Politics Please say rock bottom is getting close (1 Viewer)

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SlyPokerDog said:
GmHS1EDbcAMPdd_
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What a gift to Israel. As they ethically cleanse and starve the people of Palestine, they have Americans instead talking about an overrated bipolar rap artist.

If he's not on their payroll he should be.
 
Compared to tanking the economy, selling out Ukraine and destroying American democracy, performing arts might seem small potatoes. But Kennedy Center for Performing Arts has long been gold standard. When Trump named himself chair and replaced board with right wing activists and Fox commentators, results were predictable. Ticket sales cut in half. Performers cancelled. Donations way down. Members of board traditionally donated their own money to the Center. Catch Laura Ingraham doing that.

No doubt they figured they would get rid of liberals and gays and replace with pro Trump entertainers.
 
DUI hire running Department of Defense has been scrubbing Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery web sites of any photos or information related to anyone not straight, white, and male. Among items deleted:

Military histories of baseball hall of famer Jackie Robinson and civil rights icon Medgar Evers

Web page of Army general and Medal of Honor recipient Charles Calvin Rogers, a Black man, replaced by 404 DEI

We have all seen famous photo of flag raising at Iwo Jima. One of the men raising the flag is Ira Hayes, a Native American. He joined the service. Native Americans were not at that time US citizens even though they were here first, so were not subject to draft. His story was part of series on service of Native Americans in armed forces, all deleted.

Navajo code talkers. Intelligence agencies feared communications had been breached by Axis. The employed Navajos who communicated in their own language, which no one in Europe spoke, to circumvent any eavesdropping. They they translated information into English for handlers.

The first women to graduate from Marine artillery training and Army Ranger school. They were held to same high standards as the men.

The segregated all Black unit that was the most decorated in World War II.

Japanese Americans whose were being held in internment camps but who volunteered to serve in US military during World War II.

The Black troops who fought in the Civil War (and contrary to racist myth, Black soldiers did not volunteer to fight for Confederacy).

The most famous airplane in US history is Enola Gay. People who can't name any other aircraft can name Enola Gay. We can and should debate dropping the bomb but that doesn't change the fact of the plane's legacy. It is also removed because of the word gay. So has biography of decorated army officer whose last name is Gay.

Images of Army Corps of Engineers doing a study on fish because the page said they recorded the fish size, weight and gender. The word gender no longer permitted.
 
From Robert Reich


Friends,

Yesterday, Trump dismantled much of the Department of Education. He ordered wrestling executive-turned-Education Secretary Linda McMahon to shut most of her department, although student loans and special education funding will continue.

His executive order will effectively destroy a $100 billion-a-year executive department created by Congress under President Jimmy Carter 45 years ago.

But there’s a much larger story here.

Combine this with Trump’s attacks on higher education — his gutting the funding of the National Institutes of Health (which provides a large portion of biomedical research) and the National Science Foundation (engineering and computer research) and his effective closure of USAID (which underwrites research in global diseases).

Put this together with Trump’s attacks on the freedom of speech of university students and professors.

And with Trump’s (and RFK Jr.’s) attacks on vaccine science.

With Trump’s and right-wing governors’ attacks on teaching the truth in our schools about America’s history of slavery and Native American genocide.

Combine this with Trump’s attack on America’s libraries — last week’s executive order mandating cuts in the funding of libraries around the country — which will jeopardize literacy development and reading programs, reliable internet access for those without it at home, and homework help and other resources for students and educators.

And his attacks on America’s museums (the same executive order cut their funding, too). And his attack on the arts, as illustrated by Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center (last month, he announced himself its new chair, replaced 13 board members, and inserted a new interim president).

What’s the larger picture?

Not an “attack on the liberal state,” as I keep reading. Not “the culmination of Trump’s culture wars.” Certainly not that Trump is seeking “small government” over “big government” or advancing traditional conservatism over traditional liberalism.
What’s really occurring is an attack on the American mind.

Throughout history, tyrants have understood that their major enemy is an educated citizenry. Slaveholders prohibited the enslaved from learning to read. Nazis burned books. Putin and Xi censor the media.
Ignorance is the handmaiden of tyranny.

Those who believe in democracy, on the other hand, have been at the forefront of the movement for free, universal public education and for public libraries, museums, and the arts.

They understand that democracy depends on people knowing what’s occurring around them and having the capacity to deliberate critically about it.

Trump is only the frontman in this attack on the American mind.

The attack is really coming from the anti-democracy movement: from JD Vance and from Vance’s major financial backer, venture capitalist Peter Thiel, who staked $15 million on Vance’s Ohio senatorial election in 2022 and helped convince Trump to make Vance vice president. And from Thiel’s early business partner, Elon Musk.

Thiel is a self-styled libertarian who once wrote: “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.”

Hello? Freedom is incompatible with democracy only if you view democracy as a potential constraint on your wealth and power.

Behind Vance and Musk is a libertarian group of rich crypto bros, tech executives, back-to-the-landers, and disaffected far-right intellectuals.

Curtis Yarvin comes as close as anyone to being their intellectual godfather. He has written that political power in the United States is held by a liberal amalgam of universities and the mainstream media whose commitment to equality and justice is eroding America’s social order.

In Yarvin’s view, democratic governments are inefficient and wasteful. They should be replaced with sovereign joint-stock corporations whose major “shareholders” select an executive with total power, who serves at their pleasure. Yarvin refers to the city-state of Singapore as an example of a successful authoritarian regime.

Make no mistake: Trump’s attack on the American mind — on education, science, libraries, and museums — is an attack on the capacity of Americans for self-government.

It is coming from the oligarchs of the techno-state who believe democracy is inefficient and want to replace it with an authoritarian regime replete with technologies they control.

Be warned.
 
Go all the way back to early Christian Church destroying classical civilization, burning the library of Alexandria. Burning Giordano Bruno at the stake and threatening Galileo with torture. Bonfire of the Vanities, when books and paintings were burned.

KKK burned freedman's schools and lynched teachers.

Nazis abolished co-education, boys got military training and girls home economics.

Tyranny thrives on ignorance.
 
My Boss is super religious, super antivax, has 11 kids and is pregnant with her 12th, and thinks it's okay to drink alcohol when she's pregnant...

Evidence doesn't mean much to her. Needless to say, she's not a good boss. But she's the owner's daughter-in-law and his son is a stay at home Dad. I don't see things getting much better...

I'm torn between "I need a new job" and "I'm just thankful I have a job"...
 
Powerful giving in to fascism. Shouldn't surprise me. Happened in the 1930s.

High end law firm targeted by Trump for having clients who were prominent Democrats. Barred from entering federal buildings, which includes court houses. They have resources to fight. Instead agreed to do $40 million worth of free legal work for Trump. What will they defend? Banning trans people? Grabbing people off the streets and shipping them to foreign concentration camps without charges or trial? Defying court orders? Shutting down social security?

Columbia caved. Agreed to massive police presence on campus, arrest protesters, ban masks and "review" academic departments Trump doesn't like.
 
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crandc said:
Powerful giving in to fascism. Shouldn't surprise me. Happened in the 1930s.

High end law firm targeted by Trump for having clients who were prominent Democrats. Barred from entering federal buildings, which includes court houses. They have resources to fight. Instead agreed to do $40 million worth of free legal work for Trump. What will they defend? Banning trans people? Grabbing people off the streets and shipping them to foreign concentration camps without charges or trial? Defying court orders? Shutting down social security?

Columbia caved. Agreed to massive police presence on campus, arrest protesters, ban masks and "review" academic departments Trump doesn't like.
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WTF?!?
 
If that's his job he's doing rather poorly at it.

Actually, no matter what his job is, he's doing rather poorly at it. Unless he's auditioning for a role as Mr. Magoo.

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barfo
 
barfo said:
If that's his job he's doing rather poorly at it.

Actually, no matter what his job is, he's doing rather poorly at it. Unless he's auditioning for a role as Mr. Magoo.

MV5BMjY1NmE1MDItNmFkZS00NmQyLTgwNmQtOWZlNDZhMDNiYjUxXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNzU1NzE3NTg@._V1_QL75_UX500_CR0,47,500,281_.jpg


barfo
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Allowing Trump to win twice is more like, a blind Mr. Magoo who, always thought he was in the right place at the right time and everything was in control.
 
Van Jones for President 2018.
Better yet, Amy Klobuchar & Shapiro or Van Jones.....
 
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Hoopguru said:
Van Jones for President 2018.
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'Volcanic eruption of outrage': Van Jones on Democrats' reaction to Schumer helping GOP avoid shutdown

================================

Van Jones Says He Was Going To Be Put ‘In An Early Grave’ After Receiving $100M From Jeff Bezos

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With great power comes great responsibility. CNN contributor Van Jones felt the weight of this statement after receiving $100 million from Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos.

In 2021, Bezos gifted Jones the money and instructed him to do as he wishes with it. Chef José Andrés was also a recipient of $100 million.

“They can give it all to their own charity,” Bezos said at a press conference, according to CNN. “Or they can share the wealth. It is up to them.”

The gesture from Bezos was because he said the pair “demonstrated courage” and were actively trying to create a more unified world.

“We need unifiers and not vilifiers,” Bezos explained, per CNN. “We need people who argue hard and act hard for what they believe. But they do that always with civility and never ad hominem attacks. Unfortunately, we live in a world where this is too often not the case. But we do have role models.”

Jones expressed gratitude stating, “Sometimes dreams come true.”

Read More
 
Phatguysrule said:
Unfortunately, I believe they all accept lobbyist money...
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I do like this criteria/attribute.
“We need unifiers and not vilifiers,” Bezos explained, per CNN. “We need people who argue hard and act hard for what they believe. But they do that always with civility and never ad hominem attacks. Unfortunately, we live in a world where this is too often not the case. But we do have role models.”
 
Hoopguru said:
I do like this criteria/attribute.
“We need unifiers and not vilifiers,” Bezos explained, per CNN. “We need people who argue hard and act hard for what they believe. But they do that always with civility and never ad hominem attacks. Unfortunately, we live in a world where this is too often not the case. But we do have role models.”
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Sounds like something Chuck Schumer might say... Cashing his $100 million check...
 
Hoopguru said:
I do like this criteria/attribute.
“We need unifiers and not vilifiers,” Bezos explained, per CNN. “We need people who argue hard and act hard for what they believe. But they do that always with civility and never ad hominem attacks. Unfortunately, we live in a world where this is too often not the case. But we do have role models.”
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Fine words. He is a union buster. Amazon warehouses have much higher than usual injury rates due to extreme pace of work. They rip off independent suppliers.

And he gave "uniter" Trump a million dollars.
 
Hoopguru said:
Van Jones for President 2018.
Better yet, Amy Klobuchar & Shapiro or Van Jones.....
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I voted for Klobuchar over Biden in the primary in 2016. Her and Shapiro would be good, but the Dems have run two women in the last three elections and lost. I'm unsure the US is going to vote in a woman president right now. Eventually, you would think it has to happen.
 
crandc said:
Fine words. He is a union buster. Amazon warehouses have much higher than usual injury rates due to extreme pace of work. They rip off independent suppliers.

And he gave "uniter" Trump a million dollars.
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Yeah, I meant the words. I did lots of business with Amazon, they were tough but always kept their account current.
 
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