Moseying Down The Breadcrumb Trail (Updated)

Submitted by Phoebe Loosinhouse on Mon, 05/15/2017 - 8:31am

I am finding myself distracted by the abnormally large number of breadcrumbs from different loaves that I keep encountering, but upon looking at them closely I suddenly had the insight that even through the crumbs are different, perhaps they are from the same loaf, a political marble rye, if you will, produced in a single bakery.

We have two concurrent news events going on, Republican Corruption involving Trump and the Republicans, and Democratic corruption involving the DNC and the Hillary Clinton campaign. There has always been one cardinal rule for ferreting out the truth in situations like this which was articulated by good old Deep Throat, all those Watergatey years ago - "follow the money". I guess there is no such thing as free corruption, like everything else, it's a commodity.

The Trump/Russian story now appears to be moving away from "collusion" in the sense of Russians providing the eggs (emails) to throw at the Dem cars, (which was always a bit tenuous since the Dems left the egg crates on the front porch in the first place) and the other election interference which seemed to revolve around Macedonian teenagers writing mean things about Hillary. There is also the Flynn angle which is more serious IMO. But things have taken a recent turn into the much meatier and more traditional areas of political intrigue involving campaign finance, money laundering, RICO, etc. (Not saying any of this is true, just saying this is the current flavor of the scandal du jour being twitterized for your entertainment) Reports of imminent Republican frog marches and Orrin Hatch buying an expensive new suit for his swearing-in are making the rounds. It's beginning to look a lot like Fitzmas, in my opinion,but what do I know? I candidly admit to knowing nothing and in a world where Donald Trump is President, anything, literally anything is possible. So this is the marble in our loaf.

The Democrats are providing the rye - same loaf but different flavor. The DNC lawsuit is revealing the homegrown pervasive corruption of the Democrats who simply (apparently) allowed a number of delegates to be purchased in advance in a private sale to the Hillary Victory Fund to which the Berners and and O'Malleyites were not invited and couldn't have afforded the ticket price even if they had been. Money laundering has been mentioned as a component in the rye swirls as well because of the way money flowed between different entities. I don't know if the reality is as bad as the appearance, not my area of expertise. Rube that I am, I wonder about the propriety of a Party or candidate flat out offering a piece of their campaign fund pie in exchange for Party delegates before any public votes are cast. Is that what happened? Is that legal?

Both parties and the state of our Democracy look like hell, frankly. I haven't seen any evidence based on the last eight years and this year that the FBI or the Justice Department or the Parties themselves have the will or the ability to handle issues on a scale like this that basically involve the systemic corruption of our entire political system.

Everything leads me to re-inforce my earlier judgement that for 99%ers, we are better off discarding the Democratic Party as being beyond redemption and/or reform. Because of the things coming to light now, I think even the name value is kaput. If you bought a restaurant where there had been a hepatitis outbreak, would you keep the name?

We need to move past all this.

(Oops!I vaporized and lost the second half of this essay. I'll have to re-write and Post as Part 2)

Reader's Digest Condensed Version of Part 2

Given the pervasive influence/power of Status Quo Clintonian Dems in the DNC, what expectation of success should any Reform From Within group like Justice Democrats legitimately have?

I tumbled across this extremely interesting post/thread at the Way of The Bern Reddit Justice Dems dodge Caitlyn Johnstone on question of support over the DNC fraud lawsuit which has the original twitter debate at the top and then the Reddit comments.

The controversy is over this tweet from Justice Democrats in reference to the suit:

DNC lawsuit outcome doesn't change fact that DNC will just maneuver their way around to maintain power.

This tweet is extremely puzzling and confusing since it looks like Justice Democrats saying that they expect to be outmaneuvered and stifled by the entrenched at the DNC which leads anyone to the inevitable question - then why are you wasting everyone's time if this is your own predicted outcome?

One commenter points out the difficulty of discussing the corruption of the entity you are trying to take over while still trying to attract voters. Yes, that is an admitted problem- back to my restaurant example, it's like posting a sign that says "Health Department says No More Hepatitis!" in your window for Restaurant Week.

I also like the post with the graphic of a picture of mobsters with the slogan Want to Reform the Mafia? Join It and Reform From Within!

So, I have to reluctantly conclude that while their (JD's) platform is pretty great, it's window dressing and a fool's errand when all is said and done based on their own defeatist tweet. I personally also think that it's looking more and more like one more veal pen More and Better Democrats effort by another Hillaryite media personality. The similarities between Cenk and Kos seem to be growing greater by the day to me.

Your thoughts?

Tags:

#Republicans #Democrats

Vote

Comments

Submitted by k9disc on Mon, 05/15/2017 - 9:13am

Why Has Tillerson Gotten a Pass? $500B from Russia - TRAITOR!

Putin... Boo!

Seriously, this cat came directly from the boardroom of the company that buried the evidence that killed the planet, and landed in the Secretary of State position.

Why are the Democrats not beating on him. It would hurt Drumpf. It would hurt Republicans. It would help human beings. It would be good for the environment.

It would be good politics to take him on, directly in the pay to play, Regulatory Revolving Door sense. But zippo.

The most you will hear is that he's a Drumpfian plant. He's a tool of the evil President Drumpf. He is proof that Russia runs the joint.

But he is really proof that big money runs the joint. He's proof that Democrats don't give a shit about getting money out of politics, limiting corporate power, protecting Americans, and having a functioning democracy.

Where do those crumbs come from?

I think you're on to something with the multiple crumb trails, but I think it might be better to assume that it really is one loaf in different stages of decomposition.

—

“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

Submitted by eyo on Mon, 05/15/2017 - 9:33am

Because Tillerson is Clinton in a different suit?

@k9disc The DNC can't say much about Tillerson, after Clinton set such precedents.

It would be good politics to take him on, directly in the pay to play, Regulatory Revolving Door sense.

Top 5 of 20 revolving door at OpenSecrets, State Department is number 4.
The Clinton Global Foundation is where now? In a SuperPAC or something? How blatant.
Opensecrets.org / Influence & Lobbying / Revolving Door / Top Agencies
White House=651
US House of Representatives=489
Dept of Commerce=256
Dept of State=245
Dept of the Treasury=227

Thanks

Submitted by k9disc on Mon, 05/15/2017 - 4:34pm

I'm Right With You,

@eyo .

It's an unfair argument. It's out of bounds, off limits, kapu, verboten.

But we, People of Issues, should be able to get Tillerson and the Revolving Door some visibility. If it takes using some Personified Politics to do so, that's fine with me.

I got no problem whipping on the hypocrisy of the Establishment line and reframing it from political persons to issues.

I do it frequently with any conversation about a political person or policy connected with Ukraine. I keep slipping the name drop and hammering the issue.

—

“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

Submitted by CB on Mon, 05/15/2017 - 11:10am

The $500 billion is the estimated cost of development of

@k9disc
the Russian arctic oil fields over a period of many decades, provided it will be profitable with high oil prices. The current development deal is 1/3 for Exxon and 2/3 for Russian state owned Rosneft. Exxon is loosing about 1 billion it has already spent due to US sanctions, although Russia can extend the term under force majeure.

Meanwhile, life goes on and money continues to be made. The $500 billion is a nothing-burger of anti-Russian hype.

Rosneft has started drilling in the Arctic in partnership with LUKoil (private Russian oil company).

Rosneft and LUKoil launch drilling in the Arctic
05 April 2017

Meanwhile, two new massive oil fields have been discovered in the the US. One is a conventional play on the North Slope in Alaska and the other is a fracking play in Texas. Americans should be spending more attention to these:

Massive Oil Find in Alaska Is Largest in 30 Years
March 10, 2017

Exxon Bets Big on American Oil
January 18, 2017

Submitted by k9disc on Mon, 05/15/2017 - 4:28pm

That Accepts That the Current CEO of Exxon Can Leave the

boardroom and walk right into the Secretary of State position.

IMO, that is completely beyond the pale, and is a far greater issue than his Russian business connections. The Russian business issues were about tapping into the corporate media zeitgeist on Russian Traitors.

@CB

—

“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

Submitted by Mark from Queens on Mon, 05/15/2017 - 9:31am

We have probably the best chance ever to topple the Duopoly,

right now. A 3rd party could rise right now and become a majority overnight with disaffected Dems, Repubs and Indies flocking to it. Bernie needs to use his massive gravitas with the public to set that in motion. That would be the best outcome and sweet vindication over the corrupt, cheating DNC.

I've got a congested baby sleeping on my shoulder now, and am typing with one finger while he sleeps. But wanted to leave the ending of my favorite Jack London essay here (bold mine). From "What Life Means To Me":

So I went back to the working-class, in which I had been born and where I belonged. I care no longer to climb. The imposing edifice of society above my head holds no delights for me. It is the foundation of the edifice that interests me. There I am content to labor, crowbar in hand, shoulder to shoulder with intellectuals, idealists, and class-conscious working-men, getting a solid pry now and again and setting the whole edifice rocking. Some day, when we get a few more hands and crowbars to work, we'll topple it over, along with all its rotten life and unburied dead, its monstrous selfishness and sodden materialism. Then we'll cleanse the cellar and build a new habitation for mankind, in which there will be no parlor floor, in which all the rooms will be bright and airy, and where the air that is breathed will be clean, noble, and alive.

Such is my outlook. I look forward to a time when man shall progress upon something worthier and higher than his stomach when there will be a finer incentive to impel men to action than the incentive of to-day, which is the incentive of the stomach. I retain my belief in the nobility and excellence of the human. I believe that spiritual sweetness and unselfishness will conquer the gross gluttony of today. And last, of all, my faith is in the working-class. As some Frenchman has said, "The stairway of time is ever echoing with the wooden shoe going up, the polished boot descending."

Great essay as always Phoebe.

—

"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

Submitted by Phoebe Loosinhouse on Mon, 05/15/2017 - 10:16am

You're so right about this being the moment for victory

@Mark from Queens

Here's an idea for a different kind of Third Party -

How about candidates run as United Independents around a single agenda without the pussyfooting and finessing that is commonly practiced and fianced with small donors only. Think of a political Party in terms of a franchise or a co-operative - a True Value or IGA concept brought to politics. A De-centralized political party, if you will made up of independents adhering to a single platform.

—

" “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 "

Submitted by irishking on Mon, 05/15/2017 - 1:41pm

this idea has resonated here.

@Phoebe Loosinhouse

How about candidates run as United Independents around a single agenda -PL

The best path forward is to promote an agenda and threaten the party with extinction if it doesn't comply. - Joe Shikspack

1) Create a consensus list of medium-term achievable demands that reflect the popular will of the 99% - one that cuts across party lines.

2) Post the demands in C99 webspace as a linkable pdf doc.

3) Invite other web and real communities to join in the fun.

4) Use social media (Twitter, Facebook) as well as old media (letters to the editor, mail campaigns to office holders and candidates) to promote the demands.

5) Create a spreadsheet of politicians that support/oppose/ignore our demands and post it in C99 webspace (linkable) - JS

a manifesto Submitted by irishking on Thu, 05/04/2017 - 6:39am
@JtC

could we not organize about a platform?

six or seven points that say what we want clearly. I believe sanders campaign showed the people respond to our message.

the question seems to be how to turn that fact into a force.

Submitted by irishking on Mon, 05/15/2017 - 1:51pm

For the 3rd ( and last) time

@irishking

A modest proposal

which follows the ideas of many others, some posted on this thread.

1. Compose a "People's Declaration" addressed to the political class which contains a simple progressive/populist platform.

2. The "Declaration" is a pledge to support any candidate who endorses the entire platform and to oppose any candidate or politician who refuses.

3. Ask politicians to endorse the platform.
This means they will give full support to the program. Refusal is noted.

4. Set up a website, perhaps run through c99, on which the platform and pols' responses are posted. The site has a signup list for the declaration so that the number of people onboard is visible to all. Organizations would be welcome to sign and to publicize that fact.

If millions signed on and then followed through, they would take control of the system. (If a pol makes the promise and then wavers, he must be attacked unsparingly and never forgiven. To break that promise must be a political death sentence.)

Is there anything in this proposal that can't be done easily and cheaply?
That can be answered here, I think. Is it worth trying? That is another thing and not my call.

Details on platform, etc. could be worked out here if this were to be a c99 project.
Or perhaps as a joint effort with some other groups. For example-

1. end the war
2. address climate change
3. $15/hr.
4. medicare for all
5. quality education for all
6. justice for all

If you can't say that to me as a politician,then save your breath.

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 05/17/2017 - 6:28am

Not so much modest as critical

@irishking Yes, yes, yes IK. With you on all of this. Another thing we could address... the resources of a nation belong to the people. Not the govt. or Corp. As such, we have a say in how those resources are exploited or not. Basic issue re-frame.
Thanks all for trying.

Submitted by irishking on Wed, 05/17/2017 - 8:18am

"the resources of a nation belong to the people."

@QMS

Yours is a guiding principal which underlies my "sample platform".
Could lead off with it.

Hope we get to the point where stuff like this needs to be worked out.

As a practical matter, there is the question of c99 involvement in implementation.
Obviously the answer must come from Jtc, etc.

Will this get a response from Jtc?

Don't know, but pl & 6pk have stirred up lot of interest.

thx.

Submitted by Ellen North on Wed, 05/17/2017 - 8:17am

@irishking

@irishking @irishking

What's presented there is, I thought, pretty much what an actual political party was supposed to be - one with principles and a specific direction. And the party's platform is termed as such because that's supposed to be what the party stands upon, in all senses.

It would be nice to see an actual democratic-type party serving the public interest in the US...

Edit: whoops, shoulda been to Phoebe Loosinhouse and Irishking...

—

Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

Submitted by irishking on Wed, 05/17/2017 - 8:22am

that's it. (++)

@Ellen North

What's presented there is, I thought, pretty much what an actual political party was supposed to be - one with principles and a specific direction. And the party's platform is termed as such because that's supposed to be what the party stands upon, in all senses.

very well put.
thx.

Submitted by LeChienHarry on Mon, 05/15/2017 - 3:46pm

Yup. That "Independent" title needs to be in there. n/t

@Phoebe Loosinhouse

—

You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again you did not know. ~ William Wiberforce

If you can donate, please! POP Money is available for bank-to-bank transfers. Email JtC to make a monthly donation.

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 05/17/2017 - 6:32am

I like it

@Phoebe Loosinhouse United and Independent, or U & I for short.

Submitted by SnappleBC on Mon, 05/15/2017 - 12:19pm

I see the situation differently

@Mark from Queens

I think the situation is currently chaotic. There are many different and strong forces in both the establishment and anti-establishment sides. That's all churning and bubbling away but it needs an inflection point... a seed crystal. Bernie almost provided that but the structure was crushed before it could solidify.

Those pressures only continue to increase. Something is going to give. But I have no idea if "now" is that moment. It's quite feasible in my mind that voters will run, pillar to post fashion, right back to Democrats... just as they have been doing for lo these many decades. My general sense is that not enough people are woken up to reality to change things today. My strong sense is that number is increasing steadily though.

Intuitively, there must be voters over on the red side who are exactly in the same boat I was with in Obama in 2008/9.... "Wait... this isn't what I was sold!" The trick is to get them and us both to realize we are not enemies... not in this war anyway. My assessment is that the strongest battle I give to the duopoly is the fight against otherism.

—

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

Submitted by CB on Mon, 05/15/2017 - 1:21pm

Both parties share one thing in common -

@SnappleBC
they serve the very same banking and MIC masters - the neoliberal and neoconservative power brokers. Trump thought he could work outside this framework but he was mistaken. He is now being taken to the woodshed for some 'lessons'. (These lessons are now given in a more 'civilized' manner since JFK due to the proliferation of cell phones and the internet.)

It was remarkable how quickly Obama learned his lessons. I'm thinking he already understood them before he started running for the figure-head position. Several things stood out when I read his book "The Audacity of Hope":

1. American needs to invest more in its military with high tech weaponry and "over the horizon force projection"
2. The World Bank and IMF policies are good for America and just need a little adjustment.

I had bought his book when it first came out. After reading it, I knew it was going to be 'same-old, same-old' with a new face.

Obama was nothing but a marketing creation to fool the people into thinking they were going to get something substantively different than Billy or Dubya.

Power, Illusion, and America’s Last Taboo
by John Pilger
Dissident Voice
September 2nd, 2009

The following article is the text from John Pilger’s address to Socialism 2009 in San Francisco, California on 4 July.

Two years ago, at Socialism 2007 in Chicago, I spoke about an “invisible government,” a term used by Edward Bernays, one of the founders of modern propaganda. It was Bernays who, in the 1920s, invented “public relations” as a euphemism for propaganda. Deploying the ideas of his uncle, Sigmund Freud, Bernays campaigned on behalf of the tobacco industry for American women to take up smoking as an act of feminist liberation; he called cigarettes “torches of freedom.”

The invisible government that Bernays had in mind brought together the power of all media — PR, the press, broadcasting, advertising. It was the power of form: of branding and image-making over substance and truth — and I would like to talk today about this invisible government’s most recent achievement: the rise of Barack Obama and the silencing of the left.

First, I would like to go back some 40 years to a sultry day in Vietnam.
...
And when the colonel arrived that evening, the district chief was summoned, and the yellow flush lavatories were unveiled. The colonel cleared his throat and produced a handwritten speech.

“Mr. District Chief and all you nice people,” he said, “what these gifts represent is more than the sum of their parts. They carry the spirit of America. Ladies and gentlemen, there’s no place on earth like America. It’s the land where miracles happen. It’s a guiding light for me, and for you. In America, you see, we count ourselves as real lucky having the greatest democracy the world has ever known, and we want you nice people to share in our good fortune.”

Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, even John Winthrop’s “city upon a hill” got a mention. All that was missing was the Star Spangled Banner playing in the background.
...

The one good thing about Trump's election is that it has ripped the curtains away, so we, and the entire world, can now see the rot and corruption behind the entire facade that is the American government. Those in Washington are scurrying around like termites who have had their nest ripped open and exposed to the fresh air.

Ladies and gentlemen, enjoy your new toilets. Too bad you also don't have clean water to flush them with.

Submitted by lotlizard on Tue, 05/16/2017 - 1:15am

John Pilger’s article is tops!

@CB So refreshing to read a true, intellectually (and spiritually) honest assessment of Obama and the totally deluded sort of support he inspired in people.

Barack Obama is the embodiment of this “ism”. Since Obama was elected, leading liberals have talked about America returning to its true status as a “nation of moral ideals” — the words of Paul Krugman in the New York Times. In the San Francisco Chronicle columnist Mark Morford wrote that, “spiritually advanced people regard the new president as ‘a Lightworker’ . . . who can help usher in a new way of being on the planet.”

Tell that to an Afghan child whose family has been blown away by Obama’s bombs, or a Pakistani child whose family are among the 700 civilians killed by Obama’s drones. Or tell it to a child in the carnage of Gaza caused by American smart weapons which, disclosed Seymour Hersh, were resupplied to Israel for use in the slaughter “only after the Obama team let it be known it would not object.” The man who stayed silent on Gaza is the man who now condemns Iran.

Obama’s is the myth that is America’s last taboo. His most consistent theme was never change; it was power. The United States, he said, “leads the world in battling immediate evils and promoting the ultimate good . . . We must lead by building a 21st century military to ensure the security of our people and advance the security of all people.” And there is this remarkable statement: “At moments of great peril in the past century our leaders ensured that America, by deed and by example, led and lifted the world, that a we stood and fought for the freedom sought by billions of people beyond their borders.” At the National Archives on May 21, he said: “From Europe to the Pacific, we’ve been the nation that has shut down torture chambers and replaced tyranny with the rule of law.”

Since 1945, “by deed and by example,” the United States has overthrown fifty governments, including democracies, and crushed some 30 liberation movements, and supported tyrannies and set up torture chambers from Egypt to Guatemala. Countless men, women and children have been bombed to death. Bombing is apple pie. And yet, here is the 44th President of the United States, having stacked his government with warmongers and corporate fraudsters and polluters from the Bush and Clinton eras, teasing us while promising more of the same.

“Spiritually advanced people regard the new president as ‘a Lightworker’ . . . who can help usher in a new way of being on the planet.”

Fatuous beyond even right-wing caricatures of liberals. No wonder Democrats lose. “There’s your problem, deplorables: you’re not ‘spiritually advanced’ like we are. Now excuse me, Oprah Winfrey and I have a party to go to on Richard Branson’s yacht.”

#2.2 they serve the very same banking and MIC masters - the neoliberal and neoconservative power brokers. Trump thought he could work outside this framework but he was mistaken. He is now being taken to the woodshed for some 'lessons'. (These lessons are now given in a more 'civilized' manner since JFK due to the proliferation of cell phones and the internet.) It was remarkable how quickly Obama learned his lessons. I'm thinking he already understood them before he started running for the figure-head position. Several things stood out when I read his book "The Audacity of Hope": 1. American needs to invest more in its military with high tech weaponry and "over the horizon force projection" 2. The World Bank and IMF policies are good for America and just need a little adjustment. I had bought his book when it first came out. After reading it, I knew it was going to be 'same-old, same-old' with a new face. Obama was nothing but a marketing creation to fool the people into thinking they were going to get something substantively different than Billy or Dubya. Power, Illusion, and America’s Last Taboo by John Pilger Dissident Voice September 2nd, 2009 The following article is the text from John Pilger’s address to Socialism 2009 in San Francisco, California on 4 July. Two years ago, at Socialism 2007 in Chicago, I spoke about an “invisible government,” a term used by Edward Bernays, one of the founders of modern propaganda. It was Bernays who, in the 1920s, invented “public relations” as a euphemism for propaganda. Deploying the ideas of his uncle, Sigmund Freud, Bernays campaigned on behalf of the tobacco industry for American women to take up smoking as an act of feminist liberation; he called cigarettes “torches of freedom.” The invisible government that Bernays had in mind brought together the power of all media — PR, the press, broadcasting, advertising. It was the power of form: of branding and image-making over substance and truth — and I would like to talk today about this invisible government’s most recent achievement: the rise of Barack Obama and the silencing of the left. First, I would like to go back some 40 years to a sultry day in Vietnam. ... And when the colonel arrived that evening, the district chief was summoned, and the yellow flush lavatories were unveiled. The colonel cleared his throat and produced a handwritten speech. “Mr. District Chief and all you nice people,” he said, “what these gifts represent is more than the sum of their parts. They carry the spirit of America. Ladies and gentlemen, there’s no place on earth like America. It’s the land where miracles happen. It’s a guiding light for me, and for you. In America, you see, we count ourselves as real lucky having the greatest democracy the world has ever known, and we want you nice people to share in our good fortune.” Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, even John Winthrop’s “city upon a hill” got a mention. All that was missing was the Star Spangled Banner playing in the background. ... The one good thing about Trump's election is that it has ripped the curtains away, so we, and the entire world, can now see the rot and corruption behind the entire facade that is the American government. Those in Washington are scurrying around like termites who have had their nest ripped open and exposed to the fresh air. Ladies and gentlemen, enjoy your new toilets. Too bad you also don't have clean water to flush them with.

Submitted by k9disc on Mon, 05/15/2017 - 9:15pm

Bernie Would Be Smashing the Establishment Right Now If He

didn't subjugate himself and his movement to Hillary.

It's a tragic political error. Bummer for humanity.

@SnappleBC

—

“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

Submitted by ggersh on Mon, 05/15/2017 - 9:36am

It's a twofer world

the oli's get both parties for the price of one

they just love their money, don't they.

—

I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

Submitted by Phoebe Loosinhouse on Mon, 05/15/2017 - 10:52am

More reasons why Justice Democrats are doomed IMO

Quite a satisfying read here:

lWhere Movements Go To Die: The Democrats Are Draining The Resistance's Life

Hillary is power positioning herself with her new PAC, Onward Together so

This move by Clinton encapsulates the problem of the Democrats coopting an organic protest movement against Trump perfectly. A real grassroots movement against the president and his administration could present a challenge to both the problems of the current administration and the problems of America as a whole. But if the movement is controlled and funded by the same party professionals that have created a brand so off-putting, and so toxic, that the American people prefer Trump, what measure of success can it realistically expect to have?

Further, a Clinton controlled PAC could allow the party machine to continue to determine the course of the movement. The Democrats have deep pockets—ask anyone who’s ever run against the party without significant financial backing. By funneling extra cash and resources to her chosen candidates, Clinton and her ilk could continue to control the direction of the party.

And then perhaps, the best summation of the consequences of continuing onward with Clinton and the Democrats:

The Democrats plan to attach themselves, tick-like, to a political movement that was born from resistance. They’ll drain it of its lifeblood and infect it with a debilitating disease, rendering the movement toothless, tired, and depleted. It’s up to us to make sure that doesn’t happen.

—

" “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 "

Submitted by CB on Mon, 05/15/2017 - 12:19pm

Democrats doubling down on Russian interference rather than

face the truth about why they lost to what should have been a slam dunk win. Podesta has now come up with a weird website that takes spurious links to make their case that "its Putin's fault". The fucking DNC and current Democratic Party will never learn. They keep this shiite up and they will continue to lose in 2018 and 2020.

The Creepy New Russia Smear Website From Team Clinton

“Within 24 hours of her concession speech,” ... campaign manager Robby Mook and campaign chair John Podesta “assembled her communications team ... to engineer the case that the election wasn’t entirely on the up-and-up. ... Already, Russian hacking was the centerpiece of the argument.”
...
Soon after Clinton’s defeat, top strategists decided where to place the blame. “Within 24 hours of her concession speech,” the authors report, campaign manager Robby Mook and campaign chair John Podesta “assembled her communications team at the Brooklyn headquarters to engineer the case that the election wasn’t entirely on the up-and-up. For a couple of hours, with Shake Shack containers littering the room, they went over the script they would pitch to the press and the public. Already, Russian hacking was the centerpiece of the argument.”

Six months later, that centerpiece of the argument is rampant ― with claims often lurching from unsubstantiated overreach to outright demagoguery.

A lavishly-funded example is the “Moscow Project,” a mega-spin effort that surfaced in midwinter as a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund. It’s led by Neera Tanden, a self-described “loyal solider” for Clinton who also runs the Center for American Progress (where she succeeded Podesta as president). The Center’s board includes several billionaires.

The “Moscow Project” is expressly inclined to go over the top, aiming to help normalize ultra-partisan conjectures as supposedly factual. And so, the homepage of the “Moscow Project” prominently declares: “Given Trump’s obedience to Vladimir Putin and the deep ties between his advisers and the Kremlin, Russia’s actions are a significant and ongoing cause for concern.”

Let’s freeze-frame how that sentence begins: “Given Trump’s obedience to Vladimir Putin.” It’s a jaw-dropping claim; a preposterous smear.

Echoes of such tactics can be heard from many Democrats in Congress and from allied media. Along the way, no outlet has been more in sync than MSNBC, and no one on the network has been more promotional of the Russia-runs-Trump meme than Rachel Maddow, tirelessly promoting the line and sometimes connecting dots in Glenn Beck fashion to the point of journalistic malpractice.
...

If you read the comments in their YouTube video, you will realize Americans are not buying it.

JimInNashville3 days ago (edited)
Before watching this bizarre propaganda piece, read a good book on critical thinking, that emphasizes and helps prepare you for techniques like "guilt by association" and "false premises." If you do, you'll realize quickly that this piece is poorly assembled trash.

Submitted by Roy Blakeley on Mon, 05/15/2017 - 1:07pm

One thing that really pisses me off

@CB (OK among many) is that the so-called left now simply proclaims that there is overwhelming evidence for Russian interference in the election. Now, Russia may well have tried to influence the election. After all the US has certainly interfered in Russia and allied itself with Nazis and white supremacists to overthrow the elected government of Ukraine, so why wouldn't they want to influence the US election. So far, however, not one piece of persuasive, much less compelling, evidence has been presented that ties Russia to the DNC leaks or the Podesta spearfishing. The two documents that were presented as "proof" were laughable and since then, there has......been.....no......additional......evidence. The FBI hasn't even examined the DNC servers for goodness sake. These days we have the right wing media liars vs the DNC/Soros/neoliberal liars. All of them are corporate stooges.

face the truth about why they lost to what should have been a slam dunk win. Podesta has now come up with a weird website that takes spurious links to make their case that "its Putin's fault". The fucking DNC and current Democratic Party will never learn. They keep this shiite up and they will continue to lose in 2018 and 2020. The Creepy New Russia Smear Website From Team Clinton “Within 24 hours of her concession speech,” ... campaign manager Robby Mook and campaign chair John Podesta “assembled her communications team ... to engineer the case that the election wasn’t entirely on the up-and-up. ... Already, Russian hacking was the centerpiece of the argument.” ... Soon after Clinton’s defeat, top strategists decided where to place the blame. “Within 24 hours of her concession speech,” the authors report, campaign manager Robby Mook and campaign chair John Podesta “assembled her communications team at the Brooklyn headquarters to engineer the case that the election wasn’t entirely on the up-and-up. For a couple of hours, with Shake Shack containers littering the room, they went over the script they would pitch to the press and the public. Already, Russian hacking was the centerpiece of the argument.” Six months later, that centerpiece of the argument is rampant ― with claims often lurching from unsubstantiated overreach to outright demagoguery. A lavishly-funded example is the “Moscow Project,” a mega-spin effort that surfaced in midwinter as a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund. It’s led by Neera Tanden, a self-described “loyal solider” for Clinton who also runs the Center for American Progress (where she succeeded Podesta as president). The Center’s board includes several billionaires. The “Moscow Project” is expressly inclined to go over the top, aiming to help normalize ultra-partisan conjectures as supposedly factual. And so, the homepage of the “Moscow Project” prominently declares: “Given Trump’s obedience to Vladimir Putin and the deep ties between his advisers and the Kremlin, Russia’s actions are a significant and ongoing cause for concern.” Let’s freeze-frame how that sentence begins: “Given Trump’s obedience to Vladimir Putin.” It’s a jaw-dropping claim; a preposterous smear. Echoes of such tactics can be heard from many Democrats in Congress and from allied media. Along the way, no outlet has been more in sync than MSNBC, and no one on the network has been more promotional of the Russia-runs-Trump meme than Rachel Maddow, tirelessly promoting the line and sometimes connecting dots in Glenn Beck fashion to the point of journalistic malpractice. ... If you read the comments in their YouTube video, you will realize Americans are not buying it. JimInNashville3 days ago (edited) Before watching this bizarre propaganda piece, read a good book on critical thinking, that emphasizes and helps prepare you for techniques like "guilt by association" and "false premises." If you do, you'll realize quickly that this piece is poorly assembled trash.

Submitted by SnappleBC on Mon, 05/15/2017 - 12:48pm

One commenter points out the

One commenter points out the difficulty of discussing the corruption of the entity you are trying to take over while still trying to attract voters. Yes, that is an admitted problem- back to my restaurant example, it's like posting a sign that says "Health Department says No More Hepatitis!" in your window for Restaurant Week.

I don't get how that's a problem. That seems to me to be a simple and direct pitch. "Things are jacked up in the Democratic party and we intend to fix them." For me personally, that was exactly why Sanders got my support and anyone who doesn't acknowledge this simple reality cannot get my support.

What seems way more problematic is the line that says, "Everything's fine but we intend to fix that."

—

Submitted by Phoebe Loosinhouse on Mon, 05/15/2017 - 1:35pm

The problem is that on one hand you're defining

@SnappleBC

an existing problem within the Democratic Party,corruption and big money influence, while saying simultaneously that you are going to work within that framework but without the corruption and the big money influence. How credible is that?

Imagine a candy company has become known for insect infestation and then attempts to market a new candy bar with "No Insect Parts!" as their marketing slogan. It makes as much sense.

—

" “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 "

Submitted by SnappleBC on Mon, 05/15/2017 - 1:45pm

Well sure... if this were the candy market

@Phoebe Loosinhouse

But there are only two candy companies and when both are putting rat poison in their candy, having one of them acknowledge that and say, "Yup, but we're going to stop" has some charm.

Don't get me wrong. I'm committed to working on the outside of the party. But I also see the most likely paths of success traveling through the Democratic party I'm all in favor of the work some are doing to reform from within. It is my hope that my efforts are the bullets in the gun wielded by internal reformers.

My plan B (as in this will take longer) is to just continue on how I started trying to build some workable 3rd party. It's really convenient that the two strategies are joined at the hip it's mostly a question of whether strategy A succeeds before or after strategy B. I'm rooting for Justice Democrats (strategy A) even as I see that outcome as less likely. I think we'll have to take the long road.

—

Submitted by k9disc on Mon, 05/15/2017 - 10:22pm

I No Longer Feel Sorry for Charlie Brown and the Football.

I also don't think Lucy is a bad person because she takes it away.

How many times can the Democrats say one thing and do another? 16 of the last 24 years at the Presidential level, and 24 of the last 24 from a legislative level and Party level.

Reform from within without serious and blistering critique and mass firings is NOT credible.

@Phoebe Loosinhouse

—

“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

Submitted by CB on Mon, 05/15/2017 - 1:51pm

The DNC refused the FBI's request to examine their

@Roy Blakeley
computers. Instead they hired CrowdStrike which had ties to the Hillary campaign. It is notable that of the three Federal agencies, FBI, CIA and NSA, (not 17 as Hillary lied about), the NSA, which would have had the "smoking gun" in their possession, only put the assessment as "moderate".

By setting up the investigation in this manner, the FBI and CIA can have "plausible deniability" if the "Russia hacked America's democracy" scheme goes south and is finally exposed as the sham it is. Even as we speak, the Dems are desperately trying to patch the ever increasing cracks in the story as it continues to fall apart.

Submitted by dkmich on Mon, 05/15/2017 - 1:55pm

The similarities between Cenk & Kos seem to be growing greater

There is a war going on between the left youtubers. Issues:

1) TYT Michael Shure and John Iadarola bad mouths the Bernie people for not voting for Hillary - Trump is their fault. They also dissed the DNC lawsuit - the merits, attorneys, and importance. And then there is Ro Khanna. Is he the next Barack Obama.

2) Ro Khanna - the first justice democrat

How to Recognize Next Barack Obama in Real Time, Ro Khanna As A Case Study

Neoliberal Silicon Valley Owned Rep. Rohit Khanna (D-CA) is the New “Alternative” Pied Piper of the Corporate Left
https://willyloman.wordpress.com/2017/05/14/neoliberal-silicon-valley-ow...

@saneprogressive @YouTube Neoliberal Silicon Valley Owned Rep. Rohit Khanna (D-CA) is the New “Alternative” Pied Piper of the Corporate Left https://t.co/8wyIaXAPCC

— Scott Creighton (@willyloman1) May 14, 2017

The Real Issue About the Ro Khannas and Progressives of Dem Party

3) H.A. Goodman vs. Jordan Chariton: Why Are They Fighting Online? This one I'm totally clueless. Mike Black and Niko House are involved here.

It gets worse and worse, and frankly, I can't handle it. I can say that cenk is starting to remind me of Kos.

—

"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Submitted by dkmich on Mon, 05/15/2017 - 2:08pm

@dkmich

@dkmich

From Creighton's blog post linked above:

Rohit Khanna is not progressive.

He’s another Bill Clinton or Barack Obama. He’s a package. A product. Marketed and sold like Pepsi. And like Pepsi, he’ll end up rotting your teeth out.

The unDems are desperate and so to, unfortunately, are real progressives and the real left (or what’s left of it)

Don’t settle for this. The guy is a polished turd and he will betray you. Cenk Uygur, the New Congress thing, the Draft Bernie ridiculousness… it’s all marketing and you can’t be fooled by it even if you want to be.

Demexit might seem like a desperation move but I promise you, falling for this regurgitated bullshit is the real sign of insanity. It’s not even good regurgitated bullshit.
Rohit Khanna is a neoliberal centrist in progressive WWE costumes and you simply can’t fall for that crap again. If you do, you deserve what you get.

Listen to Debbie, unsubscribe to Jimmy like I did and send a message: we aren’t buying what you’re selling anymore.

WE AREN’T FUCKING STUPID

—

"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Submitted by lotlizard on Mon, 05/15/2017 - 2:27pm

How lacking in a sense of history can we seekers of change be?

@dkmich Pretense for PR purposes aside, the “Barons of Big Data” in Silicon Valley are not friends of the 99% and never will be. Neither will the “Emirs of entertainment” nor the “Kings of copyrighted content.”

Were Carnegie of Carnegie Steel or Rockefeller of Standard Oil reliable political allies of the common people? The new advertising- and marketing-based, news-flow-controlling giants and their “self-made man” owners are merely this age’s Carnegies and Rockefellers.

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Mon, 05/15/2017 - 2:04pm

Great essay, Phoebe

Your analogy, which is so simple and easy to understand, immediately shuts down the argument to reform from within the Democratic party. Even if the Democratic party were to rename itself, but keep the same underlying structure, your analogy still works. It would be like your restaurant changing its name, but keeping the same ownership. The real cause of the food poisoning remains the same.

I am one of those who firmly believes that if there were ever a time for the success of a new party, totally unrelated to the current Democratic party, it is now. The Democratic party would be DOA if the mainstream media simply covered the DNC lawsuit. It is severely wounded and has lost all semblance of being a credible vehicle by which voters can cast their ballots with assurance that the election is not rigged. I used to say in my work, the most important thing to me was my credibility with the citizens I served. Without your good name, Democrats, you are nothing.

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy