Taking It To The Streets In L.A.

Still going strong and not backing down. I'm still smack dab in the middle and lovin' it! Here are a few links to headlines:

Protests continue in Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia

https://www.google.com/amp/www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-trump-...

'We're called redneck, ignorant, racist. That's not true': Trump supporters explain why they voted for him

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-donald-trump-american-voices-2...


LAUSD Students Walk Out of Classes as Anti-Trump Protests Continue

https://www.google.com/amp/ktla.com/2016/11/14/l-a-students-planning-ant...

I haven't had a chance to respond to comments in previous posts and will try to do better. To quickly sum up, these Protests are way more than anti-Trump. A firestorm like this is a response to pent up frustration about many issues that have been accumulating for decades. Trump's election victory was the straw that broke the camel's back.

The massive law enforcement over reaction continues. I have been able to see 20-30 cop cars from where I am sitting pretty much all day long, between 10:00 a.m. and midnight.

Merry Christmas to all of the children of any law enforcement agency in L.A ! Budget draining overtime for all!

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Alex Ocana's picture

Judging from my friends and groups who are involved in the protests, I would say that MSM and right-wing nut-balls are painting an untrue and warped picture of what the demonstrations goals are. Its a way to discredit the issues being brought to fore and infantilize ("crybabies") or demonize ("anarchist thugs" or "liberals") the protesters. Of course MSM wants you to believe its all about boo-who Clinton lost.

I can see all over social media this meme has been accepted as fact.

Example. Skip ahead until the lady on the left starts to speak.

https://www.facebook.com/socialistworker/videos/10154753358409066/

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From the Light House.

Steven D's picture

I note this link quoting DeBlasio calling for continued protests:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/mayor-de-blasio-urges-americans...

And this one where Bernie Sanders supports the students protesting the election

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/11/13/sanders...

Make of them what you will.

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"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott

Few more Autumn's and Spring's to see.
Yet,
I will stand among the cannon fodder of the first ranks.
Protecting the youth behind.
gillotine.GIF

Police State Clarification Statement: I am not currently, nor have I ever been, nor do I intend to ever be,
in possession of a guillotine.

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With their hearts they turned to each others heart for refuge
In troubled years that came before the deluge
*Jackson Browne, 1974, Before the Deluge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SX-HFcSIoU

Not Henry Kissinger's picture

A firestorm like this is a response to pent up frustration about many issues that have been accumulating for decades.

Gotta admit I'm more than dubious that these protests are not a color revolution in disguise, but I'm willing to be persuaded.

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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?

Meteor Man's picture

There are roots in this highly charged protest that run through Occupy and Black Lives Matter and intertwine with Anti-War Protests against the Bush/Obama Unjust Wars.

History is being made right here, right now. The causes and motivations of this many people are multi-faceted and complex.

Here's a comment I recently made in a post by Thumb:

There were many legitimate reasons to despise and fear a Hillary Clinton presidency. I registered Green and voted for Jill Stein, but if forced to choose between Trump and Hillary I would have voted Trump. In my opinion Henry Kissinger's endorsement was a sufficient reason to choose Trump over Hillary. Does that make me a racist, sexist homophobe? Or does that make me a principled anti-war activist?

http://caucus99percent.com/comment/reply/8832/210289

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

Not Henry Kissinger's picture

There are roots in this highly charged protest that run through Occupy and Black Lives Matter and intertwine with Anti-War Protests against the Bush/Obama Unjust Wars.

Two of your essay links clearly say these are anti-Trump protests. But are you saying that's not true?

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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?

thanatokephaloides's picture

Two of your essay links clearly say these are anti-Trump protests. But are you saying that's not true?

I daresay Meteor Man is telling us that anti-Trump isn't all these protests are all about. IMHO, Anti-Trump alone would not have sustained this kind of ongoing social unrest for the length of time it has been going on. But the explanation offered by MM, that the outrage of the Clinton camp at having lost the election has ignited a much larger runaway wildfire decades in the making, would explain just that.

I'm hoping against hope that this is the case; that breaking the bottle has let all the pissed-off jinn out to wreak some well-deserved disruption. Truly, it's time for some torch-and-pitchfork action here.

Smile

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Not Henry Kissinger's picture

But my strong guess its just corporate Dem party operatives behind the scenes organizing this vague 'protest' by well-meaning but naive Progressives in order to delegitimize the election.

After all, kinda hard to see a lot of Occupy people so angry that Hillary wasn't elected that they come out to protest Trump, but if nobody's clear about what this is all really about, it becomes easy to morph everybody's issues into a general disturbance that Hillary and the Dems obliquely benefit from.

That's what I think is going on, and Meteor Man's rather fuzzy if enthusiastic answer actually helps convince me that's their strategy.

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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?

I tend to share in some skepticism. I think I somewhere read the other day that some of these protests are facilitated by paid organizers that were both identified on-camera/interviews on-the-street of the protest that were explicitly matched up with names in some of the WikiLeaks DNC emails. What I read highlighted the protest news story names to corresponding names mentioned in some of the leaked emails.

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dance you monster's picture

I swear the Republicans better not do away with Obamacare too quickly, 'cuz if it turns out that it's the Hillary folks who start the Revolution, well, I don't know what the medical term is for laughing one's ass off, but I'm gonna need mine fixed. I need something to sit on!

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Cassiodorus's picture

I won't be coerced through mandate penalties into buying expensive insurance I won't be able to afford anymore!

What'll I do?

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

Meteor Man's picture

Explain "fuzzy". My hashtag says #L.A. Protests. I am not responsible for the label placed on the protesters by the M$M. Life on the streets of L.A. are already hectic. I recently relocated from Skid Row to the Union Station/Olivera Street Mexican Museum/China Town Area. I am two blocks from City Hall/Grand Park where the protesters are focusing. My location is buzzed by LAPD helicopters (aka Ghetto Birds) all day and up to or past midnight. Constant sirens from the LAPD, LASD and CHP add to the pandemonium of protesters literally marching across my front porch.

What part of pandemonium confuses you?

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

thanatokephaloides's picture

Maybe...

But my strong guess its just corporate Dem party operatives behind the scenes organizing this vague 'protest' by well-meaning but naive Progressives in order to delegitimize the election.

Well, then, do please consider this:

"The easiest way to raise an army to fight your enemy is to borrow somebody else's, especially if it belongs to your enemy."

-- The Anarchist Cookbook

If I were still in physical shape to protest, this is exactly what I'd be doing. Why not? Spend George Soros' dollars to essentially cause Occupy to rise from its ashes? Fuck yes!

And from a symptomatic analysis, the results would be exactly what we're seeing right now for quite a while, namely an original core of Clintonistas trying to delegitimize the election results slowly but surely finding themselves ever more a minority and out of control of the firestorm they themselves ignited, while the rage turns into the direction it should go in -- against the plutocrats.

Methinks Meteor Man is observing just this in the happening.

Cat willing, please!

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Not Henry Kissinger's picture

If I were still in physical shape to protest, this is exactly what I'd be doing. Why not? Spend George Soros' dollars to essentially cause Occupy to rise from its ashes? Fuck yes!

Plenty of well meaning protesters at Maidan ate Victoria Nuland's cookies in hopes of creating a less corrupt and more responsive government. Now look where they are.

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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?

The message is all boo-hoo, no Hillary for us.

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thanatokephaloides's picture

But no one is borrowing this army

The message is all boo-hoo, no Hillary for us.

I don't know what's happening where you live, but I can tell you that this isn't the case in Los Angeles or anywhere in Colorado I'm aware of.

In these locations at least, it appears that the Hillbots lit their well-financed matches all right -- only to ignite a large pool of boiling gasoline which they don't control at all.

The majority of demonstrators here in Colorado are protesting Trumpiana which have nothing to do with Hillary, and would still be totally valid if the Martians snatched every Clinton from the Planet at midnight tonight: his stances on Muslims, war, abortion rights, etc. And the blame for those is entirely on Trump himself. When one hurls vile aphorisms out as red meat for a conservative base, one needs to be far more careful than The Donald was, to make sure they don't come back to bite you.

Please understand: I don't deny that the Hillbots started this. But there's more to it than that now. And I think that Ms. Sawant and Co. are definitely trying to borrow this army -- with some success.

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Amanda Matthews's picture

accomplish if it's not overturning the election. And don't say 'to make people aware' because that's just insulting and makes the arrogant assumption that people are too stupid to understand the reality the live in every day. We already know. That's why Clinton lost.

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

thanatokephaloides's picture

Then maybe you can explain what they're hoping to
accomplish if it's not overturning the election.

It's going back to the real issues in these people's lives. It's letting all the PTB know that Trump got elected not from merit, but from utter desperation. And it's to let the new President know that there will be no "honeymoon" if he tries to recede into typical Republican governance.

Go and read the Socialist Alternative Party website's articles on the protest actions. I suggest this because there you will find much better answers to your question than I can provide off the top of my head. I remind you that SA was and is no supporter of Hillary Clinton!

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Amanda Matthews's picture

VERY BRIEF SNIPPET FROM OCCUPY.COM

New York police estimated that 25,000 turned out Saturday. They chanted phrases such as "We reject the president-elect." Protests were also held in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, Miami, Birmingham, Alabama, and Fresno, California, among other places. -

http://www.occupy.com/article/day-five-anti-trump-protests-demonstration...

***

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

gulfgal98's picture

There is something about these "spontaneous" demonstrations that does not seem all that spontaneous. This did not happen when Clinton got the nomination over the very popular Bernie Sanders. And yet it suddenly erupts on behalf of a very unpopular and corrupt candidate who is known for the dirtiest of political dirty tricks and whose support was characterized as being a mile wide and an inch deep. It is also odd that this suddenly occurs simultaneously with a petition to electors at the electoral college to ignore the voters they supposedly represent. All in all, it reeks highly of the Clintons once again doing everything they can to try to steal the election after it has happened.

Edit to add: I just read the post immediately above me and perhaps there is some validity to these protests.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

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

divineorder's picture

pent up frustration and anger from disparate progressive groups, given a chance to coordinate with social media.

Day Five of Anti-Trump Protests As Demonstrations Continue Nationwide
- See more at: http://www.occupy.com/article/day-five-anti-trump-protests-demonstration...

After thousands of people took to the streets across the country Saturday to display dissent for Donald Trump's election, many more demonstrations began all over the nation Sunday afternoon — the fifth straight day of protests.

Organizers created Facebook events to help coordinate anti-Trump protesters in a number of large cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Oakland, California, and San Francisco, as well as smaller cities such as Springfield, Massachusetts; Erie, Pennsylvania; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and New Haven, Connecticut.

In New York on Sunday, thousands of demonstrators gathered outside Trump Tower to protest the president-elect. They then marched down Sixth Avenue before returning to chant outside the president-elect's Manhattan residence.

Taking part in her first march, Lizzy Lovinger, 28, said that as a queer woman she feared the racist, xenophobic and misogynistic rhetoric that grew out of Trump's campaign but believed this movement was encouraging.

"I think this is a really promising show of support for women, people of color, immigrants, Muslims, and for survivors of violence, and I think it is important to be here and be part of that support," she said.

Between chants like "We are the popular vote," Madeline Mendez, 50, said she knew many of her immigrant neighbors were worried that they could be deported and separated from their children.

As a lifelong New Yorker who grew up in East Harlem, she said, she had never seen a protest like this.

"It's not only the blacks and Hispanics. It's everybody: caucasians, Jews, Muslims — it's everybody sticking together," Mendez said. "I felt like we were going backward [after the election], but in reality: we're not."

New York police estimated that 25,000 turned out Saturday. They chanted phrases such as "We reject the president-elect." Protests were also held in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, Miami, Birmingham, Alabama, and Fresno, California, among other places.
- See more at: http://www.occupy.com/article/day-five-anti-trump-protests-demonstration...

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Oldest Son Of A Sailor's picture

If we end up with a Clintonista Obstructionist Element in the Democratic Party and in Congress out of this its time to get the ropes out...

My Gawd!
We certainly don't need to have a Koch like influence on the party now...

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"Do you realize the responsibility I carry?
I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House."

~John F. Kennedy~
Economic: -9.13, Social: -7.28,
Citizen Of Earth's picture

they had a communications team that actively broadcasted Occupy messages about why they were doing it. If there is no organization to the protests, that leaves the interpretation up to the Oligarchs. Trump, last night on 60 Minutes said he had info that they were professionals out to cause violence. Like it or not, the press reports it forward.

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Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.

WaterLily's picture

Especially since the MSM and social media are portraying them as anti-Trump.

If they're not -- or if they are, but are more than that, too -- this word needs to get out, and clearly.

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divineorder's picture

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

At least part of the tiger escaped from DNC control.

This message could have some positive effect.

However, I'm not getting how the rest of the protests are helpful. Their message looks pretty SJW focused. There's a lot to say about Trump but that seems to be the only message getting out. And I don't see how refusing to accept the election, which Dems were so shocked by a few days ago, is a useful message from coastal hipsters to middle America, considering that whole Electoral College/elected national Congress thing.

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Not Henry Kissinger's picture

posted at Joe's open thread here.

The funny thing is though, while they do make it clear they don't want the Dems to be the party of Wall Street, they spend much more time arguing that the Dems should not negotiate with Trump (because he's a racist, misogynist, etc.).

So while they are attacking the leadership on one hand, they are promoting the leadership's strategy with the other. Maybe shuck-a-buck-Chuck is taking his turn as the rotating villain this season?

What's also notable is that the speakers are reading statements off their phones. It would be helpful to know who wrote those lines.

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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?

Amanda Matthews's picture

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

Hillbilly Dem's picture

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"Just call me Hillbilly Dem(exit)."
-H/T to Wavey Davey

Meteor Man's picture

Highschool students who walked out to protest. These children are putting Vietnam anti-war protesters to shame. This protest rivals any civil rights march that I am aware of. The persistent and determined Protests day after day is historic and much larger than Donald Trump.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

Amanda Matthews's picture

1968 Chicago Convention riots or you have amnesia. And these people have said NOTHING but overturn the election.

No, this is pretty much Hillbot supporters thinking they're really going to get her in the White House. If there was any other 'message' out there, I think we'd have hear about it by now. Someone might have let the country in on that little secret.

We can call it The Vagina Uprising since identity politics is pretty much what this amounts to.

EDIT: I meant to mention Kent State. How many of these little flowers have been shot by the National Guard? This is just typical a SJW temper tantrum. NO reflection on why the election was lost. No admission as to how horrific a candidate the Clinton creature was/is. And they all must think Wikileaks is a place to take a piss.

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

Not Henry Kissinger's picture

We can call it The Vagina Uprising since identity politics is pretty much what this amounts to.

Pussy Riot. Music 2

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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?

You gotta love Pussy Riot. Ah. Im not in flyover country but might as well be. No TV , 1 sentence in local(20 miles away) paper about "continuing anti-Trump protests." its easy for me, an anti war, civil rights activist from the 60s to consider this an unfocused tantrum of the Hillary cult. But I think its a very good thing nonetheless for the Donald to get a peek at what he can expect. Im starting to feel sorry for the guy. Imagine The Donald looking around the table at his first cabinet meeting at the biggest collection of loud mouthed English speaking losers in the free world sitting right there in the his room and thinking WTF! This stack of shitheads is all I've got for the next 4 yrs! So Im in favor of any and all protests. They are that tiny spark you see before the real firework explodes.

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Note: I edited and changed this comment ENTIRELY because. seriously, I often have extremely terrible sentence structure and upon reading it after I posted it even I wasn't really sure what I had said.

BUT, I'm sure so far Amanda is making the most sense to me.

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With their hearts they turned to each others heart for refuge
In troubled years that came before the deluge
*Jackson Browne, 1974, Before the Deluge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SX-HFcSIoU

Granma's picture

several things says one of the organizers. I heard him interviewed on the radio on way home from doctor this afternoon.

He says they are protesting police treatment of people of color around the country, protesting because there has been an increase in hate crimes against Muslims and African Americans since Trump's election. He says they are protesting for the environment, and for rent control in this city, and for affordable housing.

Organizer who was interviewed is a person of color and is a 3rd year law student at Lewis and Clark.

I can't speak about protests in other cities, but here, they are apparently against some of Trumps's policies.

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riverlover's picture

And pay no attention to MSM. But if a supposed-organizer says it's about Trump's policies (an unknown now, but scary) fine. It ignited a firestorm. And appears to be spreading. Standing Rock, the situation there has made many angry. I have no answer, except offering my house as a safe house. Still have not found a big safety pin. I may have to buy diaper pins if they are still made. Too changeable weather now, too many coats and jackets.

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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.

PriceRip's picture

          Most "experts" pontificate from ignorance: "This event leads to that reaction which precipitated that . . . et cetera ad nauseam". A few beers and some gentle questioning and an honest (I have known a few.) sociologist will admit the truth: Beyond a certain density (a value not too difficult to determine) crowd dynamics can become chaotic. This is the result (in part) of the way our brains function when we are under stress.

          If higher (logical) brain function is unable to keep up with the more fundamental (quantum mechanically triggered impulses) "animal instinct" behavior takes over. Essentially, normally rational adult individuals become irrational teenagers or younger.

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Cachola's picture

and I protested for years, we even held hunger strikes, we held study groups, we helped people avoid being drafted. I am not ashamed at all.

Oh, and I don't remember any of the student leaders felony assaulting an elderly man who did not agree with us like a woman leader did in Manhattan last week.

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Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.

Cachola's picture

I re read your comment and you are saying civil rights protests too? Maybe you should do a little more studying and research before comparing?

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Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.

Thaumlord-Exelbirth's picture

The only message that seems to be coming out of these protests is that a "democratic (snort)" election be overturned, and a leader be installed into power through force. That's the message people in other countries seem to be seeing too. BLM managed to get a degree of respect globally, in spite of messaging, but these protests? They're being called riots and the people are getting mocked. I doubt that would be happening if there was a different narrative than "wah, we want a Hillary dictatorship!"

I'd love to see something that shows there's a different narrative to be found here, but until evidence crops up to show otherwise, the only evidence I have is that the protests are for Hillary exclusively.

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Not disagreeing, just asking if you've seen specific stories today.

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Lookout's picture

There's all kinds of ideas on the nature of the protests...agents paid by Soros, anarchists, professional protesters, and so on.

I think perhaps the same rage that elected T-rump (lost jobs, debt, etc.) is fueling the protests against the system which elected him. We will see what we'll see.

I do wish there was some unifying factor (like Standing Rock) and not just rage against an unjust, unfair, political, social, and economic system.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

But I find myself wishing if this scene could somehow be directed to fracture an illegitimate media, and maybe even wake/break the mindless sycophants it has undoubtedly contributed. At this point, I presume media news to be largely a sham, the multitude of recent mea culpas demonstrate that they know they have little to no credibility left; the apologies serve as an admission.

But I'm also a bit harsh. I don't want these one-and-done 'apologies' that fade into the memory hole. Media LOVES repetition. But, considering they have near zilch in the credibility department, they're going to have to work hard to earn back any sort of trust. So they may have to buckle down. I want to see repeated admissions that they screwed this up and I want repeated attempts to help the public understand what they have contributed to and some contribution about ways to mitigate the damage they have done.

From what I understand, these protests are prompted by fear of the pending Trump presidency. This same type of fear has apparently even contributed to a rash of suicides and near-suicidal tendency. Our corrupt and fear-mongering media contributed greatly to this. As did sites like dkos, that amplified and perpetuated this fear.

Somehow, this fact needs to be thrown in media's face; it needs their immediate attention and action. They need to acknowledge that anyone that postulated an apocalypse if Trump were elected, contributed to some post-election travesties. Anyone that posted world-wide financial collapse and ruin, the depictions, even now, of a meteor-like devastation to the world because of Trump (check recent Der Spiegel for example), contributed. Anyone posting within prominent internet sites, similarly exclaiming horrible calamity and devastation if Trump is elected, shares blame. There is no shortage of media examples, especially leading into the final campaign weeks, similarly alarming horrible, tragic consequences if Trump. These dire messages were absorbed by the young, the emotionally vulnerable, and now we must witness the terrible consequences of this folly. Unfortunately, anyone that engaged in what I just described, likely contributed to that. Future admonitions against a candidate need be more measured and reasoned, sans, "we're all gonna die if that TERRIBLE MONSTER is elected!!!!" Children, young people, and emotionally vulnerable are now terrified because of this sort of leadup, and being so utterly scared, are succumbing to severe despondency or lashing out of angst, fostered by that barrage of doomsday speculation presented them as absolute truth, and are now seeking escape from the impending and inevitable doom they were promised.

No matter how self-assured victory, they could lose. Yet that was never considered and no restraint shown. Now convinced by those in the media, forums and blogs, that evil will envelop, enslave and torture them, some poor souls have descended into suicide and destruction. That needs to be prevented from happening again.

In conjunction with that, I want to the media talking heads to similarly acknowledge the contradictions they have contributed toward, along with the sites that ran with and perpetuated the large contradiction we are now seeing with the purported purpose of these protest demonstrations. What I hear oft-chanted in these protests, are mostly 'Dump Trump' and 'Not my President'. While I would have preferred Stein, like any other election year, I get what I am given by the plurality. But what these media and sites like dkos did, was support the exact opposite of what these protests appear to now portend.

On the day prior to the election, the media's and dkos stated outrage at Trump for hinting he would not accept the election results. That attitude was, to quote some of the terms I read: criminal or treason.

To further quote, people that did not confront or speak out against this affront to Democracy, those people were, "cowards." They also scoffed and ridiculed Trump's 'rigged' claims; how dare he criticize U.S. democracy!

Then, a day later, these same people now claim the election was rigged, but it was rigged in Trump's favor, and multiple protests launched, involving all those same Hillary supporters, now themselves shouting they would not accept the election result.

Again, I want the media repeatedly acknowledging their part in this obvious contradiction, this double-standard. That it is disingenuous and if it was wrong for Trump to question or refuse the result, it is wrong now...or vice versa...either way, but it has to be one way or the other and apply equally. That people refusing now are not credible if they criticized Trump for the exact same attitude. I want the media and these people to both see and admit that they have no credibility until they can apply the same standards to themselves that they established for another only a day before.

Just a little fantasy I have...I won't hold my breath or anything. However, if anyone has any suggestion to prompt/chide media to engage like this, feel free to post some hints or suggestions to accomplish such.

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Meteor Man's picture

I missed something here:

I want to see repeated admissions that they screwed this up and I want repeated attempts to help the public understand what they have contributed to and some contribution about ways to mitigate the damage they have done.

The protesters are a little more rowdy than the Standing Rock protesters, but completely non-violent to the best of my knowledge. They block freeways and inconvenience people using the freeway system. Too bad, so sad.

The protesters have no more control over media neglect or mischaracterization than the Standing Rock Protectors.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

The media catalyzed the immense fear, then hammered on it. The media initiated much of the contradiction that ensued post-election (Trump refusal to accept result = criminal, your refusal to accept result = democracy in action).

The media used endless repetition to bolster the fear that has sunk into a part of our population, prompting some of what we see now (see the many tearful selfie videos, suicides, protests...they seem clearly fear-based and how can you blame them from the constant scare of death-by-monster-Trump). My contention is that to regain credibility, the media should now use that endless repetition in both admission of fault, apology and seek some remedies for what they have wrought.

Given some of the tragedies, one would hope a shred of decency, integrity and morality, would be compelling enough.

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And if they think it was rigged, they need to show some evidence.

As far as I can see, all the evidence of rigging was in Hillary's favor. Just looks like sore losers. Temper tantrums. A Podesta email activist bragging on Twitter about organizing protests, and protesters bussed into Chicago (from Wisconsin, which went for Trump) - see Zerohedge today.

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Meteor Man's picture

Which story mentions Podesta bragging?

http://www.zerohedge.com

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-11-13/anti-trump-protests-proof-profe...

It wasn't Podesta doing the bragging, the activist who was on Twitter is mentioned in a February 2016 email from the Podesta files, and made a statement that sounds approving of Clinton on fossil fuels.

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Meteor Man's picture

I will review the post later.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

thanatokephaloides's picture

As far as I can see, all the evidence of rigging was in Hillary's favor.

Including and especially in the Dem primary, which is what makes the protests something more than just a bunch of sore Hillbot losers.

To use a familiar analogy, the Hillbot "protests" were the struck match -- only. The Berners were the fuse. The Bernie-Or-Busters and Jill Stein supporters were the blasting cap. The folks who have never known an adult wage job, and those of us who remember a pre-Clinton working US economy as children, were the 500 Kg of dynamite the Hillbots never planned on.

And like it or not, it's us that are apparently in the driver's seat, and not the Hillbots. Which frosts the latter's cupcakes to no end.

I say: good!

Diablo

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

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thanatokephaloides's picture

The burden is on those who affirm that all the protestors are Hillbots, and not otherwise.

My denial of that affirmation enjoys the assumption of correctness, as do all other honest denials. Especially since I never denied that there were Hillbots involved. I simply stated that there were now numerous other factions besides the Hillbots involved. And I only need one such, anywhere, and I'm home free. Kshama Sawant and her Socialist Alternative organization are known to be: (1) seriously involved in the protests; and (2) most emphatically not Hillbots. If you doubt me, the appropriate website is here.

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Meteor Man's picture

You have confirmed my conclusion that there is active participation from anti-establishment political groups.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

Literally no one is saying every one of the protesters is a Hillary supporter.

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thanatokephaloides's picture

All I've been saying -- and I've been saying this since the protests started getting serious -- is that what started as Hillbots' sour grapes has grown far beyond that, and is clearly now encompassing far more (and better). I've even brought evidence of that (multo grazie again, Kshama Sawant and Socialist Alternative!).

It is my hope that this is the long-overdue pitchforks and torches. It's apparent that many of the other unconventional political operations in the USA not only hope so, but are using their assets in order to make it so.

Cassandrus, I mean you no offense (or ill will of any type or kind whatsoever). Like Meteor Man, I'm just reporting what information I'm encountering. And that information clearly shows that the Clintonites smacked the ground with a stick, and were surprised when they couldn't maintain control of what they evoked. Like spies, civil disobedience actions have no personal loyalties, not even to their creators. The only loyalties civil disobedience actions have is to the principles that sustain their being. This doesn't necessarily even include the principles which started them, but rather the ones which keep them going. And what I can actually observe, from what means I have to be able to observe it, tells me that the Clinton sour-grapes operation has been left behind, far behind, in favor of resistance to the caca sandwich we know is coming.

And if it hasn't yet, perhaps we ought to get behind Socialist Alternative's idea, and make it so.

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Aren't pulling the strings. Even sincere crowds can be manipulated.

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Amanda Matthews's picture

Trump administration might take? WTF?

I don't believe that for a minute. If that's true the taxpayers are really going to love the 'left' when they get the bills for this hissy fit about things that haven't happened yet. Now, if they want to hit the streets over what has happened they need to March on Washington D.C. and ask Obama where he's been the last eight years. He didn't do much to help main street, but he sure cozied up to the MIC and Wall Street. They obviously weren't on the street protesting that, were they?

Nah, this is a Clinton operation.

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

Or all this "just happened".
What do they want this time ?

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Alex Ocana's picture

Thanks for posting your observations from ground zero. I have complained elsewhere that I couldn't tell what the protests were about from my small island in the Caribbean. I can't imagine that Clinton, with her biweekly massive crowds of 60 paid rally attendees has enough fans to fill up the streets in LA. . . I can imagine that hundreds of thousands of immigrants and refugees would be quite worried about massive SWAT raids by jackbooted deportation police brown shirts. Even Dominicans worry about parts of their families being deported. The nightmare is a sort of long march of the Armenians, the Nabka, the Trail of Tears...

Lets see, I have an interesting video from a Black anti-Clinton (pro-Trump) person: Kiki Green. I agree with much of what she says about Clinton and supporters, but am aghast that she thinks Trump is the solution (not much of this on this vid). I offer this as a bit of anthropology from the Black community and a neutral attitude.

Warning very graphic language and ranting.

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From the Light House.

Meteor Man's picture

I don't have time to address individual replies. We are setting up tents and getting ready for dinner at Our Lady of Angels Catholic Church.

This protest is not Astro turf or managed by the Democratic apparatchiks. It is most certainly a civil rights protest, an anti-war protest and an environmental protest. What I am witnessing and reading about is a Mobile Occupy Protest. Someone somewhere is learning from the experience of Occupy.

The protesters got Chief Beck's attention:

LAPD will not help deport immigrants under Trump, chief says

https://www.google.com/amp/www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-los-ange...

I see no reason to belittle these protesters for any reason. I was at Occupy L.A. from start to finish. I have been a staunch advocate of Black Lives Matter and The Water Protectors at Standing Rock. This protest is every bit as legitimate and respectable.

I stand with my brown brothers and sisters, the high school and college students and LGBTQ protesters who are wrecking havoc with the American Police State.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

Meteor Man's picture

I am willing to hypothetically concede the label placed on the protesters. Even presuming that Trump is the only focus, what is wrong with protesting against Trump? Should they be celebrating with Ted Nugent?

Help me out here folks. I do not see any legitimate reason to complain. Any protest that gets this many people in the streets for this many consecutive days is a positive development.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

Of any actors behind the scenes.

We've just finished an election cycle in which Hillary, the DNC and other Democratic organization have been caught red handed in corrupt, fraudulent practices, including bird dogging, false flag operations, and bussing in stooges, as evidenced by indisputable and documented proof. The campaign also admitted to falsifying online support through CTR.

Immediately afterward, Hillary stages a false "impromptu" encounter with a young female supporter out on a hike, later outed as one of her own campaign worker.s Photos of the two at dinner appear online. This is after Hillary already lost.

Stories appear about Hillary still having a shot at victory in the Electoral College.

Now a series of large protests spring up at exactly the same time across the country, not gradually spreading like BLM protests or many, many other similar movements like the Arab Spring. Witnesses say buses have been spotted bringing in people. Some have identified DNC operatives.

All of this before Trump has done anything official yet, supposedly because of everything he did during the campaign. But no such protests happened during the campaign itself, nor when Sanders got screwed. The protests also started even before Trump started making announcements. They coincide only with one thing: the period between the election and the Electoral College vote.

I'm sure lots of people in that crowd are sincere. That doesn't mean everybody is. Or that the protests started spontaneously.

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Meteor Man's picture

I do not see any evidence of "actors behind the scenes". I also do not see how Hillary or any Dem operative benefits from these protests. What's their angle? I don't see it. I don't get it.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

ELECTORAL COLLEGE.

Looks like a 'Hail Mary' play, from your own 1 yard line, involving multiple laterals (and a mass civilian uprising) to get the Electors to vote for Hillary to save the Country.
Think it through. What we propose to you would be diabolical, devious, desperate, destructive, a self righteous attempt to over-rule the processes of our Democracy.
Sound like anyone we know?

The REAL Revolution won't happen until the Truckers join in and go on strike.

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With their hearts they turned to each others heart for refuge
In troubled years that came before the deluge
*Jackson Browne, 1974, Before the Deluge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SX-HFcSIoU

Meteor Man's picture

The Electoral College Over-ride is a Basket Full Of Stupid. The chance of Hillary flipping the Electoral College Vote is less than zero.

Try again.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

Amanda Matthews's picture

this election. That's what it started out, that's been the main message "Trump is not my President". So, when did it become this big 'protest movement' on things like police brutality and social issues? And if their point is to 'enlighten' us on how bad it is, we don't need their help. We already know. And that's why Clinton lost.

Someone needs to enlighten them to the fact that these conditions got so bad under what was supposedly a 'Democratic' president. One who is every bit as dishonest as a Clinton. They'e out in the street now protesting against someone who had nothing to do with the current mess. What would make sense if they'd hike it on up to where the problem comes from, Washington D.C., and ask old Hopey Changey why he didn't raise a finger to change things. Maybe now they should sit down and really review the Clinton creatures record, going back to Arkansas and earlier, and continuing through all the Wikileaks revelations so they got a clue as to the true 'character' of the horrible person who they think merits overturning an election for. If they were honest with themselves, they'd be able to understand WHY she lost. SHE DID LOSE, YOU KNOW, RIGHT? Trump is horrible, and losing the Senate and not taking back the House are a tragedies. And there were 12 governorships up for grabs and the Dems only got 5 of them (we only held 18 of those positions as opposed to the Republicans 31 before the election), so the Repubs maintain control the majority of those positions as well. And why? BECAUSE THE DEMS ARE SO CORRUPT. And that corruption is epitomized in Barack Obama and the Clinton creature. And these fools think that, because they don't like how bad the winner is the election should be overturned for someone as just as bad or possibly worse, all because she is a she? That's taking Clinton Derangement Syndrome way too far.

Since 2000 we've been bitching about the Brooks Brothers Revolution and the way that the 2000 election was hijacked. But now some people think it's all fine and dandy because 'the left' is is doing it. Amazing how that works. Everything that was once bad is now good because the 'left' is doing it. The hypocrisy and stupidity are amazing and embarrassing. They aren't going to overturn this election. But they are costing cities and it's citizens shit tons of money to monitor and keep the 'protesters' in line while they're spinning their wheels.

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

dupes and dopes, in my opinion.

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Amanda Matthews's picture

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

Meteor Man's picture

Trump 290. Hillary 232.

http://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/president

Explain which states Hillary flips to get to 270.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

Amanda Matthews's picture

accomplish.

EDIT: 5 hours later, still no idea what they think they're going to accomplish.

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

lotlizard's picture

By saying that the result of the federal election process doesn’t need to be respected, the protest seems also to be saying that the process itself has no legitimacy.

That could be interpreted as “Bundy ranch from the Left.”

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Aardvark's picture

edited for some typos.

I doubt sincerely the ability of USians of our age to formulate a single coherent line of thought which directs any protest toward an actionable goal.

The total rape of any ideological consensus through careful manipulation of language in the media has deprived most individuals, who are addicted to reading or hearing about what everyone else on the planet is supposedly doing, from constructing a coherent and robust system of analysis of anything.

I have written this before, and I know everyone hates it, so I state it again:

If you do not have a clear ideology, then you are in a dreamworld created by someone else.

Ideology is the homework that keeps you awake late at night, that makes you tell your friends you cannot come out to play now, and which will render ninety-nine percent of the culture in which you participate, including sex and drugs, dull and utterly contrived, which will make life very boring, until you realize that there is one really, really cool thing you can do with a good ideology:

LEAD A REAL REVOLUTION.

Peace and love be with you, reader.

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