People Are Crazy and Times Are Strange
I used to care about the Democratic Party, but it's not the Democratic Party anymore. I used to care about elections, but there aren't elections anymore. I used to care about America, but this isn't America anymore. I've seen the greater evil fascists nominate a con man in Cleveland and the lesser evil fascists nominate a fraud in Philadelphia, I've seen the corporate media hammering the sky apart with their propaganda, hammering it apart as the stars stagger across the dark roof of this world and Sanders stumbles back to Vermont with what's left of his credibility.
People are crazy and times are strange,
I’m locked in tight, I’m out of range,
I used to care, but things have changed . . .
[video:https://youtu.be/DLB5_79WI4g width:500 height:333]
You know how it feels, I know how it feels, every progressive knows how it feels to be demonized by the Republicans, to be demonized by the Democrats, to be the target of their contempt and coercion and condescension, to be cursed and condemned and convicted by two-party-system criminals . . .
Standing on the gallows with my head in a noose,
Any minute now I’m expecting all hell to break loose . . .
There are times when a minute can feel like an eternity.
This is one of those times.
We supported the Vietnam protests, we supported the Iraq War protests, we supported the Occupy Wall Street protests. We've supported the Madison protests and the Moral Mondays protests, we supported the G7 and the G8 and the G20 protests, we poured our hearts and souls into the campaign of a 74-year-old protester, and now that campaign has come and gone . . .
Lot of water under the bridge, lot of other stuff too,
Don’t get up gentlemen, I’m only passing through . . .
Bernie gave it a shot, but he's done now. A Future To Believe In has been cancelled and global warming is heading this way to gather us all up in its burning arms . . .
[video:https://youtu.be/e3CEvbi5_Sc width:500 height:333]
Stronger Together, my ass.
A Future To Burn In Together should be the Democratic Party's campaign slogan.
How much more idiocy are we supposed to tolerate? How many more injustices, how many more outrages, how many more dead fathers, how many more dead mothers, how many more dead children? When are the police of the Powers That Be going to say, "Mama, take this badge off of me, I can't use it anymore.". How much innocent blood has to be on their hands before they finally say it? When are the soldiers of the war machine going to say, "Mama, put my guns in the ground, I can't shoot them anymore." How much innocent blood has to be on their hands before they finally say it?
They might not ever say it, they like their paychecks.
But the political revolution will go on, it will go on because of them, it will go on because of the criminals who control them, it will go on because we hear the voices of the working poor, the voices of the exploited, the voices of the homeless and the hungry and the heartbroken, we hear the voices of millions in despair damn near everywhere because there's always a Hillary, there's always a Trump, there's always a Putin and a Cameron and an Assad, and they're always a curse, all they ever do is make everything worse, and I'm here to tell you, the ghosts of the past are here to tell you, the Truth itself is here to tell you . . .
We hear the voices of their victims, we hear the voices of every one of their victims . . .
"Mama wipe these tears off of my face,
I can't see through them anymore,
Get me out of here,
Into some other place,
Feel like I'm knockin' on heaven's door."
I don't know if God is on the other side of that door, I don't know if Allah is on the other side of it, I don't know if anyone at all is on the other side of it, but that isn't the door we need to open. The doors we need to open are here on this earth, the doors we need to break down are the doors of the corporations, the doors of the bankers, the doors of the scheming lobbyists and lying generals and corrupt politicians in every capital city in this world.
Comments
I'm still standing
and with Jill Stein. Lets get her enough support they have to put her in the debates. I saw her up close and personal at the People's Convention. She is the real deal, just like Nina Turner, our other speaker. So Demexit and #JoinGreen.
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
You sure are, Steven D.
I'm with Jill too, I'll do everything I can to help generate support for her.
Thank you for your great posts from Philly!
"A Future To Burn In Together"
"A Future To Burn In Together..." If I'm going to burn, I'll burn with the truth speakers like Jill Stein and Bernie and Rusty and other truth tellers here. I will not acquiesce to any more game playing, any more "lesser evil." He played it to the best of his judgement, and I will not fault him. I will only thank him for his righteous effort as we perhaps all burn together on the pyre of the ignorant Self Promotion of those who cannot see.
Hi dharmasyd!
I just wish Bernie would have run as an independent all along. He must have known the DNC would sabotage his campaign and rig the primary process.
He'd just have been ignored into irrelevance,
the way Jill Stein has been. (And Gary Johnson, of the Libertarians, hasn't done any better for all his higher public profile.)
The Media have been kingmakers, and utterly corrupted by their power, since at least 1980 and probably long before that.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
Yeah, it might have happened that way.
But it might not have.
Bernie would still have drawn huge crowds and shattered fundraising records. And he would have been free to run all the way to November.
I'm still standing
Hey, Steven D. I was at the People's Convention, as well. I know the organizers of it, as well. They did a phenomenal job of organizing the whole thing.
https://www.facebook.com/PeoplesRev/?fref=ts The Peoples Revolution, you will see a number of posts there and pictures, as well ... a friend of mine and I are in the front row, in blue Bernie shirts.
The speakers were tremendous, full of passion and concern ... we learned more about the black problems, more about the impoverished and so, so much more. It was heartbreaking and moved many of us to tears at times .....!
All of that in sweltering 97 degree heat and humidity! We didn't have much of a chance to circulate and meet others, or, we might have actually met. I did grab a bite to eat and sat down. The man next to me turned out to be a Vermonter, of 13 years ... his praise of Bernie was something else ... he said that Bernie had won 86% of the votes in every single county in Vermont. He has been and is loved for a long, long time now.
At least we were both there
Great day for me. I was working as the head of the "Press team" which meant I had a lot of time to myself, because the press, other than BillMoyers.com, some stringer from the Fresno Bee, and a lot of bloggers etc. were the only press I saw. Their loss. I'll bet we might have been in the same room once or twice. I was lucky to a have a front row seat for the speeches. Send me a PM if you want. Be glad to hear what your day there was like.
Steve
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
at least we were both there
Yes, it's more than possible that we were, in fact, in the same room at the same time.
I was so engrossed on that which was going on, from speaker to speaker .. I sincerely didn't notice much about the people around me. I was close enough to Nina Turner and Jill Stein that I could have actually reached out and touched either one. Bill Moyers & Co. does also have an article up on it.
I have been in serious "mourning" over the past few days and I'm hoping to get to the point where I will make a post about the Peoples Convention on FB, that is my hope.
If you wish, we can become friends ... I am on FB -- my name is B El Murphy there.
Thank you for being there, Tahoe.
I'm grateful to everyone who was there.
wipe off the tears and get me outta here ...
thanks, Rusty.
A man who has no tears has no heart.
We shall overcome.
A man who has no tears has no heart
Believe me, Rusty, though I'm not a man, I've shed tears off and on since Monday, July 25, 2016 .. happens spontaneously! Wrote about it yesterday!
The sadness lingers on, given to sudden tears,
The PEOPLE’s voices have been stolen and beaten back,
We “mourn” the loss of that which should have been,
A presidential candidate and People’s “friend,”
The best WE could ever have hoped to have seen,
Stripped of heart and spirit, but not of will,
In a country steeped in lies of its own existence
and purpose, the “species” threatened,
Yet, flouts the word “DEMOCRACY!”
FORWARD with The Political Revolution Movement!
Very well said, Tahoe, very poetic.
I'm still mad at Conyers.
I'll forgive Bernie, he gave it all he had, but I'll never forgive Conyers.
Well, it was at least prosey, not so poetic!
I wanted to speak from my heart and that's what I did, Rusty! I'm still aching inside. It's going to take quite a long while. Recall that we have been screaming and yelling for a long time, we were heard, but ignored. Bernie gave US a Voice, and WE, in turn, gave him a Voice. Thousands of us across this land, as did Bernie, worked hard and endlessly on his campaign, putting in thousands of man hours, donations, all kinds of efforts, door to door petition gathering, for both Bernie and delegates, phone-banking, marches, rallies, getting information out ... an endless array of efforts, only to have it all sabotaged by the DNC and the HC campaign, from beginning to end.
As to Conyers, he was, in reality, a waste of time .. sometimes, I think he simply was taunting us and we responded in kind ... though, we thought we were doing the right thing .... who knew?
(BTW, Rusty, how do you know who voted for you? I don't know anything about this site.)
Yeah, it hurts.
We gave it all, we did everything we could for Bernie, and you've been one of his most dedicated, tireless supporters, Tahoe. All we can do is keep fighting back.
The thumbs up system here is anonymous, which is good in a way and I understand the reasoning for it. But it has taken some getting used to.
The establishment always tries...
to claim credit for the work of the masses, and that they ALWAYS supported them.
Until of course they can turn us into either a punchline or a meaningless symbol of how we must listen to the establishment.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
The establishment is obscene.
And so is everyone who supports it.
The establishment is obscene.
The United States of Amerika!
http://nhtourguide.com/images/forum_images/emoticons/kneel_suckers_smile...
This is the message of today ... doesn't matter from which party it comes. Reality is that both parties play off of each other and we are caught between the games they play with us, but the PEOPLE lose over and over.
This is the message and the pattern that MUST end ... we take a stand - no lesser of two evils period. For me, I will not vote for Trump and I will not vote for the "dragon lady" of Amerika .. I will either vote for Jill Stein, or Bernie, should he decide to run on a write-in ticket. In reality, it's not a vote for Hillary, or Trump, but a no vote for either of them and a vote for a 3rd party, so to speak! Time to show the DNC, they have brought this upon themselves.
Exactly.
Not "everyone who supports it" is obscene.
Many -- I daresay most -- are victims who don't yet know how victimized they are. We need to enlighten them.
Those of us who are already in revolt are merely us victims who have discovered that we are, indeed, victims, and wish to transition to the status of survivors.
Our numbers must needs increase, and they will.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
That's a valid assessment.
But my patience with those who don't yet see how victimized they are is wearing very thin.
Brainwashing alters
Brainwashing alters perceptions; they are doubly victimized because probably the most despicable thing that can be done to anyone is to have their brains/minds messed with, whether with 'cost-cutting' polluted and lead-laden city water supplies or propaganda leading them 'willingly' into servitude or a deadfall.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
from a
1986 exchange between Bob Dylan and a Mr. Jones.
I've always loved Dylan.
He always has intriguing things to say, and not only in his lyrics.
Thank you, hecate.
Thanks hecate
I was thinking of Dylan's words about politics today. He's right you know, you listen to this stuff you go crazy and do not even know who you are anymore. People just get uglier and you lose all sense of time.
People just get uglier and you lose all sense of time.
Thanks for reminding me of this song, shaharazade . . .
[video:https://youtu.be/l6Q4WoRf5Os width:500 height:333]
Thanks for the exerpt from the Dylan interview.
"Just call me Hillbilly Dem(exit)."
-H/T to Wavey Davey
As one old lefty to another, Rusty [[hugs]]
Let us hold on to each other until the pain has lessened enough for our brains to take over again. It's okay to hurt. I realize that the arc of justice is just too fucking long. Fuggum.
Life is strong. I'm weak, but Life is strong.
Yeah, we remember all the battles in this long war for justice.
It helps to remind ourselves that we were so much older then, we're younger than that now.
Thank you, featheredsprite, and a big hug back.
BTW, have you guys voted on this Wikileaks poll on twitter?
Jill is doing pretty good right now.
@WikiLeaks #WikiLeaksPoll
Life is strong. I'm weak, but Life is strong.
She is.
Thanks for the link, I just voted for Jill there.
Is the poll done? The link
Is the poll done? The link was dead for me and searching for it by copy-pasting the link failed to turn it up...
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
It's done, 117,000 people voted.
50% for Trump.
22% for Hillary.
16% for Stein.
12% for Johnson.
Thanks, I'd been hoping that
Thanks, I'd been hoping that Jill had stayed on top, which is where she was, if I have the right poll, but I'm guessing that Trump and Hillary each engaged a clickfarm for extra votes and Trump's was yuuuuge. At least, that's my theory and I'm sticking to it.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
It does seem strange that Trump won a Wikileaks poll.
I agree with your theory.
People Are Crazy and Times Are Strange
"Sanders stumbles back to Vermont with what's left of his credibility."
Rusty, yes, we were all stunned by Bernie's prolonged endorsement of Hillary, at the Convention. I have friend delegates who were there and whose hearts dropped on hearing his words, as did mine. However, to say that Bernie "dumped us" so to speak has never set well with me ... simply because that's not Bernie, period. He did, in fact, say from the beginning, that he would endorse whichever Democratic candidate was the apparent "winner" .... he is not a man to go back on his words, one of the reasons we love him. However, we felt he might well have, because of all the rotten, filthy things that the DNC and the HC campaign, and the MSM, too, had done to him (him as a conduit for US) from the very beginning. In other words, he would have been justified. It was the election fraud and voter suppression that quelled and formed the reality. California, though, the reality is that he won California, came up as a loss. In fact, Bernie probably won the primaries altogether, except that the threads of corruption ran very deep and altered his course. See: the Rolling Stones interview with Jane Sanders [ http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/jane-sanders-why-bernie-vo... ]-- it's sensible, although devoid of so much more, as it would be. I have read and totally believe that there was much more that went on behind the scenes and the exposure of some Wikileaks proves as much, and there is more than that, yet. Bernie has a deep gash on his cheek, which he did not have at the time of his endorsement speech on Monday .... supposedly, an article was posted about it late Monday night. You can note the details on my Timeline ... he may have been sucker-punched ...and you know GD well, "they" are capable of just such acts. Remember, too, that we received an e-mail from Bernie requesting that delegates and people attending not "act up," etc. And, although, I believe the Bernie delegates were justified in everything that they did, it may have been Bernie that payed the price.
At any rate, the reality is that the PEOPLE, through Bernie, have been told to go fuck themselves. They don't care about leveling the playing field, they don't care about our needs and wants, and on and on .... THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT THE PEOPLE PERIOD. Just send in your tax-paying dollars and accept a fucking every chance they get to do it. That's the reality of the message behind it all.
Apart that, let me say that I love one of my oldest online buddies' diary .. that is my Rustoid, as I used to say. So well done and Dylan fits in so well. Many thanks.
FORWARD WITH THE POLITICAL REVOLUTION!
Help me!
How do you know who in the heck has voted for your comment, etc.? I don't know much about this place!
Hi Tahoe...
you can't and that's by design. It removes the emotional manipulation that leads to tribalism and flying monkey gang warfare. You'll get used to it and then you'll realize the beauty of it.
Hi, Tahoe
Hey, JtC ... I'm unemotional, as you can well tell ;), so it was not necessary for me. (LOL!) O.K., I get it, now. Thanks for your response and how the heck are you? TahoeStill
I'm great, thanks for asking...
I'm as busy as a flying monkey over a poppy field, but doing well. How about yourself?
How am I?
Not real sure at the moment. Really taken aback by all that has transpired!
Whirlwind trip to Philly, driving with friend, arriving at 12:30 a.m. on July 23, 2016, getting about 3 hours sleep, up and at 'em to get to the People's Convention and so much more ... was hectic and exhausting, bu worth the sleeplessness and efforts!
Thank you, JtC ... I remember you
Yes, you're very even-tempered, Tahoe.
You're always pissed off.
With a ton of good reasons to be.
evening rusty...
this is one of those times.
but it's really not such a bad time. a lot of people have all invested themselves in a process and vast numbers of them have learned a lot of things at the same time and have drawn similar conclusions.
there are enough of us on the same page right now that we just might be able to move forward together and act in concert. lots of connections have been made, the movement, having lost its leadership focus will probably recognize that it doesn't need a leader. a decentralized but connected movement is a pretty powerful thing as we learned during the first phase of occupy.
there is opportunity here, people realize that we are going to have to up our game.
we're all still standing.
This may be the last opportunity we get.
We'd better do what needs to be done or this is over.
Thank you for reading my essay and commenting, Joe.
Tears
Anyone who cannot see and feel the suffering of real human beings under the scourge of neo-liberalism and not be moved to tears has no soul. This essay has moved me to tears. You have a way of expressing so much of what many of us feel in our hearts and cannot say is as eloquently as you do. Thank you, Rusty1776.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Thank you, gulfgal98.
When the night has come, and the land is dark . . .
[video:https://youtu.be/8XL6C3vY0jM width:500 height:333]
What gulfgal98 and others
What gulfgal98 and others have said. Except that the physical tears were frozen in place by a hard, cold NO! rising in my chest and I recalled the hope I felt in The People, rising in pacific self-defense at last, in so many different areas and ways.
Thanks, Rusty1776. Hope, like rust, must never sleep.
Edited to add what might almost be a great democratic socialist anthem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfvzZ4KSw8g&index=27&list=RDVZYyKcf1JmM
Beth Hart & Joe Bonamassa - I'll Take Care Of You
We must all hang together, lest we hang separately.
History never repeats quite the same way twice, does it?
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Thank you, Rusty...
Ashamed for this country, disgusted with the unconscious minions.
I think Goebbels would be a tad jealous of the Propaganda machine
these fucks have in place. Voices of a few good people, drowned out by
corporate voters; who will, of course, wind up with nothing.
"What the hell are we doing here? There's no money here. Get
me the hell out of here." Senator HRC - Driving through upstate NY...
Goebbels would be green with envy.
That comment of HRC's in upstate NY definitely reveals her cynicism and contempt for the people she claims to be fighting for.
Thank you, Santa Susanna Kid.
Jill would never let Goebbels
Jill would never let Goebbels in the Greens, though he'd fit well in either of the corporate parties, of course.
Edit: this is not my fault - I was infected by a Horrid Punster I once dated, and have had really bad jokes ever since...
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Heh. It's pretty good for 2 AM.
Lol, probably just looks
Lol, probably just looks better at 2 AM - 2:30 here now. So much for early to bed...
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Or maybe it's incredibly good and we're just too tired to
realize that.
5 AM and I'm too tired to
5 AM and I'm too tired to sleep, lol, but I can still recognize incredible tact when I see it.
*hugs*
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Thanks Rusty!
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
Excellent tune.
Clinton Kaine '84. Heh. Good one!
Thank you, Night Owl who is also Not Henry Kissinger.
Good running into you over in a corner of FB this AM, Rusty!
Nice to run into familiar handles. I am running real life name over there.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
We're everywhere, riverlover!
That's why we get paid big bucks.
Of course, the way you break
Of course, the way you break things isn't by kvetching on the Internet or lying down in the street peacefully waiting to be arrested...
That's very true.