Issues and Reality, Mother should I trust the Government?

empire strikes back_0.png

The United States of America has been reduced to a he said/she said soap opera. I guess it could be worse. But I'm trying to think of an example and I can't.

Many are waiting until after the election in hopes that we can get "back to the issues". Instead of focusing on you know what, it's time to talk about the issues and what to do about them. Funny though, shouldn't elections be the time to talk about the issues? Not in our world.

What are the issues?

Let's see, we've got climate change. Most everyone that believes in anthropogenic climate change would place that as their number one issue. Those that don't believe in it probably don't consider it much of an issue.

There's U.S. imperialism and War. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing, say it again. We're at a dangerous place with the U.S. thrashing about the planet threatening everyone and their grandma, the government and media brazenly spreading lies and propaganda completely turning the truth upside down. War with Russia, war with China, nuclear war, the never-ending war OF terror. The war on drugs, the war on privacy, the war on freedom, the Class War, you name it, we got it.

There's the current state of capitalism. Call it what you like, neoliberalism, gangster capitalism, runaway capitalism, unregulated capitalism, globalism, whatever, it's a system driven by insatiable greed that has created and continues to create unabated and almost exponentially such enornous gaps in wealth and compensation, the long term impacts are frightening to consider.

There's the 90% plus corporate media monopoly. For those wanting real change, this is a major issue. The purposeful lies, propaganda, manipulation and conditioning coming from this insidious ruling class cabal is a key factor in the Class War. It's imperative to counter and discredit the lies spread by the corporate media monopoly.

There's (in not any particular order) the economy, Wall Street, the housing crisis, spying, health care, Obamacare, the representative political system and the duopoly, third party politics, campaign finance reform, the national debt, bank bailouts, social security, medicare, austerity policies, the military/intelligence/security/prison industrial complex, racism, poverty, gun control, the militarized police state, police killings, Black Lives Matter, All Lives Matter, immigration, illegal immigrants, trade policies, LGBT rights, marijuana legalization, the Deep State and the list goes on and on.

The list is endless. I forgot one, Save the Whales!.

Maybe that's the problem right there, we've got too many Trumping issues so instead we talk about how disgusting the two major presidential candidates are.

Well, that is an issue. A pretty big one. These two despicable candidates and this election. It has been such a farce all along it has to cause more people to ponder why we do this. The candidates announced back in April 2015, over 18 months ago, and we've gone thru this stupendously ridiculous stagecraft bringing us to this point. What did they spend this time, well over a billion dollars. What would make anyone thing it will be any different in four years? That's an issue, this has to change one way or another.

Democracy is an issue. Maybe democracy is THE issue. What about solutions to all these issues? For most of them, we rely on the government to make the decisions. We elect politicians for Congress, Senate and the President who appoint Supreme court judges and control the federal government. We now know without a doubt that we don't live in a democracy but an oligarchy controlled by a plutocracy. Money talks, bullshit walks. That's why we have another billionaire running for President and you aren't.

Citizens can try to pressure the elected politicians to do the right thing, to try to make them see things their way on the issues. We can call their offices, send them letters and emails, go to their town halls, if they have any. We can camp out in front of their offices with signs. It's all been tried but the oligarchy rolls on and we never reach satisfactory solutions to critical issues. Instead things just get worse.

There are no shortage of issues to talk about. There are plenty of people talking about the issues. What about solutions? What do We the Serfs need most and how do we get it? Why are the vast majority of people pessimistic about the future of this country? They don't trust the government. Same as it ever was.

Right now, that's a very big issue. We're going to get Hillary Clinton for President and the Empire will Strike Back.

"Mother, do you think they'll drop the bomb?"

[video:https://youtu.be/wBkTUzKAiXQ]

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top advisers to pick by Citigroup and he picked most of them - Emanuel, Duncan, Sebelius, Gates, Barnes, Geithner, Napolitano, and more - has been revealed by the Wikileaks investigation that turned up Podesta's emails. It seems that this is prominently posted on the social media and at progressive web sites today. The Citigroup exec - Froman - who delivered the list is now Obama's trade representative.

Every issue you mention is backed up by Big Finance - the MIFC - and making progress is doable on occasion but tough. Obama finally put Keystone XL on hold but opened up a back door for the tar sands crude.

The existential threat of climate change is even acknowledged by the Pentagon yet the establishment, including the Pentagon, thwarts direct action to try and correct the situation.

I think we need to first acknowledge that we do not live in a functioning democracy and are ruled by corporations - this even before TPP, and the Euro/American version of TPP, gets passed. This solution is ridding the world of global monopoly capitalism that has trashed our environment and beggared the people for the profit of a very few - commonly referred to as the 1% though it's probably less than that.

I admit to having no idea how to manage this feat when it seems predatory capitalism is growing stronger daily.

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

is coupled with a step (or two) backward, due to trade-offs with the oligarchs and the deal-making style of Third Way Democrats - like Clinton and Obama. This keeps the machinery of government (and their own careers) running, but little by little it edges the nation and world ever closer to catastrophe.

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native

CS in AZ's picture

I ponder such things too, and wonder, what to do?

That's the problem with talking about issues, when all we can do is complain, or get mad, or frightened, but we have no power and no way to change any of it. Politicians don't listen and don't care. They are all liars and performers.

Elections now are our version of bread and circuses. Keep the people focused on who to vote for, and entertained and distracted, just enough so that we don't take to the streets and have a real revolution in this country. It appears to be working.

I don't have any answers on how to effect change on any grand scale. I have my ballot for the upcoming election sitting on my kitchen counter right now. I'm going to fill it out and send it in, to vote in favor of legalizing marijuana in Arizona. It will probably fail, but I'm going to cast my vote on that issue anyway. Who knows, it could happen. A few other states have done it. I may very well leave the rest of the ballot blank. I don't know yet. I will "turn out" by sending in a vote, but leave some slots blank to say "No" to all choices. No one will care, of course.

I think as a society, and possibly humans as a species, we are here for the relatively short-term. All things go in cycles, and we happen to be, comparatively speaking, some lucky monkeys to be here, now.

Things have been, and currently are, and will be, much worse, for many other critters (including humans) who live today, and who have been here before us, and will be here after us. So I try to count my blessings, and live my life in the moment, and do my best to take care of my immediate family, my friends and loved ones, my animals, and my community... pretty much in that order.

That might make me part of the problem, because I'm not going to riot in the streets. I'll be honest, I don't do that because I don't want to get put in jail, or lose my job, or my house, and not be able to provide a home and food for my family and pets. So I just carry on. I read books and watch shows about science, and science fiction, and imagine a better world that could be. Then I get up and keep going, back to work, to the grocery store, and do my chores, and try not to hurt anyone.

That's all I got.

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Big Al's picture

getting arrested or losing our jobs over trying to demand truth and justice from our own government. That is how it works though but I believe there are ways around it. We can find ways to allow people to protest without that kind of risk. But there is going to have to be risk and sacrifice involved somehow. It just seems we can't break through to what really needs to be done partly because we're so tied to this system of government and electing politicians.

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thanatokephaloides's picture

Elections now are our version of bread and circuses.

As I pointed out in this earlier Comment, that's an insult to the Roman Emperors. The "election" supplies us with shitty circenses indeed, and for us 99%ers, no pan at all.

At least the Emperors made sure everybody, down to and including the meanest slave, got some pan. That's head-and-shoulders better than The Donald And Hillary Dog And Pony Show.

Diablo

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

CS in AZ's picture

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snoopydawg's picture

In this article that was discussed in an essay last night, there's this quote in it that I feel pertains to how the powers that be still see what letting us vote counts towards.

In Europe, for example, nascent liberal constitutions were blighted by a reactionary impulse toward the preservation of degrees of despotism. Not ours. In writing, we repudiated kings and despots. We were “we the people.” We ruled. We had graduated from subjects to citizens.

It was a brilliant hoax, the illusion of power resting with the people. “For god’s sake, let them vote; don’t be afraid of elections,” whispered the US elites to their fretful counterparts in Europe in the late 19th century. “Let them warrant their own subjection with the vote. Let them think they rule the state. You will have social harmony at a cheaper rate than you do now with the expenditures on dungeons and gendarmes.”

We saw how the DNC and others stole this election from Bernie by kicking people off the voting rolls, changing their party affiliations and seeing that the exit polls didn't match up with the actual vote tallies.
And what happened at the Nevada caucuses and how Reid got the casinos to let people off to go vote.
We've spent the last 18 months on one of the most stupidest elections ever.
First the media built Trump up and no matter what he said, many people didn't have a problem with it.
Now that Hillary is the nominee after stealing the election from Bernie, the media is now tearing him down.
And he won't keep his damned mouth shut and continues to give the media fodder to take him down.
And no one is talking about the issues.
Trump is a sexual predator, Russia is interfering with our election because they have shown how the DNC stole the election, ect.
Our votes don't matter to them just like it doesn't matter which party is in control.
The powers that be still get what they want and I don't think that there is anything we can do about it.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Big Al's picture

More evidence of how it really works. I don't know how to stop this train either, no one does. The only thing I can think of is we have to remove them from power, and that starts with the government. That Citigroup list illustrates perfectly how the banks and corporations control the government, we have to take away that control by changing government.
(edit - reply to duckpin above)

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if you google: wikileaks podesta citigroup obama you'll get several sites that tell the story. I found the most complete to be at the World Socialist Web Site but quite a few sites are going with the information.

I'd like your analysis of this to see if it's legit or not.

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

https://www.rt.com/usa/362836-emails-citigroup-obama-cabinet/

http://wallstreetonparade.com/2016/10/wikileaks-bombshell-emails-show-ci...

https://newrepublic.com/article/137798/important-wikileaks-revelation-is...

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-14/most-important-wikileak-how-wal...

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/10/15/wiki-o15.html

And LOTS more!

EDIT:
Now does no jail or clawbacks for Wall Street execs make sense? Now does TARP II and no punishment for mortgage fraud make sense? And Hillary is the same squared and cubed. The Republicans could make hay but they are too busy sticking their heads up every woman's uterus.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

pro quo. To do something in exchange for money, gifts, and/or campaign donations is still illegal and this intermingling of corporations engaged in illegal activities and looking for a handout with a political candidate and then office holder gives reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed. This is enough to start a criminal investigation in my opinion.

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

I'm with you, but a unanimous supreme court reversed the bribery conviction of former VA governor McDonnell for taking $177,000 in gifts and gratuities from a person for whom he did many favors. The court said he was performing standard constituent services. I think they thoughgt the money was more like a tip than a bribe. No quid pro quo. Maybe that's how Hillary will get out from under contributions to the Clinton Foundation after services performed by the State Department.

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legit and part of the "law of the land."

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

Just a mistake. Just a misunderstanding. No crime.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

PriceRip's picture

          I, for one, teach . . . every damn day. I spend my time inspiring others to learn about Reality at the most fundamental level appropriate to their own abilities. My daughter is continuing that tradition, and my (nearly six year old) is well on her way to becoming a leader as well.

          Small Moves . . . that is what it takes . . . small moves . . .

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Big Al's picture

and thanks for doing that. Good teachers are essential to society, especially those like you.

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Bisbonian's picture

who, in between teaching us English and Calculus and Physics and such, manged to teach us to think, as well. And to think critically. And to observe what was going on in the world around us. I don't think you can do much better than that.

I am still in contact with three of them, forty years on, now.

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

In the past week, I've introduced my freshmen to logical fallacies and sent them out into the world to find examples. If nothing else, it's a great time to teach rhetoric.

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PriceRip's picture

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form the very backbone of any society. Without them, society and civilization would become spineless and supine. They deserve much more respect and status than they generally get.

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native

ggersh's picture

edit:so the answer to your question is , no.

http://www.defenddemocracy.press/president-belgian-magistrates-neolibera...

The President of Belgian Magistrates: Neoliberalism is a form of Fascism
11/07/2016

Neoliberalism is a species of fascism

By Manuela Cadelli, President of the Magistrates’ Union of Belgium

The time for rhetorical reservations is over. Things have to be called by their name to make it possible for a co-ordinated democratic reaction to be initiated, above all in the public services.

Liberalism was a doctrine derived from the philosophy of Enlightenment, at once political and economic, which aimed at imposing on the state the necessary distance for ensuring respect for liberties and the coming of democratic emancipation. It was the motor for the arrival, and the continuing progress, of Western democracies.

Neoliberalism is a form of economism in our day that strikes at every moment at every sector of our community. It is a form of extremism.

Fascism may be defined as the subordination of every part of the State to a totalitarian and nihilistic ideology.

I argue that neoliberalism is a species of fascism because the economy has brought under subjection not only the government of democratic countries but also every aspect of our thought.
The state is now at the disposal of the economy and of finance, which treat it as a subordinate and lord over it to an exte

nt that puts the common good in jeopardy.

The austerity that is demanded by the financial milieu has become a supreme value, replacing politics. Saving money precludes pursuing any other public objective. It is reaching the point where claims are being made that the principle of budgetary orthodoxy should be included in state constitutions. A mockery is being made of the notion of public service.

The nihilism that results from this makes possible the dismissal of universalism and the most evident humanistic values: solidarity, fraternity, integration and respect for all and for differences.

There is no place any more even for classical economic theory: work was formerly an element in demand, and to that extent there was respect for workers; international finance has made of it a mere adjustment variable.

Every totalitarianism starts as distortion of language, as in the novel by George Orwell. Neoliberalism has its Newspeak and strategies of communication that enable it to deform reality. In this spirit, every budgetary cut is represented as an instance of modernization of the sectors concerned. If some of the most deprived are no longer reimbursed for medical expenses and so stop visiting the dentist, this is modernization of social security in action!
Read also:
La France intervienne au Moyen-Orient contribuant a la radicalization. Maintnenant, elle "analyse"!

Abstraction predominates in public discussion so as to occlude the implications for human beings.

Thus, in relation to migrants, it is imperative that the need for hosting them does not lead to public appeals that our finances could not accommodate. Is it In the same way that other individuals qualify for assistance out of considerations of national solidarity?

The cult of evaluation

Social Darwinism predominates, assigning the most stringent performance requirements to everyone and everything: to be weak is to fail. The foundations of our culture are overturned: every humanist premise is disqualified or demonetized because neoliberalism has the monopoly of rationality and realism. Margaret Thatcher said it in 1985: “There is no alternative.” Everything else is utopianism, unreason and regression. The virtue of debate and conflicting perspectives are discredited because history is ruled by necessity.

This subculture harbours an existential threat of its own: shortcomings of performance condemn one to disappearance while at the same time everyone is charged with inefficiency and obliged to justify everything. Trust is broken. Evaluation reigns, and with it the bureaucracy which imposes definition and research of a plethora of targets, and indicators with which one must comply. Creativity and the critical spirit are stifled by management. And everyone is beating his breast about the wastage and inertia of which he is guilty.

The neglect of justice

The neoliberal ideology generates a normativity that competes with the laws of parliament. The democratic power of law is compromised. Given that they represent a concrete embodiment of liberty and emancipation, and given the potential to prevent abuse that they impose, laws and procedures have begun to look like obstacles.
Read also:
France begins to reverse Democracy

The power of the judiciary, which has the ability to oppose the will of the ruling circles, must also be checkmated. The Belgian judicial system is in any case underfunded. In 2015 it came last in a European ranking that included all states located between the Atlantic and the Urals. In two years the government has managed to take away the independence given to it under the Constitution so that it can play the counterbalancing role citizens expect of it. The aim of this undertaking is clearly that there should no longer be justice in Belgium.

A caste above the Many

But the dominant class doesn’t prescribe for itself the same medicine it wants to see ordinary citizens taking: well-ordered austerity begins with others. The economist Thomas Piketty has perfectly described this in his study of inequality and capitalism in the twenty-first century (French edition, Seuil, 2013).

In spite of the crisis of 2008 and the hand-wringing that followed, nothing was done to police the financial community and submit them to the requirements of the common good. Who paid? Ordinary people, you and me.

And while the Belgian State consented to 7 billion-euro ten-year tax breaks for multinationals, ordinary litigants have seen surcharges imposed on access to justice (increased court fees, 21% taxation on legal fees). From now on, to obtain redress the victims of injustice are going to have to be rich.

All this in a state where the number of public representatives breaks all international records. In this particular area, no evaluation and no costs studies are reporting profit. One example: thirty years after the introduction of the federal system, the provincial institutions survive. Nobody can say what purpose they serve. Streamlining and the managerial ideology have conveniently stopped at the gates of the political world.

The security ideal

Terrorism, this other nihilism that exposes our weakness in affirming our values, is likely to aggravate the process by soon making it possible for all violations of our liberties, all violations of our rights, to circumvent the powerless qualified judges, further reducing social protection for the poor, who will be sacrificed to “the security ideal”.
Read also:
The Greek Left Tradition and SYRIZA: From “Subversion” to the new Austerity Memorandum

Salvation in commitment

These developments certainly threaten the foundations of our democracy, but do they condemn us to discouragement and despair?

Certainly not. 500 years ago, at the height of the defeats that brought down most Italian states with the imposition of foreign occupation for more than three centuries, Niccolo Machiavelli urged virtuous men to defy fate and stand up against the adversity of the times, to prefer action and daring to caution. The more tragic the situation, the more it necessitates action and the refusal to “give up” (The Prince, Chapters XXV and XXVI).

This is a teaching that is clearly required today. The determination of citizens attached to the radical of democratic values is an invaluable resource which has not yet revealed, at least in Belgium, its driving potential and power to change what is presented as inevitable. Through social networking and the power of the written word, everyone can now become involved, particularly when it comes to public services, universities, the student world, the judiciary and the Bar, in bringing the common good and social justice into the heart of public debate and the administration of the state and the community.

Neoliberalism is a species of fascism. It must be fought and humanism fully restored.
Published in the Belgian daily Le Soir, 3.3.2016

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

Big Al's picture

People all over the world.

(sorry can't help it, and it's my essay)

[video:https://youtu.be/QyT9jTW7MHc]

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ggersh's picture

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

shaharazade's picture

at all via the government. Even on a social level as in racism, classism, sexism and all those ism's that they use to divide people will continue to get worse until we stop looking to the bent corrupt politicians and their sponsors for a solution. Here in local Democratic Portland politically we just seem to be able to get rid of one crook and he or she is quickly replaced with another.

Steve Novick our 'progressive' city supervisor who is the main enabler of demolishing Portland is getting challenged. He came out the other day and said the reason his campaign was being financed at an obscene rate by developers and property investors was because 'they like to back a winner'. That's all it's about on every level. So forget about about lesser evils among these crooked rat bastards on the take. We got rid of our slimy major and next up his slimy lesser evil successor the next inline in the godawful Democratic local pols.

The issues that you brought up are pieces of the overall state of affairs globally. I think one thing would help us form coalitions and solidarity as a people is to stop thinking of theses issues as separate entities and address them as pieces of the whole. I have let go of thinking that it's a Red and/or Blue as that is just another bs. diversionary tactic. One thing that gave me the hopies this insane 'election' season is that I'm seeing hardly any Dem. partisan yard signs but everyday I see another Black Lives Matter yard sign go up in this affluent gentrified neighborhood..I find it hopeful because more and more people are figuring out that activism outside the system is the only option to the madness we have at this point.

Hope your weathering the 'epic' storm were having here in the PNW. My office is full of buckets to catch the leaks coming from the section of our roof that blew off in the last epic storm. We could not afford to get it fixed or replaced due to the disaster capitalist's rates and our useless home insurance that refused to pay their own 'market' price. Seem like a lot of us are busy trying to survive in this vicious economy. Maybe we'll get lucky and the whole damn roof will blow off tonight in the high winds and then maybe the insurance company will have to pony up for a new roof like they should have the last time we had an epic storm. If not were just going to have to get the section fixed temporarily until we can figure out how to afford a needed new roof.

Great essay your on a roll Big Al . Keep them coming

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Big Al's picture

Your right, real change isn't happening with our government, not for the good of everyone. Maybe we're really on the cusp of something though, there sure are signs of it, no pun intended.

Trying to keep dry, hope you and shaz do too. If you need help on the roof, I do know a guy that does it cheap, relatively speaking. He's not bonded however, but a friend. He did my roof last year. Knows where to get the roofing material cheaper too.
Enjoy your day!

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

mimi's picture

Now I believe she has completely lost it.

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let them sue state and local government via TPP. Which is the lie? With Hillary, who knows? They say Trump is nuts. I say Trump is a disgusting loud mouthed egotist. I also say Hillary is really nuts! Maybe she did think that little girl in Bosnia was an enemy soldier with an AK-47. Her grasp of reality is tenuous at best.

Many people, and rightly so, are uncomfortable with Trump's finger on the nuclear button. I'm terrified with Hillary's finger on the nuclear button!

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

permanently. I think the person from Belgium has it nailed.

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

ggersh's picture

the people are seeing what's going on, a true leader is needed, the people thought they had on in O, and then Bernie.

Dubya finalized the coup

http://theprogressivewing.com/has-the-usa-become-fascist-and-corporate-c...

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

shaharazade's picture

am not looking for a true leader. I'm putting my faith in people globally to stand up and get rid the current true leaders of all fake stripes. Leaders will evolve once we have a true effective counter to these rat bastards in place. In my opinion leaders are the last step in the process of prying this bloody vampire squid off humanities face. 'True leaders' are what I've had enough of they tend to be meet the new boss same as the old, Bernie included. Local leaders maybe, but leaders at this point constitutes visions of the same old. Play it as it lays is the way I drift. First we need to make it clear to these fucks we are not giving our consent t be governed by any of them. 'don't follow leaders and watch the parking meters' says the Nobel Prize winner for literature. Leaders will evolve but first we need to take Manhattan as another famous poet once said.

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Creosote.'s picture

Only with this election do I finally get what it means to me -- watch politicians who must be fed coins to operate like parking meters that don't go anywhere -- but the poet was in New York and seeing it clearly then.

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ggersh's picture

a/the movement that comes next will need more than one leader as the people of all persuasions the world over, come together to throw the oligarchs out.

Sorry, but the "true leader" par,t I got wrong.

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

shaharazade's picture

but at this point in time I have had enough of 'true leaders'. We the people globally need to come together forget our differences and get these fucks out of power. Leaders will emerge only if we deny them power and stop consenting with our vote to allow them to continue with this madness. Acquiescence by not consenting to vote for them seems a good first step. Personally I'm not big on leaders but as you say they will emerge once we the people globally figure out how to pry this bloody vampire squid off humanities face. I'm more interested in universal laws and human rights over men (or women). A nation of laws not men sounds like a idea whose time has come around again.

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Mark from Queens's picture

on the mind-blowing, massive, football field-sized, multi media screen was for me one of the best moments of a truly transcendent show capping off an incredible concert to end all concerts.

Answering himself came these words, spaced apart by a second or two, across the entire screen.

No.

Fucking.

Way.

That moment "No" flashed on the screen a big applause when up naturally. But as the full statement became apparent a huge gathering ovation seemed to fill the entire place. The timing, like that of the flow of the entire, truly spectacular, almost 3 hr show, was impeccable.

There's so much to tell really about his set, and also Neil Young's, who said " come back tomorrow night when Roger's going to build a wall, to make Mexico great again." I'm too tired now to get into it still dealing with some health issues, but I just had to share this with you.

Waters also featured through the entirety of the song "Fearless" from Meddle non-stop BlackLivesMatter and protest images. He used "Pigs" from my favorite record Animals to eviscerate Trump like you've rarely seen anywhere. Leave it to a truly fierce and fearless activist/advocate to not just stop there but to end his show by saying " I wasn't going to do this but I have it folded up in my back pocket, so fuck it," and read a poem he wrote in 2004 about the Bush Administration and going to war. He then went into praise for California college campuses alliances in solidarity with Palestine.

I'll never hear Mother again without answering to myself that way.

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"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"

- Kurt Vonnegut

Maybe direct action is what it takes:

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clI0kmTWKYs]

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Beware the bullshit factories.