Random Musings from a Muse: 2016

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Dagger of the Mind

Scapegoat/Boogeyman

Dagger of the Mind,

or,

"The Only Thing We Have to Fear

Is Fear Itself,"

by Liviana

His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.

~ A Psychological Analysis of Adolph Hitler: His Life and Legend,
by Walter C. Langer,
Office of Strategic Services, Washington, D.C., 1943/1944
(emphasis added)

For some months now, the American people have been subjected to insinuations, implications, speculations, and even blatantly explicit declarations that Russia somehow "interfered" with the just-past election, most often involving claims of alleged "hacking" on the part of the Russian government or its assets or agents, sometimes accusing other Americans, especially those who run or work for independent media outlets, of having acted willfully or unwittingly as agents of this scheme. Despite no evidence being provided in support of this narrative, certain venues of the main stream media have repeated these speculations, insinuations, and explicit allegations ad nauseam. Worth remembering in considering these tales and whispers is the history of how a mere six corporations came to dominate most of American media. Also extremely worthy of note is the history as well as the current connections of The Washington Post, which has been one of the main media outlets pushing this narrative.

The narrative in question began following publication, by WikiLeaks, of various emails of the Democratic National Committee (nobody seems to be even trying to pretend anymore that these emails are not authentic, so let's admit that they are in fact the genuine article), which exposed widespread corruption in the form of the DNC colluding with the Hillary Clinton for President campaign to promote said campaign and attempt to undermine the campaign of Bernie Sanders for the same office, a fact which many of Senator Sanders' supporters already suspected. Whether the narrative originated with the Hillary campaign or the DNC, it was a transparent attempt at diversion and misdirection. As the revelations continued, the main stream media was also implicated. One of the main media outlets promoting Mrs Clinton's candidacy was, again, The Washington Post, but it was by no means acting alone in this. The narrative was spread in an effort to shift attention from the content of the emails to the alleged theft of the emails by agents or assets of the Russian government's intelligence services, and possibly with the intention of frightening or enraging the American people so that the plans of certain geopolitical interests could be actualized, since such actualization would require activities with a great probability of provoking Russia's government and could lead to war with Russian forces.

To say that Russia alone was being scapegoated for the abysmal candidacy and pathetic strategies of the Hillary Clinton for President 2016 campaign, the corruption of the DNC, and the cooperation of much of the corporate media, however, would be to present only a part of the picture. Indeed, Senator Sanders himself, his supporters, Doctor Jill Stein, third party voters, Director James Comey of the FBI, the spectres of racism and sexism, and assorted other persons, groups, and ideas, were all subjects of the attempt to shift blame away from Hillary herself, her campaign, the DNC, the corporate media, and the Democratic Party establishment. Once the general election was over, though, the focus was quickly narrowed to "the Russian government." The Office of the Director of National Intelligence got involved in promoting the narrative. The FBI stated there was no evidence in support of this narrative. The Geheim Staats ... um ... the Department of Homeland Security got involved in promoting the narrative. CIA intel veterans scoffed. The CIA itself got involved in promoting the narrative. President Obama pushed the narrative. Even with the alphabet soup and the President joining in, however, only roughly half of Hillary's supporters were willing to buy into the narrative, far fewer of President-elect Trump's supporters thought it possible, and (although no data is available for the views of third party voters on the narrative) most Green Party US members and supporters of my acquaintance seem to me to be unimpressed with the narrative. Tied up in this mess is also a lot of hysteria over "Russian propaganda" and "fake news," which has prompted the critters in Congress, always eager to engage in kneejerk overreactions to hysteria, to pass a couple of laws which are, like the U.S.A.P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act before them, attacks upon the Constitutional Rights of American citizens. This is where we are on the final day of the year 2016.

I have been keeping up with this as it unfolded, and have collected a number of sources which cast significant doubt on the narrative that "the Russians" engaged in any "hacking" or other "interference" in the just-past election cycle. I present them here for the consideration of the American people, in the interests of our Republic and with the hope that the people will come to the correct conclusion and demand that our government avoid the utter insanity which war between the USA and the Russian Federation would be, regardless of what some billionaires and their stooges might like. Note that, rather than embed the videos as I generally do, I will be giving video sources as hyperlinks; I made this choice to keep the presentation looking cleaner and more organized, because I wanted to present these sources in a chronological order (due to other responsibilities, I have not completely accomplished this, but only a few are out of place in the desired order).

DNC Hacker Denies Russian Link, Says Attack Was His ‘Personal Project' | Motherboard
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/dnc-hacker-guccifer-20-denies-russian-link-says-attack-was-his-personal-project

Against Neo-McCarthyism | The Nation
https://www.thenation.com/article/against-neo-mccarthyism/

Democrats’ Tactic of Accusing Critics of Kremlin Allegiance Has Long, Ugly History in U.S. | The Intercept
https://theintercept.com/2016/08/08/dems-tactic-of-accusing-adversaries-of-kremlin-ties-and-russia-sympathies-has-long-history-in-us/

A New McCarthyism: Greenwald on Clinton Camp’s Attempts to Link Trump, Stein & WikiLeaks to Russia | Democracy Now! - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yy742HAovY

Follow the Money Trail For Source of 'Russian Threat' Paranoia | Russia Insider
http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/follow-money-trail-source-russian-threat-paranoia/ri16086

Getting Fooled on Iraq, Libya, Now Russia | Common Dreams
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/09/15/getting-fooled-iraq-libya-now-russia

Corporate Media & Democrats Play Russia FEAR Card; Hide Hillary Clinton's Russian Record | Sane Progressive - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbBxrUJSItw

Russia responds to U.S. hacking allegations | CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-responds-to-us-hacking-allegations/

Background and Documents on Attempts to Frame Assange as a Pedophile and Russian spy | WikiLeaks
https://wikileaks.org/Background-and-Documents-on-Attempts-to-Frame-Assange-as-a-Pedophile-and.html

Jordan's NOT HAVING Donna Brazile's Russia Dodge! | TYT Politics - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-JChl8w6oQ

Media Ignores Clinton's Wikileaks Emails, Focuses On Russian Hacks | The Young Turks - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeEDHjxOK6g

Clinton Confirms That WikiLeaks Podesta Emails Are True, Still Blames Russia | Inquisitr
http://www.inquisitr.com/3614870/clinton-confirms-that-wikileaks-podesta-emails-are-true-still-blames-russia/

The "Fact" That 17 Intelligence Agencies Confirmed Russia is Behind the Email Hacks Isn’t Actually…A "Fact" | Zero Hedge
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-20/fact-17-intelligence-agencies-confirmed-russia-behind-email-hacks-isn%E2%80%99t-actually%E2%80%A6a-f

NSA Whistleblower: US Intelligence Worker Likely Behind DNC Leaks, Not Russia | Zero Hedge
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-22/nsa-whistleblower-us-intelligence-worker-likely-behind-dnc-leaks-not-russia

John Podesta Wasn't Hacked by Russians—He Fell For a Phishing Scam | The Humanist Report - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0oFRqnBhfQ

Despite Clinton Conspiracy Theories, FBI Finds No Clear Link Between Trump And Russia | Liberal Values
http://liberalvaluesblog.com/2016/11/01/despite-clinton-conspiracy-theories-fbi-finds-no-clear-link-between-trump-and-russia/

Here’s the Problem With the Story Connecting Russia to Donald Trump’s Email Server | The Intercept
https://theintercept.com/2016/11/01/heres-the-problem-with-the-story-connecting-russia-to-donald-trumps-email-server/

If You Question the Establishment You Are Guilty of Espionage, Says Corporate Media -- Because Russia | The Free Thought Project
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/establishment-guilty-espionage-russian/

Mainstream Media Recap: Who Colluded With the Clinton Campaign? | Observer
http://observer.com/2016/11/mainstream-media-recap-who-colluded-with-the-clinton-campaign/

Washington Post Disgracefully Promotes a McCarthyite Blacklist From a New, Hidden, and Very Shady Group | The Intercept
https://theintercept.com/2016/11/26/washington-post-disgracefully-promotes-a-mccarthyite-blacklist-from-a-new-hidden-and-very-shady-group/

Russian Agents Are Not Behind Every Piece of Fake News You See | Fortune
http://fortune.com/2016/11/25/russian-fake-news/

'Washington Post' 'Blacklist' Story Is Shameful, Disgusting | Matt Taibbi - Rolling Stone
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/washington-post-blacklist-story-is-shameful-disgusting-w452543

The CIA and the Press: When the Washington Post Ran the CIA’s Propaganda Network | CounterPunch
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/11/30/the-cia-and-the-press-when-the-washington-post-ran-the-cias-propaganda-network/

The Propaganda About Russian Propaganda | The New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-propaganda-about-russian-propaganda

CounterPunch as Russian Propagandists: the Washington Post’s Shallow Smear | CounterPunch
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/12/02/counterpunch-as-russian-propagandists-the-washington-posts-shallow-smear/

Neo-McCarthyism and the New Cold War | The Nation
https://www.thenation.com/article/neo-mccarthyism-and-the-new-cold-war/

When the jig is up, the mainstream media blames Russia | The Digital Firehose
http://thedigitalfirehose.blogspot.com/2016/12/when-jig-is-up-mainstream-media-blames.html

Washington Post Appends Editor's Note to Russian Propaganda Story | Washingtonian
https://www.washingtonian.com/2016/12/07/washington-post-appends-editors-note-russian-propaganda-story/

A New Wave Of Anti-Russia Hysteria Based Upon Questionable Information | Liberal Values
http://liberalvaluesblog.com/2016/12/10/a-new-wave-of-anti-russia-hysteria-based-upon-questionable-information/

Anonymous Leaks to the WashPost About the CIA’s Russia Beliefs Are No Substitute for Evidence | The Intercept
https://theintercept.com/2016/12/10/anonymous-leaks-to-the-washpost-about-the-cias-russia-beliefs-are-no-substitute-for-evidence/

Here’s the Public Evidence Russia Hacked the DNC — It’s Not Enough | The Intercept
https://theintercept.com/2016/12/14/heres-the-public-evidence-russia-hacked-the-dnc-its-not-enough/

CIA Intelligence Vets Dispute Russia Hack Claims, Look at the Wider Picture | Sane Progressive - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh0EAj9UUIY

Corporate Democrats Stir Up War Fever Against Russia to Turn Election | Black Agenda Report
http://blackagendareport.com/dems_stir_war_to_turn_election

Hillary Clinton Using "Fake News" as Excuse to Wage War on 1st Amendment | The Humanist Report - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh4JbZktGnY

Supposedly “Objective Reporters” Not So “Objective” When It Comes To The Scary Russian Menace | mtracey – Medium
https://medium.com/mtracey/supposedly-objective-reporters-not-so-objective-when-it-comes-to-the-scary-russian-menace-1c039d330196#.gur09xqw8

WikiLeaks Got Clinton Emails From Disgusted Insiders, Not Russia | The Jimmy Dore Show - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JafSyi4ZZ7w

WikiLeaks: Seth Rich Leaked Clinton Emails, Not Russia | BuzzfeedUSA
http://buzzfeedusa.com/wikileaks-seth-rich-leaked-clinton-emails-not-russia/

WikiLeaks operative claims Russia did NOT provide Hillary Clinton emails | Daily Mail Online
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4034038/Ex-British-ambassador-WikiLeaks-operative-claims-Russia-did-NOT-provide-Clinton-emails-handed-D-C-park-intermediary-disgusted-Democratic-insiders.html

Under Amazon’s CIA Cloud: The Washington Post | Common Dreams
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2013/12/18/under-amazons-cia-cloud-washington-post

Glenn Greenwald Sets The Record Straight On The CIA & Russian Hacking | Secular Talk - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE4TD2xugqA

Obama Signs Ministry of Truth Into Law Two Days Before Christmas | Sane Progressive - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8K29tGuUpk

WikiLeaks ✔@wikileaks Obama's Russia sanctions: Comment & Link | Giovanna X - Google+
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+GiovannaX/posts/g4cYCFSkPqD

What Assange Actually Said:
Julian Assange: "Donald? It's a change anyway" | Repubblica.it
http://www.repubblica.it/esteri/2016/12/23/news/assange_wikileaks-154754000/

What The Russian Hacking Report DOESN'T Say | Washington's Blog
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2016/12/russian-hacking-doesnt-say.html

Obama Sanctions Against Russia About War & Geopolitics NOT US Elections | Sane Progressive - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRuFuueLi8s

The American Public Should Be Thankful For Russian “Interference” | mtracey — Medium
https://medium.com/mtracey/the-american-public-should-be-thankful-for-russian-interference-6f2a4cc8d0ab#.84rg3l15w

Something About This Russia Story Stinks | Matt Taibbi - Rolling Stone
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/something-about-this-russia-story-stinks-w458439

The Demand For Proof Of Russian Hacking Completely Misses The Point | Caitlin Johnstone - Newslogue Debate
http://www.newslogue.com/debate/244/CaitlinJohnstone

White House fails to make case that Russian hackers tampered with election | Ars Technica
http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/12/did-russia-tamper-with-the-2016-election-bitter-debate-likely-to-rage-on/

Exhibit A: Narcissist, Megalomaniac, Pathological Liar, or Just Plain Batshit Crazy Warmonger? Hillary Clinton, ladies and gentlemen.
Hillary Clinton Calls Out Vladimir Putin in Most Hypocritical Rant Ever | The Humanist Report - YouTube
https://youtu.be/BCutIKaa2oQ

Corporate Media Draws Opposite Conclusion from CIA Vets on Leaked Russia Document | Sane Progressive - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwlJHzOjRtE

Russia Hysteria Infects WashPost Again: False Story About Hacking U.S. Electric Grid | The Intercept
https://theintercept.com/2016/12/31/russia-hysteria-infects-washpost-again-false-story-about-hacking-u-s-electric-grid/

No, Russia Did Not Hack Grid. Republican/Democrats Reveal the GAME with Latest Lie | Sane Progressive - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9zwJO5DFy0

2016: How Truth was Destroyed So You'd Buy the Government's Propaganda | The Free Thought Project
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/information-destroyed-truth-propaganda/#LDB1IZ92sLRYV8sb.99

US Govt Data Shows Russia Used Outdated Ukrainian PHP Malware | WordFence
https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2016/12/russia-malware-ip-hack/
From the article just linked:

Overall Conclusion

The IP addresses that DHS provided may have been used for an attack by a state actor like Russia. But they don’t appear to provide any association with Russia. They are probably used by a wide range of other malicious actors, especially the 15% of IP addresses that are Tor exit nodes.

The malware sample is old, widely used and appears to be Ukrainian. It has no apparent relationship with Russian intelligence and it would be an indicator of compromise for any website.

Fear is the mind-killer.

~ Frank Herbert

Believe what you want, but please investigate with critical thinking skills first, and without allowing incompetent twits and lying jackasses to terrorize you into swallowing claims which are, at best, dubious. War between the US and Russia would be devastation on a massive scale, and the goal of this would be, yet again, more profits for the already insanely and obscenely wealthy petroleum industry. Follow the money from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and you'll know who's behind this current narrative and why (if you aren't already familiar with the players in the CNAS and their paper linked above, and haven't already read the Project for the New American Century's paper, "Rebuilding America's Defenses" ...).

I will continue to update these resources until shortly after Donald Trump has been inaugurated as President, after which time, the efforts of the establishment Democrats and their pals in the USIC to spin this "Russian interference in the election" narrative will become largely irrelevant. And again, for anyone who still doesn't get it: I'm not a supporter of Donald Trump (but do not mistake that disclaimer for any indication of support for Hillary Clinton; I am a member of the Green Party of the United States, and I voted for Doctor Jill Stein, who was the only person in the race worthy of the office after July of 2016), but more than enough TRUE things about him exist to criticize without having to make up unbelievable fairy tales.

The title of the post comes from Star Trek (The Original Series), Season 1, episode 9; episode 9 overall; production code 11.

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I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. No challenge of ownership is intended or implied.
For more information: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/107.
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Copyright notice
All original content in this blog is © Copyright 2013-2017 & an. seqq. by "Liviana" (Giovanna L.).

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

The Omega Glory

The Omega Glory,

or,

Down the Centuries,

You Have Slurred the Meaning of the Words,

by Liviana

Oh, the bad, bad, wicked, evil, undemocratic, bad, evil, wicked, anti-democratic, bad Electoral College!

Let's (again) look at why the Electoral College exists in the first damned place, and without the recent bullshit about how it was done for racist or pro-slavery reasons (it wasn't, and those who have said that it was are spinning a line because they want their damned queen to be installed in the White House). I mean, after all, those who think they want to abolish the thing really ought to be aware of the reasons it exists in the first place.

And too often, those who have been calling for the abolition of the Electoral College are significantly less well-read in the fields of Political Philosophy and History than those who drafted the Constitution. How many of you have read Locke, Rousseau, Montesquieu, Cicero, Tacitus, Juvenal, Machiavelli, Genovesi, Voltaire, Hume, Hobbes, Bayle, Diderot, Kant, Seneca, and Plutarch? Plato? Aristotle? Zeno? How about Jefferson, Madison, and Hamilton? Paine? Franklin? How much do you know about the way the government of the Roman Republic was set up, how it worked, how it changed over time to the beginning of the Empire? What do you know of the government of Classical Athens? I'll wager that most of you are not familiar with even half of these things. And you think you are better suited to decide on how our government should be set up than the Founders, who knew all of these authors and all of this history and political philosophy, rather thoroughly? They were concerned and serious about trying to establish something better than anything which had existed before, but you guys FEEL like it's "bad," because poor little Hillary didn't get to be "the First Woman President" and you FEEL afraid of da big bad Twump. Isn't thinking that you are better suited to do that than the Founders were (based on your FEELS instead of any actual STUDY of how governments have worked -- and failed -- in the past, how this government was set up and why, the thoughts of the Enlightenment thinkers and the Philosophers and Historians of the Classical World) a bit presumptuous? Just a little bit, maybe?

Let's see here, then, ... Ah, here we go, a bit of a summary. Here's an excerpt:

The reason that the Constitution calls for this extra layer, rather than just providing for the direct election of the president, is that most of the nation’s founders were actually rather afraid of democracy. James Madison worried about what he called “factions,” which he defined as groups of citizens who have a common interest in some proposal that would either violate the rights of other citizens or would harm the nation as a whole. Madison’s fear – which Alexis de Tocqueville later dubbed “the tyranny of the majority” – was that a faction could grow to encompass more than 50 percent of the population, at which point it could “sacrifice to its ruling passion or interest both the public good and the rights of other citizens.” Madison has a solution for tyranny of the majority: “A republic, by which I mean a government in which the scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect, and promises the cure for which we are seeking.”

You can read it all here: The Reason for the Electoral College

What else do we have? Oh, right. Federalist Papers, Number 10, by James Madison, to which I have already referred some of you:
The Federalist Papers, No. 10

I think some of you didn't read it. Perhaps you thought it too tedious, or maybe the language was too dated. So here's a summary and analysis.

If that's still "too long" for you, then you really shouldn't even be trying to tell anyone else a damned thing about the Electoral College, but here's a Cliffs Notes version.

We also have Federalist Papers, Number 68, in which Alexander Hamilton gives his reasons for wanting the Electoral College:
The Federalist Papers, No. 68

Again, though, maybe you find that too tedious (it's considerably more brief than Number 10, however), or think the language is too dated, so here's another summary and analysis, for Number 68.

Cliffs Notes version? Got that, too (although, really, wow).

Here's something else:
Federalist No.68 vs. Antifederalist No. 72: The Debate over How to Elect the President

And another tasty morsel:
Why the Electoral College Exists (and Isn't Going Anywhere Soon)

The abolition of the Electoral College would be disastrous; it would allow NYC, Houston, DFW, Chicago, LA, and San Francisco to elect the President of the US, without anyone else's votes counting for shit. Presidential candidates would no longer give a damn about campaigning in any other part of the country, and, once in office, would be free to totally ignore the majority of the nation and cater to those six high population centers. Democratic? Maybe. Good? Not even close.

Some of you have attempted to frame the Electoral College in terms of a "tyranny of the minority" in response to our talk of a "tyranny of the majority" (which comes from de Tocqueville, for those who seem to have never heard the expression before -- and I have to ask, did y'all not take US History or Civics in school, have you forgotten all you learned in those classes, or did you just not pay any fucking attention?). You guys are falling into Bifurcation Fallacy again. It doesn't have to be a tyranny of anyone, so get your heads out of that box already. That's the point. In a democratic federal republic, the minority is protected from the whims of the majority. It's a rule of law, not a rule of the majority (nor of the minority).

Some of you have asserted that the Electoral College is "backwards." It's not backwards, and here's why. The ecosystem of each region is different from that of other regions, and that affects the economy of each region. That's even more true now than it was in 1787 when the final draft of the Constitution was finished, or 1789 when the Constitution was ratified. What is useful for the economy of the Great Plains of DFW may not be useful for the swamps ("Coastal Plains") of Houston, or the Great Lakes North of Chicago, or the temperate rain-forest of the PNW, ... much less the breadbaskets of the nation, which, Comrades, are obviously rural. The needs and concerns of the rural "minority" are no less important than the needs and concerns of the urban "majority." It's not about Democracy. It's about seeing that the minority are not disenfranchised by the majority. That's why we have (or used to have) a democratic federal republic and not a democracy.

It's not about tradition, either. Y'all have to come to terms with the reality that different regions have different economies due to their different ecosystems. Catering to nothing but the five or six highest population centers will deny any voice at all to the rest of the nation, and their needs and concerns will become irrelevant. You can call this "undemocratic." I don't care. It IS undemocratic. It denies the tyranny of the majority. Hillary knew how the elections work, and she had her chance to make her case to the rural voters, but she didn't give a shit about them, and she never has. She's an elitist. It's not hard to reach out to the people; you just have to show an authentic interest in their needs and concerns, but she has no interest in anything other than her own ambitions, and she's not particularly bright. So now we have her relative (by marriage) howling about the Electoral College, because Hillary didn't campaign in any sort of winning manner.

To win the presidency, a candidate must make his or her appeal to the people of the nation, and not merely to some areas in which they believe their support is strong. The Democratic Party establishment, being so out of touch as has been demonstrated often over the past few years, has even suggested that they could basically "write off" the South entirely, with the exception, perhaps, of two or three states. Here are a couple of several examples of such a call:

Dems, It's Time to Dump Dixie

Whistling Past Dixie: How Democrats Can Win Without the South, by Thomas F. Schaller

The Democrats have been advised against this several times:

Why National Democrats Should Not Neglect the Deep South

Should the Democrats Give Up on the South?

Democrats Can Win the South Again. Here's a Simple Strategy for Hillary 2016

Democrats' Neglect Perplexes Southerners

Democrats Are Not Speaking Loudly Enough to Be Heard in Rural America

In spite of this advice, however, the establishment Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, have stubbornly clung to this arrogant elitism (oh, and how they love to believe themselves to be elite, but they're NOT; they're fucking STUPID, or we would right now be looking forward to President Bernie Sanders), and, as anyone who WAS in touch could have told them, the result was that they got bitten in the ass after shooting themselves in both feet:

Rural Vote Fuels Trump; Clinton Loses Urban Grip

Rural America and a Silent Majority Powered Trump to a Win

Revenge of the Rural Voter

Collapse: Democratic Insider Says Clinton Lost White Rural Voters By A Three-to-One Margin

Even had they undertaken a massive PR campaign in the South and other rural areas, however, it would not have helped Hillary, who is seen by a majority of such voters as inauthentic, untrustworthy, and corrupt, as well as elitist and condescending; in Arkansas especially, this reputation is predominant. Many Arkansas voters are much more familiar with Mrs Clinton than the rest of the nation.

Abolition of the Electoral College would solve nothing, and only make things worse. What we need is reform, not abolition. And the reform needed is more to do with the way the Electors are awarded, not in the Electoral College itself. Instead of First Past the Post and Winner Takes All, some kind of Proportional Representation and/or Ranked Choice Voting and/or Score Voting would resolve most of the issues, and I'm not presumptuous enough to say at this point in time that I know how to blend those types of elections to resolve most of the issues, but I am erudite enough to realize that it is by some combination of those ways of electing that the resolution will be found. You'll never make it perfect. That's not to say it can't be improved; it certainly can. But it's always going to be imperfect, no matter how much it is improved. The question to consider is whether allowing the majority of people in tiny territories to dominate the minority in vast territories, when all these territories have different needs and concerns, is an improvement, and the answer is no.

This push to abolish the Electoral College is as ridiculous as the bullshit the Federalists pulled with the Continental Convention; the Articles of Confederation did not need to be replaced, when they could as easily have been reformed, and in fact, under the Articles and even under the Constitution itself, the "ratification" of the Constitution did not follow the rules, but was pushed through as if it were a done deal in spite of that (but that's a story for another time).

To suggest that the needs and concerns of the very diverse ecosystems which make up this nation should be ignored in favor of urban interests, whims, and fads, is unsustainable, untenable, and indefensible. It is also even, dare I say it? Anti-democratic.

The title of the post (and the subtitle, this time) comes from Star Trek (The Original Series), Season 2, episode 23; episode 52 overall; production code 54.

Fair use notice
This blog contains copyrighted material the use of which may not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material available in my effort to advance understanding of scientific, environmental, political, human rights, economic, philosophical, psychological, cultural, and social issues, etc.
I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. No challenge of ownership is intended or implied.
For more information: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/107.
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Copyright notice
All original content in this blog is © Copyright 2013-2016 & an. seqq. by "Liviana" (Giovanna L.).

Monday, November 28, 2016

Errand of Mercy

Errand of Mercy,

or,
Tomorrow Is "Giving Tuesday,"

by Liviana (Giovanna L.)

Tomorrow is "Giving Tuesday," a global day dedicated to giving back. For those who can and would like to give to a charity on this Giving Tuesday, many worthy causes exist. You may of course select one or more of your own ways of being charitable and compassionate on Giving Tuesday, but I would like to recommend the following (to my knowledge, none of these have ever endorsed any political candidate, unlike some in my list last year):

The COPD Foundation

in memory of Leonard Nimoy (if you like, or in memory of someone in your life)

The Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund

Autism Speaks

The Lymphoma Foundation of America

Breast Cancer Research Foundation

National Kidney Foundation

The Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America

Thanks for giving, you who are willing and able to do so.

If you are not able to give, that's alright, too. I've been there myself, and I understand.

The title of the post comes from Star Trek (The Original Series), Season 1, episode 26; episode 26 overall; production code 27.

Fair use notice
This blog contains copyrighted material the use of which may not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material available in my effort to advance understanding of scientific, environmental, political, human rights, economic, philosophical, psychological, cultural, and social issues, etc.
I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. No challenge of ownership is intended or implied.
For more information: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/107.
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Thursday, November 17, 2016

This Side of Paradise

Berning Green

This Side of Paradise,

or,

The Way Forward,

by Liviana (Giovanna L.)

"People who are too optimistic seem annoying. This is an unfortunate misinterpretation of what an optimist really is.

"An optimist is neither naive, nor blind to the facts, nor in denial of grim reality. An optimist believes in the optimal usage of all options available, no matter how limited. As such, an optimist always sees the big picture. How else to keep track of all that’s out there? An optimist is simply a proactive realist.

"An idealist focuses only on the best aspects of all things (sometimes in detriment to reality); an optimist strives to find an effective solution. A pessimist sees limited or no choices in dark times; an optimist makes choices.

"When bobbing for apples, an idealist endlessly reaches for the best apple, a pessimist settles for the first one within reach, while an optimist drains the barrel, fishes out all the apples and makes pie.

"Annoying? Yes. But, oh-so tasty!"

~ Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration (italics in original)

The Past

We could have had President Bernard Sanders, a Progressive Leftist in the White House. Had Bernie been the nominee of the Democratic Party, he would have inspired people to get out and vote, and the Republicans would not now be dominant in both Houses of Congress. Some establishment Democrats have mocked this claim, insisting that if Bernie could not even defeat Hillary Rodham Clinton in the primary, he could not possibly have defeated Trump in the general election. Leaving aside for the moment the reality of the voter suppression and assorted other shenanigans engaged in by the Democratic establishment, the DNC, the Hillary campaign, and the main stream media to promote Hillary and undermine Bernie, these establishment Democrats are either stupid or attempting to bamboozle the voters, for Bernie Sanders had immense support among "No Party Preference," independent, and "third" party voters, many of whom could not vote in the primaries, due to partisan "closed primaries." Their numbers are greater than the number of voters registered as Republican or the number of voters registered as Democrat. Their votes could, nay, would, have easily put Bernie in the White House.

Instead, we were subjected to the worst Democratic nominee for President in my memory. On top of her abysmal record and stances, to say nothing of the vast number of scandals associated with her, Hillary's campaign and her supporters attempted to guilt trip Berners into voting for her, tried to scare Berners into voting for her, endeavored to insult Berners into voting for her, sought to intimidate Berners into voting for her, exhibited massive condescension in the hope that Berners would vote for her. They called us sexists, chauvinists, and misogynists. They called us naïve. They called us ridiculous. They said we did not understand politics. Hillary's campaign hired online trolls to harass Berners during the primary campaign and third party supporters during the lead-up to the general election. Why they thought that these would be effective tactics remains a mystery.

Many of us stayed home, didn't vote for any presidential candidate, or voted for Doctor Jill Ellen Stein, the nominee of the Green Party of the United States (GPUS). A few even voted for Donald John Trump, the Republican nominee or Gary Earl Johnson, the "Libertarian" nominee. I myself voted for Doctor Stein.

Donald Trump won the election.

The blame game started immediately, with establishment Democrats and their partisan followers, and the drones of Hillary, pointing their fingers at Bernie, at Berners, at Jill, at GPUS voters, at Johnson and those who voted for him, at Russia, at Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, and even at Director James Comey of the FBI. Some blamed racism, some blamed sexism. One moronic spoiled brat blamed white women and said that they were guilty of internalized misogyny. I have not seen or heard a single one of them express any acceptance of responsibility on their own part. Most have not seemed to believe any of the information revealed by WikiLeaks, including the collusion of the Democratic National Committee with the Hillary for President campaign and the main stream media to promote Hillary and undermine Bernie. They have continued to believe their own rhetoric to the point that one cultist even had the hubris to compare Hillary to the Goddess Athena. I have seen videos of many of Hillary's supporters crying and expressing dismay and fear. That was, of course, when they were not rioting in the streets, although there has been some suggestion that many of the rioters were bused in by George Soros and/or MoveOn.org, to which Soros is a major contributor, and are therefore examples of "astroturfing." Whether such suggestion be true or no, I do not know. I have seen video of many buses parked on both sides of a street, but no verification of when and where the video was made, nor any evidence of connection to the rioters or any individual or organization.

Some have so bought into the Argumentum ad Hominem which the Democratic Party establishment, the DNC, and the Hillary for President campaign used throughout the election cycle that they sincerely believe that Trump is a Fascist. If he be a Fascist, then so is Hillary, and demonstrably so, but these people have been unwilling to listen to any criticism of Hillary. Instead, they have simply continued the name-calling which they embraced during the campaign. They have refused to listen to the historical evidence that Trump is no more of a Fascist than any other Republican President since 1981, and they have refused to consider that their "Saint" Hillary is not a Leftist, not a Progressive, not even a Liberal. No, they have insisted, Hillary is flawless and has never done anything remotely wrong. The cult of personality surrounding Hillary has prevented any penetration of their delusion by logic.

Doctor Stein, whom I supported and for whom (as noted above) I voted, who was the only Progressive Leftist candidate for President who was on sufficient state ballots to have a chance to win the general election, received only 1% of the popular vote (as of the time of this writing, according to RealClearPolitics).

The Present

So here we are, a week and two days after the election. The Liberals and pseudo-Liberals have continued to behave hysterically. Some partisan Democrats, members of the Democratic establishment, and Hillary supporters have called for the Electoral College to ignore the way their states voted and instead install Hillary as the President. The level of political immaturity necessary for such a petition is rather stunning. The hypocrisy is even more stunning, in light of the use of "Super Delegates" by the Democratic Party, whose pledged votes were constantly reported during the primary campaign season (even though those votes would not be cast until the Democratic National Convention), in a bid by the main stream media to promote Hillary and undermine Bernie.

Hillary supporters, the rank and file supporters, are angry, sad, afraid. They seem to honestly believe that Trump's presidency will be a disaster. I have no doubt that it will not be remotely like what I would prefer, but I also recognize rhetoric and propaganda for what they are. We survived eight years of George Walker Bush and Richard "Dick" Bruce (Darth) Cheney. We will survive four years of Trump and Pence, and so will the democratic federal republic which is the United States of America.

In a little more than a month, the Electoral College will vote to confirm Trump as President-elect. To do otherwise would be to invite chaos on a level which would far surpass the recent rioting by Hillary supporters. Trump's supporters have firearms and assorted other ways to make the pro-Hillary/anti-Trump protests look like nothing more than a high school dance.

Some Berners who went Green for the general election have been considering returning to the Democratic Party, while others have expressed their intention to remain affiliated with the GPUS, and a few have spoken of leaving the country.

The Democrats, for their part, have named Charles "Chuck" Ellis Schumer as their Senate Minority Leader, seem to favor Howard Brush Dean III for the Chair of the Democratic National Committee (although both Bernie and Schumer have supported Keith Maurice Ellison, who is widely believed to be Progressive, but supports the "No Fly Zone" over Syria which was favored by Mrs Clinton and opposed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and which would inevitably lead to provocation of, and likely war with, Russia, which is something no sane person wants), and have floated the idea of Timothy "Tim" Michael Kaine being their preferred candidate for President in 2020. Schumer is a Neoliberal, Dean would be a continuation of the same failed policies which characterized the position when Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Donna Brazile held it, and Kaine is a man who loves deregulation and describes himself as "conservative." If that were not bad enough, Schumer also named Joseph "Joe" Manchin III to be "Vice Chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee." Manchin has been described as "moderate to conservative," and his record is anything but Progressive. Schumer also named Elizabeth Ann Warren as Co Vice Chair of the Conference. Warren was widely regarded as a Progressive champion before she endorsed Hillary Clinton for President earlier this year, apparently lured by the notion that Hillary would name her as running mate, which did not happen. Further research into Warren's history reveals that she voted Republican until 1995, at age 46. The other Vice Chair of the Conference named by Schumer is Mark Robert Warner, who is said to be a "moderate" Democrat, who voted for the extension of the U.S.A. P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act in 2011, was a member of the "Gang of Six," has been hesitant regarding minimum wage increase, and whose campaign contributors include JP Morgan Chase. None of these things support any idea that the Democrats have learned anything from this election cycle. Schumer did name Bernie Sanders to be "Chair of Outreach," which is, according to The Washington Post, "a junior role in his [Schumer's] expanded leadership team." As Chair of Outreach, Bernie will be in charge of public relations for the Democrats. Schumer's choice of Senator Sanders for this position is itself an attempt at public relations, but a junior leadership role is less than Bernie deserves, and I am concerned with what sort of "outreach" the Democrats will expect him to do.

We are still on this side of Paradise, and perhaps further from that ideal than we have been before, although that is a matter of debate.

The Future

Where do we go from here, then? What is the way forward? For Progressive Left-libertarians, several options have been being discussed. Some believe that we should join with or go back into the Democratic Party and attempt to reform it and steer it toward Progressive Left-libertarian ideals. Others have argued instead that we should start a wholly new political party. A few have suggested that we should go into one of the smaller Progressive Leftist political parties, and a few others have spoken of a desire to leave the USA and move to Canada or Europe. Still others have proposed that we establish a coalition of Progressive Leftist political parties to work together. And yet others have argued that we should remain with the GPUS.

From my perspective as one who recognized, in early 1994, the trend which has come to dominate the Democratic Party since 1993, and based on the just past election cycle and the post-election behavior of the establishment Democrats, I cannot see any value in going into the Democratic Party, nor any hope of it ever being reformed. Although even the International Monetary Fund has declared that Neoliberalism is a failure, the Democratic Party establishment seems to be intent on continuing to push policies based on that dystopian economic philosophy. Indeed, the establishment Democrats are now more like the Republicans of the 1980s than the Democrats of that decade. Some of them have even embraced Neoconservative foreign policy (interventionism/imperialism) and unconditional support of the nation of Israel, which were prominent among Republicans in the 1980s. They have learned nothing from the failed Clinton-Kaine campaign, and they therefore see no need to reform. They remain in control of the party and its apparatus, which would make any effort to reform the party a steep uphill battle.

I do not agree with the idea of starting an entirely new political party, either. That would take, at minimum, 20 years to grow to a point at which it might be able to put forth candidates for US Senate, US House of Representatives, and US President who might have a chance of winning office. The amount of time, effort, and money necessary to accomplish such a thing would be enormous, and having to wait that long would be a setback which none of us actually wants.

While there are a number of small Progressive Leftist political parties in the USA, none of them has the membership numbers or sufficient organization to be a contender without time, effort, and money comparable to what would be required to build a totally new political party. Again, such a setback would be extremely undesirable.

Leaving the country would accomplish nothing; the USA would likely continue down the path to dystopia, and eventually become a menace to any nation to which we might emigrate.

Working to build a coalition of Progressive Left-libertarian political parties sounds good, but partisan politics is as much a quagmire as religious sectarianism. Each group believes its way is "the" way, or they would have already merged together. Still, this has promise, if we could successfully overcome the sectarian separatism of the distinct parties. In order to accomplish this, however, we would need to have a strong presence in at least one such party.

I believe that our best option is to remain with the Green Party of the United States, and work to build it up, to get the message of the GPUS out, to inform the citizens of the actual numbers of the independent/NPP/"third" party voters, to register the unregistered eligible voters, to educate and promote the GPUS platform. The GPUS presidential candidate in this past election was on the ballot in 44 states and the District of Columbia, and eligible as a write-in in three more states, for a total of 48, which is more than enough electoral votes to have won, had Jill won in enough states to get those electoral votes. While she only got 1% of the popular vote this time around, that is a significant improvement on the 0.36% which she received in the 2012 election. If we start NOW, instead of waiting till 2019, we can increase that percentage even more. The Greens are found in several nations, and so have international recognition. The GPUS has organization and apparatus which we would not have to build from scratch. They are the largest Progressive Leftist party in the United States. They have name recognition. Many Berners went into the GPUS after the Democratic National Convention this year. Progressive Left-libertarians thus have a decent presence in the party already. We can ensure that the GPUS continues to stand for our ideals and selects candidates whom we prefer.

You may say I'm a dreamer of an impossible dream, but I'm not the only one. Someday we'll find the end of the rainbow, the lovers, the dreamers, and me, all of us under its spell.

Even if the Democratic Party were receptive to being reformed and to Progressive Left-libertarian ideals, that would not resolve the challenges which we face. The entire electoral system must be reformed. The Democratic Party must dispense with "Super Delegates." We need to eradicate the "two" party system itself, which has brought us to the point at which two widely disliked and distrusted candidates were put forward as the two major parties' offerings for the office of President of the United States of America, and that will only be possible if we are in a "third" party. We must get rid of "First Past the Post" elections and replace them with "Ranked Choice Voting" and Proportional Representation. We need to take control of the debates away from the bipartisan Committee on Presidential Debates, and put it in the hands of an authentically non-partisan body. We must reform campaign finance and restore the Fairness Doctrine, making it stronger than it was before. We need to amend the Constitution to declare once and for all that corporations are not people, and to overturn the Supreme Court's decision in the case of Citizens United vs the Federal Election Commission. We cannot accomplish these things from within the Democratic Party, for the establishment of the party would never allow us to do so, and they have no intention of empowering the members of the party, for doing so would remove their power. They are elitists who believe that they know what is best for us, when they are not merely Machiavellians intent on getting and keeping power and wealth, or pimps for the corporatist oligarchy. #DemExit must be permanent for all those Berners who left the Democratic Party, for the establishment of that party has no intention of allowing the party to be reformed; they have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. Those Berners who took part in #DemExit must go Green and stay Green, if they hope to ever see the future which all of us who are Progressive Left-libertarians long for.

We are still on this side of Paradise. If we wish to draw nearer to that destination, the path toward it is clear, and that path is through the Green Party of the United States. It's in our hands.

The title of the post comes from Star Trek (The Original Series), Season 1, episode 24; episode 24 overall; production code 25.

Fair use notice
This blog contains copyrighted material the use of which may not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material available in my effort to advance understanding of scientific, environmental, political, human rights, economic, philosophical, psychological, cultural, and social issues, etc.
I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. No challenge of ownership is intended or implied.
For more information: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/107.
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.