Mikey Likes It!: 2019-09-22

Thursday, September 26, 2019

MODERN FAMILY

ABC's MODERN FAMILY kicked off the final season last night. Did you catch it?

I really think the show would be better if they wrote off Manny and Alex. Their storylines were boring as is always the case if the story doesn't loop Haley or Luke in.

Manny wanted Sherry Shaker back. Why? Don't try to think about it too much, it's a Manny story. So Gloria showed him how, when she was mean to Jay, Jay would work harder. Manny used that 'tip' while directing Sherry in the commercial for Jay's dog bed company. Manny overdid it -- isn't that always the case? -- and Sherry went from liking him to hating him.

Alex was off in a cold place -- even Claire calls her the "ice queen" -- and no one cares. She just gripes. Manny whines and she gripes. They're the two most boring characters.

It was a very weak opening show. Very weak.

Luke had two funny lines -- he was on briefly, though.

Haley holds our interest even now. The show should have been Luke and Haley and Lily. I don't even remember seeing her, but she may have been on. The only thing worse than Manny and Alex was the stupid story for Mitch and Cam. Cam terrorized these children because they threw away something of his. After this nonsense went on and on, finally it turned out they were acting -- the children -- as part of Cam's plan to force Mitch to confess that he threw away Cam's stuff.

Cam and Mitch can be funny but this wasn't funny.

And Gloria as a controlling shrew really isn't funny either. It didn't matter that she was trying to 'help' Manny, finding out that she's been mean to Jay intentionally for years in order to manipulate him didn't score points for Gloria.

How bad was the episode? Claire was human compared to Jay and Gloria.

Here are some Tweets from Bernie Sanders.

Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Thursday, September 26, 2019.

Starting in the US where the race for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination continues. War Hawk Joe Biden wants to be president. And so does his family. Including his niece who stole over $100,000 and just got a slip on the wrist (see Ruth's "Biden's only tough on crime when it comes to people of color") because, well, "as a Biden." Joe's word as a Biden is looking even more laughable.

Apparently, Caroline Biden's family didn't use that record player enough at night or maybe they didn't have social workers coming in teaching her parents how to parent -- that's Joe's answer for African-Americans, right? What's his answer for spoiled White kids in his own family? Oh, right, look the other way. Always.

With more on the trashy Biden family, Ben Schreckinger (POLITICO) reports:

Joe Biden’s brother told executives at a healthcare firm that the former vice president’s cancer initiative would promote their business, according to a participant in the conversation, who said the promise came as part of a pitch on behalf of potential investors in the firm.

The allegation is the latest of many times Biden’s relatives have invoked the former vice president and his political clout to further their private business dealings. It is the first that involves the Biden Cancer Initiative, a project Joe Biden made the centerpiece of his post-White House life following the death of his son Beau.

Biden’s brother, James, made the promise to executives at Florida-based Integrate Oral Care during a phone call on or around November 8, 2018, according to Michael Frey, CEO of Diverse Medical Management, a health-care firm that is suing James Biden. At the time, James Biden’s business partners were pursuing a potential investment in Integrate, according to Frey and court records. Frey, who had a business relationship with James Biden and his associates, had introduced the group to Integrate.

James Biden told the Integrate executives that he would get the Biden Cancer Initiative to promote an oral rinse made by the firm and used by cancer patients, Frey, who said he participated in the call, told POLITICO. He added that James Biden directly invoked the former vice president on the call. "He said his brother would be very excited about this product,” Frey said.

Crony capitalism.

Joe claims wisdom. His family is unethical and he wants to be president? His niece stole over $100,000 and she's not going to do time? That's not fair, that's not fair and equal. That's the Biden corruption that runs through that family.

Simon Lewis (REUTERS) reports:

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday edged past former Vice President Joe Biden for the first time in a major national opinion poll for the Democratic presidential primary, making her largest gains among white voters with a college degree.
Warren drew 27% support to Biden’s 25% in a Quinnipiac University poll of Democratic voters and independent voters who lean Democratic, though her lead was within the margin of error.
The results marked a significant shift from Quinnipiac’s prior polls for the Democratic nominating contest to choose a candidate to take on President Donald Trump in November 2020. Biden had been ahead of Warren by double digits since it began polling in March and by 13 points in the same poll in August.

Joe had been ahead. He had been. Before people started seeing who and what he was.

And what happens to his niece is an issue This goes to the whole 1% argument. And this is not fair -- again, we're talking $100,000. There are actresses who are in trouble for using their money and influence to get their children into colleges. But his niece steals $100,000 and she's not serving time?

If she wasn't his niece, she would be doing time.

Joe wants to be president as this happens and feels no embarrassment. This goes back to Hunter Biden getting caught for cocaine usage while in the reserves and being allowed to walk when many others would have served time.

This goes to the issue of corruption and his family -- his brother and his son Hunter -- using his name and his positions to make money. It's unethical. This is not a new development. This nothing new. It did not develop last week, last year or last decade. These are policies that have been in effect throughout Joe's political career -- in fact, before his career started.

Joe's allowed this unethical behavior to go on and on. And now he wants to be president. It is a serious issue and he needs to be asked about it and he needs to answer for it. Serious issues are not addressed by sitting down with Jimmy Kimmel, for example. And that's not slamming Jimmy. He does an entertainment talk show, he has no background in news, his audience is watching for laughs. The problem is not Jimmy or any other late night talk show host.

The following sites updated:

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Bernie's the real deal

‏Verified account @BernieSanders

Billionaires should not be able to control our political system.

1,268 replies3,132 retweets20,691 likes

We should all agree with that. We The People is supposed to be We The People not Bossed Around By A Few. This is supposed to be a democracy. Clearly a president Bernie Sanders can restore us to what we need to be and who we need to be.

This is from Luke Savage (JACOBIN):

As in 2016, when he received more youth votes than Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump combined, Bernie Sanders overwhelmingly boasts the highest levels of support from young people among candidates vying for the Democratic nomination.
Recent polling, in fact, suggests it’s not even close: according to the most recent ScottRasmussen.com/HarrisX poll capturing the period spanning September 13–20, he led his rivals among voters 18–34 with 34 percent support. Joe Biden was next, with 16 percent, followed by Elizabeth Warren, with 10 percent. Beto O’Rourke, his killer skateboard chops notwithstanding, is far behind, with 6 percent, followed by Andrew Yang, with 4 percent.
Readers of the New York Times, however, might have gotten a somewhat different impression thanks to a recently published report by Sydney Ember evocatively titled “Young Voters Still ‘Feel the Bern,’ but Not Just for Bernie Sanders Anymore.”
While young voters were seduced in 2016, Ember writes, by “Sanders’s rants against the elite and promises of free college tuition” (read: program that pledged to confront the scourges of life-crippling debt and the oligarchical nature of American society), the 2020 primaries are shaping up to be a different story: “With the race entering the crucial fall period, other candidates, including Ms. Warren and Andrew Yang, have begun siphoning off some of his support.”
Though the piece does acknowledge Sanders’s “continued strength with young voters,” even citing a poll to this effect, the reader is certainly left with an impression out of sync with the picture recent data paints. With 4 percent support among young voters, Andrew Yang is hardly eating Sanders’s lunch. Warren, according to the polling from Rasmussen, actually trails Biden — who goes unmentioned in the piece. When the data is limited strictly to Generation Z, Sanders commands nearly 50 percent support compared to 9 percent for Biden and 8 percent for Warren.
To be fair, the NBC/Wall Street Journal survey cited in the piece suggests the competition for young voters may be tighter, though Sanders still remains decisively in the lead.

The real issue, however, is a simple, qualitative one: the reason a smaller fraction of young voters support Sanders now is that there are vastly more candidates vying for the Democratic nomination than there were in 2016. The basic demographic trend that held for Sanders in 2016 — namely high levels of support from younger voters relative to his rivals — remains unchanged.

Norman Solomon‏ @normansolomon Sep 19

Watch “How Media Coverage Still Biased Against Sanders and Progressive Issues” by @RUWithSonali on #Vimeo https://vimeo.com/360664661 stillsanders #ourrevolution #berniesanders #peopleforbernie #aoc @aoc #berniesanders2020 #bernie #bernie2020 @ocasio2020 #bernforbernie2020

1 retweet1 like
Norman Solomon‏ @normansolomon Sep 18

Joe Biden Is Lying Through His Teeth About Iraq

4 retweets5 likes

Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Tuesday, September 24, 2019.

Starting in the US where the race for the Democratic Party's persidential nomination continues.

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Link to headline article

Ilhan Omar says Joe Biden is not the right candidate to deliver "progress" as Elizabeth Warren..."We want somebody who really has a plan that is going to tackle a lot of the systematic challenges that we have, and he doesn't," Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar said…

Newsweek

Sep 23, 2019

US House Rep Ilhan Omar speaks for many with that call about Joe Biden. Joe is out of touch and out of date. Most of all, he's become human filth. That's the reality when the President of the United States, Barack Obama, puts you over Iraq, entrusts you with that country and you allow your brother to use your name to sign a $1.5 million reconstruction contract. It's unethical. It should have resulted in Congressional hearings. A sitting vice president is put in charge of Iraq and then his brother signs a $1.5 million contract?

That's business as usual. "As a Biden," he gives his word, that's business as usual.

He's in trouble over Ukraine and his son's dealings currently. Natasha Korecki, Marc Caputo and Michael Calderone (POLITICO) note he's currently at war with the media as he tries to control their coverage of Ukriane. Well, it's not like Joe ever supported a free press. Those who support a free press don't usually lock a reporter in a room in Miami. POLITICO notes:

Since Friday alone, Biden’s team has adopted a new in-your-face approach, including repeatedly singling out journalists behind unfavorable coverage, tweeting out taunts that accuse reporters of carrying Trump’s water and rolling out a series of fact-checking memos.
It’s all designed to focus coverage squarely on allegations that Trump asked a foreign leader to investigate the Biden family — and away from the president’s attempts to highlight Biden’s son Hunter’s business activities in Ukraine. Biden himself has taken on a more confrontational tone in addressing the subject, including in a fiery, finger-pointing exchange with a Fox News reporter caught on camera.

Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s communications director, tweeted the clip and, repeating her boss’ demand in the exchange, wrote: “ASK. THE. RIGHT. QUESTION.”

The media shouldn't be controlled by any candidate. And anytime a candidate tries to tell the media to look over there instead of here, the media should immediately look here to prove they are independent.

As it stands, all Ukraine is doing is allowing tired fossils like Dianne Feinstein -- yeah, she's still alive and kicking, not really aware of her surroundings but . . . -- to rush to Joe's defense and create a lot of smoke screen while Joe goes about being human trash.

How so?

Eion Higgins (COMMON DREAMS) reports:

Sen. Bernie Sanders hit back Monday after news broke that the centrist group Third Way is focus-testing attacks on Medicare for All to see what will stick, using a firm with close ties to former Vice President Joe Biden's 2020 Democratic presidential campaign.
"It is unfortunate but not surprising that Vice President Biden's polling firm is helping distort what Medicare for All is about," Sanders said in a statement. "My Medicare for All legislation eliminates all premiums, copayments, deductibles and out of pocket expenses that crush millions of Americans, which not only saves people money, it will allow all Americans to go to any doctor or hospital they want with no one expending more than $200 a year for prescription drugs."

Joe and Torture Queen Dianne need to find a retirement home with a sex dungeon so they can play with one another. America doesn't need a president who doesn't believe in Medicare For All. Joe's is bought and paid for by the corporations -- that's how he's made $15 million in the last two years. He's a whore who put a price tag above his ass crack that said "Open for Business." That's not who the country needs. He's disgusting. He made sure his tawdry family raked in millions in unethical deals but he's not going to let the American people have the healthcare that they need.

Matt Bruenig (JACOBIN) explains:

If you want to estimate how many people lose their employer-sponsored health plan every year, you need two figures: 1) the total number of people with employer-sponsored insurance, and 2) the percentage of those people who transition off their health plan every twelve months.
For the first figure, we can go to the latest Census health insurance figures that were released earlier this week. Those figures show that, in 2018, there were 178,350,000 people who had employer-sponsored insurance.
For the second figure, we have to be somewhat more creative because, as far as I know, there are not regular surveys that track people over time to see how often they switch off their current health plan. The most recent study I know of that did this was conducted in Michigan between 2014 and 2015. That study found that only 72 percent of people who were on an employer health plan at the beginning of the study remained on that same plan for twelve continuous months. This means 28 percent had lost their initial health plan over the year with some going into uninsurance and others going onto other health plans.

If 178,350,000 people are on employer-sponsored insurance and 28 percent of people on such insurance lose their current plan each year, then that means 49,938,000 lose their employer health insurance plan every year. This rounds up nicely to fifty million, which is the number Sanders gave.
Thus, Sanders’s statement, read literally on its face, is actually correct, according to the best data we have on this subject.

Put Joe before a labor crowd and he'll pretend he's friend of the workers but the reality is clear, Joe only holds hands with corporations. We don't need more corruption. We need a fresh start and there's nothing fresh about Joe and his tired ideas.

Robert Schroeder (MARKETWATCH) points out, "Elizabeth Warren overtook Joe Biden in a poll of Iowa voters released over the weekend, in what’s being called a major shakeup for the state that holds the first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses." Matthew Rozsa (SALON) explains:

Twenty-two percent of likely Democratic caucus-goers pick Warren as their first choice for president in the new Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa Poll, which is considered to be the "gold standard." This marks the first time that any candidate other than Biden has taken in the lead in the first-in-the-nation state, indicating that the former vice president's support among Democratic voter could be vulnerable. In addition to being the most preferred candidate, Warren also has the highest favorability rating (75 percent), followed by South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg (69 percent) and Biden (66 percent).

War Hawk Joe Biden? America deserves better.

‏ @AviKaner

100 years ago, Jews comprised over 25% of Baghdad, Iraq  population. They were leaders in many fields and contributed loyally to country. Following severe persecution and riots, they were ethnically cleansed out of Iraq. 1,000,000 of their descendants outside Iraq today. 

2 replies21 retweets28 likes

Does that bother you? Joe Biden didn't do a damn thing to help the Jews in Iraq -- or the Christians, or the Muslims. He supported a war that was illegal. He talked in April of 2008 about how Iraq didn't have a real government but then, in 2010, insisted that thug Nouri al-Maliki must remain prime minister even though the Iraqi people voted him out.

When does the press plan to ask him about that?

We're all so damn concerned about 'stolen' elections but Joe Biden was part of stealing Iraq's 2010 election and overturning the results. When is he held accountable? Hell, when is he even forced to go on the record about this issue?

RUDAW reports:

A mortar attack struck the outskirts of Baghdad’s Green Zone on Monday night, reportedly targeting but missing the US embassy in the second attack of its kind since May. No casualties as a result of the strike were reported.

“Two mortar shells fell. One [fell] in an empty dirt field at the outskirts of the Green Zone, and the second in the Tigris river in Baghdad,” Iraq’s Security Media Cell said in a post late on Monday, adding that no losses were incurred from the attack.

The Security Media Cell belongs to Iraq’s Joint Operations Command, composed of personnel from a number of Iraqi Army units.

Iraqi media outlet al-Sumaria reported prior to the Cell announcement that the two mortars fell near the US embassy in the Green Zone, and that two Green Zone checkpoints were temporarily closed as a precaution. Sirens wailed in response to the attack, al-Sumaria added.

It's so interesting how Joe can stand on stage at any debate and claim credit for Iraq and no one ever asks him a critical question because Iraq is a failed state.

The following sites updated:

Mikey Likes It!

Thursday, September 26, 2019

MODERN FAMILY

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Bernie's the real deal

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Mikey Likes It!