NYT Ed Board: You've been robbed give up

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Never give up....

Excellent analysis overall, but -purposely ? - leaves out any mention of the possibility of future actions by an outraged and determined citizenry to redress this fail.

The temptation, understandably, for some will be to pat themselves on the back and say look I told you so. Wallow in that.

This is not an option for others.

They will take action. Call them fools if you will. Haughtily laugh at their 'folly.'

IMO what they will do beats turning to the bottle, etc.

..

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divineorder's picture

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

divineorder's picture

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

The Aspie Corner's picture

@divineorder And just because some of us watched Barney as preschool kids. Isn't it funny how we always have money to coddle the inherited wealthers and pump-and-dump slush funds that call themselves corporations while there never seems to be any money for even basic infrastructure maintenance?

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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.

@The Aspie Corner
blowing up somebody else's infrastructure, versus shoring up our own ... which would you take?

think carefully before you answer, your status as a patriotic American is in the balance.

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

riverlover's picture

@UntimelyRippd But maybe I should go to Walmart to get a gun. And then periscope it. Cased an illegal hunter from my Drive, He flew backward. Not frightened yet.

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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.

divineorder's picture

@riverlover

We are not helpless.

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

insert even more of their ex-Republican neo-liberal, interventionist, pro-GMO, pro Big AG friends into Congress.

I wonder if we might end up with two new parties, working together, with the DSA representing labor and urban areas, and another party a coalition of anti Monsanto activists and their supporters, First Nations, and environmentalists representing rural areas. My daughter who lives in NYC joined and is involved in DSA. I like the idea of dues paying and I like even more that every member pays the same, with apparently no special deals.

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Mary Bennett

riverlover's picture

@Nastarana And left-left-left! Now is not herding time, but finding communalities.

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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 dunno, but if the democratic party could be looked at as a ship, I'd find out some way to board it and take it over. Hell, they're not using it for anything except parties.

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@Snode
I suspect they're keeping you away from the ship's bursar's office.

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@FuturePassed Aaarhh, ye may be right. Sharpen our cutlass, ship the longboats, put firecrackers in our beard and away. Hang the leaders and if the rest don't join us, there's the plank. We can grease it, just to move things on a bit faster. (Thanks I needed that)

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Big Al's picture

part of me feels like giving up right now. But I'm really pissed off about this, as we all should be, and know I can't give up.
I'm sitting here trying to think about what I can do personally but what I do personally won't mean much without that effort being joined with the effort of a large number of other people.
I know I can't give up but it's frustrating that the only direction we're leading ourselves into is to elect more politicians. I just don't think that is going to do it. Not in and of itself.

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riverlover's picture

@Big Al And I am not ready for that outcome. I keep hundreds of variable size rolling metal balls for home defense.

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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.

lotlizard's picture

see someone ask what should be an obvious question, “Why is defense waste taboo in the tax debate?

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Raggedy Ann's picture

How can we stop paying taxes without consequence? I'm game if we can figure it out.

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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

Big Al's picture

@Raggedy Ann It's like work stoppages, people would have to go without paychecks, lose their homes, jobs, become homeless, starve, etc., in order to fight the ruling class.
We could make demands that we don't want our taxes to go to war and imperialism or that this tax reform bill be rescinded but it gets back to organization. Who is going to organize such a thing. The only thing we really seem to be able to organize on a significant scale is the electing of democrats to the democratic party. That's because the system and basic structure for doing so is already in place facilitated by the duopoly parties.

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Raggedy Ann's picture

@Big Al

It's true, then, we are prisoners without bars. All we have is our own echo chamber. We can go on and on with each other about how awful this all is, but we go back to collecting our slave wages and/or pensions, or both.

I collect a pension AND work full time AND my husband works full time. This is truly insanity. I expect my pension to disappear before I die, because I don't trust my government to keep it coming. But I guess it's best to just talk about how awful it is.

Go back to your devices and consumermas tasks, folks. Nothing to see here. Diablo

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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

Big Al's picture

@Raggedy Ann Just saying that without my pension, I don't know how I'd live. I mean, I'm willing to sacrifice if everyone else does.
If we all (not C99 but a large number of people) promise to sacrifice I will too but I wouldn't lose my pension and home alone.

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Raggedy Ann's picture

@Big Al

you're saying. I'm in the same boat. I don't want to lose everything either, and I don't trust them to steal it from me, as well.

Sometimes I feel helpless. I just don't want to be hopeless. They are making it difficult for all of us. They have lost touch with their humanity and don't realize it or don't care. I tend to think it's the latter.

It's why I say revolution is the only way. They don't fear us, but should. They just might, with revolution facing them.

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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

Daenerys's picture

@Raggedy Ann Yes, all of them. They'd kill all life on this miserable little planet just to hoard even more of the world's wealth. They should all be locked up.

I'm beyond angry about this. I think tax boycotts and general labor strikes are our best bet. If enough people refused to go to work for even one day the economy would grind to a halt real quick. But it has to be organized, pick an agreed-upon day to skip.

My mom's farm is paid off; I plan to hole up here as long as we can. There's only two problems: 1. the nursing home where my dad is wants it, and 2. not sure how we'd survive the winters if others came here (though with global warming that may become less of an issue...although our ancestors did it, somehow). We have guns; time to learn how to shoot. Put some solar panels and a wind turbine up in here...not sure how we'd pay for those either though.

Anybody know how to make insulin??

"Too many people living off the government", Hatch says. Yeah, like YOU and all your billionaire buddies! NO MORE CORPORATE WELFARE!!

If god exists he'd be like, I told you to love each other you fucking assholes!!
Boy, if I really had three dragons Washington would be a heap of smoldering rubble and ash by now. Diablo

I just have a lot of thoughts floating around in my head right now. :/

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This shit is bananas.

Raggedy Ann's picture

@Daenerys

It's up to us to stop it. There's no other way.

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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

Unabashed Liberal's picture

@Daenerys

Minnesota, but can't remember for sure. If you are, you might want to starting looking into their MERP (Medicaid Estate Recovery Program) rules. That is, if Medicaid is paying any of your Father's care in a SNF/nursing home. (Spouses are usually allowed to remain in place, until their death.)

I researched this topic to write about several years ago. From what I recall, although MN is sorta a 'blue' state, it has one of the most stringent MERP programs in the nation. That's because it is so far reaching, and is one of the states that allows for 'recovery' beyond nursing home expenses/care.

Of course, there are states which allow for certain exemptions. For instance, in some states, children who cared for a parent immediately preceding their institutionalization--usually, for a minimum number of years--may qualify to stay in the home until their death. Then, upon the death of said child, the State proceeds with the 'recovery' process.

Here's a link to the Program website, below.

Medical Assistance (MA) Estate Recovery and Liens

Good luck!

Mollie


"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage."--Lao Tzu
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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

Daenerys's picture

@Unabashed Liberal I wasn't living here when my dad went into the nursing home; it was a car wreck he was in. So that's out. He's on Medicare, but I'm sure Medicaid is paying it which is why my mom says they'll take it. Which confuses me how can you be on Medicare but also get Medicaid at the same time, except that I know Medicare doesn't cover everything (which is why I absolutely HATE the 'Medicare for All' moniker for universal health care).

In any case, we're probably hosed either way. The only other thing I can think of, as Snoopydawg hinted at below is to do what the Bundy idiots did.

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This shit is bananas.

snoopydawg's picture

@Daenerys

The Republican tax bill is not just immoral. It is an act of violence

Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless. (Isaiah 10:1-4)

DamNation is a new tv show that is set in the Great Depression era. One scene was on a farm and all its contents being sold at auction. The show describes how things were during this time. We're heading back to that fun time.

I watched V for Vendetta and looked both at the history of what happened to get them a fascist government and what it took to bring it down.

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Mark from Queens's picture

@snoopydawg
felt an affinity with the Great Depression era. Is it on Netflix?

V For Vendetta had me jumping off my couch all night, raising a fist in the air. Saw it years ago and could probably use to see it again.

It's incredible to me that Americans don't see how badly they've been misinformed by their "news" channels. To get people to stop taking in any and all mainstream media, to me, is our biggest task. It's all he said/she said in the reporting, and other sleight of hand trickery by politicians to obfuscate what really is going on. It's as if your average minion never contemplates who owns their news outlets, or if they have a vested interest in telling you something else or a partial story to protect their own interests. Have to keep reminding people that 90% of everything they read and consume is owned by 6 corporations. It is farcical to believe that we live in a democratic society, in which our votes matter.

I'm partial to the radical movements of the 1930's. There were some real f**king badasses then. This country was roiling, and very seriously on the verge of a revolution. Of course, the average high school history textbook doesn't dare mention anything about that. There are some incredible stories of general strikes on the West Coast, and farmers armed with shotguns and barricades shutting down highways in the Midwest.

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"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"

- Kurt Vonnegut

snoopydawg's picture

@Mark from Queens

DamNation

It's being shown on USA channel. I've only seen two episodes so far, but the farm auction woke me up. I know that thousands of farmers experienced this during the Great Depression, but watching people's lives get sold for pennies on the dollar was heartbreaking. Even if it was only a tv show.

I think we should tell people to watch V again or for the first time. I'm listening to the audio book too because it goes into deeper depth on what's happening.

Another thing I thought about when you talked about Jimmy is this is why net neutrality is being rolled back right after the tax cuts. The PTB don't want us organizing our resistance where we won't be wearing pussyfoot hats. Ours will be real, not financed by Soros.

A few things that we need to be aware of. Remember how Obama cracked down on OWS because it threatened Wall Street? This is going to be what happens if we take to the streets and protest this. Count on it.
But the main thing we need to watch out for is that right now over a hundred people are on trial for protesting Trump during his inauguration. A few windows were broken and the prosecutors are trying them for felony rioting. If they are convicted, they could get up to 60-70 years in prison for it.
Think about this. Crash the global economy, lie about two wars that have killed millions, displaced millions more and tortured some folks and you go free. But break a few windows and......

Another thing. OWS, BLM and DAPL protesters were brutalized by the police, but the neo Nazis got the hands off treatment. This says something. Not quite sure what...

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@snoopydawg My Dad suffered horrific war wounds, like, 8 shots to his torso by a machine gun on his 13th day after landing on Utah Beach. And he said the pain he suffered from hunger was worse.
He farmed, he ranched, he carried food to everyone on his rural mail route that he knew were hungry.
Since he is long gone, I can reveal one of his secrets. During deer season, while he was on his rural mail route, he carried a rifle, would shoot a deer. He would then tell a poor family where the deer was, and they could go get it, and eat.
RIP, Dad.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

LeChienHarry's picture

@snoopydawg
And these folks gave body and soul to the nation, and if I read this right were asked to wait 21 years to get their payments? From Wiki -
Bonus Army

Bonus Army was the name for an assemblage of some 43,000 marchers—17,000 U.S. World War I veterans, their families, and affiliated groups—who gathered in Washington, D.C. in the summer of 1932 to demand cash-payment redemption of their service certificates. Organizers called the demonstrators the "Bonus Expeditionary Force", to echo the name of World War I's American Expeditionary Forces, while the media referred to them as the "Bonus Army" or "Bonus Marchers". The contingent was led by Walter W. Waters, a former sergeant.
Many of the war veterans had been out of work since the beginning of the Great Depression. The World War Adjusted Compensation Act of 1924 had awarded them bonuses in the form of certificates they could not redeem until 1945. Each certificate, issued to a qualified veteran soldier, bore a face value equal to the soldier's promised payment compound interest. The principal demand of the Bonus Army was the immediate cash payment of their certificates.
On July 28, U.S. Attorney General William D. Mitchell ordered the veterans removed from all government property. Washington police met with resistance, shots were fired and two veterans were wounded and later died. President Herbert Hoover then ordered the Army to clear the veterans' campsite. Army Chief of Staff General Douglas MacArthur commanded the infantry and cavalry supported by six tanks. The Bonus Army marchers with their wives and children were driven out, and their shelters and belongings burned.
A second, smaller Bonus March in 1933 at the start of the Roosevelt administration was defused in May with an offer of jobs with the Civilian Conservation Corps at Fort Hunt, Virginia, which most of the group accepted. Those who chose not to work for the CCC by the May 22 deadline were given transportation home.[1] In 1936, Congress overrode President Franklin D. Roosevelt's veto and paid the veterans their bonus nine years early.

My take is that once those of the dwindling middle class are pushed too far, there will be physical reactions. But it will not be planned nor an outcome of requests or organization that is rational with infrastructure to revamp the national way of doing things.

The biggest firepower belongs to the government, so rebellion will be difficult at best. Unless some generals, admirals etc decide to work with the people. I look at the aftermath of the several Mid East Spring movements as possible models. Not too promising.

Doesn't mean we shouldn't find common ground with other Independents of any stripe. Reinserting rational discussion into any political or economic conversation is an essential first step. Religious belief becomes a barrier to action.

OWS, BLM DAPL and other movements had the core of larger movements, and necessary momentum. Outgunned is what put them down. Plus from what I heard among Dems, what they were doing was illegal. Really? But that is the general reaction I have in my small sample. Hearts and minds. How do we connect? And make it stick?

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You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again you did not know. ~ William Wiberforce

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snoopydawg's picture

@LeChienHarry

I've heard of the bonus army and that they were treated poorly, but not the details.
I agree that people need to stay off the internet if they are planning something. This is why the protesters at Trump's inauguration are being investigated. Some of them were on Facebook making plans for it. The prosecutors have gotten their Facebook information and are using it against them. Even people who were just watching their protest are being charged just because they were in the area. The 3 other protest groups were interfering with the PTB's businesses and that's why they were taken down.
Here's hoping that some of the military decide to throw down their weapons.

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riverlover's picture

@Big Al just to pay off a small-ish second mortgage. No sense paying down if I get no deductions. Yes, I am bitter.

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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.

Pluto's Republic's picture

@riverlover

So, if there is no deduction, then there is every reason to pay the mortgage off.

I would be worried that the lack of deduction could impact the value of the home price, in many areas.

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mimi's picture

@Big Al [edited a stupid, but somewhat funny spelling mistake]

massive amount of people have to boycott working, be it for the government job they are in, or in their corporate jobs. They should consider the size of the corporations they work for. The larger the corporation, the more massive the boycott has to be. Make them lose money, because they make you lose your money. An eye for an eye ...

I could imagine a strike for one day each week to begin with. Just refuse to work one day of a week, nationwide, each week. That might be enough of a boycott to make the government's representatives scratch their heads and the corporations to curse the heck out of you. But they can't curse and fire all the workers. If they do, boycott two days.

Heh, it's "Boycott Day"
[video:https://youtu.be/CKu3k6DQR6A]
My girlish lyrics ....

We have the biggest problem
we are out on strike today
the reason for it's simple
we all need Congress pay
for all their votes today.

Boycott, boycott, boycott,
we are out on strike to pray
so let's all boycott Congress
til none of them will stay.

Boycott, boycott, boycott,
we are out on strike today
the reason for it's simple
we all need better pay.

Boycott, boycott, boycott,
we are out on strike today
so let's all boycott Congress
for they are our prey. Hey

Clapping

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Big Al's picture

@mimi And therein lies the real problem. Figuring out what the hell we want.

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divineorder's picture

@Big Al and there are millions upset about this as well. Surely we can some up with workable solutions?

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

snoopydawg's picture

@divineorder

IMG_1611.JPG

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divineorder's picture

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

@Raggedy Ann thanks. From the National War Tax Resistance guide, for information.
https://nwtrcc.org/resist/consequences/

Different Methods Have Different Risks

This page will briefly outline some of the risks associated with several of the common forms of war tax resistance. This will help you find a method that fits your goals and your risk tolerance.

Symbolic, legal protests
Living below taxable level
Telephone tax resistance
Filing and refusing to pay
Non-filing
Filing with a frviolous(sic) position
...

F.A.Q.:https://nwtrcc.org/resist/frequently-asked-questions/

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Raggedy Ann's picture

@eyo @eyo

Gives me something to ponder.

Edited to change Roy to eyo. Stupid autocorrect.

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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

lotlizard's picture

@Raggedy Ann  
I ask myself why there doesn’t seem to be a handy “escape” or “stet” key or gesture that tells the auto-correct function, “What I’m about to type (or typed just now) may not look like a proper word, but please let it stand as it is. And by the way, I’m going to use it again, so please make a note of it, either permanently or for the duration of this block of writing.”

I mean, obviously such mechanisms exist, yet everyone complains about auto-correct, so apparently the ways of telling the software “[sic]” or “stet” aren’t handy enough to become second nature in people’s typing behavior.

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snoopydawg's picture

@Raggedy Ann

for it to work. I have seen a lot of people saying that this is what they are going to do, but who knows if they actually will?
The IRS staff has been cut year after year and they are having problems keeping up with day to day stuff let alone go after millions of people. If what I have read is true.
Every time I woke up last night I thought about what had happened. This is bad enough, but it would be worse if we take it lying down. For decades their hands have been squeezing our throats harder and harder. Soon we won't be able to breathe.

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Raggedy Ann's picture

@snoopydawg

If not now, when?

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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

divineorder's picture

@snoopydawg in search for solutions.

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

snoopydawg's picture

@divineorder

the PTB might have under estimated the rage that the tax cuts would create. I have no idea what happened during the Great Depression and if people tried to fight them or not, but since this was deliberately done to us, people will find a way to fight back.

I like the economic stoppages best. This is a non violent way that will hit them where it counts the most. Their profits.

I think we can do this like what happened during the civil rights movement. After Rosa Parks was arrested, Blacks refused to ride buses and look at how that turned out.

We can start with boycotting Walmart. They were the first company that created economic hardship. They put small businesses all over the country out of business. Not only grocery stores, but hardware and other specialty stores too.
If enough people refuse to shop at as many Walmarts as possible, it wouldn't take long before their profits plummet. Lets do this!
Oh, I don't shop there, but still, it's a good idea.

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lotlizard's picture

@snoopydawg  
https://qz.com/1129072/google-goog-facebook-fb-and-amazon-amzn-need-to-b...
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/11/web-began-dying-2014-heres.html
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/20/tech-startups-faceboo...

And oppose censorship — even of right-wing opponents with abhorrent views — because, as surely as night follows day, any authority to censor will boomerang and be used to shut down the Left.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/08/25/warnings-slippery-slope-ful...

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mimi's picture

@lotlizard
You still believe you can boycott the usage of google services and facebook, so that its manipulative powers would be destroyed?
99.9 % of people use it, C99p is using it, the addiction and dependency on it feels like the perfect crime, the most blissful evil, we all love so much and can't help but using.

It's schizophrenia that is developing.

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Big Al's picture

@divineorder politicians?

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divineorder's picture

@Big Al @Big Al

because afaik mostly what we have to offer them here so far is despair?

DESPAIR.

While we cry in our beer and pat ourselves on the back for realizing what a dead end electoral politics and the establishment Dems are, they are busy tabling and canvassing and fundraising and educating for Medicare for All. Been at it for fcking months!

They have,against all odds, even had some electoral wins. Tiny. Miniscule. Poopooedby us . arent they silly to celebrate that, when they could simply join us in our Pitty Party!:)

But more importantly imo they are gaining experience and building a network for something that could morph into a significant movement. We can say they are wasting their time because they are not going brand new bottom up new third party , or better yet focusing on establishing a new society and economy.

Dear friend we are old. We have spent years railing against the war machine together, arguing for peace and justice.

So far we got nothing except clarity about current reality. It's their future now and am glad to see them going for the gusto. As an old teacher U guess I am hard wired to encourage them.

Heh. Hey, maybe our plans for revolution will soon crystallize and we will inspire them to join us? Wouldn't that be cool.

Don't listen to me though, lawd willin' in a couple of months jb and I will once again decamp to the hinterlands of the likes of Costa Rica, Malawi,Zambia, South Africa. Couple of months sleeping in our tent like we had good sense. At our age. Addicted. Already have our free a8r miles tickets and camping reservations.

Drinking. Commiserating with South Africans about how bad both of our Presidents are but how they both are a reflection of our failing societies. At our age. Addicted. Contributing to more global warming by riding on airlines. Sad cases, really.

Rant over. Happy Sunday!

Tell you what, seriously, I truly want to see us all succeed before my mother with alzheimers/dementia, heart trouble, incontinence, and chronic rectal bleeding is kicked out of the technical nursing center if we allow Medicaid to be destroyed. AND that's a big reason you see me wasting pixels grasping at straws...

Think I am gonna now discuss with jb joining DSA and making a donation.

Namaste.

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

divineorder's picture

@divineorder level membership in DSA!

http://www.dsausa.org/get_involved

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Big Al's picture

@divineorder Good luck with that.
Well shit, this morning took the wind right out of my sails.
Let me just say I'm not too old yet and if the old farts here want to give up, so be it. That's kind of funny since the hero here is Sanders at 75 years old.
And I don't pat myself on the back, learned a long time ago to check my ego when it comes to it.

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divineorder's picture

@Big Al

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Alligator Ed's picture

@Big Al Physiologic age is that which counts. I don't let any calendar entry put me down--and you don't either. None of us should. We're here at c99 because we are not mentally dead as so many of the younger population are .

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Citizen Of Earth's picture

@Raggedy Ann
my take is forget it. They will just catch you and fine you and ultimately jail you. All the penalties and fines go right back into funding the Neoliberal Borg. Anything they can prosecute you on is counter productive IMO.

I'd rather do stealth ops that can't be traced back to you as an individual. Or is not illegal. Kinda like graffiti artist, hit and run tactics.

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Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.

Raggedy Ann's picture

@Citizen Of Earth

That's how they have us as prisoners without bars. Lots of interesting suggestions are being made, though. It will be interesting to track this and hope it's a groundswell against this injustice.

We must take action if some sort - what suits one, perhaps, or join a group like we are here - anyway, I hope you get my meaning. Remaining hopeful is important.

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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

divineorder's picture

@Raggedy Ann about the importance of staying hopeful.

That's why when we are here in New Mexico we volunteer/support WildEarth Guardians, Santa Fe Watershed Association, 350 NM, and New Energy Economy. We want to be in relationship with active, empowered people. Hopeful!

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

detroitmechworks's picture

How's December looking for the PDX folks in general? Apart from this weekend, I'm pretty free...

Because there are things that should be discussed.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6EaoPMANQM]

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

@detroitmechworks and will make it if we decide to do it.

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

Big Al's picture

@detroitmechworks

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Wink's picture

run... boycott everything corporate. Papa John's (especially), Mickey Dees, Wally World, Amazon...
If nobody shopped at Wally World they would be toes up in three months. Toast.
Same with most businesses. So, even a few weeks is a Yuuuge hit on their biz.
Shop there once a month - tops - spend less than $150, tops. That's a Yuuuge hit, as most ppl that shop there spend at least twice that each month. My -ahem- "wardrobe" these days consists of sweats and bluejeans. Mostly live in sweats 24/7. I can buy them at the Thrift Store, Salvation Army, Goodwill. Leave a dollar tip. Say goodbye to Starbucks and get your coffee at the local diner. Sure it sucks, but... it took me 6 months but I finally got the owner here to raise the cost of a cup of coffee 25¢ and buy better coffee with the extry profit. We did all this stuff back in the '60s before the Corporate onslaught of the '80s. Yeah, it's more work, yada yada... nobody said it was going to be easy. War is hell.

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the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

riverlover's picture

@Wink (closer to 81). StevenD as well? Boriscleto? Others? Too far from the City for me.

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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.

Wink's picture

@riverlover
anytime. Well, any time after 1pm. Not an early riser. I believe Steven D is Rottenchester or Buffalo. If he needs a ride I can pick him up.

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the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

snoopydawg's picture

@Wink

others are suggesting actions like this. If enough people stop buying anything that isn't a necessity, or on certain days of the week. I think hitting corporations in their profits might get some attention.
Now we need to find a way to implement the ideas.

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Raggedy Ann's picture

@Wink

I refuse to enrich Jeff Bezos any further. I don't eat fast food or pizza. Hubby is lactose intolerant, which helps both of us.

We must all take stands and vote with our time and dollars while we have that option.

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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

Wink's picture

@Raggedy Ann

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the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

Citizen Of Earth's picture

in this Dore interview. Seems very relevant to this thread.

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Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.

Mark from Queens's picture

@Citizen Of Earth
and most were written by folks of our mindset. Slamming any of the usual RW dupes, who are troll-ready with the usual canards about evil socialism and who see themselves as temporary embarrassed millionaires defending capitalism rather than seeing themselves as the exploited that they are. People are really getting it. We're just not connecting with one another. I'd like to see Dore take his show on the road nationally. Bet it would be a solid seller at small theaters, and could build.

Wolff's show at Democracy At Work, called "Economic Update," is excellent. It comes on every Friday here on WBAI at 9AM. You might think a show on economics would be boring. But not his. Brings it home to the layman so clearly. We've got it on our C99 Blog Roll. Saw that Wolff was on with Chris Hedges and also Thom Hartmann recently.

One of the better historical conversations apropos to today that I've seen was this one, from the Left Forum a few years ago. Three of the country's best radical writers/academics activists, Cornel West, Hedges and Wolff, discussing Thomas Paine.

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"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"

- Kurt Vonnegut

@Mark from Queens I will try to watch that tomorrow. Thanks for the embed.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Raggedy Ann's picture

@Citizen Of Earth

Thanks for posting it. I have a friend from France. She got thyroid cancer, went to France, got treatment, came back in remission. All for the price of an airline ticket, (unless she had miles) while she stayed with her father.

We're more civilized here in murika than that. We want to enrich those that decide if we live a healthy life or not. Makes me wonder who we are; who we've become.

Wolff is on target. We've got to stop enriching them. It's got to be from the bottom, up.

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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

jwa13's picture

that promotes the psychopaths to the upper reaches -- our world is being run by psychopaths. In essence, being psychopaths, THEY ARE NOT ACTUALLY HUMANS! (as we understand humanity to be.) Consequently, it is not possible for them to "lose touch with their humanity".

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When Cicero had finished speaking, the people said “How well he spoke”.
When Demosthenes had finished speaking, the people said “Let us march”.

this is the sound of the truth.

take back our country

from the

cowards and thieves.

are there any green party fans who have anything to say here?
I voted for stein/baraka, but.

I know where these people are. like stein.
not like sanders.

If Sanders is a Democratic Socialist as he says, then why is he not with DSA?
a puzzler, that one.

DSA would give him a fair shot at presidential nomination.
why doesn't he want it?

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divineorder's picture

@irishking There have been quite a few essays here about the Greens and about third parties in general.

I noticed when I was working on this essay that Greens, like DSA, have taken a jump in membership since the Trump election.

There are quite a few Sanders supporters here, many of which are disallusioned with him. For good reasons some no longer support Bernie and others like his campaign offshoots Justice Democrats and Brand New Congress who are working to take over the shell of the Dem Party because of all the infrastructure in place and the huge obstacles faced by third Parties.

Some here criticize DSA for being too close to the Democratic Party which they see as a dead end.

Quite a few see no hope for saving the Dem Party.

Some are talking about revolution as the way to go.

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

smallaxe's picture

have lived long enough to see it time & again, you can open carry assault rifles at a townhall healthcare debate, sure. You can do an armed takeover of a national park. And yes, you can be an effin nazi,

but don't you ever EVER come out against capitalism - that'll get your foolish head cracked for sure.

It makes me wonder how secure PTB's feel (even those not waiting to be outed for sexual indiscretions) that they are so touchy about & protective of their failure of an economic system.

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