Progressives (Liberals)

You consider facts you don’t like to be ‘right-wing slime.’ These are valid points—also forwarded by lefty progressives. You remain in a Centrist bubble that severely limits your perspective.

Of course not. I'm sure people mentioned all kinds of things. Which is totally within their rights. I was referring specifically to doctored videos which were all over YouTube. Raising questions about a candidate's health (and how the campaign handles it) is fine. I have no objections to stories like the ABC link you provided. But I believe the stories were, in some degree, precipitated by the smear campaign which made her health a much bigger issue than it would have been otherwise. Hell, she's still very much alive and kicking. I'm not attacking Sanders. I'm not defending Clinton. I believe that much of the hysteria was caused by malicious editing and manipulation of video footage. Is that really such a far-fetched idea?

Two things. First, Sanders has to win the nomination. Then you'll see the slime machine in action. Even Stephen F. Cohen will be complaining about Russian trolls.

Second, looking at Lash's ABC link, you see how the Trump was trying to raise these questions about "stamina" because she was a woman. And, should one of the woman candidates secure the nomination we'll see the same thing.

I'm undecided. Right now on Rotten Tomatoes, Joker has a 43% rating among "top critics", a 69% rating among "all critics", and a 91% rating among "verified purchasers of a movie ticket for this movie".

So, not high culture by any means, but still a satisfactory dose of bread and circuses for the hoi polloi.

Probably not worth me driving all the way to a city and paying IMAX ticket prices. But perhaps a Tuesday matinee at the nearest small town theater is in the cards.

On the other hand, I've just been on a trip to see Shakespeare (Othello) at the Stratford Festival in Canada*, and next week I'll be driving all the way to a city to see a 40th anniversary showing of Alien, so my entertainment budget for the moment is largely expended.

I'll probably at least stream it over my Roku whenever HBO/Showtime/Starz/EPIX gets it.


*And no, I didn't smuggle a gun with me. Although they had quite a cannon set in a bed of flowers outside the theater. Looked like maybe an old 32 pounder.

All that Russian trolls bullshit does is give certain quarters a bludgeon to pound those with whom they disagree. It presumes that progressives are sheeple if they stay strong and stirred against the centrist and far right actions or programs. You have to be strong and stirred up because the centrists will bulldoze the entire movement.

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/chris-hedges-democrats-cast-their-lot-with-elites-on-impeachment/

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And yet, the House is currently, in its inquiry, looking basically at one issue, at what happened with the phone call in Ukraine. And, Chris Hedges, you’ve said that the fatal mistake that Trump made is trying to take down a fellow member of the ruling elite. Could you —

CHRIS HEDGES: Well, it reminds me of the Watergate hearings, where the activities that were carried out by the Nixon White House against the Democratic headquarters in Watergate were directed at the elites. All of those activities had been carried out before, including break-ins into Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office, against antiwar activists. But it’s when those activities were targeted at the elite. And I think that’s exactly what we’ve seen, and that’s what’s triggered such a reaction, including from Pelosi, who up until now has been very reluctant to carry out impeachment. But what they’ve done, or what Trump, the Trump White House, has done, is target the favored nominee by the Democratic donor class.

JOHN BONIFAZ: That’s not necessarily an argument to not proceed with impeachment proceedings. It’s an argument to expand the scope of the impeachment inquiry to cover all of his impeachable — Donald Trump’s impeachable offenses, from the obstruction of justice, from giving aid and comfort to white supremacists and neo-Nazis, racist abuses of power, placing children and their families in imprisonment unconstitutionally at the southern border. All of the impeachable offenses need to be covered by these impeachment proceedings, not just the Ukraine scandal.

CHRIS HEDGES: Well, yeah, I agree with that, and I’m not against impeachment. The problem is that — and you use the phrase “rule of law” — from the very moment Trump took office, he was violating the emoluments clause; very clear evidence that he attempted to obstruct justice during the Mueller investigation; inciting violence and racism; using taxes to punish people he considered political opponents, Jeff Bezos, in particular, at Amazon. Yes, it’s all there, but what has been disturbing for me is the shredding of the rule of law, the inability on the part of the ruling elites on both sides of the aisle to stand up for the rule of law, until now.

People were there. They reported her bobbling and confusion. You *are* defending her.

This is the weakest argument ever—she was passing out, acting like she was on medication or under the influence of some mind-altering drug.

It has nothing to do with being a woman. There are a multitude of women who can run circles around men.

At that time, Hillary Clinton was not one of them.

I wasn't. Nor have I labeled as lies every concern expressed about her condition.

Lash, I'm looking at the difference between the media coverage of Sanders' hospitalization and the doctored videos of Clinton which were spread around the internet. There's just no comparison.

She managed to stay on topic in the three debates.

Of course there are. But that's not the point. Trump was attempting to stir up the more misogynistic elements of his base. Like that comment about how "disgusting" it was that she took so much time taking a bathroom break. I think I ought to be allowed to criticize his boorish behavior without being accused of "defending" anyone.

It’s so easy to do.
Criticize Trump and acknowledge the truth about how Clinton’s team tried to hide her health issues. You see the footage on ABC. You see the other footage. Pretending it’s doctored is defending her.

Forget it hightor. The only person your allowed to defend on a lash site is Bernie the God.

Oh yes. In an avalanche of **** as wide and deep as the Mississippi.

And yes again. "Shrill". "Whining". "Hysterical". "Her voice is like fingernails on a chalkboard". "Blood coming out of her whatever". Etc

It's happening in many countries, Edgar. National governments like Canada, Britain, France, Australia etc etc have spoken on Russian troll activities seeking to upend western alliances. All the big tech and tech security companies have documented this activity. America is the big target but far from the only one. These guys aren't messing around. And you're helping them.

Not to mention in 11 straight hours of interrogation.

I don't argue the point. But laying blame on Bernie supporters hasn't shown me a thing. Bernie supporters are already fired up and need no coaching.

It's not about enthusiasm in and of itself, edgar. Enthusiasm is fine. It's about disinformation and through that, directing the enthusiasm in destructive directions.

There's nothing amiss when Trump seeks to enthuse his base. But notice how he uses disinformation to shape the directions he encourages his followers to take as regards anyone or anything which he deems poses a threat to him.

Anything that disagrees with centrists' narrative gets labeled disinformation.

USA Today:
Spike Lee endorses Bernie Sanders: He’ll ‘do the right thing’

Anything that disagrees with the progressive narrative gets labeled centrism.

There really is such a thing as "disinformation" and it is increasingly used because technology has made it so much easier.