In The Memetimes

Without much warning we all crossed over into a 2020 version of the Twilight Zone.  Michele Happe has some great tips to share in dealing with being forced into solitary confinement.  It can be done but you have to be willing to accept some changes.  We talk about taking care of some basics and offer a few specifics.  You can find Michele's contact information on her website and find her new podcasts on Anchor.fm here. For a whole slew of helpful articles on living in a pandemic check this out.

Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me, fool me 3 times and I must be crazy.  Despite the surprising turn of events for Joe Biden, it finally gets us to where we should have been in 2016 and have the conversation that's been sorely missing.  It's time to dispel with all the fear mongering about democratic socialism and its "capitalism with a conscience" and the false promises from the "capitalism of billionaires" who have convinced folks only they know the answers just because they are rich, and take pride in throwing their money via philanthropy to fix problems they created (and often make more money in the process). Just keep repeating: Biden backed by 61 billionaires.  

83.  You should never have to prove your privacy is a fundamental right.  You should also never take it for granted you are safe everywhere on the internet or your trusted apps have your best interests at heart.   Learn about a fast, free and easy way to get started and also start you on the path to even more ways to safely navigate the internet. The information source for this podcast is Three Reasons Why the "Nothing to Hide" Argument is Flawed.   In The Memetimes is a production of BlueRootsRadio, you can send your comments and questions to bluerootsradio@protonmail.com

This is the third and final episode in a series discussing the reality of Russian propaganda and what can be done to neutralize its false messages.  This episode draws heavily from a recently published article by the Rand Corporation: The Firehose of Falsehood. You'll learn why this might work but also what can be done to stop it. If you like the podcast, please share it with friends and be sure to give it a rating and review on iTunes. Thanks for listening, Chris

This is the second in a series discussing the reality of Russian propaganda and what can be done to neutralize its false messages.  This episode draws heavily from a recently published article by the Rand Corporation: The Firehose of Falsehood. You'll learn why this might work but also what can be done to stop it. If you like the podcast, please share it with friends and be sure to give it a rating and review on iTunes. Thanks for listening, Chris

This is the first in a series discussing the reality of Russian propaganda and what can be done to neutralize its false messages.  This episode draws heavily from a recently published article by the Rand Corporation: The Firehose of Falsehood. You'll learn why this might work but also what can be done to stop it. If you like the podcast, please share it with friends and be sure to give it a rating and review on iTunes. Thanks for listening, Chris

This episode discusses the myths, pitfalls and positives of impeachment, how the Mueller report failed and succeeded and the prize that should be in everyone's eye. Feel free to comment on this podcast at the BlueRootsRadio blog.

No one thought at this point in the 2016 election Trump had a chance. I'm thinking that lack of seriousness may be being repeated by the top contenders trying to outflank each other to the left.  Sure I want all that stuff but VOTING IS A PRACTICAL matter.  Republicans vote with their heads, not their hearts. What will win in 2020 is the right mix of doable healthcare and economic reform that will bring Obama/Trump voters back into the fold and pull more disgruntled Republicans who find Trump's ways as repulsive as we do but just won't admit it in public. This is a touchy issue sure to rattle diehard Progressives and that's exactly my intention.  If you want to discuss this online go to BlueRootsRadio where you'll find a blog post with the title of this episode.  Would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks for listening

As promised Michele Happe dropped by to talk about Nevada's great turn of election events and share her thoughts on the national elections.  I didn't hear it discussed in all the cable news I watched, radio I listened to and print media I read on line, but a major factor in the Nevada results is a result of a mass migration of Californians seeking affordable housing.  We talked about this earlier this year on IMT episodes 59-63 but I didn't expect these kinds of results soon. Meanwhile our hearts go out to all Californians suffering the worst disaster imaginable.

The further we get away from the election, the better it looks for the Democrats.  We're finally starting to find ways to deal with the constant cluster fuck that is the Trump presidency.  While people argue politely as to whether the Democrats had a blue wave or failed, they are just wasting their time as there is no way to measure what makes a wave blue.  What is obvious is Republicans took a beating in an off year election getting thumped in many places were considered untouchable just a short time ago.  Sound interesting?  Listen to the podcast, I'm not going to type it all out! ;-)

Feels like we're living in a mixing blender with all that's going on.  Between a national election and having to deal with an out of control nationalistic nattering nabob for a president, it's a freaking chore just to get through the day. Well, it's looking good for the home team if you live Realville, but over in Crazytown it's looking pretty shaky.  All joking aside we're in for a historical day (and days after) once the votes have been counted and found to be free of someone Putin their hand in cookie dough. I'm confident the nation will be steering itself back on track and can't wait to see the outcomes come Tuesday night. Courage people, stay strong.

The Democratic Party is in need of more voters.  Conventional wisdom is to attract voters voters who voted for Republicans or 3rd party or voters who didn't vote at all.  By far the best option is to chase after voters who haven't voted before or in a long time. They are the largest population out there to tap.   To get them to vote and vote Democratic will require the party to offer them a reason in the form of a vision of what the party stands for.  How do you do that in a party that is so diverse economically, racially and culturally?  It's hard but far from impossible provided we can shed the conventional wisdom that has put us in the mess we now don't enjoy. This podcast is a the review of Chapter 4 of "The Wilderness" on Crooked media which you are strongly urged to subscribe to and listen to carefully.  I barely scratched the surface.  

For Democrats 2016 was a year we felt certain right up until the most winnable open election ever was lost.  Some Clinton and Sanders supporters still aren't over it.  That has to stop.  The needless negativity on the left has to stop.  The sense that we can't rise above the crazy Trump shit has to stop.  It's time to realize the final election map of 2016 was really blue if it's a map at the country (not precinct, or county) because Clinton won the popular vote.  She just didn't win a handful of votes in 3 key states. It's time to start acting like winners again. This podcast is a the review of Chapter 3 of "The Wilderness" on Crooked media which you are strongly urged to subscribe to and listen to carefully.  I barely scratched the surface.  

So we've laid out the entire history of the Democratic Party and now are going to look quickly at the 8 years of President Barack Obama as told by a very far left of center Democrat.   As with everything, we all have 20/20 hindsight but in researching for this podcast I came to several realizations having learned more about the obstacles Obama faced and the depth of his convictions. I hope you pick up something new as well. To say "shit's fucked up" is about the only way to describe the current political climate in America.  Democracy is in decline, truth is seemingly obsolete and it's very easy to cave into despair, but don't.  That's exactly what the fascist fucks want us to do.   The major indicators are trending in our favor if we keep the fire burning and expand our boundaries to include everyone who is under the big tent that is the Democratic Party. This podcast completes the review of Chapter 2 of "The Wilderness" on Crooked mediawhich you are strongly urged to subscribe to and listen to carefully.

We pickup where Part 1 of this series left off, 1960.  A tumultuous time on many fronts.  The U.S. was neck deep in a space/arms  race with Russia, Vietnam was suddenly mushrooming, the war on poverty was declared  and the American Civil Rights movement was coming to a head. The situation looked hopeful following the election of a charismatic President, John Kennedy, but the future of 1960 turned out to be disappointing, if not depressing, for Democrats for the coming decade and beyond. Where did the Democrats go wrong? Did they learn from their mistakes and victories?  This podcast completes the review of Chapter 1 of "The Wilderness" on Crooked media which you are strongly urged to subscribe to and listen to carefully.   Thanks for listening

This is a series Cliff-noting Crooked Media's  excellent pod-documentary "The Wilderness" that assesses the state of the Democratic Party starting with a frank discussion of its past, warts and all.  What this IMT series lacks are all the top notch experts and just regular voters who were interviewed in the course of The Wilderness' 15 chapters. This podcast covers from the 1820's to 1960.  The next pod will pickup  from where we left off and end with today.  This will cover Chapter 1 of The Wilderness. The aim here is to provide the highlights of The Wilderness series and hopefully lead to some serious discussion IMT podcasts with present and future members of the podcast team.   If you'd like to participate you can use one of the contact links below.  The only requirement is that you have listened, at least, to the IMT podcast but preferably also The Wilderness chapter(s) it covered. Hope you enjoy this and learn something in the process. Thanks for listening. Contact Choices By email IMT Facebook Gr

Hats off this week to Jane, Kevin, Michele, Mary and Linda for sharing their tips for dealing with the endless stream of bullshit oozing from the White House. These days even the professional pundits, podcasters, and writers are finding it nearly impossible to cope, but all that is changing. It's clear now that all of the distractions coming out of the White House are meant to confuse and divide all Americans, not just between parties but also within. When folks get burned out they tend to get mean and make bad situations even worse. That's why this podcast is focusing how to replace burnout with constructive hopefulness aimed at specific actions that will appeal to a majority of voters, period.  Not just Democratic voters but all voters because we are all Americans with the same basic wants and needs. First step is to admit the problem exists and to decide to do something about it.  Second step is to wean, filter, titrate yourself from all the distracting news and focus on things that really matter. This

Two days after the Kennedy announcement seems more like 2 years.  Hours before the podcast recording we learned of a very troubling connection between the Trump business and the son of Justice Anthony Kennedy.  In the same span of time we've seen an explosion of liberal ideas for fighting the huge fight we face in having a lopsided conservative Supreme Court. One short strategy is to immediately start fighting like hell and refusing to accept the new norm established by McConnell. These will keep Democrats charged up and attract like minded independents and self-exiled Republicans. Next Democrats have to fight like hell to win every race they can from public defender to member of Congress with particular attention on state Attorneys General and Governors because that'w where the GOP has done the worst damage.   We also have to start thinking long term with bold ideas like getting Puerto Rico statehood. Mary, Irmay and Kevin are the podsters this week on IMT. Times have changed and we have to change the wa

The pod was gobsmacked today with news we all had accepted would be coming someday, but just not today.  The SCOTUS is fixing to be turned into a conservative copying machine and it seemed to be a good time to get some first impressions and then see what's going on in 48 hours when we do the regular weekly podcast. Please get the kids out of earshot before you start listening. ;-)

This week Kevin Kraft, Mary Alden-Allard and Michele Happe talk about the first real failure of a Trump policy and if it can be a lesson for future battles against the Liar-in-Chief.  Mary outlines the bias spectrum of today's media from left to right and Michele is thinking about the  best Democratic candidate for President in 2020.    If you'd like to be on the podcast you can connect with the pod on Facebook. Everyone is welcome.