I like that the Genocide Joe label is sticking around. I think many agree, especially with what you can now see in Ukraine and Palestine. Ukraine is finally becoming public and people finally understand it was Genocide Joe's war of choice for the military manufacturers and he cares nothing for the people of Ukraine.
I do have my doubts that Genocide Joe himself will stick around, though. His issues are just becoming more and more visible anytime he talks in public - or even walks in public.
I really have no idea who the main candidates will be next summer - there's a lot of manipulation and lawfare to come.
I don't, either, not really. The Democrats have said that for all intents and purposes there will be no primary, or at the most a primary with only one name on the ballot. I suspect they will replace Biden at the convention with somebody like Governor Goodhair of California, but their campaign will be no different.
It seems Trump Bad! will be their message again. Since Trump can run for President even if he is incarcerated, and since his poll numbers go up with each indictment, if they jail him he'd win by an even larger margin.
"if they jail him he'd win by an even larger margin."
It is funny that Donald Trump of all people -- the poster boy for 1980s capitalism at its lewdest and grossest -- has evolved into a modern version of Eugene Debs. If he does win from jail it will be hilarious. What's the Permanent State gonna do? Call off the election?
I believe that even the Dems know that if Biden runs against pretty much any of the current bizarre GOP lineup, and wins, and THEN does something not possible to cover up - Kamala would be an even worse disaster than she is at present. Personally, I would have to quit the internet altogether rather than have to read shilling for Harris. As Bill the Cat says, THBBFT!!! ACHth!!! BLECCH!
So your scenario makes sense - Gavin has such pretty hair, and just look at how he has helped the folks in California! I bet we could disappear the homeless in the US just like what happened in San Francisco for APEC! And likely Bernie could make the announcement on stage, trying to rope in some Progressives. Rather watch Clint Eastwood talk to a chair. Hey, wait, that was entertaining as F.
I dunno, they might well run him unless the bodily health gives out. The whole "weekend at Bernies" setup is keeping the current WH staff in power just fine. And as far as they know, they're doing the country a favor with their savvy guidance.
Whereas someone like Newsom might have enough ego to actually try to put their own staff in place.
Newsom seems like a nice, attractive, good-haired drone from the Borg Cube. He'll get up there and tell us, very nicely and with a great smile, that resistance is futile.
Yeah, I use the term where applicable- anywhere. Can anyone think of a the song that can be used to the tune of? I'm thinking something like, "Genocide Joe, Genocide Joe... He don't know which way to go. Genocide Joe, he don't know if he got into Hunter's blow."
The more people that become aware of the propaganda, lies as well as how immoral the things that are happening daily are, and start voicing out against as well as rejecting the government's actions or lack of action, the better, as only highly sustained, significant pushback from the masses will be able to pressure the ruling class enough to actually act responsibly.
The recent clip where he is asked about all the evidence of contacts between him and his son’s foreign business partners and he just stands there with his mouth hanging open for ten seconds until he comes out with “it’s lies! It’s all Lies! Just lies!” while he does the finger jab like he’s about to challenge someone to a push-up contest should be made into a Trump campaign ad.
You've gotta wonder how much of Genocide Joe's idiocy is scripted and how much of it is the real thing. Well, nothing is real in DC, so maybe it's all just a bad scene from the West Wing. But I think he's really going for being the "best" at being the "worst president ever." He'll get approval ratings in the single digits before spring if he keeps up his "performance."
I think it's all scripted. I wish a hacker would hack into his tele-promted messages and get GenocideJoe to say something like, "My son Hunter is guilty as hell."
Give it some time... I bet he will slip up. My thought is Genocide Joe will say at a press conference something like, "Ah, it's okay to give Israel those bombs. They're just cleaning up the neighborhood of colored people. I'd wipe them all out if I could." I'd like to watch the Dems squirm trying to cover up his bigotry then and prevent him from being lynched.
I would like some ideas why the Dem party ran Joe & "whatz-her-name"? Seriously. They could have nominated anyone, they have the power. So why these losers? Seriously? I know it sounds conspiratorially crazy, but I think the Oligarchy or Plutocracy or Neoliberal Elite, really want the Dems to lose. And why not? Their loyal sycophant followers will go along no matter what. Easier than thinking for themselves. When Dems own the presidency they are expected to do something good which they refuse to do. They pay the victim card to get more donations from their followers. I think the Oligarchy likes having Trump as president. What a great distraction.
I'm not so sure about that. Trump has a habit of saying the quiet part out loud, like "We're in Syria for the oil. We have the oil. We're taking the oil." Plus he refused to start a new war, for reasons I don't claim to understand.
That's enough reason for the oligarchy to hate him right there.
As to your first question, the oligarchy selected Trump to LOSE to Hillary Clinton in 2016. It never occurred to them that Trump could actually win. Hell, it never even occurred to ME that Trump could actually win until a couple of weeks before the election.
Trump won in a voter revolt, not for Trump, but against the political establishment in general. Like Ukraine with Zelensky, the UK with Boris Johnson, Argentina with whatever that oxymoronic anarcho-capitalist clown they just elected, Trump was an unfocused voter revolt, a middle finger to the oligarchy because the voters didn't know what the hell else they could do at the moment of the election.
Even if it means not voting, like Black voters in Michigan.
As to your second question, I don't know. I can only speculate, but speculation is fun so here goes.
We knew the weekend before South Carolina in 2020 that Barack Obama had called all the Democrat candidates and told them to drop out and endorse Joe Biden, which most of them immediately did.
Then the lockdowns conveniently came along, Bernie did a reverse metamorphosis and turned from populist butterfly to cravenly caterpillar, and Hey, Presto! President Genocide Joe! Barely. They were surprised by the skimpiness of Biden's victory. I learned some things in four years so I wasn't.
It is possible that Obama wants to continue to be a behind-the-scenes player. I think he likes pretending to be the Big Boss, and he is very useful to insanely powerful people. They really thought Harris would appeal to Black voters in spite of what happened in the primary. I think a lot of the oligarchs believe their own bullshit about tribalism and identity politics, or at least their PMC servants do.
After all, you can't move up that PMC ladder without having a good DEI score, and it's been that way in government and media since at least Obama's first year in office. Trump did nothing to change it, because he's a fooking clown and that little thing never really got his attention when he was Prez. I know because I experienced it.
As for Biden, I also heard that Obama told him when he first announced his candidacy in 2020, "You don't have to do this, Joe." That's a long way from bullying other Democrats into supporting Joe just a few months later, so something probably happened. What? I don't know, but I can guess.
Maybe they thought they could easily manipulate Biden into doing whatever they wanted, no matter how crazy. You know, things like risking nuclear war with both Russia and China, which is so insane that even Trump thought it was nuts and refused to play ball.
Biden HAS done these things, and is now cheerleading a VERY profitable genocide that is absolutely guaranteed to create still more instability and more war.
Maybe that's why they went for Biden and Harris. Maybe.
"oxymoronic anarcho-capitalist clown " Right. The last time I had heard of anarcho-capitalism was from Milton Friedman's son David. I thought about this new outbreak of anarcho-capitalism and it just did not make any sense to me. Capitalism was in a sense quite successful, for about 1850-1990 because it was embedded in a lot of social institutions. Just persons trading stuff for profit does not make for anything kind of human society, so if this guy puts his programs in I see Argentina just collapsing...again. Didn't they already collapse economically about ten or twenty years ago or default or something? That is one weird country. I was wandering around Buenos Aires waiting for my flight out one time and I noticed two things about Argentina. A lot of huge buildings that seemed to be banks, and a really sick number of ladies displaying their bellies. I spent most of my time around Cordoba in a landscape that looked like it needed dinosaurs.
Here's how it is going so far, from Internet reports:
"... Milei reformed over 300 laws to establish "the foundations for the reconstruction of the Argentine economy."
Among other things, his decree transforms all state-owned enterprises into anonymous societies..."
There are protests already!! This new Argentine regime that lets capitalists operate with impunity also announces to protesters... ""Streets are not to be taken. We will restore order to the country so that people can live in peace," Bullrich affirmed, warning that the Milei administration will penalize those who make, organize, instigate, or are accomplices to blockades. "
ALSO: " In the short term, Argentinians will have to cope with a year-on-year inflation rate of 161 percent, which could escalate to hyperinflation of 15,000 percent in the coming years, as acknowledged by Milei himself.
Leaders of workers' organizations such as Vanina Biasi, Gabriel Solano, and Eduardo Belliboni upheld the constitutional right to protest, emphasizing that the Milei regime "lacks legal authority" to prevent it.
"What bothers them is that people protest against the measures of their government," said legislator Myriam Bregman from the Left Front and Workers (FIT), " Sounds like it took about two days for this thing to fall apart! But, I mean, "good luck" Milei. It was worth a try, eh?
My theory is they did not have anybody else. There are no more true believers. It is literally empty at the top. There is no legitimacy to the system. There is no society. There cannot be "progressive" leaders if there is nothing to lead. We are nothing but an empty husk of a commercial society, whose economic system no longer makes any sense at all, dedicated to selling nothing burgers to one another as a way of keeping the money circulating. I don't participate, I am an autistic person.
And yet - some folks spend the entire campaign season dutifully carrying water for the Dems, exhorting others at great length, or in short authoritarian outbursts - vote for the blue no matter who. Looks to me like the entire electoral structure is just one big corrupt sham, and has nothing at all to do with what actually happens. I am constantly amazed at who takes all this seriously. Yes, what happens is serious, but honestly there is more and more of a ludicrous gap between campaign blather and reality. And the parties no longer bother to pretend there is not.
very nicely composed; it manages to project your view quite well. This is fairly rare. Usually I read pieces here in which I need to truly struggle to extract the meaning. This article here is much more Um----tractable? Well, I don't know the word for it, but it makes him easier to understand. A nice read. I 'get' especially the point at the end, which is that the overly-educated blue state democrat voters, so far, do not want to turn away from Biden, or not to that other guy certainly. It is difficult to see how that could happen. They still favor Biden because they honestly believe there "must be" some core decency to the liberal Washington establishment. That is what the fairy tale books say, so if they are so "educated" they can read the books. Hey---what can ya do?
Doesn't matter how much Biden messes up --- the "educated" will vote for him. (~always---?).
I believe it's a state of denial. They want to believe. They know CNN lies to them but they allow it because it helps them maintain their denial state. They don't want to handle the truth.
Yeah, some of this is true; insofar as Joe is a creature of the entrenched neoliberal interests that run the DNC. Trump may have more problems than Joe has now, tho'; that have nothing to do with his court cases. The GOP's ceding of leadership to its Jesus Mullah faction and its current excesses threaten to fracture its coalition, as libertarians begin to fear that their freedoms might be on the chopping block next. That's a significant, if not noisy, bloc for Republicans to lose; and the party's billionaire owners might not be able to paper over the split this time. A lot of Trump's voters, even from 2020, might opt to sit '24 out; if not silently, temporarily, defect.
You may have a point there. I admit I don't pay as much attention to Republicans as I probably should. Trump brought in a lot of voters who are loyal to him personally because he projects himself as this iconoclastic figure, and because he was a handy stick to poke in the eye of the political establishment which has screwed them over so thoroughly for decades.
I think they'll turn out for Trump, but if the Republicans manage to nominate someone else they will also manage to alienate most of those voters. If that happens, who knows? Governor Goodhair might have a chance after all. I don't think Biden does no matter who the 'Pubs run.
It's always a good idea to "Know Your Enemy"; but in this case, it's not by reading what they say. No one will denigrate Trump in public, but while mouthing the slogans a lot of the "edge-case" indys who voted for Trump are tired of him and his cult's constantly obnoxious braying and weary of the chaos he brings with him. Without those voters, Trump will lose again; and worse than the last time. That's why the Christian Mullahs are trying to seize the GOP and rig the system to maintain the power he got them. Trouble is, a whole faction of the GOP aren't fond of them either.
Wow, to me, an old-time progressive, those deep blue states look so ATTRACTIVE. I am in Florida now, but I always used to live in Chicago until 2003, then more Chicago 2009 to 2017. Ah, what beautiful places to live! Illinois, Vermont, New York. That great old jazz song, “Moonlight over Vermont,” for example. However that actually WENT….
Ah, the beautiful BLUE states So attractive to me… (I think I hear Chicago calling me back…)
I was in Chicago a couple of years ago, and they still had some of the Covid nonsense going on there. I was not impressed. The El-train looked like it had the cars from 1987 the last time I lived there, and Cleveland has better "Chicago-style" pizza, which was invented by a Texan.
We wanted to go to the Museum of Art, but they had this thing where you weren't guaranteed to be able to see the exhibit you wanted if there were already too many people in there because Covid, so forget that. We went to a highly recommended Mexican place and it was as bland as California so-called Mexican.
You can have Illinois or any other blue state. I'll keep NE Ohio. We're messed up, but at least we admit it. And remember, as the country song says, "Red states have Waffle House, blue states don't."
I think it's pretty subjective. All my memories involve Chicago, and the old things I used to know before this utter wack nonsense started taking over around 2015. So, that was just a kind of nostalgic swoon, I think thanks to some kind of map you had the utter temerity to display. Right now, I am really, really worried about Substack. We should start our own little website. How hard can that be? I was reading this guy who wrote the "Atlantic" article about Substack and I learned that Hamish, the founder, was pretty closely involved with Elon Musk. That guy actually gave me a lot of information when I went over there and read a few of his pieces. As you may know, I am skeptical about his reasons for going on this weird anti-Substack kick. But, yes I am worried about Substack now. My popularity is skyrocketing (probably humor) to some 30 views per story now. I need help badly
Utter temerity? Yes, I have lots of temerity. I'm an intelligent, arrogant and potentially dangerous SOB. It's in my DNA. All my ancestors were either European colonists in North America or their rebellious African slaves.
I don't know Hamish. I've never met him. But I've known people like Katz for a LONG time. I know what they are and why they are. They are stenographers to power, and are paid to squelch anyone who challenges that power. Fortunately, they're not very good at their jobs.
Don't worry about Substack. The writers here can take care of ourselves if we are allowed to do so. I rejoice that your popularity is rising. Mine appears to be on an upward incline as well if the number of subscribers is any indication. I hope that humor is one reason why. Without humor, there is no humanity.
Well, fyi: Katz explains that everyone who runs a social platform exists in a small circle with all the other ones. I find that really strange and disturbing. Hamish turns out to be in the Musk club, for awhile. He just received 80 million dollars in funding. This is from this person He reports that Hamish approached Musk to write about him. Musk hired Hamish for a year. When I said 40 views a day, I thought I was joking. That is not much, is it? I have 42 subscribers officially. Some do not actually read it. I think maybe ten persons read it often and about five read almost everything. I do not seriously think 40 views a day is a lot, no.
"To realize this mission, we have to do much more than build good software. We have to build a new kind of network: one that unlocks the scale and democratizing power of the internet but is based on principles that give control to writers and readers. In such a network, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Each new person who joins Substack makes the network more valuable for everyone else." Link below (what does the "on" prefix mean?)
Yes, it's OK! Please do. Credit's nice, but I'm not going to sue you if you don't give it. And thanks for that link. I saved it, and will definitely use some of those pictures at some point.
And you can always use art from my www.DeMOCKracy.ink website ... cartoons, illustrations, photos. All for free use. A link back to the site would be nice, but not necessary.
Oh, no. You are running right into fascism, here. Except for his support of Zionist Israel--and how little authority we have to challenge THEIR “manifest destiny” when our own was exactly the same--Biden’s been a great president. He fought for and signed the American Rescue Plan that protects workers’ pensions, provided funding to communities and businesses, lowered/eliminated insurance costs for low-income families, and cut child poverty in half during the pandemic. He signed a trillion-dollar infrastructure bill we desperately needed. He passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to increase red flag laws to help prevent gun deaths. He raised standards for police. He brought unemployment to 3.5%. The stock market is higher than ever. Jobs have increased by 13.2 millions, recovering completely since Covid. Please read: https://www.recorder.com/my-turn-Grosky-Biden-s-Record-and-Accomplishments-52422040
I think you’re buying into a MAGA narrative that’s essentially untrue. Biden has steadied the ship of state and presided over a tremendous surge in the economy. The Dow is soaring. Unemployment is at an all time low. He passed a huge and desperately needed infrastructure bill and lifted millions of children out of poverty during the pandemic. He mobilized free COVID vaccines unbelievably fast. He’s not senile--hell’s bells, he could go through four more years and STILL be younger than Chuck Grassley is right now, while Trump is irrational. And there’s no evidence that Hunter Biden is corrupt;the MAGA set is just spreading innuendo without evidence. Yes, he’s struggled with addiction. Yes, Biden has indulged him--but Biden lost his wife and firstborn son. His love for what he has left of family is moving, not insidious. We can choose to disagree, no harm, no foul.
The price of eggs three years ago was 88 cents a dozen. Now it's under $2 when there's a special. Most of it has been caused by corporate greed, and the Democrats have done NOTHING about it because they don't WANT to do anything about it.
They serve the corporations. They're Fascists themselves. You will find no converts to your cult on this Substack site, Democrat. You're probably better off elsewhere.
You sound like me in 1979, running around telling people how great Jimmy Carter was. It made no difference in 1980.
I don't like Trump, except sometimes when he's funny, but Genocide Joe has already been far worse than Trump in a myriad of ways, and he has zero chance of re-election no matter what you or I may say.
To channel Walter Cronkite, "And that's the way it is."
I understand why you might think that your way is “the way it is.” You are older, the world you knew doesn’t exist anymore, and you’re frightened. Or you’re just rich and you don’t care about anybody else. Either way, each generation must give way to the next. It’s inevitable. Try to be kind. And we can simply agree to disagree. You are not, after all, any sort of barbarian in real life.
Frightened? I'm working class and about to retire on a fixed income. I would be crazy if I wasn't frightened. What you need to understand is that I KNOW why material reality is such that I am rational to be afraid of the future, I know the policies that caused this condition, I know who crafted those policies and which politicians served the interests of my class enemies by making those policies law, and my reality.
I am sorry you didn't see the humor in the old joke, but you must also understand that I was a loyal Democrat in my youth and early middle age. I was fooled once by Clinton, once by Obama, and twice by Bernie Sanders. The Democrats have extracted all the money and time they ever will from me, and I will never vote for a Democrat again.
None of my longtime subscribers want to live through the debates of whether or not to support the D's against the alleged lesser evil again, and neither do I, not in my own comments section. Notes is another matter.
Another Democrat talking point reply like that and I'll ban you. It's too insulting to the intelligence of most readers here.
Oh, dear, the insulting and condescending VFTBNMWs are out now. Always fun to watch for the moment they become unhinged authoritarians. Anyway, someone who blathers that "You are older, the world you knew doesn’t exist anymore, and you’re frightened." and then smoothly (they think) exhorts you to vote for someone who demonstrably is elderly and likely has dementia - needs a better source to copy and paste from. Hopefully we won't be subjected to shite like this trying to talk up Kamala Harris. Innit hilarious how you and others are pronounced "too old" by those shilling Joe Biden?
Also glad to have left the Dems and realizing both parties are part of the same machine. Listening to RFK and the Palestine events - that is also a big resounding NOPE. The mindset, not just Palestine.
As you know from JPR, I'm usually hesitant to ban people, but I'm not about to allow a bunch of DU types free reign here.
I guess I'll be blocking a lot more people, and quite a few AIs, on Substack Notes as well. They're here to suppress debate and silence dissent, not to do anything positive, and most are cultists and hence very resistant to reason.
Besides, I AM getting old, and my precious time becomes more precious with every passing day. I don't want to waste it on shills, except to use them as rhetorical target practice from time to time. Gotta keep those skills sharp!
So - Biden is above that generational bullshite? It is the mindset that is important, anyway, not the age. You got a little too facile and condescending there, methinks. Not that your words are in any way persuasive - just designed to insult, which seems a bit short-sighted for a Dem shill.
He really is. I've been a historian of sorts since I was a kid, and really dove into American presidents.
I always thought James Buchanan was impossible to beat. After all, he did nothing to avert the Civil War, and after Lincoln won the 1860 election he ordered vast quantities of munitions sent to the southern states, helping to enable secession and prolonging the consequent war.
But nuclear weapons did not exist then, and had not for 60 years before he was elected. Johnson never risked war with two nuclear-armed powers. Johnson also never funded a genocide. Genocide Joe can claim the title of Worst President Ever with pride.
In the "Things The Empire Wants Us To Forget" file - Remember when Obama said he couldn't help himself and signed the NDAA that included authorization for the president to arrest anyone "suspected" of terrorism without any Constitutional rights (Indefinite Detention)? Apparently that has been normalized.
I like that the Genocide Joe label is sticking around. I think many agree, especially with what you can now see in Ukraine and Palestine. Ukraine is finally becoming public and people finally understand it was Genocide Joe's war of choice for the military manufacturers and he cares nothing for the people of Ukraine.
I do have my doubts that Genocide Joe himself will stick around, though. His issues are just becoming more and more visible anytime he talks in public - or even walks in public.
I really have no idea who the main candidates will be next summer - there's a lot of manipulation and lawfare to come.
I don't, either, not really. The Democrats have said that for all intents and purposes there will be no primary, or at the most a primary with only one name on the ballot. I suspect they will replace Biden at the convention with somebody like Governor Goodhair of California, but their campaign will be no different.
It seems Trump Bad! will be their message again. Since Trump can run for President even if he is incarcerated, and since his poll numbers go up with each indictment, if they jail him he'd win by an even larger margin.
People like martyrs, you know.
"if they jail him he'd win by an even larger margin."
It is funny that Donald Trump of all people -- the poster boy for 1980s capitalism at its lewdest and grossest -- has evolved into a modern version of Eugene Debs. If he does win from jail it will be hilarious. What's the Permanent State gonna do? Call off the election?
There is no figuring out anything in this world anymore.
So far, four states will only have Biden on the primary ballot. Hopefully, some will realize how much of a lie it is that the US is a democracy. Nope.
That seems to be the plan--make sure only Genocide Joe can win the primary, then swap him out at the convention next summer if necessary.
I think it is already necessary, and the Dems like Obama running things behind the scenes know it.
Anyway, whenever a Democrat says "democracy," substitute "oligarchy" and all the sudden they make logical sense.
I believe that even the Dems know that if Biden runs against pretty much any of the current bizarre GOP lineup, and wins, and THEN does something not possible to cover up - Kamala would be an even worse disaster than she is at present. Personally, I would have to quit the internet altogether rather than have to read shilling for Harris. As Bill the Cat says, THBBFT!!! ACHth!!! BLECCH!
So your scenario makes sense - Gavin has such pretty hair, and just look at how he has helped the folks in California! I bet we could disappear the homeless in the US just like what happened in San Francisco for APEC! And likely Bernie could make the announcement on stage, trying to rope in some Progressives. Rather watch Clint Eastwood talk to a chair. Hey, wait, that was entertaining as F.
I dunno, they might well run him unless the bodily health gives out. The whole "weekend at Bernies" setup is keeping the current WH staff in power just fine. And as far as they know, they're doing the country a favor with their savvy guidance.
Whereas someone like Newsom might have enough ego to actually try to put their own staff in place.
Newsom seems like a nice, attractive, good-haired drone from the Borg Cube. He'll get up there and tell us, very nicely and with a great smile, that resistance is futile.
I wonder if Netanyahu called up Geno Joe and told him to stop sending weapons to Ukraine and send more to Israel.
Yeah, I use the term where applicable- anywhere. Can anyone think of a the song that can be used to the tune of? I'm thinking something like, "Genocide Joe, Genocide Joe... He don't know which way to go. Genocide Joe, he don't know if he got into Hunter's blow."
If it hadn't been for Genocide Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from, where did you go?
Where did you come from, Genocide Joe?
He brought disaster wherever he went
The hearts of the girls was to Hell, broken, sent
They all ran away so nobody would know
And left only men 'cause of Genocide Joe
> [H]e can do it if he just sticks to the right drug cocktails and keeps projecting confidence in his ability to mislead.
Modern medicine does do wonders. Somewhere in the Hell, Woodrow Wilson and Leonid Brezhnev are quietly dying (yeah, again) from envy.
Under article 25 of the US Constitution a president unfit for office can be removed. Zombie Joe, should be the first to go.
The more people that become aware of the propaganda, lies as well as how immoral the things that are happening daily are, and start voicing out against as well as rejecting the government's actions or lack of action, the better, as only highly sustained, significant pushback from the masses will be able to pressure the ruling class enough to actually act responsibly.
The recent clip where he is asked about all the evidence of contacts between him and his son’s foreign business partners and he just stands there with his mouth hanging open for ten seconds until he comes out with “it’s lies! It’s all Lies! Just lies!” while he does the finger jab like he’s about to challenge someone to a push-up contest should be made into a Trump campaign ad.
You've gotta wonder how much of Genocide Joe's idiocy is scripted and how much of it is the real thing. Well, nothing is real in DC, so maybe it's all just a bad scene from the West Wing. But I think he's really going for being the "best" at being the "worst president ever." He'll get approval ratings in the single digits before spring if he keeps up his "performance."
I think it's all scripted. I wish a hacker would hack into his tele-promted messages and get GenocideJoe to say something like, "My son Hunter is guilty as hell."
Give it some time... I bet he will slip up. My thought is Genocide Joe will say at a press conference something like, "Ah, it's okay to give Israel those bombs. They're just cleaning up the neighborhood of colored people. I'd wipe them all out if I could." I'd like to watch the Dems squirm trying to cover up his bigotry then and prevent him from being lynched.
I would like some ideas why the Dem party ran Joe & "whatz-her-name"? Seriously. They could have nominated anyone, they have the power. So why these losers? Seriously? I know it sounds conspiratorially crazy, but I think the Oligarchy or Plutocracy or Neoliberal Elite, really want the Dems to lose. And why not? Their loyal sycophant followers will go along no matter what. Easier than thinking for themselves. When Dems own the presidency they are expected to do something good which they refuse to do. They pay the victim card to get more donations from their followers. I think the Oligarchy likes having Trump as president. What a great distraction.
I'm not so sure about that. Trump has a habit of saying the quiet part out loud, like "We're in Syria for the oil. We have the oil. We're taking the oil." Plus he refused to start a new war, for reasons I don't claim to understand.
That's enough reason for the oligarchy to hate him right there.
If the Oligarchy hated Trump, wouldn't they run a winner against him? Why did they choose Biden/Harris?
Also, I bet the FBI has enough on Trump to neutralize him if the Oligarchy wished.
As to your first question, the oligarchy selected Trump to LOSE to Hillary Clinton in 2016. It never occurred to them that Trump could actually win. Hell, it never even occurred to ME that Trump could actually win until a couple of weeks before the election.
Trump won in a voter revolt, not for Trump, but against the political establishment in general. Like Ukraine with Zelensky, the UK with Boris Johnson, Argentina with whatever that oxymoronic anarcho-capitalist clown they just elected, Trump was an unfocused voter revolt, a middle finger to the oligarchy because the voters didn't know what the hell else they could do at the moment of the election.
Even if it means not voting, like Black voters in Michigan.
As to your second question, I don't know. I can only speculate, but speculation is fun so here goes.
We knew the weekend before South Carolina in 2020 that Barack Obama had called all the Democrat candidates and told them to drop out and endorse Joe Biden, which most of them immediately did.
Then the lockdowns conveniently came along, Bernie did a reverse metamorphosis and turned from populist butterfly to cravenly caterpillar, and Hey, Presto! President Genocide Joe! Barely. They were surprised by the skimpiness of Biden's victory. I learned some things in four years so I wasn't.
It is possible that Obama wants to continue to be a behind-the-scenes player. I think he likes pretending to be the Big Boss, and he is very useful to insanely powerful people. They really thought Harris would appeal to Black voters in spite of what happened in the primary. I think a lot of the oligarchs believe their own bullshit about tribalism and identity politics, or at least their PMC servants do.
After all, you can't move up that PMC ladder without having a good DEI score, and it's been that way in government and media since at least Obama's first year in office. Trump did nothing to change it, because he's a fooking clown and that little thing never really got his attention when he was Prez. I know because I experienced it.
As for Biden, I also heard that Obama told him when he first announced his candidacy in 2020, "You don't have to do this, Joe." That's a long way from bullying other Democrats into supporting Joe just a few months later, so something probably happened. What? I don't know, but I can guess.
Maybe they thought they could easily manipulate Biden into doing whatever they wanted, no matter how crazy. You know, things like risking nuclear war with both Russia and China, which is so insane that even Trump thought it was nuts and refused to play ball.
Biden HAS done these things, and is now cheerleading a VERY profitable genocide that is absolutely guaranteed to create still more instability and more war.
Maybe that's why they went for Biden and Harris. Maybe.
Damn, Thom, it's good to see you again.
"oxymoronic anarcho-capitalist clown " Right. The last time I had heard of anarcho-capitalism was from Milton Friedman's son David. I thought about this new outbreak of anarcho-capitalism and it just did not make any sense to me. Capitalism was in a sense quite successful, for about 1850-1990 because it was embedded in a lot of social institutions. Just persons trading stuff for profit does not make for anything kind of human society, so if this guy puts his programs in I see Argentina just collapsing...again. Didn't they already collapse economically about ten or twenty years ago or default or something? That is one weird country. I was wandering around Buenos Aires waiting for my flight out one time and I noticed two things about Argentina. A lot of huge buildings that seemed to be banks, and a really sick number of ladies displaying their bellies. I spent most of my time around Cordoba in a landscape that looked like it needed dinosaurs.
I have never been in Argentina, so I don't have a comparable experience to yours. But their economy has collapsed before; I do know that much.
It sounds like a place that has never had a chance to find its own way to me. Perhaps that is something that should be allowed to happen.
Here's how it is going so far, from Internet reports:
"... Milei reformed over 300 laws to establish "the foundations for the reconstruction of the Argentine economy."
Among other things, his decree transforms all state-owned enterprises into anonymous societies..."
There are protests already!! This new Argentine regime that lets capitalists operate with impunity also announces to protesters... ""Streets are not to be taken. We will restore order to the country so that people can live in peace," Bullrich affirmed, warning that the Milei administration will penalize those who make, organize, instigate, or are accomplices to blockades. "
ALSO: " In the short term, Argentinians will have to cope with a year-on-year inflation rate of 161 percent, which could escalate to hyperinflation of 15,000 percent in the coming years, as acknowledged by Milei himself.
Leaders of workers' organizations such as Vanina Biasi, Gabriel Solano, and Eduardo Belliboni upheld the constitutional right to protest, emphasizing that the Milei regime "lacks legal authority" to prevent it.
"What bothers them is that people protest against the measures of their government," said legislator Myriam Bregman from the Left Front and Workers (FIT), " Sounds like it took about two days for this thing to fall apart! But, I mean, "good luck" Milei. It was worth a try, eh?
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Argentine-Government-Announces-a-Total-Crackdown-On-Protests-20231215-0009.html
My theory is they did not have anybody else. There are no more true believers. It is literally empty at the top. There is no legitimacy to the system. There is no society. There cannot be "progressive" leaders if there is nothing to lead. We are nothing but an empty husk of a commercial society, whose economic system no longer makes any sense at all, dedicated to selling nothing burgers to one another as a way of keeping the money circulating. I don't participate, I am an autistic person.
And yet - some folks spend the entire campaign season dutifully carrying water for the Dems, exhorting others at great length, or in short authoritarian outbursts - vote for the blue no matter who. Looks to me like the entire electoral structure is just one big corrupt sham, and has nothing at all to do with what actually happens. I am constantly amazed at who takes all this seriously. Yes, what happens is serious, but honestly there is more and more of a ludicrous gap between campaign blather and reality. And the parties no longer bother to pretend there is not.
very nicely composed; it manages to project your view quite well. This is fairly rare. Usually I read pieces here in which I need to truly struggle to extract the meaning. This article here is much more Um----tractable? Well, I don't know the word for it, but it makes him easier to understand. A nice read. I 'get' especially the point at the end, which is that the overly-educated blue state democrat voters, so far, do not want to turn away from Biden, or not to that other guy certainly. It is difficult to see how that could happen. They still favor Biden because they honestly believe there "must be" some core decency to the liberal Washington establishment. That is what the fairy tale books say, so if they are so "educated" they can read the books. Hey---what can ya do?
Doesn't matter how much Biden messes up --- the "educated" will vote for him. (~always---?).
I believe it's a state of denial. They want to believe. They know CNN lies to them but they allow it because it helps them maintain their denial state. They don't want to handle the truth.
Pretty much.
Yeah, some of this is true; insofar as Joe is a creature of the entrenched neoliberal interests that run the DNC. Trump may have more problems than Joe has now, tho'; that have nothing to do with his court cases. The GOP's ceding of leadership to its Jesus Mullah faction and its current excesses threaten to fracture its coalition, as libertarians begin to fear that their freedoms might be on the chopping block next. That's a significant, if not noisy, bloc for Republicans to lose; and the party's billionaire owners might not be able to paper over the split this time. A lot of Trump's voters, even from 2020, might opt to sit '24 out; if not silently, temporarily, defect.
You may have a point there. I admit I don't pay as much attention to Republicans as I probably should. Trump brought in a lot of voters who are loyal to him personally because he projects himself as this iconoclastic figure, and because he was a handy stick to poke in the eye of the political establishment which has screwed them over so thoroughly for decades.
I think they'll turn out for Trump, but if the Republicans manage to nominate someone else they will also manage to alienate most of those voters. If that happens, who knows? Governor Goodhair might have a chance after all. I don't think Biden does no matter who the 'Pubs run.
It's always a good idea to "Know Your Enemy"; but in this case, it's not by reading what they say. No one will denigrate Trump in public, but while mouthing the slogans a lot of the "edge-case" indys who voted for Trump are tired of him and his cult's constantly obnoxious braying and weary of the chaos he brings with him. Without those voters, Trump will lose again; and worse than the last time. That's why the Christian Mullahs are trying to seize the GOP and rig the system to maintain the power he got them. Trouble is, a whole faction of the GOP aren't fond of them either.
Wow, to me, an old-time progressive, those deep blue states look so ATTRACTIVE. I am in Florida now, but I always used to live in Chicago until 2003, then more Chicago 2009 to 2017. Ah, what beautiful places to live! Illinois, Vermont, New York. That great old jazz song, “Moonlight over Vermont,” for example. However that actually WENT….
Ah, the beautiful BLUE states So attractive to me… (I think I hear Chicago calling me back…)
I was in Chicago a couple of years ago, and they still had some of the Covid nonsense going on there. I was not impressed. The El-train looked like it had the cars from 1987 the last time I lived there, and Cleveland has better "Chicago-style" pizza, which was invented by a Texan.
We wanted to go to the Museum of Art, but they had this thing where you weren't guaranteed to be able to see the exhibit you wanted if there were already too many people in there because Covid, so forget that. We went to a highly recommended Mexican place and it was as bland as California so-called Mexican.
You can have Illinois or any other blue state. I'll keep NE Ohio. We're messed up, but at least we admit it. And remember, as the country song says, "Red states have Waffle House, blue states don't."
I think it's pretty subjective. All my memories involve Chicago, and the old things I used to know before this utter wack nonsense started taking over around 2015. So, that was just a kind of nostalgic swoon, I think thanks to some kind of map you had the utter temerity to display. Right now, I am really, really worried about Substack. We should start our own little website. How hard can that be? I was reading this guy who wrote the "Atlantic" article about Substack and I learned that Hamish, the founder, was pretty closely involved with Elon Musk. That guy actually gave me a lot of information when I went over there and read a few of his pieces. As you may know, I am skeptical about his reasons for going on this weird anti-Substack kick. But, yes I am worried about Substack now. My popularity is skyrocketing (probably humor) to some 30 views per story now. I need help badly
Utter temerity? Yes, I have lots of temerity. I'm an intelligent, arrogant and potentially dangerous SOB. It's in my DNA. All my ancestors were either European colonists in North America or their rebellious African slaves.
I don't know Hamish. I've never met him. But I've known people like Katz for a LONG time. I know what they are and why they are. They are stenographers to power, and are paid to squelch anyone who challenges that power. Fortunately, they're not very good at their jobs.
Don't worry about Substack. The writers here can take care of ourselves if we are allowed to do so. I rejoice that your popularity is rising. Mine appears to be on an upward incline as well if the number of subscribers is any indication. I hope that humor is one reason why. Without humor, there is no humanity.
Well, fyi: Katz explains that everyone who runs a social platform exists in a small circle with all the other ones. I find that really strange and disturbing. Hamish turns out to be in the Musk club, for awhile. He just received 80 million dollars in funding. This is from this person He reports that Hamish approached Musk to write about him. Musk hired Hamish for a year. When I said 40 views a day, I thought I was joking. That is not much, is it? I have 42 subscribers officially. Some do not actually read it. I think maybe ten persons read it often and about five read almost everything. I do not seriously think 40 views a day is a lot, no.
"To realize this mission, we have to do much more than build good software. We have to build a new kind of network: one that unlocks the scale and democratizing power of the internet but is based on principles that give control to writers and readers. In such a network, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Each new person who joins Substack makes the network more valuable for everyone else." Link below (what does the "on" prefix mean?)
https://on.substack.com/p/wefunder
I know very little about Hamish, actually. Musk is an ass.
How's that for subjective?
All I know is that I like Substack as it is. I don't want to see it degraded by self-righteous, and usually paid, censors. That's all.
Agreed on all counts.
There was a HUGE rally/march in Madison, Wisconsin this past Saturday. I did a write up with photos,, the last of which I think you will like and are free to use. You can use any of the photos. https://mark192.substack.com/p/massive-madison-protest-called-out
Heard from Revolution Continues you came up with: "Which oil company are we fighting for today?"
Okay if I use that in a cartoon? I'll give you credit and you can use, if you wish.
Yes, it's OK! Please do. Credit's nice, but I'm not going to sue you if you don't give it. And thanks for that link. I saved it, and will definitely use some of those pictures at some point.
And you can always use art from my www.DeMOCKracy.ink website ... cartoons, illustrations, photos. All for free use. A link back to the site would be nice, but not necessary.
Thank you again, and I'm sure I will. If things go well with my writing, I'll set up my own site. For now, I'll just hang out here.
Oh, no. You are running right into fascism, here. Except for his support of Zionist Israel--and how little authority we have to challenge THEIR “manifest destiny” when our own was exactly the same--Biden’s been a great president. He fought for and signed the American Rescue Plan that protects workers’ pensions, provided funding to communities and businesses, lowered/eliminated insurance costs for low-income families, and cut child poverty in half during the pandemic. He signed a trillion-dollar infrastructure bill we desperately needed. He passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to increase red flag laws to help prevent gun deaths. He raised standards for police. He brought unemployment to 3.5%. The stock market is higher than ever. Jobs have increased by 13.2 millions, recovering completely since Covid. Please read: https://www.recorder.com/my-turn-Grosky-Biden-s-Record-and-Accomplishments-52422040
YOU REALLY WANT TRUMP AGAIN?????
Nobody wants Trump again,but Joe is a poor alternative.He’s Paul Von Hindenbiden—old,mossback conservative,senile,with a corrupt son.
I think you’re buying into a MAGA narrative that’s essentially untrue. Biden has steadied the ship of state and presided over a tremendous surge in the economy. The Dow is soaring. Unemployment is at an all time low. He passed a huge and desperately needed infrastructure bill and lifted millions of children out of poverty during the pandemic. He mobilized free COVID vaccines unbelievably fast. He’s not senile--hell’s bells, he could go through four more years and STILL be younger than Chuck Grassley is right now, while Trump is irrational. And there’s no evidence that Hunter Biden is corrupt;the MAGA set is just spreading innuendo without evidence. Yes, he’s struggled with addiction. Yes, Biden has indulged him--but Biden lost his wife and firstborn son. His love for what he has left of family is moving, not insidious. We can choose to disagree, no harm, no foul.
The price of eggs three years ago was 88 cents a dozen. Now it's under $2 when there's a special. Most of it has been caused by corporate greed, and the Democrats have done NOTHING about it because they don't WANT to do anything about it.
They serve the corporations. They're Fascists themselves. You will find no converts to your cult on this Substack site, Democrat. You're probably better off elsewhere.
You sound like me in 1979, running around telling people how great Jimmy Carter was. It made no difference in 1980.
I don't like Trump, except sometimes when he's funny, but Genocide Joe has already been far worse than Trump in a myriad of ways, and he has zero chance of re-election no matter what you or I may say.
To channel Walter Cronkite, "And that's the way it is."
I understand why you might think that your way is “the way it is.” You are older, the world you knew doesn’t exist anymore, and you’re frightened. Or you’re just rich and you don’t care about anybody else. Either way, each generation must give way to the next. It’s inevitable. Try to be kind. And we can simply agree to disagree. You are not, after all, any sort of barbarian in real life.
Frightened? I'm working class and about to retire on a fixed income. I would be crazy if I wasn't frightened. What you need to understand is that I KNOW why material reality is such that I am rational to be afraid of the future, I know the policies that caused this condition, I know who crafted those policies and which politicians served the interests of my class enemies by making those policies law, and my reality.
I am sorry you didn't see the humor in the old joke, but you must also understand that I was a loyal Democrat in my youth and early middle age. I was fooled once by Clinton, once by Obama, and twice by Bernie Sanders. The Democrats have extracted all the money and time they ever will from me, and I will never vote for a Democrat again.
None of my longtime subscribers want to live through the debates of whether or not to support the D's against the alleged lesser evil again, and neither do I, not in my own comments section. Notes is another matter.
Another Democrat talking point reply like that and I'll ban you. It's too insulting to the intelligence of most readers here.
Oh, dear, the insulting and condescending VFTBNMWs are out now. Always fun to watch for the moment they become unhinged authoritarians. Anyway, someone who blathers that "You are older, the world you knew doesn’t exist anymore, and you’re frightened." and then smoothly (they think) exhorts you to vote for someone who demonstrably is elderly and likely has dementia - needs a better source to copy and paste from. Hopefully we won't be subjected to shite like this trying to talk up Kamala Harris. Innit hilarious how you and others are pronounced "too old" by those shilling Joe Biden?
Also glad to have left the Dems and realizing both parties are part of the same machine. Listening to RFK and the Palestine events - that is also a big resounding NOPE. The mindset, not just Palestine.
As you know from JPR, I'm usually hesitant to ban people, but I'm not about to allow a bunch of DU types free reign here.
I guess I'll be blocking a lot more people, and quite a few AIs, on Substack Notes as well. They're here to suppress debate and silence dissent, not to do anything positive, and most are cultists and hence very resistant to reason.
Besides, I AM getting old, and my precious time becomes more precious with every passing day. I don't want to waste it on shills, except to use them as rhetorical target practice from time to time. Gotta keep those skills sharp!
So - Biden is above that generational bullshite? It is the mindset that is important, anyway, not the age. You got a little too facile and condescending there, methinks. Not that your words are in any way persuasive - just designed to insult, which seems a bit short-sighted for a Dem shill.
You never had any tolerance for generational broadbrushing. I am happy to see that has not changed.
I still can't believe this nitwit was elected. He's just the worst of the worst in almost every way.
He really is. I've been a historian of sorts since I was a kid, and really dove into American presidents.
I always thought James Buchanan was impossible to beat. After all, he did nothing to avert the Civil War, and after Lincoln won the 1860 election he ordered vast quantities of munitions sent to the southern states, helping to enable secession and prolonging the consequent war.
But nuclear weapons did not exist then, and had not for 60 years before he was elected. Johnson never risked war with two nuclear-armed powers. Johnson also never funded a genocide. Genocide Joe can claim the title of Worst President Ever with pride.
I am not a racist but how do I change this black background to white.
In the "Things The Empire Wants Us To Forget" file - Remember when Obama said he couldn't help himself and signed the NDAA that included authorization for the president to arrest anyone "suspected" of terrorism without any Constitutional rights (Indefinite Detention)? Apparently that has been normalized.