Striking a blow against fascism with commentary on current events, finance, economics, politics, music, art, culture and how to deal with our economic lives being bartered away by the elites who have our financial future all figured out: We'll be paying off their debts forever.
Cirze's World
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Conservative Animus
_________________
Conservatism is the theoretical voice of this animus against the agency of the subordinate classes. It provides the most consistent and profound argument as to why the lower orders should not be allowed to exercise their independent will, why they should not be allowed to govern themselves or the polity. Submission is their first duty, agency, the prerogative of the elite.
- Corey Robin
The Conservative Mind
_________________
“Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never — in nothing, great or small, large or petty — never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense.
Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”
- Winston Churchill _________________
“Imperial privilege is this strange ability on the part of the U.S. public to ‘shrug off’ the consequences experienced by people impacted by the direct and indirect result of U.S. militarism.”
— Ajamu Baraka
_________________
Current Readers
Politicus USA on GOP Fascism
_________________
The entire GOP apparatus is slipping toward fascism and millions of Americans have been indoctrinated to believe that the Bible none of them have read takes precedence over the Constitution none of them have read.
Eco Farm Shitakes, Squash, Kale - Cindi, Nicole & Eddie
Ukraine Disinformation Battle: Little Green Men, Hamsters and the Fog of War
________________
There has always been a gap in how media on both sides of the former Iron Curtain have reported world events, and it’s growing as the crisis in Ukraine escalates. It has become increasingly difficult to obtain reliable information from any side — west, east, or further east — about what is going on in Eastern Ukraine.
While powerful propaganda machines fill the public space with smoke and mirrors, one of the few facts that can be positively established in Eastern Ukraine is that the body count is steadily growing: a testament of just how easy it is for self-interested foreign powers to start, either intentionally or recklessly, a civil war in the heart of Europe. Continuing coverage is available at this link and this link.
Cirze's World
Red Roots Farm - Kristen & Jason - No Sprays/Delicious Veggies!
Fukushima, Japan Disaster Worsens and Spreads
________________
While the American reactor industry continues to suck billions of dollars from the public treasury, its allies in the corporate media seem increasingly hesitant to cover the news of post-Fukushima Japan. Continuing coverage is available at this link, this link, and this link.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Cirze's World
Paradox Farm - Goat Cheese Louise!
Blog Against Theocracy
(h/t Darkblack)
Cirze's World
Red Wolf Organics - Jordan & Sylvan sell basil, chard, peppers - 10% of Profits Support Syrian Refugees
My Blog Fights Climate Change
Cirze's World
Working hard at the Farmers' Market - Grand Hope Farm
Animal Rescue - Click Everyday!
Cirze's World
Paul Krugman:
I don’t think many people grasp just how raw, how explicit, the corruption of our institutions has become.
Yesterday I had a conversation with someone who, like me, spent most of the Bush years as a voice in the wilderness. And he pointed out something remarkable: although those of us who said the obvious — that the Bush administration was fundamentally monstrous — were ridiculed by all the respectable people at the time, at this point our narrative has become everyone’s narrative.
Cirze's World
Paul Craig Roberts:
_________________ US Media
_________________
"Anyone who depends on print, TV, or right-wing talk radio media is totally misinformed. The Bush administration has achieved a de facto Ministry of Propaganda."
"The uniformity of the US media has become much more complete since the days of the cold war. During the 1990s, the US government permitted an unconscionable concentration of print and broadcast media that terminated the independence of the media.
Today the US media is owned by 5 giant companies in which pro-Zionist Jews have disproportionate influence. More importantly, the values of the conglomerates reside in the broadcast licenses, which are granted by the government, and the corporations are run by corporate executives — not by journalists — whose eyes are on advertising revenues and the avoidance of controversy that might produce boycotts or upset advertisers and subscribers.
Americans who rely on the totally corrupt corporate media have no idea what is happening anywhere on earth, much less at home."
_________________ War On Terror
_________________
Roberts asked "Is the War on Terror a Hoax", and claims it has "killed, maimed, dislocated, and made widows and orphans of millions of Muslims in six countries". Roberts called the attacks "naked aggression" on civilian populations and infrastructure which constitute war crimes.
_________________ Republican Party
_________________
Roberts is seriously dismayed by what he considers the Republican Party's disregard for the U.S. Constitution. He has even voiced his regret that he ever worked for it, avowing that, had he known what it would become, he would never have contributed to the Reagan Revolution.
_________________ American Democracy and Oligarchy
_________________
Roberts has been increasingly critical of what he deems as the lessening of democracy in the U.S.; instead accusing it of being run by oligarchs by stating:
"The west prides itself that it is the standard for the world, that it is a democracy. But nowhere do you see democratic outcomes: not in Greece, not in Ireland, not in the UK, not here, the outcomes are always to punish the innocent and reward the guilty.
And that's what the Greeks are in the streets protesting. We see this all over the west. There is no democracy, there are oligarchies, some of these smaller European countries are not even run by their own governments, they are run by Wall Street... There is probably more democracy in China than there is in the west.
Revolution is the only answer... We are confronted with a curious situation. Throughout the west we think we have democracy, we hold ourselves up high, we demonize China, we talk about the mafia state of Russia, we talk about the Arabs and so on, but where is the democracy here?"
Roberts effectively announced his journalistic retirement. The article, published at Counterpunch.org, begins:
"There was a time when the pen was mightier than the sword. That was a time when people believed in truth and regarded truth as an independent power and not as an auxiliary for government, class, race, ideological, personal, or financial interest."
It proceeds to a bitter chronicle of the demise of American intellectual integrity, particularly that of financial journalists and economists. These have been thoroughly corrupted by monetary inducements to misrepresent and ignore what has been, in effect, the systematic dismantling of the nation's productive life, in the name of globalization.
He holds the members of his own journalistic profession largely responsible for abetting relentless outsourcing of American industry, thereby gutting the American middle class and effectively dooming the nation's future.
He describes his own ostracism from mainstream media access, the consequence of his relentless and unflinching criticism of the demolition process over the past decade. His column ends, "The militarism of the U.S. and Israeli states, and Wall Street and corporate greed, will now run their course. As the pen is censored and its might extinguished, I am signing off."
_________________
Cirze's World
Liberal?
"If by a 'Liberal' they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a “Liberal,” then I’m proud to say I’m a “Liberal."
John F. Kennedy, 1960
________________
Citizen's United
"[T]his Court now concludes that independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption. That speakers may have influence over or access to elected officials does not mean that those officials are corrupt. And the appearance of influence or access will not cause the electorate to lose faith in this democracy."
It's Weird, Right?
-
Trump staggered up the stairs of the helicopter on his way to go play his
customary weekend golf with the omnipresent little Musk kid leading the
way....
Friday Cat Blogging VI
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This is Katniss. She is sweetness and light. She comes from a long and
distinguished line of Lexington tabbies, rich in history and in heritage.
Her momm...
Democrats Fume at Chuck Schumer
-
“Chuck Schumer is facing one of the most perilous moments of his Senate
leadership career,” Politico reports. “The Senate minority leader came
under heavy ...
The Four Golfcart Men of the Apocalypse
-
In Biblical contexts, War, Death, Pestilence and Famine. Well, with the
Trump administration, check, check, check, and check! War? Trump set the
stage for ...
Lutnick To Canada: 'Just Say Thank You'
-
When Americans elected Donald Trump, they knew they were getting someone
who talked like a mob boss. What they didn't expect is that he'd surround
himsel...
March 14th COVID Update: COVID Deaths Declining
-
[image: Mortgage Rates]Note: Mortgage rates are from MortgageNewsDaily.com
and are for top tier scenarios.
For deaths, I'm currently using 4 weeks ago for ...
Fridays with Nicole Sandler
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We discuss Chuck Schumer's decision to let Republicans pass the continuing
resolution.
The post Fridays with Nicole Sandler appeared first on emptywheel.
Israel’s Times May be ‘A-Changing’
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[image: Bob Dylan, The Times They Are a-Changin, Cover]
Israel’s times may be “a-changin,” to borrow singer Bob Dylan’s phrase.
Israel’s Times May be ‘A-Ch...
Links 3/14/25
-
Links for you. Science: Trump orders swathes of US forests to be cut down
for timber: President’s move to expand tree cutting across 280m acres
evades rule...
“This is Fascism” w/ Ralph Nader
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On this episode of CounterPunch Radio, Joshua Frank and Erik Wallenberg
welcome back Ralph Nader to discuss Donald Trump and Elon Musk's fascist
creep, a...
Free Mahmoud
-
"It's part of a wider strategy to obfuscate MAGA antisemitism and an
increasingly fascist regime" Gift link to the piece.
Somebody I respect, I don't a...
Free Mahmoud
-
"It's part of a wider strategy to obfuscate MAGA antisemitism and an
increasingly fascist regime Gift link to the piece.
Somebody I respect, I don't ac...
MAGA hates science
-
It’s true: they literally hate science. Warning, though: they will also lie
to you. For example, look at Answers in Genesis, which claims to love
science, ...
Chris Hedges: Trump’s War on Education
-
The U.S. president’s cuts to education under the guise of fighting
anti-Semitism are an effort to enforce totalitarianism in the minds of
future generation...
The Whisky War
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“Provoking Russian Intervention - Part 26 of The Anglo-American War on
Russia“ (Tales of the American Empire).“Putin’s Nyet to US-Ukraine
Ceasefire Scheme:...
The Looming Senate CR Vote
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By all accounts, Chuck Schumer’s decision to support the continuing
resolution to avoid a government shutdown has opened a huge rift in the
Democratic Part...
A-CHANGIN': "The West is over," David Brooks says!
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*FRIDAY, MARCH 14, 2025*
*And the band plays on: *These savants will go to their graves refusing to
deal with the obvious.
In the most immediate sense, ...
Weekend long read
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1) At the INSS, Kobi Michael and Yoel Guzansky analyse ‘The Language of the
Arab Initiative for Gaza’s Reconstruction’. “An analysis of the official...
T...
Weekend long read
-
1) At the INSS, Kobi Michael and Yoel Guzansky analyse ‘The Language of the
Arab Initiative for Gaza’s Reconstruction’. “An analysis of the official...
T...
Full Speed Ahead
-
Last summer, long before the election and inauguration of Trump 2.0, I
wrote a piece in The New Yorker, arguing that American Jews were returning
to a form...
Dreams from the Third Reich
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"I dreamed that the milkman, the gas man, the newspaper vendor, the baker,
and the plumber were all standing in a circle around me, holding out bills
I owe...
Spring's Frightful Awakening
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“The notion that Europe is able to pose a military threat to Russia does
not even qualify as trashy propaganda for sub-zero IQs.” — Pepe Escobar
Open Thread March 14 2025
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Yesterday, I spent most of my time going through the folders in my Yahoo!
email account, forwarding the very few emails which needed to be kept to
the tuta...
The End of Empire Anger, Glee and Despair Tango
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[image: The End of Empire Anger, Glee and Despair Tango]
*“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where
decades happen”*
This state...
The Conversation -- March 14, 2025
-
We have met the resistance, and he is ... *Chuck Schumer* positioning
himself in front of the wheels of the MAGA bus. Meep meep! ~~~
*~~~ Shane Goldmache...
Doom TV Binging
-
There are only so many hours of doomscrolling social media or watching
Lawrence O’Donnell find new ways to call Trump “stupid” in a given week I
can hand...
Cut the Senate Democrats Some Slack
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Democrats have reasons to filibuster the Republican bill that keeps the
government open without restraining mass government worker layoffs. But if
they ...
Interview 1937 – Duterte Due to Do Time (NWNW #584)
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This week on the New World Next Week: democracy now means rule by oligarchs
(just as it always did); Duterte is going to the Hague, but will Bibi and
all t...
Roaring 20s or Great Depression 2.0?
-
*The binary ahead is the result of a simple law of Nature: adapt or die. *
*Will we revel in a New Roaring 20s of exhilarating expansion, or will we
suffe...
on the Palestine Exception
-
It would be a mistake to see the attempt to deport Mahmoud Khalil for his
political views in relation to Palestine as an authoritarian aberration
on...
The Speech Police
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OK, this one is for all the professional “sensitivity editors” out there,
and for the US Department of Homeland Security, and President Donald Trump,
and t...
M-A-N-C-H-E-S-T-E-R
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Presenting a new item for sale at Redbubble. I was intending to upload this
quickly then get on with other things, but after examining the artwork it
becam...
I Stink Therefore I Am
-
Here’s the illustration I did for the Chris Hedges column, Trump’s War on
Education.
The post I Stink Therefore I Am appeared first on Mr. Fish.
Jocko Told a Joke and Has Been Dead Since May
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Ebbing compulsion to grid the clusterfuck, not worry I'm anybody the
muskgestapo tracking (despite the tens of thousands of pings daily by
googlebots and ...
No Sympathy For the Devil
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"You should get it into your head, and pass it on to whoevr needs to know
up above, that your power depends on not taking absolutely everything away
fro...
Weekly Review
-
A group of Swedish citizens announced that they would protest U.S. policy
shifts against Europe by boycotting Netflix. “I had to,” said the
organizer, “d...
The First Freedom Denied, The Chain Being Forged
-
*Update:* Thanks as always to Batocchio for including my blog at *Crooks &
Liars* for their Mike's Blog Round-Up! Please, check out the whole blog,
and i...
Cartoon: Taking Away His Incentive To Work
-
This cartoon is by me and Becky Hawkins. Becky writes: In some circles,
Portland’s claim to fame, aside from “burned down by Antifa in 2020,” is
the large ...
"State of the Union causes State of Confusion"
-
The state of this fragile American union is not good. It's not good because
the leader is intentionally trying to divide us and destroy it. I am not
...
Black Agenda Radio March 7, 2025
-
Black Agenda Radio March 7, 2025
Authors
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
bareditors Fri, 03/07/2025 - 08:29
Black Agenda Radio · Black Agenda R...
People tell me I'm lucky
-
I don't think I've mentioned her paintings of New Orleans before, but Diane
Millsap is an artist I've long enjoyed. This one is Old Absinthe House. You
can...
Vets Lives Are Being Destroyed By Federal Cuts
-
Chelsea Milburn, a disabled Navy vet, was fired from her job because of
sweeping cuts to federal agencies. But her story won’t be on Fox “News”
When I sa...
Attn E. Musk
-
Elon Musk sent an outrageous, degrading, disturbing, and ominous email to
federal employees with the subject line, *“What did you do last week?”*
*...
The Euro-American Split (I): Dread Possibility
-
*THERE ARE DECADES WHEN* possibility is constrained in a narrow frame. The
terrain has been surveyed, boundaries have been laid, and rules have been
establ...
Trump and Elon Musk: Policy at Home and Abroad
-
This is an open thread for all things related to Donald Trump's second
administration, including Elon Musk, his non-elected co-leader, and Stephen
Miller...
Bigotry, Hatred, Authoritarianism and War
-
Monday was International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a date chosen based on
the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camps. It's an appropriate
time to...
Esther Kinsky’s Lyrical Elegy for the Movies
-
In Esther Kinsky’s fiction, landscapes write and speak. Across her novels
we find “waters sighing,” “shadows of leaves scribbling notes,” the Oder
drawin...
The Meaning of Trump’s Victory
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This was a change election that was made amazingly close by voters wanting
the middle class to govern, not the richest and for women to have equal
rights. ...
It Can't Happen Here
-
Trump has made his repeated promise to deport 20,000,000 minorities and
foreigners a central feature of his campaign. What does Trump intend to do
wi...
Maybe Not So Fast
-
I just got the estimate for the hosting on my other Blog,
Bustednuckles.com, for one year. With Wa state tax? A little over $900. I
can’t afford that so I ...
Clock
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Guest post by Sander O’Neil https://sanderoneilclock.tiiny.site/ This is a
follow up to this post
https://mathbabe.org/2015/03/12/earths-aphelion-and-perih...
We Don’t Need A New Theory Of EVERYTHING
-
Though things have indeed changed since this video was produced, it still
makes the infinitesimally tiny point! “Luminous beings are we; not this
crude...
-
Hello all,
It is with great sadness that I share with you the passing of our beloved
sister, Mother, and Grandmother, the individual that you all knew ...
4 bienfaits de l’huile de CBD
-
L’huile de CBD, issue du cannabis, est devenue un sujet de discussion
croissant dans le domaine de la santé et du bien-être. Ses propriétés
thérapeutique...
In Memorium
-
Tom Degan
1958-2023
To all Tom’s faithful readers of the Rant, we are sad to announce that he
passed away on December 7th, 2023. Thank you so much for th...
Shadowproof Is Shutting Down
-
After eight years, we have decided that it is time to shut down
Shadowproof, but that does not mean that the independent journalism that we
fostered is c...
I Have Been To Heaven and Back
-
OBS chimed in on my post about mobility impairment. And therein my
capybaras, lies the tale. For early in fall, I had a swelling in my leg,
that I thought ...
Last Post, Please Read
-
Good morning. This is Zandar's Dad. I am sorry to tell you that he passed
away over the weekend, peacefully in his sleep. Fortunately, his computer
was on ...
Media Say ... Gloom And Doom In China
-
The New York Times, and other western media, are running a 'doom and gloom
in Xi's economy' campaign. The latest entry is this piece: China’s Economic
Pain...
A Few Quick Announcements
-
By James As I wrote a couple of years ago, I don’t post here anymore. I
just have a couple of updates for people who subscribe and may be
interested in my ...
This feed has moved and will be deleted soon. Please update your
subscription now.
-
The publisher is using a new address for their RSS feed. Please update your
feed reader to use this new URL:
*https://www.alternet.org/feed/*
Happy 2023 To All Of You
-
I have often come back here to try to write some sort of a conclusion to
the years of activity on this site, but have not figured out what, exactly,
to s...
November/December 2022 issue
-
Our November/December 2022 issue has been printed and is going out to print
subscribers very soon, and e-subscribers have already gotten their
electronic c...
END TIMES
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Half of yesterday's content was suppressed before it existed. There is no
point in producing content under such conditions. I Quit.
This post was unpubl...
Intersectional Pride Day
-
Today was Pride Day in NYC, and for the first time in two years, the march
was packed with participants... people were confident to step out during
this ...
What Is a Bayonet? Or, Who Wins & Who Loses?
-
WD Ehrhardt: So I signed up, only to discover that being a man wasn’t all
it was cracked up to be, that men who are horribly mangled in battle really
do ...
Colin Kidd: Green Pastel Redness
-
With six conservatives on the nine-person court, Chief Justice John Roberts
knows that another prudent defection on his part will not be enough to save
Roe...
Trump = Roadkill
-
Surely the facts are not in dispute A New York man upset with what he
perceived as Donald Trump’s threats to democracy was criminally charged on
Monday wit...
The War on Terror Is a Success — for Terror
-
Terrorist Groups Have Doubled Since the Passage of the 2001 AUMF Nick Turse
It began more than two decades ago. On September 20, 2001, President George
W....
Merry Christmas! We Got You Some Fauxmosexuals!
-
Happy holidays, everyone. People seemed to enjoy last year's riff of D.W.
Griffith's 1909 silent melodrama, *A Trap for Santa*, so we did it again,
with ...
Test Article
-
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Curabitur interdum
libero pulvinar pretium sagittis. Nulla at sem sollicitudin, blandit neque
nec,...
Have You Heard Has a New Website
-
TweetHave You Heard has a new website. Visit us at
www.haveyouheardpodcast.com to find our latest episodes and our entire
archive. And be sure to check out...
Whether (and how) America can survive Trumpism
-
Georgetown Professor Thomas Zimmer joins us to talk about polarization and
extremism, and what insights American and world history provide as to
whether ...
Goodbye, Little Macho
-
Saturday was a year since my mom died from COVID. My sister and I got Macho
in the car, and we drove to the cemetery for the first time since her
burial. W...
Big Government Handouts
-
Recently, Elon Musk beat out Jeff Bezos for a 2.9 billion contract from
NASA to fly one of his magnificent exploding rocket ships to the moon. In
true Am...
Cancel Yourself
-
At this point we find ourselves confronted by a very disquieting question:
Do we really wish to act upon our knowledge? Does a majority of the
population t...
American Carnage
-
And crows will eat your eyes. -- Motörhead, *Traitor *
I promise that I don't intend to make a habit of breaking radio silence,
especially just a couple ...
Weird Op-Ed of the Day
-
Today's weird op-ed comes from DNI John Ratcliffe via the Murdoch-owned
Wall Street Journal.
China Is National Security Threat No. 1Resisting Beijing’s ...
‘Test & Trace’ is a mirage
-
Lockdown II thoughts: Day 1 Opposition politicians have been banging on
about the need for a ‘working’ Test & Trace system even more loudly than
the govern...
Saturday Emmylou Blogging
-
Note: Blogspot has changed its template for posting and I can't make any
sense of it so this may be my last post. Sorry. Adios. Thanks to Fuzzy
Legends Arc...
Outbreak: Anatomy of a Plague
-
[ by Charles Cameron — scientific [precision meets human error in cases of
outbreak — with links to a terrific science thread by Palli Thordarson
@PalliTho...
Over-the-air television and the other America
-
If you’re an OTA viewer you’re feeding on cultural leftovers, quite
literally. If you’re not, your baseline cost of living is poverty line
times 1.5 or som...
The Immaterial Physical World
-
For centuries the prevailing western worldview has been built upon the
materialistic, mechanical model of Isaac Newton - a clockwork Universe
composed of...
They can save the world by @BloggersRUs
-
*They can save the world*
by Tom Sullivan
Climate activist Greta Thunberg, Time magazine's 2019 Person of the Year
has called on German industrial giant...
Stop the Madness! Sign this Petition!
-
Hello, fellow outraged citizen. Are you as outraged as we are? Have you had
enough? Are you one of those astute, sentient, breathing persons who has
not...
More Shoes More
-
So, like, always, because this is forever the only relevant part of the
shtick:
Yesterday was the last day that neither of us was 60 fucking years old. O...
Open Thread
-
[image: image of a purple sofa]
Hosted by a purple sofa. Have a seat and chat.
[*Note:* Liss is currently on hiatus for health reasons. There will be an
Op...
apologies for my absence
-
skippy, his co-bloggers and his followers are among my favorite people in
the world. real life has been challenging for me these last few years but i
got m...
Site Announcement
-
Hey, folks. So, we've passed the Rubicon on this site. We've done the final
migration of posts. This includes over 18,000 posts I've written over the
las...
Membership Drive
-
The Office of Strategic Services during World War II included in its
training courses for agents so-called OSS Steps to Recruitment, which
detail import...
The Fossil Fuel Globalists Ruining our Lives
-
Are You Ready for an Epoch Fail? Globalists Really Are Ruining Your Life
By John Feffer You know the story: the globalists want your guns. They want
your d...
Armistice Day...Every Family Has a Story
-
*[Gary Note: Blogging, of late, has been taking a back seat to life...which
is as it should be. But today **you're getting a pair of posts!**]*
==========...
Attacks on Afghan security forces kill at least 10
-
*Attacks on Afghan security forces kill at least 10: *
*In northwestern Badghis province, five officers were killed, including
Abdul Hakim, the police co...
Meanwhile in bizarro world…
-
This is a take so hot, it’s officially 2 Hot 2 Touch, by one Douglas Heye:.
Trump is uniquely positioned to cut a deal to prevent school shootings
Wait, do...
Savage Minds is dead! Long live anthro{dendum}!
-
This will be the last post on the domain savageminds.org, but the site will
live on. It will live on both at this address (savageminds.org) where there
wil...
Trump-Branded Shit
-
From our partners at DownWithTyranny! -by Dorothy ReikNever one to bypass a
branding opportunity, Donald Trump has decided to increase and extend his
prese...
Bezmenov- West Capitulated to Communist Subversion
-
Communism is the Protocols of Zion in action. This excerpt from a crucial
1985 interview with KGB Defector Yuri Bezmenov throws our predicament into
stark ...
Day 166 and Counting
-
Source: Getty Images Well, it's been a long 8 months since the election,
and an even longer 5-1/2 months since Trump officially became president.
It's be...
This blog is now closed...
-
...and I'm now blogging at http://www.ecosophia.net. All of the posts that
appeared here during the eleven-year run of *The Archdruid Report* will be
issu...
Love And Money: Marriage The McArdle Way
-
It's Valentine's Day and Megan McArdle's thoughts naturally turn to love,
which means money. Join me as I mock the woman whose rat-fucking is
screwing ...
When Scalia Beamed up!
-
by Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy
These flights are critical to the the government's crumbling cover up!
Without those flights, Bush and his murderous...
Surging
-
*We're Number One*
*"A major military-led surge in U.S. aid to fight"* Ebola in West Africa
will soon begin. 3000 soldiers and probably more than $500 mill...
Occupy The Banks
-
I am so pissed off about what happened to the protesters UC Davis Police
Pepper-Spray Seated Students In Occupy Dispute (VIDEO) (UPDATES)
and the absence o...
Nickel and Dimed (2011 Version)
-
On Turning Poverty into an American Crime By Barbara Ehrenreich I completed
the manuscript for Nickel and Dimed in a time of seemingly boundless
prosperity...
Damon Galgut: The Impostor
-
Damon Galgut is one of those authors who justifies the existence of
literary prizes. Without its multiple shortlistings – Booker, Impac,
Commonwealth Write...
And the Associated Press called the SC primary for Clinton within minutes of the polls closing. She will win by 35 points or more, and the exit poll numbers are murderous for Sanders. Here's the big one (click on chart to enlarge or click on title link):
In SC, black voters were a massive two thirds of primary voters, and black women were 40%. That is gigantic. Bernie still won white voters though, splitting white women evenly and winning white men by more than 2-to-1.
And here, voters in SC overwhelmingly want to continue President Obama's policies, and of those who did, 80% voted for Clinton. And finally:
This race was over months ago. Sanders never had a chance here.
Amidst the hubbub of the Dims, try to remember how little this primary means about anything important.
Bernie knew it was meaningless. And thus he expended very little effort on this already stacked deck.
Real meaning can be gleaned from looking at the statistics stacking up nationwide.
any Democrats will tell you that there has rarely, if ever, been a more menacing or evil presidential candidate than Donald Trump. “Trump is the most dangerous major candidate for president in memory,” pronounced Vox’s Ezra Klein two weeks ago. With a consensus now emerging that the real estate mogul is the likely GOP nominee, it would stand to reason that the most important factor for many Democrats in choosing their own nominee is electability: meaning, who has the best chance of defeating the GOP Satan in the general election? In light of that, can Democrats really afford to take such a risky gamble by nominating Hillary Clinton?
In virtually every poll, her rival, Bernie Sanders, does better, often much better, in head-to-head match-ups against every possible GOP candidate. Here, for instance, is a compilation of how Clinton does against Ted Cruz in recent polls: She trails the Texas senator in all but one poll, and in the one poll she leads, it is by a paltry 2 points:
Polling data. (photo: The Intercept)
By stark contrast, Sanders leads Cruz in every poll, including by substantial margins in some:
Polling data. (photo: The Intercept)
A similar story is seen in their match-ups against Trump. Although they both end up ahead in most polls, Sanders’ margin over Trump is generally very comfortable, while Clinton’s is smaller. Clinton’s average lead over Trump is just 2.8 percent, while Sanders’ lead is a full 6 points:
Polling data. (photo: The Intercept)
Polling data. (photo: The Intercept)
Then there’s the data about how each candidate is perceived. Put simply, Hillary Clinton is an extremely unpopular political figure. By contrast, even after enduring months of attacks from the Clinton camp and its large number of media surrogates, Sanders remains a popular figure.
A Gallup poll released this week reported that “29 percent of Americans offer a positive observation about Clinton while 51 percent express something negative.” As Gallup rather starkly put it: “Unfortunately for Clinton, the negative associations currently outnumber the positive ones by a sizable margin, and even among Democrats, the negatives are fairly high.” Sanders is, of course, a more unknown quantity, but “the public’s comments about Sanders can be summarized as 26 percent positive and 20 percent negative, with the rest categorized as neutral, other or no opinion.”
In fact, the more the public gets to see of both candidates, the more popular Sanders becomes, and the more unpopular Clinton becomes.
Here’s Quinnipiac explaining that dynamic in one graph just a few days ago:
This Huffington Post chart, compiling recent polls, shows not only that Clinton is deeply unpopular among the electorate, but becomes increasingly unpopular the more the public is exposed to her during this campaign:
Polling data. (photo: The Intercept)
Polling data. (photo: The Intercept)
Or look at the same metric for critical states. In Ohio, for example, Sanders’ favorability rating is +3 (44-41 percent), while Clinton’s is negative 20 (37-57 percent).
Then there’s the particular climate of the electorate. While it’s undoubtedly true that racism and ethno-nationalism are significant factors in Trump’s appeal, also quite significant is a pervasive, long-standing contempt for the political establishment, combined with enduring rage at Wall Street and corporate America, which — along with the bipartisan agenda of globalization and free trade — have spawned intense economic suffering and deprivation among a huge number of Americans.
This article by the conservative writer Michael Brendan Dougherty is the best I’ve read explaining the sustained success of Trump’s candidacy, and it very convincingly documents those factors: “There are a number of Americans who are losers from a process of economic globalization that enriches a transnational global elite.”
In this type of climate, why would anyone assume that a candidate who is the very embodiment of Globalist Establishment Power (see her new, shiny endorsement from Tony Blair), who is virtually drowning both personally and politically in Wall Street cash, has “electability” in her favor? Maybe one can find reasons to support a candidate like that. But in this environment, “electability” is most certainly not one of them. Has anyone made a convincing case why someone with those attributes would be a strong candidate in 2016?
Despite this mountain of data, the pundit consensus — which has been wrong about essentially everything — is that Hillary Clinton is electable and Bernie Sanders is not.
There’s virtually no data to support this assertion. All of the relevant data compels the opposite conclusion. Rather than data, the assertion relies on highly speculative, evidence-free claims: Sanders will also become unpopular once he’s the target of GOP attacks; nobody who self-identifies as a “socialist” can win a national election; he’s too old or too ethnic to win, etc. The very same supporters of Hillary Clinton were saying very similar things just eight years ago about an unknown African-American first-term senator with the name Barack Hussein Obama
.
Perhaps those claims are true this time. But given the stakes we’re being told are at play if Trump is nominated, wouldn’t one want to base one’s assessment in empirical evidence rather than pundit assertions, no matter how authoritative the tone used to express them?
It’s possible to argue that electability should not be the primary factor. That’s certainly reasonable: Elections often are and should be about aspirations, ideology, and opinion-changing leaders. But given the lurking possibility of a Trump presidency, is now really the time to gamble on such a risky general election candidate as Hillary Clinton?
Seems to me that the PTB are more afraid of him than Hill. She is their candidate as far as I can tell from the news coverage and the game plan of running acknowledged scary, incompetent clowns who want to bring the world to an end with their incessant talk of bombing and war against every perceived shadow.
Hill almost seems like a peace candidate - unless you remember how she's been at the helm of most of the military madness under Obama's vast yeasty brew.
Enough mixing of the fun metaphors. Just know that at least Trump cannot be counted on to continue the unending wars.
And both candidates can be counted on to continue the reign of Wall Street and the impoverishment of the middle and lower classes.
You can almost look forward to the starving masses getting picked up by the Star Wars-dressed police battalions, can't you?
And the next stop, of course, will be filling up all those nice, shiny new prisons and working for wages that will defeat the workers in China and wherever else those poor makers of shiny trash reside who are stealing U.S. jobs.
2 comments:
just get used to hearing "president Trump'
Funny about that.
Seems to me that the PTB are more afraid of him than Hill. She is their candidate as far as I can tell from the news coverage and the game plan of running acknowledged scary, incompetent clowns who want to bring the world to an end with their incessant talk of bombing and war against every perceived shadow.
Hill almost seems like a peace candidate - unless you remember how she's been at the helm of most of the military madness under Obama's vast yeasty brew.
Enough mixing of the fun metaphors. Just know that at least Trump cannot be counted on to continue the unending wars.
And both candidates can be counted on to continue the reign of Wall Street and the impoverishment of the middle and lower classes.
You can almost look forward to the starving masses getting picked up by the Star Wars-dressed police battalions, can't you?
And the next stop, of course, will be filling up all those nice, shiny new prisons and working for wages that will defeat the workers in China and wherever else those poor makers of shiny trash reside who are stealing U.S. jobs.
What a world.
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