Thought for the Day

[buttslinger]

I believe we try to err on the side of Freedom, it's kind of refreshing that a Nazi can run for office, it's reassuring that his name is in a district that is so overwhelming Democrat, that most of the time Republicans don't even run a candidate. They say if everyone was forced to vote (50% DON'T) that Democrats would rule everything, which is to say the Republican party would then SHIFT it's platform HARD LEFT to try and grab 51% of the votes. In the case of Roy Moore, the plan was to let him win the seat and then expel him for ethics violations. But if you had a town that was inhabited overwhelmingly with pedophiles, or bikers, the Sherriff of the town would spend a lot of time looking the other way when crimes were committed. Majority Rules. Unless the Majority doesn't vote.
When Marion Berry was Mayor of Washington DC, 14th St at 3AM on a Saturday night was bumper to bumper traffic, with whores filling the sidewalks. Hoes got the word DC was cool and flocked into town.
When I worked at the US Patent office, a guy came in with me who was so stupid, by the time they let him go everyone had a story of some moronic thing he had done or said. Sometime later, I saw his photo on a poster running for some local office, in which he stated one of his qualifications as having worked at the Patent Office. Saul Alinsky moved the spirit of "Majority Rules" to the private sector by legally creating Unions and having voiceless company individuals sign over their Employee Stock Proxy to a Labor-Oriented Anti-Boss.
The Military is a completely different matter. Many things in life are a blessing and a curse, depending on how you look at them. Compared to many times in History, having A President waiting for handcuffs ain't that bad.

[Stavros]

I believe we try to err on the side of Freedom, it's kind of refreshing that a Nazi can run for office.

What is being 'refreshed'? There is not a single idea or policy from the Third Reich that needs to be rescued from the dustbin of history, and to give these cretins the exposure they crave begs the question: is National Socialism being normalized by free speech law? I don't see how any argument about the Third Reich can be positive, in part because it was itself based on a negation of humanity, in part because in its operations it was violence on such a scale that wherever it went destruction followed, until Germany itself was engulfed and destroyed.

To argue that free speech must gives licence to Arthur Jones may seem a simple defence of a basic human right, but what is the purpose of this man's political mission? What has been noticeable about those who are either born-again Nazis or Nazis who never lost the faith has been the insidious way in which they approach their pet subject, not in defence, but in attack. They revive the insulting question Did Six Million Die? They revive the conspiracy theories that Jews have an ullterior motive in all they do -just this week the Hungarian Jewish financier and philanthropist George Soros was pilloried in the Telegraph in the UK for allegedly using his billions to derail Brexit, at a time when he is being pilloried by politicians in Poland and Hungary whose motives are not always confined to his Open Society programme but often overtly or covertly refers to his being Jewish as if that in itself was sinister.

The internet has its strengths and weaknesses, a weakness being that someone 'fascinated' by the Third Reich can spend all their time having their fears and phobias being reinforced by arguments that are lies, fabrication and hateful and intended to provoke. People are being killed by men who get lathered up by some hysterical drivel they see on the internet, there is nothing refreshing about it, it is the dormant curse re-emerging to claim another casualty.

But I guess the US has yet to come to terms with the Civil War. Slavery was replaced by segregation, and another hundred years passed before Black Americans in the South had the equal right to vote with everyone else, yet 50 years on and they are losing those rights again. This is not due to refreshing ideas, but the refreshment of segregation, prejudice and hate. And to think the Confederacy is defended even though, by definition it was anti-American!

Freedom to kill is not freedom at all, but its negation.

[buttslinger]

.....Freedom to kill is not freedom at all, but its negation.

Okay, Stavros, World War II and American Slavery happened because Freedom means nothing when you're broke. Maybe you've never mown lawns, dug ditches, or worked Construction, but I did, and those jobs sucked. Nazi Germany and the Old South happened because nothing speaks louder than Hard Cold Cash, brother. We don't put our 2nd class citizens in chains or ovens, but we do give them dead end crap jobs so they can rent crap apartments, buy beer and pay taxes. With those taxes we monitor Hate Groups, so let them sing loud and clear, all the better to pounce on them at the right time.
Cretins Rule, on this site and in the World. Look around, you'll find a lot more guys drooling with one hand in their pants upstairs than discussing the Nature of Freedom down here.
Freedom of Speech, There's nothing more American. But History is a product of the Glands, not Reason. We're knee deep in some War every generation.
I'd say Black people have it better now than the 1850s or 1950s, same as White people. Should Stupid People be allowed to vote? Should Nazis and Racists be allowed to vote? Welcome to the USA.

[Stavros]

Buttslinger, I think you have missed the point that is part of the debate over this current President, that norms of behaviour and speech have been swept aside and replaced with a personalized Presidency that heaps insults and abuse on Gold Star families when they are Black, lavishes them with praise when they are White. If you were to ask the question: Since 1930 when have American Nazis believed they had a champion in the White House who shared their views on race? The answer ought to shock you, because you could give an accurate one.

Again, the point is that what many people may think is a marginal idea of little interest or influence, over time acquires a degree of support, so that what was unthinkable is being thought, what was not talked about is part of the debate, what was not a threat to democracy and the rule of law becomes precisely that. It is not always about wealth or poverty, and you should know Americans have been put in chains, and killed in gas chambers long after the demolition of Auschwitz were still the preferred mode of execution in US States.

It would be easy to dismiss the present lapse in standards as a temporary phenomenon, that the erosion of standard norms of decency and behaviour will be restored soon, but it would be just as easy to do nothing believing that, only to discover such complacency gives oxygen to those who seek to parcel it out only among themselves. The Nazis, as the book said, were a warning from history. What happened once, can happen again, even if it appears in a different uniform.

[buttslinger]

Since WWII we've had Republicans in charge half the time, and Democrats the other half. Johnson desegregated the Schools, George Wallace wins the South the next election. George W Bush destroys the economy, We get our first Black President. We get our first Black President, next, We get our first Trump. Remember when Bush, Romney, and McCain were Monsters? Of Course it is bad that we have a Nazi-esque President, but Trump doesn't even read his Intelligence Memos in the morning. That's the real Danger. For every Nazi Rally you have, you have a hundred Women's Rallies, so I'm not that worried,.... in fact, the next Democratic President may be too far left. When George Wallace was Governor of Alabama, his wife ran the State House and picked the Prison Trusties to work as servants. When they asked her why she picked only murderers, she replied that her Murderers committed crimes of Passion, She didn't want a bunch or thieves in the House!!!!! Trump is no Murderer, he's a thief.
I'll let you all in on a little secret, it gets so boring down here, sometimes I fan the flames just to get the fire going. I really did believe we were scheduled for 16 years with a Democratic President, that hadn't happened since Truman. The USA has to be Bad Guy Number One in the World, if we get too nice, We may get replaced by some Country that isn't so nice to the West. The British Empire came and went, my Generation lucked out, but eventually History says our days are numbered, no matter what we do. It's not what you see that kills you, it's what you don't see.

[buttslinger]

My Brother knocked on the door, without going into details, we have Family Problems that are driving me insane. When Erika talks about joining the Nazi Party, then the Satan Party, it's no giant surprise that her next move is to the Mental Institution Party. But she has earned a spot here far more than me, I'm straight and am now far too old for this crowd. But Stavros, until you admit that Elvis is the one true King, You British sold us our slaves, and your Chamberlain made WWII happen!!!! Bazinga!! Your King made Georgia a penal colony!As far as the danger that these far right groups might actually elect a President, that horse has left the barn. Just like you left the EU. Talk is cheap.
I don't see how Mueller doesn't reveal years and years of Trump laundering Russian Mob money, He's got the best Federal Investigators in that field investigating it. And since most of those guys were pals with Putin, I don't see how some form of Collusion is going to be proven. IF that happens, then what. Trump is not like Reagan who went gently into that good night, Congress will have to act, then what?? Every Trump voter is going to be .........I have no idea. How is Sean Hannity going to spin that? How is Pence, or for that matter ANY Republican going to say they were shocked? What about the millions of Americans that voted for him? Are they going to realize they were wrong or dig in deeper???
Normalcy will not be restored. But yeah, the voice of Reason seems to have no impact on our President, even worse, his millions of supporters. They're all armed, you know. Be Afraid! Be VERY Afraid!!
The Reason I like Mark Warner is he is a Democratic with social values who was also a Businessman who fixed the Budget when he was Governor of Virginia.
The United States is about the size of Europe, and now we have Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Asian, Middle Eastern, Left, Right, Gay, Straight, Christian, Atheist, Rock, Rap, Jazz, 500 channels on TV. On top of that we're 20 TRILLION in debt. What could go wrong?
But Yes, Stavros, I might admit that it's NOT refreshing to have Nazis on the ballot.

[Stavros]

But Stavros, until you admit that Elvis is the one true King, You British sold us our slaves, and your Chamberlain made WWII happen!!!! Bazinga!! Your King made Georgia a penal colony!As far as the danger that these far right groups might actually elect a President, that horse has left the barn. Just like you left the EU. Talk is cheap.

But Yes, Stavros, I might admit that it's NOT refreshing to have Nazis on the ballot.

I detest Elvis and always have; Chamberlain did not 'make' war happen, Hitler did; and you were never obliged to buy a single slave.

In the circumstances maybe you should lie down and get some rest. And ponder the thought that just as the Confederacy existed in opposition to the USA, which it left and then subjected to military attack, so the 'alt-right' contains within it, as with American Nazis people who reject the Constitution as the framework of democracy in the US and to my mind want to scrap the project and start again. By definition they are anti-American. Democracy always has to contend with the fact that it gives space and freedom to those who are opposed to it, and bases its strength on the view that the majority will always prefer democracy over dictatorship, and for that reason it is something to be preserved and protected, and where it doesn't work to be extended. The only people who lose out in a democracy are people who believe their privilege is more important than the rights of citizens.

[buttslinger]

You're missing one important fact: I have the blood of Robert E Lee flowing through my veins (great great...nephew) and if I was sitting in a Mississippi field in 1835 and my son died last winter, and there were no schools or hospitals or roads I'd probably buy slaves too. Just like Chamberlain didn't cause WWII, The South didn't cause Slavery. And without machinery, in fact even with machinery farms have to hire cheap labor every harvest. You really don't have a choice.
History is never wrong, people are. We broke off from England and won, the South broke off from the North and Lost. The American Indian Lost. The Nazis and Slave Traders lost. To the winner goes the spoils, and Trump won.
If Jesus taught us anything, you can lose with Grace. Like Graceland in Memphis. I don't know, Stavros, if you don't like Elvis, I have to question all your values, really, Thank you. Thank you very much.



I am 100% disabled and have been all life, it wasn't until I was 43 that I found out only because I couldn't work 40 hours anymore. Life is unfair. But like my whore drug dealer Diane told me before she was murdered; "Hey, I had my fun, I don't regret anything"
People do the best they can, you never know what others are up against.
Dogs look up to us, cats look down at us, pigs treat us as equals.
To be honest, I laughed at Elvis as a kid, it wasn't until years after he was dead I came to appreciate his place in American Music.
What the fuck thread is this, Thought for the Day??? I think I'll eat lunch now, don't mind me Stavros, it's easy to get a rise out of you. I got issues.

[trish]

When I'm fixing diner and Trump comes on the radio I'm often inspired to appropriate the words of Elvis. If you were in the kitchen you'd hear me a singin':

Well they said you was high class, but that was just a lie.
Yeah, they said you was high class, but that was just a lie.
Well, you ain’t never caught a rabbit an’ you ain’t no friend of mine.

[buttslinger]

.. If you were in the kitchen you'd hear me a singin':

Don't drop your fried banana sandwich when you swivel your hips.
As Atonement to Stavros' sensibility maybe I'll get into Volume IV of John Richardson's Picasso series.

AND

My memory is fading fast, but I due recall that just previous to Rosenstein setting up the Mueller investigation, we were getting revelation after revelation every day, and I think it was one of the Lindsey Grahams who lamented that now we won't hear anything more about Trump and Russia, it would all be under lock and key, depositions held in back rooms. Mueller is the Seeing Eye who knows all, tells nothing. But really, the revelations haven't stopped, buy apparently they're just the ones that remind us what a Jackass Trump is, not enough to hang him from the highest yardarm. Day after day of total incompetence coming out of the White House, God, what a cold winter.......I shake my head when he pays off some pornstar, I rip the armrests of my Lazyboy when I hear he won't sign the Russian Sanctions.
The World is suffering from Trump Fatigue, Nine out of Ten Journalists condemning Trump just makes it worse, not better, I've run out of insults to hurl. It's not even going to be satisfying when Trump goes down. The People who don't care will come out unscathed. SAD!!