Maybe we should have seen this coming

A lot (maybe most?) of the people in the rabid mob raging against Julian Assange are self-proclaimed "liberals". They're people who have been angry and frustrated during the past few years, ever since Trump became POTUS.

At various times, the anger has been aimed at Bernie and his supporters, not to mention Comey, Russia, Putin, Jill Stein, and so on.

But the main part of their rage has been projected at Trump. They allowed themselves to become emotionally invested in Mueller's investigation, believing that any day now, Trump would be impeached or arrested, which they believed (whether consciously or not) would relieve the enormous emotional stress they were experiencing.

The mainstream news media has enabled, promoted and inflamed that mindset. The irrationality has increased and gotten bolder, as anyone who's attempted to engage in a rational discussion and been called a "Russian troll" knows.

A few weeks ago, Mueller disappointed them. They were thereby deprived of their primary target, Trump. But the emotional tension and rage was still there and needed someplace to go.

Voila. Assange. A ready-made, convenient scapegoat on whom to vent their hatred and rage.

If they had the opportunity, they'd run him down like a dog, parade him through the streets while yelling obscenities and throwing rancid garbage and sewage at him, and then execute him publicly, and afterward display his head on a fencepost for all to see as a warning.

It would probably relieve some of the tension building up inside them, but the relief wouldn't last long. The reason is that Assange isn't the problem. In fact, he's been publishing information that could help us see what the real problem is and fix it.

Trump may be a problem, but he's not "the" problem. Trump is a symptom of the underlying problem, as is the ravening mob itself that's out for Assange's blood. As someone recently said (I think it might have been Chris Hedges, or maybe Greenwald), if we don't deal with what gave us Trump -- the neocon/neoliberal corporatist coup over the past 40 years -- we will keep getting people like Trump. And the level of stress, fear, desperation, and rage on the part of the American people will continue to increase.

In the meantime, the oligarchy is no doubt happy to have us aim our pitchforks at handy scapegoats. Their news media enablers are making sure that we do so rather than focus our attention on the true source of the problem: themselves. The oligarchy, the military-industrial complex, and their enablers.

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detroitmechworks's picture

No reason to turn on the idiot box these days. The MSM likes to refer to us as "Cord Cutting" people, because they want that image of Luddites smashing mills to be the first thing you think of. Course that doesn't take into effect that it's not the equivalent of killing a press, but rather these days they see it as telling the trustee that you won't be including him in your escape plans.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-r-V0uK4u0]

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

was twenty-five years ago?
Fuck, I'm old.
@detroitmechworks

As to the post; we're So screwed.

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Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .

Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .

If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march

detroitmechworks's picture

@Tall Bald and Ugly There used to be music videos on one channel... that wasn't youtube.

/snark

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

Mark from Queens's picture

@detroitmechworks
(apologies for the digression right off the bat, Centaurea)

I've played that song so many times onstage. Most notably behind a pretty diverse collection of folks, that includes Jim Carrey, Serena Williams and Tim Pool (of Occupy livestream fame).

The Pumpkins, man.

Will never forget the Virgin Records rep coming to our office with a spread of barbecue for a listening party of "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness." I was already a fan from their first Caroline record "Gish," saw then then at CBGB's and remember noting of their inclusion on the "Singles" soundtrack that, although not a Seattle band, it was a watershed moment of the burgeoning grunge scene about to take over and roll the alternative rock world, right over the cheese metal and slick, overproduced pop garbage that would soon appear comparatively thin, soulless and dated.

From the opening instrumental title track right into "Tonight, Tonight" the orchestral touches couching the powerful hard rock (and the great cover art) were immediately enchanting and mesmerizing. I knew it was going to be a hugely successful follow-up to "Siamese Dream."

I don't know why they often get overshadowed by the Seattle grunge scene when talking about the 90's. But they were just as consequential. Like Soundgarden sometimes, the Pumpkins live could be hit or miss. Corgan was famously tempermental, and like Cobain, could resort to ridiculing his audience. Ironic that the two were both linked to having Courtney Love as lovers.

Saw the Pumpkins once sandwiched in between Pearl Jam and the Red Hot Chili Peppers at Roseland, at the time when PJ was riding a rocket early on not long after their debut came out and actually opened the show. The energy in the room was electrifying, but they were lackluster, paling in comparison to the other two (all would go on to become big arena bands). Was at Roseland, a place that maybe held a few thousand and was a venerable decades old grand ballroom dancehall, which now unfortunately doesn't exist because another greedy developer wanted to build "luxury" condos.

I don't know where but I thought I saw in passing that Corgan might be a RW Libertarian sort. Haven't looked; don't want to be dismayed.

Can't take away from the power of all those records though.

(On a personal note to you detroit, if you aren't familiar withe their cover of Alice Cooper's "Clones" - you have to check it out. One of the great tunes near the beginning of the New Wave era, in which a few heritage rock artists made the break to embrace the new genre and did it well.
BTW, the Pumpkins releases a lot a covers. There's a really neat collection of them that was packaged in an old 45's-style carrying case. Among the gems are a cover of 70's hit "Jackie Blue" (one of my favorite singles growing up) and the Cars "You're All I've Got Tonight.")

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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

detroitmechworks's picture

@Mark from Queens There were these things called "Albums"...

/snark

edit: Seriously though, I'll have to check it out. I love a good cover. One of the reasons I love Weird Al so much is because of the quality of his band/covers.

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

OzoneTom's picture

@detroitmechworks
"Playing a record."
or
"Spinning a disk."
Whatever that means. /s

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gulfgal98's picture

@OzoneTom disk jockey. Biggrin

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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 @detroitmechworks
on one of the secondary stages at Summerfest in Milwaukee: Paul Shafer and the World's Most Dangerous Band (as I think they were still called, before Letterman left NBC for CBS, and NBC -- i think -- insisted that they owned the band name).

it was, of course, 100% covers -- and man, oh man, oh fucking man could those guys play.

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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.

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@detroitmechworks

In all seriousness, though, I miss vinyl and hope someday to go back to it. Not entirely, but at least to have a collection and a machine.

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

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

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal @Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal I've found them in garage sales and flea markets from everywhere I've lived since the early 70's in British Columbia, Boulder Colorado, to places I lived in my home State, Texas, in San Marcos and for a long time in Nacogdoches (I even drove to Houston to hit a big flea mkt) where I lived across the tracks from where the monthly flea market caravan appeared.
I now live near my Canadian daughter,son, and grandkids in BC and have yet to try the Christmas gift my daughter gave me to convert my albums to CD.
Which I haven't done yet.
The pros and cons of this are big compared to how my albums take up a huge part of my closet and how that compares to thumb drive but many of my albums have something the digital can't touch.
Not just the sound but the history you hold in your hand,like for example Ray Charles live on Chess Records in particular in the early '50's is golden and I have many more 'scores' I've made over the years.
I even have the record of that Texas band "The 13th Floor Elevators"(look it up) and a lot of other collectables, love him or hate him Hank Williams Jr. Live at Cobo Hall in Detroit, or early Willie Nelson, to Erik Satie the range is wide.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@aliasalias

Never get rid of your collection, please!

Or if you do, please call me first (if nobody in your family wants it).

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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

@Mark from Queens were Green Day and Rage Against The Machine.

Which brings me to my favorite music video of all time - Sleep now in the fire.
Argh! Youtube deleted it! This is close though

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The Liberal Moonbat's picture

@detroitmechworks ...for something like a heroic terrorist who EMP-nukes Twitter and Facebook's central servers.

As I alluded to in one of my own essays, it's the 21st-Century Broad Street pump. It's the height of civil disobedience, and given the mountains of information about how toxic it is, an excellent defense could be made in court. Definitely a situation where forgiveness would be easier than permission.

I feel like a selfish coward for not doing it myself. I may not be cut out for that sort of work (and I don't want to be a martyr), but what good is anything else I do with my life as long as that goes undone? I'm completely not cut out for this horrible dystopian future. I'd give almost anything for a time machine. I feel like collateral damage, an ontological "undesirable".

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In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@The Liberal Moonbat

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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

Mark from Queens's picture

that the PTB are flailing away while their house built on sand is shifting around dangerously.

As others here have been saying this was one of the best discussions on MSM (of course it was RT):

The host of Crossfire, Peter Lavelle, put it this way:

What we have now, is that we saw this show of force of dragging Julian Assange out of the Ecuadorian embassy, but it told me something that they don't want me to think.

It shows me that these the national security state is actually quite weak and timid in its ability to communicate its position of why it legitimately has power. Because it show something about the powers that be themselves, to be weaker in weaker, because they're unable to be able to engage in discussion and in debate and maybe argument. But they deny the other
side. They are only right and people must follow, because look what they did to Julian Assange - we can do it to you. That's the message they're sending.

That's power at its weakest point, because it only it relies on coercion not argument.

Sarah Flounders provides the prescription to all of us:

Really, what was exposed are the dark crimes that the US has committed in its wars. 200,000 cables, video footage images. That should be the response of anyone who is challenging right now this this brutal, really, this arrest of Assange.

And that is, let's go back and revive bring forward again what it was that WikiLeaks exposed. What was in those cables? Let's show again those videos where civilians were killed by helicopter gunships; let's show again the torture; let's show again Guantanamo. If they're going to pull Julian Assange out of the embassy, absolutely an outrageous crime, then let's show again all of their crimes.

I think that can be the only response, the only legitimate response is to show that there is no freedom of press now. Major corporate media reported it at the time and then they sort of let it go to sleep. Well, this revived it again and I think we have a responsibility to talk about what WikiLeaks contributed to this, and what Chelsea Manning did in all of those
documents. And she has really suffered for this and is now in prison again. There should really be a campaign for her immediate release. This is after a pardon. It shows how vindictive they are and how they want to use intimidation.

And I think we have to refuse to be intimidated. It is a real role for the media to challenge this again and bring forward once again, remind people what Julian Assange's contribution.

It is flabbergasting to observe how the big Hate Inc. (as Taibbi calls it) Machine has clouded and confused the minds of so many (including many friends who should know better) with their rank and vile fear-mongering, obfuscation and cowardice to go after the real culprits making our lives miserable.

So many thoughtful and progressive-minded people I know have jettisoned their own reason and rationale in the torrent of propaganda flowing at them all day on social media. THAT is the linchpin right there: how one gets informed about the world in which one lives in. Those social media channels are deeply manipulated and poisoned, designed for echo chamber agreement based upon partisan "reporting."

And like Taibbi says in his forthcoming, serialized book, the media has put all of its effort into nakedly ratcheting up the partisan accusations and then preying upon its fears to completely destroy any semblance of rational discourse.

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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

Anja Geitz's picture

@Mark from Queens

Show the crimes of that Assange has exposed. Remind everyone, vividly, what this country has done, and what so many have conveniently forgotten.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Centaurea's picture

@Mark from Queens for the link to that Crossfire discussion. I hadn't seen it but will watch now.

And that's a good point by Flounders. If they (TPTB) want to open old cans of worms, by all means let's use the opportunity. I'm having to get used to the references to "Bradley" Manning, though.

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"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi

"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone

if we don't deal with what gave us Trump -- the neocon/neoliberal corporatist coup over the past 40 years -- we will keep getting people like Trump.

That's exactly why we need to avoid "centrists" and "bipartisans" at all levels. The best we can hope for is that they'll roll back the most obvious outrages but by and large they will maintain the status quo. That will set us up for the next GOP or maybe even Dem authoritarian. Eventually we'll end up with a competent one and it'll be game over.

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@MinuteMan Republicans, I agree. The two party system is a three card monte game. I want them both blown up, burned to the ground. I want Clinton, Trump, Bush, Cheney, Obama, Pelosi, et al RICO'd and hanged at sun up. Until we can purge the system and reform it, we're ants in a billionaire owned ant farm.

Investing in anyone in either party is a complete waste of money and time.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

snoopydawg's picture

@MinuteMan

when we gave Pelosi the gavel because she said they would roll back the Bush abuses.

The best we can hope for is that they'll roll back the most obvious outrages

I thought Obama would stop the wars and roll back the Bush abuses on spying on us and also let the Bush tax cuts expire. He did neither. In fact he took the war of terror and put it on steroids and then he let our economy fend for itself, wanted to put SS on the table and froze federal wages during the recession recovery.

Democrats will not roll back the Trump tax cuts because it's their donors who wanted them. Will they put regulations back on corporations? I'm not sure because they aren't even speaking out about how bad it's getting now. I've been burned too many times to believe that anyone is going to do something to make my life better. This way if they don't I won't be disappointed. If they do I can be surprised.

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

They're on a new tear on Twitter over Trump's latest tweet and smear on Ilhan. Bernie, Warren, Pelosi, AOC, Tlaib all outraged and condemning Trump for inciting violence and putting a target on her back. While the tweet is outrageous and could incite some crazy right winger to shoot her, right now it is just another smear and opportunity to distract Americans from the political persecution of Assange, our free press, and our Constitution.

The silence from the so called miracle progressives reforming the Democratic Party from the inside exposes their scam and hypocrisy. They will scream about Islamaphobia and justice because it is Pelosi approved. Assange, however, is verboten for exposing the ugly underbelly of our government and so crickets.

The election is 18 months away, and I already hate all of them. Tulsi and Gravel are voices in the wilderness and neither of them have a snowball's chance in hell of changing a damn thing let alone winning. My guess is I vote Green again in 2020 just like I did in 2016.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

@dkmich had absolutely nothing in it that would incite violence.

Oh, except for the people who want to be violent and blame Trump for their violence.

"If they had the opportunity, they'd run him down like a dog, parade him through the streets while yelling obscenities and throwing rancid garbage and sewage at him, and then execute him publicly, and afterward display his head on a fencepost for all to see as a warning."

Not only would the dems run Assange down, they would run down anyone who doesn't agree with them. Actually, they are already engaging in repeated assaults and violence against Trump supporters.

The way they try to whip up hatred is shocking.

As usual, it's Fox news commenters to the rescue - Tucker Carlson just opined on his show that JA is guilty of nothing. He says that Manning was the one guilty of leaking, JA just reported the information. I don't know if this is true; I don't recall the details. At least someone in the news world is trying to defend press freedom.

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dfarrah

@dfarrah

I thought I made it plain that Trump's tweet was outrageous and dangerous. My point was that Bernie, Warren, Pelosi, AOC, Tlaib and others should be able to condemn two things at the same time. You know, walk and talk.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Centaurea's picture

@dfarrah

He says that Manning was the one guilty of leaking, JA just reported the information

Yes. That's how journalism works. Someone inside the system (Chelsea Manning or Daniel Ellsberg, for instance) takes documents and gives ("leaks") the docs to a member of the press, who publishes them.

It is a crime for a person to steal (by hack or otherwise) documents. Govrenment employees with security clearances have additional liability. Manning went to prison for it, and Ellsberg almost did.

It is NOT a crime for anyone else to possess, publish, or read those documents. That's what a free press is about, as per the 1st Amendment and the Supreme Court in New York Times Co. v. United States, 403 U.S. 713 (1971) involving the Pentagon Papers.

There has never been any suggestion that Assange or Wikileaks goes out and steals the documents it publishes. They publish documents that other people have stolen or otherwise acquired. Under the 1st Amendment, affirmed by the Supreme Court, Assange and wikileaks have that right. And (contrary to what talking head Chris Cuomo told us in 2016) it is not a crime for you and me to read what Wikileaks publishes.

What is happening now is that the US government wants to shut a journalist up, but they can't do it directly because of the 1st Amendment and the Supreme Court.

So they're trying to do it indirectly, by cobbling together a "conspiracy to hack" charge against Assange.

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"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi

"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone

The Assange Arrest is a Warning From History
by JOHN PILGER

The glimpse of Julian Assange being dragged from the Ecuadorean embassy in London is an emblem of the times. Might against right. Muscle against the law. Indecency against courage. Six policemen manhandled a sick journalist, his eyes wincing against his first natural light in almost seven years.

That this outrage happened in the heart of London, in the land of Magna Carta, ought to shame and anger all who fear for “democratic” societies. Assange is a political refugee protected by international law, the recipient of asylum under a strict covenant to which Britain is a signatory. The United Nations made this clear in the legal ruling of its Working Party on Arbitrary Detention.

But to hell with that. Let the thugs go in. Directed by the quasi fascists in Trump’s Washington, in league with Ecuador’s Lenin Moreno, a Latin American Judas and liar seeking to disguise his rancid regime, the British elite abandoned its last imperial myth: that of fairness and justice.

Imagine Tony Blair dragged from his multi-million pound Georgian home in Connaught Square, London, in handcuffs, for onward dispatch to the dock in The Hague. By the standard of Nuremberg, Blair’s “paramount crime” is the deaths of a million Iraqis. Assange’s crime is journalism: holding the rapacious to account, exposing their lies and empowering people all over the world with truth.
- snip

Assange’s principal media tormentor, the Guardian, a collaborator with the secret state, displayed its nervousness this week with an editorial that scaled new weasel heights. The Guardian has exploited the work of Assange and WikiLeaks in what its previous editor called “the greatest scoop of the last 30 years”. The paper creamed off WikiLeaks’ revelations and claimed the accolades and riches that came with them.

Real journalism is the enemy of these disgraces. A decade ago, the Ministry of Defence in London produced a secret document which described the “principal threats” to public order as threefold: terrorists, Russian spies and investigative journalists. The latter was designated the major threat.

I read Sweden is considering re-instituting the rape charges.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

TheOtherMaven's picture

@dkmich

So, so convenient to drag that rancid old shit back into the spotlight to add to all the other bullcrap.

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

@TheOtherMaven

https://shadowproof.com/2010/12/04/assanges-chief-accuser-has-her-own-hi...

she created the scene- it smells to high heaven,imo.

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@dkmich
it will delay Assange's eventual extradition to the US, which could only be to his benefit.

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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.

snoopydawg's picture

@dkmich

That this outrage happened in the heart of London, in the land of Magna Carta, ought to shame and anger all who fear for “democratic” societies. Assange is a political refugee protected by international law, the recipient of asylum under a strict covenant to which Britain is a signatory. The United Nations made this clear in the legal ruling of its Working Party on Arbitrary Detention.

This shows how far the UK has fallen from its roots in order to do the bidding of the US. That they participated in destroying the protection that diplomatic immunity affords will be a huge black mark on whatever history is allowed to be published. We are truly living in Orwellian times.

Sweden is bring back the sexual assault charges against Julian so that people will have a reason to hate him. I keep telling people that Sweden initially dropped the charges because there was no case there, but the Obama admin pressured them to bring them up again in order to extradite him to the US.

And from the RT crosstalk video that people have posted here Julian was publicly dragged out of the embassy during the day so that other could see what happens when you cross the mighty USofA. But what people don't realize is that even thought Julian has been unable to have internet access for a year, Wikileaks has still been posting the world's secrets. Silencing Julian will not silence the truth.

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snoopydawg's picture

@snoopydawg

had a trial to determine that as on the cusp wrote in another essay. The presumption of innocence is one of the strongest laws we have had on the books for centuries, but people are throwing that out the window now too just because they believe the lies about him and because they refuse to see that their country is the most dangerous, psychotic one on the planet.

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Centaurea's picture

@snoopydawg

But what people don't realize is that even thought Julian has been unable to have internet access for a year, Wikileaks has still been posting the world's secrets. Silencing Julian will not silence the truth.

The good news for We the People is that, when you get right down to it, the sociopaths who think they're running things are basically inept. The more corrupt and weak they get, the more inept.

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"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi

"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone

Anja Geitz's picture

@dkmich

The feelings of many, I'm sure, in the last 24 hours. This tells the tale of the immoral times we are living in and that, God willing, historians will write about.

The glimpse of Julian Assange being dragged from the Ecuadorean embassy in London is an emblem of the times. Might against right. Muscle against the law. Indecency against courage

.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

snoopydawg's picture

@dkmich

Imagine Tony Blair dragged from his multi-million pound Georgian home in Connaught Square, London, in handcuffs, for onward dispatch to the dock in The Hague.

As well as every other war criminal that has escaped from justice. I'm listening to V for Vendetta for the 5th time and just imagine what it'd be like if we did something like that before our country gets to the point Britain is in the book. I see so many signs showing that is where this country is headed.
There is a movie for those who don't like reading...

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Strife Delivery's picture

@snoopydawg

I'm listening to V for Vendetta for the 5th time and just imagine what it'd be like if we did something like that before our country gets to the point Britain is in the book.

I'm reading through V for Vendetta for the first time myself. I saw the movie when I was young, but I started getting into his work after films of his came out (Watchmen and V for Vendetta).

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snoopydawg's picture

@Strife Delivery

I love the message in this book about how and why people get complacent with their government and when they allow them to get too much power how they always abuse it. I'm going to watch the video tomorrow.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@dkmich

but I'm not well-informed on this subject; I pay little attention to the "rape charges" because it's the state, not the women, deciding whether or not to "revive" them, which to my mind, confirms that it's a smear.

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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

Strife Delivery's picture

@dkmich

I read Sweden is considering re-instituting the rape charges.

I don't know if we have any Swedish lawyers here or people familiar with Swedish law, but what are the statue of limitations on something like that there? I'm assuming that they have statue of limitations so I'm curious to see how that would play out.

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I'm going to ramble for a moment, so first I'll say this post was great.

The simplest way that this all makes sense for me is to see politics approached like sports. I think it was Steve Almond in his Against Football book who introduced the idea to me: sports in America counts for a lot, and the feverish fandom, us-against-them, winner-takes-all mindset permeates how people feel about every other aspect of their lives. "If you're not with us, you're against us." The two party system lends itself nicely to that dynamic; when a Congress person votes for a bill from the other party, I see far more howling about party betrayal than any substantive debate on the bill itself.

So I come back to that McResistance. Here in Canada, we have a hockey team called the Toronto Maple Leafs. They are objectively not very good these days, not in the last decade plus. However, the fans have created a myth of great and fabulousness about this team that does not reflect reality. Invariably, every time this team loses, it's because of a referee allegedly not paying attention or that a superstar player had an alleged cramp or that they weren't on home ice, etc. (This is true of the Toronto Blue Jays fans too, and to a lesser extent, the Toronto Raptors. I've been told that this is because Canadians must congregate around the only team we have in the league. Fine, but we have more than one hockey team, sometimes more than one per province! "But it's a Canadian team!!1!" The NHL's American-based teams are mostly over 50% Canadian players, so pick the one with the most Canadians on the team. "You don't understand!")

The McResistance is like this to me - can't admit that they lost and that their precious team doesn't have what it takes. There is no argument to sway that loyalty and no argument to knock that superstar off that pedestal. Now for some lore: a lot of the fighting among players on the ice was staged and nothing more than a performance. (There were real fights, yes, and the rules have changed over time to discourage fighting. But stay with me!) It was for the fans, to whip them up into a frenzy. Most of these players circulate among teams every few years; they play golf together, and maybe came from nearby towns in Saskatchewan. The rivalries are in fans' heads. So is that McResistance. The McResistance isn't for Nancy Pelosi's conscience, it's a business opportunity for her. And think too what Hillary Clinton has been doing with her time. Is she on the ground in Flint? Is she at Standing Rock? Is she organizing marches for military members who are trans? Where are her petitions, for literally anything? Where the hell is her #Resistance?

Every now and then, a hockey coach gets fired. The team has been doing terribly, they shit the bed in the playoffs (hi Blue Jays! Hi Raptors!) and it's time to get rid of the guy. What happens to that coach aren't consequences. He doesn't end up excommunicated from sports! He doesn't have to scramble for a job stocking shelves at the grocery store or driving a cab. He starts coaching another team - in the league or at an American university. But it's the performance of making a sacrifice that is satisfying, and that's a win.

So the left needs a win, one that can be folded into Russiapocalypse, preferrably. What happens when Julian Assange, someone actually "resisting" and embodying what it means, gets literally traded for some sweet cash? If the Russia angle works, that's enough, and whether it's true or not doesn't matter - give the fandom what it wants. The disgusting cheering for Assange's capture is the culmination of a disorganized and scattered witchhunt to blame someone for Hillary Clinton's mediocrity, for the totally-foreseeable Donald Trump presidency, and for the Timid Forest Creatures (Democrats) in Congress who are so helpless but can't seem to stop fucking us over. Throw everything and anything and see what sticks. The Mueller report was supposed to be THE WIN. It made as much impact as a mouse fart on the Fourth of July. Aw shit! What happens now? New move - find a new scapegoat. Someone poor, preferably a little strange, someone who can be mocked. And voila!

As some comments have mentioned, I would love to see Tony Blair, Duyba, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and a long list of their fellow criminals grabbed by the ankles and dragged out of ther mansions to the nearest holding cell. Tragically, Julian Assange won't be playing golf or luxuriating over cocktails; more likely he'll be shown the latest in enhanced interrogation techniques, followed by swimming lessons with a cement kickboard.

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Cassiodorus's picture

@Le Frog you say:

the simplest way that this all makes sense for me is to see politics approached like sports.

Certainly you've heard this song, especially the voice-over by Marv Albert after 5:20 with a sports coverage of a war:

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

@Le Frog
(which nails some of the sports/politics/tribalism phenomenon pretty sharply) is that the Leafs are very good this year. there's a possibility of an "All Canadian Final" -- Calgary vs Toronto -- that will bring to the forefront that "they're a Canadian team!" meme you mentioned.

On the other hand (note that these videos span 5 years of Leafs' futility and their fans' response thereto):
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dry6bqzZbFc]
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg_TZa_ASnQ]
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N86N4pfEx0Q]
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CN-yyGZcEYU]
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0qLaO7Ib2U]
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtZdVQj1nlE]

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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.

@UntimelyRippd @UntimelyRippd

The videos are perfect!

Now, about those Leafs... my prediction is that they take out the Bruins, give the Leafs Nation a collective spring in its step, then come back with full force and implode in the next series and lose 4-0 or 5-1. Also possible that they force a game 7 and crash and burn in spectacular Leafs fashion. (They seem to have a hex on them put on by the most powerful witch the Habs, Sens, Devils and Sabres could afford after pooling their money. They choke at exactly the moment they cannot afford to.)

ETA: there are conspiracies out there about games being rigged to make money when the most profitable markets are in the playoffs. Toronto fans show up and buy tickets. I don't know how true this is, maybe not at all, maybe totally, but... the fans will show up whether the Leafs are tanking or pre-tanking Smile

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snoopydawg's picture

@Le Frog

Look at how many basketball finals go to 7 games every year now. Or on days with back to back games the team that blew the other one out just goes cold the next day. There is lots of money to be made if the tournaments go the distance. This is why I quit watching them. Or watching pro games. College is still fun to watch especially women's.

Baseball was destroyed by the doping which everyone knew about because people got pissed when the players striked in 94 and that was a way to get people back to the games. PWee baseball looks pure still though.

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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

I meant specifically about hockey; no fixing scandals come to mind, but that doesn't mean the league isn't rigged or that they aren't out there.

I enjoy watching a good game; I don't support specific teams or go out of my way to watch a specific match-up. I watch whatever game is on Hockey Night in Canada, if I'm so inclined, and I watch a playoff game here and there, no matter what team is playing. My feelings about sports are that they are entertainment; basically show business.

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Centaurea's picture

@Le Frog

Thanks for the kind words about my post. I've noticed the American people's tendency to look at politics (and life itself?) as a team sport, but you've fleshed out exactly what that means. They're living in a fantasy world full of delusions and nightmares, and have become emotionally invested in the illusions.

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"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi

"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone

There are some early signs emerging. We have what is being called the Havana Syndrome. US and Canadian embassy staff in Havana experience.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havana_syndrome

The health problems typically had a sudden onset: the victim would suddenly begin hearing strange grating noises that they perceived as coming from a specific direction. Some of them experienced it as a pressure or a vibration; or as a sensation comparable to driving a car with the window partly rolled down. The duration of these attacks ranged from 20 seconds to 30 minutes, and always happened while the diplomats were either at home or in hotel rooms. Other people nearby, family members and guests in neighboring rooms, did not report hearing anything

Just a little digging revealed a Wikipedia page on instances of mass hysteria.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mass_hysteria_cases

Me, I am going to watch out for an outbreak of Resisters start meowing...started by Maddow who was visibily shaken by Mueller...

"According to an 1844 book citing an unnamed medical textbook, a nun in a French convent during an unspecified time in the Middle Ages inexplicably began to meow like a cat, shortly leading to the other nuns in the convent also meowing. Eventually all the nuns would meow together for a certain period every day, leaving the surrounding community astonished. This did not stop until the police threatened to whip the nuns.[7"

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Wink's picture

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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.