Bernie the Bomber’s Bad Week

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kidoftheblackhole
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Re: Bernie the Bomber’s Bad Week

Post by kidoftheblackhole » Tue Feb 25, 2020 9:55 pm

blindpig wrote:
Mon Feb 24, 2020 3:42 pm
There's the hump we need to get over: the knee-jerk dismissal of communist movements in real life.
The thin gruel that passes for history in capitalist society is no match for the detailed, logical history which we know. It ain't esoteric knowledge, it's just suppressed. Confronted with actual, documented events their megaphones ring hollow. It's part of what we must do, and do it well as possible, which means solid materialist grounding.

Today we only need point to China's excellent handling of the corona pneumonia. From what I'm hearing the only complaints the State Dept approved outlets can generate is 'lifestyle infringement' and it's bad for business. The difference in priorities is stark. It is mostly governments with skewed priorities that are the main cause of the contagion spreading now.
The markets are tanking because they understand that no other countries possess anywhere near the level of central planning of China. They're all getting a little queasy -- maybe they should test the markets for corona.

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Re: Bernie the Bomber’s Bad Week

Post by blindpig » Sat Feb 29, 2020 12:35 pm

A Chinese assessment of ‘democratic socialism’
23 FEBRUARY, 2020 ~ 4 COMMENTS
While the eyes of some are watching the curious rise of Bernie Sanders as the potential United States Democratic Party’s candidate for the presidential elections later this year, it is worth stepping back for a moment and asking what ‘democratic socialism’ (as proclaimed by the aforesaid septuagenarian) actually is.

I copy below an assessment from China, published already in 2009:

In recent years, and especially on the eve of the 17th CPC National Congress, the trend of democratic socialist thought has been on the rise. To help people understand the essence of democratic socialism, a group of Marxist scholars and experts, including Xu Chongwen, Zhou Xincheng, Zhang Quanling and Zheng Keyang, published articles on this issue. They agreed that democratic socialism is a reformist trend of capitalism that favors diversity in its guiding ideology, denies the leading position of Marxism, calls for privatisation in the economic system, and negates the dominant position of public ownership. With regard to the political system, democratic socialism advocates a multi-party system and parliamentary democracy, and negates the leadership of the communist party and proletarian dictatorship. As its ultimate goal, democratic socialism favours capitalist reformism, denies the historical impermanence of capitalism and the historical inevitability that human society will eventually evolve into socialism and communism. The scholars’ papers emphasised the fact that socialism with Chinese characteristics combines China’s national conditions with the times and a new form of scientific socialism. Any misinterpretation of the socialist road with Chinese characteristics as a democratic socialist road is groundless and fundamentally wrong.

The source – Marxist Studies in China (2009) – is one of the increasing number of journals publishing Chinese Marxist research in English. The quotation comes from pages 97-98.

https://stalinsmoustache.org/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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kidoftheblackhole
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Re: Bernie the Bomber’s Bad Week

Post by kidoftheblackhole » Sun Mar 01, 2020 1:29 am

Roland Boer -- Stalin's Moustache -- does some very nice work even though I have reservations about his obsession with (and sympathies for) religion.

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Re: Bernie the Bomber’s Bad Week

Post by solidgold » Sun Mar 01, 2020 3:10 am

As its ultimate goal, democratic socialism favours capitalist reformism, denies the historical impermanence of capitalism and the historical inevitability that human society will eventually evolve into socialism and communism.
Are they saying that socialism is inevitable, or is this faulty parallel structure? I might deny that. I like the analysis otherwise.

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Re: Bernie the Bomber’s Bad Week

Post by kidoftheblackhole » Sun Mar 01, 2020 4:22 am

solidgold wrote:
Sun Mar 01, 2020 3:10 am
As its ultimate goal, democratic socialism favours capitalist reformism, denies the historical impermanence of capitalism and the historical inevitability that human society will eventually evolve into socialism and communism.
Are they saying that socialism is inevitable, or is this faulty parallel structure? I might deny that. I like the analysis otherwise.
That part set off my laser tripwire too. I just decided to take it as a case of putting the best foot forward (because adding the caveat: "or civilization might be set back 1000s of years and get to redo the Urban Revolution" is kind of a downer). It probably runs deeper than that but, as you know, you kind of have to take these things "all in all" for the moment.

EDIT: incidentally, the theoretical issue with "inevitablism" is that all contradictions are not benign -- some manifest as antagonisms where the sides must fight to the death for resolution. What is true is that for the productive forces to advance, socialism and communism must subsume capitalism (but as pointed out in the linked piece, the advance of the productive forces is also what incubates communism).

This is separate from the practical issue with "inevitablism" which is obviously that it breeds a deep complacency (an omission of certitude, let's call it ;))

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Re: Bernie the Bomber’s Bad Week

Post by blindpig » Wed Apr 08, 2020 4:56 pm

Will Bernie Sanders Endorse Joe Biden Or Hold Out Like Elizabeth Warren?
Sanders has suspended his campaign for president but vowed to "stay on the ballot."
Bruce C.T. Wright
Written By Bruce C.T. Wright
Posted 1 hour ago


Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders Holds Rally In Detroit Ahead Of State's Primary
Source: Brittany Greeson / Getty

UPDATED: 11:52 a.m. ET, April 8 —

After weeks of assessing the state of his campaign for president, Bernie Sanders has called it quits. The Vermont senator made the announcement late Wednesday morning via his social media channels.



Bernie Sanders

@BernieSanders
Today I am suspending my campaign. But while the campaign ends, the struggle for justice continues on. https://www.pscp.tv/w/cVyXkDMyNzU3OTl8M ... _vzHvhEt8Q



84.5K
11:45 AM - Apr 8, 2020
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32.5K people are talking about this
The move cleared the way for former Vice President Joe Biden to become the Democratic nominee.

The question now becomes whether Sanders will endorse Biden or if he will hold out his support for the presumptive nominee like he was accused of doing four years ago and like Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has done since she suspended her own campaign last month.

Sanders hinted during his announcement on Wednesday that he would endorse Biden, but he also vowed to “stay on the ballot” in an effort to gather as many delegates as possible. Sanders said he would work with Biden to advance the progressive ideas they both share and “then, together, standing united, we will move forward to defeat President Trump.”

more...

https://newsone.com/3910364/will-bernie ... edium=push

The sheepdog cometh. Guess they figure that even Joe Biden can beat an opponent with a 6 figure domestic death count on him(not so sure bout that) without whipping up the kids. (tho' Bernie's not done that well). And no more talk of that 'socialist stuff' either, not when the commies are kicking ass in world opinion. Gotta unite, for the good of the country, no more divisiveness. You, me & Bill Gates, we're all in this thing together....

Edit:So I heard his statement on the radio, 'his movement has won cause it spoke truth to power'. JFC, ya can't get more lame than that.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Bernie the Bomber’s Bad Week

Post by blindpig » Fri Apr 10, 2020 1:31 pm

I think both parties have been happy to use Bernie to draw out and crush any chances of government by the people. After all, every remotely unbiased poll has shown a significant majority of the US public, from both parties, support many of the “socialist” ideas that now have been equated with Sanders…a loser. The policies were strong, Sanders as a person has shown himself repeatedly to be weak. The perfect embodiment to use to gin up support, get people excited that finally something might be changing, and then crush them in the most humiliating way possible. Think how many otherwise vibrant, radical activists had their guts ripped out by Sanders’ capitulation in ’16, walking away from political activism in disgust. And the extra tough nuts? Yeah, well Sanders the DNC (and RNC) just gutted them again, didn’t they? Yet another generation of potentially troublesome voters being taught their lesson: pick a shade of crayon from the permitted crayon box, or just quit…so long as you submit. Is Sanders knowingly complicit? Does it matter? He’s probably happy. He’s the now almost mythical “face of the little people” without having to ever be tarnished by trying to implement any socialist ideas against the might of the machine.

Posted by: J Swift | Apr 9 2020
This from comments at MoA. I dunno how 'radical' those Bernie Bros are but the part about discrediting even the idea of socialism, yes, I think so. Not that the sheepdog would ever do anything that Keynes wouldn't, he wouldn't even go that far. Some socialist. This is also correct in that it doesn't matter what Bernie 'really thinks'. What people 'really think' is the most useless speculation there is, in politics anyway.

I guess Bernie never saw that Financial Times article calling for socialist policies to save capitalism(again). But then mebbe he did and that's why he bailed.

Ain't no socialism ever gonna come from the Democratic Party and anyone who thinks otherwise better grow the fuck up.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Bernie the Bomber’s Bad Week

Post by blindpig » Thu May 14, 2020 1:37 pm

With Sanders Missing, Anti-Surveillance Amendment Fails by One Vote in the Senate
A 59–37 edge for the yeas is not a winning margin.
By JIM NEWELL

MAY 13, 20204:59 PM
Image
Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks remotely during the Senate Committee for Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions hearing on Tuesday in Washington.
Win McNamee/Getty Images

The Senate on Thursday took up a key bill to reauthorize domestic surveillance programs while making changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, with several substantial amendments on the line. One of the amendments, introduced by Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden and Republican Sen. Steve Daines, would have required authorities to obtain a warrant to access internet users’ search histories and browsing information. Uh, yes, pass that??

The amendment, however, met an extremely Senate grave: It “failed” with 59 yeas to 37 nays, one short of the 60-vote threshold it needed to overcome the streamlined vestigial filibuster. The splits didn’t fall neatly along partisan lines: 24 Republicans voted for it, while 10 Democrats voted against it. (Would you like to see the names of the Democrats who voted against it? Their names are: Tom Carper, Bob Casey, Dianne Feinstein, Maggie Hassan, Doug Jones, Tim Kaine, Joe Manchin, Jeanne Shaheen, Mark Warner, and Sheldon Whitehouse.)


Four senators, meanwhile, didn’t vote, when any one of them could theoretically have saved the amendment by showing up. Sen. Lamar Alexander is self-quarantining in Tennessee after a staffer tested positive for COVID-19. We don’t know where Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse was and do not care.

But where was Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, ranking member of the HELP Committee and assistant Democratic leader, or Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats and also constantly comes in second place for the Democrats’ presidential nomination?

Murray, a spokeswoman told me after the vote, was “flying back to D.C. from Washington state today. She isn’t in quarantine; she’s just been working remotely.” An aide confirmed separately to Politico that Murray would have supported the Wyden–Daines amendment had she been there.

A Sanders spokesman has not responded to our request for comment about the senator’s whereabouts. The Vermonter was last seen on Tuesday participating remotely in a HELP Committee hearing from a room decorated with music-related campaign paraphernalia. He has not cast a vote since the Senate returned to session on May 4.

That an amendment that sounds incredibly politically popular in restraining creeping surveillance authorities just happened to fall one vote short of what it needed to pass invites some reasonable theorizing. Perhaps Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell released the maximum number of Republicans to vote for this without letting it pass. Had Murray and Sanders been there to support it, McConnell could have twisted a couple of arms to keep it at 59.

Or it could have gotten enough votes to pass.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/202 ... fails.html

I suppose Bernie is a little miffed. Maneuvered out of a candidacy that most polls said was a winner by his own party he is now forced to witness real time events which would certainly seal his victory A sheepdog can only take so much, fuck them internet kiddies.

The Sheepdog has left the building.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Bernie the Bomber’s Bad Week

Post by blindpig » Mon Jun 15, 2020 11:43 am

Return of the sheepdog
United States Senator Bernie Sanders announced Friday he will introduce an amendment in the coming days to cut the Department of Defense’s US$740 billion budget by 10 percent and redirect that money toward healthcare, housing, and education in the poorest communities.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/San ... -0006.html
In the spirit & operation of bourgeois democracy this Social Democrat proposal the percentage will be whittled down to 1% providing that the f35 boondoggle continues to be built in Vermont. A real Socialist: a 50% cut, for a start, and that concentrated on the 'front end', jet fuel & munitions, weapon acquisitions, all overseas occupations. For a start.

This lame-ass posturing ain't gonna save the Dems.'The kids' are getting ahead of Bernie & the Dems, white & black, inadequate proposals from a fatally compromised party will not 'calm things down'. It only signals their true intent, which is stasis.

Trump will run as Nixon in '72 and Biden will play McGovern.....
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Bernie the Bomber’s Bad Week

Post by blindpig » Tue Aug 18, 2020 2:14 pm

Bringing In The Sheep
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE ON DELIVERY
The Honorable Bernie Sanders
United States Senator from Vermont
Democratic National Convention
Monday, August 17, 2020
Remarks as Prepared for Delivery
Good evening. Our great nation is now living in an unprecedented moment.
We are facing the worst public health crisis in 100 years and the worst economic collapse since
the Great Depression. We are confronting systemic racism and the enormous threat to our planet
of climate change. And, in the midst of all of this, we have a president who is not only incapable
of addressing these crises but is leading us down the path of authoritarianism.
This election is the most important in the modern history of this country. In response to the
unprecedented crises we face, we need an unprecedented response—a movement, like never
before, of people who are prepared to stand up and fight for democracy and decency—and
against greed, oligarchy, and bigotry.
And we need Joe Biden as our next president.
Let me take this opportunity to say a word to the millions who supported my campaign this year
and in 2016. My friends, thank you for your trust, your support, and the love you showed Jane,
me, and our family.
Together we have moved this country in a bold new direction showing that all of us—Black and
white, Latino, Native American, Asian American, gay and straight, native born and immigrant—
yearn for a nation based on the principles of justice, love, and compassion.
Our campaign ended several months ago, but our movement continues and is getting stronger
every day. Many of the ideas we fought for, that just a few years ago were considered “radical,”
are now mainstream. But, let us be clear, if Donald Trump is re-elected, all the progress we have
made will be in jeopardy.
Defending Democracy
At its most basic, this election is about preserving our democracy. During this president’s term,
the unthinkable has become normal. He has tried to prevent people from voting, undermined the
U.S. Postal Service, deployed the military and federal agents against peaceful protesters,
threatened to delay the election and suggested that he will not leave office if he loses. This is not
normal, and we must never treat it like it is.

Under this administration authoritarianism has taken root in our country. I, and my family, and
many of yours, know the insidious way authoritarianism destroys democracy, decency, and
humanity. As long as I am here, I will work with progressives, with moderates, and, yes, with
conservatives to preserve this nation from a threat that so many of our heroes fought and died to
defeat.
The Pandemic
This president is not just a threat to our democracy, but by rejecting science, he has put our lives
and health in jeopardy. Trump has attacked doctors and scientists trying to protect us from the
pandemic, while refusing to take strong action to produce the masks, gowns, and gloves our
health care workers desperately need.
Nero fiddled while Rome burned; Trump golfs. His actions fanned this pandemic resulting in
over 170,000 deaths and a nation still unprepared to protect its people.
The Economic Crisis
Furthermore, Trump’s negligence has exacerbated the economic crisis we are now experiencing.
Since this pandemic began, over 30 million people have lost their jobs and many have lost their
health insurance. Millions of working families are wondering how they'll feed their kids and
worried that they will be evicted from their homes.
And how has Trump responded? Instead of maintaining the $600 a week unemployment
supplement that workers were receiving, and the $1,200 emergency checks that many of you
received, instead of helping small businesses—Trump concocted fraudulent executive orders that
do virtually nothing to address the crisis while threatening the very future of Social Security and
Medicare.
Trump the Fraud
My friends, the American people have caught on that this president and his administration are, to
put it bluntly, frauds.
In 2016, Trump promised he would stand with working families. He said that he would “drain
the swamp,” take on Wall Street and powerful special interests. He would protect Social
Security, Medicare, and Medicaid and, by the way, he would provide health care to “everybody.”
Well. None of it was true.
Instead, he filled his administration with billionaires and gave trillions to the top 1 percent and
large corporations. He tried to throw 32 million people off of their health insurance, eliminate
protections for pre-existing conditions, and submitted budgets that proposed slashing Medicaid,
Medicare, and Social Security.

Joe Biden
But the truth is that, even before Trump’s negligent response to this pandemic, too many
hard-working families have been caught on an economic treadmill with no hope of ever getting
ahead. Together we must build a nation that is more equitable, more compassionate and more
inclusive.
I know that Joe Biden will begin that fight on day one.
Let me offer you just a few examples of how Joe will move us forward.
Joe supports raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. This will give 40 million workers a pay
raise and push the wage scale up for everyone else.
Joe will also make it easier for workers to join unions, create 12 weeks of paid family leave, fund
universal pre-K for 3- and 4-year olds, and make child care affordable for millions of families.
Joe will rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and fight the threat of climate change by
transitioning us to 100 percent clean electricity over the next fifteen years. These initiatives will
create millions of good paying jobs all across the country
As you know, we are the only industrialized nation not to guarantee health care for all people.
While Joe and I disagree on the best path to get to universal coverage, he has a plan that will
greatly expand health care and cut the cost of prescription drugs. Further, he will lower the
eligibility age of Medicare from 65 to 60.
To help reform our broken criminal justice system Joe will end private prisons and detention
centers, cash bail, and the school to prison pipeline.
And to heal the soul of our nation, Joe Biden will end the hate and division Trump has created.
He will stop the demonization of immigrants, the coddling of white nationalists, the racist dog
whistling, the religious bigotry, and the ugly attacks on women.
My friends, I say to you, to everyone who supported other candidates in the primary and to those
who may have voted for Donald Trump in the last election: The future of our democracy is at
stake. The future of our economy is at stake. The future of our planet is at stake. We must come
together, defeat Donald Trump and elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as our next president and
vice president. My friends, the price of failure is just too great to imagine.
###

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/17/poli ... index.html
So then, we need stand up to greed, bigotry, oligarchy, and then he says we gotta vote for Biden. Some major contradictions there, but likely not apparent to a social democrat.

Movement? What movement? Organization? Actions? Cheap warm fuzzies for his dim, desperate devotees is what I see. Don't think he's got an honest bone in his body. Perhaps decades ago, but ya lie down with pigs...........

Blaming Trump for 'authoritarianism' in the US profoundly ignores history, such tools have always been available to the rulers and have been increasingly been resorted to as the contradictions of booj democracy accumulated through the administrations, as sand in the gears of governing become boulders. To be sure, he has advanced the trend, but he sure didn't invent it.

While Trump certainly deserves much blame for his leadership during this pandemic it is capitalism which set the table, be it the lack of vaccine tech on hand relative to other advanced nations, the lack of necessary material on hand or the mad insistence that economic activity(by which they really mean profits) continue at any cost. The hue and cry about 'our' factories being overseas(China!) is particularly amusing, as this was dictated by the logic of capitalism, nobody put a gun to the head of off-shoring owners. The schools must be in class, and for all the fuss about kid's socialization(most really aren't snowflakes, their parents perhaps...) and the relative efficiency of on-line learning the base issue is really that we have no structure for day care in this country and so working parents are put in a hard place. Besides there are so many poor that food at school is a necessity. And these are reasons that liberals also air, those stalwarts of capitalism. The appearance of 'normalcy' which Trump craves is just icing on the cake. Finally there are the pre-existing medical conditions, very often caused or exacerbated by poor working conditions, unavailable health care and consumption impelled by capitalist propaganda(advertising).

Does Trump lie? Like a rug. Bernie lies all the time too, it is largely a matter of style, bald faced lies versus the more subtle mendacity of the polished pol. Perhaps some prefer the carnival barker, who you know is full of shit but is at least entertaining. Does Trump favor his own ruling class? Undoubtedly, as do all politicians in a class society, it's what they are there for. Trump is ham-handed in this and that is what establishment pols really hate, giving away the game. Is Trump's payroll tax scam a blow against Social Security? You betcha, but Obomber did the same goddamn thing, conveniently forgotten, as is so much of that abhorrent administration. Lies of omission...

And so it's Biden or perdition, yer with the Dems or Ultimate Evil, 'lesser-evilism' on steroids. And then Bernie spews a litany of campaign promises, all variation on the same promises which the Dems have been promoting for decades but never fulfilling when elected. Why should it be different this time? If they are so pro-labor why has Taft-Hartley not been repealed? How is Biden's retread of Obama care a road to universal health care?(it ain't) Why is the Green New Deal, the very height of Dem 'wokeness', a corporate sell-out?

Yeah Bernie, the planet is at stake, but Trump is a symptom, not the cause. To treat the cause is to consign capitalism to the ash heap of history. Nothing else will do.

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"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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