A Wood Rat's Response to the Dismal State of Our Disunion

Having listened to all three sides of the fascist triangle on the "State of the Union", it's easy to see that all three miss the mark to varying degrees.

There's plenty of jingoistic bullshit that can be picked apart from the SOTU, from Trump's constant bloviating about the need for a border wall despite the fact that we already have one, to his whining that he can't achieve any success while being investigated, to using a formerly imprisoned black woman as a kabuki theater prop, and finally to the chants of "USA! USA!" and constant clapping after the moron and chief finishes a sentence. All of these things would certainly be worthy of dissection, but one thing really stood out to me.

Trump said that disabled unemployment is lower than it's ever been, when in actuality, it's remained relatively constant. The current rate for unemployment among those with disabilities is 9.2 percent, more than double the rate for those without disabilities. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also mentions that 8 in 10 people with disabilities do not participate in the labor force as of 2017.

Another bit that is usually ignored is that the majority of folks with disabilities work part-time and are more likely to work in the service industry or be self-employed than their able-bodied counterparts. This is largely because societal and economic participation are outright DENIED to us. And in this wood rat's view, the 'programs' that are supposed to 'help' us actually make it much easier to keep us out of mainstream society.

For more on this subject, feel free to take a look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics News Release here.

Oh, and let's not forget Dipshit's whining about Socialism:

For the first time in American history, a president of the United States, in a nationwide television address, denounced the growing popular support for socialism. “We are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country,” Trump declared. He pledged, “Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country.” His audience, Democrats and Republicans alike, registered their approval with applause.

Stacey Abrams' response was equally pathetic, with all the jingoistic rhetoric of faith, values and 'hard work' sprinkled in for good measure along with the pledges to suck dick for Trump whenever told to because, even though they don't agree on whether or not they should put a velvet glove on the iron fist of capital, they both agree that said fist must remain. After all, the Dems cheered the same "USA! USA!" chant when it was mentioned that a record number of women served in congress.

Bernie Sanders, while touching on a few important issues, also woefully misses the mark. He still refuses to address the fraud committed against him by his own party and kept quiet on our bid to overthrow Venezuela's government via a textbook School of the Americas operation led by the CIA, with a relatively unknown puppet, Juan Guaido, as its pretty face, but he did condemn the Saudi operation in Yemen, so I guess that's something.

Make no mistake, the ruling class in the US are scared shitless of even the moderate social-democratic reforms proposed by the likes of Sanders or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Although she's slowly but surely walking it all back). This is only going to get worse, folks. How much worse? I can't say, though I suspect we'll end up in a situation where Trumpy Boy tries to play the part of one Ulfric Stormcloak to Kamala Harris'or Kirsten Gillibrand's Elisif the Fair, both undeserving of any leadership role whatsoever.

I suppose the coming years are going to be....interesting.

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had to watch/listen to All of that. I couldn't do it. I tried to listen to Stacy, I even tried to watch bernie, no dice. Less than two minutes in for each and I had to bail.
The bullshit is Strong in these people-let alone dRumph. Didn't even Try to listen to him-sanity said No.
We are All chucked if these are what we produce as 'leaders'.

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Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .

Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .

If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march

There is a lesson here for all to see, the establishment fascists are really good at marketing. It's all lies. Just for one example, the median income in the US corrected for inflation is barely above that of 1970. So this great capitalist country has produced no gains for most of the people in 50 years. In the meanwhile, Communist China has lifted more people out of poverty, about 600 million, than any other political/economic system in all of history. It would make far more sense to celebrate China's form of Communism, with a free market at the consumer level, than the US. More lies-the US defeated ISIS in Syria. The Syrian Arab Army defeated ISIS with the help of Russia. The US managed to bomb the city of Raqqa flat, killing tens of thousands of civilians. That's what the US has excelled at over the decades. Raqqa remains in ruins, another hallmark of American "help". Yet Trump touts this as a great achievement. Break all of his statements down and they amount to either outright lies, or having nothing to do with him. We live in a fantasy world created by marketing, and bought almost totally by the population.

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Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.

The Aspie Corner's picture

@The Wizard As far as China is concerned, they're actually quite capitalist these days thanks to Deng Xiaoping after his assassination of the Gang of Four (Mao's successors). As a matter of fact, Tienanmen Square happened precisely because Maoists were protesting Deng's restoration of capitalism. Put another way, Deng did to China what Reagan and Thatcher did to the US and Britain respectively.

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

Thanks, I usually feel better rinsing my brain with some Abby normal:

She sure makes AOC sound like weak tea. Inside/outside a quadrangle, where next? nowhere man

... please listen
You don't know what you're missing
Nowhere Man, the world is at your command

good luck

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wendy davis's picture

@eyo

bern ain't a socialist, but a reform capitalist DSA. crap, even abby gets it wrong now and again.

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@eyo @eyo Trump did not create the crisis to which she refers.

It was a long time coming, like decades.

Smedley Butler, who died in the 40's, knew what was going on. The commenter on the tape acts like no one has ever heard of exploitation before Trump, as if it just some sort of newly-arisen currently that keeps people from understanding.

Trump is not a fascist anymore than the dems who are in power, yet people hiss about him as if he is something entirely different.

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dfarrah

try to watch that mess. They are all liars, most of them outright PROVEN liars, but they get up there and project away and the horrible part is people not only listen to it but believe it. I can't watch ANY of them anymore. And the smiling faces in that gallery, nodding along with the idiot in chief, well, why make myself throw up if I do not have to?

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Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

wendy davis's picture

(wsws this a.m), he agrees with you in the main about 'the Democratic response, delivered by former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams' but less politely.

he's also saying:

“The source of this fear is not feckless Democratic Party politicians like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez—who used an interview following the State of the Union to disassociate herself from socialism—but what the ruling class sees unfolding in the cities throughout the country.”

do you know where that interview is? not on her twitter, though a few self-serving ones are.

also, this:

“Other polls consistently show growing support for socialism and hostility to capitalism.
Socialism is resurging because capitalism has failed. The class struggle, long suppressed, is beginning to burst into the open.”

now DSAs would claim that it's been they who've brought the theme to popularity, and that may be; but it's not socialism, of course, which is why the tankies can't abide them all.

but telesur english has some of the bern's and other 'progressive's' arguments, tall about DR-era weak tea.

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@wendy davis column touches on Tucker Carlson and a show he did. I don't watch any of that crap, so it may be old news, but it's interesting in that even the right has to give some acknowledgement of the state of the country. Maybe the dems wil wake up /snark

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/06/opinion/tucker-carlson-republicans-de...

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@Snode He talks similarly to us on a number of issues. One of his most recent programs talked about tech tyranny and privacy.

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dfarrah

Agreed. Thanks for putting it out there.

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