21 Comments
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Ann Lia Rubio's avatar

It is a shame that Warren walked back that comment which is the only sane sensible response to the situation. It is a crisis and people can only be pushed but so far.

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Ken Klippenstein's avatar

yeah, insane.

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Mark Holden's avatar

We might question how sensible Sen. Warren’s comment was. Blow back and spin were inevitable. Regardless of its sanity or sensibility, it was truthful. But when last did anyone really want the truth, particularly the uber wealthy and their “lobbyists” the politicians?

We live in silos, be they political, economic, religious or racial. It limits our ability to have empathy or connection, understanding of those outside our silo(s). Again I think that’s particularly true of the wealthy class. How can they understand homelessness or medical poverty when they an army of staff twisting tax laws so they don’t pay an extra $100k or $1m on the recent $100m they earned typical at the gen-pops expense?

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Ann Lia Rubio's avatar

Very fair point - but it was a great starting point for any politician who truly empathizes with their constituency to impresses upon the CEO class that this is valid anger and it is across the board. Their business decisions have real world consequences- not just for the random CEO that caught an assassin's attention - but for 95% percent of us. And these people are so unanimously angry that they made light of a death publicly.

NOT acknowledging that or standing by that acknowledgment just reinforces the bleak reality that almost all politicians crave corporate approval over constituent's approval. Even the "good" ones. Where does that leave us? :(

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Michael A's avatar

And in the absence of any other way to get their feelings across, Americans voted in someone who promises them he’ll turn Washington upside down. Which he never does anything but line his pockets, but to them its better than more of the same.

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Ken Klippenstein's avatar

exactly.

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Clif Brown's avatar

Again I think of a parallel to the "murder is wrong" refuge. It is the constant cry that "Israel has the right to defend itself" which ignores the fact that that country has been the aggressor since it began in 1948. Over the history of Israel, increased in particular in the last year, the ratio of Israeli (colonist) dead to Palestinian (native) dead is 1:50. How is that defense? .

What this phony defense claim hides is what no other country in the world enjoys...

Israel has the right to disregard any international law

Israel has the right to unlimited occupation

Israel has the right to any weapons in the US inventory

Israel has the right to take as much land as it wishes any time it wishes

Israel has the right to attack any neighboring country at will

Israel has the right to install members of Congress without it being called foreign interference

Israel has the right of slaughter and demolition without limit

Israel has the right to starve the Palestinians and prevent aid to them

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Laura H's avatar

At some point, the entire shebang will come to a crashing halt. It's already on its way. Having a for profit healthcare system is not working out and unsustainable.

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tecolote42's avatar

Where's Madame Defarge when you need her?

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

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Washingtonsq's avatar

Please look at the photo of LM's perpetrator walk uncropped so the indicted mayor includes himself. Remember when mayors of NYC were busy?

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Susan Becraft's avatar

Since 10/7/23, I view everything through a different lens. Many of the same people who decry the murder of Brian Thompson are silent as the U.S. continues to be complicit in the genocide. And while Elizabeth Warren’s statement was appropriate, she took the coward’s way out and walked it back. Wouldn’t it be amazing to find more than a couple politicians who have the courage of their convictions?

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Luke Diaz's avatar

Good pull on the Brother Ali quote, he's seriously underrated.

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Ken Klippenstein's avatar

such a gem

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Franny Jean's avatar

”Maybe next they could teach us how to play patty cake and speak with inside voices!”

You’ve captured the perfect illustration of the condescension coming from our dear leaders. I’ve told my husband countless times that I’m tired of being spoken to like I’m a preschooler. (I should know how that sounds, as I’ve worked as a preschool teacher.) I could respect them more if they would be upfront with their contempt for us.

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Clayton Eskew's avatar

Power will circle the wagons if they sense the herd are getting nervous. The first six months of this next administration will go a long way towards deciding whether there is a full on stampede.

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Laura Larrecou's avatar

We can call Warren and let her know she was right, people are pissed. Anger and hopelessness over the lack of accountability and unfairness clearly can result in violence. These BS "Buying Silence" Billionaires and Corp CEOs are right to be afraid of what they've created.

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Scott's avatar

I have been trying to process this juxtaposition all day while taking advantage of the fact that I live in a rec use state.

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Dr. Brian A. Schwartz's avatar

Keep up the great work, Ken. You seem to have fully recovered from Democratic Partyitis.

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Justin's avatar

Coincidence? I think not!

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Marian Gillis's avatar

Warren’s comment still stands. The walk back is the voice of the opposition.

Keep focusing on what Warren said.

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Joe's avatar

"Yet the confusion in elite quarters over what these people could possibly be so angry about persists"

See the Washington Post article today on Biden's legacy that presents his issues as being related to an inability to communicate his vision due to taking too long of a view ("“The president has been operating on a time horizon measured in decades, while the political cycle is measured in four years,” Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, said in an interview.") and struggling with 21 century media landscape.

No mention of what actually caused his popularity decline, namely governing failures (i.e. policy) starting with the withdrawal from Afghanistan and then the failure of border control and inflation.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/12/28/bidens-lonely-battle-to-sell-american-democracy/

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