Rich Tourist Go Home!

If it's an ad hom attack it might just be a Funiciello sighting. This is in the comment thread at an article on the five Dem candidates for Congress in the district.

Gillibrand was a rich tourist (Albany) who used money and a scandal to bring down a bad man BEFORE the redistricting that left the GOP with a solid majority here.

Scott Murphy was a nice rich tourist (Missouri) who was lucky to win but who only squeaked by BEFORE the redistricting.

Bill Owens was a rich white tourist (Long Island) and a Republican who disguised himself as a Democrat and won the seat BEFORE redistricting.

Aaron Woolf was a rich tourist (Brooklyn) who LOST TERRIBLY ... AFTER the redistricting.

Mike Derrick was a rich tourist (Colorado) and a Republican who LOST terribly AFTER the redistricting.

There's much more, but it doesn't get better.

Because they are hapless and unobservant, the Dems are most likely to anoint Dylan Ratigan or Tedra Cobb. They will lose terribly as a result of either of these choices because hating Elise/the GOP/Trump is not really a platform and it will not inspire those much-needed crossover votes.

Told ya! This is the guy that ran as a Green in 2014 and remarkably got 11% of the vote mostly because there was no incumbent, he's local and both the other candidates were portrayed as carpetbaggers. In 2016 it was back to reality as people got to know what a jerk he is and he scored a little over 4%. He has never said a discouraging word about a Republican. 

My comment. Some of that references our last tête-à-tête. Yes, I still want to know if Lynn Kahn is vegan. Now I want to know if she's rich, too.  

Matt, how long has Lynn Kahn lived in the district? I haven't been able to find that. I did find that she's originally from NYC and has written a number of books. And what's her net worth? I want to know if she's a rich tourist like all the Dems you're slamming.

And you told me in another thread that I shouldn't vote for any of the Dems in this race because they're not vegans which I'm not you even know to be true. In any case, you didn't tell me if Kahn was a vegan or not.

After you lost in 2014 you said the Dems needed to run a woman. There are 3 in the race and you're still not happy.

And just because I didn't notice it before:

Out of curiosity Matt, though I still want to know if Lynn Kahn is vegan and if she's rich, why is Owens identified as white. Everyone else you talked about is too. 

Bill Owens was a rich white tourist (Long Island) and a Republican who disguised himself as a Democrat and won the seat BEFORE redistricting. 

I'm wearing my faux liberal disguise tonight. Boo!

Reminder to Ask Lynn Kahn if She's a Vegan

Since Matt wouldn't tell me.

I do not believe that any of these "environmentalists" is a vegan and that is pretty relevant given that livestock agriculture is either 38% or 51% responsible for climate change (depending on whether you believe the EPA or the UN). So, seems like some reading may be in order for all of these candidates. Was plant-based agriculture at least brought up as a topic at the forum? The story does not indicate that it was. Very sad.

As for "Kevin the baker" and his continuing attacks on Greens and Green candidates, the corporate Dems running his war party will take money from anyone who offers it. I am sure that Doctor Kahn, who is NOT from Kevin's corporate party, will take small individual donations from any voter of any party who wishes to support her. What an absurd thing to suggest that she should refuse Republican support ... how could anyone win our solidly GOP district without support from at least some Republicans??? It's patently ridiculous. It sure doesn't look like the Democrats are going to win by running Don Boyajian and hating on Donald Trump but I guess that's really all they've got. I would estimate that 25% of NY21 GOP voters would need to peel off and vote for someone other than Elise to see the district switch hands. So, Kevin, try to slow down your DNC rhetoric for just a minute and actually think about the mean-spirited things you say. You sound an awful lot like John Kerry in 2004 whining about how Ralph Nader had taken about $200,000 in inividual donations when Kerry, himself, had already taken $7,000,000 in individual GOP donations. It's called being a "hypocrite", Kevin. Try not to be one.

I like how he's doing the Trump very sad thing. 

I will vote for Kahn because I have spoken with her at length and believe her to be sincere and goodhearted. FAR more important to me, she is carrying the Green standard into battle with her and my vote always goes to support the building of our principled non-corporate political party. 

That still doesn't tell me if she's a vegan or not. He wouldn't tell me if Jill Stein was either. Should've asked if he'd vote for a Dem vegan over a Green meat eater. Next time. 

A Couple of Stein Stories

I love this one. I love it like the Mooch loves Trump. God, I hope there's something to it.

Third party candidate Jill Stein was a surprising addition this week to investigators casting an increasingly wide net in the congressional probe into Russian interference in the presidential campaign.

Stein’s name was included in a Senate Judiciary Committee letter requesting all communication between President Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. and a number of others, including Russian officials and other members of Trump’s presidential campaign.

Yeah, it's a smear and McCarthyism and blargh! Hope not.

I'd be more than willing to give her a pass on this if it wasn't for Matt Funiciello. That and the general holier than thouness of the Green Party. 

She has made purity a central pillar of her presidential candidacy, and she has held that the Green Party reigns above all others with respect to moral and ethical supremacy. In an interview with CNN last April, she said, “I have long since thrown in the towel on the Democratic and Republican parties because they are really a front group for the 1 percent, for predatory banks, fossil-fuel giants, and war profiteers.”

Yes, that's what I'm talking about. She's invested in mutual funds that invest in companies that include predatory banks, fossil-fuel giants and war profiteers. Not directly invested. But you know what, she doesn't deserve a break for it anyway. 

Stein has invested $995,011 to $2.2 million in funds such as the Vanguard 500 fund that maintain significant stakes in Exxon and other energy companies like Chevron, Duke Energy, Conoco Phillips, and Toho Gas, a Japanese company that engages in the sale of natural gas, tar, and coke, a fuel made from coal.

...

Stein has invested roughly $1.2 to $2.65 million in funds like the TIAA-CREF Equity Index that have big stakes in the financial-services industry. Holdings in these funds include big banks like JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, and Deutsche Bank as major parts of their investment portfolios. Five of the funds that Stein invests in maintain large positions in Wells Fargo, which has come under fire recently amid charges that its employees were pressured to open up fraudulent new accounts for clients.

One of the funds Stein has invested in maintains a significant position in Goldman Sachs bonds. Stein once referred to Goldman Sachs as Hillary Clinton’s best friend.

…

In one of the handful of direct stock investments Stein holds, she listed between $50,001 and $100,000 in the pharmaceutical giant Merck, which paid a record fine for overbilling Medicaid. She has also invested $1,130,010 to $2,400,000 in funds that maintain significant stakes in Pfizer, Novartis, Johnson & Johnson, and Allergan.

…

Stein has between $500,004 to $1,100,000 invested in funds that maintain significant stakes in Phillip Morris International, the tobacco giant that manufactures Marlboro cigarettes and 17 other tobacco brands.

…

(S)he has between $50,001-$100,000 invested in a fund that has Raytheon Corp. as its fourth largest holding, a $38 million investment. Raytheon, which is the fourth largest defense contractor in the world and derives 90 percent of its revenue from military contracts, manufactures drone systems, which Stein has committed to ending, and significant missile systems.

And for the height of dis-ingenuousness. 

Stein said that she has “explored” more socially responsible funds but “found their investments in fracking and large-scale biofuels not much better than the non-green funds. I have not yet found the mutual funds that represent my goals of advancing the cause of people, planet, and peace.”

It took me less than 30 seconds with a web search to find funds that don't invest in fracking. 

Many critics say clean-energy and socially responsible investment funds offer a poor rate of return and should generally be avoided… Which likely explains why Stein chose to invest her wealth in funds that have often offered double-digit returns.

Yes, maybe that's it. And what does Matthew Pureheart have to do with it? 

(I)t was his wife's money and it was made by investing in some pretty damaging and unconscious companies (Monsanto, McDonald's, tobacco and oil companies and several hedge funds to name but a few.)

That was about Aaron Woolf, his Democratic opponent in 2014. I suspect he's referring to Woolf's wife owning mutual funds that invested in those companies and industries and that she's not directly invested in them. I can hardly wait to be in a comment thread involving or including MF and linking to this Stein story. C'mon 2018. 

Fuck the Green Party

John Cole went with fuck Jill Stein. He probably doesn't have a perennial GP candidate running for Congress in his district. A year from now I'll be listening to Matt Funiciello inform me, condescendingly, how there's no difference between Democrats and Republicans. Fuck the whole party.

Stein didn’t just attend the gala—dressed in a shimmering silver shawl, she sat at the same table as Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has barely disguised his glee at the political chaos that what he calls “patriotic” Russian hackers have unleashed in the United States. And she recorded a video from Moscow’s famous Red Square, in which she talked about “the need to rein in American exceptionalism” and replace “a U.S. policy based on domination”—words that sounded like they were ripped from Putin’s talking points.

At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy nut myself, who knows what the Russians are capable of? Yes, I'm aware it sounds crazy. We'll see, though. 

My New Favorite Writer

Benjamin Landry has had two letters in the PS. After the first, I wrote in the margin, "I think I love you." After the second, I know I do.

In 2009, Sarah Palin created the bogey-man “death panel” to scare the public and undermine support for the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). John Boehner and Chuck Grassley fanned the flames of this pants-on-fire lie. We are seven years into the ACA and – surprise, surprise – no “death panels” have materialized to ration care or prescribe euthanasia.

That's the opening paragraph. I believe the way things are going with Republican efforts we will soon have those "death panels."

Saturday saw Mr. Landry taking on Matt Funiciello. 

On Feb. 14, The Post-Star covered a protest at Congresswoman Stefanik’s Glens Falls office. The protesters demanded Stefanik hold town halls to hear her constituents’ concerns, a reasonable request. One conspicuous attendee, quoted at the end of the article, was two-time Green Party candidate Matt Funiciello, who said of the rally, “It’s a good sense of community,” but then expressed “disappointment that national political organizations are attempting to ‘manipulate us into puppets’ from behind the scenes.” 

Funiciello was implying that the rally was organized by a national group, a favorite conspiracy theory of the right wing.

I always say that most of Funiciello's criticism of the Democrats sounds lifted from Alex Jones. 

While Greens have many laudable initiatives and ideals, even Mr. Funiciello must concede that some pragmatism is in order, given the absolute disaster say, of a person like Scott Pruitt being picked to head the EPA. Rather than run another vote-splitting effort in 2018, he should locate a bit of humility and help vet a more viable candidate on the left with strong environmental credentials.

Wow, courtesy. I may have to give that a try in my letters. 

Thanks For the Concern, Troll

All I had to do was put up a post on Jill Stein and magically Matt Funiciello appears. There was a demonstration in Glens Falls yesterday to prompt Elise to have a town hall. And Matt raised his snout.

Matt Funiciello, the Green Party congressional candidate in 2014 and 2016, participated in the demonstration on Tuesday.

Funiciello said he agrees with the demonstration’s goal to raise awareness of issues.

“It’s a good sense of community,” he said.

On the other hand, Funiciello continued, he is disappointed that national political organizations are attempting to “manipulate us into puppets” from behind the scenes. 

Yeah, it's a good sense of community. Too bad Democrats are manipulated by those unseen puppet masters. My comment at the article:

Funiciello continued, he is disappointed that national political organizations are attempting to “manipulate us into puppets” from behind the scenes. 

Thanks for the concern, Matt. I'l try not to be a Democratic puppet. Is the puppet-master Soros, like Shoeless Joe says? 

That's really insulting to say that Democrats an Republicans can't think for themselves. I can see why support is drying up. 

Manipulating us into puppets. Wheels within wheels, man.

The Post Star Disappoints

Really, really disappoints.

It's disturbing to me that my daily newspaper takes the opinions of 5 people on its editorial board and comes to the conclusion that Elise Stefanik is the best candidate to represent me in Congress. The opinion of the Adk Daily Enterprise, Lake George Mirror and Albany Times Union was that Mike Derrick was best suited for the job. The latter two publications saw no reason to even mention Matt Funiciello. 

That's the truly disturbing part. I suppose you can make some kind of case to endorse our current congresswoman. But, no one on your board even registered for Derrick and 40% chose Funiciello. MF has put forth his opinion that there is no evidence that an airplane hit the Pentagon. He has put forth the opinion that the Washington County Board of Elections doesn't take the same care with the voter registrations of minor parties as they do Dems and Reps. He has said that "we need guns to defend ourselves against tyranny and if you don't understand that, you're not paying attention." 

Maybe your editorial board likes conspiracy theories, gun extremism and condescension more than I do. Apparently. And for good measure he feels the residents of the Adks have no need for cell service or broadband. I grew up there. 

I could no sooner vote for him than I could vote for Donald Trump. Two out of 5 on the board? Really?

They are very close to losing my business. I like the idea of a local newspaper and would hate to see it fold. That's why I support it. This makes it very hard to continue to do so. If Derrick wins on Tuesday maybe I'll be overjoyed enough to overlook this. 

Happy Sunday Endorsement

From the Adirondack Daily Enterprise.

We have met with Mr. Derrick more than once and found him willing to answer any question we threw at him. He seems like a good listener, and it seems his stated goal to continue a life of public service is genuine. He is not as jovial as Bill Owens or John McHugh, but he is solid and thoughtful, and does not seem as guarded as Rep. Stefanik.

He also pledges to stand up against those who pollute the Adirondacks.

We hope he wouldn't buy too much into the expended-government solutions the national Democrats are pushing, but that was also our worry with Bill Owens, and he managed to be pretty reasonable and bipartisan. Mr. Derrick, a former Republican, seems familiar in that way.

In the moderate spirit of Mr. Owens and Mr. McHugh, we think he would represent our area pretty well in the House.

I don't believe Mike Derrick can overcome the power of Elise Stefanik's incumbency, but I can dream. Can Trump the Destroyer take her out? Stay tuned. Happy to see they've come around on Matt Funiciello whom they endorsed last time. 

If the Matt Funiciello of 2014 were to run this year, we might endorse him again, but he has changed quite a bit. Debates showed that he has become much more combative in style and radical in policies than he was two years ago. We can't go there with him.

For instance, now he's pushing to eliminate all meat and dairy farms, taking the fight against climate change down a lonely road that only the most extreme environmentalists can follow. And then he says he won't help get federal funding to expand broadband internet because he wants the Adirondack Park to be marketed as a place to get away from the modern world.

He's all that and more. Even if Derrick doesn't pull off the upset I'd be somewhat mollified if MF gets under 6%.

A Not So Hinged Comment From the GP

Heeeeeere"s Matt:

Bravado from the Democratic marketing machine trying hard to sway votes toward one of the two brands of toothpaste the two corporate war parties are trying to sell here. Good luck, Mike Derrick! We have internal polls as well and they show you losing this race more terribly than even Aaron Woolf did. Worse yet, you aren't even running to represent US but because you think that the job is likely to open up avenues of greater wealth for you. The most important thing we've learned is that almost 45% of "likely voters" are still undecided in our district (slightly ahead of the historic and unprecedented national numbers of undecideds). That says to me that you and your corporate buddy, Elise ... and your two corporate war parties ... are just like your two fiendish and horrific presidential candidates ... confused and in trouble. You have no idea what is going to happen. If you weren't so busy "campaigning" on Wall Street and on K Street and were focused instead on the voters in our actual district, you would already know that very few people are drinking your Koolaid. When I am campaigning, here in our actual district, I meet very few people (especially Democrats) who are excited about having a rich, Reagan Republican from Colorado "represent" them. You're not inspiring anyone. Drop out and stop playing this little cynical game with people's lives.

It's Funiciello in a Landslide

Yes, Matt has at least 3 or 4 Facebook posts up touting an online poll from a local newspaper.

It's too funny. I actually wouldn't be surprised if Funiciello starts in on the election being rigged if he loses.

Lucky for me I love barbecued crow. Just in case. 

Final Draft

     Reading Matt Funiciello's political strategy reminded me of that old saying: Quitters never win; they just stay in the race to trip another runner. "If I come in second, it's an amazing forward movement." Aaron Woolf's candidacy was flawed, which I don't believe was totally his fault. Nevertheless, he won Clinton and Essex Counties outright, beat Funiciello by 200 votes in Warren County and had over three times the number of votes overall. Is Mike Derrick such an inferior candidate that the outcome is going to be reversed? And are the local newspapers going to back someone whose goal is to finish second? I'm totally cool with him being endorsed to place.

     
     Over the next few years, Congresswoman Stefanik will have the chance to vote on many pieces of legislation. Derrick's votes on climate change, funding Planned Parenthood, funding the CDC to study firearm deaths, Paul Ryan's attempts to make Trump richer, etc. would not be the same as hers. If she was re-elected. Presumably Funiciello would vote in a similar fashion as Derrick. But, he's admitted he can't win. Mike hasn't quit and actually has a chance of winning. Maybe getting better all the time.

     Let's elect Mike Derrick so Funiciello can spend his time calling on Republicans not to run anyone in 2018. I know, as a Democrat, I've grown tired of hearing it about our candidates for the past two and a half years. And fellow Democrats, remember; this November you have the chance to not only vote against Donald Trump, but also Matt Funiciello. Live green, vote blue!

War With Russia

Just want to make sure I don't lose track of this comment from Matt Funiciello.

Ken, Donald Trump is a racist and a misogynist and a xenophobe and homophobe and so much more. He is a train wreck of a human being. On this point we are agreed. He is a spoiled rich kid who lives inside the rape culture and inside of his own inflated ego and mind. He is the kind of bad man that makes good men (ones who love their wives, their mothers their daughters and their female friends) cringe. We are all embarrassed to share a gender with this creature. That said, we have no evidence that Donald Trump has any support from House Dems at all and very little evidence to suggest he will have any or much support from the GOP's lobbyist pool, either. He really does seem to be an "outsider" to some degree. That means "lame duck" for four years with major gridlock (good thing for us). Hillary Clinton has 3/4 of DC terrified or bought off so her agenda might well be implemented overnight immediately upon her election. That means war with Russia. She will continue the failed war on drugs and the racist mass incarceration that accompanies it. Militarization of police. Fake free trade accompanied by even more rampant job loss. More illegal coups like her awful and brutal coup in Honduras. Trump is a terrible man and a terrible candidate but he's also someone who will never get to do what he wants, politically. Hillary is a proven liar, killer and oligarch who will effect her agenda. Take an honest look at which of these choices is really the least worst and then ... vote for Jill Stein, the only rational non-corporate candidate in the race.

There's just so much wrong with it but:

It seems like a pretty safe bet at this point that HRC is going to be the next president. Guess I'll start digging the bomb shelter for that war with Russia. It's a shame the country won't reap all the benefits of gridlocked government in Washington.

Jill Stein and Trump have one thing in common: love for Vlad Putin.

With Red Square as her backdrop, Stein suggested that we need to “replace a US policy of domination with a way forward based on respect, collaboration, international law and human rights.”

She added, “we’ve seen that vision really resonate here.”

I don't really expect HRC to start a war with Russia. I don't expect her to praise their record on international law and human rights either.

No reply back yet.

Sweet Jesus, I Hate Matt Funiciello

Not really. Jesus said not to hate people and I'm down with that. It's not good for you and it doesn't affect them at all. Bastards.

Anyway. After killing many of my darlings, the LTTE continues in rewrite.

Reading  Matt Funiciello’s political strategy reminded me of that old saying: Quitters never win. They just stay in the race to trip another runner. Are the local newspapers going to endorse someone whose goal is to finish second? “If I come in second, it’s an amazing forward movement.” Don’t sell it short. Miraculous would be a better adjective. Aaron Woolf’s candidacy was flawed, not totally his fault. Despite that, he won Warren County by 200 votes, won Clinton and Essex Counties outright and received over three times the votes Funiciello did. Is Mike Derrick such an inferior candidate those results will be reversed? Sorry. I don’t  pretend well.

Over the next few years, Congresswoman Stefanik will have the chance to vote on many pieces of legislation. Derrick’s votes on climate change, funding Planned Parenthood, funding the CDC to study gun deaths, Paul Ryan’s attempts to help Trump get richer, etc. would not be the same as hers, if she’s re-elected. Presumably Funiciello would also vote in a similar fashion to Derrick. But, he’s admitted he can’t win. Mike Derrick has not quit and actually has a chance of winning. Getting better all the time.

Let’s elect Derrick so that Matt Funiciello can spend his time calling on the Republicans not to run anyone in 2018. I know, as a Democrat, I’m tired of hearing it about our candidates.  And fellow Democrats, remember; this November you have the chance to not only vote against Donald Trump, but also Matt Funiciello. 

By Thursday, when I can actually submit it, it'll be Pulitzer worthy. 

Green Lunacy is Spreading

Apparently it has infected the Post Star. Matt Funiciello is in there today babbling about how he'll be happy to finish second. And they found a few political advisers to agree that "yes, that's possible."

“If I come in second, it’s amazing forward movement,” said Funiciello, who is running in the 21st Congressional District against U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, and Democrat Mike Derrick, a retired Army colonel from Peru, in Clinton County. 

Amazing forward movement is not strong enough. Miracle on the order of fish and loaves.

“If we beat a major party, whether it’s Elise or Mike, that’s never been done in a (three-way) congressional race, ever, as far as we know,”

And it's not going to now.

Funiciello said he is not out to promote himself but to build the Green Party as an alternative party.

And destroy the Democratic Party. 

Latest incarnation of my proposed LTTE: 

I’d like to comment on Matt Funiciello’s latest attempt to extort Democrats into not running a candidate for Congress. Now or ever. “I’m intending to, whether I win or not on election night, announce on election night, that it is time for the Democrats to stop running.” He’s been announcing that since 2014. It’s moldy. “I think what’s going to happen is I’m going to beat the Democrat in this election cycle.” Yeah, okay. As flawed a candidate as Aaron Woolf was; he beat Mr. Funiciello by 200 votes in Warren County, won Essex and Clinton Counties outright and received three times the number of votes overall. “In the next race hopefully Democrats will say, you know what, let’s let Funiciello have a shot at this. Let’s let Greens have a shot at it.” Keep hoping. If no one else runs, I will. And I’ve been living in the district for 59 years and was a Democrat out of the womb, raised on tales of FDR.

Far be it from me to discount the amusement value of the ads the Stefanik campaign would run in a one on one race. I can see some of his Greensplaining, from the recent debate, to the folks in the Adirondacks in a TV spot. He’d be as popular as the APA upstate. And then there are some of his other interesting ideas.

The idea that the Democrats defer to the guy that finished a distant third two years ago makes as much sense as many of Funiciello’s other ideas. If he was a paragon just for not being a member of the major parties, I’d vote for him. He’s not. And by the way, how delusional does anyone have to be to think he has a chance of finishing second? 

Glad I still have 5 or 6 days to rewrite over and over before I can submit it. 

First Recorded Use of the Term Greensplaining

Yet to be recognized by spell check. This is a draft of a letter to the Post Star. Unfortunately, I'm out of letters until September 15. Two per 30 days is the limit and I've been prolific lately.

     I’d like to comment on Matt Funiciello’s latest attempt to extort Democrats into not running a candidate for Congress. Now or ever. “I’m intending to, whether I win or not on election night, announce on election night, that it is time for the Democrats to stop running.” He’s been announcing that since 2014. It’s pretty moldy. “I think what’s going to happen is I’m going to beat the Democrat in this election cycle.” Yeah, okay. As flawed a candidate as Aaron Woolf was; he beat Mr. Funiciello by 200 votes in Warren County, won Essex and Clinton Counties outright and received three times the number of votes overall. “In the next race hopefully Democrats will say, you know what, let’s let Funiciello have a shot at this. Let’s let Greens have a shot at it.” Keep hoping. If no one else runs, I will. And I’ve been living in the district for 59 years and was a Democrat out of the womb, raised on tales of FDR.

     Far be it from me to discount the amusement value of the ads the Stefanik campaign would run in a one on one race. I can see some of his Greensplaining, from the recent debate, to the folks in the Adirondacks in a TV spot. He’d be as popular as the APA upstate. And then there are some of his other interesting ideas.

     If he wants to be the Lyndon LaRouche of New York’s 21^st district, he has every right to. I hope Democrats who aren’t saying “let’s let Funiciello have a shot at this” will join me in making sure he gets less than the ten percent he got last time, though. And even less in 2018 than this November. And on and on steadily until he evaporates. 

 Here's an oldie with MF suggesting, at about 3;30, that he should have veto power over the 2016 Democratic candidate. 

And if you watch all of it you'll see that despite the title, "Funiciello concession," it's very light on any conceding. 

Green Party Saboteur

Is Matt Funiciello's goal to win as representative of the district? Don't be silly.

Then, in a series of interviews, Funiciello declared that he was mostly putting his sights on Derrick, the Democrat from the town of Peru. Speaking with the Watertown Daily Times Editorial board, Funiciello said that he will probably lose the race this year, but hopes to set the stage for a win in 2018.

“I think what’s going to happen is I’m going to beat the Democrat in this election cycle,” Funiciello said. “And I’m going to show that we really better talk together about doing something with the voters who are out there for the next election cycle.”

Yes, he knows he's not going to win, but he wants to so damage the Democrats that they don't run a candidate in 2018. And no, he's not going to beat the Democrat in this cycle. 

It’s unconventional for a candidate to talk in these terms in the middle of an on-going election, not least because Funiciello also says bluntly that many Democrats in the North Country may not support him, even if he is the only candidate on the left. "I think there are many [Democrats] who would support Elise in a third race, honestly," Funiciello said. "Those voters are going to keep voting for war and empire and economic injustice, so long as they've got theirs."

Funiciello went on to predict that a "huge majority" of voters made up of "non-voters, independents, Democrats, Greens and Socialists who are going to say enough is enough" could eventually give him a majority of votes.

Let's go to last night's debate to address that idea of the "majority" he's going to put together in defeating Stefanik one on one. 

Stefanik and Derrick said they are in favor of expanding broadband access into the North Country. Funiciello cited the peacefulness of the area and said he does not want to see “forever wild” land turned over to cell towers.

“One of the things I find most wonderful about the Adirondacks is my phone does not work most of the time,” he said, adding he is more worried about government surveillance of citizens’ activity on the internet.

Leaving aside the fact that it would be nice to be able make a call to AAA or 9/11 if the need was to arise. I spent the first 19 years of my life in the Adirondacks. I remember how widely loathed the APA was because they were outsiders telling park residents how to live. He just took his vote count among anyone who has ever lived in the Park to zero. This is a guy who lives in Hudson Falls and works in Glens Falls and Moreau is saying people upstate have to stay "forever wild" and can't have cell service because it's so wonderful for him not to have it when he's driving through.

UPDATE: I neglected to provide a link to the video of the debate.

In case you don't want to listen to the whole thing. At around 19:00, Matt is telling the farmers of the North Country what they should be producing on their farms. At around 27:00, he's telling the "exhibits" in the Adirondacks how lucky they are not to have broadband or cell reception. And BTW, they should stay "forever wild." Adirondackers love when a flatlander who has never lived within miles of the Park tells them how they should live. I've been gone for 40 years and that still pisses me off to hear it. 

Funiciello Vows to Become a Perennial Candidate

Like I didn't already know this.

Funiciello has a strategy, one that involves edging Democrats out of the race altogether in 2018.

He says that's because of their weak showing with Aaron Woolf two years ago and the similar outcome he expects with Derrick this year. 

And if Derrick does well? I'm sure he'll be back anyway. I'm torn between comparing him to Jason from Friday the 13th or Lyndon LaRouche. We'll go with the scarier choice.

Due to lack of time and interest, I'm not going through the beliefs of LaRouchites. Yikes! It's bad enough being subjected to the beliefs of the Funicielloites. Its' probably safe to say there is some overlap.

Doremus Jessup He Ain't

He probably would fit right in as Buzz Windrip's press secretary, though. Hey, at least I'm not comparing Trump to Hitler. Anyway, I've gotta put up some comments on Mark Hannity's Frost's latest screed against Hillary Clinton. Unfortunately I have no way of linking to it. The piece I'm referring to is titled "Hillary the Hateful." Do you see where it's going? And, of course, she's hateful for calling deplorable people deplorable. Trump can say anything nasty thing he wants, but she has to walk on eggshells.

So, here's the portion of the speech MHannityF prints in his paper.

(Y)ou could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right?

If you go to the link, you'll note that's a mighty small sample. so, let's start the process I like to call de-Hannitization. It's so new spell check doesn't recognize it. OK, here's what precedes that quote.

You know, to just be grossly generalistic,

OK, I'm going to admit that generalistic is not a word. I believe it's not too much of a stretch to intimate she was going for the idea that she was generalizing, which is a word. If that was included though, it would have been harder for Frost to say,

"If Trump is polling at, say, 40%, Hillary thus trashed about one in every five American voters." 

So let's put up some more of HRC's speech that didn't fit into the Chronicle. 

The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic -- you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people -- now 11 million. He tweets and retweets their offensive hateful mean-spirited rhetoric. Now, some of those folks -- they are irredeemable, but thankfully they are not America."

It's not really that long. It does seem to indicate why she might be referring to some of Trump's supporters as deplorable. Let's meet some of them. WhiteGenocideTM, come on down. 

The account, @WhiteGenocideTM, tweets obsessively about white women allegedly raped by various minority groups. “Africans and Muslims rape more than anyone else,” reads one of the user’s retweets. “Don’t let them in.” Many of the tweets are accompanied by the hashtag “#rapefugees,” apparently a combination of the words “rape” and “refugees.”

The account also dabbles in support for Nazi Germany. “Hitler SAVED Europe,” reads another tweet. 

Could just be one bad apple, though. Nope.

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Tuesday retweeted an apparent white supremacist, something he’s done multiple times this election.

"@keksec__org: @realDonaldTrump Your policies will make this state and country great again! #MakeAmericaGreatAgain pic.twitter.com/SWxV3YCbqb"

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 19, 2016

The user, who goes by the name Jason Bergkamp, writes for an online publication called Vanguard 14. According to its website, the publication covers issues like “white nationalism and genocide.” Bergkamp’s bio on the site says he is a “Dutch based journalist writing about European, American and South African events.”

Then there's the made up data suggesting a massive crime wave by blacks against whites. He got that from a Twitter user named "CheesedBrit" whose avatar is a swastika and who says we should have listened to "the Austrian chap with the little moustache."

Far from the last I could put up is the Star of David obtained from a white supremacist message board. 

"The image was previously featured on 8chan's /pol/ — an Internet message board for the alt-right, a digital movement of neo-Nazis, anti-Semites and white supremacists newly emboldened by the success of Trump's rhetoric — as early as June 22, over a week before Trump's team tweeted it.

Having beat the stuffing out of that horse, let's move on with the rest of the quote which Frost commented on, but did not actually provide for his readers.

"But the other basket -- and I know this because I see friends from all over America here -- I see friends from Florida and Georgia and South Carolina and Texas -- as well as, you know, New York and California -- but that other basket of people are people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and they're just desperate for change. It doesn't really even matter where it comes from. They don't buy everything he says, but he seems to hold out some hope that their lives will be different. They won't wake up and see their jobs disappear, lose a kid to heroin, feel like they're in a dead-end. Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well."

And what does he have to say about that? 

"As for the other half of Trump's adherents, she said they deserve 'empathy and understanding.'

OK, so when did empathy become a bad thing. I suppose it helps when you gloss over her actual comments. 

Not respect, but pity.

Oh, I see. You take the word empathy which is difficult to spin in a negative way and translate it into pity which in some lights can be seen as a negative. Very clever. 

In one fell swoop, Hillary revealed both the intolerance and the condescension that so puts off so much of the electorate. 

So, he's criticizing Clinton for not being tolerant towards out and out racists. Shame on her. And I would really love to know where the condescension is found in there. For old times sake (2 years back) Mark Frost is the guy that endorsed a man who said, "We need guns to defend ourselves against tyranny. If you don't understand that, you're not paying attention." I have no problem seeing condescension there. Also over the top wingnuttery. 

Where is the mission to represent everyone, to respect us all. 

It's in the part of the speech you didn't present to your audience so they could make up their own minds. 

But, you say, what does he have to say about Trump?

But Trump is so much worse, they'll counter. 

This is me countering, yes he is!

Matt Trolling the St. Lawrence County Dems

They made the mistake of supporting the Democratic candidate in our district. Matt showed to make a pitch to Bernie supporters, I guess. Here's what he said on his facebook page some time back.

 I have a feeling he's saving himself solely for national media, Joanne.

During my congressional campaign, we reached out to Bernie and were completely ignored.

Ralph Nader has told me that Bernie doesn't ever respond to any of his letters. Nor does his staff.

You could reach out to Bernie's people on my behalf but he's being pretty clear, by running as a Democrat, that he is choosing to not be part of a movement forward.

I certainly wish that, at least, he'd write an essay explaining what he's trying to build by running with a corporatist war party.

Bernie doesn't have the love for the Greens!

Trump Versus Green Throwdown

It's occurred to me, and likely others (if not, FIRST!), that there is an equivalence between Donald Trump and the Greens. I've been comparing The Donald and The Matt for some time. They are both captivated by conspiracy theories. They both employ the ad hominem attack as their primal means of debate. They're both raging narcissists. The crazy is strong in both of them.
   
I had thought that Jill Stein, though I wasn't apt to vote for her, was at least sane (for a Green anyway). Not so, as I previously posted. Something that escaped me until recently was the whole anti-science, neo-Luddite platform inherent in the Green Party. Stein recently revealing herself as an anti-vaxer and the weird beliefs about wi-fi is part of it. There's also the evil of GMO's. They're manufactured by corporations, and corporations are evil through and through, so GMO's must be evil. As a left-winger, I know I'm expected to have a knee-jerk opposition to them. It's like being a right-winger and being expected to automatically deny climate change. God knows I'm not a scientist, but my belief is that there may be some good in GMO's. I do know there are a lot of hungry people in the world.

Some emerging genetic engineering technologies have the potential to create novel plant varieties that are hard to distinguish genetically from plants produced through conventional breeding or processes that occur in nature. A plant variety that is conventionally bred to be resistant to a herbicide and one that is genetically engineered to be resistant to the same herbicide can be expected to have similar associated benefits and risks.

Damn you, Mendel!

   
There's a quip that Green stands for Getting Republicans Elected Every November. Not sure that's fair and I don't want to stand in the way of anyone running for office. I actually want to express my appreciation for them, to some extent. Groups on the right and left have always had the crazy aunts in the basement. The Green Party provides an outlet for that lunacy on the left. It allows us to keep that basement door locked so they can enjoy their own party and play their own games. The Republican Party is missing that locked door. That allowed crazy Aunt Donald to come up the stairs and piss in the punch bowl. The Right is going to need to figure out a way to siphon off the crazy cluster and isolate them at their own little kiddie's table after this election. Good luck to them on that. The punch bowl still has piss in it, though.

Along these lines is a great piece I saw at NCPR. This is a list of 20 important questions presidential candidates should have to address to be taken seriously.

I am hopeful that these questions get their airtime in the campaign. That was the point of formulating them. If nothing else, however, they remind us of just how broadly and deeply these sci-tech issues appear in our daily lives.

I've been reading John Grant recently. He writes a lot about debunking. Most of my letters to the editor are debunking stupidity. Don't tolerate ignorance. Call it out.