Why Shouldn't Bernie Sanders Stay in the Damned Race?

Matt Welch defends what little Democratic competition exists in 2016, on tonight's Kennedy

Poor Paul Krugman is distraught. Or at least pretending to be:

This is really depressing: Sanders claiming that there will be a contested convention, and suggesting that the nomination fight was rigged. Can someone tell Bernie that he's in the process of blowing his own chance for a positive legacy? […]

At this point it's as if Sanders is determined to validate everything liberal skeptics have been saying all along about his unwillingness to face reality — and all of it for, maybe, a few weeks of additional fundraising, at the expense of any future credibility and goodwill. Isn't there anyone who can tell him to stop before it's too late?

We've been seeing a lot of such sentiment from Team Hillary, which is hardly surprising, given how remarkably successful she has been in trying to eliminate any mortals who would dare compete against her in an electoral contest. But for the majority of us Americans who view Clinton unfavorably, there is an alternative interpretation. Which is: JESUS CHRIST, CAN WE HAVE A GET A LITTLE DEMOCRATIC COMPETITION AROUND HERE?

Bernie Sanders is the only major-party candidate left who is unequivocally against the War on Drugs. His foreign policy positions, while not demonstrating any particular fluency in how the rest of the world works, are considerably less interventionist than Hillary's hawkishness. He's got a whole bucketful of terrible economic ideas, to be sure, but then, he's not even a Democrat, is he? Having Bernie Sanders in the race means having an ideological competition about a whole host of issues. It's the only such contest of ideas on the Democratic side all season. Why end that now, unless your main purpose is to get Hillary Clinton elected president? I guess some questions answer themselves.

Anyway, I'm going on the Fox Business Network program Kennedy tonight at 8 p.m. (with a repeat at midnight), to talk about this, about Ted Cruz's Hail Mary in Indiana, about California protesters at Donald Trump appearances, and more. Tune in!

As a palate-cleanser, here's what I saw when Bernie Sanders debated Hillary Clinton in Brooklyn last month:

Comments

[Lee G]

Because I want to see Democratic Underground shed tears?

[Los Doyers]

I like watching the Occupy Democrats mob eat their own.

[Lee G]

OD is like a more retarded buzzfeed

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Man, I am so out of the loop when it comes to hip hop. I can't name a single song by Democratic Underground.

[Thomas O.]

"The Victim Dance"

"Freaks Of The Gender Identity"

"Doowutchyalike (But We'll Make Sure You Get Fired And Become A Social Media Pariah If We Don't Like It)"

[Los Doyers]

WHYCOMES TREASON ALWYS SUPPRT BERNIE LIK INSANE YOMAMMA $UDERMAN???

[Heroic Mulatto]

I think you just triggered a bunch of people.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

He triggered me to the point I caught epilepsy.

[Almanian's Rusty Woodchipper]

"Shakin' allllllllllll overrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...."

*continues playing song*

[Los Doyers]

I GOT YOUR EPILEPSY RIGHT HERE

[Notorious UGCC]

If by "triggered" you mean "confused the heck out of..."

[SIV]

Ed Krayewski voted for Hillary.

[Lee G]

Needs more cocktail parties

[Warty]

WHYCOME U NO VOAT TUMP NO U LIEK AMERICA

[waffles]

You just got ten more votes for Trump. I hope you're happy.

[Thomas O.]

fak u warty

trump wat r u doing trump stahp

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Why end that now, unless your main purpose is to get Hillary Clinton elected president?

*deadpan stare at Matt for a really long time*

[Zeb]

I'm kind of torn. On the one hand, I want him to disappear so people I know will stop talking about him. On the other hand, his presence at least makes the election less boring.

[Lee G]

I think it's great. People are flaunting their inner communists. We get to see exactly how deranged they are.

[Almanian's Rusty Woodchipper]

Yeah - it's just kind of depressing to confirm how many of my friends I had suspected of being commies are flat out, definitely commies. Depressing.

[Lee G]

Think of it this way. Your trolling opportunities just went up a hundred fold.

[CatoTheChipper]

I rather like being able to call a socialist a socialist without being accused of name-calling.

One really can't deny being a socialist when one is campaigning for a socialist.

And we all know that socialist is just a euphemism for commie bastard.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

I like Matt's last line in the video, "Sadly, [he's popular] for his worst policies, not his best".

[Lee G]

There's a thread over at DU right now that's stating our only fiscal problem is that we're not taxing the living shit out of people hard enough.

I'd link to it if I weren't on mobile.

[Lee G]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027797395

2. Actually add one other issue
An inability to charge folks for externalities. That includes industry.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Wow. Those comments make me thing Forrest Gump and Slong Blade had a baby together. And that baby married Susan Sarandon and they had another baby even more retarded.

They're that fucking stupid.

[Ted S.]

They probably root for Ohio State, too.

[Adans smith]

'Murderous gaze'

[sloopyinTEXAS]

It's ok. Ted's hate makes me stronger.

[Ted S.]

To paraphrase Karen Carpenter, "Your hate put me on the top of the world."

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Wouldn't a Gump be a Bama legacy? He did, IIRC, play for Bryant before drinking all those Dr Peppers.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

"Slong Blade" - was that supposed to be Sling Blade or Schlong Blade?

[Trouser-Pod (The blowhard)]

Say it with me--"Why can't it be both?"

[R C Dean]

An inability to charge folks for externalities.

Externalities come in two flavors: positive and negative.

Who will they charge for the positive ones? The company that made the product (which, by definition, didn't get paid for the positive externality?). The people benefitting from it as free riders?

And what will they do with what they collect?

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Invest in solar. Lots...of solar.

[Robert]

Enough to buy ourselves another sun!

[PapayaSF]

Things That have Negative Externalities That I Doubt Democratic Underground Would Want to Tax

butt sex
mass immigration
Marxist college professors
welfare
gender studies programs
....

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

"We are in vigorous agreement, here, Senator"

I can personally tell you hard it sucks when your candidates "vigorously agree" with each other.

[Soave the Last Dance for Me]

Fuck it. Doesn't matter anyway. Few things matter. Maybe nothing matters.

Can I work for reason?

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Few things matter.

Not even #BlackLives?

[Soave the Last Dance for Me]

I don't believe in absolutes.

OJ's life matters. Beyonce's matters. Most obviously don't matter to anyone.

[Soave the Last Dance for Me]

Like the PM links, and my Bae clearly giving no fucks. That's sexy. No matter.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Maybe he should get out of the race because he's gonna be mathematically eliminated in a week or two.

Then again, maybe he should stay in just in case Hillary gets indicted (which I still think will happen) and he wants to be the ultra-prog douchebag on the ticket instead of Lizzie Warren.

[Lee G]

The DNC will never allow Sanders to get the nomination. They'll resurrect LBJ first.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Wonder when they'll start trotting out all the racist shit LBJ said about blacks.

Probably not until that 200 years is up...

[Lee G]

What, did he talk about super predators too?

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

I smell a movie! Maybe a week-end party with two guys and a dead body?

[Crusty Juggler]

Theory: Hillary is an animated corpse, and the coughing episodes are reactions to hacking attempts by both the Chinese and Anonymous.

[Crusty Juggler]

Theory: Hillary is an animated corpse, and the coughing episodes are reactions to hacking attempts by both the Chinese and Anonymous.

[Crusty Juggler]

Theory: Hillary is an animated corpse, and the coughing episodes are reactions to hacking attempts by both the Chinese and Anonymous.

[Crusty Juggler]

Theory: Hillary is an animated corpse, and the coughing episodes are a reaction to hacking attempts by both the Chinese and Anonymous.

[Crusty Juggler]

Frequent repetition helps make it true.

[Winston]

Stays quiet....

[Hank Phillips]

Libertarians stay in the race, gather a mess of spoiler votes and force the laws to change. We win added freedom every election. I would rather see Bernie get stuck with the presidency than Whutzername precisely because the War on Enjoyable Drugs is a war against economic stability. It is no accident the economy collapsed soon after the Republicans finally added fanatical prohibition enforcement to their platform. Market crashes were in the news in March of 1929, when Herb Hoover was in his second month as President. Matt is finally connecting the dots.

[Pompey]

K.

[WTF]

Cool story, bro.

[Soave the Last Dance for Me]

Facebook personas matter. ## [to whom?] (Speaking of, fuck the word 'whom')

[Crusty Juggler]

Who?

[Soave the Last Dance for Me]

Follow me on instatwit

[The Hyperbole]

Whence?

[Soave the Last Dance for Me]

"Whence" is not nearly comparable to "whom" in terms of value!!

[Soave the Last Dance for Me]

That is, "whence" is a good word and "whom" should die (unlike Bernie Sanders' campaign for the why-the-fuck-nots and the lols ? I'm staying on topic)

[Ted S.]

Whom is a perfectly good word, just like whence and whither.

[Soave the Last Dance for Me]

"Whence" and "whither" sort of function as useful contractions (of "from where" and "to where"). "Whom" is just a dumb little vestige (the only one??) of dative-case-ending Englisch. Apparently it only endures because of some stodgy little prescriptivist from the 19th century?

*lights HM signal*

[Soave the Last Dance for Me]

And before anyone thinks they're clever in point out my apparent hypocrisy (as if anyone would respond anyway!), of "But aren't you being sort of prescriptive in this instance?" I say touch?, but also "whom" would die out naturally and organically if not for them stodgy English teachers pushing its correctness.

[Heroic Mulatto]

It's the accusative case. And I will duel any man who argues that we no longer need to distinguish case for pronouns.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Oh, I get it. By "Englisch" you meant Old English...which yes..it was dative.

[Soave the Last Dance for Me]

Actually, I was learning German, so I was just trying to be cute. (Success! So cute)

But isn't the case obvious by context anyway? "Whom" is the only one of its kind left over, or so claims McWhorter. Is it necessarily to perpetuate it?

[Heroic Mulatto]

"Whom" is the only one of its kind left over

Sure if you take just relative pronouns, but if you look at pronouns as a whole...

I-me
He-him
She-her
We-us
They-them

Of course, usage is driving "whom" to a death by neglect, but I see the value of reduced ambiguity by marking the agent and patient of a verb.

[Soave the Last Dance for Me]

Ah ok. Thanks 🙂

*extinguishes HM signal*

[Heroic Mulatto]

But isn't the case obvious by context anyway?

Again, it's obvious because English has a very strict syntax of SVO. However, remember that interrogatives are a classic example of move-alpha in English. So "Whom has Mary been seeing?" as opposed to "*Mary has been seeing whom?"

But whatever. Even though I like it, I'm a descriptivist at heart.

[BigT]

"Again, it's obvious because English has a very strict syntax of SVO."

Disagrees does Yoda.

[commodious spittoon]

J'accuse!

[Limpee Wiltstock]

Wrong. Whom is in fact a regular English object pronoun, like "him" and "me" and "whatnot". It's just that its usage at the head of a question is bullcrap pushed by the purists on the grounds that Latin worked that way. If English ever worked that way, it was regional probably only optional even then. There's no period where we see it consistently employed, and comparative philology would strongly suggest the Germanic languages deviated from the Latin pattern long ago. Similar to how the purists got it entrenched that we need to say "he and I" rather than "me and him" (both word order and declension here is simply copied from Latin).

[Almanian's Rusty Woodchipper]

I like Bernie staying in for the aggravation it causes the Hillarybots (and Hill) and.....the lulz.

[Soave the Last Dance for Me]

This is why I appreciate Kasich staying in. Everyone's all "dude what are you doing this makes no sense" and dude's like "lol suck it none of this makes sense anyway, you're just using this as a distraction from your own, and your family and friends', mortality."

Kasich, you're deep.

[Brian]

Voter IDs: bad.
Super delegates promising who they'll support regardless of how any vote comes out: pure awesome.

Why?

Democracy.

Duh.

[GILMORE?]

Seriously. Its hilarious that almost no one ever puts those two DNC issues in the same article.

[PapayaSF]

It has been noted that Democrats require photo ID to get into their conventions.

[CZmacure]

This has been "noted" by Brietbart, which means you should distrust and verify.

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/168512626.html

Do you need a photo ID to get into the Democratic National Convention?
...
The anwer is: not in many cases at least. To get into the convention each day, delegates and the media only need to show official credentials (which have no photos). In some cases, the credential holders may need to show a photo ID to pick up their credential. But this reporter never showed a photo for his -- under a common practice here, a colleague picked it up for him.

I'm going with "unverified."

[Uncle Jay]

RE: Why Shouldn't Bernie Sanders Stay in the Damned Race?

Comrade Bernie should stay in the race.
I need the laughs.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

The laughs turn to cries once you realize people believe his shit.

[commodious spittoon]

And the sobs become laughter when you see his dipshit supporters being pissed on by the DNC and told it's rain.

[Crusty Juggler]

I came here for Matt's thoughts on Beyonc?'s Lemonade, and unfortunately I'm leaving here disappointed.

[Ted S.]

I listened to Beyonce. I have no desire to listen to Beytwice.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

You say some stupid ass shit up thread but come here and totally redeem yourself!

You're a mixed bag, Ted.

[Ted S.]

Liking the word whom is not "stupid ass shit".

[GILMORE?]

WHOM! There it is

[Heroic Mulatto]

Obama @ 1:00.

[Crusty Juggler]

That was good, Ted.

[Notorious UGCC]

I wonder how this will turn out:

"Australia's first openly gay Imam - who used to be married and has a young daughter - speaks out to support other homosexual Muslims

"A man speaks out about his sexuality as Australia's first openly gay Imam

"Melbourne Imam Nur Warsame has been tied to his religion for decades

"But after living in silence, the father of one has bravely come out publicly

"He runs a safe space for closeted LGBT Muslims to share their experiences

"Many Muslim countries still impose the death penalty on homosexuality"

[PapayaSF]

He's now #1 on the Australian ISIS hit list.

[John C. Randolph]

Australia's first openly gay Imam

I'm guessing there's a reason why he's in Australia and not living in the territory controlled by the Saud crime family.

-jcr

[josh]

i don't support sanders, but i appreciate a good movement. it offends me that any supposed "revolution", no matter how misdirected, would be wasted. sanders should drop out because he blew an opportunity that doesn't come along that often, and a lot of people were expecting him to know better. if all he wanted to do is raise some issues, he could've done it any number of ways, but you run for president because supposedly you want to be president. i'm not sure he ever really did.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

but i appreciate a good movement.

My bowel movements are better for society than the Bernie hysteria.

[josh]

given the lack of choices, i'm prepared to give your bowel movement a look. like i said, i do appreciate a good movement.

[GILMORE?]

As do I

[Wasteland Wanderer]

That was not nearly as bad as what I expected...

[gaoxiaen]

Damn your nimble sphincter!

[Limpee Wiltstock]

He's the only one that stands a chance to turn back the tide of the zionist conspiracy of internationalist atheist jewish communist bankers to destroy America.

[straffinrun]

A geriatric socialist up against a murderous lunatic should drop out to protect his legacy and preserve his goodwill. I have what Special K is having.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

I had Special K not too long ago. Something's changed.

[straffinrun]

It became Fruit Loops.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Today in contrasting headlines:

Clinton: We cannot allow Obama's legacy to fall into Trump's hands

Hillary Clinton praised President Obama and warned that a Donald Trump presidency would damage his legacy Sunday during remarks at a large NAACP dinner in Detroit.

"We cannot let Barack Obama's legacy fall into Donald Trump's hands," the Democratic presidential candidate told the audience of roughly 6,000 people at the NAACP's Annual Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner, which is known as the "largest plated dinner in the country.

"We can't let all the hard work and progress we've achieved over the last seven and a half years be torn away. We have to move forward together. We have to bring our country together," she said. "We have to keep working toward the more perfect union."

Obamacare's November surprise: Millions will see premium increases this year

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Of course, this all because those mean-old Republicans refused to give HHS a blank check to fund these programs:

Just a week after the nation's largest insurer, UnitedHealth Group, pulled out of most Obamacare exchanges because it anticipates $650 million in losses this year, Aetna's CEO said Thursday that his company expects to break even, but legislative fixes are needed to make the marketplace sustainable.

"I think a lot of insurance carriers expected red ink, but they didn't expect this much red ink," said Greg Scott, who oversees Deloitte's health plans practice. "A number of carriers need double-digit increases."

In some ways, the turmoil is not surprising: Under the health care law, plans are unable to choose who to insure, or how much to charge them based on their medical history. As a result, many plans enrolled a larger proportion of sicker people than they bargained for. But some of those losses were also a function of political wrangling after Republican lawmakers blocked payments that were supposed to help insurers get through the difficult first years.

[JeremyR]

Good thing that Republicans are close to nominating a guy who loves single payer health care instead of the guy who shut down the government to try to defund Obamacare

[Soave the Last Dance for Me]

Dems are much better narrativists than Repubs.

I wish anti-narrativism would take hold.

[Winston]

Helps to have the MSM on your and promising more Free Shit for everyone.

[Winston]

*on your side*

[Soave the Last Dance for Me]

Well, yeah. That's why I think our culture should push for anti-narrativism. Because it's fundamentally manipulative (falsehoods, lies).

[Soave the Last Dance for Me]

Er, narratives are/ narrativizing is bullshit, that is.

[CZmacure]

So you're saying that we should advance a... collective story... regarding the inappropriateness of narrativism?

[Notorious UGCC]

""We must resolutely guard against overseas infiltrations via religious means and prevent ideological infringement by extremists," [Chinese President] Xi [Jinping] said addressing a conference on religion in Beijing on Saturday, the official Xinhua reported on Sunday....

"Asking religious groups to adhere to the socialist system and Chinese culture, Xi said that "they should merge religious doctrines with Chinese culture, abide by Chinese laws and regulations, and devote themselves to China's reform and opening up drive and socialist modernization in order to contribute to the realization of the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation."

"He told the party cadre, "We should guide and educate the religious circle and their followers with the socialist core values, and guide the religious people with ideas of unity, progress, peace and tolerance"."

[Winston]

socialist modernization in order to contribute to the realization of the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation

So where's Paul?

And will Ira Stoll blame Xi Jinping's rise on Trump's trade policies?

[Mickey Rat]

He is behind the times. Obama has been on that for years now with ACA regulations.

[Soave the Last Dance for Me]

I was going to buy one of those "Bernie is my comrade" shirts, but what's the point if he's going to drop out a week after my purchase?? No one will even remember who he is, and it certainly won't have the trolling capacity it does at the moment.

[R C Dean]

Just get a "Cthulhu for President. Why Vote for Lesser Evil?" t-shirt.

Its evergreen.

[waffles]

That color is fattening on me.

[Notorious UGCC]

Cthulhu is a loser. "Oh, no, he will devour your soul, but first he'll take a nap." Yeah, I'm so scared.

Yog-Sothoth 2016, baby!

[paranoid android]

Make Yuggoth great again!

[JeremyR]

Except if Trump is the nominee, then Cthulhu wouldn't be the greater evil.

[Tornado16nb]

I bought one!!

[Notorious UGCC]

The only thing worse than my relatives with Bernie T-shirts are those same relative saying if Bernie loses they'll go for Hillary.

[Soave the Last Dance for Me]

Loser-shirts became ironic hipster chic, so maybe they've just been Hillary supporters all along and want the cred

[R C Dean]

It gives you an out when the 'tard you actually voted for predictably fucks things up.

"I knew Bernie was better than her!"

[Soave the Last Dance for Me]

Like all those cars I still see with "Obama 2008" bumper stickers. Funnily, my good prog friend resents those people because she sees them as implying "See, I voted for him in 2008, when he showed promise, but not in 2012, when he was clearly a dud!"

Signaling is complicated, man.

[Notorious UGCC]

No, quite sincere.

[Ted S.]

Meanwhile, there are starving waifs somewhere like Ghana who belive that the Carolina Panthers won Super Bowl 50.

[Tornado16nb]

What's wrong with supporting Sanders and wearing shirts supporting him? I wear my "Bernie is my Comrade" shirt all the time. It contains all the other great leaders and noble men in history along with Comrade Bernie.

Unfortunately i can't see my guy winning, so i plan to send it to him and ask for an autograph on it.

Was thinking of saying this: "Sorry the revolution didn't work out :(, can you sign my shirt and send it back to me?"

[__Warren__]

Batman is the way and the light.

[Winston]

Is George Washington his favorite President?

[GILMORE?]

Blessed be his utility belt,
which shall grapple-hook us from evil,
and lead us to Wayne Manor,
Amen.

[DenverJ]

I think the batmobile is the way, and the bat signal is the light.
Also, can we please stay on topic?
Also, you know who else wore a belt?

[GILMORE?]

Also, you know who else wore a belt?

Stone Cold Steve Austin?

[GILMORE?]

Pink shirt, blue-tie day. What's important is that its not the Cyan tie, which is the worst. This is good, esp w/ the charcoal suit.

What i wonder about the "Kennedy" program...

...is the idea that "Fox Business Network" has some ambition to appeal to a 'younger, hipper audience'?

I really wonder who the producer is who was tasked with that particular mission. I imagine his previous gig was "Training the Afghan Army" or maybe managing one of those new 'Solar Energy Projects' in upstate NY. A guy who doesn't worry himself with things like 'odds of success' and just plows headlong into the task.

[Winston]

How about Gary Johnson's Presidential Campaign manager?

[Winston]

I'm still amused at the Reasonoids who want to ally with the Anti-War Left. I mean judging by the state of campus radicalism the number is quite low and those that are left are usually either socialists or communists and are apologists for foreign dictators. Add in the desire to add in "socially liberal" businesspeople too and you are looking at an alliance as unwieldy as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact or the US-UK-USSR WWII alliance.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

So, you're saying Reason walks dangerously close to the 'Useful Idiots' line?

[Winston]

The name Wilhelm K?lz springs to mind.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I'm still amused at the Reasonoids who want to ally with the Anti-War Left.

What about those who want to ally with the anti-war Old Right?

[Winston]

Similar issues. If they still exist then there is a good chance they are either protectionists or alt-right and lovers of Chavez and Putin...

[Heroic Mulatto]

Question is, is there a principled anti-war movement?

[Winston]

No.

[Winston]

And has there been a principled anti-war movement in history? Very hard to find. I haven't read to much about the real motives of the Copperheads. But Mencken and Bourne gushed over the Kaiser, Jacobins became very pro-war when they came to power, the anti-war sentiment during WWI didn't stop WWII, Lenin was a "revolutionary defeatist" yet supported war with the Poles and we all know the Hitler-Stalin pact, the anti-Cold War types vanished with Gulf War I, seems the anti-Vietnam movement was more opposition to being drafted to fight it and those who opposed the Iraq War generally shut up when Obama came into office...

[CatoTheChipper]

In other words, there are no statists who are consistently opposed to war.

They are only opposed to war when war is against their interests, or when being anti-war advances their interests.

The only ideologues who are consistently against war are genuinely religious pacifists and genuine libertarians. The genuinely religious pacifists reject all war. Genuine libertarians reject all war that involves the initiation of violence. There's pretty much a one-to-one mapping of the wars they oppose.

[Winston]

The only ideologues who are consistently against war are genuinely religious pacifists and genuine libertarians.

So all five of them?

[Thymirus]

"Against war" is an impermissibly ambiguous descriptor. Does it indicate a wholesale opposition to all warfare, irrespective of cause, or is does it specifically imply the rejection of initiatory force?

Refusal to engage in defensive war is demonstrative of moral bankruptcy. If a nation-state is attacked by a foreign invader, it is its right and duty to respond militarily, and to pursue the armed conflict such a scenario would instigate to the satisfactory weakening, disarmament, or annihilation of the aggressor, depending on how severely a given attacker needs to be beaten for their ability to wage war to break.

Genuine pacifists are morally degenerate and easy to victimize. There is no merit, or virtue, in enwrapping oneself in the comfort of its ignorance.

[Thymirus]

*Pacifism is immoral.

[GamerFromJump]

Pacifism is either wanting (inferior) others to do your fighting for you (arrogance), or lacking sufficient motivation/belief in your own right to life to fight for it (suicidal ideation).

[Chipper Morning Wood]

only for the faction that is out of power

[Notorious UGCC]

Probably, and I'll start looking for it just as soon as I've found Bigfoot.

[PapayaSF]

The anti-war Old Right is far, far closer to libertarianism than the anti-war left.

[Winston]

True, but I do wonder how many of those folks are um...left.

[PapayaSF]

The alt-right has a lot of younger people, and in many ways they are ideological descendants.

[paranoid android]

The alt-right has a lot of younger people, and in many ways they are ideological descendants.

That's fucking hilarious. Please, tell another of your hysterical jokes.

[PapayaSF]

Both halves of that statement seem inarguable to me. Not sure what's so funny about it.

[Len Bias]

Is Krugman angling for a position in Clinton's next administration? Why else would he care so much?

[DenverJ]

Krugman for Ambassador to Libya!!!

[Chipper Morning Wood]

because he has a vagina

[John C. Randolph]

He IS a vagina. Or to be more precise, a cunt.

-jcr

[CatoTheChipper]

Ya think?????

[PapayaSF]

Bernie Sanders is the only major-party candidate left who is unequivocally against the War on Drugs.

This feels like grasping for straws. Drugs will be a small consolation once Bernie turns us into Northern Venezuela.

[__Warren__]

How would he? There's no way that the red states are going to go along with any of his crazy.

The amount of active resistance will be more than what Obama got and red areas will just ignore him completely.

[PapayaSF]

"Free" college. $15 minimum wage. Plus the standard means: more taxes, more spending, more debt, more regulations, more leftist judges.

[__Warren__]

None of which can work.

There's no money for free college, how much more debt can be sold? Not much, not enough for what he wants to do. Taxes and regulations are going to be evaded on an epic scale.

With no ability to raise more money there won't be more spending.

As for the MW I predict that there will be a lot of under the table working going on and that in red areas the authorities will turn a blind eye to this.

[PapayaSF]

What you have described is Venezuela: A bankrupt country with widespread tax evasion, regulation evasion, and corruption. You haven't contradicted my argument, you've reinforced it.

[Lord at War]

Bernie Sanders is the only major-party candidate left who is unequivocally against the War on Drugs.

No, Bernie has made a statement on legalizing marijuana... I'm quite sure he loves bans on tobacco, alcohol, cocaine, heroin, oxy, amphetamines, etc.

[Notorious UGCC]

I wonder if Bernie's function is to push Hillary to the left while making her look moderate?

[PapayaSF]

That thought has not eluded Bernie and his supporters. He either wins or pushes her to the left. It's win/win from a Bernista p.o.v.

[Rich]

his unwillingness to face reality

... shows he's just another establishment candidate.

[Derpetologist]

An amusing prog takedown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZPlFJaQ7fM

And recently, a Soviet emigre confronts American communists: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEvWDwZYvk8

People with high blood pressure should not watch the 2nd video.

[JeremyR]

It's shouting on deaf ears.

Here in St. Louis, we are getting a Soviet themed hipster bar.

[Thymirus]

My family ran from the Soviet Union and its successor-state, and I'm intimately familiar with some of its blessed glory. I'd sincerely prefer summary execution to being forced into a visit to a "Soviet-themed bar".

[John C. Randolph]

What, you don't want to go in there and piss on the owner?

-jcr

[Soave the Last Dance for Me]

People with high blood pressure should not watch the 2nd video.

Gah! Why didn't you warn me?

[CZmacure]

Bro, do you even trigger warning?

[Calidissident]

The hypocrisy of Sanders staying in the race till the convention is that he can only win if the superdelegates overturn the will of the voters; which is exactly the sort of thing he would scream bloody murder about if the shoe was on the other foot.

[Pat (PM)]

Bernie Sanders is the only major-party candidate left who is unequivocally against the War on Drugs.

Rescheduling marijuana != "unequivocally against the War on Drugs".

[John C. Randolph]

Bernie the Commie Rat Bastard should not only fight for the Democrat nomination to the bitter end, he should run as an independent once the party apparat hands it to Hillary without even bothering to count the votes. The more he fights, the better chance he has of saving the country from Hillary's clutches.

-jcr

[Winston]

So the New Trek series will shoot this fall in Toronto. What are your expectations?

[JeremyR]

Every Canadian extra that has been on every other show shot in Canada will show up.

[Thymirus]

I've not researched its production team, but I sadly expect a great deal of progressive horseshit and propaganda.

[Winston]

progressive horseshit and propaganda

Well yeah. I mean TOS was Great Society propaganda and TNG was Roddenberry ranting about Nixon and Reagan.

[GamerFromJump]

TNG was Roddenberry ranting about Nixon and Reagan.

While supporting a form of social Darwinism (the Prime Directive - They haven't figured out warp, so let 'em get wiped out!).

[Suell]

Hopefully Bernie takes it to the convention and beyond. If nothing else it makes the Hillbot have to work overtime, Trying to beat an elderly socialist who was not even a Dem last year. She deserves that.

[Thymirus]

She deserves to be tried and executed for treason against the United States. Making her campaign volunteers work overtime printing extra posters is hardly punishment.

[Notorious UGCC]

This is interesting...I have borrowing privileges at a local university library - my card doesn't have a photo on it, just a patron number and a magnetic strip. Sometimes their machines have trouble reading the strip, which often means they have to type in the patron number manually, but today the machine actually *misread* the magnetic strip and recorded my card as belonging to a student - a female student.

So the librarian is probably wondering what I'm doing with some coed's library card, or maybe thinking it's all OK and I'm a trans coed.

So he hems and haws and finally asks, "is your name Glenda" (or whatever)? No, I said, I'd never gone by that name.

Fortunately, he read the card again and it came out with my actual account information.

So it was weird but could have been worse.

[Thymirus]

"Hey, Glenda! Your copy of "Mein Kampf" is overdue!"

[John C. Randolph]

Should have told him your name is Ed Wood.

-jcr

[DenverJ]

"is your name Glenda" (or whatever)? No, I said, I'd never gone by that name.

Suuuure you never have, Eddie, sure.

[american socialist]

There's nothing more hilarious than watching people who have no capital extol capitalism. What a bunch of suckers!

[CZmacure]

If only "they" had more "income" then they'd accumulate some wealth ("capital"), amirite?

[kbolino]

What a bunch of suckers!

But enough about the bank that held your mortgage...

[american socialist]

I can't decide this year if I want to cater to my inner anarchist and go Trump or to the part of me that respects and admires a number of quixotic 3rd party candidates such as Jill stein.

[Drake]

I like how every still photo of Bernie looks like Granpa filling up his depends and trying to remember his name. Every video without sound looks like he's screaming at the nursing home orderly about the wrong flavor jello.