Markos being openly mocked in the press for being a complete dick
Not once. Not twice. Not thrice, but four different articles from four different sources in two days.
It seems there was an “Ideas” conference for Democrats and Markos was on the panel.
Let's not waste time and get right to it.
#1 Paste Magazine
Six months after the election, the founder of a popular liberal website that also raises money for Democratic candidates thinks it’s fine to demean people who happen to live in a state that gave its electoral college votes to Trump. On May 11, after the Trump administration denied North Carolina’s funding request, Daily Kos founder and publisher Markos Moulitsas tweeted, “There’s your reward for voting Republican, North Carolina.”
There's your reward for voting Republican, North Carolina. https://t.co/DxQGK5fnl1
— Markos Moulitsas (@markos) May 11, 2017
As I reported for Facing South last October, often overlooked are the hindrances to voting that the storm causes in eastern North Carolina, as well as in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. The Hurricane displaced many people whose homes were flooded and damaged, hindering their ability to make it to the polls, many of which were shut down anyway.
...
In the arena of bashing flood victims, Markos wasn't alone. Unite Blue, an LLC that “works to connect the left with messaging, community building, technology and organizing,” tweeted something similar.
#UniteBlue, literally pic.twitter.com/BylpeItjk2
— Andrew Perez (@andrewperezdc) May 12, 2017
Unite Blue took down the tweet, attributing it to a volunteer, and apologized. Moulitsas appears not to have addressed his shameful Tweet at all.
As Moulitsas and other Clinton diehards rejoice in schadenfreude over a state subject to massive voter suppression that went for Trump by less than four points, they exemplify the same kind of out-of-touch strategy of the 2016 Clinton campaign.
Gawd! He's such an enormous piece of shit!
#2 The Observer
In an interview with The Los Angeles Times, Congressman Adam Schiff claimed that the progressive wing of Democratic Party was beginning to look the the Tea Party. While the Democratic Party and its leadership remain widely unpopular, several polls cite Sanders as the most popular politician in the country. Rather than embrace his progressive policies that continue to enthuse and mobilize support for Democrats, most Democratic officials have viewed Sanders’ popularity with indignation.
On May 16, Politico reported that several Democrats are furious with Sanders over his potential 2020 presidential run given that he has overwhelming support—more so than any other potential contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination.
“The fact that Tom Perez has given Sanders a platform without Sanders genuinely agreeing to work toward ‘unity’ has made a mockery of the whole process and literally divided the party more than it was before the tour began. It has been a disaster,” said Markos Moulitsas, the founder of Daily Kos. “Yes, Perez and company are clearly afraid of Sanders and his followers, but letting Sanders make a mockery of the party doesn’t exactly help it build in the long haul.” Moulitsas, who recently caught flack for claiming North Carolina residents deserve not to receive Hurricane Matthew relief funds because the state voted for Donald Trump, is part of why the Democratic Party is so out of touch with American voters. He fails to acknowledge that the party made a mockery out of itself by anointing Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee in 2016.
#3 Daily Beast
The blue book was meant for participants to take notes. The cover said, “Ideas for Action.” Inside there was nothing but blank pages.A panel on the Resistance featured Markos Moulitsas, the founder of Daily Kos, the Resistance of its era. Moulitsas lamented that Democrats in 2016 argued about “whether Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton are good enough while the grassroots were burning.” He told the crowd gathered at Washington’s Four Seasons Hotel that white male Christian liberals are no longer in charge of the Resistance, noting that the post-Trump movement has been built by women and communities of color, and that might make some people uncomfortable.
“There’s a changing of the guard in progressive leadership, and they’re not just part of the movement, they’re leading it.”
Much has been made of the tension between progressives and centrists, the Sanders wing and the Clinton wing, but Moulitsas dismissed disagreement on income inequality, race, and immigration. “What it comes down to is emphasis,” he said. His name isn’t an immediate giveaway, he said, but he’s Hispanic. “Right now our families are being split apart. It’s kind of hard to focus on Florida being underwater when our families are broken up.”
...
Most of the assembled crowd is focused on retaking power in 2018 and 2020, but Moulitsas, the guru of the last resistance, said he is less worried about what happens in two or four years than he is about 2022.
Gawd he's such a moron! Why does anyone listen to him?
And then there's this.
#4
Twitter followers called him “unhinged” and wondered if he’s been smoking crack.
He charged on.
“Aside from ideology, @NYTimes cares nothing about racial and ethnic diversity,” he wrote. “There is nothing ‘liberal” about them. Stop thinking they are.”
You don't suppose he's taken a page from Trump's playbook and decided that all press, even negative press, is good press?
Comments
You do tons gjohnsit.
You are one of our consistent top draws on FB. Your essays are always interesting, informative, and top notch. So glad you are here.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Fair enough.
I'm not sure, however, that advertising C99% as a place where people grouse about DKOS is really that thing which boosts our Alexa ratings here. How about some guest presenters, like they used to have on Firedoglake before it became Shadowproof and kicked out its commenting audience? And whatever happened to OPOL's presence here? He used to assemble huge crowds over at the Orange Monster. I see him in my threads on Facebook these days, but not here.
Of course all of our problems would be solved if we had a VIABLE POLITICAL PARTY and weren't reduced to jeering from the sidelines.
I've got plenty of online work to do today, and I need to get some groceries so I can eat breakfast and do that work. Oh, and I've got a book to write! So...
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
This thread has a relatively good number of responses.
My own experience has been that a rant that comes off the top of my head and the tips of my fingertips in three minutes often gets more response than a post I've researched and written painstakingly. However, it's the second kind of post I prefer doing, so, selfishly perhaps, I do more of them.
If this were the only kind of post gjohnsit or anyone here made, it might become a problem, but gjohnsit posts on a lot of subjects and the board as a whole contains a variety of political topics.
It's a catch 22: traffic attracts people to a site, but how do you use traffic to attract people to a site if you don't already have heavy traffic? Traffic is a draw because it means lots to read and respond to and, one hopes, lively exchanges. Posts themselves both are traffic and attract traffic. So, I don't think anyone should be discouraged from posting on any topic, especially gjohnsit, who is amazingly prolific.
I think you've mentioned some very good things and I thank you for that. Unless I am failing to see a pitfall, I think the worst that could happen is that something new addition doesn't work out well and gets dropped. So, the downside risk doesn't seem great.
I will only speak about Twitter
since I am more familiar as to how it works. The way Twitter works is that if your followers retweet a post you (C99) has made, it has a chance to be seen by all that person's followers. This has the potential to create a wider audience and hopefully members here.
For example, in the last week, our tweets (which include both C99 essays and retweets of other posts) earned 5,240 impressions, which is the number of times a user saw these tweets.
The top tweet from the last week was Lone Star Mike's essay which had over 2,500 impressions and 141 engagements which are the number of time a user clicked on the tweet or recommended it or retweeted it. Compared to the big boys sites, we are small potatoes, but we are hoping that Facebook and Twitter can spread the word about us. The key to building this site long term is having great essays which will further engage new members. I cannot thank enough gjohnsit and the others who write here every day or nearly every day.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
re: Twitter followers
we just gained four new followers tonight.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
JtC, thank you again — you are our one-man Dumbledore’s Army
It’s your ongoing dedication and hard work that keeps dark forces away from “Progwarts” a.k.a. caucus99percent.
The realization how much we are in your debt really struck me when I went over to JackPine Radicals earlier today and saw how they are currently recovering from a big IT failure.
https://jackpineradicals.com/boards/topic/colossal-fuck-up/
Mahalo nui loa, brah.
Numbers aren't everything
A cadre of quality posters (which we already have) will eventually attract numbers, and the material and exchanges will be worth seeking out and reading.
GOS has the other extreme, long threads of dreck and dross that few want to read.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
Anything you can do to help would be greatly appreciated.
I think we have a fair amount of readers/lurkers. They don't post essays or comment. Because the tip button doesn't identify people, they can't show there presence that way either. However, when a barn burner essay appears, people I thought were long gone, do post in comments.
As gulfgal said, we are doing our best on FB and Twitter. Anything you or anyone else can do to help would be greatly appreciated.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
@Cassiodorus Sure. Just create a
Sure. Just create a movement that has a hope in hell of making any difference in people's lives, disseminate it through the website, and the website will prosper.
It's not the website that is the problem. Of course people don't come by; we don't have a strategy for doing anything. They came for Bernie; they stayed roughly up to the General, because there was a possibility that a movement would come out of Bernie's campaign; it didn't, the left splintered, and people didn't want to come here to pick over the bones of our hopes.
Even I got demoralized and stopped writing essays. As horrible as the first ten months of 2016 were, especially from about mid-April to October, what followed was much more horrible, in that it created a political landscape that has no place for an actual left wing; nor does it have a place for an honest critique of the establishment from any ideological perspective.
I'm impressed that we are still afloat; IMO, we are only still afloat because a lot of us like one another, and generally people here treat each other with respect.
"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
Phoebe L. & 6pk recently posted ideas
about making c99 active in electoral politics.
got a lot of recs. did you see all that?
something like that might draw traffic.
people are tired of "chat' which goes nowhere, as Cassiodorus said.
@irishking I respect the hell
I respect the hell out of Joe, but disagree with him about threatening the Democrats with anything. I think his idea is excellent as far as gathering people together and staking out some political territory goes (keeping us from becoming invisible) and I think it could lead to actions which would have a positive impact, but the aim as stated troubles me: Democrats have made it obvious that they don't care whether we stay or go, and also don't care whether they win or lose.
If you want to threaten a Democrat, either be a billionaire and threaten to a)withdraw your money from them, or b)back a primary challenger, or be anybody at all and threaten to expose the data they don't want people to see.
They don't care about our votes, even after having fallen flat on their faces. They say they care only in order to advance their ever-popular "Poor Me" narrative: poor, poor me, those nasty progressives were mean to me, if they'd just stuck with me I would have beaten that right wing thug over there, those bad, mean progressives hurt my feelings so bad...etc. etc. etc.
Where I think Joe's idea could work is in drawing people together who agree, and staking out a piece of political territory. That would be a good idea, a very good thing to do. but I worry about the notion of playing hardball with the Democrats via our votes.
If I had a demand, it would be Occupy's one demand, which got conveniently forgotten every time the press asked itself what on earth those hippies wanted: end corporate control of the government. I'd reframe it now as: end the control of politics and the law by the wealthy.
I am more on the same wavelength as Phoebe's essay, which talked about getting away from looking upward for political meaning and getting more into building new political infrastructure with each other.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal I also believe
I also believe that little will be accomplished if our actions are 100% online. There would need to be actions we took in the real world which then could be made visible through essays about them on the site. And I don't mean showing up to a 50,000-person march some NGO organized. What could we organize?
"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
Why not become an NGO?
@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal
There are probably lots of things people just haven't thought of yet, or which would require some (crowdfunded?) investment.
Must say that I love this sort of thing:
http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/artist_projects_emoluments_cla...
And, of course, there was such as the overpass Light Brigade thing and I'm drawing a blank for others at the moment, apart from spray-painting protest slogans, etc.(probably not the best idea as it can be framed, as well as charged, as vandalism) and the banner thing, which seems pretty common.
But there are probably lots of things being done and perhaps even not yet being done/thought of - creative and pacific things that could reach at least some of the public without, ideally, getting any participants shot. And which, if organized from people at this site, might be picked up by what remains of other Progressive media sites, also giving C99 increased visibility.
Dunno if this triggers any thoughts? Or if this isn't the sort of thing you were thinking of?
And this is probably really stupid, but what about - rather than flash dances - flash political comedy? With the level of writing displayed here, how many could come up with short, illustrative, punchy and amusing scenarios which could be enacted on-the-spot by small groups with megaphones or whatever? Limited to good weather and areas with room not to be hauled off - such as well-populated public parks, perhaps?
Also a number of musicians on here, at least some of whom probably write - possibly free mini-concerts using musical political parody might educate some people through humour?
Dunno, but considering the number of captured
progressivepropaganda sites, there's an awful lot of disinformation to counter...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.
(No subject)
@irishking We would need to
We would need to decide where our boundaries are, which is sort of what's happening now on the left, though the process is being driven not by people like us, but by the horrible establishment. Any organizing effort has one ugly question down in its digestive tract that must be dealt with sooner or later: what makes a person NOT "one of us?" Who are "we?" What constitutes betrayal, and what will we do when it occurs?
If we're going to do anything, we need to face the question of where our boundaries are; we also need, IMO, to have a reasonable approach to corruption and co-optation, and the best approach we can come up with for infiltration of our movement.
If I'm to do anything, I want to integrate my knowledge--and all our knowledge--of how the enemy works into whatever we build, from the beginning.
It's clear that the enemy relies on corruption, co-optation, controlled opposition, and what I might call the "loyalty oath matrix of memes" in which people are attacked for disloyalty and being generally a meanie for calling out bad or foolish behavior in other progressives, liberals, or people who once were progressives and liberals (or plants who purported to be such).
The trick is to figure out how to neutralize that set of attacks without backing into witch-hunts and our own version of McCarthyism. It's a pickle, but not one absolutely beyond our abilities, I think.
If we're serious about doing anything, we should also keep a record of memes/talking points used by our opposition.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
I don't see a contradiction
once you drop the idea that only democrats need apply.
the idea is to have something dynamic here that people would check in on.
agree that real action must be a part or this is more "chat".
the creation of the spread sheet 6pak refers to could use reports from field.
we could dispatch people to confront pols, wave the platform at them ask what the problem is.
etc.
to me the tag of D or R doesn't count any more.
I don't believe that pitching to dems only makes sense,either. But the idea does not really require that.
we are looking to identify & support candidates who will pledge to support our platform. that is the party label.
that is what I want from a politician, and nothing less will do.
if we support that we are building from the ground up, and bypass the party establishment.
In other words, we decide whom to support. the dem party does not choose for us. If someone runs as a dem or rep is irrelevant if he or she is good on the issues. Screw the parties, but we must fill the slots or at least sink the fuckups so that they fear us.
This means getting our hands in the elections, imo.
can we use c99 to get leverage over candidates.
bring them to jesus, so to speak. we need to get on the radar, or reassess what our purpose is here. does the world need another chat room?
thx.
For me it’s important that the movement transcend Right and Left
I thought that was one of best things about Occupy Wall Street. Anyone opposed to Wall Street’s vast power was welcome.
Of course, as soon as OWS began to gain real traction, on the usual discussion sites the sowers of division promptly appeared to demand answers to their questions (that is, pick fights).
Hadn’t we seen that there were Ron Paul supporters there? they asked. Didn’t we realize that if a goal is also shared by people on the Right, that instantly and totally discredits it?
Edited to add:
Another example of a concerted effort to make transcending the Left-Right divide taboo. Jane Hamsher, who ran the forum site FireDogLake, once posted a suggestion that people on the Left and Right could work together on some issues. What was the result? A hugely disproportionate, orchestrated pile-on by cliques of commenters who, from that time on, disparaged Jane anytime she or her site was mentioned. A new term of scorn, “Firebaggers” — similar to “Teabaggers” for Tea Party Republicans — was even concocted for the purpose.
Jane Hamsher's great sin was signing a petition
with Grover Norquist that wanted an investigation into Rahm Emanuel and Freddie Mac. Here's the whole situation as summarized by nakedcapitalism and their actual letter calling for the Justice Department to look into the situation and a link to their petition.
Jane Hamsher, Grover Norquist Call for Rahm Emanuel's Resignation
This is an insightful lesson for all of us. Jane was treated afterwards like Chuck Conners in the TV show "Branded". The rest of the Democratic/Liberal community stood in formation while her epaulets were ripped off, her saber was broken and accompanied by a drumroll, she was marched to the gates of the compound and cast out into the wilderness.
This is what happens to anyone who breaks ranks and criticizes a member of their own tribe. It happened to just about everyone on this site who dared to be critical of She Whose Turn It Is on DK.
What is even more instructive is how Firedoglake, which had GREAT posters and commenters and reporting was eventually infiltrated and killed and it could easily happen here. One of the major tenets of party apologists was that people who criticized Obama based on his policies were really racists. Gee, why does this remind me of "people who follow Bernie for his policies are really racists/sexists"? Because it's exactly the same strategy. Anyway, Firedoglake was invaded by repugnant commenters who were disgusting abhorrent racists who made nauseating posts about Barack Obama. The moderation was completely and totally lacking as there was no ability to flag or complain or oust these commenters and the official moderators were missing in action. I had to leave the place because the community pages became a sewer, all due to lack of oversight and moderation.
Because this site is made up of (mostly) Bernites/lefties/dis-affected Democrats/ it really behooves us to watch out for this kind of infiltration and disruption - lots of people have a vested interest in painting us and our commentary and viewpoints and opinions, which dare to criticize Democrats, as racist-sexist-misogynists, which is how they drove us out of the compound in the first place. If people veer into the kind of commenting that I am talking about, it needs to be addressed immediately by all of us and the owners of this site.
" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "
Yes, amen. I can’t speak for JtC or the rest of the moderators,
but that’s the way I see it too.
could not agree more.
@irishking I think, despite my
I think, despite my misgivings about Joe's idea, that it's still the best idea for drawing people together and generating traffic around.
"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
@irishking Here's another way
Here's another way of putting it. If we start a third party, it's practically a given that we won't make much headway electorally, for all kinds of reasons. The party would have to provide some other benefit to the people, like the Black Panthers did. Their electoral efforts were only one part of what they did.
"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
why would our party do better than Greens, etc.
as I see it, there are two problems that limit our choices.
1. Time- we may not have a lot left. we can't afford to let the government continue on this track for even 10 more years.
2. Scale- the most pressing problems require federal action. 100 free-lunch programs won't stop the war, raise wages. or get us MFA.
What we need probably has to come from Congress, and it can't wait long.
This is my problem with "fuck electoral politics". It is almost certain that public policy will be made by Congressmen, not community organizers.
if we leave it to them, they will make all the law they need to snuff us out.
worse than useless to elect more corrupted, gutless, dems.
agree on that. But if we don't oppose & defeat them in the elections, our chances are near zero , imo.
thx.
Okay, but how do we do this?
The grassroots couldn’t even save Dennis Kucinich from the bipartisan conniving that eliminated his district, thus gerrymandering him out of his seat.
"how do we do this?"
This is a path to follow. It probably leads nowhere,for any of many reasons.
There does seem to be a division here between those who want to see c99 used in a more active way to influence elections, and those who don't.
I would like to know how that question resolves first. Pointless to spin plans for c99 action if the desire is not here. Really this is a question for site management to answer. (if it is worth their attention)
Some ideas were given in Joe Shikspak post. I have posted on it, but these involve c99 and may be DOA.
thx.
Popularity will kill this place, kill it dead
thanks for having the discussion, it's my view that more is not better. I think blogs are practically worthless for political action. If y'all want to make money, a profit or whatever, that might be doable with ads and stuff, whatever new robot reaper BigTech is pushing. Trying to grow a movement on the Internet sounds like kos exactly, please don't. If money is a problem just say, why not be transparent about funding and goals and such?
Wrangling political action on the Internets is McBullshit when oligarchs own every piece of it, they just turn a knob here and there when users get too out of line. If you don't believe me, disconnect from your "social" media for a month and observe the environment around you instead. Come back and tell me what difference it made to your brain thinking, I'll bet it is yuge. Maybe not, but that is what I see, different worlds.
Small is beautiful.
I understand your viewpoint about small is beautiful
because I share a lot of it. It's so nice to come to small, civil community that is free from swarms and highly enforced groupthink. I think most of us share one common thought which is that the current political system and both parties aren't providing what we need and everything else just kind of jumps off from that. And, everything doesn't need to be seen through a political prism either, since the there is food to make, roses to smell, movies to watch, music to hear and stories to tell as well.
The one statement that I disagree with is "I think blogs are practically worthless for political action." I think most of the most valuable information I have gleaned over the past few years has come from blogs, large, small and in-between. They function as news aggregators, education and information sharing, venting vehicles, opinion shapers, etc. I wouldn't be the person I am now if it hadn't been for blogs being the University of the World.
" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "
Good as information clearing houses
not so good as action vehicles. I am talking about results, like NODAPL was great for raising awareness, and that has value that sometimes leads to positive action, usually on a looooong arc not seen in one or two election cycles. Accurate timely information is essential, I think. Blogs are good for that, I mean where is NODAPL now? In court, the camps are gone, the oil is flowing, spilling in fact, and the organizing was all done on Twitter and Facebook mostly. That's considered winning? Protestors beaten and arrested while tv nation snoozes online = not a victory in my book. It is one step forward, two steps back.
I think action organizing has to take another form short term. People need something to do between elections, Clintons are sucking up all the air again, blogs aren't enough to battle big money, big this, big that, big solidarity marches. That stuff is covering up what's left of the human detritus down here on the bottom. There it is I guess, it's just me, I might be the only one so close to the edge here. Forget it, please proceed. LOL just kidding, you know what I mean, I hope.
Thanks
Edit: dang I cannot type the phrase "you know what I mean" properly the first time ever, always leave out 'know'. Where's Freud when... oh never mind. heh
@eyo You don't base the
You don't base the movement on the internet. You use the internet as a communications device for the movement, for as long as that is possible.
When it ceases to be possible, you move to your backup plan.
"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
Kos is their scarecrow for the "left".
He's been a dick for so long that the vast majority of actual leftists left his "left" site long ago. Now he's a nice, friendly target to get the MSM some brownie points. Everybody hates him, so let's DOGPILE!!!!!
Standard DNC playbook. He's "Designated Bad Guy" again, just like when he went after Lieberman. (Even though he was doing the right thing at that point, now they want to bring in the "Stop Calling Me an -ist" voters, so they're going after him to try to distance themselves from that message. Apparently people got sick of the labeling and are actively shutting off that message.)
He'll be reformed just in time for Clinton to run again.
Random good music to enjoy.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ylyqoxh-cXk]
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
What was that line from Sense8?
I'm going to mangle this but it was something like:
"A label is the exact opposite of understanding". In that same vein, Democrats like to toss around the pejorative labels and it is EXACTLY because they don't want to understand. The Democratic party cannot afford for us to understand each other. Neither can the Republican party.
That outcome would be the end of the oligarchy.
A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard
Bingo. That outcome would directly
threaten our oligarchy as it always has had the potential to do.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
In Quantum Mechanics ...
... we often say, "You can (pick one, or all) {measure it, calculate it, name it, describe it, detect it, et cetera} but that doesn't mean you understand it.
But I am certain you are thinking of a quote in some other context.
have you seen "A Serious Man"
by Coen brothers.
@SnappleBC Well said.
Well said.
"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
@SnappleBC That's why the Occupy
That's why the Occupy encampments had to be taken down.
Too much talking among the little people--even little people with vastly different ideologies.
"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
Cenk Burned GOS and the Politico Article Yesterday
Check out this video by Cenk of TYT.
Never mind that Cenk ended up supporting the baroness in November, but the smackdown is masterful.
One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will. To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.--Tennyson
I can't never mind what people like Cenk do when it matters.
Democratic politicians in DC will do fine whether or not they get re-elected to the same office or higher office. https://caucus99percent.com/content/base-jonesing-lesson Hillary and Bill are perfect examples of how well DC pols do even when not holding office. However, when DC pols do get elected or re-elected, they can do horrific damage, like the Commodities Futures Modernization Act of 2008, which sucked money out of the globe, ffs--the US, the UK, Greece, Portugal, Spain, etc.--and DOMA and DADT and so much else.
So, yes, I do very much mind someone making a living from the left out of bashing Democrats--except for the only times that it actually matters to the left and to hundreds of millions of Americans and others around the world. I will not give them my money or my time or even a click.
Dead nuts. Cenk totally
nails it, I couldn't agree more. And, kos has his nose up the Corporate party's bung hole so far one would think he's smelling what they shovelling. But, no. He's totally immune or oblivious to the turd the party's become, just waiting to be flushed.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
@Wink
It's landing in a solid gold toilet. What else really matters?
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.
Where to begin?
First, you don't invite DNC bots to a Democratic ideas conferences if you want ideas.
Second, the Clintons seem to believe--inexplicably--that the way to get people on their side is to berate them. In the 2008 primary, Clinton supporters like Krugman attacked "Obama boys," which was not only dumb, but charged with both racism and misandry. In 2016, it was "Bernie Bros" in the primary and "deplorables" in the general.
Taking that inexplicable tactic attitude to people just devastated by a disaster is another level, but it's not that much of a leap, is it? And, btw, hurricanes don't skip Democratic voters or lesser of two evils voters. So, in addition to being a horrible remark, it's not an intelligent one.
As far of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, looking like the Tea Party: Nope. What actually looks a lot like the Tea Party? The Third Way wing of the Party--and for good reason. The Koch brothers conceived, funded and guided both the Democratic Leadership Council and the Tea Party. So, they're fraternal twins, both designed to take the country (and other countries) to the right to make the rich richer and the poor poorer.
Finally, this has nothing to do with Kos, but it's much more important. I cannot stress this enough: Ignore income inequality. It's a red herring or a shiny thing. Absent armed revolution, the US government is never going to tell Exxon or General Electric what it can or cannot pay its top earners. All government is ever going to do about income inequality is maybe raise the minimum wage very little and probably also very slowly. So, we'll still have people making $20 million a year while others make $7.55 instead of $7.25 Whooptiefrickindo.
Focus on wealth inequality. Stop handing over our forest lands, mineral rights, oceans, etc. to the rich for next to nothing. Stop structuring tax laws so that Warren Buffet gets taxed less than his secretary. Stop keeping fines for breaking laws so low that they are a mere ordinary cost of doing business and well worth it, rather than painful, and so on.
Income inequality is key....
They need to pay their fair share. How much money they make is up to them. I just want their taxes to go back to rates they paid under Eisenhower. They either make it here or sell it somewhere else.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
oops....
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Nope
It should be said twice!
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
damn
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
@HenryAWallace
Public property belongs to the public. Nothing belongs to 'the government', (which is only legitimate in the US, when 'of, by and for the people') or to any public servant transiently holding a public office, which is delegated power by the public and having a salary paid by public money for the purpose of administering public property, public programs and all public policy in the public interest.
This needs to be mentioned. A lot.
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.
I think it's important
in many ways to keep an eye on Markos and occasionally remind people of what he is up to and what he stands for. He still wields some power on the national level and I think he is pissed off that the Bernie Sanders candidacy ruined some of that just when Kos was positioning himself for more power. Who knows, maybe he was hoping to have a spot in the White House somewhere under Hillary. He can still make mischief for the new left movement, so a report once in awhile on this site is a good idea.
"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin
I agree
It's why I still go to DKOS daily. It's opposition research.
A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard
THIS:
Fishtroller02 said:
The truth so concise, and written quite nice
Which is why I decided to re-post it twice!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
that's why I left his site.
Before this election, I truly felt part of a community there most of the time. But when he jumped on the Bernie-racist bandwagon straight from the Clinton camp, I knew something had snapped. And when he banned anti-HRC comments, diaries, or analysis, but said "Bernie Bro" was A-OK? That was chilling. And when his own straw polls showed month after month that Bernie was the 2/1 favorite of his site's members, he clearly gave us all the finger. I don't stay where I'm told I'm not welcome. He's like Huffington, a republican who cashed in by being anti-Bush.
The democratic party will continue to dwindle as they keep trying to compete with republicans as bribe-takers for the 1%, crying only for wedge social issues. So far, they've brought us what is now incipient fascism, also known as out-and-out fascism for many who suffer its worst abuses.
"Fear is the mind-killer" - Frank Herbert, Dune
Without Markos electoral savvy dems would be in the minority
Lucky for the
republicansdemocrats.not worried about 2020?
great -- another GOP sweep of the state legislatures in a redistricting year.
jackass.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
@UntimelyRippd
I'm thinking that once the US Constitution has been rewritten to suit the corporate overlords, by the then-sufficient Republicans, Americans can no longer claim (oft-ignored) Constitutional rights to have any legal protections judicially considered in what will no doubt be be then-entirely 'Simon Says' 'laws', or in directly corporate-run courts, as described in the still-being-promoted TPP and other corporate coup 'trade deals'. Not that The Psychopaths That Be and their lackeys don't claim to be 'above the law', anyway...
Then the various halves of the Corporate Party will no longer be required at all, and I wonder what reward their components might expect from the other ruthless psychopaths who've found them useful up until then, with no law protecting anyone from the most powerful among the top fraction of the 1%? Traitors often don't fare well, after-the-fact, because it's been proven that they'll serve the highest bidder and can never be trusted by anyone, and, as previously mentioned, there will be no law but that of the mightiest of the mighty makes right.
And they might want their paid-out money back; what will remain to sustain those ever-increasing profits of the pathologically greedy but to predate upon those mere hundreds-millionaires below them until those run dry and TPTB begin to cannibalize each other for every trillion they can get?
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.
I Completely Agree. nt
“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu
Holy shit. I'm in agreement with Markos Moulitsas.
I don't know why anyone would have a NYT subscription either.
"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
Anyone with puppies
might need one, but aside from that...
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
Thanks for this post. Sharing one from JPR
https://jackpineradicals.com/boards/topic/markos-at-cap-event-that-grass...
I shared the link to this post there as well.
Thank you!
We always appreciate cross posts from friends who want the same things.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Great thread over there!
I go over almost daily because you guys are some of the very best aggregators and commenters anywhere after you threw off the DU shackles and went independent.
I'm really disappointed that the full comment of Marko's referenced by The Nation wasn't reported in full -
"Markos Moulitsas drove the point home when he huffed during a panel about “that grassroots Bernie thing” and how it was a detriment to the party."
But HOW did he define it as a detriment to the party? More of his "economic justice detracts from social justice" bullshit? How he gets away with that crap I'll never ever know and how any reasonable person can subscribe to it, I'll also never understand.
" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "
Markos slammed again
He simply makes Democrats look bad
Ignorance and arrogance writ large - and I don't mean Kos,
even though he is ignorant and arrogant.
The writer of that article is willfully blind/deaf/mind-blasted to the reality that the Clinton Creature did NOT "quite easily best" Sanders - she and all of her Machine lied, cheated, arm-twisted, bullied, called in favors, blatantly rigged primary after primary after primary - and still was Crowned By Fiat rather than winning the nomination honestly.
Hand-picking her in a smoke-filled room without any "primary" smokescreens WOULD HAVE BEEN FAR MORE HONEST.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
@TheOtherMaven
Thank you so very much for saying what I now don't have to, much better that I would have and without any swears, lol.
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.
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