Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Trump, Sanders, Politics And Proxy Class Warfare

I was confused. I thought Donald Trump was part of the Establishment. He's got money, you would think he should fit right in, but listening to him speak about "the establishment" and "special interests" reminds me that there are sub-cultures within the top 1%.

Donald's father, Fred Trump made his fortune mostly in developing affordable housing for the working class, However, in the upper crust, there are certain criteria for amassing wealth that must be met to earn respect and entrance into exclusive realms of the Old Money class.

I can't imagine what it must have been like to be wealthy enough to get within sight of New York royalty at cocktail parties or business meetings, only to be snubbed, whispered about, or openly mocked.

I know too well the sting of rejection, the denial of affinity and validation from admired people and organizations, and the gleeful leer of schadenfreude from people once thought friendly acquaintances.

Bernie Sanders perspective is rooted in a deeply felt family and cultural experience of oppression. Keen to recognizing brutality as it quietly forms under the veneer of institutions, he spent his life fighting for civil rights.

Generation after generation, the Establishment has built a network of organizations and political dynasties designed to keep power in the clutches of the Old Money, but it looks like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are about to capsize this "Titanic" society.

The followers of Trump and Sanders are not really distinct. We all want to end the Establishment's crushing, greedy rule that sabotages individual achievement and comfort through the use of corporate monopolies and outsourcing.

We move on, we make new friends, but bitter memories of betrayal and meanness don't go away. I live vicariously through this political season, watching as the main-stream media (MSM) fails to attack both Trump and Sanders. Time and again the MSM shows its powerlessness against the Internet and the will of the people.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Goodbye Justice Scalia: Is This The End of an Era?

We have come to a turning point in our history when the U.S. Constitution can finally be released from the shackles of "Originalist" Interpretation. Originalism is exactly the same as religious fundamentalism, clinging to some ancient zeitgeist, stone age mentality, or the mind-set of an era where medical treatment was primarily blood-letting.

Then there's "Textualism". I don't need to go on about this anymore except to say PLEASE pay attention to politics. We don't need another 30 years of this.

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Straw Documents



Wikipedia
60 Minutes reporter Dan Rather was discredited when documents he held up as evidence against George W. Bush's military service record appeared to have been forged.

Your News Wire
Documents that appeared to have been forged are for sale by Oswald LeWinter, who coincidentally was also allegedly involved in the October Surprise Iran Hostage Release that is said to have won the 1980 election for Ronald Reagan.

Media Matters
It turns out the documents Dan Rather used in the 60 Minutes segments were not necessary after all. They may have been forged but not necessarily false.

Wikipedia
While this form of argument seems far from creating partially forged documents which relate actual events in order to discredit the belief in those events,

Switching Gears: It looks like some sources we rely on for fact-checking are not necessarily supportive of the truth.
Snopes
An Iranian official stated that Repiblicans wanted the prisoner exchange to be delayed until after the U.S. election. Snopes author Kim LaCapria says "claim didn't seem very plausible."

FAIR
The 1980 October Surprise is still held up as a Conspiracy Theory by most main-stream media, and Wikipedia. The fact that this tactic has been used in the past with great success makes it much more plausible than the Snopes author suggests.
The site Your News Wire recently posted a video describing how documents were allegedly recreated with minor alterations that would have totally discredited the claims of the person presenting them as evidence. In this case it was the death of Princess Diana.

Suddenly I was reminded of the 60 Minutes episode that ended Dan Rather's career at CBS. He too presented documents as evidence that turned out to be forgeries, but years later it was discovered that the facts behind those documents were  none-the-less true.


Thursday, February 4, 2016

Republican Senate Seat Challenged




Tammy Duckworth (D): Illinois 8th Congressional District. Running against Mark Kirk(R) for the U.S. Senate in 2016
Wikipedia
Basic Biography

Vote Smart
Bio, Votes, Positions, Ratings, Speeches, Funding

Open Secrets
Campaign Finance Data

Gov Track
Voting Record

BallotPedia
Key votes and other information

Progressive Democrats need to take back the House and Senate to make the Bernie Sanders administration a success.

Tammy Duckworth is running for Mark Kirk's Senate seat and every bit of support from across the nation is needed to support her and any other REAL PROGRESSIVES.

By the look of her campaign finance records, she does get PAC money, and she was endorsed by Hillary Clinton, but hey, Kirk's a Republican. If you can get a Sanders Progressive candidate in there to challenge from even farther left, more power to you!

Monday, February 1, 2016

The "Bernie Bros" Shill Gallery


BuzzFeed News
There are always trolls on the Internet, but some trolls are plants.

The New Republic
"Bernie Bros" allegedly infiltrate Clinton Campaign Rallies.

The Atlantic
Trying to Conscript regular Internet trolls into the ranks of "Berniebros"

Boston Globe
The "Bernie Bros" Army Invades College Campuses. One Sanders supporter becomes a "Bands of Bernie Bros."

The Slot
The origin of the Term "Berniebro" is identified as being coined from The Atlantic in October. This article identifies them as "his social media goons."

Paul Krugman - The New York Times
Even a (quickly becoming formerly) respected economist like Paul Krugman isn't above the overgeneralization.

Student Activism
Hillary's people are not being aggressive, they are being Passive-Aggresive.

Medium Corporation
An attempt to counter-argue the refutation that "Bernie Bros" are somehow organized by the Sanders Campaign.
The Stranger - SLOG
AMBIGUITY: Not much detail in this article, but it seems to suggest that All Bernie Sanders male supporters are trolls.
I don't pay attention to main-stream media anymore since I earned my BA in Communication and recognized the media for what it really is.

I woke up this morning to a post by The Intercept on my Facebook feed: The “Bernie Bros” Narrative: a Cheap Campaign Tactic Masquerading as Journalism and Social Activism.

I had to Google search "Bernie Bros" and some of the results are in the box on the left.

I learned my lesson. Now I have no choice but to keep an eye on even the BBC and the New York Times for this acrid Bullshit.

U.S. Uncut: The ‘Bernie Bro’ is a Media Myth. It Needs to Die
Jacobin: The Myth of the Bernie Bro
NYMag - The Cut: The Bernie Bros vs. the Hillarybots