The system is so severely rigged, but who’s behind it?
Preface by Pam Barker | TLB staff writer
So it’s not just Trump supporters being plotted against by the GOP establishment. Now it turns out the Democratic party has been rigging the game against Bernie Sanders and not being too subtle in revealing its bias.
For a few months now, it has been evident to the Sanders’ campaign team that the cards have been stacked in Hillary’s favor. Back in December, Sanders’ team received a potentially fatal punishment for improperly taking advantage of a software glitch and accessing information gathered by Clinton’s team. The punishment? Being denied access to its voter database, which is critical to knowing how and where to deploy campaign resources. Sanders’ response was to fire the person responsible, amid charges leveled against the party of trying to sabotage his campaign, not unreasonably.
While a petition got his voter dabatase restored, other indications have been showing that the Democratic party, far from remaining neutral, is clearly biased toward Clinton, including allowing the Clinton campaign to have a strong presence in and around caucus offices where neutrality is supposed to be the watchword.
Well, what is not rigged in favor of Hillary Clinton as she remains a totally viable candidate despite being investigated by the FBI?
In today’s featured piece by Paul Craig Roberts, he points fingers at the Deep State for allowing Hillary to advance so far while apparently being guilty of so much:
Despite the appearance of blatant corruption, Hillary is in the lead for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Either American voters are inured to political corruption or something else is going on.
Using Stephen Lendman’s article, which details further evidence – this time, voter suppression in Arizona – of how the Democratic party is working against Sanders, Roberts takes aim at the much bigger, global context for this. He concludes, ‘[t]he fate of the world is at stake’.
Enjoy Roberts’ insights.
************
By Paul Craig Roberts
Has any American previously been able to run for the presidential nomination while being under investigation by the FBI for security violations? That Hillary Clinton so easily escapes accountability indicates the immunity of those who serve the deep state.
And serve the deep state the Clintons certaintly do as is indicated by the $153 million in “speaking fees”—read bribes and payoffs—that CNN and Fox News report the Clintons have been paid by Wall Street, the mega-banks, and corporate America. This sum does not include campaign donations or donations to the Clintons’ foundation. http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/05/politics/hillary-clinton-bill-clinton-paid-speeches/
Mike Loftgren defines the deep state as the powerful private interest groups (the One Percent) and the more or less permanent personnel who comprise the One Percent’s operatives in the government.
Despite the appearance of blatant corruption, Hillary is in the lead for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Either American voters are inured to political corruption or something else is going on. Stephen Lendman reports that Hillary, aided and abeted by the Democratic Party and election officials, is “winning” primaries through fraud.
Here is Lendman’s account:
Clinton Stole Arizona Primary
by Stephen Lendman
America’s political process is too corrupted to fix, election rigging commonplace throughout the nation’s history.
Power brokers control things. Ordinary people have no say whatever, voting a waste of time, why half the electorate usually opts out.
Clinton is heading toward gaining the Democrat party nomination with considerable electoral fraud help. Sanders appears being denied what he might win if the process was fair and square.
A Clinton presidency is the worst of all possible outcomes, a greater nuclear war risk with her in power than any previous nuclear age US leader – especially with neocons infesting Washington, anti-Russian/anti-Chinese sentiment pervasive.
America wants unchallenged world dominance. Achieving it depends on eliminating both global rivals – by color revolutions or war, the latter risking nuclear confrontation, madness endangering humanity’s survival.
Clinton stole Iowa by rigged coin-flips, Massachusetts and Nevada by old-fashioned fraud, Arizona the same way on steroids.
Voting was suppressed by greatly limiting the number of polling locations – forcing Arizonans to stand long hours in lines, denying thousands a chance to cast ballots once stations closed, or simply walking away in frustration.
In the 2012 primary, Maricopa County, Arizona (Phoenix the county seat) with over four million of the state’s 6.8 million population had 200 polling places, 60 on March 22.
The outcome was predictable, rigged to assure Clinton won. With 1% of the vote counted, media scoundrels declared her victory – thousands still in line unable to vote.
Was Sanders denied victory rightfully his? In 2008, turnout was 250,000, on March 22 just 83,000.
Rep. Ruben Gallego (D. Phoenix) said “(l)ets be clear. Vote suppression happened…disproportionately affect(ing) poor people and people of color,” having to travel to distant polling stations, faced with endless lines intended to deny their franchise.
Many people are physically unable to stand in line five hours to vote. Others refuse for good reason.
Most Arizonans cast ballots by mail, mostly women or elderly voters, more likely to favor Clinton – her early lead used to declare victory.
Thousands had their party affiliation changed from Democrat to independent or other designation, preventing them from voting.
Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton demanded a Justice Department investigation not forthcoming or whitewashed if initiated.
On Wednesday, Sanders said “(w)hat happened yesterday in Arizona should be considered a national disgrace.”
Arizona was classic electoral theft, the process rigged for Clinton, perhaps an indication of what’s coming in November to stop Trump if all other methods fail.
(Stephen Lendman can be reached at [email protected]. Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.)
The deep state is now openly defying the American voters. Pat Buchanan describes the plot of the neoconservatives to steal the Republican nomination from Donald Trump. That the plot is publicly known and not hidden behind the scenes is an indication that the few who rule America are so confident of their power that they are not afraid to reveal that the United States is an oligarchy, not a democracy, in which the only purpose of voting is to put a Democratic dress on the oligarchs. http://www.theamericanconservative.com/buchanan/the-rule-or-ruin-republicans/
The oligarchs are as insouciant as the voters themselves if the oligarchs intend to put into the presidency a warmonger who has declared the President of Russia to be “the new Hitler.” There is no greater irresponsibility than to aid and abet conflict between heavily armed nuclear powers. Instead of a warmonger, the United States needs a president who will join with Vladimir Putin in working for peace and cooperation.
The fate of the world is at stake.
************
TLB recommends other articles and blogposts by Dr. Paul Craig Roberts
Reference
http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/the-democratic-party-hillary-clinton-bias-goes-way-beyond-data
About the author
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts is an American economist, journalist, blogger and former civil servant, serving as Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy under the Reagan administration. He can be found at www.paulcraigroberts.org
About the contributor
Pam Barker is a TLB staff writer/analyst. She has an extensive background in the educational system of several countries at the college and university level as a teacher and administrator
Leave a Reply