I was a lifelong Democrat; always voted straight ticket. But I began asking questions when Clinton was in office. Lots of questions, none having to do with his personal life. My doubts became more serious when Obama was elected, a candidate I worked hard to elect. I did not vote for him in his second term. I have now fully left the party, with my concerns over free speech and really dangerous foreign policy being my two biggest priorities, although there are other issues like the party’s support for transgenderism and our porous border. Yes, the Dems are the war party and I’m ashamed of who they have become. I will never vote for another Democrat, not ever.
Sadly, the DNC is designed to block anyone like Bernie Sanders or Dennis Kucinich. The last Democratic candidate truly against war was George McGovern in 1972.
"Woke and War" seems to be the motto of the DNC today.
I also began my conversion from Democrat to no-party affiliation during Bill Clinton's retched rule. His first state of the union address began with the phrase "The era of big government is over!". It wasn't just that he was echoing Republican talking points like that of Grover Norquist, he was also lying through his teeth. What the Uniparty spent the next several decades doing was helping the oligarchs capture the government completely so that it didn't need to be drowned in a bathtub as Norquist quipped. The government is bigger, more beholden to the military, and more under the control of the donor class than ever before. Nothing is going to get better until people stop voting for the captured Red and Blue Team candidates (including Trump).
Doesn't matter. Vote for the person who you want to win. Don't be a tribal follower who just votes "red" or "blue" because those are the two biggest teams.
Dennis, you have obviously convinced yourself that what hasn't ever happened or hasn't happened in a long time is impossible; and the proof that it's impossible is that it hasn't happened in a long time.
If you truly want it to be impossible, just keep it up. The more people you convince that it's impossible, the less likely it will ever happen.
But regardless how impossible you think it is, I will vote for the candidate I want to win and will NOT vote for the lesser of two evils.
Dennis has also convinced himself that Trump/Vance represent a sound and moral choice. He's an enthusiastic supporter of the Trump/Vance ticket. He sees no reason for third parties. Trump/Vance will make America great again, end of story.
Tulsi Gabbard has a new book out: "For Love of Country: Leave the Democrat Party Behind". I bought a copy. Haven't started reading it, although it has gotten excellent reviews on Amazon.
I think all libtards are vastly underestimating the amount of skepticism Trumps administration will have about further funding genocide. That's surely not the way to promote JD Vance or Tulsi for POTUS in 2028.
I think that's right too. But I wonder if a peaceful Republican ticket will have a chance vs all the wartime propaganda and vested interests. At the time I thought McGovern was an excellent candidate (my first President vote) and look how that turned out.
We live in a corrupt and dangerous world. These greedy basturds who run the world the last thing they'd truly want is an all out Nuclear war, it would ruin their bottom line. So long ago now we had a peace Prez. JFK wanted it after the missiles of Oct., to start dismantling it would've been nice.-- Until Nov.22nd. 1963, and he was murdered. There must be something wrong with trying to live in a peaceful world....
I read Scott Ritter's article today and was thinking of pasting the link here. I am so glad you did it before me! I wish and hope Bill Astore has/will read it and comment on it.
For days now, even before Ritter's post, I have been walking around with a black mushroom cloud over my head. I am unable to "compartmentalize" despite the company and playful antics of my dog. As my vet has said, "dogs are the ultimate existentialists".
And dogs will warn you just before the warheads hit. If it's any comfort. BTW I bought a copy of Annie Jacobsen "Nuclear War: A Scenario". How to go from world to destroyed world in 72 minutes. Haven't started it yet although it's on the top of my pile to read.
Bloomberg recently praised Biden as having worked to stop the escalation of the war in Ukraine, even as his administration has continued to send billions of dollars for more war. Neither side nor the MSM question how or why 'moral' Israel has a 'right to defend itself' as videos are shown of Israeli weapons systems destroying block after block of Gaza and killing tens of thousands of civilians - and throwing people off roofs.
Any reading of history reveals that major wars come after decades of misunderstandings, rising tensions, and small conflicts that create irresistible forces; they always seem obvious only when looking back. Consider the 1850s in the U.S. before the Civil War; the battleship competition in the decades before WWI; and the last gasp for peace with Chamberlin in Munich and other 'peace conferenecs' before WWII. War was inevitable.
I don't think it matters who's elected in November, because there are these titanic forces at work. The world is being divided into a western/NATO bloc and BRICS. One side appears determined to rule everything; the other seemingly wants to be be able to pursue its, and its members, own destiny (at least until some future time when it divides for many of the same reasons).
No Presidential candidate - even if having expressing some understanding of what's at work (and I've heard nothing beyond platitudes) - can single-handedly or even with a 'majority' in either or both houses of Congress is going to stop any of this. Nascent peace movements or calls for change - are ignored (as in Europe) or crushed by social media under the direction of the national security state.
Change, if even possible, will only come when the sabots are tossed into the machinery and people walk off their jobs and stay home until change is forced upon the elites who will kill all of us as they suck every last dollar out of the system.
How many Americans, TomR, are prepared to walk off their jobs and stay home to bring about any kind of change to this nation's status as an global imperialist Warfare State?
And how many job walk-offers would it take to actually make anything actually happen and change?
Jeff, realistically I know it will never happen. We are too comfortable and too far away from a Ceaușescu moment.
But I don't see anything else stopping what's headed our way - politics as usual will lead to the usual results, until economic collapse and police state controls are put in place; or the maniacs in charge totally f- up and we get the Dr. Strangelove ending - and I don't have a mine shaft nearby.
There will be More War, Bill, whether the next administration is Harris/Walz or Trump/Vance.
The same Deep State and its Ruling Political Class will continue to own, operate, command, and control this Government, and the elected politicians, entrenched civilian and military bureaucrats, and anointed political appointees running it, no matter which Team "wins" and/or "loses" in November.
That's possible and even likely, Jeff. Still, I think Trump/Vance are correct when they say they want to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. I think Harris is wrong to say the war shall continue until Ukraine "wins" (which is never defined).
Strangely, Trump/Vance have more of an opportunity, more leeway, to be less bellicose than the Dems, who are always desperate to appear tough.
The Democrat Party "owns" the Russia war in Ukraine, in the same way that the Democrat Party owned the Vietnam war. It took a change in party to stop that American intervention and I think it will take a change in party this time as well. Wars seem to never be stopped by the party that started them. I guess it's a matter of saving face. Or something.
Who was the President that forbade the Elections regarding unification after the French got kicked out in 1954? Who installed Diem in 1955 and began military aid, advise, assistance, and armaments to Diem's government?
That war didn't start in 1964 and the so-called Tonkin Gulf "Incident."
LBJ was the President who really started sending American troops to Vietnam and getting them killed. Remember the chant "hey hey LBJ how many kids did you kill today?" Nobody chanted about Eisenhower.
That's because no Americans were being killed or maimed when Eisenhower was POTUS.
But had those elections taken place and if the US had not installed Diem in power and then kept him there, the Tonkin Gulf "Incident" would have never occurred.
After having gotten its ass kicked in Korea, America's nascent Military Industrial Congressional Complex needed another War to justify its existence, and Ike made sure they got one in Southeast Asia.
History is replete with "what ifs". There are those who say the US mistake in Vietnam was encouraging Diem's assassination while JFK was President. This from Wikipedia: "Upon learning of Diệm's ouster and assassination, Hồ Chí Minh reportedly stated: "I can scarcely believe the Americans would be so stupid"."
Of course Trump/Vance are correct when they SAY they want to end America’s Proxy War in Ukraine with Russia.
But if elected in November, and if inaugurated in January, what will they actually DO to end that War? The better question is: What will the DS/RPC permit them to do?
One thing we can be absolutely sure of after Nov. 5th.
Jill Stein will not be the 47th POTUS.
George Washington was the first and ONLY independent candidate to win the US presidency. In 1789, 235-years ago.
With the US voting system there is not even a theoretical possibility of a 3rd-Party Candidate becoming POTUS.
Proven without a shadow of doubt by Ross Perot in 1992, getting 19% of the vote.
As for the Green Party goes, Ralph Nadar running on the same platform as Stein and with his huge public respect and name recognition, only got 2.7% in 2000 running as a Green.
Jill Stein only got 0.36% of the vote in 2012. And a pathetic 1.07% in 2016.
How anybody could bet against those odds is unfathomable.
Furthermore, Stein raised millions of dollars for recounts after Trump’s surprise 2016 victory. Her allegations yielded only one electoral review in Wisconsin, which showed Trump had won.
"I don't vote for the person I think is going to win; I vote for the person that I want to win. Even if she's the longest of long shot". That makes no sense to me Bill. You are dreamer. I hope you do not go play in Vegas!
Aren't you being selfish? It's not all about your feelings. Why don't you vote for who you think is going to have the best shot of giving America a better future. And that surely it is not The Green Party. Jill Stein will not get >5% of the vote, and in the rational side of your brain you know that.
The Green Party has always been irrelevant in Murica. A mere footnote. What is Jill Stein polling? She does not even show up on the charts!
I want to have a Ferrari, and that is certainly the longest of long shots. But I'm not such a dreamer thinking that I will ever be getting one!
The Leahy Law is a U.S. human rights law that prohibits the US Department of State and Department of Defense from providing military assistance to countries that have committed gross violations of human rights.
The law has two main provisions:
State Department Leahy Law: This applies to all State Department-funded assistance and was made permanent under section 620M of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.
Department of Defense (DoD) Leahy Law: This applies to DoD-funded assistance and is now permanent under Section 362 of Title 10 of the U.S. Code1.
Trump could work on pressuring Congress to enforce it Jeff.
i am saying that any elected politician who wants to survive their current term ~ let alone have any chance whatsoever of being re-elected ~ will do exactly as she or he is instructed to do by the Deep State and America's Ruling Political Class.
It's ALL BORROWED MONEY, including BORROWING the MONEY to pay the interest on the US National Debt. Collapse is inevitable sooner or later IF WWIII/ARMAGEDDON doesn't wipe out the Debt and Civilization sooner?
I won't be voting for president for the first time in all the years I have been eligible to vote. Only Harris, Trump and RFKJ are on the ballot according to what I discovered. It's unlikely this will change by November, but I will go to the voting booth to be sure. No write-ins are allowed and any that get in will be voided. This is not a problem for a democracy of lobbies.
Crazy ans fringed we be us folks seeking peace and peaceful coexistence with our brothers and sisters round the orb of the only life in the universe we know of. How crazy we be to cherish it and not deform it
Indeed, on every point here. It's too bad West and Stein could not join forces. As brilliant as West is (I have read some of his books and love his mentors' writings Sheldon Wolin) I sense it might be West's ego-his personality in the way. What are your thoughts on this Bill?
What a profound thinker he is. But yes, I sense he lacks the social intelligence-emotional intelligence the skills of compromise....Good news: House GOP Investigates Kamala for Using Zelensky as Campaign Surrogate...she did! Just as the industrial military/security/intelligence complex uses Zelensky as their puppet.
While West and Stein both have a history of working for the good of the people, I like Dr. West BECAUSE he is not a politician. I've read many of his books, and watched many of his lectures, and the thing that he won't compromise on is integrity. The future requires that we think outside the box of standard politics.
99% of folks don't even know what the name of his Party is! LOL
Many think he is a race baiter.
And how can he have integrity when he is a full time University Professor spending 80% of his time campaigning?
Isn't he on the faculty of Union Theological Seminary in Manhattan, holding the prestigious Dietrich Bonhoeffer Chair? Do I have that right? After all, he has never held down any job in his career for more than a few years!
What does this tell us about this man's integrity?
Wiki: In 2000, economist and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers became president of Harvard. Soon after, Summers held a private meeting with West, in which he reportedly rebuked West for missing too many classes, contributing to grade inflation, neglecting serious scholarship, and spending too much time on his financially profitable projects. Summers reportedly suggested that West produce an academic book befitting his professorial position, as his recent output had consisted primarily of co-written and edited volumes. According to some reports, Summers also objected to West's production of a CD, the critically panned Sketches of My Culture, and to his political campaigning, including spending an alleged three weeks to promote Bill Bradley's 2000 presidential campaign."
You are responding as though you are a “bot”. If you are a real person, you are spending a lot of time thinking about Dr. West, so you must indeed believe that he is a threat to the status quo.
Goodness me my dear. This real person stopped thinking about the goofy Professor after I watched him on the Jimmy Dore show get torn to shreds by a jagoff comedian producing YouTube videos in his garage.
Anybody with common sense could see that he was just in this for his 15-minutes of fame. With a large dose of race baiting.
And he flaked out on the Green Party leaving poor Jill Stein looking stupid.
Believe me he is not a threat to anybody. Except students who pay good money to listen to his jive.
The British Empire was gravely weakened by WWI and WWII even as the U.S. grew stronger. By the 1960s, the B.E. was a shadow of its former self. It vitiated its power as former "jewels" like India cast off the British yoke after WWII.
I was a lifelong Democrat; always voted straight ticket. But I began asking questions when Clinton was in office. Lots of questions, none having to do with his personal life. My doubts became more serious when Obama was elected, a candidate I worked hard to elect. I did not vote for him in his second term. I have now fully left the party, with my concerns over free speech and really dangerous foreign policy being my two biggest priorities, although there are other issues like the party’s support for transgenderism and our porous border. Yes, the Dems are the war party and I’m ashamed of who they have become. I will never vote for another Democrat, not ever.
Sadly, the DNC is designed to block anyone like Bernie Sanders or Dennis Kucinich. The last Democratic candidate truly against war was George McGovern in 1972.
"Woke and War" seems to be the motto of the DNC today.
I also began my conversion from Democrat to no-party affiliation during Bill Clinton's retched rule. His first state of the union address began with the phrase "The era of big government is over!". It wasn't just that he was echoing Republican talking points like that of Grover Norquist, he was also lying through his teeth. What the Uniparty spent the next several decades doing was helping the oligarchs capture the government completely so that it didn't need to be drowned in a bathtub as Norquist quipped. The government is bigger, more beholden to the military, and more under the control of the donor class than ever before. Nothing is going to get better until people stop voting for the captured Red and Blue Team candidates (including Trump).
Notice how Zelenskyy thanks "the entire American people," something that won't go unnoticed in non-NATO countries. Voting for the war-mongers makes us complicit too. I would like to add that Cornel West is also a valid choice, along with Jill Stein. Dr. West also has good ballot access: https://www.cornelwest2024.com/ballotaccess?utm_campaign=write_in_win&utm_medium=email&utm_source=cornelwest
Sorry to dash your hopes Aunty.
With the US voting system there is not even a theoretical possibility of a 3rd-Party Candidate becoming POTUS.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/america-isnt-really-set-up-for-third-party-presidential-bids/
Voting for Stein and the goofy West is wasting your vote.
Proven without a shadow of doubt by Ross Perot in 1992, getting 19% of the vote and zero Electoral College votes.
Jill Stein only got 0.36% of the vote in 2012. And a pathetic 1.07% in 2016.
The chances of her improving on that enough to make a difference are slim to none.
Doesn't matter. Vote for the person who you want to win. Don't be a tribal follower who just votes "red" or "blue" because those are the two biggest teams.
Exactly. Our electoral system is too rigged for our votes to matter. We can still vote our conscience.
Don't be a tribal follower, Jean.
The small tribe that is for "anybody but the two biggest Teams" is living in a dream world and is irrelevant in the real world.
Voting your conscience is not valid reasoning.
You know that many folks have a repugnant conscience.
Just as faith is not a valid path to truth. Neither is conscience.
Critical thinking is the only valid path to truth.
Do Trumpatistas and other assorted MAGA,Ats ~ who are definitely as tribal as anybody ~ engage in any form of critical thinking?
Or is their religion based on faith and conscience; just like every other religion?
Let's see....: How many GQs have You been able to faithfully and conscientiously avoid answering just today?
Dennis, you have obviously convinced yourself that what hasn't ever happened or hasn't happened in a long time is impossible; and the proof that it's impossible is that it hasn't happened in a long time.
If you truly want it to be impossible, just keep it up. The more people you convince that it's impossible, the less likely it will ever happen.
But regardless how impossible you think it is, I will vote for the candidate I want to win and will NOT vote for the lesser of two evils.
Dennis has also convinced himself that Trump/Vance represent a sound and moral choice. He's an enthusiastic supporter of the Trump/Vance ticket. He sees no reason for third parties. Trump/Vance will make America great again, end of story.
Tulsi Gabbard has a new book out: "For Love of Country: Leave the Democrat Party Behind". I bought a copy. Haven't started reading it, although it has gotten excellent reviews on Amazon.
Alex, you know that Tulsi was an Israel Firster when she was on the other side eh?
https://forward.com/israel/417510/tulsi-gabbard-zig-zags-on-israel-from-adelson-embrace-to-questions-on-gaza/
It's almost impossible to find a US politician that doesn't support Israel's military interventions. If she's now skeptical of it more power to her.
I think all libtards are vastly underestimating the amount of skepticism Trumps administration will have about further funding genocide. That's surely not the way to promote JD Vance or Tulsi for POTUS in 2028.
I think that's right too. But I wonder if a peaceful Republican ticket will have a chance vs all the wartime propaganda and vested interests. At the time I thought McGovern was an excellent candidate (my first President vote) and look how that turned out.
Alex, this Party under Trump and MAGA is not your father's Republican Party.
What you are seeing is a fresh new Party that makes a mockery of the old "left" and "right" labels.
And I see Trump, Vance, RFK Jr, Tulsi and others laying the groundwork for a new party like the Whigs did in 1854 - 170 years ago.
A party without the baggage of World hegemony, militarism, and "We are No.1." A party that does not want to be the World's policeman.
A party of common sense and a downsized Federal gubmint for the people by the people like the founders wanted.
If only.
We live in a corrupt and dangerous world. These greedy basturds who run the world the last thing they'd truly want is an all out Nuclear war, it would ruin their bottom line. So long ago now we had a peace Prez. JFK wanted it after the missiles of Oct., to start dismantling it would've been nice.-- Until Nov.22nd. 1963, and he was murdered. There must be something wrong with trying to live in a peaceful world....
Yes but they still might walk us in to a nuclear war if they keep playing chicken with Russia. https://substack.com/@scottritter865190/p-149426897
Yes the "Chickenhawks!"
I read Scott Ritter's article today and was thinking of pasting the link here. I am so glad you did it before me! I wish and hope Bill Astore has/will read it and comment on it.
For days now, even before Ritter's post, I have been walking around with a black mushroom cloud over my head. I am unable to "compartmentalize" despite the company and playful antics of my dog. As my vet has said, "dogs are the ultimate existentialists".
And dogs will warn you just before the warheads hit. If it's any comfort. BTW I bought a copy of Annie Jacobsen "Nuclear War: A Scenario". How to go from world to destroyed world in 72 minutes. Haven't started it yet although it's on the top of my pile to read.
Thanks. I am thinking of buy Jacobsen's book also. Thanks for reminding me!
Bloomberg recently praised Biden as having worked to stop the escalation of the war in Ukraine, even as his administration has continued to send billions of dollars for more war. Neither side nor the MSM question how or why 'moral' Israel has a 'right to defend itself' as videos are shown of Israeli weapons systems destroying block after block of Gaza and killing tens of thousands of civilians - and throwing people off roofs.
Any reading of history reveals that major wars come after decades of misunderstandings, rising tensions, and small conflicts that create irresistible forces; they always seem obvious only when looking back. Consider the 1850s in the U.S. before the Civil War; the battleship competition in the decades before WWI; and the last gasp for peace with Chamberlin in Munich and other 'peace conferenecs' before WWII. War was inevitable.
I don't think it matters who's elected in November, because there are these titanic forces at work. The world is being divided into a western/NATO bloc and BRICS. One side appears determined to rule everything; the other seemingly wants to be be able to pursue its, and its members, own destiny (at least until some future time when it divides for many of the same reasons).
No Presidential candidate - even if having expressing some understanding of what's at work (and I've heard nothing beyond platitudes) - can single-handedly or even with a 'majority' in either or both houses of Congress is going to stop any of this. Nascent peace movements or calls for change - are ignored (as in Europe) or crushed by social media under the direction of the national security state.
Change, if even possible, will only come when the sabots are tossed into the machinery and people walk off their jobs and stay home until change is forced upon the elites who will kill all of us as they suck every last dollar out of the system.
How many Americans, TomR, are prepared to walk off their jobs and stay home to bring about any kind of change to this nation's status as an global imperialist Warfare State?
And how many job walk-offers would it take to actually make anything actually happen and change?
Jeff, realistically I know it will never happen. We are too comfortable and too far away from a Ceaușescu moment.
But I don't see anything else stopping what's headed our way - politics as usual will lead to the usual results, until economic collapse and police state controls are put in place; or the maniacs in charge totally f- up and we get the Dr. Strangelove ending - and I don't have a mine shaft nearby.
Permit me to highly recommend taking a look at Global Research’s Mike Whitney’s 25 Sep 24 piece HOW ISRAEL TORPEDOED WASHINGTON’S GLOBAL STRATEGY at https://www.globalresearch.ca/israel-torpedoed-washington-global-strategy/5868661 .
If for nothing else than the accompanying visual portraying Biden, Trump, and Harris gathered around Netanyahu under an American flag.
There will be More War, Bill, whether the next administration is Harris/Walz or Trump/Vance.
The same Deep State and its Ruling Political Class will continue to own, operate, command, and control this Government, and the elected politicians, entrenched civilian and military bureaucrats, and anointed political appointees running it, no matter which Team "wins" and/or "loses" in November.
That's possible and even likely, Jeff. Still, I think Trump/Vance are correct when they say they want to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. I think Harris is wrong to say the war shall continue until Ukraine "wins" (which is never defined).
Strangely, Trump/Vance have more of an opportunity, more leeway, to be less bellicose than the Dems, who are always desperate to appear tough.
The Democrat Party "owns" the Russia war in Ukraine, in the same way that the Democrat Party owned the Vietnam war. It took a change in party to stop that American intervention and I think it will take a change in party this time as well. Wars seem to never be stopped by the party that started them. I guess it's a matter of saving face. Or something.
The Democrats "owned" the Vietnam War?
Who was the President that forbade the Elections regarding unification after the French got kicked out in 1954? Who installed Diem in 1955 and began military aid, advise, assistance, and armaments to Diem's government?
That war didn't start in 1964 and the so-called Tonkin Gulf "Incident."
LBJ was the President who really started sending American troops to Vietnam and getting them killed. Remember the chant "hey hey LBJ how many kids did you kill today?" Nobody chanted about Eisenhower.
That's because no Americans were being killed or maimed when Eisenhower was POTUS.
But had those elections taken place and if the US had not installed Diem in power and then kept him there, the Tonkin Gulf "Incident" would have never occurred.
After having gotten its ass kicked in Korea, America's nascent Military Industrial Congressional Complex needed another War to justify its existence, and Ike made sure they got one in Southeast Asia.
Ike "made sure" the MICC got another war. Jeff? So JFK and LBJ were just puppets of Ike?
History is replete with "what ifs". There are those who say the US mistake in Vietnam was encouraging Diem's assassination while JFK was President. This from Wikipedia: "Upon learning of Diệm's ouster and assassination, Hồ Chí Minh reportedly stated: "I can scarcely believe the Americans would be so stupid"."
Of course Trump/Vance are correct when they SAY they want to end America’s Proxy War in Ukraine with Russia.
But if elected in November, and if inaugurated in January, what will they actually DO to end that War? The better question is: What will the DS/RPC permit them to do?
We'll see after Nov. 5th if these questions matter, Jeff.
One thing we can be absolutely sure of after Nov. 5th.
Jill Stein will not be the 47th POTUS.
George Washington was the first and ONLY independent candidate to win the US presidency. In 1789, 235-years ago.
With the US voting system there is not even a theoretical possibility of a 3rd-Party Candidate becoming POTUS.
Proven without a shadow of doubt by Ross Perot in 1992, getting 19% of the vote.
As for the Green Party goes, Ralph Nadar running on the same platform as Stein and with his huge public respect and name recognition, only got 2.7% in 2000 running as a Green.
Jill Stein only got 0.36% of the vote in 2012. And a pathetic 1.07% in 2016.
How anybody could bet against those odds is unfathomable.
Furthermore, Stein raised millions of dollars for recounts after Trump’s surprise 2016 victory. Her allegations yielded only one electoral review in Wisconsin, which showed Trump had won.
Do I have that correct?
I don't vote for the person I think is going to win; I vote for the person that I want to win. Even if she's the longest of long shots.
And you don't vote in the USA, Dennis, you vote in New Zealand, where you are rightly proud of being a Kiwi since democracy still exists there.
You don't know where I can vote Bill.
I lived in the US for 41-years.
"I don't vote for the person I think is going to win; I vote for the person that I want to win. Even if she's the longest of long shot". That makes no sense to me Bill. You are dreamer. I hope you do not go play in Vegas!
Aren't you being selfish? It's not all about your feelings. Why don't you vote for who you think is going to have the best shot of giving America a better future. And that surely it is not The Green Party. Jill Stein will not get >5% of the vote, and in the rational side of your brain you know that.
The Green Party has always been irrelevant in Murica. A mere footnote. What is Jill Stein polling? She does not even show up on the charts!
I want to have a Ferrari, and that is certainly the longest of long shots. But I'm not such a dreamer thinking that I will ever be getting one!
Take care
Roger that. Of course, that assumes that there will be an election on November 5, eh? But that's a separate rant.
The Leahy Law is a U.S. human rights law that prohibits the US Department of State and Department of Defense from providing military assistance to countries that have committed gross violations of human rights.
The law has two main provisions:
State Department Leahy Law: This applies to all State Department-funded assistance and was made permanent under section 620M of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.
Department of Defense (DoD) Leahy Law: This applies to DoD-funded assistance and is now permanent under Section 362 of Title 10 of the U.S. Code1.
Trump could work on pressuring Congress to enforce it Jeff.
What chance do you think he would have?
Unless the Deep State and Ruling Political Class gives him permission to do that, None.
At least if he wants any chance whatsoever of avoiding a successful assassination "attempt."
Are you saying anybody voted POTUS should just give up on getting the Laws of the Land enforced, Jeff?
What a dystopian* way of thinking about the land you live in?
*of, relating to, or being an imagined world or society in which people lead dehumanized, fearful lives.
i am saying that any elected politician who wants to survive their current term ~ let alone have any chance whatsoever of being re-elected ~ will do exactly as she or he is instructed to do by the Deep State and America's Ruling Political Class.
Does the name "John F Kennedy" ring a bell?
It's ALL BORROWED MONEY, including BORROWING the MONEY to pay the interest on the US National Debt. Collapse is inevitable sooner or later IF WWIII/ARMAGEDDON doesn't wipe out the Debt and Civilization sooner?
FIRE MARSHALL BILL
Message to Zelensky: You are not welcome. Those are my taxes they are giving to you and I didn't approve.
Democracy is lost
I won't be voting for president for the first time in all the years I have been eligible to vote. Only Harris, Trump and RFKJ are on the ballot according to what I discovered. It's unlikely this will change by November, but I will go to the voting booth to be sure. No write-ins are allowed and any that get in will be voided. This is not a problem for a democracy of lobbies.
https://babylonbee.com/news/trump-will-start-world-war-iii-says-party-autographing-bombs-to-be-launched-at-russia
Crazy ans fringed we be us folks seeking peace and peaceful coexistence with our brothers and sisters round the orb of the only life in the universe we know of. How crazy we be to cherish it and not deform it
People
Planet
Peace
Indeed, on every point here. It's too bad West and Stein could not join forces. As brilliant as West is (I have read some of his books and love his mentors' writings Sheldon Wolin) I sense it might be West's ego-his personality in the way. What are your thoughts on this Bill?
When it comes to politics, West is out of his league.
That's OK. He's an academic, a thinker, not a politician.
What a profound thinker he is. But yes, I sense he lacks the social intelligence-emotional intelligence the skills of compromise....Good news: House GOP Investigates Kamala for Using Zelensky as Campaign Surrogate...she did! Just as the industrial military/security/intelligence complex uses Zelensky as their puppet.
While West and Stein both have a history of working for the good of the people, I like Dr. West BECAUSE he is not a politician. I've read many of his books, and watched many of his lectures, and the thing that he won't compromise on is integrity. The future requires that we think outside the box of standard politics.
How is Cornell West polling Jean?
Is he above 1% yet?
99% of folks don't even know what the name of his Party is! LOL
Many think he is a race baiter.
And how can he have integrity when he is a full time University Professor spending 80% of his time campaigning?
Isn't he on the faculty of Union Theological Seminary in Manhattan, holding the prestigious Dietrich Bonhoeffer Chair? Do I have that right? After all, he has never held down any job in his career for more than a few years!
What does this tell us about this man's integrity?
Wiki: In 2000, economist and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers became president of Harvard. Soon after, Summers held a private meeting with West, in which he reportedly rebuked West for missing too many classes, contributing to grade inflation, neglecting serious scholarship, and spending too much time on his financially profitable projects. Summers reportedly suggested that West produce an academic book befitting his professorial position, as his recent output had consisted primarily of co-written and edited volumes. According to some reports, Summers also objected to West's production of a CD, the critically panned Sketches of My Culture, and to his political campaigning, including spending an alleged three weeks to promote Bill Bradley's 2000 presidential campaign."
You are responding as though you are a “bot”. If you are a real person, you are spending a lot of time thinking about Dr. West, so you must indeed believe that he is a threat to the status quo.
Goodness me my dear. This real person stopped thinking about the goofy Professor after I watched him on the Jimmy Dore show get torn to shreds by a jagoff comedian producing YouTube videos in his garage.
Anybody with common sense could see that he was just in this for his 15-minutes of fame. With a large dose of race baiting.
And he flaked out on the Green Party leaving poor Jill Stein looking stupid.
Believe me he is not a threat to anybody. Except students who pay good money to listen to his jive.
The same with Jill Stein. She is not a politician.
Can anybody imagine her as Commander in Chief?
She is no Maragret Thatcher. The Iron Lady.
As inspirational as a wet lettuce - as ex Aussie PM Paul Keating would say!
Oh dear!
Heh. Yeah, the "Iron Lady": she who invaded Argentina attempting to bring at least part of the British Empire back into existence.
RULE BRITANNIA!!! as that old pop song went:
"When Britain first, at heaven's command,
Arose from out the azure main,
Arose arose from out the azure main,
This was the charter, the charter of the land,
And Guardian Angels sang this strain:
"Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves!
Britons never, never, never will be slaves.
Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves!
Britons never, never, never will be slaves.
Still more majestic shalt thou rise,
"More dreadful from each foreign stroke,
More dreadful, dreadful from each foreign stroke,
As the loud blast that tears the skies
Serves but to root thy native oak.
Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves!
"Britons never, never, never will be slaves.
Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves!
Britons never, never, never will be slaves.
Thee haughty tyrants ne'er shall tame;
All their attempts to bend thee down
"All their, all their attempts to bend thee down
Will but arouse, arouse thy generous flame,
But work their woe and thy renown.
Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves!
"Britons never, never, never will be slaves.
Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves!
Britons never, never, never will be slaves.
The Muses, with freedom found,
Shall to thy happy coasts repair.
"Shall to thy happy, happy coasts repair.
Blest isle! with matchless,
with matchless beauty crowned,
And manly hearts to guard the fair.
Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves!
"Britons never, never, never will be slaves.
Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves!
Britons never, never, never will be slaves."
It's not a "pop song" Jeff! For heaven's sake man, have you no respect?
Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves!
"Britons never, never, never will be slaves.
Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves!
Britons never, never, never will be slaves."
As kids we sung it lustily....
Knowing that the British Commonwealth had never lost a war.
Something the Yanks can't claim.
God save the King!
Respect for what?
How many "Colonial Subjects" ~ aka Slaves ~ did the British Empire have in all their Colonies back when Britannia "ruled the waves"?
And if the British Empire never lost a war, how come that Empire doesn't exist any more? What happened to it?
The British Empire was gravely weakened by WWI and WWII even as the U.S. grew stronger. By the 1960s, the B.E. was a shadow of its former self. It vitiated its power as former "jewels" like India cast off the British yoke after WWII.
It went broke trying to rule the World. Like all Empires do.
And as the American Empire is quickly heading for.