This is going to be a short essay; really a call to attention to something I don't think I'm seeing here. There's coverage on Twitter and live coverage by TYT (tons more video coverage by TYT here). Everything seems fluid with respect to the delegate protests, the way the DNC is stifling it and a litany of other stories and examples of how this is being done.

The Neoliberal authoritarian streak dominates the proceedings. There's all sorts of obfuscation going on, false unity being propped up, taking away of signs, etc. They want Stepford Wives Unity, like their cheesy marketing slogan being propped up, as fake and phony as their whole platform and their ultimate jobs as running cover for their 1% donors.

If you haven't seen Kshama Sawant's open letter to the DNC delegates "A Call to Action: Walk Out from the Democratic National Convention!" it really says it all.

Backing corrupt establishment politicians is no way to defeat the right-wing – it will only embolden them and allow the political agenda to continue to be pushed further rightward. This failed strategy of lesser evilism is what has brought the 99% to this point. And now genuine outrage at the corporate politics of the establishment has allowed a right-wing populist within striking distance of the presidency.

We cannot continue down this dead end....

With the attention of the country and world focused on Philadelphia we now have some serious choices to make, as well as some powerful opportunities. The actions of Bernie delegates and activists both inside and outside the convention have the potential to make history this week.

Thousands are joining protests and rallies on the streets of Philadelphia. There are also many protest actions taking place inside the convention such as the tremendous anti-TPP action that took place yesterday, which temporarily halted the proceedings.

But the most powerful protest of all will be for delegates and activists to reject the neoliberal Democratic establishment altogether, and walk out of the convention in the largest possible numbers later this week.

Delegates have been organizing for just such a walkout action, and there is the potential for several hundred delegates to collectively walk out. This will take real courage. The convention is a huge, scripted spectacle with a carefully chosen procession of Democratic nobility, including people like Michelle Obama and Elizabeth Warren. But this year, perhaps in recognition of the political uprising that has taken place, the Democratic leadership has gone so far as to give the event a populist veneer, with some workers and activists also speaking. The scale and intimidating character of the 50,000 person event will no doubt have a psychological impact.

But for those who do take the bold step of walking out on the DNC and its neoliberal politics, there will be a rally with media, livestreamers, and fellow activists ready to greet them on the other side of the walls of the so-called “free speech zone.” Mass media have already been contacting Movement4Bernie in anticipation of the event. I hope I will see you there.

Too much to write that I can't possibly get together now.

I'm aghast at hearing in the past 24 hours and fairly recently from so many of my seemingly progressive friends that it's "suicide" to voter 3rd party and not for Hillary To Defeat Trump.

I'll finish by saying that the amount of Bernie support I saw in Philly over the weekend was simply amazing, and it blanketed the city. It seemed we were everywhere; shirts, cars, posters, banners, floats, marches - all standing with Bernie and for a real progressive agenda. There was great energy, reminiscent of the campaign. There are massive protests going on all over the city. I haven't watched a second of the staged spectacle; every time TYT goes to it I turn down the volume. The powerful coordinated show inside the Corporate Enormodome is designed like the Super Bowl to entertain and deliver subtle and overt propaganda. I'm not interested. At all.

There seems to be a moment happening, and not being covered much, in which the true progressive liberal faction inside a dying party is attempting to alter this continued corporate hijacking of our lives. And it's happening all over the streets of Philadelphia. Man I wish I was back there...