Kim Iversen is one of the few former journalists who is not obviously fake. At least she hasn’t converged to the establishment YET.

Here she’s interviewing Jose Vega, a NYC activist who constantly attends meetings and rallies to shout POINTED QUESTIONS at fake progressives. I don’t know if he’s doing any good, but he makes one strong point around 25:00 in the long interview.

= = = = = START QUOTE:

These politicians [like AOC] were passionate at one time, they thought they could change things, and then they were eaten up by the Establishment. The point is to try and shake it out of them again, to say “Listen, there was a time when you stood for something.” … When they see me yelling at them, I like to think that they see a ghost of their former self.

= = = = = END QUOTE.

Ghost of Christmas Past.

I understand the shakeout.. I started life with an anti-imperialist and pro-socialist worldview, reinforced massively by 1969 prison experience. I learned the HARDASS way, directly UP THE ASS, that powerful and rich people always get what they want. “Laws” and “protests” and “elections” are obeyed when they give demons what they want, irrelevant otherwise. Later in the 80s, social media (Compuserve forums) gave me a desperately needed hint of respect, and turned me into a neocon Randian. 9/11 continued to reinforce the neocon side. 2008 shook it out of me, bringing back the old experiential learning about the rich and powerful.

Politicians like Bernie and Tulsi may belong to a non-human species. They may not have a soul that can be shaken out and cleaned up by experiences. If they are human, Vega may be doing some good.