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(02-16-2020, 07:52 AM)David Horn Wrote: (02-15-2020, 06:12 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote: ... The Trump rallies aren't like Castro styles rallies. Where did you get that crazy idea from?
Simple observation. He's playing on the hate, anger and fear of his sheeple, by offering to hurt those Other People they don't like. Where's the difference?
Castro has some military experience, wears uniforms, and plays off on that theme a bit more?
That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.
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(02-15-2020, 06:12 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote: (02-14-2020, 11:45 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: (02-14-2020, 07:18 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote: Ah....You sure seem to have way more freedom than any other person living under leftist authoritarian rule these days. I figure a few more years of good old fashioned American tolerance and exposure should pretty much seal your political fate. Keep singing boys.
We have the wit. Your side associates blind obedience to, and unqualified loyalty to, the personality of Donald Trump as the definitive patriotism. I never saw that with Bill Clinton or Barack Obama. One can disagree without being a traitor. One is a traitor if one betrays his country by compromising its institutions to the aid of a foreign power hostile to a longstanding heritage of one's country.
Your President holds Castro-style rallies. Your President held rallies in Iowa just before the caucus and in New Hampshire just before the primary. I could excuse Carter because he had a contest. What is Trump's excuse?
It's not the repression that we now have that scares me; it is what can follow. I am nearly broke, and I have but one escape from a fascistic regime in America. That exit, I regret to say, is typically honored in a funeral parlor and at a grave-site.
I am so broke that I might end up in an unmarked grave. OK, I have other concerns than having a stone honoring someone who missed out on something to have a monument that nobody goes to see. Mercifully I am so inconsequential that I will likely die of natural causes.
Left-wing tyranny or right-wing tyranny... both are evil.
Dude, I've been out witting the liberals for years. The Trump rallies aren't like Castro styles rallies. Where did you get that crazy idea from?
Did I say that I like left-wing tyranny? Marxism-Leninism is ethical, spiritual, and economic failure. Marxists claim that by removing the capitalist class they can make an economy more productive by taking out the profit and the wasteful indulgence in which capitalists wallow. Never mind that capitalist profit is a reward for meeting shortages, fostering innovation, promoting safety, and punishing gluts and incompetence. Did you ever watch the miniseries Chernobyl? The Soviet system failed to install the redundant safety mechanisms necessary for preventing a meltdown of the reactor core , and the bureaucratic simply passed the buck all the way to Gorbachev... who had to make life-and-death decisions that he apparently disliked making. At that, Gorbachev was trying to gut the dictatorial qualities of the system. People are obviously more than machines of production unless the system so demands under old-fashioned aristocratic feudalism or the state serfdom of Marxist regimes.
Note well that Mussolini learned many of the tricks of the dictatorial trade from Lenin: the use of a secret police to implement state terror, regimentation of the government, suppression of independent thought, consolidation of economic power for its own sake, and highly-staged rallies. Stalin went further than Lenin and Hitler went further than Mussolini. Hitler praised his infamous hanging judge Roland Friesler as "our Vyshinsky (Stalin's master of the purge)", suggesting that the extreme Right and extreme Left are much more alike than the extreme Right is like a conservative traditionalist like Churchill. Put a social democrat against a Commie and watch the sparks fly.
...If you want a difference between a Trump rally and a Castro rally other than the slogans... Trump does not fill his rallies with children who get to see his rally instead of attending school. American school boards do not close schools to make the equivalent of Young Pioneers available to participate in political rallies. (I know from experience that Boy Scout troops are prohibited from appearing in Scout uniforms at partisan political events).
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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(02-16-2020, 11:28 AM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote: (02-16-2020, 07:52 AM)David Horn Wrote: (02-15-2020, 06:12 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote: ... The Trump rallies aren't like Castro styles rallies. Where did you get that crazy idea from?
Simple observation. He's playing on the hate, anger and fear of his sheeple, by offering to hurt those Other People they don't like. Where's the difference?
Castro has some military experience, wears uniforms, and plays off on that theme a bit more?
Sadly, we have a POTUS with no experience that counts making claims that can't be validated about topics he knows nothing about. The reason is works: it's entertaining, at least to those who carry around a massive grudge.
Anyone who believes (s)he deserves much more than life is offering is a prime target, and there's no shortage of them out there.
Intelligence is not knowledge and knowledge is not wisdom, but they all play well together.
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You know, Massachusetts traditionally celebrates tomorrow as President's Day, a state holiday. I was thinking, given our current POTUS, do we have to?
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They are Washington and Lincoln, neither of whom anyone would confuse with Trump.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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(02-16-2020, 05:52 PM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote: You know, Massachusetts traditionally celebrates tomorrow as President's Day, a state holiday. I was thinking, given our current POTUS, do we have to?
Yes, everyone should buy a package of Cheetos or a generic equivalent. Celebrate a junked holiday with a bit of junk food. Dunno, but Trump kinda looks like a big Cheeto.
---Value Added 
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(02-16-2020, 05:52 PM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote: You know, Massachusetts traditionally celebrates tomorrow as President's Day, a state holiday. I was thinking, given our current POTUS, do we have to?
But it is just another workday for most of those in the private sector workforce.
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The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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Hey, Classic X'er ... read this. How ironic!
![[Image: 6a03080ddfa7c7fad3ae2fb1c6295bcb4d8136bc...=800&h=816]](https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6a03080ddfa7c7fad3ae2fb1c6295bcb4d8136bcd27298d27e0cca9a4234bf4d.jpg?w=800&h=816)
Bingo! Trump has always been out for himself alone, and that is exactly the profile of a sell-out. The FSB has an advantage that the KGB never had: it is compatible with corrupt plutocracy, never having the cultural baggage of Marxism-Leninism.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
Posts: 10,465
Threads: 197
Joined: May 2016
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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(02-26-2020, 04:42 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: ![[Image: fec818f6839239a66af4f294fcd1188b03625f01...=800&h=474]](https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fec818f6839239a66af4f294fcd1188b03625f012aa44ce4793c61393b64c2b3.png?w=800&h=474)
I thought these were supposed to be funny...
That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.
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Kafka saw himself as a humorist. Such humor as he had was usually grim.
Obviously there is nothing funny about a pulmonary virus that has killed and will kill again.
Speaking of Kafka, I could replace "Orwell" with "Kafka", both of which have become increasingly relevant in America -- where one never expected such.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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02-27-2020, 01:08 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-27-2020, 03:30 PM by Bob Butler 54.)
(02-26-2020, 03:43 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: Kafka saw himself as a humorist. Such humor as he had was usually grim.
Obviously there is nothing funny about a pulmonary virus that has killed and will kill again.
Speaking of Kafka, I could replace "Orwell" with "Kafka", both of which have become increasingly relevant in America -- where one never expected such.
Yah. I was faulting Trump as much as Kafka.
When I was into genealogy a bit back, one letter from a great aunt to my father included life from way back on the farm. Included was one section on the flu epidemic during World War I. She wound up being sent for a while to the island of Nantucket in a decent enough attempt to isolate. It was a big deal at the time.
I wasn’t expecting it to come around again in our time…
That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.
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03-04-2020, 05:57 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-04-2020, 05:58 PM by pbrower2a.)
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Is that one funny? Come to think of it, is anything about Trump funny?
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(03-04-2020, 07:57 PM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote: Is that one funny? Come to think of it, is anything about Trump funny?
One laughs... or one cries.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
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(03-04-2020, 07:57 PM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote: Is that one funny? Come to think of it, is anything about Trump funny?
This thread shows that the answer is a big fat YES
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(03-09-2020, 06:10 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: (03-04-2020, 07:57 PM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote: Is that one funny? Come to think of it, is anything about Trump funny?
This thread shows that the answer is a big fat YES
This thread.is a joke... or perhaps several.
That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.
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(03-09-2020, 07:12 PM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote: (03-09-2020, 06:10 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: (03-04-2020, 07:57 PM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote: Is that one funny? Come to think of it, is anything about Trump funny?
This thread shows that the answer is a big fat YES
This thread.is a joke... or perhaps several.
This thread is by far the most popular thread on the site because it's funny. If you can't get him out of our lives, at least you can laugh at him. And he keeps the comics in the money. Great cartoons and great monologues. What will they do without him?
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![[Image: c3250af1f9cb99a2b77258c3421e8b5723708b9f...=800&h=612]](https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c3250af1f9cb99a2b77258c3421e8b5723708b9fd86475d45fc3ac67745abc4d.jpg?w=800&h=612)
