Saturday, April 30, 2016

Adios, April!


11 comments:

  1. Adios status quo! Hallo Bernie!

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  2. Yesterday (Friday) was Mah*Sweetie's birthday, he took the day off from work and we enjoyed several rambles. Today we are headed to Baby Grandson's house for his Christening on Sunday. The entire family immediate is coming (even though most of them are no longer church goers, so that's impressive). I'm reading a reading and leading the Psalm. Mah*Sweetie is reading the second reading. Back Sunday night, but Mah*Sweetie has Monday off too, to recover. Yay! My iPhone has been refusing to let me post (I have to remember a forgotten password!), though I can usually read posts. I'll be thinking of you!

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  3. Hope you remember, listener. I keep copies of critical passwords, some encoded in a way obvious to me, on paper.
    --Alan

    I noticed this on politicalwire.com this morning:

    “Hillary Clinton flatly dismissed Donald Trump’s suggestion that he can win over supporters of rival Bernie Sanders in the fall election, arguing that the Republican’s views on a range of issues would repel them,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

    Said Clinton: “I don’t think that’s very appealing… I’m going to be very aggressive in…reaching out to Sen. Sanders’s supporters, but we have so much more in common. And we have far more in common than they do with Donald Trump or any Republican.”

    I seems to me that not voting for Trump is one thing, and voting for Clinton is another. She can save her aggression as far as I am concerned. And I doubt she is going to "waste" any money advertising in the ATM called California. IMO she is most likely going to continue with the conventional establishment strategy of raising money from big donors, campaigning in a few "battleground" states and assuming there will be no surprises in others. No fifty-state strategy, no big ideas, only incrementalism that doesn't offend the wealthy. I don't see the leopard changing its spots. California's US Senate race will probably go to Kamala Harris, who impresses me as a conventional establishment politician, and is a Clinton supporter. The most positive developments out here are big increases in voter registration among the young and Latinos. The primary has only one proposition, and that hardly controversial. The general election may be overburdened with propositions, but as a rule only the first few listed have much chance of passing; people tend to start voting "no" on everything as they get further down the list.

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    1. OMG! Her supporters have been attacking us with everything they have for months! She herself has been dismissive and condescending toward us and she thinks we have *anything* in common? She's completely delusional. Her supporters have used *child pornography*, the ugliest thing there is, to get Bernie sites shut down. Even yesterday and today Hillary supporters have been calling voters in Indiana and telling them that Bernie has suspended his campaign and dropped out (a lie) and could they ask them to vote for Hillary. This has been verified by people who experienced it. She and her supporters have zero ethics, zero morals and think nothing of wallowing the gutters, or even the sewers if necessary. Because Hillary is blinded by her own sense of entitlement and her extreme arrogance she is blind to the fact that disgust and hatred for her have been steadily growing over the past months of her filthy campaign. Trump disgusts me, but Hillary enrages me and I will never vote for her. I don't reward people who cheat.

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  4. Reflecting on the possible courses of the Democratic presidential campaign this year, it seems to me that should Bernie not gain the nomination, his campaign is almost certain to have a goodly remaining bankroll. (Unlike HRC 2008, which ended up in severe debt, that was not paid off for four years--with the help of 13 megabucks from HRC's own pocket.)

    What if Bernie's campaign were to morph into a funding network for progressive candidates? It's a funding juggernaut, the likes of which has never been seen in House or Senate races. It provides Bernie's supporters a way to influence the future course of events--to carry on the movement--without falling in line behind the establishment candidate, and on its face the "Democratic" political establishment could not complain about it supporting Democratic candidates. Once again, the initial exploration of such a course was done by Dean/Democracy For America, but they didn't have Bernie's strength or endurance. And the Berniacs in charge of organization would have the ability to learn from DFA's mistakes. Yes, I could see that happening. But I still have not given up hope that Bernie might win the nomination. In any event, I will vote for him in the California primary election on May 10th.

    -Alan

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  5. At 0445 EDT today:

    Alan -
    When we started this campaign, I wrote that "I run not to oppose any man or woman, but to propose new and far-reaching policies to deal with the crises of our times."
    I am very good at arithmetic, and I can count delegates. We are behind today, but you know what? A path forward still exists. And our job right now is not only to transform our country, but the Democratic Party as well.
    And you need to know that every vote we win going forward and every delegate we send to the Democratic convention not only moves us closer to the nomination but also moves our party and our country closer to the ideas we're fighting for.
    Today is a very important day for our political revolution: it's the second to last FEC fundraising deadline before the end of the primary. And every member of the corporate media and political establishment in this country will be looking to see if you're willing to continue this fight together. And that's why I have to ask:
    [send some more money]
    It's not just about how much money we are able to raise before tonight's deadline, but the total number of individual contributions we receive. When the corporate media and political establishment look at our FEC report, they're going to see every single donation as a continuing demonstration of support for the values we share. That's why it's so important you add yours before midnight.
    In solidarity,
    Bernie Sanders

    =====================
    At 3PM EDT:
    Alan -
    Wow. Ok, we didn't really know what to expect after Bernie's email this morning, but one thing is clear: our political revolution is ready, willing and able to continue our campaign to transform the Democratic Party and to transform our nation.
    More than 20,000 people have already contributed to our campaign today, and they're continuing to pour in:

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  6. I see that Zephyr has raised way more money than any other congressional candidate in New York. I sent her a couple of small donations for old times' sake, but seeing how she is doing I think I had better look into the other two progressive candidates Bernie endorsed (in Washington and Nevada). Put my money where my mouth is, so to speak [pun fully intended].

    --Alan

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  7. It's really quite amazing--all Bernie had to do was send out an e-mail asking his supporters to make a contribution of $2.70 for each of the three congressional campaigns (to be split 50-50 with Bernie's campaign) and WHANG! Nearly half a million dollars dropped into the warchest of each candidate--enough to make a very significant, perhaps even decisive, difference. Puts "We Have the Power!" in a whole new light, it does.

    Alan

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  8. Replies
    1. Oh, spot on, puddle! That column is worth far more than all the twaddle I have been posting today. I also particularly liked the link to the column "Why the Democratic Party is in Bigger Trouble Than It Realizes." Thanks!

      --Alan

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  9. The Clinton-Warren fantasy [Click] I certainly agree with the writer that a Clinton-Warren ticket is most unlikely, but the more interesting thing about this column is the quotations from establishment Clinton partisans. They really do seem seriously out of touch, and the general impression I am left with is there is almost no chance of a VP pick that will salvage the situation. But consider my attitude. A Clinton-anyone ticket would probably be weak; one of the concerns expressed is that the VP should not outshine Clinton, but if Clinton were a strong candidate there would be no such concern.

    --Alan

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