I had intended to write a piece about my impressions of this year's Primaries, some possible scenarios leading to various outcomes, and posit some questions as to why we have (or have not) seen certain moves by certain camps. I can still go there; but most of this has now been tsunami'd by the events of this past week, most notably the Nevada DemConv; furthermore the news that networks will no longer be hiring Exit Pollsters for the remaining Primaries.

If the Nevada Travesty was not enough, then the transparent and absurd Spin which is now being pursued & reported by the MSM should certainly Take the Cake. This story being pushed is quite simple, and many Progressives will argue it was probably coming, regardless of Nevada:
Bernie Supporters are beginning to get out of control, and are becoming a Threat to the Public.

MSM has apparently overlooked the fact that a few people AT the actual convention had in their possession some of them' newfangled Smartyphone thingies - you know, the ones which can actually take movin' pickchas (WITH sound, what'll they come up with next ?)…thus providing an accurate record of actual events.

One might be baffled as to why Rachel Maddow and company seemed to have forgotten about this latest technology. And if not perplexing enough, one might furthermore wonder why it took MSM anchors several days afterward to seek out people who actually attended the Convention (oh, say a Delegate or a State Senator, for instance) and maybe...interview 'em.

Add to this the recently released, and absolutely DAMNING, State Dept. IG's Report on Hillary's repeated violations of established security protocol - and the subsequent string of her public lies it revealed - and one might further think that certainly at that point the DNC (or at least many a SuperDelegate) would be abandoning the Sinking Ship.

Yet, no.

Instead the Dem spin, brought to you by the likes of DiFi and Hickenlooper, has been : "look we have a Primary to finish up and a Candidate to Nominate, let's just focus on that ...and forget this E-Mail Thing"

But all of this is a bit of a digression. Suffice it to say, whatever remnant of a DNC-Bernie bridge may have existed before the NV Convention on May 14, 2016 (and positing the existence of such would have been specious to begin with), that structure was completely demolished as of that date. A smoldering heap.

All subsequent, cringe-inducing Dem malfeasance since then is only pulverizing the ashes of that heap.

So what we are left with, on one side - is a Chosen One; an Establishment Candidate being supported by an establishment political party, so intent on bringing to fruition their Coronation, that they will clearly stop at nothing any longer. Their public disdain on full-frontal display:

Election-day vote fraud ?
(No problem)
Laundering of campaign funds to circumvent donation caps ?
(People have no time to pay attention to such minutiae).
Capricious 11th-hour rule changes to state convention rules in order to skew delegate distribution ?
(We got it covered).
Leaning on MSM to cancel Exit Polling ?
(That'll go under public radar, fer sure)
Coronating Oneself the Nominee with 6 states left to vote... and no path to reach req'd number of pledged delegates ?
(Just an example of confident leadership ability).

Hand-in-hand with a MSM which blatantly will not ask the real questions (or in the case of Nevada, even report the actual events which transpired), America finds itself at a crossroads.

And as I have argued online via social media, while all of this is reprehensible, unacceptable, frightening, maddening and often actually painful to experience..we must also step back and understand that it is We, the People, who are now in the midst of the greatest political and social shift in the history of the United States.

Scary…but also Phenomenal.
Dang.
What a Time to Be Here.

And all of this is unfolding at a breakneck pace…subtlety be damned. In the past week or so, alone, we have been awash:
From the Nevada events, to Cenk Uygr's astute tweeting of Joe Biden's 'well, if I were Prez' comment-dropping, to the exposing of the Clinton campaign receiving maxed-out donations from employees of the DOJ (the very same entity which will decide whether to call a grand jury to indict), to further released studies of Primary vote count irregularities, to the skullduggery which popped up in the final minutes of the KY Primary vote tallies, to the aforementioned news that the networks will no longer be using Exit Poll Data on Election days for the remaining primaries….

...the terrain shifts almost hourly.

As the plate tectonics continue, something is dawning on more and more American Progressives: Indictment or no indictment, the only way Bernie Sanders could possibly secure the Dem Nom would be by landslide victories in all remaining Primary contests. Given the voting irregularities already experienced, and given the fishiness of KY, we must admit to ourselves that this is just plain unlikely.

Even just a few weeks ago, it would have seemed that if/when Clinton was indicted, the Dem Nomination would surely be Bernie's. However, it becomes harder and harder hard to conceive of even this, any longer.

First of all, even if the FBI investigation (under Comey) concludes Hillary engaged in criminal activity, the likelihood that the DOJ (under Obama) would indict is very slim. If somehow an indictment was handed down, at this stage it is fair to say that we should not automatically assume Clinton would step aside.
Given the compulsive, disrespectful, scorched-earth approach exhibited by her thus far, her campaign might well deceive itself enough into concluding that she can continue on as nominee without an indictment effecting her chances.

Yes, it's absolutely absurd; but if past actions are any indicator, it is also quite plausible (I would even argue likely).

Now, by some crazy occurrence, if Clinton would actually step aside, there is little doubt (after Nevada) that the DNC would draft a replacement candidate, as opposed to allowing Bernie to secure the Nomination. Thus the recent public musings of Biden; creating some blips on the public radar (again).

In any of these scenarios, or any others one would choose to imagine; it should now be abundantly clear that for the Bernie Sanders Revolution to continue, it must be via a 3rd party candidacy.

As Jill Stein noted at the beginning of this Primary season: "what is impossible is for a truly Transformative change to happen inside a political party - like the Democratic Party, which is controlled by the Wall Street banks and the fossil fuel giants and the war profiteers. The party has systematically taken down the candidates who actually have integrity, like Bernie Sanders does." https://www.rt.com/op-edge/334275-us-trump-super-tuesday/

Please note, this is not saying Bernie's Dem run has been a mistake. Quite the contrary. His Revolution would never have gotten off the ground had it not been for the Dem Primary. Exposure would have been minimal, otherwise. He would never have succeeded in taking his message to all 50 states plus territories, otherwise.
He agreed to play by the Dem rules and has, IMHO, maintained a more positive campaign than he has a right to have maintained. He would certainly have been forgiven had he turned nastier and more negative.

And as a result of all of this, he has of course pulled the veil off of the Democratic establishment, exposing the Party for what it actually is.

Bernie will arrive at the Convention with the pledged delegates he has amassed, buoyed by the March on Philly which is sure to happen (be forewarned, one should expect the MSM to paint the March as a Threat to American Society).
Most certainly he will arrive there having denied the DNC's hand-picked, Chosen One the pledged delegates she needed to secure the Nomination outright.
In and of itself, this is a ...YUGE... embarrassment for Clinton. The Hillary candidacy exposed (once again, as in '08) as one which cannot gain traction with the Dem voter base. In essence illustrating that Clinton is a Losing Horse - even among the most loyal Party voters.

This is no small thing.

Most certainly MOST of the Superdels who have pledged to Clinton will NOT be moved to Sanders (yes, even IF the FBI leaks that a crime has been committed,even if an indictment is handed down by then). What occurred in Nevada should cement this realization..we need no more precursor examples, thank you.

And most certainly, at Convention the Clinton camp/DNC will NEVER accept the lines in the sand which Bernie insists upon: no more Super PAC funding, a single-payer healthcare system, and free college tuition PLUS refinancing of Americans' existing loans.

A few semantical tweaks of the Dem Platform, a few promises from Clinton (which she would certainly renege on in short order, if ever elected)….is not the endgame of the Revolution which Bernie has been leading. People are not marching on Philly for this.

The re-election of Tulsi, and perhaps the election of a small smattering of downballot BernieCrats nationwide…will not be the acceptable conclusion of a Sanders candidacy, of the Revolutton.

This would be, rather, a complete capitulation to Establishment Politics and the duplicitous "GOP-Democrat-2-party Charade. In short….a Revolution Crushed, the American Oligarchy Triumphant.

(although IMHO I have always considered the term 'Corporate Plutocracy' more apropos).

Some may argue that this is too pessimistic an attitude. That, rather than a Defeat, even these small steps will have sown a New Beginning.

And if this were 2004, I might agree with that.

However, it's not 2004. And at this stage of our Nation...at this stage of our Planet, I would submit that this is Pie in the Sky thinking. Too little, too late.
In a closing statement from an earlier debate (I believe Michigan, but perhaps it was another in and around that time) Bernie communicated this message himself (I paraphrase): "We are running out of time. It may already be too late, Corporations may already be too powerful".

So, while we should continue working hard for the campaign, and cheering on Bernie until the last primary in DC; while he will continue stumping indefatigably, and taking his message to all states and territories (as he should), at the end of the day the realization is dawning upon us that the only viable means for this Revolution to succeed is via a third-party candidacy. The Democrats have shown they will provide no such path, even if it destroys their own Party.

Ironic as it may seem, I am going to cut my piece 'short' here (I know, I know....verbosity has always been my friend) and will soon work up an entry on the various paths which still remain for a viable General Election path (there are a few). Thanks for taking the time to read this. Comments are, of course, welcome.