appal_jack
appal_jack's JournalThings certainly could be worse than the present 4-4 split.
Using the 'logic' of the Republicans, I think it reasonable to leave that Court seat vacant until the White House is occupied by someone who actually won the popular vote. After all, the American people deserve a voice...
Confirming anyone who Prince Trumperdink nominates would almost certainly tilt the Court in bad directions.
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No, this was law enforcement protecting public safety.
The OK Highway Patrol cops who chased and neutralized this criminal showed incredible bravery. This situation is in no way comparable to Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, or any of the other awful and/or highly questionable cases of police abuse in the recent past. Calling it an "action movie in the sticks" unnecessarily belittles very crucial law enforcement work, and is a scummy thing to say about real people facing very real dangers while fulfilling their oaths to protect their communities.
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How about rescheduling cannabis to Schedule V right now Mr. President?
I know that some people will view my response as a non sequitur, but Obama and Democrats might likely find some good talent willing to step forward if their freedom was not under such constant threat due to prohibition. Harder to be an activist 'under the gun' that the War on (some) Drugs brings to our communities.
It's nice that Obama wants to do some "ground up building" in his next job, but the man has been President for eight years now, and has three weeks+ more in office. Does he plan to do something worthwhile and in his power right now, or are words of hope and change all we are going to get even at this late date?
Make a few big, positive changes now, and people will come flocking to the Democratic Party over the next four years.
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Kos does the 2016 Post-Mortem exactly wrong.
Daily Kos Founder Gleefully Celebrates Coal Miners Losing Health InsuranceDaily Kos publisher and Vox Media co-founder Markos “Kos” Moulitsas, an influential voice in liberal politics, published a blog post (Daily Kos, 12/12/16) that captures just how terribly leading Democratic pundits are taking Hillary Clinton’s unexpected defeat. In the wake of this loss, some of the more hardcore Clinton partisans have chosen, in lieu of self-examination and internal criticism, to simply lash out at the voters they failed to win over.
With the punitive glee of a medieval executioner, Moulitsas proclaimed: “Be Happy for Coal Miners Losing Their Health Insurance. They’re Getting Exactly What They Voted For”:For example, why should we weep for the retired coal miners who will now lose their health insurance thanks to the GOP majority—despite the best efforts of coal-state Democrats to change the outcome?
Yes, this will be a terrible outcome for a group of people who have really drawn a shitty lot in life. But how sorry should we be for this crowd? Coal country swung hard for Donald Trump, winning 70 to 80 percent of the vote in some of these counties.
So a major voice in liberal media is now not only morally justifying millions of working people losing their health insurance, but actually insisting we be “happy” for it? Moulitsas went on to evoke a classic right-wing dictum about people getting the democracy they deserve:Don’t weep for these coal miners, now abandoned by their GOP patrons. They are getting exactly the government that they voted for. Democrats can no longer offer unrequited love and cover for them. And isn’t this what democracy is all about? They won the election! This is what they wanted!
I agree with the FAIR reporter (Adam Johnson) here. Punching downward should never be a part of any Democratic action, post-mortem or otherwise. The Appalachian coal communities are facing water supplies as polluted, economic prospects as degraded, and educational opportunities as lacking as any other oppressed community in the nation: black, white, or otherwise. Maybe we need simplistic sound bites and brash charisma to reach parts of Appalachia, because nuanced policy gets drowned out. That's on us: until better critical thinking skills are part of what every middle schooler learns, we need both policy and charisma.
A few more good paragraphs at source: http://fair.org/home/daily-kos-founder-gleefully-celebrates-coal-miners-losing-health-insurance/
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You may want to rethink your concept of politics.
Have you heard that statement that "War is politics by other means?" Well, that means that politics is also war by other means. Expecting the KGB, or the GOP, or anyone else in power to behave by some gentleman's agreement is just not going to happen.
The presidency will be taken by the candidate with the right combination of charisma, resources, stump speech, allies, surrogates, networks, promises, and strategies, both overt and covert. This is the way it always has been, and I don't foresee it changing any time soon.
Clinton focused a lot on the resources, surrogates (though I found many of them such as Wasserman-Shulz etc. to be off-putting), and allies (though too often only the heads of organizations like unions and Planned Parenthood, while actual members enthusiasm waned). That was not enough. Her charisma was lacking, her stump speeches were more a panoply of policies than an articulation of overall vision, her networks did not reach effectively into the South or Midwest (etc.), her promises failed to GOTV, and her strategies were flawed. Trump just did better, KGB as a covert, shady, nefarious ally/network very much included.
Had Clinton done better with allies, networks, charisma, speeches, and more, the race would not even have been close. I pretty much agree with all you've said about the race being stolen in selected locations, the KGB playing media games, and that much of the GOP are criminals. Plus, the electoral college is bullshit. But a candidate's mission is to succeed in the real world: potholes, criminals, and all. That was true for the Primary (whether one believes the DNC was corrupt/unfair/biased against Bernie or not), and it was true in the General Election. Hillary used her elbows plenty during the Primary, and then bizarrely chose to run the most conventional of GE campaigns during this most unconventional of moments. Similar, biased/unfair factors will be in-play during 2018, 2020, and beyond. We can't be satisifed with just over 50%: it will be stolen by the powerful whenever the sides are that close. We need a groundswell of populism behind us, or we need to hang it up and let another Party take the reins.
Progressives and Democrats have got to play political strategy like a general would plan and impement war strategy. And the goal of a war is to win. That means winning against thieves, winning against slick propagandists, and winning against criminals. I expect and plan for nothing less, and so should you.
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Winona LaDuke - "The Beginning is Near:"
The Beginning is Near: The Deep North, Evictions and Pipeline Deadlines
Source: http://www.indiancountrynews.com/index.php/columnists/winona-laduke/14339-the-beginning-is-near-the-deep-north-evictions-and-pipeline-deadlines
Standing Rock is an unpredicted history lesson for all of us. More than any moment I recall since Wounded Knee, the Vietnam War, or the time of Martin Luther King, this moment stands as a crossroads in the battle for social justice. It is also an economic issue, in a time of economic system transformation, and profoundly a question of the future of this land. The world is watching.
As the US Army Corps of Engineers issues a December 5 eviction notice for thousands of people gathered on the banks of the Missouri River, we face our truth. Those people at the Oceti Sakowin and Red Warrior Camps, along with the 550 people who have been arrested so far, are really the only thing standing between a river and a corporation that wants to pollute it. That we know, because absent any legal protections, and with a regulatory system hijacked by oil interests and a federal government in crisis, the people and the river remain the only clear and sentient beings.
In short, this is a moment of extreme corporate rights and extreme racism confronted by courage, prayers, and resolve. This moment has been coming. The violence and the economics of a failing industry will indeed unravel, and this is the beginning.
(snip)
To serve the convenience of a deadline for Energy Transfer Partners’s corporate profits, the police have fired teargas canisters, water hoses, concussion grenades, rubber bullets, tasers, and bean bag rounds at unarmed people trying to protect their water supply. Most of them are Native, and the North Dakota media has continued to portray the water protectors as outlaws.
When 21 year old New York resident Sophia Wilansky’s arm was blown off by a concussion grenade, Morton County Sheriff Kirchenmeir suggested that the water protectors caused it. A statement of her father, attorney Wayne Wilansky, differs: “At around 4:30am after the police hit the bridge with water cannons and rubber bullets and pepper spray, they lobbed a number of concussion grenades which are not supposed to be thrown at people directly, at protesters or protectors as they want to be called. A grenade exploded right as it hit Sophia in the left forearm taking most of the undersurface of her left arm with it. Both her radial and ulnar artery were completely destroyed. Her radius was shattered and a large piece of it is missing. Her medial nerve is missing a large section as well. All of the muscle and soft tissue between her elbow and wrist were blown away. The police did not do this by accident - it was an intentional act of throwing it directly at her. Additionally police were shooting people in the face and groin, intending to do the most possible damage…”
As of now, the Morton County Sheriff's office has stated its intent to blockade all supplies to the Oceti Sakowin camp. With all that's going on, please don't lose track of this important cause and vital locus of resistance.
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NOTHING TO SEE HERE: move along!
The fact that there are ten examples presented of people planning to knock buildings down and failing so spectacularly indicates ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about the plausibility of two amateur-piloted jet planes taking-down some of the more advanced and secured skyscrapers in the United States. It only makes sense that these buildings struck by asymmetric impacts and unpredictable but relatively moderate heating should collapse EXACTLY into their own footprints.
ABSOLUTELY PLAUSIBLE, you hear?
k&r,
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Actually a member of the Clinton Global Initiative
This shitstain is on corporate Dems, much as I wish that only Repubs were this horrible:
https://www.scribd.com/document/35046616/081-Clinton-s-Global-Initiative-2007-Members-include-ARK-Paul-Bernstein
Heather Bresch
Head of North American Operations
Mylan Laboratories Incorporate
Single-Payer, Public, Universal Healthcare Now!
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Member since: Wed Aug 11, 2004, 06:57 PM
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