McCarthy threatens to strip GOP members of committee assignments if they accept an offer from Pelosi to serve on 1/6 commission
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday issued a blanket threat during a meeting with freshmen members of his caucus that he would strip any Republican member of their committee assignments if they accept an offer from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to serve on the select committee to investigate the January 6 insurrection, according to two GOP sources with knowledge of the matter.
McCarthy's threat comes after the House voted to establish the committee. Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois were the only two Republican members to vote in favor of its formation. It's not yet clear whether Pelosi will appoint Republicans to the commission, but the threat from McCarthy underscores how he feels about any members accepting an offer from the Democrats to serve on the committee.
Pelosi made the move to establish the committee after Senate Republicans blocked the formation of a bipartisan commission to investigate the attack on the US Capitol.
Punchbowl News was first to report McCarthy's threat.
After Wednesday's vote, McCarthy refused to say if he will cooperate and offer up members to serve on the committee, telling CNN, "It seems pretty political to me." He did not respond when CNN asked if that meant he would not appoint anyone.
Under the House's resolution, Pelosi will appoint eight members to the commission and McCarthy has five slots he can fill "in consultation" with Pelosi -- meaning the House speaker could veto his selections.
Asked Tuesday if she would consider vetoing McCarthy's selections if they had voted to overturn President Joe Biden's electoral win, Pelosi said, "We'll see. We'll see who they nominate."
Cheney, the former No. 3 House Republican, on Wednesday wouldn't answer when asked if she had any conversations she may have had with Pelosi about serving on the select committee, telling CNN, "It's all up to the speaker." A source familiar with the matter said the Wyoming Republican hasn't spoken to Pelosi yet about serving on the committee.
"Our nation, and the families of the brave law enforcement officers who were injured defending us or died following the attack, deserve answers," Cheney said Wednesday. "I believe this select committee is our only remaining option."
Kinzinger said if asked to serve on the committee he would consider it.
"It's not necessarily anything I look forward to doing, but if I thought my voice was needed to get to the bottom of it, it would be something I would be open to," he told a local TV station Wednesday.
There is zero shame left. When they decide to do a cover up, they now make intimidating and threatening politicians in their own party part of the public record and their supporters stand by and say nothing.
Aside from the substantive issue that is being dealt with, I think what bothers me is the top-down dynamic where members are punished by a larger political machine for doing something that is not in that political machine’s best interest.
That is not how this government was intended to function. All representatives should vote with the forefront of what their district needs from them and the country as a whole. So what if there’s plurality?? That’s how our government was designed. Not “vote this way or else!”
We need to stop calling them Trumpians, a cult, and all those other fitting names and just start calling them OfDonald... He has them all wearing red capes and dresses now. So when one of them puts up an argument, whataboutism, or tries to roll their eyes at you, just remember what they are going through and who they have become... OfDonalds.
Have you seen the Q theory that McAfee owned either a condo in the building or the building... And that McAfee had evidence of government wrong doing and it was hidden under the building which is now gone.... And McAfee killed himself in prison....
Well if Trump goes away we will all starve don't ya know! That's right, crops need sunshine and the ignorant QOP thinks the sun rises and sets in Trump's ass.
The thing I worry about most is those fools that follow a pastor like this guy... They are capable of inflicting great harm of folks... Just because they don't think or believe the same things. These are, IMO, really stupid people
It’s not a church they attend. It’s an indoctrination center for the mentally unstable. Truth be told every moment they spend in that man’s prescience gets them further from God.
I don't believe the Pastor represents the GOP - there are lunatics everywhere. BUT ... what is troubling, instead of 1% or 2% of the "Right" thinking this is okay or believable - I think the pastor probably resonates with a much higher % of GOPers. And if you omit the simply bat chit crazy stuff - 30% believe the election was stolen. Despite no evidence. Despite 80+ court cases. Despite the Ninja's agenda driven partisan "audit" (that is not an audit). Despite Barr and Moscow Mitch and various Republicans who were in charge of state elections ... all saying Biden won fair and square.
And if you omit the simply bat chit crazy stuff - 30% believe the election was stolen.
Correction... 30% Democrats.
Rasmussen Reports @Rasmussen_Poll · Nov 20, 2020 Huge: "How likely is it that Democrats stole votes or destroyed pro-Trump ballots in several states to ensure that Biden would win?"
Democrats - 30% - 20% say Very Likely (VL) Unaffiliated - 39% - 29% say VL Republicans - 75% - 61% say VL All Voters - 47% - 36% say VL
White supremacist group marches through Philadelphia before Fourth of July celebrations
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Police say scores of members of a group described by the Anti-Defamation League as white supremacist marched in Philadelphia over the weekend, clashing with pedestrians and setting off what were believed to be smoke bombs at one point.
The group of Patriot Front members, estimated at 150 to 200 people, marched for several blocks in Center City on Saturday evening wearing tan pants and black shirts with face coverings and carrying shields and flags. Police said they were chanting slogans such as "Reclaim America" and "The election was stolen."
Police said pedestrians "engaged members of the group verbally" and there were several physical encounters. Finally, someone from the group used what police believe were smoke bombs "to cover their retreat as they fled," police said.
Police said no one in the group was from Philadelphia. The group is based in Texas and traveled into the city.
Action News was the only crew on the scene as the group marched down the Ben Franklin Parkway, across Market, Chestnut and Walnut streets before arriving at Penn's Landing.
Police said pedestrians "engaged members of the group verbally" and there were several physical encounters.
Several onlookers began yelling at the group and banged on trucks as they loaded into their vehicles and drove off.
Police said some of the angry onlookers scared off the white supremacists.
"They started engaging with citizens of Philadelphia, who were none too happy about what they were saying. These males felt threatened, and, at one point, somebody in their crowd threw a type of smoke bomb to cover their retreat, and they literally ran away from the people of Philadelphia," said Philadelphia Police Officer Michael Crum.
Police later questioned the entire radical group after pulling their trucks over for safety reasons along Delaware Avenue.
Police didn't announce any arrests and said there were no reports of any damage or injuries during the march, which came on the eve of Jill Biden's visit to the city for Independence Day festivities.
The Anti-Defamation League calls the Texas-based group "a white supremacist group" that "espouses racism, anti-Semitism and intolerance under the guise of preserving the 'ethnic and cultural origins' of their European ancestors." It also says the group "participates in localized 'flash mobs' and torch marches/demonstrations."
Every time one of these neo-fascists calls me a 'libtard', an imaginary recording in a severely mentally handicapped voice plays the word in my head with an image of the nazi saying it. I'll never understand how pinheaded people think that slur hurts our feelings when it's actually a badge of honor. I mean you can't be more right or ethical than being a liberal today. Any idiot should be able to see that.
It is rather odd when your parents raise you as a Christian, they teach you to love your neighbor, be kind to others and that we should help those less fortunate and be thankful and care for all the blessings God has granted us.
Then when you get old enough to vote and support candidates that call for taking care of the planet, providing for the poor and helping the less fortunate we're not actually supposed to support those things and everyone who does is a filthy libtard.
Mike Lindell Sets August Date for Bonkers Trump Reinstatement Theory: ‘Let’s Get These Communists Out!’
Continuing to tout the latest 2020 election conspiracy theory, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has set a date for Donald Trump’s alleged return to office this summer.
“The morning of August 13, it will be the talk of the world, going, ‘Hurry up! Let’s get this election pulled down,” he told Brannon Howse of Worldview Weekend Broadcast Network. “Let’s right the right. Let’s get these communists out, you know that have taken over.”
According to media watchdog Patriot Takes, which flagged the clip on Twitter, Lindell also claimed, “there will be many down-ticket senators that will have different election results.”
“You’ll see when I say that, and they’ll say what’s going to happen to all the people that were involved. I don’t know, right now the biggest concern is getting this election pulled on,” Lindell added. “Donald Trump won. It’s pretty simple, ok?”
Lindell made the claim as a conspiracy theory claiming Trump will be reinstated this summer becomes more popular. The theory, also pushed by pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell, gained media attention once Lindell made the claim on Steve Bannon’s War Room: Pandemic.
“Donald Trump, I believe, will be back in by the end of August,” he said, adding that liberals like Rachel Maddow will admit that the election was stolen from the former president.
Not that I am a big believer it would or should, but just wonder what would happen if it did turn out the election was rigged? If not this election, then any election.
I will have to look around. I am sure that somewhere, sometime a candidate was elected when in fact the opponent won.
There are two things I think one must consider. The first being common sense. No court in the land, including the SCOTUS found any merit in terms of election fraud. Republican election officials confirmed their votes in some cases like Ga. and Arizona. Even Trump's hand picker AG, Barr stated there was nothing to show any wide spread voter fraud. Just looking at the crazy BS they've come up with alone makes no sense. There's nothing to actually base this on except Trump's screaming and some of his shills jumping on board for fear of losing their political careers and creating chaos.
I mean, what if cows could fly and we all have to start dodging cow dung? That's also a what if that makes no sense.
The first thing that comes to me mind as far the outcome of our elections is the presidential election of 1876 between Tilden and Hayes. From what I've seen there was pretty much a backroom deal to decide the victor. However I don't think there was a question of voter fraud involved.
While you do have a point about presidents not winning with the majority of the vote, , most of them were elected when there were more than two major parties running for president. I will use the Wig party as an example. Most of the time when only two parties dominated politics, the majority of our citizens did vote for the winner. Yet now we've had presidents who received the minority of the vote elected only twenty years apart. Context means quite a bit.
What you need to appreciate is that there is a difference between hypothesis and evidence.
We have a lot of people making a hypothesis, which is politically motivated speculation at best.
Evidence would be in the form of police/FBI/DOJ investigations and charges.
The only thing that comes up has been single case substitute voting, for a dead parent, generally by the Republicans. No real evidence of vote tally changing, ballot box stuffing or any of the other systemic activities that would change election results.
Hugo Chavez is still wondering how the hell did he get dragged into the discussion after being dead for 10 or so years.
The terms of service agreement doesn't apply to him. Just ask him. Simply more red meat with zero substance for his base. Now let's watch all of those who claimed they stand for the rights of business to change their views.
Fact check: Untethered to reality, Trump lies over and over about the 2020 election at CPAC
He’s still repeating his favorite old lies, those eternal chestnuts about the size of the trade deficit with China and the legitimacy of the Russia investigation and how many immigrants show up for their court hearings.
But former President Donald Trump’s current dishonesty is overwhelmingly focused on a single subject: the 2020 election he lost eight months ago but won’t stop lying that he won.
In a rambling Sunday address to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas, Trump returned again and again to election-related lies – some of them detailed and wrong, most of them vague and wrong.
What can you even say about claims so disconnected from reality? Here’s a brief fact check of eight of them.
Trump: “And we were doing so well until the rigged election happened to come along. We were doing really well.”
The election was not rigged. Trump lost fair and square.
Trump: “Unfortunately, this was an election where the person that counts the votes was far more important than the candidate, no matter how many votes that candidate got – and we got record numbers of votes.”
Joe Biden was the candidate who earned a record number of votes: more than 81 million. Trump earned more than 74 million votes – a record for a sitting president, but that’s not what Trump said here.
Trump: “You know, the New York Times asked me a question: ‘What happened in 2020 – that was different from 2016.’ I said, ‘Well I’ll tell you: we did much better in 2020 and we got 12 million more votes. We won by a much bigger margin.”
Trump lost. Biden beat him by 74 votes in the Electoral College, 306 to 232, and by more than 7 million votes in the national popular vote.
Trump did receive about 11.2 million more votes than he did in 2016 – side note: that doesn’t round to “12 million” – but Biden received about 15.4 million more votes than Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton got in 2016.
Trump: “Every time the media references the election hoax. they say the fraud is: ‘Unproven! And while there is no evidence…’ No evidence? No evidence? There’s so much evidence.”
There was no election hoax. And while there were some scattered cases of fraud, including some by Trump supporters, there is indeed no evidence of widespread fraud or outcome-altering fraud – as Republican elections officials in various states, Trump-appointed former Attorney General William Barr, and numerous others have pointed out.
Trump: “…the Justice Department, they failed to call out a late-night ballot stuffing that took place in Georgia, remember that? Where they made up a story of a water main break in order to get people and security to leave the premises. And then they went into a rampage of stuffing, essentially, the ballots.”
There was no ballot “stuffing” at an elections facility in Georgia. While initial reports of a burst pipe or broken water main at State Farm Arena did turn out to be inaccurate – the reality was that a urinal had overflowed – Trump’s claim that local elections workers proceeded to stuff the ballot box has been debunked by the office of Georgia’s Republican elections chief, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
Trump: “They deleted, Georgia, over 100,000 votes.”
Didn’t happen. Rather, Raffensperger announced in June that more than 100,000 names would be deleted from Georgia’s voter registration rolls to keep the state’s voter files “up to date,” saying “there is no legitimate reason to keep ineligible voters on the rolls.” That is not even close to the same thing as deleting actual votes.
Trump: “The drop boxes were off very late. ‘Where are they? Where are they? What happened?’ They’re supposed to be – they’re not. I could tell you what happened. Sometimes late by days in showing up to the vote-counting areas.”
There is no evidence that ballot drop boxes were delivered improperly late. There is no evidence for Trump’s suggestion that something nefarious happened with ballot drop boxes.
Trump: “Detroit was so corrupt.”
There is no evidence that Detroit was “corrupt” in the 2020 election. In fact, a Republican-led investigation debunked some of Trump allies’ false claims about what happened in Detroit, such as their inaccurate assertion that large numbers of ballots were cast in the names of deceased Detroit residents.
Just remember as you attempt to blast Biden, this is what your party has turned into and why Biden is our president. Trump is still your leader. And as long as you remain silent about the lies he spreads and the things he says, you will never get your party back.
American Conservative Union: YouTube Canceled CPAC Live Stream
By Sandy Fitzgerald
Monday, 12 July 2021
The American Conservative Union says YouTube effectively canceled its ability to live stream former President Donald Trump's Sunday speech or any of the rest of the organization's "America UnCanceled" Conservative Political Action Conference over the weekend because it had posted a video Friday showing Trump announcing his class-action lawsuit against Big Tech.
“It is clear that YouTube censored CPAC because we stood with former President Donald Trump on his lawsuit against Big Tech,” ACU Chairman Matt Schlapp said in a statement.
"This is yet another example of Big Tech censoring content with which they disagree in order to promote the political positions they favor.”
The ACU says it learned its account was frozen for seven days after it aired the Trump announcement detailing the lawsuits he filed against Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, which is YouTube's parent company, as well as the CEOs of Facebook and Twitter, reports The Washington Times.
According to the ACU, YouTube informed it in a note that it removed the July 9 episode of its America UnCanceled program for "medical misinformation" and had issued the week-long ban.
In its statement, ACU said that it believes "YouTube was offended by sound medical research conducted by the Smith Center for Infectious Diseases & Urban Health and Saint Barnabas Medical Center. Former President Donald Trump referenced the study in the video that YouTube removed, saying, 'doctors and medical groups have been barred from these platforms for posting about therapeutics such as hydroxychloroquine … now, most recent studies say (the drug is) effective in combating the virus.'"
By blocking the CPAC live stream, "clearly, Google’s political biases heavily influence YouTube’s definitions of 'misinformation' and that the political beliefs of Google executives take priority over the free speech rights of Google users," the ACU concluded in its statement.
Last week, the organization announced it is joining with several other organizations in the class-action lawsuit.
“It is my honor to stand alongside President Trump and the brave citizens from across the country who had the courage to stand up to Big Tech, even though they have little power, except for their rights enshrined in the Constitution, including the First Amendment, which is the birthright of every American,” said Schlapp. "This lawsuit will break the stranglehold Big Tech has over our freedom to speak.”
The organization also says Google removed videos of Trump's speech from the CPAC event held in February.
"Prior to the videos of President Donald Trump’s CPAC 2021 speech being removed by Google, they had received 31 million views on Google’s YouTube platform," the ACU said. "YouTube representatives told ACU that the speech was removed because ACU did not offer context on what YouTube determined to be 'election disinformation.'"
I think understanding things is very important and getting answers is important where I see a mistake is we can't allow it to be a distraction from the work that needs to be done to improve lives.
I see people struggling while we debate and lose focus on their struggles. I see climate issues that are on the verge of consuming us and I see us engaged in a battle at the expense of these issues because we are being distracted away from what at the end of the day has so harmed our country and people.
I have also learned to that when it comes to the major issues facing our country regardless of political identity we agree far more then we don't. I have a friend who we are at opposite ends of the political spectrum on choice of leadership. But where we agree is on the absolute need to address political corruption which in reality tells me that if we could get a handle on just that issue we could fix everything else in short order.
But when it comes to healthcare we agree. When it comes to personal freedom, jobs, environment and on and on we agree. I avoid the old pit falls and I encourage him to do the same. One of the greatest threats to progress is to fight over things we will never agree on mostly abortion and guns. They are a waste of time. Sure at some point we do need to have a very serious talk about both issues but what they have repeatedly done is got us all fighting with each other and what ends up happening is we never make progress on the issues we do agree on and what happens we get nothing done. What I have learned from this is we can talk again our friendship is stronger then it has ever been and we have a newfound respect for each other. Stop spending so much time in losing fights where neither of us truly win and start working toegther to change the issues and things we agree on.
I personally believe that politicians will always pull out the old abortion/gun fight whenever they want to distract us away from what they are up to, or away from any issue where the will of the people points in a direction that is counter to the political owners interests.
If you notice we can't get real change when it comes to healthcare but we can get the president to take our money and give it away to the insurance company so we can afford insurance and it goes on and on. We get band aides and we are bleeding to death. But if we stay focus demand change on the issues we agree on and resist fighting over what we don't agree on we can come together and that is IMO what we must do.
attacks on 1st amendment rights should never be applauded.
No one is attacking donny’s right to blather on about his MASSIVE defeat at the hands of Biden. He can still lie his fat arse off all he wants. He can stand on the top of his gaudy trump tower and scream until his bloated orange face turns red. No one will stop him. It’s his right. Facebook owes him nothing. It doesn’t have to give him a platform to spread his garbage. This is their right as a private business. No one is stopping donny from his right to speak freely. He can hold rallies. Scream into a mirror. Tell Ivanka that he’s still president. Cry it into a bucket of KFC. OR YELL IT INTO A DRIVE THROUGH WINDOW AT MCDONALDS!! He has options. He has free speech. How hard is this to understand?
They think it's a violation of his right to free speech to be booted from big social media because he has howled like a neutered dog since it happened.
I have a buddy that’s in Zuck’s jail right now. This is like the 3rd time in just a couple of months he’s been suspended. He knows why it happened. He realizes his calling some knuckledragger out for spreading antivax nonsense got him another 30 FB free vacation. He also knows he’s heading for a longer ban if he doesn’t better control himself. It’s fairly easy to understand. You get the boot for breaking their rules. Donny can’t help himself and stop lying. Zuck gave him the boot. What will be will be.
attacks on 1st amendment rights should never be applauded.
Boo Hoo You can’t run into public building and scream “FIRE!!!” You’ll be arrested for inciting a panic. This is more about spreading false information than our constitutional rights. Get a grip on your trump bromance and lower your trump flag to half staff.
attacks on 1st amendment rights should never be applauded.
No one is attacking donny’s right to blather on about his MASSIVE defeat at the hands of Biden. He can still lie his fat arse off all he wants. He can stand on the top of his gaudy trump tower and scream until his bloated orange face turns red. No one will stop him. It’s his right. Facebook owes him nothing. It doesn’t have to give him a platform to spread his garbage. This is their right as a private business. No one is stopping donny from his right to speak freely. He can hold rallies. Scream into a mirror. Tell Ivanka that he’s still president. Cry it into a bucket of KFC. OR YELL IT INTO A DRIVE THROUGH WINDOW AT MCDONALDS!! He has options. He has free speech. How hard is this to understand?
I don't know that media outlets can claim being a private business. If so, it's pretty dangerous if they decide what is printed or said. The same goes for political affiliations.
Again Boo Hoo. You can’t be allowed to continually spread lies and false information about our election outcomes. He got his butt handed to him by Biden and Donny can’t let it go. Boo Hoo
I don't know that media outlets can claim being a private business. If so, it's pretty dangerous if they decide what is printed or said. The same goes for political affiliations.
I think all of that will come to a head in time.
Question...do you really want that?
If that was what they were doing, no. But it isn't.
When you join any social media site, you agree on terms of service. Even Dawgtalkers has rules, that if you break, you get suspended for. So should PPE have no rules and everyone can just say or post anything they want to?
Their are limitations to free speech. And when you say things to incite violence along with other guidelines, that earns you a suspension. The more often and egregious that violation, the longer that suspension.
Agreeing to those terms of service guidelines when you join a social media site is very much like a contract. You sound as though you don't believe people should be expected to live up to their contracts, their word or anything else that measures their responsibilities. That sounds like how many such as yourself describe liberals. Nobody is "limiting your free speech" when they refuse to allow you to spread and say vicious things that incite violence. I understand that expecting Trump and his ilk to stop inciting violence seems like something you refuse to condone. But maybe that's a you problem and not a free speech issue.
And this isn't some new ground. The courts have decided on similar cases before. Unlike yourself, they have sided with the fact you agreed to certain rules and guidelines and you are expected to live up to that agreement. Tell you what, the next time anyone gets banned from this board, Complain to PPE that he's infringing on that posters freeedom of speech and see how far that gets you.
Free Speech and the Regulation of SocialMediaContent
BTW- This isn't some left wing media site as people love to dismiss without even looking at it. It actually shows legal ways posting on social media may or may not be considered a free speech issue. I actually think you would like it.
But allow me to pose this to you. I understand that comparing Dawgtalkers to FB may seem like comparing apples to oranges in your eyes. But consider a few things here. Both are internet platforms. Both allow you to post on about any subject you wish. Both are open to the public and anyone can join.
The big difference is that FB, Twitter and youtube have become very successful platforms with millions of users. They have more gadgets let's say in posting links and such.
So it appears on the surface that you're not against people having the ability to to have guidelines to what is posted on their sites, but you somehow think if someone is very successful at it only then are their rights somehow less that a site with far less users.
So I say again, they are more successful at it. And should we limit the rights of business because some morons think every meme on FB is news?
They do have posts by media outlets where you can hit the link in order to reach a news site. But that's an entirely different thing. We can post stories and give links to news web sites here as well.
As long as we carry it through. We seem eager to limit the rights of a business who makes guns as an example because of some of the morons you mention.
I have already liked and said I don't disagree at this point. All I am saying is it is something that probably needs to be changed because more than just morons use those services in a trusted way.
Who is "we"? And are people trying to limit the rights of business or making them accountable? In the case of guns I agree that trying to make gun manufacturers responsible for the actions their customers take by using their guns is moronic.
But I also think trying to force social media to allow anyone, to say anything, at any time, even to the point of inciting violence and causing an insurrection is moronic too.
I can see a certain amount of morons on both sides.
Trump unloads on Kavanaugh in new Michael Wolff book
Former President Donald Trump, in a book out Tuesday by Michael Wolff, says he is "very disappointed" in votes by Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, his own hard-won nominee, and that he "hasn’t had the courage you need to be a great justice."
Driving the news: "There were so many others I could have appointed, and everyone wanted me to," Trump told Wolff in an interview for the cheekily titled "Landslide."
"Where would he be without me? I saved his life. He wouldn't even be in a law firm. Who would have had him? Nobody. Totally disgraced. Only I saved him."
Between the lines: After the election, as Axios' Jonathan Swan reported in his "Off the Rails" series, Trump saved his worst venom for people who he believed owed him because he got them their jobs.
He would rant endlessly about the treachery of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, reminding people of how he shot up in the primary polls after Trump endorsed him. Over lunches in the private dining room adjoining the Oval Office, Trump used to reminisce about how he saved Kavanaugh by sticking by him. For Kavanaugh to not do Trump’s bidding on the matter of ultimate importance — overturning the election — was, in Trump's mind, a betrayal of the highest order.
Wolff writes that Trump feels betrayed by all three justices he put on the court, including Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, but "reserved particular bile for Kavanaugh."
Recalling the brutal confirmation fight, Trump said: "Practically every senator called me ... and said, 'Cut him loose, sir, cut him loose. He’s killing us, Kavanaugh.' ... I said, 'I can’t do that.'" "I had plenty of time to pick somebody else," Trump continued. "I went through that thing and fought like hell for Kavanaugh — and I saved his life, and I saved his career. At great expense to myself ... okay? I fought for that guy and kept him."
"I don’t want anything ... but I am very disappointed in him, in his rulings," Trump said.
"I can’t even believe what's happening. I'm very disappointed in Kavanaugh. I just told you something I haven’t told a lot of people. In retrospect, he just hasn't had the courage you need to be a great justice. I’m basing this on more than just the election."
Wolff gives an entertaining account of what it was like for the book authors who were given Trump interviews at Mar-a-Lago:
It's called the Living Room, but it's in fact the Mar-a-Lago lobby, a vaulted-ceiling rococo grand entrance, part hunting lodge, part Renaissance palazzo. But it is really the throne room. ... He sits, in regulation dark suit and shiny baby-blue or fire-red tie, on a low chair in the center of the room, his legs almost daintily curled to the side, seeing a lineup of supplicants or chatting on the phone, all public conversations.
And why would Trump talk to Wolff, who wrote two earlier bestsellers with devastating accounts of Trump dysfunction?
"The fact that he was talking to me might only reasonably be explained by his absolute belief that his voice alone has reality-altering powers," Wolff writes. Trump told Wolff: "I don’t blame you. I blame my people."
I finally agree with trump on something! Kavanaugh isn’t fit for the job. Too bad it’s taken the Don this long to see that he never should have been raised to that level.
That all depends on which "Don" you agree with. The Don that nominated him and claimed he was the most fit person to hold the position. Or the Don that now attacks him because he didn't do everything he wanted him to do. You know, the two faces of Don.
Kavanaugh, while leaning conservative, has been a remarkably non-partisan Justice. Despite what liberal doom-and-gloomers have been predicting, he's sided with the liberal justices on numerous occasions.
Trump is only saying he is unfit because Kavanaugh didn't 'come' and 'heel' when called.
Five Texas family members arrested in Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol
BORGER, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) – Among the latest arrests in the wake of the deadly Capitol riot on Jan. 6 are five members of the same Borger, Texas family.
While notable suspects have included a Florida pastor-and-son duo, this may be the largest group of relatives to face charges in the attack.
A tipster led FBI investigators to father Thomas “Tom” Munn, mother Dawn Munn, and their children, Joshua Munn, Kayli Munn and Kristi Munn, after spotting several Snapchat and Facebook posts on Kristi Munn’s account, according to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
One of the posts included the five family members – all tagged on Facebook – along with another family member, a minor child, who hasn’t been charged. The caption reads, “Washington D.C. here we come!! #StopTheSteal #TrumpIsMyPresident.”
The investigation revealed multiple videos and social media messages indicating that Kristi, Tom, Dawn, Josh, and Kayli Munn traveled from Borger to Washington D.C. and entered the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
The tipster alerted the FBI to two screenshots of Kristi Munn’s Facebook account and six screenshots of Kristi Munn’s Snapchat account, according to the criminal complaint.
Kristi Munn’s social media posts led investigators to the profiles of other family members, including Thomas Munn, who, according to the court document, posted on Dec. 28, 2020, “POTUS HAS REQUESTED YOUR ATTENDANCE WASHINGTON DC JANUARY 6TH 2021.” He allegedly added, “Our President has only asked two things from us so far… #1 Vote #2 January 6, 2021.”
On Jan. 5, investigators say another post on Munn’s account included what appeared to be the family’s trailer with the caption, “We made it to our hotel just outside DC… 1,600 miles in 24hrs! Passed this guy an hour ago…”
On Jan 6. Kayli Munn wrote in a Facebook conversation that the rally was “great,” adding, “Holy [expletive] we were inside the [expletive] (sic)capital!,” according to the document.
Investigators said they found another post on Dawn Munn’s messenger account to a person named Clara that read: “We went in and stormed the (sic)capital! … We were in (sic)capital!!! … I do mean IN the building!!”
The U.S. District Court said surveillance and social media video also shows the Munn family inside the Capitol building.
The family members face charges of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
I agree. I think Kavanaugh has shown to be very balanced.
I think Roberts has been masterful in his handling of the court. I believe he put much effort in to getting justices to maybe swing a bit off a perceived norm unless it was just a bellwether issue for them to show some unity in the court.
It isn't healthy when you keep getting split votes along what people see as partisan lines. Sometimes that is going to happen, and that's OK...but every decision can't be that way. Various laws aren't always constructed along political lines or constructed in such a manner that it is always going to produce a divided court.
I agree as well. Without speaking to the individual merits of the decisions themselves, I'm glad to see when justices actually go against the priorities of the people who appointed them, because you at least know that portion of the system is working.
In the end, it doesn't matter if a justice likes a law or not. They are there to determine if it meets constitutional scrutiny.
I get that some are disciples of a living document and others are more textual in belief...I being more textual...but it's hard for me to believe there can be all that much divide as often as it happens. I also find it hard to believe that you don't have more swing voters. With a few over the years it was almost as if they didn't even need to hear the case because you knew how they were going to decide.
In the end, it doesn't matter if a justice likes a law or not. They are there to determine if it meets constitutional scrutiny.
I get that some are disciples of a living document and others are more textual in belief...I being more textual...but it's hard for me to believe there can be all that much divide as often as it happens. I also find it hard to believe that you don't have more swing voters. With a few over the years it was almost as if they didn't even need to hear the case because you knew how they were going to decide.
If you believe that you be textual, then read the part about being amended. The founding fathers knew that they were not authors of scripture, and never, ever, intended the constitution to be viewed in that manner.
It is the most asinine point regarding our constitution that I have ever heard. I know that it is popular gospel among the conservatives, but it is total nonsense.
I'm glad to see when justices actually go against the priorities of the people who appointed them, because you at least know that portion of the system is working.
In the end, it doesn't matter if a justice likes a law or not. They are there to determine if it meets constitutional scrutiny.
I get that some are disciples of a living document and others are more textual in belief...I being more textual...but it's hard for me to believe there can be all that much divide as often as it happens. I also find it hard to believe that you don't have more swing voters. With a few over the years it was almost as if they didn't even need to hear the case because you knew how they were going to decide.
If you believe that you be textual, then read the part about being amended. The founding fathers knew that they were not authors of scripture, and never, ever, intended the constitution to be viewed in that manner.
It is the most asinine point regarding our constitution that I have ever heard. I know that it is popular gospel among the conservatives, but it is total nonsense.
Sorry pal, I have read the constitution plenty. Being textual doesn't mean it can't be amended. Go talk to someone else about being asinine and nonsensical.
I'm glad to see when justices actually go against the priorities of the people who appointed them, because you at least know that portion of the system is working.
When has that happened with Kagan and Sotomayor?
Just recently they voted with the majority, so it happened then.
Clarence Thomas sided with the liberal wing recently.
In the end, it doesn't matter if a justice likes a law or not. They are there to determine if it meets constitutional scrutiny.
I get that some are disciples of a living document and others are more textual in belief...I being more textual...but it's hard for me to believe there can be all that much divide as often as it happens. I also find it hard to believe that you don't have more swing voters. With a few over the years it was almost as if they didn't even need to hear the case because you knew how they were going to decide.
If you believe that you be textual, then read the part about being amended. The founding fathers knew that they were not authors of scripture, and never, ever, intended the constitution to be viewed in that manner.
It is the most asinine point regarding our constitution that I have ever heard. I know that it is popular gospel among the conservatives, but it is total nonsense.
Sorry pal, I have read the constitution plenty. Being textual doesn't mean it can't be amended. Go talk to someone else about being asinine and nonsensical.
Good for you, then you should also know that the constitution had to be amended 10 times, (12 practically) just to get it passed. The framers did not care about the rights of citizens, only the framework of government.
Indeed it had to be amended several times before everybody was on board. It's foolish to believe that a first draft was going to do the trick. Things haven't changed so much that when you get a room full of people from different states and different ideas together they weren't going to hash things out the same as they do today.
James Madison and a few others were against adding the Bill of Rights. The main fear was by adding rights, the government might see those as the only rights of citizens and take everything else.
The thought was by adding the Bill, it could be seen as a limiting of citizens rights. Madison felt that Article I, that constrained Congress, and Article II, that constrained the President were all the protections the citizens needed.
It's pretty interesting food for thought. I see positives in the Bill, but in a way Madison may have been right all these years later. The government does try to grab what it feels it can, sometimes even at items in the Bill.
I think that Madison would have been proven wrong by the history of litigation over the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 14th amendments, just to name a few.
Possibly so. Then again, maybe not. By listing some rights of many, it could open the restrictions of rights.
At any rate, we will never know.
The constitution has been amended 17 times since the original 10.
I said I tend to be textual, but that doesn't mean I feel that things are written in stone. Times and needs change, and when necessary, we have made changes, but seeing the relative few amendments passed, and the difficulty in passing amendments is testament that the text is pretty clear and a strong guidepost to follow.
Sometimes I get the feeling that some say living document as if it should be torn up and throw away, or some amendment should pass every time some new social issue pops up.
Wow, John Bolton said the same exact thing about Trump that I did regarding his capabilities. Still don't know if I'm right or wrong, but that surprised me. I thought I might be alone or one of very few in my assessment.
Trump is still a clear and present danger to American democracy. His 3rd grade acumen combined with all his many many faults make him dangerous because he has 70 million people fooled into thinking he is a great guy with American interest at heart... but he just a grifter.
Well stated. I thought Congressmen/women represented their districts-fought for their piece of the government pie- yet also always considered what was best for the country- big view. This cult crap has to end on both sides- AOC is not a national figure, yet she's a darling of the far left.
AOC is a rising star on the left, hardly a cult. Bernie and AOC are just people we feel are 'For The People' and it's not fair to compare them to the cult of Trump. Trump and his cult are only about Trump and his cult. AOC and Bernie would stop to help a republican who needed basic human kindness to deal with something... Do you think Trump would?
AOC is a rising star on the left, hardly a cult. Bernie and AOC are just people we feel are 'For The People' and it's not fair to compare them to the cult of Trump. Trump and his cult are only about Trump and his cult. AOC and Bernie would stop to help a republican who needed basic human kindness to deal with something... Do you think Trump would?
The trumpians out there need a boogy man.. AOC and Sanders seem to fit the bill...
So worried about them that they forgot that Trump lead an insurrection.
We've all seen how Trump labels any military official or veteran who points such things out. Suddenly the same people who claim to support our troops and support our military turn on them like a pack of rabid dogs.
Gen. Mark Milley reportedly warned Trump not to strike Iran: 'You're gonna have a f---ing war'
Top US Gen. Mark Milley feared that Donald Trump would take military action against Iran at the end of his presidency and repeatedly warned him not to, according to reporting, published in The New Yorker on Friday, from an upcoming book about Trump's presidency.
"If you do this, you're gonna have a f---ing war," Milley would reportedly tell the president and his foreign-policy advisors who had pushed for a missile strike on the Middle Eastern country after Trump lost the 2020 election.
Iran was frequently brought up in White House meetings after the election, with Trump "seemingly willing to do anything to stay in power," The New Yorker's Susan Glasser, an author of the book, reported on Friday. The New York Times in late November reported that Trump had consulted top advisors — including Milley — about options for striking Iran's primary nuclear site and was ultimately talked out of it.
At one meeting without Trump, his advisors again brought up action against Iran, and Milley questioned why they were so intent on attacking the country, Glasser reported.
"Because they are evil," Vice President Mike Pence reportedly answered.
Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, eventually helped end the prospect of a conflict with Iran, the report said.
On January 3, Trump held an Oval Office meeting to receive an update on Iran's latest nuclear activities. Milley, along with Robert O'Brien, the national security advisor, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, informed Trump that any military action against Iran would be impossible at that point, Glasser reported.
Trump appeared to heed the warnings, and the focus on Iran faded, the report said.
The book, by Glasser and her husband, The Times' Peter Baker, is set to come out next year. Glasser said they'd conducted nearly 200 interviews for their reporting on Trump's time in the White House.
The US and Iran have been adversaries for decades, dating back to the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the hostage crisis at the US Embassy that began the same year, but tensions reached historic heights under Trump.
Trump's decision to withdraw the US from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was at the heart of the animosity. His administration employed a "maximum pressure" campaign against Tehran, vying to cripple the Iranian economy via harsh sanctions in hopes of eventually negotiating a more stringent version of the nuclear pact.
The Trump administration's strategy did not work. Iran took gradual steps away from the 2015 deal, which was designed to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon in exchange for relief from economic sanctions. Meanwhile, a series of skirmishes in the Persian Gulf involving attacks on oil tankers that the US blamed on Iran raised concerns of a new conflict in the region.
In January 2020, Trump ordered a drone strike that killed Iran's top general, Qassem Soleimani. The strike pushed the US and Iran to the brink of war, prompting a retaliatory missile attack on US troops in Iraq that left dozens of people injured. Both sides ultimately stepped away from a broader conflict, but the heightened tensions between the US and Iran have continued into the Biden era.
She literally said that she likes Robert E Lee and Stonewall Jackson and then followed that up in the next sentence with she doesn’t like traitors who hate America.
She literally said that she likes Robert E Lee and Stonewall Jackson and then followed that up in the next sentence with she doesn’t like traitors who hate America.
She literally said that she likes Robert E Lee and Stonewall Jackson and then followed that up in the next sentence with she doesn’t like traitors who hate America.
Can we just think about that logic for a second?
It's hard to believe she's that frickin stupid...
The thing is that RE Lee was never convicted of treason, so if not convicted, how can he be called a traitor?
The Underwood court indicted him, but it never went anywhere.
Lee fought against the US Government for the rights to hold people in bondage and force labor from them. I don’t care if he was charged. He was not only a traitor. He was also on the wrong side of history, humanity, compassion, and everything else that makes a person not awful.
She literally said that she likes Robert E Lee and Stonewall Jackson and then followed that up in the next sentence with she doesn’t like traitors who hate America.
Can we just think about that logic for a second?
It's hard to believe she's that frickin stupid...
The thing is that RE Lee was never convicted of treason, so if not convicted, how can he be called a traitor?
The Underwood court indicted him, but it never went anywhere.
Just a technicality
Doesn't change the fact that he led armies against the USA.
I’m pretty sure you don’t vindictively confiscate someone’s property and turn it into the most famous national cemetery, by burying dead US soldiers on it who he was responsible for killing, if that person is not a traitor.
Let me ask you, what would you call people who seceded from a nation, created their own nation, their own military and then attacked their former country? Named their own president and their own government and killed hundreds of thousands of their former nations soldiers?
That's the very definition of traitor. The reason they weren't convicted of treason has been made obvious. It was to make it easier to heal a nation. It had nothing to do with the actual crimes they committed. But then you already knew that before you made your post.
She literally said that she likes Robert E Lee and Stonewall Jackson and then followed that up in the next sentence with she doesn’t like traitors who hate America.
Can we just think about that logic for a second?
well, you know why, bro.
she just told everyone who she thinks is the good guys and who aren't.
her logic is sound simply because that's the legacy and heritage she wishes was alive today.
people like her aren't stupid. they aren't illogical. they're just racist.
You know what amazes me about that? I'm talking about people from the south who claim that the confederacy is their heritage.
The confederacy lasted less than five years. It's a blip on the map of time. Can you imagine basing your heritage on a failed nation that drowned in defeat that actually lasted less than five years? That's what they want to hang their hats on and call their heritage? There have been generation after generation of southerners since not long after this nation began. And this short time frame is what they claim their heritage is? We both know there are certain reasons those who claim that have for it. And it's because they base what they believe on the confederacy.
They have wonderful food, great destinations and a lot of beauty in that area of our nation. Hell, I live in the south. My family is from the south. To the very last person in my family, not a single member of it claims to hang on to some failed, misguided rogue nation that lasted less than five years as "our heritage".
A strong work ethic, our faith, our food and our customs is what we claim is our southern heritage. Because it is.
bro, do you remember all the conversations we use to have here about ISIS? how you can't defeat ISIS because its less of an organization and more an ideology.
it was ISIS, IS, ISIL, Deash, all kinds of names and branding they went through despite the fact that the ideology and motivations behind the ideology was the same.
its the same here in America. the confederacy is less an organization and more an ideology. thats why it never actually dies off. we "defeated" the confederates only to get the Klan, red shirts, and other crap groups and militias. and throughout american history we've had that ideology represented til this very day, where it definitely seems like that ideology has found a new home....scratch that, a HOST in the republican party. because that ideology is indeed a virus.
i have no doubt in my mind that the majority of anybody in the south are good people. ive experience more of my fair share to know that.
but there were good people in germany, too. what did they do to stop hitler and the nazi's from gaining power?
there's good people in the middle east. what did they do to stop the terrorist from gaining power?
there are good people here in america. what have we've done since the end of the civil war to stop the racist ideology from spreading?
if good people dont step up in mass numbers to defeat a threat, then it doesn't matter how good the individual or community is. the destruction, chaos, and despair will still come, and remain in place until the bulk of the country steps up and crushes them once and for all.
She literally said that she likes Robert E Lee and Stonewall Jackson and then followed that up in the next sentence with she doesn’t like traitors who hate America.
Can we just think about that logic for a second?
well, you know why, bro.
she just told everyone who she thinks is the good guys and who aren't.
her logic is sound simply because that's the legacy and heritage she wishes was alive today.
people like her aren't stupid. they aren't illogical. they're just racist.
Yeah, I know, but I still like to point it out to those who may be unbiased.
She definitely knows what she’s doing and what sentiment she is conjuring. It’s like the same thing when Josh Hawley rambles on about free speech with social media countries. He’s a former Supreme Court clerk and fully understands when free speech applies and doesn’t. But, he knows what he has to say to rile up his base.
It does make one wonder how the party who claims to stand for the constitution seems to pretend they have no idea what it actually says when it suits their purpose. Anyone who has seen the constitution knows good and well that free speech is an issue of our government not being able to pass laws that limit free speech. It has nothing to do with social media or private entities policies.
I’m pretty sure you don’t vindictively confiscate someone’s property and turn it into the most famous national cemetery, by burying dead US soldiers on it who he was responsible for killing, if that person is not a traitor.
Why would you bury your honored dead on a "traitors" property?
That doesn't make sense to me.
There are hundreds of confederate soldiers buried in Arlington. Should we dig them up? For that matter, a lot of National Cemetery's.
She literally said that she likes Robert E Lee and Stonewall Jackson and then followed that up in the next sentence with she doesn’t like traitors who hate America.
Can we just think about that logic for a second?
It's hard to believe she's that frickin stupid...
The thing is that RE Lee was never convicted of treason, so if not convicted, how can he be called a traitor?
The Underwood court indicted him, but it never went anywhere.
I stole Clem's car and never got convicted. Guess I am not a thief.
bro i had to really take a step back for a bit and reevaluate everything after this pandemic and election. i wasnt talking to anybody that was the wife and kids for a long stretch. i was just reading popular mechanics and history videos and research papers and got completely sucked in. i really got sucked into neil degrasse tyson and a lot of STEM related topics. im watching people discuss for hours at a time about the first ever photo of a black hole. and obviously most of it flies by me cause i don't understand half of what they're saying.
and right when the end of the video came, the other billionaire jeff bezos comes out looking like he conquered the planet cause he got to the edge of earth.
and it ticked me off so much that everything i was digesting from reading and watching and such just came together. that was my first mega moment when i realized that this crap has been intentionally designed this way from the jump.
these guys did nothing but repeat experiments that we did back in the 60'S!!!!
what the hell? why are they being celebrated for that? we did that 60 YEARS GO!!!!
and yet now we are in a position where the US government has to jump on corporate bandwagons, NOT the other way around.
because now, we don't have to worry about countries planting flags on other planets and claiming its theirs.
we have to worry about corporations doing it.
good ole trickle down....sorry "pro growth" policies have completely screwed the entire planet over, not just the US.
if you took any politician - republican or democrat, doesn't matter - from the 50's, 60's and 70's, they wouldn't make it out the primaries because every republican and democrat would be calling them socialist commies.
even the hardcore segregationist wouldnt make it past a republican primary today. cause all them dudes were still about healthcare and education and STEM and so much more.
i was watching and reading about those times economically, and boy oh boy, the glory days of america that the boomers brag about sure was driven by government spending.
they dont like to bring up that aspect, though. they don't want to bring up the tax rates, either. they don't want to acknowledge that regardless of if it was cold war propaganda or not, the country had a mission and was organized.
even the racist politicians. if you time traveled the republicans and democrats from the 50's and 60's to this time, what would they say about our infrastructure.
or healthcare.
or income inequality.
or the lack of vision, focus, and agenda.
the lack of funding to NASA. education standards.
bro when people say they don't recognize their country anymore. they're correct.
but they have no one to blame but themselves. those people, conservatives, fell in love with reagan and reaganomics, and we've been in a spiral ever since.
and then they fell for it again in 2016, and look where we're at.
the way we teach history bro. we don't teach it to learn we teach it to check a box. we use it as propaganda. thats why we always hear these clowns talking about "we need to teach the good history"
man what? history is history. good, bad, ugly, indifferent. but when history is taught from an unbiased viewpoint, those same people who love trump because he tells it like it is? well, they're the first ones to start whining about history because it tells it like it is.
i guarantee that most of america wouldn't be able to pass a US citizenship test.
but they can tell you all about CRT and dr seuss, though.
if you took any politician - republican or democrat, doesn't matter - from the 50's, 60's and 70's, they wouldn't make it out the primaries because every republican and democrat would be calling them socialist commies.
even the hardcore segregationist wouldnt make it past a republican primary today. cause all them dudes were still about healthcare and education and STEM and so much more.
i was watching and reading about those times economically, and boy oh boy, the glory days of america that the boomers brag about sure was driven by government spending.
they dont like to bring up that aspect, though. they don't want to bring up the tax rates, either. they don't want to acknowledge that regardless of if it was cold war propaganda or not, the country had a mission and was organized.
even the racist politicians. if you time traveled the republicans and democrats from the 50's and 60's to this time, what would they say about our infrastructure.
or healthcare.
or income inequality.
or the lack of vision, focus, and agenda.
the lack of funding to NASA. education standards.
bro when people say they don't recognize their country anymore. they're correct.
but they have no one to blame but themselves. those people, conservatives, fell in love with reagan and reaganomics, and we've been in a spiral ever since.
and then they fell for it again in 2016, and look where we're at.
I must thank you because you have summed up months of arguments I have made into one post in a much more distinct manner than I have been able. Very well said.
What do you call it when those separatists form their own government and own army. Then use that army to attack the United States of America in an act of war? There's a name for it.
You've pretty much summed it up. However, to some extent I see that works in both directions. I don't think JFK would stand a chance in hell of winning the Democratic nomination for president in toady's political climate any more than I think Reagan would win the Republican nomination. Eisenhower would be labeled a RINO from the very start.
I guess he's not a traitor in the same way Benedict Arnold isn't a traitor since he was never convicted of treason either, to the best of my knowledge.
As for Arlington ... What do you think the message was? Was that intended to be a tribute?
Nope. The confederate leaders were absolutely traitors to the US, Trump is a traitor, and the January 6th "tourists" are traitors to the man. Traitors should hang. Now common people sympathetic to a cause and duped by a leader should pay a price too, but not sure what it should be but know it should be more than a slap on the wrist. If I were in complete control of the US as an observer, Trump would have hung as a traitor after Helsinki.
IMO, much in the same way as we came out of the Civil War, I think people who stormed the Capitol shouldn't be branded as traitors. Some of their actions rise to that level, IMO, but I think we need to hold people accountable while also looking into the future. It's important to start bringing people together.
I'm also of the opinion that, at the same time, you set an example.... A head needs to be displayed on a pike, so to speak. The elected official(s) that coaxed/encouraged this attempted coup should serve this purpose pretty well. Find them, expose them, ring 'em up on charges and throw them in the clink.
I can agree with that, with the caveat they actually go after and convict those leaders. Somebody needs to pay a price to keep this from repeating again in the near future. If they are not going to get the political leaders and militia leaders, then lock up the participants with MAX sentencing.
I understand the idea of why you don't want people branded as traitors. As you and I have both pointed out in this thread, the only reason that didn't happen is for the sake of bringing the country back together. Much the same reasoning you are using for the January 6th insurrection.
I'm not sure I actually disagree with you. But let's look at what we see. You see Peen claiming the confederates weren't "traitors", when we all know they were. And one also has to wonder, if those confederates had been charged and tried for treason as they well could have, and I think should have been, would we have the extent of the racism we've seen since that time forward? Would we be having people on this board claiming they were not traitors after being convicted?
Without penalty, without repercussions, it seems people use that as an excuse to cling onto and perpetuate things. They are never punished for their actual crimes. They never truly wear the label for the crimes they actually committed. And in both of these cases especially, it was an attack of the very nation and the values we stand for. Unless of course there are people who don't think we should have fair elections and a peaceful transfer of power.
Which I'm beginning to wonder if many people in our country really don't care about that anymore.
if you took any politician - republican or democrat, doesn't matter - from the 50's, 60's and 70's, they wouldn't make it out the primaries because every republican and democrat would be calling them socialist commies.
even the hardcore segregationist wouldnt make it past a republican primary today. cause all them dudes were still about healthcare and education and STEM and so much more.
i was watching and reading about those times economically, and boy oh boy, the glory days of america that the boomers brag about sure was driven by government spending.
they dont like to bring up that aspect, though. they don't want to bring up the tax rates, either. they don't want to acknowledge that regardless of if it was cold war propaganda or not, the country had a mission and was organized.
even the racist politicians. if you time traveled the republicans and democrats from the 50's and 60's to this time, what would they say about our infrastructure.
or healthcare.
or income inequality.
or the lack of vision, focus, and agenda.
the lack of funding to NASA. education standards.
bro when people say they don't recognize their country anymore. they're correct.
but they have no one to blame but themselves. those people, conservatives, fell in love with reagan and reaganomics, and we've been in a spiral ever since.
and then they fell for it again in 2016, and look where we're at.
And the republicans who want to "make America great again" want to go backwards.. but not for any of the stuff you just mentioned. Their desire to go back to the "good ole' days" is all about the emotional feelings they had about America back in the day.. and very little about WHY they felt that way.
It's a very fair question. The exact one I wrestled with when I wrote my previous post. IMO, no. I don't think the punishment (or lack) significantly contributed to America's struggle with racism. I think you're talking about something that was so widespread and ingrained in our culture that a bunch of max punishments wouldn't have made much of a difference. That's just my gut feeling... with really not much else to substantiate it.
Also, I just looked up the particulars regarding treason, and the definition is fairly limited (levying war against the USA). Treason can carry the death penalty, but the minimum is 5 years. I believe Wiki says not many people have been charged, but a majority that were convicted we're out to death. I'm not saying they shouldn't be held accountable, but as I laid out above the T-word is big-time. The ringleaders and the elected officials, though...? Have at'em.
I’m a Parkland Shooting Survivor. QAnon Convinced My Dad It Was All a Hoax.
“I don't know how to help someone that far gone.”
Bill’s final semester at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, was already difficult enough.
He was part of the final graduating class of survivors of the 2018 shooting, and they all had just marked the third anniversary of the day 17 people were killed, nine of whom were Bill’s classmates.
But Bill also had to deal with his father’s daily accusations that the shooting was a hoax and that the shooter, Bill, and all his classmates were paid pawns in a grand conspiracy orchestrated by some shadowy force.
Bill had worked hard to get over his survivor’s guilt after the shooting, but for the past five months, his own father has been triggering it all over again.
“He'll say stuff like this straight to my face whenever he's drinking: ‘You're a real piece of work to be able to sit here and act like nothing ever happened if it wasn't a hoax. Shame on you for being part of it and putting your family through it too,” Bill said in an anonymous post on Reddit last week.’
Bill first posted his story on QAnon Casualties, a Reddit thread dedicated to helping family members and friends of QAnon believers.
VICE News spoke to the poster and confirmed the author’s claims about being a survivor of the school shooting. Bill is not the student’s real name as they only spoke to VICE News on the condition of anonymity, citing concerns about attacks from members of QAnon forums if his identity was revealed.
As is true for many who fell down the QAnon rabbit hole in recent years, Bill’s dad’s descent coincided with the pandemic.
“It started a couple months into the pandemic with the whole anti-lockdown protests,” Bill said. “His feelings were so strong it turned into facts for him. So if he didn't like having to wear masks it wouldn't matter what doctors or scientists said. Anything that contradicted his feelings was wrong. So he turned to the internet to find like-minded people which led him to QAnon.”
But until January, that was as far as it went. Then Bill’s father saw a video of Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene harassing Parkland survivor David Hogg in 2018, while he was visiting Washington to advocate for stricter gun control. Greene has repeatedly voiced support for QAnon and claimed the Parkland shooting was a hoax.
“He is a coward,” Greene told her followers.
Ever since then, Bill’s father has become convinced the shooting his son survived was a so-called “false flag” event and that the shooter was “​​a radical commie actor.”
“From there it snowballed into what he is today, believing that if the government is able to overthrow an election, then everything else is probably a lie too,” Bill added.
Bill is 18, and now that he’s graduated high school he’s looking to get out of the toxic situation he finds himself in.
“I do have options that can have me out before August, which as of now I'm planning to do,” Bill said. “I've been delaying it because I've felt stuck trying to ‘fix’ my dad.”
But Bill said that after he posted his story on Reddit, members of the QAnon Casualties community have been able to help him “push through that obligation I felt and leave before I completely lose my mind, because I'm already halfway there.”
Over the course of the last four years, but in particular since the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown, the QAnon conspiracy cult has been tearing families apart, and many family members say their loved ones have transformed into different people in front of their eyes.
“Burgundy-colored T-shirts [the color shirt worn by the shooter] make me uncomfortable and he used to be so understanding he stopped wearing it around me. That person is completely gone and I miss him so [censored] much,” Bill said in his Reddit post.
Bill says his relationship with his mother has also suffered.
“The relationship with my mom is dependent on whether my dad is there or not, ’cause then it's pretty much all about conspiracy theories,” Bill told VICE News. “[The relationship] used to be fine but deteriorating quickly, [especially] after telling her that if she doesn't start putting her foot down, I'm leaving with no interest in seeing my dad again.”
But despite the threats to leave home, Bill’s mother has not stood up to his dad.
“It's not really going anywhere because she's too naive to think he'll magically get over wanting to constantly retraumatize me and I'm not waiting around for that,” Bill told VICE News.
Bill also says he’s been unable to talk to any of his fellow survivors about what he has been going through with this father.
“I never talked about it with them,” Bill told VICE News. “As far as I know he's only held that belief—at least so strongly—since January. Our last semester was difficult enough with Feb. 14 marking 3 years since the shooting, along with emotions leading up to us being the last class of survivors to graduate.”
“It wasn't—and still isn't—easy to bottle up, but telling them my dad thinks the absolute hell we went through, where nine of the victims were in our class, is a hoax is not a pain I want to put on them. It's difficult enough knowing that belief even exists at all.”
At this point, Bill has little hope in ever seeing his father return to the person he was before he became obsessed with QAnon conspiracy theories, and even if he did, too much has happened to ever repair their relationship.
“He'll never stop on his own, because there are always new theories and goalposts being moved,” Bill said. “I don't know how to help someone that far gone. My guess is restricted access to the internet and lots of therapy. But even if there was hope he'd eventually snap out of it, it wouldn't change my mind on never wanting to see him again. So it doesn't really matter anymore.”
While I admit I'm torn as well, that's exactly what the Civil War was. war against The United States. As for January 6th, it was a war against democracy on some level.
While I do think the death penalty would be taking things much too far, a think a few months in jail is far too little.
AP-NORC poll: Many Republicans uneasy about party's future
A new AP-NORC poll finds about 6 in 10 conservative Republicans say former President Donald Trump should have a lot of influence on the GOP, compared with about a third of moderate and liberal Republicans.
JILL COLVIN and HANNAH FINGERHUT Tue, July 27, 2021, 11:00 AM·6 min read
WASHINGTON (AP) — Most Republicans want former President Donald Trump to have at least some influence over their party's direction even as many who side with the GOP say they are uneasy about its future.
A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research captures widespread unease among Republicans over everything from the direction of the country to the state of American democracy and, in particular, President Joe Biden. Just 15% approve of the way Biden is handling his job, and 66% continue to say the Democrat was illegitimately elected, a lie perpetuated by Trump that underscores his persistent grip on GOP voters.
Republicans have plenty of concern about their own party, too. Fewer than half of Republicans, 41%, say they are optimistic about the GOP's future. Just 13% say they are “very” optimistic. And one third, 33%, say they are pessimistic.
Just a few seats shy of majorities in the House and the Senate, Republican leaders hope they are within striking distance of retaking control of Congress in next year's midterm elections. But the findings about the party's lukewarm optimism could be an early warning sign of lagging enthusiasm among Republican voters, particularly without Trump on the ballot after he helped lift congressional candidates in 2020.
That's despite the fact history has shown the president's party almost always loses seats in the midterm elections and despite the general enthusiasm about the party's long list of potential 2024 candidates.
Some Republicans in especially competitive states said they are increasingly disillusioned with the political process.
“It’s frustrating," said Dennis Herzog, 36, a contractor who lives in Reedsville, Wisconsin, of the constant bickering between the parties. While he describes himself as a staunch Republican, he said he's disenchanted by “the whole system in general.”
“It’s nonstop,” he said. “I don’t care who is in office. Just do what’s right for the people and stop picking certain sides."
Republican leaders have spent much of this year trying to rile up voters, pointing to concerns about inflation and stoking culture wars over issues including immigration, election conspiracy theories and critical race theory, an academic framework that examines history through the lens of racism.
That's doing little to appeal to people like 28-year-old Nicholas Blethrow, a Republican who lives in Orange County, California, and described the state of his party as “pretty much a disaster.”
Blethrow, who did not vote for Trump in 2016 or 2020, said he was frustrated by his party’s ongoing efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which he calls “ridiculous,” along with some of its members’ opposition to COVID-19 vaccinations and continued embrace of the former president.
“Clearly there’s a lot of people that enjoy him. But I don’t think it’s good,” he said.
Other Republicans disagree. The poll shows that Trump remains a commanding figure in the party. While most former presidents tend to cede the spotlight after leaving office, Trump has continued to assert his power, holding rallies, making endorsements and teasing a 2024 comeback run.
While 60% of the public overall has an unfavorable view of Trump, 76% of Republicans view him favorably. And most would like to see him maintain at least some degree of influence over the GOP going forward.
Nearly half of Republicans, 47%, say that Trump should exert “a lot” of influence over the future of the party, and another 34% say he should have “a little” influence. Just 18% say Trump should have none at all.
“I think he did a lot of good for the party,” said George Hunter, 61, who lives in Washington state outside Seattle and runs an online store. Hunter was among the minority of Republicans who said he felt optimistic about the party’s future given what he sees as Democrats’ failures on crime, foreign policy and the economy and his expectation that Republicans will sweep contests next November.
“After the next election, I think things will be better. I think the Democrats will lose their majorities. That way Biden will get less done than he wants,” he said.
For Herzog, who describes the current political situation as “quite the mess,” pessimism is driven, in part, by concerns about the economy, especially inflation, and the rising cost of his supplies. He said he knows of businesses that are talking about closing their doors because they can’t find workers and he doesn't understand why the government keeps sending out additional relief payments.
But he'd also like to see his party embark on a new direction.
“I think there needs to be a switch in the Republican Party,” he said. “There’s got to be a happy medium between the old schoolers,” he said, and a new generation. “You have to find some middle ground.”
As for the 2020 election, the poll shows that 62% of Republicans say it’s “extremely” or “very” important that investigations into the election continue, even though no substantiated evidence has emerged to support Trump's claims of mass election fraud, which have been dismissed by numerous judges, including some he appointed, state election officials and his own attorney general.
Just 38%, in contrast, say it’s “extremely” or “very” important to continue investigations into the events of Jan. 6, when a group of Trump's supporters violently stormed the Capitol building, trying to halt the transition of power.
Like Democrats, few Republicans, only 10%, say democracy is working “extremely” or “very” well in the country today. But Republicans are more negative than Democrats; 63% of Republicans say democracy is not working well.
Just 17% say they think the nation is headed in the right direction.
As for other Republican leaders, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell faces mixed reviews from his party, viewed favorably by only about 4 in 10 Republicans; roughly as many dislike him. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is more popular than not with Republicans, though about half say they don’t know enough about him to form an opinion.
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who voted for Trump's second impeachment and has since emerged as one of his top Republican critics, has the inauspicious distinction of being rated favorably by more Democrats than Republicans, 47% versus 21%.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who has drawn headlines with her incendiary comments and conspiracy peddling, remains largely an unknown, even within her own party. While 29% of Republicans have a favorable opinion, 48% say they don’t know enough about her to say.
I don't know man. Not saying you're wrong, but listening to these Capital Police officers testimony, those people were at war with somebody or something.
I'm going to watch that (probably tonight after work/family/etc is done for the day). I'm not expecting any Earth-shattering info to be revealed at this point, though. I think we know pretty much everything that is going to be made available to us.
If 'Peen or anyone else wants to talk about what democrats have turned in to then start a What democrats have turned in to thread.
Dems definitely have their issues but trying to change this thread to a focus on the Dems is just a feeble attempt to move the spotlight.
Just like comparisons of Jan 6th to the riots associated with the protests over the summer. While both are wrong, they are in no way related nor comparable. Attempts to compare are really nothing but attempts to obfuscate the role of prominent republicans in the attempted coup of Jan 6th.
There was the "WTH Democrats" thread...I don't think it got started on the right foot if you read the initial post, and pretty much went downhill from there.
I'd be glad to see a thread get started on the right foot. Perhaps I'll do it myself if nobody else does.
Squires - I agree there is a whataboutism that focuses back on Trump, but as we've seen with the Jan 6 thread, there's abundant whataboutism that works both ways. I'd be fine trying to slog through the inevitable, at least for a while.
I wonder what the democrats have turned in to? Just something for you guys to think about.
Carry on.
Oh, I'm certainly not thrilled with that either. But as of now the same guy who has kept the big lie alive that caused Jan. 6th, the guy that was willing to try to overturn an election, the same guy trying to become a fascist dictator, the same guy who who has broken every norm expected by a president still leads your party.
So as of now it's the lesser of the two evils. And it's not even close.
Nearly half of Republicans say 'a time will come when patriotic Americans have to take the law into their own hands,' new poll shows
A new poll offers an alarming picture of GOP beliefs about democracy.
Almost half of Republicans said a time might come where they have to take the law into their own hands.
A majority of Republicans endorsed potentially using force to uphold the "traditional" America.
Less than a year after a pro-Trump mob stormed the US Capitol, nearly half of Republican voters (47%) say that "a time will come when patriotic Americans have to take the law into their own hands," per a new nationwide survey by George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs.
Only about 29% of Americans agreed with this statement on some level, the poll found, including just 9% of Democrats. And 49% said they disagree or strongly disagree.
The poll also found that a majority of Republicans (55%) say "the traditional American way of life is disappearing so fast we may have to use force to save it." About 15% of Democrats agreed with this statement, but more Americans disagreed (46%) than agreed (34%).
More Republicans (27%) than Democrats (18%) said that "strong leaders sometimes have to bend the rules in order to get things done."
The poll also found extremely low levels of trust among Republicans when it comes to elections — 82% said it's "hard to trust the results of elections when so many people will vote for anyone who offers a handout." Only 15% of Democrats were on the same page.
Echoing other recent polls on the 2020 election, the survey found that just 20% of Republicans were confident in the 2020 election results as compared to over 90% of Democrats.
The survey of of 1,753 registered US voters was conducted by YouGov from June 4 to 23.
Over the course of the Trump era, experts on democracy repeatedly raised concerns about the GOP's slide into authoritarianism. Democracy scholars have continued to raise alarm as the GOP-led legislatures in states across the country push for restrictive voter laws, employing similar justifications to President Donald Trump's baseless claims of mass voter fraud after he fairly lost the 2020 election. Along these lines, an ex-Trump administration official recently referred to the Republican party as the top national security threat to the US.
More than one quarter of Americans qualify as having right-wing authoritarian political beliefs, according to polling from Morning Consult released in late June.
Though Trump provoked an insurrection at the Capitol and stands as the only commander-in-chief in history to be impeached twice, he continues to be the leader of the Republican party. GOP leaders in Congress have also railed against a House investigation into the January 6 insurrection.
During a hearing on Tuesday held by the House select committee running the probe, four police officers testified about the violence they were subjected to by Trump's supporters at the Capitol. One officer referred to the insurrections as "terrorists," and another said the Capitol riot amounted to an "attempted coup."
I wonder what the democrats have turned in to? Just something for you guys to think about.
Carry on.
Oh, I'm certainly not thrilled with that either. But as of now the same guy who has kept the big lie alive that caused Jan. 6th, the guy that was willing to try to overturn an election, the same guy trying to become a fascist dictator, the same guy who who has broken every norm expected by a president still leads your party.
So as of now it's the lesser of the two evils. And it's not even close.
Damn, I wish I'd have said that... It's s truth bomb... Trumpians don't like that kinda stuff
I’m posting this article in this thread, although it touches on the concerns with both sides. I think it expresses a sentiment that I have have felt and puts it into words in ways that I could not.
Everywhere you look, Barack Obama presided over the deterioration of race relations in America.
Yes when scum like Rush started calling his wife a man and other such disgusting garbage. It was the right melting down over being presided over by a black man that got the entire race thing heated up. Not President Obama himself.
Everywhere you look, Barack Obama presided over the deterioration of race relations in America.
Yes when scum like Rush started calling his wife a man and other such disgusting garbage. It was the right melting down over being presided over by a black man that got the entire race thing heated up. Not President Obama himself.
That stuff did happen and the memes are still being shared today. They are disgusting and nothing that had happened before makes any of that ok.
However, Obama wasn't innocent in playing the race card. Very early on he injected himself and race into a traffic stop of a professor of his from Harvard. He blamed the cop in something he had no first hand knowledge. He had the summit at the White House to try and smooth it over.
Trump supporters were out there calling black capital police officers the N word and he's tying to flip the scipt. Luckily most people aren't that stupid.
I've been giving a lot of thought to what Republicans have actually become in 2021... I see 4 groups on the right now and all conservatives/republicans seem to fall into one of them.
1) Everything Trumpers - For this group the sun rises and sets in Trump's ass. He can do no wrong in their eyes and they will do anything for him.
2) Q Trumpers - Just like the first bunch but so far gone that anything makes sense that allows them to keep the delusion going. These people can not be reasoned with in any way.
3) Moderates in - Republicans that are hanging onto party ties but hate what is going on in the party. These are the people most offended by being labeled racists, fascists, white supremacists, bigots, and traitors even though they see it as plain as day all around them and just refuse to acknowledge being a part of it. They blame the extremist far right but don't do a damn thing to separate themselves from the insanity or take any kind of personal responsibility for the state of the country.
4) Moderates out - Republicans that have left the party or are calling the rest out for either being idiots/ridiculous or doing nothing/not speaking up to help fix the country.
In a nutshell this is what republicans have become and they can each identify who they are with this IMHO. Sometimes the distinctions between them are subtle but they are there nonetheless.
Everywhere you look, Barack Obama presided over the deterioration of race relations in America.
Yes when scum like Rush started calling his wife a man and other such disgusting garbage. It was the right melting down over being presided over by a black man that got the entire race thing heated up. Not President Obama himself.
That stuff did happen and the memes are still being shared today. They are disgusting and nothing that had happened before makes any of that ok.
However, Obama wasn't innocent in playing the race card. Very early on he injected himself and race into a traffic stop of a professor of his from Harvard. He blamed the cop in something he had no first hand knowledge. He had the summit at the White House to try and smooth it over.
I don't think anyone thinks that Obama was innocent of a little race baiting.. He's made snide remarks with a smerk on his face.
But in terms of being racists (in reverse) I don't' think he was.
But when comparing him to say someone like Trump, Obama is Mr. Perfect by comparison. At least Obama never tried to over throw the government in order to win an election.
Using a whatabout in a thread that is actually about Republicans? Maybe the whatabout came when someone started talking about a democrat in a republican thread. Think for a change.
Waaaah... I'm sure beating your dog may be a solution for your problems but I do not share many of your views. That being one of them. What I said is true. I know how much the truth bothers you.
remember the thread/post about what and how people behave? what was the item number for people who would rather double down even when they know they were wrong, than admit they were wrong?
You, and a few others, make it impossible to have a political discussion because it CONSTANTLY turns into a "Trump this, trump that" thread. And then an argument. I'm sorry you can't see it, but dude, a whole lot can.
If you ask: "Who was the greatest QB of all time?"
And I respond: "Water is wet!"
It's not an issue of whether my response was "a lie". If I constantly respond to conversations with nonsensical answers that have nothing to do with the conversation, eventually people will laugh at me -- just like I'm laughing at you.
So, since you're so adamant at calling me out... Please tell us all what "Trump tried to overthrow the government" has to do with Obama race-baiting?
You compared two mass murderers. As of now we have at least a decent human being in office. Mass murderers aren't decent human beings. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a huge Biden fan. But anyone trying to compare the two as being anywhere close to the same is way off base.
The Republicans should do a better job than running a crap human being and even you know that.
You compared two mass murderers. As of now we have at least a decent human being in office. Mass murderers aren't decent human beings. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a huge Biden fan. But anyone trying to compare the two as being anywhere close to the same is way off base.
The Republicans should do a better job than running a crap human being and even you know that.
Comparing them to Biden or Trump wasn't the point, it was about trying to point out something really bad just to make the argument for something else better. Whether true or not, if one can't make a point without lowering the bar, is one's point really worth considering?
I don't think lowering the bar is something we have much control over. IMO the bar has been being lowered since JFK was assassinated. Let's face it, neither Ike nor JFK could be elected by their respective parties. And look at the rhetoric and fighting between the two parties. There are no more discussions about actual policy issues anymore.
Look at wages. The bar has been lowered on the middle class to the point it's constantly been shrinking for a long time now. Our current society is being built around lowering the bar.
If you ask: "Who was the greatest QB of all time?"
And I respond: "Water is wet!"
It's not an issue of whether my response was "a lie". If I constantly respond to conversations with nonsensical answers that have nothing to do with the conversation, eventually people will laugh at me -- just like I'm laughing at you.
So, since you're so adamant at calling me out... Please tell us all what "Trump tried to overthrow the government" has to do with Obama race-baiting?
I'll wait.
In other words, I didn't lie, you know I didn't lie. You just don't like the truth..
Here, we'll try this again, maybe you can answer the question instead of acting like you're five years old...
Originally Posted By: FATE
Here, I'll try to guide you through this...
If you ask: "Who was the greatest QB of all time?"
And I respond: "Water is wet!"
It's not an issue of whether my response was "a lie". If I constantly respond to conversations with nonsensical answers that have nothing to do with the conversation, eventually people will laugh at me -- just like I'm laughing at you.
So, since you're so adamant at calling me out... Please tell us all what "Trump tried to overthrow the government" has to do with Obama race-baiting?
You, and a few others, make it impossible to have a political discussion because it CONSTANTLY turns into a "Trump this, trump that" thread. And then an argument. I'm sorry you can't see it, but dude, a whole lot can.
You posted this in a thread titled "What Republicans Have Turned Into Numéro Trois". You do understand that Trump is a republican and that is what this thread is about, right? Try to keep up.
Pit, any chanceyou and your lefty Buds will get over Trump in the near future? He was a jerk but he got stuff done. How about Biden? He and his evil minions have turned all of Trumps good deeds to crap. Talk about the mess he has made at the Southern border, inflation, gas prices, crime is out of control, murder and Rape is way up especially in Blue cities.This woke stuff is nuts.
I would take a couple of mean tweets anyday over Joe and the Ho. Put your mask on and quit whinning lefties.
Ah, so the Trump minions call the current VP a ho while expecting us to stop?
I guess you forgot all those summer riots that you then claimed were out of control under trump no longer count.
When Biden ratchets up the lies that leads people to attack our Capital and attempt to overturn our election process, let me know. Until then you can save your self righteous BS.
Trump is still out there spreading the election lies that caused Jan. 6th. He's still controlling your party and still holding rallies. When he stops get back to me. At that point I'll consider what as of now is your one sided view of things.
What I wouldn't do for a mean tweet and cheap gas!!! Or cheap anything anymore. Biden's America is turning into everything being over priced and no one wanting to work. Nice!!!
Mark Meadows says Trump meeting with ‘cabinet members’ despite not having a cabinet
Donald Trump may no longer be president, but his allies are still acting like he is as he plots his political comeback, saying he’s been taking meetings with his “cabinet” officials in preparation for a potential 2024 presidential.
“We met with some of our cabinet members tonight,” Mark Meadows, his former White House chief of staff, told Newsmax on Friday.
“We actually had a follow up member meeting with some of our cabinet members and as we are looking into that, we are looking into what does come next. I’m not authorised to speak on behalf of the president, but I can tell you this: we wouldn’t be meeting tonight if we weren’t making plans to move forward in a real way with president Trump at the head of that ticket.”
The Trump loyalist also insisted the former president is “fully engaged, highly focus, and remaining on task,” and that “the magic is still there,” even though one of Mr Trump’s recent political endorsements in a Republican runoff race fell flat.
Earlier this week, Texas state representative Jake Ellzey defeated Mr Trump’s preferred candidate in a special runoff election for Texas’s 6th congressional district, following the death in February of Ron Wright, who had contracted Covid.
Mr Trump had endorsed Susan Wright, the late congressman’s widow, and backed her with a robocall and $100,000 ad buy from an associated political action committee.
After the events of 6 January, the briefly chastened president went quiet for a few months, before blasting back onto the national stage this summer for what was dubbed his “revenge tour,” his first series of post-2020 campaign style rallies. The events took place in Ohio, Florida, and Georgia, and often involved the former president going after GOP lawmakers from those states who backed his impeachment and boosting their opponents.
At the rallies, Mr Trump returned to his thoroughly debunked claims that the 2020 election was “rigged.”
“We’ll never stop fighting for the true results in this election,” the former president said at one event. “I’m not the one trying to undermine American democracy. I’m the one that’s trying to save American democracy,” adding, “Who the hell knows what will happen in 2024? We’re not going to have a country left. If we don’t figure it out, we won’t be in a position to win in 2022.”
Throughout the year, the ex-president has sought to cast himself as a kingmaker within the Republican party, and has frequently issued threats and condemnations towards fellow GOPers, to mixed success. Some party members ignored his calls to oppose the recently advanced bipartisan infrastructure package, which Mr Trump called a “loser for the USA.”
“It is a loser for the USA, a terrible deal and makes the Republicans look weak, foolish and dumb,” Mr Trump said of the infrastructure plan in a statement, adding, “Don’t do it Republicans – patriots will never forget. If this deal happens, lots of primaries will be coming your way.”
While the former president has stopped just short of formally announcing a 2024 run, one thing is certain: we’re going to be hearing from him a lot more between now and then.
Biden this..........well, Trump////// To me, and possibly many others, you have become a joke of a poster. 2 faced, speaking out of both sides of your mouth, constantly.
I have this thing called a job, so I can't reply to your every post - that in and of itself would be a full time job.
So, you and your unlimited time (and no hobbies, apparently) can go on being .......you. You have, almost single handedly, made the PP forum unreadable.
again, we got people telling others to get over trump when the people they elect still take orders from the very person.
its clear that the MAGA hatters don't live in the same reality as the rest of us. if they did, the stupidity and hypocrisy wouldn't be on constant display.
Biden this..........well, Trump////// To me, and possibly many others, you have become a joke of a poster. 2 faced, speaking out of both sides of your mouth, constantly.
I have this thing called a job, so I can't reply to your every post - that in and of itself would be a full time job.
So, you and your unlimited time (and no hobbies, apparently) can go on being .......you. You have, almost single handedly, made the PP forum unreadable.
Thank you.
I understand that you and others want to forget Trump and his idiot minions... Of course
Thanks for your concern. I spend a few hours a day going between this board and other sites posting. I do understand that reading things that make you uncomfortable bothers you. I understand that "a few of you" do not like my posts.
If it would actually be a full time job replying to my posts, you really need to work on your typing skills.
The fact all you can do is attack and add nothing of substance in your posts make you the joke. Sadly you just can't see that. Obviously after reading the post I'm currently responding to it's obvious I live rent free in your mind. You really need to work on that.
Yes, as of quite some time ago I've considered you a joke. So the feeling is mutual. I don't try to say, "Yeah but in my neighborhood" as some evidence of what's going on in the entire country.
You really need to come up with some new material.
I'm sorry your ego gets in your way. I speak of which I know. you speak of which you are told, in your 'research'.
There's a difference. Sorry you can't see it. Go ahead, have the last word. (oh, I'm GLAD you consider me a joke. It means you can't handle a different opinion. And that is well known.)
Forget it man...some don't even know the meaning of the word. In order to lie, you have to knowingly say something that is false. If they are ignorant and say something false or utter nonsense, they are just fools.
Forget it man...some don't even know the meaning of the word. In order to lie, you have to knowingly say something that is false. If they are ignorant and say something false or utter nonsense, they are just fools.
I could have posted this in the January 6th thread, but I think it is more appropriate here discussing how shameful the Republican party now is.
A very good read. Happy to hear posters refute any part of the article they disagree with. Of course if you can't do that, feel free to dismiss everything because a left leaning paper wrote it - that would be much easier and in complete alignment with what the article highlights.
Yes, you "know" of "your neighborhood", which reflects a small percentage of the big picture. Searching out the facts is learning. Sorry you can't comprehend that when one has such a narrow view. I've learned a lot from several posters. Including but not limited to people like DC Dawg. He too looks at things big picture. He brings facts from research he has done.
That's how people expand their world and see things as they are and not represent the world from a microcosm. Never did I ever think someone would actually ever try and paint a picture where learning things outside of their little world be painted as a bad thing. But here we are.
I learn from varying sources. You learn from your "neighborhood" and act like that reflects the nation and the planet.
To you learning is laughable. Like i said, only someone like you would try to paint learning and expanding your world to be a bad thing. But then the boy in the bubble seems to be your mantra.
I'll pray for you arch. You obviously need it.
You whole Larry bit has gotten stale. You would think in all this time you could have used your imagination to come up with some new material. But alas I forgot, you only listen to those in your neighborhood for your information.
Protesters object to Buncombe County Schools' mask mandate, attempt to 'overthrow' board Shelby Harris Asheville Citizen Times
After an unruly audience forced the Buncombe County Board of Education to call a recess during its Aug. 5 meeting, a group of parents opposing the district’s mask mandate “overthrew” the current board and instated themselves into the positions.
Roughly 30 people signed loose-leaf paper claiming themselves “witnesses” of the new school board.
“They acted as a dictatorship, and so therefore, the people then take it into our own hands to abolish that governance and reelect new members right then and there,” the group's leader Stephanie Parsons told the Citizen Times.
Buncombe County Schools attorney Dean Shatley said the group’s actions “unequivocally” do not mean the current school board is out of office.
“I know they’re very passionate and care a tremendous amount about what they were here to speak about, but what they did has no authority under the law,” he said.
Buncombe County Schools Superintendent Tony Baldwin speaks at a meeting with the Buncombe County Board of Education on Thursday, August 5, 2021. This is the second time protesters have interrupted school board proceedings this summer. During a June 3 meeting, board Chair Ann Franklin suspended public comment due to unruly crowds outside the building.
School board changes:Buncombe County Board of Education to change meeting rules after disruptions
This time, the protesters’ fury was sparked by the board’s vote to continue its mask mandate into the 2021-22 school year.
At a specially called meeting at 10 a.m. Aug. 5, the school board voted 4-2 to require all staff and students who do not show proof of a COVID-19 vaccine to wear masks while in school buildings and on buses. No public comment was permitted during the specially called meeting.
Nearly three dozen speakers took the podium holding signs stating, “let our children breathe,” “our kids, our choice,” and “the fake vaccine is the plandemic.” Many wore black T-shirts emblazoned with “unmask our kids.”
Buncombe County parent Stephanie Parsons speaks at a meeting with the Buncombe County Board of Education on Thursday, August 5, 2021. Among the public commenters was 11th District Rep. Madison Cawthorn, who told school board members they should be “ashamed of themselves” for continuing to require face coverings.
More on Cawthorn:Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn deletes swastika tweet after criticism, media questions
Cawthorn scolded the school board for voting on the mask mandate before community members were able to weigh in.
“You have muzzled (parents’) voices just as you have muzzled our children,” he said. “You passed this mask mandate without input from those who hold you accountable because you knew it was wrong. You knew it would never withstand the scrutiny of the public. I’ve witnessed swampy backdoor tactics from corrupt bureaucrats in Washington D.C., but what you have done here puts that all to shame.”
Only one speaker took the microphone in favor of wearing masks in Buncombe County Schools.
Victoria Hoyland, who has a first grader at Johnston Elementary School, voiced approval of mask mandates — even encouraging the school board to require vaccinated students and staff to wear the face coverings as well.
“I want this to be over and to stop wearing masks as much as anyone in here, but we have to protect our kids and our community,” she said. “Masks protect others more than the wearer, so my daughter wearing a mask will not provide her adequate protection. I’m asking the board and Buncombe County to help me protect my daughter.”
After an unruly audience forced the Buncombe County Board of Education to call a recess during the its Aug. 5 meeting, a group of parents opposing the district’s mask mandate “overthrew” the current board and instated themselves into the positions. But the majority of the speakers chastised the board for requiring face coverings.
“Whoever votes to mask our children this school year, you’re all criminals and should all be in jail for child abuse,” speaker Vivian Gonzalez said. “And (Amy) Churchill, I am so looking forward to seeing you behind bars.”
Masks in schools:Asheville City Schools to require masks at start of school
Each of the comments, which took two hours, was met with erupting applause from the audience.
The school board reprimanded the crowd only once — when several audience members booed Hoyland, who backed mask mandates.
AC Reynolds volleyball coach Lori Ledford speaks at a meeting with the Buncombe County Board of Education on Thursday, August 5, 2021. Board members made only one decision regarding COVID-19 protocols during the Thursday evening meeting. A 5-1 vote — Churchill in opposition — determined that student athletes participating in fall sports would not be required to wear masks during “intense” physical activity.
“I think it makes excellent sense in terms of the health and safety of our athletes in indoor sports,” BCS Superintendent Tony Baldwin said. “This will be an area that we constantly have to monitor.”
'Sense of urgency': COVID-19 surge spurs new recommendations in Buncombe
Despite the wave of opposition at the school board meeting, unvaccinated students and staff will be required to wear face coverings when classes start Aug. 23. Per a vote in the specially called meeting, board members will revisit the mask mandate as case numbers increase and decrease in Buncombe County.
These people are wacko. They’ll sacrifice their own to make a political statement. And I’m betting some of these people don’t even have a child in the school.
Taking over government bodies seems to be becoming more and more popular over the rule of law and the democratic process for many people these days. Murica!
That is the scariest thing I have ever seen in American politics.
I would challenge anyone to draw the lines between what it means to be conservative and what it means to be pro-Trump. I think many believe he espouses conservative ideals, but I really don’t see it.
I think Ben Sasse and Adam Kinzinger do…but look where that got them with the deviation of the pro-Trump faction.
This could go one of two ways, and one way is very, very bad.
Not sure if this is what you're getting at, but man do you have to look REALLY hard to find an actual conservative with an 'R' next to their name.
Maybe it's the same case with the left... they're all politicians first and then people with actual beliefs second... but I don't think you can find a better example of this than the current republican party.
i tried to give dude the benefit of the doubt and think he was just trolling libs.
but then when you go through his twitter feed and everything else, its hard not to come away with the conclusion that he really wants this to happen.
Well if he finds another person to believe him, a charge of sedition could apply. That is pretty dangerous language… Does treason fit? All that is apparent is that what is being suggested violates the first and 14th amendment, and probably any amendment involving voting? Property and military service for voting…. Sure….
Normally we would just pass this stuff off as crazy talk, but no longer.
This is the kind of crap that never helps the situation. If someone calls you a dumbass for believing something, most likely you will go on the defensive rather than listen rationally to their reasoning.
Both sides do it, and neither one is right. Both side act like immature children way too often.
On a side note, last night I heard on the news that "Only 50% of the population has been vaccinated" I stopped on thought to myself, that just a couple weeks ago they were complaining that only we only reach 60% or something. So how did we go down.
Then I realized they are changing the narrative to get attention. Rather than reporting we are at 70% of adults vaccinated, they decided to start including kids in the numbers that currently are not cleared to get vaccinated, there by reporting the 50%.
To me this is misleading and a big reason why people don't believe/listen to things, because the narratives and numbers are changed to add sensationalism to the report. In a time like this, they should be straight forward and just report the facts, and stick to a line or at least report multiple data points to keep the perspective that they started with.
Sensationalism definitely plays into it. I get caught up in that dynamic myself a lot, often regrettably so.
It is interesting to ponder the rhetoric often used. To your point, someone using attacking language has rarely, genuinely convinced someone else to say "Oh, you know what, that's a good point. Thank you for helping me see it that way."
I think the sensationalism more serves to reaffirm one's own beliefs, and/or galvanize the like-minded people who are listening. Or, the sensationalism is just a sign of frustration altogether (which is where I'm often guilty).
i tried to give dude the benefit of the doubt and think he was just trolling libs.
but then when you go through his twitter feed and everything else, its hard not to come away with the conclusion that he really wants this to happen.
Well if he finds another person to believe him, a charge of sedition could apply. That is pretty dangerous language… Does treason fit? All that is apparent is that what is being suggested violates the first and 14th amendment, and probably any amendment involving voting? Property and military service for voting…. Sure….
Normally we would just pass this stuff off as crazy talk, but no longer.
No, we can't let it slide anymore. We've seen what happens when you let people like this get away with it.
I'm not for fighting with my fellow Americans but these people aren't real Americans. If they were, they'd know there is a right way and a wrong way within the law to effect change. Insurrection is the wrong way.. without a doubt.
These people are who, without a doubt, are being crippled by the criminal mind of a narcissist and a group of people most likely fed by foreign entities that want to see America implode.. Ask yourself, who would benefit most from America falling apart?
It's just my opinion, but the one person that is behind the entire Q phenomenon is probably Putin.. at the very least, he's bathing in delight over what it's doing to America and American lives.
Who would you expect Putin and his kind to blame for all that is wrong with America? Of course, he'd blame anyone that stands up to him and his kind. That means Biden, Pelosi etc etc.
I guess I'll get told how wrong I am. I expect it..
I think it's most certainly signs of frustration. I know I'm sick of having to wear a mask again after being vaccinated because of much of the ignorance that surrounds me.
As for Florida's comment about saying these type of things being counterproductive in persuading people to get vaccinated. I don't really disagree with him, but at the same time if those people could be persuaded by facts or common sense, they would have been vaccinated by now. So I don't see how those who have gotten frustrated over time will have any impact on them.
Only Aunt Mary dying or one of their kids going on a ventilator at this point will make any difference to them. And with some, they're so stupid even that wouldn't matter.
Sadly, I think you are correct. I think there is a place for fire and eviscerating rhetoric, too, but I think that should be directed toward those with the actual malice, those who are "shepherding and driving the sheep."
They won't change either, but they are deserving of all the backlash they receive. If it wasn't for people like MTG, Ted Cruz, DeSantis, Alex Jones, etc. then the blind followers wouldn't be screwing things over for themselves and for the rest of us.
People make the choice to follow their rhetoric while ignoring actual health experts and actual data. We are all held accountable for the choices we make and the consequences of those choices IMO.
I think it's most certainly signs of frustration. I know I'm sick of having to wear a mask again after being vaccinated because of much of the ignorance that surrounds me.
As for Florida's comment about saying these type of things being counterproductive in persuading people to get vaccinated. I don't really disagree with him, but at the same time if those people could be persuaded by facts or common sense, they would have been vaccinated by now. So I don't see how those who have gotten frustrated over time will have any impact on them.
Only Aunt Mary dying or one of their kids going on a ventilator at this point will make any difference to them. And with some, they're so stupid even that wouldn't matter.
Actually my comment wasn't necessarily in context of people getting vaccinations, but more a point of the media pushing narratives and sensationalism, and then wondering why people don't believe what they have to say, in many matters, not just COVID, vaccinations, etc.
From my perspective, it becomes more about how do you engage those people. If someone is a loyal follower of someone like, say, Tucker Carlson, and you call that person an idiot for watching Tucker Carlson, you probably have a greater chance of reinforcing that person's following of Tucker Carlson.
I think some of the logic behind that is that people like Carlson (or Maddow to be fair) paint those outside of the echo chamber as rage-filled, irrational, extremists. So, if the first thing displayed is anger, belittlement, or rage, we feed into that narrative.
I show them the law suit where FOX News uses the defense of "no reasonable person would believe him".
But let's be honest here, nobody that still takes Tucker Carlson or Rachel Maddow as some reliable source for late breaking news is going to be convinced otherwise at this juncture.
I thought of that myself. Looking at these statistics show a stark difference between the two and often times you will here either and or both reported.
There have been 352 million doses given yet only 167 million fully vaccinated. 50%8 percent fully vaccinated.
Makes me wonder if the railway industry used birds flying into plane engines during takeoff as evidence that we gotta do away with the technology and stay with trains.
Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw told supporters Trump lost to Biden. The Republican was heckled and called a RINO.
Crenshaw is not a RINO and he's telling the truth. But neither is Liz Cheney a RINO and she also was telling the truth. They are a sick group of individuals at the heart of this - totally oblivious to truth. In fact they I believe they deliberately avoid the truth when it comes to the last election.
The Mojave desert solar array is different in that it uses mirrors to focus the sun to a tower that has a steam generator in it, not solar cells collectors.
FCC looks to fine conservative activists $5 million for false mail voting robocalls
The calls lied about mail voting in the run-up to the 2020 election.
The Federal Communications Commission proposed a $5.1 million fine against conservative activists Jacob Wohl and John Burkman and J.M. Burkman & Associates for making 1,141 unlawful robocalls that made false claims about mail voting, the agency said Tuesday.
“Did you know that if you vote by mail, your personal information will be part of a public database that will be used by police departments to track down old warrants and be used by credit card companies to collect outstanding debts?” the call said, before also erroneously claiming the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention might use such data to enforce mandatory vaccinations.
Thousands of voters received such calls in New York, Ohio and Michigan, according to state prosecutors, who say it was an attempt to suppress Black voters. The activists face criminal charges for their role in spreading the disinformation, and New York Attorney General Letitia James is attempting to force the men to pay up to $2.7 million in penalties for the calls.
The FCC said the calls in question were made between Aug. 26 and Sept. 14, 2020, to 1,141 wireless cellphone users who had not expressly consented to the calls, which is a violation of federal law.
This is the largest robocall fine ever proposed by the FCC, the agency said. Wohl and Burkman identified themselves on the call, used Burkman’s cellphone number as caller ID and admitted under oath that they created the calls.
The men are notorious for several failed schemes to smear the political rivals of former President Donald Trump.
Many states expanded mail voting to keep voters safe during a deadly pandemic, but Trump and other conservatives baselessly condemned it as ripe for widespread fraud and discouraged it.
Because they are clinging to a platform, much of which, doesn't resonate with a majority of people. And rather than re-draft the platform to come into the 21st century, they have chosen a different tactic.
Because they are clinging to a platform, much of which, doesn't resonate with a majority of people. And rather than re-draft the platform to come into the 21st century, they have chosen a different tactic.
Which has been mostly ambidextrous... with both sides also determined to ride the wave of hate until it fizzles out. Our politics make me sick to my stomach.
I get what you're saying, and when I say incite the masses, I don't mean pitchforks and torches, I mean the insults and demeaning comments, I'm right, your wrong attitudes based strictly on which side of the aisle one stands, even if you're just standing slightly off center.
Just look at this forum. Most of these posters are probably good natured folks in general social settings, but bring politics into it, and the good manners go out the window.
I actually think that you are both right. I think that they are igniting the fringes, and the problem is that the fringes are getting bigger and more vocal. I wouldn't say that the masses are watching in disgust, but they're yelling at the fringes to stop being idiots, rather than yelling at the politicians. Either way, we've all been had by very adept political ploys.
We need to find some way to flip the script, against the Matt Gaetz, Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell, etc. types. They need to be confronted somehow (and I don't know how) as to where they went wrong and what they are actually doing. When they respond with the normal blame game, it needs to be about "No, you're talking about other people. What have you done? How have you strived to make things better? Let's look at this bill you passed and what's in it. Why did you advocate for X, Y and Z. How does this help."
As to what to do about it, conventional wisdom says to vote them out... so while congress has run at historically low approval ratings as a group, most incumbents still win. So the people must have the mindset that "overall congress sucks, but my congressperson isn't the problem".. what other explanation could there be?
And since most congressional districts tend to stay red or blue... you need to unseat an incumbent in the primary, which is painfully hard to do since most Americans are too busy to be concerned with congressional primaries.. most are also more comfortable with the devil they know than the devil they don't know.. so it's easier to vote for name recognition. And my final point, if you are represented by one of these do-nothing, road block, asshat congressional reps and a reasonable person runs against them in the primary, they will convince many people they are a rino or a neo-con or some other thing that is "sympathetic" to the other side and won't fight hard enough..
I think the problem therein lies that if you vote someone out, your only realistic alternative is someone else who will probably be just the different side of the same coin.
Edit - sorry I misread your statement on the primary. Yeah, the problem nowadays is that if you're not extreme enough, or if you're willing to work with the other side for the most part, then you're considered a pansy and nobody will like you, despite the fact that's pretty much how a democratic-republic works at its core.
As to what to do about it, conventional wisdom says to vote them out... so while congress has run at historically low approval ratings as a group, most incumbents still win. So the people must have the mindset that "overall congress sucks, but my congressperson isn't the problem".. what other explanation could there be?
And since most congressional districts tend to stay red or blue... you need to unseat an incumbent in the primary, which is painfully hard to do since most Americans are too busy to be concerned with congressional primaries.. most are also more comfortable with the devil they know than the devil they don't know.. so it's easier to vote for name recognition. And my final point, if you are represented by one of these do-nothing, road block, asshat congressional reps and a reasonable person runs against them in the primary, they will convince many people they are a rino or a neo-con or some other thing that is "sympathetic" to the other side and won't fight hard enough..
It's partly why I think the whole election process should be overhauled, starting with max spending amounts including boosters and 3rd parties during campaigning.
Put everyone on the same budget, and they may, not guaranteed, be more likely to spend more effort into campaigning instead of mud slinging.
Campaigning should not run for more than 3 months prior to the first primary date.
Then we need to hold the media responsible for irresponsible reporting. There should be requirements that any media clip contains full context of any phrase or comment. no clipping sound bites.
I know it's all a pipe dream. But I'd be just as happy if the only election coverage we got was a monthly bulletin in the mail about each candidate, what they believe and where they stand.
That would certainly be a great start. That would also require overturning Citizens United and making lobbying illegal. With Citizens United you have in place a law that permits such election funding abuses. That's a big hurdle to overcome. Then there are the side deals that give jobs or titles to retired and former politicians that line their pockets after leaving office for furthering the causes of special interests.
The entire system, not just election laws would need to be overhauled. The biggest hurdle being those that write and vote on such laws stand the most to gain by not changing them.
I agree with you and Pit.. the biggest hurdle is that the politicians in office stand the most to gain by keeping it the way it is.. and they are the ones that would have to vote to change it. It's just like congressional term limits..
And no matter how you tried to change it, it would be extremely messy. Heck it's hard to even define who "the media" really is these days since they have been overrun with talking heads, pundits, bloggers, youtubers, twitterers, etc. who all want to spew their opinions with zero accountability. And it seems the louder and more obnoxious the opinion, the larger the following..
I get what you're saying, and when I say incite the masses, I don't mean pitchforks and torches, I mean the insults and demeaning comments, I'm right, your wrong attitudes based strictly on which side of the aisle one stands, even if you're just standing slightly off center.
Just look at this forum. Most of these posters are probably good natured folks in general social settings, but bring politics into it, and the good manners go out the window.
Now don't go lumping me in with those good natured people...
As to what to do about it, conventional wisdom says to vote them out... so while congress has run at historically low approval ratings as a group, most incumbents still win. So the people must have the mindset that "overall congress sucks, but my congressperson isn't the problem".. what other explanation could there be?
And since most congressional districts tend to stay red or blue... you need to unseat an incumbent in the primary, which is painfully hard to do since most Americans are too busy to be concerned with congressional primaries.. most are also more comfortable with the devil they know than the devil they don't know.. so it's easier to vote for name recognition. And my final point, if you are represented by one of these do-nothing, road block, asshat congressional reps and a reasonable person runs against them in the primary, they will convince many people they are a rino or a neo-con or some other thing that is "sympathetic" to the other side and won't fight hard enough..
It's partly why I think the whole election process should be overhauled, starting with max spending amounts including boosters and 3rd parties during campaigning.
Put everyone on the same budget, and they may, not guaranteed, be more likely to spend more effort into campaigning instead of mud slinging.
Campaigning should not run for more than 3 months prior to the first primary date.
Then we need to hold the media responsible for irresponsible reporting. There should be requirements that any media clip contains full context of any phrase or comment. no clipping sound bites.
I know it's all a pipe dream. But I'd be just as happy if the only election coverage we got was a monthly bulletin in the mail about each candidate, what they believe and where they stand.
I like some of your ideas about campaigns.. No more outside money.. Everything is paid for by us. That way, the only people they are beholding to is us. That would be a detail mess,, but it can be done I'm sure.
Another thing,, NO MORE LIES... You get caught lying or misleading, you lose your campaign funding.. wouldn't that be sweet...
Term Limits.. Oh yeah, way past their time. If you are in office now and you have already served two terms, you can't run again,,, you are done. If two terms are good enough for President, (actually I think the limit is 10 years) congress should be no different
I would guess that unless you don't think you can win in this type of system, you'd be against it.
As to what to do about it, conventional wisdom says to vote them out... so while congress has run at historically low approval ratings as a group, most incumbents still win. So the people must have the mindset that "overall congress sucks, but my congressperson isn't the problem".. what other explanation could there be?
And since most congressional districts tend to stay red or blue... you need to unseat an incumbent in the primary, which is painfully hard to do since most Americans are too busy to be concerned with congressional primaries.. most are also more comfortable with the devil they know than the devil they don't know.. so it's easier to vote for name recognition. And my final point, if you are represented by one of these do-nothing, road block, asshat congressional reps and a reasonable person runs against them in the primary, they will convince many people they are a rino or a neo-con or some other thing that is "sympathetic" to the other side and won't fight hard enough..
Only because of gerrymandering, which should be outlawed.
It is a disgusting tactic used by both parties to game the system. A bit more popular on the right, but now the dems are wanting to pick it up.
Simple explanation in a hypotheical 50/50 split with 20 Districts.
Your side is structured to 58/42 that way you seat is fairly safe.
The other side 5/95 in the opposite direction.
So if there are 20 districts, you go from 10/10 to 15/5.
He's a white supremacist... We all know which party they have adopted. Plus it happened about the same time as the Charlottesville thing where the people on both sides were "good".
“Sending somebody to prison for $40 of cocaine and not enough marijuana to build a joint seems unfathomable,” Mary Price, general counsel for Families Against Mandatory Minimums, said. Especially, since the Maryland Legislature recently passed a law making the possession of anything less than 10 grams of pot a civil infraction with a $100 fine penalty.
He's a white supremacist... We all know which party they have adopted. Plus it happened about the same time as the Charlottesville thing where the people on both sides were "good".
It happened more than 2 years before Charlottesville..
Well those facts do not serve my purpose, so I choose to describe them as "about the same time". And the year it happened doesn't change that he is a white supremacist, and more likely than not a GOPer/right-winger.
Now I double dog dare somebody on the right to say I can't have my own facts.
And if it really bothers anyone, I can repost it in a new racists thread. Those always do so well...
He's a white supremacist... We all know which party they have adopted. Plus it happened about the same time as the Charlottesville thing where the people on both sides were "good".
It happened more than 2 years before Charlottesville..
What happened in 2016 to cause this thinking.. or did you just choose this date because Obama was President and then it will fit your narrative?
No, it just means there are 5X more GOPers doing that. I know all dems haven't got the jab. My progressive daughter and her husband are being dumbasses about it mostly because he joined an MC a couple years ago that is mostly Trump supporters, and their influence has made him question science... smdh
If all it takes is a bunch of bikers can make you question science....
All it took was a low IQ fat orange stain of a human to make a bunch of knuckdragging mouth breathers storm a federal building. Peer pressure is a beotch.
My point is, people don't magically turn into something they're not like that.
Which, to give Trump his due, is why Trump sometimes bordered on genius. He was the cancerous catalyst that let so many haters and xenophobes find confidence in hating openly and on a political scale/front .... he was the cancer and catalyst that prayed on the fears and phobias of people who don't like that the youth are progressive.
My point is, people don't magically turn into something they're not like that.
There was/is nothing magical about it. He is in the echo chamber when he is with them. And I don't dislike the club because they do tons of charity stuff for the community and families in need. About a month ago they donated and built a new playground for a local low-income daycare/preschool. Last month they had a ride for a family that lost a mid 30s mom and dad to a bike accident in their club. They've done one every month since the accident. They also had a charity ride for a family who lost their home to fire.
So it's hard for me to argue that they are bad people in anyway (not the types to show up at an insurrection), but it still bothers me that he is being influenced by the echo chamber. He's still mostly progressive but unfortunately fell for the vaccine fear mongering and decided to "wait and see" for himself and my three 12YO+ grandkids. My daughter could choose for herself but he talked her into waiting too. smdh, this drives me nuts.
Tucker should move to China. And he praised them on all of this then slammed America for trying to force the vaccine on people... does he think for a second he would have the choice to refuse the vaccine in China? lmao.
No it doesn't. Please learn to read, that may be the issue. It says 'tested on cells derived from fetal tissue' not that they are an ingredient. But I know you love spreading lies and misinformation so have at it.
Gym is too dumb to realize that most of the student body and faculty is vaccinated at Wisconsin, and also that almost everyone in that stadium hates him and the GOP.
“Real America” that he actually represents is mainly in the south, where the same conservatives calling Covid a hoax would’ve been calling the Black Plague a hoax as well.
You are such a wannabe troll. But sorry miss thang, I couldn't care less about people going to a game. I'm talking about his "Real America" crap. Screw gym and anybody else that tries to say I'm not a real American. I bet his ass never served in the military. I'd like to punch him in the face... a lot...
Gym is too dumb to realize that most of the student body and faculty is vaccinated at Wisconsin, and also that almost everyone in that stadium hates him and the GOP.
“Real America” that he actually represents is mainly in the south, where the same conservatives calling Covid a hoax would’ve been calling the Black Plague a hoax as well.
Yep, the vax rate there is like 94% I read somewhere.
Oh boohoo. Cry giant tears because some people went to sporting events.
You are safe under your moldy rock.
The family and friends of over 1500 dead Americans who now dying from Covid a day are shedding lots of tears. While people like you mock those of us who are concerned for the health and safety of our fellow Americans.
An effort by former Trump advisor Steve Bannon to set up a right-wing "gladiator school" in an 800-year-old Italian monastery has seemingly been derailed, the Art Newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The group was to be called the Academy for the Judeo-Christian West, and Bannon described it as a "gladiator school" for conservatives.
Harnwell told the Art Newspaper that he is appealing the ruling that led to his eviction in Italy's highest court. The British conservative said that plans to establish the school were still moving forward and that classes would be taught online for the time-being. "We have over 5,000 requests to participate," Harnwell told the Art Newspaper.
The Italian culture ministry evicted Benjamin Harnwell, a British Catholic conservative and Bannon's ally, from the medieval monastery, the paper said.
Bannon in March was infuriated when his group's lease for the building - the Certosa di Trisulti - was revoked by Italy's Council of State, which cited reasons such as poor financial planning for the move, per the Daily Beast.
"The government have proven themselves corrupt, incompetent, and broke," Bannon said in a statement to the Daily Beast at the time. "Everybody - allies and foes alike - admit the annulment of our lease was politically motivated."
"This ruling is a joke which brings further shame on Italy's already-stained judiciary in eyes of the whole world," Bannon said, adding, "We refuse to be stopped by the corrupt bureaucracy that infests Italian government and hurts the Italian people."
Bannon, who was pardoned by President Donald Trump earlier this year after being charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and money laundering, intended to use the Italian monastery as an academy to train a new generation of conservative "culture warriors," the New Yorker reported in May. The political academy would churn out the "next Tom Cottons, Mike Pompeos, Nikki Haleys: that next generation that follows Trump," Bannon told the magazine at the time.
The next generation to follow trump? Statistics say the dude is going to be in the ground in a few short years. The only people that’ll follow donny there are the baby boomers and COVIDiots.
Gym is too dumb to realize that most of the student body and faculty is vaccinated at Wisconsin, and also that almost everyone in that stadium hates him and the GOP.
The Wisconsin Badgers were one of the multiple college games chanting "F" Joe Biden on Saturday!
You are such a wannabe troll. But sorry miss thang, I couldn't care less about people going to a game. I'm talking about his "Real America" crap. Screw gym and anybody else that tries to say I'm not a real American. I bet his ass never served in the military. I'd like to punch him in the face... a lot...
On this we can agree. I don't like it when anybody uses phrases like "Real American" and assigns it to a singular belief or philosophy... "Real Americans" believe a lot of different things, "Real Americans" should be able to disagree....
Mitch McConnell says 'America must never default' as he doubles down on the GOP refusing to help Democrats raise debt ceiling Joseph Zeballos-Roig 21 hours ago
McConnell says the US shouldn't neglect its debt obligations while insisting Republicans won't back raising the debt ceiling. He says Democrats can raise it on their own, which they have shot down. Treasury Secretary Yellen warned of a potential default in October that could cause "irreparable damage" to the economy.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says the US shouldn't fail to service its growing national debt, while doubling down on his insistence that the GOP will oppose raising the debt ceiling.
"America must never default," the Kentucky Republican said in an interview with the Louisville Courier-Journal published Thursday.
He went on: "The debt ceiling needs to be raised. The issue is who should do it. And under these uniquely unprecedented circumstances, it's their obligation to do it. And they have the votes to do it, and they will do it."
McConnell's remarks underscored the brewing resistance among Republicans on renewing the nation's ability to pay its bills, known as the debt ceiling. The vast majority of Senate Republicans and a sizable portion of GOP lawmakers in the House say Democrats must lift the debt ceiling on their own in a social spending plan being drafted.
The GOP is on course to break with its past approach under President Donald Trump, given they struck deals with Democrats to raise or suspend the debt ceiling three times during his term. But a 2011 budget showdown between House Republicans and the Obama administration rattled financial markets and led to a downgrade in the US credit rating.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday that Democrats will not include a debt ceiling increase in the $3.5 trillion party-line spending bill they're pushing through the reconciliation process. That path requires only a simple majority vote.
Joe Biden could blow up the nation's political money game and 'pack' the Federal Election Commission with liberals. But he won't push the detonation plunger. "We Democrats supported lifting the debt ceiling because it's the responsible thing to do," she said at a press conference, adding Congress would be paying off "the Trump credit card"
"I would hope that the Republicans would act in a similarly responsible way," she said.
Democrats may add the debt ceiling measure onto an emergency spending bill the White House wants Congress to approve to finance relief efforts after Hurricane Ida and a string of wildfires, and avert a government shutdown at the end of September. That tactic could persuade some Republicans to support the legislation.
The debt ceiling is the legal limit that the US can borrow to maintain federal operations, set by Congress. It was last suspended for two years in July 2019. Raising the debt limit doesn't increase the national debt.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has urged lawmakers since June to raise the debt ceiling. But Congress barreled past a July 31 deadline to do so and the Treasury Department jumpstarted what it calls "extraordinary measures" to pay off the nation's bills for a short period of time.
Yellen warned Wednesday the US could default on its debt sometime in October if lawmakers don't act before then, a month earlier than expected.
"A delay that calls into question the federal government's ability to meet all its obligations would likely cause irreparable damage to the U.S. economy and global financial markets," she said in a letter to Congress.
I abhor that man. He is the most stark example of everything that has gone wrong in our political system. The double speak and blatant double standards are just absolutely horrific.
The whole lot of them are a joke. The fact they can not only rehash this argument every year/couple of years but also flip-flop which side of the argument they're on solely based on the red/blue color of a seat is.... I honestly don't know the word I'm searching for right now.
I abhor that man. He is the most stark example of everything that has gone wrong in our political system. The double speak and blatant double standards are just absolutely horrific.
As predictable as the sun rising in the east... there is a democrat in the Whitehouse and the GOP is concerned about the debt again.
You're talking "the gop" as a party, correct? Because as an individual, I've been concerned about the debt for a long, long time, regardless of who's in the white house.
As predictable as the sun rising in the east... there is a democrat in the Whitehouse and the GOP is concerned about the debt again.
You're talking "the gop" as a party, correct? Because as an individual, I've been concerned about the debt for a long, long time, regardless of who's in the white house.
I for one can appreciate your concerns... They are well founded.
But I will bet you that DC was thinking Congressional Republicans "suddenly care" again.
There are plenty of Republican and democratic citizens out there that are really and rightfully concerned about our Debt and Deficit.
There are I'm sure many of those same people that know that we need to spend some money right now on things like Roads and Bridges...Infrastructure. There are many such things that we need to address because they've been ignored for far to long by both D and R presidents.
There really isn't any getting around that.
The real question is, how do we accomplish those things while eliminating all the Pork...
While I certainly do not disagree with you, there are ways with which to spend money that pays at least some dividends and there are are ways that pay little to no dividends. So to some extent you get a return on your investment depending on which way you spend that money. Certainly not all of it comes back but let's look at the difference here.
Infrastructure. It creates well paying jobs with which tax money comes back into the government. It creates an environment that gives consumers of those jobs more expendable income which in turn goes back into and stimulates the economy. Green jobs serve the exact same purpose. These are just a couple of examples.
Let's contrast that with huge tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy. The claim most often attempted is how that creates jobs. Now I think we can both agree that only a fool would believe that. Business does not create jobs when there isn't a need. It's not as if business is going to say, "Wow I just got my pockets lined with cash so I think I'll just hire people I don't really need now".
That's not how business works. Business creates new jobs when the demand for their goods and services rise to the level they need to expand production. That doesn't happen unless the average consumer gets more expendable income to but their goods and services. I covered how you achieve that above.
Stimulating the economy and increasing your tax base only happens when good paying blue collar jobs are created and wages rise.
House republicans are all about the Afghanistan withdrawal hearings today in another attempt to further bash Biden... meanwhile January sixth was just a peaceful protest. Shameful.
House republicans are all about the Afghanistan withdrawal hearings today in another attempt to further bash Biden... meanwhile January sixth was just a peaceful protest. Shameful.
I watched about 15 minutes of that and frankly, it's like anything else. Hit the other party, to hell with right and wrong. Everything is all about dividing us,, nothing about uniting us. Jackasses, one and all.
Was it Mark Twain that said something like, "you are never wrong to do right"? Anyway, regardless of who said it, it's holds true..
I really wish the politicians would grasp the concept.
That would require admitting how messed up and wrong they are... never going to happen. We might as well pick up our guns and start shooting because they are never going to return to sanity before some awful ish happens to them. Hell, they are dying right and left yet still fighting facts on covid all over some dumbass ideas about freedumb, and internet troll named Q, and Donnie's lies about it. Mama always said, "stupid is as stupid does"...
I don't normally watch these links.... yours or anybody else's.
Just happened to watch this one to see when and what was said.... hard to believe that anti-vaxxers have a conspiracy theory that this woman wasn't treated with a provably dangerous drug that is not recommended by literally anyone other than the crazies. smh
Anthony was two years behind me at the same high school. He was always a good guy. Hard worker and we’ll respected by everyone at school, both on the field and off the field. He participated in a Summer Enrichment Program we had back in ‘98 and he was part of the group that I oversaw. Genuinely good kid at the time. Everyone I know who knows him talks about how he’s a good dude.
But, I guess if you think independently and you show loyalty to your own convictions rather to one person, the machine will come for you. How people are too bull-headed to see how concerning that is frightens the hell out of me. Nothing good has ever come from that dynamic.
They’ll just accuse you of ‘still’ talking about trump, while ignoring what an absolute provably unAmerican festering pile of human trash he was… and still is.
Trump calls Biden ‘illegitimate’ in a lie-riddled letter to Georgia voting official
Former President Trump Friday branded President Biden as “illegitimate” in a letter riddled with lies to Georgia’s top elections official.
Re-upping his feud with nemesis Brad Raffensperger, Trump demanded to know why the Georgia secretary of state was not moving to “decertify” Biden’s victory in the state based on false claims of voter fraud.
“You and (Gov. Brian Kemp) are doing a tremendous disservice to the great state of Georgia and our nation, which is systematically being destroyed by an illegitimate president,” Trump wrote in the letter, which he shared in an email message. “The truth must be allowed to come out.”
Trump cited debunked claim about absentee ballots in the heavily Democratic DeKalb County, outside Atlanta, and “many other claims of voter fraud,” without elaborating.
Biden beat Trump in Georgia by about 12,000 votes, a result that was confirmed by three separate recounts. It was the first time the onetime GOP stronghold voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since Bill Clinton won in 1992.
Trump is under criminal investigation by the Atlanta district attorney for seeking to bully Raffensperger into changing the results to give him the state in the turbulent weeks after his election defeat.
The ex-president is still pushing his claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him, even though there is no evidence of significant fraud.
The so-called Big Lie was the platform for Trump’s Stop the Steal rally on Jan. 6, when a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in hopes of blocking Congress from rubber stamping Biden’s win.
Trump wrote to Raffensperger on the eve of a planned right-wing extremist rally in support of the roughly 600 #MAGA backers who have been arrested for their roles in the Jan. 6 attack.
Here is what they have turned into, a joke. With whack jobs convinced that the Dems are socialist and un-American, while they funnel monies from Russia to Trump. They cry about a General openly and transparently doing his job, while enabling and making excuses for guilty Roger Stones and Flynn and others.
It is odd how they support convicted felons and Trump pardoning his criminal buddies and then make claims about Milley when they have no idea that he actually followed protocol.
