Midnight Special - Progressive Ethics Edition

1984z.jpg

Midnight Special question:

-What would make progressives less likely to vote for a democratic party congressional representative:

-opposition to Medicare for All and support for Social Security privatization, or

-support for U.S. imperialism and Israeli apartheid?

[video:https://youtu.be/5TXfcsFhc7A]

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Bisbonian's picture

to vote for a Democrat. Because the current likelihood is pegged at zero.

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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

snoopydawg's picture

nuff said .... Obama cured me of voting.

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mimi's picture

@snoopydawg
and he voted only once in his life-time and that was for Obama's first term.

I have a lot of difficulties to 'feel your pain', because I could never vote in the US, I am too white and too German and my son is too black and too American, and he has learned to not 'feel enough sympathy' for Africans watching them in his father and his friends. (Obama had an African father, minding you, as had my son, so there is that and it means something. And I am too close to be Nazi, remember?).

You asked me once why I seemed to be too 'apologetic of Obama'. For what purpose you asked. I would say because it's too painful for me to face the facts looking at the whole picture and finding nothing that would lift up my hopes in ALL the AISLES of the world's superstore.

I never voted in my life, neither in the US, nor in Germany and I won't do it, because they won't make a difference. If you want to sell me a bridge, I won't buy and won't cross it. I will swim or drown and that's it.

May be I should resign too?

Heck, I am too stubborn and too angry and too frustrated. That can't be the solution to the mess.

I miss lotlizard. Where is she?

It's all a mess.
Cray 2

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@mimi @mimi I am two for ten in the "voted for a 'winner'" column. 20% and the odds keep getting worse. Why the Ds say "Don't look back":
---
1980 Reagan NOPE
1984 Reagan NOPE
1988 Bush NOPE

1992 Clinton YEP - because look at the previous twelve years! Ouchy. Either him or Pappy CIA Bush and more bombs on Iraq. "Year of the Woman" identity theft. I was a "thirty-something", a target consumer.

1996 Clinton NOPE - because are you fucking kidding me? Ds sign in NAFTA and China MFN at the WTO! The giant sucking sound gets LOUD. To quote a sig here "this shit is bananas". Labor is not honored, unions collapse.

2000 Bush NOPE - Her gets appointed Queen Senator from NYC too, a LIHOP vote for more wars and mass starvation. All of my net worth disappears along with the good jobs.

2004 Bush NOPE - Diebold Ohio for the win. Heinz Kerry concedes because what's the diff? Not much.
2008 Obama YEP because look at the previous twelve years! Double-ouchy. Everything gone, disabled by depression. I have wasted my life. Data analytics ftw.

2012 Obama NOPE - because are you fucking kidding me? Clintons launder billions through charity as Her becomes Secretary of State, wipes servers with a cloth, promotes TPP etc. and then Obama signs in to law propaganda usage against his own brothers and sisters, U.S. citizens. Okie dokie! Checkmate, eh? LOL

2016 Trump NOPE - Edit: omg I blacked out 2016 completely. Because Bernie would have won! LOL not that it matters, but still. If ya can't win it, just buy it!

Forward to 2020 Trump NOPE - Boom there it is. D-Harris or I-Sanders? I probably voted Stein again if she ran. Or Gloria Riva.
---
That's a long time voting, for what now? Never mind. Facebook directs the masses, and Homeland Security controls the count. Thanks for talking and listening, have a nice day!

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mimi's picture

@eyo
and to argue over with my son. Smile

Very kind of you. I felt far away from that kind of calculation, but now it has become necessary to consider all of that.

I never have tried to become a US citizen. My former husband didn't even bother to apply for a green card until he retired from his job. (he was half a diplomat per his passport) My son had to become a US citizen, because TPTB would have been too suspicious of him. His father was already suspiciously uninterested to kiss some folks behinds. Now the son had not the option to be that openly uninterested to become the typical dreamer anymore. Meanwhile he is a non-dreaming German born American.

If I could vote, I probably would vote for Stein. I would have voted for Sanders. But I think he might get too old in 2020.

Otherwise, voting is just not that big of a deal, if it has so little meaning to begin with. I would refuse to lose my mind over it.

Stubborn is what stubborn does. Votes will not change much, just may be a little bit. Not enough though. So something else has to happen. But what?

May be one should get rid of all political parties and just register everyone who has a permission to work in the US for more than five years automatically to vote and send them a paper ballot. So that the politicians wouldn't know who would belong to a specific political party and who not. Of course for that to work you had to register your physical address. And that's a no, no for most Americans. It has worked in Germany. I just got my ballot to vote for something and I have no clue for whom to vote. I don't know any of the candidates and just because someone is a Social Democrat in Germany is not enough to vote for him/her. All in all it's not that harsh a problem though in Germany.

I am confused. And I refuse to let that get to me.

Thinking is always a pain, my teacher told us when I was twelve years old and he said, he watches the smoke coming out of your heads, when we kids tried hard to understand what he was teaching us.

Peace.
Have a good Sunday.

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Alligator Ed's picture

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snoopydawg's picture

The CIA Democrats

Mehring Books has published The CIA Democrats, a detailed exposure of the effective takeover of the 2018 Democratic Party congressional campaign by candidates drawn from the ranks of former intelligence agents, special forces operatives, veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and civilian national security operatives from the State Department, National Security Council and Pentagon.

The CIA Democrats analyzes the connection between the unprecedented influx of candidates with a military-intelligence background and drastic shift in the Democratic Party to the right, expressed in its efforts to promote the anti-Russian campaign, attacking the Trump administration from the right on foreign policy, and demanding a more confrontational approach toward Moscow in the Middle East, Central Asia and Eastern Europe.

Why push for the democrats to pass legislation that the CIA wants when they can just put CIA agents into office and they can write any legislation that they want? This way the legislation is designed the right way.

So when the democrats take back congress, I'm sure that they will roll back the Trump abuses, the tax bill, re regulate the banks, defund the military and then impeach the Orange Buffoon.

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Big Al's picture

@snoopydawg

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snoopydawg's picture

@Big Al

That the democrats aren't even trying to pretend that they are going to be more progressive to get people to vote for them is a huge eff you to their voters. I saw this on ToP and it seems that people are still thinking that the democrats are going to though.

If you follow campaigns at all, you know that discussing a “fight” is a big part of campaign rhetoric. “… Fight for you ...” is an easy drop in to almost any speech on any issue for a political candidate. Fighting for the voters on issues that matter to them is a statement of where your campaign stands. Sigh.

Torture is being discussed there and a few people are upset that Gina wasn't prosecuted, but one person said the reason Obama didn't prosecute them was because he was trying to rebuild the empire and Trump is trying to destroy it. Yep. I couldn't let that stand without saying something about it. Giving Obama a pass for not prosecuting war crimes just because he had to rebuild the Fucking Empire is one of the most asinine statements I've ever seen. Oh yeah, one person said that we need to flip congress so we can hold them accountable. I was tempted to say that we did hold congress a few Novembers ago, but seriously, what's the point of arguing with people who refuse to see that Obama's decision to "look forward, not backwards" was the wrong decision?

IMG_0864_4.JPG

"And some of the dumbf*cks bought it because they said that I had to rebuild the empire. LMAO"
Sad

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@snoopydawg worked for the Koch Bros. and Americans for Prosperity

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Or the poll question did.
I had a lively phone chat tonight with a former c99er that hasn't been here in a long time because that person will no longer vote.
Politics no longer matters to that person.
c99 no longer matters to that person.
I wanted to argue, but in fact it was you, Al, that persuaded the person, to just give it up.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Big Al's picture

@on the cusp Hopefully that person is content with their decision. The duopoly political game keeps us all in a box, along with the corporate media, following their script. It forces people to make unethical decisions, knowingly or unknowingly.

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@Big Al the person is resigned.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

@on the cusp may all beings resign from this rotten stinking system as it collapses in on itself, again. Too bad your friend doesn't want to chat lively on c99 anymore, but phones are just as good. Lively chats for the win!

peace

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Big Al's picture

@on the cusp @on the cusp @on the cusp completely, just that the political system is kaput and needs to be replaced. Like dead sparkplugs in an engine. I've advocated the focus become opposition to the duopoly and changing this political system instead of playing within it and actually supporting either of the two corrupt parties. I take it the aversion to C99 must be because of the primary focus on electoral politics, particularly the democratic party. From what I can gather, that's only going to increase the rest of this year. I think there's an overlap with Daily Kos and this place with this place housing a bunch of disaffected democrats representing supposedly the Bernie wing or "progressive" wing of the party, or anti-Clinton wing. This essay was inspired by the seemingly overwhelming support for Zionist imperialist Tim Canova over the hated DNC queen Debbie Wasserman Schulz and the sentiment toward electing more progressives to the party. Even though he's an imperialist Zionist, it appears a good portion of the people frequenting this site would still vote for him just to rid the dem party of the hated Clinton connection. Their choice of course but that veers very closely into partisan politics of which some here (or not here as the case) are not interested in, or resigned about.

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@Big Al The problem seems to me to be that everything from clean air, clean water, and cheap shoes is directly connected to politics. Information, text books, highways are connected to politics.
I would hate to be in the position to cast a vote for either DWS or Canova. I would need to shower immediately.
You are correct that c99 is filled with people who will vote Dem, and depending upon the race, so will I. Do I admire Beto O'Rourke? Not at all. Do I want to hurl the most effective shoe at Ted Cruz' head as possible? Yes. I will vote for Beto. I want Cruz to get himself a megachurch and preach there, and not the Senate,until he dies.
Thanks to this site, I have followed links to numerous intellectuals who traced the embrace of Israeli Zionists and Christian Zionists, with Truman and his Bible figuring more prominently than I had ever known. I happily swim through the political waters to reach the white beach of knowledge.
My knowledge and education is the only thing I possess that can never be taken from me.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

wendy davis's picture

commenters seem to know. as far as what the midnight special was, you may use different version, but i'd have to go to a black man's version, myownself.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cu7gafphe9M]

but more srsly, i might ask if folks are progressive except syria and the white helmets. cuz here it comes again...that false flag casus belli feeling.

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WaterLily's picture

@wendy davis DejaMoo.jpg

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Big Al's picture

@wendy davis at all whether there is any evidence because the sheeple will only read the headlines, if that. They're actually announcing their false flags now and what they will be. "In one month we will conduct a false flag chemical attack in Syria and blame it on Assad and Putin". Then they do it. Nothing seems to matter. George Bush is still applauded at baseball games and Obama is making millions.

I'm so jaded I haven't read a word about it, other than those headlines, because it's obviously bullshit. So fucking obvious. Jesus.

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Big Al's picture

@wendy davis @wendy davis This is a series I post whenever I have a question and I try to vary the Midnight Special versions.

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snoopydawg's picture

@wendy davis

The false flag worked even though everyone knew that it was coming. It will be interesting to see how Russia responds to this.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/04/08/airstrikes-hit-syria-after-deadl...

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Big Al's picture

@snoopydawg I was reading earlier an article about Trump saying he was going to pull the troops out of Syria and how the corporate media and think tanks, et al, proceeded to send out propaganda as to why that was a bad idea. I thought it was bullshit obfuscation right away but many seem to take Trump's word for it (and now the Deep State has changed his mind.) I continue to believe Donald Trump is a big fat liar who will say anything to get approval.

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@wendy davis

https://www.fort-russ.com/2018/04/48445/

SyriaHeadline NewsMENA
Doctors say they have treated no one from Duma with chemical poisoning
By Paul Antonopoulos Last updated Apr 9, 2018

DAMASCUS, Syria – The Russian Center for the Reconciliation of Conflicting Parties told the media on Monday that Syrian doctors have said that they are not dealing with symptoms associated with chemical poisoning on patients.

“Syrian doctors in Douma have dismissed the rumors they had received patients suffering from chemical poisoning,” the center said.

“In an interview to the media doctor Yaser Abdel Majid, of the city hospital, said that they had never received patients with chemical poisoning either last weekend or since the beginning of hostilities in Syria,” the center continued.

The medics said that “all those who had received their medical aid had ordinary injuries, fractures and fragmentation and gunshot wounds.”

Meanwhile ambulance driver Ahmed Saur also followed on from this report.

“On April 6-8 we had not a single patient suffering from chemical poisoning. Only ordinary war wounds,” he said.

Only ordinary war wounds... dear gawd, what psychopaths/the pathologically greedy do to the world!

https://www.rt.com/news/423539-red-crescent-ghouta-no-chemical/

Red Crescent says it found no trace of ‘Ghouta chem attack’ used by US to blame Damascus & Moscow
Published time: 9 Apr, 2018 01:26
Edited time: 9 Apr, 2018 15:37

A former US secretary of state said Moscow was “ultimately responsible” for all chemical incidents in Syria, after reports of a chlorine attack in Ghouta in January. Now, the Syrian Red Crescent says there was no such attack.

The medical specialists, who have worked in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta for years, told journalists they did not see any evidence of any chemical incident taking place in the area in January. They also did not confirm reports about an alleged chlorine gas attack that, supposedly, affected more than 20 civilians on January 22.

"At some point, our [hospital] received six people, who were allegedly suffering from respiratory problems. Following a medical examination, we did not find any problems at all, any traces of chemical agents," Seif Aldin Hobia, a member of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, who worked for the last seven years at the central hospital of Douma in Eastern Ghouta, said. Recalling the events that took place in January, he added: "we had no evidence of chemical agents being used [in the area]."

His words were echoed by another medical specialist from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, Muhammad Adnan Tabazhu, who claimed that the medics obtained no evidence of chemical weapons being used in Eastern Ghouta between 2012 and 2018, when he was working in the area.

The Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) is a local humanitarian NGO that says it “enjoys financial and administrative independence.” The organization was established in 1942 and recognized by the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva (ICRC) in 1946. It has a headquarters in Damascus. The ICRC says it actively cooperates with the SARC in its humanitarian operations across Syria.

Back in January, former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson famously claimed that "more than 20 civilians, mostly children, were victims of an apparent chlorine gas attack," adding that the incident raised "serious concerns that [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad may be continuing to use chemical weapons against his own people."

‘Syria gases own people just as Trump mulls withdrawal?’ Journalists question Douma ‘chem attack’

He then immediately said that "whoever conducted the attacks, Russia ultimately bears responsibility for the victims in Eastern Ghouta and countless other Syrians targeted with chemical weapons since Russia became involved in Syria."

The timing of the incident conspicuously coincided with a 29-nation conference in Paris, organized to create the 'International Partnership against Impunity for the Use of Chemical Weapons.' The reports about the ‘attack’ came just a day ahead of the meeting. The claims were produced by controversial sources, namely the White Helmets and the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). ...

...In early February, Pentagon chief James Mattis admitted that the US had no evidence of such chemical agents as sarin ever being used by the Syrian government at all. He also openly said that the only information the US had been able to obtain, so far, had come from "other groups on the ground, NGOs, fighters on the ground" and just "people who claim it's been used."

Mattis, however, claimed that it was "clear" that Damascus had used chlorine gas in the Syrian conflict but, as before, failed to provide any evidence to substantiate his claims. Reports of chemical attacks, blamed on Damascus, had repeatedly surfaced earlier, with Western media and officials immediately jumping at the opportunity to put all the blame for such incidents on the Syrian government and Moscow, often only to admit later that they actually had no verifiable evidence that the attacks in question had even taken place.

The latest revelations come amid another wave of hysteria that followed yet another claim made by the same controversial pro-militant sources that, once again, have accused Damascus of carrying out a chemical attack in the town of Douma on Saturday. Syria and Russia dismissed all the accusations and called the reports fake news and propaganda, which were aimed at helping the extremists and justifying potential strikes against Syrian forces. ...

https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201803121062431574-syrian-army-chemic...

Syrian Army Finds Chemical Weapons' Workshop in Eastern Ghouta
© REUTERS/ STRINGER
Middle East
11:48 12.03.2018(updated 12:38 12.03.2018)

According to Syrian Army reports, militants in Eastern Ghouta planned a chemical attack provocation to put blame on Damascus.

Syrian government forces found a clandestine workshop for the manufacture of chemical munitions while sweeping through the village of Aftris in Eastern Ghouta after militants withdrew from the community, Syrian Arab Army Colonel Feruz Ibrahim told reporters on Monday.

"Presumably, the equipment of these munitions could be produced as part of a false flag accusation that government troops used chemical weapons," he said.

Recently, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said that militants in Eastern Ghouta may stage a chemical attack in order to blame the Syrian government for it. Syrian Deputy-Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad stressed that Damascus was ready to assist any investigation of chemical attacks in Syria but the international organizations declined to cooperate with the Syrian government.

Last week, the Russian Center for Syrian Reconciliation informed that terrorists were planning provocations involving chemical weapons in Eastern Ghouta.

READ MORE: Russian MoD: E Ghouta Militants Struggle After Call for Separation From al-Nusra

In its turn, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) confirmed that Syria's efforts to destroy its chemical weapons stockpile had been completed.

Syrian authorities have been constantly accused of using chemical weapons since the beginning of the conflict in 2011.

Chemical shells
© Sputnik/ Pavel Lisitsyn
'This Approach Not Working Anymore': Syrian Envoy Slams UN Report on Alleged Chemical Weapons Use
On February 26, the infamous White Helmets, which have constantly falsified facts and information, claimed that the Syrian Government had deployed chlorine gas against the town of Al-Shifoniya in Eastern Ghouta, Anadolu Agency reported.

When asked to comment on the information, US Department of Defense spokesperson Dana White stated that the US "had not seen any evidence yet" of the use of chemical weapons by Damascus in Eastern Ghouta.

Most recently, Pentagon chief Jim Mattis warned Damascus against using chemical weapons, although he said that there was no evidence of the use of chlorine gas so far. ...

So, it would appear that the poison gas intended for the False Flag was found and disposed of by government forces so that it could not be carried out, but the US PTB decided to go ahead with the claim anyway - and then got Israel to to do a missile attack from a safe distance, so that some of the other psychopaths could get in on the fun of an unprovoked attack on a sovereign country, which might be a nice change for them from brutalizing and gunning down dispossessed Palestinians trapped in a metaphorical barrel.

So, apart from PR BS, what's the difference between this lot trying to take over the planet and the original Nazis trying to take over the planet? Right - this time, they run NATO and have terrorist groups run by spy organizations all over the globe.

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

snoopydawg's picture

according to this article.

Initially it was thought US warships fired missiles from the Mediterranean Sea targeting Syrian Army military positions, but this was denied by both the Pentagon and the White House.

It is now thought that it was conducted by Israel who frequently engage in such air raids. Tel Aviv are yet to make a statement.

I wonder what excuse Israel is going to make to justify the attack? Not that they need one. I feel so bad about the people who are caught in the middle of this shit! There is no excuse for countries to just attack others and not be held accountable for it. This is supposed to be the most heinous of war crimes and yet it happens over and over.

As to Trump wanting to pull the troops out of Syria, that might have been the usual playbook of our government. I too thought that Trump was fighting the Deep State and they had been working on him to get him on board with their plans, but that might not be true. Hell, who knows what is really happening with Trump or what he really wants? I doubt that he gives a rat's ass about people in war zones. He's as psychopathic as the rest of them. He did bring Bolton into his administration after all. But I'm sure that wasn't his idea.

Trump's Syria "Withdrawal" Was Textbook US Deception

The US media is now priming the global public for US intervention in Syria following alleged "chemical attacks" carried out in the remaining pocket of US-backed militants in Douma, just northeast of Damascus.

The Washington Post also claimed that: President Trump has instructed military leaders to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria as soon as possible and told them he wants Arab allies to take over and pay for stabilizing and reconstructing areas liberated from the Islamic State, according to senior U.S. officials. However, just days after President Trump expressed a supposed desire to leave Syria, allegations of Syrian government chemical attacks on Douma have provided not only the prefect pretext to delay any withdrawal, but to in fact justify a US-led military intervention directly against the Syrian government. While some have attempted to portray this as "Trump vs. the Deep State," it is in fact a textbook example of US deception described in US policy papers - a deception President Trump played a central role in creating.

Feigning Withdrawal Before Greater Conflict is Documented US Policy

The war on Iran has been planned since 2009 and the Brooking Institution detailed how it's supposed to go.

"Which Path to Persia? Options for a New American Strategy Toward Iran (PDF)

I've read some of this and had to stop because it sickened me. That people can logically plan something that they know will cause a lot of deaths is something that I can't wrap my head around.

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Big Al's picture

@snoopydawg That's been said since the war on Syria started. Good pull on the Which Path to Persia, something we've been telling people since it started as well.
As for Trump, I don't know why people bother with the deep state excuse as to why Trump does this or that. It's no different from Obama, Bush and Clinton before him. It is what it is, they all lie. I remember calling Obama the greatest liar in the history of mankind.
It doesn't matter. These people are sadistic, barbarian. And they have to be stopped, there is no other way. I'm getting increasingly pissed off reading about electing progressives to the democratic party when they ALL support or acquiesce to everything that entails U.S. imperialism AND Israeli apartheid and the Zionist quest for Greater Israel (Oded Yinon plan). As I said earlier, it's time to quit beating around the bush, this shit is serious.

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snoopydawg's picture

@Big Al

I remember calling Obama the greatest liar in the history of mankind.
It doesn't matter. These people are sadistic, barbarian. And they have to be stopped, there is no other way. I'm getting increasingly pissed off reading about electing progressives to the democratic party when they ALL support or acquiesce to everything that entails U.S. imperialism AND Israeli apartheid and the Zionist quest for Greater Israel (Oded Yinon plan). As I said earlier, it's time to quit beating around the bush, this shit is serious.

I remember reading a diary on ToP about a guy who joined the military so he could get health insurance for his wife who had cancer. He got a lot of flak on his decision to try to save his wife's life when he might end up killing civilians in Iraq and I was one of them. It's not just our government that we have to stop, it's also the people who join the military for a number of reasons. Economics is one of the biggest reasons people join. This and their patriotism towards their country.

This might be changing soon if they really do bring back the draft which they will have to do if we go to war with Iran or Russia. This war is not going to be won by drones or bombs. It's going to take boots on the ground. Hillary wanted to put 70,000 troops into Syria when she created her no fly zone. Right now instead of using our military, we're hiring terrorists to do our fighting for us. This isn't new of course.

I wish I had some ideas on how we can stop this insanity. There are a few protests coming up, but we'll need lots more people doing it to make a difference. Millions marched against the Iraq war all over the globe, but they went away after the war started.

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Big Al's picture

@snoopydawg Didn't get much traction and was thinking about dusting it off and publishing again. Clearly it's going to require major organization, but the key is the goal. I think that's what most people aren't getting.

https://caucus99percent.com/content/unrepresented-party-or-how-start-rev...

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snoopydawg's picture

@Big Al

Go ahead and dust it off and repost it. Your response to abolishing the presidency.

It's like having a mass murderer serial killer next door and knowing it, but no one believes you. Even your kids think "Mr. Smith" is a nice guy.

That's exactly what our presidents are as well as congress. Serial murderers who go from country to country wiping people out in order to take their resources.

There are a few people in it that I haven't seen for awhile. Where'd everyone go?

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mimi's picture

@Big Al
don't hesitate to republish it refurbished with your latest insights.
I liked lookout's comment in the thread back when you wrote this essay last time in April 2017.
here

The problem always comes back to having an effective media platform so the message isn't distorted.

Certainly we can agree as a nation on many policies.
First on my list...Corporation are NOT citizens...they are profit machines that need/require regulation and supervision.

Others include:
Reduce the military budget significantly (half to three quarters) and redirect the money to domestic issues and world peace (ie clean water and food for the poor of the world).

Leave all fossil fuels in the ground and create a clean power system.

Develop a clean, accessible public transportation system.

Have universal health care.

Develop a national jobs program that provides everyone a living wage with more public sector positions like teachers, rangers, environmental workers (for mitigation and monitoring), health professionals. and so on.

Reinvent our government with direct (internet based?) voting on important issues, or at least allow the people to directly veto new policies and laws.

Restructure the injustice/prison system to reform rather than punish and eliminate for profit prisons. Decriminalize drug use.

Provide free public education until students move into a career or profession.

I could go on and on, but the point is there needs to be a blueprint to start conversation.

And as we discussed yesterday, (the other piece of the puzzle) we need to educate US citizens about they way they have been manipulated by the corporate oligarchy in order to bring people to the table.

I know I'm dreaming, but it is important to dream. Thanks for the essay Al.

I must admit that I hate the whole "dreamers" meme. Any time a talking politician uses the "dreamers" expression, I say to myself, dream on you idiot. I don't dream, or let's say, if I wake up in the morning, I can't remember having dreamed something. My sister says everybody dreams and that I DO dream. I am so frigging confused. Do I dream or not? Why is it important to dream?

I have to say I could dream about the list you provided here, lookout, but you know in my dreams only. In reality though ...

... all the dreams are around the issue, whose oligarchs are the more ethical ones, mine or yours, in the end.

Thinking about toddlers playing with Lego and building a great little castle. The toddler in his mother's eyes is THE greatest engineer to come around in a couple of years. So, what happens, when the toddler finished building? Does he destroy his castle to have back his Lego bricks back to build another castle? Or does he leave the castle standing, turns away and leaves it behind, being bored and looking for new adventures? What happens then? Outsiders will discover the castle and destroy it. And there goes my neighborhood.

Don't tell me I need a shrink. I don't, I just need to talk sometimes with some people without fear. And that kind of conversation exactly is not given anymore on any "media platform", because fear is what motivates most people to not do what they like to do. As hecate said lately here, in your eyes

people want to be good...

and the we end up doing bad. Why? My answer would be: out of fear and being intimidated.
Cray 2

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WaterLily's picture

@snoopydawg If we, I don't know, had universal health coverage for example, many people like this guy wouldn't be forced to join the military.

But of course, we can't have that. Because unicorns and rainbows and a $700-fuckin-trillion "defense" budget.

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@snoopydawg

no war will again be fought on Russian soil. Invasion will not be tolerated.

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

snoopydawg's picture

And guess who reported the chemical attack, again? Yep. The White Helmets, the terrorist propaganda organization that we pay for as well as our other allies.

I hope that people will read the rest of the article. There are some links to others that discuss more about who the White Helmets are. There are videos that show how they rehearsed their rescue scenes before they film it. Millions are spent on this. Our millions.

Another Chemical Attack In Syria: But Why Is The Corporate Media Missing Crucial Points?

However, characteristically and typically, the mainstream media have immediately blamed the Syrian military for the dreadful attack even before investigations can occur. Their sources?

The White Helmets and Jaish al-Islam.

Lets first deal with Jaish al-Islam. The media have used Jaish al-Islam for information on the attacks, but how can a group who openly and proudly publish photos of them caging women to be used as human shields as they launch endless mortar and rocket attacks against civilians in Damascus be trusted?

IMG_1958.JPG

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

Bisbonian's picture

@snoopydawg [video:https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DmJmRwDGk60]

But the way it shows Richard Dawson, with video proof, lie to the audience on a daily basis, was prescient. I just wish I could find a better clip.

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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

snoopydawg's picture

@Bisbonian

Is this the running man? At first I thought it was an ad for the wounded warriors. Is that charity still functioning, or did it get shut down for fraud?

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

Bisbonian's picture

@snoopydawg . The premise of the film is that convicted criminals can play in a violent game show, and if they live, they go free...living on a tropical paradise somewhere. Richard Dawson (the ultimate evil game show host) shows video clips of former winners, as well as the case against Ahnold...but they've all been faked. This clip shows the undoctored images, much later in the movie.

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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

wendy davis's picture

@snoopydawg

seems to be that john bolton is scheduled to preside over a meeting of the US nat'l security council today, so that bodes well for WAR. i know y'all like caitlin johnstone, and this piece from RT features her: ‘Syria gases own people just as Trump mulls withdrawal?’ Journalists question Douma ‘chem attack

the banner says that the 'US sec def doesn't rule out military action after...' yanno, the fake fake freight train comin' at us we weren't able to stop.

patrick martin doesn't mince words: 'CIA stages gas attack pretext for Syria escalation', and he makes a good case. one commenter pointed out that it's likely not just CIA:

"I don't know why you're in such a rush to blame the CIA.
France had threatened action if chemical weapons were used, Saudi Arabia is behind the Jaysh al-Islam, and Israel would love to see the war on Syria continue. I for one wouldn't rule out any of them, acting with or without the CIA's knowledge."

but oh, what a fooking mess. martin's piece has quotes from the MSM, bellicosity, bellicosity. he also reminds us of funding sources, which specifics i always forget. oddly, i'd thought i'd become inured to some of this darkness, but this one is making me sick to my stomach and on sleepless side. perhaps the sheer inevitability of it? and what it means in terms of wider wars?

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