Who Are the Resistance Leaders and What's With These Far Left Sites? - Part 1

G'morning Clownies.  A year and a half ago Mrs. Clown and I were enjoying the telly, watching a wee HBO show called Homeland.  A scene came on where the season protagonist Brett O'Keefe, a dastardly mash-up of Steve Bannon, Alex Jones, and other notable nut-jobs, was shown working in a warehouse/bunker where he had a social media account farm.  On this farm he was growing, under the dim and creepy grow of LED/LCD lights, the bots, trolls, and extremest pages we encounter everyday on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and beyond.  My dearest, sweetest, innocent, near-Luddite wife queried as to whether I believed such places really existed.  This was pre-2016 election and I assured her that art was most adeptly imitating life.  What I had yet to realize at the time is that these accounts were not all far-right accounts and not all of them were confined to bot-farms.

Division works best when the tugging, pulling, and finger-pointing are done from both ends or sides, and my multiple parties.


I'm already all over the place.  While I love a good outline I simply don't have the time today to structure this properly.  Suffice it to say that imposters are found on all sides and that there are far more groups than Russians who profit from our division, and I mean literally profit.  The endgame, in my mind, nearly always comes down to greed.  What troubles me more so is when the endgame is less apparent.  So this has just become a multi-part series on the mystery players and biased sites who are not "behind" #Resist, but along side or even outside of it.

Let's talk about some players first, where their motives are not entirely clear.

Imma start with @socialpowerone/#TheResistance on Twitter.  Their name is a little on the nose, yes?  Resist is bigger than one person.  So what do we know about @socialpowerone?  Very little it turns out.

Five-plus years on Twitter.  That's solid.

151,000 followers. That's scary influential.

He/she/they post nary an original concept, but regurgitate ad nauseam from sites like Crooks & Liars, Shareblue, Mother Jones, and others like them. I'll do a separate piece on sites like these, but folks these are not news outlets. More often than not, with MJ being the best of the bunch, they rehash articles from Washington Post, New York Times, NY Daily News, and other MSM.  They simply spin the original information harder than a dreidel at Hanukkah.

Here's SP1's profile pic:


That's a handsome and well assembled dude. He looks socially conscious too!  Stern.  Thoughtful.  But this isn't "SocialPowerOne".  This is Sierra Leone model Salieu Jalloh. In other words, rather than using their own pic, or an ambiguous one, they've picked a person who is unaffiliated with Resist and used their likeness as a false representation.  Here's a pic of Mr. Jalloh in full model mode:




Now I use an altered picture of myself as I treasure my anonymity, but that pic is 100% me.  I didn't scour the web for a more handsome, more colourful, more bow-tie modely version of myself.  So what I need everyone to ask themselves is, who would do this and for fuck's sake why?  Why would you trust what this person posts when they are all about obfuscation and misdirection?  That's a really bad start in my opinion.  Add to that their unoriginality and one could start to get really concerned about why this account has 150k followers.

I have a theory, and this theory goes well beyond SP1, but that account is one of the worst offenders.  My theory is that many of these folks are founders or humble "writers" (not journalists) for the sites which are Resist popular on social media.  Why else incessantly post from the same 3-5 sites?  To me this is the most logical conclusion, although I fully intend to try to connect the dots between all of these sites if I am able.  Humans are enterprising.  There are folks who saw the division under Obama (under, not created by) and said, "Hey, we can use this."  Then when Trump announced his candidacy they said (allegedly), "Holy Flerking Ballsnuts!  We can use the mother-loving-fuck out of this!!!".

And here we are.  Up shite creek (AKA the Potomac) with naught but a swizzle stick for propulsion.  Ask yourselves, who is SocialPowerOn?.  Why are they posting, almost exclusively, spun and biased versions of the work of real journalists.  What do they have to gain.  What do you have to lose by listening to a stranger of whose motivations you know nothing?  Why do they tell you less about themselves than a clown who is attempting to remain anonymous?

Before I get to the left-wing spin sites themselves I'll going to tackle a few more folks like Scotty Dworkin, Billy Palmer, and more accounts like our very own poseur Jalloh.  Some folks may ask why I'm not going after right wingers. I'll tell you.  We know who those arseholes are and can all see them coming from kilometers away.  I'm far more concerned about those who would pose as Resist and seek only to profit from us, blind us, misdirect us, or use us for god only knows what.

That will not stand.  Not on my watch.

Caustic the Clown

Thoughts on the Twitsistance

Mornin' folks.  I have some bad news for you.  You're not likely to care for what comes next.  There will be some harsh truths, at least as I see them.

As I perused my Twitter feed yesterday I realized that I was having a hard time distinguishing the tone of posts from alleged Democrats, liberals, and so-called Resistance members from what I used to see of Trumpers on Facebook.  I say alleged, because unlike my old FB feed I don't know who the hell these people are in real life.  They could be Russians.  They could be marketers.  They could be paid posters.  Who the hell knows?

These are a few of the shared post characteristics which immediately jumped out:

Hatred.  Calls for violence.  Lack of interest in fact checking.  Hypocrisy.  Fear.  Demonization and dehumanization of a group of people based on one or a few.

These are not charming characteristics.  They're not even edgy.  They fucking suck.  I don't want to be a party to these sorts of posts.  That's not how I was raised.  These same folks decry Fox News and yet still refuse to see why CNN and MSNBC are not the best places to get facts.  They should not be trusted.  They have an obvious agenda.  Speaking of agendas, some still post things from Scott Dworkin, Occupy Democrats, the Palmer Report (the list goes on) and do not understand why these biased sources are total shit.  I've lost my patience with this behaviour.  It's a runaway train of suck and there's nobody to pull the brakes.

Do you know why it is so easy to blame the Russians for Trump?  Because it means you don't have to blame yourselves.  There are those of you who never marched, never phone banked, never went door to door for your candidate.  You didn't SELL your candidate.  In some cases they were hard sells to be sure, but after Bernie lost the nomination I went door to door for Hillary.  I wasn't happy about it, but I put on my biggest smile, went out and sold her the best I could.  Back then I thought I knew what a Trump presidency would mean, although now I can admit I had no fucking idea how bad it could get.  So I fought for her.  There weren't many of us out there and organizing people to go fight for her wasn't easy, but it was important.  So it got done.


Clearly it wasn't enough.

So while we know Russians interfered with social media, and hacked some computers, and likely colluded with the Trump campaign among other truths and allegations, the responsibility lies right here at home.  If you didn't do enough, there's no sense in brow beating, but I sure as hell hope you're going to step up your game over the next 2 to 100 years.  Democracy cannot be maintained without a fight.  There's a song from the 60s called "Love Me I'm a Liberal".  Phil Ochs maybe... but it doesn't matter.  It's a scathing take on NIMBY, do nothing, check writing, phone-it-in lefties who are too busy to actually get their hands dirty.  I never really got that song until Trump won the presidency, but now I do.  Blame is almost always counter-productive and fixes are what we really need, along with solemn promises to do better.  We're not even CLOSE to that point yet.  Can't have change without acceptance.

I was thinking about my second job as I drove in to work this morning.  I teach at night.  I mentor apprentices who are in a 5 year trade program.  At the end of those years, if successful, those students become licensed journeymen in a skilled union trade.  These students are from all walks of life.  They are from cities and the country.  They are typically from working class families or none at all.  They are all different colors, of different faiths, often from different countries.  Some are conservative and some not so much.  Part of what I teach them is the union side of basic socialism, and what that means as a brother- and sister-hood.  That to be strong we all have to work together and "Be Best", because if we don't then we all fail together.  Believe me, that ain't easy.  It's a long slow process which takes 5 years of learning and working together.  Some never quite get it.  Most do though, and that is why I keep doing it.  That is what I'm going to keep doing.  While I'm not leaving Twitter I've realized over this extended break that I don't need it or it's fun house mirror version of The Resistance.  I'm just going to keep doing what I always have, which is march when marching needs done, calling and writing those elected officials who need my opinion (whether they know it or not), teaching 25 or so people a year the meaning of unity, and stumping for candidates which I either believe in or I need others to believe in.

That's it.  It's been real.  I'll be around if and when it seems appropriate.  I still have a piece to do on why Palmer, Dworkin, Hummingbird, and SocialPowerOne should not be trusted.  We'll see if that materializes.

Clowntacularly Yours,

Caustic the Clown

P.S.  Go high.  That doesn't mean abandoning a fight.  That doesn't mean tolerating oppression.  If you don't know why losing our civility or humanity means we can never really win the war then you're probably not going to figure it out from reading something I write.

But think about it.  Taking the short road to win a race means you never really win at all.  Doesn't it?

US Governmment to Import 10,000 Syrian Refugees? Thanks, but No Thanks!

I have been catching some heat this weekend for campaigning to stop the future influx of Syrian refugees on the US taxpayer's dime...mostly because people are illogical and irrational dolts.  I mean, why wouldn't someone want to reach out and help these people who are in very dire straights?  I must be insane, right?  I am, but not about this.  This is a teaching and learning moment for all Americans.  The shit stops here.

Reason the first:  This one is really 18 trillion reasons.  We don't have the money.  With over 18 trillion dollars in US debt, we simply cannot afford it.  It is time to stop doing things which we cannot afford.  If you want to help Syrians and other refugees, then fix the damn tax code. Close the loopholes.  This has gone on long enough, and don't say, "Oh, we have the money for this and that, but we can't help out these refugees?"  Bullshit.  We don't have the money for any of any-fucking-thing.  Period.  If we want to do something, then we start with reigning in corporate welfare and fix the tax code.  We have been putting that shit off for long enough.  Get on your congresspeople and get this fixed now.  By the time we get through the red tape and the background checks for these refugees who need help it will have been at least a year.  Therefore, we have one year to fix this and it can be done.  The clock starts this week, so y'all better get on the phones.  If you give one flying fig about helping anyone, then this is the first step.  If you don't feel like calling your elected officials, then STFU about refugees or pretty much anything because I don't want to hear it.

Reason the second:  We have people living like refugees in this country that we obviously give zero shits about.  According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness there are over 500,000 homeless in this country on any given day.  All you liberal jackasses looking east and hollering about refugees better turn around and look behind you.  Once your heads are firmly out of your asses you will see that we have a huge fucking problem right in our front yards.  Am I completely nuts or should we maybe look at this first?  Let's make sure the people already here have food and clothes and homes and treatment for mental illness and addiction.  On top of homelessness, we have people living below the poverty level, children going to school hungry, and an underfunded education system.  Americans are reactionary and the press absolutely feeds into this.  Everyone is hollering about 10,000 people and we are perfectly content to turn a blind eye on people who are in need at home.  That is completely irresponsible and total political bullshit.  Let's get our own house in order and handle our moral and financial obligations at home before we start reaching out to the world. We always want to address what is current and catchy in the headlines because it allows us to forget the obligations we already have and choose to ignore.  Fix the tax code, develop some income and use that money to fix the non-flashy issues (of which there are plenty!) here in the US.

Reason the third:  Our government sucks at pretty much everything they do.  I think that is pretty clear at this point.  So, while we're working on the first two things on this list, let us just leave the US government out of the refugee business.  I do not reject the idea of bringing Syrian refugees to this country.  In fact, I am ecstatic about it.  What I reject is that we place the responsibility on our government to handle this.  Somewhere in the last 60 years we forgot the words of John F. Kennedy.  We should not be asking how the government can help these refugees.  We should be telling it how we Americans can help them.  Here's a brilliant idea.  Let's have a list.  This list will be a contract of sorts.  That contract will say that whoever signs it, provided they can maintain a certain income, will house an entire refugee family of a given size for a given time.  Our government will run a background check on refugees (they'll suck at it, but it needs to be done anyway).  They can run checks on whoever signs this list as well and approve the list.  When the refugees get into DC, or NY or Miami or wherever the hell, then the people who signed that list will go pick up that family.  These American homes will get no reward other than perhaps a tax break.  Based on the list we will then know exactly how many refugees these homes could handle.  Maybe we wouldn't get enough signers to get to 10,000.  Maybe we would get so damned many that we could have backup homes!  Have social workers pop in every month or so to make sure these people aren't being turned into slave labor and generally find their conditions livable.  I have discussed this idea with my wife.  She would encourage me to sign this list and offer our home to a family of 3 or 4 Syrians.  I am grateful for her.  I hate to use this term, but in a traditional sense this solution is the "Christian" solution.  This is giving of ones self selflessly to help a family in need.  This is taking the bull by the horns and not letting our impoverished government shoulder and mismanage the task.  

As I was telling people that I was against this influx of government supported refugees I was called things like "heartless", "over-comfortable", and "immoral".  My response was along the lines of, "If you are unwilling to support a government that operates in the black and to stop feeding our debt while ignoring hundreds of thousands of Americans in need for a flashy fix for the few, and pawn this 'obligation' of helping everyone off on the US government rather than lifting a finger yourself, then fuck your irrational, hypocritical morals and phony empathy".  I'm too busy trying to save the world to listen to that shit. 

Please share this if you believe that logic, reason, and true heart beat a catchy headline every time.

Caustic the Clown

We're Talkin' Candidates - Part 2 of Not Really Sure Just Yet

In part two of this series I’m going to discuss current Republican second placer, Dr. Ben Carson.

Understandably Dr. Carson has some folks excited.  For one thing, he’s a doctor.  That tells us something about his intelligence and commitment to completing tasks.  Becoming a doctor isn’t easy, especially when you're starting off as a poor kid from Detroit.  And Dr. Ben isn’t just any old doctor.  He’s a neurosurgeon!  And he’s not just any neurosurgeon; he’s a Johns Hopkins pediatric neurosurgeon!!!  He’s not just a Johns Hopkins pediatric neurosurgeon; he’s the first neurosurgeon to separate conjoined twins attached at the head!!!!!!!!!!  Sadly he’s retired, but I believe he’s earned that.  Even more sadly he has proven well that intelligence and wisdom can be mutually exclusive and that a great doctor does not a great scientist make.  We’ll come back to that.  Let us get to the issues.

We will start with that old chestnut, abortion.  Dr. Carson used to be pro-choice.  Like many pro-choicers he felt that abortion was awful, and yet was unwilling to legally force that opinion on the women of the country.  He has since tidied up that stance to become pro-life.  He feels that abortion for convenience is repugnant and that no abortions should be performed after 20 weeks post fertilization for any reason.  Up until that point he does allow for abortion where the mother’s health is in jeopardy.  I will not reiterate my thoughts on pro-lifers who have no adopted children.  If you search for his thoughts on abortion over the last 20 years you see a bit of fluctuation.  I cannot fault that.  It is not a simple issue.  For me, being pro-life does not preclude my possibility of voting for you…but it is a step in the wrong direction.

Dr. Carson believes in the free market system while I am for limited but specific regulation.  As we have seen time and time again in this country, corporations refuse to do right by the environment, the consumer, the government, etc…  He also wants to cut spending in every government agency by 10%.  We know there is an indescribable amount of waste in the government, but across the board cuts don’t make sense to me without some serious research.  Let’s combine his economic strategies into strike one.

The good doctor has some thoughts on civil rights.  He believes homosexuality is a choice.  He accepts that gay marriage is the law, but does not support it.  He does feel that minus marriage, gays should have the same rights as straight folk.  He equated homosexuality to pedophilia, though he later apologized for that one.  He feels that because he pulled himself out of a bad situation in his youth that we should eliminate race based entitlements like affirmative action.  I don’t think we’re quite ready for that…yet.  His beliefs that gays should not be able to legally marry and that minorities should all be able to rise above their upbringings (a beautiful concept, but I feel not accurate) I shall combine into strike two.

Dr. Carson is for medical marijuana.  That is a plus.  We are seeing more and more cases where marijuana treatment is helping patients of all ages.  He is against the recreational use.  This clown quite honestly loves the ganj.  Strike three.

Big Ben has spoken widely on education.  In 2015 he likened public education to a propaganda system.  He and I both agree that proper education equals liberation.  He feels that classes like math should take more priority over athletics.  That is hard to argue against, methinks.    He likes some God in his public schools.  I don’t much care for that.  He wants the “ethics” of creationists to enter the classroom.  I’ve seen those so-called ethics.  We don’t need them.  He is a huge fan of education in general and feels that this is the key to helping minorities, keeping youth on track and fighting oppression.  These are all true.  I’m not sure how he can do this by cutting 10% of federal school funding.  Lastly he is a creationist.  Did you know that there are folks who believe in creationism and evolution?  I like that.  Those ideals are not in opposition provided you can be a little flexible with your interpretations.  Unfortunately, Ben is not one of those people.  He has infamously asked, “…how does something come out of nothing?”  He and I have different definitions for “nothing”.  Clearly he is not a scientist.  Straight up Jesus riding on dinosaurs creationism I cannot tolerate, eliciting a fourth strike for Herr doctor.

To wrap this up let me speed through the rest of these.  I am way past TLDR status.  Dr. Ben Carson has not been very vocal on the environment other than to say that both socialists and capitalists should be protective of the planet.  Kind of vague if you ask me…though I do agree.  He hasn't publicly reconciled this generic environmentalism with his free market economic beliefs.  He feels that we need fossil fuel independence and that the climate debate is not relevant.  He is a “drill, baby drill” candidate.  Um…no.  He has equated the decline of the US to the decline of Rome and based these declines are caused by immorality.  Nope.  He feels that the government is bloated.  I’m with him on this one, but he wants a 5 year hiring freeze for government jobs.  To me this seems like a great way to stymie the intellectual growth of the government.  This is not the way to keep government small.  He is against the Affordable Care Act, and has called Obamacare the worst thing since slavery.  Seems overstated to me.  He is pro-torture.  Seems Christian to me!  He believes a pathway to citizenship for illegals is unfair to people who have done it the right way.  This is true, but doesn’t make a pathway a bad idea.  He is partially anti-union.

There are some more strikes in there.  I lost count.  Dr. Carson found God as a child after wanting to stab a classmate over an argument.  Finding God is not a bad thing.  Giving credit to said God for passing freshman chemistry is a bad thing.  Dr. Ben Carson is not a candidate for the poor and working classes.  Dr. Ben Carson is not a candidate for union clowns.  Dr. Ben Carson is not a candidate for single women and couples who make mistakes during intimacy.  Dr. Ben Carson is not a candidate for democratic socialists who believe in a hand up.  Dr. Ben Carson is not a candidate for me.

Caustic the Clown

 If you would like to personally verify the veracity of my summation of Ben's platform, then please visit these sites:

 http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/ben-carson-abortion-stance-121456

http://www.ontheissues.org/Ben_Carson.htm

https://www.bencarson.com/issues