Joe Biden is not an “imperfect candidate” for the Democrats. He is the perfect candidate, because he’s everything the party is: Demented. Decrepit. Bloodthirsty. Corrupt. Cronyistic. Authoritarian. Reactionary. Rapey. He is exactly what they deserve. He is exactly what they are.

Joe Biden is the Democrat’s Democrat. He is the perfect representative of the party. They should even take it a step further and replace that donkey with Joe Biden.

Biden is to the Democrats as Trump is to the Republicans. Everyone’s just wearing their true face now.

~

If you’re willing to sacrifice all principles, all sanity and all morality to get rid of Trump, what exactly is the point of getting rid of Trump?

~

We know Biden is a liar. He’s been pinged for lying his whole career. Everyone is trying to undermine the victim’s character in order to discredit her while ignoring Joe’s character. We know he lies. He also has a history of unwanted sexual advances. His story is not credible.

~

Nobody actually believes that Biden didn’t sexually assault Tara Reade. Nobody’s actually confident that Creepy Uncle Hair Sniffer isn’t a rapist, they’re just pretending they are. I can understand saying “It’s possible but unproven”, but saying it’s false is so gross and dishonest.

They’re accusing Reade of lying for partisan reasons, when in reality that’s exactly what they are doing: they’re pretending they believe Handsy Joe Biden is incapable of shoving his fingers into a woman without her consent, and they are lying. Out of pure partisan loyalty.

~

It’s funny how refusing to support a literal dementia patient who has been credibly accused of rape for the world’s most powerful elected office is a very, very normal thing to do, yet people are acting like it’s bizarre and freakish.

~

Which looks more likely to you? (A) That Reade seeded a bunch of vicious lies about Senator Joe Biden in the 1990s with the intention of someday sabotaging his presidential bid in the distant future for some reason, or (B) that a powerful man sexually assaulted a woman?

~

It’s so weird how Joe Biden is a spent piece of leftover 1970s beltway flotsam made of plastic donor class dinner parties and AIPAC lobbying but everyone’s all pretending they like him as a person and stuff.

~

There are no fact-based and intellectually robust arguments for working within the establishment to manifest revolutionary agendas, but there are a lot of highly effective intellectually dishonest arguments for why it’s okay for you to pretend otherwise and go back to sleep.

~

“They destroyed the economy over a virus, but the narrative about the virus is completely fake!”

Perhaps. But so is the narrative about “the economy”.

~

Terence McKenna once said “We are led by the least among us. The least intelligent, the least noble, the least visionary.” Can’t think of a better illustration of this than having Donald Trump versus Joe Biden competing for the most powerful elected office on the planet.

~

Hey remember when Trump provoked a missile retaliation that led to scores of injured US soldiers by assassinating Iran’s top military commander for no legitimate reason, lied about the whole thing, and then suffered no consequences or political repercussions of any kind? Good times.

~

Democrats are so fucking stupid and ridiculous that the Krassenstein brothers are still a thing.

~

All of humanity’s worst atrocities have been legal. Genocide. Slavery. Torture. The fact that you can squint at the imprisonment and extradition of a journalist for exposing US war crimes in such a way that makes it look “legal” does not mean it isn’t unforgivably evil.

~

It’s always about power. Power comes before everything, including profit, which is why you see escalations against nations who’d be very profitable to continue trading with and why critics of US foreign policy are attacked far more aggressively than critics of its domestic policy.

Manipulators understand that wealth control is a means to power and not an end in itself; that’s why you see things like Zuckerberg hurting his own profit margins by making changes to Facebook which make the platform less fun to use but shore up establishment narrative control.

Power trumps profit every time. Manipulators are driven ultimately by the desire to control as many humans as possible to the greatest extent possible. Money is a useful tool for accomplishing that, but in a pinch they’ll swap it out for military/police force or censorship etc.

Wealth is a narrative construct and can be gained or lost or made obsolete in a new narrative paradigm. Elite manipulators understand that it’s hard, nonconceptual control over hard, nonconceptual objects that gives them their actual alpha status over the rest of the humans.

~

“A newly democratized media environment has made it difficult for people to distinguish fact from fiction.”

‘Oh no! What do we do?’

“Censor everyone except authoritative news sources.”

‘Authoritative news sources? Like who?’

“The ones who lied about Russiagate and all the wars.”

~

As a general rule, indie media should not attack other indie media. If you’re not punching up, you’re punching down.

~

People ask me “Well, what should we do? How do we fix this thing?” And of course my only possible answer is, “Do what I’m doing! Or your version of it.” Of course I’m doing the thing I think we should do to solve the problems of our species. Why would I be doing anything else?

~

Revolution is an inside job. This is not an egoically pleasing fact, but it is a fact. It’s much more fun for egoic mind to believe both the problem and the solution exists in other people, but in reality the changes you can make in yourself will have far greater effects on the world.

There are vast, vast depths within all of us, and we are capable of making vast, vast changes to those depths. We are in fact far more capable of doing this than we are of changing the outside world through force of will. And interestingly when we do this, we do change the world. And we do it far more efficaciously than we can by trying to will it to conform with the noises in our babbling thinky brain.

________________________

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73 responses to “Biden Is Everything The Democrats Are: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix”

  1. Yes, it would be wonderful if every nation could act internationally like Switzerland. The only problem is we act like we need someone else to lead us.

    Actually, I should say, “control us.” Leadership is not something requiring us to vote. But the problem is that people think they need to have some input in national issues when they can’t even make decisions about how they are going to live.

    Does it make sense that we base everything like this on choosing which chimpanzee should be in charge of determining the timing and method of our destruction?

    When you are on an airplane, what is it that they instruct you to do if the oxygen masks drop? Place it over your face. And if you are traveling with someone that may need assistance, help yourself first before assisting the person next to you.

    The moral of the story? If you can’t help yourself, how are you going to help others in their time of need.

  2. Another excellent essay. I was most impressed by the insight that you express near its end that in changing ourselves we can change the world. I am reminded by this of Saying 26 of the Gospel of Thomas: “Jesus said, ‘You see the sliver in the eye of your brother (that is, spiritual sibling}, but you don’t see the timber in your own eye. When you take the timber out of your own eye, then you will see well enough to remove the sliver from your brother’s eye.’” Note that in this saying, as well as in the immediately preceding Saying 25, “Jesus said, ‘Love your brother (that is, spiritual sibling) like your own soul, protect that one like the pupil of your eye.’” there is an allusion to a mirror.

  3. I shouldn’t expect anything else, but it is profoundly vomit-worthy to see Democratic women, shall I say?, bending over backwards to service Joe Biden.

    And pointing out that “the economy” is man-made nonsense is brilliant! All this fucking talk about how great the economy was before the virus, and I hadn’t met one ordinary person who thought the economy was great.

  4. Quote – Joe Biden is the Democrat’s Democrat. He is the perfect representative of the party. They should even take it a step further and replace that donkey with Joe Biden.

    What good would that do? It would be like replacing one ass with another.

  5. Somewhere out there, the Uber-Elites have a running bet that they can get anyone, and I do mean anyone, elected to be President of the United States of America. They do this of course by fully controlling the only two viable political parties and thus the electorate’s only options… one who is both terrible and disgusting and the other who is both disgusting and terrible (take your pick). Ironically, since these same Uber-Elites own the overwhelming majority of world’s media most of the money spent on political advertising, image making and the “news business” falls right into their custom tailored, silk lined pockets and purses. This choice of our choices has evolved into a variant of “If it bleeds, it leads” – meaning the more ridiculous and outrageous, the better.

    1. Calamity Jane Avatar
      Calamity Jane

      Wow we still have believers in the democracy dogma!
      “He who counts counts”
      The president of the corporation is not chosen by the people .
      The whole media campaign (electoral process) is unfair and biased .

  6. third party — anyone –anyone — Nows the time anyone Tulsi, Bernie, hell one of the Pauls anyone – come on

  7. Well, exactly right as usual, can’t even criticize for minor off target points, arrow lands on top of arrow flawlessly, each new arrow splitting the last.

  8. Another excellent essay. The best part in my opinion was the insight that you express near its end that in changing ourselves we can change the world. I am reminded thereby of Saying 26 of the Gospel of Thomas, “Jesus said, ‘You see the sliver in the eye of your brother (that is, spiritual sibling}, but you don’t see the timber in your own eye. When you take the timber out of your own eye, then you will see well enough to remove the sliver from your brother’s eye.’” Note that in this saying, as well as in the immediately preceding Saying 25, “Jesus said, ‘Love your brother (that is, spiritual sibling) like your soul, protect that one like the pupil of your eye,’” there is an allusion to a mirror.

  9. Democrats republicans liberals its all a lie.
    All these carer celeb politicians are psychopaths .
    Demented. Decrepit. Bloodthirsty. Corrupt. Cronyistic. Authoritarian. Reactionary. Rapey.

    The democracy lie.
    I don’t keep buying into it.

    There is no political party that represents you.
    Unless of course you are ” Demented. Decrepit. Bloodthirsty. Corrupt. Cronyistic. Authoritarian. Reactionary or Rapey.”

  10. More cruel then the Nazis!
    Even the unflappable Germans were shocked. The German military commander in Croatia, Gen. Glaise von Horstenau, a faithful Nazi and no sympathiser of Serbs, Jews, or Gypsies, after visiting Jasenovac felt compelled to comment in his diary: “Jasenovac must be the apex of all evil, and no mere mortal is capable of even conceiving what it is like.” We may surmise that von Horstenau must have been on the right track in his description because the most thorough recent academic study of Jasenovac was published by Prof. Gideon Greif, an Israeli scholar. Prof. Greif’s main topic of interest before Jasenovac had been the Shoa, and specifically Auschwitz. Familiar as he thus was with horrors, after studying Jasenovac Prof. Greif nevertheless could not avoid experiencing the same shock that was felt by the Nazi general after inspecting it personally. This very shocking article can be read here:
    Jasenovac – the Glossed Over Auschwitz of the Balkans by Stephen Karganovic!
    https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/05/02/jasenovac-glossed-over-auschwitz-of-balkans/

  11. Roundball Shaman Avatar
    Roundball Shaman

    “Terence McKenna once said “We are led by the least among us. The least intelligent, the least noble, the least visionary.” Can’t think of a better illustration of this than having Donald Trump versus Joe Biden competing for the most powerful elected office on the planet.

    As supposedly civilized and sophisticated as we are purported to be today (does holding a cellphone to our nose all day make us civilized and sophisticated?), our social order is no better than jungle animals running loose in the wild. In society, it’s not the most intelligent, or the most noble, or the most visionary that ascend to places of governmental power (or business world or scholastic or scientific power, for that matter). But it’s the Most-Predator-Like among us with the biggest teeth (their various levels of supporting arms) that rule The World Jungle. The average person just can’t be that ruthless, uncaring, unfeeling, detached from decency, possessed by the need to dominate others, and the other core personality traits that The Predators have.

    Predators gotta “predat”. Vultures gotta vultch. And every time any one of us kisses the behind of a boss we don’t respect we are contributing to this type of culture. Every time we see someone being bullied and we don’t try to help we are contributing to this type of culture. Every time we see someone being abused in any way without trying to help we are contributing to this type of culture. Any time we don’t reward someone in our life circle for living life the right way we are contributing to this type of culture. Any time we are mean to our partner or anyone else we are contributing to this type of culture. And any time we vote for one of these predator types we are contributing to this type of culture.

    1. Beautifully said, Roundball Shaman.

    2. Actually, the sort of tribal societies that humans have traditionally formed usually involved a fight to the death for a leader to defeat a challenger.

      1. Mmmmm … ?

    3. Sir, may I quote you on this? It is inspiring!

  12. Never mind a woman scorned, hell hath no fury like a megalomaniac whose vanity and presumed glory have been sullied.
    China and the renowned stoicism of its leaders are not going to sit idly by as Washington,D.C. dips into their sovereign coffers and begins looting trillions of dollars out of some deluded sense of victimhood. Please read this timely article here:
    Draft Dodger Donald Trump Charts Course for War With China by Finian Cunningham!
    https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/05/01/draft-dodger-trump-charts-course-for-war-with-china/

  13. If the photo was supposed to prove something, it does. You leading readers to false conclusions and writing a lot of nonsense.

    https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/31/joe-biden-stephanie-carter-1246007

    1. We are far, far beyond the point where that photograph is anything but an illustrative footnote.

    2. There are dozens of videos showing Joe Biden’s lecherous touching, feeling, squeezing, sniffing and otherwise molesting of little girls. He cannot stop himself, nor can he respect the basic rights of young females. There are even videos showing Jeff Sessions slapping Biden’s hand away as he attempts to take hold of Sessions’ granddaughter. All of this is well-known. How can you wish this monstrosity on the American people?
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H5NJZMDumY

  14. If it didn’t have to be so damned complicated though and isn’t that just part of her point of why it’s been that way.

  15. When it becomes a crime to speak the truth, say “no” or disagree, then society is suffering from some kind of collective narcissistic personality disorder.

    1. Defiance Demon Avatar
      Defiance Demon

      “The further society drifts from truth, the more it hates those who speak it.” —George Orwell

  16. The absolute worst part of the COVID-19 pandemic, and possibly its most unrecoverable damage, is the massive power that Americans have given to their federal, state and local governments to regulate our lives in the name of protecting our health. Taking back that power should be the most urgent component of our recovery efforts. It’s going to be challenging; once a politician, and his bureaucracy, gains power, he will fight tooth and nail to keep it. -Walter E. Williams

    Benefits vs. Costs and COVID-19 by Walter E. Williams
    https://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2020/04/22/benefits-vs-costs-and-covid19-n2567256

    1. One of the good things about this Trump Plague is that radical libertarians will die at higher rates.

      This could be part of Mother Earth trying to heal itself, except it is highly likely that the surviving libertarians will then claim that the the higher death rates among people who hate public health orders was all a giant Chinese conspiracy to defeat the Great Leader and destroy Truth, Justice and the American Way. The libertarians will then use this as casus belli to bring Liberty to the Chinese, thus launching the nuclear war that destroys all human civilization.

  17. “If you’re willing to sacrifice all principles, all sanity and all morality to get rid of Trump, what exactly is the point of getting rid of Trump?”

    Let me take a stab at this one.

    It has become obvious to us here in the USA that Trump and McConnell are out to do whatever it takes to protect corporations, pack our court system with completely unqualified judges, who are appointed for life, as long as they are far right, disable the Federal government in any way possible, control the press, and roll back legal protections for everyone but white males if a certain social standing.

    The reality here is that a Democratic candidate is the only possible way to slow the continued erosion and outright destruction of any personal civil rights progress made over the last few decades. The voting population is so evenly split right now, voting one’s conscience for a third party candidate can easily result in another far-right win. And now that the far right has been resurrected from under their rocks, I expect they are not going to go back quietly. I would rather have a Democrat in power than any Republican, any day.

    An increasing number of people here are completely dismayed and disgusted with the outcome of the Democratic primaries these past two election cycles. The old guard in both parties is aging out of the picture and there is hope for the future.

    If Republicans lose control of the Senate – and McConnell’s announcement that he is going to push through as many judicial nominees as possible signals that is a good possibility – the fact is it won’t matter which of these two old white guys wins the WH. Except that with Biden, we will not be governed by tweet, waking up every morning to wonder whether the President has finally managed to start a war with another country or a civil war, and what additional damage he has done on the side.

    1. This lesser-evil stuff doesn’t really do it any more. Didn’t in 2016, won’t in 2020. The evil that Biden, the Clintons, and Obama represent may be lesser, but they’re not lesser enough. It’s not going to bring the proggies back, and it’s not going to stop the Left from carping and sniping and striking. The Democratic Party establishment totally screwed up by picking Biden and his dreadful entourage.

    2. What really existing difference is there between the blue and red faces of the single Janus party, aside from some decorative “diversity” stuff on the blue face and some “anti-diversity” stuff on the red face?

      Both faces obscenely fund, support the MIC and all of its appendages in order send to devastate other peoples and their societies far from the these shores that the grotesque manufacturers of the warmaking machinery make unimaginable profits – from death. Barbarism, in other words.

      Both parties cut taxes to the grossly (all meanings of the word) ultra wealthy (not as if these ghastly people and their cohorts in the upper 20% pay much in the way of taxes anyway), even as they institute ever increasing austerity on the lower percentiles.

      Both parties’ “leaders” (fuhrers) want to cut social security and medicare – apparently we can’t afford these programs. Well, of course not. We have to prop up the MIC, MISC and the ultra wealthy. They need the welfare, the bail outs, the never ending gazillions of our (taxpayers – i.e. the hoi polloi) monies.

      Both parties are allied with the ultra wealthy – neither with the poor, the working classes. Neither.

      The presidential elections are a farce and not democracy. Our permitted choice is determined by the party establishment, blue and red faces. And we who want neither because both represent exactly the same interests (and those interests are not those of the poor and working classes), albeit appearing to have slightly different facades. Money, power, the rule by and reign of the corporate-capitalist-imperialist plutocrats.

      So do not trot out the usual dem-rep-rat crapola that any demrat is better than any reprat therefore we who choose not to vote for either face of the single party are ensuring the worst result.

      When have demrat prezzies not led us to war/siege warfare (economic sanctions) against a poorer nation? Continued ones begun by reprats? When have demrats really supported measures that truly benefit the working classes (since the 1930s – and that was simply to prevent revolution)? When have demrats refused – totally – to give the Pentagonal gazillions in order that the whole of the citizenry has free-at-point-of service medical care? And this just touches on one or two points.

      The USA needs proportional representation with numerous political parties truly representing the nuances of the wide variety of political viewpoints rather than the single, dual headed corporate-capitalist-imperialist corrupt set up we have.

    3. Yeah, this is now such a pro-Trump website that you are wasting your breath.
      Yes, those of us who actually have to live in the USA can easily see that Biden, and the Democrats who will run the government under him, are much better than Trump and the same Republicans who have run the government under Bush and Trump. It is not Good vs Evil, but it is Bad vs Awful. And since Donald Trump and the Republican Party want me to die, I don’t want them to stay in power. Plus, it would keep John Bolton away from the White House for at least 4 years.
      But, this site is now all about electing Donald Trump. So, save your breath. Most of the rest of the commenters work either directly for Trump or for some Koch brothers funded exercise in internet opinion shaping.

  18. Thank You Caitlin, for, “doing the thing I think we should do to solve the problems of our species.”

    Because that is really what it is all about.

  19. The ” owners and the masters ” can do anything that they please to do to anyone that they own. It has always been that way. Mr. Biden probably did exactly what this woman claims that he did; and Mr. Biden probably has also done a lot worse because he is ” entitled ” to do anything that he wants to do. The ” owners and the masters ” have a mindset that is beyond any and all reasoning. Unfortunately, the only ” justice ” that is ever administrated to them comes from their victims violent reaction to being touched.

  20. Excellent article, Caitlin. One of your best.

  21. Carry on with your delusion that by some miracle a sane ethical individual would seek power over their neighbors, to impose their will at gunpoint, and seek election. Sane people have no inclination to do so. I don’t care how saintly a candidate may appear, they are by definition sociopaths, or some other variety of psychopath. A successful politician can easily be defined as one who is capable of getting the most people to believe the most preposterous lies. We can govern ourselves, or be governed by monsters.

    1. In its bleak and blanket cynicism, this is perhaps the most neoliberal comment I’ve yet seen on this most anti-neoliberal blog. If you push your own logic, then we who wind up “governing ourselves” would also be or become monsters. That base and brutal view of “human nature” lies at the very heart of neoliberalism and must be instinctively rejected. Obviously, there are decent people out there who desire to serve the public interest through public service. It’s just that in the vast majority of cases, they get weeded too early to have much of an impact, indeed, before they can even be recognized.

      1. Mike McDonnell Avatar
        Mike McDonnell

        Yes. I’m an old man, but I hope to see the day when we vote in large numbers for one of these honest public servants. My dad was one, so I know they exist.

      2. Both points have a truth. It’s true that the desire to control others has a sociopathic source, and is likely a reason why we end up with people who want to govern working for self interests rather than community interests. It’s also true that our authoritarian rule based world stems from the masses falsely believing that human nature at it’s heart needs to be controlled. At the same time the desire to “govern ourselves” comes from the heightened realization that another nature humans have is to connect and to contribute. People tend to categorize human nature as either/or, good/bad when in fact it’s neither and both and multi dimensional. I believe a world of cooperation and contribution is possible (and beautiful), yet I also believe that there are those that will work against that.

        We see now that the majority of those in power are self interested on sociopathic scales. But throughout time there has been a quality of cooperation and contribution. I think about the times when a neighbor’s barn would burn down and the whole town would gather and help rebuild it.

        It’s clear to me that the masses will need to get past 70+ years of intentional media programming of divisiveness and fear meant to keep the power of community at bay. All that’s needed is everyone working together. When everyone is cultured to rabidly hate each other and despise every grouping of diversity, that extremely simple coordination remains impossible. But it’s not because human nature is inherently bad, it’s because of the mindset the masses have been cultured to and the narrative they’ve been fed.

      3. Precisely. Good comment, Newton.

  22. Michael P Goldenberg Avatar
    Michael P Goldenberg

    Biden’s horrific nature is a feature, not a bug.

  23. Caitlin is the new Mark Twain – a passionate and honest chronicler of our times.

  24. Caitlin is Mark Twain of the 21 century. Sharp and honest chronicler of our times.

  25. Heh, heh, heh, … You said “Biden is everything” … Heh, heh, heh…

    Bevis

  26. Last election I voted for the best human being on the ballot which happened to be Ms Jill Stein. Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump are ” Maximum Slimeballs ” and just walking, talking piles of deep shit. You are very correct Ms Johnstone the democrats deserve Joe Biden because he is them. After General Michael Flynn wins his court case I am hoping he ” rats out everyone ” in the deep state that runs this detestable government.
    RussiaGate and all its subsidiary mischief amounted to a seditious conspiracy by several agencies of government against the chief executive. It was explicitly an effort to overthrow a president by illegitimate means. The conspiracy extended to members of congress, who are not privileged with immunity against felony crimes, by the way. The partial list of government officials, current or former, who may be subject to prosecution in these matters should include Barack Obama, Susan Rice, John Brennan, James Clapper, James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Rod Rosenstein, John Carlin, Mary McCord, Michael Atkinson, James Baker (DOJ), James Baker (DOD), Loretta Lynch, Sally Yates, Dana Boente, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, Joseph Pientka, William Priestap, Bruce Ohr, Kevin Clinesmith, Robert Mueller, Andrew Weissmann, Aaron Zebley, Jeanie Rhee, David Lauffman, Senator Mark Warner, Senator Richard Burr, James Wolfe, Rep. Adam Schiff, Eric Ciaramella, Col. Alexander Vindman. Players outside government include Glenn Simpson, Nellie Ohr, Christopher Steele, Stefan Halper, Sidney Blumenthal, Cody Shearer, David Kramer. The following media figures might be named as unindicted co-conspirators: Dean Baquet, Martin Baron, Jeff Zucker, Andrew Lack, Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O’Donnell, Chris Cuomo, Joe Scarborough, David Corn, David Ignatius, and Ari Melber.

    1. Couldn’t agree more, and glad to read you voted for Jill Stein – same here!

      1. Moi aussi. And, yes, Ron Campbell – if only. But we’ll never see it happen, nor the prosecution (let alone conviction) of the Bush two admin (to mention only the most recent internationally criminal administrations).

    2. Partial list is right! The scum of the earth!

    3. Mike McDonnell Avatar
      Mike McDonnell

      I read James Kunstler too. He has his problems, but when it comes to unraveling the workings of the oligarchic “deep state” he is as good as it gets: read /kunstler.com/

      1. Paul Edwards is as good as it gets, too!

  27. Stephen Sadd Avatar
    Stephen Sadd

    “Demented. Decrepit. Bloodthirsty. Corrupt. Cronyistic. Authoritarian. Reactionary. Rapey……”

    Sounds just like the Morrison Government & the BS fed to masses through MSM here in Australia!

    “Revolution is an inside job. This is not an egoically pleasing fact, but it is a fact”

    You hit the nail on the head with the above statement! i believe it WILL come!

  28. foster goodwill Avatar
    foster goodwill

    If you compare the shit Trump has done(think bringing us to the edge of a nuclear war by taking us out of the START treaty)devastating the EPA, creating a mockery with the Supreme Court,instituting the Global Gag Order,the list goes on and on. If you compare him as equal to the often rotten stuff the Dems do,well, I dont think that says much for your judgement. We need to be practical,and do the least damage possible.

    1. Adam Schoedel Avatar
      Adam Schoedel

      One day very soon (if it’s not too late already) we have to have the courage to flatly refuse to allow damage at all (or at least demonstrate that we won’t participate in it). The lesser of two evils is still evil. We can’t go on that way forever. If we do, the next “Trump” will be even worse. He may actually be evil and capable at the same time. We have to let them know our votes are not to be taken for granted. Until we prove that, we won’t win anything of significance. We need to have the balls to do it. I’ve been around for more than a half a century. It hasn’t gotten better. I don’t have a whole lot of time left. I’m not going to keep marching off to the slaughter with my head down. I may still get slaughtered, but I’m going to try to make it a bit more difficult for them.

      1. Yep. I agree wholeheartedly. I voted Jill Stein last time because I agreed with her policy prescriptions and I believe she is at her core, a decent human being. I gravitate towards honest, decent human beings. And I will NOT vote for a repulsive, despicable bastard. Ever.

    2. You just dont get it do you. I will not try to convince you otherwise.

    3. Basically you’re saying with the choice to either cut off your finger or cut off your hand you’re wise to cut off your finger. You’ve acquiesced to a logical fallacy. How about neither!!

  29. “Corporations may soon have to confront a revitalized and militant labor movement, an influential employer relations consultant warned in a recent memo to business leaders.

    The memo, sent on April 20, anticipates the May Day protests by service sector, warehouse, and delivery workers around the country today, who have walked off the job to highlight poor work conditions and perilously low pay.

    “This is the first time since the early 1980s where I sense significant interest by employees in ‘collective action’ and ‘3rd party representation,’” warned Rick Berman, a lobbyist who has waged war against labor unions on behalf of business clients for decades.”
    https://theintercept.com/2020/05/01/labor-union-lobbyist-coronavirus/
    $$$$$
    Remember, a Union is nothing more than employees getting together and deciding that they are stronger when they stand together. Lawyers and Bosses have always tried to make it seem complicated, but its really just everyone agreeing that they are much more likely to get a raise if they all stand together.
    Solidarity!
    That single word that Oligarchs and Bosses dread.
    Solidarity!

  30. Say no to Creepy Joe,
    And all of his little friends.
    Just look up his funders/bankers/um… contributors (or whatever).
    Look at Ukrain, Libya, Yemen, Iraq, Syria,
    Not to mention whatever those idiots have been up to in Africa, or the rest of Asia.
    Anyway…
    Plus, it is pretty clear that he really is creepy (where there is smoke there is probably fire).

    1. Yep, this is pretty much the site to get the latest from Trump HQ.
      I think they all hang out here on their breaks.

      1. Oh Klown Karla (notice she spells her name with a ‘K’… Gotta be a Ruskie).
        Please never leave and do keep posting. Laughter is the best medicine in these troubled times.

      2. No sense arguing with a stump, my mother always said. Don’t be a stump. If you read Caitlin routinely at all, you’d know better. But you don’t. Too bad for you, Karla.

        1. Defiance Demon Avatar
          Defiance Demon

          The trolling by the dnc bots is just going to get worse by the day. Shrill and desperate.

  31. Jamie Moodie Avatar
    Jamie Moodie

    Excellent

  32. Andrew Wilson Avatar
    Andrew Wilson

    Andrew Wilson in Central Florida
    I said this 1st about 30 years ago:
    Political power begets money much more readily than money begets political power.
    Don’t believe me? Ask Mnuchin. aw

    1. I was going to argue, but that would be pretty much the definition of a circular argument. As Money certainly begets a lot of political power. Biden and Trump are both sock puppets to Big Money. But then, that political power is used to beget more money.
      Round and round we go, where we stop, well, we all know …… revolution.

    2. R Zwarich ('Caliban') Avatar
      R Zwarich (‘Caliban’)

      Interesting thoughts.

      Early in his career, Caesar is said to have realized that power comes through soldiers. Having soldiers depends on money. And getting money depends on soldiers.

      Circular logic, indeed.

      So he borrowed money from Crassus to get his first soldiers, which got him power and money, to get more soldiers, to get more money, and more power, and more soldiers, etc. etc.

      Crassus had gotten rich by organizing Rome’s first fire department. They’d race to a fire and demand payment of exorbitant fees on the spot, or else they’d just leave as the fire burned itself out. Rumors spread, of course, that Crassus stopped just waiting for fires to start. His fire department became an extortion device, as fires seemed to break out in Rome at an unprecedented rate, and Crassus became the richest man in Rome.

      Crassus won a taste of glory by defeating the slave army led by Spartacus, and then got jealous of the greater glory Caesar was winning by conquering Gaul, so Crassus decided he’d raise his own army to go conquer the Persians. The Persians captured his son, Publius, and then charged Crassus’ army with Publius’ head held out front on a pike. Crassus was so crestfallen, that he left the battle, and his leaderless army was annihilated. The Persians captured Crassus, and killed him by pouring molten gold into his mouth.

      Crassus should have known better than to mess with the Persians. 300 years previously Alexander had defeated Darius, the great Persian king, but Alexander died at 30, during one of his drunken night’s of debauchery. Rumor was that the Persians had ‘slipped him a mickey’.

      Trump maybe oughta learn this lesson that History has tried to teach people who grasp for power. “You don’t fuck with the Persians!”

      The craziness of our Human Condition has been going on for a very long time.

      1. Interesting, and I very much agree with the last line, ‘Don;t f#$@ with Persians!’ Do you know or follow Michael Hudson, he’s a brilliant economist, Marxist in a weird sort of way, and currently writing an economic history of the world before democracy. We like to think Rome and Greece bequeathed democracy to us, one vote per person, when in effect, the institutions we’ve inherited legitimize rule by oligopoly..to vote one had to own land, be male, usually over 30 which has transitioned into what we have now basically, the rich in charge. Persia or Iran has none of that history, nor do China or Russia when you think about it. I am really looking forward to his book. He’s written about the Jubilee year..actually, a Persian practise, which kind of highlights the tension between America and Iran, they have very different views of wealth/power. I think. And, it’s actually kind of interesting, Americans are ‘secular’ but see themselves as ‘Christian’ people but hypocritical when it comes to poverty whereas Iranians are religious, moral but I know nothing about poverty, there. It’s hardly a news topic. I know China is trying to end it. Your comment has made me think. Thank you.

  33. IDK Caitlin. You’re worrying me. Are you OK?

    1. “Biden is to the Democrats as Trump is to the Republicans. Everyone’s just wearing their true face now.” Anyone who can write that is quite OK. Worry about those who can’t see the obvious. Worry even less about someone who not only sees it but nails it with style, finds the words to express what so many feel.

      1. It really does seem as though they have given up. That they are awaiting the fall of the empire as a known known and are now just jockeying for positions of power or amassing as much wealth as possible (or both) before the new paradigm is ushered in. Their hopes no longer of freedom and liberty but survival at the behest of the new kings. Seeking as much social credit to bank for a future trade allowing them their continued privilege into their imagined futures. Their people no longer a priority in this new wave of self sustaining thought and action accepted as wisdom for no reason other than that is what the majority of their ilk truly believe. The people now placated and tranquilized for later dealing as the powerful and influential plan for themselves. There seems no other valid explanation for their obvious disregard of integrity and truth. Two values subject to heavy devaluation in the current deflationary environment of politics and media. Only time will tell if their inclination proves useful in securing their believed birth right under new management. I have doubts that the many random aspects of the universe will fall in their favor to enable their wants. A regretful destiny may be all that awaits at a cost so great it will manifest in consciousness and permeate into any future existence they are born into.

        1. In response to the expression of your thoughtful and well-grounded fears, let me, with Caitlin’s indulgence, repeat a post I recently made on another independent-thinking blog. For clarification, MMT is Modern Monetary Theory, and the JG is its proposal for a universal job guarantee. “Once this pandemic no longer has the masses immobilized by fear, and peer-reviewed science has begun to assess whether governments under-reacted, overreacted, or appropriately responded to the corona virus, THEN AND ONLY THEN will the pressing issue shift to whether these governments have adequately dealt with the devastating economic and social impacts of the pandemic, whether they have merely protected the plutocratic elite, as usual, or have also taken the necessary steps to protect all of us. At that point, still a little ways down the road, an unprecedented evolutionary/revolutionary opening will occur both to implement a JG and also to compel, through massive protest and civil disobedience, the adoption of policies and programs that couple MMT with progressive values, and to topple and reinvent governments that refuse to do so. In each country, these policies, programs, and the course of the struggle will differ due to particular history and culture, but the issue itself will be global and will thus constitute a turning point for human civilization, comparable to the emergence of ancient slave empires, their decline into ossified feudalism, the awakenings of the Renaissance and Enlightenment, the deconstruction of monarchy, the partial implementation of democracy, and the subsequent dominance of capitalism culminating in plutocracy. I continue to harp on this bigger picture because when we CAN make our move, whether we make it at all and, if so, make it in a wise, humane, and inclusive direction will require us to have already seen things and seen through things, to have anticipated the impending opening, and to have grasped at least some of the initial steps that will cry out to be taken; i.e. MMT’s JG in conjunction with some genuine version of a Green New Deal, universal health care in countries still lacking it (like the U.S.), demilitarization in favor of more constructive uses of the public sector, etc. In other words, NOW is the time both for people like Bill to be working on concrete and detailed proposals (like he is doing) and for people like us, who have learned to see more clearly and independently through the MMT lens, to gather our strength, courage, confidence, and resolve for the “apocalyptic” battle we will soon have the opening to initiate–the crucial fight, as Edward Bellamy put it during the first Gilded Age, to overthrow, once and for all, the oppressive and ecocidal “rule of the rich” and assist in the birth, for the first time in recorded history, of “government of, by, and for the people.” Will neoliberalism have brought us the end of history or a new beginning? We’ll soon see. And the answer will be up to us.”

          1. Yes please. Where do I sign up?

            1. If I’m right, the movements will form, country by country, when the time comes. Nobody, for example, signed up for the yellow vest movement that had been rocking France pre-Covid and continues even now. Not so much a matter of signing up as showing up.

    2. R Zwarich ('Caliban') Avatar
      R Zwarich (‘Caliban’)

      I agree with Mr. Spero. Ms.Johnstone’s grasp on ‘hope’ seems to be going through one of those periods of questioning and doubt. Such periods are necessary, especially in people with the extraordinarily high degree of energy and motivation that Ms. Johnstone has shown so consistently, for so long.

      We who hold to Hope must always question its genuineness, else it be no more that ‘pollyana’ vapidness. Without self-doubt, confidence, faith, and hope are rooted in no more than the loosest sand that will become parched and dry when Fortune’s inevitable heat beats down upon it.

      “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”. Which among us did not hear that from some coach or teacher along the way? Yea … Well … The REALLY tough ones, the ones whose souls are ‘leather tough’, after having been tempered in the hottest fires, keep going even when the last desperate shred of hope has long departed. No gnashing of teeth. Teeth may grind, but only because they are gritted in hopeless determination, (the most powerful kind of determination there is), and one foot is dragged to be plodded in front of the other, and then the next one, and so on … and on … and on … As long as the gift of life itself is still animated in one’s flesh. When the going becomes completely hopeless, THAT is when the REALLY tough keep going.

      There seem to be a number of nihilists among this group, (this ‘community’ that Ms. Johnstone has created). Ms. Johnstone may likely sometimes hear their Siren’s call, but she is lashed to the mast by her love for her children, and those are bonds of valerian steel.

      Nihilism always beckons those who examine our Human Condition too closely. But those of us ‘cursed’ to feel genuine love in our hearts, especially for our own children, and/or for their children, and/or for any children and all children, who are such generous wellsprings of boundless Human Hope, may flirt with nihilism, may even dally with it, but will never ‘marry’ it.

      I think likely Ms. Johnstone’s soul has been well-tempered in some of the hottest fires. She has marched across the hottest desert sands, where Hope is as rare as cold water. But she has always found some new oasis.

      Even in the bleakest, blackest times, when all hope has left our hearts, we always can cling, even in desperation, to the hope that ‘springs eternal’ in our children’s hearts.

      I think Caitlyn Johnstone is tougher than any of us can imagine. They thought Gandalf had died after he stood against the Balrog, but they later learned that he had only found transformation from gray to white.

    3. Are you? Ok, that is? Methinks, not.

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