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Life in the Empire

(how is this for a new thread?)

It is not the freshest news. But it is still breaking, people are still absorbing it ,and it all till needs context.

The filthy greedheads and the doomed can't have exclusive rights to this news territory. The insane and the loyal opposition must have their say as well.

My take - the Russian armada is going to bomb the living fuck out of Aleppo.  Not so much to help Assad as to show they can still break shit, and still matter in one of their few areas of influence outside of Russia. 

Sebostabol/Crimea alreadytaken and those pieces are swatted off the chess board.
Then they will pass through the Suez canal to a favorite area of contemporary interest - the south china sea, to dock at the "chinese" island. 
They will refit at Vizag (a top indian navy base), go hover around the "chinese" island in the spratleys, maybe some commando/fast boat/SEAL type training with the chinese there. then they go right by the senkaku islands on the way to vladivostick for winter.
just to show the world the BRICS aint nobody to fuck with. 
Turkish PM Erdogan just "cleaned house," by firing about 40,000 people in government and shooting a
few hundred security, military and intelligence staff accused of being Gulen supporters.  some probably were, some probably were not, and Gulen's infleunce is not as profound as the govt makes it out to be. but he just bought himself 5 more years of unchallengable rule. and the ability to flip turkey out of NATO into the BRICS. I think it is very possible and could happen suddenly if it does.
Then much of eastern europe NATO (esp former ussr/Warsaw Pact) all quit too - because it is a stupid antiquated instiution that has not had a rational strategic reason of existence since the fall of the Berlin wall.  nato is not world's army the blue hats in the UN are.
Timing - Putin put them at sea when he knew he would have a four month window of no real response from usa because of the  elections.
They will have proved they are back as a true blue sea navy, anf kicked some ass, and shored up crucial geostrategic along the way.
I feel no portence of WWIII but instead feel this is a macho country saying "we be back motherfucka!"
and the advanced cyber and ground/space/ship-to-shore warfare eqpt of china, russia (less so india) is getting really good, and hits all the achilles heels of nato/USSA, efficiently, cheaply, and on the button.

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from Chris Hedges

Trump, with no democratic institutions left to restrain him, will accelerate the corporate assault, from privatizing Social Security to exonerating militarized police forces for the indiscriminate murder of unarmed citizens, while he unleashes the fossil fuel industry and the war industry to degrade and most probably extinguish life on earth. His administration will be populated by the lunatic fringe of the Republican Party, men and women characterized by profound intellectual and moral impoverishment, as well as a stunning ability to ignore reality. These ideologues speak exclusively in the language of intimidation and violence.

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i think we all realize the indisputable fact, given to us by the beloved dr. thompson. "when the going gets weird, the weird turns pro."

you are all strange individuals. that is how i recognize you as "mi hente" "my people."

so i give myself 2 weeks to fuck off out of the country. but to where?

My choice would be Victoria, Canada. But, it's far too expensive for us 'pensioners' now. If I had the resources, I'd have a place in Puerto Vallarta, MX and Victoria, BC and would be happy to never visit the US again.

We're going to Mexico in a couple of weeks. And after the Trump win, I'm a little concerned about how warmly we'll be received -- albeit, probably better than we'd be welcomed in Canada. 

It will be interesting to see how the local in Mexico respond.  My experience in my travel has been that a lot of folks separate Americans (who they genuinely enjoy) from the American government (who they genuinely loathe).

We've been looking for where to ex-pat for quite some time.  Really enjoyed the Umbrian area of Italy and Jo's Italian background would make acquiring dual citizenship possible but we don't have the resources to deal with the cost of living. Enjoyed Riga, Latvia and the cost of living is great but the postcolonial tension between Latvian and Russian ethnic groups is a bit problematic.  Australia is an easy transition for Yanks but it is very expensive. We need to look into Panama. 

Meanwhile, Paul Ryan is insisting that the Republicans now have a "mandate".

if only those protestors would just give Trump a chance and stop inconveniencing me!

An incomplete list of racist incidents since Trump was elected.

I'm beginning to see a growing number of Hillary voters admit that voting for her was a failed strategy. Seeing more sentiment posted along these lines...

"If Trump is the price we have to pay to defeat Clintonian neoliberalism – so be it."

— Mumia Abu-Jamal

and...

"....But if we keep with this binary, back and forth, we're missing the biggest opportunity this result provides. Please everyone, don't just walk down a street protesting Trump, though that's fine. And good for people getting out there. But the work that I think can save us will be to get a bold vision for our politics out there. And to my mind, that means to demand the Democrats drop their corporate-funded faux liberal front and embrace the progressive base (and future) loudly and proudly. We do not need corporate donors to lead. Quite the opposite."

and...

"Had Clinton won the left would have gone back to sleep and the endless interventionist wars and endless murder of women and children with robots and the endless mass surveillance police state crap and Wall Street's endless looting of our treasury would have just continued unabated. Now the left finally gets off its ass again."

Seems like the alcoholic is ready to admit (its) had a problem for a while. Admitting that is always the first step.

I've also seen more that my share of denial that Hillary was a horrific candidate and castigation of Stein/Johnson/non-voters. I, again, am less optimistic than you that the New Democrat run DNC establishment has really accepted that the problem lies with them - addiction to power, even if that power is just being in control of the Party that is out of power, is a very hard thing to kick.

There is significant correlation between states that narrowly went to Trump and their recent enactment of voter ID and other suppression laws - not enough to account for the 46% of registered voters who didn't vote but enough to support a conclusion that they did sway the election. There is also significant evidence that Comey's October Surprise had a major impact. Again - not putting these forward to explain away Clinton as a horrible nominee - just noting that we don't have anything close to totally free and fair elections.

I may be wrong but I don't think Mumia Abu-Jamal was ever a supporter of Clinton so his quote is unsurprising.

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