A loved one just died, and today is her birthday. #Sad

I speak, of course, of America.

America became very ill early last year when one of the two main political parties seriously embraced a fake candidate for the most important job in the land.

America was given a very poor prognosis in August when that party endorsed this clown for president. Then, in November, the fatal blow happened, but as is the case with many fatal things -- being sentenced to death, being told you have incurable cancer, etc. -- it took a while before the death throes.

From some point in time, around January, though the late winter and spring, we gained the full realization that the country's election had been hacked (already suspected), but that the people who voted for the clown didn't care. Then the leaders of the world singly or in small groups wrote off America and its leader, and so on. The last moments of life consisted of this or that horrific tweet or tweet storm, perhaps yesterday morning's short video of the clown pretending to beat the crap of the press at a boxing match was the moment.

Unlike in the movies, it is sometimes hard to tell exactly when death happens. We understand it as a range of time.

Now, there is still life in this country. But it is not the essential life. It is the life we find in a dead carp washed up on a stinking muddy bank. The maggots, the bacteria, the bits of still greenish water plant stuck to the gills. Life, yes, but not the life. There are those who had wished the clown would be elected so that he could destroy America and we can start over. They got the first part of their wish. The second part is unlikely to be realized in their benighted lifespans. Today the stinking carp-clown is putting together a list and we all know what he is going to use that list for.

Do you, America, have the understanding you need, the bravery you need, and the commitment you need to renew the revolution? I think not. You've shown no evidence that you do.

There are advantages to living in a third world country. But those advantages come only after the fall has completed, and that will take some decade or two worth of misery, and those advantages will only pertain to the richest of the rich. They, the richest of the rich, have taken, finally, what they want.

The bad news is this: The hyper-privileged have won. The good news: They won a stinking dead carp. Enjoy, suckers.

A fish rots from the head.

This pertains:

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Poor depressed Greg, what will he do?

[He'll delete your comments and throw you off my blog again]

I laughed out loud -- yes, LOL -- when I saw up above the juxtaposed pictures of Dead Carp and Supine Clown. Now, amid all this Russian intervention in U.S. politics, I have feverishly been coding Russian artificial intelligence in Perl. Then in Russian I announce my work in a Russian AI Forum. I am counting on the Russians developing my AI in such a manner that it takes down the Trump regime.

By Mentifex (Arth… (not verified) on 04 Jul 2017 #permalink

We're still experiencing a sucking wound from America's original sin. It can draw in all different kinds of infectious crap.

You know how white supremacists are always puffing and gabbling about starting a race war. You can hear a repurposed version of that among culture warriors. It's weird human psychology, cleansing with blood.

So now things are slowly heating up once again while bobble-heads bobble and virulent trolls instigate:
https://www.juancole.com/2017/07/whats-victorious-obsession.html

By Obstreperous A… (not verified) on 04 Jul 2017 #permalink

So the Republicans set up a mega primary for their presidential candidate, and it pretty much consisted of a cage fight. And guess what. The biggest thug walked out of the cage with the belt. Then, with the help of the biggest thug in the enslaved world (Putin) , he squeaked out an electoral college victory.

Lady Liberty has now been replaced with a bona fide fascist authority figure. A tasteless, bullying, uncurious, prejudiced, poorly educated lout. He is ruining a half century of diplomacy. He is stoking the fires of division and polarization everywhere in the world, and he really couldn't have done it without the Republican Party.

Somebody please strike a Hero of the Republicans award for Reince Priebus. He has finally and successfully delivered payback to everyone who ever put a “Kick Me” sign on his back. In spades! The fact that he may have mortally wounded his country in the process is not important because the only country that matters to Republicans is Republicanistan; a land that claims Lincoln but votes Duke. A place where empathy and compassion has no place, and where the ultimate love of country is self love.

Way to bring the stupid Wesley. That last post shows your keen lack of intellect well.

Democrats, try not to nominate a crook next time. Obama vs Trump in 2008, he is over 500 electoral votes, and maybe a sweep(even if Trump neutralizes Obama's biggest issue).

Crook? Do you have information on trials and convictions everyone else doesn't mikeN, or is it that more of your usual baseless crap?

Depressing times. Throwing a right wing ignoramus like Betula off of your blog will slightly lessen the gloom. But the silver lining in all of this is that the election of a sexist, misogynistic, racist, anti environmental buffoon might be just what is needed for progressives to rally for real change. Trump of course is an unmitigated disaster on every level. But let's see if the descent into fascism can be prevented by critical mass.

By Jeff Harvey (not verified) on 04 Jul 2017 #permalink

Nope have no trials and convictions. Nevertheless, you might want to consider someone who meets a higher standard.

So MikeN, how do explain the liars and thieves in the Trump administration? The entire bunch of them are vile. Not a redeeming trait amongst any of them. Pence, De Vos, Pruitt, Tillersen, Perry et al. Pure unadulterated scum. With Tump himself the worst of the lot.

By Jeff Harvey (not verified) on 04 Jul 2017 #permalink

"Nope have no trials and convictions."

So when you said "crook" you were lying, "mike".

"you might want to consider someone who meets a higher standard."

Irony.

And when it comes to politicians lying, you need to blame yourself, "mike". When Hillary said to the coal workers "Face it, your jobs aren't coming back", nobody there cared she was telling the truth and didn't listen to the "We need to teach you new skills for new jobs", they just heard "You're piles of worthless shit" because to them their job WAS them. And when trumpaline lied out of his orange arse with "You're gonna be so busy with the jobs I'm bringing back", they didn't, and still don't in some cases, care that he lied, knew he was lying, and THEY knew he was lying.

When politicians lie on the campaign trail, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT. Because you reward liars with votes then forgive them with partisan BS "Oh everyone does it". Yet if some politican doesn't lie, if you don't like the truth, you punish them.

No wonder they fucking lie. You make them.

Poor depressed Greg, what will he do?
[He’ll delete your comments and throw you off my blog again]

I didn't realize I had ever been thrown off before....when was this and what was it for?

Thanks.

Nevertheless, you might want to consider someone who meets a higher standard.

Considering you believe President Trump is a great choice and is doing a fine job as president, I can only assume you have no standards at all, and that "rich, white, anti woman, anti minority, anti poor, anti decency." work just fine for you.

Well said Dean. Throw in anti-environmental, anti-intellectual, anti-compassion for good measure. Thus far the worst POTUS by far in history and he had only just begun.

By Jeff Harvey (not verified) on 05 Jul 2017 #permalink

If Trump had lost, there would have been lots of people saying, grumbling, angry, that Republicans nominated the wrong candidate and lost a winnable election. I doubt there would have been universal rejection of someone who said, 'Next time don't nominate an assaulter of women.' There would have been no counters of 'you have trials and convictions?'

I'd have liked it if the liberal candidate lost for being a liberal, but unfortunately I know being a crook was a large part of it.

Hillary a liberal? Now you really have me on the floor. Truth is that Hillary is a neoconservative who would have fit well into the Reagan administration. Why else would Kagan, Perle, Wolfowitz and Kristol back her nomination? Noam Chomsky was saying this week that the US has gone so far to the right since Reagan that even 'socialist' Bernie Sanders would have been politically closer to Eisenhower. The bottom line Mike is that you don't have a clue what you are talking about.

By Jeff Harvey (not verified) on 05 Jul 2017 #permalink

Nope, being a crook was not part of it.

The constant barrage of accusations of being a crook was part of it.

So, again, you continue the complete fabrication of reality and prove that you don't have any standards.

I’d have liked it if the liberal candidate lost for being a liberal

As others pointed out, she is not liberal (unless you mean not thinking minorities are inferior and same sex marriage is fair is enough to qualify someone as liberal). She is primarily right of center, just as President Obama was when he continued most of President Bush's policies.

but unfortunately I know the constant lies from the right that began in the 90s that accused her of being a crook without any proof, trial, or conviction was a large part of it.

Fixed your poorly written sentence for you: you admitted there were no trials and convictions -- you know the usual things that mean you can factually call someone a crook.

I doubt there would have been universal rejection of someone who said, ‘Next time don’t nominate an assaulter of women.’

Really? There are people who say he didn't mock a handicapped man even though he was recorded doing it. There are people who say he didn't encourage supporters to assault protesters even though he was recorded at rallies doing just that -- and offering to pay legal fees. There are people who say he treats women with respect despite the recordings of him saying despicable things (reference his "blood" comments or "grab them by the ****) and contestants at his pageants saying he had a habit of walking unannounced into their dressing rooms.

There would have been no counters of ‘you have trials and convictions?

As pointed out above, there have been flat out "he didn't do that" in spite of the evidence of him doing (whatever "that" references).

The difference is that your cries of "crook" are bullshit because they are based on your opinion without any supporting fact (no surprise there, that is the common method for the modern right), but the comments about President Trump are based on things he's been recorded, videoed, or both, saying.

I guess you're right and I'm wrong. Hillary is not a crook. She is as healthy as Paul Bunyan. Her speeches are a combination of Obama and Lincoln. She is the most qualified ever to seek the office.

Yet she still lost to an incompetent, fascist, insulting, assaulting, bully who can't talk right.

Must be that on the issues his positions are so overwhelmingly favored.

Count me in for he didn't mock a handicapped reporter. There is video of Trump doing the same thing to Ted Cruz, the generals who he claims he knows more about ISIS than them, and even Donald Trump. The media fooled you by putting a still photo of the reporter to make you think he had the same disability that Trump was supposedly mocking.

Now poor old Mike is getting tetchy. Whoever said that Clinton was not a crook? I loathe her and the DNC. They sandbagged the Sanders campaign and their was certainly skullduggery involved. The Democrats are just as beholden to the rapaciously predatory form of capitalism called neoliberalism as the Republicans. Both parties have overseen a corporate coup-det-tat in slow motion in the US, what writer Sheldon Wolin refers to as 'inverted totalitarianism'. Sanders was hardly a 'socialist' but at least he was not part of the wretched established order. Noam Chomsky said recently that the US has swung so far to rhe right in since Reagan was in power that Sanders' policies would not have differed much from Eishenower's.

The bottom line is that anyone who voted for Trump but who is not filthy rich needs to have their head examined,. My guess is that you fit into this category. Trump and his regime are vile in just about every way. Despite his rhetoric, he has pushed the US from a plutocracy towards a kleptocracy. Some achievement. He is an international embarrassment, as one goof after another proves. And he doesn't give a rat's ass about helping the poor or the disenfranchised, His regime is all about further concentrating wealth in an already lopsided society. That middle and working class people actually voted for this vile idiot says a lot about society and about the profound ignorance that pervades it.

By Jeff Harvey (not verified) on 06 Jul 2017 #permalink

"There is video of Trump doing the same thing to Ted Cruz"

Ah, wrong, "Mike". That is no proof of anything other than he hates and despises Ted Cruz.

Not proof he didn't mock a reporter for being disabled.

Try again.

Count me in for he didn’t mock a handicapped reporter.

I'm not surprise. Denial of facts is one of your only consistent attributes.

There is video of Trump doing the same thing to Ted Cruz, the generals who he claims he knows more about ISIS than them, and even Donald Trump.

Show me the video of him waving his hands around, waving his arms spastically, imitating slurred speech, when he talks about Cruz and the generals. Otherwise -- your comment is just another lie.

The media fooled you by putting a still photo of the reporter to make you think he had the same disability that Trump was supposedly mocking.

No two ways around that one -- it's simply a bald faced lie.

Your other comment (@21) is just the typical right-wing bullshit, pretending (or, in your case, I believe, believing) that pointing out someone is not a crook is exactly the same as designating that person a saint. Completely asinine, but par for the course for you.

They sandbagged the Sanders campaign and their was certainly skullduggery involved.

That's as foolish and unsupported as anything mikeN has said.

"I guess you’re right and I’m wrong. Hillary is not a crook"

When we tell you you need proof to say Hilary is a crook and point out you have sweet F A, why the fuck do you come out with THAT load of sniveling BS, "mike"?

"Yet she still lost to an incompetent, fascist, insulting, assaulting, bully who can’t talk right."

Because those who voted for that incompetent, facist, insulting, sexual shitwad, bully coward who can't string two words together without proving himself a retarded narcissist with a massive ego and inability to take one second to think about anything (other than how to get his daughter in his bed) WANTED an incompetent, facist, insulting sexual shitwad bully coward because he was THEIR incompetent, facist, insulting, sexial shitwad, bully coward and not a woman or a black man.

Meanwhile those who look PAST the veneer of appearance saw there was little to no reason to vote for either, given they were both going to be rightwing.

>WANTED an incompetent, facist, insulting sexual shitwad bully coward because he was THEIR incompetent, facist, insulting, sexial shitwad, bully coward and not a woman or a black man.

Then how did Obama win? Is it because Trump's negatives are actually positives not possessed by Romney or McCain?
Should we conclude that for Dems to win they should avoid women and nominate someone more like Trump in character?

>>They sandbagged the Sanders campaign and their was certainly skullduggery involved.

>That’s as foolish and unsupported as anything mikeN has said.

We'll find out if judges let the lawsuit against DNC proceed.

MikeN, I'd like to think that not even you are trying to say that President Obama is "incompetent, facist, insulting sexual shitwad bully coward because he was THEIR incompetent, facist, insulting, sexial shitwad, bully coward".

Of course, he isn't white, so there is a good chance that you have exactly that opinion of him.

What MikeN hasn't explained is what wonderful qualities Trump posseses as POTUS. Moreover, what stunning policies has he promised or followed through on that will benefit ordinary Americas like Mike? I agree that the Democrats have become every but as much of property party as the Republicans. But Trump is utterly depraved. Is campaign was one big lie. He didn't drain the swamp but he filled it with a newer and bigger pile of corporate and banking scheisters than any previous administration had. He has filled his cabinet posts with rich kleptocrats and is pushing an agenda to further eviscerate public constraints in the pursuit of private profit. What makes this program so alluring Mike?

By Jeff Harvey (not verified) on 07 Jul 2017 #permalink

"Then how did Obama win? "

Because he ran and won.

Dumbass.

"Is it because Trump’s negatives are actually positives not possessed by Romney or McCain?"

Nope.

"Should we conclude that for Dems to win they should avoid women and nominate someone more like Trump in character?"

Nope again.

You really are a stupid fuckwit, aren't you "mike"?

"Trump on Cruz,"

Still says fuck all about anything other than his despite of Cruz. It doesn't prove he didn't mock a disabled reporter.

Try again, moron, and with less spazzing out, please.

"We’ll find out if judges let the lawsuit against DNC proceed."

Still has no bearing on the claim that that was "as foolish and unsupported as anything mikeN has said".

Dean, #31 I don't think that of Obama. Wow gave an explanation for why Trump beat Hillary, including that opponent was woman or black. That explanation does not appear consistent with Obama's winning. What changed? I don't think Trump's character is a positive that pushed him to victory(though some parts were). I think not nominating a crook would have given the Dems a victory, but others disagree. Why did Trump win, and what can Dems do to win next time?

"Wow gave an explanation for why Trump beat Hillary"

Nope. I did not you lying toerag.

I gave why Trump got votes. Because he's your asshole and party before country is your motto.

" including that opponent was woman or black"

Wrong again, asshat.

You prefer incomprehension, as long as you can manage to twist reality to say what you'd like to be there instead of what is there.

"What changed?"

The election.

It was a different one, moron.

"I don’t think Trump’s character is a positive that pushed him to victory"

Nope, you don't think, we all agree on that. But he's your asshole and he's getting back at those uppy lefties who won last time. You WANT hm to be a complete asshole. And you'll ignore his assholishness because he's YOUR asshole.

"I think not nominating a crook "

They didn't, idiot.

". Why did Trump win"

Because you trump supporters support YOUR arrogant and idiotic asshole, because YOU put party before country.

>>“Wow gave an explanation for why Trump beat Hillary”

>Nope. I did not

>“Yet she still lost to an ...

>Because ...and not a woman or a black man.

Well, ignore the fact that you are quotemining there, fuckwit, but that quote does not say why Trump beat Hillary.