When I was a kid, someone gave us an LP record of The Red Army Ensemble singing patriotic songs. Of course, they were Russian patriotic songs. Mostly the songs were from the Bolshevik hit parade. Grandma Bessie used to ask me to play it for her every once in a while. Her perennial favorite was The Red Army Anthem, the kind that makes you wanna stand up and salute. This weird look would come over her face. Invariably, I would ask her why she listened to Russian propaganda when she vociferously hated Russia. She would patiently remind me (for the millionth time) that her family was socialist and they dreamed of a Russia free from the czarist regime. These were songs she and a brother used to sing in secret. These songs remind me there used to be a dream. Even if all the crazy people destroyed the dream, the dream should always be remembered.It always sounds better with her Odessa hek'cent.
This offering from the White House, however, doesn't make you want to stand up and salute; it makes your wanna barf in your mouth. Make America Great Again sounds like the latest version of Leni Riefenstahl does The Young Americans.
Not only is it musically banal, it lacks any modicum of truth in the lyrics. It's vile, grotesque, morally and intellectually bankrupt. The creators of this piece of drivel have shown their hand: they think We, the People, are blind, ignorant, and stupid.
We, the People, are none of those things.
We, the People, fully understand that the G20 made the United States an international laughing stock.
We, the People, totally understand that our president was so unprepared for the summit his team forgot to book rooms.
We, the People, are fully aware that Amateur Hour at the White House mistook the President of China for the President of Taiwan. You know...they all look alike anyway, right?
China's President Xi Jinping and Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou
We, the People, also noticed all the participants in the chorus look alike. Coincidence? I think not.
This is a new low in propaganda. This is worthy of Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia. This video is everything we laughed at in the 50s, mocked in the 60s, and stomped on in the 70s. By the 80s, we were dancing to disco so we didn't care any more.
We, the People are a diverse, multi-colored, multi-creed, multi-orientation, and multi-faceted collection of people who, when joined together make up a gloriously diverse national body. This video, on the other hand, is the ultimate insult to the American identity. It is the slap-in-the-face heard 'round the world....if/when the world stops laughing at us.
If you are still buying into the bullshit, you're being played on a grand scale.
Time to wake up and smell the manure, people.
The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week
Social Security is NOT an entitlement; We, the People, pay for it ourselves.
Every week. Every paycheck. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
My bubby was also from Odessa. Her name was also Bessie (in English, of course) but really, Basia. Lived with us until she died at 94. She spoke to us in Yiddish or broken English and we understood what she said. She is the reason I love Yiddish. She is why I love to be called Bubby. I got off your subject, but I love that our bubbies were both from Odessa and named Bessie. So glad I found The Wifely. I'm waiting for the live debate between you and Jason Lewis. You kick his ass all the time.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of entitlements...
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday, WP -- I wouldn't dare reveal your age, but I do want to wish you a warm welcome to Medicare! Mazel Tov!
https://www.forbes.com/sites/baldwin/2017/07/13/news-from-the-social-security-ponzi-scheme
ReplyDeleteThe Federal government released on 7/13/17 its annual update of Social Security’s sick finances:
--The system is $12.5 trillion under water, up from $11.4 trillion a year ago.
:
--The retirement operation is running an $86 billion annual deficit. That’s the difference between the money coming in from Social Security’s share of payroll taxes (12.4% of covered payroll) and the money going out in monthly checks and in overhead.
Ponzi? That’s too kind an interpretation. A Ponzi scheme has old investors being paid off with money raised from new ones. In this case there isn’t enough cash coming in from new players to pay off the old ones. The $86 billion shortfall is being covered in traditional federal fashion, by drawing on general tax revenues and by printing money.
The trustees of the Social Security system put the grim news in as positive light as they can. They cheerily note that “asset reserves” grew from $2,813 billion at the end of 2015 to $2,848 billion at the end of 2016.
But these “reserves” are not a pile of saved capital in the form of stocks, bonds and mortgages. Rather, they are a bookkeeping entry in which the government borrows money from the government, and the government pretends to have “income” by collecting interest from…the government.