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So, thank you Thom for bringing up this issue. I'm clear about the fact that we have been a de facto fascist state for at least the Eisenhower administration, if what we are defining fascism as is this: a binding together (the fascis of Roman authority) of the government, the military, industry (particularly the all powerful military industrial complex), the media, the financial institutions, our educational institutions, our religious institutions, etc. into one bundle of all-powerful members who run every aspect of our lives with the sole purpose of advancing their own further empowerment and financial gain. Putin is just a dictator and head of his oligarchy of rich supporters, but we are sinking ever more rapidly into an all-emcompassing fascist state and the rest of the world knows this, but is often afraid to say so. We are fighting today in 163 or the world's 200 countries. If that's not the action of a fascist empire, I don't know what is.
We've had More than Enough of tRUMP--All Americans that are concerned about this neo-fascist President should Bombard their Congress persons with emails, phone calls, Visits--DEMAND that IMPEACHMENT Process BEGIN--Republican Controlled Congress will NOT MOVE Unless they FEAR they will be VOTED OUT of Office--Then Work to see they are NOT re-elected IF they Continue to Support tRUMP and his Policies! VOTE While We Still HAVE a VOTE!
We've had More than Enough of tRUMP--All Americans that are concerned about this neo-fascist President should Bombard their Congress persons with emails, phone calls, Visits--DEMAND that IMPEACHMENT Process BEGIN--Republican Controlled Congress will NOT MOVE Unless they FEAR they will be VOTED OUT of Office--Then Work to see they are NOT re-elected IF they Continue to Support tRUMP and his Policies! VOTE While We Still HAVE a VOTE!
I think that the Trump Putin meeting was finally a way for Trump to finally meet with his hero and benefactor. There is no doubt in my mind that Trump is a wannabe Putin and that he sees this relationship as a way of uniting billionairs in both the United States and Russia. Having secret meetings like this, in that no objective person was in the room with them, makes it impossible to know what really was said.
Trump clearly demonstrates that we are losing our country to Fascism.
Trump isn't any more a "neo-fascist" than Obama was. However, we are an Oligarchy. That Oligarchy is in itself neo-fascist. It is responsible for the rise of a survallience state and the militarization of the police.
I'm 70 and have never gone to bed in the evening wondering if our country will still exist when I wake up. Trump is the biggest threat to our way of life since I have been alive.
F G Kaye,
Good one!
Here's Trumpo meeting with his cabinet, plotting their next move:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7vtWB4owdE
Diane, I am sure that you can give us examples of the Republicans doing legislation for the 99%????
Kend,
Sounds like a beautiful setting. Yeah, I should explore BC. Been to Alberta, hiking and camping in Jasper and Bannf National Parks, then East of the mountains to Edmonton, Calgary, etc. Very friendly people everywhere, and was treated well for being a "Yank." Grew up close to the border where a lot of Canadians came down to ski in the winter and hang out at our warm(er) lakes in the summer, so in Ireland my hybrid accent is often mistaken for Canadian, eh.
Happy 150th!
@ #4 More accurate terminology would be calling it "Healthcontrol"
@ #9 You have absolutely no knowledge of what drives people to pull the lever and select their candidate. There are fools on both sides of the aisle. Choose a winning candidate and stop fretting over others motivation.
Anybody that thought they were voting for something other than making the 1% wealthier is a fool.
I don't care if you want to be rich. All I want is enough left over for me to have a car, clothes, shoes, computer, and maybe even a small house. A little money to eat out once in a while.. These guys are greed driven. They want EVERYTHING. For the life of me, I can't understand. I'm in my '60's and know that the "parking meter" is reaching the expiration point on my life.. What ever I have I will not keep when I die. So what is the point of hoarding things??
I agree whole heartily that all those senseless tweets Trump puts out are a smoke screen designed to help disguise what he is really doing. I agree that Trump can't be trusted. He is a tycoon, a businessman and businessmen become rich by insuring their capacity to make a profit. They are driven by greed, no matter how they paint themselves before the public but the Internet? That is something that has worried me since it's creation.
Why? Well, freedom of comunnications sounds very nice but the type of freedom found in the Internet doesn't really favor the public. I mean, I could rant all I want. I could start my own blog. I could do many things but that doesn't mean someone is going to listen to me, or that what I say will have any weight on anything. It just means that I could write stuff until my fingers fall of. So, who does that freedom benefit?
It benefits private enterprises that can now interfere freely on our comunications with ads that just will not shut up and that slows down our equipment. Now, thanks to the Internet, they, private enterprise has direct acess to us and can spy on us as they do, all the time. They know what we see, they know what we viisit, they know what we buy and they know about everything we search for. We worry about the government spying on us but the people that re spying on us are people who work for private enterprises and they don't (if I'm to believe the press) collude with the government.
It also benefits criminal enterprises, the pornography market, pedophiles, all kinds of hackers, identity thiefs and so forth. A drug dealer can now maintain direct comunications with their contacts world wide. Slavers can now make deals to sell their human cargo to who ever is interested around the world. Terrorists can use the Internet to find recruits and drive them into doing horrible things. I don't really think that the Internet is such a good thing.
Now, talking about terrorist, I don't really believe in terrorism as it's put out in the news. I believe that someone is finding vulnerable people out there who want to die but would like to leave a mark on the world. Anyone can claim that the person is working for any number of terrorists organizations but who is doing it for other reasons and, that person, can find the people it needs to create the fear and cofusion that terrorism creates using the Internet.
In my mind I would think that any nation that wanted to protect their people that the first thing they would do is to limit the Internet. That way, a hacker in, lest say, Russia, would not find it easy to hack our voting machines, or destroy our infrastructure. Of course, that would mean that no one could use the Internet to create another Ärab Spring".
As for what we pay for Internet services (and it's the same for cable and other services we like to have in the house), that is something we can control. The government can decide what ever the government wants but if we stand for what we believe and if we defend our interests, those prices would come down and those services would improve. The reason that they are lousy is thata we don't do anything but cry and complain. We think those services are awful and expensive but we rather go hungry that to get rid of the celular, Internet and cable services. We are addicted to those things and that addiction makes us weak.
Just saying.
Health insurance.. it's not for just anybody. Ask a Republican (AKA Calvinist). Most of us know there could.. should .. be a universal insurance program system for all of us... not just those that have so much money they can afford all risks and associated premiums. My former Congressman, Robert Hurt, when asked why not just provide the same tax payer supported insurance that he had to all US citizens.. and he said they did not deserve to get it. When challenged about what he had via a life time benefit paid for by taxpayers.. he stated emphatically that he deserved it as he was "serving" his country implying the rest of us don't even the fact we "losers" are paying his $50,000+ per yr for life retirement pay and for his lifetime Federal health insurance. McCain said at a rally when running for President how the free market was his "religion." That coming from a military family that has never worked for a living. America sucks in that it is devoted (as McCain said he was) that nothing should be provided unless someone can make profits from it... affirming it was his and America's "religion." We will never change...because as Antonin Scalia remarked when interviewd when first appointed to Court.. asked what he saw his role to be.. he stated that his obligation was to see that nothing will happen for the first time. May God Damn him too. Thus we can never be what the "marketing collateral" of the founders wrote.. that we are all created equal and all are endowed... not just them.. Calvinists. Marketing hype was used to "sell" independence. Slave owners.. profiteers... Trump is just follwing in the foot steps of a Calvinist theology. Sadly, he doesn't know that as he never read anything but Superman comics. We need to put taxpayer resources into aggressive space exploration.. seeking intelligent life elsewhere.. there isn't any on this planet.
Your health insurance is not free Kend... everyone contributes based on ability to pay. It's called progressive taxation.
Citizens need to refer to Single-Payer as a, "We the People," takeover of heath insurance. We need to take back the message with simple phraseology.
yesterday Deepspace suggested I go to the Rockies and chill. Truth is my friend I have a place in the beautiful Kootanay Valley near Radium Hot Springs, BC. Canada. It backs onto a crystal clear creek that the Salmon spawn on ever fall. Yes Deepspace you are right it is Awsome. The reason I bring this up is you can buy $1.30 CAN for $1,00 US. Makes for a very inexpensive holiday. Check Westjet For flights they have some deals on as we just celebrated Canada's 150 th birthday and go to many US cities. You will be shocked when you see the airport fees here though triple of yours. Most Canadians are far left of me so you will feel at home here. Oh ya same with booze. In some cases 10 times what you pay. That's why we have free healthcare.
Thom is sort of saying all eyes have been on the GOP trying to steal millions of people's Medicaid plans and increase costs for those on the for profit health insurance plans.
Those same eyes need to be redirected to Single Payer. We all need to start saying this.....I want my taxes to pay for Medicare for all, instead of the government takeover crap the righties throw out there. Big difference with the semantics here. Repeat that government is our servant, not our dictator. The Fascists need to know we the people are still aware of what our founders intended.
The Fascists are using Net Neutrality as another step in suppression of truth and complete control of the message.
BTW: Watch for Trump and Putin to use a fake Syrian agreement to leverage for an end to the sanctions .
Has anyone scanned the orbits of earth for new Elysium stations being placed with the many rapid rocket launches?
While in the Navy serving on FBM Submarines I had many a discussions with men qualifying. It always lead to who can stop an nuclear launch. The answer is no one can stop a launch, but one could be delayed by anyone, who was well qualified on the ships systems. The same can be applied to the internet. People in the right positions could turn off them all or sections of the internet, randomly. Make it so problematic it would not be partible for the people who want to control it to operate any structure. It does not have to be destroyed or rebuilt just interfered with!
Radical,
You speak very well from the heart, and all your efforts are important and unique contributions -- very much appreciated! Keep on fighting!
jibaro01,
Your points that American politicians from both major parties are "tainted" by "money from rich companies," and that "a land where greed is supreme is not a fertile land for democracy and freedom," cannot be honestly contested. The question becomes what we should do about entrenched power so antithetical to a people's government. Obviously, the only answer at this late stage is total revolution by the People.
Focusing in on the elemental problem and verbalizing it, however, is only the beginning of true action. The next logical question is the kind of revolution we are talking about.
Violence will only strengthen an oppressive, militaristic state by lending it the excuse to crack down even harder. Modern-day American autocrats have all the muscle on their side, an awesome array of weaponry and sophisticated military tactics to bring to bear on a virtually defenseless citizenry armed with a pathetic collection of popguns and potbellies.
How long will camouflage-clad rebels hold out surrounded in the dilapidated brownstone row houses of inner cities, the neglected subdivisions of rural America, or the isolated redoubts of our shrinking forests -- a few news cycles at best? No, the bygone glory days of the great armed revolutions, such as the American, French, and Irish wars of independence, are relegated to the history books and must now serve as important lessons to inspire succeeding generations to rekindle that same spirit of independence and self rule -- without the guns.
But that is the more powerful weapon! Fundamental revolution in the mind -- the way we think and feel -- is what lasts. A true revolutionary spirit is highly contagious and is what rich and powerful authoritarian rulers down through the ages have always feared the most.
Peaceful yet serious and committed resistance to all forms of mind control, oppression, and injustice -- to all the outward expressions of concentrated power -- is really the only way to bring about lasting change. Whether people work through third parties, within existing parties, or independently, they must in their daily lives find the courage to fight without let up against tyranny and the forces of greed, hate, fear, violence, and propaganda -- all the tools of fascism.
I want to thank Deepspace and stopgap for their fantastic comments. I have been fighting the battles for over 40 years and it is nice to hear from 2 people who say it better than I ever could.
I have had long links on the blog about why people watch Fox News. It comes down to the fact that it does not matter if it lies. It is what they want to hear and thus is comforting to them. Kend does not realize that Republicans go on Fox News because they will get softball questions. They absolutely refuse to go on Rachael Maddow (MSNBC) because they will be grilled. Obama interviewed on Fox multible times. Also on virtually every other media. You will never see Trump on anything but Fox. Kend shows how seamlessly Fox brainwashes.
Kend needs to educate himself on presidential election airtime and its affect. This is a good site for it. Note Bernies time vs Trumps.
http://television.gdeltproject.org/cgi-bin/iatv_campaign2016/iatv_campai...
Yeah, yeah but what you don't say is that the Democratic Party is as corrupt as the Republican Party. All politicians in the US are tainted. The only way they can run a political campaign is by accepting money from rich companies and they don't give their money away. That's why the Democratic Party, in the end, always act like the Republican Party. They answer to the same master.
I'm from Puerto Rico, I see this all the time. Politics have become like wrestling matches. The good guys and the bad guys go at it and the blood flows but, in the end, no matter how much damage they seem to inflict on each other, they levae their theater and celebrate together because they are friends.
People are not blind. We can see how politics work. What we can't see is a way to select someone honest to change things.Hell, I wonder if Sanders is really as "liberal" as people think he is. In the end, he backed Hillary and that says a lot about him.
Face it, the "American Dream" is a dream of greed. A land where greed is supreme is not a fertile land for democracy and freedom. You might be able to convince a slave that he is free but the reality is that the salve is a slave no matter what he thinks about the matter.