. . .
K “After a dubious election, the ‘D’ division of the ‘War and Wall Street Party’ is taking over from the ‘R’ Division of the ‘War and Wall Street Party’ again.”
J “The ‘D’ Division will send in more divisions overseas and create more divisions in the land betwixt the shining seas.”
. . .
Bumper stickers of the week:
That shit don’t flush
That dog don’t hunt
Panda < Eagle > Bruin; Panda + Bruin > Eagle
. . .
K “The ‘D’ Division of the ‘War and Wall Street Party’ nominated its candidates and concluded its confabulation last week. The ‘R’ Division of the ‘War and Wall Street Party’ nominated its candidates and concluded its confabulation this week.”
J “Both Divisions remain pro-war and anti-peace.”
K “Both Divisions remain pro-Wall Street and anti-Main Street.”
. . .
J “The sets looked like glitzy game shows with the gamesters playing games, selling snake oil and titillating the bases.”
K “And the Democratic National Committee (DNC) did not even have the decency and integrity to invite Tulsi Gabbard to speak. They may have lost the progressive vote. It may be over.”
J “Mark my words, the ‘War and Wall Street Party’ will win in November. We need a viable second party. The ‘Peace and Main Street Party’ is catchy, but will it catch on.”
. . .
[See the e-commentary at “The Choice: Pro War And Pro-Wall Street Candidate v. Pro War And Pro-Wall Street Candidate (April 13, 2015)”, “The ‘War and Wall [Street] Party’ On The War Path (February 1, 2016)”, “The First Look At The ‘Second Political Party’ (January 3, 2011)” and “DNC: ‘We’re Losers. Vote for Us.’ (February 27, 2017)”.]
Bumper stickers of the week:
And the Democratic National Committee did not even have the decency to invite Tulsi Gabbard to speak
Great Meteor 2020 Just End It Already
MOFA Make Orwell Fiction Again
. . .
K “They decided to ‘lose with Clinton rather than win with Sanders’ last year and they decided to ‘lose with Perez rather than win with Ellison’ this year.”
J “I saw something streaming across the bottom of the screen. So they picked Tom Perez over Keith Ellison as the chair of the Democratic National Committee.”
K “As the chair of the ‘D’ division of the ‘War and Wall Street Party’. They decided that their tried and true path to losing is the best way to try to keep losing. They just don’t get it.”
J “They are losers. That’s what losers do. They lose.”
. . .
J “However by fielding the ‘Perez/Ellison’ duo, they do hedge with a ‘Clinton/Sanders’ dyad.”
K “When you get right down to it, the Democratic National Committee is really the Democratic National Corporation, Inc. with five hundred wealthy shareholders known as super delegates beholden to the war industry and Wall Street.”
J “And all the shareholder derivative actions brought by the helpless villagers are repeatedly repelled.”
. . .
[See “Democrats Elect Thomas Perez, Establishment Favorite, as Party Chairman” in “The New York Times” by Jonathan Martin dated February 25, 2017.]
[See the e-commentary at “The First Look At The ‘Second Political Party’ (January 3, 2011).”]
Bumper sticker of the week:
“They are losers. That’s what losers do. They lose.”
. . .
K “The ‘D’ division of the War and Wall Street Party foisted a candidate who passionately believes in pursuing war and protecting Wall Street. The ‘R’ division of the W.W. Party forwarded a candidate who may not be as passionate about pursuing war and protecting Wall Street but then with him who the devil knows. He is a nativistic, nihilistic and narcissistic nut job.”
J “Add Nazistic to that list. And misogynistic, racistic, and xenophobic.”
. . .
K “He is also supported by the Middle Finger Party. Some of the more reflective people who support The Donald are thoroughly disgusted with a government and economic system that is corrupt to the core.”
J “The Middle Finger Party is not the Middle Way Party.”
K “I am confident that the only profitable party – The War and Wall Street Party – is the Wrong Way Party.”
. . .
K “Her entourage includes punks, thugs, grifters, drifters, shop lifters, lifers, ex-cons, cons, future cons, neo-cons, neo-libs, criminals, war criminals, war mongers, inside traders, outside traders, traitors, terrorists, ne’er–do–wells and cattle rustlers (hereinafter “Kennedy School/Goldman Sachs” archetypes).”
J “His gang includes punks, thugs, grifters, drifters, shop lifters, lifers, ex-cons, cons, future cons, neo-cons, neo-libs, criminals, war criminals, war mongers, inside traders, outside traders, traitors, terrorists, ne’er–do–wells and cattle rustlers (hereinafter “Wharton School/Fly By Night REIT” archetypes). But we do not even know who he will put on the public payroll.”
. . .
K “Clinton is a globalist and Trump is a nationalist.”
J “So that means that Clinton will usher in a World War and Trump will usher in a Civil War.”
K “They do not call it the Peace and Wall Street Party.”
. . .
J “I concede that Clinton privately supports and will sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership because it benefits the international corporations that fund and bribe Clinton, Inc.”
K “Trump’s challenges to the international trade agreements, if genuine, are challenging because truly free trade can provide mutual benefits to many but not all. He cannot reject all of the treaties carte blanche with executive orders.”
. . .
K “Three score years ago, Adlai Stevenson ran against Dwight Eisenhower. Statesmen both. The nation could not go wrong with either candidate.”
J “In two generations, a ‘win-win’ option then is replaced with a ‘lose-lose’ dilemma now. That must be what they call progress.”
. . .
J “Vote against Trump. And for Clinton.”
K “In the final analysis, it all comes down to the Supreme Court. Vote for the crook over the crazy man. With extraordinary reluctance. Then despair.”
J “It has gotten old.”
. . .
J “Vote.”
K “Vote.”
. . .
[See the e-commentary at “Better the crook we know than the crazy man we don’t? Applying The Conservative Tie Breaker. (June 20, 2016)”, “The ‘War and Wall [Street] Party’ On The War Path (February 1, 2016)”, “The Donald: The Consummate Republican. Sort Of. (March 28, 2016)”, “On Male ‘Diss’ ‘Coarse’ And Electioneering (March 21, 2016)”, “A Second Party: Trump or Sanders? (March 14, 2015)”, “Trans-Pacific Partnership / United Nations Convention On The Law Of The Sea (May 25, 2015)” and “The First Look At The ‘Second Political Party’ (January 3, 2011).”)
Bumper stickers of the week:
Vote.
Vote Clinton. With extraordinary reluctance. Then despair.
. . .
K “Better the crook we know than the crazy man we don’t?”
J “You sure?”
. . .
K “Better the crazy crook we know than the crooked crazy man we don’t?”
J “You sure?”
K “Better the war-savoring, crazy crook we know than the xenophobic, crooked, crazy man we don’t?”
J “You sure?”
K “Better the war-savoring and Wall Street-favoring, crazy crook we know than the xenophobic, bigoted, crooked, crazy man we don’t?”
J “You sure?”
K “Better the lying, war-savoring and Wall Street-favoring, crazy crook we know than the lying, xenophobic, bigoted, crooked, crazy man we don’t?”
J “You sure?”
. . .
J “We are now stuck with two presumptuous Presidential nominees and zero hope.”
K “Clinton is part of the problem; the Donald does not even understand the problem. Full stop.”
J “I’m sure that we have a problem.”
. . .
K “The conservatives resolve these conundrums by resorting to the aphorism: ‘Better the devil we know than the devil we don’t.’”
J “I sure don’t know who is the devil we know and who is the devil we don’t?”
K “In the final analysis, it all comes down to the Supreme Court.”
. . .
K “The solstice is the sunniest day of the year up here. Defaulting to the lesser of the two diabolical devils isn’t the most promising ray of sunshine.”
J “It starts getting darker every day after 22:34 UTC this afternoon.”
K “There are still some long days in our future.”
. . .
[See the e-commentary at “The First Look At The ‘Second Political Party’ (January 3, 2011).”]
Bumper stickers of the week:
“And how many more of these stinking double-downer sideshows will we have to go through before we can get . . . a chance to vote for something, instead of always being faced with that old familiar choice between the lesser of two evils?” Hunter S. Thompson
Better the crook we know than the crazy man we don’t?
The other election this week in Britain on the “Brexit” will be revealing.
Cleveland was hot yesterday and may be hot this July.
. . .
X “What do Republicans and Democrats agree on?”
Y “Nothing.”
X “What do Republicans and Democrats disagree on?”
Y “Everything.”
. . .
X “There you go. The People’s Amendment: ‘If a law applies to the people, it applies to Congress; if an exception or exemption applies to Congress, it excepts and exempts the people.’ One simple commutative rule enshrined in a constitutional amendment. Genius is always obvious and simple.”
Y “And the provision applies equally to Republicans and Democrats.”
X “Indubitably. Courts could easily interpret it without all the arrogant activism and ideological warfare that characterizes the courts today. Every tax payer has standing to enforce the People’s Amendment in court. Individual Congresspersons and Senators who vote for legislation that violates the PA are held personally liable for the attorney’s fees of the tax payer who succeeds in enforcing the PA and a small percentage of the public damages. Each representative’s self-interest is enlisted to provide for and protect the public interest.”
. . .
Y “While you are at it, add a simple term limits provision. Six two-year terms in the House and two six-year terms in the Senate are balanced and fair. The provision applies equally to Republicans and Democrats.”
. . .
X / Y “However, a balanced budget amendment is hollow and shallow. Congress can balance the budget without a balanced budget amendment if Congress wants to balance the budget. Congress can circumvent a balanced budget amendment if Congress wants to circumvent a balanced budget amendment.”
. . .
[See the “e-ssays” titled The “Contract with America”; The Congressional Reform Act of 2010 (March 29, 2010), Term Limits (May 14, 2007) and Bringing Balance To The Balanced Budget Amendment Debate (July 18, 2011).]
[For an argument that John McCain and Lindsey Graham should not be considered “enemy combatants,” see the “e-ssay” titled Republicans are Enemy Combatants? (May 10, 2010).]
Bumper stickers of the week:
A Democrat for The People’s Amendment
A Republican for The People’s Amendment
An Independent for The People’s Amendment
A Libertarian for The People’s Amendment
A Green for The People’s Amendment
A Tea Partier for The People’s Amendment
A Coffee Partier for The People’s Amendment
A Partier for The People’s Amendment
My honor student supports The People’s Amendment
My average student supports The People’s Amendment
My below average student opposes The People’s Amendment
My dog supports The People’s Amendment
A sniper for The People’s Amendment
An LBGT for The People’s Amendment
A mom for The People’s Amendment
A dad for The People’s Amendment
A viscountess for The People’s Amendment
A Fan of Fred (Hayek) for The People’s Amendment
A visiting adjunct professor at the Barack Hussein O’Bama II School of Government at the University of Chicago for The People’s Amendment
. . .
C1 “Or should the headline read ‘Black And Browns Outwit Whites And Green (Paper).’”
C2 “Or ‘Ascetic Triumphs Over Bully.’ The election was a ‘campaign’ conducted in ‘battleground’ states by ‘operatives’ operating in a ‘war room’ who unwittingly are continuing to prosecute the ‘Great American Civil War.’”
C1 “The ‘Republican Southern Strategy’ is the ‘Republican National Strategy’, yet the Republicans were not able to conquer more than the ‘Contemporary Confederacy.’”
C2 “For two score or perhaps two score and four years since Nixon patented the policy, the ‘Southern Strategy’ was the go to play in the Republican playbook but may now need to be revisited.”
C1 “America is divided between the ‘Educated States’ that vote Blue and the ‘Uneducated States’ that vote Red. States such as Massachusetts, Maryland, Colorado, Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey, Virginia, New Hampshire, New York and Minnesota are the ‘Educated States’ that vote Blue. States such as West Virginia, Mississippi, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Alabama, Nevada, Indiana, Tennessee and Oklahoma are the ‘Uneducated States’ that vote Red. Those who are less educated are motivated by and respond to fear.”
C2 “Nevada is the only exception in that group. The citizens may not sport as much formal education, but Nevadans are a spunky group of transplants.”
C1 “And O’Bama and Reid also ran a great ground game in Nevada and in all the other battleground states.”
C2 “The residents of the upper Midwestern states such as Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, Illinois and the pivotal Ohio do not sport as many sheep skins, but they exercise horse sense in abundance.”
C1 “Wherever you find oil and gas, you find racism and corruption. Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, North Dakota and Alaska. With the discovery of oil, Alaska transitioned from Minnesota to Mississippi. Astute pollsters note that these states tend to vote Red. And then along comes North Dakota that elects to elect Heidi Heitkamp as a Senator. Dead dinosaurs are destiny.”
C2 “Demographics are destiny. Demo-graphics versus Republica-graphics. And the outcome is graphic. The Last Great White Hope is hopeless. The rich White boys who want power are facing a reality that even the Red States are becoming Browner and Blacker.”
C1 “A strategic planner who seeks to locate a business that exploits the workers and despoils the land migrates to a Red State. An enterprise that requires an educated populace searching for a sustainable quality of life migrates to a Blue State. There are exceptions in pockets like Austin and a thousand other havens and oases, yet the general rule is true.”
C2 “Virginia’s senatorial contest between the Klan and Confederate Party candidate George Allen and the Centrist Party candidate Tim Kaine reveals the schism in many states that are described as Purple. North Virginia went with Kaine and South Virginia went with Allen in a state where there are now more North Virginians than South Virginians.”
C1 “The educated electorate in North Carolina did not do it this year because it is so desperately small. Curious that Bank of America’s decision to locate in Charlotte years before the 2008 election may have provided enough additional voters to provide the margin for O’Bama in the state in 2008 but not in 2012.”
C2 “South Florida is populated by transplanted Northerners who voted for O’Bama and North Florida is an appendage of Georgia and voted for Romney, but there are more Northern voters in South Florida than South voters in North Florida.”
C1 “And a few Browns.”
C2 “And a few Browns. In an election that looked like it would be bought by a few faceless billionaires showering money from above and using Anger Mongering radio, billions of ordinary citizens on the ground really did made the difference for O’Bama.”
C1 “And two candidates shot themselves in the foot and then put the foot in their mouths and proclaimed that rape is akin to a sprained ankle or a trick knee. New Hampshire was in play until Tuesday night and after the smoke and mirrors cleared on Wednesday morning, the smarter gender is in control in the first all-women delegation. And the neighboring Bay Staters are banking on Elizabeth Warren.”
C2 “Brown did not do well in Massachusetts. Tammy Baldwin, an openly gay female Senator-elect from Wisconsin, and Krysten Sinema, an openly bisexual Representative-elect from Arizona of all places, were not the pick of the billionaires.”
C1 “Tammy Duckworth, a wounded veteran from Illinois, finally made it. Unfortunate that Pete Stark, the lone atheist, lost his seat.”
C2 “The first Hindu member of Congress, Tulsi Gabbard, and a combat veteran.”
C1 “With Pete Stark gone, someone else must take up the Carbon Tax effort. God voted under the name ‘Sandy’ as a single issue voter this year.”
C2 “Without showing any photo id. The place is going to look like America. Blue States such as Washington and Colorado have declared peace in the war on drugs and legalized the recreational use of marijuana. Chalk up another win for freedom and liberty.”
C1 “And Washington, Maine and Maryland now allow an individual to decide if he or she wants to get married.”
C2 “Another win for freedom and liberty. And Minnesota voters rejected a proposed constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality.”
C1 “Washington state is awfully pushy. All the talented folks will migrate there.”
C2 “When the Nobel Committee signals that it will reward the conclusion, someone will connect the dots between freedom and liberty in a state and clean and green growth and development. The Blue States vote for freedom and liberty.”
C1 “In 2004, O’Bama came to national attention aspiring for one United States of America, but only a little more than half of America will ever give him a chance.”
C2 “And now that petty pernicious pol Mitch McConnell is committed to making O’Bama a two-term President.”
C1 “We are the Red States of America and the Blue States of America. There is no shame in candid self-awareness.”
C2 “And yet the two countries confront many common concerns. Iran is still Iran, China is still China, Russia is still Russia, and the fiscal fiasco is straight out of Wile E. Coyote.”
C1 “Europe may implode; the Middle East may explode. Someone may want to take a look at the numbers that underpin entitlements and unnecessary defense/offense spending. They still don’t add up.”
C2 “For decades, the Blue States have subsidized the Red States, yet we may see Illinois, California and/or New York, three small Blue countries in America, in need of major subsidies.”
C1 “Someone will say something about immigration.”
. . .
[See the “e-ssay” titled America Recycles Day, November 15 (November 15, 2010).]
Bumper stickers of the week:
Women are people too.
The odds for the election of the first gay Buddhist Brown woman to the White House should be available soon.
George Will: Romney: 331; Obama: 217
Michael Barone: Romney: 315; Obama: 223
Glenn Beck: Romney: 321; Obama: 217
Dick Morris: Romney: 325
Carl Rove: Romney: 279
“I have been assured that everything is in place for a Romney sweep of the Electoral College and the popular vote. Talk is cheap. Are you man enough to put your money where your mouth is. $100 that Romney takes it.” “I don’t have any assurances. There is $1000 where my mouth is. If you are man enough.”
“I have been assured that everything is in place for a Romney sweep of the Electoral College and the popular vote. Talk is cheap. Are you man enough to put your money where your mouth is. $100 that Romney takes it.” “I don’t have any assurances. There is $1000 where my mouth is. If you are man enough.”
. . .
H1 “One hundred and fifty years ago today, Northern immigrants battled Southern serfs in Western Maryland.”
H2 “And they could not even agree on the name of the skirmish. The Northerners named battles after nearby bodies of water and Southerners after nearby towns. Antietam versus Sharpsburg.”
H1 “Given the outcome, the United States refer to it as Antietam. They still don’t agree on the name of the Great Campaign. The War of Northern Aggression or the War of Southern Terrorism.”
H2 “The war was always about slavery not state’s rights in the South. The stalemate in Miller’s cornfield and on Burnside’s Bridge was enough to cover for Lincoln to expand the endeavor from saving the Union to starting the abolition of slavery in the South and new states in the West.”
H1 “As they always say, tactically inconclusive but strategically significant.”
. . .
H1 “A person and a society are measured by whether property rights are protected or human rights are cherished. In the South, property rights were exalted; human rights were actively and systematically violated.”
H2 “Humans want to be free with perhaps some societal restraints to guide behavior, yet humans instinctively desire to colonize property and to enslave others. True to form, the colonists stole property from the Red man and denied liberty to the Black man. Civilization emerges when those impulses are restrained by mutual consent.”
H1 “You mean government. The colonists in America rebelled and obtained independence, yet slavery in many incarnations continued unabated.”
H2 “The caste system and class condescension continued in the South. The descendants of the English continued the subtle oppression of the descendants of the Irish and the Scots. Southern society was an extension of the rigid social and economic hierarchy in the British Isles.”
H1 “Blacks were slaves and three fifths of a human, the most perverse mathematical formula in the history of humankind. Most Whites in the south were indentured servants, share croppers, peasants and serfs. Servitude served up along a continuum. Despite their lower-class status, poor Whites could take comfort in their legal superiority over Blacks. That was a great palliative and motivator.”
H2 “From its adoption in 1791, the Bill of Rights rarely protected lower class Whites south of the Mason-Dixon line. The Thirteenth Amendment changed the laws on the books, but the Hundred Year War of Terror raged in the South from 1865 to 1965. Passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1965 changed the legal landscape somewhat, although events on the ground changed slowly.”
H1 “Americans have tolerated Made In The U.S.A. terrorism on her soil for over two centuries. The South ante bellum and post bellum was and perhaps less so today is an aristocracy and oligarchy operated by and for a small elite.”
H2 “And nothing threatens ignorance like education. High schools and higher education in the South were reserved for wealthy white males. By contrast, in the North education is exalted. At the bequest and behest of Benjamin Franklin and others, the University of Pennsylvania was open to all citizens.”
H1 “Religiosity is provided to supplant free thought and ratiocination. Religion provides pat answers and precludes probing questions.”
H2 “The South also reveres the military because of the need to maintain internal discipline by force and fear and to repel threats and challenges to its medieval system.”
H1 “Lincoln and his fellow Republicans sought to maintain the Union over any other goal. For both strategic and humanitarian motives, he emancipated the slaves in two phases. His conviction and efforts maintained the Union. Now the Republicans campaign in the South and exploit anti-African American racism and fears of lawlessness among White voters.”
H2 “If the South had won the rebellion, the United States of America would have fewer stars and perhaps fewer stripes for the departed former colonies on its flag. The United States of America Sans The South would be a Blue Nation. Without all the government subsidies from the Blue States to the Red South States, the United States S.T.S. would have a less unbalanced budget. The South would be a White Mexico today.”
H1 “Funny how life turns out. The ‘Southern Strategy’ is an ironic development. The old Republicans freed the slaves and the new Republicans play on the fear of the freed slaves. In this election, the Southern Strategy is now the National Strategy.”
H2 “And look at wage rates. The public relations guys have a clever slogan – the ‘right to work.’ What they should say is the ‘right to work for a pittance.’ Keep them enslaved in subtle ways.”
H1 “Leaves you wondering whether anything really has changed.”
H2 “Demographics are destiny. Black and Brown are slowly trumping White.”
H1 “Old times there are not forgotten.”
H2 “Look away.”
. . .
[H1 = Historian 1; H2 = . . . ]
[September 17 is the one year anniversary of the Occupy movement and the four year anniversary to the day (Monday, September 15, 2008) when even those in power had to acknowledge the economic charade and chimera that was on the verge of collapse.]
[See the “e-ssay” titled “The Great National Dissolution: Resolving The Great Civil War (April 18, 2011)“]
Bumper stickers of the week:
Old times there are not forgotten; look away!
Mankind’s Motto: To Colonize And To Enslave
How many Virginians does it take to change a light bulb? Five. One to call an electrician, two to mix drinks, and two to talk about how good the old bulb was.
. . .
I1 “I wish that I had been the first one to coin it. Flip Flop and Flim Flam fits on a sticker.”
I2 “Fading NObama stickers still adorn many bumpers.”
I1 “Lyin’ Ryan is resonating.”
I2 “Smokin’ Joe puts on a smokin’ show.”
I1 “What do we do now?”
I2 “Choose between Tweedledee and Tweedledum.”
. . .
I1 “Yet there is a difference between the two candidates. I hold O’Bama to the high standards he has set, although he has not met them. Romney does not have any standards other than the acquisition of money and the pursuit of power at any cost. He already acquired one and is now pursuing the other.”
I2 “If he runs the country the way he ran the company Bain Capital, then he will run the country into the ground. He will fire 40 percent of the American workers, leave the country burdened with unmanageable debt, claim that he increased employment by the 60 percent of the population that remains employed, and walk away with all the money.”
I1 “What if China refuses to fund Romney’s desire to invade China.”
I2 “Dredging up the ‘neo-cons’ who instigated the Iraq travesty is a disturbing development. Those treasonous chickenhawks are itching to start a war with Iran, even though America may have already committed acts of war against Iran that justify Iran attacking America.”
I1 “Are they ‘old-cons’? They should be cons, but as always the ruling class escapes indictment and incarceration in public housing.”
I2 “So they are not cons. With a subtext of racism, this election revives the debate whether America should start World War III or not.”
I1 “World War III still strikes me as a bad idea.”
. . .
[I1 = Independent Voter; I2 = . . . ]
Bumper stickers of the week:
10 percent of those who are allowed to vote in 10 states will dictate the next President
Snipers for O’Bama
LGBTs For Romney
My vote cancels your vote
. . .
A “The election of 2008 was not the dawn of a post-racial America. In 2008, few knew how to attack an African-Irish-American Presidential candidate without appearing to be racists. In 2012, America is still torn by racial issues. Now the attack is focused on race because they are not willing to lose this race this time. The race is about race.”
B “So they want us to take back America. To when? Prior to 1965 and the Voting Rights Act? To 1964 and the Civil Rights Act? To 1956 and Brown v. Board of Education? To 1868 and the Fourteenth Amendment? To 1865 and the Thirteenth Amendment? To 1864 and the Emancipation Proclamation?”
A “To when Whites ruled. The message is subtle. Everyone communicates in code and dog whistles.”
B “Forty-five percent of the population responds to fear. They know how to stoke and marshal fear.”
A “The Republican Southern Strategy attracts White voters by appealing to racist fears and anxieties. The Southern Strategy is now the National Strategy.”
B “This will be the last race that is controlled by White voters.”
. . .
AB “O’Bama declined public financing of his campaign and spent twice as much as McCain. Romney may spend twice as much as O’Bama this go round. Follow the money.”
. . .
Bumper stickers of the week:
“Take back America = Bring back Jim Crow.”
White using green to defeat Black.
“Do you hate him because he is Irish or because he is Black?” “Both. Plus he was born in Niger-ia. Get it.”
e-commentary 