If heтАЩs filing in Texas, homestead exemptions may allow Alex to keep his home, but property taxes and the expenses of running a large home may require him to sell it out of financial necessity.
2.8 million dollar house, $7 to 10 million in other properties, assets,cash & equivalents, retirement accounts. Take it alll, and payments for the rest of his life. 150 years ago Alex Jones would have been tarred and feathered.
This short quote from the article says it all concern the cult that once was the Grand Old Party: ''...Republicans have increasingly fetishized guns as a symbol of individualism...'' the bastardization of freedom. Thank you, Heather.
I think the phrase "Republicans have increasingly fetishized guns as a symbol of individualism..." could have been written substituting "masculinity" for "individualism". I think that those who feel the need to have a bump stock in their lives have a real problem with their own self image.
That is exactly what I was thinking--although I would use an anatomical word that's a lot more explicit than "masculinity" when referring to what these m**herf**kers fetishize. As always, HCR tries to keep it polite. I think that in these situations, politeness gets us nowhere. If a guy thinks a gun will make his penis look bigger, he has to be ridiculed. Full stop.
I am disappointed to find that readers have to wade through screen after screen after screen of whining about what is, admittedly, yet another deeply misguided decision by a truly awful collection of six Supreme Court justices appointed by rethugs but which is very far from the most important topic HCR discussed in todayтАЩs Letter, which is that AmericaтАЩs most powerful CEOs know that voters are likely to put a lazy, venal, ignoramus in the White House, which ignoramus will set in motion a great many actions that will take civilization over a cliff. Really, folks, while itтАЩs true that the sea is not (yet) boiling hot, itтАЩs plenty damn hot enough to force billions of people over the next fifty years to move to places where conditions allow large mammals to survive, their current homes being at that time no longer such a place, which migration is going to cause such a massive disturbance in human behavior that itтАЩs hard to imagine that civilization can survive. The way weтАЩre headed, people, itтАЩll be a Mad Max world by the end of the century. And the sea is gonna get a whole lot hotter with the Orange Jesus adored by so many adoring, True Jesus (I used the term ironically, at best, maybe sarcastically) fans in the White House. Or with any rethug in the White House, for that matter. We need to stop whining about a problem we have absolutely no hope of fixing until we put a solid majority of Democrats in both chambers of Congress and a Democrat in the White House. Without a trifecta, and a trifecta that persists for several decades, nothing else we do will matter a whit to the future of civilization. Stop whining about what we have no hope of fixing, yet, and go out and get our people, the decent human beings among us, to the polls in November to throw the bums out, permanently. ItтАЩs a tall order, I know, and we donтАЩt have good odds of success, but itтАЩs our only hope. Get crackinтАЩ.
Yup Rex - we humans do tend to latch on to the little (relatively) nit-picking issues, dont we? In fact, that is how the Replubs keep their followers in line. I havent read your post from this morning yet - will get to that one next! Actually this comment of yours right here sort of hits all the high spots!! And yeah, I agree, if we dont manage a trifecta - all the other issues - no matter how important or not - arent going to matter.
I agree with Rex Page that the most important part of Heather's newsletter today (i.e., June 14) was that the CEOs found that Trump тАЬwas remarkably meandering, could not keep a straight thought [and] was all over the map."
It reminds me of an experiment discussed in an ancient book by Konrad Lorenz (unless my memory has become remarkably meandering and incapable of keeping a straight thought) in which a fish was, in effect, lobotomized and returned to its school, after which the school followed the lobotomized fish. I always thought that example held a lesson for humanity.
Somehow civilizations advanced, ideas were formed and opinions were stated for centuries without a race toward crudity. ArenтАЩt we all getting tired of it?
You're kidding, right? If you want absolutely disgusting crudity, read the Greek and Roman poets and playwrights. Or, in the Middle Ages, Chaucer, Langland, most of the Italian poets, the more popular apocryphal biblical texts. Or Marquis de Sade, Voltaire, Dafoe, Swift, and Shakespeare and his peers. Or . . . I could go on. Crudity is the core of creativity.
Sadly, more may as the idea of a machine gun for everyone spreads. As we can see from women with extreme anti-abortion views, and as leaders in the book-banning movement, females are not intrinsically more tolerant, life-affirming or humane than men.
It appears to be irrational until you recognize the one thing underlying everything the leadership of the MAGA Republican Party is doing. Everything they do is in service of their divide and conquer agenda. They don't actually care about guns, or the 2nd amendment, or the life of the unborn, or the people they've conned into supporting them, or even each other. They are all a means to an end in which they imagine themselves having the "freedom" to tell everyone else what to do, and enough power to make sure everyone does what they are told.
I couldn't agree more, James. I think it's all about keeping their office. Many are supporting Trump so they don't lose in the next election. And others like Tuberville, Gaetz, Vance, etc. are rednecks while still others are in the category with MTG and Boebert, just plain idiots.
I remember when W championed compassionate conservatism. It never occurred to me to look up the definition until now. The definition for it and neoliberalism are basically interchangeable. Such tripe. No telling how much government money Pappy Bush and his тАЬPoints of LightтАЭ initiative forked over to some of the same religious organizations that are now trying to destroy American democracy.
No, not sincere at all. It was a conservative con that was enacted to get Americans used to the idea that the government didn't serve the people but the business community solely.
I think it's helpful to remember the true inheritance of the Bush family. I don't know anything about Prescott Bush's father, but when he was a partner in Brown Bros Harriman he conspired with others to overturn the FDR administration. Look up Smedley Butler and the Bonus Army.
They've always believed their great privilege financially entitled them to control others.
No, the robber barons of FDRтАЩs time truly hated FDR and Eleanor, They were traitors to their class and it killed them that FDR was President. Then the Republicans ran Thomas Dewey against Harry Truman totally expecting Dewey to win. That truly was a heady time for Democrats ! We hoped for Adlai but no one really cared the Eisenhower won. He was our national hero, the General of DDay and the end of HitlerтАЩs Germany. After Truman got rid of General MacArthur, Eisenhower was the General of Generals without the pretenses.
One would think, hope, the MSM would take note of far more than it does. Without the "alternate" sources via Substack and others, precious little would be as thoroughly covered. Not that anyone here needs be told. Grateful daily for the existence of these sources and the comments that so often yield more.
In maga world life is sacred from conception until birth. After birth not at all. Shoot at will. Could it be that women are the target of sanctity of life laws and men are the protected mass shooters.
Why are the republicans striving to see who can be the most outrageously offensive? Christmas cards featuring AR-15's, shooting Bud Light cases, supporting bump stocks et al.
If it's a contest, Kristi Noem has won with her account of shooting a puppy (the veracity of which I question in light of this contest).
This crap about, "I need a gun to overthrow an oppressive government", is a pipe dream. They just wanna play macho.
I have two words for all those who think they are going to take over the government by force: Marine Corps.
"Hate, resentment and anger" are the cornerstones of MAGA values according to President Biden. HCR reported this last week taken from one of his recent speeches.
I agree Betsy, that cruelty also is a key component.
Has been since chumpтАЩs blather about ObamaтАЩs birthplace. Then worse every day, new targets, new accusations, and vicious bullschittery that too many developed a taste for.
The world looks on and shakes it's head in disbelief. It appears thatvin the US gun ownership is more important than our future generation. What an absolute shame.
Sure seems that way. So discouraging to see this Supreme Court vote to allow bump stocks. In 1977 when my brother-in-law was 21 he was murdered by a 17 year old in a random act of violence with a "Saturday night special" gun. 4 other people were injured. The destructive ripple of those few minutes continues. Since then I have been leading a weekly program for teens in secure detention, in memory of Otto, in part to share the Ripple Effect of gun violence.
We also created am Otto Meisenheimer Prevention of Gun Violence Research Fund at the IU School of Public Health. If that teen had had a bump stock, horrible to think that many more lives might have been lost. There is absolutely NO reason to allow bump stocks. So sad to be moving backwards when the only solution seems to be counting on legislators who too many are bought and owned by the NRA.
That makes it even more shameful. The more I read the more convinced I am that our educational system has to take some of the blame! People are showing their lack of it!
As did people watching Hitler's takeover of Germany. Kristallnacht. Anyone who bothered to read Mein Kampf. They can be excused somewhat for not having instant access to information as we do now.
But then our information gets skewed and our leaders stand by helplessly. See article about Stanford's disinformation research group in the Post.
Our forefathers must be turning over in their graves. This is a continuing theme in the bastion of the former тАЬGrand Ole PartyтАЭ now operating as the тАЬGrand lying Old Party of ass-holes.тАЭ Pardon my French.
Kinder words than they deserve. The hypocrisy would choke anyone with an iota of integrity. I couldnтАЩt spew that tripe if I had guzzled enough booze to kill a horse. Yet the sycophants bow and scrape to evil and pretend heтАЩs Jesus. Must be a trip for Mitch since heтАЩs the one who demanded bowing down to him. Ha
Because our species has such an attention deficit disorder, and we quickly focus on the carnage of the day to motivate ourselves, you know, when women forget that voting for conservatives will ultimately end control of their bodies until itтАЩs too late, sorry to say, we need another bumpstock carnage similar to Las Vegas days befor the election to create a massive blue wave that will ensure a super majority of democrats in congress to effect protective legislation for We, the People. IsnтАЩt that sickening?
Very sad. It is like a double homicide for the Sandy Hook families. First the children are murdered. Then memories of the children, to be cherished, are murdered, too.
┬┐How does one become an Alex Jones?
┬┐Can wealth really be that important?
A sickness eats away at our culture . . . and our children.
EDIT: thank you, all for an informative polylogue ЁЯТб, in response to this initial comment which hardly does y'all justice. тЬМя╕П
For all the R shouting about protecting fetuses and protecting kids from drag queens, etc., they don't care about children or most other people either. If they did, they would accept federal government food help during the summer. They would enact meaningful gun laws. They would stop regulating medical decisions for women. They would do everything to help ordinary people. But they prefer power and money and being the party of death.
I just keep writing postcards with TonyTheDemocrat to get Democrats elected. If DeJoy hasnтАЩt figured a way to keep them from getting to their destinationsтАж But the price goes up to .56 cents on 14 July. Does anyone else remember penny postcards?
Order stamps online. Google тАЬforever stamps.тАЭ These are not scams. I have been buying from them for last three years. They are companies who bought up large quantities of stamps from business that failed and other legal stockpiles. You can get postcard stamps also. Very good for use with FieldTeam 6 and other groups. Forever means just that.
You are so right. The world cannot make sense of what, very sadly, America is becoming. I cannot explain to my many friends overseas how an animal like tRump can be candidate to the Presidency with a real possibility of becoming elected!
Exactly!!! MAGA and much of the GOP don't seem to get that educational, health and economic support for people in need is a social investment that repays over and over.
Ned, just look at the republican congressmen in tRump's corner. They have been bribed and see a life of great wealth and power, in exchange for their support. However, they overlook tRump's history. He has screwed everyone that has been in his corner for decades, IMO.
JL, the very best speech money can buy!!! Wait! ThereтАЩs moreтАжwith your dollars you too can buy a Congressional Rep, or evenтАФta-da!тАФa Supreme Court Justice!тАж.donтАЩt wait, make your purchases now while supplies last!!!!
Yes,I agree.I read something yesterday on another Substack that speaks of Trump and I am paraphrasing here-If he canтАЩt screw it, get praise from it or canтАЩt make money off of it , he hates it which pretty much sums up his bottom line.
He will burn this country to the ground to get what he wants which is admiration and money. He recently floated the idea of getting rid of income taxes for putting tariffs on everything. The man is insane.
How does one become an Alex Jones? How does one become a Goebbels, or such. I often wondered that about the German insanity. Now I watch it here. Little men who see the power of a so-called big man and latch on like a newborn to a tit.
I guess you'd have to have lived in post wwi Germany et al to acquire some of their sensibility, perverse as it was, only bringing on gigantic tragedy of mass death and destruction.
I can't quite... Hitler was gearing Germany up for a massive war of conquest, depopulation of far eastern Europe esp Ukraine for German colonization, extermination of Jews, massive confiscation of European wealth. illiberal democracy i certain can believe
I am not posting this essay ONLY to seek attention; yes guilty as charged. I post it because I am really, really frightened.
EDIT: thank you, Jeri, as well for your insight into opportunism. We need look no further than Shady J.D. Vance. Like all those intellectuals flocking to the S.S.
I sense a growing similarity to Hitler/ Goebbels lies and the strident defenses of Trump by the Republican members of Congress.
It is quite unsettling to note the similar incredible denials of reality that propelled the NaziтАЩs to power and helped Trump be elected.
By 1945 an obviously insane shell of a Leader was issuing futile nonsensical orders followed adoringly by hypnotized military cultist officers just as Mike Johnson and Lindsey Graham deny the reality of an inept mind crumbling publicly.
Reality is going to be a very harsh decider of an unpleasant outcome.
These are frightening times. Dr Cox Richardson as well as Dr Bandy Lee, offer hope. https://bandyxlee.substack.com/ One from history and one from psychiatry.
Yes, Alex Jones couldn't do this by himself. Most of his liquid assets will be stripped from him, finally, we hope. By current pricing, 2.4m for his home isn't wealth amok, though i wish it too had been on the "auction block" with something left for modest living. The man's mind is pathological, and treatment would be a welcome mandate. My guess is he actually knows he spews lies.
I blame forever chemicals and pollutants for damaging our the part of our brains where empathy and understanding and generosity springs.
I also blame ALL (even Clinton and Obama) of the presidents and their administrations, since Reagan who did not turn this train away from enriching the rich and taking from the middle class and the poor.
Yes, theyтАЩve played a part but I stop short of saying тАЬ both parties are corruptтАЭ. Currently the Republican Party is leveling a huge amount of damage. YouтАЩre not seeing this amount of corruption coming from the left. We have to start somewhere to move forward and I think Biden is trying to do just that for the most part.
Not to mention Joe BidenтАЩs eldest son dying of brain cancer and being exposed to burning pits. He understands this loss. Compassion is what this country needs.
So sorry to hear about your father. I missed all of this discussion about radiation. I agree with you that we should be extending and expanding the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. What can we do now?
Very hard to watch yet it felt necessary to see what these parents have had to endure. 12 years later they still get death threats, verbally abused, berated for what some lunatic fringe believes is a hoax because of Alex Jones "Infowars' website.
During the trials and after hearing from some of the parents of the children that were slaughtered at Sandy Hook, Alex Jones is still unrepentant and lacks any empathy for the parents. He deserves this judgement against him although it probably does nothing to help the immense sorrow and grief that these parents have suffered and must continue to feel and relive through court cases and harassment. Not sure if Alex Jones has children but what if one of them had been killed at the multitude of school shootings that have happened in the U.S., would he even believe it then?
AlexтАЩs ex-wife understands that Alex is a kook, and she doesnтАЩt want to expose their children to his nutty thinking. She also found out through the defamation suits against Alex that he wasnтАЩt forthright with her about how many assets he actually owned, which could be a basis to increase his child support obligations. The bankruptcy would put an automatic stay on it, though.
I agree that he is conscious of his decisions and fully responsible for them, but I think he believes in his own nonsense. The court is hitting him where he deserves, right in his wallet.
ThoтАЩ awful to contemplate, IтАЩd like a time machine to drag his ass to Sandy Hook and to, first hand, walk through those halls and rooms and be faced with the reality and then to face the parents after. IтАЩm not a mean person, but that sliver of me that can be if I summon it, wants this to haunt his dreams as long has he sleeps. That someone can be as viscerally cruel as he has been to the parents of lost children and to the survivors who will carry this trauma their whole life just astounds meтАжthe definition of depravity.
Eisenhower made sure the townspeople had to go through Dachau and the death camps were heavily documented with pictures so no one could deny it.
My parents went through Dachau (and the Eagle's Nest) when we were stationed in Germany during the Nuremberg Trials and Berlin Airlift (I was a toddler at the time but do have a few memories of things like the Munich Train Station and I think a Zoo in Munich sometime between 47 to 50). Their economy was so poor that my TSgt father could afford two live in maids (mother and daughter), and had an artist that paid for his room and board with oil painting (either sold on the street or given to us). I'm told I actually learned to speak German (from the maids) before English.
Though the Germans seemed friendly and kind to me, my mother, especially as we grew older and became appalled at what they had fallen into, always cautioned that we weren't that different from them, it could happen to us, too. After we discussed some of the history, she always mentioned Hitler was more popular in Germany than FDR was in the US as reinforcement that we could become like them.
IтАЩm sure there are pictures that he should be forced to see and be haunted by for every nanosecond of his miserable existence, viscerally cruel says it well. Hard to find the words but you did.
I think that there is something deeply missing within us that is causing the resurgence of the need for power and control. Look at the rise of authoritarianism throughout the world. There is also enormous need. Migration has been growing for years.
Those countries opening their doors to receive the starving, the homeless and the persecuted have done so at a cost. Realistically but negatively, citizens regard immigrants as invaders who are taking resources from their country..... taking opportunities/jobs ( that no one else wants but are necessary for many economies) away from us and immigrants are accused of increasing crime.
I am reminded of the Irish fleeing from starvation who came to us, and the Chinese who helped build our railroad systems, and the early Mexican settlers of California who had to fight to keep the homes/ranches they had built and where they had lived for years....as California was claiming its statehood....not to mention removing lands from the Indians who were here before us....and not to mention the people of color who were stolen from their homes in Africa, brought here to labor for landowners, etc.
Wanting to reclaim the use of such powerful and unnecessary weapons is just a sign of our dark side and a feeling of helplessness at being attacked when we have been "Caught at misbehaving". How are these days so different ?
Throughout the world, I think we as a people are too afraid of losing what we believe we should own....rather than sharing our abundance and finding it profitable.
I am reminded of the a story of the little boy, Jesus' disciples found among a crowd of people who had gathered to listen to His teachings. The crowd had been there a long time and they were tired. Jesus asked the disciples to ask the people if they had food and this little boy brought a basket of bread and fish to the disciples . The disciples gave the basket to Christ who blessed the food, broke it into pieces and there was enough for everyone...and even leftovers.(John 6:8-11)
Emily, I think, perhaps, if look far enough backтАж.when different iterations of the genus Homo walked the earth, Homo sapiens moved into territories of others and either assimilated (eventually outbreeding?) or replaced/vanquished (we will never actually know exactly HOW it came to be). Seems like this is hardwired into usтАФand perhaps a тАЬmemoryтАЭ that eventually changed our DNA to be suspicious/fearful of the тАЬotherтАЭ coming into тАЬourтАЭ land. Interesting that many of us carry DNA markers of Neanderthals and Denisovans, so we did intermingle! I do fret about, and it is already beginning, what will likely be the massive movement of people due to climate changeтАж.many of them will be our own citizens moving elsewhere in the country to escape areas no longer really habitable.
AJ could only exist when there is an audience ignorant and open to and accepting stupid conspiracies and willing to send money to him for the useless products he was hawking.
Anything for moneyтАжthe Maga mantra. Maybe the loss of much of his wealth will help Alex to mend his wats, but doubtful. IтАЩm sure he has millions more secured off shore so he can continue his lies and slander. A maga darling and example to their kind.
The cruelty of Alex Jones towards those families makes my heart ache so much. It's unbelievable that someone could be that cruel!
Cruelty is a key component of the MAGA ethos.
Jones likes the money and the influence. He should lost everything, period.
Every penny to those kids families.
It will be pennies to the dollar, Ted. Jones doesnтАЩt have $1.5B to his name, and his multimillion dollar home isnтАЩt for sale.
Too bad the judge hasnтАЩt ordered him to sell his house and buy a more modest one.
If heтАЩs filing in Texas, homestead exemptions may allow Alex to keep his home, but property taxes and the expenses of running a large home may require him to sell it out of financial necessity.
He should be living in a trailer in a park where the people he abhors live.
A tent.
2.8 million dollar house, $7 to 10 million in other properties, assets,cash & equivalents, retirement accounts. Take it alll, and payments for the rest of his life. 150 years ago Alex Jones would have been tarred and feathered.
He IS very wealthy, though. He and his equally scummy father have been adept over the years at hiding assets through shell companies.
Oh,.. :-0.
New news for sure. Well buried apparently.
Agree!
This short quote from the article says it all concern the cult that once was the Grand Old Party: ''...Republicans have increasingly fetishized guns as a symbol of individualism...'' the bastardization of freedom. Thank you, Heather.
I think the phrase "Republicans have increasingly fetishized guns as a symbol of individualism..." could have been written substituting "masculinity" for "individualism". I think that those who feel the need to have a bump stock in their lives have a real problem with their own self image.
That is exactly what I was thinking--although I would use an anatomical word that's a lot more explicit than "masculinity" when referring to what these m**herf**kers fetishize. As always, HCR tries to keep it polite. I think that in these situations, politeness gets us nowhere. If a guy thinks a gun will make his penis look bigger, he has to be ridiculed. Full stop.
I am disappointed to find that readers have to wade through screen after screen after screen of whining about what is, admittedly, yet another deeply misguided decision by a truly awful collection of six Supreme Court justices appointed by rethugs but which is very far from the most important topic HCR discussed in todayтАЩs Letter, which is that AmericaтАЩs most powerful CEOs know that voters are likely to put a lazy, venal, ignoramus in the White House, which ignoramus will set in motion a great many actions that will take civilization over a cliff. Really, folks, while itтАЩs true that the sea is not (yet) boiling hot, itтАЩs plenty damn hot enough to force billions of people over the next fifty years to move to places where conditions allow large mammals to survive, their current homes being at that time no longer such a place, which migration is going to cause such a massive disturbance in human behavior that itтАЩs hard to imagine that civilization can survive. The way weтАЩre headed, people, itтАЩll be a Mad Max world by the end of the century. And the sea is gonna get a whole lot hotter with the Orange Jesus adored by so many adoring, True Jesus (I used the term ironically, at best, maybe sarcastically) fans in the White House. Or with any rethug in the White House, for that matter. We need to stop whining about a problem we have absolutely no hope of fixing until we put a solid majority of Democrats in both chambers of Congress and a Democrat in the White House. Without a trifecta, and a trifecta that persists for several decades, nothing else we do will matter a whit to the future of civilization. Stop whining about what we have no hope of fixing, yet, and go out and get our people, the decent human beings among us, to the polls in November to throw the bums out, permanently. ItтАЩs a tall order, I know, and we donтАЩt have good odds of success, but itтАЩs our only hope. Get crackinтАЩ.
Yup Rex - we humans do tend to latch on to the little (relatively) nit-picking issues, dont we? In fact, that is how the Replubs keep their followers in line. I havent read your post from this morning yet - will get to that one next! Actually this comment of yours right here sort of hits all the high spots!! And yeah, I agree, if we dont manage a trifecta - all the other issues - no matter how important or not - arent going to matter.
I agree with Rex Page that the most important part of Heather's newsletter today (i.e., June 14) was that the CEOs found that Trump тАЬwas remarkably meandering, could not keep a straight thought [and] was all over the map."
It reminds me of an experiment discussed in an ancient book by Konrad Lorenz (unless my memory has become remarkably meandering and incapable of keeping a straight thought) in which a fish was, in effect, lobotomized and returned to its school, after which the school followed the lobotomized fish. I always thought that example held a lesson for humanity.
Florida real estate will be a great purchase if you want swampland and Republican governance.
This is the post I mentioned. Another Rex! But with the same mindset.
https://www.upstateamerican.com/p/outrage-should-meet-trumps-horror?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=b9ign&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Well stated Rex.
The manly man's body parts looks even bigger in a big bad pickip truck- so he thinks!
Let's not forget overly long ties...
Flying an upside down American flag from the tail gate whenever possible
OH yes, loud, jacked up, and maybe a flag flying and some bumper stickers of hate.
Somehow civilizations advanced, ideas were formed and opinions were stated for centuries without a race toward crudity. ArenтАЩt we all getting tired of it?
You're kidding, right? If you want absolutely disgusting crudity, read the Greek and Roman poets and playwrights. Or, in the Middle Ages, Chaucer, Langland, most of the Italian poets, the more popular apocryphal biblical texts. Or Marquis de Sade, Voltaire, Dafoe, Swift, and Shakespeare and his peers. Or . . . I could go on. Crudity is the core of creativity.
Agreed. How many women have carried out mass shootings?
Precious few
Sadly, more may as the idea of a machine gun for everyone spreads. As we can see from women with extreme anti-abortion views, and as leaders in the book-banning movement, females are not intrinsically more tolerant, life-affirming or humane than men.
But one in Nashville, last year.
I could see MTG or BIMBERT doing it.
Sylvia Siegrist of PA comes to mind, but she is also
mentally ill.
LDE. Little d*ck energy.
They have made individualism and conservatism the dirtiest words in the English language. One would think the MSM would take notice.
We have so many firearms out there, yet all we hear is how тАЬpro-lifeтАЭ they are. I guess they fail to see the irony in their pronouncements.
It appears to be irrational until you recognize the one thing underlying everything the leadership of the MAGA Republican Party is doing. Everything they do is in service of their divide and conquer agenda. They don't actually care about guns, or the 2nd amendment, or the life of the unborn, or the people they've conned into supporting them, or even each other. They are all a means to an end in which they imagine themselves having the "freedom" to tell everyone else what to do, and enough power to make sure everyone does what they are told.
I couldn't agree more, James. I think it's all about keeping their office. Many are supporting Trump so they don't lose in the next election. And others like Tuberville, Gaetz, Vance, etc. are rednecks while still others are in the category with MTG and Boebert, just plain idiots.
Proud Party of death
Absolutely.
A thousand likes to your comment! Actually pro fetus! After the fetus is born, itтАЩs suck it up little person you are on your own!
They are all conveniently blind.
I remember when W championed compassionate conservatism. It never occurred to me to look up the definition until now. The definition for it and neoliberalism are basically interchangeable. Such tripe. No telling how much government money Pappy Bush and his тАЬPoints of LightтАЭ initiative forked over to some of the same religious organizations that are now trying to destroy American democracy.
I thought that was a scam to take away as much as they could from the government. And then forget it. No way I thought that was sincereтАж
No, not sincere at all. It was a conservative con that was enacted to get Americans used to the idea that the government didn't serve the people but the business community solely.
For a little fun listen to "Woodys Landlord" from Tim Grimm.
I think it's helpful to remember the true inheritance of the Bush family. I don't know anything about Prescott Bush's father, but when he was a partner in Brown Bros Harriman he conspired with others to overturn the FDR administration. Look up Smedley Butler and the Bonus Army.
They've always believed their great privilege financially entitled them to control others.
No, the robber barons of FDRтАЩs time truly hated FDR and Eleanor, They were traitors to their class and it killed them that FDR was President. Then the Republicans ran Thomas Dewey against Harry Truman totally expecting Dewey to win. That truly was a heady time for Democrats ! We hoped for Adlai but no one really cared the Eisenhower won. He was our national hero, the General of DDay and the end of HitlerтАЩs Germany. After Truman got rid of General MacArthur, Eisenhower was the General of Generals without the pretenses.
Truth!
One would think, hope, the MSM would take note of far more than it does. Without the "alternate" sources via Substack and others, precious little would be as thoroughly covered. Not that anyone here needs be told. Grateful daily for the existence of these sources and the comments that so often yield more.
So sad that so many think that crap is all there is. Some family, I am sad to say, wonтАЩt watch any news or read newspapers.
My exact experience, painfully.
Yes, I took note of Heather using that word тАЬfetishizeтАЭ - strong language for our cool headed historian. And well chosen, IтАЩd say.
Strong language is critical.
In maga world life is sacred from conception until birth. After birth not at all. Shoot at will. Could it be that women are the target of sanctity of life laws and men are the protected mass shooters.
Why are the republicans striving to see who can be the most outrageously offensive? Christmas cards featuring AR-15's, shooting Bud Light cases, supporting bump stocks et al.
If it's a contest, Kristi Noem has won with her account of shooting a puppy (the veracity of which I question in light of this contest).
This crap about, "I need a gun to overthrow an oppressive government", is a pipe dream. They just wanna play macho.
I have two words for all those who think they are going to take over the government by force: Marine Corps.
"Hate, resentment and anger" are the cornerstones of MAGA values according to President Biden. HCR reported this last week taken from one of his recent speeches.
I agree Betsy, that cruelty also is a key component.
But all of those are based on fear, and the MAGA manipulators are masters of stoking fear.
YES!
Has been since chumpтАЩs blather about ObamaтАЩs birthplace. Then worse every day, new targets, new accusations, and vicious bullschittery that too many developed a taste for.
The world looks on and shakes it's head in disbelief. It appears thatvin the US gun ownership is more important than our future generation. What an absolute shame.
A Foxified country, on the Goebbels model
Sure seems that way. So discouraging to see this Supreme Court vote to allow bump stocks. In 1977 when my brother-in-law was 21 he was murdered by a 17 year old in a random act of violence with a "Saturday night special" gun. 4 other people were injured. The destructive ripple of those few minutes continues. Since then I have been leading a weekly program for teens in secure detention, in memory of Otto, in part to share the Ripple Effect of gun violence.
We also created am Otto Meisenheimer Prevention of Gun Violence Research Fund at the IU School of Public Health. If that teen had had a bump stock, horrible to think that many more lives might have been lost. There is absolutely NO reason to allow bump stocks. So sad to be moving backwards when the only solution seems to be counting on legislators who too many are bought and owned by the NRA.
So sorry!
I appreciate your sympathy. How do we convince legislators to ban bump stocks?
And how many authoritarians are enjoying this display of a country in crisis. They are eating it up.
That makes it even more shameful. The more I read the more convinced I am that our educational system has to take some of the blame! People are showing their lack of it!
As did people watching Hitler's takeover of Germany. Kristallnacht. Anyone who bothered to read Mein Kampf. They can be excused somewhat for not having instant access to information as we do now.
But then our information gets skewed and our leaders stand by helplessly. See article about Stanford's disinformation research group in the Post.
Our forefathers must be turning over in their graves. This is a continuing theme in the bastion of the former тАЬGrand Ole PartyтАЭ now operating as the тАЬGrand lying Old Party of ass-holes.тАЭ Pardon my French.
Kinder words than they deserve. The hypocrisy would choke anyone with an iota of integrity. I couldnтАЩt spew that tripe if I had guzzled enough booze to kill a horse. Yet the sycophants bow and scrape to evil and pretend heтАЩs Jesus. Must be a trip for Mitch since heтАЩs the one who demanded bowing down to him. Ha
Because our species has such an attention deficit disorder, and we quickly focus on the carnage of the day to motivate ourselves, you know, when women forget that voting for conservatives will ultimately end control of their bodies until itтАЩs too late, sorry to say, we need another bumpstock carnage similar to Las Vegas days befor the election to create a massive blue wave that will ensure a super majority of democrats in congress to effect protective legislation for We, the People. IsnтАЩt that sickening?
Beyond sickening. IтАЩve wondered what it will take to get traction. The options are not Mary Poppins
Very sad. It is like a double homicide for the Sandy Hook families. First the children are murdered. Then memories of the children, to be cherished, are murdered, too.
┬┐How does one become an Alex Jones?
┬┐Can wealth really be that important?
A sickness eats away at our culture . . . and our children.
EDIT: thank you, all for an informative polylogue ЁЯТб, in response to this initial comment which hardly does y'all justice. тЬМя╕П
For all the R shouting about protecting fetuses and protecting kids from drag queens, etc., they don't care about children or most other people either. If they did, they would accept federal government food help during the summer. They would enact meaningful gun laws. They would stop regulating medical decisions for women. They would do everything to help ordinary people. But they prefer power and money and being the party of death.
YesтАж vote them Out.
Only vote blue from now on.
The former GOP is the party of death as they disregard morality, empathy, and respect for others while ceaselessly money and power.
Register millions of new Democrats to vote out the party of death.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/
I just keep writing postcards with TonyTheDemocrat to get Democrats elected. If DeJoy hasnтАЩt figured a way to keep them from getting to their destinationsтАж But the price goes up to .56 cents on 14 July. Does anyone else remember penny postcards?
Order stamps online. Google тАЬforever stamps.тАЭ These are not scams. I have been buying from them for last three years. They are companies who bought up large quantities of stamps from business that failed and other legal stockpiles. You can get postcard stamps also. Very good for use with FieldTeam 6 and other groups. Forever means just that.
We need to stop expecting them to care. What more proof do we need.
You are so right. The world cannot make sense of what, very sadly, America is becoming. I cannot explain to my many friends overseas how an animal like tRump can be candidate to the Presidency with a real possibility of becoming elected!
Exactly!!! MAGA and much of the GOP don't seem to get that educational, health and economic support for people in need is a social investment that repays over and over.
Authoritarians donтАЩt care. They just want you to shut up and get in line.
Agreed ЁЯШб
My thoughts exactly Michele!
Ned, just look at the republican congressmen in tRump's corner. They have been bribed and see a life of great wealth and power, in exchange for their support. However, they overlook tRump's history. He has screwed everyone that has been in his corner for decades, IMO.
Bribed with wealth and power just like certain members of the Supreme Court.
We can thank Citizens United. Free speech is bought and paid for; making other speech difficult to be heard.
Then it's not free, is it?
JL, the very best speech money can buy!!! Wait! ThereтАЩs moreтАжwith your dollars you too can buy a Congressional Rep, or evenтАФta-da!тАФa Supreme Court Justice!тАж.donтАЩt wait, make your purchases now while supplies last!!!!
And just for funтАжfrom the film Cabaret: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JDWJzKYfdc
Apparently.
Worse than being bought, any who resist are banished, intimidated, primaried, and even families threatened.
Yes,I agree.I read something yesterday on another Substack that speaks of Trump and I am paraphrasing here-If he canтАЩt screw it, get praise from it or canтАЩt make money off of it , he hates it which pretty much sums up his bottom line.
Oh Glorious DJT! He may screw all the others, but won't screw m.....
The biggest of the big lies
He will burn this country to the ground to get what he wants which is admiration and money. He recently floated the idea of getting rid of income taxes for putting tariffs on everything. The man is insane.
They all deserve to be screwed with an electric screw driver.
Under the bus is already crowded and they could join that group any time.
WouldnтАЩt it be horrible if his supporters were to get the same screw job as the American public is getting every day from tfg????ЁЯди
How does one become an Alex Jones? How does one become a Goebbels, or such. I often wondered that about the German insanity. Now I watch it here. Little men who see the power of a so-called big man and latch on like a newborn to a tit.
I guess you'd have to have lived in post wwi Germany et al to acquire some of their sensibility, perverse as it was, only bringing on gigantic tragedy of mass death and destruction.
We donтАЩt have an excuse, like living in post ww1 Germany. But we are traveling the same path.
I can't quite... Hitler was gearing Germany up for a massive war of conquest, depopulation of far eastern Europe esp Ukraine for German colonization, extermination of Jews, massive confiscation of European wealth. illiberal democracy i certain can believe
And where do you think the rich oligarchs plan to take us? Religious rule, inquisition, extermination of opposition, white supremacy, etc.
┬бBINGO, Jeri! I have wondered since early 2016 about the origins of Trump's politics of revenge.
┬┐Against whom?
┬┐And for what?
But Trump had a point about Mexico paying for the wall; after all, the Mexicans paid for Hadrian's Wall and even the Great Wall of China.
ЁЯШЙЁЯднЁЯе│
Probably started in the play pen
Fine insight. I think many of us would be vulnerable under those conditions. I wrote this over eight years ago as a warning to me from me.
https://nedmcdletters.blogspot.com/2016/05/letter-116-b-getting-historical.html
I am not posting this essay ONLY to seek attention; yes guilty as charged. I post it because I am really, really frightened.
EDIT: thank you, Jeri, as well for your insight into opportunism. We need look no further than Shady J.D. Vance. Like all those intellectuals flocking to the S.S.
I sense a growing similarity to Hitler/ Goebbels lies and the strident defenses of Trump by the Republican members of Congress.
It is quite unsettling to note the similar incredible denials of reality that propelled the NaziтАЩs to power and helped Trump be elected.
By 1945 an obviously insane shell of a Leader was issuing futile nonsensical orders followed adoringly by hypnotized military cultist officers just as Mike Johnson and Lindsey Graham deny the reality of an inept mind crumbling publicly.
Reality is going to be a very harsh decider of an unpleasant outcome.
These are frightening times. Dr Cox Richardson as well as Dr Bandy Lee, offer hope. https://bandyxlee.substack.com/ One from history and one from psychiatry.
Sadly, I agree
Love that phrase, they love that tit.
Seems like the only analogy that fits
Yes, Alex Jones couldn't do this by himself. Most of his liquid assets will be stripped from him, finally, we hope. By current pricing, 2.4m for his home isn't wealth amok, though i wish it too had been on the "auction block" with something left for modest living. The man's mind is pathological, and treatment would be a welcome mandate. My guess is he actually knows he spews lies.
I blame forever chemicals and pollutants for damaging our the part of our brains where empathy and understanding and generosity springs.
I also blame ALL (even Clinton and Obama) of the presidents and their administrations, since Reagan who did not turn this train away from enriching the rich and taking from the middle class and the poor.
Yes, theyтАЩve played a part but I stop short of saying тАЬ both parties are corruptтАЭ. Currently the Republican Party is leveling a huge amount of damage. YouтАЩre not seeing this amount of corruption coming from the left. We have to start somewhere to move forward and I think Biden is trying to do just that for the most part.
Not to mention Joe BidenтАЩs eldest son dying of brain cancer and being exposed to burning pits. He understands this loss. Compassion is what this country needs.
So sorry to hear about your father. I missed all of this discussion about radiation. I agree with you that we should be extending and expanding the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. What can we do now?
B.K., my sincerest sympathy for your loss, though likely long ago. The injustice of it may make that loss a daily one. ЁЯЩПЁЯШвтЪЦя╕П
I recently watched 'The Truth vs. Alex Jones' on HBO. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31189901/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_the%2520people%2520vs%2520alex%2520jones
Very hard to watch yet it felt necessary to see what these parents have had to endure. 12 years later they still get death threats, verbally abused, berated for what some lunatic fringe believes is a hoax because of Alex Jones "Infowars' website.
During the trials and after hearing from some of the parents of the children that were slaughtered at Sandy Hook, Alex Jones is still unrepentant and lacks any empathy for the parents. He deserves this judgement against him although it probably does nothing to help the immense sorrow and grief that these parents have suffered and must continue to feel and relive through court cases and harassment. Not sure if Alex Jones has children but what if one of them had been killed at the multitude of school shootings that have happened in the U.S., would he even believe it then?
His divorce hearing had something about child custody if my mind is working at 4 am
AlexтАЩs ex-wife understands that Alex is a kook, and she doesnтАЩt want to expose their children to his nutty thinking. She also found out through the defamation suits against Alex that he wasnтАЩt forthright with her about how many assets he actually owned, which could be a basis to increase his child support obligations. The bankruptcy would put an automatic stay on it, though.
So she had no clue that he was a scam artist! I sort of thought it was inbred
He is not a kook. He is consciously pursuing attention by whatever means. He is responsible for his evil-doing.
I agree that he is conscious of his decisions and fully responsible for them, but I think he believes in his own nonsense. The court is hitting him where he deserves, right in his wallet.
I wish someone would take him out!
Love of money.
over human beings.
That's what makes it evil.
He still has not paid the families!
ThoтАЩ awful to contemplate, IтАЩd like a time machine to drag his ass to Sandy Hook and to, first hand, walk through those halls and rooms and be faced with the reality and then to face the parents after. IтАЩm not a mean person, but that sliver of me that can be if I summon it, wants this to haunt his dreams as long has he sleeps. That someone can be as viscerally cruel as he has been to the parents of lost children and to the survivors who will carry this trauma their whole life just astounds meтАжthe definition of depravity.
Eisenhower made sure the townspeople had to go through Dachau and the death camps were heavily documented with pictures so no one could deny it.
My parents went through Dachau (and the Eagle's Nest) when we were stationed in Germany during the Nuremberg Trials and Berlin Airlift (I was a toddler at the time but do have a few memories of things like the Munich Train Station and I think a Zoo in Munich sometime between 47 to 50). Their economy was so poor that my TSgt father could afford two live in maids (mother and daughter), and had an artist that paid for his room and board with oil painting (either sold on the street or given to us). I'm told I actually learned to speak German (from the maids) before English.
Though the Germans seemed friendly and kind to me, my mother, especially as we grew older and became appalled at what they had fallen into, always cautioned that we weren't that different from them, it could happen to us, too. After we discussed some of the history, she always mentioned Hitler was more popular in Germany than FDR was in the US as reinforcement that we could become like them.
IтАЩm sure there are pictures that he should be forced to see and be haunted by for every nanosecond of his miserable existence, viscerally cruel says it well. Hard to find the words but you did.
Barbara,
I think that there is something deeply missing within us that is causing the resurgence of the need for power and control. Look at the rise of authoritarianism throughout the world. There is also enormous need. Migration has been growing for years.
Those countries opening their doors to receive the starving, the homeless and the persecuted have done so at a cost. Realistically but negatively, citizens regard immigrants as invaders who are taking resources from their country..... taking opportunities/jobs ( that no one else wants but are necessary for many economies) away from us and immigrants are accused of increasing crime.
I am reminded of the Irish fleeing from starvation who came to us, and the Chinese who helped build our railroad systems, and the early Mexican settlers of California who had to fight to keep the homes/ranches they had built and where they had lived for years....as California was claiming its statehood....not to mention removing lands from the Indians who were here before us....and not to mention the people of color who were stolen from their homes in Africa, brought here to labor for landowners, etc.
Wanting to reclaim the use of such powerful and unnecessary weapons is just a sign of our dark side and a feeling of helplessness at being attacked when we have been "Caught at misbehaving". How are these days so different ?
Throughout the world, I think we as a people are too afraid of losing what we believe we should own....rather than sharing our abundance and finding it profitable.
I am reminded of the a story of the little boy, Jesus' disciples found among a crowd of people who had gathered to listen to His teachings. The crowd had been there a long time and they were tired. Jesus asked the disciples to ask the people if they had food and this little boy brought a basket of bread and fish to the disciples . The disciples gave the basket to Christ who blessed the food, broke it into pieces and there was enough for everyone...and even leftovers.(John 6:8-11)
Emily, I think, perhaps, if look far enough backтАж.when different iterations of the genus Homo walked the earth, Homo sapiens moved into territories of others and either assimilated (eventually outbreeding?) or replaced/vanquished (we will never actually know exactly HOW it came to be). Seems like this is hardwired into usтАФand perhaps a тАЬmemoryтАЭ that eventually changed our DNA to be suspicious/fearful of the тАЬotherтАЭ coming into тАЬourтАЭ land. Interesting that many of us carry DNA markers of Neanderthals and Denisovans, so we did intermingle! I do fret about, and it is already beginning, what will likely be the massive movement of people due to climate changeтАж.many of them will be our own citizens moving elsewhere in the country to escape areas no longer really habitable.
https://www.sandyhookpromise.org/
I thought, well, that jumps the shark. But shark jumping has become a Repub olympic sport.
AJ could only exist when there is an audience ignorant and open to and accepting stupid conspiracies and willing to send money to him for the useless products he was hawking.
Anything for moneyтАжthe Maga mantra. Maybe the loss of much of his wealth will help Alex to mend his wats, but doubtful. IтАЩm sure he has millions more secured off shore so he can continue his lies and slander. A maga darling and example to their kind.
It actually seems demonic.