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Yes, American Democracy (Really) Is Dying
What Democracy Needs to Be Nourished With, and How America Didn’t Do It
One of the things I find myself thinking a lot about these days is why American democracy’s dying. “It’s not dead yet! It’s still alive!”, you cry. You’re right. Yet if it’s not dead, it’s not exactly in good health, either. It’s in something like intensive care, surrounded by frantic doctors and nurses — running out of options. Crash cart, anyone? American democracy is being kept alive only with increasingly desperate and strained last resorts. And that won’t last forever.
So how did America get here? The lesson — and it’s for everyone, not just American — I think is both simple and hard, nuanced and straightforward, difficult and unforgiving. Democracy is something like a tree, as a wise person once said. Like a tree, it needs nourishment. And the three things that nourish democracy are reason, sanity, and decency.
But do we remember that? And yet without those — without a society really tangibly investing in those three things — what chance does a democracy have to endure? Not a very good one, my friends. Bang! American implosion. (Think about the Prez — and all his flunkies — for a moment. Aren’t they the living personifications of the precise opposites of reason, sanity, and decency? Maybe you see my point.)
Let me begin with the first one, reason. You’ve often heard the idea that “a democracy needs educated people.” It’s true. Why? To make reasoned, considered choices. And yet in America, it seems, reason has gone out the window. Large numbers of Americans seem incapable of even elementary forms of reasoning anymore. No, I’m not kidding. There are the small, bizarre, yet powerfully meaningful examples: anti-vaxxers, truthers, conspiracy theorists, flat-earthers, alt-righters, climate change denialists. Ancient Aliens on TV every night doesn’t help.
But larger forms of unreason have come to dominate American life. It’s often observed by baffled observers that “Americans vote against their own interests” — and that’s precisely one definition of unreason, irrationality. Think about the Trump voter who ended up losing that factory job…that was his last chance for a decent life…thanks to Trump’s tariffs…but still is unwavering in his support of Trump. Think about a middle class that’s voted, bewilderingly, against its own healthcare, retirement, and childcare, forever. Think about the person who doesn’t vaccinate their own kids — or “believe” in climate change. Unreason upon unreason characterizes American life — and that tells us that Americans don’t seem to know how to reason anymore.
Let me put that more sharply. Americans — enough of them — can’t seem to separate what’s good for them, versus what’s good for the coterie of predatory capitalists, plutocrats, authoritarians, and kleptocrats that have risen to power. They appear to have literally no idea what their interests even really are anymore (hello, don’t you want healthcare, dummy? Don’t you want your kids to go to college?) But that’s exactly how the bad guys rose to power. And that suggests a deep, weird, kind of psychological identification at work — as if Americans think they are the people who are preying on them (I’ll come back to that shortly.)
Why don’t Americans know how to reason anymore? To think well and clearly? Well, it’s hardly a mystery. They’re bombarded by disinformation, misinformation, and propaganda every day. And I don’t mean Trump’s tweets. I mean cable news. I mean a steady diet of reality TV. I mean endless movies about comic book superheroes — instead of anything, say, about what history might teach us about societies collapsing. I mean Facebook and Twitter and so on.
American culture has degenerated into something even the Romans would probably find grotesque. They had one Caligula — but American culture tells every American to care about nothing, and I mean nothing, but artifice and superficiality: money, sex, fame, and status. Anything else? What are you, weak? A dummy? Why bother thinking? What is there to think about anyways — we know the point of life, and it’s what capitalism says it is! But when your mind is so preoccupied with utterly superficial, nonsensical, meaningless things that they consume your every waking and sleeping moment — what room is there left for reason, for thought, for meaning? When you’re surrounded by all the above, junk culture, when tempting, seductive, narcissistic bullshit is being machine-gunned into your cortex every nanosecond 24/7, with laser precision — what chance do you really have to be a thinking person?
That brings me to my second form of nourishment that democracy needs: sanity. A democracy can’t endure if the people in it aren’t mentally healthy anymore. Sanity takes us past reason or rationality. It means that if everyone’s depressed, anxious, afraid, traumatized — or at least if enough people are — democracy isn’t going to make it. Why not?
People who feel deeply insecure psychologically will seek safety, over and over again, in more and more extreme and self-destructive ways, instead of ever addressing their insecurities and their deeper causes. I mean “insecurity” in the true way: not just “I don’t have enough Instagram followers!”, but “how will I make ends meet? How will I give my kids a decent life? Who’ll pay for their healthcare? How will I ever retire? Lord, what happens if I get sick?”
I mean true insecurity, a lack of stability, meaning, purpose, place, worth. Insecurity of the kind that now characterizes American life. Profound, deep, enduring psychological insecurity carries with it pain and distress so sharp that it traumatizes. Why don’t we ever talk about that? If you’re constantly thinking about death — which is what all the above is — you, my friend, are traumatized, whether you know it or not. And most Americans don’t, but they are.
Now, you can see the trend of mounting insecurity at work in American life for decades. I don’t feel good about myself! That’s because you’re not pretty enough, handsome enough, thin enough, rich enough, famous enough. You’re nobody. In the not-so-distant past, American insecurity — and American life was always insecure — was met with status competition, trying to outdo the next person with toys and acquisitions and prizes. But then already insecure life took a turn for the worse. The middle class imploded. Upward mobility vanished. The future fell apart. Americans couldn’t afford the very things they once sought as an answer to their insecurities anymore. What was left? What could they turn to instead? What do you do when you can’t afford the only medicine that was around for your psychological pain and distress?
Americans turned to what desperate people always turn to: a strongman. It happened in Athens, it happened in Rome, it happened in Weimar Germany turning into Nazi Germany. And it happened in America, too. Americans, traumatized by overwhelming, omnipresent insecurity, with no answer, no solution, unable to even afford the cars and homes and possessions they’d self-medicated insecurity away with once, only had one choice left: to turn to their very own demagogue, tyrant, strongman: Trump. The one who promised them safety again — even if it was through violence. Even if it was through hate. Even if it was through, in the end, the end of democracy.
It was obvious from day one that Trump wasn’t worthy of being a decent person’s garbageman, let alone a President. “Grab em by the pussy!” And yet the media fell for “but her emails!” By this point, 2015 or so, a very large number of Americans were not quite sane anymore. They had literally been traumatized into losing their minds. They couldn’t think straight anymore — they would allow anything, as long as they felt safe again, like they mattered again. They were willing to be harmed, they were willing to see their country torn apart, to let their democracy crumble — if it meant having the basic psychological security every person needs to go on functioning.
Please understand. I don’t mean that in an insulting way. Everyone needs those feelings to function — feelings of safety, feelings of mattering, feelings of counting. If you don’t have them, my friends, you’ll do anything to get them. They are the most basic motivators we have as human beings — yes, really — we’ll go without food and water for them, even, if we must. So when I say “many Americans weren’t sane by this point.” But I mean it in an empathetic way — not a judgmental one. And I mean it in a technical one, too. To be sane is to have overcome one’s traumas, not to be motivated solely by fear, not to only be able to express rage, anger, scorn. To be sane, in the ultimate analysis, is to be able to love. But by now, many Americans were only capable of anger, fury, and spite. Their insecurities had overwhelmed. Their traumas had left them broken. The only solution possible — short of a national mental healthcare intervention — was a demagogue.
Let me sharpen that, because I know it’s not the kind of idea you’re used to hearing. You’re not used to hearing it because in America, one of the central ideas is that we should all suck it up. We should hide our pain. We should pretend we are infinitely strong. We should always put on a brave face. But it doesn’t work when everyone is being traumatized at the same time. Then someone has to stop the cycle and say: “Hey! We’re all being hurt. This has to end!” But in America, nobody did. A tyrant, a demagogue, did what such figures always do: they turned a wounded nations’ profound and very real insecurities into rage, hate, and spite of lesser beings, subhumans, and thus made them feel powerful, strong, even “real”, again.
Do you see a little bit by what I mean when I say democracy needs to be nourished by sanity? If Americans had cared about each others’ psychological wounds — if they’d turned to one another and said: “we’re all being hurt by predatory systems and institutions, and yet we’re all asked to be part of them too — this has to change!” — then maybe enough people wouldn’t have been so psychically fragile as to be such easy prey for the world’s dumbest demagogue. But they were — and that Americans fell for Donald Trump, of all people, tells us just how badly psychologically shattered they must have been. You must be genuinely and totally broken inside by your insecurities if you believe what a Donald Trump is selling you.
And that brings me to the third form of nourishment democracy needs: decency. Decency in America had been fraying for many, many decades by the point Donald and his comedy crew bumbling fascist-authoritarians of arrived. In the 80s, it was made legal to offer “jobs” with no benefits or protections. In the 90s, it was made legal to “raid” pension funds — in plain English, to steal people’s life savings. In the 2000s, banks got the biggest bailout in history — while the middle class, stuck with the bill, imploded. Decency? Do you see it anywhere in the above? I don’t. America’s been on a downward spiral of moral degeneration for decade now — decency imploded from the top down, one scandal, one billionaire, one lie, at a time.
As decency evaporated from the top down in America, so did any norms, expectations, or ideals left for average people to cling to about it. Sure, you might have tried to be a good person — and everyone you know, too. But on a social scale, what happened in America was more like this. If those banks and hedge funds get away with being predatory — why shouldn’t I? If the super rich became the ultra rich by being predatory — why shouldn’t I? If only the strong survive, and “strong” means amoral, cunning, ruthless, selfish, greedy to the point of absurdity — while the weak perish — then why would I want to be anything but one of the strong?
American attitudes changed. In the 60s and 70s, America was a pretty progressive place. Civil rights happened. Wars were protested. Equality for woman and minorities became partial realities. But from the 80s, through the 90s, well into the 2000s, decency imploded. By the 2010s, the average American — feeling hopeless, powerless, and traumatized, remember — was at the end of his or her rope. Even if he or she wanted to be a good person — what was the point? All it did was leave you broke, alone, and ruined. Following the rules was for suckers. The predators always won. Bang! Implosion.
That attitude — if the predators always win, why not be a predator — is the fundamental shift in mindset, in emotions, in thinking, that always accompanies fascist-authoritarian collapses. America’s was no different. Let me put that more simply.
A democracy can hardly endure when enough people say to themselves, in scorn, in disgust, in rage, in fury, “The predators always win! The strong survive, and the weak perish! I’m sick of being a loser, a nobody! But what can I do? Ah — I know — I must become a predator, too. I must be one of the strong — the ones who are willing to hurt and harm and do violence. Then I might be someone! I might be worth something!”
That is exactly what happened in America. The wave of Trumpism is stark evidence of how American attitudes shifted in response to a fatally broken economy, a downwardly mobile society, and a culture of individualist materialism. All these left people severely wounded psychically. Unable to think — even if they still knew how, reared on a diet of lowest-common-denominator trash TV and junk culture. And they offered no salves for people’s pain — they only rubbed their distress and trauma in their very own faces. What was the inevitable outcome going to be? Wham! The descent into the abyss of demagoguery, as democracy died.
American collapse holds many lessons. But to my mind one of the most crucial is this. Democracy is a living, breathing thing — and all living things needs nourishment. Just like a tree, democracy must be watered, if it is to stand, grow, endure, reach for the sky. What waters democracy? Decency, reason, sanity. But these things do not come easy, they don’t come cheap, they don’t happen by themselves. A society must invest in them.
In concrete, tangible ways. With good education. With good culture. With mental healthcare. With laws and rules and codes, free and fair, to prevent real and lasting harm. With institutions which respect people as beings of inherent worth. By keeping a firm lid on inequality and injustice — so the attitude of predation doesn’t prevail. In many, many ways is the tree democracy watered with decency, reason, and sanity.
But America didn’t water its democracy. It didn’t invest in reason, sanity, and decency. It didn’t, for example, give everyone a free world-class college education, build better schools, make sure everyone had mental healthcare (let alone any healthcare), treat its own people with respect and dignity, build public media instead of Faux News, and so on. America’s sanity, reason, and decency dwindled — until today, when the world looks on, staggered, laughing, wondering: do they exist at all anymore? And thus it let the waters that should have nourished democracy become something like a billionaire’s fountain — pointless, useless, a decoration that signals who won, and who lost…a futile game. The tree of democracy withered. It shrank. It dried up in the desert sun.
Does it have life left in it yet? Perhaps, perhaps. But to resuscitate it, my friends, let us remember the lesson. Democracy is nourished by reason, sanity, and decency. And if we are to renew American democracy, then it’s those things we must invest in — like we’ve never invested before. And that, my friends, simply means giving them to one another.
Umair
May 1 2019
133 Comments on "Yes, American Democracy (Really) Is Dying"
Davy on Thu, 2nd May 2019 7:11 pm
Looks like I flushed me a convoy! LOL
makati1 on Thu, 2nd May 2019 7:16 pm
Your insanity gets more and more blatant everyday, Delusional Davy. You really need help.
I AM THE MOB on Thu, 2nd May 2019 7:29 pm
Society will collapse by 2040 due to catastrophic food shortages, says study
A scientific model has suggested that society will collapse in less than three decades due to catastrophic food shortages if policies do not change.
https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/society-will-collapse-by-2040-due-to-catastrophic-food-shortages-says-study-10336406.html
Peak oil, overpopulation, climate change, inequality, populism, nuclear weapons, WW3?
Pick a card any card!
makati1 on Thu, 2nd May 2019 8:23 pm
MOB, Western society is already collapsing. By 2040, the West, as we know it, will be gone. The EU will be broken up into its original countries and the US may not survive as 50 states. It will be a totally different world.
https://www.thetrumpet.com/16475-german-military-plans-for-a-possible-collapse-of-the-west
or…
https://www.salon.com/2010/12/06/america_collapse_2025/
or…
https://www.quora.com/Will-the-United-States-ever-collapse
“We are collapsing right now, and there is precious little anyone can do to stop it. …our most important commodity of manufacture is more enemies to fight, so that our wars may never end. Why do they hate us? Is it the freedom we don’t even have? Or could it be the life and liberty we’ve denied them for all of living memory? … We’ve turned the fall of Rome into a bucket list, right down to the lead poisoning. We are doing everything we possibly can to destroy ourselves, and yet in our arrogance, very few of us even see it.” BINGO!
And on and on. Slip slidin’ down the shitter, one swirl at a time.
I AM THE MOB on Thu, 2nd May 2019 8:43 pm
Mak
You’re preaching to the choir..
FuelShortageComing on Thu, 2nd May 2019 8:47 pm
This is the translation of Cloggie link
https://nos.nl/artikel/2282999-arbeidsmigratie-in-eu-van-de-deur-staat-open-tot-kom-alsjeblieft-terug.html
Labor migration in the EU: from ‘The door is open’ to ‘Please come back!’
Yesterday, 7:32 PM Abroad
Written by
Margot Oosterwechel
editor Abroad
Free movement of people and goods, it is one of the hobbies of the European Union. But for some Southern and Eastern European countries, it is precisely the cause of major problems. “Those countries are being emptied by labor migration. Many citizens are leaving for other EU countries to work there, leaving large gaps in the labor force.”
The following is spoken by Susi Dennison, senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), a European think tank. “If EU politicians talk about concerns about migration, then nine out of ten cases are about concerns about immigration. It is wrong.”
Departure ban
It refers to a poll of the ECFR among citizens in 15 EU countries. “Because look at Italy, Spain, Greece, Hungary, Poland and Romania. The residents there are more worried about the departure of their own citizens than about foreigners entering the country.”
These concerns go so far that a majority of the population in those countries wants the government to take action. If it is up to them it is forbidden for fellow countrymen to leave the country for a longer period of time. “I thought that was one of the most striking findings of our opinion poll,” says Susi Dennison.
“Now – almost 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall – citizens in different EU countries want to make it illegal to leave for longer periods. If part of the population is in favor of such far-reaching measures, then the concerns must be very high And it’s time for us to take those concerns seriously. ”
Source: European Council on Foreign Relations NOS
Take Italy, for example. One of the countries where the problems on the labor market are already noticeable. Although labor migrants also come to the country, Italy on balance loses labor. “It is mainly the highly educated young people who leave here, because they don’t see any opportunities in Italy,” said correspondent Mustafa Marghadi.
Brain drain
The Italian government certainly sees this brain drain as a problem, but there is no adequate policy to change the way young people leave. “The government is mainly busy implementing policies that appeal to its own supporters. Take, for example, the lowering of the retirement age, which is a measure that is primarily aimed at the older generations.” According to Marghadi, the government is trying to sell this as a favorable measure for the young. “They say:” Thanks to this measure, around 400,000 Italians will soon be retiring and so there will be room for young people on the labor market. ”
At first glance that sounds plausible, but this claim is nonsense, says Marghadi. In Italy many companies have to deal with double occupation. “The dismissal law is extremely strict here. People who do not function well therefore often remain in their posts.” Many Italian companies therefore have to deal with a surplus of staff. If 400,000 Italians will retire later, that does not mean that 400,000 jobs will automatically be released.
“Young people in Italy are therefore not making much progress with these types of measures,” says Marghadi. “Looking for a job in a country like France, the Netherlands or Germany remains the most attractive option for many of them.”
Source: 2018 Annual Report on intra-EU Labor Mobility – European Commission NOS
But how are responding to the influx of migrant workers in those receiving countries? “In Germany – with 186,000 migrant workers entering the country, the largest net recipient – they are eager,” says correspondent Judith van de Hulsbeek.
“Germany has to deal with a strong aging population, which is increasing rapidly. According to recent research, up to 2060 the country will need 260,000 migrants a year to cope with the consequences of this aging population. So the door is more than open to migrant workers here”.
In various Polish supermarkets you now only hear Ukrainian.
Correspondent Judith van de Hulsbeek
If we look at neighboring Poland, the contrast is great. On the contrary, that country has to do with a large depletion and wants nothing more than for labor to return. “In Poland, the prime minister shouts: Come back! We need you”, says Van de Hulsbeek. “The departure of workers there is also noticeable in daily life. In various Polish supermarkets you can now only hear Ukrainian.”
This is a direct consequence of labor migration within the EU. “To make up for the labor shortage, Poland in turn has taken on a million Ukrainians in recent years.” Because few Poles are concerned about the Prime Minister’s call. “It is more attractive for many Poles to be in other EU countries
End of translation
Me: I have a feeling that there is Whites flight out of Western nation into South East Asian nation. Some MGTOW videos on YouTube are talking about that too. It seems that capable Whites men are leaving Western nations and want noting to do with mass migration, feminism, LGBT right, false rape accusation and so on. So Whites men in Western nations are leaving. The news article above seems to confirm that Whites men are moving either between Western nations or leaving western nations for south east asia.
Whites men in general hate blacks, Arabs, Indian and Latino. Whites flight into south east Asia make sense to me
I AM THE MOB on Thu, 2nd May 2019 10:03 pm
Capitalists Fear a Socialist Revolt
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/02/business/dealbook/capitalism-socialism.html
Duncan Idaho on Thu, 2nd May 2019 10:04 pm
its the other 7,701,336,864 that are the problem.
makati1 on Thu, 2nd May 2019 10:32 pm
MOB, I was only pointing out that the US will not last until 2040 and it will not be due to food shortages. It will be because the financial system collapsed before 2025 and the reset was totally different than capitalism.
True, climate change will cause food shortages, but mostly in those countries that have to import most of their food. You are aware that the US imports over 20% of the stuff you eat? Unless you want to eat grains exclusively, your diet will be much more limited by 2040.
“The United States, being one of the world’s largest economies, imports a total of $133 billion USD worth of food and food products, followed by China at $105.26 billion USD, Germany at $98.90 billion USD, Japan at $68.86 billion USD, the United Kingdom at $66.54 billion USD, the Netherlands at $64.38 billion USD, France at $62.29 billion USD, Italy at $51.34 billion USD, Belgium at $40.87 billion USD, and the Russian Federation at $38.60 billion USD.”
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-countries-importing-the-most-food-in-the-world.html
Food security only lasts until the next crop fails.
Cloggie on Fri, 3rd May 2019 12:30 am
Far right chud Tommy Robinson ft McDonald’s milkshake.
Hey, look who is re-platformed again:
https://alt-right.com/
Oh, it’s such a fun time to be alive!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrm_JAnVKzI
Cloggie on Fri, 3rd May 2019 12:45 am
These concerns go so far that a majority of the population in those countries wants the government to take action. If it is up to them it is forbidden for fellow countrymen to leave the country for a longer period of time. “I thought that was one of the most striking findings of our opinion poll,” says Susi Dennison.
That’s why I’m totally UNCONCERNED about Eastern European immigration to Holland. It is exactly that same situation as in the sixties and seventies, when my Philips home town Eindhoven was flooded by thousands of Italians and Spanjards. I remember them sitting sadly in their own cafe’s next to the Philips factories…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh_KT7hcw74
(2:45)
..predictably they ALL went home to the last man, as soon as their countries got on an upward trajectory as a result of being a member of the EEC (precursor EU). Won’t be different with Eastern Europeans.
Cloggie on Fri, 3rd May 2019 1:04 am
Local elections in Britain:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6986817/Tories-braced-local-election-wipeout-millions-polls-England-Northern-Ireland.html
“Disillusioned voters hammer Tories AND Labour in early local election results: Lib Dems praise ‘awesome’ gains as main parties lose hundreds of seats and furious voters spoil their ballots amid Brexit backlash”
Tories and Labour were hammered, but it is difficult to interpret this as a pro-Brexit sentiment. Remain party Liberals scored a huge gain.
The truth is that Britain remains bitterly divided 50-50 about their own identity: European or globalist-Anglo. Tories and Labour were mainly punished for their dismal performance over the last 3 years, making a mockery of this great nation.
There is only one wise solution: a soft Brexit and hopes are increasing that mrs May and mr Corbyn can hammer out just that, hopefully before the EU elections.
Theedrich on Fri, 3rd May 2019 3:28 am
So democracy is dying due to Trump? Not pre-Trump? No, rather, it’s due to Democrat absurdity. The Dems+RINOs have long been playing the game of heaven on earth for stupidoes. Hypocrisy is inborn in the system, baked in the cake. The madness that “all men are created equal,” interpreted as “all sentient creatures must have equal freebies,” sprouted from the seeming infinitude of a virtually empty continent and religious fatuity in the eighteenth century. It proceeded to lead to the internecine slaughter of the Uncivil War, then to further, much greater massacres of civilized nations and the bloodthirsty ideology of Communism.
In the current political miasma, “equality” means IQ 70 = IQ 110 = IQ 150. And the “rich” are supposed to pay their “fair share” so that homeless narcotics addicts and madmen can submerge American cities beneath their filth and crime. The American voter lives in a state of TV-hypnosis in which only what the boobtube displays is real. Sob stories stifle rational thought, and infantile “students” prepare themselves for careers in fast-food places or as college-credentialed Uber drivers as they seek to tear down statues of racist White men such as George Washington. (By the way, I know a young female junior college “student” who, attempting to write an English paper on the founding of the U.S., wrote that General Washington succeeded in the Revolution with the aid of “Captain America.” Profound testimony to the efficacy of American high school education.)
America’s educational and intelligence disasters are now exacerbated by the importation of millions of ThirdWorld sludge. All of this is due to interminable nightmarish American politics long before Trump arrived on the scene. Umair obviously wants more of such “dreams.” He is the type that is causing the death of democracy.
Malcom on Fri, 3rd May 2019 3:38 am
I am not so certain that Americans have voted so much for Trump as against a possible alternative to him.
What the atlternavie would look like?
More LGBT and destruction of family associated with it, more safe areas in university campuses, more immigrants, more favelas in city centers, more peoples defecating in public, more perverts in government and of course higher taxes as well.
That is what Americans have voted against.
Not Davy on Fri, 3rd May 2019 3:57 am
JuanP posted this
Davy on Thu, 2nd May 2019 7:11 pm
makati1 on Fri, 3rd May 2019 3:57 am
Malcom, it is possible that many millions bought the Trump lies and voted for the things he “promised” which would improve their lives if accomplished. They should have known better.
Few Americans realize that they are not in a democracy. Maybe never have been. They are in a strange mix of corporatocracy, socialism, and autocracy. The end years of an empire that was built on wars, like all others, but doomed to fail faster than most due to the pace we live at these days.
The “Deep State” has been outed and is fast losing its grip. All the US can produce is trash, weapons that don’t work and deeply mentally disturbed citizens. Snowflakes anyone? Suicide rates exploding. Drug use exploding. Statistics that are nothing more than lies.
Even its “war machine” is losing against goatherds in 3rd world countries, allies thumbing their noses at the empirical decrees, dollars coming back to the extremely indebted US, etc. Interesting to watch…from the Philippines. GO TRUMP! TRUMP IN 2020! LMAO!
Cloggie on Fri, 3rd May 2019 4:04 am
Umair Haque is globalist mystery meat, after all, mentioning somebody’s background is such a natzi thing to do and we are all glad we are not like that.
https://everipedia.org/wiki/lang_en/umair-haque/amp/
Probably from Pakistan but he frequented all the pc addresses in the west and obviously has little problems with the demise of white America, all in the name of fighting racism, that goes without saying, all the while providing his own kind with a major upward social mobility. What’s not to like!
And since he can write three coherent sentences in a row, he is the darling of all the US-UK globalist media.
Davy on Fri, 3rd May 2019 4:24 am
“A scientific model has suggested that society will collapse in less than three decades due to catastrophic food shortages if policies do not change.”
I have seen some climate doomers say we have 15 years. I don’t know anymore and I am not sure scientist do. I am reading this climate stuff and other doom every day. It could be worse or less bad in the shorter term is my opinion. I don’t see the situation improving because of tech as some do. The longer we get out the messier these predictions are but the worse things appear. I see disruption to the complicated status quo accelerating. Does this mean the whole global society collapses in the decades ahead???
I think collapse is going to be location based and in different segments of the social fabric. Income classes will be disenfranchised and begin collapse even within areas not collapsed. It appears we could be less affluent and if so this means localized failures do to overshoot of consumption. For example there are many areas inhabiting expensive terrain. Some of these areas need lots of heat or lots of AC. Water is an issue or food must be shipped in from far away. These areas are going to be priced out of the declining pie. Climate change will force areas with sea level rise and rising wet bulb temps. If global food producing regions change due to climate change it is likely food shortages will be more common. This will surely make the forecasted population growth difficult in the 3rd world.
I think we are on the cusp of change and it will be more destructive than the constructive period of the last 100 years driven by great wars and technological changes. The future is all about planetary changes destructively affecting society. Does this mean society collapses? Some will but maybe some thrive that embrace change smartly. There are some great technical resources to draw on. The problem is mainly with human wisdom and human sloth.
Davy on Fri, 3rd May 2019 4:42 am
These political forces expose the contradictions of the selective cloggo PBM platform of a common army with a strong centralized political and economic force common to the cloggo Empire thinking. It is more about less PBM and more economic and political autonomy with protection of national values from poor immigration policy. Less empire is coming cloggo than the more you are preaching. There is no common army preaching by any of these folks. Nobody is talking an alliance with Russia or a Eurasian superstate. In fact all these folks are against the superstate you are preaching.
“EU Elections: “The Battle For Europe Has Begun”
https://tinyurl.com/y38cmbxp Gladstone institute
“The rally was sponsored by the Movement for a Europe of Nations and Freedom (MENF), a pan-European alliance of nine nationalist parties dedicated to stopping mass migration and recovering national sovereignty from the European Union.”
“Today, Europeans are once again fighting for their survival. It is not just the migration of colonists from Africa and the Arab countries that is changing the face of Western Europe. It is also the growing assault from Brussels on the sovereignty of Europe’s nation states in the name of a multicultural superstate.”
Davy on Fri, 3rd May 2019 7:21 am
What explains the cult-like reverence of Trump ditto-heads and most members of the Republican party for Dear Leader Trump? We now have a working hypothesis. Researchers from Columbia and New York University examined voting patterns by geographic area with internet search term frequency. The study results pointed to a strong positive correlation between support for Trump and particular internet search topics. The results were shocking, although logical.
Fragile (Toxic) Masculinity Syndrome.
The following internet search terms had the strongest positive correlation with support for Trump:
• “How to get girls”;
• “Penis enlargement”;
• “Penis size”;
• “Erectile Dysfunction”;
• “Hair Loss”;
• “Steroids”;
• “Testosterone”;
• “Viagra”.
Trump ditto-heads lack the traits they perceive define masculinity. Therefore, they are innately attracted to a leader who projects these characteristics.
Examples of Trump’s alpha masculinity as perceived by Trump ditto-heads:
• Trump uses a whig because he’s too proud to admit he’s bald.
• Trump’s bullying behavior is viewed by his supporters to be the behavior of a manly man.
• Frequent golfer.
• He eats McDonald’s almost every day.
• He’s a billionaire with a hot wife who married him for his money.
Davy on Fri, 3rd May 2019 7:23 am
Liar, liar, Trump’s “hair” is on fire.
“I’m going to be working for you. I’m not going to have time to go play golf.”
–Donald J. Trump, August 2016
Trump’s golf count
http://www.trumpgolfcount.com/#services
Davy on Fri, 3rd May 2019 7:25 am
Tell me how you respond to this breaking news: When Donald Trump sings the well-known 1950s tune “I love, I love, my calendar cat” he has modified a few of the words so that he sings (and those around him, including most vocally Vice president and Man Servant Mike Pence), “I love, I love, my scrotum sac.” I’m sure you are puzzled why substituted scrotum sac for calendar cat. We have this answer…. For some time now, intense speculation has circulated as to the origin of Donald Trump’s unique hair-doo. We finally broke the code. The Weekly Star paid a source “in excess of $1 million” to produce close-up photos that show a pubic hair transplant from Trump’s scrotum sac, anus area, armpits, and upper back to his head. The process occurred over a six-month period and involved multiple procedures. The article and photos were published in the October 2018 edition of the weekly newspaper.
I AM THE MOB on Fri, 3rd May 2019 8:01 am
Synagogue shooting suspect was churchgoer who ‘used Christian faith to justify attack’
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/san-diego-synagogue-shooting-gunman-john-earnest-christian-antisemitism-a8895951.html
Hope he likes being someone’s bitch!
Cloggie on Fri, 3rd May 2019 9:15 am
Synagogue shooting suspect was churchgoer who ‘used Christian faith to justify attack’
If you touch jews, you touch apneaman…., em, mastermind…, em mobster.
A regular pattern with “people of Scottish descent”.lol
Mobster wants to kill millions of Russians, but a single jew, ouch!
Schopenhauer: j”ews are the grandmasters of the lie.”
Not that I would describe mobster as a grandmaster, but liar, yes.
Anonymouse on Fri, 3rd May 2019 9:51 am
If you touch cloggenJude, you are most definitely, touching a jew. Not that anyone would ever touch a slimey rodent like you in the first place. At least, not without seeing the cash first.
Duncan Idaho on Fri, 3rd May 2019 10:08 am
There is no one in any position of leadership in either major party, who has any grasp whatsoever, that the current economic and social system is already completely obsolete.
Not Davy on Fri, 3rd May 2019 10:32 am
Juanpee posted these
Davy on Fri, 3rd May 2019 7:21 am
Davy on Fri, 3rd May 2019 7:23 am
Davy on Fri, 3rd May 2019 7:25 am
Robert Inget on Fri, 3rd May 2019 11:35 am
CNN
Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by telephone Friday morning for “over an hour,” during which they briefly discussed special counsel Robert Mueller’s report and other issues, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Sanders said the Mueller report was discussed “very, very briefly,” adding it was discussed in the context of it being over. She added that it was a “very good discussion” and that the call’s “primary focus” was about the need to help people in Venezuela, including getting supplies to them.
“The President reiterated the need for a peaceful transition and his focus throughout the conversation was on the need to help the people and make sure that the aid was actually getting to them and being delivered,” she said.
JuanP posted this denial on Fri, 3rd May 2019 11:48 am
Not Davy on Fri, 3rd May 2019 10:32 am
Davy posted these:
Davy on Fri, 3rd May 2019 7:21 am
Davy on Fri, 3rd May 2019 7:23 am
Davy on Fri, 3rd May 2019 7:25 am
Sissyfuss on Fri, 3rd May 2019 11:59 am
If Trump is re-elected then Climate Disruption will grow exponentially. But the Boomers will get out in time. Class of ’69.
Robert Inget on Fri, 3rd May 2019 12:01 pm
Sissy
KEY POINTS:
Buffett highlights that unemployment remains so low, yet interest rates and inflation are not rising. At the same time the U.S. government continues to spend more money than it takes in.
These conditions are not sustainable for the long term, Buffett says.
“No economics textbook I know that was written in the first couple of thousand years that discussed even the possibility that you could have this sort of situation continue and have all variables stay more or less the same,” he says.
Cloggie on Fri, 3rd May 2019 12:04 pm
Putin and Trump probably still have mutual personal sympathy, but Trump’s hands are tied.
#DeepState
https://www.rt.com/news/458312-trump-putin-china-nuclear-agreement/
“Trump & Putin talked on phone about possibility of a new nuclear agreement with US, Russia & China”
On Venezuela, Trump is said to have reiterated the need for a “peaceful transition” of power. The Trump administration has found itself at loggerheads with Moscow over its calls for regime change in Caracas and threats of military action if current President Nicolas Maduro does not heed warnings and step down to allow the US-favored opposition leader to seize power.
The utter absurdity that the US should decide who rules Venezuela.
But it is bluff. The US can’t overthrow the Cuban regime, they can’t overthrow Maduro.
Sissyfuss on Fri, 3rd May 2019 12:05 pm
Did Putin and Trump talk in code for fear the line was tapped?
” Vlad, did you grab her in the pussy?”
” No US Don, I am KGB of Deal.”
Sissyfuss on Fri, 3rd May 2019 12:08 pm
Rob I, I have no faith in Ponzinomics but something will survive that, but if we get to 3C it will be a chance in Hell.
DerHundistLos on Fri, 3rd May 2019 12:26 pm
Siss-
I replied to your message a few days ago. Did you see it?
Robert Inget on Fri, 3rd May 2019 12:35 pm
Looks like Putin ‘talked down’ Trump off that window ledge.
We will Not See a US military intervention in the
Venezuelan situation despite all the tough talk coming from the WH.
Doubtless Putin promised (falsely) Russia will provide all the ‘missing Venezuelan heavy oil’
needed by the US. Putin promised the same in
Europe. Plainly speaking, ‘it’s a trap’.
At this time Russia can’t possible replace former
VZ production.
What Putin is shooting for is Trump to drop
sanctions on Venezuela (out of desperation).
Hundreds of well fed, well paid, Russian oil men are prepared to tough it out this coming winter
to bring VZ production back.
IMO, when they do, some Venezuelan oil workers may return home and Russians send for wives.
$85/$100 crude will be enough incentive.
The Saudis NEED $85+ just to keep heads.
Nigeria could do with slightly less but rampant corruption RULES.
Canada, America’s once only reliable provider may well give in to Chinese pressure to allow Trans Mountain Pipeline through to BC ports.
(and China is indeed pressuring Canada)
IOW’s Russia intends to sell US heavy oil from Venezuela and China NEEDS/requires West Coast supplies from Canada.
The stuff called ‘tight oil’ or shale oil is half liquid
natural gas and other gases. Good for chemical
and gasoline production, that’s it. Don’t be fooled when EIA counts it as ‘crude oil’.
Robert Inget on Fri, 3rd May 2019 12:49 pm
Few people understand how vital Venezuelan oil is to the WORLD economy. The question remains,
who will control distribution? At this point it looks like US just woke to the possibility of losing control.
Saudi Arabia emerges controlling US imports.
Why of course we permit Saudi atrocities.
(and Russia/China taking control of Venezuela)
Article:
Investing directly in Saudi Arabia is becoming easier than ever before.
Global index giants FTSE Russell, S&P Dow Jones Indices, and MSCI are in the process of folding Saudi Arabia’s stock market into accessible emerging-market indices this year.
That inclusion could see investors pump billons of dollars into the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia meanwhile stands accused of murdering a prominent critic, confirmed a mass execution as recently as last week, and is ranked among the world’s most dangerous countries for women.
The expected surge of capital has experts raising questions about investing in the controversial market, particularly as socially-responsible investing grows in popularity. (more on link)
https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/investing-in-saudi-arabia-risks-with-investing-2019-4-1028166314?utm_campaig
Robert Inget on Fri, 3rd May 2019 1:26 pm
“There is now no conceivable way to stop climate change; at best, it’s a battle to mitigate its impact — and we’re quickly running out of time. Even worse, McKibben writes, “because of the way power and wealth are currently distributed on our planet … we’re uniquely ill-prepared to cope with the emerging challenges.”
Ironically, to mitigate effects of AGW we will NEED more fossil fuels.
Despite a suicidal Tump Administration, American alternative energy forces are dancing as fast as they can. Just type in ‘alternative energy’ on YouTube and stand back.
In spite of a massive effort, we still REQUIRE more fossil fuel for mitigation efforts.
One most basic need, concrete cement, needed for just about every building project is made with natural gas and SAND. Both in limited supply.
100 Million Evacuated in India (as we breathe)
https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/02/india/cyclone-fani-evacuations-india-intl/index.html
Cloggie on Fri, 3rd May 2019 2:20 pm
“100 Million Evacuated in India (as we breathe)”
1 million.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cyclone-fani-india-evacuations-storm-forecast-projected-path-odisha-today-2019-05-02/
Chrome Mags on Fri, 3rd May 2019 3:56 pm
Back to the article for this thread; Democracy is dying because its just human nature for politicians to find ways over time to allow themselves more leeway to make more money, such as lobbying, or investing in corporation then changing a policy to benefit that company to increase value of shares owned, and so on. ‘The People’ are now ignored like dirt under a rug, except during elections in which they are manipulated via social issues to vote against their own best financial interests.
Chrome Mags on Fri, 3rd May 2019 4:33 pm
“The President reiterated the need for a peaceful transition and his focus throughout the conversation was on the need to help the people and make sure that the aid was actually getting to them and being delivered,” she said.
Huh? So is he more interested in helping the people of a foreign country (Venezuela) than he was in helping the people of his own country, Puerto Rico? Oh, that’s right, Venezuela has all that oil. Nuff said.
Robert Inget on Fri, 3rd May 2019 4:35 pm
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump contradicted his own top advisers Friday by suggesting Russian President Vladimir Putin was not meddling in Venezuela.
“He is not looking at all to get involved in Venezuela, other than he’d like to see something positive happen,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday. “I feel the same way.”
His remarks came just days after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Russia of propping up the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who is in the midst of a political showdown with opposition leader Juan Guaido. The Trump administration has pushed hard to oust Maduro in favor of Guaido, calling Guaido the legitimate leader of Venezuela.
Russia is a key Maduro ally, and the Kremlin has been sharply critical of the Trump administration’s support for Guaido.
Venezuela’s political crisis escalated sharply on Tuesday when Guaido called for a popular uprising and urged the military to abandon Maduro. But so far, there have not been large-scale defections, and Maduro’s security forces have clashed with protesters.
Pompeo said on Tuesday that Maduro was ready to flee Venezuela after Guaido called for a popular uprising. But Maduro changed his mind after Russia persuaded him to stay, Pompeo said.
Robert Inget on Fri, 3rd May 2019 4:56 pm
I’m sure EVERYONE HERE understand Pompeo’s, Boltin’s frustration. They just need to get in line behind dozens of former WH advisers who are getting rich writing about their WH experiences
working for a certifiable loony tune, Russian, N. Korean, MBS, ‘loving’ President.
First step for Boltin and Pompeo, get good lawyers.
Second step; find publishers.
Third: get spot on FOX cable news for six figures.
Cloggie on Fri, 3rd May 2019 5:10 pm
“I’m sure EVERYONE HERE understand Pompeo’s, Boltin’s frustration”
I certainly do.
Btw, what happened to the US ability of “projecting power”, empire dave is always bragging about?
Duncan Idaho on Fri, 3rd May 2019 5:31 pm
Hint: My politically illiterate friends
Venezuela – Forensics Of A Clownish Coup
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2019/05/venezuela-forensics-of-a-clownish-coup.html
The Truth Shall Set You Free on Fri, 3rd May 2019 5:42 pm
The Wheels Of Real Justice Are In Motion Now: Kunstler Fears The “Desperate Resistance” Next Move…
In short and in effect, the Democratic Party itself is headed to trial on a vector that takes it straight into November next year. How do you imagine it will look to voters when Mr. Obama’s CIA chief, John Brennan, his NSA Director James Clapper, a baker’s dozen of former Obama top FBI and DOJ officials, including former AG Loretta Lynch, and sundry additional players in the great game of RussiaGate Gotcha end up ‘splainin’ their guts out to a whole different cast of federal prosecutors? It’s hardly out of the question that Barack Obama himself and Mrs. Clinton may face charges in all this mischief and depravity. It’s surely true that the public is sick of the RussiaGate spectacle. (I know readers of this blog complain about it.) But it’s no exaggeration to say that this is the worst and most tangled scandal that the US government has ever seen, and that failing to resolve it successfully really is an existential threat to the project of being a republic. I was a young newspaper reporter during Watergate and that was like a game of animal lotto compared to this garbage barge of malfeasance. It’s a further irony of the moment that the suddenly leading Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, is neck-deep in that spilled garbage, the story unspooling even as I write that then-Veep Uncle Joe strong-armed the Ukraine government to fire its equivalent of Attorney General to quash an investigation of his son, Hunter, who received large sums of money from the Ukrainian gas company, Burisma, which had mystifyingly appointed the young American to its board of directors after the US-sponsored overthrow of Viktor Yanukovych. That nasty bit of business comes immediately on top of information that the Hillary campaign was using its connections in Ukraine — from her years at the State Department — to traffic in political dirt on Mr. Trump, plus an additional intrigue that included payments to the Clinton Foundation of $25 million by Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Pinchuk. That was on top of contributions of $150 million that the Clinton Foundation had received earlier from Russian oligarchs around 2012.
Duncan Idaho on Fri, 3rd May 2019 6:11 pm
Dims and Repugs=
Pepsi, and Pepsi Lite
Sissyfuss on Fri, 3rd May 2019 6:23 pm
I think I may have missed it, Derhund. What article was it attached to?
Davy the Hypocrite on Fri, 3rd May 2019 7:16 pm
Gee, everyone, Davy the Hypocrite who complain endlessly about identity theft is engaging in identity theft himself.
More proof positive:
Davy is a hypocrite;
Davy is a liar;
Tell me something I don’t already know.
The Truth Shall Set You Free on Fri, 3rd May 2019 5:42 pm
Davy on Fri, 3rd May 2019 7:17 pm
Duncan-
Enough already with your tired cliches.