OT - 11-05-15: Leave them laughing

Submitted by Shahryar on Thu, 11/05/2015 - 6:00am

I hate how Hollywood changes books and makes them syrupy, feel-good stories, like Elmer Gantry for example.

The movie version ends with Elmer being a changed man who has seen the light is now able to see clearly. Yikes!

"When I was a child, I spake as a child. I understood as a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things. St Paul, First Corinthians"

Here's that bit, as he sings with Patti Page

Here's how it really ends, in Sinclair Lewis' book:

"O Lord, thou hast stooped from thy mighty throne and rescued thy
servant from the assault of the mercenaries of Satan! Mostly we
thank thee because thus we can go on doing thy work, and thine
alone! Not less but more zealously shall we seek utter purity and
the prayer-life, and rejoice in freedom from all temptations!"

He turned to include the choir, and for the first time he saw that
there was a new singer, a girl with charming ankles and lively
eyes, with whom he would certainly have to become well acquainted.
But the thought was so swift that it did not interrupt the pæan of
his prayer:

"Let me count this day, Lord, as the beginning of a new and more
vigorous life, as the beginning of a crusade for complete morality
and the domination of the Christian church through all the land.
Dear Lord, thy work is but begun! We shall yet make these United
States a moral nation!"

Gantry was always a grifter, a salesman who became a Jimmy Swaggert type. But you know, big-time media doesn't want to attack grifters. So we have Ben Carson, Donald Trump, Sarah Palin, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Anyway, I was thinking about Sinclair Lewis and his "It Can't Happen Here" and how it already has. Of course people read into our current situation what they want to. I found an article today from a rightwing perspective saying of course it's the Democrats who are turning the country into a fascist state. Democrats think it's the Republicans. Many of us think it's both.

Lewis' political character, Buzz Windrip, is like Huey Long, sort of. He gets into power and Mussolinis out. No dissent allowed, business leaders run the courts, prisons everywhere for political opponents. Eventually the Karl Rove of the story shoots his way into the Presidency then gets his and we're saved.

Windrip reminds me of "Prexy", the President in John Brunner's book "The Sheep Look Up". Literature is full of this stuff. That's because smart writers can see what's happening and want to warn everyone, fat lot of good it does!

But here's a scene from "The Case of the Mukkinese Battle Horn"

and another

As usual I think the solution to the world's problems is to point out, as loudly as possible, that the current reality is absurd. Make fun of it! They hate that!

We have headlines like "Russian plane crash: US intel suggests ISIS bomb brought down jet" and "Violent Rampage at UC Merced" and "US will not pause Keystone review; Obama expected to reject". It's insane!

So....let's go to the places where they don't want to hear us and let's remind them that it's pitiful and laughable. Especially laughable.

Tags:

Sinclair Lewis

John Brunner

It Can't Happen Here

The Goons

Vote

Comments

Submitted by cybrestrike on Thu, 11/05/2015 - 7:54am

Good morning!

It's Thursday and I've got to get to a wedding for two old friends of mine this afternoon. Should be fun. Can't wait!

Let the battle begin! or Is it already too late? The text of the TPP has been released.
TPP Released
Ignore the comments in that diary. Shrike, corporate shill that he/she is, is basically gloating that they'll be right about how awesome it is for all of us. That's all you need to know about the comments section. The real meat is in the links. I think we're all going to be busy reading a whole lot this weekend.

MSF claims that the staff at their Kunduz hospital were shot at fleeing the attack.
HuffPo: Doctors Without Borders Staff Shot While Fleeing Kunduz Hospital, Report Finds
Public release of initial MSF internal review (PDF)

Okay, I've got to find a way to be in three places at once--including my office. Cheers!

Submitted by Shahryar on Thu, 11/05/2015 - 10:55am

does the White House ever comment on this sort of thing?

or is the administration, any administration, beyond being questioned? Specifically, the bombing of the hospital is apparently going to be ignored.

From Reuters:

The U.S. investigation is headed by a U.S. general and two brigadier generals.

A separate NATO casualty report into the incident, originally expected in October, has been delayed while the investigation continues, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced last month.

which means it will be put off until everyone forgets about it.

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Thu, 11/05/2015 - 8:53am

Good morning all

I just have to say it is hot and humid here in Florida. 2014 was the warmest year on record but we have set local records for the hottest October here in Tallahassee. And we are heading 260 miles further south to St. Pete tomorrow where they had a high in the 90's earlier this week. Climate change is definitely upon us.

I looked at the diary on the TPP that cybrestrike linked and I continue to be appalled at those who support the TPP because of our awesome President. Sadly, with fast track authority now given, it is all over but the signing. Congress once again showed complete dereliction of duty with fast track just as they did with the AUMF.

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Submitted by dkmich on Thu, 11/05/2015 - 9:13am

Good morning

Everytime I listened to Obama in 2008, all I could see was Burt Lancaster in a big white tent. It does apply to Hillary too, but her pitch is more protestant than evangelical.

This video is making the rounds on Facebook. I don't know how to embed it. The GOP is going to eat Hillary for lunch.

https://www.facebook.com/nohillaryin2016/videos/1092672604079045/

—

"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Thu, 11/05/2015 - 9:22am

No matter what

I refuse to vote for her.

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Submitted by dkmich on Thu, 11/05/2015 - 10:07am

Lots of people who normally vote for the "lesser of evil"

are drawing that same line in the sand. You and I are two of them.

—

"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Submitted by shaharazade on Thu, 11/05/2015 - 12:25pm

I'm another one not voting for HRC

I didn't vote for Obama in 2012 because the lesser evil, fear of the RW, is just absurd at this point. I voted for Jill Stein who got less then 5% of the vote. If HRC is the Dem. candidate I'll vote Green. I will vote for Senator Merkley and that's about it as my so called blue state is filled with bent corrupt pols disguised as Democrat's.

Submitted by shaharazade on Thu, 11/05/2015 - 12:36pm

Here you go

I embedded it for you.

Submitted by dkmich on Thu, 11/05/2015 - 1:31pm

lol

Thanks, but that's not it. It is funny though.

Here's another must read. Seriously, Bernie needs to hire this guy or at least read his article. This is the commercial Bernie needs to make.

What is democratic socialism, American-style?
By Peter Dreier, CNN

—

"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Submitted by mimi on Thu, 11/05/2015 - 2:00pm

isn't it funny that Peter Dreier lectures at Occidental College

which, if I remember it correctly, Obama attended from 1979 to 1981. Looks as if Obama didn't take his classes, may be he could do so now ...

Submitted by gjohnsit on Thu, 11/05/2015 - 11:21am

It keeps getting more stupid in Syria

Nothing to see here

In the past month of intensifying Russian airstrikes, the CIA and its partners have increased the flow of military supplies to rebels in northern Syria, including of U.S.-made TOW antitank missiles, these officials said. Those supplies will continue to increase in coming weeks, replenishing stocks depleted by the regime’s expanded military offensive...
In addition to the arms the U.S. has agreed to provide, Saudi and Turkish officials have renewed talks with their American counterparts about allowing limited supplies of shoulder-fire man-portable air-defense systems, or Manpads, to select rebels. Those weapons could help target regime aircraft, in particular those responsible for dropping barrel bombs, and could also help keep Russian air power at bay, the officials said.
Mr. Obama has long rebuffed such proposals, citing the risk to civilian aircraft and fears they could end up in the hands of terrorists. To reduce those dangers, U.S. allies have proposed retrofitting the equipment to add so-called kill switches and specialized software that would prevent the operator from using the weapon outside a designated area, said officials in the region briefed on the option.

U.S. intelligence agencies are concerned that a few older Manpads may already have been smuggled into Syria through supply channels the CIA doesn’t control.

A Manpad is what brought down that Malaysian jet in the Ukraine.

Submitted by gjohnsit on Thu, 11/05/2015 - 11:45am

Yes, this looks like a war crime

Doctors Without Borders

The medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders released its internal report on Thursday about the October attack on its hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan.
At least 30 people were killed in the airstrikes, led by U.S. forces, the report said. "Patients burned in their beds," it added, and "medical staff were decapitated and lost limbs."

The organization found that "a patient in a wheelchair attempting to escape from the
inpatient department ... was killed by shrapnel from a blast."

The report also revealed that pilots shot at staff members fleeing the hospital.

"Many staff describe seeing people being shot, most likely from the plane, as people tried to flee the main hospital building that was being hit with each airstrike," the report said. "Some accounts mention shooting that appears to follow the movement of people on the run. [Doctors Without Borders] doctors and other medical staff were shot while running to reach safety in a different part of the compound."

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Thu, 11/05/2015 - 12:49pm

The bombing alone

was a war crime. The question is will the international community finally stand up to the United States. I am afraid not. And so the rogue terrorist nation formerly known as the United States will continue down it path toward world destruction.

Edit to add: I am thoroughly pissed.

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Submitted by gjohnsit on Thu, 11/05/2015 - 12:08pm

About that raid in Iraq...

The story keeps changing

Last month's raid on an Islamic State prison in Hawija, Iraq, conducted by a U.S. Delta Force Team and Kurdish special forces resulted not only in the death of the first American in the country since 2011 and the beheading of four Kurds by the jihadists. According to a Kurdish intelligence chief, it also ended up freeing scores of the former tormentors of his people: Iraqis still loyal to the Baathist ideology of Saddam Hussein. And it has exacerbated new political divisions among the Kurds, who have been the U.S.'s best allies in the fight against the Islamic State.
Initially the raid was said to have freed 69 Kurdish prisoners. But within 24 hours the Kurdistan Regional Government officially said no Kurds were freed. At the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on Tuesday, Lahur Talabani, the head of the Kurdish Zanyari intelligence service, said the raid instead ended up freeing Arab members of the Naqshbandi Army, a Baathist group formed of former high-ranking intelligence and military officers loyal to Saddam Hussein.

While the U.S. allied with some former Baathists during the counter-insurgency in 2007 and 2008 known as the surge, the strategy of teaming up with former members of the regime never sat well with many Kurds. What's more, the Islamic State has counted on collaboration from many Baathists as well, who are largely fellow Sunni Muslims. While the freed Baathist prisoners could provide intelligence for the U.S.-led coalition, the high-risk operation may well have ended up freeing prisoners whose compatriots have backed the Islamic State.

Submitted by gjohnsit on Thu, 11/05/2015 - 12:35pm

Edmund Morgan quote

"The success of government...requires the acceptance of fictions, requires the willing suspension of disbelief, requires us to believe that the emperor is clothed even though we can see that he is not.”
“Just as the exaltation of the king could be a means of controlling him, so the exaltation of the people can be a means of controlling them.... If the representative consented, his constituents had to make believe that they had done so."

Submitted by gjohnsit on Thu, 11/05/2015 - 1:27pm

Million Mask March in London

Now underway; live blog

Amazon warns employees

Official site

“We now face a dilemma unfamiliar to any previous human civilization, we face this dilemma not simply as a community, nor a nation; rather collectively as a planet. We have something no previous generation has ever had, the internet,”
- Anonymous said in its 2015 promo video for the Million Mask March.

Submitted by mimi on Thu, 11/05/2015 - 8:55pm

Do you know why and when this rule was created at the gos?

I just happen to read comments over there in which someone said that linking to the MondoWeiss site was basically condemned or worse.

For years I never read any I/P diaries over there and still don't do. But what about MondoWeiss? Apparently the rule goes back to Meteor Blades and is a very old one. I missed what that was all about and would like to know. All issues with regards to Israel and Palestine I don't understand very well. May be one day I will. I just wished I had the insight that you all have.

Submitted by lotlizard on Fri, 11/06/2015 - 1:22am

Pro-I side convinced MB that Mondo contained anti-Semitic posts

Of course, everyone needs to be aware that the sort of thing described below also goes on:

From Common Dreams:
The Double Identity of an "Anti-Semitic" Commenter — Smearing a Progressive Website to Support Israel

Like many other news websites, Common Dreams has been plagued by inflammatory anti-Semitic comments following its stories. But on Common Dreams these posts have been so frequent and intense they have driven away donors from a nonprofit dependent on reader generosity.

A Common Dreams investigation has discovered that more than a thousand of these damaging comments over the past two years were written with a deceptive purpose by a Jewish Harvard graduate in his thirties who was irritated by the website's discussion of issues involving Israel.

His intricate campaign, which he has admitted to Common Dreams, included posting comments by a screen name, "JewishProgressive," whose purpose was to draw attention to and denounce the anti-Semitic comments that he had written under many other screen names.

The deception was many-layered. At one point he had one of his characters charge that the anti-Semitic comments and the criticism of the anti-Semitic comments must be written by "internet trolls who have been known to impersonate anti-Semites in order to then double-back and accuse others of supporting anti-Semitism" — exactly what he was doing. (Trolls are posters who foment discord.)

The impersonation, this character wrote, must be part of an "elaborate Hasbara setup," referring to an Israeli international public-relations campaign. When Common Dreams finally confronted the man behind the deceptive posting, he denied that he himself was involved with Hasbara.

Only the tip of the iceberg? Further commentary and links from Washington's Blog regarding the wider phenomenon:

The Secret Playbook of Internet Trolls — What’s Confusing You Is the Nature of Their Game

And also from the same blog:

How to Spot — and Defeat — Disruption on the Internet: The 15 Rules of Web Disruption

DKos trivia item: the writer with the handle "Ray Pensador" kept linking to the disruption rules and discussing how DKos comment threads suffered from them. That appeared to be one of the major reasons he was run off the site.

Submitted by mimi on Fri, 11/06/2015 - 12:59pm

Thank you, lotlizard, reading all that, I just do regret even

more how much time and emotions I wasted reading through comment threads on dailykos. I wonder if such behavior (like the one described in Commomdreams, this guy they called Beck, a Harvard graduate), is not a psychiatric disorder. A very strange obsession and well used and abused. Even used by government institutions ?... Jeez. So disgusting.

Anyhow, just gives me more reasons to retreat from online comment reading. It's a curse in many aspects.

I love me my old books. I appreciate your links and explanations, lotlizard, a lot. I think distance and retreat is the way to reduce ones own manipulation by what you read online. Sigh.