And I have to tell you that I can’t stop thinking about this. It has shaken me to my core in a way that I couldn’t have predicted. So while I’d love nothing more than to pretend like this isn’t happening, and to come out here and do my normal campaign speech, it would be dishonest and disingenuous to me to just move on to the next thing like this was all just a bad dream.Her voice was shaking so dramatically, I thought for a minute that First Lady Michelle Obama was talking about the latest lethal attack on a Doctors Without Borders hospital by American forces or their Saudi surrogates. Or maybe she was reacting to one of the almost daily shootings of a black person by militarized American police, or the shocking news that one American citizen is being arrested on a drug charge every 25 seconds.
But why dwell on such mundane nightmares affecting vulnerable people, both near and far, when one can pretend to be shocked that Don John Trump is a vile-mouthed oafish sexual predator who forgot to take a charm school course in the Fine Art of Seduction? It's been common knowledge for decades that the man has been a gross serial groper of women, but nobody important much cared until the final weeks of the presidential campaign. When they weren't ignoring his criminal history, they were laughing at him. When they weren't laughing at him, they were giving him more than a billion dollars' worth of free advertising, the better to ignore Bernie Sanders's liberal policy ideas and Hillary Clinton's own scandals, lackluster campaign, and paranoid penchant for secrecy. As America's highest paid media mogul Les Moonves gushed to a group of Morgan Stanley bankers last winter, Trump "may not be good for America, but he's damned good for CBS."
If disgust at Trump during the final weeks of the campaign isn't enough to propel consumer-citizens to the polls to vote for Hillary, then maybe shaming them and intimidating them and impugning their patriotism will do the trick.
Today's message from The Establishment: if you report on or even so much as read the hacked Podesta emails, you're going to hell in a deplorable hand basket.
There's more than one reason that elite cores are shaking this week. As reported by The Hill, Clinton's Deep State advisers held a McCarthyesque emergency conference call with reporters on Friday to hysterically warn them that revelations about the shoddy inner workings of their corporate political party are a threat to national security and to democracy itself.
"I'm simply enraged by these Russian hacks," fumed Clinton surrogate and former acting CIA Director and CBS analyst Michael Morell.“It shakes me to my core. This is a direct assault on our democracy. It’s a direct assault on how we choose our leaders. And quite frankly, I can’t think of a more serious issue at the moment than Russia trying to interfere in our election.”
It matters little that no proof exists that Russia is actually behind the leaked emails. The truthiness is out there in a million Tweets and Retweets and Clintonoid propaganda in the New York Times and the Washington Post and CNN and MSDNC.
It matters little to Morell that the CIA's entire 70-year-old raison d'etre has been to interfere in the politics of other countries and to foment violence, coups, proxy wars, and death. It matters little that in the leaked emails, Hillary Clinton acknowledged - and not for the first time - that Saudi Arabia (recipient of billions of dollars' worth of American weaponry) is the prime backer of ISIS and other extremist groups.
What matters is the deflection of public attention away from the tawdry content of the Clinton machine's anti-democratic correspondence and toward the alleged source of the damaging information. What matters is ramping up the attack on press freedoms and the public's right to know what our candidates and our government are doing in all our names.
The waning days of this dreadful election season have devolved into the two kinds of pornography that sell the best: sex and violence. The elites have all but abandoned any pretense at caring about poverty, health, jobs and most of all, climate change.
Thanks to the wall-to-wall coverage of Donald Trump's imploding campaign and psychopathy and the endless reverential coverage of the pseudo-rattled First Lady's feminist outrage at same, a meeting on Friday of her husband's National Security Council to weigh a deadly escalation of the undeclared American war in Syria went almost unnoticed by the media. Ditto for the US naval missile attack on poverty-stricken Yemen the previous day, in a direct escalation of that undeclared war. Ditto for the American-backed Saudi bombing of a Yemeni funeral last week that resulted in the deaths of 150 innocent people. Including many women and children.
But pay no attention to the mass atrocities and the looming World War III and unhinged American aggression abroad. Instead, be outraged and amused and shaken to your very core by the unhinged Donald Trump and #PussyGate. Support President Obama's pledge to vanquish Putin by secretly launching an "unprecedented" cyber-attack of our own on the Kremlin.
In case you hadn't guessed, the media-political complex is attempting to punk, or "rickroll" the American public with the usual weapons of mass distraction. But their methods are becoming increasingly desperate. They're as inept at disseminating their self-serving propaganda as Donald Trump apparently is at consummating his own serial predations.
From all accounts, the Trump victims coming forward this week managed to escape his grotesque slimy tentacles right in the nick of time. It's too bad we can't say the same for the silent and silenced victims of the unending state-sanctioned economic, social, physical and mental violence directed at millions of innocent people all over this country and all over this world.
America you don't really want to go to war.
America it's them bad Russians.
Them Russians them Russians and them Chinamen.
And them Russians.
The Russia wants to eat us alive. The Russia's power mad. She wants to take our cars from out our garages.-- Allen Ginsberg, 1956.
***
"I thanked President Obama for the United States' work in supporting education in Pakistan and Afghanistan and for Syrian refugees. I also expressed my concerns that drone attacks are fueling terrorism. Innocent victims are killed in these acts, and they lead to resentment among the Pakistani people. If we refocus efforts on education it will make a big impact." -- Nobel Peace Laureate Malala Yousafzi, then 17, recounting her October 2013 meeting with Barack and Michelle Obama and one of their daughters in the White House.
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| Visibly Shaken Right Down To Their Apple Cores |
14 comments:
Don't underestimate the power of finding Trump to be a sexual predator. Many of us were not aware of this aspect of his character and the affect of so many women's courage to speak out clearly and honestly has touched a nerve among the population.
It is a simpler, clearer proof of his inability to know what reality is denoting a mind that has a schizophrenic bent and can be dangerous dealing in issues being ignored currently. Also, it may be a strong impetus to free many women from the memory of unwanted sexual experiences which still go on and needs a shot in the arm for change. Younger women in universities, military service are just beginning to fight for their rights to be heard and acknowledged and will be more encouraged to continue their battle now and with many other issues as well.
These recent events regarding Trump's behavior have also encouraged more honest reporting and even if for sensational reasons are I believe opening the doors to more honest articles on issues of importance you have mentioned. Already, the NYTimes has published many articles recently that I never expected to see in that paper including criticism of Hillary's history that is being leaked.
The dishonesty everywhere is becoming more and more recognized and hopefully will start to be dealt with more strongly once the chaos of the election is over. Also if some better people will be voted into positions of power and begin to agitate for change, many important issues could start to be addressed.
Those of us living in New York have been on to Trump for a very long time.
About 15 or so years ago, Trump was invited to give the graduation speech to the cadets at his alma mater, the New York Military Academy, located in the town where I then lived. He appeared at this solemn event with a scantily clad model on each arm, and made crude jokes to some of the attendees. This was reported by local news outlets at the time, but not picked up by the national press.
Yes, it's good that as a result of Trump, more victimized women are feeling freer to speak out about their own experiences of being preyed upon by powerful men.
When I was in my 20s I received a journalism award, and what should have been a triumphant evening was capped off by the publisher of my paper attacking me in his car on the drive back to my car after a celebratory drink in a bar. He was so plastered I managed to escape. When I told a few colleagues about it, they advised me not to make an issue out of it. Of course, this was shortly before sexual harrassment in the workplace became illegal. Even though it's illegal, the laws are rarely enforced.
My complaint is that this is only becoming a national issue now in order to propel Hillary Clinton to victory. The pundits and politicians purporting to be so shocked are largely a bunch of hypocrites, in my opinion. Their pleading ignorance of Trump and other predators is a sick joke.
IT HAS SHAKEN ME TO MY CORE that Obama is 'leaking' a CIA plan to imminently launch a cyberattack/cyberWAR against Russia on Hillary's behalf. Is there nothing Obama won't do to get her elected? Since when do real CIA plans get leaked and the corporate media compliantly repeats the leak but they're told to refrain from covering the emails put out by Wikileaks/'Russia'?
The Clinton campaign was counting on Trump being the nominee, told the DNC and media to take him seriously to help that along, and then released the manure pile. What a grand strategy. Too bad Julian Assange and 'the Russians' ruined their master plan.
Actually, if they were more in touch with average Americans, they would have known that after hearing repeatedly and widely about Bill Clinton getting blowjobs in the oval office while on the phone conducting government business, and hearing about his 'sharing a cigar' with Monica, Donald is a big y a w n. The only thing we didn't know about his long-time lasciviousness is that his game record is mostly swings, strikeouts, and very little if any scoring, at least judging by the stories from the latest lineup stepping up to the cameras.
So now they have to up the ante by sending Michelle out with her quivering voice feeling so shattered by all this, drag out some more women Hillary once referred to as 'bimbos' when they accused Bill, and Mike Morell is out shaking and quaking over Russia but NOT over a CIA 'leak' about an impending cyberattack. Give me a break.
Anyway, there's been no proof that it's Russia who hacked Podesta's email. Surely China's hackers didn't go out of business suddenly.
If it wasn't for Wikileaks, the AP would have projected/called the election for Hillary weeks ago and spared us having to go to the polls. Instead, the establishment is showing signs of true desperation due to Wikileaks. Thank you, Julian Assange!
The fake shaking and quivering voices could get real as more Wikileaks come out - providing they can get widespread media exposure. That's what they need to control and contain if they can't come up with more successful diversionary tactics.
Godwin's Law: It has to do with raising the name of Hitler or Nazism in debate and thereby throwing intelligent discourse off the rails. Unless, of course, one is operating under Niwdog's Law, where Hitler and Nazism are appropriate to the issue under discusstion.
The generation of the 1930s and 1940s is disappearing under gravestones, while new names take the place of old isms under Godwin's Law. Now the law applies to Trump, even when you unthinkingly use the grand old verb 'trump,' which has lately become just as distracting as the capitalized Trump. How do card players around the bridge table get through the day? In the big papers and around the water cooler, Trump is the new hurricane––he would love that comparison––who sweeps away all the important things, listed by Karen, that we should be debating with each other.
What to do to refocus on Hillary Clinton, sure to be re-elected within weeks? She wants to prove to the world, including Russia and China, she is an Iron Maiden, just like Thatcher. Clinton has scary plans for the Pentagon and the CIA, which plans ought to be shaking the rest of us down to our respective cores. If your core isn't shaking whenever you think about her in the White House, then you are a low-information voter indeed.
I hereby announce the Jay-Ottawa Mental Sanity Award. I do this knowing it is impossible for anyone to accomplish the challenge. It will go to any news junky who can go without saying or even thinking about the word Trump (or "The Donald") between now and November 8.
For after November 8, I have another name in mind, a name that just might rise to the status of the original name that made Godwin's Law in the first place.
Yes, there is a positive aspect to Trump's toxic misogyny (perhaps a redundant phrase) being given repeated headline status after all these decades of rampant rich white male unaccountability.
But Karen is totally right to bring attention to the appalling lack of weight and outrage to other issues. If the leadership class response to illegal wars, murderous attacks on unarmed citizens, senseless death due to unaffordable health care, etc., were the same as the above quoted speech, our current world situation would be vastly different.
But in this country, where war is peace,freedom is slavery, and men are women (if men say so), unfettered capitalism is "free trade", and illegal wars are "business opportunities".
Interesting, though, is how ALL of these fall under the category "Rape Culture".
I was shaken to my core by two things today, just late this afternoon, as I was driving to Sprawlville, better known as Williston. I was overcome by the fall colors. They are......spectacular, and we are still not at peak, in the Champlain Valley anyway, where I live. And #2? The full moon, rising above the Green Mountains was.....almost spooky. It made me think of the Mission to Mars. I went to the new Town Offices the other day, recently renovated by a state grant post-Hurricane Irene - five years later actuall, and inquired about an early voting/absentee ballot. I can pick one up the day before if I want. I can't decide what to do because I have a head full of quandary. Should I bother voting at all? Should I just vote for the local/state offices that are open? Republican? Democrat? Progresivee? Liberty Union? Bullshit? Does it really matter?
Clinton's Deep State advisers are at it again. 'National security!' 'Threat to democracy!'
From Wikileaks Twitter and carried by the AP:
'Julian Assange's internet link has been intentionally severed by a state party. We have activated the appropriate contingency plans'.
It certainly seemed odd on Friday to hear the evening network news publicly announce a leak about the CIA planning an imminent cyberattack against Russia in retaliation for interference in our 'democracy' *cough*cough*.
It turns out not to be against Putin/Russia but against Assange. I guess Hillary didn't get her first request granted to have him droned. Assange was prepared though, anticipating such a move. He's even using a workaround for his twitter account.
https://twitter.com/wikileaks?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
War junkie Hillary Clinton, who I heard referred to twice yesterday on tv as 'President Clinton', is on the warpath. She's not in hiding while prepping for the next debate. She's in her war room directing her first cyberwar.
Now it's the Great Disappearing Act.
Articles about the Wikileaks Podesta emails seem to be disappearing. Comments to a Robert Reich post revealed a Truthdig article has disappeared.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/what_hillary_clinton_privately_told_goldman_sachs_20161016
Click on it and you get 'Sorry. Page Not Found'.
I checked other blogs and there are no Wikileaks articles, except at good old Counterpunch.org, and of course Democracy Now is covering it. It might be a good time to take note of who's answering to the Deep State and who isn't.
It's time to put my tinfoil hat back on.
The truth is actually very simple. Both Trump and Bill Clinton are misogynist predators of women. It is ironic that the wife of predator Bill is running against predator Trump.
Hillary's response to her husband's predatory karma was to hire private detectives to intimidate the accusers. She also set up a Bimbo Eruption group in the Clinton war room to 'handle' the accusations.
On the contrary, with Trump, Hillary acts repulsed, markets his accusers instead of suppressing them, and declares blissfully that his predatory nature makes him unfit to serve.
So which is it? Are both Bill Clinton and Trump unfit for the presidency or not? It is amazing how positions have changed. In the 1990s the Republicans were denouncing the predator Bill and calling on him to step down. The Democrats argued that his private life had nothing to do with the presidency. Now the roles are reversed, and Democrats feel the accusations of predatory behavior are disqualifying -- and the Republicans now assert the irrelevancy of sexual scandal.
The flippant attitude about unilaterally deploying state power to kill encapsulated in the phrase 'Can't we just done this guy?' should shake every citizen to their core. President Clinton is surely ready to pick up the reins, and the scourge.
The typical American is an intellectually lazy bigot who gets the shitty government they deserve.
Let’s be honest here. - qhzy
qhzy,
That's one intellectually lazy explanation! Pretty reactionary too.
"Liberal and conservative establishment condemn Trump’s insistence that elections are rigged. They say it 'undermines faith' in our Democratic institutions. Good for Trump. For proof, we don’t need to go back to the Chicago miracle in 1960, Florida in 2000, Ohio in 2004. Just consider the evidence from the Democratic Primaries of this year." - Jeffrey St. Clair, 'Extreme Unction: Illusions of Democracy in Las Vegas'
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/10/20/illusions-of-democracy-in-vegas/
My absentee ballot is filled out and ready to mail in. Jill Stein got my vote, and my conscience is clear. Frankly, I can't think of a more appropriate and vitally necessary time to vote third party.
To Annenigma and all.
Awoman!
Thanks, Karen.
You rule.
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