(Let the coup begin!!): Opinions Republicans, it’s time to panic
Well they’ve (The Loony So-Calle ‘Left) and their main propaganda.organization, the Washington Pissed, are finally calling for action to dump Trump. As if things aren’t divided and hateful enough, these assholes REALLY think it’s time to start agitating for impeachment. THEY ARE FUCKING INSANE. It is NOT going to happen.
Republicans, It’s Time To Panic
*
GOP denial about Trump has generally taken Ryan’s form. The president may be eccentric and divisive, but Republicans need to keep their heads down and think of tax reform. This assumes that the main challenge is to avoid distraction from essential tasks.
But the real problem has always been Trump’s fundamental unfitness for high office. It is not Trump’s indiscipline and lack of leadership, which make carrying a legislative agenda forward nearly impossible. It is not his vulgarity and smallness, which have been the equivalent of spray-painting graffiti on the Washington Monument. It is not his nearly complete ignorance of policy and history, which condemns him to live in the eternal present of his own immediate desires.
*
It is no longer possible to safely ignore the leaked cries for help coming from within the administration. They reveal a president raging against enemies, obsessed by slights, deeply uninformed and incurious, unable to focus, and subject to destructive whims. A main task of the chief of staff seems to be to shield him from dinner guests and telephone calls that might set him off on a foolish or dangerous tangent. Much of the White House senior staff seems bound, not by loyalty to the president, but by a duty to protect the nation from the president. Trump, in turn, is reported to have said: “I hate everyone in the White House.” And also, presumably, in the State Department, headed by a secretary of state who apparently regards his boss as a “moron.”
*
The time for whispered criticisms and quiet snickering is over. The time for panic and decision is upon us. The thin line of sane, responsible advisers at the White House — such as Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson — could break at any moment. Already, Trump’s protests of eternal love for Kelly are a bad sign for the general’s future. The American government now has a dangerous fragility at its very center. Its welfare is as thin as an eggshell — perhaps as thin as Donald Trump’s skin.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/republicans-its-time-to-panic/20...
The last couple paragraphs are more of the “now is the time for all anti-constitutional usurpers to come to the detriment of their country for the benefit of a few” bullshit.
I used this yesterday. I should have saved it for today:
Comments
The tragedy is that we're all held hostage by a corrupt and
undemocratic political system that delivered us Trump. He should be impeached, yesterday, because he is nuts. The fact that we might get even worse than Trump if he is impeached is a problem, but it shouldn't keep sane and concerned citizens from wanting to do what is right and what is necessary, send him home to one of his mansions, lock the door and take away his twitter account.
The problem is not enough people understand or will admit that this political system is the problem.
@Big Al The longer he's in office
The longer he's in office, the more independents he drives away from the Republicans. The more impotent the Republicans become and the more racist and foolish the Republicans look. Voters are fleeing Trump. He can't be reelected. But the racist core of the Republican Party will stand by him to the bitter end, meaning they can't primary him either.
He's the death knell to the Party, impeaching him would be the stupidest thing the Dems or anyone else could possibly do.
If you look at it from an electoral politics pov perhaps.
Strategically, for the democrats it might be better to let Trump take the republicans down with him and the republicans are clearly worried about that. I'm not interested in what might benefit the democratic party, only what will take it down along with the republican party.
But I'm simply looking at it from a standpoint that the man is unfit to be the president of this country, clearly, and should be removed from office. He's a danger to the country and the planet.
That said, I do not support impeaching Trump via either of the two major political parties, that would do us no good. This political system is the problem and any efforts against Trump must also be against the political system that brought us Trump, which can only come from a citizen protest movement.
Impeachment won't surprise me because imo Trump is becoming increasingly unbalanced and at 71, he just might not be able to hang on much longer and push to the point where they'll have no choice. That wouldn't surprise me because I really believe the guys is nuts.
A citizen movement against this political system would surprise me, anything organized would probably be focused solely on Trump and geared toward the democratic party, another cooptation of any type of citizen unrest to the duopoly.
@Big Al
Unfortunately, all of the top corporate picks on both sides of the Two-Faced Corporate Party are a danger to the country and the planet.
This situation exists because of the people selecting those occupying public office, when not, as often now occurs, filling such office/appointments themselves: the various pathologically greedy, destructive and delusional self-interests forming various groups often generally referred to as TPTB. Who have no business interfering in public policy or politics to further enrich and empower themselves at public/worker/consumer/environmental, etc. expense.
If they don't go, I suspect that these murderously suicidal policies will never change, no matter who might be fronting for government. Except regarding continuing change for the worse as they further advance their agendas until stopped by there being nothing else remaining to loot, pollute, destroy or, quite possibly, even breathe.
We must not let ourselves be distracted from the totality of corruption and the need to neutralize it all, or we're unlikely to get anywhere in knocking down their often puppet/lackey-government front-men, if it's achievable even to do that, considering the totality of electoral cheating in the US. Or despairing because it seems impossible. It seemed that stopping Hitler was impossible, until enough enough (Russians, mostly) came together to do it.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Melania said whaaaa?
*snort*
Gawd help us all if the "moran" is impeached, and Mike "The Handmaid's Tale" Pence becomes President. (Though, based on recent lack of support when our local mysoginists backed another, in thumbs up, in his post about the poor boy scouts being forced to accept icky girls, perhaps the men folk would prefer going back to a simpler time, when we women knew our goddamn places. If so, you all can fuck the right off!)
I guess that's become a problem hasn't it.
It’s definitely a problem for those of us
who have at least two functioning brain cells to work with.
Fundies have wanted to get into the Oval Office and get their grubby mitts on the Constitution since the founding of the Republic. What a horrific irony if they get in on the back of a guy (Trump) who is the epitome of everything they claim their ‘master and saviour’ railed against (before another group of religious whacks turned him over to Rome using the excuse that Roman ‘law’ forbade them to kill him themselves).
To people like Pence, Trump should be seen as the Anti-Christ. But this little fundy fuckwit that can’t trust himself around women has supported and backed him up all the way, no matter how ‘sinful’, ignorant, and disgusting Trump has shown himself to be. Pence KNOWS this is his (and the fundy fuckwits) way into the White House and power and access to the Treasury.
God help us if he makes it. And I mean that literally and figuratively. You can apply your own standards.
Religion and politics = dynamite and a lit match
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
I'm all about trying to find a way to
. overturn the oligarchy and its control on the political system. I strongly feel unless we can force a change in this system, i.e., how we are governed in this country, the only change will be for the worse. It's a system out of control.
edit - meant as reply to Ellen North.
@Big Al
Glad I'm not the only one who does that!
I'm sorry if what was intended as more of an addendum to your comment seemed to be directed at you - if I could express myself more clearly, I'd probably drop from shock, lol.
But a lot of the time, the range of the problem is, not surprisingly, overlooked. Not so much here as elsewhere, but I do try to keep in mind the possibility of 'drive-by readers'. And I hate missing a chance to yank the chains of any corporatists who might be included among them.
Had another 'timed out' fail, so dunno if this'll be a duplicate post or not...
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.
So the mighty Bezos has spoken...
Let the proceedings proceed! They are likely to end (if they ever do end) in even more controversy and confusion than we've already got. But no matter. The voice of calm reason and moderation (WaPo-style) is sure to prevail. Maybe. Or sort of. Or almost.
On the plus side, maybe TPTB will become so preoccupied with trying to impeach Trump, they'll actually forget about Russia for awhile. That would be a nice change. It seems unlikely, but stranger things have happened. Meanwhile we can all daydream about a hypothetical President Pence.
native
Jeff has apparently had his fill of Trump
type crazy and is ready for some Crazier Xtian Freakshow Fundamentalism.
Bozos is an arrogant pain in the ass who’s just upset his girlfriend, the one he lied for and who he threw his support behind, lost to someone like Trump. bwahahahaha. Should tell himself about how little influence the WP has nowadays. (Or maybe it does and that’s why he’s all pissy.)
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
Yup. Bezos is a real dickhead.
And a perfect example of just how bad working conditions have gotten in the United States.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVGaEU7mY1Y]
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
Trump is a mean, stupid, and crazy man.
Strategy or no, the right thing to do is to impeach the crazy bastard. Just think how pissed he'll be.
Pence won't do any better, but then, he can be next.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
@dkmich President Pence is not a
President Pence is not a goal worth striving for.
"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
Seconded.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
@Lily O Lady
And 3rded, to the nth power of the people, which I hope will be pacifically exercised at some point in the near future. If we even all just boycotted the worst corporate offenders, what a difference that could make!
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.
but you can impeach them, one president at a time,
you don't let go of impeaching the first, just because you know you have to impeach the second ...
the question is just how patient people continue to be to ... impeach ... instead of ... well
throwing eggs may be or stuff like that ?
https://www.euronews.com/live
@mimi The idea that the U.S
The idea that the U.S. would ever impeach both a President and a Vice President is highly unlikely, unless both men/women were found complicit in the same scandal, and even then it would be highly unlikely, because we have to preserve appearances--and also have to preserve political stability (by which they mean, we can't let it look like the corruption is widespread or the system will lose credibility).
Anyway, in the case of Pence, it would never happen because there is no support from the CIA and the rest of the military industrial folks for impeaching Pence. Neither is there any support for impeaching him from the Republican politicians, who would like to be rid of Trump if they could do so without ruining their credibility with Republican voters. The only reason Trump's impeachment is being discussed--in a country where George W. Bush's impeachment was summarily rendered unthinkable in a hot second--is that the Deep State doesn't want him there. The Deep State has, as far as I can see, no problem whatever with Mike Pence.
"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 meant this more as to go against
avoiding to impeach Trump just so that you don't get Pence as the next President. I assume Pence would be a President implementing policies that are as unacceptable and therefore on its own probably impeachable.
But really, I don't understand the stuff of impeachment regulations and laws and don't want to say anything anymore. I do think all of it will "resolve" itself, because the real chaos will develop in Europe, as it has been in the past century, and then we have a replay of the 1900 to 1945.
All of it is beyond my paygrade and I'll just let it go and see what happens.
https://www.euronews.com/live
agnew & nixon
could have done the trick , but agnew went first.
Talk about dysfunctional — both Prez AND VP were unelected
fill-ins at one point. Those were the years with President Gerald Ford and VP Nelson Rockefeller.
@mimi Perhaps the real
Perhaps the real point here is that I can't impeach anyone, and neither can any of us ordinary voters and non-voters. Only politicians can do that, and they are all deeply corrupt. Anybody who thinks they are trying to impeach Trump because he's a bad man is smoking something I wish I had.
Like I said, nobody considered impeaching George Bush for more than a second.
"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
then the system is not worth a dime -
if it were a democracy you had ways of getting rid of unwanted representatives without having to engage in a military coup. And who can be a President and Commander in Chief in one person and engage in a coup against himself?
Ok, I give up. I don't care anymore. It makes me sick thinking about it. And I need to stay healthy.
Thanks for trying to make it clear to me.
https://www.euronews.com/live
You think Repubbies would go along
with that? You really belive the right will give up power to the Dems? You see them allowing THREE impeachment’s?
Let’s just talk about the ramifications of impeaching one person, and that would be Trump. Without votes from the Right wingers, how do you see this happening? The Dims have NO power except to obstruct and judging by the insane way they’re acting, that is the best they’ll be able to do for decades. What grounds would impeachment be based on? RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA?
I’m curious how anyone sees a soft coup being in the best ‘interests’ of this country, let alone THREE of them. Trump is a walking-talking human garbage truck but he was legally elected (regardless of anything the whacks on the left claim) and unless we want to open a great big can of worms that has the possibility of derailing future elections and administrations we need to face the fact that Trump (unless someone DOES find a legitimate reason to dump him) is here until 2020 at least.
I am NOT in favour of a Pence presidency. It will be far worse than what we’re seeing now.
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
Give him enough rope...
I always have doubted T-Rumpus would make it through a full term. Maybe he gets bored and goes home.
I forgot where it was reported, but apparently the Republican donors have given Ryan & Co. an ultimatum, no more cash until they get their tax cuts.
As for the Dumbs, I would have thought the message is pretty simple, come up with a credible candidate, you know, someone who looks like a living, breathing human being.
Mary Bennett
@Nastarana
If there's one thing they and their lackey's can't stand, it's even having to try to look/sound like a real, living, breathing human
Disposablebeing. Seems as though everyone past Obama can't even begin to fake it...Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Outrageous Outrage
Recall the outrage we had under GWB.
I'm watching "The Handmaids Tale" on hulu 30-day free trial (don't talk about how its fucking rife with commercials, they will cut your hand off), and hulu really, really sucks. It's almost like they want a friendly, happy society that MUST WATCH ADS. HAVE TO WATCH ADS. IF WE DONT WATCH ADS, WE DIE.
kind of mentality.
My point is about outrage. We thought we were outraged by GWB. We are REALLY outraged by Trump now. I think the story is important to realize what the limits of outrage are.
No way am I gonna renew hulu. BTW, if they try to charge me a dime, this is proof that I will never pay them one. Now, of course, Catholic Guilt comes into play because I got something for nothing. Did I ever tell you I was a pretty good thief in a former life? You make those puppy-dog eyes, and the coppers let ya go every time.
PS. #womenboycotttwitter dont click on it, you will fall into a dangerous ironic vortex. Click on it after 12 am, 22 minutes for me haha.
Bernie is a win-win.
Well, except for the "uninformed" and "unfocused" parts
This sounds a lot like Hillary Clinton, doesn't it?
They reveal a president raging against enemies, obsessed by slights, deeply uninformed and incurious, unable to focus, and subject to destructive whims.
This is what the system is: raging against enemies, obsessed by slights, incurious, and subject to destructive whims.
Some cover it up better than others. So let's go for President Pence!
"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 have suspected that the Hillary campaign was a way to get
Bill eight more years in the White House. I think that’s the deep motivation behind the outrage on the Dems side of the duopoly.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
I've been certain of *that* since 2008
"The Clintons" were a twofer deal then, and a twofer deal in 2016 too. And I decided then to take a chance on Mr. Slicker-Than-Bill because at least he wasn't trying to sneak a spouse back into the White House.
It didn't take long before I realized O was all smooth talk and empty promises, but by then the die was cast....
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
@Lily O Lady
Bill was going to be in charge of the President Clinton economy.
Unless (got my speculators on again) such as that Hillary announcement was planned as a strategy (like fundraising among the wealthy rather than campaigning, and a host of other issues,) to help ensure Trump and the Republican Party continuing as the 'Bad Cops' for this electoral round, (with the Repubs to gain the majority needed for a Constitutional rewrite to corporate/billionaire specs, the push for a Constitutional Convention having suddenly appeared some time back - as if anyone currently in the intensively corrupted US government, outside of Bernie, could be trusted anywhere near that) to maintain some degree of public illusory perception of fictional 'democracy' while the 'helpless to act, except against the public interest' Dems continue to pretend that they're 'the party of the people', to keep people quiet and voting for one evil or another, both having much the same donors, agenda and destructive effects.
The 'Blame Russia/Putin for everything wrong with (their notion of) Life, the Universe and Everything' strategy to serve as an 'excuse' for attacking/nuking them; censoring everyone else while taking over the internet, the last remaining bastion of free speech within widely read public media and of information-sharing and communication involving the general public, with media consolidation having accelerated under the Clintons; pushing propaganda - and as The Real Reason (on the lengthy every-one-else-but list) Hillary The So-Efficient Lost Her Turn Again, Through Absolutely No Fault Of Her Own.
Her is still campaigning, and ever since the election, there's been PR BS about Hillary simply being appointed to the Presidency to replace Trump. One of the first things to land in my inbox, as I recall, pertained to precisely such terrifying nonsense.
That sort of undemocratic Presidential appointment by fiat has happened before, as with Her BFF, Bush 2 - and passed via the even-then-Republican-dominated-by-evident-design-and-predominately corrupted Supreme Court... and various Bush Admin corporate representatives, including Dick Cheney, are apparently recreating Old Home week in the Trump Admin. Could the latter be Her intended selection for Her Appointed Vice? And would that really surprise anyone, should that occur?
They don't like us speculating, in case some of us hit on what they're actually doing - and we pretty much have to speculate, because their lies tend not to make a whole lot of sense, while much of the speculation is at least based on patterns of their demonstrated history (which they do tend to repeat - the old 'Cold War Commies' scare tactics against modern Russians, for Gawd's sake???!!! subverting Pokemon and puppies???!!! ROFLMAOHysterically) and typical behaviours.
Much as The Psychopaths/Parasites That Be would love to think of us 'norms' as incuriously bovine and accepting of even the most ludicrous propaganda ever devised, they are so out of luck. Calling us more names won't stop us thinking. Something we seem to do better than do TPTB. And that doesn't even have to say very much, since we know enough not to create an acid rain - and oceans - they're evidently too stupid to realize that they need to come out of making in the first place, simply for additional profit.
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.
Greed is a mental illness
Greed is hoarding behavior, an irrational desire to collect things even at one's own peril. How many times have we read about a person (usually female) being killed by collapse of her column of bundled newspapers dating back to 1948? (And don't forget the cats!)
@Alligator Ed
Well, considering the degree of homelessness, those newspapers might be getting saved as blankets for some future move to a park bench...
Seriously, I think lonely old ladies with a herd of cats probably take strays in so that they don't die on the streets as feral and unloved animals. If there were better spay/neuter programs, more independent landlords (rather than investment firms running running rentals they don't actually want people living in as homes with a pet), and a better economy so that more people could afford to keep pets, I suspect that tales of elderly women with their homes carpeted with cats would be more rare.
And I'd think it related to compassion, rather than greed. Much as people who'd survived the Depression and for the rest of their lives hoarded food did so out of fear for the future, rather than greed.
Actually, the only time I can recall reading about anyone killed by hoarded bundled newspapers was reading a book entitled My Brother's Keeper, involving (by the end of the book) two elderly brothers who'd been driven mildly mad due to circumstance and they were, indeed, hoarders. Or at least the one not blind was.
The examples you mentioned weren't taking from anyone else to enrich themselves, just keeping what mattered to them.
Personally, I have several boxes of things belonging to my parents which matter to no-one outside the family and rather a lot of boxes of paintings and (mostly) books, some of which came from one of the family manor houses, including books which have been in the family for up to two centuries or a bit over. They're not valuable in a monetary sense, but they matter to me and give me a sense of history and continuity, even if I'm usually scared to keep them out long enough to read them, in case the dog eats or paws them.
So, I personally hoard books which, while unlikely to fall on anyone, give me a great and handy reading supply and you'd have to fight me to take them away. I will defend the right to hoard and would never rely entirely upon an internet for reading matter where there is no physical presence and a power outage can leave you twiddling your thumbs by candlelight.
And I suspect that's related to part of the manufactured campaign about !!!people hoarding!!! that sprang up some years ago, to encourage people to throw away useful objects and buy new as needed, assuming one could afford them. (Not very 'green', either.)
Certain companies in polluting industries (in which I include the intertwined asbestos/petrochemical companies) have had old confidential documents, found in attics and the like, used against them in court discovery as proof of such as that they and their insurers knew they were killing workers, consumers and passers-by way back when. If that had been only on the internet, (if it existed at the time) it could have been disposed of where no-one would even know to look for it. History can be effectively erased or made darned near impossible to find, if not in concrete and accessible form. As we're seeing increasingly occur now.
So, there was a sudden burst of anti-hoarding shows (which my brother watched, and commented on, taking this to heart) using ludicrous examples which I suspect must have been set up like that and articles against people hoarding anything they hadn't used regularly, (oh, didn't have to use my warm parka last year, chuck it out - just before a very cold winter, and was she sorry!) encouragement to keep as few possessions as possible in some cases - and people fell for it. It was somehow the virtuous thing to do, adding to landfills. But - Murphy's Law applies widely and as soon as you toss something, you need it, and it's either find the money to replace all of these things or do without.
Chuck your paper books and buy this gadget to read them electronically and pay to access them. Just don't break it or you have nothing to read in bed. (Reading addict, since I sleep with a cat, if I'm lucky...) And keep all of your information on the internet, where the spy agencies and random hackers can keep themselves amused with it or wipe it all out with some virus.
The only ones I could see benefiting from this 'out with the old!' theme were manufacturers, stores and, potentially, polluting industries through having old records chucked which might have caused them legal problems - and potentially some saner and life-saving regulation 'costs!!!' - down the road.
So I do have rather an anti-anti-hoarding bug in my bonnet, so to speak, and am more on the side of the Preppers in that someday, what you now have may be all you'll ever have. And it looks like I'm there already.
But while I do have some of my paternal grandfather's stamp collection, I completely lack any newspapers... what an oversight!
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.
Even if that wasn’t her reason for
running, it certainly would have the same effect.
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
Since the inauguration
I cut myself off from both Facebook and Twitter and most of social media. I don't watch the mainstream media either and haven't since 2005 when I gave my TV away. Being "unplugged" from the churning vortex of emotional manipulation that is being called political news has afforded me with some distance and objectivity that I may not have had had I stayed plugged in. I dunno. I just have zero motivation to hop on the rage against Das Pumpkinfuhrer bandwagon when ultimately I know we are being run by a band of sociopaths who are feeding the mythological hydra that we, in an exercise of supreme futility, keep trying to decapitate.
**edited for typos
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
zoebear, can you help. please?
How do I cancel Facebook? A well meaning daughter signed me up, but I am finding it a waste of time, and most folks who wanna be friends are nice folks, sure, but not interested in what interests me.
I am beginning to wonder if FB is not a device of social control which uses social pressure to further dumb down all of us--now you wouldn't want to post your ruminations on say, ancient architecture, for an audience which would rather see pix of your latest social gathering, would you?
Mary Bennett
Somewhere in the settings
But it won't go away, really. Just like at DK, you can't really delete it. At least that's my understanding.
Just go into the settings and poke around until you find something that sounds like cancel, and stop going there after you click it.
yack, they pretend to close your account,
but you are immortal on facebook. As soon as you click on a link you want to read of a story, that was published through facebook (can't stand the many politicians communicating their stuff over facebook), you are back again.
I start to judge platforms by the way they "delete" your account on their platform. You will realize they all use confusing tricks to never delete anything and know how to pull you back in.
Bastards. You know that there is a "Right to be forgotten" legislation that some over in Europe try to push for. Well I want more than that right. I want to be mortal on the www intertubes and die whenever I decide to die and take my "online life" with me to never reappear.
Bastards technology.
https://www.euronews.com/live
@Nastarana
It's a bit more than that... more like the Twilight Zone, where they can control what you see and what you don't, including from your friends on FB - and how you feel...
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/29/facebook-users-emotio...
I know there's a hell of a lot more out there on this sort of thing, but - on Duck Duck Go - I had only the one pertinent response and a whole pile of unrelated stuff having nothing to do with Facebook and social conditioning or selective information control followed by a vast stretch of deceased sites. Could be my searchterms, but I'd think that FB would have a fair bit of influence in making information on this difficult to find, and the one example ought to be enough for someone already trying to leave FB, so far as anyone can, especially once having joined.
And the fact that they interpreted receiving predominately positive/negative news/interaction with/support from internet friends as a means of spreading 'massive-scale emotional contagion via social media' kinda says it all, doesn't it?
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Ellen, I have saved myself from Facebook contagion
I excised the demon so that it is blocked on my computer. Also, I don't twitterize but emotional persuasion is difficult in only 140 characters.
My thoughts on the subject are escapist--We gotta get out of here:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEfR-DyuHjI]
And about Darnold Drumpf (or Hussain or HerM or...[insert name here])
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Jm3StHm4zc]
@Alligator Ed
I'm very happy to hear, both musically and otherwise, that you've escaped FB's nefarious clutches.
http://www.businessinsider.com/this-is-how-facebook-is-tracking-your-int...
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2014/06/13/facebook-web-app-tra...
https://www.theverge.com/2016/5/27/11795248/facebook-ad-network-non-user...
And now, despite having already pointed out the facts, they're helping the Corporate Dems/neocons with the pretense that only Russian election-hacking spies buying cheap ads would care about Black Lives Matter and that objecting to police murders of unarmed citizens is 'divisive' and 'influences elections' as a bad thing, probably because they could be knocked off the interwebz otherwise. Or maybe just knocked off.
So, what's next, Comrade?
They track your location and apparently at one point did a sudden change where your location was automatically posted on your status updates, which would be particularly nervewracking for girls talking a lonely walk in the woods and stopping to check her FB. So, if they're tracking non-FB users, are our locations tracked there by FB (as well as everyone else) as well?
This is old, but:
https://boingboing.net/2010/05/11/go-ahead-quit-facebo.html
But Google's got it all anyway, feeding all data also into their AI project so that Google's AI will ultimately (approximate quote of their goal,) 'know what you're thinking before you think it'. Which means, of course, so will Google. 'Don't be evil', indeed...
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.
Oh yay! Ian Hunter. His description
Of how he saw life in America and his coming to our shores back in 1976 is STILL on of my favourite songs. All American Alien Boy (and Apathy 83) are as true and relevant today as they were the day they were recorded.
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
Facebook is like Herpes.when you think it’s
been cured (or in this case deleted) the reality is at best it goes dormant. The only difference is you can prevent another outbreak if Facebook (even though it still lurks in the ‘intertubes’ forever and ever, world with end. Amen’.)
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
My sentiments exactly.
Trump is Hillary in drag.
Mary Bennett
Sing a song...
Sing a song of Mike Pence
A bottle full of rye
Four and twenty war hawks
Baked in a pie
When the pie was opened
All the birds were free
Wasn't that a dainty dish
To serve the MIC?
native
@native
Another classic! *applauds loudly*
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.
Excellent. A perfect explanation that
rhymes.
Kudos.
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
@native Nicely done!
Nicely done!
"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
The biggest problem I see with impeaching Trump...
is that unless we have rock solid, concrete reasons, not just, "This guy sucks, is an asshole and might be crazy." because that sums up pretty much every president since Carter.
Let's face it, half the country, roughly, voted for Trump. They are also some of the most militant and a significant number already just looking for a reason to go off on a civil war rampage, and this would actually give them some justification, even if only amongst the right leaning or anti-government types.
Honestly, as horrible of an individual as he may be, there is very little he can do without the support of the house and senate, and a large percentage of his own party despises him.
Getting him out will just put another republican in that quite likely could get the Republicans and Neolibs to work together to fuck us even harder.
I say lets ride this out, let the Trumps and the Clintons continue to destroy the two mainstream parties and maybe, just maybe, we can make both parties slide into irrelevancy enough that a viable 3rd party can emerge.
just my thoughts on the matter.
"I used to vote Republican & Democrat, I also used to shit my pants. Eventually I got smart enough to stop doing both things." -Me
@Alphalop If we acquiesce to
If we acquiesce to keeping Trump in office as being the LOTE over Pence, is that really the right thing to do? Should we impeach him, which is, in my opinion, the right thing, and wind up going back a century with Pence? Are we worried Pence could get elected if he were the incumbent?
Is it the right thing to do nothing?
I am not criticizing yours or anyone's opinion. My struggle is trying to sort out the correct path when they all seem to lead to hell.
Trump is mentally incompetent. He does not know truth from lies, right from wrong, and poses a danger to himself and others. If he was a regular guy in my community, he would be placed under a guardian for everyone's safety.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
I think you're "misunderestimating" The Rump
He is not mentally incompetent, does know truth from lies, and lies regularly and often, if not constantly, to get the response he wants. He's a con man through to the bone - and if you let him off by assuming he doesn't know what he's doing, he has conned YOU.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
@TheOtherMaven Let's assume you are
Let's assume you are correct, that I have been conned by a con artist. Going back to my question of the right thing to do under those circumstance, wouldn't it be the best course to impeach such a man, or let him continue on?
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
What I’m wonder is HOW do you impeach
him? By what (FEASIBLE) method is the ‘end’ of his Presidency obtained? Where do the votes come from? And what’s the basis for impeachment? RUSSIA??
There is not one bit of proof Trump did anything ‘illegal’. But there IS PLENTY of evidence that the Obama Admin did with their unapproved and/or denied but done anyway wire taps that are the basis for all these ‘investigations’. All but the one on Carter Page having been ruled illegal by the FISA court. Now THAT scares the hell out of me! Trump, not anywhere near as much.
Trump isn’s crazy. He’s a rich psychopath, a spoiled man-baby who’s having a ball jerking people around. He’s petty, selfish, and mean. But when I think about Obama, Austerity, WIC and Head Start, I realise that the Empty Suit was a petty, mean, arrogant, self-serving bastard himself. But somehow that was acceptable.
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
Russia? You are kidding?
I do not have an answer. I do not know what grounds for impeachment might be, but if they are good enough to get it done, I am all for it.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
@on the cusp OTC: In general, I
OTC: In general, I really like all your comments. But in this case, I have to disagree with you pretty strongly. If Trump is impeached it will have nothing to do with all the reasons people on this site dislike Trump. We aren't the ones impeaching him, and the ones impeaching him are entirely corrupt and untrustworthy. An impeachment, at this point, will be the establishment fixing the error of Trump slipping through somehow--probably because 1)the election was very close because Hillary is a terrible candidate that the people hate, and 2)whatever election fraud mechanisms they had in place to ensure her ascent to the White House were probably countered by someone. I don't know whether that someone was working for Trump, working independently out of a hatred of Hillary and who she actually represents, or what, but I doubt strongly they were Russians, Macedonians, or anything like that. If they were, the MIC would have found (and triumphantly presented) actual evidence of same by now. But in any case, for the first time in decades, the political, economic, and military establishments were surprised by an electoral outcome. They didn't like the experience, but that wasn't because Trump is racist, sexist, rude, cruel, inexperienced, unwilling to learn, or a buffoon; we've had racists (George W. Bush), sexists (George W. Bush and possibly Bill Clinton--I don't know whether his treatment of women arises from him thinking women are lesser, or what, and I don't care to guess), rude people (George W), cruel people (Reagan, Bush 1, Clinton, Bush 2, and possibly Obama), inexperienced people (Reagan and, actually, Obama--he made up for lack of experience, to some degree, with his native intelligence, which is quite high, so it mattered less than Reagan's lack of experience, which was glaring), people unwilling to learn (Reagan, George W), and buffoons (Reagan and George W). And I've only gone back to when I was twelve. If we expanded it backwards we could include Ford (a bit of a buffoon), Nixon (rude, cruel, unwilling to learn), and, well, you get the picture.
If we care about this issue, we need to ask questions like: why is he actually being impeached? who has the power that is making this happen, and what is their agenda? In my opinion, simply going "Hey, who cares, any way we can get there is OK by me cause I hate the guy!" ends up with one accepting a de facto alliance with forces like the CIA and both political parties, all of which are quite untrustworthy--to the point that, anything they plan to do is probably not good news for any of us.
Remember that the best of those who are agitating for Trump's removal endorsed, or at best silently accepted, this:
"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 ^^^^ CSTMS, You said exacty my thoughts on it
Only in a much more detailed form.
Thanks!
"I used to vote Republican & Democrat, I also used to shit my pants. Eventually I got smart enough to stop doing both things." -Me
@Alphalop No problem,
No problem, Alphalop. Glad to hear from you--how did you weather the storm?
"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
Storm
Compared to most pretty well. Not a lot of damage.
Currently busy dealing with fighting a contractor that took a check for $8k from me in June and ran.
That hurts. A lot.
So thats been occupying an inordinate amount of my time.
I was thinking about writing an essay on it to see if we have any members that are attorneys that might be able to provide some guidance because the state of Florida seems to be made so shitty contractors have a place to work too.
"I used to vote Republican & Democrat, I also used to shit my pants. Eventually I got smart enough to stop doing both things." -Me
@on the cusp
Well, if he was charged in an independent international court with war crimes, he'd probably sing grand opera about everybody clear back to Reagan, but somehow I can't see that working out.
And Pence does seem even scarier - waaaaay scarier - than Trump, who at least probably wouldn't want to go back to stoning people to death for breaking religious law, which is actually possible with Pence or any other pathological religious fundamentalist. Especially one set on modeling his Vice Presidency on that of his mentor, Dick Cheney, (who enjoys the ability to have an entire country's resources behind harming/killing/dispossessing others on a global basis and is a big torture supporter,) and who may just be grooming him to take over the Presidency.
Edited for an 'and' and an 'e' which I missed.
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.
I agree completely
with your recommendation Alphalop. I don't believe that efforts to impeach Trump can accomplish anything of value, whether they succeed or not.
native
I am right there with you. Unless we want
more trouble down the line people need to look ahead and figure on opposing Trump and preventing him from getting anything done. Bogus charges of impeachment are a dangerous road to travel.
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
Thanks to all for having such a respectful disagreement with
me. I still think that the Constitution allows for establishing grounds for impeachment, or for invoking the 25th Amendment, no matter if it is Republicans jockeying for advantage.
If that is the case, I am good with it. Pence is dangerous. Hillary is dangerous. Doing nothing is dangerous. None of you are incorrect about your assessment.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
In the stories, one of 3
In the stories, one of 3 doors conceals a deadly hazard and at least one offers a good choice. It's unfortunate that both parties cheat and offer only 3 hazards, all options offering terrible choices and almost certainly an equally terrible fate.
Have we looked hard enough for another way out of 'the arena of doom' without passing through any of those 3 doors, or are we missing a chance to make our way out elsewhere?
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.
I guess my travels to maybe a dozen countries
since he has been in office is one of my biggest influences. When people in 3rd world countries ask me wtf, I just have no answer. People around the world are hoping we, the people, can do something about him. They have no interest in Pence bring back scarlet letters.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
@on the cusp
Must make such meetings difficult, to say the least... sort of like when Bush 2 was in, only in this case, on uppers, a lot cruder, and even more careless about manufacturing what he might think were sorta plausible excuses for the military/corporate muggings and invasions of other people's fossil fuel/mineral-rich countries.
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.
That is exactly what he’s doing and
he’s enjoying doing it. He’s tweeking the noses of some powerful people and millions of us plebs (who he looks down on). He’s totally aware ofegat he’s doing and he’s getting the attention he wants.
EDIT: tweeting/tweeking - farking autocorrect is REALLY pissing me off.
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
@Amanda Matthews
Maybe autocorrect wanted to say that Trump was twerking their noses? Would kinda fit his personality...
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.
Autocorrect is ALWAYS trying to say
something. We even ‘argue’. I change what it has changed, and then it freaking changes it to something else.
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
@on the cusp They should have an
They should have an interest, though, in Pence being a Dominionist. They think bringing about the end of the world is OK because it means Jesus will come back faster.
This is from Right Wing Watch:
In fact, the official mission from the National Day of Prayer Task Force appears to be 7 Mountains-based (with the one exception being that the Task Force appears to consolidate arts and entertainment under the “media” title and adding the military to fill that open spot):
As we noted recently, Janet Porter’s entire May Day 2010 prayer rally was built around “7 Mountains” theology; the idea that Christians are to take dominion over, literally, seven specific facets of modern life in order to wrest control away from Satan and his demonic spirits so that Christians can put them to use in bringing about God’s kingdom on Earth: (1) Business; (2) Government; (3) Media; (4) Arts and Entertainment; (5) Education; (6) Family; and (7) Religion.The National Day of Prayer Task Force’s mission is to communicate with every individual the need for personal repentance and prayer, mobilizing the Christian community to intercede for America and its leadership in the seven centers of power: Government, Military, Media, Business, Education, Church and Family.
The Task Force is run by James Dobson’s wife Shirley and includes not only 7 Mountains co-founder Bill Bright’s wife Vonette on its leadership committee but also dominionist/New Apostolic Reformation mastermind Peter Wagner on its “board of reference,” along with several members of Congress: Representative Michele Bachmann, Representative Lincoln Davis, Representative Bob Goodlatte, Representative Mike McIntyre, Representative Mike Pence, Representative Joseph Pitts, and Representative Chris Smith.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/the-creeping-dominionism-of-the-relig...
Then there's this:
Against gay rights, reproductive rights, and environmental activism, Pence is also highly critical of any opposition to the American wars in the Middle East. According to the New York Times, Pence, who has made numerous trips to Iraq, denied assertions made in 2005 that the intelligence used to back the U.S. invasion was questionable. “There was no manipulation,” he told reporters. “The war in Iraq was just, is just, and the freedom of the teeming millions who established a constitutional republic one week ago supports that conclusion.”
Read more at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/religionnow/2016/07/mike-pence-on-the-ameri...
I'm not (primarily) afraid of Pence because he thinks The Handmaid's Tale is a primer for social engineering; I'm afraid of him because of his foreign policy ideas. People in foreign countries should be too, but I understand that people's disgust with Trump makes all other considerations often get flushed down the toilet. That's a danger Trump presents that doesn't get discussed much, but man, it's bad. It's reshaping our whole way of dealing with politics.
"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
It is embarrassing as hell.
And inexplicable.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
@on the cusp
You'd think that they'd understand that the US PTB don't just rig elections in other people's countries, but in their own as well, and that the American people got one of the pre-selected candidates with no real choice in the matter. Not that that helps with the embarrassment...
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.
Bette Davis, you say
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPOIS5taqA8]
You know, I really liked that song.
People make fun of it but I still like it.
Haven’t heard it in years. Thanks. I needed that.
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