The Republican Agenda 2021 and Forward

Citysnaps said:
For real? Or is that some kind of image rehabilitation ploy? Not that it matters.
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Well, Stone was pretty upset about not getting a second pardon. Sounds like he was led to believe it was still possible right up to the day of Biden's inauguration.

Probably figured in the end he'd get that 2nd pardon because Trump would otherwise consider Stone a dangerous (if not particularly credible) potential witness in any investigations of 2020 post-election events involving efforts to keep Trump in office.

But the pardon didn't happen, Stone has taken the Fifth Amendment solution to at least delay his own further encounters with rule of law, and anyway Trump has since gone on to endanger himself vs our criminal codes without any help from anyone.

Stone talks like he's still stuck in those moments of Nixon's dirty tricks guys back in the 70s. A bunch of dumber criminals would have been hard to script for a comedy film, and yet none of it is amusing when one thinks of the related attempts to subvert democracy.
 
Chew Toy McCoy said:
www.npr.org

Alabama Sen. Tuberville equates descendants of enslaved people to criminals

Tuberville spoke at a pro-Trump rally in Nevada on Saturday ahead of the November midterm elections. The NAACP called the comments "flat out racist, ignorant and utterly sickening."
www.npr.org www.npr.org

Here's the thing. If they just went full-on blatant racist it would have close to zero impact on a good percentage of Republican voters. FACT. There's no line that can be crossed that they won't just look the other way under "Well, I don't agree with that, but that doesn't have anything to do with why I vote Republican."

Just as troubling, there are minority Republicans who will also overlook racism because they have some shared beliefs about their own race, as if the racist takeover will be issuing them "one of the good ones" badges that will protect them against attacks from the general public.
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Here is an interesting analysis by Nieman Lab of media treatment of Senator Tuberville's remarks. They rated a number of media outlets on willingness to call the remarks "racist" (rather than something like 'racially charged') and on willingness to quote his "Bullshit!" exclamation in the wrap. I think the latter examination was because the use of profanity in public speech by pols particularly in the Bible Belt is still not that common, and because mainstream media outlets often still partly mask or censor such exclamations, or substitute a phrase like "... used a profanity..." rather than print the word(s) that were used.

www.niemanlab.org

Do news organizations call racist things racist now? It’s still a mixed bag

Saying Democrats want to give African Americans money as thanks for all the crimes they've committed against white people — is that racist? Or still just "racially charged"?
www.niemanlab.org

The lab's piece noted that it took Fox News two days to comment on Tuberville's rant at all, and at that only rather obliquely. Breitbart ran an AP account of the incident without comment, but on its own initiative focused on reactions by two Black CNN staffers and called THOSE remarks racist. Politico on the other hand quoted Tuberville in full but copped out on assessing how race fit into the remarks by saying only that the Senator "raised eyebrows" by the remarks.
 
So Trump said at a rally (paraphrasing) that US Jews aren’t being jewy enough in their support of Israel. For the billionth time…not all Jews are Israeli and not all Israelis are members of the Israeli government, but when Trump rolls into town he barrels right past the nuance offramp and plummets off the cliff of ignorance to bodysurf on hatred.

I know this is a bit counterintuitive with the Christian right’s support of antisemitic replacement theory while also supporting Israel, but that has nothing to do with supporting Jews. For them supporting Israel is about harkening God wiping humans off the face of the planet in the ultimate throwdown with Satan. So yeah, you really want to roll with that crowd. Nothing gets them hornier than the prospect of Biblical level suffering.

On a related note, JD Vance said he can’t be a believer in replacement theory because he has an Indian wife and mixed race children. I bet he even has a black friend! For reference, it wasn’t the Trump family that stormed the capital. It was his supporters 100% driven by his rhetoric. So, Mr. Vance, you can claim you don’t believe in replacement theory but your rhetoric says the polar opposite. You know that and you know what the results of that will be. I'm really getting tired of the "They hate my hate speech!" whining from the right.
 
shadow puppet said:
I realize this may not concern the younger contingent here, but for those of us closing in on SS and Medicare age, this possibility is extremely worrisome.

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1582399230341050373/
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It’s not a secret. Between Rick Scott’s train wreck bill that even moderate republicans shit on (but would vote for in a second if they had the votes), and republicans overturning Roe v. Wade, it’s time for people to wake up.

Democrats already know republicans will do these things, but many Republican voters seem to not understand that they will be affected too, not just those “other people” who don’t vote like they do.

Republicans don’t like running on cutting these things, but they absolutely will. They try to dress their arguments up as simply “spending smarter”, but it’s really just a BS way of saying “cuts”.

This as the price as everything has gone up considerably, not just because of inflation either.
 
Chew Toy McCoy said:
www.today.com

A high school artist was chosen to paint a mural. Then came the outrage

A student said she created the piece to make kids "feel welcome." Some parents in Grant, Michigan, wanted the painting removed.
www.today.com www.today.com

It’s ok to attack children because they are no longer a fetus.
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from the story,

Tracey Hargreaves, who has two children Grant Public School system, came to the defense of the student artist. “I am a conservative, right-wing, gun-loving American,” Hargreaves declared at the meeting. “And I’ve never seen more bigoted people in my life.”

"The meeting turned into a hate fest. Usually there are 10 people at these meetings, 50 showed up. It wasn't even about the mural," Hargreaves told TODAY. "People were talking about how we need to pray the gay away."​

All hope is not lost. A lot is lost, but there may yet be a morsel.
 
Chew Toy McCoy said:
So Trump said at a rally (paraphrasing) that US Jews aren’t being jewy enough in their support of Israel.
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Trump's contention is ironic because the usual accusation people of like ilk would make is that Jews are loyal to Israel and not so much to the U.S. Here Trump is criticizing them with the opposite contention that they aren't loyal enough to Israel.
 
Yoused said:
All hope is not lost. A lot is lost, but there may yet be a morsel.
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Speaking of some people "talking about how we need to pray the gay away..."

SCOTUS agreed back in February to hear some aspects of the appeal of a case called 303 Creative v Elenis, a case that is somewhat similar to the Colorado case of a baker declining to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. This one is about a website designer wanting to post a notice on her own website explaining that she does not want to design wedding sites for same-sex couples due to her religious beliefs but would try to help them find someone else to provide the services. Oral arguments to be heard on December 7th. The baker's case was decided quite narrowly. This one who knows. The makeup of the court is different. However, the court has already declined to consider some parts of the appellant's petition. Some details in this blog

www.scotusblog.com

Justices will hear free-speech claim from website designer who opposes same-sex marriage - SCOTUSblog

Nearly four years after the Supreme Court declined to decide whether compelling a Colorado baker to bake a cake for same-sex couples would violate his right to freedom of speech, the justices agreed to take up a similar question in another case from Colorado, this time involving a website designer.
www.scotusblog.com www.scotusblog.com
 
mac_in_tosh said:
At this point, the GOP is appealing to people's basest fears and motives, nothing more. They're not interested in governing, just holding power.
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On December 7th, SCOTUS will hear arguments in Moore v Harper, a case that proposes to put the legislative rights of a US state --regarding decisions on election rules-- out of reach of modification by the courts or the governor.

The assertions relate to a so called "independent state legislature" theory, which up until now anyway has been treated judicially like some fringe assertion at the pub on a Friday night. Now though, some red states embroiled in redistricting arguments have decided to press the issue and the court agreed to hear this one, a North Carolina case.

www.democracydocket.com

U.S. Supreme Court Schedules Oral Argument for Moore v. Harper

Read more here.
www.democracydocket.com www.democracydocket.com

I'm marking this one as concerning because of Roberts' clear dislike for the federal Voting Rights Act and an apparent preference for taking a narrow and strict view of the Constituition's language about states' rights wherever they are mentioned.
 
mac_in_tosh said:
Trump's contention is ironic because the usual accusation people of like ilk would make is that Jews are loyal to Israel and not so much to the U.S. Here Trump is criticizing them with the opposite contention that they aren't loyal enough to Israel.
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So sick of Trump's endless permutations of antisemitic tropes and rants. Apparently so is Mehdi Hasan, whose monologue on MSNBC recounted some of the ones I had remembered being appalled at hearing Trump whip out the first time. They haven't aged well either, no surprise there.

www.huffpost.com

MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan Has Stark Warning Over Trump’s Latest Antisemitic Rant

“Now is not the time to stay silent or to give the GOP a pass on this issue,” Hasan urged.
www.huffpost.com www.huffpost.com

Trump has set the country back decades by just flipping religious and racist tropes and slurs into the night whenever he feels like it. And because Republican leaders have only occasionally stepped forward to rebuke him or make it clear that the GOP does not condone such hateful speech, they have enabled anew a vile wash of open bigotry from coast to coast.

Was it better when confined to exclusionary clubs and private discussions in corporate offices and university admissions offices? No. Normalization of hate speech however is not the same as openly confronting it as an unworthy thread still running through the fabric of our society.

The Republican party owns this rise in "acceptability" of old tropes and slurs. The language is not acceptable but is being flung around without condemnation by people in a position to lead and educate us out of such ignorant or malevolent descriptions of fellow citizens. The GOP honchos refuse to disavow Trump and yet know they can never change him. In their stubborn desire not to lose the power they believe his base still offers them, they forge a path away from being actual contributors to American democracy. And... they don't seem to care.
 


Could have posted this in the midterms but this will probably outlast that.

TL;DW. In August of 2019 he posted a video saying the trade wars with China are going to trigger a recession, tarrifs cause inflation. Then Covid covered that up and delayed it. Whoever the President is in office at the time would get blamed for it. And here we are. Possibly the only downside to Trump not getting a second consecutive term is he would correctly be getting the blame for the current recession. I will note that it’s not the only cause and as the video points out Presidents get outsized blame or praise for the economy because they really can’t do much about it.
 
shadow puppet said:
I realize this may not concern the younger contingent here, but for those of us closing in on SS and Medicare age, this possibility is extremely worrisome.

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1582399230341050373/
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This is a winning message in GOP land?? 😳 Frankly it is astonishing the GOP still exists as a political threat instead of the laughing stock they should be. We’ll soon see if the the USA is crowned the Land of Idiots, or would that be the Land of Corruption and Sheep? The next election may tell the tale, or be just more stumbling forward until we end up on our knees crawling Into an uncertain future.🤔
 
Chew Toy McCoy said:


Could have posted this in the midterms but this will probably outlast that.

TL;DW. In August of 2019 he posted a video saying the trade wars with China are going to trigger a recession, tarrifs cause inflation. Then Covid covered that up and delayed it. Whoever the President is in office at the time would get blamed for it. And here we are. Possibly the only downside to Trump not getting a second consecutive term is he would correctly be getting the blame for the current recession. I will note that it’s not the only cause and as the video points out Presidents get outsized blame or praise for the economy because they really can’t do much about it.
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If Trump was in, the GOP would be bending over backwards to explain why the recession is Democrats fault as the faithful stay inebriated on Orange Koolaid. As is, you can feel good and feel terrible, knowing that we’ll collectively get what we deserve. 😳
 
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