Donald Trump’s “reality TV” presidency revolves around his penchant for ignoring diplomatic tradition and brushing aside political decency in favor of stirring up his “base,” a dangerous approach, says Lawrence Davidson.
By Lawrence Davidson
In the last few weeks, President Trump has gone through a series of defining moments in which his disturbing rhetorical reactions to historical developments have opened a window on his sense of the world and the nation.
President Trump offers a tougher statement on Aug. 14, 2017, regarding white-nationalist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, before soon reverting to his more ambiguous position blaming counter-protesters as well. (Screenshot from Whitehouse.gov)
Let’s pick up the story on Friday, August 11. On that day the New York Times (NYT) announced “Conservatives Relish the ‘Fury’ in Trumps Talk.” A blurb for the article said, “Fans of Tough Rhetoric See a Promised Kept.” The reference was to Donald Trump’s suggestion that he would respond to any North Korean aggression with a counterattack of “fire and fury.” Maybe he would even consider a preemptive strike.
The “fire and fury” talk seems to have been a spontaneous, uncensored display of what President Trump would do to North Korea if not precariously held in check by select others – perhaps certain Republican Party leaders and military advisers – who will now try to sublimate the President’s belligerency into a new strategy for Afghanistan.
As is typical of spontaneous responses, the “fire and fury” outburst was contextualized not by historical facts or thought-out policy, but rather by the uninhibited personality of the responder.
At this point it should be noted that it has taken centuries to mature a set of diplomatic rules and practices which even now only just manages to keep the aggressive behavior of most nation-states in check. To see the President of the United States treat that history as if it meant little is chilling. Just as chilling is the response of the President’s “base.”
Trump’s belligerent rhetoric exhilarated his “die hard” (pun intended) supporters, who obviously have the “bring ‘em on” attitude made famous by George W. Bush. The New York Times kept referring to this group as “conservatives” who saw Trump’s aggressiveness as a “promise fulfilled.” Many of them proclaimed that they did not fear a nuclear war with North Korea because, living in places like Colorado, Arizona and Georgia, they saw themselves sufficiently isolated from danger of nuclear attack and, apparently, to hell with other Americans – particularly those cursed city dwellers. Among those exhilarated by the President’s words was “the conservative pundit Rush Limbaugh,” who proclaimed that the U.S. finally had a real man in the White House after eight years of Barak Obama, whom he referred to as a “pajama boy who wears mom jeans who can barely throw a baseball.”
The Times is wrong in its “conservative” attribution. What is revealed here is not conservatism, which by definition implies a certain reserved and disciplined posture. What the Times was really describing is the behavior of rightwing extremists, from the President on down. This fact was confirmed on the following day.
Moment Two
On Saturday, August 12, white supremacist groups ranging from the Ku Klux Klan to neo-Nazis showed up in Charlottesville, Virginia, to demonstrate against the removal of a Confederate monument, and ended up in violent clashes with counter-demonstrators. Both sides stand for easily recognizable,
Candlelight vigil at the White House for the victims of the Charlottesville, VA protest. August 13, 2017. (Flickr Ted Eytan)
if somewhat stereotypical, opposing cultural programs: the white supremacists demand a white-dominated America with archaic racist values, segregation and the elimination of any ethnic programs of upper mobility or immigration policies that might cause a threat to white privilege. The counter-demonstrators stand for an America of greater diversity, equal opportunity, desegregation and an array of other progressive values.
President Trump was slow to react to the Charlottesville violence. Perhaps he was initially rendered speechless at witnessing a truly “deplorable” subset of his “base” suddenly showing up at a broadcasted riot in a Virginia college town. How would the real Trump respond?
He ended up hedging. Under great pressure from both Republicans and Democrats, Trump begrudgingly condemned klansmen and neo-Nazis as “bad people” but simultaneously insisted that (1) also demonstrating on the side of the bad guys were a lot of “very fine people” and (2) both sides must be blamed for the violence. Though he and his advisers might not have realized it, in the eyes of the greater public, Trump’s position put him, de facto, on the side of the Klan and the neo-Nazis.
The Ku Klux Klan and various like groups have always been extremist expressions of a broader, historically rooted, racist expression of American culture. This cultural “ideal” is juxtaposed against a more cosmopolitan, open and liberal America. Up until the time of the U.S. Civil War, racist culture predominated, with its most extreme expression being in the slaveholding South.
After the Civil War, that territorial stronghold was destroyed, and despite the ultimate failure of “reconstruction” the culture of racism began a long and very slow decline. However, it has never disappeared entirely and what happened in Charlottesville tells us that this reactionary vision is capable of at least a temporary resurgence when given political encouragement. That is what President Trump’s this-is-the-real-me response has done.
In the last few weeks Donald Trump has shown himself willing to almost offhandedly ignore 200 years of the world’s diplomatic history and decades of his own nation’s progressive cultural development. This display of historical ignorance and spontaneous stupidity reminds one of Edmund Burke’s warning against men with “intemperate minds.”
It has also drawn ever more sharply the cultural divide now facing the United States. Do Americans really want a return to the racism signified not only by the Klan and its ilk, but also by the ongoing upsurge in police violence against African-Americans? Do Americans really want a reaffirmation of a monopolistic white culture that, through Trump’s immigration policy, would destroy the historical contribution of numerous ethnic groups in making a progressive multicultural society?
Most Americans, if pressed to take a side, would probably stand against the real Donald Trump revealed by these recent defining moments. However, in order for them to effectively take that stand, there needs to be a political alternative – an institutional choice that allows for the political defeat of the rightwing radicals.
When we look around for that alternative, all we find is a dysfunctional Democratic Party, which, under its present leadership, has proven incapable of checking the reactionary trend besetting the nation. So, the U.S. is in both political and cultural limbo. Its citizens are left asking if Donald Trump’s defining moments will also define their own future.
Lawrence Davidson is a history professor at West Chester University in Pennsylvania. He is the author of Foreign Policy Inc.: Privatizing America’s National Interest; America’s Palestine: Popular and Official Perceptions from Balfour to Israeli Statehood; and Islamic Fundamentalism. He blogs at www.tothepointanalyses.com.
Are the ‘Saudis” our allies?
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Saudis Bankroll Taliban, Even as King Officially Supports Afghan Government
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/06/world/asia/saudi-arabia-afghanistan.html?_r=1
Trump is a psi-op, performing a diversionary role and relishing it… all eyes on the psychopathic moron , and none on whats really going on behind the scenes, don’t look too closely at the degree to which the 2 party supposed democratic system is broken and irrelevant beyond repair to the majority of constituents…. keep your eyes focused on the insults and threats to North Korea, while the CIA and US State department and its covert NGO’s pump millions into operations to destabilize Venezuela,don’t look too closely at Yemen or dozens of comparable covert and overt engagements your government is engaged in all over the world.
Interesting read at link below:
—————————————————————————
24/August/2017
A Look Into the Military Mind
Hugo Salinas Price
http://www.plata.com.mx/mplata/articulos/articlesFilt.asp?fiidarticulo=318
The US Military Project for the World
By Thierry Meyssan
Voltairenet.org
August 24, 2017
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2017/08/thierry-meyssan/us-military-project-world/
Stephen J – An interesting article to read.
From the article:
This is what Condoleezza Rice said during the first days of the 2006 war against Lebanon when Israël still seemed victorious – « I do not see the point of diplomacy if it’s purpose is to return to the status quo ante between Israël and Lebanon. I think that would be a mistake. What we are seeing here, in a way, is the beginning, the contractions of the birth of a new Middle East, and whatever we do, we have to be sure that we are pushing towards the new Middle East and that we are not returning to the old ».
I do not think that this Condoleezza Rice so called the expert of Soviet and Russian History understood much about Russia let alone Middle East. What I observed at the time was that Condoleezza Rice, always smiling, was just happy to be sitting at the table there among White Power Elite and patronized by them. They put her there for show at home and for Africa and other Third World – she did not have a shred of power.
It is getting very disheartening to read all this. Since the fall of USSR, the Power Elite in Washington has been sliding into insanity bit by bit, and from every indication, they are taking the Whole country into that state now.
Hi Dave P. I agree, it is getting very disheartening. I believe “Something Is Very Evil” and at work in our world today. More info at this link:
http://graysinfo.blogspot.ca/2016/11/something-is-very-evil.html
Thank you ever so much, Professor Davidson, for this and other important articles which I have read on Consortiumnews!
Also, I will be following your blog at To The Point Analyses.
The problem with the press and other media is that they became big business, and big business has it’s own world to defend. There has become a lack of diversity such that certain dynasties and their politics get unfair representation. Also the press today competes with the internet where good and bad reporting is aired and thus requires an intelligent and knowledgeable reader.
To me, one of the West’s biggest problems is neo-liberalism and the massive industrial complex which now dictates political direction to an excessive level. Eisenhower was right to tell us to watch and keep check on the military / industrial complex. We haven’t.
Now in a changing world where computers can better diagnose that the local physician, and robots are for ever getting smarter, youth are drowning in debt from the high costs of learning and then facing appalling conditions of internships when they graduate, economics are in turmoil. In these turbulent times, many get lost and bad things can grow.
To me Trump is not the answer. He knows how to lead young disgruntled people, he prefers to twitter rather than speak and when he does speak his language is usually infantile, repetitive and often contrary to points he has made in the past. He is unfit to lead.
But besides that, we need to take Eisenhower’s remarks and make this world more answerable to people than big business. You won’t get that from Trump. The best way to make local economies hum, is not to give the rich more tax breaks but let the poor have more money to buy good food and merchandise locally from smaller more local businesses. It is false to say that giving poor people money makes them lazy. Most want to do their part in adding to the economy but perhaps have health problems or are unable to carry the cost of a good education.
I don’t see that is going to happen as the internet is destroying the media, small businesses (super giants – Amazon etc) and the likes.
As for statues like those of Robert E. Lee take e’m down and place them in museums so that those who are greatly offended or overly aroused by them don’t to see them unless they want to spend the money.
Get rid of super PACs and other offensive money grubbing systems that bias politics. Start a Clean Up America program !
John P…AMEN!
February 10, 2017
Will the War Agenda of the War Criminals Result in Nuclear War?
http://graysinfo.blogspot.ca/2017/02/will-war-agenda-of-war-criminals-result.html
Look at the size of that guy’s shoulder falsies.
Donald Trump ‘actively reviewing’ sending weapons to Ukraine after Kiev reports 3,000 Russian troops in country
Russia ‘seeking to redraw international borders by force,’ defence secretary James Mattis says
Jon Sharman
2 mins ago
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/us-ukraine-pledge-crisis-kiev-russian-troops-enter-donald-trump-weapons-petro-poroshenko-james-a7910251.html
Stephen J: I read that article in Independent. And there are more articles about Trump in Independent. It seems like Trump is out of loop in the decision making issues regarding military and foreign policy issues. Generals around him, along with Intel make those decisions. I read on CNN breaking news that General Kelly is limiting the information flow to Trump. Clapper was there on CNN with Anderson calling Trump unfit for Presidency. Something is brewing behind the scenes.
Stephen J. and Dave P. – one thing we know for sure: somebody is making some good bank off of all the weapons, tanks, fighter jets, bombs. Just think – if you were in those industries, would you want all this posturing between countries to end? NO! You’d be wanting to ratchet up the hate. It makes good business sense. The media, who get advertising dollars from these people, are helping in the sale of hate and fear.
I have been defending Trump, not because I think he’s great, intelligent or a particularly nice person, but because I thought he would end or cut back on wars and because I thought he might drain the swamp. Looks like the swamp is draining him.
I still truly believe that Trump doesn’t want to go to war, especially not against Russia, but it appears he is no longer (if he was ever) in control of things.
To go into Ukraine would be the hugest mistake, but it looks like the U.S. wants to call Russia’s bluff. What will Putin do? They just keep backing that guy into a corner, don’t they?
It’s like we’re living inside the game of Risk.
backwardsevolution: Putin can not afford to bluff on that. Arming Ukraine by The West and incorporating Ukraine into NATO is real existential threat to Russia. South East Ukraine was the heart land of Russia for more than two centuries. No Russian Leader can ignore it. It is West who may be trying to bluff Russia. It is not Putin’s decision, it is Russia’s as a whole.
U.S. is Neoliberal Globalist Empire, and Empires have no boundaries in terms of migrations. With hundreds of Jumbo Jets flying into the center of The Empire from all over the globe every day, forget about American identity. Because it is so big that people in the hinterland do not comprehend the full impact. In big Urban Centers, It is already almost past that – American Identity – stage now.
I think that such a powerful Empire with people without any type of identity – racial, ethnic, religious or political or some other type of common heritage- will be a very dangerous Empire for sovereignty of Nation States even big Nation States like, China, Russia, Iran, and others. European Nations have already lost it. I myself liked Nation States with different cultures and heritages as they were.
I do not think Trump is a Racist. But he has the nostalgia for that White, orderly, civic minded prosperous society America was when I arrived here as a graduate student fifty two years ago. Most of the white people of that generation I know feel that way. And Trump shows some kind of disdain for all what these once very prosperous and beautiful cities like Detroit have become. Other politicians feel that way too, but they hide it. Trump can not hide it. Being rich, he seems to like only beautiful things and he can not hide the dislike for all the ugliness in America because of the decline of cities and of the country as a whole. In other ways too, his development is not wholesome.
But all these corrupt Politicians and other Elite who have no honesty, integrity, or any other virtue are no better than Trump. In some ways they are lot worse. For people who have sensitivities or yearn for peace, it is not very happy time in History to live. Yes, there was much wrong in what happened in U.S. regarding Blacks, Indians, Hispanics, or other minorities in the past history. But I think majority of Americans – uprooted from Europe as they were – have been very open minded, and fair people to the people from other cultures. It is not so in many West European Countries and elsewhere too. We have to look at the good not dwell on the bad.
Generals are in charge. All the Ruling Establishment are on steroids clamoring for more war. It is hard to find sane people in The Ruling Establishment. It is hard to tell what is going to happen.
Dave P. – good post. I don’t think Trump is a racist either and, yes, I think he does yearn for the America he remembers as a child. It should never have been let go of; it is what made America great.
“I think that such a powerful Empire with people without any type of identity – racial, ethnic, religious or political or some other type of common heritage – will be a very dangerous…”
A country, like a family, must be at least somewhat cohesive, have something they share (history, same religion, ethnicity, culture) – something – otherwise you don’t have a family, you don’t have a unit. It’s not good for the country, it’s not good for the people. Everybody is just floating around with nothing to tie them together.
I think it’s great to have some different cultures and races, but the numbers must not get so high that the culture that made the country great in the first place, held it together, is now thrown to the curb. And I don’t mean this in a racial way, Dave P. I mean it in a self-preservation way. Why shouldn’t a culture be able to preserve itself? And if it isn’t allowed to, then it will fall apart.
China, Japan, India, and other countries preserve their culture, but somehow the West is not allowed to. It’s seen as a bad thing. Why is that? I don’t know whether I’m explaining myself very well, but I hope you understand where I’m coming from. Maybe I need to think a little more about it as well.
Thanks, Dave P.
Equality: The Paradise nobody wants.
or works for.
U.S. Pays $50 Mil for Luxury Cars, Weapons, Booze to Mentor Afghan Intel Officers
AUGUST 16, 2017
http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/08/u-s-pays-50-mil-luxury-cars-weapons-booze-mentor-afghan-intel-officers/
Stephen J. – just a bottomless pit of corruption. Unbelievable! Funny that you posted this right at the same time as I was reading about the drug trade in Afghanistan, how some of it goes into Iran (even though there are serious consequences in Iran as far as drugs go, some drugs still remains in Iran), but most of it goes on up through Turkey and then into Europe. That’s just the stuff that crosses the most southern part of the Iran/Afghanistan border. A lot of drugs go out through Pakistan and northern Afghanistan in transport trucks. Probably a lot of bribing going on.
Anyway, you just got to wonder if some of this taxpayer money, booze and cars isn’t going to maintain good relations with the Taliban who are dealing in these drugs. Why would the Taliban ever end when they’re making a fortune in drug money?
We probably don’t want to know. Thanks, Stephen.
hi backwardsevolution. it is reported that Ukraine is going to be armed now. See link posted below. Are we headed for Nuclear war?
I deny the right of anyone to erect a monument of me – no matter how much harm I may create while I am still around!
Hi Backwards Evolution: The way I see it, is that for every voter the media dissuades from supporting Trump, the corrosive globalist economy (which is blind to race and gender) creates two more “economic nationalists” to take their place. While the media has to spend tremendous amounts of time, resources and reputation with all of these false narratives, Trump does not need to lift a finger, as the economy will do his work for him. It is analogous to Andy Dufresne’s escape in The Shawshank Redemption: it is a just a matter of Pressure and Time.
DFC – “It is just a matter of pressure and time.” And herculean efforts on the part of the central banks. Kind of like fracking.
Beware the “The Cultural Civil War” Narrative: You’re Being Played
By Charles Hugh Smith
August 21, 2017 “Information Clearing House”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/47652.htm
Stephen J. – good article by Charles Hugh Smith. Thanks for posting it.
take a look at IRC section 927. g( American oil and gas shipped abroad exemptions)
Treasury Regulation and section 1.927a and b no wonder Trumpites are in the LNG business.. and the
wars are tacking their needs.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-08-21/one-statistics-professor-was-just-banned-google-here-his-story
Yeah, I read about that. Unbelievable. People need to be screaming about this.
‘Statistics professor Salil Mehta, adjunct professor at Columbia and Georgetown who teaches probability and data science … was banned by Google on Friday’
“Can they not differentiate me from an evil person? Can they not see the large and reputable people and institutions that have relied on my work? Do they have better people who can coach them on how to make decisions with much better taste and finesse?”
Perhaps, Google’s algorithm didn’t like Prof. Salil Mehta’s name. Or he may have been personally singled out.
I mentioned above the ESPN football announcer being pulled off his job because his name was Robert Lee (he’s Asian). Listened to another sportscaster who has a theory: he blames Silicon Valley for the problems we’re having.
Interesting theory. He says that Google, Twitter, Facebook are all in Silicon Valley and they’re all very, very progressive. They’re also censoring anything that isn’t progressive as well. The sportscaster said that people get on Twitter, mainly younger people, start tweeting, with nobody there to challenge them, no dissenting opinions, and pretty soon they’re all agitated, upset and protesting.
Almost too dangerous a weapon to put in front of people with virtually no life experience yet.
Media Bias Just as Threatening as President Trump
By Joel S. Hirschhorn
August 21, 2017 “Information Clearing House”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/47654.htm
I’d change the title to “more Threatening”. I’ve no idea what really happened there because I no longer trust the news accounts. Why did the the Authorities allow the situation to develop as it did? I’d wager the entire affair was pre-arranged and deliberate agitation by somebody. The chaotic and excited editorials seem aimed at getting people at each other’s throats. I can’t recall when I’ve seen so many people who are absolutely certain their personal view is the absolute correct one.
Is the social upheaval a goal in itself, are they distracting from some other current or upcoming devious event, or what?
Stephen J. – another good article re the media presenting opinion, not objective facts:
“Rational people do not trust the press.
The core issue is whether the press is giving itself too much credit for presenting the truth. In fact, what is happening is the presentation of opinion not objective facts that reveal the truth. Truth requires objectivity and a concerted emphasis on undisputed facts. Instead, opinion, even in so-called news stories, is routinely presented.
Biased media hiding behind freedom of the press should disgust all Americans. We all are being robbed of huge amounts of news and information. Amazingly, for example, network CBS news used its whole hour broadcast to presenting anti-Trump laced coverage of the recent Charlottesville event. That is virtually a nightly occurrence at CNN where only anti-Trump diatribes are presented in multiple shows. The front pages of the main newspapers are the same. Real news from all over the country and the world is not given to the public the way it used to be.”
Of course, people are being lied to. That is the biggest crime of all – the lies.
We’ve had MH-17 lies, Trump in Putin’s back pocket lies, the DNC hacking lies, the James Clapper/NSA lies, weapons of mass destruction in Iraq lies, Ukraine coup lies, Libya and Syria lies, etc.
And what is being omitted from the news? Benghazi, $100 million missing from the Clinton Foundation, spying on Trump and others’ phone conversations, leaking of classified information, Hillary Clinton using a personal server while working for the State Department to get around Freedom of Information requests, her destruction of hard drives, her deletion of over 30,000 emails, no FBI investigation of her hard drives, etc.
It truly is a swamp.
Thanks, Stephen J.
Political correctness gone mad.
Robert Lee, an Asian broadcaster, was pulled off his football announcer position at ESPN because his name was the same as the general so much in the news these days, Robert E. Lee. ESPN said it had nothing to do with political correctness. Yeah, right.
Is The Statue of Liberty safe from the Statue Hunters?
————————————————————————
Iconoclasm And Violence
By ROD DREHER • August 22, 2017, 8:38 PM
…
On Sunday night, Social Justice Warriors in Baltimore filmed themselves desecrating and damaging a 225-year-old monument to Christopher Columbus — this, in the name of racial and economic justice:…
[read more at link below]
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/iconoclasm-violence-statues/
Just an opinion, but I found your link article amazingly badly written. Seemed to me the guy or gal was getting paid by the word, and just shoveled ‘stuff’ into it.
Zachary Smith – are you kidding me? He shoveled stuff into it? Did you just read the first few paragraphs and get bored, or did you not like what it had to say and are again trying to dissuade people from reading another really good article?
“Huntington puts a troubling question to his readers:
Because of the Creed, “many Americans came to believe that America could be multiracial, multiethnic, and lack any cultural core, and yet still be a coherent nation with its identity defined solely by the Creed. Is this, however, really the case? Can a nation be defined only by a political ideology? Several considerations suggest the answer is no. A creed alone does not a nation make.”
He says that historically, American identity has involved four key components: Race, Ethnicity, Culture (especially language and religion), and Ideology. Race and ethnicity as a defining core of nation is long gone. Culture is “under siege” (even more so today than when Huntington wrote his book). All that’s left is ideology — that is, the Creed. Writes Huntington: “For the Creed to become the sole source of national identity would be a sharp break from the past.” […]
They don’t advocate white supremacy, but rather “racial self-determination and self-preservation.”
This is going to get ugly.
Zachary, I am suspect that you even read the article.
Stephen J. – thank you for posting that excellent article. It is one of the best articles I’ve read and it describes, I think, what is actually occurring in the U.S.
“This is what I mean by constantly saying that Social Justice Warriors of the Left have no idea what kind of demons they are summoning from the Right. And American elites of all kinds have no idea what they are doing by pushing the “diversity is our strength” lie. […]
In light of Samuel Huntington’s book, it seems to me that the culture war has shifted into a dangerous phase, accelerated by both Donald Trump and progressive militants, who feed off each other. Our unity is fragile — more fragile than people think. This is not the time to be iconoclastic towards cultural symbols. The fact that we are seeing iconoclasm emerge, and that it is not only unchallenged, but actually encouraged by liberal elites, is a bad sign for the future. Remember how we started this post: with a recognition that iconoclasm usually accompanies or precedes actual violence.
The disassembling of the American Creed has been a 50-year project of American elites, but we are all going to reap the whirlwind. You cannot destroy symbols of people’s identity without calling forth rage.”
Now we just have to find out who was responsible for this 50-year project to dismantle America.
Everybody should read this article!!!
Stephen J: Thanks for the post. A very good article to read.
You approve of this attitude by the link author?
I plugged a section of the Huntington quote into a online “readability” evaluator, and here is the result.
SMOG : 18.68
That’s the number of years of US education a person needs to understand what was written.
The site suggested the author work on the output to improve “readibility”. Example provided:
List of sentences that we suggest you consider rewriting to improve readability:
If you took the time to decipher this “stuff”, good for you. I have better things to do than to try to puzzle out a Harvard Professor’s attempt to impress people with his education level. Or more likely than not, his effort to intimidate readers.
Charlottesville Requiem
Who did what to whom?
PHILIP GIRALDI • AUGUST 22, 2017
http://www.unz.com/pgiraldi/charlottesville-requiem/
Stephen J. – now that’s what I’m talking about! That is a very well-written and fair article, unlike the one-sided, biased crap we are usually presented with, articles that have so many holes, your IQ actually goes down after reading them. Giraldi asks good questions, and I hope the answers will be forthcoming.
“As far as I can determine, the primary objective of the Unite-the-Right gathering was to protest against removing a statue, so one has to at least assume that some demonstrators were there in good faith based on that issue. […]
As far as I am concerned it matters not a whit whether some of the Unite marchers call themselves neo-Nazis or alt-Right because they had a permit to march and had a perfect right to gather, speak out and demonstrate. No one has a right to attack someone else or silence them because you disapprove of them. That is what the First Amendment is all about, the protection of every individual’s right to speak his or her own mind…
Likewise, the so-called Antifa protesters had a right to demonstrate and deliver their message, though it is somewhat troubling that they appear not to have had a permit to gather and the police allowed them to effectively take control of the streets. One might also note that it is the political left, so called progressives, that have been in the forefront of using violence, particularly on college campuses, to shut down debate on issues they object to. They have successfully denied access to speakers who are routinely vilified as “racists” or “Nazi-scum,” including Ann Coulter, Milo Yiannopoulos, Charles Murray and Ben Shapiro, and have “shut down” pro-Donald Trump rallies. They push their agenda while simultaneously ignoring the racism and domestic terror agenda of groups that they approve of like Black Lives Matter. This counter-demonstration in Charlottesville might easily be seen as the latest manifestation of that particular form of left-wing self-righteous bigotry, to shut down by violence a group that hard core leftists are not willing to tolerate.”
He was told that the so-called “white nationalists” were greatly outnumbered, so he called the police to find out; they haven’t gotten back to him yet.
“Both right-wing and left-wing participants in the protests have described how the police closed the park with the Lee statue before standing around and only “looking on” when the fighting started. It is difficult to describe this failure to separate the groups and clear the streets as an oversight, so it must have been deliberate. […]
Interestingly, though the media has made much of the fact that some of the right-wing activists were armed, it has chosen to overlook the fact that some of the left, most particularly Redneck Revolt, also brought their guns along while many more counter-protesters were prepared for action, carrying baseball bats and wearing helmets and balaclavas to hide their faces. In any event, neither side resorted to the use of firearms. […]
The likelihood that there were paid FBI informants on both sides of the conflict leads me to believe that the federal government knows exactly what took place on August 12th in Charlottesville, but perhaps no one has either the guts or requisite integrity to be honest about it as it might be embarrassing all around. What if it turns out that the politically more acceptable counter-demonstrators deliberately provoked the violence and were allowed to get away with it?”
He ends up with talking about removing historical statues. Now this is an article that everyone should read!
From the link:
I don’t know what Giraldi is getting at here. Does he define the Confederacy as “a country”, and then make the claim that anybody who fought on that side deserves commemoration? IF this is the case, then Mr. Giraldi should have no objection whatever to a 40 foot statue of Adolph Hitler in a public park somewhere. After all the man did fight for his country in WW1, and from all accounts was a medal-winning and honorable soldier. He’s not an American, but neither was Christopher Columbus. Nor were those Spanish Priests who misbehaved rather badly when they came with their Bibles and well armed soldiers to make good christians out of the savages – whether they wanted this or not.
Timothy McVeigh ‘fought for his country’. Any objections to memorials and heroic bronze poses for him?
Maybe I’m misreading Mr. Philip Giraldi, but so far as I’m concerned his piece displayed a ‘mush-for-brains’ strain of thinking.
Zachary Smith – “Maybe I’m misreading Mr. Philip Giraldi…” Yeah, I think you are. Better read it again.
Why would the U.S. erect a 40 foot statue of Alolph Hitler? What has he got to do with the U.S.? Why would you even include this if you weren’t trying to disparage Mr. Giraldi’s good article and try to keep people from reading it?
Paul Craig Roberts has some excellent articles on the Civil War this week, on Robert E. Lee, the great “emancipator” Abraham Lincoln (who could have cared less about the slaves), how the South only started fighting because they were attacked (and it wasn’t over slavery).
And Timothy McVeigh? Really?
Stephen J: Thanks for the post.
Everyone should read this article by Philip Giraldi in Unz review. For many decades, we have been fed with this threat of Right wing Fascism in U.S.. But what is coming, if not already here, is this new kind of NeoLiberal Left Wing Fascism funded by Soros and the likes of him.
All the MSM talking points. SO EDGY!
The question is this:
———————————————————————————–
“When Are The Past and Present Leaders of a Number of Countries Going To Be Arrested For Financing, Training, Arming and Assisting Terrorists?”
…
Millions of people are dead, millions are refugees, thousands are drowning in the Mediterranean Sea, some countries’ have been reduced to rubble, others have civil wars raging and all this has been brought about by past and present “leaders” in positions of power. These horrific crimes go unpunished despite the fact that there is overwhelming evidence that illegal criminal wars [1[were plotted and planned, a trail of blood, bodies, destruction and death, leads to the war criminals in our midst. [1a] Those that make up this coalition of carnage [2] need to be put on trial for crimes against humanity….
[read more at link below]
http://graysinfo.blogspot.ca/2017/07/when-are-past-and-present-leaders-of.html
Trump seems like far more temperate in his speech than many of the key figures in the senate. Here is the link to Lindsey Graham grilling Ashton Carter, and a General at the Senate hearing about Syria.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC7Fz0d9H8M
After watching I wonder if they are really sane.
Dave P. – tell me why Lindsey Graham isn’t in a padded cell somewhere. He and Senator McCain are two of the most insane people you could ever run across. Of course, the Democrats are not immune: witness the unhinged Maxine Waters and the delusional Adam Schiff.
Because of their complete stupidity, they are dangerous, dangerous people.
Of course, to get elected, they don’t have to have intelligence. Just an ability to understand that they are owned by and beholden to their large campaign donors, and if the wishes of their donors and the public conflict, then the donors take precedence. Oh, yeah, an ability to lie and obfuscate is critical too.
Backwardsevolution: This Adam Schiff is insane now, with some kind of Russia gate paranoia. Regarding Maxine Waters, it tells you something about the quality and caliber of our Congress now. She is utterly uneducated, and along with her husband corrupt too – supposedly a very good representative of the poor blacks.
Dave P. – yes, and I read that Maxine Waters doesn’t even live in the district she represents. No, she’s not about to live among the poor.
Paul Ryan, supposedly moved by those theories of Ayn Rand in her novels, have been bent upon privatizing the Social Security, and Medicare to give it all to the Wall Street Gangsters, already insanely rich, who have been itching to lay their hands on that money since the days of Robert Rubin under Bill Clinton. They have been working on it stealthily putting it in some sort of budget bill or something like that. Trump might just sign the bill. No body is talking about it; they are talking about this Charlottesville Nonsense as if those 200 mislead angry Neo-Nazis are going to topple this Empire.
This whole thing is made up for diversion. These – Russia Gate, Charlottesville etc. – are all scams perpetrated by The Ruling Establishment, and the Zio-Media under their control to fool and mislead the population.
Dave P. – I don’t like that Paul Ryan. I think he is stabbing Trump and the people in the back. Most Republicans have their knives out for Trump too, along with the media, all Democrats and the intelligence agencies. Trump is out on the water in a leaking boat with no oars, and he’s surrounded by sharks!
I think, if they could get away with it, most Republicans AND Democrats would do away with all entitlements. They just don’t dare – yet.
But I do remember somebody (maybe Newt Gingrich, but I’m not sure) saying that Trump told them to keep their hands off of entitlements, that they were not to touch them. If that’s true, at least he’s trying to help the people.
Keep practicing your Punjabi, Dave. You never know, you might in the future find India a safer place:)
Dave, they are PSYCHOPATHS, that type that ‘Free Market’ capitalist democracy favours over all others.
Consider: are the dysfunctions of our political duopoly yet another step in the destruction of The United States of America?
The war referenced by the statue had both sides financed by the same bankers. Are we being set up for another?
When you refer to Americans who are you talking about? On Monday I along with millions of other Americans traveled to the heartland in order to experience a solar eclipse and in my experience and to the best of my knowledge in thousands of small towns people were welcomed with open arms and wonderful southern or midwestern hospitality. There is no divided America only a divided political and elite class that reside in coastal cities. The 99% of the population that does not live in DC, New York, Boston, or California gets along just fine regardless of thier skin color, religion or nationality. The vast majority of Americans are far too busy working and desperately trying to keep food on the table and a roof over thier heads to care about statues and are against sending more of their friends or family to risk their lives in Afghanistan, Korea or any other imperial war.
Sara E thank you for opening a window on reality.
I think we should go back to the way it was. The world was safer when politicians could obfuscate what they really mean and think by issuing polished vacuous platitudes that the masses could digest with comfort. Putin and Xi Jinping are experts at this, while we have an amateur at the helm. The past was also better when we had the MSM filtering and defining the President, thus dictating what he should and should not say, thus containing the power of the Presidency by threatening to create negative news narratives if the President didn’t toe the line. But now Trump has unchained himself from the media filter by going direct to the American people who are ill-equipped at sorting the facts for themselves, without MSM guidance. We all know Putin is a bad guy, Russia is evil, these are incontrovertible facts, that Trump has been trying to say are MSM created lies. These false memes then get echoed by the alternative media, who people are erroneously trusting more and more and the whole country goes to pot.
Right!, Let’s remember how Obama wanted to look for comfortable shoes to walk
with the Unions, Too bad, that he could never find them. Don’t worry about the
alternative media, I am sure that our Congress will make every effort to stifle the
internets. They are already screaming to get rid of the terrible subversive RT.
Funny you should mention RT RT reminds me of how the BBC was twenty years ago and is IMHO a better place to get informed about the world. Yes, they are somewhat Putin biased, but it is easier to filter that bias out than trying to glean anything from the American press.
Louise – “…walk with the Unions.” That’s a laugh, isn’t it? Obama was too busy trying to ram the TPP through, which would have seen even more jobs offshored.
Is it true that both sides instigated violence during this encounter, or not?
Why is that never discussed? Trump said it was both sides that were responsible and the MSM went overboard saying that Trump was supporting the Neo-Nazi’s. Is the MSM saying that only the white supremacists started the various fights, or are they saying the white supremacists shouldn’t have been there in the first place, and are thus responsible. It’s all so unclear.
I agree that the moron Trump should have condemned White Supremacy clearly and unequivocally, But then, Trump seldom says anything clearly.
I’m sick of this continuous assault on Trump’s rhetoric, better to focus on his deeds and planned agenda, like the continuation of the war in Afghanistan. Judge him by what he does. Obama had all the right words, glib really, and people in the general public, the so called liberal public, had little to say about his deeds, and the anti-war movement came to a standstill. I don’t believe for one moment that Trump is lending his support to extremists in this country. I remember when Move On called me up asking for donations so they could create some havoc at Trump rallies, and I said absolutely not. Look at what is going on from both sides if you want fair and honest reporting.
“don’t believe for one moment that Trump is lending his support to extremists”
Yes – and that is exactly the problem. Even when he blatantly supports white supremacists, neo nazis and KKK – you don’t believe.
Having White Supremacists as his 2 top political advisers ( Bannon and Miller ), and his AG (Sessions) is not rhetoric. Those are actions to exclude and dis empower any non whites.
In other words you believe what he says and does is ok. No harm in pushing a white America agenda.
Or Male agenda. It amazes me that women can ignore, not believe, when T is such a lifelong obvious misogynist also.
His obsession with women’s blood as a means of degrading them, agreeing his daughter is a nice piece of a–, women are ugly fat pigs, who could vote for a face like that, grab them by the p—, sexually assaulting women, on and on and on. Constant belittling, degrading, and humiliating women, just cause he can. And truly believes it is ok.
How many women work for him? How many Cabinet members are women beside the one who gave him $20M in campaign contributions?
And that is AOK with many women, and men. What has our country and culture come to? How is that acceptable? How is it that Evangelicals flock to this degeneracy towards women? How is it I, a man, have to speak up for what should sicken any women?
What has our country come to? Women were not sickened by Bill Clinton either, nor apparently was his wife. But when it comes to Trump, Hillary said: ‘My Skin Crawled’ When Trump Was ‘Literally Breathing Down My Neck’ During Debate. Interesting that her husband never made her “skin crawl” as well. My guess is that Hillary’s intellect is so great that she can dis-equate the two, but the simple minded American voters, many of whom are country rubes, don’t have the capacity for those kinds of mental gymnastics. And it is only getting worse, as SAT scores in the country have fallen over the past twenty years. I think the Democrats are relying too much on the intellect of the voters, which they don’t possess, and so, due to that mental deficiency, Donald and Bill get equated, so the message falls on deaf ears.
??? Actually many women were sickened, as were many men, including me.
Interesting how you don’t even try to actually address anything I wrote.
Never ever make T, or his enablers/supporters accountable.
Always deflect, change the topic, attack the messenger.
Care you speak to T’s words and actions, his defense of Neo nazis, his degrading of women?
Care to speak about Obama’s and both Clinton’s overt support for Senator Robert Byrd:
“In 1946, Byrd wrote a letter to a Grand Wizard stating, “The Klan is needed today as never before, and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia and in every state in the nation.”
Hillary’s eulogy: “Today our country has lost a true American original, my friend and mentor Robert C. Byrd.” Clinton also said that Byrd had been “the heart” of the U.S. Senate.”
Please address Robert Byrd’s creating a new chapter of the KKK and why an Exalted Cyclops of the KKK was eulogized by the Democrats?
And if you don’t… then you will see why your appeals to Trump voters, to do the same, fall on deaf years. My guess is you are playing a game: shame Trump voters into disowning Trump, then when the Democrats run another “rapist” or Exalted Cyclops for President…. nothing will happen, except that it will be rationalized away.
My guess is the American people see through the game. It might work on the sincerely stupid, but a lot of voters are more sophisticated than that.
ADL How can you tell what’s going on with so much propaganda, so much spin on his every word. Hard to know, hard to keep it all straight. No focus on the issues which seems more important then what comes out of his mouth then this constant drum beat to oust him from office, which in part is what this is also about, or mostly about. Trust me I am no supporter of Trump. Voted for Obama the first time because I believed his lies, but when all is said and done it is not what they say, but what they do.
You are partially correct/ The fact is that this whole disaster in Charlottesville could have been
avoided, if the police had stepped in. The probability of clashes were known to the authorities
for a month ahead,yet the police was told to step down. To me this indicates that the whole
scenario was planned by TPTB to divide the people so much that injuries had to be anticipated.
Antifa is not made up of sweet little old ladies singing “we shall overcome”. They are a violent
anarchist group, and came prepared for a fight.
Why were there quite a number of Republicans, who would have voted for Sanders? He was unifying
people around very basic issues, and is still the most popular politician.The Deep State does not
want people to unify whether by Sanders or by Trump.
I believe that most people in the country are sick and tired of their taxes going into foreign wars,
which the US won’t win. However, already has Trump been forced by the DS to renege on his
promise in that direction The almost unified vote in Congress for the sanctions law shows you
that the DS owns them. Unity is strictly “verboten”. It is DIVIDE AND CONQUER time.
Thumbs up for that assessment of things!
Louise – good post. “The Deep State does not want people to unify whether by Sanders or by Trump.”
The Deep State is firmly in control. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they hadn’t threatened Trump in some way.
I also don’t think the Deep State could have become so powerful if the people weren’t so fragmented. If you read the article that Stephen J. linked to down below (“Iconoclasm and Violence” by The American Conservative) and really think about it, you will see that there is really nothing holding the country together any longer. The U.S. has lost so much of what used to make it great, the glue: race, ethnicity, culture, religion.
Since the 1960’s, the article says, the people let others dictate what was good for the country. If the people complained, they were told to shut up, called a “racist” or “bigot”. They lost their culture, which is very sad.
This is why the Deep State has become so powerful, IMO. They’ve filled the vacuum. Who is going to stop them?
Read the article right to the end and then tell us what you think. Thanks, Louise.
A year ago, I thought Rush Limbaugh was on the fringes and people like Alex Jones were bonkers. But after the past eight months of the MSM, they pale in comparison.
“better to focus on his deeds and planned agenda”
So let’s focus on T’s deeds, and the Rep party. We just had a textbook example with healthcare. T and the Rep Senate picked a select/elite committee to produce a healthcare bill. That committee included zero women. None. Not one.
Now that is very simple unmistakable but incredibly important message. No 2 sides to this. No ‘fake news’ here.
But just in case what T and the Repubs did is not understood like me clarify.
According to T and Rep Senators women do not have the intelligence, knowledge, or experience when it concerns healthcare. Women have nothing to contribute.
But even if you did have something to contribute, we Rep Men will not allow and absolutely do not want.
A women’s place is to shut up, let us men decide everything, and you just keep voting to disenfranchise yourself.
ADL – “A women’s place is to shut up, let us men decide everything…”
Here’s a list of women who have heavily contributed to the insanity: Samantha Power, Debbie Wasserman Schulz, Nikki Haley, Maxine Waters, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice, Elizabeth Warren, Donna Brazile, Loretta Lynch, Madeleine Albright.
Bought-and-paid-for, just like the men. Change how these people get elected, and then you’ll see good women come to the fore.
Good list. I would like to add our embarrassing former ‘half governor’, Sarah Palin.
Most of the women who seek power should not get it. (Starting with my mother in law).
irina – “Most of the women who seek power should not get it. (Starting with my mother in law).”
You’re so right. When all you’re doing is seeking power, you’re never going to do a good job because it’s not where your focus is. You just want to get power and get ahead.
Your mother-in-law comment made me laugh. Thanks, irina.
Annie, I agree with your comments on this unfairness in Trump bashing.
After Trump’s yesterday’s rally in Phoenix, just look today on CNN with Wolf Blitzer, James Clapper with others talking about Trump’s unsound mind. In reality, it is not Trump’s unsound mind; it is rather the sick and insane state of the minds of the people like Clapper which should be the real issue. If we go back and look at the videos of Senate hearings in March, 2017 about this alleged Russia Meddling, all these senators are the biggest liars and have sick minds from telling all kind of lies for many years. And that corrupt Senator Diane Feinstein from California, with a very corrupt financier husband who should have been in jail long ago, calling this so called Russia Hacking, the Crime of the Century.
But we have to be fair to Trump. I am totally against Trump’s economic policies of cutting taxes for the Rich and deregulation of Wall Street. And also against cutting the safety net like Social Security, Medicare, and some other programs. But his foreign policy promises to stop wars and getting along with Russia were good, and held some promise for a peaceful World.
Lot of what he speaks at the rallies has some Truth in it. That is the problem with The Ruling Establishment. They want complete dominance over the World and control over the minds of the people. They do not want him to tell any Truth to the people, on domestic and on Foreign issues. Some of it what he said at the rally may sound abhorrent to many. But with The Entire Ruling Establishment after his blood for ten months now, he has to speak to his base.
So were his remarks after Charlottesville incident. The Ruling Establishment wants to depose him, and he has to keep his base for his survival. Every politician does it. I think, his remarks after the incident were appropriate. As many have pointed out in comments, this Charlottesville incident, and others are created for diversion from the real issues. It also serves to divide and rule the masses.
Being a Left Progressive my whole life, I think the biggest threat to humanity are not those old time conservatives ,but these so called liberals. This supposedly liberal Democratic Party is the new War Party now, a party of Death and Destruction – allied with the Republican Hawks.
Trump, harnessed now by the Deep State may do some crazy things, but I believe he is still better than having Hillary in the White House.
‘But his foreign policy promises to stop wars and getting along with Russia were good, and held some promise for a peaceful World.’
Not only that but if we could somehow tame the ‘war machine’ there would be a lot more money and resources to spend … on health care, education.
This is the real shame of this despicable Russia garbage. If he had been allowed to do what he said he wanted to do, then whether planned or not, I think we would naturally have seen some other benefits, if not health care then the infrastructure programs perhaps.
I know I will be attacked as obviously naive about Trump, but with the Russia nonsense we will never know how it might have gone. For one thing, even a brief meeting with Putin seemed to educate the Donald a bit on the real World.
SteveK9: yes, you are right. About $200 billions are enough for country’s defense and intelligence apparatus. We spend about 1.2 Trillion dollars now. One trillion in savings can do wonders in fixing health care and education.
Dave P. – I don’t know if this is true or not, but I did read that Trump was adamant that “entitlements” were not to be touched. They said he was very serious about this. I’ll try to find out.
backwardsevolution: I mistakenly put the response to this comment concerning social security under a different comment by you on Maxine Waters further down.
“a return to the racism ”
You assume racism left. For white Americans, including liberals and progressives, racism is out of sight out of mind. If they don’t see it, it doesn’t exist and for all intents and purposes it’s extinct. But for minorities, it’s a fact of life, and in some cases an almost daily occurrence. Remember Trevon Martin. Attacked while walking in a gated community simply because he was black. This is the racism that exists in America. The racism that existed before Trump. The racism that will continue to live after Trump. It will take a lot more than a new President to end it.
This !!
Actually the privilege and prosperity of white supremacy is so ingrained and assumed that it goes completely unnoticed for most. It is the natural world.
As one previous commenter said to me – there are other priorities.
Of course there are when you have all of the financial, political and social advantages.
“… the privilege and prosperity of white supremacy is so ingrained and assumed…”
…that even the white progressive community can downplay or simply ignore the many ways that their vanity voting for vanity candidates can effect real lives, in the forms of disenfranchisement, civil asset forfeiture, consumer protection laws, marijuana legalization, workplace organizing, reproductive freedom, worker safety, access to healthcare, etc.
Because the two major political parties are EXACTLY the same.
‘I once said to my father, when I was a boy, ‘Dad we need a third political party.’ He said to me, ‘I’ll settle for a second.’ ….. Ralph Nader
“Donald Trump’s “reality TV” presidency revolves around his penchant for ignoring diplomatic tradition and brushing aside political decency”
Who could’ve predicted?
I’ve been saying for some time now, that Trump should come as no surprise. It isn’t as though we haven’t ever seen, or heard from him before. Why the Donald has been an American tv star for over the last 40 years. The only new thing about Trump is, is that he is now our 45th president. Ugh!
Mr. Davidson, you misrepresent what happened at Charlottesville. I watched the video, and you can too. The protesters were peacefully leaving and were pursued by violent counter-protesters yelling vile threats. I saw a white antifa dressed in black attack an elderly man from behind knock him to the ground and hit him repeatedly on the head with a short cudgel. While the media represent Deandre Harris as a victim the video shows him attacking an elderly man with a short cudgel, and the man was already being attacked by several black men. A white female antifa can be seen running up cudgel in hand to join in, but chickens out. Did Deandre Harris get fired from his job like the white guy who was fired from his job for being part of the protesters? I haven’t heard Harris was, but he was gifted with over 100,000 “crowdfunded” dollars and plenty of media sympathy and pictures of him as a victim.
David Smith – “Mr. Davidson, you misrepresent what happened in Charlottesville.”
With all due respect to Mr. Davidson, I find that everything he writes is a misrepresentation of facts. What he omits is very telling, almost as if he has an agenda. This is frankly inexcusable for a history professor.
Poor innocent Nazis and Klansmen!
Maybe my saying it will prevent it from happening, but I’m starting to believe that this divide in our American society, will only continue to separate us from each other, and civil unrest will result in a revolution.
If the government does it’s job and tracks these various hate groups that are springing up, we can avoid it. However…if they cower or enable these groups…like trump does…we’re in for bad times. DOJ under Sessions is likely to look the other way. Maybe I’ll be surprised.
Interesting article here…and I do hear echos of some of the commentators and “contributors” ( small group ) here. Conspiracy theory run amok. Look for those using the same language as the fascist movement and you will find the apologists.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/08/21/fake-news-charlottesville-215514
Stiv that was an interesting article, and I recommend everyone take the time to read it.
I’m not sure though, that comment postings speculating on the known knowledge of an event, is not proper. On the other hand, I do think that adding fuel to the fire, with what amounts to be manufacturered conspiracy theories, is not just only wrong, but making up false claims is down right criminal in it’s nature.
What the article describes, is just what Trump did with his ‘many sides’ and his ‘there are fine people mixed amongst them’ comments, as Trump laid the foundation for doubt that the NeoNazi’s were the sole perpetrators of the disastrous events which unfolded in Charlottesville. This man, by his words, proves he is no leader.
Joe, It is good to read these articles but accept with a grain of salt. I think election of Trump is the best thing that happened in the country in a very long time now. We were on the Death March to destroy this whole Earth. It has been stalled, may be for a very short time only. It is a good news. And it is out there in the open now for the whole World to see, the true picture of The Empire.
Just watch senate hearings on C-Span, and other venues of Think Tanks in Washington, what the main figure like McCain, Lindsey Graham, many other Senators, political figures, and so called Pundits at Think Tanks have been uttering for the last couple of years now. They want War against Russia, even if it leads to Nuclear War. It is not Trump who is of unsound mind, it is them who have very dangerous, unsound, and almost insane minds. We have watched Trump since 1980’s. Trump is what he always has been.
Trump is intelligent. With just about every stone being thrown at him by the Entire Establishment – Political, Media, Intelligence apparatus, NeoCons, and now complete assault of cyber warfare against him including google, Facebook, social media, he is still standing and pushing back. The Ruling Establishment is in panic. He has thrown a monkey ranch into their plans for the World Conquest. With Hillary, it would have been a smooth sailing at full speed. He will be removed soon. Longer it lasts, better it is for the World.
Look at the Media: CNN, MSNBC, NY times, Washington Post, are they any better?
And the same speaks for the entire Black political leadership, and other Black Elite. All Have joined the NeoCon camp for more wars, even the subjugation of Africa.
Regarding this frenzy of breaking the Historical Statues, I hope we stop this madness. That is what Taliban was doing in Afghanistan with Buddha statues, and ISIS breaking those structures of Roman Ruins in Syria. May be some of these statues can be relocated from the city centers to some other places.
Just about all the beautiful monuments in India, including Taj Mahal are of Muslim Emperors who conquered India more than seven centuries ago, and ruled India for five or six centuries. Many of those Emperors were very cruel, and killed millions and inflicted much violence on the Hindu population. This disease can spread to India and the Hindu Nationalists may get infected by it. It is the same with Indonesia with their Hindu past and those Hindu monuments there.
Stiv – Brennan Gilmore’s article is still one-sided, which is exactly what Trump was getting at. He says:
“I said there was one side and one side alone responsible for the death I witnessed—the Nazis and white supremacists who brought their ideology of violence and hate to our town. It was their man who drove his vehicle into the crowd.”
It was “their man”. He was a 20-year old kid from Ohio, obviously not in his right mind, who mowed into a crowd of people. Would anyone sane do this? Sounds like he might have been on anti-psychotic drugs.
“Derek Weimer, who taught history to suspected killer James Alex Fields Jr. at Randall K. Cooper High School in Union, Ky., told WCPO-TV that Fields had “radical ideas on race.”
Weimer said Fields always wanted to join the Army. Military records show that Fields entered the Army on Aug. 18, 2015 — with his mother writing on Facebook about him beginning boot camp — then dropped out Dec. 11, the New York Times reported. The US Army said Fields “failed to meet standards” and that he was then “released from active duty.”
But Weimer said his discharge was due to Fields having been prescribed anti-psychotic drugs.
“It was because of a history of anti-psychotic medication that was prescribed,” Weimer said.”
So let’s get all of the information on this tragedy first.
As far as the other violence went, both sides were guilty. Had the group with the license been able to have their say and go home, everything would have been fine. Governor Terry McAuliffe inflamed the situation by lying about these people; he was looking to incite the crowd. The Antifa people (who are just as fascist) wanted a fight, the cops did nothing, and the rest is history.
The mother (Susan Bro) of the woman who was killed in the tragedy said:
“As much as I detest what the nationalists seem to be trying to say, they have a voice that they’re trying to express — and somebody needs find out what it is that’s bothering them,” Bro said.
“There are people who feel marginalized. There are people who feel their voices are not being heard, and I think that everybody needs to sit down and have an honest and painful discourse. We need to listen to each other.”
The grieving mom went on to say that while the group her daughter was protesting with last Saturday was described by cops as being “peaceful,” there’s a chance that some of the other anti-racist demonstrators were not.”
This mother is showing great courage and compassion. Let’s get the facts first.
Read another article by Brennan Gilmore where he says:
“What we witnessed Saturday was the terrifying but logical outcome of our escalating, toxic politics of hate. I’ve seen it happen before. Serving in the Central African Republic in 2012, I saw political leaders use hatred and “othering” as instruments to gain political power. As a result, within months, Christians and Muslims, peaceful neighbors for decades, turned against each other. I saw the same thing happen when I served in Burundi, where Hutus and Tutsis made giant strides toward reconciliation after a horrifying history of mass atrocities, only to be manipulated, divided and turned against one another yet again.”
DIVIDE AND CONQUER!
Looks to me like Brennan Gilmore had already made up his mind (because of his prior service) and, even if someone had not been killed, would have written up a scathing attack anyway.
Why wasn’t Brennan Gilmore speaking up for free speech, defending their right to speak? Because had he and others done this, let these wackos have their say, nothing would have happened. Where were you, Brennan? Oh, that’s right, you want to limit free speech. You want speech to be what you want it to be because only you are righteous and moral.
More Nazi apologetics.
Apparently the UN has the same consternation as I do.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-08-23/united-nations-issues-rare-early-warning-signals-potential-civil-conflict-america
Ridiculous.
The antifa violence, application of coercive methods with intent that their coercion coerce the coercers’ defined “right behaviour”, is a common, and repeated, component in history, and in histories, meaning subset examples occurring in history as an overall progression of events.
Two forms of violence and threat of violence coercion repeatedly occur. One is as exampled by Roman law imposition on subjected peoples, and in Rome by the ruling classes, who comprised the senatorial and magistrate classes. Julius Caesar was a magistrate-class military-coercion wielding ruler; his symbol of office was the “Fasces”, a bundle of rods bound around an axe, the rods indicating physical coercion, the axe indicating power to terminate disobedience by termination of life. The coercive law system of Rome is the antecedent of Fascism, which is coercive authority imposed obedience to the authority’s assignment of “right” and “good”.
The second form that repeatedly occurs is the antifa model, which is threat of violence coercion and violence intended to coerce applied by groups with “righteous cause” “group-thinkings”, such as religious groups engage in. Religious groups include political and right and righteous cause defined groups. The members of such groups are what are defined “puritans”. Their missions, (“Jihads” in Arabic) are to force their righteous cause on all.
Obviously, both forms are Fascist, depending on fascism, symbolized by the coercive symbols of fasces.
The second form of fascism, that antifa models, provokes antagonistic reaction. Undertaken by a large enough and violently inclined enough, and militantly organized enough, group, as in the case of Cromwell’s Roundheads’ eruption, the eruption form of fascism can prevail, as Cromwell’s did in Britain in the 17th century.
Undertaken by a less militant and organized “rabble”, as in post-collapse Wiemar Germany, when Communist (allied to Bolshevism) organizations undertook violent actions, very much as antifa today, except with more firm and organized intent and direction and less dilettante “kids-on-vandalizing-holiday” playing ‘revolutionary’ element.
The German eruptions of antifa-like “show” violence produced a reaction from conservative elements, who, for a larger veterans and so inclined to organization and tactically trained component, when they organized to return “fire” back toward the largely students and so-called intellectual (ideologue) radical “antifa” communists, returned “fire” with intensity and aggression, and follow-through and follow-up beyond anything the “antifa” Communists anticipated, or were prepared for. Street fights turned into routs and riots and the organized conservatives made mayhem, achieved successes and ‘victories’, which being suppressions of violent agitations, brought them popularity.
The conservative violent became ‘enforcers’, became allies to police, and then police, and then politicians. They were not Fascists, they were Socialists. Their dominant theme, reiterated to “the people” was that they were protecting order for the people; social order for the people as a social order, an orderly social whole. A national social order. They called themselves National Socialists, and they became popular as preservers of the national social order against the “antifa”-like radically violent.
It is not popular to review the events that produced the Third Reich as mormal social order restoring events in disorderly times. It is viewed as ‘wrong’ to cast those events in ‘normal’ light. It is viewed as ‘wrong’ to write about them as not abnormal, as normal historical events leading to an expectable conclusion.
Thus, the exposition provided here may well be designated “Nazi Apologism” It may be ‘moderated’ (censored) here, Consortiumnews being an antifa-cause favouring site.
If it is not it may provide some indication why antifa-like aggression by a lot of kids playing “revolutionary” is looked upon with alarm by persons around the world with more experience with violent uprising actions and the reactions they engender, that the people involved perceive to be restoring ‘satus quo’. It is highly ikely that the kids having a ‘great summer’ playing revolutionary will be more than a little surprised by the violence and the intensity, and the durability, of the reaction their ‘playing’ generates, and the approval of the violence and its continuation against the “vandals” and “delinquents”, even as they back off and attempt to back down, and look for protection from ‘law enforcement’, and complain and cry out when they find the protections they expect not there.
I learned a lot from what you wrote here Evangelista, and I sincerely appreciate the education. My only quantum is what us in the middle should be doing, while the extremist beat the life out of each other? Here I am in my little niche of the world just trying to get along, and all the while I attempting to be a compassionate person who wants to know both sides of the story, still what hinders my fair analogy of these events, is the constant noise which blocks by hearing of the variety of voices for all those who have so much to say is only a discontented collage of screaming partisans. In other words, just what in the hell is going on?
All I know, is that there are a lot of literary social prophets predicting the ‘color revolutions’ are now in progress. Having never been in the middle of a color revolution to the best of my knowledge, I’m just trying to figure out what in the hell comes next? Should I move to Canada, buy duct tape, or shoot my neighbor, is among the few questions which I suddenly am faced to answer, and I’m confused.
I never did completely buy into all the fairy tale histories, that I knew were heavily propagandize glorifications of past wars. Besides statues are only valued by those who fund and promote such patriotism, and rarely does any passer by truly get aroused enough to pay homage to such tributes. If anyone at the time that those statues were put up were a honest historian, they could have warned the devoted hero worshippers of how history changes like swirling sand, and meanings and narratives shift and reshape it’s appearance as time goes by. Today your a star, tomorrow your a tramp.
The other thing, if us Americans were able to unite, then our media wouldn’t have it…it’s all about tv ratings, you know.
Evangelista – thank you for enlightening us with that.
Evengilsta: Very Informative. Thanks for the post.
Elaborate apologetics.
mike k,
I don’t know enough about apologetics to elaborate them for you. The best I can think to suggest is for you to try to catch up to Douglas Adams’ Marvin the Paranoid Android, who, according Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide, is somewhere in the galaxy (or a Galaxy, if it is another model of Ford).
Joe, I think this UN warning, and all other noise and news, is meant to remove Trump from power. Except for a few countries like Russia and China, most of this privileged elite working for UN are in the pay of U.S. and other rich countries of The West. Most of the people in this country are tired, either looking for a job or working day and night to make it go or they are worried about their job whether it will be there next year. In this completely corporatized country, for more than a century now, there is zero percent chance of threat of some serious social conflict etc. – neither in the North nor in the South. The only thing we can do is to somehow bar people like Soros to stop funding these organizations. But it is difficult to do, as they just about own and control everything.
Soon, the College Football season will start, and the young will get busy in football and drinking beer. There is no cause for worry.
Since there is but a small tiny few who control us the many, then corruption of money will funnel through to those who will accept it, which means nothing is safe.
We the people are arguing amongst each other over which of the ‘lessor of the two evils’ are the bettter of the two. Our celebratized political system with it’s liberal/conservative gamesmanship, is dividing us, as open mindedness and compromise are not to be found. Losing the ability to be respectful of each of our opinions, is without a doubt a crucial loss. Boy, if only we could find away to take the time to understand one another, because this quality is a blessing where it may be discovered, and without it we all lose.
What we need, is impossible to attain, if we are to rely on our celebrity leaders. These leaders aren’t running on any strict observance of anything, but their egos in search of more fame. It’s impossible to find a decent one amongst them, with a media standing guard over the gate protecting only the politicians who have accepted the corrupted programs of the mighty few. It’s even more impossible to overcome this arrangement, as the special interest owns the gatekeepers.
At least by now, we should all at finally admit to ourselves how the game is rigged, and with that we the little people should quit arguing up against each other. The funny thing is, while we are all divided, it goes without saying that we all want the same thing.
I just want peace Dave. Joe
““If there is any principle of the Constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than any other, it is the principle of free thought — not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought that we hate.”
— Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/08/24/freedom-for-the-speech-we-hate-a-legal-guide-to-your-protest-rights/
Beer will solve everything.
“To see the world as the world is not
look into the pewter pot
for malt does more than Milton can
to justify God’s ways to Man
Alexander Pope
Joe, this divide in American Society you mentioned is not as deep as the Media portrays it. In fact, as many others have pointed out in their comments in other articles, this divide is trumpeted by the media to create diversion. It is a divide and rule ideology to further their NeoCon World Domination agenda. It works like where Entire Media Force spends countless hours covering a supposedly White Supremacist lone gun man with his family is holding out in his mountain home in Idaho, surrounded by two thousand National Guardsmen to make it look like that a White Supremacist revolution is about to break out there in Idaho Mountains. It is a diversion to hide the slaughter of thousands of innocent men, women, and children going on at that particular time in Central America or Afghanistan, ME. or elsewhere.
My fifty two years living very close here among Americans tells me, the way this country developed with the uprooted people from Europe, that America and Americans were and are still by and large most open minded people to receive people from other cultures. It is not so in Europe or other cultures beyond Europe. Some of them have even more prejudices against other cultures.
In this fine article Lawrence Davidson misses the wider picture. These rants by Trump, some of it abhorrent and dangerous as it is, contain lot of Truth. That is what they are afraid of in Washington. In his off hand pronouncements, Trump is threatening the World with actions, what The Establishment in Washington has been doing it for many many years now, camouflaging it under the name of spreading ‘freedom and democracy’ and all that. Trump simply does not have the skills to sell it as Clinton, Obama, and others did before him.
Regarding his comments on Charlotttesville, I think, Media and Establishment have been unfair to him. He did what politicians do to keep their base. With the entire force of Media, Deep State, NeoCon War Hawks, and Political Establishment at his back 24/7 for almost ten months now, he has no other choice but to keep his political base. They are out to depose him. He is now doing their bidding, but that is not enough for them. Their – The Ruling Establishment – complaint how dare he suggest that we should have peace with Russia or wind down our wars in ME and elsewhere. Simply put, according to the Ruling Establishment Trump is not the right person to extend The Empire.
I do not think Trump, a business man, is a committed racist. Yes, I think he has that nostalgia for America which was orderly and prosperous, largely dominated by the White Establishment, as the the country was overwhelmingly white. Those two hundred mislead neo-nazis marching in Charlottesville are not much of a threat to the Country. The wars we are waging all over are the real threat to the entire World beyond The West, and detrimental to the economic well being of the people here at home as well.
Whites and Blacks – their relations – it is a difficult problem in the South as well as in the North. It is getting better but slowly. But lot of these problems are related to economics, which have been in downwards slide since 1970’s when the Globalization started. Lot of money has been spent on wars instead of keeping the Industrial/Manufacturing base at home which paid good wages with steady employment for ordinary Americans, white, black, or brown – and also for professionals. That Industrial infrastructure now is in Japan, South Korea, and Germany with China also knocking at the door. Instead of supporting Wars, the black leaders should pay heed to the words of MLK, and demand ending those costly wars overseas and spend that money home to rebuild Industrial base of the country.
I am against much of Trump’s economic philosophy – of further fattening the rich through tax cuts and wall street deregulation, and cutting the social programs and safety net, which Democrats have been doing as well. But many of his foreign policy promises during the campaign were very good – If only some of those would have been realized, which would not happen now.
I some nassty foreign power was to do what the USA has often done, ie finance, train, arm and encourage American groups to attack their fellows, in order to foment civil strife and war, as in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Ukraine etc, and as is being attempted in Russia, Belarus and China, you might get a fully fledged civil war.
Mulga – looks like that’s what they’re wanting. They could very well get it too.
Is that Mossad outsourcing?
Trump’s fire and fury is no more insane than W’s shock and awe–which actually happened.
Same as it ever was.
No! Not the same as it always was!!!
President Barack Obama said that he told Russian President Vladimir Putin in September to “cut it out” in regard to allegations that his nation engaged in cyberattacks against the U.S. electoral process. Obama added that further hacking by Russia did not occur following Obama’s admonition.
Obama gets results, using nice words, that is the difference!
Are you attempting sarcasm?
My thought also;-)
Benghazi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yes , in two months ,two inexplicable navy ships colliding or colluding with merchant ships, 17 dead, others injured. I want a 10 year investigation. Why did these 17 sailors have to die? I want to know. Rex Tillerson is personally responsible because he is the Secretary of State. I want answers. TILLERSON, and for all you trump supporters on CN, do you not want many thorough investigations in the Navy? Christ, 17 people in two months, and you are still shouting “But her e-mails, and Benghazi” You just gotta love our guy, you know the guy who never served one day is his 71 years, you know that guy, the guy whose gonna make us great.. Consortium news seems to me has become a very right wing bubble.
“Consortium news seems to me has become a very right wing bubble.”
There certainly are enough of them here- recent racial issues caused them to inadvertently tip their hands.
My guess is a lot of them became attracted because it was one of the few western news sources offering opinions on the Ukraine coup, MH17, etc. that differed from the ‘official’ narrative and were critical of Obama/Clinton.
The same characters would have been similarly repelled by Parry’s reporting on Reagan, Bush, & Bush the Lesser.
DFC: You really believe Barak Obama, that he said that to Russian President Putin! It is Obama who was in charge of the biggest machine of cyber hacking of the entire World!
I am not a fan of Trump or even a supporter, quite the opposite. However I thought, and still think, with all his negatives, Trump is somewhat a improvement over our last four or five rulers of the Empire. He is not a trained Politician/Liar and in his interviews, and speeches, he blurts out “The Truth” here and there. The Ruling Establishment does not like it. As a duly elected president, at least he should have been given the chance to do whatever he promised to do. He had some good ideas. That is why people elected him. We will never find out now.
DFC, You have been trained pretty good in the Orwellian World we live in now. Good luck to you.
DFC: Sorry, may be I misunderstood your comments. Was it really sarcasm?
Yeah, sarcasm,,. the inanity of it all. [facepalm]
Obama acted in similar vein, but behind a duplicitous fake persona. With Trump what you see is what you get, and what the USA has inflicted on humanity for decades.
Check!
at least w was not a jerk. trump is a bona fide jerk.
?!?