Dear Bernie,

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?

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Cassiodorus's picture

https://twitter.com/SenSanders/status/1099380342018912257

A little understanding would be nice.

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

surprised? no.

some leftist.

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Cassiodorus's picture

@irishking 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.

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

gulfgal98's picture

@Cassiodorus 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.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

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

Cassiodorus's picture

@gulfgal98 He needs to be dissuaded from this assumption.

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

Alligator Ed's picture

@Cassiodorus 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.

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Centaurea's picture

@Alligator Ed

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)

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"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

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Centaurea

David Brock: one of the fuckers who actually had me fooled, once, back when he founded Media Matters.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

@Centaurea

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.

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Alligator Ed's picture

@Centaurea ShareBlue is what I was thinking about. An online search by me revealed no connection between duplicitous Dave and ActBlue.

Sad

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Centaurea's picture

@Alligator Ed

Good Biggrin

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"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

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Alligator Ed

being a dove of peace?

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

@Cassiodorus too polite during his candidacy.

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dfarrah

Cassiodorus's picture

@dfarrah 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.

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

Alligator Ed's picture

@Cassiodorus 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.)

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@Cassiodorus 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.

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WindDancer13's picture

@gulfgal98

Sanders Statement on Venezuela

"The United States should support the rule of law, fair elections and self-determination for the Venezuelan people. We must condemn the use of violence against unarmed protesters and the suppression of dissent. However, we must learn the lessons of the past and not be in the business of regime change or supporting coups – as we have in Chile, Guatemala, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic. The United States has a long history of inappropriately intervening in Latin American countries; we must not go down that road again."

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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

gulfgal98's picture

@WindDancer13 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.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

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

Lookout's picture

@gulfgal98

...and points out why Tulsi is a better candidate IMO.

Bernie's tweet is such a disappointment.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

WindDancer13's picture

@gulfgal98

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

Shortages of basic supplies such as food and medicine have left millions of Venezuelans facing alarming living conditions which are getting worse every day. Measures adopted by the state authorities have hit wages and workers’ rights. Up until 2013, the Venezuelan authorities had made great progress in terms of economic and social rights, but this trend has been emphatically in reverse in recent years.
...
Nicolás Maduro has repeatedly denied that the country is experiencing a human rights crisis. More damaging still, he has refused to recognize the shortages of food and medicines. The few public official statistics on the welfare of the population are contradicted by the reports of independent bodies.

Because the authorities have denied these shortages, they have not accepted the international humanitarian assistance that has been repeatedly offered. This has had a catastrophic impact, especially on the most vulnerable.

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):

These sanctions have cut off the means by which the Venezuelan government could escape from its economic recession, while causing a dramatic falloff in oil production and worsening the economic crisis, and causing many people to die because they can’t get access to life-saving medicines.

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.

“The U.S. must immediately condemn Maduro’s violence against his own people. There is no excuse for this,” Harris tweeted. “The Venezuelan military and security forces must demonstrate restraint. Venezuelans deserve a free and fair election and a peaceful transition of power.”

The California senator also tweeted: “What’s happening in Venezuela is a crisis. The people who have fled Maduro’s dictatorial regime deserve safety and protection.

Speaking at a campaign event in Iowa on Saturday, Harris said she does not "condone military action at this point" by U.S. forces in Venezuela but warned that Maduro's efforts to maintain power needed to be taken "very seriously," according to The Associated Press."

Rania Khalek's tweet fails to mention that the aid that was sent to Venezuela was medical only. From the translated page:

Caracas, Feb 14 (Notimex) .- The Venezuelan government reported that a total of 933 tons of medicines and medical equipment arrived in that country from Cuba, China and several multilateral organizations, but demanded that it be allowed to buy medicine and food as to any country in the world.

Venezuela also received medical supplies from Russia as stated in this open letter from Alfred de Zayas, Geneva School of Diplomacy, who also states:

Now the government of Venezuela has formally asked the United Nations for humanitarian assistance in connection with the current crisis. We must not let them down. [Editor Note: Zayas does not stipulate whether the request came from Maduro or Guaido.]

I think that the US should turn over all the humanitarian assistance and medical supplies it has flown into Colombia and have them distributed as soon as possible with the help of the United Nations and other neutral organizations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross.

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

Several liberal politicians, including Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, Congressman Ro Khanna, and Senator Bernie Sanders have expressed opposition to the White House’s actions.

The attacks came swiftly.

“As Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro hunts for allies amid a revolt of his desperate people, he is finding rare support among America’s Democratic socialists,” thundered the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, which took aim at Sanders, Khanna and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Similar attacks were leveled at Omar.

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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

Cassiodorus's picture

@WindDancer13 Sanders is right on Venezuela.

He's also omitting a lot, which is why my diary says what it says.

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

WindDancer13's picture

@Cassiodorus

Amnesty International's assessment of Maduro? (link above) And disagree with the letter signed by Chomsky and others that states:

Venezuela’s political polarization is not new; the country has long been divided along racial and socioeconomic lines. But the polarization has deepened in recent years. This is partly due to US support for an opposition strategy aimed at removing the government of Nicolás Maduro through extra-electoral means. While the opposition has been divided on this strategy, US support has backed hardline opposition sectors in their goal of ousting the Maduro government through often violent protests, a military coup d’etat, or other avenues that sidestep the ballot box.

...
Problems resulting from Venezuelan government policy have been worsened by US economic sanctions

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.

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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

@WindDancer13
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.

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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

WindDancer13's picture

@chambord

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:

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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

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@WindDancer13

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:

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

WindDancer13's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

that someone here would choose to misinterpret or misrepresent what I have said to come to an incorrect conclusion of what I believe.

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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

Cassiodorus's picture

@WindDancer13 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...

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

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@WindDancer13

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.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

WindDancer13's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

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?

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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

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@WindDancer13

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.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@WindDancer13

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.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

WindDancer13's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

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.

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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

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@WindDancer13

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.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@WindDancer13

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.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Cassiodorus's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal 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.

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

@Cassiodorus 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?

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dfarrah

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Cassiodorus

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.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

@Cassiodorus 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?

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

@dkmich This from a man who said "no more wars!" when that bird was hanging around.

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dfarrah

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@irishking

even under these circumstances.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

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CB's picture

Fuckoff!

Bernie Sanders
‏Verified account @SenSanders
6h6 hours ago

The people of Venezuela are enduring a serious humanitarian crisis. The Maduro government must put the needs of its people first, allow humanitarian aid into the country, and refrain from violence against protesters.
7,550 replies 2,694 retweets 9,239 likes

Roger Waters
‏Verified account @rogerwaters
Replying to @SenSanders

Bernie, are you f-ing kidding me! if you buy the Trump, Bolton, Abrams, Rubio line, “humanitarian intervention” and collude in the destruction of Venezuela, you cannot be credible candidate for President of the USA. Or, maybe you can, maybe you’re the perfect stooge for the 1 %.

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Cassiodorus's picture

@CB (I presume we've all read this or something like it.)

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

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@CB

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?

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal run in another crooked primary, stand by while his supporters are cheated again, saying nothing, and then tell everyone to support Kamala Harris the Dem’s nominee because Trump is “worse”?

Because I’m assuming that’s the gameplan.

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

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@CB

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.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

gulfgal98's picture

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.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

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

CB's picture

@gulfgal98

Et tu, Bernie? Sanders shamed for joining US hawks in Venezuela regime change push
The self-described democratic socialist Senator Bernie Sanders is now getting grief from his supporters for apparently aligning himself with the Trump administration and its regime change efforts in Venezuela.

Having announced a 2020 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination this week, Sanders (I-Vermont) digressed from his twitter storm about healthcare, wage inequality and taxing the rich to endorse US “humanitarian aid” for Venezuela, which the Trump administration is using to bolster the self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido.
...
“A sad commentary on US politics that the country’s most prominent self-proclaimed socialist feels compelled to feed into an interventionist narrative crafted by the Trump administration,” commented journalist Max Blumenthal of Grayzone, currently in Venezuela covering the tensions.
...

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The Aspie Corner's picture

Sure, I'll have nothing to show for it, but at least I won't be disappointed.

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

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

wendy davis's picture

@The Aspie Corner

party candidate for prez? i hadn't heard.

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Bollox Ref's picture

to intervene, on behalf of the king, in the English Civil War.

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

Centaurea's picture

@Bollox Ref 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.)

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"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

@Bollox Ref
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.

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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.

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@UntimelyRippd @UntimelyRippd

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.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

wendy davis's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

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.

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@wendy davis
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.

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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.

wendy davis's picture

@UntimelyRippd

i loved the quote, kept it handy...but used it in error.

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Hawkfish's picture

@Bollox Ref

A bunch of colonists did intervene on the side of the roundheads.

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

like he is moving further right to "win". Tulsi has been getting my $27/mo. now.

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chuck utzman

TULSI 2020

wendy davis's picture

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

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travelerxxx's picture

@wendy davis

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!

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wendy davis's picture

@travelerxxx

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...

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@wendy davis
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...

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wendy davis's picture

@QMS

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 Pakistanfeb. 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?

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mimi's picture

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.

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Centaurea's picture

@mimi Thanks for the link.

The question and response about Venezuela comes toward the end, around the 9 minute mark.

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"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

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

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.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

mimi's picture

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.

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Bisbonian's picture

@mimi

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.

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

mimi's picture

@Bisbonian
Tulsi Standing Rock Images

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Lookout's picture

@Bisbonian

Tulsi at SR.jpg

I think this is when you went there too... when the veterans came in support.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Not Henry Kissinger's picture

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.

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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?

Tweets:

"By backing Trump’s bogus aid convoy these are the people Sanders is helping legitimize. It’s not about humanitarianism, it’s about using suffering as a wedge to overthrow and humiliate an enemy state. They’re not even acting like it’s about aid—why is anyone else"

"the thing is if Sanders was actually "No to Trump, No To Maduro, No to War" no one would have cared but, by jumping on the bipartisan coup bandwagon yesterday by endorsing Trump's bullshit humanitarian aid convoy, he decidedly moved into the "Yes to Trump, Yes to War" camp"

"again, for the 1000th time, inciting violence and regime change is the whole point of the "aid" convoy stunt. And we know this because Bolton, Rubio and Trump have said as much dozens of times."

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.

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Lookout's picture

...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.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

I asked her if there was another way to donate, but got no response.

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Lookout's picture

@Battle of Blair Mountain

@ 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.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout money orders, or cash.
No electronic, web or phone payments.

Because Fuck That Shit.

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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

@Tall Bald and Ugly

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

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chuck utzman

TULSI 2020

enhydra lutris's picture

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

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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 --

Mark from Queens's picture

@enhydra lutris
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.

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"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