When Even Symbolic Resistance Is Too Much
Quite honestly, at this point, the Democrats have nothing left to lose. Given that fact, you would think that a Party in such extremis would finally throw caution to the winds and take out the desiccated and expired metaphorical gunpowder they have been saving lo these many years in coffee cans in their backyards. They kept that powder dry in order to choose their battles, waiting Rapture like, for the day that would finally come when they would be forced by circumstances to let the Republicans have it!
The rest of us have waited breathlessly for this day as well, for the Democrats to drop their fencing props and to arm themselves with pointy sharp swords (metaphorical sharp pointy swords) and, for the sake of their credibility if nothing else, to ride into battle, even if outnumbered, because history and morality and honor and duty and the citizenry all called for them to do so.
Have we finally reached the banks of that Rubicon? No, my friends, we have not.
The souls of the spineless Democrats have not been swept away and replaced with a newly vigilant and re-invigorated opposition spirit. Instead, what we find is that even when charged with maintaining a largely symbolic opposition, when there is literally no danger of an unexpected outcome,like the right thing inadvertently happening, they are still unable to marshal a unified and coherent front against bad and for good.
To be clear, I’m talking about easily recognizable bad, not subtle, suave, evil that insinuates itself into your life like the Charming Mr. Ripley - I’m referring to Jack the Ripper bad, like 14 Dem Senators voting to confirm a guy to head the CIA, who doesn’t appear able to publicly and completely renounce torture, something most base Democrats (one would hope) would have considered the lowest conceivable bar to set. Not low enough, I guess for those 14 Senators, most of whom seem to have decided to not take the candidate at his word that he might reconsider it given the right circumstances.
Aside from that, we have other Democrats willing to confirm people who are clearly not qualified through expertise or experience to head the vital Federal Departments they are being tapped to run, or even worse, who combine the lack of experience and knowledge with an actual malevolence towards the department and its role and function as a cog of government. Look, we know that they’re going to be confirmed anyway, but why do Democrats feel any inclination to sign on to hiring evil nannies that they know in advance have designs on infanticide? Why give that coveted “bi-partisan” seal that our former President sold his and our soul for without success for an entire eight years?
The same situation holds true for the 13 Democrats who voted against the drug re-importation amendment floated by Bernie which ironically enough, had garnered a few do-gooder Republican votes which were cancelled out by the do-badder Dem votes. Some have made the case for those Dems that it was “only” a symbolic vote anyway, which to my mind makes their votes even worse, that they couldn’t even pretend to care about Americans having access to cheaper drugs. Their unnecessary and pointless self-stigmatization will be helpful in deciding whether to vote for them in the future, although as incumbents, they will no doubt be supported by both the Party and the industry they were willing to abandon all semblance of humanity on behalf of.
These acts of enabling comity aren’t “turning the other cheek” or “going high when they go low” in search of bi-partisan accomplishments. This is slicing the entire cheek off and putting it on a plate as tribute to the other side. How could a Party and its legislators be so insanely inadequate when called upon to mount an effective opposition? Think about it for five minutes and then come back, because IMO, there is an answer. I’ve buried the clue within what I’ve already written.
**********
Okay, did you come up with an answer to explain the behavior? Here’s mine:
The clue I buried in the first part of this essay was the sentence where I said that most base Democrats would object to confirming someone who was unable to reject the concept of torture outright. I think that statement is true. But it doesn’t matter whether it true or not. It’s irrelevant what the base voters of the Democratic Party think.
The Democratic Party to this day don’t care what their base thinks. This is in spite of devastating losses at every level of government. They do not understand that they shrank their own tent by alienating votes they had in search of votes they didn’t have and would not have, and will not ever get.
They are still trying to appeal to an illusary, moderate Republican voter, who, in some of their minds, thinks a little bit of torture is unpleasant but okay if confined out of sight to people who dress differently than we do. Individually, they are willing to vote for most of the cabinet appointments, because some of them stand for things the Republican base wants, even if the Democratic base doesn’t.
We know that Dems have no plans to alter their lemming like cliff dive in search of bi-partisan centrism. We also know that they are once again basing their future electoral hopes on NOT TRUMP. But in seeking to be NOT TRUMP while simultaneously trying to attract Trump voters, the Democratic Party has assigned itself an impossible task. Both their base and the make-believe Republican moderate voters they lust for will think NOT TRUMP ENOUGH, having diametrically opposite meanings, and they will both be correct.
Comments
Nice.
But I don't agree with the opposition to Trump's appointments.
Traditionally, presidents were given latitude to choose their own team, and I don't have a problem with that. I wouldn't include democrats in that group.
The time to have protested appointments would have been under the BO administration, if people were genuinely concerned about some situations (like banking).
dfarrah
I don't think we are in normal times
I would say I normally agree with the sentiment of a President being given leeway to select their own cabinet, but most Presidents to date (at least in modern times) have not offered up people with literally no qualifications to run specific Executive level cabinet like Ben Carson and Betsy DeVos or Rick Perry or someone like Pompeo who made what should be an automatically disqualifying statement. That's four right there that IMO opinion should be rejected out of hand. To me, Sessions is also a no go.
So I think that a Dem should be able to ask normal, objective questions, like does this person have the experience and the background for the job? Does their history show a good intent towards the objectives and responsibilities of the Department? and be able to come to conclusions that based on objective fact that this particular person is not worthy of their confirmation vote.
I loathed a few of Obama's cabinet appointments, but they all had the professional background and expertise one would have expected in their bona fides.
Speaking of that, I will always recall a poster on another board who used as their avatar a group picture of Obama's cabinet from Day One as his ironic constant comment about what we were about to experience, and boy did he have that right. He was way more tuned in and informed than I was.
" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "
I suspect that Carson, DeVos, and Perry will be figureheads
Anyway, qualifications can be used for evil as well as good.
@Sunspots I don't think that
I don't think that DeVos will be a figurehead. She's been hard at work trying to dismantle public education for decades.
Universal free public education is a success story and DeVos and her ilk want to turn it into a profit opportunity for parasitical corporate profit.
"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"
Not anymore.
Universal free education is a great thing but it is no longer successful. Something went wrong in the 1970s and public education began a downward spiral. DeVos doesn't have the answers but that doesn't mean the system isn't damaged goods.
People need to quit painting with such a broad brush.
90% of American kids go to public schools. Who do you think are filling the jobs and universities? We have public K-12 suburban schools in Michigan with a graduation rate of 93.14% with 95% of graduates attending post-secondary schools. While hardly offering all the benefits of private prep schools, they are not the problem. The problem is crushing poverty in inner city schools across the nation.
First you demonize them, then you defund them. This is the strategy the politicians and opponents always employ when they want someone else's money.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Well...
I'm a product of Michigan public schools. I was born in Detroit and my first school was White Elementary on the East Side. We moved to Warren in the 1960s and I finished public schooling there. Sadly, my nieces/nephews and grand-nieces/grand-nephews didn't receive the same quality of education as I did in the same Warren public school systems.
So please don't lecture me on Michigan.
@edg - My Public
- My Public schooling in MI the 80s was pretty amazing. Utica Community Schools was amazing. I think it maintained a high level of education through the early 00s, but I've since kind of lost track of my hometown.
We had amazing vocational instruction. My welding friends went to college. Came out making nearly 6 figures. The non-college bound had terrific skill sets with a vibrant electronics and drafting program. Our journalism and yearbook programs were completely cutting edge desktop publishing operations, in 1989. Music and art classes were fully funded and chock full of tools and instruments.
I mean, we didn't learn latin like our parents and grand parents generation, but millions of Michiganders got some extremely useful and holistic education out of MI public schools in the 80s.
If only everyone had my primary educational experience as a baseline.
I think I side with dkmich on this one, edg. Public education has been, and still is, pretty amazing, and that despite the billions that Betsy DeVos & Bill Gates and their ilk have spent, and withheld, trying to sabotage them. Make those fuckers pay their fair share. End the tax abatements and sweetheart deals for Big Corporate parasites that are trashing the local tax base.
I am very sympathetic to the acceptance of the framing of the Corporate Center. Your statement on public schooling conjures a bunch of standard centrist trope. Your claim of bad schooling, even in your era, also do not ring true in my experience. The institution is struggling because the Betsy DeVoses and Bill Gateses and their media marketing blitz ruined it because a truly educated population is harder to fleece and control. Education, like Healthcare, is a terrible market. Marketization and commoditization of education is the problem.
“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu
@k9disc
And, of course, we have to realiize that if all the children are left behind together in slashed-budget public schools, they really aren't being left behind each other, right? Pragmatically speaking for corporate interests sending their kids to expensive private schools, of course.
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.
@k9disc It's really
It's really easy to make public schools crappy. Start by defunding them. Then fuck up the rules for what and how teachers are allowed to teach. Make it real restrictive.
"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
This begs the question
If public education has gone downhill, then we should be asking WHY? Off the top of my head, I can think of a number of reasons why it has in Florida beginning with emphasis upon testing and tying test scores into the grading of schools and teachers. There is a direct correlation between schools in poor communities and poor test scores. The reaction of the Florida legislature has been to penalize poor schools for poor test scores instead of investing more into them. Another reason is the loss of adequate funding due to the cutting of taxes and lower state revenue sharing. And finally the nail in the coffin of quality public education is the public funding of privately owned education businesses masking under the guise of charter schools. These schools drain funds from public schools while plucking away the best students and not being held to the same standards as public schools.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
@gulfgal98
Also, not only poor nutrition but stress and sleep deficiency (these often compounding, for obvious reasons) adversely affect the ability to learn.
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.
something went wrong in the 1970s
That "something" was the first volleys of the no-tax, privatize everything movement, along with the right-wing demands for so-called "accountability" which created the horrific teach-to-the-test environment our children suffer through today.
Another, bigger dose of the same is the last thing we need as a nation!
And that's before we get to the fact that even with this osmium millstone around its neck, public education is still a resounding success, as dkmich demonstrates in a comment in this very thread.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Polls I've seen of parents of public school children like
their public schools and their teachers. Of course with the corporatists trying, and often succeeding, in starving the schools class sizes will increase and good courses will be dropped. The communities that support their public schools know this and try to fight back.
I went through the Baltimore City public schools and even graduated from high school - a first for the father's side of the family - and then I went to work. I didn't much like school but they were well run.
"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"
Blame PLATO
"Something went wrong in the 1970s and public education began a downward spiral."
This happened Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations, aka, PLATO. We fucked it all up because the teacher educationists and corporatize education droids saw an opportunity and we didn't sabotage the works. I saw one of the first at ASU. I watched as a computer genius inspected this system and we knew it would set him free! He (like Stephen Hawking) had difficulty interacting with the world. This was supposed to be a wonderful tool.
So, once again, we were the pioneers that gave the world a gift, and they turned it into a nightmare. Standardized testing writ large against a background of learning factoids and trivia with no interest in creative thinking and the joy of discovery. Our educational system sucks, and I am glad I have have been retired these past two years. It is a losing battle. And as long as we keep sidelining people like Bernie it will continue being a losing battle.
I can't believe I forgot Mnuchin
Of course, he's just one of many the Obama administration allowed to escape any real scrutiny. Here's the always estimable David Dayan. This article details HOW the Obama administration allowed the banks to examine themselves for wrongdoing. Thanks President Obama! And since no stakes were driven, these vampires just re-appear for additional bites at the apple(re-distributing middle-class assets upward).
Mnuchin Again Denies Robosigning, Despite More Evidence He Is Lying
" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "
Don't forget to give Kamala Harris her share of discredit
for ordering the CA AG's office to cease investigating Mnuchin's bank when she was our AG. So of course, her-corporatness got elected to higher office.
Did you know that most of Obama's cabinet
was chosen for him by Citigroup? And while we're at it, Hillary Clinton's clarion call, backed up by the Obamas, DNC, and mainstream media was that she's the bestest, most experienced, smart, and knowledgeable political critter with a vagina in the entire universe. So there. I think that unless one of Trump's picks is the subject of an FBI criminal investigation(s) (oh wait, never mind) Dems should greenlight them and let them fail on their own and tarnish the GOP brand. Otherwise, voters see Dems as desperate obstructionists (which they are), hypocrites (which they are), and sour grapes' losers (which they definitely are). And though Betsy DeVos is an evil destroyer of public education, Obama's Arne Duncan was as well and the Clintons owned a charter school corporation.
@dfarrah Not if they can't embrace
Not if they can't embrace the 4th through 8th amendments.
Sorry, I'm kinda traditional that way.
"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
I don't think we can even give them credit for spinelessness.
They are doing what they want to. They have been using that dry powder, against us. And they will fight us and against our interests to the bitter end.
The Democrats of today are pretty much spineless
meant to be a new comment
The first is that while partisan Democrats may be one’s allies when opposing a Republic president, their opposition is opportunistic and not principled. The second they are in charge, they will support or wave aside the same actions they condemned coming from a Republican. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t work with partisan Democrats, it means understand when they’ll stop fighting AND that once they don’t need you, they will regard you as a threat and seek to to eliminate you.
The second is more important: The control of a party matters more than the results of any individual election.
http://www.ianwelsh.net/lessons-for-the-resistance-from-the-bush-resista...
Within the above link is a trip back in time for many here
WARNING WARNING O's first posting at TOP
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/8/23/770241/-
It definitely shows what a scumbag O really was/is.
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
Obama showed that corruption is color blind.
"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"
@ggersh In order to beat them,
source (WARNING: Daily Kos)
Truly, truly I say unto ye all: Gaaaakkkkk!
The next time I swallow poison by mistake, I'll know what to read!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
thanatokephaloides
thanks my screen really needed a cleaning.
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
Obama's got to keep his name in the news (even if only at GOS)
so that Corey Booker can nominate him for the Supreme Court.
He'd be filibustered
how ironic would that be?*clapping*
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
Imagine having to aspire to spinelessness
since the alternative is duplicity.
" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "
Democrats
The Democrats jettisoned their FDR loving base when they opted to take big $$$ from the Wall St Banksters and Silicon Valley tech moguls. To keep the fealty of this monied elite, the DNC had to help finish off organized labor; had to give the OK to job loss through the bogus visa process; and had to give financial speculators socialized risk for their parasitical machinations.
They replaced enhanced living standards and "the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" for the fake comfort of identity politics.
"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"
Don't forget the media darlings
the closest they come to the Democratic base is about the same as our congress people. They have their under assistant west coast promo person make sure we have their car ready by 3, and hurry it up.
The for-profit press soiled themselves big time
this election cycle and it probably isn't over yet.
"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"
Flip side
Anyone who can still remember such obscure Rolling Stones history gets a thumbs up from me!
Hey, Bra! I remember--yeah I'm that old but still rockin'
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIfjozLGueU]
@Alligator Ed Hey, thanks. That
Hey, thanks. That was the first time I heard it in stereo.
Rolling Stones
I never knew the Stones performed for Akhenaten's court, wow! /snark
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
A pox on both their houses.
Off with their heads I say.
The real problem is that both parties of the duopoly are different faces of the same coin and the people know it, in their hearts if not in their minds.
The last election desperately needed an outsider to win. On the Repub side they had the ultimate outsider, the Trumpster. On the Dems side we had same-old, same-old, status quo corporate tit suckling Hillary. The f*ing WORST person to put up for election in this cycle. She stood for almost everything the electorate had come to despise. Any acceptable policies she espoused was manly due to her decades of triangulation and insider manipulation.
The ONLY chance the Dems had was with Bernie Sanders. But the powers that be in the DNC were so intent on crowning the queen, they actively connived with the MSM to shove him under the bus.
There's little to salvage from the Democratic Party now. Obama pretty much destroyed everything it used to stand for. He was the 11th dimensional Bamboozler in Chief.
The Democratic Party needs to be blown up and replaced by a real left progressive party.
The Democratic Party exists
to divide and defang the left.
That's it's sole purpose.
Your comment: short, sweet & to the point!
"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"
From that perspective then, they've been incredibly
successful.
Should be some good theater tonight with the Nancy Pelosi Democratic Town Hall on CNN at 9pm as she'll reveal to us all the plan for the way forward.
" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "
The existential statement belies the existing vacuum.
The Democratic Party exists to pander to a select set of corporate leaders in opposition to a second (not necessarily disjunctive) select set of corporate leaders to whom the Republican Party panders. The various Thirty Pieces of Silver are simply base tokens with which to keep score.
Dividing and Defanging the Left is just a bit of fallout, of little concern or import. Notice how easy it was to shoo away the Bernie disturbance.
@PriceRip For once, I have to
For once, I have to disagree with you. Closing the window on political diversity of opinion is crucial to managing the expectations of the populace. That was one of Hillary and Bill's primary (heh) jobs.
"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
@gjohnsit Well said. Hammer, meet
Well said. Hammer, meet nail.
"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
Sun Tzu : The Art of War
Sorry, I gave it to my daughter to reinforce her already considerable talents. So, I will just wing it from here:
If you have nothing left to lose, you will lose it. Just when the enemy thinks they are about to destroy you, you show them their fatal weakness. It is best to appear weakest where you are strongest (they fall for that one every time). But if you have no strengths (id est, you have nothing left to lose), you have already lost, you are simply unaware of your impending doom. In my humble opinion, the Democratic Hierarchy individually and collectively lack the vital self-perceptive cognitive function central to the process of planing any sort of campaign.
To succeed in battle, you must know yourself.
Sun Tzu said it better, but I know it well.
Well, see, that's what I think
That's why I'm so resistant to trying to fix them from within - they don't have any assets left to fight for. It's like buying a restaurant that killed off an entire city with food poisoning but keeping the name, the decor and the old staff. Good luck at the grand re-opening. Don't be surprised when no one comes.
" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "
Actually, *they* never had any assets.
" - they don't have any assets left to fight for"
The art of the long con (from whence I learned The Art of War) requires you to incorporates the perception of a reality that isn't. We haven't been able (for me starting in 1970) to make progress because the democratic party slowly (quasi-statically) discarded its soul over the years. It is nothing but an empty husk turning to parchment in a very dry, very empty, wind-swept, field in Central Nebraska.
That's true.
I didn't realize the dismantlement began so long ago, but I read a Thomas Frank article a while ago that identified the demise of the Party and its turn rightwards as beginning in the Carter administration.
That's long enough to have invested faith under a misbegotten illusion of shared goals and values.
" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "
It took a while for me to notice.
During the 1970s it was the war in Việt Nam that provided the first clues. After the fact more and more information found its way to the surface, and over the years it became clear that the rot in our system was fatal. In the early 80s I met a natural encyclopedia and together we explored the depths, and breadth of the decay.
Richard Luehrs was an able sensei in this regard, and I did a DemExit in the 1980s before it was a thing.
Apt description
That seems to be an apt description for the great majority of Usians. Centuries of brain washing has reached its conclusion.
From the Light House.
@Alex Ocana Beautiful writing,
Beautiful writing, but I wouldn't say parchment, cause I like parchment. Useful stuff.
"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
All about money IMO
We want to control things we have to play the money game too, the way we did when we gave Bernie hundreds of millions of dollars. We also have to deprive them of their money (which is originally our money) with boycotts and alternative products.
Beware the bullshit factories.
I agree.
As I pointed out ( put this with this ) we need to play to our strengths and exploit their weaknesses. Adopting the strategy of the Democratic Party is no better than trying to take over the Democratic Party, so most important (perhaps) is to change the rules so that pandering to those with the most Thirty Pieces of Silver gets you removed from the field of battle.
We need to develop alternative ways of informing ourselves
I've been starting to get interested in mesh networks, which involve people just hooking up with each other using wifi. If enough of these local mesh networks can arise, they can be connected to each other to make our own free internet. No more gatekeepers, like Comcast and Verizon, needed.
Beware the bullshit factories.
The problem is the Democratic Fleet Expended The Gunpowder...
On a series of ineffective barrages already...
The the first expenditure of their gunpowder, was the barrage of Fake News used against Bernie in the Primary Election which was fired while the enemy was not yet in range, and served no useful purpose except to alienate about 1/2 the party, and the Independents from supporting their future efforts...
Then in another useless expenditure of gunpowder, an Off Target Barrage between the convention and the election was fired in the direction of Russia with yet another huge volley of Fake News about a delusional contrived Russian Hack of the DNC Server and Podesta Emails, and a number of the deplorable shells fell short, with their less than spectacular "if you aren't with us you are with Trump, so we don't need your vote" explosions...
Finally after the election battle in which they didn't fire a single shot, with the Democratic Flagship ablaze and sinking, as the Victorious Republican Fleet was sailing away, yet another off target and useless barrage was fired with the remainder of the gunpowder with 1001 Fake News Excuses why the Queen failed in her Coronation Quest except the truthful one that she just sucked as a candidate, and false hopes that the Victorious Republican Fleet would somehow be scuttled...
Now as the Captured Democratic Fleet is being led to port to be torn apart for scrap metal or, refitted for use by the Victorious Republican Navy all hands are below decks with brooms in the gunpowder magazines searching for even a single grain of gunpowder that can be used, and there is none...
I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House."
~John F. Kennedy~
Economic: -9.13, Social: -7.28,
Well done!
I vote for the fleet being scuttled as an underwater memorial to the last bastions of the party and turned into an oyster reef so that some good comes of it.
" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "
@Phoebe Loosinhouse Mussels. I like mussels
Mussels. I like mussels.
"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
They should have scuttled it years ago.
It's done by design
They rotate who has to be the bad guy each week or on each vote. It's long been their practice to use the game of "Villain Rotation" to prevent passage of any part of the Progressive agenda, as Glenn Greenwald explained back in 2010:
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
Thanks so much for posting that, Steven D.
Glenn Greenwald's commentary is spot on.
Once you see the pattern, you can't unsee it. It's like that optical illusion about seeingthe old lady in the drawing of the young woman
" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "
I'm amazed how so many of the faithful missed that over
the years, deliberate blindness perhaps, well that is the only explanation I can come up with
It's the whole team thing
If they are on our team, you overlook their warts and nasty tempers and lies and that time they bullied you because hey, at least their on "my team" and not the one with all the assholes I really hate.
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
it's a form of perversion
that typically originates in and is supported by a mythology of the family. A family that in this case is "started" and glued together specifically for the purpose of the mythology.
family
Sounds a lot like some Families I know from NYC..... all five of them....
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
You'd get a better deal from Them
just sayin'
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
I am reading rumors that they plan a united front
in opposition to any Supreme Court nomination that isn't Harland. I don't know why, since Obama did have the option of a lame duck appointment. It would only have been for one year, but it would have slowed this catastrophe down. Losers and wimps - not a doubt.
BTW, BNC is going to team with Justice Democrats - whatever that means.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
But, but bipartisanship is the only thing that works
look how successful the Republicans have been in joining with the Democrats to get Republican policies enacted.
Oh wait...that wasn't the intent....but..I thought...but...
Thanks
for the laugh.
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
bi
No, LaFem, it's bisexuality that works, not "bipartisanship"!
With bisexuality, you only get screwed if you want to. With bipartisanship, you always get screwed when you don't want to!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
And with bipartisanship you also get screwed from both sides
>2,700 alums from DeVos' alma mater oppose her nomination
More than 2,700 Calvin alumni have signed a petition opposing her nomination, saying she is “not qualified for the position” because she lacks a “strong commitment to public education.”
Thousands of alumni from DeVos’s Christian alma mater oppose her appointment
https://thinkprogress.org/thousands-of-alumni-from-devoss-christian-alma...
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." --Jiddu Krishnamurti
Wow. When almost 2/3 of your alma mater opposes your nomination
that's saying something. Sounds like they've had some pretty progressive views for a Christian school too:
Thanks for posting this article. It's hopeful to see people taking stands like this, especially in the so-called "faith" communities.
Excellent piece as always Phoebe.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
Excellent essay, Phoebe!
I am absolutely amazed at how many people I know who profess to be "liberals" who fail to see just how bad the Democratic party is. Some of them have chastised me up one side and down the other for failing to support Hillary. These people are generally professionals who lead fairly comfortable lives and truly believe that by supporting issues such as racial equality, same sex marriage, women's right, and similar issues, that they have met the criteria for being a real liberal.
A big part of the problem lies with the mainstream media which has consistently failed to cover such things as Hillary Clinton's unabashed support for wars of choice and her deep ties to the banksters, nor the pay to play corruption with the Clinton Foundation. They actually believed that the email scandal was much ado about nothing because they did not know enough to connect the dots to the Clinton Foundation.
Instead, they saw Clinton through the lens of identity politics and felt good about supporting the first woman President, not realizing where she actually stood on the issues. In effect, they were what her campaign slogan said, "I'm With 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
Now here's another instance of "spooky action at a distance"
Which I swear is a part of the fabric of the universe. At the exact time you were writing this comment this morning I was ruminating to myself (the only one I ruminate to, unless I am driven by frustration to force my ruminations onto the rest of you) some idle observations about identity politics and the Democrats and how they had crafted and expanded upon their now core belief that personalities are more important than policies.
I was specifically thinking about how the ultimately ineffectual slogan of "I'm With Her" was an overt technique designed to get voters to submerge their politics and beliefs and even their own identities into that of The First Woman President. Upon further reflection, I realized that she really couldn't use the alternate version, "I'm For You" because that territory had already been staked out far more believably by Bernie Sanders.In response to Bernie popping out of the woodwork, to their discredit, we witnessed many surrogates take out the "racism" and "sexism" arrows from their quiver because they didn't have the self-control not to.
This leads me to believe that since the majority of our elected Dems don't really share the core goals of the 99%, only when circumstances dictate, such as those damn inconvenient campaigns when they are forced to mingle with the great unwashed, that they will continue in the future to seek cover for their policies by choosing another political persona for voters to submerge themselves into.
" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "
@Phoebe Loosinhouse The Democratic party
The Democratic party machine had planned to run the table of identity politicians starting with the first black President in Obama, followed by the first woman, then the first Hispanic, and then probably the first openly gay President. But the real qualifier for the machine was that each of these identity politicians owed their first allegiance to the big money that runs the machine.
That horrendous campaign slogan "I'm With Her" was insulting to the voters themselves in that it was all about Her and not about the voters or the people. I have been railing about identity politics for a long time. It is an empty shell devoid of any substance. It also allows the Democratic party to avoid the real issues that concern the majority of people.
It also provides a panacea to the comfortable liberal class to justify to themselves that they are good liberals because they support those identity issues. As we here know, while these issues are important, they still do not put bread on the table, ensure your water is not contaminated, pay the bills, ensure your children get the quality education they deserve, nor ensure you and your family have healthcare (not f*ing insurance, but real healthcare).
But Obama blew that nice good liberal facade away when the biggest losers under the administration of the first black President were minorities, particularly blacks.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
@Phoebe Loosinhouse
That slogan contained basic elements of realism when spelt correctly, as I always did: "I'm Withered".
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.
Welcome to my little slice of Hell, gulfgal!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
@thanatokephaloides LOL It is much harder
LOL It is much harder to be a far leftist here in the deep South where few of your friends and barely none of your family understand you or your ideas. Even my so called lefty friends think I am a radical whacko. For some reason, I am extremely proud of that label, although it would be better if more of us radical whackos were around.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
snow.
SNOW. You need to live where it lives.
Actually, I understand why you would want to live on the Gulf: all those tasty critters swimming in that chunk of sea! But the local hoomins are a problem, no doubt about it!
-- A Southern Expat
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides