607 Comments

They are the party of projection. Everything they accuse others of doing they either did, are doing, or are fixing to do.

They say the prosecution of DJT is a witch hunt as they conduct an actual witch hunt against the Bidens.

They say "Stop the steal" because they stole 2016, tried to steal 2020, and are gearing up for another attempt in the upcoming.

Every accusation is a confession.

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I want a tee shirt & bumper stickers w this quote: “EVERY ACCUSATION IS A CONFESSION. “

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Modify that to EVERY REPUBLICAN ACCUSATION IS A CONFESSION!

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Even better, buy your gopper family and friends a t-shirt that says "MY SAVIOUR LIES FOR ME AND I LIE FOR MY SAVIOUR... DJT."

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Hoyt Bangs: THAT is one of the funniest ones yet!

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I have a Tshirt that reads, "I'm RETIRED. I was TIRED yesterday, and I'm TIRED again today."

I am so TIRED of trying to understand how ONE person (Mike Johnson) can stop the important and necessary work of Congress. How can this be happening in America?? Did the writers of the Constitution see this as an option?

Anyone who is NOT tired of the mess we're in, doesn't realize what a mess we're in,

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Maybe three, four, five of the old school Republicans will find their backbones and quit or switch parties to save democracy and Ukraine. I'm looking forward to the house flipping before Nov because it seems the only way out of this morass.

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Sorry! Backbones are in severly short supply in the Republican Party. They have all been added to Trump’s collection. Do not expect anything courageous or patriotic out this bunch of sycophants.

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I know, but it does seem to be more likely than Johnson finding his.

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But can Ukraine wait until next January for the military supplies it needs to defeat Russia?? I doubt it.

Slava Ukraini

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It might come to the point that even if the Congress (Johnson) gets the bill passed, it may be too late. Let's throw a life preserver to someone who has already drowned.

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If only they would find their spine!!

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Ah from your lips…

We can only hope!

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Fiddling while Ukraine burns. Another fine mess.

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I was thinking about how trump's base listens to him lie and insult and threaten people and they laugh and cheer! Like Nero fiddled while Rome burned, these fools laugh as trump is destroying our Democracy. I'm not quite sure what percentage of Americans they are, but I find it disgusting and alarming. Is the U.S. losing it's mind? Are we turning into drooling idiots who want a reality show government?

I want to add that I do believe that most of us are not fools and the polls are wrong and Biden will be reelected. But while Heather's article reflects lots of victories, we still live in a scary world. So, fight on!

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Craig, thank you for your excellent and 100% insightful comment. You have summarized exactly all my fears in so few words. You literally read my mind.

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Again, bread and circuses. Without the bread.

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Craig, I agree. But what does fight on mean?

Are we praying that independents , never Trumpers and Dems vote for Joe? Hopefully we can do more than wait. Suggestions welcome .

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There are lots of things we can do, including remembering that all the little things add up and not giving up. The ocean is made up of millions of little drops.

You probably already do some of these things. I personally stay informed with reliable news, analysis and commentary sources. The people who's analysis I enjoy back up their opinions with information I get from straightforward news outlets. Obviously, Heather is a great source. I requested ideas from her Substack community and got several recommendations. I also share with others what I find important. I don't have much disposable income, but I donate to a few causes. Again, the little drips and drabs add up. I recently moved to a small town, but I've found the local Democrats and am gradually getting involved. I've gone to a few little marches and protests for responsible gun legislation, reproductive rights, and LGBTQ+ rights. They were fairly small gatherings, but part of huge nationwide protests. I know there are cities where one can get involved in the campaign headquarters. I'd like to do some post card mailings. My girlfriend and I are shy, but there are opportunities to make phone calls or knock on doors to get out the vote. Our local group manned a booth at the county fair for that purpose and to register people to vote. I've written my local representatives on various issues. Email makes that so easy. We live in a conservative area, so we're cautious about lawn signs, but we have put them and window signs up. And I also think the encouraging comments here and elsewhere help. We might give hope, ideas and support to one another. You never know.

I'm sure I've forgotten tons of other ways of non-violent "fighting." We really are in a war and I take it seriously. I hope lots of others will add to my modest To-Do list.

Informed action helps me keep my worry down too. We are not helpless. So, I do what I can, remember to have some fun and let go.

You made me think and work Mark. Thanks!

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Yes. Another Nero.

"Most contemporary sources describe him, (Nero) as tyrannical, self indulgent, and debauched.

The historian Tacitus, claims the Roman people thought him compulsive and corrupt." (Wikipedia)

Sound like anyone we know?

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Talk about one person blocking significant things. Anyone remember the name Emily Murphy?

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/gsa-official-blocking-bidens-transition-privately-plans-post/story?id=74234794

I found it frustrating to watch this woman. preempt the Biden transition team. Not that Donald Trump 's outgoing administration did anything for transition.

Some of our most important functions in terms of federal government and national security happen during the peaceful transition of power between presidents and parties.

Of course the current clown show in Congress sort of outweighs any transition antics.

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Bill, thanks for the reminder of how crazy things have become.

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Speaking of traditions, isn't the present president suppose to unveil the past president's portrait? I know trump refused to do Obama's (what a petty man), but I wondered if trump's was unveiled yet? I know Biden did Obama's.

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Here's hoping he scribbles a beard and mustache on T's portrait.

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In the trump tradition, how about the bathroom?

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I remember!

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Me too.

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Great answer to someone who wrote that, "He (Biden) happened to be in the Oval Office when COVID ended, which is doubtful in the minds of those who still demand that everyone continue to wear the ineffective masks."

The article mentioned the Biden Advisers threatened legal action over the stonewalling that kept them from classified information in addition to national security and the potential (non-existent, though), potential vaccine rollout/(distribution) plans. I remember the rapid development of distribution plans the Biden Administration created that was so critical to beginning to get better control of the pandemic.

I don't know how much the legal threats might have sped up the distribution but remember how disgusting it was to find that they were hiding such incompetence (if that's all it was).

I remember hints that Trump's allies seemed to be trying to distribute some in ways that might profit them handsomely. If the House wants to expand their investigations of the criminality of past and current administrations, that tail end of the Trump reign of terror would seem a target rich environment.

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I have wondered where she fits into the coup as well...I would not be surprised if there are more indictments after the election and if Smith chose to go from the top down because Trump's coup needed to be the headline.

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ME TOO!

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Agreed ~ it is disgusting our nation is being held hostage by one person.

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Seems impossible

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There are many individuals exercising too much power these days. That Texan judge who stopped the sale of mifepristone comes to mind. And trump, an unelected citizen and criminal ruling the gop for his own diabolical purposes. There have been several other instances lately, but those two came immediately to mind. Johnson is just another power mad fool.

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I am tired. Any mature, intelligent person is. That helps to work against truth!

Take your vitamin B-12 and hold on to one another and demand that the people who work for “we the people “better get serious or they will be fired! Aren’t we mostly tired of immaturity at a very high level??????

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Immaturity indeed!

May we all find strength to do what we can.

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How can we stop Mike Johnson from blocking this vote?

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Send him a picture of his boyfriend. That is what Mike is hiding!!

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Good question! Wish I knew they answer.

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How about a tee shirt, lawn sign & bumper sticker which says "Trump & Putin 2024" Together Again!! That should be their campaign slogan and forget this Make America Great Again nonsense

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I would not want their name in my yard. It would make it look dirty. But so true! Should tfg be elected....that is what we will end up with as the result. There are so many crazy people in my area....it frightens me!

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We have had a bumper sticker on our car for over five years. It reads “Trump/Putin, make Russia great again “.

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I have one that says, "The gullible and their freedom will soon be parted." Might be a little too subtle but I didn't want to call anyone stupid. It can be considered a bipartisan sticker, I guess.

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That’s a good one! Wonder if a few MAGAs could see and believe.

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What happened to the good old days when commies were caught and tried?

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Carol O: AGREE!

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That would be a great number sticker

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Annabela, that's exactly right.

Putin does that too.... re the denazification of Ukraine etc.

He accuses NATO, a peacekeeping organisation, of doing what he is actually doing.

This creation of alternative realities is very effective.

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Actually, Christopher, less alternative than mirror realities.

Putin, like Trump, like Orban has no culture. Totally vulgar instead. So when he sees others he doesn't "see" and certainly "other" has no meaning for one who lacks any and all details as to what the range of the personal might include or open up to out there.

A vulgar entity can only parrot back ready-made formulae, abstracted labels, and packaged categories. All the vulgar reiterate each other's sinkholes of depravity: Speaker of the House Howdy Doody, Clarence, the greatest bribe-taker in the history of the court he's collected pay from for over three decades, Erdogan, Xi, Kim, Mohammed bin Salman, Netanyahu, his mirror in vulgarity Hamas, the ayatollahs, Assad, Sisi, Modi -- along with the three most vulgar by which I began this. Zero of them have any equipment to see into complex and differing individuals apart from the(moneyed) packaging that floats the vulgar.

All just mirror each other's dehumanization.

Do we want our schools to follow such vulgarity, to leave out humanities as totally as Putin murders any opposition, as surely as fat orange Trump curses in labels, as illiterately as all the white trash lemmings in Congress rush for nearest cliffs?

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Phil, nice job! Ah! WHITE TRASH LEMMINGS. Another great bumper sticker...

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Tempting as it is, it would be a mistake to insult Trump voters. Just ask Hillary Clinton how her comment calling them a "basket of deplorables" worked out. Trump voters got t-shirts that said things like "Proud to Be A Deplorable" and Trump won, in the Electoral College only, but that was enough. Our stance needs to be that Trump is a con man who is defrauding his own voters, using them, manipulating their patriotism, because he wants power, fame, money, and to stay out of jail for his crimes. We need to find a short, punchy, persuasive way to say "Trump Is Ripping You Off!"

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'We need to find a short, punchy, persuasive way to say "Trump Is Ripping You Off!"'

How about "Trump Is Ripping You Off!"?

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He was also aided mightily by the mainstream media, focusing story after story on the whole email "scandal." It was appalling and one of the main reasons I've dumped all of them..The Times, Washington Post, The Guardian.

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It's extremely unfortunate that all the MSM outlets cannot resist the political version of "if it bleeds, it leads". For Dumpster's first run, a lot of guilty parties contributed gratuitously to his "win": MSM breathlessly publishing his every tweet and giving him bucketloads of free coverage, repeating whatever he said little or zero in-the-moment debunking of his lies; the Bernie supporters who decided that the Democratic party was not sufficiently perfect, and opted to sit out the election rather than vote for Hillary Clinton; and Hillary and her campaign, who made the deeply stupid assumption that they didn't need to campaign in historically union-heavy Democratic states because they were the "blue wall" [not]; and Hillary herself, not calling Trump out when she should have, as when he stalked her on stage during debates, and also publicly treating Trump voters with contempt ("basket of deplorables") which 100% backfired on her. Oh, and of course, James Comey violating the FBI policy about never talking about investigations, not once but *twice*, first announcing he was investigating her email server in early summer, then mentioning it again shortly before the election. There are probably more guilty parties and I'm just too exhausted to remember the rest.

I have not given up my subscriptions, but I can understand why some people have.

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Oh, and worse than ripping us off, he appears to want to get us all killed. Trump is way, way worse than deplorable and he scares the crap out of me. (Pardon my Italian!).

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Likewise! He scares the crap out of me, too. Anyone who's not terrified at the possibility of a second Agent Orange term is either not paying attention or deeply deluded.

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Trump is becoming demented (like his father before him), and as a result, he's making a lot of stupid decisions which are hurting his candidacy.

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Hillary's "deplorables" line did no matter to the voters Not one person who was offended by that had had any intention of voting for Clinton in the first place. It cost her no votes. This was bullshit made up by the press.

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Hillary came across, Elizabeth, as out of touch with America's working classes.

If she'd had any humanities, she could well have used them (so many, so apt) to show sympathy, solidarity, with how U.S. billionaires offshored all the millions of decent, working-class jobs, fought against health care, aided the white terrorists.

It's a vicious spiral downwards, Elizabeth, for all American's who've attended schools, K-12 and "higher" which have marginalized, abandoned, dumped on the humanities.

But his was the first plan of the far-right foundations who organized after the Powell memo of 1971. To allow them to proceed in their depredations, first trick was to rid the schools of humanities, thus to blind, anesthetize everyone to what the predators could thus so easily do thereafter.

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No. Seriously, should we give into that sort of temptation?

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No.

It probably would not convince any Trumpers to change their minds, though they might try to look up "lemmings" just out of curiosity. It would, however, become an appropriate bumper sticker if Trump is re-elected and we have nothing left to lose.

Might as well go down laughing.

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Hmm. I have a problem with the White Trash thing. It is bigotry. And it is inaccurate. While Trump tends to attract less educated poorer White voters, it is only part of the picture. When you look at why, it is driven by Republican government policies and political wedge issues crafted by privileged racist right wing religious extremists. These Republicans, with power, perpetuate economic inequity and its associated anxieties while playing on racial and religious prejudice. And it runs through every economic group. (I've have had occasion to meet very wealthy individuals, it's always astounding how financially insecure they seem to feel and who they blame.)

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Phil, your description of, '' white trash lemmings in Congress'' is an extremely accurate description of those in the Fascist GQP low-life members in there. MTG, Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, Gym Jordan, Tim Burchett, are just a few of them that immediately came to mind to me. That was a great comment, Phil.

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I'm doing my part to get rid of Boebert.

Look for her as an anchor for Newsmax

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Actually - THEN I never would have to see or hear her again! She truly is a twit!

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Twit is being kind to gunslinger Barbie. She is the kind of woman who has forgotten the real power of the feminine and instead is a pale vulgar imitation.

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I agree, Maggie. I wish i had to never look at that disgusting hag, Maggot Traitor Goon Greene either. She is the most disrespectful, hateful, arrogant, lying cretin i have ever seen or heard.

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Hi Jen, if Boebert does happen to be an anchor on Spewsmax, let me know, because i NEVER EVER watch their lying garbage. I never watch that Fox Spews or OANN either. I have had a heart condition for several years now, and i certainly don't want to risk a heart attack from watching those false news outlets. I can't help it, but i get extremely angry when i hear anyone bash Democrats like those lying bungholes always do. I don't need those lying white trash third rate ''so called'' news outlets.

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I had some relatives a generation or so ago that might have been considered by the bigoted gentry of the time as "white trash" - the men worked in logging in the South and, per my sainted Aunt Carolyn, their families lived in cabins with dirt floors. And yet, by my dad's generation (born 1929), all the kids in that generation went to college (all in the south), most of them in the liberal arts and not one of them a racist. All of them white Methodists (not Baptists, thankfully). Solid middle-class Americans. And I'll say this: it isn't money that saves you from being white trash, or owning or inheriting land or your own business, or living in a "good" neighborhood. The creatures we see in congress today are DEFINITELY deplorable white trash low-lifes, no matter that they have money, or land, or a position of respectability and responsibility - which they betray day by day. Bless their hearts.

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I think of white trash describing a mindset as opposed to poor white people. They have their own biases too, y’know.

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I like, John, your spelling of Jim Jordan's given name as "Gym."

I think you are nicely reminding us of his earlier career, where he was using a certain Ohio State gym as springboard to career of always being sycophant, cover for the most vulgar powerful.

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We’re doing what we can to get rid of Burchett.

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Phil, I am so gratified to read your explanation and description of the makeup of Totalitarians with power. [I went looking for a lengthy description by Bruce Springsteen to add here as a link, and cannot find it--he includes how Trump not only has no appreciation of the arts, but doesn't like animals--especially dislikes dogs!]

Long ago (teens) I observed that totalitarian dictators were empty and boring when it came to tastes in art and music.

Decades since, my work as a psychotherapist leads people to see and understand through their inner lives including through dreams. The results give them an appreciation of the levels of symbolism we all live within.

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I would argue that the individuals you name are all autocrats, but they vary in the form of autocracy they’re employing. And each in their own way uses “their version” of their national culture in their messaging to their populace. As we know a keystone of populism is an emotional appeal to nationalism. Putin’s call to nationalism is based on a nostalgia for more perfect times when Russia was successfully expanding its Empire, Orban’s call to nationalism is based on the nostalgia of a “more perfect time” when only Christian Hungarians lived in a Hungary, Erdogan’s call to nationalism calls for a return to some key aspects of the Ottoman Empire, and Xi’s call to nationalism is similar to Putin’s in that it’s based on the nostalgia of a glorious empire when China without question dominated the Asian continent. Likewise the Christian Nationalists are essentially following their version the the autocratic playbook especially Orban’s playbook. Therefore, IMO the key to eliciting this psychological support of citizens through their state sponsored propaganda is the underlying message of a return to “past stability” in a world which to many of their citizens seems to be more fragmented and uncertain than ever in their lifetimes. Using these nostalgic appeals to a return to a period that seemed more secure for their populace (even if unrealistic) is key and using their own internal political messaging to repeatedly air this messaging is essential.

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You are so right. Joe Biden's challenge to this has to include more history of what the Democratic administrations including his have done to make lives better in the United States and their worldview and plans for the future.

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I think Biden's going to the unions is a great idea. If it were possible, he should go to the sites where the infrastructure is being done. This way people have something concrete to see.

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I think everyone has some nostalgia for the past. I keep seeing how great life was four years ago. The questioner is referring to the entirety of trump's term. They forget that 4 years ago the unemployment was up to @16%, millions of people were dying, businesses closed, shortage of supplies, and incompetent assignments in things such as distribution (Jared was in charge, really?) His term, his fault (even if it wasn't). This is the logic trumpers use on Biden. His fault for the Russians attacking Ukraine, his fault the Hamas attacked Israel, his fault the withdrawal from Afghanistan went so badly.

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Phil , "white trash Lemmings" PERFECT!!

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Putin's winning the latest election is like trump's winning his primaries with basically no one running against him. he should have gotten close to 100% of the votes (of those who voted in the primary), but he didn't. hmmm

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Maybe we're seeing it happen, Karen.

Maybe even MAGA people are getting tired of the constant self-parading, now-all-too-obvious narcissism, reckless thrall to violence and threats of chaos, mayhem, bloodbath, now-tiresome reference to fellow Americans as vermin, poison.

Yes, Karen. Trump so resembles Putin for vulgarity. But how many U.S. Republicans remain in Speaker Howdy Doody's Congress to root for the ever-lower floor they think the mob craves? How many justices on the Clarence court feel it Constitutional to destroy that to which they cynically, blithely perjured themselves in giving oaths? How many evangelical men and women feel it "Christian" when Lauren Boebert fondles what she fondles in public, or when cult leader grabs whatever impulse goads him to grab (in places where same Clarence court arrogates its own rule, dictatorial possession, also)?

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In reference to the grabbing part, I have the perfect theme song for trump It's by the Steve Miller Band: Abra cadabra, I want to reach out and grab ya. The rest of the song is appropriate also, but that one line just jumped out at me.

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So many on the far right grabbing, Karen.

Clarence court. Fat orange diaper guy. Speaker Howdy Doody. And, maybe worst, all those hundreds of billionaires, all zombie, living dead organized that the rest of us get replaced, too, by their pod people -- but all as serfs.

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Hell no. We must make a gallant effort to make sure that everyone shows up at the polls to vote for Democracy.

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Excellent post, Phil. They lack culture and are vulgar instead. Your post is full of excellent observations....sinkholes of depravity.....moneyed packaging that floats the vulgar....white trash lemmings. And a plea for humanities. Kudos. I often rant that such monsters have so much power in this world.

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This may be the single greatest blog comment I've ever read.

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Speaking of vulgar: the myth that Lemmings rush off cliffs is a product of Disney looking for a good story, not a characteristic of a species of rodent. The fact that Disney filmmakers faked the scene of rodents committing mass suicide and it has survived to become a part of our language in spite of widespread fact checking says something sad about our culture.

Disney won an Acadamy award in 1958 for the "documentary" White Wilderness.

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"This creation of alternative realities is very effective." And the master - Trump. OMG. it is head spinning.

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They are all purveyors of The BIG LIE 101!

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How about "BIG LIE LEMMINGS"?

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Mar 21·edited Mar 21

Thanks Tim. Both of those shed a lot of light.

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A bit like trump's practice, change your mind and deny that he actually had said. repetitiveness is his trade mark. How often has he whined about the stolen election?

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Remember Putin is "Russia Russia Russia" ... we well might take Heather's quoting of Russian ambitions and perhaps intentions of getting in the military conflict with NATA in the not too distant future.

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Thanks Kellyanne Conway. ugh.

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Kellyanne Conway.

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Has been so for decades, now it’s at 90 decibels 24/7. And the MAGAts slurp at the trough of hogwash, and the MSM is not only loathe to call them out, but finds the whole Schitt show good for ratings. Shout out to Dems trying to inject a dose of sanity and remind people of the reality that is under attack.

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Any news on the discharge petition to force the supplemental bill vote?

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Thanks to Lynell for sharing this on Robert Hubbell’s/Today’s Edition:⬇️

As of yesterday (Wednesday, March 20), here is a list of signatories to the discharge petition for aid to Ukraine. If this is correct, there are only 15 signatures left to get to 200, the total Republicans say they want to see before adding their names. If you don't see your Dem rep on the list, call them to urge them to sign on.

https://clerk.house.gov/DischargePetition/2024031209?CongressNum=118

Here is contact info:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vTaMB3k5Z37OAM8HEMhDtwbLGzwn1wDXSNcoTmXEJbpfbacfp-m0fJGyb36lcNOhgqGO5-bArbibS5a/pubhtml?gid=614612044&single=true

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I found my Rep, DEMOCRAT Pramilla Jayapal on the OPPOSED list and contacted her office. Spread the word! The list is informative and contact #’s listed!

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I think I found all of mine listed.

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I can guess whose signatures are missing. The world's fate is hinged on a few unhinged selfish, trump slaves.

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Thank you for this

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Thanks to Kathy

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Jeri, I think Gym Jordan’s voice alone, is at 90 decibels!

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...and screeching the most ridiculous, vapid nonsense. He's like Trey Goudy on steroids. How dare the MSM treat them like they are politicians. Everett Dirksen was a politician, not a circus performer, as these cretins are.

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Yes. Talk about a witch hunt! This shameless , baseless investigation into the affairs of the Bidens continues to make a mockery of the impeachment process which was never meant to be used as a weapon to attack the integrity of a politician for personal, petty reasons.Enough with this bull pucky.

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The House Republicans tried to load each and every spending bill with poison pills and draconian spending cuts mostly aimed at reducing benefits for the underprivileged.

I wonder how much money and time Comer, Jordan, Greene, Gaetz and the other maganiazis have wasted on their witch hunts.

Hopefully, the Democrats will be back in control of the House in January, 2025 and they can 1) quash these ridiculous hearings and 2) use the actual evidence that has been brought out against TFFG.

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Maybe pass legislation to remove the insurrectionists, since the Supremely Corrupt Court refuses to do their job.

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they'll need to end the filibuster to get that one. Or a super majority, not likely.

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Dead on. The GOP subscribes heavily to the Tu Quoque fallacy. It has to be one of the worst fallacies because it brings discourse to a grinding halt while your brain struggles to make sense of what you just heard.

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If you look into their rhetoric, you will see that they accuse the Democrats of fascism. They claim that if Joe Biden is elected there will never be another election. Anything that is objectively true of their party they use to paint the Democratic Party and the MAGA base believes it.

When my sisters and I were children we used to call this “mocking” and it was one of the worst things about having siblings at all. It generally ended in violence.

In this current iteration I fear that is the point.

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And the Supreme Court has made sure they're armed with weapons of war.

I'd say we need to arm too, but there's a fundamental problem: too many simply could never fire the damn things.

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I'm pretty sure it ended in violence with me and my sister too!

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Mar 21·edited Mar 21

I had to look that one up.

Some other names for the tu quoque argument are the “you too” fallacy, appeal to hypocrisy, and personal inconsistency. Tu quoque arguments are considered logical fallacies because one's actions have little bearing on what is factually true.

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I've said this all along. How can people so blind?

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"A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest."

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Just like tfg. Lets us hope that the absolute lack of character/integrity is not reflective of all those in Congress and of Americans in general. That bunch in the House can not do more to destroy this country's reputation.

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Not just the reputation.

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The correct word is LIARS. That is all they know how to do. That and to share dis/misinformation and to provide sound bites to their media partners. If they get help from Russia, so be it. They have given up on being a free, democratic country and now have aligned themselves with Trump and his autocratic ways and all the groups that are supporting him.

The Heritage Foundation is a full on right-wing Christian nationalist organization. Kevin Roberts, their new president is a rabid nationalist who wants to turn this country into a rich, white, male dominated country where only their ideas are the law of the land. If you aren't white and male god help you.

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Without lies, projection, "Joe is old" and "Hunters dick is too big", that is ALL they got.

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My thoughts exactly.

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Let’s use the talking points about how the Republicans are wasting tax payers’ money on this fraudulent investigation. Wasting our money, wasting our time, and ultimately putting our national security at risk.

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I agree with most of what you say. This is playground bullying tactics: Your mom is ugly.” “No, your mom is ugly.” Every accusation is a confession - excellent. However, I don’t think we should be saying Trump stole the 2016 - to me, that takes the focus away from the blatant, criminal actions in Jan. 2021 and after. Also, it gets us, as Democratic and Independent voters. One of the big reasons we lost is that we didn’t fight hard enough for Hillary. Yes, we won the popular vote. But I canvassed even before the email debacle and many people told me - I just don’t like her personality. Then the Comer email announcement and we didn’t stand firm on our commitment to the Democratic platform. It could have been a landslide for Hillary. We must do better.

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Agreed Annabel. They are also the party of distraction and chaos. They want everything to fall apart. Because it will only be...once our country is no longer run by the rule of law (for some it doesn't work at all,.now) is when those who come into power will be unstoppable....and will be able to exploit, destroy, enslave, and reign over the remaining population of the world.

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A confession, and also a projection.

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This has been the Republicans’ MO for years!

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Example: Some republican extremist with a large following (Travis I believe) was complaining that Taylor Swift was traveling around the country in a jet. I am pretty sure that someone with two jets is not taking Amtrak or Greyhound. There are pictures of him on the tarmac with a jet that says TRUMP on it. Taylor told people to vote and I understand supported 2 democratic candidates. How many candidates did trump support in 2020?

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Thank you, Heather. From what I understand, Moskowitz donned a Putin mask before the meeting started. He did it to show the hilarity of these hearings but also the absurdity of them. Our Dems were fully prepared today with their witness, Lev Parnas. He really is our ace-in-the-hole along with Cassidy Hutchinson.

Bobulinski was as arrogant, actually more-so, than Hur was. What I loved watching was Comer’s expressions when Raskin was bringing up pertinent information. Truly, are the two Jimmies just plain stupid?

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It all looks SO stupid to those of us who employ critical thinking skills. The idea of wasting all this time on a "prosecution" that has no evidence - not even a hint of evidence - would seem to us to be counterproductive. We ask why Comer and Clan aren't spending most of their time working on ways to fund the government. Why aren't they focused on doing their primary job? It IS a stupid waste of precious time and energy. But the Insurrectionists in Congress don't think so.

Because they are focused on something else. To paraphrase Trump's trainer Roy Cohn: "all publicity is good, even the bad stuff". The incredible irony is that Cohn also coached Senator McCarthy in his bogus "anti-communist" purge. Today his techniques are the tools of pro-Putin Russian sympathizers. You can't make this stuff up!

Republicans know that they own a base that DOES NOT think critically. Trump has instructed Comer and Johnson to keep the impeachment hearings alive. If they don't, he will send them to the political dumpster in the sky.

It matters to us that Raskin and Company can lay out the truth and viscerate this whole clown show. But the message to the Cult from Trump and his Slaves is that they are "holding the Biden Crime Family accountable". It IS a show. It is about video clips and sound bites for the Fascist Media. It's all stupid. Because for a lot of Stupid People, it's all very effective.

The question I have is: are there enough "persuadables" who don't identify with the Cult who are also critical thinkers? I am hopeful, but still terrified.

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But it worked on Hilary. Almost. It took Comey and Putin's whores to defeat her.

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It's also that a whole lot of people don't want a female president.

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Each it was all Eves fault

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Yup. They just keep repeating the same junk over and over. The "emails" and the "laptop". Some people eat it up.

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Dumber than a bag of rocks, those two (and so many of the GQP) are . . . . . .

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You have to have an IQ lower than ambient room temperature to qualify for membership in the Trump party.

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I think there is a general correlation between level of education and immunity to BS; yet not entirely. I've seen bright, well educated, and even formerly amiable drawn onto the web of lies. Whole societies go sociopathic. I think all or most of the opportunists at the top know that they are liars, and figure that it makes them clever; but I think most of the rank and file are deluded. History is full of this; but it's backing us into a worldwide crisis if can't find better ways to keep despotism from taking hold. I think that following the money would be instructive.

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Right ON J L, your comment recalls the forensic psychiatrist Bandy Lee's warnings about the contagious effects of tRump's pathological narcissism and sociopathy!

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-shared-psychosis-of-donald-trump-and-his-loyalists/

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Follow the money, yes. And also follow the chain of instruction and intimidation. Johnson and Comer have been told to keep this charade and clown show alive right up to the election. The Fascist Media will focus on a few clips and statements by Bobulinski and company. They certainly won't broadcast what Raskin or Goldman have to say.

We think that truth should triumph. But they think that strategy wins. Truth be damned.

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"We think that truth should triumph. But they think that strategy wins. Truth be damned." You've hit the nail on the head, Bill! The GOP is all about strategy, as if this were all a game and they must win at all costs. Even when the cost is truth and democracy!

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Organized crime in in fancier suits,

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Trump wears his emotional IQ on his MAGA cap--45-47 (where 100 is normal). Ron Johnson and other professional liars also score low. How many promised to produce better ACA legislation?

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JL a really excellent comment.

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Unfortunately I can prove that better-educated folks can indeed fall victim to the Trump BS. There are a couple authors I know who used to be friends with me, whose work I admired and respected, whose advice I sought, who I knew were conservative but seemed to be the kind one could work with and respect. And then one day they're wearing red hats.

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Certainly seems that is a prerequisite.

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One would like to think that, and in my frustration I say that, then I remember my father, a sweet, kind and very intelligent man became convinced of a Great Conspiracy within the government in the early 1970s. Now I have three well-educated friends, ( PhD engineering, RN, and BS Biology) who all are certain there is a Great Conspiracy. We just avoid speaking of politics now. That crapola seems to make the rounds every so often. I wish someone would research the history of these. It would be edifying.

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Crucial.

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🤣🤣🤣 Thank you. I look at Comer and want to laugh . He must have someone to shave him because looking at his face in the mirror….

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An IQ lower than the room temperature... Or, be a narcissist or a child of a narcissist. Unfortunately there are many who grew up in the shadow of a narcissistic upbringing by parents born around the tail end of the Great Depression.

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And equally as vulnerable.

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Definitely dumber. A bag of rocks at least possesses an air of weighty reserve. A rock is authentically a rock, and makes no effort to mislead.

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It is like the Two Stooges! I think that is what they should be called.

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218 Stooges

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Ask Putin.

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Bringing out the analogies dumber than a sack of hammers or a box of rocks.

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My favorite is “dim bulbs”….😏

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I for some reason prefer “dumb as a brick” for everyday use. Generally, politicians usually require “box of rocks” as a comparison, however, “bag of hammers” is for specific comparisons, such as Jim “OH hates my guts”Jordan, Jimmie “I’d love me some bacon” Comer and Tommy “I only know footballs are brown and round (cause that’s the only shape I know)” Tuberville.

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Stupid? Arrogant fabricators without a shred of integrity. One might refer to them as evil.

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I you think of the most evil person imaginable and them try to think about an ultimate malicious narcissist, I think that both searches will point in the same direction.

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Yes.

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I love Jared Moskowitz, so smart and such a great sense of humor.

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Very quick-witted! When he pulled that stunt with Comer, somebody posted a pic of Jaime Raskin’s big smile. :)

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Love, love, love Moskowitz. He is smart, quick witted and gets the best of Republicans on a daily basis. I saw a video of him wearing the Putin mask last night and it made me smile.

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Yes, yes they are plain stupid. They also seem to enjoy humiliation.

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It’s like they are playing a rigged slot machine, and they keep pulling the lever one more time…

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Great metaphor for Reaganomics. Cut taxes and responsibilities for the rich, just >one< more round....

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yes

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When are more American voters going to hold their own elected legislators accountable for not doing any legislation? Does anyone recall voting to send their party's choice to join an actors' guild to put on exceptionally bad performances? Didn't there used to be a country that had a Constitutional directive "...to promote the general welfare...."? This pathetic exhibition certainly indicates that this is not the Congress of that country.

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That is the essence of the message that President Biden and Vice President Harris have to get across: that many in the Trump base will get a better deal with the Democrats than the Republicans. Trump looks like he is sliding into insanity, if he has not been impaired all along.

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They also need to get across that the Republican party only wants budgets that go against the well being of most Americans and they need to spell out line item by line item how that works. In fact, each line item should get its own ad! How about defunding social security with a discussion of how it is currently funded and the changes Biden wants to make to ensure solvency vs. the gutting and bankrupting that the Republicans want. That should be followed up with some images of how people lived before we had social security, a program developed by Otto von Bismarck in Germany in 1881. Roosevelt introduced it in the USA in 1935. So, in less than 100 years here it is under attack, whereas in Germany almost 150 years later it is enshrined into the expectations of the population. Social security covers more in Germany than it does here, so it is just as vital a program. https://www.iamexpat.de/expat-info/social-security

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This is a very important piece of history for the “socialism” screamers. Report today on the “happiness” scale shows US out of the top 25. No surprise. The middle class has been killed by trickle down and union loss (both of which Biden is trying to reverse), the pandemic has hollowed out our medical care system, and millions no longer understand that age CAN bring wisdom (or what wisdom is, for that matter). Then we have “Speaker” Johnson, threatening all of US with a has-been “president.”

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The discussion of US being out, is that while people 60+ are at #10, our youth have dropped a lot. https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2024/happiness-of-the-younger-the-older-and-those-in-between/

While the Republican party is aiming to make life as difficult as possible for our youth, who are suffering from the covid experiences and the isolation that it brought them, and contrary to the resilience they are supposed to have, they are not having it. They are inheriting a world where the quality of living is going down for them. Huge university debt (thank you Ronald Reagan and the Republican Party), and no prospects for buying a home, and being able to afford children at the same time that the Republican party wants to force children on them by making abortion illegal, and perhaps birth control too. The youth are more diverse and tolerant, and the hostility towards the diversity from the Republican party is oppressive.

Anyway, according to the study, people in the US are at place 23 for average life evaluation. Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden are in the top four spots, just going to prove that living in a warm climate is not what is necessary to be contented. In happiness ranking those under 30 in the US ranked at 62. The top 4 were Lithuania, Israel (before the war), Serbia and Iceland.

For happiness those 60 and above ranked at 10 for happiness in the US. These findings should be driving policy in our country. There is a huge perceived difference in happiness between the young and old in our country.

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Yes. It is more like a happiness report for the semi-geriatric and not the nation. Both parties have been a cartel complicit in screwing over the young and working class in the U. S. Only recently has the Biden administration of the Democratic party started to try to undo what the neoliberal control of their party, which still controls it, have done. Unfortunately "a little genocide" is not OK, despite partisan stooges urging to shut up and back it quietly. Netanyahu can cost the Biden administration a reelection.

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Mar 21·edited Mar 22

I do not put much stock in ranking countries by happiness indices due to their obvious subjectivity. What I do agree with is that my generation and its immediate successor have left a pathetic patrimony to the rising generations.

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Happiness is hard to quantify, but there are clinical criteria for diagnosing depression. I think state of mind can be broadly assessed. My own statistically irrelevant experience with maybe a couple dozen young adults suggests heightened anxiety compared with my own cohort when I was of a similar age. For whatever reason, I think there was more optimism in popular music in the mid 20th Century than today. One strand of impending/potential disaster is climate change. I think that most people given a diagnosis of a life-threatening disease would quickly move their own health up the ladder of priorities, yet a similarly diagnostic assessment of an extremely dangerous threat to the health of everyone ranges from a response that ranges from "This demands immediate action" to "we ought to do something someday", even among those who don't deny it outright. Those likely to leave the living in the nearer term, seem less concerned than those still getting started.

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That same report lists Israel in the top 5 happiest countries. Makes you wonder how we slipped from the top 25 when we are the only nation in the world trying to help their government to govern our citizens. I'll be the first to take that report with a large portion of salt.

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Social Security is enshrined in our population, too. The minority-rulers do not care. The Republicans have a point: the nation is fiscally insolvent. About six or seven years ago, I looked at the national and state debts and looked at the assets. If these data were bundled into corporate financials and I had been at S.&P. or Moody's rating that hypothetical company, I would have graded that entity double-B at best (i.e., junk debt; 'at best' denoting intangible or unquantified national or state assets like parks or art-works in museums); today, it would more likely be single-B at best (really junk debt).

😱

The rub with the G.O.P. is that, for all of its whining about the debt, it has been a material contributor to it. And, no, social security is not the problem. The number of cash out-flow looks 'yooj' but represents savings plus cumulative interest set-aside by tax-payers themselves as well as, often and additionally, by their employers on their behalf. So it is money going out that never belonged to the government. The crunch comes from past mis-use of F.I.C.A. taxes collected, suppressed revenues from tax-cuts and certain 'pet' budgets like that of the D.o.D.

🤔

The Democrats drop the ball, too, by assuming that Americans are unable and unwilling to think through these data and the economics they populate. Americans can understand, though the cognitive under-class (which includes many educated people) will refuse to. Time to cease allowing the cognitive under-class to shape the liberal message and to trust the people and, in truth, the message.

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"The rub with the G.O.P. is that, for all of its whining about the debt, it has been a material contributor to it."

That's an understatement. Like GWB declaring two wars and massive tax cuts (mostly for the rich) simultaneously. That's unprecedented. Republicans installed the graduated income tax to pay for the Civil War.

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I agree that the Democrats need to get the detailed messages out regardless of who is unwilling or unable to understand them. After seeing the film God and Country,

https://watch.eventive.org/godandcountry/play/65e601a2a2d7070041c33efd

which talks about how the White Christian Nationalists have a symbiotic relationship to Trump who behaves very much like their church leaders in preaching charismatic lies, I got an understanding of how they are surrounded by misinformation. I also think that our youth is not only righteously upset about their world, but is also going to be victim to Russian bots, who make them even more alienated and disengaged, as the Happiness survey suggests. The details you mention are ones I consider important to include in any discussion of social security and medicare. How is it funded? how does that work? Who is not paying their fair share? What laws and other mechanisms allow them to avoid paying into it? Clinton would have town halls where he would get his boards out and simply explain things to the people. It seemed to be very effective. Here he is 3 weeks into office. https://youtu.be/1lx59aK6B4c?si=Z1ftVa10XzR-unz7

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Thank you, Linda, for taking the time to give me a well thought out answer. For some reason, I can not open the first link. Given Trump's 'substance' (i.e., girth), I would think Xians would say one can not serve both G-D and Mammoth. 😉

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Hi Ned, I am sorry the link did not work. I am reposting it, but this opens for me and it is the only one I have. https://watch.eventive.org/godandcountry/play/65e601a2a2d7070041c33efd

Here is the youtube link to the trailer. https://youtu.be/cTQKmR6a9fw?si=2QhFfTTjKFel9z0x

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There was an article in the WaPo yesterday providing the history of Trump's father and his decline into dementia. Apparently, Trump was put off by and terrified of his fathers decline for years.

My observation has been that men who have dementia and Alzheimer's disease tend to react more often with anger than do women.

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At what age did Trump's father begin his slide into senility?

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Not sure when it began but here is an interesting article that might inform Trumps behavior. After all, he is if nothing else, a projectionist.

https://wapo.st/4ajCUvR

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This sounds like Trump.

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What was, is. I have wondered since I was young why anyone who works hard for their living would ever vote for a Republican presidential candidate. But the Southern Strategy and the evangelical-conservative partnership worked, and sadly, here we are. We MUST rid ourselves of Trump and his followers in Congress. The last seven years have been a nightmare for our republic.

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Speaking as an erstwhile Republican and an Eisenhower-Ford conservative, I would like to see American conservatism return to its mid-twentieth century moderation. Back then, the liberals would initiate social programs or reforms and the conservatives would follow by making those changes fiscally sustainable. In those cases where liberal policies has clearly failed or repudiated by the majority of Americans, the conservatives might abolish them.

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President Eisenhower was a good man.

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I agree. However, Biden and Harris have to be blunt with the people and tell them , do you want a leader who believes in Freedom and Democracy for the people? Or do you want a dictator leading this country , striping all of your rights, and your freedom, your benefits, from Medicare, Medicaid, and Society Security?

Not to mention having the national gard in every damn state monitoring every damn move that you make. The media and free press would be completely gone. We would be a 3rd world country like Russia.

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Normally, this would be a year, like 2016, in which I would consider a third-party vote. Not this time in view of what Trump will do.

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Great! We need every vote for Biden. This election is critical. Just the thought of our Democracy that could perish should be enough to motivate people to vote and save it.

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111% in agreement, Patricia; thank you for the morale-booster-shot!

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The people these obstructionists represent, like their Confederate predecessors, hate the federal government because at its best it provides progress and cracks down on corruption and injustice. They WANT obstruction, and they call it states' rights.

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They use diversionary tactics to try to camouflage what their objectives really are! Hopefully, we’re beginning to see through the facade! Your point is well taken!

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With an oil-owned legislator here in northern Michigan (Enbridge Line 5 territory) it is impossible to hold him accountable and, so far, too expensive to oust him. We have 2 excellent Democratic candidates, Dr. Bob Lorinser and attorney Callie Barr. Both could use support!

https://www.votedrbob.com/allaboutbob

https://callieforcongress.com/

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I just sent donations to both campaigns because you made me aware of it. Keep up the good work MaryPat Sercu-MI

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THANK YOU, MLRGRMI!!

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Gave $$ to both. MaryPat, I am so impressed with Callie Barr!

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Thank You!!! She is impressive!

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MaryPat. Add my worthless Congressman Reppy J to the list

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But Ed, the House has passed 27 bills that made it into law in 2023. Where would we be without the National Duck Stamp Modernization Act? The movie Fargo wouldn't have been near as funny without the bits about the award. /S

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/19/us/politics/bills-laws-2023-house-congress.html

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More American voters going to hold their own elected legislators accountable on Nov 5.

That's whats maddening. U.S. voters are powerless for TWO YEARS until the next election.

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