Blind hatred and Hillary's "resistance" movement
We know that one of the reasons Hillary lost was that she had no positive positions - she was not "for" anything. Just "Trump, Trump, Trump, Russia, Russia, Russia!" Are we for anything? Or are we falling into Hillary's McCarthy-ite pattern? Here's an important three paragraphs, but there's a lot more worth reading in the article.
There are many things I don't like about Trump's positions, but he's just saved us from a guaranteed horror - no WW 3 for now, no TPP/loss of sovreteignty for now. That's nothing to sneer at. We need to be intelligent about opposing other policies, and part of that is recognizing the difference between positive and negative actions.
Political influence requires carrots as well as sticks. Do we want to have influence on events, or is it enough to just hate? The only carrots we have at the moment are intelligent arguments civilly presented, and recognition of positive actions. An occasional atta-boy might be what gets us and our intelligent arguments a hearing in the first place. So, please just consider what this author has to say:
http://thesaker.is/is-your-hate-intelligent-anti-trump-rallies-go-global/
The breakup of Libya and Ukraine, the coup in Honduras, the attempted breakup of Syria, the support of ISIL in Iraq, the military “pivot to China”, Cold War 2.0 with Russia, thousands of civilians killed by drone assassinations…my God are Hillary and Barry’s hands dirty.
The trillion-dollar bailout of the big banks, the failure to rebuild Main Street, the phony “economic recovery”, the constant push for more “best corporation wins” free trade policies – Trump did none of this.
The record number of deportations, the systematic imprisonment and murder of people of Color, the refusal of a Black president to sincerely elevate a movement like Black Lives Matter….you see where I’m going.
So why the public blanket frothing at the mouth now, when these horrors slid quietly past most people? As I mentioned, I object to many of his proposals, but we won't accomplish anything by calling him names, as Hillary did. Many of the things I object to or worry about haven't happened yet, or we don't have specifics yet. He's been sworn in, and he's a fact we have to work with now. How are we doing to do that? I think our goals should be to support the positive (more jobs, buy American, lower drug prices, good health care for everyone - if it is (we know the ACA is not affordable or universal), rebuild our crumbling infrastructure...) and try to change the negatives. No?
Comments
@mimi I'm not sure why
I'm not sure why Trump's cabinet shocks anybody. All he's doing is removing the middle man.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@LaFeminista Trump? Same shit,
Trump? Same shit, different day, with two oddly positive surprises.
The Deep State must be arguing within itself about whether or not nuclear armageddon is a great idea. I hope the more traditional Cold War deterrence advocates win this argument. Those other people belong in an asylum for the criminally insane. But back to Trump...
Fact is, I refuse to freak out over a state of affairs that has persisted since at least 2000. Are we seriously talking about how horrible it is that Trump's cabinet is full of bankers and oil barons? What is he doing that's any different than what Obama and Bush did? Cutting out the middle man and just putting CEOs in there? What the hell difference does it make? The important point is that bankers, oil barons, and other sociopaths are in complete control of the "government," which deserves those quotation marks more every day.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
You are aware that
BO has wars going world wide, has bombed countries daily, and is encircling Russia and China militarily well before DT took office?
If you set aside your extreme bias against Trump for a moment, why do you feel so threatened by war now?
dfarrah
The neoliberalcons, (BHO, HRC et. al) are to blame for
where we are at and the election of the Pumpkin Fuhrer. The empire is in rapid decline and T-rump is only accelerating the process. The best thing that could happen is the whole world does a BDS on Trump properties.
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." - JFK | "The more I see of the moneyed peoples, the more I understand the guillotine." - G. B. Shaw Bernie/Tulsi 2020
My attitude
Trump is one faction of the establishment.
Hillary/Dems/DeepState is another faction of the ruling elite.
I want to see them both tear into one another and draw lots of blood.
Hopefully they will discredit and weaken each other in the process.
My sentiments as well, hopefully something will be
salvageable from the train wreck.
As Bannon said
"The mainstream media has not fired or terminated anyone associated with following our campaign," Mr. Bannon said. "Look at the Twitter feeds of those people: they were outright activists of the Clinton campaign." (He did not name specific reporters or editors.) "That's why you have no power," Mr. Bannon added. "You were humiliated."
"You're the opposition party," Mr. Bannon said. "Not the Democratic Party. You're the opposition party. The media's the opposition party."
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-26/bannon-blasts-mainstream-media-...
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
I think the media
desrves all of the opprobrium and scorn it is getting. Perhaps it can be rebuilt into an ethical profession. As it stands, it is an impediment to truth-telling, equity, and justice.
I have been thinking for the past several months that we are witnessing the hegelian dialetic in action. We are in the earliest stages of a synthesis. I retain hope for a new, more enlightened thesis to emerge.
@ggersh The media AND the
The media AND the Democratic Party AND the Bush political machine AND the rich donors that support all of that shit are the actual opposition. It's all one thing. Just many heads. Hail Hydra.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal CSTS...so right but
CSTS...so right but his stating it confirms in it a way that the hydra doesn't appreciate, having the masses know the truth that both parties are allies isn't a bullet point they want known "publicy", they'd prefer that to be "private".
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
@ggersh And that, in a
And that, in a nutshell, is what the elites don't like about Trump and his administration. He and they just say shit in front of cameras that the elites are only supposed to say in private.
Doesn't make him a good guy, but I do enjoy watching them squirm.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Yeah, I'm enjoying
everyone squirm.
Obviously, the only thing that is needed to fool everyone on both sides is a purty package.
dfarrah
@ggersh Shit. I hate the
Shit. I hate the modern political era. It leaves me agreeing w/people like Steve Bannon and Ann fucking Coulter.
“Are you kidding me?” he said. “We think that’s a badge of honor. ‘Questioning his integrity’ — are you kidding me? The media has zero integrity, zero intelligence, and no hard work.”
While the kerfuffle over crowd size was stupid on part of Trump administration, I can't disagree with Bannon on the media. He's right. They do have zero integrity--and as for hard work, I'd say that most of the hard work involved with journalism is basically verboten these days. Being handed talking points and deploying them on screen is, I guess, a kind of work, but it's not the work of a journalist. More of a pro wrestler.
They do have intelligence, though. Enough intelligence to see on which side their bread is buttered.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Couldn't agree more
the press i.e stenographers, and the teleprompter readers are jobs that really should be outsourced, it doesn't take much to make one qualified for either.
and yes, I also pinch myself on whom I'm agreeing with these days, I'm still waiting for the bullet to hit me.*acute*
I find I'm watching this all in amazement, nothing that would've happened with her heinous, like you said the squirming is entertaining!
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
Thanks for this essay and the link to the article
It's brilliant.
As many have pointed out, the people who joined DK because of the Iraq war stayed silent when Obama continued it and deployed drone warfare to now 8 countries. Where was the outrage about that or what is block quoted in this essay?
And that sums up why he won. Barack didn't deliver on his Change plan, but he continued to let the banks and corporations commit fraud without any consequences. Big deal if they got fined a few hundred million dollars when their fraud benefited them billions. And no charges so they felt free to continue doing fraudulent activities.
And let's look at how the people in the 99% made out under his two terms.
There's so much in the article, but I like this statement.
As La Fem wrote, if Barry had charged the war criminals then Trump wouldn't feel comfortable doing any. But then Barry couldn't have committed his war crimes either because the next president might hold him accountable.
Just kidding. No president has ever been held accountable for their war crimes which every president has committed.
It's the American way of doing business. Instead of drawing up contracts, either invade countries and overthrow their government and install their puppet, or overthrow them by the CIA and do the same things.
Thanks again.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
I wish that this was true
But as we've watched the democrats vote to confirm Trump's candidates for various positions, I don't think that the Clinton era is far from over.
Not one democrat has to vote for any of them because the republicans have enough votes to confirm them and then own what they do.
I posted Warren's ridiculous explanation on why she voted to confirm Carson where she says that she will be watching him to make sure that he fulfills his promises that he answered on her 9 pages.
And we saw 13 democrats vote against importing drugs from Canada, so no the Clinton's reign over the DP isn't over. Far from it.
Both they and Barry are still working behind the scenes to make sure that the DP doesn't once again start working for the American people.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Sherrod Brown voted for Carson too
Why?
Even Carson admitted he was totally unqualified.
I'm disgusted by just about every member of the Dem party.
There is no justice in America, but it is the fight for justice that sustains you.
--Amiri Baraka
@snoopydawg My DINO senator voted
My DINO senator voted against drug importation. I sent him an e-mail, but I doubt that I will hear back. I just hope that he gets primaried by a real Progressive.
Are you aware
that traditionally, presidents have been given wide latitude to pick their management team?
Not that there hasn't been controversy in the past, especially when both sides have politicized the process more recently, but it was more of a formality.
dfarrah
What color shall we name this revolution after?
I've not seen so many internal government changes since the last US engineered color revolution.
Shit brown ;-)
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
@TheOtherMaven I'd agree, except I
I'd agree, except I think Pepto-Bismol pink more suitable. Like the color of a Victoria's Secret store.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
"Does anyone want a President Pence....?"
I don't think most understand just how bad a Pence presidency would be. He would do all of the horrible things Trump wants to do, none of the good things, with a HUGE HEAPING dose of religious-oriented law--bka, theocracy.
I think we would all do well to remember that the monied/religious/establishment Right wants Trump out as much or more than the establishment neo-liberals.
Agree
Trump's seeming haplessness is the one thing protecting us from complete degradation. Pence does not have such an obvious flaw.
All Godwin's Law describes is a probability
That, as the length of an Internet thread (I believe it was actually formulated with Usenet) increases, the probability of a Nazi reference goes to 1. It doesn't say anything about whether or not the comparison is valid, that making the reference is automatically losing the discussion, or so on. I think it's the most abused of the internet laws.
Well, there's already Rule 34, but I don't want to see the Trump Administration Rule 34 stuff.
@asterion Heh. Neither do I.
Heh. Neither do I.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Dick Cheney supposedly put his Halliburton interests in a
blind trust. Does anyone want to speculate on how blind that trust actually was? Remember how well Halliburton, Kellogg, Brown and Root, et. al. did in the wars started by the Bush Administration. And Cheney's business was selling computers to Saddam Hussien's regime before the second Iraq War was begun. Halliburton faced no consequences for violating the pre Iraq War II embargo.
I just can't join everyone in the demonstrations against He Who Should Not Be Named because I know that similar past activities have ultimately been given a pass by the MSM which is so lovingly following his every move. As Ia progressive, I find demonstrations compelling, but the insults and calumnies of the Clinton campaign are still fresh and I will not be co-opted by them for their own nefarious purposes.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
@Lily O Lady Here's the thing:
Here's the thing: progressives have no excuse for not noticing the fact that all of a sudden, 4 out of the 5 corporate media networks gave tons of coverage to a protest. They have blacked out, or browned out, everything from the 600K person rally on climate I was part of in 2013 to Black people blocking traffic for BLM, to Occupy's worldwide day of protest, to the Iraq War protests of the early years of this century. Yet suddenly they decide to cover the Women's March, bigtime.
There's no excuse for not seeing that for what it is, especially after we just suffered through nine months of the media blacking out, and browning out, Bernie Sanders rallies.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Exactly! I've decided that the genuineness of a demonstration
is inversely proportional to the amount of media coverage. That's my litmus test.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
And directly related to
police response.
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
@Bisbonian
Ooooo, yeah, the lack of police brutality was definitely a dead giveaway and made the set-up, in my view, certain!
Although protesting Trump in pink genitalia???!!! hats made me think of Hillary Clinton anyway, since that's been her symbol for years... 'Me for President - I pee sitting down!'
Edit: it all trickles down and smells the same, though, regardless of the peeing position taken by the pee-er, doesn't 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.
Who needs to assume? Trump's actions
speak for themselves.
@BayAreaLefty He hasn't taken many
He hasn't taken many actions. He's said a lot of horrible shit--on TV, which is one of the reasons a lot of people don't like him. Powerful political figures are supposed to say that shit behind closed doors only.
As for actions he's taken, the ones cited seem to come mostly from his personal life, which doesn't mean I don't object to them, but does mean that I note a pretty big hole in the critique. Where's the critique of Trump's political actions over the past 30 years? He himself says that he's been buying and paying for politicians all this time. Which politicians did he support? Which policies did he put money behind? A smart and honest movement would focus on that, but we can't because he supported Hillary for Senate in 2006.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Hope you are right. History records this despicable pattern
happening over and over again. Now enter the x-factor: human aggravated climate change. Rec'd!!
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
I'd be so much happier if the person who said
"aren't Hillary and Barry's hands dirty" had at least added Bush and Cheney's names into that list.
Until people figure out that the duopoly is a two-headed monster, and being "on the side" of either head gets you killed, we won't get much of anywhere.
Protesting Trump is useless. Protest the system that gave you the choice of Hillary vs Trump.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
He's taken plenty of terrible actions in his first
week in office, from squelching scientific speech to being belligerent with China, drafting executive "orders" for resuming black site torture programs, rescinding aid to groups that provide abortion services and on and on. These aren't simply things he's said. They're things he's done.
@BayAreaLefty
And things that he ought to be tried and sentenced for, as with all previous powerful supporters of these types of horrors. If it isn't stopped, it will continue to radically worsen, although that's getting harder to imagine as it goes along...
As has been pointed out by others, where were the massive protests from Dems when Bush began
? (with some editing)
And edited because I haz creative punktuashun abilitees. And apparently can't tell when a space is missing.
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.
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