U.S. Politics

[Brumerican]

18 minutes ago, NoelVilla said:

Yes. Did you intentionally forget to pick out other parts of it? I think it's good to condemn Castro's firing squads and hoping for freedom for the Cuban people.

 

Ah fairplay , I never read that bit . Trump has just shot up in my estimations . That was a touch of class on his part right there.

[OutByEaster?]

A shame he didn't find time to condemn the American torture camp that they've been running in Cuba for the past twenty years - or to explain what he means by hoping for freedom - I'm guessing it means the same freedom the US has demonstrated to the likes of Haiti?

 

[maqroll]

Meanwhile, Clinton is on the recount bandwagon...

[Awol]

1 hour ago, maqroll said:

Meanwhile, Clinton is on the recount bandwagon...

Pay to play. It's probably taken this long for the cheque to clear.

 

[TrentVilla]

7 hours ago, NoelVilla said:

To be fair Trump's longer statement is quite good. Much better than the crap Trudeau and Juncker came out with.

The difference between his own words and those written for him.

[Brumerican]

15 hours ago, NoelVilla said:

Yes. Did you intentionally forget to pick out other parts of it? I think it's good to condemn Castro's firing squads and hoping for freedom for the Cuban people.

 

I would like to take this opportunity to also condemn the use of firing squads . In many, many ways I believe they are a bad idea.

[StefanAVFC]

Not strictly politics but

[Xann]

[Brumerican]

24 minutes ago, Xann said:

This is what happens when you get a 5 star wanted level on Red Dead Redemption 2 .

[choffer]

Utterly reprehensible, what's going on at Standing Rock. Nothing short of barbarism and the (mass) media still refuse to acknowledge it.

[villakram]

35 minutes ago, choffer said:

Utterly reprehensible, what's going on at Standing Rock. Nothing short of barbarism and the (mass) media still refuse to acknowledge it.

and all the wailing and gnashing going on because of what Donald J. Trump might do... meanwhile, Saint Obama goes and plays golf. 

[villakram]

https://theintercept.com/2016/11/26/washington-post-disgracefully-promotes-a-mccarthyite-blacklist-from-a-new-hidden-and-very-shady-group/

This Greenwald et al. piece regarding the latest crazy anti-russki rhetoric is well worth a read.

"In other words, the individuals behind this newly created group are publicly branding journalists and news outlets as tools of Russian propaganda — even calling on the FBI to investigate them for espionage — while cowardly hiding their own identities. The group promoted by the Post thus embodies the toxic essence of Joseph McCarthy, but without the courage to attach individual names to the blacklist. Echoing the Wisconsin senator, the group refers to its lengthy collection of sites spouting Russian propaganda as “The List.”

[villakram]

new wikileaks revealing further US complicity in the ongoing Yemen war. Clinton, Kerry and Obama get special mentions.

"Since 2009, Obama has made 42 separate weapons deals with the kingdom totaling US$115 billion, according to a report from the Center for International Policy in September. The U.S. has also confirmed that it had previously sold white phosphorus, a napalm-like chemical, to the Saudis. " 

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/WikiLeaks-Drops-Yemen-Files-Unmasks-Washingtons-Bloody-Role-20161125-0012.html

[Awol]

6 hours ago, villakram said:

new wikileaks revealing further US complicity in the ongoing Yemen war. Clinton, Kerry and Obama get special mentions.

"Since 2009, Obama has made 42 separate weapons deals with the kingdom totaling US$115 billion, according to a report from the Center for International Policy in September. The U.S. has also confirmed that it had previously sold white phosphorus, a napalm-like chemical, to the Saudis. " 

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/WikiLeaks-Drops-Yemen-Files-Unmasks-Washingtons-Bloody-Role-20161125-0012.html

Although the US are the biggest players in the arms to Saudi terrorists racket (by a factor of 10 and then some), all the major European nation are involved too. 

If everyone's doing it and making money then no one will break ranks to complain. 

So called European values are as laughable as their US equivalents. There is no idealism or principle, there is only money. 

[villakram]

27 minutes ago, Awol said:

Although the US are the biggest players in the arms to Saudi terrorists racket (by a factor of 10 and then some), all the major European nation are involved too. 

If everyone's doing it and making money then no one will break ranks to complain. 

So called European values are as laughable as their US equivalents. There is no idealism or principle, there is only money. 

Yup... I guess it's the additional "intelligence" related assistance that the US are providing here that is so shameful. Even though, it's anything but surprising, I still think it is important to point these things out.

[TheAuthority]

On 11/20/2016 at 17:43, Xann said:

Business Insider

 

An insight into the real behind the scenes power & money in play, and why it's easy to feel just hopelessly powerless.

[maqroll]

Video quality is dicey, but worth a watch. 

 

Edited November 29, 2016 by maqroll

[Awol]

1 hour ago, TheAuthority said:

An insight into the real behind the scenes power & money in play, and why it's easy to feel just hopelessly powerless.

Which shows how effectively the state uses intimidation and the implicit threat of violence.

If say 20,000 people turned up at that site and said "no", what would robocop do with his AR-15 and armoured vehicles? Arrest all of them? Shoot them? Would the media still be ignoring this if 10's of 1000's of young photogenic college kids were live streaming each other getting batoned by John Q Law? 

Hopelessness in the face of armed force is a state of mind civilians are conditioned to feel through popular culture, especially in the US - imo. Americans used to understand the utility of non-violent civil disobedience very well. 

[TheAuthority]

11 minutes ago, Awol said:

Which shows how effectively the state uses intimidation and the implicit threat of violence.

If say 20,000 people turned up at that site and said "no", what would robocop do with his AR-15 and armoured vehicles? Arrest all of them? Shoot them? Would the media still be ignoring this if 10's of 1000's of young photogenic college kids were live streaming each other getting batoned by John Q Law? 

Hopelessness in the face of armed force is a state of mind civilians are conditioned to feel through popular culture, especially in the US - imo. Americans used to understand the utility of non-violent civil disobedience very well. 

There isn't an "implicit threat of violence" in that article (unless I missed it?!?)

The quoted article outlines (unfortunately) that wealthy individuals are capable of influencing policy and therefore the lives of millions of people (beneath them financially) seemingly at their whim. If money and the accumulation of of wealth is the measure of our leaders then that is very a very sad state of affairs. But I believe that the majority of us don't want to use that as the only arbiter of our destiny as a society.

I do follow your point that non-violent civil disobedience is an option within in a democratic society. But I would argue that people who were born after the civil rights movements of the 60's think that we are on the same page of agreement in terms of what constitutes the democratic process. To protest a government that has drones, a militarized police force, tear gas, stun grenades, automatic weapons etc. (look at the Dakota PipeLine.) This is a little different to when the the US last had real civil disobedience in the 60's when the National Guard had single shot rifles - regardless of how photogenic the college kids were.

[Awol]

51 minutes ago, TheAuthority said:

There isn't an "implicit threat of violence" in that article (unless I missed it?!?)

The quoted article outlines (unfortunately) that wealthy individuals are capable of influencing policy and therefore the lives of millions of people (beneath them financially) seemingly at their whim. If money and the accumulation of of wealth is the measure of our leaders then that is very a very sad state of affairs. But I believe that the majority of us don't want to use that as the only arbiter of our destiny as a society.

I do follow your point that non-violent civil disobedience is an option within in a democratic society. But I would argue that people who were born after the civil rights movements of the 60's think that we are on the same page of agreement in terms of what constitutes the democratic process. To protest a government that has drones, a militarized police force, tear gas, stun grenades, automatic weapons etc. (look at the Dakota PipeLine.) This is a little different to when the the US last had real civil disobedience in the 60's when the National Guard had single shot rifles - regardless of how photogenic the college kids were.

Mea Culpa, I didn't follow the link and assumed it was the Standing Rock picture Xann posted above.