Martin Eden
Martin Eden's JournalShare your Protest Signs for NO KINGS Day
Since Dear Leader is throwing himself a military parade, I incorporated the Tiananmen Square tanks into my sign. Instead of the man with shopping bags blocking the tanks, I put in Lady Liberty zapping the crown off The Felon's head.
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I found the Putin drawing below in a DU thread with political cartoons, and just HAD to do something with it.
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Destruction Of Government Efficiency
DOGE has crippled multiple federal agencies, without any significant deficit reduction as the difficult task of repairing the damage goes on.
But that may not be the worst of it.
PIRACY of sensitive government records on US citizens may very well be the crime of the century. Who now has this data on all of us, and how will it be used -- for private enrichment of the tech kings, or surveillance and power by a king in the Oval Office? Maybe both?
Courts have ruled against this ongoing theft, but the supermajority "conservative" Supreme Court -- that gave Donald Trump immunity for "presidential acts" -- has stayed that ruling, allowing the theft to continue.
I've always liked Joe Biden. He is a good man, and his presidential administration was among the best
America is currently in a fight for its life, not against a foreign foe but from a domestic enemy within. Now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of their country. The Fourth Estate has a special responsibility to inform the public on matters that affect the health and safety of ourselves and our Constitutional democracy.
The new book by the unnamed "journalist" serves that purpose not at all. It is a self aggrandizing recrimination against a very successful administration, and distracts our attention from urgent matters at hand. The content of the book interests me not at all.
As you said, H20 Man, even saints were not perfect human beings. This certainly applies to politicians as well. Since October of 2002, in Democratic primaries I vowed never to vote for anyone who supported or signed onto the Iraq War Resolution which gave GW Bush a free hand to invade Iraq. This included Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and John Kerry. It especially grieved me that Kerry, who rose to prominence as a Vietnam veteran against that war, voted for the IWR. I have, of course, voted D in every general election.
In the 2020 Democratic primary I broke my vow, and voted for Joe Biden because I believed he gave us our best chance to defeat the orange monster defiling the Oval Office. At that time I was somewhat concerned about Joe's age, but I knew he'd have a great supporting cast.
Despite the success of his presidency, I sincerely hoped he would not run for a 2nd term at the end of which he would be 86 years old. Then the fateful debate happened. If responsible journalism prevailed, the bigger storyline would not be Joe's stumbles but the litany of bold faced LIES spewed by his opponent -- which would be absolutely disqualifying for any voters not preconditioned by the insipid infotainment and propaganda that passes for "news" these days.
And so, here we are. There are lessons to be learned, and distractions to be rejected. All that matters is winning the fight we are in now, always with an eye towards securing a better future.
Far too many voters are uninformed, disinformed, disengaged, and/or have a very shallow understanding
Of how our government works and how specific policies affect their lives. They know far too little about history and the global political/economic system. They get their views from TV, and increasingly from social media and friends with the same extremely flawed manipulative sources.
If the majority of voters understood how the specific policies of the two parties actually impacted their own economic self interest and well being, the Party of Trump would lose badly at the polls.
A representative democracy succeeds only when the electorate is well informed and engaged.
American voters as a whole fall far short of that mark.
"The death of truth is the ultimate victory of evil."
The speech excerpted below is fictional, from Season 2 of the Star Wars series Andor Though fiction, this speech by Mon Mothma holds some real truth for the world we live in today.
"He thinks"
I think you're mistaken about that.
This pathological liar does not say what he thinks is true, or comes to believe. That's not how his brain works. Belief and truth do not factor into his rhetoric at all. He's appallingly ignorant because he doesn’t read or study, but he's not an imbecile. He watches TV, and thereby learned how to manipulate voters by pushing the buttons of fear and hatred rather than engaging critical thought.
He says what serves his purpose in the moment, usually as part of the con job which built his cult and got him elected. He is (or was) capable of calculating his lies to great effect, but he also impulsively lashes out against those who criticize or ridicule him -- and punish them if he can. During the campaign he pledged "retribution," and now he wields great power with the tools of the FBI and Justice Dept. He issues threats to intimidate, which in some cases have resulted in compliance.
His threats against Springsteen and Beyonce are of course without legal merit, and will not silence them. But many of his targets have felt the need to increase personal security. The Felon is a stochastic terrorist, inspiring his cult to harass and potentially commit acts of violence.
Someone who lies all the time can become untethered from reality, especially with declining mental faculty. We are seeing that more and more, as some of his pronouncements and incoherent ramblings do NOT serve his interests or the agenda of the oligarchs. I have to wonder if efforts are being made behind the scenes to manage this situation, but he is a megalomaniac who wants to be king. He will throw anyone under the bus deemed insufficiently loyal.
The seeds of his own destruction are growing, and that means he can be increasingly dangerous.
Who is to BLAME for a pathologically unfit felon winning the GOP presidential primary?
THAT is the biggest issue here, regardless of who the Democrats nominated.
An utterly corrupt lying sack of orange shit could NOT have won a major party nomination without a mainstream media that ignored its responsibility as the Fourth Estate to the degree of complicity.
Nor without the system of legalized bribery reinforced by our Supreme Court in the Citizens United case.
Or conservative "Christian" religious leaders who elevated the most amoral POtuS ever to befoul the White House to the status of America's saviour, anointed by God Almighty.
BUT the so-called "liberal media" chooses to focus their energy and "journalistic expertise" on the Party that actually tried to prevent the disaster which has befallen us?
Sure, it was very likely a serious mistake for Joe to run for a 2nd term at the end of which he would have been 86 years old. An open primary putting forth younger more energetic leaders could very well have produced a nominee who inspired more souls to the polls and more forcefully exposed The Felon for what he is -- in a campaign not hastily organized while our incumbent president was pressured to finally withdraw.
But to blame Joe Biden and the Democrats for the criminal fascist thrust upon us by the Republican Party is beyond the pale.
Republicans PRETEND to be "Fiscal Conservatives"
So why is that budget deficits always INCREASE when they're in power -- are they too stupid to understand the consequences of their own policies?
NO. This is deliberate.
They have long wanted to shrink government to a size that can be "drowned in a bathtub." The strategy is to starve the beast. This means starving federal government programs of funds.
They know that trying to dismantle Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid by direct legislative assault is political suicide. Instead, they drive up deficits with tax cuts for the rich and costly wars of choice, then put on their "fiscal conservative" masks and solemnly declare that hard decisions must be made about the cost of "entitlements" we can no longer afford.
These are the earned benefits working Americans already paid for with deductions from every paycheck our entire working lives. It is a strategy to transfer more wealth from you and me to the billionaires who finance the Republican Party.
We have to stand up and say NO!!!!!!!
He plans to use tariffs as extortion to gain power
Corporations will lobby for relief, and will comply with his demads on bended knee. Tariffs are a means of coercion, just as he has pressured universities and law firms.
The Felon plans to remain in office as long as he wants. He's itching to invoke the Insurrection Act and declare martial law.
As protests grow, Proud Boys and their ilk will incite violence. The Felon will do what he wanted to do during the George Floyd protests -- use the military to shoot protesters.
Do not underestimate what The Felon will do, or try to do. The scenario in the previous paragraph could be orchestrated in the run-up to the 2026 midterm elections, which would then be canceled or controlled with the iron fist of a dictator and his Republican cohorts who are equally determined not to lose their House and Senate majorities.
They have already shown an utter disregard for American institutions, our Constitutional rule of law, and truth.
Do you really think that once they've thrown their lot in with a dictator-- which they have already done -- that there is a line they will not cross?
I'm not saying they will succeed.
I'm saying they must be stopped.
Fascist is as fascist does
Of course Trump has no ideology other than his ingrained misogyny, racism, and feeding the bottomless pit of his greed, ego, and lust for power.
But his actions to consolidate dictatorial power are that of a fascist. Furthermore, he is enforcing an ideology which seeks to suppress and erase from history the long struggle of people other than straight white "Christian" males to gain equal rights and justice in this country.
Trump is not Hitler, but he directly channels the Nazi in his targeting of brown immigrants as "poisoning the blood of our country." His rise to power has been a cult of personality supported by neo-Nazis, white supremicists, "Christian" nationalists, wealthy business owners, and the politicians who serve them.
How narrowly defined must "fascism" be in applying the term to 21st century manifestations of authoritarianism? That latter term covers a lot of ground, lacking specificity.
Perhaps a new term can be created for the specific means and ideological dismantling of the American republic currently in process, but I doubt the new word would be readily understood or effective in raising the necessary public alarm to preserve our Constitional rule of law.
General Mark Milley warned us that Trump is "fascist to the core."
I'm gonna go with that.
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