Yet another critical discussion that really should be on national TV IMO.
But on a side note, while I am much more on Cenk’s side over the issue, I also have serious concerns about his health when he gets riled up by this. As for Ben, I can totally empathise with his desire to defend his people and I have no doubt he truly believes that is what he is doing. But IMO his view is evidence of a biased Israeli groupthink which can only perpetuate the actions of their current government.
I am reminded of what happened in Northern Ireland (different situations I know, but still many similarities) in that Netanyahu’s red line of “all Hamas must be destroyed” is along the same lines as the Unionists’ one of “decommissioning” which stated that there could be no peace until the IRA had given up all their weapons. Neither is a definable position. When would we know the IRA had given up all their guns? When would we know all Hamas members were taken off the board? They are both policies that can only prolong a conflict. BUT – eventually the Unionists did relent after a lot of diplomacy from all sides, so we can only hope that eventually something similar can happen in the Middle East.
Back when I was posting more regularly I shared exchanges between myself and someone known as “PD” in the comments section of my Facebook page. Well he’s back, or rather he never left in fact he has gone on to be quite prominent on social media and actually describes himself as a “citizen journalist” so I’m sure he won’t mind if I share what happened after he chose to respond to my reply to a tweet of his via DMs.
I know I deserved the response and I also know that getting into exchanges like this hurts the progressive movement to an extent because it presents a “both sides” element for unaware onlookers, but in this case I was triggered by his “and who is this foreign gentlemen with you?” comment in the video and, well, sometimes you just can’t help reacting, we’re only human after all, even if some don’t believe it of everyone.
Genuinely sad to see how far down the dark side you have fallen Philip.
PD : Any time you want to have an adult discussion Jeff give me a buzz. I think you might be the one who has fallen for all the lies and deceit… genuinely. If and when you refuse to have an adult discussion it will tell me all I need to know. So the offer is there. Surprise me.. take care.
JLP : I have had plenty of “adult discussions” with others who feel like you do and it is a complete waste of time – you may frame that as “telling you all you need to know” but I frame it as preferring to focus on issues that really matter to the country. We might as well agree that we will always disagree on that. But anyway if you genuinely believe in what you’re doing I suppose all I can say is I hope it makes you happy. Pretty sure you won’t be able to resist responding but if so, take care mate.
PD : Exactly the answer I expected Jeff. You won’t engage because your arguments are based on nothingness. Plain and simple.. just lookin at your X timeline I’d nearly describe you as a left wing cultural Marxist. Climate change ffs.. are you that naive Jeff? Cenk Yuger? Holy crap.. you’re a fan of his? It saddens me to see grown men I once knew become so weak, scattered and crushed and can’tdiscern truth from lies.. I hope some day you find your way back from the dark side Jeff.. like I said I’m available for the adult discussion anytime. If you believe strongly in your values don’t be afraid to speak up for them. And if you believe in God Jeff… maybe say an oul prayer every now and again… I find it very helpful..I’ll say one for you this morning. Take care
JLP : I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist! And here you are with a reply of insults and misrepresentations of my beliefs expecting me to fall down another rabbit hole with you. To be fair, I expected this when I posted my tweet so I was ready for it and had this reply pretty much ready to go.
Philip, basically nothing at all has changed since you first appeared in my Facebook comments. We were at an impasse from the start.
You have your opinion on Trump, foreigners etc, I have mine. You believe I have been accepting lies all this time, I believe the same of you.
I have seen your “citizen journalism” work as well as your NP candidacy and this morning I finally decided to make a public comment which I still stand by – in my opinion you have fallen to the metaphorical dark side and for me that is genuinely sad. I appreciate this won’t change your view but I still feel the same. We really might as well leave it at that.
I will say one more thing though…I would hope one day to have the time and resources to do political podcasting of my own so when that happens, I hope you will be willing to engage in a proper public discussion where we can each lay out our views.
Take care man.
PD : I would definitely be happy to go on a podcast as you are welcome to do a livestream discussion on my platform. On the insult part…can you show me where I insulted you. I expressed my opinion judging by what I have seen on your Twitter X account that your arguments and posts are based on nothingness.. that’s just my opinion.. not meant to be an insult.. get a helmet Jeff… ⛑️.. anytime for that private or public discussion give me a shout.. take care.. 🇮🇪
JLP : I’ll be in touch when I’m set up. Take care. 🌎
My thoughts on the Irish Left in general and a march/rally in Dublin on Saturday in particular.
Learn more about the Cost of Living Coalition here > https://www.facebook.com/COLCIreland
He clearly believes, like most uber rich probably do, that the world revolves around him. The entire human race is represented by three stick figures on each line and he is one of them.
More importantly for this web page, these varying depictions of the “left/right” nature of political thought are completely different each time, which to me proves that it is completely arbitrary. If Elon is proclaiming that they have these definitions for these particular years, why can’t we attribute our own?
Which leads me conveniently back to the most important point I want to get across in this blog, and you will see me repeat it in several posts. If you come across FPP and don’t leave it at least knowing that I firmly believe this, then I will have failed.
In my humble opinion, no matter what year it is, the true centre of a line representing political ideology is one that contains people who want a democratically elected government to provide equal opportunities for all of its citizens. As you go to the right, you have people who are supporting increasing amounts of inequality. As you move to the left, you have people who are more interested in fighting/punishing those on the right than actually working to establish/maintain that equality. Any other depiction of what is defined by “left” and “right” is an attempt to distort, usually from the “right” because they represent a minority of people but currently have a lot of power which they use to influence the masses.
THIS is what I’d like to talk about when it comes to Elon Musk, not whether or not he wants to add an edit button,. JLP
My thoughts on the Irish Left in general and a march/rally in Dublin on Saturday in particular.
Learn more about the Cost of Living Coalition here > https://www.facebook.com/COLCIreland
PS : It seems The Young Turks agree in this video and of course they put their own spin on it which is worth a listen. But sure what do we know, we’re just “woke progressives” right????
Remember – if the shooter was ‘American. White. Meat-Eating. Christian.’ then the headline would read something like this : ‘YouTube shooting highlights the need to focus on mental health issues’. JLP
Whether it’s through stupidity, unwillingness or incompetence, the Democrat leadership cannot get across the simple message that Donald Trump’s agenda of racism, misogyny and pro-corporatism is bad for the American people, and the mainstream media isn’t much better.
YouTube clip by Dan Rather on The Young Turks on January 22, 2018
“…if most of the media ignore the year-long slow-motion shut down and if Democrats don’t raise enough stink about it, maybe it’s because too many of us have signalled that we’re on board”
Shortcomings with relief efforts in Puerto Rico. Throwing millions off their medical insurance by hacking away at Obamacare. Going after Medicare and Social Security. Gutting the staff at the State Department. Rescinding regulations for the sake of it.
Those are just some of the actions Donald Trump has taken since being sworn in just over a year ago, yet in recent days he has been able to frame the word ‘shutdown’ as meaning something that is only harmful to the US military, which already receives more funding than any other nation by a long, long way.
At first I was annoyed at myself for not realising that what the President has done since taking office is effectively a massive shutdown in itself, but I’m not involved with politics and government on a daily basis – the point is so simple and obvious that we have to wonder why his primary opposition, namely the Democrats and, as he calls them, ‘The Fake News Media’, haven’t been highlighting it all weekend?
Thankfully we have people like the legendary Dan Rather to get the message out there. And as he points out, it’s possible that the general public is also complicit to an extent.
As I recently pointed out here on FPP, the likes of Chuck Schumer with his ‘bowl of Jello’ and Nancy Pelosi with her ‘poop Sundae’ simply don’t have the charisma necessary to deliver the kind of soundbites needed to combat Trump’s twitter tirades. Meanwhile we have Dick Durbin gleefully using the word ‘bipartisanship’ as if it also necessarily means ‘fairness for the American people’.
Besides…if anything should have clinched the message battle for the Democrats re the latest shutdown it should have been that absolutely disgusting ad which suggested they would be responsible for any future murders by illegal immigrants. That was nothing short of Hitler-esque propaganda [script most likely written by Stephen Miller] which speaks volumes for the intelligence levels of the demographic at which it was aimed.
The party badly needs new leadership. Whether or not Mitch McConnell keeps to his word on DACA by February 8, the Democrats have left themselves wide open for negative press between now and then for having caved far too easily over the spending bill.
And there I was, very close to writing a post here praising them for finally showing a bit of fight. Why do I allow myself to get so deluded? JLP
#IANWAE
PS – As I’m about to publish, Trump has tweeted this :
Even Crazy Jim Acosta of Fake News CNN agrees: “Trump World and WH sources dancing in end zone: Trump wins again…Schumer and Dems caved…gambled and lost.” Thank you for your honesty Jim!
At the time of posting, the US government is within hours of shutting down because the two main parties are engaged in a blaming war with each other, and one that the Republicans are being allowed to win.
“If this government shuts down it’s not because of the Dreamers, it is because of what Donald Trump and Tom Cotton and Stephen Miller want to demand in exchange for doing something that they have promised that they would do, which is protect the Dreamers.”
It was a good line; all Nancy Pelosi had to do was deliver it.
The Minority Leader of the US House of Representatives was trying to describe the Republican offer to put off the government shutdown for another month in a deal which had absolutely nothing in it to protect those on the DACA programme who are currently living in fear of deportation.
The line was something like ‘They offered us a bowl of poop with a cherry on top and tried to tell us it was a chocolate Sundae’. She hesitated drastically just before saying the word ‘poop’ – she clearly didn’t want to say it. But she did anyway, and she made what could have been a great soundbite into an even bigger poop Sundae.
I have absolutely no doubt that she was talked into using those words by her staff, and that her hesitation came from a reluctance to resort to that kind of talk.
Well I’m sorry Nancy but if you’re not prepared to get into the fight, maybe it’s time you stood aside and let in someone who is.
And while I do believe that the likes of Pelosi and Schumer and Feinstein are too old for what’s required to take on this particular White House and Republican congress, I don’t necessarily mean ‘old’ in the sense of a numerical age. There are people close to my age who have a similar mindset.
But if issues like the Dreamers and the CHIP programme are being held hostage by the Republicans and the government gets shut down because of it, it’s up to the Democrats to fight tooth and nail to get their side of the story into the public domain, and it really shouldn’t be that difficult. Look how easily the lads from Pod Save America [former staffers for Barack Obama] make it sound.
The Democrats, and indeed everyone living in the real world outside Utrumpia, badly need spokespeople who can properly deliver this simple message. And it shouldn’t take TV personalities like Donald Trump and Oprah Winfrey to do it either. JLP
The Republicans and Democrats need to agree on a budget before Friday otherwise the government will ‘shut down’, ie there will be no money to pay federal employees. As the Senate must have at least 60 votes to pass a spending bill, even though the Democrats are in a minority their cotes are needed and thus they have some leverage and they are hoping to use this to finally secure a deal for the so-called ‘Dreamers’ or children of illegal immigrants who have proven themselves to be productive members of American society.
YouTube clip by The Young Turks on January 15, 2018
“…you’re weak, you’re losers, you’re pathetic. How do you expect us to get excited, to show up to the polls, for these loser Democrats who can’t figure out a way to fight against fucking Trump???”
The reason we are outraged by Trump’s recent ‘shithole’ remark [not even going to bother with the word ‘alleged’…we all know he said it] is not because such words that shouldn’t ever be used in politics…in his case, it was all about the fact that he was referring to entire nations of people.
Of course there are times when the use of ‘salty’ language is absolutely necessary, and in this clip of the Young Turks, host Cenk Ungur rightly calls out the corporate Democrats for their meagre attempts to use their leverage in the government spending bill to secure proper legislation for the Dreamers.
It’s not often that Ungur gets this animated – though to be clear, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing because if he went on a tirade for every clip he’d be no better than Alex Jones. This is definitely the kind of time-sensitive issue where a verbal kick up the backside is exactly what it required. Whether it will do any good remains to be seen – I’m not so sure Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi know how to use YouTube, let alone subscribe to the Young Turks.
First Person Plural 