My comments well be brief.  Elizabeth Warren was the star.  The editor of Philadelphia’s main newspaper agrees, as you shall see.  I am  including a complete video of all the candidates.

She had them at “hello.”

No, seriously. After applauding performatively for anti-Trump red meat tossed out by New York Sen. Kirsten Gillbrand (“We all have a responsibility to fight as hard as we can against this president!”) and former Cabinet secretary Julian Castro (“Instead of breaking up families, we should break up ICE!”), more than 3,000 politically left activists at the Convention Center went wild the instant that Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren took her first stride onto the Netroots Nation stage.

People at the confab’s 2020 presidential candidates forum leaped to their feet. Some chanted, “Warren, Warren.” One woman loudly blurted out, “We love you, Liz!” at the senator, briefly blushing to match her red blazer.

Then for the next 25 or so minutes, Warren loved the American progressive movement back.

Inserted from <The Inquirer>

You find praise much higher than that.  Here’s that video.

Almost all are superior candidates. 

RESIST!!

My main purpose here is to share the complete (90 min. plus) video of yesterday afternoon’s session, although I will include a couple of my own comments.

In the early stages of a 2020 Democratic primary brimming with presidential candidates seeking to outflank each other from the left, some in the field jockeying for the progressive mantle will test their bold ideas before an eager left-leaning base at the NetRoots Nation annual conference this weekend.

Along with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a top-tier candidate in recent polling, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee are converging on Philadelphia for the gathering of liberal activists, which has a reputation for channeling progressive energy while pushing lawmakers and candidates to the left on a range of issues.

The last time presidential candidates descended on the annual conference was during the 2016 presidential contest, when runner-up Bernie Sanders’ status as the lone outsider of the progressive wing elevated his populist platform as a foil against the ultimate nominee, Hillary Clinton. Despite moving the party leftward four years ago, the Vermont senator is no longer the progressive standard-bearer in 2020, but instead standing among a parade of contenders, including his friendly rival, Warren, who broadly shares his vision for economic equality…

Inserted from <ABC News>

Here’s that video:

Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley shares remarks starting just after 1:00:00 and 1:28:00.

Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos commented that Bernie’s campaigning needed to progress from four years ago, but it has not.  Bernie took umbrage at that and retaliated by depriving Netroots Nation of his presence.  I think that was a self defeating move on his part.  If Markos is wrong, Bernie should take his rightful place on the stage today with the other progressive presidential hopefuls and prove him wrong.  Bernie’s display of pique will make his campaign seem far less relevant than it is.

Are you ready for the candidates tomorrow?

RESIST!!

Charlie studies the ball, plans his feat, and runs forward.  Just as he kicks, Lucy pulls the ball away, and Charlie falls flat on his back.  He yells and goes away frustrated.  But what if Charlie had pretended he had made the field goal, grabbed the ball, and done a victory dance?  We all know Charlie Brown has too much integrity for that.  The one who did do that is not as bald as Charlie.  His greasy hair, piled on his head,  is vile yellow like a Russian hooker’s pee. 

President Trump said he is giving up his bid to add a citizenship question to the census. He had initially threatened to defy a Supreme Court ruling that blocked it. His announcement today was made just hours after the American Civil Liberties Union threatened additional legal action.

Dale Ho, director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, who argued the Supreme Court case, said:

“Trump’s attempt to weaponize the census ends not with a bang but a whimper.

“He lost in the Supreme Court, which saw through his lie about needing the question for the Voting Rights Act. It is clear he simply wanted to sow fear in immigrant communities and turbocharge Republican gerrymandering efforts by diluting the political influence of Latino communities.

“He then tried a mulligan, but his keystone cops couldn’t settle on a new rationale for the question; they couldn’t even figure out how to swap out legal teams. Now he’s backing down and taking the option that he rejected more than a year ago. Trump may claim victory today, but this is nothing short of a total, humiliating defeat for him and his administration… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <ACLU>

His victory celebration was a bogus executive order to share citizenship between agencies.  But the sharing of data between agencies was already in place, set up during the Obama administration, as explained in the following video.

Sadly, this will not stop the Fuhrer and the Republican Reich from terrorizing Latinos.

RESIST!!

Even this far away from the 2020 national election, Republicans are making it clear that the government of the United States would operate on behalf of whoever steals the election for them.  These include Resident Donald Trump. aka Putin’s Puppet, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, aka Bought Bitch Mitch, and almost the entire Republican Reich.  Anyone can reach that conclusion by examining their behavior and who benefits from it.

Looking at the entire picture in context, consider Karl Marx’s favorite question: “Who benefits?”

Who benefits when the leaders of countries with sophisticated internet hacking capabilities (North Korea, Saudi Arabia) and no democratic oversight are told by Trump that as long as he’s in office he has their backs?

Might Trump and McConnell hope they’ll intervene in our election to keep in power a political party that now disdains democracy and a free press, and embraces dictatorial behavior like calling for the imprisonment of Trump’s political rivals, and of individuals in the intelligence agencies who have investigated him and the GOP?

Who benefits when countries with world-class internet hacking capabilities and less-than-democratic (Russia) or highly corrupted and oligarch-dependent (Netanyahu, Duterte, Modi) leaders become “good friends” of Trump and/or help Trump build or brand properties in their countries?…

Inserted from <AlterNet>

Click through for more superb analysis.

So the Trump family makes $millions.  Oligarchs get to bully their neighbors and take territory by force.  Most dangerous to Americans, Republicans get to continue their transformation of the US into a permanent, totalitarian, white nationalist Republican Reich, in which elections exist for show only, because Republicans decide who gets to vote and who counts the votes.

Watch Republicans working to enable election theft.

I see our defense as turnout  I think a popular vole advantage 10% can win it, as long as attend to kitchen table issues, as well as special interests, so the heartland does mot feel abandoned.  In addition, we must support our primary choices, without savaging their Democratic opponents.  You know that everything said now will haunt us in the general.  Finally, when the nominee is a sure thing, all bickering among the left must end.  We need to go forward with a united front.

RESIST!!