PCIntern
PCIntern's JournalChris Hayes just gave an excellent history lesson
It involves history of overthrow of legitimately elected governments by white supremacists in the United States. Absolutely worth finding and watching and I rarely say that about individual stories. Fantastic.
I took the weekend to think about all this...
And having read all the hundreds of posts, it has all been said here and better than I can possibly write it. I will add this however: over many years I have made suggestions here and there that we as liberals, Democrats, and freethinking people should pull out all stops and do what the right wing does so effectively, that is to demonize the other side, claim potential catastrophe, and go after many of these people personally and without mercy.
I have met extraordinary resistance here in this regard by many over the years, somewhat less in recent months following the insurrection, but nonetheless many people feel that we need to be high minded and positive in our approach. That we don’t want to lower ourselves to their level.
Well that level includes the fact that in many instances they have defeated us at least in the short term, and quite possibly if we cross a certain Rubicon , for the long term. The question of course is whether local, state, and federal elections this fall will turn the tide for us. If we’re going to play nice and not aggressively pursue our goals, “game over, man”. There is something between complete civility adherence and armed revolution and we need to find it and quickly. A perfect example were the reactions of some who excoriated the individual who posted about Ivanka‘s abortion. A debate ensued as to whether she was fair game. Of course she is fair game, she was appointed as a “senior advisor“ to her father (which is like appointing my dog to be a senior advisor in my family) and thus being utterly and completely incompetent in this regard, she is a target painted bright red . We Democrats often bring pillows to a gun fight and expect the average citizen to recognize our civility and humanity, and it just does not work that way.
When the Lincoln Project began its series of commercials and podcasts against Trump, we held them as remarkable and wondered why it took Republicans to come up with great commercials, quips, and satire within serious political discussion. That is because they fundamentally have no rules and we are too busy being sensitive to peoples inner needs. Those times are passed, and if you think for an instant that we can win this election by being logical, thoughtful, and appealing to people’s better sides, then you better start thinking about what life is going to be like living in a fascist country for essentially eternity.
We are going to need a replay of the 1960s in order to survive this and it is going to be a terrible mess but it is the only way out. Oh, and one more thing: anyone wondering why President Biden‘s numbers are low is because Trump still dominates news cycles and has edged out legitimately elected leaders, and our fascination with him, like the fascination of the OJ trial, has preempted everything else. Americans are absolutely unable to pay attention to multiple issues at once, Trump is in fact the issue and upstages anyone and everyone in the same fashion that the character of Hannibal Lecter, although on screen for not that many minutes, is the first thing you think about when discussing The Silence of the Lambs. do not forget for one moment that for many people the fascination and intrigue surrounding the OJ trial involved the trial itself, the judge, the prosecutors, the defense attorneys, the evidence, the glove, the celebrity status of many of the witnesses, and the victims who were beheaded were relegated to 15th Pl. in the sweepstakes of public opinion. Remember the line from Shakespeare: the play’s the thing. The subject of which has become what Hitchcock described as the McGuffin. The brilliance of the presentation in the 1/6 hearings is that it presents fact, neither opinion nor interpretation. We need to hit people over the heads…and hard.
Prominent Philadelphia lawyer in my chair when the news came down
His terse response: “Fuck.”
His wife immediately texted him: “The War is now on.”
I said to him: “Funny, the RWers have been at war for a very long time now…”
He quickly agreed.
Sitting on the Jersey shore beach yesterday,
I was a witness to what a great portion of America has become. About 30 feet from me was a group of 15 individuals ranging from very young to early middle-age. It looked like a combination of three or four families who were varied in appearance, but of like minds.
During three hours, I overheard the following conversations of note. Of course there were many other subjects, but I’m not going to bore you with the entire litany of hateful remarks:
1). What is this Juneteenth anyway? They just make up holidays for these people and now we all have to takeoff. Oh I forgot, I don’t get off tomorrow like they do. I never heard of this before, and do Irish like me get holidays celebrating the end of the potato famine? They’re just making stuff up to get out of work.
2). What is this monkeypox anyway? This is just another fake disease that they’ve come up with to scare us. They really took us for a ride with that Covid bullshit, I’m not getting any boosters. I got the first two shots, did you get the booster? I ain’t getting no boosters, it’s all bullshit anyway. Now they’ve come up with a new disease to try to get us to shut down again and to be afraid. They should string this Fauci guy up by his balls.
******************
It is rather important to mention at this point, that the word “fuck“ was used every fourth word at the very least in all conversations about nearly everything. The fact that there were young children running around and hearing this was irrelevant to the adults, all the adults,. Three of the men were smoking big fat stogie cigars which looked expensive from where I was sitting and of course using them to gesture while they were pontificating. Interestingly, I did not see a single alcoholic beverage in the time that we shared on the beach, and so one cannot describe this to the effects of alcohol upon the speechifying centers of their brains.
Thus, it has been a long week. I had a conversation with a patient last Tuesday which I wasn’t going to post, but after listening to this series of diatribes for three hours, (which interested me no end and that’s why I didn’t move to answer the question of a few here), but I’ve decided to summarize our conversation. This gentleman works in law-enforcement but he’s not a police officer, I’ll leave it at that. Mid-30s, unmarried, friendly in a south Philly style, a very good dental patient I might add, made some statements which were right out of Fox News. He was clearly trying to figure out what side of the equation I was on, and to be honest I’m pretty straightforward with people but I do not in general get into arguments with them but allow them to have their opinions without prejudice. His subjects for discussion were President Biden's mental state, Fauci being a fraud, the whole alternative lifestyle scene, and you get the drift. The interesting part was that he didn’t just state it but asked me what I thought of XYZ and then would append his opinion. I was honest in my statements to him about how I felt in regard to each subject which she brought up, and then I believe he was testing me by saying that the person he really liked was Bernie Sanders because he told the truth. My response was: You just sat here and told me that you subscribe to virtually every right wing statement out of Fox News but your big hero is Bernie Sanders? Whom do you think you’re kidding , I’m the one with the 3 inch needle and you’re beginning to get on my nerves I said with a laugh. He laughed too and we kind of called it quits.
The thing which I found upsetting concerning this particular interaction was that he was trying to feel me out without insulting me and posit various statements of “fact“ almost none of which were in fact true, and attempt to measure my response. I have felt that I had to skate carefully, like Peggy Fleming doing her compulsory figures, because the last thing I want to do is alienate people and have word get out there that I am an angry political operative of the left. Now it may be true that I am an angry political operative of the left, but it does not belong in the professional sphere and is bad for business as they say. Also, my job is to render healthcare, not judge peoples political beliefs or the validity thereof and render appropriate punishment .
I’m getting old and tired of this, and wish it would all just go away… But I know it won’t.
I woke up this morning (which at my age is a great start) thinking that
if I were writing this story as a screen play, one of the earliest scenes would have been that group of Congress people walking out of the meeting clearly upset and angry to the point of grimacing and controlling their temper in front of the cameras. I will never forget the face of Maxine Waters and the narrowing of her eyes and look of extreme anger and frustration. Of course, events would transpire which would cause the audience to forget the scene and dismiss it as background noise/establishment of character.
In the narrative this document, video, or eyewitness testimony becomes the smoking gun at the denouement -that it is revealed that the villain is and has been a seditionist and traitor, and that long-forgotten scene, early in the film, takes on paramount importance.
In spy thrillers made in the 1970’s, a senior agent would quietly enter the domicile or vacation home and use a silencer or poison/injection. These days, there is a trial and the individual is found guilty on all counts.
So much for Hollywood…
Meanwhile, this lying creepy asshole
https://www.inquirer.com/news/lawrence-stackhouse-capitol-riot-sentence-proud-boys-gianos-myers-20220617.htmlBasically got just a few days in jail for wearing proud boys uniform breaking windows being part of the riot, and assorted other nonsense. The prosecution was only asking for 45 days but the judge who did not appear in her words to the defendant seem particularly sympathetic, gave him two whole weeks in prison.
I’m telling you, if you had done the same to a Wawa convenience store in Chester or Delaware County, you’d probably be looking at a year in prison without question. The only good news here is that he lost his job which was involved with his company having defense industry contracts with the federal government.
If the shoe were on the other foot, and it had been a Lefty demonstration, it’d be 5-10 years minimum and possible sedition charges and there’d be no squawking from our side.
"Stone Cold" -a 1991 box office bomb might have some relevance
Yes, it begins as kind a knockoff of Dirty Harry but the resultant planned and executed crimes were and are reminiscent of issues facing us today. This film has always stuck in my mind lo these many years, because it could easily happen.
Another film to watch which is chilling given the present is Don Johnson in Dead Bang.
Yes, these movies are regarded as trashy, but they are extraordinarily prescient given the climate of the country. For what it’s worth, I films like this as well as for example, Road House, as films which are not Fellini, David Lean, or Hitchcock quality from an artistic standpoint, but have a significant impact on the culture.
I would also recommend The Man In The High Castle, in case you’re interested in what it might be like to live in America ruled by American Nazis…literally.
The Trump administration and their lies/incompetence in a nutshell:
Bob and Ray were beyond brilliant….
Please allow me to Democrat-splain something:
Ted Cruz made the (sub)conscious decision that since TFG called his wife ugly, he would go out and find and fuck a woman who TFG might find attractive, or reasonably more attractive than his wife.
And yes, I realize that Bobbit(sic) is not TFG’s type, but she has that “slatternly” look that even TFG would allow as “available” for whatever bedroom escapades that Cruz’ “creativity” could muster….
Note the heavy use of quotation marks due to my sarcasm-quotient being about 175 on a scale of 1-10.
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Gender: MaleHometown: Philly
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Current location: Jersey Shore
Member since: Sun Feb 22, 2004, 09:01 AM
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