11 November 2014

On the American political discourse: the poisonous bitterness of the losers

Disclaimer: the author of this post is:

  1. Not an American citizen
  2. Not affiliated with any political party in USA
  3. Isn't invested, directly or indirectly, in a political candidate of any kind in USA (or any other country, for that matter)
  4. Doesn't understand most of internal political mechanisms, laws, rules and regulations of USA, although sometimes shows some limited interest in such, like in case of this here post 
  5. The author's membership in a certain group of very nice Republicans (and Democrats, I haste to add) that calls itself Watchers of Weasels Council may explain why Democrats are to be the subject of this post, but the turn of Republicans is to come some time later - as sure as taxes
The midterm elections in USA resulted in a series of victories of Republican candidates and, as expected, in some bitterness in the ranks of Democrats' supporters. The bitterness, in its less vulgar form, was artfully expressed by a certain Nobel laureate:
The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet midterms to men of understanding. Or as I put it on the eve of another Republican Party sweep, politics determines who has the power, not who has the truth. Still, it’s not often that a party that is so wrong about so much does as well as Republicans did on Tuesday.
It is fairly easy to see in this quote the bitterness, it is easy to see the highbrow contempt of political rival. What you wouldn't be able to see in it is an itty bitty drop of "mea culpa". Which could be said with a great deal of confidence about the post-elections speech by the POTUS as well, by the way. But let's leave incrimination and the whole issue of culpability in the failure out of this post and concentrate instead on the extreme ways some people express their bitterness.

A comparatively mild example of blaming the voter first:


Obviously it's written by a Democrats' supporter that was seriously embittered. Just one example: blaming the 9/11 terrorism atrocity - that took a heck of a long time to prepare - on Bush, while it happened a short while into his first term, is less than ingenious - it is absurd and vile.

You may have noticed the thinly veiled hints on voters' insufficient mental prowess in this example of bitterness. Here is a more direct one.
Appearing as a panelist on the November 6 Hardball, liberal talk show host Joe Madison offered his assessment for why Democrats lost the 2014 midterms: Liberals, being the intellectuals they are, talk above the heads of the average voter, rather than communicating their ideas in an accessible manner for the layman to understand. They need to "put it where the goats can get it," as Madison's grandfather would say.
Of course, if the leaders of the Democrats speak only to the intellectual elite, the disdain that you can detect in all of the above is easier to explain. Who knew...

And some of the losers are even less patient than the above quoted thinker and express their opinion of the political opponents (and/or the voters) in a more direct fashion:
Democrat State Representative Senfronia Thompson had this to say about the results.
"Ignorance will not prevail," Thompson said while watching returns from the party's Harris County headquarters. "I am hoping the public will wake up and see that stupid does not work."
Now we can proceed to some visual aids that present some more extreme examples of that bitterness, like this:
(As far as I know, this cartoon has appeared first in Daily Kos - it spreads like fire, obviously Democrats are loving it for some reason). Looking at this one, I couldn't avoid thinking that its creator might have saved a lot of time by reducing it to two rows of text:

1. Democrats = GOOD
2. Republicans = BAD

I hope that the gist of my opinion of the cartoon is clear: it's a very very bitter - and a very very stupid one. Treating its reader (viewer in this case) as a retard that can't really have his/her own opinion and knowledge of anything. So it is Republicans that put E-coli in your burger, spy on your computers, use your tax money to give you benefits (sic!) etc. Oh boy, oh boy - I would like to have a glimpse into the mind of the author of that cartoon. Actually, scratch it - dark, damp and empty spaces are not my favorite pastime...

And now to another, almost ultimate example of contempt and, possibly, hate of the "other" (even if that other is one's fellow American):


Thankfully, I don't have a horse or a dog or any other animal in that race. Otherwise I would have used some choice words I do know - but, in my humble, the author of this picture is a pathetic little wanker, and it would have been a waste of time to address him/her. Only one correction (thanks to Rob): even the map that character used is a wrong one, here is the map:
The only states that still have Democrat controlled state legislatures are the states of Oregon, Hawaii, Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Apparently 'Dumbfuckistan' is a lot bigger than the creator of that silly map thought.
However, as an illustration of the trend it was useful, and let's leave it at that. To proceed to what I would classify as an ultimate example. That is, if I wasn't careful enough, knowing that there is no bottom in this business. Because people will get to what you thought was the bottom and then start digging diligently:

Since Daily Kos was mentioned, here is a snippet from this august mouthpiece of the especially rabid left:
On a scale of one to 10, with one being the Super Bowl, and 10 being the Holocaust, this week's midterm elections went past 11! (PM EST).
And the picture that accompanies this text:

Lovely, ain't it?

Not having a horse in the race, I still have to make a statement: I think that a party with this kind of attitude richly deserves a fairly long period in the wilderness of being a minority and must get a long enough time-out to think humble and to think different - before it is allowed back. The hole Democrats dug for themselves is fairly deep this time.


***

As for Republicans' happiness with the results - listen to what Sarah P. says:
“Now, new Republican Congressional majority in the House and Senate, please realize that Americans were not necessarily voting FOR any party; they were voting AGAINST the continued dysfunction and corruption in D.C.,” the former vice presidential candidate wrote in a post on Facebook.

Just like the Democrats got “mauled” on Tuesday, Palin warned the same thing could happen to the GOP next time around.
Yep...

Update: It may be educational to read the two comments to this post by AKUS. Apparently Democratic supporter with some limited scope of vision, whose response is rather a knee-jerk. Confirming what is said in this post, unfortunately.

Forum: What Is Your Take On The Election? What Do You See In The Future?



Every week on Monday morning , the Council and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher's Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week's question: What Is Your Take On The Election? What Do You See In The Future?

10 November 2014

When all else fails,

send the man's best friend to the rescue.


09 November 2014

Poor Yelena Mizulina (Mizoulina) - time to say enough. But the idea of multiplying Putin...


This specific Russian lawmaker suffers the brunt of Ukrainian media onslaught for quite a long time. Starting with that story where she allegedly invited the Russian Jews to leave for their ancestral lands.

Now a new brilliant idea was ascribed to the lady by an Ukrainian site. Since Steph (Stephanie actually) Cockroft from the British Daily Mail got spoofed by that artice, she saved me the translation effort:
Yelena Borisovna Mizoulina, the Chairwoman of Parliamentary Commission on women's affairs, children and family, told colleagues that giving the president's sperm to would-be mothers would improve patriotism in Russia.

'Every citizen of Russia will receive by mail the genetic material of the president, to get pregnant from him and have a baby. These mothers will receive a special allowance from the state.'

Adopting the assumption that Putin's offspring would be male, she went on to describe how the children would be educated in 'special institutions that resemble Souvorov Schools' - a type of boarding school in the former Soviet Union.

The aim would be that the child would be 'devoted to the homeland and personally to the President of the Russian Fedaration', she said.

She added: 'Children born from the Russian president in the future will form the military and political elite of the state.'
Frankly, as spoofs go, this was a good one. Still a spoof, like the other one mentioned in the same Daily Mail article:
She also drafted a law prohibiting 'sexual intercourse in the territory of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol.' The law was not adopted.
More the pity. But one can always console oneself by that old and true one, where Ms Mizulina declared the iPhone to be the pedophiles' tool of choice.

So there. Poor Duma deputy Yelena Borisovna Mizoulina... or not so poor, who knows?

08 November 2014

‘ISIS Sees Turkey as Its Ally': Former Islamic State Member Reveals Turkish Army Cooperation

“ISIS commanders told us to fear nothing at all because there was full cooperation with the Turks,” said Omer of crossing the border into Turkey, “and they reassured us that nothing will happen, especially when that is how they regularly travel from Raqqa and Aleppo to the Kurdish areas further northeast of Syria because it was impossible to travel through Syria as YPG controlled most parts of the Kurdish region.”
A worthy read. Even if the story told there is only partly true, the situation where a NATO member continuously undermines the NATO-led effort is grotesque. As grotesque as the White House relentless flow of compliments and confessions of true love to Erdogan, the half-mad half-Caliph.

Kick Turkey Out of NATO - says my Council colleague, Scott. Is he right or is he right?

Barack Obama and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: which one is the world leader?


The Ynet article Obama wrote Khamenei secret letter about Islamic State raised more questions than it gives answers to. Take this, for instance:
The letter was the fourth known time Obama has written Iran’s most powerful leader, and according to the Journal, underscores Obama view that Iran is key to implementing the now-lame duck president's regional plan.
Why would Obama try to woo the chief Ayatollah in such a shameful fashion is a good question, you must agree.

But back to basics. This is the passage that left me speechless:
White House spokesman Josh Earnest responded to the report, and said that US policy towards Iran has not changed.

According to the report, which cited people briefed on the correspondence, the letter was sent secretly in the middle of last month, as US-led forces were already hitting Islamic State group targets in Iraq. Earnest said he could not comment on private correspondence between Obama and a world leader.
Specifically, the last few words: "correspondence between Obama and a world leader". Even more specifically: "between Obama and a world leader".

At first I thought that this formula is a result of some local Ynet finger-slip or mistranslation. But then, when I checked other sources, the same text appears there. For instance. Or for example.

Anyway, the big question looms. Was there a secret transfer of that title - I mean leader of the world - from the White House to Tehran? When did it happen and why wasn't there an official ceremony?

And why had the title gone to Tehran and not to the obvious candidate? Or, if not to him, then why not to Beijing?

Questions, questions...

Update: And if you believe this Fox News article about the letter mentioned above, "This [letter] f***s up everything". Being coy, Fox decided to leave us in the fog regarding the act that the letter performs: "furls", "freezes", "franks", "flicks"... etc. But one can be fairly sure, I would suggest, that nothing good will come out of that letter.

06 November 2014

Mahmoud Abbas, Hassan Nasrallah and Yisrael Katz


To start with, a strong appearance of the Palestinian "President":
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the Palestinian man who shot Temple Mount activist Yehudah Glick would go to heaven as a martyr.

“With anger, we have received the news of the vicious assassination crime committed by the terrorists of the Israeli occupation army against [your] son Mu’taz Ibrahim Khalil Hijazi, who will go to heaven as a martyr defending the rights of our people and its holy places,” Abbas wrote in a condolence letter sent Saturday to the shooter’s family.
So a person who does his best to kill an unarmed Jew, then himself killed in a shootout while resisting arrest by the police, is declared a martyr. And that by the leader of the people we are supposed to make peace with. That's a bit too complicated for me and I have to get my head around it yet...

Then comes our dear neighbor from the North, one Hassan Nasrallah, with some newly minted threats:


You should close all of your airports and your ports, because there is no place... on the land of occupied Palestine that the resistance’s rockets cannot reach.
Ouch... it hurts. I didn't even pay attention to that at first, being rather too focused on the image of dear leader, becoming paler and paler with each televised appearance. The man is really wasting down there in his bunker. Not to mention the peculiar effect the bunker has on his mental health. The tendency to repeat himself endlessly is worrying, I would say.

But all that comes to naught... like huge sea waves speeding toward a rock, only to break apart impotently upon its unyielding surface. Here is that rock:

And here is his response:
“In order to avoid any doubt on the matter, Nasrallah the cowardly braggart should know this: that option does not exist for us!,” Katz wrote on his official Facebook page (Hebrew).

“If such a scenario does materialize, we will raze Lebanon to the ground! We will return it to the Stone Age and bury [Nasrallah] under the rocks.”
First of all, there is no need to bury the Lebanese groundhog under any rocks, he is under the rocks already.

Secondly... nah, WTF, let it be... have a nice day instead, you all out there.

Weasel Of The Week!!



Every Tuesday, the Council nominates some of the slimiest, most despicable characters in public life for some deed of evil, cowardice or corruption they’ve performed. Then we vote to single out one particular Weasel for special mention, to whom we award the statuette of shame, our special, 100% plastic Golden Weasel.

This week's nominees were all real weasels, but in the end the winner by a nose was....the envelope please..

 http://i.huffpost.com/gen/2236544/thumbs/n-LENA-DUNHAM-MOLESTED-SISTER-large300.jpg
 Actress, Attention Whore and Hollywood Flavor-of-the-month Lena Dunham!

05 November 2014

10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Jew

Shocking, I tell you, it is simply shocking.



With thanks to a certain Assyrian king.

04 November 2014

Stephen England on ISIS/ISIL dispute and Obama's strategy

Stephen England, a Shadow Warriors thrillers author, who is said to possess a considerable cache of knowledge on the nature of Islam, the Middle East, espionage and counterterrorism operations, explains the nature of the acronyms used by different parties for this excrescence: The Secret Agenda Behind Obama’s Use of “ISIL”. . .Not So Fast.  Interesting read, warmly recommended.

To summarize - first of all:

In short, while ISIS and ISIL are functionally identical, “The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant” is the single most accurate pure English translation which can be used–and given the cluttering of search engine results for “ISIS” with everything from Egyptian goddesses to comic book characters–the most rational choice for the administration.
Then:
President Obama’s real message to ISIL is the one he’s broadcasting in the clear–the one that has already resulted in the beheading of two Americans.

It’s: “I have no strategy.”

Forum:Is There a Case For Impeaching President Obama?

Every week on Monday morning , the Council and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher’s Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living. This week’s question: Is There a Case For Impeaching President Obama?


03 November 2014

In defense of shitty art by Natali Cohen Vaxberg

Somebody in one of the high windows got his/her panties in a twist because an itty bitty self-defined "artist", named Natali Cohen Vaxberg, a necessary part of the Israeli bohemian circles, decided to document for posterity (no pun intended) her multiple bowel movements.


Shit instead of blood from Yael Alon on Vimeo.

Since the results of these BMs are delivered on various national flags, including the Israeli one, our police was steered in that direction.

Natali Cohen Vaxberg, an actress affiliated with the extreme left, will be investigated in the coming days on suspicion of desecrating Israel’s national symbols and state flag.

A spokeswoman for the Tel Aviv District of the Israel Police said that while Israel was deeply committed to upholding the right to free speech, Vaxberg’s contentious act deeply insulted the public and directly clashed with other values deemed highly important to the Israeli people, the Haaretz daily reported.
Yeah... "deeply committed" and "deeply insulted". That's deep indeed.

First of all I would like to point out a technical issue with our valiant best and finest's involvement: since the above mentioned excrement was placed on quite a lot of different flags, doesn't the investigation, incarceration and future punishment of the defecator(s) fall under jurisdiction of an international body, like Interpol and, eventually, UN?

The next question will be whether the investigating officers succeeded to lay their hands of sufficient quantities of proop proof, I mean?

And the last question: don't our judiciary and our cops have anything better to do than pursue a minuscule pimple on the bottom of Israeli art scene for purposes unknown and for motives too stupid to even consider seriously? That, to remind you, while events of much higher impact, including our government being pooped upon (deservedly or not is another matter) by defecators much more important that one Natali Cohen Vaxberg?

WTF, in short?

Hat Tip: Petra Marquardt-Bigman.

Update1:  apparently, Ms Vaxberg is not alone in her quest to become rich and famous via her anal deposits. Here is her British doppelganger, one Connor Adams aka Mr OiOi:
What was your slight twist?

I shit in a blender.

Hm?

I pooed in the blender. I think everyone was doing them with like vile stuff - like loads of different alcohol, people were getting injured because of it - so I did one, saying, "It's not just about alcohol." It was about all the nasty shit you find in your fridge and your freezer. So I started putting olives, eggs, mustard, stuff like that, then I obviously added the key ingredient. Which was human faeces, out my arse.

So shitting in a blender really sort of made your career?

It did. I shared the video and then the next morning I'd been shared all over the country, like 533,000 times in the space of 24 hours. Obviously the next day, the next 24 hours I had nigh on 100,000 followers alone just on Facebook. So I set up a Twitter account and that exploded; I had like 14,000 followers within 24 hours.
Whatever it takes, Natali, whatever it takes...

01 November 2014

Russell Brand and Miriam Margolyes: Don’t fall for the false charms of those two pantomime preachers

You don’t have to order people to decapitate their enemies. Just rub the itch of their youthful alienation, enrage them with an egregious sense of wrong, remove those filters of uncertainty that should make for hesitancy and reflection, fill their minds with the pap of propaganda, phantom grievance and prompt remedy, and no one’s head is safe.
Howard Jacobson, like no one else.

Margot Wallström - Avigdor Lieberman Ikea game - 1:2

The current result (1:2) in favor of Israeli Foreign ministry consists of the following main moves:

1. Lieberman:

Israel’s foreign minister slapped down Sweden’s decision to recognize the state of Palestine Thursday, saying the Middle East was “more complicated than self-assembly furniture at IKEA.”

2. Wallström:

“I think it’s a sign of a sense of humor, and I will be happy to send him a flat pack of IKEA furniture and he will also see that what you need to put that together is, first of all, a partner,” Wallstrom said in response.
3. The goal that broke the draw (so far) was scored by the general manager of Israeli Foreign Ministry, one Emmanuel Nachshon (Hebrew source):
It is nice [of her?] to send a set of Ikea furniture, but when it comes with a manual in unknown language and some screws are missing - it doesn't help.
Waiting for the next move.

P.S. So far it is a government employee and not a politico who displayed a real sense of humor.

In a loosely related news: Swedish Navy in its search for the mysterious Russian Submarine:

The Council Has Spoken!

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