358 Comments

Banning is an execrable pos. The downright horriblenesses of Trump’s men cannot be underestimated. Bannon, Rudy, Roger Stone, Flynn, Steven Miller, etc.-all the dregs of humanity.

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We very seldom see people of high character involved in an enterprise like insurrection. Trump has a reputation of reading the character, so he chose those who answered hi needs.

In April, 2017, Bannon was on tape explaining to business interests that their goal was the "deconstruction of the administrative state." Now here we are.

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Maybe not in America right now, but what happened back between 1776-81 was also an insurrection. I think there were some "people of high character" involved in that one, including my sixth great grandfather.

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The difference being that the American Revolution was a revolt against the tyranny of the reigning monarch and lack of representation. This time it was an attempt to assert power for a tyrant and prevent a peaceful transfer of power.

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You are, of course, right, but using the right word lets us understand how some of the people on January 6 could have been misguided. Somewhere along the line, those kinds of people have to be peeled off of that, but please don't ask me how. But we need to remember they're there.

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They could have been misguided. I'm sure they were to an extent, but when they saw how Trump treated the people who refused to commit crimes for his profit, eurely by then they could have at least quit the administration.

We, our forebears, chose to call it a revolutuon. When the slave states rose up to divide the Union, we called it a rebellion. The same spirit, intellect, and psyche that drove them was also present in 1787. Thank them for the 3/5ths policy in deciding representation. Thank them for the electoral college. Thank them for the fillibuster. I doubt we will thank them, but that is the people we still deal with today who will gleefuly plunge us into anarchy and hop to come out on top.

Perhaps if justice had been done in April. 1865, Lee and his Generals would have been hanged, the KKK would never have come into being and ourRepublic could be governed by democracy.

I'm 81 years old. I don't want to die with our democracy in question.

Please people, don't give a tinkers damn about your politcal party, your religion, your ethnicity, your sex, or your religion, if you have one, but I really need you to put our nation before everything else. The one thing that we must all hold as most valuable is our democratically governed Republic of The United States of America. Just this once. We can do as we used to and hash out our likes and dislikes in the public square and the voting booth. If we don't do it now, we won't do it.

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Words of fire. That last paragraph throbs. If not now, when?

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I'd been thinking about that very point a while back. Their President had called upon them! It was their Patriotic Duty!

You'd have to be pretty dumb to fall for that. But no particular level of "smarts" is required to be a citizen of a country, especially if you were born there.

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TC, Your sixth great grandfather would, I think, be proud of you for breaking though the dark clouds of hatred, self-interest, greed, manipulation and propaganda, which have been covering our country. You seek the truth, encourage us to share information and support one another on behalf of democracy. TC -- eagle-eyed with a golden heart, sharp tongue, lucid prose and keen mind. Listening to Liz Cheney today, reminded me of how quickly you identified her relentlessness. She sets the table as each hearing opens and never seems to let up. Gratitude to you TC and to all of our truthtellers.

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Administrative state was referring to the 'deep' state of career civil servants

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Well, we can read the history of the Trump administration and see what manner of people he appointed to 'Administer' the departments responsible for the operation of government. I'll allow you to do your own research into how they worked out. And we still have that guy at the Post Office who went postal on the mail service.

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The worst damage though is still the Supreme Court. The next mini coup tfg pulled off was the complete screw-up of the pandemic AND the census because of the pandemic to account for it.

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One must not forget or ignore the extent of the evil. It is pervasive and will haunt us for decades

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He tried to mess with the Census but failed. The trump Administration pushed for a previously untested census question about U.S. citizenship status and installation of political appointees with no obvious qualifications at the Census Bureau.

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No qualification was a qualification in the Trump administration.

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Great article in The Guardian about the value of the dissenting opinions in laying the groundwork for future court decisions. The three liberal justices did not hold back in their plain-spoken attacks on recent rulings. https://apple.news/AXKMASJMiSDKJjlfp5OOZIQ

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Yeah, he just doubled the normal transit time for a package I'm expecting to finally arrive tomorrow from E. Europe. Before he got to monkeywrenching the system, it used to take 7-10 days. And instead of 20 days which had become normal, on this one so far, assuming the tracking is accurate and it arrives tomorrow, it will have made a grand tour of ten postal centers between NYC and Los Angeles over the past 45 days.

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All deliberate and calculated to cause the most disruption

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Yes, Correct. Unfortunately, Jeri, I ran across this detailed NY Times article yesterday that appears to indicate the DOJ was not even talking about charging Trump with any crime until Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/11/us/politics/jan-6-trump-cassidy-hutchinson-justice.html

I had been thinking they were dragging their feet Jeri. But, after reading this article, it appears that they were sound asleep at the wheel.

Unbelievable. Really.

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Even if we defeat the Republicans in key elections we will be living with the death and destruction from the trump Administration for many years to come.

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More people need to focus on this reality. The constant self-chewing of Dem on Dem rhetoric is poisonous.

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And stamp prices just increased, probably to cover fuel costs of the new gas-powered vehicles that were supposed to be electric.

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One good thing to know is that the USPS does not manage their Budget. Congress does.

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I just received a package that visited 6 postal centers in its journey from Pennsylvania to Ohio!

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Is it an unintended consequence that small business would have to pay the price for slowing mail delivery?!

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Why and how did Dejoy do this?

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DeJoy disabled the USPS' ability to move mail swiftly because of the 2020 Presidential election. Due to COVID mail in ballots were being widely used (encouraged even). As is widely known Democrats tend to use mail in ballots more. In addition TFG had slammed mail in ballots as being illegal and subject to misuse so his cult members did not use them as much.

DeJoy eliminated many mail boxes and removed mail sorting machines to slow down the mail hoping to influence the election outcome. As a response to the mail slowdown millions braved COVID and voter suppression tactics and marched themselves right to their polling place.

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Why: to have a failed government-run postal system so that it would become privatized (and cronyized).

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Trump was creating the swamp, not "draining it."

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More like a cesspool rather than a swamp!🧐

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Definitely!

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And most of the people he "appointed" werw only acting but not confirmed even by the time he was no longer pr*z.

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...and of course they were chosen to do as much damage as possible & were forced into fealty to him personally-which is why he chose them as his minions in the first place..

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We all watched this with horror, or the cult with glee

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And gutted the State Department

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What a sense of impotent justice with respect to that (reportedly) arrogant and ham handed appointed bureaucrat!

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What is Lindsay Graham so afraid of this time, that he is resisting the GA subpoena?

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The truth?

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If he tells the truth, he will further implicate the man whose butt he kisses. That thought probably makes him 💩 his pants.

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He’s afraid of NOT getting the campaign funds from tfg.

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He’s afraid of being prosecuted for breaking the law.

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What better way to gum up the works. They wanted to be able to pick and choose who to target as a revenge mechanism.

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Yes, I totally agree. A typical ploy from the Trump playbook is to throw out smokescreens to hide some horrible action. It is really getting to me that the mainstream media banters Trump's name about his possible 2024 POTUS run like it is no big deal. Well it IS a big deal that a lying, twice impeached traitor who tried to overthrow our government could even be considered as fit to run. It really makes my blood boil.

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“Deep State” is what Putin has. Regardless of where you turn, the government employees work for Putin. It’s another example of Republican political rhetoric designed to denigrate government. Civil Service employees are hired through a rigorous competitive application process looking for the most qualified and experienced applicants. They are not politically appointed employees. That is the difference between Democracy and totalitarian regimes and dictatorships. Civil Service employees provide specialized expertise and institutional memory, and cannot participate in partisan political activities. We lost great numbers of the people we could least afford to lose in the last administration. People like Marie Yovanovitch, with a degree in history and Russian studies from Princeton and a master’s degree from the National War College.

She joined the foreign service in 1986 and went on to serve in ambassadorships under three presidents. In her career with the State Department she moved 13 times, served in five hardship posts, was stationed in Somalia during the civil war, was caught in crossfire in Russia. Removed abruptly from her position as Ambassador to Ukraine, publicly maligned by the former President, received death threats for telling the truth in the first impeachment hearings, forced out by the President, she retired in March 2020. She was the fourth State Department official whose departure was tied to the impeachment -- following former US Special Representative to Ukraine Kurt Volker, former Pompeo adviser Michael McKinley and Ambassador Bill Taylor.

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Yes, the disgraced former president used the phrase "deep state" to refer to government workers who were loyal to the Constitution and the country, when he wanted loyalty only to himself.

Ambassador Yovanovitch turns out also to be a terrific writer - her memoir is an excellent read.

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I meant no disrespect to civil servants. My father is a retired civil servant (auditor) as was his father (post office). The extended 2019 Federal government shutdown purposely put great financial strain on many Federal employees, grant recipients and contractors. It is not unlike cohesive real estate practices designed to skirt the law.

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Yes, and that is what keeps society humming along. Air traffic controllers, FDA, energy dept were constructed out of need, not to mention public schools and free press

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Thanks, Melissa. That answers my question to C.A.

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“Lenin wanted to destroy the state and that’s my goal too,” replied Bannon. “I want to bring everything crashing down and destroy all of today’s establishment.”

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High character? Highly 'thought of' maybe. Stupid seems more-better. Add POS to that.

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The recent SCOTUS decision gutting EPA power has done that BBC work for Bannon.

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Yes, being deconstructed as they were ordered years ago to pull off.

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I clearly remember Bannon saying his goal was to destroy the "administrative state". I kept thinking about what that would mean, chaos. Authoritarians love chaos.

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We seldom see people of high character involved with Trump.

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If they had any character at all they didn’t hang around too long.

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C.A., to what end does he propose to deconstruct the administrative state? Totally "free enterprise"?

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I'm sorry, I thought I had responded to you. I't hard to tell where I sent it. I claim Old Fart's privileges.

Stephen Bannon, President Trump’s chief political strategist and, after Trump, the most powerful man in Washington, once declared proudly: “I am a Leninist.”

“Lenin wanted to destroy the state and that’s my goal too,” replied Bannon. “I want to bring everything crashing down and destroy all of today’s establishment.”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/06/lenin-white-house-steve-bannon

It is my understanding that when someone makes those comments and they are in the employment of the Loser, Twice Impeached, Proven Liar, he means to destroy our democracy along with the Republic.

I don't want to pick a fight with Christianity, but we cannot fail to notice how this Christian nationalist movement declared Trump to br "God's man for this hour," or words to that effect.

I hope this puts things in context.

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Read some of Ayn Rand’s tomes. Then read Lord of the Flies. Add in Handmaid’s Tale and you’ll get an idea.

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May I suggest Steven Greenblatt's "Tyrant Shakespeare On Politics", then re-read Richard III.

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All through his administration we saw people 'thrown under the bus' when they refused or were suspected of not giving him their unquestioned loyalty. Typical tyranical behavior. Read Richard III. Trump played it out almost scene by scene, beginning about 2012.

Not free enterprise, unless you mean his criminal enterprise. He replaced all department heads and many of the deputies with his sycophants. We all watched as he fired all the judge advocates, so there was no push back on any thing he did. For instance, we may never know where all the covid grant money went.

All the departments of our government were created to carry out the demands of the constitution. Too many people were willing to destroy their careers and credibility for a chance to, as Stephen Greenblatt said in Tyrant, "stand in his shadow," if just for a moment. Most of us fail to see the attraction.

We also need to be aware that this is an insurrection in progress. If the scuz of the GOP win the next election ...

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I know Richard III very well. You're so right.

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I know that fact because someone wrote it and put it in a book for my edification and enjoyment. I really appreciate that.

We will never get to Act V, Scene V with Trump, but ...

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He'd never manage to straddle a horse, anyway. And he wouldn't get far on a golf buggy.

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So right.

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https://robertreich.substack.com/p/capitalist-thugs?r=np4n&utm_medium=ios

Check out this link from Robert Reich’s very informative newsletter about UBER and its tactics.

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Jul 12, 2022·edited Jul 12, 2022

C. A. Goss Jr -- "deconstruction of the administrative state."

[put in context]

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2017/02/23/steve-bannon-details-trump-agenda-deconstruction-administrative-state/

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Folks, to be sure, it matters where we get our information. That's why we read HCR. You may visit both cites and compare the facts. It does pay to know what those people are putting out, so don't be afraid to look.

The link to the NYT is the original tape. went to Brietbart and found some commentaty, not in the context of the tape.

Stephen Bannon, President Trump’s chief political strategist and, after Trump, the most powerful man in Washington, once declared proudly: “I am a Leninist.”

“Lenin wanted to destroy the state and that’s my goal too,” replied Bannon. “I want to bring everything crashing down and destroy all of today’s establishment.”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/06/lenin-white-house-steve-bannon

You have a source more slanted toward the truth than Brietbart:

"Do not believe the “corporatist globalist media” that was “crying and weeping” on election night and is still “dead wrong” about what the Trump administration is doing. Inside the White House," Mr. Bannon said," everything is going according to plan. The “deconstruction of the administrative state” has just begun."

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/23/us/politics/cpac-stephen-bannon-reince-priebus.html

"I don't care. I believe Putin".

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/former-fbi-deputy-director-trump-listened-putin-north-korea

You may go here and find out the intentions of the Christian Nationalists Evangelicals:

Project Blitz is a long-range plan to bring about a Theocracy in our time.

This may be the scariest thing you see or hear about from the White-Right-Christian-Nationalist.

https://www.au.org/sites/default/files/2019-01/Project%20Blitz%20Playbook%202018-19.pdf

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Bannon is indeed all of that, and six weeks before he became "Steve Bannon" back in 2016, he was the radio interviewer who did the best book interview with me anyone ever did - he read the book himself, he loved it, he quoted from it. Unfortunately his listeners are all illiterate morons, so it didn't sell any books.

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Someone commented, here or elsewhere in the past year, something like “Bannon is who I think of when I think of the phrase ‘end-stage liver damage’ and others commented he often looks like he hasn’t bathed in a while. If he has a major problem with alcohol, that’s a progressive illness. If true that may have contributed to his shift of character. There’s a reason the phrases “evil genius” and (separately of course) “mean drunk” are part of the language.

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Jul 12, 2022·edited Jul 12, 2022

No one ever said Bannon wasn't smart--indeed, he is extremely intelligent--and well-read. Unfortunately his brains are apparently harnessed in service to a deeply aggrieved psyche and a determination to re-order society and government to his personal vision of anarchy (or something...)

I think Bannon was by far the smartest person on tfg's entire "team".

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Wow; another juicy story, TC. What a treasure chest you have...!

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Oh maybe you could elaborate a bit? Bannon (I almost wretch at the notion of saying or writing his name) has apparently not always been this vile. I wonder what happened. He is absolutely poisonous.

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Yes, I’m also curious where he went bad.

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Talent is often bent toward evil, catering to illiterate morons, or just $$$$

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Is there a photo of you and Bannon together? I've got a spot on which to hang it.

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It was done on the phone in the days before Zoom, so no.

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Send me a photo of you on the phone, and I can be the surrogate courtroom sketch artist for a diptych of you two...

https://www.businessinsider.com/steve-bannon-five-phones-encrypted-atlantic-profile-war-room-podcast-2022-6

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That raises the question of whether the review could have been sincere.

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Oh, it was very sincere. I'm sure if I had published the kind of book that publisher has been known for, it would have been bought, if not read. Regnery decided to "Military History wing of their little empire, which how the Mismatch of Mismatches happened, but Bridgebusters has done well enough (on its own) that they are doing a special re-release in trade paperback this October for those who missed the real story of what Joe Heller did in World War II.

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Which book TC?

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"The Bridgebusters: The True Story of the Catch-22 Bomb Wing"

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Just re-reading their words makes me feel sick again.

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Still…

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All in the crucible clawing for air..."Not happening" (HCR 11 Jul 22). hahahaaahahaaaaa

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And Flynn should be brought back on active duty, court-martialed, and have his retirement pay taken away.

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Such a disgrace, he is.

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I think you mean "overestimated", not "underestimated". Of course it would sound a little strange to overestimate downright horribleness, nonetheless, it's correct.

Sincerely,

Your friendly nitpicker

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I was actually wondering which wording was correct. I went back and forth. Lol.

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So did I! Visualised as a bar graph, it could have gone either way...

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THANK YOU for this! It's a relief to read what we consider "good news" in today's crazy world. Also, kudos on your excellent article being in today's Guardian! It's great to see your vital work gaining wider exposure.

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Jul 12, 2022·edited Jul 12, 2022

Thank you, Imogene, for the note about HCR’s article in The Guardian. Here’s the link. I’m not sure if there’s a paywall. There are two previous Guardian articles with her byline that may be available from that link. “Biden is trying to rebuild America’s middle class. Our lopsided economy needs it Heather Cox Richardson”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jul/11/biden-economics-middle-class-workers-heather-cox-richardson

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The Guardian does not have a paywall. BUT, they are well worth supporting. In my estimation, The Guardian's International Edition is the best english language newspaper going.

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I do and it’s worth it

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Fully agree, Bel-Ami!

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Agree. I read articles via Apple News and am so impressed. When Johnson resigned, The Guardian article was the most scathing I have ever seen, both in the abject condemnation of Boris and the line up of characters destined to take his place. A breath of fresh air! When have we seen our newspapers tell it like it is, pull out all the stops in describing the former's actions and behaviors? Maybe the unabashed vitriol stems from the cacophony of outrage we witness in their Parliamentary hearings.

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Excellent observation, Nancy! I read The Guardian in the middle of the night, while waiting for Heather’s newsletter to come out. England being 6 hours ahead of us, The Guardian also unveils US news even before we hear them from media sources on this side of the pond! And always objective and direct. Like you say, so refreshing!

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HCR's star is definitely ascendant.

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Good idea to include the link. Thanks, Irenie.

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Thank you, Irenie, for this link.

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Thanks for the link, Irenie!

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When I hear about $10,000 a day fines for the appraisal firm and $100,000 penalty (and a year in jail) for each of the 2 counts of contempt Bannon is facing, I think of the concept of tithing in the New Testament. To Tithe was to give 10% of your income to the Temple. $10,000 a day would be pocket change to a corporate worth billions or bankruptcy for a small business. Again $100,00 penalty is nothing to a billionaire and devastating for the average income worker. So, perhaps these fines should be a fixed percentage of net worth or income so it hits the pocketbook of the rich and poor equally hard. Tithing makes sense.

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Indeed, Cathy. Such penalties for "white collar" crimes rarely seem (as big sums get big attention) to involve the poor ....outside of those possibly involving social security. The "rich" so involved should have their assets frozen totally until compliance. This is not about ability to pay but about equality before the law.....equally protective, equally menacing.

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What a great idea to freeze their assets!

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I'd like to fry their asse(t)s.

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I thought it would be a paltry sum for some.

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👍🏼

Great idea!

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Excellent insight Cathy!

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I’m going to go out on a limb here based on something Liz Cheney said in her opening statement or closing statement that caught my ear and predict that the Select Committee has evidence that Trump was apprised during the contentious Dec 18th meeting (that went deep into the night) that “his” militias, the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers among others, were going to attack Congress on Jan 6th to stop the electoral count if his other plans didn’t work out. That’s why he sent the Dec 19th tweet at 1:42:42 am ET announcing the “Big Protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!” He was excited!

(This pre-planning makes perfect sense given he told the Proud Boys et all to “stand by” during the Sept 29, 2020 debate.)

In other words, the tweet wasn’t a clarion call for his militias, it was a pre-planned event that he knew would “be wild”!

I hope I’m right. If the Committee does have evidence to support this pre-planning, this will be the final nail in Trump’s proverbial coffin. 🙏

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He's had more "proverbial coffins" than Lestat.

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Chuckle…. I mean, right you are!

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“Lynn Chaney” jolted me awake so early in the am.. everything was pre-planned in my view, not just incompetence

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I am not sure I would go that far (yet). Trump and his minions are perfectly capable of incompetence. It was on display during his entire 4-year reign. Why should this be any different. That said - even if incompetently carried out, the will to do unlawful things was clearly there. Hopefully that will be sufficiently proved beyond a doubt, and the DOJ can go from there.

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Jul 12, 2022·edited Jul 12, 2022

Yep. I believe the charge against the ragtag trumpista militias has been defined as “seditious conspiracy”. Oopsie woopsie Enrique and Stewart. Bet trump wasn’t throwing dishes against the wall at that meeting.

I’m with Bart Simpson. “Ay carumba!”

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Liz Cheney. Lynne is her mother.

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Oops! - typo but didn't remember that Lynne is Liz's mother.

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Jul 12, 2022·edited Jul 12, 2022

Only one big, big name left. TFG gave Bannon the go ahead, so now who is left standing that has yet to give a statement and put his hand on a Bible, assuming he knows up from down when he poses? And what about a lie detector? There are a few holdouts, but most of the big names waited it out until they figured prison is really the next step. Our country has spent from January 6, 2021 focused on TFG with his name in the news nonstop, continuing rallies, making money with more lies, endorsing candidates and making sure his supporters still know his name. What a dream for a narcissist. For some repugs he has stayed in power and his followers still believe his Big Lie. In the meantime we are still battling a pandemic, Ukraine battles against Putin’s war machine with help from NATO that includes USA. The World economy is in trouble. And so is our environment. And there is work every day to undo the damage of the previous presidency. Still our Democratic President Joe Biden is at work 24,hours a day, for every citizen of this Democracy, upholding his oath to the Constitution and to us. That is what presidential looks like. And the coming election in November 2022 is more important than ever. VOTE!

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And what bugs the crap out of me is that Biden has only a 33% rating! Grrrr

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"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people." - H.L. Mencken, 1924

Some. Things. Never. Change.

It would help if the Berners would pull their heads out of their collective ass.

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Everyone needs to realize that if we don’t save our democracy, there will be no need for policy spats. The radical regressives plan to take us back to the Gilded Age of kleptocracy as currently financed by the Koch network. Ever seen an “I am an energy voter.” ad put out by Koch? They show ordinary people working in Koch company jobs, engineers, technicians, etc. Might a Koch employee think if they don’t vote in line with dirty energy corporations, they won’t have a job? The big dark money is ruthless. If we don’t put these vile people on the defensive and push them back, we will all have a miserable life. To paraphrase John Stuart Mill, “All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.”

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This is so true!!! Not only do they want to take democracy down, they don’t think that climate change will affect them, brought on in part by their years of oil lust.

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Jul 12, 2022·edited Jul 12, 2022

I have a theory about that. First, the best he will ever get in this hopelessly divided country is about 55%, with approval from anyone calling themselves Republican hovering around 0%. Independents will be largely dis-satisfied, and Democrats less so. Among Dem's, the most progressive are the most dis-satisfied and the more "centrist" (I am in this group, and I think perhaps HCR is too?) are fully supportive. So why the dis-satisfaction? Although childish, people are upset that the government Trump left us is so broken, and upset that the folks who took over seem unable to right the ship quickly. That and they seem unable to recognize that there are things that are out of the control of the administration (world-wide inflation, Ukraine/Russia, SCOTUS decisions). News media are not helpful - they are so quick to report on the controversial stuff (the bad news), and quick to ignore more normal goings on (the good news). If more folks paid attention to what is actually going on, they would see an administration of basically honest and capable people trying to do a good job for the American people, going uphill and into a headwind. Man what a difference!

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NBC News had a report this morning about Biden's low favorability ratings. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy: the more they criticize Biden and ignore the good things he is doing, the more likely that the public will view him unfavorably! Grrrr.

The report also presented responses to the tired question of whether the country "is going in the right direction." I hate that question because it doesn't measure what the media thinks it measures. I don't think the country is going in the right direction -- I feel like we're moving backwards -- but I'm not blaming Biden for it!

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I’ve always laughed at the begged question: “country not going in the right direction”. Both Dems and Republican could answer that yes. What’s missing is: :what do you think IS the right direction. Gheeze! I’m so sick of that thoughtless question!

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The media knows good news doesn’t generate the same reaction that a trainwreck does

Expecting it, “the media”, to stop looking for and reporting every Lionel Spill is futile

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Thank Fox and disgruntled Dems

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What bugs me more is that those polls are headlines in NYT. Haven't we learned polls are irrelevant, misleading and just plain wrong? Are we so mesmerized by algorithms The Times thinks that's what we want to read? Meanwhile Biden has juggled so many crises, many of which are world-wide. Strengthening Unions, doing his darnedest to create policies that defend small business against the towering corporate monopolies, all with a Senate determined to block his every move. Superhero in my book.

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Yes, yes and yes. The polls almost guaranteed Hillary the Presidency....how did that work out?

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Nancy, the polls are largely accurate. They missed on the gaps in Hillary votes that led to a loss in the electoral college, such as her under performance in rust belt cities like Milwaukee. But the polls were within the margin of error.

Biden’s polls are bad. This tells us more about voters than it does about Biden. Voters are mad about inflation and gas prices. Voters forget Biden’s successes, like NATO, infrastructure and COVID relief. Voters are often quite short-sighted, and stupid (see 2016).

We shouldn’t reject the polls because we know better. The voters being polled don’t know better, and that’s a problem.

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Me too, Marlene. Me too!!!

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Me three!

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So sorry that Joe has to battle his own, shut up critics and lend a hand…

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Absolutely! Just read a poll on NYT Twitter reinforcing President Biden's low numbers. I slammed them and tried to encourage the lazies to actually learn all of the things he is doing for them. Ignorance. Ignorance. Ignorance. Not a clue that they are being played by the billionaires who now control most of the media.

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Excellent comment, Irenie. I'm as staunch a Biden supporter as the other side is to their big liar. I don't think there is such a thing as a sitting President awarding himself (herself) the Presidential Medal of Freedom...but there should be.

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🌹🌹🌹

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Jul 12, 2022·edited Jul 12, 2022

What books does an Army officer read to become an expert at insurgency/counter insurgency and military intelligence? What does he have to know well to become THE lead intelligence General for the US Army in Iraq and Afghanistan? How would that skill set help coordinate the Jan 6th Coup? General Flynn’ s responses to the Jan 6th Committee thus far deserves at least an official Army reprimand, and more appropriately a Court Martial.

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I absolutely agree with you, Ted! Flynn is an enemy of The People.

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And the fact that his a-hole buddy, Roger Stone, is still out there, walking free and muddying the waters is an abomination. All tRUMPs pardons should be revoked. You don't need a pardon if you didn't commit a crime.

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Yup. Pardons are admissions of guilt. So,…..,Known felons helped plan Jan 6th.

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Yeah. And it’s on his resume!

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Way past due. LOCK HIM UP

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It’s been another long day and my brain is tired. Old eyes get blurry and the thinking gets fuzzy. Yet, I found myself easily following your absolutely clear writing and step-by-step, calm analysis. What a pro communicator! Thanks

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You are so right, from another tired (and old) brain…

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All good news. The walls of the trash compactor are closing in and there's no R2D2 to plug into the system and hit "reverse".

And Trump had to cancel his Commercial Hatealong in North Carolina this Friday, since he and the kiddos will all be testifying under oath in NYC Friday on the case where the AG now has the paperwork to convict them.

Hi ho! Hi ho! It's off to work we go!

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Another laugh out loud moment, thank you

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Sizzlin’, TC. Sizzlin’!

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OH? Did know that tidbit of info! Yippee!

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👋 👋 👋 👋 👋 👋

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🍿

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The time of the hearing seems to keep changing. The latest news says it will be 10 a.m. Eastern, 9 Central. ?? Which is correct.?

One thing that concerns me is that though white supremacy and virulent racism have been in the foreground of likely motivations for the insurrection, there has been very little mention of Steven Miller, the most racist and conspiratorial adviser in the White House. He may have been clever enough to cover his tracks, but it is hard to believe that he has had no role in the coup conspiracy. I wonder if he has testified to the Committee.

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I wondered, too, about Stephen Miller, so researched it. Apparently, he testified to the committee back in April 2022.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/14/politics/january-6-stephen-miller/index.html

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He’s so…so creepy.

Unita, Lynell. 🗽

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❤️ yes he is! Can’t believe he’s married and has an Aryan child…a girl. Her uterus is doomed.

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Interesting (ironically used?) word to describe his child, given that hate monger Miller has essentially been betraying his own Jewish ancestors. I’ve wondered if his family lost people in the Holocaust, and if his reaction was to want to identify on the side of power, with the oppressors, rather than acknowledge any of his shared heritage with the oppressed.

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His reaction is driven by desire for power at any cost, not his heritage.

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I think we are sort of saying the same thing. I was speculating on a possible reason *why* he might want power at any cost.

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The photo of him is chilling. They need to bring him back.

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Did you see the video clip of him today at the J6 hearing? Creepy.

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Eeewwwww he is more creepy than any real person I have ever seen.

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Way beyond creepy, Lynell! Swear I could see the soulless void in his eyes.

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Creepy, soulless, void...Absolutely, yes, Ashley.

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Yes. I think that was his first appearance in the hearings, though he may have been briefly mentioned in earlier sessions. If ever there was someone who needs to be canceled, he is one.

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Yes, Gailee!! As horrifying as it is looking at or hearing him, the hateful speechwriter “extraordinaire” should return for a live session, guarantying an audience who knows his diabolical truths.

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Read Hatemonger, a biography of sorts that traces the evolution of Miller's vile ideology. He started early and grew worse as he grew older. His career shows his ability to stay in the shadowy background while spreading his poison.

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Thank you. I should have searched more thoroughly.

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Saw he had a "spot" today on the J6 hearings where they aired a tiny bit of his videotaped testimony.

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The January 6 Committee moved it to 1 pm eastern.

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Thank you. Our local news at 10 still was saying 9 Central, so I was confused.

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Good comment. Usually he partners with Bannon.

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1PM eastern, 10AM Pacific

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Good call.

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I disciplined myself not to have ice cream on this muggy Monday night, but Professor Richardson has served up this delicious dessert that more than makes up for it!

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It's just hot here in Oregon. We did have dessert with the neighbors. I picked the marion berries and she made the pie. And yes, this is the perfect nightcap.

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Fresh berries and homemade pie. Am totally envious

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With ice cream of course. I always give the neighbors my first picking and then we have pie!

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Ice cream always!!! Especially now.💕💕🎉🍨🍨🍧🍧

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Jul 12, 2022·edited Jul 12, 2022

There is no doubt that Bannon and all of tfg’s thugs want to put spokes in the 6th January committee’s professionally-oiled wheels.

“Bannon’s moves lately were almost certainly designed to delay his trial for contempt of Congress, due to start next Monday. He vowed to make the case the “misdemeanor from hell,” for the Justice Department, and he tried to subpoena House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and members of the January 6 committee. Bannon’s lawyers were in court today to try to postpone his trial for three months. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who was appointed by Trump, ruled against Bannon across the board. “It seems clear that Mr. Bannon’s trying to turn this into a circus that cannot be allowed,” House counsel Douglas Letter said, and the judge apparently agreed. Bannon’s trial will begin as scheduled.”

Thank you for all of this evening’s terrific clarifications, Heather!

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As Bannon's defense attorney said after the Judge got through legally kneecapping them "Why are we even having a trial? There's no defense left." to which the (Trump-appointed) judge said "You're right."

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Brilliant!

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TC, though I would happily watch Bannon’s trial, I don’t want him televised live at the Jan 6th hearings. He will only turn these sober hearings into a clown show.

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Hope they broadcast Bannon's trial.

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That would be edge-of-your-seat entertaining!

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Jul 12, 2022·edited Jul 12, 2022

Bannon and Trump think they're master chess players. But they can't even play checkers well. And Lindsey Graham thinks he's playing tough but is embarrassing himself and his office.

Tomorrow is going to burn into the minds of Americans who are paying attention that Trump's terrorists were planning much more than an assault on the Capitol. They were planning all out war in D.C. Will the committee find and reveal the most critical piece of evidence? It's whether Trump knew and if he sanctioned it.

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Encore time for Jamie Raskin. Deserving.

Unita, Michael. 🗽

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Jamie Raskin is my hero. Have you read his book "Unthinkable"? Well worth reading.

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The bunch of them don't even do well at Tiddly Winks.

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Incompetent almost garnered enough support to take us down. And they are still undefeated. We need Ike, but J6 Committee plowing on, knowing that cults don’t deprogram themselves

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Anyone who is compelled to over-use exclamation marks usually has no real argument.

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Jul 12, 2022·edited Jul 12, 2022

Grenades. Molotov cocktails with styrofoam to make sticky, explosives, destractions for Capital Police leadership…pipe bombs at the DNC Headquarters. Multiple Assault rifles and ammo caches. Inside sympathetic men in key leadership positions.. Within minutes they overwhelmed the entire Capital Police. It is not hard to imagine overwhelming Or just delaying the DC Police and Secrete Service elements, with NO help from DOD. Just ADD Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony. TFG wanted to ‘lead’ an armed violent mob to, and inside the Capital with ‘HIS’ Secret Service. EASTMAN is like Nazi lawyer Carl Schmidt. Stone is Goebells PR/propaganda. But the organizer/action planner of the day goes to Mike Flynn, he’s like an SS or Brownshirt General coordinating the colonels and captains of the white ultra national militias.

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Jul 12, 2022·edited Jul 12, 2022

This seemed like Trump's ace in the hole if the traitorous Republicans in Congress didn't deliver. I suspect we'll learn more about how he had discussed using the Insurrection Act to declare martial law based on attacks around DC. That way he could have ordered federal troops in and seize voting machines in states that swung the election to Biden.

Why didn't his faux storm troopers escalate? Something went awry, thankfully.

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Exactly. He wasn’t “allowed” to go to Capitol. Instead he was back in a room at the White House throwing dishes around. Instead of commands.

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So many moving and complex counter steps at each stage to keep the coup moving hints at professional expertise. This was planned, coordinated, and "led" by an expert who spent their entire career studying, countering, and perfection insurrection/counter-insurrections. Jan 6th was led by tfg's "consultant/contractor", Mike Flynn.

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Jul 12, 2022·edited Jul 12, 2022

You're onto something. The J6 hearing has just shown Flynn with protection from Oath Keepers.

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The Plot and Plotters, ‘the big con to end democracy’

Political philosophy of the big lie, falsely justifying the coup by every and any means necessary: tfg

Legal framework to ‘’legalize’ the coup.-Eastman & Ginni and Clarence Thomas

Big Lie Facilitators: tfg, Meadows, Rudy, Sidney Powel, Fox and Murdoch

Operational Architect of the coup lead up and day of-Flynn, Bannon

Propagandist, marketing of the coup- Bannon, Stone, Miller

False Credibility by an elected official for the coup to appear as a ‘normal’ course of Congress- Sen Grassley

band wagoners/coup cheerleaders/justifiers/PR:

MTG, Gosar, Ghomert, Brooks, Gates, Perry, Jordan, others

Supporters and Salesforce.com who attended, but also organized and encouraged a campaign for attendance, by paying for other true believers to attend the rally, riot and coups.

Militia Leaders moving and directing the crowd into a violent mob/instigating violence:: Rhodes, Alexander, Tarrio , McInnes, & others

Financial Fraud, nurturing the big lie into a violent coup to raise money for future reelection to defraud American citizens and keep as leverage over and weaken other Republican political leadership:

All of the Above plus several big donors + true believers

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Your first sentence nails the essence of it all. It could be a title for books that I'm sure are already being written.

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The media is enabling the Republicans again and again by talking about Bannon who is not worth the air time he's getting and is what he wants in his little circus when they could be going into some depth on what President Biden's administration is doing. The media will be complicit if the midterms give Republicans control of the Senate and House.

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The were, they are, and apparently they will be

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They are already complicit. And still will be when Vote Blue in November keeps house and gives real majority to Dems in Senate.

Salud, Cathy. 🗽

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I really want to see Bannon locked away! What a despicable piece of excrement. As for Miss Graham, arrest him already!

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The January 6 Committee no longer needs Steve Bannon's testimony. If Bannon is so eager to come clean, he can do so at his federal trial which starts on July 18.

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Overplayed his hand did he not.

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If the prior hearings are a reliable indication, tomorrow's event will continue the high drama. I've been waiting to see how Raskin will manage his chance at the microphone. I won't ever share Chaney's political views, but I am so relieved to have had the chance to see a conservative in action who has utterly rejected the nightmarish distortion of reality that tfg and the MAGA crowd have brought to the Republican party. One can only hope that there are more who will somehow find the courage, find their voice and loudly reject that horror show.

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