Bernie Sander swallows Russiagate whole: won't call out the nonsense

Those of you who think Bernard Sanders is "Mr. Right" or perhaps He Who Should Be President, please read no further. Your ears and eyes may bleed after reading this essay.

Pondering an appropriate subtitle for this essay, the following were considered:

The Camel's nose is under the tent (no reference to K. Harris)
The writing is on the wall (a la the curse of Babylon)
Lay down, roll over, and let me do it again

So many options.

As a person who is in search of a decent progressive Democrat candidate (because we shall never get one from the conservatives / Republicans / Deep State / Intel Communities / Clintonistas), my position has been that Mr. Sanders has severe osteoporosis of his vertebral column, sustaining many compression fractures.

The first such spineless display and the one which turned off this Berniecrat (me) was Bernie's cowardly, unprincipled kissing of H. Rodent Clinton's ring (watch out Bernie, there was a slow-acting poison in that ring, a la Lucretia Borgia, noted poisoner of the Italian Renaissance).

Subsequently, Bernie embraced the Russiagate nonsense as if it was a chapter from the Talmud (actually it was Machiavelli). Many lost opportunities have passed while Bernie dithered about his opponents.

To Bernie's credit, which is to some extent admirable, although "underpowered", he runs a positive campaign. His only targets are Donald Drumpf, billionaires (nary a mention of millionaires any more since he is one with 3 homes and $2.5 M in assets; although I do not begrudge him any of it).

Further to Bernie's credit is the fact that he actually has a reasonable domestic program (with exceptions on my part, not to be discussed here). In other words: no negative anti-Democrat campaigning and he discusses actual issues impacting the vast majority of Americans.

His campaign is soaring.

But in a contest between a sparrow and a hawk, the odds favor the hawk. Commander Cheeto is a hawk.

Amerika has endured almost 3 years of RussiaRussiaRussia. Even the abominable Herr Müller couldn't prove that one. In fact, a federal judge precluded the Swan from trumpeting proven Russian involvement in 2016 because it had not been established with evidence.

Deep in the bowels of the DNC, Robbie Mook, John Podesta and other luminaries concocted the Russian Fantasy, which was then blessed by Her. Fast forward to the 2020 primary season. HRC accuses Tulsi of being a "Russian Asset" (I suppose on the lines of someone who connived to sell Russia 20% of our uranium deposits). Tulsi don't play that game. She's suing Her Awfulness for $20M.

Then comes Ukrainegate with a cast of dozens. Plop, flop, spurt.

And now Russiagate rears its ugly fictitious head once again. Like a double barreled shot gun, pellets are directed at Drumpf and Bernie. Why now? Funny thing how that happens. Bernie's campaign has caught fire. Trump has emerged from the shampeachment stronger than ever.

What artifice do the clever DNC Dems now use to bash the contender for the throne? Why of course, Russiagate. Who would have guessed?

Moscow beckons Bernie. At least that's what 17 intelligence agencies will pronounce. Comrade Sanders is a Russian stooge. Please. Not again? A proven losing argument. But Bernie snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.

Bernie Sanders condemns Russian influence in election

Sanders told reporters he had seen some of Russia’s “tweets and stuff,” which he said were aimed at sowing divisions.

“They try to divide us up,” Sanders said of the Russians. “That is the ugliest thing they’re doing. They’re trying to cause chaos, they’re trying to cause hatred in America. It’s an ugly business, and all of us have got to say, sorry, you’re not going to do this in this election.”

Bernie, this is all B.S. (bovine excrement, that is). Why don't you stand on your hind legs and call it out for the nonsense it is? Why not take a hint from Tulsi and call out the DNC liars for who they are? Nice guys finish last. Bernie is not going to win if he can not stare down the obvious fasity of the claim.

Camel's nose is inside the tent

Old Arabian proverb. Once the camel's nose is inside the tent, the rest of the camel soon follows. Bernie will never be able to appease the blatant Russophobia of the Dem establishment. He capitulates to the fantasy without object. Now, what ever he does, it will never be enough for the Hillbots. Never. They will claim that Russian operatives are actively working in his campaign. The "numerous unidentified sources" will proclaim this is true "with same sort of reasonable certainty the "17 intelligence agencies" said it was true of Trump. Fellow travelers in the House and Senate will demand a House investigation by the intelligence committee of the Russkies as Bernie's momentum builds closer to the Convention. Adam Schiff will have another excuse to proffer his playwriting to the Congressional Record. Rachel Madcow and Larry O'Donnell and Chris Hayes, and Don Le-moan will spout the gospel according to Saint Hillary that Bernie is a Russian thrall, a veritable self-contained nesting doll of devious anti-American plots concocted by the Reprehensible, authoritarian thug V.V. Putin.

It will be rumored that Bernie learned to speak Russian fluently during his honeymoon trip to Russia at GRU language schools. Bernie's ancestral lineage will be traced back not to Poland but to Mother Russia. Whatever Bernie does from now on out will never sate the lies because he has succumbed to the narrative of the Evil Kremlin meddling in our holy elections. The lies will only intensify. He will be diverted somewhat from campaigning to fending off spurious attacks against his loyalty. But Bernie will need all his energy fighting Trump, should he get the nomination. Fending off the DNC will sap his resources, his time, his message.

We will get to see in the coming weeks just what Bernie is made of. Same message over the past 40 years? Not if you count his flip-flop on border security, on immigration. To his credit he supports M4A as strongly as ever. But what is his policy to foreign affairs? If he has been arguing against foreign entanglements it has been sotto voce. He complains about Trump's policies certainly. But what are his positive visions? Is he a globalist? Is he a nationalist? If he's a nationalist, then his open borders stance quite contradicts that. What would Bernie's stance be against China? Dare he offend Feinstein? Dare he offend the Bidens about China? If he cannot stand up to proven loser HRC, how will we stand up to Trump?

He won't.

Trump has steadfastly denied Russian collusion, starting in 2016 and continuing to the present. Trump has no trouble confronting his enemies. He makes them prove their xenophobic Russia nonsense, something which they have abysmally failed at doing. Bernie did not learn from Trump. You can't pander to the purveyors of falsehood, lest you become one of them. If Bernie knows this Russia nonsense to be fable, then he should denounce it--loudly. If he believes Russiagate's reality then he is a fool.

For your consideration:

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgULmAvgO7Q]

A dose of reality:

1. The DNC will never permit Bernie to win the nomination.

2. If Bernie wins the nomination, Trump will mop the floor with him.

3. Find a new hero. Preferably a new and truly progressive party. Find a strong leader for that party, one who doesn't pander. Find a warrior. In Bernie, you have Neville Chamberlain.

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Comments

I think Bernie and Trump are playing to different audiences. Trump is attacking people who are nastier and stupider than he is, or at least are believed to be by his supporters. This endears him as a fighter to his base. Republican presidential candidates have been getting 62 million votes every election for 12 years, including him. Bernie is trying to convince the disenchanted, he trusts that they see through the Russiagate lies and will look favorably on him. He does not have to fight; he just has to look like he is better than his detractors.The detractors have been losing 2 million votes a cycle (that's om a 2 year cycle, I'm including the off elections) Trump might actually have won the popular vote in 2016 if CA et all were as fraudulent as I think.
Following the internal logic of this analysis I think that's why he is not actively debunking the deep state on foreign policy. They are already rigging voting machines against him, but they seem to be afraid of making it blatant (think Nevada 16 for how obvious things can get, but I know you don't have to) He seems to believe that he has a better chance to win by such a landslide that the crooks efforts won't be enough rather than to goad them to risk making it blatant.

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On to Biden since 1973

Wally's picture

if you're wrong about Bernie getting the nomination? And beating Trump

[video:https://youtu.be/RNNGzMK5e4c]

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Alligator Ed's picture

@Wally

Give me a real challenge, like destroying the Dem Partei.

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@Alligator Ed

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and he's been in politics long enough to know it. I explained it here and in the spirit of saving ink, space, arthritic finger joints, I'll let you read the comment at the link. Tell me if you don't agree.

Bernie knows what is lurking out there to destroy his candidacy. He may be sweet, but he's no baby.

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Lurking in the wings is Hillary, like some terrifying bat hanging by her feet in a cavern below the DNC. A bat with theropod instincts. -- Fred Reed https://tinyurl.com/vgvuhcl

Wally's picture

@laurel

You wrote in that older essay:

They've been at this for some time, arming Ukraine, buffing up NATO, etc. So when Trump dashed their plans in 2016

Trump has sent more and more arms and other military aid to Ukraine, missiles and sundry other war goodies to Poland and even US troops, ratcheted up NATO exercises, etc etc etc.

Indeed, Trump may flip the whole narrative to make it look like he's the tough guy against Russia while Bernie is the Putin stooge.

Yea, so given the hysteria the idiot neolibcon Dems have kept boiling over the past three years, Bernie would be a complete jackass to try to buck it all at once if he expects to get the votes of brainwashed Dems who continue to hum along to the warmongers' and Hillary's tune. Bernie's no political babe in the woods.

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Alligator Ed's picture

@Wally to fool the Neocons and cool the heat thrown at them. This is precisely what Drumpf did in Syria twice, launching cruise missiles into the desert to placate the DNC and Neocons. Plus, restocking Tomahawks gave the MIC some more money. Both Bernie and Commander Cheeto cannot act in a straight-forward manner toward Russia and several other nations because of this intense pro-war mania infecting our government for decades (since the Dulles Boys at least, if not earlier).

But it would be nice if Bernie would say "the Müller Investigation could not prove any Russian meddling. Please provide some evidence supporting your charge other than anonymous sources." Trump didn't do that with Syria until at least one year after the second Syrian missile strike. But that was after the failed Müller witch hunt.

Bernie has not yet had his true trial by fire. This is defined by me as standing up against the Clintonista's lies--forcefully. If he waits until the general election, should the DNC fail in its avowed mission, it may then be too late to say "I was just going along with the Russia thing so as not to derail my campaign, because issues..."

Bernie is no baby but I still believe, lacking any evidence to the contrary, that Bernie's spinal column has de-ossified. Osteoporosis generally afflicts the old, not the young.

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I cut him a lot of slack on this matter because they are already calling him a communist and I can't help thinking that more of that bullshit would be sticking to him if he pushed back in any manner that could be twisted or taken of context.

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mimi's picture

video. Unfortunately I had for a split second an image in my mind, which may be I shouldn't describe here, but hell no.

I saw someone shooting Trump in the head and Sanders shooting himself in the foot, because he wasn't ready to shoot himself in the head. Very bad image. But I think Sanders looked for a way to get out of campaign alive. I wouldn't blame him for it. If he sacrificed himself or his family's livelihood in being the hero fighter people long for, it would be a waste. The person who followed him after his death would be the same as the ones you have in the elite, deep state, moron media community right now.

I wished he would have reacted like Tulsi sueing the hell out of everyone who attacked and smeared him. But you can't sue the whole USofA system's representatives. Basically the game is over and aside from mayhem there is only a bloody sun rising on the horizon.

Unfortunately there are no single-individual-person, non-violent revolutions, as much as I wished there would be such a thing.

Nightmarish. This is what I hear in my mind. It's a sad day to think about assassinated and killed persons to mourn over. I should get thoae thoughts out of mind and I wonder how they entered into my consience. I hope someone gets me out of it.
[video:https://youtu.be/Gwrm8UK1VIk]
I hate wars, I hate violence, I hate hate and I want peace.

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@mimi

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Alligator Ed's picture

@JtC but I wouldn't call Beethoven's 9th Symphony light. Sublime yes. Light--that's Josef Strauss or most of Chopin.

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@Alligator Ed
my leathery skinned friend, I meant lighter than the Chopin dirge that mimi posted. I think that is undeniable. I was trying to cheer her up a bit. I find the 9th - 2nd movement quite uplifting.

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mimi's picture

@JtC @JtC @JtC
forcefully playing the violin in Beathovens 9nth marching forward to put my feet down and not give in. A few good men ... can make a lot of a difference. Thank You.
(darn German vs US keyboards drive me nuts with the spelling, I could beet my head with that damn labtop). Wink

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Alligator Ed's picture

@mimi

I saw someone shooting Trump in the head and Sanders shooting himself in the foot, because he wasn't ready to shoot himself in the head. Very bad image. But I think Sanders looked for a way to get out of campaign alive. I wouldn't blame him for it. If he sacrificed himself or his family's livelihood in being the hero fighter people long for, it would be a waste. The person who followed him after his death would be the same as the ones you have in the elite, deep state, moron media community right now.

I wished he would have reacted like Tulsi sueing the hell out of everyone who attacked and smeared him. But you can't sue the whole USofA system's representatives. Basically the game is over and aside from mayhem there is only a bloody sun rising on the horizon.

Martyrdom is not something most individuals willingly embrace. Was Jean d'Arc a martyr? She was murdered by the King to prevent the formation of an uprising in her name, fighting for French liberty. A movement never coalesced around her martyrdom. Killing oneself accomplishes little but getting oneself off the stage of History and onto the pyre of failed grand gestures.

Bernie, for all his faults, has ignited a slowly rolling revolution. But he will not be directly gifted with the rewards coming from his massive turning of the course of American politics.

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edg's picture

He confessed when he said he had seen some of Russia’s “tweets and stuff". So instead of flat out denying it like Trump does, Bernie told reporters he saw proof that Russia was helping him win the 2020 election.

Now, I know that's not exactly what he said and not exactly what he meant. But what he said allows the interpretation I just put on it.

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Alligator Ed's picture

@edg Bernie's admission of "seeing Russian tweets and stuff" is an unforced error. This statement confirms the main thesis of my essay. Bernie swallowed Russiagate whole--and he will choke on it. If HRC doesn't do it, Trump will stuff that nonsense down Bernie's throat.

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@edg

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Alligator Ed's picture

@gjohnsit But if he is correct, the message may be too subtle for the average voter. Of course the average voter, whomever that might be, knows precious little about anything more substantive than earning a living, a task which is essential. Working two or three jobs for low wage does not breed intellectual curiosity about wading into the muck and slime of confrontational politics.

Yes, one could look at Bernie's deflection that the "Bernie Bros" are really the Russian bots we've been talking about. But this seems to me like trying to convince an adult that the Easter Bunny exists. Anybody out there, over the age of 8 still believe in the Easter Bunny--or Santa Claus who lives in the North Pole?

What people believe in was so superbly stated by W. J. Clinton: "It's the economy, stupid".

Many here decry the claims that the financial situation of most people has improved under Trump. Of course, glaring exceptions are easy to find. I know you have differed on the economic boom claims made by the Cheeto in Chief--but, sorry, most people do not. Why is the economy the number one issue for only 10% of voters now whereas in 2016, the economy was number 1 concern of 40% of voters?

So arguing against the existence of Santa Claus because the polar ice is melting is not really a sound way to proceed. Propping up one myth to destroy another is a positive feedback loop, inevitably leading to more spurious and outlandish assertions.

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@Alligator Ed
More likely it was Bernie simply using one bullsh*t story to gut another bullsh*t story.
I doubt the memo has gotten out so I expect Bernie to use it effectively when they bring up the Bros during the debate.

But you would be mistaken to believe that the Sanders camp hasn't weighed every option here.

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janis b's picture

I really don’t get your angle. You seem to relish gorging on the one person who has the possibility of bringing something more palatable to the table. Except for your support of Tulsi, I have only read positive critiques (in a veiled way) of Trump in many of your comments over the years. There’s even one in this essay …

Trump has steadfastly denied Russian collusion, starting in 2016 and continuing to the present. Trump has no trouble confronting his enemies. He makes them prove their xenophobic Russia nonsense, something which they have abysmally failed at doing. Bernie did not learn from Trump.

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Alligator Ed's picture

@janis b My clumsy claws were not designed for keyboarding. Veiled praise for Trump--yes--but only as a master politician. Should I spend all day listing the horrible things Trump has done and is doing?

Here's a brief start: having crony generals operating "schools" for immigrant children dragged across the border by their parents in a manner suitable to juvenile offender detention centers with prison-like regimentation.

How about tearing up several nuclear disarmament treaties?

Or what about drilling for black gold in our national monuments?

Please disabuse yourself of any ideas that I love Trump. Drag out your old worn copy of Sun Tzu: never underestimate your enemy. H. Rodent Clinton et. al. proved that in a glorious display of hubris culminating in snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

So spelling aside, do you have any contrary facts, theories or assertions to bolster your theory that Bernie is the best hope for defeating Trump? Embracing Open Borders alone will cost Bernie the election, should he get so far. Bernie in 2016 had not adopted that lunatic position, rightly protesting that uncontrolled immigration suppressed wages for Americans. 2016 was his time. His time is gone. Tulsi, the true warrior, has yet to be at her political prime. To quote an esteemed source on c99: "Tulsi is the future". To which I add "Bernie is the past".

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janis b's picture

@Alligator Ed

After reading the first paragraph I’m not sure you chose the right figure to pit against Sanders. They seem to me to share some of the same strategies.

Sun Tzu is traditionally credited as the author of The Art of War, an influential work of military strategy that has affected Western and East Asian philosophy and military thinking. His works focus much more on alternatives to battle, such as stratagem, delay, the use of spies and alternatives to war itself, the making and keeping of alliances, the uses of deceit and a willingness to submit, at least temporarily, to more powerful foes.

You say Tulsi is the future, and Bernie is the past. But how can you succeed if you’re not in touch with the present.

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PriceRip's picture

          I will, however, vote for Bernie, and if necessary write-in his name in the general election. The only other viable option is not an option nor is it viable.

RIP

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Alligator Ed's picture

@PriceRip he selects Tulsi for VP. Otherwise count me out. I will tune in Rachel Madcow on the horns of a 2020 election day dilemma: Should she cry because Trump is re-elected (that Russian scoundrel!) or will she cry because Bernie is elected (that Russian scoundrel!)

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PriceRip's picture

@Alligator Ed

          I could get excited about. I haven't the ability to have any real effect, but at least I could be excited to send in that ballot. The thing I can't stand is the b.s. of pretending to assemble an electable ticket. For me it is about the foundational principles, and that (for me) comes from years of work. As I have indicated elsewhere, I am a fighter, I (in those various groups) won many battles during a span of nearly 4 decades. I have had a good run, but unfortunately those gains have only local significance.

          Maybe, just maybe a Sanders-Gabbard campaign could materialize. In the end I would like to shuffle off the stage talking about a very big win.

RIP

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Bollox Ref's picture

Minnesota, March 3rd.

Klobuchar or Sanders. I'm going with Sanders, despite the possibility of a stapler blow to the back of the head.

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

janis b's picture

@Bollox Ref

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Bollox Ref's picture

@janis b

I could take that

IMG_0594.JPG

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

janis b's picture

@Bollox Ref

Were you a fireman?

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Bollox Ref's picture

@janis b

It's just part of my collection.

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

Daenerys's picture

@Bollox Ref Our caucus is tomorrow; dunno why they changed it so caucus and primary are separate. :/

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This shit is bananas.

Bollox Ref's picture

@Daenerys

is beyond me.

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

snoopydawg's picture

His only targets are Donald Drumpf, billionaires (nary a mention of millionaires any more since he is one with 3 homes and $2.5 M in assets; although I do not begrudge him any of it).

He isn't saying that no one should have as much money as they do. He's saying that they got most of it from the system being rigged in their favor. And that the abhorrent wealth inequality is a problem because it has been.

Bernie has a one bedroom condo in DC because he has to live somewhere while he's there so that one doesn't count. His home in Vermont is a modest one that many people have so that one doesn't count either.

The vacation home that he paid cash for came from money he made from his book. You can count it if you need to. Let's begrudge grandpa for buying a place where his family can get together.

But if you want to begrudge someone for how many houses they have you might enjoy Ed Mass' essay that shows how many Bloomberg has and how much they cost. The only reason I begrudge him his many homes is for how he is able to afford them.

Bernie playing along with Russia Gate ticks me off big time because he won't talk about how much Israel interferes with our elections and sets our foreign policy. He knows that.

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

@snoopydawg . . . I live in San Francisco. My wife and I bought our 1100 sq ft 1948 3 bdrm 1 ba home in 1985. $157.5K was a squeeker for us, and if we'd waited 6 months we'd have been permanently priced out of a house. Nowadays, in our local SF RE bubble, our small and inexpensive (at the time it was built for the returning GI's) home is worth $1-1.3M. The other day I joked with my wife's sisters and their mother (who lives not far away in SF) that "we should be voting for Bloomberg, after all, we are millionaires!".

I think my m-in-law paid about $20K for her house (like ours) in the 1960s. Who would have imagined it would go up several orders of magnitude?

A millionaire isn't what it was when the Beverly Hillbillies was on the air and the kinfolk said "Jed, you're a millionaire".

Move our house to Kansas and we'd probably be doing good to be $40,000-aires.

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snoopydawg's picture

@MichaelSF

It's one thing to own a house you bought decades ago that is now worth millions and it's something else for people like Bloomberg and Obama and other rich people to be able to afford ones now that costs tens of millions and for them to be their 2,3,5 or 10th one. My parents bought their house in 1967 for $22,000. The houses in their area are going for more than $400-900,00. And if you need to sell it because now you can't afford the property taxes because it's worth so much where would you go?

Young people these days are living with many roommates because nothing is affordable for them anymore. And still the banks are sitting on thousands of empty houses just waiting till the time is right for them to profit off them. Or those banks are keeping them off the market to drive up costs for renting. This is why Bernie has a problem with wealth inequality. He's killing it tonight on the CNN town hall.

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

Alligator Ed's picture

@snoopydawg as little as it may be compared to Bloomberg et. al. Bernie is not an acquisitive person who builds his ego by building his fortunes. He is not corrupt. Wealth inequality in a curse. Some degree of wealth inequality is necessary to encourage people to take responsibility for managing the property of themselves and their employees. Vulture capitalism, aka Neoliberalism, doesn't give a damn about people, dawgs or alligators. Bernie has not been a Washington grifter as so many of his colleagues are. Which makes his inevitable loss all the harder to accept. But, he will lose.

Perhaps incorrectly, I believe that the vast majority of our fellow swampers are Progressive in the old meaning of the word, before the MSM, RW, and DNC tortured that word to death. Progressive politics values individuals above profits. It encourages empathy. It encourages justice under the law; neither "just us" or two-tiered varieties. Progressivism stands for improvement in people's lives--ALL peoples' lives.

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mimi's picture

and the only thing that comes to my mind is, if you eat some chickens shit, the chickens' bones split your esophagus, cut into your trachea and there the frigging bones' splinters choke you to death.

Kyle Kulinski is the proof.

I am with Alligator, vote for Bernie only if Tulsi is his VP. There Is no other candidate combination that would make any sense.

Go Tulsi, you can make the old man fall in love with you, right? There are other warriors out there aside from the old man? Then, Tulsi, run with the younger one. Geez, this was the most anger inducing discussion I have read here so far.

Heh, is there any music out there to listen to right now. I have had it with words.

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wendy davis's picture

@mimi

about this Flash Mob - Ode an die Freude ( Ode to Joy ) Beethoven Symphony No.9 classical music? it makes me cry every time i watch the chirren...

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

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