Here She Goes, Again!

 

I suppose I could have used a more flattering picture of Jill Stein, who has decided to enter the 2024 presidential race as the Green party candidate, but if you know me by now, you know why I'm not going to. She knows her candidacy in 2016 was used by Russia to leach votes away from Hillary Clinton helping set up a Donald Trump win. She raised money for a recount campaign that got used for other things. 

But here she goes! Whither the Cornel West campaign, though? Terrible story, that. First, he abandoned the lush, deep infrastructure provided by the Green party (yes, I'm being snarky), and then he got caught getting a maximum donation from his good friend, Brother Harlan Crow and had to return it. 

Sometimes, if you want good "progressive" third party fuckery, you just have to see to it yourself. So, she's seeing to it. But why? (Could it be because the other supposed "progressive" lane, RFK, Jr., is more likely to take votes away from Trump? One may well wonder.) 

If someone actually wanted a progressive movement, they could build on the progressive wing of the existing Democratic party and mount a serious opposition. Or we could have Marianne Williamson.

Heck, if you wanted an "exactly the same but younger and awkward" movement you could have Dean Phillips, who demonstrates that one of the things you learn when you are older and wiser is, don't fuck with Jim Clyburn. Anyway, his campaign just picked up Jeff Weaver and Zach Graumann, which is exactly what a campaign would do if the Democratic establishment machine was like BRRRRR against it--probably according to their respecting hiring pitches.  

Or if you wanted to go more conservative, I guess there could be Joe Manchin? I'm not saying he's likely to run, but I'm sure conservative billionaire-funded "No Labels" is ringing him up.

All I know is, I'm having some 2015-2016 flashbacks, and I am not liking them. History people--let's be learning from it!

Cornel West is "At Least" Not Pro-Putin, Everybody

 

Cornel West on CNN says NATO "provoked" Russia's invasion of Ukraine, calls for "concessions of territory" to stop the war, and says the US "bears significant responsibility." But he adds that he's not "pro Putin," so there's that. pic.twitter.com/SqIEwdiE9j

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 14, 2023

Does Cornel West not know what is happening in the Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine? Probably not. He's too busy being for something supposedly to the left of whatever Democrats (Joe Biden, who's done a fuckton for the unions, employment, and supports diversity and human rights), are for reasons I think are known only to himself.  But the Russians are performing appalling war crimes on Ukrainian people in the areas they occupy. Why in the hell would territorial concessions be okay? There are PEOPLE on this land. They will not be people for long if Russia is allowed to take this land. That is the reality.

The stupid (yes, stupid) construct that this is a proxy war only makes sense in the disturbed mind of someone who thinks the US has some motivation to arm Ukraine greater than Ukraine's own will to defend themselves from the horror of what Russia is doing to them--and this is manifestly not so. You do not have 4 out of five people know intimately someone who has been  murdered from this war and not want to defend your life and the life of your people. To baldly assume this is a US op is disgraceful and denies what is actually happening to the Ukraine people. It's like some form of demented conspiracy theory where Ukrainian people aren't even real, but like NPC's. 

The abhorrence of this, to deny Ukrainian people their resistance to evil and oppression, is the pinnacle of head-up-assness.