We’re suffering with Donald Trump for a reason. We're going through this because far too many people were much too willing to just follow the lead of the string-pullers. The DNC told those people to vote for Hillary Clinton or else, and that's just what they did - at least, some of them. If Hillary had won, what would stop them from doing that very same thing in the next election, and the one after that? So instead of pointing the finger at each other, we should just stop for a minute and think about the consequences of blindly allowing others to manipulate our vote. We learn by being burnt, and Trump simply represents a hot skillet, the very same kind of hot skillet that taught me to never vote for a Clinton again.
.
I wrote an article discussing the need for Black people to become efficient thinkers in order to move forward. That article applies perfectly here. In fact, I wish I had this discussion as a example when I wrote it. I understand the frustration of many people, but it's misdirected. We've all been played by the DNC, but the first reaction of many is to blame their own people, and to start calling each other names because many refused to vote for the preferred bigot. But the anger of those frustrated over Trump should rightly be directed toward the DNC who used corruption and deceit to force them to have to choose between two bigots in the first place. The DNC made Trump a virtual shoo-in by shoving Hillary down our throats. Too many people saw through Hillary, and they hated what they saw. So it was foolish to even expect to win when even the polls were telling them that the rules have been bent to run the most flawed Democratic candidate since the Civil War. So instead of going online and ranting about their own people, the appropriate thing to do was to direct their anger at the DNC. If the DNC got a few million letters like the one below it would cause them to think long and hard before they tried to manipulate us again.
. HILLARY CLINTON’S CORRUPTION, AND DESTRUCTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY (ACCORDING TO DONNA BRAZILE, CHAIRMAN OF DNC)
.
1). “As Hillary’s campaign gained momentum, she resolved the party’s debt and put it on a starvation diet. It had become dependent on her campaign for survival, for which she expected to wield control of its operations.”
.
2). “Gary Gensler, the chief financial officer of Hillary’s campaign, described the party as fully under the control of Hillary’s campaign, which seemed to confirm the suspicions of the Bernie camp. The campaign had the DNC on life support, giving it money every month to meet its basic expenses, while the campaign was using the party as a fund-raising clearinghouse. Under FEC law, an individual can contribute a maximum of $2,700 directly to a presidential campaign. But the limits are much higher for contributions to state parties and a party’s national committee.”
.
Thus, Hillary was using the DNC to skirt campaign finance laws. “Individuals who had maxed out their $2,700 contribution limit to the campaign could write an additional check for $353,400 to the Hillary Victory Fund—that figure represented $10,000 to each of the 32 states’ parties who were part of the Victory Fund agreement—$320,000—and $33,400 to the DNC. The money would be deposited in the states first, and transferred to the DNC shortly after that. Money in the battleground states usually stayed in that state, but all the other states funneled that money directly to the DNC, which quickly transferred the money to Brooklyn” - or to the Hillary Clinton campaign.
.
“Wait,” I said [DNC Chairman Brazile]. “That victory fund was supposed to be for whoever was the nominee, and the state party races. You’re telling me that Hillary has been controlling it since before she got the nomination?”
.
3). “Right around the time of the convention, the leaked emails revealed Hillary’s campaign was grabbing money from the state parties for its own purposes, leaving the states with very little to support down-ballot races.”
.
“A Politico story published on May 2, 2016, described the big fund-raising vehicle she had launched through the states the summer before, quoting a vow she had made to rebuild ‘the party from the ground up … when our state parties are strong, we win. That’s what will happen.’ . . .
“Yet the states kept less than half of 1 percent of the $82 million they had amassed from the extravagant fund-raisers Hillary’s campaign was holding. A Politico story described this arrangement as ‘essentially … money laundering’ for the Clinton campaign.”
.
So Hillary was using the DNC to take money from the states to use for her own campaign. Could that be the reason that we have so few Democratic governors and other officeholders across America? Could that also be the reason that Democrats are so vulnerable to gerrymandering across the nation, solidifying the Republican lock on congress? Really!!!? - because of one woman’s self-serving ambition!!!?
.
A MESSAGE TO THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE
It has come to my attention that you’ve just adopted a rule requiring candidates to both run, and serve, as Democrats. Such arbitrary rules are, by definition, undemocratic, and they’re also an insult to the voter. You’re trying to deprive the voters of their freedom of choice. Such an action is just as unconscionable as gerrymandering, instituting a poll tax, or a literacy test. It’s an attempt to give the candidates of YOUR choice an unfair advantage. The candidates who the voters choose to vote for should be the VOTER’S choice, not yours. So who wants to vote for - or even trust - people who try to deprive the voters of their right to choose?
.
Just the thought of your arrogant attempt at manipulation turns my stomach. That’s why I voted against Hillary Clinton in the last election - and that was in spite of the fact that I knew it could cause Trump to win. But I came to the conclusion that since I was being manipulated out of my right to choose, I would vote for democracy by voting third party - and although I hate Trump intensely, I’d do the exact same thing again even if the election was being held tomorrow and my vote alone would determine whether the Democrats won or lost. Because as I see it, one group of scoundrels are no better than another, and I WILL NOT allow myself to be blackmailed out of my vote - and believe me, there are millions of other voters across this country who feel EXACTLY the same way I do. You’re trying to treat us like children, and personally, I don’t appreciate it a bit.
.
One of your cultists asked me, "Didn't you learn anything from the 2016 election?" I did. I learned that many of the people who run the DNC are nothing more than corporate conservatives in drag, and thus, just as corrupt as any Republican. So while I hated seeing Donald Trump win the election, I would have been just as miserable if Hillary had won. At least Trump is serving to wake people up from their state of apathetic somnambulism, but with Hillary it would have been the quiet corruption of business as usual. I only agree with Trump in one regard - Hillary should have gone to jail over her emails, because the one and only reason she used a private server was to try to hide her corrupt pay-to-play schemes from the federal government:
.
BILL CLINTON ENCOURAGED TRUMP TO RUN,
THINKING THAT WOULD GIVE HILLARY A SURE WIN
"New Democrats, also called centrist Democrats, Clinton Democrats or moderate Democrats, are a relatively centrist ideological faction within the Democratic Party that emerged after the victory of Republican George H. W. Bush in the 1988 presidential election. Describing themselves as "centrist", they are an economically moderate to conservative and "Third Way" faction of the party. New Democrats dominated the party starting in the late 1980s after the U.S. electorate turned to the political right, until the mid-2010s following a rise in the Congressional Progressive Caucus" (Wikipedia - New_Democrats).
.
And please don’t try to write me off as just another fanatical "Bernie Bro," because I’m not. I'm simply an informed American citizen who's highly insulted over being dealt with like I'm a clueless child, and people like me are growing with every day that's passes. It's time for the American people to send you arrogant bastards a message, and this is mine - you’re NOT our leaders, you’re our EMPLOYEES, and any one of you who don't understand that fact needs to be voted out of office.
.
So I sincerely hope you have the common sense to review your thoughtlessly ridiculous decision, because if you don’t, you can add Jesus to your ticket and I’d vote against him - and since he espoused honesty and fairness, I’m sure he’d be in my corner.
.
You'll find just a few of the people you've pissed off below.
.
.
Sincerely,
A TRUE progressive.
.
Eric L. Wattree
wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
.
Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.
Sphere: Related Content
It has come to my attention that you’ve just adopted a rule requiring candidates to run, and serve, as Democrats. Such arbitrary rules are, by definition, undemocratic, and they’re also an insult to the voter. You’re trying to deprive the voters of their freedom of choice. Such an action is just as unconscionable as gerrymandering, instituting a poll tax, or a literacy test. It’s an attempt to give the candidates of YOUR choice an unfair advantage. The candidates who the voters choose to vote for should be the VOTER’S choice, not yours. So who wants to vote for - or even trust - people who try to deprive the voters of their right to choose? . Just the thought of your arrogant attempt at manipulation turns my stomach. That’s why I voted against Hillary Clinton in the last election - and that was in spite of the fact that I knew it could cause Trump to win. But I came to the conclusion that since I was being manipulated out of my right to choose, I would vote for democracy - and although I hate Trump intensely, I’d do the exact same thing again even if the election was being held tomorrow and my vote alone would determine whether the Democrats won or lost. Because as I see it, one group of scoundrels are no better than another, and I WILL NOT allow myself to be blackmailed out of my vote - and believe me, there are millions of other voters across this country who feel EXACTLY the same way I do. You’re trying to treat us like children, and personally, I don’t appreciate it a bit. .
One of your cultists asked me, "Didn't you learn anything from the 2016 election?" I did. I learned that many of the people who run the DNC are nothing more than corporate conservatives in drag, and thus, just as corrupt as any Republican. So while I hated seeing Donald Trump win the election, I would have been just as miserable if Hillary had won. At least Trump is serving to wake people up from their state of apathetic somnambulism, but with Hillary it would have been the quiet corruption of business as usual. I only agree with Trump in one regard - Hillary should have gone to jail over her emails, because the one and only reason she used a private server was to try to hide her corrupt pay-to-play schemes from the federal government: . "New Democrats, also called centrist Democrats, Clinton Democrats or moderate Democrats, are a relatively centrist ideological faction within the Democratic Party that emerged after the victory of Republican George H. W. Bush in the 1988 presidential election. Describing themselves as "centrist", they are an economically moderate to conservative and "Third Way" faction of the party. New Democrats dominated the party starting in the late 1980s after the U.S. electorate turned to the political right, until the mid-2010s following a rise in the Congressional Progressive Caucus." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Democrats . And please don’t try to write me off as just another fanatical "Bernie Bro," because I’m not. I'm simply an informed American citizen who's highly insulted over being dealt with like I'm a clueless child, and people like me are growing with every day that's passes. It's time for the American people to send you arrogant bastards a message, and this is mine - you’re NOT our leaders, you’re our EMPLOYEES, and any one of you who don't understand that fact needs to be voted out of office. . So I sincerely hope you have the common sense to review your thoughtlessly ridiculous decision, because if you don’t, you can add Jesus to your ticket and I’d vote against him - and since he espoused honesty and fairness, I’m sure he’d be in my corner. . Sincerely,
Eric L. Wattree
wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
.
Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.
Sphere: Related Content
TAKING A STAND FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY:
I WILL NOT BE BLACKMAILED OUT OF MY VOTE
I’ve been putting a lot of thought into this election, and I’ve come to the conclusion that if we want to survive we've got to bring the corruption of our democracy to an end. So I'm taking a stand right here and right now - I WILL NOT BE BLACKMAILED OUT OF MY VOTE, and I'm not gonna let anybody send me on a guilt trip talking about Donald Trump. That’s political subterfuge, an attempt by the Clinton forces to Blackmail the electorate into voting for Hillary, whose history clearly shows that she's every bit as bad as Trump. The only difference between Hillary and Trump is Hillary has sense enough to tailor her lies on the issues in a way that accommodate the agenda of whoever she happens to be talking to at the time. In addition, we can only speculate about what trump might do, but we’ve already SEEN the atrocities that the Clintons are capable of committing against the Black community.
.
. “But she won the nomination,” they say.
.
No, she didn’t win the nomination - she stole it. When she hired Debbie Wasserman-Schultz she not only confirmed that fact, but she thumbed her nose at us in the process. I had planned to hold my nose and vote for Hillary, but the arrogance of the Wasserman-Shultz episode was the final straw for me. It said that the voice of the average citizen doesn't matter, and that’s a direct threat to our democracy. Why should I vote for a politician, or a party, who deprived me of my right to choose?
.
And the Clintons have shown that very same kind of arrogant disregard for the people and our laws repeatedly - like when Bill showed up at a Massachusetts polling place (where you're not even suppose to wear a Clinton button) and began to electioneer; and again when he casually strolled in to visit Attorney General Loretta Lynch while Hillary was still under active investigation by the FBI; and now they hire the disgraced chairperson of the DNC who was forced to resign for corruption after handing Hillary the nomination. They think they're above the people, and above the law, so the Clinton/Democratic machine and their corporate cronies simply anointed Hillary the nominee just as surely as the U.S. Supreme Court anointed George W. Bush president after the 2000 election. If Barack Obama were running against Hillary Clinton today, he wouldn't have stood a chance - no one would. With their money, corporate ties, and control over the Democratic Party, the people no longer count.
.
BILL CLINTON
CASUALLY - AND BLATANTLY - COMMITTING
ELECTION FRAUD AND THUMBING HIS NOSE
AT THE VOTER'S RIGHTS ACT WITH COMPLETE IMPUNITY - AND, IN A BLACK COMMUNITY.
WHAT IS HE DOING IN THIS POLLING PLACE?
Bill and Hillary Clinton have brought fraud, deceit and corruption to the Democratic Party just like they have to everything else they've ever touched in the past 25 years. So to simply sit on our hands and let this assault on our democratic system take place will set a horrible precedent from which the nation may never be able to recover. We should be in a complete uproar over this election fraud - after all, this is OUR VOICE they're stealing - so we should be demanding that everybody involved be run out of politics, if not jailed, not elect them president! This is not a hockey match; we're talking about our democracy here! - a democracy that many who were obviously much more informed and dedicated than we are, were willing to fight and die for. And now, we're just giving it away.
.
If we allow Hillary to just slide into the presidency in spite of the now documented evidence of cheating and corruption, this unconscionable assault on our democracy won't just be an ugly aberration, we will be acknowledging it as an accepted practice, giving it tacit approval. Thereafter the corporatists will be able to anoint anybody president that they choose - and they'll be completely free to do so, because as this incident clearly shows, with the Clintons controlling the Democratic Party it's no longer liberals fighting conservatives in order to protect the interest of the people, it's now sibling rivals fighting one another over whose turn it is to exploit the people, so neither party will be willing to fight the excesses of the corporate elites. Thus, the people have simply got to stand up and say, "No, this is not going to happen. Hillary, you've got to step aside," and based on the exposed cheating and corruption the Clintons have engaged in, we have every right to do so. They've forfeited the right to the nomination, but we're just submissively going along with the program like a group of somnambulistic Stepford wives, and that's exactly why our political "employees" don't take us seriously.
.
Political corruption is already changing the character of America. A Princeton University study found that the United States is no longer a democracy; it has now become an oligarchy. Researchers Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page indicated that "The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence." And again, clear evidence of the validity of that fact is after the Democratic Party did contortions to shove Hillary Clinton down our throats as the Democratic nominee, former DNC chairperson Debbie Wasserman-Shultz was forced to resign for corruption. Thereafter, she immediately went to work for the Clinton campaign.
.
Further evidence of the validity of the Princeton study is reflected in our double standard of justice. The FBI investigation of Hillary Clinton was clearly a sham. Just imagine what would happen to you if you worked for the State Department and put classified files on your home computer. Do you think they would worry about your "intent?" I don't think so. What Hillary did is called "Gross (criminal) Negligence" and "Endangering National Security," both, very serious crimes. She should have, at the very least, lost her security clearance, but that would have prevented her from running for president. So in Hillary's case it was just fluffed off, while in another case, Sandra Bland was dragged from her vehicle, brutalized, and died under "suspicious circumstances" while in custody, for smoking a cigarette in her own car. That's the kind of double standard of justice(?) that Americans previously associated with "third world" countries. So now to reward Hillary Clinton with the presidency after she committed such an irresponsible act and then allowed to simply walk away, would send the integrity of our democracy spiraling down a rat hole.
.
HILLARY SPENT 6 YEARS ON WAL-MART'S
BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND NEVER LIFTED A FINGER
TO HELP EITHER WOMEN, OR THE WORKERS
“But if we refuse to vote for Hillary, what about the Supreme Court?”
.
What about it? Hillary would nominate someone who is just as corrupt as she is and would give her corporate supporters priority over the people. We have children and grandchildren to think about, so it's not enough to just defeat Trump, we must also defend the integrity of this democracy by defeating corruption - and corruption has been Hillary's stock and trade for decades.
.
So I’m fighting Hillary just like I would fight David Duke if he'd been shoved down our throat, because Hillary Clinton is nothing short of David Duke in a pants suit and with a smile and a lie on her lips. Thus, if the DNC insists on trying to force-feed us Hillary Clinton, I’m going to vote Green Party, regardless of the consequences. I'll let God sort it out. While I’ll be voting outside the Democratic Party for the first time in my life, that’s their fault, not mine, because I refuse to be either manipulated, or blackmailed, into voting for the Clinton political machine. We May Have Bill Clinton to Thank for Donald Trump's Presidential Run. Bill gave Donald Trump a pep talk just weeks before Trump entered the race. Take a minute to think about that.
.
In addition, and as I pointed out in a previous article, the Clintons were involved in Ronald Reagan’s scheme to flood the Black community with crack cocaine in order to fund his illegal war in Nicaragua. That one action completely destroyed hundreds of thousands of Black lives and is still having a negative impact on Black people today. There's currently a huge part of an entire generation of young Black people who don't know anything about their culture, and don't really know what it means to be Black, because the people who were responsible for teaching them were either dead, in prison, or mentally disabled by the affects of crack cocaine. As a direct result, instead of developing their potential and preparing for the future, many of these young people, who were literally raised by the corporate media, have been conditioned to believe that their role in life is to be criminals, drug addicts, and at the very bottom of society. In addition, they're being mesmerized by the media by being fed a constant diet of music that celebrates drug use, killing one another, and referring to the very womb of their culture as "bitches and hoes." So their fate is all but sealed. Yet, many Black people are falling all over one another to put two of the people who are hugely responsible for this state of affairs back into the White House. The situation is beyond sad, it's disgusting. So being forced to choose between Clinton and Trump is like having to choose between cyanide and strychnine.
.
.
In June of last year Politico.com reported, “Donald Trump may be a Republican, but his favorite president of the last four is none other than Bill Clinton,” and that makes perfect sense, because Bill gave him a complete blueprint on how to handle Hispanics, Muslims, and other minorities. According to the United States Census, there were 3.2 million Black slaves in America in 1850. Today more than 4 million Blacks are involved with the prison industrial complex, either incarcerated or on parole. So the prison industrial complex currently controls the lives of more Black people than slave masters did 10 years before the Civil War. We have Bill Clinton (our so-called “First Black President”) to thank for that. Thereafter, the prison industrial complex became one of Hillary’s biggest contributors. Thus, the Clintons have brought a thousand times more harm to the Black community than David Duke and the Klan. If they had done as much harm to the Jewish community, Hillary wouldn’t have even been able to run.
.
Therefore, I continue to point out at every opportunity that Bill and Hillary Clinton are conservatives in drag. They walk like liberals, and they talk like liberals, but they always manage to leave conservative policies behind. They've been more successful in passing fiscally conservative legislation than the GOP - the passing of NAFTA, allowing corporations to send $20 an hour jobs out of the country to be performed for $5 an hour in other countries; the gutting of Glass-Steagall, allowing commercial banks to gamble with our deposits, which led directly to the 2008 Wall Street crisis; the elimination of the Fairness Doctrine, leading to the dumbing down of America and making propagandist networks like FOX News possible, etc., etc. In addition, their tacit participation in the Mena connection, and then subjecting the resulting victims of their flooding the Black community with drugs to mass incarceration is nothing short of gross bigotry. They're just bigots who keep a smile on their face so they can trot us out when they need us.
.
Thus, the working class must come together and tell the corporate establishment that we’re not going to be manipulated or blackmailed into swallowing this tainted meat they’re trying to shove down our throats. If we fail to do so, our democracy may be lost to us forever.
.
I can’t repeat this enough - Bill and Hillary Clinton are "Republicrats." Their primary mission in life is to drag the Democratic party to the right. Hillary is the same closet Republican that she’s always been (a Goldwater girl, and President of the “Young Republicans" in college), and Bill is a White Southern Dixiecrat. When Hillary was running against Barack Obama in 2008, in an attempt to get Ted Kennedy's support, Bill Clinton was reported to have said,"A few years ago this guy would have been carrying our bags." True liberals don't talk like that. In fact, the reaction of one of my White neighbors to the comment is how I found out about it. She called me screaming over the phone - "Did you hear what that racist bastard said about Barack Obama!!!?" So the Clintons are far from liberal; they're just calculating. They saw which way the wind was blowing during the sixties and then made the cynical decision to take advantage of it. Wikipedia puts it this way:
.
“New Democrats, also called Centrist Democrats, Clinton Democrats or Moderate Democrats, is an ideologically 'centrist' faction within the Democratic Party that emerged after the victory of Republican George H. W. Bush in the 1988 presidential election. They are an economically conservative and ‘Third Way’ faction which dominated the party for around 20 years starting in the late 1980s after the US populace turned much further to the political right. They are represented by organizations such as the New Democrat Network and the New Democrat Coalition." So in short, they’re conservatives.
.
The New York Times reports:
. "Mrs. Clinton’s dogged pursuit of Republican votes has especially rankled progressives, and highlights the divisions within the Democratic Party, even as they see a victory more likely. They have grumbled at her eager promotion of endorsements from veterans of the George W. Bush and Reagan administrations, including that of John D. Negroponte, a top diplomat and intelligence official under Mr. Bush. They worry aloud that Henry Kissinger, of whom Mrs. Clinton has often spoken fondly, could be next . . . 'Secretary Clinton’s decision to aggressively court Mitt Romney’s base has her looking more and more like Mitt Romney every day,' said Benjamin T. Jealous, a former N.A.A.C.P. president who initially supported Mr. Sanders. 'That’s not a good thing."'
.
So Hillary Clinton fans, I don’t care what you say. Hillary and her New Democratic machine can shove it. If they're so concerned about Trump, they need to step up and tell Hillary Clinton to step aside. If enough of us do that she'll have no choice but to do so.
.
CONGRESS ACCUSES HILLARY CLINTON OF PERJURY
.
Hillary needs to be made to step aside for committing election fraud and trying to corrupt our democracy alone, but she also needs to step aside so she won't dump Trump right in our laps by default. The Democrats need to run someone with much less baggage than Hillary been has already been revealed to have, and the worst probably hasn’t even come out yet, because we don’t know what it was she was trying to hide with that private email server. But you can be assured that the opposition does, and they’re going to wait until just a few days before election day to drop it on us; then we’re going to end up with a President Trump. So if Hillary cares more about America than she does her own ambition (which I seriously doubt), she’ll voluntarily step aside. If it turns out that I’m right and she is more self-serving than patriotic, she doesn’t deserve to be president in the first place.
.
Finally, I'm sure that a lot of Clinton lovers - both Black and White - are going to be absolutely furious at what I've said here. But that's only because it's absolutely meaningless to them what the Clintons have done to the Black community. That speaks volumes, and it also explains why Black lives don't matter, in spite of all the liberal rhetoric that we engage in. Here's where we've got to make Black lives matter, by bringing down corrupt politicians.
.
http://wattree.blogspot.com/ Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
.
Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.
THE CLINTONS SHOULD BE INDICTED AND PROSECUTED
FOR FEDERAL ELECTION FRAUD
.
"JEEVES, FETCH ME A SENATOR . . . ANY ONE OF 'EM WILL DO."
A Princeton University study has found that the United States is no longer a democracy - it is now an oligarchy, run by the rich. BBC.com quotes Prof. Martin Gilens of Princeton and Prof. Benjamin I. Page of Northwestern University as saying, "Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence."
.
The article goes on to quote Eric Zuess, in an article in Counterpunch magazine, as saying "American democracy is a sham, no matter how much it's pumped by the oligarchs who run the country (and who control the nation's "news" media)." He goes on to say, "The US, in other words, is basically similar to Russia or most other dubious 'electoral' 'democratic' countries. We weren't formerly, but we clearly are now."
.
I've known about this study for over a couple of years now, and I've written about it several times, but the blatantly cavalier attitude in which the Democratic establishment has treated it's rank-and-file constituents during the current primary has now driven the point home to me in a big way, and we'd better do something about it, while we still can - and we should start with Hillary Clinton, and her crime partner, "Bigshot Willie."
.
WHAT KIND OF ARROGANCE AND SENSE OF
ENTITLEMENT DOES IT TAKE TO DO SOMETHING
LIKE THIS!!!?
The Clintons acted with great enthusiasm and dispatch when it came to the mass incarceration of Black people, but what about when they break the law? Massachusetts law is clear and unequivocal:
.
"Within 150 feet of a polling place…no person shall solicit votes for or against, or otherwise promote or oppose, any person or political party or position on a ballot question, to be voted on at the current election. No campaign material intended to influence the vote of a voter in the ongoing election, including campaign literature, buttons, signs, and ballot stickers, may be posted, exhibited, circulated, or distributed in the polling place, in the building where it is located, on the building walls, on the premises where the building stands, or within 150 feet of an entrance door to the building. ( 950 CMR 53.03(18); 54.04.22),)"
.
But in spite of that law - THE PEOPLE'S LAW - Bill Clinton felt so entitled, and thought the people were so stupid, that we couldn't recognize that he constituted a walking 'Bill'-board for Hillary Clinton INSIDE the polling area. He also retarded the vote by creating a distraction OUTSIDE the building. His very presence slowed down the vote, his presidential entourage prevented people from getting into the polls, and he extended the time that voters had to wait in line - time that many voters didn't have. Didn't Bill Clinton have since enough to know that his very presence would disrupt the voting process? If he didn't, he has very poor judgment, If he did, what was his motive? He wasn't voting, so why did he have to enter the polling site in the first place? Why did he even have to come there?
.
The answer is clear - to cheat, to circumvent the law, and to do whatever he had to do to get what he wanted, and he and Hillary needs to be prosecuted for it - and not only that, Hillary needs to be denied the Democratic nomination. Haven't we had enough to these dishonest slicksters in office? Aren't these exactly the kind of people we're trying to get OUT of office? Can you even imagine Barack Obama doing something like that? Could you imagine Bernie Sanders doing something like that? Absolutely not! And that's exactly why this nation can't be trusted in the hands of people like the Clintons. They lack character, they feel entitled, and they think that their interests - and the interests of their rich Wall St. cronies - should be given priority over the interest of the average American.
.
The DailyKos reported, ". . . the most serious charge leveled at Clinton’s March 1st Super-Tuesday antics is that he was blocking poor people from voting, in one of Massachusetts most distressed communities, where the median family income is $49,000, [which is] $110,000 less than the Massachusetts town where presidential candidate Hillary Clinton went to college, Wellesley. Although electioneering within a polling place is a misdemeanor, interfering with voting rights is a state and federal civil rights violation and felony."
Conduct that Constitutes Federal Election Fraud
The following activity provides a basis for federal prosecution for election fraud:
.
• Conspiring to prevent voters from participating in elections in which a federal candidate is on the ballot, or when done “under color of law” in any election, federal or nonfederal (18 U.S.C. §§ 241, 242). . . The Criminal Division continues to believe that Section 241 should be considered when addressing schemes to thwart voting in federal elections. Section 241 does not require that the conspiracy be successful, United States v. Bradberry, 517 F.2d 498 (7th Cir. 1975), nor need there be proof of an overt act. Williams v. United States, 179 F.2d 644, 649 (5th Cir. 1950), aff’d on other grounds, 341 U.S. 70 (1951); Morado, 454 F.2d 167. Section 241 reaches conduct affecting the integrity of the federal election process as a whole, and does not 39 require fraudulent action with respect to any particular voter. United States v. Nathan, 238 F.2d 401 (7th Cir. 1956).
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SCHEMES
The use of Section 241 in election fraud cases generally falls into two types of situations: “public schemes” and “private schemes.” A public scheme is one that involves the necessary participation of a public official acting under the color of law [like secret service agents]. In election fraud cases, this public official is usually an election officer using his office to dilute valid ballots with invalid ballots or to otherwise corrupt an honest vote tally in derogation of the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. See, e.g., United States v. Haynes, 977 F.2d 583 (6th Cir. 1992) (table) (available at 1992 WL 296782); United States v. Townsley, 843 F.2d 1070 (8th Cir. 1988); United States v. Howard, 774 F.2d 838 (7th Cir. 1985); United States v. Olinger, 759 F.2d 1293 (7th Cir. 1985); United States v. Stollings, 501 F.2d 954 (4th Cir. 1974); United States v. Anderson, 481 F.2d 685 (4th Cir. 1973), aff’d on other grounds, 417 U.S. 211 (1974). Another case involving a public scheme turned on the necessary participation of a notary public who falsely notarized forged voter signatures on absentee ballot materials in an Indian tribal election. United States v. Wadena, 152 F.3d 831 (8th Cir. 1998).
.
A private scheme is a pattern of conduct that does not involve the necessary participation of a public official acting under color of law, but that can be shown to have adversely affected the ability of qualified voters to vote in elections in which federal candidates were on the ballot. Examples of private schemes include: (1) voting fraudulent ballots in mixed elections, and (2) thwarting get-out-the-vote or ride-to-the-polls activities of political factions or parties through such methods as jamming telephone lines or vandalizing motor vehicles.
.
Public schemes may be prosecuted under Section 241 regardless of the nature of the election, i.e., elections with or without a federal candidate. On the other hand, private schemes can be prosecuted under Section 241 only when the objective of the conspiracy was to corrupt a specific federal contest, or when the scheme can be shown to have affected, directly or indirectly, the vote count for a federal candidate, e.g., when fraudulent ballots were cast for an entire party ticket that included a federal office.
America Is Suffering Because We’ve Turned Our Political ‘Employees’ Into Aristocrats
.
I often hear people complaining about how our system has broken down. As a solution they generally propose that we put term limits into place, and/or institute government-financed elections. I’m all for the latter, but I’m totally against term limits because it takes away the citizens’ right to return people to office who represent them well. I’m against any measure that takes away a citizen’s ‘right to choose.’
.
But the assertion that the system has broken down begs the question. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the system as it is. WE are the problem, not the system. We are negligently apathetic. Those of us who even bother to vote and keep ourselves informed about what’s going on around us assume that we can simply vote for the politicians we like then go on about our business and allow the politicians to run the country, but that’s not it’s supposed to work.
.
The United States is a huge corporation, we’re the Board of Directors, and politicians are our EMPLOYEES, not our leaders - we’re THEIR leaders, and we’re doing an absolutely horrible job of leading. So again, the system is not the problem, we're simply an incompetent board of directors.
.
Instead of staying on top of the day-to-day activities of our corporation as any competent board of directors would do, we’re choosing to remain at home watching BET, MTV, ESPN, and allowing our employees a free hand to run our valuable corporation as they see fit, and as a direct result of our gross negligence, our employees are doing what unsupervised employees are prone to do - taking advantage of the situation by giving themselves undeserved raises and perks, doing favors for family, friends, and favored associates, and generally squandering the corporation's assets.
.
So we need to get a handle on this, and we can do just that very easily - and without changing one law. All we have to do is decide that enough is enough, and start firing employees. Corporation's don’t control this government, we do. But the problem is, we’re allowing corporations to control us by using their wealth to influence our thinking. That’s the one and only thing that gives money clout in our political system, it’s being used to influence our thinking. So we’re right back to square one - we’re being manipulated because we’re refusing to educate ourselves and we’re ALLOWING ourselves to be. We are, LITERALLY, allowing snake oil salesmen to come into our homes and convince us that we’re un-American if we don’t buy their snake oil.
.
We’ve allowed the Supreme Court to tell us that a non-citizen head of a foreign corporation has as much of a right to the freedom of speech in OUR political system as an American citizen, and we're merely accepting that - and virtually, without even a whimper. That is patently a corrupt and ridiculous ruling. So of course the system is breaking down, because we, as the nation's board of directors, are being stupidly incompetent and unassertive.
.
Again, even if we were talking about exclusively American corporations, that ruling is corrupt and ridiculous, and we need to be taking aggressive action against it. Because the fact is, the only reason a corporation is a corporation in the first place is so its members can avoid personal responsibility, and liability, for its missteps. So the members of the corporation can’t have it both ways. If a corporation is a person, then EVERY person that is a part of that corporation should be held PERSONALLY responsible if it pollutes half the Eastern seaboard due to an oil spill, or causes an earthquake due to fracking, or causes devastating hurricanes due to heating up our environment. And another thing that makes the ruling ridiculous is EVERY member of a given corporation ALREADY has the freedom of speech as individuals, so by also allowing them to assert their will, or speak, as a corporation, is by definition, giving them more rights than the average American citizen. While we may shout, this conservative Supreme Court has given corporations, including foreign corporations, a megaphone.
So what can we do to turn this situation around?
In order to turn this situation around, we must, first, educate ourselves and change our mindset. We must make pouring tons of money into a political campaign a liability rather than an asset in our political process. If we see that any politician or political initiative is being backed by a huge political war chest of funds, we should simply assume that the politician is in the pocket of some corporation or entity that’s not working in the best interest of the people, and the same is true of any political initiative.
.
If the people would simply tune-in to the fact that corporations are trying to buy the government, then vote any politician out of office who supported them, and thereafter, exact a pound of flesh from the corporations in the next congress for even attempting to manipulate the system, we wouldn’t have to change one law - even Citizens United. That is the way this system is supposed to work, and that would make money meaningless in politics. Thus, we should seek out our political information through research and grassroots sources, because ultimately, education is the key to resolving all of our problems - at least, the systemic ones.
.
Secondly, we must bring the political perks and salaries of politicians back into line with the median income of the American middle class. As I continually point out, America is currently knee-deep in a class war. A study done by Princeton University declares that America is no longer a democracy; it is now an oligarchy, completely controlled by the wealthy, and easily researched facts bear that out. The top 5% of the people in this country control 82% of the wealth, while the bottom 80% of Americans only control 7% of the wealth. Once that percentage dwindles down to 5%, and then 2%, we’ll be virtual slaves. As I’ve mentioned before, the only difference between the condition we’re going to find ourselves in and actual slavery is we’ll have to provide our own housing.
.
Yet, we’re paying the people who "represent" us such huge salaries and perks that we’ve elevated them into the class that seeks to enslave us. We’ve got to correct that situation, because our so-call representatives are doing so much better than we are that even if they wanted to, they can no longer identify with us, and many of them no longer even try. So we need to place a ceiling on their salaries and perks not to exceed the median range of the American middle class, and also attach them to a given percentage above the minimum wage.
.
And finally, we need to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine in order to curb the flood of demagoguery and disinformation that’s completely overwhelming truth in our political system.
.
The Fairness Doctrine provided that if any television or radio station in America broadcasted a purely partisan perspective on a public issue, they had to provide equal time to the opposing point of view. The doctrine’s purpose was first, to keep the American people informed, and secondly, to prevent the demagoguery that we see today on Fox News, and it served its purpose well. It provided endless public debate on every public issue, and that, in turn, served to keep the nation informed of every side of every issue. In addition, a person like Rush Limbaugh couldn’t have existed under the Fairness Doctrine, at least, not without having a liberal sitting right next to him who could challenge every lie he told. But some stations found that too combative, so they simply gave a liberal a show with equal time that immediately followed shows like Rush Limbaugh's.
.
Some suggest that the Freedom of Information Act abridges a network's right to freedom of speech, but I contend that no network should have the right to corrupt the system with lies. That's akin to shouting 'fire' in a crowded theater - or worse, because we're not simply talking about bringing possible harm to a room full of people, we're talking about bringing DEMONSTRATED harm to an entire nation. .
But conservatives found that when the people were informed of the facts, the conservative point of view always fell short. That’s why it became so important to them to abolish the doctrine, so they could spew their lies and propaganda with impunity - and that’s exactly what came to pass. Immediately after Ronald Reagan abolished the doctrine, conservative-leaning corporations began to buy up most of the media outlets across the country, effectively shutting out the liberal perspective from the American people. That monopoly, and the ability to corrupt public discourse, must be brought to an end.
.
So the only thing left to discuss at this point is how are we going to get politicians to conform to our wishes. That one’s easy - we vote ‘em out of office if they don’t.
.
Eric L. Wattree http://wattree.blogspot.com/ Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
.
Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does. Sphere: Related Content
The generation of "Baby Boomers" that came up during the 50s and 60s will forever be remembered as the "Enlightened Generation." We were special. The world had never seen anything like us before, and for the most part, the nation still reflects just how special we were. We were just idealistic kids, but we got it right. We embraced knowledge, educated ourselves, and then demanded that this nation adhere to the values that it professed to hold dear. Even this nation’s founding fathers found it expedient to comprise some of their values, but we didn’t compromise even one, and the fact that this nation elected its first Black president on our watch - a mere fifty years after Black people were being attacked by police dogs for exercising the simple right to sit at public lunch counters - will forever stand as a monument to the astounding impact that we’ve had on this nation. But we got yet one more task to perform before we move on. While we're still around, we’ve GOT to educate the young people of this nation to begin to follow in our footsteps.
.
As we’ve aged, our numbers have began to diminish, so the nation, and the world, have started to backslide - and it didn’t happen spontaneously. It was a planned and orchestrated attack against everything we represent. It started nearly 35 years ago under the Reagan administration. First they began to attack public information by abolishing the "Fairness Doctrine." The Fairness Doctrine provided that if any television or radio station in America broadcasted a purely partisan perspective on a public issue, they had to provide equal time to the opposing point of view.
.
The doctrine’s purpose was first, to keep the American people informed, and secondly, to prevent the demagoguery that we see today on Fox News, and it served its purpose well. It provided endless public debate on every public issue, and that, in turn, served to keep the nation informed of every side of every issue. In addition, a person like Rush Limbaugh couldn’t have existed under the Fairness Doctrine, at least, not unless he had a liberal sitting right next to him who could challenge every lie he told. But some stations found that too combative, so they simply gave a liberal a show with equal time that immediately followed shows like Rush Limbaugh's.
.
But conservatives found that when the people were informed of the facts, the conservative point of view always fell short. That’s why it was so important to them to abolish the doctrine, so they could spew their lies and propaganda with impunity. Then after they successfully got the doctrine abolished, conservative-leaning corporations began to buy up all the media outlets across the country, effectively shutting out the liberal perspective from the American people. It got so bad under George W. Bush that only conservative commentators were being broadcasted to the troops in Iraq. I tried to take up the slack by communicating with the troops online, and I had quite a following. But after a while, a military commander contacted me and politely asked me to cease and desist. He said that I was hurting moral. I found that to be both a profoundly significant, and an extremely telling point of view. If truth hurt moral, what did that say about the mission?
.
After the conservatives effectively blocked the liberal perspective from the airways, they then turned to our educational system. They used tax laws and various other measures to attack and defund our educational system in order to ensure that the generations that followed the Baby Boomers didn’t have the educational background to become independent and critical thinkers. As a direct result of the machinations of this Corporate/GOP alliance, today many people with college degrees lack much of the knowledge that the enlighten generation was armed with when they entered high school. That’s why it’s routine to hear the Republican base make statements like, "Barack Obama is un-American - he’s involved in a socialist plot to insure my family against catastrophic illness." Many in the Republican base actually accept such gross stupidity as logically valid. Personally, I find the fact that people’s minds can be manipulated to that level of stupidity kind of scary.
.
Thus, the brutal attack that's currently being waged by conservatives on the nation's educational system that's been ongoing for the passed thirty years, is in direct response to what the enlightened generation was, and who we remain to be.
.
We hold the distinction of bringing America closer to what it professes to be than any generation in the history of this country. So we, as a generation, possess the quality of intellect that rabid conservatives are doing their very best to ensure never arises again. We are a direct threat to their agenda to convert America from being a democratic republic, to becoming a corporate feudalist state, where they can lower the standard of living of the American middle class to one that conforms more closely to the global economy, where in many countries, workers make less per week, than many American workers spend on lunch per day.
.
And they’re coming very close to achieving that goal. A Princeton University study has declared that the United States is no longer a democratic republic; we’re now an oligarchy that’s controlled by the rich. The top 5% of the nation now control 72% of the wealth, and the bottom 80% of Americans only control 7% of the wealth. This has come about just since the Reagan administration. But consider this. Once the bottom 80% of Americans only control 5%, then 3%, and then later, none of the nation’s wealth, our children - both Black and White - for all intent and purposes, will be slaves. Thus, this is no longer a struggle about merely race - race is now only used to keep the poor and middle class divided. We are now knee deep in a CLASS struggle, and it’s the most dangerous threat to the American way of life that the nation has EVER faced.
.
So as Baby Boomers, this nation’s enlighten generation, we have yet one more task to perform for this nation. We must do our best to see to it that our legacy lives on. It is essential that when we leave this Earth, that we leave our spirit behind - we owe it to the nation, we owe it to our children, and we owe it to our passionate brothers and sisters who are now in the wind. That is my life’s mission, and that should be the mission of ALL of us who are still around. We must muster the strength to come together for one final rally against those who are out to destroy our children’s way of life.
.
America may not have always lived up to its ideals, but what made it special was it had ideals. That’s what made a generation like ours possible. But that’s no longer the case. Radical conservatives have changed that. At one time Americans could look forward with optimism, but not now - they’ve changed America into an ugly, evil, and dark place of mass suffering (when was the last time you saw a conservative who wasn't mean and hateful - in spite, of their professed Christian values). At one time politicians of different political persuasions could work together to further the interest of the American people, but not now - radical conservatives routinely hold the American people hostage in order to promote their malevolent agenda, and will vote any one of their number out of office who wants to act responsibly on behalf of the people. At one time politicians sought to inspire, but not now - conservatives seek to anger, and turn one American against another. That’s the only way that they can survive, because their agenda is so toxic to the American way of life that they have to appeal to the very worst in the nature of humanity in order to generate enough hatred between one American and another to get them to vote against their own interest.
.
So America needs us more than ever. We may no longer have the vigor that we once had, but we still have the passion, and not only that, we possess the most potent weapon that the domestic enemies of America will ever face - knowledge. We are the most knowledgeable people in America, so as we prepare to leave the stage, let us remind these chumps what we’re made of, and let our final encore be one of love for our children and grand children. Instead of simply saying good night, let us leave them with the gift of love, happiness, and the kind of security that we enjoyed.
.
So as we prepare to make our final exit, let us come together one last time and tell our children, "Don’t worry, babies, We got this!" And after we’ve defeated these scoundrels, and as we walk out the door after our final curtain, let us not forget to leave a message for history . . . "All You Need is Love." Only then, will we be free to join our brothers and sisters in the mist, with our heads held high.
Princeton Scientific Study: America is No Longer a Democracy; It’s Now an Oligarchy
.
A scientific study done at Princeton University indicates that the United States is no longer a Democracy. The country has now morphed into an Oligarchy. That means that the nation is no longer controlled by the people. It is now controlled by a handful of wealthy and powerful puppet masters. It also means that we are no longer in a race war; we are now in a class war. Thus, the poor and middle class, of EVERY race, are now the new niggas. So wake up, America, while you still have a chance of fighting back.
. One of the biggest problems that we have in this country is that we’ve allowed malevolent factions to throw us a bone and then use our votes against us to undermine our interests. The reason we’ve allowed this to happen is because we’re so gullible that we tend to believe that any faction that supports any issue that we’re passionate about is our friend, and that tendency has repeatedly been used against us. Over the years that has repeatedly caused the American people to forge alliances with the very people who want to cut their throats. . So it behooves poor and middle-class Black, and White people, to wake up, put our petty differences aside, and come together as a viable political force that’s ready to pitch a tooth-and-nail battle for the future of this country. If we don’t, the Tea party, the Klan, the Black Guerilla Army, and the Mexican Mafia are all going to find themselves shoulder-to-shoulder picking virtual cotton on the very same plantation.
.
Ironically, many White people already recognize this fact - that’s why Barack Obama is President today. But due to our unique historic background, lack of formal education, the proliferation of urban legends disseminated by poverty pimps, and lingering suspicions and bitterness, many Black people are resistant to this reality. Some demagogues work for the enemy by purposely keeping the poor and middle-class divided:
.
"When you’re trying to talk about issues that affect the people, name calling get’s in the way. Name calling is nothing but another weapon of mass distraction." - Cornel West. Hmmmmm. Think about his words, and then his behavior.
. But while it is undeniable that some White people are dogs (just like some Black people), we now also have undeniable evidence that MOST of them are good people who simply want to live and let live just like the majority of Black people. White bigots are a small minority of the White community, but they are a vicious and very loud minority (see Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, Pat Robertson, etc.), and they're being amplified by the power and wealth of corporate feudalists in order to keep us divided, so their noise and power far exceed their numbers. If that were not the case, Obama wouldn’t have been elected president - twice. No, Obama’s election doesn’t mean that this is a post-racist society, but what it does say is, racism and bigotry are being maintained and perpetuated by a minority of the White community. .
Consider this - even if all Black people had been allowed to stay at home, and the vote of every Black man, woman, and child in America had been automatically posted for Obama, there still wouldn’t have been enough of us to elect him President of the United States. Black people are only 13.6 percent of the population. So if only one hundred votes were being cast to determine the presidency, and every group was given the number of votes that corresponded to their percentage of the population, Black people would only be given 14 votes. But in order for Obama to become president, he needed 51 votes. Where did those other 37 votes come from? I’ll tell you where they came from - many of them came from White people. Obama could never have been elected president without them. So that’s in direct conflict with the message that the majority of White people are racist bigots. Numbers don't lie, so while it may satisfy the anger of those who allege that to be the case, the numbers simply don't validate their claim. .
White folks are being fed the same kind of nonsense on the other side of the fence. That's how we're being kept divided, and how the rich are taking over. The current battle being fought is over class, not race, and both poor and middle-class Blacks, and Whites, had better wake up and recognize that fact, or we're ALL going to be enslaved. . Many White people need to understand than when the GOP is targeting Social Security, they're not just targeting the Social Security of Black people, they're targeting EVERYBODY'S Social Security. And when the corporate feudalist and their GOP cronies sent our jobs overseas, they didn't just send Black jobs overseas, they sent the jobs of the White middle class out of the country as well. So again, America needs to wake up. Our true enemy is multiracial, and has very deep pockets and influence (Black folks, see Clarence Thomas). . Pages 22 and 23 of the Princeton study says the following: . "What do our findings say about democracy in America? They certainly constitute troubling news for advocates of "populistic" democracy, who want governments to respond primarily or exclusively to the policy preferences of their citizens. In the United States, our Politics findings indicate, the majority does not rule -- at least not in the causal sense of actually determining policy outcomes. When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites and/or with organized interests, they generally lose. Moreover, because of the strong status quo bias built into the U.S. political system, even when fairly large majorities of Americans favor policy change, they generally do not get it." . The study goes on to say, . "Despite the seemingly strong empirical support in previous studies for theories of majoritarian democracy, our analyses suggest that majorities of the American public actually have little influence over the policies our government adopts. Americans do enjoy many features central to democratic governance, such as regular elections, freedom of speech and association, and a widespread (if still contested) franchise. But we believe that if policymaking is dominated by powerful business organizations and a small number of affluent Americans, then America’s claims to being a democratic society are seriously threatened."
. That’s something that every poor and middle-class American needs to think about, regardless to what color they are. Whether Black and White racists like it or not, we're on this plantation together - and the GOP is the primary overseer.
Strive To Become Your Own Hero... Then Let No One Remove Your Cape.
BIO
Eric L. Wattree is a writer, poet, and musician, born in Los Angeles. He’s been a columnist for The Los Angeles Sentinel, Black Star News, The Atlanta Post, and is a member of the Sigma Delta Chi Society of Professional Journalists (http://www.spj.org/). He’s also the author of "A Message From the Hood."
Some of the greatest minds I’ve ever known held court while sitting on empty milk crates in the parking lots of ghetto liquor stores, while some of the weakest minds I’ve ever known roamed the halls of academia in pursuit of credentials over knowledge.
Am I a hater, you ask? You're damn right I'm a hater. I hate injustice. I hate hypocrisy. I also hate demagoguery, apathy, and the stupidity that allows it to exist. Hater? Absolutely. I'm a big time hater. I hate what I see happening to this country, and I hate watching the development of a culture that embraces ignorance with a stupid sense of pride. So yes, I am indeed a hater, but not only that - I'm a hater with a very low threshold for bullshit, so step off.