POLITICAL COMMENTARY: “Revenge of the ‘Deplorables'” / truthdig / Robert Scheer ☮

Trump Mr. FishThe people Hillary Clinton derided as a “basket of deplorables” have spoken. They have voted out of the pain of their economic misfortune, which Clinton’s branch of the Democratic Party helped engender.

What you have is a defeat of elitism. Clinton’s arrogance was on full display with the revelation of her speeches cozying up to Goldman Sachs—the bank that caused this misery more than any other—and the irony of this is not lost on the people who are hurting and can’t pay their bills. This is a victory for a neofascist populism—scapegoating immigrants and Muslims—and if Bernie Sanders had been the Democrats’ candidate, I feel confident he would have won. We were denied the opportunity of a confrontation between a progressive populist, represented by Sanders, and a neofascist populist.

It’s a repudiation of the arrogant elitism of the Democratic Party machine as represented by the Clintons, whose radical deregulation of Wall Street created this mess. And instead of recognizing the error of their ways and standing up to the banks, Clinton’s campaign cozied up to them, and that did not give people who are hurting confidence that she would respond to their needs or that she gave a damn about their suffering. She’s terminally tone-deaf.

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POLITICAL COMMENTARY: “One Nation Under Trump with Michael Smith” / RT America / On Contact with Chris Hedges ☮

On this week’s episode of On Contact, Chris Hedges discusses what to expect under a Donald Trump-led United States with Michael Smith, attorney and co-editor of “Imagine: Living in a Socialist U.S.A”. RT Correspondent Anya Parampil tracks who voted for Trump in the 2016 election.

POLITICAL COMMENTARY: “Rachel Maddow Blames Third-Party Voters for Trump Victory” / The Humanist Report / Mike Figueredo ☮

Rachel Maddow couldn’t understand why the months of pro-Clinton propaganda failed to get her candidate into the White House. Rather than realizing that Americans just simply don’t like the Clintons, she decided to blame democracy itself and shamed third-party voters, implying they’re culpable for Trump’s victory. Shameful.

POLITICAL COMMENTARY: “Maddow [Incorrectly] Blames Third Party Voters for Hillary’s Loss” / Secular Talk / Kyle Kulinski ☮

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow said that third party voters not only “don’t care who becomes president,” but that they cost Hillary Clinton the White House. But the numbers simply don’t add up, and Maddow is angry at the wrong group of people.

POLITICAL COMMENTARY: “California Does the Right Thing – in the Face of Trump” / Daily Kos ☮

california state flagJoint Statement from California Legislative Leaders on Result of Presidential Election

Wednesday, November 09, 2016

SACRAMENTO – California Senate President pro Tempore Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) and California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) released the following statement on the results of the President election:

Today, we woke up feeling like strangers in a foreign land, because yesterday Americans expressed their views on a pluralistic and democratic society that are clearly inconsistent with the values of the people of California.

We have never been more proud to be Californians.

By a margin in the millions, Californians overwhelmingly rejected politics fueled by resentment, bigotry, and misogyny.

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APHORISM: “On Veterans Day” / Madison S. Hughes ☮

By Madison S. Hughes (11.11.2011, revised 11.10.2013)

Veterans Day, like many if not most American holidays, is a paradoxical celebration at best, a fraud at worst, and intentionally so. Be it known to those who have not “served” in the military, that military personnel are not the heroes the media, and politicians make us out to be. We are simply economic conscripts trying to survive in an oligarchy of which most of us do not realize we are of part.

So, as one celebrates this Veterans Day, think less about the veterans themselves, and more about why we as country continue to have such an unquestioning demand for their inhumane services. For example, one may reflect upon the huge, tax evading, profit driven multinational corporations run by an oligarchy that rules the country that many mistake for a democracy.