(I originally wrote the following as a reply to a comment from seabe on Booman’s recent post No, You Are the McCarthyite. It grew, so here it is as a standalone post.)
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Seabe wrote:
Yeah I definitely wouldn’t reject it out of hand that many [Republicans] are compromised, including leadership.
Yes indeed.
Me too.
But…first of all, we must define the word “compromised.”
If a politician takes money…legally or not so legally…that has implicit strings attached, strings that the politician recognizes are not truly in the public interest…is that politician “compromised” or is it just more of the whole “private/public” rigamarole like HRC’s public gaffe in her little talk to the Wall Street boyz and girlsz.
If we take that as being “compromised,” then I suppose that almost the whole edifice of U.S. politics is compromised.
But what if it was possible to eliminate that sort of “compromise?” I believe that the entire country would grind to a screeching halt.That action is the lubricant that has greased the gears of this politico-economic system from its very onset, and most likely every other at least moderately successful one as well. The Russian Revolution was an attempt to subvert that greasing, and within only a few years the grease was once again flowing through its system. The only difference was that it was in politburo form rather than czarist form.
Same grease, same types of greasers.
So…in this brave new world where “borders” are easily subverted by teen-aged hackers let alone massive governmental spying edifices…where do we draw the line?
Damned if I know.
Do we draw it by party affiliation?
If the Clinton Foundation/DNC takes grease from mysterious sources and so does the RNC, do we simply line up behind our party of choice and duke it out? That is what is happening now, except compromised entities of both parties have allied with each other to get rid of President Loose Cannon and whomever is really backing him.
Or do we finally stand up and say “Enough is enough!!! Israeli money, Saudi money, multinational corporate money, Russian money and all of the rest of the monies from other interested parties that hold their interests above that of the American people? Enough!!! Stand down!!! We will handle our own affairs from here on in, thank you very much.”
Is this even possible to do!!!??? I don’t really know. In a sense this is why I have been interested in such a seemingly disparate group of politicians over the past several decades, all of whom are labelled different names by different people. Ross Perot, Ron Paul, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Trump’s campaign rhetoric if not his actions…even the much reviled Ralph Nader…they all at least sound like they are looking for a way to stop the anti-American grease from gumming up the works of government.
But “sounding” that way and actually being able to back it up with electoral victory are two very different things. Why? Because much of that money owns the media that are the controllers of most U.S. citizens’ minds, and other segments of that money are now being used to control peoples’ minds through social media.
What does this say about the U.S. electorate?
“We a bunch of dummies!!!” is what it says.
So it goes…
Sun Tzu said “Know your enemy.”
Walt Kelly said “We have met the enemy, and it is us.”
And there we jolly well are, aren’t we. (So said Lord Buckley, and if you’re not hip to him you are not hip to anything!!!)
Gotta run now…think on this, please.
And if you come to any positive conclusions, you know where to find me.
Get in touch.
Later…
AG
AG it’s not personal so no need to react in that way!
Martin points his poison-tipped arrows at the GOP lawmakers and right-wing fascists.
I do think when discussing the Mueller investigation, this is completely separate from the DNC malfeasance during the election campaign. Let Mueller do his task, for a special prosecutor in the political arena of U.S. Congress and Washington DC, that’s not easy.
Martin’s comment:
“There’s no daylight anymore between these right-wing American politicians and the Kremlin.”
Is foolish! American right-wing politicians and the GOP from the John McCain tribe have spurned Russophobia for many decades and increasingly since Ukraine’s first Orange Revolution in 2004.
I have written extensively to point this out and is at the heart of the misunderstanding between progressives on the “left” whatever that signifies in today’s political spectrum.
In 2018 with Brexit and Trump’s presidency, Europe will distance itself from U.S. aggressive military rhetoric and foreign policy statements. In 2017 it’s the Israel lobby which has profited from the collusion with the Trump transition team last year.
There was nothing “personal” about this post, Oui…except the possible survival of my own personal mortal ass and those of my family, my friends and my fellow citizens as this dreadnought ship of state continues to plow into ever more dangerous waters. I just want to see at least some part of the real truth cone out. Both mainstream parties are “compromised” as is the new third party, Los Trumpistas.
The best thing that I can see happening from the Mueller investigation…an impossible dream, I suppose, a pipe dream if I indeed smoked anything (which I do not)…is that his investigation ends up indicting members of both parties for illegal ‘collusion” with foreign powers and/or financial irregularities of the felony level.
Dream on…
AG
P.S. And…I was responding to seabe, not Booman.
Martin (and those in his little clique of Clintonistas) has more than once called me a Russia-Putin stooge; so, I do take it personally while I find it laughable that he asserts that only the GOP are the the current McCarthyites. They also have yet to stop painting Assange and Wikileaks (and often Snowden) with that same broad and evidence free brush.
McCarthyism didn’t so much die with the takedown of Joe, it remained a potent fixture on the US landscape. Toned down a bit. Daniel Ellsberg was subjected to that crap. Had he released the PP while LBJ was in office, would Democrats have behaved differently than Nixon and Republicans did? (Recall that the information in the PP stopped before Nixon was president.)
Had they been so inclined NY, NYC, the FED, and DOJ authorities could probably have busted Trump long ago (and a few others as well, ie Manfort, Tony Podesta and who knows how many others). Why didn’t they? (For goodness sake,for years Mueller had an asset sitting in Trump’s office.) Why were all the VIP banksters left alone? The problem with Mueller’s investigation (the precedent was set with Starr and Whitewater) is that he has already exceeded the formal limits of his charge. If he ends up busting the TrumpCrimeFamily, I won’t shed any tears, but I will refuse to join in with Democrats triumphalism because that would be too similar to the behavior of Republicans when Starr found Lewinsky and set a perjury trap for Clinton. And it won’t get to the bottom of who and how DNC and Podesta files ended up in Wikileaks hands. And the nefarious acts of the Clinton campaign and DNC will be swept away and normalized for use by either party in the future.
Just posted my newest diary over @EuroTrib …
○ Unbelievable … Jaap De Hoop Scheffer
“The West should respect the red lines of Russia.”
Yep, just recently I met the former NATO secretary general while buying a book as Xmas present for a friend.
JDHS is a former acquaintance long before he became Dutch foreign minister of the Iraq War fame.
Ever since I have seen the SG become more entangled in the web of right-wing intrigues of an aggressive NATO policy of the West.
…
Will have to wait one day due to the 2 diaries a day limit and post it here @BooMan … a mea culpa from JDHS, late and I’m not sure whether it is sincere! 🙁
Not today (tomorrow). At the moment I’ve had it up to here will all the commie/russia/putin hysteria initiated by those that just can’t believe Clinton lost and refuse to look at all the real factors that led to it (it’s not just Clinton and the DNC but they were big players in it).
The Golden Globe Awards tonight had more relevant substance than that travesty of a general election. Oprah’s gave one hell of a speech. It was touching to me to see the actresses that invited women doing important work as their guests. And the movies — so much to discuss in so many from 2018 (and there are several that I have yet to see). Unfortunately nobody here is interested in movies or books (other than political trash).
Ok. I’ll bite. Movies. My top 10 from last year in no particular order except number one.
The Lego Batman Movie
Get Out
Call Me by Your Name
I am Not Your Negro
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing MO.
Dunkirk
Good Time
Baby Driver
The Shape of Water
The Florida Project
Other notables include Lady Bird, Lady Macbeth, Strong Island, Wonder Woman, Personal Shopper, Guardians of The Galaxy 2, Mudbound, Spider-Man, Homecoming and Ex Libris: New York Public Library.
YMMV
Now that’s a 2018 movie-goers list! Mine gets mostly restricted by what plays at the cheap ticket theater (and my limited budget). So have to wait a bit for them to get there and not all the movies that I’m more inclined to see make it at all. I did pass on all the sequels and sci-fi and comic-book/action hero movies in 2017. Probably a mistake not to relent and see “Wonder Woman.” I’m also off WWII movies; so, passed on “Dunkirk” and not inclined to see “The Darkest Hour.” “Get Out” didn’t play and “Baby Driver” didn’t interest me that much.
On the plus side, I don’t see too many clunkers and often enough some that have merit or are quite good and get overlooked. Clunker: “Wonder” (but the two child actors were good enough). Merit: “Wind River,” “Roman J Israel, Esq.” and “Battle of the Sexes. All three missed on the story telling, but Jeremy Renner, Denzel Washington, Steve Carrell, and Emma Stone delivered fine performances. Good: “American Made.” “Marshall” hits on all cylinders. Thematically all of them can be paired with other recent or current movies and/or issues.
“The Shape of Water” is well imagined (as good as derivative gets) and crafted and Sally Hawkins (at the top of current younger actresses) and Octavia Spencer always deliver. I liked it, but not much there to discuss. “Three Billboards …” falls short of knock-your-socks-off (the curse of flashbacks and voice-overs in movie story-telling and minor character casting or performance misses). However, thematically it’s multi-note. (IMO could have used a couple fewer or softer notes.)
The central theme of “Wind River” and “Three Billboards…” is similar. (I’m trying to avoid spoilers.) And the budgets, at $11 million and $12 million respectively, were similar as well, but only “Wind River” looked small budget. Everything about “Three Billboards …” is much better than “Wind River.” As the better of the two, “Three Billboards ..” is also better positioned to benefit from this cultural moment. (Still, McDormand and Rockwell are doing much of the heavy lifting (and Harrelson as usual hit his marks)). Unlike “Battle of the Sexes” that got most of the trees right but missed the forest.
While I have yet to see it, “The Greatest Showman” had an inherent advantage in “hitting the moment.” Apparently squandered that.
Didn’t see the movie and neither did my sister, but she remarked during a TV series rerun how much Wonder Woman comics meant to her when she was a girl and Wonder Woman was the only one with a female hero. She despised Lois Lane.
Back on track, my daughter and her whole family saw the premier of the newest Star War movie and enjoyed it immensely. The last one I saw was the third although SlingTV (maybe on AMC?) ran a marathon of all six(?) before the week of the premier. I haven’t been in a movie theater for many years. But I have seen some recent movies on DVD.
I junked comic books in favor of books before I developed any appreciation or loathing for comic book characters and never watched the later Wonder Woman TV show. But Lois Lane was an award winning reporter — not so common when created or in the decades after when your sister and I would have been exposed to it. A precursor to the professional “having it all” female prototype.
The latest Star Wars is getting higher scores from audiences than the past few sequels did. The first one was fun. Good enough to get me to see the second one and that was it for me. (Same with “Hunger Games” although only half of the first one was good.) Sci-fi/fantasy and sequels are a tough sell with me.
Movies, for the most part, are made to be seen on a big screen, in a theater, and with an audience. That’s at least half the experience. More entertaining and sociable, something we all could use more of. You no longer have a good excuse for not getting out. Netflix (and the video rental precursor) is good to catch a movie that wasn’t in wide enough release to see (mostly foreign films), those that were missed due to time constraints when it played in theaters, and an opportunity for a second viewing of one that was enjoyed in a theater.
It’s really difficult to recommend a movie to those that never go to the movies because so few movies are generically accessible and enjoyable for most. Thinking of both you and your wife, “Hidden Figures” (2016) was an exception. “Beauty and the Beast” (also 2016) would also have worked. Current releases? Non-movie goers like “Wonder.” Or try “The Greatest Showman” — the rating are decent enough that it should be safe for the two of you and add some spice to your life.
Thanks for the recommendations. I used to see four movies a week when I was a kid, before I got a driver’s license. Two double features at two of the three theaters in town in different combinations. I guess somewhere along the way I got movied out. In the ’70s I was married with a young kid and money was tight. In the ’80s I had a teenager and sometimes saw a movie with her. I remember Star Wars (actually 1977 and she was pre-teen), Indiana Jones, and Sudden Impact.
Report back. Knowing what someone has enjoyed makes it easier to suggest other movies.
I think what she didn’t like about Lois Lane was her always getting into trouble and having to be rescued by a man.
Update from the “damsel in distress” story-line. But any old man wouldn’t do to rescue a woman working in a man’s world; that’s a job for Superman.
Women may fantasize about not needing a man to rescue them from whatever, but it’s still the format of chick-flicks, Rom-Com and romance novels.
Generational difference? My daughter always preferred the Doctor Who Leila, Star Wars Princess Leia types who dispatched all enemies without aide of a man.
No — women have liked “tough broads” in movies since the 1930s. It’s just that, unlike men, we know it’s fantasy because the woman always ends up melting into the arms of a man.
There was that one time — still debating on writing a diary about it; so, won’t say more for now.
If you stream: Mudbound and Strong Island are both on Netflix. I can’t believe I left off The Big Sick, which is excellent, and on Amazon prime.
Don’t subscribe to either. Occasionally borrow a disc and watch it on the player, but TV does small screen better.
Got to agree, but got sick of gummy floors, loud morons, and high prices. But some movies are better on the big screen. I was going to watch “Master and Commander” with my grandson but next week when it was supposed to play, the theater was closed. We later watched it on TV (or DVD, I forget which). Those naval battle scenes were much more spectacular in the big screen previews. OTOH, a mystery or comedy is usually no different on the small screen.Decades of TV watching let’s me adjust my field of view to the screen. And my mind automatically blanks on commercials.
Not even my cheap seats theater has gummy floors and loud morons.
The high priced theaters do have newer and plusher seats, but my ass does fine in non-padded seats. The Sis can now get her non-movie going hubby out for carefully selected (IOW WWII) movies at the really upscale theater. A food/drink order pad on the plush seat arm (apparently real food and drink and not movie theater snack bar munchies) that’s delivered right to the table connected to the seats. Ends up running $50-$60/per.
(As I kid I figured out that I could see one movie with a snack or two movies without snacks. So, I never developed a movie munchie habit. And honestly that movie theater with food grosses me out.)
Not really a movie goer. I am a projectionist at a large, cultural institution and we screen most of the new releases as well as a large number of foreign and revival material.
I could never afford to go to that many films in NYC, and as ASG states below, the multiplex experience is highly unpleasant. I only go when I take my son to the movies or when I am hired to project 70mm content (the theaters don’t have actual projectionists anymore).
That said, there are places in the city that are doing the good work of quality presentation, such as Metrograph, Film Forum, Walter Reade, my place, the soon to be defunct Lincoln Plaza cinema and the newly reopened Quad.
About 10-15 years ago, the Cub scouts arranged a behind the scenes tour of the local theater. I found the machinery and statistics fascinating. Including the incredible charges for a print, exclusive of royalties. I knew then and there that the industry would shift to downloading files instead of making and shipping prints. The machinery was a real tour de force though.
I always wish I had more time for movies or recreational reading. Last couple years have not been kind in that regard. Did manage to catch Wonder Woman, Spiderman Homecoming, Blade Runner 2049, and Star Wars: The Last Jedi. If you got the impression that I am a bit of a super hero and sci fi buff, that would be accurate. My daughters loved Wonder Woman as well as Spiderman Homecoming. My son and I went to catch the Blade Runner sequel in large part because we both are familiar with the original (I remember it from the 1980s, and I’ve had an old VHS copy forever, which still works and is what my son would remember). We enjoyed it, but given how it fared at the box office, I suspect a sequel resolving that ending is not in the offing. The new Star Wars film finally made a convert out of the one holdout in our family. Was really hoping to catch Get Out while it was out on the big screen. Eventually I’ll just get the DVD. Also intended to catch Three Billboards Outside Ebbing MO, as it looked like a compelling story. An extended bout of bronchitis put the kibosh on that.
I reread the Millennium series series in anticipation of the fifth installment (The Girl Who Takes An Eye For An Eye), and did manage to squeeze in some time to read the latest book when it came out. I enjoyed the original trilogy (my son had turned me on to the Swedish films about seven years ago). The fourth book (The Girl in the Spider’s Web) was David Lagercrantz’ first effort at continuing the series about a decade after the initial series was published, and I was pleasantly surprised at how well he grasped the psychology of Stieg Larsson’s characters. So I was a bit disappointed with the fifth book. It felt more like filler until a presumed sixth book appears. Maybe it was the translation? Not sure. The writing seemed a bit sloppy. I’m sure I’ll give at least another book in the series a chance, if for no other reason than I am just invested enough in Lisbeth Salander’s character that I suppose I can’t help but to want to know more about how she continues to develop.
Got to include Disney money, Apple money, Goldman-Sachs money, Ford money, Boeing money, Exxon money …
Included in the phrase “other interested parties that hold their interests above that of the American people.”
AG
The modern movie experience, in a nutshell:
Bad sound. Too loud. Too expensive, as well.
15-25 minutes of crass ads…things from which I turn off the sound and look away online.
Dumb audiences…see the above. Both “aboves.” And the “belows” as well.
Long lines…at least in NYC…and no good food nearby that doesn’t cost at least a 300% markup and is served in an environment that is usually absolutely poisoned by:
1-Terrible acoustics…usually amplified by equally terrible background music.
2-Rushed and/or incompetent service, the subtext of which is “Hurry up!!! Choose your food and eat it the fuck up. We have bills to pay!!!
3-Millennial patrons who don’t have a clue about anything except instagramming their food and chatting/Twittering on their phones.
and
4-Tiny, uncomfortable mini-theaters with terrible sightlines and acoustics.
Or…you can go to Netflix. If of course the latest, hottest-thing-ever flicks are even available on Netflix; you can afford to pay for them through Netflix and you have a fast enough internet service to actually see them in real time.
I’ll settle in with Henry Thoreau or James Joyce, myself.
On paper.
Or of course…go online and watch the neocentrist idiots convolute themselves into caricatures of real progessives and choke on their own bile.
The best show in town, really.
Later…
AG
P.S Did i mention the absolute breakdown of public transportation in NYC?
No?
I have now…
My daughter sent me this link. Unbelievable!
JFK flooded
Not so unbelievable. JFK is an ongoing shitshow. Has been since…oh, I don’t know…say around 9/11. It’s a badly run, gigantic, Third World shitshow.
As is the public transportation system here. The subways are simply not to be relied upon, especially at night, on holidays and on weekends. The busses are incredibly slow, mostly because of the automobile traffic that has built up mainly because people don’t trust the subways and/or commuter trains.
This is the real deal from a (roughly) 16th generation New Yorker. Even in the depths of the failed ’70s…high crime, graffitied subways, dirty, garbage-laden streets and all… you could at least count on the subways to run, 24/7. No more. The simplest midday/weekday trek from the Bronx to midtown…a trip I make several times a week…has to be plotted like a hike through dangerous territory using travel apps. I never leave the house to take public transportation now without figuring out at least three different ways of getting where I’m going and getting back, and trips to Brooklyn or Queens from here? Forget about it!!! It’s a half a day just traveling. Every time. I drive to those areas instead. At least there’s adequate street parking if you know your stuff. Manhattan? From 110th St. on down to the financial district? Forget about that as well. You often can’t even find metered parking during most of the day and evening unless you really know travel and parking patterns, and parking garages are out of sight expensive!!!
New York.
Now…outside of the gentrified portions, about 1/8th of the entire 5 boroughs…the largest third world city in the U.S.
Bet on it.
Why do I stay?
‘Cuz I’m stubborn. That’s why. And also because this is…still…the real center of the jazz and latin music worlds.
So it goes.
Later…
AG