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Billy_TParticipantWell, we could all go down that article line by line, paragraph by paragraph
and tear apart the statements.But I’m not up for that, myself.
Leaving aside all the garbage in the piece, I think there are some
basic truths he’s getting at. I take his main point to be, simply,
that many Rightoids are completely disillusioned by the Government
and the Dem-Media. They have finally figured out that there is a
WHOLE LOT OF LYING goin on. They no longer live in their fantasy
Norman Rockwell America.They have figured out ‘just enough’ about America
to be batshit-dangerous.And none of it matters.
Cause Environmental Collapse and Fascism
is on its way.Have a nice day.
w
vI agree with all of that, WV.
It’s a tragedy, however, that they’ve chosen to listen to and believe sources that are even more mendacious than the so-called MSM. From bad to much, much worse, etc.
For instance, I’d bet that most of the people the alt-right Cooper is talking about are into Q. Overall, a third of all Republicans accept its central tenets. Like, that the government is controlled by satanic cannibal pedophiles. Ten years ago, I would have laughed at such a view. Today, we’ve seen far too much not to be appalled and deeply worried about its spread. It’s not a joke any longer. People have acted on those beliefs to deadly effect, and they’re tied into all kinds of other dangerous pathologies . . . including a renewal of the Lost Cause narrative/hope/end goal.
Environmental collapse: 121 degrees in Canada! An entire town in the midst of that literally burned up. Siberia topped 100 degrees. Massive floods in Europe. A pandemic that refuses to go away. We humans have truly ruined paradise, and we seem to be getting dumber all the time.
Hang in there, WV.
Billy_TParticipantGood thoughts Billy. I couldn’t make it through the section of the article where Cooper talked about how Trumpies cared deeply about Russia-gate, followed it closely, and knew the facts of the case better than most. I had to stop there.
At their best, the Right deals in half-truths & at their worst they work with complete fiction–Like the idea that Trump and company were really interested in helping regular Americans.
As soon as Biden and the dems started a real program where families like mine got a little extra, the Right and Fox News howl endlessly about inflation. (I’m guessing Fox is amplifying and spreading this message).
I am sometimes curious and sympathetic about the Right’s anti-establishment stance. I think the Right does have a sense that the world has changed for the worse, but you’re right that sentiment is often tangled up with their racism and failure to help dig minorities out of a hole created by years of racism.
Good post, Cal.
It’s 2021. To me, I honestly can’t believe that Trump and his movement have any support beyond the fringe whatsoever, given his and their attempted fascist coup, and all the hate-filled, sadistic, illegal things he did before it. No sane nation would ignore the mountains and mountains of video, audio, written transcripts, public legislative records, etc. etc. showing Trump’s record-shattering lies, cruelty, calls for violence, calls for assassinations of peaceful protestors, calls to drink bleach to “cure” Covid, etc. etc.
His love of Hitler, his syncing up so closely with Hitler’s enemies list, his moronic and dangerous attacks against reporters, the handicapped, NFL players who protested police brutality, his sadistic separation of families at the border, his earth-killing rollback of environmental laws and the privatization of public lands . . . the list is too long to fit into a hundred threads. But still we Americans are supposed to believe his followers and find common ground with them? We’re still supposed to join with them and fight against . . . . against whom?
Sheesh. A third of all Republicans accept the main tenets of QAnon right now. More than 2/3rds believe Trump really won the election.
There’s no reaching these people through any form of rational discourse, and Greenwald should be ashamed of himself, IMO, for elevatng an alt-right podcastor this way. Cooper peddles lie after lie, just like Trump, and tries to claim special knowledge about things he turns upside-down.
I seriously don’t get it. Trump should have been arrested on January 7th, and we just learned today that his own legal council thought he would be after the Capitol riot. General Milley made contingency plans in case Trump ordered a military takeoever!
Has America ever had anyone escape justice as often as Trump? Have we ever seen ignorance, lies, and abject cruelty win so often after so much slam-dunk evidence against them?
Billy_TParticipantTrying to sum up.
IMO, we leftists just don’t have to take sides here, nor do we have to find any “common cause” with Trump or his followers. Ever. It’s not necessary, nor is it wise.
He and his followers endlessly, ferociously demonize us and the entire left. They actually seem more unhinged about “socialism,” “communism,” antifa, et al than they do about people of color, and they tend to view “the left” as pulling their strings, anyway. They see CRT as “Marxist,” etc.
Consciously or unconsciously, they understand that it’s the left that has long supported the vision of a multi-racial society, and the right hates that vision with a passion. The original nazis and fascists despised the left for that reason too, and more, of course. The left’s anticapitalism drove them crazy, and this animates the American right still.
To make a long story shorter, we just don’t have any common ground. It doesn’t exist. And, again, in my view, we don’t have to side with them in any of their fake disputes with the establishment. The right has never been anti-establishment in any meaningful way, in the sense that they want to flatten pyramids, reduce inequality, reduce concentrations of wealth and power, reduce hierarchies. They’re only anti-establishment to the degree that small parts of it prevent them from doing what they want to do, which is to dominate the less powerful. They want to pull all the strings.
Unlike the left, they have no intention of reducing wealth and power in the ruling class, much less ending the class system entirely (my own vision). They just want to sit on top of the throne(s).
Billy_TParticipantJust out yesterday. It’s related to the Cooper article for obvious reasons, and for some that folks may not think about. No president has ever provoked so many people who worked for him, with him, to trash him as much as Trump. Rather than believe the absurd claims from Trump and his followers that everyone was out to get him, it’s far more logical to deduce that Trump earned this criticism with his (reprehensible, despicable) actions.
As in, the level of conspiratorial coordination among his supposed persecutors would have required unprecedented worldwide orchestration.
Joint Chiefs chairman feared potential ‘Reichstag moment’ aimed at keeping Trump in power
By
Reis Thebault
July 14, 2021|Updated today at 8:33 a.m. EDTIn the waning weeks of Donald Trump’s term, the country’s top military leader repeatedly worried about what the president might do to maintain power after losing reelection, comparing his rhetoric to Adolf Hitler’s during the rise of Nazi Germany and asking confidants whether a coup was forthcoming, according to a new book by two Washington Post reporters.
As Trump ceaselessly pushed false claims about the 2020 presidential election, Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, grew more and more nervous, telling aides he feared that the president and his acolytes might attempt to use the military to stay in office, Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker report in “I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year.”
Milley described “a stomach-churning” feeling as he listened to Trump’s untrue complaints of election fraud, drawing a comparison to the 1933 attack on Germany’s parliament building that Hitler used as a pretext to establish a Nazi dictatorship.
“This is a Reichstag moment,” Milley told aides, according to the book. “The gospel of the Führer.”
A spokesman for Milley declined to comment.
Portions of the book related to Milley — first reported Wednesday night by CNN ahead of the book’s July 20 release — offer a remarkable window into the thinking of America’s highest-ranking military officer, who saw himself as one of the last empowered defenders of democracy during some of the darkest days in the country’s recent history.
The episodes in the book are based on interviews with more than 140 people, including senior Trump administration officials, friends and advisers, Leonnig and Rucker write in an author’s note. Most agreed to speak candidly only on the condition of anonymity, and the scenes reported were reconstructed based on firsthand accounts and multiple other sources whenever possible.
Milley — who was widely criticized last year for appearing alongside Trump in Lafayette Square after protesters were forcibly cleared from the area — had pledged to use his office to ensure a free and fair election with no military involvement. But he became increasingly concerned in the days following the November contest, making multiple references to the onset of 20th-century fascism.
AdvertisementAfter attending a Nov. 10 security briefing about the “Million MAGA March,” a pro-Trump rally protesting the election, Milley said he feared an American equivalent of “brownshirts in the streets,” alluding to the paramilitary forces that protected Nazi rallies and enabled Hitler’s ascent.
Late that same evening, according to the book, an old friend called Milley to express concerns that those close to Trump were attempting to “overturn the government.”
“You are one of the few guys who are standing between us and some really bad stuff,” the friend told Milley, according to an account relayed to his aides. Milley was shaken, Leonnig and Rucker write, and he called former national security adviser H.R. McMaster to ask whether a coup was actually imminent.
“What the f— am I dealing with?” Milley asked him.
AdvertisementThe conversations put Milley on edge, and he began informally planning with other military leaders, strategizing how they would block Trump’s order to use the military in a way they deemed dangerous or illegal.
If someone wanted to seize control, Milley thought, they would need to gain sway over the FBI, the CIA and the Defense Department, where Trump had already installed staunch allies. “They may try, but they’re not going to f—ing succeed,” he told some of his closest deputies, the book says.
In the weeks that followed, Milley played reassuring soothsayer to a string of concerned members of Congress and administration officials who shared his worries about Trump attempting to use the military to stay in office.
“Everything’s going to be okay,” he told them, according to the book. “We’re going to have a peaceful transfer of power. We’re going to land this plane safely. This is America. It’s strong. The institutions are bending, but it won’t break.”
AdvertisementIn December, with rumors circulating that the president was preparing to fire then-CIA Director Gina Haspel and replace her with Trump loyalist Kash Patel, Milley sought to intervene, the book says. He confronted White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows at the annual Army-Navy football game, which Trump and other high-profile guests attended.
“What the hell is going on here?” Milley asked Meadows, according to the book’s account. “What are you guys doing?”
When Meadows responded, “Don’t worry about it,” Milley shot him a warning: “Just be careful.”
After the failed insurrection on Jan. 6, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called Milley to ask for his guarantee that Trump would not be able to launch a nuclear strike and start a war.
“This guy’s crazy,” Pelosi said of Trump in what the book reported was mostly a one-way phone call. “He’s dangerous. He’s a maniac.”
AdvertisementOnce again, Milley sought to reassure: “Ma’am, I guarantee you that we have checks and balances in the system,” he told Pelosi.
Less than a week later, as military and law enforcement leaders planned for President Biden’s inauguration, Milley said he was determined to avoid a repeat of the siege on the Capitol.
“Everyone in this room, whether you’re a cop, whether you’re a soldier, we’re going to stop these guys to make sure we have a peaceful transfer of power,” he told them. “We’re going to put a ring of steel around this city and the Nazis aren’t getting in.”
At Biden’s swearing-in on Jan. 20, Milley was seated behind former president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama, who asked the general how he was feeling.
“No one has a bigger smile today than I do,” Milley replied. “You can’t see it under my mask, but I do.”
Billy_TParticipantThanks, ZN,
Appreciate the openness, etc.
Some food for thought:
Right-wing politicians, media, and so-called “thought-leaders” have been caught in countless lies. Trump was documented at more than 30,000 during his presidency, and he’s continued that onslaught since that time. Right-wingers constantly lie about Covid, CRT, the 1619 project, BLM, antifa, “socialism,” and the left in general, and their lies literally kill. They’ve been lying about the world and whipping up their “base” into frenzies of fear and hatred for centuries now.
Which leads me to sheer bafflement whenever I see leftists with audiences instantly take their word for anything. As in, anything. Especially when it comes to their belief in their own persecution. Their mention of “the deep state” doesn’t alter that record. When Carlson claims the NSA is spying on him, for instance, he’s still a known liar (and white supremacist). To me, it’s a false choice for leftists to feel they have to side with him against the security state.
Naww. We leftists can oppose both sides in that little fake skirmish.
And this from Cooper’s article:
I encourage people on the Left to recognize the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in front of them. You’re not going to agree with the conservatives on everything. But if in 2004 I had told you that the majority of the GOP voter base would soon be seeing the folly of the Iraq War, becoming skeptical of state surveillance, and beginning to see the need for action to help the poor and working classes, you’d have told me such a thing would transform the country. Take the opportunity. These people are not demons, and they are ready to listen in a way they haven’t in a long, long time.
No. They’re not ready to listen. And, no, their not skeptical of state surveillance, if it’s done to their enemies, which includes all of us lefties, BLM, etc. They’re clearly solely concerned if they think it’s done to them, especially Trump. Since we know Trump used state security to go after his political enemies, including the media, and the right never said a thing about . . . it’s a one-way street. He did absolutely nothing to improve its record of civil liberties abuses. He made them worse.
As for helping the poor and working classes? What? When? Where?, etc. I’ve seen zero indication that they’re ready to tackle poverty, inequality, or anything remotely connected to these things. Their own perceived economic difficulties? Sure. But they don’t see people of color and “the left” as a part of the American story. For the right, it’s always about them, and just them, and their drowning in lies.
Again, hoping others will weigh in.
Billy_TParticipantI had been on my best behavior, refraining from posting about this stuff, and then I fell of the wagon!!
;>)
Anyway, Zooey, what’s your take on the article? How do you view Cooper’s assessment?
(I shoulda asked that before I did my bull in the china shop impression.)
I’m just gonna shut up and read your response, and other leftists here. May comment afterward, but I hope my better angels prevail and I just read, etc.
Hope all is well, everyone.
Billy_TParticipantThe Deacon was the main reason I became a Rams fan. First among greats like Merlin and Gabe.
I wish he had retired a Ram, though. Can’t remember why he didn’t, exactly. But he went on to play for the Chargers and the Skins, and I think he should have just called it a day before that.
Main thing to me on those sack totals is per-game average. He played the fewest games of those in the top ten, if memory serves. No season was longer than 14 games, if I remember correctly.
How many sacks would he have added to the total if he had played as many as White and Smith?
Which reminds me of the abomination of upcoming season. Seventeen games!!
What the hell are they thinking!
I’m more and more in the Get off my lawn camp. Wish they’d go back to 14 games, with no pre-season. But, money money money, blah blah blah. So it’s likely they’ll keep expanding the season over time.
I wish the players had said no. For their own health, at least.
Billy_TParticipantMy personal take:
Greenwald is stunningly gullible with regard to far-right narratives, and whatever Carlson and Trump claim about Russiagate and beyond. He’s a fake “leftist” of the worst kind, IMO; one who actively aids and abets the far-right. Which means, actively aiding and abetting American fascists.
A must-read article on Greenwald, Carlson, and the NSA:
https://newrepublic.com/article/162897/tucker-carlson-glenn-greenwald-nsa-scandal
To try to make a long story short . . . In my view, Greenwald uses obvious double-standards when he talks about “evidence.” He doesn’t require any to instantly believe the Trump camp, just the mention of “deep state,” but requires mountains beyond the mountains we’ve all already seen, proving Trump’s (ongoing) crimes. And, of course, no amount of evidence will ever satisfy him, because he’s already convinced, like the far-right, like this Cooper guy, that’s it’s all been invented anyway.
I used to post on Greenwald’s blog when he worked at Salon, and we butted heads a few times. I found him to be incredibly thin-skinned, and all too eager to support Truthers and Ron Paul’s fanboys there. I’ve never bought into the claim that he’s a “leftist.” I think he’s a right-libertarian on most issues, and seriously mixed up and all too gullible about recent events.
As for Cooper: I can’t find a single truth in his column. It’s just boilerplate conservative whining, moaning, lying, and playing the eternal victim.
It’s bullshit, in short.
Billy_TParticipantMy understanding of the Alamo was that when Eisenhower gave the go ahead to launch the invasion on June 6, it was a decisive event in world history.
I don’t see you crazy revisionists changing people’s understanding of that any time soon.
…
Billy_TParticipantFollow up from the authors, via the Washington Post.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/05/texas-republicans-rush-guard-alamo-facts/
Opinion by Jason Stanford
July 5, 2021 at 4:15 p.m. EDTJason Stanford is the Austin-based writer of the Substack newsletter the Experiment and the co-author, with Bryan Burrough and Chris Tomlinson, of “Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth.”
With more than 300 RSVPs, the event hosted by the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin was shaping up to be the highlight of our virtual book tour for “Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth.” But about four hours before showtime last Thursday, my co-authors, Bryan Burrough and Chris Tomlinson, and I received an email from our publisher. The Bullock had backed out, citing “increased pressure on social media.” Apparently, the state history museum was no place to discuss state history.
This isn’t how things are supposed to work, even in Texas, but the truth turned out to be even worse. The state history museum wasn’t bowing to social media pressure but to political pressure from the state’s Republican lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, who claimed credit for the kill the next day.
“As a member of the Preservation Board, I told staff to cancel this event as soon as I found out about it,” tweeted Patrick, adding, “This fact-free rewriting of TX history has no place @BullockMuseum.”
Minor umbrage compels me to defend the book as well as the museum, which currently is hosting a Jim Crow exhibition. As The Post noted in its review of our book, we “challenge the traditional view” of the Alamo saga, one popularized by Disney and John Wayne and cemented by politicians in the Texas school curriculum.
The Heroic Anglo Narrative is that in 1836, about 200 Texians (as White settlers were known, to distinguish them from Tejanos) fought a doomed battle at a Spanish mission in San Antonio against thousands of Mexican troops, buying Gen. Sam Houston enough time to defeat tyranny in the form of Mexican ruler Santa Anna and win freedom for Texas. The myth leaves much out, most notably that Texians opposed Mexican laws that would free the enslaved workers they needed to farm cotton.
Politicians barricading the figurative doors of the Alamo in defense of the myth are nothing new. In 2018, a panel reviewing the state history curriculum suggested not requiring seventh-graders to learn that those who died at the Alamo were “heroic.” Republican state political leaders, including Sen. Ted Cruz and Land Commissioner George P. Bush — the nephew and grandson of presidents and the state officeholder with oversight of the historic site — reacted as if the Alamo were once again besieged.
“Stop political correctness in our schools,” tweeted the state’s Republican governor, Greg Abbott. “Of course Texas schoolchildren should be taught that Alamo defenders were ‘Heroic’!”
In the past few years, the boogeyman for these self-appointed defenders of ersatz history has evolved from a generalized “political correctness” to the New York Times’s 1619 Project and other efforts to center slavery and the role of racism in the American story. More than 20 states have introduced or passed legislation that attempts to prescribe how racial matters can be taught. In Texas last month, Abbott signed into law an act establishing a committee called the 1836 Project (get it?) to “promote patriotic education.”
Texas conservatives continue to appear quite exercised about the possibility of public-school students learning more about slavery and racism. So much so that Abbott has added further discussion about a ban on the teaching of critical race theory to the agenda for an upcoming special legislative session.
This is the political flotsam in which our virtual book event was snagged. A couple of days before the scheduled talk, the head of a right-wing think tank in Austin took to Twitter to attack the Bullock Museum for using public resources to provide a platform for our “trashy non-history book,” taking care to tag the governor, lieutenant governor and house speaker. They sit on the State Preservation Board, which oversees the museum.
On the day of the event, July 1, the think tank posted: “Like the New York Times’s debunked 1619 Project, this is an effort to diminish the great figures of history and place slavery at the center of every story.” As it happens, several of the central figures in the story of the Alamo, including William Barret Travis and Jim Bowie, either enslaved people or had attested to the importance of slavery. A few hours after the think tank’s post, the event was canceled.
I’ll leave it to First Amendment scholars to say whether forbidding a state facility to host a conversation because of the contents of a book constitutes censorship. As a Texan, I’m just embarrassed to be governed by politicians who quaver at the prospect of a single uncomfortable conversation. If Texans were tough enough to fight at the Alamo, they should be tough enough to talk about why.
Billy_TParticipantI wish they’d make a series out of it. HBO, Netflix, etc.
Oh, btw, Billy…
Television adaptation
In February 2021, it was reported that Netflix was developing a television adaptation of the novel. It will be executive-produced by David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, and Hugh Jackman.[7]Thanks, Zooey. That’s great news. Game of Thrones show-runners, plus Wolverine. Interesting!
Billy_TParticipantYour place does look great, ZN.
I planted a bunch of trees around my house as soon as I moved in, but it doesn’t have the same look as an established old grouping. Did the best I could, etc.
(The sub-development was originally farmland, and basically treeless, from what I’ve been told)
As mentioned, I have to travel within an hour’s range to get to the truly dramatic, walkable (and forested) scenery, but I can see the mountains from home, with better views less than a mile away. Just outside my neighborhood is a great walking track with fine views of the mountains and farmland. The latter is all around me, and I hope it stays that way.
Billy_TParticipantYep. The Blue Ridge is heavily forested. One of the best features of that beautiful and varied range. Very different from California mountains near LA — unless I missed those with forests. San Fran, of course, has the Muir Woods nearby, and those are stunning. Could spend days there. But, for me, the mountains need the forests too. They need the green, and then the explosion of colors in the Fall.
The trifecta for me would be forested mountains and the ocean. In another life, I’ll have a castle on a cliff overlooking a range to the left, a range to the right, and the ocean in the middle of that view.
Good for the soul, that walk in the woods. Good for the soul.
Billy_TParticipantI think we’re all basically on the same page about the book. Flawed, a bit too long, but brilliant and important. I wish they’d make a series out of it. HBO, Netflix, etc.
Powers mentioned Susan Simard as being important in his research. She has a new book out now and it’s in my ebook queue.
Billy_TParticipantThe book came out just this year, and if memory serves, it “went to press” very late last year. So the authors deal with Texas controversies through 2020 — using Texas news sources, mostly. George P. Bush is mentioned, and how he kinda did a 180 on the subject. Starting out largely with the people questioning the “heroic Anglo narrative,” then switching over to the Texas, forever! crowd. The authors also mention armed militia on the site, trying to “protect Texas history.”
American madness at its finest.
I grew up wearing a coonskin cap (everywhere), and saw Fess Parker’s Crockett as heroic back then, but I may have just merged his Boone and Crockett together. Don’t know how far from reality his Boone was, but his Crockett wasn’t in the same universe, apparently.
The book is really good in its analysis of media, TV, movie representations, and how Disney and Wayne tried to make Crockett into — amazingly enough — an anti-Communist hero for the 20th century. They hint that Parker wasn’t so gun-ho about the whole thing, but they didn’t flesh that out. I’d like to know. Hoping he didn’t fall for the jingoism, etc.
Anyway, another key takeaway is that most of the Americans who flocked to Texas to fight the Mexicans after the Alamo were southern army deserters, according to the authors. And there were ongoing attempts to import slaves by US citizens, which was illegal. It all adds up to a horror show, in my view, and American kids shouldn’t be taught that it was anything to admire, much less celebrate.
There is so much “white backlash” these days, and people like Tucker Carlson pour gasoline on the fire daily . . . I just don’t know what’s going to happen in this country. Seems like truth-tellers are being drowned out by white supremacists — again. The Alamo, CRT, the 1619 project, etc. etc.
Billy_TParticipantZN,
Good post from the 31st. I agree with all of it. Nicely done analysis.
Zooey, I think your take is probably closer to reality. My “10 touches a game” is likely more than a surprise. It may be in the “impossible” category.
Billy_TParticipantLink up wages and prices, democratically; utilize time-saving innovations to radically reduce our weekly hours; focus on what we do, and create jobs that people love for their own sake. We all should have a chance at that. But that will never, ever happen under a capitalist system. We must democratize the economy instead.
But then who would own the football teams?
See Mr. Pie in the Sky, utopia ain’t as easy as you think.
.
I thought that was very clear from the context of my post. It’s also in Hagglund’s This Life, if you read a little between the lines:
Me. I’d own the football teams! And a glorious day it would be for all and sundry, as long as you’re a Rams fan.
Billy_TParticipantOh, and beyond all of that? Our tech innovations were supposed to bring us all massive amounts new free time. Even Keynes thought we were on the verge of 15 to 20 hour weeks, with a thriving economy happening at the same time.
Instead, all of those time-saving innovations have just been folded back into profits for capitalists, and workers actually work more hours than ever before.
Martin Hagglund’s brilliant book, This Life, talks about this in detail.
We’re never less free than when we’re working for others to make them rich, and so few of us get to do a job we love.
We need to stop thinking that “hard work” in and of itself is virtuous, or something we need to pursue for its own sake, both because of what I mentioned above, and because it’s really just a lie that it matters. What we do matters. How, where, why, when, etc. The effects of our work. Who it helps, hurts, affects. Not just that our efforts are intense or longlasting.
Folks bust their butts to do horrible things too. All. The. Time.
Link up wages and prices, democratically; utilize time-saving innovations to radically reduce our weekly hours; focus on what we do, and create jobs that people love for their own sake. We all should have a chance at that. But that will never, ever happen under a capitalist system. We must democratize the economy instead.
Billy_TParticipantI’ve long wondered why humans accept their conditions regarding labor, and resist even discussions about better alternatives.
For instance, if I raise the idea of matching wages and prices for goods and services, in a planned way, democratically, people online and in person react with incredulity, if not outright anger. Nostrums and platitudes abound, about “hard work” and “earning what you get,” even though the vast majority of humans get NO WHERE after working their asses off. There is simply no proof that “hard work” does what those old chestnuts say it does, except for the few. And by a few, I mean MOST humans are voted off the island, and just one or a coupla more end up with that good job, good pay, etc. etc.
Capitalism simply has never produced enough “good jobs” to supply more than roughly 10% of “hard workers” with decent rewards — at best. It’s set up to make sure the vast majority of jobs out there will always pay shht wages. Work your butt off all you want, that’s not going to change, and people are deluded if they think it will.
And, there’s this: Centrists, moderates and conservatives act as if we live in this endless stream of steady old world values, and if we just go back to them, all will be well again. Um, no. Capitalism changes things dynamically, destructively, chaotically over time, so those old world values will always be moving further and further away from us in the rear view mirror.
Back in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, the average CEO paid himself roughly 20 times the rank and file. Today she pays herself 400 times, and in Fortune 100 companies, more than a 1000 times more. Bankers once made middle class wages, and now make millions. Hedge fund managers making billions today didn’t even exist. Doctors made a fraction of what they make today, etc. etc.
The nostrums stay the same, but inequality and the madness of our wage/price system accelerates hourly.
We need to finally end the madness and lock down a sane ratio between wages and prices, democratically, rationally, that makes it certain that all humans who work X hours can afford necessities and enough “nice things” to make life good. No one left behind. Today, MOST people are, and much of that starts with the total absence of any rational link between them.
Why shouldn’t they be linked? I’ve never heard a logical reason for their arbitrary, irrational, ad hoc disconnect.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by
Billy_T.
Billy_TParticipantI’m actually (close to) appalled that the Rams would even consider this. Or laughing to myself cuz it’s so surreal at this point.
Back and forth between misery and laughter.
It’s not enough that they threw away all of those picks to give away Goff to Detroit. It’s not enough that they used their first pick on a tiny receiver, for the deepest “room” on the team. A receiver who will surprise the hell out of me if he gets more than 10 touches a game.
I love his speed, and potential for big plays, and he looks fearless on film, even at 150 pounds. But a #2 is just waaay too early to draft a gadget guy, essentially, when the team is already four deep at the position. He basically duplicates Jackson’s skill set, and may end up being the fifth receiver, at least as long and Jackson is healthy.
So, now, they’re actually seriously considering adding ANOTHER receiver?
Julio Jones, when healthy, is a game-changing, all-world receiver, with freakish athleticism and strength. But he’s also 31, has been hurt a lot, and he won’t come cheap. The Rams don’t have the draft capital for this, but I’m afraid they’ll find another way to mortgage the future to bring him in. McVay is outdoing George Allen in the Future is Now department.
Hope I’m wrong, and even if they do make the deal, I’ll still love my team. But, sheesh!! They’re driving me to drinkin’ these days!
Billy_TParticipantBT, good episode this week, came at steep price for the momma’s boy detective…
Hey, Joe. I’m going to have to wait a bit before I finish the series. Stumbled onto it via a free premium week on my cable service. Will probably wait for its finale, and another series I like, The Nevers, before turning it back on.
I was feeling kinda guilty for having too many streamers, so I cut most of them. Had Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, and HBO all at the same time — and felt decadent. Got a good (yearly) deal on Hulu, so kept that and shut down the rest.
To make a long story short, am postponing the enjoyment of seeing what happens to Mare and her town for a coupla months, most likely.
Hope all is well.
Billy_TParticipantThat’s pretty funny, Joe.
;>)
Again, it’s always bothered me that Hollywood couldn’t be bothered in the past to do the accent with any care. Just get the actors to go with a generic NYC accent and be done with it, even though the sound couldn’t be more different. Mare changed that.
Wish Nittany and PA Ram would weigh in here. I’m just a Maryland kid, not a Pennsylvanian, but I think I have a good ear for ’em, and, well, Baltimore.
It was also the case when I went to the University of Maryland, we used to joke that it should have been called the University of New Jersey or Long Giiland. Seemed that we had more kids from New York and Jersey than Maryland.
:>)
And a side-side-note: I watched a classic last night, How Green Was My Valley, which I loved. John Ford was the director. Yes, it had bouts of too much sentimentality, and its share of cliches and “stage Welshmen,” but I still thought the story of a Welsh coal-mining town wonderful. But it was weird that Ford had so many Irish actors trying to play Welshmen, and from that angle, it didn’t work. One of the sons in the protagonist family, well, I had no idea where he was from. Scandinavia, perhaps?
I’d imagine most viewers couldn’t care less about that kind of thing. It’s just one more aspect of “willing suspension of disbelief.” But authenticity all around matters to me. Which is also why I cringe whenever someone does yet another movie about Greek Myths and screws with the ancient sources.
Hope all is well.
Billy_TParticipantHe doesn’t play afraid, despite his size, and he runs with a lot of efficiency. As in, no wasted moves or motion. Keeps his speed even as he looks back over his shoulder. And he just gears up and takes off like a shot. I like that. He’s got special speed, obviously.
Will likely be a great weapon for the Rams, on occassion. It’s just a shame they burned a 2nd on him. If the Rams didn’t already have Woods, Kupp, and Jefferson, I could almost see it. But I’d still want the pick to be a later round, cuz, well, O-line, ILB, edge, etc.
They really need to put some beef on him too. As with Harris. They can make sure they add good weight/size, without disrupting their crazy athleticism. In fact, if done right, it should make them even faster.
Would love the pick if it had been Round Five or Six. And, yes, you can find speedy guys late. Last year they found a receiver from JMU who ran a 4.25 — after the draft. I wish he had been good enough to make the team, cuz he destroyed teams in the FCS with that speed.
Oh, well. It is what it is. He is gonna be exciting to watch.
Billy_TParticipantCameron DaSilva@camdasilva
Among the biggest free agents in 2022 are D-Will, DeSean, Corbett, SJD, Noteboom.Rams are currently *over* a projected salary cap of $203M by $873K. So they have some work to do still.
Right now, pre-2021 season, I’d say the most important re-signings will be SJD, Corbett and Darious Williams. Hopefully, Tutu will make Jackson “expendable,” and I doubt they even plan for him to play two seasons. I wonder if anyone knows what Noteboom really can do as a permanent starter.
If I had to pick just one player to keep from that group, it’s SJD.
Billy_TParticipanti’ve been to the mid atlantic, DC area for business (Gaithersburg / Rockville)
I didn’t realize how much traffic there was in the DC area and I didn’t realize how beautiful it was.
i remember stopping at a convenience store…..i saw hats for the Steelers, Ravens, Eagles, Jets and Giants…lots of football markets clustered in that area, no wonder the Colts left……
Best of all, I loved the crab cakes…..
i’ll need to check out that HBO show.
Hey, fellow Giants fan!
The traffic is crazy. I definitely don’t miss that since I moved a bit to the south. But I do miss the diversity there, which was dynamic, exhilarating. People from all over the world, a true mosaic.
Fandom was odd, but in the DC suburbs, the Skins mostly ruled. Baltimore should have had more pull than it did, but post-Unitas, it just couldn’t muster much beyond the immediate environs of Balmer. So they took the show to Cleveland, which was an odd choice, IMO. Baltimore ended up with a better franchise than they lost, but the old folks are still pissed off about the midnight theft.
Crab cakes are the best on the Eastern Shore, and damn good in Annapolis and even Baltimore too. Gotta be called “hon” by the waitresses too. Lotsa fond memories about that. Ocean City used to be a lot of fun as well. Haven’t been there in ages. A ton to do all around.
Again, for such a small state, it packs a wallop when it comes to culture, diversity, history, etc.
Mare is definitely worth checking out.
Billy_TParticipantQuick follow up on the accents thingy.
I grew up in Maryland, but was never a fan of Baltimore accents, residing closer to DC. As a youngin, I saw my home turf and Balmer as different worlds, almost. The relatively small state of Maryland runs the accent gamut too, from its Western region, to the Eastern Shore, from Bal’mer to the suburbs of DC, etc. We don’t sound alike in general.
Looping back to Mare: There’s an interesting similarity between Baltimore and Philly, and I don’t know exactly why it exists. Fairly close, of course, as metro areas go. But there must have been fairly similar patterns of settlement, from relatively similar ethnic groups, over time. Pretty close in “class” divisions, too, though this seems to be changing.
Even though, as mentioned, I was never a big fan of the Baltimore sound, I want TV and movies to be as authentic as possible. So if they set their work in X city, it should use the sights and sounds of that city, not some place else. verisimilitude, etc.
Billy_TParticipantI carried 230 pounds at 5’10” for a good bit of my adult life. I wasn’t fat. I was in pretty good shape actually, for a non-athlete, for a long time. Good enough to be hired as a bouncer when I was much younger. Am much lighter now, closer to 200, but not in the best of shape these days. Working on it, though.
;>)
Anyway, I know that’s just anecdotal, but I would think Harris could easily add 20 pounds without detracting from his agility and overall athleticism. In fact, if he does it right, if he focuses on his diet too, he could actually get faster as he gets stronger and into better shape.
His age is a bit of a factor, but not something he can’t overcome.
I’d bet that someone 6’5″ can carry 235, 240, easily, and maintain serious athleticism. Again, he could even get faster. It looks like he’s never been all that serious about working out.
This is a very intriguing draft pick, and it’s exactly what the Rams needed for their wide receiver (or TE) room: A tall receiver with serious speed and hops, who creates mismatches and wins contested jump balls. IMO, they needed a Harris far more than a Tutu. That 2nd rounder would have been better spent on the O-line, ILB or the edge.
Billy_TParticipantWillie Mays. I can’t even imagine why anyone would root against him. :>)
Well, as a Dodgers fan, I hated Marichal for the Roseboro thing that happened before I was old enough to know anything. And McCovey because he was on the Giants.
But…Mays. Willie Mays was different. He was Superman. I didn’t wish him well, exactly, but he was one of those guys on the enemy team that transcended the uniform. Nobody hated Willie Mays. Not possible, I don’t think. But I am haunted by a Willie Mays memory to this day. I remember when Willie Mays came back to play in Candlestick at the end of his career. He was with the Mets. I was at a Sunday afternoon game, and I remember Mays was a baserunner, and he rounded 3rd and just tripped and did a face plant. It was one of the least athletic things I ever saw a professional athlete do. The great Willie Mays just eating turf for no damn reason. It made me so sad. It kills me to watch great players hang on to play a couple years too long.
That is a sad image. I got to see him in NYC as a Met. Hated that he hung on that long, too, and obviously wanted to see him retire as a Giant.
Had forgotten about Marichal and Roseboro. Reminds me now of the Myles Garrett incident, in a way.
Am I misrembering that Mantle played too long as well? Without searching on the Internet, didn’t that take him under .300 for lifetime average?
Billy_TParticipantI grew up on the East Coast, but when it seemed time to choose my favorite sports teams (age 9), it turned out they were all West Coast teams. A fluke of sorts. One of them, the Giants, originated in NYC, of course, and my fandom started primarily because of a player who started there, not in San Fran:
Willie Mays. I can’t even imagine why anyone would root against him. :>)
It was Mays, Marichal, and McCovey, plus that cool uni that did it for me. Have been a loyal SF Giants fan for well over 50 years. Always saw the Dodgers as the bad guys in that rivalry, including its NYC days. I still do.
Chose the Lakers cuz of West and Baylor, then along came Wilt. Chose the Rams cuz of Deacon, Merlin and Gabe. Never wavered thru more than five decades, but have been damn pissed off at my teams now and then.
So, for me, I’m not loyal to LA per se. But two out of three favorite teams call that city their home now.
San Fran shouldn’t be doing as well as they are this year in baseball. They really don’t have the roster to compete against even the best teams in their own division, but they’re sitting on top.
Hope they can sustain it.
Billy_TParticipantPlayer ages matter on my little island. So Bobby Brown being 21 in-season is a plus. Makes a pick I liked even better. Tutu being 22 in-season helps turn his grade from a D- to . . . to . . . a D, perhaps, if I’m being generous.
Nothing against him. I’m rooting for him, and love his speed. And it’s not his fault, obviously, that he was drafted a few rounds too soon.
I like the Rochell pick, so-so on the Ernest Jones pick (C+), am a big fan of the Funk pick, which for a 7th, I see as an “A.”
Harris’s freak athleticism is intriguing, but his age may be an issue. Haven’t been able to find it confirmed online yet, but I think he’s 24. He needs to gain weight, but he’s already in that post-fill-out area, so it won’t be as easy. His age may also get in the way of any ideas about redshirting him. They really need to capitalize on his athleticism now, and he may not be ready for that.
Anyway . . . overall, I give this draft a C-, leaning toward a D, though.
I do have high hopes for Bobby Brown, Rochell, and the Funk, with cautious optimism about Harris. Tutu will have his moments as well. I just don’t think they’ll be often enough to warrant a 2nd.
P.S. What is it with the dearth of UDFAs this year? That had been a strong-point for the Rams in recent times, and with a focus on diamonds in the rough, with athleticism.
This offseason may be the strangest evah.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by Billy_T.
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