By definition, you were despising him for his entire career.
I've read that in the early eighties he served as an elector for the then-claimed-to-be-Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party, so I wouldn't say his "entire career."
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In just about every poll I saw before the AP/NYTimes called the democratic race for Hillary, Bernie was trouncing Trump in a general election, while Hillary was squeaking out a win. If you looked at the three candidates approval and disapproval ratings, Bernie DESTROYED both Trump and Clinton. Looking at the numbers, it was baffling to understand what kind of "democracy" would end up with Sanders not even in the race, even though he was far more popular then the other two options.
The problem is that our voting system is a sham democracy. As an independent voter from NY (I should note that independents are a far larger group nationally, then democrats or republicans) I never had the chance to vote in the primary. My states votes go to the democrat in the general election unless it is a total shut-out (e.g. Reagan 1980), so my vote truly does not matter. I don't mean that it is a drop in the bucket, or needle in the haystack, I mean it is totally pointless. All my vote can hope to accomplish is to to add legitimacy to the sham system.
In the past I voted for third party candidates, but thanks to many aspects of the system being made up by Dems/Repubs, that is a total dead end. Just look at how the Democrats treated Ralph Nader with all the ballot lawsuits and stuff. That is a large reason I would never register as a Democrat. That feeling was confirmed by this primary season. Bernie's money came from small contributions, while Hillary and the Party served their large donors. They represented totally different interests. It was very clear from the very beginning that The Party backed Hillary, and that Sanders had a huge handicap to overcome before the race even started. Bernie was undercut by his own team, before the race even started. Before anyone brings up Obama's "insurgent" 2008 campaign, that was totally different because Obama was, and remains a total shill to the interests of the .1%. He and The Party were always on the same page.
There is a reason that in every election the choice is bullshit- Who in Skull & Bones would you like to be president? Who at Trumps wedding would you like to be president? What kind of democracy puts up the most hated candidates in history as the only two choices? What kind of democracy has approval ratings in the teens for it's congress?
There comes a point when you have to look at a system that puts unpopular people in charge and question where the mandate for governing comes from. Does anyone still think we are governed by the people, for the people? If not, where does their power come from? What kind of government do we have?
The problem is that our voting system is a sham democracy. As an independent voter from NY (I should note that independents are a far larger group nationally, then democrats or republicans) I never had the chance to vote in the primary. My states votes go to the democrat in the general election unless it is a total shut-out (e.g. Reagan 1980), so my vote truly does not matter. I don't mean that it is a drop in the bucket, or needle in the haystack, I mean it is totally pointless. All my vote can hope to accomplish is to to add legitimacy to the sham system.
Sanders wasn't running as an Independent, he was running as a Democrat, which is essentially a private club choosing who to place on it's ballot. If you're not willing to join the club and abide by it's rules, you don't have an implied right to vote in the primary.
And given how Nader has consistently badmouthed the Democratic Party which is the closest of the two to being his ally, as well as happily taking money from their Republican enemies, it's really no surprise that they'd be happy to return the favor.
[Fistbumps Comrade Fergie]
Comrades of Mine in the News
Alabama protesters smackdown KKK: ‘They need to take their corrupt ideology back to 19th Century’
and
Chris Hedges and Kshama Sawant Talk Third-Party Politics (Video)
On RT, no less!
Sanders wasn't running as an Independent, he was running as a Democrat, which is essentially a private club choosing who to place on it's ballot. If you're not willing to join the club and abide by it's rules, you don't have an implied right to vote in the primary.
That is basically my point, BOTH parties are private clubs operated in the interests of their wealthy backers. If the private clubs set the system up so that your two choices are Mr. Monopoly and Richie Rich, then you get to vote, that isn't democracy, because neither represents the will of the people. I don't want to join their corrupt club, nor do I accept their right to "represent" me in a democracy.
And given how Nader has consistently badmouthed the Democratic Party which is the closest of the two to being his ally, as well as happily taking money from their Republican enemies, it's really no surprise that they'd be happy to return the favor.
I think the main point is that The Two Parties have no credibility representing anyone but the .1%. The Two Parties just use different dog whistles to appeal to different segments of voters, but serving the moneyed interests is their real purpose. Nader and to a lesser extent Sanders actually represent voters, not donors, and that is a serious threat to both parties. The entire political system of this country is based around serving the interests of the donor class, while wrapping yourself in the flag of democracy in order to get votes. None of the politicians really give a f@$~ about most of these social issues, as long as the wealth gets transferred to the top. The system they set up is working perfectly for them, and has been my whole life. I don't see anything that offers even a slight hope of improvement.
Nader is MORE of a threat to the democrats, because he represents many of the people they claim to represent, and that shows how phoney they are.
You want to influence a party, join it. Don't just pay attention to the big ticket presidential race. Get involved in primaries and campaigns for state and local politicians. That's where things can change. That's where the big national candidates come from
Yeah, Fergie, maybe next year you can stop voting for Howie Hawkins and vote for one of those 6700 candidates that dick Bernie stirred up.
Wealthy backers certainly influence the campaigns, but even in New York you and all the other independents could join the party of your choice a month ahead of time and have your voice heard (admittedly drowned out in the millions of others, but there's no way around that). If you're too principled to do that, even to vote for a candidate you do like, there's really nothing I can say.
I think what you say sounds perfectly reasonable. But our election laws are NOT reasonable- they are bullshit that is intended to keep the masses from interfering with those in power.
As I said, I'm an independent voter, (as opposed to an unregistered voter), so I would have had to join the Democratic Party back in the first week of October 2015. And obviously stay a Democrat for six months.
But honestly, why bother? The Democrats made no secret about how Hillary was supposed to win. The race was slanted in Hillary's favor before it even started (super delegates, Debbie "Her Turn" Shultz, etc. I would be declaring my allegiance to the very people rigging the election against my chosen candidate. Why would any sane person choose that? What kind of piss poor excuse for "democracy" is a system like that?
EDIT: Hawkins 4 LIFE B@@+%ES!
...I should have stuck to my guns and ignored a discussion of who would make the better presidential candidate for the Other Party of Racist American Imperialism....
I had a long (rambling) response to this, the Ms. Martin video, Sander's "personal foibles," and Clinton's ipecac-ness, but meh. Writing it didn't change my calculus, and posting it here won't change anyone else's. I'll stop irritating you and mosey off.
---
I know it must still hurt, but I do hope you are feeling a bit better about your cat, DB. :)
Thank you. I've been distracting myself, despite racial antipathies, with walking La Principessa's dog in Prospect Park.
More Chavista propaganda:
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And more
Comrades of Mine in the News
'It's an act of defiance': Drone delivers abortion pills to women in Northern Ireland
(Took me a couple sweeps around the internet to confirm that Labour Alternative is our sister group in Northern Ireland.)
I had a long (rambling) response to this, the Ms. Martin video, Sander's "personal foibles," and Clinton's ipecac-ness, but meh.
Well, for what it is worth, I thought your earlier post about sanders and voting and such was very interesting and persuasive. It made me consider what my outlook would be if I lived in a swing state, and how living in NY affected my political beliefs more then I had considered. It's easy to take a stance when you know your vote won't matter, it is interesting to roleplay what it would be like if it did. Or I could just rollplay and let the dice decide!
I don't know if anyone's mind will be changed either way, but participating in these discussions makes me a whole lot less cynical then I would be if I just listened to TV and radio talking heads. One of the few things that make me optimistic about the future is that actual humans (and goblins) beliefs and priorities have almost nothing to do with those of politicians of either party. I love hearing a well made argument even especially if I don't agree with it, and this thread has some really great stuff in it.
I don't know, I was thinking of starting another thread of something like political predictions, but I don't want to create more work for the moderators. If anyone has a good idea for a polititroll thread that won't immediately end in tragedy, that might be a good way to keep the Hillary vs Trumpy type stuff out of this thread.
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In 2000, I was sent one of those online form letters from the Democratic Party to send to Ralph Nader to persuade him to drop out of the race. One of its memorable talking points was that Nader's attempts to save America were reminiscent of Medieval doctors trying to cure their patients by bleeding them to death. I sent it, and meant it, and customized the message by saying I did like him and suggesting he try running as a Democrat.
16 years later, Bernie's done exactly what I thought Ralph Nader should have done...but now I realize that Nader wasn't the one trying to save America by bleeding it to death. The corporatist Democrats are.
What I want to know is: Just as Fergie said, polls have consistently shown Clinton barely managing to beat Trump in the general election, while Sanders trounces him - so why, at no point, did ANYONE demand Hillary concede? It's for the good of the party and the country, right? It's all about who can stop Trump, right? So...why has nobody even suggested that Hillary do what her camp has been demanding Sanders do?
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To those giving Bernie crap for not completely giving in to the now-familiar manipulative bullying....
Yeah. Standard I-hate-Bernie-and-Democrats disclaimer aside:
Thought experiment: if this was a union negotiation, all the "quit, Bernie, quit!" types would have us cave at the first proffered contract.
A Tale of Two Cities and their Police Chiefs
San Francisco: Cop Terror Against Blacks, Latinos, Homeless
Police Department or Frat House? 3 Oakland Police Chiefs Resign in 9 Days Amid Sex Crime Scandal
Well, I meant to head back to New England four days ago but I've just lingered on and on here in Brooklyn, despite cigarettes costing twice as much as they do in New Hampshire. Missed the UMass picket line and god knows how many Orlando vigils while I've been down here, but it sounds like Mr. Comrade and the Nigerian Princess have got it covered, handing out flyers, rocking the mic, attending meet-ups and going to drag shows.
Coming up this weekend:
'Exhausted' French police plead with unions to postpone fresh protests so they can recover
And now...to the Chinatown bus!
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Today's a day for Big Decisions.
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Speaking of Britishiznoid chauvinism, funny photo of a newspaper blurb making the FB rounds:
"A scene of modern Britain played out on a rail replacement bus serivce in Newport yesterday. A woman in a niqab was chatting to her son in another language. After five minutes, a man suddenly snapped: 'If you're in the UK, you should speak English.' At this, another passenger turned round and explained: 'We're in Wales. And she's speaking Welsh.'"
Apartment Building Across the Street from La Principessa's Apartment Building in the News, Albeit Last Year
This Brooklyn Super Wears A Body Camera While Allegedly Carrying Out A "Reign Of Terror"
I sometimes hang out in front of Michelle Williams's home in case she ever decides she'd like to try interspecies love.
More Brooklyn
Instead tagged along with La Principessa to a planning meeting for a March Against Gentrification, Racism and Police Violence being held by a nice little group she met called Equality for Flatbush.
We printed up a couple hundred of these to distribute tomorrow at our local Pride events:
END HATE, WAR, AND POVERTY – SOCIALIST ALTERNATE PRIDE 2016 STATEMENT
And while I'm here,
4,800 NURSES ON STRIKE IN THE TWIN CITIES – SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE SOLIDARITY STATEMENT
So when I wrote that, I was thinking of more middle-of-the-road donors like, for example, UPS, which IIRC, goes something like 60% Republican/40% Democrat. When I started googling I found that way more hardcore rightist donors have been dumping into Hillary's warchest.
Wealthy Cruz Donor’s Firm Pours Millions Into Clinton Campaign
And it appears to have been going on for quite a while:
Hillary Clinton Is Backed by Major Republican Donors
Whether this will become a more general trend, I couldn't say.
Business Leaders Line Up to Endorse Hillary Clinton
"Meanwhile, a number of business leaders have come out backing Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Among her backers are Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg and Warren Buffett, as well as the CEOs of General Motors, Delta Air Lines, Airbnb, AT&T and Boeing."
Stupidest march I've ever been on. We were all assigned a color of the rainbow and then, instead of marching together the "colors" were each given a separate route that all converged in Market Square. Which might look cool with thousands of people andd aerial photography, but seemed kind of dumb when each color was 50 people at most.
We were "yellow" even though we all wore red. Yellow turned out to be the political groups. There were three: us, PSL and New Hampshire for Hillary.
Also met up with the Greens and did some signature gathering. The Greens all turned out to be undercover members of the Maine branch of the Socialist Party USA, who are running their own candidate for president, so I don't know why they're working on Stein's campaign in New Hampshire.
Anyway, Soltysik/Walker 2016
Word I'd use is "concession."
Probably a rather meaningless one. As I understand it, and I may not, the platform isn't binding on any candidate running under the Democratic Party banner, including the presidential candidate.
But it suggests that Bernie and his (mostly Democratic Party lifer) staffers have a better understanding of how to get their voices heard by the party tops than some others.
The DNC Just Torpedoed the Majority of Bernie Sanders’ Agenda
The Return of Comrade Omar and His Anti-D&D Ways
Was on my way to Lowell Pride when I learned that Comrade Omar passed on to the Great Picket Line in the Sky.
[Clenched fist salute]
Virtual Tribute from a UNITE-HERE Organizer Who Stayed On My Couch Once Back in the Nineties and We Fought Because He Was in the DSA and Talked Shiznit About the Sparts
"My heart is heavy today. I learned Omar El-Malah passed away tragically last night. Not only was he one of the most intelligent, committed labor activists (UE 4 life), he was like a brother to me. He was the best organizer I've ever known, humble yet courageous, and committed to the global working class to the end.
"I know this post also may not be the best way to tell folks, but I don't also know if folks who knew him will find out and you should know. I also think folks who didn't know him should also take a second an read about him to know he existed, however awkward a FB post may be. My heart goes out to Tarek Elmalah, Mona, and the rest of his family and friends in Boston, Philly, NH, NYC, London, and always Egypt.
"I hope those who knew him can take this time and think about how you can carry his love of the struggle forward in your daily lives. Omar knows you would not want to spend one second grieving for him, but spend that time organizing for what's right and true for this world. That's what we must do, and how we must remember him. Rest in peace, brother.
"PS. Tell Tupac I said "Thug 4 Life" or something like that."
I'm not sure how humble he was, though.
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Sorry to hear about Comrade Omar, CA.
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Thank you.
Some more items for the Virtual Shrine:
Omar's entry on the anti-labor page Union Facts
EDIT: Should have known, incorrigible internet troll that he was, that Omar found this page and commented on it:
"To the genius conspiracy theorists making the unfounded accusations against me-- I should inform you of two things: 1. I am not a privileged international student. I was not sent here by a foreign government. It is not true that 50% of college students are foreigners from terrorist nations. How did you come up with such a silly statistic anyway? I'm an American citizen-- born and raised. My family and I have worked very hard for everything we have, which isn't much, but we're proud of it anyway. I was a union member long before I came to UMass. I don't expect all of you to understand what being a union member means or why people join unions, but I would expect you not be so ridiculous as to make all union members out to be the antichrist. 2. Not all people with Arab and Muslim names are terrorists. I wouls strongly suggest if I ever have the displeasure of meeting either one of you guys that you have the sense not to try talking that ignorant, racist trash to my face. To the other people who frequent this website-- Please keep an open mind and don't take partisan and sometimes racist ravings and conspiracy theory at face value. Check the facts first. Sincerely, Omar el-Malah UAW Local 2322"
And for this one I had to dig deep. Couldn't find the article I remembered, but found it as text on some anti-fascist archives page. Alas, the accompanying picture of Comrade Omar, bloody but unbowed, has disappeared down the memory hole.
White supremacist speaks in Wallingford, many protest
AP
10 Mar 01
Protesters opposed to Matt Hale, the leader of the World Church of the
Creator, marched to the rear of the Wallingford Public Library a little
after 1 p.m. Saturday.
The tension mounted quickly as Hale's supporters met them face to face.
With riot police standing by, they exchanged words first, and then the
physical confrontation.
Several members on both sides of the protest broke out in a fist fight.
The protesters ripped and burned the rebel colors, and then stormed the
library in an effort to shut the meeting down.
Police used pepper gas to hold the protesters back.
"They sprayed us with pepper spray or mace, I'm not sure. It's all in my
eyes and my mouth and it burns," says Leah Walsh, Roxbury.
"I got sprayed a little bit, and then in the ensuing rush on the way back, came back, just got slammed to the pavement," says Omar El-Malah, Boston, MA.
Hale spoke as scheduled in the library's crowded Community Room.
"The evidence shows that we are not all created equal. The idea of racial equality is the most absurd idea in the history of this world," says Matt Hale.
But Hale could not escape the hecklers. Police arrested one person in the library, and there were more clashes upon exit.
"Does it bring you pleasure to hurt people like this? We have people in
pain, not enough water, no medical help here. This is a public building.
It is our right to be here. And it is not your right to physically impose your violence and your territorial dictatorship on us," says one protester.
The police were out in force during the day, but it quieted down as soon as Hale was out of the area.
Hale, who is from East Peoria, Illinois, promised to return to Connecticut.
That's leaving aside the million or so articles in little local newspapers from Maryland to Maine about contracts he helped negotiate and strikes he helped organize.
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secretly rolls d20 behind back
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More Virtual Tributes
Post from a United Electrical Workers top:
A couple of my favorite Omar memories.
I was assigned to share a hotel room with him in Chicago. I walked in to the room and he was already there. No "hi" or "how are ya", his first words to me were "I just took a huge dump, you might want to find a different bathroom to use this week."
And he once said to me that our Union's fight for social justice and worker solidarity and all was "nice", but "I do this job because I like to f$+# with the boss."
Post from another UE organizer
Once Omar and I were sharing a hotel room for an organizing retreat. I was cold, so I got under the covers, and turned on the TV. Star Wars was on. He walked into the room, looked at me and said "Are you jacking off to Star Wars? You're one sick f$&% man!"
And a picture
What A Terrible Month
Obituaries: James Green, 71, UMass Boston labor historian and writer
Haven't been able to follow the Brexit thread as close as I would like, but from what I'm gathering it could lead to: the unraveling of the European Union; the dissolution of the United Kingdom; the collapse of the Conservative Party.
All sounds good to me.
Just hope Corbyn survives the "coup."
More "coups":
(you wanna complain about us not sinking links in the local community while you're running off to Albany, NY and lily-white West Roxbury in Boston?)
23 arrested, including Al Gore's daughter, at West Roxbury pipeline protest
Looks like an interesting read:
Puts other concepts such as the 'Company Store' and such into a entirely different light, even. ie, not 'punitive' as some historians would believe but attempting to make 'cost-effective' the 'free labor'/capitalist worker market?
I haven't read it yet, alas. Hopefully tonight.
Just hope Corbyn survives the "coup."
After a mindblowing display of support for Corbyn, the Labour coup just entered full panic mode
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There was, apparently, a story in the Madly Wail today titled 'Posh Past of Jeremy Corbyn, the Sexpot Trot'
I'm not linking to it, since only wankers give the Mail money (or even web traffic), but it did make me laugh.
And it looks like 'Wanker' gets past the profanity filter on paizo.com, too. Well, well.
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Haven't been able to follow the Brexit thread as close as I would like,...
Neither have I, but I did find this article by Glen Greenwald, that I thought was dead on.
I particularly liked this quote, "...supporters of Trump, Brexit, and other anti-establishment movements “are motivated not so much by whether they think the projects will actually work, but more by their desire to say F%$& YOU” to those they believe (with very good reason) have failed them."
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I haven't read the article, but I've been seeing it get passed along, not without its share of detractors.
I enjoyed this bit on DemNow! a couple of days ago which, oddly enough, featured a leftie Remain campaigner (IIRC).
Making Sense of Brexit: Paul Mason on Britain's Growing Economic & Political Crisis
(you wanna complain about us not sinking links in the local community while you're running off to Albany, NY and lily-white West Roxbury in Boston?)23 arrested, including Al Gore's daughter, at West Roxbury pipeline protest
Six minutes on Democracy Now!:
Vice President's Daughter Karenna Gore Arrested in the Trenches of a Climate Protest
[Grumble grumble grumble]
Part of the campaign to rehabilitate Niccolo:
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