Farewell, Uptown Theater (Washington, D.C.)

Spring is here. Southern Californians are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel after a long year in shutdown, as new cases have fallen dramatically and nearly forty percent of the population has been vaccinated. The Dodgers actually had (a somewhat limited) opening day. We breathe a collective sigh of relief. We have … Continue reading →

Bennet Kelley Featured in Middle Ground Segment on “Online Censorship”

I recently participated in Jubilee Media’s Middle Ground segment entitled “Who is Censored More? Liberals vs Conservatives.” It was a fun experience and the debate was interesting, as we talked about content moderation, combating abuse, hate and disinformation online over 90-minutes. The thirty-minute segment was posted on Sunday and, unfortunately, much of what I had … Continue reading →

Atlanta Killings Demonstrate Need to Take a Stand Against Hate Crimes Against Asian Americans

This week’s tragedy in Atlanta is part of an alarming trend of hate crimes against Asian Americans as a backlash fueled by racism over COVID. It is time for all Americans to stand united against such bigotry. THE CONTEXT: Hate Crime Against Asian-Americans Up 149% According to a report by  the Center for the Study … Continue reading →

What I Learned in 2020

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, I mean it really, really sucked“. With apologies to Charles Dickens, there is no getting around the fact that the end of 2020 was welcome with a global “good riddance” largely due to the pandemic ravaging the globe. But Dickens’ famous first paragraph, … Continue reading →

The Trump Presidency in Seven Words

Published OpEdNews and Daily Kos In 2009, sparked by a poll that asked voters to use one word to describe President Bush, I wrote a piece “The Bush Presidency in Four Words” to sum up the catastrophic failure that was the George W. Bush presidency (an assessment shared by historians who rank him only slightly … Continue reading →

A Compromise Approach to GOP Member Expulsion

Wednesday’s despicable Trump-led coup attempt has put his Congressional collaborators in the spotlight, with calls for several Members to resign including Senators John Hawley (R-MO) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) (who led the Senate effortz) and glock-toting freshman Congresswoman Lauren Baubert (R-CO) (who was tweeting support for the insurrection and even revealed that Speaker Pelosi was … Continue reading →

GOP Senators’ Response to Their 12 Arsonists of Democracy

On January 2, 2021, Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX),  Ron Johnson (R-WI), James Lankford (R-OK), Steve Daines (R-MT), John Kennedy (R-LA), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Mike Braun (R-IN), and Senators-Elect Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Roger Marshall (R-KN.), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) announced their intention to vote on January 6 (when the Electoral College results … Continue reading →

Len Lazarick Sr, 3-Time Purple Heart Recipient, a Reminder That Time and COVID Are Taking Our Last WW2 Vets

Leonard Lazarick, Sr. died on November 30, 2020 from complications related to COVID-19 at the age of 97. Lazarick, was a three-time Purple Heart recipient who fought in the Pacific Theater in Leyte and Okinawa. He was part of the team of more than 130,000 mem from the Sixth Army who landed on Leyte on … Continue reading →

Giving in the Time of COVID – #GivingTuesday2020

Giving Tuesday, which was added to our lexicon in 2012 as a charitable coda to the consumerism of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, is here again. In 2019, Giving Tuesday generated $1.97 billion in donations in the U.S. alone. Given the current COVID-19 pandemic, I intend to focus my #GivingTuesday efforts on some organizations providing … Continue reading →

Sorry COVID Surrender Monkeys, Joe Biden is Still Focused on the Pandemic

A recurring theme on social media is that once Joe Biden won, we would stop hearing about COVID, implying that the Democrats concern over COVID was primarily political. Today, I noticed some of those same people were noting that nobody is talking about COVID now that the election has passed. To them I say, step … Continue reading →

Best/Worst Election Night Memories (1-6)

With election night here, I thought I would update this article I posted in 2014 providing a reflection on some of my favorite and least favorite memories from election nights past. BEST #1 – 1992:  The Comeback Kid Wins Having been involved with the Clinton campaign since 1991, it was an up and down campaign … Continue reading →

Election Night Predictions – Hour by Hour

Below are my predictions for tonight’s results, based on the hour in which polls in a state close. Some states will be quicker than others in counting the totals, with Alaska, Nevada and Pennsylvania being states with close contests where results could be slow in reporting. I predict a strong Biden victory (369-169 in electoral … Continue reading →

I Voted, Have You?

Below are my choices for election day. PRESIDENT / VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN & KAMALA HARRIS I have watched Joe Biden over the years and met him in a small gathering. He is the man you see – just Joe. He has the brains, the steel and the heart to face the daunting challenges ahead … Continue reading →

Ann Ravel for Senate (CA-15)

Originally posted on Cyber Report:
It has not been the practice on this blog to endorse candidates or even political views, with a few exceptions as to attempts at internet regulation that may be misguided. We make an exception on this page (i) because it involves a State Senate district in the heart of Silicon…

Prop 22 Backgrounder

Originally posted on Cyber Report:
In 2018, the California Supreme Court’s Dynamex decision redefined the definition of employee v. independent contractor through an “ABC test” followed by many states, a year later California Governor Newsom signed AB 5 which codified the Dynamex decision with certain exceptions. Under AB 5, a worker is an employee and not an independent contractor unless the…

RIP Ralph Hallow

As Democrats, many of us view the conservative Washington Times as a political enemy and can recount a range of emotions after a conservative friend forwards one of their articles. Today was such a day, as a former Republican Congressional aide sent me the Washington Times announcement of the death of their longtime columnist Ralph … Continue reading →

2020 Swing State Newspaper Endorsements Are Scathing Rebuke of Trump’s Failed and Divisive Presidency

In 2016, only two of the nation’s 100 largest newspapers endorsed Trump (Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Review and the Florida Times-Union). The small number of endorsements received by Trump was unprecedented in American history for a candidate from a major party. History is repeating itself in 2020, but instead of dark warnings of what a … Continue reading →

The NEJM’s Indictment of the Trump Administration and Republicans

Dying in a Leadership Vacuum – The Editors In a very rare step, the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine, the nation’s leading medical journal, have issued a public rebuke of the Trump administration and “our current political leaders” for being “dangerously incompetent” in responding to COVID. “Dying in a Leadership Vacuum” is … Continue reading →

Voting Has Begun, Sign Up to Protect the Vote Now

Voting has begun for the 2020 Election and with it the need for voter protection, especially when the only way Trump can win is to suppress Democratic vote. In 2012 and 2016, I participated in voter protection efforts in the key states of Florida and Nevada. It involves everything from manning hotlines, poll-watching or interviewing … Continue reading →

Two of Florida’s Largest Newspapers Endorse Biden, “Save Our Democracy” from Trump’s “Spectacular Failure”

In June 2019, when the President Trump went to Orlando to launch his reelection campaign, the Orlando Sentinel took the unusual step of welcoming the President with the following headline: “Our Endorsement for President in 2020: Not Donald Trump“. The Sentinel is hardly a left-wing rag, as since 1956 the only Democrats to win its … Continue reading →