They started shouting accusations of “McCarthyism” and “Red baiting” before the election. There are no reds anymore. Even the Chinese are capitalists now.
3 Likes
NASA is set to announce that possible life on Enceladus may have had contact with the Trump campaign…
2 Likes
I think for some people, there is still a sense of being a bad-ass anti-establishment rebel. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union was godless and anti-capitalist – everything we were against.
4 Likes
I have a Bernie bros friend who started with the “McCarthyism” and “red baiting” stuff when we were talking about Trump. He is (ordinarily) a smart guy too and I like him. But now I’m finding my friendly feelings slipping away a little bit, which is too bad actually.
3 Likes
If his unpopular remarks stirred the pot, Then the then the ratings were higher. Doublethink…ugh.
I once heard Bill Walton, doing “color” on a basketball game, say he was deliberately making a specious argument just to “stir things up.” Only heard it once, EVER. Walton was, and is, independently wealthy. There’s No Business Like Show Business.
Well, there was majority pushback of the pot stirring, so that’s a good thing.
Let’s add to those disapproval ratings. Meanwhile, the Russia bombshell awaits.
2 Likes
I don’t think it really matters if red actually exists or not – strictly speaking it has never existed other than as an ideal type. Russia is just still something they can project whatever utopian imagery they hold onto.
4 Likes
I think there’s a little “both sides do it” going on there. For some, American involvement in Iraq cancels out Russian involvement in Syria.
4 Likes
Well I would say , first prove these people are a threat.
The threat they describe sounds a little exaggerated
These ain’t no Furerbunkers
1 Like
@doremus_jessup Are books like It Can’t Happen Here, 1984, Animal Farm and even The Jungle even part of required reading in school anymore. I was forced to read and report, hated every minute of it, but by the end I learned more than I wanted to.
13 Likes
Putin’s Russia is a mafia state. It’s too bad people think “It Can’t Happen Here” because Trump admires it.
7 Likes
That’s the best part , we don’t
Engle said it , no one lives there , there ain’t nothin’ there
No one to report , no one to complain … no one
2 Likes
You are so correct , creaming their collective jeans as they ran the test bomb video on an endless loop…
Biggest bomb ever uhhh… except for the Brits in WWII
Been there done that
1 Like
Personally I’ve never been attracted to utopian fantasies. But 70 years or so ago it would have been possible for those so inclined to see the Soviet Union as at least moving in the direction of some such ideal. Maybe. But Russia now?? Why not choose North Korea?
(Of course there is nothing new in this attitude. My father was law partners with Mark Lane in the early 60s. He had lots of stories about the misguided idealism of the far left of that time.)
4 Likes
There you go …full circle
3 Likes
I used to work with an elderly lady who grew up during the Depression. She said in the 1930s a lot of her girl friends were enamored of Russia and communism. Back then, some people felt that capitalism failed to ensure prosperity, and that nationalism failed to keep the peace. Socialism seemed like a viable alternative.
7 Likes
= collateral damage
Repeat after me
OOPS
We’re so sorry
Our bad
Dunno. I think Taibbi’s being reasonable. There’s real meat in the Russia story to date and more will become clear in time, that’s for sure. But I don’t want to see people like Schiff and Warner with egg on their faces because what they’re able to uncover is less than the claims of a Louise Mensch. I don’t want to see them fail expectations, because less won’t be more in that case.
Taibbi’s warning also makes sense to me, and I think this fear of the potential negative uses of the prevailing narrative is where he’s essentially coming from.
Moreover, even those who detest Trump with every fiber of their being must see the dangerous endgame implicit in this entire line of thinking. If the Democrats succeed in spreading the idea that straying from the DNC-approved candidate – in either the past or the future – is/was an act of “unwitting” cooperation with the evil Putin regime, then the entire idea of legitimate dissent is going to be in trouble.
Imagine it’s four years from now (if indeed that’s when we have our next election). A Democratic candidate stands before the stump, and announces that a consortium of intelligence experts has concluded that Putin is backing the hippie/anti-war/anti-corporate opposition candidate.
Or, even better: that same candidate reminds us “what happened last time” when people decided to vote their consciences during primary season. It will be argued, in seriousness, that true Americans will owe their votes to the non-Putin candidate. It would be a shock if some version of this didn’t become an effective political trope going forward.
Let’s remember this can be applied to Republican vs. Democratic candidates too. And between the two parties, I have strong suspicions as to who’d be able to use this kind of propaganda best. That’s enormously fear inducing for me.
Edited to add: @doremus_jessup
Putin’s Russia is a mafia state. It’s too bad people think “It Can’t Happen Here” because Trump admires it.
It’s already happened here. We’re already an oligarchy, but it’s white collar and kind of respectable in appearances and (thankfully) no journalists and opposition leaders are getting killed.
Yet.
3 Likes
Yes and one can see the appeal. But being enamored of a kleptocracy? The fact that Trump and his criminal buds admire it says it all.
3 Likes
Really? A winning Team! Let’s hit symbol look-up–ticker GS, logging into account–ugh!closed!
Probably some up on overseas markets, actually.
I’m kidding. Know that you are too. Great.
UPDATED: There is some. Cheaper by $2.50 per share today.Due to the uncertainty–the markets just hate this chaos–they think it’s worth less(as opposed to worthless)today. The Free Market at work.
1 Like