@Azazello argument, or even conversation, stopper. Those who commonly use this tactic are trying to bully people into silence.

So the first thing is to understand the mindset of the Neo Dem constituency i.e. the (largely White) Professional Class. There is nothing so mortifying to these nice liberals as the possibility of being "called out" as racist. This explains why Barack Obama was given a pass. It didn't matter what he did, the WPC would not object because any criticism of his policies could be, and very often was, interpreted as racism. As for the "resistance", I'm fine with any and all anti-Trump demonstrations we just gotta' make sure that The Resistance isn't co-opted by Neo Dems. Chuck Schumer in a pussy hat ain't gonna' cut it.

@Azazello {CSTS considers putting out her eyes. Would it be worth it? No, the image would still remain, burned into her brain like PURE BEEF on the Mighty Dog...}

So the first thing is to understand the mindset of the Neo Dem constituency i.e. the (largely White) Professional Class. There is nothing so mortifying to these nice liberals as the possibility of being "called out" as racist. This explains why Barack Obama was given a pass. It didn't matter what he did, the WPC would not object because any criticism of his policies could be, and very often was, interpreted as racism. As for the "resistance", I'm fine with any and all anti-Trump demonstrations we just gotta' make sure that The Resistance isn't co-opted by Neo Dems. Chuck Schumer in a pussy hat ain't gonna' cut it.

@Alex Ocana stop with the ignorance?

So when a worthy cause, like unconstitutional, racist, bigoted bans on immigrants and refugees is passed by royal decree, I am happy that immigrants, Muslims, Democratic Socialists, radicals (socialist, communist, anarchist) and anyone else comes out to demonstrate.

Where were you (and the protesters) when BO did the same thing for six months, not just three months? Or at various times when other presidents (like Carter) took similar action.

How can we take the protesters seriously when the idiots apparently didn't care about the issue previously? Their concern is apparently propelled by the mere fact of a change in personnel issuing such EOs.

These protesters, including all of the people hyperventilating over the EO, should be ashamed of themselves. They are a bunch of hypocrites, swayed easily by purty people who talk purty.

OK, now all the nice liberals in their cities are outraged by Donald Trump, and have taken to the airports in protest. That's great! Trump sucks, and the nice liberals do us all a favor by opposing him.

I think this "nice liberals" meme is a bullshit Trumpo right wing extremist method to try and discredit and shame the people who are at the airports and what they stand for. Maybe there are some "nice liberals", but watching live periscope feeds, social media I am seeing a lot of immigrant families, Muslims, and radicals who are willing to get themselves arrested. What I didn't see was a single Obama is great, Clinton is wonderful or Democrats rule meme on signs, or chants.

Before the election I suggested that the only way to change is not by voting for the corporate police state candidates, but to get out and shut the country down. Mass protests. So when a worthy cause, like unconstitutional, racist, bigoted bans on immigrants and refugees is passed by royal decree, I am happy that immigrants, Muslims, Democratic Socialists, radicals (socialist, communist, anarchist) and anyone else comes out to demonstrate.

And I am up to my eyeballs in the bullshit that its Clinton, Soros and the fucking Democrats manipulating me, or trying to discredit the demonstrations which such hog pucky. And its insulting to immigrant families.

I do agree (if I read the essay right) that that its not "Trump" or "Obama" or whover of these clown faces, its the damn corporate police state that is the enemy.

@dkmich
"The breadth and depth of the defeat, and the entire architecture used for conveying and defending their ideology failed to such an extent that we must conclude that it was the ideology itself, and the social and economic project that it championed, that was also rejected. . . . A collapse this big opens too many previously unseen doors for it to be just a momentary hiccup for the system."

It is long, so I feel comfortable posting the first three paragraphs below.

The Dying Days of Liberalism
How Orthodoxy, Professionalism, and Unresponsive Politics Finally Doomed a 19th-century Project

failure
The Dying Days of Liberalism
How Orthodoxy, Professionalism, and Unresponsive Politics Finally Doomed a 19th-century Project
What a sight to behold. These are the dying days, counting down soon to the final hours, of the defeated political project of liberalism, inherited from the 19th-century. The centre—if there ever was one—could not hold after all. What a thing it is to watch one of the dominant, cornerstone ideologies of the international system, which has strutted its stuff with such swagger and certainty since the end of the Cold War, finally fall face forward into the dustbin of history. It has fallen with the same force as if shoved from behind by a stampeding mob, although its defenders will claim that mere “mistakes” were made, as if they accidentally slipped on history’s largest ever banana peel. And what a scene: who would have expected such a lack of dignity, such pathetic hysteria, such baseless smears, such empty threats, coming from those who otherwise elaborately preened themselves as gallant statesmen, who spoke as if they had cornered the market on “reason”. While the fall could have been worse, there has not been an absence of violence, threats, boycotts, and even calls of treason designed to delegitimize the voters’ choice.

Liberal democracy has been reduced to a shell, more a name than a fact that deserves the name. For many years, liberalism has been liberal authoritarianism or post-liberalism or neoliberalism, with a high elitist disdain for democracy and a fear of the masses everywhere. Promises of inclusion, fairness, and welfare, were replaced by sensitive-sounding rhetorical tricks and tokenism. Moral narcissism, virtue signalling, identity politics, and building patchwork quilts of diversity were the order of the day. Protests were encouraged abroad, against target nations, in the name of democracy promotion—but at home, protests were shut down by an always more militarized police. Nations around the world were lectured about transparency and accountability, but at home it was all about mass surveillance, domestic espionage, and a crackdown on whistleblowers. Liberal leaders claimed to be upholders of peace and order, while multiplying the number of wars. Obama himself is personally responsible for the killing of thousands, many of them civilians—in 2016 alone, the US dropped 72 bombs every day on average, in wars in seven countries. Obama oversaw the rapid acceleration of wealth transfer, and heightened domestic poverty, and then he is praised by pseudo-left liberal scholars and writers for having “governed well” and doing so with a professional, graceful demeanour. The North American and European left, which made its peace and came to a bargain with liberal imperialism, sinks with those who in the end rewarded them with so little. Once again leftist social imperialism results in failure as it lays the foundations for its replacement.

It’s not a small thing that has fallen here, not merely the defeat of Hillary Clinton and Americans rejecting Obama’s “legacy”. We are dealing with a series of institutions, an expert class, and a network of political and corporate alliances, that is being shaken beyond repair. We are in the earliest days of a historical transition, so it’s not clear what is coming next, and the labels that have been proliferating demonstrate confusion and uncertainty—populism, nativism, nationalism, etc. Closer to my professional home, we can start to witness the fact that as part of the ignominious defeat of the expert class, US anthropology—exercising its hegemony on an international scale—will not be spared either. Within a few years, professional and institutional anthropology will approach the zero line that this site has talked about for several years now, the line at which power and influence disappear as the imperial supports for US anthropology weaken or fall away.

@dkmich @dkmich @dkmich

Thanks! Sometimes the obvious does need to be said - and repeated a lot to counteract the Big Lie propaganda - and your chosen quote was perfect for stating it.

Edit: whoops, had started a comment in regard to that quote, decided I was too tired to finish writing it and refreshed, thinking the comment box would be removed. But it seems that when I later tried to reply (below) to Creosote, for whom this was intended, it had sneakily remained and appeared when I clicked 'reply' to Creosote, cleverly showing the name only in symbols on the message... I really should just go crash out - if you'd only stop being so darned interesting, people!

It is long, so I feel comfortable posting the first three paragraphs below.

The Dying Days of Liberalism
How Orthodoxy, Professionalism, and Unresponsive Politics Finally Doomed a 19th-century Project

failure
The Dying Days of Liberalism
How Orthodoxy, Professionalism, and Unresponsive Politics Finally Doomed a 19th-century Project
What a sight to behold. These are the dying days, counting down soon to the final hours, of the defeated political project of liberalism, inherited from the 19th-century. The centre—if there ever was one—could not hold after all. What a thing it is to watch one of the dominant, cornerstone ideologies of the international system, which has strutted its stuff with such swagger and certainty since the end of the Cold War, finally fall face forward into the dustbin of history. It has fallen with the same force as if shoved from behind by a stampeding mob, although its defenders will claim that mere “mistakes” were made, as if they accidentally slipped on history’s largest ever banana peel. And what a scene: who would have expected such a lack of dignity, such pathetic hysteria, such baseless smears, such empty threats, coming from those who otherwise elaborately preened themselves as gallant statesmen, who spoke as if they had cornered the market on “reason”. While the fall could have been worse, there has not been an absence of violence, threats, boycotts, and even calls of treason designed to delegitimize the voters’ choice.

Liberal democracy has been reduced to a shell, more a name than a fact that deserves the name. For many years, liberalism has been liberal authoritarianism or post-liberalism or neoliberalism, with a high elitist disdain for democracy and a fear of the masses everywhere. Promises of inclusion, fairness, and welfare, were replaced by sensitive-sounding rhetorical tricks and tokenism. Moral narcissism, virtue signalling, identity politics, and building patchwork quilts of diversity were the order of the day. Protests were encouraged abroad, against target nations, in the name of democracy promotion—but at home, protests were shut down by an always more militarized police. Nations around the world were lectured about transparency and accountability, but at home it was all about mass surveillance, domestic espionage, and a crackdown on whistleblowers. Liberal leaders claimed to be upholders of peace and order, while multiplying the number of wars. Obama himself is personally responsible for the killing of thousands, many of them civilians—in 2016 alone, the US dropped 72 bombs every day on average, in wars in seven countries. Obama oversaw the rapid acceleration of wealth transfer, and heightened domestic poverty, and then he is praised by pseudo-left liberal scholars and writers for having “governed well” and doing so with a professional, graceful demeanour. The North American and European left, which made its peace and came to a bargain with liberal imperialism, sinks with those who in the end rewarded them with so little. Once again leftist social imperialism results in failure as it lays the foundations for its replacement.

It’s not a small thing that has fallen here, not merely the defeat of Hillary Clinton and Americans rejecting Obama’s “legacy”. We are dealing with a series of institutions, an expert class, and a network of political and corporate alliances, that is being shaken beyond repair. We are in the earliest days of a historical transition, so it’s not clear what is coming next, and the labels that have been proliferating demonstrate confusion and uncertainty—populism, nativism, nationalism, etc. Closer to my professional home, we can start to witness the fact that as part of the ignominious defeat of the expert class, US anthropology—exercising its hegemony on an international scale—will not be spared either. Within a few years, professional and institutional anthropology will approach the zero line that this site has talked about for several years now, the line at which power and influence disappear as the imperial supports for US anthropology weaken or fall away.

@MrWebster I love Trump, he's my president.
I don't know what to say anymore. That's all I got.
It's hard being anti-everything because when others decide to join, they paint the barn a different color.

I was in a bunch of those bunch marches and did what I could. And what I see now is and will be a repeat. Once Obama became president and began his active militarism it became in hindsight that the anti-war movement was not anti-war, but anti-Bush. War wasn't such a bad thing if the president was a democrat. The irony of course was that his rise to prominence was due to his anti-Iraq war stance.

So yes, Trump should not not have made his decision about the refugees. And yes, the protests at various airports are great (and rather coordinated but that is okay), and elected democrats are attending and giving brave speeches. But gone down the memory hole is that Obama in eight years did nothing to stop the refugee crisis by get this, stopping the wars and bombings--50,000 bombings in last two years. No one from all the images and videos that I have seen is yelling out "Trump stop the bombings, stop the wars, stop creating refugees". I imagine anybody yelling that out would not be appreciated or welcome.

But now, being anti-Trump is kinda like being in the cool kids club--with everybody rushing to be the coolest on the block. But in particular, all of celebs not saying jack shit about Obama's wars, they are complicit at least in massive hypocrisy in they now protest the ill treatment of refugees created by Obama's wars. The first and foremost issue that made me leave the democratic party was that it became pro-war because Obama and Hillary were pro-war.

If and when the democrats re-gain power, it will be nicer faces on the same shit. Look at the cabinet choices Hillary was going to appoint:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW9erWMxlsY
https://newrepublic.com/minutes/139751/hillary-clintons-cabinet-bad

My favorite was Neera Tanden who advised Hillary not to support $15/hr min wage as HHS head (a candidate which the SEIU leadership supported over Bernie in the primaries).

@Big Al Country Joe McDonald and the Fish -- the lyric change from Viet Nam to Afghanistan came about 1979 when Russia invaded Afghanistan and young people were concerned they'd get drafted to fight in that.

what are we protesting for?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Afghanistan.
And it's five, six, seven
open up the pearly gates.
Ain't no time to wonder why, whoopee we're all gonna die

When a protest comes along with the right goal, I'm all in.