Category Archives: Elections & Voting

A front-running Biden, looming catastrophe for the Democrats

Joe Biden is using Republican talking points to attack single payer health care. One wonders why he doesn’t just run as a Republican. Continue reading

National polls don’t mean much. Here’s why.

“Here we go with the Fake Polls,” President Donald Trump tweeted on July 15. “Just like what happened with the Election against Crooked Hillary Clinton.” He’s complaining about several polls that show him losing the national popular vote to various Democratic presidential aspirants, in some cases by double digits. Continue reading

Democrats, grow a spine

Fighting progressive policies most Americans support will lose you ‘centrist’ votes, not gain them.

Unfortunately, an exotic flu epidemic has broken out in Washington, D.C. Dubbed the “Canadian Hot Sauce Flu,” it uniquely afflicts a particular group of Democratic officeholders and operatives. Continue reading

Democrats, this isn’t politics as usual

Imagine an opposition political party in a land being taken over by an oligarchy, headed by a would-be tyrant. Continue reading

Progressives should take a stand now or we’ll never have leverage

I supported Bernie Sanders in 2016. For most of my life I voted for Democrats. When the party started moving to the right in the ‘80s, I continued to lean progressive. If I vote in 2020, it will only be for a truly progressive candidate. Continue reading

Over two nights, Democrats start building the wall against Trump

Who will rid us of this troublesome fake?

You somehow know that when Donald Trump, our nation’s juvenile lead, sent out his one word tweet—“BORING!”—during the first of the two Democratic presidential debates last week, he probably really was bored. That’s because the candidates were talking about some real policy ideas, for which we know he has the attention span of an intellectually challenged mayfly, the insect who got left behind in third grade. Continue reading

Why Biden is wrong about the rich

On June 18, Bloomberg News headlined “Biden Tells Elite Donors He Doesn’t Want to ‘Demonize’ the Rich” and reported Biden’s speech that day to “affluent donors … about 100 well-dressed donors at the Carlyle Hotel on New York’s Upper East Side, where the hors d’oeuvres included lobster, chicken satay and crudites.” Continue reading

Climate crisis and the 2020 US elections

Trump and his party must be defeated. Continue reading

U.S. being set up for another hacked election in 2020

After the surprise victory of Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, the corporate media reported that it came as the result of faulty polls and a lack of Hillary Clinton’s campaigning in key battleground states, where she was believed to be ahead. The foreign meddling in the election was reported to be limited to the manipulation of social media and not much else. Continue reading

Elections Canada 2019: Justin’s battered beanstalk

We left off our saga of Justin and the Beanstalk with the young wunderkind’s triumph over the giant ogre (Prime Minister Harper), as he swept away the broken democratic shards littering his kingdom in the sky, to the cries of joy from the Canadian peasants. Justin began energetically fulfilling at least some of his many promises. He rejoined the Paris Agreement on Climate. Scientists breathed a sigh of relief as their withered vines received nourishment after 10 years of drought, and the muzzle on their right to speak about the perils of global warming was removed. Continue reading

The DNC’s dumbed-down opinion survey

In its recent Official 2020 Issues Survey, DNC Chair Tom Perez solicited input on the ‘top’ issue for the upcoming June debate as the Dems will use that “feedback to shape our electoral strategy.” In other words, the following identified issues will conceivably become questions at the debate and presumably will become the basis for the Dems 2020 platform which its presidential candidate and down-ticket slate will campaign on. Continue reading

The DNC debates, the MSM and Tulsi

As some of the last minute Democratic presidential candidates scramble to qualify for the DNC’s upcoming June 26/27 primary debate, the latest poll results become more than nominally important given their elevated role in whether a candidate meets the requirements to participate. Continue reading

War versus peace: Israel has decided and so should we

So, what have we learned from the Israeli legislative elections on April 9? Continue reading

AIPAC and the Federal Election Commission

Reviewing AIPAC’s history since its 1963 creation reveals a consistently well organized campaign of manipulation and evasion of the US election law as one necessary ingredient to its invincible image on Capitol Hill. The American Israel Political Affairs Committee has long claimed it is not a political action committee, that it does not endorse candidates nor provide financial donations to political campaigns. As with all things involving AIPAC, there is another side to the story. Continue reading

Socialist surge: DSA-backed candidates nab wins in Chicago election

‘Political observers and organizers should take these victories as a lesson’

The election of Chicago’s first black female and openly gay mayor—Lori Lightfoot—grabbed national headlines, but it was not the only noteworthy outcome of the city’s runoff election Tuesday. Continue reading

Penis-gate could save the republic

The pitiful Pompeo, in his latest attempt at boot licking, proclaimed God sent us Trump, with whom to solve the problems of the Middle East. Perhaps Pompeo has mistaken porn star Stormy Daniels for God? There is no evidence that God hangs with the Trumpster, but Stormy knows Trump, well, biblically. Continue reading

War, peace and presidential candidates

Forty-five years after Congress passed the War Powers Act in the wake of the Vietnam War, it has finally used it for the first time, to try to end the U.S.-Saudi war on the people of Yemen and to recover its constitutional authority over questions of war and peace. This hasn’t stopped the war yet, and President Trump has threatened to veto the bill. But its passage in Congress, and the debate it has spawned, could be an important first step on a tortuous path to a less militarized U.S. foreign policy in Yemen and beyond. Continue reading

Ready or not, 2020 is coming

Although the country is nowhere close to the next presidential election, twenty months away to be exact, yet my first Agita attack of the 2020 campaign season is expected at any time. I can feel it coming on. Continue reading

The Beto O’Rourke campaign for the Democratic Party presidential nomination: ‘Nothing will come of nothing’

In ridiculously crowded field, Democrats field yet another POS politician. Gigantic egotistical nincompoop O’Rourke to waste people’s time and even money.

Last Thursday, former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke became the 15th declared candidate for the 2020 Democratic Party presidential nomination. The 16th so far. There are more nonentities, hucksters and reactionaries to follow. Continue reading

Why the outrage? ‘Jewish Power’ Party is the new norm in Israeli politics

Immediately after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu forged an alliance with the fringe political group, Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power), a widespread outrage ensued. Continue reading

Democrats need to think big for 2020

We need a true populist, someone who is able to detail how Trump has betrayed the very workers he claims to serve

There is a dizzying array of potential presidential nominees for Democratic primary voters to choose from—so many that they won’t even fit on one debate stage. But there is one basic choice the party will have to make: Will it nominate someone based on perceived electability, which is usually code for incremental policy ideas and a long political career, or a fresh-faced progressive reformer with big ideas? Continue reading

Howard’s end

America is the only place in the world where any citizen over the age of 35 can run for president. No experience in government necessary. No support from a political party necessary. You don’t even have to have any ideas or policy proposals. Continue reading

Freedom Rider: Kamala Harris: The fix is in

Harris’ own father called her out for identity politics and stereotyping Jamaicans, but the corporate Democrats are betting she can derail Bernie Sanders with Black voters.

It is painfully obvious that Kamala Harris is unprepared for the scrutiny that comes with waging a presidential campaign. But it is equally obvious that her lack of gravitas may not matter at all. The fix is in as the old saying goes. She is the choice of the Democratic Party leadership, the black misleaders, and their partners in corporate media. They will give her cover whenever she needs help. Gaffes and comical pandering at the expense of black voters may not hurt her chances at all. Continue reading

Bernie is back

It’s easy to forget the condescension and amusement that greeted him when he announced his first campaign for president on May 26, 2015. Continue reading

Freedom Rider: Black voters used to destroy Bernie Sanders

The ever-rightward moving Democrats are using their most reliable constituency to thwart Sanders. Continue reading

Trump’s vision of a single cultish political party

Donald Trump’s vision of a country with a single political party pledging total loyalty to him, and only him, took a step closer to reality on January 25 after the Republican National Committee (RNC) voted to approve a resolution declaring its “undivided support” for Trump in the 2020 presidential election. The RNC move was designed to thwart any other Republican presidential hopeful from challenging Trump for the GOP nomination. Continue reading

Freedom Rider: Kamala Harris destroyed black lives

Harris has spent her career locking up black and brown people. She should not be allowed to shake hands, kiss babies or walk into black churches without being taken to task. Continue reading

The Democrats have nowhere to go but left

The Democratic Party has nowhere to go but left. Continue reading

Freedom Rider: Elizabeth Warren and the trap for black voters

Whether Democrats are openly obstructionist corporatists like Pelosi, or liberal sounding like Warren, they will not consider any meaningful systemic reforms. Continue reading

How united progressives can topple the empire and empower the people

We are headed toward a catastrophic election in 2020 that must be addressed if humankind is to have a chance at survival. Continue reading

This was no vote accident

But New York, too, has ‘retrograde voting laws and practices.’

Here in the West Village, in beautiful downtown Manhattan, Election Day morning was overcast, with an autumn chill and some mist in the air. It was early and I was surprised by the number of people waiting to vote—a line about as long as in 2016—which was great but seemed a little odd because in this very, very blue neighborhood there were plenty of names on the midterm ballot but no contests of any great contention. Continue reading

True and false accusations of US midterm election interference

Ahead of Tuesday midterms, investigative journalist Greg Palast said illegal voter purges went on in a number of states—including Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska and Nevada. Continue reading