Gaius Publius: “Networks are Colluding” to Declare Clinton the Overall Winner Before California Polls Close

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By Gaius Publius, a professional writer living on the West Coast of the United States and frequent contributor to DownWithTyranny, digby, Truthout, and Naked Capitalism. Follow him on Twitter @Gaius_Publius, Tumblr and Facebook. Originally published at at Down With Tyranny. GP article here.

The writer of the quoted part of the headline above is Shaun King. Here’s the quote in full and in context.

When a grown man tells you he is about to start trouble, believe him.

What followed, if Matthews is to be taken at his word, is clear evidence that television networks are colluding together to call the primary for Hillary Clinton before she reaches the delegates needed to claim victory. By doing so, they will absolutely suppress the vote in the final states that will be cast ballots in the Democratic primary. Even by mentioning it now, that the networks have already set the date and time they are calling the race for Hillary, what Matthews has done runs the very real risk of suppressing voter turnout. It’s disgusting.

That date and time is 8:00 pm Eastern time, 5:00 pm Pacific time, on June 7, the night of the California primary. (Also the night of five other primaries or caucuses and the last-but-one night of Democratic Party voting.)

Here’s the Matthews quote from the video above:

MATTHEWS: This what I call “trouble,” [what] I’m about to start [saying or asking] here.

I’m told by the experts on numbers around here on NBC and elsewhere that come June 7, the day of the California primary — which your candidate [pointing to Jeff Weaver], I totally understand, wants to get to and maybe has a chance to knock off Hillary at that event, a big last hurrah — that at 8:00 that night Eastern time, that the networks will be prepared, including this one, to announce that Hillary Clinton has gotten over the top, that she will have won the nomination in numbers. It’s done.

What will that do to turnout, if that’s 5:00 Pacific time with three more hours to vote in California? Who will be least likely to vote, Sanders people from five to eight [o’clock] or Hillary. I’ve heard both theories.

Weaver answers the question in the only way that makes sense — that the announcement will be wrong, because the superdelegates don’t vote until the convention.

But that’s not the point here. Forget Matthew’s foolish question (“What will that do to turnout?”) and read the intro to it.

If Matthews is right, so is my headline, and so is Shaun King. The establishment, corporate-owned “networks are colluding” to declare Hillary Clinton the overall Democratic winner before California polls close. And they know it will affect turnout; they just aren’t sure whose.

An Establishment-Rigged System

After explaining in full what Weaver said above in short, King closes with this:

What the Democratic Party, and apparently the television networks, do not want people to know is that superdelegates, and not the American voters, are going to choose who this nominee is. …

This – all of this – is why supporters of Bernie Sanders so often say the system is rigged. It clearly looks that way.

It’s not just the Democratic Party that is tilting the table in Clinton’s direction, though. Notice, if Matthews is right, what the establishment networks are planning to do. Even Politico gives the game away (my emphasis):

Clinton could lose California, where the polls close three hours later, after she has already won the nomination [with the delegates won in New Jersey].

Whatever possessed Matthews to admit to all this? And will they carry through, the networks? Maybe not, after this. But still, maybe so. Either way, you have been warned. The networks are talking about, once again, making news, not just breaking it. What they will be breaking instead is their reputations as news organizations.

With every Sanders Democrat and independent watching … very very closely.

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97 comments

      1. polecat

        uhh…you forgot to mention that that statement is predicated on the previous one ; A Queen is Dead!

    1. jrs

      It’s pretty clear it’s not about ratings either. If it was about ratings they would pretend it was a great suspense who would win (even in cases when it’s actually not), because a great edge of one’s seat contest gets ratings. Known winners are not just voting poison but rating poison you would think.

      It’s also pretty much illegal and against the spirit if not the letter of the law to call an election before all votes are cast.

      1. polecat

        “Queen is poison”…….”poison is queen”…….

        Hillary Clinton is like Livia (who was married to Caesar Augustus) ……but without the smarts!

      2. polipsych

        “It’s also pretty much illegal” That’s why I think multiple outlets are conspiring to do this because you cannot prosecute the entire MSM. Maybe they are taking their cue from the big banks?

  1. sd

    Clinton is too trigger happy. She’s a winner before voters get a chance to vote in California. Imagine what she’ll be like with her finger on the nuclear button. Can you say pre-emotive strike?

    1. jrs

      I don’t think it’s trigger happiness, I think it’s a propaganda technique to get people to lose interest before all ballots are cast. It’s not emotional, it’s a cold and frankly anti-democratic, but perfectly self-serving calculation. Just like the game the networks are playing in Hills pocket and calling it for her.

      As for fingers on the trigger I can think of one person I’d less like to have it than Hills, and they are also running for President and they aren’t Bernie Sanders. But really does any ONE person still have their finger on the trigger in this country? Is that really true? And if so why? Shouldn’t there be a whole bunch of controls for something like that? At least several people putting their fingers on in unison or something. I mean global nuclear disarmament entirely would be best but if that is unlikely, at least have the basic safeguards that many other things do. I have a hard time believing that nuclear war is actually set up to go just on the presidents say (not that I’d want to chance it).

      1. Lumpenproletariat

        In her defense, $hillary won’t actually be running the country. She will only be the most dependably servile talking head to protect the interests of Wall St., oil companies, pharmaceuticals, insurance, oil, military, etc. But we can’t handle the truth. Thus we get a grand spectacle of supposed democracy istead of showing groveling sociopaths at the altar of the actual elite.

        1. flora

          I wonder if Wall st., oil, pharma, ins, & media companies will trust her to keep their secrets safe? ( or if their secrets will reside on a private, hackable server in the basement of the White House ?)

      2. Alan Bickley

        The process you describe worked to some extent in slowing Sanders contributions after a round of primaries in the east. Truth is, a candidate who comes to convention with a California victory so late in the game is probably the more formidable. I hope the party nabobs can understand that.

        1. different clue

          That’s exactly what the Inner Party nabobs DO understand, and they don’t want the California victor to be Sanders.

        2. sid_finster

          The Team D nomenklatura would rather lose with HRC (imagine the fundraising possibilities a Trump Presidency offers!) than win with Sanders.

  2. Pavel

    Meanwhile we learn via Zero Hedge and elsewhere that the first of the Judicial Watch depositions of HRC’s aides was released. Her assistant stated that:

    * Hillary initially didn’t know how to access email on a computer
    * She insisted on using her Blackberry despite all the warnings
    * They set up a special non-secure computer outside her office so she and others could check the clintonemail account. There was no password on this computer (!).

    — First “Shocking” Deposition In Clinton Email Case Reveals She Did Not Use A Password

    What we see over and over again with the Clintons (and especially Hillary) is that they just don’t think they need to follow the rules and no compunction about dissembling or covering up the truth. William Safire famously wrote (during the Whitewater days) that Hillary was “a congenital liar” and it really seems to be the case. When one recalls her Bosnia sniper fire claims, she seems a pathological liar.

    The DNC are crazy to nominate her. Even if she beats Trump, why on earth should this basket case of greed and dishonesty and bad judgement be anywhere near the White House?

    1. Yata

      why on earth should this basket case of greed and dishonesty and bad judgement be anywhere near the White House?

      It’s a matter of perspective in as much as, where we view the ascendancy to the highest elected office as a matter of public trust and service, others will view it as a right or entitlement, say, returning to the summer residence, if you will. It’s a mindset that separates, us as americans, into two camps.

      I don’t understand enough about psychology to speak on the traits of what constitutes a power trip, but it’s the only way I can understand that camp.

      1. Mark Sullivan

        Two camps? A right or entitlement to return to the summer residence? Really?

        Ya know the sinister side of me secretly prays that our country elects this sociopath. That way we can get on with the fast death because this slow moving, agonizing death- the one that’s been going on since about ’01- is like dragging yourself behind a slow moving car.

        1. Yata

          really really. I’m willing to entertain any plausible alternate theories offered.
          +points for a rigorous explanation of the continuity mantra w/ proper and timely genuflection.

    2. tegnost

      “* Hillary initially didn’t know how to access email on a computer”
      in 2008 clinton couldn’t access email? That has to be a lie, aimed at people like my mom who will just believe it, but same mom has been emailing since at least y2k. Venal.
      “* They set up a special non-secure computer outside her office so she and others could check the clintonemail account. There was no password on this computer (!).” Scoff.
      I think she really was counting on there being more “low information voters”
      Patty Murray and the rest of those superdelegates should be concerned…(on the other hand think of the lobbying position she’ll get after she’s ousted, failing upward and all…)

      1. Fiver

        Agree. It’s such a pathetic excuse for an excuse – like handing over ‘the economy’ to Bill to run, she apparently believes she can lay claim to both superior competence and utter incompetence at the same time and nobody will notice. She pocketed $21 million in speaking fees since leaving office as Secretary of State – anyone who believes the e-mail arrangement was for legitimate purposes is, well, a dolt.

    1. Chauncey Gardiner

      Excellent post by Hugh. Thank you for the link, EmilianoZ.

      Germane to this discussion is whether we will allow this ongoing corporate media behavior and the so called elite’s cleverly labeled “superdelegates” to stand (as though they and their votes inherently have more value than those of other citizens). Should that occur it seems Frank Zappa’s observation quoted by reader alyosha in the second comment to Hugh’s article will have come to pass.

      1. democracy

        I don’t know about the variations you refer to in the latter half, but I truly think & plead with all who could help us generate, assess & try strategies, to address this latter CA announcement issue (but perhaps the whole primary) for us to communicate outwards to people, campaigns, DNC, Media, & political officials & perhaps the legal system, that this super delegate issue is one of the key corruptions that has taken place in this primary from Day 1, throughout, & now with this. We appear to be talking about a media-clinton-DNC collusion to do this. From Day 1, the race being announced as already over & the delegate count comparisons at 500 to 20 to prove it (super delegates of course the only way one could make such a “claim” (inaccurate but close numbers) & ADD ON NO DISCUSSION BY MEDIA OF WHAT SUPERDELEGATES ARE, & WHEN THEY MATTER, the vote has been systematically repressed on the Sanders side I think. This can be a legal case to the highest courts if need be (I’m a social scientist & could analyze data as a volunteer), but accutely, now, we obviously need to take action through people, various media, direct action, law suit threats, announcements to elites that let them know they are big time on notice. For me, this would be the last straw, to steal California & the convention in turn in this matter. I’d go on about different possible responses, perhaps a multiple prong thing — it seems the only thing Clinton understands is power. Power comes from the people, courts, media who defect, military who defect, security who defect, and others who see they may end up on the wrong side of the stick if they continue to support the side that is going to be swept with “corruption, lies, election fraud, money laundering, (perhaps some State illegalities).” If anyone knows in particular who’re working on the “super delegate as voter suppression & worse charges under the law, that would be great information. This is way too corrupt a primary to let stand.

        1. democracy again

          The main point in above I wish to make is a response is called for — for me, calling the thing is so over the line. The handling of the superdelegates by media from day 1 stained the MSM big time, and now this at the end! I love the simple strategy of really flooding social media for the next week with messages describing this corrupt plan, critiquing it, & making it clear we doubly should take California in response. Towards the end some folks laid this out simply & clearly. I indicate above too, that this seems like it could be a legal case. But the main thing of course is Sanders winning. How this MSM plan could build our case in Philly or contribute to the people NOT accepting Clinton would be super.

  3. Quantum Future

    Matthews – Mr. got a tingle in my legs. So the general population doesnt want her, nor the majority or the deep state now, nor Russian or Chinese want her. But bankers want her. Enough revealed now, got it.

    Lord Acton was right that the issue revealed down through the centuries was going to be people vs. the banks. Damn was he right.

    1. John Merryman

      The two controls of society are hope and fear. Money is quantified hope. When the bubble bursts, the pendulum swings. In that case, power shifts from bankers to deep state……..

      I think deep state would actually prefer Bernie over either Hillary, or Donald. I think they prefer stability over chaos. They know the Clintons are not their friends.

      1. John Merryman

        Even deep state depends on large numbers of average government workers and bureaucrats and keeping them happy is necessary.

  4. Nick

    The very fact that Clinton is campaigning heavily in California indicates that this is in part a “bluff,” but yes they are colluding, only not with each other (that’s just incidental) but with her campaign.

    The very fact that I’ve watched the above clip tonight is not helpful, but I don’t own a TV and I realize that MSNBC and the others probably stream a lot of shows, but a good way to protest the actions of the networks that are perpetrating these crimes (depending on how far you want to take the charges) is by not watching them. I realize that this post is only meant to bring attention to what they are doing and saying, but that has a snowball effect of bringing them higher ratings and making them stronger. Just as it did with The Donald.

    You can easily get a lot of this information indirectly by reading about it on sites like this, without enabling the actual peddlers of this crap. They won’t survive without ratings.

    I suspect that this narrative will either have zero net effect on Bernie’s chances by disenfranchising some voters but encouraging others, or slightly work in his favor by convincing a number of Clinton supporters to stay home.

    If and when they do crown Hillary at 5 pm local time, I assume that her supporters may well just go home to celebrate, leaving three hours of votes that only go to Bernie.

    This will lead to egg on the faces of the networks if and only if he scores a landslide in Cali.

    1. hunkerdown

      Someone’s gotta keep enemies closer, you know. Righteous Protestant abstinence is for suckers.

      1. Nick

        Don’t underestimate the power of doublethink. They are wholly indifferent to your opinions while watching, all they care about is your eyes on the screen. Hook, line and sinker.

  5. Pat

    One of the links in the article is to a Facebook post by Seth Abramson quoting a twitter ‘conversation’ between him and an NBC senior editor. Here is a link to Abramson’s article on HuffPo sarcastically titled ‘Clinton Clinches Democratic Nomination’:

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/seth-abramson/clinton-clinches-democratic-nomination_b_10159432.html?yptr=yahoo

    The money quote from it:

    If you can trust one thing in this unpredictable election cycle, it’s that nothing, absolutely nothing whatsoever, could possibly happen in the next two months that would keep Hillary Clinton from being the Democratic nominee. No indictment — of her or anyone close to her — would stop that from happening; no undisclosed medical condition; no cratering poll numbers against her prospective Republican opponent; no historically bad (and worsening) unfavorables; no polling showing that fully 50 percent of her primary opponent’s supporters won’t support her in the general; no sudden disclosure of all her Wall Street transcripts, revealing that much of her campaign platform with respect to Wall Street was a lie; no string of defeats on June 7th, producing a scenario in which Mrs. Clinton would have lost 18 of the final 25 state primaries and caucuses, the worst second-half performance of any major-party candidate in a primary election season in U.S. history; no surprise entry into the race by Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren as a unity ticket; no sudden and unexpected news event that changes dramatically the viability of one or many of Clinton’s campaign promises or policy positions; no — and take it from people who sit behind desks in D.C. and New York City — there is nothing anyone could possibly do or that could possibly happen over the next two months that would cause any change whatsoever in how the super-delegates will vote on July 25th.

    1. Brooklin Bridge

      That about sums it up, persistent insanity.. Applause to Seth Abramson for putting it so well.

      Thanks for posting!

    2. Bev

      Shorter:
      Remember when a Bush’s cousin working for Fox News called the election for George W. Bush immediately after Florida’s voting ended, but not all counted, and the effort almost succeeded at that point, but, because one voting machine in Florida had counted a -16,000 votes for Gore, this stopped Gore from conceding the race. But, ultimately, it took just one cousin, one network, one brother and then one extra vote on the Supreme Court to put such a menace in office.

      We need social media to hashtag your story about the networks collusion to declare Clinton the winner before polls close, and spread beyond the internet. This is collusion. Any attorney generals out there want to save the world, by Rico means. Since networks are headquartered in New York, perhaps Preet Bharara has jurisdiction. Bharara needs some tweets and phone calls:

      http://blackboxvoting.org/preet-bharara/?doing_wp_cron=1458513063.6645379066467285156250
      Preet Bharara: One of the world’s top complex crime prosecutors
      By Bev Harris

      1. Bev

        A Strong RICO case not by Preet Bharara but by Election Attorney Cliff Arnebeck.

        via: http://www.forums.mlb.com/discussions/Chicago_Cubs/General/ml-cubs/1?tsn=77&tid=443191&redirCnt=1&nav=messages
        The GOP’s new plan for voter suppression
        via: https://richardcharnin.wordpress.com/2016/05/28/democratic-primaries-is-clinton-leading-by-3-million-votes/
        Democratic Primaries: Is Clinton leading by 3 million votes
        Richard Charnin

        BREAKING NEWS: Election Attorney Cliff Arnebeck filed a major RICO racketeering lawsuit June 6, against the voting machine companies whose code fractionalized votes affecting delegates, which was found by Bev Harris, and against the media that was complicit in covering up the crime of election theft by adjusting the exit polls to match the fraudulent voting machine counts found by Richard Charnin and Beth Clarkson.

        This is a Very Strong RICO lawsuit involving State and Federal Courts, involving current and past election crimes, that importantly involves ALL THE STATES, that means Illinois, Cub fans, for the collection of evidence to determine the correct vote counts, and delegate counts.

        Arnebeck says that by the time of the Republican Convention which is before the Democratic Convention, that this RICO racketeering lawsuit will have changed history, and the minds of politicians and the public so that the true winner, Bernie Sanders, will be demanded.

        See the short video:
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IAJ5fAm3Cs
        http://trustvote.org/

        PROTECTING OUR ELECTIONS

        Bob Fitrakis, Cliff Arnebeck and Lori Grace
        ………..

        NYT, Ap and other media are reporting that Hillary has “clinched” the nomination. The media, having jumped the shark, want to tell you how she did it. Now they can tell a judge how they did it because the media have been RICOed.

        Attorney Cliff Arnebeck says it does not matter what the media says or Hillary Clinton says, the law, this RICO case will prevail. This will save our Democracy.

        Today is a great day. Today is the beginning of getting our democracy back.
        ……….

        We have to save our democracy to elect much better leaders, because look who those machine owners and media decIded to put in high office and as head of a sub committee on protecting children–a pedophile, Dennis Hastert. Get rid of those voting machines. Support this RICO case against the criminals owning those voting machines and media who covered up for them.

        I am making an appeal to all sportsmen and sportswomen everywhere, whether or not you may have personally encountered the horrific likes of a former Coach and now convicted criminal former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, whose crimes against the state and crimes against kids are being further investigated by whistleblower Sibel Edmonds.

        http://www.forums.mlb.com/discussions/Chicago_Cubs/General/The_GOPs_new_plan_for_voter_suppression/ml-cubs/443191.76?nav=messages

        1. Bev

          UPDATE from 6-10-16, via:
          https://richardcharnin.wordpress.com/2016/05/28/democratic-primaries-is-clinton-leading-by-3-million-votes/
          Democratic Primaries: Is Clinton leading by 3 million votes?
          Richard Charnin

          Bob Fitrakis interview updating information about his and Cliff Arnebeck’s RICO lawsuit and California.

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdwKuqtTXc8&feature=youtu.be&t=18m23s
          6-10-16 Nicole Sandler Show – Election Integrity – Fact or Fraud?
          Bob Fitrakis on The Nicole Sandler Show
          TrustVote.org
          FreePress.org
          Nicole Sandler

          54:10 on video, a rough transcript from part of show:

          Update: The RICO lawsuit has not yet been filed.

          Originally, attorneys Cliff Arnebeck and Bob Fitrakis were going to file their RICO lawsuit earlier on June 6th in order to get the networks to release the raw data on exit polls for the California primary. The networks cancelled the exit polls instead.

          The RICO suit will be filed. The problem is they ran into a huge problems in California for which they are collecting evidence.

          With the donations they are getting, Arnebeck and Fitrakis are beefing up legal staff.

          California, if it were a nation would be the eight largest nation on earth, had some of the most massive irregularities. Fitrakis said he was getting emails constantly from poll workers and election observers saying 25% of people in my precinct were forced to vote provisionally (which often get tossed-uncounted).

          Systematic problems with registration being wrong, people showed up saying they had registered to vote in the Democrat primary, but instead were registered as being in other parties which meant that they could not vote for a presidential candidate.

          Fitrakis said, we did some limited exit polling ourselves and those numbers are being crunched.

          The lawsuits and it looks like there may be two of them: the initial one over getting the exit polls and also a second one getting discovery for criminal activity which is the one that should go first, be filed first.

          But California had massive levels of irregularities and what looks like outright fraud. Most of California should be roped off as a crime scene. it happened deliberately from party loyalists and private corporations.

          California has delayed us somewhat and caused us to beef up legal staff. He says they will be filing next week.

          To donate to their efforts go to TrustVote.org or FreePress.org
          ………

          To repeat the election lawyers Cliff Arnebeck and Bob Fitrakis first video announcing the RICO suit:
          See the short video:
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IAJ5fAm3Cs
          http://trustvote.org/

          PROTECTING OUR ELECTIONS
          Bob Fitrakis, Cliff Arnebeck and Lori Grace

          Rough summary: In addition to filing a RICO racketeering lawsuit against a complicit media who adjusted exit polls they were conducting to match the fraudulent voting machine counts/tabulations, Attorneys Cliff Arnebeck and Bob Fitrakis are suing the voting machine companies for the crime of fraud as the code that Bev Harris found was fractionalizing votes, and changing outcomes.

          And, in the same RICO video, Cliff Arnebeck says this is a Very Strong RICO lawsuit involving State and Federal Courts, involving current and past election crimes, that importantly involves ALL THE STATES for the collection of additional evidence, discovery, to determine the correct vote counts, and delegate counts precinct by precinct from this primary.

          Cliff Arnebeck says that by the time of the Republican Convention which is before the Democratic Convention, that this RICO racketeering lawsuit will have changed history, and the minds of politicians and the voting public so that the true winner, Bernie Sanders, will be nominated.

          Since Cliff Arnebeck is the same lawyer who prevented fraud from occurring in Ohio in 2012 which would have given Romney the Presidency, Obama owes his Presidency to Arnebeck. Since the FBI were involved with Arnebeck’s successful effort to prevent fraud, Carl Rove did not get a heads up about the election not being fixed in Ohio as the voting machine owners could not call Rove for fear of FBI wiretaps. So Carl had a meltdown on TV.

          These lawyers have a history of success. I believe they will win. I believe we are on the verge of rescuing our democracy.

          To donate to their efforts go to TrustVote.org or FreePress.org

    3. Bev

      Shorter in parts:
      The objective of social media needs to be to nullify such an anti-democary false flag. And, get rid of those voting machines. Because look who owns those voting machines:

      via: https://richardcharnin.wordpress.com/2016/04/27/democratic-primaries-426-exit-poll-anomalies-continued/
      http://freepress.org/departments/display/19/2012/4719

      Who owns Scytl? George Soros isn’t in the voting machines, but the intelligence community is
      by Gerry Bello

      Our research did find links much more frightening.In 2010, Scytl purchased a 100% interest in SOE software, an up and coming player in the American elections market with their Clarity Software Suite which is used in 525 jurisdictions in 19 states. SOE has a strategic partnership with ES & S, the major marketer of electronic voting systems in the US. ES & S was sued by the US DOJ in 2009 on anti-trust grounds after purchasing Diebold’s elections division, Premier Election Solutions. ES & S subsequently sold Premier to rival manufacturer Dominion. Bob Urosevich, founder of ES & S, was also President of Diebold. In 2006 Urosevich was listed as managing director of Scytl Americas, although his name has subsequently been removed from their website.
      ………..

      And, ES & S is also Election Software & Systems:
      Here is the article that informed me of Sibel Edmonds reporting on and goal of removing these criminals, and their crimes against the state and crimes against children, from government to create a better future for kids and for our nation.

      via: http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/10/whistleblower-powerful-congressman-hasterts-corruption-goes-far-beyond-sex-with-a-student.html

      (Sibel Edmonds) Whistleblower: Powerful Congressman Hastert’s Corruption Goes FAR Beyond Sex With a Student

      (And, Sibel has a new fundraising effort to report on these stories. Donate at:
      https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/141490519/support-a-100-people-funded-online-news-outlet-pha
      , thank you)
      by WashingtonsBlog
      The REAL Hastert Scandal


      In comments:
      http://thiscantbehappening.net/node/1315
      http://www.opednews.com/articles/Still-Evil-after-All-These-by-Charles-M-Young-120910-472.html

      Still Evil after All These Years: The Franklin Scandal and Pedophilia in High Places
      By Charles M. Young Posted by Dave Lindorff

      The Omaha World-Herald was the foremost local cheerleader for persecuting teenagers instead of investigating their claims. One of its own columnists, Peter Citron, had a long history of arrests for pedophilia and child porn and was implicated by two witnesses at Larry King’s sex parties. The long-time publisher of the World-Herald, Harold Anderson, was a big supporter of Larry King and had raised money for the Franklin. During the 18 years that King presided over the Franklin, the newspaper never noticed that King was living a hugely expensive lifestyle when he was supposedly making $17,000 a year in salary. The World-Herald Company is co-owner of Election Software and Systems (also known as ES & S and associated with Diebold and more), which counts half the election ballots in the United States.

      Americans have plenty of obvious reasons to hate the rich and powerful. Wars for oil, rampant pollution, the destruction of individual rights, the constant lying about everything. It’s all on the front page, and it’s like old furniture in the living room. It’s hard for most people to notice. Boutique evil of the Gerry Sandusky sort affects fewer victims, but is more easily understood once the initial denial breaks down. If the denial of the Franklin Credit Union scandal ever breaks down, the consequences will reverberate far higher than happened at Penn State. Except for all those who died in suspicious accidents and suicides, the witnesses are still out there. Some might even talk about it. They talked to Nick Bryant.
      ……….

      http://franklinscandal.com/

      FRANKLIN SCANDAL: A Story of Powerbrokers, Child Abuse & Betrayal

      by Nick Bryant

      The FRANKLIN SCANDAL is the story of a nationwide pedophile ring that pandered children to a cabal of the rich and powerful. The ring’s pimps were a pair of political powerbrokers who had access to the highest levels of our government. Nebraska legislators attempted to expose the network in 1989 and 1990, but the legislators’ efforts were followed by a rash of mysterious deaths and the overpowering responses of federal and local law enforcement, including the FBI and Justice Department, which 
effected an immaculate cover-up of the trafficking network.

      The publisher is donating 50% of the book’s proceeds to organizations that assist abused children.

      ………

      Posted above to: http://www.forums.mlb.com/discussions/Chicago_Cubs/General/ml-cubs/1?tsn=70&nav=messages&tid=443191
      The GOP’s New Plan for Voter Suppression

    4. Bev

      Get rid of HAVA the subversively named Help America Vote Act which put many more of those evidence removed/hidden e-voting, e-scanning machines in our voting process. Who put that in place? Another convicted criminal Jack Abramoff was the lobbyist who got/blackmailed politicians to adopt that law and those machines.

      http://www.stewwebb.com/2014/02/03/aipac-and-abramoff-operated-child-sex-blackmail-ring/
      AIPAC and Abramoff Operated Child Sex Blackmail Ring
      Posted by Stew Webb

      U.S. senators and congressmen are covering up the Dusty Foggo government lobbyist and military prostitution and pedophilia ring in Washington involving legislators, news reporters, military officers and high government officials. Alberto Gonzales and President Bush fired San Diego U.S. Attorney Carol Lam because she was probing the Dusty Foggo / Jack Abramoff D.C. sex ring.

      Is child sex and prostitution in exchange for defense contracts and votes for war too explosive for the American people to hear?
      ……

    5. Bev

      http://www.gregpalast.com/
      http://www.gregpalast.com/let-give-little-history/

      “Let Me Give You A Little History”

      If you were looking for a primer on election theft, here’s the video for you.

      Investigative journalist Greg Palast, gave a talk at actor and activist Mimi Kennedy’s home, where he laid out 16 years of vote theft history. From his first investigation into voter suppression during the 2000 election, Palast moves election by election explaining the evolution of how the vote is stolen.

      It’s an excellent set-up for the upcoming release of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy: A Tale of Billionaires & Ballot Bandits.
      ……….

      via: https://richardcharnin.wordpress.com/2016/05/19/the-democratic-primaries-no-more-exit-polls-kentucky-and-oregon-recap/

      Richard Charnin’s Spreadsheets: via Richard Charnin 
https://richardcharnin.wordpress.com
      https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sGxtIofohrj3POpwq-85Id2_fYKgvgoWbPZacZw0XlY/edit?pref=2&pli=1#gid=1476097125


      ……….

      http://blackboxvoting.org/fraction-magic-1/

      Fraction Magic – Part 1: Votes are being counted as fractions instead of as whole numbers
      By Bev Harris May 12, 2016

      1 – Summary –
      This report summarizes the results of our review of the GEMS election management system, which counts approximately 25 percent of all votes in the United States. The results of this study demonstrate that a fractional vote feature is embedded in each GEMS application which can be used to invisibly, yet radically, alter election outcomes by pre-setting desired vote percentages to redistribute votes. This tampering is not visible to election observers, even if they are standing in the room and watching the computer. Use of the decimalized vote feature is unlikely to be detected by auditing or canvass procedures, and can be applied across large jurisdictions in less than 60 seconds.

      GEMS vote-counting systems are and have been operated under five trade names: Global Election Systems, Diebold Election Systems, Premier Election Systems, Dominion Voting Systems, and Election Systems & Software, in addition to a number of private regional subcontractors. At the time of this writing, this system is used statewide in Alaska, Connecticut, Georgia, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Utah and Vermont, and for counties in Arizona, (upcoming) California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming. It is also used in Canada.
      …….

      Though Bernie reviewed voting machines in Kentucky, which was not a recount, he has not yet addressed the work of Bev Harris which found a code to fractionalize votes and flip elections in seconds. We have to get rid of those rigging machines owned by the abusive, extreme right:

      Get rid of those machines stealing our Democracy and Future.

      Candidates, and voters who support Bernie and who have past or upcoming races in primaries, in order for your wins to be truthfully acknowledged, you must acknowledge the truth of the evidence by Richard Charnin and Bev Harris.

      http://berniecrats.net/
      The Berniecrats Network
      Candidates for public office who support Bernie

      https://berniesanders.com/artists/
      Artists and Cultural Leaders for Bernie

      https://go.berniesanders.com/page/content/volunteer-hub/
      Organizing Hub
      ……….

      Bernie needs to match up Richard Charnin’s exit polling work, with type of machines used in each state, county and precinct, with the machines found by Bev Harris that were set up to conduct fraud. The timing is just right. Now. We can save each other.
      ……….

      http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/welcome_to_1984_20160514

      Chris Hedges
      Welcome to 1984

      Much of the left, (Ralph) Nader argues, especially with the Democratic Party’s blatant rigging of the primaries to deny Bernie Sanders the nomination, grasps that change will come only by building mass movements. This gives the left, at least until these protofascist forces also give up on the political process, a window of opportunity. If we do not seize it, he warns, we may be doomed.

    6. Fiver

      I disagree – its right now that Clinton can be taken down. Sanders has all the factual evidence he needs to go out in front of the mikes tomorrow and completely dismember Clinton as a candidate for high office – she is as damaged a candidate as anyone since LBJ and only the too serendipitous to be true stroke of luck that is Trump as opponent might lower the bar enough for her to clear.

      The Sanders camp folds too soon, methinks.

      1. nat scientist

        The Bobby Baker scandal was about to blow up in LBJs face, but then the President’s head blew up and instead of jail… LBJ bought a war to cool the flames and let the looting continue unabated. Clinton’s IT guy, Brian P. can’t tell a lie under immunity and his instructions must match the architecture he operated as installed. The Global Family Insertion will be RICO’d as the she-devil and the stubby-fingered, tainted-hairdo billionaire will pivot like a girandola on a dance floor to get the ticket to gridlock and open pay-go power shtick on a one-way power drive, born to run the slavery machine by eliminating the estate tax to perpetuate all the billionaire class under regulatory-capture capitalism.

    7. different clue

      The HuffPoster may think he is being sarcastic. But he is very close to the truth. The Establishment in all its parts will do its utmost to keep any Clinton scandals or problems suppressed and/or contained until after Clinton has been nominated and Sanders disposed of. Once Sanders is safely disposed of, then the scandals or problems are free to erupt if they feel like doing that. If the polling gets bad enough in consequence, the Inner DemParty will transplant somebody else into Hillary’s place. The Dem Inner Party considers a non-Sanders loss to be better than a Sanders win . . . the one thing they don’t want to risk.

      Still, Sanders and the movement can begin deleting various DLC and Blue Doggie-type Democrats from seat after seat after seat in the House and the Senate. Even if the Sanderists cannot take over those seats, they can Nader every Blue Dog’s ass until they get the Blue Doggies Naderized all the way out of office.

  6. Benedict@Large

    The networks are prohibited from declaring a California winner before the polls close, so instead they are declaring her the winner of the nomination while the polls are still open. But there would be no new information coming in at that time to cause that to suddenly be true. So they are planning to create a news event when absolutely nothing has happened to cause that. Pure slime. We effectively have no news media left.

    1. LizinOregon

      I believe it would be based on her picking up enough delegates in the east coast primaries on the same day, particularly New Jersey. There is some small number of delegates (less than 20) that gets her to the point where if you add in her super-delegates it gives her more than 50%. That’s why they would do it at 8pm ET because the New Jersey delegates should be known.

      1. tgs

        if you add in her super-delegates

        The point is that the media should not even be counting the super delegates since they don’t vote until the convention. The media have ignored this all along in order to reinforce the narrative that Hillary is the inevitable nominee.

  7. TheCatSaid

    I hope people will be paying close attention and taking screen snapshots of interim voting results. Please read the Fraction Magic report to understand more, if you haven’t come across it yet. Part 1 is here.

    1. Damian

      last week at a session for the Left Forum concerning voting irregularities and systems to rig the vote it was noted that they have decided to suspend official polling at the exit of the polling center. This method traditionally is a correlation to the actual count. Algorithms review both data sets to determine if the vote was rigged by county and then investigate the results in detail.

      This change is a clear indication that The Clinton Machine will try and cheat Bernie again.

      1. redleg

        Exit polls have been accurate for the GOP race but not the Dem. They also have been accurate in the past.
        Someone is cheating.

  8. Code Name D

    I suspect that this is the road to Biden.

    It’s looking increasingly posible that Hillary will be indicted and likely before the convention. And the roomers have it that Hillary will be indicted serious crimes that could even get her frog-marched into custody. If that happens, Sanders becomes the last man standing and wins the nomination. Not only that, but with Hillary gone and her supporters and backers completely discredited, Sanders will have no opposition to reforming the party.

    Even if the worse case scenario doesn’t happen, the persistent roomers of an indictment as well as her growing negatives, Trump pulling ahead in the national polls, have got to be weighing on the minds of the super delegates. The rocket is shaking and falling apart and they haven’t even completed the countdown yet. So the fear is that the super delegates might bail.

    The solution? Call the race early. Have the judges pick up the finish line tape and run to Hillary before Sanders can overtake her. And walla, she gets her coronation. The delegate vote becomes irrelevant. And if she gets indicted before the convention, alternative rules kick in where the DNC gets to pick the nomination – persistently rumored to be Biden.

    1. Brooklin Bridge

      Agree with Ulysses, but also see Seth Abramson’s take on it above (Pat @ 6:58 AM). The Yellowstone Caldera along with the Caldera in Naples could both go full blast, an asteroid the size of Manhattan could smash into the earth, and Hillary would still get the Democratic nomination.

      1. Code Name D

        But that’s the beauty of it. She gets the nomination. An hour later, she gets the heave-ho and Biden becomes the nominee. And the establishment wins again.

        1. jcc2455

          Heh. Biden. Chased from one primary for plagiarizing Neil Kinnock (really?), beaten in his next run after garnering not one delegate. Zero. Elected to the most meaningless office in the country on the coattails of an historic candidate. Bungler of the Thomas hearings and defender of corporate secrecy. Only, only, only in DC could he be viewed as the Savior of the Democratic Party. Anyway:

          1. Hillary will not drop out and will be the nominee.
          2. And if the infinitesimal chance that she would drop out comes to pass, Bernie will be the nominee. the establishment Dems are assholes, but as close as the primary campaign has been, it will be impossible for them to anoint anyone else.

          1. Brooklin Bridge

            Yours is the most plausible scenario – but, in the unlikely event of #2, I wouldn’t put it past the DNC to put Biden in. They are that insulated and isolated from reality that they believe with the help of the msm, they could make it work. They are still firmly convinced that Bernie is where the boys are and where the boys are is where the girls are and the girls and the boys have souls that are going to rot in hell if they don’t 1) get their hands off each other and 2) come to their senses and get in the Hillary camp.

            As Jim Haygood – our seer of pushing the limits of the absurd – points out, it’s called: “decadence”

            1. Kurt Sperry

              It probably doesn’t really matter to the serious people whether the loser to Trump is Hillary or Joe. The important thing is for Sanders not to win, all the other contingencies are manageable. They’d–as has been obvious for many months–rather lose with either Clinton or Biden than win with Trump. Think of the people near the levers of power less as teams acting in collective interests, and more as individuals acting each in their own perceived self-interest. Hillary gets thrown under the bus the moment it becomes a political liability to be associated with her.

          2. different clue

            The Vice Presidency is only as meaningless as the Vice President and the President together allow it to be. Dick Cheney made the Vice Presidency VERy meaningful. Or as Cheney himself would say, “consequential”.

        2. mparry

          But it doesn’t work that way, at least if Sanders doesn’t drop out. Which there’s no obvious reason for him to do.

          I mean, I don’t doubt that the DNC would like for it to work that way. But if she doesn’t have a majority of pledged delegates, she can’t clinch the nomination until the actual vote at the convention. We can be pretty damned sure that will happen, don’t get me wrong. But not only can the superdelegates change their minds at any time before the actual vote, but technically she’s not the nominee until the convention does vote.

          So any maneuvers that depend on her being the nominee, like chucking her and substituting another nominee by party fiat, must wait until after the convention. Where, if it’s obvious by then that chucking-and-substituting will be necessary, and if she doesn’t have the nomination on pledged delegates alone, there’ll be one hell of a floor fight before any nomination can be made. Because, again, the supers can switch if they want to.

          I think the idea is probably just to suppress the vote in the West, and then up the pressure on Sanders to drop out. It would be good to find some effective way to fight back against the narrative, but it’s going to be more critical to see that Sanders has the funding and support to stay in through the convention. Making sure that this kind of game can’t be played without a fight is only one reason for him to stay in, but it’s among the important ones.

      2. Ulysses

        The kleptocrats desperately desire for their preferred narrative, that Hillary will manage the post-constitutional TPP/TTIP/TISA regime as the “democratically elected” POTUS, to be accepted as true.

        We shouldn’t underestimate, however, the lengths to which they would go to prevent Bernie from becoming POTUS. Many people forget how an earnest, genuine plutocratic attempt to overthrow FDR’s administration was only thwarted by the honesty of Gen. Smedley Butler.

        In other words, we can’t rule out some sort of violent putsch, perhaps even the suspension of all elections “until order is restored.” A lot of money has already been spent to militarize police and put armored vehicles, riot gear, etc. into urban, suburban, and rural America. This “extra-legal” scenario would probably result in the installation of Trump as some sort of figurehead, because his white supremacist supporters would happily serve as a brown-shirted paramilitary force.

        It makes my blood boil to be given this “choice” between accepting an Evil Empress with no clothes, or a proto-fascist creep. I very much fear that– if we as a nation can’t do better– then we will suffer an unimaginably harsh fate, in the near future.

    2. kj1313

      Heh I suspect nominating Biden will tear the DNC apart. It will piss off Bernie supporters and feminist Clinton supporters. Good riddance.

      1. readerOfTeaLeaves

        Agree that Bernie supporters would be pissed beyond belief.
        Nothing would tear the veil from their eyes like Biden or some other DNC Approved Candidate pushed forward.

        Sh!t: Meet Fan.

    1. readerOfTeaLeaves

      Yes, I’ve been watching MJ during the campaign season and I thought it was most definitely a ‘tea leaf’ suggesting Someones Behind the Scenes Are Getting Cold Feet About Hillary.

      It’s been bizarre to see that Morning Joe is almost tag-teaming Cenk Uighar (The Young Turks) in terms of cutting through bullshit.
      Pretty amazing to watch.

      1. NotTimothyGeithner

        I don’t know how much control they have, but Joe Scarborough was once an elected politician. He likely has recognized the Internet perception of MSHRC being somewhat outside the Washington bubble. The numbers at MSHRC have been terrible. They are way behind where they were in the 2012 cycle when there was no Democratic primary.

        Their audience isn’t growing and isnt getting younger. Without Trump and the primary to drive numbers, advertisers will flee. If MSHRC doesn’t have anything other than Hillary cheerleaders, the network will continue to decline.

  9. Brooklin Bridge

    I have a hard time seeing Mathews (absurd little shill that he is) as being at fault here. Blame the messenger, so to speak. I would rather be aware of it ahead of time myself rather than just fuming after the event.

    At this point everyone who is going to be aware is aware of just how corrupt and broken the DNC, the media, the house of Clinton, the judges, the lawyers, the Supreme Court, the banks and financiers, the police, the politicians local and national and international, the corporations, the think tanks, the paid trolls, the oligarchs, the foundation administrators, the technology companies, the data architects, the giant IT departments, to name a few, are.

    What remains of interest is the mechanisms they use and the shameless lengths they are willing to go to. Know your enemy and this one is a pip. Those who have been in a hurricane know that sometimes you keep telling yourself it is just a strong wind, stronger, really strong, before it becomes clear, a window blowing in, a tree going by, that it is a real honest to goodness hurricane.

  10. John Wright

    Here is some background on Chris Matthews.

    Matthews lobbied MSNBC to get rid of Phi Donahue in 2003 because Donahue opposed the Iraq War and it would be bad for MSNBC to have him on the air while the USA was headed into war.

    Yet Matthews later claimed he opposed the war
    http://crooksandliars.com/2015/09/chris-matthews-pretends-he-was-vocal

    ‘With all the memories floating around about the start of the Iraq war ten years ago, I think the thing that surprises me the most is the idea that Chris Matthews was some kind of stalwart opponent of the war who stood up bravely against the establishment. While it’s true that he wrote a column (maybe two) in which he expressed opposition, what he portrayed on TV was something entirely different. Indeed, I thought it was well known that he was extremely nervous about being perceived as anti-war, so much so that he endorsed the firing of Phil Donohue:”

    If the later Matthews is correct, “MATTHEWS: No! No! No. No. (crosstalk) I opposed the war in every column I wrote and every time I was on television.”

    Then this suggests Matthews helped silence, for business reasons, Donahue’s anti-war alternative view on MSNBC even though he personally agreed with him about the legitimacy of the Iraq war.

    Matthews is a well paid entertainer with an act to perform (at an estimated $5 Million a year)

    1. ekstase

      Yes, and I think there is another reason. I’m reminded of nearly every Perry Mason episode, where someone would stand up in the courtroom and yell out, “All right! I did it.” I think people who do bad things have some weird need to confess. They want to take credit, and they want to get caught.

      And we’re watching this in slow motion. This pre-emptive reporting of elections has been annoying people for years, but now we have the internet, and a way for people to see it coming and to deflect it. People practicing fake jounalism increasingly look absurd.

  11. petal

    I think Tweety was boasting, showing off. He is one that cannot help himself. “I’m with the cool kids, I’m with the winner, the ones with power! See!” . Just another toady boasting, just like in cartoons or Beauty and the Beast-Gaston’s little buddy.

  12. tegnost

    San Francisco-based Clinton donor Eleni Kounalakis….hmmmm, lets take a look at her twitter intro……
    Eleni Kounalakis (@EKounalakis). US Ambassador (ret.), Chair CA Advisory Council for Trade and Investment,(TPP, anyone?) Neoliberal assignee to hungary, (Helmer?) Her wiki page has lots of pics with her and assault weapons (at least right now it does) so can we assume she thinks gun control means using both hands? She also wrote an article titled “The Hungary Games” that gives hillz this juicy quote at the end, and it’s a question hillz should have to answer regarding her own candidacy.
    “Look,” Hillary said, “I’m not the one you need to convince that there is a problem here. You need to talk to the people of your country and try to convince them that there is a problem. If the media law has made it harder to get your message out, you’ll have to work harder. You have the Internet. You have tools. It’s not just about finding people who agree with you, it’s about convincing those who don’t agree with you that you are right. That’s where change comes from. As leaders of civil society, this is your job.”

  13. Jim Haygood

    A June 7th scenario of Bernie holding a victory party after winning Cali, while Hillary throws a competing bash to celebrate clinching the nomination, remains not only possible but even likely.

    There’s a word for this: “decadence.”

    Hillary’s campaign is slowly, inexorably decomposing. Her clinching the nomination is not the last word. With the Clintons, there’s always a fresh dirt dump of grifting and fornication scandals pending. Not to mention the criminal investigation and the multiple civil suits grinding on.

    Hillary Milhous Clinton stands roughly where her mentor and idol Dick Nixon did on this date in 1974. How much longer can she hang in there, while claiming (contrary to convincing evidence) that she’s not a crook?

    1. different clue

      “The American people wonder if their Clintons are a crook. Well, we’re NOT a crook! We’ve WORKED for everything we’ve got!”

  14. inode_buddha

    So, the number-one question on my mind is, “What can I do about this?”. Is there anything I can to to contribute to an effort to totally discredit the MSM and the DNC?

    1. different clue

      There are two different things to discredit here. One is the MSM’s reputation for Truth and Fairness. Only steady complaining and demonstrating their Untruth and Unfairness over time will accomplish that, and only when enough people have decided to accept the evidence of the Untruth and Unfairness.

      But there is another thing which can be discredited by the very act of winning the California primary for Sanders. And that is the assiduously cultivated and protected reputation the MSM has for Power . . . the Power to set the narrative and make people accept it and manipulate the behavior of millions of people by manipulating the narrative those people accept. The more heavily the Sandervoters can win the CA primary for Sanders, the more the MSM will be seen as powerLESS to have pre-influenced the outcome through mass mental manipulation. That will be a blow to the media’s reputation for power to influence events, and will be a very sharp and sudden and damaging discreditation of the MSM as a Power Player right there.

      So getting Sanders victorious in the CA primary would be the way to discredit the MSM as Political Power Players.

    2. Wolf

      Yes, from my roost in Australia, I would say what people can do to combat this collusion, is talk like mad about in the few days leading up to June 7, make it an absolute priority in peoples’ minds that they know what the MSM is trying to pull off. Social media the hell out of it. Anyone you know who is going to be voting in California speak/write to them personally telling them to NOT pay attention to the MSM post-New Jersey vote version of events. Tweet about it all during the day on June 7 and go into overdrive as soon the New Jersey news breaks. I’ve read Sanders supporters are hoping to coordinate massive social media presence on the day to try to ward off the noxious vapours of the MSM. Look into it, offer your services if you can do something organisationally more substantial than just socialmedia-ing prior to the day.

  15. Lumpenproletariat

    RT’s Lee Camp basically said the same thing. People like Chris Matthews have been pre emptively anointing Hillary as the queen, even though the super delegates have not been set. It all reeks of a psychological trick, to demoralize any opposition.

    RT–The hated and mostly ignored Russian propaganda outlet which nevertheless delivered this nugget of otherwise censored honesty.

  16. polipsych

    Grateful for the post and Gaius Publicus’ work, but things seem much worse than suggested here. Yes, MSNBC is calling it already with Rachel Maddow repeatedly claiming that Hillary Clinton has won, ending with the claim that Bernie has lost. This has to be watched/heard to be believed. She has jumped the gun on Matthew’s promise of calling the primaries, but hasn’t it seemed like a foregone conclusion for them for some time?
    http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-sanders-debate-talk-awkward-for-clinton-693901891555

    Even more telling, NYTimes is claiming as “Mathematical fact” (whatever that is) that Clinton will clinch 3 hours before polls close in California. This is a preemptive claim that is setting the stage for media-wide voter suppression and false claims of a pre-mature Clinton victory. There is absolutely broad collusion on messaging at the very least among the major outlets, but also possibly/likely? between the Clinton campaign and the delirious access media, which is more than intimated within this NYTimes article. You be the judge.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/27/us/politics/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-california-primary.html?_r=0

    1. readerOfTeaLeaves

      Agree this is a terrific post at NC.

      There must be a lot of pressure on media outlets to get the news ‘instantly,’ but strangely, I think the population has changed, the means of communication have changed, and — at least the Sanders supporters that I know — have been following this election pretty closely, albeit on Facebook, Twitter, as well as traditional media.

      Add in to this fact that there are now more outlets: John Oliver, Daily Show, and TYT (The Young Turks), all of which have huge Internet audiences. (And not all TYT viewers are Millenials; my aging Boomer spouse is a subscriber, and they are passionate about politics and dig into the details. I’ve been shocked at his interest; he has never paid much attention to national politics.)

      I think it is much more of a free-for-all than most observers can seem to get their heads around.
      If I’m listening astutely, plenty of younger voters are seriously pissed off and they are in no mood to be told to march out and support the status quo this election, even if the messenger telling them that things just can’t change turns out to be Rachel Maddow or anyone at msnbc.com

      FWIW, I’ve found McClatchy’s coverage to actually be quite good.
      The night of the elections, they show % of returns in, and then they show the vote totals. It’s a really good summary.
      Unlike the WaPo and the NYT, McClatchy is the old Knight-Ridder system, so they have outlets in a lot of metro areas and that seems to give them a better sense of what’s going on around the country. Their coverage of the Bernie blow-out in the Idaho caucuses was excellent, at their Boise Statesman site. Rather than having reporters travel around with candidates, they seem to have their local reporters giving more context during the primaries and caucuses. Kind of a ‘bottom up’ information system. Much calmer and more informative than Chris Matthews, by a long shot.

      1. different clue

        Anyone living in a city or town where a McClatchy paper is sold should really subscribe to it to do their part to keep journalists able to make a full time living by doing full time journalism.

      2. Skip Intro

        You bring up a good point that may also reflect on Tweety’s question about whom their blatant voter suppression would benefit. If we observe that Clinton supporters are more likely to be ‘informed’ by the traditional media (as Yves’ recent post demonstrates), then Sanders supporters will (preferentially) ignore this message, not exposed to it at all, or be further motivated to fight the rigged process. Clinton supporters will believe it, have another glass of cooking sherry, and go back to their reruns instead of trying to vote.
        You can already see the effects of this divergence of information sources, and understand the lag between our understanding of the situation and its belated recognition, either by MSM pundits gradually admitting concern over Clinton’s email or favorability number, or perhaps even with the financial press and the sudden wake-up call from the recent IMF paper lightly debunking the neoliberal agenda.

    2. different clue

      All right . . . I tried watching that Madow piece. But I had to stop watching after a couple minutes. Once again, she takes a paragraph full of words to get a sentence-worth of thought expressed.

  17. Vatch

    Let’s look at the bright side: if the main stream networks declare Hillary Clinton the nominee before the polls close on June 7, maybe hundreds of thousands of her supporters won’t bother voting. If most of the Sanders supporters continue voting, just to be cantankerous, the premature declaration of her victory could backfire. Not likely, but one can hope.

    1. EoinW

      You touch on a good point. The MSM have taken advantage of the apathy and ignorance of voters for decades, however that is how things USED to work. The dynamics have completely changed, which explains why they’ve been wrong on Trump every step of the way. Any voter who falls for such manipulation shouldn’t have a say on who runs their government. Canadians have fallen for this sort of thing for as long as I can remember – the media declaring a vote for a non-contending party(NDP/Green Party) being a wasted vote. What I’m curious about is why Americans are no longer falling for this crap. is it a case of them no longer having the luxury to be apathetic/ignorant?

  18. forklift driver

    Bernie should ask for a rules change, that the SuperDelegates must vote bt secret ballot.

    1. NotTimothyGeithner

      No, no, no. Super Delegates can choose to not be super delegates where their vote matters more than the average voter. The need to make a public choice. Embrace the new deal Democrat or embrace the incompetent Nixon.

      The flaws with Hillary are obvious and have been obvious. The Super delegates need to stand in the public forum and say, “I’m with her.” This isn’t just about Hillary as an individual but the Clinton machine.

      1. redleg

        As reportedly vindictive as the Clintons are, any dissent is treated as treason. Post coronation those that did not exclaim their everlasting devotion to Her Royal Clinton like good sycophants will be persona non grata at best.

        Curious- the GOP = elephant, the DNC = sycophant.

        1. Skip Intro

          Loyalty that is purchased or maintained by fear will only last as long as the Clinton machine remains invulnerable. If the candidate shows weakness, they can turn quickly and en masse.

  19. Fiver

    Dismay is not an option, Sanders supporters. Surely it was expected that the Status Quo would attempt to shut the people down when they showed signs of democratic activity. So many months of abject abuse of the citizenry’s democratic processes by concentrated crony power would have deserved its own response were the context not an election campaign. Surely now’s the time for all those varieties of Sanders people who are deeply concerned for the future to make themselves heard re the process itself.

    A leader can’t do everything. But any leader of quality must be willing to go to the people if necessary, and also demand of people something more than a vote – if everyone who supported Sanders had a sick day or two this week, they’d get the message.

  20. Gaylord

    Television is the bane of our existence. I stopped watching it in 2004. All Lies and Propaganda.

  21. ian

    “What followed, if Matthews is to be taken at his word, is clear evidence that television networks are colluding together to call the primary for Hillary Clinton before she reaches the delegates needed to claim victory.”

    Ok, I’ll bite. Why would they do this? From a ratings/ad dollars point of view, the more chaos the better. Why not prolong the horse race?

    1. aab

      Comcast wants net neutrality weakened or voided. The CEO has been playing golf with Obama for years. It wants to get Clinton into office to do its bidding. Turning MSNBC into MSHRC for the length of the election cycle to help her, even if it loses significant amounts of money in the short term would be worth it in the long term.

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