Huff(Com)Post's Ryan Grim Says TOP Experiencing A Resurgence Via The Resistance™. Commenters at TYT Video Say Progressives Left The Place For Good/Not Fooled by PR Makeover.

Was just listening to this TYT piece "Divided We Fell — Can The Left Learn From 2016?" while doing the dishes and thought I'd drop it here for folks. Seems there's been more talk lately about the cluelessness and willful ignorance of the moribund Dem Party, perhaps in part due to the release of the Hillary implosion book. It's really a discussion about Ryan Grim's puff piece in the HuffingtonCompPost (who in 2007 partnered with Breitbart) the claims there has been some kind of resurgence at TOP, as a place for The Resistance™. Yeah, right. Just buy these pair of Nikes, and your whole world will change for the better. Just Do It.

I don't know who this guy Ryan Grim is (but the guy interviewing him at one point says he himself is friends with Kos). But these tepid pundits, to me, are indicative of that same insider, blind partisan mentality that afflicts that embarrassing, juvenile place, afraid to criticize their puppet masters and to call the situation for what it really is. I have to confess, I didn't read the piece (and frankly couldn't find it on HP, a place I've refused to patronize for years now). It was enough for me to just listen to the two-part interview on TYT to get the gist. I also have to confess, I have refused to read anything over there since I left about a year ago; that place and all that it's been revealed to truly be, is so vile to me.

The main reason I was interested in sharing it however, was not to listen to these one-dimensional partisan blowhards expertly avoid the elephant in the room of why the Dems lost, but so that you could see some of the responses below.

Proving once again you can't fool the people who know the score on the ground, have followed the story and been personally involved.

To wit, here's some selections from the comments section of the video:

Icarus Arcturus 1 day ago

Never Hillary. Bernie Sanders would be president if Hillary hadn't rigged everything along with the msm.
93

Dan O'Neill 1 day ago
yep
6

Blair Schirmerx 1 day ago

"Has the Left Learned...?" Learned... what? Not to allow the DNC to steal elections? 1:20 -- "Lefty Democrats"? What the eff is Ryan talking about? "Lefty Democrats" have been run out of the party. There's no room in the Democratic party for even a mild, New Deal Democrat like Bernie Sanders. The DNC is NOT going to support progressives running for office. The DNC is NOT going to surrender power, period. It wouldn't even tolerate the slightly progressive Keith Ellison as DNC Chair, though Ellison had the support of Schumer and Sanders.

For the DNC, "unity" means progressives must surrender, and corporate Democrats will change exactly nothing. As we see with the likes of Sally Boynton Brown, they won't even debate policy.
35

Johnson Cherri 1 day ago

"Let's unite liberals and stop trashing the resistance against Trump." Saying while liberals trash progressives. You're absolutely right that establishment Dems want top-down conformity, and not unity.
28

Red syrup 1 day ago

I didn't leave the DNC. The DNC left me.
13

Saltyforeal 1 day ago

The latest think tank moves on the part of the ruling Democrats is downright embarrassing. They willfully misunderstand and keep forming groups to promote unity, when all people want is simple: open acknowledgement of primary rigging, and outside monitoring to prevent that ever happening again; consequences for the persons responsible in the rigging, not rewards; removal of the super delegate system; remove or severely limit corporate donations, etc. You need to fix a fundamentally flawed system. Can't speak for anyone but myself, but at least it would make me get on board. Action, not promises. Seen too many unfulfilled promises over the decades.
3

Fluffy Bunny 1 day ago

Because of Markos's Hillary position I stopped reading the Daily Kos.
56

John Keim 1 day ago

So did I.
3

Jeremy Ellwood 18 hours ago

Because of the absolutely disgusting comments from Hillary supporters on KOS overall, I left.
I welcome discussion, but the comments on KOS pages reminded me of MMO forums. Disgusting rudeness that dwarfs their accusations toward Bernie supporters. They accused us of being rude and then just showed us how to be the most rude/disgusting humans on the planet.
2

SamanthaVimes 16 hours ago

THANK you! I found my HIllary-supporting friends to be very rude and bullying. No criticism of any kind was going to be accepted, so I just disengaged with them. It was very hurtful.
1

sully FL1 day ago

DailyKos was supposed to be a progressive website and then it backed Hillary from the beginning. They're a joke. Markos is a terrible human.
48

Kathy Goodwin 1 day ago
sullyFL

Bernie wrote a large diary to Daily KOS before deciding to run for President. I, for one, wrote him that I would support him and volunteer for him and do everything in my power to help him; which I did!! The Daily KOS then suddenly became a rag to shill for Hillary Clinton!!!! I left them!!! I will NEVER go back to them any more than I'll EVER go back to being a democrat!!! Fuck Daily KOS, The democrats, and all the Clinton Evil Minions, FOREVER!!!! Join The Green Party!!! We will take over!!! #GreenEnter #GrowTheGreens
3

The Dynast Queen 1 day ago (edited)

I remember that. I didn't frequent the site much as I was just a lurker but I found it super weird that a guy pushing a progressive message and us knowing he actually means it was being shit on by a "progressive" outlet. Hell at times even Breitbart and its even more right wing commenters were nicer to Bernie than the things I read on the DailyKos.
5

Lisa Kazmier 1 day ago

The title is bullshit or based on bullshit because "divided" presumes that Hillary/Shillary deserved their support. She's NOT a progressive not "left." She likes war, likes promoting the MIC and 1% and sought the support of war hawks like Kissinger. Why would I vote for someone allied to Kissinger? Indeed, she never wanted my vote. I got told "she doesn't need me" because her supporters wanted crossover GOP votes that they didn't get. She's not a feminist, either and I am repulsed by assertions that I should see her as one because she's female. Was Margaret Thatcher a feminist? Or Theresa May? Hillary, unlike Thatcher, rode on her husband's contacts and pull, too. Thatcher didn't quite do that, did she? The DNC still tries to ride this bullshit and wants to define "unity" as capitulation to their big $$$ donors. Not buying then, not buying now.
42

Justin B1 day ago
Lisa Kazmier

Spot on, Lisa! The democratic party is not the party for progressives. These people have learned nothing about winning over progressives. They just can't figure it out. The only thing they did learn is that they actually did need us after all.

What they don't get is that they can't run their typical establishment candidates and pass them off as a progressive champion. We will see through their bullshit every day. And offering us empty platitudes will get them nowhere.
11

CmatthYBR 1 day ago (edited)
"The only thing they did learn is that they actually did need us after all."
Actually, I don't even think they learned that because they went with Perez over Ellison for DNC after the election. Both parties are horrible, but it's because of the voters. Everyone blames the DNC and the two-party system for everything, but it's the voters who nominate the candidates and for whatever reason, the voters won't nominate progressives. So, in my opinion, the problem's not the two-party system - it's mindless voters.
1

the op kingdom 1 day ago
100%
1

Justin B 1 day ago
+CmatthYBR

I mostly agree about you on the chair election. They are desperate to hold onto power and are frightened of losing us. That's why we have Perez and why Bernie is holding his hand on this "Unity" Tour. What a joke!

Voters are a huge part of the problem though. Easily swayed by messaging and easily frightened into voting out of fear. Ultimately, the power does reside in voters though. They just need to realize it.

For me... I am solidly with the Green Party now. They actually champion the type of progressive platform that the DNC battled against. The DNC and Democrats are done... they just don't see it yet.

Ozzy The Mighty 1 day ago

Hillary made Trump president. noth said!
31

Dan O'Neill 1 day ago

NEVER hill
23

Jordan 1 day ago

Simple answer: No.
Complicated answer: No.
PLEASE Stop voting alongside big pharma, big war and big oil... AKA, Democrats/Republicans.
This planet can't take it anymore.
19

Johnson Cherri 1 day ago

This Daily Kos?
Daily Kos Founder Gleefully Celebrates Coal Miners Losing Health Insurance
http://fair.org/home/daily-kos-founder-gleefully-celebrates-coal-miners-...
19

Tags: 
Share
up
0 users have voted.

Comments

I think the original HuffPo referenced ties back to this. The guy who wrote this did say somehing about also working for TYT.

I also encourage everyone to listen to the Nader, Thomas Frank, and Bill Curry podcast I posted here if you really want to know what's the matter with the left. If we suck, it is no wonder the Dems suck.

With media like Kos, TPM, and this Ryan Grim, we get self-congratulatory @ssholes measuring their insufficient dicks and boasting anyway. Sorry for the language, but the third string on any team doesn't get to brag.

up
0 users have voted.

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

Mark from Queens's picture

@dkmich Thanks for linking it again here.

Got to clean some more dishes and feed the Boy and myself. In fact, gonna turn that on right now while I do...

up
0 users have voted.

"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

CS in AZ's picture

@dkmich

Still digesting the discussion, but it was interesting.

I didn't recognize the voices well enough to know who was speaking (other than Nader), but one of the guests at one point talks about being completely shocked and amazed at seeing how much people genuinely dislike Hillary Clinton. He says he "knew on paper" that she was not well liked, but he seemed absolutely flummoxed about why, and he couldn't believe how strongly people were repulsed when he actually listened to them talk about her.

He then went on to say that people actually liked Bernie -- with a tone of wonderment and amazement. Like, he really didn't understand why people like Bernie, and could not grasp why Hillary is so deeply despised. This left me wondering who it was saying that, and what's his deal? Why did he sound so clueless about something so obvious? Anyone know?

I also just read that ridiculous article about kos. what a pile of lies! Kos claiming he never took sides in the primary?? Good lord. Revisionist history anyone? He's so full of shit. It's clear he's happy the "Bernie bros" are gone from his website though -- it's good for unity and inclusiveness! Wimmins flocked there in huge numbers wearing their pussy hats after the big march on Washington, and they don't want to sharing the same website with no Bernie Bros. Unity! Whatever. This 58 y/o female Bernie Bro isn't interested in unity with that twerp, his followers, or his website.

up
0 users have voted.
Mark from Queens's picture

@CS in AZ @CS in AZ

I think the astonishment Frank expressed was more about the extent to which, people both despised Hillary, and really liked Bernie. Makes sense. Even Rachel Maddow, when she had her last shred of integrity about a year ago during an interview with $hills in which she accused her of making false claims about Bernie for a tv commercial, said Bernie didn't have an enemy in the entire Congress on either side.

It was a fair assessment, I thought, to say, especially someone like Frank or any other journalist who spends too much time in the Beltway, that they had no idea just how loathed she truly was, or how Bernie could become as beloved as he did.

We knew that, but hermetically-sealed-in-the-Beltway pundits and Dem Insiders had no clue (and by this, of course I don't mean to suggest in any way that this applies to Frank). I remember telling the blind Hillary cheerleaders at TOP that they needed to get out more, because it was very real and they were playing with fire by putting their eggs all in her basket in supporting her uncritically.

up
0 users have voted.

"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

CS in AZ's picture

@Mark from Queens

I was very surprised at how surprised he sounded. I thought, these are supposed to be people who are in the know about politics and such, and this is not a difficult thing to grasp. My husband was listening with me, and he literally burst out laughing at that part. It is painfully obvious to us, yet political professionals don't see it. That's truly strange to think about, and kinda scary actually. No wonder things are so fucked up.

up
0 users have voted.
Azazello's picture

@CS in AZ
he's a historian and a damned good one. Read the yellow book if you haven't already. It's important.

up
0 users have voted.

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

CS in AZ's picture

@Azazello

Perhaps political professional wasn't exactly the right term, but his bio says he's a "political analyst and historian" and that's what i meant, a professional political analyst. Someone whose job is to understand politics. He describes the yellow book as:

Taken as a whole, it is an attempt to understand the epidemic of liberal disillusionment as a genuine phenomenon rather than just to brush it off. It’s a meditation on a time in which middle America has crumbled, Wall Street has prospered, and hopeful liberals found themselves betrayed again and again and again.

He wrote a whole book on this very topic, yet he's still amazed that so many people loved Bernie, and despise Hillary... I'm sorry, honestly I'm not trying to be a contrarian, but those dots are really not hard to connect -- at least, not for the disillusioned people he's writing about. And I'm assuming he doesn't mean Hillbots and denizens of daily kos, since they think everything was peachy - until Trump. Those disillusioned and pissed off are the ones who flocked to Bernie Sanders.

up
0 users have voted.

@CS in AZ does live in a bubble and I think that if he'd really talked to more ordinary people, but it isn't part of what he was writing about granted, he wouldn't have missed just how loathed Hillary is/was.

One friend of mine in Texas, NOT political at all and can be somewhat right wing, early days said she'd probably vote for Hillary but could not really stand her, citing corruption as her reason, not just personality. So many see it, and I think for many it becomes real easy to pass that off as sort of right wingish as Hillary was pilloried by the media back in the day, not always rightly so but in reality, more times than not. Ordinary people see it and some just feel it but can't articulate it. But the mistake is thinking that's all just media fed misogyny when it damned well isn't. People can tell, as my friend said to me, and that was BEFORE the emails came out.

up
0 users have voted.

Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

travelerxxx's picture

@lizzyh7

Of all people, Thomas Frank understands the middle of America. I've read what he's written and he nails it constantly. Still, living on the East Coast, it had been some time since he'd actually sat down with Middle America. He knew full well that Midwesteners mostly loathed Hillary Clinton, but the depth of that hate is what surprised him.

Remember, Thomas Frank is a native Kansan. Yes, he's an academic, but a good one. Frank says the title of Listen Liberal is from a phone call he received while staying in a hotel in Wichita, Kansas. As he relates it, the phone rang early in the morning and the caller belted out, "Rise and shine, Liberal!" Somehow this brought the title to his mind. The point is that Mr. Frank was in Kansas when this happened, not Boston.

up
0 users have voted.

@travelerxxx I haven't listed to the podcast yet, but I've read Listen, Liberal, What's The Matter With Kansas? and many other Franks interviews. He's one of the more astute writers out there. Not perfect, but he's not on the level of the usual cocktail circuit talking heads either.

(Sidenote, don't know if he mentions it in this interview, but he talked with Jimmy Dore about how when he wrote Kansas everyone wanted him on their show. With Listen, those callls dried up. Wonder why?)

up
0 users have voted.

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

Mark from Queens's picture

@Dr. John Carpenter

He makes the clearest case for what has just happened in American politics, the self-inflicted wounds leading to the demise of the Democratic Party.

I've watched many interviews, speeches and Q&A's with him about it, and am convinced everyone who claims to be stunned by the election results needs to read it to understand exactly just how we got to the place, in which someone like Drumpf could become President. It's probably the most important book to understand politics right now.

Over the past 40 years the Democrats completely abandoned the working and middle class, in exchange for the votes of the top 10% professional class, traditionally Republican voters concerned about their money, but who are more or less socially liberal. Dem operatives/think tanks over the years actually refer to this as The Coalition of the the Ascendent. They sold their souls completely to get some, and then just as much, Wall St money as the Repubs. They jettisoned unions, minorities and the working class, because they "have no place else to go" - until they didn't. They then deregulated media and the banks, pushing the final nails into the coffin. Obama picked up the shovel to throw dirt on top when he refused to prosecute the "savvy" bankers that his attorney general said were Too Big Too Fail.

When it was released last March it, to me, was the thunderbolt needed to shake out the rest of the Dem partisans voters from the gender identity/personality politics that was driving them to accepting yet another Neoliberal, Wall St puppet, destroyer of the middles class/minorities.

I remember peppering comments all over TOP with the interview he did with Thom Hartmann, in hopes of waking people up. It was an epiphany for Bernie supporters. But the $hills completely, utterly ignored it, refusing to even acknowledge what he was saying.

Most pathetic part is that, as we can see from their refusal to acknowledge the crucial part the Clintons and Obama played in setting up this debacle to happen by throwing around non-stop red herrings about Russia, Resistance™, Bernie Bros, popular vote, etc. etc., their heads are still buried deep in the sand - thanks to little playgrounds like TOP's Neoliberal sandbox.

up
0 users have voted.

"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

CS in AZ's picture

@Mark from Queens

Finally had time to watch this video tonight, and I'm so glad we did. After watching and then talking with hubs about it for awhile, we agree that Franks is both incredibly insightful about, and somewhat distanced or isolated from, the people and lives he talks about. He is so right on about what has happened, but still removed from it... he even admits this himself, as he talks about his own credentials in the meritocracy. He is both right on, and yet still viewing it all as "stories" rather than, you know, people's lives. There's a distance there. The historian perspective, I suppose. And it's different watching him talk than just hearing his voice with no context. This was very helpful and interesting.

He is exactly right about what has happened. I may just read that yellow book. Thanks to all who responded to my questions.

up
0 users have voted.

@travelerxxx I think I've read most of Frank's books if not all of them. And I've been trying to get friends to read "Listen, Liberal" as it explains it all so much better than I ever could.

up
0 users have voted.

Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

Mark from Queens's picture

@Mark from Queens
Curry.

About 38 min in, Curry lays into the party.

Paraphrasing: First get some convictions. We don’t have dealbreakers, issues to demand of these people.

Getting people to understand the failures of global finance capitalism and getting people to fight it, the corruption that it feeds on. That comes first.

Not a peep out of Dem leadership, when Trump proposes insane military budget increases; none of it worthwhile, all of it destructive. Sending 50 Tomahawk missiles is gets applause from MSNBC, CNN and Dem leadership.

Need new press, peace movement, we need an anti-corruption. Every other country the fight against corruption is at center of Progressive politics.


Great to hear him again. I thought his pieces in Salon during the primary were some of the most powerful indictments of the Democratic Party's collusion against the surging and winning populism of Bernie and just how unfit and weak of a candidate $hills truly was (and to think, he was counsel to Bill Clinton while he was president).

up
0 users have voted.

"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

@CS in AZ @CS in AZ

All I can say to that is it is about time. There was some union guy at dkos who also campaigned for Bernie. I can't remember his name. Boy did he get pissed at me for daring to call out the unions for endorsing Hillary.

I have no patience with people that hinge their values on who is doing it. When it's Hillary blowing up Russia, ain't she grand. When it is Bush, hang em.

up
0 users have voted.

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

CS in AZ's picture

@dkmich

I loved those parts of the podcast discussion and agree entirely. Planned parenthood in particular was a huge disappointment to me, for endorsing Hilz even though Bernie had a much stronger record on supporting women and reproductive rights. When the faked "selling baby parts" videos came out, Bernie immediately and forcefully defended the organization, without reservation or hesitation. Hilz on the other hand waffled and called the videos 'disturbing' and avoided taking a stand. So typical. But still they endorse Her, because reasons. Very eye opening, how easily bought off those kind of "liberal" groups are. I've realized I don't know what liberal means. It obviously doesn't mean what I thought it did.

up
0 users have voted.

@CS in AZ

If not skimmed off regularly, scum tends to rise to the top in any organization.

That's because psychopathic personalities are ruthless in their desire to gain power over others and in their desire to keep it, once gained.

up
0 users have voted.

Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@CS in AZ So well said.

Good on ya, CS. This 49-year-old woman ain't having it either. Fuck Hillary. Or, eew, don't.

up
0 users have voted.

"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

WaterLily's picture

Pure gold.

Kos in all his asshole glory, out there for the world to see.

Thanks for the post!

up
0 users have voted.
Mark from Queens's picture

@WaterLily

Good to know there are folks all over the place talking about how these phony bastions of (Neo)Liberalism (i.e. TOP) need to be exposed and fought.

At the risk of cluttering things up here (I figure folks can just skim or skip over if they please), here's a few of those:

Great letter. Thanks for sending that to them. I’m an ex-subscriber of Daily Kos, as well. Read their articles and commented daily. But eventually I realized they’re less progressive than I thought. While they feature some good progressive bloggers, the organization as a whole seems to toe the Establishment Democratic Party line.

It’s too bad, really. One can occasionally learn a lot from some of the smart people who post(ed) there. I’m seeing less and less of that. The problem is the censorship of any opinion that deviates from the party line. The ideological box gets smaller and smaller, and that’s not conducive to generating ideas. I think Kos is censoring his site into irrelevance.

Kos was part of the Clinton machine, shutting down Bernie supporters any way possible. It was flat-out Rovian tactics. Daily Kos was just one cog in the huge mechanism Hilary thought she bought herself. Perhaps you remember that MoveOn came out dramatically in Sanders’s favor in January/February. After they demonstrated their support for Bernie they were shut down for three or four months. Try to find content for Moveon from February to May.
Someone called me from MoveOn asking for a donation in June. I asked politely what happened to MoveOn after they came out for Bernie. She slammed the headset down on my ear!
For anyone who supports the gaslighting we took on Daily Kos, you need your integrity tank topped up.

I am absolutely appalled at the actions taken by the Daily KOS. What happened to the action of rising above the name calling & dismissive comments?
Awful. I am done reading that site.

I have sworn off KOS. I don’t listen to fake liberals.

Me too. I didn’t know Kos was a co-founder of Vox, but that helps explain why that publication is worse than useless.

Kos became painful to read a long time ago. They’re not progressives; they’re just loyal party dogs.

Kos is not a site for “thinking and analyzing”. It’s a site for cheerleading the positions of DNC officials.
Apart for the callousness of Moulitsas comment, it shows a deep ignorance/denial of why the Democrats just lost not only the White House but many governorships as well.
Doubling down on dumb is not likely to yield wins for the Democrats in the future.

Perhaps, my not being part of the east coast, liberal elite leads me not to take spiteful pleasure in thinking that the people who voted Trump in will likely be the most harmed by him. There’s a large number of clueless, yet lucky, Democrats who simply can’t imagine how so many working class people would purposefully vote against their “best” interests. Those people did vote their “best” interests–twice–in 2008 and 2012, and got nothing for it, from a popular, do-nothing President whose sole Legacy will be that he was the first black male President, though I’m sure that he’ll do well with his presidential library and loads of after-dinner speaking engagements (isn’t he just a lot of fun!).
News Flash to Connecticut attorneys: The neo-liberal economy that crashed in 2008 has recovered, at the expense of the wage earning, tax paying public, but only for those who caused the collapse in the first place, the Banking and Financial community, including the several Stock Markets. Millions who lived lower middle class lives in 2000 are surviving on the brink of abject poverty and homelessness, one paycheck from disaster. The only candidate with media exposure who addressed the issue was Trump, however simplistic and empty his words might have been. Hillary stirred herself sufficient to insult those people (the Deplorables), but couldn’t bother to address their concerns in any serious manner.
After stealing the nomination from Sanders, she ran the worse campaign in recent memory. She lost on her own, she didn’t need anyone’s assistance. Nor should desperate voters be blamed for the party and the candidates shortcomings.
When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose.

Thank you Steve; you’re the first one on here that really “gets it.” The arrogance of the liberal elites has left such a bad taste in my mouth and I feel as “a man without a country.” The irony of their bigotry does not go unnoticed.

You put it so succinctly. I voted Green, not because I love all of their platform, but because I am tired of the know-it-all chattering classes who’ve made careers out of belittling people without even trying to understand their point of view. They could get away with it through the 70’s when it only affected factory workers, but now that the whole middle class is feeling it, they are shocked that their patronizing, “center-right” opinions are no longer cutting it.
I grew up in steel country, now known as the rust belt, watched the factories around me close and ship jobs overseas, and yet somehow remained a liberal. Well I’m not. I’m the left, the real left, and I hope we grow a new party, one that stands for human rights, the right to healthcare, a decent job, and a green future.

Since when have Democrats given anybody but their big money donors “unrequited love and cover?” The Democrats get more preposterous by the breath. Liese Howarth and St. Pete are all for the Schadenfreude of the Daily Kos. It’s not because they, Liese a lawyer after all, live comfortable and fat no matter the Democratic or Republic regime. Wars across the globe, fattening the military industrial complex, treating the environment as a personal trash receptacle for unbridled consumption, torture and other gross human rights violations, a sucking up to Wall Street bankers are common to both parties, but worthy of contempt only when presided over by a Republican. Obama’s wars, okay. Bush’s and Trump’s, not so much. I didn’t vote because even the Senate race in Illinois wasn’t worth the effort to cast a yea or nay vote one way or the other. But had Illinois been a swing state I would have voted Trump as the less effective evil. Not to say I support Trump because I don’t. But that I support the known quantity of Hillary less. Whatever Trump’s gargantuan liabilities, we would indubitably for example, never have heard Lady Clinton denigrating the exorbitant waste of the F-35. Anybody who believes “Democrats tried their best to extend [welfare] benefits” is living in a dream world. Democrats serve the same corporate interests as the Republicans: the vultures in the health care for profit industry, arms manufacturers, the oil companies and Wall Street bankers, George Soros, Warren Buffett and Zbigniew Brzezinski. News flash Rick Wiese. Obama and the Democrats owned both houses of Congress for his first two years as president, and didn’t pass a single significant piece of progressive legislation. Notwithstanding the mandate and political capital Obama had in November, 2008, it took a scant 2 years for the Democrats to get crushed in the 2010 mid-terms. To get beat by the likes of Michelle Bachman and Mike Pence. And that’s blamed on Republican majorities in Congress. What absurdity. I agree wholeheartedly with michael. Perhaps the silver lining will be pitchforks of rebellion. Anybody who thinks Hillary would have been a shred preferable to Trump is every bit to blame for Trump as Trump himself is. What more corruption do you need from Clinton than her venal actions at the Clinton Foundation, or her conspiracies to steal the nomination from Sanders? On just the very short list? Or Obama for that matter. Obama had the unmitigated gall to say on The Daily Show last night that people are obsessed with the substance of the emails leaked from the DNC rather than the source. Trying to sweep that pile of corruption away from witnesses’ eyes.

One thing not being said here is that we need to remember that Kos purged the Berniecrats from his site back in March. He’s part of the why we’re in this situation, so it’s smug and disingenuous for him to now blame the voters for not going along with his corporate golden girl after she stole the Democratic primaries.
So KOS is a POS, that’s for sure.
However, another part of me takes a sort of middle road on this. I’d like to see everybody get exactly the kind of government they deserve. NOT out of spite, but out of a belief in self-determination. More and more, I’m coming to the conclusion that this country has become too big and too politically diverse to govern as a unitary whole.
The folks in Appalachia, Alabama, and Arkansas -I don’t agree with the way they want to live, but frankly that’s why I don’t live there. Here in California, we have different ideas about how to live, and I seriously would like to see us declare independence.
Let them have theocracy if that’s what they want there. Let them impose the Christian version of Sharia Law. They can have “right to work for less” laws, coathanger abortions, pickup trucks with gun racks, and separate bathrooms for anyone they choose. Let them keep Duck Dynasty and Nashville. They can teach kids creation myths and abstinence. If they want to die in the streets when they’re old and sick, who am I to tell them they don’t have that freedom?
And we can have socialized medicine and free tuition. And you’ll be able to go into pot cafe and smoke a fat joint without worrying about police raids. And if you overdose on something (not pot, because you can’t overdose on that), we’ll TREAT you instead of putting you in jail like they do in civilized countries! For free, of course. We’ll keep the best universities, the tech industry and 60% of the world’s biotech. We’ll keep Hollywood, and yes the porn industry too (now that California has wisely rejected the stupid mandatory condom law). But our kids will know all about condoms if they want to use them, and if all else fails then abortion will be there -free and on demand. For 14 year olds. Yes, without their parents’ consent, dammit, as Californians including myself voted for THREE friggin times and we don’t want to fight that battle again thank you very much! And we’ll be able to marry anyone we darn well please. And every child will be educated in English and Espanol and our borders will be open for PEOPLE but well-regulated for Capital, because we do want to protect jobs. And we’ll put the world on notice that the 6th largest economy in the world will only sign free trade deals if they match our stringent labor and environmental standards. Otherwise, no iphone or Viagra for you!

I was Sanders supporter who stayed home last month, but if it were to come to a choice between hard working coal miners and whiny little a-holes like those who post on and read the Daily Kos, I’ll side with the miners. They should all be very ashamed of themselves.

up
0 users have voted.

"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

snoopydawg's picture

@Mark from Queens

One thing not being said here is that we need to remember that Kos purged the Berniecrats from his site back in March. He’s part of the why we’re in this situation, so it’s smug and disingenuous for him to now blame the voters for not going along with his corporate golden girl after she stole the Democratic primaries.

IMG_0950_0.JPG

There is another huge pie fight over there about Bernie's statement today about Osfoff (?) not being a progressive and Her supporters are still blaming Bernie and his supporters for Her losing to Trump.
2 diaries full of contempt for Bernie. And let's never forget that he isn't even a Democrat!

up
0 users have voted.

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

@Mark from Queens Wow that secession part made me think "boy in the bubble much"? Of course doesn't mention the six million in abject poverty, the homeless, the death-spiraling "gig" economy, the vapid emptiness of "intellectual property" Hollywood wealth which assholes here go to war over. Oil reserves? Frack wells? Water rights?

Uh-huh, dream, but don't lead people on. The state is effing falling apart, one day it will be awfully apparent, I hope not soon, I hope not ever, but I don't think so. What's he going to do with "That's the system." Brown, and "We're capitalists" Pelosi? Deport them? Harris too? And all the California Rs, Independents, and super delegates? What a fantasy. Prop64 clampdown is gonna be a big shock, I think. People don't know what's coming I think it's going to be horrible. When the Mendocino Sheriffs Department acquires an LRAD, that is a clue. "Not for crowd control." ~wink wink~ Yeah right. Just don't be an "unlicensed grower" because nothing has changed, asset forfeiture then prison. ABC needs to be investigated, now they are finally looking at the tax board. Sorry to be stuck in reality but there it is.

Let them have theocracy if that’s what they want there. Let them impose the Christian version of Sharia Law. They can have “right to work for less” laws, coathanger abortions, pickup trucks with gun racks, and separate bathrooms for anyone they choose. Let them keep Duck Dynasty and Nashville. They can teach kids creation myths and abstinence. If they want to die in the streets when they’re old and sick, who am I to tell them they don’t have that freedom?
And we can have socialized medicine and free tuition. And you’ll be able to go into pot cafe and smoke a fat joint without worrying about police raids. And if you overdose on something (not pot, because you can’t overdose on that), we’ll TREAT you instead of putting you in jail like they do in civilized countries! For free, of course. We’ll keep the best universities, the tech industry and 60% of the world’s biotech. We’ll keep Hollywood, and yes the porn industry too (now that California has wisely rejected the stupid mandatory condom law). But our kids will know all about condoms if they want to use them, and if all else fails then abortion will be there -free and on demand. For 14 year olds. Yes, without their parents’ consent, dammit, as Californians including myself voted for THREE friggin times and we don’t want to fight that battle again thank you very much! And we’ll be able to marry anyone we darn well please. And every child will be educated in English and Espanol and our borders will be open for PEOPLE but well-regulated for Capital, because we do want to protect jobs. And we’ll put the world on notice that the 6th largest economy in the world will only sign free trade deals if they match our stringent labor and environmental standards. Otherwise, no iphone or Viagra for you!

And HOW does that happen, what you think the steps are? That's what I want to know. People like that, with no apparent clue, make me sick and tired. It gets old.

Edited to ask: Everyone knows California practices "At will" employment, as if it provides workers "choice", right? "That's the system." NO safety net at all for the coming generations, sorry 'bout that. Immigrants flooded California construction. Worker pay sank. Here’s why ?! Mmph! No words for that pile.

Thanks

up
0 users have voted.
Amanda Matthews's picture

@eyo @eyo @eyo
bail that place out:

California’s $400 billion debt worries analysts

SACRAMENTO — California has come a long way to dig itself out of budget deficits, but the state remains on shaky ground due to nearly $400 billion in unfunded liabilities and debt from public pensions, retiree health care and bonds, financial analysts say.

“Yes, the state’s budget is balanced if you are looking at what they are required to spend cash on this year, but not when you look at their expenses,” said Gabe Petek, a credit analyst with Standard & Poor’s.

*

"These liabilities are so massive that it is tempting to ignore them,” Gov. Jerry Brown said last month in his State of the State speech. “We can’t possibly pay them off in a year or two or even 10. And there is little satisfaction in the notion of chipping away at an obligation for three decades to pay for something that has already been promised. Yet, it is our moral obligation to do so — particularly before we make new commitments

http://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/California-s-400-billion-deb...

Maybe George Clooney and Meryl Streep will pay it off. They raised millions for the Clinton Creature. And the state rigged the primary.

I say "Toodles. And don't bother to write."

Cali - the entire state has been Kardashianed.

EDIT: ti/to

up
0 users have voted.

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

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

@Amanda Matthews good one! That is change I can believe in. Was just pondering yesterday, an idea for the DNC instead of pep rally fundraisers, just go on and fix Flint MI water system, why not. 1.5 billion dollars is the going price, about one presidential election's worth according to the latest corporate tooling. So why not just rebuild failing American infra, restore some humanity, and run on that in 2020? lol

We know their needs, show us their deeds. Thanks.

up
0 users have voted.

and have never returned. I think I may have skimmed the diary listing once or twice and that was surely enough of that.

up
0 users have voted.

Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

Mark from Queens's picture

Those vicious, dirty knaves, spinning each other inside their safe little bubble, feeling all frisky wearing their pink pussy hats and signing petitions. They wouldn't know a social movement if it ran right over the top of them.

When confronted with two of the most powerful, significant and focused movements in generations, Occupy Wall St and Black Lives Matter, these same soft, smug Neoliberal pricks at TOP were M.I.A. completely, when they weren't disparaging them (especially toward the former, which could cost them campaign money). Craven bastards.

At TOP it's all about the campaign donations (which means protecting the Economic Terrorists of Wall St donor class, and continuing to shamelessly take their money for speaking fees, "that's what they paid"), us vs. them/Red vs. Blue, kowtowing to the Coalition of the Ascendent, social liberalism/fiscal conservatism, feel-good hipster Green Living™, incrementalism in the face of overwhelming support for radical change from the status quo, etc.

Can't face the reality of how much they are despised, having lost to the worst candidate of all-time and having already hemorrhaged over 1000 seats at all levels under Obama's Hope & Change™.

up
0 users have voted.

"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

k9disc's picture

@Mark from Queens

up
0 users have voted.

“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

Mark from Queens's picture

@k9disc

According to the new book,

“He couldn’t understand what possessed Hillary to set up the private e-mail server, and her handling of the scandal — obfuscate, deny, and evade — amounted to political malpractice."

Regardless of what we think of him now, I bet he's beyond livid with the Clintons, their feckless minions and pathetic sycophants. I also believe that on some very real level he had to have felt a strong kinship to Bernie's campaign with his own '08 run.

No wonder he took right off and out of this fucked country that he had a hand in, if not creating, then definitely shirking the real challenges it faced, and is yucking it up with Neoliberal entertainers and the like who will never feel any of that pain.

up
0 users have voted.

"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

@Mark from Queens If he's genuinely pissed, it's only because history will rightfully see the current situation (and the disaster of Her) as his legacy. It seems to me like people are already starting to negatively reevaluate the Obama years, even as they're being conditioned to fear Trump.

up
0 users have voted.

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

@k9disc

It's an ill wind that blows nobody good, as they say. That wind just has to pick up enough more to blow away all of the corporate politicians in order to do everyone a lot more good.

up
0 users have voted.

Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

gulfgal98's picture

who celebrated coal miners losing their health insurance, who is still bashing Bernie supporters, and who recently posted in his latest ask me anything diary that policy does not matter. His opinion is that the Democrats will sweep in 2018 by not being Trump. Hmmm...where have I heard that before? My response to that diary was this:

gulfgal98 kos
Apr 13 · 08:05:03 PM

I completely disagree.

Policy is useless right now. We don’t need any message beyond “NO!”

The reason that Democrats keep losing at all levels is a lack of a cohesive policy to help real people, particularly an economic policy. “No” or “we’re not as bad” is not a winning formula for people who have been economically struggling for over eight years under a Democratic leadership. To recycle this idea is folly.

The Democratic party has been playing the identity politics game to avoid addressing the real issues facing real people in this country. Economic issues cut across race, ethnic origin, gender, or sexual identity. That is why the Democrats have been getting their butts handed to them over the last eight years and particularly in the bloodbath of 2014 when their only message was they were not Republicans.

People want real policies that will make their lives better. Being not Trump is not addressing the real policy issues. I firmly believe that one of the reasons Hillary Clinton lost, particularly in the very economically devastated mid West is that her campaign was basically devoid of addressing policy. An analysis of this is laid out in this Vox article.

This is the same Markos Moulitsis who wrote in July of 2014 that Hillary Clinton would be the Democratic nominee and yet he claims that he was neutral. Not! From that July 2014 diary by kos, the following.

Clinton will be our nominee. She is genuinely liked and popular with Democratic Party primary voters.

Meanwhile Hillary Clinton claimed she had not yet decided on running so she could grift another couple of $million giving speeches to banks and big pharma.

Ryan Grim seems to be afraid of offending Markos. He dances all around the question of why kos continues to be so hostile toward Bernie's supporters. I personally find kos to be immature, petty and self serving. He is not a compelling writer, nor a deep thinker, or even a good strategist. He is simply a guy who got in on the blogosphere early and made a lot of money so he can drive his Tesla.

up
0 users have voted.

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

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

Steven D's picture

@gulfgal98 and at worst a sociopath.

up
0 users have voted.

"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott

Amanda Matthews's picture

@gulfgal98
His grift. Just like she's been trying to do.

up
0 users have voted.

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

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

Creosote.'s picture

@gulfgal98
he said, that any candidate other than Her could prevail. So much for thought in a mind apparently built of nothing but 1s and 0s. There's nothing quite like contempt for genuine education - or the willingness to be 'reached,' as I heard a New York judge once describe colleagues who were being bought.

up
0 users have voted.
kharma's picture

Once the Democratic party started squeezing out progressives, this progressive went freelance. I am a man without a party and I feel fine.

up
0 users have voted.

There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties.. This...is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.--John Adams

Now he's getting some positive and undeserved press for sucking DNC c*ck.

up
0 users have voted.
Alligator Ed's picture

Her name is Hillary. That Ryan Grim didn't call out DK for its vicious ad hominem attacks on Bernie backers is deceitful. Who the F is he trying to fool? Himself? The Ides of March (2016) decree was the Krystal Nacht against Progressives on Markos's shit-rag. The exit from the Dems, many never to return, is still denied by R. Grim, who instead puts up a map of blue dots. Blue dots meaning what?
Issues? Say what? Just ask Tom "we stick to our values" Perez about issues. Ossify, the latest rising star is just as fake as a $3 bill. And Grim boasted about DK kicking in $150K for the Kansas race--in the last week. Nice gesture Kos, trying to rehabilitate your pseudo-progressive cred with the disenchanted.

As far as HuffPo, they were in the bag for Medusa from the get-go. They allowed H.A. Goodman to post his pro-Bernie stuff there, just to show they weren't TOTALLY biased. After the Dem Convention, Cenk was infected with insanity by backing Medusa. He didn't have to back anyone. He could have back Jill Stein. Why didn't he just STFU? the Cenkosaurus lost lots of cred with me--the only two good TYT people are Jimmy Dore and Jordan Chariton.

up
0 users have voted.
shaharazade's picture

@Alligator Ed All these self styled progressive blogger pundirts are full of it. It's a game to them. They want to be players in the rigged farce of electoral politics. Tactics that's the ticket. Tactics are the problem if you ask me. It's insulting to everyone's intelligence regardless of where they stand on the cooked up political spectrum of left, center, right. They are wanna be king's men and there is no way that they can put the shattered Humpty Dumpty of a party back together.

Why do they, including Cenk and Co., think ordinary people who have to live in this duopoly from hell are so stupid that they do not care about issues or policy? Policy, issues and basic human rights including yours and mine are gone daddy gone because? It boggles the mind as to why in the hell anyone would give a fig about the Demorat's internecine political soap opera. Bloggers are addicted to misplaced outrage and fear. The culture war writ large and stirred by the likes of kos and the rest of the progressive pundirts, who all make a tidy living off the peoples misery globally.

Drop the mother of all bombs that will scare them into compliance. I just hope these so called progressives that pump the ongoing farce of politics all fade away. As for the progressive Dem. pols including Bernie, man o man, does no one notice that they are complicit with lunatic Republicans? Do they bother to obstruct or even fight the more evil then we are Republicans. Nah. What happened to the checks on power? I say good on people who are not willing to support a lesser evil and have enough sense to know that this game is rigged and deadly.

Why are we still fighting the rigged election instead of figuring out how to get all of them out of power. I find it hopeful that most people do not want anything to do with and refuse to give their consent to this insane political circus show. It's a mockery of democracy that in the end has no baring on policy or the mutual destructive agenda of the ptb. Why focus on the distractions of partisan fear and loathing and the persona's of the players. They all are complicit.

The carefully constructed reality, Axelrod's 'the world as we find it' isn't real. They created this nightmare world where so called progressives get up and say shit like 'wrapping his arms around Putin' or the progressive candidate says that Saudi Arabia needs to do their part in the killing grounds of Yemen. Do you want a vagina probe or a pol pussy grab along with your austerity and endless bloody war?

Sorry but I just can't get worked up about Hillary, Cenk, kos, Bernie, HuffPo, Demorat's, or any of the nasty shenanigans and bleating of the pols and the political apparatchiks that keep this mad tale front and center while the world burns up and all the funny money flows to the global ruling class. Living in the dark side is a by-partisan agenda and it is in no way progress. I think people who believe that the Democratic party is in any way redeemable or that the evil duopoly is 'inevitable' and that we have no other choice are delusional. This is not the only way forward, the only reality, the only economy, this is just not true.

We are all suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. I guess it's understandable as if your comfortable and have a decent lifestyle you do not want to bite the hand that feeds you. Tell me again how giving the 'progressive' chatting class the time of day is going to get me a Tesla, solar panels, keep a roof over my head, or stop the obscene for profit bloody killing grounds? The world is paying for our myopic political delusions and obsessions.

up
0 users have voted.

Ryan Grim is the Washington bureau chief for The Huffington Post and writes about politics, corruption and the war on drugs. His work has appeared in The Nation, Slate, Salon, Rolling Stone and a number of other publications. A former staff reporter with Politico.com, Washington City Paper and a former contributor to MSNBC, he is the author of the book This Is Your Country on Drugs. He has won a variety of awards, including the Sidney Hillman Award (2011), PPFA’s Maggie Award (2011), Medical Cannabis Journalist of the Year (2013), CJR’s Best Business Writing (2012), and the Alt-Weekly Award for long-form writing (2007). A story he edited on the drug treatment industry and the opioid epidemic was named a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize (2016) in national reporting. Subscribe to his newsletter, Bad News, here.

Grim is a news commentator for The Young Turks.

https://tytnetwork.com/about/host-bios/ryan-grim/

up
0 users have voted.

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

Alligator Ed's picture

@dkmich etc. The average is not in his favor counting the other outlets as "good". Why the hell did the Cenkosaurus hire this HillBot?

up
0 users have voted.

Grimm wrote an article in huffpost that purported to look at how Sander supporters were duped by Russian hackers during the primaries in early March.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-fake-news-russia_us_5...

There was TOP diary that referred to this article showing what dupes Sander supporters were. I wrote a response which I regretted for the mere fact that I feel like I get fleas going there.

http://www.dailykos.com/comments/1642568/65793693#comment_65793693

Up to that point, all the Russian hacking was limited to the general election. I believe Rachael Maddow refereed to the Grimm article to show that even Sander supporters were Russian dupes. The article is just a hit piece on Sander supporters.

I have no idea why TYTs would associate with him unless it has to do with Russia bashing. A number of TYT have more than drunk the kool-aid about Russia--they are creating the kool-aid.

Grimm appears to be a shill for party elites.

up
0 users have voted.
Mark from Queens's picture

@MrWebster

Found this too, "Did Bernie Sanders Botch An Interview With The Daily News? It’s Not That Simple.", in which he says:

(To be clear, I have my own view, that Sanders has shown himself to be a lousy manager of his staff on Capitol Hill over the years, which doesn’t bode well for a presidency, and has not shown much interest in organizing, or ability to organize coalitions within the House or the Senate to advance his agenda, outside of his audit-the-Fed legislation, and some improvements to Obamacare. That’s troubling, but it’s different than deciding he’s not serious and doesn’t know what he’s talking about.)

As opposed to, say, Hillary's amazing ability to organize and inspire, create coalitions, get things passed, manage her staff?..heh. Right.

She fucking lost to the worst candidate/biggest goon ever to bungle up to a politician's podium. These interference-runners for the status quo of Neoliberalism should die a thousand deaths.

up
0 users have voted.

"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

@Mark from Queens who in hell is he to call out the Bern when Hillary was THE worst of the worst. Right out of the gate, saying Henry Fucking Kissinger I her friend and mentor, my God I wondered did she ever want to win? Even Republican friends found that amazing when asking Liberals to vote for her! And while I'm not sure I'll bother reading the new book, it might be fun to read about that level of stupid.

up
0 users have voted.

Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

Alligator Ed's picture

@lizzyh7 @lizzyh7 to your kids or grandkids (if you have any). This would be the modern version of Grimm's fairy tales, now under authorship of Grim (one N).

up
0 users have voted.

@Mark from Queens I had thought before the general election that if Hillary were elected, there would be a major purging of any islands of leftist democrats and anybody associated with Bernie. After the election didn't think much about it until it became obvious starting in January that the establishment democrats were going forward in rooting out Bernie deplorables. And this included smearing Sanders and his supporters and his policies. And so even in defeat the democratic establishment is still going forward with the purges in the DNC and in other leadership positions.

Bernie for whatever reason is playing sheep dog, or what I prefer to call a Greek siren. His role is now to put progressive lipstick on the donkey, and attract leftists to the democratic party and of course wreck themselves on the shores of the party.

up
0 users have voted.
ZimInSeattle's picture

money, there is no hope for the Dems.

Sanders/Gabbard 2020 Peoples Progressive Party (PPP)

up
0 users have voted.

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." - JFK | "The more I see of the moneyed peoples, the more I understand the guillotine." - G. B. Shaw Bernie/Tulsi 2020

Big Al's picture

democratic party when it's filled by people like that? I've been pointing out for years how Obama maintained a near 80% approval rating among democrats. So some people who are against war and imperialism want to reform a party where 80% of those in the party, probably higher among the partisans, support war and imperialism?
It's not just the DNC when the rank and file continue to support war crimes and wall street. Whatever supposed reform that takes place will be bullshit.

up
0 users have voted.
mimi's picture

"I Came, I Saw, Nir Died.” (in my books)

Markos, the "Deus ex machina".

the term has evolved to mean a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly and abruptly resolved by the inspired and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability or object. Depending on how it is done, it can be intended to allow a story to continue when the writer has "painted himself into a corner" and sees no other means to progress the plot, to surprise the audience, to bring the tale to a happy ending, or as a comedic device.

I suggest to see Markos as a comedic device, because I can't help but having a small, sad laugh about it.. Wait til the internet dies and let's see what is left of them money raising digital slaves.

“Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves. ― George Gordon Byron”

Hard to fathom that you can be a bigotted foolish slave., but this explains it:

“The difference between technology and slavery is that slaves are fully aware that they are not free” ― Nassim Nicholas Taleb

up
0 users have voted.
detroitmechworks's picture

How nice for them. Really.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns6OAytgKwc]

As long as the MSM keeps propping them up, they'll stay in business... (I first heard about them in the MSM, after all...)

up
0 users have voted.

I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

Bollox Ref's picture

I've no time for that deplorable site and its deplorable owner.

up
0 users have voted.

Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

According to Markos' diary from a couple weeks ago, I think. He is hiring 30 more people this year, he said. Sometimes I go over there and look at Meteor Blades' regular night owl, but the comments are blocked by my browser so it's not that bad. I did look at the comments in Markos diary though, it was hard. They are killing people in the Bay Area, part of the many problems here. That's what I think. It is murder by neo-liberal (they hate that word now, so I use it) crony capitalism. Fuck them, and their page view profits too.

up
0 users have voted.

@eyo

... He is hiring 30 more people this year, he said. ...

So he's hiring new users himself?

up
0 users have voted.

Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

orlbucfan's picture

Before I joined TOP in 2008, I read Markos' bio. Sure enuff, he cut his initial political teeth by registering as a Repukelican. That fact stuck in my memory. When he managed to make a bundle via his site, I wasn't surprised. He began to show his true colors by opposing critics of PBO. So, when the 3/2016 hammer came down, I left. I don't do diaries so have never been banned, etc. I do wander over there on occasion to read the environmental and woozle stuff. I take him and others like him with a grain of salt. Rec'd!!

up
0 users have voted.

Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.