I'm binging MARVEL AGENTS OF SHIELD -- the season that just ended last week (or the week before?). I'll write about it next time.
For now, let's note Tulis Gabbard. She's in the US Congress and she's an Iraq War veteran and she's running for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. She has my vote.
She's suing Google:
Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard sued Google on Thursday. She argued that the search giant illegally blocked her from buying ads on Google's platform for several hours on June 28—two days after she appeared in the first Democratic primary debate.
"Google plays favorites, with no warning, no transparency, and no accountability," Gabbard wrote in her lawsuit. "Google's arbitrary and capricious treatment of Gabbard's campaign should raise concerns for policymakers everywhere about the company's ability to use its dominance to impact political discourse."
Here are Tulsi's Tweets on the topic.
Tulsi's a fighter. Joe Biden? He's a cream puff.
Here's C.I.'s ''
Iraq snapshot:"
Thursday, July 25, 2019. A lot questions for 'front runner' Joe Biden.
Starting in the US where a presidential election will take place in
November 2020 and the race for the Democratic Party's presidential
nomination is on. Joe Biden stumbles and bumbles his way through a
poorly planned campaign.
Yesterday's snapshot noted that America really doesn't elect stumblers for president and used Gerald Ford as an example:
Joe is a nightmare. He is one gaffe after another. The bumbling vice
president might be cute and funny but for the person who sits in the
Oval Office, that's not what we want.
Yes, Gerald Ford got in there but on a pass. He only got him because he
was an (unelected) Vice President. When he finally faced an election,
he lost to Jimmy Carter.
An e-mail to the public account insists:
Just because Mr. Ford was not top of the ticket does not mean people
did not vote for him. I voted for John Kerry more because he had John
Edwards as a running mate. We don't just vote for the top of the
ticket, we also vote for the running mate. That should have been clear
to everyone but obviously you are too dense to get it.
Thanks for sharing.
Gerald Ford was never Richard Nixon's running mate. Spiro Agnew was his
running mate in 1968 and 1972. Both times they won the election.
Spiro had to resign after the 1972 election in 1973. At which point,
Nixon selected Ford.
Ford was never on the ticket as Nixon's running mate.
When Ford faced election -- Nixon was forced out of office in disgrace
and Ford became president -- it was 1976 and the voters went with Jimmy
Carter.
As the saying goes, keep coming back, it works if you work it.
Joe Biden bumbles and stumbles along. He really doesn't sit down
interviews unless he can have someone beside him to say all the things
he's afraid to. Which is a real shame because one question that should
be asked of him has not been asked.
Why are you running?
In 2016, Joe Biden was the sitting vice president. Barack Obama had
served two terms and could not run again. When this happens,
traditionally the vice president makes a run for the presidency.
Now he shows up promising to turn back the clock to the age of Obama.
Why?
Why didn't he run in 2016?
What makes him more qualified now?
Why now but not then?
Or is that an attack? The press seems to feel every question of Joe is
an attack. After all, they've declared him the front runner so any
obstacle -- like his past, his present or his future -- that might
impede his journey to the White House is an attack.
They say Senators Cory Booker and Kamala Harris attacked him. For weeks, they've said that. Poor innocent Joe, right?
Joe's been attacking all along but hiding behind others to do it. All
that's changed is now he's carrying out his attacks all by himself.
Which should make the debate very interesting. Speaking with the NAACP,
he had a finger wagging moment that the press is largely ignoring but
it bubbling up and becoming a problem. Maybe, when replying to the
African-American woman asking you questions in a sit down discussion,
the thing not to do is point your finger at her as you huffily reply.
Again, the debate next week should be very interesting.
And maybe, another question, they can ask Joe why he ever supported mandatory sentencing in the first place?
Three strikes you're out?
If Joe had been ruled out of politics after three strikes, he wouldn't be allowed to run today.
Iraq, Anita Hill, mandatory sentencing -- that's three alone. And that's far from a list of Joe's worst hits over the years.
Iraq? His excuse is that he was tricked by Bully Boy Bush. Outsmarted
by the village idiot as a campaign strategy? Again, let's note
Ryan Grim (THE INTERCEPT):
Joe Biden’s new foreign policy
adviser was a supporter of the Iraq War while serving in the George W.
Bush administration, though he now says it was “a pretty serious
blunder.” Nicholas Burns, whose hiring was first reported by CNN on
Monday, has also called NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden a “a traitor.”
Biden, of course, was a supporter of
the war himself and later advocated splitting Iraq into three
independent countries along sectarian lines. In the runup to the war,
Biden was chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
Burns worked on the National Security
Council staff under presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. He
then served as ambassador to NATO, and later undersecretary of state for
political affairs, the third-ranking position in the State Department,
under George W. Bush. Burns retired in 2008 from public service and
has since been a senior counselor at the Cohen Group, a global lobbying
and influence firm, as well as a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School. He was an adviser to the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton.
According to his Harvard resume, he is a consultant for Goldman Sachs. His
Harvard bio also lists speeches he gave in 2018, some of which he says
he was paid for. He spoke to Bank of America, State Street, CitiBank,
Honeywell, and a number of other companies, universities, and
associations.
“The most important thing Joe Biden needs to prove regarding foreign
policy is that he has learned from his disastrous decision to support
going to war in Iraq and other foreign countries around the globe,” said
Alexander McCoy, political director of Common Defense, a progressive,
grassroots veterans organization. “It’s not encouraging that, out of
countless possible choices, Joe Biden selected a foreign policy advisor
who also supported the invasion of Iraq, the biggest foreign policy
mistake of a generation — a mistake that veterans like us still are
suffering the consequences of.” McCoy added that Biden had yet to sign the group’s pledge to end the nation’s “forever wars.”
So Joe made a mistake on Iraq and his solution is to bring in Burns who
also made a mistake? How does that improve him as a candidate? How
does that demonstrate that he has learned a thing? Or can learn? If
you know you made a mistake how does adding another person who made the
same mistake help you.
Joe has made a lot of mistakes but what is worse is he never seems to learn from them.
On the topic of Iraq,
NDTV notes:
The commander of a U.S. Special
Operations task force in Iraq has sent home a platoon of Navy SEALs for
drinking while deployed, U.S. defense officials said, the latest
discipline incident that has emerged for an elite force relied upon
heavily by the Pentagon.
U.S. Special Operations Command
said in a statement Wednesday night that the platoon was forced out
early to San Diego "due to a perceived deterioration of good order and
discipline within the team during non-operational periods" of their
deployment.
"The Commander lost confidence in
the team's ability to accomplish the mission," the statement said.
"Commanders have worked to mitigate the operational impact as this SEAL
platoon follows a deliberate redeployment."
The statement did not state what
prompted the decision, but two defense officials with knowledge of the
issue said that SEALs drinking alcohol prompted it. The officials,
speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the
issue, said that the SEALs violated General Order No. 1, which bans
alcohol use.
Let's wind down with this from the Connecticut Green Party
:
NEW LONDON, CT — Community organizer and author Frida Berrigan has
begun collecting petition signatures for ballot access as she seeks the Green Party
nomination to run for Mayor in the November elections. A newcomer to
electoral politics, Ms. Berrigan has a long history of involvement, at
the local and national level, in support of peace, social justice, and
environmental responsibility.
Green Party of Connecticut
ctgreenparty.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 22, 2019
Contact:
Frida Berrigan, 860-389-8566, frida.berrigan@gmail.com
Ronna Stuller, 860-772-8439, rstuller@snet.net
“I am a parent and a community gardener. I try to be a good neighbor.
I have sought to support existing initiatives, show up in solidarity,
lead from behind and create conversations. I am not an expert in
anything. But, it seems to me that the mayor’s job is to be present and
listen, catalyze conversation, invite inquiry and question assumptions. I
can do that.”
The Green Party will hold its nominating convention at Riverside Park
on Sunday, August 4, at 5:00 p.m. Candidates are still being recruited
for City Council and Board of Education; individuals who would like
serve as elected officials and to join a campaign focused on involving
young people in the political arena; celebrating New London’s racial,
economic, and ethnic diversity; and making space for new ideas are
encouraged to contact the Green Town Committee at info@nlgreens.org.
The Green Party is committed to peace, social and economic justice,
ecology, and grassroots democracy. Due to our firm belief that
government should be accountable to its citizens, New London Green Party
candidates do not accept contributions from corporations, lobbyists,
political action committees or labor unions. For further information
regarding the New London Greens, visit nlgreens.org.
The following sites updated: