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David Bruce Collins—the Official Site

Edie Writes Again: Fauxcialist Sanders and AOC

5/12/2018

Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez smiling in some generic DC corridor

The ubiquitous Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DSA?-NY)

Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is still all over the news, and Edie has been paying attention to AOC's evolution from outsider to Democratic back-bench Congresscritter. She doesn't like what she sees. She has asked me to withdraw her laudatory essay from a few weeks ago and replace it with this one, which also has plenty to say about Senator Bernard Sanders (Independent, sorta, from Vermont).

This essay rambles a bit, but Edie assures me that it rambled more before she cut it from 16,000-plus words to fewer than 4,000. I have omitted almost all the photos and other graphics that Edie lovingly inserted into the original document. Saving them and inserting them here is more work than I can manage right now without risking repetitive motion injury.

Disclaimer: I don't agree with all of it, but I present it for your consideration.

Desperately Seeking Bernie's Balls
Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have faithfully and dutifully taken up the Democratic Party’s mantra: "You have no choice; you have nowhere to go: it’s either us or the Republicans. T.I.N.A.: 'There Is No Alternative.'”

Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez can head up a third party movement and, in doing so, they can free electoral politics from the two-party stranglehold. But they refuse to do that.

Click here for an amazing video [from Jimmy Dore]. It begins with Bernie Sanders back in the 1990s arguing passionately for a third party movement. Then we hear from the all-new version of Bernie Sanders—the 2018 version of Bernie Sanders—arguing, just as passionately, against a third party movement.

His own words identify him as a sellout.

What Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are saying to those on their left is: “You have no choice; you have nowhere to go except with us.” Which is the same thing Hillary Clinton said to those on her left when she ran for president in 2008 and 2016: “You have no choice; you have nowhere to go except with me.”

As far as the Democratic Party is concerned, Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are safe. They’re in the fold. Wanna hear a joke? Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claim they’re socialists. Please! That doesn’t pass The Gag Test. Like the Democratic Socialists of America, they use the label of socialism to advance politically. Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the DSA are socialists like my Uncle Dominic wears a bra and poses for Playboy. They’re not about to rock the boat. They’ve been neutered.

Bernie Sanders isn’t a socialist, he isn’t a radical and he isn’t a revolutionary. As Alexander Cockburn, one of the co-founders of Counter Punch, put it:

Bernie Sanders, the hot air factory from Vermont, wouldn’t know a revolution if it stood up and bit him in the ass.

Trashing Poppy Bush vs. Killing Millions

4/12/2018

Just stop it. Stop it right now. All ye Twitizens appealing for civility when reflecting on the life and legacy of George Herbert Walker Bush, I invite you to STFU. You may actually learn something.

This invitation applies in particular to those who say things like, "Just because you disagree with them on politics doesn't mean you shouldn't respect them." This line of argument pisses me off. I may not express my disagreement with the same vitriol as Caitlin Johnstone, e.g., but I understand where that vitriol comes from.

There is a difference between disagreeing on political matters, on the one hand, and perceiving the other person or party as culpable in mass slaughter of civilians in shelters and troops in retreat, on the other.

The mere act of dying does not absolve Bush of his crimes, any more than it did Jeffrey Dahmer or Timothy McVeigh. You may call it "shitting on his legacy," but I call it honesty.

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We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.
— Son of Baldwin (@SonofBaldwin) August 18, 2015

First Texoblogosphere of the Post–Ray Hill Era

3/12/2018

The death of a certain long-time Houston resident and former US president stole some of the spotlight from that of a certain long-time Houston resident and all-purpose hell-raiser. In the shadow of the half-mast flags downtown, several hundred progressive activists gathered Sunday afternoon on the Bagby Street side of City Hall to remember the latter Houstonian, Ray Hill.

Crowd shot of the Ray Hill remembrance at Houston's City Hall, with former mayor Annise Parker at the lectern.

Crowd shot of the Ray Hill remembrance, with Annise Parker at the lectern.

Toward the beginning of the remembrance—which was actually two remembrances, one in accordance with Hill's wishes, and a second in an open-mic format—mistress of ceremonies and former mayor Annise Parker said, "I'm not going to tell you Ray's life story. He has a Wikipedia page; look him up." She and about a dozen other people told their favorite Ray Hill stories, but Parker saw as her duty the busting of several Ray Hill myths: e.g., he was not a founder of the Houston Gay Political Caucus (now the GLBT Political Caucus).

There was a lot to process from the gathering, but what stuck with me the most was Mayor Sylvester Turner and Congressmember Al Green both saying how vital it is in our imperfect republic to have trouble-makers like Hill. Thanks to his decades of "rubbing the cat's fur the wrong way," we have a better city, with elected officials who respect the rights and the dignitiy of LGBT+ constituents.

UPDATE: a Texas Observer item on "Uncle Ray" from former KPFT news director Renee Feltz.

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Quick note: Starting in January, I'll be changing the way I present these digests of Texas Progressive Bloggage. Since I began posting these, I've mostly been ripping them from Brains and Eggs, editing them to fit my personal style-book, adding and subtracting where needed.)

Dichotomism Rehab

30/11/2018

There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who think there are only two kinds of people, and those who know better.

A dichotomy /daɪˈkɒtəmi/ is a partition of a whole (or a set) into two parts (subsets). In other words, this couple of parts must be
1. jointly exhaustive: everything must belong to one part or the other, and

2. mutually exclusive: nothing can belong simultaneously to both parts.

Such a partition is also frequently called a bipartition.

The two parts thus formed are complements. In logic, the partitions are opposites if there exists a proposition such that it holds over one and not the other.

Treating continuous variables or multicategorical variables as binary variables is called dichotomization.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dichotomy

I support Palestinian freedom. I support Palestinian self-determination. I am deeply critical of Israeli policy and practice.

I do not support anti-Semitism, killing Jewish people, or any of the other things attributed to my speech. I have spent my life fighting these things.
— Marc Lamont Hill (@marclamonthill) November 29, 2018

Since I seldom watch television, and even seldomer spend my evenings engrossed in cable news, I barely know who Marc Lamont Hill is. However, a glance at Twitter this morning made me want to know him better. CNN has jettisoned Hill as a commentator because he dared to call for full human and civil rights for the Palestinian people.

One of the problems inherent in Twitter, and social media in general, is that it gives a virtual soapbox to people who react and respond to information without really thinking about the context or implications of that information. Tweeters assume that anyone who opposes A must therefore support B, because there can be no other alternatives to the A-B dichotomy.

One of the problems inherent in today's mainstream Media Industrial Complex is that our trusted information sources do the exact same shit and get rewarded handsomely for it. Think-tanks and political consultants leverage people's instinct to dichotomize: They propagate the message that, if you support A, then B is the opposite of everything you hold dear and thus your enemy. They traffic in fear, because fearful people buy stuff to make them feel better.

B is not your enemy. A is not your enemy. Dichotomistic thinking is your enemy.

Get Bernie to Ride on the Peace Train

28/11/2018

I almost never share these petition thingies, but I found this one from World Beyond War particularly timely.

As World Beyond War notes, during his 2016 presidential campaign, Vermont Senator Bernard Sanders was eerily silent on the subject of foreign & military policy. His website said very little on the topic, particularly about the Middle East. This was a canny calculation, betting that voters were mostly interested in bread & butter issues (see Bill "It's the Economy, Stupid!" Clinton, 1992).

Bernie & friends also knew that any talk of Israel—especially criticism, no matter how politely phrased—is a third rail that sitting US Senators must avoid. He may be making some noise at the Capitol about ending US involvement in Yemen, but only under pressure from his constituents and supporters. It took Chris Murphy (D-CT) to bring it up in the Senate—and, even then, only when Barack Obama was no longer Commander-in-Chief.

I have admired & respected Bernie since he was mayor of Burlington. However, this reticence on his part was one of several reasons I could not support his campaign.

Way back in 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King identified militarism and military spending as a grand theft from the people. Several years before that, President Dwight D. Eisenhower said something similar on national television. Why have mainstream politicians, even the progressive ones, lost sight of that undeniable fact?

Artist Friends: Montrose Needs a Ray Hill Statue

28/11/2018

1. My Facebook post from Sunday morning:

This post is for everyone who is unfamiliar with Ray Hill, his good works, his activism, his stories, his Texas-size love. People outside of Greater Houston likely don't know his name, let alone his importance; sadly, many who have lived here their whole lives don't either.

This morning, in this cold-medicine-induced insomnia, I have scrolled through quite a few tributes to Ray. Some of the tributes have linked to the Houston Chronicle's remembrance, which frankly is a mess. But then, it's difficult to keep things tidy when you're talking about a person who worked on so many fronts with varying levels of effectiveness.

No, he wasn't perfect, but he was so necessary.

How can you summarize in one article just what Ray has meant to grassroots activism in this city, region, and state? Beyond escorting so much of Houston out of its closet, he also spent decades on the radio, in the Legislature, and in courtrooms advocating for prison reform and against capital punishment. For a while, he turned advancing the rights of sex workers & cabaret dancers into a profession.

Sorry for your loss, Texas.

2. Tributes from Texas Leftist, Democracy Now! and the Houston Chronicle's editorial board.

3. A memorial gathering at Houston's City Hall (hope the link works for you) this Sunday, 2 December.

Potluck Potshots from the Texoblogiverse

26/11/2018

Kayleen made a delicious pumpkin pie to take to the Thanksgiving potluck at the church. I did most of the prep work for the Tofurky Feast that was my contribution. Both were quickly demolished, but fortunately I had enough leftover Tofurky for lunches the next two days. Neither of us needs a government-sanctioned holiday to express our gratitude, let alone one that supposedly commemorates the beginning of the European conquest of New England. As for me, I was most grateful for the chance to spend time chatting and chewing with friends old and new, with almost zero talk of electoral politics.

Today I thank the Blogiverse for some fascinating reads, plus one item from the Dallas Observer that PDiddie and I both missed last week but Socratic Gadfly caught.

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Lisa Gray at the Chron wrote a moving pre-obituary for Houston activist and civil rights icon Ray Hill last Tuesday, whose heart ultimately did give out on Saturday.

The passing of Houston Texans owner Bob McNair on Friday, and his complicated legacy as both philanthropist and Trump Republican, prompted this cogent Tweet from Evan Mintz of the Chronicle.

The deaths of Ray Hill and Bob McNair create an interesting juxtaposition about what it means to contribute to society
— Evan the Maccabee (@evan7257) November 25, 2018

Tweedy's Memoir Full of LOLs

25/11/2018

This is yet another sort-of review adapted from my assessment on Goodreads.

My ladyfriend bought me a copy of Let's Go (So We Can Get Back) for my birthday. She knows that I'm fond of thinking person's rock star memoirs and biopics. She told two helpful folks at Brazos Books that I really dig Patti Smith's written work and recently devoured Elvis Costello's autobiography; they both immediately suggested Jeff Tweedy's book, of which they just happened to have a signed copy. Good call. I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of memories from Tweedy's 50-plus years on earth.

Jeff Tweedy is not exactly a household name, and I don't foresee Wilco's induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame any time soon. Here is the total of what I knew about Tweedy and Wilco before I began reading:

Wilco formed in the '90s, and their music has been labeled "alt-country" or "y'all-ternative."
The formation of the band followed the dissolution of Tweedy's previous band, Uncle Tupelo, when co-founder Jay Farrar left and formed Son Volt.
Casual fans frequently conflate all three of those bands.
Wilco collaborated with Billy Bragg on sifting Woody Guthrie's unrecorded lyrics and setting them to music, resulting in the two Mermaid Avenue CD's. I own the first, but have never listened to the second. The first, which I rushed to buy after hearing selected tracks on Austin's KGSR-FM, is the only Wilco recording I've ever owned.
Wilco's album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was the band's attempt to expand its musical boundaries beyond the alt-country corral; fans dug it, but critical response was decidedly mixed.
The band's musical output, written primarily by Tweedy, appeals mostly to a white, middle-class, musical-connoisseur demographic...i.e., quite a few of my friends.

RCV Wins in Maine

19/11/2018

Steve Shepard of Politico says:

Politico's Election Night analysis of the "weird" Ranked Choice Voting system in Maine

If you're just tuning in, this blog has featured multiple entries centered around or casually mentioning Ranked Choice Voting and other Instant Runoff–style systems. The one in which I scolded Samantha Bee for her binary thinking is my favorite of the bunch.

Several days after Jared Golden in Maine's 2nd Congressional district became the first person to win a federal election via Ranked Choice Vote, I'm finally getting around to saying something about it directly here at dbcgreentx.net. And what I'm saying is...I'm psyched. RCV won't always produce the results we want, or even results we can tolerate, but it will reflect the will of the majority. Despite outgoing Rep. Bruce Poliquin's petulant protest (and lawsuit), RCV is also the will of the voting majority in Maine; it worked, and I'm pleased as Punch.

Correspondence with Edie, #2: Abby's Back!

19/11/2018

Note by way of introduction: I am a monthly contributor to the Empire Files Patreon account, currently one of 697 patrons. Not only am I glad to see EF back in production as Edie is (albeit without the budget that working with TeleSur afforded it), but also happy to have helped with its re-emergence.—dbc

*****
David,

Note the DATE on this video, Nov 12, 2018--https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdhIYWb3XVU

I’m hoping that that means that Abby Martin is back—that is to say, that this isn’t an old Empire Files video that was just now posted.

The aforementioned video is excellent, well worth the time it takes to listen to it.

I place Abby Martin in the same category as Chris Hedges, Noam Chomsky and Robert Wolff, in that they are all true radicals—they uncompromisingly deconstruct capitalism, nationalism and imperialism--something that, as much as I love him, Jimmy Dore doesn’t do.

Jimmy still holds on to the illusion that Bernie Sanders will make a fundamental difference. He won’t. Sanders is a useful tool of the Democratic Party, creating as he does the illusion that there is a left-wing to the Democratic Party. There isn't. Sanders only slows down the fundamental changes that MUST take place...fundamental changes standing between where we are now and a global disaster. (dbc NOTE: As Edie well knows, Dore has recently taken Sanders to task for reversing his long-held position on the possibility of reforming the Democratic Party from within.)