By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
2016
Nevada Debacle
On the famous chair incident (the physical chair, not Roberta Lange, the Democrat Party chair). Hat tip Martha R:
HEY @maddow! Here's video proof that NO chair was thrown at #nvdemconvention. Are U gonna correct your statement?https://t.co/06J2QOqVBz
— #ForThePeople (@BernieVolunteer) May 18, 2016
This is the only clip I’ve seen on the Nevada chair incident. The implication is that every major media outlet in the country is smearing Sanders supporters as violent by repeating the Big Lie that a chair was tossed or brandished. Shocking, I know. At the same time, the only documented incident of violence comes from Wendell Pierce, a Clinton supporter, who was arrested for “battery” after assaulting a Sanders supporter. A woman, in fact, so there’s a special place in hell for all the soi disant feminists who are silent on this episode. The immediate moral of the story is: Stream everything; streams are your receipts. The institutional moral: Independent media (a lesson that should been learned 2003-2006, except the Democrat Party did what it does, and decapitated the blogosphere).
“If Hillary Clinton doesn’t stop being such a sore winner, she may well end up a sore loser. A candidate with 524 superdelegates in her pocket—and a lead of 291 in pledged delegates—can afford to be gracious. Even if it means that lead shrinking by two or three delegates” [The Nation]. “Being less dismissive—and less heavy-handed—now can only help Clinton to enlist Sanders and his supporters after the convention.” But surely Clinton (and Reid, who owns Nevada) have already made this calculation, and that’s why they’re using the scorched earth tactics they are; neither politician is dumb or inexperienced; I’m betting they’re chasing the Beltway Centrist wet dream of splitting the Republican Party and picking up Republican “moderates.” No better way to do that than kicking the left! Greg Sargent in 2010, quoting Susie Madrak:
Top Obama adviser David Axelrod got an earful of the liberal blogosphere’s anger at the White House moments ago, when a blogger on a conference call directly called out Axelrod over White House criticism of the left, accusing the administration of “hippie punching.”
That tension burst out into the open when Madrak directly asked Axelrod: “Have you ever heard of hippie punching?” That prompted a long silence from Axelrod.
“You want us to help you, the first thing I would suggest is enough of the hippie punching,” Madrak added. “We’re the girl you’ll take under the bleachers but you won’t be seen with in the light of day.”
Still true in 2016! “More that unites us than divides us” is at least an open question; the issue is whether the left is to have institutional power in the Democrat Party. Considering culture (see Madrak), personal networks, and policy, there’s nothing about the words, or the behavior, of the Clinton campaign that indicates that they will or even can give the left a place “at the table”; look how the convention committees are already stacked, for example. (And words, even on policy, are wind, since even a child of six knows that the Democrat establishment tacks to the center in the general). So, and sadly, the Nation is really concern trolling here. The decisions have already been taken. There is no overlapping solution space.
“Sanders has a particular credibility with white working-class voters and young, mostly white collegians. Sanders’ particular resonance with the white working-class,a group that has bedeviled Democrats over the last 50 years, and whose skepticism of free trade makes them a prime target for Donald Trump, could prove to be his most valuable asset to his newfound party. Sanders has proven to be an effective attacker when he sets his mind to it” [Joy-Ann Reid, Daily Beast]. Leaving aside that Sanders also appeals to young women of all incomes and also young blacks (a demographic he captured in South Carolina, amazingly enough), Reid doesn’t seem to have a sense of realpolitik. “The people who can destroy a thing, they control it”; Frank Herbert, Dune. Sanders has leverage; he has something Reid says that she wants. So what does Reid offer in exchange? Nothing. Where’s the deal? Nowhere. That strongly suggests that figures higher than Reid — the Inner Party, you might say — have decided that there is no deal to be had, since otherwise Reid would have been offered a trial balloon to float.
“I feel sorry for all the genuinely idealistic, well-meaning people who got caught up in this terrible mess” [Paul Krugman, New York Times]. Krugman is a lot higher up in the Democrat food chain than Joy-Ann Reid, and here again we see no trial balloon. So I’d conclude that no substantive offer to Sanders will be forthcoming. The remaining issue would then be the form of public relations that the Clinton campaign will adopt as a humiliatingly inadequate substitute, and which emissary will be delegated present it. Wasserman Schultz? (Kudos, however, to Operative K for masterful concern trolling; he was always a technically brilliant blogger in his post-economist career, and this year he’s been excelling himself.)
Oregon, Kentucky
“Sanders is considering seeking a recount in Kentucky, where Clinton was clinging to a lead of a half percentage point” [Bloomberg]. Probably wise.
The Voters
“The basic justification for liberal identitarian discourse is that it prioritizes and empowers the voices of the voiceless. In practice, however, what we see is that it routinely misrepresents the voices of the voiceless, floating claims about ‘the LGBT community’, ‘the black voters’, and so on that are demonstrably untrue. In the case of the Democratic primaries, for example, majorities in every oppressed identity group have had their voices thoroughly and relentlessly misrepresented by people making liberal identitarian arguments” [Carl Beijer]. “It’s not difficult to see how this works to the advantage of the powerful. On one hand, the power of the elite can be threatened and undermined when oppressed people have a voice. On the other hand, elites can also foment resentment and opposition if they try to silence the oppressed. What is needed, then, is an ideology that appears to give the oppressed a voice while it in fact silences or misrepresents them.”
“Trump’s appeal stretches to suburbs that had been trending blue” [WaPo]. “At the party meeting in Doylestown, Jean Mollock, 61, passed the plate of mozzarella and tomatoes that was going around the table and asked, ‘Why don’t we try to understand why Trump is so popular?’ Others said that there was nothing to understand. ‘You think there’s some logic behind it?” asked Durey. ‘I’m saying there’s not'” [head, desk].
The Trail
“After Burlington College’s Collapse, More Questions Than Answers” [Seven Days]. One such question is the role of People’s Bank in pulling Burlington College’s line of credit.
Stats Watch
Atlanta Fed Business Inflation Expectations, May 2016: “Inflation expectations on the consumer side appear to be falling but there’s good news from the Atlanta Fed on the business side. Business inflation expectations rose 2 tenths to 1.9 percent for the best reading since January and one of the best readings over the last year” [Econoday]. I’m so old I remember when inflation was a bad thing. Then again:
“April 2016 Adobe Digital Price Index [DPI ] Shows Widespread Deflation” [Econintersect]. Important:
The DPI analyzes billions of digital transactions involving 15 billion website visits and 2.2 million products sold online, tracking digital transactions more accurately than any other current source. The CPI on the other hand, relies on consumer surveys to approximate the actual sales in each product category. The DPI uses transactional data on the actual quantities purchased for millions of products and captures the data in real-time. Seven dollars and fifty cents out of every ten dollars spent online with the top 500 U.S. retailers go through Adobe Marketing Cloud.*
Adobe’s April report for consumer goods prices shows month-over-month (MoM) deflation between 0.2 and 2.4 percent for all categories Adobe is currently tracking with the exception of hotel prices, which increased by 1.6 percent. Between March 2015 and March 2016 prices for TVs, computers, flights, appliances, toys, furniture, bedding and sporting goods dropped between 2.2 and 19.8 percent. In comparison, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index (CPI) reported between 1.1 and 16.6 percent price deflation for the same categories and time period.
MBA Mortgage Applications, week of May 13, 2016: “The housing market is losing momentum, with purchase applications for home mortgages falling 6.0 percent in the May 13 week to the lowest level since February, and the year-on-year gain, though still very high at 12 percent, continuing to narrow” [Econoday].
Employment Situation: “The share of young men who are jobless or incarcerated has been rising. In 1980, 11 percent of young men were jobless or incarcerated; in 2014, 16 percent were (see figure below). Specifically, 10 percent of young men were jobless in 1980, and 1 percent were incarcerated; those shares rose to 13 percent and 3 percent in 2014” [Econintersect].
Shipping: “Shipbuilding as a demographic weather vane” [Splash247]. “With all of the largest yards – HHI is joined by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, Samsung Heavy Industries, STX Offshore & Shipbuilding and Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction – now going through painful restructuring with thousands of layoffs and many smaller yards folding, Koreans are wondering if the time has come for that generational industrial shift…. The same questions are being raised in Singapore where shipyards – long viewed as a sunset industry, but that enjoyed an incredible Indian summer from 2010 to 2014 – are now in trouble.” Query: I like these real economy sites. Can NC readers in the aircraft industry suggest an industry source like Splash247? I mean a source that includes material aircraft as physical plant: Building, repairing, maintaining, flying, and not sales or financing. Thank you!
Shipping: “Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded its outlook for the North American rail industry to ‘negative’ from ‘stable,’ as railroads face deep and long-lasting declines in freight volumes, the firm announced yesterday” [Progressive Railroading].
Shipping: “To transport wine and olive oil from Madrid to Yiwu, China, via the ambitious “One Belt, One Road” project, Spanish producers need to wrap bottles in thermal blankets to protect them from the cold of the Russian tundra—or else their products will freeze and explode.” [Quartz]. “The problem is, there’s really no need to use trains to increase commerce between Europe and China. Sea cargo transportation is much cheaper, and companies already rely on it. More than 19,000 containers can be placed on a single cargo ship, and they only take 30 days from Europe to reach China.”
The Bezzle: “Haynes and Boone reported that it has tracked 77 North American oil and gas producers that have filed for bankruptcy since the beginning of 2015. These bankruptcies, including Chapter 7, Chapter 11, Chapter 15, and Canadian cases, involve approximately $51.9 billion in cumulative secured and unsecured debt. As of May 16, 2016, 35 producers have filed bankruptcy so far this year, representing approximately $34.7 billion in cumulative secured and unsecured debt. Despite the modest recovery in energy prices, all indications suggest many more producer bankruptcy filings will occur during 2016” [Futures]. “During the month of May, Texas bankruptcy courts surged to the top of the venue leaderboard, surpassing Delaware in terms of cumulative debt administered. Texas bankruptcy courts now lead the way both in terms of the number of E&P filings and cumulative debt.”
The Fed: “Incoming data continues to support the narrative that the US economy is not, I repeat, not, slipping into recession. Instead, the US economy is most likely continuing to chug along around 2 percent year over year. Not exciting, but not a disaster by any means. Indeed, for Fed officials thinking the rate of potential growth is hovering around 1.75 percent, it is enough to keep upward pressure on labor markets, pushing to economy further toward full employment” [Tim Duy’s Fed Watch]. “And if you think you want to hit the inflation target from below, then you need to hit the employment target from above. Which means a non-trivial contingent of the Fed does not want to leave June off the table. That is a message that came thorough loud and clear today.”
The Banks: “Our current regulatory system enables megabanks, their executives, and Wall Street creditors to reap massive benefits from the TBTF subsidy while imposing the costs of that subsidy on ordinary citizens. We must reject this intolerable situation, and we must shrink the TBTF subsidy by forcing SIFIs, their insiders, and Wall Street creditors to internalize the costs of the enormous risks created by megabanks” [Arthur E. Wilmarth, The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation]. When did Harvard become an arm of the Communist Party?
“The U.S. economy is stabilizing after another rough winter, shrugging off worries about a recession or prolonged slowdown” [Wall Street Journal, “Rite of Spring: U.S. Economy Warms Up After Winter’s Chill”]. “Since the recession ended [ha ha], first-quarter GDP growth has frequently come in weak, followed by a stronger second quarter. This year may have been no exception, and Tuesday’s reports reinforced the picture of resumed modest growth in the overall economy.”
Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 54, Neutral (previous close: 54, Neutral) [CNN]. One week ago: 62 (Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated May 18 at 11:50am. And now taking ‘er out of gear…
Corruption
“Bridgegate’s 10 Stunning Plot Turns, From Christie To Trump” [WYNC]. Trump’s older sister, a Federal judge, has Christie’s nuts in a jar.
“Lawmakers could do this to fight corruption. But they won’t.” [Dana Milbank, WaPo].
“After a year that saw the arrest and conviction of Albany’s two top legislative leaders on federal corruption charges, New York’s state government has been rocked again by news of another deepening federal probe, the targets of which reportedly include Governor Andrew Cuomo’s former right-hand man and another close longtime associate” [CIty Journal]. “The ‘significant funding’ behind Cuomo’s economic-development programs now runs into the billions, and the governor’s secretive and centrally controlling approach breeds more opportunity for political favoritism.”
Health Care
“Nonprofit hospitals can’t sell stock, but they frequently issue bonds to pay for capital expenditures like new facilities. Larger health systems require significant investment to build and equip these facilities, and minor changes in interest rates and finance terms can make a big difference in borrowing costs. This has led some nonprofit healthcare systems to establish investor relations positions similar to those found in large for-profit corporations, holding investor briefing calls and “roadshows” to meet with investors and bond analysts” [Nonprofit Quarterly]. What could go wrong?
“Majority in U.S. Support Idea of Fed-Funded Healthcare System” [Gallup]. Again.
Black Injustice Tipping Point
“Video reveals Baltimore cops were looting during Freddie Gray protests” [Raw Story].
Gaia
“How Is Your Soil Like A Cow?” [Advancing Eco Agriculture]. “The production of high quality crops is dependent on the complete biological system of soil, air, and water. Healthy soil acts as the plant’s digestive system to metabolize the minerals needed for optimal plant growth. Each farm is different and it is important to consider the diversity of soil type, nutrient availability, water quality and availability, and climate. Healthy soils are the foundation of a healthy crop. Truly healthy soils have the following common characteristics…”
“Magic mushroom ingredient may ease severe depression, study suggests” [Reuters].
Class Warfare
“An argument about whether powerful people behave better or worse than others is shaking the world of experimental psychology” [1843 Magazine]. Good round-up, even if in Economist-speak.
“Amazon Proves Infertile Soil for Unions, So Far” [New York Times].
“When the oil boom went bust, Oklahoma protected drillers and squeezed schools” [Reuters].
“A guy just transcribed 30 years of for-rent ads. Here’s what it taught us about housing prices” [Medium] (original post from Experimental Geography). “The way to make San Francisco as affordable as (say) Portland would be to either cut everybody’s salary in half, or fire half of them, or allow the city’s population to rapidly grow about 50 percent, to about 1.2 million, while the number of housing units increased even faster.”
Payroll cards at the Olive Garden [Wonkette]. “Payroll cards are great for banks: they get to charge exorbitant ATM fees to people whom they would otherwise have never been able to gouge. They’re just as great for the companies themselves, especially in Darden’s case: all told, the practice of using payroll cards saves the company $5 million per year, according to the report. The only people they’re not great for are actual workers, who (as per usual) get hosed in a big way.”
“Click here if this position is not prestigious enough for you” [University TItle Generator]. This is awesome. Please distribute widely.
“If you’re living abroad, earning a living from a foreign company, not paying US taxes, and not collecting social security, then loan companies can’t touch you, nor will the government chase you after you move abroad” [Vice].
“Hope is being privatized. Throughout the world, but especially in the United States and the United Kingdom, a seismic shift is underway, displacing aspirations and responsibilities from the larger society to our own individual universes. The detaching of personal expectations from the wider world transforms both” [Boston Review]. “Not only does this privatization weaken collective capacities to solve collective problems, but it also deadens the very sense that collectivity can or should exist, as the commons dissolves and social sources of problems become hidden. This leads to pathologies that, according to a sociologist Edsall cites, “undermine solidarity as the glue of social life.””
News of the Wired
“SSRN sold to Elsevier: From open access to the worst legacy publisher” [Professor Bainbridge].
“SSRN has been captured by the enemy of open knowledge.” [Medium].
Readers, feel free to contact me with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, and (c) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi are deemed to be honorary plants! See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. And here’s today’s plant (Portia):
Readers, Water Cooler will not exist without your regular support. Your tip will be welcome today, and indeed any day. If you enjoy what you’re reading, please click the hat!
157 comments
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Of course the throwing chair/violent supporters meme is and always was false. But it benefits the $hill so it can’t be debunked by the MSM before the coronation.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/05/18/the-faux-fracas-in-nevada-how-a-reporters-pack-of-lies-ran-riot-in-the-fact-averse-media/
I’m trying not to reinforce the false meme by adopting its words… Hence, “brandish,” “toss.”
Lambeth:
Never give up! Never surrender!
I love that movie… a guilty pleasure, must have watched it 3 or 4 times. And RIP Alan Rickman…
Why would it be a “guilty pleasure”? The movie is fantastic. Anyone who doesn’t enjoy it is a soulless monster.
Repeating “By Grathbar’s Hammer, what a savings” whenever one looks at the price of anything is a guilty pleasure.
On video, one more point. The convention was held at the Paris Hotel, which “casino-themed.”
Nevada casinos are very surveillance-heavy; they video everything. It’s not unreasonable to think that they videoed the convention hall as well as a matter of routine corporate policy (since otherwise evil-doers would use unsurveilled areas for nefarious purposes).
Hence, if there were an official video of the chair-brandishing incident that made the case for violence, it would already have emerged (via the unions -> Harry Reid). It hasn’t, ergo it doesn’t exist, ergo the incident didn’t happen.
The curious incident of the Democrat boss in the night time….
I’ve read through a bunch of stuff, and mainly I’m seeing what appear to be a lot of Clintonistas on various so-called “lefty” blogs getting their panties in a giant twist over this. There doesn’t seem to be much real evidence of chair throwing. I’m unsure if the alleged “screaming” at Nancy Pelosi happened either (albeit, I wouldn’t care if it had bc I can’t stand her anyway).
All this hand-wringing and boo-hooing. I think a lot of D voters are pretty naïve (to be kind), and they probably do want this process to proceed nicely. but any time any little flaw is pointed out about Clinton, there’s a veritable barrage of excuses.
I’ve witnessed lie upon lie upon lie in the “media,” which includes NPR especially, but also clips I’ve seen from supposedly “leftwing” MSNBC, about Sanders, if he hasn’t been just blacked out. Clinton supporters ignore all of this pretty factual evidence which goes on daily. I hardly listen to the radio and have less interaction with tvs, but I’ve seen so much lying going on about Sanders that it’s almost unreal.
Unfortunate. Citizens are deliberately misled and misinformed, and then well-meaning (I think) bloggers carry water for the propagandists.
I started out as not all that thrilled about Sanders but reasonably open-minded. After witnessing the lies and continuing black outs, I’ve become a stronger supporter. I think that if there hadn’t been so much voter fraud, Sanders would clearly be in the lead. It’s not just the Clinton machine, though. It’s that powerful interests CLEARLY want Clinton to win this, esp since some of the PTB really do not like Trump. And why wouldn’t they LOVE Clinton because, IMO, she’s a rightwing Republican NeoCon/NeoLiberal on the take from Wall St. From the perspective of the rich and powerful, what’s not to LOVE with Clinton? Not snark.
That’s my take on it. My opinion and $5 may buy you a cuppa Joe somewhere.
Boxer, not Pelosi.
I have squandered my resistance
For a pocket full of mumbles, such are promises
“…, all lies and jest. Sill, a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.” Except these days, we are told only what “they” want us to hear, and the “rest” is suppressed and or distorted (except for NC readers and other quality sites).
“Welcome My Son, welcome, to, The Machine…..where have you been? It’s allright, we know where you’ve beeeeen…”
Thanks. Same feeling towards Boxer as Pelosi on my part.
Was there real “screaming”? If so, probably merited. They’ve both been like Marie Antoinette, frankly.
Boxers’ speech and delivery sounded designed to goad Sanders supporters. If at another primary some DNC speaker makes goading or taunting remarks, peace out. We had one at my caucus. Seems to be a tactic. They seem to be trying to get a rise out of Sanders supporters, waiting for a response they can use. Anyway, wish now that my overflowing side of the arena had started singing ‘We Shall Overcome’ in response, instead of just boo-ing. Hindsight, etc.
Lest anyone forget, Boxer endorsed Lieberman when he ran as an Independent against Ned Lamont who was actually the Democratic Party nominee who had won the primary. Lost total respect for Boxer when she did that.
People have said to me, if you fall for their goading, it’s you fault.
As noted above, this is indeed a “scorched earth” approach by the DNC/Team Clinton (and the execrable Harry Reid).
If I were Sanders, I’d simply say: You want to talk about “violence”? Here’s violence for you: illegal and unwise Iraq war; illegal and doubly unwise Libya “intervention”; hanging out with war criminal Henry Kissinger; selling arms to despotic Saudis and aiding genocide in Yemen. How about them apples?
Compared to Hillary’s history of violence, throwing a chair or two [which didn’t even occur, it seems] rather pales into nothingness.
So true!
MSNBC’s morning show continues to be contrarian. This morning they were dissing Reid, Wasserman, the DNC, and the rest of the gang over the NV convention, and praising Sanders’ speech in Carson CA last night after the Oregon win.
The rest of that network is foaming at the mouth outraged over Sanders and his violent thugs. I’ve never seen anything like the nonstop fury directed at any and all Sanders spokespeople. Tameron Hall looked to be spitting blood at Nina Turner.
This seems to be a reprise of the Delores Huerta “English Only” lie that came out during the first caucus. Get it out on the web and then never retract it…damage done. Guess this is standard practice in Nevada. Here’s a link to that incident.
http://www.latinorebels.com/2016/02/21/dolores-huertas-english-only-moment-at-caucus-what-happened-last-night-in-las-vegas/
Good to see that article cited at the top here.
This whole situation reminds me of the partisan reporting that went on in the run up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, when a handful of political insiders fed a steady stream of lies to strategically placed reporters who then “verified” the facts by consulting each other — either incompetently or intentionally failing to discover that the information they were receiving was coming from the exact same sources.
Back then I was reluctant to believe Judith Miller was a witting accomplice to Bush/Cheney’s deception. With the benefit of hindsight I’m not making the same mistake with Jon Ralston.
I don’t know if these essays made it to NC, but Doug Johnson Hatlem has written a series articles examining the question of voter fraud by the Clinton machine:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/05/09/hillary-clinton-versus-bernie-sanders-taking-election-fraud-allegations-seriously-part-1/
A court case would be useful; only in that way can all the links in the chain of custody from vote to count be addressed.
Maybe an appeal could be made to the UN human rights organ. They looked into the Assange case. I have little faith in U.S. government action since problems with electronic voting, ect., have been around for years without any action. On the other hand, maybe Sanders is in a position to demand an investigation.
Give another reason for Hillary lurching further rightward screeching–“One World Government”, if not “The Comintern!”
You will have to legislate the chain be maintained first and I don’t see any court doing that when they have repeatedly ruled these are private clubs with the right to assemble in any fashion with whatever rules they choose.
Some districts dispose of ballots after certification. Machine testing is cursory. When the actual doesn’t match the test, the test numbers are changed and ballots destroyed, you will never have a chain of custody.
Standing has been one major problem in taking court action. Laws vary from one jurisdiction to another. Often in order to take a case one has to be able to prove that a result would have been different. Election systems and administrators make it possible to get the evidence that would allow such a claim to be made.
The new series at BlackBoxVoting.org is particularly significant in this respect. They show conclusively that a smoking gun for fraud is a difference between the voting machine central tabulator tape and a precinct machine tape of just a small number of votes. Such differences are routinely discounted because “they are too small to have changed the election result”–although there is no good reason for the total to have changed at all from the precinct to the central tabulator. What the BBV report shows is that these small differences in some cases are the accumulation of rounding errors created by having altered the code to apply a formula that weights voters or dictates certain percentage results–resulting in otherwise impossible fractional numbers hidden within the MS Access database.
The link above is for part 1 of the report “Fraction Magic”; parts 1-5 are out so far with at least 2 more to come (h/t NC commenter Bev).
Bernie RECOUNT Kentucky. Here is why it is absolutely needed: look at new research by Bev Harris ( thanks to link from TheCatSaid from yesterdays Water Cooler) that finds EVIDENCE OF FRAUD in voting machines in Kentucky and upcoming California…other states should also recount.
Bev Harris’ last chapter of how to mitigate is to come. Fast. Hopefully.
http://blackboxvoting.org/fraction-magic-1/
Fraction Magic – Part 1: Votes are being counted as fractions instead of as whole numbers
By Bev Harris May 12, 2016
tags COMPANIES, ELECTIONS INDUSTRY, MAKE AND MODEL, RESEARCH
1 – Summary – This report summarizes the results of our review of the GEMS election management system, which counts approximately 25 percent of all votes in the United States. The results of this study demonstrate that a fractional vote feature is embedded in each GEMS application which can be used to invisibly, yet radically, alter election outcomes by pre-setting desired vote percentages to redistribute votes. This tampering is not visible to election observers, even if they are standing in the room and watching the computer. Use of the decimalized vote feature is unlikely to be detected by auditing or canvass procedures, and can be applied across large jurisdictions in less than 60 seconds.
GEMS vote-counting systems are and have been operated under five trade names: Global Election Systems, Diebold Election Systems, Premier Election Systems, Dominion Voting Systems, and Election Systems & Software, in addition to a number of private regional subcontractors. At the time of this writing, this system is used statewide in Alaska, Connecticut, Georgia, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Utah and Vermont, and for counties in Arizona, (upcoming) California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming. It is also used in Canada. snip
All:
Part 1: Votes are being counted as fractions instead of as whole numbers
http://blackboxvoting.org/fraction-magic-1
Part 2: Context, Background, Deeper, Worse
http://blackboxvoting.org/fraction-magic-2
Part 3: Proof of code
http://blackboxvoting.org/fraction-magic-3
Part 4: Presidential race in an entire state switched in four seconds
http://blackboxvoting.org/fraction-magic-4
Part 5: Masters of the Universe
http://blackboxvoting.org/fraction-magic-5
Part 6: Execution capacity – coming –
http://blackboxvoting.org/fraction-magic-6
Part 7: Solutions and Mitigations – coming –
http://blackboxvoting.org/fraction-magic-7
…….
I hope Part 7 of Bev’s research comes out before California.
Californians look this up now. Get rid of Evidence Removed/Hidden voting machines owned my the extreme right pushing both parties further and further right. Tabulating machines are also a big part of the problem.
Demand Evidence of hand counted paper ballots counted in precinct on election night and posted to the wall of the precinct to undo tabulating adjustments.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/welcome_to_1984_20160514
Chris Hedges
Welcome to 1984
Much of the left, Nader argues, especially with the Democratic Party’s blatant rigging of the primaries to deny Bernie Sanders the nomination, grasps that change will come only by building mass movements. This gives the left, at least until these protofascist forces also give up on the political process, a window of opportunity. If we do not seize it, he warns, we may be doomed.
thanks very much for this.
This all leaves me with the awful feeling that America can no longer solve its problems, I mean we had the global “hanging chad” circus in 2000, then redux in 2004. Those were more than a decade ago.
First step in solving a problem is correctly identifying the problem…and The Donald gets high marks there. Bernie’s ID seems to roll up to one thing: campaign finance corruption, he’s not wrong but it doesn’t have nearly the impact of declaring that Iraq was (is) a total and unmitigated disaster and the press are manipulated lying sacks of excrement, for starters. Bernie telling people the press is corrupt might make them question the voting instructions they get on TV.
Thank you for this.
One might think that the DOUBLE data type is required for the variable containing the total number of votes, because DOUBLE used 8 bytes of memory, and the total number of votes will be larger than any of the partial vote counts, but that is not true. Depending on the database system, there are always long integer data types that can handle a positive integer larger than 2 billion. This data type might be called LONG, INT, or something else. Some systems have a BIGINT type that can handle integers above 1 quintillion. There’s no need to use the floating point DOUBLE type, which allows fractions, which are completely unacceptable.
No U.S. election will have more than 320 million total votes, so any data type that allows 2 billion is sufficient. Many of the 320 million Americans are children, and several million are foreigners, so even if we assume that apathetic adult citizens will suddenly decide to vote, we won’t need a number much larger than 200 million.
The Bev? Just wanted to say thank you for the fantastic work you’ve done over the years.
Not the original if its the same commentor I’ve had contact with years ago here on NC.
Disheveled Marsupial…. ahhh…. the early days…
TableTalk?
Not THE Bev, another Bev. Skippy is correct.
And, exit polling has been eliminated. All evidence removed.
https://richardcharnin.wordpress.com/2016/05/19/the-democratic-primaries-no-more-exit-polls-kentucky-and-oregon-recap/
The Democratic Primaries: No more exit polls, Kentucky and Oregon recap
Richard Charnin
Regarding the KY votes, does anyone know why O’Malley is still appearing on ballots? Is that typical? I ask because the NYT breakdown of counties has him on the KY ballot but on OR’s map it is just Clinton and Sanders. Given the minute Clinton win, it almost seems like the vote was padded with O’malley’s inclusion.
I assume the rules to get on the ballot require filings months ago, and there’s no reason to spend effort to remove yourself from ballots.
It’s crazy in California, I have my ballot. There are like 5 or 6 candidates for the Dem party Prez race none of whom except Hillary and Sanders are actually running. I’m talking Dem party primary I’m not talking 3rd parties who aren’t on that. And Hillary is listed first and Sanders further down behind a few fake candidates. Now they say who is listed first is randomly chosen. Since that can’t be proven otherwise without some smoking gun, I guess so. The ballot looks like this: Hillary on top, then a bunch of nobodies who aren’t running, then Sanders, then another nobody who isn’t running. I wonder if everyone in the state got the same Dem primary ballot.
I think stuff like this has happened before in CA, where the politician that the PTB want mysteriously ends up first on the ballot. And yes, it’s supposedly all random. Usually it hasn’t mattered so much, as it does this year.
Long story, but I won’t see my ballot ’till next weekend, so I don’t know if it’ll be the same. I expect so.
You should see the CA absentee ballot procedure (I vote from abroad), I had a Kafka-esque back and forth with the Registrar just trying to get the nonsensical instructions right. Wrong as printed and delivered, then wrong as interpreted, then wrong as explained. I felt like flying back there to hand it in person to someone who might count it. Finally had to mail it in a format contravening the printed instructions, but in a way the Registrar’s emails told me to. Can somebody call the UN Elections Observers?
Donna Frye almost bucked the machine, but they got her in the end…
Yes, that’s how my pres section was listed. Then 35 candidates for senate.
Hillary has always had fantastic luck with randomness, coin-flips and such, not to mention those miraculous commodity trades back in the day.
yes, so much in common with gwb, no wonder they’re buds, on the same wavelength and all…
Roger,
Imo the most plausible andsimplest reason is that candidates suspend rather than end campaigns in order to continue receiving federal natching campaign funds as diehard or low information donations continue dribbling in to their organizations. So they are not really out of the race technically,
Good explanation. Some of them may also have hopes that a front runner will have a major scandal or illness, and then they can revive their suspended campaigns.
I’ve noticed a seeming anomaly. Repeatedly this year, Sanders has been edging out Hillary with 97 pr 98% of the vote counted. Then, at the last minute, the 99th percentile phones in (from an electronically undefended computer count?) with just enough votes to give her an edge. Last night in Kentucky the voters all night long from the main city area had her at 58% — then, it suddenly jumped for the last moment, like a Hail Mary pass.
By all means, do a recount. This “come from behind” with just enough votes to push Hillary over by 0.1% is too improbable a coincidence.
Agreed. Same thing noticed. Watching the returns last night, family and friends were getting a bit excited about Bernie being ahead somewhere in the 65% range. I noted this past “anomaly” in previous primaries and told them: “Bernie will be ahead at 96 or 97%, then certain held-back precincts will come in and push Hillary over the top.” Damned if it didn’t happen right at 96% – pushing Hillary ahead to almost +2,000 at 99%.
My only thoughts last night were that maybe they wouldn’t do it again after what happened in Nevada, but that’s not this campaign’s style. No matter what you must win at all costs.
Lest someone think I’m just conspiracy minded, as a Wisconsin resident I’ve seen this happen in 3 straight Scott Walker elections in a Walker operative controlled southern county, Waukesha if I recall correctly.
Yes, Waukesha county where they have an unheard of voter turnout of 98% election after election.
“Hand-marked paper ballots hand-counted in public” is the international electoral standard for good reason.
+ Infinity.
Simple. Able to verify. Able to be monitored. Able to recount. Able to audit. Able to warehouse for future historians too.
So obvious it should be outlawed.
Oh wait, it pretty much has, even if not “officially.”
Complex technological solutions are always the best solutions for every problem in the world’s greatest country dontcha know.
Hear, hear.
Cf the recent Canadian elections and the even more recent UK ones.
Shame they can’t get John Houseman back to do an advert: “We count votes the old fashioned way.” (Of course he was doing them for Smith Barney IIRC.)
+2 infinities (how do you make the infinity sign with a keyboard)
∞ ALT + 236 ∞
Also, in HTML, ∞ yields ∞
For a real master class in electoral fraud, see Lake County, Indiana. In 2008, primarily black Gary (Obama supporting mayor) was holding back its vote totals–until midnight!–while the mayor of primarily white Hammond (Hillary supporting mayor) was accusing Gary of vote rigging, since it was clear that Hillary was going to achieve a small majority win in the state without some help from Gary, IN. No reason to believe these antics have disappeared around the country since 2008.
I remember that one. Something about taking the boxes of ballots to or from the airport?
This is an old tactic. Robert Caro has a pretty description of how “Landslide” Lyndon Johnson did it, in one of his books on LBJ.
I’ve noticed that trend as well. I have no evidence of anything, but I’ve also wondered about it.
Especially in a state like Kentucky, which has no early voting and high hurdles to jump for absentee ballots. Usually, the excuse is that the late swing occurred because of early voting totals or absentee ballots finally being added to the voting day totals (and this year, early voting seems to have definitely favored Hillary). Typically, late votes from a particular city or a particular county are definite red flags for suspicion.
Well, some city has to be last, no?
The red flags are when there is unusual delay in reporting results. For example, Cuyahoga County OH has had many examples of this. For example, a fire alarm in the middle of vote counting and the building had to be evacuated. Or even weirder things happening.
You really can’t make this stuff up.
Hopefully, no quakes in California in the month of June.
full moon saturday, you might not have to wait that long…
http://www.dairiki.org/tides/daily.php/tow/2016-05-21
The report currently posted at BlackBoxVoting.org describes an authenticated process that can give exactly such a result. By allowing fractional voting, a program can be written than with even just a minute or so of access can rewrite entire election results in an instant, across multiple precincts and jurisdictions. They’ve shown this, tested the code, and also uncovered an email chain by voting machine staff after the change to fractional voting was inserted in the code in a new version in 2001 (and it remains in that code ever since–even though there is no legitimate reason to have fractional votes). The report is called “Fraction Magic”. It is enough to make you wonder about many or most election results over the last 15 years at least.
Election administrators keep assuring us that we should trust elections. No, elections should never be trusted. They need to include safeguards and complete transparency and observation that is accessible to any person without requiring special expertise.
“I’ve noticed a seeming anomaly. Repeatedly this year, Sanders has been edging out Hillary with 97 pr 98% of the vote counted. …”
It would be interesting if a first or second digit application of Benford’s Law could be applied to several of the primary results to establish a common pattern.
Opti, interesting law.
It seems intuitive that that is it should be.
” … always a technically brilliant blogger …”
Have to respectfully disagree.
Prof. K. has completely alienated a large part (majority?) of his readership,
revealing himself to be a creature from Planet Center-Right.
Sort of like the final scene in the remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
One bookmark I will happily delete.
If you look for a moment at “technically brilliant” you’ll see the curveball…
Do you mean that in the sense that you can come to respect or even admire to some degree the tenacity and ingenuity of an effective internet troll?
Yes.
“Technically Brilliant” but still a FUCKING HACK, K-Thug is!
Yeah, I don’t bother to read him anymore on politics. He’s worthless on that subject.
he was always worthless on economics. Where is he more than worthless?
And why does NC link to him?
To give people the opportunity to criticize his mistaken ideas.
Clinton Email Hairball, Chapter 1472:
Hmmm … isn’t there some kind of modified limited hangout we could adopt?
What I hate most about housework is scrubbing the damned server:
You’ve wiped away the dirt you can see. But what (close up of worried housewife) about the dirt you can’t see?
And then there is the waxy, yellow buildup! But I doubt that Hillary has many Mary Hartman moments. She outsources those to Huma.
Geeks on Call™ is the preferred solution for messy clean-ups like this.
Fantastic Adobe link at Econointersect.
Damn, I’d have missed that one.
Many thanks!
Re the ‘EconoDay link on housing activity; where I am, ‘Asian money’ and people cashing in stock options are paying cash. Properties are selling – but anyone tracking mortgage activity and loans will miss the scale of what’s happening, IMHO.
There’s been quite a bit of legit discussion about how the MSM is acting as a disinformation machine for the Clinton campaign. But has anyone else noticed how incredibly slanted Gawker media is regarding Bernie Sanders? I mean, the above two articles were posted to their sports site today.
It seems every story on any of their sites is either raging pro-Clinton, or if in any way backhandedly complimentary of Sanders, the comments section blows up in her favor.
Is there a Clinton campaign connection there of which I’m not aware?
Every story about the campaign, that is.
Gawker (Kinja et al.) has been a giant waste of political discussion this entire race. Outside of the trends you documented they largely play to the “Oh god my apathy for this terrible election season is so high, someone kill me!” tune. It is pathetic.
The only journalist they have that occasionally produces decent articles is Hamilton Nolan.
I too frequent the Gawker comments section. Right now there’s this internecine battle raging concerning the “grays” and “top comments”.
Fascinating stuff to be sure!
Gawker, and mostly Hamilton Nolan, still put out Pro-Sanders stuff unlike most of the establishment blogs. Kos put out his opinion on Sanders yesterday and Ugh it fucking stinks. All based around the “misogynistic and violent” behavior of his supporters in Nevada. Seriously, that’s what ur circling the wagons around? Calling Boxer a bitch and protesting and gettin loud! I mean that’s who we Sanders supporters are (mostly!). We are activists and we aren’t above getting into the trenches with the establishment elites frufruing cuz their fiffies got hurt.
You see this in the comments at Gawker, and for that matter on all the leftists blogs that threaded the Sanders/Clinton needle until openly declaring war on Dirty Hippies. One of the pro-Clinton comments I’ve been seeing lately is the whole “I’m a former Sanders Supporter but now I see what kind of man he truly is”. Now these kinda comments just started popping up which makes me immediately suspicious of Correct The Record Stooges.
“I’m a former ___ but ___” is classic concern trolling and hardly ever organic.
Often coming from an account that was either created a couple days earlier, or if the poster HAD a track record on the site, it showed no evidence of the previous support.
I realized part of what’s wrong with the “evolution of Daily Kos when I saw a series of recent posts by Moulitsas about one of his current main concerns, which is to make sure there are no onerous govt. regulations that would have any effect on his AWESOME self-driving Tesla prototype.
(Amusing that you can now get banned on his site for saying exactly the same things about Clinton that HE said quite loudly eight years ago. Because apparently the actual TRUTH VALUES change when one becomes the nominee presumptive. Or when one joins the Tesla class.))
Why does no one ever use the term “Black working class”? It’s a tad strange, is it not? It almost makes me think there is a racist tacit assumption being made by journalists and pundits that all Black people are working class (obviously untenable)…or is it rather that our narrative creators don’t want us putting two and two together and realizing that the “White working class” and the “Black working class” are both working class and so have largely aligned interests? Better to talk about the “Working class Whites” and “Blacks”, that way there’s no obvious overlap in categories that might lead to dangerous solidarity among the plebes. Also, it serves as a sort of leftist dog-whistle, since we all know that “working class whites” is generally a code for racist misogynists.
Yesterday I mentioned the Case-Deaton study, which IIRC does not disaggregate Black data.
I’m thinking more of mainstream political reporting. It just seems like we hear an awful lot about the white working class and almost nothing at all about the Black working class.
…because the point is to avoid saying “working class” without a modifier. That way, by saying “white” you can maintain a bit of faux antiracist cred in SOME eyes while actually disregarding the working class altogether. Over and over you see it from these “analysts.” Their problem with the “white working class” isn’t the whiteness. Its the working classness.
Think back a couple of years & it appears, to me at least, the notion of “class” *in general* as a political driving force was rarely mentioned in the MSM esp. not in any headline. If you used it back then you’d be instantly marginalized as one of those dangerous socialists, if not an outright red-fanged marxist. This really does seem to have changed and I think its down to the increasingly, glaringly, obvious inequalities between the 0.1% and the rest. People in general are looking for a reason why and have rejected, or are in the process of rejecting, all the neolib explanations spouted by our “betters” which usually come down to “that’s the way it is so you plebs can just suck it up”.
It will still be a long time before the prefix “white” is dropped, not least because it suits both HRC (demonization) and DT (solidifying his base), but the notion of a working class as a political force, long absent from American political discourse, is probably here to stay.
While Tim Duy is right that the economy shows no verifiable sign of slipping into recession, these two sentences read like non sequiturs:
To raise both inflation and employment, the conventional approach would be to leave rates alone. Raising rates is an attempt to suppress inflation, which may suppress employment as well.
Last December’s rate hike was received so badly that the Yellenites hastily ditched their plan to hike again in March.
Now they’re ready to touch the hot stove again? All I can say is “add oxygen to make the fire hotter.”
If Adobe’s digital price index is correct in indicating deflation, then a June rate hike ought to play out like the Fed’s tightening in the election year of 1936 (giving us a splendid little recession in 1937).
On Adobe’s digital price index, I’m no expert, but the methodology of indexing real stuff with actual prices certainly seems more attractive than polling.
In 2010, two MIT professors started a “billion prices project” to monitor online prices. Currently it shows monthly online inflation (orange line in chart) swinging up toward zero:
By comparison, shelter accounts for one-third of CPI, with owner’s equivalent rent (OER) alone representing almost one quarter of CPI. Much of the data that goes into these CPI components is not posted online.
Pricestats’ chart would be better if it used year-on-year values, since monthly values jump around too much and obscure the trend. Yesterday’s 0.4% monthly rise in CPI (1.1% year-on-year) isn’t shown yet in their chart.
In an era of Big Data it’s all theoretically knowable right? Market baskets and the like are at best to deal with the limits of knowledge and processing. But Big Data deals with increasingly massive datasets.
Ha. “the US economy is not, I repeat not slipping into a recession”
Thanks for repeating that fact I was beginning to think an actual unemployment rate of ~13% (once those pesky out of the laborforce types are included), the fact most new jawbs are not full time and artificially inflated valuations through buybacks might be an indicator of poor economic conditions and bad times to come.
Whew! thanks for setting me straight Mr.Fed, it’s all good in the neighborhood.
I mean it’s not like 90% of the nation never left the recession or anything.
I can’t give Krugman too much credit as a hack– he has only convinced Clintonites along with a handful of Sanders supporters silly enough to believe him. There are people like that– people who think, for instance, that the NYT is trustworthy. But his columns this year have been so ludicrously one sided you’d have to be an idiot to take him seriously.
I always enjoy reading the Reader Pick comments. The majority of the time the most highly recommended ones call him out on his bullshit.
Until they get too many (> 2) calling the bullshit and then, mysteriously, either (a) Readers Picks comments are flooded with Hbots or, if that doesn’t work (b) comments are shut down altogether.
I’ve recently noticed a change in the Reader’s Picks for Operative K’s columns, with a sudden tilt toward HRC supporters. This tells me either a) NYT is fudging with the system or b) Most the sane people have stopped reading.
Or c) David Brock’s paid trolls are hard at work.
Could that be that the default view for comments, at least on Dunning-Krugman’s pages, is now NYT Picks rather than Readers’ Picks?
Whoops! Will drink more coffee first next time.
That said, it likely is cheaper for the CTRoll army, or big-bank call centers for that matter, to click like than it is for them to formulate a contextually coherent response. Especially if OpIcarus is keeping them from getting work done.
Actually my main reason for reading the comments is to see the difference between the Times Picks vs. the Readers Picks to gauge the NYT bias. I meant to refer to the Readers Picks having changed.
Agreed. I do the same, and have seen similar recent changes.
I think you’re on to something, I’ve kept my subscription since 2010 just to benchmark journalistic capture and now occasionally marvel when actual news leaks in
Thanks for including the “Why your soil is like a cow” article! Soil ecosystems are one of my idee’ fixes, and I have spent a lot of time advising people on how to restore/improve our local, impoverished, specimenry. It seemed odd, though, that such information would be used to sell some sort of fertilizer for large scale farming systems. Such information is easily acquired through (responsible) agricultural extension agents for those in the industry that are interested in such things, so one has to wonder how much of this might be a greenwashing exercise for those who might want to market their produce as “organic”.
Or, maybe I am just a cynic.
I thought that looked odd, too.
Savory.global deserves a mention in relation to regenerative agriculture. And if one really wants input from the ultimate “master farmer/gardener”, perelandra-ltd.org has remarkable tools for getting information directly from nature about how to accomplish a given goal in balance (whether it’s something related to agriculture, health, or a project / goal of some other kind).
nippersdad @ 3:46 pm
I thought it odd, too; it started off so nice!
I live on a massive heap of granite with little topsoil and, initially, had to import some soil and compost to build raised beds. After that, composted kitchen scraps, lasagna-mulched paper waste and seasonal chop-and-drop is all it took to create a tilthy, biodiverse soil. I ‘plug in’ mushroom stems whenever I cook with them for good measure.
Many commercial fertilizers wash into the water table faster than plants can take-up and utilize the nutrient, which is why they shouldn’t be relied on.
Mark Shepard’s Restoration Agriculture is worth a look here.
So the Democrat primary in Kentucky got almost twice as many votes as the Republican primary (454k to 229k). How does this state have a tea party Governor and Mitch McConnell have a vice grip on his seat?
Because the Republicans held a caucus two months ago. The Dem’s primary was yesterday.
I don’t think we caucus in the general election.
Perhaps we should just have primaries.
I didn’t realize it was caucus vs primary, but not sure what the time has to do with anything. Republican race was more competitive on March 5 than Democrat race is right now.
The “1843” “does power corrupt?” link did not work for me. Google led to a
working URL:
https://www.1843magazine.com/features/does-power-really-corrupt
Off topic; the opening vignette of the article is about a psych prof nearly
killed biking by a driver who seemed unconcerned about the calamity
he (the driver) had nearly caused. This experience stimulated a research
project to measure the correlation between driving courtesy and vehicle
make/model as a proxy of wealth/power.
My off-topic vignette may be of interest to urban cyclists among the NC readership.
I’ve noticed lately when cycling that drivers are deferring to me when previously
they would scarcely notice me (and I’ve had multiple bad — ER level –experiences with inattentive drivers while cycling). The deferential behavior started at the same time (just days ago) that I started wearing a “caped” baseball cap under my helmet to help keep the sun off face and neck. I also wear a “third eye” mirror and clip-on shades on my glasses.
I think that the bill of the cap may make me look a bit like a cyclist police officer; we have a number of them who get about town on mountain bikes. Or maybe it just makes me more noticeable (but then, vaguely resembling an officer of the law would make one more noticeable).
Dunno. Maybe they’re slowing down to see if your BB cap says “Make America Great Again!”
Watch out for people who drive Lexus. I don’t know what it is, but 9 times out of 10 the person who cuts you off, drifts into your lane, runs the stop sign, cuts the corner or just general bad driving, that person is driving a Lexus.
anyone heard of Brand New Congress? I just got an email from them.
https://brandnewcongress.org/
If nothing else, I have to say that I find it truly inspirational that Bernie’s campaign is inspiring so many people (especially young people) to start getting involved. Quite the ambitious plan, I really hope that gains traction.
I just emailed them this link for some tips for their platform:
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/35551-some-possible-ideas-for-going-forward
Indeed, I have. IIRC, about a month or so ago a former Sanders volunteer/worker put this together so Pro-Bernie Platform candidates would be known.
Here in New Orleans, a bunch of us are advocating for candidates who run on 15$ min wage, universal healthcare, and free College among other issues.
Oregon: 96% reporting – Sanders 56% Clinton 44%. According to the map Clinton carried only one county (Gilliam by 1 vote)..
http://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/oregon
That’s what happens when you let the Free Republic of Portlandia put it’s fingers in the pudding! D*&n hippies! (heh).
On another bright note for the Hillary campaign, she triumphed by 58 votes in Clinton County, Kentucky, sparing her the humiliation of losing all nine Clinton counties nationwide.
Has she captured any Sanders or Trump counties?
was that one of the late reporting counties? (snark)
I didn’t believe any of those polls that called oregon a close race…and now it’s down to you california, are you a part of ecotopia, or aren’t you?
Stalin would be proud…no more calling it corporate media or mainstream or captured media…
CCCP MEDIA
Airbrushing history
This from Chris Cilizza is interesting:
Or not?
My view is that small-d Democrats should boycott the convention entirely; it’s all in some ginroumous parking lot anyhow, ideal for field-of-fire purposes. Use Philadelphia’s storied revolutionary history to set up something independent and parallel, far away from the stupid.
I want to say there’s a People’s Congress in Philadelphia around the time of the convention. Not sure if it’s running concurrently.
Just ask the local cops, Philly’s Finest; I’m sure that they could fill you in. They will undoubtedly be doing some sort of all-encompassing, real-time streaming of the events to Hippy Punching Central Control, on the lookout for critical moments to bring down the velvet-gloved stone fist, unless I am grossly mistaken. I’m sure that The Authorities have devised ways to step up their game since Occupy. However, that live stream will probably be unavailable to us fucking retards, so we’ll have rely on The Fucking Retard Network for updates. That is, of course, if The Authorities don’t deploy military-grade electronic warfare against the FR Network to, you know, preserve public order. Or something.
I think you mean the People’s Summit in Chicago in June: http://www.thepeoplessummit.org/
you know the stingrays, facial recognition software and every other fancy toy they’ve been dying to use will be deployed. Parallel and far away is a great idea, no “freedom of speech zones”, either. Just a giant flash mob.
but it was a fairly large chair! practically a wmd! i think i’m going to get a cthulhu/whately 16 t shirt printed up.
NYT today is reporting it was “multiple chairs”
Thank goodness the chairsatan Roberta Lange wasn’t hit!
It is getting kind of ridiculous; everyone in the media is reporting thrown chairs now. Seems like the Sanders campaign would be well served to sue for defamation on the part of their supporters. Make them prove their allegations or apologize, publicly, to those they have been routinely defaming.
That would be great PR going into the Philly Convention, too.
The MSM’s demand: Bow out, Bernie!
adding: time for me to send a small donation to Bernie.
The chair screamed and then got a purple bandaid.
Well I guess if they can’t write very well, we can’t expect them to know how to count either, right?
1, 4, 2, 3…0
Who knows how many chairs? Numbers are hard!
To me the funny thing about the chair is that these are the same toughs who drone strangers daily, but they’re scared of a chair. I don’t wish to be led by people who are afraid of chairs and have the nuclear code, kind of thin skinned if you ask me.
A little song for Hillary, courtesy of Nine Inch Nails (thanks, Trent), repurposed for this occasion.
Head like a hole
Black as your soul
I’d rather die than give you control…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV2EUUF47Ms
Click on “Show More” for the full lyrics.
I think that Bernie should take the stage at the Democrat convention in Philly to this music. Might be some sort of statement? I think that Bernie’s groundlings might love this. Just sayin’.
They might, but I seem to remember he’s got some baaaad stars coming around June, and that last line’s an invitation that Clintonistas would consider nothing more than a “bold business decision”.
I vote for this one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL0xWGJ8hNQ
tegnost,
It would be lovely if those better times would just come on their own, in good time. But I am afeared that the man from whom my posting name was derived may have been correct…
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Thomas Jefferson
As Churchill said:
“You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.”
Composing our differences in a peaceful manner may – sadly – be that right thing, but only to be resorted to after violence has its chance. Maybe the violence will not come right now, but sooner or later when the noose tightens, and the superior options are progressively foreclosed.
JerseyJeffersonian @ 5:30 pm
Nine Inch Nails is so relevant to the times. The whole album Year Zero…
Survivalism (chorus):
I got my propaganda
I got revisionism
I got my violence
In hi-def ultra-realism
All a part of this great nation
I got my fist
I got my plan
I got survivalism
Absolutely, meeps.
Dis-illusioned, in the fullest meaning of the word. No faked politesse, no passive acceptance of lies and dissimulation.
Yes, unfortunately, well suited to the times.
Obamacare death spiral accelerates:
What do voters feel when they get whacked with a 17% hike on already costly coverage?
Pure rage against those responsible.
How I wish it would be completely justifiable rage, instead the reaction seems to be more sheepish resignation, apathy, and a sense of powerlessness in the face of the comprehensive corruption of the machines of State.
The only language that fascists understand is direct action: aux barricades! Louis XVI understood it, Nixon understood it, DeGaulle did, Yeltsin, Chile in 2012, Iceland in 2016, France in 2016.
“A nation of sheep, run by wolves, owned by pigs”. Is that what you want to leave your kids?
I highly doubt France ‘gets it’ just yet…. They think it will blow over like Occupy. Which it might
Iceland rolled over and showed its belly. The only good thing to come out so far, other than that idiot Sigmundur David resigning is that Olafur Ragnar will not be running for his 86th term.
There is no inflation?
Susie Madrak has been doing her own nutty hippie-punching of late. She’s over the top for Clinton. The last fb post of hers I saw, she said that Bernie was staying in the race only to grift campaign contributions.
““Sanders is considering seeking a recount in Kentucky, where Clinton was clinging to a lead of a half percentage point” [Bloomberg]. Probably wise.”
According to Brad Friedman, KY is mostly unverifiable touchscreens. http://bradblog.com/?p=11691
Luck was a recent Watercooler topic.
Sammatha Bee, also showed just how powerful luck is in being rich, because that’s the only way the moron she interviewed could in be in money is luck.
Nike’s Phil Knight releases biography: “To cut to the chase, the real secrets of creating a fortune are not genius, leadership, risking your own money, or lots of hard work. They’re chutzpah, who you know, and luck. And the greatest of these is plain old luck. Oh boy, is it luck”
Posting this before I finish reading the column or the comments, so maybe (a lot of) other people have noticed this: “… even a child of six knows that the Democrat establishment tacks to the center in the general …” Well, no, they don’t tack to the center, they tack to the right, and Hillary (and Debbie Wasserman Schulz and Chuck Schumer) are already to the right of center on many issues.