Jim (Con't): First off, blogging. Reader Jose asks why those of you with websites are blogging less these days?
Trina: I don't know. I just don't have that kind of time. I wish I did. And the thing is, after I blog, I suddenly have some idea like, "That's what I should have blogged on instead."
Kat: Me too. In fact, I've been meaning to blog about the vocal layers on Nick Jonas' new album. The more I listen to that with headphones, the more I discover. But it's time to blog, I'm looking through the news and trying to find a topic.
Elaine: Like Trina, I just don't know that I have the time or, more importantly, the desire. I marvel at C.I.'s ability to cover Iraq every day. Every day. No day off. Every day since November 2004. I marvel. But I'm just not there myself. Now calling out the liars who are suddenly concerned with peace -- the Ron Jacobs who kept their mouths shut throughout Barack's terms -- I can always write about that. And will.
Betty: I loved that Glen Ford at BLACK AGENDA REPORT called out Tom Hayden this week. That's good to see. For the longest, it seemed like it was C.I. and only her. And Tom deserves to be called out.
Mike: Exactly. He's such an embarrassment and such a whore. I mean he loathed Hillary in 2008, have we forgotten? And now he was telling people to vote for her and not Bernie Sanders?
Ruth: Right. And, to speak only of me, in 2008 I was telling people to vote for Hillary Clinton. And if you want to know what changed, it was documented at my website. I could give her the benefit of the doubt on Iraq in 2008 because what else did I have to judge by? But then she becomes Secretary of State and is calling for a no fly zone over Syria -- which will require troops -- and she is calling for the destruction of Libya and do not forget Benghazi.
Jim: Now you guys knew early on that it was a CIA Annex. I remember you talking about that right after the attack. How?
Ruth: Not right after. It was probably a month after. But we were at the first House hearing on Benghazi and the issue was being talked around and Jason Chavetz was saying that they needed to be careful and that this needed to go to special session and I looked at Wally and said something like, "What are they talking about?" And C.I. looks at us and says, "It's CIA."
Wally: Yeah. And Ruth's right, she's speaking for a lot of us. About Hillary and the change. I mean, I dropped out of college in January 2008 to campaign for her. But now? No way, no how. She has a paper trail -- if not an e-mail trail.
Jess: "I'm sick of talking about those damn e-mails!"
Rebecca: Stupidest thing Bernie Sanders ever said.
Marcia: Amen.
Jim: Bernie had some supporters here.
Ann: Well clarify that because Bernie had supporters in the race against Hillary and Bernie also had supporters regardless of Hillary.
Mike: Marcia and I were supporters regardless.
Marcia: Right. We believed. And then he sold us out. I still get angry.
Jim: He sold you out by --
Marcia: Telling us to support Hillary. If we wanted to support her, we would have. His campaign was about how she was the wrong candidate. And then he's all 'let's stand together.' Uh, no. In fact, don't stand next to me, Bernie. I don't trust you.
Mike: Yeah, like he might try to pick our pockets. I am so disillusioned. I can't believe it. And my mother was telling me all along that he was going to do this and that I was putting too much faith in him. You were right!
Trina: Thank you. And I think Ann made a good point. I was a Bernie over Hillary type. I was not a Bernie is the salvation coming for to carry me home. A lot of that is due to the lousy job he did as Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.
Kat: He was awful.
Dona: I found it interesting that Hillary never hit him there. But then, if you think about it, she wasn't exactly a champion of veterans in the Senate herself.
Jess: She didn't do much of anything in the Senate.
Jim: So what if Donald Trump gets to the White House instead of Hillary?
Cedric: You want us to make predictions?
Jim: Sure.
Cedric: Hillary's war for sure.
Betty: Mmm-hmmm.
Cedric: Trump probably is as well. Probably. So maybe a little less than Hillary, less of a chance.
Ty: Some say Trump is an outsider. There's something about him that panics the GOP establishment. Whether that's reason to vote for him or not, I have no idea.
Jim: And?
Ty: Well Andrew Garfield, to name another GOP-er, he was considered an outsider.
Betty: But President Garfield was shot his first year in office and died weeks later.
Rebecca: From infection, most likely.
Betty: Correct.
Stan: Well I'm with Cedric on this, predictions? Let's go with something of more value.
Dona: Okay, there was a question regarding last week's edition ignoring Jill Stein. Anybody?
Stan: I don't need Black Lives Matter from Jill Stein. In fact, as Ann pointed out at her site, it actually angers me from her. Because I see no sign that she's going to select a running mate who is African-American. She didn't in 2012. So I was among those last week saying take a pass on Jill.
Ann: If Black Lives Matter, maybe you pick an African-American running mate? Otherwise, you're just flapping your gums to get points for being so 'caring.'
Cedric: She could easily name Cornel West as her running mate or, for that matter, Bruce Dixon.
Betty: Or how about Majora Carter? Or Lisa Jackson? Or Dr. Marsha Coleman?
Marcia: I am most likely voting Jill Stein. But I do not want to see a repeat of her 2012 all White ticket. Sorry.
Ann: Don't be sorry, we agree with you.
Jim: So that's one issue, any others?
Rebecca: Where's the concern for Iraq? Both in terms of the amount of US tax dollars wasted as well as the ongoing crime against the Iraqi people? I'm not seeing it. If you can't formulate a foreign policy, I don't know that you can get my vote. I am very pro-Palestinian and my vote very much depends upon someone's foreign outlook.
Elaine: Yeah, we need to see serious talk about peace from anyone who's going to win my vote. Remember in the 2008 primaries, I voted for Mike Gravel and he was a peace candidate.
Jim: Any other issues?
Mike: I will give her credit and applause for her stance on student loan debt -- we do need to see a bailout on that.
Trina: I was just going to say that.
Jim: Anything else?
Ruth: I will say if you're going to Tweet on every event, you need to Tweet on every event. Meaning you cannot just focus on this killing or that killing getting massive press coverage. I will leave it at that.
Jim: Okay, then, so will we. You are reading a rush transcript. We'll try to do a roundtable again real soon.
