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CDP official Skurnik steals DPOC logo with impunity — no punishment or censure until it’s too late — despite clearly knowing better.
DPOC leaders know that certain of its leading incumbents are using its logo (without permission, I’m told, as any permission would be a campaign violation) in their campaign literature — and so far as I can tell has done nothing about it. In the grand Democratic Party Establishment tradition, favored candidates get to bend and break the rules with impunity — although there may be slaps on the wrist after the cheaters are safely elected — while few without ties to the party would never dare do.
The first person found to have done this was former party Secretary (and CDP member) Anita Narayana, who used it both in a banner ad and — (despite her current position as Presidential candidate Tom Steyer’s Communications Director) — in one featuring Bloomberg endorser Fiona Ma.
Do you get the sense that Narayana was endorsed by the DPOC? You’re supposed to — and it’s not true. The DPOC doesn’t endorse in such races. Most people agree that it can’t!
But that’s not even the worst example of logo stealing this year. That would be Deborah Cunningham-Skurnick, one of the about 20 “Regional Directors” elected by the California Democratic Party membership. That’s right — she’s a state party official and she can’t figure out that you can’t use a party trademark without permission to promote your own interests.
(Or maybe you can — if the party isn’t going to punish you for it.)
The third example I have in hand comes from someone who, so far as I know, is not a DPOC member. It makes me sad because this is someone whom I think would be a good DPOC member (though she’s in a very competitive district, AD-72), and I’m wondering how she got the idea that using the DPOC logo would be acceptable. Perhaps this came from seeing it used by someone else who didn’t have the right to it.
This is your Weekend Open Thread. Use it appropriately.
Oh, this is the weekend open thread? Good, I’ve got a lot to get off my chest. Especially about the vital progressive programs being proposed mainly by Sanders, Warren, and the Congressional “Squad” – that is, “Medicare For All,” the Green New Deal, and radical tuition reform.
Are you getting tired of hearing the “TRILLIONS” these programs will “COST” us? Did you realize that when programs that help the majority and the Earth are discussed, it’s with a pricetag over a DECADE (usually not mentioned) so that it might look like TRILLIONS. While conversely if tax cuts for the rich or unnecessary military hikes are being discussed it’s just for the YEAR, so it sounds like mere hundreds of billions.
For some reason Alexandria Ocaso Cortez explains this stuff much more clearly than Bernie or Elizabeth seem to be able to:
(That’s a long version of what I saw, and some helpful hipster starts haranguing halfway through. I’ll see if I can find the short punchy one.)
Also ignored is all the savings that would come from these programs, which DWARFS the supposedly gargantuan “costs.” Why can’t Bernie emphasize that, make people understand it? I was glad to see David Swanson come out the other day with a great article today that does much better, entitled “How Are We Going to Pay For Saving Trillions of Dollars?”
https://davidswanson.org/how-are-we-going-to-pay-for-saving-trillions-of-dollars/
I’ll quote the first few paragraphs:
“Enhanced Medicare for All — that wild scheme that Michael Bloomberg calls “untried” because it’s only been tested for decades in virtually every wealthy nation on earth — would cost $450 billion a year less than the current U.S. system. In the usual propaganda terms (in which you multiply by ten and then — if asked — admit that you’re talking about ten years) that’s a savings of $4.5 trillion! Let’s be honest and call it $450 billion a year.
“The health coverage debate has gone on for the past century in the United States, during which numerous other studies have reached similar conclusions. The massive savings that awaits us according to these studies, does not include the potential healthcare savings of greater, more reliable preventive care, or of the reduced stress of guaranteed coverage, or the economic benefits of investing in Medicare For All.
“Yes, a single-payer healthcare system involves shifting expenditures from private to public sources. No more do you get to pay your beloved health insurance bills and deductibles and co-pays and out-of-pocket expenses, or in any way contribute to your cherished health insurance companies. Instead, the U.S. government pays. But you, dear reader, pay far less than you do now for a few obvious reasons. (1) We’re saving $450 billion a year. (2) A government capable of enacting a major sensible policy is a government that by definition will begin taxing corporations and billionaires in a reasonable way. (3) All the other savings I mentioned above can be added to from the stress reduction to come from living wages, secure retirement, and the absence of student debt, plus the health benefits available to a society willing to enact a Green New Deal and reduce the poisons being injected into its earth, air, and water.”
David goes on to discuss the savings of a Green New Deal, “which should cost somewhere in the neighborhood of negative trillions of dollars,” reforming education and reducing the military budget. Worth a memorization.
You don’t understand, Vern: even if Canada, Japan, and most of Europe can do it, WE are not as competent as they are! (I’m guessing that that must be the argument.)
Bernie does address this in his speeches, by the way, but doing so in the limited forum of a debate means getting only partway through presenting one of two outrageous truths: there will either be a general tax increase to pay for the programs, or people will have to pay for premiums as a fee (if a tax can’t be passed.) I’d sort of like to see the latter: the comparison showing how much less they will be paying should be impressive. Either way, The 99% will be paying far less — AND people will not be stuck with jobs that they don’t like just for the health insurance.
The real danger is that the excitement of the avalanche of small entrepreneurship that would likely ensue might warm the planet a little bit, but we’ll be able to handle that.
I heard him again on TV today, as well as his right-hand Weaver guy doing the same exact thing: “It’ll cost THIRTY TRILLION!” Which to anybody sounds like a fuck of a lot in one year. Even though it’s over TEN years. And it’s offset by MUCH GREATER SAVINGS.
Guys, this is on the same plane as perpetual energy.
Real shame you can’t figure that out.
Doctors and nurses will not work for less.
How does it work in the many other countries where it works, Ryan?
Here’s a hint: they will work for less if they don’t have to spend such a huge proportion of their time doing paperwork and determining patient eligibility, and a huge amount of their money hiring people to assist them in doing so.
The parts of being a medical doctor that suck go away under single-payer. The parts that led them to want to go to and make it through med school will be pretty much all that they do.
Quality of life: capitalism has a hard time factoring it in.
“Working” and “saving” aren’t the same discussion.
To the latter point, Doctors and Nurses make a lot less.
That will not be tolerated here.
“Not tolerated”? You think doctors are going to go on strike — or start poisoning people?
What’s special about us that makes us unable to abide a decent and just health care system?
DD Don’t
Saw that too! She did explain well.
Are ya’ll gonna write about the whole, “These people raped numerous woman and taped it. No. Now they didn’t. Wait! Maybe they still…did?” Rauh-caca and Sh^#tzer debacle?
1) Would imagine a massive lawsuit is brewing from the “accused”? The Doctor and his girlfriend.
2) Could be one from “victims” too. Especially if they band together. Although sadly, not many victims of sexual assault want recordings of their crime and their trauma garnering MORE attention. Especially now that they have been dismissed as…what? Willing participants?
How many more people need to be hurt and publicly humiliated by these two buffoons before they are done with “public service” and politics?
No matter who is at fault or not at fault in terms of actual crime (though I am a believe the victim(s) until proven otherwise leaner). Anyway you analyze it — they really F*@cked up ANOTHER high profile “case”.
Cleaning up after Racky may not take as long as cleaning up after Trump, but we’ll probably be paying it until long after I’m dead. (That is, unless County Prop A leads to another bankruptcy — in which case we’re OK, I guess, in a way.)
I don’t think I’ve put up this homeless song of mine on the blog yet … You’re One Pink Slip Away, sung by Annemarie and me at the Doll Hut last month. Halfway thru it becomes something of a class warfare anthem, maybe even a Feel The Bern song:
Hey Vern — has Moorlach taken a position on County Prop A?
On the one hand, he hates taxes — but does he also favor rigging the system to make even needed taxation almost impossible?
More to the point, does he really want a charge that could lead the county to another bankruptcy? It seems like that would tarnish his “prophet of doom” image.
The affordable care act works incredibly well if used properly.
That took 8 years to get started so the logical move is to make it available to all and work on what is proven to work.
Only a few like Biden are hard on that course if that is the deciding factor?
We cut our costs by 90% in health care and have our own doctor.
No added tax on anyone that I know of?
Huntington Beach city attorney Micheal Gates posted about a judge in Costa Mesa extending the corona virus patients restraining order for Fairview until next Monday.
And is now allowing everyone to thank HIM for it. He said he attended and listened for 2 and 1/2 hours.
Would a judge even allowed him to do more than that? sit there and listen? What exactly did HE do? Sounds like it was all Costa Mesa officials who would be handling it.
What. A. Sleeze.
And/or what a buncha pathetic worshipful sheep live in HB.
Someone asked in respect to this post how many people would really be interested in what Democratic writers here felt about who was better, or worse, suited to serve on the Republican Party of Orange County Central Committee.
A week before the primary, we now have an initial answer: about 900 hits so far. This next week will add to that, of course.
Yeah I was gonna mention that. Your piece about the one judicial “race” is getting hella hits too.
These are things nobody else has written about, that people want to know about while they’re filling out their ballots.
Ahhh. Mr. Michael (publicity hound) Gates is gonna try and play the hero with the ol’ “Amicus Brief” (friend of the court, right?) filing.
In other words he is drawn to any fear mongering, heavily covered by the news issue that his aging fan club obsesses on. You know pandemic, Mexicans. Butt stuff.
The key isn’t caring about the fan club. It’s those damn sexy CAMERAS! And taking CREDIT. And getting out of having to solve actual problems in the actual city he serves. Homeless crisis? He’s pinned down by (insert partisan bogus rationale) Illegal sober living? He is impotent against (insert voodoo democratic nonsense speak excuse). Massive city wide theft and car break ins? (mumble mumble Capone’s mumble Gavin Newsome).
What a crock. How un American! Creativity, ingenuity. Intelligence. Any problem CAN be solved!
IF you have desire and do the work. Anything can be accomplished. Um, Man on the moon? Michael Gates would be, “Uh, my hands are tied. Uh, Sacramento. It’s because of Sanctuary State…Uh… Capone’s”.
If you cannot do the job GET OUT OF THE WAY for someone who CAN who AND FINDS A WAY. Stop chasing your tail with publicity grabbing NONSENSE. Virtually NO ONE in Huntington Beach is personally negatively impacted by an undocumented Mexican ever. But they ARE by the drug addicted homeless. The illegal sober living houses in their neighborhood.On a DAILY basis. And who hasn’t had a bike stolen? Car broken into?
These are SOLVABLE problems. Stop blaming the state. Find a way. At least TRY. Let’s hear what you WOULD do if you “could”. If you weren’t rendered so helpless by the all powerful forces allegedly holding you back,
Gates?
Come on! Let’s hear it! You have carte blanche. What WOULD you do? Bet all the calamari in the world that you don’t have a clue.