She plays our heartstrings.
NATO scrambers fighter jets to intercept Russian planes
It happened multiple times in the past week when Russian planes came perilously close to NATO airspace.
Nina Turner Ads
Here are 5 ads that Rebellion PAC is running in Cleveland. If you support Nina consider donating to help pay for the ads at helptherebellion.com.
Pocan defends CPC endorsing Brown over Turner
I
heard Hartmann yesterday talking about this. He said Pocan was on his
show defending the CPC's decision because Brown met all the criteria of
belonging to the Congressional Progressive Caucus and is an incumbent. Then something must be
seriously wrong with the new membership rules to 1) let such a corporate
hack in and 2) to endorse her over a real progressive.
Jayapal
on the new rules: "I just would rather have people who are really
committed to the progressive caucus in the caucus and participating
rather than sort of just having it as a label."
Uh huh, sure.
Krystal, Saager debate FL's Don't Say Gay Bill
Saager doesn't think it's about being anti-gay and Krystal is convinced it is. Saager thinks it's about some teacher's pushing trans-ideology to young kids. Krystal responds that if that is happening it's so minuscule that it cannot possibly justify a specific Bill about it when teaching ANY sex ed to K-5 students is already illegal. The real purpose behind it is to create a moral panic and culture war for political purposes.
Watts: Life is not complicated
"The intense complexity we see in everything is created by our attempt to analyze it all."
This relates to Lent's description on how our analyzing intelligence has an overriding and sick hold on our overall worldview. In other words, the never-ending cycle of meta(sta)sizing. He suggests that we must re-enchant our animate or synthetic intelligence and integrate it with our cognitive or analytic intelligence. It's our modern day 'fall' in paradise. Which is not to say we should do away with analysis but rather integrate it with synthesis. And that enactment depends on how we approach the Hegelian thesis-antithesis-synthesis formula itself.
Rhodes: The fascist playbook
In this clip she highlights how Repugnacons are now dehumanizing children in their bid to implement fascism, a standard tactic in that playbook.
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Corporate sickness
When their tax rate was high the owners still managed a decent profit. But it also required of them to invest in their workers and society. Now they don't give a damn about that at all as it's all about the sickness of greed and power. They can try to pass that off as good ole American capitalism but we now know better that it's a sickness destroying us.
Hartmann: Their end game is fascism
Hartmann said of the Repugnacon's ultimate goal:
"Some say the Republican Party has gone nuts. In reality, they’ve simply reached the endpoint toward which they’ve been moving for 62 years: fascism."
He's referring to Traitor-Spleen's recent testimony that revealed she spoke with Meadows and other members of her Party about the only way to achieve their aims was to have Twit declare martial law. Fortunately, the only thing that prevented it was "a group of patriotic Americans, most of them Republicans, succeeded in blocking Trump’s plans."
It's further evidence that it's not just liberals who are opposed to the fascism that's infected the Repugnacon Party but a number of Republicans themselves who agree and have joined forces with liberals to save our democracy. Fortunately they barely won last time but that Party is hell bent on succeeding the next time.
See the link above to Thom's article on the many ways Repugnacons have long been setting the stage, and their ongoing push, to completely implement fascism.
Traitor Spleen fact-checked
She conspired to incite the insurrection and overturn the election. She must not only be barred from running again but removed from office now and then prosecuted for her crimes.
Hartmann: Are we still in a pandemic or not?
In this clip he discusses Fauci saying basically it's over. And yet Fauci refused to go to the White House correspondents dinner based on a personal risk assessment. I see. Protect yourself but sacrifice others? So much for public health, your job.
Hartmann continues. Right now we're seeing a 60% increase in new infections, 60,000 per day. Hospitalizations are going up. And this is just what we know of, given an indeterminate number of cases not being reported due to the millions of distributed at-home tests. And yet we behave like it's over and no big deal. All with the rationalization that the CDC says so so it must be true.
Mario and Carmen WCS
Blast from the past. Their 1996 US Open Superstars performance. This was back when west coast swing was done to a much faster beat.
Testimony that MAGA team sent protesters to the Capitol
Based on the testimony of Scott Johnston. WTF are you waiting for AG Garland?
"Johnston’s account suggests there was a deliberate strategy by Trump’s allies to have supporters descend on the Capitol. Such a connection would implicate top White House and campaign officials in drawing crowds to Congress without a permit — a step that could have required added security and may have allowed law enforcement to better prepare for the day’s events. Those crowds overwhelmed the Capitol police and engaged in an hours-long battle with law enforcement. Four people died during the attack."
New COVID Czar
According to this report, Dr. Ashish Jha was given the job to support Biden's policy of reopening the country regardless of the cost to our health and lives. F___ing politics.
"It is unlikely that the Biden administration will adopt a more protective public health response at this point — all of their recent policies have pushed to normalize high levels of coronavirus spread and the high mortality rates that follow," Justin Feldman, an epidemiologist and Health and Human Rights Fellow at Harvard University, told The Lever. "Nothing about Jha suggests that he will try to push the White House hard on policy questions or advocate for stronger public health measures. Perhaps the best we can hope for is that Jha will use his influence to advocate for minor improvements."
Chomsky on manufactured consent
Continuing the last post, a reminder of what this is and how it works, even in our 'democracy.'
Archetypes in Religion and Beyond
Some of you might appreciate this discussion. There is quite a bit more to it than what I focused on in the following comment.
I appreciated Layman asking about the middle way of fighting (59:39). I am
one trained in Taiji as a fighting art. And its tradition is one of the
'middle way' of Yin/Yang via Taoism and Chan Buddhism, both of which
'fight' against absolutism (and nihilism). Hence I apply it to the
rhetorical war against the absolutism of fascism that is currently
running rampant in today's US Repugnacon Party.
As
to Robert's response on also addressing our own internal conflicts
using the middle way, Taiji certainly addresses that as well being
labeled an 'internal' art. A significant part of the training is knowing
oneself via its meditative aspect, which is to be enacted via it's
ethical and social aspect. Which is of course prerequisite to fighting
injustice externally, learning how to apply its martial aspect
appropriately to a given situation. But its base after all is as a
martial art, so fighting is an appropriate response when and where
necessary.
Shitter: Musk's new name
Musk bought it in the name of 'free speech.' Which means it can go back to being a shit house of lies, misinformation and propaganda.
Land of the free?
If you still believe that then the propaganda worked and you don't even know you're enslaved.
DeathSentence signs FL Gestapo law
I shit you not and no exaggeration. Florida now has an election police unit which claims it will investigate and prosecute voter fraud. But since there is virtually no voter fraud it is obvious that it's real purpose is to intimidate valid voters from voting. And also to invalidate valid voters as well as remove valid votes from the count. So to compare this with the German Gestapo in world war 2 is not hyperbole but frighteningly accurate and should bring a chill to anyone wanting to maintain what's left of our democracy.
Cabello and Sheeran - Bam Bam
This summer's sizzling dance hit. Let go of the past and have some fun now.
Carpool Karaoke - Camila Cabello
Fun video. She was my summer crush in 2018 with her hit Havana. Since then she just keeps getting better and better.
You got some splainin' to do Joe
You say you support labor unions so why have you still not implemented any of your labor task force's major recommendations? Why haven't you used your Executive authority to cancel federal contracts with union-busting Amazon, instead giving them a new $10 billion contract? Why have you refused to reinstate a rule requiring companies to disclose all of their union-busting spending?
Scarborough: I was wrong about my former Party
His video testimony below on why he was wrong about the Repugnacon Party.
"I was proven wrong. I was shocked by what I saw
over the past five, six years. Donald Trump in the Muslim registry,
Donald Trump saying Hispanics are breeders. I could go down the list
talking about the others, telling people to go home, members of
Congress, black members of Congress. How could it be that people like
David French and myself and other Republicans grew up saying everything
that liberals said about our party was wrong when Donald Trump actually
seemed to validate much of what they were accusing us of?"
Accurately framing Repugnacons
This cartoon has some accurate ways to call out just who they are. Consider adding them to your Psyop arsenal.
Ginni Thomas' conspirator got one thing right
Thomas enclosed to Mark Meadows a text message from Connie Hair. Hair was Gohmert's chief of staff and she said in it:
"This war is psychological. PSYOP. It's what I did in the military."
It's something she and the Repugs have long recognized and engaged effectively. The rest of us need to catch up and fight with the same tactics if we ever hope to defeat these fascists.
Orwell on the Dem Party
According to this piece he long ago diagnosed their main problem. And it's one they still refuse to acknowledge, let alone change. He said:
"I am making out a case for the sort of person who is in sympathy with the fundamental aims of Socialism … but who in practice always takes flight when Socialism is mentioned."
He notes that such liberal elites lose the working class because of their sophisticated talking points in "language wholly distant from the language of ordinary citizens."
Granted the fascists have made the term socialism a dirty word in most working class minds. However progressives can still support the values and policies of socialism without using that label. They do however have to stick to those values by not surrendering to their corrupt Party at every turn, as well as frame them in working class terms that appeal to their base.
Bernie and AOC are good examples of both yet other timid, snot-nosed progressives in government tend to mistakenly see them as extreme left, buying into the fascist frame instead of challenging it. Ironically more like those two are exactly what we need to enact socialist ideals and policies. Progressives might consider listening to Orwell, as his predictions turned out to be rather accurate.
Sawant on the CPC's failed 'inside strategy'
Sawant, a proud socialist, starts by addressing the latest example of the Congressional Progressive Caucus failing by endorsing the corporate Democrat Brown over the more obviously progressive Turner. She sees it as a logical outcome of their so-called 'inside strategy' of changing the Party from within. Time after time the CPC talks a good game and yet when the time comes they surrender on working class issues in the name of getting along and Party unity with the excuse that it's the best they can do.
Sawant advises Turner to call out the betrayals, the broken promises, the whole insider game. It's what we the people want to hear because we know it's true. We want someone who will fight that corruption, especially with a Party that pretends to be for us but fails us all the time. It's just not enough that they are better than the fascist Repugnacon Party. Yes, we must defeat them. But we must do it with candidates and representatives that are also strongly against the corruption in the Dem Party, since they are also just maintaining the status quo.
Maher: GQP war on democracy
His New Rule confirms what we all know: Repugnacons want to destroy democracy and implement fascism. They don't even try to hide that fact anymore but rather are proud of it.
So why isn't he?
Something smells rotten in DC. Come to think of it, everything there does. Where democracy goes to die.
Fascists hate humanity
The video below discusses Florida's banned math books. DeathSentence claimed they contained social indoctrination. When some of those books were examined only in a very few instances was anything remotely related to social issues involved in a scenario setup for a math problem. And only in a high school text.
It was further explained that what Repugs are now targeting is 'social-emotional learning' as the next boogie man. It's goals: "Five core skills students should develop: self-awareness,
self-management, responsible decision-making, social awareness and
relationship building." Of course fascists would hate anything that develops such skills that aim for healthy self-development and humanitarian relationships.
PS:
Having healthy humanitarian relationships applies to those who want to
have the same. Therefore such relationships are impossible with fascists
who refuse to share that premise. Rather it is healthy and mandatory to
fight against fascism in pursuit of such a humanitarian goal.
Repugnacons protect child killers
The proof is that they not only ignore but support the number one cause of death in children: Guns.* It's a gigantic problem that can be vastly reduced by reasonable gun legislation but Repugs are so bribed by gun manufacturers that they refuse to do anything about it. Sacrificing children's lives is irrelevant to them.
So don't fall for their lying stories about children, just red meat propaganda to rile up their ignorant base. If they really cared about kids they'd do something about their number one cause of death. Repugs protecting child killers speaks far louder than the shit that comes out of their mouths.
Btw, Hartmann reported on this yesterday.
* "While accidents in general remain the most common cause of death in youth, for those ages 1 to 24 years, death due to gun violence and accidental injury are now more common than death due to motor vehicle accidents."
Democrats start to fight fire with fire
About damned time. I've been harping on this for years. From this article:
"By getting aggressive with their phrasing—such as 'Don’t Say Gay' and 'forced birth'—Democrats are, at last, playing by the GOP’s rules. [...] They had the right framing with an emotional punch."
"It’s extremely important for Democrats to frame issues in ways that define and expose what Republican policies are really about, and this can be especially effective when the framing is sticky and memorable."
"George Lakoff, an expert in political framing and author of the bestselling book, Don’t Think of an Elephant" notes the frame must be "a shocking enough phrase that people will notice it and if it’s used repeatedly, it will have force, and it will get the idea out there, not just the words."
Rosario: Factual v. lying name-calling
In his article he
makes this very real, clear distinction. The Russians are calling
Ukrainians Nazis to justify their cruel and horrific invasion. But it's a
lie. US Repugnacons are now hell bent on calling liberals pedophile
groomers, again a lie. Both do, however, understand creating a narrative
to justify and motivate their actions and program their base, false as
it may be.
MI Senator Mallory McMorrow shows us how to deal with hate
Here is her fiery speech fighting back against the Repugnacon hate thrown at her. This is how you deal with it: A fact-filled yet impassioned righteous indignation and outrage against the hate while also for loving, caring and progressive religious values. We need other progressives to learn how to frame like this and quickly.
Tell that to self-involved, careless Americans
Cuz they ain't listening Bob, including apparent liberals.
Update on underreported COVID cases
See this report quoted below. Given the latest NMDOH report on infections (3/21/22 - 4/18/22), there were 3249 reported cases in that period, averaging 116 per day. Given the info below on underreporting, that means there were much more likely about 47,111 cases, a 1683 per day average. Also note that 61% of cases are among the vaccinated, which also had 44% of hospitalizations and 59% of deaths.
"The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation estimates that only 7% of positive Covid-19 cases in the US are being detected, meaning case rates are actually 14.5 times higher than officially reported. The last time the infection detection rate was this low was at the outset of the pandemic, in March 2020."
"Cases have long been undercounted, but one reason they may be so off is that the number of Covid-19 tests being done in non-traditional settings, like at home, has already surpassed the number being done in laboratories, according to the National Institutes of Health. As the use of at-home Covid-19 tests rises, so does the concern that most of those test results go unreported, leading to an undercount of the true number of Covid-19 cases across the country."
We're being fed false hope by the reported statistics, and I think intentionally so to keep the economy going in an election year. And of course without vax or mask mandates the situation can only get worse again, which is starting to happen in the northeast US. Great job America. COVID and the economy thanks you for your lives and health sacrificed to our Lord and Savior: The Almighty Dollar.
Jason Hickel: What is capitalism?
A brief, instructive and accurate explanation. Know the Devil so you can fight it.
"People often assume that capitalism is defined by 'markets and trade.' But markets and trade existed for thousands of years before capitalism. Capitalism is only 500 years old. So what is distinctive about this economic system? Three things (well, more, but three for now):
1. "First, and most importantly, it is defined by enclosure and artificial scarcity. The origins of capitalism lie in a systematic effort by elites to restrict people's access to commons and independent subsistence, in order to render them reliant on wage labour for survival. Over the past 500 years, this has taken the form of privatization of commons, forced dispossession, destruction of subsistence economies and - particularly in the colonies - taxing people in a currency they do not have in order to induce them to seek wages in that currency.
"This continues today, with attempts to ensure an artificial scarcity of access to essential goods such as housing, healthcare, education, transit, and so on - goods that could very easily be provided, at high quality, on a universal public basis. Where universal public goods do exist, these have usually been won by longstanding struggles by labour movements and other progressive forces (including the anti-colonial movement).
2. "Second, capitalism is organized around - and dependent on - perpetual expansion, meaning ever-increasing production of commodified goods. It is the only intrinsically expansionary economic system in history (meaning it basically has a crisis if it doesn't continually expand). Crucially, under capitalism the purpose of increasing production is *not* primarily to meet human needs, but rather to extract and accumulate profit. That is the overriding objective. (It is also the main objective of innovation).
"It's important to distinguish here between small businesses, which quite often operate with a steady-state, use-value logic (and which obviously preceded capitalism), and corporations whose main objective is expansion and accumulation (which define the capitalist era).
"To sustain the process of perpetually increasing surplus accumulation, capital requires an ever-rising quantity of inputs (labour and nature), and requires that these inputs be obtained as cheaply as possible. This introduces a constant pressure to depress real wages and attack environmental protections wherever possible (in the absence of countervailing political forces). The result is a system that, left to itself, automatically generates inequality and ecological breakdown.
3. "Finally, capitalism is notable for precluding democratic decision-making. Even in countries that prize political democracy, democratic principles are rarely allowed to operate in the sphere of production, where decisions are made overwhelmingly by those who control capital. The result is that decisions about what to produce, for what purposes, for whose benefit, and under what conditions are generally made in the narrow interests of the capitalist class (workers, the people actually *doing* the production, rarely get a voice at all).
"It is worth pondering how our production priorities (and our treatment of labour and nature) might be different under conditions of economic democracy. Existing evidence suggests that democratic conditions lead to less exploitation, more equality, and more care for ecology. We can have a democratic economy organized around meeting human needs at a high standard, where production is socially just and ecologically regenerative. Such a system is possible, but it will require a political movement to bring it into being.
"In sum, the tendency to equate capitalism with 'markets and trade' naturalizes a system that is not natural, and prevents us from having a clear-eyed view of how it operates and how we might want to do things differently."
Hartmann: Dems must outrage
He followed up today with another rant about the fascists in our midst. But near the end he recommends to counter it we must continually and loudly rage against it. Unfortunately this is something liberals have a hard time with, being programmed to believe that rational debate and proper behavior solves all ills. In this case it does not, so we need to be impassioned enough to express our outrage to the point of influencing the working class, who completely understands this fully justified emotional response since they are full of it themselves. They want to see us get off of our high horses and show them that we can feel too.
Stating the obvious
You'd think it would be obvious but unfortunately it's not in a society sold on the idea of slave labor.
Hartmann: Why conservatives believe lies
They are 8.5 times more likely to believe fake news, meaning lies. As many as half believe Twitler won the election. Many don't believe the science on COVID. Why?
The tend to be authoritarian followers, that is, per Lakoff they are programmed by a strict father morality. This diminishes the complexity of life and allows the father figure to provide comfort and safety. But it also disposes them to believe whatever father tells them. As we can see from Twit and the Repugnacon Party, they are fed and believe outright lies.
Another aspect is that the conservative worldview is programmed by the propaganda of libertarian rugged individualism. It' all about me and my freedom to do whatever I want regardless of the social cost. This of course makes them susceptible to the corporate advertising that feeds them this image that they are the most important person in the world. Another aspect is this individuality is extended to the corporation as people, which wants no limits on what it can do, again regardless of the cost to society.
On top of all that we have laws that protect the lies of corporations and bad actors under the guise of 'free speech.' It is hardly free, since they spend $millions filling the airways and social media with their programmed lies and manipulation. They control their audience for their own benefit while continuing to fill up their minds with the false belief that they are deciding for themselves what is real.
While Hartmann doesn't recommend this, we must thwart their propaganda campaign by sharing the facts and the truth via social media. And we must do it with framing techniques that shape that truth in an overall value-laden, emotion-filled narrative, so learn how to do that.* And we must do it in the millions, so whenever you see such stories and memes in social media share it with your friends and friends of friends. We must get out of our own isolated individualism and concerns and work together to combat the lies and hate if we ever hope to defeat them.
* https://framelab.substack.com/
Republican Accountability Project: Democracy over Party
A short statement by a Republican on why he'll never vote for a Trump supporter. Bottom line: It's democracy over fascism.
Lincoln Project: Repugnacon Torture Plan
Their economic plan is plain as day: They want to increase taxes on the poor and working class to pay for the wealthy and corporate tax cuts. After all, the latter deserve to live well and you don't deserve to live at all. Yeah, let's vote for that.
Celtics v. Nets game 1 highlights
In case you missed it. Close, back and forth game down to the wire.
Good question about Easter
And fake Christianity. Perhaps instead we might 'resurrect' Jesus' teaching of unconditionally helping all those in need?
What's behind the high prices?
While there are some legitimate reasons based on supply chain, war etc., those factors do not account for the most significant, underlying reason: Corporate greed.
Honest Government Ad: Carbon credits fraud
Just more green-washing to pretend we're doing something.
Inflation rate 8.5%
From this source:
"The annual inflation rate in the US accelerated to 8.5% in March of 2022, the highest since December of 1981 from 7.9% in February and compared with market forecasts of 8.4%. Energy prices increased 32%, namely gasoline (48%) and fuel oil (70.1%) as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushed crude oil prices higher. Also, food prices jumped 8.8%, the most since May 1981. Also, inflation accelerated for shelter (5% vs 4.7% in February) and new vehicles (12.5% vs 12.4%) but eased for used cars and trucks (35.3% vs 41.2%). Excluding volatile energy and food categories, the CPI rose 6.5%, the most in 40 years but slightly below forecasts of 6.6%. Many analysts expect that March will mark the peak in inflation although the war in Ukraine is far from over, supply chain bottlenecks persist and consumer demand remains elevated which is likely to weigh on the CPI for longer. source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics"
Sophie Lloyd - Comfortably Numb
I am endlessly amazed at not only her virtuosity but her ability to elicit emotion with her playing.
Kasparian: We want results, not excuses
The Democrats just give excuses for promises they failed to keep. We're not buying that anymore. And that is why they lose.
Kasparian: CPC stands for nothing (except for The Squad)
Continuing this post, she is rightfully angry over the progressive caucus supporting the clearly corporate Brown over the clearly progressive Turner.
Ingraham's brother calls her a monster
Earlier in the video it shows how Ingraham is spewing Pox's hatred by now making LGBQT people the enemy. So this short clip is her brother responding to her, calling her a monster. Meanwhile Pox treats their LGBQT employees with respect. But their political programming and talking heads aim to create and rile a hateful base to vote Repugnacon. And that manipulation truly is monstrous.
Meidas Touch: A coup in plain sight
It's all here. So what are you waiting for Attorney General Garland? Are you going to defend democracy or not?
CPC endorses Brown over Turner
The Lever reports that the Congressional Progressive Caucus is turning its back on one of the most progressive candidates to ever run for public office: Nina Turner. Instead they decided to endorse the neoliberal primary incumbent, Shontel Brown. This after the CPC endorsed Turner when the two first competed for the position:
"Brown racked up support from the fossil fuel-funded, pro-Israel DMFI PAC (support she requested), Ohio Republicans, and a contractor that she had awarded $17 million to as a city councilor, a potential tit-for-tat that resulted in an ethics probe. [...] DMFI PAC and the corporatist dark money group Third Way spent $2.4 million promoting Brown and opposing Turner."
But Brown immediately joined the CPC thereafter despite obviously not being a progressive. "She also joined the CPC’s adversary caucus, the New Democrat Coalition, which includes several CPC members."
So Jayapal's excuse is that she's an incumbent member so she gets the endorsement pro forma. This is yet another example of the CPC catering to establishment process while surrendering progressive values and policies. We've seen it before when they surrendered on the $15 minimum wage and backed out on their pledge to not pass the infrastructure bill before Build Back Better, now dead, passed the Senate. Many of us progressives are doubting that the CPC is really committed to us, instead just paying lip service for our votes. And endorsing Brown adds further to that doubt.
"But if the strategy ends up with the caucus endorsing a candidate who ran a campaign backed by pharmaceutical lobbyists, the pro-Israel lobby, and Republicans — all constituencies whose interests are vehemently opposed to the CPC’s agenda — against a progressive like Turner, the inside game has gone awry."
Combat Tai Chi Chuan
Here are some excerpts from Peter Lim copied below. The point is responding appropriately to the situation. These fighting principles can also be applied to rhetoric, which is preferred to avoid a physical confrontation. But again, the appropriate level of fighting words depends on the level of your opponent's skill. Thus per the principles below there are times when attack is necessary. The wisdom is in in knowing from long practice when that is and how to use it appropriately.
On a personal note, after long Tai Chi training most of my physical and verbal confrontations in life have been resolved using defensive maneuvers that redirected and neutralized the attack. I have never had to use strongly harmful attacks physically, though on a few occasions with highly skilled fighters I did have to use strikes and throws that caused minor injury.
Rhetorically I am now in a fight with fascists that requires stronger language and tactics in order to move a wider audience to understand the nature of the situation, as well as to motivate us to verbally fight and vote against them to decrease their power in government and business. Following Tai Chi morality and principles, the aim is to prevent a physical war. Lesser rhetorical tactics have proven ineffective. The case as it is now demands much stronger narrative tactics given the level of fascism, and their highly skilled and well-funded propaganda machine, that is threatening our very democracy and well being.
From Lim:
"Above all, Taijiquan exponents are encouraged to be moral people. A
sense of righteousness, chivalry, kindness, compassion, nobility and being
a benefit to society should always be the code of conduct for a Taijiquan
practitioner."
"The aim of Taijiquan as a martial art is to stop violence conclusively without recourse to more violence, most of the time the violence is redirected against itself or rendered ineffectual. Hence Taijiquan exponents usually just overpower their opponents by turning their own violence against themselves, educating them rather than hurting them."
"Can Taijiquan be used as an attacking art? Yes, but violence should only be the last recourse, never the first. [...] There are situations where the skills and principles above require some augmentation to make them even more effective. This is usually where the opponent's skill level is high enough so that an effective counter is not possible using less injurious means. With such situations stronger discouragement is required and to cater for such eventualities."
Lincoln Project - Enabler in Chief
McCONhell is asked where he draws his moral red line. He doesn't have one. It's all about power and money for him, nothing else. And if that means a fascist takeover of his Party and our country, so what.
Democratic socialism v. socialism
Good Facebook meme and commentary from Durga Adriane. Something to think about.
"The term 'democratic socialism' is what the progressive contingent of the Democrats have used to attempt to distinguish themselves from regular Democrats; viz Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, $15 minimum wage, support for labor unions, etc. Bernie Sanders refers to himself as a democratic socialist as does AOC and others. The reason this distinction matters is because 'democratic socialism' is fundamentally a means of attempting to paper over the predatory capitalist system by tweaking it around the edges. Make it more humane through nicer domestic policy, but do nothing to expropriate or redistribute the power from the oligarchic hegemony pulling the strings.
"The other problem with 'democratic socialists' is that they are perfectly fine with the US empire's endless grind for global domination. They do nothing to challenge our constant regime-change wars. They appropriate billions for Israel in every congressional session. In short, they're the Public Relations arm of the Democrats and don't do much other than to re-brand the Democrats for the younger generations by signaling policies that are basic to every other developed nation in the world and many less-developed ones.
"It's a two-part grift: Progressives (aka democratic socialists) pretending to be the opposition to the Democrats when in fact they are sheepherding left-leaning voters back into the party and quelling authentic revolutionary sentiment with notions of being 'reasonable and strategic.' And the second part of the grift is selling the lie that the Democrats are an opposition party to the Republicans.
"Just like clockwork, in every election by the time progressive voters' 'democratic socialist' progressive candidates have been summarily ousted in the primaries, those same people that claimed to be demanding basic humanity from their government loyally vote for the Democratic party and its operatives, citing myths of 'harm reduction' and 'lesser evilism' to justify it. They talk big about 'organizing at the grassroots' and then never do. Whatever meaningless 'protests' they have amount to little more than the giant pussy hat tantrum of 2016. They do nothing to disrupt the system or threaten the power structure. And when the few progressives they DO manage to get elected sell out to the party machine, voters stop at nothing to make excuses for them with versions of "at least it's better than the other guy.
It's all basically a charade-- as is all 'activism' led from the liberal intelligentsia, the PMC, and the upper middle class.
"Conversely, socialism is anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, and anti-oligarchic. There are no leftist Democrats. Progressive Dems are what I described above. Leftism starts at socialism, basically. Socialists don't compromise with Democrats. Or vote for them. Socialism means worker control over the means of the production and its economic returns. Embracing a multi-polar economic order with room for more than one power. Ending the exploitation of the global south. And ending imperialism. Not. Negotiable."
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Songs, lyrics, poems
Songs, lyrics, poems and other writing/media
Here are about a dozen songs I've recorded at YouTube.* And this link is to my lyrics and poems folder at Google docs, mostly from my ...
