geek tragedy

geek tragedy's Journal

March 31, 2016

DC 37 (NYC) is one of the most progressive unions in the country

Very few organizations capture the intersectionality of labor, race, gender, and GLBT equality the way DC 37 does.

http://www.dc37.net/about/history.html

It is a union whose membership is largely people of color, with many women, that has stood for justice for all people, for all New Yorkers, for decades.

They chose to endorse Hillary Clinton in this election.

Unfortunately, some people who style themselves as standing for all the values that DC 37 has FOUGHT FOR are now trashing the union as corrupt, undemocratic, and failing to understand labor issues.

You'll never guess why.

Oh wait, you obviously know why.

You have a problem with DC 37, you have a problem with the core of progressive activism in New York.

If you think insulting them and condescending to them and patronizing them is going to win your candidate any votes, please proceed.

March 31, 2016

DC 37 Pledges Support for Hillary Clinton

DC 37 Is With Hillary Clinton

DC 37 PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR HILLARY CLINTON

Union endorsement puts an army of activists behind Clinton for NY Primary

With the New York State Democratic presidential primary election weeks away, District Council 37 vowed yesterday to mobilize its army of activists on behalf of former Secretary of State/NY Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The union’s delegates voted overwhelmingly to endorse her candidacy during their monthly meeting at union headquarters.

“We are proud to endorse Secretary Clinton as the next president of our great nation,” said DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido. “We supported her first run for office back in 2000, when she was elected to the U.S. Senate. We know her serious commitment to public service and her history of fighting for others, especially children and working families. She can count on this union to work diligently to get out the vote for the April 19 Primary in New York.”

In a show of solidarity, former President Bill Clinton will join union leaders and activists at a rally in support of her candidacy at union headquarters tomorrow, March 31.

DC 37 is New York City’s largest public employee union, with 121,000 members and 50,000 retirees.

DC 37’s national union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees – which represents 1.6 million public service workers across the country – has endorsed Clinton.

http://thebronxchronicle.com/2016/03/30/dc-37-is-with-hillary-clinton/

Clinton also has the endorsement of the other big NYC union, SEIU 1199--200,00 members.

NY will be a very hard fought state.

March 31, 2016

Quick question:

Which rightwing pundits and publications have not been quoted or cited to attack Hillary Clinton in this forum?

Are there any?

Running count:

1. Storm front

March 30, 2016

True or false?: in 2010 Sanders said adoption of single payer couldn't begin on the federal level

Simple enough--did he say "no we can't" for national single payer in 2010?

I will post the answer in a reply to this thread.

March 30, 2016

Democrats don't seem to care about Clinton's email server issue

This is a very useful test for figuring out who's an actual Democrat and who's not

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/03/04/democrats-simply-dont-seem-to-care-about-hillary-clintons-email-server-issue/

Last month, NBC and the Wall Street Journal tacked a question on to a national poll, asking people what concerns they had about the candidates. Two issues were raised for both Clinton and Bernie Sanders. For Clinton, they were her ties to Wall Street and "her honesty and judgment related to her use of a private email server." For Sanders, they were his lack of foreign policy experience and that his proposals were "too far out of the mainstream."

Of those four things, the thing that was least concerning to people was the email server — even when you include the people who volunteered that they were worried about both of a candidate's issues.

And this was in a poll in which Sanders held a national lead.

...

Notice what we're not saying, by the way. We are not saying 1) that no one cares about the issue, and 2) that Republicans don't care about the issue. It's just simply not the case that the email issue is motivating a lot of Democrats — and it is almost certainly not the case that it's risking Clinton's push to her party's nomination.

https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=

&w=1484

March 30, 2016

David Brock is Keyser Söze.

David Brock is responsible for everything mean ever said about Bernie Sanders.

David Brock directed Batman vs Superman.

David Brock once turned me into a Newt.

David Brock gave John Edwards dating advice.

David Brock broke up the Beatles.

David Brock invented New Coke.

David Brock hired Brownie at FEMA

David Brock was Carolina's QB coach for the Superbowl.

March 29, 2016

Let's come up with some fun NY facts in advance of the primary.

1. Bernie left New York--for good- in 1968. The next year the Mets won the World Series. Coincidence?

2. Bernie Sanders left New York one year before Jay-Z was born and 13 years before Alicia Keys was born.

3. Taxes on Wall Street are 18-20% of New York's state budget.

4. No one who lives in Brooklyn has an accent like Bernie Sanders. No one. Except Marty Markowitz.

5. New York's Governor and New York City's mayor are supporting Clinton.

6. Every single member of New York's Democratic Congressional delegation--black, white, male, female, Senate, House, has endorsed Clinton.

7. Hillary Clinton has lived in New York 15 years longer than Bernie Sanders has been a Democrat.

8. Hillary Clinton has the support of New York's mega-union, SEIU Local 1199, and many others.

More?

March 29, 2016

Please do not post videos praising "world class journalist Udo Ulfkotte"

there are at least two posts today in GD praising and promoting Udo Ulfkotte as a brave truthteller who's exposing the decadent western press.

(jury hid one, blew it on the other one: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027722986)

Just, no.

Udo Ulfkotte is a virulent racist, bigot and fascist who would make Donald Trump blush with his insane white supremacist rantings.

The self-proclaimed Islam expert Dr. Udo Ulfkotte gave a revealing interview with the Leipziger Volkszeitung the other day. Ulfkotte talks about how Muslim immigrants are parasites - he uses the word "locusts" (Heuschrecken) - in Germany; they have consumed "over one trillion" euros in public support and add nothing but crime, terrorism, and religious fanaticism. They must be deported and Germany must immediately stop wasting public funds for "integration" programs, since these people cannot be integrated anyway. Dr. Ulkotte further elaborates on Thilo Sarrazin's crude racial theories by asserting that Muslims in Germany are mating with their first cousins, creating a degenerate gene pool that will only accelerate Germany's decline. None of this is really new and Ulfkotte has made similar arguments in his numerous books and television appearances.

http://www.dialoginternational.com/dialog_international/2010/09/udo-ulfkottes-dream.html

Flanked by members of the neo-Nazi NPD, best-selling fake journalist and Putin propagandist Udo Ulfkotte choked and threw a 15-year old against the wall at an event last Friday evening in Offenbach. The teen was among a group of Jusos ("Young Social Democrats&quot

who were protesting Ulfkotte's speech concerning the dangers of immigration for the German Volk. The teen later pressed charges and Ulfkotte responded on his Facebook page:

http://www.dialoginternational.com/dialog_international/2015/03/fake-journalist-udo-ulfkotte-assaults-injures-15-year-old-boy.html

But even Dr. Ulfkotte may have outdone himself with his most recent piece on the right-wing Truther site of Kopp Verlag (with thanks to Politblogger). Germany is facing a health crisis due to vegetables tainted with E.coli. Naturally, Udo Ulfkotte seizes the opportunity for yet another attack on immigrants from Turkey:

Im »Erdbeerland« in Pottenstein und auf mindestens zehn weiteren Erdbeerplantagen erfand man den Hosenzwang, weil Türkinnen, die dort saisonal gearbeitet hatten, bei der Arbeit auf die Erdbeeren uriniert und zwischen den Pflanzen auch noch andere »größere Geschäfte« verrichtet hatten. ... Bestimmte Migranten haben eben völlig andere Vorstellungen von Hygiene und der Einhaltung von Hygiene-Richtlinien als wir Europäer.

(In the "strawberry region" in Pottenstein (Austria) and on at least ten other strawberry farms workers are required to wear pants because Turkish women who were working there seasonally were urinating on the strawberries and even defecating among the plants....Certain migrants have a completely different concepts of hygiene than we Europeans.)

.
Dr. Ulfkotte goes on to describe a "fecal Jihad" being waged by Muslims against Europeans.

http://www.dialoginternational.com/dialog_international/2011/05/ulfkotte-turkish-womens-poor-hygiene-to-blame-for-ecoliehec-outbreak.html

March 29, 2016

Bernie and Hillary prep for New York clash

pay attention to where those goalposts are being moved

Now, in advance of the New York’s April 19 presidential primary, operatives for Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are closely studying Teachout’s longshot campaign. “They’re very worried about a Zephyr Teachout situation,” said one Clinton ally close to the campaign. “The left is very mobilized. In New York [for Clinton] it’s not just about winning. They have to win 65 to 35.”

...

Clinton needs to win her home state decisively to demonstrate there is enthusiasm boosting her campaign ahead of a bruising general election. The most recent statewide poll, conducted by Emerson College, showed her leading Sanders 71 percent to 23 percent in New York. Sanders’ allies said the goal for the primary is to eat into Clinton’s delegate take by winning at least 40 percent of the vote -- a percentage they cite as a “credibility threshold.” And they shrug off the daunting poll numbers, arguing that they have begun every primary contest trailing Clinton by seemingly insurmountable margins.

...

“New York is Clinton country,” said Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf, who is unaffiliated with either campaign. “But if she slips in New York by not winning big, Secretary Clinton will have lots to explain to Democrats and Republicans will have a great day.”

To avoid that embarrassing outcome, Clinton has tapped longtime donor Jay Jacobs, chairman of the Nassau County Democrats, to oversee 27 coordinators across the state, one stationed in each congressional district. Another former aide, Resi Cooper, Clinton’s former statewide political director during her Senate campaign, is running the New York state operation. And elected officials like New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and Public Advocate Letitia James, who have been campaigning for Clinton, are expected to help her move Latino and African-American women voters in New York City, respectively.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/bernie-and-hillary-prep-for-new-york-clash-221321

This seems like an article to show that (a) Sanders has already lost the nomination battle and (b) Clinton has to hit an impossibly high mark to have New York be considered a success. Does anyone really think Clinton winning by 20 points and 49 delegates wouldn't be considered a success? Does anyone think Sanders would consider that a good night, or even anything less than awful?

March 29, 2016

"the Sanders campaign is simply pulling numbers out of the air."

But Sanders’s estimate of the needed increase in taxation, despite its whopping size, is too low. The plan would actually cost another $1.1 trillion a year, according to an analysis by Kenneth Thorpe, a health-care economist at Emory University, who has long experience working with single-payer proponents. In 2006, the Vermont legislature hired Thorpe to cost out a single-payer proposal, and in 2014 progressive legislators in Vermont hired him again. So this is not an estimate from an economist generally opposed to universal health care or to single-payer. Thorpe’s estimates indicate that workers would have to pay an additional 20 percent of compensation to pay for Sanders’s plan.

At Vox, Matthews has probed both Thorpe and the Sanders campaign on some of the specific areas where their numbers diverge. Here’s one stunning detail: When the Sanders campaign released its plan, it estimated $324 billion in annual savings on prescription drugs—until Thorpe noted that the United States spent only $305 billion for that purpose in 2014. (If Trump can expect Mexico to pay for a wall on the border, I suppose Sanders can expect drug companies to pay consumers instead of the other way around.) When Matthews pointed out that it was impossible to save $324 billion out of $305 billion, the Sanders camp cut their savings estimate to $241 billion, while conveniently increasing other projected savings to make up the difference. But $241 billion in drug savings are still implausible, and as the entire episode indicates, the Sanders campaign is simply pulling numbers out of the air.

http://prospect.org/article/false-lure-sanders-single-payer-plan

There is a tendency to treat simplistic statements as a sign of honesty and nuance as a sign of dishonesty. Politicians and demagogues count on this.

When Wall Street firms lie about their finances, the legal term that applies is 'fraud.' So they're not the only ones who get away with it.

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