I’m so depressed over the Kavanaugh mess I don’t even want to follow the news. I’ll check back in later.
20 thoughts on “I Can’t Watch”
“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot an elephant stamping on a human face — forever.â€
Well, things could get uglier. They obviously are not students of history. Or anything else.
Yeah, it's making me sick and depressed also. Nothing to do but eat chocolate and take lots of naps.
Just when you think that it can't get any worse …
goatherd,
I'm more of a pessimist than you are.
I've redefined the meaning of "worst," down.
I think at this point, "worst" is the next step down past ritual human sacrifices, and then cannibalism – of us Libtards, of course.
Think:
Aztec practices blended with Nazi Fascism – all with an All-American smile.
This may turn out to be the classic political example of:
"Be careful what you wish for."
Not much question – they got it. Not much argument – Democrats will take the House with the control of committees. We can ask the FBI what restrictions were placed on the investigation. What the FBI dix not ask the House can ask. The documents which the WH withheld can be demanded. And with everything in the public eye we can decide if grounds for impeachment exist. After 2020. This isn't over.
For anyone who feels this is unfair and divisive I have two words. Merrick Garland.
I watched bits and pieces of Sen Collins rambling screed. According to her Beer Bong Brett is another Sandra Day O'Conner, why he'll be the most centrist jurist on the court! How can someone be so clueless?
So in the end they used the phony FBI report, as cover to vote for him. Not surprised, it was obvious that was the plan all along.
Now we face the worrisome prospect of a hyper-partisan activist on the SC, and the damage that does to the institution. If Kavanaugh ends up there I don't see how it recovers. Collins and the others are using the FBI report to ignore the fact that, Kavanaugh demonstrated his unfitness due to his hate-filled, Clinton-conspiracy loony-partisan rant, that even had the unprecedented case of a retired SC justice, Brennan, from retirement saying Kavanaugh was unfit for the court.
Dems got a lot of work to do if they gain the House, and removing Kavanaugh from the bench should be a top priority.
Can we get Tshirts for every Democratic member of Congress that says, "Because Merrick Garland, Stupid!" And below that, "This isn't OVER!"
The 2016 election was about how far a woman is not allowed to go and what a man can get away with.
This is about how a woman cannot be believed and a man must always be presumed innocent, because every man's future would be affected if accusations were not discounted. Obviously women's futures are not important.
The fact that this man is anti individual rights pro presidential power and pro corporate power, is the most worrisome.
I am more than depressed – nothing is going well anymore. I had faith in this country, thinking that most people were well educated and fair. I realize now that it was wishful thinking.
I just could not believe so many women at Trump’s propaganda rally were laughing with him while he made jokes about Dr. Ford – what kind of people are these? I was born and raised in Paris and lived there until adult age – never was sexually assaulted there, but in the US, was about 4 times (3 times at work.) This week I researched on the Net and saw that the US has 75% more rapes than in France, in 2018. (The USA is one of the top 3 countries in the world for sexual assaults on women. Every 98 seconds a woman is sexually assaulted in the US and one out of every 5 women is assaulted in college.) I can believe it. (I read that as an excuse it is said it is caused by the puritan upbringing and uber religiosity here.) I also saw that there are 51% women voters but only 19% women in Parliamentary positions – high government posts. Maybe that explains it; as long as there are few women in government they won’t be respected. The Parliamentary Union compared in 2018 women in parliament in 193 countries, France came no. 14 and the US no. 103. I am also depressed because one of my all time favorite singer Charles Aznavour, a French Armenian (like me) died this week and had a national funeral today in Paris. In addition I had to place my husband (who has had Alzheimer’s for 10 years) in a VA memory care north of Nashville, and they just called to say they found him on the floor, not appeared to be hurt. I have no one to speak to anymore as I know no one around here. I talk to my 2 cats but they don’t reply. I tried to watch the PBS news tonight but had to place Susan Collins on mute – just could not stomach her reasons why she voted yes today.
In the 60s when I moved from Paris to San Francisco (to travel) everything sounded so great. Actually I thought all the US cities were like San Francisco. When my father offered to buy me an apartment in Paris if I would come back, I refused, now I certainly regret it. I agree with the quote from Werner Twertzog (the German film and opera director) that I just read: “Dear America: You are waking up, as Germany once did, to the awareness that 1/3 of your people would kill another 1/3, while 1/3 watches.” It is depressing, scary, but true.
It's clear that the abortion issue is and always has been a distraction. Preservation and promotion of plutocracy and the patriarchy is the game. For the "base" it's preservation of white privilege. Russophilia and alliance with Putin is the strategy. The Republican use of the appeal on the basis of valorization of "rape culture" — expressing solidarity with male sexual predators — and encouraging indulgence of traditional male attack and deny attitudes will expose all women to greater danger and is thus an ethical abomination. The law ought to be that in such cases the woman's word is final and attacks by the accused on the woman should be disallowed.
Anyway, that we've come to this shows that these primitive and maleficent forces are desperate. It's a long struggle.
Trump utterly amazes me with the amount of support for his horrible agenda that he seems able to rally. And not just from his poorly educated supporters, but from the Republican leadership, such as it is. I cannot even be bothered to put quotation marks around it.
Don’t Vote – satirical ad to get young people off their butts.
Moonbat, great ad, thanks for posting that! Well at least the Chicago cop that shot a kid 16 times got sentenced to prison yesterday, 2nd degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery!
Add another item to the long list of conservative 'contradictions of terms' to the list that includes " Compassionate Conservatism:"
'Republican leadership.'
Think:
Bigoted (closeted?) Alpha Male with a loud mouth, a shrill whine, a tiny man-meat-stick; with an unread copy of the US Constitution in one pocket, a Bible in the other, a US flag in one hand, and a bloody 'Cross-of-gold' in the other – all the better, my dears, to beat the "love of Jesus" into the Heathens head's!).
@vagabonde – it's painful, but important to "wake up and smell the scotch" as Hunter Thompson used to say.
I gave up on this country during the George W Bush era. About three or four months into the Obama era (imagine, a president who was thoughtful and articulate), I realized Obama at best would slow but not reverse our decline. It's of course accelerated since Trump.
The key thing I've watched is the court. One bad decision (Bush v Gore, Citizens United, the repeal of the Voting Right Act (Texas), and so on) – one right after another. The momentum of these bad decisions has increased since 2000, and will certainly increase further with a 6-3 conservative majority.
Some of the structural obstacles Democrats face – voter suppression, gerrymandering – can be overcome, but only with great and persistent effort. Other structural obstacles, such as the electoral college, and the fact that the Senate will always over-represent red state voters (the rural states where few people live will outnumber the fewer and more populated blue states), are nearly insurmountable.
Even if the Democrats were to take both houses of Congress and the Presidency, the Supreme Court will now effectively negate any leftward progress these bodies can make. For the next few decades.
I painfully realized during the Bush years, and it's only been confirmed in the time that followed that "it's over" for this country. Abandon ship. Everything I'm doing is working toward that goal.
@vagabonde – one more point. I also loved Asnavour. I was introduced to his music by a friend who waited four hours in the rain outside Carnegie Hall, decades ago, to meet him. My friend subsequently got to work with him for a few months. Almost nobody in America has heard of him.
I also lost a very dear, decades-long friend recently, who reminds me a great deal of Charles Asnavour. I've observed that death often comes in threes, and so I'm not surprised that my friend's leaving happened around the same time as Asnavour's.
There are great changes afoot right now, on many levels – I live in southern California where summer is now changing into winter, which has always been disruptive for me. It's important to recognize when things are in flux and to know that upset won't be forever.
Most all Americans have this asshole in common, somewhere in our lives. Most of us hated him when as soon as we knew him. What we don't have in common is a common perception of him after he became some kind of sanctioned tribal elite, even after he's proven he's the same rotten asshole he ever was. There's too much well-funded misinformation out there, and too many willing to be misinformed.
But I think that most of us still see him as a self-serving asshole who'll use misinformation against us. Somewhere, there's great strength in being in the majority who wants to be able to counter any dirty tricks his fellow elites will try to pull. We just don't know how to yet. …at least not peacefully.
vagabonde: Thank you for sharing your story and your perception.
vagabond: Ditto what grannyeagle said.
I'd like to add that thanks to the magic of the "inter-tubes" I'm here for you to talk to – so that you don't start thinking your cats are answering you back. 😉
“If you want a picture of the future, imagine
a bootan elephant stamping on a human face — forever.â€Well, things could get uglier. They obviously are not students of history. Or anything else.
Yeah, it's making me sick and depressed also. Nothing to do but eat chocolate and take lots of naps.
Just when you think that it can't get any worse …
goatherd,
I'm more of a pessimist than you are.
I've redefined the meaning of "worst," down.
I think at this point, "worst" is the next step down past ritual human sacrifices, and then cannibalism – of us Libtards, of course.
Think:
Aztec practices blended with Nazi Fascism – all with an All-American smile.
This may turn out to be the classic political example of:
"Be careful what you wish for."
Not much question – they got it. Not much argument – Democrats will take the House with the control of committees. We can ask the FBI what restrictions were placed on the investigation. What the FBI dix not ask the House can ask. The documents which the WH withheld can be demanded. And with everything in the public eye we can decide if grounds for impeachment exist. After 2020. This isn't over.
For anyone who feels this is unfair and divisive I have two words. Merrick Garland.
I watched bits and pieces of Sen Collins rambling screed. According to her Beer Bong Brett is another Sandra Day O'Conner, why he'll be the most centrist jurist on the court! How can someone be so clueless?
So in the end they used the phony FBI report, as cover to vote for him. Not surprised, it was obvious that was the plan all along.
Now we face the worrisome prospect of a hyper-partisan activist on the SC, and the damage that does to the institution. If Kavanaugh ends up there I don't see how it recovers. Collins and the others are using the FBI report to ignore the fact that, Kavanaugh demonstrated his unfitness due to his hate-filled, Clinton-conspiracy loony-partisan rant, that even had the unprecedented case of a retired SC justice, Brennan, from retirement saying Kavanaugh was unfit for the court.
Dems got a lot of work to do if they gain the House, and removing Kavanaugh from the bench should be a top priority.
Can we get Tshirts for every Democratic member of Congress that says, "Because Merrick Garland, Stupid!" And below that, "This isn't OVER!"
The 2016 election was about how far a woman is not allowed to go and what a man can get away with.
This is about how a woman cannot be believed and a man must always be presumed innocent, because every man's future would be affected if accusations were not discounted. Obviously women's futures are not important.
The fact that this man is anti individual rights pro presidential power and pro corporate power, is the most worrisome.
I am more than depressed – nothing is going well anymore. I had faith in this country, thinking that most people were well educated and fair. I realize now that it was wishful thinking.
I just could not believe so many women at Trump’s propaganda rally were laughing with him while he made jokes about Dr. Ford – what kind of people are these? I was born and raised in Paris and lived there until adult age – never was sexually assaulted there, but in the US, was about 4 times (3 times at work.) This week I researched on the Net and saw that the US has 75% more rapes than in France, in 2018. (The USA is one of the top 3 countries in the world for sexual assaults on women. Every 98 seconds a woman is sexually assaulted in the US and one out of every 5 women is assaulted in college.) I can believe it. (I read that as an excuse it is said it is caused by the puritan upbringing and uber religiosity here.) I also saw that there are 51% women voters but only 19% women in Parliamentary positions – high government posts. Maybe that explains it; as long as there are few women in government they won’t be respected. The Parliamentary Union compared in 2018 women in parliament in 193 countries, France came no. 14 and the US no. 103. I am also depressed because one of my all time favorite singer Charles Aznavour, a French Armenian (like me) died this week and had a national funeral today in Paris. In addition I had to place my husband (who has had Alzheimer’s for 10 years) in a VA memory care north of Nashville, and they just called to say they found him on the floor, not appeared to be hurt. I have no one to speak to anymore as I know no one around here. I talk to my 2 cats but they don’t reply. I tried to watch the PBS news tonight but had to place Susan Collins on mute – just could not stomach her reasons why she voted yes today.
In the 60s when I moved from Paris to San Francisco (to travel) everything sounded so great. Actually I thought all the US cities were like San Francisco. When my father offered to buy me an apartment in Paris if I would come back, I refused, now I certainly regret it. I agree with the quote from Werner Twertzog (the German film and opera director) that I just read: “Dear America: You are waking up, as Germany once did, to the awareness that 1/3 of your people would kill another 1/3, while 1/3 watches.” It is depressing, scary, but true.
It's clear that the abortion issue is and always has been a distraction. Preservation and promotion of plutocracy and the patriarchy is the game. For the "base" it's preservation of white privilege. Russophilia and alliance with Putin is the strategy. The Republican use of the appeal on the basis of valorization of "rape culture" — expressing solidarity with male sexual predators — and encouraging indulgence of traditional male attack and deny attitudes will expose all women to greater danger and is thus an ethical abomination. The law ought to be that in such cases the woman's word is final and attacks by the accused on the woman should be disallowed.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/09/27/the-way-kavanaughs-supporters-are-talking-about-sexual-assault-allegations-can-be-dangerous-our-new-study-finds/?utm_term=.8a63095910ba
Anyway, that we've come to this shows that these primitive and maleficent forces are desperate. It's a long struggle.
Trump utterly amazes me with the amount of support for his horrible agenda that he seems able to rally. And not just from his poorly educated supporters, but from the Republican leadership, such as it is. I cannot even be bothered to put quotation marks around it.
Don’t Vote – satirical ad to get young people off their butts.
Moonbat, great ad, thanks for posting that! Well at least the Chicago cop that shot a kid 16 times got sentenced to prison yesterday, 2nd degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery!
Add another item to the long list of conservative 'contradictions of terms' to the list that includes " Compassionate Conservatism:"
'Republican leadership.'
Think:
Bigoted (closeted?) Alpha Male with a loud mouth, a shrill whine, a tiny man-meat-stick; with an unread copy of the US Constitution in one pocket, a Bible in the other, a US flag in one hand, and a bloody 'Cross-of-gold' in the other – all the better, my dears, to beat the "love of Jesus" into the Heathens head's!).
@vagabonde – it's painful, but important to "wake up and smell the scotch" as Hunter Thompson used to say.
I gave up on this country during the George W Bush era. About three or four months into the Obama era (imagine, a president who was thoughtful and articulate), I realized Obama at best would slow but not reverse our decline. It's of course accelerated since Trump.
The key thing I've watched is the court. One bad decision (Bush v Gore, Citizens United, the repeal of the Voting Right Act (Texas), and so on) – one right after another. The momentum of these bad decisions has increased since 2000, and will certainly increase further with a 6-3 conservative majority.
Some of the structural obstacles Democrats face – voter suppression, gerrymandering – can be overcome, but only with great and persistent effort. Other structural obstacles, such as the electoral college, and the fact that the Senate will always over-represent red state voters (the rural states where few people live will outnumber the fewer and more populated blue states), are nearly insurmountable.
Even if the Democrats were to take both houses of Congress and the Presidency, the Supreme Court will now effectively negate any leftward progress these bodies can make. For the next few decades.
I painfully realized during the Bush years, and it's only been confirmed in the time that followed that "it's over" for this country. Abandon ship. Everything I'm doing is working toward that goal.
@vagabonde – one more point. I also loved Asnavour. I was introduced to his music by a friend who waited four hours in the rain outside Carnegie Hall, decades ago, to meet him. My friend subsequently got to work with him for a few months. Almost nobody in America has heard of him.
I also lost a very dear, decades-long friend recently, who reminds me a great deal of Charles Asnavour. I've observed that death often comes in threes, and so I'm not surprised that my friend's leaving happened around the same time as Asnavour's.
There are great changes afoot right now, on many levels – I live in southern California where summer is now changing into winter, which has always been disruptive for me. It's important to recognize when things are in flux and to know that upset won't be forever.
Most all Americans have this asshole in common, somewhere in our lives. Most of us hated him when as soon as we knew him. What we don't have in common is a common perception of him after he became some kind of sanctioned tribal elite, even after he's proven he's the same rotten asshole he ever was. There's too much well-funded misinformation out there, and too many willing to be misinformed.
But I think that most of us still see him as a self-serving asshole who'll use misinformation against us. Somewhere, there's great strength in being in the majority who wants to be able to counter any dirty tricks his fellow elites will try to pull. We just don't know how to yet. …at least not peacefully.
vagabonde: Thank you for sharing your story and your perception.
vagabond: Ditto what grannyeagle said.
I'd like to add that thanks to the magic of the "inter-tubes" I'm here for you to talk to – so that you don't start thinking your cats are answering you back. 😉