a brief note on the Vivek Ramaswamy Town Hall
This Town Hall was an event Sabrina Salvati brought to my attention. Vivek Ramaswamy is important because:
1) Joe Biden isn't going to win. Here's some more evidence for the pile:
And I don't see any big media preparation for any coming bait-and-switch in which the proverbial Men in the Smoke-Filled Room tell us their candidate is now Gavin Newsom.
2) Donald Trump might be prosecuted for whatever the shadow government can get a grand jury to convict upon. Wouldn't you just love to be in on the jury selection proceedings for that one?
3) Ron DeSantis isn't going to win.
4) Cornel West needs a revolution to win - I suppose it could happen.
So Vivek Ramaswamy, currently a rising star in the Republican nomination race, stands a chance of becoming President. At any rate, in this clip, Ramaswamy is answering a "question" by some woman spouting neocon talking points about China. "How are you going to stop Evil China?" or something like that. So Ramaswamy can say anything he wants and it will make no difference, since there will be no war over Taiwan regardless of what he says at a Town Hall.
What caught my attention was something Ramaswamy said in the middle of this clip. The key sentence is at 7:44:
"I will end the Ukraine War on terms that will pull Russia out of its alliance with China."
Ramaswamy is, of course, completely delusional to think that, once Team Biden and its Ukraine proxies are ready to conclude the war they're currently prolonging, there will be the least possibility that the US will be able to dictate terms -- any terms at all -- to Russia.
But, still, he did say he was going to end the war, and he didn't say he was going to overthrow Putin. I do recognize that that's an abysmally low standard. The guy who erected that standard (and who doesn't measure up to it) is our President at this time.
Comments
One thing they'll all have to face
is that America isn't what it was.
"there's something so especially sadistic about waving the flag of a country that you're actively destroying" -- Aaron Mate
Wow. This guy
is really tough. Not only dictate terms to Russia re Ukr, but dictate terms to Russia that will cause a break in the Ru-Ch alliance. A two-fer. This is very impressive tough talk!
I hear he also wants to get tough on voting Americans age 18-24: he proposes a constitutional amendment to raise the voting age to 25. Those 18-24 can't vote unless they sign up for the military, do public service of a first responder type, or pass a civics test that immigrants must take to become citizens. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/vivek-ramaswamy-wants-civics-tests-young-vo...
Why are Republicans always so interested in restricting the right to vote?
As I said --
Isn't going to happen. It also appears, as you pointed out, that a lot of Ramaswamy's agenda isn't going to happen.
The real king of "isn't going to happen," however, is Joe Biden, around which all sorts of fantasies swirl, beginning with the Bernie Sanders "move to the left" charade during the run-up to the 2020 November election and ending, of course, with the forthcoming American self-searching about why the US is so weak and Russia is so strong.
"there's something so especially sadistic about waving the flag of a country that you're actively destroying" -- Aaron Mate
I wish Sabs
had done a little more research into Vivek (took me 5 minutes), as she appeared unaware of his idea for restricting voting for ages 18-24 after showing the clip where Vivek touts his ability to get young people to rally to his campaign. Yeah, they'll be vivacious for Vivek once they hear about his plan to make it more difficult for them to vote.
She asks, Why is this guy running if he thinks Trump was an "excellent" president? First, to get his name and face out there for future similar endeavors. Tons of free publicity, and he is a talented interviewee, especially when he can be confident of no obvious, annoying follow-up questions from the half-asleep interviewer, as with his ridiculous response on how to dictate terms to Ru. Second, to be in the running for a possible VP pick for Donald or whoever else they nominate. Donald probably is very flattered that Vivek thinks he was an excellent president. Third, because the whole nomination process can sometimes produce the unexpected, so it's a chance worth taking if you have the time and money, which he seems to have.
Here's my try at it
I have no idea how important Ramaswamy's proposed Constitutional amendment will be. I don't see a Constitutional amendment changing the voting age being passed any time soon. The Twenty-Sixth Amendment changed the voting age back in 1971, but that was before the red/ blue division in American politics became cemented in stone.
The VP thing sounds about right, though remember that the deep state is out to get Trump and so will keep filing charges against him until it gets a conviction. I would expect Ramaswamy to make a more credible "lesser evil" than Trump, since he doesn't appear married to Fascist rhetoric in the same way Trump is.
"there's something so especially sadistic about waving the flag of a country that you're actively destroying" -- Aaron Mate
.
.
"there's something so especially sadistic about waving the flag of a country that you're actively destroying" -- Aaron Mate
Bobby Kennedy jr not a factor??
Maybe I blinked when he was dismissed for a reason?
What should be expected is some deck chair reshuffling.
Kamala might have a plane crash or something.
One or two individuals will flow through
the VP office on their way to the nomination.
Remember Nelson Rocky and Jerry Ford.
that seat can get hot.
interesting link
https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/intelligence/2016-02-29/gerald-f...
RFK Jr is already
far more of a factor on substantive issues discussion and exposing the corrupt party primary process than West has been, and that's with the hostile MSM completely shutting out Kennedy while West gets the occasional invite.
It's still a very long shot for Kennedy to get the DP nom, but along the way, if current trends hold, he can make the party and Biden pay a heavy political backlash price for so aggressively and blatantly rigging the primary system against him. And TBD are the investigations into Hunter and Joe's business dealings in Ukraine. If these heat up more, produce solid irrefutable incriminating evidence, party leaders may have to pay a visit to the Oval Office to have a little chat w Joe. It's possible.
@wokkamile I believe he is already
I believe he is already having influence. Notice that after Kennedy said in more than one interview that he would pardon Assange, then his cousin the ambassador to Australia said there could be a plea deal for Assange which could return him to Australia.
Mary Bennett
I wouldn't be surprised --
-- if the DNC canceled all of the primaries just to keep RFK Jr. out of the White House.
"there's something so especially sadistic about waving the flag of a country that you're actively destroying" -- Aaron Mate
Not with his heinous views on Israel
Kennedy would just be another puppet for Israel if he became president and he would just be another president that swears fealty to them. He believes that Israel only attacks military targets and overlooks how many people they have killed with just their bombs alone. I doubt that Kennedy would have any opposition to Israel stealing Palestinian land, demolishing homes so they can build their own homes and apartments there. In my opinion anyone voting for him is giving their permission for Israel to continue its murderous ways. I will not give mine.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
@snoopydawg a complicated history,
a complicated history, but I think assuming Israel is the puppet master requires gullibility.
that's our puppet no matter how we try to hide behind it. dont forget, RFK is antisemetic. or was it antivaxxer? wait, racist? yeah. and a republican shill conspiracy theorist. Nothing but good info out there on this upstart. For all the loaded garbage being spewed, its easy for me to assume this might be the right candidate. perhaps others prefer the ones that meet approval from war profiteers.
Yep you got me
I’m one of the world’s biggest war supporters. Sheesh.
I got my opinion from Kennedy’s word on Israel and not just from one time but many. Not from someone smearing him.
If Kennedy actually stopped American wars, but still let Israel continue its genocide of Palestinians there would still be extreme injustice in the world. Do people really not care about this?
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
perhaps you misunderstand me
which is fine.
please point me at the candidates running to win the office who speak up for the Palestinians.
Or those pols who talk talk but walk away everytime.
Im sure the reasons for my limited optimism and push back against PR campaigns supported by big Pharm
dont matter at all.
The beatings will continue.
I understood where Kennedy stood on vaccines
long before the current epidemic started and I also looked into what he said about vaccines can be made to target certain ethnicities. He’s not anti vax, but he wants to make sure that they are safe to be given. And he’s right that the gain of function viruses can be made to target or not target certain ethnicities. We saw that both China and Iran got a more severe virus than other countries.
You’re right that very few people are talking about Palestinians. But he went further than not talking about them. He believes that Israel only targets military targets there and overlooks the crimes against humanity that they have been committing. The Jenin assault was especially brutal. Bulldozers through a refugee camp? There can be no excuse for that. Many people posted Kennedy’s videos on his Israeli views here and maybe you missed them. Most were posted in the evening blues if you want to look and see what he said. Last 2 weeks iirc.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
@snoopydawg as I recall he
as I recall he was having a discussion with those parties right after being outed as a 14/88'er and racist ethnoweapons advocate. All full throated hogwash from the usual suspects who expect the victims of their tricks to be too lazy and stupid to listen to the words said instead of the things being said about someone who did not say that. I wish you luck putting someone more suited to your concerns in power. I know you should be able to take comfort from the world changing developments between Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia. Israel in no longer in the position it wanted to be in, and we are losing stature as a result. took a long time to get to this point. it is a different world.
My guess is that Biden will have a "medical emergency."
Afterwards, a statement will be put out that he is no longer running for president. At the rate that his dementia is advancing, he may not be able to even speak by the next election, as he can barely do so now.
I keep thinking of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment
Section 3:
Section 4:
What the law says:
I am waiting for this stuff to be invoked.
"there's something so especially sadistic about waving the flag of a country that you're actively destroying" -- Aaron Mate
It seems that this post was unclear
the Constitution has a procedure for the removal of incompetent Presidents -- it's called the Twenty-Fifth Amendment. Our President is already incompetent; our Vice-President is also incompetent to be sure, but not for reasons a doctor would recognize, and so we must deem her competent and focus upon the President, and ask ourselves when, oh when, is someone going to stand up and invoke the Twenty-Fifth Amendment.
As for Ramaswamy, he's a climate-change denier, but nearly everyone in DC is a climate-change denier, though mostly their denial is a byproduct of pretending that the individual conservation of "carbon emissions" is going to mitigate climate change without any reference to the systems which produce climate change. It's insane that I have to say this.
We really do need Cornel West's revolution.
"there's something so especially sadistic about waving the flag of a country that you're actively destroying" -- Aaron Mate
No chance at all
for the 25th A to be invoked. Biden's creeping senility has already been normalized, starting with the 2020 election, so unless he begins really embarrassing himself publicly, drooling, sticking straw in his hair, talking about space aliens taking over, short of that the party is not going to make a constitutional move against him, and they certainly don't want a process that leads to loser Kamala as P and nominee of the party.
As previously discussed, there could be scenarios where politically Biden becomes too heavy a burden for the party leading into fall 2024, in which case it would be handled by party leaders quietly in an Oval chat, instructing Joe that he needs to announce he is withdrawing from his reelection bid.
Re climate change denial, I see it slightly differently. It's far more the Rs who are publicly in denial; far fewer Ds (Manchin, a couple others) are in this ignorant camp. Most Ds think the problem can be solved with nice international agreements on carbon reduction by 2035, or carbon taxes or swaps. It's all utterly ineffective, rearranging the deck chairs, not even remotely close to the bold action that is needed now.
Only one candidate, RFK Jr, has a deep understanding of the climate crisis and would not need major tutoring on the issue in the WH. The others, including CW, don't have much of a track record on environmental action like K2 and don't go much deeper than a few banal lines of rehearsed rhetoric.
This unflattering item
re Cornel West may not have been posted here yet: CW owes over $500k in fed taxes plus another nearly $50k in unpaid child support from a judgment from 20 yrs ago. https://www.thedailybeast.com/cornel-west-owes-more-than-half-a-million-...
He hasn't denied it, fully, only saying "when you look close enough, we're all human underneath", which is true. But it's not a good look, and does tend to play into negative stereotypes of black men being loose in their behavior and lax in taking responsibility.
Briahna and partner discuss CW's personal issues and candidacy:
No one is so pure that some dirt can't be found
It's simply a matter of how long and how deep the digging gets.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
Yes, I noted
above that I generally agree with that, and this isn't about a purity test.
@wokkamile is that the
is that the worst they've got?
We'll see.
The campaign is still young and CW hasn't faced close public scrutiny before. But prior to that item appearing, CW enjoyed near sainthood status by many on the prog left, so this story tends to cast a shadow on that sort of blind hero worship.
This would be less of a story had the amounts and frequency been less. But wow, this guy is a major-league tax cheat. And a deadbeat on paying child support. Sorry, that crosses the line for me.
Hopefully RFK Jr will run as 3d party in the fall so I have someone to vote for. I won't be checking the 3d party box for Cornel.
whats good for the Bidens should be good for Cornell
Without seeing the accounts, I dont know if cheat is accurate. West has faced a lot of disappointments that could be blowback for his speech, and this is textbook takedown.
Unless youre golden.
I dont need to see Hunters accounts to know he (and the big guy Robert L) was out to cheat, and in the position to get away with it in ways few others ever could or should.
Apples and oranges in compliance for me.
Impressive that West was seen as a threat, but maybe only to a narrative.