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Donald Trump 2020


Francisco 2.0

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15 hours ago, Gil Bang said:

A few years back, there was some Beatles tribute at the Kennedy Center.  Elvis Costello wanted to do "Penny Lane" but he needed a piccolo trumpet player.  he checked with the union halls and came up empty.  Then, he checked "The  President's Own". 

 

 

 

Goosebumps.

When I think military bands though, I think of this guy first. 

Alton Glenn Miller | American Air Museum in Britain

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52 minutes ago, Gourmand said:

Having a discussion or debate with the current version of a Republican is like playing tennis with a terrible but super competitive beginner who won't acknowledge the lines on the court. The frustration is limitless until you realize that you're trying to argue with someone who doesn't believe rules of argument exist because they've been dumbed down by a new populist religion that at its core scorns traditional enlightenment values of reason, the scientific method, and progress. 

 I'm sure we all have anecdotal stories to tell but places like nextdoor and facebook are ripe with examples of this idiocy in action. Most of these Trumpkin jackasses are already terrible at arguing on the internet, but it's compounded because they just won't engage facts and reasoned logic. When confronted with it, they change the subject to some stupid Qanon type of conspiracy vision and will always assert that xyz fact is Fake News. It's astonishing to me. How the fuck can you hate the values that made America great in the first place? 

They will even deny 1+1=2 if it doesn't fit their bias.

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35 minutes ago, pyrohornIII said:

Goosebumps.

When I think military bands though, I think of this guy first. 

Alton Glenn Miller | American Air Museum in Britain

Probably killed when a squadron of returning bombers flying over his plane released their bomb loads prior to landing after an aborted mission.  The fog and tragedy of war.

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https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/when-trumps-understanding-of-the-world-is-flipped-on-its-head/613840/?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=email

 

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There is a lot of learned material written about nationalism—scholarly books and papers, histories of it, theories of it—but most of us understand that nationalism, at its heart, at its very deepest roots, is about a feeling of superiority: We are better than you. Our country is better than your country. Or even—and apologies, but this is the precise language deployed by the president of the United States: Your country is a shithole country. Ours isn’t.

In this sense, nationalism is not patriotism, which is the desire to work on behalf of your fellow citizens, to defend common values, to build something positive. Nationalism is not community spirit either, which seeks to pull people together. Nationalism has nothing to do with democratic values: Authoritarians can be nationalists; indeed, most are. Nationalism has nothing to do with the rule of law, justice, or opportunity. At its core, nationalism is rather a competition, an ugly and negative competition. There’s a reason nationalists build walls, denigrate foreigners, and denounce immigrants: Because our people are better than those people. There’s a reason nationalism has so often become violent in the past. For if we—our nation—are better, then what right do others have to live beside us? Or to occupy land that we covet? Or even, maybe, to live at all?

 

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Sure, people pretend otherwise. We’re just defending our right to be unique! We just want everyone to stay in their own country! We just like our own culture! But that’s not really what nationalists think, and everyone knows it. They can nod and wink at equality among nations, but really they are motivated by, driven by, addicted to a feeling of superiority. Our county is better than your country. So stay out.

I hear this when Donald Trump uses the slogan “America First”: This is why he needs a physical wall at the Mexican border; this is the source of his dislike for immigrants, for people with unfamiliar surnames or different skin colors. He regards all of them as lesser, inferior people who somehow got inside our borders and made our country worse. He and the claque who support him repeat these things over and over again because this kind of nationalism requires reinforcement. It thrives on stories and pictures, songs and chants, repetition. It needs a constant stream of evidence, constant proof of superiority.

 

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But what happens when the stream stops? What happens when the stories and pictures no longer match? More to the point, what will Trump do, what will his followers and admirers do, when their understanding of the world is flipped on its head? What will happen when they realize that other countries are building walls between them and the United States?

Spoiler

Here it’s worth pointing out a genuine oddity: The world in the age of the coronavirus should be a nationalist’s paradise. Borders have slammed shut. Countries have fallen back on their own resources. Multiple international institutions have failed, in major and minor ways, starting with the World Health Organization, the one group that was explicitly created for this moment, and continuing on to the G-7, whose members can’t even manage to meet for coffee.

And yet, has there ever been a more global moment? Everyone in the world is living in the same isolation, with the same fears. Everyone is working on the same vaccines, exchanging notes about the same cures. Everyone is trying to solve the same medical, psychological, and economic problems. Everyone is dealing with a virus that seems completely uninterested in the national origins of the people it infects. More to the point, everyone can look at everyone else’s country, read its media and social media, see how its institutions are coping with the crisis. We can’t leave our houses, but we can meet in cyberspace, where we can keep talking.

While we are there, we can see how other countries are dealing with the pandemic. Some are doing well, especially those that have decent bureaucrats, respect for science, and high levels of trust: South Korea and Taiwan, Germany and Slovakia, much of Scandinavia, New Zealand. Some countries are not doing well, especially those run by divisive populists on both the left and the right: Russia, Brazil, Mexico, and, of course, the United States. But even within this latter group, we stand out. Out of all these countries—out of all the countries in the world—the U.S. has the largest number of cases and the highest death toll. The U.S. isn’t merely suffering; the U.S. is suffering more than anybody else.

The numbers of American sick and dead are a source of wonder and marvel all over the world. They also inspire fear and anxiety. The European Union has decided to allow some foreigners to cross its borders now, but not Americans. Uruguayans and Rwandans can go to Italy and Spain, but not Americans. Moroccans and Tunisians can go to Germany and Greece, but not Americans. For the first time in living memory, Canada has kept its border closed with the United States. On July 3, the governor of the Mexican state of Sonora delivered the coup de grace: She announced the temporary closure of the border with Arizona and banned Americans from Sonoran beaches.

How will American nationalists cope with this new situation? I’m guessing many will pretend, like the president, that this isn’t happening: Months into the crisis, he has once again expressed the belief that the virus will magically “disappear.” But for some, it will be difficult to prevent the intrusion of reality: The stupid and pointless competition among nations continues in their heads—and they are losing. A major reckoning is coming. It can’t arrive too soon.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Jive Turkey said:

 

I'm so beyond being surprised at the stupidity and violent behavior of these people that my biggest takeaway from the video was, "16 letters over three blocks, at her that pace?  And she wore flip-flops?  The fuck, Karen?  Your dogs are gonna be hurting tomorrow."  

Then I watched it a second time looking for more meaning or to feel morally superior, but it's so commonplace for these people now that all I can think of was, "Why the fuck isn't her husband helping her?  'Sorry honey, I took the money for the second roller brush we needed to get this sweet MAGA shirt and hat'."  

Now to end on a positive note, to demonstrate that I think we're all more alike than we think and this Karen is no different.  I like that she started with the "L" instead of a larger letter like "B."  When you have a large task or project ahead of you, it can very helpful and confidence-building to start with a smaller, more manageable aspect of it to get moving with momentum.  Good on you, Karen!  Even during these crazy times, we need to set goals for ourselves and take action.  

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51 minutes ago, Born to Run said:

The level of enthusiam is frighteningeb6c9e83a040bc566562aeac13037466.jpg

Wait'll we get them silly bas**** down in that rock pile. There'll be some fun. They'll wish their fathers had never met their mothers when they start takin' their bottoms out and slammin' into them rocks, boy. Get away from there, ya goddamn fool, you! What's the matter with you? You wanna swamp us, ya crazy son of a bitch?

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I've always thought it odd, but also kind of cool, that the military actively supports musicians. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_bands
If you didn't know, it's not just kinda talented people they pull from the ranks, they actively recruit formally trained musicians for the Marine Band and various other ensembles. And most of the bands are "mission-exclusive," meaning they don't have other military duties.  It's a lot of  aspiring professional musicians' first or only paying gig.
I did not know, however, that the Army maintained a boy band.
Weird.

About all that .......


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6 hours ago, Hank Kingsley said:

Obviously we actually have to vote out Trump and his GOP cronies first, but it's going to be a real struggle for people to resolve what has happened over the last 4 years. Even if you take away the policy minutiae and partisan bullshit, these Republican assholes simply have a complete disregard for the people they represent. 130,000 citizens have died and none of them give a shit. It's really hard to process. How will we move forward? 

 

This is a Trumpian world.....

 

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7 hours ago, BrickHorn said:

Republicans are giving their voters exactly what they want: fairy tales and end times fantasy. Their voters don’t care about being better off in reality. They just want powerful people to cast them as heroes in an epic myth of Good vs. Evil.

.....don’t they realize that they are not the “Good” guys?

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It turns out the bald guy singing Bruno Mars is a friend of a friend. Checking out his other stuff, the dude’s an excellent musician. I’m not sure how I’d feel about a lifetime of practice and study turning me into a meme, but I guess there are worse fates.

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1 hour ago, Mole said:

It turns out the bald guy singing Bruno Mars is a friend of a friend. Checking out his other stuff, the dude’s an excellent musician. I’m not sure how I’d feel about a lifetime of practice and study turning me into a meme, but I guess there are worse fates.

Yep.  One could spend his nights fucking fat, sweaty, ugly women.  Like @Vic Mackey

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I urge all of you to perform a simple exercise:

1) Pull up an image of Hitler, or video from one of his famous speeches

2) Read this section from his speech at Mount Rushmore over the weekend:

“As we meet here tonight, there is a growing danger that threatens every blessing our ancestors fought so hard for, struggled, they bled to secure. Our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values, and indoctrinate our children. Angry mobs are trying to tear down statues of our founders, deface our most sacred memorials, and unleash a wave of violent crime in our cities. Many of these people have no idea why they’re doing this, but some know what they are doing. They think the American people are weak and soft and submissive, but no, the American people are strong and proud and they will not allow our country and all of its values, history, and culture to be taken from them.

One of their political weapons is cancel culture, driving people from their jobs, shaming dissenters, and demanding total submission from anyone who disagrees. This is the very definition of totalitarianism, and it is completely alien to our culture and to our values and it has absolutely no place in the United States of America.

This attack on our liberty, our magnificent liberty must be stopped and it will be stopped very quickly. We will expose this dangerous movement, protect our nation’s children from this radical assault, and preserve our beloved American way of life. In our schools, our newsrooms, even our corporate boardrooms, there is a new far-left fascism that demands absolute allegiance. If you do not speak its language, perform its rituals, recite its mantras, and follow its commandments, then you will be censored, banished, blacklisted, persecuted, and punished. It’s not going to happen to us.

Make no mistake. This left-wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the American Revolution. In so doing they would destroy the very civilization that rescued billions from poverty, disease, violence, and hunger, and that lifted humanity to new heights of achievement, discovery, and progress. To make this possible, they are determined to tear down every statue, symbol, and memory of our national heritage.

Not on my watch.”

I hope that you are all as chilled by this exercise as I was...

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