Progressive PAC Backs Shontel Brown Over Nina Turner, And It Makes Me Happy
Given the Fight and the People’s Wants, the PAC Isn’t a Plus
(Full-length, longer version available here)
Nina Turner. So far, she has been just another, crappy politician, much like The Squad and all others that came before them, being — no matter the reluctance seen from DC — welcomed into the halls of the Establishment’s House albeit if for just one purpose: not to feed anti-elitism and/or to give meaning to working-class hope for a change and greater equality, but just to placate those who express such desires, syphoning all their energy by redirecting their attention towards an internal entity that invariably ends up serving the Establishment.
When I revived DMS&UY, the first piece I wrote that focused on Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez was one that expressed how much of a disappointment she represented, having quickly turned into the expected thing that befit her title: a run-of-the-mill politician. She was being turned into the progressive cause’s poster girl for all that she inadvertently provided to the opposition, who could attack her without appearing racist, unlike, for example, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, although that didn’t stop the Right’s real crazies, like Marjorie Taylor Green and Lauren Boebert, from severely crossing that line by referring to them as the “Jihad Squad”, which is just one among many examples.
This type of moderated entity and their claimed goal of wanting to change things from the inside no longer hold any weight with anyone who’s seriously desiring a positive change towards a for-the-people focus and weakening the corporate and military-industrial complex grip on DC.
I do believe that there’s a handful of individuals who truly want to make it happen; there’s at least six members of the Progressive Caucus who’ve convinced me that their aim is genuine. What they need is a veritable leader. Nina Turner is the only person I see who’s actually in a position to potentially fill that role. Will she if given the chance?
Because she lost last year’s Ohio 11th District special election; because of the immoral circumstances that led to her defeat (by 6%); because the Congressional Progressive Caucus opted for Brown over her, I do think her fuse is lit and tapped into her in a way that’s bound to have a positive progressive boom.
Nina Turner; because the passion she presents is genuine, which has the power to fire me up and fight for change; few can manage that in quite the way she can. In a very oblique way, however, the mindset possessed by Palki Sharma Upadhyay, which resides in another sphere entirely (metaphysically), is the type that, through her structured and informative push for change through relevant awareness, motivates me to keep DMS&UY alive and ‘aboveboard’ on all fronts. I mention the latter because: an individual that can reconcile the two types — a Bernie Sanders-like figure but with the strength and youth to really fight it out outside of the set institutions — is what the progressive movement really needs, methinks.
Because, the real solution lies at the grassroots, street level; it depends on the people’s willingness to unite, and for them to take the fight to the House, not in passive waiting, hoping for the day that someone else comes along and makes the desired change happen for them. BLM, outside of the BLMGNF (Black Lives Matter Global Network Fund) issues and negatives that came out of that level, should have taught us all that making this happen isn’t a thing of the past or a far-fetched notion.
Because, without a meaningful coalition that can bring a full-scale, country-wide movement to life and rally that into a third party, the desired change won’t happen within the two-party, one Establishment institution that serves elites only.
If ever there was a time to set those wheels in motion and a chance to move the people towards lasting, for-the-people change, well, that ideal time was three years ago, maybe two… though right now is always just as good!
Those who are reined in by the two-party folks and their money — despite the front they present — will tell you that “now” is too late to make it happen for 2024, 2028 would be far more realistic. Plus, 2024 would mean jeopardizing whatever role people like Turner can play in, at the very least, highlighting just how little DC really cares about anyone but the 1%.
However, given the damage done by Democrats, showing to all just how empty all their election promises were… I don’t foresee good things for the Blue in both the mid-term and Presidential elections.
Last week, the Congressional Progressive Caucus Political Action Committee (CPC PAC) announced their endorsements for the upcoming 2022 primary; a great deal of hubbub was made over the committee’s decision to back Rep. Shontel Brown, not Nina Turner.
The Ohio 11th District Democratic primary, to be held on 3-May-2022 (the general elections are in November, as always), is aligning itself to be one of the races that’ll garner the most attention no matter which side of the two-party line one associates with.
Why? If anything, it’s because there’s a great deal of symbolism attached to this one battle. In many ways, this will set the tone for what’s to come, either completely snuffing out or reviving some optimism among a sub-section of voters who are not only underrepresented at the media level (never mind the governmental one), having no competitively sizable outlet that makes their voice matter in a forceful way — which, ironically, keeps the majority in the fringes — but who also appear to be more keenly aware of certain political aspects than those outlets that claim to represent them.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-DC), the first Indian-American woman (born in Chennai, India) to serve in the US House of Representatives, and the current Chair of the CPC, explained the PAC’s choice as being a purely pro forma decision. From that we’re to assume that Brown was the obvious choice that needed no official mention due to the fact that she’s already an elected member of congress. Although, offering no real explanation besides labeling it “pro forma,” one can assume that Brown is the CPC’s clear choice because Turner simply won’t do.
The CPC, founded in 1991, may be said to “represent the most Left-leaning faction of the Democratic Party,” but anyone that’s actually Left-leaning knows all too well by now that the “most Left-leaning” is still far from being actually situated on the Left, let alone being a faction that represents Progressive ideals. If anyone still had any doubts about that after the results of the September 2021 BIF/BBB split and fiasco (see below), then, I’m sorry to say, all I have for you are very negative words situated in between “naive” and “stupid”.
With that, following their reaction, their takes, and the manner with which they shared the news of the CPC PAC’s announcement, it goes without saying that the many outlets who promote themselves as progressive ones — being for the ‘people’ — are as full of crap as the politicians they want you to support and back, doing so so with your time and money, and doing so blindly in order to assure that your attention isn’t properly redirected towards any entity that can trigger real, positive change.
If not familiar with PACs (Political Action Committees) or their importance: Electoral campaigns impose limits on the amount of money they can accept from any single individual, while significantly larger (see: huge) contributions can be made through PACS. It’s all very democratic… providing one sees the individual as being meaningless, otherwise rich, manipulative a-holes that exploit government grants and donations — never using their own money, on which they avoid paying their fair share of taxes — while calling themselves Libertarians, like Elon Musk, may take advantage of the electoral system. And that’s why PACs, which take mega sums from individuals and corporations and focuses these amounts through special-interest groups, make so much sense, and why I’ve a completely wrong understanding regarding the meaning of “makes sense”.
In a weird twist, things have reached a point where one can’t fight to get money out of politics without substantial money being invested in the politics of that fight…
Hurts my brain thinking about this.
Calling It a Strategy Isn’t False, But…
Strategy for whom was the real question; events have provided the answer, and it wasn’t “the progressives.”
Support for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill (BIF) and the Build Back Better Act (BBB) and the Progressives’ reconciliation strategy, and all that was said and done — and not done — concerning these turned out to be the real eye-opener that was needed to finally reveal the CPC for what it truly is, ditto in regard to the real role played by many of its supporters. The CPC is nothing more than an appeasement arm of the Democratic Party; it’ll always end up bending to Democrat wants
The fact that the Progressives’ strategy is one that was supported by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Joe Biden should have stirred far greater indignation post hoc once it had become clear that the whole BBB side of things was being flushed down the toilet.
The plan had been to pair the BIF and BBB and to treat it as one big reconciliation package, in which case, either both pass or neither do. The BIF had next-to-full bipartisan support as it focused on the usual infrastructure needs, including widening the broadband one, granting easier Internet access to more isolated parts of the US; given that roads were crumbling and sinking and bridges were falling, this part was a no-brainer, more so as it focused on areas and needs where more well-to-do and politician folks reside, a few of them, like Pelosi, adding one or two personally-beneficial developments to the bill.
In August, a group led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., backed by the dark money group No Labels, successfully split the two packages apart by winning a promise of a vote on the bipartisan bill on September 27. In order to keep the two together, progressives must either complete work on their larger bill by that date, or defeat or stall the bipartisan bill on September 27. Gottheimer was offered a vote, not passage, after all.
Source: So This Is Pramila Jayapal’s Strategy (levernews.com)
We all know how things turned out, right, or are you hanging on with bated breath, hoping for a happy ending?
All that would have helped the regular folks, that was in the BBB, which also included all the climate stuff, so who cares about that, right? Well, maybe all those in need, and the world, too, but who cares about those people, geesh! Stop saying silly things and bend over for the rich, will ya?
Included below are the details concerning how the Democratic lawmakers were intending to vote; the agreed-upon strategy offered to the Progressives and their supporters promised that the BIF would receive insufficient “Yay” votes, thus forcing a later vote on a version that combined both the BIF and the BBB. Anyone with an ounce of brains feared that if the BIF was voted through, the the BBB would go by the wayside.
- Out of the 94 CPC members, only 28 had offered a public commitment and only 2 had been honest enough to offer a clear “no”.
- Out of the non-CPC Dems, only one offered a “yes”.
- Oddly, only 4, only one of which is a CPC member, offered an “undecided”, the ‘truer’ politician’s response.
- The rest dodged the question entirely, preferring to give zero indication in regard to their intent
- Rep. Ed Perlmutter of Colorado had actually provided a response, which indicated a refusal to answer “yes” or “no”.
Clearly, as should have been the conclusion of anyone reached by anyone looking at the result of the whip count (available here), the numbers weren’t there to guarantee the wanted outcome; counting on that was a pure gamble or BS. Even without scum snot individuals like Kirsten Sinema and Joe Manchin.
Rightfully, due to their role in leading the pack, Rep. Pramila Jayapal and Rep. Ro Khanna, along with a few others, received much well-deserved flack, as this had demonstrated just how inefficient and naive they are, being true Dems willing to kiss Pelosi butt, their meaningless political career worth more to them than regular Americans and next-geners.
And although entities such as The Young Turks patted themselves on the back for having growled at people like Jayapal and Khanna after the fact, what the hell did someone like Cenk Uygur do to rally public pressure and to mobilize people before hand… other than to ask for donations or to subscribe to their channel, because a Progressive future depends on TYT. Bigger wankers, they are!
Only these six held up their end — and received unfair backlash for it, their brave action having been spun into an anti-American act since, after all, how could these “Commies” not want bridges that don’t fall down…
They earned my respect; but I still see them as little more than politicians who are expected to fall in line, gaslight, and serve the needs and wants of money, or find another job; they are:
- Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York
- Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri
- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York
- Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota
- Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts
- Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan
DEM = DFI + GOP ÷ PAC; iff( ∋Turner{CPC}, ¬PAC); ∴ ¬Turner
The Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI PAC) had officially announced their decision to back Brown over Turner on 31-Jan-2022, and even made a point of stepping on Turner to promote their worth:
Each of these 15 endorsed candidates is committed to strengthening the U.S.-Israel relationship, supports U.S. military assistance to Israel without additional conditions and rejects the BDS Movement. All of DMFI PAC’s endorsed candidates have a proven track record of tireless advocacy for their communities and will work with the Biden administration to advance the Democratic agenda.
[…]
In 2021, DMFI PAC played a pivotal role in helping Congresswoman Shontel Brown defeat Nina Turner. Ms. Turner has chosen to challenge Congresswoman Brown yet again in 2022 and we are endorsing Brown today.
Source: DMFI PAC announces first slate of endorsements for the House of Representatives in the 2022 Midterm election cycle — DMFI PAC
That says it all, as far as I’m concerned, as you should also know that DFI people and money also place much pressure on CPC people and money…
On the plus side: The Progressive Democratic Women’s Caucus PAC (PDWC-PAC) extended it’s application date, though I’m not sure they operate at the congressional level.
But the best way to show that one isn’t fighting for the interests of some special interest groups is?
If the thinking behind resolving this issue is anything like, “To have less shootings, we need more guns,” then… [big sigh]
The Ineffective, Non-Working Class Concerned, Old-Wannabe New Media
How can I tell that the so-called new media is anything but new except in the way it mimics Rightwing approaches in even more meaningless ways? Gee, I dunno…
The type of outlets I target here actually end up serving Establishment needs more often then not, which they’ve made real apparent due to the way they treated this particular subject, and this is true even if they promote themselves as something entirely other, and like to present themselves as independent thinking folks and media, which they’re not on almost all topics, merely repeating what the people and outlets they most associate with do serve up (note that some of these do deserve a broader view as they do offer some good content nonetheless, which I won’t get into in this post).
What nearly all the better-known Left-leaning outlets served up was reactionary anger to something that was amply clear months ago; they directed all their energy on painting what the people they hope to target already know full well whilst these are expecting entities that will actually act towards being agents of real change, providing a relevant and unifying voice.
Other than anti-Right content and hate and a constant reminder that they’re the best and above real reproach — after all, they corrected themselves that one time, maybe twice — and, although wealthy, that they need your money, all as they’re being a hindrance to the shared truths that will trigger change, what good does a vile and smug bigot-box like TYT offer (doesn’t apply to all persons there, mind you)? Other than insulting anyone that doesn’t share their exact views and act in a certain way that supports the exact crowd that represents a larger faction of people they now devote their time to crapping on for something so obvious because, what, they’re surprised that their preferred candidate wasn’t the go-to choice for a PAC that the majority of people they hope to target long believes is blood money that will lock the candidate in a manner that’s sure to guarantee that the working class gets shafted, once again, like, say, a few months ago… what have these outlets actually done to bring about what people are loudly clamouring for in order to take the fight to the White House in a momentous way??? [Insert lots of swears here!!!]
If they want to claim that they’re just a news outlet, then act like one. You can’t claim to push an agenda in order to draw people in and then do and say things that actually harms that agenda and still expect people to respect you down the line.
I target TYT because they’re the largest ‘indie’ voice, which too many are trying to model themselves after. But, yeah, I’ve reached a point where I now deeply loathe the two hosts and many of the secondary ones; they do incredible harm, offering nothing more than the hate-filled stupidity that reinforces the stereotypes they claim to want to overcome.
Meanwhile, those that can, what are any of them actually doing and providing that would help us to move away from the tired, old business-focused models — info should live in a decentralized and easily accessible, non Big Tech-controlled realm that promotes all voices and opens itself to new generations, not limit itself to established ones over and over again. That is, if we’re to move away from the structures and institutions that limit progress and a better, equal world.
Focusing on slipping a new dress over the old… [sigh]
Can Nina Turner tap into that side? That’s what the people she says she wants to fight for are looking for. Otherwise, why bother? This group of people simply don’t believe in these types of politicians anymore. Not one bit.
