Dear Bernie,
Submitted by Cassiodorus on Sat, 02/23/2019 - 6:27pm
Please dispense with the gratuitous criticisms of Nicolas Maduro until you can present a full picture of what's happening. Yeah I know south Florida Democrats don't like you. Please deal with it in a healthier way.
Okay?
Comments
Also:
https://twitter.com/SenSanders/status/1099380342018912257
A little understanding would be nice.
"A reminder: the US has the #1 most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank roughly #42 in life expectancy." -- Luigi Mangione
disappointed? yes.
surprised? no.
some leftist.
I'm proud of my tone here.
Back in 2016 in March we were told by Markos Moulitsas over at Daily Kos that only "constructive criticism" of Hillary Clinton would be tolerated on his blog. My reaction to Markos' edict was to delete every one of my Daily Kos diaries, over nine and a half years of posting, and to repost them on a Wordpress page.
It was at that time impossible to deliver any "constructive criticism" of Hillary Clinton. There was no possible HONEST depiction of Hillary Clinton's activities at that time, nor of her past at that time, that would not end by making her look like an embarrassment. This is the precise reason why Markos Moulitsas can have his stupid blog.
It is, on the other hand, quite possible to deliver constructive criticism of Bernie Sanders.
"A reminder: the US has the #1 most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank roughly #42 in life expectancy." -- Luigi Mangione
I agree about constructive criticism
but today's tweet by Bernie cannot be constructively criticized without my betraying my own ethical and moral codes. I spent over four years with a weekly Peace vigil trying to educate people about our very flawed foreign policies, especially relating to war and regime change. Bernie's tweet today was not even nuanced. While he did not specifically say that he supported military action, one can infer that he supports regime change.
This whole humanitarian bullshit that keeps being spouted by our government as the reason why we must intervene in the internal affairs of another country is so disingenuous. I am sick of it and I am shocked that Bernie is buying into it, just like he has been buying into the Russian meddling in our elections BS.
I love a lot of what Bernie has done to push for progressive policies, but I cannot abide by someone who will not stand up to the MIC.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Bernie thinks he's being polite.
He needs to be dissuaded from this assumption.
"A reminder: the US has the #1 most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank roughly #42 in life expectancy." -- Luigi Mangione
Or, is Bernie still a sheep dog?
Why is Bernie receiving campaign contributions from ActBlue, David Brock's money scooper? Is it to achieve more funds for the DNC after they once again rob him of the primary and donate more to the corprodems?
I ain't buying any Bernie BS until he out and out declares the Mueller witch hunt for exactly what it is? How many Russkies under your bed comrade Bernie (info obtained via CNN by "reliable but anonymous sources")?
The true peace candidate is Tulsi--the rest is b.S. Bernie shot his wad in 2016. Ain't no mo in the gun. Whatever the reason, Bernie is no longer the Bernie to whom I contributed in 2016, not the Bernie for whom I registered Demonrat in order to vote for him in the primary. Not the Bernie for whom I helped caucus for in our local Demonratic pre-primary caucus.
That bird has flown. Requiescat in pace.
ActBlue & Brock?
I know there are questions about ActBlue, and I'm not entirely comfortable donating through them. I pay close attention when I do so.
However, I hadn't heard that ActBlue was one of David Brock's platforms. Do you have a source for that?
(Or are you thinking of ShareBlue, Blue Nation Review, and True Blue Media, which are some of Brock's fronts? It's amazing he hasn't tried to get exclusive trademark rights to the word "Blue" by now. :-P)
"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi
"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone
Yeah, I'm expecting that next.
David Brock: one of the fuckers who actually had me fooled, once, back when he founded Media Matters.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
I would not be surprised if
the Obama administration did give Brock both a copyright and a patent on the word "blue," given Brock was working for the best qualified candidate ever to run for POTUS. Has anyone checked?
j/k
BTW, Washington, Lincoln and both Roosevelts called. I don't really know what they want back, though. They were laughing so much I couldn't make out what they were saying.
Mea culpa. I was blinded by the Blue
ShareBlue is what I was thinking about. An online search by me revealed no connection between duplicitous Dave and ActBlue.
"Blinded by the Blue"
"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi
"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone
What happened to the little bird
being a dove of peace?
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Yeah, he was a bit
too polite during his candidacy.
dfarrah
It's just that lecturing Maduro on his behavior
in the midst of a US war against Maduro, his party, the PSUV, and the working class of Venezuela, and while the US attempts to subvert the Venezuelan Army in much the same way as was attempted against Hugo Chavez in the US-supported 48-hour coup d'etat of 2002, is inappropriate. Bernie Sanders needs to stop doing it, and to start thinking of a more appropriate response. Hopefully his wife Jane is clearheaded about this sort of thing and so she will reach him before we do.
"A reminder: the US has the #1 most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank roughly #42 in life expectancy." -- Luigi Mangione
Sell out? Controlled opposition? Burned out?
Bernie's done in my book.
Equivocating, i.e., a lie of omission, on regime change. Bernie has changed. When? Why? It matters not. Bernie will further split the "progressive" left, just as AOC is. The deep state is playing this very well. They want a Democrat party so enfeebled that it would be only a pretense for large donor control of the entire party (as they already are.)
Polite? Bernie is being politic.
He either is afraid to openly differ with the Neocons and Wilsonians, or he is one of them. That's why I am supporting Tulsi.
Sanders has never supported regime change
Sanders Statement on Venezuela
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
Bernie today sounds different than the Bernie
in that article. Bernie today fails to mention that the US has been promoting a soft coup in Venezuela through an embargo. The US is behind much of the problems in Venezuela. He cannot have it both ways. I am not the only person calling Bernie out on this. Many prominent people on the left are disappointed, angry, and openly condemning Bernie for this tweet.
And most prominently, Abby Martin.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Excellent informative comment gg
...and points out why Tulsi is a better candidate IMO.
Bernie's tweet is such a disappointment.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Sanders's statement was made on Jan. 24, 2019
How is this different in regard to regime change (other than her allusion to Russia...yes, folks, Tulsi alluded to Russia!):
Jimmy Dore states that Sanders is repeating CIA talking points. Is Amnesty International now part of the CIA? 10 things you need to know about Venezuela’s human rights crisis
The 70 people, including Noam Chomsky--apparantly part of the CIA now, who signed this letter seem to feel there is a humanitarian crisis (brought on by the US):
Blumenthal's reply to Rubio and Greenwald's reply to HRC are irrelevant in a thread that is intent on condemning Sanders.
My goodness, Kamala Harris disagrees with Sanders. Who would have thought especially considering her other statements? She, by the way does not rule out military intervention.
Rania Khalek's tweet fails to mention that the aid that was sent to Venezuela was medical only. From the translated page:
Venezuela also received medical supplies from Russia as stated in this open letter from Alfred de Zayas, Geneva School of Diplomacy, who also states:
Is Sanders wrong in saying this aid must be allowed in?
Sanders has been steadfast in his belief that the US should not be involved in regime change. But because he states that humanitarian aid (note he did not say who the aid should come from) should be allowed into Venezuela, now he is a pariah??
Yes, Venezuela has a crisis. Yes, the crisis was brought on by US sanctions and greed. But slicing and dicing one of the few people who stand up against regime change is probably not the best avenue to take.
Sanders And Omar Are Right On Venezuela. Regime Change Is How We Got Iraq
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
Technically, yes.
Sanders is right on Venezuela.
He's also omitting a lot, which is why my diary says what it says.
"A reminder: the US has the #1 most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank roughly #42 in life expectancy." -- Luigi Mangione
Do you then disagree with
Amnesty International's assessment of Maduro? (link above) And disagree with the letter signed by Chomsky and others that states:
Note that problems brought on by the government's policies worsened, not were caused by the sanctions. These problems are addressed in the Amnesty International article.
Also note, that the US is trying to bypass the ballot box which Sanders has most definitely said must not be the case.
Sanders is one of the very, very few who does not recognize Guaido and does not support regime change, so throw him under the bus because he says
1. Maduro is not a saint
2. That free and fair elections are necessary
3, He condemns violence
Got it.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
Venezuela
Do you have the list of countries that have recognized Guaido? I understand the number is 50. There are about 193 members of the UN.
It's simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves that we've been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back. Carl Sagan
This site has a map
along with an article that spells out pretty much who is supporting whom:
Here's how the world picks sides in the Venezuela crisis
However, there are some discrepencies with this map:
Map: All the Countries Recognizing Guaido as Venezuela’s New President
The maps are both from the end of January, so no telling who may have changed their minds.
Meanwhile, if you speak Spanish you can get a report here from yesterday:
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
It's a bit shocking that you're supporting
the U.S. position on this. You're trying to discredit Maduro, but you apparently don't see that, even if you were right about Maduro, you'd still be wrong. Your whole argument relies on the idea that the U.S. could ever be a good guy in relation to a smaller country that has chosen socialism. There is no evidence of that. There is a lot of evidence that the CIA likes coups that make the governments of smaller countries friendly to American business interests, and there's ample evidence that anyone in this hemisphere choosing socialism inspires in our government what appears to be either narcissistic rage or an obsessive need for total control of one's environment.
I think that's sufficient reason to reject the U.S. Gov's position on Venezuela, particularly when we know they attempted a coup in Venezuela less than twenty years ago, trying to oust the same political movement from power. So much for the credibility of the U.S. Government. As for the credibility of the "opposition" candidate, Juan Guaido was educated at George Washington University where he was mentored by the neoliberal former executive director of the International Monetary Fund. This man, Luis Enrique Berrizbeitia, previous to his time with the IMF, worked in the energy sector of the Venezuelan government which preceded the Chavista revolution. Guaido was also groomed by the National Endowment for Democracy, and has family ties to the U.S.-based Human Rights Foundation (the founder of which is his cousin).
https://consortiumnews.com/2019/01/29/the-making-of-juan-guaido-us-regim...
It's as if you found someone who had been part of the Batista regime in Cuba and got him to educate a fresh-faced young man who had defected to the United States, a young man who had family connections to Omega 7. Later, this young man appears in Cuba and declares himself President of Cuba. He talks about aid to those suffering in Cuba, democracy and human rights. Would you decide to support him because his talking points sound nice, or would you consider his history and connections in making your decision?
You base your argument largely on the character of the people on Guaido's side: Noam Chomsky, Amnesty International, etc., while ignoring the fact that the U.S. corporate media, the leaders of the Democratic Party, and the Trump administration all also support Guaido. These are the same media corporations that screwed Bernie Sanders out of the nomination and gave us Trump. This is the same Democratic leadership, Clintonian in nature, that screwed Bernie Sanders and gave us Trump. And then there's the Trump administration itself. You are on the same side as Donald Trump and John Bolton. That surely trumps, if you'll pardon the pun, the bonafides of Chomsky and Amnesty International. Indeed, if Amnesty International is on the same side as John Bolton, any character-driven analysis would suggest that it's time for Amnesty to take a good, long look in the mirror.
That's what your argument looks like even in its own terms, using the yardsticks you use for judging the issue.
In addition, U.S. Gov's position on this, which you are supporting, amounts to U.S. Gov determining the leader of another sovereign nation by fiat. Before you say you don't support regime change, let me remind you that U.S. Gov does. So basically, you think Maduro should allow a government that openly supports the ousting of his administration and that admits they are doing so in order to make his country more friendly to U.S. business interests (John Bolton said as much on Fox.)
I won't link to Fox nor to Sam Seder, so here's the clip of Bolton in the midst of a comedy show:
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
I don't particularly find it shocking
that someone here would choose to misinterpret or misrepresent what I have said to come to an incorrect conclusion of what I believe.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
I'm trying to say something productive here.
I want to AVOID being the person who has decided to stand in the middle of a war zone to scold the participants on their bad behavior.
When communicating, ask these questions:
1) Is your intended audience listening to you (or, similarly, reading what you write)?
2) To what end are your comments directed?
Only when one has good answers to both questions #1 and #2 can one show that one is paying attention.
PS what do you think about this piece?
https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/02/25/as-the-coup-attempt-in-venezuela...
"A reminder: the US has the #1 most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank roughly #42 in life expectancy." -- Luigi Mangione
Actually, most large non-profits
at least those with a big presence in D.C., are, if not literally tools of the CIA, run by people who are, at best, afraid of the elites, and, at worst, want to be the elites' best friend.
I don't have specific knowledge of Amnesty. But in an age where the ACLU supported Citizens United as "free speech," no large organization has automatic credibility.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
You "don't have specific knowledge of Amnesty" and
chose not to take the time to verify any suspicions you might have before making a generalization to put their research in a negative light. Which parts of their research did you specifically find suspicious?
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
Since my argument doesn't depend on
decrying or celebrating Amnesty International, my point was limited to the fact that almost no one, these days, should get automatic credibility. Investigation is required before reaching a conclusion, which was my only point regarding them. There was a time when you could maintain a kind of inner list of trustworthy people and organizations and use them as a kind of shorthand, a way to determine quickly whether events, organizations, policies or people are good or bad. Unfortunately, in a world where Amy Goodman spreads the Russiagate story and the same Keith Olbermann who once made this critique of Hillary Clinton
This is unforgivable because this nation's deepest shame, its most enduring horror, its most terrifying legacy is political assassination. Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Kennedy, Malcom X, Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy! And but for the grace of the universe or the luck of the draw, Reagan, Ford, Truman, Nixon, Andrew Jackson, both Roosevelts, even George Wallace. The politics of this nation is steeped enough in blood, Senator Clinton. You cannot and must not invoke that imagery, anywhere, at any time! And to not appreciate immediately, to still not appreciate tonight just what you have done today, is to reveal an incomprehension about the America you seek to lead. This, Senator, is too much. Because a Senator, a politician, a person, who can let hang in midair the prospect that she might just be sticking around in part just in case the other guy gets shot has no business being and no capacity to be the President of the United States!
To see Olbermann come back from a critique of that magnitude eight years later and seamlessly become a transmitter of Hillary Clinton talking points demonstrates the kind of era we're in. We no longer live in a world where you can simply throw out the names of people and organizations and data they've produced and expect their past reputations to carry the day. And the fact that the corporate press, the Democratic party leadership and the Trump administration all support the same position as Noam Chomsky and Amnesty International demonstrates further the fact that one can no longer assume that certain people and organizations are trustworthy and then use their credibility to extend credibility to other people and policies. Hell, the way John Lewis and Dolores Huerta behaved during the 2016 primary should have shown that we can no longer use that convenient shorthand, because we have entered a world in which few people and organizations are reliably trustworthy.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Sanders is wrong
because his statement assumes, with no evidence, that the United States can be trusted.
At this late date, after seeing what has happened in the Middle East--and in Latin America only a few decades ago--if I were Maduro, I sure as hell wouldn't let the United States send trucks across my border either.
Actually, it's historical fact that the U.S. attempted a coup in Venezuela a little over 15 years ago, a coup which targeted the man who founded the same movement that brought Maduro to power, so that's an even better, and more specific, reason not to let the United States send trucks across his border.
As for Bernie, I treat him exactly as I would treat anybody else: he gets subjected to rational critique. I decide what I think of him and his actions based on evidence and logic. I have no ill will toward him. Hell, I had no ill will toward him when his actions, and inaction, were actively hurting me. I know the system he's up against and, unlike many, I think he genuinely prefers a more ethical politics. He lost the luxury of voicing a more ethical politics than the one he's currently advocating when he became a household name and thus became a threat to the system--although it's also true that his foreign policies were never as good as his domestic policies.
I honestly think that if you could get Sanders away from the cameras and get his honest opinion, he would prefer that people treat him the same way that they treat anybody else: subject to rational critique based on evidence and logic. He is not an authoritarian, and this shit isn't about a popularity contest for him; to quote Rorschach, he's "not doing it for the ink." I think he might find it vaguely insulting to be exempted from rational critique because criticism would be a mean thing to do to such a great guy, as if he's spun glass that needs to be wrapped up in cotton balls.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Sanders' statement is wrong, not Sanders himself,
as it did not contain certain clarifications that could have stopped some of the overblown criticism. This is a man who has stood up against regime change all his life, and is being pilloried for what others choose to read into his words, ignoring his past actions. Funny thing isn't it that the right is going after him for not falling in line and the left is going after him because they choose to perceive that he has? Are liberals doing the right's job for them?
There are a handful of politicians who have not recognized Guaido and Sanders is one of them. That should have been a critical thinking point for at least some people.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
"Are liberals doing the right's job for them?"
Not unless the right's job is to honestly analyze and criticize public figures.
Although, since I'm not a liberal, I honestly don't know what their job is. I know that my job is not defined by binary political parameters, nor by loyalty to any particular party or person.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
A realistic view of these comments includes
the understanding of the system Bernie inhabits and the power brokers who run it.
What this statement suggests is that Bernie is, like almost everyone, going to toe the line of the MIC as much as he has to to keep his position. He's not going to risk really pissing them off. But he doesn't want another war.
So he goes BLAH BLAH BLAH MADURO BAD BLAH BLAH BLAH HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS BLAH BLAH BLAH and then says "But regime change is wrong, and bad for us."
He will probably continue to occupy this position until somebody from the MIC tells him it's not good enough and he has to advocate for regime change. Then we will hear: OH SO SHOCKING WHAT MADURO JUST DID BLAH BLAH BLAH ATROCITY BLAH BLAH BLAH CANNOT BE TOLERATED BLAH BLAH BLAH PUTS THINGS ON A WHOLE NEW LEVEL BLAH BLAH BLAH CANNOT STAND BY WHILE BLAH BLAH BLAH THOSE WHO OPPOSE INTERVENTION LACK A MORAL COMPASS BLAH BLAH BLAH.
Now, having said all this, please let me emphasize that I'm not trying to excuse Bernie or be nice to Bernie, or whatever; on the contrary, I think his positions on Venezuela and Russiagate basically show how short a leash he's on--and there's no percentage in following a leader with that little agency or wiggle room.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
The trick is in penetrating Bernie's inner circle
Bernie has to have an inner circle -- there are no doubt plenty of people in the shadow government who want to take him down and his inner circle would have to be his eyes and ears for that sort of thing.
"A reminder: the US has the #1 most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank roughly #42 in life expectancy." -- Luigi Mangione
What force is it that
makes people flip like they do?
Even Trump talked about non-intervention.
Both sides of the political spectrum are sick of wars, and non-intervention is a winning policy.
Yet here we are, stuck.
Wack job Bolton - how can he have so much power?
dfarrah
Yeah, that's where both the attempts to infiltrate
and the attempts to prevent such infiltration happen. Where the rubber meets the road.
Why I used to want to be a staffer, not a politician. Top circle of staffers is where the work gets done.
Of course, in a hideous political abortion like our politics, all of these phenomena arise in their worst possible form.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Well he is getting a ton of push back on Twitter and from a lot
his own supporters. Hard to understand the man. Has he picked only one front on which to wage war because he can't end war and hunger at the same time?
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
It is so disappointing.
This from a man who said "no more wars!" when that bird was hanging around.
dfarrah
Great to see you irishking
even under these circumstances.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
(=)
I have only one thing to say to you, Bernie
Fuckoff!
Too early.
(I presume we've all read this or something like it.)
"A reminder: the US has the #1 most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank roughly #42 in life expectancy." -- Luigi Mangione
The people of the United States are suffering
a serious humanitarian crisis. Also fraudulent elections, abrogations of their Constitution and the rule of law, and violent suppression of protesters.
You going to do anything about that, Bernie?
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Other than...
run in another crooked primary, stand by while his supporters are cheated again, saying nothing, and then tell everyone to support
Kamala Harristhe Dem’s nominee because Trump is “worse”?Because I’m assuming that’s the gameplan.
Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.
People should remember
that the Clinton/Bush faction was in favor of this interventionist crap before the Trump administration was. So really, it's more of an "all hands on deck" moment up there in D.C., rather than anything partisan.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
This is why
I decided to support Tulsi Gabbard instead of Bernie. I always thought his foreign policy stances were weak. Today's tweet was more than just weak. It was appalling.
Today, I tweeted under the C99 account, which I manage, the following:
This is not only a political misstep by Bernie, but it is also deliberately misleading which is something that I cannot forgive. While I was supporting Tulsi already because of her anti war/ anti regime change stand, Bernie lost any future support from me today.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Thank you. You speak for me.
I'll just vote Green again.
Sure, I'll have nothing to show for it, but at least I won't be disappointed.
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.
is there a green
party candidate for prez? i hadn't heard.
I'm just glad the US didn't exist in the 1640's
to intervene, on behalf of the king, in the English Civil War.
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
Well, heck
If the US had existed in its present form in 1776, we'd no doubt have interfered in the American Revolutionary War.
(I really wish I was being sarcastic about that.)
"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi
"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone
i imagine we'd have intervened on the side
of the protestant, savagely bigoted slaughter-master, Cromwell.
your comment implies that you think his victory was a good thing for England and/or Scotland and/or Ireland and/or Wales. i don't agree.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Cromwell was a vicious authoritarian piece of shit--
but I read the comment to mean that our current overlords are monarchists.
Whom they do actually resemble in certain ways. But it seems to me that they are a hybrid form, merging the worst of those two sides into one delightful package.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
from cromwell's mentor
Cardinal Wolsey: You're a constant regret to me, Thomas. If you could just see facts flat-on, without that horrible moral squint... With a little common sense you could have made a statesman.
Different cromwell ...
Thomas Cromwell worked for Henry VIII.
He's generally been vilified in history, though there's a revisionist view that he's been misrepresented.
There's a very good series called Wolf Hall, based on an historical novel that I have not read, that portrays him in a very sympathetic light -- basically, a man obliged by duty to do things he would rather not have to do. I'm not sure that the argument works for me -- it's pretty much the same argument that is always invoked by those ordering torture -- but the series works for me largely because of the extraordinary performance by Mark Rylance.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
thanks for the correction.
i loved the quote, kept it handy...but used it in error.
To be fair
A bunch of colonists did intervene on the side of the roundheads.
We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg
Bernie has always been weak on foreign policy. It looks
like he is moving further right to "win". Tulsi has been getting my $27/mo. now.
chuck utzman
TULSI 2020
it's great to hear that so many of you
care about the war on maduro and venezuela. you might want to check in on what's been going on there for the past three days, although i did start feeling silly updating my diary as i've been the sole commenter for quite some time. and i'll do myself a favor and leave 'tulsi is the only peace candidate' alone, okay? ; )
'the War on Maduro has hit a new level of Surrealism, updated' wendy davis on Wed, 02/20/2019
BS stands for more than "Bernie Sanders," evidently...
Yes, wd, your diary is keeping me up-to-date. Thank-you so much!
This Venezuelan coup is as dirty as it gets and has evidently sucked in even Sanders - who knows better. It was bad enough to hear him repeat the Russia!!! lies, and now this. At some point one has to realize it's a feature, not a bug.
Shame! on you Bernie Sanders!
aha! a clue! ; )
it must have been you, buster keaton, who'd been giving my second-and-third day additions a Putin Burger, lol. i did stick in a bit more today, but if folks to know about branson's live aid concert, and if peter gabriel showed up...we won't tell them, okay? i pay 1.99 for keeping secrets...
Issues
What is more important to any given individual. Future guides of US policy? Present power plays? Exasperation at the the pace of progress? We all have our passions and priorities. You are a good essayist. Very clever and exposing important issues. There is so much going on. Who is to say what is most important? For instance...
question everything
for me, my key issues
are Imperialism and its late-stage bedfellow Capitalism, which also encompasses loans from the IMF, world bank, and their austerity reset defaults.
when individuals are involved, i do tend to like deconstructing their 'brands', including compromised NGOs, elected leaders in the US and around the globe, etc. for instance, after writing up and posting ‘John Bolton Greenlights Indian Military Attack on Pakistan’ feb. 17, 2019, i found it hideous that no 'leftist' media covered it, although wsws.org had (not 'leftist' but Left), and i thought i'd remembered tulsi gabbard in favor of it on twitter, and when i'd seen 'tulsi peace candidate', i of coursed wondered anew: 'peace for whom?' one example among several:
so i just checked again this morning, and found:
‘U.S. gives green light for India to launch strikes against terrorist havens in Pakistan; Strong bipartisan condemnation of terrorist attack in Kashmir and support for India’s reprisal marks a departure from past pleas of restraint’ Aziz Haniffa, Feb 17, 2019
“Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D.-Hawaii) said, "We stand with the people of India in condemning the terrorist attack in Jammu & Kashmir, and send our condolences and prayers to the victim’s families. We must all stand up against these jihadists and their ideology.”
but if Peace is key for many here, i'd think that offering diaries about the particulars of criminal wars might be of higher interest, but yes, that's just my bias speaking. i do hope that i've spoken to your implied question?
dear cassiodoris, I just thought I could post this here
all this is getting too complicated for me, so I let the man speak for himself.
[video:https://youtu.be/YS7-cOj1ypc]
My guts feelings tell me that nothing will happen as expected.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Interesting interview
Thanks for the link.
The question and response about Venezuela comes toward the end, around the 9 minute mark.
"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi
"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone
So Debbie Wasserman-Schultz's stomping grounds
won't be friendly places for him. They're also the old stomping grounds of organizations like Omega 7, far right interventionist assholes who can't deal with the fact that occasionally there are effective revolutions in the Caribbean. By extension, they then get pissed about the fact that there is any effective left-wing activity anywhere, especially places where people speak Spanish.
What the fuck ever.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
so tired of all of it, Sanders is going in the wrong direction,
Gabbard is there. Let us hope she can do something a little better than Sanders. I also can't help thinking that this is all in the end irrelevant. As long as the MIC and the deep states has the power over evertything, nothing is relevant.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Go Tulsi!
Okay, I have tried five times now, to upload an image. Why is this process so fucking difficult? Why when I do it one day, it works, and the next day, the same steps do not work. The image is TulsiStandingRock_1.jpg (there are a couple more iterations, that is the latest one.) If anyone can get that image displayed, I would be grateful.
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
there are so many, which one do you want?
Tulsi Standing Rock Images
https://www.euronews.com/live
Here's one of many...
I think this is when you went there too... when the veterans came in support.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Dear Bernie...
1. If you really want to help starving Venezuelans, you might want to think about introducing legislation to remove the US sanctions that are causing the starvation in the first place.
2. In case you haven't noticed, your @SenSanders Twitter feed has an annoying habit of parroting Hillary's and others' neo lib propaganda. As opposed to your @BernieSanders feed that far more consistently promotes Progressive issues. What's up with that?
3. No sense cowtowing to the Florida Dems, DWS will never let you win the primary there anyway.
4. Tulsi thanks you for your supporters.
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
Adam Johnson of FAIR got it right.
Tweets:
Bernie was basically accepting that the platry aid was about solving a humanitarian crisis. No, it was about starting and justifying regime change. This gives a moral justification that is based on a lie--that Trump is acting in good faith.
This is the best summary I've seen...
...on the situation in Venezuela (h/t aspie)
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii5MlQgGXyk]
It is 38 mins long and wades through the weeds, but lays out the story in a real and compelling way.
Max goes shopping in Caracas. It is all about inflation, not supply.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbXqGiNlWWw (6 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlX3yfXNX_g (4 min)
the sanctions are driving the problem.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Tulsi is using ActBlue too
I asked her if there was another way to donate, but got no response.
Tulsi 2020
@ PO box 75255
Kapolei, HI 96707
Checks to: Tulsi 2020
i don't trust act blue, some do. I can see who cashes my check.
All the best.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Post Office
money orders, or cash.
No electronic, web or phone payments.
Because Fuck That Shit.
Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .
Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .
If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march
But now credit cards.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
A good Tulsi interview posted today.
https://youtu.be/k0q3mqsBeDA
chuck utzman
TULSI 2020
Just a wee bit of perspective. When I hear that somebody is
committing violence against their own people, my first thought is that it should include differential emphasis as follows: committing violence against their own people. Porquoi?
How about a little MYOFB?
1) We don't, here, know the facts. By no means all the facts. To the extent that some one or more outsiders really do, they are not being told to us the US citizenry and probably most of the oligarchs, politicians and power structure. Time and again that "information" is not the product of even handed reporting, ignoring violence being perpetrated by those alleged to be being oppressed which is generating some of the violence against them. "Their own people" often include foreign fighters, insurgents, provocateurs and the like. This does not excuse the real violence going on, but it clouds it a bit, adding a bit of emphasis to the fact that it isn't our country, our government or any of our damn business, at least not yet by any means. And no, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty, The Red Cross and such organizations cannot be presumed to have all of the facts or to always report them fairly.
2) We have a pressing emergency need to clean up our own act before worrying about anybody else. Our historic and continuing violence against our own indigenous peoples, historic violence against union organizers and strikers, the so called zoot suit riots, violence against civil rights marchers, I was one of many who were gassed, attacked with clubs and even shot at (one dead) in the streets of Berkeley, before the massacre at Jackson State and the shootings at Kent State. These were not unique events, by many means, just the better known and possibly better documented ones. The constant violent terrorizing of black neighborhoods and black persons is ongoing and arguably escalating.
Another form of US violence against its own people is our prison system. People are unjustly imprisoned constantly, and, almost as importantly, even those justly imprisoned are subjected to treatment and abuse that is beyond criminal. Our jails and prisons are cesspools with guard on prisoner violence, torture and harassment, and prisoner on prisoner violence that is well known, documented, ignored and allowed, and unofficially deemed to be part of the sentence.
3) a great many of our puppets and allies, current and historical, are as bad or worse in this regard as everybody we condemn. Since they are in our pocket, they are arguably much more likely to be amenable to our pressure to change, and it is there, if anywhere, where our concerns should lie.
EDIT - fixed typo
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Great comment, el.
Should turn into a stand-alone think piece/essay.
Thanks for all your work and commitment over the years out in the streets, and of course, here.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut