Lately I have been not talking about the social political world as much as I normally do. Mind you, this is not unusual; after Election Day of any given year, my focus of interests turn to smaller yet fruitful observations and ideals that are personally more important. Matters like the holidays (Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, November 30, World Aids Day, Star Wars Day/Steven Spielberg's birthday, Christmas), my five year anniversary of my first paying job and my three year anniversary of my return to the GAP program, Going over my favored movies, music, TV, Web and pop culture events; decorating my home and finalizing a wishlist. Infrequent visits to New York City. And most notably, my relationships with my family, friends, colleagues, loved ones and others I meet.
None the less, I do have dreams. A lot of them are abstract and involve a celebrity popping up at random times and inexplicable reasons. There are others that involve running from an impending disaster. Some of these dreams involve the aftermath of a WMD attack of some kind, usually a nuclear detonation. As often the case when such a dream or nightmare comes forth, I wake up in a sweat and feel momentarily odd; it quickly subsides. Yet the memory, or at least the feeling, lingers.
Be it macabre or an odd obsession, I have been looking at YouTube videos that relate to the aftermath and even the buildup to a nuclear confrontation. For instance, I have been looking at a mid-late 1970's series of public service announcements detailing the need to prepare and survive a nuclear holocaust in the UK. I find it disturbing, for a myriad of reasons. See for yourself.
This has prompted me to look at one of the first HBO TV movies, Countdown to Looking Glass. A rather disturbing fake news account on an impeding nuclear crisis.
How do we know it is only a TV movie? It stars Helen Shaver and Scott Glenn; you can also see Michael Murphy in a small role. Everything else feels like a news broadcast; it matters not that it seems like a Canadian newscast. It appears real.
In a form of symmetry that I find problematic, I have also been looking at Raymond Briggs' other well respected animated adaptation of one of his books. It should be The Snowman, though itappears to be recently When The Wind Blows.
If that was not enough, I found this hidden gem; Nicholas Meyer's Laserdisc commentary of his film The Day After. It is not present on the DVD, so this is rare. Admittedly, it does not hold up as a full indictment on nuclear weaponry unlike Threads or The War Game. Yet still it matters a bit.
With all of these videos seen and related matters, I keep thinking: why am I seeing these videos, and more importantly why is it that many of them take place during the 1980's? I suppose I can give an idea as to why this now concerns me.
Next year, a presidential election will take place. So will other elections. As I have mentioned many times, I am an ardent Sen. Hillary Clinton supporter. With a Clinton presidency again, I and others Know there will not be a nuclear catastrophe inflicted upon us all. Perhaps the same will go for any other Democratic or Independent candidate. There may be even a few Republicans that feel the same way. Yet, I am concerned we get certain Republicans elected that will harm us all. A Donald Trump, Dr. Ben Carson, Sen. Ted Cruz or even a Sen. Marco Rubio presidency will begin the process of a more agitated foreign policy. Indeed, a Carson or Cruz presidency, especially a Carson presidency, is a near guarantee of war as the First option.
I ask you: is it really a sane idea to elect a warmongering presidency? Is it a sane idea to go back to a policy of wars and uncertainty? Is it a sane idea to go looking for someone to blame, when it is obvious the blame is on you and I? I do not think it is a sane idea, and those that I talk with do not think it is sane either. Yet, despite assurances from many of my family, friends and loved ones stating that the people in the US will not fall into this trap; I have my concerns.
Perhaps in a year, this talk and these concerns will be for naught. And yet, though not often, I still have these dreams of impending doom.
I do want to end this essay on a more uplifting note. I had mentioned The Snowman, an animated British special from 1982 that is clearly one of the better Christmas tales committed to film. I found this video a while back; overdubbing the music and songs in a sequence of the animation with one of Steve Hackett's best songs after he left genesis. It fits perfectly well with the visual sequences you see herein.
This Sunday, I and others watched the American Music Awards. Some of the performances were quite excellent; I really liked seeing Coldplay, Alanis Morrisette, Demi Lovato, Nick Jonas, Meghan Trainor and Celine Dion. Yet, the others either had a bit of an off night; or they are not that great singers and performers as one may think. I do not outright hate them; yet I am not one to buy their CDs or hear their new songs on Apple Music and iTunes. Of the leading artists that either performed or were there, I can think of only one band or artist that is among the all time greats:
Coldplay.
The only other artists that come close to being legendary and influential singers that night were:
Alanis Morrisette
Gwen Stefani
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis
Carrie Underwood
The rest, even though I may like them; I do not think they will ever sniff the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, or even receive a Lifetime Grammy, AMA, or MTV award. It is quite clear that the mainstream music scene is running out of ideas.
And yet, there is some good music to still be found. One place that I do find it, apart from the Apple Music service, is the radio station of Fordham University. It is 90.7 WFUV, and it frankly is a godsend. If you want to get a sampling of the best music of 2015, WFUV is the station to go to. In fact, here are some songs I have heard on WFUV released this year that might eventually make my personal best of music list next month. Do have a look and see if you like these.
Adele - Hello
Kurt Vile - Pretty Pimpin
Tame Impala - The Less I Know The Better
Dawes - Things Happen
Josh Tillman aka Father John Misty - True Affection
John Grant and Tracey Thorn - Disappointing
Nathaniel Rateliff - SOB
Dave Gahan - All Of This And Nothing
New Order - Restless
And again this is just a Small sampling of some of the best music one can find: albeit, I doubt I Heart Media will play these songs on their stations, and you can forget MTV showing any of these videos.
One more song. This ties with the Christmas and holiday seasons upon us.
Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You
More observations of the year to come as we draw it to a close.
Earlier today, I went to see the newest 007 James bond movie, Spectre. It was quite good, though this Daniel Craig vehicle felt at times similar to the Roger Moore era. There was something I had noticed during the course of the movie which revealed the nature of false flag inside jobs.
A proposed global intelligence operation is in the planning stages to be implemented in the United Kingdom involving 9 countries. At one point, the proposal wins a majority of votes for approval, yet with South Africa being the lone holdout; the proposed Center for National Security can not go forward. This obviously changes when CNS' financier, the longtime Bond nemesis Spectre, authorizes a false flag terror incident in South Africa. Within days, South Africa joins the CNS.
Now, that was a movie; yet a movie at times reflects real life more so than what our leaders and news media would like for you to believe. Just yesterday, a 27 year old British Arab agent for different organizations (MI5, Islamic State, CIA, KGB, does not matter) was targeted for death by a drone strike. His name was Mohammed Emwazi, known to many as Jihadi John. He purportedly was known for supposedly beheading supposed hostages on camera in a desert. These videos, which I have seen, look fake; all of them. They all follow the same script, with the same cutaway when the supposed beheading occurs. In effect, in order to legitimize President Obama's recent news interview with George Stephanopoulous of ABC News that Islamic State is "contained" (and we wold know since IS is funded by US); Mr. Emwazi was killed.
A little over 24 hours later, and just one day before an important multi-nation conference regarding Climate Change which would include perhaps a plan to end the Syrian wars; purported IS sympathizers coordinated some 6 different hostage takings and dirty bomb assaults in the 10th and 11th districts of Paris, France. As of now, 153 Parisians have since passed away; the largest one day death of French citizens since the end of World War II. I am not sure who is responsible, and I am certain this was not a coincidence in respect to the killing of Mr. Emwazi. However, it would be easy for so many to want to believe this was an us vs. them attack. It usually never is; in fact, the culprits can be found in one's government and financial dynasties. Who benefits, one may think?
The Rothschilds
MI5
IDF
the Military-Industrial-Security complex
A French government under President Francois Hollande that while liberal minded has seen a dip in public trust.
The United States Government.
the War Party.
Social organizations devoted to repressing minorities.
The New Conservatives and their Presidential candidate acolytes in the US.
The Departments of Defense in most Western countries.
Newspaper and traditional mass media; there is always a need to sell product that scares.
CIA
The financiers of IS, which are many and include our own leaders knowingly and unknowingly.
Law enforcement in the United States.
And a number of people and organizations that, you watch, will be willing to make money off of these events. Mostly with bad intentions.
Another question to ask is; who loses? Well, it is not a pretty picture. Along with politically liberal minded and Democratic affiliated people and campaigns, the noted losers are ourselves. Now, this sort of problem may not occur here in America for the time being; yet it sadly seems that a transformation of Europe to a more centralized structure reminiscent of the Catholic religious monolith in the Middle Ages might be forthcoming. Of course, it was planned long in advance for these events to occur; most people will only alter their security concerns when a tragedy of significant proportions is in effect. In all, I am extremely concerned about the reactions that will take place; exponentially from here in the United States should something in the likelihood of another 911 happen.
With that in mind, I urge all of my fellow readers to vote early and vote often for a number of political candidates from the Democratic Party and their supported propositions. In particular, we need to now make it known our endorsement for Sen. and Sec. of State Hillary Clinton in her Presidential bid. Interestingly, this false flag in Paris took place one day before the second Democratic Presidential Debate; making the debate tomorrow a non-issue, as was intended by those against the Clinton or Sanders ideals. Each day that passes seems more and more likely that without our voting, a Republican (Donald Trump, Dr. Ben Carson) will be elected President next year. And then it is back to not only the 2000s, but also the 1980s. And not in a good way. 30+ years ago, we all were as close to death as a populace could be. This was squarely on the hands of the Reagan Presidency and his financiers. Ask yourself; could you trust Trump or Carson with maintaining peace in this world? I sure as heck do not.
A final word: one way a person could tell this is a False Flag is when it is only the common people that are targeted for being killed. No one well known to all needs to deal with being near death, thankfully. If these proposed terrorists were who people say they are; individuals like Presdient Francois Hollande and Josh Homme would not be secured. But again, common people and those we know little about are sent to die; the elite will always be kept safe. I am not condemning the Elite; I am just stating the obvious.
And another thing: Where are any videos of the Eagles of Death Metal concert, if any? Even one concertgoer would film something to bypass a no cameras policy.
Last thing to note: you need to go watch this movie again, if you have not already, We cannot allow our lives to end up like this.
Well, I would have posted this earlier, yet other matters came to the forefront. Since then, while most in the US and the world were focused on the 2016 Presidential Race, in particular the Republican candidates Donald Trump and Dr. Ben Carson; actual elections took place.
As expected, Gov. Phil Bryant (R-MS) was re-elected: Mayor James Kenney (D-Philadelphia, PA) was officially elected: and possible Gov. John Bel Edwards (D-LA) won the Jungle Primary with 39% of the vote. I should point out that the Jungle Primary had actually took place on October 24; I mistakenly thought it was Election Day itself. None the less, it looks like Bel Edwards will win the runoff on November 21, albeit the race is now tightening a bit. What will happen to Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) afterwards remains to be seen. I do think Sen. Vitter will remain in the Senate.
Although not a surprise, Gov. Matt Bevin was elected the Republican Governor of Kentucky. Thus, Kentucky state politics is now mostly led by Republicans in a rather conservative state.
What I do want to focus on are the local elections that took place where I live in the Town of Oyster Bay, New York. A fair deal of the incumbents running for a re-election bid were indeed re-elected. It was not all bad; in Suffolk County, Steve Bellone, a Democrat, was re-elected County Executive. however, Oyster Bay Republican Council members were all re-elected, and Republican operative Angie Carpenter managed to get elected Town of Islip Supervisor. Yet, I had mentioned two important elections that were to take place last Tuesday, and did occur.
First and foremost, Madeline Singas, a Democrat, was fully elected Nassau County District Attorney against her Republican opponent, Kate Murray. It was not even a close race; Singas won with some 54% of the vote! It was obviously clear to a majority of voters that Kate Murray was uniquely unqualified to be District Attorney; and I could go on and name countless reasons why Ms. Murray had no reason to run. Indeed, I am absolutely most ashamed at the endorsements from the leadership of Nassau University Medical Center, along with the policemen's unions in the region, that were full fledged in supporting Ms. Murray. I can somewhat understand Rudy Giuliani's endorsement, as a statement of decreased relevance.
Fortunately, the voting public, and much of the New York papers, saw right through this flim-flam and voted for Ms. Singas. This is a very pleasing vote.
Now, onto the Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor election. It appears that Republican John Venditto, who also happens to be a medical doctor, was defeated for re-election by Democrat John Mangelli. I say appears to be due to the fact that both Venditto and Mangelli received 50% of the vote, and Mr. Mangelli held a 68 vote lead. This race, though, is likely to be protracted beyond reproach and might not be decided on until well after Thanksgiving. That would be enough time for Mr. Venditto to bring forth absentee ballots showing a lead in votes for the incumbent. However, I have been hearing that the absentee ballots came from within the town, thus Mr. Mangelli could also have his votes increase. I am not surprised this came to be a close race; a changing of leadership usually does not involve a more clear-cut outcome.
In short, it appears that in some instances, voters in Nassau County, even in a record of low voter turnout, are welcoming a change in their leadership offices by electing Democrats to replace long standing and complacent Republicans. For much of the rest of the country, not much has changed in the elections last Tuesday. I would be rather shocked and stunned if the Louisiana Gubernatorial Runoff is won by Sen. Vitter, although I am not expecting that to happen. I will have a lot more to say on the Town of Oyster Bay situations soon enough.
In a related note, I am watching Sunday Night Football, and it is the Cowboys vs. the Eagles. Cowboys Defensive player Greg Hardy is playing; a fairly alright player though like most athletes not a decent man. I am seeing NBC Sports people condemn Mr. Hardy's abuse of a white female last year under a psychotic episode. And yet, with one month to go until the NFL's day of reckoning (the release of the Will Smith-Sir Ridley Scott movie Concussion), NBC Sports is whitewashing the situation. So has much of the NFL and its media people. Dollars before people, bros before women, violence before reason, patriotism before intellectualism, and ratings before innovation.
But that's none of my business.
I do wonder what Jim Henson would think of this image popping up.
As most if not all of the United States is focused on the Presidential election in 2016, a race mind you that has yet to become the circus it will be once Pres. Obama announces he is running for a third term; there are indeed elections taking place this coming Tuesday, November 3. These elections are mostly of a local value, though there are a number of statewide elections taking place. One is a Mayoral race and three more are Gubernatorial races.
Philadelphia, PA Mayor Race: In my opinion, the election already happened. Philadelphia is fortunately a leading Democratic city, thus the Democratic primary is pretty much the election. The current mayor, Michael Nutter, has yet to challenge the two-term limit policy bestowed upon the office of Mayor. With that in mind, James Kenney was able to win the Primary last May, and will be at least in an official manner be named Mayor-elect this Tuesday, My congratulations to Mayor Kenney, and hope that we have not seen the last of Mayor Nutter.
Mississippi Governor: Republican Gov. Phil Bryant will be re-elected. This should not come as a surprise.
Kentucky Governor's Race: The current Democratic Gov., Steve Beshear, is not running for re-election. One reason is last year Gov. Beshear was contemplating a run for the Senate for 2016 before electing not to run. In that point in time, Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway announced his intention to run for the Governorship. Along with that announcement, late in 2014 Attorney General Conway received the endorsement of Sen. Wendell H. Ford, a former Democratic Kentucky Senator and Governor who spent 23 years (1974-1997) in the US Senate. Well, Sen. Ford passed away on January 22 at age 90, thus making Sen. Ford's endorsement one of his last for any candidate.
Jack Conway easily won the Democratic Primary, and should be likely to become the Governor on Tuesday. Indeed, until recently, most polling suggested a rather easy victory for Mr. Conway. However, Mr. Conway is facing a rather important Republican favorite in the state with the Republican nominee, Matt Bevin. Mr. Bevin, as you may know, ran in the 2014 Republican Senate Primary against Sen. Mitch McConnell, so a run for the Governorship was never out of the question. Mr. Beivn's campaign has made inroads with potential voters, turning a race that seemed likely to remain Democratic into yet another Republican pickup. The most recent polling suggests both Mr. Conway and Mr. Bevin in a statistical tie. So in this race, I am not sure who will be elected. As I mentioned before, Kentucky has not been a state easily suitable for Democrats since Sen. Wendell H. Ford declined a re-election bid in 1997. None the less, Sen. Ford was a titan among Kentucky politics, and was still well respected long after his Senate career ended. Jack Conway has become the most important Democrat in Kentucky this year, and has the potential to change the Republican grip hold on the state. Yet, now I am not so sure. It is possible Matt Bevin gets elected Governor. Should that happen, it would get more difficult for Democrats to get elected in years to come within Kentucky.
Louisiana Governor's Race: Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal is leaving the Governorship to run for President of the United States, a race that is becoming rather quixotic as the days pass. This is an interesting race in that Louisiana has a system of elections wherein All candidates of any affiliation are on the ballot for this Tuesday. Thus there are multiple Republicans and multiple Democrats running for the same public office. Unless the leading vote getter receives 50% of the vote, which is not likely this year, the top two candidates will continue their campaigns ending in a runoff election to be held November 21. And as of now, the top two consist of a Republican and a Democrat.
The Democrat, state Rep. John Bel Edwards, is currently leading both the jungle primary and runoff polls. Interestingly, the Republican is Sen. David Vitter; a rather risky venture that was supposed to go over well without any problems. And yet, there is a problem; Sen. Vitter willing to trade in 11 years in the US senate for a more volatile elected office in being Louisiana's Governor. Sad to say at times, yet a Senator becoming a Governor rarely yields the same rate of impact and success as when in the US Senate. And in this case, there is an election for Sen. Vitter's Senate seat next year that needs to be considered.
You see, should Sen. David Vitter get elected Governor, he would be able to name his own successor to be appointed to the US Senate and likely have the benefits of incumbency against any potential Democratic or even Republican challengers. However, were Mr. Bel Edwards be elected Governor effectively this Tuesday, then Sen. Vitter will need to consider his political future. I would think Sen. Vitter will run for re-election to the Senate should he not be elected Governor; I do not know if his re-election would be a virtual lock. So, I think Sen. David Vitter will remain a Senator after both the jungle primary and the runoff, and John Bel Edwards will be elected Governor. I should point out thought that Louisiana is a Republican state; so this could change at the last minute.
Now I want to focus on elections far more closest to home. I live in the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York. Unfortunately, while New York is a Democratic State, much of Long Island including Nassau County, is quite obviously Republican. Quite obviously because Republican politics in this area of New York is terminally corrupt. In some functions, the local political scene has not gotten over Sen. Al D'Amato's re-election defeat in 1998; thus what once worked does not in this day and age. Do not get me wrong; Sen. D'Amato and his people have helped out Long Island over the years. Yet their political cronyism and neo-Tammany Hall outlook does not suit well with me.
Of course, now the Republican machine in this county is run by the likes of Kate Murray and John Venditto and Ed Mangano and their lieutenants. Decent people on a personal level, yes. I did appreciate Mangano, the Nassau County Executive, endorsing Gov. Andrew Cuomo in his re-election bid last year. I was classmates with Oyster Bay Supervisor Venditto's eldest son, Nick; I even talked with him on several occasions, including our high school 10 year reunion four years ago. My family and I have even met Hempstead Supervisor Murray and her family quite a few times. Yet, despite that, they are not to be trusted to do the right thing in our social, political and economic matters.
If you want to know why, there have been recent reports regarding the sheer audacity to continue obtaining contracts with a Mr. Singh, who has been negligent on his taxes involving his restaurants. This chiefly involves John Venditto and his seemingly iron grip on Oyster Bay leadership. There is a YouTube channel devoted to exposing these issues, with videos such as this one,
Concurrently, Kate Murray is running for Nassau County District Attorney, running against the current DA, Madeline Singas. DA Singas has had the experience of being a prosecuting attorney and is well versed in legal issues. Ms. Murray, simply stated, does not know the law as she think she does. And yet, here we are with both Murray and Venditto thinking they have their elections sewn to their liking. Mangano, by the way, is not running this year. And to compound these corruption revelations, the recent Venditto and Murray endorsements are rather troublesome. Particularly NuHealth endorsing Kate Murray; a clear violation of neutrality measures needed for hospitals! Including the same hospital where I was given birth and I got treated for lead poisoning!!
Needless to say, I have no intention of voting for any of these Republicans this year. Yet you probably already knew that. I am endorsing DA Madeline Singas to continue her tenure as District Attorney for Nassau County. I am also endorsing Democratic challenger John J. Mangelli to be elected Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor. As well, I am endorsing all Democrats running for the Town of Oyster Bay council and the offices of judges.
I do understand many who are reading this might think this may become a problem if the current Nassau Republican leadership is replaced. A number of them are involved with town offices and will point to my participation with the GAP program since 2012 and continuing, I need to mention; the corruption and ineptness needs to end. I hope and believe this will not change the status of Town of Oyster Bay workers and volunteers, nor would it derail the GAP program and related services. Yet, if changes will need to be made in order to end the corruption and allow for newer leadership; then we will need to adapt when the time comes.
Well, those are my thoughts on Tuesday's elections. I implore my fellow readers to take the time and vote on Tuesday; and if needed, register to vote as soon as you can.
One final note: As this was going to be published, I found word that Sen. and 2008 Republican Presidential Candidate Fred Thompson passed away at age 73. I did not agree with Sen. Thompson's views; yet the Senator was a decent person that had a lifetime of service dating back to his involvement with the Senate Watergate Committee. My thoughts go out to his family and loved ones at this trying time.
