Author: Michael A. Ventrella

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Why the Bernie supporters lost their seats

Apparently, a group of Bernie supporters were denied entry to the convention last night. (Supporters, not delegates. The delegates remained.) These supporters are quite upset about it.

But let’s step back a bit and think about it.13631489_562587023923545_9030153240511055177_n

The way to win elections is to have four nights of a convention with no protests — with unity. Free advertising on TV for four nights! Democrats needed to put on our best image.

Some Bernie supporters are complaining that the whole primary system was unfair because the DNC leadership had already chosen a candidate years ago. But that’s what always happens. There’s always an insider. Eight years ago, it was also Hillary Clinton. That time, she lost. Obama got more votes. And then Hillary’s supporters showed up at the convention, didn’t protest, and cheered on the nominee because they were Democrats who knew what was best for the party and the country.

On Monday, a bunch of Bernie supporters (upset with the fact that he had lost) disrupted speeches, argued with other attendees, and showed the party to be at war with itself. Or was it with itself?

Let’s face it, Bernie was not a Democrat. He became one, ran, lost, conceded, and then announced that he had resigned as a Democrat and is now once again an Independent. He bolted from the party even before the convention was over.

He is no longer a Democrat. He is no longer in consideration for the nomination.

So now a bunch of people dedicated to someone who isn’t even a Democrat and is not in consideration for the nomination want admission to the Democratic convention? For what purpose?

The Democratic convention is not a place for non-Democrats. And after the way the Bernie supporters disrupted Monday’s convention, you can see why they weren’t exactly welcome.

The key is this: If you really care about the Democratic party and what it stands for, and especially if you realize how important this election is, then you look after what is best for the party (and America).

You don’t get to crash and disrupt my party and then get mad when I ask you to leave.

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Editorial cartoon: The grief stage

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David Horsey

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Why in the world are Bernie people going to Johnson?

I am constantly astounded by Bernie people who say they are now going to vote for Gary Johnson, the ex-Republican and now Libertarian candidate for President.

(Sorry I can’t credit the artist here; don’t know who it is)

Libertarians are good on certain social issues. They don’t think the government should be deciding things concerning abortion or gay marriage or whether you should be able to smoke marijuana. They don’t want Big Brother government watching us. They’re against using torture against our enemies. You can see why many Bernie supporters would like that.

The problem is that libertarians not only believe that government should be out of our social lives, they believe the government should be out of just about everything.

Bernie railed against income equality, Wall Street, and greed. He talked about how the little guy in America couldn’t get a fair share with corporations paying no taxes and fighting minimum wage. He railed against Citizen’s United and the deregulation of banks that caused the housing crisis and the economic recession.

And what kinds of policies caused these problems?

Libertarian policies.

Here are the things Gary Johnson wants:

  • Elimination of all corporate taxes  (not your taxes, of course — just businesses)
  • Health care only for those who can afford it (and elimination of medicare too, so your elderly parents can just suck it up and deal)
  • Privatize social security
  • Insurance companies can refuse you for a pre-existing condition and can kick you off their plans if you get sick
  • Get rid of income tax but have a national sales tax of 23% on top of your state sales tax. (This means that the average person will pay more taxes overall, but the average rich person will be tremendously better off)
  • Get rid of the minimum wage (Not “reduce it” — get rid of it completely)
  • Schools allowed to teach creationism
  • Abolish the Department of Education
  • Vouchers so students can get tax breaks to go to religious schools (with your tax money)
  • No government student loans (Can’t afford college?  Tough)
  • Support of the TPP (Trans Pacific Pact) so businesses can ship jobs overseas because freedom
  • Allow corporations to give unlimited money to political candidates
  • No gun laws
  • For-profit jails (who then lobby for stronger drug laws so they can keep more people incarcerated because money)
  • No cap-and-trade policy and no extra taxes on polluters (currently used to force them to go to cleaner energy)
  • No federal funding for science or stem cell research
  • No net neutrality — your internet server can decide to charge you more based on what sites you want to visit
  • Cut all support to Israel

Come on, the man carries around Ayn Rand books and gives them out, saying that is the kind of government he wants.

Now, of course, some people think all this is a good idea — that if only government got out of the way, no powerful person would ever take advantage of anyone ever again and we’ll all live in peace and harmony happily ever after, even though that has never been the case in the entire history of humanity.

But Bernie supporters?  Really? If this is what you truly believe, then what the heck were you doing supporting Bernie, who has spent his entire career fighting people like Gary Johnson?

 

(Primary source:  http://www.ontheissues.org/Gary_Johnson.htm)

 

 

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Editorial cartoon: This is me

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Clay Bennett

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Editorial cartoon: Their real enemy

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Phil Hands

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A Hillary supporter out and proud

by Guest Blogger Andrea Phillips

So here’s the thing: I support Hillary. I support her, I am all-in, I fucking love her and I love that she was my Senator and I love about 90% of the policies she plans to put into place. She is for raising minimum wages. She is for background checks for guns. She is for LGBTQ equality. She is for abortion rights. hillary2She is for campaign finance reform. She is for paid family leave. She is for universal health care. She is for clean energy and disability benefits and a better, more compassionate world.

She is a woman who has literally made it her life’s work to improve the lives of women. She has evolved and grown to care about issues around sexuality and people of color, and from where I sit, changing your mind when you get new information is a strength, not a weakness.

Most of all, I love her because she knows how to compromise. This is the thing about a better world: you can’t will it into place single-handedly. You can’t drag the half our nation that are Republicans kicking and screaming into a socialist paradise. It’s exactly as unfair to them as creating a Christian theocracy would be to us. Compromise. That means sometimes you won’t get your progressive way, yes. But I’ll take incremental change over trench warfare while the world burns any day of the week.

I don’t think she’s a saint nor is she some progressive avatar here to lead us to a utopia. She is a human being making human choices in a problematic environment. But I hate that I even have to say that. And I hate that I can’t even say how much I fucking love her as a candidate because of the abuse I’m expecting to get over it, not even from trolls out for lulz, but from my own family. I feel like I don’t even get to have an opinion in public. This is the climate Bernie made.

Folks, “I’m voting for Jill Stein because the other candidate isn’t progressive enough” is exactly the kind of thinking that got Canada almost a decade of Harper. Go on, ask them how that went.

I’ll be waiting here.

 

Andrea Phillips is an award-winning transmedia writer, game designer and author. She has worked on projects such as iOS fitness games Zombies, Run! and The Walk, The Maester’s Path for HBO’s Game of Thrones, human rights game America 2049, and the independent commercial ARG Perplex City. Her projects have variously won the Prix Jeunesse Interactivity Prize, a Broadband Digital award, a Canadian Screen Award, a BIMA, the Origins Vanguard Innovation Award, and others. Her book A Creator’s Guide to Transmedia Storytelling is used to teach digital storytelling at universities around the world. 

You can find Andrea on Twitter at @andrhia. I mean, if you like that sort of thing.

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Editorial Cartoon: Well, that’s done…

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Gary Markstein

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Highlights from the 3rd Day of the Republican Convention

Get out the popcorn. This just keeps getting better. Let’s look at the third day of the GOP Hatefest. I swear, if I were writing a satire of the extremism of the party, it would be less ridiculous than this.

Republicans spent much of their time seriously debating Hillary Clinton, with the two options being “Should we jail her, or just kill her?” ingraham21n-1-web

Apologists for Melania Trump’s stolen speech continued to ignore the obvious theft, with one Brony even arguing with a straight face that since a character on My Little Pony has said similar things, then clearly there was nothing wrong with plagiarism.  But hey, you have to admit that Melania’s speech certainly made her sound like a First Lady — That First Lady being  Michelle Obama.

Trump, whose catch-phrase is “You’re fired,” did not fire Meredith McIver, the woman who wrote Melania’s speech. What is interesting though is that the writer works for Trump in his business, meaning that it is illegal for him to be paying her with his business’ money to to work for the campaign. But is anyone surprised at that? What makes this story even better is that some media outlets are claiming that Meredith McIver is not a real person but another alias Trump uses, like “John Miller.”

Ted Cruz got most of the attention last night when he spoke and refused to endorse Trump, telling people instead to “vote their conscience.” Who would have thought that the tons of insults Trump threw at Cruz during the primaries would cause Cruz to think that maybe this guy wasn’t fit to be President?

Apparently Ted, unlike Chris Christie, survived the primary season with his balls intact. Christie, meanwhile, is having a fit over the fact that he wasn’t picked for Vice President. (Insert Nelson laugh)

But my favorite part of the convention was when right-wing nutcase Laura Ingraham ended her speech with the nazi salute. Seriously, this actually happened.  “Have you seen my friend Kyle? He’s about this tall. We need to seek Kyle. Seek Kyle!  Seek Kyle!”

 

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Editorial cartoon: Make America Hate Again

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Steve Sack