan out in Colorado. That doesn’t sound like a ringing endorsement until you remember that his Justice Department still classifies pot on par with heroin. Even some Republican state lawmakers who originally opposed legalization have done an about-face now that they’ve seen the new policy in action. “I just [originally] had the same knee-jerk opinion as all of the other elected officials,” state Sen. David Balmer told the Wall Street Journal last week. Think tanks from both sides of the aisle have also offered their own qualified endorsements. The Brookings Institution has called the rollout “largely successful,” while a Cato Institute working paper found the new law “had minimal impact on marijuana use and the outcomes sometimes associated with use.”

Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Connelly, Molly Parker and the younger Obi Wan Kenobi are literally filming "American Pastoral" around the block from me...

Pittsburgh, and occasionally Wilkinsburg where I dwell, has been the home for the occasional film crew. And it turns out, as of yesterday and today,  that there are a significant number of film crews located right in the heart of Wilkinsburg and around the corner from me. The aforementioned  three women are starring in a film adaptation of a novel called "American Pastoral" by Philip Roth, who I know more for "Portney's Complaint" which I used to have around because I thought it was kind of dirty. Pastoral has been called one of the best written novels in the last 25 years. So I guess that's what you call a good book. Can it be a good movie? Let's find out.

It also features three of the most beautiful women in Hollywood in Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Connelly and Molly Parker. Fanning, so beautiful that she hurts my eyes, is arguably the third hottest woman on that list.

Here are some pictures. This is Jennifer Connelly at 45, which I don't understand. I mean she used to be top ten in the world.

And I think this is from Labyrinth. 

And Molly Parker is hauntingly attractive. She does pretty much only indy films or these new high end Post Sopranos cable shows. I haven't seen Ms. Parker in "House of Cards" although I'm sure she's stunning.

And this is from another film: 

And then there's gorgeous Dakota Fanning.

Not child porn I hope but a fashion shot...

Right. Also features director and presumably lead actor Ewan McGregor, who will be making his directing debut. Should be interesting.  Also has David Straithairn, who is currently grimacing and plotting on the Blacklist even as we speak. Will try to get more pics as the days slog on. Have no evidence that any of these actors are in town although presumably some of them would be on hand.

#thegoodwife Is Howard looking at an age discrimination case..? Asking the young partner to repeat the nap line?

#walkingdead Yep cigarettes will kill ya...

#walkingdead Carol bringer of Ninja Death

#walkingdead "Respect the Hair Game" #philsbandnames

#TheGoodWife Finally got around to this. Great episode about the bottom of law for poor people. Yes the poor accused can get 500 grand bails and die in prison.

And the pay for lawyers is horrible as well.

This Al Jazeera Piece About Socialism Should Be Bernie Sander's First Ad

Go watch this video about socialism now. Or watch it here if I figure out how to embed this.

It's a very nice outline about why socialism isn't a bad idea and already embraced by most Americans. Most of us like the national highway system. One small correction to video: Yes the military is funded by "socialism" but private interests, like the comically evil Dick Cheney, make all the profits. It's a common refrain amongst the left: "Free market rules for the proles, socialism and corporate handouts for the rich." One more thing: we no longer have a labor movement full of socialists. That's by design by labor. Yes that's a mistake.

#Continuum That was a great fight scene. And Garza is right. If you know the future sucks, even if you have a kid in it, you have to remake the future.

#Continuum Oh Noes. They killed Smart Brother Lucas. At least they waited until the end of the series. You were me computer hero Lucas.

#FettermanforSenate #BernieSanders #RealProgressives If you're interested, here is John Fetterman's campaign page, his facebook page and twitter account.

Just a bit on strategy: I hope John becomes the first senate candidate to embrace the overall Bernie Sanders platform and be the first spokesman for the Black Lives Matters movement. He should attack the cities with a $200000 canvass (He could hire me to do it because I've run a canvass and knocked on 50000 doors or thereabouts...I have a dream.) split between Philly and Pittsburgh where you do everything to raise his name recognition. Another 50 grand spent on phone canvassing and  internet marketing. I think that's all he would need to win the primary if he wins the big cities outright and lets the other candidates split everything else. Just some ideas.

Here is his official webpage where you can begin donating money. If I get some extra dough I'll be making some stops.

https://johnfetterman.com/

Here is his Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/JohnFettermanPA/

Here is his twitter page:

https://twitter.com/john_fetterman

His wife's twitter page:

https://twitter.com/giselefetterman

#MrRobot Hmmm. So that's the television scene that postponed the show a week? Don't see it...More like Dwyer's suicide.

That happened a long time ago.