A little interlude for an emotional reaction
These last few days have been especially wearying and disheartening in terms of politics, haven’t they?
It’s one of those situations in which no matter how low I tune my expectations, people continue to go lower, and they do it in a smooth segue from somewhat reasonable/rational to less so to even less so to unhinged.
I’ve never seen anything like it in this country, and I’ve seen a lot because I’m pretty old.
So I guess this is just an open thread to talk about…the whole thing.
Yep, I’m so tired of the never ending hysteria. My basic stance is could things be handled better? Yes, definitely but for the love of God not everything warrants the response that seems to happen about every couple weeks now.
Disheartening is a good characterization to what has been happening. And it seems to be building and will probably continue to build until November.
If the left loses more power, I suspect things will really turn ugly.
We have many structural issues we need to deal with in the country, that are being drowned out by this hysteria.
It’s like a veil of darkness descending on our country.
things will only get better if democrats suffer a humiliating loss in Nonmember. They will only continue what they are doing if their unhinged hysteria gets rewarded.
Dial the day to day noise out.
Long term policy from the US President
is what counts.
Vote accordingly.
Disheartening is a very good word choice.
I don’t think it is hyperbolic or incorrect to describe the constant outrage from the anti- and never- Trump folks as unhinged. You did a fine job breaking down the recent hubbub about Trump’s meeting with Putin and the subsequent press conference. There were things not to like – his misspeaking (asserted) and seeming softness with Putin – but his detractors screaming “Traitor!” and “Treason!” and “Impeach him!” is just… unhinged. After 18 months of this act how can you or any of us that are calm and thoughtful and rational be anything but fatigued and disheartened.
I’m not watching television news any longer, it long ago ceased providing anything of substance or value. I had been watching Brett Baier on Fox but had to abandon that because he’s been sucked into the OUTRAGE® vortex. It’s exhausting.
The good news is that I’m reading more, currently buried in a book titled “Shop class as Soulcraft”. It’s quite good and aligns with my growing interest and experience with making stuff.
sometimes I wish Trump could stop being so level headed and a great patriot and send a few nukes Russia’s way just to shut them up with Trump verbally adding “democrats and RINO want me to be tough on Russia, is it tough enough now? if not I have a few dozen more missiles with nuke just a button away from heading to Russia” “you want me to f**k Russia in the azz to prove I didn’t collude with Russia then I will f**k Russia in the azz on your behave so when Russia retaliate with nukes it is all on you”
Dave:
I think Democrats deserve a humiliating loss in November. But I don’t think they’ll get it. I’ve been very worried, particularly about the House.
If only these hysterical resisters would realize that the current predicaments are the result of the actions and lack of actions of previous presidents….
Their near “blood lust” at this point is a result of them hoping that this time, they’ve hit the target dead on.
I am alarmed at the risk they are bringing to bear on us, our country, and our liberties. If there are enough sensible, logical, freedom loving citizens left in the USA, we can get through this crisis, and I do mean crisis, heavily hyped by the MSM as it is.
“Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) implied in a tweet on Monday that America needs to have a military coup to remove President Donald Trump after his meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin.”
“Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MA) said Tuesday morning that President Donald Trump had committed ‘treason’ in meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin, and that Democrats would consider impeachment ‘once we take control of the House back,’”
“Ocasio-Cortez called on activists to hold all U.S. airports, the southern and northern border in the U.S., and every ICE office in occupation: “I believe the moral character of the United States is at stake. So for me, it wasn’t a question of whether I should go down [to the border]. We have to have a rapid response. And I think every day that we go on — especially a day when something that heinous happens — we have to occupy all of it. We need to occupy every airport, we need to occupy every border, we need to occupy every ICE office until those kids are back with their parents, period.”
18 U.S. Code § 2384 – Seditious conspiracy
“If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.”
Sooner or later, people who play with fire get burnt. The Left is perilously close to reaping the whirlwind they are sowing.
King Solomon wasn’t too wise a king to me, If I were him my prayer to God would be for wisdom to be bestowed on everyone in the world instead of just on myself, the world would be a even better place that way. If God grants every American wisdom democrats, the party of deceit, lies, division, racism and corruption would not get 1 vote.
To me diversity itself is a race, advocating diversity supremacy and using the power of government and violence to achieve absolute diversity and white supremacy are the two sides of the same coin.
It can be disheartening. I’d like to be more positive. Some of the Left’s worst zealots are trying to put the brakes on some of this. It’s probably too late: you can’t stop a runaway train by jumping in front of it.
Politics is something that we all share, and yet we don’t seem to exchange or debate ideas. I wish that this marvelous technology would be used to reason together. Of course, that isn’t happening. As an independent, I think that the Left is out of power because they cannot express their ideas and win elections. So they are responding with hate and attempting to hang onto power through extra-legal means.
Entropy is an unstoppable force. “Things fall apart”. Too many people stopped maintaining our institutions while others have been actively working to tear them down.
(1) The Academy has abandoned reason and has taken a side.
(2) The MSM has abandoned their job of exposing the Truth and have taken a side.
(3) The Deep State, especially the DOJ and FBI, have abandoned their responsibility to Truth, Justice, and the Rule of Law, and they have taken a side.
(4) The Ruling Class is immune from accountability, including the Law.
The result seems to be to prevent reasonable discussion, kindness, and fairness. Human beings make progress through successful conversation or through violence. If we cannot find a way to talk to each other, this will not end well.
It is impossible to have any sort of conversation when one side has been completely brainwashed by the MSM to see the other side as absolute evil and needs to be eradicated by any means necessary. Like Romeo and Juliet, things will only get worse before it gets better, no doubt the current hysteria will ends in one of the greatest tragedy in the history of this country only by then people will begin come to their senses.
I find it disheartening that our gracious host refers to herself as “pretty old.”
Caterwauling from loony lefties & crazed commies I can take…I have 3 children…at some early point in their lives it sounded about the same.
But let’s leave the “old” stuff for those who’ve long-crossed the infamous “threescore and ten” plateau.
When the Obamites demonized and labeled nearly half the country as racists, they set in motion a dynamic whereby revenge from their opponents and karmic punishment from the universe would be exacted upon them by evsry possible means.
They don’t seem to have learned their lesson. Therefore the punishment will continue.
Now and then checking oneself in the mirror is advisable, along with meditation.
Or we can do it the hard way over lifetimes. It’s a choice.
John Guilfoyle: Good points.
For those that think the world is falling apart, there is good news. I’m finishing up Steven Pinker’s book Enlightenment Now, which lays out an empirical case for the idea that mankind has made amazing progress on multiple levels.
Here’s a reasonable summary: https://www.ted.com/talks/steven_pinker_is_the_world_getting_better_or_worse_a_look_at_the_numbers
IMO the leftist hysteria is turning off many people. I’m not worried about the House, all the gop has to do is obtain a one seat majority and I think they will retain a majority of more than one. The Senate looks very positive for the gop, I think they will add 4 to 5 seats to their current slim majority.
Come November djt’s meeting with Putin will be long forgotten. What will matter is the economy and no new wars. I enjoy watching the left and people like George Will gnash teeth and pull hair. Be of good cheer.
I wish I could share your optimism Parker, but Donald Trump seems doomed to create more idiotic gaffs between now and the election.
was the media as one sided favoring the democrats in the Nixon and Reagan eras as they are now?
Dave:
They were very one-sided, but not as unhinged.
I would also argue that at least in the Reagan years the media was more respectful of the idea of America. The thought of ‘fundamentally transforming’ America would not have been something even the liberal media members would have bought into.
That to me is the major difference now. There have always been far left (and right) loons but they have never been able to pull the party in their direction like they are now.
The list of examples of formerly standard liberal Democrats now taking wildly extremist stances is long.
I truly admire the MSM’s ability to manipulate the mass though, if they want to I believe they could easily convince the unhinged half of the people that poo is delicious.
For me, disheartened is a good description, but very disheartened is better, and perhaps despairing is best at hitting the mark.
Steven Covey (Seven Habits of Highly Successful People) popularized two concentric circles. The innermost was the circle of influence (where we might actually affect the outcome of events or at least influence them) and the circle of concern (where we have little to no influence).
Perhaps it’s time to remember that to help us
put things in perspective—if only for our own sanity.
Harry,
Trump will be the Donald, that is obvious. He will boast and brag, he will insult people, and continues to troll the left and live in their fevered brains 24/7. He has them talking about the spark of divinity of MS13 vicious gangsters, abolishing ICE, and completely open borders. I don’t know where you live, but where I live people I know who truly are moderate democrats are not for open borders and fail to see a spark of divinity in thugs who murder and rape as a part of their lifestyle.
What they do see is a vasty improved job market and they feel positive about the future. They will vote accordingly or at least be less likely to vote in the midterms. Not every voter who tends to vote D fails to understand the party leaders and the msm have gone moonbat.
Be of good cheer.
How does the violence of today compare to the violence of the late 1960s and early 1970s?
On the surface it’s intensity seems much less disheartening. On the other hand, it’s vector seems much more fin de civilisation.
In the 60s, the SDS might participate in or direct a campus riot and the wan university administration would more or less let it happen. Today, the professors are organizing the riot and calling for muscle or providing the bike locks-cum-bludgeons.
Oh sure you’ve seen something like this, Neo, back when you were still a liberal. The left has ALWAYS been unhinged. Remember the ’68 Democrat convention in Chicago? Or take a couple of more recent examples –
Howard Dean:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6i-gYRAwM0
Gavin whether you like it or not Newsom:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6i-gYRAwM0
An earlier Democrat populist, William Jennings Bryan, could be called the archetype of many who followed. Here is a description from Wiki of the 1896 convention after he finished his “Cross of Gold” speech:
As he spoke his final sentence, he brought his hands to his head, fingers extended in imitation of thorns; amid dead silence in the Coliseum, he extended his arms, recalling with words and posture the Crucifixion of Jesus, and held that position for several seconds. He then lowered his arms, and began the journey back to his seat in the silence.[67]
Bryan described the stillness as “really painful”; his anxieties that he might have failed were soon broken by pandemonium. The New York World reported, “The floor of the convention seemed to heave up. Everybody seemed to go mad at once.”[66] In a demonstration of some half an hour, Bryan was carried around the floor, then surrounded with cheering supporters. Men and women threw their hats into the air, not caring where they might come down.[68]
Here’s the correct link for Newsom’s nonsense:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC5K_0uRNCQ