Monday, February 25, 2019

ACLU: A Supreme Court Fight For Students Free Speech Rights

Source:Super News World- Back when students actually believed in free speech. 
Source:The New Democrat

If you look at American political culture from the 1960s and 70s, they have a lot of things in common with the Millennial's today in the sense that they both have serious leanings on the Left ( if not Far-Left ) and don't seem to have issues with even with communism, let alone socialism in general and if anything have no issues with being labeled as a Socialist and if you look at groups like ANTIFA, they have no issues with being labeled as Communists and in some cases at least are even self-described Communists. But there's one thing that makes the leftist political activists from 40-50 years ago different from the Millennial leftists activists today and that has to do with free speech.

Source:Upfront Scholastic- As the photo says 
 Back in the 1960s especially the late 60s, free speech protests were about free speech rights and defending the right for young Americans to be able to speak freely. That's what the Baby Boomers back then who were still in college or just out of college were fighting for which was the right to speak freely and advocate for their own political positions whether it was the right to protest against the Vietnam War, civil rights for African-Americans and other minorities, or fighting against censorship as it related to their music and other entertainment. There was a real liberal element as it related to personal freedom and individualism for the political activists of the Baby Boom Generation that we don't see from the Millennials today in most cases.

Source:Mr. Beat- Mary Beth and John Tinker at SCOTUS in 1969 
Today, free speech rallies and protests are about protesting against free speech from people that college activists disagree with and in even some cases hate. We now have comedians whether it's Jerry Seinfeld or Chris Rock even who refuse to perform on campus, because they don't want to deal with the political correctness and censorship on campus there. Millennials today, love their own free speech rights and the First Amendment protection for free speech in America, as well as the people who agree with them, but will fight like hell in order to censor people who disagree with them. And label them as bigots who have no place in their America and don't even have the right to be heard, according to them. The Baby Boom protesters, were the real Liberals on campus at least as it related to free speech and personal freedom. Unlike the Millennials today, who in many cases sound like Communists who don't believe in free speech and personal freedom.
Source:ACLU

Monday, February 18, 2019

Brookings Institution: William A. Galston: 'Is Medicare For All A Trap For Democrats?'

Source:Brookings Institution- Washington: still the capital of the free world. 
Source:The New Democrat

"As the campaign for the presidential nomination heats up, the Medicare for All proposal that became popular with Democrats on the stump in 2018 risks pushing Democratic candidates into a trap in 2020. A political party is asking for trouble when it embraces a position on a high-profile issue that most Americans reject. But it’s not easy for a to avoid this pitfall when a majority of its own members endorse such a position."

From Brookings

"Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) joins MTP Daily to talk about single-payer health care and the "Medicare For All" bill that he is co-sponsoring."

From MSNBC

Source:MSNBC- Yes. Democrats are divided over Medicare For All 
To answer William Galston's question: Medicare For All, is a trap for Democrat and I'll explain why.

Source:The Wall Street Journal- Socialist Democrats?
Back in 1972 had the Democratic Party nominated Senator Edmund Muskie, who was a solid Progressive Democrat, but a Center-Left mainstream Democrat, over Senator George McGovern who was the Bernie Sanders Socialist of him time running nationally against a Center-Right and in many cases Progressive Republican in Richard Nixon, chances are and would depend on what campaign he would've ran, but he probably beats President Nixon in that election. The reasons why Richard Nixon ever becomes President in the first place and didn't win in 1960 has as much to do with to do with who he ran against in 60, 68, and 72 and the Democratic Party during those years, as it had to do with Richard Nixon the man himself. Who was never a popular national figure, at least personally even if Americans liked his foreign policy. party

If anything Donald Trump is even less likable and and more unpopular than Richard Nixon. Whatever you think of Dick Nixon, at least he had a plus approval rating as President and more than two years into his presidency, Trump has never been above even 45% and that was in his first days as President. Which means that Trump can't run for election on his popularity and run a positive campaign, because other than the strong economic and job growth in the economy, President trump really has nothing to run on in a positive sense. Americans clearly don't like him, don't trust him, don't even believe the man, don't even believe he's honest and not just ignorant and unqualified and they believe he's ignorant and unqualified, but apparently disliked Hillary Clinton even more in 2016. Which is how Donald trump, who is nothing more than a reality show star who really has nothing other than that when it comes to his own accomplishments becomes President of the United States.

So why is Medicare For All a trap for Democrats?

Instead of being able to run a positive reelection campaign in 2020, President Trump will be running a campaign against the Democratic Party. He'l be running against those Socialist Democrats ( as he'll them ) and their Socialist Democrat nominee for President ( as he'll call whoever that person is ) who wants to just raise your taxes, spend most of your money for you, take your health care and health insurance from you and make all of us dependent on Uncle Sam for our daily survival. If the Democratic Party and their leader embrace Medicare For All and the so-called Green New Deal in general. But if Democrats nominate a Center-Left Progressive ( which is what Progressives really are and not Socialists ) like a Amy Klobuchar, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Andrew Cuomo, Jay Inslee, ( just to throw out some names here ) than they can not just beat President Trump, especially if they have a solid Vice Presidential nominee, but don't have to run to the middle and be boring to beat the Republican Party in 2020. Which means not just the White House, but winning back the Senate and adding to their majority in the House.

The difference between what's called Medicare For All which depending on what numbers you look would be a new 3 trillion-dollar Federal program, where almost no one knows how to finance that and plus all the lost jobs that would result in eliminating the private health insurance industry, as well as perhaps jobs in the medical industry with hospitals having to layoff doctors and nurses because Medicare simply doesn't cover everything that private health insurers cover and what's called the Medicare Public Option that was almost passed out of Congress in 2009-10 and probably should've been had then Senate Leader Harry Reid used reconciliation on that and he could've gotten it through the Senate with just 51 Democratic votes, is that the private health insurance and health care industry would remain in place. But Americans depending on how the Medicare Public Option would be set up would now have the option to buy into Medicare in their state as if they were buying private health insurance, or keep their private health insurance plan.

I have issues with what's called Medicare For All for multiple reasons.

Perhaps the main one after you get to how huge the new Medicare would be with it now responsible for the health insurance and therefor the health care of about 320 million Americans ( and growing ) with roughly 1/5 Americans not able to afford health insurance at all which would make the Medicare costs for everyone else especially lower middle class Americans more expensive, because they would have to cover their own Medicare costs, plus the costs of low-income Americans whether they're working or not.

Perhaps the 2nd would be me as  Federalist who actually still believes in the U.S. Constitution and that having to do with the 10th Amendment. It would be one thing if the Federal Government decided to eliminate the private health insurance industry and replace it with Medicare For All and allow the states to run their own Medicare program, instead of Uncle Sam trying to run the whole damn program for the entire country himself, because then Medicare For All would be on sound constitutional grounds and not get the 10th Amendment challenges in court that it would be guaranteed to get. And then you would also get some competition between the states about how best to run Medicare in America.

My 3rd issue has to do with the fact that Medicare For All is not only not practical, but not necessary either. You can get to universal health care coverage without having to create one huge and expensive health insurance program. Which is the Medicare Public Option that I've already mentioned. Give Americans of all ages the option to buy into Medicare as if they were purchasing private health insurance.

Similar to Medicaid, allow the states to set up their own Medicare programs instead of again Uncle Sam trying to run the entire new program by himself. And the simple answer to the simple question of how would this be paid for is it would be paid for by the customers themselves. And you could set up a new low-income fund for low-income workers and people who are on Welfare so they could get into Medicare as well, if they choose too. With a Medicare Public Option you could also now eliminate Medicaid, because Medicare would become universal in the sense that every would become eligible for it. You could also even phase out the payroll tax for Medicare, because you now have all this new additional Americans paying into Medicare for their health insurance. Which would be a huge middle class tax cut for 10s or hundreds of millions of Americans.

If Democrats are smart history suggests they might not be instead repeat the history of 1968 and 72, but if they're smart they'll leave the socialism for the Green Party again in 2020 and instead of run as the FDR or Truman, LBJ, Obama Progressive Democratic Party as a party that's not looking to take over Americans lives for them and create a government big enough to run people's lives for them, but instead a responsible government that is able to empower people who are in need to get up and become productive and successful members of society.

As well as be able to represent the entire country as a whole and not just as politicians who are running for a certain wing of the country that wants government to do everything for them, but instead as a pluralist party that represents all Americans and what we have in common as a country that believes that every American regardless of their physical identity and DNA can make it America on their own, if they're just given the opportunity to do so.

Monday, February 11, 2019

Bill Parcells: 'This Is Why You Lift All Them Weights, This is Why You Do All That'

Source:AZ Quotes- Bill Parcells, when he was head coach of the New York Giants.
SourceThe Daily Review

"Pro Football Hall of Fame head coach & front office executive Bill Parcells comes in at #7 on the list of Top 10 Mic'd Up Guys of All Time."

From NFL Films

Source:NFL Films- Bill Parcells, leading the New York Giants to victory in Super Bowl 25, against the Buffalo Bills. 
As someone who grew up just outside Washington in Bethesda, Maryland and still live there, I grew up a Redskins fan and still am, ( even though Dan Snyder makes it harder for me to remain a Redskins and NFL fan each and everyday ) it gives me great pain to say anything nice about anyone who has ever worked for the New York Giants. Especially someone who not just had great success with the Giants, but had great success against the Redskins while with the Giants. The Redskins and Giants, are great rivals.

The only team that the Giants hate more than the Philadelphia Eagles, are the Redskins. And the only team that the Redskins hate more than the Dallas Cowboys, are the Giants. Welcome to the NFC which is just one small, but great family where everyone hates each other. Which might not be that untypical of the modern American family, especially with the current political situation and division. The NFC East is one of those places that's not that different from the modern American family. For example ( pardon my language ) you can all your brother an asshole or even make fun of your father or mother, but if someone else does especially outside of your family does, you want to kick their ass to set them straight. We don't actually hate each other, we even respect it each other which makes it easier to acknowledge greatness from another team in your division when you see it.

When a car company makes a great car, you bet your life that your competitors will see that and respect that. Perhaps even take notes of what makes that car great and why it's so popular. And when another team in your division does something great, or produces someone who is great like a player, or in Bill Parcells case a great head coach, other teams take note of that to see what made that coach so success with that team.

You could argue that what made Bill Parcells a great head coach was his knowledge for football and the NFL. A great ability to see talent and get the most out of the players that he had and of course that's all true. There are maybe 10 different NFL head coaches that knew enough about football and both sides of the ball that they could've been either a successful defensive coordinator or offensive coordinator: Don Shula, Tom Landry, Chuck Noll, perhaps Bill Cowher, maybe Bill Walsh who gets credit for being the great offensive mind that he was, but the man had a great football mind as well and the San Francisco 49ers played his defenses and defenders were his players, not the defensive coordinator's. But one guy who really sticks out as a great football mind at least post-Tom Landry is Bill Parcells.

But as great a football mind that Bill Parcells was in the NFL and especially with the Giants where he won 2 Super Bowls in 5 years in New York ( or New Jersey, depending on your perspective ) and his knowledge of the game both defensively and offensively is an important factor, there's one more factor that I believe is more important and a bigger reason for his success in the NFL and that's his honesty. Like with the Giants ball control power offense where they almost told the defense what play they were going to run, because they only had a handful of both running and passing plays, there was no deception with the Bill Parcells Giants, they were either going to power run or perhaps pull a sweep outside with Joe Morris or someone else, or QB Phill Simms would go play action and hit a post to his TE Mark Bavaro or WR Lionel Manuel and there was also no deception or bullshit ( to be frank ) in how he treated his players. They always knew where they stood with him.

The classic Bill Parcells quote where he's on the sidelines I believe talking to his offensive line during a game and he's trying to motivate them and get them to play harder and he says, "this is why you lift all them weights, this is why you do all that shit!" Telling them the reason why Parcells makes his players work as hard as he possibly can, is not to punish them and to wear them down, but to make them as strong as they can and to make them as great as they.

It's that old Chuck Knox quote when he was the head coach of the Los Angeles Rams in the 1970s when they were at practice and he tells one of those players, "to be a champion, you have to pay the price." Coach Knox, was also famous for working his players very hard. Bill Parcells, wasn't interested in being popular even in New York, but wanted to build champions and he did that they only way he knew how to which was through blue-collar bluntness and hard work and he was very successful with his approach.

Monday, February 4, 2019

PM Entertainment Group: Ice (1994) Starring Traci Lords

Source:Pic Click- Traci Lords, in Ice. 
SourceThe Action Blog

"Also Known As: Caçada Pela Máfia; Inimigo Letal; Diamanten kalt wie Eis; The Diamond Killing; La croqueuse de diams
Year: 1994"

From Tinatra

Source:PM Entertainment Group- Traci Lords, in Ice. 
I don't think Ice is a great movie, but just because a movie isn't a great movie, doesn't mean that it's not good, or at least entertaining and very entertaining. Typical of a lot of Traci Lords movies which tend to be b-movies anyway, ( I mean, we are talking about a porn actress ) there is a lot of cheesy writing in the movie that makes it sound like some action TV show from the 1970s or 80s, that never got off the ground, because the pilot failed. ( Ha, ha, get it ) But typical of her movies there's also a lot of sexy scenes with her in it and I'm not talking about her porn films ( necessarily ) and a lot of good action scenes. Car chases and shootouts., where she's either playing a tough, badass, sexy, gorgeous cop, or in this case a bad girl who gets the bad guys at the end with her husband.

Source:Alamy- Traci Lords and Jamie Alba 
Even with Traci's gorgeous, baby face, she plays a bad girl in Ice. Ellen Reed ( played by Traci Lords ) and her husband Charley Reed ( played by Phillip Troy ) are cat burglars sho steel diamonds from the mafia and the local police detectives are on to them to try to catch them. This is really not a movie about bad guys and girls versus good guys and girls, but more like a movie about dancing with the devil that you know the best with the mafia being the worst devils in this case and the cops trying to use the Reeds's to help them bring down the local mafia there. Not that different from how the FBI an U.S. Attorney's use informants and ex-mobsters to help them bring down the mafia in New York and other big cities in America.

The plot alone I believe makes Ice a very interesting movie. But it's a cheap film like most b-movies and unlike Intent To Kill that did have other stars in it including Traci Lords with Scott Patterson and Yaphet Koto, I don't believe unless you're some Hollywood movie historian and junkie, I don't believe that you would recognize anyone else in this movie other than Traci Lords. But considering that Ice is a movie with a lot of perhaps c-actors and not even b-actors and that Traci at this point at least is probably just a b-actress at this point, Ice is a very watchable and entertaining film. Especially considering what they had to to work with. Sort of like an NFL team that wins 9 or 10 games without any stars on the team, Ice is a good film especially considering what it had to work with.

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