Markos being openly mocked in the press for being a complete dick

Not once. Not twice. Not thrice, but four different articles from four different sources in two days.
It seems there was an “Ideas” conference for Democrats and Markos was on the panel.
Let's not waste time and get right to it.
#1 Paste Magazine

Six months after the election, the founder of a popular liberal website that also raises money for Democratic candidates thinks it’s fine to demean people who happen to live in a state that gave its electoral college votes to Trump. On May 11, after the Trump administration denied North Carolina’s funding request, Daily Kos founder and publisher Markos Moulitsas tweeted, “There’s your reward for voting Republican, North Carolina.”
As I reported for Facing South last October, often overlooked are the hindrances to voting that the storm causes in eastern North Carolina, as well as in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. The Hurricane displaced many people whose homes were flooded and damaged, hindering their ability to make it to the polls, many of which were shut down anyway.
...
In the arena of bashing flood victims, Markos wasn't alone. Unite Blue, an LLC that “works to connect the left with messaging, community building, technology and organizing,” tweeted something similar.
Unite Blue took down the tweet, attributing it to a volunteer, and apologized. Moulitsas appears not to have addressed his shameful Tweet at all.
As Moulitsas and other Clinton diehards rejoice in schadenfreude over a state subject to massive voter suppression that went for Trump by less than four points, they exemplify the same kind of out-of-touch strategy of the 2016 Clinton campaign.

Gawd! He's such an enormous piece of shit!

#2 The Observer

In an interview with The Los Angeles Times, Congressman Adam Schiff claimed that the progressive wing of Democratic Party was beginning to look the the Tea Party. While the Democratic Party and its leadership remain widely unpopular, several polls cite Sanders as the most popular politician in the country. Rather than embrace his progressive policies that continue to enthuse and mobilize support for Democrats, most Democratic officials have viewed Sanders’ popularity with indignation.

On May 16, Politico reported that several Democrats are furious with Sanders over his potential 2020 presidential run given that he has overwhelming support—more so than any other potential contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination.

“The fact that Tom Perez has given Sanders a platform without Sanders genuinely agreeing to work toward ‘unity’ has made a mockery of the whole process and literally divided the party more than it was before the tour began. It has been a disaster,” said Markos Moulitsas, the founder of Daily Kos. “Yes, Perez and company are clearly afraid of Sanders and his followers, but letting Sanders make a mockery of the party doesn’t exactly help it build in the long haul.” Moulitsas, who recently caught flack for claiming North Carolina residents deserve not to receive Hurricane Matthew relief funds because the state voted for Donald Trump, is part of why the Democratic Party is so out of touch with American voters. He fails to acknowledge that the party made a mockery out of itself by anointing Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee in 2016.

#3 Daily Beast

The blue book was meant for participants to take notes. The cover said, “Ideas for Action.” Inside there was nothing but blank pages.

A panel on the Resistance featured Markos Moulitsas, the founder of Daily Kos, the Resistance of its era. Moulitsas lamented that Democrats in 2016 argued about “whether Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton are good enough while the grassroots were burning.” He told the crowd gathered at Washington’s Four Seasons Hotel that white male Christian liberals are no longer in charge of the Resistance, noting that the post-Trump movement has been built by women and communities of color, and that might make some people uncomfortable.

“There’s a changing of the guard in progressive leadership, and they’re not just part of the movement, they’re leading it.”

Much has been made of the tension between progressives and centrists, the Sanders wing and the Clinton wing, but Moulitsas dismissed disagreement on income inequality, race, and immigration. “What it comes down to is emphasis,” he said. His name isn’t an immediate giveaway, he said, but he’s Hispanic. “Right now our families are being split apart. It’s kind of hard to focus on Florida being underwater when our families are broken up.”
...
Most of the assembled crowd is focused on retaking power in 2018 and 2020, but Moulitsas, the guru of the last resistance, said he is less worried about what happens in two or four years than he is about 2022.

Gawd he's such a moron! Why does anyone listen to him?

And then there's this.
#4
nyt.png

Twitter followers called him “unhinged” and wondered if he’s been smoking crack.
He charged on.

“Aside from ideology, @NYTimes cares nothing about racial and ethnic diversity,” he wrote. “There is nothing ‘liberal” about them. Stop thinking they are.”

You don't suppose he's taken a page from Trump's playbook and decided that all press, even negative press, is good press?

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dervish's picture

This will never be discussed at the GOS. Speaking against Kim Jong Kos and the Democratic apparatchiks is strictly forbidden.

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"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@dervish

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"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

CS in AZ's picture

That is literally, word for word, the exact thought than ran through my head when I read the politico article earlier today and saw it describing dkos as a liberal website.

That those people are claiming to be liberals, progressives, or the "left" is unbelievable. And yes, kos is a complete a-hole. shallow, hateful, and dishonest. Democrats should be embarrassed. Pathetic.

The politico article was interesting though in terms of how Bernie is getting under their skin. I'm happy to know how much he's pissing them off. Good. He is splitting that party, and I'm glad.

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@CS in AZ

At some point, both Democrats and Republicans decided to make the word "liberal" a four letter word. When that didn't succeed, they made the word utterly meaningless by dividing the political world into conservative and liberal, so that liberal eventually becamse almost a synonym "Democrat." So, now we have the cognitive dissonance of websites like KOS and Democratic Underground self-identifying as liberal and banning people who post anything but Third Way bs. They've done similar things with words like "progressive."

"Populist" gets the worst treatment being associated with things like the Klan or even worse. Because, heaven forbid government actually works for people.

https://caucus99percent.com/content/liberals-must-not-say-liberal-left-p...

https://caucus99percent.com/content/dutch-election-confirms-caucus-99-li...

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CS in AZ's picture

@HenryAWallace

at this point, the only actual difference between the meaning of liberal/progressive and conservative/right wing is defined by social issues like same sex marriage. As far as economics and foreign policy, they are indistinguishable. It's all trickle-down bullshit and more wars from "both sides" which aren't even in opposition on those issues. Yet the democrats now claim to be the liberal or progressive side. They want people like me -- a strong believer and supporter of LGBT rights, reproductive rights, civil rights, to feel obligated to support democrats based on these. Which are important, so it's a good tactic that works on a whole lotta people.

Oy. It feels like there is no real "left" in this country now. Well, we do exist - and I think there's more than we are led to believe. But we're being erased. They co-opt every word. Maybe we need to just embrace socialist. Bernie Sanders has at least opened the door ... ok, perhaps he just cracked the window. Opened the mini-blinds? Created a tiny sliver of light into just how completely dishonest this whole thing is, how we are being manipulated and lied to.

No wonder kos and the Clinton cabal hate him so much. I'm starting to really appreciate Bernie's ongoing meddling and picking at them. Smile

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thanatokephaloides's picture

@CS in AZ

Oy. It feels like there is no real "left" in this country now. Well, we do exist - and I think there's more than we are led to believe. But we're being erased. They co-opt every word. Maybe we need to just embrace socialist.

emphasis in original

It's also why I've re-embraced the term anarchist. That, and depriving the American "libertarians" (who really aren't libertarian at all) of its use.

I am an anarchosocialist. And becoming prouder of the fact by the day.

Smile

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

@CS in AZ @CS in AZ
Make people choose sides over economic issues and they'll show you where they really stand every time.

I'd love to see them try to co-opt "socialist" and make it meaningless. It embodies everything they despise. It would be like the Klan trying to rebrand themselves by claiming, "Racist? Hell no, we're all n****rs!"

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@CS in AZ You've got your finger on why Bernie ran in the first place, and the nature of the war he was actually fighting. At least, IMO.

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"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

Oldest Son Of A Sailor's picture

@CS in AZ
"The Hijackers Of The Party Of FDR."

We need to call them what they really are!
They aren't Liberals and they aren't Progressives...

republican lite.png

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"Do you realize the responsibility I carry?
I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House."

~John F. Kennedy~
Economic: -9.13, Social: -7.28,
Pricknick's picture

He polished the gates he went through.
He just didn't realize that shit sticks to almost everything.
I say let him go gjohn.
I'm done with TOS, KOS, GOS and the other orange stain they so despise.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

thanatokephaloides's picture

@Pricknick

I say let him go gjohn.
I'm done with TOS, KOS, GOS and the other orange stain they so despise.

I'm grateful to gjohnsit for this reporting, however.

I applaud any and all attempts to monkeywrench "TOS, KOS, GOS and the other orange stain they so despise". And it's just so damn satisfying to hear of them when they happen.

Not to mention said monkeywrenching works to get us ordinary laborers our rightful democracy -- governmental and industrial alike -- back into our hands where it belongs!

But then, that's me.

Wink

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

@thanatokephaloides @thanatokephaloides

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Beware the bullshit factories.

@thanatokephaloides about sending some diary about diabetics and insurance costs from the Kos to a Repugnant friend to make the point of voting against one's self interest. I warned her that the comments on that site are now completely toxic as most of the diaries are, and that the truly "left" of us are NOT in agreement with their viciousness. Never bad to know what the enemy is up to as there are people who don't read like we all do who still think that site is "left."

Gotta just love that Markos can actually state that his own family is at risk when I seriously doubt they would be - I imagine he has the money and contacts to prevent that happening but I could be wrong. But the arrogance of some rich shill thinking he faces the truly destructive forces of bigotry and that our unequal economics doesn't have any impact on that just shows how weak his "argument" really is. And really, just how is it that these people intend to end racism? Really? And how would we know when racism is truly dead? A black POTUS? A female POTUS? Whatever.

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Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

thanatokephaloides's picture

@lizzyh7

Gotta just love that Markos can actually state that his own family is at risk when I seriously doubt they would be - I imagine he has the money and contacts to prevent that happening but I could be wrong. But the arrogance of some rich shill thinking he faces the truly destructive forces of bigotry and that our unequal economics doesn't have any impact on that just shows how weak his "argument" really is.

I daresay the unequal economics have done me far and away more damage than the actual damage racism ever has done to Markos.....

Diablo

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

@Pricknick
I just happened to run across an article talking about the "liberal CPAC" "Ideas" conference that completely lacked any Berniecrats and actual ideas, and discovered that Markos speaks for the McResistance.
That got me curious. So I did a search and Viola!

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Song of the lark's picture

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I listen to Mark Thompson's show on Sirus/xm channel 127.He has the DICKHEAD MARKOS on every Thurs.For the last 3 weeks in a row DICKHEAD and Thompson have railed against Bernie and his supporters for being racists and that white men were the sole reason HELLERY lost.DICKHEAD goes on and on how the white working class is evil and only cares about money issues.DICKHEAD has even went after Jane Sanders 3 weeks in a row about her comments on the DNCs handling of that clusterfuck in Omaha with the mayors race.If Thompson and DICKHEAD keeps up this race baiting they will drive whitey away forever and continue to lose elections

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DW

Alligator Ed's picture

@LEFTYFRIZZLE during TYT's notorious justification of DNC fraud. So, I will include Thomson as a dickhead also.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@LEFTYFRIZZLE Wait a minute...white men? I thought it was millenial feminists and the Russians? Or do the Russians count as "white men?" I guess they're ignoring any females in the Russian government.

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"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

over there. It's not about "more and better Democrats" it's about more and better excuses for Hillary.

That's ALL the site is about about anymore, defending Hillary. The most irritating part is this roving band of nitwits that joined the site right around Ides of March who think that's the way it's supposed to be.

Their only experience with Daily Kos is getting their bullshit recced up while anyone challenging them gets flagged, timed out, or banned. They think it makes them right.

I tried to stay around after my last time out to push back wherever I could, but not being able to fight back with the truth gets old.

Single payer sucks; fracking, death penalty, war and Wall Street money ain't so bad; empathy for poor people indicates hatred and/or indifference to women & POC and on and on and on.

The worst part is that the site is just a microcosm of what Hillary's toxic campaign did to the Democratic party.

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dervish's picture

@Dopeman That's really what killed that site, when you're unable to state a fact without flags.

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"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."

@dervish

https://caucus99percent.com/content/big-lie-russia-interfered-us-preside...

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Oldest Son Of A Sailor's picture

@HenryAWallace
WikiLeaks Is Fake News, RussiaGate, Impeach Trump, The Resistance, Blah... Blah... Blah...

They don't realize how irrelevant they have become and we will never again pass a candidate that is the lessor of 2 evils...

Give a candidate that earns our vote!
We aren't picking Bag Of Garbage #1 or Bag Of Garbage #2...

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"Do you realize the responsibility I carry?
I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House."

~John F. Kennedy~
Economic: -9.13, Social: -7.28,
SnappleBC's picture

@Dopeman

Neoliberalism has had a long time to grow and flourish within the Democratic party. Hillary's campaign simply highlighted it for all to see.

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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

@SnappleBC Of course it didn't start with Hillary. But 2016 was unique in that the DNC's Chosen One was so heinous and fake, especially compared to Bernie, that it exposed the neoliberal scourge like never before.

Bernie running to her left is what caused her campaign to have to do things like bash single payer, defend fracking, and ramp up the ugly identity politics-based divide and conquer scheme. That's why they hate him so much - he is a big part of why she lost to Trump, just not in the ways they claim.

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@Dopeman

That's no longer a worry - now Homeland Security can announce the right corporate candidate as the winner every time. And since the public - unlike unnamed private interests in on the Top Secret electoral process/discussion - isn't entitled to know the details of National Security issues taken under their shady Top Secret umbrella, voters need never concern themselves about the details of even the most unlikely electoral results ever again. In fact, it might turn out to be against the National Interest to mention any doubts.

I deeply that hope I'm just so incredibly wrong on this, but fear that this will be the time I'm finally right about something...

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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.

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@SnappleBC Her campaign was, culturally, a wrecking ball. Few have even tried to reckon the lasting damage she has done to longstanding political and moral ideas, movements, and alliances. A lot of this began under Obama, yes. But Hillary 2016 reshaped the landscape like a tsunami.

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"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

@Dopeman that whole America won't be majority white anymore so they no longer need to even appeal to anyone not of color. I guess they think all of us middle aged ones will continue to suicide out when we lose our shitty ass jobs and then they'll have their majority. But what they refuse to see is even when or if that does happen, the people they think they're fooling aren't going to buy into their shit very long. Hell, I've seen the point made that black people learned LONG AGO not to believe in any sunny rhetoric from politicians as they've been screwed over for centuries and they see that, while white people are somehow shocked at it. While that's an easy generalization, I think there's a small grain of truth there.

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Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

gulfgal98's picture

@lizzyh7 just like all white people do not think alike, not all people of color are going to be of one mind. The one issue that cuts across all demographic lines is the pocket book issue. If people cannot afford to feed their families, put a roof over their heads, educate their children, and be assured of quality healthcare, all the identity politics symbolism is not worth one whit.

We human beings of all colors, ethnic backgrounds, and even political identities have this one thing in common. The reason that the Democrats continue to harp on identity politics is that is all they have and it keeps us neatly divided while the oligarchs continue to fleece us all.

People of privilege, like Markos, who came from a well to do family and now is very wealthy himself, should not preach down to those who are barely holding on, regardless of their color or political identity.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

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

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@gulfgal98 The other thing I've noticed that cuts across demographics: people are really sick of the lies and lameass excuses for bad behavior.

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"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

snoopydawg's picture

Deleted

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

@snoopydawg
that all the ism's are an economic problem is an idiot.

Income inequality is the core problem for all the ism's.

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lotlizard's picture

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=new+york+times+carlos+slim&t=ffsb&ia=web

At least Markos isn’t arguing, “I’m Hispanic, Carlos Slim is Hispanic, therefore it’s my duty to shill for the NYT.”

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@lotlizard However, Kos did make a big announcement in one of his recent diaries that he has finally come out as a proud Latino.

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"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Fishtroller 02 What? WTF. Everyone knows he's from El Salvador, everyone's known it for years, what the fuck does he mean "come out?"

Also, as someone who's, I suppose, part Latina, in that my mother's mother's family was, there's something ridiculous about it all; I would feel unbearably pretentious if I "came out" as having Spanish-speaking relatives; for one thing, that would imply a creepy kind of way of using my relations for some kind of lame-ass pseudo-moral steroid injection into my reputation.

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"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

@lotlizard "Finally, I need to make this one personal point: in the 15 years I’ve run this site, I’ve never made a big deal out of being Latino. That has ended. You are seeing “Latino Kos” loud and proud from here on out, and I will have zero tolerance for asshole borderline racists who pretend to be progressives. If you really want to say the words “identity politics” in a demeaning way, go the fuck away, or I will make you go away. If you really want to argue that fighting for women’s rights or anti-racism or bigotry is “political correctness,” then go the fuck away."

And yet, in the past he not only tried to hide his Latino background, but exhibited homophobic opinions...https://shadowproof.com/2010/07/03/markos-moulitsas-opposed-gays-in-mili...

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"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin

CS in AZ's picture

@Fishtroller 02

Kos admitted straight up that he:
(1) is an ignorant, homophobic bigot.
(2) has no personal experience of racial discrimination.

It’s truly disturbing how much ado has been made over Bill Clinton’s campaign promise to lift the ban on homosexuals from the U.S. military. It’s ironic how it has taken a president who has never served in the military to make a promise that affects the military in such a negative manner. Those who have served in the military, such as myself, understand the demands and pressures of military life are incompatible with allowing integration with homosexuals.

I was terribly happy to escape the ugliness of a racist world for the safety of my every day-to-day life. Sure, I could always talk against racism, fight ignorance and prejudice wherever I ran into it, yet I would always be looking in from another room and I could always close the door. My life, in my world, in my own detached selfishness. And as I left the ugly reality of racism behind, it struck me that what was such an easy and trivial exercise for me would be impossible for anyone whose skin color or religious persuassion made them the target of bigotry and discrimination. They would never be able to escape who they were.

Unbelievable! His hypocrisy and dishonesty are off the charts. Kos really should take his own advice and go the fuck away.

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@CS in AZ @CS in AZ It appears that Kos has been making headlines lately that make the Democratic Party appear elitist and lacking compassion. All those tweets telling people they deserve misery because they voted for Trump have been rippling. That he hasn't been reigned in by someone at the DNC is telling. In the meantime, moral icons over at DKos, like Wee Mama, continue to support him. Kind of like trying to convince someone you are pro-choice while lauding Pope Francis.
Apparently there have been some people who have followed his career and felt it was important to expose him. I had been making anti-CIA comments there before my time and am now wondering, with Kos's background with the CIA, that I pissed him off. I still think he wrote that message to me.

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"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin

@Fishtroller 02

... If you really want to say the words “identity politics” in a demeaning way, go the fuck away, or I will make you go away. ...

Sounds to me like the excuse for extending The Purge which was supposed to end with the general election...

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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.

And here I thought that the NY Times was a corporatist / State Department propaganda organ.

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On to Biden since 1973

@doh1304

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Oldest Son Of A Sailor's picture

@doh1304
Along with the Washington Poo...

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"Do you realize the responsibility I carry?
I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House."

~John F. Kennedy~
Economic: -9.13, Social: -7.28,
Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Oldest Son Of A Sailor The Washington Washing Machine Leveller?

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"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

Bluesee's picture

He is an albatross, in both senses; one, a rare bird that appears awkward, and in the "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" sense. He is a shit-stirrer.

I read his books, I wonder whatever became of Jerome Armstrong. But, and perhaps I will be called a purist in this day and age, but to me, if you hold contradictory ideas in your head at the same time; if you say one thing and do another, you lose your credibility.

Apparently today credibility is cheap. Look at Trump, his credibility is below the interest rate!

We can't even count the ways we are being robbed right now. The GOP is playing out the clock, like they always do (ref: global warming hello), and looting as they can. Our country is being looted, just like Russia is being looted.

I fucking love France tonight. Their people. Fucking love them. They are smart. And they have a fabulous country...

...that would like to be second...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltl50bYNZ-I

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Bernie is a win-win.

@Bluesee

if you say one thing and do another

is a trigger I learned about in ACA school, Adult Children of Alcoholics. Not saying anyone is an alcoholic, but the behavior seems really familiar, that's all.

Master Manipulators
Alcoholics are master manipulators. They may not have been con artists before they started drinking but they come to have remarkable skills. They are the folks who can sell ice to Eskimos. They will pick a fight with you because they want to leave and they will have you believing it’s your fault. They show little or no accountability. They may have had integrity before their addiction kicked in but it will be conspicuously absent from their lives as they spiral. There is often one exception to this rule for each alcoholic – one thing they do especially well and it will most generally be their sole source of self esteem. We have known a large number of alcoholics who have incredible work ethics because being a good worker is the one thing they know they’re good at…well, they will say that and drinking.

So every time I hear a D utter the phrase "hard work" it alerts me to look a little deeper at what they're about. It has become kind of exhausting lately, lol.

Peace

oops edited: for grammar, i think?

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lotlizard's picture

@eyo http://coda.org/

Abusive people — the ones whom, no matter how bad things get, the person in a co-dependent relationship just can’t bring themselves to break away from — are indeed master manipulators.

That’s why I think the whole identity-politics thing has gone down the wrong path. It encourages “mining” of historical or sociological grievance to extract, not just economic rent (rent-seeking), but what might be termed moral and emotional rent.

The “mined“ person or institution in the relationship is accused of “privilege” and is expected to submit to parasitical, abusive, or even criminal behavior on the part of the “miner(s).”

You can see this manipulation going on in any system or situation. What gives the game away is, when rewards accrue not to constructive activity but rather to those actors most skilled at weaponizing blame and monetizing guilt.

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gulfgal98's picture

@lotlizard This describes the exact relationship that the Democratic party has with its base. dkos is simply the most overt example of this abusive relationship, but it permeates the entire party. Bill Clinton was the master manipulator in abusing the base. It is interesting because he came from a family in which his alcoholic stepfather was abusive to his mother which is probably where he learned so much of it.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

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

@gulfgal98

He didn't need to look far to learn about abuse.

His lifelong mentor was Senator Fulbright, who filibustered to try to save Jim Crow before he was against it.

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@gulfgal98 These comments about the abusive relationship between Dem party elites and their base are so spot on. I've often noticed the parallels in behavior between political actors and alcoholics/addicts personality traits. DK is a great place to observe it. It's amazing that the tactics have worked for as long as they have. But they do seem to be backfiring, finally.

One of the articles mentioned that kos was from the "influential" dkos website. Is that even a true statement anymore? Was it ever? Not sure about you, but whenever I used to ask people if they'd ever heard of the site, huge % said no.

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k9disc's picture

The need and desire to be rented or rented to, @lotlizard .

This really struck me as a strong Affective stimulus. I've long suggested that America has a national Stockholm Syndrome problem, and many of us have reached the state of learned helplessness. This comes from the constant and perpetual abuse and brutalization from Big Corporate & the Oligarchs.

We really are rather powerless as individuals. Have we ever been a people in the last 50 years? Since the Civil Rights era or the Moonshot?

Today, given the titillation and randomized glinting of the shattered mediascape all highlighting abusive, dehumanizing, and terrifying human situations, those emotional affects that leave us brutalized are coming a million a minute.

We have been conditioned to want to rent or be rented. We need that. I would surmise that the end result is a really fucked up FEAR and CARE affect. FEAR and CARE are 2 of the 7 primary level mammalian emotions.

FEAR is just that, a fear response -- running away, hiding, fighting -- a fight or flight affect.

CARE is non-sexual emotional attachment

These primary processes, deep in the midbrain, are stroked with stimuli, become the baseline AFFECTS for the neocortex to process. Conditioning and learning happens as a secondary process, and tertiary processes happen at the very top of the brain to set the self aware meta for the individual: how do I fit in kind of stuff.

Regarding this idea on Rent, I'm primarily concerned with the tertiary processes.

The tertiary processes, I believe, are where complex emotions like jealousy happen. What is jealousy? It's the combination of RAGE, FEAR, and CARE affects.

What is the combination of FEAR and CARE regarding being rented and rented to? I don't know what it is but it can't be healthy.

After a bit of editing on this comment, it seems to me that jealousy might be it. That might be what America has OD'd on. But I tend to think it's a little more complex than jealousy...

Anyway, just wanted to share that idea of Affect in relation to the rented and rented to idea above.

Here's a link to some of Jaak Panksepp's (RIP) groundbreaking work:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3181986/

I'd also recommend a YouTube search on his name. Find the longest pieces you can, those are his actual presentations, and they're friggin' fascinating.

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

lotlizard's picture

@k9disc Interesting tidbits gleaned from the Infogalactic or Wikipedia entry on Panksepp. He seems to have done research on laughter in non-human animals (!) and had a significant influence on Temple Grandin and her work.

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k9disc's picture

Part of his research led him to the understanding that rats didn't like to be picked up by their tails. It was traumatizing.

All the data from the Skinner boxes back in the day is most likely pretty skewed because they were working with traumatized critters.

Here's part 1 of 2 of my favorite online talk of his:

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qf4ZFwyVJ2A]

Completely fascinating stuff, @lotlizard , all of you should totally check it out.

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

lotlizard's picture

@k9disc https://www.verywell.com/harry-harlow-and-the-nature-of-love-2795255

In a series of controversial experiments conducted in 1960s, Harlow demonstrated the powerful effects of love. By showing the devastating effects of deprivation on young rhesus monkeys, Harlow revealed the importance of a caregiver’s love for healthy childhood development.

His experiments were often unethical and shockingly cruel, yet they uncovered fundamental truths that have heavily influenced our understanding of child development.

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Alligator Ed's picture

@Bluesee Loved the video. Better yet, loved the quote:

Look at Trump, his credibility is below the interest rate!

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@Bluesee

I fucking love France tonight. Their people. Fucking love them. They are smart. And they have a fabulous country

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Beware the bullshit factories.

SnappleBC's picture

@Bluesee

What clock? They are winning... so are the Democrats. The establishment is quite happy with the status quo and winning elections is only a nicety... you get to sell yourself for somewhat more if you win. You cite global warming in particular but what, other than lip service, has the Democratic party done about it. Just as in all things, they are superb at pious hand-wringing but that's where it ends. I hold up the Paris Climate accord as evidence. That was trumpeted as a huge win by the Democratic party. The reality is that it was wholly inadequate to do anything. It was a photo-op, nothing more.

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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

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@SnappleBC Thank you for saying this. One of the most infuriating things I've had to deal with is people going on about that useless piece of paper; if you push them hard enough, they'll say "Well, it's better than nothing!" an anti-scientific bit of nonsense that no one with a brain should endorse.

Doctor: "You've got the early signs of lung cancer. You must stop smoking."
Patient: "Well, Dr., I'm willing to go from 3 packs a day to 1."
Doctor: "No, you have to stop smoking."
Patient: "Dr, you certainly are being a purist. If you're this hard to deal with, nobody will ever make a deal with you, and nothing will ever get done. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good."
Doctor: "If you don't stop smoking, you'll die."
Patient: "You just don't understand how Washington works, Dr. You're actually hurting your own side by talking like this. And anyway, if you walk away from me, where will you go? The waiting room is full of patients who are cancer deniers, and they will kick and scream and punch you if you tell them they have cancer. You're much better off with me."
Doctor: "If you keep smoking you'll die."
Patient: "Well, I can see that you're just an extremist, Dr. I'm going to switch doctors, and tell all my friends you can't be worked with. It's a shame, but when you refuse to compromise people you have to expect to get blacklisted. Anyway, we can all see that extremists like you are actually a hindrance in the fight against cancer."

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"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

thanatokephaloides's picture

Twitter followers called him “unhinged” and wondered if he’s been smoking crack.

So Markos: Do Asian people love golf?

[video:https://youtu.be/0GLoHifu6aM width:500 height:350]

Smile

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

there was an “Ideas” conference for Democrats
...
The cover said, “Ideas for Action.” Inside there was nothing but blank pages.

LOL! Thanks for the update, wordsmith. To think I ever participated in D-Vitriolic actions is creepy, I'm glad to be rid of it/them. Another vacuum awaits those fools. Yet another vacuum, mmph they are good at sucking, ha ha.

Peace

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@eyo

The donation button works, but the mission statement button does not.

(I read that here. I didn't go to Her website.)

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@HenryAWallace ROTFLMAO!!!

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"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

mimi's picture

his personal hate email "Paloozas", the stuff he got in his email inbox by vulgar people who hated him. Have forgotten how it was called. To me that revealed on what he thrived. There was no need to publish that. He did. What for?

As I think there is no need for a "Markos attachment syndrome". It's all good for archival purposes, but that's all and about it.

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dervish's picture

@mimi Likely because most of it is reasoned criticism from the Left these days.

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"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."

Bollox Ref's picture

Beats me why anyone would have a Kos subscription at this point. If you do, you are funding the Right's propaganda efforts.

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

gulfgal98's picture

@Bollox Ref were gifted those subscriptions.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

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

Phoebe Loosinhouse's picture

in his efforts to veal pen minority demographic slices and attempts to wall off social justice issues off from economic justice issues while trying to make the case that any politician or his/her followers that attempts to cure and correct both is some kind of latent racist, sexist or misogynist.

Modern Democrats can be noted primarily for their lip service to both minority groups, which they see purely as essential voting blocs, and the poor, working and middle classes in general (which are comprised of ALL demographic identities) while effectively doing NOTHING to alleviate or mitigate their real life issues and problems through legislation or the justice system. Kos is attempting to maintain that status quo very vigorously and IMO it can only be because he is paid for his viewpoint and He Got His, because his separation of social and economic justice makes no logical or moral sense.

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" “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 "

dervish's picture

@Phoebe Loosinhouse that the 1% has been using to control us for centuries, it's nothing new. It certainly makes it clear which side he's on though.

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"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."

@dervish

It worked there, too:

"The woman made me do eat the fruit You told us not to eat!"

That's how early divide and conquer started. Also not taking responsibility for one's own actions. And sexism. And, of course, sinning. Somewhere around Day 8 or 9.

(just kidding)

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@Phoebe Loosinhouse @Phoebe Loosinhouse @Phoebe Loosinhouse

It goes way deeper. He is the most self-serving, self-interested personality I've ever seen. He has zero empathy for anything but him and his. He has a ton of money, lives in an expensive house in an expensive neighborhood. The only thing his money can't buy him is white. I think it pisses him off, which is why he always rails against white people. The only other issue he ever got passionate about - long before Trump and Obama - was immigration and hispanics. I think women and other minorities are just camouflage to hide his own racism and bigotry. As one of three white children in my grade in a mostly all black school, I experienced some physical, emotional, and verbal abuse because I was white. It really pissed me off when he said that only black people could decide what was racist. Kos' big head and racist attitudes are why dkos has race wars.

Kos was in the right place at the right time. He fell into a pile of sh!t and came out smelling like a rose. Since his blog, money, and fame comes from rich, white, gringos, Kos can GFH.

PS - They missed one of Kos' best.

Daily Kos Founder Gleefully Celebrates Coal Miners Losing Health Insurance

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

lotlizard's picture

@dkmich for sure I’d encourage them to have empathy with and be sensitive to their non-white peers. But the way things are going, I’d also have them read a few things like this essay:

Notes for a white kid in university: an introduction to the blindingly obvious

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k9disc's picture

Mining, colonizing, and appropriating from above and pretending that it has always been so.

This piece ignores trivial things like Zero and numbers.

I get the gist, and I think it's an important gist, but it's simple truthiness that ignores complex reality. It's no different from which it decries.

@lotlizard

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

lotlizard's picture

@k9disc However, it is not healthy for young whites to be indoctrinated at university or in any other institutional framework with the idea they are tainted with something evil.

Nor is it healthy or helpful to psychologically condition anyone of any age to submit to bullying or intimidation. All of that is, in my opinion, gaslighting.

Insiders at TOP decided whites are fair game. We all saw how that worked out.

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TheOtherMaven's picture

@k9disc
The definition of "white" is a slippery thing - about 100 years ago it did not include persons of Italian birth or ancestry.

The Renaissance started in Italy.

So yeah, it was started by people who were at one time considered "nonwhite". (And being a full 1/4 Italian, I tend to get rather grouchy about that.)

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

lotlizard's picture

@TheOtherMaven In common stereotypes, the lighter people of the “industrious, law-abiding North” (that Lega Nord represents) versus the darker people of the “lazy, organized-crime-enabling South.”

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@lotlizard

Between northern and southern Italy. The northern people have light hair and skin. The people from southern Italy have dark hair and skin. Even their language is different. The north speaks a more classic Italian, while the south does not.

I think all races have done good and bad things. Each should be appropriately proud and ashamed. I think white shaming and male shaming is just as bad fat shaming, slut walking, and any other stereotype that is designed to elevate self at the expense of the other.

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

TheOtherMaven's picture

@dkmich
Wherever the Normans went - and that includes southern Italy and Sicily - you will still find blond hair and blue eyes.

Italy is full of dialect, north and south - you just don't hear as much about the northern dialects because they weren't popularized by local songwriters. (The main reason for the survival, and popularity, of Neapolitan dialect is the Naples version of Tin Pan Alley.)

If I recall correctly, "classical" or "proper" Italian is actually based on the Florentine dialect....

Time was, during the high tide of the Kingdom of Sicily, that the ambitious, industrious South could complain about the warring barbarians up North.

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

mimi's picture

@lotlizard @lotlizard
(fixed spelling mistakes)
I would not make my kid read an article like that (but also not try to prevent it from finding it him/herself and reading it and then make up his/her mind about it).

The power of manipulating emotions by one "ethnicity" or "race" or "gender" towards the other is in imo a dyed-in-the wool characteristic of the human species and as such a thing which can't be avoided, has to be experienced, struggled with and brooded over by any person on his/her own.

For some strange reason I had been very much exposed to such struggles since I was a very young woman. It followed me throughout life and will follow me until I die. And there is pretty much nothing anyone can do about it, other than to accept its existence. It's rare that my little arguments I am able to utter against it at times, come out in the open, and if at all then in places like this one.

I more and more just sit it out, pretend to ignore it, and am mostly silent and wait til its over.
That too is bashed as cowardly. I try to ignore that too.

Yes, it's tiring and I am glad when it's finally all over, a point in time some Godly powers made sure we all arrive at.

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SnappleBC's picture

@Phoebe Loosinhouse

because his separation of social and economic justice makes no logical or moral sense.

One day one of these non-racists in the Democratic party are going to explain to me why Martin Luther King was such a damned racist.

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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

@Phoebe Loosinhouse

of America is getting much worse, and it's is piling a world of hurt on nearly everyone -- regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, ideology, or anything else. Monstrous financial institutions and pork barrel military contractors have been robbing us all blind, aided and abetted by bought-off politicians of both Parties, while we quarrel among ourselves over issues of far less immediate importance.

Moulitsas' cock-eyed "strategy" is to play up the innate cultural and racial differences that tend to divide the nation, in hopes of somehow "defeating" or wresting power from a primarily white, and often conservative culture, which he has deemed to be the "Other Side"... all the while utterly ignoring the fact that both "Sides" of this Government-by-Duopoly, this idiotically dualistic power structure, are being funded by the very same fat cats who are stealing everyone's money.

This is a formula for never-ending acrimony. It's a vindictive, intolerant, other-blaming sort of approach, one that pits poor and struggling people against one another in the interests of the rich.

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native

Wink's picture

@native
think that the ensuing browning of America will eventually top the white menace that cripples this country, eventually putting whites in their proper place - the back of the bus. That's what it sounds like, anyway. Thing is, most whites don't give a damn that they're soon about to be the minority "race" in these united states. And, doesn't seem to get that whites care less about skin color and "race" than they do the actual issues a candidate supports. Funny that he backed Hillary, who is as white as they get.

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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.

TheOtherMaven's picture

@Wink @Wink
and see if you think "your people" being Top Dog will make the world any better. (Heinlein's point, which was missed in all the "racist" fooferaw, was that whoever is Top Dog will enslave and oppress whoever isn't.)
Diablo

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

PriceRip's picture

@TheOtherMaven

          ... from some when I mention this, one of my favorite Heinlein stories. It is nice to see someone else that gets it.

          It's like "Planet of the Apes" but much more interesting and less heavy handed.
Pardon

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@native I'm pretty sure that is the point.

If non-rich whites and non-rich POC are tearing each other apart, that will take the .01% permanently off the hook. A race war would function as a storm drain, carrying away the rage and pain of the populace, far away from the people causing it.

It would also provide a wonderful excuse for further ramping up the police state.

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"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

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

As long as the cash keeps flowing in the right direction.

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native

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Phoebe Loosinhouse I guarantee you he didn't come up with that strategy. It was cooked up by some DC consultant and spread far and wide.

It's a Democratic Party tribute to Grover Norquist!

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"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

@Phoebe Loosinhouse very sinister indeed: http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2016/06/markos-moulitsas-fake-daily-kos-f...

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Cassiodorus's picture

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

gulfgal98's picture

@dervish @Cassiodorus to make our site more visible via Facebook and Twitter.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

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

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@gjohnsit

Not only that, but you and some other Caucusers post some of the most intelligent and interesting stuff I've seen or heard on the net. Kudos.

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