Against My Will

Nan Donald Trump, Politics, , , , ,

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I have tried (really tried!) to back off from political posts, but Heather’s recent newsletter … and particularly one of the comments in response to it … got the best of me.

She led off her newsletter remarks thusly:

Yesterday, Trump spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), where the audience cheered through his meandering speech, in which he insisted that he won the 2020 election. “The entire system was rigged against the American people and rigged against a fair, decent and honest election,” he said. CNN’s Daniel Dale, who has fact-checked Trump’s speeches for years, called the speech “untethered to reality.” 

And here is a portion of a comment offered by one of her readers. I found it spot-on.

Reason and honesty have vaporized during this entire circus. We used to be a nation of common sense, character and integrity. We used to look one another in the eye when voicing our opinions. Blame it on the underbelly of social media where accountability no longer exists or on the naive assumption that you can still believe what you read.

The ultimate reason is darker and sadder. Not only are voters being lied to, but they are now lying to themselves. People must know, deep down, that the Big Lie is, as Barr put it, “bullshit,” yet they suppress the truth within themselves in hopes of an unholy miracle of placing Trump back on the throne.

Again and again, I find myself asking … how long can this go on? Must we endure this *crap* until the next presidential election? Is there anything that could/might/will bring it to a close? I wonder …

79 thoughts on “Against My Will”

  2. But…but….but, Nan, Trump really did win the election and was robbed by Hugo Chavez and his commie socialist goons like Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton and Tom Hanks! Why, oh, why, Nan can’t you just open your eyes and face reality? Why?! BTW, I’ve a lovely bridge for sale at a great price in San Francisco if your in the market.

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  3. This doubling down on lies is happening across then political spectrum. Heather herself is participating when she states as if true, “Along with voting measures, the Texas Republicans want to pass others enflaming the culture wars in the state: bills to stop the teaching of Critical Race Theory in public schools (where it is not taught) and to keep transgender athletes from competing on high school sports teams. Both of these issues are part of a wider program pushed by national right-wing organizations.”

    The bold indicates where the truth is not what’s stated. These are partially true but not an accurate description of meaningful differences and so it glosses over very central and important divisive social issues as if not important to portray truthfully when they ARE! This glossing over very much justifies the ‘other’ side doing the same, and so the disconnect with reality grows on both sides of thee political aisle. I think many of fall into this trap without even knowing we are doing so.

    I agree that voters generally lie to themselves (hence the urging mostly from members of what is described as ”national right-wing organizations” – especially from many people whose families have emigrated from brutal regimes – to “Live Not By Lies.” That’s very interesting I think) because they believe what’s true resides on their side by fiat! The logical inference – and we see this played out daily referencing Trump as the opposite of what’s good, right, and moral! – is that ANYTHING that comes from the ‘other side’ is not just wrong but immoral. This is deadly to unity and highly dysfunctional in governance. Yet we see this playing out all the time. There’s the main problem.

    Telling the truth is a good start. Respecting what’s true necessarily follows. Believing some greater good is achieved by lying, by omitting, by glossing over honest and important differences and disagreements as if worth nothing more than a hand wave – no matter which side of political spectrum benefits from doing so – is the inevitable result of a population to entrenched in their partisanship to see the log in their own eye.

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    • But tieldb, Dontcha know that it is aa thought crime for a clinic specializing in women’s health to use the term “women”. After all, there are people who do not “identify” as women who get pregnant and give birth. And what we believe deep down inside is what is true.

      How is this any different than the “faith based” crowd? How can someone who makes a statement that there are “150 different genders, many of which we cannot recognize yet” any different than someone who says “Trump will be reinstated in August.” Nonsense is nonsense, even if it hurts your feelings (using the wrong pronoun is exactly like “stabbing someone in the stomach with a knife” we are told.

      And people wonder why Trump got so many votes. Sure, racism and religious mania, and cussedess and greed….but also wokeness

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  4. What got me recently was at a family reunion at my sister’s place in a rich suburb of Rochester, all her in-laws & friends were allowed to talk their GQP & trumpster politics but when I started refuted their idiocy, I was told in no uncertain terms to “stop talking politics” & “that kind of talk is offensive” .. OH OK … THEIR talk is offensive to ME but that doesn’t seem to matter. Only one side is allowed to voice their opinions.

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    • There is definitely a double standard at play there. I would have turned and left, right then and there, and said, “Don’t call me again!” And that is how great the divide in this nation is.

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  5. Nan, what should be emphasized is Republican presidents and serious candidates used to avoid attending CPAC as it was viewed as too extreme. The last president is the first sitting one to attend this which speaks volumes. Now, extreme behavior is normalized in this party, which is an indictment in and of itself. I have long grown weary of calling and emailing Republican legislators asking what will it take for them to condemn the former president for what he does on a routine basis with his deceitful, corrupt, bullying and now seditious actions. These legislators had multiple chances to make a statement, yet they continued to give him a hall pass. They opened Pandora’s Box and now, not only have the harmed their party, they are harming America and the planet. What is so troubling to me is many of them know this, yet they choose not to act. I want to tell these Senators, e.g., “You are a Senator of the United States, please act like one.” Keith

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    • You last remark is spot-on! Too many are acting like spoiled children who want what they want when they want it … and will do whatever it takes to get it.

      Regrettably, many (most?) of this country’s leaders are no longer interested in making this country a better place for its inhabitants, but instead are far more focused on ways to increase their personal wealth — with little to no concern on how they do it. And this goes for BOTH sides!

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      • Agreed. The average wealth of a departing US House member or Senator is much larger than when they arrived. That is insider trading knowledge at best and it frightens me to think of other reasons why. My Senator was accused of insider trading from stock sales in February, 2020, yet we recently learned there will be no charges. My old Congressman had to resign over conflicts of interest as he never divorced himself from his business (sounds like someone who used to be president). And, it impacts both parties. Keith

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        • Literally, the criminals are making up the laws, so how’s that going to work out for justice and average American? They say no one is above the law but we watched as Trump broke laws in plain site EVERY DAY and not a single government agency is investigating! WTF?

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      • It may go for both sides, but it doesn’t go EQUALLY for both sides. Anyone who holds that it does (go equally) must believe that the Democrats are as corrupt and depraved as Trump and his sycophants.I doubt that you truly believe that..

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          • Why can’t there be more than just two sides or strictly an unbending binary system only and no others? Can’t life be full of fluid systems say on a macro to micro to subatomic scale? I am not Republican nor am I Democrat when it comes to American politics. 🤔 😉

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          • Hmm, of course with all due respect, there are some/many Americans familiar with our nation’s political history since 1788 would argue that that binary only claim is not exactly true, myself included Sir. 😉

            For example, in 1912 with Theodore Roosevelt as the Progressive Party’s candidate, he and the party garnered 88 electoral votes beating out the Republican Party’s candidate, but later lost to the Democrat’s candidate Woodrow Wilson. In 1968 candidate George Wallace won 5 states—or 13.5% of the popular vote—for his American Independent Party and Ross Perot in two different years: 1992 and 1996. Perot won over 18.9% of the national popular vote in 1992 then 8.4% of the popular vote in 1996, both times as the Reform Party’s candidate, I believe. 🙂

            Anyway, if Americans would participate a HELL OF A LOT MORE in their democratic privilege and vote, vote, vote, and get super active in their local, municipal, county, and state elections, etc,—a shit-load more than only between 35% to 49% or 59% voter turnout rates historically! 😠—then it would seem that the U.S. actually has a minimum of THREE parties! And furthermore, most political science scholars agree that over our 245-year history we’ve had a total of SIX different political parties!!! I think that is EFFIN AWESOME, don’t you think Tildeb? 😉

            If at least 65% to 90% of registered U.S. voters would participate regularly every two years, our current and long-standing dysfunctional political “Mexican Stand-off” (with gridlock problems and disabling partisan fighting) system in this country would likely run much, MUCH more efficiently and represent our 330+ million legal residents a lot more precisely and hopefully/probably a lot more effectively as well!!!

            Yeah, yeah… I know. What a pipe-dream that is, huh? 😄 Oh well, it doesn’t hurt to hope and KEEP hoping for a more well-informed, well-educated, widespread participating citizenship that is determined to treasure this incredible gift called Constitutional democracy. Grrrrrrr. :/

            Nonetheless, regards and respect to you Sir.

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          • I did not mean to suggest there could be only a binary system and so there are only two sides; what I meant was if you want political power to address and/or implement some kind of political effect, then using this one-side-or-the-other is the means. This IS the system today. Sure, there could be a third party (or fourth or fifth or various coalitions) but there’s a reason why the best support for one comes from one of the binary parties opposite to the political leaning: third parties split the vote on one side and allows the non split party to win political power!

            So if one wishes political power, one swallows one’s more nuanced preference and votes for the binary preference. Perot is a perfect example: his candidacy killed Bush Sr’s election and allowed Clinton to win with a minority of votes. Keep adding more and more choice, keep diluting governing parties claim to represent ‘the people’. The more coalition parties there must be to form governments, the less authority they have to exercise political power.

            So although there are arguments for and against multi-party systems, what I’m saying is that that’s not the system in play. The system in play, the one that is available today, is binary and so the voter choice – for better or worse – is binary. But like any good marriage, we’d better figure out how to get along and work together.

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          • I couldn’t agree more with all of that Tildeb! 😉 I thought as much, you meant “using this one-side-or-the-other is the means.” My primary (implied) point was/is that I loathe being pigeoned-holed, forced into a suffocating proverbial box (coffin?) when most often in many aspects of life… there are ALWAYS multiple solutions! There are even some that are not conceived at the time of crisis or crossroads. This A) or B) binary political quick-sand system that the U.S. constantly walks into every 2-8 years clearly isn’t the most effective or efficient. Furthermore, it does NOT accurately represent (in the basic democratic function) the country’s fluid diversity and continual change. And yet, we keep turning into big fat frogs with it and jump into the burning frying pan every 2-4 years expecting different outcomes! 🤣 Don’t they call that ‘the definition of cyclical insanity?’ 😛

            Anyway, it’s past time—way past time?—for Americans to UPDATE their governing methods, applications, processes, etc, and binary party system that ACTUALLY DOES represent a very diverse 21st-century citizenry, not just black or white. And there already exists some governing models to borrow from and/or mimic… except for Italy and some others as basenjibrian mentions below. Extremes pendulum swings are not the silver-bullet either. 🙂

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          • This is why criticism, disagreement, and correction from within the ranks is SO vital to the ongoing health and welfare of a party as a tent under which the most people can come together (who share values but may disagree on practices), and why the current and acceptable fad to denounce and ban and shun and exile those who dare to do so is actually malignant and destructive.

            What is important is to be SEEN as a party that seeks consensus through compromise rather than a party that imposes its will of the few on the many. We have some words to describe that kind of governance and it’s not ‘liberal’.

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          • Agreed again. To your point about “consensus through compromise”—and I would add collaboration of ongoing refinements—rather than denounce, ban, shun, exile, and thus divide and conquer until you are an island onto yourself 😉 I would like to share one more UNcommon rare component today in a healthy, thriving, challenging BUT efficiently functioning political system. It’s one that the late great Senator John McCain promoted, along with several others in D.C. with VAST people skills and experience, and that’s the concept of empathy being present in political debates, initial impasses, and dialogue. If I may Nan ❤️…

            If our 21st-century lifestyles and sociopolitical obligations as well as privileges/virtues continue to erode—because of hyper-consumerism, inflated wants vs needs, more Monisms instead of Pluralism (diversity) and yes, mutual compromises Tildeb—then it is inevitable that Americans become enemies of each other rather than brothers, sisters, cousins together with typical (healthy?) family spats as well as hugs. 🙂 If we as a hyper-speedy hyper-techy society LOSE organic, face-to-face interactions, collaborations, disagreements, and successes while in the same room and DON’T become the Best of Friends and Enemies like Ann Atwater and C.P. Ellis were forced/pushed to do face-to-face on intimate or semi-intimate settings… well…

            I’m afraid we are done for as a civilized society.

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          • I’m not sure that (a multiparty system) is a panacea, though. Is Italy well-governed? A country which is so…confused…would merely generate multiple confused parties. Rather than the coalition building one is forced to do within the “two” parties, one has a constant, chaotic froth of coalitions and failing governments.

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          • Amen! And I don’t want to belabor the point I made up thread. I need to stop reading the “let’s watch the car wreck” sites like Friendly Atheist. The right wing in this country is gibbering insane. A blue haired 23 year old gender studies student has no real power. These maniac preachers and “prophets” are millionaires and have deep influence in the agenda. As one wag pointed out, the REAL cancel culture is from (conservative) elites,

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        • No, but as corrupt and repugnant as the GOP are, the democrats are inept, incompetent, and spineless. They pushed us to get to the polls to beat Trump and for what? So they can lose their nerve and do nothing while 40 plus states enact Jim Crow voting laws and they sit scared to act! They are the world’s worst!

          We need a third party but I fear it is too little too late.

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          • Yes, of course you can, but I would submit that a portion of his “disappointing” performance was caused almost entirely by the obstructionist congress with which he was dealing. Remember, Comrade Moscow Mitch was openly dedicated to blocking everything he did and making him a one term president. In fact, I would also assert that Moscow Mitch and his band of Miscreants intentionally and purposely hurt their own constituents just to hurt Obama. Reprehensible.

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  6. You ask what might bring this craziness to a close … his death by natural causes, I think, is the only thing. Even if he is indicted, found guilty and imprisoned, he will simply be a martyr to “the cause”, whatever the cause is, and it will only make the fires burn hotter. I don’t see any other reasonable end than for him to simply die in his sleep some night.

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    • Naturally, this thought occurred to me as well but I was hesitant to express it. Now that you have done so, I agree.

      And unfortunately, it’s the only event I can see that will bring this circus to a close — although the other clowns will undoubtedly continue to perform.

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      • There was a time when I would have been hesitant as well, but … desperate times change our outlook sometimes. I don’t pull too many punches these days. Yes, the other clowns will try to keep the circus going, but without the ringmaster, I think it will fall apart ‘neath their feet!

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        • I am less kind. He has always been a vile, vile human being. As was his father. As is Trump Jr. I will not shed a single tear…this suppurating pussbag of a human being has already lived too long. They hate US…why should I forbear using a powerful human emotion?

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          • Agreed … he and his entire family are as vile, as without conscience, as they come. Privately, I say the same as you. Publicly, I try to be more cautious, not wanting the men in dark suits and dark glasses to show up at my door someday!

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          • When I look at the BUFFOONS the American South seems to select these days (not uniquely. LOok at the cast of characters vying to replace Newsome in California!) I despair for the human condition. DeSantis and the insane religious wackaloon running Tennessee definitely are at the bottom of the pile. The Florida Man meme is indeed accurate.

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          • Oh yes … I have been despairing for the human condition for years now. People … they somehow think their ‘happiness’, their ‘convenience’, takes precedence over the millions of life forms on the planet. And then, along come people like the former guy, like McConnell & McCarthy, like Gaetz/Greene/Hawley and more, telling them that they have a bloody “right” to be happy and that their ‘rights’ trump (no pun intended … well, maybe a little) everyone else’s right to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and … survive. It is largely a product of the Southern mentality, but has spread to other parts, such as you noted California, and a part of Oregon that wants to secede and join Idaho. Sigh. Whole damn world has gone nuts, my friend!

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  7. The election nonsense will grow less sometime – BUT this will be their new tactic to use because it works. None of this is going to turn out good. How can it when basically half of the country base their beliefs on lies?

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    • Yes, I’m afraid you’re correct, simply because there’s a segment of our society that is extremely susceptible to believing what they want to believe, no matter how far-fetched or impossible. And of course, when the lies are repeated and magnified via selective news sources, how can it NOT be true????

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  8. I too was going to suggest that when the string finally frays on that swinging brick in his chest, it will all be over. But if the idiots make him a martyr and then decide to elect Jnr or Ivanka it may take a while before they realise they each have just one living brain cell between them. So you may have to suffer until 2028.
    Hugs

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  9. Again and again, I find myself asking … how long can this go on? Must we endure this *crap* until…

    Nan,

    I completely empathize with your justified annoyance with people WILLINGLY checking out of reality when that reality doesn’t suit their own perceptions of what it should be or what makes them happy/satisfied in this life. There are several psychiatric diagnoses in the DSM-5 that accurately describe their mental and/or cognitive condition. The general diagnosis or the umbrella diagnosis that covers the many specific variants is called simply: Delusional Disorder – DSM-5 297.1 (F22). This disorder has many forms, many manifestations and can last from 1-month to 1-year even thru a person’s adult life beginning typically in their teen years or their twenties. It is much more common in the world than most everyone realizes. I’m dead serious too.

    There are also lesser forms of Delusional Disorder that are a bit more difficult to diagnose not just by medical professionals somewhat familiar with psychiatry and psychology, but by the specialists within psychiatry and psychology as well. But THOSE particular people/patients must be surrounded by people already very familiar with the disorder’s many forms and manifestations. IOW, people NOT somehow directly or indirectly associated with medical-social sciences nor the psych field will never recognize the signs and symptoms of the lesser forms/variants of Delusional Disorder.

    Furthermore, consider how many millions of modern people living today wholeheartedly believe (with life-risking conviction) that a 2000+ year old Jewish Rabbi Reformer was executed, buried, rose from the dead, and still today lurks in Earth’s atmosphere everywhere still alive in the form of a Holy Spirit in the aether. And those millions of people are not the only group of millions that believe similar ancient scams.

    You asked how long can this go on? How much must the mentally healthy endure with the crowds of delusionally disordered? My answer is probably several more centuries if not one or two more millenia. Because we Homo sapiens keep teaching bogus fairy-tales to our children and grandchildren, generation after generation over and over and over, AND we are a gregarious Herd-mentality species EVEN WHEN belonging to that herd takes us over lethal cliffs constantly… this mental disorder with keep perpetuating. It is very sad indeed. 😔

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  10. Nan, along the same lines here with this blog, did you see/read Heather’s newest post for July 14th… about Republican-dominated Tennessee flat-out stopping and refusing to push or do anymore COVID-19 vaccinations statewide? And only some 38% of the state’s population are FULLY vaccinated! Holy EFFIN BONE-HEAD STUPIDITY is that!!!? 🤦‍♂️

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    • Kinda makes you wonder how this kind of science denialism has come to be a politically astute move, doesn’t it?

      This where the highly touted and widely respected ‘agnosticism’ position shows its public virtue… not like those strident and angry and intolerant infectious disease scientists!

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    • Not only that, covid cases are up 141% right now in Tn, and unnervingly spiking across the country. Perfect timing to put a hold on vaccinations. Just freaking perfect. (as I understand it, it is mainly to keep kids from getting vaccinated, adults I believe can still get them.)

      Morons. Morons. Morons. Morons everywhere you look. All suffering from Fauxnewsitis brainrot. And I live among them.

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      • It begs the maddening response, AGAIN… “Here we go again. I told you so!” 🤦‍♂️

        (in a frustrated whisper…) “Governor Bill Lee, recall all of the extra morticians and way-overworked frontline medical staffers. Start pumping out more PPE’s too! OH! And tell Pfizer, Moderna, and the others to invent new booster shots or worse still… a whole new effective(?) vaccine in less than 8-months!”

        When will we ever learn to get OFF of the merry-go-round of repeating history? 🙄

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      • Shell,

        You and Tennessee are not the only state with widespread MORONIC IDIOCY running rampant. Grrrrr, only 48.5% of Texans have been fully vaccinated. 🤦‍♂️ Oh! And looky here…

        Austin [Texas] announces stricter coronavirus protocols for unvaccinated residents as cases increase. But it can’t legally enforce them.

        The city’s return to Stage 3 risk-based guidelines marks the first time a major Texas city has reversed direction in the trend toward normalcy. But others are also reporting surges in cases.*

        As if this outcome/trend is a total shock. 🙄 It’s like 51.5% of Texans said “OH DAYUM! When doctors said you must have oxygen tanks to breath under water and survive, they [blurp, blurpy choaking] were dead se-… (silence).”

        [Shaking my head] Is the 2006 film “Idiocracy” really coming true? 😬

        * – Source: https://www.texastribune.org/2021/07/15/coronavirus-texas-austin-protocols/

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        • The top states for vaccination rates were mostly in the NE, New England (Vermont was #1) area and the bottom were you got it, mostly in the South.

          Simple to me is trump will remain until his death as leader of the moron koolaid drinking cult and it’s because of three things alone…racism, religion and greed.

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        • While I am somewhat relieved, in some odd way, that Texas also has a high proportion of morons, I’m still trying to figure out how that helps me here! 😉

          It is nice to know though, I have brothers and sisters feeling my pain. 🙂

          I seem to recall that Tn. is right at 38% fully vaccinated, and a whopping 42% with one dose. So by that measure, I have more morons than you! But for some reason I feel no pleasure knowing that…

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      • We all do, SD. There are antivaxxers at my place of employment in Cali. They all have “websites” that “prove” the vaccines are deadly. Or, like my brother (who did get vaccinated finally) follow wacky day trader/conspiracy sites like Zero Hedge and this one thread proves that the BigPharma is bad. Of course, he buys chemicals from “life extension” companies on the web, but that is different.

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        • Yes, the website defense. I saw/read/or heard on the internet, so it must be true!

          Manipulation of gullibles apparently isn’t very difficult. I sometimes wonder if politicians have behind the scenes seminars, that coach them in how to use weasel words, fallacies, evasions, and lies…

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  11. A dead D. J. Trump will not make any difference in our situation. The Christian Nationalists have turned him into Jesus 2.0, so they will be selling his resurrection. We have had all these white supremacist groups around for a long time. Trump served as their figurehead and the source of power they needed to get their people into positions in the government. Steve Bannon announced in April of 2017 their intention to ‘deconstruct the administrative state,’ and it is obvious from the early appointments that the plan was fully engaged. Trump hardly knew any of the people he appointed, but some of his people like Mnuchin and Kudlow coached and coaxed his choices. The Federalist Society provided a list of candidates for Justices and probably other key positions.

    Yesterday I heard a commentator when asked about legislation go directly to talking about the next election, and that is a problem. “The next election” is a problem for both parties and it is easy to check on the source of their major donors. It is always from business interests who want input into legislation. That commentator’s subject was the importance of the 2022 election, and the consequences of Republicans gaining control of either chamber or the White House. I get the point, but I don’t see why we can’t have legislation passed in the intervening two years.

    The strategy of the Democrats seems to be to wait and see what The Republicans want to do. Republicans want to cut taxes to the point that the budget can only handle the salaries of legislators. They intend to keep society in an uproar for the next two years, at least. We can do away with the notion that all these Trump/GOP supporters are simply delusional. There may be a small portion who actually believe the big lie, but most of them know the truth and only want to bring this democracy to an end.

    How can we tell who is working to protect democracy and who is working to destroy it?
    Watch what they do. Watch the nature of the legislation. Who it benefits is a telling marker.

    “Crisis is the rallying cry of the tyrant.”
    James Madison

    The Trumpsters, the church, and the Republicans have manufactured the election crisis. McConnell refused to fund a bill that would have ensured election integrity. New voter suppression laws are being written on the basis of that non-crisis.

    “If our nation is ever taken over, it will be taken over from within.”
    James Madison

    All those people who stormed the capitol building waved and were draped in the American flag along with the Trump flag. They carried bibles and prayed in the name of Jesus, but they acted in the name of Trump. They call themselves patriots and keepers of the faith but they’re enemies of the republic. We have preachers declaring what a wonderful nation we would be if Christians were in charge, while Christians are leading in this insurrection effort. Recall the desperate urgency to get the conservative activist judges installed on the Supreme Court and the lower courts. They can now legislate from the bench.

    Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. English Revised Version

    It will end when we finally become an out-right democracy, or when democracy is destroyed and we have a theocracy or some other dictatorship in its place. Sometimes we can’t appreciate a thing until we stand to lose it. How much we love democracy will determine what kind of fight we have to save it.

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  12. Just as a point of interest: notice how there are very few popular comedians these days, and none I can think of making fun of the Democrats? Doesn’t that strike one as rather… odd?

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    • It is hard to come up with a good routine when your “victim” is pathetic. Trump was perfect for comedians. Made to order because he is/was such a malignant buffoon. How can one even develop any energy about a comedy routine focusing on Nancy Pelosi? Or Chuck Schumer? There is nothing there. Vanilla is bad television!

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      • Personally, I don’t agree that Pelosi would make a good target. Sure, she’s on “our side,” but she lacks a WHOLE lot in personality and stage presence in her “vanilla” announcements.

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    • I think the idea that “we used to be a nation of common sense” is seriously a-historical. The Know Nothing Party, the Indian genocide, the Civil War, the religious mania of the “Great Awakening” and the Burnt Over Country, the Chinese Exclusion Act, an African American is only 3/5 of a white male, Prohibition, dropping a nuclear bomb on not one but two cities of little military significance, the Vietnam War the War on (Some) Drugs, the invention of Mormonism, Scientology, and snake handling Pentecostalism.

      A history bereft of “common” sense. We have survived it all. Can we survive the current craziness? I am not sure. 108 degrees in SEATTLE, for gawd;s sake.

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      • Yes, 108 degrees in Seattle, 130 degrees in Death Valley and much worse to come, count on it. And where’s the accountability? The scientific community has been seeing this coming and warning the world at large for 60 – 70 years and the industrial power brokers have fought it tooth and nail. Paying scientists to betray peer-reviewed data overwhelmingly accepted by the pertinent scientific communities in order to scare the be-jeezus out of a massive job market and maintain political power should be, in a truly just nation, against the law. And they’re now going to, what, skate?

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    • I don’t think we were EVER a “nation of common sense” Jim, in any legitimate way or in any era. Americans are a blind people; blind to our own past – very purposefully so; witness the rampant and fervid opposition to CRT – blind to our most debased past, present and, almost certainly, future and much, much more. And most regrettably, blind to our embarrassingly obvious racist impulses. Todays’ United States is a country where a major political party may explicitly and blatantly lie about the outcome of an election in order to utilize that lie as propaganda and facilitate the passage of voting restrictions that specifically serve to obstruct the free access of people of color to the polls. Most incredibly, this occurs with the assistance and complicity of a major national cable network! They don’t even try to hide their racism anymore. Texas is already the most difficult state in the country in which to vote but that’s not going to stop them from making it exponentially more difficult specifically for people of color. And a large portion of our population doesn’t even have the stones to admit it even while they silently acquiesce.

      We have much to atone for but we aren’t willing to even stop to consider the notion for even a minute. The “other side” however, is quite content to simply re-write history with their “alternative facts”; the ones with which they are most comfortable. Where’s the common sense in that? How does a nation move forward when they continue to deny their past? Especially when everyone else at the party already knows all your dirty secret? Perhaps it’s “Deep In the Heart of Racist Texas”.

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          • Except, again, the left’s wackaloons don’t control any political party. Sheer insanity is not the centerpiece of the Democratic Party platform. I am as skeptical of the “lesser party of Wall Street, war, and God” as anyone, but the rot is not as deep, the insanity not as shrill.

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          • This is true, we’re constantly hearing about these false equivalences and they are just that; FALSE. The left is NOT composed primarily of these wackos as is the right; racists, homophobic, anti-Semitic, white Christians.

            Nice….

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          • *sigh*

            Au contraire… almost.

            The entire woke movement is deeply racist. Has nobody noticed that teens are no longer gay (lesbian is the worst slur one can hurl at another young woman these days) but expected to be in some transitional state having to do with gender? Anti-Semitism is rampant on the Left and endorsed certainly by the Squad in policy wherever possible. It is endorsed and excused by the many people who are well known and influential Democrats like Linda Sarsour. It is rampant on every campus in the form of vilifying all things Israeli, and it is rampant throughout both legacy and social media to the applause of most people on the Left who simply don’t grasp that the rates of hate crimes against Jews dwarf ALL other identifiable minorities year after year after year. It is rampant throughout feminist organizations who fall under the sway of justifying women’s oppression and respecting any culture or belief if they are POC yet hold Jews responsible and therefore immoral for all problematic things Palestinian. It is rampant across Europe on the Left starting with British Labour and very strong in France.

            The only part that I think has some merit is the notion that assigns (at least the more fundamental sects of) white Christians more to the Right. The rise of the Nones as the largest group by far compared to any religious affiliation is very much a feature of the Left.

            So if you’re going to call these folk ‘whacko’ than that should start with recognizing their profoundly influential role from the rank and file of the Left these days.

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      • Zing! You most definitely zoomed in on the current state of politics. What’s depressing is those that COULD be fighting all this are doing little more than wringing their hands. IOW, much talk but little action.

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