I am with you, Bill. I have already signed up to subscribe to newsletters from both Kennedy and Williamson. They represent very interesting possible alternatives to the Biden/Blinken/Nuland/Austin "Cold War" dinosaurs. Of course, both Kennedy and Williamson have been smeared and denigrated by the NYT and Washington Post, both of which just parrot the dinosaurs. They are shameless, rabid supporters of the "Cold War" dinosaur ideology, which is based on American Exceptionalism and US Global Hegemony. Both of these are the two key components of the disease that infects the US body politic. As you have noted, in the latest column by Chris Hedges has described in great detail all the symptoms of this disease. Unless and until the disease is excised from the body politic, the rot and corruption will continue to fester and spread.
To repeat my comments on another thread, RFK Jr.'s rabid, unfounded anti-vaxx stance, in the face of overwhelming proof that vaccines are safe, makes me doubt his suitability as a candidate. Add to that some decidedly anti-green actions/policies when he worked with the Natural Resources Defense Council, and RFK Jr. appears as prone to going back on his word as Biden.
Marianne Williamson, as far as I know, is a person of high integrity. I'd just question her lack of experience with making national policy, along with her knowledgeability of and capacity to deal with foreign policy.
I do agree, though, that adding more candidates to the mix is a good thing, and yes, it's a certainty the DNC and the MSM will smear Biden's rivals for the nomination.
I don't know enough about his "rabid unfounded anti-vaxx stance," Denise. I will say that not all vaccines are safe. There were people injured by the Covid vaccines, which isn't that surprising, given the haste in developing and deploying them.
"Celebrate my own enslavement" to exactly WHAT, Dennis? Can You be a little more specific?
And on what basis are You claiming that i am "enjoying" Carlson's leaving Fox? By pointing out to Bill that if he ever does have a talk with Carlson, that it apparently won't be happening on Fox? That's what You call "enjoyment," eh? So what does that make You enslaved to?
Never having watched either Carlson or Fox on tv [haven't had one since 2005] or online [i have infinitely better sources for news, views, and information], i personally do not give a fat, flying, fluck about either Mr Carlson, his former employer, or his termination.
This nation has infinitely more pressing problems than what happens to some Rush Limbaugh Wannabe.
So tell me again, Dennis: exactly what "enslavement" am i enjoying?
"On Monday (24 April), the news anchor announced that he had “parted ways” with CNN following a string of scandals in recent months, barely an hour after news broke that Tucker Carlson had been fired from Fox News. “CNN and Don have parted ways,” the network said in a statement.
“Don will forever be a part of the CNN family, and we thank him for his contributions over the past 17 years. We wish him well and will be cheering him on in his future endeavours.”
Lemon reacted to the news with his own statement on Twitter saying he was left “stunned” after being informed by his agent that CNN had allegedly terminated his contract without informing him.
“After 17 years at CNN I would have thought someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly,” he wrote."
It appears that Tucker Carlson had the same opinion about President Trump as you and Denise have Jeff. He can't be all bad eh?
"In an exchange with members of his staff in early January 2021, Carlson wrote, "We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights. I truly can't wait," and "I hate him passionately."
Carlson also called the former president "a demonic force, a destroyer" in a text message to his producer following the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol."
Like i said earlier, Dennis: i do not give a fat, flying, fluck what Carlson thinks about anything; probably least of all what he thinks about Your hero, Corporal Bonespurs, aka POTUS Maxximmuss XLV.
Carlson lies constantly on TV. As he has privately admitted. Also, he promotes those lies as news. I think those facts place him well beyond being just another personality. His POV is not that of most Americans. While his show is indeed the most highly rated cable "news" program, that statistic is misleading. It's like saying 43% of R voters support TFG. Considering that only 28% of all voters register as R, that means that a minority of a minority supports his Orangeness. How many people don't watch cable news?
BTW, Carlson is only an Antichrist wannabe. Among many others, McConnell tops him as an evil perpetrator. 😉
P.S. It's one thing to go on a show and debate the issues. It's another to cozy up to a conman like Carlson. Lie down with dogs....
Denise, I did not think RFK Jr cozied up to Carlson. Thats an exaggeration.
And BTW, I did not say that Tucker's POV is that of most Americans. I said his POV arguably represents the majority of American TV viewers.
Denise, is Rachel Maddow on MSNBC any more virtuous than Tucker Carlson? After all she promoted Russiagate as news night after night for months.
Promoting allegations that the American President had been compromised by the Kremlin, which helped to put him in the White House. Arguably the worst and, considering the total lack of actual evidence, most fraudulent political scandal in American history. The damage Russiagate inflicted on the American democratic institutions, including the presidency and the electoral process, and on domestic and foreign perceptions of American democracy is inestimatable.
Is Maddow's POV that of most Americans? Did she also lie constantly on TV? Is she an AntiChrist wannabe?
Seems like there are TV personalities on both sides of the American political spectrum who promote lies as news eh? It's the nature of the Beast.
BTW, the 45th President of the United States name is Donald Trump - not "his Orangeness". But you knew that. Just as the 46th President of the United States name is Joseph Biden Jr. - not "Comatose Joe". For a person educated in the English Schools these pejorative nicknames are always jarringly disrespectful and discredit your argument.
And BTW, as it stands, if I were still living in the United States, I would vote for Trump based on this platform. Actually, RFK Jr is my preference based on his age, character and platform, but the Democratic Party machine is not going to give me that option, and even if they do, they will fight against his progressive initiatives for his whole term. They don't want change. They want status quo. 86-year-old Joseph Biden, who will just read the notes handed to him, is who they want. Sad for America.
As far as i'm concerned, Dennis, the 45th President of the United States' name is ~ and ever will be ~ Corporal Bonespurs. Just another Draft Dodger like Clinton, Biden, Cheney, Bush the Lesser, and all the rest of those self-proclaimed "Super Patriot" scumbags.
I'm quite purposefully disrespectful of #45. He earned it, in spades.
I've never watched Rachel Maddow, so I can't speak to anything she's said. I was of the opinion, however, that Russiagate was a nothingburger. I don't think it damaged the electoral process, however. TFG took care of that.
I've read about RFJ Jr.'s anti-vaxx stance for years. I used to proofread term papers for a woman specializing in the autism spectrum for her social work degree. Some of her work focused on causes, so I got to be familiar with the vaccine theory, and it did make sense, until all the studies proved otherwise. Bobby Jr. has been preaching against vaccinations for almost two decades, and it breaks my heart to see his anti-science, anti-proof stance.
Naturally, not all vaccines are going to be harmless for every single person, but serious reactions are rare. According to the CDC, an anaphylaxis reaction happened in 5 cases out of every million Covid doses administered:
Of course, rare reactions don't merit a sweeping condemnation of all vaccines. In light of his upcoming announcement, RFK Jr. has walked his stance back a bit---and he'll probably retreat even more on the campaign trail, or change the subject---but I doubt he's actually changed his beliefs. He compared vaccine mandates to the Holocaust in a pretty unhinged rant ("at least Anne Frank could hide in an attic..."). WAY too far over the top.
Even worse, to me, was his double-dealing on green issues. I can't forgive that. His NIMBY fight against wind farms pretty much offset his anti-fossil-fuel position. Sigh....
Denise, I called my doctor daughter, a pediatrician hospitalist and an avowed Democrat voter in Madison WI this morning.... to ask her what she thought about RFK Jr?
Man did I get an earful!!!!!!
His anti-vax position is a non-starter with medical professionals. She was VERY adamant about that! He is toast, eh?
It doesn't matter what Biden's record was. His sycophantic news media will be overjoyed to tell us he is brilliant and that there is something wrong with us if we don't agree.
I was encouraged by a poll showing that both parties have tanked, each with about 25% of the polled indicating they were of one party or the other. 49% of those polled said they were independent, a huge shift over the years.
This is encouraging. It should also be a signal to people like RFK and other truly democratic populists to run as an independent. A truly progressive, public-interest independent might well draw the endorsements of parties like the Green Party, People's Party, Working Families Party, et al.
Roger, I like Kennedy. But isn't it easy to disagree with him when he said we are in Ukraine for all the right reasons. When the US deposed the legitimate Ukraine government in 2014, then in 2016 John McCain and Lindsey Graham told the Ukrainians to fight the Russians and the US would back them up - seems to me like we are there for all the wrong reasons.
Dennis, do you have a link to an article or video where RFK Jr. said that about Ukraine? Perhaps I've spoken too soon! From other quotes of his, I'd gathered that he was opposed to funding of the war and wanted to push negotiations. I'll certainly have to be more thorough in my reading.
With Joe and Victoria Nuland, there will be more WAR, DEATH & DESTRUCTION of Ukrainians and Russians as the US dances around having to FACE Russia directly in the WAR it planned, instead of using Ukrainians as the US Sacrificial Lambs and Cannon Fodder.
I feel for this Ukrainian soldier who obviously is holding back tears as someone from The New York Times is questioning him: https://youtu.be/GeelZuwRxhY
He may as well be saying WAR IS HELL as we’ve all heard said at some Time or Another! If the US and Russia do clash directly since US policy is for whatever it takes and NATO cannot lose, we may well see the FIRES OF HELL unfold all around us?
Trump wasn’t the 1st to threaten FIRE AND FURY as he does here, but the fact that he did, is a Sign from the Earthly POWER confirming WE ARE that Generation that has to deal with it: https://youtu.be/8p1JIgTuKQk
This is from the last chapter of the Major Jewish Prophet in Isaiah 66;
For behold, the Lord shall come with FIRE, and like a tempest,
His chariots, to render His anger with FURY, and His rebuke with flames of FIRE.
In a VERY REAL PROBABLE SENSE, FIRE AND FURY most likely take this form in THIS MATERIAL WORLD. We can see it’s already on that PATH DAY BY DAY: https://youtu.be/7VG2aJyIFrA
Can the People not see it? It’s not seriously discussed at the Street Level as a THREAT TO OUR LIVES and the END of the Pyramid System we are trapped in with the rich and Powerful minority at the top with the poor, homeless and oppressed increasing at the bottom!
It does take the MSM to awaken the People to be Vigilant to what’s really going on in the World larger than ourselves and our small space in it.
Eisenhower warned us and his wise council is spurned. General-President Eisenhower was the LAST REAL Commander-in-Chief. He knew WAR IS HELL.
That’s why after 8 Years as President knowing how the System works, WARNED Society about an expanding Military-Industrial-Educational Complex.
In his 1st Year as President, the US DoD Budget was $60 BILLION a Year. Now it consumes more Tax Dollars than is Budgeted for Civilian NEEDS.
THAT US MIC is making a KILLING off the Ukraine WAR, more than anyone!!!
Business is BOOMing! Profits galore for US Oligarchs.
The American People don’t seem to care, oblivious to the FIRE AND FURY building up out of Public View ready to crash on everyone’s heads as spoken by Trump in POWER and written by Isaiah some 2600 years ago.
In the Time of the Revelation and Armageddon/WWIII, the text says the Lord will come as a thief.
That's not to steal, but the sense is at a Time least expected.
(Edited and corrected from 1st posting in the original Bracing Views site)
Bill, as a Canadian I can't vote for any US President. To me it seems so un-Democratic in The Free World when decisions made exclusively in the US for US Interests and Purposes only could destroy CanaDa, not only the perceived US Enemy that must be destroyed so the US Rules Supreme and unchallenged in THIS MATERIAL WORLD.
I start my 80th Year May 21, so that makes me a Contemporary of Biden.
I do know about the 2014 US/CIA Coup/regime change of the Elected Russian friendly Ukraine government.
The US installed the UN-elected US PROXY anti-Russian government Victoria Nuland said she wanted even before the Coup was Completed and a Done Deal.
All that happened while Biden was responsible for the Ukraine File under Obama.
Victoria Nuland still has influence over Biden as he says he will support Ukraine for as long as it takes. The Defence Secretary says it's only to "BLEED RUSSIA" oblivious to all the Ukrainians bleeding!
Common Sense tells me that US-Biden Attitude will not lead THIS MATERIAL WORLD to a good place, except for the Billionaires who already have their well stocked luxurious BOMB shelters!
As for Biden continuing Trump's Economic War with China, the US is terrified of China's Economic Prowess on the rise.
With the US Economic-Social Pyramid System, American Finances are at the precipice of default and collapse.
If China continues along this Path of Development, it could put the US Car Industries out of Business.
Two of the worst-performing US tech stocks this week – Cisco and Tesla – have something in common: Both ran into a buzz-saw of Chinese competition. At the New York opening on April 21, Telsa had lost more than 12% during the week and Cisco more than 8.1%. Tesla’s Chinese competitor BYD announced an $11,400 electrical vehicle, a challenge to Tesla’s lowest-cost offering at about $33,000.
It's a sad reality we must accept that no truly meaningful changes or resolution of the most substantive problems of the nation or world are likely forthcoming from the two faces of the established order. The power establishment maintains those two faces so to give the ruse of choice- when on most of the fundamentally important issues, there is bipartisan consensus or at least refusal to act.
Both RFK and Williamson have flaws (who doesn't?) that will make it easier for the power elite of the Dem. Party to squash their campaigns. The Party has been well practiced in how to do that, both times to keep that 'radical' Sanders sandbagged. To that end they can count on the complicity of the 'liberal' side of the media- including of course the corporate "public" media of PBS & NPR.
I'd prefer RFK as Williamson just doesn't have the chops and her self-contradictory positions on the war in Ukraine affirm that; suggesting she'd be easily misled if she got anywhere near the White House. For his part, though, RFK's early anti-vaccine activism (long before COVID emerged), is IMO unfortunate baggage because especially the early positions (e.g. about the Autism-vaccine mercury connection) were highly dubious.
Regardless of any merits of RFK's positions on vaccines, however, he'll be an easy target for the DP establishment. And given his anti-war / anti-imperial stances, and the thorough brainwashing about 'threats posed by Russia and China', the Party leadership might not even have to so thoroughly choreograph the nomination by using people like Liz Warren and other faux progressives to split that side of the Party well and long enough for the establishment choice to 'emerge' and make the final results a mere formality.
I only question why RFK, of all people, would choose to run as a Dem. He's a bright fellow, with plenty of accrued understanding of the Dems and the corrupted political system at large. He certainly should know that the Party isn't at all democratic and he therefore hasn't a snowball's chance.
Given those odds against, could he think that his candidacy would somehow move the needle on anything more than the campaign rhetoric? It's all too apparent, from even Hedges' brief accounting of Biden's campaign rhetoric vs. results (as noted by you, Bill), that the value of campaign rhetoric is nothing beyond that of persuading gullible/ hopeful voters.
Any such needle moving during a campaign will last as long as a snowball in August.
I have a Marianne2024 sign in my yard and that is in Tennessee. No one has asked me who she is or what she stands for. I also appreciate RFK getting into the race because I think with multiple alternative candidates in the race the media will not be able to ignore both of them. Maybe Dennis Kucinich should jump back in. Either way as you say Bill, the main stream media is going to vilify and marginalize, can't disrupt our dysfunctional status quo.
I really wish that Dennis Kucinich would run as an independent. I heard a speech of his at the 'March Against the War Marchine' rally that was articulately forceful- finally a political leader who had been in Congress who stood up to the lies of our current mainstream media and politicians. see https://scheerpost.com/2023/02/20/rage-against-the-war-machine-speeches/ and scroll down for Dennis' speech.
I must respectfully disagree with your statement about Kennedy's opposition to the Covid 19 vaccines. He was an ardent opponent of vaccination long before SARS-CoV-2 arrived on the scene. As a physicist who believes that technology cannot solve social problems, I nonetheless cannot support someone whose attitudes appear to prevent his being able to make good decisions on issues involving science or technology
Without the Internet, most probably, I never would have known this US History.
'The Presidential Campaign of Convict 9653'
In the election of 1920, Eugene V. Debs, the Socialist Party presidential candidate, polled nearly a million votes without ever hitting the campaign trail.
Debs was behind bars in the federal penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia, serving a 10-year sentence for sedition. It was a not a bum rap. Debs had defiantly disobeyed a law he deemed unjust, the Sedition Act of 1918.
The act was an anti-free speech measure passed at the behest of President Woodrow Wilson. The law made it illegal for a U.S. citizen to “wilfully utter, print, write, or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the United States government” or to discourage compliance with the draft or voluntary enlistment into the military.
In the election of 1920, Eugene V. Debs, the Socialist Party presidential candidate, polled nearly a million votes without ever hitting the campaign trail.
Jonathan Cook has a different take on the firing of Tucker Carlson from FOX.
'Tucker Carlson’s firing reveals how afraid the media is of independent journalists'
The TV host paid the price because he tried the impossible: straddling the divide between corporate media and critical journalism
While the left is busy hating on Tucker Carlson, and not without reason, it is missing the bigger picture. Carlson was a genuine aberration in US corporate media. Which is why he is gone – sacked by media “titan” Rupert Murdoch.
Yes, over the years Carlson played on white fears, placing him firmly on the right. But he also gave over his massive corporate platform at Fox News to some of the most critical and thoughtful independent journalists and pundits around – from Glenn Greenwald and Aaron Mate to Jimmy Dore.
(This article has video clips backing this up)
Carlson not only brought them into the living rooms of Main Street, but he undoubtedly helped them grow their audiences and influence.
In that way, he exposed ordinary Americans to critical perspectives, especially on US foreign policy, that they had no hope of hearing anywhere else – and most certainly not from so-called “liberal” corporate media outlets like CNN and MSNBC.
And he did so while constantly ridiculing the media’s craven collusion with those in power.
But all that is being ignored. Media analysis of Carlson’s departure has focused so far almost exclusively on his clashes with Fox News management, and a series of disrespectful tweets, that have come to light as a result of the recent Dominion court case, in which Murdoch was forced to settle with a massive payout.
But those clashes cannot be understood outside a wider context in which Carlson was pushing against institutional media constraints at Fox designed to prevent the real work of journalism – holding the powerful to account.
It would be interesting to see how a poll of Americans went when asked: "Who do You want to be the next President? Trump, Biden, or Neither/Somebody Else?"
Permit me to offer ~ as an Alternative to and Antidote for what America’s Ruling Political Class has planned for Election2024 ~ an article posted to WordPress Bracing Views on April 10, 2022 re Elections2022 and 2024: “Reforming America's Elections the NOTC Way”…:
<<< Joe Biden versus Donald Trump in 2024 is a grim "choice" indeed for most Americans. America's duopoly gives us candidates who promise that "nothing will fundamentally change" in power relations in America, meaning your voice will never be heard in the halls of power. How do we change that? Jeffrey Moebus has a dramatic proposal worthy of careful consideration. Read on! W.J. Astore >>>
THE NOTC WAY, by Jeffrey Moebus
As it stands right now, in every federal election to be held in 2022 and 2024, Americans will have five choices. They will be able to:
~ 1. Vote for the Democrat.
~ 2. Vote for the Republican.
~ 3. Vote Third Party.
~ 4. Write-In.
~ 5. Not Vote.
What if there was a sixth choice?
What if on every ballot for every federal election there was also a designated spot for "None Of These Candidates," or NOTC?
This presents the argument that "None Of These Candidates" should be on every ballot of every federal election, and proposes a nation-wide campaign to give the American Voters a real Alternative to ~ and an actual Antidote for ~ what America's Ruling Political Class will give them for choices in 2022 and 2024: To make "None Of These Candidates" a mandatory choice on every ballot in every federal election held in the United States for Election2022 and Election2024.
Its ultimate purpose is to give a meaningful vote ~ and voice ~ to that cohort of Totally Forgotten Voters who have been disenfranchised since the beginning of elections in America, and to offer a very quick, simple, easy, and low cost solution to that problem.
ASSUMPTIONS. It is assumed, first of all, that there will indeed be elections in those years; which, face it folks, at this point, no one can honestly, realistically, absolutely, positively guarantee. And second, that the choices presented to the American Voters will be, at most, some subtle but suitable variation of the present, as follows:
~ 1. The corporatist, crony "democratic capitalist," neoconservative/neoliberal, post-modern "liberalism" and "conservativism" of the Carter-Reagan-Bush I-Clinton-Cheney/Bush II-Obama-Biden breed [which includes any "anti-Trump" Republicans intent on maintaining some semblance of a non-Trumped GOP].
~ 2. The populist, nativist, neo-mercantilist, protectionist, proto-national socialism [with its attendant racist, sexist, xenophobic, patriotist wrapped-in the-Flag-mouthing-the-Bible noise while wiping their butts with the Constitution] of Trump, Trumpatismo, the Trumpatistas, and its inevitable gaggle of Greenes, Proud Boys, and Apprentice Emperor-Wannabe Spawns like DeSantis.
~ 3. The noisy but intellectually, ideologically, and politically bankrupt and bereft neo-progressive, proto-democratic socialism of the "socialistic democrats" of the Sandersista/Warrenite, "Squad," Green New Dealer ilk, and their Spawn. [Note: Just one question for starters...: How have those folks done on America's war with Russia in Ukraine?]
BACKGROUND. The seed for all this was planted back in the first week of November 2016, as that Presidential Campaign began to finally, mercifully grind its way to its conclusion. It suddenly became painfully obvious that if Clinton and/or Trump were the very best that our Ruling Political Class [RPC] could come up with to be America's next President, then this Nation, this Country and Land, and, above all, this "We, the People" were in deeply serious, seriously deep trouble. [Note: Consider what a re-run of 2020 in 2024 ~ Biden vs Trump ~ means.]
And it wasn't just that - from the headlines, polls, blogosphere, and social media - that it was easy to conclude that Donald Trump was the patsy in a conspiracy to put Hillary Clinton in the White House. Because, at the same time, it was just as easily concluded that The Hillary was part of a plot to ensconce The Donald. Take your pick.
But what was far, far more to the point was that it grew increasingly evident that, less than a couple of days to the election, more people wanted Neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton to be the next President of the United States, than wanted Either of them to sit in the Oval Office come January 20, 2017.
That, on the one hand, many people will vote for Clinton - because, and only because, they don't want Trump as President - rather than because they actually do want her to be President. And that, on the other hand, many people will similarly vote for Trump - because, and only because, they don't want Clinton as President - rather than because they actually do want him to be President.
Which raised the immediate question: So who does somebody vote For if they want neither Trump nor Clinton ~ nor any of the Third Party candidates ~ as their next President? Stated differently: How do these people vote Against all the candidates that the Ruling Political Class has deigned to gift them?
Making "None Of These Candidates" a mandatory choice on every ballot in every federal election held in the United States for Election2022 and Election2024 is flogging a dead horse Jeff.
Has any state adopted it since 1976, 47-years ago, when it was adopted by Nevada?
Is it correct that this option has never been permitted, much less approved, on any other State levels, least of all the Federal level.
In 1998 in California, citizen proponents of Proposition 23, titled the "None of the Above Act", qualified a State ballot initiative through circulated petitions submitted to the Secretary of State. The measure was defeated in the March 2000 general election by 64% to 36%.
You tell me, Dennis, if You have “right” what happened in California in 2000 re Prop 23 by providing a source for Your assertion.
But far more importantly, what does what the voters in California ~ of all places ~ decided 23 years ago on this matter have to do with anything that is happening or could happen in California or America today? About anything?
And have the Citizens of any other State even attempted to bring the NOTC [or NOTA] option for a vote over those 47 years since Nevada? If they have, i am not aware of it. But so what?
NOBODY had done it til Nevadans did it, either. There is always a first for everything. What is needed now is a second, then a third, and on up to the necessary number of States needed to ratify a proposed Constitutional Amendment.
And whether nobody has even tried ~ let alone tried and failed ~ to make NOTC a mandatory option, what does that have to do with what is happening in America today, and with the choices America’s Ruling Political Class will give Voters in 2024?
But You can bet the farm that if somebody Did try to make NOTC happen any place in this country, that same RPC would do everything with its wealth and in its power to make sure that it failed.
So again: Exactly what does what the voters in California ~ of all places ~ decided 23 years ago on this matter have to do with anything that is happening or could happen in California or America today? About anything?
My guess is that the reason NOTC hasn't been tried is because not enough people ~ the ones who are fed up with this nation's system of government and governance and its $ 1 = 1 Vote charade for putting and keeping select politicians in office ~ not enough of these people have ever heard of NOTC; let alone thought about it and considered it an option worth pursuing.
And who filed that 2012 lawsuit against NOTC in Nevada?
"In June 2012, anticipating a close race in Nevada during the 2012 presidential elections, the REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE challenged the constitutionality of the option. FEARING THAT THE OPTION WOULD SIPHON VOTES FROM THE REPUBLICAN NOMINEE, the RNC claimed that the option is not constitutional because if "None of these Candidates" received the most votes, it would not win the election."
Those weren't "Nevada Court Judges" who thought about NOTC in 2012. That was a US District Court judge who ruled that it was unconstitutional. And then the 9th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals overturned that ruling and declared it constitutional.
My point was that very few Americans outside of Nevadans and America's Ruling Political Class have ever even heard of NOTC. Let alone thought about it as an alternative to and antidote for America's totally corrupt system of choosing who gets to lead its totally corrupt system of government and governance.
I am with you, Bill. I have already signed up to subscribe to newsletters from both Kennedy and Williamson. They represent very interesting possible alternatives to the Biden/Blinken/Nuland/Austin "Cold War" dinosaurs. Of course, both Kennedy and Williamson have been smeared and denigrated by the NYT and Washington Post, both of which just parrot the dinosaurs. They are shameless, rabid supporters of the "Cold War" dinosaur ideology, which is based on American Exceptionalism and US Global Hegemony. Both of these are the two key components of the disease that infects the US body politic. As you have noted, in the latest column by Chris Hedges has described in great detail all the symptoms of this disease. Unless and until the disease is excised from the body politic, the rot and corruption will continue to fester and spread.
To repeat my comments on another thread, RFK Jr.'s rabid, unfounded anti-vaxx stance, in the face of overwhelming proof that vaccines are safe, makes me doubt his suitability as a candidate. Add to that some decidedly anti-green actions/policies when he worked with the Natural Resources Defense Council, and RFK Jr. appears as prone to going back on his word as Biden.
Marianne Williamson, as far as I know, is a person of high integrity. I'd just question her lack of experience with making national policy, along with her knowledgeability of and capacity to deal with foreign policy.
I do agree, though, that adding more candidates to the mix is a good thing, and yes, it's a certainty the DNC and the MSM will smear Biden's rivals for the nomination.
I don't know enough about his "rabid unfounded anti-vaxx stance," Denise. I will say that not all vaccines are safe. There were people injured by the Covid vaccines, which isn't that surprising, given the haste in developing and deploying them.
This looks like a decent article: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-robert-f-kennedy-jr-distorted-vaccine-science1/
It would be nice if RFK Jr admitted that his concerns about vaccines were overblown or exaggerated, esp. the connection to autism.
Bill and Denise, there has much wailing and gnashing of teeth on progressive social media about RFK Jr appearing on the Tucker Carlson show on Fox.
Tucker Carlson is not the Antichrist!
He is just a TV personality on a TV station which promotes a conservative political POV.
And a station which polls show arguably represents the POV of a majority of American TV viewers.
To suggest that RFK Jr be forbidden to go on Tucker Carlson on Fox and debate the issues is counterproductive.
A candidate devoting time to only preaching to the choir is not a winning strategy.
As Hillary Rodham Clinton found out.
I'd happily talk to Tucker. Just because I talk to someone doesn't mean I agree with him.
Let's all talk and listen (especially LISTEN) to each other.
Well, it looks like Your chat with Tucker won't be happening at Fox News, Bill:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tucker-carlson-leaving-fox-news/
Jeff, don't celebrate your own enslavement by enjoying Tucker Carlson's departure from Fox. Who's next?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_oLgODkZdQ
"Celebrate my own enslavement" to exactly WHAT, Dennis? Can You be a little more specific?
And on what basis are You claiming that i am "enjoying" Carlson's leaving Fox? By pointing out to Bill that if he ever does have a talk with Carlson, that it apparently won't be happening on Fox? That's what You call "enjoyment," eh? So what does that make You enslaved to?
Never having watched either Carlson or Fox on tv [haven't had one since 2005] or online [i have infinitely better sources for news, views, and information], i personally do not give a fat, flying, fluck about either Mr Carlson, his former employer, or his termination.
This nation has infinitely more pressing problems than what happens to some Rush Limbaugh Wannabe.
So tell me again, Dennis: exactly what "enslavement" am i enjoying?
"On Monday (24 April), the news anchor announced that he had “parted ways” with CNN following a string of scandals in recent months, barely an hour after news broke that Tucker Carlson had been fired from Fox News. “CNN and Don have parted ways,” the network said in a statement.
“Don will forever be a part of the CNN family, and we thank him for his contributions over the past 17 years. We wish him well and will be cheering him on in his future endeavours.”
Lemon reacted to the news with his own statement on Twitter saying he was left “stunned” after being informed by his agent that CNN had allegedly terminated his contract without informing him.
“After 17 years at CNN I would have thought someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly,” he wrote."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/don-lemon-fired-live-updates-cnn-claims-axed-host-s-statement-is-inaccurate/ar-AA1ahfbO
It appears that Tucker Carlson had the same opinion about President Trump as you and Denise have Jeff. He can't be all bad eh?
"In an exchange with members of his staff in early January 2021, Carlson wrote, "We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights. I truly can't wait," and "I hate him passionately."
Carlson also called the former president "a demonic force, a destroyer" in a text message to his producer following the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tucker-carlson-leaving-fox-news/
Like i said earlier, Dennis: i do not give a fat, flying, fluck what Carlson thinks about anything; probably least of all what he thinks about Your hero, Corporal Bonespurs, aka POTUS Maxximmuss XLV.
Carlson lies constantly on TV. As he has privately admitted. Also, he promotes those lies as news. I think those facts place him well beyond being just another personality. His POV is not that of most Americans. While his show is indeed the most highly rated cable "news" program, that statistic is misleading. It's like saying 43% of R voters support TFG. Considering that only 28% of all voters register as R, that means that a minority of a minority supports his Orangeness. How many people don't watch cable news?
BTW, Carlson is only an Antichrist wannabe. Among many others, McConnell tops him as an evil perpetrator. 😉
P.S. It's one thing to go on a show and debate the issues. It's another to cozy up to a conman like Carlson. Lie down with dogs....
Denise, I did not think RFK Jr cozied up to Carlson. Thats an exaggeration.
And BTW, I did not say that Tucker's POV is that of most Americans. I said his POV arguably represents the majority of American TV viewers.
Denise, is Rachel Maddow on MSNBC any more virtuous than Tucker Carlson? After all she promoted Russiagate as news night after night for months.
Promoting allegations that the American President had been compromised by the Kremlin, which helped to put him in the White House. Arguably the worst and, considering the total lack of actual evidence, most fraudulent political scandal in American history. The damage Russiagate inflicted on the American democratic institutions, including the presidency and the electoral process, and on domestic and foreign perceptions of American democracy is inestimatable.
Is Maddow's POV that of most Americans? Did she also lie constantly on TV? Is she an AntiChrist wannabe?
Seems like there are TV personalities on both sides of the American political spectrum who promote lies as news eh? It's the nature of the Beast.
BTW, the 45th President of the United States name is Donald Trump - not "his Orangeness". But you knew that. Just as the 46th President of the United States name is Joseph Biden Jr. - not "Comatose Joe". For a person educated in the English Schools these pejorative nicknames are always jarringly disrespectful and discredit your argument.
And BTW, as it stands, if I were still living in the United States, I would vote for Trump based on this platform. Actually, RFK Jr is my preference based on his age, character and platform, but the Democratic Party machine is not going to give me that option, and even if they do, they will fight against his progressive initiatives for his whole term. They don't want change. They want status quo. 86-year-old Joseph Biden, who will just read the notes handed to him, is who they want. Sad for America.
As far as i'm concerned, Dennis, the 45th President of the United States' name is ~ and ever will be ~ Corporal Bonespurs. Just another Draft Dodger like Clinton, Biden, Cheney, Bush the Lesser, and all the rest of those self-proclaimed "Super Patriot" scumbags.
I'm quite purposefully disrespectful of #45. He earned it, in spades.
I've never watched Rachel Maddow, so I can't speak to anything she's said. I was of the opinion, however, that Russiagate was a nothingburger. I don't think it damaged the electoral process, however. TFG took care of that.
Morning Denise, we need to agree to disagree.
Take care. No worries, as we say down under.
I've read about RFJ Jr.'s anti-vaxx stance for years. I used to proofread term papers for a woman specializing in the autism spectrum for her social work degree. Some of her work focused on causes, so I got to be familiar with the vaccine theory, and it did make sense, until all the studies proved otherwise. Bobby Jr. has been preaching against vaccinations for almost two decades, and it breaks my heart to see his anti-science, anti-proof stance.
Naturally, not all vaccines are going to be harmless for every single person, but serious reactions are rare. According to the CDC, an anaphylaxis reaction happened in 5 cases out of every million Covid doses administered:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/adverse-events.html
Of course, rare reactions don't merit a sweeping condemnation of all vaccines. In light of his upcoming announcement, RFK Jr. has walked his stance back a bit---and he'll probably retreat even more on the campaign trail, or change the subject---but I doubt he's actually changed his beliefs. He compared vaccine mandates to the Holocaust in a pretty unhinged rant ("at least Anne Frank could hide in an attic..."). WAY too far over the top.
Even worse, to me, was his double-dealing on green issues. I can't forgive that. His NIMBY fight against wind farms pretty much offset his anti-fossil-fuel position. Sigh....
Denise, I called my doctor daughter, a pediatrician hospitalist and an avowed Democrat voter in Madison WI this morning.... to ask her what she thought about RFK Jr?
Man did I get an earful!!!!!!
His anti-vax position is a non-starter with medical professionals. She was VERY adamant about that! He is toast, eh?
Take care Denise.
Yeah, it's a damn shame that someone with so much potential to do good could become so relentlessly fixated on such an unfortunate viewpoint.
And how ironic that exactly that conviction would make him attractive to many of the right-wingers.
Denise when you find a candidate running for political office that 100% agrees with your position on EVERYTHING, let me know eh?
It doesn't matter what Biden's record was. His sycophantic news media will be overjoyed to tell us he is brilliant and that there is something wrong with us if we don't agree.
I was encouraged by a poll showing that both parties have tanked, each with about 25% of the polled indicating they were of one party or the other. 49% of those polled said they were independent, a huge shift over the years.
This is encouraging. It should also be a signal to people like RFK and other truly democratic populists to run as an independent. A truly progressive, public-interest independent might well draw the endorsements of parties like the Green Party, People's Party, Working Families Party, et al.
Roger, I like Kennedy. But isn't it easy to disagree with him when he said we are in Ukraine for all the right reasons. When the US deposed the legitimate Ukraine government in 2014, then in 2016 John McCain and Lindsey Graham told the Ukrainians to fight the Russians and the US would back them up - seems to me like we are there for all the wrong reasons.
Have I got this all wrong?
Dennis, do you have a link to an article or video where RFK Jr. said that about Ukraine? Perhaps I've spoken too soon! From other quotes of his, I'd gathered that he was opposed to funding of the war and wanted to push negotiations. I'll certainly have to be more thorough in my reading.
Listen at 3:45 - I think I have that time stamp right.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68MhtliIAvk
With Joe and Victoria Nuland, there will be more WAR, DEATH & DESTRUCTION of Ukrainians and Russians as the US dances around having to FACE Russia directly in the WAR it planned, instead of using Ukrainians as the US Sacrificial Lambs and Cannon Fodder.
I feel for this Ukrainian soldier who obviously is holding back tears as someone from The New York Times is questioning him: https://youtu.be/GeelZuwRxhY
He may as well be saying WAR IS HELL as we’ve all heard said at some Time or Another! If the US and Russia do clash directly since US policy is for whatever it takes and NATO cannot lose, we may well see the FIRES OF HELL unfold all around us?
Trump wasn’t the 1st to threaten FIRE AND FURY as he does here, but the fact that he did, is a Sign from the Earthly POWER confirming WE ARE that Generation that has to deal with it: https://youtu.be/8p1JIgTuKQk
This is from the last chapter of the Major Jewish Prophet in Isaiah 66;
For behold, the Lord shall come with FIRE, and like a tempest,
His chariots, to render His anger with FURY, and His rebuke with flames of FIRE.
In a VERY REAL PROBABLE SENSE, FIRE AND FURY most likely take this form in THIS MATERIAL WORLD. We can see it’s already on that PATH DAY BY DAY: https://youtu.be/7VG2aJyIFrA
Can the People not see it? It’s not seriously discussed at the Street Level as a THREAT TO OUR LIVES and the END of the Pyramid System we are trapped in with the rich and Powerful minority at the top with the poor, homeless and oppressed increasing at the bottom!
It does take the MSM to awaken the People to be Vigilant to what’s really going on in the World larger than ourselves and our small space in it.
Eisenhower warned us and his wise council is spurned. General-President Eisenhower was the LAST REAL Commander-in-Chief. He knew WAR IS HELL.
That’s why after 8 Years as President knowing how the System works, WARNED Society about an expanding Military-Industrial-Educational Complex.
In his 1st Year as President, the US DoD Budget was $60 BILLION a Year. Now it consumes more Tax Dollars than is Budgeted for Civilian NEEDS.
THAT US MIC is making a KILLING off the Ukraine WAR, more than anyone!!!
Business is BOOMing! Profits galore for US Oligarchs.
The American People don’t seem to care, oblivious to the FIRE AND FURY building up out of Public View ready to crash on everyone’s heads as spoken by Trump in POWER and written by Isaiah some 2600 years ago.
In the Time of the Revelation and Armageddon/WWIII, the text says the Lord will come as a thief.
That's not to steal, but the sense is at a Time least expected.
(Edited and corrected from 1st posting in the original Bracing Views site)
Bill, as a Canadian I can't vote for any US President. To me it seems so un-Democratic in The Free World when decisions made exclusively in the US for US Interests and Purposes only could destroy CanaDa, not only the perceived US Enemy that must be destroyed so the US Rules Supreme and unchallenged in THIS MATERIAL WORLD.
MacLeans Magazine, August 31, 1981: https://ray032.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/macleans.jpg
I start my 80th Year May 21, so that makes me a Contemporary of Biden.
I do know about the 2014 US/CIA Coup/regime change of the Elected Russian friendly Ukraine government.
The US installed the UN-elected US PROXY anti-Russian government Victoria Nuland said she wanted even before the Coup was Completed and a Done Deal.
All that happened while Biden was responsible for the Ukraine File under Obama.
Victoria Nuland still has influence over Biden as he says he will support Ukraine for as long as it takes. The Defence Secretary says it's only to "BLEED RUSSIA" oblivious to all the Ukrainians bleeding!
Common Sense tells me that US-Biden Attitude will not lead THIS MATERIAL WORLD to a good place, except for the Billionaires who already have their well stocked luxurious BOMB shelters!
As for Biden continuing Trump's Economic War with China, the US is terrified of China's Economic Prowess on the rise.
With the US Economic-Social Pyramid System, American Finances are at the precipice of default and collapse.
If China continues along this Path of Development, it could put the US Car Industries out of Business.
Two of the worst-performing US tech stocks this week – Cisco and Tesla – have something in common: Both ran into a buzz-saw of Chinese competition. At the New York opening on April 21, Telsa had lost more than 12% during the week and Cisco more than 8.1%. Tesla’s Chinese competitor BYD announced an $11,400 electrical vehicle, a challenge to Tesla’s lowest-cost offering at about $33,000.
https://asiatimes.com/2023/04/chinas-4th-industrial-revolution-rattles-us-tech-stocks/
Is China aiming to overtake the West's EV Market too with stylish designs like this and lower costs?
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=541484288189824&set=a.516071267397793
We know China is already the World Leader in high speed rail nothing in the West comes close to.
The fastest train service measured by peak operational speed is the Shanghai maglev train which can reach 431 km/h (268 mph)
Unlike US trains do so often, they don't derail jumping off the tracks at much lower speeds.
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230422-chinese-ev-dominance-hastens-end-of-petrol-engine-era
It's a sad reality we must accept that no truly meaningful changes or resolution of the most substantive problems of the nation or world are likely forthcoming from the two faces of the established order. The power establishment maintains those two faces so to give the ruse of choice- when on most of the fundamentally important issues, there is bipartisan consensus or at least refusal to act.
Both RFK and Williamson have flaws (who doesn't?) that will make it easier for the power elite of the Dem. Party to squash their campaigns. The Party has been well practiced in how to do that, both times to keep that 'radical' Sanders sandbagged. To that end they can count on the complicity of the 'liberal' side of the media- including of course the corporate "public" media of PBS & NPR.
I'd prefer RFK as Williamson just doesn't have the chops and her self-contradictory positions on the war in Ukraine affirm that; suggesting she'd be easily misled if she got anywhere near the White House. For his part, though, RFK's early anti-vaccine activism (long before COVID emerged), is IMO unfortunate baggage because especially the early positions (e.g. about the Autism-vaccine mercury connection) were highly dubious.
Regardless of any merits of RFK's positions on vaccines, however, he'll be an easy target for the DP establishment. And given his anti-war / anti-imperial stances, and the thorough brainwashing about 'threats posed by Russia and China', the Party leadership might not even have to so thoroughly choreograph the nomination by using people like Liz Warren and other faux progressives to split that side of the Party well and long enough for the establishment choice to 'emerge' and make the final results a mere formality.
I only question why RFK, of all people, would choose to run as a Dem. He's a bright fellow, with plenty of accrued understanding of the Dems and the corrupted political system at large. He certainly should know that the Party isn't at all democratic and he therefore hasn't a snowball's chance.
Given those odds against, could he think that his candidacy would somehow move the needle on anything more than the campaign rhetoric? It's all too apparent, from even Hedges' brief accounting of Biden's campaign rhetoric vs. results (as noted by you, Bill), that the value of campaign rhetoric is nothing beyond that of persuading gullible/ hopeful voters.
Any such needle moving during a campaign will last as long as a snowball in August.
Very well written comment Roger. Thanks for that.
"He certainly should know that the Party isn't at all democratic and he therefore hasn't a snowball's chance" - never truer words spoken eh my friend.
James Howard Kunstler wrote an excellent blog on this theme last week. I like Jim.
It's a good read - although his regular commenters, of which he gets lot, can be hard to take!
https://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/bobby-steps-up/
Take care.
I have a Marianne2024 sign in my yard and that is in Tennessee. No one has asked me who she is or what she stands for. I also appreciate RFK getting into the race because I think with multiple alternative candidates in the race the media will not be able to ignore both of them. Maybe Dennis Kucinich should jump back in. Either way as you say Bill, the main stream media is going to vilify and marginalize, can't disrupt our dysfunctional status quo.
I really wish that Dennis Kucinich would run as an independent. I heard a speech of his at the 'March Against the War Marchine' rally that was articulately forceful- finally a political leader who had been in Congress who stood up to the lies of our current mainstream media and politicians. see https://scheerpost.com/2023/02/20/rage-against-the-war-machine-speeches/ and scroll down for Dennis' speech.
LOVE Dennis! The Dems never did this country more of a disservice than when they gerrymandered him out of his district here in northeast Ohio.
Yes, Dennis would be a very worthy candidate and as an independent perhaps he'd have a decent shot.
I must respectfully disagree with your statement about Kennedy's opposition to the Covid 19 vaccines. He was an ardent opponent of vaccination long before SARS-CoV-2 arrived on the scene. As a physicist who believes that technology cannot solve social problems, I nonetheless cannot support someone whose attitudes appear to prevent his being able to make good decisions on issues involving science or technology
Without the Internet, most probably, I never would have known this US History.
'The Presidential Campaign of Convict 9653'
In the election of 1920, Eugene V. Debs, the Socialist Party presidential candidate, polled nearly a million votes without ever hitting the campaign trail.
Debs was behind bars in the federal penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia, serving a 10-year sentence for sedition. It was a not a bum rap. Debs had defiantly disobeyed a law he deemed unjust, the Sedition Act of 1918.
The act was an anti-free speech measure passed at the behest of President Woodrow Wilson. The law made it illegal for a U.S. citizen to “wilfully utter, print, write, or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the United States government” or to discourage compliance with the draft or voluntary enlistment into the military.
In the election of 1920, Eugene V. Debs, the Socialist Party presidential candidate, polled nearly a million votes without ever hitting the campaign trail.
https://portside.org/2023-04-28/presidential-campaign-convict-9653
Jonathan Cook has a different take on the firing of Tucker Carlson from FOX.
'Tucker Carlson’s firing reveals how afraid the media is of independent journalists'
The TV host paid the price because he tried the impossible: straddling the divide between corporate media and critical journalism
While the left is busy hating on Tucker Carlson, and not without reason, it is missing the bigger picture. Carlson was a genuine aberration in US corporate media. Which is why he is gone – sacked by media “titan” Rupert Murdoch.
Yes, over the years Carlson played on white fears, placing him firmly on the right. But he also gave over his massive corporate platform at Fox News to some of the most critical and thoughtful independent journalists and pundits around – from Glenn Greenwald and Aaron Mate to Jimmy Dore.
(This article has video clips backing this up)
Carlson not only brought them into the living rooms of Main Street, but he undoubtedly helped them grow their audiences and influence.
In that way, he exposed ordinary Americans to critical perspectives, especially on US foreign policy, that they had no hope of hearing anywhere else – and most certainly not from so-called “liberal” corporate media outlets like CNN and MSNBC.
And he did so while constantly ridiculing the media’s craven collusion with those in power.
But all that is being ignored. Media analysis of Carlson’s departure has focused so far almost exclusively on his clashes with Fox News management, and a series of disrespectful tweets, that have come to light as a result of the recent Dominion court case, in which Murdoch was forced to settle with a massive payout.
But those clashes cannot be understood outside a wider context in which Carlson was pushing against institutional media constraints at Fox designed to prevent the real work of journalism – holding the powerful to account.
https://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/2023-04-26/tucker-carlsons-firing-reveals-how-afraid-the-media-is-of-independent-journalists/
It would be interesting to see how a poll of Americans went when asked: "Who do You want to be the next President? Trump, Biden, or Neither/Somebody Else?"
Permit me to offer ~ as an Alternative to and Antidote for what America’s Ruling Political Class has planned for Election2024 ~ an article posted to WordPress Bracing Views on April 10, 2022 re Elections2022 and 2024: “Reforming America's Elections the NOTC Way”…:
<<< Joe Biden versus Donald Trump in 2024 is a grim "choice" indeed for most Americans. America's duopoly gives us candidates who promise that "nothing will fundamentally change" in power relations in America, meaning your voice will never be heard in the halls of power. How do we change that? Jeffrey Moebus has a dramatic proposal worthy of careful consideration. Read on! W.J. Astore >>>
THE NOTC WAY, by Jeffrey Moebus
As it stands right now, in every federal election to be held in 2022 and 2024, Americans will have five choices. They will be able to:
~ 1. Vote for the Democrat.
~ 2. Vote for the Republican.
~ 3. Vote Third Party.
~ 4. Write-In.
~ 5. Not Vote.
What if there was a sixth choice?
What if on every ballot for every federal election there was also a designated spot for "None Of These Candidates," or NOTC?
This presents the argument that "None Of These Candidates" should be on every ballot of every federal election, and proposes a nation-wide campaign to give the American Voters a real Alternative to ~ and an actual Antidote for ~ what America's Ruling Political Class will give them for choices in 2022 and 2024: To make "None Of These Candidates" a mandatory choice on every ballot in every federal election held in the United States for Election2022 and Election2024.
Its ultimate purpose is to give a meaningful vote ~ and voice ~ to that cohort of Totally Forgotten Voters who have been disenfranchised since the beginning of elections in America, and to offer a very quick, simple, easy, and low cost solution to that problem.
ASSUMPTIONS. It is assumed, first of all, that there will indeed be elections in those years; which, face it folks, at this point, no one can honestly, realistically, absolutely, positively guarantee. And second, that the choices presented to the American Voters will be, at most, some subtle but suitable variation of the present, as follows:
~ 1. The corporatist, crony "democratic capitalist," neoconservative/neoliberal, post-modern "liberalism" and "conservativism" of the Carter-Reagan-Bush I-Clinton-Cheney/Bush II-Obama-Biden breed [which includes any "anti-Trump" Republicans intent on maintaining some semblance of a non-Trumped GOP].
~ 2. The populist, nativist, neo-mercantilist, protectionist, proto-national socialism [with its attendant racist, sexist, xenophobic, patriotist wrapped-in the-Flag-mouthing-the-Bible noise while wiping their butts with the Constitution] of Trump, Trumpatismo, the Trumpatistas, and its inevitable gaggle of Greenes, Proud Boys, and Apprentice Emperor-Wannabe Spawns like DeSantis.
~ 3. The noisy but intellectually, ideologically, and politically bankrupt and bereft neo-progressive, proto-democratic socialism of the "socialistic democrats" of the Sandersista/Warrenite, "Squad," Green New Dealer ilk, and their Spawn. [Note: Just one question for starters...: How have those folks done on America's war with Russia in Ukraine?]
BACKGROUND. The seed for all this was planted back in the first week of November 2016, as that Presidential Campaign began to finally, mercifully grind its way to its conclusion. It suddenly became painfully obvious that if Clinton and/or Trump were the very best that our Ruling Political Class [RPC] could come up with to be America's next President, then this Nation, this Country and Land, and, above all, this "We, the People" were in deeply serious, seriously deep trouble. [Note: Consider what a re-run of 2020 in 2024 ~ Biden vs Trump ~ means.]
And it wasn't just that - from the headlines, polls, blogosphere, and social media - that it was easy to conclude that Donald Trump was the patsy in a conspiracy to put Hillary Clinton in the White House. Because, at the same time, it was just as easily concluded that The Hillary was part of a plot to ensconce The Donald. Take your pick.
But what was far, far more to the point was that it grew increasingly evident that, less than a couple of days to the election, more people wanted Neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton to be the next President of the United States, than wanted Either of them to sit in the Oval Office come January 20, 2017.
That, on the one hand, many people will vote for Clinton - because, and only because, they don't want Trump as President - rather than because they actually do want her to be President. And that, on the other hand, many people will similarly vote for Trump - because, and only because, they don't want Clinton as President - rather than because they actually do want him to be President.
Which raised the immediate question: So who does somebody vote For if they want neither Trump nor Clinton ~ nor any of the Third Party candidates ~ as their next President? Stated differently: How do these people vote Against all the candidates that the Ruling Political Class has deigned to gift them?
Continued at https://bracingviews.com/2022/04/10/reforming-americas-elections-the-notc-way/
Making "None Of These Candidates" a mandatory choice on every ballot in every federal election held in the United States for Election2022 and Election2024 is flogging a dead horse Jeff.
Has any state adopted it since 1976, 47-years ago, when it was adopted by Nevada?
Is it correct that this option has never been permitted, much less approved, on any other State levels, least of all the Federal level.
In 1998 in California, citizen proponents of Proposition 23, titled the "None of the Above Act", qualified a State ballot initiative through circulated petitions submitted to the Secretary of State. The measure was defeated in the March 2000 general election by 64% to 36%.
Do I have this right?
You tell me, Dennis, if You have “right” what happened in California in 2000 re Prop 23 by providing a source for Your assertion.
But far more importantly, what does what the voters in California ~ of all places ~ decided 23 years ago on this matter have to do with anything that is happening or could happen in California or America today? About anything?
And have the Citizens of any other State even attempted to bring the NOTC [or NOTA] option for a vote over those 47 years since Nevada? If they have, i am not aware of it. But so what?
NOBODY had done it til Nevadans did it, either. There is always a first for everything. What is needed now is a second, then a third, and on up to the necessary number of States needed to ratify a proposed Constitutional Amendment.
And whether nobody has even tried ~ let alone tried and failed ~ to make NOTC a mandatory option, what does that have to do with what is happening in America today, and with the choices America’s Ruling Political Class will give Voters in 2024?
But You can bet the farm that if somebody Did try to make NOTC happen any place in this country, that same RPC would do everything with its wealth and in its power to make sure that it failed.
http://repository.uchastings.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1945&context=ca_ballot_inits
https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_23,_the_%22None_of_the_Above%22_Act_(2000)
So again: Exactly what does what the voters in California ~ of all places ~ decided 23 years ago on this matter have to do with anything that is happening or could happen in California or America today? About anything?
My guess is that the reason NOTC hasn't been tried is because not enough people ~ the ones who are fed up with this nation's system of government and governance and its $ 1 = 1 Vote charade for putting and keeping select politicians in office ~ not enough of these people have ever heard of NOTC; let alone thought about it and considered it an option worth pursuing.
Nevada Court Judges have thought about it Jeff.
In 2012 NOTC was challenged in Court in Nevada. All the way up to The United States Court of Appeals in The Ninth circuit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/None_of_These_Candidates
And who filed that 2012 lawsuit against NOTC in Nevada?
"In June 2012, anticipating a close race in Nevada during the 2012 presidential elections, the REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE challenged the constitutionality of the option. FEARING THAT THE OPTION WOULD SIPHON VOTES FROM THE REPUBLICAN NOMINEE, the RNC claimed that the option is not constitutional because if "None of these Candidates" received the most votes, it would not win the election."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/None_of_These_Candidates ; EMPHASES added.
Gee....; what a surprise.
So since 1976, how many elections in Nevada have been affected/determined by NOTC?
How might we judge the success of the Nevada experiment?
Those weren't "Nevada Court Judges" who thought about NOTC in 2012. That was a US District Court judge who ruled that it was unconstitutional. And then the 9th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals overturned that ruling and declared it constitutional.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/None_of_These_Candidates
My point was that very few Americans outside of Nevadans and America's Ruling Political Class have ever even heard of NOTC. Let alone thought about it as an alternative to and antidote for America's totally corrupt system of choosing who gets to lead its totally corrupt system of government and governance.
Constitutional it may be, but you are still flogging a dead horse my friend. Sorry
NOTA options on the ballots have been considered and recognized by many other counties in the world for nearly 30-years...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/None_of_the_above
That American political scientists and experts did not know about the methodology, and consider invoking it, is not incredible.