I wonder what Susan Collins is thinking today???

I consider this essay, written by the editorial team at Convergence Magazine, a refreshing and necessary break – analytically and practically – from the conventional approach and wisdom of many on the left.

“Our task is to stitch together the left-progressive bloc, and fight to maximize its influence within the broader alliance needed to beat back the authoritarian Right. The Democratic Party is shifting, and while there are still forces in it that see the Left as the big enemy, those forces are weakening; the Democrats are closer to being allies than they have been in 40 years at least. Non-neoliberal policy is widely popular, including among Republicans, and could be a way to get some on the Right to shift to the Left (think of union members who voted for Sanders but not Clinton).There is an opportunity in this opening and in the uncertainty of the waning of neoliberalism to reassert a different, new common sense, something like a Third Reconstruction, a multi-racial social democracy.”

I’ve never been a big fan of the term “corporate Democrat.” In too many instances, it becomes a term of reproach for anyone in the Democratic Party who doesn’t embrace consistently and unapologetically left and progressive politics. Deployed in this manner, it fails to capture the complexity, fluidity, and direction of positions and sentiments among Democratc Party officeholders.

Predictability, it turns allies into enemies, scales down coalition opportunities, weakens struggles electorally and legislatively, and fractures the Demcratic Party and the democratic front at a moment when maximum unity is imperative. If that posture strikes you as wrong headed, counterproductive, and sectarian, then we are on the same page.

That said, I had no problem when Bernie recently labeled Joe Manchin – the Build Back Better killer – as a corporate Democrat. If anyone has earned that title of opprobrium, it is Manchin.

As you would expect, Manchin took issue with Bernie’s type casting of him. In his reply, Manchin said he is a “moderate.” Sorry Joe, you can’t hide behind that claim. Your voting record, public utterances, differences with Biden and Democrats on issues, like BBB, close affinity to everything corporate and, above all, the immense damage you have done over the past two years to the chances of tens of millions of people gaining some relief in these difficult times betrays your claim.

Bernie is right. You are wrong. And no dance or denial on your part can change that fact. Nothing can clean up your betrayal. You’re a corporate man and, objectively, a water carrier for Trump, Fox, and the white nationalist authoritarian right.

The Saudi regime is attempting to buy respectability in the international community via the golf course. And it comes as no suprise that a number of big name golfers, attracted by the big paydays, are jumping aboard the new golf tour, sponsored and financed by the despotic Saudi regime. The PGA tour here is no model of egalitarianism, but still a Saudi sponsored tour is a bridge too far.

A song for this moment. And a voice for the ages!

I only ask of God. That i am not indifferent to the pain. That the dry death won’t find me. Empty and alone, without having done the sufficient.

I only ask of God. That i won’t be indifferent to the injustice. That they won’t slap my other cheek. After a claw (or talon) has scratched this destiny (luck) of mine.

I only ask of God. That i am not indifferent to the battle. It’s a big monster and it walks hardly on. All the poor innocence of people.

I only ask of God. That i am not indifferent to deceit. If a traitor can do more than a bunch of people. Then let not those people forget him easily.

I only ask of God. That i am not indifferent to the future. Hopeless is he who has to go away. To live a different culture.

I only ask of God. That i am not indifferent to the battle. It’s a big monster and it walks hardly on. All the poor innocence of people.