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Comments Posted By kesmarn

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Welcome to the New PlanetPOV!!!

AdLib, this looks amazing! And to the new members of the Planet from Yabberz, a hearty welcome!

I’ve been a “Planeteer” for 10 years now, and the experience has been beyond great. I’ve made friends that will last a lifetime and enjoyed some of the best political discussions to be had anywhere.

The atmosphere here is smart, adult and civil at the same time. Happy Anniversary and here’s to many more years of the kind of conversation we can all enjoy — and learn from too.

» Posted By kesmarn On May 27, 2019 @ 5:57 pm

Something Earth Shaking is Happening At PlanetPOV

Looking forward to the Grand Opening of the new site, AdLib! And no worries about the email glitch. (I didn’t even receive any of the multiple mailings — should I feel hurt and left out?) We all know that these things happen during new growth spurts. And after all — isn’t that what “delete” buttons were made for?

Thanks so much for the many hours of hard work you’ve put into this brand new baby. I know it’s gonna be great.

» Posted By kesmarn On May 23, 2019 @ 7:49 pm

Hi Sue! Looking forward and hoping to see you and your wonderful contributions on the new site. I wish I could count the times when the religious right has done something even more astonishing than we could have imagined (think AL Abortion Bill), that I’ve thought to myself: “Sue saw this coming a loooong time ago. And talked about it on the Planet before most people even knew what was in the works.”

As 2020 approaches we need voices like yours more than ever!

» Posted By kesmarn On May 23, 2019 @ 7:44 pm

Seven Reasons Why Democrats Should Impeach Donald Trump

AdLib, the number of those former Federal Prosecutors who signed the statement regarding the obstruction of justice charges (and that fact that anyone but Trump would have been charged) has now grown to over 600, according to the PBS NewsHour — as of about half an hour ago.

An attorney who had worked on the Clinton impeachment case was among them. When he was asked why he signed on, his answer was: “I believe in the rule of law.”

» Posted By kesmarn On May 7, 2019 @ 4:29 pm

Why the 2020 Democratic Candidate Should Revive “The New Frontier”

I agree, AdLib. Realistic, but optimistic policy positions and a “Happy Warrior” approach will be important.

There are two words that I hope every Dem candidate will avoid. Unfortunately, they’re words that Hillary used fairly often (although I’m not blaming her for her use of them). And they are “sick and tired.” As in: “I’m sick and tired of X, Y, and Z.” What the public remembers from speeches that use those words are that you are “sick” and you’re “tired.” When you consider how often Trump deliberately uses words like “Good,” “great,” “love,” “beautiful,” etc., it seems important to use the same salesman’s technique that has worked for him. At least in this one
instance.

» Posted By kesmarn On April 6, 2019 @ 4:39 pm

I love your eternal optimism, AdLib.

I guess I was thinking of the minimum age for Senators (30) when I was considering AOC as a Dem running mate. But you’re right — it’s 35 — which makes some sense, since the veep is supposed to be able to step into the shoes of the president at any time. Sigh… Our loss.

Here’s to the notion, though, that a Dem candidate who believes that people are entitled to food, shelter,clean water, health care and education will become the candidate. And will bump Mr. “I-Believe-In-None-Of-The-Above” out of the now-stained Oval Office.

» Posted By kesmarn On April 5, 2019 @ 9:59 am

Here stands kesmarn (out here in DreamLand). What I fantasize about is a Sanders/Ocasio-Cortez team in 2020. (Is she old enough to be veep? I think so….)

His age balanced by her youth. His older white guy (yet progressive) image balanced by her identity as a minority woman who grew up in the Bronx.

When it comes to Trump, both of them have what it takes to stand up to him. Bernie’s 50 years of consistent integrity and refusal to play schoolyard games take the wind out of Trump’s mendacious bombast. And she simply laughs at The Old Orange Guy. I read today that when Trump tried to interject a comment in a Twitter debate that AOC was having with someone from the GOP, she simply replied to him: “Nobody asked you.”

Dismissive? You bet. He hates that.

When Trump refers to AOC as “The Bartender,” it only makes her that much cooler to millennial voters. As sad as it is to even have to mention this in 2019, it nevertheless is a fact that her beauty makes her virtually bullet-proof when it comes to Trump’s inevitable impulse to denigrate women based on their looks.

Bernie cannot be baited into mud-wrestling in debates. And his message resonates with the enormous number of voters who are sinking in this allegedly “booming” (for the 1%) economy.

Granted my fantasy is highly unlikely to become reality. But I can dream, can’t I?

» Posted By kesmarn On April 4, 2019 @ 7:14 pm

Trump to Ask R. Kelly to Run For Senate in Alabama

AdLib, rumor has it (and does this administration operate on anything other than rumor?) that Trump is planning to give his next presidential pardon to Warren Jeffs — currently serving 20 years for his pseudo-Morman pedophilia operation in Utah.

Trumps feels that — like Roy Arpaio — Jeffs got a bad rap. And he’ll make sure that pardon comes through this spring. Just in time for Jeffs to preside over the White House Easter Egg Roll as a (sorta) religious figure.

So many charming young ‘uns there, y’ know?

» Posted By kesmarn On February 24, 2019 @ 7:20 pm

The False Narrative That Progressives are “Far Left”

AdLib, thanks so much for the extra material on Sidney Lumet. I’m fascinated by the McCarthy era. And — like you — I’d never seen “The Challenge” before this week. I was so impressed with how timely it still is — despite the 50s fashions and the b & w film.

And that Reagan piece! Yikes! The ultimate in right wing fear-mongering propaganda. Notice how Reagan glibly says: “Of course we all accept that Social Security is necessary…” Oh really??? During the Depression the Republican Party considered it pretty much a given that The Devil invented Social Security. It was anything BUT accepted when it was initiated. How time — even a couple decades — changes the conservative brain. Of course, today every good GOP geezer is lapping up all that medical coverage without a word of protest. They wouldn’t dream of giving up that socialized medicine in the 21st century.

Being a natural-born worrier, I’m always relieved to read your optimistic take on how the future might be shaping up. I think you’re right when you note how the word “socialism” isn’t the knee-jerk panic-inducer that it used to be. And how younger voters don’t fall for the same sales pitches that worked in earlier eras to try to peddle everything from unjust wars to corporate thievery.

Recently I read that Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez’s feisty and yet good-natured Q & A in Congress on governmental ethics has gotten over 40,000,000 views.

I love that.

» Posted By kesmarn On February 15, 2019 @ 5:51 pm

AdLib, I remember — when I was in college, decades ago — wondering about why people chose to major in “marketing.” What was so significant about selling things to people that it could warrant four intensive years of study to master the field?

Now I wish I’d paid more attention.

Because now it’s all too apparent that marketing techniques aren’t used only to sell gadgets. They’re used to sell ideas. And to create and maintain “brands.”

The strange man in the Oval Office (I’ve made it through two years without ever attaching the P(resident) word to him) may not be a brain surgeon, but this is one concept he grasped much earlier and much better than I ever did. It’s pretty embarrassing to admit that.

From the consistent labeling of Barack Obama as “lawless,” and Hilary as “crooked” — to the Pocahontas attacks on Elizabeth Warren — Trump and his allies have been remarkably successful at the branding game.

As you’ve said, these days it’s all about the left being “violent,” “Socialist” and “extremist.”

For starters: it’s unfortunate that the word “socialist” should ever have been allowed to become a pejorative term. There are obviously plenty of socialist countries in Europe that are not populated by oppressed, impoverished masses dominated by brutal dictators. As we all know in fact, if you want to see stable, successful middle classes with low crime rates and high levels of education, look there.

Then there are the darkly cartoonish representations of Democrats as the kind of people who would snatch women off the streets when they’re nine and a half months pregnant, force them into clinics for unwanted abortions, and then coldly euthanize the perfectly healthy newborn afterward. Apparently it’s almost impossible to overdo it when it comes to getting your marketing message out there.

Add to that the “fact” that everyone on the left is a Godless atheist (really?) and you’ve got a caricature of a pretty immoral lot.

So — even though the policy positions of the left are viewed positively by the majority of Americans, as you’ve brilliantly demonstrated — the right continues to push the ” they’re all dangerous radicals” narrative.

The ironic thing is — we’ve already been here before! A couple days ago, this YouTube video was recommended to me. It was a story written by Rod (Twilight Zone) Serling, and produced in the mid-1950s during the McCarthyist Red Scare. It is eerily familiar:

Apparently — unfortunately — this is one (of many) battle(s) we’re going to have to fight all over again.

» Posted By kesmarn On February 13, 2019 @ 7:29 pm

Donald Trump Has Built a Cave and He Will Pay For It

AdLib, the image that keeps coming back to my mind is the day that “Chuck and Nancy” met with The Cave (in) Man in the Oval Office.

As The Orange One waved his arms and declared how proud he would be to “own this shutdown!” how “unlike the Dems” he would “take FULL credit for it,” Chuck Schumer sat to his left — with his elbows resting on his knees, tapping his fingertips together, nodding his head up/down, up/down. Chuck’s thoughts — projecting chess move after chess move into the future — were clearly saying: “Yes. Keep talking. keep talking… Just keep it up.”

Lo and behold it all played out just the way Chuck and Nancy foresaw it.

And I think you’re absolutely right: Nancy’s move regarding taking away the pageantry of the SOTU address probably stung much more than the Arse of the Deal (great nickname) ever wanted to let on to the public.

Well played, dear Lady. Well played.

» Posted By kesmarn On January 26, 2019 @ 5:07 pm

A Far Too Early Take On Who Will Be the Dem Nominee in 2020

All I can say is: “Yes! Yes! And yes! Preach it, AdLib!”

» Posted By kesmarn On January 17, 2019 @ 4:34 pm

I’m so happy to see that you’re not among the “we-have-to-run-a-centrist-Dem-to-beat-Trump tribe, AdLib. I also sense that that would be a major mistake.

People don’t want a Clintonesque, Goldman Sachs approved, GOP Lite candidate on the Dem side this time around. There are are huge numbers of people who have been totally left behind in this allegedly booming economy. It’s booming — basically — for the 1%.

Everyone else is praying that their food stamps will hold out until the government reopens. And they really would like to vote for someone who doesn’t think it’s funny to serve Big Macs by candle light in the White House and call it being “real.”

» Posted By kesmarn On January 16, 2019 @ 9:08 pm

It’s never too early to start the prognostication game, AdLib! I’m glad you got the ball rolling.

While I really, really love Bernie and Joe Biden, they’re both about the same age. If either of them won the presidency, he would be very close to age 80 on the day he was sworn in to what is possibly the most grueling job (short of being Trump’s barber) on the planet. I’m hardly a person who should be making assumptions about aging, and both of them still seem to be in wonderful shape mentally and physically, but the position seems to visibly age even younger men who take it on. I worry about both of them — even though, at age 85 I’m sure either of them would be able to think rings around the current occupant of the Oval Office on any of his best, younger days. (As would Maru the YouTube cat.)

Sherrod Brown is popular in Ohio. And — superficial as it may seem — I have to wonder whether he had some sort of laser treatment on his larynx. The gravelly quality seems to have improved quite a bit. I’m not sure what the GOP (and worse, the folks who currently seem to run the GOP — namely Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter) would make of Connie Schwartz — Sherrod’s columnist wife. She’s extremely independent and is not inclined to mince words. They would probably categorize her as “uppity” and him as “hen-pecked” in their quaint patterns of speech. A Melania kinda First Lady, she would not be!

My personal favorite remains Elizabeth Warren. Contrary to what the “pudnuts” would like us to think, I feel she is quite “likable.” And — in my humble opinion — has always seemed more genuine than most politicians. Smart as a whip. Energetic and knows how to get a crowd excited. And after a while, even the more immature elements of the electorate are going to get bored with the same old Pocahontas “jokes.” Trump is already risking putting out a sort of threadbare, repetitious brand of juvenile “humor” that is starting to wear thin — even with his (fickle, by nature) base.

Well, that’s my 1.67 cents worth at this early point in the season. We have plenty of popcorn and months to go yet, but the end of this “long national nightmare” seems at least to be in sight now. And it can’t come soon enough.

» Posted By kesmarn On January 14, 2019 @ 7:52 pm

A Practical Plan to Get Trump to Resign

AdLib, the fact that the Trump “Charitable” Foundation is shutting down and that he’s buckling on the demand for $5 billion for the wall makes me wonder whether he’s losing a bit of his swagger. And whether resignation might be looking more appealing.

But it’s always hard to tell with this guy. Just when you think he’s down for the count, he pops back up again.

And scares all the little children.

» Posted By kesmarn On December 19, 2018 @ 7:19 am

AdLib, I think you nailed it when you noted that Trump’s money means more to him than anything — including friends, family and — who knows? — maybe even life itself.

I heard a suggestion somewhat similar to what you’re describing here a few weeks ago (I think it was an interview on NPR, but I can’t recall the interviewee. Curse you, inefficient brain cells!) Only in this person’s scenario, the deal was: “Donald, you agree not to run for a second term and we’ll hold off on any impeachment/prosecution activity.” Each side’s commitment would be contingent upon the other side’s sticking to the bargain.

I don’t think this is quite as desirable (and morally acceptable) an option as the one you’re proposing here. But I wonder if it might be more doable? I honestly don’t know…

» Posted By kesmarn On December 18, 2018 @ 6:54 pm

Trump Orders Memorial For Himself Next Week

LOL! “Leave your body (and ethics) at the door.”

» Posted By kesmarn On December 12, 2018 @ 8:02 pm

No doubt about it there will be a huge turnout at the Trump memorial. In fact, the choir is already practicing. Only one pronoun will need to be changed (from she-witch to he-witch):

» Posted By kesmarn On December 10, 2018 @ 6:11 pm

A Thanksgiving Tradition – 2018

I hope it’s not too late to chime in on the annual Thanksgiving post? I was so busy slicing and dicing, mashing, smashing and carving yesterday (in short, doing my best Ryan/McConnell imitation with food items instead of the national budget) that I didn’t get a chance to comment.

Like so many others, I’m thankful for the Planet and for my fellow Planeteers. And for family and friends and the hope that 2020 will bring a re-birth of optimism for a return of vibrant democracy in America — with liberty and justice for all. Justice especially. This means you, SCOTUS!

» Posted By kesmarn On November 23, 2018 @ 10:19 am

When you cross a turtle with a Croc, do you get Ted Cruz?

» Posted By kesmarn On November 23, 2018 @ 10:11 am

Trump Says Delay Answering Mueller Questions Due to Crayons Breaking

How I’d love to see that in a Thanksgiving Day parade, AdLib!

» Posted By kesmarn On November 20, 2018 @ 7:39 pm

AdLib, I’m about two thirds of the way through Bob Woodward’s Fear (which really is a terrific book), and in it he notes Trump’s love of signing ceremonies.

So this parody is (once again) so close to the truth that it’s almost eerie. Woodward describes Trump’s good days — when he feels somewhat energetic — as times when he would announce happily to the staff:”I want to sign something!”

He loves the cameras, the little signing desk, the Magic Markers and — most of all — his own gigantic jaggedy signature. Just the way any seven year old would.

But — when his written testimony gets him into trouble, we all know who the author of it will be then. His lawyers. No more: “I wrote it all by myself!”

» Posted By kesmarn On November 17, 2018 @ 5:13 pm

Donald Trump is Very Afraid of You…If You’re Voting

No matter what the drumpf says, I have the distinct impression that he’s extremely unhappy with yesterday’s election results.

He was positively vicious (even more so than usual) at his press conference today. Attacking CNN, Yamiche Alcindor from PBS and others. He looked more out-of-control than he has in a long time. And for him, that’s saying something.

» Posted By kesmarn On November 7, 2018 @ 4:21 pm

Trump Proudly Hangs New Painting in White House

Haha… That’s Kellyanne Conway in the center left.

» Posted By kesmarn On October 17, 2018 @ 4:36 pm

LOL! “Buttsniffer” Davis is too perfect!

Here’s another possibility for filling an oval office blank space. (Between Agent Orange’s ears?)

https://jillsommer.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/walpurgisnacht.jpg

» Posted By kesmarn On October 16, 2018 @ 4:32 pm

Trump Proposes Laws to GAG and ABUSE Women

One of the best elements of the approximately 10 year history of PlanetPOV has been your consistent sense of optimism, AdLib. And in the vast majority of cases your optimism has turned out to be well-founded. (Recalling your predictions of both Obama victories and the passage of the ACA, to name just three.)

So I’m heartened to read that you can see better times ahead even after the Kavanaugh debacle. I’ve taken some comfort in having spoken with other women (including the now-17-year-old Fave, who is a spunky feminist in her senior year of high school) and discovering that they felt depressed and dismayed — especially over this past weekend, when the swearing in ceremony took place.

But as you say — and they confirm — the feeling is temporary. And their determination is even more pronounced now. The Five-thirty-six numbers are encouraging. I also have to remind myself that white male voters are only about 31% of the population. And there are plenty of those white male voters who are not on-board with mocking and laughing at women like Dr. Blasey Ford. It’s good to hold the thought that — however noisy Trump and his fanboys and girls might be — they don’t speak for a majority of Americans.

» Posted By kesmarn On October 10, 2018 @ 8:22 pm

AdLib, I didn’t have a chance to read this terrific article until today. And maybe that’s just as well, because today — the day after Kavanaugh was sworn in — it means more than ever.

There’s no denying that this weekend feels grim. And the smirky victory dances that people like Trump and McConnell are doing really add to the creepiness factor. It’s as though they’re cheerfully abandoning every last vestige of dignity and decency.

They’ve created an economy that works for the very wealthy and — to some extent– for people who wear hard hats and steel-toed boots to work. But people who change diapers in day care centers, who teach second graders, who help 90 year old nursing home residents to the bathroom are worse off than ever. And they’re invisible and silent.

Women who’ve been molested and assaulted have been reminded over the past week of why so many women (70%) don’t report it. And more and more states are enacting laws that will ultimately force women to bear children because there’s no other option — even if the “woman” is 12 years old and the father is a relative.

But instead of giving in to discouragement, we have to mobilize, vote, run for office, talk to our daughters and sons and refuse to give up.

» Posted By kesmarn On October 7, 2018 @ 9:19 am

Note to Media: You Can’t Win Trump’s Rigged Game By Playing Along

Hahahaha, Homie! That’s one picture that’s worth several million words! I love it.

» Posted By kesmarn On September 4, 2018 @ 10:18 pm

Things seem to be looking better and better for the Big Blue Wave this November, AdLib. I was impressed at the way the Dems made themselves heard at the Kavenaugh hearings today — both the elected ones and the ones in the observers’ seats who opted to do more than just observe. That got some attention and showed a little spunk!

» Posted By kesmarn On September 4, 2018 @ 10:17 pm

Thank you, thank you, thank you, AdLib! This is exactly what needed to be said.

Trump is indeed a con artist and uses the techniques of a mediocre magician. His method of distracting us from what one hand is doing (serving Steve Bannon’s ends) is to get us to focus on what the other hand is doing — namely tapping out an endless twitter-blizzard of static-like chatter. All noise — very little signal.

It’s an eternal chant of “Squirrel! SQUIRREL! SQUIRREL!” to keep the media and the public looking this way and that while their pockets are being picked and the machinery of democracy is having wooden golf shoes tossed into its gears.

As you said — we need to focus on what he does, not what he says or tweets. That’s where the scary stuff is happening.

My question of late, though, has been: How long can the rallies and the crazy tweets continue to be entertaining to his base? Are diehard Trump supporters people who have extremely long attention spans? Or — one of these days, when he shouts “Squirrel!”– are they going to yawn and say: “What else ya got, boss? Cause this is getting old.”

Wouldn’t it be ironic if Trump’s downfall was caused — not by impeachment — but by the boredom of his fanboys and girls? Wonder if Trumps knows anything about Robespierre? Somehow I doubt it.

» Posted By kesmarn On September 2, 2018 @ 7:02 pm