Democrats' Stalingrad: Total defeat. The Counter-coup begins

I have been trying to stay current on the political situation but for the blizzard of information being released daily pertinent to many matters political, but most pointedly on the Müller investigation, aka Witch Hunt (WH).

Many who read this board know that my analyses of Trump politically, as opposed to policy, have been quite appreciative of his genius (scoff, you disbelievers if you will) in maneuvering through a full-blooded Deep State (DS) attack, which actually began at MI-6 in late 2015. Then came tracking the fixing, both locally and nationally by the Dems (e.g., Brenda Snipes of Broward County FL). Future criminal indictments will be forthcoming following Stalingrad*, which occurred today.

To acquaint those who are unfamiliar with WW2, the Battle of Stalingrad was the most lethal battle of WW2. Two things occurred with that defeat: the Wehrmacht was permanently weakened and after that battle, except for the subsequent tank battle at Kursk, the Germans began a never-ending retreat until Berlin was obliterated.

Stalingrad thus is emblematic for a huge battle of any opposing group of interests, people, nations, and money, after which the loser is decisively and irreparably damaged, not to survive the contest.

Briefly re-stated Russiagate was, in the words of Peter Strzok, an insurance policy in the unlikely chance that Trump won the presidency. This is not to overlook the electronic eavesdropping of Trump's personal and business offices, as well as those of his close associates, which is a separate matter from spying. One key element in this debilitate/eliminate Trump plot was the insertion of multiple stooges and patsies by Stefan Halper, a never Trumper who was in the White House until Trump learned about Halper's insertion of Carter Page, Paul Manafort, and George Papadopolous into the campaign. They were used to serve as FISA warrant triggers, despite flimsy reasons, so they could hippity hop two jumps, like a king in a checkers game, to surveil somebody with likely no conceivable connection to anything or anybody.

Müller's credibility has now sunk to lower than Trump's (Trump 30% vs. Müller 28%). His special counsellors are departing the ship, even last week, including the insufferable Andrew "I'm so Proud of You" Weissmann.

Barr, today received the Müller report as final from the SC. Barr will likely rewrite the whole thing, then submit parts to congress, the whole to Trump but possibly none to the public. Fear not, the contents of the WH report will leak steadily to the last drop. Be patient.

Over two years wasted? Yes and No.

Yes, for which most progressives should be thankful. The legislative roadblock has prevented bad legislation (and it's all bad) to pass lots of it (most of which profits the peasants and alligators naught).

No: whether one believes in the DS, one, who cares about these matters that is, or not, we have an intelligence-surveillance-politice-fascist state peopled by a variety of unelected and/or rich people, which ensures that the status quo remains static. This is how the ruling elite perpetuate their greed-beloved position of powers and authority.

Trump, for some reason, unknown to me, the establishment, define it as you may, has incited virulently, rabidly, psychotically hostility to him. No, it's not about wealth. Trump isn't after more money in a substantial way for himself (but family and friends perhaps).

Those who have identified Trump as a juvenile, disorganized, impulsive, sociopathic ne'er do well have grossly underestimated him. Those who have adopted this view have fallen into a 2500 year old trap identified by Sun Tzu: Let your enemy think you are insane, then strike hard when they unpreparedly come to smash you.

Trump has most of America, including those who still believe in Russiagate, attuned to the crimes of Clinton & Co., through his tweets, which, laugh though you may, he uses superbly for his base--don't believe this? Go to most conservative channels and you will find core support is not dwindling, but slowly growing. Don't shoot the messenger folks. That's the evil truth.

Dems have used up every bit of congressional obstruction, as well as State and DOJ obstructions to completely stop Trump. They have held endless committee hearings, both public and secret, about Russiagate. Stasi-like FBI raid on 70 year old Manafort with guns. Mass FBI arresting force against Roger Stone, conveniently televised by CNN, arriving one hour earlier. Multiple Trump associates questioned, requestioned. Lots of Dem noise, getting louder and shriller -- until TODAY.

This is the Democrat Stalingrad

Almost all Dem ammunition has been exhausted, though an insignificant bit may yet remain. These were expended not only in lawsuits, congressional, DOS, DOJ, CIA resistance efforts. I am not unmindful of numerous false flags, such as the recent episode in Christchurch, NZ. But actions such as those previously would have interrupted the news cycle, slowing the Trumpian counter-attack, the counter coup, successfully less well with each iteration.

The funerals of No Name McCain and GHWB did slow the "great awakening" for several days. Both of these traitors and war criminals were given state funerals. What monumental hypocrisy!

Now the Dems are in a fighting retreat, with Schiffty Schiff fighting a lonely battle to protect, temporarily, the evacuating troops. Adam, what goes around, comes around. From this point on, Republicans will charge the Gates of the Clinton Crime Family. They will not stop.

You should listen to this segment from Sean Hannity today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-w1MmbR3qw

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-w1MmbR3qw]

Here your campaign plan laid out in broad terms politically, by Hannity. Don't doubt that he and Trump personally communicate. This segment reveals simultaneously a justification for the counter-coup as well as a list of target issues and people. This will go all the way to BHO, but what happens to him is unclear.

In order to make the counter-coup palatable to the citizens, one prong of the response, already in the action phase, is the crusade against pedophilia and child trafficking. These two issues are loathed by 98% of people, regardless of political persuasion. Exposing these grave crimes against children will leave the Dems absolutely defenseless. The perversity attempted by those with such sociopathies to "normalize" their perverted behavior have failed, will fail, and will certainly enrage numerous people.

Simultaneously with the anti-trafficking business, Trump's team is going cull Congress, especially Dems but also Never Trumpers, perhaps like Mittens. He has got stuff on everybody, and they know it. Ambassadors, holdovers from BHO, are soon to be removed. The Dem infrastructure will be substantially damaged. Barr IS Trump's man and he is moving as rapidly as circumstances permit. Example in chief: getting Müller to end his commission.

Trump shrewdly allowed the Dems to do the worst they could throw at him in an illegally originated and unethically staffed, rapid anti-Trumpers like AW. "15 Angry Democrats".

Trump got rid of Paul Ryan, anti-Trumper, by holding several weapons over his head, one of which was PR's secretly aiding the dissemination of the Steele Dossier to other Reps, etc. But the deal ensured the Rethug subpoenas from the various involved House oversight committees would be issued, a job the Speaker controls. So the Repugs got their witnesses, even though the questioning was never as incisive as elicited by Gowdy from the rest of them.

How can anybody, except AS, complain about prejudice or obstruction, during the entirety of the WH. Trump patiently waited, until the committee concluded its seemingly rabbit hole-ridden work.
No valid complaint can be wielded by Dems against this.

The Press: Trump is clearly winning the battle against the MSM, whose readership and viewership are steadily dwindling. Despite ongoing purges from many alternate media/social media sites, conservative subscribers are accruing at a greater rate than Dem channels. Despite daily bashings from Clinton News Network, MS-DNC, etc., Trump's using tweet jiu jitsu against a flat-footed dying industry and winning. Watch out Twitter, Facebook (aka LifeLog), Google.

I repeat a statement previously made: if one fails to appreciate an opponent's strength, that confidence contributes to his victory.

To all Hillbots and Democrats, I present for your admonition: Who's Sorry Now?

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9QEAtcz3o8]

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Amanda Matthews's picture

turned and the people who cooked up this batshit crazy scheme to try to pull off a soft coup are now put under the microscope. I would love to see those smug, smirking seditionists end up in jumpsuits. And as satisfying, from my point of view, seeing the legend and legacy of the Empty Suit go up in flames. And I would think that there’s enough ammo against Clinton to get her out of our faces for good.

I thought this would drag on until the election. I’m laughing at all the jackasses on the ‘Left’ that came out and pushed this RUSSIA!!! bull poop. I won’t vote for any of them.

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

when the Obama administration took office. Looking forward, with no interest in addressing issues of accountability for the 2008 financial debacle or punishment for the reckless and wanton behaviors of Wall Street profiteers and Ponzi scheme Bankers, welcoming the very people responsible into the Cabinet, marking the complete abandonment of the Hope and Change campaign with a big wet kiss for the pivot to Nope and Same.

With Trump’s surprise victory over HRC, the Dems finally found a “good use” for all that dry powder: remove Trump and replace him ASAP with HRC, by any means and under any pretext. Now, with very little powder left, they must prepare for a vicious counter attack, fueled not by trumped up dossiers but by evidence and thousand of long neglected emails and much meta data. Perhaps we will also hear about human trafficking and pedophilia, but I suspect that particular “Bunker Buster” will be held in reserve for the coup de grace.

Interesting times, for sure.

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Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes

@ovals49 is going to be a revealing of the Jeff Epstein stuff? (as in, all the dems involved)

Or maybe I'm making a nonsensical connection.

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dfarrah

Deja's picture

@dfarrah
I hope they all get locked away forever. A girl can dream!

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Alligator Ed's picture

@dfarrah The sexual/child perversion is the front door to Götterdamerung, not a secondary door. This line of attack, as I wrote above, leaves the Dems absolutely defenseless. They must counter-act the effects of the bizarre, gruesome lifestyle hidden, fairly well so far. But this line of attack, more than any other attack leaves them absolutely defenseless. They will thus be attempting to counter these sexopathies prior to any outside (other) criminal and civil charges. The Dems, will be absolutely defenseless no matter how many lawyers they hire. The public will have none of this. Anger is seething, mostly about economic matters, but also about identitarian issues which the Dems themselves stirred up. Most of the politically uninformed could not tell you the difference between Bobby Orr and Bruce Ohr. Burt they can tell pederasty when they see it.

Now that the DOJ is reopening investigations into the improper Epstein verdict, a settlement made without consulting the aggrieved parties and their relatives, but also a number of suits still trending their way up the judicial ladder. It is through this re-opended portal the Trumpers will first charge. And they will be met with feeble resistance.

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@dfarrah
but I suspect that most of the public is not so ready to “go there” without some considerable firming up of the troubling accusations surrounding Epstein, his parties, and his friends. I would not be surprised at all if it turns out that there have been compromise operations of some sort designed to foster compliance, of both friend and foe. If so, and further inquiries reveal others are complicit, it could be devastating. Very few people will come to the defense of a pedophile, with good reason.

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Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes

I just watched Hannity.

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gulfgal98's picture

@randtntx I agree with most of what Hannity said. This witch hunt was not about investigating any crime, but about searching for a crime to pin on Trump. I would add, I believe this was also a way to divert the public's attention away from Hillary's own crimes and to create a basis for a new cold war.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

@gulfgal98
that you yourself are guilty of: an inoculation of sorts. I don’t know why I continue to hope for truth and justice to prevail when it is plainly evident that our government, the actual one that we have, not the one represented on paper so eloquently, runs on self serving lies, diversions and pay for play deals. They do not serve the people, they gorge themselves instead at the public’s expense and leave “public service” wealthy beyond the hopes of average Americans.

Ironic that Donald Trump, as flawed a human being as has ever served as President, may yet do enough damage to the veil of secrecy that hides the corruption that permeates our government, even if it is inadvertent and self serving as well.

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Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@ovals49

like George W. Bush accusing Kerry of being a bad and dishonorable soldier.

Kerry has his problems, but that ain't one of them. W, however, well....

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

@gulfgal98 but usually I have my hazmat suit on before I venture forth into msm territory of any stripe. It takes a huge effort of will to go there.
We seem to be in a war between blue and red. The msm cheer their respective sides and then, we do as well. Hannity does threaten that this will go on and on. So there is that.
But I agree with you, and I agreed with some of what he said.
I am laughing though....schadenfreude and all.
Time for more popcorn, this could be fun.

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@randtntx and agreed with him.

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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

@randtntx Laura Ingraham. At least until they are allowed editorial freedom, which could be threatened by the Disney merger.

Unfortunately, they are all staunchly pro-Israel (or maybe Tucker isn't, but Hannity and Ingraham are rabid about Israel.) I guess Israel is the repub id-pol for now, calling everyone anti-semites, while the dems accuse everyone of every other ism.

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dfarrah

travelerxxx's picture

@dfarrah

I guess Israel is the repub id-pol for now, calling everyone anti-semites, while the dems accuse everyone of every other ism.

Quite so, it seems. Just as some on the right help out a mite with the Dem's ID-pol, you see more than a few lefties eager to aid the conservatives with the anti-Semite tagging.

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@dfarrah (I know, I know...) has actually been good and honest on Russiagate and has asked the tough Qs of the promoters and Dem carnival barkers. He's also given a full-segment interview to Tulsi Gabbard recently.

Just don't ask me to watch any Hannity, even if he's right. Someone's gotta offer to pay me for that.

As for Fox, I understand Rupert's boy Lachlan, who is now apparently taking over more of the day to day operation, is a little less of a RW GOP pod person. They did just hire Donna Brazile, and they can have her, but I suppose they could have done much worse with a truly corrupt sellout party hack, though who that would be escapes me.

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@wokkamile it's just that lefties are brainwashed against them.

Hannity is more of a bullhorn compared to Tucker and Ingraham. Tucker and Ingraham are much more analytical.

I really like Tucker and Ingraham - even when I vehemently disagree with them.

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dfarrah

@wokkamile hiring of Brazile as a plus.

And I really don't want Fox diluted by the likes of her, because it is pretty much Fox against most other news. Fox is one of the few places to hear something besides the main stream narratives.

I think the Brazile thing, along with the merger, is likely an attempt to shut Fox editorial programming down. After all, it has been in the last few weeks where it seems there is a huge echo chamber complaining about Fox and Trump (the complaining has existed in the past, but not as the huge chorus it has become).

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dfarrah

gulfgal98's picture

More people should pay attention to the wisdom of Sun Tzu in The Art of War. For some time, I have believed that the Trump Administration has been using tactics from the Art of War in this battle against Russiagate and even perhaps against the deep state.

Despite what people say about Trump, and there are plenty of reasons to criticize him, I have always contended that people underestimate his intelligence. Do I believe that Trump is actually dictating the moves being made? Absolutely not. But I do believe that he is smart enough to allow others (probably military men) to set the strategy, and he is involved in that strategy.

The Art of War is listed on the Marine Corps Professional Reading Program (formerly known as the Commandant's Reading List). It is recommended reading for all United States Military Intelligence personnel.[16]

In the long run, it would not take Donald Trump to lead to the eventual implosion of the Democratic Party. They are doing it to themselves because they refuse to deliver upon what they purported to be and that is the party of the people. The mask just got ripped off sooner with the election of Trump.

Another quote, attributed to Napoleon. Never interfere with the enemy when he is in the process of destroying himself. I think this might be what we are seeing now.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

detroitmechworks's picture

@gulfgal98

Truth is not what you want it to be; it is what it is, and you must bend to its power or live a lie.

There is no one way to salvation, whatever the manner in which a man may proceed. All forms and variations are governed by the eternal intelligence of the Universe that enables a man to approach perfection. It may be in the arts of music and painting or it may be in commerce, law, or medicine. It may be in the study of war or the study of peace. Each is as important as any other. Spiritual enlightenment through religious meditation such as Zen or in any other way is as viable and functional as any "Way."... A person should study as they see fit.

-Miyamoto Musashi

I find that the philosophers and thinkers I admire all praise flexibility and don't care much for deception. Hence, Sun Tzu and I tend to disagree sharply. He's a pragmatist in a manner that treats all people as disposable. I'm a pragmatist in a manner that believes people REMEMBER things.

Course, that's also the difference between macro and micro management. Sun Tzu is more concerned with authority and the use thereof. Musashi is concerned with the improvement of the individual as a way to improve society. Same problem, coming at it from different directions. Course, since I favor Musashi, I consider both valid. Smile

Since it's a discussion about philosophy of war, I'll toss in my own personal theory.

"A man who does not wish to speak of war understands it far better than those who do."

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

Pluto's Republic's picture

@detroitmechworks

His book is about strategy, but war not so much. His goal is to win without coming to blows. The strategy is to set the stage in such a way that the opponent loses the will to fight. His way is to preserve not to pillage. Self knowledge and psychology are the key weapons. Killing and destruction are failures of his strategy.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
detroitmechworks's picture

@Pluto's Republic To me it comes across as brutal and hypocritical, much like Machiavelli's advice.

Of course, politicians still think Machiavelli is great advice, so, YMMV on that one.

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

Pluto's Republic's picture

@detroitmechworks

And whether it is translated directly from the classical Chinese. And, then, by a Brit or an American.

Or whether it is a translation from the German translation.

Or whether it is a translation of a Jesuit translation or some other missionary-type.

Also how the words "war" and "tao" were translated.

If the passages were annotated with commentary, then by whom? And when?

There can be significant differences among these.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
Wally's picture

Obviously, Hillary and the cretin bees who buzzed around her may have thought along those lines in the immediacy of her defeat, but by the 2018 midterms, not too many local Dem congressional candidates were campaigning on the Russia hysteria. Of course, Maddow and the MSM are gonna still ride it to oblivion because it still resonates with a lots of Democrats. Obviously, Cold War 2.0 sells and it will continue to sell even with the demise of the Mueller Investigation. But not all Democrats buy in to the new Cold War rhetoric. It's difficult, though, to say the least, especially for candidates with any chance of getting the nomination to completely dismiss the Cold War mentality fostered and spread by the Democratic elite that still can't seem to get over Hillary's loss to Trump. That's realpolitik. I wish it could be different but that's the way it has to go sometimes to even be able to bend the flow of history.

I love Tulsi's forthright stand against militarism and I've donated to her campaign and have encouraged friends to do the same, but polls show her consistently below 1% and even if she gets on the debates, I don't see her campaign catching fire.

Bernie has been attacked for being soft on Russia. My God, he took a schvitz bath there when he was younger! And he gets attacked from the left for selling out to the people who are attacking him. I figure that's why we can't have nice things. C'mon. We should know by now that Bernie is not a Cold Warrior. But I know there's little and probably not much I can do to offset Bernie detractors (left and right together - sad) aside from yelling into the sky like Grandpa Simpson: Vote for Bernie! And keep throwing donations of $27 bux his way.

Meanwhile, most of the American electorate is sick of politics and will probably vote for a return to normalcy. Indeed, the more volatility in the Dem Party, the better for the GOP.

While I won't vote for a Biden-Abrams ticket or a similarly Biden-X balanced IdPol ticket, I'm pretty sure most Dems will. Just because of wanting a return to normalcy. And a lot of Republicans and independents (now the majority party) might go that route, too. Just because they couldn't stand Hillary doesn't mean they won't move towards a ticket they consider less obnoxious than one headed by Her. Same with the Dems who voted for Obama and couldn't bring themselves to vote for Her. And for Hillary to pick that milquetoast what's-his-name ensured that the AA vote wasn't going to be all that enthusiastic for Her.

So.... pick your poison or grow and drink yer own.

Cheers.

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Raggedy Ann's picture

@Wally
you are wrong about this

I'm pretty sure most Dems will. Just because of wanting a return to normalcy

which isn't normal at all! and that folks are wising up to the great American government-of-by-for-the-people scam. We can't have nice things until they quit the insanity of voting for the same ol' shit and expecting a different result.
Pleasantry

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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

@Raggedy Ann 'what normalcy?'

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dfarrah

@Wally

Just because of wanting a return to normalcy.

...is it really something we should support with a vote? I see no possibility in the near future, given our current two party system, of us having a viable candidate on the ballot other than a status quo supporter.

Supporting the status quo at this time, in any way, is insane.

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Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes

Wally's picture

@ovals49 @ovals49

The 1% elite don't care about non vote protests. They are happy with that. They work towards exactly that.

That's their strategy.

I'm sad that you seem to think Bernie is status quo.

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The Aspie Corner's picture

@Wally he wouldn't do the pigs' bidding by playing controlled opposition like he is now. He also wouldn't try to...ahem, 'reform' the 'New' Democrats into some kinder, gentler, capitalism where the pigs still rule with a velvet-gloved iron fist.

Good luck killing Rosa again, Bernie.

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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.

Wally's picture

@The Aspie Corner

got herself and others killed.

And ushered in fascism.

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The Aspie Corner's picture

@Wally who insisted that capitalism had to continue to exist, even if it was on life support, which is all so-called social democracy really is.

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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.

Wally's picture

@The Aspie Corner

. . . the corporate offices of the neoliberal media?

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Deja's picture

@Wally
[video:https://youtu.be/iXp2ruZoxK8]

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Alligator Ed's picture

@Deja Well-depicting Killary, who doesn't know when to shut up. She took her lumps--but she's going to get more--hopefully a governmentally-approved neck stretching.

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snoopydawg's picture

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

@Wally

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dfarrah

Wally's picture

@dfarrah

I guess Bernie went back in time and did her in.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@The Aspie Corner

And they'll do it by not supporting Bernie's 2020 run.

You should recognize that dictum. It's basically the same one that's been leveled at people unwilling to support Democratic candidates for the last twenty years. It's had its engine souped up--now, instead of just being to blame for inflicting George W. Bush and Donald Trump on the world, the left is to blame for the end of the world.

The people who have most strenuously opposed the policies most likely to lead to climate catastrophe and nuclear war--for the past 30 years--are the ones to blame for the failure of the systems that keep us alive. Not, you might notice, all the people, inside the Democratic party and out, who have been promoting our advancement toward those catastrophes with all their resources, for the same amount of time.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Wally's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

I guess my idea of strenuous is different than yours. It's not just a matter of individual or even concerted small group effort. A strenuous collective effort in my mind requires a critical mass to achieve anything. I don't believe any group that has not attained that critical mass and shows no indication of doing do very soon is capable of making the type of effort that's needed to turn the tables in time. Granted, that may also apply to Our Revolution.

I promise you this: If come March 3, 2020, I don' think Bernie has a chance, I won't say anything or do anything about politics anymore.

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snoopydawg's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

Right? After all enough leftists sat out the Bush Gore election and Bush got to place alioto and Roberts on the court. And because enough people didn't vote for Her Trump got to place Kavanaugh and the other dude. (mind fog)

How many years were we told, "it's the Supreme Court stupid!" And that was why it was important to elect democrats.

Obama gave us Kagan and Sotomyer two centrists who rule for the oligarchs when it matters. Garland was another centrist that was Obama's pick because Orrin and McConnell both accepted him.

Climate change and regime change wars were problems during Obama's tenure, but look at how he addressed those issues. For 8 years our "liberal" democratic president did jack shit to actually address climate change and he ramped up PNAC's goals in the Middle East and then pivoted to Asia and after selling the Saudis $100 billion in weapons he joined them on their genocidal quest.

Yay! Go democrats! Most every one of them supported the wars and the ever increasing military budget.

Oh yeah. Obama put SS on the table. There was plenty of room to do that because the democrat's powder was off being dried still.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Wally's picture

@snoopydawg

I don't think that's right.

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@Wally comment.
If anything, Bernie comes out looking almost good when the centrists start blaming progressives for everything bad that happened to them.
You are an ardent Bernie supporter, and have made that imminently clear, and nobody here disapproves of that, and I, for one, admire your advocacy.
Most of us do not inject Bernie into every comment.
Many of us once supported him.
Since Russiagate and inching closer to nuclear war has become more of an existential threat because of that bs, I have turned away from Bernie and any politician who disregarded the fear and uncertainty that threat we now have to live with.
Little kids all over the world will never know what it is like to feel safe from being turned to dust in an instant.
Their creativity, their capacity to plan, to love...all of that is diminished by fear.
Such unnecessary cruelty foisted upon us.
Duck under your desks, kids.

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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

Alligator Ed's picture

@on the cusp First, I became enthralled and educated into politics by Bernie's 2016 campaign. My suspicions about him being controlled opposition came during the famous debate in which
Bernie swept Clinton's email treason under the rug. It was further confirmed by Bernie's Clinton ass-kissing and campaigning for her during the general election. I have no residual hope left in his ability to either govern or even slightly rein in the DS. Call me a jilted lover, if you will, but hell has no fury like an alligator scorned. I will not buy into Bernie 2020. I would love it for Tulsi to win. This won't happen. Tulsi is wisely inserting her name into the coming presidential debate, not to win this year but to raise public awareness about her. Because of Tulsi's low name recognition, MSM is going out of its way to giver her the silent treatment, just as they did to Bernie early in 2016. Tulsi is smart and knows she won't get near the top in 2020. She is looking towards 2024 or 2028, if our planet will survive that long.

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Wally's picture

@on the cusp

I think I was already talking about Bernie most immediately in the context of responding to somebody claiming that Bernie killed Rosa but perhaps I somehow confused the line of arguments being made, but I was following the order of the posts at least the way they appear on my computer.

In any event, I feel really bad that you have come to the conclusions that Bernie "disregarded the fear and uncertainty that threat we now have to live with." I honestly and sincerely just can't comprehend how that's true.

I may well feel the same way you do about the state of the world around March 3, 2020, but even then I won't ascribe that feeling to Bernie. It simply tears me up how many folks here are just so despondent about any chance of historical change at this point in time.

In any event, I wish you well.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

@Wally

....knew that the Russia Hoax was actually a Hoax at the time. And he pretended to believe that absurd psyop in promoting Hillary. That was, and is, a problem for those many millions of people who could see right through the Hoax from the beginning, based on the actual evidence.

Others on the Left were very invested in Bernie's policies from the start and saw, in detail, how the primaries were rigged so that he would lose. When Bernie then agreed to campaign for Hillary, that was also a problem.

In both cases, the bond that should have been broken is the bond with the Democratic Party. Not so much the bond with Bernie, in my opinion. Especially given his fidelity for his policy positions and his return to fight for them. On the other hand, he is running as a Democrat — and the Democrats have already made their convention Bernie-proof by bringing in the Super Delegates to break the ties and give someone a majority. It won't be Bernie.

With the Russian Hoax and the Primary Rigging, the Democratic Party has handed Donald Trump a second term, at this point.

In the current corruption of the two-party system, the majority of voters and potential voters in the US do not have a candidate to vote for who represents their interest. So, get out the vote is going to be a game of numbers void of passion.

All that being said, a lot can happen over the next year and a half. A People's Party could form, for example, with real candidates.

But I know what you mean about being done with politics — at a certain point.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
Wally's picture

@Pluto's Republic

I agree with your take on Bernie re the Russia hysteria but I'm not going to negate him as a candidate now because of it.

As I've noted many times before, I am well aware of the stacked deck against any genuinely progressive candidate in the Democratic Party. I'm still hoping that Bernie and Our Revolution can pull it off in 2020 against all odds.

It's just that I don't think there's much of a window in the short time we have to make the difference we have to make now. For me, it's now or never. I know folks have heard this before from establishment Dems. But not from me ever before. After this go-round, I'm out. I've detailed my feelings about it over and over here. It's been kinda cathartic for me.

I am not as convinced as you that Trump is going to win a second term in any event. It's difficult for me to believe that any Dem candidate can be as obnoxious and oblivious to electoral reality as Clinton was and still is. And Trump may still get nailed on financial dealings. And who ever knows how the economy will be panning out at election time?

I sent a few bucks to Brana's group right when they formed. I see a lot of encouraging signs there organizationally. But can they establish a critical electoral mass for 2020? I just don't see it. Beyond 2020? Seems too late in my mind.

Whatever Bernie's "incorrect" line on this or that, there's still a critical mass behind Bernie that is worth supporting coz it at least offers the best glimmer of hope we have right now in the face of eventual nuclear and environmental catastrophe.

Ah, I'm done and tired of repeating myself. I'm taking off for a spell so pardon me if I don't reply to any response on your part.

Hang in there and cheers!

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@Wally
but would be better if he was allowed to run as the democratic socialist that he is. Too bad the party insiders have no intention of welcoming anything other than good old American Capitalism as their core values; you know, endless wars and regime change for natural resources disguised as “spreading freedom” and saving the world from evil commies.

The day Nancy Pelosi changes her tune and announces to the world that she is a Socialist is the day I will believe Bernie can get the nomination running on the core values he has lived by for many decades. Until then, his possible candidacy is just theatre to keep people’s hopes up and more likely to vote D-Lesser Evil, whoever that happens to be.

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Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes

Wally's picture

@ovals49

. . . historical juncture, ensures the victory of corporate centrism, domestic neoliberalism, and militaristic neoconservatism.

If he can't pull it off, good luck with your revolution. I won't oppose it but I certainly won't go out of the way to get myself killed. And you better pull it off quick before that 12 year environmental window is closed and the doomsday clock chimes midnight.

As pessimistic as I am about Bernie and Our Revoution pulling it off now, I'm lots, lots, lots more pessimistic of the chances of you pulling anything off in the next 12 years.

So, cheers!

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detroitmechworks's picture

@Wally Apparently Once in a lifetime things that MUST occur now happen every 2 years and go on for 2 years.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8X76NRiQLQ]

/snark

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

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@detroitmechworks

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Wally's picture

@detroitmechworks

. . . that's been going on for a long time, too?

Yo, but rock on!

How come you never post any Detroit school stuff like the MC5 or even Iggy?

I can do without GFR and Kid Rock, though.

Cheers.

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Alligator Ed's picture

@Wally How about Bob Seger?

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuUvC-Fnw1Y]

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Wally's picture

@Alligator Ed @Alligator Ed

I appreciate Pete Seeger more but I really liked Bob Seger back in the day. ISTM he was overplayed on the radio, though. I dunno. I tend to change the station whenever his stuff comes on now but I don't have strong feelings about him one way or another.

Loved Motown, too. And Jazz, Blues.

There's just something about the whole Detroit music scene that seems special in any event:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Detroit

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@Wally
The 12 year doomsday clock is about as reliable as a weather prediction for noon Saturday next week. It could be fifteen years away, it could have already passed us by 20 years ago. Feedback loops have already been found in motion and our scientific community has repeatedly underestimated the pace of our changing climate for decades.

If we’re depending on politicians to wake up and address the severity of the situation and institute massive shifts in our economic system, our culture and our global priorities then we are in very deep shit indeed. The only place each of us can be sure to make a positive contribution right now is in how we live our individual lives, right now.

Waiting for Bernie, or Tulsi, or some broken political system to heal itself seems to me the height of folly. Taking this view does not feel pessimistic to me, it feels more like honestly acknowledging the terror of the situation and doing the best I can to mitigate my part in the damage being done to life on the planet by our human excesses and hubris.

If we have already screwed the pooch on our stewardship of the planet, Nature will surely do it’s best to lather, rinse and repeat with new life forms of some sort.

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Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes

Wally's picture

@ovals49

. . . will quite compensate for what Dow Chemical etc are doing.

Hey, corporations are individuals, too, right?

But I do compost and recycle, try to eat the right things, cut down on my consumerism, try to be kind to animals and plants, etc.

As for the Doomsday Clock and the 12 year windows, the best I have to go with are what the scientists are saying right now. I'm going to take them seriously.

And while I'll debate ya, I'm not going to blame ya. As far as I know, I'll trust you're not one of the 1% or its many agents (and I don't include Bernie among them, either).

Cheers.

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Big Al's picture

@Wally where the 1% elites "work toward" getting people to not vote for their duopoly politicians? I've seen many people say that, particularly those that want other people to vote for the democratic party, but I've yet to see actual evidence.

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Wally's picture

@Big Al

It's free on YouTube.

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arendt's picture

@Wally

I watched Hypernormalization. It is very slick propaganda.

Now I see why the BBC love him. He is a master at the selective editing and twisting of history. There is just enough truth and limited hangout to buy credibility with the uninformed.

The only thing he gets right is that genuine politics in the west has been rendered absolutely powerless by massive computeriztion. That FAANG (Facebook, Apple,...) run the show, in a William Gibson-esque world. However, the picture he paints of how that happened is in service of an establishment. He has a narrative that is quite counter to my lived experience of how we got to today.

He begins by blaming the collapse of NYC and 1970s liberals in general on a failure of leftwing ideas. He focuses only on the extreme left. No mention of Nader-like inside-the-system lefties. No mention of the general collapse of credibility of all political positions in the wake of Vietnam/Watergate. No mention of the oil crisis as a cause of the financial collapse.

Just like the Vietnam documentary, this piece of propaganda completely ignores the CIA, the MIC, and the neocons. He blames "social forces" and unnamed "corporate" and "financial" power centers. No details, no Western bad guys, only very specific non-Western demons: Assad and Putin, with Trump being tarred with the Putin brush.

He makes H. Assad into an evil mastermind (even while claiming that this is a simple-minded viewpoint - genius level propaganda there), responsible for all the problems of the middle east, because he was an early user of suicide bombing. Not one word about US funding of Hussein's Iraq in the war against Iran. Likewise, no mention of CIA funding for the external attempt to overthrow the Syrian government, beginning in 2011. The take on Syria is standard corporate news, camoflauged by his bullshit narrative that suicide bombing is key and that Haffez A. is somehow responsible for it (even tho he didn't invent it) and that Bashar continued in his father's evil way. The narrative (which is incredibly vague on timeline) says Bashar sent jihadis to AQ in Iraq , as if AQII was always there - but there was no AQ in Iraq until after we caused it to emerge from the prisons we set up in Iraq. No mention of how the US "Surge" used Sunni jihadis to save our face by enganging in ethnic cleansing.

Putin is represented as completely illegitimate, nothing but a media manipulator. No mention of the disastrous 90s for Russia, of our massive support for Yeltsin, no mention of the recovery under Putin. The narrative consists exclusively of how the whole Russian political scene is a scripted fraud, run by some media mastermind. While Russian politics is dismissed as fake, there is no mention of the fake Color Revolutions run all over Eastern Europe by Soros and the NED.

----

The whole narrative is about fake reality, fake politics; yet he doesn't mention the completely phony candidacy and presidency of Obama. He manages to evoke fear about Trump while never mentioning the shafting Bernie got, and NEVER mention bomb/revolution-happy Hillary at all. The impression left is that politics was a joke and people had given up.

Suicide bombing is made out to be a super weapon. Meanwhile, drone warfare, heavy weapons support for terrorists, and massive NSA dragnets barely get mentioned. For all the focus on the internet, not one word about the US/Israeli aggession known as Stuxnet.

He claims that "pessimism" was the dominant mood of the US in the 1990s. Hello? The 90s were an orgasm of ruling class triumphalism, economic boom, the future is unlimited, history is over. But he needs pessimism for his bullshit narrative, so pessimism it is.

He continually portrays politicians as "confused", "bewildered", "powerless", when the neocons and neoliberals were the opposite. They were accomplishing their goals across the board. But he does not want to talk about the neocon plan for MENA. No, he blames it all on Assad.

Just as with the Vietnam series, politics and corporations/CIA are completely disconnected. Politicians are the actors, its just that they are ineffective actors. They are there to take the blame for the violent messes that appeared on their watches. The CIA didn't stovepipe the intelligence to the gang of neocons who ran our foreign policy. The CIA didn't connive with the Saudis to start the Syrian War and illegally transfer billions of dollars of weapons secretly. It was all the fault of "confused" politiicans and a public that had checked out on politics.

As in the Vietnam series, leftwing protestors are portrayed as ineffective and focused on flaky projects such as personal growth (exercise, yoga), which have been the staples of left-bashing for decades. No mention of climate change or massive racist police behavior as a political issue.

----

I took 4 pages of notes on this piece of crap. The above barely scratches the surface. The man completely erases the MIC, the CIA, neocons, and neoliberals as agents. In his narrative, they are not imporant. Instead, its all about these impersonal, inevitable forces. Garbage.

He thinks by telling everyone to question the reality being presented by TPTB that we will exempt him from exactly that criticism. This guy spins reality like a top.

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snoopydawg's picture

@arendt

Brilliant comment, Arendt. I would add our school of the Americas where we trained the military for the dictators that we propped up after deposing the elected governments. Of course we found WMDs in Iraq. Not the ones Bush said they had, but the ones we gave him. The ones that were improperly destroyed in open burn pits that have caused some soldiers their health and lives.

The real history of this country is so beyond heinous I'm not sure there is a word for it.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Wally's picture

@arendt

I appreciate your comments and I'll get back to you manana.

Btw, I went over to DKos after you left a link to one of your old essays, diaries, whatever it was called. And looked at a couple more. And given all the really nasty comments to you, how the hell did you manage not to get skull and crossboned?

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arendt's picture

@Wally

Every word I write, unless I totally go ballistic, passes through a simple filter:

How could this be deliberately misinterpreted to ban me?

I was on DU until it went toxic - that pretentious thug, The Magistrate, had some of my stuff pulled, but I was never outright banned there. I just left

DKOS, I just took a leave of absence during silly season, until I left over the Great Loyalty Oath Campaign.

The only place I ever got kicked off was Jackpine Radicals. That was because I dared to insist on the historical fact that Zionism had a history that was shady and nasty. The leadership of that board was very pro-Israel and didn't like anyone pointing out the feet of clay of the rightwing gangsters running Israel today. (Who are the childeren of the gangsters running Israel 50 years ago. Netanyahoo's dad was the personal secretary to Jabotinsky.)

Bottom line: I was probably just lucky and just not big enough to bother with.

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Wally's picture

@arendt

Makes me think more than most stuff I read. And we agree on quite a lot, it seems. Of course, I find your overall outlook just soooo wrong.

Back in the day, I used to much enjoy busting chops with political adversaries: Trots, Maoists, CPers, Anarchists, and whatever I was (I'm still not sure). We actually all got along pretty well.

Then came along Lynn Marcus / Lyndon LaRouche. I really hope there's not any of that in you. Or Spiked. That's where I've noted elsewhere I draw the line abt Gravel. If there's any of that in you, just let me know and I'll be gone. Much to some folks' delight.

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arendt's picture

@Wally
I benefited from low interest student loans and a generally healthy US industrial economy. I have watched those things stolen away over the last forty years, and I despise the filthy rich sociopaths who did it. The late Pete Peterson is top of my shit list as a relentless enemy of the working class.

Back in the day, I used to much enjoy busting chops with political adversaries: Trots, Maoists, CPers, Anarchists, and whatever I was (I'm still not sure). We actually all got along pretty well.

I am none of the above.

Then came along Lynn Marcus / Lyndon LaRouche. I really hope there's not any of that in you. Or Spiked. That's where I've noted elsewhere I draw the line abt Gravel.

No. LaRouche was a scary, hyper intelligent creep. I put him in the same category as the Reverend Moon - capable of brainwashing large numbers of people. However, I do read (with a mine detector) anything that F. William Engdahl (one of his disciples) writes, because Engdahl delivers a lot of facts not found elsewhere. I'm always alert for the spin, but his material is too valuable to ignore.

If there's any of that in you, just let me know and I'll be gone. Much to some folks' delight.

This is the second time you have made that offer to me in a week. It is most unusual and uncalled for. This is a board of outcasts, and we are not prone to ostracize people merely for disagreeing as long as they do so with civility. May I politely ask why you keep making this "offer" and why you think people would delight in your absence, as opposed to many people more objected to than you?

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Wally's picture

@arendt

My penchant to pose possibly discomforting questions?

And my initial entry here where I admittedly misread something somebody posted (mea culpa) and getting dogpiled? Not by the individual I misinterpreted who was very gracious.

A few other exchanges, too. But such is life on the innertubes, a space I've never frequented very much.

And OK, I feel more assured now that you're not the type of individual or gang member who I am convinced knowingly and purposefully hurts any kind of progressive movement. I will check out the one seemingly off the wall adherent of that ilk you noted.

I am not persuaded, though, that any kind of FDR Democrat or FDR himself if he were alive would be opposed to supporting Bernie or voting for him. Who do you think FDR would support in the current field? None of those running? Really?

Finally, I'm gonna take a few days or even more to respond to your rather harsh (I think) critique of Curtis's documentary. I'll take your analysis into consideration and watch it again. And look at some reviews.

Cheers.

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@Wally for that Curtis doc, and a few more minutes on YT. Sorry wally, but at this time I'd prefer not to watch the entire 2h45m of this slickly-produced MSM Brit piece which has all the appearances of state propaganda in the guise of (acceptable) social/political criticism from a sort of "cool, edgy" perspective -- Vice News-like. Intrusive, manipulative music soundtrack intended to steer and drive home the emotional response intended; disturbing, confusing, often bloody, and politically unflattering visual images meant to make the viewer feel rather than think, develop often negative associations which seem highly distorted. Through all this sound and visual fury, I had to rewind several times to listen to what the narrator was trying to say, which appeared both too little and too much and was not convincing.

Eh, no. I might however check back later and skip to the part about Russia and Putin, which might be a big tell as to whether this is all just state propaganda trying to whip up more cold war feelings of anxiety about them Rooskies. In the meantime, I'm going with arendt's specific, lengthy and persuasive critique, though I would welcome seeing a review from your perspective.

as to FDR, he was neither a far-lefty radical either in instincts or policy, nor was he an incrementalist centrist. Very smart pol who knew what the political situation would permit, and perhaps erred too often too strongly on the side of not pushing the political envelope out of political caution and self-preservation, whereas imo there were times when he could have used his considerable persuasive ability to help push that envelope in a certain direction in order to achieve worthy goals. I see him as capable of endorsing a Bernie (he did after all select Henry Wallace as his VP and his New Deal is rather Bernie-like in tone) as well as a Liz Warren (a nice stand-in for his female Labor Sec'y) but also a more centrist type yet dynamic and exciting, such as Beto.

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Wally's picture

@arendt

And I've read enough.

And I'm feeling my oats.

Thanks C99 folks for giving me a chance to experience some catharsis. Actually, a lot and prolly all I need for now.

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arendt's picture

@Wally

Feel free to be here or not as you choose.

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Alligator Ed's picture

@arendt

This is a board of outcasts, and we are not prone to ostracize people merely for disagreeing as long as they do so with civility.

Civility and open discussion, without exclusionary rules, is to me the hallmark of this community, so well-constructed by Joe and Johnny.

Smile

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travelerxxx's picture

@Alligator Ed

This is a board of outcasts...

Yes, that so many here are indeed outcasts is a hallmark of c99. I'm proud of that and I believe it makes us stronger, more open to discussion, and more empathetic. The fact that so many of us here have seen the pointed end of the boot is one of the major reasons the board stays so civil.

Of course, there is that 56 one-hundredths percent....

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@arendt I bow to your greatness, and this is not snark.
Fabulous comment!

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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

arendt's picture

@on the cusp
What I just posted was my year-old private reply. That's why I could respond with so much so fast.

Curtis's shtick really annoyed me, but I didn't have a reason to make it into an OP.

Wally just sort of walked into a Claymore by asking people to watch it. Sorry, Wally.

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Wally's picture

@arendt

Manana or in a day or so. I'll be ignored and disdained but so what?

What amazes me (on second thought it doesn't surprise me at all) is that I am pretty pretty sure folks rallying to you "winning the internet" didn't even watch the documentary. Actually, it seems everybody admits to it. Proudly. Looking over the responses, I didn't see any references to the documentary itself. Did you become a substitute Bernie?

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@Wally take it up via pm.
Ok?

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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

Wally's picture

@on the cusp

I have no major problem with you, Cusp, of which I am aware.

I was responding to arendt most immediately above, not you.

I'll be happy not to respond to any of your posts.

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@Wally I am the commenter who said "won the internet".
Me.
Contact me personally if you feel the necessity to do so.

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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

Wally's picture

@on the cusp

I wish you well. You can thumbs up anybody and crown anybody emperor of the internet you want. I'll stick to discourse with arendt for the time being, though. Cheers!

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@Wally let arendt stand her ground.

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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

Big Al's picture

@arendt I wasn't interested in watching it. Besides, it had 3 letters attached to it, BBC, so ya.
I guess it didn't contain the evidence I was looking for.

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arendt's picture

@Big Al

I still can't get my head around how far the non-Murdoch UK media have fallen. The Guardian, the BBC, all just propaganda shops now.

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@arendt

THANK YOU!!!!

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Pluto's Republic's picture

@arendt

So many betrayals, so much propaganda under the bridge.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
Mark from Queens's picture

in the details of this investigation and related matters, whatsoever.

It should have struck everybody in the country, as it did most all of us here, as entirely such an obvious desperate ruse by the DC establishment power hub, whose primary interest is in not disrupting and instead retaining the status quo at all costs, to distract from their laughable hubris that $hillary couldn't possibly lose if there were decent people left. The scorned $hillary sycophants concocted it and the shocked masses glommed onto it.

The central component in having had to have been subjected to this embarrassing sham is that the curtain has been coming down on the facade of real democracy for a long time (lies about WMD's, war crimes, mass surveillance, no Wall St prosecutions, Obama's Neoliberal corporate sellout, the DNC collusion to cheat Bernie and prop up an entitled Hillary, worship of the Rich and tv celebrities equaling a Trump Prez) and the one institution that holds the thing together really got into action (or inaction as it were) to put the final nail in.

Think about it. We are conditioned to accept "the news" as an inalienable arbiter of our world. The role of journalism and the idea of what is "the news" can't be overstated or underestimated in this regard.

Everything we're talking about on this website and everywhere else with regard to politics is derived from news sources. If the news sources that predominate are no longer functioning, or have completely flown the coop to, as Taibbi tells it in his "Hate, Inc" series, function almost solely now as red-meat shoveling stokers of fear and reinforcement of preconceptions (having been conditioned by ever-present, big-time, "think-tank" generated propaganda which thrives in countless ways) that expressly serve to divide the population and ingenuously, by keeping it coming back for more with, among other new developments, incessant "news update" alarms on one's smart phone, salacious and often misdirected headlines, etc - then the framework of the discussion is so narrowed and concentrated, and therefore easier to manipulate, that all sense of reality and what really matters and the fundamental cause of how we got to this point is all but obliterated.

First, the media laid the groundwork for Trump, in their craven desperation to regain some profits lost in the digital age. Had they functioned as journalists it would have been a piece of cake to properly vet this odious, moronic, sleazy, manipulative clown for the outlandish criminal and inveterate liar that he is and always was. The media also turned a purposeful blind eye to the collusion of the DNC to cheat Bernie. Along with the Criminal Clinton Cabal they gave us Trump; we all know this. And no, I don't believe the "Trump is really intelligent" line. He's a manipulative, thin-skinned, vindictive scumbag who just plows through wreckage to get what he wants like a spoiled brat by turns begging for/demanding obsequiousness and not thinking of the consequences beyond what's in it for him. He is a Pyrrhic victor.

This is all to say that if there was a functioning journalism to cut through this Dante-esque fog we'd be headlong down the path of examining, debating and discussing solutions for how we got to be in such a dire and unmoored place. Any honest person has to admit, even partisans, that what people want is answers to why their lives just seem to continually get worse; are set dangling on the precipice of not being able to afford to simply live like dignified human beings; that all this partisan bickering and identifying with their political sports team is really all a distracting sham, that we're being shafted but haven't known which way to look. We'd have to face the existential crisis that there's no democracy, that the government we've been trained to accept as caretakers/guardians of society are simply only auctioneers for sale to the highest bidder and looters of the money we pay in taxes that could go to ameliorate many of said problems.

It's getting tiring waiting for every next exposing cataclysm, hoping it will engender such an absolute awakening. You'd think with every next breathless MSM sensationalist "news" story being yet another inconsequential goose egg in the lives of ordinary working people, that it has to very happen soon, especially given this relentless, depressing epoch.

I'm starting to believe we'll never get there.

(1st verse)
Harmlessly passing your time in the grassland away
Only dimly aware of a certain unease in the air
You better watch out
There may be dogs about
I've looked over Jordan, and I have seen
Things are not what they seem
(2nd verse)
What do you get for pretending the danger's not real
Meek and obedient you follow the leader
Down well trodden corridors into the valley of steel
What a surprise!
A look of terminal shock in your eyes
Now things are really what they seem
No, this is no bad dream

(interlude)
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want
He makes me down to lie
Through pastures green He leadeth me the silent waters by
With bright knives He releaseth my soul
He maketh me to hang on hooks in high places
He converteth me to lamb cutlets
For lo, He hath great power, and great hunger
When cometh the day we lowly ones
Through quiet reflection, and great dedication
Master the art of karate
Lo, we shall rise up
And then we'll make the bugger's eyes water
(3rd verse)
Bleating and babbling we fell on his neck with a scream
Wave upon wave of demented avengers
March cheerfully out of obscurity into the dream
Have you heard the news?
The dogs are dead!
You better stay home
And do as you're told
Get out of the road if you want to grow old

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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

mimi's picture

@Mark from Queens @Mark from Queens
you mentioned here somewhere that once you have tasted chocolate, you don't get back to vanilla, but I have tasted chocolate and now want pistacchio or lemon or orange (eh no). Ah macademia nuts ice cream would be real good right now.

"Trump is really intelligent"

... heh ...

"Joy in looking and comprehending is nature's most beautiful gift" - Einstein

Your writing is quite impressive. Kudos. Have a marvelous weekend.

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gulfgal98's picture

@Mark from Queens I never said "this."

And no, I don't believe the "Trump is really intelligent" line.

I did say that Trump is more intelligent than we give him credit for. Never underestimate your opponent. And that is what I believe the Democrats have done with Trump. It is far better to overestimate him in that regard.

“If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain to be in peril.” Sun Tzu

And remember, Trump was the beneficiary of the "pied Piper strategy" promoted by Hillary's campaign which had to be the worst campaign strategy in the history of campaigns. They promoted someone who was totally unfit for office because they thought that was the only way they could win. IMO, that shows a complete and utter lack of belief in their own candidate. And it proved to be true.

BTW, I thought your comment was excellent.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

polkageist's picture

@Mark from Queens
I always get education or confirmation from your comments. This comment is especially good because it summarizes so much that is wrong with our governance and education. I mention my age, 83, in almost every comment I make not because the old are wise but because they have experience. In my case I always compare what I see now to what I have experienced about 40 to 50 years ago when I was old enough to understand events and make rational judgements. Most of the denizens of C99 seem to have little or no faith in the press, government, or the political-economic system. My experience and comparisons with times past only confirms what most of us see: the country has turned into a vehicle for big business and corporate interests of all kinds to make political decisions that benefit themselves primarily. Only by accident do any of the decisions taken by our "leaders" benefit us or any other group of beings, human or otherwise. Obviously you don't need to be old to see the difference, but it helps by giving an actual comparison to lived experience as reference. I am quite pessimistic about our ability to survive other than as isolated primitive tribes at best after climate catastrophe. I, too, have doubts about whether we will even make it that far.

In short, I believe we are being ruled by an amoral, ignorant, ill-educated, greedy elite that can't even see its own danger. Hiding in a missile silo won't save the wealthy any more than money will buy loyalty when money becomes valueless. I feel like almost all of us here are suffering Cassandra's curse: to speak true prophecy but never to be believed.

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-Greed is not a virtue.
-Socialism: the radical idea of sharing.
-Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
John F. Kennedy, In a speech at the White House, 1962

@Mark from Queens @Mark from Queens "First, the media laid the groundwork for Trump, in their craven desperation to regain some profits lost in the digital age."

The democrats laid the ground for Trump by ignoring the voters over and over and over again.

And the dems continue to flat foot by wasting so much time on Russia, more investigations of Trump, and fighting for illegals.

After 8 years of bs from Obama, what did you expect? After 8 years of nothing from Obama, what did you expect (nothing except for forcing people to give their money to wealthy medical interests).

Why do you think Bernie caught on? Why do you think HRC had to work cheat like heck to 'defeat' Bernie. (edited per comment below)

Further, most of the media coverage of Trump was/has been negative.

Trump would have been elected over HRC (yeah, I know, electoral college and all) even without media coverage. People were ready for change when BO took office, and they were still waiting for it after 8 years.

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dfarrah

snoopydawg's picture

@dfarrah

You're right that Trump can be laid at the foot of the democrats. I love to say that Trump is Obama's legacy and if he had tried filling his suit just a bit then Hillary would probably be president today instead of Trump. Not many people wanted the 5 & 6th terms of Bush for foreign policies and the 7?& 8th of Clinton's economic one. The media covered Trump so much because Hillary asked them to. Pied piper. Dumb move Hillary! But you're right that people wanted change from what Obama gave us and Hillary was offering.

Why do you think HRC had to work cheat like heck to 'defeat' Bernie.

Fixed this bit...

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

@snoopydawg garbage from Schiff?

Has the guy gone mad?

I hope the dems keep digging their graves. Maybe we can get rid of Pelosi and Feinstein and Schumer and........

Pelosi does seem a bit resigned lately.

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dfarrah

Wally's picture

But then again, imperialism and inequality etc have been pretty standard aspects of our history.

And most people I know who voted for Obama but couldn't bring themselves to vote for Hillary will be willing to vote for Biden-Abrams. And AAs will be enthusiastic about the prospect of an AA VP. And I live in a working families rust belt area. Not a swing state but there's that common base and those swing states are gonna be pivotal this go-round.

Even though militarism is probably my top immediate concern, I just don't think most people are that concerned about it as indicated by the lack of support for Tulsi. I even kick myself for bringing that up but it's the reality with which we have to contend in the face of the two minutes to midnight nuclear doomsday clock as well as a 12 year window to at least attempt to stem the inevitability of catastrophic climate change.

I was pretty much a Bernie or Bust dude in 2016. This time I figure it's Bernie or wait for the apocalypse. I really don't see how and simply do not believe Bernie is the status quo.

edit: got rid of boom / substituted wait for the apocalypse.

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again. Everyone comes out ahead this way. Trump gets to keep his leased White House and Big Jet for another couple years before he goes bankrupt, again. The Dems have someone to keep losing to. The New Cold Warriors get to keep their New Cold War. Like the B-52 and TU-95, another four or five decades left on that sturdy airframe. The Russians keep Sebastapol, again, and a near perfect record of playing their adversaries against each other.

Everyone wins.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@leveymg
1990!

Mueller, whose low-key gutsy style attracted powerbrokers in the Department of Justice, was personally tapped by George W. Bush’s [they mean George H.W. Bush's] attorney general Dick Thornburgh to help lead the prosecution of Noriega.

https://millennialpolitics.co/4-times-robert-mueller-took-on-the-mob-and...

Managed it so that Noriega got prosecuted but no nasty evidence of wrongdoing stuck to the Reagan Administration, the George H.W. Bush administration, or the CIA.

You gotta love a guy who cut his professional teeth on Iran-Contra.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

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