“if I were to run, I’d run as a Republican. They’re the dumbest group of voters in the country. They believe anything on Fox News. I could lie and they’d still eat it up. I bet my numbers would be terrific.” Donald Trump on running for the Presidency, People Magazine, 1998. And so it came to pass from Americas dumbest voters, and from comments that I read on line and letters to the editor, they are still dumb! IMPEACH TRUMP!
Not just fascist governments, but most governments prefer an eternally malleable populace (I would reckon ever since the beginning of the agricultural revolution). There seem to be few exceptions in history that would indicate otherwise.
All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And Trump has laid the iniquity on us all. ( In deference to the fact that it is Easter)
Reminds me of something I once read, about this very line. The writer suggested that this is proof that Handel was not a native English speaker, because no true Englishman would ever say, "We like sheep."
Yes, I can attest to the gullibility of democrats. (I used to be one a long time ago). I'm a LEFTIE - neither liberal nor conservative, neither Republican nor Democrat.
From my experience, there are damned few of us out here. I do run into a lot of peeps who are totally non-committal in any political sense. They just don't pay attention to any of it, so they always seem "happy." Well, slightly I guess, since I don't run into any truly happy Americans.
Most of the mass media are owed by the billionaires and private corporations who benefit from spouting propaganda. MSNBC is not actually “liberal” but may have convinced you that it is.
Also, the Republicans protect their own. The GOP demands loyalty to the Party but also is loyal to its members. Trump understood that when he left the Democrats and joined the Republicans.
The leaders in the Republican Party are brilliant supporters of wealthy Capitalists. Some are well-heeled Capitalists, themselves. For more than a century, the Republicans have been supporting Big Business while lying to ignorant working class voters.
Most of the leaders of the Democratic Party have been unwilling to call bullshit, publicly, on Republican lies and propaganda lest they offend their own well-heeled sponsors who typically provide financial support to both Parties.
Trump has publicly stated that, prior to running for office, he “owned” many politicians, as do many private corporations, billionaires and mega-millionaires. Republicans aren’t ashamed to admit that. Most Democrats are in denial about their own complicity.
For several decades, the Democrats’ modus operandi has been “vote for the lesser of two evils” and “vote blue no matter who”. It hasn’t been “vote for who represents the vast majority of Americans”.
That's because "the vast majority of Americans" haven't had anyone to vote FOR, *if they're voting either R or D*, for about 40 years, more likely at least 50. Both parties are owned and totally controlled by billionaires and mega-millionaires, as you suggest. And they both are almost 100% supporting and funding two proxy wars that are not only bankrupting the country but can only lead to hundreds of thousands, probably millions, of deaths, major injuries, total destruction of infrastructure, displacement of any surviving populations, refugees scattered everywhere causing more impossible conditions to simply live in peace, etc.
No peace for the world anywhere, thanks to the US system of violence and war on any peoples refusing to obey "our" orders on how they are to live. Be slaves to US capitalism-imperialism or fucking die! That's the American message to the world, under either Republican or Democratic criminal regimes. Stop voting for these murderous bastards.
That’s driven by the worship of Capitalism and the belief in the need for ever-increasing profits on a finite planet. We can study many treatises about capitalism and usury, but these song lyrics sum it up: Give a little, take a little, but take a little bit more.
Keep taking a bit more until you have it all, even if military force is necessary to do that. Also, don’t give a damn about the consequences that do not directly affect you or your immediate family. It made the British Empire great until it had to be bailed out by the American one that has continued the tradition, even as it is on the verge of collapse.
Yes indeed, capitalism is the root of the entire problem, but trying to get Americans (apart from maybe 2% of us) to understand this and believe it is as close to impossible as anything I can think of. As Frederic Jameson said, "it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism". I've been a "socialist" for about 50 years, and I put it in quotes because I'm no more an actual socialist than anyone else in this absurd country.
There's no meaningful way to practice something like a completely opposite economic system to the one you're trapped in if no one else is doing so. Especially if they've all been trained like seals to reject it via ceaseless indoctrination all their lives from every social and cultural institution there is. Mainly all popular, dominant media, but all the other institutions as well.
See "Living in a World that Can't Be Fixed", by Curtis White, for further elaboration. Socialism, any version of it, will never be allowed to exist in the USA. TPTB will destroy the world before they'd let that happen. Literally.
Today is Easier Sunday, commemorating Jesus of Nazareth, a Hebrew socialist whose teachings were viewed as a threat to the authenticity of TPTB in the Jewish/Hebraic community who were operating Judaism as a business.
He was not a threat to the Romans who had overwhelming military control of their empire and who established Christianity as their official religion.
And now Israel is a Big Business/War state, just like its bankroller in the west. Most Zionists are atheists, so Zionist Israel is a purely ethno-political manifestation of a religion they abandoned long ago, except as a stage prop to hide behind so they could commit all the genocide they had planned against the Palestinians for many decades.
Trump's Whiteman House is commandeered by Evangelical "Christians" whose idea of that faith is forcing everyone on Earth to submit to the authority of a dictator/autocrat who wants to steal the world for his personal gain (Greenland, Gaza, Panama Canal, Canada, and anywhere else his megalomania leads him) and punish anyone who won't convert to their insane beliefs and obscene belligerence. Jesus would be leading an army today to burn Washington D.C. to the ground.
>>"Be slaves to US capitalism-imperialism or fucking die! That's the American message to the world, under either Republican or Democratic criminal regimes. Stop voting for these murderous bastards."
I think you may have meant to include how the rich also use the suppression of free-speech in order to select the candidates that we are allowed to vote for. One only needs to look at the variety of shenanigans the DNC played on Bernie Sanders. But there are endless examples with the GOP and its echo chambers like Fox News.
If the much-married Foxy Murdoch, professional bridegroom, (probably off on yet another honeymoon, number. ?...) is ever identified by the fascistic masked US ICE police and should ever becomes a voice against Trumpelstiltskin , or a voice for peace, for decency or anti-Zionist doctrines, etc., he will not be allowed to be returned to his old country called Australia where it is known that a referendum is under consideration to proclaim a public holiday in memory of the first day he became a citizen of another country, that is, Israel / America on September 4, 1985.
A day welcomed by all free-thinkers in little Australia as a blessing worthy of some form of rememberance.
Therefore, , in deference to his early years as a left wing radical, one who espoused socialism, kept a bust of Lenin in his university accommodation but sadly then went on to build his extreme right world media empire, he will be accepted back for 'old times sake' in a cardboard or wooden casket as a mark of past respect, for burial with the traditional Scottish song "Auld Lang Syne". Five generations of the family are descended from two Scottish immigrants to Australia: the Reverend James Murdoch, a minister of the Free Church of Scotland and his wife Helen.
Yes, good riddance to him, but don’t forget Newscorp’s the appalling The Australian….I can’t bear to read it. Arts section might be worth a read but certainly not politics or their Zionist take on world affairs …….
Is he? Or is he insufficiently robust in his condemnation of Israel? He is an anti-"free" market capitalist and an anti-racist, and that's a good start. Zionism is very much a "free" market capitalist project.
Diana van Eyk, It is not unbelievable really, that Trumpians think they have free speech. For them free speech means that they have the right to denigrate any race or community or protest movement and say anything in favour of outfits like the Ku Klux clan or the Proud Boys.
Did anyone notice how J D Vance rebuked the European powers for trampling on free speech? By 'free speech' he meant that they were ( presumably) shutting down on the rights of extreme rightwing ratbags and neo-Nazis.
So how should we describe them? Poor, deceived souls? Agree that they're not necessarily dumb - people tend to believe what they want to believe. That's worse than stupidity - it's malice.
Do we need to make character generalizations at all? I mean sure, it might be fruitful at times to point out that conservatives lack empathy or liberals base almost every decision on what it does for their ego, but just calling them dumb seems... less productive.
And here's the thing. During the Biden administration, because their information environment was contrarian to the US admin, Trumpers/conservatives actually landed on the "smart" side of a number of issues like Covid, free speech, Russia, Biden's cognitive decline, etc. And it was liberals in the "dumb" position! So much so that I was genuinely shocked at the free speech 180. Here I had thought MAGA had been waking up, but we're still just doing partisan tribalism, unfortunately.
So I don't think intelligence has anything to do with it.
>>"Trumpers/conservatives actually landed on the "smart" side of a nmber of issues like Covid, free speech,"
Seriously ???
Almost no one (except a small minority of the population) got Covid right (and this includes the science + Govt. policy decisions). The 'right' got the science wrong (anti-vaxx, etc.) and the 'left' got the policies wrong (mandates, authoritarianism, etc.).
They (both LEFT and RIGHT) turned science into politics and partisanship.
You do understand that when most people say they believe in 'free speech' they believe in 'THEIR free speech' right?
>>"Here I had thought MAGA had been waking up"
MAGA is a cult. It is very rare for cult members to wake up (many studies have been done in this area).
>>"So I don't think intelligence has anything to do with it."
Lab leak theory, calling the government's bullshit, saying the fatality rate was overstated, saying the vaccine was a big pharma cash grab and worse than the disease, questioning the vaccines' efficacy - this was the conservative position, and they ended up being right on all counts.
If you still in 2025 haven't processed this, you have some catching up to do.
Firstly, character and intelligence are not the same thing. Also, when were Conservatives right about Covid? About free speech? About Russia? Lastly, I'm done with being civil to people who think it's clever and funny to trash the economy of their own country.
"a populace with an informed mind and an informed conscience would never consent to."
I get the informed mind part, Caitlin. But is it really possible to inform the collective conscience of America, tainted by Native genocide, African slavery, the murder of Vietnamese, Iraqi. Afghani, civilians, etc. etc.? How can this be cleansed so that so that a true ethical base for that conscience can arise. I'm thinking many generations post-empire, if at all. But now? No way. Call me a pessimist, but for me the collective conscience of this country is hopelessly tainted; damaged.
>>"But is it really possible to inform the collective conscience of America..."
Good question. From reading about other cultures and periods in history, I am of the opinion that it IS POSSIBLE - though it takes time (which I'm not sure how much of the U.S. Empire has before it implodes due to internal and/or external forces).
From looking at the largest revolutionary changes in history (including all the de-colonialization histories), it would suggest that such fascistic methods (as employed by the current Trump administration) have never succeeded for long periods of time.
Yes, but so many innocent people will be killed by disgusting genocidal empire before that. Justice which is slow is no justice at all. The curse that will end the human race. And well deserved.
>>"Yes, but so many innocent people will be killed by disgusting genocidal empire before that."
Unfortunately, it's only going to get worse...
>>"Justice which is slow is no justice at all."
We don't live in a 'just' world. We never have. It was always an illusion. The exploited and oppressed have rarely received justice (throughout history) by the perpetrators (whomsoever they might be). Yes, reality can be depressing...
Fascists like Trump, Farage, Musk, Tommy Robinson, Viktor Orban, Richard Tice, Marine Le Pen, Georgia Meloni, all this filth, are ALL for free speech when it comes to enabling fascism, very often on the social media platforms that they own but challenge these bastards on ANYTHING and it's a different ball of wax. Moreover, once they get a sniff of power or into power they soon reveal their true colours on the free speech issue and I'm proud that I'm banned BOTH from Facebook and X, apparently for life! In the UK, where the fascists have yet to get into government, despite Kier Starmer's efforts, we have seen the use of weaponised defamation laws and SLAPP to close down journalists like Carole Cadwalladr and the McCarthyite witch hunts in the corrupt and market facing University sector is in full swing, though not yet on the same magnitude as the US. And if you want to know what Trump and co REALLY have in mind, look no further than what has happened to the media and journalists in Viktor Orban's Hungary. These are dark times, certainly the darkest since the 1930s, and the need for resistance should be self evident.
So true, Roger. Your last sentence sums it up. It will get messy, but to lay low, shut up and hope they'll leave you alone is not the answer. There will need to be significant numbers who are prepared to get up and form organised mass resistance. I have little doubt that Mango Man's 'militias' (Proud Boys et al) are girding their loins as we await developments. And they're packing heat. The National Guard is doubtless being 'fixed', too. The longer any resistance waits to act, the worse it'll be. Very dark times, indeed.
Spot on David in Europe and North America both. Oswald Moseley wasn't defeated by reasoned argument but at the Battle of Cable Street and the examples of Spain and Nazi Germany speak for themselves. In the 1990s it's true that the NF and BNP could never have attained the support based of the EDL and Reform today because their Hitler worshipping pro-Nazi stance was on the road to nowhere but they were PHYSICALLY DEFEATED on the streets and football terraces by Anti-Fascist-Action. What's needed now is a combination of anti-fascist resistance with a clear socialist alternative to the failed and austerity-happy neo-liberal policies that are fueling the rise of the new fascism, enabling it to pose as the radical alternative. It isn't.
From my experience interacting with people in America (online and IRL), my guesstimate is that 90% don't understand what "free speech" is, and even less have an understanding of the U.S. First Amendment or are able to articulate it when asked about it (not to mention even a rudimentary understanding of the U.S. Constitution).
In part, this stems from the 'quality of education', miserable quality of information disseminated by media sources (MSM, etc.), and ideological/cultural warfaring and emotional outbursts. It seems that very few people want to take the time to 'really understand' such concepts. I suspect TPTB have an incentive in keeping the populace ignorant (and dumbed down) so as to better be able to control and propagandize them.
Instead of watching 1 hr a day of FOX, MSNBC, etc. (or social media) if people spent the same amount of time to actually make an effort to understand the world or even read 'high quality books', I would suspect we would see a sea change in people's attitudes and an ability to think better.
So we are in agreement, its not accurate to say "Trump Supporters do not understand free speech" your own estimate its more like 90% of the entire US population
No - we are definitely NOT in agreement. It is perfectly accurate to say that "Trump supporters do not understand free speech".
It's actually a very simple statement - both logically and rhetorically. I'm not sure why YOU are having such a hard time accepting such a simple and straight-forward statement.
Of course, if you did the math about my statement (and are familiar with subsets in basic set theory), you would understand that the statement is even mathematically accurate (i.e. 100% of U.S. Trump supporters are a subset of the U.S. population, and 100% of Trump supporters are LESS THAN 90% of the U.S. population. Hence the '100% of the Trump supporters that do not understand free speech' are a subset of 90% of the U.S. population that does not understand free speech).
The US government is also deporting people who criticize Israel because too many people in the government get money from a Zionist organization or individual(s). They don't want to have that flow of money stopped. And now they are trying to control academia so we cannot aquire knowledge that does not have the Trump/DOGE/Musk stamp of approval. Let's hope others follow the example of Harvard.
>>"because too many people in the government get money from a Zionist organization or individual(s)"
Susan, this logic fails upon further examination. IF money 'was the only criteria', there are MUCH EASIER ways to make money. I recommend understanding how financial markets work - especially how insider trading works and how rampant it is. The 'money' from Zionist organizations (and/or individuals) is chump change. The global bond markets themselves are over $150 trillion (https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-the-largest-bond-markets-in-the-world/), not to mention the trillions in market capitalization of 'global foreign exchange markets', the cryptocurrency market capitalization, the equity markets and the largest of asset classes - the commercial and housing real-estate markets.
One needs to dig deeper than superficial reasons like 'chump change money from Zionists' to get to the bottom of the motivations behind U.S. Empire moves (i.e. think broader) and strategic planning (including cooperation from politicians at MOST levels of Government).
"Free speech, if sufficiently realized, could solve all our problems."
We can't have that--a solution to all our problems! What would we do with our ginormous defense budget if we don't have any problems to solve by dropping 2,000 pound bombs on them? People would actually know what was going on in the world if there were Free Speech... They might even hear stories about atrocities our side allegedly has committed. Oh, no, we can't have that. It's just too dangerous! Censorship is our only option for keeping the world's nose out of our problems. *satire*
That’s true. But today there are means by which anyone who wants can discover the truth of the facts. Rousseau was right when he said that if it is true that someone fenced off a piece of land saying “this is mine” it is also true that all the other people let him do it. A structure is not formed only by the will of the minority that then dominates it but also by the cowardice of the majority that then suffers it.
Exactly. Also, MLK said something similar. The really awful and sad thing is that almost every generation of humans has to go through the same idiotic cycle. Humans, apparently intelligent species never learn. Bring back the dinosaurs.
The dinosaurs are still here, and all around us. We just changed their name to birds, because we didn't recognize them since they didn't match our faulty guess at how they looked.
The fall of the American empire is upon us. The Zionists have openly stated their religious agenda prophesizing that all none Jews will be enslaved. While this might sound like religious rhetoric, I can't help but think that the indoctrination that influences Jews in their cult like fanaticism concerning Israel will be the downfall of the USA. I don't understand how this is not clear to the average American, if only for the censorship, and dismantling of their constitution. The incredibly rapid pace at which civil and constitutional rights have been taken away in the US is second to none - not even Nazi Germany eroded this quickly.
This is precisely the alarm that the US court of Apoeals for the Fourth Circuit sounded in its recent decision on the Abrego Garcia case. They put it right out on the table, pointing out that the government is descending into action that explicitly puts the state itself at risk of becoming openly illegitimate.
Which is probably the actual INTENT of this regime.
And they are not the first. The Biden regime already asserted the right to imprison American for having politcal opinions different from that of the ruling government administrations - that's what the Uhuru 3 prosecution was about:
But they are "just" an organization founded to help uplift brown skinned american minorities, so no one cared - not even the many faux liberals in the bloggeratti.
What a shame that we call it 'Free Speech', and not 'Free Idea Sharing'. Good ideas, bad ideas - how better to understand how a person thinks than by learning what they think? How better to learn new ways to think than by listening to people who think better than you? How better to move society forward? Perhaps the reason western governments have so turned against the sharing of ideas can be discovered in the comments of their fans, the defenders of the indefensible. They have no idea. They deliberately avoid becoming informed, they desperately avoid thinking, they regard all history as a lie. Heaven forfend that an attractive idea might come along, and cause them to see how disgustingly their governments are using their apathy.
They understand alright. Here is the US "conservative" view - and BTW it has nothing do with the orange one specifically.:
- Freedom is the right of the rich white man to oppress all others, in his country and across the planet.
- States rights, is the right of state governments controlled by rich white men, to supress the freedom and humanity of everyone else.
- Free speech is the right of the rich white man to say whatever he likes, to desecrate others' cultures, and to rally others to rip down their freedom.
If you want to actually battle these corrosive views, recoginze their pervasiveness and insidiousnes across American and stop making a pantomine dummy the problem. He is a symptom.
Appealing to them on the basis of protecting the Constitution.... is like appealing to a crocodile that you really don't want to be eaten. If you point out to the hardcore that they are cheating, they think that's even more cool. This is not about the Constitution... it's about class war. Global.
DAWN has urged the ICC prosecutor to investigate and prosecute former President Biden, State Secretary Blinken and Defense Secretary Austin for their personal roles in aiding and abetting Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Gaza as part of his ongoing investigation into the situations in Palestine since 2014.
Let’s give them our support. Maybe they will expand their complaint to include this latest US administration, and include all the leaders of the western nations supporting this genocide.
Well, yes, because that is how it is. The attempt to erase Palestine from the map has been ongoing for decades, or even centuries, depending on how far back you want to go, and which strains of Zionism you consider relevant.
Recent IQ distribution studies show that the average Trump supporter is from the lower 12 percentile of scores. The ones that do have brains are quite happy to know what they are doing - exploiting and damaging their vulnerable and gullible victims - but are quite happy to suppress any moral qualms, delicate sensitivities, legal niceties and ethical concerns in favour of personal gain. And even they have not yet worked out that their whole enterprise is doomed from the get go - it will descend into economic chaos, authoritarian misery and the contempt of the rest of the world.
“if I were to run, I’d run as a Republican. They’re the dumbest group of voters in the country. They believe anything on Fox News. I could lie and they’d still eat it up. I bet my numbers would be terrific.” Donald Trump on running for the Presidency, People Magazine, 1998. And so it came to pass from Americas dumbest voters, and from comments that I read on line and letters to the editor, they are still dumb! IMPEACH TRUMP!
Well said. Fascist governments want sheep in place of educated and knowledgeable people. It suits their purposes.
Not just fascist governments, but most governments prefer an eternally malleable populace (I would reckon ever since the beginning of the agricultural revolution). There seem to be few exceptions in history that would indicate otherwise.
Lily,
All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And Trump has laid the iniquity on us all. ( In deference to the fact that it is Easter)
GF Handel’s lyrics very apt! Thank you for the timely reminder…..
Reminds me of something I once read, about this very line. The writer suggested that this is proof that Handel was not a native English speaker, because no true Englishman would ever say, "We like sheep."
I have to say democrats have their own 'FOX'...MSNBC. These fanatics are just as dangerous...just as gullible.
Yes, I can attest to the gullibility of democrats. (I used to be one a long time ago). I'm a LEFTIE - neither liberal nor conservative, neither Republican nor Democrat.
From my experience, there are damned few of us out here. I do run into a lot of peeps who are totally non-committal in any political sense. They just don't pay attention to any of it, so they always seem "happy." Well, slightly I guess, since I don't run into any truly happy Americans.
Most of the mass media are owed by the billionaires and private corporations who benefit from spouting propaganda. MSNBC is not actually “liberal” but may have convinced you that it is.
Gullible, yes...... But not as much as the cult followers of Trump.
Yep, the difference is the size of the bee's dick.
Trumpist or anti-trumpist, same shyte, same stink, same repugnance, just the different colour.
Also, the Republicans protect their own. The GOP demands loyalty to the Party but also is loyal to its members. Trump understood that when he left the Democrats and joined the Republicans.
The leaders in the Republican Party are brilliant supporters of wealthy Capitalists. Some are well-heeled Capitalists, themselves. For more than a century, the Republicans have been supporting Big Business while lying to ignorant working class voters.
Most of the leaders of the Democratic Party have been unwilling to call bullshit, publicly, on Republican lies and propaganda lest they offend their own well-heeled sponsors who typically provide financial support to both Parties.
Trump has publicly stated that, prior to running for office, he “owned” many politicians, as do many private corporations, billionaires and mega-millionaires. Republicans aren’t ashamed to admit that. Most Democrats are in denial about their own complicity.
For several decades, the Democrats’ modus operandi has been “vote for the lesser of two evils” and “vote blue no matter who”. It hasn’t been “vote for who represents the vast majority of Americans”.
That's because "the vast majority of Americans" haven't had anyone to vote FOR, *if they're voting either R or D*, for about 40 years, more likely at least 50. Both parties are owned and totally controlled by billionaires and mega-millionaires, as you suggest. And they both are almost 100% supporting and funding two proxy wars that are not only bankrupting the country but can only lead to hundreds of thousands, probably millions, of deaths, major injuries, total destruction of infrastructure, displacement of any surviving populations, refugees scattered everywhere causing more impossible conditions to simply live in peace, etc.
No peace for the world anywhere, thanks to the US system of violence and war on any peoples refusing to obey "our" orders on how they are to live. Be slaves to US capitalism-imperialism or fucking die! That's the American message to the world, under either Republican or Democratic criminal regimes. Stop voting for these murderous bastards.
That’s driven by the worship of Capitalism and the belief in the need for ever-increasing profits on a finite planet. We can study many treatises about capitalism and usury, but these song lyrics sum it up: Give a little, take a little, but take a little bit more.
Keep taking a bit more until you have it all, even if military force is necessary to do that. Also, don’t give a damn about the consequences that do not directly affect you or your immediate family. It made the British Empire great until it had to be bailed out by the American one that has continued the tradition, even as it is on the verge of collapse.
Yes indeed, capitalism is the root of the entire problem, but trying to get Americans (apart from maybe 2% of us) to understand this and believe it is as close to impossible as anything I can think of. As Frederic Jameson said, "it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism". I've been a "socialist" for about 50 years, and I put it in quotes because I'm no more an actual socialist than anyone else in this absurd country.
There's no meaningful way to practice something like a completely opposite economic system to the one you're trapped in if no one else is doing so. Especially if they've all been trained like seals to reject it via ceaseless indoctrination all their lives from every social and cultural institution there is. Mainly all popular, dominant media, but all the other institutions as well.
See "Living in a World that Can't Be Fixed", by Curtis White, for further elaboration. Socialism, any version of it, will never be allowed to exist in the USA. TPTB will destroy the world before they'd let that happen. Literally.
Today is Easier Sunday, commemorating Jesus of Nazareth, a Hebrew socialist whose teachings were viewed as a threat to the authenticity of TPTB in the Jewish/Hebraic community who were operating Judaism as a business.
He was not a threat to the Romans who had overwhelming military control of their empire and who established Christianity as their official religion.
And now Israel is a Big Business/War state, just like its bankroller in the west. Most Zionists are atheists, so Zionist Israel is a purely ethno-political manifestation of a religion they abandoned long ago, except as a stage prop to hide behind so they could commit all the genocide they had planned against the Palestinians for many decades.
Trump's Whiteman House is commandeered by Evangelical "Christians" whose idea of that faith is forcing everyone on Earth to submit to the authority of a dictator/autocrat who wants to steal the world for his personal gain (Greenland, Gaza, Panama Canal, Canada, and anywhere else his megalomania leads him) and punish anyone who won't convert to their insane beliefs and obscene belligerence. Jesus would be leading an army today to burn Washington D.C. to the ground.
>>"Be slaves to US capitalism-imperialism or fucking die! That's the American message to the world, under either Republican or Democratic criminal regimes. Stop voting for these murderous bastards."
👏👏 Well said Basil Rathbone!
That article is a hoax, look it up.
Thank you for that Scuba Cat - it is indeed a hoax (i.e. fake story)
That is a FAKE quote. References ->
(1) That Trump quote calling Republicans ‘the dumbest group of voters’? Fake! (https://edition.cnn.com/2016/11/10/politics/trump-quote-facebook-trnd/index.html)
(2) https://www.factcheck.org/2015/11/bogus-meme-targets-trump/
(3) https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ishmaeldaro/trump-fake-quote-people-magazine
(4) https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/republicans-dumbest-group-of-voters/
(5) Trump did not disparage GOP in 1998 People magazine interview (https://apnews.com/article/archive-fact-checking-5466940186)
A little research shows that this is probably fiction, and that Trump did not say this. See for example https://fullfact.org/online/donald-trump-fake-quote-people-magazine/
See also https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/05/28/trump-republicans-dumbest-group-of-voters/
I don’t think they are all dumb. I know many affluent white trumpers. Highly intelligent racist xenophobes that wish to maintain privilege.
Racism and xenophobia made American great. Read Howard Zinn’s “People’s History of the United States”
And so it came to pass......
Hillary Clinton said the same exact thing about the Democrats. Just think about that for a minute!
I think you may have meant to include how the rich also use the suppression of free-speech in order to select the candidates that we are allowed to vote for. One only needs to look at the variety of shenanigans the DNC played on Bernie Sanders. But there are endless examples with the GOP and its echo chambers like Fox News.
Bernie is a zio.
Again Lily and Mike,
If the much-married Foxy Murdoch, professional bridegroom, (probably off on yet another honeymoon, number. ?...) is ever identified by the fascistic masked US ICE police and should ever becomes a voice against Trumpelstiltskin , or a voice for peace, for decency or anti-Zionist doctrines, etc., he will not be allowed to be returned to his old country called Australia where it is known that a referendum is under consideration to proclaim a public holiday in memory of the first day he became a citizen of another country, that is, Israel / America on September 4, 1985.
A day welcomed by all free-thinkers in little Australia as a blessing worthy of some form of rememberance.
Therefore, , in deference to his early years as a left wing radical, one who espoused socialism, kept a bust of Lenin in his university accommodation but sadly then went on to build his extreme right world media empire, he will be accepted back for 'old times sake' in a cardboard or wooden casket as a mark of past respect, for burial with the traditional Scottish song "Auld Lang Syne". Five generations of the family are descended from two Scottish immigrants to Australia: the Reverend James Murdoch, a minister of the Free Church of Scotland and his wife Helen.
Yes, good riddance to him, but don’t forget Newscorp’s the appalling The Australian….I can’t bear to read it. Arts section might be worth a read but certainly not politics or their Zionist take on world affairs …….
Is he? Or is he insufficiently robust in his condemnation of Israel? He is an anti-"free" market capitalist and an anti-racist, and that's a good start. Zionism is very much a "free" market capitalist project.
It is appalling that Trump supporters think they have free speech when people are being deported for attending rallies. Unbelievable really.
Diana van Eyk, It is not unbelievable really, that Trumpians think they have free speech. For them free speech means that they have the right to denigrate any race or community or protest movement and say anything in favour of outfits like the Ku Klux clan or the Proud Boys.
Did anyone notice how J D Vance rebuked the European powers for trampling on free speech? By 'free speech' he meant that they were ( presumably) shutting down on the rights of extreme rightwing ratbags and neo-Nazis.
Well, they're not the brightest.
Honestly we should leave dunking on people we disagree with because "herp derp they're dumb" to the province of smug shitlibs, where it belongs.
So how should we describe them? Poor, deceived souls? Agree that they're not necessarily dumb - people tend to believe what they want to believe. That's worse than stupidity - it's malice.
Do we need to make character generalizations at all? I mean sure, it might be fruitful at times to point out that conservatives lack empathy or liberals base almost every decision on what it does for their ego, but just calling them dumb seems... less productive.
And here's the thing. During the Biden administration, because their information environment was contrarian to the US admin, Trumpers/conservatives actually landed on the "smart" side of a number of issues like Covid, free speech, Russia, Biden's cognitive decline, etc. And it was liberals in the "dumb" position! So much so that I was genuinely shocked at the free speech 180. Here I had thought MAGA had been waking up, but we're still just doing partisan tribalism, unfortunately.
So I don't think intelligence has anything to do with it.
>>"Trumpers/conservatives actually landed on the "smart" side of a nmber of issues like Covid, free speech,"
Seriously ???
Almost no one (except a small minority of the population) got Covid right (and this includes the science + Govt. policy decisions). The 'right' got the science wrong (anti-vaxx, etc.) and the 'left' got the policies wrong (mandates, authoritarianism, etc.).
They (both LEFT and RIGHT) turned science into politics and partisanship.
You do understand that when most people say they believe in 'free speech' they believe in 'THEIR free speech' right?
>>"Here I had thought MAGA had been waking up"
MAGA is a cult. It is very rare for cult members to wake up (many studies have been done in this area).
>>"So I don't think intelligence has anything to do with it."
That I agree with.
Lab leak theory, calling the government's bullshit, saying the fatality rate was overstated, saying the vaccine was a big pharma cash grab and worse than the disease, questioning the vaccines' efficacy - this was the conservative position, and they ended up being right on all counts.
If you still in 2025 haven't processed this, you have some catching up to do.
Firstly, character and intelligence are not the same thing. Also, when were Conservatives right about Covid? About free speech? About Russia? Lastly, I'm done with being civil to people who think it's clever and funny to trash the economy of their own country.
Should have clocked you from the minute you started bragging about how dumb Trump supporters were, but to my credit, I always try.
"a populace with an informed mind and an informed conscience would never consent to."
I get the informed mind part, Caitlin. But is it really possible to inform the collective conscience of America, tainted by Native genocide, African slavery, the murder of Vietnamese, Iraqi. Afghani, civilians, etc. etc.? How can this be cleansed so that so that a true ethical base for that conscience can arise. I'm thinking many generations post-empire, if at all. But now? No way. Call me a pessimist, but for me the collective conscience of this country is hopelessly tainted; damaged.
>>"But is it really possible to inform the collective conscience of America..."
Good question. From reading about other cultures and periods in history, I am of the opinion that it IS POSSIBLE - though it takes time (which I'm not sure how much of the U.S. Empire has before it implodes due to internal and/or external forces).
From looking at the largest revolutionary changes in history (including all the de-colonialization histories), it would suggest that such fascistic methods (as employed by the current Trump administration) have never succeeded for long periods of time.
Yes, but so many innocent people will be killed by disgusting genocidal empire before that. Justice which is slow is no justice at all. The curse that will end the human race. And well deserved.
>>"Yes, but so many innocent people will be killed by disgusting genocidal empire before that."
Unfortunately, it's only going to get worse...
>>"Justice which is slow is no justice at all."
We don't live in a 'just' world. We never have. It was always an illusion. The exploited and oppressed have rarely received justice (throughout history) by the perpetrators (whomsoever they might be). Yes, reality can be depressing...
Thank you. Good point. Let's add the purposeful murder (by starvation) of about a million German POWs at the end of World War 2, in our POW camps.
Poses no issue for me.
Fascists like Trump, Farage, Musk, Tommy Robinson, Viktor Orban, Richard Tice, Marine Le Pen, Georgia Meloni, all this filth, are ALL for free speech when it comes to enabling fascism, very often on the social media platforms that they own but challenge these bastards on ANYTHING and it's a different ball of wax. Moreover, once they get a sniff of power or into power they soon reveal their true colours on the free speech issue and I'm proud that I'm banned BOTH from Facebook and X, apparently for life! In the UK, where the fascists have yet to get into government, despite Kier Starmer's efforts, we have seen the use of weaponised defamation laws and SLAPP to close down journalists like Carole Cadwalladr and the McCarthyite witch hunts in the corrupt and market facing University sector is in full swing, though not yet on the same magnitude as the US. And if you want to know what Trump and co REALLY have in mind, look no further than what has happened to the media and journalists in Viktor Orban's Hungary. These are dark times, certainly the darkest since the 1930s, and the need for resistance should be self evident.
So true, Roger. Your last sentence sums it up. It will get messy, but to lay low, shut up and hope they'll leave you alone is not the answer. There will need to be significant numbers who are prepared to get up and form organised mass resistance. I have little doubt that Mango Man's 'militias' (Proud Boys et al) are girding their loins as we await developments. And they're packing heat. The National Guard is doubtless being 'fixed', too. The longer any resistance waits to act, the worse it'll be. Very dark times, indeed.
Spot on David in Europe and North America both. Oswald Moseley wasn't defeated by reasoned argument but at the Battle of Cable Street and the examples of Spain and Nazi Germany speak for themselves. In the 1990s it's true that the NF and BNP could never have attained the support based of the EDL and Reform today because their Hitler worshipping pro-Nazi stance was on the road to nowhere but they were PHYSICALLY DEFEATED on the streets and football terraces by Anti-Fascist-Action. What's needed now is a combination of anti-fascist resistance with a clear socialist alternative to the failed and austerity-happy neo-liberal policies that are fueling the rise of the new fascism, enabling it to pose as the radical alternative. It isn't.
Right again, Roger. Concerted, well-organised rolling strikes are a possible start. Congressional enablers need to feel pressure, too.
Yep.
We had so much more free speech during Biden times and before....
Well said Roger Cottrell!
From my experience interacting with people in America (online and IRL), my guesstimate is that 90% don't understand what "free speech" is, and even less have an understanding of the U.S. First Amendment or are able to articulate it when asked about it (not to mention even a rudimentary understanding of the U.S. Constitution).
In part, this stems from the 'quality of education', miserable quality of information disseminated by media sources (MSM, etc.), and ideological/cultural warfaring and emotional outbursts. It seems that very few people want to take the time to 'really understand' such concepts. I suspect TPTB have an incentive in keeping the populace ignorant (and dumbed down) so as to better be able to control and propagandize them.
Instead of watching 1 hr a day of FOX, MSNBC, etc. (or social media) if people spent the same amount of time to actually make an effort to understand the world or even read 'high quality books', I would suspect we would see a sea change in people's attitudes and an ability to think better.
...... but Chang, they do believe in " Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness"!!!
So we are in agreement, its not accurate to say "Trump Supporters do not understand free speech" your own estimate its more like 90% of the entire US population
No - we are definitely NOT in agreement. It is perfectly accurate to say that "Trump supporters do not understand free speech".
It's actually a very simple statement - both logically and rhetorically. I'm not sure why YOU are having such a hard time accepting such a simple and straight-forward statement.
Of course, if you did the math about my statement (and are familiar with subsets in basic set theory), you would understand that the statement is even mathematically accurate (i.e. 100% of U.S. Trump supporters are a subset of the U.S. population, and 100% of Trump supporters are LESS THAN 90% of the U.S. population. Hence the '100% of the Trump supporters that do not understand free speech' are a subset of 90% of the U.S. population that does not understand free speech).
Your math is flawless, Yes I`m having a hard time following the herd.
It’s not the herd that is the problem for you it seems, but your own biases.
The US government is also deporting people who criticize Israel because too many people in the government get money from a Zionist organization or individual(s). They don't want to have that flow of money stopped. And now they are trying to control academia so we cannot aquire knowledge that does not have the Trump/DOGE/Musk stamp of approval. Let's hope others follow the example of Harvard.
>>"because too many people in the government get money from a Zionist organization or individual(s)"
Susan, this logic fails upon further examination. IF money 'was the only criteria', there are MUCH EASIER ways to make money. I recommend understanding how financial markets work - especially how insider trading works and how rampant it is. The 'money' from Zionist organizations (and/or individuals) is chump change. The global bond markets themselves are over $150 trillion (https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-the-largest-bond-markets-in-the-world/), not to mention the trillions in market capitalization of 'global foreign exchange markets', the cryptocurrency market capitalization, the equity markets and the largest of asset classes - the commercial and housing real-estate markets.
One needs to dig deeper than superficial reasons like 'chump change money from Zionists' to get to the bottom of the motivations behind U.S. Empire moves (i.e. think broader) and strategic planning (including cooperation from politicians at MOST levels of Government).
Are you an AI bot Emma Horsedick.?
Keep seeing the same responses on other sites!
"Free speech, if sufficiently realized, could solve all our problems."
We can't have that--a solution to all our problems! What would we do with our ginormous defense budget if we don't have any problems to solve by dropping 2,000 pound bombs on them? People would actually know what was going on in the world if there were Free Speech... They might even hear stories about atrocities our side allegedly has committed. Oh, no, we can't have that. It's just too dangerous! Censorship is our only option for keeping the world's nose out of our problems. *satire*
That’s true. But today there are means by which anyone who wants can discover the truth of the facts. Rousseau was right when he said that if it is true that someone fenced off a piece of land saying “this is mine” it is also true that all the other people let him do it. A structure is not formed only by the will of the minority that then dominates it but also by the cowardice of the majority that then suffers it.
Exactly. Also, MLK said something similar. The really awful and sad thing is that almost every generation of humans has to go through the same idiotic cycle. Humans, apparently intelligent species never learn. Bring back the dinosaurs.
The dinosaurs are still here, and all around us. We just changed their name to birds, because we didn't recognize them since they didn't match our faulty guess at how they looked.
The fall of the American empire is upon us. The Zionists have openly stated their religious agenda prophesizing that all none Jews will be enslaved. While this might sound like religious rhetoric, I can't help but think that the indoctrination that influences Jews in their cult like fanaticism concerning Israel will be the downfall of the USA. I don't understand how this is not clear to the average American, if only for the censorship, and dismantling of their constitution. The incredibly rapid pace at which civil and constitutional rights have been taken away in the US is second to none - not even Nazi Germany eroded this quickly.
This is precisely the alarm that the US court of Apoeals for the Fourth Circuit sounded in its recent decision on the Abrego Garcia case. They put it right out on the table, pointing out that the government is descending into action that explicitly puts the state itself at risk of becoming openly illegitimate.
Which is probably the actual INTENT of this regime.
And they are not the first. The Biden regime already asserted the right to imprison American for having politcal opinions different from that of the ruling government administrations - that's what the Uhuru 3 prosecution was about:
https://handsoffuhuru.org/
https://www.democracynow.org/2024/9/13/uhuru_3_found_guilty_of_conspiracy
But they are "just" an organization founded to help uplift brown skinned american minorities, so no one cared - not even the many faux liberals in the bloggeratti.
What a shame that we call it 'Free Speech', and not 'Free Idea Sharing'. Good ideas, bad ideas - how better to understand how a person thinks than by learning what they think? How better to learn new ways to think than by listening to people who think better than you? How better to move society forward? Perhaps the reason western governments have so turned against the sharing of ideas can be discovered in the comments of their fans, the defenders of the indefensible. They have no idea. They deliberately avoid becoming informed, they desperately avoid thinking, they regard all history as a lie. Heaven forfend that an attractive idea might come along, and cause them to see how disgustingly their governments are using their apathy.
its called total control of the gullible masses.
They understand alright. Here is the US "conservative" view - and BTW it has nothing do with the orange one specifically.:
- Freedom is the right of the rich white man to oppress all others, in his country and across the planet.
- States rights, is the right of state governments controlled by rich white men, to supress the freedom and humanity of everyone else.
- Free speech is the right of the rich white man to say whatever he likes, to desecrate others' cultures, and to rally others to rip down their freedom.
If you want to actually battle these corrosive views, recoginze their pervasiveness and insidiousnes across American and stop making a pantomine dummy the problem. He is a symptom.
rather he is a by product.
Appealing to them on the basis of protecting the Constitution.... is like appealing to a crocodile that you really don't want to be eaten. If you point out to the hardcore that they are cheating, they think that's even more cool. This is not about the Constitution... it's about class war. Global.
DAWN has urged the ICC prosecutor to investigate and prosecute former President Biden, State Secretary Blinken and Defense Secretary Austin for their personal roles in aiding and abetting Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Gaza as part of his ongoing investigation into the situations in Palestine since 2014.
https://dawnmena.org/latest/
Let’s give them our support. Maybe they will expand their complaint to include this latest US administration, and include all the leaders of the western nations supporting this genocide.
Hold on, reading most of the comment here I thought it all started with Trump!?
Are you really saying that Trump is just continuing US' policy of genocide against Palestinians?
Well, yes, because that is how it is. The attempt to erase Palestine from the map has been ongoing for decades, or even centuries, depending on how far back you want to go, and which strains of Zionism you consider relevant.
😉
Free Rumeysa Ozturk. Tufts PhD student snatched from the street by unidentified, masked men, from HHS/ICE.
https://actionnetwork.org/forms/free-rumeysa-ozturk/?source=group-just-strategy&referrer=group-just-strategy&redirect=https://secure.actblue.com/donate/nc4j_free_ozturk&link_id=3&can_id=a707410023f29d0530df1e255f3edf18&email_referrer=email_2694599&&&email_subject=speaking-out-is-not-a-crime-stop-the-deportation-of-rumeysa-ozturk&refcodeEmailReferrer=email_2694599
Tell Universities: Protect Student Rights, Reject Trump's Order
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/protectstudents?source=direct_link
Recent IQ distribution studies show that the average Trump supporter is from the lower 12 percentile of scores. The ones that do have brains are quite happy to know what they are doing - exploiting and damaging their vulnerable and gullible victims - but are quite happy to suppress any moral qualms, delicate sensitivities, legal niceties and ethical concerns in favour of personal gain. And even they have not yet worked out that their whole enterprise is doomed from the get go - it will descend into economic chaos, authoritarian misery and the contempt of the rest of the world.
The ones with "higher IQ" still manage to support other butchers like Biden. So much for the relevance of IQ in this problem then.
America is a nation built on brutal colonial dispossesson and mass murder. They have not come much further in the past 400 years, really.
That's the actual problem. Imorality and violence as a culture. Not "IQ".
What you said is hurting, hence you should be silenced, cancelled, deplatformed and banned.
How dare you saying hurtful truth!
How dare you!