I have to say that this is a fascinating thing to watch. The liberal establishment simply do not want Sanders. Their reasons vary, ranging from at worst, a hostility of their corporate backers to a left-wing anti-corporate candidate through to at best, a tactical fear of leaving the presidency on the table for a Republican candidate to snap up because they think that Sanders simply won’t win nationally. Wrapped up in all this is the centre right leadership of the Democratic Party itself facing an existential crisis because it’s grip on power (consolidated under Bill Clinton’s presidency) is now under challenge by a leftish grassroots movement.

Just as the Republican establishment is in disarray from the challenge of the Tea Party movement, the Democrats are also facing a democratic challenge to its authority; the first such challenge in a very long time. No amount of sponsorship money from Goldman Sachs and Time Warner is blunting this challenge. Sanders is on a Trump-like surge in popularity and Clinton is looking a bit like Jeb! 2016.

Originally shared by ****

Just what the world needs. Another war hawk.

Originally shared by Democracy Now!

Originally shared by Ed Huff

No matter who wins, the US remains a militarily aggressive empire.

Originally shared by Christopher Carr

The author oversells the point somewhat, but Sanders supporters (that would be me) should give it a read:

“Given that morality and legality seem to have no influence over American foreign policy, the end of empire will likely emerge out of fiscal anxiety and insolvency. It might be fun to blow up the world, but eventually, we just won’t have the money for it. If liberals are satisfied with that eventual outcome, and if they have the patience to sit through years of unnecessary death and destruction while the cash register slowly empties, they can continue to ignore America’s military presence around the world, and they can continue to act as if bomb craters and dead bodies amount to just one more issue for consideration alongside tax rates, standardized testing, and gay marriage.”

Originally shared by Christopher Carr

The author oversells the point somewhat, but Sanders supporters (that would be me) should give it a read:

“Given that morality and legality seem to have no influence over American foreign policy, the end of empire will likely emerge out of fiscal anxiety and insolvency. It might be fun to blow up the world, but eventually, we just won’t have the money for it. If liberals are satisfied with that eventual outcome, and if they have the patience to sit through years of unnecessary death and destruction while the cash register slowly empties, they can continue to ignore America’s military presence around the world, and they can continue to act as if bomb craters and dead bodies amount to just one more issue for consideration alongside tax rates, standardized testing, and gay marriage.”

Originally shared by Jeff Zahari

“Those drawn to groups such as Islamic State are certainly both politically enraged about Western imperialism and have a very particular view of Islam. Religion and politics both form indispensible threads to their stories. And, yet, the ‘radicalization’ argument, whether stressing push or pull factors, whether prioritising religion or politics, looks upon the jihadists’ journey back to front. It begins with the jihadists as they are at the end of their journey –  enraged about the West, with a black and white view of Islam, and a distorted moral vision – and assumes that those are the reasons that they have come to be as they are. But if we look at the stories of wannabe jihadis, the first steps on their journeys to Syria are rarely taken for political or religious reasons.”

Originally shared by Irreverent Monk

Do you know why they spent 6 years negotiating in secret? Because you were not supposed to know how they are going to fuck you over.

Copyright extended to 70 years after death. Stronger criminal laws against whistleblowers.

Yes, because hiding the shit they are going to do to you is so important that anyone reporting on it should go to jail.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/10/final-leaked-tpp-text-all-we-feared