Every Story in This Forum That is Not About Trump/Putin Is a Waste of Words

[McCamy Taylor]

That got your attention, didn't it? Good. It was supposed to. Now, while you are considering your response to the tag line, please read on.

The tag line is my opinion. At this moment. Tomorrow, I may feel differently. There is no absolute truth, just relative truth. And at the moment, the truth is that I am ashamed of how easily we allow ourselves to be distracted.

Yes, I know that I am no fun. Yes, I know that we have free speech in this country, and that we are free to write about whatever we want including the way that we want to limit other people's free speech--that is why I can write this post that many will say attempts to quash free speech. Trust me, I would never take away your right to free speech. But I reserve the right to critique the way that free speech is used. And I am pretty sure that "free speech" includes "freedom to criticize"--especially if the criticism is constructive. So, please, stop feeling personally insulted and read on.

This is not a matter or rights or ethics or even manners. This is a matter of expediency.

With a traitor in the White House destroying our economy and our environment and our future, it seems to me that we ought to keep our eyes on the prize and not let ourselves get distracted and divided and conquered. But then, I admit, I am no fun that way. I am always sticking my nose into a perfectly good flame war and declaring it a "divide and conquer". I am sure that those who enjoy a good flame war have a picture of me on a wall somewhere with the words "Enemy of Divide and Conquer" written beneath it in big, bold red Republican letters. Because Divide and Conquer is still and will always be the number one tool of those opposed to the democratic process, i.e. the GOP.

Can I get those words etched on my tombstone? They can never be repeated too often.

Divide and Conquer is still and will always be the number one tool of those opposed to the democratic process, i.e. the GOP.

[Va Lefty]

1. Kicked and recommended 1000%

[JCanete]

2. A lot of words were used here that were not focusing on Trump/Putin....am dismayed. nt

[TheBlackAdder]

5. The boards are filled with liberal tigers that are charged up enough to eat their own.

[sharedvalues]

3. Agreed.

[TheBlackAdder]

4. Gary...

.



.

[SaschaHM]

6. The GOP isn't making white liberals rush to the defense of Maher..

over an insensitive and stupid joke to the annoyance of PoC, who have been solidly anti-Trump before it became a way to prove one's white liberal cred. You don't have to stand in solidarity w/ us, but don't act like we are being pulled apart by outside forces when it really is just the inability of folks to accept the fact that PoC will condemn those on the left as well as those on the right.

Also, political expediency for the Democrats, who rely heavily on Af-Am voters, wouldn't be defending "house n*gger" jokes.

[cwydro]

7. Wait, what?

Whites who oppose the shitgibbon are just "proving their liberal cred"?

Um, no.

[Les Cowbell]

13. and the GOP isn't making intolerant people like you overreact to Maher

[Humanist_Activist]

20. Nothing wrong with being intolerant of stupidity and intolerance. n/t

[gademocrat7]

8. Kick

[onecent]

9. K & R....

[billh58]

10. Note that there has been

an influx of trolls recently who are responsible for many of the "off topic" posts.

[Va Lefty]

11. Excellent point

[trentwestcott]

21. Oh, lemme guess, the Russians are coming in here and posting to distract, right?

Give me a break. Someone disagrees with you = Russian.

[billh58]

25. Walks like a duck,

talks like a duck, probably is a duck. Do you quack Bubba? Hmm, joined up just today to address troll posts. Interesting.

[trentwestcott]

29. Nyet.

[billh58]

33. The trolls DU members are referring to

are not from Russia genius, they're from the good old USA, and they're working for the Trump machine. Since you're new here you are probably not aware that DU has been hacked at least twice recently -- the first one just before the election resulting in a lengthy shut down.

Are we sensitive about trolls? You bet we are, and when a newbie's first few posts are all about how there is "no such thing" as bots, they immediately become suspect. You are showing all of the symptoms.

Now take your "nyet" and put it where the sun don't shine Bubba.

[tavernier]

12. But what about the shiny objects?

I'm sure someone hurt the Chump's feelings, or certainly Hillary said something that was not lady-like, and poor Ivanka is trying so hard to save our planet and let us know how much she loves our gay brothers and sisters.

Has the milk of human pretense died in us all?

[CanonRay]

14. K & R

[Bernardo de La Paz]

15. Lots of bot & droid posters eager to shit-disturb controversies like Maher (both sides). . . . nt

[Mr. Ected]

16. As Democrats, we have a duty to define and redefine ourselves after an election

But we also have to take into consideration our opposition, which until recently walked in absolute lockstep and showed none of the divisions that we tend to amplify within our own ranks.

However, all that was then, and this is now....the most critical time in our nation's history. We are literally at the doorstep of handing our country over to a group of fascist extremists, a group which extends well beyond our borders. Russia is the driving force, and liberal democracies around the world are in jeopardy.

Our one and only potential saving grace? Trump and to a certain extent the Tea Party have fractured the Republicans into multiple factions that cannot agree on anything, save tax cuts for the rich. They are vulnerable, they are conspirators in a monstrously huge racketeering operation, and they are menaces to our planet. We have no choice but to band together and defeat them soundly.

Is Louise Mensch really our problem today? Is Kathy Griffin? Bill Maher? Then why are we wasting our breath going all PC, when the fate of the world rests in the balance?

Shouldn't our discussions remain focused on the Russian incursion in our election, in the Republican Party's involvement in that act of treason, as well as Trump and all of his sordid accomplices? Shouldn't we be tearing down the right's ability to gerrymander, to suppress the vote, and to cheat us out of a government that rightfully belongs to us?

Kathy Griffin apologized. Bill Maher apologized. Even Louise Mensch has seemingly cooled her jets of late. None of them, however, have any impact on legislation or executive orders. Nada.

Then again, nary a word of impeachment from the Republicans in Congress. No apologies for taking away our health care, our clean air, our ability to travel freely. No apologies from Trump for using the White House as a profit center. For these guys, sorry seems to be the hardest word. Can we just get over ourselves and start demanding apologies from the true demon miscreants that are decimating our country and laughing in our faces about it?

[trentwestcott]

19. Kathy Griffin apologized. Bill Maher apologized.

They apologized? That's it? FFS, Trent Lott apologized too, like 10 times if I remember correctly, but it still didn't matter to the people that Maher and Lott hurt. Apology accepted, now go hide yourself, we don't need voices like these in the conversation.

[Beartracks]

32. Well said, Mr. Ected. Thanks. n/t

[Demsrule86]

17. K&R

This is a great post. We need to fight Trump and quit fighting each other.

[trentwestcott]

18. Why is it no one is talking about the feelings of African-Americans about this?

I mean god dammit people, here we are living under Emperor Cheeto (not completely because of but at least in part) because the same people who were excited about voting for the first president who looked like them weren't as excited about voting this time around, and we're trying to increase engagement with the AA community, trying to get them to watch our shows and listen to our voices and get excited enough about ALL PARTS of our movement that they'll come out on election day, and then this shit. WTF Maher, you saw the joke and you just couldn't pass? Imagine you're a young AA watching at home and you heard that shit? If using the N word really isn't that big of a deal then you wouldn't have people on this board saying "N word" instead of writing the whole thing out.

My dad was 1/4 black, making me 1/8th, and I'm not going to say I'm devastated, because to be honest I've been raised white, but I have a lot of completely AA friends, and I've been trying to get them interested enough in the DNC platform and in liberal voices so that they'll vote in local, state and national elections even when the candidate isn't AA, and shit like this doesn't help.

[rzemanfl]

22. Well said. Welcome to DU. n/t

[trentwestcott]

24. Thanks

[rzemanfl]

23. I don't want to start a flame war, but i.e., is always followed with a comma. n/t

[McCamy Taylor]

27. Are you talking about the world where blatant criminal acts are ALWAYS FOLLOWED by prosecution?

If so, I don't think we are in Kansas anymore. I am not sure we are even in the United States anymore. The laws that used to protect us have run up against a great big loophole---single party control of all three federal branches equals the kind of corrupt government that Tom Paine warned us against in "Common Sense."

"The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. 'Tis not the affair of a city, a country, a province, or a kingdom, but of a continent of at least one eighth part of the habitable globe. 'Tis not the concern of a day, a year, or an age; posterity are virtually involved in the contest, and will be more or less affected, even to the end of time, by the proceedings now. Now is the seed time of continental union, faith and honor. The least fracture now will be like a name engraved with the point of a pin on the tender rind of a young oak; The wound will enlarge with the tree, and posterity read it in full grown characters."

I hear you, Tom, my man. You may be long dead, but your words are still relevant. Once upon a time, we were England's colony. Now Russia wants to make us its colony. And the law, as written, is allowing Russia to get away with it. What does that say about the law?

"It is repugnant to reason, to the universal order of things, to all examples from the former ages, to suppose, that this continent can longer remain subject to any external power."

I agree. So, tell us, Tom. How do we resist when the law is against us?

"If there is any true cause of fear respecting independence it is because no plan is yet laid down. Men do not see their way out. Wherefore, as an opening into that business I offer the following hints; at the same time modestly affirming, that I have no other opinion of them myself, than that they may be the means of giving rise to something better. Could the straggling thoughts of individuals be collected, they would frequently form materials for wise and able men to improve to useful matter."

That sounds like a political forum!

[Lotusflower70]

26. Part of the problem

Is the divide and conquer isn't just the GOP, it's within the Democratic party. There is a need for unity as well as focus. There are so many distractions as well as so many scandals to sift through. It's exhausting. Impeachment is a slim to none option, that is the reality. It won't happen without Republicans. We have to sustain the fight for midterms. That is the hope. We have to keep hammering on Russia and Putin though.

[Binkie The Clown]

28. Neither Trump nor Putin will matter at all when the Earth's ecosystem collapses,

so my personal opinion is that every post that is not about saving the planet is a waste of words.

[Hamlette]

30. But wait! Bill Maher used the N word! We should fight over that!!!!

[Spider Jerusalem]

31. Can't walk and chew gum at the same time, got it (n/t)

[TheFrenchRazor]

34. not about Trump/Putin election hacking, yes. nt