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Originally posted by second:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

In other words, it was not the book you were looking for.

But it certainly seems to show what I already knew about Bolton and what you should have.

WTF did you think was going to be in that book, dummy?

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Bolton, as an author, is a smart observer. Trump, as an author, is stupid and oblivious.

All those synonyms describe Trump, but not Bolton:
unaware
unconscious
heedless
unmindful
insensible
unheeding
ignorant
blind
deaf
unsuspecting
unobservant

Bolton is worth reading for his smart observations. Trump is not worth reading because of his stupid observations and all around lying in every paragraph he writes, especially about business. But both Trump and Bolton are Republicans. It is simply that one them is out-of-his-mind crazy and it is not Bolton.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Originally posted by 1KIKI:
Should Biden win, he'd be a disaster for democracy. We might as well just forget about self-rule and sign our souls over to the global corporation.

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

I have no interest in reading either of their fucking books man. Who the hell brought that up.


The topic of discussion here is how John Bolton is one of the biggest pieces of shit who ever lived and he didn't write the book you were hoping that he would write.


You REALLY wanted to give him a pass for his past atrocities. I know it was VERY painful for vox to write that article about his book.


I'm honestly floored that they did. Obviously it's laced with all the agenda driven bullshit we've come to expect from Vox, and they in no way come to the takeaway that they should have or suggest their readers do the same...


But wow... Maybe we've finally found somebody so fucking awful that even Vox can't get behind them even if they have something bad to say about Trump.

I never thought I'd see the day.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Originally posted by 1KIKI:
I always find articles funny that rely on anonymous sources who mind-read other people.

If Barr TRULY believes something, there should be a trail of statements from the mind of Barr himself that indicate it.

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Originally posted by 1KIKI:
Should Biden win, he'd be a disaster for democracy. We might as well just forget about self-rule and sign our souls over to the global corporation.

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Originally posted by 1KIKI:
Not really. As I keep posting, and neither extremely partisan side seems to understand, just because I'm against someone doesn't mean I'm for the other side.

I dislike them both, because BOTH of them will take the planet in the wrong direction when it comes to global warming and nuclear threat. And those are my 2 bottom-line priorities.

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Originally posted by second:
More Tax Cuts From the GOP

In 1993 Bill Clinton passed a tax increase to reduce the deficit. Republicans insisted it would do no such thing. In fact, they said, it would cripple the economy.

They were wrong. The economy boomed, and for the first time since the Roaring ’20s the deficit turned into a surplus for four consecutive years.

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Originally posted by 1KIKI:
Not really. As I keep posting, and neither extremely partisan side seems to understand, just because I'm against someone doesn't mean I'm for the other side.

I dislike them both, because BOTH of them will take the planet in the wrong direction when it comes to global warming and nuclear threat. And those are my 2 bottom-line priorities.

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Originally posted by THG:
Jacks one of those loyal democrats who loves social programs. That is, until they are extended to minorities. Then he hates the democrats for doing that and becomes a bigoted republican. Who, try to only provide social program assistance to white people.

T

Deep state describes dedicated, educated professionals.

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Trump is the president.

Sorry not sorry if that's Double Plus Ungood to you, Napoleon. Or is it Mr. Pilkington.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Originally posted by second:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Trump is the president.

Sorry not sorry if that's Double Plus Ungood to you, Napoleon. Or is it Mr. Pilkington.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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For all rich Americans, Trump is double plus good. But for less than rich Americans: “I have an Article 2 of the Constitution, where I have the right to do whatever I want as president.” No, Article II does not grant Trump absolute power to do ‘Whatever’ he wants, but what he wants is to help himself and me to large amounts of money. I am for that. If Trump wasn't crazy, or it was Pence for President, I'd vote for the GOP candidate just to get more money.

https://hillreporter.com/no-article-ii-does-not-grant-trump-absolute-p
ower-to-do-whatever-he-wants-analysis-41451

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

Yeah. We get it. You're rich dude.

lol

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
BTW... Pence will never be president. He's got to be the most boring and silent VP that ever existed, and most people haven't even heard him speak once since he debated Kane.

I wouldn't be surprised if the lead-up to 2024 saw somebody like Candice Owens running on the Republican ticket, and I think she'd get the nomination too.

I would so love to see the first female and black female president be on the Republican ticket. Get Ivanaka as her running mate and they can't lose in 2024.



You guys and gals should really go on YouTube more and see what actual black people have to say about 2020 so far instead of letting rich white people on CNN and MSNBC tell you what they think.

But be warned that you're going to have that fantasy world you've been living in shattered if you do.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
You, personally, cannot do any of that.

You live in your mom's basement and leach off of her.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Laura Miller is an activist and Slate is trash.



Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Obamacare, along with other Democrat policies, is turning the middle class into the poor.

Soon we won't have to worry about that pesky third class anymore. We'll be just like the Russians. Good times.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Originally posted by second:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Obamacare, along with other Democrat policies, is turning the middle class into the poor.

Soon we won't have to worry about that pesky third class anymore. We'll be just like the Russians. Good times.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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The prices paid for Obamacare are set by the Medical profession, which chooses the prices to maximize their wealth. Capitalists love that arrangement. In stark contrast, the prices paid by the elderly for Medicare are set by the Federal government. Capitalists hate that interference with their wealth building. It would be better if the government set the prices for both Obamacare and Medicare. Maybe the prices should be exactly the same for everybody, but the Medical profession does not want that, since different prices for different people will maximize wealth building by doctors, hospitals, drug companies, etc.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

If you're looking for an argument from me that the system isn't broke, then look elsewhere.

But all "Obamacare" did was make the rich richer.

If and when you ever stop pretending that isn't the case, we can have a discussion about it.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
"What do we get wrong about the Declaration of Independence?"

According to Vox.



Nobody gives a shit what Vox has to say on that subject matter.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Originally posted by second:
Russian democracy is a farce. Putin and Trump want the same fate for America

Opinion by Garry Kasparov
"Garry Kasparov is the chairman of the Renew Democracy Initiative. The views expressed in this commentary are his own."

Updated 1:10 AM ET, Sun July 5, 2020

The Kremlin bullied and bribed Russians to the ballot box again on Wednesday, the latest episode of what long ago became a painful mockery of democracy. Democracy means choices, and there has been no real choice in Russia for many years. All roads, all votes, lead to Vladimir Putin.

The plebiscite was on changing the Russian constitution to, among other things, allow Putin to stay in power until 2036. Of course, "allow" is a silly word to use when Putin was always going to rule the Kremlin until he's carried out, no matter what any piece of paper says. Even this formality was a foregone conclusion; the new constitution was available for purchase on newsstands and bookstores for days ahead of the vote. Early analysis from statistician Sergey Shpilkin shows an estimated 22 million fake votes out of a reported 74 million cast. www.newsweek.com/ballot-fraud-gave-russias-putin-22-million-extra-vote
s-says-expert-1515314

It's fair to ask, why bother with the pretense of democracy? Dictatorships are obsessed with the superficial trappings of legitimacy and democracy, both as distraction and to sully the meaning of these terms. And after decades of liquidating the opposition and crushing all dissent, a despot might even enjoy thinking that he's as popular as the worthless polls, elections and state media say he is.

These sham votes aren't only to provide Putin with cover in Russia, where civil society barely exists, but to give foreign leaders the pretext of treating Putin like an equal instead of confronting him like the autocrat he is. It also allows foreign media to continue calling him "president," putting him on par with the leaders of free countries. As with every tyrant before him, Putin thrives partly due to the cowardice of those who could deter him but choose not to.

These aren't just semantics. It would be awkward, even outrageous, to make deals with dictator Putin, to trust him, or to speak fondly of him the way President Donald Trump does. The title feeds the hypocrisy, and so the myth of Putin the elected, Putin the popular, must be perpetuated.

This is a choice to be made by every foreign official and every media organization. They could make sure to mention in their coverage that Russian elections are neither free nor fair. They could strip Putin of the democratic title of "president," of which he is unworthy -- and they should.

With Russia's disastrous coronavirus response exposing the myth of Putin's competence and weakening the economy further, it's no surprise that he's looking abroad again. In an interview for a recently-aired documentary, Putin talked about "historical Russian territories" and condemned former Soviet republics, saying they should have "left with what they arrived, rather than taking with them gifts from the Russian people" when the USSR broke up in 1991. Considering that Putin has already invaded two former Soviet republics, Georgia and Ukraine, this must be taken as a clear threat.

Putin's apparent desire for fresh conquest brings us to his most successful operation yet, the ascension of Donald Trump as US president. The degree of influence Russian operations had on the 2016 election can never be known for sure, but whatever Putin invested, it's paid off a thousandfold. Even aside from Trump's bizarre loyalty to Putin personally, America's role as a global champion of democratic values has evaporated in a cloud of quid pro quos thanks to a president who is more likely to criticize traditional American allies than dictators like Putin and Xi Jinping.

For Putin to cross another border, he needs to know he won't face any serious opposition from the US, or from a NATO that is toothless without American support. In other words, he needs Trump to be in the White House, not Joe Biden. The only consistent thing about Trump's erratic foreign policy has been his refusal to criticize Putin, whose influence was confirmed in detail in John Bolton's new book. Even the shocking revelations that Russia was, according to reported intelligence, paying bounties to the Taliban for killing US troops have been met with typical White House obfuscation and claims of ignorance.

As for what Putin might do to help Trump in 2020, an expanded version of the hacking and disinformation campaigns of 2016 is just one of the potential worries. The Republican-led Senate seems ready to remove a requirement for campaigns to reveal foreign support, practically rolling out a red carpet to Putin and others like the Saudis and Chinese with a vested interest in keeping America out -- or at least on the sidelines -- of the pro-democracy business.

Putin came to power in 1999 in no small part due to the bombings of Russian apartment buildings that were blamed on Chechen terrorists. Then-prime minister Putin's brutal response brought him to prominence even as evidence mounted that the Russian security services had been caught in the act of plotting an apartment bombing in Ryazan. As a former KGB man, Putin prefers subtler methods, but as the recent assassinations of his political targets on foreign soil and the Afghanistan bounty program confirm, he has no allergy to blood, including American blood.

Along with the fear-mongering and violence, Putin exploited the legitimate grievances of the Russian people for his own gain. His themes were familiar ones: security, cultural preservation, ethnic tension. Twitter didn't exist then, but if it had, Putin would have been tweeting "Law & order!" in Russian. Those of us in the Russian pro-democracy movement had the dual challenge of protesting Putin's crackdowns while acknowledging the other problems the country faced.

I watched as Putin destroyed our fragile democracy by focusing only on his own power and wealth while mouthing nationalist rhetoric and attacking the free press. Now I'm watching Trump use many of the same techniques to chip away at democracy in my new home, although I cannot complain of exile when some of my Russian colleagues have been jailed or killed.

But Trump has yet to do his worst, a prediction I make with confidence not because I know what he will do, but because I know what such people are capable of.

Russian democracy is a farce, and Putin would like nothing more than to inflict the same fate on the American version. In this he has a partner in Trump, who accuses Democrats of trying to rig the elections, attacks voting by mail, and has done little to prevent the raging coronavirus pandemic that looks set to continue into November and sow chaos at the polls.

An ounce of deterrence is worth a pound of retaliation. US lawmakers, and candidate Biden, must make it clear that any attack on the integrity of the 2020 election will be met with the harshest penalties -- regardless of whether those attacks come from the Kremlin or from the Oval Office.

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Originally posted by second:

The anti-slavery symbolism of the Statue of Liberty is an overlooked part of the monument’s history.

The real saga of the Statue of Liberty — the symbolic face of America around the world, and the backdrop of New York’s dazzling Fourth of July fireworks show — is an obscure piece of U.S. history. It had nothing to do with immigration. The telltale clue is the chain under Lady Liberty’s feet: she is stomping on it. “In the early sketches, she was also holding chains in her hand,” Edward Berenson, a professor of history at New York University, told me last week. The shackles were later replaced with a tablet noting the date of America’s independence. But the shattered chain under her feet remained.

The statue was the brainchild of Edouard de Laboulaye, a prominent French expert on the U.S. Constitution who also headed the French Anti-Slavery Society. After the Civil War, in 1865, he wanted to commemorate the end of slavery in the U.S., enshrined in the new Thirteenth Amendment, which, in theory, reaffirmed the ideals of freedom — this time for all people — first embodied in the Declaration of Independence. The now famous line—“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” from a poem by Emma Lazarus — wasn’t added until 1903, Berenson noted. The poem had been donated as part of a literary auction to raise funds for the statue’s pedestal. France donated the statue; the Americans had to raise the funds to pay for its pedestal. Long after Lazarus’s death, a friend lobbied to have the poem engraved on a plaque and added to the base. It has since associated the Statue of Liberty with a meaning that Laboulaye never intended.

One has to wonder what Laboulaye would think of America today, amid one of the country’s gravest periods of racial turmoil since the Civil War. Last month, a poll by Ipsos found that an overwhelming majority of people in fourteen countries, on six continents, support the protests that erupted across the United States after the murder of George Floyd. Russia, the fifteenth country in the survey, was the only place where a minority — about a third — backed the demonstrators.

On the eve of America’s anniversary — our two hundred and forty-fourth — much of the world believes that the country is racist, battered and bruised. “Europe has long been suspicious — even jealous — of the way America has been able to pursue national wealth and power despite its deep social inequities,” Robin Niblett, the director of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, also known as Chatham House, in London, told me. “When you take the Acela and pass through the poorest areas of Baltimore, you can’t believe you’re looking at part of the United States. There’s always been this sense of an underlying flaw in the U.S. system that it was getting away with — that somehow America was keeping just one step ahead of the grim reaper.”

The flaw, he said, is reflected in the American obsession with the stock market as the barometer of national health — economically, politically, socially. The reaction to Floyd’s murder exposed the deep injustices in the American economic model, as well as in the police and judicial systems, Niblett said. Europeans, he added, are no longer so envious.

America’s standing worldwide has sunk before, although usually over foreign-policy decisions, such as the invasion of Iraq, in 2003. The mood globally feels different now, Richard Burkholder, who was the director of Gallup’s international polling for decades, told me. Criticism is now focussed on American practices at home. “The United States was once a beacon,” he said. “I don’t see people looking up to us as they did before.” Fintan O’Toole, a columnist for the Irish Times, was blunter. “Over more than two centuries, the United States has stirred a very wide range of feelings in the rest of the world: love and hatred, fear and hope, envy and contempt, awe and anger,” he wrote, in April. “But there is one emotion that has never been directed towards the US until now: pity.”

More at https://web.archive.org/web/20200703160808/https://www.newyorker.com/n
ews/our-columnists/to-the-world-were-now-america-the-racist-and-pitiful

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Originally posted by captaincrunch:

Also good:
https://cafe.com/stay-tuned/stay-tuned-putin-pawns-and-propaganda-with
-garry-kasparov/

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