We are watching this absolutely fabulous show on HBO Max.

Considered to be the best series to ever come out of Hungary, you’ll find it on the service under its Anglicized name, “Golden Life,” as opposed to its Hungarian one, “Aranyélet.”

We are only six episodes into a three season run. But whew, I’m flabbergasted. It’s so INTENSE!

You absolutely have to watch it.

I found it on IMDB. I was looking for the best foreign TV series. I must have Googled this a thousand times, but I came upon this new list and “Golden Life” had a great rating and we dove in.

WHEW!

You won’t know what is happening at first. And unlike in American shows there isn’t tons of money thrown at production. But it’s all there, including the 360 degree pan right out of French cinema.

So, one person is king of his domain. A Hungarian Mafia guy. He’s riding high. He’s got a mansion and so much cash that he can afford to lose some, but he’s always got to be keeping an eye out for rivals. As he should.

I don’t want to give away any plot points, but you’ve got to know, if you’re on top of the heap, someone is gonna gun for you. If you’re the number one artist, the richest person in America, I don’t care if you worked hard to get it, someone else wants what you have.

Hell, there was even a story in today’s “Times” about how Elon Musk’s compensation package at Tesla has affected all companies. The CEOs all want stock, they think they’re worth it. This guy Jeff Green made $800 million last year. Ten people made over a hundred million. Our friend Ari Emanuel made around $300 million and David Zaslav, of Warner Brothers Discovery, made about $250 million himself.

You see they want what Elon’s got, and no one is going to get in their way.

They don’t want to run an electric car company, they don’t want to go to outer space, but they do want to show up on the private jet and spend money like it’s water (not California water, but you get the idea).

You’re not even in their league. You don’t count.

Are they worth it?

OF COURSE NOT!

Will we see the poor revolt against the rich in my lifetime? I certainly hope so, but I’m not betting on it. And even if it happens, look at the result of the Arab Spring, authoritarianism. But no one could predict an overeducated fruit vendor could set off such a conflagration.

If you’re at the top people are gunning for you. They’re not happy for you, they want what you’ve got, so they can’t lord it over you, so you can lord it over THEM!

There are even boardroom coups. Funny how Tommy Mottola got rid of Walter Yetnikoff, who gave him his job, and how Michael Rapino ended up running Live Nation. Someone is your best friend today, you’re doing business together, you may have even gotten them their job, and then WHOOPS!

They want your job. They want your money. They want your girl. Just when you think you’ve made it, when you see clear sailing ahead, that’s when you’ve got to watch your back.

And if you think what I’m saying is hogwash, that just indicates you’ve removed yourself from the fray, you’ve got so little no one wants to bother to take it away from you.

And most people have never had contact with those atop the economic heap. As for the “Housewives,” they’re not really rich, because anybody with real money knows you fly below the radar, because if people found out about your wealth they’d be gunning for it.

Classic example is Donald Trump. He was committing tax fraud with impunity until he became president. I could explain it to you, but either you don’t want to hear it or wouldn’t understand it. You probably don’t even itemize, never mind move your assets through corporations and relatives, valuing them far differently from what they’re worth.

They don’t attack people online who’ve got 200 followers. But if you’re flying high, it’s just a matter of time before the hoi polloi bite back. Who do you think you are? You think you’re better than us? We’ll show you!

And then there are the ignorant who respond. They’re just amplifying the story instead of letting it burn out. You’ve got to ignore it.

The second big compensation winner is Zig Serafin, of Qualtrics, with over $500 million last year. I’ve never heard of him or his company, and if he’s smart he’ll keep it that way.

And Zuckerberg killed MySpace and then TikTok put a dent in Facebook and Instagram too. And Zuckerberg fears ByteDance much more than he fears the American government. He can run circles around elected officials and bureaucrats, but business people? That’s another story.

There’s always someone willing to work harder to topple you.

You probably made it by working harder than the person you toppled.

Or you inherited your company from your family and not only did you not have the smarts and experience your ancestors did, you don’t have the hunger. Beware, you’re a target. Can you say Edgar Bronfman, Jr?

It’s so down and dirty.

And the truth is everybody wants in. Even most journalists. They want to hang with the rich, they want a piece of that lifestyle. And those with the money know this, and manipulate them. To the point where if you’re telling the truth no one believes you!

It’s all about survival, for each and every one of us. And usually those who started out with little are the ones who end up with the most, they don’t want to go back where they once were.

I just can’t come down from this show.

“How Elon Musk Helped Lift the Ceiling on C.E.O. Pay – The gap with workers widened even further as public companies granted top executives rich pay packages partly inspired by Tesla.”: https://nyti.ms/3OqmWp0

“Golden Life” trailer: https://bit.ly/3AapB1V

Stay home.

When you get the clarion call to go to some destination to wield signs and slogans in support of your mission I hope it makes you feel good, because it has no effect on the cause whatsoever.

Mass protests in America are all based on those that took place during the Vietnam era.

But the Vietnam era was different. Not only was there no streaming TV, there was no basic cable, no cable news, CNN didn’t arrive until 1980, and there was no Fox, never mind the CW. We only had three television networks and we all watched ’em. Hit TV shows had ratings akin to the Super Bowl, every week. There was not a soul who had not seen “Laugh-In” on Monday night, and you had to tune in Monday night or it was gone forever. Oh, there might be a summer rerun, but there was no On Demand, never mind videotapes or DVDs.

As for the news?

Talk to any boomer. That’s what you watched during dinner, especially in times of crisis. Everybody tuned in, everybody was hipped to what was happening. And because of the Fairness Doctrine, there were not endless cries of bias, and where would they get traction anyway?

And if you wanted to know what was going on in your hometown you read the newspaper, it was the only way to be clued-in.

And if you wanted to meet someone, you didn’t fire up an app, you had to go out and work it in person.

So if you showed up and marched in the sixties, the footage got on network TV and was on the front page in newspapers, which were read by many more people than today.

I don’t know a soul who watches network news anymore. Walter Cronkite? He was as big as Johnny Carson. And believe me, if it weren’t for “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson” no one would even be paying attention to what happens after 11:30 at night on network. The ratings are anemic, but the media is inured to a dated story. That’s right, if you want to know where it’s going you don’t watch TV, you don’t read the newspaper, and you certainly don’t listen to someone in D.C., you go online, that’s where it’s happening.

And there’s not one place you can reach everybody online, but you can be in many places at once. You’re not limited to posting only on Facebook, you’re not limited to only posting in one place on Facebook. If you’ve got a mission you spam the entire internet. That’s how you change hearts and minds.

And the key is not to do it via spam, i.e. worthless drivel, but by making your case in an interesting way. There is no captive audience anymore, no one has to sit through a commercial, people even have ad-blockers in their browsers, I certainly do, to speed up the surfing experience if nothing else. So what you have to do is employ the same tribe that used to go out to the town square to go online and reach people not only where they live, but everywhere! That’s what the web delivers. Which is why Bad Bunny is the biggest act in the universe. Impossible before the internet and streaming services. But now you can reach everybody!

Now if enough people take to the streets…

It still doesn’t make a difference.

Black Lives Matter? What exactly changed as a result of that? Oh, that’s right, Fox and the rest of the blowhards got a talking point, making a false equivalency to 1/6. Yes, disrupting the election process is just like marching in the street. As for a few broken windows and some looting… I’m not endorsing them, but to equate them with trying to overturn the election results, threatening to hang Mike Pence, deaths in the Capitol, stealing the wares of elected officials… That’s like saying a stolen base in Little League is equivalent to a stolen base in the MLB. No, it’s like saying a blown call in Little League is equivalent to stealing signs in the World Series.

Oh, come off it.

But the truth is the right is winning just by me typing these words.

You see Fox News has horrible ratings. It drew 2.27 million viewers in the prime time hours in May. “The Five” got 3.28 million, “Tucker Carlson Tonight” got 3.2 million.

As for the coveted 25-54 demo? Only 522,000 people watched Tucker Carlson. And only 447,000 “The Five.” And those were the top two!

It’s even worse at MSNBC. Their prime time average is 1.02 million.

But all we keep hearing about is Fox News and MSNBC. When in truth in a country of 332 million, fewer than ONE PERCENT watch Fox News!

But the mainstream media focuses on what happens on the cable news networks because they can’t fathom walking into the wilderness of the internet, trying to decipher what is really going on online.

I’ll analogize it to music. Ever try to get a handle on new music? It’s absolutely impossible, it’s overwhelming.

Let’s see, the big hype this week is Angel Olsen. She just put out her sixth album, she’s been around since 2012. But you’ve probably never heard of her. As for her numbers, she’s got a few tracks with double-digit million stream counts on Spotify, but that’s nowhere close to the hit artists. #50 on the Spotify U.S. Top 50 just got 431,108 streams in a single day! And that’s not even a worldwide number!

This week there’s also been a ton of ink about Soccer Mommy. Her streaming numbers are close, but not even as good as Angel Olsen’s! And I saw Soccer Mommy and she wasn’t that great, maybe she’s better now, but my point is if you listen to the music of these two acts it’s not for everybody, it’s niche at best, but the media makes it look like they have huge impact in the marketplace, that many people are listening constantly.

I could name a zillion other hyped acts, with a plethora of reviews, with even worse numbers, but I’ll just point out that when you take the number of weekly streams on Spotify in the aggregate… That’s a huge number. Spotify itself has 182 million subscribers. It’s tough being one act on the service, you want to control a bunch of hits, which is the business of the major labels, especially with their catalog. One act? Reaches so few people it’s laughable.

But it didn’t used to be this way, because it used to be you could only hear new music on the radio, and there were a limited number of stations and a limited number of records spun. They haven’t opened the floodgates, THEY’VE TORN DOWN THE DAM!

So one person tweeting…essentially irrelevant. You’ve got to have many people on the case, it’s the only way you can reach people.

And your goal is to reach those not paying attention. You don’t want a circle jerk where everybody involved is already on the same page. Why is it that those on the right post on left wing sites but the left doesn’t post on right wing sites? I mean you go where the people are, right?

If you want to protest, you’ve got to do it online. Everything is virtual these days. As for concerts, you can reach millions of people on Twitch at one time, you could never have that many people at a single concert. And you don’t have to worry about weather or transportation either.

Chances are if you’re citing Fox and MSNBC, you’re a news junkie. How about all those not paying attention? You want to reach them!

Like Alito’s theory employed to overturn Roe v. Wade. If you read it in a vacuum, if you read or hear about it in the right wing world, it seems logical. If you’re not exposed to analysis from the other side, you don’t get it. There are dog whistles in the opinion itself, right wing code that many people are completely oblivious to.

You can read an analysis here:  

“Here are key passages from the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe.”: https://nyti.ms/3yl5RHB

For far too long Democrats have operated on feel, whereas Republicans study the issues, cite facts and…the Democrats are dumbfounded. It’s more complicated than just Roe v. Wade being overturned. Educate yourself on the issues, then you’re prepared to fight. Every straw man on the right can be knocked down, assuming you know what you’re talking about.

As for yelling online… People ignore it. It’s when you’re calm that you gain traction, when you approach people logically, appealing to both their heads and their hearts that you win.

I’ll tell you how screwed up the leaders of this country are… Music was the canary in the coal mine for digital disruption, now it’s all about streaming, but the charts??? Physical has more weight. Why? And all this hype on vinyl. Enjoy it, but it’s a de minimis part of the total. Never mind we’ve gone to a play paradigm as opposed to a purchase. I mean sure, buy the CD, but if you never listen to it what are the odds you’ll want to go to the show, where the act can make a ton more money? Almost nil. We’re looking for active listeners.

And we’re looking for active posters online.

But all we’ve got on the left, especially in the “New York Times,” is endless denigration of smartphone usage, to the point where Apple blinked and you get a weekly report of the hours you were on your devices. SO WHAT? Have you ever seen that number and said you wanted to surf less? Of course not!

How can you win when your leaders are against the primary communication method used by the majority of the population?

YOU CAN’T!

You spread your message online.

Protesting IRL is like walking instead of driving. Oh, if it’s just a few blocks, cool. But if you want to get from New York to Boston, or Kansas City to Denver…plan on spending a few weeks, if not months, on the road.

What did Sam Kinison say about starving people in Africa? Stop sending them food, send suitcases, these people have to move, they’ve got to go where the food is!

The food in politics is online. Definitively.

What can we do collectively? Democrats are weak because so many of them are women. Women are weak because they historically have been kept isolated one per home and so have not learned how to take collective action. They have been pitted against one another since childhood in the competition for the best husbands and so have not learned how to form powerful, efficacious alliances. All that has changed drastically in my own lifetime. Birth control freed women from involuntary childbearing. With that freedom, we have altered the world so much that we are provoking more and more extreme reactions, but there is no putting our genius back in the bottle.

Paula Franceschi

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I am so disinterested in Party Democrats telling me how bad the Republicans are.

I know that, they’ve proven to me for decades.

I put blame on my two Arizona Democrat Senators

One a belligerent.

Sinema took Biden’s policy and turned it into a “half-a-structure” bill delaying it 6 months so candidates can’t run on a result,

just an idea and a series of road barricades gumming up the roads this summer.

Mark Kelly mostly silent, starting any statement with an attempt to reach a mythical GOP cross over voter

These elected Democrats disrespect the very people who voted, turned up, knocked on doors in 100º+ heat, donated.

I wouldn’t piss on them to put out a flame.

The issues of import are unaddressed, they work hard to move public money into the hands of private “partners”

& work to weaken the policies we put them in D.C. to support, criticizing the Biden Harris Administration’s policy proposals

That other passport gives our family an out, and I’ll have a spare room for you

Cheers, TS Bitterman

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Let’s start w/ a hard push against the right’s promotional engine, Fox News Channel (FNC). If you calculate the dollar value of the editorial bs fed by FNC to the American public, much under the guise of “opinion journalism,” it’s annually in the hundreds of millions of dollars. We bitch and moan about Twitter feeding the trough of misinformation, but it’s nothing compared to the biased, prejudicial, inflammatory rhetoric of the FOX state news channel. There’s been attempts to boycott FNC’s advertisers’ products, but the network derives most of its revenue, not from advertising, but from affiliate fee compensation from the lines of Charter, Comcast, AT&T, etc. That’s right, a few dollars every month from your cable or telco bill is paid directly into the coffers at FNC, whether you watch the channel or not.  Yep, if you’re getting FNC on your system, than YOU (likely unknowingly) are a direct financial contributor to the network’s disgusting, divisive rhetoric.  Everyone should explore what chunk of their monthly cable or telco bill is being paid to FNC, and they should deduct that dollar amount from their bill.  In the early 1980’s, “I Want My MTV” was a highly successful campaign in driving network distribution and carriage for Viacom. It’s time for an “I Don’t Want My Fox News Channel” campaign, with a call to action asking subscribers to deduct each month the dollar amount from their bill that’s going to FNC. We need to end this insanity, and the power of the purse is the best way to do so.

Stuart K. Marvin

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Once again you nailed it Bob. We need a national strike. No going to work, No spending money until the choice of whether or not to carry a fetus to term, to jeopardize one’s health and well being, is considered a right of privacy, of body autonomy, that is solely between a pregnant person and their Healthcare provider. Period.

We certainly can’t depend on the devil’s spawn that comprises the majority of our Supreme Court to protect us so we must demand legislation. NOW. Hoping for a movement. Hoping for some inspiration from our democratic leaders. This is why we elected them right??

And companies that reside in “trigger” states should move. Don’t send your child to a college in any state that doesn’t protect this basic human right. Don’t attend a convention in those states. The only way to facilitate change it seems is through the Almighty dollar as hearts have been hardened. If we can’t get this country back on an enlightened humanistic course, and soon, we really will become a fascist state.

My daughter is in Berlin, Germany on a post graduation vacation this week and I honestly wonder if she would be better off staying there, my Jewish child, in Germany. That says it all.

Lisa Marks

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Politically the US is in a bad spiral…

In the 50s the National Party in South Africa used political maneuvering, racist fears and religious rhetoric to launch and maintain an entrenched and unrepresentative Christian nationalist government. It took 50 years to end it, and South Africa’s people will be dealing with the scars across their society for hundreds of years to come.

In the 2020s the Republican Party in the United States is using political maneuvering, racist fears and religious rhetoric to launch and maintain an entrenched and unrepresentative Christian nationalist government. Who knows how long, and what it will take to end it. Who knows how many hundreds of years it will take for the US’ people to deal with the scars across their society this will bring about.

History repeats itself.

Bruce Mackenzie

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There’s no hope as long as the same people continue to be in power and continue to do the same thing.  What’s that they say about insanity?  As usual, democrats are running around screaming and yelling and just reacting.  They have no idea how to play the game.  The republicans have been patiently, slowly and methodically working their angles for fifty years while the democrats have been oblivious. And everyone is just shocked.  It’s ridiculous and embarrassing.  When they go low, we go high?  Are you kidding?? It’s time for everyone to realize when they go low, we have to kick them in the balls. Until we get leaders like that, we are doomed.

Wendy Leitman

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There is no stupider slogan in 21st century politics than “When they go low, we go high.” When we go high, we get fucking blown away. How about, “When they go low, we CURB THEIR FUCKING TEETH”?

Paul Slansky

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The answer is in Lysistrata. Women should stop letting men have sex with them until they change the law.

Gary Stockdale

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I am sending your essay to all my clients and fellow operatives.

I have a been a political consultant for Democrats for nearly 30 years, and yes, too many of my brethren are trapped in the past.

You are 100% correct. We need to take action. We must bring the fight to every place, where we live our lives – our families, our workspaces, our dinner parties, our barstools, our stages, our songs, our comedy, our keyboards (both computers and Hammond b3s.)

I think a national strike day for the two most important issues guns and choice would be a good start.

Recently I have studying what Little Steven Van Zandt did to rally others to fight apartheid.

As they sang in Sun City:

It’s time to accept our responsibility

Freedom is a privilege nobody rides for free

Look around the world baby it cannot be denied

Some-somebody tell me why are we always on the wrong side.

Thanks

Kevin Lampe

Kurth Lampe Worldwide

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Let’s be real — a country ruled by minority with its disproportionate Senate and gerrymandered Congress; ruled by unelected ‘judges’ empowered to ‘create laws’ even though they lied under oath and were appointed by men who lost the popular vote over decades — has no path  forward. None.

 

When 75 % or more of the people want a given thing for their country and have no legislative path to get it, democracy has ended.

The system has collapsed.

Millions of people living unhoused on streets is not the fault of a party or a politician. It is a ‘result’ — of a broken socio-economic system that fell apart ages ago, along with all the other unfixable shit like medical bankruptcy and creeps running around with machine guns.

I said this when Biden was elected and I repeat:

His win was a mere respite from Tinyhands’ dementia. Nothing more.

What we have at the moment is a little time — to get affairs in order, decide if this is really where you wanna live, or not. Sweeping changes are complex — and ofc many do not have the means — but for those who do but are for now simply considering maybe not sending their kid to Vanderbilt or University Texas Austin, understand that staying out of red states won’t be enough.

Deb Wilker

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Bob, when you first proposed a national strike a few months ago it resonated with me. Between the 1/6 hearings and today’s scotus bullshit, I’m ready to participate and actively implore others to as well. Where will the leadership come from?? I’d suggest the platform should include reform to voters rights, gun restrictions, and abortions. Not sure anything else is that universally agreed upon, but a small limited number of items and concrete demands is the way to go. I’m ready, and I think enough of the general population is as well. The pols will get in line right quick once corporate America tells them to. Let’s do this.

Leonardo Dosoretz

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You are correct in suggesting we need to make those States that outlaw abortion an economic target. Protesting is passé, but voting is still a must. Especially if we can get the Millennials and GenZs to get to the polls in significant numbers. So let’s make them hurt.

We need an ‘Ain’t Gonna Play Sun City’ moment. All artists (sans Nugent and Kid Rock) must refrain from touring any of those States. Make those places complete cultural wastelands.

And I put my money where my mouth is. Today we pulled out of an event scheduled in Dallas Texas later this Summer. We will have a values test to any company needs for all future events.

Christian Swain

CEO Pantheon Podcast

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I spent decades bandaging the wrists of the children & adults dumped in the foster care system

because their parents simply had no access to birth control

Party of values

BULLSHIT

There’s no compassion or heart there!

They didn’t care about the families they tortured by tearing children from their desperate parents at the border

They don’t care about the youth LGBTQ suicide rate

They don’t care about the death penalty…. Oh that life… Nope zap em.

But life begins at… NEVERMIND. I didn’t mean THAT. MAKE IT HURT.

But we know this isn’t really about life anyway

Its about how low vile people stoop to lather up votes

Call the strike Bob

Set it up

Tell your followers it’s damn time to spread the word

I’m in

& I KNOW I’m not alone

& personally I’d add:

Time for all of the women of America to close their legs until someone pays attention

Time to flush these disgusting no-values maggoty-assed-turd pies down the bowl

AmenDammit

Annie Wenz

Horrified Musician/ & former Psych RN

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1.  The generation in power is the 60’s and 70’s generation.  Enlightened youth!  Flower Power!   What happened to them?

2.  We were taught in school that our system was the best.  Checks and balances.  Now, in the age of social media and Citizens United, maybe we’re wrong.   Interesting article in the Times  about Europe and other nations parliamentary systems where the regime voted in can effectively pass laws reflecting the will of the majority…should we be looking at that?

3.  Our country is divided.  Should it break up?  Let the gun owners kill themselves in the their states and need a passport to come to states where gun laws are restricted.  The south fought, died, over the right to have slaves!   Will gun ownership be the cause of the next civil war?

4.  The people most detrimentally effected  by the Roe overturn are poor.  The divide between rich and poor in this country has become unhealthy.  Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg can easily set up a fund to help these poor women.

David Ehrlich

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A national strike I think is right.  If they outlaw contraception, let’s all go turn ourselves in.  That’s one way to gum up the works.

catmonster

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woke up in bali, turn on tv, see news, turn on phone, text from Aussie friend says between Jan 6, gun rights and now abortion, your country is totally fucked. surprised more people have not left like you. I said, I know….

Brian Barry Esq. now in Bali

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Thank you for calling it out, Bob.
All of the Democratic leadership benefits from the same corporate grift as the GOP. Remember Citizens United?
How many Americans even know what that is.
The left representation is equality as insulated, as entitled, as privileged as the right.
They can pay for their private abortions, security, education, LGBTQ privileges regardless of party.
They only represent most Americans in platform only. Lip service.
Joel Messerer in SF

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It’s sickening how right you are, Bob.

Sickening because it cuts to the core of why we are no longer the United states of America.

I think a core issue is simply both uneven distribution of wealth and education.

We’ve now got about 5% of America who are disengaged in every way from “average” Americans. Their kids go to private schools, one of the biggest factors in destroying empathy with the other 5%. They get to school in new SUVs and then socialize only with kids just like them.

Then, there are religious schools – which are anti-science and which encourage an us vs. them mentality, with savage discrimination against “sinners”, which is most of America. The socialization is the same as private schools.

Not long ago, one of the things that kept America together was that most kids went to local schools and rubbed shoulders with each other.

It appears that no one has the guts to point at private and religious schools as a serious factor in our divide. Not the NY Times and especially those who are in the 5%. And, those who use those schools don’t want to change. This politicized Supreme Court is making sure they don’t have to.

John Parikhal

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There is nothing here I disagree with. And you referred to Dem leadership, sadly there isn’t any.

We missed out 2 years ago when we could have taken a Katie Porter, or AOC and set them up for long term success but we haven’t. Coons? A dem Governor? Who runs in 2024 for potus? We don’t have anyone! It’s an embarrassment.

Best shot we have is with Amy Klobuchar… I know I’m in the minority but she has what it takes but is slandered as not being charismatic enough. She is. We do need a Hail Mary …

Andrew Zimmern

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I’m trying desperately to hang onto hope myself, Bob. I can no longer count the times I’ve heard my left friends say - but you can’t do that. Sometimes even - but you can’t say that. My response - then you better get used to losing.

Barry McCabe

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Can you imagine Apple or Amazon being run by Pelosi and/or Schumer? Of course not.  The Democratic party doesn’t fire or demote the inept.  It’s the Peter Principle.
Dems need youth, minorities, progressives, and the educated to get fired up.  Good luck!!

Cliff Keller

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Democrats shill; Republicans kill.

Andrew Loog Oldham

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+1 with you all the way.  What kind of eclipse do they call it when maga+Christian right + all gop (minus rino) own the House, the Senate, the Supreme Court and the White House? Certainly something more grand and ominous than a Green Bay sweep,  Maybe it’s something akin to what Dylan said—ie, “it’s not dark yet but it’s gettin’ there.” And…Who have the Dems got for 2024 to carry a new mantle, a new torch—the kind of torch I harassed my Dad about when Kennedy was running in 1960 and i was 8 yrs old.  Certainly not the incumbent VP and POTUS.  And, not anyone else I can think of who may be chomping at the bit.  So there’s no farm team, no strategically organized grass roots…WTF?!  We both know it hasn’t been for want of $.  So…I say that if adversity is the mother of invention, now’s the time for full on Dem “Marshall plan”.  If i we’re guiding Dems, I would get strategists who are familiar with the political equivalent of long term Chinese economic plans—you know, the 10 or 20 or 50 year plans.  And, I’d run two fully funded scenarios going forward.  Going all out with the best most enlightened approach one can muster for 2022 and 2024, but also,for 2026 and 2028 which assumes that the two priors are a wipe out. Because they probably will be. How’d we get here? That’s beyond the scope of this reply but not difficult to diagram.  Bob…thanks for your voice.

Burt Berman

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Red + White + Blue = Ignorance

This is now our brand…and it sucks.

Jesse Guglielmo

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So many spot on and poignant memes today. This country is truly going backward. And the shared thoughts from a posthumous George Carlin that conservatives care so much about a fetus but once you’re grown, you can FUCK right off. We used to be the land of the free, now it doesn’t feel so much that way. So anyone can buy a gun and shoot up a school but a woman can’t get a legal abortion? Feeling the whole “let’s move to Canada” thing coming on again…

Danny Jay

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Thanks Bob.
I live in deep Southern Illinois, close to the confluence of The Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.
Illinois is blue, but down here is dark red-80% for Mar-a-lardo.
I contact our US Rep. Mike Bost often. He has NEVER once responded.  He is a part of the big lie and brought the Felon in Chief to town.
I really don’t know what to do either. I’m not giving up though.
DW Davis
Carbondale

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This is what happens when you vote in moderate corporate Democrats who play to compromise instead of win.

McConnell doesn’t give a fuck and gets what he wants.

Dave Conklin

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By every measure and index this is a 60-40 progressive nation and we should start acting like it.
Dems should stop worrying about “taking the high road” and take any road that gets us to where we want to go.
Texas wants to secede? Let them go and while we’re at it let the entire Red South go.
They’re always first in taking federal aid and last in contributing to the Treasury.
And last in literacy and education.
That will never change.
They want to live in 1958?
Let ‘em go back there right now.
Nobody with working brain cells will miss them for a minute.

Stephen Dessau

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I’ve never been and never will be the smartest guy in the room. However, I’ve been saying this for years:  The Democrats need to learn to fight back and stop being pussies. Yeah, I said it. Pussies.

Wimps. Doormats. Punching bags. Whatever you wanna call it. We need a fighter who pushes back and isn’t afraid of slinging mud and getting dirty. Otherwise, we’re all doomed and so is the future of this country. Who is this person? Hopefully they show up and soon.

Russ Turk

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The problem is that there are no strategic thinkers on the left to whom the establishment (or the far left) listens to, worth 10c. There are some very smart and successful political strategists on the anti-rump right who would be willing to help but the Dem center is too afraid of the far-left wing to hire them and listen to them. Obsessing about LGBTQ+/- rights and supporting wokism, etc., are losing propositions for the Democrats, but the leadership simply does not have the spine and guts to acknowledge it.

The other sad fact is that the left, especially the far-left, still adulates Obama, who actually played a significant role in creating our present-day problems.

The bottom line is that for the short and even medium term the situation is pretty hopeless. You cannot win if you always play defense, especially if you are weak/meek in playing defense, which is what the Dems have been doing for decades.

All the best: Thomas S

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This what happens when you sit on your ass and don’t go out to vote and a inept person like Trump gets into the White House ~

Now Hillary Clinton wasn’t my first choice but when she became my only choice I recognized it and voted for her ~ Some of you democrats were Hillary Haters and didn’t bother to go out and vote ~ Well look at the trouble we are in now ~ That’s one step forward and two steps back ~ Look even Trump was surprised he didn’t think he’d win either ~

I’m not going to believe the Lame Stream Media and say we (Democrats) will all be losers in the up coming elections ~ I’m going to get out the vote ~ Talk to all my like minded voters even those who aren’t like minded and tell them what at stake here in 2022 ~ Life is to short but think of your children ( I don’t have any) and what kind of mess we have left the environment in and who we want to Captain this ship we are all on ~

OMT ~ When Obama left office Trump was left with a booming economy ~ His inaction regarding the Pandemic and the Tax Break for the rich left the economy limping which Biden inherited ~ He has no control of the price of gas much like Jimmy Carter and that just might be his doom as well but if he does decide to run again I’ll have his back ~ Once bitten twice shy ~ I’m not stupid ~

Regards ~

Rock Singer ~

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Now that Roe has been overturned and Thomas hints that he’d overturn gay marriage and contraception too, it’s time to overturn “Loving vs VA” that overturned interracial marriage ban. Then Clarence & Ginni marriage can be canceled and they both can go fuck themselves!

Michael Fremer

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I love your efforts, Bob, even though it appears to be pointless. The zealots are winning and may have already won.

At least you’re going down swinging. (Like Sonny Liston)

Patrick Donahue

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The United States. Once so very much the ideal for me. Since Bonanza, since the hippie era, since whatever. Now so hopelessly behind in everything. Scary even. I will never visit again. Good luck.

Lars Nylin, Stockholm, Sweden.

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Look at the bright side: the more abortions they can stop, the more kids there’ll be  to shoot at in the schools.

Isaac Marr

THE LATECOMER

https://amzn.to/3u1Id02

This book is so good…

That I don’t want to tell you a single thing about it.

Now it’s fiction. So for those looking for instructions, the tome of a billionaire, this is not where you want to go. And if you’re looking for mystery, or macho, this is not a genre book. What it is is a story of a family, over generations. But it’s different from those heavy, multi-decade slogs. There are twists and turns, unexpected things happen. But mostly, you can relate, if not to individual characters, then the humanity.

“The Latecomer” is not highbrow, but it’s not lowbrow either.

It’s not short, it’s long enough for you to marinate and luxuriate in.

This is what you’re looking for in a reading experience, at least I am. Something that calls out to you, that you can’t wait to get back to, that is better than almost everything else happening in your everyday life.

It’s an adventure, it’s a journey.

You’ll be hooked right way…

Or you won’t.

I was surprised I got into it from the very first page. For a minute there, about two-thirds through, I thought it was going to disappoint me, but then it got back up to speed and… I wish there were more books like this.

CHA CHA REAL SMOOTH

https://bit.ly/3buXsIv

This is the Sundance hit that was purchased by Apple for $15 million.

If you don’t have an Apple TV+ account already I do not recommend signing up just for this. But if you do…

Do you like Duplass Brothers movies?

It started a while back with Mumblecore. Greta Gerwig crossed over from that genre. These are films about people, situations, they aren’t made to be blockbusters and they aren’t. But they resonate the way most big screen product does not.

So what we’ve got here is an auteur… Cooper Raiff. Who wrote, directed and stars in the film. Unfortunately, he’s the worst actor in it, he’s pretty good, but sometimes when he leans his head sideways and smiles…well, let’s just say that he does that too much.

As for the rest of the cast…

Dakota Johnson is a phenomenal actress. I know she’s Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson’s daughter. But I never saw her in “Fifty Shades of Grey,” I haven’t seen almost all of her filmography. But she caught my eye in “The Lost Daughter,” she stood out in a cast of much better known actors. I did research after watching this flick and it turns out she’s Chris Martin’s girlfriend of a couple of years, and she was even a model, and she certainly is good-looking, but that’s not what seals the deal. It’s in her eyes, her smile, the way she looks directly at you, the way she inhabits the character, the way she’s alive. She seems like a girl you went to high school with. Who was not the icon, the good-looking prom queen, but somebody you had classes with, who was approachable, who you knew, who you didn’t get anxious hanging around.

So what we’ve got here is twenty two year old Andrew, who has just graduated from college and is clueless about where he’s going thereafter. He’s got a Tulane girlfriend who’s gone to Barcelona and he dreams of going to visit her there, but…

In the meantime he’s got a minimum wage job and he’s living with his mother and her new husband and his thirteen year old brother. Everybody considers him a loser. And he’s not so sure himself.

You’re supposed to be a world-beater. What happened to him?

His mother has compromised, married someone for security, played by Brad Garrett, who has aged and is better in this than in any other production I’ve ever seen him in. He’s not playing broadly for laughs, like in “Everybody Loves Raymond,” he’s inhabiting the role of a middle-aged person with his nose to the grindstone, who is convinced he knows how life works.

And then there’s the brother, David…

He wants to kiss a girl. This is so well done, he and Margaret have a relationship, which consists of dancing at Bar Mitzvah parties yet not talking. How does he bridge the gap? I remember this anxiety, and in truth I can’t remember my first kiss, but what do you do, how do you do it? Just jump in, ask for permission, or wait for them to speak up, express their desire, the hurdle seems insurmountable.

And Andrew ends up as a party starter at Bar & Bat Mitzvah parties. You know, the one with the toys, who gets everybody up on the dance floor to have a good time.

And there he meets Domino.

Terrible choice of name. That’s Dakota Johnson’s character. She’s a middle class New Jersey denizen, they have conventional names, the ones everybody else does, not monikers that connote a stripper as opposed to a housewife.

And… Andrew becomes fixated on Domino.

This is all in the hype, and it’s obvious, but…

There are so many real elements. 

Ever have a crush on someone older? And wonder if it’s real? And then freak out when you read the signals, when you’re delivered all your hopes and dreams?

This is what it’s like growing up as a man.

Not the kind you see in hip-hop videos.

As a matter of fact, I don’t see myself in any of today’s music or films. Everybody’s either macho, unable to express their inner feelings, or they’re tech nerds with glasses. But a regular guy, not cool, but not an outsider, who has feelings, and is unsure of themselves… That describes most men in America, which is why this film is such a revelation, it nails this!

Come on guys, you can describe every interaction with a woman you’ve ever had. You didn’t go on hundreds of dates, you didn’t score with hundreds of women. But there were a few where it seemed there was mutuality, you felt something between the two of you, and that feels so good, you never forget it.

You might even think back and wonder if you’d played your cards differently…

Or maybe if you hooked up with them today…

But those are fairy tales. People are not static, they evolve. And the reason it didn’t work out in the first place is usually the reason why it wouldn’t work now. But in your mind, you savor these moments, when you think about them you feel complete, equal to any other man on the planet. Yes, that woman you desired desired you, was into you! That’s better than any car, any watch, any physical object.

And this movie gets that across.

You’ll laugh out loud. At least I did.

But it’s not a complete comedy, there are serious elements.

It’s not a Judd Apatow film, even though his wife, Leslie Mann, is in it. Apatow’s films are comedies with a splash of heaviness thrown in, to make the point. Whereas as light as “Cha Cha Real Smooth” can be, there are moments of reality sprinkled throughout, this is not complete fantasy, you can see yourself, or someone like you, in the film.

In other words, this is a Duplass Brothers movie. In style. You may not have seen their films, but you might have seen their series on HBO, “Togetherness,” starring Melanie Lynskey, Amanda Peet and Mark Duplass himself. That got canceled. What did Jack Nicholson say, “you can’t handle the truth”?

But some people are only looking for the truth. And there is truth in “Cha Cha Real Smooth.” It’s imperfect, but I’d rather watch stuff like this than “Star Wars” spinoffs and Marvel movies any day of the week. As a matter of fact, I don’t even bother with those productions, I don’t want mindless escape, I want to feel like I’m part of the world, that I’m not alone, the only one thinking what I do.

Maybe you feel the same way too.