The Wired Street Urinal

The Coronation of “The Don” Close your eyes and imagine yourself in a trench outside Ypres Belgium in 1915. You are a French soldier on guard duty holding a single shot, bolt action rifle and a field periscope to observe the forward ramparts without exposing yourself to gunfire from Germans. The sun is almost breaking the eastern horizon and in the distance you see a faint yellow cloud wafting toward you. [ 3,682 more words ]

The Coronation of "The Don" The Coronation of  “The Don” Close your eyes and imagine yourself in a trench outside Ypres Belgium in 1915. You are a French soldier on guard duty holding a single shot, bolt action rifle and…

My dad was a natural athlete, although golf was his Achilles Heel. He didn’t play golf, he didn’t work at golf, he subverted and corrupted golf. The only time my father ever drove anything 150+ yards straight from the tee was when he was screaming profanities while slinging a 4-wood like an Olympic discus thrower. He passed that gene on to me – I once hurled an electric w**d eater over one-hundred feet at an altitude nearly stratospheric. [ 1,535 more word ]

Links and Bonds My dad was a natural athlete, although golf was his Achilles Heel. He didn’t play golf, he didn’t work at golf, he subverted and corrupted golf. The only time my father ever drove anything 150+ yar…

New Age polling… “likes and shares” becoming the new Electoral College? The data beneath my remarks is from a recent Axios compilation published on Valentine’s Day 2019 and I have not verified the data, but it passes my olfactory exam. For decades, many of us have complained about “sound bites” and slogans making for good publicity… such as “Make America Great Again.” Few question the core premise of these shibboleths; when exactly did America become a banana republic, who is responsible and how did that happen – who can save us? [ 465 more words ]

Prognosis Not Propitious New Age polling… “likes and shares” becoming the new Electoral College? The data beneath my remarks is from a recent Axios compilation published on Valentine’s Day 2019 and I have not verified the …

Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) is one of the lowest profile, soft-spoken members of the U.S. Senate. He is rarely seen taking to the floor, microphone in lapel pocket, waxing eloquently or fervently… and appearing in replays on the news network clips hours later. Most people do not even know his name, yet he’s been in the Senate since 2009 winning two campaigns for re-election. Although dyslexic, he received a J.D. from Yale Law School.

Yesterday was a different day in the Senate, with senators feeling intense pressure and scrutiny from constituents as
the government shutdown reached Day 34 of the impasse, largely due to Trump reneging on his “promise” to build a
wall and have Mexico pay for it and congressional Republicans (led by the “Freedom Caucus”) enabling this position. Ted Cruz, now donning facial camouflage took to the floor whining about Coast Guard members serving without pay. Sen. Bennet could take no more and rose in rebuttal to Cruz’s histrionics. It is reminiscent of Jimmy Stewart in the movie, “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington.” Bennet spoke truth to power – a practice long abandoned in Washington. He addressed the hypocrisy of Cruz, highlighted the big lie of “Trump’s wall,” as well as the near absolute abdication by congressional Republicans to the point of subservience to Trump whimsy. It may well be the best floor address in the Senate I have seen in decades.

Below is Bennet’s impassioned address of thirty minutes – WITHOUT NOTES, REMOVED FROM HIS SENATORIAL
SEAT AND WITHOUT HIS MICROPHONE! (each senator has a cordless mic they normally place in their pocket as they rise to speak). Bennet was so animated, his voice was picked up well by the general chamber microphones! It was no tirade or vacuous filibuster. As he concluded his half-hour extemporaneous address, Bennet invoked the famous remark made by Ben Franklin when asked by a citizen outside Constitution Hall as our Constitution was being debated and written; “Mr. Franklin, what kind of government are we to have – a monarchy or a republic?” Franklin famously replied, “ A republic sir, if you can keep it.” The lesson then and now remains; a democratic republic, just as a garden or a neonate, requires constant nurturance not only to endure but to flourish! Infrastructure is not merely roads and bridges, but it includes our very institutional foundations!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2aO_3-RA00

The abbreviated ten minute version:
https://caching.grabien.com/c/streams/0545/DZ1K1HRTwkvsraRmWL7Nhw/1548472534/545173.mp4?key=DZ1K1HRTwkvsraRmWL7Nhw

Michael Bennet's full speech on the shutdown Sen. Michael F. Bennet (D-Colo.) on Jan. 24. gave an emotional speech on the shutdown and the state of American democracy on the Senate floor. Subscribe to T...