The presidential contest is already turning sour in the U.S. with the DNC (the “Democratic” National Committee) and America’s huge mainstream media (“MSM”) corporations refusing to allow Tulsi Gabbard, the only antiwar Democrat, to participate in the next round of debates. The amounts of money raised and so-called polling results, not issues, are paramount.
There are two types of election fraud that go on in the US: retail and wholesale. Retail election fraud consists of old-fashioned vote buying, which is still illegal, and gerrymandering, which is often criticized but which is almost never prosecuted.
In Knott County in Eastern Kentucky, for example, three public officials were indicted by federal prosecutors in 2007 for bribing citizens to vote for their friend and colleague, Randall Clinton Thompson, who was also indicted.
According to Judicial Watch, the four were accused of conspiring “to use county-owned gravel, asphalt and building materials to buy votes.” One official, Magistrate Ronnie Adams, actually offered to pay two citizens and pave a private road if they voted for Thompson. “The previous Knott County judge-executive, Donnie Newsome, served 16 months in a federal prison after being convicted of election fraud in 2003.” That’s retail election fraud.
In contrast, a more recent example of wholesale election fraud was the rigging of the “Democratic” primary for President in 2016 against Bernie Sanders and in favor of political insider Hillary Clinton. The DNC and the Clinton Campaign used superdelegates and their influence in the MSM to knock Sanders out of the running, even though almost all of the polls showed him beating Donald Trump by bigger margins than Clinton.
Even NPR admits to that!
However, Federal prosecutors were completely uninterested in indicting Clinton or any member of the DNC, however, and instead focused on the “Russian meddling” conspiracy theory, for which there was never any hard evidence at all.
If a certain election is important to the oligarchs who pretty much own and control the US, they will use the mass media, including public TV and print media coverage, to decide the election long before the polls open. If you as a candidate don’t have your campaign chest of money in order and the right networks of patronage on your side, then don’t even waste the effort to stand for political office. There has evolved a tightly-knit relationship between the media and the dupoly mind-set of a two-party system that is really one Establishment party. Media corporations, including public TV stations, basically shun other legitimate candidates that don’t suit their corporate or special interests agenda.
One case in point was the 2019 Governor’s primary campaign in Kentucky, where KET (Kentucky Educational Television) imposed a new requirement on all candidates to have raised at least $50,000 before allowing them to be on stage during their debates. There were four Democrats and four Republicans running, but two Republican candidates and one Democrat, Geoff Young, were excluded by KET’s fundraising requirement. In the end, KET’s Republican debate was canceled.
Mr. Young has been the only Kentucky politician recently who has taken on the “Democratic” Party Establishment head-on. Seeing how the Kentucky Democratic Party (the KDP) was rigging the May 2019 primary, he filed a lawsuit in the Fayette County (Lexington) Circuit Court on April 10, 2019 against an alleged conspiracy of 23 influential Democrats, the KDP, KET, and eight other Democrat-aligned organizations. After filing a lawsuit against a smaller number of Democrats in 2016 for wholesale election fraud, Mr. Young was told by an influential reporter that “If you keep it up with these pro se lawsuits, Kentucky reporters won’t give you any news coverage at all.”
In Young’s present lawsuit, Circuit Court Judge John Reynolds, who happens to be running for re-election in November 2019 himself, has been dismissing his case against a few defendants at a time, without explaining his legal reasoning in any way. He has also been imposing monetary sanctions against Young, again for no discernable legal reason, even though the case has not been completely or finally decided. Young is being opposed by 17 different lawyers.
Two of the lawyers, Christopher W. Brooker and Deborah H. Patterson, raided Young’s checking account on August 20 and took $23,425.36 by using courthouse connections. This amount represents a significant fraction of his life savings. Young quickly appealed their action, which he considers to be both punishment before trial and grand larceny, but the Court of Appeals has not made any decision yet.
Thus, this shows that US elections have turned into a dog and pony show, with media blackouts, intimidation and the raiding of bank accounts under the guise of legal proceedings. The lesson to be learned is to put your money where your mouth is! This is especially the case when it is your own money and try to stand up against the system in the court system.
Moscow Mitch
I use Kentucky case studies to showcase what is happening across America. And too the Commonwealth of Kentucky is home of newly named Moscow Mitch, Senator Mitch McConnell, who gave us legalized political corruption in the form of the Citizens United US Supreme Court decision of 2010, which ruled that corporations are people and money is free speech.
McConnell learned early on, during the Iran-Contra days, that if you cannot do it legally, you just change the law and then there are no holds barred, as to where public money flows. His race is also one to watch this year, as his track record of “legal” corruption is catching up with him. Voters in the Commonwealth of Kentucky have learned the hard way:
“Just change the law and everything you do is legal.”
Depending on the results of the May 2020 primaries, McConnell’s Democrat opponent might be Amy McGrath, one of those notorious CIA Democrats, whose claim to fame is challenging Mitch McConnect and his well-documented track record of corruption. Her campaign site requests donations “so we can take on on Mitch McConnell and the corrupt Republican establishment. GOOD LUCK!
Is “Mitch McConnect” the way it’s supposed to read? Americans have only themselves to blame, depending too much on cell phones, social media, the MSM and the internet to quickly access the manipulated and agenda-driven ideologies – the very ones that are “spoon fed” to them on a daily basis. Americans are lazy, accepting things on a superficial level and not taking the time to make informed choices.
I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say that the ENTIRE political “leadership” has sold out, no exceptions at all. And I am not alone in this conclusion. Ironically, Jeff Bezo’s Washington Post brands itself with the slogan “democracy dies in darkness.”
Pot Calling Kettle Black
Politicians of all sides and denominations are as corrupt as ever, however, when it comes down to vote rigging and rigging the primary before the get go. Let’s not forget how Hillary Clinton and Debbie Wasserman Schultz committed wholesale election fraud in cahoots with the DNC and party organizations on the state and local level in the last presidential election.
Why has 2016 been forgotten and why do the “Democrats” only want to blame the outcome on the Russians? That is how we got Trump as the President when the people are wanting something else, i.e., the basics in their lives: Medicare for all, affordable and quality education, reduction of the power and influence of major corporations, school and food safety, reduced and more cost-effective military spending – and that is but the short list.
There is little difference between the two parties, and Joe Biden is but a neoliberal (faded Republican) and Trump (he does not hide his pedigree). There is no real choice between a fake Republican and a real one. And when push comes to shove, the voters will choose the “realer” one!
It takes more than just getting your name on the ballet anymore to have a standing chance of getting real coverage and elected to office. All the while the political leadership, especially democrats, want the American people to think that changing the rules, as with how votes are actually counted based on state rights in presidental elections, e.g., checks and balances, based on dumping the Electoral College will be a magic pill for election reform.
Several democratic candidates are being prevented from even participating with t democratic debates. Tulsi Gabbard is just one of many being blocked from the BIG SHOW by the DNC, not because she does not rank high enough in its polling barrier of two percent. But in other polls, in at least 26, she meets and even exceeds the threshold. She is considered by many, including myself, as being the most likely candidate who can beat Trump in the final race.
Now entire elections are rigged, and openly, and any claim of a level playing field is but an illusion for the uninformned and naive masses. Just ask Bernie Sanders. There has evolved a tight knit relationship between the media, the Duopoly Mindset of a two-party system and so-called “free and fair elections.”
Potekim Democracy
Americans have no real choices as the deck is stacked from the get go—they really get nothing worth voting for. The Democrat Party is totally corrupt. They would rather lose to the GOP than allow an antiwar candidate ever to win a primary, and will never allow one of its own party members (other than a figure head) to win a presidental election.
Add in there whatever you want, as to how elections actually work and how voters are victims–no real choices to vote for, etc. The political process has become the “anything you can” election. One question I keep thinking of: what percentage of US citizens understand that their votes don’t really count — it seems to be growing, as less and less people actually vote.
Also, most people still think the president is at the very top of government that rules their lives and cheats them out of having a good life. He’s only a middle-man. There’s a lot more bureaucracy above him.
There can be little semblance of democracy with just over 50 percent of Americans even bothering to vote.
And who can blame them?
Henry Kamens, columnist, expert on Central Asia and Caucasus, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.