It doesn’t actually matter anymore who really won Iowa at this point; the damage is already done, writes Caitlin Johnstone.
By Caitlin Johnstone
CaitlinJohnstone.com
After a 2016 presidential primary race riddled with scandals, all of which worked against Bernie Sanders to the advantage of anointed establishment favorite Hillary Clinton, the 2020 Democratic presidential primary elections officially began with a massive scandal working against Bernie Sanders to the advantage of an establishment favorite.
The 2020 Iowa caucuses turned out to have been designed to depend on the use of a new, untested app with extensive ties to establishment insiders and to the Pete Buttigeig campaign, and because of problems using this app as of this writing we are still waiting on the full results of the election. The Iowa Democratic Party has bizarrely released a partial result with 62 percent of 99 counties reporting, which just so happens to have favored the campaign of a Mr. Peter Buttigeig, who in the sample came out on top in delegates despite coming in second in votes. [After 71 percent of the vote counted Buttigieg was still ahead on Wednesday morning.]
According to an Iowa precinct chair, the problems using the app (developed by the aptly named Shadow, Inc) included literally switching the numbers entered into it on the final step of reporting results.
“A precinct chair in Iowa said the app got stuck on the last step when reporting results,” CNN reports. “It was uploading a picture of the precinct’s results. The chair said they were finally able to upload, so they took a screenshot. The app then showed different numbers than what they had submitted as captured in their screenshot.”
#IowaCaucusDisaster Update: @leefang reports Acronym—the main investor in #IowaCaucus app developer "Shadow"— had senior leadership that "regularly expressed hostility to @BernieSanders supporters."
CEO of Acronym also married @PeteButtigieg staffer https://t.co/HP6QVx61BX
— Jordan (@JordanChariton) February 4, 2020
It doesn’t actually matter anymore who really won Iowa at this point; the damage is already done. Iowa is a sparsely populated state with an insignificant number of delegates; nobody campaigns there for the delegates, they campaign to make headlines and generate excitement and favorable press for themselves in the first electoral contest of the presidential primary race. This has already happened, and with Buttigeig first declaring victory before any results were in, followed by his delegate count lead announced hours later, the favorable press has predominantly gone his way.
Even if Sanders turns out to have won the delegate count as well, this will already have happened. He will have already lost the opportunity to start off the primary contest with a win and a rousing victory speech. In every way that matters, he has already been robbed, by extremely shady establishment dealings, in the very first electoral contest of the race.
The very first. Berners are already as outraged as they were at the height of the 2016 DNC scandal, which was still months out from this point in the race. They’re already getting screwed over, and it’s just getting started.
I see many people blaming this on incompetence, some in bad faith and some in good, but in either case there is no legitimate reason to do that anymore. It has been my experience that if someone seems to be totally incompetent but every “oopsie” they make just happens to end up benefiting them, it’s manipulation you’re dealing with, not incompetence. Some people are happy to look dumb if they can get what they want. If you watch their actions and ignore their words, a very revealing pattern shows up immediately.
This is all extremely blatant, and the feelings it brings up in people are completely legitimate. Yet narrative managers like Neera Tanden and Shannon Watts are telling everyone they’re just like Trump if they suspect the Democratic establishment is again doing the thing it did just four years ago.
Folks who are claiming anything may be rigged sound like Trump. Exactly like him. It’s pathetic.
— Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) February 4, 2020
If you’re implying there’s a conspiracy against your candidate due to #IowaCaucuses delay, you’re no better than this guy? https://t.co/1lfky5th0G
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) February 4, 2020
If such extremely shady shenanigans had occurred in Russia or Venezuela, within minutes Mike Pompeo would have been holding a press conference demanding a new election under UN supervision and an international coalition of sanctions. It’s hilarious how America is constantly staging coups, implementing sanctions and arming violent militias on the basis that their government has an illegitimate democratic process, yet its own most important electoral proceedings would make any third world tin pot dictator blush.
And don’t give me that crap about how Democratic Party primaries are separate from the U.S. electoral system and therefore don’t undermine American democracy; of course they do. If your country has a rigidly enforced two-party system and one of those parties has bogus internal elections, then you do not have any degree of democracy in your country. Saying “Well if you don’t like our rigged primary process you can vote for the other corrupt warmongering pro-establishment party” is not democracy.
The difference between a true totalitarian dictatorship and America is that the totalitarian dictatorship enforces one political belief system which supports the status quo, whereas in America you get the freedom of choice between two political belief systems which support the status quo. The entire system is stacked to ensure the continued rule of the oligarchs, spooks and warmongers who really run things behind the two-handed sock puppet show of the official elected government.
The U.S. doesn’t attack and undermine nations when they lack “freedom” or “democracy”, they attack and undermine them when they refuse to bow to the demands of the power establishment which controls the U.S. government and its allies.
The sooner people wake up to this, the better. In Iowa, things couldn’t have gone worse for those responsible for keeping people asleep.
Caitlin Johnstone is a rogue journalist, poet, and utopia prepper who publishes regularly at Medium. Follow her work on Facebook, Twitter, or her website. She has a podcast and a book, “Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers.”
This article was re-published with permission.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
Before commenting please read Robert Parry’s Comment Policy. Allegations unsupported by facts, gross or misleading factual errors and ad hominem attacks, and abusive or rude language toward other commenters or our writers will not be published. If your comment does not immediately appear, please be patient as it is manually reviewed. For security reasons, please refrain from inserting links in your comments, which should not be longer than 300 words.
A Case For A Bernie/Tulsi Ticket
It’s really simple.
After the shenanigans both the DNC and Pete Buttigeig’s campaign pulled, it now seems not only reasonable but strategically savvy for Tulsi Gabbard to have stayed out of Iowa.
Tulsi wasn’t going to poll anyway, as she didn’t at 0%. But she knew that already. Or, she would get 2%, maybe, if she canvassed. Which isn’t worth doing, really. Unless you’re desperate, like some of those who are hanging on by a thread.
So Tulsi decided to focus all of her efforts into the New Hampshire primary. Which works on two levels. The first level, Tulsi will receive more votes. Second to that is Bernie will also get a bump just by her presence, as both voting blocs are close to one another. Consolidation. Shoring up future votes.
And as we travel beyond New Hampshire and into the Land of Lost Wages (Nevada) that will give Bernie the momentum he will need to get into the mire of South Carolina. Which shows Joe Biden winning that state. But at this point, that is not even safe. Nina Turner has been laying waste to Joe’s actual record for a state he relies on for African American votes.
Bernie does well in that department too. That’s why Tom Perez stopped counting in Iowa. Because the satellite votes showed us the majority of minorities voted that way, and most of them, if not all of them, are Bernie supporters. They stopped counting, the DNC that is, and their hatchet man, Tom Perez, ceased count before counting all of the Bernie Strongholds.
In our corporate media, they would always “update” the count when Buttigeig was in the lead. Anytime Bernie would take the lead, they ignored it until Buttigeig surpassed Bernie. This process was repeated at least three times during the airing of the so-called “results.” Which is odd because the word “results” means the thing is over. It wasn’t.
NOT EVEN CLOSE TO OVER.
So yeah, I can envision Tulsi jumping aboard Bernie’s ticket. That would help some of Bernie’s weaknesses. Like his foreign policy. Bernie could also bring aboard Tulsi’s partner in that area with a guy like Dennis Kucinich. And, to get the Libertarian support, Tulsi could bring over Rand Paul for the non-interventionist foreign policy decisions.
Bernie and Tulsi could bring into the fray Andrew Yang, too. Cenk Uygur, too. And a bevy of other Progressives who have decided to run since last primary’s fuckery. There’s Independents who would vote for them.
They could bring over moderate Republicans.
When Bernie did his Town Hall on FOX, he got more than his fair share of folks who liked him; liked his message; a few liked some of his policies. That’s why Tulsi went on FOX. But they got hammered for that by the DNC establishment? Why? How many times have we heard those very same people say, “We need to get conservative votes”? So why pan someone when they’re only reaching out to folks you say need attention?
The largest voter-bloc out there remains the one-hundred-million voters who stayed home last election. And I believe both Bernie and Tulsi could bring at least a third of those folks along. Maybe more. But then again, we have a system that rewards “delegates” over the popular vote. Even something “Mayor” Pete said should be the gold standard, even though he took a victory lap with 64% of the vote in… as he was losing the popular vote?
Duncan F, Ole Bob here. So what exactly is your point.?
I’m A-partisan which makes it very difficult to find and hold a favorite for the presidential election. More info than you may need here but I’m an honest guy. So if the concept escapes you at least I tried.
Duncan, the very same can be said about you, vote for them if you want but then it’s on you. No fear here though.
Draining the swamp does not or never will require the importing of billionaire Hippos to raise the level of the squalid waters found there, while the #1 Hippo tries to buy his way into the here after.
Feel the Bern.
Everything in this entire process convinces me that there is some sort of “deep state” conspiracy afoot intended to keep Donald Trump in the White House! In the first place, why on earth did the House Democrats decide to try and impeach him just before a presidential election, knowing that he would never be convicted in the Republican controlled Senate? Were they bribed, blackmailed, or otherwise coerced by some malevolent group trying to undermine our democracy? Then, when the Iowa caucus imploded for the first time in history (on the eve of his acquittal), leaving the entire Democratic primary process suspended in disbelief, what did that accomplish, other than to undermine Americans’ belief in the sanctity of our system?
I have no idea exactly whom or what group would delight in such malevolent bullshit, but they are obviously not working in the best interests of our democracy! They need to be held accountable, sooner rather than later, and their crimes brought into the light of disclosure!
Welcome aboard the Ship of Fools , the dead in the water “U.S. Ship of State,” crewed by fools, those far too numerous crooks in D.C.
John misery loves company and I’m glad your here we patriots need all the help we can get.
Follow the money.
The super rich are nervous, the natives, all us “common folk” are making them nervous and they should be. When the truth gets out those lying get very nervous.
The ICIJ (google it) is a group of international investigators who in the last few years have received data and published stories from those sources.
The Illegal Off Shore Banking Industry has been exposed. A business that is estimated to be in the trillion dollar a year range. Lots of names of billionaire found there. In fact Mueller got all the names of U.S. citizens, according to ICIJ who now are no writing stories about US citizens because of possible investigations.
Now take my word for this I must be careful here. But the Dems have big problems on the horizon. They are desperate. I’ll leave it there with one parting shot. The Ukrainian deal is just getting started, that is if the mess doesn’t get covered up.
What group enjoys this bullshit you ask, my friend that group will consist mostly billionaires, from the world over. The Super Wealthy elitists. Especially those running cyber security firms. Can you say Jeff Epstein for instance.
It is what it is, no more no less.
Get ready to drop the sails and batten down the hatches.
Reminds me of the last election primaries. They end ( as California is not quite in the middle of voting) and Hillary Clinton walks out on stage and declares herself the winner and the Democrat nominee. Pete, she taught you well. I didn’t think anyone would try to get away with this again.
Practice, practice , practice. 10,000 hours later you may be a virtuoso. With digital prompting and Brain food …,Smartwater perhaps the process could be expedited.
“It doesn’t actually matter anymore who really won Iowa at this point; the damage is already done,…”
On one level that is true, but it is important to get to the bottom of this to make as many connections as possible and document the hell out of it. For primary states we need to have exit polling for validation. There need to be criminal charges filed where possible and civil charges otherwise. At some point Bernie and Tulsi need to pull out of the Democratic Party and run as independents. To pull it off the need massive proof of the repeated fraud conducted by the DNC to persuade the voters that they take with them the legitimacy of what was once the Democratic Party. In a 3-way race between Trump, Bernie, and some DNC hack, I would put my money behind Bernie.
Where does this issue of trust stem from between those in our political system and the American public?
When have not the lesser of American population been the ones that controlled the lives of the majority.
There was no trust even between the signers, the signers and the public at large, between each colonies government with other state government, one states church with another church in another state.
Here is something to think over, what Bodies of Law did the Government have encoded by 1835?
What was the process andbwho and why the death of Articles of Confederation, and a new Constitution that had new Amendments added to make it more palatable for population at large and its commercial interest within 3 t0 5 of states thinking of asking to rejoin Britain?
Why three, (3), seperate but equal in power branches of Government, and the peoples House having seperate and unequal powers, but set in place to watch over the ot he two branches?
Power begets power, and all political systems are but different guizes of Empires clothiers, olgarchs.
Lots made of Ben Franklin’s.( not proven), statement…A Republic if you can hold it”.
Now why would he of said that if he trusted that those in power would not usurp and cha he the Government unless we did not watch over those in positions of power.
Trust, he knew that trust was a rare commodity among men. for he was a man that was comfortable being among men of power, because he was of them.
It is no single man or woman’s fault that self interest is at best a matter of convenience of and at that instance, it is reality not what it should of or could of been for 200+years of US history.
The Iowa Dem. Party made a “mistake” in reporting Black Hawk county results , resulting in an undercount of hundreds of Bernie votes and an overcount for Steyer and Patrick. The IDP has now made a correction in their result reports. We only know about this “mistake” because the original tally was reported publicly by the Black Hawk county commish. Given that there are ~100 counties in Iowa , with virtually none of their data made public to date , the potential for similar such “mistakes” significantly impacting the final vote tally should be obvious.
We must assume that this represents blatant , in-your-face vote rigging , unless and until the original county tallies are reported by county-level officials and the IDP results are confirmed.
That’s right. There is no reason whatsoever and no room for excuses as to why we cannot get verifiable results. Theft in broad daylight is the only answer.
Funniest headline on Tuesday. Moon of Alabama website:
Putin Prepares To Release Iowa Caucus Results
Let’s make the news, and some say: “Pete Cheats to Remain Elite” or “Pete Cheats his Way to the Top.” Let’s make this Mayor Buttigieg’s last gasp. Peace.
It is stunning that his conflict of interest with this app developer doesn’t automatically disqualify him from continuing in the race. CheatinPete
Fred Hayes sang: “Democracy gives us a choice/ of which machine to vote with/ or which brand of razor we’d rather cut our throats with.” (“The Weavers Reunion” live at Carnegie Hall – I don’t remember to whom he attributes authorship of the ditty).
Butti as Juan Guaido in Venezuela – the neo-con, neo-liberal answer to election irregularities. In Venezuela case, the irregularities were a construction by neo-cons and neo-liberals in State Dept.and its cabal; in Iowa, neo-cons and neo-liberal Democrats – whoops, same puppet masters, just different puppets). Butti – a bottom dreaming of being on top.
Nicely done, again, Caitlin! Couldn’t have said it better, myself — but tried to yesterday. I think I’ll just have to share your article instead.
The Democratic primary has now turned into a Mexican election. From now on, the DNC should be called the PRI instead.
DNC, HRC . Synonymous.
Bernie will have to fight hardest.
The fiasco of those in Iowa who abandoned a successful use of pencil / pen and paper for 4 decades for an App allows me to use a line from a film series going back 83 years.
The Shadow knows.
Bravo for clear-eyed Caitlin Johnstone again.
I do care who won in Iowa, but there can be no count with no verification.
Ignoring and slandering Sanders has been insufficient, as has excluding Tulsi Gabbard. The DNC and associates are preparing to defraud the constituency directly again and steal the nomination again. Presumably, they would like to lose as little credibility as possible while they do so, since the 2020 presidential race is far from the only election that this will cost them–both up and down the ballot and through the years.
It makes that they find some advantage in complications and unclarity that can facilitate MSM distortions in reporting.
I would be interested in perspective around some of the things that Whitney Webb has written up at Mint Press, including “How Government and Media Are Prepping America for a Failed 2020 Election” and “Why a Shadowy Tech Firm With Ties to Israeli Intelligence Is Running Doomsday Election Simulations,” though I imagine that a lot of the data that will become relevant is yet to be produced.
How can we get Thomas Jefferson to quit rolling over in his grave regarding the corruption, now endemic, to the 2 Party system that was not created in his original Constitution? Don’t ever forget that. The imposition ( By way of Legislation and Supreme Court rulings) on the US Constitution and therefor on the people of the Untied States of America by a 2 Party system was never consistent with the vision of the the Founding Fathers no matter what “Originalist” Justices have ruled into be Law. It’s from the 2 Parties. They Legislated it and the Judges from the nomination process that were controlled by the leaders of the 2 Parties approved it. That is a bit of a problem after 170 years of collusion . Reversal of this process is not possible Now things are further complicated by the DNC and RNC. . The Power of the Purse excludes public involvement and oversight. Backroom deals ? This new tech reality that has come upon us in the last 20 years creates an entirely new level of obfuscation . In short, expect more of this before Election Day. Then every 4 years thereafter.
Democrat hackers aren’t as good as Republican hackers who in Iowa’s 2012 caucus put front-runner Ron Paul in 3rd place behind Mitt Romney and wonder-boy Rick Santorum, who two weeks earlier no one had ever heard of.
…and Venezuela is accused of holding dishonest election.
If We the People don’t neuter the Blue Dogs (Blue Dogs are Pretend Democrats who are addicted to their own power, therefore do ANYTHING – good or bad – to preserve the Status Quo), they will deliver the 2020 Election to Donald Trump and America will be OVER. I don’t recall who said it but, it went like this: ” . . . Sir, we must BUSTLE”
How many times have we had essentially this same discussion through the decades? And is there any point in discussing it, when people hear only what they want to hear? Network news reported that a new program was used to tabulate the vote count, and that there was apparently a software glitch. Imagine that. In spite of the cost and inconvenience, why not just repeat the process, this time relying on some sort of mechanism to ensure accuracy?
The DNC is a privately owned entity.
It is controlled by about five people.
I can’t recall where I read this, but it was probably here at CN.
It is outrageous that a political party is a privtely entity!
I just cannot wrap my head around this.
Regarding the results of the caucuses, surely every single caucus was videotaped.
Yes?
Right?
Like any dinky town meeting in New England?
A good article, thank you. The charade and fraud are going exactly as planned for the few who benefit. The stage is being set for greater hi-jinx and a savior for the dead donkey will enter the play, The show must go on. Hmmm…I wonder what we will see next? I doubt they will rediscover an old invention that requires no electricity and is proven to work, paper and pen, the challenge is between button pushers and those who can write and count ballots. For a society, and the public that claims democratic virtues has none, illustrated by both domestic and foreign policy. U.S.A. is not about building a democratic society, the robber barons a firmly in control.
2020 is entirely predictable. Sen. Sanders will be the Dem Party candidate, and Trump will be re-elected. Liberals will maintain their resistance against acknowledging the deep split in the Dem voting base, middle class vs. poor.
Yeah, my cousin Spivack knows everything and he says Buttigeig is a Red Herring . I responded that Jerry Brown can’t be that much older than Sanders or Biden or Trump for that matter. He is a way better speaker , smarter and more accomplished. Witness not only 16 years as Governor of the Little Engine that Could, a stint as Attorney General of the same but more amazingly he turned Oakland , California into a success story as Mayor ( Buddy Buttireig never did that) and a beacon for zombie Capitalism. I’m talkin’ a miracle . 10K slogan worked regarding re-energizing Lake Merritt and Downtown. I say draft him. There is direct evidence of his vision and stewardship. Of course , he’s not like Nixon . I don’t believe he would actually let then kick him around again and then there was that unpleasant stint as head of the DNC after HillaryCare and Bill winning the Presidency with 43% and all that other unpleasantness. . Bad memories but yeah, I still say Jerry Brown for Not Trump. Kirk Douglass lived to be 103. What’s the problem?
The entire American political system is in desperate need of a major shake-up – at all levels.
Who, needs the effin’ Russki’s when you have the DNC ?!?!?
Does the title mean: “DNC Loses Public Trust … of the Totally Unobservant … in Primary Process on Very First Day”?
To anyone watching with anything more than passing interest, the DNC lost said public trust 4 years ago.
It’s formally called Hobbs choice which means it’s no choice at all. Look it up. Hobbs ran a livery business.
It is “Hobson. Hobson’s choice.” Only one horse available!!!
I think its a Hobson’s Choice, because old man Hobson said “you can choose between the horse tied near the door, and nothing”.
It is time we realized we have a “puppet” government.
We don’t agree on who the puppet-master is.
Very nice effort Caitlin.
DNC NEVER had my trust to begin with. Anyone with any sense knows this system has went from rigged to uncontrollably rigged.
I have espoused for years now how the two party system in this country is killing America. I knew dam good and well that once the SCOTUS became an activist court ran by the hysterical right wing extremist we would be done as a country. Take a good look around kids, it’s time to turn out the lights because the party is over. Pardon (parties) the pun.
No mention here about the Jewish billionaire Seth Klaman, a guy named Seth, the nerve of B Obama the Queen of Chaos, who seems to have had his hands all over the Iowa caucus count.
We, voters have been sold out.
The way I have it figured is that Israel is in the final stages of taking over the government of the United States, from the inside using billionaire’s. . There now I have said it and I defy anyone to prove me wrong.
The events of the last ten days is the beginning of the final act of this experiment. It’s time to get into the streets.
But then again I’m no dictator so you all just keep watching those 401 K’s grow I mean those markers are doing great, right!
Had! You can vote for them if you want, but then it’s on you. No one said draining the swamp was going to be easy.
Well said! As always an impressive display of critical analysis.
Merit, I completely agree. Caitlin’s clarity of thought is matched only by her ironic turn of mind. She has gotten me through many a political nightmare with her analysis and wit. Thank you Caitlin.
On the mark, Caitlin, on the mark in every respect.
In a country with anything close to an actual democracy, one with a president, at the very least the party registered voters across the whole country would be the ones electing the nominee, choosing the candidate they want to be able to vote for in the presidential election, not just a couple of minor states and definitely not the party apparatus.
And of course there’d be a much more numerous party choice than that we *supposedly* have (one party with two faces), reflecting the reality of the population’s differing views.
But then, the plutocrats wouldn’t (hopefully) be running the show, wouldn’t exist as the multi-billion, millionaires they are.
On the mark indeed. I love how Caitlin not only exposes the cancerous truths about American politics, but how she expresses righteous indignation about it in no uncertain terms. Too bad we don’t have more home-grown American pundits capable of or willing to do the same.
Yup. The Inauthentic Opposition Party gave one hell of a boost to Trump at the very first primary.
Corruption runs so deep in American politics. Apparently ‘Pete for America’ paid 40k to Shadow, what a joke…
What does post impeachment Trump look like as we head to November? Gallups Feb 4 presidential approval shows the following:
– highest approval of his presidency, 49%
– 94% approval among Republicans
– 42% approval among independents
– 52% support acquittal
– 53% approve of killing the Iranian general
– American’s confidence in the economy is at its highest in 20 years
– “National satisfaction” is at his highest in 15 years
– 63% approve of Trump’s handling of the economy–the highest since pre 9/11
– 51% have a positive opinion of the Republican Party
– (note before the Iowa meltdown) 45% have a positive opinion of the Democratic Party
Two things strike me from all this. First, my own views are not found in a single statistic from this survey. Second, while I’d love to think we are ever-nearer breaking the bondage of a two party system, the vast majority of Americans are perfectly content to ‘go along to get along’ so long as the economy is perceived by them as good.
Sadly, we know from the last post primary season that the DNC has no intention of moving towards a more open and democratic primary process.
To give some credit where credit is due, Buttigeig has been on the ground with a large staff working in Iowa going back to small pub and bookstore meetings long before making his candidacy official. I certainly was not surprised that this midwestern centrist would have appeal among his fellow midwestern crowd. I don’t think there is anything conspiratorial (until proven otherwise–beyond Blumenthal innuendo reporting) to prove he gave Bernie anything but a good honest run in Iowa. I would have been very surprised if Bernie had buried him. The 44% poll just didn’t seem believable to me. (And so you know I voted for Bernie in the primaries of 2016).
The reported links (plural) between Buttegeig and the shadow Shadow operation being held responsible for this fiasco are too ominous to ignore when one examines the cast of characters, all Democrat party pros, involved. Their goal was clearly to avoid newspapers across the country publishing banner headlines saying, “Sanders Wins Iowa!”
Buttegeig, performing better than had been expected, then took the opportunity to claim that he had won the state, revealing some precinct vote counts before they had actually been certified
I suspect that this will fire up Sanders supporters and cause problems down the line for Buttegeig as would be or potential supporters learn of his complicity with those in the shadows in sabotaging Sanders’ campaign.
No one I’ve seen write on the subject has yet to acknowledge what we’re dealing with here : “Evil Geniuses”;
not just corrupt & bumbling actors giving software contracts to their buddies.
Just like the “best and brightest” figured out that by killing millions of asian folks, they could sluice more
money to their friends in the Military Industrial Complex.
Bernie is deprived of his bump, and Biden’s disgraceful performance is hidden.
This is not *bumbling*. It’s Genius.
It’s clever, but it’s not genius.
Calling the US a dictatorship, is an insult to dictators. When I visit Turkey, I might not like Erdogan, but i know whose reality I’m living in and how he got there. Muslim people.support Erdogan, educated secularists mostly hate him. In a way, it’s much more sane.
The US is a Mateix like dystopia run by monsters operating in the shadows filled with educated people who cant understand their reality. I am not sure what is more unsettling, the crime itself or the chorus of news outlets shouting down the conspiracy theorists and my lettered friends on cue vociferous defending the integrity of our system.
The extensive militarized psychological operations which cause people to see a crime as not a crime is what I dread far more than the crime itself.
Excellent
Spot on answer. And a ‘genius’ operation. We’re outnumbered and there are not enough heros to come forward to expose. One is in Russia. The other is in jail. The ones who are free are edified.
#MayorCheat is gonna have legs.
Iowa rallies: Bernie, 3000 – Biden, MayorCheat, 200:
See: commondreams.org/news/2020/02/01/i-cant-believe-amount-people-here-over-3000-rally-sanders-influential-iowa-survey
See: thegrayzone.com/2020/02/04/pro-israel-buttigieg-seth-klarman-iowas-voting-app/#more-20231
Your two links need to be disseminated widely. Such a shame that they most likely will lay dormant.
“It doesn’t actually matter anymore who really won Iowa at this point; the damage is already done”
True.
And don’t forget the additional embarrassment of the Des Moines Register newspaper poll.
The Democrats look rather ridiculous.
So, was it all a Trump security services effort?
Trump? No, it was a DNC effort to prevent Sanders from winning.
No, the Russians in the Shadow.
By the way have you seen how the DNC hates paper trails ?
Is ANYBODY that regularly reads this site surprised? I mean, REALLY? This is just a ‘forever’ Class War and bluntly, We the People have always been losing this battle and we all know it though we don’t like to think about the end results much.
This war has been going on long before the Europeans invaded and took over this continent. Humans invented empires and that’s what we have lived in for at least the last 9,000 years that we have records of (archeological digs included).
With the majority of the US population absolutely ignorant of history, addicted to their phones, barely literate, and with a 2 second long concentration level…yeah, well, you know. Hopeful I’m not. Maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised?
sealintheSelkirks
AMEN! Ignorant of history and a 2 second long concentration level, starts with our current President, followed by the majority of the Senate and the House, then including all the previous Administrations (many, many decades worth) and then the millions of Americans who have become, or perhaps always were, too lazy or busy to do any reading and research on historical matters.
So, to prevent something like:
45% Sanders / Gabbard
40% Trump / Paul
10% Libertarians
5% Greens
the UnDemocratic and UnRepublican parties would rather prefer:
35% Trump / Pence
30% Buttigieg / Clinton
20% Libertarians
15% Greens
This is the gang that couldn’t shoot straight. Fixing the election and looking like bumbling idiots at the same time. This is so blatant that it may actually help Bernie via electoral blowback, although I suspect Trump is having a chuckle over it.
Caitlin, as usual, really nailed it; though I tend to think that for all intents and purposes there is now a three party system: the Repugnants, who are united; and the Democrat corporate centrists vs the progressive wing. The latter two might as well be two different parties. Though since they are fighting under the same roof, things could get dicey.
This is really quite sickening considering the stakes. It all boils down(imo) to the US becoming a failed state. Maybe like a drunk bottoming out redemption may rise out of the mess.
Yep!
Yes. The drunk hitting bottom may be the most apt metaphor. Only then is the denial broken, and reality may be faced out of sheer, abject misery and despair. One surrenders the delusions of control and grandiosity, and goes to a freaking meeting.