Open Thread - 11-22-24 - The Battle of Evermore
It's been a little over two weeks since the election. Things are moving at a breakneck pace. We're in the midst of one of the most dangerous periods in this nation's history, both on the geopolitical and national political fronts.
I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that a sitting president would sabotage an incoming president-elect. A president that was too feeble to run for a second term because of his cognitive impairment, yet is competent enough to start world war III by allowing Ukraine to launch long range missiles into Russia. He's gambling with everyone's lives, for what? This has got to be one of the most despicable presidencies in a long line of despicable presidents.
We hear nary a word from congress about stopping him, or whomever is in charge. Then again if congress were to take action and impeach him that would mean that Kamala Harris would become the president. What's that old maxim, something about vice presidents being picked as an insurance policy to dissuade congress from impeaching sitting presidents?
Hmmmm.
Anyway, nice precedent you've established mr. president (I purposely use lower case). Is the new normal laying booby traps for the incoming president now? That ought to be quite fun in the future, if we have one.
I'm seeing a pattern. Trump's most controversial cabinet picks aren't going to be approved. If they aren't picked off by public opinion then they'll be picked off by the senate who won't approve them. I hate to tell the Trump fans but they've been played. All the chest thumping, back slapping, shading the opposition and rose colored futuristics has all been for naught. I'll be surprised if Tulsi Gabbard and RFK, Jr. get approved as well.
It will be the same old same old. Oh, Ukraine may disengage from Russia and come to an end, but then reengage through Iran. I doubt much of Trump's agenda will be realized, just like his first term. There's a good chance it may be even worse. There's so many things that can go sideways in the next four years. We're going to need some luck.
In retrospect I'm glad I didn't vote for either one of them.
Attribution: imgflip
The Divided States of America pauses before the storm, as two vast armies gather on the Great Plains of Disunity for the final battle in which, ultimately, neither side wins.
The generals, sitting horseback on the escarpment above the Plains watch intently as the battle unfolds, being content in their knowledge that the king, that rules BOTH armies has won the battle, a priori, for the minds of the hapless ideological warriors on the battle field below.
There are no winners in this war, but for the royalty.
Led Zeppelin: The Battle of Evermore (5:52)
Comments
Good morning Free Rangers...
I just had to get that off my chest.
Hey now
The image of the mounted generals overlooking
the battlefield is very appropriate. What good is
having a congress which only makes things worse?
Or an executive branch for that matter. Time to clean house.
Chase out the vermin. Reset the mess.
thanks for maintaining a space to unburden what has been
It's the same old story...
down through history. Occasionally a benevolent ruler comes along, for a while, but they are rare. Eventually their rule is over and so is the benevolence.
I think most of the American electorate are delusional if they think that the richest, most powerful nation in history would be any different.
Same in 2016...
Creating Russiagate which many still believe. No telling what the corporations/oligarchs have in mind to sabotage any possible progress which challenges their profits...fueling war, pushing unhealthy food, drugs which don't work, and so on.
It isn't just a war against Trump, it is a war against "we the people". Sadly, TPTB are likely to win, and we'll lose all as the empire falls.
Hope everyone is doing well. Thanks for the OT!
Perhaps we are helpless...
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
There's a theory floating about...
that Trump will use immigration to usher in digital IDs, touting that the only way to stop it is for everyone to be easily identifiable, with paperwork, chips under the skin or whatever. The right will theoretically go along willingly, mostly. After digital IDs are implemented then it's just a hop, skip and a jump to CBDCs.
I don't know if I buy that but we shall see.
Things are well here, hope for the same in the holler.
Great tunage, thanks brother.
Tuned in the Fox flavor of bullum shittum this morning
They show video of explosions in the Ukie night, pictures of the new intermediate range ballistic missiles that Putin has chosen to escalate the war against democracy that he started almost three years ago. A military expert told the Fox audience about the military ramifications of Putin's escalation. While I was watching, nary a word was said about the US authorizing missile attacks inside Russia.
With all the talk about "reckless" military action maybe starting WW III, the really Big One -- I don't worry about it. In the first place, there is absolutely nothing any mere citizen of the Republic can do to keep it from happening if either side "decides to push the button down," in the felicitous phrasing of Donald Fagan -- so it accomplishes nothing to fret over it. But I also have come to this conclusion about the insane decade that we are now about halfway through: There is something going on behind the bullshit that involves a scheme to reorganize civilization. Instead of seeing lunatics pursuing utterly absurd and impossible military triumphs that destroy the economies of nation states, I see dark forces creating some still secret new world order.
It costs nothing to believe or disbelieve either interpretation. So maybe we live or maybe we all burn to a crisp in nuclear hell. I'm too old to care all that much about which way it goes.
I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.
I've got to agree...
with all of your statement.
It does a person no good to dwell on things that are out of their control. So the wife and I go about enjoying the hell out of ourselves in spite of it all.
I love the Moody Blues
I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.
This comment fits in nicely
.
In retrospect I have no regrets about not voting anymore after Obama’s epic screwing us with his cabinet appointments right after he got epically elected and all the screwing he did after that.
And the allying with Nazis happened during his administration knowing full well how Russia would react to that.
I read that the new AG nominee, Pam Bondi was the foreclosure queen of Florida. I’m not impressed with T"s appointments, but I’m willing to give Tulsi a chance.
Heh…Rob stole my line.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
Can we even imagine...
what it must be like living in Ukraine and Gaza right now? Intermittent electricity if even at all, storm troopers roaming the streets looking for draft age civilians to throw them in the meat grinder, people dissappeared never to be heard of again, wondering where their next meal and water will come from, cowering in ruins wondering if the bombs will be dropped on top of them, having their future stolen from them, and, and, well, you get the picture.
As both parties here in the States point fingers and call each other nazis. What a world that we are promoting.
I realized very early on what Obama was all about with his cabinet picks. I'm seeing a repeat of that playing out as Trump promised the right the world, much like the left promised with Obama.
Same as it ever was.
I’m tired of feeling guilty about the situation in Gaza
I wake up to get a drink of water a few times a night and I ALWAYS think about the poor souls there that don’t have that option.
It’s been cold here and when I turn on the heat I think about the poor souls in Ukraine who don’t have that option. Plus I imagine the buildings in Ogden being blown apart like in both countries and wonder what I would do with my anger. And seeing the rest of the world just causally watching everything happening and wondering why the fck they aren’t doing anything about it.
So the UN had another vote on a ceasefire in Gaza and the American A-Hole proudly raised his hand and voted against it and the world moved on.
Since this is turning into a rant I’ll stop here because I have so much more to say, but I think I and others have already said it. But still looking for a way to vent my anger at what has been happening for over a year with no end in sight.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
I keep sharpening the idea
of, you know, a new political party...
“When there's no fight over programme, the election becomes a casting exercise. Trump's win is the unstoppable consequence of this situation.” - Jean-Luc Melanchon
We do need a new party...
but unfortunately, I don't see a possibility of that happening until both of the two current parties implode first. As more and more people wake up, that is a distinct possibility.
As it stands now, there's too much power and wealth for the controllers to relinquish. Once this country is stripped bare, then we may be able to govern ourselves, over the ruins.
I do not think it will require BOTH parties to implode.
One, the Democratic Party, will be enough.
Two historical examples from early America may fortify my point. 1) When the Federalists imploded some time, I think, during the era of James Madison and James Monroe, American politics went through an era the historians once called the Era of Good Feelings. America had a one-party system. The one-party system ended during the tenure of Andrew Jackson with the birth of the Whig Party. The good feelings part of it came to a screeching halt with the Panic of 1837.
Today we are on the verge of having a one-party system, the one party being the Republican Party. Does it look to you like we will be in an Era of Good Feelings any time soon? Do you think Trump will fix it?
2) When the Whig Party collapsed after the disastrous election of 1852, there arose a four-party system in America. The parties were: a) the Republican Party, b) the American ("Know-Nothing") Party, and two Democratic Parties, one for the slave states, one for the free states. It didn't last long, but it lasted long enough to destroy the slaveholding power in America.
Jus' sayin'.
“When there's no fight over programme, the election becomes a casting exercise. Trump's win is the unstoppable consequence of this situation.” - Jean-Luc Melanchon
Hmmm...
I don't have the time to review the history of that time period so I'll rely on my not so reliable memory.
Jackson pretty much caused the Panic of 1837 himself with his radical overhauling of the system, especially the economic system. Trump has been compared to Jackson by those on the right in their hopes of a modern day radical overhauling of the system. I think that's pie in the sky thinking.
Trump too, with his idea of massive tariffs, may very well cause the next great panic. So, no, I don't see Trump "fixing it", since his tariffs will be born upon the back of consumers, which will lead to, in essence, increased inflation, and will further crush the poor and working class. That, in and of itself, could cause the conditions to be ripe for a third party like back in Jackson's day. Will this lead to the emergence of a viable third party? I hope so, but I hold serious reservations because of the stranglehold the monied class has upon the system of American governess.
Yes, I agree that the time and conditions are right for a third party to make serious headway and you make valid points in your argument.
Break Citizens United and a third party may have a chance.
"BOHICA"
I learned a new term today.
I'm sure not. Maybe that's a generational thing?
I'm SURE Stephen Colbert will be even MORE upset about this than he was about "JAN 6"...!
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!
Bohica...
is a term popularized during the Vietnam War. Imagine neutralizing an enclave of VC (Viet Cong) during sundown, just to have them reappear out of Cu Chi tunnels in the middle of the night. That is BOHICA.
Nah, that statement was basically rhetorical.
Heh, he makes hay being a male Karen, so there's that.
Pepe Escobar pulls a dark humor routine
.
Sir, would you like some hazelnut salad?
https://sputnikglobe.com/20241122/pepe-escobar-oreshnik---the-3-km-per-s...
Heh...
I think congenital dementia has affected most of D.C.
It only took 248 years (2024-1776=248) for it to set in.
Good morning Johnny, et. al. I must periodically remind
myself, as I often remind others, that the world is not binary. I would also note that, at macro scales, it is not scalar either. That, in a nutshell means that the US perverted corruption of the vague idea of "Democracy" is doomed to failure, at least as to the putative goal of serving or meeting the needs and or wishes of the people. Our electoral system is overwhelmingly binary. Though there is ony the uniprty, the two wings have some small differences, but, more importantly, the populace thinks that there are large substantive differences. Thus, rejection of the Dems isn't truly ween as merely rejection of the Dems, but also affirmation of the bloviating of the GOP, even though it is pretty largely nothing of the kind.
So, that said, the rain they've been talking about all week is finally here. Set in about an hour ago, just after we went into ye local supermarket and was already causing serious puddles and flows by the time we emerged. The store was madness, but we're almost completely set for next week when it will quite likely be crazier.
be weell 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 --
Plato abides...
I think he was on to something there.
Good you are getting some rain, bad that the store was madness.
MacGregor is in rare form
...in his interview with the judge yesterday.
I think it's about 12 minutes in, they start talking about a statement made by the press officer for USSTRATCOM. MacGregor says the Strategic Command commander has no right to make statements about nuclear policy in a confrontational standoff with Russia. Further, 4 stars who make or authorize such policy statements, should be fired immediately. I guess this is General Anthony Cotton from a quick google search. His press spokesperson is RADM Buchanan (2 stars) I guess should be fired too.
US military prepared for nuclear strikes – spokesman
The thing that surprises me about this in one respect is that in news in the far east, I had followed PACCOM and subsequently INDOPACCOM statements closely since Adm Harris had been in the PACCOM position, and noted that they were making policy statements on war with North Korea or China whenever they felt like it. No one ever reeled them or criticized them for making policy statements. It wasn't just them either, I distinctly remember some Air Force General in command of some Logistics Command about being prepared to conduct war with China by 2027 when they planned to invade Taiwan. The INDO/PACCOM commanders said stuff like we think we can fight and win a war with China, etc., etc. I remember one incident where a China expert asked a critical question after such a presentation, and the INDOPACCOM admiral got and left saying he didn't have time to answer any questions. Harris went on to be an outrageous meddler in domestic South Korean politics as ambassador.
I should have listened to Dr. Gao on Li Bai's poetry today instead of this stuff.
語必忠信 行必正直
Thanks for the video...
I wonder if the commanders actually think for themselves or if they receive daily briefings telling them what to think. Probably the latter.
Thanks soryang.
JtC
...I used to think it was an indoctrination process from my own personal experience. An echo chamber typically redolent with self reinforcing mischaracterizations of what the actual state of affairs is and how we got there. I expect to see generals and admirals highlighting their command's accomplishments, telling their officers and troops we're going win, we can do it, etc. That's what they're always telling each other. They are always talking about the "enemy threats." Frankly, I don't understand what Buchanan was doing with civilians from the blob at some policy seminar on nuclear deterrence strategy this week, retired generals and DOD civilians. A day or two before that his boss, the StratCom commander himself Gen Cotton was doing his schtick with CSIS. It sounded like a sales job, or a pitch for a job there.
Stratcom Commander Discusses Nuclear System Modernization
Buchanan says at the StratCom conference, take advantage of the long breaks to "extend your network." I don't quite get the connection between the strategic mission and the public relations snow job.
語必忠信 行必正直
Just a quick program note
about me. I had a stroke Wednesday, and I’m still inthe crash house. I’m prettymuch okay- just lost a good chunk of the vision in my left eye. They’re pumping IV anticoagulants into me at a rate of knots,abd with a little luck I’ll be right as rain shortly .
This “getting old” thing is really getting old.
Meanwhile, I am forbidden to look at news, so I’ll be taking a lttle break from online activity for a bit. So I’ll see you all on the flip side, here directly. Be safe out there!
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Oh man ufs...
take care of yourself, we need all hands on deck.
sorry to hear your heart is going crazy
.
.
from personal experience, it is not a fun ride to be on
hoping the effects are not permanent and you get better
UFS wishing you
...a speedy recovery!
語必忠信 行必正直
Good recovery and I hope you get better soon
We’ll keep the lights on for you unless it’s better for you to look at what’s happening.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.