Markos is on a mission against Bernie supporters
Loyal establishment foot soldier Markos Moulitsas has gotten his marching orders - Slander Bernie Sanders and all of his supporters.
He warmed up his message on the GOS and now he's taking the show on the road. And as you might imagine, he fumbled it.
In what can only be called a hatchet job, Kos joined Thompson to shill his new book, which he (for whatever reason) brags he wrote in only three weeks. But while on the show he had plenty of rage to spew at Sanders and other progressives, going back to the "Bernie Bros" days.
Kos began discussing Sanders and his followers as "mostly white, mostly male," saying that they are "pretending" to argue about economic issues.
Of course a recent poll shattered that myth, but then Markos is post-fact anyway.
Kos consistently tries to mischaracterize Sanders's platform by arguing that it is only about economic issues, and he says that it "only comes from white people because everybody else knows that economics aren't the root cause of things like racism and sexism." (Personally, as a minority female, I disagree with Kos's statement dramatically...)
"Everyone knows" that isn't true but Markos and this Salon article from Monday, which claims that minorities don't care much about economics.
Kos then goes on a somewhat unhinged rant about how Sanders followers attack people for supporting Hillary Clinton (yes, Kos you were so courageous to support the establishment candidate who everyone thought would win) due to a purity test, as he and Thompson pushed a purity test regarding abortion.
Markos will decide what to test for purity and what not to.
In a not so surprising coincidence, the Clintonian mouthpiece Washington Post, accused Sanders and his supporters of "stumbling toward liberal purity" today. I guess we know what the new talking point is.
Later, Thompson went on to attack Sanders regarding United Airlines (your guess is as good as ours), and more, before he and Kos start start making snarky remarks about Sanders and the fact that he's technically an independent. And they argue that Sanders supporters are bots:
Did you know that c99p is full of bots?
In a related note, I ran across this.
Markos Moulitsas Zuniga trashes Berkeley progressives, supports developers' shill
In case you ever wondered about the definition of “hypocrisy”, you might just want to compare and contrast a couple of documents which can be found online today.
Comments
Off the deep end. But he began that over a year ago.
He does sound more shrill every time he spouts. And his logic escapes me. No, there is none. Teslas are bad for the brain?
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
The Kos Mutiny.
He's sounding more and more like Captain Queeg every day.
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
Frigate. Ship happens.
That might be it
It could be that he feels honestly betrayed by us for not following "his leadership".
Or more likely, he feels entitled and privileged to control our votes.
Maybe we should start calling him...
Old Orange Stain
Also, any mention of strawberries now triggers an immediate time out.
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
He's fighting for his meal ticket, car paymen, and relevancy.
His shit site isn't even in the top 500 on Alexa
His shit has gotten 'flakey' (as we used to say a number of decades ago).
EDIT: forgot Alexa link
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/dailykos.com
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
Nice!
Yaldabaoth, Saklas I'm calling you. Samael. You're not alone. I said, you're not alone, in your darkness. You're not alone, baby. You're not alone. "Original Sinsuality" Tori Amos
DK's rank in the US:
It's the Rank of the Beast!
"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama
Equating opposition to Clinton as a purity test is like
calling opposition to mass murder and genocide quaint. His support for Clinton and the democratic party destroys any moral authority he seems to think he has.
That's the thing people just aren't getting, it's people like the little CIA dude that ARE the democratic party. That's what it is and always has been. There's no changing that because you'd still have to coexist in the party with people like him and they own it, that's why he gets on TV. Why on earth do that? Why engage in a battle to reform a party filled with people like that? It doesn't make sense.
But Al, I want to associate with beautiful people
like Kos. I have a snapshot from when we were dating
Please don't post that again. I can't unsee that! LMFAO!
The real SparkyGump has passed. It was an honor being your human.
Never let thumb screws become the enemy
of bamboo shoots under the fingernails.
@Big Al Because people know that
Because people know that if they give up on the Democratic Party, they are giving up on our political system. That terrifies them and makes them lose hope, because it makes it obvious that our situation, if not our behavior, is revolutionary. The possibility of reform, or of influencing the United States government in any way, is now defunct. It is a system which will steamroll over us in the order and time of its choosing, in the same way that its so-called "private-sector" counterpart, financialized corporate capitalism (mainly banks and big corporations) will steamroll over us in the order and time of ITS choosing. In fact, there is very little daylight between those two entities.
Very few people want to face the fact that they are fighting the US government, an insanely wealthy international banking cabal, the heads and boards of the most powerful and wealthy businesses in the world, and the armies, spies, assassins who are willing to work for them. Even fewer people can face that fact and then say: "So what should we do next? Let's plan."
EDIT: Which is not to say that there aren't plans that could be made, infrastructure we could build, ways to help ourselves and each other, ways to simultaneously undermine the structure above us. Of course there are, and I think they're well worth doing, but since there's no guarantee anything we do will save us--well, it takes a certain kind of person to want to build something without that guarantee.
This is more or less where I am. Don't know if there's going to be a ship for me, though. (Start at about 1:27)
http://www.openculture.com/2015/10/hear-ursula-k-le-guins-story-the-end-...
"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
We either plan to
beat them, regardless of the odds, or we eat what they feed us.
As Solo said, "don't tell me the odds... "
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 We agree on this.
We agree on this.
"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
He did this same thing in his diary on DK a few days ago
He said the exact same things about Bernie's supporters being white males only caring about economic issues and boy was he taken down in both the comments and the diary that Subir wrote in response, as well as Bob Swern today.
And of course the Hillary supporters went after anyone who disagreed with him.
He went on and on about the Bernie bros and said a bunch of BS about how they didn't care about women's rights and other nonsense that he didn't bother to back up with facts.
He said that he only recently became rich, but IIRC his family is very successful in El Salvador and they own a hotel chain or something.
Someone called him out on this and he and others went after that person.
And a few people said that he only wrote the diary for click bait
Many people pointed out that Bernie has a 100% rating by NARAL and Hillary said that she wasn't in favor of late terms abortions and that even Barack was inconsistent on abortion rights because he put the Hyde amendment in the ACA.
And guess who he got his talking points from? Her herself. Listen to the people cheering her as she says that economic equality won't fix a bunch of 'isms'
Apparently the Democratic Party members can't walk and chew gum at the same time since they think that women's issues have to be fixed before they can address economic issues. I think that they can work on both issues.
Heh, look at the Hispanic man on the right of her. He doesn't look like he's buying into her BS. The Black lady on her left doesn't look like she's buying it either.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Leave my abuela alooooonnne!
Oh NO
Oh God, that was so cringe worthy. I just can't imagine how anyone could look at that and think that was a good idea to say.
That black woman looks absolutely pained
to me. I noticed that when I first watched that clip in another diary. They'll do or say anything to avoid that gorilla in the room of economics as they've done all along.
Edited to add that our lousy economy hurts women and particularly children, and I'm quite sure poverty is a little bigger issue than sexism in that case but hey, never let some truth get in the way of a good narrative.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
That'll get you banned
Even if it is true.
Maybe an essay I don't know
This is something I still scratch my head at because I'm still confused by the implications.
They say they are on a battle to combat and end racism and sexism and homophobia, etc. etc.
Ok, so my problem with this is, how do you legislate that away?
Economic equality is tangible. Money in my pocket. Healthcare is tangible. I can get a necessary surgery. Environmental protection is tangible. Hey the river isn't filled with oil.
But how do you legislate away a mindset? That is what racism and sexism ultimately are. Mindsets. Preconceptions that people latch onto.
Can you legislate things to mitigate an effect or correct a wrong, such as unequal rights? Yes, gay marriage for instance (which Obama erroneously gets attributed to which I hate).
I ask because look at the War on Terror. That is unwinnable. There is no end goal. Terrorism is a tactic, not an ideology or state. I ask what is the end goal of ending racism, sexism, homophobia? I mean I say this as a bi guy. Are there people who will always just be uncomfortable around me? Yeah, you bet. Can I legislate that feeling they have away? No. Can we have legislation allowing gay adoptions or ending being fired for being gay? Absolutely.
Overall, I guess my point is that these aren't battles that just end. In fact, I don't think they can end. You can't legislate away internal thoughts or feelings. We can ultimately mitigate those actions that bubble to the surface. Trying to combat issues like this is more of social movements, of people working through biases and even potential hate. This isn't solved by a top-down executive order.
I found a link to these Wikileaks email releases
on the Markos article.
There are some doozies in this..
http://emptylighthouse.com/wikileaks-emails-4-1453110518
Her thoughts on the TPP
I'm not sure which way she is leaning on it but it's great that we never had to find out. I think she would have voted for it.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Calling HER a weasel is an insult to weasels
HER logic processes make pretzels and corkscrews look like straightedge rulers.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
Rich, old, white men
He must have Bernie supporters confused with his blog.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Touche!
Great comment!
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
@dkmich ROTFLMFAO! God, I love
ROTFLMFAO! God, I love you, dkmich!
Markos' rich old white men are DIFFERENT. Donations to Hillary make them so.
"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
He's got his message and he's sticking to it.
The Salon article was beyond belief as well.
Messaging central and the machine mockingbirds are all on the same bizarre script and they continue to be organized in a concerted effort to define progressivism or Sanders ism as some kind of white male elitism that has no interest in social justice, which is beyond bizarre. The effort from the get go has been stigmatization, plain and simple, in order to make the line items Bernie stands/stood for (like single payer healthcare) unacceptable.
Kos deserves to mocked and ridiculed, as do others who try to work this angle. I think it requires ongoing scrutiny and commentary and disagree with those who advise us to ignore it and move on. I don't agree with Big Lies going unchallenged. Don't ignore it, but do move on and find better and more deserving vessels for hope and change than the Democrats. How much proof do people need that the Democrats are just not into Liberal/Progressivism and any evidence otherwise is window dressing and lip service?
The Democrats are going full steam ahead in their gameplan to isolate and ostracize progressives of the Sanders ilk, and to go major Blue Dog Centrist Nicer Than Republicans But Better Because We're Not Racists/Sexists. When Elijah Cummings makes repeated comments about needing more Blue Dogs, the handwriting is on the wall.
If there was ever any doubt about the possibility of reforming such an entity from within, I would say that goal is looking less and less feasible. Why sentence ourselves to more decades at the Kiddie's Table at Party gatherings? One of the very first diaries I ever wrote at Daily Kos was in fact Why Liberals Sit At The Kiddies Table At Democratic Party Events in 2000 and f-ing 11 and it could have been written yesterday because exactly nothing has changed. Actually, what has changed is that more people now will self-identify as "liberal" as opposed to "moderate" than back then but it wouldn't make a butterfly's flutter of difference to TPTB. What would make a difference would be if we organized ourselves into a completely separate tent outside of the Democratic Party's influence and control.
" “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 "
Every word true, Phoebe
I still had hopes as recently as a couple months ago, but I'm convinced now that the DP needs to be abandoned to wither and die.
Our energies should be focused on building our coalition with the most effective organization available. Unfortunately, I'm not exactly sure what org that might be, but committing to the abandonment of the DP is at least a start.
my favorite part of your DK Diary:
"McDonald's and the backseat of a Pinto"! Love that! And oh, so very true!
(You could re-post the entire Diary here, you know!)
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
DailyKos HQ is in the East Bay now
Just in case anyone was wondering how wonderful it is:
Gone in 30 seconds: Mob of up to 60 juveniles robs passengers on BART train, officials say
Maybe he doesn't remember a California without that kinda crazy, but I do. So yeah, keep supporting Ds and the like. Please proceed. One forward, two back. "That's the system."
Why not stop talking about him? All it does is make him money. Never mind, go on, someone has to push back on crazy, there is so damn much of it now it is the new normal. Thanks.
If only my employers had realized
I was a white male instead of a Hispanic female, I might have climbed that ladder faster and raised my income higher than even I could gave imagined! Why didn't they recognize me as such?? What an injustice for me! What a shame!
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
Oooo, victimhood caught perfectly!
It's the latest thing for the Religious, what was once the Upper-middle class, and uneducated white males and females. A strange agglomeration. Who feel no solidarity.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
(No subject)
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq_bjaI0NTo]
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
I love how they're so single minded in attempting to
destroy Bernie that they just painted themselves into a corner over abortion, conveniently ignoring their own VP candidate from just a few months ago. Remember, all Pro-life Dems are a no-go for elected office now and in the future.
But,surprise, surprise, I imagine there will be exemptions very shortly for the Big Tent, Blue Dogs in Red States Initiative. "Did we say that? We just meant that only Bernie Sanders couldn't endorse anyone with pro-life sentiments, no matter how tepidly."
" “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 "
Exactly, and Bernie Bro's
you know. But for Big Tent Democrats its OK to compromise, after all, they're NOT racist or sexist but pragmatists and they know what can realistically be done. Bernie Bro's are pie in the sky idealists who are ONLY concerned with middle class white males so it's NEVER OK for them. And that tired message of the economy, can't these Berners see it isn't the economy stupid but the racism/sexism and by God, we're going to fix that! That, and only that, is important and if you don't agree, you're a racist misogynist, sheesh.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
I remember when the Dems
I remember when the Dems decided to support Bob Casey. It was part of a larger decision to include pro-life politicians in the Democratic party to get more votes, gain more territory. We feminists were told to suck it up, Buttercup. Now, apparently, they're deciding to stab all those politicians and their supporters in the back. Understand, it's not that I'm all torn up inside about the pro-life folks and their feelings, but isn't this just one more indication of what the Dems really are? They would backstab their own grandmother. You can't make a deal with them. They just picked up those pro-lifers when they were useful, and they're tossing them aside now that they're not.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
From the last link in your essay
comes this scathing gem. My bolding added.
So why are we discussing Markos Moulitsis Zuniga since most of us have left dkos? For me, I do believe that it is important that we understand why kos is so offensive to us. Kos is the most overt and uncensored version of the privileged neoliberal that most of us can see on a regular basis. He is the epitome of how the neoliberal ideology is such a corrupting influence upon our society. He has the ability through his media to control a portion of and influence the public conversation in a way that is so detrimental to society while doing so under the banner of being a liberal blog icon. People like kos are in many ways a greater danger to the good of society than even a boorish right wing clown like Donald Trump. That is because kos has the veneer of liberal credibility.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
gg - this needs to go in every single comment
you might ever contemplate posting to a dkaos diary - no matter the subject title.
I wish I had written those beautiful words. You capture everything that can ever be said about him and his site. I might just use your words myself - should I ever have the temerity to every log into that piece of crap and comment again.
Nicely verbalized! Cheers!
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
Anyone is welcome to use that description
Thank you for your kind words. I try to look at things with the big picture in mind.
Neoliberalism and its companion neoconservatism are destroying societies and this planet. In my opinion, what Markos is doing now with dkos is acting as a propagandist for neoliberalism.
What Bernie's campaign did was show that the public embraces progressive ideals. As it has been posted here and elsewhere before, neoliberal Democrats hate progressives more than anyone else. By trying to destroy Bernie, they are really trying to destroy the public push for progressive policies.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
He's terrified. He sees that the Neo-liberal 'message'
of the Clinton Creature's DNC just doesn't fool enough people anymore . He HAS to demonize Sanders supporters. They've screwed with his grift and now it's time for him to flop and flail like a newly caught catfish just landed on the river bank.
I would LOVE to have been looking at him the minute it dawned on him that the Clinton Creature was losing. I bet that was something to see (and laugh about).
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
@gulfgal98 Poll after poll has
Poll after poll has shown that most Americans have liberal points of view on several issues.
From everything from the enviroment to healthcare the people want a better life for themselves and future generations. The DNC ignores these people at their own peril. Sanders is able and more importantly willing to reach out to a diverse segment of the American people. Please Bernie stay out of small planes TPTB hate you.
So succinct and so well stated Gulfgal
I have to echo Raggedy Ann's kudos. "The veneer of liberal credibility" - perfect. But the veneer is warping and lifting, revealing the plywood beneath to anyone who would care to look a little deeper.
I think it's sad, amusing and ironic that so many of the machine Dems are trying so hard to convince policy driven progressives that they are really sexist, racist, misogynists, when we know differently.
Hold on a moment. I just realized the flaw in my reasoning in the statement above. Those Dems are not trying to convince US, that we are racists/sexists, they are trying to convince OTHERS in order to poison the well our policy positions derive from, even if it makes no logical sense in any way.
For instance, how is single payer healthcare, which covers everyone, the fruit of a poisoned, biased tree? How is a living wage for everyone the fruit of a poisoned, biased tree? How is free tuition and the end of student debt bondage for everyone the fruit of a poisoned, biased tree? They must be committed to the belief that Americans are irretrievably malleable, gullible and stupid.
" “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 "
Thanks, Phoebe!
This is how I am seeing it too.
Daily kos is just one arm of the propaganda push to isolate and de-legitimize progressive policy positions. They are using attacks on Bernie to do so, but they are really attacking the policy positions he stands for. There is the print media, particularly New York Times and the Washington Post. Then there is visual media represented mainly by mainstream television and cable like MSNBC. And finally there is on line media of which dkos appears to be taking the lead.
It is a concerted effort to poison the well which is why I have no problem discussing what Markos is up to in terms of policy. Markos wants to be a player and therefore I believe it is legitimate and important to call him out on his hypocrisy. The last link in gjohnsit's essay does it very well.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Totally agree and so well put.
While I myself won't go back there, I'd just cuss someone out anyway so what is the point, I do think it's important to at least attempt to get to the people who don't know what that site really is. As you say, Markos and crew are disparaging more than just Bernie, but working very hard to discredit his ideas, which resonated so powerfully with the electorate. They're fucking scared and they'll use whatever dirt they can. If not for that place I would not have found this place, and I would most likely still be reading the NYT and thinking that was truth. Maybe one day I will try to bring myself to go back there but I'm not good at keeping my cool and not sure I would do any real good.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
+1 gulfgal98
punctuation adjusted
You can +1 on that from me, too.
gulfgal98 showed us exactly why it is that dkaos' misdeeds do -- and really should -- matter to us.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
@Phoebe Loosinhouse Do you mind if I use
Do you mind if I use your comment as a jumping-off point for an essay?
"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
Be my guest, Can't Stop the Macedonian . . .
And, while I thank you for your courtesy, no need to ask in the first place; I'm often kick-started by someone else's observation. Otherwise we'd just be talking in circles to ourselves.
" “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 "
@Phoebe Loosinhouse I just spent, well
I just spent, well wasted, a lot of time putting together a long essay about who Markos is actually talking to. Decided it wasn't important enough to warrant an essay, because I think most people on here (understandably) don't care who Markos is talking to! but my conclusions are
1)"Put me in, Coach!"--Markos desperately doesn't want to be cut from the team. This latest, erm, onslaught is an attempt to impress the coaches of Team Blue.
2)"We were always at war with Eastasia"--Markos helping with the general rewriting of American political history, pushing an oddly recalcitrant public into a Black vs white, left-vs-right attack on itself (you'd think these tendencies would be strong enough on their own, but they apparently require more lighter fluid dumped on them. Reason? Well, maybe there's still too many people hating on the rich elites.) The DNC and the powers it represents want Black people NOT to be on the side of the left in that left-vs-right fight; they also want to be sure no new left-wing Black movements arise. They are pushing the American version of Macron vs Le Pen: be a white neo-Nazi mad at the establishment, or be the neoliberal establishment; no third option available.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
The why for me
When he's ranting to his amen choir on DKos it's not important.
But in this case he went off-range, so it was worth noting.
Nice work if you can get it
He's the Democratic equivalent of Ann Coulter: he lives for the attention his bomb throwing brings along with the money that accrues to his notoriety. However, he's much worse than Coulter: he and his site are a fifth column undermining the 99% while pretending to oppose the plutocrats. At least with Coulter you know your dealing with a rghtwing demagogue; is hard to believe anyone could be less honest than Coulter but never underestimate the power of blind ambition.
The Art of the Smear ...
It's what they know, it's what they do.
This is what the Wall St. Dems are defending:
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
they must hate that graph.
Should be illegal, a picture like that.
That chart suggests the obvious
The more that is paid into healthcare the longer the average lifespan will be. But the US is "exceptional" so we spend more on healthcare and get shorter lives.
Beware the bullshit factories.
What that chart doesn't show
is for the first time since 1993, life expectancy has dropped in 2015 despite annual cost increases of 6.8%(2015) and 6.5%(2016).
As a comparison, Canadian health care costs have increased approx 1.7%/yr during this same period while life expectancy continued to rise at a faster rate than the US.
Maybe the US should decrease spending? I've always felt that there is something terribly wrong with increasing doctor visits and hospital stays - there seems to be a direct correlation with death. /s
If you don't like Hillary you're a racist.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG7w3Oey3xs width:500 height:300]
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
There were times during the primary when the Dems
reminded me of Nixon, especially the Nixon who smeared and slandered Helen Gahagan Douglas. And, in a way, it figures. Their ideology, and real platform is warmed over Reagan, which is becoming harder and harder to sell openly, so they dig back into the GOP bag of tricks from which they seem to get most of their ideas anymore and turn into Tricky Dick.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
But Hillary said "We are not Denmark" and was dang proud of it.
We are proud to have people die for the lack of medical care. Shows American's have moxy.
I thought only Mainers / New Englanders had moxie
https://infogalactic.com/info/Moxie
http://moxiefestival.com/
Now that is interesting...
Not surprising
The stats show that those in the top quintile have a life expectancy of almost 90 and that appears to be there semen that matters to the Dem PTB.
The Republicans continue to round the bases.
While the Dems consistently leave runners on base. All the while, we are relegated to playing with our gloves, sitting in the bleachers.
Meanwhile, Team Climate Change continues to dominate the leagues.
We have to figure out a way to rally.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
This little video
about Markos' thoughts about the CIA ended my belief that he was just a Party zealot. I think I saw it last year at DailyKos during the purge. Perhaps one of you linked it. Anyway, it's beyond creepy. See what you think.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK6CinsGYC0
Two thoughts
1. When looking at the Harvard poll we should remember that it was taken after the election. It shows what people have learned, not necessarily where they were at the time, a trend that needs reinforcing to sustain.
2. I like to bring up my version of the 4 generations theory - in this case that society is dominated not only by those aged 20 - 40, those who do all the working and the fighting and the consuming and trendsetting, but those 50 - 70, who control social institutions, who set the context the younger live in. Who is just entering that age group right about now? "Yuppies" - what we who were the working poor in the 80s called "yupscum" because they were highly capitalistic and enthusiastically accepting of the hierarchy (because they now had some privilege and remembered that their parents didn't) but also claimed socially liberal views (when it didn't threaten their privilege) because they had to pretend they were moral.
I think that explains HER followers' position that economics has to come after isms - that they have to convince themselves that they are moral, no matter the truth.
On to Biden since 1973
'controlled opposition'
I've seen this guy on TV and there's not a cop in the country who wouldn't take him for a well-to-do white man. It's hilarious that he pretends 'working stiff struggling to get by' isn't the largest identity group in America; there's need to address them as voters. Then again his brief childhood in central America, member of a privileged family, plus his non-laborer income as a privileged internet company owner would let him pretend he's part of an oppressed minority and tend to make him blind to reality.
You'd think seeing fewer and fewer Dems getting elected over the life time of his website, would make him rethink his approach -- letting the trolls hound more and more people away from the party.
But then again, there's what a controlled opposition would try to get done.
Orwell: Where's the omelette?
Yeah,
in the part in the video where he says he was about to join the CIA and decided to work for the Howard Dean campaign instead made me think maybe the Dean campaign was his first assignment for the CIA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK6CinsGYC0
@Linda Wood Good analysis.
Good analysis.
"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
Oh, Markos, they're playing your song.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeAWESP7THs]
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Bernie sums it up
he gets it
TOP failing in main mission? More and better democrats? where?
Given the total collapse of the democratic party under Obama, and even the failure to implement substantial changes for the years the democrats had control, then every large activist group has failed. TOP thinks they are a major player in electoral democratic party politics--I imagine they are to a certain extend, but are they are also electoral losers. These defeats have made the party basically a regional party, much like the gop was slowly becoming with it based in the South.
The only path to a majority party will not be through the party's own actions but because many independents will turn on Trump and the gop, and even as bad as Trump is, I don't think that that is an ensured outcome. Pelosi pretty said the strategy was to wait out the gop.
In their crusade/excuse to blame Hillary's loss on the Russians, the democratic party elders don't understand that they are the fools and incompetents if they really believe a bunch of Russians were more effective than them in reading the public and understanding such things that the Rust Belt was in play. Really, Putin knew WI was in play, but not Markos?
The people at TOP like to think of themselves as some electoral reality-based bad-asses but they completely failed to admit to themselves that Clinton was a horrid choice and that they had no message to sell. I remember how Sanders and his supporters were called racists for complaining how the primaries were fronted loaded with certain states. These reality based hard asses basically handed over say-so to state parties who couldn't win their own states. Yah, real reality based electoral hard-asses.
And of course, we will never know the extent of the cheating that went on to install the worst party candidate.
I could go on. But the early returns in Kansas and Georgia don't seem to be promising as the guy in Kansas was ignored, and the corporatist supported and looks to probably defeated in run-off. Democrats will win democratic counties, and maybe a few other areas, but not much more.
(Just an aside about numbers. A guy on TOP responded to a post I had on warning that the democrats were a coalition, and kicking groups out of the coalition not a good idea. He noted that while Obama got 30% of the white male vote, in absolute numbers, it was greater than all black votes combined regardless of who they voted for. The DenisePerson used to point out that white males were racists because of the lower percentage support. Well, the white male vote that Obama got, was something like 30% less for Clinton. Good job alienating a voting coalition that even at 30% was more votes than the entire black voting block. Given the low turn out and other voting patterns, Hillary managed to even "un-inspire" the party base.)