What does it mean to say that there “has never been a Palestinian state” in the Holy Land? This is one of the allegations Florida Governor Ron DeSantis made on his trip to Israel, where he fell all over himself taking far right wing colonialist stances. DeSantis actually did a history degree at Yale University and his professors must spit up a little bit when they hear him talking like that. Or just hear him talking.
Republicans are trying to distract America from the easy access Audrey Hale had to weapons of war by discussing Hale’s personal life, but the availability of guns and the Republican embrace of death as a political weapon are the only real issues here.
We’re the only developed country in the world that unconditionally allows civilians to own military-style assault weapons, that allows “open carry,” and that lets gun manufacturers openly buy politicians (thanks, Republicans on the Supreme Court).
As a consequence, we’re also the only country in the world where the leading cause of death for children is being blown apart by bullets.
Republicans are weary of Donald Trump’s calls for protests amid the belief by the former president that he’ll be arrested this week in connection with a years-old hush-money payment to a porn star.
Mr. Trump has called on his supporters to protest and “take our nation back!” prompting warnings of caution Sunday from prominent conservatives who say they do not want a repeat similar to the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Free for Trump but paid by Fox Kellyanne Conway renewed no pay role is all payday
Fox News contributor Kellyanne Conway delivered a salvo of on-air political attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris just hours after news broke of her joining former President Donald Trump’s nascent reelection effort as an unpaid adviser. Conway’s dual role as a political strategist for Trump and a commentator for Fox highlights the seamlessly symbiotic relationship between Fox and the Republican Party, and further exposes the network’s purported “news side” as being just another component of Fox’s political machine.
Republican leaders say the recent shooting in Colorado was a tragedy that never should have happened and have called for new laws to make it harder for citizens to open gay nightclubs.
America seems incapable of disproving Trump’s declaration that “there’s good on both sides ” made immediately after Charlottesville where the murder and assault were committed in plain sight by a white supremacists who were absolutely and clearly wrong. The storming of the Capitol on Jan 6th seems too difficult given the majority were white male ultra-right and far from moderate protesters after blood. No such leeway or time would have been spent if they had been black that’s for certain.
Everyone in public life — including leading Democrats, Joe Biden, and Republican leaders, including Mitch McConnell — must condemn Trump’s invitations to violence and bigotry. And they must also demand that Trump be held criminally accountable for his attempted coup, his instigation of the assault on the Capitol, and his theft of top-secret government documents.
Prominent right-wing commentators are condemning Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) proposed national abortion ban. But their concern isn’t that they oppose threatening doctors with up to five years in prison if they perform an abortion on a patient who has been pregnant for more than 15 weeks. It’s that they know Graham’s bill endangers the GOP’s chances of gaining power and thus having the opportunity to ban abortions.
Republican Elise Stefanik to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy have issued statements brimming with outrage and accusation. Last night, the RNC sent out a fundraising text: “THIS IS NOT A DRILL: UNPRECEDENTED move Biden’s FBI RAIDS Pres. Trump’s home. Time to take back Congress.
”Rubbish. There’s no evidence that the FBI search was motivated by anything other than concerns (and, under a court order, probable cause) that Trump made off with documents rightfully belonging to the United States. That’s a criminal offense. If anyone has been undermining the rule of law, it’s Trump. Recall that Trump himself appointed the current director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, after firing former director James Comey for investigating the ties of Trump’s 2016 campaign to Russia.
It is time to stop using the term “conservative” to describe them and their agenda.
And it is time it to fight back: Enlarge the size of the Supreme Court and limit the terms of justices. Abolish the filibuster and then pass laws most Americans want — protecting voting rights and reproductive rights, and controlling guns. Criminally prosecute Trump and his insurgents.
These are conservative measures. They are necessary to conserve and protect our governing institutions from the radicals now bent on destroying them.
How To Handle Radical Republicans | The Smirking Chimp
US Republican Senators have responded quickly to the latest mass shooting, assuring gun advocacy groups that they have no reason to feel anxious or afraid tonight.
Currently, the LNP in Australia is importing their ideas from the US Republicans who have given up on the great experiment of Democracy. We have seen their Australian clones adopt a carbon copy of the culture wars from U.S. From rumblings that the election is being “rigged” to multiculturalism being the scourge that’s dividing this nation from a mythical and heroic one they claim once united us. The increasing drift to the right is taking us away from from a representative Democracy and driving us towards Mussolini’s dream of a Corporate State and in the long term to the death of the Liberal-National Coalition as a political party. Their current short-term agendas carries with them the long-term consequences of the board taking over the company..
“Overall, Greene’s position within the Republican party seems secure. That’s partly because the Republican leadership is surely aware that most of the energy and activism in conservatism is in the far-right wing that stands behind Greene. In fact, Greene is the poster child of a rising group of rightwing radicals: in Congress, she likes to present herself and like-minded allies such as representatives Lauren Boebert and Matt Gaetz as the future of the Republican party, and they aren’t shy about their intention to purge whatever vestiges of “moderate” conservatism might still exist within the Republican party.”
In recent days, as Putin has threatened a conflagration, top conservatives and GOP officials have practically pinned “I’m-with-Vlad buttons” onto their lapels. One example: Mike Pompeo, Trump’s final secretary of state and before that his CIA director, had only praise for the corrupt Russian autocrat, describing him as “talented” and “savvy.” Donald Trump, speaking to a conservative podcaster on Tuesday, hailed Putin’s moves in Ukraine as “genius.” Referring to Putin’s invasion of eastern Ukraine, Trump said, “Putin declares a big portion of…of Ukraine. Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful…I said, ‘How smart is that?’ And he’s gonna go in and be a peacekeeper…Here’s a guy who’s very savvy.” Later in the interview, Trump continued to gush: “I knew Putin very well. I got along with him great. He liked me. I liked him. I mean, you know, he’s a tough cookie, got a lot of the great charm and a lot of pride. But the way he—and he loves his country, you know? He loves his country.”
These latest revelations do show us just how different these days are than 48 years ago when it was revealed that Richard Nixon had tried to get the CIA to block the FBI’s investigation into Watergate. That was known as the “smoking gun” in that case and it made dozens of Republicans and conservative Democrats turn against him. He resigned days later. What Trump did was worse. He tried to use the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security (and for all we know the CIA and the Department of Education too) to overturn a legal election that he lost. And his party shrugs. Worse than that he is the front runner for the nomination in the next presidential election. If, for some reason, he is actually held to account for any of this — or anything at all — it won’t be because the Republican Party lifted a finger to make it happen.
This argument applies as much to Australia and the L-NP who lurk in the shadows of the Republican Party playing Simon Says. Politicians who like Antic have no real ideas of their own.
There is simply no “both sides” narrative to what is often euphemistically called “partisan polarization.” America has one political party, the Republicans, wholly devoted to extremism, authoritarianism, and trolling. The other party, the Democrats, has a range of politicians, from centrist to progressive, who all fall within the range of normal political views and none of whom oppose democracy or support violence. People like AOC aren’t “provocative,” so much as they appeal to a bunch of normie Democrats who have a positive and progressive view of politics — and the negative attention they get is largely from rabid right wingers who are tearing this country to shreds. There’s no equivalence here, just one party that is trying to destroy the U.S. as we know it and another party that has some people in it that are trying to stop them.
The Republicans demand stricter Voting ID and like good camp followers Australia’s LNP suggest the same. Republicans demand stricter education measures Australia’s LNP fight for the same. Morrison is against Lockdowns anti-mandates all Republican Trump decrees Morrison adopts the same plan. It looks like a game of Simon Says. Does the Morrison government have any original policies?
The assault on teachers in this country by Republicans continues as a new bill proposed by Florida State Rep. Bob Rommel would allow cameras in the classroom as well as put microphones on teachers to monitor what they say.
The coalition LNP have simply become Trumper Republicans with no imagination of their own. They don’t simply want to trash Aussie votes but our system.
The Coalition’s voter ID bill may discourage people from voting and “no evidence” has been provided regarding how it could prevent fraud, a parliamentary committee has warned. The joint committee on human rights, chaired by Nationals MP Anne Webster, issued the warning in a report on Wednesday. It called on the special minister of state, Ben Morton, to explain how the bill would be effective and its impact on vulnerable groups.
As Trump openly considers another run for the White House, many of the Republican lawmakers who joined his effort to challenge Biden’s victory are staying away from the Saturday rally, even though many still echo his false claims that the election was rigged — despite numerous court cases by Trump’s allies that have failed to confirm those allegations.
Days after former US president George W. Bush called domestic and foreign terrorists “children of the same foul spirit”, former president Donald Trump has lashed out, saying Bush should not be lecturing Americans about national security.
If the pieces fall together just so, and the debt ceiling is added to a bill that keeps the government running and assists those in distress from the storm, Republicans will find themselves in a tremendous bind. “The combination would present a triple threat,” reports Politico, “daring GOP lawmakers to go on record in opposition to aid for disaster-hit communities, staving off a debt default that could throw financial markets into chaos and preventing a government shutdown.” Some will no doubt shrink at the idea of playing political hardball with money meant to help storm victims, but it is precisely that brand of ruthless certitude that has allowed Republicans to run (or stall) the country as a minority party for the third Democratic presidential administration in a row. There’s no doubt that disaster relief will pass one way or another, and in the meantime, doing this puts the Republicans on record for voting to basically burn the country down to the stumps. That seems to be what a lot of elected GOP officials want, but it isn’t likely to play well come ballot-casting time.
Most Republican voters believe him. It is natural to want to put all this unpleasantness behind us. We are finally turning the corner on the pandemic and the economy. Why look back to the trauma of the 2020 election? Because we cannot put it behind us. Trump’s big lie and all that it has provoked are still with us. If we forget what has occurred the trauma will return, perhaps in even more terrifying form.
America prefers to look forward rather than back. We’re a land of second acts. We move on. This can be a strength. We don’t get bogged down in outmoded traditions, old grudges, obsolete ways of thinking. We constantly reinvent. The downside is a tendency toward collective amnesia about what we’ve been through, and a corresponding reluctance to do anything about it or hold anyone accountable.
Clearly jarred by the power and the depth of the protests against systemic racism and against police brutality that erupted in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis Police last year, right-wing, Republican-controlled state legislatures are passing laws specifically targeting dissent. At the same time, chillingly, many of these laws include provisions legalizing violence against protestors, granting immunity to people who drive their cars into crowds.
In contrast, U.S. Republicans do their “managing” a bit more obscurely, but even more harmfully for the whole idea of democracy. They are actively engaged in a campaign to disenfranchise voters from ethnicities and geographies that are not promising “hunting grounds” for the Republicans.
The For the People Act, numbered in Congress as H.R. 1 and S. 1, would provide for automatic voter registration across the country and would require paper ballots. It would require that early voting be made available, and would expand mail-in voting. It would authorize $1 billion for upgrades to state voting systems. Polling by Data for Progress and Vote Save America shows that the principles in H.R. 1 are very popular, across parties. Sixty-eight percent of Americans approve of the reforms in the bill. Sixteen percent oppose the measure. The items within the bill are also popular. Eighty-six percent of Americans support a plan to prevent foreign interference in our elections; 7% oppose it. Eighty-five percent of us want to limit the amount of politics; 8% oppose that idea. Eighty-four percent of us want more election security; 8 percent do not. Seventy-four percent of us want to see nonpartisan redistricting; 11% do not. Sixty-eight percent want to see 15 days of early voting; 19% do not. Sixty percent want same-day voter registration; 29% do not. Fifty-nine percent want automatic voter registration; 29% do not. Even with the Republican attacks on mail-in voting, fifty-eight percent of us want to be able to vote by mail; 35% do not. Democrats passed a version of H.R. 1 in the previous Congress, but then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to take it up. Now, every House Democrat supports the bill, while Republican lawmakers oppose it.
If there were ever a time for bold government, it is now. Covid, joblessness, poverty, raging inequality and our last chance to preserve the planet are together creating an existential inflection point.
Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley and several other members of the “sedition caucus” are still in Congress and stand as a constant reminder of how much accountability and healing must still occur.
Trump can diminish both the GOP and himself. The question is by how much?
Yes, there is a deep schism in the GOP between the traditional budget-conscious, business-friendly old guard and the nativist culture warriors still loyal to Donald Trump. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, having exploited the useful idiot in the White House for conservative judges and a tax cut, now wants nothing to do with him or his ilk. (McConnell, according to a revealing New Yorker piece, is particularly terrified of the GOP losing corporate donors in the wake of the Trump-stoked putsch on Jan. 6.)
The Flynn Pardon, The Trump Legal Team Failure, and the Biden National …
Host Ron Steslow sits down with fellow Lincoln Project co-founders George Conway and Jennifer Horn, and Lincoln Project senior advisor John Sipher to discuss the top news stories of the week: Trump’s pardoning of Michael Flynn, the Trump legal team’s failures to win court cases, the announcement of Biden’s top national security team, and the latest spike in COVID-19 cases.
Homers may have shunned masks because Trump told them too. But if Marges wear them, Homers can too. Homers may parrot “hoax” and “fake news” but if Marges pay attention to facts and science, Homers can be convinced to do the same. Homers may back the blue, but if Marges can weep for George Floyd, Homers can understand that recognising black lives matter is simple human decency. Marge might also help Homer realise that many who claim to represent him are frauds. Those who he has been listening to — Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Rush Limbaugh — make more money in a day than Homers make in a year. These Sideshow Bobs are the true elites. Do Rupert Murdoch and his fellow Mr Burns billionaires give a damn about Homers? When was the last time a Homer was spotted at Mar-a-Lago? Still, most Homers will continue to vote Republican. That’s who they are. But they are not immoral and they have not been lost to Trump’s cult. They backed Trump because he was their candidate. Now the Trump show has been canceled. Sooner or later the repeats will fade away. And the Homers will move on. Many Homers don’t know it yet, but Joe Biden cares more about them than Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell and Ted Cruz ever will. Some have figured this out already. In time it might dawn on the rest. And when that day comes, they may quote their cartoon namesake: “D’oh!”
Claiming that the election was a Democratic “power grab” financed by (of course) George Soros, Gingrich threw a bone to anti-Semites in the Republican base. He concluded that “it is very hard for me to understand how we [Democrats and Republicans] are going to work together,” which is really his point. This is all pretext for massive resistance to anything President Biden tries to do. The plan is to deny Biden legitimacy. Right-wing media will give Republicans cover to maintain the lie by obsessing about “investigations” and “reports” of a “stolen election.” Meanwhile, GOP voters will encourage them while failing to hold their leaders accountable for refusing to govern. That strategy worked pretty well for Republicans during the Obama presidency. With a few tweaks, they’re teeing it up once again.
Government officials say the receptacles are illegal and could lead to voter fraud, but the party says it will continue the practice. State officials in California have ordered an investigation into more than 50 deceptively labeled “official” drop boxes. State officials in California have ordered an investigation into more than 50 deceptively labeled “official” drop boxes.Credit…Mike Blake/Reuters By Glenn Thrush and Jennifer Medina Oct. 12, 2020 The California Republican Party has admitted responsibility for placing more than 50 deceptively labeled “official” drop boxes for mail-in ballots in Los Angeles, Fresno and Orange Counties — an action that state officials said was illegal and could lead to voter fraud.
The Democratic Party is basically a governing party, organized around developing and implementing public policies. The Republican Party has become an attack party, organized around developing and implementing political vitriol. Democrats legislate. Republicans fulminate. In theory, politics requires both capacities – to govern, but also to fight to attain and retain power. The dysfunction today is that Republicans can’t govern and Democrats can’t fight.
Why would Republicans, supposedly “America first” adherents, want to prevent Americans from knowing about foreign interference in our presidential election – unless they have something to hide?
olddogthoughts 