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Democrats: Stop the Damn Fighting!

I’m already sick of these damn Bernie Bots and Russian trolls trying to divide us. “Why Bernie supporters should crush Beto supporters” says one article. There’s another article saying why liberals should abandon Hillary. It’s written by a right-wing columnist, and liberals are sharing it. Really? You want to take advice from these people?

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When progressives fight it’s exactly what the Republicans want.

NO. NO CRUSHING OTHER DEMOCRATS.  And yes, I know that Bernie isn’t really a Democrat but it does us absolutely no good to trash him, either.

When discussing potential candidates, there are two big questions:

1. Who do I like best?

2. Who do I think can win?

These are often not the same person.  I’ve been voting in Democratic primaries since 1976 and the only time the candidate I wanted in the primary got the nomination was with Obama. And in every single case, the person who was nominated was still better than the Republican candidate.

Demanding perfection and turning on anyone who isn’t on your side 100% means you are destroying the candidate who is only on your side 75% of the time. And then the Republican who is on your side 0% of the time wins.

Stop demonizing the candidates who aren’t perfect in your eyes. There is absolutely nothing wrong with saying “We have many good candidates, but I prefer X.”

Stop doing the job of Republicans and Russian trolls.

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Placing Blame

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Tim Eagan

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Best and Worst Animated Films of 2018

Back when I was young, I was happy to see even one new animated film a year. Now there’s practically one a week.

In the 80s, I started a magazine called “Animato!” that later grew quite large and popular. I got to meet and interview great animators like Chuck Jones and Ralph Bakshi but later sold the magazine, and it went on to even bigger successes until the internet killed all magazines.51MKTRQpAhL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_

So I’m still an animation fan, but it’s basically impossible to see all the films and all the animated TV shows these days unless you’re a full-time animator or animation historian, I guess.

There were some really great films this year I did get to catch, though.

These days, with so much CGI, we can debate what an “animated film” even is, but generally the accepted definition is that the main characters must be animated — not just the monsters or effects. (And “motion capture” doesn’t count.)

So here’s the end-of-the-year list of best and worst animated films (based on their Rotten Tomatoes score).  It only includes films that actually were released to theaters and had at least five reviews in order to get a Rotten Tomatoes score. (Lots of bad films go directly to DVD or cable.) Ties are broken by number of reviews.

  1. Paddington 2 (100%)
  2. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (97%)
  3. Incredibles 2 (94%)
  4. Teen Titans Go to the Movies (91%)
  5. Mirai (91%)
  6. Isle of Dogs (89%)
  7. Ralph Breaks the Internet (89%)
  8. Mary and the Witches’ Flower (87%)
  9. Sgt. Stubby (86%)
  10. Early Man (81%)
  11. Liz and the Blue Bird (78%)
  12. Smallfoot (75%)
  13. Peter Rabbit (64%)
  14. Hotel Transylvania 3 (59%)
  15. The Grinch (57%)
  16. Sherlock Gnomes (27%)
  17. Monster Family (10%)

 

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Rudolph

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Matt Davies

Smockey the Bear

Smockey

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The 6th Annual “War on Christmas” contest

Merry War on Christmas, everybody!

Anger drives ratings, as Fox News is well aware. And that’s why they created the War on Christmas. Those poor Christians, being attacked and persecuted and treated terribly — how awful it must be to be a discriminated against majority. All those laws requiring people to never say “Merry Christmas” …  oh wait.

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cartoon by Pat Bagley

 

Every example Fox News gives for a “War on Christmas” always boils down to something like “They won’t let us force kids to sing our religious songs!” or “They say ‘Happy Holidays’ which acknowledges that not everyone is a Christian and therefore they are attacking us!” or “They are refusing to allow us to use taxpayer dollars for a religious display.”

So for six years now, I have challenged anyone to give me an example of a real “attack on Christmas,” because every one of these examples is, in reality, fought in defense. You wouldn’t even hear about them if these particular Christians weren’t trying to require everyone to obey their beliefs.

Or else they’ll point out one misguided grinch who complains about a decoration or something as if that was evidence of a vast, coordinated attack. This year, they’re trotting out an elementary school principal who, in an effort to avoid controversy, banned even secular representations of Christmas such as Santa Claus and Christmas trees. She changed her position once people complained, but that was hardly a “war on Christmas” as much as it was someone who understood that religion does not belong in a public school but mistakenly went too far.

And this in no way prevented any family from celebrating their religion in any way they wanted to on their own.

So there’s my yearly challenge: find me one example of anyone trying to prevent people from celebrating a religious Christmas. Just one.

I have a feeling I know what the result will once again be.

(And yes, of course, just to clarify: #notallChristians)

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At the GHWB funeral

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Mike Peters

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Things you don’t hear after a Democratic wave

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Jen Sorensen

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Support your local bloggers

Some bloggers ask for donations or want you to become a Patreon or otherwise ask for your help in defraying the costs of running the blog.

Not me.  I just ask you to buy my books.

It’s a win – win. I get a small bit of income from each sale, and you get a great, fun reading experience and I keep the VentrellaQuest blog running, too.  And come on, if you enjoy my writing on this blog, you’ll probably enjoy the writing in my stories as well.

So let me tell you about my latest novel.

In 1897, Beverly Haddad is well aware that her sex and race will keep her from investigating the deadly and mysterious lightning strikes that have plagued New York. She seeks help from Police Commissioner Teddy Roosevelt, and soon the two find themselves hunted by a vast conspiracy known as Gideon’s Trumpet which has access to amazing new scientific devices never before seen. With the help of Mark Twain and others, they launch an attack, aided by Teddy’s new massive lightning gun, which he lovingly calls BIG STICK.

BIG STICK is now available in paperback and various ebook editions from Eric Flint’s Ring of Fire Press. Click here to read the first few chapters, and here to order your copy!

Big Stick cover

“Full steam ahead! With Big Stick, Michael Ventrella gives us a wild and thoroughly entertaining steampunk adventure featuring an improbable cast of historical figures, plenty of action, and lots of fun! Highly recommended!” – Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author of Deep Silence and V-Wars

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“Memorable characters, snappy dialogue and plenty of action and adventure. Big Stick has it all. One of the best books I’ve read in a long while!” – Gail Z. Martin, author of Vengeance: A Novel of Darkhurst

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“Full of the best kind of steampunk adventure with one of the biggest personalities in American history. A great fun ride!” – Philippa Ballantine, co-author of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series

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“Big Stick doesn’t have everything. It has more than everything! A dynamic PoC secret agent! Teddy Roosevelt! Steampunk inventions! Real dirty politics in a fantastic might-have-been world! Rayguns! Airships! Assassinations! Teddy Roosevelt with a raygun! And a cover by Phil Foglio! What the heck are you doing looking at this stupid blurb? Buy this book and read it!” – Ryk Spoor, author of Grand Central Arena and Princess Holy Aura

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Dress Code

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Matt Bors