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April 26, 2016
Open Thread 2016-16
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We should start a new party called 99% party. Our candidate will be one of the celebrities that are very smart and not under control. We know there’s a lot of ignorance in this country, it’s the majority, and this keeps them filing back to polls to vote for the puppets. We can’t change that. We know they worship celebrity, so will vote for it. You’ll also get people who wouldn’t vote otherwise to vote.
Posted by: me | Apr 26 2016 18:35 utc | 1
I believe in ordinary people. I am one. Certainly I have no faith in celebrities. Nor do I think that other ordinary people worship celebrities. I think we accept celebrity as a game the corporate press has chosen to play in order to keep us occupied with inconsequentials. We might absent-mindedly pick a momentary favorite. The problem is that far too many of us are so hard-pressed financially that all we have time for when we’re done hustling for the day is collapse.
Posted by: jfl | Apr 26 2016 18:54 utc | 2
@1 Having George Clooney, who, for no rational reasons is considered to be one of the “smartest” ones in Hollywood, frankly, terrifies me. Of course, there is always Seth Rogen to fall back to.
Posted by: SmoothieX12 | Apr 26 2016 18:57 utc | 3
Who is a smart celebrity willing to stick his neck out? I’m reminded of Ashley Judd. Seems she surrendered (self-preservation) once she was “made certain” that Mitch McConnell could (would) ruin her life if she followed through with a campaign agin him.
Posted by: fastfreddy | Apr 26 2016 18:58 utc | 4
George Clooney thinks he’s smart. Does that count?
Posted by: fastfreddy | Apr 26 2016 18:59 utc | 5
The history of celebrities and political success is well proven. Raygun, Schwarzenegger, The Love Boat Guy Fred?, Fred Thompson, Sonny Bono, The guy from the band Orleans, The Filipino boxer…
That’s a lot of Republicans.
Posted by: fastfreddy | Apr 26 2016 19:05 utc | 6
@1 don’t we have that with Trump? or does the “not under control” rule him out? I don’t know if I’ll pull the lever for him when it’s time but he is a celebrity running. I like #2’s post about ordinary people.
Its not just Hillary. Bernie also does not attack Obama.
The best example of this is the issue of campaign financing, as described by this exchange at the Brooklyn debate (my summary):
Bernie: I do not take money from Super-PACs. My opponent however …
Hillary: I challenge you to name ONE issue where my vote was changed due to political contributions. And Obama got money from Super-PACs too(!), yet he signed Dodd-Frank . . .
Bernie: (sarcastically) oh sure where your money comes from makes no difference.
Note: The campaigns have sparred over this issue since, each with similar talking points.
What Bernie, his campaign, and his campaign supporters have (suspiciously) failed to note is this:
1) Dodd-Frank was seen as very weak regulation by independent experts (like Yves Smith at nakedcapitalism.com). In fact, much of the bill was watered-down via rule-making that was essentially written by the industry and enforcement was delayed for years.
In addition, Dodd-Frank explicitly places consumers in a second position, via the Financial Stability Oversight Council which can nullify consumer protection provisions. This essentially creates a silent, industry-wide ‘bail-in’ mechanism.
2) Obama’s Justice Dept wouldn’t prosecute Wall Street executives.
3) Obama re-nominated Ben Bernanke despite his having given Wall Street ‘back door bailouts’ that were valued at tens of billions of dollars.
To this day, Banks do not ‘Mark to Market’ (put a true and accurate value on their assets)!!
4) Obama’s Treasury Secretary Tim Geitner famously called HAMP “foaming the runway for the banks”.
5) Obama reneged on many campaign promises – including to end the ‘carried interest’ tax deduction that benefits millionaire/billionaire hedge fund managers.
6) Obama made (most of) the Bush Tax Cuts permanent via collusion with Republicans that resulted in the ‘Fiscal Cliff’ kabuki. The ‘Fiscal Cliff’ deal also led to the ‘Sequester’ which forced massive cuts in social spending.
He staged a show of defiance over the ‘Fiscal Cliff’/Sequester deal that was called a “filibuster” (blocking a bill from passage) but it wasn’t a real filibuster (as it had no blocking effect whatsoever), just a long speech that some in the media took to calling it such.
Why doesn’t Bernie attack Obama?
Hillary gets the Black vote largely because of Obama’s support of her and her matching rhetoric that praises Obama.
This is supposed to be Bernie’s biggest issue! In fact, the 2008 Global Financial Crises hit black households much harder than most. Minorities were much more likely to have their homes taken away, partly because they had been targeted for predatory loans during the credit bubble. And they lost their jobs in greater numbers when the bubble burst. Meanwhile, Wall Street was treated with kit gloves – record bonuses were again doled out with a year or two of the 2008 debacle.
=
PS Actually, Hillary changed her vote on the Bankruptcy Bill as proven by Senator Elizabeth Warren. Sanders mentioned this in a quick interview will CNN after the debate. Because he said it afterwards, Warren’s clear example got almost no attention in the media – which played up Sanders not being able to cite a single instance instead!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 26 2016 19:24 utc | 9
This is not a promo for a blog, just the intent to share an essay from a similar mindset;
Dimitri Orlov’s
“The Color Counterrevolution Cometh”
Things have been going downhill for the Color Revolution Syndicate, the transnational ‘garchs and the fake Democrat/Republican duopoly.”:
http://cluborlov.blogspot.ca/2016/03/the-color-counterrevolution-cometh.html#more
Had Sun Tsu co-authored a treatise on the art of sports with Capt. Obvious, a quote from that seminal work would probably read as follows:
If your team keeps playing an offensive game and keeps losing, eventually it will end up playing a defensive game, and will lose that too.
Stands to reason, doesn’t it? The team I have in mind is the neocon-infested Washington régime, which is by now almost universally hated, both within the US and outside of its borders, and the offensive game is the game that has been played by the Color Revolution Syndicate, with George Soros writing the checks and calling the shots. Having lost ground around the world, it is now turning its attention to trying to hold on to its home turf, which is the US.
Behind the Washington régime stands a group of transnational oligarchs, including many of the richest people in the world, and the game they play is ..[.]
read on.
Posted by: likklemore | Apr 26 2016 19:31 utc | 10
Saw an interview with Bill Kristol today which talked about the ‘NEVER TRUMP’ effort.
He said that Cruz would probably name Fiorina as running mate to better appeal to Indiana voters. If Cruz-Fiorina and Kasisch failed to derail Trump before the Convention, then the Republican establishment my support a third-party run OR a candidate that runs in an already established third party (Libertarian Party, Conservative Party, etc.).
I find it strange (not really) how the establishment can conspire to derail Trump – thereby electing Hillary – with few complaints. But if one suggests that Bernie supporters vote Green, then there is an outcry.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 26 2016 19:38 utc | 11
I like Bernie Sanders but his campaign — imho — was sanctioned by the Democratic Party to keep all the young voters “in the game” … and he has already pledged to support the nominee. Nuf said. As with Obama in 2008, no body really expected him to do so well. (FWIW, if they had any brains at all, they might have taken a clue from 2008 — and 2000 — and not be surprised.)
Sander kept a 3rd party and 3rd party candidate from gaining leverage, momentum — which is priceless to keeping Democrats voting for the “lesser of two evils” which is usually them — in a two-candidate race.
Saw an article today that a large number of Republicans have said they will vote for Hillary if Trump gets the nomination …
Very seriously there are multiple 3rd parties to choose from … no need to create another one … and there have been regular well-funded attempts pretty much every decade, there was one not long ago funded by “liberal” folks like Tom Friedman (seriously, he was and may still be a democrat and consider himself a liberal, if a hawk, see Hillary) The Working Families party looks good but it’s mostly eastern seaboard. Last I looked there were even US Pirate Party chapters in some states. Wikipedia has lists and website addresses. There are I think at least 3 socialist parties and Peace and Freedom is still running candidates in California. Homework time.
Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Apr 26 2016 19:56 utc | 12
@Jackrabbit 9
Yes I agree but he is still running in the democratic party and that’s why his attacks go so far and don’t cross the red line. Truly want fundamental change he had to run as an independent.
Posted by: notlurking | Apr 26 2016 19:59 utc | 13
Yes, he needs to not demonize Hillary into someone he cannot support … so he stops short … and she doesn’t need to…
I gather he will go back to the Senate as an independent if he doesn’t get the nomination so, avoiding being a 2016 election “spoiler” is not a matter of “cowardice” … in the future, the democrats need his vote and he is likely to need theirs.
Jill Stein sent him an open letter suggesting collaboration … others believe they can convince him to do a 3rd party run … Increasing mentions of pressure for him to quit, which he has pledged not to do until the election (as I recall, things change) and I suspect he will get enough flak and endless griping and accusations … even though, the longer he stays in the race and keeps hope alive, the short period will exist for his die-hard supporters to decide to bail on the Democratic Party … so far anyway, numerically, Republicans will pick up the slack …
Gore should have won in 2000, even with unprecedented support for Nader’s second or third Green party run .. he ran a bad campaign and then there was Florida.
Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Apr 26 2016 20:07 utc | 14
oops, I meant he has pledged to stay in the race until the convention … which is in July … meaning the actual 2 party campaign is going to be excruciatingly long …
Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Apr 26 2016 20:08 utc | 15
Mina, Thankyou for the reminder on the other thread of the insider trading before 9/11. Isn’t it amazing that we found no way to expose their identities? Perfectly outrageous that the SEC wasn’t required to disclose this. It’s like the rest of the investigation– well and truly cuckolded from the start.
For my part I would be satisfied if the citizens who realized that elements of their own govt did this could remember that realization. Remember it and integrate the knowledge into their worldview. If one has once realized that the govt is controlled by those who commit murder at home and abroad, if one has seen that they weaken govts abroad in the interest of their own personal global oligarchy, if has realized that the media lie outrageously about 9/11 and every other thing of oligarchic interest– why then we could bring them down. But no, people shy back from the reality. Maybe this time the liars — the proxy faces, the masks for TPTB– maybe this time they are not lying.
If there are men of action how can they hope to gain legitimacy from a citizenry that steadfastly recoils from the truth?
Let me give you an example. I showed to a friend this video of the Brassard family who are shown to be faking injuries from the Boston Marathon bombing, with the connivance of the media. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqzypHVzYAM
Then I showed him the photos taken from an office overlooking where the crisis actors awaited their turn for the photographer. Two did not even lie down until the photographer was ready for them, at which time one “became dead.” We actually see one woman put on her “blood makeup.” We see Cowboy Hat, lounging & waiting for the final event. Looked at carefully these are conclusive proof that the Boston Marathon bombing was a hoax.
http://deepinsidetherabbithole.com/The_Boston_Bombing_Hoax.html
Yet my friend could not bring himself to a judgement contrary to that of authority.
I have no words.
Posted by: Penelope | Apr 26 2016 21:10 utc | 16
I can see myself on the corner carrying a sign:
“HILLARY CLINTON IS A HARE-BRAIN SYPHILITIC MASS MURDERING PSYCHOPATH WHO WILL BRING WW-III”
Posted by: blues | Apr 26 2016 21:17 utc | 17
Hey — Penelope | Apr 26, 2016 5:10:02 PM | 16
I agree The “Boston Bombing” was terror theater. However watch out what sites you link to. See:
Deep Inside the Rabbit Hole —
” I’m not saying the earth is flat but there is no solid evidence that the earth is a sphere.”
http://deepinsidetherabbithole.com/Is_the_earth_a_ball_.html
Posted by: blues | Apr 26 2016 21:25 utc | 18
@Susan Sunflower
I think you may have missed the comments on an earlier Open Thread about DNC using Bernie as a sheepdog as described by Black Agenda Report (BAR) when he first entered the race.
This leads to some important questions: Was Bernie meant to be a sheepdog? Does Bernie know he is a ‘sheepdog’ (that is, does he play the part)? What does Bernie as sheepdog say about the DNC and/or Bernie? about the integrity of our two-party focused electoral system (the ‘duopoly’)? About what his voters should do when/if he doesn’t get the nomination?
I would argue that Bernie was meant to be a sheepdog (as per this letter from a Clinton supporter/surrogate thanking him for making Hillary a stronger candidate); . . . that he acts like a sheepdog; . . . and that his supporters should have *NO* loyalty to him or the Democratic Party.
Many Sanders supporters do not want to see the truth. He has been sold to these young millenials as some sort of aging Paladin. ‘Sold’ in much the same way that Obama was sold (even their slogans are similar)
The urging for Sanders to leave the race, and urging by some supporters that he run independently are to be expected. They don’t prove that he isn’t a sheepdog.
Sanders late-in-the-game fiestiness and his hopes for winning over Super-delegates at the Convention only keep his supporters engaged. He has little chance of winning barring a dramatic event like Hillary being charged with a crime (the email issue will be quietly taken care of at the appropriate time – probably via pleading to a lesser charge).
<> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <>
I find your comments about Obama’s run in 2008 to be naive. Obama’s ‘unexpectedly strong’ campaign got a LOT of support from Wall Street. In fact, his short political career before his Presidential run got a lot of support from powerful, wall-street connected people.
Like Bernie, Obama claimed that he got most of his financial support from small donors and that his support was a grassroots movement. We now know that a great deal of his money came from Wall Street. And Obama kneecapped whatever “grassroots movement” he had after taking office.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 26 2016 21:50 utc | 19
Blues, Yeah, those same photos & vid used to be on a better site, but since they aren’t anymore I have to link to where they are. I think people understand that one is recommending the link, not the whole site where it’s posted.
Posted by: Penelope | Apr 26 2016 22:05 utc | 20
What the American people must demand on all federal ballots is the choice for “None of the Above”. The election for that office would be declared null and void if the count exceeds the count for all other candidates running for office. New candidates would appear on the ballot who aren’t required to have an allegiance to either the Republican “red” team or the Democratic “blue” team. The American people will be motivated to vote should this powerful option of rejecting all candidates becomes available and is a check against the supremacy of political parties since they have become an anathema to good government.
The country also needs to elect the Speaker of the House of Representatives as a separate balloted position. The speaker wields great power and controls the flow of legislation in the House of Representatives and is second in line to the presidency. Such high office demands the people’s consent until the rules of the House are changed to remove the speaker’s partisan power to move bills through committees and relegates the position to a manager of congressional workflow as it was when the nation was founded.
All congressional offices would be vacant at the conclusion of their respective terms including the sitting President of the United States if no candidate or incumbent exceeds the tally for “None of the Above”. This is not a political disaster as some would think since the bureaucracy is still in place to provide administrative duties such as dispensing social security funds, paying Medicare claims, the military, etc. for the budgeted year. America has enough laws, statutes, regulations in effect that a few months (if it takes that long) without a functioning legislature would not be catastrophic for the nation.
The real power of democracy is when the majority of people recognize their individual liberties and freedoms are being sacrificed to political parties and special interest groups so they can continue with their self-serving corruption. The people must have this option to reject the electoral system completely and that can only be peacefully accomplished by counting “None of the Above”. We must end the elitists reign of terror and debt servitude by reclaiming our democracy in totality.
Dissolve it, start over!
Posted by: PokeTheTruth | Apr 26 2016 22:10 utc | 21
Likklemore @ 10, Thank you for posting the http://cluborlov.blogspot.ca/2016/03/the-color-counterrevolution-cometh.html#more link. Wonderful triumphalism.
Of course Trump can’t actually win for two reasons:
1. 30% of voters are minority and they vote 85% Democrat. Pretty tough leasd to overcome.
2. Counting of the vote is not honest, is controlled by TPTB
The above is from https://RichardCharnin.wordpress.com who also says that Bernie won quite a few more primaries, but the vote count was crooked. He gives reasons, exit polls, etc. Did you know that exit poll results are legally “adjusted” to match reported vote results?
According to him the idea that we have a 50/50 split between Dems & Reps is phoney. I’ve no idea whether he’s correct or not. He’s a statistician & seems to be backing up his work. I prefer Orlov’s world. Very like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8j8BmgeYLA
Posted by: Penelope | Apr 26 2016 22:10 utc | 22
“Where. . . is the hue and cry to extinguish coal seam fires? For the average person who has been completely taken in by the “climate change” mantra, this is most likely the first time the topic has been seen to be raised in public. And that is odd in the extreme, stunningly strange, in fact. There are 10,000 coal-seam fires burning out of control worldwide. Those fires pump out massive amounts of carbon dioxide — equal to 20% of the entire carbon footprint of the US. Hollywood schedules no concerts to “Put Out the Fires,” even though it would fit nicely on a T-shirt, and no one in Washington has said the first word about it. If common sense rules the argument, decades ago that would have been the first thing on the agenda: extinguish the coal seam fires. How odd that the activists of the world leap-frogged over this astoundingly obvious target and decided that dismantling the West’s industrial infrastructure would be a better place to start.” https://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/04/26/of-pancho-villa-global-warming-the-end-of-the-world-and-other-tall-tales/ Hmmm — ANOTHER inconsistency by TPTB in designing AGW?
Posted by: Penelope | Apr 26 2016 22:24 utc | 23
The stop-Hillary camp in 2008 was up-front and powerful … Ted Kennedy was still alive … The big cheese movers and shakers did not die off after the election and IMHO are likely represented in the woodwork of the Sanders support … Obama was always a Trojan horse, a fraud … he was a very well-calculated hail Mary pass because if the party had lost in 2008, the party would have imploded. Obama solidified the party “fairly well” in his 8 years, considering his failure to keep campaign promises, the fact that he’s got no particular core politics of his own, and stands for little to nothing (except disappointment).
In my crystal ball, Clinton will win following which the country and party (separately) will fissure and there will be hell to pay … Our democracy doesn’t work and the neoliberals and 1% are going to demand to be have
their interests served.
(I’ve suspected that the GOP “threw” the election in 2008 … bomb bomb bomb Iran meets Sarah Palin … and they may even be banking on a “live to fight another day” by running an “outsider” (like Bush and/or Obama) whose defeat can be claimed to NOT be a true referendum on their party (because he’s such an outsider)
I’ve always wondered if Edwards are somehow set up … to be permanently eliminated … whatever, more speculation. The young folk who got behind Obama and “won!!!” because “The System Works!!!” are going to face a steep and ugly learning curve … I voted in a several elections before “my candidate” (Carter, who I didn’t like much, too religious) won … and look how that turned out … Carter’s name was mud or worse for almost 30 years. nuf.
Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Apr 26 2016 22:25 utc | 24
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 26, 2016 5:50:23 PM | 19 — yes, actually, we’re on the same page …
Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Apr 26 2016 22:30 utc | 25
We know they worship celebrity, so will vote for it. You’ll also get people who wouldn’t vote otherwise to vote.
Posted by: me | Apr 26, 2016 2:35:18 PM | 1
by even voting you are just validating their corruption – i.e. I prefer to be ripped off by candidate
“A” rather than by candidate “B”
This is just stupid, especially if you consider yourself to be at all “anti-corruption”, no matter how fleeting that consideration may be
so- Basically . . . go fuck yourself, you’re an eeejit
Posted by: Oh Please STFU | Apr 26 2016 22:52 utc | 26
YouTube BS Has Negative Impact on Productivity, see video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pykRxcmyC3c&list=PLfrlsC1yJ2dQ-LsgfW1TQkjq2nsHpQeHZ
Posted by: Tom Murphy | Apr 26 2016 22:55 utc | 28
That goes double fer all you idiotic Political Partizans!!!
„¡No pasarán!“ („Sie werden nicht durchkommen!) meine kleine ALinskite amigos!!
By cajoling one to even choose a position/candidate , they win.
Congratulations!
You’re now emotionally invested!
Feel da BERN?
Posted by: Oh Please STFU | Apr 26 2016 22:57 utc | 29
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 26, 2016 3:24:41 PM | 9
“Why doesn’t Bernie attack Obama?”
Yes, WHY? Cuz, both sleeping in the same bed.
Posted by: Jack Smith | Apr 26 2016 23:31 utc | 30
“Why doesn’t Bernie attack Obama?”
Feel da BERN?
Posted by: Oh Please STFU | Apr 26 2016 23:33 utc | 31
“Why doesn’t Bernie attack Obama?”
It’s the Real Thing™®
Posted by: Oh Please STFU | Apr 26 2016 23:38 utc | 32
April 26, 2016 – You cannot make this stuff up …
Canada grants citizenship to Ukraine Prime Minister Yatsenyuk and his immediate family.
“It is reported “PolitNavigator” citing a source in the Verkhovna Rada.
As noted edition, obtaining Canadian citizenship Yatsenyuk – a guarantee of the Western partners to the life of the prime minister and his family, if “something goes wrong”, and the situation in Ukraine will in a radical direction.
Read more at http://www.breaking-news.ca/breaking-canada-grants-citizenship-to-ukraine-prime-minister-yatsenyuk-and-his-family/#HhmHZwx20QUSZKGL.99“
source – http://www.breaking-news.ca/breaking-canada-grants-citizenship-to-ukraine-prime-minister-yatsenyuk-and-his-family/
Posted by: ALberto | Apr 27 2016 0:11 utc | 33
@ 32
No surprise. There’s a shitload of former Banderistas in Canada (salvaged at the end of ww2).
Now go and build a pyramid of sulphur-blocks in Athabasca and bury him when he arrives! The smell of sulphur fits him well.
If that happens, I’ll visit the Great Pyramid of Yats.
Posted by: slirs | Apr 27 2016 0:24 utc | 34
The none-of-the-above method will never break the two-party system.
Strategic simple score (“simple score”) voting can be completely described in one short simple sentence: Strategically bid no vote at all (ignore them as if the did not exist), or strategically bid from five (5) to ten (10) votes to any number of candidates you wish (up to some reasonable limit, say 20 candidates (20 ballot entries), where each voter counts up their ballot entries by numbering them), and then simply add all the votes up.
Any reasonably intelligent person can see how strategic simple score voting would completely disrupt and remove the two-party spoiler effect.
For example:
Social justice voters could give 10 votes to Dennis Kucinich, 10 to Cynthia McKinney, 10 to Jesse Ventura, and 5 to 9 to Bernie Sanders.
Conservative voters could give 10 votes to Jimmy Duncan and 9 to Donald Trump.
In each case their power of franchise would only be diminished by 10% or 20% or 50% if their first choice failed. Hardly at all.
The vote-for-one two-party system would grind to a halt.
Posted by: blues | Apr 27 2016 0:50 utc | 35
@10 likklemore.. that article was before the colour rev in brazil which is still in the process of unfolding…
@32 alberto.. that is a poorly written article.. it might or might not be true, but just reading the article raises many questions!
@33 slirs.. true enough… this freak chrystia freeland got a federal seat in the last election… warmonger of the first order – fanatic ukee mentality.. trudeau never gave her a central seat in his gov’t however..
Posted by: james | Apr 27 2016 1:17 utc | 36
No alternative system of election will work any differently than the current one. Only a real revolution will make a difference. Americans are both too greedy and to complacent to ever really revolt … most, even the poor, would rather have the current system to the unknown. Worse, the young only want the same treatment their parents have … and the rest of the world isn’t going to let that happen.
The best scenario is simple collapse of the world economy … or ecocide. The one real issue is when will the cancerous growth (people) finally kill the planet. All else is simple hard wringing and pontificating.
Posted by: rg the lg | Apr 27 2016 1:22 utc | 37
Posted by: ALberto | Apr 26, 2016 8:11:47 PM | 32
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 26, 2016 3:24:41 PM | 9
April 26, 2016 – You cannot make this stuff up … “Canada grants citizenship to Ukraine Prime Minister Yatsenyuk and his immediate family.”
Former Conservative PM Stephen Harper, will never dare to Grants citizenship to Yatsenyuk and family and get away with it. Only Liberal Party Justin Trudeau can do it.
GW Bush, when asked what was his greatest failure after his two terms….. said his biggest failure in office was not reforming Social Security. We have Change president Oboma change and cut Social Security which GW Bush unable to do…. “6) Obama made (most of) the Bush Tax Cuts permanent via collusion with Republicans that resulted in the ‘Fiscal Cliff’ kabuki……cuts in social spending.
http://www.politico.com/story/2010/10/bush-has-social-security-regrets-044021
Democratic, Republican. Voting for Bernie, Trump and Hillary is still the same….
Posted by: Jack Smith | Apr 27 2016 1:32 utc | 38
OT—Alberto
I replied late to your post on previous topic. Pls see my post 57 there.
Posted by: chu teh | Apr 27 2016 1:36 utc | 39
/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
83 US Senators have signed a letter today demanding that President Obama quickly reach a new military aid deal with Israel, and one that is worth considerably more than the $3 billion annually that Israel is already receiving. The letter claimed Israel needs more money to “defend itself.”
\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That would be maybe $3,300,000,000 annually to Israel. PLUS this new tax.
I am one of about 330,000,000 Americans.
I am collectively paying $10 from my pocket yearly just for the acknowledged “moral debt” to fascist Israel.
But now they demand MORE???
Posted by: blues | Apr 27 2016 1:39 utc | 40
Posted by: Ruby Ray | Apr 26, 2016 9:19:21 PM | 36
83 US Senators have signed a letter today demanding that President Obama quickly reach a new military aid deal with Israel……
Do you know the 32 Democrats signed the letter, except Bernie did not signed it?
Further did you know Obama released Israel’s spy Jonathan Pollard last November which, GW Bush refused? ….Pollard becomes eligible for parole in November, on the 30thanniversary of his arrest on charges of selling classified…..
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/07/25/convicted-spy-to-be-released-be-obama-administration-possibly-to-improve.html
Posted by: Jack Smith | Apr 27 2016 1:42 utc | 41
@ rg the lg | Apr 26, 2016 9:22:40 PM | 37
“No alternative system of election will work any differently than the current one.” — rg the lg
NO. Simple score would solve it all. See:
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2016/04/open-thread-2016-16.html#c6a00d8341c640e53ef01bb08ee935a970d
Posted by: blues | Apr 27 2016 1:46 utc | 42
Posted by: blues | Apr 26, 2016 9:46:58 PM | 42
NO. Simple score would solve it all.
Nope, it would take years to get everyone voting “Strategic simple score” … you and I won’t be around and, you really trust duopoly…..? They will moves the goal posts before the people decide enuff is enuff!
Posted by: Jack Smith | Apr 27 2016 2:06 utc | 43
@ James 35
Did you speed read the article at link? It is not Brazil related. The color Counterrevolution cometh to the U.S. and Washington Syndicate; the current Trump-Hillary-Sanders campaign. Dimitri leans to Trump. He concludes and is hopeful for a Trump win and what ensues:
[.]If all goes well then, starting next year, tens of thousands of Washington operatives, along with their friends in various politically connected industries, such as banking, defense, medicine and education, will evacuate to a variety of nonextradition countries (which will no doubt respond by raising the prices of their passports) while thousands more will begin their lengthy sojourns at federal penitentiaries. And thus the crisis will be defused.
And if it doesn’t go well, then we’ll probably be looking at a “deteriorating security environment.” How far it will deteriorate is anyone’s guess, but if you are one of the Washington régime’s stooges then you may want to get yourself a second passport before the prices go up and get out ahead of time.
Posted by: likklemore | Apr 27 2016 2:08 utc | 44
blues,
Any chance Hillary offer the Veep to Bernie and would he accept it, after the latest Hillary’s sweep today?
My guts feeling it may happen and Bernie would grab it
Posted by: Jack Smith | Apr 27 2016 2:22 utc | 45
jackrabbit 11
At this point I don’t think there’s much of a Never Trump movement, nor do I think the gopper establishment has much reason to fear him any more than they would fear Hillary. He has already hired a foreign policy team of mostly neocons. Imho, his domestic economic rhetoric is about as believable as Hillary’s “I’m now against the TPP” BS.
He is quickly becoming completely absorbed into the gopper mainstream–if he already wasn’t there to begin with. His recent private meeting comment to a group of political-economic bigwigs that his campaign rhetoric is an act should put any doubt to rest.
Posted by: sleepy | Apr 27 2016 2:47 utc | 46
Jack Smith -I know u didn’t ask me but my 2 cents: that’d be a really dynamic pick and she would probably win if she were to choose Sanders. I am thinking on the Republican side it’s going to be trump and Christie but I am always wrong.
Posted by: Au | Apr 27 2016 3:56 utc | 47
@ Jack Smith | Apr 26, 2016 10:06:16 PM | 43
Yes. The Simple score voting method would solve it all. It would put an end to the two-party system. In about a year.
(You must not want that?)
Posted by: blues | Apr 27 2016 4:36 utc | 48
@ blues #34–
Good to see this. I did not know this voting system (Simple Score) was already well-known and had a name.
Of course it could be adopted. It would be a good thing, too.
Still, I am not holding my breath.
–Gaianne
Posted by: Gaianne | Apr 27 2016 5:13 utc | 49
There is a huge Ukie/Banderovtzy diaspora in Canada, a British colony.
I thought Yatz with family resided already in Cali though, where his wife is a chief Scientology master?
Maybe Obama’s USA is no longer safe heaven for British Empire agents…?
Posted by: ProPeace | Apr 27 2016 6:51 utc | 50
Voting matters, because it creates more burden for TPTB to commit election fraud.
Also people become invested and united, so when cheated they treat what the system has done to them personally and may care enough to finally do something about it feeling also solidarity with others.
Paid trolls discourage people from participation and some mistaken geniuses like George Carlin, alas.
Posted by: ProPeace | Apr 27 2016 6:57 utc | 51
Trump Predicts ‘Great Relationship’ With Russia, Putin if Elected
Read more: http://sputniknews.com/politics/20160427/1038676096/trump-russia-putin.html#ixzz470YAu7U9
Posted by: M. | Apr 27 2016 7:00 utc | 52
Posted by: ProPeace | Apr 27, 2016 2:57:55 AM | 51
Political party affliation is one of the few almost universal collective identities remaining, even if you’re an independent. Unions and churches used to also count and had the important function of educating voters about their interests and issues.
I think one thing standing in the way of organizing sustained opposition is a lack of understanding, education in alternatives and a lack of tradition of political involvement … it’s passive couch-potato audience behavior for most, because why get spend your free time working for multimillion dollar campaigns for millionaire candidates … y’know?
Even if many fail to be educated by Sanders wrt Socialism, they are being educated that “alternatives” exist and are possible (which is arguable, but still a new and novel concept for many). Generally, little to no harm, no foul that I see. He has kept what might have been “false hopes” to a minimum, strikingly so, after the Obama deception of 2008.
Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Apr 27 2016 7:53 utc | 53
And now for something completely different… or not:
this is a nice summary and – except for the non-sensical, but perhaps obligatory statement that communism failed (we’ve not had communism yet) – quite perceptive and accurate:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/15/neoliberalism-ideology-problem-george-monbiot
Posted by: GoraDiva | Apr 27 2016 8:28 utc | 54
‘Yes, he needs to not demonize Hillary into someone he cannot support … so he stops short … and
Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Apr 26, 2016 4:07:09 PM | 14
Clinton is a demon
Posted by: brian | Apr 27 2016 8:29 utc | 55
@me (Apr 26, 2016 2:35:18 PM | 1):
We should start a new party called 99% party.
What an interesting idea! Looks like Kshama Sawant of Socialist Alternative suggested it too: The (un)Democratic Primary: Why We Need a New Party of the 99%.
Posted by: Seamus Padraig | Apr 27 2016 10:07 utc | 56
Posted by: Quentin | Apr 27, 2016 4:39:16 AM | 57
u mean a demon….ETS can be cute and cuddly
Posted by: brian | Apr 27 2016 11:28 utc | 57
Anon27april please don’t ruin this sites comment section about why we are in touch w et’s when someone just made a passing jab the hillary is an e.t. … Jesus man I’ve heard most of that on coasttocoastam.
Posted by: Au | Apr 27 2016 12:44 utc | 58
Seamus Padraig @58
Bernie isn’t going anywhere. He knew what he was doing when he signed on to be Democratic Party’s progressive candidate (aka ‘sheepdog’).
Bernie will fight the good fight up to the Convention where Hillary will throw this dog a bone for his loyal service: VP (not likely)? cabinet position like Health & Human Services (more likely)?
The progressive left needs to plan accordingly.
There is already a “Party of the 99%”, and it is on the ballot in 35+ states: The Green Party. Kshama Sawant recognizes this in his article when he urges Sanders to run as an independent or on the Green ticket.
The Greens have almost the same positions as Bernie on most issues. Instead of falling into the cult-of-personality trap (Sanders as savior), we should be talking about principles and issues.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 27 2016 13:23 utc | 59
Jackrabbit – good thoughts. but even bernie knows that if he ran third party it would be a Trump presidency and he can’t stomach that. I like Sanders because of his principles on issues and I personally believe he’d end Syrian affairs before a Trump presidency as I just personally believe trump will jump however high his generals suggest but there is always hope he’d (trump) be tight w Putin which would be nice. I have a hard hard time seeing Sanders anywhere but the veep
Posted by: Au | Apr 27 2016 13:39 utc | 60
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 27, 2016 9:23:38 AM | 65
we should be talking about principles and issues
and where the decisions (power for change) reside … An obsession with executive branch power has developed creating the illusion that bolsters the unitary executive and seemingly allowing decisions at state level to be effectively made against “majority opinion” … often without organized opposition. We deplore the unitary executive as it’s intervention is increasingly desired as some “last resort”
An example has been seen wrt police brutality, federal investigation of civil rights violations — well and good — but “states rights” and local government and budgets can keep changes from being made, see Ferguson’s dilemma now — and also precludes demanding responsibility at the local and state level as more and more becomes a matter of federal investigation or recommendation. The federal attorney general and department of justice can make changes federal guidelines, sentencing for instance, and make positive headlines, with no change in the same matters on state level, where most sentences are passed.
Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Apr 27 2016 13:42 utc | 61
blues | Apr 27, 2016 12:36:21 AM | 48
Posted by: Gaianne | Apr 27, 2016 1:13:14 AM | 49
Posted by: Au | Apr 26, 2016 11:56:13 PM | 47
Its all about voting?
I an’t against it, if the majority voters adopt it. Can you change die-hard voters across the spectrums in about a year – Blacks, Millenniums, Democrats/Republicans, Religious fanatic (Muslims, Protestants, Catholics, Hindus, Buddhists..), Rednecks, sicko, NPP (No Party Preference), 1%……….?
Get real please. 🙂
Posted by: Jack Smith | Apr 27 2016 13:42 utc | 62
Come Nov 2016…. if between Hillary Vs Trump or Bernie Vs Trump.
I an’t voting for but against Democrats… I’ll vote for Trump, Republican or any dogs
Posted by: Jack Smith | Apr 27 2016 13:53 utc | 63
April 27, 2016 – You cannot make this stuff up
An addendum to the ‘Yats a Canuck’ piece …
The laws of Ukraine do not allow the possession of two nationalities and two passports.
“Famous Ukrainian oligarch Igor Kolomoysky, which played a key role in the overthrow, and to finance the war against the Donbas, admitted that there were three of nationality: Ukrainian, the Cyprus and Israel. At the same time, in his style, he explained: “I did not violated. The law prohibits two citizenships, but does not prohibit three. ”
source – http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=609_1425680867
Posted by: ALberto | Apr 27 2016 14:00 utc | 64
American politics have become team sports, obsessed with the top two “traditional rivals” with the vast majority of the audience only tuning in for the final championships … perhaps even only to something analogous to the post-season bowl games every 4th-year November.
Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Apr 27 2016 14:06 utc | 65
83 US Senators have signed a letter today demanding that President Obama quickly reach a new military aid deal with Israel……
Do you know the 32 Democrats signed the letter, except Bernie did not signed it?
Corrupt Senate is as much a problem as is the so-called Unitary Executive Puppetry. Really, there is no need or purpose for the Senate or the electoral college. 100 Senate prostitutes truly work against the common citizens.
I have said all along that Bernie has been playing role of sheepherder. As such, he will be offered and he will take the Veep Slot. His populist ideas and he will be shelved. TPP, Big Oil, Wall Street and Full on war mode will ensue if the Hell Harpie wins.
The only sliver of hope of any peace is offered by the Combover Cowboy.
Posted by: fastfreddy | Apr 27 2016 14:20 utc | 66
Jack Smith @68
The current, duopoly-friendly voting system that allows the establishment to ‘play’ us via the ‘lesser-evil’ trap WILL NOT CHANGE unless we talk about it and advocate for a change.
Voting systems that rank or score candidates allow voters to vote FOR something/someone instead of against something/someone.
The ‘lesser-evil’ trap results in much fewer votes for third-parties (who are deemed ‘not viable’), allowing for hidden discrimination in the form of:
> greatly reduced funding (via federal matching funds); and
> exclusion from debates.
<> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <>
SuperPAC campaign funding and ‘lesser-evil’ voting ARE CHOICES that were made by the establishment. Together they constitute a ‘rigged’ system.
Wealthy and well-connected Kool-Aid drinkers will often challenge ‘complainers’ with the “Best of All Worlds” argument: all problems that are important enough have been/can be addressed.
Our rigged system shows that that is a self-serving falsehood. A ‘voice’ is NOT a seat at the table. And, if you don’t have a seat at the table, you’re on the menu.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 27 2016 14:22 utc | 67
Its instructive to note issues where Bernie and the Greens differ.
The Greens want:
– to change the voting method;
– to reduce military spending by 50%.
=
Note: this is not a complete list of differences.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 27 2016 14:30 utc | 68
Syrians seize Israeli-made arms in Suwayda Province
Syrian officials and locals have confiscated a vehicle loaded with Israeli-manufactured weapons in the Arab country’s southern province of Suwayda.
An unidentified local source said that the authorities ambushed a car full of weapons and ammunition bound for the Daesh Takfiri terrorists on Wednesday morning, Syria’s official news agency, SANA, reported.
Damascus says the Tel Aviv regime and its Western and regional allies are aiding the Takfiri militant groups fighting against the Syrian government.
Daesh chemicals don’t threaten Israel: TV
Israeli military officials have said a Daesh affiliate operating near the Syrian border with occupied Palestinian territories has obtained chemical weapons, but does not threaten Tel Aviv.
Israel’s Channel 10 said the officials feared that the outfit calling itself Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade may be planning to test the weapons.
“The group was not currently concerned with Israel and was not directing offensive efforts against it, being preoccupied with fighting other groups in the Syrian civil war,” the television said.
“Any chemical weaponry in their hands was thus not considered an immediate threat to Israelis,” it added.
Saudi to open Israel embassy if peace plan accepted: General
A well-connected former general in the Saudi military has said the kingdom would open an embassy in Tel Aviv if Israel accepted a Saudi initiative to end the Middle East conflict.
Anwar Eshki was asked during an Al Jazeera interview how long it would be before Riyadh would open an embassy in Israel.
“You can ask Mr. Netanyahu,” Eshki replied, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Jerusalem Post reported on its website.
The KSA and Israel are thicker than thieves, and getting thicker still.
@44 likklemore.. i skimmed it! it was about colour revs and that is what has just happened in brazil, even if someone is claiming they are going to go the way of the dodo bird..
Posted by: james | Apr 27 2016 15:32 utc | 70
The Donald has sure silenced the ziomedia with his last 6 huge wins.
Know a man by his enemies.How anyone can see him as establishment needs their head and heart examined.
17 senators refuse to approve more aid to Israel.BS among them,a few reps,and about 13 dems,but Warren was not among them.Another deer in zioheadlights.(reddit?)
Adelsons Las Vegas newspaper bans reporters from critiquing Jabba the Hut.(graun)
MP in Britain on carpet for tweeting in 14,before her election,that they should move Israel to America.(God forbid!)Antisemite!(Indy)
Exit polls for HB in many states don’t match up with votes.(CP)
And Trump says if the HB was a man,she’d be polling 5%.Of course.And if the black morons hadn’t voted in mass for her,she’d be toast.What a bunch of self hating maroons,where antisemitism cuts the nose from their face.
Posted by: dahoit | Apr 27 2016 15:35 utc | 71
Sanders can’t attack Obomba,and yesterday he said the kill list was OK.Any attack on the cool one would evaporate even his 10% of the black vote.
Ignorance cuts across all racial lines.
Posted by: dahoit | Apr 27 2016 15:37 utc | 72
45;Sweep?She clocked him with minority votes in Pa,Del,Maryland and squeaked by with the ghetto vote in Con.
RI was a strong victory for BS,albeit a small state.Very few minorities,or at least not as many in RI.
As Trump says,if she were a man,with her resume,she would have been Rudy Giuliani,a distant 10th.She is draculas(RG) clone.
Posted by: dahoit | Apr 27 2016 15:47 utc | 73
Alberto @72
The Senate as backstop…
This dialog took place between writer Phillip Rexroth and a “stranger” many years ago. The “stranger ” is identified couple days later:
Rexroth–One night I said to him, “Don’t you believe in the integrity of any politician whatsoever? Don’t you believe that a few rare people are motivated by a disinterested desire to serve society?” He didn’t. “How about La Follette and Burton Wheeler?” I said. “You know everybody in Montana. I don’t agree with them, but you certainly must admit that they are honest men and really believe what they say.
Stranger–” “Did you ever go to a baseball game?”
“Of course,” I said.
“Uh hunh,” he said. “What’s behind the catcher?”
“Why, there’s nothing behind the catcher, except the umpire.”
“Oh yes there is,” he said. “Think.”
“I can’t think of anything. There’s just the boxes in the grandstand.” “What’s between the box seats and the catcher?” “Nothing.”
“Oh yes there is; there’s a wire net called the backstop. It catches the balls the catcher misses, and all the fouls that go off in that direction, so that nobody in the box seats gets hurt. That’s the function of guys like La Follette and Wheeler, and believe me, they know it if you don’t.”
Two days later the “stranger” was identified as Se. Burton Wheeler of Montana.
http://www.bopsecrets.org/rexroth/autobio/5.htm
Posted by: chu teh | Apr 27 2016 16:31 utc | 74
@77 “The Donald has sure silenced the ziomedia with his last 6 huge wins.”
Yep. He’s starting to look more presidential in photographs too. Republican endorsements can’t be far behind.
Posted by: dh | Apr 27 2016 16:48 utc | 75
@Jack Smith
Jesus, you’re like a broken fucking record. Who got us into Iraq? Was that the Democrats? Who forced Medicare Part D through congress and specified that the government couldn’t negotiate prices with the pharmaceutical companies? Not the democrats.
Seriously, shut the fuck up already.
Posted by: Bruno Marz | Apr 27 2016 16:56 utc | 76
Advised by CITI’s Elliot Ruben, Tres Sec, Bill Clinton repealed Glass Steagal enabling FIRE to co-mingle. Hereby, they invented CDO’s and Credit Default Swaps which facilitated the 2008 crash. Dubya encouraged “The Ownership Society” to buy and borrow. This was the set up before the crash. The shorts made a killing off the backs of Mortgaged Borrowers.
The Democrats ENABLED all the rip offs, Republican privatization schemes and the destruction of civil rights. Obama Admin protected the banks and shafted the citizens, carried out edicts of PNAC and Yinon Plans for MENA wars. Obama’s last big push is the draconian TPP.
Hillary is guaranteed to continue same. She’ll get the TPP passed if he doesn’t.
Possible that Trump MAY not be on board with TPP.
Posted by: fastfreddy | Apr 27 2016 18:06 utc | 77
#1
Susan Sunflower | Apr 26, 2016 4:07:09 PM | 14
Gore should have won in 2000, even with unprecedented support for Nader’s second or third Green party run .. he ran a bad campaign and then there was Florida.
Gore was in an impossible position – “Christian morals” without the political courage to back them up. He was obviously as disgusted as much of the country over Zipper Bill’s dirty deeds in the Oral Office and his lying in the Paula Jones case. But Gore just didn’t have the guts to come out and explicitly distance himself from the Clintons. And so not only did he not get any advantage he might have from having the Clintons campaigning for him, he let their stench stick by not taking the moral high-ground.
– – – –
#2
Susan Sunflower | Apr 26, 2016 6:25:36 PM | 23
In my crystal ball, Clinton will win following which the country and party (separately) will fissure and there will be hell to pay … Our democracy doesn’t work and the neoliberals and 1% are going to demand to be have their interests served. I’ve always wondered if Edwards are somehow set up … to be permanently eliminated … whatever, more speculation.
Again, I pretty much agree with where you’re coming from – certainly about a fissure coming. But if the 1968 Democratic debacle taught us anything, it is that picking a nominee is a dirty business and, short of blocking a hugely popular candidate, any outcome is possible. My crystal ball is still saying Biden will be the Democratic candidate.
No rational analysis of what will happen in the next 2 months can ignore the specter of Hillary being indicted, even though the pundits all ignore that possibility. Andrew Napolitano is very convincing when he explains why Hillary is in big trouble. If she is indicted, the party machinery will no more let Bernie get the ticket than they let McGovern or McCarthy in 1968. It’s not so much that Bernie is a Jew with wacko, populist ideas, but that he doesn’t suck Netanyahu’s ass. That’s why he’s a pariah in his own party. Ponder the irony of that one: a Jewish politician being shit-canned because he doesn’t support Yisrael sufficiently.
When the whole nomination system is turned on its head by Hillary’s indictment – just like it was by Bobby’s assassination – Biden will be the only real choice, maybe with Yisrael-firster Warren as VP to keep AIPAC happy. OTOH, if Lynch/Comey announce there will be no indictment, the Republicans will splatter that white-wash on Clinton and every Democrat within a country mile of her, and then they will indict her when they take the WH.
My guess is that May is going to be the wildest month in US politics since Bobby was shot.
FWIW, longer opinion piece here, w/ links back to MOA:
http://logophere.com/Topics2016/16-04/160427-Opinion%20Hillary.htm
FastFreddy@72: My #80 to you was misaddressed to Alberto.Pls correct.
Posted by: chu teh | Apr 27 2016 18:12 utc | 79
Please excuse me blues…
@Bruno Marz
Wanna play hardballs? Fuck you and your fucking jesus.
Joint resolution “Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002”
82 (39.2%) of 209 Democratic Representatives voted for the resolution.
58% of Democratic senators (29 of 50) voted for the resolution.
The Repug and fucking Democrats got us into Iraqi. And who got us into Libya and now Syria? And lately 200 more boots on the ground in Iraq.
And who lied instead of single-payer and now fucking Obamacare? BTW 1 out of 5 in a family are unemployed!!
You are fucking warmonger apologist. I will vote for Hillary in the California Democrat’s primary and in November Donald Trump.
Posted by: Jack Smith | Apr 27 2016 18:14 utc | 80
Trump’s FP Speech
Centered on ‘America First’. But to Trump that seems to mean economic realism more than foreign policy realism (when you’ve got a hammer …). As a result, his speech had gaps and inconsistencies and generally followed the contours of the MSM narrative. Some examples of how the MSM narrative distorts:
> he talks about ISIS and ‘radical Islamic terr0rism’ but fails to mention KSA or madrasas.
> he says military spending is down since 2011 but fails to say WHY (end of Iraq War), and fails to take note of the big increase in ‘black budget’ military expenditures.
> he says allies should pay more, but what does that mean? Allies pay tribute? (like Mexico builds the wall.) Would he accept allies (like Europeans) forming security alliances that exclude USA?
> he takes OBama’s FP to task but doesn’t address the “lead from behind” policy that emboldens and sanctifies their mischief.
I wonder if what he is mainly trying to do in this speech is counter the neocon establishment’s NEVER TRUMP campaign. To these people, no one can be ‘serious’ about FP without constantly fretting about Israel’s defense and constantly pushing for higher defense spending.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 27 2016 18:27 utc | 81
Posted by: fastfreddy | Apr 27, 2016 2:06:12 PM | 83
You’re on the ball on Democrats and Republicans. Get them out!
We all know except apologists what will happen after November 2016 if Democrats in the White House and control both Houses of Congress. Remember 2008?
Trump is a teaser releasing bits and pieces of crumbs and dunno what he’ll do if he win. TPP and TPIP are real, will cripple most families here and elsewhere. Beside losing sovereignty to the 1%, it’s mainly against China another regime change?
Posted by: Jack Smith | Apr 27 2016 18:36 utc | 82
I should add: I totally understand that ‘lead from behind’ is a convenient ruse.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 27 2016 18:40 utc | 83
FOR THE INSIDE SCOOP ON EACH PRIMARY: Richard is usually able to get the exit poll results fairly close completion (before they are adjusted to match the fraudulent vote count). He’s a statistician. He’s reported the tremendous odds against Bernie’s having lost some states that Hillary “won”. According to him, Bernie has more electoral votes than Hillary— IF the vote were not fraudulent. The post is long and detailed, but you can skip thru to the text paragraphs that tell you the story on each state. Obviously we need paper ballots, counted publicly at each polling station, w/o being transported anywhere. Also, I know there are unnecessary obstacles to the success of third parties, but I don’t know what they are.
“The pollsters ALWAYS force the unadjusted exit polls to match the recorded vote. Where are the unadjusted exit polls? The American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) discusses the matching process in Explaining Exit Polls. :
In close races, the projection models also employ actual vote totals, first in sample precincts as it becomes available and then at the county level for all counties in a state as they become available. It is important to note that after the votes have been counted, the exit poll results are adjusted to match the actual election outcomes. It is in this way that the final exit poll data can be used for its primary and most important purpose – to shed light on why the election turned out the way it did. –AAPOR
“Note: It’s not just in close races. Unadjusted exit polls are adjusted to match the recorded vote in ALL races.
“The AAPOR never mentions election fraud as a likely cause of the discrepancies. In actuality all of the adjusted exit poll crosstabs contaminate the true statistical results and are misleading as they do not reflect the the actual responses of those exit polled.
“Exit pollsters at Edison Research should not be making adjustments. But it is standard operating procedure. It is unscientific and hides the actual exit poll results. It serves to cover-up the fraud which is measured by the recorded vote discrepancy.” https://richardcharnin.wordpress.com/category/2016-election/
Posted by: Penelope | Apr 27 2016 19:22 utc | 84
Who could forget this loud mouthed, bully pedophile:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/dennis-hastert-awaits-sentence-hush-money-case-054940200.html
Too bad he wasn’t taken down while in office.
Posted by: fastfreddy | Apr 27 2016 19:39 utc | 85
curious that in all this election blather here at moa nobody has ever even mentioned John McAfee.
in a recent interview i don’t remember where when John was questioned about his ‘checkered past’ he said, and i’m paraphrasing, something like, “yeah, and i challenge each and every one of you out there to get through this life exercising your own free will…to stay out of prison.”
Posted by: john | Apr 27 2016 20:17 utc | 86
@54:
“Americans the choice is yours, rebublic or empire!”
No, the republic has been gone for a long time. At best it was an ‘oligarchic republic.’ The United States Constitution was created by imperialists … Washington, especially Jefferson, Madison, et al. That becomes especially true if you carefully look at what has been sold as ‘Jacksonian Democracy.’ The Removal Act of 1830 set up the reality that the empire would and could remove undesirables. In that sense, Obomba is a Jacksonian Democrat.
Those of you who persist in trying to return the US to its’ original democratic values are simply making noise … perhaps pleasant noise, but noise none the less. Now if you’d attempt to return the US to its’ democratic rhetoric, that may be possible. Remember that Manifest Destiny no only looked at ‘from sea to sea’ but from pole to pole. Whether the latter only encompassed the western hemisphere may be up to debate. I don’t think so … while the neocons and their apologists may only be more honest in their drive for hegemony, the ‘founding fathers’ were similarly hegemonic in their outlook.
Posted by: rg the lg | Apr 27 2016 20:34 utc | 87
Trumps foreign policy speech today was laughable mainly in presentation – the dude sucks with a teleprompter like everyone else in the world who tries to use a teleprompter except for at times barack obama. Trump needs to ditch the teleprompter and speak from the heaart again especially on Foreign Policy –
Here’s the latest Tomgram which focuses exclusively, and exhaustively, on the multitude of implications inspired by Donald Trump’s core campaign slogan…
“Make America great again!”
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176133/tomgram%3A_engelhardt%2C_has_the_american_age_of_decline_begun/
It’s more about AmeriKKKa than Trump. And it’s not pretty.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 27 2016 20:53 utc | 89
@62 Church of Scientology, Arseni Yatseniouk and Andrej Kiska
Arseni Yatsenyuk denied belonging to the Church of Scientology. However, there is evidence that the coup-instaured Ukrainian Prime Minister, and member of the Trilateral Commission, resided in California where he met in 2009 the secretive leader of the cult, David Miscavige. “Yats” reportedly joined the organization during his association with the Aval Bank, in 2005, and became a senior member of the cult reaching a position known as “OT-6” (Operative Thetan Level 6)…
“The Charge of the Scientology Brigade”, by Wayne Madsen, Strategic Culture Foundation, 1 April 2014.
Posted by: ProPeace | Apr 27 2016 21:05 utc | 90
all open threads since at least january have been about the us election.. for those of us who don’t live in the usa it gets tiring! i realize many in the usa think they are the centre of the universe, but it doesn’t look that way to others!! continue…
Posted by: james | Apr 27 2016 21:11 utc | 91
@62 Rothschild/Crown Finger Prints On Panama Papers | Left Hook by Dean Henderson
Posted by: ProPeace | Apr 27 2016 21:18 utc | 92
Corporate lackeys like Lindsey Graham are attempting to sabotage Trump by attacking his anti-globalist Rhetoric. Example: “Tariffs on Chinese Goods will hurt American Jobs”.
Posted by: fastfreddy | Apr 27 2016 21:30 utc | 93
@Susan
‘The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.’
/– Plato
‘Within the next generation I believe that the world’s rulers will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging and kicking them into obedience.’
Huxley, Aldous (2014-07-01). Brave New World.
‘I know this steak doesn’t exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, you know what I realize? Ignorance is bliss.’
– Cypher in ‘The Matrix’ (1999)
“The technotronic era involves the gradual appearance of a more controlled society. Such a society would be dominated by an elite, unrestrained by traditional values. Soon it will be possible to assert almost continuous surveillance over every citizen and maintain up-to-date complete files containing even the most personal information about the citizen. These files will be subject to instantaneous retrieval by the authorities. ”
“In the technotronic society the trend would seem to be towards the aggregation of the individual support of millions of uncoordinated citizens, easily within the reach of magnetic and attractive personalities exploiting the latest communications techniques to manipulate emotions and control reason.”― Zbigniew Brzeziński, Between Two Ages: America’s Role in the Technetronic Era
Posted by: ProPeace | Apr 27 2016 21:31 utc | 94
@Susan
‘The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.’
– Plato
‘Within the next generation I believe that the world’s rulers will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging and kicking them into obedience.’
Huxley, Aldous (2014-07-01). Brave New World.
‘I know this steak doesn’t exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, you know what I realize? Ignorance is bliss.’
– Cypher in ‘The Matrix’ (1999)
“The technotronic era involves the gradual appearance of a more controlled society. Such a society would be dominated by an elite, unrestrained by traditional values. Soon it will be possible to assert almost continuous surveillance over every citizen and maintain up-to-date complete files containing even the most personal information about the citizen. These files will be subject to instantaneous retrieval by the authorities. ”
“In the technotronic society the trend would seem to be towards the aggregation of the individual support of millions of uncoordinated citizens, easily within the reach of magnetic and attractive personalities exploiting the latest communications techniques to manipulate emotions and control reason.”
― Zbigniew Brzeziński, Between Two Ages: America’s Role in the Technetronic Era
Posted by: ProPeace | Apr 27 2016 21:33 utc | 95
Trump with slogan “….great again” has expertly snatched and expanded a pre-manufactured Tea Party theme which was cultivated by Fox News and MSM in general. The core of his base was built from these viewers. They believe that Obama has ruined the erstwhile greatness of America by being black (half black, really) and by being a wimp.
Of course, none of that is true, but perception is key.
Obama in fact is a ruthless warmonger and like Bush and Clintons a prostitute for FIRE, Pharma, AHIP and big business generally.
Posted by: fastfreddy | Apr 27 2016 21:56 utc | 96
Obama is pretty ruthless. Beyond the war monger drone killer extraordinaire he is, it’s TPP, TTIP, TISA which might be the worst of his legacy should those go thru.
Posted by: Colinjames | Apr 27 2016 22:35 utc | 97
THE POLONIUM HITS THE FAN — THE WHEELS COME OFF AT THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
The Posthumous Papers of Boris Berezovsky’s London Club produce yet another surprise!
Very interesting. The Nekrasov/Hautula Magnitsky black PR attack event at the Europarliament abruptly cancelled https://t.co/sHtOW6jcpv
— Bill Browder (@Billbrowder) April 27, 2016
The Cast:
- Bill Browder, American investor, thrown out of Russia in 2006, claimed by Berezovsky’s posthumous papers to have been a CIA agent all along with a mission to defame Russia.
- Sergei Magnitsky, Browder’s business partner and lawyer. Died in a Russian prison, the Berezovsky Papers claim the death was arranged by Browder.
- Andrei Nekrasov, Russian movie director. Has produced numerous films defaming Russia and Putin. Close to Berezovsky and said to work for him.
- Heidi Hautala, Finnish Member of the European Parliament, vice-president of the Green/EFA group, Andrei Nekrasov’s partner / girlfriend. One of Europe’s leading Russophobes, Putin hater.
Act 1
Andrei Nekrasov produces a new movie exonerating Putin: (source)
A Russian film-maker claims to have unmasked what would be the most audacious deception of EU and US institutions in modern times.
Andrei Nekrasov, who is better known as a critic of the Russian regime, put forward the accusations in a documentary…
The film says that Bill Browder, a British businessman, fraudulently convinced politicians and investigators on both sides of the Atlantic that Russian officials stole $230 million from Russian taxpayers and murdered the man, Sergei Magnitsky, who reported the crime.
Act 2
The film was to be screened in the European Parliament on Wednesday 27 April. The event was to be organized by the Green/EFA group: (Or was it?)
Excl film preview on 27.4. at European Parliament: The #Magnitsky Case – behind the scenes #humanrights #Russia https://t.co/JrioXa6cYb
— Heidi Hautala (@HeidiHautala) April 23, 2016
Act 3
Bill Browder hires lawyers to block the screening of the film: (source)
A screening in the European Parliament of a documentary about Russia was canceled at the 11th-hour on Wednesday after lawyers for the widow and former business partner of a high-profile critic of Vladimir Putin intervened.
An hour before MEPs and guests were to watch “The Magnitsky Act — Behind the scenes,” which defends the Russian government against allegations that it was behind the murder of prominent whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky, the lawyers stepped in, calling the documentary “degrading.”
The screening in the Parliament in Brussels had been in doubt for several hours before the plug was pulled, casting a shadow over an event hosted by Green group vice-chairwoman Heidi Hautala, whose boyfriend, Russian filmmaker Andrei Nekrasov, made the documentary.
Posted by: Petri Krohn | Apr 28 2016 0:50 utc | 98
Mr. Obama’s meddling and threats in the Brexit’s campaign is still reverberating.
Here is Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, one of the high profile contributors on business in the Daily Telegraph. Evans-Pritchard states he is sympathetic to the Brexit camp, …..:
”The European Union always was a CIA project, as Brexiteers discover”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/04/27/the-european-union-always-was-a-cia-project-as-brexiteers-discov/
Brexiteers should have been prepared for the shattering intervention of the US. The European Union always was an American project.
It was Washington that drove European integration in the late 1940s, and funded it covertly under the Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations.[.]
Read on.
Posted by: likklemore | Apr 28 2016 1:10 utc | 99
@ james | Apr 27, 2016 5:11:10 PM | 97
all open threads since at least january have been about the us election.. for those of us who don’t live in the usa it gets tiring!
My empathy, James — for millions of us who do live in the usa it gets tiring, too! Trump vs. Clinton make me want to puke. The whole thing makes me want to puke.
PhilK
Posted by: PhilK | Apr 28 2016 1:19 utc | 100