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"There is no end in sight for this lunacy."

Giving 'soldier of fortune' a new spin, Prince and DeVos personify institutionalizing this lunacy. And not in a good way. Their personal wealth catapulted them to positions where they can weaponize government funds to destroy government. Trump is the coming to fruition of Reagan's *government is the enemy* lie.

It took decades of faceless functionaries, such as Leonard Leo, funneling big money to the little men and women - from the McConnells to the Boeberts - eager to take down government for the chance of gorging themselves on crumbs from the tables of the unconscionably wealthy.

"... ranging for revenge, with Ate by his side come hot from hell, shall in these confines with a Monarch's voice cry 'Havoc!' and let slip the dogs of war."

Shakespeare imagining Marc Anthony imagining the dead tyrant Caesar rousing the funeral masses to revenge.

Republicans imagining Trump's January 6 rally. The confines of the Capitol where all hell broke loose at the defeated GOP's command.

Reagan's lie and Trump's insurrection have their roots in the defeated Confederacy's wild rage at the Federal government. Which for generations has sold sedition as a noble cause and metamorphosed historic traitors into heritage heroes. The Birth of the Nation. Inflamed terrorists in bedclothes rather than togas. And now on the high bench of the Supreme Court, their faces hidden from the public, but in their racist decisions their white supremacist sheets peeking out from under their black robes.

The passionate irrationality of religion runs through it. Racial and economic injustice in service of Mammon. From the Supreme Court bench to the banqueting tables. From the rapture of the populist believers to the bunkers of their paymasters.

How to end this lunacy? Pass the KoolAid. Pass it up when they pass it around.

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What the radical right projects on to others is what they do when they have power- ignorance mixed with malevolence. But I have to say that confusing gestapo with gazpacho is comedy gold.

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On Wednesday evenings, for most of the last 15 years, i have gotten together with a group of creative women to chat and craft. Some knit, some crochet, some simply come for the conversation and yes, wine.

In 2020, I dropped out. My husband had been diagnosed with ALS, I couldn’t leave him alone and it was rare that my girls could come over midweek. I mostly dropped out though because the “founder” of the group kept chastising me for talking politics. Since its damn near impossible for me to NOT do that, it was just easier to leave. After Glen died, I was invited to return via Zoom and did so but mostly kept my mouth shut about anything other than which yarn was better for socks (wool. Definitely wool and preferably hand-painted.)

We meet in person again but the group has dropped from a high of 20+ to just five. Three of the five used to call themselves Republicans. The fourth is a moderate Democrat. Then there’s me- the lefty, liberal outlier.

Last night, the only thing we talked about was politics. Our host, who has earned her millions, was furious about everything- supply chain problems, anti mask/ anti vaxxers keeping her family on edge and fraying her nerves with worry, and the; “lying, cheating, adulterous former President and his minions threatening both our democracy and my ability to conduct business” - Kathy’s words.

She had nothing but praise for the job Biden was doing- which was high praise indeed!

The group founder, Chris, chimed in on praising Biden and castigating the bejesus out of Republicans, specifically in this case Rubio, for his BS lies about harm reduction programming. (Chris’s son, now 10 years sober, is a graduate of such a program.) After praising the Dems and condemning Repubs in general, Chris turned to me and started laughing. Then I started laughing. Then, the uncontrolled near hysterical group laughter took over. Oh, sweet irony…..the Repub group leader broke her own rule and talked smack about politics! About damn time.

When I read HCR’s letter this morning, I felt the all-too-familiar pinch of anger, anxiety and repulsion for the lies, the violence, the dangerous and deadly denial people like Navarro and Gosar live in, and the vast wide conspiracy to destroy democracy in this country. I do my little part to promote and protect democracy but as others here have often noted, I just wish there was more I could do to change this dangerous trajectory we are on.

I’m grateful, every day, for LFAA and this island of sanity with all of you. Now that there are two such islands in my life, I can go island hopping (I’m dreaming of warmer climes. We have snow coming later today. Ugh….)

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I wish I had something more substantial to contribute to the conversation this morning, but all I can think of is Marjorie "Traitor" Greene just brought a spoon to a knife fight.

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There is nothing United about the U.S.A. anymore. These dangerous thugs and nut jobs are working to destroy everything I once thought was my country. I read yesterday in The Guardian that one in five former members of our military join a white supremacist group. Hugely dangerous times as these are Americans. These are their beliefs. And. We are the enemy.

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Feb 10, 2022·edited Feb 10, 2022

Foremost on my mind this evening is a growing fear amongst Democrats that there's a window of opportunity to convict Trump of something, and that our current control of both houses of Congress somehow gives the DoJ and judiciary branch the momentum to do it.

It is very wrong, the judiciary gets no power from Congress.

What DOES empower us to close in on Trump and prosecute him for his crimes is closing in on the underlings and prosecuting them for their crimes. Also, the truth that the January 6 committee is our cultural power to take back control of the narrative. Almost every week, they uncover new and shocking revelations. By now can we recognize that they know what they are doing and let them do it without attacking them with vague, absurd claims of "going to slow?"

So many people calling to arrest Trump, because "isn't it enough?" But its not enough until we know what happened. Imagine if they'd wrapped it up once they had "enough." I don't want "enough," I want all of it.

And the prosecution of Trump is unique, we don't get shot after shot at laying out separate charges and having another go if things fall apart on technicalities--or Republicans in the jury--the first time around.

What's sad is how few people recognize the desperation and flailing of the Republican mindset. If we, the people who see the inherent problems of authoritarian mindset, can't articulate it, we can't win.

But Republican flailing and failing are constantly portrayed in the mainstream news as either: 1) perfectly normal, to be expected as the opposition of Democrats, just as respectable of a position. or 2) sinister and powerful. These narratives are putting Democrats constantly on the defensive, and constantly scared. I have no doubt that Russian troll farms are in overdrive to keep the narratives in our faces on every form of social media, and they are brilliantly successful at it, for now.

Even though I get it, I rely on HCR's letters so that instead of just knowing, I can move forward in that headspace and have new ideas, expectations, and be more fluent in political discussion.

But it all works until it doesn't. Once this !@# show crumbles, it is done. The question is, how long will it take for people to see the cracks?

It's like climate change. It's never done getting worse, it's never too late to stop fighting. But there is still so much urgency, because the scale of destruction that we still have the power to stop is so unfathomably huge.

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Desperate traitors are fighting like trapped rats. Vicious lashing out. Increasingly absurd allegations and truth shattering lies. They know the committee will publish the truth of their collusion. Let’s hope voters wake up. Three cheers for suburban moms (and anyone else who pushes back against the cabal of traitors). McConnell and Pence know what’s coming and they finally spoke truth while the Trump faction cling to the sinking ship. Danger ahead. This is going to be ugly.

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I love that Moms like Katie Paris (RWB) and Leah McGowan (Politics Girl) are taking to social media to educate and debunk misinformation. They do so with humor and in a manner the average woman (or man) can relate to. And unlike MSM, they also give samples of how issues in other states or DC can influence their lives. Keep sharing these grassroots efforts so we can help promote their efforts.

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Time for me to sign up with Red, Wine and Blue! I’m an urban mom but maybe they’ll let me join.

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Feb 10, 2022·edited Feb 10, 2022

"On Monday night, the Supreme Court okayed racial gerrymandering, making it harder for Black voters to elect representatives of their choice."

The worst possible ruling that could have occurred and in direct conflict with all of the laws on the books since 1964. AND, voted YAY by a black judge coopted by the right wing of the Republican Party with money long ago.

Yes, in Florida and other southern and western states we are rapidly returning to the America described in Isabelle Wilkerson's enormously educational book:

"The Warmth of Other Suns".

Back to a future when Black folks in America were so disenfranchised that it was legal for white folks to capture, torture and then to hang a randomly chosen black man for Sunday afternoon entertainment, in the town square.......children included.

GREAT fun for after Sunday (white, christian) church services. Yep.

But, wait, it gets better. When Black families, scarred by the loss of a loved one to horrible white terrorism, frightened, beaten and partially starved, decided it was better to leave the area and move north?

Yep. Having arrived to the northern promised land, they were roped off into redlined (by the Federal Government) districts and crowded into small parts of cities in substandard housing with nearly no public education. IF those frightened, half starved, fearful and beaten humans stepped out of these boundaries, the police would beat or kill them back into those boundaries. IN THE NORTH.

America......returning to its roots as we speak.

Sadly, Rubio knows better and is such a small, small cowardly (I cannot say man) and so willing to sell his soul that he is not LEADING this charge back in time to the future, he is FOLLOWING. Lying about free crack pipes to black minorities? That little Rubio is just following his Daddy Reagan's script.

Mainstream demonizing of Black Americans has become the ONLY "platform" of the Republican Party now.

All re-initiated in 1980 by the bumbling, dumbling, ever stupid smiling, profoundly evil Ronald Reagan.

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“Gazpacho Police”

Finally, we have found the REAL Soup Nazis

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The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer identified 38 tricks, dodges, and chicanery that people resort to in order to be right, even though they are clearly wrong. He said “the same identical tricks and dodges always come back and were very easy to recognize.” They are still being used since they must work against those who aren’t aware of them. How many can we find in the typical GOP drivel?

The Art of Being Right: 38 Ways to Win an Argument (1831) is an acidulous, sarcastic treatise written by the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. In it, Schopenhauer examines a total of thirty-eight methods of defeating one's opponent in a debate.

“The tricks, dodges, and chicanery, to which they resort in order to be right in the end, are so numerous and manifold and yet recur so regularly that some years ago I made them the subject of my own reflection and directed my attention to their purely formal element after I had perceived that, however varied the subjects of discussion and the persons taking part therein, the same identical tricks and dodges always come back and were very easy to recognize. This led me at the time to the idea of clearly separating the merely formal part of these tricks and dodges from the material and of displaying it, so to speak, as a neat anatomical specimen. He "collected all the dishonest tricks so frequently occurring in argument and clearly presented each of them in its characteristic setting, illustrated by examples and given a name of its own." As an additional service, Schopenhauer "added a means to be used against them, as a kind of guard against these thrusts…."

The Art of Being Right - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Being_Right

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gazpacho…Omg. I spit my coffee and laughed so much I terrified the cat. This Soup, soup beautiful soup, soup of the evening beautiful soup will now be called in this household greene soup. Extra nachos and a blended margarita please.

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The attack on education is also being expressed in Oakland California where they are shutting down public schools in predominantly black neighborhoods. These attacks on public education must stop. Democracy depends on education.

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It’s astounding. Where do we start? Cult rule has overtaken Republicans. Vicious color based fascism finds its way everywhere, Mussolini rules Republicans, Blacks, Hispanics, Jews and Muslims are demonized, book banning returns with a vengeance, polling is politicized as poll taxes and jellybeans are replaced by hard laws that criminalize water and ban all sorts of voting, not one campus president raises questions or erupts with cries of fascism, Nazis, the swastika, and the confederate flag wave from the capitol to racist bearded American trucks blocking brudges in Canada, Scotus flips racist, the clergy is quiet, student suicide is soaring, pandemic and masks and vaccines destabilize our politics, we are a one party state, Fox is fascist, a president flushes presidential records down the White House toilet, half of congress lies and dishonors those that saved them from an insurrection, our most wealthy hate cops, murder of capitol police is rationalized, the culture is wracked by racism denied, the evil is lionized and good is trashed, our leaders cannot lead, the DOJ does not know where to start, lying Kevin MacCarthy becomes schizophrenic, congress is respected by 5% of the nation - corrupt party politics violates law and trashes the constitution - and no one raises societal insanity and national emotional illness as a concern. We are at the edge of the mess that led to Hitler. Putin loves this. Trump stole national documents.. the DOJ and DOD were incredibly compromised and seem unable to investigate themselves… and the people are quiet. It’s business as usual at Harvard. Blacks are frightened. Cops in different states are killing Blacks with midnight no knock entry of the wrong house - and outrage is dead. The body politic is obese and unwell. Addictions are surging in The North Country’s armed poor white trash - and I could extend this rant for hours. Meanwhile, we cannot find the words that tell the truth. Denial rules. The sane are talking to themselves.

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It was likely the spellcheck function on MTG’s computed/smartphone that took her probable misspelling of gestapo and made it gazpacho and she failed to notice. MTG probably never had a bowl of gazpacho in her life.

However, if the shoe fits…..

It’s good to have HCR in my in-box again. I was beginning to worry.

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