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Marching with Lacy Cruse in the Maize Fall Festival

October 20, 2018, 3:26 pm
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By SJ Otto
Today I took part in the Maize Fall Festival Parade of Maize Kansas. I marched with contingent of Lacy Cruse. The march is held every year and local political candidates take part so they can promote their candidacies. Here are some photos of our group.



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Local Kansas Democrats rally to get out the vote

October 21, 2018, 8:14 pm
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By SJ Otto
In the wake of two big time visits from President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence in support of Kris Kobach and other Republican candidates across the state, Democrats rallied the troops, October 21, with a visit by Dan Glickman former Kansas Congressman from the 4th District and former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.
"I was an elected official here for many years,” Glickman said, according to KAKE TV. “I just like to see people engaged."
Glickman has spent the weekend back in Kansas stumping for Democrats like James Thompson, candidate for the US Fourth District House of Representatives, Laura Kelly and Lynn Rogers, candidates for Governor and Lt. Governor, Lacy Cruse, running for Sedgwick County Commissioner, and Kansas Representative John Carmichael among others. They gathered Sunday afternoon at the Machinist Hall in Wichita, KS.
I was there, just in time to see local Democrats speak.[1] Thompson and Cruse are part of a movement to move the Democratic Party to the left. In the past the Democrats have relied on a strategy of raising lots of money, staying close to the center and avoiding controversial issues that might offend voters. That strategy has not always worked and many progressive Democrats are sick of it. Thompson, Cruse and some other Democrats were able to fill Century II, earlier this year, with supporters of both their campaign and the more progressive local Democrats.
“If you have pre-existing health conditions, you better vote,” said Thompson. He added that his opponentRon Estes wants to get rid of the protections that Obamacare (Affordable Care Act or ACA) has given people.
“They will allow insurance companies to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions and deny people health care,” Thompson added.
He also pointed out that Trump and his Republican congress people want to cut back on Social Security.
“They call it entitlements and they are entitlements,” Thompson said. “You paid into them your whole life and they want to take that away from you.”
Other Democrats warned that if Kobach wins the election, he will damage the public schools even worse than Sam Brownback did when he was governor.
This afternoon the theme was to get out and vote. Most of the speakers said that there has never been a bigger difference between the Democrats and Republicans in the state’s history.  It was also announce d that about 40,000 Democrats and independents have signed up to vote in the last week. This could spell a big difference in the outcomes of these elections.


[1] Since I am a Gonzo JournalistI am able to put myself in the story when the need for that arises. This is a part of being a Gonzo that I really like.
Many local Democrats were on hand today.

James Thompson warned Democrats that his opponent Ron Estes wants to cut back on people's health care.

Lacy Cruse was in the Maize Fall Festival Parade Yesterday. 

There was an enthusiastic crowd with lots of Democrats.


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Fox Business host peddles conspiracy theories about pipe bombs mailed to Trump's enemies

October 25, 2018, 12:05 pm
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Since bombs against liberal leaders have been front and center in the news lately, I just had to post something about who ever is sending them. –SJ Otto

From Daily Kos:

Like many in the Fox News lineup, Fox Business host Lou Dobbs has treated his audience to ever-more-dubious rantings and conspiracy theories over the last few years. His routine has gotten meaner, his dedication to hoax-peddling more urgent, and his incessant demonization of liberals, immigrants, government officials, and anyone else that Dear Leader has designated for abuse on any given day has become a regular feature of his “business”-themed show.
Now the Fox host is trivializing and conspiracy-peddling about a pipe bomb sent to a host of Trump’s named enemies, including a rival news network.
For the rest click here.
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It’s Samhain/Halloween a holiday we are all familiar with

October 27, 2018, 3:53 pm
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By SJ Otto
Happy Samhain/Halloween, etc! Most people know this holiday as a time for dressing up, and children getting candy from “trick or treating.” But this was the most important holiday of the year, before Christianity came to Europe. The Druids, witches, Wiccans and other pre-Christian religions saw this day as a kind of New Year day. It was the most important holiday of the year, in which people celebrated the end of the harvest and the beginning of the new year. It was also a time where people believed that spirits could visit the living. That is why many people wore masks. They carved pumpkins out of fruits, such as turnips. (Pumpkins came from the new world, so Europeans didn’t have them).
It is amazing that any of these traditions remain, since Halloween can be viewed as a non-Christian holiday. At one point the Christian Church came up with All Saints Day, for a holiday after Halloween, where people were supposed to dress as their favorite saints and go to mass.

Here are some good Halloween tunes:

Killer Klowns From Outer Space



Marilyn Manson - This is Halloween



Ramones - Pet Sematary

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There is no chance that Donald Trump will shut his big mouth over shooting Jews and fake news

October 30, 2018, 5:56 pm
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By SJ Otto
After 11 people were shot at the Tree of Life synagogue, in Pittsburgh, this nation then goes through the usual pattern of hand ringing and other predictable routines. There is a call by various politicians and citizens for new gun laws. Every politicians in the nation calls out for a discussion on the various gun laws and possible changes to the gun laws.[1] As can be predicted, these calls fall short of any action and they go silent shortly after the passion of the event (usually a shooting at a church or school) cools down. By now, no one has followed through on any kind of change. It’s a pattern and it has persisted now for years with absolutely no variations. No new gun laws have been enacted and we can expect nothing to change.
Here in Wichita there are groups of people who want to roll back the Kansas gun laws that allow people to carry guns without a permit. A lot of people want to require permits before a person can carry a gun. I oppose that because changing it would allow those who have the money for permits to carry a gun while poor people could not carry a gun. The permits are expensive. That means only wealthy people can carry guns if those changes are made. I would rather see the efforts made to roll back the “stand your ground” laws. Those laws seem to shield a reckless person so they can carry a gun. As it stands, a person can shoot the wrong person or kill them over a frivolous reason. Just recently a white man shot an unarmed black man in a fight over a parking space.  
Another problem that may contribute to these church and school shootings is the division and politically charged attitudes that politicians are creating. People are getting fire up from the political rhetoric from speeches and written opinions.
Consider President Donald Trump’s tweets and speeches at his rallies. At first Trump agreed to “ratchet down” the rhetoric that has enflamed people across the country. The nation is deeply divided and people are passionate about their political points of view. Some say that such divisions are responsible for those who have acted out violence, such as Cesar Sayoc who allegedly mailed out all those pipe bombs to Democrats and supporters of Democrats. Then there is the Robert Bowers, who allegedly shot up the Tree of Life synagogue. Acts of hate against Jews and other minorities seem to be way up over the last few years.
At first Trump said he would “ratchet down” his rhetoric against the Democrats and minorities. Some folks are blaming Trump for the rise in hate crimes and verbal attacks by far-right hate groups who feel at ease to attack minorities, such as gays, blacks and foreigners. As Trump crosses this country trying to rally his supporters to support Republicans who are running election campaigns this season, his rhetoric has gotten nasty. For example Trump tweeted:

“There is great anger in our Country caused in part by inaccurate, and even fraudulent, reporting of the news. The Fake News Media, the true Enemy of the People, must stop the open & obvious hostility & report the news accurately & fairly. That will do much to put out the flame...”

Trump just can’t seem to shut his big fat mouth or his thumbs as he tweets his angry and hateful messages. It is not surprising he has made a cluster f**k out of trashing foreigners and aliens who want to come here, such as that big caravan that is coming from Central America, but he has also attacked the news media, calling them “fake news” and “the enemy of the people.”
There are legitimate reasons to want to put the brakes on people who want to come here illegally and join our nation. Trump goes way overboard. He accused George Soros and other Democrats of paying people to come here from Central America. Such an accusation is totally false and completely absurd. He is trying to use these baseless accusations to motivate his base of support to get out and vote. He is trying to create an atmosphere of fear and hate. It is working.
We all have problems with the mainstream news media from time to time. But to insist that they are “fake news” and “true enemy of the people” is a ridiculous accusation. These are obviously made because Trump has thin skin. He can’t handle criticism. The news media may make mistakes, but they have reported on his idiot actions and his downright stupidity and there is nothing fake about that. We can be thankful that the news media is watching Trump and reporting on his mistakes. If any institution is an “true enemy of the people” it is him. We would all be better off if Trump just kept his big mouth shut about a lot of the things he talks about.
We all know Trump is not going to do that. He will keep on tweeting and mouthing off on things he either knows nothing about or he just makes things up. As long as he is president we can count on Trump to fan the passions of hateful people who take their politics just too passionately.  


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Vote for Kelly? It’s a no-brainer—keep Kobach out!

November 2, 2018, 12:28 pm
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By SJ Otto
The big race here in Kansas is the contest for governor. Some races, such as the James Thompson-Ron Estes race will affect the whole country. President Donald Trump needs all the yes-men he can get. He will need and depend on mindless flunkies such as Estes. And Estes is just right for the job—he is a passionless dupe who lacks any real ideas or agenda of his own. Less nation-wide is the governor race.
Republican Kris Kobach is running against Democrat Laura Kelly. Kobach has made quite a name for himself. He started his career out by traveling around the country and looking for ways to suppress voting, with such restrictions as requiring IDs to vote.

According to CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin on Kobach: “Kris has devoted his career to stopping black people and poor people from voting.”
 Such opinions on Kobach’s career are common on the internet. According to The New York Times:  
“Kris Kobach Is the G.O.P. at Its Worst”
And I believe that is right. I’ve already had a few articles on Kobach and the governor’s race. By now it should be a no-brainer. There are the usual hot button issues, anti-abortion, gun rights and anti-gay bigotry—all issues championed by the Republicans. But the real issue in this campaign is Sam Brownback and his legacy. Those of us who lived through Brownback’s miss-rule remember how it was. Schools were seriously damaged. There were shortages of supplies, teachers were fired, days were lengthened to try and save money. The states infrastructure was damaged. All this was based on Brownback’s huge tax cuts for businesses. It was a tax experiment that went terribly wrong. Despite the failures of these policies, Brownback would not turn back. He was an ideologue. He was determined to stay the course and over eight years, he destroyed the state’s ability to function.
It is hard to imagine that anyone would want to return to those dark times, but Kobach does. He is determined to bring back the destructive tax cuts that brought this sate to its knees. He doesn’t care what the cost, he is determined to cater to the corporations he has put so much faith in. No matter how much damage those tax cuts cause, he is determined to bring them back. He also wants to follow Brownback’s determination to destroy any kind of health care for the poor. Brownback refused to expand Medicaid, as other states had done. He sent back grant money that President Barack Obama sent to the state of Kansas because he wanted nothing to do with Obamacare (Affordable Care Act.)
Kobach wants to follow in Brownback’s foot-steps. He wants to give us eight more years of state destruction based on a seriously flawed ideology. It is hard to imagine anyone who wants to return to the bad ol’ days we just went through. But Kobach is in a dead heat in the polls. For whatever reason, many Kansans want to return us to those miserable days.   
To avoid this disaster we need everyone who isn’t crazy to go out and vote for Laura Kelly. She is a moderate centrist and has something Kobach seriously lacks—common sense.
Idiots of a feather flock together!

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Republican dirty tricks- Ranzau sends out a phony mailer right before the election

November 3, 2018, 1:37 pm
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By SJ Otto
I received this mail mailer from Richard Ranzau. He sent out these lying printouts that claim Lacy Cruz is a member of DSA and he sent it just days before the election. That is not even true. This is just plain old red-baiting, a throwback to the 1950s. This printout is liable. He sent it out late enough that Cruz can't respond to it. He is also using dirty tricks that unscrupulous Republicans use when they can't win an election. Votes need to ask themselves: "If the information is relevant, why not release it early so it can be discussed and debated?"



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Voting?—we can’t afford to sit this one out—we have to live in this country

November 5, 2018, 4:11 pm
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By SJ Otto
Tomorrow is Election Day. This is one of the most important elections in a long time. I realize that there are those on the far left, Marxist-Leninists, Maoists and others who believe there is no real difference between the Democrats and the Republicans. Their arguments are sound, but the reality is that the Republican Party, under its leader, President Donald Trump are out to destroy all the rights of workers, the working poor and the poor in general. I don’t agree that there is NO DIFFERENCE between the parties and how they will affect people. Many of us have already voted early.
An example of this is health care. Republicans don’t want poor people or working poor people to have access to health care. They want to help the insurance companies to profit off of the sick. Since Trump came to office, he has worked hard to destroy Obamacare (Affordable Care Act) and he has not made any effort to replace it with anything. The Republicans now have plans to destroy all the protection to those who have pre-existing conditions. They are saying they will protect such people as they stump across the country, but the reality is they plan to get rid of such protections. The truth has suffered under the Republican Party.
Then there are the tax cuts the Republicans are so proud of. They gave big businesses hefty tax cuts, but they took out a lot of tax deductions for people, such as teacher’s abilities to deduct the money they spend on school supplies. What Trump has actually done is to move the tax burden from the wealthy to the poor. Poor people now pay more taxes than wealthy people and some middle class people. There is no fairness to the tax system.
The Republicans have created some issues out of non issues such as immigration. Regardless of what we think of illegal aliens, they are not the major threat Trump claims they are. He is sending thousands of troops to the southern border in a response to poor people, from Central America, who are traveling in a Caravan to the US border to request asylum. What will these troops do?—Shoot unarmed men, women and children? It makes as much sense as using a shot gun to kill mosquitoes.
There is also issue of trade wars, with such countries as China. In the long run, Trumps tariffs may drive up the cost of steal and other materials that we need in this country.
Then there is the general stupidity of Trump. He comes across as an unsophisticated thug. He is one of the most sexist presidents in decades. He has had numerous affairs, and he has been dismissive of sexual assaults of women, such as hispick for Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh.
All of this is a good reason for voters to vote for the Democratic candidates. I realize there are a lot of really bad Democrats who run lackluster campaigns lacking any substantial issues. But the Republicans want to support one of the most damaging leaders this country has ever seen. Voting out his Republican minions is the only way to put the breaks on him. We need to stop him. He may be the worst president since Richard Nixon. Also there some progressive Democrats such as James Thompson, backed by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Everyone is telling us all to get out and vote. Voting is just one tool to try and control and obtain the rights of working people and the poor. We are not just bourgeois democrats. We need to work for the rights of the poor and working poor. Voting tomorrow is just one important tool to help us obtain such rights. By itself voting does little. But this is an important election and we can’t afford to just sit this one out.  

Pix by PinMart.

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So here in Kansas—more and more reasons to vote!

November 5, 2018, 6:16 pm
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By SJ Otto
We have one of the most ridiculous leaders since Sam Brownback wanting to run Kansas or as I should say ruining Kansasto the ground. As a substitute teacher who survived the last 8 years of Brownback, I can attest that those years were miserable. It is crazy to want to return to those years and yet that is what Kris Kobach wants to do. It is almost a suicide plan. But Kobach is serious about it and so is Trump and many Kansas Republicans. For those of us who want some kind of normality, we need to get out and vote for Laura Kelly. She plans to run the state in a somewhat normal manor.
There are several US House races this year. In District 1 Democrat Alan LaPolice is challenging Republican Roger Marshall. In District 2, Democrat Paul Davis is challenging Republican Steve Watkins. In District 3, Democrat Sharice Davids is challenging Republican Kevin Yoder. As stated in the above article there are good reasons to get out and vote for the Democrats in these races. Also the polls look good for the Democrats.
Here in District 4 I have been following the race between slacker Republican Ron Estes and Democrat James Thompson, who was endorsed by Bernie Sanders.  
So let’s not let the state down. Let’s get out and vote Democrat. Unlike a lot of commentators, I am not in the spirit of “everyone vote, no matter who they vote for.” We need to vote for Democrats and save our nation for the “wrecking crew.” If you are a Republican I have no problem with you staying at home tomorrow. It matters who you vote for.

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Election catastrophe avoided—2018

November 7, 2018, 7:28 am
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By SJ Otto
So we avoided a major catastrophe by voting out Kris Kobach. We don’t have to worry about him trashing our schools as Governor Sam Brownback did. We can count on 4 to 8 years of normality. Our lackluster slacker Republican Ron Esteswon the fourth district so he will continue to be a yes man for our Idiot and Chief Donald Trump. He will also continue to support doing nothing on behalf of our health care. He is now the laziest politician in Kansas.
Kansas elected Sharice Davids is the only Democrat to win a US House of Representative seats from Kansas. She can help us put the brakes on Trump.
The one bright spot here in Sedgwick County was the win by Lacy Cruz, over far-far-far right-wing bigot Randy Ranzau. Cruz is one of our local progressives so it will be interesting to see what she does.
For the rest of the election, we can be thankful that our idiot President Trump will not have a blank check to do as he wants—which is to wreck this country and punishing poor people. His far-far-far-far right agenda will be under check from the US House. This country is now badly divided by people who want the Trump agenda to go forward, smashing worker’s rights and the environment all the way. Now we have some people who can stop the march of America’s dullards.

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East High students take on the NRA and gun violence

November 8, 2018, 5:23 pm
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By SJ Otto

It was Tuesday mid-morning, this week, that I saw two women protesting gun violence outside my window at Wichita East High, were I work as a substitute teacher. The girl on the left has a sign that says “Stop the NRA” the other girl had two signs, the first said “No more deaths” with a picture of a gun with a red circle around it and a slash through it. This protest seems to be a follow up to walk outs that were held last March 14 of this year. These students were taking considerable risks since school officials have threatened punishment to students who take part in such walk outs.
I am glad to see such commitment from high school students. We need committed young people who will take on the establishment and not cower down. They may also be young people who are not afraid to take on the Republican Party. The future here in Kansasmay be very bright for some young people.

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Veteran's Day—celebrating arrogance—Which I continue to oppose, year after year

November 11, 2018, 7:39 am
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By SJ Otto
Every year I run an article to commemorate various holidays—some traditional, as Halloween or Christmas. Not being a Christian I don’t celebrate Christmas, but instead I celebrate the Winter Solstice. There are some holidays, Thanksgiving comes to mind, where the tradition involves controversial events or beliefs.
Tomorrow is Veterans Day and it is probably my least favorite holiday in the US. All across the nation, and on my TV, people will honor the brave men and women who fight wars to keep Americathe dominant world power. It is a system of imperialism. It is built on arrogance, violence and war. Not long ago I heard singer Patti Smith say something to the effect, that it is ridiculous that we still have the institution of war in the 21 century. And for the US, this is the most pro-war period in history since World War II. To our leaders, both Democrat and Republican, the entire world is our back yard and they are free to do with it as they want. Gone are the illusion that the world is made up of free people who have the right to decide their own sovereignty and destiny. For this article I’m focusing on one imperialist problem—Afghanistan.
Consider this comment from Luke Coffey, of The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank:

“After the 9/11 attacks, there were two main goals in Afghanistan: First, to deny Al Qaeda a safe haven from which to plan, train, and launch terrorist attacks on a global scale, and second, to remove the Taliban regime from power as punishment for not cooperating with the international community and for harboring terrorism.
Both were accomplished with relative speed.”

This is the longest war the US has fought in modern history. The US accomplished these goals, he lays out, almost immediately after the war in Afghanistan started. The goal now seems to be to completely destroy the Taliban. Al Qaeda left years ago. Now Afghanistan has a US built government which as not been acceptable to all or even most Afghanis. The Taliban is a part of Afghanistan’s political landscape. The USis still trying to punish them for something they did years ago. According to a commentary in The WashingtonPost, Daniel R. DePetris, a writer and fellow at Defense Priorities:

“To believe the Taliban wouldn’t think twice before again hosting transnational terrorists is far-fetched: The group lost its control of Afghanistanbecause of it. Indeed, in the years since, Taliban officials have openly regretted their past association with al-Qaeda.”

Unfortunately no one is listening to DePetris or anyone like him. From IOL:

“The Trump administration has no intention of leaving Afghanistan, despite all of President Donald Trump’s campaign bluster about withdrawing US troops and putting Americafirst. According to Trump, he has now “studied Afghanistan in great detail, and changed his mind."
What lies behind this about-turn is the view of the security establishment that in order to maintain US global dominance, having a plethora of US bases in Afghanistan is imperative.”

Today we will hear quotes by those who have put military service on a religious level as something sacred:

“On this Veterans Day, let us remember the service of our veterans, and let us renew our national promise to fulfill our sacred obligations to our veterans and their families who have sacrificed so much so that we can live free. -Dan Lipinski”

And the bottom line is that line that we will hear over and over again, “we can live free.” But that last line is a lie. We don’t depend on controlling Afghanistanfor our freedom. Our freedom has nothing to do with that. This is all about the national arrogance of a nation that feels a need to control everyone else’s government. It is all about what works well for this country and the lives of those who live in such countries is barely an after thought.
What bothers me most about his is that there is so little debate or discussion on these national issues. I belong to the Peace and Social Justice Center, of South Central Kansas. There are peace groups such as this all across the country. But anyone wanting to find out about them through the mainstream news media will be disappointed. I do all I can to work with that group to promote peace issues. But it seems like I’ve accomplishes little. Most groups, as the one I belong to, are religious. Even though I am an agnostic and a Marxist, I find a lot of common ground working with these people.
So year after year I write these articles and take part in activities with the Peace and Social Justice Center. As of today I don’t see any positive changes coming our way. But I keep opposing imperialism and the unnecessary wars that naturally come with it. Today is no different than last year’s Veteran’s Day.

 

Patti Smith - Without Chains


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Another view of celebrating Veteran’s Day

November 11, 2018, 4:36 pm
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Black Friday starts earlier this year

November 14, 2018, 7:57 am
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By SJ Otto
Each year I writeabout Black Friday, that fabricated holiday that corporate and capitalist leaders came up with to promote an orgy of gift selling and buying. I’ve never really liked this holiday, especially since I am a socialist and this phenomenon is the antithesis of my beliefs, but I have to admit that it is almost amusing, the sheer silliness of it. Most people who take part in this orgy of consumerism wait until the day after Thanksgiving and they get up at ridiculously early hours to buy things no one really needs really cheap at the stores who promote this holiday.
This is a prelude to the Christmas season, two months, or more, of shopping for gifts for family members and friends. People spend a ridiculous amount of money on people who will probably never appreciate all the money, time and effort it took to buy all these gifts for this gift-giving season, based on a holiday about a poor god-man who was supposedly born on this day to promote a religion that seems to have little to do with the actual Christmas holiday.
It almost seems that venders can hardly wait for the Christmas season to begin. Christmas decorations go up in the stores the day after Halloween. Corporations can hardly wait to begin hawking their wares. This year many stores couldn’t wait for the traditional Black Friday sail to begin, so they have started early.[1]Many Black Friday sales have started already.
Every year I make fun of Black Friday and post satirical songs and pictures. This year I’m starting Early to keep up with the stores. I will have another posting for the actual real day of Black Friday, which should be November 23.


Uncle Bernie's Farm

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“Yes we voted—for our own survival!”

November 17, 2018, 9:26 am
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By SJ Otto

There are a lot of communists, Marxist-Leninist and other far leftists who strongly oppose voting. They believe our time is better spent on building up a revolutionary movement that can overthrow our government. They see voting as just a waist of time. Some times such far left people do read this blog.
I hate Republicans and in retaliation I often vote for Democrats. That is not because I really like the Democrats. At times they are no better than Republicans. But I often vote for Democrats as the lesser of two evils. Many of these far leftists refuse to vote for any Democrats. They even hate Bernie Sanders and they consider Bernie and groups such as Democratic Socialists of America to be enemies of their far left parties. Politics can get strange. The Socialist Party USArejects voting for Democrats. They will only vote for socialist parties such as themselves. On the other hand the actual Communist Party USA, does cooperate with Democrats and they do vote for Democrats at times.
I think this year left us with plenty of reasons to vote and that is what I did. I voted.
In this year’s elections we had a man who was determined to stop poor people and many working poor people from getting health care. That was true of both our local Republican for Governor, Kris Kobach and our actual president Donald Trump. Trump wasn’t running, but many people voted for Democrats in US House races across the country, to put the brakes on our idiot president.
Trump is also out to destroy our environment. That is true of most Republicans, such as Ron Estes, our 4rth district US House Representative. He won re-election, even though his opponent James Thompson, worked extra hard and Estes shuffled through the election without doing to much work.  
In my state of Kansaswe had a man, Kobach, who was trying to destroy our public school system. He wanted to carry on what Governor Sam Brownback had done for nearly eight years.
The point of all of this is that the election was not about supporting bourgeois Democrats, it was about survival. Many of us had to live in this state and many more of us have to live in this country. Health care is a matter of life and death for a lot of people. We can’t afford to wait until an actual revolution to fix these serious problems. It could take many years to build a revolutionary movement. We can’t afford to wait all that time. We also can’t afford to let a stupid politician destroy our schools. Those eight years of a decimated school system stole education from a lot of young people and those are years that can’t be replaced.
Richard Ranzau and his fellow right-wingers sent back grant money needed for the WIC program, simply because they didn’t want poor immigrants to get the milk and other products the system provides. There are all kinds of poor people who needed that milk and the other products. Children went hungry due to the negligence of those county commissioners. Their motivations were prejudice and racism.
Voting had a concrete reality for many of us this fall. It was not just a luxury. People’s lives were dependent on politicians to do their jobs and carry on their responsibilities to their constituents. To allow destructive persons to use money and influence to win these seats and then destroy people’s lives was inexcusable. In my opinion it is irresponsible to let out-right criminals to rip us off. It is negligence to let bigots destroy people’s lives. We owe at least some attempts, even if we don’t succeed, to try and take part in these elections.




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It’s the holiday seasons (Thanksgiving/Black Friday) and here is what that actually means

November 21, 2018, 11:18 am
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By SJ Otto 
The official holiday season begins with Black Friday and Thanksgiving. Black Friday officially starts the day after Thanksgiving, which now occurs in more than just Friday usually way before that Friday and then there is that great traditional and religious holiday Thanksgiving.
We could include Halloween as the beginning of the holiday season, but that day is more of a tradition that does not conger up as much money as Black Friday does. Thanksgiving is not a real big money maker, either, but it comes the day before the tradition of Black Friday and that allows for a paired holiday that provides religious tradition as well as consumerism, capitalism, gluttony and an orgy of gift buying and selling. While the average citizen sees the holidays as a chance for families and friends to come together out of love and generosity, which includes gift giving to our relatives and friends, it is also a scam for corporate Americato make loads of money. So this article covers both holidays:

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving claims to have its roots in Plymouth Rock in the 17th century. But that event has little to do with the holiday we celebrate today. Native American Indians and white settlers from Europe came together to celebrate a difficult year, where the settlers were helped by the Native Americans, who helped them grow corn and other new world vegetables. There was three days of feasting on native plants and animals, such as fish and deer, corn and pumpkins. There were also games played. It was a real big bash. From that event until the 20th century, people found various reasons to get together and celebrate a kind of “end of the harvest” celebration.
The holiday we celebrate today was officially established in 1941. A “Thanksgiving” celebration has taken place from various days of the years and inspired by various events, such as the end of the Civil War. This took place of and on throughout UShistory, until the official holiday was declared, by Congress and the President, in 1941. The traditional fixings and food menu, such as turkey, came from a women’s magazine in the 1850s. Thanksgiving is a holiday dominated by Christianity, even though it is legally a secular holiday. Being Christian isn’t necessary to this celebration, but most Christians see it as a time to “give thanks to God.” While it is a nice day to get together with friends and family, it is ironic that we celebrate an event in which white settlers from Europe came together to feast and party with Native American Indians. For most of our history after that this country fought at least two Indian wars and Native American Indians didn’t enjoy all of the benefits of being American citizens until the early 20th century, when they were finally declared to be US citizens.
For a truly ghoulish look at the Thanksgiving holiday see: “American Thanksgiving: A Pure Glorification of Racist Barbarity” –from Humans are Free.
There are some groups of people who find it barbaric to celebrate a holiday by killing a bird and eating it. Some people are vegetarians and don’t take part in eating a dead bird. Some religions oppose eating and killing dead animals.
Pix from People | HowStuffWorks.


Black Friday



Each year I write about Black Friday, that fabricated holiday that corporate and capitalist leaders came up with to promote an orgy of gift buying and selling. To be honest, many people take part in the Christmas season mostly out of a combination of family tradition and religion. Black Friday is promoted as a part of the Christmas season. People buy gifts out of generosity for their family and friends. Capitalist, corporate leaders see this as a great opportunity to cash in and make a lot of money. I started writing about this earlier this month. Black Friday is a truly American idea. It is raw capitalism, a tribute to greed, excess and gluttony.
In years past people got up early, around 4am, the day after Thanksgiving, to go to the malls and stores to get really cheap deals on everything from cars, trucks, TVs, and stereo sound equipment (just about everything is on sale that day). Since the internet is changing the way people shop, many stores are opening up Black Friday days earlier. They make up all kinds of sales for just about any item a person may want.

Santa Claus Used to be a spirit of generosity and gift giving. Today he represents raw capitalism.

The rigid rules against promoting tobacco go back to the 1950s and before that time all kinds of lovable characters promoted its use, even Fred Flintstone.


Bad News - Cashing In On Christmas


  

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President Donald Trump excels as a hypocrite over Saudi Arabia

November 23, 2018, 12:42 pm
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By SJ Otto
If there was an award for the most hypocritical president, Donald Trump would probably win it. Hypocrisy is as American as apple pie. That is especially true of USforeign policy. And Saudi Arabiais probably one of the worst foreign policies of the US. Both countries have handed down political power from father to son, a monarchy type situation.
Every time some one has any kind of relationship to or with Kim Jong Il, the leader of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) , reporters are quick to point out that Kim is a “murderer.” He has a “horrible human rights record,” as any politician or celebrity will be reminded by mainstream reporters. Consider this article I wrote on Dennis Rodman and his trip to North Korea:

“Dennis Rodman is flying to DPRK, with a documentary crew to spend four days helping train a team of DPRK basketball players for a January exhibition in Pyongyang.
A CNN article about Rodman’s trip actually looks more like an editorial then an actual news story.
The article states this opinion as fact: “one of the world's most repressive regimes.”
The CNN article brought up a whole pile of charges made by both the US government and its lap-dog press.”

The point to be made here is that Saudi Arabia has about the same type of human rights abuses. People are executed all the time in that country. Our own CIA has figured out that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is a murderer.
And yet President Trump defied the nation’s intelligence agencies to declare his
unswerving loyalty to Saudi Arabia and its Crown Prince Salman. He made the ridiculous claim that “the killing of Journalist Jamal Khashoggi might never be known.”
We know perfectly well that Khashoggi was ordered to be killed by the Crown Prince.
To be fair, no USpresident has criticized or withheld aid to Saudi Arabia in the last 70 years. Even though this Saudi Arabia is an absolute tyranny, it has received steady US aid and that includes a lot of military hardware. Last year Trump announced a $110 billion arms deal. While North Koreagets sanctioned, Saudi Arabia, a very similar country with a similar human rights record gets to buy weapons of all kinds. Trump simply refuses to acknowledge the fact that Khashoggi was murdered by that regime. It was an out right murder of a journalist who might criticize and expose the tyranny that is so obvious in Saudi Arabia. Trump has said before that the deal he has made involves $millions and will provide lots of jobs. Trump has made it clear he values people’s jobs and the money that his deals bring into the economy way more than the life of just one journalist. He is willing to except that death. He and past presidents refuse to acknowledge that that country has committed many more executions of innocent people than just that one journalist. Such executions are common place and the idea that this was just a single incident is ludicrous. This policy was not just in Trump's making. It represents a policy that puts USmilitary and political power as priority one and it has nothing to do with defense, freedom nor democracy. This is USforeign policy and it is a system for removed from anything that is presented to the USpublic.
This is just one example of Trump’s hypocrisy. Just recently Trump accused a judge of being a Barack Obama appointee upholding Obama’s policies and values. And all of this because of a federal judge who ruled that the administration must consider claims of asylum no matter where migrants cross the U.S. border. Just because the justice ruled against him, Trump has accused him of being a stooge for the Democrats and Obama.
And the list just goes on and on.



Pix by Otto's War Room.

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How U.S. Involvement In Central America Led To a Border Crisis

November 26, 2018, 6:47 am
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How U.S. Involvement In Central America Led To a Border Crisis| AJ+

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Don't Think Twice They're Alt Right

November 27, 2018, 9:55 am
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Dweezil Zappa does Wichita—the music of his dad- Frank Zappa

November 30, 2018, 6:57 am
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By SJ Otto
I'm a life-long Frank Zappa fan, so when I heard that Dweezil Zappa, his son, was playing the Crown Uptown Theatre, November 20, I just had to go. For such a well known celebrity, the crowd was not so big that it took all night to get in. There was almost no line. But there was plenty of people there—a packed house. 
Dweezil mostly played his dad’s music, which was fine with me. He played a lot of the classics, such as Valley Girl and Call Any Vegetable. He also played some of the songs known to his followers, such as The Torture Never Stops and Sleep Dirt, but best of all, he played a lot of the lesser known songs, from such albums as Uncle Meat. That included; Dog Breath and Sleeping In A Jar.
I’ve always heard that Zappa’s music is hard to play and Dweezil said that between the songs they played. He had a large well equipped band and the concert was wonderful. It was a real treat to hear all those Zappa classics.
One thing I’ve always enjoyed about Zappa was his witty and satirical lyrics. Songs, such as Trouble Coming Every Day, about the Watts Riots, I Am The Slime, a slam on the effects of TV, and Porn Wars, a song about Congressional hearings over music censorship. He also did a lot of silly songs making fun of the latest trends, such as Disco Boy.


Dweezil Played center stage.

He had a large well equipped band.
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