Today the Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted along party lines to remove Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) from her seat on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. The Republicans voting to remove her justified their action by pointing to language she used that they say was antisemitic. She has apologized for that language.
Substack automatically populates the post with an image from the notes, and I was unhappy that it chose McCarthy's antisemitic tweet. I jumped to update it with the first neutral thing I could find on my phone: the brick wall Ernest Hemingway and his friends built around his home in Key West, Florida. Not exactly a reflection of the post, but not too far off, either, I guess.
“The Republicans who want to destroy the ‘socialist’ government, want to keep white people in charge, support Trump or someone similar, are fervently Christian, and openly court violence.”
ARE fervently Christian?
Fervently PROCLAIM THEMSELVES to be Christian, yet are openly anti-Christian, and don’t appear to have the least idea of what “Christian” means.
Nothing new about such gross misrepresentation, but this power-mad bunch of junkies have taken it about as far as it can be taken. Yet another demented sect like the Anabaptists of Munster…
The division in the Republican Party today is between avowed fascists and spineless morons who enable the fascists. The four "principled Republicans" who announced they would not vote to remove Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Relations Committee grabbed a figleaf of "due process" that congressman Thomas Massie said "wasn't much of a figleaf" and voted to support the fascists. Which makes them all complicit in the fascism of the traitor wing of the party. Remember that over half of the Republicans in congress today voted to deny recognition of Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election.
"Committed moderate good-guy Republican" former governor Larry Hogan announced today that if Trump is the party's nominee in 2024, he will support him.
There are no "worthwhile Republicans." There are traitors and enablers of traitors. Harry Truman was right 75 years ago when he said "The only 'good Republicans' are pushing up daisies." That statement is only far more true 75 years later.
The rhetoric just gets worse everyday. From Qevin and his bald-faced lies and M Three Names challenging AOC to a showdown debate, of which AOC would win by a landslide. Then the 5th Circuit Court denying women any protection from their attacker or abuser is complete insanity! Where do the these people get their orders from? Is it Putin? The Federalist Society chair, Leonard Leo? Wake me up from this diabolical nightmare, would you?
The Republicans will cause as much damage as they can in the name of personal freedom. The world they want would/will cause them more harm than they can imagine. A weakened US may fail to protect itself against rising autocratic challengers both foreign and domestic. They fool themselves if they believe they can hold that tiger by the tail.
This summation of today's Republican Party does two things. It reminds us all that the party of trump, de santis, mc carthy, greene, jordan, gaez, hawley, cruz, rubio, et al, is NOT the Republican party of Eisenhower, Rockefeller, McCain. It is following to a T the Fascist party of hitler and mussolini. If this is really what Americans want, I hope I die before it comes to fruition. Second, it bolsters what some of us have said repeatedly; the Leaders of the Democratic Party, Biden, Harris, Jeffries, Schumer, have to step up to the plate and use our own Constitution to fight them. Invoke Amendments 13 and 14. Invoke the details of Articles 1, 2, and 6. We can no longer cling to our dignity and hope the bad guys will disappear. Now is the time for action, not physical as the rethugs used 1/6/21 but verbal, legal and Constitutional. The Founding Fathers gave it to us, Dammit, use it.
Could we quit calling these people Christians? How about 'fervently believe they are Christians'? I am a liberal and also a follower of the teachings of Christ. Those people are NOT Christians. Those people have for decades made me reluctant to say I am a Christian.
They don’t just threaten violence. Supporting 1/6 is violence. All the thoughts and prayers when what we need is gun control is violence. We should be saying “violent Republican extremists.@
Heather, I want to begin by saying “Thank-you for putting this fiasco in Washington DC In understandable language. I listened to this today and every Republican House member that was interviewed had a different reason for voting her off the Foreign Affairs Committee. Same with voting Schiff and his colleague off their committee.
Let’s take a look at what has been accomplished in the House the past few weeks. Ahhh......absolutely nothing of substance. Nothing that is relevant to running this country. They have voted on nothing, that I can recall the past few weeks to accomplish a thing.
This country is fixing to default on its debt. When this happens, you will see a recession unmatched to the 20s.
Now, I’m closing, I want to hit on something that’s extremely serious. Florida, and Ron DeSantis. I’m doing this to keep reminding people that this man wants to be our president. He wants to run this country as he has ran Florida the past 4 years.
DeSantis has removed all books, literature, from all educational institutions, libraries, and has forbid the educators to even mention ‘gay’, ‘LGBTQ’, race, Black Lives Matter, and a gist of other subjects that basically forbids the educators of teaching anything snout the Civil War, or the period of American history that led up to the Civil War. Nothing can be taught about slavery because it involves teaching about race.
DeSantis has removed the Board, President, and all the staff members of the college in Sarasota, FL, and other prominent universities and colleges in Florida. Why, because they were not ‘conforming’ to his way of educational ways if thinking! The people he terminated were replaced with his ‘sheep’, his ‘lap dogs’ that jump when he says jump, and does exactly what he wants done, right, wrong, or indifferent.
DeSantis has also pushed to have the gun laws changed in Florida where a person may carry a firearm, openly, without a permit, no check, no restriction. Now, I’m may I ask, exactly what period of our American history does this remind you of?
Thank you for the stark assessment of the Republicans, professor. It's only leavened by the history lesson from 1879 and 1880. We can only hope that the Democrats will continue to prove the benefits of governing for the people and standing up for the rule of law.
To me the wild cards are what happens when Trump is inevitably indicted and some dire emergency suddenly confronts the country – war, a more deadly pandemic, a deep economic upheaval, or something now beyond our imagination. How does a nation already torn asunder and beset with a morally bankrupt and authoritarian political party manage crises?
Our best hope at least politically is a cleansing of the GOP via an overwhelming Democratic victory in 2024. Not just at the national level but states now moving toward fascism. It's a daunting task.
My gut reaction is to ask why is it taking so long to indict Trump and his cronies? The Republicans are throwing blatant corruption in our faces over and over again Calling them “Christian” is appalling. And then this happened! A black Republican city councilwoman was fatally shot in her car outside her home in New Jersey on Wednesday night in what police believe was a planned attack. Eunice Dwumfour was a 30-year-old Republican member of the Sayreville Borough Council. Should everyone start wearing bulletproof vests and protective helmets?
Orban, Hungary’s leader, was praised by then-President Trump and the ambassador he sent to Budapest.
On Ukraine and NATO-related issues, Orban has been pro-Russia and a rogue among Eastern European countries, except for Belorussia.
Ambassador Pressman a seasoned professional who is gay, was appointed to Budapest by President Biden. Pressman has received death threats purportedly because he is gay. PSHAW!
Orban has been focused on anti-American bloviating for years. He had a bromance with Trump that now has ended.
As a former Foreign Service Officer, I am proud that Ambassador Pressman is representing the United States in Budapest.
If you’d like to enjoy a bit of levity, watch Rep Maxine Waters shut down the (so called) rationale for going on the record against socialism. She certainly demands respect!
Note: Her exchange with Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.) is in the second video.
Hopefully if Democrats stay united and give the radical insurrectionists enough rope they'll 😉 hang themselves politically
They try to incite violence ever since they lost the civil war almost 160 years ago and until all of America 🇺🇸 stands up to hold their feet to the fire 🔥 they'll keep spinning their propaganda for stirring up discontent and hate blaming the democrats for all the nation’s problems 🤔 there was a recent NY times article by a lead writer that proves statistically America 🇺🇸 has thrived more under Democrat presidents for at least the last 40+ years that's why they keep trying to twist the truth
I always appreciate how you put things in historic context and I try to find comfort in it -- Hey, not the first time a bunch of enraged morons took over the House! But at the risk of stating the obvious, the era we're in is like no other, specifically the way we get our news and information.
When our civilization is unearthed eons from now and the bots who dig us out try to figure what did us in, they'll quickly figure out (they're bots!) that it wasn't a plague or a meteor but the 24-hour news cycle which turned serious issues into entertaining sound bytes, and social media, which allowed bigots to spew hatred and idiots to 'do their own research".
Maybe enough Americans will turn against the Republicans, as they did against the Democrats under Hayes, and vote the fanatics out. But not if they're getting their 'news' from Fox, and their comfort from on-line conspiracy sites.
Today Swedish Radio reported that 27 senators, from both parties, had written a letter to Biden saying that that there should be no fighter jets sold to Turkey, until Turkey has approved the Nato memberships of Finland and Sweden. I guess each bipartisan action should be welcome, and in this case also Nato dealing with the problems of Nato. Erdoghan is clearly supporting the agenda of Putin: splitting Finland and Sweden, and stopping the extension of the northern flank of Nato.
The last excuse for Erdoghan was a Danish/Swedish far right activist burning a Khoran in public. This has also been defended in Sweden by the minority opposing Nato membership as a matter of freedom of expression. When the Swedish act for freedom of expression was decided, it was very much the freedom of the elite and the learned. I think they could never have imagined 'burning books' as a matter of freedom of expression, and still have been defending Salman Rushdie. We should be able to make the distinction between words against words, and fire against words.
Substack automatically populates the post with an image from the notes, and I was unhappy that it chose McCarthy's antisemitic tweet. I jumped to update it with the first neutral thing I could find on my phone: the brick wall Ernest Hemingway and his friends built around his home in Key West, Florida. Not exactly a reflection of the post, but not too far off, either, I guess.
“The Republicans who want to destroy the ‘socialist’ government, want to keep white people in charge, support Trump or someone similar, are fervently Christian, and openly court violence.”
ARE fervently Christian?
Fervently PROCLAIM THEMSELVES to be Christian, yet are openly anti-Christian, and don’t appear to have the least idea of what “Christian” means.
Nothing new about such gross misrepresentation, but this power-mad bunch of junkies have taken it about as far as it can be taken. Yet another demented sect like the Anabaptists of Munster…
The division in the Republican Party today is between avowed fascists and spineless morons who enable the fascists. The four "principled Republicans" who announced they would not vote to remove Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Relations Committee grabbed a figleaf of "due process" that congressman Thomas Massie said "wasn't much of a figleaf" and voted to support the fascists. Which makes them all complicit in the fascism of the traitor wing of the party. Remember that over half of the Republicans in congress today voted to deny recognition of Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election.
"Committed moderate good-guy Republican" former governor Larry Hogan announced today that if Trump is the party's nominee in 2024, he will support him.
There are no "worthwhile Republicans." There are traitors and enablers of traitors. Harry Truman was right 75 years ago when he said "The only 'good Republicans' are pushing up daisies." That statement is only far more true 75 years later.
They. Are. All. Scum.
The rhetoric just gets worse everyday. From Qevin and his bald-faced lies and M Three Names challenging AOC to a showdown debate, of which AOC would win by a landslide. Then the 5th Circuit Court denying women any protection from their attacker or abuser is complete insanity! Where do the these people get their orders from? Is it Putin? The Federalist Society chair, Leonard Leo? Wake me up from this diabolical nightmare, would you?
The Republicans will cause as much damage as they can in the name of personal freedom. The world they want would/will cause them more harm than they can imagine. A weakened US may fail to protect itself against rising autocratic challengers both foreign and domestic. They fool themselves if they believe they can hold that tiger by the tail.
This summation of today's Republican Party does two things. It reminds us all that the party of trump, de santis, mc carthy, greene, jordan, gaez, hawley, cruz, rubio, et al, is NOT the Republican party of Eisenhower, Rockefeller, McCain. It is following to a T the Fascist party of hitler and mussolini. If this is really what Americans want, I hope I die before it comes to fruition. Second, it bolsters what some of us have said repeatedly; the Leaders of the Democratic Party, Biden, Harris, Jeffries, Schumer, have to step up to the plate and use our own Constitution to fight them. Invoke Amendments 13 and 14. Invoke the details of Articles 1, 2, and 6. We can no longer cling to our dignity and hope the bad guys will disappear. Now is the time for action, not physical as the rethugs used 1/6/21 but verbal, legal and Constitutional. The Founding Fathers gave it to us, Dammit, use it.
Could we quit calling these people Christians? How about 'fervently believe they are Christians'? I am a liberal and also a follower of the teachings of Christ. Those people are NOT Christians. Those people have for decades made me reluctant to say I am a Christian.
They don’t just threaten violence. Supporting 1/6 is violence. All the thoughts and prayers when what we need is gun control is violence. We should be saying “violent Republican extremists.@
Heather, I want to begin by saying “Thank-you for putting this fiasco in Washington DC In understandable language. I listened to this today and every Republican House member that was interviewed had a different reason for voting her off the Foreign Affairs Committee. Same with voting Schiff and his colleague off their committee.
Let’s take a look at what has been accomplished in the House the past few weeks. Ahhh......absolutely nothing of substance. Nothing that is relevant to running this country. They have voted on nothing, that I can recall the past few weeks to accomplish a thing.
This country is fixing to default on its debt. When this happens, you will see a recession unmatched to the 20s.
Now, I’m closing, I want to hit on something that’s extremely serious. Florida, and Ron DeSantis. I’m doing this to keep reminding people that this man wants to be our president. He wants to run this country as he has ran Florida the past 4 years.
DeSantis has removed all books, literature, from all educational institutions, libraries, and has forbid the educators to even mention ‘gay’, ‘LGBTQ’, race, Black Lives Matter, and a gist of other subjects that basically forbids the educators of teaching anything snout the Civil War, or the period of American history that led up to the Civil War. Nothing can be taught about slavery because it involves teaching about race.
DeSantis has removed the Board, President, and all the staff members of the college in Sarasota, FL, and other prominent universities and colleges in Florida. Why, because they were not ‘conforming’ to his way of educational ways if thinking! The people he terminated were replaced with his ‘sheep’, his ‘lap dogs’ that jump when he says jump, and does exactly what he wants done, right, wrong, or indifferent.
DeSantis has also pushed to have the gun laws changed in Florida where a person may carry a firearm, openly, without a permit, no check, no restriction. Now, I’m may I ask, exactly what period of our American history does this remind you of?
Thank you for the stark assessment of the Republicans, professor. It's only leavened by the history lesson from 1879 and 1880. We can only hope that the Democrats will continue to prove the benefits of governing for the people and standing up for the rule of law.
To me the wild cards are what happens when Trump is inevitably indicted and some dire emergency suddenly confronts the country – war, a more deadly pandemic, a deep economic upheaval, or something now beyond our imagination. How does a nation already torn asunder and beset with a morally bankrupt and authoritarian political party manage crises?
Our best hope at least politically is a cleansing of the GOP via an overwhelming Democratic victory in 2024. Not just at the national level but states now moving toward fascism. It's a daunting task.
My gut reaction is to ask why is it taking so long to indict Trump and his cronies? The Republicans are throwing blatant corruption in our faces over and over again Calling them “Christian” is appalling. And then this happened! A black Republican city councilwoman was fatally shot in her car outside her home in New Jersey on Wednesday night in what police believe was a planned attack. Eunice Dwumfour was a 30-year-old Republican member of the Sayreville Borough Council. Should everyone start wearing bulletproof vests and protective helmets?
Orban, Hungary’s leader, was praised by then-President Trump and the ambassador he sent to Budapest.
On Ukraine and NATO-related issues, Orban has been pro-Russia and a rogue among Eastern European countries, except for Belorussia.
Ambassador Pressman a seasoned professional who is gay, was appointed to Budapest by President Biden. Pressman has received death threats purportedly because he is gay. PSHAW!
Orban has been focused on anti-American bloviating for years. He had a bromance with Trump that now has ended.
As a former Foreign Service Officer, I am proud that Ambassador Pressman is representing the United States in Budapest.
(My Feb 2nd New York Times comment.)
If you’d like to enjoy a bit of levity, watch Rep Maxine Waters shut down the (so called) rationale for going on the record against socialism. She certainly demands respect!
Note: Her exchange with Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.) is in the second video.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/maxine-waters-trump-dictators-republicans_n_63d98adfe4b0c8e3fc813311
Hopefully if Democrats stay united and give the radical insurrectionists enough rope they'll 😉 hang themselves politically
They try to incite violence ever since they lost the civil war almost 160 years ago and until all of America 🇺🇸 stands up to hold their feet to the fire 🔥 they'll keep spinning their propaganda for stirring up discontent and hate blaming the democrats for all the nation’s problems 🤔 there was a recent NY times article by a lead writer that proves statistically America 🇺🇸 has thrived more under Democrat presidents for at least the last 40+ years that's why they keep trying to twist the truth
I always appreciate how you put things in historic context and I try to find comfort in it -- Hey, not the first time a bunch of enraged morons took over the House! But at the risk of stating the obvious, the era we're in is like no other, specifically the way we get our news and information.
When our civilization is unearthed eons from now and the bots who dig us out try to figure what did us in, they'll quickly figure out (they're bots!) that it wasn't a plague or a meteor but the 24-hour news cycle which turned serious issues into entertaining sound bytes, and social media, which allowed bigots to spew hatred and idiots to 'do their own research".
Maybe enough Americans will turn against the Republicans, as they did against the Democrats under Hayes, and vote the fanatics out. But not if they're getting their 'news' from Fox, and their comfort from on-line conspiracy sites.
Today Swedish Radio reported that 27 senators, from both parties, had written a letter to Biden saying that that there should be no fighter jets sold to Turkey, until Turkey has approved the Nato memberships of Finland and Sweden. I guess each bipartisan action should be welcome, and in this case also Nato dealing with the problems of Nato. Erdoghan is clearly supporting the agenda of Putin: splitting Finland and Sweden, and stopping the extension of the northern flank of Nato.
The last excuse for Erdoghan was a Danish/Swedish far right activist burning a Khoran in public. This has also been defended in Sweden by the minority opposing Nato membership as a matter of freedom of expression. When the Swedish act for freedom of expression was decided, it was very much the freedom of the elite and the learned. I think they could never have imagined 'burning books' as a matter of freedom of expression, and still have been defending Salman Rushdie. We should be able to make the distinction between words against words, and fire against words.