Today I Wept
I'm not one of the flag pin wearing patriots, but I love my country for what it gave me from birth; family, friends and lovers. I'm proud of its beauty and diversity yet still not blinkered enough to ignore its baser realities. Far from perfect far from being the worst.
The Bush years made me angry for sure, Obama could have done oh so much better. However I have never seen the like of what I have seen the last few days.
When I was asked by a friend what I thought when watching this horror show-
I burst into tears.
This was no gentle weep
A full blown flood of anguish.
That subsided into rage.
We expats are a funny lot, no longer in our country of birth but tied to it in very deep and sometimes unexpected ways, sometimes it takes a hideous shit like Trump to bring visceral feelings crashing to the fore.
Trump is our face to the world.
Jesus is not the only one that can weep.
Comments
Expat...so where are you
Expat...so where are you currently?
Feel like France? Feel like that is what I remember. No idea if that is accurate.
@Strife Delivery Bretagne, France mainly
Bretagne, France mainly and quite a lot/often in the UK.
The Expat Doctor is In... Any Questions?
Yeah, Trump's a disaster for the American image abroad.
A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma
So, France, Germany,
whoever, just threaten them.
My bet is his 'NATO must pay,' is so that can be negotiated away in return for even more aggression towards Russia.
Orwell: Where's the omelette?
I sure hope Corbyn wins
That would be some consolation for what we went through. The Country needed Bernie and the Clintons and the DNC establishment took him away from us and left us Trump.
Beware the bullshit factories.
Me too, most days right now.
Reading about healthcare, his cuts to Meals on Wheels for God's sake. What we are continuing to do to the planet while our ignoramous POTUS gloats. Wars, wars, wars. I'm usually most likely to cry in the mornings for some reason, the anger sets in as the day goes on.
Hang in there. Sounds lame, I know but I'm at a loss to do much else.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
You too, we will see the end of this period.
we will survive.....
[video:https://youtu.be/ZeWPT2d43zI width:500 height:350]
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Horrible as it is
its reassuring to know I'm not just over-reacting. So glad for this place.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
Over-reacting ?
Certainly not compared to what happens here each day. You are not alone.
Ah yes, the legacy of having Repugnant
family members! Too sensitive, too negative, LOL.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
Nature versus Nurture
Two people raised in the same environment with similar genetic heritage, have oh so very different perceptions of reality. That's why I am a "splitter" and not a "lumper". The fabric of life is a bewildering warp and weft of disparate threads.
This place, as contentious as it may be, compared to my extended family, is suffused with respect and grace.
I rather relate to this. I didn't abandon my country ...
... it has walked out on me. I won't fall for that old shit again ...
Do you really think
so?
If things go nuclear,how many would survive?
dfarrah
nuclear
Not many, admittedly.
But things aren't going to "go nuclear". In fact, the whole world is becoming more disgusted with war than at any previous time in human history.
It is upon that small slice of enlightened self-interest that I base my paltry hopes in this area.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
I agree that
the world is war weary.
But our war industry is not. Their lust for war seems insatiable. They want to go to war with Russia, North Korea, and Iran, in addition to all of the other current military actions.
dfarrah
I agree that
the world is war weary.
But our war industry is not. Their lust for war seems insatiable. They want to go to war with Russia, North Korea, and Iran, in addition to all of the other current military actions.
dfarrah
The Saudi Terrorism Exportation Center
Kind of freaked me out. It was a real wtf moment.
“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu
I just returned from a trip to
Bulgaria, Serbia, and Romania, and as I shopped, ate, hung out at the bars, locals actually hugged me, said they knew the American people were not the same as American government.
Awful. It is awful here, La Fem.
I wish I could cry. I am more prone to anger and depression.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
My one hope is Trump is enough to put anyone off
right-wing extremists for awhile.
That's the saddest thing about Trump
Taibbi has a story on Rolling Stones about the democrats need a new message. Since Trump has become president, the democrats have lost even more standing in the polls. And still the democrats refuse to change anything about which way they are going to represent us. The Clinton/Obama hold over the DP is too strong. Until they move away from triangulation, they aren't going do jack shit for us.
This is quite shocking , IMO.
There are some days where I wonder if TPTB didn't put Trump in office so that he could remove every regulation that keeps our air, water and infrastructure safe and to dismantle our social programs.
His budget is pretty much the republican's wet dream.
And once he has fulfilled his duty, they will then remove him from office and let Pence install the Christian agenda that's based on the Old Testament.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
I've thought that since Rump was elected.
That Bill and Hill, while they really thought he'd be easy to beat what with not even bothering to use the dog whistle but a bull horn, are fine in the end with him winning. This is just show. These people want to bleed every last dime they can out of Americans and the rest of the entire globe and they don't even really have to lie about it anymore. They've got the media and the maybe slim majority (I like to think it's slim but I'm not so sure) that still listen to the MSM Bullshit and buy it completely, and it's obvious to the rest who know better but we aren't a majority. Once Trump dismantles everything they get to ride to the rescue, but really, just won't be able to really DO anything. After all, we're fighting multiple wars and people expect a decent standard of living? The audacity. s/that last
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
Did you have a chance to read the article?
Taibbi writes about what Hillary did after she lost to Obama. She thought that people chose him because his campaign was better run. She never accepts that the problem is her.
I agree with you on them being okay with Trump winning and after he dismantles everything, people will put them in power again, just like we did in 2006, when they ran on rolling back the Bush abuses, and instead of even trying to do that, they continued to vote with the republicans on more wars and more austerity.
When they had the majority for two years, (except there were too many blue dogs excuse) what legislation did they try to pass? The ACA was supposed to be a step toward single payer, but has anyone worked on making the ACA better or working for single payer? Nope.
Obama expanded on everything that the Bush administration did. And he got a pass for doing it.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
I did read it, thanks snoop.
I may forward that one on too. My only quibble would be the title, they don't need new messaging, they need a whole revamp, but he makes that very plain in the article. I still love Taibbi, he's the one who made me first understand just how bad Obamacare really is. And the book on Goldman Sachs that I've re-read so many times.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
The Democrats
had NO message. The reason is that they do not care. They only thing they do care about is keeping the money flowing.
I cry for what could have been in this country. And I do not mean just recently.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Hillary Clinton
does NOT lose for show.
Oh no, I don't think the loss was for show.
Not at all, I think she was as shocked as I was, I really thought she had that one rigged. No, I think all the protestation, the "Resistance" is for show. She's fine with Rump's policies, she just doesn't want to openly admit that, and she never will.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
He has another article on the book Shattered
I highly recommend reading that too. The authors did a great job of exposing the inside of her campaign.
After she lost to Obama, she believed that his puppet masters were better than hers. She can't believe that people didn't vote for her because of her policies, her baggage and her warmongering, to name a few issues.
So after she lost the election, the Clintons did two things.
1- she got copies of her staff's emails to see if people were working behind the scenes and not working hard enough for her to win. I find that creepy.
2- they made up a loyalty list and everyone who wasn't really loyal got Bill doing everything he could to make sure that they didn't win their re-election. The Clinton hit list
Link to the Shattered article
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/taibbi-on-the-new-book-tha...
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
I think the resistance
has a far more nefarious purpose. It absorbs the outrage of millions of people and makes it harder for us to reach them. People gather and chant about Russia and "not Trump." It feels good. It provides the illusion of doing something. It's a continuation of the Clinton campaign, except she could never get a fraction of that many people to a rally.
If you're saying that Clinton, and Feinstein and others too numerous to mention prefer Trump to Bernie, I agree. The thin layers of silver lining in all these dark clouds is that people agree with us on the issues to an extent that shocked the establishment. Medicare for all could be used as a wedge issue to separate us from them and to get more of us elected. They want us on perpetual defense. Elected officials can't cosponsor single payer. They need all their energy to protect Obamacare. (How much effort does it take to add your name to a bill?) Are you blind/retarded? And so it goes.
That's the problem we're not the majority.
Meanwhile the Reich wing gets more rabid every day.
O.k. When is the next meeting for the revolution?
-FuturePassed on Sunday, November 25, 2018 10:22 p.m.
I guess I don't understand
why people keep talking about the dems as if they are too stupid to figure out what they need to do.
And I really don't understand Tabbai's obtuseness on this subject.
THe dems aren't 'forgetting' anything. The powerful dems decided long ago to self-serve and scroo everyone else.
dfarrah
I have been saying the exact same thing
after writer after writer wrote that the DP didn't learn their lesson after losing the presidential election. They know damned well why they lost it, but they don't care.
They made it very clear that they would have rather lost to Trump then let Bernie win.
They certainly could have asked themselves why they lost over 900 seats at the federal level during Obama's tenure.
I believe the reason they lost so many seats was because of Obama's betrayal of going back on his Yes We Can campaign. We Could Have if he had bothered to try.
But after what they did in 2006, how could anyone believe that they would keep their promise the next time they ran on that?
ETA: another reason they lost is that the DCCC and other organizations put up crappy candidateto run or in some cases, didn't even bother to run a candidate and the republican candidate ran unopposed.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
Since 2003, when I became active
in the Dean campaign, I've been questioning the dems. Even well before then, after seeing repeated failures that were inexplicable, I considered that the repubs had taken over the dems.
Now I believe that I know for sure that the dems have been taken over. No other reason can explain the failures. After all, the dems at the helm are not that stupid. They do quite well for themselves. They know how to get what they really want. And they don't want to represent regular people anymore.
dfarrah
Right-wing populist AfD party was polling around 12% for awhile
Now they’re down to 7–8% for Germany as whole. Whether seeing Trump actually in office as opposed to symbolizing protest has something to do with it?
American people aren't "their" government.
I have it on good reportage that Mexicans, Venezuelans, and Bolivians maintain much the same view.
All of them know who selects our government. And they know it's not us, but the members of that club we ain't in. (h/t George Carlin)
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
@thanatokephaloides Well, I had the same
Well, I had the same sort of hugs and love and exchanges before Trump, just not as urgent. I have been globe hopping for 5 years. These people were trying to shore up my fucking courage, showing solidarity.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Damn, tearing up a bit again
to hear that. There are good people in this world.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
@lizzyh7 They are us. They
They are us. They love. They understand. They, too, are the 99%.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
I talked by phone with a lady from Canada: the same.
This was during the Bush the Lesser years. Really felt sorry for us. From BC I believe.
She was telling me about their health care system and we had so little to compare to theirs.
The over riding theme of the conversation was how much Canadians realized we are not our government.
You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again you did not know. ~ William Wiberforce
If you can donate, please! POP Money is available for bank-to-bank transfers. Email JtC to make a monthly donation.
Many Americans Don't Think Much of Their Government, Either
they knew the American people were not the same as American government.
A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma
So nice to see your cartoons again.
I don't feel much of a kinship to the US despite being born here and second generation American. In fact, I think the same factors that existed in my ancestors homeland and caused them to come here, now exist in the US and would cause them to return to Europe. We're crass, pussy grabbers body slamming our way to heaven's door.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Ah Ha! a newcomer you are
My wife traces back to the Mayflower Compact. And, I come from a long line of penniless pickpockets, and flimflam artists. Our roots are deep in this country and we don't feel much kinship to the USofA.
Abandoned ... left to die ... we are.
Same.
I'm 3rd-4th generation. How ironic that things in our ancestors' countries would be better there in 100 years than they are here now, if only they'd stayed put?
Why should I care anything for a country that cares nothing for me?
This shit is bananas.
Second that. Been missing you J'n H. Thanks for keeping
the candle burning.
You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again you did not know. ~ William Wiberforce
If you can donate, please! POP Money is available for bank-to-bank transfers. Email JtC to make a monthly donation.
Trump is not getting everything he wants.
Obamacare is not dead yet, although I'll admit that it really needs fixing.
His budget is a serving suggestion. It isn't law.
A bunch of the law-and-order crap that Trump, Inc. is proposing is getting pushback from legislators, Republicans yet.
Unfortunately, it looks like the promised manufacturing jobs won't materialize, either.
The Trump Bunch occupies only the executive branch of government. The other two branches might move slowly but they are moving.
Hang in there.
Life is strong. I'm weak, but Life is strong.
Trump is a face
But it is the face over a rotting empire. That is the lesson of the 21st Century. We have become everything we claimed to stand against. We have abandoned every value we claimed to stand for.
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
@Steven D Empire. Over and over I
Empire. Over and over I heard the US described as an empire. All the while, I was in countries who experienced first hand the fall of all of them from the Romans to the USSR. They were openly saying to us no empire lasts. They fall. We are next.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
^^^This!^^^
Great comment, Steven D.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
At least Trump represents a more honest face
on US policy. We've been like this for decades, but it's been hidden behind words and other hocus-pocus. Trump is a perfect representative of the oligarchy that runs America, too perfect in fact, as he's embarrassing them.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
He's still using the bull horn
instead of the dog whistle. If only he could learn to tamp it down just a bit, they'd be fine.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
Yeah, the “optics” (appearances) is what they’re worried about
The substance they can manage — witness Trump’s 180-degree turns on foreign policy.
We’ve already seen that the intelligence community and the generals can just ignore a president’s orders, or even actively work to bring down a president when it suits them.
It’s like Andrew Jackson versus the Supreme Court, or George W. Bush’s “unitary executive” ignoring Congressional subpoenas. “John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it.”
Actually enforcing decisions ultimately relies on having armed and loyal people at the bottom of the reporting chain who will obey your commands. If that chain of loyalty breaks down for whatever reason, the civilian nominal chief executive can quickly discover how little actual authority he has.
What was that thing Mao said? Something about a relationship between power and guns?
I have hated T since the 1980s
When he obviously hired a PR firm to put him in the NYC / national news, beaming him into the hinterlands. I hated him then; I hate him now... but... FnA, Melania has dominated with her fashion!!! Incredibell!!
https://www.yahoo.com/style/melania-trump-wears-incredible-51500-floral-...
check out this post on yahoo that goes through all her wardrobe changes. Spectacular! I love it!!! She's wonderful! [wow! did he score!...}
I'm a Berniecrat!, but fna! fabulous... importante
She has been a work of art.
A couple of points:
Trump's budget apparently does not cut Meals On Wheels, it cuts block grants that are used to fund programs including Meals On Wheels. Why the quibble? Because most governors and state assemblies won't cut MOW - because it is the most visible program. Then the public will say, "see. MOW wasn't cut, it was all just the Democrats lying again".
Trump is not unique. He is not some Hitler like aberration. He did not come out of the ether. He is the latest version of the progress of American evil. We are not blameless. Our souls are not wedding gown white and smell of lilacs. We made the same mistake with W, and that gave us Obama rather than a true reformer.
On to Biden since 1973
In the 2008 primary
who was the "true reformer" who had a snowball's chance in hell of winning that we missed?
No one, see what happened to Bernie
On to Biden since 1973
I would cry, but my antidepressant has blocked that mode.
Right now paralyzed with inaction. I can't seem to get a start. Two swollen feet now. Waiting for the diuretic to kick in, twice a day now. My father died over 20 years ago. He would have been a radical leftist now, so glad he missed these strange times. I wish I knew the deposition of his cremains. They went out of family. Our mother's are now on a closet shelf with the sister I rarely get to talk to. A nuclear family gone fission.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
I wept when Bush II got reelected.
I can't even cry anymore; I just feel numb and desensitized to it all.
I wish we would fight back.
This shit is bananas.
I too was dumbfounded when he won reelection
But many people think that he stole that election too. It was close enough in Ohio for them to do that. Robert Kennedy Jr. wrote about that and IIRC, he tried to sue to get more information about it.
Time magazine had Alfred Newman from Mad magazine on it with the caption
How could 59 million people be so stupid!
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
Daily Mirror or Mad Magazine?
thanks there have been too many elections where "suspension of disbelief" was important for me to keep going. No wonder I'm mental. lol
US Election: Daily Mirror front pages through the years
peace
lol second edit to add Washington Times getting in on the act.
Exclusive: MAD Magazine gives Trump adviser Jared Kushner the Alfred E. Neuman treatment
Love MAD.
Actually
there were 9 stated where exit polls said that W lost but he was awarded victory, and a 10th where the exit poll was within the margin of error.
BTW, the CEO of Diebold thanked his employees. Diebold is now owned by a British company that is a 7 figure Hillary contributor - and she won in places where votes were counted by machines 65-35 but lost were votes were by paper ballot.
On to Biden since 1973
This is true; I remember Diebold.
Never heard any more about it since, so I guess nothing ever came of it. Of course.
This shit is bananas.
Problem is we are fighting 3 fronts and spread pretty thin.
Gotta fight Trump/Pence policies, establishment Democrats and the system itself.
O.k. When is the next meeting for the revolution?
-FuturePassed on Sunday, November 25, 2018 10:22 p.m.
heh you all, don't cry ...
"Being depressed and crying is verboten. Capisce?"
I could hug you all, if you just weren't that ... ??? ... ??? - see I have no words. So. End of story.
He gets old, but still is smiling and walks on. I guess this version got the least views so far.
[video:https://youtu.be/qO7p8vXLnS4]
Walk on. There is anyway nothing else you could do...
https://www.euronews.com/live
Phone call to a friend of my youth
a US citizen, after many years of no contact.
talk talk talk
him: "my president Trump."
me: (in a small shocked voice) "you voted for Trump?"
him: "Yes I did! He's the only one who will get things done."
me: silence - thinking OMG, this guy has gone crazy, end this call.
me: "Well take care Mike, I have to go now, (loudly) I have to go now. Bye."
To thine own self be true.