Aaron Salter Jr. should be awarded posthumously the Congressional Medal of Honor for Conspicuous Gallantry and bravery for defending citizens who came under assault rifle terrorist attack in Buffalo, NY. The 55 year old retired policeman and security guard who was not wearing body armor, outgunned and knew it, armed only with his service pistol, and alone in defense, engaged the Buffalo shooter who did have body armor, an assault rifle with multiple high capacity magazines, and other weapons. Officer Salter left safety of cover to engage and shoot the suspect multiple times in an attempt to shield innocent shoppers at deadly risk to himself. Officer Salter’s actions of selfless courage and bravery saved lives and bought time for some to escape until more help could arrive. Alone, Aaron’s quick action, made in the heat of battle, without regard for his own safety, cost him his life, a willing and costly sacrifice to the people of Buffalo, New York, United States of America.
Defending a country means you defend its citizens, the people, and that’s exactly what Arron Salter Jr did this past weekend. President Biden should present him posthumously with the highest military honor for bravery on behalf of our country.
I wrote that because I thought that while we aren’t at war with any of our fellow citizens or groups, they are at war with us. White Supremist declared war a long long time ago. They are waging an insurgency with guerrilla tactics, taught by the Turner Diaries: Independent cells and/or loner ambush attacks upon soft targets: our schools, markets, concerts, nightlife clubs or districts. We don’t know when or where their next strike will be, but it will be perpetrated on the weaker, the very young, the vulnerable, places where our families shop, learn, worship, or just gather to relax and have fun.
Perhaps we can teach the press and our leaders on how to start framing racial violence the correct way. This is a domestic war whether we choose to acknowledge it or not. It is being waged upon us. It is time to become highly organized and focused. The time has come for us to wage our peaceful counter attack, unholster the collective common sense.
"This is a domestic war whether we choose to acknowledge it or not."
Yes, but the smart members of the other side are not committing violence so that they go to jail.
Instead, they incite violence with words from places that, apparently, are immune from legal prosecution in this country. Apparently, it is simply not possible to bring charges of sedition anymore (although it once was).
Good news though!! Schumer wrote a letter to Rupert to beg that Tucker stop fomenting death and destruction and be a good boy.
I wonder how much laughter that will cause in the halls of Murdoch's kingdom?
The Murdochs may chuckle. They can afford to laugh off any criticism. Perhaps Schumer's (and lot's of other prominent people, please) next letter should be to the advertisers on Fox and specifically on the shows like Carlson's and Hannity's. It is always about the money.
Advertising means a lot less to them than the huge fees they reap from being on every cable service in the country. Congress should pass legislation requiring cable services to offer menus to subscribers from which they can choose what channels they want available. Let's find out how many people actually want their dreck.
Congress should also pass some legislation that prevents the internet monopolies from squeezing Americans - talk about inflation!
We have two choices: Comcast and Verizon. But Verizon doesn't offer true high speed internet in our neighborhood. So...we are stuck with one of the most unpopular companies in America. Why? Just try to buy only internet service. They black mail us into packages involving TV and phone we don't want.
BTW, this is not just a "rural problem". I could walk to Boston if I needed to.
Carol and Jim, yes, yes, YES!!!! Best idea ever. This had been recommended individually, but if this is brought before Congress, EVEN IF IT DOESN'T PASS, it can get the press coverage to really start a movement. The one problem is unbundling the Fox Sports channel from the rest of it. (Not for me, but many. Not insurmountable, though. )
For what it's worth, I disconnected cable and I'm entirely on streaming with an Apple + device. I can't say often enough how satisfied I am and I have a bit more $ in my pocket. (If I don't subscribe to several streaming sites at once.) I got disgusted with the tripe on cable and their ever-increasing fees.
True that, but hitting the advertisers is a good place to start. Not so much for fiscal reasons, but for the optics. Other media sources might pick up a boycott story .
Rupert loves power, he told a reporter in the UK that he wanted Tony Blair to answer the phone when he called; you are 109% right. Money = power. It always has.
Just cancel cable. It is not a need, but a want. We use an antenna instead ($60 one time purchase) and I recognize also being fortunate to be able to stream movies or sports. Some areas don’t yet have that option. But for this group here, if enough in a community stopped being held hostage by their cable company, it might make them sit up and take notice. Naïve, I know. ;) There have been boycotts recently but then it drops off the radar and the companies go back to donating $$ to lobby to protect against having to cough up their fair share of taxes. Think Toyota. Under a fascist leader they would probably have to cough up profits to him/her instead of shareholders. That might make them wince.
I was just thinking that it a great idea to target the advertisers and thought perhaps we could all start creating a list - that is until I realized In would have to watch the show. A perfect dilemma. But I think your idea is sound. I have never started a petition but that might be an idea too. So I will start tonight first to see if I can find out on line who the advertisers are, or god forbid I will watch the show.
I am glad that Schumer called the “journalist” Rupert by name. It’s a first. He thinks owning the WSJ gives him cover for Fox’s treasonous rhetoric. Of course journalists are protected in myriad ways as our “Free press” has been corrupted beyond recognition by Murdoch. This despite Fox being legally described as entertainment. Reagan gave him license to take down our “Walter style” communication and “entertain” us all the way to chump. Waiting for the day when Rupert Murdoch’s name is synonymous with Goebbels. Of course, Goebbels didn’t have that entertainment aspect.
Many Germans believed, and many German Jews also believed that once Hitler got to power, fulfilling his goal, he would mellow out & lead Germany like a normal politician. They just couldn't' believe that their country would produce someone could perpetrate such evil things. Maybe we should use terms like grooming for what is really going on. That Republican's are grooming their base for Authoritarianism. And as they 'obey in advance', the base teaches the leadership how much power over them they really have. It is extraordinary to observe this phenomenon today.
We need a repeal of the Section 230 exception that protects social media from the propagation of hateful content and enforce the liability of Fox news and tucker carlson to prosecution for their disinformation and fostering these attacks.
I think we’ll all be hearing the reverberations of their laughter. Yesterday I shared a glass of wine with a neighbor and upon saying goodnight I noticed her partner was glued to Fox. Domestic warfare is so much trickier than the kind of wars we’re familiar with.
I have a good friend whose husband watches Fox, to her horror. When she suggested he watch something else, he decided to flip between 3 channels MSNBC, CNN and Fox. He reported that MSNBC and CNN talked about racists and old, white supremacists and Fox supported old white men-- which, evidently, felt comfortable to him.
TC's is an excellent and important essay to read. He makes the clear connection between the extreme media and internet sites to the so-called "lone wolf" assassins. I've posted it to my FB feed.
I heard President Biden speaking about the shooting victims as I was headed to the grocery store. The ordinary places where people go as part of everyday life (the grocery store, for gosh sakes) feel dangerous now. Does anyone ever wonder when you go to do a normal errand that you might not come home?
I believe this is how a lot of teachers and kids feel but do not speak about it. Subconsciously what is the effect on having "active shooter drills", like how if you are over 50, we had fire drills, Tornado drills, Nuclear War Fall out drills. This vulnerability has to be traumatic for our kids, at school. How can one learn to their potential while being traumatized by school shootings over and over again? This trauma has to affect an individuals ability to learn to potential. This is weakening our country. It is unacceptable.
Ally, just a little primary election update. It looks like Salinas has prevailed in CD six on the D side while after spending tons of crypto money, flannel shirt Carrick Flynn has not won. Kurt Schrader is behind, but ballots are not counted yet in Clackistan because of a printing error. It looks like three women vying for governor.
"The culture of fear" has been manufactured as a political weapon to cement power.
In Maslow's hierarchy of needs physiological needs (food and shelter) are the foundation, then security. When you control these lower level subconscious needs: economic suppression and by allowing for and encouraging fear by growing gun violence you are maintaining a baseline of psychological insecurity, you inhibit higher order decision making and thinking. In this way, power over voting is secured as people are manipulated by fear to not participate. " I cant worry about politics and voting, i have to work two or three jobs to make ends to put food on the table, make rent, and pay bills, keep my kids safe." Psychologically exhausted the poor and many in the middle class do not have time for politics. Then add fear with racism and gun violence. Its unbearable to the subconscious mind. Retreat into daily life is the only option. This is how oppression operates in American Society. It doesn't have to be this way.
I studied Maslow’s theory and you are so right on tying it to what is happening now. Just take the baby formula crisis!! We are oppressed, yes. We have the right to protest but we fear we may shot or maimed. What we didn’t have before was a means of communication directly to the powers that be, like Chump, Congress, corporations. These can/have work(ed) to our advantage. We have to be louder and more demanding so we can be the tired and poor messengers, on their behalf.
You read my mind, and expressed coherently what I have not been able to. I have been thinking that the war has started and we don’t want to admit it. You articulate the problems and some solutions beautifully and I salute you.
I have thought this has already begun for a long time. I am sure our neighborhood is bristling with guns with many owners who would love to plug libs and people of a different hue or ethnic group.. I would feel better if I thought the local constabulary were likely to do something about people like this, but too often they seem to aid and abet. What really angers me is all the hand wringing and thoughts and prayers when the obvious solution is much stricter gun laws. Yes, I know, dream on.
Ted, I agree with what you said in awarding Aaron Salter the Congressional Medal of Honor and do it on July 4. It is time that prominent people in politics and journalism call out Murdoch, Carlson, Hannity, prominent members of the Republican party, and others for the part they play in these acts. Senator Schumer's letter should be posted in all the major Sunday newspapers. The Democratic party should purchase Super Bowl type ads during the NBA and NHL playoffs, major PGA golf tournaments, and televised NASCAR races that calls out the big three and their part in promoting white supremacy. Continue the assault during the NFL season and MLB playoffs and World Series. Buy ad space at the major sporting venues and pass the message on. DO NOT RELENT until Fox News acknowledges their role in stoking the flames. Corporations need to pull their advertising from Fox the way McDonald's closed the doors in Russia. They say money talks.
Thanks Arthur, I think this speech by Robert Kennedy helped reframe racial and institutional violence in his times, although I am not certain, I thnk our leaders need to try some new pressures.
I believe we do need to frame it as a war. Another symbol is what that shooter wore, military fatigues and boots, he dressed as a soldier would, and he was indoctrinated to see others not like him, as enemies, as aliens as if he attended an online virtual "boot camp".
"We learn, at the last, to look at our brothers as aliens, men with whom we share a city, but not a community, men bound to us in common dwelling, but not in common effort. We learn to share only a common fear - only a common desire to retreat from each other - only a common impulse to meet disagreement with force. ...For there is another kind of violence, slower but just as deadly, destructive as the shot or the bomb in the night. This is the violence of institutions; indifference and inaction and slow decay. This is the violence that afflicts the poor, that poisons relations between men because their skin has different colors. This is a slow destruction of a child by hunger, and schools without books and homes without heat in the winter."
We need to demand from our leaders that they are correct to designate Fox News as neo institution of hate, and that FOX's purposeful sewing of distrust from knowing disinformation leads not to just disagreements but racially motivated violence that threatens our national security. This how to "destabilize democracies". Perhaps sanctions on Murdoch and FOX are what is required from our leaders today. For just as Putin did not stop at Chechnya, Georgia or Ukraine, Murdoch will not stop until we force him to. And that is what needs to happen.
Perfectly written, Ted. Your words need to be incorporated into the quote. It's time to call it like we all see it, and mean it! And it needs to be sent not only to Fox, but to OANN and all other purveyors of destruction of our democracy.
Ted, you're absolutely correct in both of your comments. Even Christopher Wray articulated that these groups and their rhetoric are the most worrisome threats to our country. Their "soldiers" are the gullible, troubled, and they're armed to the teeth with military weapons, and the radical Republican lawmakers seem to approve.
I had to read about The Turner Diaries. Shocking stuff, depressing as all get out. Reminds me of how angry I was that Charlottesville's "Unite the Right" was so badly handled by local and federal authorities. I cant bring myself to say what I want to call it. It certainly popped a cork, just as this fetid trash book appears to have done. Hate to admit it but it leaves me fantasizing about a book burning. Surely, herein, the greatest danger in these times is precisely this: fighting fire with fire turns us into "them"(?), which would certainly be their greatest victory, now, wouldn't it? On one hand....then the other...ad infinitum!
"Violence begets violence, repression only breeds retaliation"-RFK
Bring the War Home by Kathleen Belew is a really good compliment to the 1619 Project. Both books complement one another. 1619 tells us the history and experiences of black people, while Below explains the history and viewpoint from white supremist. Belew's book explains the militarization of WS, as special forces Vietnam vets ( shared their counter insurgency war strategies and tactics) post Vietnam to both WS and the anti government crazies, Christian Evangelicals, Anti Abortion Militants. These groups have melded together into the neo white national supremist movement, and they know how to recruit new members using online recruitment ( a lot like Al Qaeda did throughout the Middle East). Now, this super neo insurgent group looks to Putin as their natural world leader on race, christian fascism, and violence as means to their ends. They have become hardened, more collective, better organized, more inspired, since 2016 when Putin's IRA went hog wild on the internet to connect these groups as one. Some crazy stuff is going down in our country and we should pay attention to it.
This from our county democratic committee this morning- a riveting, comprehensive accounting by David Rothkopf on Twitter of the cancer in our society: "The author, columnist and podcaster David Rothkopf has done a brilliant job of connecting the dots in this matter, offering a stunning revelation of the cancer we have all seen metastasizing for years". @drothkopfMay 15
Okay...here's his tweet...I tried to copy and paste it into some kind of form, keeping in mind these are a series of short tweets of limited number of characters. It doesn't follow grammar rules (grammarians, avert your eyes), but he makes his points.
Common Sense for the 21st Century
It's the guns, but it's not just the guns. It's the racism, but it's not just the racism. It's the misogyny, but it's not just the misogyny. It's the attacks on democracy but it's not just the attacks on democracy. It's the assault on the truth, on teaching history and science, but it's not just the assault on the truth and facts and reality and banning books. It's the corruption but it's not just the corruption and the cover-ups and the obstruction of justice and the gaming of our courts.
What happened in Buffalo is not just about some isolated shooter, some deranged sociopath. He was fueled by an ideology of hate promoted by an American president, by a leading American news channel, by an entire US political party. His brutality was enabled by decades of massive spending, some of it from enemies like Russia, to not just promote guns in the US but to twist & pervert the interpretation of the Second Amendment to turn America into one of the world's most dangerous, self-destructive societies. He was part of the very same movement that has political candidates blocking access to the press, offering up the same right wing catechism of hate, seeking to block access of people of color to the polls, seeking to deny gay Americans the right to love whom they want.
From Murdoch to Trump to McConnell to Alito flows the ideology of the superiority of whites...but not just of whites but of white males...and not just of white males but of white Evangelical Christian males. But their mantras and slogans of racial, cultural superiority are accompanied by other doctrines promoting fear of minorities, of white replacement theory gleefully promoted by Tucker Carlson & other despicable lunatics, of racist myths about brown babies in need of formula or caravans of "the other" assaulting our southern borders. They are not just systematically trying to deny power and basic human rights from control of their own body to the ability to cast a vote to determine the future of the nation in which they live to those with whom they disagree, they are working daily to drown out other views. They preach "free speech" as a cover for seeking discourse on the web that can promote snake oil and race war & that can destroy the reputations of their enemies even as they seek to quash elements of history, realities of scientific truth, that don't fit their warped worldview.
Compounding their hypocrisy is that the people for whom they assert they are fighting are just dupes, pawns they use to maintain power so the leaders of the movement and its funders can profit, can rig our system to promote inequality and to enhance already obscene riches. They promote conspiracy theories to distract from the fact that so much of what they do that seems isolated is actually connected, is all part of a plan, is all part of one, coherent, thought out, decades old right wing agenda.
The Buffalo shooting and political candidates selling hate, the SCOTUS decision on abortion and our insane gun laws, our national gun pathology (that the court will only make worse) and banned books in elementary schools and Texan abuse of COVID funds and DeSantis throwing reporters out of public meetings and Hawley giving the thumbs up to insurrectionists and Barr blocking prosecution of Trump for obstruction of justice and Ivanka and Jared making millions while in office and groveling to the Russians and blackmailing Ukraine and both impeachments and Congressional Xmas cards featuring kids with assault weapons and threats to hang the Vice President of the United States and the Tree of Life shooting and the babies in cages at the border and tax cuts for billionaires and Elon Musk's reasons for wanting to take over Twitter and the wink and the nod to the murder of Khashoggi and failing to help Puerto Rico after a hurricane or California after devastating fires and lying about COVID and promoting horse medicines for people and bleach into your veins and the pillow salesman and the crazies on the right in Congress and 63 Republicans voting not to support Ukraine and Rand Paul blocking aid to that country and Citizens United & Shelby County & the packing of the court and Ginni Thomas helping to promote the Big Lie and the coup and attacking the Squad and "lock her up" and calling people "pedos" and all of it...all of it...is the work of one movement, one that is destroying the US.
The funders are the same, the leaders are the same, the media mouthpieces are the same, the actions compound the effect of other actions, the grassroots supporters are the same and the consequences for each of us, for our society, for our democracy are equally dire. To defeat them takes seeing the scope of what is happening for what it is...seeing their intents are to compound the past with further abuses, attacks on our rights, institutionalization of their minority view, suppression of the will of the majority of us. It will require us to be as systematic as they are and as thorough. It requires not just winning races but undoing the damage they have done, restoring core principles to the operations of our government and of our society, ideas like equal justice under the law and decency, tolerance and one person one vote, defending the truth and common sense, honesty and the willingness to fight within the parameters of the law to defend what we value. We must do all that. It won't be easy. The outcome is not guaranteed. The risks are immense. But it all begins with seeing the big picture, recognizing the links, identifying the origins of this tragic chapter in our history.
Yes, it won't be easy, and will "require us to be as systematic as they are and as thorough...it all begins with seeing the big picture." We must all put our emotion and outrage into seeing this through and doing our best to right the centuries of damage, or we will have to spend eternity with those who have created the carnage. Thank you, Bruce.
Just copied and pasted and shared, with reference to Thomas Paine! David Rothkopf needs to put this into a "pamphlet" and start The 2nd American Revolution !!
It's the guns, but it's not just the guns. It's the racism, but it's not just the racism. It's the misogyny, but it's not just the misogyny. It's the attacks on democracy but it's not just the attacks on democracy.
It's the assault on the truth, on teaching history and science, but it's not just the assault on the truth and facts and reality and banning books. It's the corruption but it's not just the corruption and the cover-ups and the obstruction of justice and the gaming of our courts.
What happened in Buffalo is not just about some isolated shooter, some deranged sociopath. He was fueled by an ideology of hate promoted by an American president, by a leading American news channel, by an entire US political party.
His brutality was enabled by decades of massive spending, some of it from enemies like Russia, to not just promote guns in the US but to twist & pervert the interpretation of the Second Amendment to turn America into one of the world's most dangerous, self-destructive societies.
He was part of the very same movement that has political candidates blocking access to the press, offering up the same right wing catechism of hate, seeking to block access of people of color to the polls, seeking to deny gay Americans the right to love whom they want.
From Murdoch to Trump to McConnell to Alito flows the ideology of the superiority of whites...but not just of whites but of white males...and not just of white males but of white Evangelical Christian males. But their mantras and slogans of racial, cultural superiority...
...are accompanied by other doctrines promoting fear of minorities, of white replacement theory gleefully promoted by Tucker Carlson & other despicable lunatics, of racist myths about brown babies in need of formula or caravans of "the other" assaulting our southern borders.
They are not just systematically trying to deny power and basic human rights from control of their own body to the ability to cast a vote to determine the future of the nation in which they live to those with whom they disagree, they are working daily to drown out other views.
They preach "free speech" as a cover for seeking discourse on the web that can promote snake oil and race war & that can destroy the reputations of their enemies even as they seek to quash elements of history, realities of scientific truth, that don't fit their warped worldview.
Compounding their hypocrisy is that the people for whom they assert they are fighting are just dupes, pawns they use to maintain power so the leaders of the movement and its funders can profit, can rig our system to promote inequality and to enhance already obscene riches.
They promote conspiracy theories to distract from the fact that so much of what they do that seems isolated is actually connected, is all part of a plan, is all part of one, coherent, thought out, decades old right wing agenda.
The Buffalo shooting and political candidates selling hate, the SCOTUS decision on abortion and our insane gun laws, our national gun pathology (that the court will only make worse) and banned books in elementary schools and Texan abuse of COVID funds and...
DeSantis throwing reporters out of public meetings and Hawley giving the thumbs up to insurrectionists and Barr blocking prosecution of Trump for obstruction of justice and Ivanka and Jared making millions while in office and groveling to the Russians and...
...blackmailing Ukraine and both impeachments and Congressional Xmas cards featuring kids with assault weapons and threats to hang the Vice President of the United States and the Tree of Life shooting and the babies in cages at the border and...
...tax cuts for billionaires and Elon Musk's reasons for wanting to take over Twitter and the wink and the nod to the murder of Khashoggi and failing to help Puerto Rico after a hurricane or California after devastating fires and...
lying about COVID and promoting horse medicines for people and bleach into your veins and the pillow salesman and the crazies on the right in Congress and 63 Republicans voting not to support Ukraine and Rand Paul blocking aid to that country and...
...Citizens United & Shelby County & the packing of the court and Ginni Thomas helping to promote the Big Lie and the coup and attacking the Squad and "lock her up" and calling people "pedos" and all of it...all of it...is the work of one movement, one that is destroying the US.
The funders are the same, the leaders are the same, the media mouthpieces are the same, the actions compound the effect of other actions, the grassroots supporters are the same and the consequences for each of us, for our society, for our democracy are equally dire.
To defeat them takes seeing the scope of what is happening for what it is...seeing their intents are to compound the past with further abuses, attacks on our rights, institutionalization of their minority view, suppression of the will of the majority of us.
It will require us to be as systematic as they are and as thorough. It requires not just winning races but undoing the damage they have done, restoring core principles to the operations of our government and of our society, ideas like equal justice under the law and decency,
tolerance and one person one vote, defending the truth and common sense, honesty and the willingness to fight within the parameters of the law to defend what we value. We must do all that. It won't be easy. The outcome is not guaranteed. The risks are immense.
But it all begins with seeing the big picture, recognizing the links, identifying the origins of this tragic chapter in our history.
Jeff, I'm not on Twitter either. The link was in an email and when I cut and pasted it to this column it was no longer live. Also tried copying the whole Twitter thread to paste here but didn't work. Anyone on Twitter able to post the live link?
See Michael Bales, above. His link worked for me although I'm not on Twitter. He cut and pasted the entire thread making it far easier to read than in the Twitter segments. I see Bruce Sellers has also copied the tweets into a more readable format.
Sorry. I'd like to say I'da shot that POS/SOB dead in the head...BLAM... game over! But, I wasn't standing in Mr. Aaron Salter Jr.'s shoes. He probably never thought he'd come face to face with such a lunatic.., in that grocery store. When he did, his training taught him to aim so as not to miss, therefore disabling the shooter. Unfortunately, these days, pinheads all have body armor. Blowing the shooters head off is probably what most of us would've likened to do. However.., missing that moving target would not have ended well for you & me. I only hope we didn't lose this American in vain.
That’s what I thought as well, a head shot would have ended it but it was a much smaller target if your hands are shaking and the bastard was chopping up people all around you, God Bless him, he tried.
I have often thought that when I hear the cry of the gun lobby folks, that everyone armed would stop these things from happening. I always think--and when the police comes in, how will they know who is the bad guy shooting and who is the "good" guy shooting?
I believe that already happened at one of the school shootings, where the good guy got shot by police. A black man, of course. Don't remember the details. Maybe someone can refresh.
We are at war with an enemy from within—“a wolf in sheep’s clothing”, so the award would be appropriate and would send the message of a war of ideology against national security.
Ted, My thoughts like yours and many others of us looking for the roots of White Supremacy have found them right here in the USA, although there are other sources as well.
Today’s Letter began and ended with the ideology of White Supremacy, which may end Democracy in the United States of America. In the middle of the Letter, HCR notes that employing the Rule Of Law may finally deliver justice to traitors of our country. My comment concerns White Supremacy.
Buffalo resident, James Baldwin, to my mind, expressed the truest thought about the massacre of human beings in Buffalo, N.Y. He dismissed the notion that it was the devil who inspired the Buffalo shooter,
“That’s not the devil,” he said. “That’s America. They made him, they brought him up, they put him there.” (The Letter)
‘… in the wake of the Buffalo shooting, Miles Taylor—a member of Trump’s administration who warned anonymously of how dangerous Trump was—announced he was leaving the Republican Party and called on others to do the same. “In the wake of the mass shooting in Buffalo on Saturday,” he wrote, “it’s become glaringly obvious that my party no longer represents conservative values but in fact poses a threat to them—and to America.” (The Letter)
Elise Stefanik says mourn, don’t politicize. Does her party regret politicizing Covid public health measures? Do they mourn the unnecessary deaths that caused? So far no, and, no.
I am glad Biden named each Buffalo shooting victim and told something about each one. White Americans need to see Black Americans just being ordinary grocery-buying people. Black Americans are regular Americans. By the way, they are Legacy Americans, too, Tucker Carlson. They go way back, some as far back as 1619.
Elise Stefanik is the worst kind of opportunist. She obviously has no moral compass and no core beliefs past "Gimme mine," and she will literally do anything to attain her goal.
The South Park writer, Toby Morton, snagged himself a website domain called https://www.elisestefanik2022.com and has been mocking her ever since. He even includes links to other "GOP Sycophant Websites." I'm normally a turn the other cheek kinda gal...Well not these days.
No member of the GOP has a moral compass. No, not Liz Cheney, and no, not even John McCain. They still vote for the deeply heartless policies of the party. If they had a moral compass, they would leave the party altogether.
Holly you have hit the nail right on the head. Although, many are "nice folks" by most definitions, and I believe have just not connected the dots. Call it willful ignorance. But to me that is no excuse. The Republican platform is not based on reality, and has no ability to respond to change and progress. Furthermore, it doesn't appear to support real democracy - although it won't be said outwardly, it covertly thinks only some people are meant to vote for their government. And they are willing to subvert the process to better assure only those people vote. Under the cover of voter fraud. And most importantly to me - a political party that rejects the notion of climate change and/or a policy to do something about it. That to me is pure evil. It speaks worlds about their priorities, their morals.
Unfortunately, Mike, that's exactly right. She's no different than many "normal" folks who have hate in their hearts which puts money in their pockets.
Isn't it interesting that Harvard does not teach empathy/compassion. Several of those "Harvard grads" don't "know" (Cruz, Hawley etc)any better either.
Harvard is a leadership school. Beware of charismatic people with an infatuation studying leadership.
Charisma can be confused with leadership, in that confusion, the narcist tumor can fester and become malignant. "People with inflated egos are drawn to theories that glorify leader dominance and charisma. (Adam Grant).
Great leaders view their roles as an act of service, not an avenue for authority and attention." (The Narcissistic Appeal of Leadership Theories." Steffens & Haslam)
TC Elise Stefanik emerged from obscurity only a few years ago and then scurried up the Trump ladder of sycophants to now be in the Valhalla of Trump, Cruz, Hawley, DeSantis, and other big chunks that have floated to the top.
McCarthy and Stefanik are at the top of the Republican Congressmen/women. Are you ready for an encore of the Clinton Benghazi hearing and excruciating examination of Hunter Biden’s lap top?
the national party has an ironclad grip on its members. you can't make dog catcher without falling in line. on the other side of the aisle - 'i am not a member of any organized party; i'm a democrat.' will rogers.
Desperado I don’t consider MAGA ‘Republicans’ as part of a national party.Like food poisoning, it will be a painful experience under Trumpites take their lumps. Hopefully, the June open sessions of the House 1/6 committee and DOJ indictments will shake Jabba the Hutt’s hold over a disparate segment of the American public. Yuck McConnell is already singing a different turn as he endeavors to sleaze back into Senate Majority Leader.
My immediate focus is on the Senate in November. That would assure a fair process, would another Stench Court opening to arise. By 2024 our country should be flourishing and the naysayer MAGAs, like McCarthyites during the 1950s, will ooze off—some founded the John Birch Society which was the MAGA of its day.
Elise Stefanik is a far right radical with clearly racist overtones to her words.
She is from New York and represents New Yorkers who voted for her.
She is not from Louisiana, or Alabama or Texas or Florida or Georgia.
She is just from America. I definitely am struggling today, more than most days.
More than 400 years after the first white person brought the first black person here as a slave (1619), America is still sponsoring terror on blacks and pretending that is just fine.
The last time she was elected (2020) was before she had the opportunity to sell out and move on up. Her last voters didn't know this about her. If her district is at all "competitive," her eagerness to become a Professional Sell-Out may bite her.
As an upstate NY resident from a district near Stefanik's, I'm not. Don't get me wrong, I know many people in her district who she clearly does NOT represent, people who have voted against her every time. But there are also many right-wingers who support Stefanik and the "big lie."
The lies are getting more and more brazen. These people will say anything do keep their party in power. They are the ones with the guns. Nothing scarier than an angry white male with a gun. And Stefanik knows that well.
Bam, Carol. Thank you. Let us not bury that year, Republicans…1619. Better polish up on some real history, Elise Stefanik. Not “politicizing” it is about the stupidest blah blah comeback she could have come up with. The willful ignorance plays so well for her. Not.
Another stupid comeback as reported by our local independent newspaper: "Stefanik denies supporting the great replacement theory, according to Alex deGrasse, a senior adviser to the congresswoman. In response to The Daily Gazette’s request for a phone interview with Stefanik, DeGrasse sent a prewritten statement calling members of the press 'groveling hacks.'” What is he, 3 years old, calling people names?!?
" Black Americans are regular Americans. By the way, they are Legacy Americans, too, Tucker Carlson. They go way back, some as far back as 1619." Amen, Carol.
The Republican house of cards is on fire. Silence ads fuel to the fire. The fire can destroy our democracy and bring fascism to rule instead. DOJ is moving to investigate and indict. January 6 is heading to court. Trump is being investigated for criminal intent Re January 6. No man is above the law. Let us pray.
“In the wake of the mass shooting in Buffalo on Saturday,” he wrote, “it’s become glaringly obvious that my party no longer represents conservative values but in fact poses a threat to them—and to America.”
Duuhhh... what was your first clue?
Richard Hofstadter figured out these traitors 68 years ago:
"It can most accurately be called pseudo-conservative — I borrow the term from the study of The Authoritarian Personality published five years ago by Theodore W. Adorno and his associates — because its exponents, although they believe themselves to be conservatives and usually employ the rhetoric of conservatism, show signs of a serious and restless dissatisfaction with American life, traditions and institutions. They have little in common with the temperate and compromising spirit of true conservatism in the classical sense of the word, and they are far from pleased with the dominant practical conservatism of the moment as it is represented by the Eisenhower Administration. Their political reactions express rather a profound if largely unconscious hatred of our society and its ways — a hatred which one would hesitate to impute to them if one did not have suggestive clinical evidence.
"From clinical interviews and thematic apperception tests, Adorno and his co-workers found that their pseudo-conservative subjects, although given to a form of political expression that combines a curious mixture of largely conservative with occasional radical notions, succeed in concealing from themselves impulsive tendencies that, if released in action, would be very far from conservative. The pseudo-conservative, Adorno writes, shows “conventionality and authoritarian submissiveness” in his conscious thinking and “violence, anarchic impulses, and chaotic destructiveness in the unconscious sphere. . . . The pseudo conservative is a man who, in the name of upholding traditional American values and institutions and defending them against more or less fictitious dangers, consciously or unconsciously aims at their abolition.”
"The pseudo conservative is a man who, in the name of upholding traditional American values and institutions and defending them against more or less fictitious dangers, consciously or unconsciously aims at their abolition"
Great post TC. Absolutely great.
In the above sentence I choose the word "conscious". I think they know what they are doing and are aware that they are not main stream BUT they think they are so "right" that it matters not.
Damn, every republican candidate should have pseudo-conservative on their signs. Can’t wait for the day when “conservative” reeks for all like it does for me. Thank you.
TC, after reading your comment, I thought that you made Miles Taylor a strawman. He had worked in the Trump administration in the Department of Homeland Security from 2017 to 2019.
Quoting HCR, you wrote, “In the wake of the mass shooting in Buffalo on Saturday,” he (Miles Taylor) wrote, “it’s become glaringly obvious that my party no longer represents conservative values but in fact poses a threat to them—and to America.”
‘Duuhhh... what was your first clue?’, whereupon, TC, you provided a useful description of ‘…pseudo-conservative — I borrow the term from the study of The Authoritarian Personality published five years ago by Theodore W. Adorno and his associates — ‘
Did Taylor warrant your ‘Duuhh…’ or to be even remotely connected by association with those ‘pseudo-conservative’ threats to American democracy that you described?
Here’s why I think Miles Taylor deserves better: after being appointed deputy chief of staff of DHS, in September, 2018, Taylor wrote the The New York Times op-ed "I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration" under the pen-name "Anonymous". In September 2019, he left the administration. In November 2019, he published the book 'A Warning’, again under the pen name "Anonymous". In October 2020, he revealed himself to be "Anonymous" while campaigning against Trump's reelection. Taylor produced an ad for Republican Voters Against Trump, denouncing Trump and endorsing Joe Biden in the 2020. (Wiki) There is additional information about Taylor leaving the fold – but enough is enough.
America needs many more Republicans to follow in the footsteps of Miles Taylor.
Thanks, TC. I hope this gets the attention it deserves. The January 6 crowd could not have been described better. They love their fictitious dangers. Real ones like global warming they dismiss.
Just WOW! This was one day packed with revelations and truths. However, it only hit hard on those of us fighting to save our sacred democracy.
Biden’s words were potent and powerful. Once again, they were only heard by us. It was, in fact, another case of preaching to the choir.
It’s time to take action! Schumer’s letter to Rupert & Friends will fall on deaf and more than likely racist ears. It’s up to us to contact the advertisers of Tucker’s show and let them know we will boycott whatever they are hawking. It worked with Bill Riley. It will work again. When their bankrolls are threatened they react. Just look back on how effective the Lincoln Project was with Toyota.
When will there be an advertising boycott of Fox News? Money is the only thing the Murdochs understand. Tucker Carlson makes 35 million a year and has a net worth of 400 million, per Forbes. He lives in Maine, hellbent on destroying democracy while HCR fights daily to save it by writing "the first rough draft of history."
Passive-aggressive behavior by Schumer…drives me crazy!! I want him to come out screaming that Murdoch and Tucker fuel the fires when innocent people are being killed!!
Advertisers are not the primary revenue source for Fox Slews. Cable fees are built in. Thank the deregulation by Republican FCC 25-30 years ago. Only boycotting TV Cable and Satellite would impact them. Bundling is bad, self serving. Rupert plays a different game and he gets a ton of revenue to run political ads. He followed Russian media moguls lead Boris Berezovski’s. Rupert believes he is the “kingmaker”. For Rep to ascend to the throne, they have to kneel & kiss Rupert’s ring.Our protest should be at their HQ, and/or outside Tuckers house.
Tucker has many residences: Fla., Maine, NY, etc.. Catching him on the street is nearly impossible. Oh silly me, he has a residence in Turkey too, now. INDICT THEM ALL!
Hmmm, so reading your post, I thought of that scene in The Godfather, when Michael (Al Pacino), tells Tom Caghan (Robert Duvall) that he’s not/can’t be a war time “concierehe” the mob family’s wartime counselor.
Schumer, God love him, is sincere and kind but not someone you’d want to bring to a rumble. Give me Klobuchar who punches in the gut and is relentless!
OH man, Ted---absolutely! I would love to see this on the next presidential election, that being, all voters vote yes or no for abortion, and yes or no for banning high capacity weapons. Just those two would make a huge difference.
Leave "gun reform legislation" somewhere below "Infrastructure". Pinheads like the "supremacists" are the problem. They need to be subject to every law on the books..., and, held accountable. The laws exist. Bankrupt those jerks. Let "sherriffJoe" jail rules apply :))
There are ways for cable viewers to unbundle Fox from their package. Call your service rep and tell them you are canceling your service. Tell them why. A supervisor will take over in attempts to keep you
How would Fox feel if 10,000 pissed of citizens marched on their corporate hq? Can citizens revoke an FCC license? As long as they broadcast their bs to 44% of the country, nothing will ever change.
Ted, Fox would be ecstatic is 10,000 "left wing communists" marched on their corporate headquarters so that those "communists" disobeying the "law" could be put on TV to feed their beasts.
Except that sadly, Toyota went right back to funding insurrectionists even after receiving thousands of phone calls and letters. I again called my dealer two weeks ago, and again reminded the sales manager that Corporate’s actions were costing him money. Tom is a good guy; Toyotas are good cars; I will never own another one. These bastards just don’t care. Boycotts absolutely work but only if they are huge and persistent over time. Let’s do this and keep doing it.
Biden’s words forcefully cut to the heart of the matter. But will the offenders and enablers pay heed? We know the answer. They will continue to divide and inflame. It’s beyond shameful.
There needs to be a way to hold them all accountable. A version of The Fairness Doctrine. If everyone who is truly ¨Blue,¨ ending cable service with any company that carries Fox is a start.
The president absolutely delivered the correct opening salvo and I appreciate his words to that community directly related to the victims. They want something done. For the tragedy not to be all in vain.
Well, from what Professor Richardson outlines today, the next couple months will be significant. We’ve all waited for the timing of the DOJ to be a factor. I find HCR’s noting of the DOJ being able to use the note of interviews conducted as evidence and the negotiation going on to share the notes very compelling. The offenders can continue to divide and inflame as you say Michael. To their peril.
I am hoping that the information in today’s Letter gives us encouragement to continue our campaign, We the People, in supporting and insisting that our democracy is not at the whim of anyone to take down.
Thoughts of unity with those mourning the deaths of family members. May they feel it as some measure of comfort.
Join me won’t you: So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye. That jackass Cawthorne in North Carolina couldn’t win his primary - why? Because he isn’t qualified and shouldn’t have been there in the first place. I tend to not look in the rear view mirror but I can’t wait to hear what this nobody is doing in 5 years - which won’t be a heavy lift for me because I’m sure he will be doing nothing. Excuse me while I go write a check to John Fetterman’s campaign for Governor in PA.
Good morning , Laurie. I share your opinion of Cawthorne. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
I too support John Fetterman, Lt. Governor of PA., who is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Toomey. His opponent in the November election has yet to be identified. It will be one of three candidates: David McCormick, Mehmet Oz, or Kathy Barnette. All three are despicable.
Josh Shapiro, Attorney General of PA., who is running for governor is an outstanding person of sterling character. His R opponent is the odious Doug Mastriano who is a dangerous blowhard with no redeeming qualities. Mastriano was endorsed by the former guy which tells a person all they need to know about Doug.
I see you're from MA,VT. I live in Pennsylvania. Thank you for supporting John Fetterman. Please consider supporting Josh Shapiro as well. Also, Dan Pastore who will be running against Mike Kelly for the US. House seat in the 16th district. Kelly is an abomination.
The fight continues for the soul of Pennsylvania and the country. Onward.
Josh Shapiro is the gubernatorial candidate in PA that needs support, as it's a tight race between him and the GOPer, and Shapiro is excellent. As Kamila says below, Fetterman, Lt. Governor of PA, is running for Senate from PA. (One of my close friends is very active in PA politics.)
Thank you from a PA resident, you probably know Fetterman won the primary. It’s for the Senate seat of Toomey, who never should have been elected. He did nothing but blindly support the Republican agenda, except for one failed bipartisan attempt at gun control legislation, which he quickly abandoned as a pursuit when his party “shot” it down
Hello, MG. I know your reply was to Laurie and my apology for replying out of turn. As a point of interest, Joe Manchin was the cosponsor with Toomey of the bipartisan gun control legislation you referenced. What a team...
Heather, your recap of todays new stories brings us to one of the most important possibilities: that people who have worked against our democracy will be held accountable. Further, that some republicans finally see the light:
“Today, in the wake of the Buffalo shooting, Miles Taylor—a member of Trump’s administration who warned anonymously of how dangerous Trump was—announced he was leaving the Republican Party and called on others to do the same. “In the wake of the mass shooting in Buffalo on Saturday,” he wrote, “it’s become glaringly obvious that my party no longer represents conservative values but in fact poses a threat to them—and to America.” How long before elected repubs leave their party en mass? Join together and embrace the Truth?
Good morning (I hope) Mike. I wish I could truly be optimistic. My question is really a question. I’m not holding my breath for repubs to change. Robert Reich, who used to be optimistic about our participation in government, asks in today’s “Office Hours”: “What can the rest of us do to push back against the spread of this deadly hate speech? White supremacist "great replacement theory" is a lethal reality.
Reading the last few paragraphs of todays "Letter" it is clear what I have implied from the beginning of my posts here. WE.., are infiltrated by "agents" working for foreign governments. Some, our CIA, FBI, NSA, etc, know exist. Others have been forced to come out and register with FARA, but there are still those who we are not yet aware of. These are not "cabals". These are not "agents" hiding behind a tree-stump. "They" are who you'd never suspect, in places where you'd never imagine. And, thanks to trump, these foreign gov'ts can trade money for "SECRET" stuff in those 52 boxes, via those "agents".
Miles Taylor’s eloquent justification for leaving the Republican Party merits applause and our recognition that some examples of integrity still survive among the truly conservative. Taylor’s opinion, “After Buffalo, saving the GOP means leaving the GOP” (subtitled “I thought the Republican Party could be saved. I was wrong.”) is a direct denunciation of his former party’s role in leading our nation to its current fractional and perilous state, and is worthy of a viral dissemination. Read his full commentary here:
Steve, I feel sad, again. It started on my arrival in NY at the age of 19 in 1965. I had been invited to spend the weekend with friends of a family member in NJ. The wife was driving me back to the City early on Monday morning when we stopped at a toll booth on the turnpike. She demanded that I get out of the passenger seat and walk around the car to give the toll collector the money. I asked her why, since her window was next to the outstretched hand. She shocked me to the core by saying that her white hand would never touch that of a n----r! I was so stunned, I obeyed and apologized profusely to the toll collector, a beautiful Black woman, for that behaviour. I'll never forget her kind face as she said to me "don't worry, honey, I get that all the time"! I was never more grateful for being raised in a home without prejudice, always being told to treat others as I would like them to treat me.
And that, dear Jesus, is so many of us. From an old golden rule girl, raised in rural NC, my parents were never such world-class haters. LBJ was right, so many whites just looking for somebody to look down on and feel superior.
Oh Sally. I wonder (I think) about our forum one day sharing these kind of stories. I have several. The memory of any one of them stays for a long, long time.
I won't hit the ❤️ button as this story is not to be "liked". It is a real story about the depth of hatred for black people, and not one that needs embellishment. Hatred, pure and simple.
Thank you, I agree. On Heather's chat yesterday, she refused to say the shooter's name, which is right. She also said that the Replacement theory the shooter mentioned in his 180 page document was the European one, not the American one. She explained the difference. I always learn something from her Letters and Chats.
The refusal to use the name of the shooter is a standard to uphold. It was in it’s infancy in 1998, when my community was rocked by a mass shooting at a local High School (Thurston, OR). Although the school was in a municipality (Springfield) the shooter there had also murdered his parents and booby-trapped their house (they lived in county jurisdiction and two of my dear friends were lead detectives in the case). It has taken a lot of work, but the event is known as the “Thurston Shooting” and the shooter’s name is rarely mentioned. (We are coming up on its anniversary; I’ll pay attention to see how much his name is mentioned.)
Thank you MaryB, and others. I don't need the heart button for that horrible story except that I'm lucky to have been raised to abhor prejudice. We lived in India and Africa as well as the UK.
Sally -- It is indeed truly depressing how much deep seated racism lies just beneath the surface or America. You might have imagined that we, as a country, would have made more progress since 1965. Racism is learned and hard to unlearn. Just when we need to do better at teaching our children, overtly racist laws (thinking of FL) won't even permit the honest teaching of the history of our country. The acceptance of these white supremacist ideas simply has to stop.
I hope the DOJ + the J6 Committee are working together to expose and to prosecute the betrayers of our constitution and nation. This isn’t a witch hunt, this is solid detective work - the law preceding the order.
"Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who represents Buffalo, today wrote a letter to Rupert Murdoch, chair of the Fox Corporation, along with another three of the corporation’s leaders, to urge them to stop “the reckless amplification of the so-called ‘Great Replacement’ theory on your network’s broadcasts.”"
Wrote a letter? Is that how powerless our government of these United States is now??
Tucker Carlson, daily, commits sedition and treason on his show and our United States Government writes a letter to beg Rupert Murdoch to stop?
The only outcome of a letter from Schumer to Rupert?
Peals of laughter in the hallways of Fox News headquarters. I mean hearty, loud, big time laughter.
What did you expect him to do? If it’s an opening salvo, more power to Senator Schumer. Get off the rant on this particular day. Can we please be focused on the extraordinary progress outlined by Professor Richardson today? And by her continued revealing dialogue? The Committee’s hearings are soon. Let’s be United, Mike! In thought also.
The conservatives have been implementing a focused strategy for decades, and the Democrats are still writing polite letters. It's like bringing a banana to a knife fight.
As I watched President Biden speak today in Buffalo, I very much realized that he could have been standing at a podium delivering the same speech 3 hours east of Buffalo in Syracuse where I was sitting.
There isn't a magic wand that he can wave over this country to stop this unthinkable behavior. This Country isn't ready to move away from this narrative not because they can't. It's because they won't.
As long as there are people who willingly accept the principles of White Supremacist theology, there will always be another City to divide. There is not a slowing down of this doctrine, the GOP are ramping it up everytime the Sedation Caucus opens its mouth.
What City will the President be talking about next week?
Surely it seems there to be another city as we wait for that hammer to pound yet again, Linda, hoping it won’t be our city or loved one. There just must be many, many more of us that will NOT accept the cruel narrative and will stand to fight against it. By example, word, and deed.
I don't want this hatred to peak during my lifetime. Will this be a snippet in time where future generations read about this and say, " why didn't they stop them ?"
Yes, America remains the sad place it has been since 1619 when the first white person brought a subjugated black slave to America to do the work for him while he sat on his arse watching and drinking beer and anticipating Tucker Carlson in the future.
Aaron Salter Jr. should be awarded posthumously the Congressional Medal of Honor for Conspicuous Gallantry and bravery for defending citizens who came under assault rifle terrorist attack in Buffalo, NY. The 55 year old retired policeman and security guard who was not wearing body armor, outgunned and knew it, armed only with his service pistol, and alone in defense, engaged the Buffalo shooter who did have body armor, an assault rifle with multiple high capacity magazines, and other weapons. Officer Salter left safety of cover to engage and shoot the suspect multiple times in an attempt to shield innocent shoppers at deadly risk to himself. Officer Salter’s actions of selfless courage and bravery saved lives and bought time for some to escape until more help could arrive. Alone, Aaron’s quick action, made in the heat of battle, without regard for his own safety, cost him his life, a willing and costly sacrifice to the people of Buffalo, New York, United States of America.
Defending a country means you defend its citizens, the people, and that’s exactly what Arron Salter Jr did this past weekend. President Biden should present him posthumously with the highest military honor for bravery on behalf of our country.
"Action above and beyond the call of duty." It certainly does qualify for an MoH.
I wrote that because I thought that while we aren’t at war with any of our fellow citizens or groups, they are at war with us. White Supremist declared war a long long time ago. They are waging an insurgency with guerrilla tactics, taught by the Turner Diaries: Independent cells and/or loner ambush attacks upon soft targets: our schools, markets, concerts, nightlife clubs or districts. We don’t know when or where their next strike will be, but it will be perpetrated on the weaker, the very young, the vulnerable, places where our families shop, learn, worship, or just gather to relax and have fun.
Perhaps we can teach the press and our leaders on how to start framing racial violence the correct way. This is a domestic war whether we choose to acknowledge it or not. It is being waged upon us. It is time to become highly organized and focused. The time has come for us to wage our peaceful counter attack, unholster the collective common sense.
"This is a domestic war whether we choose to acknowledge it or not."
Yes, but the smart members of the other side are not committing violence so that they go to jail.
Instead, they incite violence with words from places that, apparently, are immune from legal prosecution in this country. Apparently, it is simply not possible to bring charges of sedition anymore (although it once was).
Good news though!! Schumer wrote a letter to Rupert to beg that Tucker stop fomenting death and destruction and be a good boy.
I wonder how much laughter that will cause in the halls of Murdoch's kingdom?
The Murdochs may chuckle. They can afford to laugh off any criticism. Perhaps Schumer's (and lot's of other prominent people, please) next letter should be to the advertisers on Fox and specifically on the shows like Carlson's and Hannity's. It is always about the money.
Advertising means a lot less to them than the huge fees they reap from being on every cable service in the country. Congress should pass legislation requiring cable services to offer menus to subscribers from which they can choose what channels they want available. Let's find out how many people actually want their dreck.
Yes!
Congress should also pass some legislation that prevents the internet monopolies from squeezing Americans - talk about inflation!
We have two choices: Comcast and Verizon. But Verizon doesn't offer true high speed internet in our neighborhood. So...we are stuck with one of the most unpopular companies in America. Why? Just try to buy only internet service. They black mail us into packages involving TV and phone we don't want.
BTW, this is not just a "rural problem". I could walk to Boston if I needed to.
Many people (including me) don't have cable anymore just for that reason. We need to bring back the Fairness Doctrine https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/955/fairness-doctrine.
Carol and Jim, yes, yes, YES!!!! Best idea ever. This had been recommended individually, but if this is brought before Congress, EVEN IF IT DOESN'T PASS, it can get the press coverage to really start a movement. The one problem is unbundling the Fox Sports channel from the rest of it. (Not for me, but many. Not insurmountable, though. )
For what it's worth, I disconnected cable and I'm entirely on streaming with an Apple + device. I can't say often enough how satisfied I am and I have a bit more $ in my pocket. (If I don't subscribe to several streaming sites at once.) I got disgusted with the tripe on cable and their ever-increasing fees.
True that, but hitting the advertisers is a good place to start. Not so much for fiscal reasons, but for the optics. Other media sources might pick up a boycott story .
or perhaps our government officials should address the plague of propaganda that has handcuffed them... a cabinet-level commission.
Rupert loves power, he told a reporter in the UK that he wanted Tony Blair to answer the phone when he called; you are 109% right. Money = power. It always has.
I think there is something incredibly needy and hollow in people who want that kind of power. Something tragically lacking inside.
We need to get a list of companies advertising on fox 'news' and start a national boycott.
Just cancel cable. It is not a need, but a want. We use an antenna instead ($60 one time purchase) and I recognize also being fortunate to be able to stream movies or sports. Some areas don’t yet have that option. But for this group here, if enough in a community stopped being held hostage by their cable company, it might make them sit up and take notice. Naïve, I know. ;) There have been boycotts recently but then it drops off the radar and the companies go back to donating $$ to lobby to protect against having to cough up their fair share of taxes. Think Toyota. Under a fascist leader they would probably have to cough up profits to him/her instead of shareholders. That might make them wince.
B-I-N-G-O, Bill. Bingo.
Good thought. I believe the only way to get to these creeps is through their pocketbook. Tank their ratings.
I was just thinking that it a great idea to target the advertisers and thought perhaps we could all start creating a list - that is until I realized In would have to watch the show. A perfect dilemma. But I think your idea is sound. I have never started a petition but that might be an idea too. So I will start tonight first to see if I can find out on line who the advertisers are, or god forbid I will watch the show.
I am glad that Schumer called the “journalist” Rupert by name. It’s a first. He thinks owning the WSJ gives him cover for Fox’s treasonous rhetoric. Of course journalists are protected in myriad ways as our “Free press” has been corrupted beyond recognition by Murdoch. This despite Fox being legally described as entertainment. Reagan gave him license to take down our “Walter style” communication and “entertain” us all the way to chump. Waiting for the day when Rupert Murdoch’s name is synonymous with Goebbels. Of course, Goebbels didn’t have that entertainment aspect.
Why aren't the names called out like Ingraham, Carlson, Doocey, etc who promote racism and incite violence? What is the purpose of not naming names?
Wondering how a Trump-appointed Judge would have reacted to claims by Goebbels and Julius Streicher that they were "just entertainers."
Many Germans believed, and many German Jews also believed that once Hitler got to power, fulfilling his goal, he would mellow out & lead Germany like a normal politician. They just couldn't' believe that their country would produce someone could perpetrate such evil things. Maybe we should use terms like grooming for what is really going on. That Republican's are grooming their base for Authoritarianism. And as they 'obey in advance', the base teaches the leadership how much power over them they really have. It is extraordinary to observe this phenomenon today.
We need a repeal of the Section 230 exception that protects social media from the propagation of hateful content and enforce the liability of Fox news and tucker carlson to prosecution for their disinformation and fostering these attacks.
One of the Buffalo families is going to sue the gun manufacturer - maybe they can sue Tucker as well!
I think we’ll all be hearing the reverberations of their laughter. Yesterday I shared a glass of wine with a neighbor and upon saying goodnight I noticed her partner was glued to Fox. Domestic warfare is so much trickier than the kind of wars we’re familiar with.
I have a good friend whose husband watches Fox, to her horror. When she suggested he watch something else, he decided to flip between 3 channels MSNBC, CNN and Fox. He reported that MSNBC and CNN talked about racists and old, white supremacists and Fox supported old white men-- which, evidently, felt comfortable to him.
You shouldn't share a glass of wine during the pandemic.
" they incite violence with words from places that, apparently, are immune from legal prosecution in this country."
TCinLA wrote this yesterday about "stochastic terrorism":
https://tcinla757.substack.com/p/stochastic-terrorism?r=17d5s&s=r
TC's is an excellent and important essay to read. He makes the clear connection between the extreme media and internet sites to the so-called "lone wolf" assassins. I've posted it to my FB feed.
I heard President Biden speaking about the shooting victims as I was headed to the grocery store. The ordinary places where people go as part of everyday life (the grocery store, for gosh sakes) feel dangerous now. Does anyone ever wonder when you go to do a normal errand that you might not come home?
When I moved from teaching high school to a software job in 1998, my mother was relieved that I was less likely to killed by a shooter.
What a horrible statement this comment makes when it says what it does about our country. Your Mom was spot on.
I believe this is how a lot of teachers and kids feel but do not speak about it. Subconsciously what is the effect on having "active shooter drills", like how if you are over 50, we had fire drills, Tornado drills, Nuclear War Fall out drills. This vulnerability has to be traumatic for our kids, at school. How can one learn to their potential while being traumatized by school shootings over and over again? This trauma has to affect an individuals ability to learn to potential. This is weakening our country. It is unacceptable.
Ally, just a little primary election update. It looks like Salinas has prevailed in CD six on the D side while after spending tons of crypto money, flannel shirt Carrick Flynn has not won. Kurt Schrader is behind, but ballots are not counted yet in Clackistan because of a printing error. It looks like three women vying for governor.
That is so incredibly sad.
"The culture of fear" has been manufactured as a political weapon to cement power.
In Maslow's hierarchy of needs physiological needs (food and shelter) are the foundation, then security. When you control these lower level subconscious needs: economic suppression and by allowing for and encouraging fear by growing gun violence you are maintaining a baseline of psychological insecurity, you inhibit higher order decision making and thinking. In this way, power over voting is secured as people are manipulated by fear to not participate. " I cant worry about politics and voting, i have to work two or three jobs to make ends to put food on the table, make rent, and pay bills, keep my kids safe." Psychologically exhausted the poor and many in the middle class do not have time for politics. Then add fear with racism and gun violence. Its unbearable to the subconscious mind. Retreat into daily life is the only option. This is how oppression operates in American Society. It doesn't have to be this way.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs
I studied Maslow’s theory and you are so right on tying it to what is happening now. Just take the baby formula crisis!! We are oppressed, yes. We have the right to protest but we fear we may shot or maimed. What we didn’t have before was a means of communication directly to the powers that be, like Chump, Congress, corporations. These can/have work(ed) to our advantage. We have to be louder and more demanding so we can be the tired and poor messengers, on their behalf.
No more bowling alone. Robert Putnam explains how to, from history from the Progressive Era.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03js37m
Yup
Absolutely! It’s a terrible feeling.
You read my mind, and expressed coherently what I have not been able to. I have been thinking that the war has started and we don’t want to admit it. You articulate the problems and some solutions beautifully and I salute you.
I have thought this has already begun for a long time. I am sure our neighborhood is bristling with guns with many owners who would love to plug libs and people of a different hue or ethnic group.. I would feel better if I thought the local constabulary were likely to do something about people like this, but too often they seem to aid and abet. What really angers me is all the hand wringing and thoughts and prayers when the obvious solution is much stricter gun laws. Yes, I know, dream on.
It’s been a long time since I commented here, but your recommendation is well reasoned and heartbreaking to read. I wanted to agree. Thank you. ❤️🤍💙
Ted, I agree with what you said in awarding Aaron Salter the Congressional Medal of Honor and do it on July 4. It is time that prominent people in politics and journalism call out Murdoch, Carlson, Hannity, prominent members of the Republican party, and others for the part they play in these acts. Senator Schumer's letter should be posted in all the major Sunday newspapers. The Democratic party should purchase Super Bowl type ads during the NBA and NHL playoffs, major PGA golf tournaments, and televised NASCAR races that calls out the big three and their part in promoting white supremacy. Continue the assault during the NFL season and MLB playoffs and World Series. Buy ad space at the major sporting venues and pass the message on. DO NOT RELENT until Fox News acknowledges their role in stoking the flames. Corporations need to pull their advertising from Fox the way McDonald's closed the doors in Russia. They say money talks.
Thanks Arthur, I think this speech by Robert Kennedy helped reframe racial and institutional violence in his times, although I am not certain, I thnk our leaders need to try some new pressures.
I believe we do need to frame it as a war. Another symbol is what that shooter wore, military fatigues and boots, he dressed as a soldier would, and he was indoctrinated to see others not like him, as enemies, as aliens as if he attended an online virtual "boot camp".
"We learn, at the last, to look at our brothers as aliens, men with whom we share a city, but not a community, men bound to us in common dwelling, but not in common effort. We learn to share only a common fear - only a common desire to retreat from each other - only a common impulse to meet disagreement with force. ...For there is another kind of violence, slower but just as deadly, destructive as the shot or the bomb in the night. This is the violence of institutions; indifference and inaction and slow decay. This is the violence that afflicts the poor, that poisons relations between men because their skin has different colors. This is a slow destruction of a child by hunger, and schools without books and homes without heat in the winter."
We need to demand from our leaders that they are correct to designate Fox News as neo institution of hate, and that FOX's purposeful sewing of distrust from knowing disinformation leads not to just disagreements but racially motivated violence that threatens our national security. This how to "destabilize democracies". Perhaps sanctions on Murdoch and FOX are what is required from our leaders today. For just as Putin did not stop at Chechnya, Georgia or Ukraine, Murdoch will not stop until we force him to. And that is what needs to happen.
https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/the-kennedy-family/robert-f-kennedy/robert-f-kennedy-speeches/remarks-to-the-cleveland-city-club-april-5-1968
Perfectly written, Ted. Your words need to be incorporated into the quote. It's time to call it like we all see it, and mean it! And it needs to be sent not only to Fox, but to OANN and all other purveyors of destruction of our democracy.
Amen Nancy!
Ted, you're absolutely correct in both of your comments. Even Christopher Wray articulated that these groups and their rhetoric are the most worrisome threats to our country. Their "soldiers" are the gullible, troubled, and they're armed to the teeth with military weapons, and the radical Republican lawmakers seem to approve.
I had to read about The Turner Diaries. Shocking stuff, depressing as all get out. Reminds me of how angry I was that Charlottesville's "Unite the Right" was so badly handled by local and federal authorities. I cant bring myself to say what I want to call it. It certainly popped a cork, just as this fetid trash book appears to have done. Hate to admit it but it leaves me fantasizing about a book burning. Surely, herein, the greatest danger in these times is precisely this: fighting fire with fire turns us into "them"(?), which would certainly be their greatest victory, now, wouldn't it? On one hand....then the other...ad infinitum!
"Violence begets violence, repression only breeds retaliation"-RFK
Bring the War Home by Kathleen Belew is a really good compliment to the 1619 Project. Both books complement one another. 1619 tells us the history and experiences of black people, while Below explains the history and viewpoint from white supremist. Belew's book explains the militarization of WS, as special forces Vietnam vets ( shared their counter insurgency war strategies and tactics) post Vietnam to both WS and the anti government crazies, Christian Evangelicals, Anti Abortion Militants. These groups have melded together into the neo white national supremist movement, and they know how to recruit new members using online recruitment ( a lot like Al Qaeda did throughout the Middle East). Now, this super neo insurgent group looks to Putin as their natural world leader on race, christian fascism, and violence as means to their ends. They have become hardened, more collective, better organized, more inspired, since 2016 when Putin's IRA went hog wild on the internet to connect these groups as one. Some crazy stuff is going down in our country and we should pay attention to it.
This from our county democratic committee this morning- a riveting, comprehensive accounting by David Rothkopf on Twitter of the cancer in our society: "The author, columnist and podcaster David Rothkopf has done a brilliant job of connecting the dots in this matter, offering a stunning revelation of the cancer we have all seen metastasizing for years". @drothkopfMay 15
Okay...here's his tweet...I tried to copy and paste it into some kind of form, keeping in mind these are a series of short tweets of limited number of characters. It doesn't follow grammar rules (grammarians, avert your eyes), but he makes his points.
Common Sense for the 21st Century
It's the guns, but it's not just the guns. It's the racism, but it's not just the racism. It's the misogyny, but it's not just the misogyny. It's the attacks on democracy but it's not just the attacks on democracy. It's the assault on the truth, on teaching history and science, but it's not just the assault on the truth and facts and reality and banning books. It's the corruption but it's not just the corruption and the cover-ups and the obstruction of justice and the gaming of our courts.
What happened in Buffalo is not just about some isolated shooter, some deranged sociopath. He was fueled by an ideology of hate promoted by an American president, by a leading American news channel, by an entire US political party. His brutality was enabled by decades of massive spending, some of it from enemies like Russia, to not just promote guns in the US but to twist & pervert the interpretation of the Second Amendment to turn America into one of the world's most dangerous, self-destructive societies. He was part of the very same movement that has political candidates blocking access to the press, offering up the same right wing catechism of hate, seeking to block access of people of color to the polls, seeking to deny gay Americans the right to love whom they want.
From Murdoch to Trump to McConnell to Alito flows the ideology of the superiority of whites...but not just of whites but of white males...and not just of white males but of white Evangelical Christian males. But their mantras and slogans of racial, cultural superiority are accompanied by other doctrines promoting fear of minorities, of white replacement theory gleefully promoted by Tucker Carlson & other despicable lunatics, of racist myths about brown babies in need of formula or caravans of "the other" assaulting our southern borders. They are not just systematically trying to deny power and basic human rights from control of their own body to the ability to cast a vote to determine the future of the nation in which they live to those with whom they disagree, they are working daily to drown out other views. They preach "free speech" as a cover for seeking discourse on the web that can promote snake oil and race war & that can destroy the reputations of their enemies even as they seek to quash elements of history, realities of scientific truth, that don't fit their warped worldview.
Compounding their hypocrisy is that the people for whom they assert they are fighting are just dupes, pawns they use to maintain power so the leaders of the movement and its funders can profit, can rig our system to promote inequality and to enhance already obscene riches. They promote conspiracy theories to distract from the fact that so much of what they do that seems isolated is actually connected, is all part of a plan, is all part of one, coherent, thought out, decades old right wing agenda.
The Buffalo shooting and political candidates selling hate, the SCOTUS decision on abortion and our insane gun laws, our national gun pathology (that the court will only make worse) and banned books in elementary schools and Texan abuse of COVID funds and DeSantis throwing reporters out of public meetings and Hawley giving the thumbs up to insurrectionists and Barr blocking prosecution of Trump for obstruction of justice and Ivanka and Jared making millions while in office and groveling to the Russians and blackmailing Ukraine and both impeachments and Congressional Xmas cards featuring kids with assault weapons and threats to hang the Vice President of the United States and the Tree of Life shooting and the babies in cages at the border and tax cuts for billionaires and Elon Musk's reasons for wanting to take over Twitter and the wink and the nod to the murder of Khashoggi and failing to help Puerto Rico after a hurricane or California after devastating fires and lying about COVID and promoting horse medicines for people and bleach into your veins and the pillow salesman and the crazies on the right in Congress and 63 Republicans voting not to support Ukraine and Rand Paul blocking aid to that country and Citizens United & Shelby County & the packing of the court and Ginni Thomas helping to promote the Big Lie and the coup and attacking the Squad and "lock her up" and calling people "pedos" and all of it...all of it...is the work of one movement, one that is destroying the US.
The funders are the same, the leaders are the same, the media mouthpieces are the same, the actions compound the effect of other actions, the grassroots supporters are the same and the consequences for each of us, for our society, for our democracy are equally dire. To defeat them takes seeing the scope of what is happening for what it is...seeing their intents are to compound the past with further abuses, attacks on our rights, institutionalization of their minority view, suppression of the will of the majority of us. It will require us to be as systematic as they are and as thorough. It requires not just winning races but undoing the damage they have done, restoring core principles to the operations of our government and of our society, ideas like equal justice under the law and decency, tolerance and one person one vote, defending the truth and common sense, honesty and the willingness to fight within the parameters of the law to defend what we value. We must do all that. It won't be easy. The outcome is not guaranteed. The risks are immense. But it all begins with seeing the big picture, recognizing the links, identifying the origins of this tragic chapter in our history.
Yes, it won't be easy, and will "require us to be as systematic as they are and as thorough...it all begins with seeing the big picture." We must all put our emotion and outrage into seeing this through and doing our best to right the centuries of damage, or we will have to spend eternity with those who have created the carnage. Thank you, Bruce.
Just copied and pasted and shared, with reference to Thomas Paine! David Rothkopf needs to put this into a "pamphlet" and start The 2nd American Revolution !!
WOW! Thank You Bruce for translaing and compiling from Twitterish!
Wow!!
Thanks very much!
For those of us who quit Twitter, can you post the text here?
Rothkopf's dissection is right on. Here's a link: https://twitter.com/djrothkopf/status/1525814394638286848
And the text:
It's the guns, but it's not just the guns. It's the racism, but it's not just the racism. It's the misogyny, but it's not just the misogyny. It's the attacks on democracy but it's not just the attacks on democracy.
It's the assault on the truth, on teaching history and science, but it's not just the assault on the truth and facts and reality and banning books. It's the corruption but it's not just the corruption and the cover-ups and the obstruction of justice and the gaming of our courts.
What happened in Buffalo is not just about some isolated shooter, some deranged sociopath. He was fueled by an ideology of hate promoted by an American president, by a leading American news channel, by an entire US political party.
His brutality was enabled by decades of massive spending, some of it from enemies like Russia, to not just promote guns in the US but to twist & pervert the interpretation of the Second Amendment to turn America into one of the world's most dangerous, self-destructive societies.
He was part of the very same movement that has political candidates blocking access to the press, offering up the same right wing catechism of hate, seeking to block access of people of color to the polls, seeking to deny gay Americans the right to love whom they want.
From Murdoch to Trump to McConnell to Alito flows the ideology of the superiority of whites...but not just of whites but of white males...and not just of white males but of white Evangelical Christian males. But their mantras and slogans of racial, cultural superiority...
...are accompanied by other doctrines promoting fear of minorities, of white replacement theory gleefully promoted by Tucker Carlson & other despicable lunatics, of racist myths about brown babies in need of formula or caravans of "the other" assaulting our southern borders.
They are not just systematically trying to deny power and basic human rights from control of their own body to the ability to cast a vote to determine the future of the nation in which they live to those with whom they disagree, they are working daily to drown out other views.
They preach "free speech" as a cover for seeking discourse on the web that can promote snake oil and race war & that can destroy the reputations of their enemies even as they seek to quash elements of history, realities of scientific truth, that don't fit their warped worldview.
Compounding their hypocrisy is that the people for whom they assert they are fighting are just dupes, pawns they use to maintain power so the leaders of the movement and its funders can profit, can rig our system to promote inequality and to enhance already obscene riches.
They promote conspiracy theories to distract from the fact that so much of what they do that seems isolated is actually connected, is all part of a plan, is all part of one, coherent, thought out, decades old right wing agenda.
The Buffalo shooting and political candidates selling hate, the SCOTUS decision on abortion and our insane gun laws, our national gun pathology (that the court will only make worse) and banned books in elementary schools and Texan abuse of COVID funds and...
DeSantis throwing reporters out of public meetings and Hawley giving the thumbs up to insurrectionists and Barr blocking prosecution of Trump for obstruction of justice and Ivanka and Jared making millions while in office and groveling to the Russians and...
...blackmailing Ukraine and both impeachments and Congressional Xmas cards featuring kids with assault weapons and threats to hang the Vice President of the United States and the Tree of Life shooting and the babies in cages at the border and...
...tax cuts for billionaires and Elon Musk's reasons for wanting to take over Twitter and the wink and the nod to the murder of Khashoggi and failing to help Puerto Rico after a hurricane or California after devastating fires and...
lying about COVID and promoting horse medicines for people and bleach into your veins and the pillow salesman and the crazies on the right in Congress and 63 Republicans voting not to support Ukraine and Rand Paul blocking aid to that country and...
...Citizens United & Shelby County & the packing of the court and Ginni Thomas helping to promote the Big Lie and the coup and attacking the Squad and "lock her up" and calling people "pedos" and all of it...all of it...is the work of one movement, one that is destroying the US.
The funders are the same, the leaders are the same, the media mouthpieces are the same, the actions compound the effect of other actions, the grassroots supporters are the same and the consequences for each of us, for our society, for our democracy are equally dire.
To defeat them takes seeing the scope of what is happening for what it is...seeing their intents are to compound the past with further abuses, attacks on our rights, institutionalization of their minority view, suppression of the will of the majority of us.
It will require us to be as systematic as they are and as thorough. It requires not just winning races but undoing the damage they have done, restoring core principles to the operations of our government and of our society, ideas like equal justice under the law and decency,
tolerance and one person one vote, defending the truth and common sense, honesty and the willingness to fight within the parameters of the law to defend what we value. We must do all that. It won't be easy. The outcome is not guaranteed. The risks are immense.
But it all begins with seeing the big picture, recognizing the links, identifying the origins of this tragic chapter in our history.
Thanks very much.
Michael just beat me to it! I just posted it above...
Jeff, I'm not on Twitter either. The link was in an email and when I cut and pasted it to this column it was no longer live. Also tried copying the whole Twitter thread to paste here but didn't work. Anyone on Twitter able to post the live link?
See Michael Bales, above. His link worked for me although I'm not on Twitter. He cut and pasted the entire thread making it far easier to read than in the Twitter segments. I see Bruce Sellers has also copied the tweets into a more readable format.
Very well said. Thank you.
Your written words made a huge impact on me. Thank you, Ted.
Sorry. I'd like to say I'da shot that POS/SOB dead in the head...BLAM... game over! But, I wasn't standing in Mr. Aaron Salter Jr.'s shoes. He probably never thought he'd come face to face with such a lunatic.., in that grocery store. When he did, his training taught him to aim so as not to miss, therefore disabling the shooter. Unfortunately, these days, pinheads all have body armor. Blowing the shooters head off is probably what most of us would've likened to do. However.., missing that moving target would not have ended well for you & me. I only hope we didn't lose this American in vain.
That’s what I thought as well, a head shot would have ended it but it was a much smaller target if your hands are shaking and the bastard was chopping up people all around you, God Bless him, he tried.
I have often thought that when I hear the cry of the gun lobby folks, that everyone armed would stop these things from happening. I always think--and when the police comes in, how will they know who is the bad guy shooting and who is the "good" guy shooting?
I believe that already happened at one of the school shootings, where the good guy got shot by police. A black man, of course. Don't remember the details. Maybe someone can refresh.
Sending strength, hope, and love to his family and to the families of all the victims of this tragedy!😔😔😔😔
I agree with you, Ted, wholeheartedly.
We are at war with an enemy from within—“a wolf in sheep’s clothing”, so the award would be appropriate and would send the message of a war of ideology against national security.
Yes, he should! What a brave man he was, and his family should be so proud of him! My heart breaks for his family and friends!
Ted, My thoughts like yours and many others of us looking for the roots of White Supremacy have found them right here in the USA, although there are other sources as well.
Today’s Letter began and ended with the ideology of White Supremacy, which may end Democracy in the United States of America. In the middle of the Letter, HCR notes that employing the Rule Of Law may finally deliver justice to traitors of our country. My comment concerns White Supremacy.
Buffalo resident, James Baldwin, to my mind, expressed the truest thought about the massacre of human beings in Buffalo, N.Y. He dismissed the notion that it was the devil who inspired the Buffalo shooter,
“That’s not the devil,” he said. “That’s America. They made him, they brought him up, they put him there.” (The Letter)
‘… in the wake of the Buffalo shooting, Miles Taylor—a member of Trump’s administration who warned anonymously of how dangerous Trump was—announced he was leaving the Republican Party and called on others to do the same. “In the wake of the mass shooting in Buffalo on Saturday,” he wrote, “it’s become glaringly obvious that my party no longer represents conservative values but in fact poses a threat to them—and to America.” (The Letter)
This James Baldwin is absolutely correct!
Yes, Marlene, and I was stopped by his name, stared at it and brought his namesake on stage as well. James Baldwin and James Baldwin. Too much!
And that is true heroism.
I could not agree more.
Beautifully put and Aaron Salter Jr. should get an MoH.
👌🏼
Elise Stefanik says mourn, don’t politicize. Does her party regret politicizing Covid public health measures? Do they mourn the unnecessary deaths that caused? So far no, and, no.
I am glad Biden named each Buffalo shooting victim and told something about each one. White Americans need to see Black Americans just being ordinary grocery-buying people. Black Americans are regular Americans. By the way, they are Legacy Americans, too, Tucker Carlson. They go way back, some as far back as 1619.
Elise Stefanik is the worst kind of opportunist. She obviously has no moral compass and no core beliefs past "Gimme mine," and she will literally do anything to attain her goal.
The South Park writer, Toby Morton, snagged himself a website domain called https://www.elisestefanik2022.com and has been mocking her ever since. He even includes links to other "GOP Sycophant Websites." I'm normally a turn the other cheek kinda gal...Well not these days.
I saw this "ad" yesterday and wondered how it got attributed to Stefanik. What a great spoof.
I saw that…brilliant! She’s such a “tool”, as my kids used to say.
No member of the GOP has a moral compass. No, not Liz Cheney, and no, not even John McCain. They still vote for the deeply heartless policies of the party. If they had a moral compass, they would leave the party altogether.
Holly you have hit the nail right on the head. Although, many are "nice folks" by most definitions, and I believe have just not connected the dots. Call it willful ignorance. But to me that is no excuse. The Republican platform is not based on reality, and has no ability to respond to change and progress. Furthermore, it doesn't appear to support real democracy - although it won't be said outwardly, it covertly thinks only some people are meant to vote for their government. And they are willing to subvert the process to better assure only those people vote. Under the cover of voter fraud. And most importantly to me - a political party that rejects the notion of climate change and/or a policy to do something about it. That to me is pure evil. It speaks worlds about their priorities, their morals.
TC, in other words, she is just a normal American well within the normal American culture and popular enough to get elected in New York.
Unfortunately, Mike, that's exactly right. She's no different than many "normal" folks who have hate in their hearts which puts money in their pockets.
The average American doesn't have a degree from Harvard. She does. She KNOWS better.
Isn't it interesting that Harvard does not teach empathy/compassion. Several of those "Harvard grads" don't "know" (Cruz, Hawley etc)any better either.
Harvard is a leadership school. Beware of charismatic people with an infatuation studying leadership.
Charisma can be confused with leadership, in that confusion, the narcist tumor can fester and become malignant. "People with inflated egos are drawn to theories that glorify leader dominance and charisma. (Adam Grant).
Great leaders view their roles as an act of service, not an avenue for authority and attention." (The Narcissistic Appeal of Leadership Theories." Steffens & Haslam)
If Harvard and Yale wanted to show leadership, they should have revoked Cruz and Hawley's degrees on Jan 7th, at 8am.
TC Elise Stefanik emerged from obscurity only a few years ago and then scurried up the Trump ladder of sycophants to now be in the Valhalla of Trump, Cruz, Hawley, DeSantis, and other big chunks that have floated to the top.
McCarthy and Stefanik are at the top of the Republican Congressmen/women. Are you ready for an encore of the Clinton Benghazi hearing and excruciating examination of Hunter Biden’s lap top?
the national party has an ironclad grip on its members. you can't make dog catcher without falling in line. on the other side of the aisle - 'i am not a member of any organized party; i'm a democrat.' will rogers.
Desperado I don’t consider MAGA ‘Republicans’ as part of a national party.Like food poisoning, it will be a painful experience under Trumpites take their lumps. Hopefully, the June open sessions of the House 1/6 committee and DOJ indictments will shake Jabba the Hutt’s hold over a disparate segment of the American public. Yuck McConnell is already singing a different turn as he endeavors to sleaze back into Senate Majority Leader.
My immediate focus is on the Senate in November. That would assure a fair process, would another Stench Court opening to arise. By 2024 our country should be flourishing and the naysayer MAGAs, like McCarthyites during the 1950s, will ooze off—some founded the John Birch Society which was the MAGA of its day.
They are still around, called MAGAts now.
❤️
She's the Ghastly Oligarch Party version of Kristen Sinema.
Yes. And I like your choice of descriptive words for the Putrid Putin Party.
It is interesting.
Elise Stefanik is a far right radical with clearly racist overtones to her words.
She is from New York and represents New Yorkers who voted for her.
She is not from Louisiana, or Alabama or Texas or Florida or Georgia.
She is just from America. I definitely am struggling today, more than most days.
More than 400 years after the first white person brought the first black person here as a slave (1619), America is still sponsoring terror on blacks and pretending that is just fine.
The last time she was elected (2020) was before she had the opportunity to sell out and move on up. Her last voters didn't know this about her. If her district is at all "competitive," her eagerness to become a Professional Sell-Out may bite her.
Mike, simply amazed that someone like Elise Stefanik could be elected to Congress from New York.
As an upstate NY resident from a district near Stefanik's, I'm not. Don't get me wrong, I know many people in her district who she clearly does NOT represent, people who have voted against her every time. But there are also many right-wingers who support Stefanik and the "big lie."
"They go way back, some as far back as 1619." Nice zinger, Carol.
Yes. So powerfully important.
The repubs love Goebbels favorite ploy, accuse the others of what you do.
"Schizo Fascism"
The lies are getting more and more brazen. These people will say anything do keep their party in power. They are the ones with the guns. Nothing scarier than an angry white male with a gun. And Stefanik knows that well.
Bam, Carol. Thank you. Let us not bury that year, Republicans…1619. Better polish up on some real history, Elise Stefanik. Not “politicizing” it is about the stupidest blah blah comeback she could have come up with. The willful ignorance plays so well for her. Not.
Salud, Carol C. United!
Another stupid comeback as reported by our local independent newspaper: "Stefanik denies supporting the great replacement theory, according to Alex deGrasse, a senior adviser to the congresswoman. In response to The Daily Gazette’s request for a phone interview with Stefanik, DeGrasse sent a prewritten statement calling members of the press 'groveling hacks.'” What is he, 3 years old, calling people names?!?
It's a page from NRA playbook after any shooting - "this is a time to be mourning, not politicizing".
Maybe there wouldn’t be so much mourning if we did some politicizing..
Yes.
" Black Americans are regular Americans. By the way, they are Legacy Americans, too, Tucker Carlson. They go way back, some as far back as 1619." Amen, Carol.
Elise is a hypocrite of the highest order and a large part of the problem. May she burn in hell.
The Union had an initiative to contact that monster’s office. I relished my acerbic voicemail for that hateful scum.
Here’s her office number:
(202) 225-4611
The Republican house of cards is on fire. Silence ads fuel to the fire. The fire can destroy our democracy and bring fascism to rule instead. DOJ is moving to investigate and indict. January 6 is heading to court. Trump is being investigated for criminal intent Re January 6. No man is above the law. Let us pray.
Amen.
We are great at t and p
What is "t and p"?
Thought and prayers??
Thank you, Sandy. 🙏🏻
“In the wake of the mass shooting in Buffalo on Saturday,” he wrote, “it’s become glaringly obvious that my party no longer represents conservative values but in fact poses a threat to them—and to America.”
Duuhhh... what was your first clue?
Richard Hofstadter figured out these traitors 68 years ago:
"It can most accurately be called pseudo-conservative — I borrow the term from the study of The Authoritarian Personality published five years ago by Theodore W. Adorno and his associates — because its exponents, although they believe themselves to be conservatives and usually employ the rhetoric of conservatism, show signs of a serious and restless dissatisfaction with American life, traditions and institutions. They have little in common with the temperate and compromising spirit of true conservatism in the classical sense of the word, and they are far from pleased with the dominant practical conservatism of the moment as it is represented by the Eisenhower Administration. Their political reactions express rather a profound if largely unconscious hatred of our society and its ways — a hatred which one would hesitate to impute to them if one did not have suggestive clinical evidence.
"From clinical interviews and thematic apperception tests, Adorno and his co-workers found that their pseudo-conservative subjects, although given to a form of political expression that combines a curious mixture of largely conservative with occasional radical notions, succeed in concealing from themselves impulsive tendencies that, if released in action, would be very far from conservative. The pseudo-conservative, Adorno writes, shows “conventionality and authoritarian submissiveness” in his conscious thinking and “violence, anarchic impulses, and chaotic destructiveness in the unconscious sphere. . . . The pseudo conservative is a man who, in the name of upholding traditional American values and institutions and defending them against more or less fictitious dangers, consciously or unconsciously aims at their abolition.”
"The pseudo conservative is a man who, in the name of upholding traditional American values and institutions and defending them against more or less fictitious dangers, consciously or unconsciously aims at their abolition"
Great post TC. Absolutely great.
In the above sentence I choose the word "conscious". I think they know what they are doing and are aware that they are not main stream BUT they think they are so "right" that it matters not.
Doubt that they think it’s right, just that it will lead to power. They had a taste with chump and now they are gluttons. Cult mentality.
Whoaaa! That was 68 years ago? I could read more Hofstadter.
Gee - sounds like dear Vlad Putin (see the BBC 10 part analysis of Putin - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m0015nfd (they are fairly short).
Yes, he also wrote three volumes of "Great Issues in American History"...... primary sources.
Sizzling, TC, sizzlin’. The griddles are hot on this forum today.
Indeed!
Thank you, TC. Between Hofstadter’s “pseudo-conservative” and Eric Hoffer’s “True Believers” there’s a whole lot on display in this country right now.
Damn, every republican candidate should have pseudo-conservative on their signs. Can’t wait for the day when “conservative” reeks for all like it does for me. Thank you.
TC, after reading your comment, I thought that you made Miles Taylor a strawman. He had worked in the Trump administration in the Department of Homeland Security from 2017 to 2019.
Quoting HCR, you wrote, “In the wake of the mass shooting in Buffalo on Saturday,” he (Miles Taylor) wrote, “it’s become glaringly obvious that my party no longer represents conservative values but in fact poses a threat to them—and to America.”
‘Duuhhh... what was your first clue?’, whereupon, TC, you provided a useful description of ‘…pseudo-conservative — I borrow the term from the study of The Authoritarian Personality published five years ago by Theodore W. Adorno and his associates — ‘
Did Taylor warrant your ‘Duuhh…’ or to be even remotely connected by association with those ‘pseudo-conservative’ threats to American democracy that you described?
Here’s why I think Miles Taylor deserves better: after being appointed deputy chief of staff of DHS, in September, 2018, Taylor wrote the The New York Times op-ed "I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration" under the pen-name "Anonymous". In September 2019, he left the administration. In November 2019, he published the book 'A Warning’, again under the pen name "Anonymous". In October 2020, he revealed himself to be "Anonymous" while campaigning against Trump's reelection. Taylor produced an ad for Republican Voters Against Trump, denouncing Trump and endorsing Joe Biden in the 2020. (Wiki) There is additional information about Taylor leaving the fold – but enough is enough.
America needs many more Republicans to follow in the footsteps of Miles Taylor.
Thanks, TC. I hope this gets the attention it deserves. The January 6 crowd could not have been described better. They love their fictitious dangers. Real ones like global warming they dismiss.
Spot on.
TC, thank you for bringing this historical and applicable insight to us.
Nice one TC!
Just WOW! This was one day packed with revelations and truths. However, it only hit hard on those of us fighting to save our sacred democracy.
Biden’s words were potent and powerful. Once again, they were only heard by us. It was, in fact, another case of preaching to the choir.
It’s time to take action! Schumer’s letter to Rupert & Friends will fall on deaf and more than likely racist ears. It’s up to us to contact the advertisers of Tucker’s show and let them know we will boycott whatever they are hawking. It worked with Bill Riley. It will work again. When their bankrolls are threatened they react. Just look back on how effective the Lincoln Project was with Toyota.
This is our fight.
When will there be an advertising boycott of Fox News? Money is the only thing the Murdochs understand. Tucker Carlson makes 35 million a year and has a net worth of 400 million, per Forbes. He lives in Maine, hellbent on destroying democracy while HCR fights daily to save it by writing "the first rough draft of history."
As has been mentioned, advertising money matters less than the cable fees they get for being part of a package subscription.
Totally Barbara! He wrote a letter. Wow! How bout a vote on common sense gun reform legislation. Action is exactly what we need.
Passive-aggressive behavior by Schumer…drives me crazy!! I want him to come out screaming that Murdoch and Tucker fuel the fires when innocent people are being killed!!
He doesn't call for a vote because we would lose yet again. Just like after Sandy Hook. I think pressure on Fox advertisers is way more promising.
Advertisers are not the primary revenue source for Fox Slews. Cable fees are built in. Thank the deregulation by Republican FCC 25-30 years ago. Only boycotting TV Cable and Satellite would impact them. Bundling is bad, self serving. Rupert plays a different game and he gets a ton of revenue to run political ads. He followed Russian media moguls lead Boris Berezovski’s. Rupert believes he is the “kingmaker”. For Rep to ascend to the throne, they have to kneel & kiss Rupert’s ring.Our protest should be at their HQ, and/or outside Tuckers house.
So true, kingmaker from hell to make our country hell
Tucker has many residences: Fla., Maine, NY, etc.. Catching him on the street is nearly impossible. Oh silly me, he has a residence in Turkey too, now. INDICT THEM ALL!
Hmmm, so reading your post, I thought of that scene in The Godfather, when Michael (Al Pacino), tells Tom Caghan (Robert Duvall) that he’s not/can’t be a war time “concierehe” the mob family’s wartime counselor.
Consigliere?
That's how it's spelt in Italian.
Siccuro! But I don't know Sicilian...
Chief Advisor, trusted counsul
Ur right. Now is not the time to play it safe. He’s fallen in their trap. Again.
Schumer, God love him, is sincere and kind but not someone you’d want to bring to a rumble. Give me Klobuchar who punches in the gut and is relentless!
At least he called them by name, had about given up on that
Not good enough, Jeri! A letter just doesn’t get it done. This is WAR.
It is indeed, every blow counts
OH man, Ted---absolutely! I would love to see this on the next presidential election, that being, all voters vote yes or no for abortion, and yes or no for banning high capacity weapons. Just those two would make a huge difference.
Leave "gun reform legislation" somewhere below "Infrastructure". Pinheads like the "supremacists" are the problem. They need to be subject to every law on the books..., and, held accountable. The laws exist. Bankrupt those jerks. Let "sherriffJoe" jail rules apply :))
Fox does not get the majority of its funding from advertising; it come from subscribers whose cable has Fox bundled in. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/04/21/tucker-carlson-cancel-proof-fox-news-advertisers-boycott-484081?back=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fsearch%3Fclient%3Dsafari%26as_qdr%3Dall%26as_occt%3Dany%26safe%3Dactive%26as_q%3Dit+does+no+good+to+boycott+advertisers+on+Fox%26channel%3Daplab%26source%3Da-app1%26hl%3Den
There are ways for cable viewers to unbundle Fox from their package. Call your service rep and tell them you are canceling your service. Tell them why. A supervisor will take over in attempts to keep you
🤢🤢🤢
Inundate Fox with phone calls complaining about Murdoch andTucker. Leave a comment for them.
How would Fox feel if 10,000 pissed of citizens marched on their corporate hq? Can citizens revoke an FCC license? As long as they broadcast their bs to 44% of the country, nothing will ever change.
Ted, Fox would be ecstatic is 10,000 "left wing communists" marched on their corporate headquarters so that those "communists" disobeying the "law" could be put on TV to feed their beasts.
Rubert's castle then?
Except that sadly, Toyota went right back to funding insurrectionists even after receiving thousands of phone calls and letters. I again called my dealer two weeks ago, and again reminded the sales manager that Corporate’s actions were costing him money. Tom is a good guy; Toyotas are good cars; I will never own another one. These bastards just don’t care. Boycotts absolutely work but only if they are huge and persistent over time. Let’s do this and keep doing it.
" Schumer’s letter to Rupert & Friends will fall on deaf and more than likely racist ears. "
It is worse than that. Schumer's letter will be met with hearty and loud laughter.
Heck, even I laughed when I read that he had sent a letter. No weaker possible action could have been taken.
The only way will be to ban Fox News, like has been done in the rest of the world, along with OANN and all the other hate networks.
Yes, Fox was ousted from Canada and the UK if memory serves.
There are too many who choose to watch it as their first choice.
Manna for the MAGAts
Sam Alito's brief has 'LIT THE TORCH'. What great opportunities that presents.
Tis an ill wind that does no good (1546). From this "wind" will come good!
I hope you’re right.
The My Pillow guy could care less
Indeed.
Salud, Barbara.
Biden’s words forcefully cut to the heart of the matter. But will the offenders and enablers pay heed? We know the answer. They will continue to divide and inflame. It’s beyond shameful.
There needs to be a way to hold them all accountable. A version of The Fairness Doctrine. If everyone who is truly ¨Blue,¨ ending cable service with any company that carries Fox is a start.
Hear here
Done
The president absolutely delivered the correct opening salvo and I appreciate his words to that community directly related to the victims. They want something done. For the tragedy not to be all in vain.
Well, from what Professor Richardson outlines today, the next couple months will be significant. We’ve all waited for the timing of the DOJ to be a factor. I find HCR’s noting of the DOJ being able to use the note of interviews conducted as evidence and the negotiation going on to share the notes very compelling. The offenders can continue to divide and inflame as you say Michael. To their peril.
I am hoping that the information in today’s Letter gives us encouragement to continue our campaign, We the People, in supporting and insisting that our democracy is not at the whim of anyone to take down.
Thoughts of unity with those mourning the deaths of family members. May they feel it as some measure of comfort.
Salud, Michael.
Very well said, Christine.
Join me won’t you: So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye. That jackass Cawthorne in North Carolina couldn’t win his primary - why? Because he isn’t qualified and shouldn’t have been there in the first place. I tend to not look in the rear view mirror but I can’t wait to hear what this nobody is doing in 5 years - which won’t be a heavy lift for me because I’m sure he will be doing nothing. Excuse me while I go write a check to John Fetterman’s campaign for Governor in PA.
Good morning , Laurie. I share your opinion of Cawthorne. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
I too support John Fetterman, Lt. Governor of PA., who is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Toomey. His opponent in the November election has yet to be identified. It will be one of three candidates: David McCormick, Mehmet Oz, or Kathy Barnette. All three are despicable.
Josh Shapiro, Attorney General of PA., who is running for governor is an outstanding person of sterling character. His R opponent is the odious Doug Mastriano who is a dangerous blowhard with no redeeming qualities. Mastriano was endorsed by the former guy which tells a person all they need to know about Doug.
I see you're from MA,VT. I live in Pennsylvania. Thank you for supporting John Fetterman. Please consider supporting Josh Shapiro as well. Also, Dan Pastore who will be running against Mike Kelly for the US. House seat in the 16th district. Kelly is an abomination.
The fight continues for the soul of Pennsylvania and the country. Onward.
On point, Laurie. On point. I’ll write one also.
Salud.
Josh Shapiro is the gubernatorial candidate in PA that needs support, as it's a tight race between him and the GOPer, and Shapiro is excellent. As Kamila says below, Fetterman, Lt. Governor of PA, is running for Senate from PA. (One of my close friends is very active in PA politics.)
Thank you from a PA resident, you probably know Fetterman won the primary. It’s for the Senate seat of Toomey, who never should have been elected. He did nothing but blindly support the Republican agenda, except for one failed bipartisan attempt at gun control legislation, which he quickly abandoned as a pursuit when his party “shot” it down
Hello, MG. I know your reply was to Laurie and my apology for replying out of turn. As a point of interest, Joe Manchin was the cosponsor with Toomey of the bipartisan gun control legislation you referenced. What a team...
No problem, thanks for the reply.
Heather, your recap of todays new stories brings us to one of the most important possibilities: that people who have worked against our democracy will be held accountable. Further, that some republicans finally see the light:
“Today, in the wake of the Buffalo shooting, Miles Taylor—a member of Trump’s administration who warned anonymously of how dangerous Trump was—announced he was leaving the Republican Party and called on others to do the same. “In the wake of the mass shooting in Buffalo on Saturday,” he wrote, “it’s become glaringly obvious that my party no longer represents conservative values but in fact poses a threat to them—and to America.” How long before elected repubs leave their party en mass? Join together and embrace the Truth?
Irenie, thanks for the optimism. I am trying to share it with you, but, finding it quite difficult indeed.
Good morning (I hope) Mike. I wish I could truly be optimistic. My question is really a question. I’m not holding my breath for repubs to change. Robert Reich, who used to be optimistic about our participation in government, asks in today’s “Office Hours”: “What can the rest of us do to push back against the spread of this deadly hate speech? White supremacist "great replacement theory" is a lethal reality.
And what should responsible news organizations do? Should every Republican in every interview be asked if they will denounce white nationalism and the great replacement theory before the interview can proceed?”https://robertreich.substack.com/p/office-hours-what-should-we-do-to?r=ele1&utm_medium=ios
Cabal (noun)
-a small group of secret plotters, as against a government or person in authority.
-the plots and schemes of such a group; intrigue.
Maybe the question is which billionaire donors WERE NOT acting as foreign lobbyists to TFG?
Reading the last few paragraphs of todays "Letter" it is clear what I have implied from the beginning of my posts here. WE.., are infiltrated by "agents" working for foreign governments. Some, our CIA, FBI, NSA, etc, know exist. Others have been forced to come out and register with FARA, but there are still those who we are not yet aware of. These are not "cabals". These are not "agents" hiding behind a tree-stump. "They" are who you'd never suspect, in places where you'd never imagine. And, thanks to trump, these foreign gov'ts can trade money for "SECRET" stuff in those 52 boxes, via those "agents".
Beto speaking with clarity, presenting comprehensive common sense gun policy with Texas voters. I feel hopeful.
https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cdq7OkClZdY/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Thanks for the link Ted.
Have to share what inspires, when we can find it.
Miles Taylor’s eloquent justification for leaving the Republican Party merits applause and our recognition that some examples of integrity still survive among the truly conservative. Taylor’s opinion, “After Buffalo, saving the GOP means leaving the GOP” (subtitled “I thought the Republican Party could be saved. I was wrong.”) is a direct denunciation of his former party’s role in leading our nation to its current fractional and perilous state, and is worthy of a viral dissemination. Read his full commentary here:
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/amp/rcna29266
"This isn’t a partisan broadside. It’s a public safety warning." That line in his 'adieu' really said it all to me. Thanks for posting the link, Rose.
Thank you Heather.
Wow, what a day and what a time we’re living in - and will hopefully push through.
“This is work that requires all of us—presidents and politicians, commentators, citizens. None of us can stay [on] the sidelines.”
Absolutely correct.
Perhaps the saddest "Letters from an American" I can recall. Not much more to say. Perhaps I will be more hopeful and optimistic tomorrow.
Steve, I feel sad, again. It started on my arrival in NY at the age of 19 in 1965. I had been invited to spend the weekend with friends of a family member in NJ. The wife was driving me back to the City early on Monday morning when we stopped at a toll booth on the turnpike. She demanded that I get out of the passenger seat and walk around the car to give the toll collector the money. I asked her why, since her window was next to the outstretched hand. She shocked me to the core by saying that her white hand would never touch that of a n----r! I was so stunned, I obeyed and apologized profusely to the toll collector, a beautiful Black woman, for that behaviour. I'll never forget her kind face as she said to me "don't worry, honey, I get that all the time"! I was never more grateful for being raised in a home without prejudice, always being told to treat others as I would like them to treat me.
And that, dear Jesus, is so many of us. From an old golden rule girl, raised in rural NC, my parents were never such world-class haters. LBJ was right, so many whites just looking for somebody to look down on and feel superior.
The ladder of caste. It’s so real. And it’s not even looking below anymore. It’s a foot on the neck of someone below on a lower rung.
Oh my God, Sally.
Oh Sally. I wonder (I think) about our forum one day sharing these kind of stories. I have several. The memory of any one of them stays for a long, long time.
Salud.
Wow. Stunning.
I won't hit the ❤️ button as this story is not to be "liked". It is a real story about the depth of hatred for black people, and not one that needs embellishment. Hatred, pure and simple.
Thank you, I agree. On Heather's chat yesterday, she refused to say the shooter's name, which is right. She also said that the Replacement theory the shooter mentioned in his 180 page document was the European one, not the American one. She explained the difference. I always learn something from her Letters and Chats.
The refusal to use the name of the shooter is a standard to uphold. It was in it’s infancy in 1998, when my community was rocked by a mass shooting at a local High School (Thurston, OR). Although the school was in a municipality (Springfield) the shooter there had also murdered his parents and booby-trapped their house (they lived in county jurisdiction and two of my dear friends were lead detectives in the case). It has taken a lot of work, but the event is known as the “Thurston Shooting” and the shooter’s name is rarely mentioned. (We are coming up on its anniversary; I’ll pay attention to see how much his name is mentioned.)
Horrid! I remember reading about that
It was my first peer support deployment. It was something else.
Yes, the heart button is problematic. But I pushed it for Sally's story to symbolize support for her and sending love to her.
Thank you MaryB, and others. I don't need the heart button for that horrible story except that I'm lucky to have been raised to abhor prejudice. We lived in India and Africa as well as the UK.
It’s always a hit or miss mess, on my iPad I can use the ❤️
When the heart button doesn’t turn red, refresh your page and it should then show it’s red. If not, just click on it again, and it should turn red.
Sally -- It is indeed truly depressing how much deep seated racism lies just beneath the surface or America. You might have imagined that we, as a country, would have made more progress since 1965. Racism is learned and hard to unlearn. Just when we need to do better at teaching our children, overtly racist laws (thinking of FL) won't even permit the honest teaching of the history of our country. The acceptance of these white supremacist ideas simply has to stop.
Until 2016, I thought we were finally making progress. All the racists have emerged from their holes in the ground.
❤️
Exactly! It has become acceptable (encouraged by Fox (FAKE) News) to emerge and act on this racist ideology.
I hope the DOJ + the J6 Committee are working together to expose and to prosecute the betrayers of our constitution and nation. This isn’t a witch hunt, this is solid detective work - the law preceding the order.
"Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who represents Buffalo, today wrote a letter to Rupert Murdoch, chair of the Fox Corporation, along with another three of the corporation’s leaders, to urge them to stop “the reckless amplification of the so-called ‘Great Replacement’ theory on your network’s broadcasts.”"
Wrote a letter? Is that how powerless our government of these United States is now??
Tucker Carlson, daily, commits sedition and treason on his show and our United States Government writes a letter to beg Rupert Murdoch to stop?
The only outcome of a letter from Schumer to Rupert?
Peals of laughter in the hallways of Fox News headquarters. I mean hearty, loud, big time laughter.
What did you expect him to do? If it’s an opening salvo, more power to Senator Schumer. Get off the rant on this particular day. Can we please be focused on the extraordinary progress outlined by Professor Richardson today? And by her continued revealing dialogue? The Committee’s hearings are soon. Let’s be United, Mike! In thought also.
He's had plenty of time to get past the letter-writing, and on to a response that matches his opposition.
Exactly!
The conservatives have been implementing a focused strategy for decades, and the Democrats are still writing polite letters. It's like bringing a banana to a knife fight.
Thank you Heather.
As I watched President Biden speak today in Buffalo, I very much realized that he could have been standing at a podium delivering the same speech 3 hours east of Buffalo in Syracuse where I was sitting.
There isn't a magic wand that he can wave over this country to stop this unthinkable behavior. This Country isn't ready to move away from this narrative not because they can't. It's because they won't.
As long as there are people who willingly accept the principles of White Supremacist theology, there will always be another City to divide. There is not a slowing down of this doctrine, the GOP are ramping it up everytime the Sedation Caucus opens its mouth.
What City will the President be talking about next week?
Be safe. Be well.
Surely it seems there to be another city as we wait for that hammer to pound yet again, Linda, hoping it won’t be our city or loved one. There just must be many, many more of us that will NOT accept the cruel narrative and will stand to fight against it. By example, word, and deed.
Salud, compatriot!
Christine, this is very true.
I don't want this hatred to peak during my lifetime. Will this be a snippet in time where future generations read about this and say, " why didn't they stop them ?"
Bingo.
Great post Linda.
Yes, America remains the sad place it has been since 1619 when the first white person brought a subjugated black slave to America to do the work for him while he sat on his arse watching and drinking beer and anticipating Tucker Carlson in the future.
The Sedation Caucus? I wish.
In more hopeful news, doing a happy dance here, Cawthorn has lost his primary bid in NC. That's one down !!!
You beat me to it! I crowed with joy reading that last night.
Me, too, Daria. So glad to see him out.
Me too!!
🥳🎉👏🏻