Commonsense Dog
56.7K posts
@dbeeswax
Reality doesn’t bite … it barks.
Democrat Senator Chris Murphy sidesteps Graham Platner's controversies. BRENNAN: Does Graham Platner pass the character test? MURPHY: I haven't followed this story as closely...character also involves standing up to people who are bankrupting and corrupting this country.
I ran for office in CA in 2010--not especially well--but I did get to attend some local Dem party meetings. (I was running as a Democrat.) At one, I think it was in Eagle Rock, I had the misfortune to be preceded by a tall, handsome Latino running for another office. He was charismatic, funny, friendly, articulate, thoughtful. They loved him. This guy is a potential governor, I thought. Then I realized: He's just starting. By the times he's promoted himself to the level where he'd run for statewide office he'll have made so many commitments to so many interest groups --especially, but not only unions--that he'll be indistinguishable from all the other hack party Dems. And if he doesn't do that, he won't get promoted by them. The CA Dem party--statewide and in LA--is a giant machine that produces a certain kind of go-along operator. The prototypical product is someone like Javier Becerra, a nice man, not too smart I'm told, who hasn't achieved much-- whom even the Bidenites didn't think a lot of--but who pays his dues and promises not to thrown any wrenches into the machine. He's experienced! Karen Bass is another product--smarter, but her achievements are actually negative: Her city burned down. She's experienced too! Experience, in this context, *means* being part of the machine. There's no other way to get it. This wouldn't be such a problem if there were in-party Gorbachev-style reformers running around. But none are in sight. It wouldn't be such a problem if there were a competing machine producing equally experienced, unimaginative apparatchiks. Voters could then choose which machine to pick, and by doing so hold the other machine's feet to the fire (if it's possible to hold a machine's feet to the fire). But there isn't a competing machine. There is only one machine: the Democrats. Once (not coincidentally when the state GOP was more viable) the Democratic machine probably served the electorate well. But rot gradually set in, as unions demanded big salaries for less work, as bad teachers weren't weeded out. New non-profit bureaucracies grew up to "solve" problems like homelessness, but they siphoned off a lot of money in salaries--which gave them a vested interest in making sure the problem was a permanent one. Regulations, seemingly sensible in themselves, added up to insanity--as when the heavily populated Palisades burned down because an earlier fire on its outskirts wasn't completely extinguished, in large part because that might have harmed some endangered plant species (resulting in fines!). foxnews.com/opinion/one-ye… Mayor Bass didn't fail. The machine she heads failed. It has stopped serving the voters. The only way to change (or, crazy thought, replace) it is with an outsider--almost by definition someone who lacks the "experience" of placating Democratic interests. That's Pratt. I'm sure he'd make mistakes. (Hard to believe he'd make as big a mistake as appointing his sworn enemies to high positions, the way Trump did in his first term.) But Pratt seems quite willing to correct his missteps. And he has the one thing that a holder of LA's "weak mayorship"--where you have to talk other people into doing what you can't do yourself--must have, which is energy. Following Jim Newton's weary advice is like giving Leonid Brezhnev four more years in 1977. The message: The machine is tackling the problem, and if it's failing that's because our problems are intractable, Nothing can really be done. Maybe incrementally. At great expense. That's what the people with experience say. PS: Newton says it's "gibberish" for Pratt to talk about building big drug treatment facility on federal land. Why is it gibberish? It's entirely conceivable that the Trump administration (or even the Shapiro administration) would give LA a piece of land. Such a facility has been tried in San Antonio with apparent success.
Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony is one of my favorite pieces for a few reasons. It isn’t as widely known as the 5th or the 9th. It shows Beethoven’s range - that he could produce violent pieces characterized by forward momentum, but also pieces that give off a sense of stasis. It ‘tells a story’ and is one of the earliest examples of ‘program music.’ It makes reference to village music - the bassoons in movement 3. It was maybe the first symphony to go beyond the 4 movement paradigm - it has 5. There are other reasons. But if you sit down and listen to it - I can guarantee that you will enjoy it. And if you don’t - that’s your fault, it’s not Beethoven’s.
The average American doesn't even have a passport. Lol
@Bennett_Chrstn @bourne_beth2345 @Sac_TERF_Ca @CIFState @icons_women @hecheateddotorg @Riley_Gaines_ True in California. A boy would need to jump: 6’0” to make CIF-SS D3 Finals 6’2” to make CIF-SS Masters 6’6” to make CIF State Prelims 6’6” again to make CIF State Finals 7’2” to win it But sure, let’s award a “State Champion” medal to a cross-dressing boy who jumps 5’10”.
Spencer Pratt keeps putting out one banger after another! This one might be my favorite! I truly believe he can win this thing!
💥NEW: Spencer Pratt to Bill Maher: “I’m supporting my Jewish friends. The level of psycho Nazi lunacy that came at me to just say that I want my friends and family to feel safe in LA … to see what people experience right now just because of their religion is diabolical.”
Propaganda along I-80 in rural mountain west…
