I think most of us here have come to the conclusion that the US elections are a total farce, and are just about team cheerleading. Whoever gets into office is going to get all their briefings from the same "intelligence" agencies, get their funding from the same billionaires, and get their directives from the same Israeli leaders. Even Trump would get the same "advisors" presenting him with his only "options". When we vote for someone like Stein, we are basically just saying no to the Red and Blue teams, and even then, it might amount to 5% of the total vote if we are lucky. It seems quite likely that nothing is going to change until the US empire really begins to crumble under the weight of its own hubris.
John, any reading of history certainly shows empires don't change, they collapse. I guess it remains to be seen whether ours will be the sacking by the Visigoths; our own Bastille moment; or the bloody fields of the Somme.
The USA under the Biden Administration is falling apart.
Genocide is called “self-defense” and is applauded by the Congress.
The war in Ukraine after the CIA overthrow of their democratically elected government is the US fighting for Ukraine’s “freedom and democracy”. Our man, Zelenskyy is a dictator.
Maduro, the democratically elected Leader of Venezuela must go. (And was the CIA responsible for regime change in Bangladesh and Pakistan? I think so! Bashar al-Assad in Syria has survived our attempts so far.)
A demented senile President sits mumbling to himself, while his clueless and incompetent VP tells protesters to shut up while she’s blabbering incoherently!
The US corporate media does nothing but lie and attack independent journalists like Scott Ritter and Max Blumenthal. (see also Julian Assange). YouTube censors and bans sites like Judge Andrew Napolitano.
And the cabal of oligarchs that runs the Democratic Party, removed their Presidential nominee and expeditiously anointed the unelected puppet Kamala Harris as his replacement. In any other Third World country we would call this a coup d'état.
The American people must have a clear and sober understanding of the corrupt power dynamics in the Democrat Party. This gangster move by the oligarchs who control the Democrats stripped away any pretense that any democracy is left in the Democratic Party.
Until America changes its method of voting in its President, its stuck with its two-Party duopoly. Voting for Jill Stein, running for the fourth time now never getting close to 5%, is wasting your vote. She cannot become the 47th POTUS. Not in our lifetimes for sure.
A third-Party Candidate has never become the POTUS in 160-years
If you want even the remotest infinitesimal chance of America crawling out of the huge abyss that Biden administration has got the US into ~ you need to vote TRUMP/VANCE.
Any other vote is naive, irresponsible and a vote for more homelessness, inflation and war. And maybe the end of us all. A nuclear WW3
I stopped voting for the Blue Team a long time ago (Obama's first run was the last straw for me). So if I am not voting for them, I clearly would never vote for Trump. I have said to my wife several times that I was tempted to vote for Trump just because I have grown to hate the Dems so much, but those were passing fits of idiotic desperation. Trump isn't going to fix anything, and he may even make the situation in Gaza worse if that is even possible. I will be voting for Stein or Kishore of the Socialist Equality Party. I am voting for what I believe in, which is what voting is supposed to be about. Voting for something you disagree with just so you might "win" is self-defeating. If I voted for Trump, and he won, that doesn't mean that I "win". In fact, I lose because Trump stands for everything I think is destroying this country and the world.
Dennis, my friend....there's much to agree with, in your comment. At least up until your voting advice.
Here's how I see it: the duopoly (or 'uni-party) won't be broken until enough voters decide to break away from lesser-of-evils logic and give their vote to someone who actually shares their values, interests and positions.
Just as many will vote for Harris to stop Trump, a vote for Trump is, for many, I suspect, also a vote for the lesser of evils. Many who make those kinds of choices actually recognize that it's not because they're inspired by their candidate, but see it in the binary framing deliberately thrust upon us by others.
In any case, we'll continue to get what we deserve (preservation of the failing status quo with its moral tailspin and national decline) as long as we continue to believe that is our only choice.
But what if people began waking up to that reality? What if they decided it was time to choose someone who actually reflected their values and aspirations, instead of holding their nose and hoping for a miraculous, sudden enlightenment by the lesser of the evil candidates?
I mean, it has to start somewhere, right? Maybe it's time to get off the oligarchs' merry-go-round.
I pledge allegiance to the lethal empire and to the billionaire class for which it stands. Who says we can't find common ground between teams red and blue? Vapid, celebrity worship rules. We can be sure that Harris will never divert from the teleprompter-giddy-joy script of platitudes (reminds me of the happy-clappy Christian crowd I've seen up close for way too many years) just as Trump will snarl and belittle at every opportunity. The grumpy clown or the giddy clown. Embrace your poison.
When Bernie was shafted in 2016, I voted for Stein. Living in Ecuador now, I'll sit this one out and can only weep for a nation that cannot face its own "democratic" authoritarianism on its road to ruin.
I am 79, living with a large herding dog in Richmond, CA, wishing I had the guts/energy to move myself and my doggie to Ecuador; though the government there, alas, I think is not so left wing anymore. Meanwhile I am voting for Stein. I heard an opinion on KPFA radio, the left wing station in Berkeley, CA that it is a moral imperative that everyone in CA against the current genocide being committed by the Dems should be voting for Stein or West, since CA is very much not a swing state (predominantly Dem).
From what I read, since I could not stomach watching TV on the proceedings, the Democratic convention has been the manifestation of vapidity and shallowness.
Ecuador is certainly not a two-party system. As I've said to friends, it has its share of corruption but at least such remains illegal on the books; while the US has the most sophisticated legal corruption on the planet. I love the culture and beauty of the place (we are in Cuenca) as well as appreciate the hard work and inherent dignity of its people. I have zero intention of ever returning to the US and only hope the US never sets its sights any more than they already do on this Latin American country. For what it's worth, people do still move to other countries into their 80's even and use reliable services to bring pets, large and small.
I am replying to my own post. I did not watch Harris' speech, so theoretically I guess I should have not posted here, after carefully rereading W. Astore's request for comments.
Summed up easy enough: Start by declaring we shall only move forward; followed by a diatribe on Trump and Jan 6 (seems going back to me); defend war; ignore genocide; recite platitude after platitude and leave the crown cheering on every kind of mediocrity.
Jill Stein gets my vote....especially after watching the "Politics of Joy" crowd ignoring the reality of the war policies they are imposing, especially in Gaza. And the images of the DNC attenders covering their ears and laughing at those reading the names of the Palestinian dead was stomach turning. I will be glad if Harris wins as it will keep Trump out of office, but my resistance to the Democrats is full blown.
I'm voting for Jill as well. She is leading and speaking truths many don't want to hear. We must build alternatives to the corporate 2 party good cop-bad cop tango.
Jill Stein is my only option, and that's strictly from a values driven, ballot access perspective. No doubt I'll be dismissed by some Blue Team friends, more accurately "acquaintances" now, until either candidate is inaugurated. (The way things are going in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, I hope we last that long, or longer.) What is most discouraging to me is observing former critical thinkers not only succumb to the national narrative propaganda, but embrace it.
In 2020 Howie Hawkins, taking over the Green Party baton, got a pathetic 0.3%.
Ralph Nadar, even with his huge respect and great name recognition, only got 2.7% in 2000 running as a Green.
The Green Party has never got any traction in the US. Those "Commies" to most Americans
And Stein has messed in her own nest with serious voters this election cycle by initially promoting the goofy Cornell West as the Green Party 2024 POTUS candidate - until he flaked out!
It's a systemic problem. Well proven in 1992 when Billionaire Ross Perot challenged Bush and Clinton on a populist platform of slashing the budget deficit. He got an amazing 19.0% of the vote ~ but didn’t receive a plurality of voters in any state, giving him ZERO ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTES.
Until America changes its method of voting in its President, its stuck with its two-Party duopoly. Voting for Jill Stein, running for the fourth time now, is wasting your vote.
Sorry. She cannot and will NEVER become the 47th POTUS. Not in our lifetimes for sure.
A third-Party Candidate has never become the POTUS in 160-years
If you want even the remotest infinitesimal chance of America crawling out of the huge abyss that Biden administration has got the US into ~ you need to vote TRUMP/VANCE.
Any other vote is naive, irresponsible and a vote for more homelessness, inflation and war. And the end of us all. A nuclear WW3
So you don't care about the odds of a better American future, eh Lt. Col.
You have your head stuck in the sand with your ongoing stubbornness.
Cutting your nose off to spite your face.
If someone cuts their nose off to spite their face, they do something to disadvantage something ~ but in doing so harm the something they are advocating for.
As a third party or independent candidate vote "waster" for over 20 years, I had to smile at one of the more detailed, data driven rationales for supporting a wing of the War Party. As a former Naval Aviator in the war on Vietnam, and a f#cking tool for the US empire in 1972, I learned the hard way that to vote for any Duopoly candidate is to guarantee more interventionist militarism. Regrettably, World War III is already ongoing, and a nuclear exchange a foregone conclusion. The neocons are practically giddy about it.
You're absolutely right, Jill Stein won't win, but she's running on a peace platform. I have to be able to look in the mirror.
Respectfully Gene, you missed the whole point of my comment.
A vote for Jill Stein is a cop out and a huge risk. Stein cannot win, and a win by the Democrats will be tragic and a 100% guarantee of more homelessness, inflation and war. And maybe a nuclear WW3.
A vote for TRUMP/VANCE/RFK Jr on the other hand is a 10% chance or higher of reducing homelessness, inflation and war. And the possibility of avoiding a nuclear WW3.
And you will be able to look yourself in the mirror. At least you tried.
And did not cop out and not be able to look yourself in the mirror.
Just an Observation: Political discourse in Amerika seems to have finally reached the "Sports-Talk Radio" stage: nothing but "hot takes" on "hot button" issues ... Apparently no one gives a tinker's damn about the Amerikan people and what they deal with on a daily basis: so many are caught up in decrying the evils of the Amerikan Empire that what's been happening at home for years - with no sign of relief - is largely ignored.
(That said, this latest edition of the Bracing Views Podcast - which will no doubt stir up more vilification from a hefty percentage of the listening/reading audience - strikes me as being both sober and thoughtful in a way many blogs & podcasts are not. I'll be one surprised ex-pat if a string of podcast links presented to support one candidate or the other and in the process point out how wrong-headed the Lt. Col.'s (ret.) position is don't show up. But none of which will obviate the truth of my assertion.)
I missed the coronation. Instead I watched "The Baron of Arizona", starring Vincent Price (always a goodie). Price stars as James Reavis, a swindler who falsely claims that the Spanish King Ferdinand VI granted much of the territory of Arizona to Reavis's wife's family in the 18th century. Apparently the story is basically true and in reality Reavis almost got away with it. I'm thinking if he were alive today he would have been one of the speakers this past week. A con man among con artists.
Yes, Jill Stein is ethically and morally superior to the imbeciles offered by the Democrats or Republicans. But, it doesn't appear to me she can offer anything beyond broad statements - however desirable her positions may be. Legislation and policies are in the details and those who will implement them.
In the end, it comes down to a committed team that can work the policies and legislation through the entrenched institutions and hostile interests. I don't support Trump, but as a reminder, he ordered the troops out of Syria and was ignored by those hostile interests.
Here's a thought experiment. Your favorite choice is elected - even by a landslide. Then, explain how that person will change the way this country is run. The money will stow flow, as always, to those who support the empire and the economic inequalities that benefit a tiny few.
Harris’ speech was grafted by the Machiavellian minds of Obama and Clinton. Pandering to the MICC, the women and minorities. Their mindset has given the world a taste of the abusive treatment of “jungle nations” (Joseph Borrell, EU foreign minister). Want to continue never ending wars and submission to Zionist Israel then vote Harris. SHE will do nothing of real domestic importance by following the examples of Clinton, Obama and Biden. The financial elite will guarantee that she behaves. Progressive agendas have no chance in modern America. As Richard Wolff in UNDERSTANDING CAPITALISM says they have been dismantling FDR’s progressive programs since the end of WW II. Both Democrats and Republicans have been doing it. “The era of big government is over” I think was Bill Clinton’s guiding principle when signing his welfare reform bill and abolished Glass-Steagall. The pot of gold (America’s promise of the pursuit of happiness) is still to be discovered at the end of rainbow. Vote for Stein! Why not? Voting for the other two is also wasting your vote.
I'm voting for Cornel West. Claudia de la Cruz and Jill Stein also have good platforms, but Cornel West has a long history of activism for disenfranchised people. Chris Hedges and Richard Wolff, both people whose values I admire, are West supporters.
Dr. Jill Stein, Cornell West, et al are just wasting people's time.
Their intention is great ~ but as for the last 160-years, the results will be same.
Third Parties have not won the POTUS in 160-years.
And there is no argument that the Democratic Party is a lost cause. Irredeemably corrupt.
The coup of Biden was unconstitutional. The never elected clueless Kamala Harris is a joke!
Aunty Jean, if you want even a remote INFINITESIMAL chance of America crawling out of the abyss that Joe Biden administration has got the US into you need to vote TRUMP/VANCE 2024.
Any other vote is naïve and voting for more of the same.
I have come to the conclusion that Dems, Reps, and JFKJr are perfectly willing to overlook genocide (a long violently tortuous ghastly evil process) that we see daily in our MSM and our papers and that they ignore in order to have more money and power. None of these party candidates are behaving in a moral or even human way. I don't know what they are, and I don't know what we are if we vote for them. What is happening in Palestine/Israel is an unholy nightmare that cannot be condoned by ANYONE in my view, who purports to be human; and the lies being told about it are flooding our lives with a horror that colors in blood everything else we touch. Unless I see Kamala and Co. speak with honesty about what is happening there, I can't give them or anyone else my mark of approval. It makes no difference that Kamala might do some things better than Trump, both are equally inhuman in their greed for power and money that imbues everything else in their lives. I recognize that evil will follow however I choose to vote, but at least if I vote for Jill I will not have condoned this evil by voting for someone who chooses it. At this point Jill (and West) are the only candidates not colored by blood that I know of.
Ranney my man, a vote for the Democrats, Jill Stein or the Ivory Tower Cornel West is a huge risk. While Stein and West cannot win, a win by the Democrats will be tragic and result in more of the same. A 100% guarantee of more homelessness, inflation and war. And maybe the end of us all. A nuclear WW3
A vote for TRUMP/VANCE 2024 is a 10% chance or higher of America crawling out of the abyss that the Joe Biden administration has got the US into. A 10% chance of reducing homelessness, inflation and war. And the possibility of avoiding a nuclear WW3.
I think most of us here have come to the conclusion that the US elections are a total farce, and are just about team cheerleading. Whoever gets into office is going to get all their briefings from the same "intelligence" agencies, get their funding from the same billionaires, and get their directives from the same Israeli leaders. Even Trump would get the same "advisors" presenting him with his only "options". When we vote for someone like Stein, we are basically just saying no to the Red and Blue teams, and even then, it might amount to 5% of the total vote if we are lucky. It seems quite likely that nothing is going to change until the US empire really begins to crumble under the weight of its own hubris.
John, any reading of history certainly shows empires don't change, they collapse. I guess it remains to be seen whether ours will be the sacking by the Visigoths; our own Bastille moment; or the bloody fields of the Somme.
The USA under the Biden Administration is falling apart.
Genocide is called “self-defense” and is applauded by the Congress.
The war in Ukraine after the CIA overthrow of their democratically elected government is the US fighting for Ukraine’s “freedom and democracy”. Our man, Zelenskyy is a dictator.
Maduro, the democratically elected Leader of Venezuela must go. (And was the CIA responsible for regime change in Bangladesh and Pakistan? I think so! Bashar al-Assad in Syria has survived our attempts so far.)
A demented senile President sits mumbling to himself, while his clueless and incompetent VP tells protesters to shut up while she’s blabbering incoherently!
The US corporate media does nothing but lie and attack independent journalists like Scott Ritter and Max Blumenthal. (see also Julian Assange). YouTube censors and bans sites like Judge Andrew Napolitano.
And the cabal of oligarchs that runs the Democratic Party, removed their Presidential nominee and expeditiously anointed the unelected puppet Kamala Harris as his replacement. In any other Third World country we would call this a coup d'état.
The American people must have a clear and sober understanding of the corrupt power dynamics in the Democrat Party. This gangster move by the oligarchs who control the Democrats stripped away any pretense that any democracy is left in the Democratic Party.
Until America changes its method of voting in its President, its stuck with its two-Party duopoly. Voting for Jill Stein, running for the fourth time now never getting close to 5%, is wasting your vote. She cannot become the 47th POTUS. Not in our lifetimes for sure.
A third-Party Candidate has never become the POTUS in 160-years
If you want even the remotest infinitesimal chance of America crawling out of the huge abyss that Biden administration has got the US into ~ you need to vote TRUMP/VANCE.
Any other vote is naive, irresponsible and a vote for more homelessness, inflation and war. And maybe the end of us all. A nuclear WW3
I stopped voting for the Blue Team a long time ago (Obama's first run was the last straw for me). So if I am not voting for them, I clearly would never vote for Trump. I have said to my wife several times that I was tempted to vote for Trump just because I have grown to hate the Dems so much, but those were passing fits of idiotic desperation. Trump isn't going to fix anything, and he may even make the situation in Gaza worse if that is even possible. I will be voting for Stein or Kishore of the Socialist Equality Party. I am voting for what I believe in, which is what voting is supposed to be about. Voting for something you disagree with just so you might "win" is self-defeating. If I voted for Trump, and he won, that doesn't mean that I "win". In fact, I lose because Trump stands for everything I think is destroying this country and the world.
Dennis, my friend....there's much to agree with, in your comment. At least up until your voting advice.
Here's how I see it: the duopoly (or 'uni-party) won't be broken until enough voters decide to break away from lesser-of-evils logic and give their vote to someone who actually shares their values, interests and positions.
Just as many will vote for Harris to stop Trump, a vote for Trump is, for many, I suspect, also a vote for the lesser of evils. Many who make those kinds of choices actually recognize that it's not because they're inspired by their candidate, but see it in the binary framing deliberately thrust upon us by others.
In any case, we'll continue to get what we deserve (preservation of the failing status quo with its moral tailspin and national decline) as long as we continue to believe that is our only choice.
But what if people began waking up to that reality? What if they decided it was time to choose someone who actually reflected their values and aspirations, instead of holding their nose and hoping for a miraculous, sudden enlightenment by the lesser of the evil candidates?
I mean, it has to start somewhere, right? Maybe it's time to get off the oligarchs' merry-go-round.
Well said.
They say you would waste your vote by voting for Jill Stein. Vote for Harris or Trump, that's the way to waste it
Over under on when the swing states are declared, and if any of them should be certified on Jan 6th?
My bet last swing state comes in on 11 Nov! Veterans Day!
I pledge allegiance to the lethal empire and to the billionaire class for which it stands. Who says we can't find common ground between teams red and blue? Vapid, celebrity worship rules. We can be sure that Harris will never divert from the teleprompter-giddy-joy script of platitudes (reminds me of the happy-clappy Christian crowd I've seen up close for way too many years) just as Trump will snarl and belittle at every opportunity. The grumpy clown or the giddy clown. Embrace your poison.
When Bernie was shafted in 2016, I voted for Stein. Living in Ecuador now, I'll sit this one out and can only weep for a nation that cannot face its own "democratic" authoritarianism on its road to ruin.
I am 79, living with a large herding dog in Richmond, CA, wishing I had the guts/energy to move myself and my doggie to Ecuador; though the government there, alas, I think is not so left wing anymore. Meanwhile I am voting for Stein. I heard an opinion on KPFA radio, the left wing station in Berkeley, CA that it is a moral imperative that everyone in CA against the current genocide being committed by the Dems should be voting for Stein or West, since CA is very much not a swing state (predominantly Dem).
From what I read, since I could not stomach watching TV on the proceedings, the Democratic convention has been the manifestation of vapidity and shallowness.
Ecuador is certainly not a two-party system. As I've said to friends, it has its share of corruption but at least such remains illegal on the books; while the US has the most sophisticated legal corruption on the planet. I love the culture and beauty of the place (we are in Cuenca) as well as appreciate the hard work and inherent dignity of its people. I have zero intention of ever returning to the US and only hope the US never sets its sights any more than they already do on this Latin American country. For what it's worth, people do still move to other countries into their 80's even and use reliable services to bring pets, large and small.
I am replying to my own post. I did not watch Harris' speech, so theoretically I guess I should have not posted here, after carefully rereading W. Astore's request for comments.
Summed up easy enough: Start by declaring we shall only move forward; followed by a diatribe on Trump and Jan 6 (seems going back to me); defend war; ignore genocide; recite platitude after platitude and leave the crown cheering on every kind of mediocrity.
Jill Stein gets my vote....especially after watching the "Politics of Joy" crowd ignoring the reality of the war policies they are imposing, especially in Gaza. And the images of the DNC attenders covering their ears and laughing at those reading the names of the Palestinian dead was stomach turning. I will be glad if Harris wins as it will keep Trump out of office, but my resistance to the Democrats is full blown.
I'm voting for Jill as well. She is leading and speaking truths many don't want to hear. We must build alternatives to the corporate 2 party good cop-bad cop tango.
Jill Stein is my only option, and that's strictly from a values driven, ballot access perspective. No doubt I'll be dismissed by some Blue Team friends, more accurately "acquaintances" now, until either candidate is inaugurated. (The way things are going in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, I hope we last that long, or longer.) What is most discouraging to me is observing former critical thinkers not only succumb to the national narrative propaganda, but embrace it.
Jill Stein only got 0.36% of the vote in 2012.
And 1.07% in 2016.
In 2020 Howie Hawkins, taking over the Green Party baton, got a pathetic 0.3%.
Ralph Nadar, even with his huge respect and great name recognition, only got 2.7% in 2000 running as a Green.
The Green Party has never got any traction in the US. Those "Commies" to most Americans
And Stein has messed in her own nest with serious voters this election cycle by initially promoting the goofy Cornell West as the Green Party 2024 POTUS candidate - until he flaked out!
The sad fact is that with the US's not requiring ID to vote, mail in ballots, first-past-the-post and winner-take-all voting, and the anachronistic Electoral College with its Superdelegates there is not even a theoretical chance a Third-Party candidate can be elected POTUS. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/america-isnt-really-set-up-for-third-party-presidential-bids/
It's a systemic problem. Well proven in 1992 when Billionaire Ross Perot challenged Bush and Clinton on a populist platform of slashing the budget deficit. He got an amazing 19.0% of the vote ~ but didn’t receive a plurality of voters in any state, giving him ZERO ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTES.
Until America changes its method of voting in its President, its stuck with its two-Party duopoly. Voting for Jill Stein, running for the fourth time now, is wasting your vote.
Sorry. She cannot and will NEVER become the 47th POTUS. Not in our lifetimes for sure.
A third-Party Candidate has never become the POTUS in 160-years
If you want even the remotest infinitesimal chance of America crawling out of the huge abyss that Biden administration has got the US into ~ you need to vote TRUMP/VANCE.
Any other vote is naive, irresponsible and a vote for more homelessness, inflation and war. And the end of us all. A nuclear WW3
Why should I vote Trump/Vance, when I don't want Trump/Vance to win?
Why should I vote Harris/Walz, when I don't want them to win?
My vote is my vote, and I choose how to wield it. I couldn't care less about the odds of victory.
So you don't care about the odds of a better American future, eh Lt. Col.
You have your head stuck in the sand with your ongoing stubbornness.
Cutting your nose off to spite your face.
If someone cuts their nose off to spite their face, they do something to disadvantage something ~ but in doing so harm the something they are advocating for.
Yup, that's me: A nose-cutter!
i'm somewhat surprised that You dignified that Bullshit with a response, Bill.
But if You're going tp respond, that was just about perfect.
As a third party or independent candidate vote "waster" for over 20 years, I had to smile at one of the more detailed, data driven rationales for supporting a wing of the War Party. As a former Naval Aviator in the war on Vietnam, and a f#cking tool for the US empire in 1972, I learned the hard way that to vote for any Duopoly candidate is to guarantee more interventionist militarism. Regrettably, World War III is already ongoing, and a nuclear exchange a foregone conclusion. The neocons are practically giddy about it.
You're absolutely right, Jill Stein won't win, but she's running on a peace platform. I have to be able to look in the mirror.
Respectfully Gene, you missed the whole point of my comment.
A vote for Jill Stein is a cop out and a huge risk. Stein cannot win, and a win by the Democrats will be tragic and a 100% guarantee of more homelessness, inflation and war. And maybe a nuclear WW3.
A vote for TRUMP/VANCE/RFK Jr on the other hand is a 10% chance or higher of reducing homelessness, inflation and war. And the possibility of avoiding a nuclear WW3.
And you will be able to look yourself in the mirror. At least you tried.
And did not cop out and not be able to look yourself in the mirror.
Let it go, Dennis. Neither wing of the War Party gives a crap about you.
Or his Daughters.
Just an Observation: Political discourse in Amerika seems to have finally reached the "Sports-Talk Radio" stage: nothing but "hot takes" on "hot button" issues ... Apparently no one gives a tinker's damn about the Amerikan people and what they deal with on a daily basis: so many are caught up in decrying the evils of the Amerikan Empire that what's been happening at home for years - with no sign of relief - is largely ignored.
(That said, this latest edition of the Bracing Views Podcast - which will no doubt stir up more vilification from a hefty percentage of the listening/reading audience - strikes me as being both sober and thoughtful in a way many blogs & podcasts are not. I'll be one surprised ex-pat if a string of podcast links presented to support one candidate or the other and in the process point out how wrong-headed the Lt. Col.'s (ret.) position is don't show up. But none of which will obviate the truth of my assertion.)
I'm writing in Steven Tyler. He looks very good for his age.
The lesser of two evils is still evil and I cannot vote for evil in any form. So Jill will get my vote as well.
I missed the coronation. Instead I watched "The Baron of Arizona", starring Vincent Price (always a goodie). Price stars as James Reavis, a swindler who falsely claims that the Spanish King Ferdinand VI granted much of the territory of Arizona to Reavis's wife's family in the 18th century. Apparently the story is basically true and in reality Reavis almost got away with it. I'm thinking if he were alive today he would have been one of the speakers this past week. A con man among con artists.
None of the above.
Yes, Jill Stein is ethically and morally superior to the imbeciles offered by the Democrats or Republicans. But, it doesn't appear to me she can offer anything beyond broad statements - however desirable her positions may be. Legislation and policies are in the details and those who will implement them.
In the end, it comes down to a committed team that can work the policies and legislation through the entrenched institutions and hostile interests. I don't support Trump, but as a reminder, he ordered the troops out of Syria and was ignored by those hostile interests.
Here's a thought experiment. Your favorite choice is elected - even by a landslide. Then, explain how that person will change the way this country is run. The money will stow flow, as always, to those who support the empire and the economic inequalities that benefit a tiny few.
Harris’ speech was grafted by the Machiavellian minds of Obama and Clinton. Pandering to the MICC, the women and minorities. Their mindset has given the world a taste of the abusive treatment of “jungle nations” (Joseph Borrell, EU foreign minister). Want to continue never ending wars and submission to Zionist Israel then vote Harris. SHE will do nothing of real domestic importance by following the examples of Clinton, Obama and Biden. The financial elite will guarantee that she behaves. Progressive agendas have no chance in modern America. As Richard Wolff in UNDERSTANDING CAPITALISM says they have been dismantling FDR’s progressive programs since the end of WW II. Both Democrats and Republicans have been doing it. “The era of big government is over” I think was Bill Clinton’s guiding principle when signing his welfare reform bill and abolished Glass-Steagall. The pot of gold (America’s promise of the pursuit of happiness) is still to be discovered at the end of rainbow. Vote for Stein! Why not? Voting for the other two is also wasting your vote.
I'm voting for Cornel West. Claudia de la Cruz and Jill Stein also have good platforms, but Cornel West has a long history of activism for disenfranchised people. Chris Hedges and Richard Wolff, both people whose values I admire, are West supporters.
Dr. Jill Stein, Cornell West, et al are just wasting people's time.
Their intention is great ~ but as for the last 160-years, the results will be same.
Third Parties have not won the POTUS in 160-years.
And there is no argument that the Democratic Party is a lost cause. Irredeemably corrupt.
The coup of Biden was unconstitutional. The never elected clueless Kamala Harris is a joke!
Aunty Jean, if you want even a remote INFINITESIMAL chance of America crawling out of the abyss that Joe Biden administration has got the US into you need to vote TRUMP/VANCE 2024.
Any other vote is naïve and voting for more of the same.
A plague on both their houses.
I'm voting for Jill Stein.
If the Democrats successfully bump her off the Wisconsin ballot, I am voting for Claudia De La Cruz.
I will not vote for genocide, more war & Wall Street.
Wasting your vote my friend.
See my comments above ~ and think what you are actually doing.
Taking the lazy man's way out and copping out!
Avoiding your responsibility.
I have come to the conclusion that Dems, Reps, and JFKJr are perfectly willing to overlook genocide (a long violently tortuous ghastly evil process) that we see daily in our MSM and our papers and that they ignore in order to have more money and power. None of these party candidates are behaving in a moral or even human way. I don't know what they are, and I don't know what we are if we vote for them. What is happening in Palestine/Israel is an unholy nightmare that cannot be condoned by ANYONE in my view, who purports to be human; and the lies being told about it are flooding our lives with a horror that colors in blood everything else we touch. Unless I see Kamala and Co. speak with honesty about what is happening there, I can't give them or anyone else my mark of approval. It makes no difference that Kamala might do some things better than Trump, both are equally inhuman in their greed for power and money that imbues everything else in their lives. I recognize that evil will follow however I choose to vote, but at least if I vote for Jill I will not have condoned this evil by voting for someone who chooses it. At this point Jill (and West) are the only candidates not colored by blood that I know of.
Ranney my man, a vote for the Democrats, Jill Stein or the Ivory Tower Cornel West is a huge risk. While Stein and West cannot win, a win by the Democrats will be tragic and result in more of the same. A 100% guarantee of more homelessness, inflation and war. And maybe the end of us all. A nuclear WW3
A vote for TRUMP/VANCE 2024 is a 10% chance or higher of America crawling out of the abyss that the Joe Biden administration has got the US into. A 10% chance of reducing homelessness, inflation and war. And the possibility of avoiding a nuclear WW3.
I'll take the 10%. Won't you?