Can you imagine Harris at a debate? My guess is the DNC is looking for plausible reasons to not have debates at all. And perhaps Hillary is thinking how to replace her at the convention. I don't even know WTF they will talk about at the convention, all they really have is Trump Bad. Maybe DeNiro (worst case of TDS I have ever seen) can talk to an empty recliner.
I'd love to see them try to avoid a debate with Trump. He could make out like Chris Rock in Head of State and have somebody run around everywhere $kamala goes in a chicken suit.
Debates, or at least the appearance of debates, are so traditional that I doubt the Democults can avoid one without taking a significant hit in the polls.
Besides, they probably think Walz will walk all over Vance. And he may! I don't know enough about him to say. Vance held his own against Tim Ryan, who campaigned against China and for Ukraine. All Vance had to do was not look crazy and oppose the Ukraine War.
But all Trump has to do is to mention $kamala's record, and tie her to Biden's abysmal failure of a record to clobber her.
Looks like Walz' "stolen valor" issue might loom large, at least with veterans. I am starting to think that either the Dems are so sure of themselves that they never vet anybody - just assume they can launder everything - or perhaps everyone else on the short list said nope.
$kamala will just yammer on about Trump's "felony" stuff, methinks. Hopefully she will make use of her recently acquired southern and street accents. She mostly sounds like a drunk, not very bright, kindergarten teacher.
Still rolling my eyes over White Dudes for Kamala and Comics for Kamala. Why would anyone give a flying F about what a celebrity thinks of a politician? Especially celebrities who earn a living being paid to say stuff other people wrote. Ridiculous. Yes, I know they are people too, but so many of them feel like their political opinions have more weight than non-celebrities'. Oh, and Ben Stiller saying all Jewish guys wish they were black. I have to file that under "stupid people do not know they are stupid".
Lol, I hadn't thought of Kamala in quite that way but it fits.
As for Walz, yeah, Command Sergeant Major as a weekend warrior doesn't mean jack shit to any regular forces veteran. I don't blame him for retiring in 2005 to get out of going to Iraq, and I could respect his decision if he came out publicly against the war at that time.
But nooooo...just the next year he got himself elected to Congress. Gee? How did that happen? He was in somebody's pocket. I don't know who, but I'm sure somebody will find out.
Not so sure that Giggles wouldn't make out ok in a debate. She is a master at "rope-a-dope" (please tell me I am not so old as to be the only one that knows that expression). And how can anyone not love that smile??
No, you are not the only one! Also, Harris has the smile of a cartoon donkey. She sort of reminds me of a completely unfunny Carol Burnette in the world's longest and most excruciating failed skit. I think Harris would maybe do okay in a tightly scripted and controlled debate, but not in a free-wheeling one. Also she has no actual sense of humor, which is quite different than laughing loudly at inappropriate moments. That all being said, I cannot imagine a debate affecting my vote. If I watch, it will be for entertainment purposes.
What Mark Taylor said. Harris, IMO, is a not-too-bright sociopath in an attractive package, and that's about it. I think she's shallow.
She's so fake she elevates Trump from swindler to scoundrel-with-huevos status in the eyes of a lot of voters. Or she will. This isn't exactly a tough prediction to make, either.
This is the genius of the DNC. They don't have to rig the primary. Prop up Joe as long as possible, then introduce Giggles and DON'T let her speak freely.
It's been a long while that in most (all?) western countries we are not called to vote FOR someone, but AGAINST someone, as a ploy to mask the uniformity of policy on both sides. They're still falling for it, mind blowing 🙄
What blows my mind is that most of the voters are professing themselves religious and they're still like "oh well, evil it is then, I'll just try and pick a lesser one, maybe 'vote for the cute one with the mole on the lip' or something" (actual slogan from an election campaign in the Philippines, ages ago, where they went for moles on the lip rather than policy or shades of evil😂)
The tacit understanding (given her own site doesn’t have a platform) is that she’ll continue New Dem stock policy, out of the box. Same as was the case with Biden and Clinton before them.
She’s stumped about a few things, but no real surprises. Here in Texas, she was in Houston a week or two ago touting a revamp of a clintonesque assault weapons ban, saying she wasn’t in favor of single payer care (vs the ACA), and basically fixating on damage control about SCOTUS.
Nothing too out of pocket or unexpected. It’s safe (for the party, anyway). For better and worse.
The comparison to mega church bible thumpers (me excepted of course!) is disturbingly apt. They are indeed acolytes of authoritarianism. The thing is, I understand why the hierarchy does it. They are cluster B reptile people who will eat each other's livers for a photo op. But I genuinely don't get why the rank and file are all in? As a recovering Democrat, can you offer any insight OB?
I attribute it to the 'deeducation' long underway in American society...Heard that term applied by either the one of the great economic thinkers (Wolff/Hudson) who characterized the current predicament that along with the deindustrialization/financialization starting also under Clinton is what will be hard to impossible to recover from.
The most fanatical of them have advanced degrees, at least a bachelor's. The more advanced the degree, the more formal higher education they have, the more fanatical they become because they are more susceptible to the meritocratic religion. It also helps if they've never really been financially uncomfortable for very long.
These people have been TAUGHT most of their lives that they have to think a certain way in order to maintain or improve their place in the social order, and that way is the right way because Very Smart People with advanced degrees such as their own who automatically deserve respect and trust because they are EXPERTS in their fields say thus is so, and therefore it's The Truth. Or The Science.
They want to believe they are special, smarter or at least smart enough to know whom to believe, and that their lifestyles and prejudices are morally superior to the dangerous, ignorant mob of barbarians they are told are marching on their gates.
That feeling of smug intellectual superiority is as addictive as opium to some people.
I am currently seeking a new job and I see far fewer job postings for the senior marketing management positions I’m looking for asking for MBAs.
A few years ago most of these job openings asked for MBAs, but now it’s the exception.
I wonder if companies were not experiencing the results they wanted from the super smart and special MBA holders (no surprise to anyone in marketing who has worked for/with white girl with an MBA), or if the MBA holders were causing friction within established teams. (White girls with MBAs hold meetings where they pretend to listen to everyone but then go with their own terrible idea instead because they’re smarter than everyone….and it’s everyone else’s fault when their ideas don’t work)
There is a lot of this, WGWMBA, going about.....in municipal planning in my experience.
A "wunderwoman " comes in , implements a fantastical idea.....and after a year or so is off to "Greener Pastures", to wreak havoc on another city....or go to work for a developer who has benefitted from the original idea, or even promoted it.
White guys used to do it, but there was a stabilizing "Old Boy Network" , moreso than now.
And don't forget what Carly Fiorina did to Hewlett/Packard. Talk about wreaking havoc. Then, of course, since is seems a particular type of destructive and power-mad woman (hey, I am a woman, and I am embarrassed by Fiorina, Clinton, and Harris and Pelosi. This is not what women's lib was about at all.) seems to embrace and be embraced by our corrupt system of government - she ran for president.
Having finished a PhD in the arts/humanities, I completely agree with your analysis of the role of post-secondary education in indoctrinating people into the Democult. My PhD actually helped me think my way out of liberalism, but I’m very much an exception.
Well, there's always the exception that proves the rule, isn't there. I'm glad you were the exception.
The only way I could escape it was simply to drop out. I was turning into a person I didn't like, and I figured out why it was happening. I couldn't figure out any way to stop the process in either grad or law school, and ended up dropping out of both.
You woke to the deceit of the 'Democult' before I did. I did a round as the co-chair of my county Democratic Party and volunteered on various campaigns and projects. Obama was the slap in the face I needed. I remember when he appointed Larry Summers to his cabinet I said to myself: Wait a damn second..."
Glenn Greenwald had an excellent video today on Harris's obnoxious attack on the genocide protesters. Note his comments about the crowd behind her and the quote he cites from George Orwell's "Animal Farm". The look on Harris's face as the cult screams approval tells you all you need to know about where she would/will take things. She's just a different version of Trump fascism.
To stick with the addiction metaphor, Obama was a relapse for me. He suckered me good. I even drove people to the polls on election day to vote for the SOB in 2008. I had the same reaction you did when he appointed Summers.
I tried to fool myself into thinking Obama was being clever by keeping his enemies close, like Lincoln did, but when he compared Jamie Dimon and other Wall Street vampires to baseball players he lost me.
Then I went for Bernie twice, though unenthusiastically the second time, because he had bowed to Hillary. I just thought he was the best shot at the time, but I never expected more than maybe Medicare for All from him. His foreign policy was always terrible.
So no, I didn't permanently see through the cult before you did. It's just that most Bernie supporters really DID leave the Democult in 2020. Most of the rest won't forgive Skamala for being the handmaiden to genocide.
All that's left are the hard core cultists, and most of them have advanced degrees or live with someone who does.
John Birchers? My mama used to say they were crazy because they "saw a Commie behind every bush."
I made the mistake of thinking Obama was a joke. I laughed at the very idea he could be elected. I did not realize how much the country had changed and how many older, White people had died off, thus changing the demographics of elections.
Regarding Bernie, I never voted for him, but I voted for Ron Paul twice, and I'm proud to say that I did. He at least called out the endless wars, the money printing, etc. And I remember being ridiculed by people for supporting Ron Paul, but they ended up with egg on their face. He would have been a better president than scumbag Bush or wannabe-tyrant Obama.
I knew enough political "science" to pay attention to the polls, which showed Obama could carry states like Ohio. I also remember a lot of native Ohioans, black and white, for or opposed to Obama, saying that was impossible.
I'm certainly not going to bash you for voting for an honest man, even if I vehemently disagree with some of his economic ideas. At least, I think Paul is honest. I no longer think that about Bernie.
I agree about Bernie. He was always a fraud. I think they bribed him with a couple of houses or something to get them out of the campaign against Hillary.
I think Bernie was threatened. I remember a speech he gave before he announced his run for the presidency. He said something to the effect that if I have enough people behind me I would be willing to take the risk to myself and family. Those in power are not beyond actually threats.
I think you may well be right. I know there was some fishy stuff with his wife's job or financial issues. Maybe they threatened a "Just-Us" Dept investigation. Given we have criminals running the country, any damn thing is possible.
What can I say? Cultists gonna cult. They compete with each other to show who has the most enthusiasm for the Dear Leader. That's why the applause and cheering lasted so long. Well, that, and to shout down the Enemy whom Harris addressed, like barking seals on cue.
If protesters appeared in Hagee's megachurch and started chanting that Hagee was a fraud, they would get a similar reaction.
While I agree about the cultists there is another group that is just as bad. Many if not most of us were brought up to have blind faith in authoritarian leadership. I know lots of people that think that the progressives are radicals and they have faith in the good party.
Obama was also the slap in my face. I waited for 8 years so the Dems could undo what Bush did and Obama was the man. But I knew at Rick Warren at his inauguration that we were fucked. And then Rahmbo was the real gut punch.
At the time all those Obama cabinet appointments were being made I was approached by some DNC-related group interested in having me work with them on some project because of work I had done locally on the campaign. The meeting took place in my office on an early evening. It was dark outside and the whole thing felt odd. I had never heard of the woman who came to meet me. I expressed my disgust at the cabinet appointments and the meeting ended shortly after. Kinda' wish I had played along awhile to learn what the hell they were up to and who was behind them.
I did see a suggestion that some on the short list did not really want to be on a ticket with her.
Even though I feel that the entire election construct is corrupt joke, I think I may just vote for Trump. The thought of that braying nasty incoherent jackass being president is revolting. Yeah, a vote is just a sputtering candle in the wind, but it is the only gesture I can make. Except a digital gesture.
Hopefully there won't be as many tedious VFTBNMW screeds to wade through/around this time.
My father took me to see JFK speak, in Chester, PA. My father would be sickened at what the Democrats have become. At least I hope so. He was quite the party faithful.
I agree with you about the considering Trump scenario...As Ray McGovern explained today on Dialogue Wroks https://youtu.be/tpIyWGvMaQ4
....forgive me as I ramble....but he went at great length to discuss the Scott Ritter situation (on many levels also rambled) in which I think he, like Scott, underestimates the gravity of the situation...But back to the reason to be afraid....As McGovern points out the Biden(s)/Sullivan/Blinken cabal want to protect the election not just to perpetuate the Ukraine grift but also because these are the criminals that were responsible for the FISA abuses, Russiagate, hiding Hunter's laptop etc., etc., etc..According to McGovern, as I paraphrase, Trump was naive then....but if re-elected.....(one can only hope)
I've got to add with our invisible President and a Presidential candidate ignoring US policy, Ukraine has crossed red lines again and sent maybe 6000 troops using US weapons and German tanks into Russia. The German tanks into Russia are OK with German officials, but there's no word from Joey or Kamala, of course - the US is on autopilot, even if Ukraine is trying to reach the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant.
So while Joey sleeps and the Democratic Presidential candidate focuses on the election, without content, the Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman and former President Dmitry Medvedev said "This is no longer just an operation to return our official territories and punish the Nazis. It is possible and necessary to go to the lands of the still existing Ukraine. To Odessa, to Kharkov, to Dnepropetrovsk, to Nikolaev. To Kyiv and further. There should be no restrictions in the sense of some recognized borders of the Ukrainian Reich."
You'd think that this would be the sort of thing that a competent administration would care about knowing about and responding to.
Is Medvedev next in line if something happens to Putin? I know Putin was in charge, the Medvedev, then Putin again. Looks to me like the West should be careful what they wish for - methinks Medvedev would be quite the hardliner. On the other hand, it is said that Medvedev says the things Putin will not say politically or diplomatically, so there's that.
Seems so obvious to me now that the president does not actually run things. Tapper and Blinken take their orders and proceed directly, without bothering to even pretend, con gusto. IMO and all that.
Yes, I think the West is lucky that Medvedev isn't currently in charge. As I said at dinner last night, I think Medvedev is the barking dog, but shouldn't be ignored. Look at that city list - much of Ukraine to the Dnieper. Dnepropetrovsk (Dnipro) is an hour's taxi ride from Zaporizhzhia, already part of Russia.
But all of this makes me feel like Sgt. Schultz - "I know NOTHING."
I know. Kursk! Of all places! The Germans tried an offensive there in 1943, and it didn't end well for them. The Ukrainians won't even do as well as the Germans did.
Perhaps this remark makes sense to some but I keep recalling it OVER and OVER again as I see the misadminstration going on in the political class....Way back in 2003 as we were getting ready after waging war on the people of Afghanistan (bunker busters anyone?), I remember these classic words of Karl Rove to the effect of 'We don't care what the facts are.....we write our own history' In other words it's not about the evidence/facts/reality it's all about the narrative...And these clowns in the Biden/Clinton crime syndicate believe their own PR.
I think my favorite names for the Dems are "the Dem-wits" and "the anti-Democratic Party" (courtesy of Jill Stein). Never having been a Dem myself (and only voting once in a primary for Bernie Sanders--but I'm cured of thinking he is a socialist now), I've never felt anything but contempt for the duopolists. And here's another great nickname for the Veep--"kamala" in Finnish is translated into English as "horrible." I think I'll call her "Horrible Harris" from here on out. Descriptive and accurate.
Bravo, OB! Well said, I agree on all points. What a disgrace that party has become, but I blame someone else besides the Clintons: Barry Soetero. The Clintons led the party to become Wall Street sycophants and corrupt hacks, but it was Obama who added the authoritarian layer that went FAR outside of the norms America had seen in previous eras.
Obama was and is a very dangerous individual who should never have been anywhere near the presidency.
I agree 100%. Obama normalized torture of "folks", inserted indefinite detention into the NDAA and unilaterally killed innocent people with drone missiles in sovereign nations. He also thanked the Left for helping him get elected by telling us to "sit down and shut up." Do I sound bitter? If not, I will work on it.
I feel for you, man, I had similar disappointment somewhat with Trump. But Obama is a prick. It was a very bad thing for him to become president. It would’ve been much better for the country of Hillary had one.
I don't think so. Hillary does not even pretend to care about we citizens, and Hillary was, and IMO still is, exceedingly fond of war and killing people. I think a hot war with Russia would have started under her "stewardship".
'...claiming to love freedom and democracy while supporting political repression and oligarchy.'
Yeah, exactly! More people need to wake up to this reality. Voters must realize that both mainstream parties are rotten and the only true way forward is by supporting a 3rd force.
It is a wonderment to me that the GOP says the Dems are are "Lefties" and Progressive, when the Dems not only do corporate and MIC bidding, for a huge profit, but really never do anything at all for American citizens that does not turn a profit for someone, or increase authoritarian/Fascist restraints. Any progressive legislation dies on the vine, if it even gets to sprout. At best, progressive policies are mere campaign tools, trotted out before each election, and never actually implemented. Even that site that marks politicians as progressive if they merely sponsor or sign on to a never-to-be-passed bill is a big fat joke. Harris was involved with 164 or so pieces of legislation when she was in the California senate. None of them were enacted.
It seems to me that the American people ought to start a parallel political movement (even if it doesnt participate in the 'election'; that way when your inevitable collapse arrives there will be some political alternatives to pick up the pieces.
Speaking for myself; I lost all hope for the future of the American political system when the deep state used Obama to scuttle any possibility of Bernie Sanders becoming president. As long as the Republican and Democratic parties maintain their stranglehold on politics in American there is no real future for the people of the US and its body politic. I have nothing but contempt for the Democrats after that senile old goat Biden (who's whole political career contained NOTHNG constructive) was manouvered into the presidency. And just think; you couldda had Bernie !!!.
We do indeed need that parallel political movement. Some of us are working on building it, but it's still very early stages. A lot of the job now is just networking, breaking down establishment narratives, and setting up local self-help organizations. We have a long way to go and an unknown time to get there.
2020 was the last time I’ll vote democrat after a lifetime voting blue. I don’t think Trump will stop the war machine either but at least the republicans don’t signal their virtue while killing children.
She's the bitch but you be the one bitching even more. You're fellow bitches.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.... I see you took your lame pills today.
I find your lack of faith disturbing.
LOL! Oh, that's hilarious. Almost lost my beer onto my laptop, I did.
I nearly owed you a new laptop. 😁
Has there been one word of Harris' policy or a press conference?
So far, the only policy I've heard is save democracy and don't let Trump back.
Go look at her campaign website, lots of merch and dunning for donations and NOTHING on policy or proposals: https://store.kamalaharris.com/
Can you imagine Harris at a debate? My guess is the DNC is looking for plausible reasons to not have debates at all. And perhaps Hillary is thinking how to replace her at the convention. I don't even know WTF they will talk about at the convention, all they really have is Trump Bad. Maybe DeNiro (worst case of TDS I have ever seen) can talk to an empty recliner.
I'd love to see them try to avoid a debate with Trump. He could make out like Chris Rock in Head of State and have somebody run around everywhere $kamala goes in a chicken suit.
Debates, or at least the appearance of debates, are so traditional that I doubt the Democults can avoid one without taking a significant hit in the polls.
Besides, they probably think Walz will walk all over Vance. And he may! I don't know enough about him to say. Vance held his own against Tim Ryan, who campaigned against China and for Ukraine. All Vance had to do was not look crazy and oppose the Ukraine War.
But all Trump has to do is to mention $kamala's record, and tie her to Biden's abysmal failure of a record to clobber her.
Looks like Walz' "stolen valor" issue might loom large, at least with veterans. I am starting to think that either the Dems are so sure of themselves that they never vet anybody - just assume they can launder everything - or perhaps everyone else on the short list said nope.
$kamala will just yammer on about Trump's "felony" stuff, methinks. Hopefully she will make use of her recently acquired southern and street accents. She mostly sounds like a drunk, not very bright, kindergarten teacher.
Still rolling my eyes over White Dudes for Kamala and Comics for Kamala. Why would anyone give a flying F about what a celebrity thinks of a politician? Especially celebrities who earn a living being paid to say stuff other people wrote. Ridiculous. Yes, I know they are people too, but so many of them feel like their political opinions have more weight than non-celebrities'. Oh, and Ben Stiller saying all Jewish guys wish they were black. I have to file that under "stupid people do not know they are stupid".
Lol, I hadn't thought of Kamala in quite that way but it fits.
As for Walz, yeah, Command Sergeant Major as a weekend warrior doesn't mean jack shit to any regular forces veteran. I don't blame him for retiring in 2005 to get out of going to Iraq, and I could respect his decision if he came out publicly against the war at that time.
But nooooo...just the next year he got himself elected to Congress. Gee? How did that happen? He was in somebody's pocket. I don't know who, but I'm sure somebody will find out.
Not so sure that Giggles wouldn't make out ok in a debate. She is a master at "rope-a-dope" (please tell me I am not so old as to be the only one that knows that expression). And how can anyone not love that smile??
No, you are not the only one! Also, Harris has the smile of a cartoon donkey. She sort of reminds me of a completely unfunny Carol Burnette in the world's longest and most excruciating failed skit. I think Harris would maybe do okay in a tightly scripted and controlled debate, but not in a free-wheeling one. Also she has no actual sense of humor, which is quite different than laughing loudly at inappropriate moments. That all being said, I cannot imagine a debate affecting my vote. If I watch, it will be for entertainment purposes.
I'm older. I remember liars from way back.
But do you know what "rope-a-dope" is?
Yes, I do. I'm older.
JHK at Clusterfuck Nation has been talking the Hillary angle for months as she magically swoops down with her "leathery wings" into the convention hall floor with a "caw, caw, caw!" https://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/who-elected-you-boss-of-this-outfit/
What Mark Taylor said. Harris, IMO, is a not-too-bright sociopath in an attractive package, and that's about it. I think she's shallow.
She's so fake she elevates Trump from swindler to scoundrel-with-huevos status in the eyes of a lot of voters. Or she will. This isn't exactly a tough prediction to make, either.
The Democrats are making it too easy for the Republicans to be convinced to vote Republican.
This is the genius of the DNC. They don't have to rig the primary. Prop up Joe as long as possible, then introduce Giggles and DON'T let her speak freely.
It's been a long while that in most (all?) western countries we are not called to vote FOR someone, but AGAINST someone, as a ploy to mask the uniformity of policy on both sides. They're still falling for it, mind blowing 🙄
If I vote for President, I will write in Cthulhu. Why choose the lesser evil?
What blows my mind is that most of the voters are professing themselves religious and they're still like "oh well, evil it is then, I'll just try and pick a lesser one, maybe 'vote for the cute one with the mole on the lip' or something" (actual slogan from an election campaign in the Philippines, ages ago, where they went for moles on the lip rather than policy or shades of evil😂)
The tacit understanding (given her own site doesn’t have a platform) is that she’ll continue New Dem stock policy, out of the box. Same as was the case with Biden and Clinton before them.
She’s stumped about a few things, but no real surprises. Here in Texas, she was in Houston a week or two ago touting a revamp of a clintonesque assault weapons ban, saying she wasn’t in favor of single payer care (vs the ACA), and basically fixating on damage control about SCOTUS.
Nothing too out of pocket or unexpected. It’s safe (for the party, anyway). For better and worse.
The comparison to mega church bible thumpers (me excepted of course!) is disturbingly apt. They are indeed acolytes of authoritarianism. The thing is, I understand why the hierarchy does it. They are cluster B reptile people who will eat each other's livers for a photo op. But I genuinely don't get why the rank and file are all in? As a recovering Democrat, can you offer any insight OB?
I attribute it to the 'deeducation' long underway in American society...Heard that term applied by either the one of the great economic thinkers (Wolff/Hudson) who characterized the current predicament that along with the deindustrialization/financialization starting also under Clinton is what will be hard to impossible to recover from.
The most fanatical of them have advanced degrees, at least a bachelor's. The more advanced the degree, the more formal higher education they have, the more fanatical they become because they are more susceptible to the meritocratic religion. It also helps if they've never really been financially uncomfortable for very long.
These people have been TAUGHT most of their lives that they have to think a certain way in order to maintain or improve their place in the social order, and that way is the right way because Very Smart People with advanced degrees such as their own who automatically deserve respect and trust because they are EXPERTS in their fields say thus is so, and therefore it's The Truth. Or The Science.
They want to believe they are special, smarter or at least smart enough to know whom to believe, and that their lifestyles and prejudices are morally superior to the dangerous, ignorant mob of barbarians they are told are marching on their gates.
That feeling of smug intellectual superiority is as addictive as opium to some people.
We shall see how well they do when the financial collapse of the empire comes. Suddenly they might find that their "education" isn't worth a damn.
They'll be completely helpless, man. In spite of all of my vitriol for them now, that will still be a sad sight to see.
Re: advanced degrees.
I am currently seeking a new job and I see far fewer job postings for the senior marketing management positions I’m looking for asking for MBAs.
A few years ago most of these job openings asked for MBAs, but now it’s the exception.
I wonder if companies were not experiencing the results they wanted from the super smart and special MBA holders (no surprise to anyone in marketing who has worked for/with white girl with an MBA), or if the MBA holders were causing friction within established teams. (White girls with MBAs hold meetings where they pretend to listen to everyone but then go with their own terrible idea instead because they’re smarter than everyone….and it’s everyone else’s fault when their ideas don’t work)
There is a lot of this, WGWMBA, going about.....in municipal planning in my experience.
A "wunderwoman " comes in , implements a fantastical idea.....and after a year or so is off to "Greener Pastures", to wreak havoc on another city....or go to work for a developer who has benefitted from the original idea, or even promoted it.
White guys used to do it, but there was a stabilizing "Old Boy Network" , moreso than now.
And don't forget what Carly Fiorina did to Hewlett/Packard. Talk about wreaking havoc. Then, of course, since is seems a particular type of destructive and power-mad woman (hey, I am a woman, and I am embarrassed by Fiorina, Clinton, and Harris and Pelosi. This is not what women's lib was about at all.) seems to embrace and be embraced by our corrupt system of government - she ran for president.
In my experience, the white guys who are power mad often have a fear of being embarrassed for incompetence that the WGWMBA do not.
Having finished a PhD in the arts/humanities, I completely agree with your analysis of the role of post-secondary education in indoctrinating people into the Democult. My PhD actually helped me think my way out of liberalism, but I’m very much an exception.
Well, there's always the exception that proves the rule, isn't there. I'm glad you were the exception.
The only way I could escape it was simply to drop out. I was turning into a person I didn't like, and I figured out why it was happening. I couldn't figure out any way to stop the process in either grad or law school, and ended up dropping out of both.
You woke to the deceit of the 'Democult' before I did. I did a round as the co-chair of my county Democratic Party and volunteered on various campaigns and projects. Obama was the slap in the face I needed. I remember when he appointed Larry Summers to his cabinet I said to myself: Wait a damn second..."
Glenn Greenwald had an excellent video today on Harris's obnoxious attack on the genocide protesters. Note his comments about the crowd behind her and the quote he cites from George Orwell's "Animal Farm". The look on Harris's face as the cult screams approval tells you all you need to know about where she would/will take things. She's just a different version of Trump fascism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZkDjh-Snv0
I appreciated the story from your childhood. I was raised on the other side in a rightwing John Birch Society family.
" I remember when he appointed Larry Summers to his cabinet I said to myself: Wait a damn second..."
Yes that was my wake up call too, haven't voted since, piss on both "electable" parties.
To stick with the addiction metaphor, Obama was a relapse for me. He suckered me good. I even drove people to the polls on election day to vote for the SOB in 2008. I had the same reaction you did when he appointed Summers.
I tried to fool myself into thinking Obama was being clever by keeping his enemies close, like Lincoln did, but when he compared Jamie Dimon and other Wall Street vampires to baseball players he lost me.
Then I went for Bernie twice, though unenthusiastically the second time, because he had bowed to Hillary. I just thought he was the best shot at the time, but I never expected more than maybe Medicare for All from him. His foreign policy was always terrible.
So no, I didn't permanently see through the cult before you did. It's just that most Bernie supporters really DID leave the Democult in 2020. Most of the rest won't forgive Skamala for being the handmaiden to genocide.
All that's left are the hard core cultists, and most of them have advanced degrees or live with someone who does.
John Birchers? My mama used to say they were crazy because they "saw a Commie behind every bush."
And behind every door, up every staircase, around every bend, across every river, teachers in every school and on and on and ON.
Yeah, Sanders got me too on the first campaign. I was cautiously hopeful on the second and now I give him no mind.
Man if you watch the drones behind Harris in that Greenwald video there is NO difference between their mind blob and Trump's MAGA mind blob.
I made the mistake of thinking Obama was a joke. I laughed at the very idea he could be elected. I did not realize how much the country had changed and how many older, White people had died off, thus changing the demographics of elections.
Regarding Bernie, I never voted for him, but I voted for Ron Paul twice, and I'm proud to say that I did. He at least called out the endless wars, the money printing, etc. And I remember being ridiculed by people for supporting Ron Paul, but they ended up with egg on their face. He would have been a better president than scumbag Bush or wannabe-tyrant Obama.
I knew enough political "science" to pay attention to the polls, which showed Obama could carry states like Ohio. I also remember a lot of native Ohioans, black and white, for or opposed to Obama, saying that was impossible.
I'm certainly not going to bash you for voting for an honest man, even if I vehemently disagree with some of his economic ideas. At least, I think Paul is honest. I no longer think that about Bernie.
I agree about Bernie. He was always a fraud. I think they bribed him with a couple of houses or something to get them out of the campaign against Hillary.
I think Bernie was threatened. I remember a speech he gave before he announced his run for the presidency. He said something to the effect that if I have enough people behind me I would be willing to take the risk to myself and family. Those in power are not beyond actually threats.
I think you may well be right. I know there was some fishy stuff with his wife's job or financial issues. Maybe they threatened a "Just-Us" Dept investigation. Given we have criminals running the country, any damn thing is possible.
Exactly. It wouldn't have to be much if it was directed at Bernie's family.
I think a lot of Dems thought that because Obama is black(ish) he has to be progressive.
I'm for sure another son of the Roosevelt Democrats/labor activist core that is rapidly disappearing.
Yup, Clinton, then Obombya iced that crew with me. The struggle continues...
What can I say? Cultists gonna cult. They compete with each other to show who has the most enthusiasm for the Dear Leader. That's why the applause and cheering lasted so long. Well, that, and to shout down the Enemy whom Harris addressed, like barking seals on cue.
If protesters appeared in Hagee's megachurch and started chanting that Hagee was a fraud, they would get a similar reaction.
While I agree about the cultists there is another group that is just as bad. Many if not most of us were brought up to have blind faith in authoritarian leadership. I know lots of people that think that the progressives are radicals and they have faith in the good party.
Obama was also the slap in my face. I waited for 8 years so the Dems could undo what Bush did and Obama was the man. But I knew at Rick Warren at his inauguration that we were fucked. And then Rahmbo was the real gut punch.
At the time all those Obama cabinet appointments were being made I was approached by some DNC-related group interested in having me work with them on some project because of work I had done locally on the campaign. The meeting took place in my office on an early evening. It was dark outside and the whole thing felt odd. I had never heard of the woman who came to meet me. I expressed my disgust at the cabinet appointments and the meeting ended shortly after. Kinda' wish I had played along awhile to learn what the hell they were up to and who was behind them.
I did see a suggestion that some on the short list did not really want to be on a ticket with her.
Even though I feel that the entire election construct is corrupt joke, I think I may just vote for Trump. The thought of that braying nasty incoherent jackass being president is revolting. Yeah, a vote is just a sputtering candle in the wind, but it is the only gesture I can make. Except a digital gesture.
Hopefully there won't be as many tedious VFTBNMW screeds to wade through/around this time.
My father took me to see JFK speak, in Chester, PA. My father would be sickened at what the Democrats have become. At least I hope so. He was quite the party faithful.
I agree with you about the considering Trump scenario...As Ray McGovern explained today on Dialogue Wroks https://youtu.be/tpIyWGvMaQ4
....forgive me as I ramble....but he went at great length to discuss the Scott Ritter situation (on many levels also rambled) in which I think he, like Scott, underestimates the gravity of the situation...But back to the reason to be afraid....As McGovern points out the Biden(s)/Sullivan/Blinken cabal want to protect the election not just to perpetuate the Ukraine grift but also because these are the criminals that were responsible for the FISA abuses, Russiagate, hiding Hunter's laptop etc., etc., etc..According to McGovern, as I paraphrase, Trump was naive then....but if re-elected.....(one can only hope)
Sounds like we came from the same neighborhood. My father was the same and made sure I understood. Philly guy too.
I've got to add with our invisible President and a Presidential candidate ignoring US policy, Ukraine has crossed red lines again and sent maybe 6000 troops using US weapons and German tanks into Russia. The German tanks into Russia are OK with German officials, but there's no word from Joey or Kamala, of course - the US is on autopilot, even if Ukraine is trying to reach the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant.
So while Joey sleeps and the Democratic Presidential candidate focuses on the election, without content, the Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman and former President Dmitry Medvedev said "This is no longer just an operation to return our official territories and punish the Nazis. It is possible and necessary to go to the lands of the still existing Ukraine. To Odessa, to Kharkov, to Dnepropetrovsk, to Nikolaev. To Kyiv and further. There should be no restrictions in the sense of some recognized borders of the Ukrainian Reich."
You'd think that this would be the sort of thing that a competent administration would care about knowing about and responding to.
Is Medvedev next in line if something happens to Putin? I know Putin was in charge, the Medvedev, then Putin again. Looks to me like the West should be careful what they wish for - methinks Medvedev would be quite the hardliner. On the other hand, it is said that Medvedev says the things Putin will not say politically or diplomatically, so there's that.
Seems so obvious to me now that the president does not actually run things. Tapper and Blinken take their orders and proceed directly, without bothering to even pretend, con gusto. IMO and all that.
Yes, I think the West is lucky that Medvedev isn't currently in charge. As I said at dinner last night, I think Medvedev is the barking dog, but shouldn't be ignored. Look at that city list - much of Ukraine to the Dnieper. Dnepropetrovsk (Dnipro) is an hour's taxi ride from Zaporizhzhia, already part of Russia.
But all of this makes me feel like Sgt. Schultz - "I know NOTHING."
I know. Kursk! Of all places! The Germans tried an offensive there in 1943, and it didn't end well for them. The Ukrainians won't even do as well as the Germans did.
Applause, so glad people are starting to see just how evil the uniparty is.
Perhaps this remark makes sense to some but I keep recalling it OVER and OVER again as I see the misadminstration going on in the political class....Way back in 2003 as we were getting ready after waging war on the people of Afghanistan (bunker busters anyone?), I remember these classic words of Karl Rove to the effect of 'We don't care what the facts are.....we write our own history' In other words it's not about the evidence/facts/reality it's all about the narrative...And these clowns in the Biden/Clinton crime syndicate believe their own PR.
Yes! The same people who mocked Rove for that ridiculous statement now do the same thing on a regular basis.
This one reminds me of someone in DC
I think my favorite names for the Dems are "the Dem-wits" and "the anti-Democratic Party" (courtesy of Jill Stein). Never having been a Dem myself (and only voting once in a primary for Bernie Sanders--but I'm cured of thinking he is a socialist now), I've never felt anything but contempt for the duopolists. And here's another great nickname for the Veep--"kamala" in Finnish is translated into English as "horrible." I think I'll call her "Horrible Harris" from here on out. Descriptive and accurate.
Kamala means horrible in Finnish? Really? That's funny right there. And appropriate for sure.
Bravo, OB! Well said, I agree on all points. What a disgrace that party has become, but I blame someone else besides the Clintons: Barry Soetero. The Clintons led the party to become Wall Street sycophants and corrupt hacks, but it was Obama who added the authoritarian layer that went FAR outside of the norms America had seen in previous eras.
Obama was and is a very dangerous individual who should never have been anywhere near the presidency.
I agree 100%. Obama normalized torture of "folks", inserted indefinite detention into the NDAA and unilaterally killed innocent people with drone missiles in sovereign nations. He also thanked the Left for helping him get elected by telling us to "sit down and shut up." Do I sound bitter? If not, I will work on it.
I feel for you, man, I had similar disappointment somewhat with Trump. But Obama is a prick. It was a very bad thing for him to become president. It would’ve been much better for the country of Hillary had one.
I don't think so. Hillary does not even pretend to care about we citizens, and Hillary was, and IMO still is, exceedingly fond of war and killing people. I think a hot war with Russia would have started under her "stewardship".
Good points, I had forgotten. I guess I was thinking more of Bill. Things weren’t yet so bad under him but they were headed that way with NAFTA, etc.
Well said. Linking tomorrow @https://nothingnewunderthesun2016.com/
'...claiming to love freedom and democracy while supporting political repression and oligarchy.'
Yeah, exactly! More people need to wake up to this reality. Voters must realize that both mainstream parties are rotten and the only true way forward is by supporting a 3rd force.
It is a wonderment to me that the GOP says the Dems are are "Lefties" and Progressive, when the Dems not only do corporate and MIC bidding, for a huge profit, but really never do anything at all for American citizens that does not turn a profit for someone, or increase authoritarian/Fascist restraints. Any progressive legislation dies on the vine, if it even gets to sprout. At best, progressive policies are mere campaign tools, trotted out before each election, and never actually implemented. Even that site that marks politicians as progressive if they merely sponsor or sign on to a never-to-be-passed bill is a big fat joke. Harris was involved with 164 or so pieces of legislation when she was in the California senate. None of them were enacted.
Yeah, agreed. The GOP casts such labels mainly to rile up their support base and cast the Democrats in a bad light, even if such labels are false.
It seems to me that the American people ought to start a parallel political movement (even if it doesnt participate in the 'election'; that way when your inevitable collapse arrives there will be some political alternatives to pick up the pieces.
Speaking for myself; I lost all hope for the future of the American political system when the deep state used Obama to scuttle any possibility of Bernie Sanders becoming president. As long as the Republican and Democratic parties maintain their stranglehold on politics in American there is no real future for the people of the US and its body politic. I have nothing but contempt for the Democrats after that senile old goat Biden (who's whole political career contained NOTHNG constructive) was manouvered into the presidency. And just think; you couldda had Bernie !!!.
We do indeed need that parallel political movement. Some of us are working on building it, but it's still very early stages. A lot of the job now is just networking, breaking down establishment narratives, and setting up local self-help organizations. We have a long way to go and an unknown time to get there.
2020 was the last time I’ll vote democrat after a lifetime voting blue. I don’t think Trump will stop the war machine either but at least the republicans don’t signal their virtue while killing children.
At least with Trump, you know the Ukraine War will end. He's got that going for him.