Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Not one of mine, of course. The author is Emma Lazarus, and the last 5 lines (well, apart from three words) are the inscription at the base of the statue of liberty.
Mother of Exiles.
Exceptional America takes pride in being a melting pot, the “Mother of Exiles”, except when it does not, which seems to be most of the time.
Exceptional America takes pride in having no religious test of citizenship, except when it wants you to know it is a Christian nation, which seems to be most of the time.
Exceptional America is the land of the free and the home of the brave, except recently, or maybe ever.
I grow weary, people. It’s everywhere. [ok, several examples redacted. I mean, really, several examples. Depressing examples. I just don’t want that.]
Your mission, should you choose to accept it: convince me that these recent events will not somehow lead to a Republican president. (I am not actually opposed to a president from that party; I am only opposed to every member of that party I am currently aware of becoming president.) [several potential restrictions on commenting redacted. This is my house; I don’t need any excuse.]
In Alberta, we just elected a Lefty government.
In Canada, we just punted whateverthefuck Harper was in favor of a Lefter government.
Pigs are flying.
Yeah, Chigau, but that was before a handful of assholes shook up the global conversation.
Actually, seriously, what do you think the election results might have been had this clusterfuck happened a day before polling?
(sorry–I don’t mean to diss your comment. I like flying pigs.)
I firmly believe that Americans will see this pathetic fear-mongering for what it is, and reject it at the polls.
Fuck me, I’m drunk again, aren’t I?
It’s important to keep in mind that a lot can happen between now and November 2016.
Here’s what the editors at electoral-vote.com said about the Paris attacks and their impact on the election:
Source — http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2015/Pres/Maps/Nov17.html#item-2
No worries, Cuttlefish.
The electorate seems to be getting more paranoid and stupid as time goes on. They also are apparently unable to distinguish between strong talk and bullshit. Trump seems to need to keep upping the ante to impress the most radical of the Republican base, so I think we should begin a pool on when he first proposes the use of nuclear weapons. My pick would be two months from now.
Because the American electorate will remember that it was a Republican president who created the conditions for ISIL!
1. As Stephen Caldwell #4 rightly points out, things that seem to dominate the news cycle, especially this early in the process, have no effect on the final election. Not only that, but studies show that the more educated (who are also the most put off by the current GOP crop) are more likely to vote, economic well-being is extremely good indicator and with unemployment at 5% and USA slowly recovering from the Great Recession things look good for the Dems.
2. Nobody like a moron, and these GOPpers are the stupidest bunch in a very long time. Just compare W to JEB to see the difference between an ignorant but cunning man and a simple ignoramus. The front runners are even worse, with The Donald being the candidate with the least general appeal and Carson hampered by being black in the wrong party (not to mention that he is also incapable of keeping his delusions secret) .
Don’t worry Cuttlefish, Hillary will get the office. The House will stay Republican, though.
Paris (this time) is not the problem.
I worry that the ISIS/Daesh planners, observing the present short-term effects and eager to assist a strategy-idiot into office, have plans for an October surprise.
Pierce R. Butler:
You know, I’m probably the most cynical person I personally know — and I know some cynical people. Sometimes I even worry I’m too cynical, morbid, and predisposed towards worst-case scenarios.
Then I run into your comment at #9, and say: Damn. I’ve got work to do!
Also, YOU must be the person responsible for killing all the unicorns. YOU MONSTER!
Er.. which three words are missing from the inscription please? Could be missing something but I love that poem and it reads complete and unadded to, here.
Bittersweet perhaps but recent events now will be probably be long forgotten by the time the US election is finally held. (Yegods! I thought our Aussie campaigns went on for ages!) Hopefully by then the campaigns of Trump, Carson and Cruz among other worst nightmares for POTUS choice will have long since faded into memory and being footnotes to whoever actually becomes the R-nom (Jeb! / Christie? / Graham?) and things will be different politically, economically and socially. Time and change.
Perhaps by then, even Da’esh will be gone or at least much degraded and suffered enough blows to reduce its threat. Yeah, okay don’t count on it but also don’t rule it out either. Remember when everyone was going to die of the ebola or the JadeHelm hysteria or the Mayan apoclaypse? This too shall pass.
Also what #3 PatrickG wrote too. Perhaps by then people will have wised up and calmed down some and the loud minority driving the Republican primaries trends are the exceptions to the usual US people’s views. They really are -exhibit A : Equal marriage polls and growing tide of acceptance, exhibit B the sizeable number who are fighting back against the sort of hatred and division called for everyday – look at what a lot of the bloggers and commenters and people outside the Republicans fringe are saying. There is a huge number of good people working hard to make things better here and everywhere else. Its easy sometimes to be overwhelmed by the bad news but there is a balance and even if the good news doesn’t sell papers as well or generate the same level of attention that doesn’t mean its not there. Good people are out there working to make things better for everyone – don’t forget them and don’t forget you are and can continue to be part of them.
Finally, Hillary Clinton has gotta be POTUS surely! I mean look at the quality – or rather lack thereof of her opposition! All the Republican candidates for the job are just, well, absolute stinkers for the choice -and this is meant to be the best they can do? Their candidates are all seriously flawed, unappealing and just bad choices. Like Rmoney was and McCain before him. I do think the US majority collectively has more sense and that Hillary Clinton will also out-campaign and win over them.
@9. Pierce R. Butler : October next year is still a very long way awayand a week is apolitial eternity. Hopefully long before we get toOctober next year sanity willprevailed enough that the Republicna nominee is NOT one of teh worst of those theyare offering as seems thecaes at present. Expect too that the appropriate agencies willhave doen their owkr and stopped plotsand taken out the Deash dchebags enough to make things betetr.
Argh! Tyos! Sorry.
Take II : @9. Pierce R. Butler : October next year is still a very long way away and a week is a political eternity. Hopefully long before we get to October next year sanity will have prevailed enough that the Republican nominee is NOT one of the worst of those they are offering as seems the case at present. Expect too that the appropriate agencies will have done their work and stopped such plots and taken out the Da’esh douchebags enough to make things better.
PatrickG @ # 10 – Clearly, you don’t know what those damn unicorns were DOING!!1!
StevoR @ # 12: Expect too that the appropriate agencies will have done their work and stopped such plots and taken out the Da’esh douchebags enough to make things better.
Ah, StevoR, ye dewy-eyed innocent. Please note that the attentions of US “appropriate agencies” have yet to eliminate, or reduce, or anything but assist to grow, Al Qaeda or any other jihadist organization anywhere on the planet in the 17 years since the embassy attacks in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. Why should the next 11 months turn out any differently?
@ ^ Pierce R. Butler : I’d dispute your premises here. To quote Britany Spears “I’m not that innocent” & also I do think the various intelligence and counter-terrorism agencies have done more than we may appreciate to stop Da’esh and others. They have foiled plots, made arrests and fought back and, yeah, okay, they haven’t totally succeeded and ended the threats but saying they’ve assisted them to grow? No, I really don’t think so.
I know the various agencies here are fallible and can and have been misused and are far from perfect. However, I also don’t think they are all bad and evil and incapable and ineffective either. I do think a lot of good people in them exist and do their jobs well. One point specifically, I don’t think these agencies with people’s whose lives and homes and families are also on the line want to see any terrorist attacks or that they would want people like Trump, Carson or Santorum to win the US Presidency either because that would be pretty much as bad for them as for everyone else. They too would have to live in the world that results with all the implications and consequences a win by one of those klowns would have.
Da’esh also are losing ground – literally – see :
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-19/mccann-islamic-state-isn't-weak,-but-it-is-losing-ground/6953350
Da’esh lost Kobane earlier this year, they lost Sinjar to the Kurdish pershmerga and the Yazidi fighters. They are being hammered by Russians and Western forces. They are loathed by almost everyone and have few if any friends and allies with even Al Quaida fighting against them.
Da’esh are also under financial,and social pressure and the stream of refugees leaving their lands is something that’s actually hurting them and they are struggling more than it sometimes seems. (See usual starter // www (dot) cracked (dot) com/blog / isis-wants-us-to-invade-7-facts-revealed-by-their-magazine_p2/ link broke for mod – y’all know how to fix yeah?) I think and hope Da’esh will crumble and defeated and imagine they are already probably losing more people than they are recruiting. I don’t think their ideology and existence is sustainable long term and do think its a matter of time before they are conclusively beaten and destroyed – hopefully sooner rather than later. Perhaps I’m being too optimistic here but (shrug) don’t think so.
StevoR @ # 14: … the various intelligence and counter-terrorism agencies have done more than we may appreciate to stop Da’esh and others.
1st pls recall we must appreciate how much they did to ignite the present jihad by “giving the Soviets their own Vietnam” in Afghanistan – not to mention jumping back into that self-created quagmire in ’01.
They have foiled plots, made arrests and fought back…
Most of said foiled plots were those set up as FBI (etc) stings, with a paid provocateur recruiting clue-free proles for attempted crimes they’d never dream of on their own.
As for those arrests and fighting back – do the words “Guantanamo”, “Iraq”, “Abu Ghraib”, “Bagram”, … mean anything to you? Please look each one up.
and, yeah, okay, they haven’t totally succeeded and ended the threats …
If by that you mean that the actual level of hyperIslamic terrorism since 1998, measured by numbers of armed fighters, direct victims, or refugees; territory or population held; financial or popular support; … has only increased by one order of magnitude rather than two, you may have a point … but not for much longer.
Massively self-defeating behavior has become a way of life in the imperial capital long before the current Republican frenzy.
StevoR: the three words not on the SofL are “With silent lips.”
@ ^ DonDueed : Aha. yes. Thanks.