A Handmaids Tale
Growing authoritarianism here in American is unfolding before our eyes. Deportations and arrests are increasingly done by unlawful or questionable means, with hearings or court proceeding limited or non-existent.
Recently, I've been binge watching the Hulu series "The Handmaids Tale" to prepare for the new 6th season that began airing on April 8th. I haven't started the new season yet as I'm waiting for a few episodes to air so my Granddaughter, who is also a big fan, and I can hold a watch party and catch up on the first few episodes.
After re-watching the first three seasons the first thing that stands out is how prescient the script is to what is going on right now. The only thing missing is the extreme fundamentalist religious verbiage and the public executions.
The dark and twisted plotlines is frightening and dystopic, but the heroine has both some funny and heroic moments.
Can't help seeing the similarities to 2025 America.
Will continue with season 4 & 5 as I am finding I missed a lot of details and nuances from the first time I watched back in 2019.
I haven't read the Margret Atwood book, but the film version is both disturbing and highly entertaining.
Other than that, suburban garden is planted and growing and the weather is very moderate and ideal for growth.
Thread is open. Anybody else watching this series? If you are watching season 6, please don't reveal the plot.
Comments
Good morning e1. Not watching and didn't read. Household
pollen count is over the top. Running out to DMV to stand in line all day.
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 --
In my decades old life
the DMV was always synonymous Dentist. Both to be dreaded.
Good luck, and take your dumbphone.
Thanks for the post.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Good morning, e1, et al!
I haven't read the book or watched the series, but I have read book reviews.
I got a little curious about it when Amy Comey Barrett was sworn in as a Supreme Court Justice.
Glad your planting is done and that the weather favors a good yield.
We are in Day 3 of a 9-day rainy weather forecast. Good thing we have no outdoor activities planned, and no long drives, either.
I am debating on whether to have a huge pecan tree cut down in my office yard. I would have 3 left, none of which are likely to cause roof damage.
Sigh...it's always something.
I see authoritarianism on the rise here, in the EU, South America...it's popular with world leaders currently. In the US, we aren't as slick with shielding the acts with slogans and purposes for doing it as Europe. MAGA and antisemitism is about all we have. Threats against the judicial system is much more concerning to me than the usual bs.
Few empires go quietly into the night. Will bullets fly? Interesting times, friend.
Thanks for the OT!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Interesting times for sure
Don't know what will happen tomorrow or next week as every day brings a new surprise. Trying to anticipate next month is folly. I think it is designed this way. The OT by Lookout yesterday had some good video clips describing our predicament.
Keep your powder dry, ya just never know.
Thanks for stopping by.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Extraordinary rendition
is now becoming ordinary. Non-brown US citizens will start getting shipped out to "whereever" without any due process, or even much thought, in 3... 2... 1...
After all, there's a war on, you know. And if there isn't enough of a war right now, just wait 5 minutes.
Sorry if that causes any inconvenience.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Alastair Crooke is reporting that in
Hebrew language news sites he monitors indicates much turmoil in Israel, suggesting a collapse or revolution or both is close to happening.
A festering failing wounded Israel could do wonders for world peace right about now.
Who here doesn't want world peace?
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
World peace
has nothing to do with it. It is about power, pure and simple. Trump currently has it, and he's relishing it, and he will no doubt overplay his hand even more than he already has in the very near future. From Orwell:
Israel could be overrun and totally wiped out by any of its neighbors tomorrow, and Trump's newly-found glee in utterly destroying peoples' lives would continue unabated. If he wasn't doing it to fellate AIPAC, he would do it to fellate himself. Israel's ungodly hubris has just provided a convenient impetus for our government to abandon every single basic principle of human dignity that it might once have held.
Don't get me wrong. I'm all for world peace. But it will not happen until a number of places have been converted into fused-silica parking lots; and probably not even then. One thing is absolutely certain: I will not live to see it.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
We are in the end game now, IMO
But nowhere in the US is the entire factual picture being published. In mainstream Western media publications, this Information is cut up into short strings of context-free truth. It seems to me, this is agitating the public and creating intellectual chaos. Not one elected official in the US is engaged in communicating with the public in order to explain exactly what is going on. Elected officials may believe that any attempt to do so could lead to political annihilation. This is not to suggest that any of them are actually aware of the big picture. They all seem to be concerned with small issues that cannot solve the international problems that the US is facing.
That means that it falls to the American People to understand what's happening in international finance and trade, and to do what they can to protect themselves from the coming fall out. Unless they happen to believe that Trump's Tariff War is going to succeed — and the world will surrender to Trump's supreme global leadership.
I do believe that China and the BRICS nations are fully aware of the entire situation and that a complete narrative can be found in publications in those countries. The China Academy, which is an international think tank, recently published a fact-based narrative in their newsletter. Personally, I believe in facts, rather than words that try to hold facts back from the public. I can publish it here if enough people are interested. Otherwise, I see no need to clog up the flow of speculation that is underway.
I think that
that might be a very interesting essay, and would like to read it. So, don't let me be the one to talk you out of it!
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
I think the future will be like another Atwood dystopia
Have you read the Maddaddam trilogy? Atwood herself has an intriguing webpage on it.
At any rate, I think that at this point the public is oh-so-slowly waking up to a basic truth: to oppose Trump, you must actually oppose Trump, and not merely pretend to oppose him. At any rate, the Trump insanity appears to be operating at present through ICE and not through the televangelists. It's insanity, too: the Trump administration is revoking the visas of people who are attending US universities while at the same time the billionaires are trying to destroy the universities. At some point the rest of the world will declare an embargo on the US, seeing that the US harms their citizens and that the US really has nothing left to offer them, and the bondholders will head for the exits.
"The thing that's so striking is this tremendous failure of imagination in the West." -- Douglas MacGregor
True, all of that.
For
A bit sarcastic but not all that far from the truth.
Haven't watched it
In my old age, my concession to movies and dramas is that they have historical or political themes. Family and friends in my life have consistently said, "that's so boring" or something to that effect. I know. I used to like the Kdramas about families and communities, about the non-typical family or characters that don't meet the ideal and how they and community deal with it. The strength of community bonds in Korea can last for generations. Perhaps that's what I'm missing to some degree, that sense of community. Lately it's been too hard to sift through the teeny bopper type love stories and garish true crime dramas, to find a good story. On the other hand, what is going on in real time is compelling.
I mentioned earlier that I did take the time to watch 12.12 The Day, which has undergone a revival since Yoon's coup attempt. The actor playing general Chun Doo-wan trying to become dictator Chun Doo-wan is incredible. He looks just like him. The trailer is great:
Today instability and uncertainty in South Korea continues even though the primary campaigns for president are underway. The election is June 3. Two wrinkles in the mix are both judicial-
The first:
I'm hearing a lot of criticism of this judge, not just because he let Yoon out of pretrial detention, but also because he's restricting admission into the courtroom, by attorneys for other defendants in related cases, and conducting the trial pretty much in secret.
The second: It wasn't expected that the Supreme Court would have enough time to make a decision on the initial appellate review (the so called second trial) which acquitted Lee Jae-myung of making false statements in a prior election. The initial trial which had found Lee guilty of one count of making a false statement during an election campaign, gave him a two year sentence and a fine large enough to disqualify him from public office.
The full acquittal by the first appellate review reinstated Lee Jae-myung's qualification to run for office. The Supreme Court however is acting quickly on its review of this decision in Lee's favor, much faster than anticipated, and referred the case to a full en banc of 12 justices from the normal four. This is regarded as both suspicious and unprecedented. If the Supreme Court reverses the appellate acquittal before June 3, technically the 60 day period for quick elections of a president after an impeachment will be derailed with unforeseen and unprecedented consequences. People are hoping the Justices will postpone their determination until after June 3, no matter what the outcome. In the alternative, if the Supreme Court wants to clear the deck for an untainted presidential election, perhaps it could vote en banc for an affirmation of the complete acquittal below and all will be well. If the complete acquittal is set aside before June 3, South Korea will be adrift without a rudder.
Work on the house fell through today. I've never met so many unreliable people in my life. Thanks for the open thread E1!
語必忠信 行必正直
Here's a thought:
Allowing us to see the real-life South Korean drama through your eyes is a very generous contribution on your part. The very best historians, especially in Russia for example, somehow manage to personalize the historical narrative and allow the audience to feel it emotionally. I believe that the early US historians were able to do that and create some degree of unity. That unity held together fairly well until US leaders panicked and opened wide the faucets of state Propaganda, which saturated the US population until they couldn't discern truth from the stream of lies, anymore.
Here's a thought on Lee Jae-myung:
Perhaps he should make a public vow to take himself out of all future elections in South Korea. That way, everyone can stand down and Lee will become a free citizen, able to pursue his personal interests for the remainder of his life.
I wonder what South Koreans would think of that.
Lee is more than twice as popular as his rivals
Screwed up the edit function. So I deleted this one. See below. Oops.
語必忠信 行必正直
Lee is more than twice as popular as his rivals
His opponents have persecuted him for years, ever since he became governor of Gyeonggido, the densely populated suburb province outside Seoul. He has repeatedly been prosecuted by the government on spurious charges. His family, home, offices, and associates have been harassed with literally hundreds of warrants, subpoenas, summons, etc. by police and prosecutors. Someone tried to kill him last year by stabbing him in the neck. He is supported by labor unions, workers, small business owners, and the men and women who demonstrate in the streets. At this point, he is a legend, second only to Kim Dae-jung. No one can take his place. He is literally one of the most courageous and ethical leaders, alive in South Korea today. He's incredibly gifted to not only have survived to this point, but to have excelled. Other democratic leaders of South Korea outside of his inner circle are simply not trusted by the public. They barely break a single digit against Lee. Potential conservative candidates when placed in hypothetical contests for the presidential office against Lee can't break 23 percent, while Lee is at fifty percent.
The people who back Lee know that they need to back him to take control of the administration as soon as possible. To let him retire now, is like letting your (best) field commander in a (civil) war retire. These judges, if they don't fulfill their legal responsibility to the republic to jail Yoon and insurrectionists, and let Lee run for the presidency on the mandate he already has, will be regarded as traitors.
Thanks PR for your comments, and thoughtful question. I think any other person would have given up long ago, Lee seems to have a spiritual strength that won't succumb. It must have been his difficult childhood in poverty, with a physical handicap and inadequate formal education, that gave him the inner strength to educate himself, overcoming those challenges to become a human rights lawyer and serve his greater community. Against all odds, he must become president.
Edited a couple of times for clarity
語必忠信 行必正直
From your mouth to god's ear.
For
We ave no one like that in the US.
That movie looks exciting,
have to read really fast though.
Thanks for the update on ROK.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
I have to say
That I have trouble keeping up too. While I was watching the movie, I used the 10 second rewind fairly often. I frequently rewind on youtube when I can't read the subs or they don't make sense. I stopped to read the maps, an old habit from yesteryear when I was a map keeper. I also knew the neighborhood, like in Samgakchi and Yongsan in Seoul and the bridges south of Ichondong. My knowledge is nothing compared to Ms. So on the Seoul districts.
Yoon admired the dictator Chun Doo-wan. He made no secret of it. Maybe it was Chun's military assault on the Ministry of National Defense Building on Yongsan base, that inspired Yoon to move his Presidential Office there.
語必忠信 行必正直
Correction
The initial trial court on the election law violations (lying during an election campaign) sentenced Lee to a one year sentence suspended for two years and a fine.
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/south-korea-opposition-leader...
語必忠信 行必正直
But but but … the secret of American prosperity is FREEDOM !!1!
Or something.
This animated cartoon — some version of which we were made to watch in Hawaii public schools more than once in the 1950s and ’60s — told us so!
https://archive.org/details/MakeMine1948
We had to believe it (or at least pretend to believe it) in order to get the Powers That Be in imperial North America to stop telling us, “You people are not ready for democracy! No
soupstatehood for you.”In the end, Statehood became a grab
....for geopolitical extension into the Eastern hemisphere. That's all it ever was. I'm surprised it hasn't enveloped the Philippines, yet. There was that futile Hail Mary pass into Hong Kong by the USAID — but too little too late. I still have no idea what kind of insanity Vietnam was all about.
Exactly right.
> in the end, Statehood became a grab for geopolitical extension into the Eastern hemisphere. That's all it ever was.
There are some surprising parallels between the effects of Hawaii being made a state on non-rich kanaka and kama‘aina and the effects of reunification on ordinary eastern Germans.
In both situations, outside capital flooded in and bought up everything. The well-connected few made out very well. The prospect of a new market among a population naïve and inexperienced in the ways of caveat-emptor, the-devil-is-in-the-fine-print “free enterprise” attracted carpetbaggers, con men, and shysters of all types, who reaped a bountiful harvest.
In both situations, those left behind in this mad scramble for wealth were the very people whose ancestors had lived on and tended the land for generations / since time immemorial.
Cool cartoon
I got much of my political indoctrination from early 'toons and shows like Rocky & Bullwinkle and Smothers Brothers. Even way back then dissent had to be between the lines.
Now days one can get jailed or deported for it. Or shadow banned/de-platformed or frozen accounts.
Or even kiddie porn mysteriously added to your smartphone photos albums.
There is nothing beneath them in silencing you.
Thanks for the link.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Handmaid's Tale
I read the book probably 10 years ago. Haven't watched the TV show but it might be my next binge, mostly because there are a lot of episodes. At times, I can only take so much dystopian tales. Did watch the first season of Squid Game. It definitely shows how the rich think of the poor.
Will check out Squid Games
I've heard a little about it.
Thanks for the tip.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Will check out
Hunger Games too, I herd it was good.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
@earthling1 Read all 3 of the
Read all 3 of the Hunger Games books but only watched the first movie.