Opening Night at the DNC: Passing the Cudgel

In the same speech in which he once again decried Donald Trump's infamous remark "there are good people on both sides" in the wake of a far-right rally that ended with the death of an innocent bystander, Joe Biden proceeded to both-side the genocide by Israel of Palestinians in Gaza:

"Those protesters out in the street, they have a point. A lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides."

A small subset of those tens of thousands of protesters, converging on the Democrats' nominating convention in Chicago, had just managed to break through the barricades guarding Biden and assorted dignitaries, factotums and celebrities all gathered to witness "the passing of the torch" to Kamala Harris. Although the protesters were stopped by police before they could enter the building, a group of delegates from Minnesota pointedly turned their backs on the president as he spoke.

Actually, Biden yelled his whole speech. Highly touted by the mainstream press as a "bittersweet moment" for him, he sounded a lot more bitter than sweet. For one thing, the producers of the event had delayed his appearance until close to midnight e.d.t. rather than the prime time slot usually given to the designated "keynote speaker."

Biden had to wait for a whole slew of party functionaries had their moment in the limelight before he was allowed to shuffle onstage. He delivered his remarks in his usual style: belligerent, boastful and slurry.

He sucked the carefully manufactured joy right out of the arena. Thousands of blue-and-white "We love you, Joe!" signs began to visibly wilt. The frequent camera pans to Kamala caught her in a visible wince. Maybe she was still smarting from the kiss that Jill Biden blew to her from the stage just moments before.

All the happy vibes that her marketing team and media sycophants had worked so hard to create seemed in collapse into one last atonal mess that was Biden's unfinished symphony before he blew the joint for a California vacation.

There's a good reason why they delayed his closing act until near midnight. I can't imagine that many people at home stayed up to hear the end of a five and a half hour-long slog. 

The theme of the evening (and the whole convention and campaign) was happiness and light and hope and no change .If I'd taken a drink every time some pundit uttered the word "joy" I would still be drunk now, the morning after. The convention actually evoked in my brain the scene of the Nuremberg rally from the Leni Riefenstahl film "Triumph of the Will," that's how joyful it was. I wouldn't be surprised if the Harris campaign dredged up the Nazi motto "Strength Through Joy" to replace the banal "When we fight (insert heavy pregnant pause here) we win! 

Or maybe it was all those "force the enthusiasm"  high school pep rallies that we had to attend prior to our football classmates getting permanent brain damage out on the field. Or maybe it was the satiric old Ren and Stimpy song "Happy Happy Joy Joy."

USA! USA! USA!

I get the creepy vibe that this presidential campaign is at its core the drama of two dueling fascisms. (or cartoons). The corporate sponsorships, the heavy reliance on emotions to replace thought, the demonization of others, and celebration of militarism are the hallmarks.

 When Biden bellowed out that "there is no place for political violence in America," he was talking about desperate freelance violence - not about his endless wars and occupations abroad. Not about the heavily armed police guarding him from the anti-violence peaceful protesters.

When he bragged about trying to enact gun control at home, he didn't mention that his administration has just quietly loosened controls on the international arms trade, via new trilateral agreement with Great Britain and Australia. America simply cannot manufacture bombs and ammo fast enough to meet the demand for mass death worldwide!

As reported by the New York Times last week,

"While some details are still in flux, equipment removed from the licensing requirements would likely include traditional munitions, like the artillery shells Australia is already producing to help replenish stockpiles that have been depleted by the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Some technologies that have both military and civilian uses, such as sensors and propulsion systems, will also get exemptions across all three partner countries."  

Lest folks be worried that this accelerated global free flow of deadly weapons for endless wars might end up "in the wrong hands" the agreement states that abusers will be punished, even for sending a "stray email" that is susceptible to interception by bad actors. Also, any concerns about migrants crossing borders as easily as guns and bombs do will be allayed by treating the transfer of weapons and technology to any foreign worker as the same thing as transfer to that worker's country of origin. So it's all good. Not to mention joyful. 

They are letting their smiles be their umbrellas, shielding them (or so they think) from all those pesky storms of mass public protest.

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The raucous ovation for Hillary Clinton went on so long that it messed up ABC-Disney's whole primetime schedule. They shockingly cut to commercial break right in the middle of her cracked ceiling speech. But no worries. When they resumed the broadcast in five minutes, she was still at it. The ceiling had developed even more cracks. And when the crowd later erupted into  Trumpian calls of "Lock him up!" during Biden's stentorian diatribe, the camera panned right to Hillary, chuckling with all the grim joy at her disposal.

The Party Dies, But Democracy Lives On

By Natalie Higley

(reprinted with permission of the author)

Just in case you missed it, after Bernie stood for the Vermont delegation, suspended the rules and forced the entire convention to do a voice vote (which we have fought against DEEPLY for months now) almost the entire Bernie delegation stood up and left the convention, together we all marched down the halls, chanting "this is what democracy looks like", and out into the media tent where we sat in silent protest with tape over our mouths. Written on the tape was, "no voice", "dnc stole my voice", "silenced by the dnc" and so on. We sat in solidarity holding hands. The media was unable to ignore us and that is why the media tent was the chosen destination.

 Cops then lined the doors and locked us in. Snipers were visible on the roof tops "monitoring" the media tent and the protest, police poured in from every direction, far more than I could count. We were hearing that we would all be arrested and removed if we didn't leave and yet they did not allow us to leave. Many of us, myself included, were very scared. We stood at the large glass walls at the front of the media building. I was crying and deeply upset, hundreds of Bernie delegates were locked outside the media building and standing in solidarity with us. I didn't know what to do, my phone was dead, i knew that my friends and family had been watching our live stream and that when my battery died I'm sure that they were panicking.

 I knew that if I got arrested so many things in my life would fall apart, and I started bawling uncontrollably, we were at the human limit of stress and exhaustion and emotionally overwhelmed after the slew of hardships and up and downs of this week. Being so overwhelmed I put my hands flat on the glass walls and just stared out the window crying, not knowing what to do. Within seconds, I had dozens of Bernie delegates outside, rushing the window and placing their hands over mine. Mouthing to me that we would be ok, that it will never be over, that we will continue, that they loved me, that they saw me, that we were together, that they would help me, that there was no need to be afraid because they were fighting to get us out, and they stood with me for an hour while the protestors outside were negotiating with officers for our release.

 I don't know what they said and I don't know what they negotiated, but after an hour and a half (felt like an eternity but in protesting world that's very fast) the doors were allowed to open. No one left me, and everyone wanted the opportunity to come "talk" to me. They stood with me and refused to leave until we were released. Once they opened the doors we had a flood of people coming to hug us and tell us how much they loved us and how proud they were to stand with us. It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in my life, and most likely nothing will ever top that.

 Afterwards, we spoke to a million and one press members. I interviewed with everyone from the young Turks to BBC. Then there was a march led by Nina Turner and the black lives matter movement, out of the convention center. If the dnc has not yet recognized how large the exodus from this party is becoming, they are even more self absorbed and tone deaf than I ever could have imagined.


 Yesterday began the death of the Democratic Party. They have brought this on themselves and deserve everything they get. Hillary loses to trump by double digits in the polls and the numbers are only getting worse. To ignore that is to ignore fact and truth, they are ushering in the age of trump with open arms and i won't take the blame come November. I've done everything possible to attempt to ensure a win for Bernie, the only candidate who consistently beats trump in the polls, and has for months. I can leave this Friday knowing that I've done my absolute best, along with the hundreds of delegates I've met this week. I am proud of every step we have taken here and of those to come in the next two days. I will never forget a single one of them, and I have never met a more amazing group of people.‪#‎TheRevolutionContinues‬ ‪#‎JillNotHill‬ ‪#‎DontBlameMeIVotedForBernie‬‪#‎DemExit‬ ‪#‎DncDeathBySuicide‬ ‪#‎DemConvention‬ ‪#‎NeverHillary‬‪#‎NeverTrump‬ ‪#‎ThisISWhatDemocracyLooksLike‬ ‪#‎TheDayThePartyDied‬‪#‎July26th‬

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Natalie Higley, 23, is a Bernie Sanders delegate from Lakeport, California.  

Here she is, posing with Sanders at a campaign rally in Stockton held in May.

And here's full video of Tuesday's walkout, largely uncovered by the corporate media:

Dave Lindorff has more details and commentary here.

Hugs, Not Thugs

To give you an idea of how mushy the movement in Labor Movement has become in the past several decades, take a gander at how the unions are behaving in anti-union North Carolina this week. Instead of aggressively demanding stuff like collective bargaining, a living wage bill and job protection, they're eager to demonstrate their "soft side" to the voting public. (Translation: Wall Street, corporations, and slanderous Republicans.) The once-great AFL-CIO has actually set up a "Hug a Union Thug" booth to demonstrate how quietly they plan to go into that good night. And there's a website that couldn't be more conciliatory if it tried:

While several unions are boycotting the convention because the Democrats chose a right-to-work state (with the lowest union density in the entire country) for their quadrennial confab, the heavy hitters  are there with their whiffle balls and bats. People like AFL-CIO Chief Richard Trumka, who often whines that the Democratic Party has betrayed the unions, writes vociferous letters blasting job-killing free trade deals, and vows to withhold contributions -- and then eagerly endorses their candidacies all the same. Where else can they go? Wa-a-a-a-a-h.

The union people on display in Charlotte have sadly devolved into performance artists for the purpose of President Obama's re-election. According to The Hill's Kevin Bogardus, the labor groups are "trying a mix of celebrity, social media and humor to polish up the labor movement’s image in the eyes of everyday people".

MaryBe McMillan, secretary-treasurer for the North Carolina State AFL-CIO, said the state labor federation wanted to break down stereotypes regarding union members by dishing out the hugs.

“We see this as an opportunity to dispel that stereotype that union members are mean, scary and violet. (sic) What better way to disarm folks than to hug them?” McMillan said. “Union members take care of you in the hospital, deliver your packages and sit next you in church. We are just average folks.”

Oh, no. That dreaded phony populist "folks" word has insidiously crept even into the parlance of workers' rights. Give me the Purple Meanies any day.  From Jimmy Hoffa tough to McDonaldland's plummy Grimace character tender, is just about correct. The shrinking violet-not-violent unions are now just fine with people working at temporary minimum wage jobs rather than having no jobs at all. Just think of all the poor unemployed people in Charlotte getting pocketfuls of change from the Hollywood celebrities and professional athletes and A-listers of all stripes converging in town this week, to see and be seen.


North Carolina is so anti-labor that the United Nations International Human Rights Committee has condemned a Jim Crow-era law on its books forbidding public employees to  collectively bargain. And here you were wondering why President Obama did not join the protests against Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker trying to do the exact same thing.

Labor journalist Mike Elk, writing for Working in These Times, has an excellent piece about the Democratic Party's sellout of the labor movement. While some workers in Charlotte were putting in dangerous amounts of overtime at low pay to prepare for the convention, he says, the irony is that unions were treated well in Tampa for the GOP orgy of the oligarchs. It seems that Florida still does have collective bargaining rights.

Read the whole article. His description of DNC Chairperson Debbie Wasserman Shultz's canned endorsement of labor and her subsequent running away from his pointed questions would be hysterically funny if it weren't so depressing. The conventional wisdom among the unionists, Elk says, is that they're going for Obama for the simple reason that he is a slower bleed compared to Mitt Romney's "bullet to the head."

Even the unions not attending the convention are careful not to use the word "boycott" for fear of hurting Obama's re-election chances. They're just passive-aggressively not showing up. Among them is the International Association of Machinists, which came up with the idea of Labor Day in the first place.

So, Happy Labor Day, everybody. But when it comes to hugs not thugs, all I can do is shrug.


Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your McJobs