By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Zeitgeist Watch
Quoting mail from an alert NC reader apologizing for a kerfuffle in NC’s incomparable comments section: “I briefly lost my mind more than usual.” There seems to be a lot of that going around lately. I, for one, have developed an exhilirated demonic laugh, rather like a mad scientist just before the Igor throws the switch. Am I an outlier, or have other readers noticed similar behaviors?
TPP/TTIP/TISA
“The [Ottawa] summit will also provide an opportunity for three key members of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership to support ratification of the deal. The agreement is in various stages in each of the countries. In Mexico, President Enrique Peña Nieto sent the pact in April to the Senate for consideration. The process is slower in Canada, where Trudeau’s Liberal government hasn’t formally endorsed the deal and has extended until October a deadline for comments to be submitted to Parliament. And in the U.S., the deal is hung up until after the presidential election” [Politico].
“[Transcanada] Canadian pipeline company wants $15 billion in damages [for Keystone XL rejection]. On Friday, it filed a formal challenge under NAFTA’s investor-state dispute settlement framework, charging the Obama administration with creating ‘negligent delays that allowed the application to become a political symbol’ for climate activists. But now, TransCanada’s ISDS bid has itself become a political symbol to environmentalists, who oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership because it would expand use of the ISDS system, which green groups see as a secret opening for fossil-fuel companies to press for increased access for drilling” [Transcanada]. If corporations can sue because their projects become “political symbols,” farewell democracy!
“French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Sunday blasted a planned EU-US trade treaty, saying the ambitious deal was against ‘EU interests'” [AFP]. “The TTIP agreement ‘would impose a viewpoint which would not only be a breeding ground for populism, but also quite simply be a viewpoint that would be bad for our economy,’ Valls said.” “A breeding ground for populism”…. Quelle horreur!
2016
Policy
“Many Americans are woefully ill-prepared for an unplanned expense, so much so that a whopping 66 million U.S. adults have zero dollars saved for an emergency, according to a new study” [NBC]. One of Warren’s talking points on Brexit was that Trump was “rooting for” people to “lose their life savings.” That appeals to people who have savings, right? In other words, a vote for stability, not volatility.
Money
“Secret campaign cash from groups that aren’t supposed to coordinate with candidates has over recent election cycles poured into state and local races where the impact can be much greater than at the federal level, according to the Brennan Center for Justice” [Bloomberg].
Corruption
“Symposium: McDonnell decision substantially weakens the government’s ability to prevent corruption and protect citizens” [SCOTUSblog].
The United States Constitution provides a “right of the people…to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” It does not say that a citizen can be charged a fee for exercising that right.
But, in essence, here’s what a unanimous Supreme Court said yesterday in interpreting a federal law enacted to protect the integrity of government and of the right to petition:
Citizen X meets with her representative to ask for help in setting up a meeting with a government agency. The representative says I’m happy to set up the meeting if you give me a check for $15,000. No check, no meeting.
The American people clearly would see this as selling your office for personal gain.
And they would be right. Oddly, or not, I can’t find a statement on the McDonnell decision from the Clinton campaign via the Google or on the campaign site (which has no search function I can find) as of this writing. Readers?
“House Democrats mistakenly release transcript confirming big payout to Clinton friend Sidney Blumenthal” [Los Angeles Times]. Ka-ching.
Here’s an oldie but goodie comedy classic that those who came in late might not have seen. Alert reader Rainbow Girl found the Lanny Breuer parody video that seemed to have been deleted from YouTube:
Breuer famously didn’t prosecute any banksters while in the DOJ’s criminal division, and oozed under the revolving door to — surprise! — Covington and Burling. Wait for the Bill Black reference!
The Voters
“[T]e Brexit result should jolt American liberals out of any complacence [sic] they may feel about Trump’s candidacy. While prediction markets currently give him about a 25 percent chance of winning the presidency four and a half months out, they gave Brexit less than 20 percent chance of winning just this week. And potential economic turmoil, the possibility that the polls can move, and even basic probability are all strong reasons nobody should take Trump’s defeat for granted” [Vox]. It’s not clear to me how a market can be wrong. Since when did Vox go Communist?
“There is no reason to assume that voters will adopt a simplistic framing of the argument that dictates a false choice between Trumpian protectionism and throw-workers-to-the-wolves free international trade. As Jim Tankersly explains, a third option is very possible: rising worries about globalization could also push public officials towards a more ‘worker friendly’ approach to the phenomenon, one that focuses on affirmative government efforts to invest more in U.S. manufacturing, to make U.S. workers more competitive in the global economy and to soften the pain of the dislocation they are suffering. This is the approach Clinton — who (now) opposes the Trans Pacific Partership and has called for a variety of government investments in programs to help workers — has adopted” [Greg Sargent, WaPo]. That “approach” sounds complex, and complexity is the enemy of quality. Worse, it relies on the political class to fix the problem using the same people and tools that created the problem. Even worse, it assumes a political class acting in good faith (“I stand between you and the pitchforks”). Finally, “Clinton — who (now) opposes the Trans Pacific Partership” is rich, even assuming Sargent, by “now,” doesn’t mean “for now.” The DNC platform committee refused the Sanders demand that they oppose the TPP, and the Clinton campaign operates the DNC. Ergo, Clinton supports the TPP. Words are wind. I want receipts.
“Politically, Trump won big in California’s June presidential primary. However, Santa Clara County and Silicon Valley, the tech-rich expanse running north from San Jose through Stanford University’s campus, proved a reluctant dance partner” [RealClearPolitics]. “And as far as November goes: no interest in dancing at all.”
Jesse Williams: “Now, this [BET] award – this is not for me. This is for the real organizers all over the country – the activists, the civil rights attorneys, the struggling parents, the families, the teachers, the students that are realizing that a system built to divide and impoverish and destroy us cannot stand if we do” [Time].
The Trail
Public Policy Polling (Democrat): WI: Clinton 47%, Trump 39%; PA: Clinton 46%, Trump 42% OH: Clinton 44%, Trump 40% NH: Clinton 43%, Trump 39% IA: Clinton 41%, Trump 39% AZ: Trump 44%, Clinton 40% (battleground states) [Public Policy Polling]. if this were 2012, I’d say Clinton had it in the bag. But it’s not.
Wall Street Journal/NBC News: “When voters had the option of choosing the third-party candidates, Mrs. Clinton’s lead over Mr. Trump dropped from 5 percentage points to 1 point” [Wall Street Journal, “Poll Finds Opening for Third-Party Candidates as Clinton, Trump Remain Unpopular”].
“If there were any doubt that Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren are the ‘it’ couple of the moment in Democratic politics, it was silenced here Monday when they took the stage together for the first time” [Philip Rucker, WaPo]. That’s the lead. Rucker writes well; he should take up reporting!
Assuming this *.gif works (link), I’m not sure Brian Beutler intended his visual summation of yesterday’s joint Clinton-Warren appearance in Ohio to convey the message it does [The New Republic].
Sycophancy.
“Hillary Clinton’s Memoir Deletions, in Detail” [CEPR]. When I was marking up Trump’s “Crooked Hillary” speech, I didn’t consider his crack that “She’s good at deleting.” Boy, was I wrong. Wow. Anybody remember cartoonist Nicole Hollander‘s wonderful series, “The Woman Who Lies in Her Journal”? Like that.
“Bernie Has It Backward: He’ll Have More Leverage if He Endorses Clinton” [Joan Walsh, The Nation]. Since this is Joan Walsh, it’s probably best that Sanders not follow her advice, well-meant though it doubtless is.
“The 5 most serious accusations from Republicans’ Benghazi report” [WaPo]. “Among the most prominent areas the report doesn’t shed light on are allegations that the United States was helping get weapons to Libyan rebels.” My goodness. What with the ineptitude of the Republican investigation — except as a fundraising vehicle for the red meat Republican right — it’s almost like they never really took the gloves off, isn’t it? Surely it’s a matter of vital national importance that the first woman President have the administrative chops to run a successful arms-smuggling operation? Basic blocking and tackling, so far as I’m concerned. Remember Iran-Contra?
“House Democrats face ethics complaints for fundraising off sit-in” [USA Today]. “But at least two Democrats, Jared Huffman of California and Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, sent campaign emails during the sit-in featuring images of them engaged in the protest on the House floor. Lujan’s appeal specifically requested a donation; Huffman provided a link to a signup for his campaign website.” That’s illegal.
The Hill
“In a 5-3 vote, the high court overturned restrictions passed as part of House Bill 2 in 2013 that required all Texas facilities performing abortions to meet hospital-like standards — which include minimum sizes for rooms and doorways, pipelines for anesthesia. The court also struck down a separate provision, which had already gone into effect, that requires doctors to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of an abortion clinic” [Texas Tribune].
Stats Watch
GDP, Q1 2016 (third estimate): “Strength in net exports and less weakness in nonresidential fixed investment gave a boost to first-quarter GDP which rose 1.1 percent in the 3rd estimate vs plus 0.8 percent for the second estimate. Net exports added more than 1 tenth to GDP as exports rose slightly in the quarter and imports fell” [Econoday]. “An upward revision to software helped shave the negative contribution from nonresidential investment by 2 tenths to 6 tenths. On the downward side, the positive contribution from personal consumption expenditures was lowered by nearly 3 tenths to 1 percentage point as service spending was cut. Inventories were little changed in the revision, subtracting 2 tenths from GDP which is welcome news as inventories are poised to be restocked. Residential investment was a main positive in the quarter, adding 5 tenths to GDP. Early estimates for second-quarter GDP are running at about 2 percent, a more respectable rate but still far from robust especially with the third-quarter outlook clouded by Brexit.” But: “Tuesday’s report may sound alright on the surface, but investors and economic watchers need to understand that this is still dismally slow. This sort of growth should not be conducive to massive job growth, and the economy is nearing full employment (if you don’t count the uncounted)” [247 Wall Street]. And: “The big change: spending on intellectual property such as software rose 4.4% vs. a prior 0.1% decline” [MarketWatch]. Sounds innnovative. However: “As is typical, the final revision to GDP in Q1 was a hodgepodge of revisions from relatively esoteric sources” [Amherst Pierpont Securities, Across the Curve]. But: “Real GDP is inflation adjusted and annualized – the economy declined on a per capita basis” [Econintersect].
Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index, June 2016: “Manufacturing activity in the Fifth District weakened in June, with the Richmond Fed Index falling further into contraction, dropping 6 points to minus 7 points after falling 15 points in May. New orders registered the sharpest fall, dropping 14 points to a minus 14, with order backlogs declining 4 points to minus 17 and capacity utilization down 4 points to minus 10” [Econoday]. “Declines were also registered on the employment front.” And: “Of the five regional Federal Reserve surveys released to date, three are in expansion and two are in contraction” [Econintersect].
Corporate Profits , Q1 2016: ” Corporate profits sank in the first quarter, revised to minus 2.3 percent year-on-year vs the initial estimate of minus 3.6 percent. Profits are after tax without inventory valuation or capital consumption adjustments” [Econoday].
Consumer Confidence, June 2016: “The consumer sentiment report has been strong but less so for the consumer confidence report, at least until today’s data for June where the index jumped nearly 6 points to a much higher-than-expected 98.0. This is the best reading of the year, since October last year” [Econoday].
State Street Investor Confidence Index, JUne 2016: Fell 0.1 points, but doesn’t take Brexit into account [Econoday]. “Though still confident on balance, North American institutional investors became more cautious in June even prior to the Brexit vote, with the regional index dropping 2 points to 105.9, while European and Asian institutional investors increased the percentage of their equity holdings judging from the index, which rose 3.5 points to the plus equity side at 100.3 for Europe and 2.0 points to 113.4 for Asia, the most confident region in June.”
S&P Case-Shiller Housing Price Index, April 2016: “Home sales have been up but home-price appreciation is moderating. Data series that measure prices are slowing, including Case-Shiller’s 20-city adjusted index which rose an undersized 0.5 percent in the April report. The year-on-year rate is at 5.4 percent, well underneath the 6 percent area where home prices were trending earlier in the year” [Econoday]. “But the breadth of strength remains solid with 17 of 20 cities showing monthly gains though both San Francisco and San Diego show rare declines.” Declines like in a popping bubble? And: “The way to understand the dynamics of home prices is to watch the direction of the rate of change. Here home price growth generally appears to be stabilizing (rate of growth not rising or falling)” [Econintersect].
Housing: “A recent survey by the Bay Area Council found that one-third of respondents would like to leave the area sometime soon… Net migration out of the state is high. In terms of domestic net-migration, 63,300 more people fled the state than entered. This was the highest level since 2011. People are voting with their wallets” [Dr. Housing Bubble]. “People realize the insanity of their choices if they want to stay in California. Some people that I know decide on ridiculous commutes that not only are likely to shorten your lifespan, but will also send your quality of life into the toilet. “I get home and everyone is asleep.” Okay. But hey, they “own” a home even though their commute into work is mentally destructive and they have minimal interaction with their family for most of the week. Many people are simply doing the analysis and are bolting out of the state.” If they knew about the Lakeland Republic, I bet they’d want to move there.
This is a family that owned a $724,000 shack and decided to get out. And most house humping cheerleaders only look at principal and interest when running their math. What about taxes? Insurance? Or in this case the $1,000 ridiculous association fee for a gated community. If every area of California is so “baller” why the need for a gated community? Who are you trying to keep out? So they sell their home and use the cash proceeds to buy a “new” home in cash in Ohio. No mortgage and probably no insane association fee. The biggest expense is basically eliminated in one move. Others would rather slog away on clogged up freeways so they can get to their crap shacks so they can rinse and repeat for 30 years. And yes, long commutes are bad for you.
Retail: “‘Get comfortable with days of inventory, not weeks,’ Tom Shortt, Home Depot’s senior vice president of supply chain, says is the message going out to stores. The retailer is targeting sales growth of nearly 15% by 2018, but wants to keep inventory levels flat or slightly down” [Wall Street Journal, “Retailers Rethink Inventory Strategies”]. “It is a shift happening across the retail sector as companies try to figure out ways to profitably serve the growing needs of online shoppers while making their network of stores less of a financial burden. Chains must predict whether demand will come from the internet or a store visit, and whether they’ll ship online orders from a distribution center or a store. Every move of inventory is an added cost that eats away at already thin margins.” That sounds an awful lot like very tight coupling to me. In a crisis, when things correlate and tightly coupled systems crash together, it won’t matter a lot that I have to wait to buy a light fixture at Home Depot. It would matter with medical supplies. Or food. (And remember that the poor and the working class, being pressed temporally, rely more on restaurant food, which is vulnerable to supply chain disruption, unlike those canned goods you preppers stash in your home.)
Supply Chain: “The world-wide business serving apparel retailers is creating a kind of vast shadow supply chain from castoffs. The business of recycling used clothing stretches from Western stores to sorting shops in India and has built its own logistics eco-system, the WSJ’s Eric Bellman reports [Wall Street Journal]. It now faces a glut of goods that is so large it is affecting retailers and regional economic policies. The surplus springs from the rise of fast fashion, which has flooded the world with inexpensive clothing, often produced in the same low-wage countries where it later ends up sold or reprocessed into goods like blankets or pillow stuffing. It may seem a virtuous circle, but some clothing makers in emerging markets say the flood of used apparel stifles the growth of local textile industries. And there are signs the global recycling system is having trouble keeping up with the relentless march of new production.” Why don’t we throw all the old clothes into the ocean, so they’ll churn around for awhile and then end up in the Pacific Trash Vortex, with all the plastic bits? Then we can clean up both problems at the same time, innovatively, say by fusing it all into a giant raft with one of Obama’s neato new precision nukes. Then we can sell real estate on it. Why not?
Supply Chain: “To swap freight information, shippers and carriers have traditionally relied on EDI (electronic data interchange), a communication system that dates back to the end of World War II. Though it has undergone refinements during its nearly seven-decade history, EDI is now showing its age, the authors argue. Because it relies on batch processing, EDI creates hours of delay and significant gaps in information availability, rendering it basically unsuitable for today’s high-velocity logistics operations” [DC Velocity]. The solution: “Ditch EDI in favor of application programming interfaces, widely known as APIs. Similar to the technology that powers consumer smartphone apps, the API messaging format allows data to flow from one computer platform to another in nanoseconds. That might sound esoteric, but it’s not. You’re already using APIs pretty much anytime you launch an app on your mobile phone or tablet.” If the API’s are proprietary and controlled by a giant monopoly, that opens up a tremendous new field for rental extraction, as is common with software projects. A more resilient solution would be a non-proprietary international standard.
Shipping: “The period of exclusive discussions between the Singapore Exchange (SGX) and the Baltic Exchange has been extended by a further two months, from June 30 to August 31” [Splash247]. “Many of the Baltic’s shipbroker panellists have objected to the takeover and formed Competitive Ship Brokers Limited (CSBL), which has complained that ‘many of the major international shipbroking firms feel a need to have a single voice in a challenging market environment which is undergoing significant change.'”Don’t trash the brand, dudes!
ETF: “Exchange-traded funds, which are the vehicle of choice for index-tracking investors, harbor hidden costs that are big enough to dent portfolio performance.” [MarketWatch]. “That’s the conclusion of recent research, which runs counter to ETFs’ reputation as efficient, low-cost instruments that have attracted $2.23 trillion of assets in the U.S. alone. Most investors are unaware of these hidden costs, the researchers say, and don’t take them into account in making investment decisions.” Hidden rental extraction in a financial instrument? Say it’s not so!
Honey for the Bears: “I’m not sure I have a sophisticated, subtle or clever thought left at this stage. Markets are bouncing, and can bounce further but the clouds on the horizon are dark, and they’re real.” [Across the Curve]. This is an FX technical analyst, so you’ll like this post if it’s the sort of post you like.
Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 45, Neutral (previous close: 38, Fear) [CNN]. One week ago: 66 (Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Jun 27 at 12:59pm. Mr. Market back to neutral. So Brexit is now priced in?
Class Warfare
“Behavioral health seen as growth area by investors” [Cape Cod Times]. “[V]enture capital money is flowing into addiction and mental health treatment.” What could go wrong?
“How landlords get kickbacks to lock tenants into big Internet providers” [Medium]. Of course….
“‘Organizational Darwinism’ among AIDS Groups in San Francisco” [Nonprofit Quarterly]. Yikes!
News of the Wired
“A new approach to gas exploration has discovered a huge helium gas field, which could address the increasingly critical shortage of this vital yet rare element” [Oxford University]. We’re gonna need a lot more helium for all the doubleplusgood duckspeaking in our future.
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 (Timotheus):
Night-blooming Cereus cactus from Florida.
Readers, if you want to send me some videos of plants in whole systems (bees and blossoms, for example, or running streams) — I can use them to practice with FFmpeg and hopefully post them. Because of download times, they’ll have to be measured in seconds, rather than minutes. Thank you!
Adding, thank you again readers for last week’s rapid and successful Water Cooler Mini-Fundraiser. Checks are arriving in the mail. I’m still writing thank you notes! Yours will arrive!
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230 comments
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Re the .gif (it works) … that horrid blue pantsuit again.
She looks like a nurse in scrubs … or else forgot to change out of her pajamas.
Comrade Kim appreciates the sartorial homage, though.
Teletubbies on Ice. Reminds me of old VHS footage from the 80s as well.
It reminds me of just about any authoritarian one party state Central Party Committee all hail our glorious leader “spontaneous” event.
All H Clinton needed to do to set the proper tone was to have one of those ‘invisible’ tiara like hairpieces on that lights up like a halo when illuminated by a special light source.
Why do I suddenly feel like equating H Clinton with Eva Peron?
“Don’t cry for me Democra-cyaaaa”
The truth is I never left you
All through my wild days
My mad existence
I kept my promise
Don’t keep your distance
And as for fortune and as for fame
I never invited them in
Though it seemed to the world
They were all I desired
They are illusions
They are not the solutions they promised to be
The answer was here all the time
I love you and hope you love me
Forgive me for what I am about to do.
“Springtime For Hillary.”
+
From the same show, perhaps more to the point… “And the Money Kept Rolling In…” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tVaH20Ic_A
And the money kept rolling in from every side
Eva’s pretty hands reached out and they reached wide
Now you may feel it should have been a voluntary cause
But that’s not the point my friends
When the money keeps rolling in you don’t ask how
Think of all the people guaranteed a good time now
Eva’s called the hungry to her, open up the doors
Never been a fund like the Foundation Eva Peron
Would you like to try a college education?
Own your landlord’s house, take the family on vacation?
Eva and her blessed fund can make your dreams come true
Here’s all you have to do my friends
Write your name and your dream on a card or a pad or a ticket
Throw it high in the air and should our lady pick it
She will change your way of life for a week or even two
Name me anyone who cares as much as Eva Peron
And the money kept rolling out in all directions
To the poor, to the weak, to the destitute of all complexions
Now cynics claim a little of the cash has gone astray
But that’s not the point my friends
When the money keeps rolling out you don’t keep books
You can tell you’ve done well by the happy, grateful looks
Accountants only slow things down, figures get in the way
Never been a lady loved as much as Eva Peron
If the money keeps rolling in
What’s a girl to do
Cream a little off the top for expenses wouldn’t you?
But where on earth can people hide their little piece of heaven
Thank God for Switzerland
Where a girl and a guy with a little petty cash etween them
Can be sure when they deposit no one seems them
Oh what bliss to sign your checks as 30127
Never been accounts in the name of Eva Peron
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’
etc.
On out, Eva
You know, I clicked on that thinking I was going to find Antonio Banderas.
Not nice.
Please study (1) the real life Eva Perón before you equate her with (2) the Andrew Lloyd Weber Eva Peron, and thereby (3) HRC.
(2) and (3) have plenty in common. (1), not so much.
True, we have the ‘real’ person and then the public persona, often built up after he or she has passed off of the stage of life. A “Nortero” example would be John Kennedy. Reviled and vilified when alive; deified after death.
Under it all, the lure of a manufactured narrative is exactly in it’s unreality. The virtuous cowboy saving the settlers from adversity, human and natural gives hope to the powerless. Queen Victoria was the model of probity and propriety, but was stoned during her ‘monthlies’ to relieve severe menstrual cramps.
Don’t underestimate humanities yearning for release from the horrors of the ultra material existence.
True dat.
A closer norteño parallel might be MLK: in his day, villified by the press and persecuted by the FBI. But then in death he gets converted into a saint by liberals who airbrush out his anti-imperialist, anti-war, anti-capitalist stances.
As with MLK, Eva Perón pissed off a lot of well ensconced people, and they were the ones who later wrote the history and the musicals.
I figured as much (Hamilton) and was not trying to equate the two. I just thought lyrics, as applied to Clinton, were rather synchronous.
You start out saying she reminds you of Chairman Mao and you end up with Eva Peron, played by Madonna.
How does that work?
all I could see was a bobble head
Cult of ( little ) personality. I think if I had to be stuck in an elevator with either Trump or Hillary I would choose Trump—voting for Stein though.
It’s a bizarre “lack of personality cult”, plenty of cult, no personality.
What on a deserted island?
Who would you want as Friday?
that would motivate me even more to build a boat.
‘Nurse Ratchet-Up’
Oh, that’s good, but I though the nurse was Ratched.
Campaign theme:
“Blue, blue my world is blue”?
(Marty Robbins would understand all of this, since he once answered the question of why he decided to become a western singer with the declaration: “Because I despise honest labor.”
A photo of Elizabeth Warren showed up in my Facebook news feed with the following caption:
“She’s like the girl who stops calling the cops on keg parties when she finally gets invited.”
Exactly.
I think Trump has really gotten into Liz Warren’s head with the Native American bit. Almost as if she hears his voice when she falls asleep. Her complete 180 seems really abrupt. Take a nap, Liz.
Its only a complete 180 if you always extrapolated from the handful of issues she’s good on to some generally radical stance that she’s never shown any sign of having.
Or attached no importance to a professional politician’s eye for an expanded PERSONAL role, and their almost infinite ability to convince themselves that this can be achieved at no cost to their ostensible values.
both republicans at birth.
“Fauxahontas”
“Liawatha”
“Sh—ing Bull.”
“SacaJIVEwea”
Ha!!!
Vote BeeGees !
Owww!!! You win the obscure reference prize!
‘Tis kinda a sickening preview of what we might see during the DNC convention – Hillary, Liz and Bernie exchanging big hugs. Then exclaiming, “We’re not with Trump!”
At that point, they won’t be in Kansas anymore.
“You’re not in Kansas anymore…..you’re on Pandera!!”
perfect
That analogy kind of falls apart when you consider that she’s the girl everyone wants to ****…
So analogies aside…how is this a bad thing? Sure she could ultimately sell out the left — but still this wouldn’t be worse than winding up with a cuck like Tim Kaine.
She’s endorsed Clinton. She’s already sold out the left.
Would you rather she endorse Trump? This type of defeatism is why the Left always loses… :(
First, the Left needs a genuine candidate to support. All I see out there are varieties of Right winger. (Sorry, but I don’t hear Jill Stein calling for Class War.)
I personally don’t see Trump as the greater evil. If I vote for lesser evilism then I vote for the inept Trump and get a do over in 2020 with hopes that he doesn’t have the get it done persona of a Hillary Clinton who wants a wart in Syria and TPP.
Oh and for the record, the left loses because they back people like Hillary, who then proceed to punch the crap out of them.
The Democrat Party is laughing at you.
+100
Trump is far from inept: he built a multi-billion dollar business and just single-handedly dismantled the GOP! At the end of the day — and take this from someone who kinda likes the guy for bullying Jeb Bush, et al. — he’s a charlatan. He stands for nothing. (He’s also a scumbag — go read about when he called for the heads (literally) of the Central Park Five.) I don’t like Hillary any more than you do, but she’s guided only by greed and blind ambition, which at least makes her malleable. And I would imagine that a savvy politician like Warren is acutely aware of this.
how is she malleable? what changes has she made in response to the success of the sanders campaign. i don’t see one substantive change. and trump isn’t motivated by greed and ambition? at least he doesn’t seem to be motivated to start a war with russia.
Well the democratic platform looks a lot better than any of us anticipated a year ago…
$15 minimum wage, expansion of social security, universal healthcare, 21st century Glass Steagall, and best of all making weed legal. other stuff too. it’s a start.
https://demconvention.com/news/democratic-platform-drafting-meeting-concludes/
Oh, thank ya, Massah. Shore do ‘ppreciate everathang.
Your argument is incoherent. Trump’s actual positions are to Clinton’s left in important ways. Linking to the Democratic Party’s own site to bear witness to the platform’s wonderful results suggests you either really are a fool, or are arguing in extremely bad faith. If Warren cared about her own policy positions, she wouldn’t be holding hand with Hillary Clinton before the convention. Greed and blind ambition doesn’t make you malleable for the left, or for the concerns of working people. It makes you a rigid tool of the corporate and financial elite — as she is.
They voted DOWN robust planks on all the issues you are claiming indicate a positive outcome. Anything with teeth, anything that might actually make change, almost anything with meaning was voted down. TPP opposition was voted down. ‘Nuff said.
And this is the platform — the non-binding, easy for the candidate to ignore platform. It was such a great, progressive outcome that the party tried to bury the final results on a Friday night, and several of Bernie’s representatives are actively protesting it, while Neera Tanden has the free time to run around Twitter lying about how she behaved indecently and insultingly toward fellow committee members as they advocated for suffering people and meaningful change.
What kind of Fool are you, anyway? The lyin’ on the inside kind?
The DNC platform committee rejected everyone of those Berniecrat planks on your list!! Less Orwellian trolls, please!
https://www.healthcare-now.org/blog/dnc-drafting-committee-votes-against-single-payer/
those Berniecrat planks on your list!!
Uh Trump is the proverbial born on third base man who thinks he hit a triple.
I’ve seen nothing to suggest he’d be successful at all if it weren’t for daddy.
As far as greed and ambition goes I see them both this way however, I see him as more honest than her.
She’s not required to endorse either of them.
And seriously, Fool, when is the last time (aside from Sanders’ run, and he’s been ostracized by the Party during his entire campaign) the Democratic Party has had anything to do with the actual Left? How does “the Left” win by supporting neocons and neoliberals who don’t hold any of the same policy positions we do? (not to mention being actual war criminals, like H. Clinton.)
Hillary has the blood of over 2 million Iraqis on her hands. That’s what you’re voting for. You should be proud of yourself.
Please, that blood is on the hands of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld. Without them there is no war. Clinton shares guilt with all in Congress who went along, but the driving force and execution where all Made in the GOP.
yes she does, and a substantial portion of it, because she was one of the people that could have made a difference by opposing it, instead of going along with the lies. agree that bush et all bear the lion’s share, but she shares the view of those that started the war.
Who are you trying to convince here? Surely NC readers were all against the War in Iraq as they’re against arming
Al-nusraModerate Syrian Rebels. Ok, so Hillary bears considerable responsibility for Iraq. This doesn’t change the fact that the goals of the Left can be best accomplished by empowering as much as possible a savvy politician like Warren who by all accounts has not wavered from championing the goals that we share.Again, that’s…incorrect. Do you not understand how politics works?
Warren “wavered,” tipped over and crashed into useless dust the minute she endorsed Clinton. What evidence do we have that she got ANYTHING that helps the rest of us by doing this? What possible thing COULD she get from Clinton that really matters? Name it. Explain it. Explain how Clinton, whose corruption and blithe willingness to break every rule and any agreement when it suits her, can and will be held accountable to deliver anything that actually helps the American people?
What goals do you envision “we” share, “we” being apparently you, Elizabeth Warren, and the commenters here who are opposed to Clinton. Please explain what they are, and how Warren endorsing Clinton helps accomplish them. Because other than the utterly disproven, vacuous, “11th dimensional chess”/appeal to authority argument, I honestly have no idea what this route would be.
Sounds like the kind of thing someone justifying supporting Hitler over Stalin in 1939 would say. The existence of Stalin does not somehow justify Hitler.
“He hasn’t killed anywhere near as many people…. yet”.
I understand not wanting to vote for Hillary. (By all rights, this should be the Libertarians, and Greens, best year ever. Johnson has his problems but is far superior to either “mainstream” party candidate.) But voting for Trump? That’s indefensible.
What really pisses me off about the Trump cultists is that even if he wins and wrecks Western civilization, they’ll go to their well deserved graves insisting that Clinton would have been worse.
And yes, as Lambert mentioned in the Zeitgeist Watch, I feel like everyone, myself included, is off their collective rocker. Supporting Trump is insane. So is the level of rage, despair and despite I feel towards those in the Trump cult. Can’t you fucking idiots see how the delusional psychopath turns everything he touches into gilt piles of hollow shit? Why do you want to do that to the already damaged US? If you’re that full of despair, go kill yourselves with some quiet dignity instead of using your hate to wreck everything around you like wanna-be modern day Pharaohs.
I try to keep my attitude toward all the candidates pretty clinical. And as for rage and despair… did you read your own comment? It’s full of it.
The situation is a lot like that in Maine, where (owing to a textbook case of the Iron Law of Institutions in the Democrat Party) we’re faced with the choice between corrupt Democrats and lunatic Republicans.
“you fucking idiots”
no point in a reply, but….
Who you support is unimportant, how you support them is important
speaks volumes
Who damaged the u.s.? If it’s damaged as you claim why should we stay the course?
Are you honestly suggesting people who disagree with you should kill themselves?”kill yourself with quiet dignity”?
You are a horrible person.
You in your comment are despairing, does it make you want to die?
Wreck everything like a modern pharaoh? what the hell does that even mean?
Frankly, you seem like the delusional psychopath
I keep running into Trump supporters who justify their actions by saying they want to “tear it all down and watch it burn” or something to that effect. Like the pharaohs, they want everyone else to forcibly accompany them into the afterlife.
I did say that I was off my rocker. Watching real life and online friends, extended family and co-workers tie their minds into higher dimensional knots as they try to justify voting for an egomanical orange psychopath who doesn’t have a fucking clue what he’s doing is harder on the old sanity than having a staring contest with a Shoggoth.
Three minutes before you made this comment you said…..
“At some point you have to stop bothering. I tried to point out to some friends that are Hillary supporters they should be legitimately concerned about an email related indictment — just based just on what has been disclosed so far (and not considering any unconfirmed reports and stayed entirely factual — just the facts point closer to ‘indict’ than ‘not indict’) — at minimum there are more scenarios that hurt her than help her (including if an indictment doesn’t happen) as this plays out. I might as well have stabbed their first-born child to death, smeared the still warm blood on their face all while feasting on it’s still beating heart (and I think they would have actually found that less offensive) all while screaming Trump for Supreme Ruler of Earth for life as far as the were concerned.”
She is the least corrupt, most honest, strongest candidate ever (their words — I’m not joking). To suggest anything less than unwavering devotion, or to even hint that her campaign has been nothing but the most flawless, perfect campaign ever conducted in human history is the most profane heresy and most heinous crime you could ever commit.”
What are you for?
Different Jason.
No, the left loses because it sees liberals as their friends rather than their enemies.
+++ Friend. Ally. Dangerous words. Especially when one believes the words.
I consider myself liberal.
The problem is the neo liberals.
Definitions vary.
Liberal is not left, and I think left is progressive, or something like. But when you talk to different people, they see differently.
Liberal used to mean something. Now it means someone who constantly is making excuses for lame Democrats. And, as Thomas Frank points out, someone from the professional class.
“Liberal” huh? The closest thing to actual liberals that we have in America today is probably libertarians. The political labels used in America are so shifty and bizarre that it’s hard to tell what the words even mean here.
I think the standard definition for what “liberal” does mean in America though is something along the lines of “socially conscious rich person who loves the poor but doesn’t love the smell of the poor, and who will do anything to protect the status quo”.
Strong leadership takes a weakness and makes it a strength. How would things have been different had Clinton actively and publicly courted Sanders to work to elect more liberal Democrats to Congress?
Sanders would be empowering his grassroots to the benefit of both Clinton and his core policies.
But she doesn’t WANT actual liberals elected to Congress. They’d get in her way. Since the Clintons and the New Dems took power, they have blocked any but corporatists from getting the resources to run. That’s HOW we keep getting a brief Democratic majority, during which robust Democratic policy fails to pass, and then the Blue Dogs lose to real conservatives, so the Dems lose their majority. Again and again.
Sanders, progressivism, and any version of liberalism that includes real, not faux, social justice which MUST include economic justice and equality is the absolute enemy of everything the Clintons truly stand for and want.
> Would you rather [Warren] endorse Trump?
Ha ha. Yes, that’s the level the debate is conducted at.
Elizabeth Warren was, for many years, including her current term in the Senate, a staunch advocate for the rights of consumers, for holding Wall Street and the 1% accountable, for opposing tax policy that, as she describes it, is a “big wet kiss” to corporations. Aligning herself with Clinton calls her commitment to those issues into question, and at a minimum, dilutes it quite a bit.
Maybe I have it all wrong. Maybe the calculus on this is that a higher profile gives Warren a bigger bully pulpit on these issues, but if she’s thinking that if she’s a member of a Clinton administration, she’d be allowed to be so oppositional to the interests of Clinton’s donor base, I’d have to say she’s bordering on delusional.
It’s all well and good for Warren to be critical of Trump, but she doesn’t need to Velcro herself to Clinton in order to do that.
Which leaves for me the question of why Warren is willing to dilute the power of her signature effort. Why she’s willing to allow Clinton to use her to troll for votes on issues she will likely abandon when and if elected.
Has she been bitten by the ambition bug?
Maybe we should all invest in horse head futures? There is an epidemic of seeming character reversals going on and it can’t all be TRUMP!!!
I’m amazed John Kerry still has his head, what with all the horse head demand.
Warren’s “progressive” cred stems from the fact that her general views on two issues: Consumer protection and the need for some reasonable regulation of the Financial Sector, are shared by progressives, and that this is what she has spent most of her time talking about and she talks about THOSE THINGS well. But those two issues aren’t just resonant with self-styled progressives, but with anybody who still has some minimal attachment to the rule of law or even arch-capitalists who think the survival of capitalism depends on giving people SOME assurances that literally everything isn’t a three-card monte game.
Other than those issues, and the usual cultural “tolerance” issues, she’s never been terribly leftish or even progressive. Its a sign of how far the fence has been moved that on these issues she seems kinda sorta on “our” side of it.
Ugh. I really hate that word “cuck.” And I’m not real enthusiastic about using sexual analogies as metaphors for political processes. It’s nigh unto a category error on the scale of thinking a household is like government. I’m not ripping the thread out because it generated good discussion, but moderate your tone, sir. This is a family blog.
How can a Republican be accused of selling out the left, they are natural enemies. She, Warren, was a Republican** that is until the Democrats became the (new?) Republicans under Bill Clinton. BTW, Hillary was a Republican for Goldwater, but then she got a taste for Democrats, Bill and Graft, and can’t seem to give either of the last two up.
**(see: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/06/links-62216.html#comment-2620311 and the three replies below it.)
LOL, that was good!
I still think the key is how she handles it when she gets stiffed on the VP job. I still don’t think she’s got a snowball’s chance in hell. Wall Street said “no” and threatened donations. You don’t threaten donations to a Clinton without consequences.
I’d expect Warren to be paraded around for a little while longer and then quietly dropped for a more “centrist” Dem like Kaine or Booker.
It’s too bad the “where you gonna go?” doesn’t apply when it comes to monied interests.
It would be fun to see Wall Street sidelined since their choices are Clinton or Trump and they have vowed not to back her and are afraid to back him.
Who knows? Everything’s negotiable. Wall Street might just smile at the opportunity to set the price, penciling in a few more items on their wish list once HRC takes the throne.
And therein lies the rub within the rub. Warren must know all that —
Unless she has made some private deal with Obama to do this until the indictment, so she’ll be the Republican in Democrats’ clothing mildly in favor of consumer regulation President, this is just a pure sell-out. (Note: I do not think anything like that has happened/will happen.) The actual worst case scenario would be her as VP — if she actually still cares at all about consumers or regulation, she would be completely neutered as VP. Even just this little show pony display now weakens her if she stays in the Senate. Who would ever fear her now? She’s no better than Murray, with less seniority.
If she gets AG, how is that good? Is there the slightest possibility that Hillary’s AG will go after banks and corporations?
No, this just reveals Warren as naive, corrupt, or both. I’m not overly crushed. I never had any delusions that she was anything other than a Rockefeller Republican in a Clintonian world. But I did think she had enough honor, dignity, and pragmatic ambition not to put on this craven display.
I’m still not entirely convinced that it’s not some sort of ‘wink-wink-nudge-nudge, please oh please don’t appoint her to a position “not worth a bucket of pi**”, forcing her to give up her seat in the process; all while showing the people how ‘tough’ you were with us, we would be sooooo upset’ bit on the part of Wall St.
Rarely if ever has my opinion of anyone fallen so far, so fast
Ditto.
As others have no doubtably said — Elizabeth Warren is dead to me now.
She’ll rue the day she tied her cart to the Clinton horse. Which side of history does she want to be on?
Hell has no fury like former supporters scorned.
I can see love to hatred turned.
Don’t know if I was the first, but I said here that EW is dead to me, and this GIF just cements that. Truly unwatchable stomach churning levels of horror. The funny thing is, she is just being used to give the middle finger to Bernie AND take his voters away and marginalize him (working perfectly I might add) and in the end she will be dumped in a ditch by the side of the road. All she will have done is abandoned any principles she might have ever had and ultimately end up furious. A truly disgraceful performance.
But how likely is it to hurt her, given that she is elected by the ‘professional’ state?
Not at all an expert on modern Massachusetts politics, but recent results seem to suggest that statewide elections are not a gimme for Democrats of any stripe, and MA progressives seem, like progressives everywhere, to be howling in rage and sorrow over Warren’s endorsement of Clinton. Clinton’s narrow win in the primary was almost guaranteed to be due to Bill’s shenanigans, telling people with the mental capacity of a six year old to check a box to get a burger and the like. She may not get primaried successfully, but it seems likely that she’s been wounded enough to lose her seat. The professional class does seem to need to con progressives into voting for them to actually win.
I’m not guaranteeing this happens. But it seems quite possible — unless, horror of horrors, Clinton “wins” with enough vote rigging and Warren leaves the Senate for an appointment.
But, really, what is new about this? Virtually the entire “Progressive Caucus” spurned Bernie for Hillary, and Sanders was the one who started it! This is just SOP for the veal penning of the leftward portions of the (former?) base.
Really no surprises there, it was just a matter of when.
Joan Walsh is the Bill Kristol of the left. Where by `left’ I mean somewhere between Third Way and CAP.
The `Sanders will have more leverage if he endorses Clinton’ meme is YUGE – it seems to be everywhere-
making me think (despite having been called delusional here several
lifetimesdays ago,that Sanders is playing his cards exactly right. Of course, past results do not guarantee future returns …
For Thronies only–looking back at a splendid season.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/06/28/arts/television/in-game-of-thrones-the-pleasures-of-a-quickened-pace.html
For those of a metaphorical bent the sailing of the fleet for Westeros could portend the defeat of tyrannical blond queens everywhere. If ya know what I mean.
Also that Elizabeth Warren crack would be a cheap shot even for Trump. Liz was also making fun of Trump’s hat. Katniss calls this the Mean Girls tour but aren’t the Mean Girls the people in high school everybody hates? Mebbe those Hill handlers need to watch more movies, tv shows….
Mean girls were feared more than hated in my town’s schools. Not sure if that is universal.
BTW, today is primary day for congressional races in NYS.
Clinton and Warren are in state to share the wealth, making last minute campaign appearances with
Zephyr Teachout in NY-19 and Eric Kingson in NY-24.
Hah-hah, just kidding.
One wonders how many new voices have come in over recent days. I have been a reader (not a commentator) because the things I would have said were already said, probably more eloquently, by others.
However, I had to join in why I saw people badly misunderstanding last Thursday’s vote. BREXIT can save the UK from the German driven inevitable failure in the EU and especially the EuroZone Currency disaster. The UK staying strong and keeping leverage (e.g. imposing unilateral changes, not starting the “Article 50” countdown clock) will make BREXIT take multiple years. By demonstrating the weakness of the German “EU” on a daily basis they can keep the door open for other nations to escape before the German “EU” collapses. Here is a perfect example of the current German leadership belief system:
Please do not be too concerned about daily market swings. Look at the long term, where unshackled UK companies will become much stronger than German companies in comparable industries.
I’m under the impression readers here more generally favor leave. But I’m not in the UK and that may just be my personal bias towards sovereignty showing.
This is the correct link for “hidden ETF fees” story from Marketwatch:
Three different issues are cited: slippage, deviation from NAV, and front-running of index constituent changes.
Regardless of the cavils cited by Markethype, ETFs are gaining market share over mutual funds, and will continue doing so.
It does seem protectionism versus the trade agreements is a false choice and that trade agreements with worker protections could have been adopted and that would be the truly left solution. Of course that would depend on our capitalist elites not stealing everything that isn’t bolted down, as they have always done, so no.
The thing is it’s hard to take Trump seriously for even a minute on trade as we’d really have to hear concrete plans on how to manage this transition and I haven’t. Words are wind indeed. He *might* oppose future trade deals (TPP etc.).
Full employment is the left-wing solution. “Worker protections” is the neoliberal solution. I’ll never understand the inclination of rank and file liberal/progressives to defend the flow of international capital.
U.S. needs a referendum on the FED.
Well we don’t do national referendums. There’s never been one in over 200 years, it’s really not part of the U.S. form of government, and I don’t think there’s even any mechanism to get there (well constitutional convention maybe). Which does make the referendums other countries have unique.
Amendments to the Constitution are similar to referendums admittedly state by state rather than national.
An Article V Constitutional Convention would also be effectively a “Representative Referendum” if you will allow that phrase to exist.
Many states, including Ohio in 1912, put the right to referendum and recall, along with initiative petition, into their constitutions during the “Progressive” era.
Here’s another interesting part of the Ohio Constitution:
The “Ohio Constitution Bill of Rights” consists of 23 sections. The Ohio Constitution’s Bill of Rights is substantially similar to its federal counterpart but also includes the right to alter, reform or abolish government; rights of conscience and education; rights for victims of crime; a prohibition of imprisonment for debt; and the right to payment of damages for wrongful death. —
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Ohio
No we don’t, the Constitution clearly states that Congress and Congress only can issue money. Somebody powerful enough just needs to point out that the Federal Reserve Act is unconstitutional.
In Julliard v. Greenman (1884), the Supreme Court extended Knox, upholding the validity of legal tender laws during peacetime. The Court held that the federal government’s monetary power was inherent in its sovereignty; thus it need not be enumerated in the Constitution.
Disheveled Marsupial…. seems the dramas wrt the Fed has more to do with the advent of heads like Volcker and increasing in magnitude with Greenspan along with the dominate economic libertarian pogrom…. such an own goal… its like Gary North saying the solution would be going back to public stoning… quaint….
There seems to be a lot of that going around lately. I, for one, have developed an exhilarated demonic laugh, rather like a mad scientist just before the Igor throws the switch. Am I an outlier, or have other readers noticed similar behaviors?
I noticed the same thing with myself. After the CA primary (the the crap before it) I shifted into a sort of “mad scientist mode” just ready to watch it all fall down with delight (because that is the only option left). It is depressing that we cannot “even manage to do what’s been proven to work”. On top of that people actively defend common well being and train others to be reactionary to socially welcoming policies. What do we have a government for if not to join us together for the benefit of all? Instead we band together to be the leeches for some parasitic schmucks.
I will say that Sanders’ speech last… Thursday(?) night really helped. It was calming and clarifying, not that the situation or reality was changed by it, but how it helped remind me that I was not insane (something I constantly question–when I look around and know else seems to care or have a problem with things, I cannot help but wonder if it is me). One of the reasons I am grateful for this site and the commentors.
I 2nd that last bit
+++
One needs to be careful nowadays. Demonic laughs and other aberrant behavior can get you put on some sort of list. It may be a government list, or even a private charity list – like say the Clinton Foundation runs the Clinton Looney Bin Nuthouse For The Mentally Unappreciated and they see that you get admitted there – no charge.
i’ve taken to talking to cheetos. “are you really there for me? will you listen? tell me you won’t invade syria”.
Assad’s wife is a known smuggler of gray-market Cheetos.
http://tinyurl.com/jppshbm
HA!
“Only normal, sane people think they goin insane. Insane people don’t think it — they are.”
The Immortal Sy Richardson
as “Commander K”
Floundering, 1994
(1:01:15):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dvy—l4YI
doubleplusgood duckspeaking demonic demonstrativity
if they can exonerate the virginia governor of bribery charges, can we demand that don siegelman of alabama be released? people seem to have forgotten about him.
yeah i was thinking of him the other day, when somebody mentioned moon of alabama.
+1
The anarchist and Marxian critique is half valid, we have a government to defend the interest of the ruling class, to defend the extreme and unnatural inequality, the hierarchy, to defend property and most property ownership being concentrated in a few hands etc.. Of course it’s not only correct, the liberals are right that at times ordinary people have been able to win concessions from government, like the New Deal etc. – in some countries even healthcare.
“McDonnell decision substantially weakens the government’s ability to prevent corruption and protect citizens”
This is completely untrue. He was prosecuted by the the Justice Department (Obama administration) in the certain knowledge that he had violated neither state or federal law. This is prosecutorial abuse of power. Instead of questioning what “the meaning of is, is” we have an ever changing definition of “official act”. Let’s have the appeals court decide the case again based on the new, new definition. ie. double jeopardy. This is one way for the Democratic Party to screw a Republican Governor they can’t stand. Or create a judicial precedent that this conduct is acceptable so that the Clintons don’t get prosecuted over their “Global Initiative” influence pedaling scheme.
http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/15-474_ljgm.pdf
The MERS argument…and/or/but here in Florida, there is the Sedowski law, where a percentage of the stamp tax/ documentory recording tax is specifically to go to affordable housing to be leveraged with market funding…but since governor dred scott, and skamantology hugging pam bondi could care less about “das little tiny peoples”…over 2 billion dollars in direct money and total of 8 billion in activity for affordable housing, has “slipped” thru the cracks….
No harm no foul…good thing pam bondi has that brother who helped cover up for wall street when he was at the sec and then as lead atty during the smoke and mirrors angelides “review” in the financial crisis inquiry commission whitewash…so proud of you bradley j bondi…in such a position of power and no one thought your “simple” sister and you should ever be tied together in any media stories…evah…
Did anyone see/read Trump’s economic speech?
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/full-transcript-trump-job-plan-speech-224891
This is a message that will resonate in the rust belt and among a number of swing states.
Am watching CNN panel of 6 discuss his speech and must say CNN’s headline caps are good (as in bad for Hillary) – “Trump: NAFTA Worst Trade Deal In History” and “Trump: Globalization Has Wiped Out Middle Class.” Hillary’s spokesman is running away from Clinton’s true positions by saying Hillary opposes TPP & voted AGAINST trade deal. His statement to that affect went unchallenged.
Sanders with Trump’s showmanship is unstoppable.
A promise is a promise.
In any case, time for NAFTAxit.
As a Bernie voter I disagreed with maybe 5% of that (regulation isn’t the problem, lack of enforcement of regulation combined with their target market having no disposable income is the problem for business.)
So far I think he’s going to win in a landslide.
He’s headed to Ohio and he’s got video of her calling TPP the “gold standard.”
I wonder how long that 4 point lead holds.
My gut feeling is that Trump’s numbers are as low as their going to go. The media can’t really get and worse or more dismissive. From this point it’s only up for him. Throw in the Clinonites thoroughly dissing the Sandernistas at the convention, plus an actual campaign from the Green Party and Trump wins it with 45% of the vote.
“Here’s how it would go: she would make a small token change, declare the pact fixed, and ram it through.”
He really has hillary down pat, he even mentions her lawyerly “in its current form” parsing.
It makes my head hurt to think about the distorted reasoning hillary supporters (non 10%ers) whisper to themselves while they scream “la la la I can’t here you!”
At some point you have to stop bothering. I tried to point out to some friends that are Hillary supporters they should be legitimately concerned about an email related indictment — just based just on what has been disclosed so far (and not considering any unconfirmed reports and stayed entirely factual — just the facts point closer to ‘indict’ than ‘not indict’) — at minimum there are more scenarios that hurt her than help her (including if an indictment doesn’t happen) as this plays out. I might as well have stabbed their first-born child to death, smeared the still warm blood on their face all while feasting on it’s still beating heart (and I think they would have actually found that less offensive) all while screaming Trump for Supreme Ruler of Earth for life as far as the were concerned.
She is the least corrupt, most honest, strongest candidate ever (their words — I’m not joking). To suggest anything less than unwavering devotion, or to even hint that her campaign has been nothing but the most flawless, perfect campaign ever conducted in human history is the most profane heresy and most heinous crime you could ever commit.
the whole process really brought out the tribalists. these people are as irrational as the republicans have been, though it seems like republicans are a little saner these days.
Actually, Hillary supporters have no reason to be concerned about Hillary getting indicted for email or anything else. They are correct not to be concerned. The only thing wrong with their unconcern is the reason they have for it.
The reason Hillary will not be indicted before nomination and probably not after it is that she is the Establishment’s designated Obama 2.0 candidate. She is worth more trillions of dollars to the same people who got trillions of dollars worth of skewed policy from Obama to begin with. And they are going to permit any legal enforcement people put their expected trillions of Clinton policy dollars at risk. So . . . no worry of any indictment against Hillary.
I hate when I agree with the man… don’t tell the girl, but I think I’m going to be voting Trump this fall. God help me.
Trump truisms. And he’s only just getting started.
We all have to keep this dark secret in real life, the fact that we’re supporting Trump.
Wow, that’s impressive from him. Clear on specifics, devastating rhetoric. Is this Manafort’s handywork? This is a much more polished speech than what he’s been giving thus far.
This is the 2nd time he’s impressed me, recently. He may yet have a shot at the presidency.
To be clear, I still can’t vote for the guy, but I wavered for a bit. It took me a second to remember who this guy is.
Doesn’t matter who he is, it’s what he does that counts. If this speech is what he’ll do, count me in, I already know what Hilary has done/will do, and it’s worse. Just Donald’s takedown of the media is a huge public service.
The New York Times commenters on their coverage of the speech are blind with rage and contempt over Trump’s speech.
He couldn’t have written that but, wow – he sounds like Bernie with a whole lot of righteous anger and attitude. Thanks for that link !
he wants sanders voters. clinton wants hard right conservative voters.
She’ll get some of the bush vote… Now remember how small that group was.
The neo-cons have no other place to go, and they anyway see her as running for bush II third term… But there’s just not many of them. And some of them hate the clintons, are having a hard time voting their book.
Trump will hold on to most of his supporters plus most of cruz’, can’t imagine any of them voting for shill.
All he has to do is pound away with Bernie’s message… There’s four months to go and already a growing number on this blog are wavering.
He’s smart. First he had to be racist to win the gop nom, now he just has to be progressive to win the general.
Hillary moves to the right, he goes left…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/06/28/in-pentagon-bomb-squad-an-investigation-and-a-fight-to-stave-off-financial-ruin/?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories-2_bombsquad-8a-stream%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
I was horrified to see that the government is actually demanding repayment of hazardous duty pay they (apparently) mistakenly gave nine employees of the bomb squad. One of the nine has already committed suicide. He was said to owe more than $136,000.
“Michael L. Rhodes, a higher-ranking defense official, sent a memo in September acknowledging that bomb-squad members “reasonably believed they were eligible for and would receive hazardous duty pay,” including when they were recruited to the job. The employees affected “did not know nor could reasonably have known that the payments were erroneous” and deserved consideration for a waiver that would wipe the debt out….”
The person who sent them to the collections department got a promotion. Of course she was against the clawback but those pesky SOPs tied her hands.
In the bad news is good news dept…I think Transcanada’s ISDS suit is a wonderful warning to people of the dangers lurking in the TPP. Of course to my Congressman (Rick Larsen D WA 2nd) this is a feature! For the “New Democrats” corporations lead the way to our glittering future (well, not “our” glittering future, but certainly theirs).
Elizabeth Warren’s virtue was certainly…negotiable.
RE: Zeitgeist Watch
I, for one, will not take it personally if somebody freaks out on me in comments. Later this year we look forward to either President Trump being elected or President Hillary and the return of the neoconservatives. If you’re not losing your sh– you’re not paying any attention.
I tried to watch the Warren/Clinton rally yesterday and I caught myself rocking back and forth muttering “I WILL NOT VOTE FOR TRUMP…. I WILL NOT VOTE FOR TRUMP… AHHHH!” at around the six minute mark. I’ve always had a dark sense of humor and been prone to gallows humor so I think I’ll be okay!
Sounds like you were doing the Dervish dance.
“Return of the neocons”? They never left the room my friend, I mean look at our next Sec’y of State (Nuland), her resume takes her from Dick Cheney’s House of Horrors straight into Hilary’s bosom.
From the Dr. Housing Bubble article on Ca. real estate:
“If every area of California is so “baller” why the need for a gated community?”
Someone please enlighten me. What does “baller” mean in this context? (If it’s a typo, I still can’t figure out what the correct word is supposed to be)
Perhaps the canonical reference to Ballin:
http://youtu.be/L2JfY-nVaqg
To be a baller, no less a shot caller, is to rank very highly in terms of compensation, wealth accumulation, and power. To ball is to have access to funds far in excess of that required for basic sustenance.
Even more canonical:
Wanna be a baller – Lil Troy
It should be understood that in black culture the pinnacle of success is extravagant, conspicuous consumption. In black culture the best and most common method of achieving success involves playing some sort of professional sport, and thus the noun “baller” was derived. “Ballin” is the verb form of the word. While originally it may have only referred to successful professional sports players, eventually it became generalized to anyone who displayed an extravagant lifestyle.
There are many words in black English that simply have no analog in standard English, baller among them. You’d be astonished at the wide and deep variety of vocabulary available in black culture that is devoted to concepts of wealth and status, some examples being “flossin” and “stuntin” and “frontin”, all of which would take a couple of sentences to explain in standard English.
Please do not get mixed up about this.
This is not generally true of black people or black culture. It is merely the minstrel trope that is most amenable to acquiring a recording contract and advance money.
You are not alone in your cacodaemonic ululations. The mood “on the street” here in the “Hurt of Dixie” is manic and apprehensive. The people in the shops and on the streets are trending towards the, down here at least, urbanely mythical Noo Yawk state of mind. (That is not a compliment hereabouts.) It could be the heat, but dread is a good word with which to characterize the popular mood.
Finally, “Clinton — who (now) opposes the Trans Pacific Partership” is rich, even assuming Sargent, by “now,” doesn’t mean “for now.” The DNC platform committee refused the Sanders demand that they oppose the TPP, and the Clinton campaign operates the DNC. Ergo, Clinton supports the TPP. Words are wind. I want receipts.
You’ll get wind and you’ll like it!
Progressives in the Democratic Party enjoy getting lied to by their politicians. It makes them feel important in a perverse way (hey, at least they’re bothering to lie to us!) and, let’s face it, you have to be masochist to be a progressive and still be in the Democratic Party. Obama has made an art form of this, getting fools to conjure explanations for his endless betrayals.
Here’s my prediction: When Hillary announces that she he re-changed her mind and now (again ) supports TPP, she will say either: 1) her concerns have been addressed in secret side-deals that can’t be made public for [national security, trade secret, etc.] reasons; or 2) now that she’s had a chance to review the TPP fine-print at leisure, it actually does address her concerns, by golly, and, either way, TPP is close enough to the trade deal “gold standard” that it must get done. For the good of the American people, of course.
I think you’re not giving her enough credit. How about, “I have realized that the violence and economic disruption brought on by the Brexit vote shows how important it is for America to show leadership in its commitment to free trade, diversity, and peace. I have therefore decided to support the TPP, despite its flaws, and will use my experience and international relationships to negotiate even stronger trade ties in future agreements!”
I need strong liquor.
“cacodaemonic ululations”
Da-umn!
*backs away in awe*
I’ve been re-reading works by Lovecraft and his Circle of late.
Yes, a great phrase! Ululations is one my fave onomatopoetic wurdz…
I feel like I am singing when I say that word.
And it’s good to sing, to tintinnabulate or to just make some noise. I read somewhere it prevents senility.
Yes, a truly masterful, delightful latinate locution!! :)
Just heard that Mr. Juncker has decided that the EU commission alone can decide on the CETA agreement, no need to involve the individual Parliaments of the member countries.
This despite the German governments wish to allow the individual Parliaments to have a say in the decision
So much for learning valuable lessons from the Brexit!
See also
The plantidote is like George Bush’s thousand points of light.
I’m afraid that when I was a little kid, I’d get all embarrassed by people doing stupid stuff on the sitcoms. Similarly today, I can’t actually watch much of this stuff, just read about it second hand. Very cringe worthy.
As for the demonic laugh, it’s more a sigh of relief that its finally happening. As I’ve said before, when Carter said put on a sweater and Reagan said put it on the credit card, this was inevitable.
Some of us would laugh at the sitcoms because we were so happy that it wasn’t us doing all those silly things and saying all that ridiculous stuff.
I tend to personalize it. I would be a bore as a comedy writer. Though apparently, as the old geezer, I’m getting a rep for stories that end with, “but he died.”
“It does not say a citizen can be charged a fee for exercising that right”.
OTOH, it doesn’t say he “can’t”………we’re talking 21st Century here; get with the current program!
Back in the day when there were moral and ethical standards, laws were a lot simpler.
With the emergence of the “weasel lawyer/businessman” class, any ambiguity in the law now becomes a hole you can drive a money-packed truck through.
So the law becomes a lot more complex, to try to cover all of the possible contingencies/loopholes thought up by the weasels.
Leading to the next phase, which is, you guessed it, the weasels bitching about “over-regulation”.
Mostly by the crowd unhappy about losing their “trucks loaded with money” loopholes. Basically, six-year olds who lied/fibbed/made excuses about eating the chocolate cake, who are adults now, but are applying the six-year-old concepts to society.
It’s about the money. It’s ALWAYS about the money.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/06/28/hillary-clintons-email-story-continues-to-get-harder-and-harder-to-believe/
WaPo is sceptical about Clinton emails, but even then, they seem to care more about if it harms her chances in the election.
The Rolling Stone has two interesting articles up on Brexit today.
The first: Brexit Offers Lesson in the Danger of Protest Votes by Katherine Cross is as fine an example of scolding, scoffing, and yes patronizing, Sanders voters as I have seen in some time. It is a dismissive piece at best that is facinating because it perfectly exemplifies the fact-free way in which Sanders voters are dismissed.
A key passage:
Later on she notes:
You really have to read the piece to notice how quickly she moves from blaming to vote on Neo-Nazis to summarizing all Sanders voters as foolish people who would risk doom to take on “The Establishment,” to calling for an end to infighting so that “we” can combat “the greater threat.”
At no point does she acknowledge that those supporting Sanders might do so because of genuine policy differences with Clinton. Nor does she consider that in some areas, e.g. middle-east policy, Clinton is identical to Trump, or worse. No this piece is all about condescending identity politics and the assumption that we must all grow up and fight the straw-bogeyman that she has made.
The opposite end of the Spectrum is Matt Taibbi who wrote: The Reaction to Brexit Is the Reason Brexit Happened. He echoes Glenn Greenwald’s excellent piece from the other day and puts in a choice reference to Plato:
I wonder if he read her piece, or if she read his.
My problem with the Cross article is that she imagines Clinton is a liberal. She is in no meaningful way a liberal as I learned what that word meant growing up in the 1970s. This persistent idea, sworn to by both the MSM and the Right-wing Mighty Wurlitzer (which goes much further and accuses Clinton of being a “leftist” no less) is a canard but an adamantine one. You can’t scratch it, no less poke holes in it.
Clinton is a liar. Trump is a liar. Neither has an ethical bone in their body. Many will pick their poison (I’ll go third party not as a protest but as a statement of principle) but I just wish we could banish this “Clinton is a liberal” rubbish to the dust bin.
Just want to mention that your link to Taibbi’s Brexit piece is broken.
Also wanted to ask if anyone here can tell me if Rolling Stone has gone to a subscription only format? It’s possible that my browser is out of date or I have some setting wrong, but lately when I click through to RS all I can see is the headline — no article.
No, the articles are still available without subscription. Here’s the link to Taibbi:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-reaction-to-brexit-is-the-reason-brexit-happened-20160627
Thanks! That link worked for me. That said, clicking through my usual way (which I tried AFTER I read it via your link) also worked. Go figure.
nowhere and Roger, thanks for your responses, too. I’m glad I’m not the only one that’s run into this bit of glitchiness.
I’ve had issues when viewing on my iDevices, but using Chrome I’ve been okay.
I haven’t been able to see them for a few weeks either.
The comfortable continue to believe everything is just fine, and when those who know better scream loudly to try and wake them up, their shouts are viewed with amused condescension as the silly conspiracy theories of the uninformed.
I weep for the future my grandchildren might have had and won’t.
Myself? I’m oddly serene.
I guess over a decade to come to terms with the duplicity of the Democratic Party has made me sanguine. I believe a tipping point is coming sooner rather than later these days.
That’s where I’m at, too (with intermittent bouts of outrage, nevertheless).
cwaltz: Same here. I find the whole show fascinating. I hadn’t counted on seeing the collapse of rotten elites to begin with, so I find the whole spectacle oddly comforting in a you-mean-I-haven’t-been-wrong kind of way. So: A glass of good wine or a nip of rye, neat, will help to take off some occasional rough edges, but there is no need for ululations (to use a word from a comment above).
Ha ha, I had a glass of wine and a nip of rye (well, Irish whisky) and listened to some great music. A wonderful Tom Stoppard passage occurred to me:
(Lord Malquist and Mr. Moon)
Right now it all seems pretty damn absurd… let’s all try to have a bit of style.
Pavel, that passive withdrawal and glass of rye can wait until afterwards. So today: rage, rage against the dying of the light! We all have a role to play today, and that glass of Angostura Gran Anejo 7 YO can wait for apres le deluge.
Yes, well I prefer Lagavulin 16 when someone else is buying, otherwise I like by vodka tonics. But it would be nice to hear what music others here are listening to in an attempt at creating a cocoon of self indulgence. Having watched all 3 volumes of HUMAN (thanks Abynormal) I bought the soundtrack. Fantastic sounds and feelings and not a syllable in English. I would also recommend Ivan Lins “Saudades de Casa”.
Not music, but I’ve been listening to the audiobook version of Barbara Tuchman’s The Proud Tower. I find history comforting during times like these.
Nice. Confirmation from the past that the Fokkers who rule us mopes now are as fokking careless as the Fokkers who ruled us ordinary us mopes over the last hundred years.
Here’s hoping you complete the series by reading “The Guns of August” and “The March of Folly.” Me, I’m enjoying just letting go and binge-watching season after season of “Game of Thrones.” It’s all there, bunnies… Sex and Killing, the fundaments of human nature. And of course Power, to kill who you want, and Fokk who you want, with impunity and a certain amount of “style.”
Do we ever see who digs and refines the gold? Or grows the wheat to feed the cities through the “Winter” that is “coming”?
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
Look what happens to the honorable ones… Little Fingers, eunuchs doing their Richelieu for the Realm… And an Imp shall rule them all… For a while. Maybe.
I don’t know why, but I’m becoming accustomed to Phyllis’ Brazilian music library. At night, a little old Techno or Trance. After midnight, back to the roots; Eno, Gong, the Canterbury Scene, and electronica.
Red herring anecdote, but since Lambert linked to the Cape Cod Times…
Years ago I was “down the Cape” in the middle of winter and trying to coax my jalope to get me back to Boston, but I had a radiator hole that made the beast overheat every 20 minutes. So one of the many stops I made was in Sandwich in a coffee shop under the bridge– picture perfect out of an Updike novel. I ordered a grilled cheese and whilst I was waiting the waitress offered me a newspaper to read.
“Which one do you want” she said, as I accepted.
Not taking my chances with being pegged as a presumptive ferenghi snob, I said “what d’you got?”
“Oh we got both.”
Leaping at the opportunity for something beyond a fish and tackle guide I said “Fine I’ll take The Globe“.
To which she replied “Oh honey we’re not that type of place”.
Thus meaning that in this case “both” means The Cape Cod Times or The Boston Herald.
Now that the Globe has been sold and resold and I am more attentive how the media work, I think the old greasy spoon actually had pretty erudite periodical choices compared with what is consumed in Boston (see Listen Liberal).
File this one under Vanishing Rural Overton Windows
I spent a month or two in Boston a few decades ago and I still think of it as The Boston Glob. And that was before the doomed sale to the NY Times.
Charming anecdote, though… thank you! It took me a few minutes but I realised what it reminded me of:
–The Blues Brothers
It’s crazy in the UK at the moment, like the country is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. A fight broke out at work yesterday due to the referendum result, insistence of fights and verbal abuse in the streets are all over social media.
the political elites are baring their fangs…the football….
Jeremy Corbyn loses ‘no confidence’ vote among Labour MPs by 172 to 40
http://tinyurl.com/hc54x58
UK faith leaders unite in condemning post-referendum rise in xenophobic abuse
http://tinyurl.com/hyaopoe
We are living in interesting times….
’28 hours later’………??
“IT”S BREXAGE !!! ………………….Hide ! “
I just read somewhere (sorry don’t remember where) that Corbyn is not going to resign because of the no confidence vote. Apparently there is no rule that he has to. He was elected by members of the labour party and it is to them that he is beholden.
I saw that too, I believe on Bloomberg?
Aptronymous muckraker Steve Topple traced some links back to the center-right Labour PR firm what planted the whole thing. (The Canary)
Sanders NYT op ed: Bernie Sanders: Democrats Need to Wake Up
Poor Bernie, he might as well be talking to a brick wall.
It’s funny because if he were to look at the ISSUES, he’s probably closer to Trump then he is to Hillary. Trump is at least pretending to be anti TPP and anti war. The Democrat Party can’t even claim that since they voted down opposing TPP and their candidate is on the record as wanting to act on Syria regime change by force.
They just had a vote on their platform Bernie. Did you think they didn’t know what they were doing when they opposed your labor member, your single payer position, or your anti TPP position?
The strength of his campaign was that he kept it focused on the issues. Making it all about scary Trump really dilutes the message.
Agree.
Particularly when it’s a debatable question as to whether Trump or Hillary is the more effective evil.
It’s surprisingly easy to tell when someone is parroting under duress a claim they don’t really believe in.
Smash the system — Trump/Sanders 2016!
He still has a slight chance of winning the nom… fbi.
If he did win he will have to beat trump, so might as well be fiercely anti-trump for now.
After shill wins the nom he can pick a few down races to support, allowing his opposition to trump fade if and when trump takes most of Bernie’s positions.
“Poor Bernie, he might as well be talking to a brick wall”
Pretty nearly. The comments were ~3:1 pettish little snipes about how he ought to publicly endorse Clinton RIGHT NOW!!! The aging, erstwhile liberal-left subscribers to the ‘newspaper of record’ don’t like being reminded of how entitled, compromised and cheap they are. Reading Sanders words must be like debriding a burn wound for them.
And, after over 20 years of successfully conning progressives into LOTE votes, they are stunned and appalled that the usual floggings are failing to achieve “unity”.
Bonus points — lots of ’em — for “must be like debriding a burn wound for them.”
You should hear their cacodaemonic ululations when the drill goes down.
The comments to Sanders piece are hilarious. In less than two hours, David Brock’s flying monkeys have landed in force and voted each other to the top of the readers’ picks. Winning the battle but losing the war.
I liked “surprise, surprise.” I didn’t think Sanders did irony.
Here is a link to Donald Trump’s latest speech. The speech begins at 4 minutes. This is full strength information, not the pap that has been sieved, pureed and put in baby bottles, for our consumption, by the main stream media.
Full Speech: Donald Trump Delivers Economic Policy Speech in Monessen, PA (6-28-16)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru3Cpf_Wkco
““House Democrats mistakenly release transcript confirming big payout to Clinton friend Sidney Blumenthal” [Los Angeles Times]. Ka-ching.”
Interesting detail to me was that they started paying him in 2012.
Clinton was a Goldwater girl.
Warren former repug.
Then getting in the way back machine
Dead Gov. Connelly former repug but became a demodog.
There were a few others during this time when tricky-dick was potus.
There will never be change if we can’t learn from history.
There will never be change. We can’t learn from history.
There, fixed it for you Joe.
And Sanders was an Independent.
He can be one again.
“Free Bernie!!!”
Greatest new slogan ever!
Chris Cillazza just gave an amazingly condescending review about Bernie Sanders
giving an amazingly condescending interview about Hillary Clinton
It’s hard to make a hack understand something when his allowance from Jeff Bezos depends on him not understanding it.
That’s the actual headline. Wow.
I’m so old I remember when WaPo at least made the attempt to separate news from opinion.
Here’s a laugher-HC proposes student debt deferral for startup founders. Actually, it makes me angry. I really will never understand how anyone could vote for this woman. Their brain must be in knots. Millions of knots. Yesterday, shuttle driver saw the ABC flyer on my car and asked me about it. I explained how corrupt she is, about the increased militarism, etc, etc. In response he said “But Trump!”. *sigh*
And English coworker today again tried to blame Brexit result on racism by quoting story about how some kid wrote “go home ___” on a blackboard at a school. Weak. I didn’t argue. I just stood there and glazed over. She isn’t worth wasting time arguing with. Facts and numbers mean nothing to her.
For the IRS to implement such a discriminatory plan would require as much complexity as the Obamacare coverage form … maybe more.
The real agenda here (if she were serious) would be to boost the accountant / tax lawyer / tax preparer archipelago with fresh, unparseable complexity that sends new victims their way.
But more likely this is just “exploratory pandering” — throw any fool idea that might help somebody (such as Silicon Valley venture capitalists) and see whether contributions from Important People tick up. If so, up the ante.
When things get really desperate, she’ll fall back to “my presidency for a pardon.”
Never expect coherence from the Clintons. Sociopaths will say anything. To them, it’s just chatter. Only haters would actually call them on it (so they reason, since personal integrity is literally not comprehensible to them).
> would require as much complexity as the Obamacare
You say that like it’s a bad thing!
Hillary trying to free up the Unicorn Riders from onerous debt so they can start contributing to Hillary, early, often, and huge.
Presumably including Elizabeth Holmes?
Both Warren and Sanders had poor college debt proposals, but Clinton managed to propose a worse one.
Seems like today’s two “innovation” posts were indeed timely. What a piece of work Clinton is, to be sure. Heaven forfend education should be seen as a public good!
Point out that those voting leave have been left behind by globalization and the neo-lib drive to lower wages to boost profits, both by exporting jobs and by importing lower paid workers. Then add that this exact dynamic is fueling both sanders and trump, neither of whom was expected to get anywhere against the expected Clinton-bush… And trump made it because the press gave him unlimited coverage, while sanders didn’t because the press didn’t give him any at all.
You’ll probably drive her nuts if you speculate that trump will successfully steal most of sanders stump speech, and drop the overt racism, as he crushes Clinton in the general.
“Am I an outlier, or have other readers noticed similar behaviors?”
Yes, of course we have. I’m personally immune, of course (snark), but I call it “campaign derangement syndrome.” However, this is not a normal campaign year. Brexit merely adds to the excitement – and yes, it’s extremely exciting, especially if you’ve been an outsider for years. I can see it in local tabling, as well as in the national news.
Systems, like the 2-Party, that we’ve considered just part of our world are suddenly breaking down. The Law of Diminishing Returns does, ultimately, have the last say.
After all, this is why you’ve been posting links to the Archdruid.
And we’d love to hear that demonic laugh.
California primary as of 5:07pm
Clinton 2,665,860 53.7%
Sanders 2,250,040 45.4%
Uncounted (PDF) Total 519,904 Provisional 341,249
Like the Amundsen expedition, California’s heroic vote counters will push on to their goal — no matter how long it takes.
RE: Clinton’s party platform members v. Bernie’s party platform members.
I’m reminded of a line from the movie “Love, Actually” where the American President (played by Billy Bob Thornton) tells the British Prime Minister (played by Hugh Grant), “I’ll give you anything you ask for… as long as it’s not something I don’t want to give.”
Glen Ford from BAR gives a good analysis of the platform meeting in St. Louis.
Clinton Forces Dominate DNC Platform, Demolishing Key Sanders Issues
Even in the non-binding platform, Clinton’s people blocked proposed planks about fracking, Israel/Palestine, TPP and so on. As many predicted, she is not even going to throw Bernie a bone. Let’s hope that convinces him that the Democratic Party is not going to be reformed and gives him pause about telling those who support him that such reform is possible. Cause that would be ‘sheep dogging’.
I couldn’t disagree more. The more Sanders pushes these wedges, the more the Dems split. That’s a good thing. And Ford is a Green, and that’s the party line. The Mandy Rice-Davies Rule applies.
And… bullshit. If you want to do a hostile takeover of an insitution, you do it from inside that institution. And nothing whatever about how the Greens have conducted this campaign gives me an ounce of confidence in them as a party. Nothing.
Adding… It was Sanders who got Cornel West a platform at the DNC. Not Stein. Or Ford. Just saying.
Its gotten even better. According to the Jerusalem Post, the Clintonite Palestine plank is going to include opposition to the BDS movement as an official plank.
So its now going beyond just a reactionary foreign policy to making it a party plank to push government suppression of a movement in American civil society.
As the folks over at Kos keep saying, it’ll be the MOST PROGRESSIVE PLATORM EVER! (or at least since the last most progressive platform ever.)
I have to wonder whether Glen Ford and other Identity Leftists are jealous and envious of Sanders for getting and keeping support which they will never get for themselves or for their chosenly annointed Righteous Parties. If, hypothetically speaking, Sanders would bring/ could bring several million supporters to Identity Leftist Parties which bear the Black Agenda Report Good LeftKeeping Seal of Approval . . . BAR would not call that “sheepdogging”.
Class warfare, with bullets
https://shadowproof.com/2016/06/28/delete-account-episode-5-dying-education/
Here’s to Lanny Breuer.
“Martin, look at my suit.” Priceless!
Chris Martenson and Axel Merk. Great discussion. Brexit, EU, Euro, Debt, Markets, Central Banks.
http://www.peakprosperity.com/podcast/99269/axel-merk-making-sense-impact-brexit
I found this comment on another blog:
“Supposedly, if the British voted for exit, the government would immediately invoke article 50 – would give notice that Britain was resigning from the EU. That is what the prime Minister told them.
Well, the British voted for exit, and surprise, surprise, the government is not invoking article 50. The prime minister lied.”
It’s 11:40 AM here in Europe, and the stock markets are rallying once again, so it looks like the market agrees with the comment above.
Plus ça change, plus c’ est la même chose….
“Am I an outlier, or have other readers noticed similar behaviors?”
We officially ran off the rails in 2014, (as I first noted in 2014).
Hillary is going to have to up her style game if she is going to run with Liz Warren. I am happy to see that she lifted the length of her jacket.
Sisterhood is powerful.
Hillary lifts jacket length! Fashion industry is abuzz!
Of course, I’m referring to the fashion industry in Pyongyang.