Guess who outraised Feinstein in small donations?

If you only listen to the major news outlets, then you'd only be aware of two people running for California Senate - Sen. Dianne Feinstein and State Senate leader Kevin de León.
It turns out there is someone else running.

Most notable is Alison Hartson, an activist and former high school teacher from Orange County who became a Democrat to vote for Sen. Bernie Sanders and has had surprising success racking up Sanders-style small-dollar contributions.

Hartson — who’s never run for office before and who’s received almost no mainstream media coverage of her campaign — received more money in small-dollar donations than Feinstein and De León combined: She took in $158,707 in unitemized contributions less than $200 over the last three months of 2017, compared to $111,524 for Feinstein and just $31,427 for De León.

Overall, de León raised $434,000 in that period, compared with $213,757 for Hartson, while Feinstein raised about $1 million from donors and political committees and gave her campaign a $5 million personal loan. Most of de León’s haul came from bigger donors, including architect Frank Gehry, tech investors Sam Altman and Reid Hoffman, philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, L.A. Dodgers president Stan Kasten and former Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez.

Hartson hasn't even been listed in the polls. Specifically, the race has been spun like this.

The good news for de León is that he too has his own double-digit lead—over third place, which is currently held by the perennial candidate “Someone Else” at 3 percent support.

Even the news article above regarding Hartson spins the news like she's doing the Democrats harm, and is an extremist.

Now a handful of long-shot challengers are running in the tiny sliver of space to de León’s left, complicating the State Senate leader’s attempts to consolidate liberal support and paint himself as the progressive alternative to Feinstein.
...But the other candidates’ presence could be a hurdle for his campaign. If they’re invited to debates, for example, they would distract from de León’s attempts to go toe-to-toe with Feinstein. And if a major Republican does jump in — none has so far — the other liberals could peel away votes from de León and make it harder for him to get past the top-two primary.

When did Democrats stop believing in democracy? Or is it just the news media?

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Americans are warming up to the Republican tax law, according to a new survey, providing Republicans with a potentially significant boost to their 2018 electoral chances.

The survey, from The New York Times and SurveyMonkey, found that 50% of respondents supported the GOP tax law, while 45% did not support it.

That represents a dramatic improvement over the initial popularity of the legislation as it moved through Congress. A poll done from the Times and SurveyMonkey in December found the bill only had 37% approval to 57% disapproval.

While the law is improving in overall popularity, Americans' enthusiasm for the law's changes to their personal finance remains muted. Just 33% of people think they will receive an income tax cut, 14% think they will receive a salary increase, and 8% said they will receive a bonus or increased bonus, according to the survey.

This has happened because the Dems didn't make clear that this tax cut will be paid out of Medicare and Medicaid.

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@gjohnsit I'm not convinced they did.

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Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.

@gjohnsit

...This has happened because the Dems didn't make clear that this tax cut will be paid out of Medicare and Medicaid.

Bet they get a raise for that success.

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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.

Pricknick's picture

Who believes we actually have a democracy in this country?
I no longer believe it.

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

@Pricknick

Who believes we actually have a democracy in this country?
I no longer believe it.

Our democracy would be perfect if it wasn't for Putin. Damn him!

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mimi's picture

@gjohnsit
dear Vladimir, don't take it personally. Wink
I think it helped. He smiled.

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thanatokephaloides's picture

@Pricknick

Who believes we actually have a democracy in this country?
I no longer believe it.

The question our Essayist asked was: "When did the Democrats stop believing in democracy?" (And working for democracy, I might add.)

It's a valid question, and it has a valid answer: when the Democratic Leadership Council was founded in 1985. From the linked article:

The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) was a non-profit 501(c)(4) corporation founded in 1985 that, upon its formation, argued the United States Democratic Party should shift away from the leftward turn it took in the late 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. One of its main purposes was to win back white middle class voters with ideas that addressed their concerns. The DLC hailed President Bill Clinton as proof of the viability of Third Way politicians and as a DLC success story.

The DLC's affiliated think tank is the Progressive Policy Institute. Democrats who adhere to the DLC's philosophy often call themselves New Democrats. This term is also used by other groups who have similar views on where the party should go in the future, like NDN and Third Way.

Prior to this time, the Dems were pro-democracy, pro-labor, and pro-union. Afterwards, they became the "Second Republican Party" we all loathe today. Bad

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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

k9disc's picture

How the Democratic Party Killed It's Populist Soul

Indeed, a revolution had occurred. But the contours of that revolution would not be clear for decades. In 1974, young liberals did not perceive financial power as a threat, having grown up in a world where banks and big business were largely kept under control. It was the government—through Vietnam, Nixon, and executive power—that organized the political spectrum. By 1975, liberalism meant, as Carr put it, “where you were on issues like civil rights and the war in Vietnam.” With the exception of a few new members, like Miller and Waxman, suspicion of finance as a part of liberalism had vanished.

Over the next 40 years, this Democratic generation fundamentally altered American politics. They restructured “campaign finance, party nominations, government transparency, and congressional organization.” They took on domestic violence, homophobia, discrimination against the disabled, and sexual harassment. They jettisoned many racially and culturally authoritarian traditions. They produced Bill Clinton’s presidency directly, and in many ways, they shaped President Barack Obama’s.

The result today is a paradox. At the same time that the nation has achieved perhaps the most tolerant culture in U.S. history, the destruction of the anti-monopoly and anti-bank tradition in the Democratic Party has also cleared the way for the greatest concentration of economic power in a century. This is not what the Watergate Babies intended when they dethroned Patman as chairman of the Banking Committee. But it helped lead them down that path. The story of Patman’s ousting is part of the larger story of how the Democratic Party helped to create today’s shockingly disillusioned and sullen public, a large chunk of whom is now marching for Donald Trump.

@thanatokephaloides

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

specifically Sen Gary Hart, loved to claim "The New Deal Is Dead", it was part of his regular shtick. The post-Nixon, proto-DLC newbies thrived on dissing Labor and old-school Dem ideals.

Fuck Them.

@k9disc

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JVolvo2

thanatokephaloides's picture

@JVolvo2

Yep. Thomas Frank points out that 80s Dems, specifically Sen Gary Hart, loved to claim "The New Deal Is Dead", it was part of his regular shtick. The post-Nixon, proto-DLC newbies thrived on dissing Labor and old-school Dem ideals.

This one hurts me especially badly. I busted my ass to get Hart elected in 1974. Back then, he was a good FDR Democrat, at least as advertised; I wouldn't have supported him otherwise.

But then he went over to the Dark Side Turd Way and conjoined himself with the House of Clinton. In that act, my political disfranchisement began. So this betrayal does indeed hurt.

Sad

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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

@k9disc was something the people accomplished. HER and Obama both had the one man one woman position up until the people fought for it in the states, states started passing legislation, and state supreme courts upheld the rulings. Then our leaders hot footed themselves up to the front of the parade, and always supported gay marriage.

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thanatokephaloides's picture

@Snode

Homophobia, gay marriage was something the people accomplished.

Marijuana legalization as well. Colorado was the first State to start the process, although the People imposed their Will in this matter simultaneously with Washington State,

And we did it in spite of our Governor Hickenlooper, who did NOT want legalization to occur at all.

All power to the People as individuals!

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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 It's our only hope. That's why the most important thing for both parties is to keep us at each others throats, divided about everything.

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@k9disc

Thanks! I hope you keep reposting that from time to time; I know I've read and been grateful for it being posted before but it's important for us to keep in mind how people have been/are conned.

'Know thine enemy' includes a heightened awareness of their tactics and human susceptibilities to them when faced with notoriously manipulative psychopaths.

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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.

Feinstein raised about $1 million from donors and political committees and gave her campaign a $5 million personal loan.

Feinstein gave her campaign a 5 million dollar loan? Awesome hero of the people. She should meet a few every once in a while.

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@Snode

She has the same corporate influence as the Clintons, of course, and will, I suppose, have been buying shares in the DNC... I wonder who currently holds controlling interests, although I suppose it really always go back to the billionaires/corporate interests. And we know how cheaply acts against the public interest can be bought.

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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.

the SPD

A poll published on behalf of German tabloid Bild has found that 16 percent of voters would choose the right-wing, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD), half-a-percent more than those who would vote for the Social Democrats (SPD).

The figures released by the INSA polling institute show the SPD in free fall. Germany's oldest political party has seen its polling figures plummet even further since it garnered just 20.5 percent of the vote in September's federal election, its worst result in the post-war era.

DW political correspondent Thomas Sparrow described the poll as a "bombshell," and part of a larger trend that sees traditional parties losing ground to the anti-immigrant AFD.

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mimi's picture

@gjohnsit
German elections in September 2017, is an abomination. No sane person could support them anymore. They are hot air breathing "Real Politiker" kind of folks. The base of the SPD party is revolting against the elite, more or less. How much so is not clear to me. I wonder if they will split the SPD even more, as they are split already and each of the sides are too small. I hope the base sticks to their guns and fights against the SPD elite.

I believe Germany is in a very dangerous in-between government leadership vacuum, which enables the right-wing AFD to take over. They can achieve it and I believe they will. It seems that the conservative Party CDU tries to distance themselves from the right-wing AFD, because they are scared to be seen as equally evil and don't want to be seen as buddies to the "Nazi guys". Or something like it.

I think it's a mess over here. But I am a stranger in my own country and don't understand a lot, because the history of the last thirty years is like non existent in my consciousness and understanding.

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The Aspie Corner's picture

....AND Black Lives Matter as Russian Trolls. Whelp...he's already lost in 2020 then.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mibDHueAPs]

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

TheOtherMaven's picture

@The Aspie Corner
He's getting to the "You young whippersnappers get off my lawn!" stage. Sad

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

The Aspie Corner's picture

@TheOtherMaven I'm sick and tired of hearing man-babies whine about 'SJWs ruining everything'. Just today some asshat posted a video referring to a Vice Admiral Holdo (Last Jedi) action figure as 'Gender Studies: The Toy'. Stupid kids. They'd fit right in with the 70s/80s Archie Bunker Moral Majority crowd.

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

snoopydawg's picture

@The Aspie Corner

Hey Bernie! What those people were saying about Her was true. And you know that. People are dead because of her vote and her actions for the Libyan war. Imagine if she had gotten up in front of congress and said that the inspectors should finish their job in Iraq and determine whether Saddam had WMDs. That would have made people stop to think about the rush to war.

She didn't win the nomination, she stole it. And you know that too!

This guy is great.

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

@The Aspie Corner

This is sorta general, a response to the video and the import, but I feel that it needs to be said, even if nobody sees it on what'll be a dead thread by now, other than Constant Reader spy agency people, lol.

We know their methods, we know that Bernie told us not to believe him if he was forced to tell people to vote for Clinton, we know that this is the only way of making Bernie plausibly lose, by losing policy support, and yet it never seems to occur to anyone that he might be forced to publicly self-sabotage by mouthing this crap, which (unless brainwashed, and he does seem to hate doing this) he knows we won't believe?

This is why testimony produced under drugs/duress/torture - such as this lot has routinely used against victims, as when attempting to manufacture some 'plausible' excuse for attacking the next series of countries on their hit list - is not admissible as evidence in court. Anyone can be forced to say anything, using the right 'leverage' - and that's how TPTB work. We know this.

In the cases of the torture-for-'war'/'confession' victims, where the characters, record, actions are known, as with taxi-drivers and others turned in for cash-for-bodies-to-torture, it often became evident that, as became known, TPTB's lackeys simply tortured until the person produced something they thought could be used, and this was an established technique of the Psychopaths That Be, who were presented with pictures and details for their sick enjoyment.

Does anyone really think that this lot of psychopaths might not, for example, threaten Bernie's family (remember the Clinton body-count, apart from endless others related to government/agency corruption?) in order to make him publicly commit political and moral suicide by repeating obvious, warmongering bullcrap propaganda in order to continue reminding the people restricted to corporate media and with an increasingly censored and propagandized internet that they need to act themselves to form government truly of, by and for the people? Do you think that anything, including sacrificing his own integrity, would stop Bernie from trying to save the planet at this last moment in time by attempting to rouse the people to save themselves by forming self-governance?

As long Progressives keep running for public office, supporting each other and getting in, they will rapidly begin to outnumber the psychopaths in office; while in smaller numbers and not yet in influential positions, they can be successfully blocked and muted, but get enough Progs in and this won't work anymore. This could be done within the next two elections, if no suspicious results are 'accepted as a done deal' by the people. If it doesn't, there will evidently not be another chance permitted, even if life still exists, which seems rather unlikely at this point.

But all it takes for evil to succeed in overcoming all of us occurs in that opportunity opened when good people do nothing; ask yourself why not voting at all - 'in protest' - is supposed to have a negative effect on those who do not want them voting against them and where this idea came from, to encourage the discouraged to just give up and let TPTB do as they will to them, unopposed in any way at all? At this point, TPTB still seem to need some pretense of legitimacy - but for long will that last?

Bernie and the Progs have long been subjected to attacks from the 'Left' on an internet crammed with propagandists, even before Bernie was apparently forced to start spitting 'Russiagate' talking points - something utterly out of character for him. And he still scares the crap out of the Psychopaths That Be, as can be seen by their propaganda attacks.

Bernie was the only hope for a sane, sustainable and united country, the only politician who could obviously get enough of the people united in supporting his policies and integrity to finally have a US President and Party of, by and for the people, working for the public interest - and this was the only way TPTB could nobble him, break up the unity of those seeking democracy and civilization in getting the psychopaths out of public office and policy, and attempt to cause the surrender through inactivity of the people believing in democracy and a decent life for all, rather than an enforced global corporate/military micromanaged 'austerity-for-them' existence on a rapidly dying planet, overall now being termed Progressives - and as TPTB always do, they manipulate these into fractured and impotent groups therefore easily dismissed.

And some of us are letting it work on our very last chance, as we see people turn to 'boycotting' voting, exactly as desired, saving TPTB having to fake electoral results; fascists in either of the corporate Two-Party Trade-Offs benefit from low turn-out and discouraged activists, as Clinton showed. Whereas we need to do what they do not want us to do, not make it easy for, and encourage, them.

We're no longer falling for these recycled propaganda attempts, such as the warmed-up ancient Cold War propaganda - why are we falling for this endlessly recycled tactic when we already have the information available to see what they're doing to us because it's been done so often in the US already?

They always accuse others of doing what they do themselves and their big accusation against Russia is based on purported efforts to create division and subvert democracy within America, that being what we can see them doing themselves.

Of course, Bernie stepped in where others feared to tread as a last-minute miracle who'd never happened before and never will again, even if there is any 'ever' left, so they had to adapt their tactics, but using the same propaganda, threats and manipulations as always.

But this looks like the last chance, and the last battle...

So, fine, don't support Bernie for President - but for all of our sakes, support the Progs.

As Bernie's always said, this is not about him; this is about the American people taking back their government to legitimately be of, by and for the people, with equal rights, treatment and opportunity for all.

And if it isn't done now, I very much doubt there will be another chance or anything left to save. Apart from all else, it appears that nuclear obliteration of planetary life could happen at any moment, with the only concession to life's survival being that more of TPRB's nuclear weapons aimed at multiple other people's countries are to be now planned to be exploded above ground so as to throw less debris high enough to completely block the sunlight level required for life for however many decades...

They who do not believe in science/reality and believe that they can create their own and make it 'real' apparently do not believe in radiation's affects, at least where their exceptional selves and delusions are concerned.

They have their luxury bunkers; since increased threats from the notoriously-civilian-attacking US PTB in recent years - who, going by quotes I've read on or linked to this site, apparently already think in terms of politically hurting Putin by killing others among the Russian people 'to hurt his popularity' (murder for fun and profit and to make targets look bad! Surrendering the world to these then utterly unrestrained psychopaths would be insane; better to go down swinging) - the Russian people have been having nuclear drills and refurbished Cold War bunkers organized by their Ebil Russian government, which cut back on their military spending, with hostiles massing on their borders, in part to ensure that Russians got their pensions. And of course they get health-care.

Quite the reverse from the US PTB for their people, of course. Exactly the reverse, actually, since the already-impoverished American Poors are expected to 'sacrifice' further for the MIC profiteers and the continuation of US PTB murderous global takeover plans as they now more rapidly expand.

Gee, I wonder what comes in the 'good old US of A' after even more of the increasing homelessness and starvation and laws against feeding the hungry being already inflicted upon the population - the previous attempt at corporate/military global takeover of US industrialists in supporting Hitler in Germany involved the 'pragmatic' and 'incrementally implemented 'euthanization of 'Good Germans' who were useless to the industrial/military machine forming the State, which also was only stopped when the world finally massed against them - after Russia decimated Nazi forces invading them and made this possible. Will history repeat itself, if the American people do not unite and succeed in saving themselves and the world?

Of course, in that case, who knows what replaces TPTB, then facing war crime charges in an international court over which they may have no control, when the American people have not brought in their own legitimate government of, by and for the people?

Often it's best to do it yourself, if you want a result you'll really like and can live with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzuJXqgsiSM

Split Enz - History Never Repeats

TPTB tell themselves before they go to sleep...

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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.

WoodsDweller's picture

or do these sort of articles never consider the possibility that the "tiny space to the left" could be closed if the candidate moved to the left? That the reason candidates crop up in that space (which isn't tiny, BTW) is because the candidate is too far right? And that maybe the solution isn't for the lefty to summarily surrender?

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"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

Wink's picture

such a tool. And a toady.
@WoodsDweller
I always thought Tweety couldn't possibly be so dumb.
That simply 35 years of Beltway osmosis should give one a clue.
But, nope.

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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.

From Hartson's website:

Our goal should be peace, security, and self-determination worldwide. This will not happen if we continue to arm the very terrorists we claim to be fighting. This will not happen if we have a commander in chief who is more concerned about retweets and personal popularity than he is about reading. We need to repeal the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) that gives the president a blank check to enter into war without Congressional approval. We need to close unnecessary military bases and redirect funds home and fully invest in education, healthcare, jobs, and infrastructure.

Our nation is one that was founded on the ideals of imperialism, so it is time for a cultural attitude adjustment. We still think that strength and courage comes from flexing our mighty muscles at the world. It is time for us to recognize the strength in diplomacy and leading by example. We are not the world’s police. Our interventionist wars do not help us to defeat extremist groups. They exacerbate them. They contribute to them.

The American people support truth over fear mongering. We must be truthful with our international community and also with ourselves. We must be firm with our democratic values, whether at home or abroad. We must take the moral path as we strive to promote world peace over world domination.

Unfortunately that message is buried in her Priorities page. It needs to be right out in front on page one of her website.

Deleon has NOTHING to say about foreign policy or war and peace, or at least I couldn't find it. And he is running for the U.S. Senate?? He basically has no issues page or the equivalent, just a list of accomplishments in the legislature. Jeff Merkley, who was Speaker of the Oregon House, and knows how to move legislation, this guy ain't.

As of right now, I suspect this race in Deleon's to lose, but he sure does not seem to be catching fire. The large Hispanic population would like to see "one of us" in the Senate. Add that to the fact that Hartson has no political experience. There are still voters who might think let her get some local experience and find out how politics works.

If Feinstein looses, that would be a major defeat for the Israel lobby. I would guess that she might be persuaded to retire if it begins to look like she might be in trouble.

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Mary Bennett

thanatokephaloides's picture

@Nastarana

He basically has no issues page or the equivalent,

Nothing -- not even open skulduggery -- gains my contempt faster. As the old Evangelical saying goes, "if you don't stand for something you'll fall for anything!"

And that goes double for politicians, who tend to "fall for anything" anyway.....

Tell me what you stand for and then stand for it! Or utterly lose my respect!

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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 is exactly what the DNCC is recommending its' army of conservadems do. No issues pages for most of them. The message seems to be Hate Trump and I'm a nice person.

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Mary Bennett

thanatokephaloides's picture

@Nastarana

Stand for nothing is exactly what the DNCC is recommending its' army of conservadems do. No issues pages for most of them. The message seems to be Hate Trump and I'm a nice person.

Which is why I DemExited last year.

(No phone calls and letters begging for dollars I don't have is a bonus!)

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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 2010 I think it was over that so-called Food Safety bill, which was an open assault on small and particularly organic producers. That such producers continue to thrive is owing to the ever increasing consumer demand for their product.

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Mary Bennett

@Nastarana

Only, where did Hartson get the idea that: '...Our nation is one that was founded on the ideals of imperialism ...' when it was the exact opposite, with, apart from all else, no standing army to be maintained, and to make do with well-regulated volunteer militia to avoid the hazards of any standing army?

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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.