Cliff Varnell Posted February 10, 2020 Share Posted February 10, 2020 23 hours ago, S.T. Patrick said: I don't take it personally, no. Excellent. I thought so. Many do take criticism of their work personally. It’s sad but true. For me it’s not a matter of right and left — it’s all about fact or fiction. Fact: Trump has declared that his personal interests are identical to the interests of the State. This new form of government— an unlimited, unchecked unitary executive — was ratified by the US Senate on January 31, 2020 when the Republicans voted down witnesses and documents in the UkraineGate Trial. Fiction: Donald Trump is just like regular Republicans and Republicans and Democrats are just alike. Or as I like to call this piece of fiction — The Shorter Caitlin Johnstone In his last two years in office President Obama signed the Iran nuke deal, the Paris Climate Accords, relaxed restrictions with Cuba, signed net neutrality and put undocumented youth who grew up in this country on legal footing. Whether or not that makes up for American adventures in Libya, Honduras, Ukraine or civilian killing drone strikes throughout the Middle East— our mileages may vary. In 2013 Obama and Putin negotiated the removal of what turned out to be 93% of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile. Obama has been roundly denounced in the MSM ever since for failing to respond militarily when Assad allegedly crossed O’s “Red Line.” Trump had more favorable coverage for the two phony hits he put on empty air bases. So...what are the chances Johnstone praises any Democrat not named Sanders or Gabbard? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.T. Patrick Posted February 10, 2020 Author Share Posted February 10, 2020 33 minutes ago, Joe Bauer said: But, a husband has to stand up for his wife when needed. LOL. Agreed, Joe. My experience was being on the textbook committees of schools as an International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement History teacher for over a decade. I used McGraw Hill and Cengage because they are the biggest. The criticism could be aimed at any textbook publisher. But defending your wife is understood. All good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.T. Patrick Posted February 10, 2020 Author Share Posted February 10, 2020 28 minutes ago, Cliff Varnell said: So...what are the chances Johnstone praises any Democrat not named Sanders or Gabbard? Probably the same as the chances that she praises a Republican politician... which she never does, not without an accompanying shot at the same politician. She's not one to praise politicians in general, but it's difficult for me to speak for Caitlin. I don't think playing cheerleader for a party is on her to-do list. Any party. Anywhere. Frankly, if someone wants a cheerleader for any of the other candidates, there are stations on every television that will do that. Caitlin allows free reign for me to use her work. I read many of the essays she does, but she is prolific. I cannot read them all. I usually narrow it down to five for an issue of the magazine, and then I usually choose one. If I absolutely cannot decide between two, I use both. It helps if the idea behind one of them links to something else being done in that issue. But she's one voice. I've also gotten emails saying that I have ZERO writers that are right-leaning. And I can't say they are wrong. It isn't intentional. I just don't want a party cheerleader for either party. There is right-leaning anti-party dissent (extensions of the Ron Paul candidacies), but I haven't found that writer yet. We are starting to see some really strong left-leaning anti-party dissenters now (the people you named not being a fan of). But if I found a Republican cheerleader and a Democratic cheerleader, I'd be the same as any talking head CNN show (Crossfire? Capital Gang?). And that's not the purpose of the magazine. Short story... when I first had the magazine in my head, I envisioned it in a classroom. I saw a teacher saying "Okay, we've read the textbook.... Lee Oswald killed Kennedy, Sirhan killed RFK, Ray killed MLK, John Dean is the hero of Watergate, Truman had to drop the bomb on Hiroshima to save lives, LBJ was a great president, Ike was a hero, Carter was just a down home country boy, Saddam was the face of evil in the modern world, and Osama did 9/11....... now...... (the teacher pulls out a few articles from garrison).... here's another perspective...." As John Judge said, "There are other paradigms." I didn't envision making sure I had a Warren supporter and Pete supporter and a Biden supporter and a Trump supporter and so on and so forth. I wanted to get people who would challenge what will be in the textbooks, if it isn't already there now. That's honestly the scene I imagined. I knew I wanted DiEugenio on JFK, Pease on RFK, Hougan on Watergate, Griffin on 9/11, Joe Green on whatever he wanted to do because I think he's great, and then we'd go outward from there. That said, I'm still learning, we are still expanding the writers and perspectives in each issue, and I'm doing the best I can. Sorry if the explanation was a bit lengthy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Varnell Posted February 10, 2020 Share Posted February 10, 2020 1 minute ago, S.T. Patrick said: Probably the same as the chances that she praises a Republican politician... which she never does, not without an accompanying shot at the same politician. She's not one to praise politicians in general, but it's difficult for me to speak for Caitlin. I don't think playing cheerleader for a party is on her to-do list. That’s not what I’m asking. Acknowledging a good job on a specific matter doesn’t make one a cheerleader. Do you think the Iran nuke deal was evil, S.T.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.T. Patrick Posted February 10, 2020 Author Share Posted February 10, 2020 No. I always think U.S. nuke deals are hypocritical, to some degree, but evil? No. Personally, Id rather we not have them either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Varnell Posted February 10, 2020 Share Posted February 10, 2020 6 minutes ago, S.T. Patrick said: 1 minute ago, S.T. Patrick said: No. I always think U.S. nuke deals are hypocritical, to some degree, but evil? No. Personally, Id rather we not have them either. Okay, although it was hypocritical for nuclear powers like the US, Britain, Russia, China, and France to insist the Iranians shelve their nuke program — we can agree it was a good thing, right? The Putin/Obama removal of Assad’s chem weapons — good thing, right? Opening to Cuba? Paris Climate Accords? I stipulate to the NATO/Obama war crime in Libya and a whole host of Obama mistakes. That shouldn’t erase the good stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Varnell Posted February 10, 2020 Share Posted February 10, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, S.T. Patrick said: We are starting to see some really strong left-leaning anti-party dissenters now (the people you named not being a fan of). But if I found a Republican cheerleader and a Democratic cheerleader, I'd be the same as any talking head CNN show (Crossfire? Capital Gang?). And that's not the purpose of the magazine. When I point out that we live under a Republican Party that has declared an unchecked unitary executive, resulting in the catastrophic failure of the American experiment in a government ruled by checks and balances and the establishment of a functioning monarchy — does that make me a Democratic cheerleader? False equivalencies must be treated with the same skepticism as false dichotomies. Edited February 10, 2020 by Cliff Varnell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Varnell Posted February 10, 2020 Share Posted February 10, 2020 (edited) On 2/7/2020 at 8:15 PM, S.T. Patrick said: I would not say that it's Dem bashing. Can you say the party had a good week... or month? On January 31, 2020 the United States Senate ratified Donald Trump’s claim of unlimited executive power, ending the 233 year American experiment in a government ruled by checks and balances. The United States is now a functional monarchy... but wait! Look over there! The DNC screwed Bernie Sanders out of 3 or 4 delegates in Iowa!... Do I think the Dems had a bad week? I think humanity had a very bad week, S.T. Edited February 10, 2020 by Cliff Varnell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Brancato Posted February 10, 2020 Share Posted February 10, 2020 My problem with voices that I would call Radical Left, like Johnstone, is that they serve the purposes of the radical right by doubling down on divide and conquer commentary. Cliff is right - the Democratic Party sometimes does good things, unlike the Republicans. About a third of the Democrats in the house even voted against the bloated Defense budget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James DiEugenio Posted February 10, 2020 Share Posted February 10, 2020 (edited) Paul: I do not consider Johnstone from the radical left. The fact that you characterize her as such shows us how far right the political spectrum has swung in this country, and especially how far right the Democrats have gone. IMO, when all the Democratic candidates are evaluated overall, foreign policy issues included, just who is worth voting for besides Bernie on the merits? I don't mean just on the rather narrow issue of he or she is better than Trump. Your dog Rover could survive that test. I recently wrote about this in my discussion of the Foster case. I described how the GOP was taken over by its extreme Goldwater elements. What I left out was that this moved the Democrats to the right also--remember Al From and the DLC? I cannot see the Bobby Kennedy of 1968 in that club. But yet that is where the Clintons came from. And Kerry and Obama were part of their congressional arm, the New Democrats. Which was a joke, because what they really were were Eisenhower Republicans. The only reason they could call themselves Democrats was because the Republicans had gone into outer space with the likes of Floyd Brown and David Bossie. Let us NEVER forget: HRC voted for the Iraq War. And that was no outlier. Just recall what she did in Libya and Honduras when Mr. Hope and Change Obama appointed her Secretary of State. It was so called New Democrats Kerry, Gephardt and From who plotted against Howard Dean, because they did not think economic populism could turn out the Democratic base. Do we recall Dick Morris and his triangulation strategy? And I hope you are following Shadow and what they just did to Sanders in Iowa. Let me be frank about all this: The Clintons were the worst thing to happen to the Democratic Party since Carter beat Udall in the primaries in 1976. The spectacular success of AOC shows us that economic populism can motivate people. It can turn out voters. Just like RFK in 1968 turned out the east side of Los Angeles to a point where they voted in a higher ratio than the west side. We need people like Johnstone to keep us honest. Fine with me if Mr. Patrick includes her. She can be our constant warning against a return to the nightmare of Clintonism. Just like the writings on JFK, the JFK case and RFK case in the magazine garrison remind us all just how we got into this mess. More power to it and him.. Since there is no one out there who comes close to addressing these issues in such a format. Edited February 10, 2020 by James DiEugenio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Varnell Posted February 10, 2020 Share Posted February 10, 2020 (edited) 7 minutes ago, James DiEugenio said: Paul: I do not consider Johnstone from the radical left. The fact that you characterize her as such shows us how far right the political spectrum has swung in this country, and especially how far right the Democrats have gone. IMO, when all the Democratic candidates are evaluated overall, foreign policy issues included, just who is worth voting for besides Bernie on the merits? I don't mean just on the rather narrow issue of he or she is better than Trump. Your dog Rover could survive that test. I recently wrote about this in my discussion of the Foster case. I described how the GOP was taken over by its extreme Goldwater elements. What I left out was that this moved the Democrats to the right also--remember Al From and the DLC? I cannot see the Bobby Kennedy of 1968 in that club. But yet that is where the Clintons came from. And Kerry and Obama were part of their congressional arm, the New Democrats. Which was a joke, because what they really were were Eisenhower Republicans. The only reason they could call themselves Democrats was because the Republicans had gone into outer space with the likes of Floyd Brown and David Bossie. Let us NEVER forget: HRC voted for the Iraq War. And that was no outlier. Just recall what she did in Iraq and Honduras when Mr. Hope and Change Obama appointed her Secretary of State. It was so called New Democrats Kerry and Gephardt and From who plotted against Howard Dean, because they did not think economic populism could turn out the Democratic base. Do we recall DIck Morris and his triangulation strategy? And I hope you are following Shadow and what they just did to Sanders in Iowa. Let me be frank about all this: The Clintons were the worst thing to happen to the Democratic Party since Carter beat Udall in the primaries in 1976. The spectacular success of AOC shows us that economic populism can motivate people. It can turn out voters. Just like RFK in 1968 turned out the east side of Los Angeles to a point where they voted in a higher ratio than the west side. We need people like Johnstone to keep us honest. Fine with me if Mr. Patrick includes her. She can be our constant warning against a return to the nightmare of Clintonism. Just like the writings on JFK, the JFK case and RFK case in the magazine garrison remind us all just how we got into this mess. More power to it and him.. Since there is no one out there who comes close to addressing these issues in such a format. There is nothing in the above to indicate Mr. DiEugenio grasps the moment we’re in. Trump has declared unlimited executive powers and DiEugenio thinks it’s “a narrow issue.” Oblivious in the extreme. Edited February 10, 2020 by Cliff Varnell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James DiEugenio Posted February 10, 2020 Share Posted February 10, 2020 (edited) One last point that I missed in the above. The DLC was really the heir apparent to Henry Jackson and his CDM. And I have written about Jackson in my current article on the F-111, and previously in my review of Accidental Presidents. Jackson was Mr. Cold War, since he was nicknamed the senator from Boeing. He was supposed to be a Democrat but he was so far to the right in foreign policy that he, for all intents and purposes, became the godfather to the neoconservative movement. Jackson is where people like Richard Perle began their careers. In reality, Henry Jackson was the antithesis of what JFK stood for in foreign policy. I consider HRC a neocon. And that is how far Jackson's influence has gone. BTW, Wheeler is correct. There is not enough being made about Shadow and Iowa. Just click below: https://www.politifact.com/article/2020/feb/04/what-we-know-about-shadow-acronym-and-iowa-caucuse/ Edited February 10, 2020 by James DiEugenio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Varnell Posted February 10, 2020 Share Posted February 10, 2020 2 hours ago, James DiEugenio said: . I consider HRC a neocon. Impeach Hillary Clinton! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Varnell Posted February 10, 2020 Share Posted February 10, 2020 (edited) 5 hours ago, Paul Brancato said: My problem with voices that I would call Radical Left, like Johnstone, is that they serve the purposes of the radical right by doubling down on divide and conquer commentary. Cliff is right - the Democratic Party sometimes does good things, unlike the Republicans. About a third of the Democrats in the house even voted against the bloated Defense budget. Nancy Pelosi rallied a majority of House Democrats to vote against the Iraq War. In April of 2017 the House Republicans couldn’t get a budget passed and had to ask the Dems for help. On cable news a parade of Dem reps bragged about the pork they landed for their districts. Pelosi was asked what goodies she got into the bill and she said — “Expanded Medicaid in Puerto Rico.” Is Pelosi an asset of the Bankster Proto-Autocracy? Of course, all Democrats outside of the self-declared Democratic Socialists receive funding from the Big Donor star chambers. So do all Republicans. The difference is that in order to gather votes and smaller donations the Dems — on occasion — must deliver on policy for their mostly anti-autocratic base. The GOP has to deliver for their base of Christian Fascists, who favor policies of extreme cruelty like family separation, cutting food stamps, cracking down on disability benefits. When folks like Caitlin Johnstone accuse Trump and Pelosi of belonging to the same “Establishment,” they overlook the huge differences between the GOP and Dem bases — and the equally huge differences in the judges the parties put on the bench. The Judiciary is the branch of government most people deal with directly. Edited February 10, 2020 by Cliff Varnell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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