David K. Sutton | The Left Call

January 24, 2015

Chickenhawk America

On Friday’s Real Time with Bill Maher, the first guest was Jim Fallows, national correspondent for The Atlantic, there to talk about his article, “The Tragedy of the American Military.” And it’s certain to be a juicy piece with the following subtitle: “The American public and its political leadership will do anything for the military except take it seriously. The result is a chickenhawk nation in which careless spending and strategic folly combine to lure America into endless wars it can’t win.” Yeah, I’d say that about sums it up. Hey, it’s late on a Friday night, actually, early Saturday morning now. I just got done watching Real Time, and I fully admit I have not read this article yet, I’ve only skimmed it. I intend to follow up later with more in-depth analysis, but I felt compelled to share a few things. — I’ve had this thought for a while: I tell people, particularly the many conservatives in my family, that I “support the troops.” And I’m not lying. I mean, fuck, I don’t have the balls to do what they do. But, there is also the fact that there are politicians, whether they are earnest or wrongheaded or both, that got us into these bullshit wars that were never winnable in the first place. The “troops” are just doing a job, and then we say we support them. We welcome them home. We sometimes give them parades. But here’s the problem: There is an unhealthy level of hero-worship of people serving in America’s military. Bill Maher says the military is “such a scared cow,” and he’s right. Basically, if we criticize anything related to the military, that means we aren’t supporting the troops. But maybe, just maybe, anyone who actually stops, thinks, maybe uses a bit of brain capacity, will realize how ridiculous that notion is. We can criticize the military industrial complex, and the feckless and spineless politicians who feed it, and we WILL NOT be accused of criticizing the troops in the process. And if anyone cares to do so, they shall be summarily dismissed from the realm of nuanced and careful thought, because they are the reactionaries among us. They cannot tolerate any dissent among the ranks. As President George W. Bush once said, “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.” Because that’s about as nuanced as we can expect when it comes to the modern American military hero-worship crowd. In their myopic view, if you criticize our military, or the people giving the orders, you are against the troops, and you are aiding the enemy. — Now hand me a deflated football, because there’s a Super Bowl coming up, and I’ve got more important things to consider than militaristic geopolitical nonsense.

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January 3, 2015

Flipping A Coin On The Wrong Side Of The Tracks

On my way home, less than a mile before my neighborhood, I drive through a neighborhood at the bottom of the hill that I’ve heard passengers “affectionately” refer to as “the other side of the tracks.” Now, I would be lying if I told you this phrase, or the companion phrase, “the wrong side of the tracks,” never crossed my mind. And it quite literally is on the other side of a railroad track as well as a creek. But of course people aren’t talking about an actual railroad track, so you have to ask yourself, what makes it the wrong side of the tracks?

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January 2, 2015

Hashtag TYPHILLYPOLICE – Philly Police, Social Media, And False Support?

On New Years Day 2015, people on social media showed their support of Philadelphia police officers with the hashtag #TYPHILLYPOLICE. Now, I know I’m going to get some shit from some people (if they read this) for going down the path I’m about to go down, but you know what? Fuck it. Obviously I have no problem with people showing support for their local police. Obviously I have plenty of respect for police officers doing a job that is often thankless and certainly dangerous. So, what’s my problem? My problem is that this hashtag, this effort, and similar efforts like it, are clearly in response to protests related to Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and other black men (and children) killed by police officers in recent months. I wonder how many of the people using this hashtag are doing so genuinely, and more importantly, solely in support of Philadelphia police officers or their local police force? Or could it be they are also using this hashtag to voice their own form of protest against Michael Brown and Eric Garner protestors? Please excuse my cynicism, but I just don’t buy it. I don’t remember this much of an outpouring on social media in support of police until people had an “other” in society for which they needed to voice their own protest against.

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December 29, 2014

Chuck Todd Admits Mainstream Media Must Ask Softball Questions

I guess we can call it a quest for ratings when new Meet the Press moderator Chuck “The Todd” Todd (I think I stole that from someone, maybe Stephen Colbert … R.I.P.) decided it would be a good idea to invite a panel of comedians on the show to discuss comedy and cynicism within our news and political discourse. Of course, the major conveyance here is The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, which was a frequent reference during this MTP segment. And I’m actually fine with the panel of comedians, which included Lewis Black, Laura Krafft, and W. Kamau Bell. Maybe I’m even fine with the premise, although I think it’s a vehicle to deflect blame away from the mainstream media, and the job it is failing to do, intentional or not.

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December 23, 2014

Two NYPD Officers Murdered, But The Killer Only Gets Partial Credit

This past weekend saw the vicious murder of two New York City police officers, something you would expect to unify the law-abiding public, but as it turns out, the killer only gets partial credit for this heinous crime. Excuse me if I’ve misinterpreted the grandiose oratory of Fox News, right-wing media, and your conservative uncle. Because also deserving equal blame, in their myopic vision, is anyone who has ever questioned police tactics. Their estimation is two-fold. The killer is obviously to blame, but because he subsequently killed himself, the nearsighted now need the “unruly” protestors to stand in as proxy.

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December 20, 2014

The Many Inconvenient Truths Shunned By Conservatives

It seems when you point something out that’s uncomfortable for conservatives, let’s call it an “inconvenient truth” (damn you Al Gore), the conservative reaction is to trot out isolated anecdotal evidence in an attempt to refute said inconvenient truth. So, if we are talking about global warming, then of course the conservative reaction is to hype stories about record snowfall, as if the two cannot coexist. If we are talking about police brutality and excessive force, then the conservative reaction is to highlight stories of police compassion and restraint, as if those two qualities shouldn’t always be part of the job description. If we are talking about racism, then conservatives talk about reverse racism, as if that’s a thing, and as if racism isn’t just racism, regardless of which race it is. And if we are talking about government programs for the less fortunate in society, conservatives must highlight the small percentage of people who abuse these programs, as if the people who are deserving should be punished because of the abuses of the undeserving. It’s as if conservatives have a lesson to teach us all, but they forgot to learn the subject themselves.

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December 19, 2014

Torture? Nah, We’re The Good Guys

We are Americans, we are the good guys. That means whatever we do is righteous. After all, we state it as a matter of fact, so it must be true. So that means we didn’t torture. Or if we did torture, it was necessary. Or, it wasn’t torture, it was enhanced interrogation. Because we all know the use of superlative descriptions instead of plain-spoken language is always the best way to convince people of our pure intentions.

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December 19, 2014

Somebody Whose Sensibilities Probably Need To Be Offended

In his year-end press conference, President Obama spoke about the North Korean sponsored hack of Sony Pictures. He voiced his disagreement that Sony decided to cancel the release of the movie The Interview. “We cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship here in the United States,” said Obama. “If somebody is able to intimidate folks out of releasing a satirical movie, imagine what they start doing when they see a documentary they don’t like, or news reports they don’t like.” And I mostly agree with the president, although I wouldn’t call it “imposing censorship” on the part of North Korea, because this is not really a retreat of First Amendment rights. It was a business decision, and business decisions are always subject to what could be called “self-censorship,” meaning companies, particularly motion picture companies in the 21st century, craft their products to appeal to a wide audience. And that sometimes means avoiding certain topics. That could be considered a form a censorship, but it’s self-imposed, which is different then the state censoring speech. Of course that was not what Obama was implying, but I feel some people are making this into more than what it is because we hate that North Korea was able to virtually reach across a vast ocean and change our lives, in even the slightest way, by denying us the ability to watch a silly satirical film. But then Obama said something in a way you don’t normally hear from a president. “[I]magine if producers and distributors and others start engaging in self-censorship because they don’t want to offend the sensibilities of somebody whose sensibilities probably need to be offended.” Is it just me, or is that last part pretty raw and unusually candid for a sitting president? I feel like that’s something I could have easily said in a blog post about uptight social conservatives or dogmatic religious leaders. But here we have a sitting president saying someone in the world probably needs a dose of offensive reality to recalibrate their sensibilities.

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December 18, 2014

Dick Cheney’s Mind Is Scary?

On Monday’s Daily Show, Jon Stewart said, “Dick Cheney’s mind is the scariest fucking place in the universe.” But is it really? Okay, I know it’s a joke, but the premise is that Dick Cheney dreams up some scary fucking scenarios in that cranium of his, and rightfully so we should all be scared of the mentally and violently unhinged former Vice President. But Dick Cheney is not scary, because Dick Cheney is nothing more than a fearful old white dude, still, 13 years later, invoking 9/11 to justify his fearful old white dude thoughts. Dick Cheney is that special breed of white conservative that is never wrong, in his view that is. He is that type of conservative that will NEVER own up to being wrong about anything. When has Dick Cheney ever said he was wrong about something? I’m pretty sure it’s never happened, and I’d love to be proven wrong. Please post whatever links you can find that would prove me wrong, because, well, I don’t think I am. Yes, I did that intentionally. 🙂

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December 17, 2014

Obama: Working Towards U.S.-Cuba Diplomatic Normalcy

President Obama announced today that the United States and Cuba would work toward diplomatic normalcy. The announcement came as we learned Alan Gross, an American imprisoned in Cuba, would be released in a prisoner swap. “I truly hope we can get beyond these mutually belligerent policies and I was very happy to hear what the president had to say today,” said Gross during a press conference.

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