Open Thread 2016-13
News & views ...
Posted by b on April 1, 2016 at 18:12 UTC | Permalink
« previous pageI am impatiently awaiting the day when Trump decapitates this vaunted "Deep State." May I suggest that he refer to the demise of the Brownshirts for inspiration.
Posted by: Morongobill | Apr 3 2016 15:58 utc | 102
A diagnosis of thick skulled is likely for any who cannot understand that the ONLY way voting can be effective is to NEVER vote for an incumbent to high political office, on state level, on national level with one possible exception, that the incumbent demonstrates by their actual record in office complete disregard for the establishment and status quo. The establishment relies for its existence on the power of incumbency to control the system and will remain in control until it is removed by the roots from power, incumbency is the root structure. Otherwise you will continue the charade of constitutional democracy until slavery overwhelms your future. Do as you wish, collectively it is your decision - and responsibility.
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Apr 3 2016 16:02 utc | 103
Noirette@95
Yep, It says that democracy, national sovereignty and global economic integration are mutually incompatible: we can combine any two of the three, but never have all three simultaneously and in full.
Posted by: okie farmer | Apr 3 2016 16:05 utc | 104
Noirette, the post you guided me to was 2007. He's still at it.
March 11, 2016
More on the political trilemma of the global economy
Posted by: okie farmer | Apr 3 2016 16:20 utc | 105
south korea,
jeju [1] islanders sued for compensation by the navy , for *obstructing the forceful take over of their land !
http://space4peace.blogspot.sg/2016/03/navy-tries-to-kill-gangjeong-village-on.html
[1]
the gun pointing at the dragons' heart.
Posted by: denk | Apr 3 2016 17:09 utc | 106
@95 gee did he borrow that from the film-makers 'trilema'? You can make a movie 'cheap, fast and good - pick two'..
Posted by: aaaa | Apr 3 2016 17:22 utc | 107
The Unaoil scandal got virtually no coverage in the Press.
But now we have the Panama papers, a trove of secret financial dealings of a major off-shore law firm that were surreptitiously released to Sueddeutsche. Enjoy:
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 3 2016 23:17 utc | 108
To 99: Sigh. Love Russell Brand. Read Trews News all the time. When he started dating Jemima Goldsmith, figured his gig was up. Slipping-off the wagon didn't help. O what a tangled web we weave...
The hardest part of waking-up is realizing there are NO heros. Being alone gets easier with time. Cuz little by little one begins to recognize fellow-travelers. And finds encouragement from other truth-seekers. One sees TRUTH as the ONLY path forward.
I am grateful for posts I've read here. And at other sites. Over time. It's helped me re-adjust my internal bullshit meter. And think ON MY OWN. And I wouldn't go back to chasing heros for nuthin.
Posted by: 4H | Apr 3 2016 23:23 utc | 109
Panama Papers release organization is funded in part by George Soros as reported at its website,
"Recent ICIJ funders include: Adessium Foundation, Open Society Foundations, The Sigrid Rausing Trust, the Fritt Ord Foundation, the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, The Ford Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts and Waterloo Foundation."
https://www.icij.org/about
Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 3 2016 23:27 utc | 110
The panama papers look like part of the western propaganda attack Putin warned would come a few days back. Sad, a lot of good could come to the real economy if such material would fall into the correct hands - but no. When the BBC is asked to help out, then you know the boys in the city will be looked after.
Posted by: MadMax2 | Apr 4 2016 0:06 utc | 111
Are the Panama Papers really such a big deal. There's nothing illegal about tax avoidance.
Posted by: dh | Apr 4 2016 0:19 utc | 112
104
the link should be
http://space4peace.blogspot.com/2016/03/navy-tries-to-kill-gangjeong-village-on.html
bruce gagnon appeals to call the South Korean embassy or consulate and complain about this outrageous action to destroy Gangjeong village.
but the last time peace activists called sk embassy to protest, they were told
*Don’t call us, call your own (U.S.) government.they pressured us to do this !
Posted by: denk | Apr 4 2016 1:02 utc | 113
81, Oh, boo-hoo, chiefs of police, governors, mayors, big landowners, mining execs facing the wrath of the underdogs, the abused, the robbed, the tortured, the unjustly confined. It's an outrage!
Posted by: ruralito | Apr 4 2016 1:21 utc | 114
111
prior to the 1965 indon genocide cia was already busily honing its skill in jeju, sk.
*The Governor of Jeju at the time admitted that the repression of the Island’s 300,000 residents led to the murder of as many as 60,000 Islanders, with another 40,000 desperately fleeing in boats to Japan. Thus, one-third of its residents were either murdered or fled during the “extermination” campaign. Nearly 40,000 homes were destroyed and 270 of 400 villages were leveled. One of Robert’s cohorts, Colonel Rothwell Brown, claimed that the Islanders were simply “ignorant, uneducated farmers and fishers,” a weak excuse for repressing those who, Brown asserted, refused to recognize the “superiority” of the “American Way.*
the us installed strongman Syngman Rhee who oversee the brutal repression , died peacefully in hawaii [1] 7/1965, three months later the cia would launch its greatest hit of all time, the indon genocide.
Posted by: denk | Apr 4 2016 1:30 utc | 115
karlof1 @108, Madmax2 @109
I am also skeptical.
Strange how one scandal gets no attention then the next has The Guardian focusing attention on Putin & friends.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 4 2016 1:59 utc | 116
I made this video to expose what UN officials are doing to a great journalist reporting on the UN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnSG8OHR1q8
This Journalist Needs Our Help! See Protest for Matthew Russell Lee, Sign, Share Petition!
Please help get the word out about how the powers that be are retaliating against Matthew Russell Lee (the first blogger reporter at the UN who started covering the UN ten years ago.) He has been exposing corruption at the UN and even the corruption of the United Nations Correspondents Association and other journalists hate him for it. They have been trying to kick hi
Posted by: Tom Murphy | Apr 4 2016 2:01 utc | 117
113
the sk navy sue the jeju grandpas and grandmas for damages, cuz it has to compensate samsung the contractor for loss in work delay. thats rich.
those *“ignorant, uneducated farmers and fishers,* [sic] ought to sue the sk govn usg for the destruction of their paradise and their families. but do they have the means and recourse ?
*Community Torn Apart
The row over the naval base has cleaved the community of Gangjeong haenyo who have worked together for over 40 years into two opposing groups. The 65-year-old haenyo from Gangjeong says that a few haenyo in opposition to the base refuse to enter the water with base supporters. “Now there is no conversation between the two groups,” she laments.
Kang Ae-Shim, a 56-year old haenyo from the neighboring village of Bopan explained, “The money that the haenyo was given is what you can make in one year.” She described how the haenyo from Gangjeong and Bopan physically fought in the water — the very same women who for years ate dinner and sang together at noraebang (karaoke). But the Gangjeong base decision changed that dynamic. The haenyo from Gangjeong “don’t have much to say because they are ashamed,” says Kang. There is a saying that it’s better to go into the ocean rather than go to one’s own mother’s home to borrow money. “All the things that come from the ocean, the abalone, the snails — these are not just a matter of life, they are medicine that strengthens the life spirit.” Kang argues that pollution from the naval base will threaten the haenyo’s livelihood.
Gangjeong villagers told me of a recent survey revealing that 50 percent of haenyo were suicidal and 70 percent are extremely psychologically stressed. Hyun Ae-Ja, the former Jeju representative to the National Assembly who has chained herself to a tree blocking police and construction trucks from entering the farm road believes that “ultimately the Jeju naval base will bring the destruction of the community and life.”
http://fpif.org/naval_base_tears_apart_korean_village/
Posted by: denk | Apr 4 2016 2:19 utc | 118
re Panama Papers:LOL where's the Americans? How many shell companies are 'based' in the cayman Islands to hide Anglo money? I guess these vetted leaks can't reveal the home-team eh?
Posted by: aaaa | Apr 4 2016 2:26 utc | 119
The offshore banking industry is huge and very well connected. This expose won't make a dent in it.
It's just another attack on Putin and his ‘cronies’. Seems they try to get round Western sanctions. Shame on them.
Posted by: dh | Apr 4 2016 2:42 utc | 120
Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 3, 2016 7:27:49 PM | 108
(Panama Papers)
Yeah, another Yankee smear campaign with wa-ay too much (unintended, dopey) transparency.
1. Suddeutche Zeitung is in Yankee-occupied Germany.
2. The Papers have been entrusted to some embarrassingly incurious pro-American "News" outlets ... Guardian, BBC and ABC(au) 4Corners (ABC Oz still assures its audience (me) that Assad is an Eeevil Dictator who "kills his own people" and is as much under the thumb of the US Ambassador to Yankee-occupied Oz as the majority of Oz's senior politicians (Right-wing and Fake Left).
Here's a link from D Zeitung's website. It goes without saying that the "exposé" will have considerably some laughable omissions than embarrassing inclusions...
http://panamapapers.sueddeutsche.de/articles/56febff0a1bb8d3c3495adf4/
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 4 2016 3:05 utc | 121
considerably MORE laughable omissions than embarrassing inclusions...
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 4 2016 3:09 utc | 122
@120 I'm sure the Russians will be happy to publish the most laughable omissions.
Posted by: dh | Apr 4 2016 3:53 utc | 123
An international crime thriller (A four part series) with several mysteries and political intrigue that may involve intelligence conspiracy.
Posted by: Shadow Nine | Apr 4 2016 3:54 utc | 124
re the panama papers - good observations karlof1 and others... b has a post up on it now..
Posted by: james | Apr 4 2016 4:57 utc | 125
http://off-guardian.org/2016/04/03/panama-papers-cause-guardian-to-collapse-into-self-parody/
Posted by: FromTheHague | Apr 4 2016 4:57 utc | 126
Rg the lg @ 40,
Your link said "very aware of the fact that our political and economic systems have become totally corrupt. And yet these knowledgeable people still cling to the delusion that this tragic state of affairs can be changed by voting."
It's as if people don't integrate what they clearly know. The one that gets me is that so many people realize that the govt & media lie about pretty much all aspects of foreign policy. Clearly the media is not a free actor but must always toe the line of TPTB. Yet people want to believe the media (and even the administration!) on every false flag/hoax "terrorist" incident, and peak oil & global warming.
Posted by: Penelope | Apr 4 2016 8:20 utc | 127
81;Mel doesn't float your boat?An astute drunken comment huh?And notice his plethora output of filmdom since.Not.You can't fool with mother Israel.Apocalypto might have been the best movie of the 2000s,but hey,whats an antisemite to do?
Today we hear of Medicine Crow and his link to the Little Bighorn.Nowhere do they mention the Crow were the enemy of the Sioux Cheyenne and Arapahoe who fought Custer,and his Crow scouts.
Divide and conquer in the 19th century.
Wisconsin?A lot of evangelicals?I don't get the polls(of course they could be lying).Crazy Cruz?
Posted by: dahoit | Apr 4 2016 14:14 utc | 128
101;MSM onside with Trump?Not a soccer guy,but do you mean they support him?Nothing could be further from reality from my perspective.
Inadvertent,yes,their attacks backfire.Only idiots,and their dupers,Zion trust the MSM.
Posted by: dahoit | Apr 4 2016 14:21 utc | 129
Is their a list of army atrocities by all actors in WW2?A fair unbiased list?Offhand,I really can't remember German soldiers(outside of the SS)doing this,while pictures of marines flame throwing Japanese is distinct.
Propaganda strikes deep.
Posted by: dahoit | Apr 4 2016 14:24 utc | 130
Posted by: dahoit | Apr 4, 2016 10:21:13 AM | 129
Didn't mean to offend anyone...
I was corollar(y)ising. If the MSM stops reporting an Trump, theoretically he would/ should cease to exist. But He and They have made him such a sensation that, even if they tried to stop covering him, they'd have nothing to talk about on a slow news day. And imo everyone on the planet enjoys 45 seconds of Trump each day. Even Vlad probably gets his PA to keep him up to date on Trump.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 4 2016 15:32 utc | 131
Nearly an act of war by Saudis, really. But I doubt Iran will escalate since Saudis are US-protected. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-04-04/saudis-retaliate-oil-freeze-fallout-ban-transport-iranian-crude-territorial-waters
Posted by: Penelope | Apr 4 2016 15:36 utc | 132
by now, i hope nobody is still entertaining the idea that mh370 was an *accident* !
* It appears that Malaysia may be a target of Washington’s asymmetric warfare: one of its commercial airliners was shot down over Ukraine; another just disappeared without a trace—to this day. Now, Malaysia is in the midst of extreme political turmoil after $671 million mysteriously appeared in Prime Minister Razak’s personal bank account and he was unable to convincingly explain to the public how it got there.*
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/333746-america-south-china-sea/
Posted by: denk | Apr 4 2016 16:55 utc | 133
Psychohistorian, ever wonder exactly what the 'structural reform" is that they are pressuring China to do? Haven't had a chance to research it. China's already stopped teaching Marxism or Maoism (or whatever variant of Communism) to their new party members. They've jailed any old-school communists who complained of privatizing national industry.
--
Fast Freddy, "Moody's and S&P remain credible.
Ignored like the chemtrails in the sky and the impossibility of buildings free-falling in their own footprint. Ignored like the slaughter of millions of brown people across the earth. Like the moon rocks that came from Arizona."
Yeah, it's a bummer. Who would ever imagine that people would be afraid to admit that the sky has changed? Last week we had a tremendous wind that thrashed the trees and cleared the sky. Next morning the sky seemed more deeply concave in its beautiful deep blue w wonderful white clouds. It wasn't their morning to come to spray again; they only come about every 3 days. Must have been busy somewhere else. I had a whole day of the beautiful skies of my childhood. They came the next morning. Just two fine white lines, but of course they spread-- and in only a half hour my sky was only that dreadful cloudless white-powdered pale blue. I've not the faintest idea what it means. Do aerosols make it warmer to support the AGW myth? Or maybe it really does have a military use? The self-administered blindness of people frightens me.
Posted by: Penelope | Apr 4 2016 20:50 utc | 134
To 134: Wow. Thought it was just me. Been noticing a lot of BLUE SKIES lately. And puffy clouds without cross hatching. Almost as if they've been backing-off the chem-trails. Not entirely. But some. Could be program costs. Or maybe their OWN peeps are questioning its REAL purpose. And value to mankind. Those peeps have children and families too.
That wind the other night was biblical. Reminded me of this passage: "...and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks...but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice."
I detect a pattern of small and seemingly insignificant changes that indicates a paradigm shift. Something is changing. One feels it. In consciousness.
Posted by: 4H | Apr 4 2016 21:30 utc | 135
pen 134
whenever u heard the msm bleating about *china is jailing another dissident* they'r most likely talking about some ned/cia patsy such as liu xiaobo, a veteran of the tam destabilisation.
btw liu is hardly your idealistic defender of socialism. !
*If Liu had his druthers, China would: become a free market, free enterprise paradise; welcome domination by foreign banks; hold taxes to a minimum; and allow the Chinese version of the Democrats and Republicans to keep the country safe for corporations, bankers and wealthy investors. Liu’s problem with the Communist Party isn’t that it has travelled the capitalist road, but that it hasn’t traveled it far enough, and has failed to put in place a politically pluralist republican system to facilitate the smooth and efficient operation of an unrestrained capitalist economy.* [1]
more to the point,
the most dangerous threat to world peace is the unitedsnake, not china.
the chinese are basically minding their own biz while uncle sham is minding everybody's biz. there isnt a corner on the planet thats untouched by its grubby paws.
thats the big issue to me.
cynthia mckinney
* I wrote earlier that the US needs to forget its pivot to Asia and concentrate on improving the well being of its citizens, most of whom are suffering. While China focuses on lifting its citizens out of poverty, the US leadership seems bent on plunging more Americans into poverty as the military-industrial-national-security state plans to spend one trillion dollars on war and domestic policing. And no presidential candidates are willing to even talk about this travesty now that Senator Rand Paul has dropped out of the race. And you can count on the US media to keep the propaganda going. Sadly, somewhere in Washington, D.C. a tiny group of insiders is itching for a war with China and Russia. Let it be remembered that I voted against every war funding bill and the Pentagon budget while I was in Congress. Usually there were only a few, like Ron Paul, who joined me in those votes.
I still believe it is sinful for the US to spend so much on war, death, and destruction, especially while babies in the US go to bed hungry every night and people freeze in their homes for lack of heat or on the street for lack of shelter.*
p.s.
that god damned p8-a just buzzed overhead again,
i can understand more the plight of the okinawans now, those poor sods have to endured jet fighters screaming over their head 24x7 for the past 70 yrs forcrissake, not to mention 2/3 of their teen daughters getting raped/molested !!!
1]
http://www.globalresearch.ca/liu-xiaobo-s-nobel-prize-for-capitalism/21467
Posted by: denk | Apr 5 2016 1:05 utc | 136
Korean Lawyers Defend Village on Jeju Island from Samsung & Navy
http://space4peace.blogspot.sg/2016/04/korean-lawyers-defend-village-on-jeju.html
Posted by: denk | Apr 5 2016 1:19 utc | 137
in re 70 --
It doesn't really seem that earth-shattering. "The IMF, rapacious! Hold the presses, we'll need an Extra!"
It was with interest I noted the link on Greece. I wonder how many folks have actually read the transcript; it does not say quite what Tsipras and his apologists would have us believe.
For the record, we all of course are shocked, shocked by the mandarins of the IMF (or Foggy Bottom, or Whitehall, or the Kremlin, etc.) trading on human suffering to gain policy objectives.
Having dispensed with the moral pleasantries, an examination of the transcript shows that while the IMF hoped for events to pressure the Greeks, they did not know what exactly that event might be.
The Zero Hedge report cited above at has a link to Wikileak's release, but I found this transcript of it easier to use. It also seems to be the earliest news account of the leak.
Few have appreciated the truly significant point -- Greece is unlikely to meet the targets of or agree with the program of the Troika, and will not be offered debt relief.
The main participants are Delia Velculescu, Head of the IMF Representative Mission to Greece and Poul Thomsen, Director of the European Department of the IMF. Note that the transcript styles her "Velkouleskou" and I retain that below. I wonder what language it was transcribed from; the header of the email looks Spanish.
Was this the underlying capture, or from the source who passed it to Wikileaks? I thought it might have been an official transcript, sent to an "FYI" list, the recipient having edited and released it. Did the list belong to the IMF? Or GCHQ? Ft. Meade?
The EWG meeting is to be held on 7 April, they want an agreement by 13 April, Eurozone Finance Ministers meet on 15 April.
And so onto the main event -- and a fine bowl of cherries it is, too. Artisanally hand-crafted from transcript.
They begin by trying to set a return date for more preliminary talks; they don't want it to be too soon, as they say progress in the framework of ten to fourteen days unlikely, but the feel pressured to act.
Velkouleskou: And I feel that for this next mission that, at least the Europeans... have a deadline right? They are planning to finish one way or another by the spring meetings because of these presumed talks on debt that are going to take place by the spring meetings. So I don't know. I feel that this pressure will come anyway at some point on us, so... I don't know........We can report progress on that EWG [Eurogroup Working Group] and basically we need to have this debt discussion that prepares the Ministers for the following week, when they are thinking about April 15th or 16th, on the sidelines of our Spring meetings.
One could see how a leak now would give suitable time for the story to gain traction (deserved or not) conveniently close to the April meeting.
They then move on to discuss the outcome of the meeting.
Thomsen: I can tell you how that is going to turn out. There is no way that the member states are going to accept to lower the target for the program. This means that we will say that it does not add up....So the program is not financed and contingent debt relief... is not coming either, because they are not on track to meet the criteria. That is the whole point....
...I am going to say at the Eurogroup that "This does not add up to 3.5 and we will not go ahead, unless the Europeans lower their targets to 1.5, as far as spacing the disbursements are concerned". They are not going to do that. They are going to say no, stack more measures. That's clear, I have no doubt about that.
Velkouleskou: I don't know whether they are going to say that, that is the question. They need to take a stand on whether they believe our projections or the Commission's projections.
Thomsen: It is clear that they will just keep the ball in play... and send the mission back.
For Thomsen, whatever is agreed is a gain to be banked, and a stepping stone to the next tranche of cuts. When will he be able to book some profits for his strategy?
Thomsen: What is going to bring it all to a decision point? In the past there has been only one time when the decision has been made and then that was when they were about to run out of money seriously and to default... And possibly this is what is going to happen again. In that case, it drags on until July....Velkouleskou: I agree that we need an event, but I don't know what that will be. But I think Dijsselbloem is trying not to generate an event, but to jump start this discussion somehow on debt, that essentially is about us being on board or not at the end of the day.
Thomsen: Yeah, but you know, that discussion of the measures and the discussion of the debt can go on forever, until some high up.. until they hit the July payment or until the leaders decide that we need to come to an agreement. But there is nothing in there that otherwise is going to force a compromise. Right? It is going to go on forever.
Velkouleskou: It will, yes, until July, if nothing happens beforehand. I agree.
It would seem then that mid-level IMF officials are not plotting to pressure the Greek economy. To start, the two of them are not quite on the same page about their read on the situation, which might make conspiring difficult. And so they fiendishly crafted a plot to let events proceed as they foresaw.
The terms and conditions that Syriza agreed to last summer will exert the pressure they were designed to do this summer, and so they will patiently wait for this to unfold.
Or at least, they might have. The intent would seem to be to make something happen, and soon. Like, maybe tossing poor Tsipras a bone; keep hope alive, right? Some creative accounting (a Wall St./City of London speciality) could smooth over failure to hit the targets; Velculescu broaches a dual-metric track (real vs. funny nos.).
Bloomberg reports that Lagarde has accused the Greeks of the capture and leak of the transcript, and indeed, spying on IMF officials in Greece. If it's Tsipras' best play to try and force the Troika's hand, I see the IMF riding it out.
I think a faulty understanding of the IMF "negotiating process" may lie at the heart of Tsipras' recurring failure to deal effectively with them. In his protest to Lagarde, he wrote “Using a credit event as a means to pressurize Greece and the other member states is clearly beyond the bounds of the negotiation process as we understand it....”
Here's the process -- when they're impoverishing your entire country and taking over its economy, credit events for fun and profit are SOP.
BTW, it is with this HuffPost report of an "exclusively obtained... private letter" between Tsipras and Lagarde that the serious "IMF conspiracy" talk seems to have started.
Posted by: rufus magister | Apr 5 2016 3:41 utc | 138
denk @ 85 | Apr 2, 2016 10:22:24 PM
Not just physical attacks on Indonesia; Steve Hanke details economic warfare in 1997
AS Putin says
"Comrade Wolf knows whom to eat. It's eating without listening to anyone."
Posted by: DavidKNZ | Apr 5 2016 4:35 utc | 139
DavidKNZ 139
the sars biowar/psyop has many purposes, typical of murkkan covert op.
firstly it caused massive chaos in china, it could also be a rehearsal for agenda 21 one world control,
last but not least, a massive economic attack on not only china but the socalled greater china, including sea, tw, hk.
http://www.whale.to/v/sars1.html
dr mahathir blamed soros the world's foremost economic hitman for the 1997 melt down, par for the course .
http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2012/09/28/soros-is-back--after-15-years/
there's a lot of talk on an engineered crash of world economy by the mou these day.
i wouldnt be surpirsed the recent market woes in china is part of the attack.
after sars, came the hxnx series of bird flu, swine flu and whatnot craps, then eboloa, now zika
every time they spew these craps i've to suffer endless lectures on tv about *how to wash your hands blah blah blah*,talking heads discussing the gravity of the manufactured *crisis*, had to put on masks and endured endless queues in clinics, hospitals due to the intensive screening of *germ carriers*. not to mention people had actually died.
wow how i hate the empire of chaos with gutso !
out now.
Posted by: denk | Apr 5 2016 5:28 utc | 140
What will be the result of the referendum on Ukraine tommorow?
https://newcoldwar.org/netherlands-hold-referendum-april-6-eu-ukraine-deal/
Which side will win? Any new polls lately on this?
Posted by: Snack | Apr 5 2016 7:37 utc | 141
The Left's Stockholm syndrome on display
NakedCapitalism.com guest post: Will Sanders play his Ace?
Really? Virtually everything that Sanders might demand of Clinton was promised or expected of Obama. Sanders mostly young "Millennials" supporters don't seem to grasp that.
And he asks for nothing whatsoever wrt Foreign Policy. Is that because he is OK with neocon FP?
PS See the comments: most expect that Hillary will NOT accede to Sanders' demands. And putting them into the Platform is next to useless. Party Platforms are seen as ideals - candidates/Presidents use these ideals as lip service talking points but don't feel bound by them.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 5 2016 14:15 utc | 142
OT: Somebody sad that Informationclearinghouse's owner had a stroke? Seems that the page hasn't been updated for a while. Hope he recovers - it's a great news aggregator
Posted by: aaaa | Apr 5 2016 15:13 utc | 143
Co-Chair IPCC 2008-2015: “One has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy. This has almost nothing to do with the environmental policy anymore, with problems such as deforestation or the ozone hole,” said Edenhofer, who co-chaired the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change working group on Mitigation of Climate Change from 2008 to 2015.
So what is the goal of environmental policy?
“We redistribute de facto the world’s wealth by climate policy,” said Edenhofer.
Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of U.N.’s Framework Convention on Climate Change:“This is the first time in the history of mankind that we are setting ourselves the task of intentionally, within a defined period of time, to change the economic development model that has been reigning for at least 150 years, since the Industrial Revolution,” she said in anticipation of last year’s Paris climate summit. “This is probably the most difficult task we have ever given ourselves, which is to intentionally transform the economic development model for the first time in human history.”
Posted by: Penelope | Apr 5 2016 16:21 utc | 144
Child sings opera with great delicacy and pathos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LxMhbi5aJ8
Posted by: Penelope | Apr 6 2016 5:56 utc | 145
Double-digit victory for Sanders in Wisconsin primary
Perhaps the most significant finding in the exit polls, not just in Wisconsin but more generally, is the steady increase in turnout among young people, who are becoming more politically engaged and activated. Young people aged 18 to 29 made up only 8 percent of total voters in 2000 and 9 percent in 2004. This figure jumped to 14 percent in 2008 and has reached 17 percent so far in 2016.
Young people, who know they have no future in today's USA projected forward, want something other than what's offered. They jump at the least worst they can find on the menu, tell themselves stories of 'change' and 'the future'. They've been made fools of twice by the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, perhaps it will take the Socialist from Brooklyn's betrayal ... or the Democrat Party's betrayal via short-circuit ... to make them understand that there is just no way to get where they want to be traveling the worn paths from here.
New paths must be found and broken. And may their betrayal by the forces for evil in their own government foster understanding and solidarity with all their brothers and sisters abroad, who are ground - much more viciously - under the same bootheel.
Posted by: jfl | Apr 6 2016 10:24 utc | 146
How Hillary Clinton Bought the Loyalty of 33 State Democratic Parties
Working with the DNC, Hillary's campaign doubled the max contribution and funneled money to State Parties whose super-delegates have remained loyal to Hillary.
Hillary's lead in Super-delegates causes MSM to provide less coverage to Sanders campaign.
Why isn't Sanders' Campaign making this an issue? Because he will not do anything that might tarnish the Democratic Party or upset his prominent Democratic Party friends. He is no Ralph Nader! Sanders Party loyalty trumps his principles. 'Winning' is not his priority. His "anti-establishment" campaign will not rock the establishment boat.
PS It was nice to see Sanders respond aggressively to Hillary's bogus defense of campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry. Yet this newfound fiestiness is too little, too late and EXPECTED behavior from a sheepdog - fight harder as it becomes clear that you are losing so as to keep your supporters engaged until the Convention.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 6 2016 14:49 utc | 147
@ Sam | Apr 6, 2016 3:12:32 PM | 148
RT news reported some 63 % nixed with 27 % in favour BUT the turnout was reported 29 % of eligible and may not ultimately meet 30 % required for validating the referendum thereby transferring the decision to Parliament. The evening is still early in the UT +2 summertime zone and the count is still incomplete.
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Apr 6 2016 20:05 utc | 149
64% of Dutch voters say no to ratifying EU-Ukraine deal – exit poll
https://www.rt.com/news/338694-dutch-referendum-ukraine-eu/
Posted by: Sam | Apr 6 2016 20:05 utc | 150
cia trg manual
how to punish/*persuade* a chicom lover
case study...malaysia [extensively updated]
--------------------------------------------
cynthia mckinney
* It appears that Malaysia may be a target of Washington’s asymmetric warfare*
mathematically speaking, its almost a certainty, probability = 0.9999
ian fleming's fundamental law of probability,
*once an accident,.......
*swarming adolescents* led by ned alumni ibrahim
anwar and abetted by *five eye* agent provocateurs* [1] failed to unseat pm najib.
in true economic hitmen tradition, entered the jackals.
within six month of the najib-xi party, malaysia lost 3 airliners, 1 helicopter.
mal is technically bankrupt.
mh370 *disappeared* ,
mh17 shot down,'
airasia QZ8501exploded in mid air,
helicopter with najib's chief of staff on board exploded in mid air,
mh148 emergency landing at melbourne, a near miss.
following mh370 *disappearance*,
several chinese tourists were kidnapped in sabah by terrarists outfit abu sayyaf from ph.
pm najib declared in public *somebody wanna drive a wedge bet malaysia and china !
who's that *somebody* ?
cui bono ?
*Located on the geostrategic Malacca Strait, Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim oil-producing nation with a "Look East" policy allying itself with Japan and China. Last year the Malaysian and Chinese governments established an economic alliance, which includes Asian access to world oil reserves. In the eyes of Washington and its allies, these are sufficient grounds to treat Kuala Lumpur as an adversary.
........................................
At the same time, a mystery force led by a claimant to the title of Sultan of Saah send a group of Filipino gunmen, allegedly trained by a retired American commando, attacked Sabah with a series of shootouts
with the Malaysian Army. US counterinsurgency troops happened to be operating in the southern Islamic-dominated areas of the Philippines, where the "sultan" recruited his desperado guerrillas. * [2]
i once read in moa some murkkan official boasting that *we've 1001 ways to make china scream and we havent even started.....* [3]
well being a *chicom lover* also entitles one to enjoy that *privilege* of being put thru the wringer.....
pm najib is currently hammered by a media driven campaign on his alleged massive corruption.
it started with a sabah site run by a brit woman, then war st journal toke up the cudgel and started leaking *scoops* about najib's crimes, several australian papers later joined battles with more *scoops* of their own.
hmmm, the usual suspects, FIVE EYES IN ACTION.
[1]
http://www.globalresearch.ca/xenophon-the-not-so-impartial-observer/5323510?print=1
[2]
http://www.rense.com/general96/mh370.html
[3]
another reason i hate the snake with passion,
its *elected officials* spend all their time
figuring out how to make someone *scream*, rather than do the job they'r supposed to do,
improving the life of murkkans.
p.s.
najib's son also in the panama file !
this *leak* smells like a veritable UNITEDSNAKE'S OFFICIAL ENEMY LIST.
Posted by: denk | Apr 7 2016 1:30 utc | 151
pnac, a review
---------------------------
l reveals worries in the administration that Europe could rival the USA;
threat neutered
l says 'even should Saddam pass from the scene' bases in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will remain permanently -- despite domestic opposition in the Gulf regimes to the stationing of US troops -- as 'Iran may well prove as large a threat to US interests as Iraq has';
checked
l spotlights China for 'regime change' saying 'it is time to increase the presence of American forces in southeast Asia'. This, it says, may lead to 'American and allied power providing the spur to the process of
democratisation in China'; [1]
***moving like clock work
l calls for the creation of 'US Space Forces', to dominate space, and the total control of cyberspace to prevent 'enemies' using the internet against the US;
checked
l hints that, despite threatening war against Iraq for developing weapons of mass destruction, the US may consider developing biological weapons -- which the nation has banned -- in decades to come. It says:
'New methods of attack -- electronic, 'non-lethal', biological -- will be more widely available ... combat likely will take place in new dimensions, in space, cyberspace, and perhaps the world of microbes ...
advanced forms of biological warfare that can 'target' specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool'; [2]
***checked
l and pinpoints North Korea, Libya, Syria and Iran as dangerous regimes and says their existence justifies the creation of a 'world-wide command-and-control system'.
checked
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article1221.htm
[1] uncle sham planned this confrontation with china decades ago.
igniting the spark in scs into a roaring inferno is its way to corner the dragon.
[2]
sars appeared very *ethno specific*, [china, hk, tw, sg, sea ], so were bird flu, swine flu,
Posted by: denk | Apr 7 2016 16:05 utc | 152
denk @152,
" uncle sham planned this confrontation with china decades ago.
igniting the spark in scs into a roaring inferno is its way to corner the dragon."
I have a whole collection of books from "old books" bookstores. They agree on uncle sham's plans. War is the last thing they want at this point-- because they are winning. People see all that financial angst in the controlled media-- all designed to tell us that TPTB don't want economic collapse. Strip away the distracting words and just enumerate the actions: They are purposely taking down the EU, UK and US. Because these populations might resist them, might preserve the memory of democracy. So much easier to complete the global oligarchy if everyone's at the same low economic level. The citizenry indulge in such foolishness to think that economic collapse will bring the oligarchs down.
here's one rendition of the plan. Are Russia and China resisting? Look at their actions, not their words.
http://redefininggod.com/the-rockefeller-plan-for-the-brics-new-world-order-in-their-own-words/
Posted by: Penelope | Apr 7 2016 22:19 utc | 153
Empty Rhetoric: Europe Is 2nd Military Importer from Israel
Europe was the second largest importer of Israeli military products in 2015 with contracts worth more than US$1.6 billion, the Israeli military said in a statement, in what highlights contradictions in European approach to Israel which has been critical of the Israeli occupation and the illegal settlement expansion in Palestine.The Israeli military said it made US$5.7 billion last year in exports contracts with countries in Asia and the Pacific receiving more than US$2.3 billion in arms and weaponry from Israel.
The statement from the Israeli army added that the figure was up from US$5.66 billion in 2014. Israel is one of the world’s top 10 military exporters.
BDS Israeli weapons? Looks like target number 1.
Posted by: jfl | Apr 7 2016 23:53 utc | 154
At Least 17 Civilians Killed in U.S. Airstrikes, Afghan Officials Say
KHOST, Afghanistan — American airstrikes in the southeastern Afghan province of Paktika killed at least 17 civilians, local officials and elders said on Thursday, differing from official American and Afghan claims that only militants had been killed.Hajji Muhammad Hasan, a former senator from the Gomal District, said that three drone strikes hit the area of Nematabad on Wednesday.
He said that the first strike hit a pickup truck carrying Hajji Rozuddin, a local elder on his way to mediate a land dispute in the Kakarzai tribe. Also in the truck were four of Mr. Rozuddin’s bodyguards and seven other people.
A second strike soon after killed two people who had come to pick up the bodies, Mr. Hasan said.
A third strike killed three others who had climbed a small hill to try to see what had happened and why the previous two men had not returned already. (There is rarely any phone signal in Gomal, in rugged terrain along the Pakistani border.)
The gameboy murderers in US bunkers, sending Obama's Hellfire through Germany to innocents around the world, killed 17 more innocents in a triple-tap on Thursday.
They must have been high-fiving and back-slapping and bragging at dinner at home last night, of their bravery and heroism.
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
Posted by: jfl | Apr 8 2016 1:17 utc | 155
pen 153
christ u'r like that *funnypeople*, every time your con theory [1] get shot down, u just keep coming back with more of the same .
nixon's *opening up* of china is just an attempt to take advantage of the split bet china and ussr and to exploit the vast pool of cheap labor.
NOT to build up china with murkkan capital and technology as u say.[sic]
this is exactly what i told u,
*NO ! The americans have set up the flow of technology to the manufacturing countries in south east asia in such ways that US/Western companies still control the advanced technologies.
YES, the products are manufactured in China but the technology is transferred not as knowledge but as assembly kits. Of course the chinese use something calles reverse engineering where they try to understand the technology by analysing the assembly plans, but it is not the way to lead the competition in high technologies. This way they can manufacture copies fast and get some help to understand the emerging technologies but US is the unchallenged leader in advanced technologies,*
http://russia-insider.com/en/why-are-russia-and-china-buying-gold-tons-it/ri13680
[1]
if a hardcore conspiracy theorist like me call someone con theorist, people should sit up and listen !
Posted by: denk | Apr 8 2016 3:06 utc | 156
denk @ 152, US may consider developing biological weapons? No, they have all kinds. They either refused to sign the UN resolution on banning them or refused the inspection part; I forget which.
When the media says something it's an error to automatically think that it expresses a govt's or an individual's real feelings or intentions. EG: Recently the Chinese President visited the US President. The media carried a public exchange of blusterings about the South China Sea. I personally thought it clear that this was a misdirection aimed at the citizenry of both countries. So I considered how it might look to them if the blustering were absent. That the two were conducting cordial business? That they are united in some important ways?
The statements of govts are generally directed towards an audience and have no necessary connection with reality.
You have a good appreciation of just how evil Full Spectrum Dominance is. I think you underestimate the length & breadth of the planning that has gone into planning for the global oligarchy. They benefitted from the long experience of the British in how to run an empire, how to undermine civilizations, etc.
You badly underestimate the abilities and strategies of those who are implementing a satanic world. They are as usual creating a problem for which the next step in their plan is the solution. They always have more than one strategy. Just now the AGW/CO2 hoax "crisis" is allowing them to create an amazingly detailed body of UN laws-- an entire bureaucracy and many people will welcome it even after they realize it cuz they've drunk the kool-aid, the most expensive propaganda campaign ever created. A 2d strategy is economic collapse, the remedy for which will of course be full economic integration globally. Failing all else, a little phoney, limited but very scarey war.
All of these highly effective strategies lead to the global oligarchy-- while much of the "alternative" media crows about their stupidity & soon-to-be anticipated downfall.
Posted by: Penelope | Apr 8 2016 8:01 utc | 157
Approximately one month after his appointment by Pres. Carter, Fed Chairman Paul Volker gave a speech in Europe where he made the following statement:
“At the juncture at which the world finds itself, there is a choice between stability and the controlled disintegration of the world economy. It is in the interests of the U.S.A to opt for the latter.”
This extraordinary statement succinctly captures the U.S. perspective in regard to its relations within the geo-political order.
Posted by: pantaraxia | Apr 8 2016 9:36 utc | 158
pen 157
so according to that *bombshell*, the mou for some reason decided to move shop from murkka to china, outta their affinity to the chicomes perhaps.?
they appointed deng to mind their new china shop, the supreme leader gladly obliged.
from then on, unitedsnake played the bad cop, china the good cop.
sheeples looked to china/russia as their saviour from the evil empire, hardly knowing that both were working for the same overlord. !!
lol
apparently the mou forgot to pass the script to langley !
1989, a cia engineered occupy tam sit in brought china under the world's spotlight.
the students/workers led by cia patsies occupied the square for several months inspite of numerous attempts to persuade them to leave.
finally at the eve of gorbacev visit, ccp sent unarmed soldiers to clear the square, only to be attacked viciously by agent provocateurs , many soldiers were lynched, some burned alive in their vehicles.
armed forces were brought in to put down the violence, leading to pitch battles in the alleys surrounding tam. ccp put the casualties from both sides to be in the hundreds.
in the end the color rev fail to bring down deng [the chosen one ;-)], then a massive demonisation campaign kicked in.
*brutal crack down on unarmed students in tam square, killing thousands of people, ...tanks running over bodies....* shrieked cia's might wurlitzer ! [sound familiar, libya, syria, kosovo,tibet, xinjiang.......]?
ccp suffered a massive black eye. foreign co fled in droves , economic and military sanction followed.
china's economic progess stalled for at least a decade due to this major destabilisation.
the middle kingdom became almost like a pariah state, its leaders smeared as *butchers of beijing*, its diplomats were often targets of scorn , mercilessly grilled and ridiculed wherever they went.
*china, a country that murdered its own citizens .* blared the msm sycophants.
every 4/6 since 1989 cia's wurlitzer broadcasted the same msg, *dont forget tam, dont let the ccp get away with this crime* [sic]
ccp, the evil commies, held in comtempt by the left, right and central in east and west even to this day.
what a bizzare way to promote their *good cop* china to the sheeples, hehehehe
Posted by: denk | Apr 8 2016 16:12 utc | 159
Israel ramps up demolitions of Palestinian structures
Figures collated by the UN's office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA) - which operates in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem - show from an average of 50 demolitions a month in 2012-2015, the number rose to 165 since January, with 235 demolitions in February alone.On Thursday, Israeli authorities demolished Palestinian buildings in al-Khan al-Ahmar village near the West Bank city of Jericho, and in Khirbet Tana village near Nablus.
One of the owners of the demolished structures in al-Khan al-Ahmar, Hussein Kaabneh, said the demolition team came in the morning without warning.
"I was surprised by the police and army … so I was very mad. I asked them, 'Why do you want to demolish it?' I did not get a warning or anything. And he told me, 'You are [your structure is] not legal'," Kaabneh told Reuters news agency.
The Israeli military, which has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Middle East war, says it carries out the demolitions because the structures are illegal: either built without a permit, in a closed military area or firing zone, or violating other planning and zoning restrictions.
The Final Solution to Israel's 'Palestinian Problem' proceeds. Houses blown up for the crime of living in Palestine while Palestinian.
Notice how the utterly illegal, illegitimate, criminal Israeli Army of Occupation exercises its criminal 'laws' in Palestine against Palestinians, where every Israeli settler is a trespasser, guilty of genocide.
The whole world watches ... waiting for the death of the Palestinian nation to be brought about by EUSrael, so that then their shock! and outrage! may safely appear ... for a good week or 10 days.
The human race. Murderous, self-aggrandizing cowards. Everyone of us.
The question was put -- is Sanders building a movement? Evidence to hand suggests that he is, and that his supporters agree. But what kind of movement? It would seem to be an insurgency within the Democratic Party.
It's quite easy to make facile assertions about Sanders supposed role as a "sheepdog." What are the actual facts of the matter? He seems to be hounding Clinton fairly well of late; is he herding sheep or enlarging the pack?
The Gaius Publius piece cited above provides some good evidence. It quotes Sanders from an appearance on The Young Turks. The interviewers assumed that Sanders himself would not take a post, but had issues that he wanted addressed. Publius boils them down, if you need a look. Sanders sums them up thusly:
In other words, if I can’t make it, and we’re going to try as hard as we can until the last vote is cast, we want to completely revitalize the Democratic Party and make it a party of the people, rather than just one of large campaign contributors.
Publius notes its implications.
Notice that this means that he knows he’s running within the Party and against the Party, meaning against its current leadership, simultaneously.
He goes on to argue that the Democrats need Sanders support, and that Sanders is willing to fight hard to the end and drive the sharpest deal possible to bring his voters along. Since Publius sees that he's basically set the bar at accepting his program and Clinton repudiating a number of long-held, pro-business opinions, he believes that:
"[T]he leverage on her for the next four years will be much greater. The 'liar' label is already an albatross.... Betraying a set of explicit Sanders-forced campaign pledges could turn the albatross into a boat anchor.... That’s a very nice card to have in your hand if it’s the very last card in the game.
Blowing off campaign promises is always a problem, on both sides of the aisle. See the Tea Party insurgents, who felt leadership deeds did not match up to their words. Eventually, it will tell, as the Tea Partiers are now playing the "trumps" and taking tricks. We'll see if now is the time for the Democrats.
Chez Pazienza at The Daily Banter puts it on a more personal level. He also credits the rank and file of the campaign with subtantial ardor, more than sufficient to propel a movement. He sees it as seeking the Democrats destruction, and that has cost Sanders his respect.
How badly lost? Pazienza labels Sanders the Trump of the Left.
Despite the sometimes blind outrage behind his lifelong obsession with wealth inequality, he struck me as a fundamentally decent man. That's how I used to feel, anyway....[But] ...now that Sanders is staring down the barrel of political extinction he should be cranking down the negativity rather than ramping it up. What he definitely shouldn't be doing is taking a scorched earth approach... and fueling the fires of disunity. But then again, maybe it shouldn't be surprising.... He was more than happy to exploit the party's infrastructure... to help propel his candidacy to legitimacy, but... he spent years before that barely tolerating the Democrats as... simply being the flip side of the same corrupt establishment coin as the Republicans....
He then cites a popular NYT piece, a review of Sander's campaign strategy and tactics to date, more of which in a moment, which sees a change in its tone and outlook. Where the NYT authors saw the change as a reaction to the success, Pazienza sees it more as a tirade at the inevitable, losing end of a hopeless campaign.
"The problem is that... the fiery invective engaged in by the Sanders camp, its firebrand surrogates... and of course its supporters could permanently damage the presumptive Democratic nominee. Of course, for some that's exactly the idea....Sanders's campaign is insurgent; like Trump for the Republicans, it's a war of ultimate destruction being waged against the Democratic party from inside its own gates.
He opened his blast with a volley at the Sanderistas; unlike the old man himself, he has always despised them. See this earlier rant, Insisting That You Have To "Vote Your Conscience" Is Selfish Crap. His tone of derision is quite palpable here, which I think covers for a logically, factually, and morally weak case. I won't inflict much of it on you.
We'll deal with "Just the facts, sir." His trump card is Florida, repeating the oft-told (and false) accusation that Nader cost Gore Florida and hence the Presidency. Not Republicans like Roger Stone, now working on/with the Trump campaign. "Stone was the central figure in organizing the 'Brooks Brothers riots' that helped stop the vote recount in Miami in 2000."
In case you've forgotten, Gore lost by 537 votes. Nader got nearly 100K, about twice as many as the other seven "third parties" combined. Buchanan and the Libertarians were the runners-up. The smallest of the various third parties, the Socialist Workers Party, got 562. So they cost Gore the job, no?
I noted above the popular Early Missteps Seen as a Drag on Bernie Sanders’s Campaign, from the Old Grey Lady. The authors, Healy and Alcindor, see the change of tone coming from seeing that they might be able to win, after all.
All those decisions stemmed in part from Mr. Sanders’s outlook on the race. He was originally skeptical that he could beat Mrs. Clinton, and his mission in 2015 was to spread his political message about a rigged America rather than do whatever it took to win the nomination. By the time he caught fire with voters this winter and personally began to believe he could defeat Mrs. Clinton, she was already on her way to building an all but insurmountable delegate lead.
Sanders slowness to "go negative" stems from his vow to run an issue-oriented campaign; they cite his campaign manager talking about concern for Sanders' "brand" as a politcian. Sanders would need to win in New York if he were to have a shot at the nomination. With an unexpected chance to win, he's doing what it takes.
I would actually agree with the general notion Pazienza floats, though not his end. One should vote with the mind, not the heart. It all depends upon what one has the mind set upon.
If one has in mind a long-term perspective for building the sort of genuine, organic, indepedent mass proletarian movement needed for change here in "the belly of the beast," then it produces a vote different than if one has short-term goals in mind.
Like, say, just blowin' shit up with The Donald. Bets on where the pieces might land?
Posted by: rufus magister | Apr 9 2016 1:26 utc | 161
eye in the sky
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOqeoj669xg
a holywood sanitisation of drone warfare, aka extra judicial executions,
basically this is the story line....
*these *drone jockeys* have been doing helluva job eradicating terrarists, at great cost to their mental health. they practically went thru hell in their work every new day.
every decision to press that button was an ordeal, usually a choice bet two equally unpalatable outcome,
a typical scenario...
this jihad guy is preparing to mount a suicide attack in a busy market in ten min time, we need to take him out pronto.
here's the catch, there's a little girl selling drinks outside his house !
do we send a hellfire into the house to vaporise this guy AND that cutsy girl outside,
or leave him alone but risk the lives of dozens of people later on ???
this is the kind of tough decision they have to agonise over in their daily *duty*.
cut them some slack eh ?
Posted by: denk | Apr 9 2016 3:02 utc | 162
rufus @161
"Evidence to hand suggests that [Sanders really is building a Movement] ... It would seem to be an insurgency ... "
You don't cite any evidence but presumably you're referring to Sanders recent winning streak and his newfound fiestiness.Yet later in your comment you cite reporting that Sanders originally sought only to raise issues - NOT to win or build a Movement. While a Movement may have grown around Sanders, it is still unclear what it consists of (who are leaders that can take lead the Movement after Sanders?) and what Sanders will make of it.
"He seems to be hounding Clinton fairly well of late ..."
Unfortunately, that may be too little, too late. Sanders late-stage fiestiness is not enough to disprove a sheepdog role (though it is nice to see).
In any case, setting aside 'sheepdog' concerns, the best way that Sanders can get what he wants (whatever that may be) is to ... keep winning! And the best way that he can do THAT is to show that Clinton is not electable in an election year in which anti-establishment sentiment is running high. Beating Clinton in her home state of New York would best demonstrate that.
In contrast, the advice of Clinton supporters is that Sanders go gently into that good night. Making a go at actually winning means that Sanders may forego eliciting 'promises' from Hillary. Rufus proposes that Sanders can trust Hillary to keep such promises because:
"Blowing off campaign promises is always a problem..."
REALLY?? Obama didn't seem too concerned about blowing off campaign promises: closing Guantanamo; ending wars; cutting tax loopholes (esp. 'carried interest'); ending Presidential signing statements, "most transparent administration ever", and many more). And who could forget Michele Obama's artful dodge: "Change takes time"? (her excuse for why Obama didn't do more in his first term)Now consider this: Sanders supporters distrust Hillary even more than Obama who is a more natural, and more careful, dissembler. This is evident at nakedcapitalism.com in the Gaius post and other posts there - as I had mentioned, in my earlier comment.
<> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <>
A Hillary loss / Trump win may be a necessary evil before there can be political reform. See my comment here for more.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 9 2016 3:43 utc | 163
Um, I think that whole post was chock full of evidence about him building a movement. Within the Democratic Party.
I too would hope that Sanders keeps winning. Mrs. Clinton is ahead now, but any number of MSM types point out he can come back from behind. Lets hope the pissed-off trade unionists out-hustle the venal Wall Streeters.
The dissonance between platform proposed and policies enacted is a well-known problem inherent to the system. That whole "campaign in poetry but govern in prose" thing" Giving Rethuglicans more agida now than the Democrats, but this could change.
I note that Sanders has been accused of running against the Obama administration and legacy (as my quote from Publius about running against the party and its leadership would suggest that he is). There is clearly a deep reservoir of dislike for our Nobel Laureate and politics-as-usual, which Sanders is tapping into with some success.
The fight against capital is a "Long March," not the "Storming of the Bastille."
The Gore loss and Bush election did not produce political reform, with a Green Party better positioned to take advantage. Would a Trump victory, and the boost to nativism, racism, militarism and torture, advance or retard the prospects of genuine change? I think the latter.
If you don't know where the pieces will land, and don't have the means to put then together again afterwards, you should not blow shit up. IMHO. My (educated) guess is the lie of the pieces will not favor further play by progressives, who lack the practical and theoretical structures to take advantage of the chaos.
A Clinton Administration generously stocked with New Dealish Dems like Warren could offer prospects similar in kind, though not degree, to the gains by Communists and CIO back in the 1930's.
Socialists and other progressives should do what they need to build their own movements. If that costs the Democrats the election, so be it, my mind and conscience will be clear; one has to be prepared for all likely outcomes.
Posted by: rufus magister | Apr 9 2016 16:28 utc | 164
Pantaraxia @ 158, Thanks for the comment. I don't know why people are unable to entertain the possibility that US and EU economy are being purposely taken down, and most of the world economy w them. I guess it's just fear of being called a "conspiracy theorist". The CIA created the label "conspiracy theorist" following the killing of JFK. It's been enormously successful in controlling the limits of public dialog: All independent investigators can be dismissed just by labelling them a conspiracy theorist.
--
denk @ 159, 1. In considering what the desired effect of an operation is, observe its effect on yourself. Maybe what it convinced you of is what it's INTENDED to convince yuo of. 2. Single-line propaganda is never effective. The pieces of reality that don't fit stick out. If you see no conflicting views you're more likely to unmask it as propaganda. Sometimes conflicting views means actual factions (or even that the Good Guys are present in the discussion-- pretty unlikely today). 3. Even among persons committed to the global oligarchy there is more and more jockeying for position as their project continues to progress to completion.
Denk, I am not telling you that I know what is true. I am only saying that there is just about zero evidence that either Russia or China want a world of sovereign states which are ruled by their own citizens & which control their own currencty, credit, trade, immigration, media, energy or anything else.
Posted by: Penelope | Apr 9 2016 18:21 utc | 165
Rufus @ 161, I find it curious that Bernie is being allowed to win primaries now when it appears pretty darn likely that he was cheated out of earlier primaries. Richard Charmin's site gives awfully good statistical evidence that he about 6 primaries that were given to Hitlery.
Think the powers that be have switched to Bernie? Couple of random thoughts:
--The Dem candidate is next president unless TPTB want the Repub and engineer fraudulent vote counting. Charmin points out minorities (30% of electorate) vote 83% Dem.
--Could be TPTB decided against Hil cuz her negatives (pure dislike by so many Americans, for example) would diminish her ability to fool the American people, facilitate oligarchic policies, etc)
--Bernie may be attractive to them exactly cuz of the "socialist" label. Soros has publicly described the developing oligarchy's goals as socialism. Not the real socialism you may favor, but merely the denuding of all non-oligarchs of the ability to own a business, etc. People are to be made helpless w their every necessity dependent on their usefulness to the power structure.
Posted by: Penelope | Apr 9 2016 18:40 utc | 166
rufus: ... [don't] blow shit up.
Exaggerate much? LOL.
From the point of view of many ordinary people, there's a lot that is 'broken'. The economy, the political system all work against them.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 9 2016 19:21 utc | 167
As working stiff, I'm pretty well acquainted with how suck-ass things can be.
I think I've seen folks here speak of Trump's candidacy in those terms. So I don't think I overstated it unduly.
Any speculation about how the pieces of that explosion fall out would be most welcome.
Posted by: rufus magister | Apr 10 2016 2:37 utc | 168
The comments to this entry are closed.
...
The only worthwhile vote is "FUCK YOU DEEP STATE". Which is a vote for Trump. Cuz if nothing else. It totally fucks-up the GOP-e. Gives me the FEELS just thinking about it.
Posted by: 4H | Apr 2, 2016 2:15:28 PM | 74
Russell Brand has made himself unpopular with TPTB by reminding ppl that voting in a rigged system is tantamount to complicity.
I watched the News tonight and noticed something which, being in Plain Sight, seems to have slipped under everyone's radar. Not only has Trump sidestepped the need to elicit funds from Corporations, Billionaires and PACs, all the other hi profile candidates (who are funded by Corps, Rich Folk & PACs) are also talking about Trump. In Shrillary's case, Trump uses a clip of her, yapping like a lap-dog, in one of his Hillary Red Alert attack ads.
I think Trump is the only candidate who actually has a plan and knows how to put it into action. He's had the MSM on-side from the get-go and now the other candidates are talking about him at every opportunity, to the MSM, which duly relays Trump's message (from his opponent's mouths).
If this keeps up it'll be almost impossible for him to lose.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 3 2016 15:01 utc | 101