Syria, Tulsi Gabbard, Progressives, and U.S. Imperialism

Some thoughts on America's attack on Syria.

(add: Jacobin article)

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/05/tulsi-gabbard-president-sanders-democ...

-Trump/America's attack killed six children. Have you read or listened to anyone who mentioned that? Lamented about that? Maybe it wasn't enough, maybe it has to be fifty kids. Or 500,000. How about a million? Do you know what it's like to have your child killed? Not by a bomb, but by lies?

-Most progressives, and most everyone else, have taken to the narrative that the President of Syria, Bashar Assad, is an evil dictator, cruel to his people and "something" must be done about him. They just don't necessarily agree with the way the United States is going about it. A typical comment contains the caveat, "I know something has to be done about Assad, but bombing is not the answer", or "I know Assad is a brutal dictator but it's not up to the U.S. to solve this problem". I see that all the time. Why is it that so many Americans believe an elected president of another country that has a near 70% approval rating among it's citizens "must be removed"? How is it that so many Americans know so much about the crimes of the Assad government but they don't know shit about the crimes of their own government? Could it be because that's what they've been told to believe? Could it be there's a little racism involved here? ("They've been fighting each other for centuries", Ya, like "we" haven't") Oh ya, there will be those who will come out with stories about how Assad tortured, killed his own people, gassed his own people, etc, some true, some not. Assad and his government have done dirty deeds and should be held to account like all governments around the world fucking with their people. What about our presidents and our government? Bush, Clinton, Obama, now Trump? Why aren't the same people who are so convinced that the presidents in Arab countries are so fucking depraved that something has to be done about them, also demanding that "something" be done about their own presidents? Our presidents torture, they gas, they bomb, kill and steal, they kill children, they kill "innocents".

Can any dictator really equal what our own dictators are doing, have done and are responsible for? Can any dictator equal what our dictator wants to do which is rule the world? Think about that, "rule the world". When has that not been associated with insanity?

It's all ass backwards, 1984ish. The War is Peace, Lies are Truth thing. Check out these fuckers we have as our government leaders, like Nikki Haley, McMaster, Tillerson. The lies coming out of their mouths are so off the charts it's hard to take. These people are really great actors. They look in the cameras or stare out at their audiences with such sincere and serious looks and say things like "we will hold those who commit crimes against innocents accountable". In other words, "we" will bomb the shit out of you and kill your children. "We'll kill your children because we had someone else kill your children to make it look like you killed your children so we can kill more of your children". It's like a serial killer who killed your kid looking you straight in the face and saying he will help you find the killer.

What the fuck man, this is a country that has been practicing ruthless full spectrum imperialism, manifest destiny on steroids, waging wars, dropping insane numbers of bombs, conducting regime changes, country destabilizations, enacting sanctions that kill many millions including millions of children, threatening and pillaging it's way across planet Earth and our government "leaders" are lying like psychopaths who believe they're the next coming of Jesus Christ. This is a country that has bombed, napalmed, gassed, tortured, and incinerated it's way to becoming the greatest demockery in human history. This is a country with the largest prison system by far on the planet, that treats most it's citizens like slaves requiring them to buy health care from corporations and pay their taxes to enable the rich to get more rich and have our kids fight and die in their wars so they can rule the world. "Feed the rich til there are no poor no more". The poor will be gone, wiped off the face of the earth because they were too stupid to stand up to their oppressors.

Ya, what about the innocents, Tillerson? You're just another in a long line of U.S. government criminals that "think it's worth it" to kill children while pretending to care about children.

That's the American way isn't it? Kill anyone that gets in our way, steal their shit and go buy a big screen TV made in Vietnam. Manifest destiny man, get the fuck back on your reservations you sub-humans we own this now, not you. It's hard not to spread the blame at this point.

So ya, if Assad, who has a 70% approval rating from his citizens should be removed for committing "crimes against innocents", what about Trump who has a 36% approval rating from "his" citizens and his crimes against innocents? He's already killed kids in three countries. He's a war criminal, a murderer. What about Obama, what about Bush, what about Clinton? What does that say about this country that has two blatant psychopaths by the names of John McCain and Lindsey Graham running around demanding that we bomb the shit out of everyone. Two terrorist sympathizers, supporters and enablers, two despicable humans that make Assad look like Mr. Rogers because they want to bomb and kill the world, keep getting elected by big screen TV Americans election after election.

But the liberals and progressives keep up with the caveats. "I'm against war but something has to be done about Assad." The new progressive hero, Tulsi Gabbard, member of good standing with the Council on Foreign Relations, arguably one of the most evil organizations on the planet and certainly the preeminent imperialist organization, typifies the lame approach to peace most liberals and progressives practice. "The premier progressive of our time", she issued a statement against the bombing attack on Syria Trump ordered on April 4th that killed six children. She comes out strong against Trump's attack, calling it illegal but then says that by launching those missiles before U.N. could collect evidence, he has "jeopardized the legitimacy of future attacks on chemical assets or the regime airbases used to deliver them." She indicates it was poor judgment and that if Assad is guilty she'd be the first to call for prosecution, but the attack may have destroyed evidence.

She's worried about "jeopardizing the legitimacy of future attacks". That doesn't sound like someone totally against war, and future attacks, in Syria.

To her credit, she calls it like it is when she says, "Trump’s reckless escalation of the regime change war to overthrow the Syrian government will make things worse for the Syrian people, not better."

But then she asks if we've learned nothing from "our" invasions of Iraq and Libya. "The overthrow of Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi, brutal dictators who attacked their own people, has resulted in hundreds of thousands more civilians killed, millions more refugees, trillions of dollars wasted, and the strengthening of al-Qaeda, ISIS and other terrorist organizations."

There's that "brutal dictator" narrative. The message conveyed is the regime changes are being conducted because the dictator's are being brutal, but it's poor judgment to do it by bombing the shit out of countries, as proven with Iraq and Libya, and Congress must be involved in the decision process to remove these brutal dictators. That is bullshit. Although she withholds judgment on who was responsible for the April 4th alleged chemical weapon attack, she clearly equates Assad and the Syria war with the Libya/Gaddafi and Iraq/Hussein wars conducted supposedly to remove "brutal dictators". No mention of the real reasons for those wars, U.S. and Israeli imperialism. And no mention of the brutal American dictators killing, displacing and torturing their way thru the middle east, central asia and north africa.

But the progressives eat it up. She's the new Sanders, the one who will lead them out of the wilderness and back to the democratic party. She was also a key co-sponsor of the the North Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act last year which passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a stunning 418 to 2. Here's Gabbard:

"North Korea continues to pose a serious and dangerous threat to my constituents in Hawaii, the Pacific, and the West Coast of the United States. Our communities and our families lie within range of North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missiles. North Korea’s nuclear tests just a week ago, and their continued pursuit of developing more nuclear weapons and miniaturizing those weapons, serve as a reminder of the threat that North Korea poses to our country, which my constituents in Hawaii know all too well.”

This is similar to her stance on Iran where she was one of the few polticians to come out against the Iran "deal" because she felt it didn't go far enough and would be too hard to enforce. Here's Gabbard on Breitbart News:

"When asked if she had any advice for the president, she responded, “put yourself in Israel’s shoes. I think whether you’re — when you’re in any kind of situation like this where there’s a little bit of a standoff and personalities and egos are hurt, if you put yourself in their shoes and understand where he’s coming from, where the Israeli people are coming from and their deep concern about Iran’s continued development of a nuclear weapon and what they want to do with that.”

"Iran's continued development of A nuclear weapon". Bullshit.

So again, here's a representive of the U.S.A., the bully of the planet, the country with thousands of nuclear weapons; the only country that has used those weapons to kill up to one million Japanese (including all post attack casualties); the country that has been threatening nuclear war on the planet since it dropped those bombs in 1945; the country that has verifiable and open plans to use nuclear weapons during it's imperialist conquests; the country who's last president committed to a ten year, one trillion dollar nuclear weapon moderinization project; the country that just elected a psychopath billionaire as president who said he wanted the most nuclear weapons ever assembled; and the country that recently boycotted the UN nuclear weapons ban treaty effort because as Haley put it, "North Korea won't listen"; saying that Iran is a danger because it might develop one nuclear weapon, which it isn't and hasn't, and that "we" have the right to do something about it, to stop them by whatever means necessary. That is a tell ladies and gentlemen.

Sure, North Korea and Iran should not be allowed to have nuclear weapons, neither should Israel or any country on the planet, but how do you reconcile that with the United States of America? How do you rationalize that the U.S. should be able to have thousands while North Korea should not be permitted to have a single one? Because their leader is batshit crazy? What about our leaders? They're fucking batshit crazy too. The North Korea attacked by the U.S. who killed millions of their people. The North Korea the U.S. has been at war with since the end of WWII. Or how about Iran, same thing with Iran. How, when the U.S. is the only country to have used the evil weapons, resulting in the deaths of millions, is it incumbent on the politicians of this country to insist that other countries shouldn't have them? Shouldn't it be the other way around? The U.S. has used them and killed a million people, needlessly. It has proven itself as the most unworthy custodian of nuclear weapons on the planet. Shouldn't the U.S. be the one the rest of the planet is trying to get to "listen"?

What about Israel and it's crazy leader Netanyahoo and their brutal apartheid state? What's that Tulsi, put ourselves in their shoes? No thanks.

Fuck no, we're not going to go thru this charade forever or until we all get blown to kingdom come. "We all drop our weapons at once".

Here's Gabbard on Russia:

“Russia has violated the sovereignty and independence of the Ukrainian people, in direct contravention of its own treaty obligations and international law,” said Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, an Army combat veteran and member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “I support the sanctions announced today, and I strongly urge the President to go further and consider a broader range of consequences. If Russia is allowed to continue its aggressive push for control in Ukraine, there will be long-term, serious, and costly security risks for the United States and Europe. Russia must face serious consequences for their actions; the U.S. must consider options that truly isolate Russia economically and diplomatically—not just sanction a handful of oligarchs—and send a message of unity and strength from the international community.

“We cannot stand by while Russia unilaterally degrades Ukraine’s territorial integrity. We must offer direct military assistance—defensive weapons, military supplies and training—to ensure Ukraine has adequate resources to respond to Russia’s aggressions and defend themselves. We cannot view Ukraine as an isolated incident. If we do not take seriously the threat of thinly veiled Russian aggression, and commit to aiding the people of Ukraine immediately, we will find ourselves in a more dangerous, expensive and disastrous situation in the future.”

Peace candidate? Think again. She's an Islamophobe, Russophobe imperialist who believes the war OF terror is an ideological struggle against radical Islam, which it isn't. The war OF terror is a manufactured war based on lies, just like all wars are based on lies.

Gabbard is just another politician. Politicians won't save us. Imperialism must end and it must end soon. The end game is upon us. They're at level 8 of the video game "Conquer the World" and trying their damnest to get to the next level. They'll do whatever it takes.

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smiley7's picture

haven't followed the news enough to speak, but, I'm up late and wanted to say, "hi."

Hope you are well and in good spirits; taking care!

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Big Al's picture

@smiley7 Always good to see ya. I'm doing well and feeling feisty. Hope you are too.

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Alligator Ed's picture

than anyone outside of Rand Paul. CFR = certified for Regime change? Maybe. But she is certainly saner that Monster McMaster, also in CFR.

I agree with your summary:

In other words, "we" will bomb the shit out of you and kill your children. "We'll kill your children because we had someone else kill your children to make it look like you killed your children so we can kill more of your children".

But Trump has to tread cautiously as he has already trodden on lots of Deep State toes. And look at the DemonRATic response to Tulsi's call for restraint. "Kick her outta the party, she ain't no DemonRAT (quoth Howard Dean and Neera Tanden). Just think if Tulsi called for all-out abandonment of the Middle East. What would they have called for then? Lynching?

The Overton Window takes time to reposition. We lost our chance for miracles overnight when Bernie got cheated. We must use what resources we have.

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Raggedy Ann's picture

@Alligator Ed @Alligator Ed

But Trump has to tread cautiously as he has already trodden on lots of Deep State toes.

He's starting to turn and sound like Obama, Clinton, and Bush. The Deep State takes no prisoners and Herr Drumpf is figuring that out. Bannon will be out soon. So will the others that are trying to get him to resist the deep state. The Deep State will win as the rest of us lose.

Edited to ad: We may not be officially at war with Syria, but we're not officially at war with any of those countries, except Iraq and Afghanistan, but I see it differently, as most of us do.

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

thanatokephaloides's picture

@Raggedy Ann

We may not be officially at war with Syria, but we're not officially at war with any of those countries, except Iraq and Afghanistan

We're not "officially at war" with Iraq or Afghanistan, either. Officially, believe it or not, the country is at peace. (!!)

For us to be officially, "on the books" at war, the Constitution is crystal-clear: Congress must pass a declaration of war against our enemies. Not an "AUMF", not a "resolution", a declaration of war. And it must be called exactly that, too. Otherwise, we're still officially "at peace". Just like we were in Vietnam.

A distinction only crooks, liars, and scoundrels could love!

I've always agitated for a complete ban on "war lite". It should either be a commitment equal to World War II or no use of military force at all. Allowing "war lite" to be an option guarantees it will be an option that is actually used, as it has been, repeatedly, since 1945. If the only choices legally available were Real Total War or Real Peace, I daresay we'd be far more likely to choose (and stick to) the latter. But as long as The Halfway House From Hell is available ("limited" military "action"), we're going to find ourselves prisoners of it.

As we are right now.

Bad

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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

Alligator Ed's picture

@thanatokephaloides We are AUMF'ed with or against them. How does one pronounce that? AUMF'd.

But as long as The Halfway House From Hell is available ("limited" military "action"), we're going to find ourselves prisoners of it.

We are already checked into the Halfway House from Hell, which, like Hotel California you can never leave.

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@Alligator Ed @Alligator Ed

until now:

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Beware the bullshit factories.

@thanatokephaloides

The corporate 'security state' has been pretty much keeping the American population under martial law, demanding the ability to strip America's citizens (among others) of remaining rights under this 'terrorist' pretext, having the non-billionaire Poors conditioned to such bizarre demands as even having strangers arbitrarily irradiate them or demand to poke around in their shoes, shorts - and their genitals - whenever taking airline flights, (where actual security typically has been shown to suck) under the pretense of 'protecting' the society and democracy they're destroying, while conditioning citizens to accept incrementally imposed totalitarian control by their (financial) 'betters'.

When actual martial law is declared on American citizens, on the excuse of actually being officially at war with however much of the world they're anyway threatening/bombing/droning/invading at that point, what else are these psychopaths going to do?

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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.

travelerxxx's picture

@Alligator Ed

We lost our chance for miracles overnight when Bernie got cheated.

Yeah, he got cheated.

But, then he joined the cheaters! It's not as though the man is blind. I'm certain he's aware that he's the most popular politician in the USA ... by far. I still think the DNC/Clinton machine must be holding a grandchild hostage or something. Not much else makes sense.

In my opinion, Sanders has a responsibility that he is shirking.

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and now Sanders is touring with Tom Perez who can't seem to STFU about Russia on the TV machine no matter the subject being discussed? Wow. Outreach for mad-bomber identity parrots. If voting youth, or anyone on earth falls for their bullshit I am really sorry. New Ds, same as the old Ds. Thanks for telling the truth Big Al. Hope your words penetrate. Deep.

Peace & Love

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disarm

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Lookout's picture

at least calls the Syrian war an "illegal regime change war". She also met with Assad.

Did you know she was born on American Samoa? Or that she is the only Hindu in Congress? I learned that recently.

Big Al, I agree politicians (and politics) are not going to solve our problems, but I do think we have to look for allies where we can find them. Every thing is gray as opposed to black and white.

Keep speaking truth to power and fighting against these insane for profit wars.

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

mimi's picture

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ZimInSeattle's picture

she make that statement? Did she know at the time she made the statement that Crimea had voted by 96% to rejoin Russia? She must not understand that the Ukraine coup was perpetrated by the US neocon deep state. So much disinformation flying around.

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"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

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

Without the "Assad is a monster" theory, we have no justification for doing anything at all over there--not without being asked, anyway. And NOT asked while we hold the asker at gunpoint.

It's similar to the way people are using the "Trump is a monster" theory domestically, to justify whatever the fuck Hillary and the DNC want. An old trick, sloughing off one's own moral accountability because, purportedly, some other human being long ago sloughed off theirs.

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"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

ZimInSeattle's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal Yes, the hero or protagonist can only be as great as the level of evil of the antagonist. Thus the reason no one knows that Assad has a near 70% approval rating.

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"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

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal This is not to say that Assad, and even more, members of his family who ruled Syria before him, have not done some bad shit over the years. But the OMG GASSED BABIES!!! events seem to be such blatant false flags that even the international community is starting to see it that way--and the UN usually does what the US wants.

And FWIW, which isn't much, I guess, I'd rather live under Assad than under the Saudi royalty and noble families. When did it become preferable to live under the governance of militant religious fanatics? And not just any--but militant religious fanatics placed in power by colonial imperialism.

Awesome.

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"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

Song of the lark's picture

But you are not understanding where we are. In endgame it gets more violent, more chaotic.

"Premise One: Civilization is not and can never be sustainable. This is especially true for industrial civilization.
Premise Two: Traditional communities do not often voluntarily give up or sell the resources on which their communities are based until their communities have been destroyed. They also do not willingly allow their landbases to be damaged so that other resources—gold, oil, and so on—can be extracted. It follows that those who want the resources will do what they can to destroy traditional communities.
Premise Three: Our way of living—industrial civilization—is based on, requires, and would collapse very quickly without persistent and widespread violence."
Derrick Jensen Endgame premises.

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WaterLily's picture

@Song of the lark I hadn't heard of his work before. After looking up Endgame, Vol.1: The Problem of Civilization and Endgame, Vol. 2: Resistence, I'm marching myself down to the library this evening to check them out.

For those interested, here are the summaries:

Endgame, Vol. 1: The Problem of Civilization
The long-awaited companion piece to Derrick Jensen's immensely popular and highly acclaimed works A Language Older Than Words and The Culture of Make Believe. Accepting the increasingly widespread belief that industrialized culture inevitably erodes the natural world, Endgame sets out to explore how this relationship impels us towards a revolutionary and as-yet undiscovered shift in strategy. Building on a series of simple but increasingly provocative premises, Jensen leaves us hoping for what may be inevitable: a return to agrarian communal life via the disintegration of civilization itself.

Endgame, Vol. 2: Resistance
Whereas Volume 1 of Endgame presents the problem of civilization, Volume 2 of this pivotal work illustrates our means of resistance. Incensed and hopeful, impassioned and lucid, Endgame leapfrogs the environmental movement's deadlock over our willingness to change our conduct, focusing instead on our ability to adapt to the impending ecological revolution.

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As small low-tech hunter-gatherer tribes. We had 90,000 years to evolve for that, but nowhere near enough time to be able to constructively or sustainably handle our present abilities.

Our "culture" today leads only to murder-suicide. Murder of most other life, and suicide-by-cop/army.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Sunspots A bit disturbed by all the assertions about essential human nature and inevitable results of civilization, when it's fairly clear that the invented system of industrialized capitalism, in its most toxic and concentrated form, is what's killing us.

I guess we could theorize that if it weren't capitalism, it would be something else. Maybe that would be a kind of cold comfort?

But if you take Milton Friedman's dictum literally, it leads pretty quickly and directly to armageddon.

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"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

As hunter-gatherers, or as pastoral nomads, groups were fairly egalitarian. Women didn't appear to be oppressed, and had fewer children. As soon as agricultural societies appeared, dramatic social stratification did, too, and poverty among most people. Most people were smaller, because they were living largely on grains instead of the meats and produce that hunter-gatherers had, and that the elites continued to eat. Their bones show the effects of long days of forced labor.

Women's bones show the most deterioration. They show that they had more frequent children, too, probably because cooked grains could be substituted for the breast milk formerly fed for children's first three years, so the contraceptive effects of nursing babies were lessened.

Those differences can be seen between groups in the same areas, at the same times, that were living the different life styles. You see it in European, Asian, and North American sites.

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@Sunspots

in a paperback describing a site in Illinois that had been occupied for about 10,000 years. Agriculture didn't improve people's physical condition; it correlated with a deterioration.

There's also a recent book, Against the Grain, that has a lot of detail on the subject:

https://www.amazon.com/Against-Grain-Agriculture-Hijacked-Civilization/d...

It is a stunning thought, isn't it?

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Sunspots @Sunspots I'm familiar with some of that research (feminists made much of it a few years ago, especially feminist pagans, and I was both). But it should be possible to grow vegetables without inventing private property and patriarchy. Shall we try?

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"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

We know, at least, what to try to avoid. If we survive ourselves long enough. The news today isn't encouraging.

But we have to keep trying to do better as long as we can.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Sunspots A bit disturbed by all the assertions about essential human nature and inevitable results of civilization, when it's fairly clear that the invented system of industrialized capitalism, in its most toxic and concentrated form, is what's killing us.

I guess we could theorize that if it weren't capitalism, it would be something else. Maybe that would be a kind of cold comfort?

But if you take Milton Friedman's dictum literally, it leads pretty quickly and directly to armageddon.

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"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

@Sunspots

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native

@native

Trading your fine horses or sheep for crafts and farmed goods, a cozy yurt at night, raiding settlements now and then - it has a certain appeal if you like animals and an outdoorsy life (less in winter, of course, but they apparently also often had some farming settlements to retreat to, too).

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Not Henry Kissinger's picture

Senator Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, didn’t quite oppose the Syrian strike, calling Assad a “war criminal” and lamenting his murder of civilians with chemical weapons. But noting that “it’s that it’s easier to get into a war than get out of one,” Sanders demanded that Trump “must explain to the American people exactly what this military escalation in Syria is intended to achieve, and how it fits into the broader goal of a political solution, which is the only way Syria’s devastating civil war ends.”

Is there no on the left willing to mount a full throated attack on American Militarism without first qualifying their criticisms with status quo bullshit?

Trump must 'explain'? And if he does then everything is hunky dory?

Sheesh.

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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?

@Not Henry Kissinger

let's call other people war criminals.

my hero.

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Big Al's picture

@Not Henry Kissinger that one irks me because it is purposely meant to hide the fact that this is a U.S./Israeli manufactured war against Syria. Civil war is a false narrative and Sanders knows it.

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there is not s single senator or representative who meets our standards. Tulsi Gabbard announced that the first so called Assad gas attack was a false flag operation.She interviewed people in Aleppo and called out MSM accounts. When she says we should have looked for evidence before launching the missiles the odds are good that she thinks we'll find evidence that Assad didn't order the gas attack.

She's taken on the entire MSM. People are actively looking for a primary opponent. But it isn't nearly enough. Any strategy that might include winning an election isn't enough. "The game is on us."

You've been telling us that for months Al. I've always had this suspicion that if we drop out of the electoral process it will be even easier for those who remain to rip us off. But you seem to have a better way. THE GAME IS ON YOU. Step away from your keyboard and lead us into the streets. I'm not sure what happens next. Maybe you could immolate yourself in front of the White House. (Buddhist monks in Vietnam used the technique with considerable success.) If your action seems to have a material effect I'm sure many, particularly those of us who are going bankrupt while paying to die, will be right behind you.

Can we have a few more details on what comes next? Telling us it's on us without providing a path for us to follow is getting old.

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Big Al's picture

@FuturePassed North Korea, the war of terror and U.S. imperialism, as well as her stances on economic and domestic policies, then I would recommend voting for her.

As for solutions to human kind's problems, JtC only hired me to rant and rave, he didn't hire me to provide solutions. If he wants that he's going to have to pay me more.

And I actually did write a lengthy what should we do essay and was going to post it here but that's getting old on this site also because now there's a new democratic party heroine. So I posted it on my personal blog which I don't give out the link to because it's personal. I thought it was pretty good though.

And fwiw, it's getting old for me too. The end of the line is near.

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WaterLily's picture

@Big Al Some of us are hungry for answers on what to do, and how to do it.

I understand your frustrations with pols like Bernie and Tulsi and all the rest. I share them. And I'd venture to say that many of us here do not, nor did we ever, view them as heroes or heroines. I've never been a registered (D) and that sure as hell will never happen, ever. My interest in the few who dare to speak truth to power is that they're doing it at all. Imperfect? Yes. Ultimately party tools? Likely. But they're spreading a counter message as best they can, and in this two-party stranglehold we're -- well, strangled by -- I file it under "something's better than nothing." The country has to get woke somehow, and we who inhabit the corners of the Internet need some way of amplifying our message.

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Alligator Ed's picture

@WaterLily in a most unintended way. He, with suitable preparation by the Neocons/CIA has energized the dormant Peace Movement. Fighting in the streets already occurring--and not a George Soros planned operation--but possibly with his grudging admiration that Trump is taking the USA down with him.

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@Big Al I would appreciate your views on what we can do get beyond the current mess.I'm not any happier than you are. But TPTB can be remarkably effective at taking out people who are closest to the positions of many of us here.

I understand your description of the problem. I suspect for the most part we agree. My concern is that neither you nor I could get elected expressing our views fully. Even Bernie says things about gun control, the use of military force, and the F-35 among other things that he couldn't get past a lie detector.Think of Kucinich and Obamacare. And they still destroyed his district. If one of us did get elected he'd spend his career on the post office committee and maybe be allowed in the caucus.

I don't think these positions you and I find offensive are their preferred choices. I think they are the price of getting the little they get. I'd enjoy hearing your course of action because I agree entirely that we are approaching a very bad place at an accelerating pace.

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Big Al's picture

@FuturePassed I'm as tired as anyone of talking about basically the same crap all the time without much discussion on what to do. Seems like we just go round and round.
But this is the year! Keep hope alive.

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Alligator Ed's picture

@Big Al Fighting in the streets is not a plan but is an action. More violence will certainly shake things up faster than a futile Democrat or even Progressive revival. Further aggressive behavior such as against North Korea will fan the flames of discontent more rapidly than our gradual disenfranchisement, austerity, or political institutions.

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@FuturePassed

Totally agree. If Bernie spoke out any more than he does or denied the Party lines, he'd lose the ability to reach the public limited to the corporate media to bring up the very basic democratic notions regarding healthcare, public education, etc. that they only hear because he's so painfully gained this media access.

The DemoCan't leadershop (not a typo - they are, obviously, showcased for sale) has been forced to accept this, in making the pretense of being liberal, but if he pushes it any further than he already does, they'll more literally smear him, using more than words, trolls and disinformation campaign, likely by trying to set him up some way which will ultimately backfire big-time, but still, wasted time in getting the message out to a population more heavily propagandized than was that of Nazi Germany, when they pulled the same global corporate/military take-over attempt.

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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.

Amanda Matthews's picture

@Big Al
We already know what our problem is. If you've got all the answers you should provide them instead of just telling everybody what's wrong, don't you think? Gabbard is the only person willing to buck the system and at least actually look for a solution. Sanders is useless and untrustworthy so there's no reason to even bring him up.

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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

Big Al's picture

@Amanda Matthews You want me to stop writing unless I can come up with solutions? Is that what you and others here want?
Fuck ya, I can do that.
And no, there are no democratic or republican politicians that are "pure enough" for me. It's impossible.
This is the same shit I went through when I said the same things about Sanders, then everybody got all offended like you are know. Then later they said, "you were right about Sanders Al".
Just wait and see about Gabbard.
Is that what you guys think, that I think I have all the answers?
All righty.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Big Al It would be great if we could stop thinking individualistically. For a minute.

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"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

Amanda Matthews's picture

@Big Al
who is willing or has the courage to go over to Syria and actually ask questions, look around, and even go so far as to speak to Assad. The only other clown who went over there ended up becoming al Q's BFF. It's fine to complain but there needs to be more than that. You don't like people's ideas or possible candidates? Fine. But when you can't provide an alternative idea or name or anything else pointing to something better why should we take you seriously? You criticise our choice but offer none of your own, and then you wonder why you're getting opposing opinions (of all things). You can criticise others, toss out remarks telling us where we've all gone wrong, and then not offer any alternative. Now you're just getting what you gave out. Criticism. Did you think that you were immune? We obviously weren't from you. And that is NOT a snide or snarky remark. That is an explanation.

As it stands, It's a choice between the Clinton/DNC wing of the Dim party, the insaniacs on the Trump-supporting right, the Koch Bros conservative wing and their whacked out fundie supporters, and NOBODY. We need to find a way out of the political wilderness. And time is running out. Criticism is one thing. Just bashing people for what they think without offering something better is another.

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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

@Big Al

Please don't stop writing here! I know how deeply I appreciated this essay, as I do your writing and comments in general!

Nobody is ever going to agree on everything with everybody else and anyone imagined perfect by one person's standards (which I kinda doubt is possible where all facts are known) would not be found so by the next person. We have to learn to go by character and stop counting on leaders to be all things to all men (impossible) or miracle-working saviors - when democratic government is to be of for and by the people, in a country of laws, not of men.

There is no perfect, and it's damn near impossible finding anyone in politics who's even sane and human because they tend to get weeded out/disgusted with the system.

But we have been propagandized into 'leaving things to the experts' who may have been inculcated with propaganda of their own, limiting/warping their perceptions in a manner desirable to TPTB (look at economics, medicine, history, political theory - virtually everything taught in most US schools/universities) and we cannot afford to shut off our own or others input in this last moment for positive and survivable change.

As Bernie has always said, change must come from the people. That would be every American here, and a damn fine collection they are, every one and, if possible, more of that quality, needed.

An echo chamber is useless, as we all know; civil disagreement is actually a bonus, enabling thought and assessment of both sides of the argument, not to mention an opportunity for research enabling a better understanding of the situation and additional facts with which to either prove a well-grounded point or, where necessary, to shoot down attempts to establish propaganda memes.

Sorry about clumsily ticking my nose in, but if we cannot amicably agree to disagree in some areas with others with whom we share so much common ground, we're more likely to remain in trouble, which is just the way that the divide-and-rule Parasite Class like it.

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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.

Big Al's picture

@Ellen North No problem, I can take constructive criticism and sometimes it's good to reevaluate what your doing. I'm at a point where I think we cannot accept compromise, others may not be. This is a good topic to pursue of which I will write about. Smile

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@Big Al

I'll look forward to reading it!

Having trouble keeping up with all of the 'gotta read' essays and comments being produced, lol. Great having all this information and discussion in one place!

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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.

And I can't seem to trust any of them anymore either. Not sure I ever get that back and not sure I need to.

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Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

@lizzyh7

Good for you! Do not trust - and verify everything!

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0 users have voted.

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.