Open Thread - 08-23-24 - The Rub
What result would you expect from the nexus of big money and the mainstream media in our electoral process? Big money invests in protecting big money and the media invests in making big money for the media. Big money seems to be the common denominator on this grease slickened mobius strip of an election process, wouldn't you say?
Would this current circus of an election not be the natural evolutionary point of that amalgamation of greed, deceit and avarice?
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Where does this leave John & Jane Q. Public who are inundated with slick catchphrases and red meat team spirit in an endless loop of purposeful hype and pretentious idol worship? The talking heads' promised filled pablum permeates the airwaves aimed directly at the mind of the voter. Issues are secondary to party fealty. All that's wanted is your consent given by your vote, then they're through with you.
The trick is to allow just enough hope to instill a feeling that the voter actually have a say-so as to which so called leaders they must genuflect to. No third party will be allowed any traction, and limited debate between only the two ordained parties that will keep the oppositional electorate occupied in an endless loop of argumentation while corporate interests win either way.
Is it any wonder then, that presidential elections have essentially become cults of personality? Yeah, I know, they've always been cults of personality, but this is a whole new level of deification.
Just take a look at the two major candidates, I mean, come on, folks, are they the best that money can buy?
Yeah, probably, from a corporate standpoint. Just ask Mittens.
How does government run under the auspices of corporate rule? Well, something like this:
Delbert McClinton - The Rub (3:15)
Comments
Good morning Free Rangers...
Question: What did the politician say to the lobbyist?
Answer:
"How high?"
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
Hey, good morning
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The best government money can buy. Does any other country in the world
spend this much on elections? Exceptional indeed. Transforming the concept
of poll tax to a politician tax. Somehow it takes millions to get elected.
Thanks for the OT!
Good morning Q...
it's a conveyor belt of money and personalities that spits out interchangeable policies that benefit the monied class at the expense of the choice-challenged electorate.
That's democracy, baby!
elected by Alice
Hi Capt.
I admit to really liking the early Alice Cooper stuff a lot. First three albums in particular. And I always liked "Elected' alot. Except the intro. Hate it. It never sat right with me that the intro quotes verbatim the main riff and intro of Dolly Dagger of Jimi Hendrix. I don't think Jimi would have liked it.
my two centavos on those first bars of copycat shit without credit.
Still like the song, once I get past the first 4 bars.
take care man!
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein
One never knows, the credit might be in the liner notes
of the first pressing of the first record containing the song. That's where I finally found Santana's credit to Babatunde Olatunji for jin go lo ba
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Good morning...
My line to my friends, especially those with TDS, is, "look the president is just a figure head controlled by the deep state. Why get so emotionally involved in faux election for a red or blue puppet?" Most agree.
I never been less invested in an election in my life. Although I must admit to being entertained.
Have a great day. We're planting fall seeds today. Better get to it!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
It really does...
attest to the power of the media when two such obviously flawed humans can be elevated to the stratum of deity. And that is exactly how many true believers view their choice of saviors.
Some can be reasoned with but many are too far gone. I know, I've tried to reach them, but they don't want to be reached, including old friends that used to know better. Perhaps it's stockholm syndrome writ large, and a barrage of the largest psychological operation in history.
Get those seeds in the ground, my friend.
OK, we need to resurrect somd candidates here;
I wanna see Debs v Stassen v Paulson, and nothing else. None of these current frauds.
be well and have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Good morning everyone!
We are in actual military training for a nuclear war with China. Our President is not competent to be charged with crimes, but he is in charge of nukes.
The next person to be in charge will either be a resident of Ryker Prison, or a person constantly drunk on vintage wine.
The cabal of billionaires in charge do not see the problem, or maybe in their evil eyes, this is not a problem, but the goal.
I will just take it one day at a time, not give politics that much thought. It just makes me angry, anyway!
Take good care, everyone!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
You said it well
and Lookout, and everyone. Our kids will be saying it, if they're allowed to. I have no answers, but if Harvard University was nuked, it would be a start.
It would seem that the main consequence --
-- would be that, knowing that politics is all about money, an intelligent public might assume that it would get paid for having political opinions. After all, if only a few billionaires and their shell-game of corporations are going to benefit from policy, why should I work for such people for free by voting, much less by campaigning, for their hand-picked candidates? (Hint: we might already work for these people already, and for pittance wages. See, e.g., what Kshama Sawant had to do to get Amazon to pay its Seattle workers a decent wage.) But it appears that nobody is in fact asking that question.
As for your question:
Our candidates must necessarily be garbage, because their real rulers require them to be weak and compliant so that they can be switched out if deemed necessary. This is why Presidential campaigns must be 90% window-dressing. Importantly for this election, the main action appears to have already happened, and takes on the character of a "done deed," a "fait accompli" for those who like French. Therefore, the voters' "choice" appears to be for whomever is elected to deal with the consequences of four years of Biden, many of which will be quite traumatic. But nobody is willing to discuss that topic, either.
“One of the things I love about the American people is that we can hold many thoughts at once” - Kamala Harris
You mean like Tammany Hall?
nize avatar
be well and like a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Bingo…
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Jeff Childers:
I wonder how much the shitshow cost while thousands of people in Chicago were living on the streets? Jimmy should’ve asked where did the city move the homeless tp.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
paid political announcement(s)
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
The supposed leader of the free world may change but in
reality we now have genocide Joe in a pant suit.
The rest of the tweet:
An excellent depiction of who actually controls congress.
Perpetual motion!
Read somewhere that Kim Dotcom
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is being extradited from NZ to US to face charges of?
telling the truth or pissing-off the ptb or something.
sheesh
In his own words.
Copyright infringement, I think. n/t
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Oh, an extraditable offence?
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think the law fare folks just want to ice him for awhile
free speech is a punishable crime now
tax evasion? not so much
who is he hurting by expressing his views?
copywriters apparently
A while back the US decided that it was a really BFD
and, iirc, added it to the feebs' jurisdiction and started aggressively pursuing such cases. Royalties can be very big bucks, it seems.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
The big money I see is from various industries
particularly tech and banking. I don't see that much flowing from media to candidates.
Both parties are trying to thread the needle of being against the wealthy, but the wealthy is who they are, who their friends are, and who pays for their campaigns. The "New Right" especially earns the ire of oligarchs. GOP is supposed to be in the tank for gazillionaires and there's Vance and Hawley agreeing with Warren.
Biden kept Trump's tariffs, and Trump suggested he'd put 10% on every import. Government interfering with "the invisible and infalible hand of the markets" raises the blood pressure of neolibs of both parties.