Remember Bernie Bros Dead-Enders?

Submitted by gjohnsit on Wed, 04/25/2018 - 1:46pm

My how the world has changed.
It just changes more slowly than we'd like.
Consider these recent headlines:

TheWeek: Bernie Sanders has conquered the Democratic Party

Politico: How the Bernie Wing Won the Democratic Primaries

NYMagazine: Bernie Sanders Is Quietly Building a Digital Media Empire

Whether you agree with those articles or not, the fact is that the way Bernie and his supporters are being reported has totally flipped, and this hasn't happened because Bernie and his crew have changed their agenda.

Let's go back two years and look at how the media viewed those stubborn Bernie Bros.

May 18, 2016, DailyBanter: Bernie Sanders Refuses To Admit There's a Problem With His Fanatical Supporters
May 18, WashPost: Why the Sanders movement is just about dead
May 19, TheNation: Bernie Sanders Is Hurting Himself by Playing the Victim
June 3, NYTimes: Bernie’s Last Stand
June 8, TheSlate: Among the dead-enders in Bernieworld, Sanders is still the next president and Clinton is a fate worse than Trump
June 13, PoliticsCentral: Diehard Sanders supporters drifting away from political reality
July 12, NBC: The Bernie Sanders Revolution Is Dead, Long Live the Revolution
July 28, Politico: Hillary donors to Bernie supporters: Shut up

Two years ago you Bernie Bros were crazy, violent, detached from reality, and most of all doomed to irrelevance.
Even as late as last July, Joy Reid was still using the term "dead-ender" when referring to Bernie supporters.

Sanders dead enders who asserted that Trump was a better option than Her will discover that irony is in fact *not dead. https://t.co/YbJFnwePPt

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) July 16, 2017

There's just one problem for Joy - people were starting to use "dead-ender" to refer to Joy and her crew.
Hillary Dead-Enders Are As Dumb As Science-Deniers
HILLARY DEAD-ENDERS CONDEMN BERNIE SANDERS APPEARANCE AT WOMEN’S EVENT

Remember Verrit, the website for Hillary Clinton superfans? It launched last September.
This is the headline from February: The Pro-Hillary Site Nobody Asked for or Used Is Rebooting

Hillary and her supporters were always about identity and personality.
Bernie and his supporters were always about policy and ideas.
Or to put it another way...

The movement that Bernie started is bigger than Bernie. Her, on the other hand, is about nothing but Her.
That is why Bernie Bros are now more popular than ever, while Hillary fans are just bitter.
Bernie supporters have something to fight for. Hillary fans only have someone.

Tags:

bernie sanders

Vote

Comments

Submitted by The Aspie Corner on Wed, 04/25/2018 - 2:31pm

Don't expect a miracle.

Ideas may not die, but they are ignored for profit and property.

End the wars? Nope. Can't have that. Defense contractors need their big fat paychecks on the blood and backs of brown people overseas.

Single Payer? Nope. The pharma/hospital/insurance rackets are too busy suppressing real medicine in favor of the ever profitable 'disease and pain management'. We could have had it if Medicare was enacted as intended, but Repigs and Dems, being whores for insurance companies even back then, said no.

Medicare? Social Security? Obamacare already partially privatized it. Same with Medicaid through the Medicaid expansion. And every single adminisrtation after FDR has looted Social Security to pay for unnecessary wars and wealth coddling bullshit like tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires who already pay no taxes anyway.

Education? Oh please. That's for rich white kids. The rest of 'Murica's kids can go and work 12 hours a day chained to a desk like kids in Honduras do.

—

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.

Submitted by gjohnsit on Wed, 04/25/2018 - 2:52pm

The elites have defenses in depth

@The Aspie Corner
Front line defense: A rising tide lifts all boats
That worked from 1980 until OWS.

Second line of defense: This is the best you can hope for
That defense was breached by Bernie Bros.

Those first two levels were media driven. The media has been discredited on every level.

Third line of defense: Gilded Age level of corruption
This is the toughest nut to crack, and it will take multi-year efforts on several levels.
But it can be done (see Progressive Era).

Submitted by gjohnsit on Wed, 04/25/2018 - 3:06pm

Speaking of corruption

@gjohnsit
DCCC and Hillary

Heading into the 2018 midterms, with Democrats hoping to take back the House of Representatives and even make a run at the Senate, the party has spent more than $2 million worth of campaign resources on payments to Hillary Clinton’s new group, Onward Together, according to Federal Election Commission filings and interviews with people familiar with the payments.
The Democratic National Committee is paying $1.65 million for access to the email list, voter data, and software produced by Hillary for America during the 2016 presidential campaign, Xochitl Hinojosa, a spokesperson for the DNC, told The Intercept. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has paid more than $700,000 to rent the same email list.

Clinton is legally entitled to rent her list to the party, rather than hand it over as a gift, but in 2015, Barack Obama gave his email list, valued at $1,942,640, to the DNC as an in-kind contribution.

Submitted by Benny on Wed, 04/25/2018 - 3:21pm

@gjohnsit I'm not on that list,

@gjohnsit I'm not on that list, or if I am, it is a really old list.

—

One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will. To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.--Tennyson

Submitted by Meteor Man on Wed, 04/25/2018 - 2:44pm

The Comeback Kid

Or maybe Comeback Grandpa. Gotta give Bernie credit for sticking to his guns. The battle for the soul of the Democratic Party is an uphill struggle, but nobody is doing more than Bernie to make it happen. I'm especially interested in how Bernie's media empire plays out and if it could be a template for progressives inside and outside the Duopoly structure. Here's hoping Jimmy Dore, Chris Hedges et. al. can get the issue coverage Bernie is getting.

—

"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

Submitted by JekyllnHyde on Wed, 04/25/2018 - 3:16pm

Well... Bernie Predicted it in 2016

@Meteor Man

—

A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma

Submitted by Thumb on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 6:52pm

Keep Hope alive

@Meteor Man This map gives me hope:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/warren-lynch/the-ongoing-comprehensive-ma...

—

"Polls don't tell us how well a candidate is doing; Polls tell us how well the media is doing." ~ Me

Submitted by Bollox Ref on Wed, 04/25/2018 - 3:16pm

I imagine Lack of Joy Reid

is discovering a thing or two about irony, given recent revelations.

—

Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

Submitted by Benny on Wed, 04/25/2018 - 3:24pm

@Bollox Ref

@Bollox Ref

So far all she has learned has been from the Clinton campaign: admit to some wrong doing, then when caught with more baggage, make a smokescreen using Russia or Bernie Bro technocrats. I think the thing with Reid is not going to go that well for her ambition.

—

One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will. To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.--Tennyson

Submitted by Amanda Matthews on Wed, 04/25/2018 - 11:38pm

Ah! But there’s been a new twist...

@Benny

The strange controversy surrounding MSNBC anchor Joy Reid took another turn Wednesday evening after her attorney said the Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened an investigation into whether online accounts belonging to her had been hacked, resulting in the surfacing of controversial remarks being ascribed to Reid that she says are fake.

“We have received confirmation the FBI has opened an investigation into potential criminal activities surrounding several online accounts, including personal email and blog accounts, belonging to Joy-Ann Reid,” said her lawyer, John H. Reichman, in a statement provided by MSNBC. “Our own investigation and monitoring of the situation will continue in parallel, and we are cooperating with law enforcement as their investigation proceeds.”

http://variety.com/2018/tv/news/joy-reid-attorney-fbi-investigation-hack...

This is getting interesting.

—

I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

Submitted by strollingone on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 1:53am

Dang Russians

@gjohnsit @Amanda Matthews

got caught again.

Submitted by Amanda Matthews on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 11:40am

Now THAT was funny. And I’m sure exactly what they’re going to

@strollingone

say. The ‘they’re’ being people like the crazed Hilbots at TOP.

—

I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

Submitted by Snode on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 6:56am

I had read this

@Amanda Matthews I don't know if it's valid or not

https://www.fastcompany.com/40563570/the-internet-archive-rejects-msnbc-...

But if you read down to the update it seems to say IA was possibly hacked.

Submitted by ChezJfrey on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 9:58am

Oh please...

@Snode Yes, the IA was hacked, and so was Bibliotheca Alexandrina...and so were the other archive sites...all of them, by Russians, to smear some 'nobody'.

http://web.archive.bibalex.org/web/19960101000000-20181231235959*/http:/...

Or...considering she's already done the fake mea culpa for similar, not too long ago, she's just not REALLY the person the cult-of-personality/hero-worshipers have crafted in their minds who they think she is. That is the simplest, most logical, but-idolizers-refuse-to-accept answer.

In fact, none of these people are...they don't live in the same world most of us do; they just market themselves as such, pretend, and spout out the stuff they want the audience to regurgitate.

Submitted by Snode on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 11:57am

Oh, you're welcome

@ChezJfrey I just threw it out there, because mostly I'm ignorant. With multi billion dollar internet companies guarding their websites with buck ninety eight security and fire wall software losing 20 - 30 million peoples information, I wondered why IA and any other website is exempt from being hacked. There was a discussion here:

https://caucus99percent.com/content/internet-has-killed-trust

that was one of those really big questions about the internet because of what it means and how fast it's intruded into our lives. I don't have cable and really didn't know who Reid was, other than a talking head, until lately. And don't really care.

I went to the site you marked but don't know what you would have me do. Clicking on the blued dates gives "Resource Not Available" messages. So, anyway, I'll ask you, is the internet expert quoted in the article valid, or are these sites really unhackable? 'Cause that's where I was going.

Submitted by ChezJfrey on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 2:06pm

My Exasperated

@Snode "Oh Please.." was directed at the BS claim, not you. Just so you know

Anyway, that "expert" claim is BS. Here's why...using quotes from the article:

Five months ago, we found evidence Joy Reid’s now-defunct blog, The Reid Report, was breached after a review of suspicious activity.

...his team “discovered that login information used to access [Reid’s] blog was available on the Dark Web and that fraudulent entries–featuring offensive statements–were entered with suspicious formatting and time stamps.”

In December, shortly after the review, Ms. Reid’s attorney wrote to archive.org and Blogger.com to advise them that the blog had been compromised, and that the pages appearing in the Wayback Machine archive included fraudulent posts.

That's not how any of the web archiving stuff works; their own words and "discoveries" actually discredit themselves. The web archiving is done with 'scrapers' in real-time AT THE TIME OF THE PAGE CONTENT back in those previous years, contemporaneously. In other words, back in 2006/2007/2008 there were automated scapers running, that troll all the various sites and pages, grab the content, and store it in the archive databases. What they are claiming, is that several months ago ("five months ago...discovered breach") some fraudulent posts were crafted with faked timestamps, "The letters detail the evidence that many of the blog posts were made up, including the times posted (times when Ms. Reid hosted her radio show)". Those alleged "fake" posts were not what was archived; they can't be, because the archived pages were obtained over 10 years ago, not a few months ago.

These "experts" seem to be under the delusion that the archiving just goes out immediately and grabs what's out there today; they don't. They grab what was there "today" albeit in this case, that "today" would have been a day back in 2007...or, rather, if they really are "experts," they are simply lying to sell a story that Reid and crew want you to believe.

So, that leaves hacking the archive itself and changing the database . However, what are the archive's practices and backup strategies? They undoubtedly pull a full backup, periodically, and if one hacks the current, and a backup made tomorrow, yeah, they're both "fraudulent" now. But, do they maybe make a year backup of each year, put it offline and retain, as part of their practices? Quite possibly, and if that's the case, they backed up their whole 2007 data, back in early 2008, and tucked it away, offline and inaccessible to hackers. If so, they can then simply compare that data, to what they currently have showing for a site, and compare. If they match, then it wasn't hacked. I don't know, neither to these supposed "experts," but given IA's certainty in their own assessment that it wasn't hacked, I'm betting they do just what I described.

Also, that one archive site isn't the only one. So did these "hackers" hack into every web archive service, in order to smear this one person, who in the grand scheme of things, is really not that important? That's what my other link was to illustrate; there are more. I only supplied one. It is highly improbable that 1: someone would make that effort just to smear Reid, and highly improbable they would be able to gain access/circumvent several different protection/security schemes from all the players in the archive business.

The reason you now see "unavailable" is due to the fact that given the new revelations, and the archive services refusal to take the pages away, Reid's team took another approach -- using robots.txt.

http://www.robotstxt.org/robotstxt.html

Web site owners use the /robots.txt file to give instructions about their site to web robots; this is called The Robots Exclusion Protocol.

robots can ignore your /robots.txt.

This is of course not reliable for processes that simply ignore, but apparently, these archive services run a check, prior to a page review, and if the site is still up, contains the robots.txt file with a 'denial' they will accommodate the request and not display the old content, even though they have it. Reid's people are simply taking advantage of the fact that these archive sites will adhere to the request, even retroactively. This way, she can hide those old posts from people.

Submitted by Pluto's Republic on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 3:05pm

That's a superb description

@ChezJfrey

...of how this sort of thing works / is still working.

#3.1.1.2.1.1 "Oh Please.." was directed at the BS claim, not you. Just so you know Anyway, that "expert" claim is BS. Here's why...using quotes from the article: Five months ago, we found evidence Joy Reid’s now-defunct blog, The Reid Report, was breached after a review of suspicious activity. ...his team “discovered that login information used to access [Reid’s] blog was available on the Dark Web and that fraudulent entries–featuring offensive statements–were entered with suspicious formatting and time stamps.” In December, shortly after the review, Ms. Reid’s attorney wrote to archive.org and Blogger.com to advise them that the blog had been compromised, and that the pages appearing in the Wayback Machine archive included fraudulent posts. That's not how any of the web archiving stuff works; their own words and "discoveries" actually discredit themselves. The web archiving is done with 'scrapers' in real-time AT THE TIME OF THE PAGE CONTENT back in those previous years, contemporaneously. In other words, back in 2006/2007/2008 there were automated scapers running, that troll all the various sites and pages, grab the content, and store it in the archive databases. What they are claiming, is that several months ago ("five months ago...discovered breach") some fraudulent posts were crafted with faked timestamps, "The letters detail the evidence that many of the blog posts were made up, including the times posted (times when Ms. Reid hosted her radio show)". Those alleged "fake" posts were not what was archived; they can't be, because the archived pages were obtained over 10 years ago, not a few months ago. These "experts" seem to be under the delusion that the archiving just goes out immediately and grabs what's out there today; they don't. They grab what was there "today" albeit in this case, that "today" would have been a day back in 2007...or, rather, if they really are "experts," they are simply lying to sell a story that Reid and crew want you to believe. So, that leaves hacking the archive itself and changing the database . However, what are the archive's practices and backup strategies? They undoubtedly pull a full backup, periodically, and if one hacks the current, and a backup made tomorrow, yeah, they're both "fraudulent" now. But, do they maybe make a year backup of each year, put it offline and retain, as part of their practices? Quite possibly, and if that's the case, they backed up their whole 2007 data, back in early 2008, and tucked it away, offline and inaccessible to hackers. If so, they can then simply compare that data, to what they currently have showing for a site, and compare. If they match, then it wasn't hacked. I don't know, neither to these supposed "experts," but given IA's certainty in their own assessment that it wasn't hacked, I'm betting they do just what I described. Also, that one archive site isn't the only one. So did these "hackers" hack into every web archive service, in order to smear this one person, who in the grand scheme of things, is really not that important? That's what my other link was to illustrate; there are more. I only supplied one. It is highly improbable that 1: someone would make that effort just to smear Reid, and highly improbable they would be able to gain access/circumvent several different protection/security schemes from all the players in the archive business. The reason you now see "unavailable" is due to the fact that given the new revelations, and the archive services refusal to take the pages away, Reid's team took another approach -- using robots.txt. http://www.robotstxt.org/robotstxt.html Web site owners use the /robots.txt file to give instructions about their site to web robots; this is called The Robots Exclusion Protocol. robots can ignore your /robots.txt. This is of course not reliable for processes that simply ignore, but apparently, these archive services run a check, prior to a page review, and if the site is still up, contains the robots.txt file with a 'denial' they will accommodate the request and not display the old content, even though they have it. Reid's people are simply taking advantage of the fact that these archive sites will adhere to the request, even retroactively. This way, she can hide those old posts from people.

—

IMAGINE if you woke up the day after a US Presidential Election and headlines around the the world blared, "The Majority of Americans Refused to Vote in US Presidential Election! What Does this Mean?"

Submitted by Deja on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 5:45pm

What Pluto's Republic said! n/t

@ChezJfrey

#3.1.1.2.1.1 "Oh Please.." was directed at the BS claim, not you. Just so you know Anyway, that "expert" claim is BS. Here's why...using quotes from the article: Five months ago, we found evidence Joy Reid’s now-defunct blog, The Reid Report, was breached after a review of suspicious activity. ...his team “discovered that login information used to access [Reid’s] blog was available on the Dark Web and that fraudulent entries–featuring offensive statements–were entered with suspicious formatting and time stamps.” In December, shortly after the review, Ms. Reid’s attorney wrote to archive.org and Blogger.com to advise them that the blog had been compromised, and that the pages appearing in the Wayback Machine archive included fraudulent posts. That's not how any of the web archiving stuff works; their own words and "discoveries" actually discredit themselves. The web archiving is done with 'scrapers' in real-time AT THE TIME OF THE PAGE CONTENT back in those previous years, contemporaneously. In other words, back in 2006/2007/2008 there were automated scapers running, that troll all the various sites and pages, grab the content, and store it in the archive databases. What they are claiming, is that several months ago ("five months ago...discovered breach") some fraudulent posts were crafted with faked timestamps, "The letters detail the evidence that many of the blog posts were made up, including the times posted (times when Ms. Reid hosted her radio show)". Those alleged "fake" posts were not what was archived; they can't be, because the archived pages were obtained over 10 years ago, not a few months ago. These "experts" seem to be under the delusion that the archiving just goes out immediately and grabs what's out there today; they don't. They grab what was there "today" albeit in this case, that "today" would have been a day back in 2007...or, rather, if they really are "experts," they are simply lying to sell a story that Reid and crew want you to believe. So, that leaves hacking the archive itself and changing the database . However, what are the archive's practices and backup strategies? They undoubtedly pull a full backup, periodically, and if one hacks the current, and a backup made tomorrow, yeah, they're both "fraudulent" now. But, do they maybe make a year backup of each year, put it offline and retain, as part of their practices? Quite possibly, and if that's the case, they backed up their whole 2007 data, back in early 2008, and tucked it away, offline and inaccessible to hackers. If so, they can then simply compare that data, to what they currently have showing for a site, and compare. If they match, then it wasn't hacked. I don't know, neither to these supposed "experts," but given IA's certainty in their own assessment that it wasn't hacked, I'm betting they do just what I described. Also, that one archive site isn't the only one. So did these "hackers" hack into every web archive service, in order to smear this one person, who in the grand scheme of things, is really not that important? That's what my other link was to illustrate; there are more. I only supplied one. It is highly improbable that 1: someone would make that effort just to smear Reid, and highly improbable they would be able to gain access/circumvent several different protection/security schemes from all the players in the archive business. The reason you now see "unavailable" is due to the fact that given the new revelations, and the archive services refusal to take the pages away, Reid's team took another approach -- using robots.txt. http://www.robotstxt.org/robotstxt.html Web site owners use the /robots.txt file to give instructions about their site to web robots; this is called The Robots Exclusion Protocol. robots can ignore your /robots.txt. This is of course not reliable for processes that simply ignore, but apparently, these archive services run a check, prior to a page review, and if the site is still up, contains the robots.txt file with a 'denial' they will accommodate the request and not display the old content, even though they have it. Reid's people are simply taking advantage of the fact that these archive sites will adhere to the request, even retroactively. This way, she can hide those old posts from people.

Submitted by Snode on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 6:11pm

OK, thanks very much

@ChezJfrey for the nuts and bolts explanation. So this "expert" is just laying down a smokescreen. The one thing that boggles me is the size of it. Citicorp probably backs up their systems continuously and has duplicates of the backups. For probably 2, 3 hundred million accounts. But AI is the whole internet (not everything, but enough), that's a huge amount of data. If I understand you, what they store is like a screenshot (?) static, not anything you can interact with, and that would take a lot less space? But since they took a screenshot, their process of capturing the "picture" would have it's own dynamic artifacts from the program they used? that would able to be analyzed by them to be certain it was what they archived?

This going to be a big problem if we can't trust what we think we know.

#3.1.1.2.1.1 "Oh Please.." was directed at the BS claim, not you. Just so you know Anyway, that "expert" claim is BS. Here's why...using quotes from the article: Five months ago, we found evidence Joy Reid’s now-defunct blog, The Reid Report, was breached after a review of suspicious activity. ...his team “discovered that login information used to access [Reid’s] blog was available on the Dark Web and that fraudulent entries–featuring offensive statements–were entered with suspicious formatting and time stamps.” In December, shortly after the review, Ms. Reid’s attorney wrote to archive.org and Blogger.com to advise them that the blog had been compromised, and that the pages appearing in the Wayback Machine archive included fraudulent posts. That's not how any of the web archiving stuff works; their own words and "discoveries" actually discredit themselves. The web archiving is done with 'scrapers' in real-time AT THE TIME OF THE PAGE CONTENT back in those previous years, contemporaneously. In other words, back in 2006/2007/2008 there were automated scapers running, that troll all the various sites and pages, grab the content, and store it in the archive databases. What they are claiming, is that several months ago ("five months ago...discovered breach") some fraudulent posts were crafted with faked timestamps, "The letters detail the evidence that many of the blog posts were made up, including the times posted (times when Ms. Reid hosted her radio show)". Those alleged "fake" posts were not what was archived; they can't be, because the archived pages were obtained over 10 years ago, not a few months ago. These "experts" seem to be under the delusion that the archiving just goes out immediately and grabs what's out there today; they don't. They grab what was there "today" albeit in this case, that "today" would have been a day back in 2007...or, rather, if they really are "experts," they are simply lying to sell a story that Reid and crew want you to believe. So, that leaves hacking the archive itself and changing the database . However, what are the archive's practices and backup strategies? They undoubtedly pull a full backup, periodically, and if one hacks the current, and a backup made tomorrow, yeah, they're both "fraudulent" now. But, do they maybe make a year backup of each year, put it offline and retain, as part of their practices? Quite possibly, and if that's the case, they backed up their whole 2007 data, back in early 2008, and tucked it away, offline and inaccessible to hackers. If so, they can then simply compare that data, to what they currently have showing for a site, and compare. If they match, then it wasn't hacked. I don't know, neither to these supposed "experts," but given IA's certainty in their own assessment that it wasn't hacked, I'm betting they do just what I described. Also, that one archive site isn't the only one. So did these "hackers" hack into every web archive service, in order to smear this one person, who in the grand scheme of things, is really not that important? That's what my other link was to illustrate; there are more. I only supplied one. It is highly improbable that 1: someone would make that effort just to smear Reid, and highly improbable they would be able to gain access/circumvent several different protection/security schemes from all the players in the archive business. The reason you now see "unavailable" is due to the fact that given the new revelations, and the archive services refusal to take the pages away, Reid's team took another approach -- using robots.txt. http://www.robotstxt.org/robotstxt.html Web site owners use the /robots.txt file to give instructions about their site to web robots; this is called The Robots Exclusion Protocol. robots can ignore your /robots.txt. This is of course not reliable for processes that simply ignore, but apparently, these archive services run a check, prior to a page review, and if the site is still up, contains the robots.txt file with a 'denial' they will accommodate the request and not display the old content, even though they have it. Reid's people are simply taking advantage of the fact that these archive sites will adhere to the request, even retroactively. This way, she can hide those old posts from people.

Submitted by Amanda Matthews on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 11:44am

Apparently not everyone believes that story

@Snode

Daily Beast Suspends Joy Reid Column Over ‘Serious’ Accusations About Past Homophobic Blog Posts

https://www.thewrap.com/daily-beast-suspends-joy-reid-column-were-going-...

—

I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

Submitted by Snode on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 12:21pm

Huh, I thought she was

@Amanda Matthews on MSNBC or something. Shows you how well I pay attention. Truthfully, I got her mixed up with the Joy comedian lady on "The View", Whenever I read a quote from Reid, I thought, "Well she could of said it."

Submitted by eyo on Wed, 04/25/2018 - 3:41pm

"Digital Media Empire" Great! More TV watchers

just what the world needs. NOT.
Electoral politics for facebook and twitter consumers, because eyeballs not brains. Medicare 4 All! Sure, now the Defense industry and Wall Street are fully invested and ready to be seeking more rent from "healthcare", go on. duh

BOHICA, since 1985. The long arc of history indeed. Defending Israel at any cost, because "never again" wtf? Does he even listen to himself? NOPE, just become what you abhor. And keep talking, blah blah blah, abide the plutocracy rules, yada yada yada, blue wave! LOL please. get real

Bernard "The New Emperor" Sanders, all hail his new clothes! good look

"Does Media Lie?" Bernie Sanders Grills Journalists along with Jim Jeffords, Brian Burns (1985)
heh

Submitted by gjohnsit on Wed, 04/25/2018 - 3:48pm

You Vietnam kids should recognize this

anti-ROTC

A student socialist group at City University of New York (CUNY) demanded that the university eliminate the university’s ROTC (Reserve Office Training Corps) program because war-fighters should be fighting war, not be on a college campus. The Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) demanded that ROTC cadets have no business in being on the university campus.
The student group have previously protested against gun rights and demanded for the removal of police officers and the army from the campus.

Submitted by Hawkfish on Wed, 04/25/2018 - 4:06pm

The stone which the builders rejected...

...has become the chief cornerstone.
— Psalm 118:22

—

We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg

Submitted by strollingone on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 1:55am

It just

@Hawkfish
strolls along.

Submitted by EdMass on Wed, 04/25/2018 - 6:08pm

A proud Bernie Bro since

years before he ran.

Meteor Blades and I even hooked up way back in the day to promote the Bernster and his proposed legislation and budgets and positions on ToP.

Despite the site polls, by fiat of the overlord H> was the one...

They're still having the Bern vs Hill wars there. A lengthy piece on the Joy Reid kerfuffle includes the "facts" and lengthy discussion that aside from the RUSSIANS, it was Bernie supporters that were behind all of it.

Nope. Sigh.

—

Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!

Firesign Theater

Stop the War!

Submitted by Bollox Ref on Wed, 04/25/2018 - 7:05pm

Orange Dead State

@EdMass
reflects the inchoate nature that is the 'mind' of the owner.

—

Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Wed, 04/25/2018 - 9:46pm

Heh, the Bernie supporters are now being called

@EdMass

Russian bots. Nope. I'm not kidding. Some are saying that ever since the ides of March the site has been running more smoothly. We were apparently what made the site so hostile.

Plus the people who used to criticize Barry were probably just Russian bots and that proves that Russia has been messing with the country for much longer than anyone knew.

BTW. This site was created so that we could get our marching orders from Vlad. They are astonished that we can't see that Russia interfered with the election and Vlad is controlling everything Trump does. He should have done more damage to Syria when he bombed it and they are outraged because we spoke with Russia before the bombs went flying. We have been coordinating with Russia since they came to Assad's defense so that our jets and theirs don't collide and start an incident.

To summarize what people on ToP are believing, anything that happens that they don't like is because Russia did it. Oh yeah, and Donald Trump is a poopy head.

—

There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?

Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.

Submitted by peachcreek on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 2:46am

Shouldn't those folks that believe this at TOP..enlist? n/t

@snoopydawg

Submitted by Deja on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 6:17pm

Excellent idea!

@peachcreek
Someone should suggest that, but one, two, three, NOT ME! Hate that place more than cleaning out some mystery item in the back of the fridge.

Submitted by Deja on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 6:12pm

Should I submit a Ticket to Putin to request my non GMO food?

@snoopydawg
Since I'm a Russian Bot (was called that on Twitter after warning Puerto Ricans to keep Her scam foundation out - saying to just ask the Haitians), and I'll take your word for it that they call us all Russian bots over at TOP, I'm wondering how I can get my boss, old Pootie, to send me some non GMO food!

Is it like submitting a Help Desk ticket?

Submitted by reflectionsv37 on Fri, 04/27/2018 - 12:44am

I have no doubt...

@snoopydawg things at TOP are running more smoothly! They have fallen so far!

I keep a regular check on these sites and have been loving the trends.

https://www.quantcast.com/dailykos.com#trafficCard
This site had them ranked at one time as 75th or so, now 477.

https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/dailykos.com

And this one confirms the seemingly never ending slide into irrelevance with a US ranking of 1013!

This graph says it all!

alexa graph.png

—

“Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.”
George W. Bush

Submitted by snoopydawg on Fri, 04/27/2018 - 2:05am

Oh that's rich

@reflectionsv37

Thanks for posting this graphic showing how much further the site has fallen since so many of us left or were kicked off.

The site got a temporary boost right after the ides of March when the Correct the Record people joined up for good, but it keeps falling and now there are so many new names on it, but it looks like they might be made up old time members who went away for awhile and have suddenly decided to start posting again.

But when I look at their history of commenting, they only have 2-3 bars of mojo, no diaries written and no followers and other irregularities. The other thing I noticed is that they seem to take turns commenting in various diaries because one person who I don't remember will make tons of comments in lots of diaries, but then I don't see them again for a week or so. The next day it's someone else who does it.

Is this what is going on over there?

—

There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?

Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.

Submitted by Anja Geitz on Wed, 04/25/2018 - 6:42pm

The question isn't whether or not I agree with it

Whether you agree with those articles or not, the fact is that the way Bernie and his supporters are being reported has totally flipped

The question is why the media is reporting on it at all? You remember the media, right? That gang of malicious mouthpieces for the establishment whose entire raison d'etre is to protect and promote the corporatocracy's goals?

If this were a threat to the establishment, they'd ignore it, or discredit it like they did in the past. So the fact that they are reporting it, or pushing it, makes me highly suspicious that this is just another veal pen disguised as "democracy in action" for the little people.

—

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Submitted by Dr. John Carpenter on Wed, 04/25/2018 - 7:07pm

Can’t help but agree.

@Anja Geitz I guess I’d be more impressed if this was 2019 and we were in the midst of an election. Aside from that, it’s still a drop in the bucket compared to the priming they’re doing for Joementum 2.0 or whoever the Corp-dem flavor of the week is. And until the media is ready to talk seriously about the screw job Sanders supporters got from the DNC, it’s all hot air to me anyway.

Sorry for the cynicism. I know anything positive is rare. But I also saw how the media turned from treating Sanders supporters if not positively, at least closer to neutral, to regarding them as dangerous deplorables worse than Trump voters. Right now it’s safe to say something nice as long as everyone is expected to vote for the “real” candidates when the time comes.

—

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

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 04/25/2018 - 7:13pm

Reading between the lines

@Anja Geitz The reportage has an end game beyond the present. I feel another wedge traveling down the bowels of the info sack. Usefulness of any and all issues is guided by a new, more effective way to split the peeps. Mind control methods are already thunk out.

Submitted by gjohnsit on Wed, 04/25/2018 - 7:40pm

Of course it is

@Anja Geitz @Anja Geitz

So the fact that they are reporting it, or pushing it, makes me highly suspicious that this is just another veal pen disguised as "democracy in action" for the little people.

Anything short of overthrowing the existing power structure of this society is veal pen democracy.
You'll get no argument from me about that.
In fact, I believe that a large part of the ruling elite realizes that they have to throw the masses some more crumbs or they will be in a world of hurt, so they might even welcome the progressive grassroots.

However, that doesn't mean that the progressive insurgency that is going on isn't real, and wouldn't make things a little better.
I know that if something isn't done, there will be violence sooner or later. Little people almost never win in those cases. So yeh. I welcome this too.
If it's real, then it can always go further.

Submitted by eyo on Wed, 04/25/2018 - 8:59pm

"make things a little better" for who? Godot I think.

@gjohnsit we can forgive each other I hope, I forgive you your optimistic Bay Area views if you forgive me my cynical ones.

Minimum wage in California is what now? Does Bernie still go around bragging about winning the Fight for $15 here? Does he ask what it will be worth in 2020 when it finally does become law? Bernie and the Ds seems they'll do anything and everything except what is always needed, decent wages and decent housing for all. NOW not later. ALL not some. There is enough empty space, there is enough money to solve homelessness overnight. Political will does not exist, it is buried under cash lobbyists. 501c4

Poverty is violence, homelessness is violence, it is already here. Obamavilles are everywhere, tent cities abound. It is already happening for the bottom percents since a long time in California. Normal! HyperNormal why not. Granny in the ditch? Move along granny, move along. This is so fucked up I can't believe Bernie is not doing something extreme here for us. NOPE, that is just not Bernie now. As a millionaire he is fine with maintaining his status quo, ask Lakoff what percent of thoughts are conscious and don't feel bad. We are all human.

how unfortunate

Submitted by snoopydawg on Wed, 04/25/2018 - 10:39pm

This! Well stated, eyo

@eyo

"There is enough empty space, there is enough money to solve homelessness overnight. Political will does not exist, it is buried under cash lobbyists. 501c4.

Poverty is violence, homelessness is violence, it is already here. Obamavilles are everywhere, tent cities abound. It is already happening for the bottom percents since a long time in California"

Obamavilles are spreading all across the country and it's getting much worse. California is being hit harder because of the number of people who lost their homes in last Summer's fires. I read where the Obamaville tent city up around where the fires were was just demolished. This is the only plan that's in motion. Keep kicking people off the land, but don't call it a national emergency. Same thing is happening in Texas after the hurricanes. There are not enough people building new houses for people who were displaced.

But gjohnsit wrote that there are enough empty houses that were foreclosed on to house almost everyone. We watched as millions of people continued to lose their homes after the banks were bailed out. And we watched as the banks continued to commit fraud while Obama did nothing!

Bernie is now talking about creating a jobs program, but so what? The republicans won't pass it nor will Trump sign it. It's safe to say that he's going to do this or that when there is no chance of it passing.

The republicans are in an all out war against the poor and working class and I haven't heard anything from the democrats about what they're doing! Only Bernie's saying something about it.

—

There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?

Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.

Submitted by Big Al on Wed, 04/25/2018 - 10:46pm

Bernie is talking about things, not U.S. imperialism

@snoopydawg of course, that he knows darn well haven't a chance in hell unless there's a democratic party majority in both Congress and Senate and even that is all an illusion under this duopoly political system.
He's clearly being a sheepdog for the democratic party, again. It's no different now. The issue, on this blog and elsewhere regarding Bernie Sanders, is the democratic party, just like it was two years ago.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 12:39am

Yep. This is what I have been telling people

@Big Al

It doesn't matter what Bernie wants to happen if he becomes president because he won't be able to do this as long as the military budget is as high as it is. And he knows that.

I said this same thing during the primary. And I kept asking if people knew about his foreign policies. I didn't get many answers though.

"The issue, on this blog and elsewhere regarding Bernie Sanders, is the democratic party, just like it was two years ago."

Not all of us, BA. There are many of us who see him for who he is. I am quite aware of who he is.

—

There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?

Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.

Submitted by SoylentGreenisPeople on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 2:11am

And consider this statement from . . .

@snoopydawg

Caitlin Johnstone a few months ago:

"I do not believe that Sanders was bribed with a new $600,000 summer home as people who can’t be bothered to do ninety seconds of googling sometimes assert. I do not believe that Sanders “sold us out”; he would have to have owned us to sell us. What I absolutely do believe, with an extremely high degree of confidence, is that if Bernie had won, he’d be advancing the exact same deep state agendas that Trump is now. It wouldn’t look the same, it would have a much more lefty-looking spin on it, but America would be amassing troops in Syria and escalating tensions with Russia, just as it is right now. I don’t know how they got to him, but they got to him. And if they got to him now, they would have gotten to him if he’d won."

Simple translation: Bernie is significantly compromised in some way(s) that we cannot quite put our fingers on, although we some of us can certainly "smell" the stinking reality of it.

The link to her whole article is here. It's worth the read:

https://extranewsfeed.com/the-deep-state-has-digested-both-trump-and-san...

Submitted by Wink on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 7:43am

I believe Caitlin is

right. Bernie likely was
@SoylentGreenisPeople
"gotten to." And likely by "Deep State" players.
Despite that he has found ways to get his message out there, president or not.
And, she's prolly right, too, about any "choices" he might have been able to make, re. Foreign Policy, had he won. After all, as she says, if "They" leaned on him during the primary, they surely would have leaned on him as president. The same with Trump, apparently. Trump wanted out of Syria. "Deep State" had and has other plans.

—

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.

Submitted by Big Al on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 9:24am

"They got to him"?

@SoylentGreenisPeople I think that's just bullshit. His track record from way back certainly doesn't indicate that. He is what he is and always has been since he was a Senator, an establishment insider. If the members of the Senate aren't part of the establishment I don't know who is.

Submitted by Wink on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 8:04am

It's not just Bernie.

It's a bunch of Bernies.
@snoopydawg
Get enough BernieBros and Berniecrats elected and there can be change.

—

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.

Submitted by Anja Geitz on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 11:10am

You might want to qualify that

@Wink

By stating that the change we will "achieve" is the change that those in power will allow us to "achieve". Lest you forget that they have the electoral means to elect who they chose to elect.

—

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Submitted by mimi on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 1:30am

seems to me Bernie is working within the system

@Big Al
and what you want is working outside of the system. I guess those who work outside the system are brutally oppressed. You can only support the courage of some of the youngsters that do the real protests now. Most people understand things better than abstract words like imperialism. So they stick to what they understand and not to what for them are abstract word bubbles. I guess.

—

https://www.euronews.com/live

Submitted by Wink on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 7:54am

True, the Bernie thing

is as much about "what
@Big Al
kind of Dem party are we going to have" as much as anything else. And as usual, here in my local yokel neck of the woods, there aren't many of us on the Bernie side. Hillary supporters seem to think the Rules of Engagement suddenly changed on Election day, and Her was somehow cheated. They'll still be thinking that in 2020. And beyond. And still blaming BernieBros (and Russians) for Her loss.

—

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.

Submitted by Big Al on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 9:09am

Actually the Bernie thing on this blog relative to the

@Wink democratic party comes down to those who oppose or will oppose the democratic party and this duopoly political system and those who will continue to vote for the democratic war party because of their political idol Bernie Sanders. Two basically opposing views on one blog.
It appears to me, based on the recs given to this essay and others like it, most people here are still going to support the democratic party and this duopoly political system, just as Bernie wants them to.

Submitted by FuturePassed on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 12:34pm

There are a lot of Democratic candidates.

@Big Al
Some are progressive. If I have the opportunity I'll vote for them. Some are Republicans playing identity politics. They can find their votes elsewhere.

Your argument would be more persuasive if you detailed an alternative strategy with some hope of success. As far as I can determine your plan is for liberal Democrats to stop voting, or at least stop voting for Democrats. The absence of the liberal votes will increase the size of Republican majorities at various levels of government. Here's where I can't keep up. Somehow increasing Republican majorities lead to a transformation of the American polity. The duopoly dissolves, but not into a Republican monopoly. American thinking is transformed. Imperialism is brought to an end. The freed resources are used to solve US problems at home.

It's the transformation that occurs when the duopoly dissolves that throws me. Outside of divine intervention I don't see it happening.

Submitted by Azazello on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 12:58pm

"Two basically opposing views on one blog." So ?

@Big Al
It says "free-range politics" up there at the top, nothing about ideological purity or an official party line. I guess I'll go ahead and vote, if that's alright with you.

—

We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

Submitted by Big Al on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 2:48pm

It's also supposed to be non-partisan, so

@Azazello it should be OK if people want to oppose a corrupt political party that supports war and imperialism.
So? Something's gotta give, and I think like on Daily Kos, the conservatives will win out and run the radicals out.

Submitted by Azazello on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 3:18pm

Not so. Nothin's "gotta' give".

@Big Al
Nobody has to run anybody off.
I doesn't have to be that way, nor should it

—

We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

Submitted by CS in AZ on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 4:28pm

No, Big Al, not unless the radicals choose to leave

@Big Al

Unlike daily kos, this place is in fact nonpartisan and JtC won’t purge the unbelievers or force us to bend the knee. So unless they (we, I mean; I guess I’m a radical now, since I no longer believe in electing politicians to save us) self-deport, we won’t be run off.

As I told JtC personally, I’ve been wanting to reach out to you, to encourage you to stick around, but I realized that was unfair, if I stay in lurk mode and watch you a few others take the flak. You’re not as alone as you feel, I’m fairly certain. I also fear that partisan politics is staging a takeover... but I also see many comments expressing dissent. Thankful for that. Hope you stick around.

Submitted by Big Al on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 4:44pm

Understand CS

@CS in AZ Good comments btw. I know JtC wants this to stay non-partisan and respect his efforts here. I guess people will do what people do. I'm just at a point now, we're all aware of the evolution the last ten to fifteen years. I think most people forget or don't really comprehend what kind of situation we're faced with on this planet and in this country. I just think we Serfs are in "unacceptable" territory, i.e., this political system is unacceptable. We're being ruled, that has to stop, the charade has to stop.
I've still got a lot to say, there has to be a point. (Sounds like a good Monty Python type skit, "What's the Point?"

Submitted by Wink on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 2:35pm

Well, here's the thing,

B.A., our "System" is
@Big Al
set up to either run as a D or run as an R. The other choice being to run as a third party candidate and get maybe 10% of the vote. And until there's a different System those are your choices. I choose to vote for the more progressive candidate. Who, 99 times out of a hundred is a Dim. Not voting is not an option unless we want to be governed by the Red Team. Becuz they vote.

—

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.

Submitted by Big Al on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 2:52pm

Which red team?

@Wink That's the point. And relative to the system, the point of not voting for the duopoly is to change the system. Or, as you and most others here insist, we can just keep voting for the same two political parties forever because that's the "system". Actually, the same political war party in this case.

Submitted by Azazello on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 3:40pm

I'm not insisting

@Big Al
that you do anything.
You do what you think is best,
I'll do what I think is best.

—

We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

Submitted by Wink on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 8:12am

There ya go!

"Only Bernie talking about it."
@snoopydawg
Well, one, like a lot of things said when Bernie opens his mouth, much of it simply is political hot air. Easily said when there are no consequences. But, hot air or not at least he is saying something. The Dims got nuthin'. Not one answer to anything.

—

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.

Submitted by Wink on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 8:01am

what? Bernie is not

responsible for California.
@eyo
And $15 will still be better than $12 in two years.

—

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.

Submitted by eyo on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 10:13am

"All about building progressive media." That's fine go on

@Wink you are not helping anyone but yourself, same as it ever was. Bernie is responsible for Vermont, that is my point exactly. Stay the fuck away from the money, don't bathe in it. Organizing Big Labor is not progress, it is bullshit power tripping of the trickle down D-Value kind. More Ds or Rs = more corruption. DUH

I won't laugh in your face when you don't win 2018, and then go on to lose 2020. Moar billions down the political toilet. ~shrug~ Just keep flushing. I might accidentally poke you on the way to the guillotines though, pardon my French.

lol yummy

Submitted by Wink on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 2:48pm

Hey, if I can make

a buck or two building
@eyo
progressive media gawd bless me! I can maybe make back some of the $5 Large (or more) I got into it.

—

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.

Submitted by Anja Geitz on Fri, 04/27/2018 - 12:26am

i was going to say something snarky

@Wink

In a cheap attempt to be "witty" at your expense. But then I decided I didn't really want to be that person. So my apologies for being rude in my not expressed thoughs.

—

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Submitted by Anja Geitz on Wed, 04/25/2018 - 9:04pm

The same electoral system that rigged 2016 is still in place

@gjohnsit

If it's real, then it can always go further

.
Anything going forward is what those in power allow to go forward. A very real roadblock that curiously few discuss here in their plans for change through voting.

—

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Submitted by gjohnsit on Wed, 04/25/2018 - 10:29pm

Yes and no

@Anja Geitz

Anything going forward is what those in power allow to go forward.

The more they rig it, the bigger the backlash.
If people lose complete faith in the electoral system then the public no longer has a buy-in.
At that point violence starts and Big Brother can only maintain order with an iron fist.

The ruling elite is generally (but not always) smarter than to let that it go that far.

Submitted by Anja Geitz on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 12:41am

But the mechanism to manipulate

@gjohnsit

the electoral system is still being controlled by those in power. So, your supposition that those who control it, will be sure to leave a "a little democracy" for the rest of us to prevent widespread civil unrest is not a very compelling argument for electoral "participation" when our participation actually enables their malfeasance.

—

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Submitted by SoylentGreenisPeople on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 1:05am

So, for example, Tim Canova has

@Anja Geitz

. . . abandoned the Democratic Party in his run for Wasserman-Schultz' seat in Florida. He is now running as an independent. Apparently, in doing so, he has already been successful in raising oodles of grassroots cash. It is highly likely, that he may get more votes than her in her district during the general election. Except, who will count the votes? I mean, watch his interview with Jimmy Dore in which he talks about the ILLEGAL things that were done to him in terms of counting the votes in the primary in 2016 in favor of DWS. And the upshot of it was, that there were no consequences for these illegalities/irregularities to the parties involved. What makes him think that 2018 is going to be any different?

What makes you think the powers-that-be are going to be enlightened enough to give the people a "little" real democracy, when they honestly believe that they can use repressive tactics to shut down any real and peaceful, in-the-streets movements for democracy? I mean, why do you think they are spying on all of us and monitoring all of our electronic communications?

As for real and effective movements being met with violent repression, you are correct. This happened during the early decades of the American labor movement. It happened during the Civil Right movement.

Also, just look at Obama did to Occupy Wall Street by way of Homeland Security and its coordination with local mayors and police departments. That should tell you all you need to know about how the powers-that-be view real and effective threats to the the status quo. (Nonetheless, in spite of what happened to Occupy, it DID SUCCEED in changing the terms of the public conversation and consciousness. I doubt that there is anyone today in this country, much less the western world, that does not understand the concept of the 99%.)

Or just look back and see what Hoover/Douglass McArthur did to the "Bonus Marchers" in D.C. back during the Great Depression.

Submitted by Anja Geitz on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 1:26am

Perhaps you responded to the wrong comment?

@SoylentGreenisPeople

What makes you think the powers-that-be are going to be enlightened enough to give the people a "little" real democracy,

I was repeating another posters supposition, not arguing my own.

—

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Submitted by SoylentGreenisPeople on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 6:36am

I think you might be right.

@Anja Geitz

I was responding to gjohnsit's comment to which you had responded.

Submitted by gjohnsit on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 12:52pm

They might be stupid/arrogant

@SoylentGreenisPeople

What makes you think the powers-that-be are going to be enlightened enough to give the people a "little" real democracy, when they honestly believe that they can use repressive tactics to shut down any real and peaceful, in-the-streets movements for democracy?

That does indeed happen too. I can't rule that out.
But it never ends well for anyone. Including the ruling elite.
The oligarchs don't want to have to live behind armed guards, surrounded by people living in misery that would cut their throats if they had the opportunity.
Plus all that security is expensive. It's penny wise, pound foolish.

Submitted by Wink on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 2:59pm

Win or lose, Tim

Canova's race is
@SoylentGreenisPeople
important in that he is one of the first to dump the party and run on his own. "This is what Democracy looks like." And, I would argue, Big Al, is the (right) way to kill the Dim party. Support Indie progressives! Stack Congress with Indies.

—

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.

Submitted by gjohnsit on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 12:45pm

What are the alternatives?

@Anja Geitz

leave a "a little democracy" for the rest of us to prevent widespread civil unrest is not a very compelling argument for electoral "participation"

Don't participate? Yeh, lots of people already do that (around 50%). How's that worked out?
Not so good.

So what's plan B?
Violence? I don't think so. At least not without a lot more detail.

Seriously. What is your alternative?

Submitted by Pluto's Republic on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 6:02pm

One could list all the alternatives we have tried so far.

@gjohnsit

Seriously. What is your alternative?

You list but two of the Remedies for our fake democracy, and imply a third. All have failed; the armed revolution failed spectacularly with the wrong side winning and driving the continuous war underground for the next 150 years. Here they are by my count:

Violence?
I don't think so.
At least not without a lot more detail.

Don't participate?
Yeh, lots of people already do that (around 50%).
How's that worked out?
Not so good.

Huge participation?
Yeh. That used to happen
And we still have a corporate-owned government.
Next?

Finally, in 2016, the American People deliberately selected political "outsiders" from both Parties to run as Presidential candidates.

Well, this caused the “politburo of capitalism” much consternation. The Council on Foreign Relations historically places CFR members on both sides of the ticket. That way, whoever wins will follow the exact course that they chart for the United States. Since the heads of each of the six US media monopolies are CFR members, it was a simple matter to knock Bernie out of the race with a news blackout. A few quiet words to specific precincts, as well, washed away the primary riff raff.

After the dust settled, they had only one CFR member on the Presidential ticket. But Hillary Clinton was a sure thing.

In his famous article about “The American Establishment”, political columnist Richard H. Rovere noted: “The directors of the CFR make up a sort of Presidium for that part of the Establishment that guides our destiny as a nation.… [I]t rarely fails to get one of its members, or at least one of its allies, into the White House. In fact, it generally is able to see to it that both nominees are men acceptable to it.”

Until recently, this assessment had indeed been justified. Thus, in 1993 former CFR director George H.W. Bush was followed by CFR member Bill Clinton, who in turn was followed by CFR “family member” George W. Bush. In 2008, CFR member John McCain lost against CFR candidate of choice, Barack Obama, who received the names of his entire Cabinet already one month prior to his election by CFR Senior Fellow (and Citigroup banker) Michael Froman. Froman later negotiated the TTP and TTIP free trade agreements, before returning to the CFR as a Distinguished Fellow.

But in the 2016 election, the Council could not, apparently, prevail. It was the first time that happened since they ascended to power shortly after WWII.

After the Inauguration of Donald Trump in January 2017, it took four months of intense cabinet substitutions and a Syrian "chemical weapon attack" to turn Donald Trump into a war criminal and bend him to their will, militarily. In April 2018, on the one-year anniversary of that first coup, they did it again. The geopolitical signal from the second false flag attack in Syria was read loud and clear around the world. The World knows with whom they are dealing.

Perhaps there is something the American People can do force the Council on Foreign Relations — Our Corporate Overlords — to skip the democracy kabuki and deal directly with us, instead. It's not like their rule is a secret anymore.

Too soon?

[edit = typos]

—

IMAGINE if you woke up the day after a US Presidential Election and headlines around the the world blared, "The Majority of Americans Refused to Vote in US Presidential Election! What Does this Mean?"

Submitted by Anja Geitz on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 5:17pm

First Do No Harm

@gjohnsit

Frankly, it took me almost a year before I was able to shift my attention away from years of active political participation and focus my energy and time on my immediate community: My friends, my family, my neighbors, my co-workers, the people I meet through networking and my Buddhist practice.

Whether that involves participating in motivational support groups in my neighborhood, organizing discussion meetings focusing on personal development and living a better life, or meditating and chanting with distressed neighbors and friends, my power now goes into creating value there.

I do not, however, have an answer for you as to how we take back our political agency as citizens. But this I do know: It will not involve enabling those in power to co-opt our consent and use it against us in a global mind fuck for more power.

—

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Submitted by Snode on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 7:11am

That worries me

@gjohnsit because the PTB have been beefing up the Iron Fist with military tactics and hardware down to the Mayberry RFD level. Makes me think they've been anticipating this for a long while. When it happens it will be a planned response.

Submitted by gjohnsit on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 12:47pm

That worries me too

@Snode
But we must push forward.
The guys with the guns don't always have the stomach to shoot fellow citizens.

Submitted by strollingone on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 1:10pm

As was said in the 60's

@gjohnsit

"They have the guns, but we have the numbers."

Submitted by Snode on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 1:37pm

I hope, hope, hope you're right

@gjohnsit I wonder though, if word comes down, the whole apparatus gets put under Homeland Security. This comply or die thing is just too common to be coincidence.

Submitted by Wink on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 2:42pm

Exactly.

"They" can continue
@gjohnsit
to rig elections. And will. But there eventually is a tipping point. @gjohnsit correct, as usual. Why continue to vote if you know they are rigged? Becuz that tipping point coming. And sooner rather than later.

—

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.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 6:15pm

And don't forget the superdelegates

@Anja Geitz

They have no place in a country that is supposed to have fair elections. Bernie won many primaries only to lose them to Her because of the superdelegates.

Bernie wants to get rid of them, but I'm thinking that will be a losing battle because the DP rely on the SD's money.

BERNIE SANDERS CAMP SAYS ENDING SUPERDELEGATE ‘DEBACLE’ KEY TO DEFEATING TRUMP IN 2020

It was June 2016. Former Bernie Sanders surrogate Nina Turner was just about to go onstage to introduce the Vermont senator at a San Francisco rally she estimated drew some 30,000 people. But just before she could, she noticed a "wave of despair" overcome the crowd as everyone, almost simultaneously, looked worryingly at their phones.

Though California residents had yet to cast their ballots in the 2016 primaries, the Associated Press was reporting that Hillary Clinton had effectively won.

The AP's forecast was the result of the Democratic National Committee's superdelegate system, which meant that Clinton needed only garner support from enough party delegates to win the presidential nomination. Now, members of the Sanders camp are leading calls to overhaul the system they say continues to leave voters disillusioned with the Democratic Party.

Read that again. Hillary won the primary before anyone had the chance to vote. How is a fair election? I used to have a graphic that showed who the SDs were and many of them were very rich and very unethical people. They get to buy their way on to being one. No amount of voting is going to change this.

—

There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?

Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.

Submitted by Anja Geitz on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 7:41pm

It was June 2016...

@snoopydawg

Oh, how I remember that well. As a California resident, I was check mated by those in power and made irrelevant before the voting even began.

When the enemy no longer hides from the fear of retaliation the battle is over.

Curiously, there are still those who believe that the enemy still fears us but I have seen no evidence of that.

—

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Submitted by strollingone on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 8:05pm

Pride goeth before a fall.

@Anja Geitz

"When the enemy no longer hides from the fear of retaliation the battle is over."

And therein, precisely, lies their fatal flaw.

Submitted by Anja Geitz on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 8:32pm

In the realm of earth science

@strollingone

I'm more inclined to believe the predictions of California's demise when the "Big One" hits.

In the realm of political science, I'm less inclined. Too many wildly unpredictable human variables for me to be confident either way.

But like I said down thread, people have many motivations for their belief system.

—

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Submitted by strollingone on Thu, 04/26/2018 - 11:35pm

Your comment poses an interesting question.

@Anja Geitz
It suggests that our belief systems are the result of "motivations". I consider it to be the other way round. Since the formation of our belief systems begins almost at birth and is largely formed before we enter schooling where it is further formed by the beliefs of others, it might be said that our belief systems are the result of the beliefs of other people but hardly our own. We know of those who can apparently change their belief system to fit almost any situation, but in those cases it must be said that they have no belief system at all. A minor point, perhaps, and verging on "the chicken and the egg", but interesting nonetheless.

Submitted by Anja Geitz on Fri, 04/27/2018 - 12:09am

Mastering Your Mind

@strollingone

vs. Your Mind Mastering You.

Neuro-plasticity and the science behind changing a lifetime of thought patterns are topics that have interested me since I began meditating and chanting years ago. Fear of the unfamiliar being the most difficult to change for me personally and also the most satisfying victory as I condition my own thought patterns away from this. The trick is vigilance and awareness. Otherwise, the neural pathways will kick into gear and habitually go where they've always gone.

Why do we do the things we do? The process of thousands upon thousands of thoughts each day compound into an unquestioning belief system that motivates our actions. Without awareness, your motivation will be informed by a thought pattern that is so habitual, it becomes almost invisible.

Which is really what I meant to say. And, yes, it is a bit like the chicken and the egg in that they are intricately linked.

—

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Submitted by strollingone on Fri, 04/27/2018 - 3:41am

The trick is vigilance and awareness.

@Anja Geitz
I think that I have an understanding of this. Is it like when you catch yourself reacting in the same old way to the same old situation and you REALLY don't want to so you try to intervene the second before you do it again? Takes a while, but you can see that you get closer and closer to when it happens and then, finally, you get there first, don't do it, and it is gone. Had to apply that one to quitting smoking and to a person who relished getting my goat. It's handy. Not sure how many humans ever practice it, though. Easier to just buy another cigapackerettes and then punch the guy in the nose.

Submitted by Anja Geitz on Fri, 04/27/2018 - 5:56am

Great example

@strollingone

Of the benefit of repetition and awareness. When I was diagnosed with Bi-Polar II disorder a few years ago, I put my Buddhist practice of chanting and meditating towards Mastering My Mind in a way I never would have otherwise. Not only was I able to manage my mood swings naturally, without meds, I brought out and honed a fiercely powerful allay towards other areas of my life.

A beautiful mind, indeed

—

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Submitted by snoopydawg on Fri, 04/27/2018 - 12:19am

I love your optimism

@strollingone

And those who are still trying to change the direction of the country.

—

There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?

Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.

Submitted by strollingone on Fri, 04/27/2018 - 2:40am

You gotta love it!

@snoopydawg
I must admit that your sign encapsulates much of my motivation...which then reinforces my belief system.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Fri, 04/27/2018 - 12:18am

Oops, replied to the wrong person

@Anja Geitz

Oh well, let's transport our minds to somewhere beautiful and relaxing

—

There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?

Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.

Remember Bernie Bros Dead-Enders?

Comments

IMAGINE if you woke up the day after a US Presidential Election and headlines around the the world blared, "The Majority of Americans Refused to Vote in US Presidential Election! What Does this Mean?"

IMAGINE if you woke up the day after a US Presidential Election and headlines around the the world blared, "The Majority of Americans Refused to Vote in US Presidential Election! What Does this Mean?"

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