How can anybody be sucked in by such shallow and deceptive swill? It's not like it is in any way convincing or genuine – or even rational. It's pure bullshit and obviously so. Someone wrote a diary that 'the democratic insiders' didn't think Bernie did well in the debate. Wait! What? The establishment doesn't like Bernie? The establishment is willing to tell any fucking lie at all on Bernie? No shit, Sherlock.

Who cares what 'the democratic insiders' think? They've been taking that billionaire money since way before 9/11. It's really no wonder that they don't like the guy who's kicking ass without it. Just as it is unsurprising that they quit serving the best interests of working class Americans long ago. Even more worrisome to the insiders of all stripes, is that Bernie wants to shut down the casino. He wants the big money out of politics. If that isn't enough to panic the greedheads and backstabbers, I don't know what would be.

“Sanders is a clear outlier in a generation that has forgotten what it means to be a public servant. The Times remarks upon his "grumpy demeanor." But Bernie is grumpy because he's thinking about vets who need surgeries, guest workers who've had their wages ripped off, kids without access to dentists or some other godforsaken problem that most of us normal people can care about for maybe a few minutes on a good day, but Bernie worries about more or less all the time.

I first met Bernie Sanders ten years ago, and I don't believe there's anything else he really thinks about. There's no other endgame for him. He's not looking for a book deal or a membership in a Martha's Vineyard golf club or a cameo in a Guy Ritchie movie. This election isn't a game to him; it's not the awesomely repulsive dark joke it is to me and many others.
And the only reason this attention-averse, sometimes socially uncomfortable person is subjecting himself to this asinine process is because he genuinely believes the system is not beyond repair.
Not all of us can say that. But that doesn't make us right, and him "unrealistic." More than any other politician in recent memory, Bernie Sanders is focused on reality. It's the rest of us who are lost.”

Matt Taibbi
Read more: www.rollingstone.com/... 

Bernie wants to change the way the game is played in Washington DC. He wants public servants to be just that, not courtiers and prostitutes, jokers and thieves, war pigs and fascists. He wants the people to have fair representation in a truly democratic government and not just be the hapless marks in the world's biggest con game.

“That long hard slog will be even longer is we kill the excitement of young people who just so happen to be supporting and pushing for the same kind of platform democrats had before the Reagan democrats and the republican-lites screwed it up.
What are the odds of this effect lining up again? What are the odds of the people being able to finance a Sanders-type campaign again, especially if we get TPP which will outsource even more jobs, lowering the working class standard of living even more.
The Sanders campaign is the best hope that most young people see, that's why they are excited. And the ‘bipartisan' political establishment wants to nip that in the bud.”

Mike Taylor @ Daily Kos
Sanders Would Come In With A Wave if Democrats Would Get Behind Him.

This shit is getting old. Why does anyone still fall for it? Why would progressives back Wall Street? Why would the victims of the ongoing class war support the 1% who started it and who are ruthlessly waging war on US? What kind of wacky Stockholm Syndrome bullshit is going on here?

Clinton Foundation Donors Got Weapons Deals From Hillary Clinton's State Department

Even by the standards of arms deals between the United States and Saudi Arabia, this one was enormous. A consortium of American defense contractors led by Boeing would deliver $29 billion worth of advanced fighter jets to the United States' oil-rich ally in the Middle East.

Israeli officials were agitated, reportedly complaining to the Obama administration that this substantial enhancement to Saudi air power risked disrupting the region's fragile balance of power. The deal appeared to collide with the State Department’s documented concerns about the repressive policies of the Saudi royal family.

But now, in late 2011, Hillary Clinton’s State Department was formally clearing the sale, asserting that it was in the national interest. At a press conference in Washington to announce the department’s approval, an assistant secretary of state, Andrew Shapiro, declared that the deal had been “a top priority” for Clinton personally. Shapiro, a longtime aide to Clinton since her Senate days, added that the “U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army have excellent relationships in Saudi Arabia.”
These were not the only relationships bridging leaders of the two nations. In the years before Hillary Clinton became secretary of state, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia contributed at least $10 million to the Clinton Foundation, the philanthropic enterprise she has overseen with her husband, former president Bill Clinton. Just two months before the deal was finalized, Boeing -- the defense contractor that manufactures one of the fighter jets the Saudis were especially keen to acquire, the F-15 -- contributed $900,000 to the Clinton Foundation, according to a company press release.

David Sirota

The choice couldn't be clearer: a public servant devoted to helping the people and fighting inequality versus an expert in feathering her own nest who is owned by Wall Street and the Military Industrial Complex. If it were a contest to see who could hoover up the most money from special interests, which ironically is the way many of them think of it, she'd be a shoe-in. Our political system has become a plaything for billionaires. But we can't let it be that, not anymore, because if the casino wins, we lose. It's time for the people to assert themselves. Leaving it to the political insiders has proven to be a disaster.

Lobbyists for Monsanto, ExxonMobil Raise Money for Hillary Clinton

Registered lobbyists brought in more than $2 million in fundraising for the Clinton campaign, recent filings show.

The former secretary of state raised more than $2 million from 40 "bundlers"—fundraisers who get their contacts to give to campaigns—who were also lobbyists, according to financial forms released Wednesday by the Federal Election Commission. In all, the Clinton campaign raised $46.7 million between the beginning of April and the end of June.

Bundlers, who are often wealthy or well-connected individuals, do more than donate to campaigns. They put their social networks to work for favorite candidates, persuading (often equally wealthy and well-connected) family members, friends, colleagues, and other contacts to donate as well, effectively bringing in far more money than they could under the current legal donation limits. Individuals can contribute $2,700 to candidate committees (as opposed to super PACS) for the primary election and the same amount for the general election, for a total of $5,400 in a campaign cycle. Campaigns don't have to disclose their bundlers—unless those bundlers are also lobbyists.

Clinton's bundlers include some familiar names: Jerry Crawford, an outside lobbyist to Monsanto and Iowa kingmaker, put together another $35,000 or so. Tony Podesta, a mega-lobbyist who co-founded the Podesta Group and is the brother of Clinton's campaign chair John, bundled almost $75,000. 

Bloomberg

“This campaign is sending a message to the billionaire class: Yes, we have the  guts to take you on.”

Bernie Sanders

We need to support the ONLY anti-establishment candidate for the good of the country and the world.
And don’t tell me he is just another establishment pol. He has risen above that slur by courageously rejecting SuperPAC money, corporate money and billionaire money. That very emphatically sets him apart.

“But at the end of the day, if we are going to transform America, we’re not going to do it through establishment politics and establishment economics,” Sanders said. “It’s going to be a political revolution of millions of people rising up and reclaiming their government.”

Bernie Sanders

Just because we, or many of us, have embraced the lop-sided struggle for change and progress doesn't mean we should want it to remain a hopeless cause. If we support the Wall Street candidate, we're supporting those who will go to any length, stoop to any depth to stop us.
They use all these tired old memes to get us to vote against our own best interests. Ooh, those scary republicans. Who do you want picking our supreme court justices? Well, certainly not Exxon-Mobil, Monsanto or Goldman Sachs. And while the republicans are certainly scary, so are establishment dems.

Last year, the US military was running special operations in 147 countries, which represents roughly 75% of the entire planet. According to Special Operations Command spokesman Ken McGraw, the numbers are record breaking and represent a massive jump from the numbers seen during the Bush administration.

Read More: www.trueactivist.com/...

Liberals, progressives and reality-based people who yearn for justice, peace and equality for all, should not be backing the Military Industrial Complex, Wall Street, the 1% and the people who fight all of our efforts to change for the better. If they weren't so good at obstructing and subverting progress, we'd have accomplished an enormous amount of it already. Look at all the courageous activists who have devoted their lives to it. Why do we never get anywhere? We've all heard those cries. It couldn't be more obvious. It's because both major parties have sold out the American people and, bewilderingly, people keep voting for them, giving them money, swallowing their lies and eating their shit sandwiches like they're mighty tasty. Don't ever criticize a republican for voting against their own interests if you're doing the exact same thing.

10 Economic Facts that Power the Sanders Insurgency
1. The Rich are Getting Richer, The Rest of Us are Not.
2. Wall Street/CEO Greed
3. The Biggest Banks are Getting Bigger
4. Students are Crippled with Debt.
5. We lead the developed world in child poverty
6. You can’t live on the minimum wage
7. The tax system favors the rich
8. The Rich Buy the Political System
9. “The American Dream” is Fading Away
10. The Largest Police State in the World  

If you honestly care about righting the great wrongs, if you are troubled by our bombing of the world, if you don't want corporations deciding what we will or won’t do about climate change, if you are tired of being screwed by your own government and their bosses, you have a clear choice for the first time in ages, between those who will lie to you and those who will fight for you. It may be the only chance we ever get to set things right.