Political Cartoons, Memes & Amusing Videos

[Alistair]

 

[Alistair]

 

[Alistair]

 

[Alistair]

 

[Alistair]

 

[redfox70]

In 2007, Lawrence Ferlinghetti wrote the poem “Pity the Nation,” drawing inspiration from Kahlil Gibran’s original work of the same title, first published in 1933. Both poets’ words echo an ageless truth — that history often repeats itself. O, sweet land of liberty!





Pity the Nation
By Khalil Gibran, 1933

Pity the nation that is full of beliefs and empty of religion.

Pity the nation that wears a cloth it does not weave, eats a bread it does not harvest, and drinks a wine that flows not from its own wine-press.

Pity the nation that acclaims the bully as hero, and that deems the glittering conqueror bountiful.

Pity the nation that despises a passion in its dream, yet submits in its awakening.

Pity the nation that raises not its voice save when it walks in a funeral, boasts not except among its ruins, and will rebel not save when its neck is laid between the sword and the block.

Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox, whose philosopher is a juggler, and whose art is the art of patching and mimicking.

Pity the nation that welcomes its new ruler with trumpetings, and farewells him with hootings, only to welcome another with trumpetings again.

Pity the nation whose sages are dumb with years and whose strong men are yet in the cradle.

Pity the nation divided into fragments, each fragment deeming itself a nation.

 

[redfox70]

The Tories and Reform UK believe that patriotism involves painting roundabouts and hoisting St George’s

Cross flags or Union Jacks on every street corner - many of them also believe that demonizing

foreigners, inciting violence against asylum seekers or hating the LGBTQ community are acts of true

patriotism, but nothing could be further from the truth.

The Tories and Reform UK mistake ‘jingoism’ for patriotism.

By definition, jingoism means: ‘aggressive, bellicose nationalism that advocates for a nation's

superiority’ - It involves use of threats or actual military force rather than diplomacy to achieve

national interests.

Now let’s consider what genuine patriotism involves:

A genuine patriot is someone who makes a positive contribution to our communities, for example:

- Helping a neighbour
- Cleaning up the community
- Supporting local community projects
- Protecting our natural environment
- Protecting the vulnerable
- Supporting neighbourhood police as they combat anti-social behaviour
- paying your taxes honestly - they help to pay for schools, hospitals and public transport
- Compliance with the laws of the country
- respecting other people’s and public property

Wouldn’t our country be a better place in which to live if the far right Tory / Reform UK supporters

swapped their ‘jingoism’ for ‘genuine patriotism’ ?

Just saying.

 

[KaraBulut]

 

[Kulindahr]

 

[NotHardUp1]

Where I live water is a public utility, and power as well. That's how it should be.
And make medical systems a public utility.

Most counties had public hospitals. Then, around the time of the artificial heart innovation, Humana began buying up the hospitals and converting them to for-profit sites. And it was all enabled by lobbyists writing legislation for their own benefit, namely that Emergency Rooms at hospitals only had to stabilize a patient, not treat him.

With that, the for-profit hospitals turned their backs on the mandate to serve the sick, and let the poor rot. In response, the public hospitals were immediately overwhelmed with a disproportionate degree of the poor and their bottom lines collapsed, leaving them bankrupt. They were sold off.

Meanwhile, Humana offered concierge services like Champagne brunches to mothers following deliveries of babies.

It's not enough that the upper classes get adequate health care when the working class doesn't -- they have to be pampered like the Vanderbilts as icing on the cake.

 

[rareboy]

​

 

[KaraBulut]

And Comcast group, which owns cable providers Xfinity, Comcast/Spectacor, as well as media outlets NBC/Universal, Sky Group and Comcast Business.

No word on how this money has been "funneled" to the White House, since this demolition to a public monument that is owned by the American taxpayer did not go through any architectural committee or review board, and appears to have no oversight whatever. Basically, someone at the White House is collecting $200 million dollars and has given permission for construction crews to do this project that no one approved.

This would have had to have gone through the General Services Administrator. In July, Trump appointed a crony as "Acting" Administrator of the General Services Administration, named Michael Rigas. Rigas came from America First Policy Institute (AFPI), which is the other group that had a "White House In Waiting" along with The Heritage Foundation. AFPI members who are now in the Trump Administration include Brooke Rollins (SecAg), Linda McMahon (SecEd), Pam Bondi (Atty Gen), Doug Collins (SecVA), Kevin Hassett (NEC chair), Kash Patel (FBI Dir), , John Ratcliffe (CIA Dir), Scott Turner (SecHUD) and Lee Zeldin (EPA Admin)- all Trump loyalists.

 

[Lecygni274]

 

[rareboy]

And Comcast group, which owns cable providers Xfinity, Comcast/Spectacor, as well as media outlets NBC/Universal, Sky Group and Comcast Business.

No word on how this money has been "funneled" to the White House, since this demolition to a public monument that is owned by the American taxpayer did not go through any architectural committee or review board, and appears to have no oversight whatever. Basically, someone at the White House is collecting $200 million dollars and has given permission for construction crews to do this project that no one approved.

This would have had to have gone through the General Services Administrator. In July, Trump appointed a crony as "Acting" Administrator of the General Services Administration, named Michael Rigas. Rigas came from America First Policy Institute (AFPI), which is the other group that had a "White House In Waiting" along with The Heritage Foundation. AFPI members who are now in the Trump Administration include Brooke Rollins (SecAg), Linda McMahon (SecEd), Pam Bondi (Atty Gen), Doug Collins (SecVA), Kevin Hassett (NEC chair), Kash Patel (FBI Dir), , John Ratcliffe (CIA Dir), Scott Turner (SecHUD) and Lee Zeldin (EPA Admin)- all Trump loyalists.

It is unimaginable to me that any one president would have the power to do this with zero oversight.

The Rose Garden desecration was one thing...but this is a building that entirely redefines the site and the architectural integrity of the White House complex because of its scale
and pomposity.

And of course, it is a huge fuck you to the people of the US who now will bear the operating costs of this monstrosity forever.

 

[KaraBulut]

It is unimaginable to me that any one president would have the power to do this with zero oversight.

The Rose Garden desecration was one thing...but this is a building that entirely redefines the site and the architectural integrity of the White House complex because of its scale
and pomposity.

And of course, it is a huge fuck you to the people of the US who now will bear the operating costs of this monstrosity forever.

The East Wing always gets mentioned as where the First Ladies have had offices for the past 50 or so years. There was a historian who was interviewed and he gave more history- that the East Wing was where the military operational coordination during WWII was conducted. Before the Pentagon was constructed, the White House used the East Wing to coordinate the branches of service and plan operations. When the wing was renovated in 1942, they also put in underground bunkers under the wing which are the infamous "undisclosed secure location" they use when there is an attack.

When Truman did renovations in the late 1940s, there were major structural issues that had to be addressed because sections of the building were structurally unsound. Still, he went to Congress for permission and funding. And there was an oversight committee appointed to supervise the construction which took 3 years.

Trump eradicated an entire wing of a public owned historic building without any permission from Congress, with sketchy corporate money. This is exactly what Erdoğan did in Turkey when he leveled a historic forest named for Atatürk to build a $600 million mansion, but even that took 3 years to get the cronies to approve. Trump forced through this ballroom nonsense in weeks and the White House Press Propaganda Shop and the Republicans in Congress are trying to portray this as normal. And the White House is working hard to keep photographers away so that the American public can't see this obscenity taking place during a shutdown when Federal employees are having to go to Food Banks and take out temporary loans because they aren't getting paychecks.

 

[smokeshadow]

the demolition is fare more extensive than first mentioned

'Entirety' of East Wing to be 'modernized' to build Trump ballroom: WH official

The renovation is far more extensive than President Trump first let on.

currently.att.yahoo.com

And, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has sent a letter to the White House Staff Secretary, Will Scharf, requesting a pause in demolition until plans for new construction go through the legally required public review process by the National Planning Commission and the Commission for Fine Arts; and to invite public comment.

 

[cityboy-stl]

 

[rareboy]

the demolition is fare more extensive than first mentioned

'Entirety' of East Wing to be 'modernized' to build Trump ballroom: WH official

The renovation is far more extensive than President Trump first let on.

currently.att.yahoo.com

And, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has sent a letter to the White House Staff Secretary, Will Scharf, requesting a pause in demolition until plans for new construction go through the legally required public review process by the National Planning Commission and the Commission for Fine Arts; and to invite public comment.

Guess which National Trust for Historic Preservation just lost all their federal funding?

Trump is the King. He can do whatever the fuck he wants now.

 

[KaraBulut]

View attachment TheDailyShow-TrumpWrecksTheWhiteHouse_20251021.mp4

 

[rareboy]