It's Official: 'The Resistance' is being co-opted
If you were wondering if the anti-Trump Resistance was going to turn into the Tea Party Of The Democrats, wonder no longer.
The Democratic Party’s top officials will meet with some of their wealthiest donors in Washington, D.C., this week to plot the Trump resistance, according to documents obtained by The Daily Beast.The chairs of the Democratic National Committee and the party’s House and Senate campaign arms will huddle with activists, operatives, and deep-pocketed Democratic financiers at a biannual conference hosted by the Democracy Alliance, a leading left-wing donor collaborative at Washington’s ritzy Mandarin Oriental hotel.
They will discuss strategy for immediate opposition to President Donald Trump’s policies, begin laying the groundwork for Democratic campaigns in next year’s midterm elections, strategize future efforts for congressional redistricting, and promote an agenda focused on the state level, where Democrats still retain some power and hope to build a model for national progressive victories. And perhaps most importantly, map out how to fully fund their opposition to all things Trump.
Gee. I wonder what Dem billionaires and political insiders think how we should oppose Trump.
Maybe we should ask Markos.
The Alliance brings together high-dollar liberal donors—individuals, labor unions, and charitable foundations—that pledge to give at least $200,000 annually to a suite of left-wing organizations. Through its “partners,” as the donors are known internally, the Alliance in 2015 raised $75 million for its supported organizations, an annual record for the group.
Alliance-backed organizations include some of the most prominent liberal groups currently running high-level campaigns opposing the Trump White House and Republican policies at the federal level.
Those include the Center for American Progress, a liberal policy shop that has turned its 501(c)(4) arm into an anti-Trump “war room,” and Media Matters for America, a media-focused rapid response group that has recently retooled its efforts toward “fake news” and pro-Trump disinformation.
I'm certain that these groups have the interests of the working class.
Believe it or not, this article is not snark.
Comments
Now we know how Gaddafi must have felt
…when that outside-funded and armed rebellion showed up on the palace steps.
Oh good. A color revolution.
@Pluto's Republic That's what it looked
That's what it looked like to me in December.
Having been fooled once by Iran's Green Revolution, I don't intend to get fooled again.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@Pluto's Republic http://thefederalist.com
http://thefederalist.com/2017/03/22/pelosi-stumped-when-asked-who-leader...
Sad we don't have Doonesbury anymore -wouldn't you love to read what Gary Trudeau wold have to say. We need some good cartoonists, to show Pelosi trying to talk & smile at the same time.
Jimmy Dore, where are you
Reality is slipping off the pulleys. It's a constant
…readjustment to remember which side thinks what. And where you fit it.
To :
Thanks for that link. Anderson Cooper asked Pelosi the perfect question, one I wouldn't have thought to ask: "Who is the leader of the Democratic Party?
He, too, knows the Party Establishment is swimming naked.
Trudeau is still doing sunday Doonesbury.
http://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/2017/03/19
There's also a Roland B Hedley twitter feed.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
These fuckers never learn
Looks like they are going to double down on the bullshit that created the fiasco in the first place.
Thanks, gj for labeling this as snark
After reading the following, I wonder what alternate world we were heading into:
But wait, there's more:
I know it's early in the morning but I missed the liberal part of the liberal groups.
I suppose the quotes were chosen for their uncanny resemblance to Washington double speak. I am by now no longer surprised when the RWNJs refer to Obomber as a Marxist. Myopia is endemic in the DC bubble and blogosphere.
jeez, what is snark, this?
Can you write so that space aliens from non-native English speaking areas can understand what is snark and what is not? gjohnsit said it is not snark. I am tired of figuring out who is stupid, me or the other.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Snark is in the mind of the beholder
Since Democraps have lost their minds they are unable to recognize snark when they generate it. Repugnants on the other hand would never use the words liberal or progressive to describe their own policies so there is no danger of them generating snark.
I hope this clears things up for you, Mimi.
Not doing what we might prefer doesn't mean
that they are uneducable.
They learned what enriches them and they've been acting accordingly ever since.
Ah, well, at least unions will be represented, for all that's worth anymore. More of them endorsed Hillary than Bernie. Union leaders make these decisions and they, too, are more like limousine liberals than they are like their own rank and file.
Anyone stupid enough to get involved with these people
are going to be traitors to anyone who was brutalized during the OWS crackdown that our democratic president orchestrated.
Aren't theses people paying attention to how the democrats are not fighting against Trump's appointees and voting to confirm them as well as not speaking out against the republican's plans to gut everything they can?
How many more years are they going to say that the democrats need to stand up against the republicans?
I used to wonder why they didn't get more voting machines in the heavy Democratic voting places until I figured out that they wanted people to either stand in line for hours or give up and go home.
Guess I'll keep an eye out for the diaries that asks people to sign up for this.
And we need to come up with a name for them.
Remember how much fun we had with what the name of Tea Baggers actually meant?
Yeah, I need to think about it.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
The lines have been drawn. The die, it is cast.
To:
I didn't think of the contrast in mistreatment of different groups of Americans who assemble. It's become normalized, I guess.
There's a single truth that comes out every election, regardless of who wins: War spending is always expanded, and austerity and premature death is always imposed on the people to pay for it. Trump is just doing Hillary's job — adhering to the Project for a New American Century. Everything else is just noise.
.
Too bad Pussy Riot has already been taken.
Groups getting "involved with these people" are not stupid.
They were never not involved with these people. The Center for American Progress? Media Matters? This is simply the venue where they pair off with the bringers of the benjamins. A really expensive key party.
@dance you monster I think "groups" is
I think "groups" is meant in a larger sense by the commenter than by the article.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
I live in a blue city in a blue state. It was not until
the 2016 Presidential that we got more than one day to vote. And absentee ballots had to be applied for every year, even if your doctor had written you had medical reasons for needing an absentee ballot that would never improve. I used to ride the bus with an elderly woman whose husband was terminally ill in a nursing home. She visited him every day, spending most of the day with him, which left her little physical or emotional energy for bs. She'd given up trying to get him a ballot for every election because it was just too much for her to keep trying.
I used to read posts by Democrats dissing Florida for not having enough days or enough weekend days or whatever for voting. They would blame it on Republicans. I'd just shake my head incredulously.
BTW, remind me who very hastily got rid of ACORN. Democrats keep saying that heavy turnout favors Democratic candidate. So, they rushed to rid of the organization that registered voters in poor neighborhoods? The one that President Obama used to work with? There's really seems to be some kind of huge disconnect somewhere. And, I don't think it's that Ivy-League educated Democratic politicians with graduate degree just don't get it.
I knew that Acorn incident caused a ripple in the force
I am angry that I did not see it for what it was at the time. But then, I would have been completely isolated if I had.
How easy it is to crush the Cassandras in a totalitarian system.
I don't understand why you think you would have been
isolated. Do you mean you would have been shunned?
The O'Keefe video came out in September 2009. Obama signed the defunding bill on October 1. Imagine! ACORN had its legit problems, but it was working them out and it was doing great work on issues. Its affiliate endorsed only Democrats. And it registered people in poorer neighborhoods, who presumably would be more likely to vote Democratic. Once can readily understand why Republicans wanted it de-funded. Why Democrats, who control both houses of Congress then rushed that bill before investigating the video is not as obvious. Maybe looking at the issue the organization worked on gives a clue? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_Community_Organizations_for...
Democrats helping to defund ACORN was a real betrayal.
edit: this reply is to plutos republic
It definitely prefigured their later betrayals. Still the nail in the coffin for me was when John Lewis said Democrats don't want "free things." Like public schools? Fire departments? Street lights?
I was outraged at the time ACORN was defunded, but laid the blame at the feet of the GOP. I know better now.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
Democrats controlled both Houses of Congress and
the bill defunding ACORN passed by wide margins. The House had an overwhelming Democratic majority in 2009. Only 75 members of the House voted against defunding. Also, Democratic President Obama, who had worked with ACORN in Chicago when he ran for office, did not veto. I wouldn't say Democrats helped defund ACORN. I would say Democrats made danged sure ACORN got defunded.
The video came out in September; the bill was signed by October 1 and ACORN filed for bankruptcy in November. And, as far as I know, no organization was created to fill the gap. For that matter, why the eff doesn't government do more outreach to register voters? Supposedly, our entire system depends on votes and supposedly both Parties want us to vote. Then again, the rhetoric of politicians has not matched their actions in a long time.
John Lewis, whom I will always admire, no matter what, also said he saw Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders, being an activist in the 1960s. Meanwhile, the proof of Sanders' equal rights and anti-poverty activism in the 1960s was all over the internet, as was Hillary wearing here Goldwater Girl outfit. You don't get to stay in Congress forever as a Democrat without being loyal to the Party, no matter what.
You can admire Lewis for what he *used to be*,
But what he is now is just another rotten-to-the-core corrupt politician. How have the mighty fallen.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
The party line changed. So party members must either
choose to adopt the new party views or stay true to their own values. Apparently Lewis and Democrats no longer support voting rights since they killed ACORN. That is quite a switch for a civil rights activist.
I have to say that Lewis's statements really broke my heart. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised as he won his House seat from Julian Bond by accusing him of drug use. Politics is far dirtier than I imagined.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
Thank you.
I never knew that. Awful. Sad.
I don't think we need to come up with a new name...
When the old fallback, "Syphilitic minded Assholes." seems to sum them up perfectly.
During my darkest moments I can't help but have the thought, "Can't some disgruntled nutjob shoot up that meeting instead of a school?"
Yeah, I know, it ain't pretty or even decent of a thought, but fuck it, I am so tired of these asshats that I would probably light a candle for the poor demented bastard that did it...
"I used to vote Republican & Democrat, I also used to shit my pants. Eventually I got smart enough to stop doing both things." -Me
Is It Not Yet Obvious?
The only realistic action to take where Democorrupts are concerned is total abstinence. Not even a polite response to a greeting. Flip the bastards off and leave them in your wake.
Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.
Glenn Ford over at Black Agenda
...had something pithy to say about that. Something like: "If you want single payer, run as far and fast from the Democrats as you can."
Peanuts thrown to Democratic Party insiders
The oligarchic right has spent 100's of millions over the past 35 years to support their intransigent hatred of the American common people. Dividing and befuddling the American electorate is the province of a long term plan by the right to destroy the interests of the working people of America and they are doing it... This Democratic party plan is laughable and does nothing to address the real problems the people of this country face. It is time to walk away from the Billionaire funded political theater and erect our own stage. It is time for a new party made up of former Democrats, Independents and the formerly disenfranchised. It is time to turn the page of history and force a new political reality...
Let's form an alternative to the Democrats, yes let's.
from "Waiting for Godot":
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
Brilliant Cassiodorus
Best two sentence summation of progressive inertia I have ever read. That one is a keeper. Thanks.
" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "
Still, a few ....
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
Here's what's snark
Left-wing organizations, right. Are they planning out the alternative to capitalism once the current system collapses? Let me guess: the Peterson Foundation is the new "Left." At least Dick Cheney had the decency to say "deficits don't matter" back in '02. The present-day "Left"? Not so much.
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
In Cahoots with the Clintons?
The Peterson Foundation is all about "fiscal responsibility" and teams with the Clinton Foundation on campus initiatives ?!?!?!?
Yeah, right, Bill & Hill.
During the campaign, Hillary met with Peterson about OASDI.
Gee, I wonder what he suggested. /sarcasm
Yes, that's why we should point and laugh at this meeting
and do absolutely nothing.
Surely Godot will come to save us.
Yeah, we've been given an exact roadmap of where all these people will be, and when, and who the invitees are. And yes, it's being well reported, and a protest probably would be too. And yes, it's an opportunity to show American that fighting Trump doesn't automatically mean you're a Clinton patsy.
But protesting them? Without all our friends going? And no pop stars or funny hats? Bo-ring. I mean, WTF will I put on instagram?!?
Imma just snark online. Those Republicans! Those Democrats!
Allies of the working class at last.
Who says these folks live in a bubble? They'll look out for the interests of low-income individuals. They encounter the working class every day. Who else would serve the hors d'oeuvres at the Cosmos Club?
Amigo, could you spare a dime?
I'm a bit short of the necessary $200,000.
Does that mean my concerns have zero value?
Do you really need to ask?
At one point, after either the 2004 or 2008 Presidential, the DNC asked people to email with their concerns and wishes. I haven't seen a similar request since. But I bet George Soros has. More likely, several people called and invited him out to dinner so he could better enjoy telling them what he wants.
Oh, I've seen subsequent
requests for my opinion. But they were always accompanied by requests for donations. They even let me choose between $10, $25, $50, $100 and $250.
You must get a better class of email than I used to get
before I unsubscribed, which was probably soon after the ACA passed.
Mine had this panicky tone, telling me the latest naughty thing Republicans had said and done and urging to me to send money so Democrats could fight back. I also got extremely annoyed when the first or second email I got after Obama's election in 2008 was from Obama, asking me for more money! I should have unsubscribed right then. Actually, I should have unsubscribed when he asked me to help Hillary pay off her campaign debts. But, I hung on at least until ACA passed.
Naomi Klein - 2003 article on a country waking up
This article could be titled "When will Dem Establishment wake up?"
Or from the title we could ask: What could be the trigger of a new kind of politics in the US?
Argentina went through decades of death squads, then elected a neo liberal president who privitized the country and obtained investment from around the globe but in a little more than a year the whole scheme unfolded and the country was finally almost ready to face what had gone on and what they had ignored, the disappearance of 30,000 people by the death squads and other bad stuff
Jeremy Scahill dedicated his book "Dirty Wars" to journalists. Here is what happened to the journalist who wrote the above paragraph. I added the bold
What? Neo liberalism kills more than terrorists????
Out of the ordinary (part two) Part two of Naomi Klein's report on the events that triggered a momentous new kind of politics in Argentina
It's not politicians who need to learn. It's us.
http://caucus99percent.com/comment/251460#comment-251460
http://caucus99percent.com/comment/251182#comment-251182
http://caucus99percent.com/comment/251182#comment-251182
Abso-freakin-lutely
They are not the problem. We are. We outnumber them literally hundreds of millions to one. They only have any power because we give it to them. We give it to them because we simply do not care about basics like truth, goodness, honesty, integrity, etc. So some damned liar stands up on stage and lies and people say, "Well, that's what politicians do."
That statement and similar ones like it ("Politics ain't bean bag" comes to mind) are the signs of our sickness.
A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard
Truth is too hard for many of us
in my opinion. I've got a RWNJ relative, a Rumper naturally, who told me one day that he really "tries to listen to all sides, but you Liberals just talk too much." Yeah, as I reminded him, we sure do, but then again reality is complex and so is our modern world. Should we just get rid of all that for your simplistic "answers?" No response but a short silence, but what did I really expect anyway.
But I do think that is part of the problem and quite obviously is on both sides of the aisle - Democrats now are displaying their hatred of ferreting out and working towards actual truth by focusing on the latest outrage du jour from Rump and a hollow "Resistance" that doesn't seem to be resisting much of anything. Too many have swallowed the incrementalist stance and will not give that up, no matter how bad things get. Too ugly for them to look at that and realize Democrats are not the answer, people are, and until we take back control from them we'll get nowhere.
We really do need to kill off the damned TV. I know, I'm using a simple answer to a complex problem but I really do think a whole hell of a lot of the dumbing down can be laid at the feet of TV.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
I would say it differently. They have the power only
because we don't take it away from them. And, at this point in time, I'm not sure we can take it away from them, even if we are willing to risk our lives to do it. And very few of us are ready to risk our lives.
Just in from Naomi
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
End of our Empire - beginning of Democracy?
Article that just came up on my twitter feed. Article in The Nation
The End of the US Empire Can Be a New Beginning for Our Democracy Only by understanding how Trump fits within our recent history will the left be able to figure out where we go from here.
Say what??? Consider recent history??
The destruction of the New Deal by Clinton???
Could it have started earlier by the Watergate Generation?? Here is Matt Stoller with a recent piece in The Atlantic
How Democrats Killed Their Populist Soul: In the 1970s, a new wave of post-Watergate liberals stopped fighting monopoly power. The result is an increasingly dangerous political system
Money is addicting. Hard to get off when it has been mainlined for more than a generation.
1975
Hi Don - I always appreciate you dropping in pearls that give history and perspective. What youth apparently doesn't get is that "nothing is new, it just changes its name", which is why those who don't remember history are indeed doomed to repeat it.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Personally, I pin the moment it to the PetroDollar
…that was created by Kissinger and Saudi Arabia in 1972, after Nixon pulled the Dollar off the gold standard. (A crisis in the Bretton Woods agreement caused by the expenses of the lying war, Vietnam. Our adopted and embedded Nazis never stopped their revenge on Russian "interference" and communism after they lost WWII. To this day.)
Thsnk god the PetroDollar is dead. Hopefully, it will stop thrashing soon.
Populism and the New Deal are not synonyms.
Populism is a general political philosophy or doctrne. The New Deal was a very specific group of laws. Regulation in general and the New Deal are not synonyms, either, although New Deal legislation included speficic laws regulating banks, stock trading, etc.
Welfare was a major, and very key, piece of New Deal legislation. Clinton gutted it. To be fair, he had actually run on gutting it. Glass Steagall was another major piece of New Deal legislation. Clinton and his WH financial advisors lobbied Democrats hard for its repeal. Republicans probably would have passed repeal, aka Gramm, Leach, Bliley, on their own, but Bubba wanted to be able to claim (falsely) that he signed Gramm, Leach Blilely only because it had a veto-proof majority anyway. (He did the same with the Commodities Futures Modernization Act.)
The Bankruptcy Act of 1934 was another significant piece of New Deal legislation. Carter and a Democratic Congress replaced it with the Bankruptcy Code of 1978, which left out the corporate watch dog provisions that sought to hold crooked directors and officers of bankrupt corporations to account.
Social Security was another major piece of New Deal legislation. Bush 43 gave it a shot, but got nowhere. Obama did his best cutting into that and got a bit further.
That Atlantic article is awesome
I highly recommend it.
The days of American prosperity were marked by a shit ton of regulation, and it was all specifically designed to be inefficient. Young people don't remember we didn't used to have many national chain stores, because with exceptions, chain stores used to be illegal. As the article explains, the mere concentration of economic power was viewed as a terrible danger to democracy. Correctly, it turns out.
The Atlantic has been publishing some interesting stuff lately.
When I was a kid growing up in Canada
large stores were not allowed to be open on Sunday. (This was a provincial regulation, not federal.)
Eventually, they were allowed to open, but only with short staff.
I don't know what the situation is now.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
"The Resistance" was a marketing scheme...
Because let's be honest, not a single one of those folks has even contemplated taking to the hills and sabotaging the war machine until they are forced to bring the troops in to deal with the situation, by which point the guerillas will have moved on to another target.
If they're going with the original resistance that coined the term Guerilla, they're calling Trump "Napoleon". Which is completely ludicrous, because we haven't killed NEARLY enough politicians yet.
If they want to claim the mantle of the French Resistance, then they're claiming that Trump is trying to completely destroy America, which makes little to no sense, because he's just carrying on the policies of their anointed saviors. Unless Hillary is going to roll in with a bunch of Allies and Immediately step down in favor of the self-governance of the local people...
You know what? Nothing I really hate more than crappy marketing with NO sense of history on what they're trying to co-opt. Seriously. They shouldn't be calling themselves the "resistance" until the Republicans start rounding up and shooting people who take full responsibility for resisting Trump. Hiding behind anonymous crowds is the exact OPPOSITE of what the Resistance in France stood for. Trump doesn't seem likely to start massacring villages, so this is pretty freaking pathetic.
Essentially, it's just Stolen Valor, all over again. Except they're trying to steal the Valor of their parents. Nice Move, Boomer Ad Exec Assholes.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
"The Resistance" already has
accomplished some goals. TrumpCo is headed for the Exits - if not jail time. Thousands of Jane and Joe Blows have signed up to run for office in 2018, sick of what they've seen. What more could we hope for? Our work is practically done. Hell, I may actually get to retiring to my barcalounger, clicker in hand! But I fully expect, once May 1st gets here (and the weather finally warms up), that I'll be back out there, clipboard in hand, educating the clueless about the "Movement" they're about to encounter, looking for signups.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Hey, just like they say...
if at first you don't succeed, redefine success.
/snark
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
@Wink
I would define it as over 5,000 Jane and Joe Blows running for office in 2018. Many of those 5,000 in Bernie's camp. Not all of them progressives, but most looking to replace Repubs, get back to normal. At the very least taking back the Senate, if not a clean sweep. Your definition may vary.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
I know how this goes.
Eventually it ends up with my base policy positions being described as wanting a magical unicorn that farts rainbows.
Pay no attention to that admittance fee to see behind the curtain! It's there for your protection!
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Good luck with that.
We all want to "get there," but we don't get there over night. I'll take 500 m.o.r. Dems sending bat$h!t crazy Repubs (and the DNC) packing as a damn good start to getting back to reality. First we remove the Repubs...
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Only if the newly
elected follow the Established. Here in my neck of the woods I left the local Dem party here becuz the "Established" cared less about winning than they did the next cocktail party. I thought it was just a "local thing," but it turns out my local "Established" is pretty much representative of the country. It took several years, but we now have an "alternative" Dem party here. I suspect and totally expect newly elected 2018 Dems will simply ignore what's-his-name and the DNC and run their own damn wing of the party.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
"get back to normal" Banksy takes over Springfield
I am admiring your optimism, what are you smoking? lol just kidding but not really.
So glad that normal is good for most, not glad about the bottom half. Banksy is kinda like recursive irony illustrated. "We're Capitalists", that's my problem. What the hell is a thousand new faces gonna matter? Just wait and see, same as it ever was? Okay, but in meantime stay real. Thanks.
Peace & Love
Are you now or have you ever been
a Democratic consultant or fundraiser?
If the answer is yes, your membership in the Unicorn Party will be on provisional status for five years in which your activities are restricted to those which require no verbal or written input of your own devise.
" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "
Never trusted it from the beginning....
The Dem ruling elite are going to infuse a lot of money into these organizations to resist Trump and marginalize the Socialist movement and Bernie supporters. After 8 years of Bush and *8 years of BushObama, the veal pen is desperate for cash and will do anything for a place in line.
Until the Clinton/Obama wing is DEAD and buried, I am done voting for Democrats - particularly at the federal level. Trying to wrest my state out of the hands of DeVos teapots, I will vote for anyone who can win and isn't them.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
IMO, Bernie has done a good job of
further dividing and further marginalizing "the left of the left" regardless of what his intentions may have been or may currently be. I try not to attempt to read people's minds, but, instead, to go by their actions and the results of their actions. Dividing the left of the left further than ever has been the result of Bernie's actions.
One could also call that "concentrating" the Left.
I think Bernie's goals were too short term to attribute all the election fall out and counter-reactions to his words and actions, alone. Too, I believe he has evolved quietly since Election Day, however inconvenient that may be. (The brain the only organ that continues to evolve after birth, and can even pass on cultural behaviors, genetically.)
It certainly wasn't Bernie's plan to "marginalize" the Left. He was supposed to assimilate the Left into the Party.
Instead, I think the Left has been concentrated, like hash oil, and now, they're opening dispensaries and getting everyone stoned. Change is afoot and the media is scrambling to steer the narrative and change the definitions of words.
Or, you can call it further dividing the left into Bernie's
so-called revolution and those who won't touch the Democratic Party again with a barge pole. And the second group is further divided by those who think Bernie was a sheep dog from day one, those who are still uncritical fans and those who are somewhere in between.
I also have no clue what Bernie's goals, plans or intentions were or are. I often say that I'm lucky if I know my own mind, let alone the mind of people I've never met, let alone politicians I've never met. That is why my post was worded as it was. It also expressly said that I was commenting only on the results of his actions, not his motives. However, my post said nothing remotely like he alone was responsible for "all the election fall out and counter-reactions."
.
There was never anything to trust
"The resistance" is as empty as Hillary's "I'm with her" and "Stronger together".
Let's be clear, they are not resisting any particular policy. They are resisting Trump. "The Resistance" is a purely partisan play and it always has been. Were that not true, our intrepid "resisters" would've been resisting long before now.
A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard
'Crashing the Gates" 2.0
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
Nepotistic succession in the political class
Glenn Greenwald in 2008
Nepotistic succession in the political class A large, and rapidly growing, percentage of high elected officials are part of politically powerful families. What accounts for this anti-democratic dynamic?
He tweeted this today in response to Chelsea Clinton going into politics ......
If the family business is profitable, many people tend to
go into the family business. Doesn't matter if the business is a very lucrative manufacturer or bakery or deli or show business or politics or dentistry. Samuel Bush was an industrialist who got a war-related government position. yadda yadda son Senator Prescott Bush, grandson George 41 and great-grandson George 43. They're the political version of the Barrymores.
Except some Barrymores actually had talent! n/t
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
Well, I never said the younger generations had talent.
Even in business, the younger generation often runs into the ground what their parents or grandparents built, though some of them do make it bigger and better. I have come in contact with a lot of people who were raised very wealthy. I won't say all of them are messed up, but I will say "messed up" is more prevalent in their demographic than in others. I can honestly say I am very glad my parents were not in no position to indulge me.
$hills
ran on 'Trump BAD'...see how that turned out.
We'll see if these dumb fucks screaming it louder will really change anything...NOT!
I want a Pony!
You're not the only one SICK
You're not the only one SICK of the evil DeVos garbage. We gotta deal with Rich DeVos and his slime molds down here. Rec'd!!
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
Some gossip about those attending this beauty contest.
Just some random notes from this article and another I read.
There is this:
Break down:
--Bernie: wait, not mentioned in any press release as attending. The most popular "democrat" not invited by all appearances.
--Soros flunkie. Soros was I believe thee biggest Clinton donor and opposed Sanders. Working class oriented policies? I believe Soros hates anything "populist".
--Paul Egerman and linking him with Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood: Clinton supporter. About a month after Bernie was back stabbed by Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood by endorsing Clinton (there was no practical or political reason for the endorsement), he and his wife gave $400,000 to Planned Parenthood's political arm. According to NYTimes, Planned Parenthood would spend money:
https://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/01/07/planned-parentho...
(good job asshole)
Donation to defeat Bernie in primaries.
https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/donor_detail.php?cycle=2016&...
--Susan Sandler. So bizarre, looks like Democracy Advocates listed her parents as references. Time magazine listed them as 25 people most responsible for financial crash. They, Herb Sandler and his wife, were ranked as 10th most responsible. Maybe the daughter is not them, but why mention parents? Signaling to rich donors safe to attend as Bernie was not showing up?
https://www.slideshare.net/wcaswell/time-magazine-names-25-people-to-bla...
--Ian Simmons. Hyatt family fortune. Hyatt waged a bitter anti-union campaign until about 2013.
Hyatt workers win big concessions, global boycott to end
http://www.peoplesworld.org/article/hyatt-workers-win-big-concessions-gl...
--Naomi Aberly. Major Clinton bundler.
--CAP/Neera Tanden. Poor Neera. Would be Secretary of HHS, who advised Hillary not to support $15/hr min wage. And The Intercept added this point about Neera's recommendation.
But there is more about Neera and CAP and the "war room" set up by the DNC in Jan. following Clinton's defeat. BTW, it is this body that has formulated the focus on all things Russian.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/01/03/the-demo...
I put in bold American Bridge because Paul Egereman from above gave them $300,000.
With the organizational marginalization of Sanders and his policies, what we are seeing is Hillary_Clinton version 1.0: the original version that lost the election. The party is in the next phase of purging the left from the democratic party as now leading lackies such as Huffpost and Maddow are attacking Sander supporters as critical to Hillary's defeat (Putin dupes).
While this exercise was fun, why should anybody be surprised at any of this--why am I surprised. At this moment, my biggest hope is from the McCarthyite, war mongering, MIC supporter Adam Schiff who feared that the opposition to Trump may radicalize many in the democratic base. By radicalize, I think he meant $15/min. wage, single payer, free college tuition, money out of politics. I hope the base does get radicalized. I hope at one point the base says "fuck Russia--half the country is in poverty".
By the way couldn't resist, a major contributor to Schiff is Igor Pasternak, an Ukrainian weapons dealer and maker. Surprise, surprise:
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2017/03/21/adam-schiff-grifter-racket...
https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/partytime.php?cid=N00009585
Edit: added link to Time's list of people most responsible for financial crash.
UPDATE: As I wrote, Sanders has essentially been marginalized by having no allies in the party power structure. Now his (us) supporters are being accused of having been Putin dupes. Well, it has come full circle now. The newest darling of Russian conspiracies among the establishment is one Louise Mensch who published in the NYTimes and is considered some Russian expert has accused Bernie of ties to Putin.
https://twitter.com/mtracey/status/844736367930204160
American politics has not only been take over by corporatists, but also by mentally ill people.
Unity trickle-down, look out here it comes
thanks for those juicy links. lol something reminded me of a recent local opinion, where
is a thing now.
I was wondering how the unraveling was going to be covered, now I got a big hint. I mean unraveling for the bottom 1%, everyone else will be fine. 1% is only three and a half million people or so, maybe 5% is more like it I hope not.
We can't even find Librarians anymore, that's how effective the local initiative process has become. What's the point of voting for more library hours if you never voted to educate enough librarians? Dumb shits. This is the downward spiral writ large, I don't know why people think status quo is so great, they must be new here.
"That's the system" Thanks Spring, fuck you Jerry Brown. Piss on my leg and tell me it's raining, those are the planned talking points. Again. "We're Capitalists"
effin retreads
sorry not feeling the peace and love right now
Interesting article
from the article:
But the stock market is up, and the upper end real estate market seems to be booming.
Your comment would make fine stand-alone essay, Mr Webster.
Detailing the backgrounds of the clowns being gathered for some kind of Alliance to revive the dead Dems.
Could it be anymore obvious, when these "efforts" to regain political significance center around the campaign donors, who happen to be financial elites, are part of the "strategy" to win back votes?
You fucking morons! Did you not take anything away from the 2106 primary? Bernie out-raised $hills in money month after month, proving a candidate who has bonafides, is authentic, genuine and trustworthy, doesn't need big wealthy donors.
It's clear that the conclusion is that those running this
crime ringparty will remain willfully ignorant/arrogant in making believe to not being able to read the writing on the wall that politics as usual, as it has been for some time, i.e. groveling and whoring for the money of wealthy, is not going to cut it. In fact, it's going to turn voters away, who are no sick of the big money game pulling all the strings.The two most successful campaigns of the season (Bernie and Drumplethinskin) did not play that game. And that, my friends, is the takeaway they fear most: their money no longer holds any sway on the electorate. Couldn't get $hills or RMoney elected (and how about Jeb!, who had mountains of money too), each who out-raised their opponents.
Bernie made Money in Politics one of the issues. I think from here on out the reverse happens, when the media fawn all over and breathlessly report on the candidates who have the most money and ability to raise money, it will be a clear sign for voters who to stay away from.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
Not only money, but media control also???
Very true:
It is like the DNC rushed to their rich donors after Clinton lost to insist they were still it. And with this conference, the rich are coming forward to assert their dominance.
But it is also the media. Fake news is all about crushing and marginalizing anything and everybody not the establishment media. In fact, that also has developed its own self-financing through the number of clicks some item gets (I am not sure how exactly that works, but a bunch of teenage Macedonians figured it out.)
That the "Pros" have
entered the fray was bound to happen (or be left in the dust). But, the "movement" is Way Bigger than they are, so... who cares? Literally thousands have "signed up" to run for local and state offices, from school boards to state assemblymen. Most of those thousands women. The "Resistance" already a success! 2018 is Dems to lose. The pros won't change that.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Yes, sadly the "pro's"
will change that. They'll slowly and ever so subtly ask for one "small" concession after another, and like an addict, if even one small compromise is made, then they'll make another "small" one, and another, and another until we end up right back where we are now. This is what "Democrats" did back in the 70's - ever so slightly they "realized" that they needed that money from those donors, and hey, what's one little compromise?
We cannot use their money without being affected by them, we simply can't. Not in our money grubbing society, money ALWAYS wins.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
I'll take my chances
with an Army of Berniecrats over a couple dozen Pros any day of the week and twice on Sunday. If anyone thinks it's going to get better than that they're dreaming. Besides... it's already started... As for DNC money I think that's history. I doubt anyone is taking any, and I'm certain the DNC ain't shelling any out, so... a moot point. The DNC made their bed with what's-his-name, and by making that choice slit their own throat. They're toast. Toes up. History. We have an Army they can't touch.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
CAP is like herpes
It is never gone despite unsubscribing once a week since about this time last year. I'm sure they are the continuing source of Dem resistance propaganda that grows in my inbox faster than I can unsubscribe. Maybe I should give up trying to eradicate from my mail. They do know what's best for me, right?
I didn't know Media Matters had gone over to the dark side but why shouldn't they? The "left" has learned a thing or two from their friends across the aisle. There's money to be had from building a reputable name then selling out to those you opposed for so long. Sad.
"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now..."
This may help with all those DNC emails..
I was getting a lot of them and every time I just click the "Report as SPAM" button. (If you are a Gmail user.)
Hopefully if enough people start doing this we can cause it to trigger algorithms that automatically moves their domain to the black list, if only for a few hours...
All I do know is by doing this it stops them from showing up in my email chains and takes less time than going to their website and unsubscribing.
I used to do that if for no other reason than to let them know that I was done with them, but there are just so many that this became the easier, quicker choice.
Besides, the more I thought about it the more I came to the conclusion that I would rather them not know. Let them think they can count on me, continue doing their same stupid shit and hemorrhaging members.
The Democratic Party has been forever tainted, to the point that it is beyond salvaging.
A new party needs to form, and will inevitably as all vacuums will be filled.
The only question is will it be a party controlled by rational, unbought people like those of us that frequent places like this or just by more money grubbers?
I fear the latter, as until we can get money out of politics money will always find a way, which is why I have come to believe that a Soviet style fragmentation of our nation is coming. (And that is the best case scenario out of the 3 that I believe to be the most likely.)
At the risk of coming off as a RWNJ or Bunker Lover, I am encouraging people to stock up on necessities for at least 2 months per person in their household at normal ration levels.
I really should write an essay sometime soon on what are the most important and easily stored sources of calories and other necessary supplies and how to acquire and store them cheaply.
"I used to vote Republican & Democrat, I also used to shit my pants. Eventually I got smart enough to stop doing both things." -Me
Doesn't Chelsea Clinton
Own or run or have something to do with The Daily Beast? Who believes this is liberal, democratic or for real? How many fake Dem. 'resistance' groups are they going to start? None of these groups are or ever we're liberal or 'progressive'. Many are off shoots of Al From's DLC now The Third Way. I hope this backfires on these Dem. rat bastards.
On a state level where there are RW lunatic Republican's running little fiefdoms it will work. My city/ state government is solid Demoratic. It will most likely vote in any Democrat out of fear of Trump and the RW crazies. Maybe the Demorat's will go too far with this stupid fake resistance.
The new Portland mayor is an ex Republican, the governor is a radical centrist Dem. who might as well be a Republican. The new mayor Wheeler just closed down to the public our city consul/supervisor meetings. The city government voted for this because the people attending these meetings are 'disruptive' and rowdy. They are resisting our corrupt Demoratic city government's demolishing the city and brutalizing real resistors with their nasty violent out of control goon squad racist pig cops. Seems they can't get their corporate agenda accomplished if real resistors show up and cause trouble. The court's ruled a few years ago when they tried this tactic, that this was illegal and unconstitutional.
We have that weasel Wyden and a useless wimpy real moderate Merkley as incumbent senators who never are primaried. Corrupt Machine Dems. the lot of them even though they call themselves 'progressive's or Democratic. There are no longer elections. They are a mockery of democracy. An extortion of your vote as nobody wants a Trump or a Scott Walker. Vote for the Dems. or else.
Bernie did great in Oregon and Hillary carried the state in the general. She carried the state using fear and no choice not because people believed her nasty ass campaign. They're pushing their luck with this utter bs. as they have done nothing to resist Trumps insane agenda and policy. Maybe instead of trying to cash in on Trump fear and loathing they should do their job as the loyal opposition and freaking obstruct this fascistic farce of an administration. Oh yeah I forgot they are complicit fascist's with the R's and busy fermenting a new cold/hot war with Russia.
How can people who bill themselves as 'socially liberal' or progressives buy into this phony resistance? My hope is that they blow it and become extinct which seems to be the direction they are headed. What are they down to these days 23%? Wise up people the Demoratic party is nothing but pure evil and so are the sycophant toadies who catapult their unbelievable propaganda. This includes the so called lefty orgs, NGO's and 'lefty' publications like The Nation, Salon, The Atlantic, and especailly all of the Bernie spin off 'reform' groups. Democratic Socialist's indeed, gimmie and anyone who's not fear riddled and brainwashed a break.
chelsea on board of IAC
which owns DB.