How Democrats and Republicans delegitimize elections in a way Russia will never manage. by 1kiki

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How Democrats and Republicans delegitimize elections in a way Russia will never manage.

POSTED BY: 1KIKI
UPDATED: Tuesday, November 12, 2019 21:54
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Friday, November 8, 2019 8:18 PM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

It’s the DNC, Stupid: Democratic Party, Not Russia, Has Delegitimized the Democratic Process

With the U.S. presidential cycle gearing up, Elizabeth Vos takes stock of lessons from 2016.

By Elizabeth Vos
Special to Consortium News

Establishment Democrats and those who amplify them continue to project blame for the public’s doubt in the U.S. election process onto outside influence, despite the clear history of the party’s subversion of election integrity. The total inability of the Democratic Party establishment’s willingness to address even one of these critical failures does not give reason to hope that the nomination process in 2020 will be any less pre-ordained.

The Democratic Party’s bias against Sen. Bernie Sanders during the 2016 presidential nomination, followed by the DNC defense counsel doubling down on its right to rig the race during the fraud lawsuit brought against the DNC, as well as the irregularities in the races between former DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Tim Canova, indicate a fatal breakdown of the U.S. democratic process spearheaded by the Democratic Party establishment. Influences transcending the DNC add to concerns regarding the integrity of the democratic process that have nothing to do with Russia, but which will also likely impact outcomes in 2020.

The content of the DNC and Podesta emails published by WikiLeaks demonstrated that the DNC acted in favor of Hillary Clinton in the lead up to the 2016 Democratic primary. The emails also revealed corporate media reporters acting as surrogates of the DNC and its pro-Clinton agenda, going so far as to promote Donald Trump during the GOP primary process as a preferred “pied-piper candidate.” One cannot assume that similar evidence will be presented to the public in 2020, making it more important than ever to take stock of the unique lessons handed down to us by the 2016 race.

Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a 2016 Democratic primary debate. (YouTube/Screen shot)

Social Media Meddling

Election meddling via social media did take place in 2016, though in a different guise and for a different cause from that which are best remembered. Twitter would eventually admit to actively suppressing hashtags referencing the DNC and Podesta emails in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election. Additional reports indicated that tech giant Google also showed measurable “pro-Hillary Clinton bias” in search results during 2016, resulting in the alleged swaying of between 2 and 10 millions voters in favor of Clinton.

On the Republican side, a recent episode of CNLive! featured discussion of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which undecided voters were micro-targeted with tailored advertising narrowed with the combined use of big data and artificial intelligence known collectively as “dark strategy.” CNLive! Executive Producer Cathy Vogan noted that SCL, Cambridge Analytica’s parent company, provides data, analytics and strategy to governments and military organizations “worldwide,” specializing in behavior modification. Though Cambridge Analytica shut down in 2018, related companies remain.

The Clinton camp was hardly absent from social media during the 2016 race. The barely-legal activities of Clintonite David Brock were previously reported by this author to have included $2 million in funding for the creation of an online “troll army” under the name Shareblue. The LA Times described the project as meant to “to appear to be coming organically from people and their social media networks in a groundswell of activism, when in fact it is highly paid and highly tactical.” In other words, the effort attempted to create a false sense of consensus in support for the Clinton campaign.

In terms of interference in the actual election process, the New York City Board of Elections was shown to have purged over one hundred thousand Democratic voters in Brooklyn from the rolls before the 2016 primary, a move that the Department of Justice found broke federal law. Despite this, no prosecution for the breach was ever attempted.

Though the purge was not explicitly found to have benefitted Clinton, the admission falls in line with allegations across the country that the Democratic primary was interfered with to the benefit of the former secretary of state. These claims were further bolstered by reports indicating that voting results from the 2016 Democratic primary showed evidence of fraud.

DNC Fraud Lawsuit

“Bernie or Bust” protesters at the Wells Fargo Center during Democrats’ roll call vote to nominate Hillary Clinton. (Becker1999, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons)

The proceedings of the DNC fraud lawsuit provide the most damning evidence of the failure of the U.S. election process, especially within the Democratic Party. DNC defense lawyers argued in open court for the party’s right to appoint candidates at its own discretion, while simultaneously denying any “fiduciary duty” to represent the voters who donated to the Democratic Party under the impression that the DNC would act impartially towards the candidates involved.

In 2017, the Observer reported that the DNC’s defense counsel argued against claims that the party defrauded Sanders’ supporters by favoring Clinton, reasoning that Sanders’ supporters knew the process was rigged. Again: instead of arguing that the primary was neutral and unbiased in accordance with its charter, the DNC’s lawyers argued that it was the party’s right to select candidates.

The Observer noted the sentiments of Jared Beck, the attorney representing the plaintiffs of the lawsuit:

…“People paid money in reliance on the understanding that the primary elections for the Democratic nominee —nominating process in 2016 were fair and impartial, and that’s not just a bedrock assumption that we would assume just by virtue of the fact that we live in a democracy, and we assume that our elections are run in a fair and impartial manner. But that’s what the Democratic National Committee’s own charter says. It says it in black and white.”

The DNC defense counsel’s argument throughout the course of the DNC fraud lawsuit doubled down repeatedly in defense of the party’s right to favor one candidate over another, at one point actually claiming that such favoritism was protected by the First Amendment. The DNC’s lawyers wrote:

“To recognize any of the causes of action that Plaintiffs allege would run directly contrary to long-standing Supreme Court precedent recognizing the central and critical First Amendment rights enjoyed by political parties, especially when it comes to selecting the party’s nominee for public office.” [Emphasis added]

The DNC’s shameless defense of its own rigging disemboweled the most fundamental organs of the U.S. body politic. This no indication that the DNC will not resort to the same tactics in the 2020 primary race,

Tim Canova’s Allegations

Tim Canova with supporters, April 2016. (CanovaForCongress, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons)

If Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s role as disgraced chairwoman of the DNC and her forced 2016 resignation wasn’t enough, serious interference was also alleged in the wake of two contests between Wasserman Schultz and professor Tim Canova in Florida’s 23rd congressional district. Canova and Wasserman Schultz first faced off in a 2016 Democratic primary race, followed by a 2018 general congressional election in which Canova ran as an independent.

Debacles followed both contests, including improper vote counts, illegal ballot destruction, improper transportation of ballots, and generally shameless displays of cronyism. After the controversial results of the initial primary race against Wasserman Schultz, Canova sought to have ballots checked for irregularities, as the Sun-Sentinel reported at the time:

“[Canova] sought to look at the paper ballots in March 2017 and took Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes to court three months later when her office hadn’t fulfilled his request. Snipes approved the destruction of the ballots in September, signing a certification that said no court cases involving the ballots were pending.”

Ultimately, Canova was granted a summary judgment against Snipes, finding that she had committed what amounted to multiple felonies. Nonetheless, Snipes was not prosecuted and remained elections supervisor through to the 2018 midterms.

Republicans appear no more motivated to protect voting integrity than the Democrats, with The Nation reporting that the GOP-controlled Senate blocked a bill this week that would have “mandated paper-ballot backups in case of election machine malfunctions.”

Study of Corporate Power

A 2014 study published by Princeton University found that corporate power had usurped the voting rights of the public: “Economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence.”

In reviewing this sordid history, we see that the Democratic Party establishment has done everything in its power to disrespect voters and outright overrule them in the democratic primary process, defending their right to do so in the DNC fraud lawsuit. We’ve noted that interests transcending the DNC also represent escalating threats to election integrity as demonstrated in 2016.

Despite this, establishment Democrats and those who echo their views in the legacy press continue to deflect from their own wrongdoing and real threats to the election process by suggesting that mere discussion of it represents a campaign by Russia to attempt to malign the perceptionof the legitimacy of the U.S. democratic process.

Hillary Clinton’s recent comments to the effect that Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard is being “groomed” by Russia, and that the former Green Party Presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein is a “Russian asset”, were soon echoed by DNC-friendly pundits. These sentiments externalize what Gabbard called the “rot” in the Democratic party outward onto domestic critics and a nation across the planet.

Newsweek provided a particularly glaring example of this phenomenon in a recent op-ed penned by columnist Naveed Jamali, a former FBI double agent whose book capitalizes on Russiagate. In an op-ed titled: “Hillary Clinton Is Right. Tulsi Gabbard Is A Perfect Russian Asset – And Would Be A Perfect Republican Agent,” Jamali argued:

“Moscow will use its skillful propaganda machine to prop up Gabbard and use her as a tool to delegitimize the democratic process.” [Emphasis added]

Jamali surmises that Russia intends to “attack” our democracy by undermining the domestic perception of its legitimacy. This thesis is repeated later in the piece when Jamali opines: “They want to see a retreat of American influence. What better way to accomplish that than to attack our democracy by casting doubt on the legitimacy of our elections.” [Emphasis added]

The only thing worth protecting, according to Jamali and those who amplify his work (including former Clinton aide and establishment Democrat Neera Tanden), is the perception of the democratic process, not the actual functioning vitality of it. Such deflective tactics ensure that Russia will continue to be used as a convenient international pretext for silencing domestic dissent as we move into 2020.

Given all this, how can one expect the outcome of a 2020 Democratic Primary — or even the general election – to be any fairer or transparent than 2016?

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Saturday, November 9, 2019 5:56 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Maybe this is the best place to put my musings on the topic of election interference and the deep state ...

Somebody (I forget who, it may have been Alex Christoforou on The Duran) said that all of this anti-Trump propaganda isn't going to change anyone's mind because, by now, most people have already made up their minds, Trump being the most polarizing figure in living memory.

By now that's probably true, which got me to wondering what the point of all of this continuing deep-state/M$M campaign against Trump is all about. It's unlikely that they (Democrats) will manage to oust Trump from office, so ... what's up with Ukrainegate?

Well, I think initially there were two goals to the RUSSIA!RUSSIA! campaign. The first was to de-legitimize Trump. They may have even been hopeful that Trump might be removed from office. But when Trump campaign failed to take the bait dangled in front of them by Mifsud, the Steele "dossier" died on the vine, and the Mueller report fizzled, all they managed to do was expose their perfidy (to anyone who chose to look).

OTOH the second goal was MUCH more successful, and that was to delegitimize Trump's pronationalist POLICIES, and foreign policy towards Russia and the Mideast. By creating a wave of anti-Russian hysteria, they bolstered the neocons in the GOP House and Senate.

Kavanuagh, Covington, Trump "racism" and now Ukrainegate ... if not changing minds, they can also put Trump into a policy box, because now he has to depend on Lindsey Graham (famous GOP warhawk) to save his bacon from the (false) charges and mass hysteria that the deep state and M$M managed to cook up.

There is another goal for all of this lying, propaganda, and hyperventilating tho ... it's can either "energize the base" or "de-energize the opposition". If people's minds are (mostly) already made up, then the goal is voter turnout ... either suppress the "other side" or enhance "your side", or both.

They are CEARLY working HARD on the side of whichever Dem makes it to the November election ... they obviously don't care who (or they've already picked out their preferred choices) ... but they wouldn't be working so hard against Trump if they felt any of their preferred candidates were credible choices.

The problem with Ukrainegate, as far as I can tell, is that it's peaking early. It may get committed anti-Trumpers to breathe fire, all hysterical that Trump committed a (nonexistant) "crime", but all of that enthusiasm is vulnerable to later negative publicity about any of the candidates and about the DNC in general. The other problem is the electoral college ... it does no good to crank up voter turnout in states that are already solidly anti-Trump, but unless they can reduce his percentage in the swing states they still stand a chance of losing the election.

So, the deep state and M$M and co-opted politicians have already demonstrated that they're willing to engage the "help" of foriegn nations (MI6, Ukraine, Australia), illegally spy on a political campaign, cook up one false charge after another, and pervert Constitutional processes ... and the M$M and tech giants have already demonstrated that they're willing to bias the "news" - if not outright lie- in their cooperation with the deep state.

All of this goes to my question: If they deep state feels that the election will still be "too close to call" DESPITE this coordinated security-state/media/political campaign against Trump ... WHAT ELSE WILL THEY DO?

Hack the vote? Create violent disturbances? THIS IS A FIGHT THEY INTEND TO WIN. They have great experience with "regime change" operations in foreign countries, they've already broken a crap-ton of laws (like lying to the FISA court, and the one that says the CIA can't be active in the USA) and further shredded the Constitution and destroyed free speech ... what's in their playbook for the USA?

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

You idiots have been oppressing the entire sexual spectrum as long as you have existed. I can't wait for the day your kind is dead - WISHIMAY

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Saturday, November 9, 2019 8:24 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Thanks for your post. It's given me something new to consider.

ETA: "Kavanuagh, Covington, Trump "racism" and now Ukrainegate ... if not changing minds, they can also put Trump into a policy box, because now he has to depend on Lindsey Graham (famous GOP warhawk) to save his bacon from the (false) charges and mass hysteria that the deep state and M$M managed to cook up."

But once it's over ... then what?

It's like Turkey ... the last/final tether the US had on Ergodan was economic sanctions, using SWIFT as a mechanism. But once Turkey and Russia completed Turkey's linkup to Russia's SWIFT alternative https://financialtribune.com/articles/business-and-markets/99912/banks
-in-iran-russia-connected-via-non-swift-financial-messaging - SPFS - there was nothing left. Literally, within days of that completion, Turkey started massing troops at the Syrian border. And what could the US do except get its troops out of the way ASAP?

The impeachment&removal card I would think can only be played once. Lindsey Graham has one job.

So, assuming impeachment&removal fails ... In terms of pressure, Lindsey Graham is out of his one job. And when it comes to exerting pressure on Trump ... what's left after that?

I would think a bullet would be too obvious.

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Saturday, November 9, 2019 8:58 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by 1KIKI:
Thanks for your post. It's given me something new to consider.

ETA: "Kavanuagh, Covington, Trump "racism" and now Ukrainegate ... if not changing minds, they can also put Trump into a policy box, because now he has to depend on Lindsey Graham (famous GOP warhawk) to save his bacon from the (false) charges and mass hysteria that the deep state and M$M managed to cook up."

But once it's over ... then what?

It's like Turkey ... the last/final tether the US had on Ergodan was economic sanctions, using SWIFT as a mechanism. But once Turkey and Russia completed Turkey's linkup to Russia's SWIFT alternative - SPFS - there was nothing left. Literally, within days of that completion, Turkey started massing troops at the Syrian border.

The impeachment&removal card I would think can only be played once. Lindsey Graham has one job.

So, assuming impeachment&removal fails ... In terms of pressure, Lindsey Graham is out of his one job. And when it comes to exerting pressure on Trump ... what's left after that?

I would think a bullet would be too obvious.

Hey, Epstein committed "suicide", right? Yanno, like the many people who worked for the Clintons who "suicided". There are all kinds of sneaky ways to kill someone.

Yeah, assuming Trump survives the attempt at removal ... well, the Dems have a MULTITUDE of ~~investigations~~ witch hunts going, Ukrainegate is just one. Once they fail on that, maybe they'll move on to "taxes". Not that Trump is faultless but this is clearly politically-orchestrated, I can't imagine someone like Hillary and her "foundation" or Biden and "Burisma" surviving even the lightest scrutiny.

OTOH this constant parade of failed accusations does have to reach a law of diminishing returns. At some point, even the stupidest dolt and most rabid partisan wll detect a pattern of being taken for a ride ... right? And even if they're all on-board with all the dishonesty and Constitution-shredding - because yanno NEVER TRUMP - serial disappointment will take a toll.

So, how long can they keep this going? I dunno.

I still think they have to reach for "something else". I don't imagine that the deep state, the M$M and the Dems will keep flogging this horse until November.

It will be interesting to see what happens next.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

You idiots have been oppressing the entire sexual spectrum as long as you have existed. I can't wait for the day your kind is dead - WISHIMAY

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Sunday, November 10, 2019 4:25 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

The mentioned Liberal/Democrat Election Fraud anecdotes are not revelations. reasonable folk have known about these for decades. Democrats and liberals have been doing this since at least the Civil War (1860's), Reconstruction, continuing through Civil Rights opposition in the 1960's, and still nonstop until this day.
No surprise.

Your examples of Election Fraud by Constitutional Conservatives are lame claims. Only by dedicated Liberal Spin Doctor Narratives can any reasonable person convilute these examples into illegitimate Elections. Whenever Conservatives expose Truth and Fact, liberals always proclaim that such information is not in alignment with their beliefs, and therefore are making the Elections illegitimate because the Electorate has become informed.
You have not sold me on that yet.

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Sunday, November 10, 2019 4:53 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
The mentioned Liberal/Democrat Election Fraud anecdotes are not revelations. reasonable folk have known about these for decades. Democrats and liberals have been doing this since at least the Civil War (1860's), Reconstruction, continuing through Civil Rights opposition in the 1960's, and still nonstop until this day.
No surprise.

Your examples of Election Fraud by Constitutional Conservatives are lame claims. Only by dedicated Liberal Spin Doctor Narratives can any reasonable person convilute these examples into illegitimate Elections. Whenever Conservatives expose Truth and Fact, liberals always proclaim that such information is not in alignment with their beliefs, and therefore are making the Elections illegitimate because the Electorate has become informed.
You have not sold me on that yet.

Bollox. It's a game they both play. Busy now, more later.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

You idiots have been oppressing the entire sexual spectrum as long as you have existed. I can't wait for the day your kind is dead - WISHIMAY

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Tuesday, November 12, 2019 7:04 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Quote:
]Originally posted by SIGNYM:
... OTOH this constant parade of failed accusations does have to reach a law of diminishing returns. At some point, even the stupidest dolt and most rabid partisan will detect a pattern of being taken for a ride ... right? And even if they're all on-board with all the dishonesty and Constitution-shredding - because yanno NEVER TRUMP - serial disappointment will take a toll.

So, how long can they keep this going? I dunno.

I still think they have to reach for "something else". I don't imagine that the deep state, the M$M and the Dems will keep flogging this horse until November.

It will be interesting to see what happens next.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

You idiots have been oppressing the entire sexual spectrum as long as you have existed. I can't wait for the day your kind is dead - WISHIMAY

Here's an idea for "what happens next": If Impeachment Fails, Will The Elite Crash The Economy In Order To Prevent Four More Years Of Trump? http://themostimportantnews.com/archives/if-impeachment-fails-will-the
-elite-crash-the-economy-in-order-to-prevent-four-more-years-of-trump

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Tuesday, November 12, 2019 9:54 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Bill Maher will smile.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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