U.S. Election Thread 2016-05
- Clinton selects Kaine, a "moderate" right winger somewhat left to her, as her Vice President candidate. "Screw all progressives," she said.
- Trump selects right winger Pence as his Vice President candidate. "Blah, blah, blah," he said while no one at the lunatic Republican National Convention listened.
- The Democratic National Committee under its Zionist leader Wasserman-Schultz had from day one on schemed against other primary candidates to get Clinton elected. (True even if some of the leaked DNC emails may well be fakes.)
- Sanders proved he was fake himself when he sold out to Clinton and endorsed her.
That's my take. Yours may vary.
Posted by b on July 23, 2016 at 6:37 UTC | Permalink
next page »b,
I agree with your take. The story is not the horse race but about how dangerous these people are and what are we going to do about it.
It makes small to no difference to us humans whether the elephant or the jackass is crowned our emperor, we need to make plans that will meet and counteract the event of either one or the other's accession.
I think we need to start a 'No to Clinton, No to Trump' campaign to counter their center ring production, and seek to amass a 3rd party / write-ins / 'spoiled ballot' total that exceeds either of theirs. We might not make that, but that's what we ought to shoot for, and in the event we miss we ought to come as close as we can - ought to exceed all other 'anyone but these two' totals in recent history.
We must do our best as people and constituents and sovereigns to overshadow this tawdry show and assert our power over the government of the United States. It's been 15 years now since the dawn of the criminal 'New American Century' and there's no one to put an end to it but us Americans ourselves. There's no shame in trying and failing, but in not even trying ... well, there's no honor there, certainly.
Posted by: jfl | Jul 23 2016 7:35 utc | 2
At least there is a credible anti-war Candidate for the Senate.
Posted by: LL | Jul 23 2016 8:13 utc | 3
Yeah ...
David Ernest Duke (born July 1, 1950) is an American white nationalist, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, Holocaust denier, politician, and former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.[3][4]A former one-term Republican Louisiana State Representative, he was a candidate in the Democratic presidential primaries in 1988 and the Republican presidential primaries in 1992. Duke unsuccessfully ran for the Louisiana State Senate, United States Senate, United States House of Representatives, and Governor of Louisiana. Duke is a felon, having pleaded guilty to defrauding supporters by falsely claiming to be impoverished and in danger of losing his home in order to solicit emergency donations; at the time, Duke was financially secure, and used the donations for recreational gambling.[5]
Duke describes himself as a "racial realist," asserting that "all people have a basic human right to preserve their own heritage."[6] Duke also speaks against what he describes as Jewish control of the Federal Reserve Bank, the U.S. federal government and the media. Duke supports the preservation of what he considers to be Western culture and traditionalist Christian family values, Constitutionalism, abolition of the Internal Revenue Service, voluntary racial segregation, anti-communism and white separatism.[7][8][9]
[3] Duke, David. "My Awakening: A Path to Racial Understanding". Free Speech Press. retrieved September 17, 2007.
[4] "David Duke: White Revolution on the Internet". Anti-Defamation League. Retrieved November 13, 2006.
[5] David Duke pleads to mail fraud, tax charges USA Today. December 18, 2002. Retrieved July 18, 2015.
[6] Duke, David (March 12, 2005). "David Duke answers an email about whether he is a racist". Retrieved August 31, 2006.
[7] Duke, David. "An Aryan Vision". My Awakening. SolarGeneral. Retrieved November 13, 2006.
[8] Duke, David (October 23, 2004). "Kayla Rolland: One More Victim". Retrieved November 13, 2006.
[9] "David Duke: In His Own Words / On Segregation". Anti-Defamation League. Retrieved November 13, 2006.
Posted by: jfl | Jul 23 2016 9:08 utc | 4
b,
I don't take exception to your take, but would add to it.
Both Trump and Sanders were leading a populist uprising on their way to nomination. One a left-wing populist uprising of sorts, and the other a right-wing one. Sander's run was defeated by the Democratic Party's underhanded treatment of him. See Wiki-leaks latest e-mails release.
What "we" need to do is find common ground between the left and right wings. Compromise is very hard as we all know, but the crony-cap (corporatist) systems that are the default in the West must be overthrown somehow or it will enslave us all.
The governments of the entire West are so corrupt and tyrannical, we are facing and Orwellian dystopia and it is right around the corner.
Clinton wants to push Russia and China into war. God Damn! That is worth voting against right there. But the system itself will continue right along the same path no matter who wins.
A breakup of the USA worldwide Empire is our only hope.
Posted by: Mark Stoval | Jul 23 2016 11:00 utc | 5
5
Disagree on Sanders, you're not reading your Green Sheet.
The Left is weak. 15 years of Right Wing and a soft coup, then their captured and controlled-dissent OWS destroyed the Old Left, leaving only Black Lives Matter as the true Progressives. Sanders' job was always to round the Left vote up, put a nice bow on them, and deliver to Clinton.
Clinton is a life-long Republican. She grew up in an all-white Republican suburb, she supported Goldwater, and she supported Wall Street banking, then became a DINO dildo to ride her husband's coattails to WH, until the NYC Mob traded her a NY Senator seat for her husband's perfidy. She never said one word about re-regulating the banks.
"We came, we saw, he died!" could only be a Right-Wing NeoCon psychopath. Bernie let her play Right-Center, the big undecided voting block demographic, plus the women vote, without losing the Left that Bernie will deliver. This explains her VP choice in cementing Right-Center. She knew all along she would get the Left.
Besides owning Clinton, Wall Street owns Trump as well. His casinos are bleeding out red, and he has refis on his refis on his refis for his real estate loans. The Mob called in their marker: Donald, lead the Far Right and the Evangelicals off to WWE Crazy Town. So he did. You heard his 'stay in your bunker' speech, and the chalk on blackboard screech of Cruz's 'vote your conscience'. Cruz is also owned by Wall Street. In fact, Clinton and Trump married their children into that Mob.
This explains Milo-the-Gay-Warrior and Drudge-Breitbart flipping the RNC to pro-LGBTF, against the Evangelicals, which is like dropping a neitron bomb on the party. It's just a WWE smackdown. The Right Wing is splintered. Fox is imploding. It's Mission Accomplished, once again.
It's so obvious Trump was the opening act for Clinton. Don't you guys know anything about show-boat marketing? Trump and Sanders set Clinton up for the win. It's all scripted. GOOG and FB know your every thought and action.
Trump-Clinton has become an enormous Wall Street charade, their final coup de'grace on the American Dream, before Cankles destroys Progressivism, and the Globalist Third Way Wehrmacht seizes ultimate power in America for real.
I'm moving everything out of the country right now, then going expatriate myself, after years of stress-testing. There's nothing left to remain there for except the New Trail of Tears about to begin in R/E and foreclosures, and BK's Mac'n Cheese Substance, with Dorito Flavour! Look at R/E $s in Canada, England and Australia. Nuts!
Oh look, a Poke Go!
Posted by: Cho Nyawinh | Jul 23 2016 11:52 utc | 6
Cho Nyawinh | Jul 23, 2016 7:52:37 AM | 6
Better late than never, no?
Where are you going? Just curious; I bailed in 2003, but shun the expat label; preferring self exile instead. Good luck.
Posted by: V. Arnold | Jul 23 2016 12:24 utc | 7
Posted by: Cho Nyawinh | Jul 23, 2016 7:52:37 AM | 6
I want to know also
V. Arnold how are thing going in Thailand? What little I've read the General seems to be going in the right direction.
Thanks
Posted by: jo6pac | Jul 23 2016 13:52 utc | 8
Trump's acceptance speech confirmed, once more, that he's got more hats, from which he can pull more rabbits, than Hillary, the MSM, the spin tanks, and the Lobbies combined.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jul 23 2016 13:56 utc | 9
Good take b. Can't disagree with much posted right now. The U$A/NATO, is an Empire driven by "Mega Business" concerns. It's market share uber-alles, and it is, the "New World Order", and it's coming for everyone. Sanders and Trump rounded up the "sheep", and there're headed toward HRC, the Pro-corporate candidate. If, by chance, Trump should "win", no difference, It's still business as usual. Our only hope is a multi-polar world. Is that possible? Will that mean a share for the workers of the world, and not just the elites? I for one hope so, but, who knows.
Posted by: ben | Jul 23 2016 14:06 utc | 10
6;Sorry,your prognostication meter is way off;Trump in a landslide.
Yes,the RNC are nuts,and so are the dem and the Hell Bitch,but Trump is the most sane American leader since I don't know when?
Posted by: dahoit | Jul 23 2016 14:08 utc | 11
"a dog is obeyed in office." T. Kaine ,while running for guvnah of my home state of Virginny said, "I am personally opposed to the death penalty but will honor the wishes of the voters of my state." so much for his "beliefs." wsws has a good article up today on him. b/c of the military crap at Norfolk/Va Beach & all over NVA (pentagon is just the tip), his tongue is rougher than a cat's from all the military bootlicking he does.
Posted by: jason | Jul 23 2016 14:45 utc | 12
From Information Clearing House:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article45157.htm
Posted by: ben | Jul 23 2016 14:57 utc | 13
yeah I think you mostly got that. I knew that Hillary would pick a neo-liberal corporate tool. I still think Trump might be worth voting for - if only to throw sand in the gears of the system - but his picking neo-liberal corporate tool Mike Pence as VP was disappointing. Business as usual?
Mike Pence is Jeb Bush, only without the charisma.
Posted by: TG | Jul 23 2016 15:08 utc | 14
Apparently the Trump Pence ticket is America First Israel Firster. The continual mention of a foreign country by those running for President & Vice President of the United States is not only deeply disturbing but amounts to treason against the Republic. Same goes for the Demotards.
Just my opinion
Posted by: ALberto | Jul 23 2016 15:40 utc | 15
Unbelieveble how many use the empty words "right' and "left".
Posted by: From The Hague | Jul 23 2016 16:16 utc | 16
jo6pac | Jul 23, 2016 9:52:13 AM | 8
Hey Jo6pak; so far so good.
If I hadn't read the news, I'd have no idea anything changed.
Life for most of us is the same as it's always been.
We travel, use the internet, read the BKK post and The Nation news, and look at the very graphic political cartoons (The Nation) pillaring Gen. Phrayut Chan Ocha day in and day out; no problem.
Further evidence of western media bullshit re: Thailand...
Posted by: V. Arnold | Jul 23 2016 16:28 utc | 17
Addendum; I would add, the increasing use of the Le Majeste' law is troubling. It's been used more in the last two years than the total of the previous 14 years I've been here.
Posted by: V. Arnold | Jul 23 2016 16:35 utc | 18
Whomever wins, 'Democratic' Capitalism is good for another 4 years lol
Posted by: bbbb | Jul 23 2016 16:56 utc | 19
Hello. Many people listened intently to Trump's speech at the Republican National Convention. You're right, though, that Trump picked an improbable running mate---indeed a neocon who voted twice for the Iraq war and also for invasion and regime-change in Libya. This is in constrast to Trump's own non-interventionist policy. See "Trump’s VP Choice a Betrayal: Open Letter to the Campaign Team":
Still, Pence presents an exceptionally well-groomed appearance, in contrast to Hillary's VP pick Kaine, who looks like a fat drunken slob. Maybe Trump astutely selected Pence for this very trait.
Posted by: Karl Pomeroy | Jul 23 2016 16:58 utc | 20
Michael Moore
He is correct. People hate Hillary. She just turned off every progressive left - her last reserve - and does not have the positive support that is needed to get out the vote.
The dems will lose. The other reasons Moore list are also sound.
b @ 22
thanks for the link - I totally agree w/ the 5 reasons, esp. "the Hillary Factor"
Speaking for many barflys, you are much appreciated for all your time and effort. Thank you for the many informative articles you write as well as providing a space where one can come to hear unfiltered views about our world and those who are obsessed with greed and power.
Posted by: crone | Jul 23 2016 20:34 utc | 24
If anyone remembers anything about Kaine, it is that he is a slimy backstabbing, beltway politician - a Democrat version of Ted Cruz. In other words, Kaine is a lot like Hillary.
Pence is also cut from the same cloth, but he looks good and he was obviously a compromise choice negotiated by the Party and the Trump. Trump surely accepted Pence on the condition that he keep his mouth shut and stay in the background. Trump can run his crazy train by himself. Another strong personality type would clash.
Hillary, OTOH, needed someone who could fake a genuine, friendly demeanor and to also throw a bone to self-identified progressives. In Kreepy Kaine of the TPP she failed miserably. No question remains as to the nature of this beast.
It's Mega Corps, The MIC, TPP and Yinon Plan for Greater Israel all the way.
What's funny is that warmongering - glass the ME - knuckleheads are for Trump and not the Hell Bitch. They don't seem to know that Obama has been doing a bang up job for them.
Apparently, Michael Moore is a Zionist.
Posted by: fastfreddy | Jul 23 2016 20:41 utc | 25
Trump will win. AMEN!
He could be almost like Hillary or worst, so what the different? I'm voting against the Dem. and NOT for the REPUG (Trump).
Come Nov voting for every REPUGs on the ballot - NO or NEVER Dem.! Finally, may switch to the Green last minute if I'm sure Trump will win to help Jill Stein and Green party to increase their overall percentage.
Me seriously thinking of renouncing my US citizenship regardless, which parties win, except if Green win, it will never happens.
I’m sick and tired of “Democracy, Bernie, Hillary, Freedom...etc.
Posted by: Jack Smith | Jul 23 2016 20:45 utc | 26
@fastfreddy | Jul 23, 2016 4:41:44 PM | 25
"Apparently, Michael Moore is a Zionist".
Whether he is or not makes no different to me. He's another Bernie, Thom Hartman.... apologist, the lesser evil, lair and warmonger!
Posted by: Jack Smith | Jul 23 2016 20:54 utc | 28
b,:
..."that's what we ought to shoot for...". From your mouth to God's ear.
Posted by: Donnie | Jul 23 2016 20:56 utc | 29
I heard the Trump campaign is mulling over whether to adopt a return to the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, which separated commercial banks from investment banks, and the 1999 repeal of which paved the way for investment banks to plunder commercial bank deposits and lend mortgage loans to those who couldn't afford them. Wall Street of course is not happy about this initiative. Does anyone want to comment on the chances that the Trump campaign will include reviving Glass-Steagall? If Trump does take it on board, it would be a slap in the face for the Clinton campaign.
There was a bill to reintroduce an updated version of Glass-Steagall in Congress in 2015. Senator Elizabeth Warren introduced the bill and Senator John McCain backed it, so it has bipartisan support from the most unlikely quarters.
Posted by: Jen | Jul 23 2016 21:35 utc | 30
Jerkoffs like Moore, Hartman, etc., "worried" about Crazy Trump and the button. Trump is the only one talking about anti-intervention and diplomacy with Russia. Hillary is openly calling for WW3 - ready to attack Iran, Russia and China like a rabid pit bull. No US city would be safe. Hillary is the one to be "worried" about.
She's already proven herself with voting record and actions as SOS. Destroyed Iraq, Libya, Ukraine. Current destruction of Syria and Yemen she also enjoys.
Posted by: fast freddy | Jul 23 2016 21:44 utc | 31
@31 fast freddy
It's as simple as you say.
Unbelievable someone like Wiliam Engdahl doesn't see this.
"The choice between war-waging Hillary, who would be facing criminal charges if it weren't for White House and FBI corruption, and the Casino Don, liar and political neophyte, Trump. That's like choosing between the Black Death and Cholera. Both will kill us,"
Did he really say this?
http://sputniknews.com/politics/20160721/1043393923/trump-russia-us.html
Posted by: From The Hague | Jul 23 2016 21:54 utc | 32
31;What is it with people?They don't listen to what Trump says because they believe serial liars?He is the best breath of fresh air for America in decades,and the warmongers are for the Hell Bitch.
Yes he wants to take out IsUS.Is there something wrong with taking out a bunch of zionist and GS mercenaries of CIA and Mossad creation?
I have seen no other talk from him of bothering anyone else,and he mostly says Yankee come home.
And some here are obvious zionists,as their hatred for Trump makes them think that others will care that some people who support Trump are racist or don't believe serial lying zion.WTF,racists don't support the HB?Yahoo?Obomba?(oh,yes indeed)Everyone of us is infected with the human frailty of racism.And the antisemitism?Give it a rest,his daughter is Jewish.
Posted by: dahoit | Jul 23 2016 22:03 utc | 33
@ Mark #5, the only problem with centrists are they could be the worst of both parties and not the best. But at least more people are looking for alternatives.
I still wonder if these controversies are being overblown to bring more attention to the conventions and make them seem relevant. The GOP convention turned out that way. The anti-Trump faction went nowhere.
Posted by: Curtis | Jul 23 2016 22:04 utc | 34
@22 b
Maybe you and Moore are right b, we'll see in just ... 106 days ... won't we. But I think that Moore's play is to shepherd folks into the Democratic fold, away from the Big, Bad Wolf who's coming to eat them and their children. Kind of a through the looking glass image of the Bern. Like the Bern, Moore is a 'centrist', so now he's blowing his Wolf's whistle for Hillary Kiloton. But we'll see in just over 100 more days.
You all know my proposed tactic, and longer term strategy. If not, just ask!
Posted by: jfl | Jul 23 2016 22:05 utc | 35
jfl @ 2, you note that "it's been 15 years now since the dawn of the criminal 'New American Century'," You must be young. The New American Century was announced at the UN in November, 1991 by George Herbert Walker Bush. I watched him on television that evening announcing a "new world order" and my blood ran cold. I knew that evening where all this was leading to. It was leading to where we are right now.
Bush lost the election twelve months later, but the criminal who won was even more effective in establishing this new world order than Bush could have ever been.
The New American Century was announced in November, 1991. Internationally, the policy began with Bush senior urging Sadaam to invade Kuwait, thereby creating a cassus belli for everything that has happened since.
Domestically, it began with the wanton siege of the Waco religious sect and the murder of Randy Weaver's wife and baby.
Posted by: Macon Richardson | Jul 23 2016 22:09 utc | 36
@31 ff, @32 ftb
I certainly agree with you on Clinton, and I understand your desire to be able to push 'the other' button for a solution, but I think Trump has made a career out of being a blowhard bullshit artist, and that there's no hope there. I do agree he's 'no worse' than Clinton, no better than, either.
Posted by: jfl | Jul 23 2016 22:11 utc | 37
@37 jfl
If you think Trump is a liar, then everything he says is bullshit.
But I see his remarks over a long time are consistent.
And in sequel on #32
William Engdahl has to explain a lot.
In his "A Century of War" he describes how the US industry was crippled in the 50's and 60's.
And how the protestors were demonised.
p. 119
Riots were deliberately incited in industrial cities like Newark, Boston, Oakland and Philadelphia by government-backed ‘insurgents’, such as Tom Hayden. The goal of this operation was to break the power of established industrial trade unions in the northern cities by labeling them racist.
p. 120
The newly created U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity weakened the political voice of traditional American labor and the influential urban constituency machines. The targeted white blue-collar industrial operatives, only a decade earlier hailed as the lifeblood of American industry, were suddenly labeled ‘reactionary’ and ‘racist’ by the powerful liberal media. These workers were mostly fearful and confused as they saw their entire social fabric collapsing in the wake of the disinvestment policy of the powerful banks.
http://www.takeoverworld.info/pdf/Engdahl__Century_of_War_book.pdf
Hey William, did you read about Trump's ideas to bring back jobs to the USA?
(and do you recognize something?)
And William, did you understand his remarks about that Mexican Wall (on American Soil).
(preventing illegal immigration, ALSO because he wants higher minimum wages (impossible with illegal immigrants))
Posted by: From The Hague | Jul 23 2016 22:21 utc | 38
Hmmmm... let see why I really dislike Michael More. Like many liberals were impressed at his movie Fahrenheit 9/11 during the god damn regime - Dubya. However, it seems Michael was and still is a diehard Dem or apologist for the democratic party worst still a diehard Bernie Sanders supporter.
Plagiarizing his words, this what I like to address Michael...
Michael, you need to exit that bubble right now. You need to stop living in denial and face the truth that you know deep down is very real. Trying to soothe yourself with the facts – you are a buffoon NeoLib whether women, people of color, young adults under 35 votes for or against Trump. Trump will win with people like me voting across the board for any freaking REPUG’s candidates – “people aren't going to vote for ya buffoons or even against our best interests!” – is your brain’s way of trying to protect you from trauma.
Continuing... you confessed you like Hillary – a lot – and you are too stoopid to believe they have given her a bad rap she richly DESERVES. Nevertheless, your past supports for her and many stoopid NeoCon and Neoliberal made me promise never to trust you, any apologist and Democratic party ever again. Repeating "even against my best interests!"
Let’s face it: Our biggest problem here isn't Trump or Hillary it's YOU and your kind!
Posted by: Jack Smith | Jul 23 2016 22:41 utc | 39
@36 mr
Well that's the problem, isn't it? How far back do you wanna go? I'm ready to make the cut at the millennium. The trail from there to here is quite clear, and the election stolen by the Supremes and 9/11 are milestones that everyone can recall and recognize. The PNAC's Rebuilding America's Defenses stands out in many people's minds as a milestone, and it achieved general currency in this 3rd millennium, as well. The 'one true date' of the beginning of the fictitious New American Century is a will'o'the wisp, yet another academic exercise as far as I'm concerned. But you're as right as anyone else, of course, certainly as right as I am, in your exegesis.
And a date like a millennium ... sort of sticks in one's mind. Roll Back and Redo the 3rd Millennium! Everything done since is wrong! I freely admit that things like the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act, itself rolling back Glass Steagal, are on the other side of the wire, but hey, there is no New American Century, there was no year zero. What we need to focus on are the 'secular trends', and the trend identified as the New American Century and the neo-cons who invented it, who have caused so much suffering, retrograde behavior, death, devastation and destruction beneath its banner need to be identified, struggled with, and reversed.
Posted by: jfl | Jul 23 2016 22:42 utc | 40
@Jen | Jul 23, 2016 5:35:14 PM | 30
I was following... whether the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland will adopts the Reinstate Glass-Steagall in its entirety. Further it was Elizabeth Warren and McCain back in 2015 reinstate Glass-Steagall.
Here a recent article, not sure if there a gimmick to fool voters. BTW, Elizabeth Warren a freaking Neoliberal (Jewish and Israel supporter) which I dun trust and includes McCain a proven liar and warmonger.
"Don’t Be Fooled By The Republicans’ Call To Reinstate Glass-Steagall"
"Republicans made some news with the release of their party platform on Monday: the new document contains a call to reinstate a Depression-era law that cracked down on banks, whose repeal has often been blamed for Wall Street’s growth and recklessness in the lead up to the recession. But that line is still overshadowed by many other calls in the document — and from the party’s candidate himself — to undo financial regulations aimed at keeping bank behavior in line.
The sentence that garnered attention reads, “We support reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 which prohibits commercial banks from engaging in high-risk investment.” Glass-Steagall enforced..."
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2016/07/19/3799619/gop-platform-glass-steagall/
Posted by: Jack Smith | Jul 23 2016 23:21 utc | 41
I didn't see a link to this but at 8 pm ET, 20 minutes from now, Breitbart is showing Clinton Cash flick for free - http://www.breitbart.com I'd post the full link but don't want to blow up the thread...
@jo6pac | Jul 23, 2016 9:52:13 AM | 8
V. Arnold how are thing going in Thailand? What little I've read the General seems to be going in the right direction.
I can tell you all about Thailand been there strictly on business trips..... most if not all expatriates in Thailand and Philippine love these countries... they are there not b'cus its cheaper but for women and drugs. Repeats... NOT ALL!
One of my colleague stayed there, he got few "ladies" living with him on rotation, I refused to be entertained by him. He needs my engineering advised on a job which required metallurgy, welding and machining background. I told him don't touch it.
Posted by: Jack Smith | Jul 23 2016 23:52 utc | 43
@43 js
Thanks for the info. Good to see that you know as much about Thailand as you do about politics and are as eager to share.
Posted by: jfl | Jul 24 2016 0:00 utc | 44
The complete crack up of the GOP was an unbelievable opportunity to counter with Bernie. The leadership of the DNC should be removed and quarantined as radioactive with the same care with which spent plutonium is treated. Donald Trump is essentially a poor man's Bernie, he appeals to the insecurities of the marginalized, whilst more complex and long term solutions for the issues he addresses at a primal level preclude a more thoughtful thinker. Jill Stein has my vote, again. Due to the international optics I fear Trump, but honestly Clinton is pretty much an embarrassment to the idea of democracy all the same. At some point, a third party needs to be established, or the legitimacy of an election needs to be compromised by poor voter turn out.
Posted by: IhaveLittletoAdd | Jul 24 2016 0:18 utc | 45
jfl | Jul 23, 2016 8:00:21 PM | 44
Yep; no idea why JS even bothered posting. Non-sense and who cares...
Posted by: V. Arnold | Jul 24 2016 0:35 utc | 46
@43 That could soon change. Thailand's new Tourism Minister, Kobkarn Wattanavrankgkul, has said she wants the sex industry gone. Probably just another false alarm. Corruption in Thailand is endemic.
Posted by: dh | Jul 24 2016 0:35 utc | 47
@45 ihlta, 'the legitimacy of an election needs to be compromised by poor voter turn out'
The legitimacy of all elections needs to be compromised by massive voter turnout, with the mass of voters producing a tally for the various 3rd parties / write-ins / 'spoiled ballots' exceeding that of either of the animal crackers put forth by the machine. And if one of those candidates should win that's OK too.
A poor voter turnout produces only silence, acquiescence in defeat. Bring on the noise not the silence.
Posted by: jfl | Jul 24 2016 0:42 utc | 48
@43 dh
The 'sex industry', the underground economy in general, is 'tolerated' in Thailand as the means to keep all the people bypassed by the BKK economy quiescent, as a readily exploitable source of bribes for the underpaid police, and as a base upon which to build edifices of 'correction' staffed by folks like Kobkarn.
The military goes through the motions of 'eradication', but of course human trafficking and drugs are prominent among the mainstays of their own prosperity.
As everywhere, the 'elite' are the main beneficiaries of the status quo, otherwise it wouldn't be the status quo, would it.
Posted by: jfl | Jul 24 2016 0:51 utc | 49
@49 Of course it wouldn't. But if the sex industry didn't exist mothers in Isaan wouldn't encourage their daughters to go to places like Pattaya. It would also be much harder for young single mothers to find gainful employment.
It's very profitable for the police and the elite of course. Then there are the lonely farang tourists, disillusioned with Western women for the most part, who go to Thailand looking for some kind of comfort. Most of them end up getting screwed too.
Posted by: dh | Jul 24 2016 0:59 utc | 50
@45 JFL
I think we're on the same page, yet parsing the differing tactics on how to approach the issue may stand as an obstacle to achieving those ends.
My understanding of the current climate is that 3rd party candidates have effectively zero chance of being elected, and at best end up being unfairly painted as Nader was. I'm not an expert on these things, but my view from the couch is that undermining the process by withholding the vote may be the most viable option in the current climate. The general citizen may not be able to alliterate their grievances with the prose to spark revolution, but this does not mean they are not real. My sense is that an historically low turnout at the polls in November may better provide the contours of the prevailing angst and catalyze events that may be unprecedented in recent history.
Posted by: IhaveLittletoAdd | Jul 24 2016 1:17 utc | 51
@22 b.. thanks for sharing michael moores take..pretty logical as i read it.
@24 crone, @30 jen, @31 ff, @32 fth.. thanks for sharing all that.
@ 35 jfl.. i agree with your first few lines but am in agreement with @38 fth comments to you..
Posted by: james | Jul 24 2016 1:26 utc | 52
dh | Jul 23, 2016 8:59:25 PM | 50
The naivete of western males here in Thailand is profound and limitless. IME, most westerners are clueless in their perceptions of Thai culture and are to be avoided at every turn.
Posted by: V. Arnold | Jul 24 2016 1:28 utc | 53
Back on topic; Trump may yet prove to be the most viable choice. His very unpredictability and not so subtle hints may add up to some genuine change.
Clinton on the other hand is so vial as to be down right toxic/dangerous.
Posted by: V. Arnold | Jul 24 2016 1:35 utc | 54
How can he be a fake when he did exactly what he set out to do, and said that he would? Sanders talked about inequality, made an issue, gave solutions (not blather about "Greatness"). And he supported the nominee, as he said he would from the start.
Posted by: rufus magister | Jul 24 2016 2:24 utc | 56
Just watched 'Clinton Cash' over at Breitbart and highly recommend for any interested in learning a bit more about The Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation's 'Pay to Play' scheme to enrich their personal purse while selling out our laws aka U.S. citizens.
It's airing again tomorrow at 2pm ET and 8 pm ET Sunday, July 24 @breitbart.com
Yes, why reluctantly vote for lesser evil Clinton, when you can gleefully vote for the great evil, The D**khead Donald?
Again, I'm voting socialist. As I may have mentioned before, Well You Ain't Done Nothin' if you Ain't been Called a Red. "If you've marched or agitated you're bound to hear it said." I might get in a spot of agitation over the convention myself. Can't let Mrs. M. have all the fun. She is still feeling the Bern, but thinking of going Green herself.
Posted by: rufus magister | Jul 24 2016 2:33 utc | 58
@22 b,
St. Clair at counterpunch seems to agree with you and Moore. At least he has an acute appreciation for the irony of the complete reversal of the traditional appeals of the elephants and jackasses. Hillary definitely has the 1% vote locked up ... but they are, after all, just 1%.
Posted by: jfl | Jul 24 2016 2:37 utc | 59
News of 20,000 DNC leaked emails being published is breaking. This is either an insider 'mission fragging' where one who wishes the mission to fail does so without being detected, or the DNC powers that be realize their candidate $hillary is a complete zero as far as the electorate is concerned. Enter 'The Bern' to save the day for the Wall Street Kapitalist Bolsheviks.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/22/politics/dnc-wikileaks-emails/
Posted by: ALberto | Jul 24 2016 3:12 utc | 60
@51 ihlta, 'My sense is that an historically low turnout at the polls in November may better provide the contours of the prevailing angst and catalyze events that may be unprecedented in recent history.'
Well the contours of the prevailing angst may very well be appreciated in both / either case we're speaking of, by the class equipped to appreciate the contours of angst, historians and social scientists in your favored case, I imagine, but the collapse of the electorate and its silence, a negative attribute, will catalyze nothing today, according to my lights.
The tree falling in the woods with no one to hear it makes no noise, although the theoretic magnitude of the crash may, perhaps, be calculated, with the application of high technology to its wooden corpse, before it is converted to CO2, and the result argued to consensus by such specialists, at some point in the future.
But I am more interested in right now, and in using the effect of a manifest, noisy, and massive rejection of those totemic figures, the elephant and the jackass, to catalyze a sustained movement culminating in the restructuring of the electoral process in the USA and in the depopulation of our present political zoo.
I get carried away, I suppose, but the idea I advocate is that the effect I imagine us creating will be immediately apparent to all of us and so will have a great and immediate reflection. Indeed, if we are able to reach a vote total greater than the "winner's" total we will have put the lie to the whole contrived 'contest', and will have created a whole new, potentially dominant political class of previously atomized people, all of us gazing in admiration at the reflection of our power mirrored in the headlines.
With even minimal organization we can then, actually, prevail: seize power in the USA.
It may be a scary thought for some but my attitude is bring on the noise now, and I will embark upon the voyage of non-existence in an eternity of silence later. And meanwhile I can sleep in peace, dreaming of the possibility of a future for the people of planet earth and for our planet.
Posted by: jfl | Jul 24 2016 3:27 utc | 61
IMO, anyone that believes election year rhetoric from any candidate, is delusional. "The powers that are" will dictate the music we all dance to. Maybe it's different in some other country, but, not here in the U$A. Trump or HRC, no difference, regardless of rhetoric. "vote" your conscience.
Jill Stein for me.
Posted by: ben | Jul 24 2016 3:49 utc | 62
Zero Hedge posted "Koch Brothers Now Supporting "Often Confused" Hillary Clinton"
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-07-23/koch-brothers-now-supporting-often-confused-hillary-clinton
BTW, V Arnold better watch your ass if the authorities in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia or in Singapore caught you with drugs they will not hesitate to lock you up forever. Especially in Singapore, the regime there will hang you in Changi prison. The infamous Changi prison where they locked up oppositions for years longer than Nelson Mandela and the Jap during WW2 kept thousands POW (White colonial masters). Scum like you should be put away forever. You think your are smart?
Posted by: Jack Smith | Jul 24 2016 5:41 utc | 63
Still, Sanders can make a Ted Cruz right at the democratic national convention next week in Philadelphia...
Posted by: guy | Jul 24 2016 6:47 utc | 64
Jack Smith | Jul 24, 2016 1:41:13 AM | 63
More JS non-sense; I don't do drugs and judging by your posts; I know I'm smarter than you.
I'll not reply further to your inane posting...
Posted by: V. Arnold | Jul 24 2016 6:51 utc | 65
@ 65
Did you notice the telltale in JS @63's ending remark? A surefire indicator of command of language, or not.
Without the command of language, makes one wonder the value of the links this troll brings to this discussion. When you have the wherewithal that family (Koch) has, it is not remarkable they support all possible winners of a contest. Naïveté still finds such planning to be significant - such is the way of small minds.
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Jul 24 2016 7:18 utc | 66
German corporations donate to Trump
In a guest editorial reprinted from the Los Angeles Times, the FAZ writes of a possible military coup in the oldest democracy in the world. Under the headline, “If Trump wins, a coup isn’t impossible here in the US,” journalist James Kirchick develops a scenario in which President Trump gives the military an illegal command, which it refuses to carry it out.The article ends with the following: “Trump is not only patently unfit to be president, but a danger to America and the world. Voters must stop him before the military has to.”
German corporations with operations in the US reacted somewhat differently. As Die Welt reports, notable large concerns from Germany gave more than two-thirds of their election donations to the Republicans, and thus to Trump; above all BASF, Allianz, Siemens and Deutsche Bank.
Since US law prevents American or foreign companies from making direct donations to candidates, campaign funding takes place via so-called Political Action Committees (PACs). This is a legal construct allowing the circumvention of both the strict limit on donations as well as the ban on corporate donations. Via so-called super PACs, hundreds of millions of dollars flow into campaign advertising.
According to recent figures, the BASF PAC has distributed $399,000 in donations. The lion’s share of this money, a good 72 percent, flowed to the Republicans. This is not surprising, writes Die Welt. In previous election years, BASF, Allianz and Bayer had supported the Republicans.
According to Die Welt, in this election campaign the chemical and pharmaceutical group Bayer sent 80 percent of its donations to benefit the Republicans. At financial services company Allianz it was 72 percent.
Deutsche Bank, on the other hand, changed political camps. The paper writes: “While Deutsche Bank donated comparatively little, only $37,000, it is remarkable that 86 percent of this money was distributed to the Republican camp.” Such a clear tendency could not be seen in any other German company.
That Deutsche Bank sympathises with the Republicans is new. In 2006 and 2008, the bank had clearly tended toward the Democrats. The change of side was not surprising, “since Deutsche Bank is the largest lender to Donald Trump.” For the renovation of a hotel in Washington, Trump borrowed $170 million from Deutsche Bank.
It's not that the German media think that a coup by the American armed forces is the appropriate response to a Donald Trump presidency.
It's not that German corporations put the lie to German media posturing.
It's not even that German corporations are contributing to an American presidential campaign.
It's that it's 'so' legal for them to do so, according to American law, that they don't even have to hide their contributions.
Posted by: jfl | Jul 24 2016 7:33 utc | 67
T-Bear @ 66
A surefire indicator of command of language, or not.
Obviously not; thus my answer. Nice catch TB.
Posted by: V. Arnold | Jul 24 2016 7:39 utc | 68
7 8
Expat friends came back from teaching in China and described 'little horrors every day'.
So not there. I spent time in Taiwan, and would not recommend living there expat either.
Thailand reminds me of Southern California, not just the dictatorship, but rico values and
let's be honest, elitist views, ...plus it's a toilet bowl, just look at BK RLD and Phuket.
I lived there, briefly, and watched them carefully. It's all about fronting and tripping,
bling and glam, you have to get way out in the provinces to find people you'd enjoy with,
...then you're the weird Haolie that rural teenage kids throw rocks at and steal from, lol.
Same with Philippines, some people swear by it, but they turn a blind eye to the 10,000's
of orphans being starved, beaten, even their limbs broken to turn a coin from expatriates.
"They breed like rabbits!" and frankly, being totally honest after living among them, they
are raised from infancy in Familia Kleptocracy, with no more moral compass than Don Trump.
... still some friends are buying Manila condos because of Chinese R/E and the airport.
VietNam, I am told, is wonderful by expat friends who taught there. I have serious doubts,
if the global economy slows, whether VN will still be friendly. Cambodia is a dictatorship
being looted by the Chinese, right before your eyes, and Laos is right behind. If Laotians
dam the Mekong to sell hydro-power to China, then Cambodia will be a fish-less, logged-off
savannah and we'll see the 2nd episode of killing fields. Many expats arriving though.
You would have to be crazy to gamble on Myanmar, but maybe crazy is a survival strategy?
Nobody messes with crazy, and Myanmar is crazy cheap. Indonesia is a complete reality in
and of itself. You would have to completely assimilate to thrive. Malaysia? Singapore?
Yeah, if you're retired Mil.Gov with a pension-for-life, post-2008 home equity and SS.
Closer to home, friends moved to Panama on the hype about RNC-friendly and no taxes, but
even though they spoke passable Spanish and lived in the country, both have left. They say
you can never *not* be a gringo, locals'll steal the shoes from your feet while you sleep,
now you're trapped by the 'next greater sucker' metric to recapture your R/E investment.
I have several friends from Canada, Australia and New Zealand driven out by the taxes,
high Chinese-driven R/E costs and high cost of living to retire. They're all exploring,
some end up in Bali on the north shore, but again, R/E is inexorably pushing them out.
South America and Africa, 1:04:27, right?
11
It's always been Hillary, since the NYC Mob gave her the NY Senator seat. Trump RWNJ is allowing
Clinton to drift even further to the Right, to lock in her Central-Right majority, plus The Bern
guarantees her the Left. This is DNC crack-spreading the electorate towards a big 2016 landslide,
but they have six months more play for advertising and your time and money donations to the WWE.
Dahoit, your boy doesn't have a squirrel's chance in a nutbush. See, you are refusing to accept the REALITY of a deliberate LGBTF-ing of the RNC by BB-D-MTG, diametrically opposed to everything the Evangelicals not only support, but believe fiercely in. There is no way forward but chaos for RNC!
Every one of my RNC associates who spammed me everything DJT ever spewed, have gone radio-silent
after the Pence-Milo swing. They know they were sold out to the Globalist War Profiteering Chosen,
now there is no way they can hold their nose to that stench, to flip the handle for The Red Army.
42
'Clinton Cash' didn't touch on her 2009 grift of $5,000M stolen from US humanitarian aid funds and deposited directly into Karzai's private Bank of Kabul, more than all the humanitarian aid in the entire world that year...then an emergency grift of $3,500M after Karzai's Mob looted her first $5B, to keep the bank losses from being audited and the CIA-State involvement revealed. Who then was the 'anonymous donor' who paid off her -$35M bankrupt 2008 presidential campaign? Why not touch on that?
CC didn't touch on $1,000Ms looted and passed to Libya and Syria mercs, with 10% 'rainmaker fees'. In fact, 'Clinton Cash' struck me more like a CIA-State soft-hangout watch campaign. They didn't touch on anything major like Libya or Afghanistan, the raw open-sore checkbooks for Chosen of Mil.Gov, or last summer's looting of $50,000M by Kerry-Congress to support the Israeli RW junta coup in Ukraine.
It's all controlled-dissent false-flag! Trump-and-Clinton two faces of the same Chosen Janus Coin, and One Ring to Rule Them All. I just can't believe the political sophisticates here at MoA can't seem to see that, they have to be willfully ignorant, or shills, or else soft-hangout tenders.
It's all been scripted since 1998, and you could argue 1991. I would even accept 1982, or 1968.
There is only One Party: Mil.Gov.Fed.Biz
Posted by: Cho Nyawinh | Jul 24 2016 9:10 utc | 69
Cho Nyawinh | Jul 24, 2016 5:10:14 AM | 69
Your perceptions of Thailand are from disgusting tourist areas, which I have avoided like the plague. Pattaya, Cha Am, Hua Hin, Samui, are indeed toilet bowls; Pattaya is the absolute worst. Since day one I have always avoided the tourist areas which has proved, over the years, to be very rewarding.
I have had none of the problems you allude to; I live in a relatively rural setting in a small village and the villagers are fantastic and the children respectful. I frequent the local food shops and small grocery shops and I never/have never get/got cheated on anything.
On top of that; the cost of living is splendidly low and health care is as well.
For most westerners the biggest negative is language; Thai is very difficult for westerners; but having come here as an engineer for a U.S. toy company, I had to learn as much as possible and can travel the country solo (and have at times). Besides sex, most westerners have Thai girlfriends for translating.
Indeed, S.E. Asia is not for everyone and I suspect many westerners are living life here in quiet desperation or, surrounded by other westerners in little enclaves of like humans.
I chose to live the culture and enjoy the people and culture.
Joe Bageant thought highly of Belize.
Very much appreciate your reply...
Posted by: V. Arnold | Jul 24 2016 9:38 utc | 70
Posted by: rufus magister | Jul 23, 2016 10:24:53 PM | 56
Thanks for the valuable feedback, (We Con The World) Caroline Glick.
It's an open secret that the pro-Israel Lobby feels threatened by Trump despite all the bones he's tossed their/your way.
Talk about ingratitude...
What, precisely, would Trump need to do/say to get 'rufus' and the rest of The Lobby on board and out of his hair?
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jul 24 2016 9:40 utc | 71
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/07/23/kain-j23.html
~~~
In selecting Kaine, Clinton is making clear that she plans on running a right-wing, pro-war campaign targeted at winning over the military and sections of the Republican Party dissatisfied with Trump, and particularly with the Republican candidate’s attitude toward Russia. Clinton also wanted to repudiate any association with the issues of social inequality that motivated the widespread support for her main rival in the primaries, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
Kaine is among the most hawkish figures among Senate Democrats. As governor of Virginia from 2006 to 2010, Kaine oversaw billions of dollars in cuts to the state budget. The state of Virginia is a major center for the military and defense industry, and is home to the Pentagon and the headquarters of the CIA.
Between 2009 and 2011, Kaine served as the head of the Democratic National Committee, the leadership body of the Democratic Party. He is close to Wall Street, having recently backed measures to deregulate banks.
As a Senator since 2013, Kaine has regularly called for increased US involvement in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. He has consistently supported the Obama administration’s reckless brinkmanship against Russia and China, two nuclear-armed powers. He has repeatedly pushed for a Congressional resolution officially declaring war against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in order to clear the way for stepped-up US intervention.
Like Clinton, Kaine has also supported the creation of a no-fly zone in Syria, an action that would quickly provoke a confrontation with Russia.
Earlier this month, in the lead-up to the NATO summit in Warsaw, Poland, Kaine co-authored an open letter to President Barack Obama urging him to “carry a message to world leaders…[that] success in Ukraine and resistance to Russian aggression, including through the rotational deployment of NATO troops to Eastern Europe, are in the best interest of all member countries.”
~~~
In the past few days the Clinton camp has focused, in particular, on comments Trump made to the New York Times, in which he raised the possibility that, as president, he would not necessarily start a war against Russia in the case of a Russian “attack” on one of the Baltic states that are members of NATO.
“Ronald Reagan would be ashamed. Harry Truman would be ashamed,” Clinton senior policy advisor Jake Sullivan responded Thursday morning. “Republicans, Democrats, and Independents who helped build NATO into the most successful military alliance in history would all come to the same conclusion: Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit and fundamentally ill-prepared to be our commander-in-chief.”
“When you say to an ally—who you have a treaty obligation to defend—‘We’re not sure we will,’ that is a very, very dangerous thing,” Kaine told reporters on Thursday. “We have American men and women spread throughout those countries right now in service who are there and are at risk.”
In other words, the Clinton-Kaine campaign boasts that, in contrast to the “unreliable” Trump, they are more willing to “keep America safe” by pursuing a confrontational policy whose logic leads inexorably to a nuclear exchange.
Posted by: okie farmer | Jul 24 2016 11:36 utc | 72
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/07/23/pers-j23.html
Paul Krugman attacks Trump from the right on Russia
In an op-ed piece published Friday, New York Times columnist and economist Paul Krugman attacks Donald Trump on the question of Russia, going so far as to suggest that the Republican presidential candidate is a covert agent of Vladimir Putin.
Krugman’s column is provocatively titled “The Siberian Candidate,” a takeoff on the Cold War-era political thriller The Manchurian Candidate, which featured a Korean War prisoner of war brainwashed into serving as a sleeper assassin to be used in effecting a Soviet-orchestrated political coup in America.
The column charges that Trump would “follow a pro-Putin foreign policy, at the expense of America’s allies and her own self-interest.” He suggests that there exists “some specific channel of influence” involving Trump’s alleged “murky involvement with wealthy Russians.” He concludes, “There’s something very strange and disturbing going on here, and it should not be ignored.”
In drawing on such themes, which echo the language and methods of McCarthyism, Krugman manages to attack the fascistic Trump from the right, no mean feat. etc
Posted by: okie farmer | Jul 24 2016 11:42 utc | 73
Senator Tim Kaine: Hillary’s Deplorable Choice of Vice-President Running Mate
By Stephen Lendman
Trump running mate Mike Pence is a neocon Tea Party hardliner, an imperial war cheerleader, an evangelical supporter of Israel.
Clinton’s VP choice, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, is cut from the same mold – pro-war, pro-Wall Street, pro-corporate favoritism, pro-neoliberal harshness, pro-regressive trade deals like TPP, anti-labor rights, pro-serving wealth and power interests at the expense of most others.
A survey of Sanders’ delegates found him 88.5% unacceptable, less than 3% acceptable. Norman Solomon calls him “a loyal servant of oligarchy.”
Progressive Democrats of America executive director Donna Smith said “Kaine does not inspire those many millions of energetic voters…to work for a Clinton-Kaine ticket.”
According to economist William K. Black, “Kaine, like Clinton herself, is a quintessential ’New Democrat’ – meaning they are allies of Wall Street. They embrace a neoliberal, pro-corporate outlook that has done incredible damage to the vast majority of Americans.”
Announcing her choice, Clinton lied calling Kaine “a lifelong fighter for progressive causes and one of the most qualified vice presidential candidates in our nation’s history.”
His voting record shows otherwise, revealing a right-wing party loyalist, an anti-populist establishment figure, a thumb in the eye to progressive issues.
Two anti-populist tickets give voters no choice in November, each for policies harming the interests of ordinary people.
One observer tweeted “(s)uggested Clinton/Kaine campaign slogan: ‘Status quo…with lots more wars.
Posted by: okie farmer | Jul 24 2016 11:50 utc | 74
Jack Smith @ 41:
Thanks for the information. As with so much other news about the Trump campaign, we don't really know how genuine Trump is on so many things and we would only find out IF he wins the Presidency and IF he is allowed to govern without any interference from Wall Street and Deep State USA.
Posted by: Jen | Jul 24 2016 11:50 utc | 75
@ 72, 73 okie farmer
Certainly looks like 'Making of the President 2016' is taking a serious turn away from reality, a delusional exercise in public agendas. Such great theatre - wait until the movie comes out - "The Siberian Candidate, Indeed".
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Jul 24 2016 11:51 utc | 76
in re 71 --
Huh?
The Donald after all has a jewish son-in-law, and unlike dahoit, doesn't seem to hate him.
There is substantial evidence of The D**khead Donald's perfect acceptability to Tel Aviv. Try Money Talks: Trump Does a U-Turn on Israel, or perhaps, In Trump, GOP activists see opening to move party right on Israel. Or maybe you need to hear from one of the hired help, like Donald Trump 'Good Friend of Israel, Unlike President'.
Who is this Caroline Glick? A journalist? Relative of Jimimy Glick, perhaps? Never heard of her.
As I have frequently re-restated -- quite often upon urgent peremptory demand -- I support the two-state solution, oppose settlements, favor BDS.
Nothing on earth would induce this class-conscious prole to give our capitalist property speculator the freakin' time of day.
As this article as Rev. John Hagee, an extremely powerful and theologically deranged "Christian" leader, making the case thatPro-Israel evangelicals will ‘storm’ US voting booths. The Christian Zionist Right is quite powerful in Rethuglican circles. It forced changes to the platform on Israel.
Folks need to note carefully -- The D**khead is a serial liar. He's big on touting his unique abilities and vision, but never says what this really entails apart from "making greatness." Do not project onto The Donald, "objects in the mirror are closer than the seem."
Regardless of what he wants or says he wants or seems to want, powerful forces will constrain him in the unlikely event he hoodwinks folks into think he is "presidential" (he might make a good back-bench legislator, a gadfly and crank). The piece on the evangelical storm-troopers shows how his own supporters will limit his tactical maneuverability.
Posted by: rufus magister | Jul 24 2016 12:01 utc | 77
Actually, here's a much more suitable product warning. It needs a little editing, but seems to work. Do Not Taunt Happy Fun Ball! "The D**khead Donald -- Accept no substitutes!." I think the comb-over and deep-fried orange skin are sure signs of alien origin....
Posted by: rufus magister | Jul 24 2016 12:09 utc | 78
@71 hoarse
I think that the Israelis regard Clinton as their wholly-owned property, she was a two term senator from NY. Fully vetted and tested, she's the gold standard of Israeli support in the US, as far as gentiles go. Why would they look elsewhere? They can always suborn Trump if the unthinkable happens and he wins. Meanwhile keep making demands of him, get him used to the fact that more is what's always required. That's rule number one when you work for Israel. He knows that already, of course. He's a New Yorker. Probably the reason they're on him.
Posted by: jfl | Jul 24 2016 12:10 utc | 79
70 V
Thailand has a lot going for it. My experience living there was comparing Chang Mai to a Myanmar border refugee village where I had worked, and talking to expats who had lived outside CM for a decade. The whole Thai power structure thing just reminded me so much of SoCal.
Thailand has much better, far cheaper, healthcare than the US, but neither Medicare nor ObamaCare will cover you. From talking with SS, you have to really think out how you're going to transfer SS deposits from your US dropbox to your foreign bank, that's a long bus ride from your village. Also whether SS will let you 'go dark' for months at a time in your expat hootch. I had a nice long talk about that with my SS agent, she said they're going to start making you 'check in'. Thank god for Skype/Google Hangouts and 4G mifi! 'Yes, it's 583623894. Still here. 666. Bye.'
So my comments were made after living with Thais in both remote village and large town, watching them closely. Like everywhere 3W, the locals, once you get to know them, are extremely burnt out and poor trying to stay ahead of this flood of expat hot-money inflation, so White Fellahs are viewed as walking ATMs. I'm not naive, but just looking for genuineness, and that boat seems to have sailed in Thailand during the Goa-Phuket boom-boom era, right before the Thai military coup, then the rise of the merciless Chinese R/E triads, who are now flooding SEAsia with hot yuan.
My buddy just had to spend two days riding to the border and back to renew his visa, and then what density of White Fellahs is far enough away you won't see the gated houses and condo towers springing up like a New Thousand Oaks, SoCal? It all depends on your sensitivities. Some people boom boom yumm yumm from one bar to the next then sleep all day in hog heaven, so Thailand has a place for everyone. I just don't want to live next to some expat SoCal gated community like those EU communes in the So Pac, who take over an island to turn it into a EU village, with the local islanders made into scullery maids, serving them fresh fruit flown in every day on bended knee.
But I know many expats who look for just that idyllic Raj illusion, with a nice marina moorage. Half the White Fellahs are Mil.Gov pensions-for-life and can't spend their pension fast enough.
Anyway, takes a lot of expat clowns to make a structurally maladjusted 3W circus, so we still have a few years left. Glad you found your village place in the sun! Good luck!
Posted by: Cho Nyawinh | Jul 24 2016 12:17 utc | 80
You will know shortly now, when the construction cranes arrive, several floors and a penthouse are added to the White House and large lettering - TRUMP "OURS" is added to the skyline. May be what dystopia looks like.
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Jul 24 2016 12:21 utc | 81
71
Simple.
Israel was in every one of Trump's Four-Fold Paths:
We Will Make America Strong Again. (Arms sales $5B a year to Israel, plus NSA intel)
We Will Make America Proud Again. (White-Likud Exceptionalism against Brown People, even though the blue-blood Ashkenazi claim to be brown-skin sephardic semites, lol)
We Will Make America Safe Again. (Israel is DHSs largest sub-contractor, and Israel is actively training US police forces in urban unrest suppression and interdiction)
We Will Make America Great Again (Adolf Hitler's and Bibi Netanyahu's own pledges)
Your 'Israel hates Trump' schtick is just a dog whistle for RWNJs, but how come if America is 55% Protestant, there's not one single Protestant Supreme Court Judge?!
Whistle me up that one, Scoobie!
Posted by: Cho Nyawinh | Jul 24 2016 12:34 utc | 82
rufus @77:
I support the two-state solution, oppose settlements, favor BDS.Your assertions are empty. Lip service. Just like your supposed non-support for Hillary (irtually all of your political comments advocate for voting for her / against Trump).
You refused to criticize Israel after they killed an innocent bystander during a raid of a hospital. You refused to correct/retract an anti-Palestinian statement (one down, millions more to go), and you have refused to link to BDS despite saying that you support them.
And despite knowing that the 'two-state solution' has been fundamentally and probably irrevocably undermined by Israel you maintain the pretense that it is still possible.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jul 24 2016 12:38 utc | 83
@83 correction
It was an anti-Arab statement, anti-Palestinian.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jul 24 2016 12:39 utc | 84
77
I know a pretty broad spectrum of dirt poor to near-100 millionaires, and white to black to rainbow, and bleating liberal to donkeydick RWNJs. It's been my experience that the RWNJs will bark furiously whenever BB-D-MTG blows their crusader dog whistle, but RWNJs prefer their chokechain dog house, and they only scurry out to bunker up and stack PMs, then scurry back to their bunker.
You're looking at maybe, maybe 16%, half won't bother to vote, certainly not the 1%. Hillary has far, far more than an 8-point spread. This isn't a contest, it's a WWE blowbag against a cackling cankled hagfest. It's pure psyop, like watching a Ramayana shadow-puppet theater put on by Oligarchs.
They are the Little People. Let's give them a Democracy Morality Play as puppet show.
Who remembers Kooklah Fran and Ollie? Who remembers Heckle and Jeckle? Tom Terrific? Like that. Loppin' along with a horse and a song, and a rifle and a volume of the law.
Posted by: Cho Nyawinh | Jul 24 2016 12:53 utc | 85
Cho Nyawinh | Jul 24, 2016 8:17:08 AM | 80
Ha, I almost feel as though I was sandbagged; of course, I had no idea of your extensive experience here, so I'll refrain from further information/commentary re: Thailand.
Good luck in your search for a place to settle.
Posted by: V. Arnold | Jul 24 2016 12:54 utc | 86
Cho Nyawinh | Jul 24, 2016 8:17:08 AM | 80
Who remembers Kooklah Fran and Ollie? Who remembers Heckle and Jeckle?
I do, like yesterday. The Life of Riley and The Jacky Gleason Show; Laural and Hardy, Abbott and Costello?
It all had the appearance of a good life, but it was all a lie.
Who remembers 1953 and Iran?
Posted by: V. Arnold | Jul 24 2016 13:09 utc | 87
@81 T-Bear
Can easily fit a number of tricky Par 3's on the way down to Constitution Ave, some testing Par 4's there after down along National Mall with a monster Par 5 known as 'The Don' somewhere on the way back to the 19th. Maybe a pitch'n'putt for the kids on the whitehouse lawns.
Not radical...the natural evolution of democratic capitalism.
Vote Trump. Vote bankruptcy. You know he knows how...!
Posted by: MadMax2 | Jul 24 2016 13:13 utc | 88
Mrs. M is an active Berner. She really likes my suggestion that the best metaphor for Mrs. Clinton is The Borg Queen. Picture her head and shoulders being lowered into an Armani suit.
"We offer better quality of governance. Resistance is futile, you will comply." Mrs. M. says it's the perfect slogan for Hillary 2016.
I'm thinking Godzilla might be the best metaphor for the Donald. "History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of men." An immense beast of atavistic fears from the depths of America's id, noxious flames and gas spewing from the mouth, mindless rage and destruction.
Posted by: rufus magister | Jul 24 2016 13:26 utc | 89
Putin bashing and comparisons are never ending. Gary Kasparov is adding his "expert" opinion on the mainstream media (Huffington Post).....
Posted by: georgeg | Jul 24 2016 13:37 utc | 90
77;You are an evil commie Zionist twit.
Trump is hated by the zionists,and he's just throwing bones to them to keep them onside with their calumny and lies,which mimic yours.
Israel says the next war with Hezbollah will be ferocious.Really now.
Did your dick get hard?
Posted by: dahoit | Jul 24 2016 14:06 utc | 91
#91 - Are people here going to put up with the "commie" comment?
Posted by: Inkan1969 | Jul 24 2016 14:10 utc | 92
Imho the Pence pick (I knew nothing about him ..so..) will not do Trump any good.
Trump is favored mostly because he is an anti-establishment figure (and part of his mutterings about Mexicans and Muslims are there just to get him that cred, though other readings are possible..), because he is the first to run on American decline and reversing it, because of the discourse about jobs, NAFTA, other countries not paying their way, China and trade, a certain isolationism, etc. and because he sneers at the instituted estates (incl. the media.)
According to the standard copy-book, he should have picked another anti-est. (or only marginally connected) person, even someone unknown or utterly outrageous. Or done something nutty, such as run a contest for the spot on the intertubes, after saying he contacted Bernie and the Bern refused so now what? ;)
The Pence choice looks like it is an outcome of the usual slice/n/dice calculations (Pence will bring in his home state, Cruz voters will like Pence, or whatever..), imposed by the Repubs. to ‘normalize’ Trump, bring his candidacy ‘into the fold.’ It looks like a deal was made, and Trump had not the mojo to resist. Pence and Trump are not natural allies, and imho will soon be at odds. OK one can argue that there is only one figure here, Maestro Trump, and all the sattelites around are not important. Yet, this move imho puts his candidacy into question. Many ppl will ignore it of course in their new-leader enthusiasm (see Sanders!) but others not. It also signals an alarming precedent for any future nominations (were he to become Prez.) Trump’s interest - as he must know - is in sharpening divisions and not ‘normalizing’ himself.
I listened to Trump’s convention speech. It sounded like it sprung from analysis of focus groups where you chew over data blah blah and go on to create ‘sceintific’ opinion clusters and focus on the things ppl agree on. Not the best.
He can maybe still win, on the numbers, imho. Facing one of the most hated pols ever… Depends on vote-rigging etc. as, for now, it looks like a close? race. Presumably Trump will now bring out major guns against Killary.
Posted by: Noirette | Jul 24 2016 14:12 utc | 93
So much hostility in here... Please enjoy the show.
Anyways.
Still on the Trump Highlight Reel.
@ Republican Jewish Coalition 3rd Dec '15
From 17:00 'you're not gonna support me because i don't want your money.'
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HsfVHB3-FB0
Posted by: MadMax2 | Jul 24 2016 14:20 utc | 94
@92 Inkan1969
Relax. It's only dahoit, emulating his mentor. Some folks come to fight. Say anything to get one going. Skip 'em. Wasn't addressed to you anyway. Please don't clutter up the thread answering that kind of stuff ... on behalf of whom or what, exactly?
Posted by: jfl | Jul 24 2016 14:38 utc | 95
Inkan1969 @92:
#91 - Are people here going to put up with the "commie" comment?Rufus claims to be a socialist who admires communists BUT he advocates for Hillary.
I don't trust anything he says. Note how he references his wife/his family whenever he feels stressed.
His stated version of socialism is not democratic but one that I call the "rufus socialist priesthood".
"Commie?" No, an elitist, zionist, manipulator.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jul 24 2016 14:48 utc | 96
Pence was obviously foisted on the Trump by the Party - The Art of The Deal. Sing a song of Six Pence - craven, silver-haired, Yinon-Plan warmonger. Demanding, forcing to full term - the births of the progeny of rapists.
Posted by: fast freddy | Jul 24 2016 14:55 utc | 97
Well, I did go to a Jesuit school....
My version, revolutionary socialism, relies more on mass action than electoralism, like the weak and pathetic Greens. I'm a big believer in the general strike, Luxemburg style. Gotta have strong trade unions though first. What's Jillie or The Donald got for us unionists (AFT, as an adjunct, the academic proletariat)?
I'll be joining some notorious ultra-lefts to mix it up with Green Party entryists, Socialist Alternative, at one of their Socialist Convergence lash ups around the DNC. It's what's known in the professional revolutionary trade as an "intervention."
Didn't I answer you and hw before? Sigh... so, again.... Solidarity with BDS forever.
Posted by: rufus magister | Jul 24 2016 16:35 utc | 98
Trump is hilarious
look at his recent comments re Bernie lol
https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump
Posted by: bbbb | Jul 24 2016 16:53 utc | 99
A know it all, not "elite" or "elitist." My four favorite words in life -- I told you so.
So sail off on your Ship of Fools.
Ship of fools on a cruel sea... sail away from me.Though I could not caution all, I still might warn a few:
Don't lend your hand to raise no flag atop no ship of fools.
As the chart says, beware, here be sea monsters. They're Yuuuuge!!!
Oh, back so soon? Looks like you'll need the dry dock. Told you so....
Posted by: rufus magister | Jul 24 2016 16:59 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
Kaine is quite a bit to the right of Hillary, especially on TPP. He's a "moderate" left-winger somewhat to the right of Her.
Posted by: E. Harding | Jul 23 2016 7:09 utc | 1