Open Thread

it really is going to be hard to overcome what trump has done, tens of millions of americans have become radicalized by bill clintons policies, and the refusal of the democrat party when they get into power, of admitting what he did, and trying to reverse what he did. instead they double down on what he did, and tell the ridiculous myth of bill clintons wonderful golden age.

sherrod brown found out the hard way. in 2024, ohioans still blame bill clintons policies, for all of the grinding poverty he unleashed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsow_i13WpI
Ross Perot Warned America 33 Years AgoFor most of the twentieth century, if you were born in an American factory town, the plant was the whole deal. You walked in the gate out of high school and walked out forty years later with a pension. In the early 1990s, roughly seventeen and a half million Americans still went to work every day making things — steel in Pennsylvania, cars across the Midwest, furniture in the Carolinas. 

At its peak, American manufacturing was the largest and most productive the world had ever seen, the backbone of the middle class. Then one man stood on a debate stage in Richmond, Virginia, in October of 1992, and told the country exactly what was about to happen to all of it. 

He said if America signed a trade deal called NAFTA, there would be a giant sucking sound of jobs leaving the country and heading south to Mexico. Nearly twenty million people voted for him — the strongest showing by an independent in eighty years. 
And almost everyone with a podium laughed.

But fast forward thirty-three years, and the towns he named have gone quiet, one factory at a time, the trade surplus with Mexico has flipped into a deficit running near two hundred billion dollars a year, and a national debt he warned about has crossed thirty-eight trillion. Now, there is a simple story here — the eccentric billionaire who was right all along. But the truth is more complicated, and in some ways more damning. He named the wrong villain and the right disease. 

Either way, what he said in a single sentence would outlive his campaign, his reputation, and the man himself.Disclaimer: This video is a researched history documentary. The script and story are based on real events and verified sources to the best of our ability. 

Some visuals are AI generated and used only as illustrative context when authentic archival photos are limited, they are not presented as real photographs of the exact people or locations unless stated. Any archival images or footage shown belong to their respective owners and are used in a transformative way for commentary, education, criticism, and historical analysis under Fair Use.

comments,

“My father in law and brother in law worked for Dynacorp in 2002. Their jobs went to Mexico. Over a decade later we are still feeling the effects of NAFTA.”

“I remember Perot. My first job out of the army was with a major cereal/food company in 2001. My first task working for them was disassembling a production line to have it shipped to China. A few years later, after I left, they shut down the entire plant which had been in that town since 1947.”

“NAFTA wiped out the HooverCo in N Canton, OH ! Along with 3,600.00 jobs!”

Here is a video I have watched a little bit of in the few minutes I have before clocking in to work, and the bit I saw is good enough that I will risk stating that the whole video promises to be good. The narrator looks and sounds like a real person and not an AI avatar.

It is called:
“Gen X Isn’t Tired. We’re Done. It’s Different.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS6M93DE0NA

Talky liberal-head video about huge amounts of AI slop and also some man-made content flooding various internet venues designed to rage-bait Christian and Muslim viewers into believing a religious war is on the way, is a good thing, and that they will have to be interested in it because it is very interested in them.

He begins by describing an on-line Jake Lang flier about the coming Crusade In Dearborn and him inviting all good Crusaderistians to come and take part.

I have spoken of a difference between KlanMAGAs and MAGAnons. MAGAnons worship their holy God Emperor Trump. That will continue even after Trump is dead.
KlanMAGAs were merely opportunistic Trump-users hoping to get back their White Christian Power Supremacy social order. I would call them ” Erdogan MAGAs”.
To paraphrase Erdogan .. . ” I see that MAGA is like a bus. I get on it and ride it till where it gets me to where I want to go. Then I get off”.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, Tucker Carlson, etc. are working on the next White Supremacist Christanazian Militant group for the KlanMAGAs to work through. They have ridden the Trump bus as far as they can, and now they are getting off.

White Nationalists ERUPT In Alarming Michigan Attacks As Posts Spiral Out Of Control
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1d16S0XT9jY

Okay, I saw this political cartoon from a Mexican paper La Jornada, shared in the June Harper’s. “Ahorcada en Ormuz” means “Hanged in Hormuz.” Enjoy. The Caricaturist’s handle is “El Fisgon”, accent on the final. Means a Joker, essentially.

The Mexicans have no love for Uncle Schmuely Last time till recently I spent lots of time in Mexico was c. 08. La Jornada among the top 3 or 4 national mags, what Time magazine useta be.

https://www.jornada.com.mx/noticia/2026/03/14/cartones/ahorcado-en-ormuz

And here, from the BeAmazed subreddit, video footage of a peregrine falcon trying and failing to kill a fox on the beach. I had no idea that a peregrine falcon would ever attempt to kill a fox on the ground, or even at all anywhere.

The fox said “not today”
https://www.reddit.com/r/BeAmazed/comments/1vvjusm/the_fox_said_not_today/

And here is a Canadian Premiere ( I don’t know of which Province), commenting on Trump, Trade, and etc.

Canadian Premiere On Trade Negotiations With Trump: “You can’t get a good deal with a bad person.”
https://www.reddit.com/r/PoursTea/comments/1vvh7y4/canadian_premiere_on_trade_negotiations_with/

( I hope I have not exceeded an informal limit on a permitted number of comments in a row).

Here is a reasonably long interview with Premier Kanew of Manitoba about the current state of Trade Negotiations between Canada and the US. I hope this can somehow be fed into Trump’s personal TV diet to destabilize his brain further and maybe make him die sooner from a rage-stroke.

Canadian Premier Humiliates Trump With Back-to-Back Insults, Calls Him Every Name in the Book
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oFSTzwFT2I

The notion that the “free market economy” produces the right, efficient result, but efficiency isn’t everything and government should redistribute through taxes and other policies, after the fact of “market” outcomes, as it were — this notion has to be the most successful neoliberal brainworm ever.

As a model of neurolinguistic programming, it stands out. Perfectly designed to herd sheep, to mix metaphors. Taxes are the designated enemy of “ideal competitive market” outcomes. Score 1! The bleeding heart liberals, concerned for the welfare of the “market” losers, are herded into the carefully prepared pen of approved socially conscious remedies, adjusting the “efficient” result to “compensate” with taxes. Taxes, again, are opposed to “efficient market outcomes” and “losers” are compensated because some humans care! Score 2!

The biggest problem human beings have as a species is that we do not control our thinking, individually or especially collectively.

Neoliberalism — an ideology — is an example of collective thinking, which successfully breached whatever barriers might have been erected by critical thinking and tradition, to devastate civilization. Here we are, over half a century into this madness, and people of good will struggle to dig themselves out with position papers and YouTube videos. Unsuccessfully, I might add.

Have fun throwing over-priced eggs at Christianazis at their rally or yours, though.

mago:

“On the same track, another inversion is the oppressed would gladly be the oppressors given the opportunity.”

this is correct. its why economic rights must be secure, before any social rights are to be secure.

the south was well on its way into begrudging accepting civil rights, then along came bill clinton, remember he was touted as the first black president, what a hoot, some people believed that slop, and still might today.

he destroyed economic rights, set us against each other, and civil rights have collapsed.

he radicalized the country.

I recently saw a video clip of comedian Jon Stewart expressing his anger toward Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie. I wish I could find a link, because I cannot adequately paraphrase his remarks. He was mad at them for supporting Trump and MAGA but at the same time mad at them for getting off the Trump train more recently. Really, all three were thrown off the Trump train, but Jon was not accepting of that reality. They were still the enemy and still part of the Trump coalition.

Speaking personally, all three appear to me addled at times, but that’s human nature fer ya across the political spectrum. It doesn’t keep me from admiring their willingness to take a stand on a principle and pay in a sacrifice of power.

A libertarian nutcase like Massie has altogether too many principles — too many and too simple, imho. But, a democratic republic needs shared consent to at least some principles and I do not quite see why, if you oppose the direction the Trump train has taken on war, say, or Epstein, you would not welcome alignment with people thrown off the Trump train for loyalty to principle instead of the principal.

An interesting factoid. I’m subscribed to Academia, which gives me updates on people citing work done published with my name as an author or a contributor.

Top countries:

China (47)
Brazil (23)
South Africa (14)

Top universities:

Tsinghua (47)
Beijing (28)
Fudan (12)

Thinking about how I was ‘encouraged’ to retire (like so many other old-timers at my company, ,many with greater accomplishments than mine) it’s interesting to find out who thinks my work was valuable. Nothing screams more of the results of financial bozos running US companies than this.

Spud

As I said, I saw the good effects of Clinton’s FMLA personally. It may not have been good enough, but it was definitely an improvement.

Nixon started the US decline. All the metrics of US performance peak during his early term and decline afterwards. There’s no dispute on the data.

I think you absolve the people who started this trend (Nixon, Reagan) just because you have this irrational hatred of Clinton. I don’t like Clinton either, but to me, Obama was worse if we’re talking Ds. Obama had a real chance to do good, with movement conservatism discredited in 2008, but he actively sought to re-establish it. He could have raised taxes on rich people BY DOING NOTHING, but ‘doing nothing’ was somehow too hard for him.

The guy on the video is Canadian, from Sooke (southern tip of Vancouver Island).

More consequentially, word from the PM is that a significant chunk of the reason that the talks fell apart was because the US side wanted last-minute language that would unduly limit our ability to enter into trade agreements with third parties. Bluntly, if this proves to be the case, the US administration can eat shit and die choking.

From a political strategy standpoint, if this assertion turns out to be made up / exaggerated (there’s some reason to suspect this as this type of language has shown up in a number of the other tariff agreements, which makes me very suspicious of the notion that this was a complete surprise), then Carney’s approval ratings are going to suffer a rapid deflation.

StewartM;

clinton was good to a few is accepting Neo-liberalism, because that is what Neo-liberalism is.

Going Rogue:

Not just for planets:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIq_Ano5654

But even, black holes!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ff-Dl-ZlYw

Bruce Wilder mentions NLP, or neuro linguistic programming. Thought that bit of sophistry bit it in the 80’s when it was most popular.

I studied it. There’s truth to parts of it, but it’s a blend of woo woo, weird science, pop psychology, and wishful thinking. It’s been a while. I had the books, but balked at the seminars. Then I got over it.

The names of the two movement founders elude me, but one of them killed his wife, if the underground news reports of the time are believable.

And reaching back to the 70’s, what about Werner Erhart (sp?) and his EST movement?
Talk about a crock of shitola. That dude was an influencer decades before the term was born.

I was a rosy cheeked guy when I saw one of his presentations live in Boston, and his delivery and message confirmed my youthful cynicism. (Been trying to drop that tendency for some time, but old habits die hard).

And so, the lesson is, watch what you say, watch who know, watch what you do, don’t trust anybody or anything and keep your nose clean while being a friend to all, high or low.

Yeah, I know. I’m full of shit, but at least my bowel movements are regular.

Here’s a video about a network of walkable trails covering America and seemingly so obvious that it should be common knowledge. But I had never thought about it until seeing this video. It’s the maintained access-vehicle strips under and/or along every high-powered electric transmission line all over the country. Could this be a survival-assistive infrastructure in the event of strange events?

The 3 Things Power Line Trails Give You That No Road Can
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VaSokYPzrM

And does the same thing exist in Canada? It seems to me like it would just absolutely have to.

And when such lines cross national borders, are there fences, walls, border guards? Such as where the humongo-ginormous mega-power lines from Hydro Quebec cross into New York State?

StewartM:

i have repeatedly said carter and reagan were constrained by congress. but not bill clinton. he was the man the rich were seeking for decades, and he did the most damage to us.

we live under bill clintons austerity, deregulation, and free trade. hows that werkin fer ya!

its amazing that even one person supports that fascist.
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Bill Clinton’s policies, particularly the passage of NAFTA and welfare reform, significantly undermined organized labor and contributed to the decline of unions in the United States. His administration’s neoliberal agenda favored corporate interests over workers’ rights, leading to a loss of support from the labor movement.
Lumen Learning Jacobin

Impact of Bill Clinton’s Policies on Unions
Key Policies

NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement):
Ratified in 1993, this agreement eliminated tariffs between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
It facilitated offshoring of jobs, particularly in manufacturing, which weakened union strength.

Welfare Reform:
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 aimed to reduce welfare dependency.
Critics argue it undermined the social safety net for working-class families, further eroding support for unions.

Consequences for Organized Labor
Aspect Description
Decline in Union Membership The combination of NAFTA and welfare reform contributed to a significant drop in union membership across various sectors.
Shift in Political Support Many working-class voters felt alienated from the Democratic Party due to these policies, leading to a loss of traditional support for labor unions.

Corporate Favoritism Clinton’s neoliberal agenda prioritized corporate interests, often at the expense of workers’ rights and protections.

Bill Clinton’s administration implemented policies that favored corporate interests and contributed to the decline of organized labor in the United States. The passage of NAFTA and welfare reform are seen as pivotal moments that weakened unions and diminished their influence in the political landscape.
Lumen Learning Jacobin

—————-

just keep on believing,

after 8 years of bill clinton, america had very little to show for it besides NAFTA, bank deregulation, and a prison-building spree.

It Takes a Village, for example, this favorite rationale of the day—think of the children!—was deployed to explain her husband’s draconian crime bill as well as more directly child-related causes such as charter schools

extreme poverty has increased dramatically in this country since Bill Clinton signed welfare reform in 1996.

thomas frank exposes the real clintons, who are responsible for of all the abandoned factories and postindustrial desolation in america

Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.”
Martin Luther King Jr.

https://harpers.org/2016/02/nor-a-lender-be/
—————–

the carnage to america, its not reversible,

https://jacobin.com/2023/01/public-housing-us-history-destruction-neoliberalism-hope-iv
In order to put social housing back on the agenda in American politics, we first have to understand how public housing was destroyed — especially by Bill Clinton’s Hope VI program.

https://jacobin.com/2016/09/stone-mountain-kkk-white-supremacy-simmons

Bill Clinton’s Stone Mountain Moment

https://jacobin.com/2022/07/new-democrats-social-welfare-programs-dlc-left-behind

Historian Lily Geismer’s new book Left Behind: The Democrats’ Failed Attempt to Solve Inequality is a comprehensive and critical look at the development of the Democratic Party, from the Watergate Babies to the neoliberal turn under Bill Clinton and beyond. In Geismer’s account, the Democratic Party has not simply been playing defense for half a century; instead, Democrats actively undermined New Deal–era social programs as they sought to marketize public goods for maximum efficiency.

…

its just to big to hide.