Why would I be?

I take it as an absolute given. Look, the populist wave is rising globally and it's trying to find some sort of structure even here in the belly of the beast. "We the People" are going to fight against the oligarchs better in 2020 than we did in 2018 and than we did in 2016. That means the oligarchs are going to need to pull even more dirty tricks.

My hope for 2020 is not that we get a populist elected. Rather, I just hope to make them show their corrupt, dirty hands more. Anything else is wishful thinking. The plutocrats will nominate one of their chosen, Beto, Hillary, Kamala, etc. etc. We will be fighting not just a mountain of money but also a system which is systemically corrupt. In fact, isn't it that systemic corruption which we are fighting against? If so, then it's imprudent not to expect the corruption to fight back.

I don't know about you, but I frequent a lot of alt-left (and some alt-right) sites. I see Bernie's name come up in positive terms pretty regularly. He's hardly being hidden.

One person's false flag is another person's sheepdog.

Or in the spirit of having been to hamilton yesterday, I'm not in a mood to mince words. (then again when am I ever?)

Stop with the apologist bullcrap for a sellout sheepdog that doesn't deserve it.

Why shouldn't we be talking about a "loophole" you can drive a few more bombed out buses of civilians through?

Explain to me what is historically significant about the fact we just passed a bill that says get all troops out, oh except for those troops over here combating the flimsy justification we've been using since day one.

I.E. get the troops fighting terrorists out, oh except for the troops fighting terrorism, we need them to keep fighting "terrorism"

It's the military equivalent of blaming every problem on Russia. Call every ongoing military operation anti terror regardless of what it might actually be without solving the core problems in the rotten system. And getting to keep on doing exactly what you were doing while the left gets to claim a "win"

Total Smoke and mirrors sheepdogging just like the the Amazon deal, which as WSWS rightfully points out. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/10/04/pers-o04.html

Sanders’ role in the confrontation with Amazon was heavily staged from the outset. By first presenting himself as a critic of Amazon, Sanders has served as a political lightning rod, attracting social opposition, harnessing it within the framework of the political establishment, and dissipating it so that it would not impact corporate profits or derail the rising stock market.

Bezos bought the smiles of Sanders and the praise of the entire political establishment on the cheap. The raise will cost him a paltry $1-2 billion in the short term, roughly equal to what he brings home each week. Workers outside the US and UK will not receive pay increases.

Bloomberg Business said the cost represents 0.001 percent of Amazon’s market capitalization. Most of cost of the raise is paid for by the estimated $789 million Amazon received as a result of this year’s tax cuts. Amazon paid $0 in taxes in 2017.

Democrats and Republicans are pleased because the move will also save the government money by reducing workers’ reliance on social services. This was the explicit purpose of Bernie Sanders’ “Stop BEZOS Act,” which would have taxed Amazon for the cost of public services used by the company’s employees.

But studies show that when wages are raised from the $10–13 range to $15 per hour, workers end up with incomes that are too high to qualify for social programs.

Curtis Skinner of the National Center for Children in Poverty estimates that a raise to $15 an hour could end up costing a parent over $10,000 a year. According to the Center for Community Solutions, an Ohio worker who receives a raise from $11.50 to $15 actually makes $29 less each month as a result of losing eligibility for food stamps, housing subsidies and Medicaid. Such is the absurdity of American capitalism.

Amazon’s action is above all a political exposure of the role of Sanders and the many pseudo-left organizations and trade unions that operate in and around the Democratic Party. Bezos has realized their central economic demand, “Fight for $15.” The fact that the world’s richest man has done so as part of a calculated business strategy that will do nothing to alleviate the poverty-level conditions of Amazon workers says all that needs to be said about the real content of this supposed major reform.

For perspective. It's estimated that Jeff Bezos makes $4,474,885 an hour. Calculated by his net worth growth 2017-2018, divided by hours in a year?

It would take 298,325 amazon employees at $15 an hour to equal that amount.

This bill is a total smoke and mirrors fraud, same as the $15 scam. But if you'd like to ask how people are affected, why not get it right from them?

https://www.facebook.com/wsws.org/videos/544444469336698/

But yes, lets be glad Senator Sheepdog and Sheepdog 2.0 in the form of AOC licking Nancy "most progessive" Pelosi's boots are "fighting" for us (when they aren't busy cribbing the Green party positions) And telling us we put an end to war YAY!

Except for terrorists and "other associated forces" to quote the direct text.

So yes a loophole by any other name is still a god damn loophole.

To quote Teodrose Fikre from Ghion Journal talking about AOC though it equally applies here.
https://ghionjournal.com/sheepdog-of-the-establishment

At what point will we stop falling for this ongoing hoodwink? Personalities keep being foisted upon us in order to distract us from the systemic rot of our governance. Alas, we are so addicted to the cult of personality that we have become that we keep latching on to the freshest faces while disregarding the bigger picture. In all honesty, we are medicating ourselves with politics while outsourcing the solutions to what ails our society to people who are benefiting from the sickness. The only way we can make a fundamental difference in this world is if we change our perspective of success and believe in collective wellness as much as we honor individual achievements. Until then, we will keep getting charlatans who pretend to know our plight while they use our struggle to attain for themselves.

Tribalism enriches the chiefs and impoverishes the tribe::

Replace personalities above with this flimsy anti war bill that does nothing to stop the military campaigns and you have the exact same question. How many times do we put faith in the system when the system is the problem? Which is the part the above comments do get right. We should be talking about our funding of terrorists groups, but let's walk and chew gum at the same time and stop being dishonest about our sides involvement in it! And let's rightfully call out our side without trying to dismiss it because it's someone we like.

So what did Hamilton think about being fired?
John Adams you MOTHER*$#&@*!&@

Couldn't resist that one sorry. Probably the best line of the whole production right there.

Either way I for one have had enough of this duplicity from our so called saviors. Long as they are part of either corrupt party they remain part of the problem.