Sadly, Bernie's spent a lifetime being a sellout for power when it really matters. When he worked with Ron Paul on the Audit the Fed bill, Sanders neutered the legislation after it was clear the bill would pass.
Then of course there's the famous bending the knee to Hillary in 2016. You know who didn't bend the knee to Hillary in 2016?
Tulsi Gabbard.
And look what that got her. Run out of the party, out of politics, and eventually into the Trump orbit.
Maybe there's no difference. That is, while in the binary thinking which is usual in political discussions (such as these comments), the politician under discussion is totally good or totally bad -- there is also the possibility that the truth is non-binary and the politician is sort of good on some things and sort of bad on others. This _nuance_ or _subtlety_ or _complexity_ is of course lost on some people who can't handle such things mentally. We could call them "populists" if we wanted to be mean.
No idea. Of course, the context in which the topic were being discussed would be somewhat important. Bernie is a smart guy, and he knows the difference between USSR and Sweden.
I think there are a lot of citizens in multiple European countries who think they have pretty good lives. And measuring by life expectancy, infant mortality, available quality health care that doesn't cost half the country's riches, not to mention all education scores, they're kicking our asses, and have been for a while.
You keep trying to equate communism, like the Soviet Union and China, with social democracy. That's incorrect, dude.
Every society on earth is a "collectivist" project or enterprise. That's what societies _are_. The word is derived from the Latin _socius_ which means "partner, companion, associate." Butchering other humans seems to be a common practice. Some do it individually, but many do it in groups. It doesn't seem to be limited by ideology. Is this news to you?
Denmark is far from a socialist planned economy. Denmark is a market economy. According to the Heritage Foundation’s 2021 Index of Economic Freedom, Denmark is the tenth freest country in the world, economically.
The Venezuelan economy was systematically sabotaged with US sanctions, and while Maduro is a questionable leader, Hugo Chavez did a good job and many consider his death from a second bout with cancer suspicious.
There is a term "Seige Socialism," (see "Blackshirts and Reds" by Michael Parenti, page 49)which refers to the authoritarianism of socialism under constant attack, and the authoritarianism that results. Vietnam on the other hand, while ruled by a nominal "Communist Party," has managed to incorporate a market economy into it's socialism, without getting mixed up with the World Bank and other elite predatory lenders. There are some good thing about the market system, and there are some good things about socialism when it is not immediately destroyed by the CIA and right wing death squads financed by drug deals (also facilitated by the US government). Strict political dualism is comfortable, but there are many more shades of gray than most ideologically fixated thinker want to acknowledge.
Pretty well, for Venezuelan workers & peasants - and it would be working way better if not for massive US economic sabotage. Question: Why is it that - if socialism doesn't and cannot stand on its own two feet economically even under the best of conditions, as capitalist economists never tire of telling us - the major capitalist states feel it is necessary to impose crushing economic sanctions against every socialist country in order to destroy their economies, yet fail to do so even after decades of attempts to do so? Discuss.
There are thousands, maybe millions, of socialist enterprises alive and working today. That is, businesses and institutions owned and operated by the people who work at them. That's the actual definition of socialism, by the way, at least for those who read the history of the idea and its practice.
Socialism has worked everywhere it's been tried, from the perspective of the working class. Socialist China is doing quite well compared to its US capitalist counterpart, and its southeast Asian capitalust counterpart, India. Where would you rather live today: China or India? North Korea, Vietnam, Cuba all doing quite well compared to their capitalist neighbors like the Philippines, Indonesia, Haiti, Jamaica etc. - in spite of extensive efforts of entire capitalist world to destroy their economies. Socialism works - for workers. Capitalism sucks for workers - always has & always will.
If I have two cows, and my neighbor has no cows, I will give him one of my cows. Now we will both have milk and no one will have too much or not enough.
a good neighbor wouldnt take a cow from his neighnor without just compensations. and who figures whats enough or not enough? this all quickly devolves into arbitrary decisions with winners and losers chosen by people who have no right nor qualification to do so.
Have you not noticed that all the politicians that are socialists are getting rich being socialists while the rest of us slowly lose our rights and our money?
In that sense he’s a lot like Matt, who is now also a millionaire. The difference is that Matt is desperate for Elon Musk’s approval whereas Bernie is still willing to criticize him.
lol. Musk claimed that Substack was trying to download Twitter's database and deplatformed Taibbi after Taibbi protested this want true. True or not, Taibbi’s position was not to tell Musk to F*** himself, but rather to grovel and plead that he has ‘repeatedly declined to criticize’ him. And he continues to hold up his end of the bargain. The know-nothing Right never disappoints.
After Substack laucnhed notes, Musk restricted links to substack because he viewed notes as a twitter competitor. Rather than live with this restriction, matt left twitter/X.
Bullshit. Matt knows he’s been shadow-banned since the rift and has not hesitated to call Elon out on it. He’s also called out Elon on other issues. Matt definitely gives credit to Elon where it is due. Elon bought Twitter and exposed the government censorship of Americans. Also you need to be on X where you can possibly get money for saying stupid shit to get replies.
I think Matt, like you or I or Elon, deserves to be criticized when we he makes mistakes. Or is this a fan club? More so, I’d say, because he is a scathing critic of others himself, which is why so many people subscribe and make him a wealthy man. Anyway, I find the wording of Matt’s Tweet to Elon Musk revealing. ‘I’ve continuously declined to criticize you’ which says to me he is holding his punches. That speaks volumes.
Ok, you’re perfectly welcome to disagree and tell me where I’m wrong. I suspect that’s not what you’re interested in, though, and that you just want a nice safe place where you can confirm your biases.
No, you're fixating on one tiny quote from Matt without caring about the full context in which it was written, while ignoring the totality of everything else he has written. If you disagree with this, then please explain to us what you think Matt meant when he wrote ‘I’ve continuously declined to criticize you’ WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF THE EXCHANGE. Can you demonstrate basic critical thinking or are you just another person who latches onto quotes out of context and acts like they have some grand "gotcha"?
I disagree. Taibbi has clearly made a non-aggression pact with Elon, Fox and the alt-right in general. But why quibble? Matt fashions himself as an intrepid journalist who puts privacy and free speech above all other subjects, right? Well, now Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has muscled his way into obtaining the private data of millions of Americans including social security and medicare benefits, grants, payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with Musk’s own companies. He now wields power that the robber barrons could ever dream of. This seems tailor made for a scathing two thousand-word Taibbi screed. Let’s see how (and if) he covers it. That should tell you all you need to know.
You apparently despise Matt, because you never have a positive remark to make. All you do is come here to bash him -- and you can't even be entertaining about it.
(Trolls should be entertaining, as far as I'm concerned.)
It would be like me subscribing to Taylor Lorenz or Jim Acosta, just so I could spaz out in their comment sections.
Only I doubt either of them maintains a "No Rules" policy on their comment sections, like Matt does.
Your profile, Looking to counter the lucrative substack misinformation industry, might lean one to conclude you are an out of work hack that is jealous of Matt. I might add Matt uses the money he makes to support journalism / journalists.
Exactly. BTW. His pres campaign sold gear. I thought his gear had one of the greatest designs that cycle -- line art of his hair and glasses. You mean the campaign had no "Bernie for Pres" onesies? Golden opportunity missed. Money, and message- wise.
Just remember-all socialism really means in the American context is that you want Nancy Pelosi and Co. literally running your companies, not just glomming on to stock tips.
I used to listen to him on thom Hartman progressive radio. (I was a democrat then) I got tired of the same bloviating every Friday while he did nothing. He was and always has been a blowhard coward.
It's easy to just sit and rail against the system when nobody's listening. Once he actually got some power, he sold out faster than a $1 Taylor Swift concert.
I realized as time went on that he was an independent with no real defined constituents and no real defined power so blab blab blab blab was cheap for him. Plus meant nothing for us. Lazy (as mentioned below) and getting the paychecks from the usual critters.
Bernie is the Gold Standard for Hypocrite on Capital Hill. It's really amazing. So many of these clowns talk about what should be and live a life in complete contradiction to that way of living. Warren is another in the list. Stop corruption, except my corruption or the corruption of those that provide my way of life.
It's like all of these clowns that the left trots out (clear.. the right is not innocent), but take Leo DiCaprio... A man I desperately want a charity cage match with. Fossil fuels are killing the planet, look at me and my Prius... oh.. don't look at the yacht I am always on that uses more fuel than NYC, or on all my private jets.....
I mean, sure.. If you confiscated the wealth (which is mostly in assets you'd then have to sell) of the top 1%, you'd get like $25Tn if you could sell all of the assets at estimated value. The issue is... who would you sell it to?
My point was it’s a stupid idea, regardless how much you might be able to make selling off people’s assets. It’s never going to be a popular idea to steal shit from people. It’s why people are so damn angry to begin with. Sick and tired of the government stealing our money to do what? Enact BS programs that enrich themselves - the exact top of the hierarchy they proclaim to be concerned about?
The words “militant” and “onesie” when said or written together are on my 2025 “Nonsense Apocalypse” Bingo card. I didn’t think they’d ever be called let alone before the first month finished!
"Run out of the party, out of politics and eventually into the Trump orbit."
You make that sound like a bad thing. She's one of the few free of the stench billowing forth every time a sell-out Dem/Rep opens her/his cake hole. I myself am a grateful apostate. Got harangued this afternoon by a demented old pal and his wife for insisting "there's some good in each of us. We need to talk with each other." Their reply? Not.A.Chance. And, we're the problem?
Early in 2017, I urged my former peers to run as far and fast away from the piss-dossier as possible. Bernie and Warren swallowed the entire mess whole, bent over for cash, and stayed down. My guess is that even the most diehard young Dem supporter is going to take one long, hard look at Warren and Bernie at these confirmations and go "PHee-yew, what a stink."
What sane person would ever listen to a word these rodents ever uttered again.
See, you're pointing out why Bernie reformed, bent the knee, & behaved like a good boy. He did not want to be drummed out of the Democratic caucus & become legislatively neutered, something the king of amendments would never abide.
Bernie always just wanted to be the junior senator from Vermont and will do what it takes to protect that position.
This. Bernie in power is an oxymoron. He’d have been worse than Biden. We’d have become Canada. Destroyed for our own good while the cronies make bank in the background. Cronies are cronies whether nominally socialist or capitalist.
Being run out the Democrat party for telling the truth does not equal leaving politics. Working for the federal government under a Trump presidency is politics. Gabbard will probably be confirmed, and I'll be delighted to see her in charge of National Intelligence.
Even if she isn't confirmed, her values have not changed, and she's not going anywhere. Good riddance to the "Our Democracy" club of self-righteous sheep, censors and scolds.
I went to the Children’s Health Defense merch store to check it out. They’re offering an extra 10% discount on all children’s items with the code “BERNIE”. Love it!
I should have realized the truth about Bernie when he was silent about the persecution of Julian Assange while Tulsi Gabbard was very outspoken about it, for which she is now paying the price. Bernie is an Independent in name only. He's controlled opposition, a fully bought and paid for member of the political establishment he pretends to oppose. I'm embarrassed to admit I was a diehard Berner in 2016!
I sat with Bernie Bros at an OWS encampment in Boston in 2011 as an exercise in trying to understand those I didn't understand; all in order to be understood.
The irony of ironies is that his OWS encampment was just 200 yards from where the Boston Tea Party happened.
I found after an hour of conversation that their beef with the "system" was precisely the same as the beef the Tea Party had, who I had met with the year prior.
Winston Marshall debated Nancy Pelosi last fall at Oxford Union that really explains this whole phenomenon that Populism WOULD NOT EVEN EXIST if not for the overreaching authoritarian ways of the Establishment; all while crying "they're a threat to democracy."
Definitely worth your time watching this debate. Even Paul Pelosi is found to be rolling his eyes and shaking his head when Nancy goes on her rants.
It's why 20% of the Bernie Bros voted Trump in 2016. They may disagree on some key issues, but realize that if you don't do a major remodel on "the system"...nobody is going get the change they seek.
Some might even say that the sudden "racism" push at the time was to stop the OWS people and the Tea Party people from realizing they were on the same side.
Establishment and Establishment Media want low information voters to see everything through the Left Vs. Right and D vs. R and Blue Vs Red lens they use to talk about politics.
It's not a linear political spectrum anymore.
It's now We the People down here lower in the hierarchy against The Establishment and Elites. And we ain't puttin' up with their crap anymore.
We don't need them gone...we just need them to remember they work for us...not themselves.
I maxed out my donations to Bernie in 2016. But I'm not embarrassed by it. There is nothing to be embarrassed about when someone does a really good job of fooling you. That is on them. 2020 I had nothing to do with Bernie.
In the immortal words of W/The Who, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, we won't get fooled again."
Same. Also in 2020. Even went to his Boston rally in early 2020 right before the "2 weeks to flatten the curve" lockdown. My last straw with Bernie was when he fell in line in support of Biden. Blech.
Agreed. The Democrat Senators are using this "time honored" approval process to... I guess demonstrate their commitment to hypocrisy? Are they really that stupid? {It's a rhetorical question}
The problem is the fact that he's being a hypocrite not only doesn't register with him, even if it did he would not care in the slightest. One must have principles to acknowledge hypocrisy. The ends always justify the means. That's all that matters.
I was one of Sanders’s largest donors in ‘16 and ‘20, not that I could easily afford it, back when he hadn’t yet fully demonstrated his critical lack of courage and judgment wherever the rubber meets the road.
His demand that RFK embrace “healthcare as a human right” is just a demand that RFK embrace another huge and effectively compulsory windfall for a predatory industry, taken from the pockets of regular taxpayers.
When anyone advocates that Healthcare is a human right, they are endorsing involuntary servitude, better known as slavery. Because for that right to be fulfilled, someone else must be forced to provide it. That taxpayers are robbed by the government to pay their salary does not lessen the moral injustice. The same would also be true for a right to food, clothes, housing, transportation, or Obamaphone.
It's too bad RFK didn't have that insight at the ready when he was being hectored by Sanders. The good news is that some people who used to swoon over Sanders's rhetoric on this issue—people like me—have now honestly reckoned with what it really means.
Ironically, if Democrats had allowed their voters to freely choose, and if their voters were still capable of freethinking behavior—which is now, amazingly, the exclusive domain of Republicans (edit: and independents, of course)—they could have had a very good shot at beating Trump.
It's still remarkable that even with all the unprecedented institutional collusion Democrats could marshall, a fake-tanned, gold-plated, hipshooting real estate developer has beat them not once but twice.
I was talking about the rank-and-file Democratic Party voters referenced in the previous comment. For regular Democrats, all they have after this past election is confusion and a deepening of what I feel comfortable describing as literal psychosis.
Even '08 was technically not democratic. They still had the superdelegates. Difference was they switched to Obama midstream, reading the room from how primary voters were leaning.
My favorite part of '08 primaries (aside for when Hillary lost) was when Obama was well ahead, and Hillary was still saying "you can be my VP". Obama of course said "I'm not running for VP.
But the super delegates were just about evenly split, and of course, unlike in 2016, neither of the two frontrunners owned and operated the DNC. So as much as any primary ever is, it was still up to voters to decide who their nominee would be.
Remember the Clintons' enemies list? Was mostly turncoat superdelegates i think. Oh, and Ted Kennedy was the mic drop that was the coffin nail for her i think. And you're right, Howard Dean was the DNC chair that year.
The enemies list was one tidbit I had missed. Yet reading about it now, it doesn't surprise me at all.
The tidbit that burns brightest in my mind is from 2016, when Hillary's control of the DNC allowed her campaign to steal and launder all the "joint fundraising" money—reportedly $80+ million—earmarked by law for the national and state party committees, all while repeatedly attacking Sanders as "not a Democrat" because he wasn't raising down-party money like she was.
Suffice it to say, as compromised as Sanders has turned out to be, Hillary Clinton is the damn devil.
You're right about Ted Kennedy. He initially stayed out of endorsing anyone in the '08 primary. But I think there was some bad blood between him and HRC when the 2007 border legislation (co-sponsored by TK) was supported by Obama but opposed by HRC. Imagine where we'd be if that legislation had passed in the Senate. Trump would not have had this issue to run on.
Anyone who doesn't support free speech, is no longer a liberal. In Bernie's case, he has joined the ranks of illiberal leftists, who make up present day Democrats.
No, it was people who used to be liberals and still claim to be liberals who killed it. I guess the best thing to call most of them is Democrats now. If they used to be against war, censorship, and spying on our own citizens, they were liberals. If they love the Ukraine and Israel wars, have no issues with what has happened to online freedom, and actually try to criticize someone who supports Assange and Snowden, I don't know what the fuck they are, but they're not liberals.
"whatever appears necessary" allows you to shift positions when they are no longer beneficial to your cause or disposition. for example, freedom of speech always benefits the underdog. when you are no longer the underdog you try to get rid of it. this is the way of the statist, of which fascism and socialism are just different flavors.
Bernie got triggered and he knew his check writers at pfizer would not be happy unless he gave a full throated/gagged response to rfk spitting uncomfortable facts about their man bernie and the rest of the street walkers unhappy with uncomfortable truths spoken in such hallowed halls where a shirtless viking put his feet on nancy's desk and finished off a mostly empty box of Franzia.
I'm surprised bernie showed up without his Pfizer gag and nipple rings.
Go Matt Go! You have the chops to get through to Senator Sanders, I doubt he will listen, but at least you got it out there and in front of him. To say that the entire hearing process has been ugly this week is the understatement of the decade. I don’t think any of the members of the Senate realize people (regular people) are watching and seeing this absolutely childish disgusting and despicable shambles of a confirmation process. They have all lost the plot. ALL OF THEM both sides of the aisle. (Okay Rand Paul had a moment or two…) Anyway keep after them!!
Rand is totally a Mr. Smith Goes to Washington type at heart, but he supports the 2nd Amendment and bureaucratic accountability, so that makes him evil to the msm, while simultaneously NOT being down with Josh Hawley style Christian big government bs, so that makes him unappealing to MAGA/Charlie Kirk Johnny come latelys.
"I don’t think any of the members of the Senate realize people (regular people) are watching and seeing this absolutely childish disgusting and despicable shambles of a confirmation process."
This is exactly it. They used to be able to 'clip' their little angry rant and attach it to a fundraising email. Now WE record and playback the whole thing, not just the 5 seconds that makes the Senator in question look good.
And oddly they still don’t get it…control of media is out of their slippery hands too many alternatives and long form podcasts etc…good for transparency bad for the bloviating baffoons on the elevated Dias…
Yikes! Well do your best! No one is coming to save us so best to save yourself! I think more and more Americans are becoming discerning about what they read and hear and see. The polularity of the long form podcast seems to bear out the fact that Americans can do more than 30 second live shot sound bites.
If you have comorbitiies, it'll keep you from the ICU if you get Covid.
You're still going to get sick as a dog, but you're less likely to die.
For the 4 year old kid on our cul-de-sac whose mother insisted he get shot....I shook my head...rolled my eyes...then asked her husband if she's craycray.
It really should cure male baldness given a) it had little other benefit; and b) given many millions taxpayers coughed up to cover the cost of development, manufacture, and “free” distribution of the vaccine that led to big pharma netting hundreds of $millions risk free profit (plus a liability waiver!). I recall a report of $94 million profit to pharma just for one year (as reported by left wing Yahoo Finance). And taxpayers for some reason were not paid back anything out of these profits despite all their involuntary investments.
I think are right but 94 million was bad enough...and though I actually copied that down somewhere because it was so revolting, I couldn't find the source ...
Worse than that they are not vaccines at all w nothing in common beside syringe delivery. The mRNA TRANSFECTIONS are decades old lab tool in every medical school, every virology, vaccine development & biologics lab around the globe.
oops forgot ThermoFisher 2015 link to Transfection products & how to guide
The biggest difference between the monoclonal antibody production & mRNA jabs is the jabs skip the purification step so now they can pretend DNA contamination is a surprise & problem when the premise of immunity by random, uncontrolled non-self proteins is fine otherwise. 1999 death of Jesse Gelsinger proved it.. they all knew!!
They were known to be lobotomy level criminal malpractice because human immune systems NEVER tolerate foreign proteins BUT rebranding as "novel use" makes mop & bucket level lab supplies into a cash cow mandated by governments pimped by NGO dirtbags like Bill Gates web of propaganda.
Immunology 101 Dr Jay Couey scientific consultant to RFK Jr Wuhan book
No there is NO biology to support any combination of substances, delivered by intramuscular injection, usefully augmenting an immune system.
Flu is a designated as respiratory virus which would require T-cell immunity and conflating antibodys as a correlate of immunity is just handwaving BS.
Fun fact Gain of Function is the decades old method of creating CRISPR clones TRANSFECTED in cell culture to design flu vaccines. The GoF magic virus is mythical enemy because NONE of these RNA molecules can be grown from wild type RNA and no protein or special sequence gives RNA fidelity to pandemic.
All of this is about stockpiling & selling vaccines... read NIH funded 1,200 page scientific review.. search for "however" to note the petrie dish pure clones NEVER reflect real world or factor human immune system response.
"What is the correlation between 4th grade grammar and spelling skills and the certainty with which one promotes scientific findings? "
My kiddies were forced to take HS Latin to compensate for my academic shortcomings as Strunk & White atrocity.. scan my research before spell check it's enough to create monumental doubt, nice catch. Polish aside my econ & finance were enough as a Beltway Bandit skilled in Enron accounting & tap dance in footnote loopholes so the superficial flaws mask dirtbag hunting prowess. The flip side is excellent source identification.
In the case of the biology & virology illusions created with synthetic clones made in high purity & shoved up the nose of genetically engineered, humanized mice optimized for ACE2 the expertise is credited to the brilliant teacher Dr. Jay Couey former researcher & neurobiology professor at Univ Pittsburgh Medical School who does have perfect terminology and expression in English & Dutch so let me link you there for solid science.
Watch any of the focus areas of interest.. every stream is awesome but here are a couple that will add substance where my shortcomings create doubt.. skepticism is always the best way to approach rando claims! :~)
Butt — Shades of gray. The Covid vaccines work … somewhat. Given that billions for AIDS vaccines came to nothing, you could say we’re ahead of the game.
Treeamigo — The Israeli results showed 90% effectiveness; that is, 10 deaths among the vaccinated where you’d otherwise expect 100. True, the virus is a moving target; even more than the flu, or so it seems.
Flu is somewhat predictable, helped by the southern hemisphere having winter first.
I worked with an epidemiologist PHD whose big project for years was an HIV vaccine. In early 2020 he told me that COVID vaccines were unlikely to prevent infection and transmission- it can mutate too rapidly due to its structure. It is why we don’t have vaccines for the common cold (or corona viruses that cause colds) and also why an HIV vaccine has been a challenge.
So scientists knew the vax wasn’t going to any kind of magic wand and that it was highly likely that almost everyone would get Covid (multiple times).
When pols sold the vax as some sort of failsafe cure and then mandated vaxes in late 2021 when a majority of the country had already been vaccinated or infected (or both), and they knew the vax was less effective against Delta and Omicron was criminal misinformation and using vaccines as a polticial wedge issue. Crazy.
Treeamigo — I got into an argument with an honest-to-God government bureaucrat at a convention. He believed one should lie to the public to get them to do what experts advised. When that lie became obvious, he thought the public would forget all about it, and would be ready to be sold the next lie.
Of course, this is why it was so important to such people to suppress undesirable truths, a.k.a. “disinformation”.
The treatment of RFK Jr. by Sanders and Warren is disgusting. Our health system is a disgrace. We spend the most money for some of the worst results. I am not sure if vaccines contribute to autism but my brother was acting like a normal baby before he got all his shots and now he is severely autistic and a grown invalid who poops on the floor. Until they figure out what causes it, I am not willing to accept that vaccines did not play a role in his condition as are millions of other American parents who have destroyed children and saw the same almost immediate correlation. (Note the studies on vaccines do not prove that vaccines do not cause autism. Please take a look at these big pharma studies and you will see that they are not conclusive of anything. Also their plenty of other studies that show a massive correlation). Nonetheless, either way why are we so trusting of big pharma!? What have they done over the last 40 years to make us fee cozy and warm about all of their medications? Democrats have lost their minds or have been bought out. We need more discourse, more independent science and less group think about what is causing our country to be so unhealthy. Could it be that the medical industry wants us to be unhealthy so they can ply us with medications and make 100 of millions of dollars? Nah, that's just a conspiracy right?! lol.
The younger generation of my family has an horrifically high number kids with autism and neurological disease… we would have seen this in our large extended family if genetic. I don’t know that any of the 7 kids closest to me will ever be self supporting & I won’t be around to help. It’s dreadful. Their lives are so limited. I held my grandniece as a baby for hours watching her fight off convulsions and her eyes rolling after her first dose of vaccines. Now she has grand mal epilepsy & taking awful drugs at 9 years of age. Other family kids are having very difficult times w/various issues. It is heartbreaking and I am so angry at these shitheads like Biden & Fauci… The special ed classrooms in elementary schools are HUGE!! And expensive and still just a feel good bandaid that is not going to help these kids ever be self supporting financially. The vaccines are part of it; maybe it’s also diet, toxins, pollutants, food additives or all of the above but it is appalling how the health agency’s won’t even look at the questions. RFK would ask the question & not set up some fake study guaranteed to confirm the “safety & effectiveness” of these vaccines and the innocence of these food & drug companies. There is do much BS coming out of NYT, Wall Street Journal, Atlantic it will be a miracle if a Kennedy makes it though that meat grinder. But I think the Democrats and other bought GOP politicians are kidding themselves if they think the desperate mothers will give up on this. I hope they give them hell and that Nicole Shanahan gets that asshole Bernie and Princess fake Pocohantas (Elisabeth Warren) kicked out on their asses & humiliated like they deserve.
Very well said. I've thought that the vaccines were a way to cow the population into a more controllable herd, and make money at the same time. Now we have AI to siphon off whatever intellectual curiosity is left in everyone else:
Sanders was a huge disappointment here. And correct me if I'm wrong, but the HHS Secty has very little to do with initially implementing policies related to universal HC, etc. outside of whatever is currently legislated. Is that not Congress' job to legislate? And THEN the policies are carried out? Seems Bernie, like the rest of them, is more interested in 'The Show' than his actual congressional role.
I used to be a Bernie supporter and even remember seeing him walk in the Strolling of the Heifers parade in Brattleboro years ago. Lately (for the last several years) he has been virtually unrecognizable.
Sadly, Bernie's spent a lifetime being a sellout for power when it really matters. When he worked with Ron Paul on the Audit the Fed bill, Sanders neutered the legislation after it was clear the bill would pass.
Then of course there's the famous bending the knee to Hillary in 2016. You know who didn't bend the knee to Hillary in 2016?
Tulsi Gabbard.
And look what that got her. Run out of the party, out of politics, and eventually into the Trump orbit.
Yeah, but don't forget as soon as Bernie became a millionaire he upped the ante and starting going after billionaires.
I'm just shocked that a self proclaimed socialist never got around to redistributing his ill-gotten millions.
Bernie is a part of the Proletariat of his movement. He needs to keep his wealth to continue spreading the message properly.
I guess this statement works from the side of Sarcasm as well, even though I meant it the other way. LOL
I could not tell if you were being sarcastic or not
lol
Maybe there's no difference. That is, while in the binary thinking which is usual in political discussions (such as these comments), the politician under discussion is totally good or totally bad -- there is also the possibility that the truth is non-binary and the politician is sort of good on some things and sort of bad on others. This _nuance_ or _subtlety_ or _complexity_ is of course lost on some people who can't handle such things mentally. We could call them "populists" if we wanted to be mean.
He’s a “party leader”. Politburo type figure. We know the communists do have a ruling elite who get to live better than the folks.
Dammit.. Politburo was the word I was going for... LOL
Communists? Which Communists? Who are they? How do they compare to the set of oligarchs?
who are the oligarchs?
Because socialists are supposed to give away what they have? Is that somewhere in Marx, or are you confusing him with Jesus?
But if we just try socialism again...it'll work!
again and again and again and again until it works or there's no one left to try it.
1. We've never tried socialism.
2. Bernie has never favored socialism. He's a social democrat. Big difference. He believes in capitalism, just not wanton and completely free.
Didn't Bernie notably have nothing to say when asked the difference a few years ago?
No idea. Of course, the context in which the topic were being discussed would be somewhat important. Bernie is a smart guy, and he knows the difference between USSR and Sweden.
Just another form of collectivism.
Find me a collectivist society that's flourished.
Now name how many have butchered tens of millions of their own citizens.
I think there are a lot of citizens in multiple European countries who think they have pretty good lives. And measuring by life expectancy, infant mortality, available quality health care that doesn't cost half the country's riches, not to mention all education scores, they're kicking our asses, and have been for a while.
You keep trying to equate communism, like the Soviet Union and China, with social democracy. That's incorrect, dude.
Every society on earth is a "collectivist" project or enterprise. That's what societies _are_. The word is derived from the Latin _socius_ which means "partner, companion, associate." Butchering other humans seems to be a common practice. Some do it individually, but many do it in groups. It doesn't seem to be limited by ideology. Is this news to you?
You mean like the way US capitalists butchered tens of millions of Africans and Native Americans back in "The Good Old Days(TM)"?
It's working pretty well in Denmark.
Denmark is far from a socialist planned economy. Denmark is a market economy. According to the Heritage Foundation’s 2021 Index of Economic Freedom, Denmark is the tenth freest country in the world, economically.
What is a socialist economy?
Venezuela.
How well is that working, dumbass?
😂
I thought it was bad trying to get people to understand what fascism is/was, and what it isn't/wasn't.
People will never learn the massive differences between social democracy (like our friends the Danes) and actual socialism.
The Venezuelan economy was systematically sabotaged with US sanctions, and while Maduro is a questionable leader, Hugo Chavez did a good job and many consider his death from a second bout with cancer suspicious.
There is a term "Seige Socialism," (see "Blackshirts and Reds" by Michael Parenti, page 49)which refers to the authoritarianism of socialism under constant attack, and the authoritarianism that results. Vietnam on the other hand, while ruled by a nominal "Communist Party," has managed to incorporate a market economy into it's socialism, without getting mixed up with the World Bank and other elite predatory lenders. There are some good thing about the market system, and there are some good things about socialism when it is not immediately destroyed by the CIA and right wing death squads financed by drug deals (also facilitated by the US government). Strict political dualism is comfortable, but there are many more shades of gray than most ideologically fixated thinker want to acknowledge.
Venezuela is also a Social Democratic country and there is one main reason for it's economic woes.
Well, we have levied a lot of sanctions against Venezuela, so that may have skewed the outcome, but I get your point.
Pretty well, for Venezuelan workers & peasants - and it would be working way better if not for massive US economic sabotage. Question: Why is it that - if socialism doesn't and cannot stand on its own two feet economically even under the best of conditions, as capitalist economists never tire of telling us - the major capitalist states feel it is necessary to impose crushing economic sanctions against every socialist country in order to destroy their economies, yet fail to do so even after decades of attempts to do so? Discuss.
A just like that...Kirk vanished.
Dumbass?
Why is Venezuela not working?
Could it be because they continue to be sanctioned by the USA/meddling in Elections by the USA?
The Heritage Foundation? WTAF
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO7wgS5tdz4&ab_channel=DoctorJoby
There are thousands, maybe millions, of socialist enterprises alive and working today. That is, businesses and institutions owned and operated by the people who work at them. That's the actual definition of socialism, by the way, at least for those who read the history of the idea and its practice.
Socialism has worked everywhere it's been tried, from the perspective of the working class. Socialist China is doing quite well compared to its US capitalist counterpart, and its southeast Asian capitalust counterpart, India. Where would you rather live today: China or India? North Korea, Vietnam, Cuba all doing quite well compared to their capitalist neighbors like the Philippines, Indonesia, Haiti, Jamaica etc. - in spite of extensive efforts of entire capitalist world to destroy their economies. Socialism works - for workers. Capitalism sucks for workers - always has & always will.
Yes, dumbass. It is in Marx.
Marx's whole point was totally equality. Lenin and Mao did not accumulate massive wealth.
You haven't read it. You're blowing smoke.
If you think Marx was for personal wealth accumulation for anyone, you haven't read it, dumbass.
😂😂😂
If I have two cows, and my neighbor has no cows, I will give him one of my cows. Now we will both have milk and no one will have too much or not enough.
It sounds good in theory.
But when the neighbor forgets to milk and feed the cow and it dies, then we have just one cow producing milk.
Give people free shit, and they tend not to take care of it.
a good neighbor wouldnt take a cow from his neighnor without just compensations. and who figures whats enough or not enough? this all quickly devolves into arbitrary decisions with winners and losers chosen by people who have no right nor qualification to do so.
But those high up in the party do pretty well for themselves, don't they?
Absolutely. That's the whole purpose of movement Marxists ... take power from the people and give it to the party.
'Because socialists are supposed to give away what they have?' No, socialists are supposed to give away what everyone else have.
Spot on.
Capitalist propaganda gets tedious after awhile, considering we have to swim in it day and night.
Have you not noticed that all the politicians that are socialists are getting rich being socialists while the rest of us slowly lose our rights and our money?
There's a book titled "Without Marx or Jesus," can't remember much about it but it a nice thought.
In that sense he’s a lot like Matt, who is now also a millionaire. The difference is that Matt is desperate for Elon Musk’s approval whereas Bernie is still willing to criticize him.
Musk basically fired Matt after he did criticize him.
Is there anything you leftists do know?
😂
lol. Musk claimed that Substack was trying to download Twitter's database and deplatformed Taibbi after Taibbi protested this want true. True or not, Taibbi’s position was not to tell Musk to F*** himself, but rather to grovel and plead that he has ‘repeatedly declined to criticize’ him. And he continues to hold up his end of the bargain. The know-nothing Right never disappoints.
Download their database?
What are you on about, man. The dispute was over Substack starting a message service that Musk thought would compete with Twitter.
Irrespective, Taibbi was removed from the Twitter files. Therefore, your claim is wrong.
Meanwhile, your beloved Bernie just bends over for big pharma.
Sorry ... didn't mean to turn you on, commie.
😂😂😂
After Substack laucnhed notes, Musk restricted links to substack because he viewed notes as a twitter competitor. Rather than live with this restriction, matt left twitter/X.
Musk shaddowbanned Matt. Then Matt ‘left.’ Matt’s response
‘Elon, I’ve repeatedly declined to criticize you and have nothing to do with your beef with Substack.”
I see no out for you but genocide.
I subscribe to Matt and have followed him for years. You are full of yourself
Well, full of SOMETHING, to be sure.
Bullshit. Matt knows he’s been shadow-banned since the rift and has not hesitated to call Elon out on it. He’s also called out Elon on other issues. Matt definitely gives credit to Elon where it is due. Elon bought Twitter and exposed the government censorship of Americans. Also you need to be on X where you can possibly get money for saying stupid shit to get replies.
I think Matt, like you or I or Elon, deserves to be criticized when we he makes mistakes. Or is this a fan club? More so, I’d say, because he is a scathing critic of others himself, which is why so many people subscribe and make him a wealthy man. Anyway, I find the wording of Matt’s Tweet to Elon Musk revealing. ‘I’ve continuously declined to criticize you’ which says to me he is holding his punches. That speaks volumes.
The problem is, Alex, that none of your critiques of Matt are factual.
You are beginning to resemble a male version of our other resident troll, Karen.
Ok, you’re perfectly welcome to disagree and tell me where I’m wrong. I suspect that’s not what you’re interested in, though, and that you just want a nice safe place where you can confirm your biases.
No, you're fixating on one tiny quote from Matt without caring about the full context in which it was written, while ignoring the totality of everything else he has written. If you disagree with this, then please explain to us what you think Matt meant when he wrote ‘I’ve continuously declined to criticize you’ WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF THE EXCHANGE. Can you demonstrate basic critical thinking or are you just another person who latches onto quotes out of context and acts like they have some grand "gotcha"?
I disagree. Taibbi has clearly made a non-aggression pact with Elon, Fox and the alt-right in general. But why quibble? Matt fashions himself as an intrepid journalist who puts privacy and free speech above all other subjects, right? Well, now Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has muscled his way into obtaining the private data of millions of Americans including social security and medicare benefits, grants, payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with Musk’s own companies. He now wields power that the robber barrons could ever dream of. This seems tailor made for a scathing two thousand-word Taibbi screed. Let’s see how (and if) he covers it. That should tell you all you need to know.
What are you babbling about?
Frankly, why are you even here?
You apparently despise Matt, because you never have a positive remark to make. All you do is come here to bash him -- and you can't even be entertaining about it.
(Trolls should be entertaining, as far as I'm concerned.)
It would be like me subscribing to Taylor Lorenz or Jim Acosta, just so I could spaz out in their comment sections.
Only I doubt either of them maintains a "No Rules" policy on their comment sections, like Matt does.
So, no ability to argue the facts, is that right? It seems you just want a fan club and entertainment.
Well, we did all pay money to subscribe, so it's a safe bet that we all appreciate Matt's journalism.
What facts did you want to argue?
All you seem to do is bash Matt over stuff you've already been proven wrong on by other members of this community.
Your profile, Looking to counter the lucrative substack misinformation industry, might lean one to conclude you are an out of work hack that is jealous of Matt. I might add Matt uses the money he makes to support journalism / journalists.
🙄
Yeah but he sure does defend big pharma huh?
Exactly. BTW. His pres campaign sold gear. I thought his gear had one of the greatest designs that cycle -- line art of his hair and glasses. You mean the campaign had no "Bernie for Pres" onesies? Golden opportunity missed. Money, and message- wise.
Just remember-all socialism really means in the American context is that you want Nancy Pelosi and Co. literally running your companies, not just glomming on to stock tips.
He couldn’t be unburdened
It’s all about Inflation and then those Benjamins start to shrink along with youthful proclamations, lol.
I used to listen to him on thom Hartman progressive radio. (I was a democrat then) I got tired of the same bloviating every Friday while he did nothing. He was and always has been a blowhard coward.
It's easy to just sit and rail against the system when nobody's listening. Once he actually got some power, he sold out faster than a $1 Taylor Swift concert.
I realized as time went on that he was an independent with no real defined constituents and no real defined power so blab blab blab blab was cheap for him. Plus meant nothing for us. Lazy (as mentioned below) and getting the paychecks from the usual critters.
Hillary understands power. Bernie folded before her ambition like the empty suit he is.
You put it perfectly I really liked him back then but as time went on you are exactly right.
And reportedly lazy.
Bernie is the Gold Standard for Hypocrite on Capital Hill. It's really amazing. So many of these clowns talk about what should be and live a life in complete contradiction to that way of living. Warren is another in the list. Stop corruption, except my corruption or the corruption of those that provide my way of life.
THE PROBLEM IS THESE MILLIONAIRES AND BILLIONAIRES!
[Bernie becomes a multi-millionaire]
THE PROBLEM IS THESE BILLIONAIRES!
It's like all of these clowns that the left trots out (clear.. the right is not innocent), but take Leo DiCaprio... A man I desperately want a charity cage match with. Fossil fuels are killing the planet, look at me and my Prius... oh.. don't look at the yacht I am always on that uses more fuel than NYC, or on all my private jets.....
Imagine the cognitive dissonance they have to maintain while flying in private jets to Climate Armageddon conferences.
It's like something out of South Park -- only it's real.
It's not. It's because they actually know why the climate is changing, and they are fully aware that it has nothing to do with CO2.
I don’t even understand how going after millionaires could become popular. There are many of those and most of them worked hard as hell for it.
As far as I’m concerned becoming a millionaire is part of the American dream. Seems like going after millionaires is a great way to kill ingenuity.
It's just the politics of envy & resentment.
I mean, sure.. If you confiscated the wealth (which is mostly in assets you'd then have to sell) of the top 1%, you'd get like $25Tn if you could sell all of the assets at estimated value. The issue is... who would you sell it to?
My point was it’s a stupid idea, regardless how much you might be able to make selling off people’s assets. It’s never going to be a popular idea to steal shit from people. It’s why people are so damn angry to begin with. Sick and tired of the government stealing our money to do what? Enact BS programs that enrich themselves - the exact top of the hierarchy they proclaim to be concerned about?
Enriching themselves is one thing. Enriching foreign idiots like Zelensky and so many unnamed world leaders is another.
Perhaps if Kennedy was a billionaire instead of just a lowly millionaire he might get sone respect :)
Well, you know there's been a lot of inflation, and Millions are now worth Billions - ;)
Luv it, the only thing that would make it better is to hear it spoken in Bern's overeducated dbag accent
Elizabeth: Make college affordable for all.
Also Elizabeth: Pay me $500,000 for teaching one or two classes.
😂😂
A onesie. A goddam f***ing onesie. That was bernie's attempt to derail RFK jr? He is way past is sell by date.
Being sold by a company RFK has no control over.
And Sanders called it MILITANTLY anti-vaccine.
A onesie. Militantly anti-vaccine.
The words “militant” and “onesie” when said or written together are on my 2025 “Nonsense Apocalypse” Bingo card. I didn’t think they’d ever be called let alone before the first month finished!
In a few years, we'll all forget about "jumbo shrimp" and "defense intelligence," and all be saying "militant onesie" for all oxymorons.
Well, hold on to your dookey, its about to get spooky!
I am almost past my "use by" date, and this makes me want to have another child so that I can buy him or her a militant onesy.
I can only imagine the conversation:
“But, hon, I thought you’d said you’d never have another?”
“Well, the Militant Onesies community is under assault from the overzealous government, so I had to my part. Solidarity, baby!”
Watch your mouth there, SimCom, that onesie will come over to your place with very bad intentions. It is militant.
They come in "camo" in the 12 mos size.
GOP DRESSES CHILD SOLDIERS IN MILITANT ANTI-VACCINE UNIFORMS -- CNN
Bwahahahahaha!
Militant onesies sound gnarly, dude!
When you got nothing left in the toolkit..pull out the onesie.
I just want to know what happened to the 2 tykes that were wearing those.
Did u see the meme of Bernie in a “ vaxxed and afraid” onsie?
But his shelf life lingers on as Vermont voters only have two choice for both Senate seats.
He has aged like a good Vermont cheese should.
just give Bernie a free onesie and he'll be happy.
all my contributions came from blue collar big pharma employees!
no more onesie!
Yeah,, but when he bent the knee to Hillary...she at least handed him the keys to a nice lake house on Lake Champlain.
It's not a tough decision, as you can see.
I can blow you away, or you can ride with me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdfF0cOC50w
Bernie went one way, Seth Rich, the other.
Savage!
Savage!
Savage!
Chat disabled for 4 seconds.
And she has more fans/supporters now too. If we are lucky they will have Tulsi as a burr in their saddle for a long time to come.
"Run out of the party, out of politics and eventually into the Trump orbit."
You make that sound like a bad thing. She's one of the few free of the stench billowing forth every time a sell-out Dem/Rep opens her/his cake hole. I myself am a grateful apostate. Got harangued this afternoon by a demented old pal and his wife for insisting "there's some good in each of us. We need to talk with each other." Their reply? Not.A.Chance. And, we're the problem?
Early in 2017, I urged my former peers to run as far and fast away from the piss-dossier as possible. Bernie and Warren swallowed the entire mess whole, bent over for cash, and stayed down. My guess is that even the most diehard young Dem supporter is going to take one long, hard look at Warren and Bernie at these confirmations and go "PHee-yew, what a stink."
What sane person would ever listen to a word these rodents ever uttered again.
She might have ended up in a good place, but what a wringer she got put through.....
Tulsi still has "runway" because she is not a jellyfish like Sanders.
Your description of Sanders fits. It makes sense out of what looks like crazy schizo behavior.
Bullseye! SC!
See, you're pointing out why Bernie reformed, bent the knee, & behaved like a good boy. He did not want to be drummed out of the Democratic caucus & become legislatively neutered, something the king of amendments would never abide.
Bernie always just wanted to be the junior senator from Vermont and will do what it takes to protect that position.
Yep. Tulsi stood up for him and paid the price, and the slimeball won't even vote to confirm her.
This. Bernie in power is an oxymoron. He’d have been worse than Biden. We’d have become Canada. Destroyed for our own good while the cronies make bank in the background. Cronies are cronies whether nominally socialist or capitalist.
Being run out the Democrat party for telling the truth does not equal leaving politics. Working for the federal government under a Trump presidency is politics. Gabbard will probably be confirmed, and I'll be delighted to see her in charge of National Intelligence.
Even if she isn't confirmed, her values have not changed, and she's not going anywhere. Good riddance to the "Our Democracy" club of self-righteous sheep, censors and scolds.
Supposedly it's because of the recent reforms.
https://simulationcommander.substack.com/p/tulsi-talks-turkey
Personally, I'd be happy to burn it all down.
I went to the Children’s Health Defense merch store to check it out. They’re offering an extra 10% discount on all children’s items with the code “BERNIE”. Love it!
Love it!
Nice!
try chdstore dot org
I can verify it, I was there right now
I should have realized the truth about Bernie when he was silent about the persecution of Julian Assange while Tulsi Gabbard was very outspoken about it, for which she is now paying the price. Bernie is an Independent in name only. He's controlled opposition, a fully bought and paid for member of the political establishment he pretends to oppose. I'm embarrassed to admit I was a diehard Berner in 2016!
I sat with Bernie Bros at an OWS encampment in Boston in 2011 as an exercise in trying to understand those I didn't understand; all in order to be understood.
The irony of ironies is that his OWS encampment was just 200 yards from where the Boston Tea Party happened.
I found after an hour of conversation that their beef with the "system" was precisely the same as the beef the Tea Party had, who I had met with the year prior.
Winston Marshall debated Nancy Pelosi last fall at Oxford Union that really explains this whole phenomenon that Populism WOULD NOT EVEN EXIST if not for the overreaching authoritarian ways of the Establishment; all while crying "they're a threat to democracy."
Definitely worth your time watching this debate. Even Paul Pelosi is found to be rolling his eyes and shaking his head when Nancy goes on her rants.
It's why 20% of the Bernie Bros voted Trump in 2016. They may disagree on some key issues, but realize that if you don't do a major remodel on "the system"...nobody is going get the change they seek.
Some might even say that the sudden "racism" push at the time was to stop the OWS people and the Tea Party people from realizing they were on the same side.
Establishment and Establishment Media want low information voters to see everything through the Left Vs. Right and D vs. R and Blue Vs Red lens they use to talk about politics.
It's not a linear political spectrum anymore.
It's now We the People down here lower in the hierarchy against The Establishment and Elites. And we ain't puttin' up with their crap anymore.
We don't need them gone...we just need them to remember they work for us...not themselves.
But this is not correct. Trump is an elite. Musk is an elite. RFK is an elite. Even Tulsi Gabbard is an elite, as a former member of Congress.
It's not about being elite. It's about being *elitist.* You can be a billionaire and be a populist. You can be a pauper and be an elitist.
Same here.
I maxed out my donations to Bernie in 2016. But I'm not embarrassed by it. There is nothing to be embarrassed about when someone does a really good job of fooling you. That is on them. 2020 I had nothing to do with Bernie.
In the immortal words of W/The Who, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, we won't get fooled again."
Same. Also in 2020. Even went to his Boston rally in early 2020 right before the "2 weeks to flatten the curve" lockdown. My last straw with Bernie was when he fell in line in support of Biden. Blech.
Matt - well put, way to call out Democratic hypocrisy!
Agreed. The Democrat Senators are using this "time honored" approval process to... I guess demonstrate their commitment to hypocrisy? Are they really that stupid? {It's a rhetorical question}
They are not stupid. Their followers are, and that is why they have this "time honored" tradition. Ultimately... We The People are the true idiots.
With the irony being that those who were allegedly WOKE...woke the rest of us up and we're not putting up with WOKE anymore.
Especially those of us who don't understand what a rhetorical question is.
Well, the comment was edited to add the Rhetorical part, but my statement stands on it's own either way.
They're demonstrating they're just one big yeast infection
Winner. 👏🏻👏🏻
The problem is the fact that he's being a hypocrite not only doesn't register with him, even if it did he would not care in the slightest. One must have principles to acknowledge hypocrisy. The ends always justify the means. That's all that matters.
Democrats, to retain their position in the tribe, are required to say stupid shit they know is utter nonsense.
I was one of Sanders’s largest donors in ‘16 and ‘20, not that I could easily afford it, back when he hadn’t yet fully demonstrated his critical lack of courage and judgment wherever the rubber meets the road.
His demand that RFK embrace “healthcare as a human right” is just a demand that RFK embrace another huge and effectively compulsory windfall for a predatory industry, taken from the pockets of regular taxpayers.
When anyone advocates that Healthcare is a human right, they are endorsing involuntary servitude, better known as slavery. Because for that right to be fulfilled, someone else must be forced to provide it. That taxpayers are robbed by the government to pay their salary does not lessen the moral injustice. The same would also be true for a right to food, clothes, housing, transportation, or Obamaphone.
It's too bad RFK didn't have that insight at the ready when he was being hectored by Sanders. The good news is that some people who used to swoon over Sanders's rhetoric on this issue—people like me—have now honestly reckoned with what it really means.
I was too. And knocked a lot of doors. Both of those primaries rigged.
And now yeah agree with your assessment...
It’s hilarious, in a pitch-black sort of way, that the “Democratic Party” hasn’t held a democratic primary since 2008.
Truth. When I mention this to my liberal friends, they have no reply other than it has to be that way to defeat Trump. Hmmm...
It's worked out well for them, hasn't it?
Ironically, if Democrats had allowed their voters to freely choose, and if their voters were still capable of freethinking behavior—which is now, amazingly, the exclusive domain of Republicans (edit: and independents, of course)—they could have had a very good shot at beating Trump.
It's still remarkable that even with all the unprecedented institutional collusion Democrats could marshall, a fake-tanned, gold-plated, hipshooting real estate developer has beat them not once but twice.
I think it has worked out for them, because they don't really care if they win. They all get rich either way.
I was talking about the rank-and-file Democratic Party voters referenced in the previous comment. For regular Democrats, all they have after this past election is confusion and a deepening of what I feel comfortable describing as literal psychosis.
Some of us actually think the Trumpster is undefeated vs the Dems.
Even '08 was technically not democratic. They still had the superdelegates. Difference was they switched to Obama midstream, reading the room from how primary voters were leaning.
My favorite part of '08 primaries (aside for when Hillary lost) was when Obama was well ahead, and Hillary was still saying "you can be my VP". Obama of course said "I'm not running for VP.
But the super delegates were just about evenly split, and of course, unlike in 2016, neither of the two frontrunners owned and operated the DNC. So as much as any primary ever is, it was still up to voters to decide who their nominee would be.
Remember the Clintons' enemies list? Was mostly turncoat superdelegates i think. Oh, and Ted Kennedy was the mic drop that was the coffin nail for her i think. And you're right, Howard Dean was the DNC chair that year.
The enemies list was one tidbit I had missed. Yet reading about it now, it doesn't surprise me at all.
The tidbit that burns brightest in my mind is from 2016, when Hillary's control of the DNC allowed her campaign to steal and launder all the "joint fundraising" money—reportedly $80+ million—earmarked by law for the national and state party committees, all while repeatedly attacking Sanders as "not a Democrat" because he wasn't raising down-party money like she was.
Suffice it to say, as compromised as Sanders has turned out to be, Hillary Clinton is the damn devil.
You're right about Ted Kennedy. He initially stayed out of endorsing anyone in the '08 primary. But I think there was some bad blood between him and HRC when the 2007 border legislation (co-sponsored by TK) was supported by Obama but opposed by HRC. Imagine where we'd be if that legislation had passed in the Senate. Trump would not have had this issue to run on.
Yikes,,,,you're right! I hadn't thought of it that way before.
Something tells me all that smoking over the years shrunk his manhood.
Dang…. That’s a lot of $$ considering big pharm was 1.9 plus mil!!! Sorry, my condolences!
Matt nailed it here (and on ATW) with this analysis RE censorship and Bernie. So weird that he attacked RFK on a speech issue.
free speech was the first principle of American liberalism. ironic that liberals killed it.
Anyone who doesn't support free speech, is no longer a liberal. In Bernie's case, he has joined the ranks of illiberal leftists, who make up present day Democrats.
They're certainly ILL, alright.
No, it was people who used to be liberals and still claim to be liberals who killed it. I guess the best thing to call most of them is Democrats now. If they used to be against war, censorship, and spying on our own citizens, they were liberals. If they love the Ukraine and Israel wars, have no issues with what has happened to online freedom, and actually try to criticize someone who supports Assange and Snowden, I don't know what the fuck they are, but they're not liberals.
"whatever appears necessary" allows you to shift positions when they are no longer beneficial to your cause or disposition. for example, freedom of speech always benefits the underdog. when you are no longer the underdog you try to get rid of it. this is the way of the statist, of which fascism and socialism are just different flavors.
Iran wars
Colonialism
Ottoman Empire.
Bernie's leash must have been pretty tight to get him that worked up. Could he be one of those being blackmailed? Fear is quite the motivator.
Bernie got triggered and he knew his check writers at pfizer would not be happy unless he gave a full throated/gagged response to rfk spitting uncomfortable facts about their man bernie and the rest of the street walkers unhappy with uncomfortable truths spoken in such hallowed halls where a shirtless viking put his feet on nancy's desk and finished off a mostly empty box of Franzia.
I'm surprised bernie showed up without his Pfizer gag and nipple rings.
The leash must’ve been used with choke chain…
That's what I was thinking.
Who lit the fuse on his tampon?
Go Matt Go! You have the chops to get through to Senator Sanders, I doubt he will listen, but at least you got it out there and in front of him. To say that the entire hearing process has been ugly this week is the understatement of the decade. I don’t think any of the members of the Senate realize people (regular people) are watching and seeing this absolutely childish disgusting and despicable shambles of a confirmation process. They have all lost the plot. ALL OF THEM both sides of the aisle. (Okay Rand Paul had a moment or two…) Anyway keep after them!!
The Rand Paul rant was kind of inspiring.
Rand is totally a Mr. Smith Goes to Washington type at heart, but he supports the 2nd Amendment and bureaucratic accountability, so that makes him evil to the msm, while simultaneously NOT being down with Josh Hawley style Christian big government bs, so that makes him unappealing to MAGA/Charlie Kirk Johnny come latelys.
Yeah it kinda was!
"I don’t think any of the members of the Senate realize people (regular people) are watching and seeing this absolutely childish disgusting and despicable shambles of a confirmation process."
This is exactly it. They used to be able to 'clip' their little angry rant and attach it to a fundraising email. Now WE record and playback the whole thing, not just the 5 seconds that makes the Senator in question look good.
And oddly they still don’t get it…control of media is out of their slippery hands too many alternatives and long form podcasts etc…good for transparency bad for the bloviating baffoons on the elevated Dias…
I'm really torn about this.
On one hand, misinforming the public to such a massive degree clearly harms Americans.
On the other hand, the fact the media won't stop lying is job security for me....
Very true.
I wrote several of them and let them know what I thought of their hysteria and stupidity -- while noting that I was aware of their Big Pharm donors.
Yikes! Well do your best! No one is coming to save us so best to save yourself! I think more and more Americans are becoming discerning about what they read and hear and see. The polularity of the long form podcast seems to bear out the fact that Americans can do more than 30 second live shot sound bites.
Dem Priorities - 2025 Edition:
Do you accept the results of 2020 election?
Are you spreading Kremlin talk points?
How do ya feel about Jan 6?
But who's going to pick the crops?
Was that a Hitler salute?
But what about Jan6? Insurrection??
DO YOU DENOUNCE THESE ONESIES?!
You forgot the questions about when they stopped beating their spouses/partners and how many times they’ve sexually harassed friends or colleagues.
Exactly!
Brilliant summation.
The COVID vaccines don’t stop transmission?
Safe and effective is not a lie.
It's two lies.
Good one-
If you have comorbitiies, it'll keep you from the ICU if you get Covid.
You're still going to get sick as a dog, but you're less likely to die.
For the 4 year old kid on our cul-de-sac whose mother insisted he get shot....I shook my head...rolled my eyes...then asked her husband if she's craycray.
She was hypnotized and controlled by fear.
But, who's counting?
No, they don't stop infection or transmission. They are VINOs, Vaccinations In Name Only.
Do they mitigate male pattern hair loss?
No, but they will help iron poor blood.
You will lose all of it in your grave.
Just on my head?
If you put a few drops on your taint, it gives you extra energy.
You'll be able to quit shaving your ass then too!
By shave you mean wax right?
It really should cure male baldness given a) it had little other benefit; and b) given many millions taxpayers coughed up to cover the cost of development, manufacture, and “free” distribution of the vaccine that led to big pharma netting hundreds of $millions risk free profit (plus a liability waiver!). I recall a report of $94 million profit to pharma just for one year (as reported by left wing Yahoo Finance). And taxpayers for some reason were not paid back anything out of these profits despite all their involuntary investments.
me thinks it might have been 94 billion for the entire pharma industry
I think are right but 94 million was bad enough...and though I actually copied that down somewhere because it was so revolting, I couldn't find the source ...
And cure heartbreak.
But, but they changed the definition of vaccine.
Worse than that they are not vaccines at all w nothing in common beside syringe delivery. The mRNA TRANSFECTIONS are decades old lab tool in every medical school, every virology, vaccine development & biologics lab around the globe.
oops forgot ThermoFisher 2015 link to Transfection products & how to guide
https://web.archive.org/web/20150822064507/https://www.thermofisher.com/us/en/home/references/gibco-cell-culture-basics/transfection-basics.html
The biggest difference between the monoclonal antibody production & mRNA jabs is the jabs skip the purification step so now they can pretend DNA contamination is a surprise & problem when the premise of immunity by random, uncontrolled non-self proteins is fine otherwise. 1999 death of Jesse Gelsinger proved it.. they all knew!!
https://web.archive.org/web/20080517050534/http://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/19991128mag-stolberg.html
They were known to be lobotomy level criminal malpractice because human immune systems NEVER tolerate foreign proteins BUT rebranding as "novel use" makes mop & bucket level lab supplies into a cash cow mandated by governments pimped by NGO dirtbags like Bill Gates web of propaganda.
Immunology 101 Dr Jay Couey scientific consultant to RFK Jr Wuhan book
https://rumble.com/v3lrkvy-2023-09-28-immunology-101-27-sept-2023-brief-twitch1937738516-.html?e9s=src_v1_ucp
It's like getting a flu shot.
Maybe it works...maybe it doesn't.
As long as you're a Pfizer stock holder, it's the best shot in the world.
No there is NO biology to support any combination of substances, delivered by intramuscular injection, usefully augmenting an immune system.
Flu is a designated as respiratory virus which would require T-cell immunity and conflating antibodys as a correlate of immunity is just handwaving BS.
Fun fact Gain of Function is the decades old method of creating CRISPR clones TRANSFECTED in cell culture to design flu vaccines. The GoF magic virus is mythical enemy because NONE of these RNA molecules can be grown from wild type RNA and no protein or special sequence gives RNA fidelity to pandemic.
All of this is about stockpiling & selling vaccines... read NIH funded 1,200 page scientific review.. search for "however" to note the petrie dish pure clones NEVER reflect real world or factor human immune system response.
https://web.archive.org/web/20161206155142/http://www.gryphonscientific.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Risk-and-Benefit-Analysis-of-Gain-of-Function-Research-Final-Report.pdf
Thank you.
My pleasure, knowledge is power that multiplies when we pass it on...
lucky us! :~)
"What is the correlation between 4th grade grammar and spelling skills and the certainty with which one promotes scientific findings? "
My kiddies were forced to take HS Latin to compensate for my academic shortcomings as Strunk & White atrocity.. scan my research before spell check it's enough to create monumental doubt, nice catch. Polish aside my econ & finance were enough as a Beltway Bandit skilled in Enron accounting & tap dance in footnote loopholes so the superficial flaws mask dirtbag hunting prowess. The flip side is excellent source identification.
In the case of the biology & virology illusions created with synthetic clones made in high purity & shoved up the nose of genetically engineered, humanized mice optimized for ACE2 the expertise is credited to the brilliant teacher Dr. Jay Couey former researcher & neurobiology professor at Univ Pittsburgh Medical School who does have perfect terminology and expression in English & Dutch so let me link you there for solid science.
Watch any of the focus areas of interest.. every stream is awesome but here are a couple that will add substance where my shortcomings create doubt.. skepticism is always the best way to approach rando claims! :~)
June 2924 - All the ways they Lied About PCR
https://stream.gigaohm.bio/w/3442q71n6uzwMckdXtxa7N
Biology 101 series w work of Academic Virology Gods
David Baltimore Vincent Rancenello virus classification series -
Part 1 https://stream.gigaohm.bio/w/fuXMsABqkgiLY5rxjHLSEg
Part 2 https://stream.gigaohm.bio/w/rAHAxPEfMPdk8MAFnnyAYr
Part 3 https://stream.gigaohm.bio/w/bgfmoEtosv1FQLXaVJBR9f
2025 update where we've been since 2020.. timeline overview fab for folks who want big picture but better science expression than mine.. enjoy!
https://stream.gigaohm.bio/w/4MvoKAwqHsqbHcxY74BK8u
Except that the flu shots do much less damage.
I’m seeing nothing about hair loss here^^^^
Why were you expecting that w immunology 101?
Beautiful comment!
No.
But they did convince all the sheep to allow the BIGGEST WEALTH TRANSFER OF ALL TIME.
Makes Too Big to Fail look bush league.
No, they only offer immunity to Pfizer and Moderna.
Now I know where I’m going to get a job
Butt — Shades of gray. The Covid vaccines work … somewhat. Given that billions for AIDS vaccines came to nothing, you could say we’re ahead of the game.
They sort of work on the version of the virus that was circulating 12-18 months ago…and they never catch up.
Treeamigo — The Israeli results showed 90% effectiveness; that is, 10 deaths among the vaccinated where you’d otherwise expect 100. True, the virus is a moving target; even more than the flu, or so it seems.
Flu is somewhat predictable, helped by the southern hemisphere having winter first.
I worked with an epidemiologist PHD whose big project for years was an HIV vaccine. In early 2020 he told me that COVID vaccines were unlikely to prevent infection and transmission- it can mutate too rapidly due to its structure. It is why we don’t have vaccines for the common cold (or corona viruses that cause colds) and also why an HIV vaccine has been a challenge.
So scientists knew the vax wasn’t going to any kind of magic wand and that it was highly likely that almost everyone would get Covid (multiple times).
When pols sold the vax as some sort of failsafe cure and then mandated vaxes in late 2021 when a majority of the country had already been vaccinated or infected (or both), and they knew the vax was less effective against Delta and Omicron was criminal misinformation and using vaccines as a polticial wedge issue. Crazy.
Treeamigo — I got into an argument with an honest-to-God government bureaucrat at a convention. He believed one should lie to the public to get them to do what experts advised. When that lie became obvious, he thought the public would forget all about it, and would be ready to be sold the next lie.
Of course, this is why it was so important to such people to suppress undesirable truths, a.k.a. “disinformation”.
Processed food causes harm?
Very good.
lol- you’re being facetious right?
I heard they cure chronic halitosois, tartar and apparently excessive butt hair too.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
I lost all respect Sanders after that hearing. Just shameful. Four legs good, two legs better.
I am not going to listen to a squealing socialist who is a millionaire and owns three houses.
I usually never agreed with Sanders, but always grudgingly respected him. But the onesies? Jeesh…
100%
The treatment of RFK Jr. by Sanders and Warren is disgusting. Our health system is a disgrace. We spend the most money for some of the worst results. I am not sure if vaccines contribute to autism but my brother was acting like a normal baby before he got all his shots and now he is severely autistic and a grown invalid who poops on the floor. Until they figure out what causes it, I am not willing to accept that vaccines did not play a role in his condition as are millions of other American parents who have destroyed children and saw the same almost immediate correlation. (Note the studies on vaccines do not prove that vaccines do not cause autism. Please take a look at these big pharma studies and you will see that they are not conclusive of anything. Also their plenty of other studies that show a massive correlation). Nonetheless, either way why are we so trusting of big pharma!? What have they done over the last 40 years to make us fee cozy and warm about all of their medications? Democrats have lost their minds or have been bought out. We need more discourse, more independent science and less group think about what is causing our country to be so unhealthy. Could it be that the medical industry wants us to be unhealthy so they can ply us with medications and make 100 of millions of dollars? Nah, that's just a conspiracy right?! lol.
The younger generation of my family has an horrifically high number kids with autism and neurological disease… we would have seen this in our large extended family if genetic. I don’t know that any of the 7 kids closest to me will ever be self supporting & I won’t be around to help. It’s dreadful. Their lives are so limited. I held my grandniece as a baby for hours watching her fight off convulsions and her eyes rolling after her first dose of vaccines. Now she has grand mal epilepsy & taking awful drugs at 9 years of age. Other family kids are having very difficult times w/various issues. It is heartbreaking and I am so angry at these shitheads like Biden & Fauci… The special ed classrooms in elementary schools are HUGE!! And expensive and still just a feel good bandaid that is not going to help these kids ever be self supporting financially. The vaccines are part of it; maybe it’s also diet, toxins, pollutants, food additives or all of the above but it is appalling how the health agency’s won’t even look at the questions. RFK would ask the question & not set up some fake study guaranteed to confirm the “safety & effectiveness” of these vaccines and the innocence of these food & drug companies. There is do much BS coming out of NYT, Wall Street Journal, Atlantic it will be a miracle if a Kennedy makes it though that meat grinder. But I think the Democrats and other bought GOP politicians are kidding themselves if they think the desperate mothers will give up on this. I hope they give them hell and that Nicole Shanahan gets that asshole Bernie and Princess fake Pocohantas (Elisabeth Warren) kicked out on their asses & humiliated like they deserve.
you are 100% correct
Very well said. I've thought that the vaccines were a way to cow the population into a more controllable herd, and make money at the same time. Now we have AI to siphon off whatever intellectual curiosity is left in everyone else:
https://educationforensics.substack.com/p/deepseek-ai-and-its-danger-to-todays
"Please take a look at these big pharma studies and you will see that they are not conclusive of anything."
Right there with you. The most difficult thing for the CDC folks to say is "we don't know."
Sanders was a huge disappointment here. And correct me if I'm wrong, but the HHS Secty has very little to do with initially implementing policies related to universal HC, etc. outside of whatever is currently legislated. Is that not Congress' job to legislate? And THEN the policies are carried out? Seems Bernie, like the rest of them, is more interested in 'The Show' than his actual congressional role.
What’s a civil libertarian to think?
Bernie is a lying POS.
If you want more information on Bernie, search AI for "sell out."
It only lists right of center "sell outs", based on it's input.
I used to be a Bernie supporter and even remember seeing him walk in the Strolling of the Heifers parade in Brattleboro years ago. Lately (for the last several years) he has been virtually unrecognizable.