February 15, 2015

Thanks so much for saying that better than I could! Saving that.

February 14, 2015

NNOOO!!1!!!! You get right back here so we can give you a damn good thrashing!!

February 13, 2015

That guy had me fooled for years! Turns out he was GOP all along. Thanks for the Iraq War, Ralph!

The hundreds of thousands in their graves salute you... with the bones of their middle finger.

But the mangled victims and veterans only send you the little finger, because you ain't worth the middle finger.

Bernie said about his getting in the race or not, "I'm not going to be a spoiler like Nader, not going to help elect a rightwing Republican in 2016."

The bashers need to put that in their pipe and smoke it for a while. Of course, he'll be under the bus now, along with Gore, Warren, Kerry, Obama, Hillary, et al, and the rest of us who need a Democratic win to not be driven into the streets and stoned to death by Tea Party mobs.

At least we're in good company, huh? What kind of cookies do you have? I'll slip you a chocolate chip one while we're under the proverbial bus.

February 11, 2015

Says there is no way he can compete with the big money:

Bernie Sanders: The Billionaires May Just Win

...In a candid answer to a question about his political viability Monday, he lamented the "absurd" amount of resources he would need to mount a serious campaign, both in the primary and general elections.

Even if he raised $100 from 2 million people – for a total of $200 million – he worried it wouldn't be enough. "That is 20 percent of what the Koch brothers themselves are prepared to spend. Can you take that on? I don't know the answer. Maybe the game is over. Maybe they have bought the United States government. Maybe there is no turning back. Maybe we've gone over the edge. I don't know. I surely hope not. But we have to look at that reality."

"The gut feeling… that I'm going to have to reach is whether there is that willingness to stand up and fight back. And if there's not, I don't want to run a futile campaign," he said..."I am not Mr. Bloomberg of New York and I don't have billions of dollars," he said toward the end of his talk, referring to the former New York City mayor.

But if Sanders – the most ideologically pure liberal in the Senate – determines a campaign for the cause is too arduous, too futile and just not worth it, he'll only hand liberals more reason to be angry...

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/bernie-sanders-the-billionaires-may-just-win/ar-AA9aFjI?ocid=iehp

From a DU thread here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026205198

There were a few threads in the last few weeks such as:

If Bernie Sanders Runs For President, It Won’t Be as an Independent: “I will not be a spoiler”

Naturally, “Will you run for president in 2016?” was the first question DFA Executive Director Charles Chamberlain asked Sanders. Though not definitive, his answer was enough to leave these activists hopeful.

“I am giving very serious consideration to it, but before you make a decision of that magnitude, … you have to make sure that you can do it well,” Sanders said. “So what we are doing is reaching out to folks all over this country trying to determine whether or not we can put the grassroots organization together that we need.”

Sanders knows he will have to rely on grassroots mobilization to have a fighting chance at being elected, because his campaign will take on every monied interest. “If I run, we’ll be taking on the billionaire class,” he said. “That’s Wall Street, the drug companies, the military industrial complex.”

To the dismay some idealists, Sanders rejected the idea of running for president as an independent. “No matter what I do, I will not be a spoiler,” Sanders said. “I will not play that role in helping to elect some right-wing Republican as President of the United States.”

http://inthesetimes.com/article/17572/bernie_sanders_president

From this DU thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6140372

Bernie Sanders: Stand Up to the Koch Brothers...



From DU post:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017235807

Notice him mentioning the 63% who did not vote. I posted a video just before the elections last year. He used that same percentage. He was begging people to get out and vote to defeat the GOP. But they people at the meeting didn't want to talk about that, they wanted to talk about Israel.

The meeting in NYC wasn't about that, it was about income inequality. After a while he quit speaking and said he had to go and see his wife who was waiting for him, but if there had been interest, I think he would have stayed longer.

He wasn't there to promote himself for office, but to get people to get out and vote for the Democratic Party, who he caucuses with for a reason. I can't find the video though, because I don't remember the title of it.

So he looking at things realistically and frankly I really wanted him to run on the Democratic ticket. He was on the Scarborough show saying he might run as a Democrat, and I'll bet they'd have let him in the primaries and it would have been great to see what everyone stood for on the issues he brings up.

But he can also see the apathy. The only thing that would overcome the money is massive turnout, such as Greg Palast warned us after the Bush coup. Voter turnout did it for Obama twice, jumping over many hurdles. Despite millions whose votes weren't counted and the obstruction of billionaire owned media, it worked.

Since then it's been a steady drizzle of apathy inducing memes to keep Democrats, not Republicans, out of voting. They will definitely be voting, and the GOP runs in continuous campaign mode. They don't just work on elections when the 'season' is near. They know better. They set the atmosphere all year long.

That's the writing on the wall, if he can't get enough votes. We will not win by the gun, and won't win if we decide our vote doesn't matter and don't vote, either. As 1SBM said:

And "Mission Accomplished" could be heard whispered throughout the land. (It seems)

GOP: "Government doesn't work" ... Check!

Libertarians (right and left): "Government is evil" ... Check!

Tea Party: "Government doesn't work and there is no difference between establishment republicans and establishment Democrats" ... Check!

"Liberals/Progressives": "Government is evil and there is no difference between establishment republicans and establishment Democrats" ... Check!

The media has played this narrative on a 7-day, 24-hour loop.

Result: Only 15% of the American people pay close attention to the only mechanism for change.

Nicely played, Oligarchs!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025633467#post8

JMHO.

February 10, 2015

Several sources on her and that question:

American ISIS hostage Kayla Jean Mueller wanted to help Syrian kids



Updated Feb 6, 2015

PRESCOTT, Ariz. -- A hostage at the center of a conflict involving Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants is an aid worker who grew up in Arizona and was driven by her calling to help children whose lives were ripped apart by war...

Kayla Mueller described her mission during a speech to the Prescott Kiwanis Club, where her father is a member, during a visit home in May 2013.

"For as long as I live, I will not let this suffering be normal," said Mueller, whose remarks were reported by The Daily Courier in Prescott. "It's important to stop and realize what we have, why we have it and how privileged we are. And from that place, start caring and get a lot done."

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/american-isis-hostage-kayla-jean-mueller-wanted-to-help-syrian-kids/

She died in Raqqa, the 'defacto capitol' of ISIS in Syria. ISIS has been operating in Syria for some time and terrorizing the population, along with other bad actors:

Syria: War’s Toll on Women

Activists, Others Detained and Abused by All Sides in the Conflict

July 2, 2014
Human Rights Watch

(London) – Women in Syria have been arbitrarily arrested and detained, physically abused, harassed, and tortured during Syria’s conflict by government forces, pro-government militias, and armed groups opposed to the government, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW Committee) will conduct a review of the situation for Syrian women on July 4, 2014, in Geneva.

The 47-page report, “We Are Still Here: Women on the Front Line of Syria’s Conflict,” profiles 17 Syrian women who are now refugees in Turkey. Through written and photographic portraits, the report documents ways in which the conflict impacts women in particular. Women profiled in the report experienced violations by government and pro-government forces as well as by armed groups opposed to the government such as Liwa’al-Islam and extremist groups like the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS). Some female activists and humanitarian aid providers said they had been threatened, arbitrarily arrested and detained, and tortured by government or armed opposition forces. All six former detainees profiled in the report experienced physical abuse or torture in detention; one woman was sexually assaulted multiple times. Other women said they had been victims of discriminatory restrictions on their dress and movement. Several women were injured or lost family members in indiscriminate attacks on civilians by government forces.

“Women have not been spared any aspect of the brutality of the Syrian conflict, but they are not merely passive victims,” said Liesl Gerntholtz, women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch. “Women are taking on increasing responsibilities – whether by choice or due to circumstance – and they should not have to pay with intimidation, arrest, abuse, or even torture.”

The United Nations committee review is an opportunity to highlight the plight of women in Syria – in particular, that the government of Syria and many non-state actors are committing abuses against women and girls in a climate of total impunity, Human Rights Watch said. The committee should urge the Syrian government to cease arbitrary arrest and detention and all forms of violence against women, to investigate such abuses, and to hold those responsible to account. During its review, the committee is responsible for assessing the state party’s adherence to its obligations under CEDAW and recommending actions it should take to improve the situation for women and girls...

GRAPHIC images and stories are linked at the source link:

http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/07/02/syria-war-s-toll-women

Women's Rights Activist tortured and executed by ISIS

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/26/world/middleeast/womens-rights-activist-executed-by-islamic-state-in-iraq.html?_r=2

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/25/1332478/-Women-s-Rights-Activist-tortured-and-executed-by-ISIS

Iraq Slave Markets Sell Women for $10 to Attract Isis Recruits

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/iraq-slave-markets-sell-women-10-attract-isis-recruits-1468506

'Treated like cattle': Yazidi women sold, raped, enslaved by ISIS

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/30/world/meast/isis-female-slaves/index.html

That's what my short search yielded, but there are worse ones. They defend their practices of sexual slavery, torture, and murder of men, women and children. They are committing genocide and using women as incubators for future generations to follow in their foot steps and for fun and profit. Ed Schultz said on his MSNBC show:

"I cannot pay enough taxes for the bombs to take these guys out."

Not. Nice. People.

February 10, 2015

I listened to the show for years as I watched former Democrats leave the party over Obama, who he

roundly despised running for his first term. Then Jones proceeded to make numerous videos, some shown in movie theaters and always available at youtube, of the terror that Obama was going to inflict on the world.

These were all near Hollywood grade productions, very mesmerizing to a lot of people. You will see these memes worked through by many people online.

I listened to him talk of the plan of San Diego as if it is still active:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_of_San_Diego

He has applauded armed patrol on the border, encouraged the murder of federal officers, claimed that all immigrants from all countries are here to kill white people. I've heard him cheer on people calling in about personhood laws and telling them to pass more of them with no objection to Texas' draconian vaginal ultrasound laws, and rail against public education, the IRS, military, police, social safety net programs, etc. He's even had the head of the John Birch Society on his show.

He says both parties are the same since he's a Libertarian. He instructed his Ron Paul followers to get into OWS as it was being overrun by 'communists.' Here is the SPLC page. Give it a good read, it's just the tip of the iceberg with this guy:

http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/profiles/alex-jones

I watched Democrats trying to figure out how Bush got away with what he did in office, despairing in 2004. Jones was ready to take in the disaffected with his theories, which he now admits are Bircher, but he didn't early on while he was getting more listeners. After a few years of Alex, many of these sat out the 2010 election or even voted Tea Party. There is no turning them back.

Here is Jones' belief system, as written by Robert Welch Jr.:

"Wherever he looked, Welch saw Communist forces manipulating American economic and foreign policy on behalf of totalitarianism. But within the United States, he believed, the subversion had actually begun years before the Bolshevik Revolution. Conflating modern liberalism and totalitarianism, Welch described government as 'always and inevitably an enemy of individual freedom.' Consequently, he charged, the Progressive era, which expanded the federal government's role in curbing social and economic ills, was a dire period in our history, and Woodrow Wilson 'more than any other one man started this nation on its present road to totalitarianism' ... In the 1960's, Welch became convinced that even the Communist movement was but 'a tool of the total conspiracy.' This master conspiracy, he said, had forerunners in ancient Sparta, and sprang fully to life in the 18th century, in the 'uniformly Satanic creed and program' of the Bavarian Illuminati. Run by those he called 'the Insiders,' the conspiracy resided chiefly in international families of financiers, such as the Rothschilds and the Rockefellers, government agencies like the Federal Reserve System and the Internal Revenue Service, and nongovernmental organizations like the Bilderberg Group, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Trilateral Commission."

~ Sean Wilentz, Princeton University historian, October 2010 [7]

Welch accused Presidents Truman and Eisenhower of being communist sympathizers and possibly Soviet agents of influence. He alleged that Eisenhower was a "conscious, dedicated agent of the communist conspiracy",[20] and that Eisenhower's brother Milton was the President's superior in the communist apparatus. President Eisenhower never responded publicly to Welch's claims.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Welch,_Jr.

More on Welch from the JBS entry:

In the 1960s, Welch began to believe that even the Communists were not the top level of his perceived conspiracy and began saying that communism was just a front for a Master Conspiracy, which had roots in the Illuminati; the essay "The Truth in Time" is an example.[5] He referred to the Conspirators as "The Insiders," seeing them mainly in internationalist financial and business families such as the Rothschilds and Rockefellers, and organizations such as the Bilderbergers, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Trilateral Commission. He did avoid the antisemitism, anti-Freemasonry, and anti-Catholicism of other conspiracy theorists, saying that such prejudices would "neutralize" anti-Communist, anti-conspiracy efforts. According to one source, Welch converted to Roman Catholicism in the months prior to his death.[6] As a result of his conspiracy theories, the John Birch Society became synonymous with right-wing extremism, earning satirical blasts from critics ranging from the cartoonist Walt Kelly to the musicians Bob Dylan and Dizzy Gillespie.[7]

About the JBS itself:

The organization claims to identify with a particular type of Christian principles, seeks to limit governmental powers, and opposes wealth redistribution, and economic interventionism. It opposes collectivism, totalitarianism, and communism. It opposes socialism as well, which it asserts is infiltrating U.S. governmental administration. In a 1983 edition of Crossfire, Congressman Larry McDonald (D-Georgia), then its newly appointed president, characterized the society as belonging to the Old Right rather than the New Right.[14]

The society opposed the 1960s civil rights movement and claimed the movement had communists in important positions. In the latter half of 1965, the JBS produced a flyer titled "What's Wrong With Civil Rights?", which was used as a newspaper advertisement.[15][16] In the piece, one of the answers was: "For the civil rights movement in the United States, with all of its growing agitation and riots and bitterness, and insidious steps towards the appearance of a civil war, has not been infiltrated by the Communists, as you now frequently hear. It has been deliberately and almost wholly created by the Communists patiently building up to this present stage for more than forty years."[17] The society opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, claiming it violated the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and overstepped individual states' rights to enact laws regarding civil rights. The society opposes "one world government", and it has an immigration reduction view on immigration reform. It opposes the United Nations, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), and other free trade agreements. They argue the U.S. Constitution has been devalued in favor of political and economic globalization, and that this alleged trend is not accidental. It cited the existence of the former Security and Prosperity Partnership as evidence of a push towards a North American Union.[18]

Naturally, they hate NATO, the UN and all of those agencies. It's popular with those who haven't answered in their heads the question of how we were supposed to have dealt with the Nazis in WW2 which he also calls a fraud. I haven't heard him deny the Holocaust, but he's even had David Icke who walks a thin line between that and the Protocols of Zion material which is now getting new believers.

Alex Jones has done shows that say the UN will employ the foreign born because they'd willingly shot Americans. He's done rants how the Mexicans will do human sacrifice again with whites as the victims. There is nothing too low for Alex, he's selling a nightmare of mafia style government which really terrifies a lot of people.

But he never speaks of the GOP mafia, Tea Party brownshirts and corporatist union busting goons. Since 'unions are commie,' doncha know.

More on the Birchers:

Fred Koch, founder of Koch Industries, was one of the founding members.[26][27][28][29] Robert Waring Stoddard, President of Wyman-Gordon, a major industrial enterprise, was also among the founders.[30] Another was Revilo P. Oliver, a University of Illinois professor who later severed his relationship with the society and helped found the National Alliance. A transcript of Welch's two-day presentation at the founding meeting was published as The Blue Book of the John Birch Society, and became a cornerstone of its beliefs, with each new member receiving a copy.[14] According to Welch, "both the U.S. and Soviet governments are controlled by the same furtive conspiratorial cabal of internationalists, greedy bankers, and corrupt politicians. If left unexposed, the traitors inside the U.S. government would betray the country's sovereignty to the United Nations for a collectivist New World Order, managed by a 'one-world socialist government.'"[31][32] Welch saw collectivism as the main threat to Western Civilization, and liberals as "secret communist traitors" who provided cover for the gradual process of collectivism, with the ultimate goal of replacing the nations of western civilization with a one-world socialist government. "There are many stages of welfarism, socialism, and collectivism in general," he wrote, "but Communism is the ultimate state of them all, and they all lead inevitably in that direction."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Birch_Society

Doesn't this all sound depressingly familiar, to see these things played with? You may have seen these threads:

Thom Hartmann: Conservative Millennials, Boomers & Libertarians all being Conned

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1017&pid=44227

And this newer one by Claire Conner who grew up with this and has written a book on it:

The John Birch Society and the Kochs: Peas in a Pod

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026185341

Jones never speaks against corporatism or capitalism and is against all public workers, government programs, regulation, particularly of guns. He has an annual Israel bashing show about the attack on the USS Liberty. This is likely the reason DU has rules about CT and Israel, saying, and NOT saying you are ever outside the lines, Judi, even if we don't always agree, you really care about things you post about:

DU TOS:

Democratic Underground is an online community for politically liberal people who understand the importance of working within the system to elect more Democrats and fewer Republicans to all levels of political office. Teabaggers, Neo-cons, Dittoheads, Paulites, Freepers, Birthers, and right-wingers in general are not welcome here. Neither are certain extreme-fringe left-wingers, including advocates of violent political/social change, hard-line communists, terrorist-apologists, America-haters, kooks, crackpots, LaRouchies, and the like...

Do not post bigotry based on someone's race or ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion or lack thereof, disability, or other comparable personal characteristic. To be clear: This includes any post which states opposition to full equal rights for gays and lesbians; it also includes any post asserting disloyalty by Jewish Americans, claiming nefarious influence by Jews/Zionists/Israel, advocating the destruction of the state of Israel, or arguing that Holocaust deniers are just misunderstood...

Democratic Underground is not intended to be a platform for kooks and crackpots peddling paranoid fantasies with little or no basis in fact. To accommodate our more imaginative members we tolerate some limited discussion of so-called "conspiracy theories" under the following circumstances: First, those discussions are not permitted in our heavily-trafficked Main forums; and second, those discussions cannot stray too far into Crazyland (eg: chemtrails, black helicopters, 9/11 death rays or holograms, the "New World Order," the Bilderbergers, the Illuminati, the Trilateral Commission, the Freemasons, alien abduction, Bigfoot, and the like). In addition, please be aware that many conspiracy theories have roots in racism and anti-semitism, and Democratic Underground has zero tolerance for bigoted hate speech.
How many times in online forums are people parroting the lines written by Jones, not knowing that they have been taken in by a guy who is doing the work of the Koch and ultra-conservatives, hates the New Deal and teachs a new generation what most thought had been roundly dismissed and dismantled years ago but now has new and younger fans?

The Birchers were the ones who called Earl Warren a traitor for desegregation; who called Kennedy a Communist for not bombing Cuba; and posted billboards and handbills with hatred toward both.

Do people realize they are in bed with Phyllis Schafly, the WBC, and other odious groups when they think they found something new as it is repackaged for each generation?

And now the Kochs and others like them are close to bringing the entire American government to its knees to serve them, to dissolve the nation into fiefdoms, which doesn't matter to Jones a bit. In fact, it's a return to his vision of Paradise. Where the Romneys of the world replace public education with church schools and services, where nothing will exist past the Tenth Amendment, and all those pesky things like women's and minority rights will be forgotten as if they never existed.

This is why I've come to totally loathe the Patriot Movement, with their Open Carry goons, sexism, racism and all the rest of it.

Not ranting at you, but I have to vent at times. You research what you say, I think some just listen and repeat what they hear. I can testify that the Infowars universe is a very seductive, psychologically manipulative one that has transformed America into what most of us do not want to live in.

February 10, 2015

VIDEOS of Kerry in Munich without Todd:

Secretary Kerry and German Foreign Minister Steinmeier at Bilateral Meeting in Munich



Published on Feb 8, 2015

Feb. 7, 2015: Secretary Kerry met with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the Munich Security Conference.

Secretary Kerry Responds to Questions at Munich Security Conference 2015



Published on Feb 8, 2015

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry responds to questions at the 2015 Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany on February 8, 2015. A transcript is available at:

http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2015/02/237298.htm

February 10, 2015

Thanks for my two favorite paragraphs of his words. I posted the video but didn't have a transcript.

He speaks for me there. And once again, lest we forget:

February 9, 2015

West Wing Week: 02/06/15 or, "To All the DREAMers"

Published on Feb 6, 2015

Welcome to the West Wing Week, your guide to everything that’s happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. This week, the President spent time with Scientists, Letter Writers, Immigration, Healthcare and Education Advocates, Spiritual Leaders, Athletes, and DREAMers. That’s January 30th to February 5th or, "To All the DREAMers."

Obama packs more into a day than most of us pack into a week and what he does within a week, is more than many will do in years. And see how aware he is of every aspect going on around him and enjoying the job.

February 9, 2015

President Obama Speaks at the National Prayer Breakfast

By the White House - February 5, 2015

On February 5, 2015, President Obama delivered remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C.

Just stumbled on this video after hearing it referenced at DU. Some commented on the Dalai Lama and Namaste, others on the reference to the Crusades.

Right wing media complaints on Obama's mention of the Crusades have jumped the shark, obviously. His words are historical fact and in no way are a slam on Christianity. He follows them with similar comments on the nation of India.

Regarding the Dalai Lama, they've tried to meet or have met before. Searching for posts, I found a letter from Obama to the Dalai Lama in 2009 at DU2:



http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x6544012

The Dalai Lama was supporting dialog with Iran, despite the predictable cat calls from the right a long time ago, something I found at DU2 also:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x6068571

Those posters are no longer here, though. Although I've read things about Tibet which are disturbing, I believe Obama is speaking to Ideals the Dalai Lama has been espousing.

Anyway, there's the video, and you may need to turn up the sound as it's rather low. I'll post a video for my fellow BOG members referencing the prayer breakfast in a West Wing Week presentation next.

And here are pictures from posts on DU3. IDK which threads they were on. If anyone knows, please post the links and I'll refer to them here.

Obama gestures with the greeting Namaste.



This one is titled 'Obama at the Prayer Breakfast.'



To which I'll add this favorite of mine:



*NOTE: THIS IS THE BOG. YOU KNOW THE DRILL. TIA.*