March 9, 2016

Flint went for Bernie, according to AP map

http://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/michigan?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=b-lede-package-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

More than symbolic.

You can guess almost everyone voting there was watching the last debate. And when Clinton found ways to rationalize allowing the poisoning of the water - known as "fracking" - and Sanders slam-dunked his answer with a clear NO, that had to resonate.

The population of Flint is 60% African American.

March 9, 2016

It's not really an error.

1) I'm not talking about the polls are skewed or fixed, although they seem to be.

2) More importantly: Primary season polls are unreliable, if not open bullshit. Turnouts are too small and unreliable. Motivation is everything and cannot be predicted. Of course they're constantly wrong! These problems can't be fixed until we're all wired into brain chips. Which I know many of the data-heads are looking forward to, me not. Nate Silver is not my god. Very impressive his general election accuracy but if he stops promoting himself he'll admit these obvious realities.

March 8, 2016

Clinton's answer on fracking was not "wandering" but precise.

Video of Sanders and Clinton responding to a question on fracking, from last night's Sanders-Clinton debate in water-poisoned Flint:

Commenters to this exchange say Clinton delivered a "wandering answer" that allowed Sanders an opening. He did clobber at that point and throughout, but I disagree about Clinton. Her answer was the well-crafted, encoded political speech of a corporate lobbyist, something Clinton really is good at. I'd say she delivered it flawlessly, as far as her clients are concerned.

Translated, she said that of course she's not going to obstruct anyone's god-given profits from fracking! Ways can always be found to camouflage the crime in loopholes, and to put the rubes to sleep with hours of responsible-sounding legalisms. Even many activists will come to believe something is actually being done to correct the problem, and that a moderate solution can be found, balancing the interests of people who drink water with those of the business ventures who poison it.

Only problem was that this double-talk let Sanders swoop in and deliver the truth in dramatic form. But there will be no fear of that once she is elected. Then it will be all about committee meetings writing the regulations, assuming these even happen.

In Flint, this was a key moment in literary terms, since fracking first of all is about POISONED WATER. (Not to make light of the many other problems such as the earthquakes in Oklahoma, where Sanders scored big on this issue, and of course the insanity of digging out hydrocarbons by this high-polluting method in the age of global warming.)

In terms of attention, meanwhile, the media instead covers the calculated big lie Clinton delivered about Sanders opposing an auto industry bailout. (Or the fact that he talks with his hands, oh my god.) How many voters in tomorrow's primary watched this debate, and will it make a difference?

Watch the video yourself and see if I'm not right. For an example of how this works, consider the Wall Street crash and the response: Dodd-Frank with its thousands of pages of regulations that do not address the Wall Street incentive system, and thus do nothing to change Too Big To Fail.

March 8, 2016

None at the banks responsible for the crisis.

Their poor institutions had to give up medium-big chunks in settlements, basically as a replacement tax bill for the plunder, and these agreements allowed all the human miscreants, the ones who can actually make harmful decisions and did, to escape with their earnings and bonuses and no charges whatsoever.

Nice incentive system! It can never go wrong again, I'm sure. The more thousands of pages in rules you write without ever punishing violators, the more effective, surely!

March 8, 2016

To help fall asleep most old men just masturbate or drink.

Though drinking was involved not surprisingly. "Compliant and cordial," I like that. And with a mild headache.

March 8, 2016

Why the earth got fracked until all water was poisoned

According to the history books, it happened because the news network that invented the "Dean scream" placed two podiums such that the camera angle during a broadcast created the false impression that a finger was being pointed in someone's face when it wasn't. Also, during a formal debate, someone asked not to be interrupted in a gruff manner. I mean, that's the kind of thing I vote on. You?

March 7, 2016

Question on the auto bailout, I don't remember...

Was the auto industry bailout specified as a part of the Wall Street bailout? I remember that the bailout was approved and then Obama chose to redirect some of the money to Detroit. Was there specific legislation on it?

March 5, 2016

Are you describing Madam Third Way?

Every point's a hit, in that case. A corporate candidate who runs as a Democrat, supports the worst within the party, trashes Obama viciously in her 2008 campaign with many of the same memes, etc. Speaking of carpetbagger, 15 years ago she showed up in my state out of nowhere and I actually voted for her. She promptly lined up with the War on Terror, the PATRIOT Act, the Bush Regime program, and her essential vote to enable the criminal war of aggression on Iraq.

March 3, 2016

Serious thinkers read before they react.

I said nothing on this, my post related to a claim about Massachusetts, so don't ambush me with your mean-sounding talking point. In a sense, I agree: really serious people do not talk about polls much at all, they debate issues in a discussion that allows exchange and development. They might discuss platforms for the country's future, instead of crap lke this. Here on DU, however, everyone brandishes polls as an exercise in bullying, bullshit and counter-bullshit. We act just like the bullshit media.

March 2, 2016

The dude abides - four states for Sanders & MA still in the air.

Okay, looking bad for a Sanders win in MA, but the gap keeps closing. 78% reporting, it's 50.7 to 48.1 and the western part of the state (Sanders territory) is still coming in. Only FOXNEWS has called the state (like they did in the 2000 presidential for Bush).

So what if there's a SOLID NORTH for Sanders? Note that he won OK as well as MN, CO and VT. What matters more for Democrats in November, North and West or South? Hello?