Open Thread - 05-06-25 - The Days of Our Lives
“Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.”
Oh, no, I never watched that show back in the day. But I saw enough of it on my mom's and grandmother's TVs to know what it was about. Kind of.
Enough to know melodrama when I see it.
Imagine, if you will, the man with the largest ego and the man with the deepest pockets, joining together to save mankind from itself. And then breaking up. And then joining together again, maybe. All with the ebb and flow of a back alley cat fight. Slugging it out to do what's best. For you.
What a duo.
What a tag team.
Did I forget to mention that they are the two largest trolls in the world? Trolling from different angles, with the goal the same. The Big Bucks.
How do you think they got to where they are in the first place?
The plot from yesterday's show was so compelling, did anything in the ether happen to slip past you?
Anything existential?
Like WWIII? With nuclear tipped weapons.
Like genocide? That no one is stopping.
Like a digital panopticon being rushed into production? "The Man" wants to know what you're doing and what you got.
That reminds me. Did you hear some of the stuff certain congressmen and congresswomen have been saying and doing lately. Outrageous stuff. They're the talk of the town.
How about those wacky judges? Do they even know the law?
And how about The Constitution? Is that even still a thing?
Maybe a little "resistance" will set you free? Five minutes of hate can be very cathartic.
Don't you just feel "greater" and "healthier" already? I know I see it everywhere I go.
The last season, for four long years, was so bad I didn't think that this season could be any worse. But here we are, pushing the limits. I think they use the same script writers and producers from season to season.
Will somebody please change the channel already?
Maybe The Days of Our Lives wasn't the best choice. Maybe Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman would have been more appropriate.
I did watch some of that one. Mary was always rubbing her teeth with her finger, kind of like a European leader might do, if you catch my drift.
That show was kind of weird.
Kind of like the show we've been watching for many years, and can't turn away from. Only a lot less consequential.
Oh, just one more thing.
Did you notice the rights we've been losing? Your best interests are always at heart. Don't you know?
Now, what's tomorrow's episode going to be about?
Comments
Good morning Free Rangers...
What's all the chatter on the lowdown? Give us the skinny.
Why attack the Democrats --
-- when attacking the Republicans is so much easier?
It's like I said on Facebook:
We attack the Democrats, then, because once upon a time there might have been Democrats who were serious about politics. So now, even at this late date, we might benefit from convincing them that it is still possible to be serious about politics, but that a basic prerequisite of being serious is in not being a Democrat.
In this regard, I think it has to be called the "Actually Resist" party. And please take the damn Ukrainian flags down. Dmitry Orlov, in response to Nima's fumbling questions, tells us that Donald Trump's alibi for the most recent Ukrainian terrorist attack is that he didn't know.
I suppose it could be called the "Don't Be an Idiot" party.
"It's time for a revolution, but probably not in the terms that people imagine it" -- Frank Zappa
I'm an equal opportunity malcontent...
I hate both parties.
I agree with your past assessments, Cass, that we need a new party. At this point I think both parties are past redemption.
The big problem I see with a new party, is how do we keep Big Money from co-opting it, as they always do? The only way is to keep Big Money out of it by funding campaigns with equal amount of citizen tax monies.
With so much wealth and power at stake how do we get the pols to pass such legislation that will stop their gravy train? And with a Supreme Court that seems to value Big Money over the hoi polloi?
It's a fine mess we've gotten ourselves into, to paraphrase Oliver Hardy.
In the end, it's We The People that they are resisting.
We will have to be creative.
But I think the new party thing will have to happen, although it may be some time before the new party will be effective in electoral politics, for the reasons you and others cite.
And then there's the problem of naming the new party. The naming task should be simplified as much as possible, because we want to drag in everyone we can. Here is my list so far:
"Actually Resist" Party (this is my favorite at this time)
"Don't Be an Idiot" Party
"Not AI-Generated" Party
"Rescuing the People's Party from Nick Brana" Party
More ideas?
"It's time for a revolution, but probably not in the terms that people imagine it" -- Frank Zappa
How about...
the Anti-Corruption Party?
I would diffidently suggest
the "Spoiler" party, because that name is guaranteed to be shrieked at it, long and hard, by both facets of the Uniparty.
It is like getting assigned your nickname as a kid growing up: take the one that offends you the least, and *adopt* it...
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
My nickname...
growing up was "Cheetah". Both because I could run fast like a cheetah and from time to time I would break out in wild chimp-like gyrations and loud chimp-like vocalizations. I was actually pretty good at both. I sounded just like Cheetah from the old Johnny Weissmuller movies, kind of like I do on c99 at times.
That will work.
Or the Honest Party?
"It's time for a revolution, but probably not in the terms that people imagine it" -- Frank Zappa
I'm amused
with the congressman submitting a bill to dissolve the Congress should the rate of inflation exceed 3% in any given 90 day period.
Like that is going to pass. He's the new sheepdog.
Thanks for the OT.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
My eyes rolled so much...
I can see the back of my head.
I missed that, e1. Who submitted that bill?
Senator Mike Lee (R-UT)
https://www.rightjournalism.com/breaking-senator-introduces-amendment-to...
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Thanks...
virtue signalling from the right, me thinks.
That phrase was not invented by the
script writers for Days of Our Lives. It's been around for quite sometime cos it's a statement of fact. As far as the fascist dumbbell Maggot Brains versus Muskcrap dustup goes, I hope they both fall off the nearest cliff and croak. They're surrounded by a world of worthless scum just like them. I wish that vermin would die, too. Oh well..... Rec'd!!
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
It's...
all kayfabe, obf. Invented by the Romans and perfected by the uniparty.
Thanks for the rec.
Whatever change happens for the 99%
it will be violent. I can see peaceful protesters being arrested as terrorists. As for our rights, the courts will be so clogged with nonsense nothing will happen. We can't look to the past for answers. Unions...the police have one one of the strongest unions and they're militarized and with the ultra right wing. 3rd party? how would they even allow it. They'll keep adding rules and clauses on why that can't happen. Everything that benefited the 99% has been whittled away to the Hunger Games level.
Government may be the answer, but not this government, either party. Trump has shown how all our rights can be thrown away, and if suit is brought maybe years later some ruling will come down, when it will be swamped by some other outrage. Operation Wall Street showed no matter who is in power demonstrations like that will cause our rulers to be ready bring down hell on demonstrators, even if our government has to instigate it's own reason to bust heads and open live fire. And if a hero for us appears, they'll probably be assassinated.
I don't know what will make people angry enough to bring change, when we can't stop being angry with each other.
All true, my friend...
at least as I see it.
That's why I've become convinced that they're rushing to get the total surveillance system in place. They've already told us their plans.
That's why they're rushing to build the massive databases around the country. That's why Palantir is involved. It may be that's what Doge was all about, to centralize all of our personal data.
That's why they're pushing digital currencies, which aren't really currencies. It's to prime us for the upcoming digital IDs stacked upon a CBDC.
When that is all put in place none of which you mention above matters, it will be over for We The People. That's when we'll see a true dictator and authoritarianism.
That is what we truly need to "resist", instead of knocking heads with each other.
I'm thinking some sort of
"soft" dictatorship. Pots close to boiling, frog still alive. Keep it there and gaslight us scrambling to get by peons, for a new normal.
I tend to avoid the pacifist litmus test too
though by a different means. Violence, of course, is already here, and so to stand up to it we may, like the Russians and Chinese and Iranians, benefit from defensive systems.
More generally a creative revolution is necessary, one which innovates upon the violence/ nonviolence binary as more of the same-old. How we do this depends upon the situation; the Zapatistas started with the takeover of a town. Otherwise nonviolence is fine, said Malcolm, as long as it works.
"It's time for a revolution, but probably not in the terms that people imagine it" -- Frank Zappa
As John F. Kennedy
said in his remarks on the first anniversary of the Alliance for Progress, 13 March 1962:
And here we are. There will be violence.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
The biggest problem I see
is the webification of everything. So much data to construct a "digital" you, habit, health, purchases, education, income and what you look at every day. Your toaster might be listening to you and reporting right now. There's a lawsuit against a company that uses this data to advise landlords what YOU can pay, as opposed to the previous person or anyone trying to rent a place. Because this data says you can pay more, you get up charged.
Magnify that through out every transaction or communication we have to assume we're under 24 hr. surveillance, or will be.
So, counter-technologies, maybe?
I can recommend a volume called "Beautiful Trouble," although mostly the reason why I can recommend it is that so little of creative politics is actually performed in my world.
"It's time for a revolution, but probably not in the terms that people imagine it" -- Frank Zappa
I don't know
but I think we need to have more than a "one off" demonstration and call it a day. Something that will have people interacting more regularly, not just about politics. We have been fragmented, and places like Kos just give the illusion of accomplishing anything. I'm old, and the pool of people I interact with shrinks by the week, and looking at young people many seem lonely even though their phones are filled with friends.
Beautiful Trouble is an interesting site.
Sometimes an image is worth a thousands words.
Speak those thousand words...
humphrey, the day may come when we no longer will be able to do it. The day the first amendment dies.
We don't really need a mere third party. We need a viable one,
and then four to six more. We need permanent fovernment by coalition, and we need to eliminate corruption at the same time. Elimination corruption means getting the money out of politics, or tightly restricting it. Sadly, not likely to happen.
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 --
It's way too easy...
to bribe our representatives, just ask any lobbyist. It's a plaque in the judiciary as well.
You are right
unfortunately the only thing the 2 existing parties agree on is that there should not be another viable party.
Dear ol'Dad
landed on the beach in Normandy 81 years ago. He got into a tussle with a machine gun on his 13th day of fighting. The SS Elite was bad ass, and yeah, he was shot 9 times, but seems some guys only need the sight of one eye, one lung, one intestine, one kidney, a bit of a liver, some stomach, no spleen, and they do just fine, live to be 91.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
They just don't make them...
like they used to. You forgot to add that he went on to raise a son and daughter after almost being cut in two by a machine gun, one of which I know very well.
Oops, I forgot to mention
that a massive infection set in while he was hospitalized in London for 18 months. The drs. told him he had only one functioning testicle.
Seems some men only need one to make babies.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981