41 Comments
Jul 25·edited Jul 25Liked by Bill Astore

Fifty-eight standing ovations by an AIPAC-purchased Congress for a confirmed genocidal criminal monster? As he mocked U.S. citizens who have protested his country's genocide in Gaza, he received sustained cheers. Many Democrats did not participate, but on the Republican side - only Thomas Massie refused to attend.

Why is it that the Democrats who continually claim they can do nothing in legislation to benefit US citizens because of the Senate Parliamentarian were able to engineer a whispered coup that ousted a sitting President (no matter his condition), appoint his dunderheaded VP as the new savior of democracy all within about 48 hours?

Why is it that neither party has or will confront the debt that will crush the US economy and bring the empire to a cliff that over which it will plunge?

How is it that the MSM has now taken the near-assassination of a former US President off the "front page" and replaced it with Kamala Hysteria, which can be assumed will be wall to wall coverage for the next three months?

Someone please tell me why the Hell it matters who is elected President in November?

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It's hard to disagree with George Carlin when he said we have no choice and that the owners own us.

All we can do is keep resisting, else surrender to the Borg Collective.

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Jul 25Liked by Bill Astore

Bill, I agree with that completely. Never stop fighting. As I read recently, we need to remember we may not be fighting for ourselves, given what's coming can't be stopped, but for the time after that when our children and theirs can build something better.

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George Carlin - the greatest. Now reborn in an A.I. comedy show.

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Jul 25Liked by Bill Astore

And as all the nonsense indicative of corruption continues, the world warms and the EPA is neutered.

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Our only chance of stopping climate change is by nuclear winter. Slow roasted or quick seared on the barby. Take your pick.

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founding

The primary reason all those things have happened, TomR, is that the American Peoples have LET them happen.

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RemovedJul 25·edited Jul 25
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Ray: You must have been "Happy" unlike "Happy" his wife when Nelson was caught & expired while in the throes of inflagrante delicto....

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Ray, you can be proud of what you did. I was passive at the time but hopeful, then was dismayed to see all that was accomplished rolled back as much as possible, beyond my belief, by a rightwing reaction that was stunning and continues today. The right always has a mighty ally, wealth, but it needs people and has certainly found them in MAGA.

What keeps me from despair is the internet and the variety of outlets now giving us the truth, supported by subscribers and not inhibited by business ownership that has been working in the background all along to make our corrupt democracy appear functional on the surface. That appearance can no longer be maintained and, as is shown by the turnout against Netanyahu, resistance of the kind you participated in, has risen from the ashes.

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The only thing better would have been a personal finger from Tricky Dick. :-)

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I don't say this lightly, but what crossed my mind was that those standing with ovations could have been good Germans applauding the ongoing extermination of those that the man they were applauding had called animals and worse. But in this case those who stood KNEW far more exactly what their government continues to enable and still their hearts and souls are cold, cold, cold.

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All true, but for them their pockets are filled with green, green, green from their masters in AIPAC.

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New York, 1939 - https://youtu.be/MxxxlutsKuI

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Thank you for the link. Needs to be seen and remembered!

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I fear that their are those who embrace their nature, and we who deny our nature, rather than good vs evil.

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Caitlin's excellent post was awaiting me in my inbox this morning. She nails it--again. Then I proceeded through my usual perusal of corporate media. Fact checking, disinformation, propoganda check on Bibi's speech? ZIP! Outrage over the sworn defenders of the constitution giving this man sanding ovation after sanding ovation as he ranted and raved against the free-speech protestors? ZIP!

I didn't listen to Biden, but given the only basic reporting on this speech, it was pretty clear he offered no great orator's line for the history books. Patrick Lawrence certainly sums up his sorry "service" in Consortium. Worth checking out.

Grim is the word for it all. Good on Tlaib for her silent but powerful protest.

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I think Tlaib is the only real legislator in Congress. She has a legitimacy the others lack, an authenticity in her background and a determination to do the right thing without any concern for big donors. Sitting as she did while all around applauded is the proof.

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founding

New York, 1939 - https://youtu.be/MxxxlutsKuI

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founding

Thank You for sharing that, Mike, i had never heard of the German American Bund.

i wonder what happened to all those folks after Pearl Harbor, and Germany's Declaration of War against the US... .

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They are always with us, in every Western society. It's an ugly manifestation of anger, dissatisfaction. and ego. For me, it shows how easily any Western society could have been 1930s Germans. Humankind is too easily persuaded. It's our animal flaw.

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What is the leader of a foreign country doing addressing Congress in the first place? I include Zelinsky as well. Let's have them give us the next State of the Union address. We can have a united government again!

Vote Bibi or Zelinsky '24!

And hey, while we're at it let's all send some more letters by USPS and maybe we can get lucky and shed some blood with paper cuts.

WTF

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Grim and sad as well when a person who can end all the genocide and doesn't, gets 58 standing ovations. Don't know which is worse, Netanyahu for doing this or our supposed leaders in Congress applauding all this nonsensical rhetoric.

Linking as usual today, Bill, @https://nothingnewunderthesun2016.com/ : Along with some other authors who feel the same!!

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I chose to watch Inspector Lewis instead. It was a good episode.

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I opted for Foyle's War rather than Biden. I love how consistently he makes the government/MI5 spooks look like the idiots they no doubt were then and are now.

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Foyle's War is a great series. Can you imagine how great it would be to have Christopher Foyle as the US President?

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The match of actor and writer(s) of the character is perfection. I'd vote for him! :-)

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founding

And here is the latest Word from Mount Mar-a-Lago. It will be interesting to see exactly what Trump tells Netanyahu to do to end the Gaza War "fast"... :

DAY BEFORE MEETING NETANYAHU, TRUMP SAYS ISRAEL NEEDS TO END GAZA WAR 'FAST,' GET HOSTAGES BACK by Haaretz/Reuters 25 Jul 24

Former U.S. President and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump called for a quick end to Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza and a return of the hostages, a day before meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu [on Friday].

Trump added that Israel has to better manage its "public relations."

"I want [Netanyahu] to finish up and get it done quickly, he's got to get it done quickly, because they are getting decimated with this publicity," Trump said in an interview with Fox News on Thursday.

"FOR WHATEVER REASON YOU HAVE JEWISH PEOPLE OUT THERE WEARING YARMULKES, AND THEY'RE, YOU KNOW, PRO-PALESTINE. YOU'VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS," TRUMP SAID.

"Israel has to have to handle its public relations, they are not good. They got to get this done fast, because the world is not taking lightly to it, it's really incredible," Trump continued.

"OCTOBER 7 WOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED IF I WAS PRESIDENT," TRUMP SAID ***, adding that "You've got to get the hostages back. I think you're going to have a lot of bad news with the hostages, I think some of those hostages, many of them maybe, are dead. I believe they are dead."

THE FORMER PRESIDENT ALSO CRITICIZED THOSE WHO PROTESTED THE ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER'S SPEECH TO THE U.S. CONGRESS, CALLING FOR A ONE-YEAR JAIL SENTENCE FOR DESECRATING THE U.S. FLAG.

Source: https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2024-07-25/ty-article/day-before-meeting-netanyahu-trump-says-israel-needs-to-end-war-fast-get-hostages-back/00000190-ea5f-d469-a39d-eedf17740000 ; EMPHASES added.

*** Didn’t he say the same thing about Ukraine?

Note: The article contains links to the following articles, as well:

FAR-RIGHT MINISTER BEN-GVIR ENDORSES TRUMP, SAYS BIDEN BOWING OUT 'NO BIG LOSS'

TRUMP VOWS TO 'END THE WAR CAUSED BY THE ATTACK ON ISRAEL,' BLAMES BIDEN FOR OCTOBER 7

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founding

And so the “Choice” America’s Ruling Political Class is giving Americans in ELECTION2024 is:

“If You want to SAVE AMERICA ~ whatever “America” is, and whatever “Saving it” means ~ You MUST vote for Trump/Harris!!!” [Pick one]

Anybody here at BV see any viable, doable, realistic Alternative to that?

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I would like to know what were the 58 statements he made that were applauded. That should be a telling list, one way or the other. I'd pass that around.

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founding

This shows ALL the applauses without specifying which included standing:

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/04/us/politics/transcript-of-netanyahus-remarks-to-congress.html

But it is equally as telling.

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thank you for that. very interesting. i had not even heard the speech. to read it was good. my word count (pspad) was only 47 for 'applause'. seems they applauded every time he said Israel was about the guts of it. Mindless. Meaningless.

And the whole speech was about putting down Iran. Nothing else.

So that's it? Israel wants a war in the ME with Iran?

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founding

The United States has wanted war with Iran since the overthrow of The Shah in 1979, arthur.

Remember that old ditty from 2003 and Saddam's "WMDs"? : "Everybody wants to go to Baghdad; Real Men want to go to Teheran."

Israel is the perfect reason ~ and excuse ~ for making exactly that happen.

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I didn't know. No, I don't know that ditty either. Excuse my ignorance, not well versed in all this stuff at all.

Aren't they a bit too late? Hasn't BRICS, though not a military alliance, effectively put a stop to the USA's random warmongering?

Ukraine spells it out doesn' t it? Ukraine fights but really it is America. Iran fights but really it could be Russia etc ?

And surely we are nearing that turning point in human national and international affairs where the people finally throw off their hereditary body and brain numbing peasant shackles and begin to govern their own nations and make govts do as they say? Instead of dumbly doing as governments say?

Let the poor cattle the Kiev Ukrainians be the last of the sacrificial lambs, the last time a populace meekly goes to war because their Lords and masters decree it.

Any chance of that, you think?

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founding

And if BRICS has effectively "put a stop to the USA's random warmongering," specifically where has anything changed? Certainly not in Ukraine or Gaza. And very soon in East Asia with China over Taiwan and/or the South China Sea and/or something else.

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founding

To be perfectly and bluntly honest, arthur, i think the chances of that happening ~ in Ukraine or anyplace else on this Planet ~ are slim to none, at best.

Especially in the United States.

And i'm afraid i see no such approaching "turning point' ~ again especially in America ~ except the one where things go from as bad as they are to worse.

Also, before the people can begin to make their governments "do as They [The People] say," those People need to determine exactly what those governments are supposed to be doing.

As in: What is the actual, real, and true Purpose and Function of Government? And on what basis is that declaration made?

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I don't think it is quite as bad as you make out.

People do not need to have all the answers to everything to begin the process of governing themselves. Not at all.

When I speak of a turning point in that context I'm referring, of course, to a change in direction. From facing in 'this' direction to facing in 'that'.

Currently they face away from self governance entirely. From ignorance, training, custom, propaganda, etc, etc.

But fashions, abilities, customs, directions can change in a flash in this modern world.

So how suddenly everyone can use smartphones and credit cards and computers and online services, etc. etc.

See how suddenly the govt can mandate stay at home and mask up and they all do it, hear about it, absorb it, do it.

All we need it for is suddenly become fashionable to use the app.

'The app'. 'Digital voting', 'Peoples voice', whatever you might want to call it - it hasn't got a name yet for it hasn't been written yet.

Though the precursor of it has a name and has been written and is being used.

https://abrogard.com/blog/2023/12/25/dont-write-to-congress/

the precursor, proving the principle:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_voting_system

That's only a precursor for a number of reasons. Two obvious ones are that it belongs to the govt instead of the people and, second, that it is limited to 'once every few years' votes in the normal way.

In the beginning apart from a vote for 'you want this president or not?' I imagine we'd have opportunities to vote for 'You want us to go to war or not?'

and so on.

People not having all the answers but knowing the important things.

It's all very simple in essence.

As to your prior post regarding putting a stop to warmongering perhaps you misunderstand me. I didn't stipulate. I wondered. But, yes, I wondered from a position where I think it surely must be. And I reach out to see if anyone agrees.

I think it surely must be because it seems clear to me that wars are won by resources behind them. i.e. the party with the most resources wins in the end. This is what we've been taught since the analyses of the World Wars and it is what we see playing out in Ukraine, very clearly.

Well the USA used to have the resources. It simply does not any more.

p.s.

You don't have to know anything about open source voting. The point is the concept: do you see any benefit in the people being able to speak their minds at any time on any issue set before them or not?

Surprising - even startling - ( to me ) how many do not.

But that's it.

Actual open source voting as is today or how it may be tomorrow is mere 'mechanics'. What matters is what your head says about the concept. Yours and everyone else's.

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