[Tainari88]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuoKLLLpiuE

Ocasio-Cortez she is an independentista. For sure. Socialist independentista from the Bronx. I hope she boxes it out with the inarticulate ugly old men from the Repukes no one is going to be grabbing her private parts without them getting their stupid anti women crap thrown out. God how I love my strong independent, intelligent Boricua women!

[Albert]

@Rugoz
Five-star is populist centrist in sense they do actually attempt to bridge populist left-right divide, indeed. There are a lot of things a person like me disagrees with them on (like support of same-sex marriage), yet they are staunchly anti-illegal immigration and support deportation of migrants. So there they will my support.

I think Ocasio-Cortez is a socialist in traditional European sense of the word, so is Bernie Sanders for that matter.

Breaking: News scenes of celebration are coming out of Bronx.

Crowley’s Loss Heralds an ‘End of an Era’: Last of the Party Bosse



In a one-party town, the party boss reigned supreme.

Nowhere was this truer than in New York City, where the shadow of William M. Tweed, known to most everyone as Boss Tweed, loomed over Democratic politics for generations. Slowly, the grip of party leaders waned elsewhere. But in Queens, the machine rolled on — until Tuesday.

If Representative Joseph Crowley’s loss this week to a young insurgent candidate, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, rattled the national Democratic Party, it did a great deal more to upend the political order in New York City, where Mr. Crowley was perhaps the last powerful party boss in a city once defined by them.

Under Mr. Crowley, the Queens Democratic machine played local kingmaker, holding sway over judicial races, Surrogate’s Court, even the speakership of the New York City Council. Very little of consequence seemed to occur in Queens politics that Mr. Crowley or his cohorts did not have a hand in.

“It’s the end of an era,” said Councilman Daniel Dromm of Queens, the chairman of the finance committee, an influential position he garnered after aligning himself more closely with Mr. Crowley.

The era of the party boss had long been on the wane across the nation. Gone are the days when James Michael Curley loomed over Boston, the Daleys dominated Chicago and E.H. Crump controlled Memphis.

Old-style party machines have been variously felled by court decisions limiting political patronage, corruption scandals, the expansion of voting rights, and, more recently, an increase in polarization, political scientists said. Powerful Democratic organizations still exist in big cities, but they have become weaker.

“Political machines have been on the decline almost everywhere for decades, and that process has accelerated,” said Larry J. Sabato, the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. Those who get involved in politics now are more likely to view it as a cause than a means to a patronage job or a payoff, he said.

“Crowley is a perfect example,” Mr. Sabato added. “He grew up in another time and another way of doing business.”

Mr. Crowley was a product of Queens, New York City’s most stubborn stronghold of party bosses. The Democratic machine there persevered even after the 1986 suicide of its powerful leader, Donald R. Manes, who took his own life amid a corruption scandal. It marched on despite demographic changes that transformed the borough from a bedroom community synonymous with the cantankerous conservatism of Archie Bunker to the teeming home of some of the nation’s most diverse neighborhoods — and an increasingly progressive Democratic base.

As chairman of the Queens County Democratic Party, Mr. Crowley directed a party apparatus that held the power to make or break candidates through endorsements and nuts-and-bolts campaign help. He helped make the careers of many, including a who’s who of elected leaders who packed his victory-party-turned-political-wake on Tuesday night. He helped to elevate others to perches they might not otherwise have reached.

But faced with an energetic challenge for the first time in years, he could not help himself.

The loss sent reverberations throughout local races.

Insurgent candidates running for state offices and those who have bucked the county organization in the past rejoiced. Party officials licked their wounds and privately bemoaned the defeat by an upstart challenger who dared to run a primary campaign.

The aftermath could also be seen in more public gestures: On Thursday, the Council speaker, Corey Johnson, announced he would back four upstart challengers to Democratic incumbents in State Senate primary races this September. Mr. Johnson said the endorsements had been planned before Tuesday’s election results were known. But it was a move that Mr. Johnson might not have done in such an overt way out of deference to Mr. Crowley, whose support was critical in landing Mr. Johnson his role as speaker.

“Clearly the Democratic base is extremely angry, hungering for change and they showed that,” Mr. Johnson said. He waxed philosophical when asked about Mr. Crowley’s defeat. “In the political world, one day you’re up, the next day you’re down,” he said. “Politics is cyclical; life is cyclical.”

Mr. Crowley took over the perch 12 years ago from his mentor and predecessor in Congress, Thomas J. Manton, whom many credited with saving the local party after a corruption scandal under Mr. Manes in the mid-1980s. Mr. Crowley led the county party and, through an alliance with the Bronx Democratic leaders, gave officials from both counties a greater voice in citywide politics.

“The Queens machine was part of the coalition that put Ed Koch in office,” said Michael Krasner, a professor of political science at Queens College. “They were extremely influential in terms of nominations, elections and also in terms of land-use decisions.”

The influence has long been apparent in judicial appointments and at the Surrogate’s Court, where the law firm of Sweeney, Reich and Bolz — whose partners are closely affiliated with the Queens Democratic Party — has for years collected handsome fees administering estates. Gerald J. Sweeney, a partner in the firm, has long been and remains the counsel to the surrogate court administrator. At the party’s fund-raising dinners, an array of lawyers and would-be judges can be found.

“In Manhattan and Brooklyn there are often primaries for Surrogate’s Court. In Queens, I don’t think there’s ever been a primary,” said Jerry Skurnik, a veteran Democratic political consultant. “Whoever the county organization has wanted has been elected, unopposed, as long as I remember, at least since the 1970s.” Much the same goes for civil court judges, he said.

Its power is even more evident in the quadrennial contest for City Council speaker, when interested Council members make repeated visits to Queens to see Mr. Crowley and sometimes dance as he plays guitar.

But cracks in the machine had been emerging in recent years. Mr. Crowley was not able to deliver his preferred candidate for Council speaker in 2013, outmaneuvered by the newly elected Bill de Blasio. Three years later, the county-backed incumbent, Assemblywoman Margaret Markey, lost in a Democratic primary to a young insurgent. The county organization could not prevent Mr. Crowley’s cousin, Elizabeth Crowley, from losing to a more conservative Democrat.

“There is a very significant losing streak here,” said Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, a Democrat who bucked the party leadership with his own run in 2009 and whose district voted heavily in favor of Ms. Ocasio-Cortez.

“If it couldn’t mobilize for the chairman of the Democratic Party,” Mr. Van Bramer said of the Queens county machine, “who is it going to mobilize for?”

Mr. Crowley’s organization appeared to have been regaining some of its influence last year: It secured its pick for Council speaker and brought a reluctant mayor along with its choice. Mr. de Blasio backed Mr. Crowley for re-election, albeit mostly from the sidelines.

[The Sabbaticus]

"Girl From The Bronx" Ocasio-Cortez Called Out In Fact Check; Actually Grew Up In Wealthy Enclave

Surprise, surprise. The 'mouthy ethnic lady' (ala Maxine Waters) is full of it.

[Godstud]

I thought you fucking morons loved liars? What's the problem?

[blackjack21]

I thought you fucking morons loved liars? What's the problem?

I think it is great that she won. She won't be all that successful for the same reason that all socialists fail--their plan depends upon taking other people's money, which doesn't usually happen without a fight; and, it destroys economic incentive. For example, Venezuela has to import gasoline now. That's like the US having to import wheat and soybeans.

[Beren]

their plan depends upon taking other people's money

Do you mean the military-industrial complex or the pharmaceutical gangsters? And they're not the only ones sucking wealth out of society.

$8.5 trillion in 22 years, which means $386 billion each year, more than half of the current military budget.

There are trillions of dollars flowing away, so maybe that's what should be dealt with rather than worrying about whether how you'd have to finance other people's free healthcare and education.

[Tainari88]

The wealth leeches are the Republicans and (the liberal dirtballs doing the same thing like Crowley was the man did not even live in the 14th district) the two uncaring about the working class and their racist and class conscious, selfish, disgusting, dirty and immoral and low life value systems. People like Ocasio-Cortez had to work for a living while supporting their mothers and attending Boston University and graduating in economics and international relations--they do it without wealthy Daddies and elitist stink bomb selfish arrogant values. This makes the asskissing corrupt bribed Republicans angry and afraid--they can not buy the decent ones off and they are lazy asses unwilling to talk to thousands of limited income ethnics whom they sneer at--they are the problem. Not Alexandria.

Damn fools. Don't take the dirty money you won't be beholden to these corrupt people. It is not hard to understand...unless you are a greedy self serving low life.

No dirty money-No need to compromise your principles. But since their principles are buyable and they are selfish PiGs? Not much to do but identify where the wealth has gone to? And kick the corrupt leeches out. Restore the wealth to the ones they steal it from.

[skinster]

[Tainari88]

@skinster the reality is all we need is a few more socialists that no one can bribe in every state and the Republicans will be caving. In Mexico AMLO was denied power in free elections various times. The PRI and the PAN continued to ignore the needs of the average Mexican worker--The consequence? Elected socialists. The 2 party one party corrupt elites get angry. What I find interesting is that the blackjack types think that Latin Americans are inferior societies and they elect socialists out of reasons that are not applicable in the USA. The reality is that if you stagnate real wages for decades and create the same wealth inequality that exists in Latin America? You will eventually get the same political problems as we do. Why? Humanity is very similar about power situations and class conflict. What you think never will happen in your society but happens in another human society--does. You are dealing with a vast interconnected species. But the racists don't see it....til it is too late. When they lost the war and are just living with the ashes of their false beliefs. Asi es. You think you are superior? No. You lie to yourself.

[Albert]

About 3 months ago.

This election might be another beautiful gift like the last one.

[blackjack21]

The wealth leeches are the Republicans and (the liberal dirtballs doing the same thing like Crowley was the man did not even live in the 14th district) the two uncaring about the working class and their racist and class conscious, selfish, disgusting, dirty and immoral and low life value systems.

It isn't based on party. That's just an illusion. It has almost nothing to do with racism.

People like Ocasio-Cortez had to work for a living while supporting their mothers and attending Boston University and graduating in economics and international relations--they do it without wealthy Daddies and elitist stink bomb selfish arrogant values.

Have you asked yourself why children are supporting their parents and not the other way around? At any rate, Ocasio-Cortez was raised in very wealthy Westchester County. Her father was an architect.

Maybe she will work with Donald Trump on pardoning people with stiff sentences for first time non-violent drug offenses.

What I find interesting is that the blackjack types think that Latin Americans are inferior societies and they elect socialists out of reasons that are not applicable in the USA.

I didn't say that they are inferior societies per se. I did say that the Mayan population of Guatemala has a relatively low IQ. You seemed to generalize my statement, and then convinced yourself that I said it myself.

The reality is that if you stagnate real wages for decades and create the same wealth inequality that exists in Latin America? You will eventually get the same political problems as we do.

Wages stagnated in the US due to an influx of cheap labor from outside the country, and free trade policies that do not enforce reciprocal trade standards. That is not the problem in Latin America.

What you think never will happen in your society but happens in another human society--does.

I didn't say that socialism could not happen hear. It happened in Venezuela, and they turned revolutionized themselves from the richest nation in South America to its poorest in less than 20 years.

You are dealing with a vast interconnected species. But the racists don't see it....til it is too late. When they lost the war and are just living with the ashes of their false beliefs.

Racism exists everywhere. It's not exclusive to white North Americans. Ask the Tutsis how they feel about the Hutus these days. Ask the Darfuri how they feel about the Janjaweed.

You think you are superior? No. You lie to yourself.

I simply call it as it is. "Superior" is a relative term based upon normative values.

$8.5 trillion in 22 years, which means $386 billion each year, more than half of the current military budget.

They know how the money was spent. They are just lying to you.

Do you mean the military-industrial complex or the pharmaceutical gangsters?

Pharmaceutical companies are the most corrupt for sure.

[Tainari88]

Look blackjack...your comments are glaringly obvious you have not dealt with power and class conflict. Racism is not about IQ' s and meritocracies that don't exist in the USA. Mayans and their supposedly inferior intellects comes from men like you that never met a Mayan world leader like I have in my life. You don't speak the language and you don't study the history of the Quiche Mayans or many of the people from Guatemala etc. You don't have dinner with them either. I have. A Guatemalan leader chased me down at the parking lot of my mother's funeral to tell me about my mother's contributions to his community. She worked her career around education in Native American languages. The hatred and lack of respect shown to native cultures throughout the Americas is APALLING. And the lack of realizing how patronizing and belittling and dam ignorant you sound Blackjack when you mention low IQ of the Mayans as if that justifies what? They are not as intelligent so that means they don't have rights? You sound like that Trump pompous racist man...who is a corrupt low life.

Racism and class consciousness are interlinked. If you have never read how it is why don't you start off with Franz Fanon, among many others. Throughout human history all elite groups came up with justifying exploiting other humans just like they were...and they believed that was the only way to live---keeping people down and part of a small group enriching themselves thinking inequality is natural and no need to fight to end slavery or poor working conditions...just accept it. Shut your big ethnic mouth. The 'intelligent' are in charge. They are Gods. The poor are not. Hubris. It all begins with comments like yours @blackjack21 .

Equality is not something you believe in? It doesn' t mean all humans as individuals are exactly the same in temperament or abilities or talents. For a socialist it means all humans have a common human bond. We feel,think and have self-awareness and we have human rights. All of us. If we put a lot of energy behind taking away human rights and denying the innate humanity present in others who see the world 'different' from us? From our own native cultural milieu? It becomes easy to dehumanize and justify making them suffer. How do genocides start off like? They should not be allowed rights. To land, to control, to family to resurces, to x,y and z. So let us kill them to obtain that control. Killing a
Person who's language you speak fluently and who's culture you understand well, and in which you ate dinner together and who you find common bonds is very hard to do. But you have civil wars, family feuds etc. Racism goes beyond that it makes being different an extreme offense, it inspired fear, distrust and a reason to use terror and violence. It becomes a means to a greater end...mainly not sharing power, resouces. It is centered in ego and selfish tendencies. It is destructive. Yet it is the answer to conflict. Being generous,kind,loving, caring is harder. Much harder. Fear is easy. Learning a whole new culture? Hard work. But it gives you something greAt as a reward...you learn a new dimension to being human. Not just the culture you grew up with. You staŕt seeing the best in humanity's fine abilities to vary and nature's love of variation. Instead of alienation? You feel connection...equality then is the norm
Not The Exception.

[blackjack21]

Look blackjack...your comments are glaringly obvious you have not dealt with power and class conflict.

I'm not sure what you mean. I think essentially everyone who reaches 50 years old has encountered power and class conflict at one point or another.

Racism is not about IQ' s and meritocracies that don't exist in the USA. Mayans and their supposedly inferior intellects comes from men like you that never met a Mayan world leader like I have in my life.

I'm not sure what you are trying to say here.

You don't speak the language and you don't study the history of the Quiche Mayans or many of the people from Guatemala etc. You don't have dinner with them either. I have. A Guatemalan leader chased me down at the parking lot of my mother's funeral to tell me about my mother's contributions to his community. She worked her career around education in Native American languages.

I don't speak the languages of the Quiche people, or even much Spanish. I do enjoy studying history. That does not necessarily imply feeling a great sympathy for every tribe or nation I've studied.

The hatred and lack of respect shown to native cultures throughout the Americas is APALLING. And the lack of realizing how patronizing and belittling and dam ignorant you sound Blackjack when you mention low IQ of the Mayans as if that justifies what?

This "hatred and lack of respect" is clearly coming from your own imagination or life experiences that have little or nothing to do with me. The fact of the matter is that the United States economy is heavily dependent on high IQ labor, and has externalized industries that do not require it--leading to significant social problems in the United States. Incidentally, that is why Donald Trump was elected president. It is also why Ocasio-Cortez was elected with a very convincing margin over an incumbent who was a shoe-in for party leader or perhaps even Speaker of the House. The fact of the matter is that the United States cannot assimilate low IQ populations. We cannot even employ our own low-skill low-IQ population anymore, because of free trade policies among other factors.

They are not as intelligent so that means they don't have rights? You sound like that Trump pompous racist man...who is a corrupt low life.

I understand that you do not like Donald Trump. He is indeed pompous, but he's not particularly racist. He's lived mostly an upper middle and upper class life.

Racism and class consciousness are interlinked. If you have never read how it is why don't you start off with Franz Fanon, among many others.

I am not a Marxist. I've studied enough of it to convince me that Marxism is a hopeless pipe dream. My favorite Marxist is Erik Hobsbawm. I read his well-known trilogy. He's an excellent analyst, but is unfortunately a Marxist.

Throughout human history all elite groups came up with justifying exploiting other humans just like they were...and they believed that was the only way to live---keeping people down and part of a small group enriching themselves thinking inequality is natural and no need to fight to end slavery or poor working conditions...just accept it.

Inequality is the natural state of affairs. That does not mean I oppose efforts to more universal basic levels of dignity.

Shut your big ethnic mouth. The 'intelligent' are in charge. They are Gods. The poor are not. Hubris. It all begins with comments like yours @blackjack21 .

So you are one of those who believes that behavior stems from language, and that if you can control language you can control behavior?

Equality is not something you believe in. It diesn' t mean all humans as individuals are exactly the same in temperament or abilities or talents. For a socialist it means all humans have a common human bond. We feel,think and have self-awareness and we have human rights. All of us. If we put a lot of energy behind taking and denying others who we see 'different' from us? From our own native cultural milieu? It becomes easy to dehumanize and justify making them suffer. How do genocides start off like? They should not be allowed rights. To land, to control, to family to resurces, to x,y and z. So let us kill them to obtain that control.

Humans are social animals, but they are also territorial and competitive. Other animals are too. Altruism generally arises to aid in-group survival. The notion of "human rights" is just an abstraction to get people to look at humanity itself as a group. Richard Rorty seemed to style himself as post-Marxist, but I think Contingency, Irony and Solidarity illustrated that he couldn't get beyond solidarity to really understand why it eludes Marxists and other idealists.

Killing a Person who's language you speak fluently and who's culture you understand well, and in which you ate dinner together and who you find common bonds is very hard to do. But you have civil wars, family feuds etc.

The US Civil War is still today the deadliest war the US has fought, including WWI and WWII. Civil Wars are not less intense by any stretch of the imagination. They don't have as much of an impact outside of the society in which they are fought, so non-participants are decidedly more apathetic.

Racism goes beyond that it makes being different an extreme offense, it inspired fear, distrust and a reason to use terror and violence. It becomes a means to a greater end...mainly not sharing power, resouces. It is centered in ego and selfish tendencies. It is destructive.

Late Marxism focused on racism, because it was in opposition to the French and British Empires. Class within societies isn't racism, but it is certainly as stratified and exclusive as any form of racism.

Yet it is the answer to conflict. Being generous,kind,loving, caring is harder. Much harder. Fear is easy. Learning a whole new culture? Hard work. But it gives you something greAt as a reward...you learn a new dimension to being human. Not just the culture you grew up with. You staŕt seeing the best in humanity's fine abilities to vary and nature's love of variation. Instead of alienation? You feel connection...equality then is the norm
Not The Exception.

Equality is never the norm. It is just an overused notion to simplify concepts, and possibly because a lot of physical phenomena can be explained well by differential equations.

[One Degree]

Irrationally pursuing equality through compassion sometimes ends up with you believing opening your home to a person with a long criminal history of violence against others is humanitarian. He then attacks a children’s birthday party stabbing everyone. Compassion needs to be offered only with common sense and the welfare of your own community in mind. Some people do not deserve our compassion. Some deserve it, but it is not in our best interests to offer it.
Everything looks simple until you apply it to real people.

[skinster]

Julia Salazar Is Looking to Land the Next Blow Against the New York Democratic Machine

[Tainari88]

There will be a fight for power with the corrupt bribed liberals. It might take two or three more presidential cycles but unless the corrupt ones get off their asses and do something about working class rights all these smug racist white politicians are going to feel the agony of defeat. The Latino sellout types need to be booted out too.

@skinster @blackjack21 is clueless about how to solve class conflict from corrupt freaks like Trump. You elect socialist candidates who refuse corporate money and get rid of the corrupt through the majority who according to Bell Curve believer blackjack are low IQ. They still can vote. And since the not as smart as white men still vote, there might be a chance the Trump who is so articulate and pristine in moral character can put things right. Yeah right!
While you keep living in your fantasy of superiority blackjack the masses who work for a living and voted for that narcissist and who.will lose their dairy farms etc are gonna go for the low IQ socialists whom are all low IQ' s like Ocasio-Cortez and Salazar etc yeah whatever I have not met an unintelligent socialist dummy in my life. Met a lot of dumbass Republicans and uninformed rich idiots who are used to privileges and don't know right from wrong.

[annatar1914]

https://twitter.com/IntheNow_tweet/status/1014995348304080897

Julia Salazar Is Looking to Land the Next Blow Against the New York Democratic Machine

There's plenty of room for a list of people that need their head out of their ass, more than just ''Socialists'' who often can't seem to decide what Socialism is (much like their conservative counterparts, who never seem to know what Socialism really is) themselves.

I'm not even sure at this point that Socialism is even possible, given human nature, and given also that modern existence as a whole does not seem to appear to be sustainable, Capitalist or Socialist. I mean, the critique of Capitalism by the Marxists is quite sound, basically irrefutable, but what I'm seeing is a modification to the Capitalist system, much as Lenin saw Imperialism as an explanation at the time as to why Capitalism had not collapsed yet. I see Capitalism now gradually destroying the modern State itself, slowly but quite surely undoing the one thing that may be what sustains it.

In the modern Capitalist world, the ideological future belongs to the Libertarians, the Objectivist acolytes of Ayn Rand, the Anarcho-Capitalists. And the world will be subject to an attempt to remake it in that revolutionary image, much as the Marxist Leninists had an Socialist/Communist attempt with the Soviet Union, 1917-1991.

Socialists had better re-examine what it means to be a Socialist, in this new world they face.

[annatar1914]

There's plenty of room for a list of people that need their head out of their ass, more than just ''Socialists'' who often can't seem to decide what Socialism is (much like their conservative counterparts, who never seem to know what Socialism really is) themselves.

I'm not even sure at this point that Socialism is even possible, given human nature, and given also that modern existence as a whole does not seem to appear to be sustainable, Capitalist or Socialist. I mean, the critique of Capitalism by the Marxists is quite sound, basically irrefutable, but what I'm seeing is a modification to the Capitalist system, much as Lenin saw Imperialism as an explanation at the time as to why Capitalism had not collapsed yet. I see Capitalism now gradually destroying the modern State itself, slowly but quite surely undoing the one thing that may be what sustains it.

In the modern Capitalist world, the ideological future belongs to the Libertarians, the Objectivist acolytes of Ayn Rand, the Anarcho-Capitalists. And the world will be subject to an attempt to remake it in that revolutionary image, much as the Marxist Leninists had an Socialist/Communist attempt with the Soviet Union, 1917-1991.

Socialists had better re-examine what it means to be a Socialist, in this new world they face.

I'm reminded of this Meme from a while back;




Very true. Pathetic...

[Tainari88]

Climate change is the key @annatar1914 . You either learn to share resources and redefine nation-states and goals. Or the alternative are large groups of super desperate people using violence and having the upper classes living with armed guards everywhere.

Trump and his corrupt puppets like Pruitt was from the E.P.A. was are climate change deniers.They won't do anything productive but have agents chase down Ritz-Carlton hotel lotions. The bright intelligent ones.

[annatar1914]

Climate change is the key @annatar1914 . You either learn to share resources and redefine nation-states and goals. Or the alternative are large groups of super desperate people using violence and having the upper classes living with armed guards everywhere.

I have to say that given what we know of previous human history, the latter is more likely than the former. It's not going to be pretty, that's for sure, and the dabblers in the nonsense of identity politics had better wise up.