I read a piece that said Hillary, with her speech about racism and extremists taking over the Republican Party, was making a play for a one-party state. That seems rather an exaggeration, but it does contain an important bit of truth. I do indeed believe Hillary thinks along the lines of a one-party state as suggested, but without ever saying so directly, and she is not focused on the particular political party with which she is now associated. Continue reading
Donald Trump has expressed the belief that the November 8 election could be rigged in favor of his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. He has reason to be concerned. Continue reading
Paul Wolfowitz and the lies that he told in the high government positions that he held are responsible for a massive number of deaths and massive destruction in seven countries. Wolfowitz has announced his vote for Hillary Clinton. Does this make you feel reassured? Continue reading
Donald Trump says he watched the destruction of the World Trade Center, and saw “thousands and thousands of people [who were] cheering as that building was coming down.” Every non-partisan fact-checking site and news medium debunks Trump’s faulty recollection. But 9/11 burnished an image in his mind of terrorism by Muslims. His solution is to issue an unconstitutional moratorium against Muslims who wish to emigrate to the U.S. Continue reading
The FBI is worried: foreign hackers have broken into two state election databases. Continue reading
Donald Trump, who is commanding all of 1 percent of Black voters, according to an impartial Quinnipiac poll, says he could get as much as 95 percent of the Black vote in a second term. In June 2011, he had said, “I’ve always had a great relationship with the blacks.” It’s nothing less than political hyperbole in a campaign for a first term, and meant to get a few thousand more votes in key states. However, Trump’s past actions don’t mitigate whatever future plans he has. Continue reading
In most cases satire reveals so many hidden truths. Such is the case with the 1997 Barry Levinson film Wag the Dog. Obviously done as a spoof on the Bill Clinton sexual imbroglio with Ms. Lewinsky and the damage control done to modify it. The inner meaning of the film reveals just how foolish the Amerikan public is and how susceptible many are to well thought out propaganda. Well, isn’t that how we really are folks? Continue reading
The Florida Panhandle has seen its share of sketchy Republican office holders. Few local voters who were around in 2001 can forget the suspicious death of Lori Klausutis, a 29-year old constituent services staffer for retiring Florida GOP Representative Joe Scarborough. Klausutis’s body was discovered at 8:00 in the morning on July 20, 2001, by a couple who arrived at Scarborough’s North Fort Walton Beach office for a meeting. Klausutis is said to have died from a skull fracture. The local coroner’s determination that the very physically fit Klausutis died from accidental causes left many voters in Florida’s First Congressional District convinced that Scarborough, now the host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” somehow knew more than what was revealed about the circumstances of his aide’s death during the middle of the night. Continue reading
Why, I am constantly being asked by my overseas peers, do you Americans have such affection for a creepy old pretender, a political candidate who’s been around forever, and all he has done is have his way with you? Does the “me-or-else” political ultimatum award Lesser Evil license to govern and rape? Whether dressed as Tweedledee or as Tweedledum, Lesser Evil righteously appears to so think; adding one more rosary bid in our march towards the 2016 presidential election . . . just as it happened in 2012 and, as I tap into my memory, to all other quadrennials before then. Continue reading
Just about everyone now concedes that the media have it in for Donald Trump. A survey of eight major news organs during the primaries, conducted by Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy—one I cited in a previous post—showed that the press grew increasingly hostile to Trump, peaking at 61 percent negative to 39 percent positive at the end of the primary season. Even the conservative, Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal editorialized that he should consider quitting the race, and the normally cautious NBC Nightly News has turned reporter Katy Tur into a one-woman truth squad, correcting Trump whoppers. Continue reading
Despite her best efforts and those of her friends in the corporate media, Hillary Clinton cannot escape her email scandal. In an attempt to comingle her responsibilities as secretary of state with her influence peddling at the Clinton Foundation, she used a private server to conduct all of her official, classified government duties. Continue reading
Years ago when my husband Charles and I moved to Nashville, we were feted, intro’d to the Vanderbilt Medical Center community. As I mingled, the vice chancellor’s wife approached. “Have you found your church home?” Continue reading
The man formerly known as The Donald is entwined in a ball of contradiction. Continue reading
Black letters against a yellow background. Black letters against white. White letters against black. On yard signs. On T-shirts. On baseball caps. All with the same message: “Trump Digs Coal.” Continue reading
In an article worthy of the convoluted and deceptive logic of the New York Times that he is so fond of criticizing, Noam Chomsky, together with John Halle, has published a piece on his website shilling for the election of Hillary Clinton. “An Eight Point Brief for LEV (Lesser Evil Voting)” also comes with a most unusual addendum: “Note: Professor Chomsky requests that he not be contacted with responses to this piece.” Continue reading
Last Thursday night I watched MSNBC’s The Last Word, hosted by Lawrence O’Donnell. After the endless commercials, most of the reporting focused on Donald Trump. Continue reading
First things first, Donald Trump: Release. Your. Tax. Returns. Continue reading
Donald Trump’s comment on Tuesday about how “Second Amendment people” could stop Hillary Clinton if she gets elected is hardly subtle. This is a clear provocation to commit murder, however he and his handlers may try to spin it. Continue reading
The big story as I write is what Donald Trump said at a rally Aug. 9 in Wilmington, North Carolina: “Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish, the Second Amendment. By the way, and if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know. But I’ll tell you what, that will be a horrible day.” Continue reading
The way things are going, Donald Trump was right when he said, “”I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.” Continue reading
The new McCarthyism was born when WikiLeaks revealed the truth about the leaders of the Democratic Party. The leaked emails showed that the vile Democratic National Committee boss Debbie Wasserman Schultz and her crew of foul-mouthed punks perpetrated election fraud by rigging the Democratic primaries for Hillary Clinton. Continue reading
The world knows that the 2016 US presidential horse race features two cartoonish characters that are perhaps the most polarizing figures in American national politics. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump appear at a tenuous moment in the world’s history as economies struggle, infrastructure collapses, nations crumble, and the political systems, at least in the US and Europe, are viewed with disdain by a majority of citizens. Continue reading
All over the globe, including here in the U.S., there is a resurgence of muscular authoritarian politics. How that trend unfolds and is enforced varies country by country, but the core is recognizably neo-fascist, to a lesser or greater degree, often emerging from the extreme right wing. Continue reading
A grotesque power-fest at the Democratic Party Convention in Philadelphia left me feeling about Hillary Clinton the way P. G. Wodehouse’s Bertie Wooster felt about his Aunt Agatha—“the one who chews broken bottles and kills rats with her teeth.” There is something disquieting and secretively lascivious about her open-mouthed cackle. She doesn’t so much laugh as lusts. She reminded me, too, of the mythical basilisk in the bestiary at the convention—the queen among the serpents. The basilisk of legend, wearing a king’s crown on his head, is only twelve-fingers long, but his venom withers all living plants in his wake. His gaze is enough to kill, according to Pliny the Elder. Only the droppings of a weasel have the potent odor to kill him, but it didn’t work with this basilisk. Her weasel endorsed her, embraced her, kissed her. His odor and her venom neutralized each other and merged into the unity party of the Serpent and the Weasel. Continue reading
If there is one word to characterize the buildup to this US election it is “disrespect.” No low is too low. Their private lives are up for grabs, even those of their closest relatives. Continue reading
Bernie Sanders supporters are flocking to Jill Stein, the presumptive Green Party presidential candidate, with donations to her campaign exploding nearly 1000% after he endorsed Hillary Clinton. Stein salutes Sanders for the progressive populist movement he began and says it is up to her to carry the baton. Can she do it? Critics say her radical policies will not hold up to scrutiny. But supporters say they are just the medicine the economy needs. Continue reading
No, America, you don’t have to vote. Continue reading
You might think Donald Trump, a billionaire, would be the primary presidential choice of the billionaires, particularly with his economic plans which favor billionaires, and his championing of the Republican Party. But Trump is just one of the three parties polling highest in the current election favored by billionaires. Continue reading
It’s not the “newspaper of record.” It’s the voice of wealth, power and privilege—supporting tyranny over democracy, war over peace, state terror over fundamental freedoms, propaganda over hard truths. Continue reading
Corporations are viewed as untouchable by big business media giants like the Wall Street Journal, which blurts out inanities like “Income inequality is simply not a significant problem.” and “Middle-class Americans have more buying power than ever before.” Continue reading
One of the definitions of mental illness is when one continues to respond to the similar situations in the same manner despite evidence that the chosen response has not been effective or, in fact, made things worse. Sometimes, this is referred to as repetition compulsion, we rely on responses with which we are familiar and, therefore, more comfortable. Continue reading
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Reagan sold your future, Trump will too
White working-class voters should think twice before electing another flag-waving, immigrant-bashing, billionaire-enriching politician.
Posted on September 6, 2016 by Mitchell Zimmerman
A generation ago, many white working-class Democrats bought into Ronald Reagan’s promise of a better nation. Eager for “morning in America”—and swayed by fear that advances for black people would come at their expense—they didn’t see that the shadow of a long sunset was creeping over their lives. Continue reading →