Alexandra Petri is a gifted writer, who works for the Washington Post.
The unshakeable sense that you are being persecuted is in charge of the Justice Department. In fact, it just announced this change in policy. The man with a slow eerie smile that you thought you got rid of in the ’80s is somehow back, standing behind a lectern, his smile growing wider and wider, even when you blink. How did he get here? You could have sworn—
The thing that lives under the bed has the president’s phone number and sometimes speaks for him at news conferences.
The thing that scuttles into the corner when you open the door to the attic, the clawlike hand that reaches out from under your closet door, they are both listed as Rational Voices in the Trump Cabinet and are about to come out in support of his plan for tax reform.
The sensation of drowning, drowning all the time, is what comes out every time you turn on your television.
All the clocks everywhere are melting. Weeks and months are indistinguishable. Everything partakes of a terrifying unreality. You try to write down what is happening but it doesn’t make any sense.
The Dreamers are out. The Nightmare People are in charge.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Reblogged this on BLOGGYWOCKY and commented:
We are indeed living in a Kafkaesque nightmare.
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It’s interesting that the writer is the daughter of a long-time Republican Congressman (retired a few years ago) who voted quite in lockstep with the right wing Republicans during Obama’s terms. He’s “moderate” in comparison to the far right but rarely voted against their desires.
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DON’T MISS THIS… HERE IS A WONDERFUL EXPLANATION OF WHO WE ARE– OR WERE.
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Sorry, that was supposed to be this link, although Chew nailed the NEED TO GO BACK TO OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH LAWS AND TRUTH!
and when you add this by Richard Dreyfus… you have it all
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=8&v=B6n0tr4TfEA
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SICK!
The DNC and DFERS own blame for Dump, too!
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Yvonne Siu-Runyan
They own all of the blame . When you dismiss the concerns of people you should be serving . You leave openings for totalitarian leaders of any economic philosophy .
You can use trade and even immigration as examples . As the old saying goes .
“It is a recession when you are unemployed a depression when I am unemployed ”
If you were in a career, blue collar or white collar and your job was put in jeopardy by trade or Immigration you would have little tolerance for those who floated the aggregate argument of the caster oil tasting bad but being good for you . Whether you were a factory worker in Wisconsin, a construction worker in NYC or a IT Worker in Silicon Valley.
How much this played a role in the election of Trump I don’t know but it could not have helped.
“By the time Trump was elected, the typical American household had a net worth 14 percent lower than the typical household in 1984. The richest 1 percent owned more than the bottom 90 percent.” Robert Reich .
Thomas Frank nailed it in Listen Liberal . And we can ridicule all we want, those that voted for the Orange Ass who(economically) should not have. But that does not explain why many did.
Or to put that another way . If that farmer sitting on his tractor in the mid west that LBJ told King to make feel a sense of outrage about injustice, still owned the tractor, you might stand a chance of reaching him. . .
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The supposedly progressive DFER candidate that Bernie Sanders endorsed who got all the money from the DFER billionaires didn’t win. Why didn’t all the voters come out for vote for Bernie’s DFER candidate?
By the way, had Bernie’s DFER candidate won the primary, I would not have spent the next 4 months attacking him for selling out public education to billionaires and I would not have said he was corrupt and dishonest for selling out public education and doing the bidding of the people who funded him. I would have said that Bernie’s DFER candidate had a difference of opinion and he still had many GOOD opinions that I could support despite my very strong disagreement with him on whether public education was better off if DFER ran it. I would have acknowledged that just because a Democrat has a more right wing view on ONE issue does not make him a right winger. It does not make him corrupt. It makes him wrong on that issue and I would work to change his mind. I wouldn’t work to defeat him by telling voters what a sell-out tool of billionaires he is.
I heard the exact same arguments you make 30 years ago from conservative Democrats who kept insisting that Democrats kept losing because they were too progressive. I also personally viewed one progressive Democrat after another go down to defeat in years past.
Donald Trump received FEWER votes in many states than the most right wing candidates running for Senate and Congress did. So the question you should be asking is why didn’t Trump receive far more votes from all the voters who were very happy to vote for the most right wing racist anti-working man Republican candidates for Senate and Congress? Against some of the most progressive Democrats?
These elections aren’t national. Voters split their votes all the time to vote for the better candidate. There is something about the right wing policies that the right wing Republican Senate candidates offered them that they loved even more than they loved Trump. Even when progressive Democrats were offering exactly what you claim they needed to do. Those voters weren’t voting “against” the progressive Democrat candidates for Senate because they hated the Democrats. If that was the case they would not have voted for Clinton in even greater number in those states. They were voting “for” the right wing Republican agenda that those Republican Senators were holding out. Do you know why? Because they associate Democrats with gay rights, Black Lives Matter, “welfare queens”, “terrorists”. Unless you want the Democrats to abandon those and pander to the white racists, they will continue to abandon the Democrats.
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She’s back !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I offered my opinion. I realize you disagree and you think Bernie’s endorsement of the progressive DFER candidate didn’t work because the Virginia Democratic party is just as corrupt as you know the national DNC is.
Tim Kaine FOUGHT for public education. Bernie’s candidate supports the DFER agenda. Maybe that’s why he lost! I happen to prefer the Dems run on public education — something Bernie Sanders and his progressive movement never mention — instead of “let’s make the white working guys feel good and not mention anything that they can use to make us look like we love minorities too much.”
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NYC public school parent
Please note although the response to Yvonne was to a mention of the DNC and DEFER which the perfect example of the problem . I mentioned nobody by name and was actually thinking more
of a mind set in the democratic party as a whole and the “Liberal Media ” which is very willing to criticize Trump for highlighting problems that they have participated in creating. That Liberal media not being very liberal when they dismiss the concerns of Stiglitz , Krugman, Bernstein ,Baker, Reich and to a degree even Summers on one of the issues I highlighted. While siding with the Corporatocracy and the overwhelming majority of main stream Republican Party. All of this highlighted long before the last election. in fact before the election in 2012 by a Republican Mike Lofgren . Or shall I say a former “Republican Who left the Cult” . He called this election in 2011.
But I notice you take any opportunity to slam Sanders and progressives as if they lost a thousand seats in State houses around the country and both Houses and the White house. Keep up the good work it seems to be working well. And good luck in Virginia .
But while driving back home tonight I heard Mathews say something pertinent to this conversation . “When are Democrats going to offer a bold new plan for the country and stand by it even if they lose a few elections”
The answer is never: “they are content to go down with the ship as long as they have a first class cabin”
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NYC public school parent
And please do not even mention the Clinton’s \Democrats and minorities Bill and Hill the “SUPER PREDATORS” did more harm to minorities than Trump may do . Left them Jobless with no hope for jobs in the future . Caused by that trade policy I mention ,in cities like Flint where Bapuke Obama went to drink a glass of water, while promising to destroy more jobs with another disaster agreement. . Bill and Hill did lower the Black unemployment rate by throwing way more black men and boys in jail
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You keep avoiding my question:
Why did Bernie Sanders endorse the DFER candidate in Virginia to replace the two Virginia Governors that you seem to despise because they supported public education?
I have made it very clear that Bernie’s endorsement of the DFER candidate does not make him a corrupt and dishonest sell-out of corporate interests. I refuse to characterize Bernie as dishonest and corrupt and nasty. Bernie is a GOOD man who happens to be wrong on one issue but right on many others. And if his candidate for Virginia governor had won I would not have made sure the entire voting population knew that he was a corrupt Democrat who would sell out public education for money. I would NOT. Because I would know that is a lie. He would be a GOOD man who happened to be wrong about one of the issues I care about.
Maybe if you dig down and give the same kind of benefit of the doubt to the OTHER Democrats that you try so hard to smear as corrupt and money hungry and nasty, I’d believe you weren’t the world’s biggest hypocrite.
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It’s useless to argue with those whose opinions are’ locked into’ a world perspective in their minds, that does not allow any nuances. I Have discovered that such people enjoy arguing and provoking people they know do not live in their bubble.
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^^and the fact that you have to use the “super predators” and Hillary’s stint on the Wal Mart Board to smear her because you prefer that we all forget every good thing she has done for the last 30 years speaks volumes. You are no different than a Republican troll. I can disagree with Bernie and still note the very good things he has done. You sit in judgement of Democrats and give passes to the ones who happen to please you and dishonestly smear and attack the ones who don’t by pretending they have done nothing but evil for the past 30 years.
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It’s also ironic to hear you citing Krugman when he was one of the first to call out the Hillary haters who only saw the bad.
He even wrote a column “Hillary gets Gored” about how the media treated her.
“maybe obvious competence and poise in stressful situations can add up to a kind of star quality, even if it doesn’t fit conventional notions of charisma.
Furthermore, there’s one thing Mrs. Clinton brought to this campaign that no establishment Republican could have matched: She truly cares about her signature issues, and believes in the solutions she’s pushing.
I know, we’re supposed to see her as coldly ambitious and calculating, and on some issues — like macroeconomics — she does sound a bit bloodless, even when she clearly understands the subject and is talking good sense. But when she’s talking about women’s rights, or racial injustice, or support for families, her commitment, even passion, are obvious. She’s genuine, in a way nobody in the other party can be.”
Krugman doesn’t agree with most of your attacks.
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NYC public school parent
Please see a doctor , you are suffering from Hillary delusion syndrome,. Somehow you see every attack on Hillary as coming from some vast right wing conspiracy . Let me get this out of the way I have disliked Hill and Bill since the 92 primaries when he ran against Tom Harkin . Wal Mart Board you bet as an active trade unionist that was a litmus test a line in the sand. I will never forget Ronald Reagan either .The rest of the Clinton Legislative Agenda revolting every major piece of it revolting, not now then!!!!!!!! The only thing you can accuse me of is transferring that to Hillary . But if you wrap yourself in Bill and Barrack I guess I can be forgiven . . . Perhaps being a Hill bot you have no principles, I can understand that neither did they. (Note I did vote for them . ) As for Krugman and that list of economists the issue was TRADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! not Clinton. All of them pushing back on it for a host of reasons not on whether trade is OK we already trade with all those nations . But on whether JOBS DESTROYING TRADE AGREEMENTS written by the enemies of the American middle class, empowering income inequality, while jeopardizing the environment and the health and welfare of the American people, are a good Idea .
And of course where was Obama, running around the country promising to give the election to Trump.
You keep alluding to the Virginia race I rarely criticized the Governors
although Kaine could have had a little more guts and pushed back against RTW ,but if Labor in Virginia understood it so did I . Of course he was as exciting a running mate as a wet noodle . As for McAuliffe he went from being a bag-man to a decent Governor.
But you say that the Berniecrat was a DEFER candidate because he was once associated with CAP and DEFER . Diane was once in the Bush administration next . People change .
Northam a self described conservative, voting or threatening to vote with republicans like the IDC in NY . Not someone that has me enthused . I would not be to certain he doesn’t stick to Public Schools after the election.
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9/14 my birthday Send me the edit button
stick it to public schools
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Joel says: “But you say that the Berniecrat was a DEFER candidate because he was once associated with CAP and DEFER . Diane was once in the Bush administration next . People change .”
I say that Tom Perriello is the DFER candidate because only a few years ago he was a Congressman honored by them. And because the DFERs gave him a lot of money in THIS election.
But as I said I would have been happy to support him despite his being the DFER candidate because that didn’t make him corrupt — it just made him wrong. And maybe he will change. As you so rightly noted “people change”.
Too bad you are too much of a hypocrite to say “people change” when you judge and attack Hillary Clinton for sitting on a Wal Mart board some 30 years ago. I don’t think you are a right winger. I think you are exactly the kind of left wing hypocrite that Paul Krugman pointed out. “People change” is something you pronounce only about the candidates you decide are strong on the issues you care about. Then you overlook every compromise and wrong decision they made.
But if they aren’t strong on whatever issue you want them to support, then nothing else they have done for the entirety of their career can absolve them of the stink of their corruption. And you repeat it over and over again.
In that you are very similar to Leonie. Mayor de Blasio wasn’t good on whatever what most important to her with regards to public education. As a result, she decided to make sure she gave his right wing opponents lots of ammunition. She made sure to be the progressive telling voters that de Blasio was a complete and utter failure and had don’t absolutely nothing good with regards to public education. Nothing. He is an abject failure as Leonie made clear. And she is so very proud that the news media picked up her attacks and now voters get to read over and over again just how much de Blasio failed to do anything at all good in public education. Abject failure.
Of course, if de Blasio loses you’ll say it was his own fault for not being able to please Leonie and every other “progressive” who couldn’t wait to smear him as the world’s biggest failure. He deserves to lose to whatever right wing candidate opposes him while Leonie smugly tells us all that she smeared and attacked him to make things better for all our children. Because he’s not perfect so he definitely deserves to be attacked.
Bernie isn’t perfect either. Neither is Perriello. Neither is de Blasio. Neither is Hillary. I don’t care if a critic says they aren’t perfect and points out their flaws IN CONTEXT as I did when I said that Perriello believes in the DFER agenda but he also believes in many other progressive ideals and he is not corrupt or a failure. If I were acting like Leonie or you I would instead throw a temper tantrum and insist that Peririello and Bernie were corrupt and dishonest and complete and utter failures because I decided our difference of opinion on one issue should allow me to attack their character and deem them failures. I’d want to make sure my attacks are USED by right wingers to really undermine candidates and help defeat them. So I can smugly pat myself on the back and tell you all it’s your own fault for supporting such a corrupt candidate in the first place. No doubt Leonie is sitting somewhere as smugly as you knowing that she is doing good work by helping to defeat de Blasio. He isn’t perfect so why not smear him as an abject failure who has done nothing good with regards to public education even if it isn’t exactly true. What are a few lies when you can promote whatever agenda is important got you, right?
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Too bad you are too much of a hypocrite to say “people change” when you judge and attack Hillary Clinton for sitting on a Wal Mart board some 30 years ago.
The problem I had with Hillary is that she was like a chameleon and and changed depending what room she was standing in . As detailed by the National Chamber of Commerce chairmen Thomas Donahue who said “Don’t worry about what Hillary says in Public she’s with us.”
As detailed in 2002 by Warren on the vote Hillary took on the Bankruptcy bill . As demonstrated in the Dem debate when she
could not take a stand on fracking . One of the slickest slimiest answers ,but typical . . As Demonstrated by her turning rt just before the convention only to accept a progressive platform when it was rammed down her throat. As demonstrated by ………………………
“But if they aren’t strong on whatever issue you want them to support, then nothing else they have done for the entirety of their career”
Putting aside that she had not done much that I was pleased with in her career. And had done much by proxy or person that I was displeased with . It is quite the opposite my Hillary troll, if they are strong on the issues I support , there is little they could have done short of being a child molester that could get me to not support them . The problem with Hillary , Bill , and Barrack is they were not strong on any of the issues I support. Their policy which is the only thing that counts was destructive to the core constituency of the Democratic Party . From Trade, to Finance to education ,to the environment, to Labor ………… They got my vote because the alternative was worse.
The only reason to support any politician is their policy . I could care less what the color of there skin is., who they sleep with, what their sexual orientation is , which religious fairy tale they believe or don’t believe in . Whether they cheated on their spouse , or were a drunk.
Its all about what will they do for me and the causes I believe in, period!!!!!! So what is this you say about Bill De Blasio , you say he is corrupt . I don’t see it . I only see the guy who tried to stand up to Cuomo and Walton/Singer money on education. The guy who after years of no contracts settled contracts with all the cities workers. They guy who stood up to the thuggery of the NYPD putting an end to stop and frisk .
The guy who stood up for civil liberties by allowing peaceful protest in the city, quite different from Bloomberg .
Go turn on your DVR . You can rewind to Bloomberg at the convention
how did appealing to moderate Republicans work out !!!!!!!
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Joel Herman,
You just wrote something that tell me you have absolutely no understanding of the point I am trying to make. I don’t necessarily fault you for this — I know I am verbose and maybe my point gets lost. But this sentence tells me you don’t have a clue about what my point is.
“So what is this you say about Bill De Blasio , you say he is corrupt . I don’t see it .”
Let me see if I can make this clear to you. I do NOT think Bill de Blasio is “corrupt”. I think he has done many good things for public education and for this city. That doesn’t mean he could not have done even more good things or needs to work on other things he has not yet done. de Blasio is not perfect. But he also has not been a failure – especially when it comes to public education. It seems we agree on that.
BECAUSE I agree with you and don’t think de Blasio has been a complete failure or corrupt, I don’t like liars who work hard to convince NYC voters that exactly the opposite is true. And that is what Leonie’s report card did. I showed you the very damaging headlines that were the result of all Leonie’s hard work to convince us all of what a failure de Blasio is. The fact that the person claiming that de Blasio is a complete failure is a progressive makes those attacks far more damaging. When people from your own party point out how corrupt, dishonest you have been — when people from your own party point out what a complete and utter failure you have been — that kind of criticism has power. That’s why the media picked it up. That hurts far more than the criticism from the right which the media understands is driven by a political agenda. Criticism from your own party is presumed to be more truthful. Not lies. And rarely is it called out as lies but instead couched in terms like “even other Democrats knows what a failure de Blasio’s education policies have been”. “Even the progressives know what a complete and utter failure and how corrupt de Blasio has been”. Especially when those progressives are so determined to destroy a candidate and label him a failure that they no longer care about presenting a truthful portrait of the person. Somehow defeating him — smearing him until voters believe he is less than nothing and worthless and lousy and criminal — is all okay. Because you have decided that “not good enough” is exactly the same as “corrupt”, “dishonest”, or a “failure”. And you want to make sure voters understand that he is so terrible that even people in his own party will tell you what a complete and utter failure he is.
If that sounds familiar, it is because what Leonie just did to Bill de Blasio is exactly the same as what progressives did to Hillary Clinton. They couldn’t be critical of one policy in which they differed without smearing the entire character of the candidate and insisting that there was absolutely nothing good about the candidate but corruption, selling out and failure.
It is an outright lie to say that Mayor de Blasio has done nothing but fail public schools over and over again. Nothing good at all. That is an absolute lie. But that is exactly what that Report Card did. It was designed to tell voters that de Blasio was a complete failure when it comes to public education. Do you know why I know that? Because that is the headline that every media account took from it. There was no nuance. There was no perspective. There was only an attempt by Leonie to make sure voters knew that de Blasio was a failure overseeing public schools. The headlines she so proudly linked to prove it.
In that she is no different than the progressives who did the same to Hillary Clinton. Those progressives took 30 years of Hillary’s work and turned it into “corruption”, “selling out”, and “dishonesty”. Just like Leonie took 4 years of de Blasio’s support of public schools and turned it into “failure”.
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I hate to wade into this eternal flame war, but I think you need to take a step back. Holding the Mayor to account for policy decisions is not the equivalent of a smear campaign. You may disagree with Haimson’s assessment of the Mayor’s performance. That’s fine, and there’s a debate on the merits to be had there. So rather than accuse her of a smear campaign, debate the merits of her opinion. (Although you’ve said that you “defend” Haimson’s right to criticize the Mayor’s policies, most of your commentary here appears to be arguing that she should not have done just that.)
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NYC public school parent
And you missed my point . I know you do not think Bill De is corrupt .
I don’t care one bit if he was or wasn’t. That’s why I don’t see it. . I could have been very close at one time to one of the biggest corruption scandals in NYC recent history.. In fact two of them, one which ended with a suicide in the 80s . The second with a 96 count federal indictment and conviction.
I am blind to corruption as long as my needs and convictions are being taken care of . Much like Republicans who voted for Trump to achieve their agenda That is what Politics is all about . “WHO DETERMINES WHO GETS WHAT ” That is how political parties were built , it is not a social club . It is about delivering for your constituents end case.
So are the NDC / DLC Dems delivering for. .
So as I read the 96 count indictment of the politician with Mayoral ambitions . It did not bother me that people were mowing his lawns for him while on a contractors payroll . Did not bother me that he skimmed money from a little league whose kids had cleats for one foot when he first got involved and 22k gold embroidered uniforms when he was indicted .
It was only when he sold out his prime constituency that he had crossed over the line . Of course that was only 2 of the counts, but enough for me to say good for the bastard when he went to jail.
Much as Warren describes Hillary’s vote for the Bankruptcy Bill long before there was any presidential ambitions announced and before Warren was a politician. Hillary sold out poor women and she knew it.
Bill will be just fine and stick a fork in me I am done .
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Okay I get it.
“I am blind to corruption as long as my needs and convictions are being taken care of . Much like Republicans who voted for Trump to achieve their agenda That is what Politics is all about . “WHO DETERMINES WHO GETS WHAT ” That is how political parties were built , it is not a social club . It is about delivering for your constituents end case.
So are the NDC / DLC Dems delivering for. .
So as I read the 96 count indictment of the politician with Mayoral ambitions . It did not bother me that people were mowing his lawns for him while on a contractors payroll . Did not bother me that he skimmed money from a little league whose kids had cleats for one foot when he first got involved and 22k gold embroidered uniforms when he was indicted .
It was only when he sold out his prime constituency that he had crossed over the line . Of course that was only 2 of the counts, but enough for me to say good for the bastard when he went to jail.”
I understand now why you do what you do. And I understand why we will never agree.
“Much like Republicans who voted for Trump to achieve their agenda That is what Politics is all about .”
Actually, that isn’t what politics is about to me. It’s about considering the candidates with all of their flaws and ideas but never condoning corruption. I have always thought that was the difference between Dems and Republicans. Democrats didn’t try to shut down investigations into party members. They just tried to present what was found in context. Republicans are just like you described and will do anything to win.
There are truths and there are lies. I don’t care if a candidate lies about having an affair 10 years ago because he is surprised by a question. I don’t care if the candidate lies about getting high or just trying a few puffs when he was 20. I don’t care if a candidate lies to cover up embarrassing personal foibles. But I do care if they embezzle money. I care if they lie about having proof that their opponent was born in Kenya. I care if they lie about skimming money from a little league.
So you are right that it is pointless to argue anymore because we will never see eye to eye. Unfortunately I think Trump voters are exactly like you and I think that when enough Americans condone lies as long as the lies benefit themselves we become Russia. Or Nazi Germany.
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Yvonne,
You’re right. Trump and Brexit are reactions to neoliberal, trickle-down economics. For no less than forty years, the investor class got richer than kings and trickled down everyone else’s back. The Clinton doctrine/platform was clearly unsustainable. We needed a political revolution. We needed Bernie Sanders in the White House. Superdelegates and the rest of the DNC heir-archy gave us a dud instead. I’m still sick of Hillary Clinton. I’m sick of hedge funds. I’m even sick of Alexander Hamilton, and he’s dead! Wall Street can go to ‘h’ ‘e’ double hockey sticks. I want my government back.
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LeftCoastTeacher
Tag your it the Hillary troll is all yours .
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When you say “Hillary troll” are you talking about Paul Krugman? (He does get smeared with attacks like that from the right all the time, so he’s used to it even if the attacks come from the left).
“When political commentators praise political talent, what they seem to have in mind is the ability of a candidate to match one of a very limited set of archetypes: the heroic leader, the back-slapping regular guy you’d like to have a beer with, the soaring orator. Mrs. Clinton is none of these things: too wonky, not to mention too female, to be a regular guy, a fairly mediocre speechifier; her prepared zingers tend to fall flat.
Yet the person tens of millions of viewers saw in this fall’s debates was hugely impressive all the same: self-possessed, almost preternaturally calm under pressure, deeply prepared, clearly in command of policy issues. And she was also working to a strategic plan: Each debate victory looked much bigger after a couple of days, once the implications had time to sink in, than it may have seemed on the night.
Oh, and the strengths she showed in the debates are also strengths that would serve her well as president. Just thought I should mention that. And maybe ordinary citizens noticed the same thing; maybe obvious competence and poise in stressful situations can add up to a kind of star quality, even if it doesn’t fit conventional notions of charisma.
Furthermore, there’s one thing Mrs. Clinton brought to this campaign that no establishment Republican could have matched: She TRULY CARES about her signature issues, and BELIEVES IN THE SOLUTIONS she’s pushing.
I know, we’re supposed to see her as coldly ambitious and calculating, and on some issues — like macroeconomics — she does sound a bit bloodless, even when she clearly understands the subject and is TALKING GOOD SENSE. But when she’s talking about women’s rights, or racial injustice, or support for families, her commitment, even passion, are obvious. She’s genuine, in a way nobody in the other party can be.”
End of Paul Krugman’s quote (with my all-caps, not his). And yes, Krugman wrote that when he thought she would win. Being wrong about that means we aren’t supposed to trust anything Krugman says anymore according to Trump. But I disagree and I hope you do, too.
So Hillary only got 3 million more votes but “lost” the electoral vote through narrow defeats in a few midwest states. We think. Because without a very successful attempt to strike voters off the rolls and disenfranchise Democrats — especially minorities — would she have won? (Somehow progressives never express the same concern about that despicable practice — they prefer to blame the candidate.) Without the Russian propaganda effort in a manner never before seen, would she have won? Without the kind of smears on her character that the left was pushing in a way that was nasty, dishonest and no different than the lies the right wing was pushing, would she have won?
We don’t know. But I refuse to let the next progressive go down to the same lies and smears — whether they come from the left or right — without doing my best to call out how dishonest those kind of attacks are.
Even if Joel Herman attacks me for my efforts.
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I write at progressive news site, and the commentary threads there do not merely demean Hillary, they excoriate her. The ‘meme’ is that she is a neocon who loves war and if she had been elected fire and fury would’ve reigned down on us.
Anytime I say anything nice, like I respect a woman who has accomplished smooch, or I respect her education and intelligence, although I wonder at her choices and allegiances.
The reality is that this nation is so polarized and so ignorant, that the constant tv and internet bashing makes it impossible for people to know what i true and what is not, so they spit out their favorite theories as if it were fact.
I don’t know if she would have been a good president, and I know too much about the people who she hangs with, to believe she is the one WE THE PEOPLE NEED.
Personally, I know that
* she was SECRETARY OF STATE.
* lived in the White House and knows the job requirements
* grasps ‘politics’ and how to talk to the heads of countries
* is educated, and knows a thing or two about history
* worked for civil rights when she first entered politics.
* is a genuine, human being
* is no less a liar than any president before her, but is a saint compared to the insane, senile, ignorant ,incompetent ‘thing’ that lives in the White house.
She lost because the shadow government wanted her to lose. They needed the vacant-mind of Trump so they could run the government into the ground, and undo everything— especial the principles upon which are government was founded.., a’meritocracy where everyone had the same rights to succeed.
Remember, the ‘shadow government’ ( who love the fascist dictator they installed, and the DEEP STATE (the globalists and corporate entities of vast wealth ARE NOT THE SAME THING, although the destruction of PUBLIC EDUCATION means the end of democracy, which the ‘shadow government, desires, and also the enrichment of the wealthiest which is the overarching goal of the ’deep state’ manipulators
There eis so much crap on the internet, the it is hard to sift out truth… like this which someone whom I respect , sent me, and is ‘interesting’ but way out there….
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LeftCoastTeacher
Tag your it
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Susan Lee Schwartz,
Thank you. Sometimes I feel as if I am in the wilderness. I have no problem with honest criticism. There is something ugly and dishonest about what was said about Hillary. And not by the shadow government. By the progressives helping them to do their dirty work and smugly congratulating themselves for their lies because they deciding the truth was expendable if you had another goal in mind.
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NYC PSP,
I understand your feelings.
I voted for Hillary.
I didn’t want to see the nightmare of Trump.
I tried to persuade my progressive friends and readers that Hillary was 1 million times better than an ignorant ideologue who is putty in the hands of evangelicals like Pence.
Some listened, some didn’t.
Unlike most of my friends, I think she would have been a great president.
She won the primaries.
She got more votes and more delegates than Bernie.
I give Bernie credit for going as far as he did.
But now it is all over.
Stop defending Hillary.
Trump stole the election with the help of Putin.
Read Donnie Jr.’s email and it is all there. He would “love” to get dirt from the Russian government.
Stop ranting about how Bernie stole it from Hillary.
Focus your attention on the here and now.
How long will Trump be in office? Will he pardon his family and friends, all of whom he says were treat “very unfairly”? Can he pardon himself?
We have a constitutional crisis. A foreign adversary interfered in our national election and chose our president.
No more Hillary talk. Please. Let her tell her story herself.
Diane
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Got it.
But she is gone, and we need to keep the conversation focused on what can be done.
I have been dealing with the ‘nasties’– those folks who have nothing better to do than to argue. They sit at their computers and spill their opinions in such a way that it becomes truth, and that is not enough… they NEED to attack the writer. I mean, her recently a comment began by calling a commenter a “bird-brain’ and ended by calling him a “moron.”
What disrespect for Dian (it’s her site) for the professionals who write here, and for all the readers and folks whose expectations are for civility.
I posted this yesterday… I will post it everyday for a while, because I saw it several times, and each time it brought tears to my eyes… because of the eloquent description of the nation I believed was the one I lived in, a meritocracy based on laws.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=8&v=B6n0tr4TfEA
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dianeravitch
And I agree with 90% of what you and Susan said . I disagree with perhaps with why you feel she won the primaries . It was not that the DNC rigged the vote totals,or kept Bernie voters from voting. But that is another discussion . You can bet that I also would love to be throwing stones right now at a Clinton White House a “million times over” I stopped reading Hedges , after the election unlike those that Susan is frustrated with, because of his position .
But aside from getting Trump out of the White House with Pence , we have to talk about what is going to be the direction of the Democratic party in the future . As that is the only choice. . We have to ask why is it that so much of a country that was once progressive in values is now voting not just for Trump, not just Republicans, but for a lunatic fringe party . Granted a whole lot of it is racism, especially in the South . A whole lot of it is a reaction to integration in schools and in the work place . But I would think a whole lot of it has to do with a downwardly mobile middle/working class who has been put in competition with the lowest wage workers in the world while all the wealth flows to the very top . No not Bernie , Lofgren 2011.
Unless we correct this by offering a radical “change that people can believe in ” and start serving the interest of the vast majority of Americans . I fear that I will be longing for the days of Donald Trump when Steve Bannon is president.
And perhaps as Mathews said last night the Democratic political class might have to lose an election or two till the Nation was ready for their alternative. Because you are part of the problem that the Republicans create, unless you are not part of the problem, with your own kinder gentler version of Rand’s philosophy. Neo and don’t like putting the second word in with it.
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Eight years of Trump/Pence and this nation may not be worth fighting for. Everything we treasure will be eviscerated. No regulations. No taxes on rich. No social services. Nompublic dchools, public libraries, public anything. Christian schools flourishing, teaching creationism.
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I’m sorry, Diane. I didn’t really intend this to be about Hillary — it’s just depressing for me to see the same thing happening to Bill de Blasio. I know everyone tells me not to worry just like they did when I worried about the non-stop attacks from the left on Hillary Clinton. No one thought she would lose.
And yes, I’m the person worrying when I see similar entirely undeserved hit jobs on de Blasio from the left that remind me of the attacks that Hillary got that the right wing so successfully used against her. Magnifying only the bad — attacking the candidates’ strengths as failures! — without any mention of the good and leaving only the impression that there was no reason to support her at all except maybe to defeat Trump. Which wasn’t much of a reason.
I read all the news articles and headlines citing Leonie’s report — the articles that reduce all Mayor de Blasio’s hard work on public education to “he is a failure — even this progressive group that you should trust says that he has been a complete failure for public schools.” I see Bill de Blasio being characterized by the right wing in the same way Hillary is — corrupt, dishonest, a sell-out. And then I see Leonie attacking the ONE thing that the right wing hasn’t (yet) been able to characterize as corrupt and dishonest about de Blasio — his support of public schools! It’s a failure. Not “needs to improve”. Not “he did some good things and hasn’t been strong on others”. Nope, it’s just a complete failure. That’s what voters are absorbing. That what the headlines that Leonie links to say. That’s what voters see.
And knowing that Leonie would publish a similarly scathing report card if de Blasio is replaced by a Mayor who does exactly what Andrew Cuomo and DFER and Betsy DeVos want will be cold comfort as a new Mayor works hard to undermine one of the few big cities that truly has a thriving and improving public school system.
I’d rather call out those kinds of dishonest attacks that undermine progressive politicians now — in the hopes that they will stop — than wait until that politician loses because I was so certain that their victory was 100% guaranteed. Although I’m sure if de Blasio does lose, I will be told to shut up because it was his own fault for selling out public schools.
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Joel,
I agree with Diane 100%! How come you aren’t as polite to me?
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Joel,
Sorry, can’t play tag right now. I’m at school (on my lunch break).
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Wow. Well written!
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The writer said:
All the clocks everywhere are melting.”
This is the imagery of surrealism, and the irrationality of “realism.”
Examples in the visual arts: See Dali’s 1931 painting at the Museum of Modern Art “The Persistence of Memory;”
See also The Treachery of Images, 1929 by Rene Magritte
https://www.renemagritte.org/the-treachery-of-images.jsp
From another era: The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters Etching by Francisco Goya, 1799
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Yes!!!!
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The term I use is “irreality”. Irreality (n.) The reality beyond the surreal. ex. Setting up a seller account with Amazon. Irreality is composed of idiologues worshipping idiologies of mammon.
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Off but on topic
https://www.thenation.com/article/the-department-of-justice-is-overseeing-the-resegregation-of-american-schools/
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Thank you for the information, Joel. Appreciate it.
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