Interesting graph:
More at:
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Microcosm:
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https://twitter.com/anarchogoth/status/1000427458208841728?s=21
Again: the longer this goes on, the more extreme it gets. The possibility of peaceful outcomes decreases daily.
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There is a bright side, which is: on the other side of the dark mirror, when Obama was President, I’m sure people watching the Tea Party protests with their “Death to Communists” posters, said the same thing.
ETA: Well, not a bright side, but indications that, since Obama’s years in office ended without significant violence, so might Trump’s.
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Life in Palestine.
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Obama’s violence was quite significant.
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But, okay; I get what you meant. I don’t think that they are comparable situations, though.
The leftist critique of Trump as a fascist differs from the rightist critique of Obama as a communist because (a) Trump is a fascist, and (b) Obama wasn’t anywhere close to a communist.
And I still don’t think that there is any prospect of removing the GOP from power by democratic means. Nor do I think that the continued existence of the GOP as a major party is compatible with global survival.
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Oh, absolutely, but I don’t think the rightists wanting to remove Obama from the White House by violence were any less sincere about their belief that Obama was a Communist than the leftists wanting to remove Trump from the White House by violence are about their belief that Trump is a fascist.
Damn my tendency towards awkward sentence structure. Okay. For the purposes of determining whether accusations will end in violence, the truth behind those accusations doesn’t matter. Only the sincerity and passion behind them do, and I don’t see much difference in that regard.
Removing the GOP from power? I’m sure that’s possible. Might even happen in November.
What you have in US politics is a slot machine. You insert a coin, and pull the handle, and, the overwhelming majority of the time, lose your quarter. So, why do people play? Because every once in a while, you get something back: it’s a symbolic victory, less than you’ve lost by playing in the first place, but enough to engage the endorphins you get from winning, and keep you from walking away from the machine.
And, you know, every once in a while, someone’s going to get a big payout, just to keep everyone thinking, “Hey, that could be me.” And the casino owners are going to examine the machine meticulously to make sure the payout is genuine, and fight to their last breath to hold onto that payout unless they absolutely have to, but, in the end, they’re willing to let someone leave with more than they started, every once in a while. Why? Because it amounts to a few pennies on each dollar they’re taking in, and it keeps people thinking that the game is honest – that, next time, the house might lose, and they’ll be the one coming off the better for it.
But the truth of a casino is that the house always wins, and the sad truth is that the suckers will flock to the casinos, even knowing that, regardless.
So, yes, to use a different metaphor, I think that Kodos might win next time, because the Martians don’t care which of them is in charge, so long as one of them is, and the system’s rigged to keep a Martian in charge.
And, sure, I’ll agree that Kang is objectively worse than Kodos. He clearly is: more violent, more racist, and more bellicose. And sure, I’ll agree that he’s putting his fingers on the scale to try to keep himself there, rather than yielding to Kodos as is expected of him. But my guess is that in November, the coin will be inserted, the lever will be pulled, and the machine will pay out. Kodos will come into power, giving back a tenth of what Kang took, and the endorphins will flow, and everyone will forget that they’re still getting ripped off in every respect, because that’s what Martians do. Because that’s what casinos do: give you the occasional illusion that you’ve won (or, even more shrewdly, that you’ve almost won), to keep you playing the game.
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Pelosi et al were predictable. Ellison is disappointing.
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