by William Skink
The latest reason to gnash one’s teeth if you are hoping Democrats can avert their cataclysmic tailspin is Amanda Curtis losing to Cowboy Quist for a chance to win a Congressional seat. I was told by a commenter more involved in this stuff than I am that this head-to-head showdown represents generational tension in the Montana Democratic ranks.
I know a lot of people care deeply about this election because they are looking for any glimmer of hope that their future isn’t consigned to right-wing fascist dystopia, but I just can’t get all gung-ho to support a party that is supporting a slow-motion coup against an elected president.
The latest controversy instigated via Twitter is Trump’s accusation that Obama ordered his tower tapped. Once again hysteria over what, at first glance, appears absurd, is distracting from the very real moves Obama made to free-up the the IC (Intelligence Community) to share information:
WITH ONLY DAYS until Donald Trump takes office, the Obama administration on Thursday announced new rules that will let the NSA share vast amounts of private data gathered without warrant, court orders or congressional authorization with 16 other agencies, including the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Department of Homeland Security.
The new rules allow employees doing intelligence work for those agencies to sift through raw data collected under a broad, Reagan-era executive order that gives the NSA virtually unlimited authority to intercept communications abroad. Previously, NSA analysts would filter out information they deemed irrelevant and mask the names of innocent Americans before passing it along.
The anti-Russian obsession Democrats have is dangerous, and unlike Voodoo economics, it actually does trickle down to local partisans, like Nathan Kosted who posted another steaming pile at ID, titled Daines and Jeff Sessions: Moscow Love Affair:
Senator Daines is thrilled that Jeff Sessions is Attorney General.
Montanans and Americans who do not like Russian intrusion from Vladimir Putin into our elections, executive branch and governmental decision-making process probably disagree with Senator Daines.
Jeff Sessions had meetings with Russian officials, ambassadors, spies possibly and then lied about under oath at his confirmation hearing for Attorney General. This is perjury and he has recused himself from investigations into Trumps’ campaign about ties to Russians interfering in our elections.
The question is, does Daines stand with America and Montana or Russia and Sessions?
I know it seems like this Russia gambit is going to get loser Democrats a foothold back to power, but is it worth making a deal with the devil–and by devil I mean the treasonous bastards in the IC who think they can keep pulling their shadowy strings since most politicians don’t want to be assassinated like JFK?
Another Montana Democrat who likes to out-hawk Republicans but in a totally progressive way is COMBAT VETERAN Josh Manning. A recent example is Manning’s post at Cowboygirl about Trump failing his first national security test.
This failure is the infamous Yemen raid that resulted in one dead American and lots of innocent people Manning doesn’t refer to at all. Also missing is any justification for America’s role in supporting this horrific war. Instead, Manning uses statements made by Trump to take a position like this:
I am not a total hawk. I do not believe the military is a hammer that needs to hit every nail, screw, or whatever else is presented to it. But I do believe in the use of our forces as a scalpel and especially the use of those who are trained to do the elite work in a rapid and clean way that can affect real change. I have seen this up close and the success that can come if this used in the right way.
For me, the most chilling word in this statement is “clean” and it’s also the most instructive.
The insidious success of Obama’s neoliberal foreign policy is precisely what Manning is defending: using “cleaner” methods of killing to achieve essentially the same things as the clunky occupiers of the Bush regime were trying to achieve.
Now, with literal blood in the water, a cheerleader of drone strikes and clandestine death-dealing comes forward to rally Democrats around some progressive war porn.
No thank you.
As long as Democrats continue promoting increased tensions with a nuclear armed country, I will not give them a scratch from my proverbial pencil come election time.
JC
That the democrat party has become the war party, coupled with a return to 50’s style McCarthyism (and 1 trillion dollar nuclear modernization policy — thanks Obama!) will be its undoing. It’s just a question of how many “progressive liberals”, young or old, that they can drag along to create the opportunity and/or momentum to convert the new cold war into a hot one, complete with diversion of the remaining un-military parts of the budget to the military industrial complex. You can’t simultaneously beat the war drum and advocate for social, environmental and health justice at the same time.
The Iraq/Afghanistan wars have led liberal interventionists (the base of the dem party now) into the illusion that low intensity war, sanctions, stratcom (propaganda), and cyber espionage are all you need in this day and age, and that it is all good. What the deep state started (visibly) almost 16 years ago portends to keep this country in perpetual war. I guess now that “normalize” is the new buzz words among democrats to talk about Trump’s behavior, we might as well pin it on the dems for having “normalized” low intensity and “clean” warfare to the point that it has become just another part of the background noise of day-to-day life.
Fwiw, I’ve returned to the predominantly anti-war stance of my youth where I cut my activist teeth as a guiding principle, politically. Jeanette Rankin was the queen of anti-war sentiment in Congress once upon a time. Today, democrats honor her by selling politically correct gewgaws imported from oppressed countries to fund what? You can’t even find a single anti-war sentiment anymore at the local nonprofit dedicated to her legacy.
I think your premise is flawed a little.
It might look to you like a generational thing, but it really isn’t. I think that the Montana Dems made a rare, smart move by nominating somebody who could actually get elected.
First, have you ever went through the precinct books after an election, to see who you should spend your energy on? If you ever do, you will see that the only voters who reliably go to the polls are older married couples. People aged from 18 to late 20’s don’t bother.
Second, Amanda Curtis would have been Hillary-lite, and has a MSSA/NRA ‘F’ rating, as well as wacko videos, and a far-left voting record. She is unelectable.
I don’t know who the GOP will nominate yet, so the show is just beginning.
As far as the Russia thing, I tune it out – the Dems will overplay their hand (only thing they have) and it’ll soon be gone, because if there was any evidence there the Obama sycophants in DC would already have provided it.
You really should check out your local GOP – the true peoples party in Montana. We have the big tent, and could use somebody with your zeal.
I wonder if the name “Thomas Breck” will even make it into the discussion about the upcoming special election?
For what it’s worth, I’m voting for him.
😉
4 months ago you couldn’t even get yourself to vote for granting cancer patients access to medical marijuana.
But keep telling yourself that your disgust with Obama is a premise from which follows a conclusion that you shouldn’t even consider voting for Rob Quist.
Engage recreational outrage now!
I’m disgusted with Democrats and their foreign policy, so I’m not going to vote for them.
Both parties have figured out that voters vote for the person, more than they vote for the party. This has been evolving, but helps explain why ballot access is most difficult for non-party, independent candidates. To qualify for the Montana special-election ballot an independent must submit over 14,000 county-certified signatures of registered voters, plus a $1,740 filing fee — all due today by 5:00pm. Gov. Bullock announced the date — May 25, 2017 — on March 1. Not possible; and led-pipe-cinch barrier to a free, fair-competition election.
I hear the Greens are going to court over the short notice for gathering petition sigs. Should be an interesting fight!
Guys … you gotta ask the right question: Are votes counted?
it’s all about context, Mark. for example, right now I’m thinking the right question is why do you bother to comment here?
Because you are all,off on the wrong track. If they can get you to ask the wrong questions, the answers don’t matter, do they. Just a nudge in a more productive direction, a public service. I
How many votes have you cast, uncounted Mark? Or are you so enlightened that you haven’t cast a single vote in your entire life?
It did take me many decades to understand that votes are not counted. Such understanding only comea with years, and then with a slap to the forehead too – of course! If they have no respect for public opinion, they certainly would not heed a vote count.
Comea??? Isn’t that a a bitopic membrane protein?
Why, sir, do I detect a man skilled at the art of Google?
Mark, your comments lead one to Giggle.
Maybe there is another reason to repudiate voting for Dems. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-03-07/wikileaks-hold-press-conference-vault-7-release-8am-eastern
Trump is a lot like the biblical character Samson when he pulls down the pillars of the temple destroying all within.
“Trump has fewer skeletons in his closet than any president in generations. In Washington, that makes him a very dangerous man. All of these guys have shady deals in their closet. All of them bend the rules to reward themselves and their associates. No one says anything about it because everyone is dirty. Washington is a lot like a corrupt police precinct, where everyone is on the take so no one dares rat on anyone else. Trump’s life is an open book so he does not have to play along.
That’s probably why he went nuclear over the weekend. He’s looking around at a city full of crooked politicians calling for investigations so he is turning the table and threatening to open the investigation up to everything. Imagine Trump coming out and asking for a special prosecutor to look into Obama, Clinton, the IRS people, the DOJ and maybe even the FBI itself. There’s a lot of people in Washington with a lot to hide and Trump certainly knows it, which is why he is going on the attack over the tapping of his offices.
A long time ago I pointed out that Trump was The Mule, the character from the Asimov novels. Trump is the destroyer of worlds, not because he has some grand vision of the future and wants to plow under the existing order to make room for his utopia. He is the destroyer because the old order can only exist if Trump does not exist. His rise to the White House is the nullification of the established order. It’s why Washington is going for total war to destroy him. They see it is a matter of survival.”-ZMan.
The proverbial bull in a china closet.