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Bernardo de La Paz

Bernardo de La Paz's Journal
Bernardo de La Paz's Journal
April 18, 2023

Who has interest in a calm public? Status quo pols, employers, authoritarians,


Status quo politicians want to keep things stable so they keep their jobs. "What wealth & income inequality?", "There is no systemic racism".

Employers like docile drones who are productive.

Authoritarians show up on both lists. The difference is those out of power want unrest so they can get power but those in power deploy massive police and government intervention to suppress dissent and deviation and maintain privilege. Those in power want their status quo to continue.

A lot of people, weighted more toward age, want to be comfortable and undisturbed in their routines and nests. Which is very understandable and worthy of due attention.

April 18, 2023

Who has interest in public being negative? Putin, gun shops, corruptees, media, pseudo-libertarians,

But, regardless, who defines the dimensions and weights for "getting better" and what are those used by this study?


Who has an interest in public in the West being negative?


Gun merchants. Ammo merchants.

Putin, to distract from and defund defence of Ukraine.

Authoritarians who want to take over by any means possible, i.e. Kari Lake, the rump, Boebert, Massie, et al.

Corruptees to distract and move investigative / prosecutorial resources away from fraud and racism and towards disadvantaged down-trodden drug addicts, homeless, and also some organized looting.

Pseudo-libertarians who socialize costs and privatize profits.

The media thrive on negativity. Outraged, worried people consume more media.

There are others.

April 17, 2023

Trudeau needs to slam Poilievre with 5 words or similar to every question


Next time Poilievre asks a stupid question or as a premise to a question states a stupid talking point like "now people know that it is Trudeau propaganda, not news" ...

Trudeau should, stand up, patiently wait for the House to subside and get quiet, and then answer "Mr. Speaker, CBC is not Trudeau propaganda" and sit down.

Cons would get into an absolute uproar shouting and looking like some kind of Monty Python idiots, or worse, looking like Empty Greene and Boebert. Let them carry on their antics as long as it takes the Speaker to get in control.

Then Poilievre will re-ask the same or a similar question. Do the same thing, wait for quiet, then "Mr. Speaker, CBC is not a subsidiary of George Soros" and sit down. Keep doing it until asked civil questions.

Most CON questions will be phrased as repackaged conspiracy theories or watered down magat points or like "Have you stopped beating your wife yet". Bergen did it. Much more so under Poilievre now that he defeated the more honourable O'Toole wing of his party. So play it straight and knock down the premise in as few words as possible.

The technique is to apply negative reinforcement to nonsense and respond positively to proper questions. That negative reinforcement will drive the Cons ape-shit and they will look even more stupid. It's a corollary of your comment getting more Con con-game nonsense identified as such for the Canadian public.



Another point is Poilievre is pretending the CBC doesn't play music.

April 5, 2023

Yes, reverse the RW trope of "First they laugh at you, then ...


(Truth be told, the rump has been ridiculed for decades and it continues through all the periods covered by the tropes.)

The trope goes:

First they ignore you.
Then they laugh at you.
Then they attack you and try to burn you.
Then they build monuments to you.


For the rump lickers it will be:

First they lie to you.
Then they sell you merch.
Then they use you ("pro-life&quot .
Then they abandon you (J6, no swamp drained).


For the rational public it will be:

First they ignored him.
Then they attacked him.
Then they convicted him.
Then they laughed at him.
Then they used him as a lesson for future generations.

The rational public will never ignore him again. He will be more infamous than even Benedict Arnold. After a couple of generations rump's cult will die. Benedict Arnold has no following in the US of A.

April 4, 2023

The time a sitting US President was arrested


Ulysses S. Grant, the sitting president of the United States, was arrested in 1872

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrest_of_Ulysses_S._Grant

Ulysses S. Grant, the sitting president of the United States, was arrested in 1872 for speeding in his horse-drawn carriage in Washington, D.C. Arresting officer William H. West later said that he had warned Grant, an avid horseman, the day before for speeding on the same street. Grant was brought to the police station, where, by West's account, he put up $20 (equivalent to $452 in 2021), which was forfeited the next day when Grant did not appear in court; other accounts differ but generally involve a fine of similar value, the impounding of the carriage, or both. West characterized Grant as polite, somewhat amused, and deferential to West's authority.

While the basic details of the event have been confirmed by the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, West's account, as published in The Sunday Star in 1908, is the sole detailed narrative, and the exact extent of its accuracy will likely never be known.[1]


April 4, 2023

It's for non-believers and the fringes of the cult


True believers in the cult are unreachable without some intervention or some event that is for them close to life-changing.

Counter-propaganda will keep non-believers from joining the cult and will peel away some members on the fringe.

Basically, the way the rump's cult will be dealt with is by making it ever more isolated in the extremity of its positions. This will happen naturally as he gets further held to account by the justice system. But it can be accelerated with good counter-propaganda.

The more extreme the cult is painted as, the more extreme it gets because the more isolated it gets as saner people reject them and their lunacy.

Ultimately, the political and social institutions may be strengthened by the whole impact of the rump and the ripples, but it might take more than a decade or a generation.

As J.K. Galbraith said, if you can't achieve immortality by great accomplishment, you can achieve it by spectacular failure. The rump is destined for the latter kind. History will not be kind to Donald J. Trump.

April 4, 2023

You put your finger on it: the relationship. It's a cult: he hates who they hate

The Grumpy Old People party is doomed for the next 8 years or so. In 2024, the rump will be the front-runner and may even be nominated. But by that point he will be loaded down with indictments, very serious charges for things that actual patriots on the rational fringes of GOP and among independents will be incensed. So he won't win (touch wood).

If he withdraws it will be late in the race and then there will be a free-for-all of tremendous schisms and horrific name-calling and mean tweets among Republicons. The convention would be chaotic. Many magats will not vote for any non-rump nominee in the main election.

If he stays in and is not the nominee, same deal, but even more magats will not vote in the general.

In 2028, the GQP will still not have resolved its internal schisms and will not have found a backbone.

April 1, 2023

Some idiots will take action, but most magats fear a "J6 trap"


They have been lied to so much and lie to themselves, that they really think people got arrested on J6 for simple basic ordinary presence at a demonstration, peacefully protesting.

So they fear arrest at ANY simple basic protest.

But there will be idiots who will use their guns somewhere, some time, on Tuesday or after. Have courage. Be resolute.

Be confident. This is the beginning of the end of the rump.

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Member since: Fri Jul 16, 2004, 11:36 PM
Number of posts: 49,001

About Bernardo de La Paz

Canadian who lived for many years in Northern California and left a bit of my heart there. (note to self: https: //images.dailykos.com/images/1043361/original/2016.09.19_sunflowers_header.jpg . https://i.imgur.com/1VKgdmc.jpeg)
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