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As of October 1, 2021, the population of the United States was 333,421,330.

Joe Manchin, is attempting to dismantle President Biden’s proposal to spend $3.5 trillion for things like education, housing and child care that actually HELP ordinary Americans. He is the Senator from the state of West Virginia which has only 1.8 million residents. Kyrsten Sinema, who also opposes the plan, is from Arizona with a total population of 7.3 million.

Together, these two represent only 2.7 percent of Americans, and yet they are going to stop legislation that would change the lives of countless millions of men, woman and children in our country for the better.

On Thursday Manchin sneered that if liberals want to pass more bills, they should “elect more liberals.”

Here’s an idea: Have two Democrats —one in West Virginia and one in Arizona— each launch a campaign for the United States Senate next week to replace Manchin and Sinema when their terms expire in 2025. They can start the race now!

Let the candidates tell the people of their states why they are running: so ordinary folk can have some of the same benefits their counterparts in Europe

have enjoyed for decades.

These are some of the things your Senators don’t think you should have, the candidates can declare:

Universal pre-kindergarten education for 3- and 4-year-olds,

affordable child care for working families,

tuition-free community college,

an expansion of Pell Grants for higher eduction so students

will not be burdened by massive student debt.

Hundreds of billions to build affordable housing and establish

community land trusts

$107 billion to address the climate crisis, including forest fires,

the effects of droughts and the need to reduce carbon emissions

$198 billion to develop clean energy and create millions of jobs

in the process

If candidates like this for the U.S. Senate were to emerge right now when Manchin and Sinema are trying to sink the Biden agenda, it would be a news sensation. Every TV network, newspaper and internet venue would run the story. The two would become instant household names. Campaign funds would pour in from all over the country.

And the two Senate challengers have only to repeat over and over

and over what President wants to do for the people of America with his two infrastructure plans that will cost a total of $5.5 trillion over 10 years.

(They can compare this amount to the $14 trillion the Pentagon has spent since 9/11, according to National Public Radio. In a September 13 story, NPR also reported that Brown University Cost of War study revealed that some $7 trillion of that money went to for-profit defense contractors.)

The two Senate challengers can investigate and report exactly what special interests have financed the campaigns of Manchin and Sinema. They

can focus particularly on the largesse to the two Senators from the fossil fuel industry which certainly does not want hundreds of billions spent to fight climate change and develop clean energy.

According to recent polls, the $3.5 trillion-dollar package is extremely popular among voters in West Virginia and Arizona when the benefits are explained fully, along with the President’s plan on how to finance them.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reported that “a poll of 600 registered West Virginia voters found 48% support Biden’s plan. After polled voters were given the option of raising taxes on the richest Americans and corporations, while closing the loopholes that have caused significant wealth disparities, support for the plan rose as high as 70%.”

Who is ready to stand up and do battle against the tyranny of this ridiculously tiny minority of the nation?

And let’s stop calling Manchin and Cinema “moderates” for heaven’s sake. Congress members with records like theirs are certainly at least “conservative” and might even be termed “right-wing” at a time when life on earth is being destroyed and threatened every moment by the climate emergency we humans and especially our children and grandchildren are facing.

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While you're correct that Manchin and Sinema are gumming up the works, this is how negotiations work. Totally normal--and the WH didn't put forward their final offer. Let's zoom out like Heather did and look at the biggest picture: Rs are undermining democracy; Ds are actively hashing out leg that will allow people to have living wages, care for their kids and parents, eyeglasses so grandparents can see, etc. If we contribute to the breathless chicken little atmosphere when this is just politics getting done, we're not telling the right story either. Breathe. Let this play out. There's no real deadline for anything but defaulting on the debt, which the Rs are actively voting for. We need to change this narrative for ourselves as well.

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Let’s zoom out farther.

To the “There’s no real deadline” part, espoused yesterday by Biden, it might be instructive to consider a couple of points.

While the infrastructure legislation doesn’t get done, the Voting Rights legislation does not get done either. The 2022 elections are little more than a year away. If we assume that the Infrastructure bill dominates most of this sitting, then the Voting Rights Bill will probably not face its Herculean challenge in the Senate until it is too late to have a positive effect on the next election cycle. At that point we will likely see the first real fruits of Donald Trump’s insidious lie, which now dominates the political scene.

November 2022 will bring a hurricane of negative effects on the Democrats, who will lose the House and the Senate. If the voting restrictions aren’t sufficient to topple enough seats towards the Republicans, then the states which have passed laws to turn control of elections over to the legislature will surely do so. We will have witnessed the first political act of naked authoritarianism and, almost as a side effect Biden’s presidency will be effectively over, as he becomes the lamest of lame ducks.

Nsé Ufo, CEO of Stacey Abram’s New Georgia Project puts the problem pungently and succinctly. “If there isn’t a way for us to repeat what happened in November 2020, we’re f---ed.”

Derek Johnson, who is President and CEO of the NAACP is similarly clear-eyed. “We cannot out-organize voter suppression.”

Vanity Fair alerted its readers that time is running out as far back as June. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/06/democrats-are-running-out-of-time-to-stop-the-gop-from-shredding-voting-rights?intcid=inline_amp

We are watching the GOP, aided by Joe “Elect more liberals” Manchin and Kyrsten “I’m in the Senate” Sinema do exactly what they promised to - run out the clock. We can slash the Build Back Better bill down to 1.5 trillion - that’s a virtual certainty. That assumes that Manchin and Sinema themselves can agree on what will be slashed - it seems that Manchin is a slow walker on climate change provisions while Sinema made her chops early as a Green politician. Regardless, by simple Math, 4/7ths of what is in that legislation will disappear. At best it will limp to the finish line as the Build Back a Little Better bill.

I love that the Progressives drew a line in the sand and have stuck to it. Without this firmness of purpose, God knows where we would be today. But to whistle away the problems as, “This is just politics” is very, very hard for me to swallow.

And while we’re at the 30 000 foot level, it seems to me that the Republicans have had a narrow brush with death this year, and since then have nicely come back to the fold and enjoyed a pretty successful 2021. Which is horrible for America.

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My fear continues that Mr Biden-Ms Harris could become a half-term administration if keystone legislation (societal reform, voting rights) are not passed this year and make a Republican takeover an almost certainty in 2022.

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Agreed. Question is why are Dems acting without any urgency?

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What makes you think they're acting without urgency? They're at work on this night and day! I get approximately 200 emails from Democratic party organizations, PACS and politicians daioy, seeking support for the Build Back Better Act and/or asking me to call my Representative and Speaker Pelosi to demand that the "bipartisan" infrastructure bill isn't passed first and allowd to be seen as "instead of." Even the news organizations trying to keep the level of anxiety high enough to make a profit in the post-Trump era are reporting on their late night meetings. Take heart!

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Yes, the Dems are working overtime to turn this nation into a CCP vassal state. Maybe, Biden and company will create prison camps and

an economy partially based on prisoner slave labor. Back to Louisiana State Penn in the fifties. We will buy electric vehicles from the CCP that may not work. We will pay high taxes and get food insecurity.

If you complain, you will pay for thinking you are free.

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I hear the clock ticking. I fear that the republicans and the two Trojan horses will stop at nothing to tank the Dem agenda. If Dems haven’t figured this out, I despair. The Everett Dirksens of the Republican Party are long gone. BTW, he was this old Democrat’s favorite pol

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I voted for Biden/Harris. I've never been so ashamed. The Dems have the House, half the Senate and the White House. They don't have the people between the coasts. The Dems need to lose to save us from being used by the CCP more than we already are.

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wrong, wrong, wrong, the cult needs to go. What more proof do we need?

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Eric, You choose to zoom past Stephanie and make one assumption after another:

1. ' If we assume that the Infrastructure bill dominates most of this sitting, then the Voting Rights Bill will probably not face its Herculean challenge in the Senate until it is too late to have a positive effect on the next election cycle.'

a) Why should '...we assume' as you wrote above that the infrastructure bills and a national voting rights bill will not be passed in time to avert the most egregious damage by Republicans to free and fair elections? You go on with '...Voting Rights

Bill will probably not face its...' why would it not face the challenge in the Senate be passed in enough time?

2. 'November 2022 will bring a hurricane of negative effects on the Democrats, who will lose the House and the Senate. If the voting restrictions aren’t sufficient to topple enough seats towards the Republicans, then the states which have passed laws to turn control of elections over to the legislature will surely do so.'

b) Zooming on, you predict the '22 election results. Clearly, you are assuming that a national voting rights bill will not been passed or passed in time. I think it premature of you to jump to calling the election results. Eric, you proclaim, 'At that point we will likely see the first real fruits of Donald Trump’s insidious lie, which now dominates the political scene.' In fact, Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema, Nancy Pelosi and President Biden are the ones now dominating the political scene.

3. 'We will have witnessed the first political act of naked authoritarianism and, almost as a side effect Biden’s presidency will be effectively over, as he becomes the lamest of lame ducks.'

c) You don't pull any punches! Was your comment a reflection of what you think could happen or what you believe is likely to happen?

Was I reading the words of Cassandra, a futurist, a soothsayer, seer, Jeremiah or a dramatist? These were the words of a very concerned observer. As a warning, this comment is a siren, which I wish many millions of Americans could hear. Your concern is on target and, I hope our course does not mirror your words.

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What do you consider voter suppression? Did the GOP get judges to change voting rules? Were there non-citizens voting illegally? Did they forget to count counties that did not vote for their candidates? No. Voters weren't given water while they waited in line. Voters had to prove they were legit. The hours did not fit their activity roster. Stacy Abrams saying the Dems were going to lose if they could not get the rules they had in 2020 should tell you how rigged the vote was.

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What it should tell you is that there was no significant "vote rigging". How, in Heaven's name, can you conclude otherwise ?

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BINGO! Everything you stated is true.

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The Dem party I was once voted for is no longer interested in keeping my country free. I know ethnic groups have had a rough and dangerous road in this country, but I would not trade down to the CCP for any reason.

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But why does it have to be this way? Why is this the way it works? Who says?

Think big.

We need to get rid of special interests and way too much power to those working AGAINST the will of the people.

The past 50 years shows “that this is how [it] works” not only fails, but is catastrophic!

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Agreed.

But what, in practice. does this mean?

Overturning something so entrenched in history in the face of absolutely obdurate opposition, deep pools of dark money, a resolutely uninformed public i.e. Fox devotees, and the pandemic of utterly malignant social media, demands concerted, radical action.

Public protests are simply lied about and turned against those who organize them.

“Million” people marches are but a blip in the news cycle.

It would take radical action - general strikes, a wave of arrests, trials and stiff punishments of all who fostered sedition, selective and disciplined boycotts. Aggressive, in your face, behavior. Good trouble - and plenty of it. Instead we have prosecutors from the DOJ asking for sentences for seditionists which flummox judges by their stunning leniency.

If it was easy for the good guys to turn away this threat, it would already have been done.

The paradox is that real action (as above) will not happen until a critical mass of citizens feel in their gut that all is about to be lost. By then it will be too late. The opposition will have tasted the sweet fruits of unchecked power and will swat away resistance.

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It takes voting for candidates that value serving others over being served. We vote every year. We cannot do it alone. It takes all of us.

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In thinking about the civil unrest and hatred that have seemed to grow and been fueled, particularly in the last six years (always simmering in the USA) I came across an uncommon article about violence in America. See the link below:

https://www.thenation.com/article/world/afghanistan-war-drones/

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Thank you so much for the link! Very useful info there. ❤️🙏❤️🙏

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That was a harrowing article. Post 9/11 there were no brakes on the chief actors. America’s understanding of its power and self had been shattered by the events of September 11. No vengeance would be to great for Americans to vanquish the events of 9/11. Nothing could possibly be right in the narcissistic American universe until the belly of the beast had been sated.

I don’t think Gore would have avoided the carnage of Afghanistan had he won the infamous election. The country would have screamed for it and forced the “mommy” party to lash back.

I think Iraq might never have happened. But Afghanistan was not to be spared.

9/11 was of course a vast desecration of its own. Some response was needed. However America was in the cycle of conflict that brought about 9/11.

It’s terrible.

Thank you Fern. That article was deeply sobering.

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“If it was easy for the good guys to turn away this threat, it would already have been done.”

That’s my point, the Dem establishment and most of the Dems are NOT the good guys.

We need them out as much as the R’s.

We need MAJOR change and that pretty much means we need an entire new congress. Especially members like Pelosi, Feinstein, Shumer, etc. who still think it’s the 1970’s and act as if it’s ok to continue politics from that era.

- they know how angry people are. How much we want change. The support they get when they do things like the Coronavirus relief measure. The endless polls over the many years showing how

much the public wants these changes.

- But they continue to ignore us.

So, we show them they cannot continue doing that.

Pressure on existing D’s as stated in the OP is also needed. Real pressure that they’ll lose their cushy job will force them to act and START things.

I don’t think a revolution is here yet (but will be if they don’t change direction now), but we do need the people forcing major change to be supported and vote the others out (along with the reversal of the very long lots of things like Citizens United).

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From 1775 on, there has been political fighting, nasty, personal feuds, slavery that no body wanted, but tolerated for money, special interests and power hungry legislators. Yet, here we are in 2021. Perplexed and sad, but still viable as a country. All nations have problems and people they would like to eliminate. We are people, not masses. People, as you know, are not anywhere near perfect. We do produce some wonderful things though. America is one of them. Please don't think of throwing us into the trashcan of the vassal state.

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I have to disagree with your comment "slavery that no body wanted". The southern leadership in 1860-61 attempted to create a nation to preserve slavery. They believed that the African people they enslaved were inferior and they were doing them a service to "take care of them". There's a lot of primary source material I could quote but just google the South Carolina articles of Secession and Alexander Stephens speeches in 1860-61. They thought they were on the moral high ground.

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Well reasoned. And a good reminder for those of us who are anxious and fearful amidst the media/news need to keep profits soaring and regain share of markets.

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Nicely corralled, Stephanie. Thank you

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Isn't the deadline before year's end? Heaven forbid they are still negotiating next year. They need to show pretty darn soon that Dems can govern and get stuff done that helps everyone. The R voter and Dem voters need results or the Dems will lose The House is my prediction.

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Can you afford to pay the taxes to support these goodies? Entitlements don't go away. Your descendants will be paying for these entitlements with cash, violent streets, and very little money left over for luxuries like food. Check out Venezuela. Everyone is hungry. The social agenda is draining them dry. Many have left and come here. Before social programs and taxes, the people were doing just fine.

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Wishful thinking. Manchin is the only Democrat who could win a statewide election in WV. When he goes, a Republican will fill his seat. And be careful how you beat him up - if he decides to switch parties, the Senate majority changes, McConnell is once again in charge, and Biden's presidency is effectively over.

Manchin is infuriating but at least sometimes seems to be trying to inject conservative ideas into Democratic legislation. He's far more useful as a Democratic obstructionist than he would be as a Republican.

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This is so wrong. If we piss him off, the R’s win. If we don’t, the R’s win.

That IS Manchin’s plan. He’ll join the R’s if they win, by saying he diluted these changes (ie he was a spy). Otherwise, he says he helped create them.

So, piss him off. Nothing to lose.

Now is the ONLY time to do something. If we don’t act RIGHT NOW, the Rs win in 2022 & 2024

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Instead of targeting a Democratic Senator - who at least helps to create a Democratic majority in the Senate - let's make sure to re-elect Sen.Raphael Warnock, and support progressive challengers for currently Republican seats. While I don't agree with Senator Manchin on all that much, he has it right that we need to elect more progressives.

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And making sure our voices are heard and reflected in our own local communities, especially with fair redistricting, and support for our school boards.

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You are wise, Joan!

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Surely Dems have few billionaires who can outbid the republican donors and buy back Manchin and Sinema. Buying politicians seems to be our national pastime. Inane emails asking for my $5 won’t do it.

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For $50B over ten years, a drop in the bucket on a $3.5T package, the Dems could offer to pay all 5,000 coal mners in West Virginia $100,000 a year for ten years on the condition that they not work in the coal sector industry for that period and the condition that Manchin would vote to eliminate the filibuster That might get Manchin’s attention. Do something similar for Sinema.

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Manchin’s son is running his coal company. Paying his workers to not work won’t impress him one bit.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/30/joe-manchin-climate-coal-baron-stocks

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Whoops. Didn’t know that.

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Alright, how about this - modify your proposal to $90,000/yr for ten years to the workers, and $50,000,000/yr to Manchin's son. That should impress him a little and serve the extra purpose of laying bare how the game works, and what the priorities are!

* before I posted this, I had to pull out my calculator (an anachronism, I mean my phone, of course) and check the numbers. All the zeroes were spinning in my head. I believe the top line number to pay for such a program for 10 years is actually $5 Billion, not 50! An even smaller drop in the proverbial bucket. Money well spent if it gets us to Yes from Manchin.

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Good idea. You’re right about the $5B. My bad. I think there are about 50,000 coal miners in the US, so $50B could keep all of them out of the mines for ten years. Maybe throw in another $50B to buy off potential scabs after they’ve had a year or so on the job to prove they’re able and serious. All fantasy, of course, but kinda fun.

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Basically a good idea, with some tuning to promote some kind of ongoing job creation there, which WVa needs and Manchin has worked for in the past.

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Yes, tying it to job creation would improve the idea, but the potential effect on global warming by reducing the use of coal would be the biggest plus, I think, other than the effect on Manchin’s positions on filibuster and the Build Back Better legislation.

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Does anyone know if there are Russian or Chinese dollars flooding into these two states like the aluminum plant in KY?

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Right on!

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Manchin stated one of his aims is that he will bring moderate Republicans into the fold with his actions. I say Manchin should reveal his true colors as a coal-business-funded actor who is as obstructionist as most Republicans, who therefore is a Republican.

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Both Manchin and Sinema appear to be Rs in camo as both are heavily invested in fossil fuel industry. Manchin's daughter is a CEO of a major pharma company. So anythimg he supports has a dollar sign attached gor him

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Manchin is an openly conservative, openly pro-fossil fuel and pro-big-business Democrat. If his activity results in the Freedom to Vote passing in time to make a difference, we will be celebrating, and it will open serious possibilities of more progressive legislation in the future. If not, doom and gloom; we don't know yet. But we do know who we're dealing with; we know he has plenty of political experience; and we know the $1.9 t American Recovery Act passed after going through Manchin's sieve.

We have also seen progressives in the House standing strong behind the original deal, not giving in to the bait-and-switch attempt of a few so-called moderates.

Sinema worries much more. She reminds me too much of Susan Collins, wanting support from liberals if not progressives while openly fund-raising from right wing business groups that want to kill key provisions of the human infrastructure bill. Sinema was the only democrat who did not co-sponsor S1, the Senate version of the For the People voting rights act.

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Without the Freedom to Vote Act, no national election will matter. They’ll all be suspect. I guess he’s our Ferdinand Marcos.

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Not only his daughter. I read a tweet recently that his son is in one of the fossil fuel industries and profiting like his daughter. So his job in office is not only for him to gain more wealth but for his children to rake us over the coals too.

Did you see the photo of him on his boat talking down to his constituents in kayaks? Quite the image.

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Was, Manchin's daughter was the CEO of Mylan. Mylan is defunct, it merged with Upjohn in 2020 to form Viatris. Manchin's daughter, Heather Bresch retired in 2020. But you are right, anything attached to him, his daughter and his wife has a dollar sign attached to it.

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Be careful what you wish for. Manchin becoming a Republican would blow up government and destroy the Democrats' only opportunity at "unified" government in over a decade.

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I simply dislike his "double-speak." He's protecting his own financial ass-ets. A horse with painted stripes is not a zebra.

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I am still not sure he is not simply being black mailed, or paid.

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Sinema will no doubt be primaries. She’s in a purple state, though one where the election results can be overturned by R’s in a whim. Manchin’s seat will be R next time. The amazing thing is he’s from one of the poorest states in the union - one that takes from the fed much much more than they put in. Biden’s agenda would no doubt help most West Virginians, so just whom is he representing of the tiny proportion of Americans that live there anyway?

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Manchin is representing himself. West Virginians need all the fed dollars they can get.

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Why does everyone say that the next W. VA seat will be republican when 70% of West VA voters support these bills and raising taxes? Why in the world would they vote republican when the republicans also do not support the infrastructure?

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They are still waiting for clean coal. Cognitive disconnect.

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Democrats seem to have trouble finding candidates who can forcefully articulate and defend their policies to average voters, and explain clearly how the benefits from investing in societal goods will flow to their communities.

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It is worth thinking about how much better off our country would be at this moment with a few more real Dems in the Senate and House.

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Admitting DC and Puerto Rico as states would be a big help in the liberal Senator count. WV is not going to elect a liberal dem...they still think coal will come back. Many of the D's in WV have been D's for a long time...from the days of Sen Byrd and he'd probably be playing the same game as Manchin. The man has never had this much power. I certainly didn't know his name until the last 2 years and I live in MD

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I disagree . Those two words are at the base of democracy. We are not people of one voice, one opinion. That is not democracy.

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And democracy can tolerate your disagreement.

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Flawless choice of words Kathy!

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RIGHT ON!

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EXACTLY!!

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Very well done, Dr. Angle!!

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Apply intense pressure to Manchin and Sinema and see which one changes parties first.

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Plus they both know that the next Senator from their state will be a Republican.

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This is a terrrific idea! I think you should send it via email to both of these "right wing" supposed Dems as a heads up and a warning! And please, send it to Jaime Harrison at the DNC.

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Reading Heather's "reflective" piece this morning, I did some reflecting myself about her ongoing efforts to present the evidence about how "Republican lawmakers are actively working to undermine our democracy." Ever since she began her endeavor, famously known as Letters from an American, she has been the voice of democracy for me and countless others as the forces of fascism have gathered to undermine the power of the people as established by the Constitution. On September 15, 2021, she posted a letter about how the blog was born and expressed her gratitude to her readers for their support.

"I write these letters because I love America," she stated in part. "I am staunchly committed to the principle of human self-determination for people of all races, genders, abilities, and ethnicities, and I believe that American democracy could be the form of government that comes closest to bringing that principle to reality. And I know that achieving that equality depends on a government shaped by fact-based debate rather than by extremist ideology and false narratives."

The post evoked a flood of reader responses reflecting the power and passion of her words. Richardson has a way of inspiring readers to participate, to think, to write back in response to the issues she raises and to join the chorus of We, the People, singing the great song of Democracy throughout the land. I acknowledged in my own response to her beautiful letter how I admired the way she continues to stand up for democracy in the face of a fascist assault unprecedented in American history, also noting how the legacy of the lone, self-sufficient individual (most likely a Reagan Republican) riding off into the sunset drags on, as does what Lewis Mumford called the predatory corporate "megamachine," the industrial regime that's destroying the planet.

These are the forces that diminish the aspirations of every civic-minded citizen yearning to participate in the process of governing this nation, which is what democracy is all about. The enemies of democracy today are the same ones that coalesced around the Republican Party and enabled it to launch the class war against FDR's New Deal and the rise of democracy during the 30's. In the current era of what I call Bozo Republicanism, Richardson's voice has become the clarion call of democracy and social justice for thousands who read her letters, and when a recent Financial Times profile revealed that she had considered giving up this beautiful thing she does, I was horrified at the thought of not having Letters from an American in my email inbox to get my motor running every morning. It seems to me that her writing transmits on the same frequency as Cicero, Tom Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglas, Susan B. Anthony, Millicent Fawcett, Ralph Nader, Lewis Lapham, Thomas Frank, Robert Scheer, Chris Hedges, Matt Taibbi, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Rep. Barbara Lee, and many other inspired luminaries who have taken a stand for democracy and the rule of law. Chris Hedges once said a person really has only two choices when push comes to shove: either serve money and power or truth and justice. Heather Cox Richardson's choice is clearly the latter, which explains the high regard readers have for her work. She relentlessly tells the truth in support of a just, democratic society the thrives for everyone, not just a cabal of wealthy elites.

When Richardson published the September 15 thank-you letter, the gratitude flowed both ways with a torrent of appreciative sentiment coming from the multitude of Letters from an American readers. That fact speaks volumes about the respect readers share for her integrity and passion for equality. Albert Einstein famously said "a student is not a container you have to fill, but a torch you have to light up." As a writer and an educator, "lighting up torches" is what Heather is all about, empowering the hearts and minds of a growing number of like-minded people yearning for democracy and uniting together to make it a reality. Power to the People!

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Stewart…

Each person must bring a match to their own pilot light or allow their life to abide in darkness.

Salud!

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Christine, as a retired educator, I have to agree that the force of will is a prerequisite. At this point in our history, there is a lot of fuel, and we are tinder-dry, ready for the spark.

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In thinking over how reading Heather’s letters every day has made me more aware of what’s happening and how the pieces fit together to create a scary view of the GOP machinations, I wonder how many of us would have been able to see a big picture. Some of us noted bits and pieces in the news that bothered us. Others, who have been drawn to Heather’s letters by a shared social media post or a personal conversation, may have been focusing on their daily lives and oblivious to anything more than the big news headline events. The letters have drawn together a large following as we learn and share ideas and knowledge. If our democracy survives, I believe a lot of credit should go to Heather and her ability to educate and motivate so many to be aware of the dangers and act before it’s too late.

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I'm not sure I've encountered anyone who so effectively cuts through the noise and, with historical context, boils things down to their essence. Heather has been vital to me in understanding what's really happening, all while teaching me so much about the nation's past that I either didn't know or fully understand.

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Beautifully said. Thank you!

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May I copy your comment with attribution on Facebook? I think it is a great sales piece for engaging more readers. Thank you for writing it.

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I'd also like to copy your comment to FB with attribution, if it's OK with you.

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Thank you for your brilliant comments!

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It’s infuriating and enervating that The NY Times, the major TV networks, and other mainstream news sources have reduced the work of Congress to a cross between a sports event and a soap opera. They all seem to think they must turn every political negotiation into a terrifying, nail-biter of a cliffhanger that might lead to the end of the world. And their constant harangues that the Dems are hapless, hopeless, and useless is exhausting. It’s all just unending blather and noise. Thank you, Professor Richardson for your eloquent, focused, and calm recital of just plain facts.

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When things are explained, people calm down. Tv cannot endure that, so everything becomes melodrama, and the message is always what it has been since the dawn of television, “Stay tuned!”

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#advertisingdollars

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how about making advertising, promotion and lobbying expenses non-tax-deductible for all businesses..make them pay from profits. Certainly would cut FB, Google etc off at the knees, massively reduce sports salaries and match prices, make TV possibly more watchable and remove a whole slew of "ad-generated-need" products from our shoppingbags and homes. It would make businesses think a little more seriously about the use of the earth's few remaining ressources.

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How would you know what to “ask your Doctor “ for without the incessant ads, think about the profits that would be lost, there must be a lot of them, because TV advertising isn’t cheap.

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Oh my God. Those ads should be outlawed.

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Two prescription medications I have been taking for 15 years or so are currently incessantly advertised on TV. The out-of-pocket cost on one has steadily increased from $200 for 3 months to over $1200. The other is comparable. That’s a lot more than the cost of inflation.

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As they are telling Ppl in Sept. that “ There’s a big possibility that Santa won’t be at you’re house this Christmas “. Most of last Christmas ‘s STUFF has already broken ( plastic junk from where ever ?) , lost, stuffed in an explosive drawer or closet or taking up space in a garage while $90K worth of vehicles sit out in the weather. Average spending ( credit card ) is at about $2,000 for one day. And see it means “ Love “. I do/ did celebrate it. But never to great expense much less C.C. Debt. Crazy ! We are nothing more than consumers and commodities. We are bought and sold.The “ Got to have it now ! “ mind set.And so wasteful .A kid will spend more time playing with the room full of box’s, packaging and wrapping than what comes in them. LOL ! And cats !

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When I was a kid I was furiously jealous of my first cousins. Their Christmas was like walking into a toy store. If a kid could want it, they had it in spades. We hated going to their house Christmas Afternoon. By contrast, my family was of the one big gift school of thought – our other gifts were books, record albums, art supplies, pjs, socks and the like. And a stocking filled with oranges, walnuts, chocolate and fun and thoughtful little things. Today, when I look back on my childhood Christmases I do so with joy and appreciation for the example my mom set.

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Good idea, let's shop local this year and adopt 10 million cats.

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👍😻

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And with children, the “must have” item on their wishlist can change monthly, if not weekly, between now and Christmas.

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They have to watch TV to find out what it is.

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Back in the old VHS days in the late 80s-90s, I recorded my children’s favorite shows and movies, pausing the tape at every commercial, editing them out and avoiding loads of pleas for toys and other things that I didn’t want to buy. It saved a lot of grief.

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Stuart, I’m all-in for that!

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But I think everyone needs to read " Bright Green Lies" - a totally infuriating book (reads like a collection of sophomoric essays) - BUT (speaking as a conservation biologist) the message is ABSOLUTELY correct. I wish someone would edit it down to 1/3rd its size, and the message will be far clearer. But, sadly most of us have become what I call "latte" conservationists - "I'm really supportative of environmental measures, so long as they don't affect MY lifestyle".

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This is why we need clear headed, moral, inspirational leadership, now.

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Oh Stuart, how utopian. But drastic times require drastic measures. Thanks for the dreamy consideration of life without advertisements, and LOBBIESTS!

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That may save the world more than climate initiatives, if not, may save my sanity. I love every suggestion. How often I have thought this but you put it all together succinctly and with clarity, thank you.

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Well, Stuart, that would be a good place to start.

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Can we add interest to the non-deductibles? Great suggestion Stuart.

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I like all these ideas, but eliminating the tax deduction for lobbying expenses would only raise lobbying costs by 21%, the corporate rate, which would have no impact on the amount of lobbying. What corporations get in return for lobbing would be cheap at ten times the price.

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Every little helps. A lot more must of course be done.

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My 21% figure is a bit low. Taxed lobbying would be 27% more expensive. That is, 100%/(1 -21%) - 100%, which comes to about 27%. But the point is the same. The increase would be a negligible blip on corporate profits. Lobbying would still be an investment with an ROI percentage in the thousands, exceeding the return on any other investment of the same size that the company could make, so I don’t think the often-true maxim that every little bit helps applies in this case. The measure would raise some tax revenue, which is a plus, and it would make the tax code more fair, another plus. I like all of the ideas in your note, including this one about taxes on lobbying expenses, but I don’t think it would cut the amount of lobbying that takes place by even a little bit. I’m quibbling, though. We’re on the same side of this issue, maybe for slightly different reasons.

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Who can tell, from this blow-by-blow sports reporting that ‘climate change’ initiatives are included in these infrastructure bills? Also, in the massive human infrastructure bill, couldn’t we get insight into how this would affect individuals at diverse social strata? Put some soul into ‘just the facts?’

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Like 9/11. Everyday for at least 3 months we were shown over and over those planes hitting the buildings and the collapse and the cloud chasing panicked running ,terrified New Yorkers . It was revealed that every time a child saw it they thought is was actually happening over and over again. What are they seeing now ? But it’s Masks that are affecting your children’s mental health ? I think a lot about the homes the kids come from that have Bully’s for parents. Want to fight at School board meeting’s and leave their home as if outfitted, being dressed for war. Nah ! That doesn’t affect them ? And get together’s of like kind spewing Anger and Hate. Children learn what they live. It’s been 6 yrs 4 months since TFG descended on us. Some of those kids are now legal to carry hand guns and AR-15. And we are seeing the effects of that ‘ Mind Set ‘. But they want Facebook to be responsible for them ? Pure Insanity ! My home life growing up was anything but perfect. But one thing we all learned young. The Golden Rule: “ Treat people the way you want people to treat you “. The New Rule: “ Hurt people, Hurt People.”

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It just feeds the Republiqan base.

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You are absolutely right.

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Thank you Heather.

These last few days I have been watching not what news is being reported, but how it's being reported. It fascinates me how a simple news release is twisted to their liking. I'm not talking about some insignificant newspaper in the South, I'm referring to The New York Times. I'm thinking The New York Times is full of shit these days. More to the point, its getting away with it. I'm reading from people quoting the NYTs as if it's gospel. These are the same people that would have used this same paper to cover their trailer windows , not actually read the paper.

The twisting of news to fortify sales is hardly new in this industry. The lack of guardrails is disturbing.

I would have hoped that during the most destructive political time in our lifetimes, the media would dial back the BS and try to report with accuracy. No, not in this country.

I suppose that is why we come to Heather for news we can trust.

Be safe, be well.

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Exactly this Linda. me too. Not what but how. I come away from articles with more questions than I started with. The same thing seems to be happening at NPR which I listen to throughout the day. With Afghanistan, they focused on the "blunder" and how it was affecting whom, how terrible it was. I wanted to know what the options were, how the decisions were made, why hadn't people left Afghanistan when Trump made his deal, why didn't Trump see the thing through himself but leave it for the next term, more about the Taliban's end of the deal, and more I can't think of right now.

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I am a long time NPR listener and have noticed the trend in their reporting has changed in tone as well. I have been a long time contributor to both NPR and PBS. Both appear to have jumped on the "negativity train" focusing on what is not happening in the Biden Administration and not providing the "why" for the general listening public. I started a list of media that I might contribute to as I believe that the "free" press needs support to remain "free". The New York Times is on that list and I am now questioning whether I want to subscribe to NYT. Of course, I subscribe to Heather, and start my mornings with her Letters, and am truly grateful for them! Any thoughts on media publications, online, on air, or paper to subscribe to would be appreciated.

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In my opinion, "public" broadcasting in the US has become more and more captive to big-money interests and fear of attacks by "conservatives" and Republicans. It is a sad situation and the solutions are not obvious.

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The WaPo is better than the NYT

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David, I agree. The NYT used to have worthwhile investigative reporting. Now, except for Paul Krugman and some guest pieces, they seem like one more shill for Newt Gingrich's prescription - no matter what lies the R's push, report them, magnify them; no matter what the Dems do, denigrate it. It's not exactly new (I remember telling colleagues that if President Bill Clinton walked on water, the headlines would scream "Clinton can't swim"), but it seems far worse lately.

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Your comment about the headline if Clinton walked on water gave me a huge belly laugh. Thanks!!!

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I think it's more appropriate to judge a paper on the quality of its reporting.

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Hi Christine, I gave up on the NYT after Bret Stephens’ opinion piece in the NYT said that the Biden presidency is a failed presidency. I think it is much too early to say that and there’s much that we don’t know. Anyway, I’m subscribing to the Washington Post and I like it. I feel closer to the news as it happens (if that makes any sense).

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Thank you, Joan:) I am considering Wapo because their investigative reporters seem to do their due diligence. I have to start somewhere and I prefer reading in depth as opposed to quick headlines and soundbites. Also, I enjoy reading more than videos; except, of course, Heather's videos❣

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I read through articles and wonder where the real journalists are. There are statements with no facts to back them up. They put out numbers and statistics with no idea of where they’re pulling them from. I’m a numbers person and I will be out on Google and on my calculator looking for how they come up with them. Most don’t make sense.

I’ve gotten to the point that I don’t trust any of the stuff I read. Inflammatory headlines and politicians tweeting them out with statements not backed up in the article are so common. They count on their followers not reading the article. I’m not on Facebook but I imagine it’s much worse there because there’s no character limit.

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So often news articles provide the numerator but not the denominator, often rendering the information useless.

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I agree Christine. I left out PBS Newshour but I am finding them steering the same direction as NPR and The NY Times. Like you, I do want to support free press as much as I can. I think we will get some alternative suggestions for news sources here today.

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TFG and his handlers and goons have done more damage than can possibly be known for years. They were on a mission and they knew what they were doing. Corporation for Public Broadcasting appears to be missing a few board members, but it sure looks like TFG got his 5 approved.

From Wiki:

The CPB is governed by a nine-member board of directors selected by the President of the United States and confirmed by the Senate; they serve six-year terms. As of July 2021, the board has five members, with Bruce M. Ramer as the chair.[11] Under the terms of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, the President cannot appoint persons of the same political party to more than five of the nine CPB board seats.[12]

CPB Board of Directors

Name Title Appointed by Party Term expires

Bruce M. Ramer Chair George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump Republican January 31, 2024

Laura G. Ross Vice Chair Donald Trump Republican January 31, 2022

Ruby Calvert Member Donald Trump January 31, 2022

Miriam Hellreich Member Donald Trump Republican January 31, 2024

Robert Mandell Member Donald Trump Democratic January 31, 2022

Vacant Member — January 31, 2024

Vacant Member — January 31, 2026

Vacant Member — January 31, 2026

Vacant Member — January 31, 2026

The Board of Directors governs CPB, sets policy, and establishes programming priorities. The Board appoints the president and chief executive officer, who then names the other corporate officers.

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Thank you, Christy! I didn’t realize this! I know Biden is busy, but he should fill some of those empty seats while he can

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So many require Senate confirmation. Wa Po has a great list on progress on appointments. After perusing that list, I’m amazed anything gets done!

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Christy, thank you. You’ve hit the nail on the head.

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I am no fan of NPR and CPB, but in fairness we should recognize that defunding them, making them dependent on advertisers ("sponsors") has been a consistent, long-term project of "conservatives" (Republicans). It is rather a vicious circle: The worse they get, the less they deserve public support and the more then depend on, and serve, special interests....

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Kim, odd you mention that about NPR. I'm finding questionable news stories from them lately. Most particularly regarding how Biden handled Afghanistan. They have been my go to "ride time" channel forever. I think its time I put Sirius in my new car for other sources.

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NPR bends over backwards, sometimes skewing truth, in order to appear non-partisan, especially when reporting the truth opens them to charges of taking sides.

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Yes, I have wondered about that. But facts are facts. I don't want to be told HOW to feel, I want to be told what's going on so that I can make that decision for myself. With TFG, there was so much bad stuff and his supporters thought the press was unfair, biased, or worse. But they didn't face up to the fact that TFG brought it all on himself, with poor judgment, lame advisors, need to get constant adulation, lack of knowledge about our history and the law, and more.

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They were super questionable during the election too. And when Representative Duncan Hunter was being charged with funds misuse they did a terrible job covering it without making him sound like some good guy. He also was found guilty of killing someone in Afghanistan and Trump pardoned him. I don’t understand why people re-elected him knowing this but all you have to do is listen to the news to see how they make him out to be a good guy.

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Sharon, you are positively correct. When it was happening I tried to make an excuse for them, but looking back, they certainly were questionable.

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If you know the district, you would understand how he was re-elected - largely rural and Republican despite San Diego County having a substantial majority of Democrats registered to vote in other districts.

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Yes. Our district lines keeps changing in the North County area and it looks like it’s pretty jagged up near the San Marcos area to cut out a Democratic voting base. And we hear a lot of rural voters saying they never hear about the corruption. But Democrats will tell you they didn’t know who their candidate was so didn’t vote for either. It’s frustrating. We finally got friends to vote for other things on ballots besides the president.

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If they didn't hear about the corruption, it's because they don't pay attention. I can imagine how frustrated you may be. Take a look at this map of the CA 50th Congressional District. Since you're in North County, you'll be familiar with the huge rural areas encompassed in the district. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/CA/50

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Hunter was actually found guilty of using campaign funds for five mistresses, private school and vacations. He said he served with Eddie Gallagher, the rogue SEAL who was pardoned by Trump earlier than Hunter was. But car thief and arsonist Darrell Issa is back in his old seat proving the 50th is a real law and order district.

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Actually Issa used to be in CA49. Then he was up for some position where he couldn’t pass a FBI security clearance. So, he decided to be a corrupt representative again and started by using his mother’s address to run in CA50. He doesn’t live in the district. We need to start disqualifying these people. It happens a lot in California. He did win by a slim margin and we keep trying but the candidates don’t come up to huge parts of North County to campaign no matter how many times we tell them.

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I think this is another failure by the media. People need to know their candidates don’t live in their district.

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Is NPR biased in reporting that the pullout from Afghanistan went badly? The military, the Dept of State and the intelligence agencies all vastly underestimated how quickly the Taliban would take over. What we thought would be a gradual, easily managed withdrawal turned into a rushed melee. Biden is the Commander in Chief. He took ownership. In a sense, Afghanistan is Biden’s Bay of Pigs. I hated hearing how badly it went, but I don’t blame NPR for reporting it.

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But actually, did it go badly? Did anyone anticipate our successfully extracting 124,000 Americans and some Afhanis as well using a one-runway broken down unsecured airport in so short a period? That 13 American lives were lost in an ISIS attack on the operation is tragic, but that should not diminish its success. We never really expected to be able to bring out all the Afghans who deserved to be rescued. I suppose a lot of battles in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War or the Second World War also might be criticized as having gone "badly," but that did not deter us from ultimate victory, nor did they fuel political opposition at the time.

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Yes. It really was quite a feat. And I wonder why people didn't leave the country as this deal was on the table for a long time.

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The State Department had discouraged travel to Afghanistan and began urging Americans to leave as early as April, as I recall from news stories at the time. So many ignored that advice. I was particularly annoyed by coverage of an extended family, including a toddler, begging for rescue, after traveling to Afghanistan only two weeks earlier. So similar to the many stories about people begging for rescue after ignoring orders to evacuate because of a hurricane or wildfire. The self sufficient cowboy myth meets the reality of lack of common sense.

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Right. And who’s policies were responsible for slow walking all the requests for FOUR YEARS?

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Jack, you make my point. No one in charge in our military, State Dept or intelligence anticipated having to withdraw in so short a period of time. They all assumed the Afghan government and army would hold Kabul for at least a few months. Not a few days. That’s a failure. Biden is Commander in Chief, so he’s ultimately responsible. Secondly, we made commitments to the Afghanis who worked with us. Because the withdrawal was so rushed and haphazard we were unable to honor those commitments. Lastly, in every war in which we’ve fought there’s been a great deal of criticism and opposition. Thomas Paine (and others) attacked Washington’s military leadership, and maintained that the French were responsible for our victory in the Revolutionary war. Lincoln withstood tremendous criticism and attacks during the Civil War (and ultimately gave his life). Wilson was excoriated for committing America to fight in WWI, as was FDR in WWII. Truman was crucified for the Korean War, and you may recall that LBJ made the decision not to run for re-election because of the Viet Nam war, perhaps the most polarizing war in our history. The story of America’s wars is the story of political opposition and divisiveness.

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You're correct as to criticism of our past military involvements that "went badly" but such criticism was more muted and non-partisan, with the exception of Vietnam. The saddest part was the failure to live up to our commitments to our Afghan interpreters, etc. But I'm sure they didn't have anything in writing, were aware of the risks they were taking and probably warned of them by family members. And our betrayal of the Kurds should have opened their eyes as well. I suspect we're still working covertly to get some out.

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Don't forget the 4 years of deliberate slow-walking and obstruction by TFG and S. Miller of applications for visas by Afghans who had worked with Americans.

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Jack, I couldn't agree more.

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Dont know how many remember 1975 Saigon gall and the disorganized evacuation. I watch in horror of Hueys trying to rescue folks from the US Embassy. As I had done my 4 tours over there and haf realised by the 3rd we were not really trying to win, I suppose I was not surprised how badly that went.

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Which was precisely why I omitted Nam from the conflicts I mentioned in my comment. There was of course much criticism at the time of the things that were going "badly" there.

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This is an interesting read on why Biden was in a rush to get out of Afghanistan:

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/09/biden-afghanistan-exit-troops-milley.html

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Thank you.

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The problem is not that difficulties and flaws in the withdrawal were covered. The problem is lack of context: not only lack of coverage of what went well in the withdrawal, and of the withdrawal as having started under the previous president, but lack of looking at the whole picture of the twenty year war in Afghanistan.

It wasn't just the withdrawal that ended on whatever day, it was the whole war. It wasn't only 13 American soldiers killed that week, but all the sons and daughters killed and injured serving their country during the whole 20 years - and for what? what was achieved? what was wasted? How did the seemingly endless war affect the Afghans themselves? Where were the newspaper reports or headlines that even mentioned any of this? That took a crack at starting to look at it? In-depth reporting on flaws in the withdrawal has its rightful place within this story. Making it the whole story serves only the political purposes of the authoRitarian party.

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JR, I agree with Kim. It wasn't that it was reported, but the intensity and frequency of how how they put Biden on a stick over it.

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Linda, I think it feels intense and frequent to us, because we so want Biden to succeed in everything he’s doing. It’s hard to hear him being criticized, it’s hard to have to accept that his administration screwed this up. Which doesn’t mean he’s not doing a great job overall, and it doesn’t mean that some of the ludicrous attacks by Fox and rabid Republicans are in any way legitimate. We need to understand that Biden deserves to be criticized for the Afghanistan withdrawal.

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I don't blame them for reporting that it went badly. But, as I tried to say above, there was more to the story than how badly it went. I think Milley covered some of that in his hearing.

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I appreciated how Miley covered the definition between military and civilian decision-making, in regard to leaving Afghanistan.

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Milley is a good man--at least from what I'm reading about him in Woodward & Costa's Peril.

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Really good point Kathy. That was such an important perspective.

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Thanks Linda.

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If the New York Times is ‘the gospel,’ this must be the Thomas Gospel, which is greatly in dispute. For concise writing I prefer The Guardian and The Economist. The Week weekly magazine has a superbly balanced presentation of the week’s news, some clear opinions, and, on its website,daily briefs and cartoons that tell stories better than 1,000 words. The Washington Post suits my taste. Every so often I buy a Wall Street Journal. The editorials excuse me from watching Fox, while some of the reporting ranks among the best I have been reading.

If you are tired of ratatat news, I recommend Old News, published bimonthly.If you want the inside story on Attila the Hun, the Antarctic expedition in search of king penguin eggs, or how Ben Franklin facilitated Thomas Paine raising cane, it’s yours for $17/year.

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I am a big fan of the Economist. While its view point is conservative at least on issues of the economy its overall all reporting is very balanced. Its science and technology reporting is top notch. It covers the world. Before retirement I did a great deal of international travel and the first thing I would do on boarding the plane is ask a fight attendant for the Economist. I now give a subscription to both my son and son-in-law and my teenage grandchildren fight over who gets to read it first.

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I've been subscribed since University. There periods in which I read a little less of it and issues on which I don't necessarily agree but they deal in facts, argue their case and show an understanding of how the real world works.

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Keith, I've been a subscriber to The Week for about 10 years now. My oldest brother got me hooked on that.

My own news sources are quite similar to yours. I haven't listened to mainstream media since Carter. 😄

I'll have to check out Old News. Sounds like a good diversion.

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Linda My TV in my exercise room (hour daily) went on the blink months ago. I wondered why get it repaired to watch blah blah. Instead I’ve been watching DVDs and VHSs (do I date myself?). A mix of That’s Entertainment, Gettysburg, Who Wrote the Bible, Campbell’s Power of Myth, Kenneth Clark’s Civilisation, Chariots of Fire, Bill Moyer’s Amazing Grace, Lili, Inn of the Sixth Happiness, Fantasia.I feel much better from the exercise and from being absorbed in another world for an hour or more.

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Keith that sounds like a solid fix to a broken TV. It's nice to take that break, isn't it?

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With internet we haven't had a TV in 20 years of retirement

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I like the Washington Post also, The New Yorker, the NYT, the Atlantic, and listen to NPR only in the car. Thanks for all the other suggestions; I am heading to them.

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Well said. And let’s not forget NPR and PBS, the best news media anywhere.

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We take the NYT, but I don't pay any attention to its political news. OK, confession, I enjoy crosswords puzzles. All the other media that I see also is on the same track of how Biden is failing except for one and that one warns constantly about how certain main stream media love to interpret everything as a crisis and keep people reading. This is the Palmer Report and I hesitate to recommend it because it does have hyperbolic headlines, but often good essays. And for a laugh right now it is using all the names for mafia don that its readers suggested. That's where Trumplethinskin came from. We watch NBC news in the evening and I have become annoyed with it too. Many people do not understand how large complicated bills can take a long time. I have started yelling at the TV again. Today I am watching football and will probably be yelling at the TV again and hopefully cheering.

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Love Trumpelthinskin!

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Michele, I buy the NYTs very rarely and it's only for the special magazine section, cooking and book reviews. Decades ago, I was a regular subscriber. They are pretty much a last resort for a news story, and even that I use it for reference to look up a story from a legit source.

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Basically that's what i read and i enjoy the science section. Our local rag is so bad and we do like an am newspaper. My spouse reads the front section; I do the crossword. I read a lot of news online and like the Guardian for one. I know that I cannot do one thing about what is happening in Congress...it is a waste of time to call Schrader and my Senators do the right thing, so I keep up on current events and try not to fret too much. My own opinion is that we are a disintegrating as a society and as a planet. So I give thanks that I am as old as I am and that I have no direct descendents. I also garden, read, cook, and yes, watch football and basketball...the Ducks.

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That's right. The Science section is very readable.

I completely agree with your assessment. I, too am on the other side of the scale and am thankful for that. We don't have children, that's a blessing given how the world is evolving.

I do the same as you for activities. Although here in the northeast, my gardening has pretty much ended for the season. I watch a football game here and there although my partner lives for football and baseball. I suppose he is already planning this weekends meals around football games. Lol

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We are in the process of putting our garden to bed. I have been raiding the neighbors' garden as they are away and we heard with a water pump on their truck out. Ouch. Here in the Willamette Valley it used to be great to garden. Now with heat, drought, ice, smoke, and humidity, it is not so much fun. But I do like fresh things from the garden. Tomorrow I will plant garlic for next year. We'll do our grocery shopping this am and watch Duck football this afternoon. We confine most of our sports watching to the Ducks and have season tickets to the women's basketball games. For now you have to show vaccination or recent tests and wear a mask. We get our booster this next week. It will be interesting once we attend a game, what people do especially with regard to masks. Our section is filled with oldsters mostly. Beautiful sunrise today too.

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Expect a LOT of unmasked folks, Michele. Your section may be one of only a few that I have seen crowd pans of that has any sort of mask wearing.

I, too, am securing the garden for the year. Pulling the last tomato plant, harvesting and pulling my 10+ pepper plants. I put in kale and collards last week; those will be my winter crops. I have potatoes to harvest (I hope; we planted sweet potatoes and a Mexican variant of some tuber that was supposed to be tasty. We used pots for these...)

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The New York Times has been secretly sliding away from a bias-free position for quite a while now; I first noticed it when the 2004 voter fraud in Ohio was getting quite a lot of attention on the internet but no mention in the Times. Finally in the second week of December, the Times ran a story on Saturday on page 12 that reported that the story was getting attention on the internet. Period. No further facts, quotes, nothing.

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The NYT got deliberately biased under Sulzberger Jr. I noticed it particularly with immigration coverage, which has been mostly one sided all over the mainstream media, and I corresponded with four or five ombuds over more than a decade--two of whom told me they were thinking of writing about my concerns, only, in both cases, to be gone from the job within six weeks of my having heard from them. There are very good reasons to greatly reduce immigration, as the late African American congresswoman Barbara Jordan, who made her name on the House Watergate Committee, recommended when she ran a commission on immigration reform under Clinton.

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and there are very good reasons to increase immigration...particularly when we want caregivers when we need them,as well as healthcare professionals who are leaving in droves...

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Our current population is way beyond that which would be environmentally unsustainable--and you want to make it more so? And we're the major industrialized nation with the greatest per capita greenhouse emissions. We're the worst place on the planet to put more people except for a few small oddball countries like the United Arab Emirates and Belgium.

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You are so right about the New York Times, even the opinion writers. Bret Stephens, once a fairly reasonable guest on Stephanie Rule’s MSNBC show, is back to his old Republican tricks. I don’t even open his articles anymore as even their titles make my blood pressure rise.

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How true!

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I'm shocked, Heather, shocked I tell you, that you don't think non-gendered Potato Heads aren't newsworthy and historically relevant! If I could, I would gladly erase the Trump years from my memory. That he still lives rent free in our brains thanks to every news outlet in the US hungry for hits and clicks. Revolting.

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Yes, Daria! I think we need a collective Vulcan mind-wipe!

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Perhaps if The US ceded Florida back to its old Colonial masters...now represented more by Mexico than by Spain we could get rid of 2 Caudillos at one stroke....the Mar Del Largo Mugwump and Deadweight DeSantis. I'm sure that ways would be found to deal with the problem in your adopted part-time home country, Daria... down some dark alley in a Barrio of ill-repute somewhere.

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Well, you know, we could always build that moat Trump suggested and fill it with snakes or man eating fish or crocodiles...I'll bet México would be happy to chip in some pesos. .

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Maybe global warming and rising sea levels will do the trick...

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No ! They are not that far from where I live.

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Well, as a Floridian, I am 100% for ridding my life of both bullies but I do not want to go anywhere with them. How about putting the two of them on a boat together in the Gulf of Mexico during hurricane season with no provisions--if Mom Nature didn't get them first they would do each other in.

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Yes, this, Carol.

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Stuart, clever comment.

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I have a house for sale in florida, quick!

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Lynn where do you live ? I’ll sell my FL house and move in with you ! 😹

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What's your altitude above mean high water?

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I see, Lynn. Well, my voting residence in the US is Colorado. Guess I'll stick with that.

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Mine too.

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😹 Mines 27’. South of us is 0 ! Miami floods when it doesn’t rain. When the tide rises.

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Indeed. There’s a periodic practice that when someone commits a heinous act, their name isn’t mentioned in press conferences. We could do that with “he who must not be named.”

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I WANT to remember this past four year abomination at the very least to counter the false equivalencies from media, TFG’s minions, and sadly, handwringing Dems. Cofeve!

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We are at 6 yrs and almost 4 months with all this Dysfunction ! Seems like a lifetime.

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I watch MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”, they are constantly cycling through still headshots of the clown 🤡 while they talk about him, I don’t want to see him or his insufferable face ever again, why they do this is beyond me. If I knew how to reach that show I would be all over this issue.

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Honestly, who wants to see him?

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So sorry to hear, Daria, that the neutered Mr. Potato Head got on the wrong side of Heather's Letter. Will this end the budding beautiful friendship between Rick and Captain Renault?

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My Mr Potato Head had no trousers, I don't know where he would he would have put the "neutered parts". I ate a baked potato kast night though that had such a protrusion at one end....very tasty with lashings of butter! Chop, Chop!

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I remember Mr. Potato Head as some plastic parts you could stick onto a real potato to make it look human. Of course, if he got thrown back into the toy box by mistake and forgotten....yuck!.

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100% plastic with predetermined holes solved the problem. It also removed all possible development of the child's imagination. The toy became merely mechanical...putting square pegs in square holes. It is now "useful" to teach the child that the lips are under the nose which are under the eyes which in turn are under the hat! Progress!

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You know, you're lucky Mr Potato Head didn't burn your house down what with him smoking a pipe and all.

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😂 Thank goodness…Mr. 🥔 had his pipe taken away by Surgeon General C. Everett Koop many years ago! It was big news at the time. (Maybe even covered by the NYT!)

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So funny ,all. 😂

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Sadly, I wasn't a subscriber to the NYT at that time🤣

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Mr PH was a very bad influence on us.

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I remember those. Lort we are old !

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🤣

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The Mr Potato Head track gave me a laugh this morning!

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Nope, Rick and the Captain are pals to the end.

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s/b: that you don't think non-gendered Potato Heads are newsworthy...

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Daria, in Paris they EAT Potato Heads....

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At Mar-a-lago they are potato heads.

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It’s the ‘Why ‘ Gen Milley had to speak with friend and foe. The whole world knows they are Mr. P’s. It’s the Empty heads they worry about.

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Daria, you got us all laughing this morning. Thanks for pointing out the fact that tfg "lives rent free" in our heads. He clearly lives in the minds of every "potato head" rethuglican.

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Pam, 😉 . I don't think we've had anyone crammed.down our throats so aggressively before tfg.

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I am still recovering from my PTSD...with "T" =( you know who)!

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Thanks for a good laugh.

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Well put, Daria.

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Love it, Daria! 😂😂😂😂

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I've said it before, and I'll say it again, The Biden/Harris, Pelosi, and Schumer teams have proven much more adept at crafting and passing needed legislation than the Trump, McConnell and McCarthy "teams" - or even The Obama/Biden team. They have gotten more done in 8 1/2 months than the previous administration did in 4 years - and 2 of those years they held majorities in both houses.

I read both yesterday's and today's posts this morning, I found it very chilling that EVERY Republican voted against vaccine mandates and for withholding aid to Afghan refugees. Any hope of bipartisanship, i.e. a coalition to save the Republic, got a little more frost bitten.

The fourth estate has their own agenda and challenges, the profit motive chief among them. PBS and the BBC are not perfect, but this seems to be less of a problem for these outlets. I know less about Al Jazeera, but that also seems to be a more responsible outlet.

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We can’t criticize Republicans for not passing any legislation (outside of tax cuts). Because their goal is to pass nothing. They’ve said it over and over, government is the problem, they want government to fail. They pride themselves on passing no legislation, and blocking everything Democrats try to pass. Republicans are incredibly adept at seeing nothing gets done in Washington. We shouldn’t forget that that’s by design, it’s not a failure.

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My wife asked me what had the Trump administration done, except the tax calumny. I only things that think of was unilaterally quit the 6-nation Iran nuclear deal, erase any language related to ‘climate change,’ sought to roll back everything positive from the Obama administration, especially in environment, refuse to consider joining the 12-nation Asian trade agreement that was intended as a counter to China, (oh yes, a rather modest update of the 20-year-old NAFTA agreement), a reversal of our hands-off-handling of Putin’s Russia (which others considered an adversary), escalate a trade war with China which went badly and prompted him to give about $30 billion to farmers who felt short changed, loaded the Supreme Court with judges that didn’t pass my smell test, make America a laughing stock in Europe and else——AWWRRK, I haven’t even focused on Pompeo, bah bah Barr, Stephen Miller, and other low life’s.

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“It’s a feature, not a bug.”

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Agreed. Republicans have an agenda. We spend more on the military per year than all of the bills, passed and pending, put forward by Democrats during this legislative session will over the next 10 years.

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So sad for 1 thing and sadder still that most of the people who have fallen behind in the recent past don't see the benefits of the large investment in these Bill's providing programs that will help them and their children. The investment in hard and soft infrastructure would be so transforming. I am so disappointed to see any of the investments cut since these areas have been neglected since Eisenhower days.

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Terribly true. Just check out what is happening to the US Post Office under DeJoy.

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Holy guacamole. Prof Richardson just redefined "perspective". This portrait of America one year ago if created for a film (like "Idiocracy"?) probably couldn't have had it's script read - because it was too crazy, too fantastic...

So Democrats are squabbling over HOW to help Americans and Republicans are voting against every effort to do so. That is the current story, for sure.

As to the news cycle? If you need to have your TV on all day, find a cooking show or try Animal Planet. Our big screens are black until the PBS NewsHour. Then black for dinner. And then maybe on again for a favorite Netflix or HBO show.

Cable News will have a "breaking story" every few minutes. But it can wait. Don't get sucked into the entertainment style of so called news shows. They are selling drama. We don't buy it.

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"So Democrats are squabbling over HOW to help Americans and Republicans are voting against every effort to do so."

Doesn't that just say it all in one sentence!

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Same for local news, it never rains, it storms.

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Amen! The story going unreported is the one about the rise of Republican fascism.

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As they quietly, except for Tucker, make pilgrimages to see Orban and glorify and legitimize Hungary's increasing fascism. Pence just last week. These ongoing alliances get just a 10 second peep in the media when we should be shouting from the rooftops. They have also been openly embracing and speaking at events from their longterm hidden allies, the Moonies.

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What a sweet relief to read your perspective on the news this morning. I usually read your piece before the NYT and WP, but this morning I didn't and was swept into the cold river of disappointment and Biden-blaming. Your piece rescued me from drowning in that negativity and shifts the blame where it belongs—with the shamelessly empty handed, empty hearted Republicans. Let's throw em all in the river and let em drown.

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I would prefer to throw them on a Nuclear Pile. Had to laugh at a comment that instead of TFG draining the swamp he actually made it bigger. So true.

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I was thinking a rocket ship to mars

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Lynn is that really far enough !😂

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I am for a large black hole.

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Fed to gators in the Everglades.

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We have those here. They are hunted so there is hope. Gators say:‘They ‘ taste just like Chicken.😜

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How about stockades before hanging....one by one.

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Stockades and rotten produce.

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Apparently they have forgotten how legislation is supposed to work. Ideas, discussion, disagreement, negotiation and consensus…all parts of a healthy democratic Congress. This hasn’t happened for so long thanks to the Republican obstructionists that it has become a foreign concept to much of the press. Or equally likely they feel the need to compete for ratings by sensationalizing it.

On another note speaking of Covid vaccine mandates, my hospital’s mandate goes into effect Oct 18. Any employees not vaccinated will lose their job unless they have a VALID medical or religious exemption. I am all for this mandate and am hoping it convinces at least part of them to receive the vaccine. However our occupational health nurses and staff have started getting threats. I went there yesterday and received my Pfizer booster and they have extra security present. The increasing lack of civility and increasing violent threats towards healthcare workers, teachers, school boards etc. is disheartening and frightening.

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Exactly = what it is that causes people to berate and threaten others who are just doing their job = teachers, school board members, etc. I'd never think of issuing a threat because I didn't like something -- more importantly, what can we do to lessen this trauma for everyone?? For some reason I keep thinking that abhorrent behavior [such as threatening people] which used to be fairly rare was given sanction when Charlottesville happened [the Unite the Right rally in 2017] & TFG seemed to [did?] approve - and that doesn't even scratch the surface of the increase in racism, antisemitism etc being seen everywhere.

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Why is it that those demanding their own “freedom to choose” who choose NOT to vaccinate do not grant that same right to others.

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And also, if you Just will Birth that Precious Life. Don’t you even think about asking U.S. ( Repubs ) to earn a fair wage, maybe go to school or learn something to make a livable wage. Or any help for anything ! Dump that Precious Life in a State run Orphanage , most likely if that Precious Life isn’t a blue eyed blond he/she will age out of it or foster care and history will repeat itself. And then see the cost to the Tax payers for that NOT so Brilliant idea ! Way more than to help them keep their children. But yeah a Repub can kill a Pregnant woman cause they don’t want a Vaccine or Masks ? If it wasn’t such hypocrisy , so damn irresponsible,dangerous, it would be /is Laughable.

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Jesus called them hypocrites.

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Jesus called them vipers and whitewashed tombs.

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Whitewashed sepulchers. I've always liked that phrase.

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My personal (contemporary) translation is "toxic cockroaches and perfumed outhouses."

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"You also had people that were very fine people, on both sides." Obama’s response was the best. “We are Americans. We're supposed to stand up to bullies, not follow them. We're supposed to stand up to discrimination. And we're sure as heck supposed to stand up clearly and unequivocally to Nazi sympathizers. How hard can that be, saying that Nazis are bad?”

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I was talking with this guy a few days ago about the Bullying as I call it. He said something that made sense . Before TFG those that are doing it now we’re always there. But- kept it closeted , to a minimum knowing full well it was NOT appropriate in the civil approach to any debate. Then came TFG who in essence gave them a platform . With every Speech, Tweet, Rally he gave them “ Permission “. The Mercers w/ Steven Bannon of Breitbart News . Mercer being a genius hedge funder and his daughter Rebecca who run a ‘ Think Tank ‘ Cambridge Analytica First backed Ted Cruz, dropped him and gave us TFG. Why ? There is no one more ‘Void ‘ in character than TFG. And- “You got the $ I got the time “. And boy do they have the $ ! Here’s TFG in Debt up to his ears doing a TV show. Always getting sued for something . Ted Cruz could have never in a million years pulled off what they had in mind. I’m not so sure outside of the Tax cuts/ Deregulation for the ultra wealthy they are still approving of their “ Frankenstein “?

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It was and is deliberately encouraged, seems to me.

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Encouraged by their fearless leader, blatantly, openly.

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Koch cabal is behind it. I posted a link under Karen RN’s comment.

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Dark Money is behind all of this. Evil people trying to control the world.

“One of the CNP’s most effective recent projects has been the funding of hugely influential anti-lockdown and anti-mask groups, most notably the political group America’s Front Line Doctors (AFLD). AFLD rose to national prominence over the summer as one of the main purveyors of conspiracies surrounding the deworming medication ivermectin, which was falsely promoted as an alternative to the COVID-19 vaccine. With hundreds of thousands of followers on Telegram, AFLD offers consultations for prescriptions for the drug for $90 each. Mass chaos followed as orders and customer complaints were ignored en masse.

The leadership of AFLD includes Stephen Moore of the Heritage Foundation, Adam Brandon of FreedomWorks, and Lisa Nelson of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)- all three are also members of the Council for National Policy. The CNP also receives funding from other conservative groups such as The Bradley Foundation and the Family Research Council. In 2017, education blogger Peter Green reported on a complex plan for public education posted publicly on the Council for National Policy’s own website. Though the post was quickly deleted, the plan serves as a pertinent piece of the larger picture groups like CNP are aiming for.” https://unicornriot.ninja/2021/school-board-disruptions-escalate-funded-by-conservative-dark-money/

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Your comment made me thing, as I often do, that these people who choose money and power over decency can't be happy/must be miserable. Maybe we should start a "HAPPY" campaign. Blasting social media and everywhere possible with people being happy: poor people, black people, gay people, brown people, asian people, women. All being unrestrainably happy. I think that might really piss the power mongers off! Bwaahaahaa.

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I agree!! 💯 look at the photos of them. Foaming at the mouth like attack dogs. Surrounding all with singing, dancing, laughing, joy. Seems like it would have to be contagious!

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I'm reminded of the approach I've read about in an African tribe where when someone "does wrong" they take them, surround them with friends and family, and tell them of all the good they have done and will do.

The fear and hatred stoked by the lies being fed by reactionary "news" outlets and social media sites is what is driving the Republiqan voting masses; they do not see the danger in the path they are traipsing willingly down.

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Love that Ally! Yes, the Evangelical culture of shame is easily hijacked by bullies/fascists. Amazing how wise indigenous peoples are.

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Time for another Ice Bucket challenge or ?

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From mediabiasfactcheck.com:

These media sources are moderately to strongly biased toward liberal causes through story selection and/or political affiliation. They may utilize strong loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes), publish misleading reports and omit reporting of information that may damage liberal causes. Some sources in this category may be untrustworthy. See all Left Bias sources.

Overall, we rate Unicorn Riot Left biased based on coverage of protests and stories that align with the left. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to a clean fact check record as well as being a resource for fact-checkers.

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Well isn’t it bizarre if a media source isn’t corporately funded they have “Liberal” Point of View??? The most important sentence is the last

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Simply reminding to not give great importance to opinion and concentrate on facts. (FWIW, there are many independent media sources that have a "regressive" POV but are factually correct.)

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Pretty sure there are a truck load of facts in there along with references. I’m not sure what your point is. You posted a quote saying they were rated “high for factual reporting”. I seriously don’t know where you would find regressive POV’s that are factually correct in 2021. Seems they no longer exist.

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There was a similar article in the Washington Post yesterday. You may have to have a subscription to open it, but here it is:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/10/01/masks-schools-koch-money/

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Oh great!! This is actually the one I was looking for but it wasn’t coming up for me and I had forgotten where I had read it. Thank you!

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Karen, thank you for your work in healthcare 💕 and for sticking with it during these difficult times.

I agree with you. Because of the horrible behavior of those in power during the last administration, we haven’t been offered any models of the fine art of negotiation and compromise. Bravo to the legislators who aren’t afraid to discuss the issues and potentially change their minds…for the good of We the People!

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Indeed it is. American the (not so) Beautiful. :’-(

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Please, keep safe. And thank you for your caring dedication.🌷

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Thank you Daria!

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It ain’t over ‘til the fat lady sings. [The media dismissed the Yankees some weeks ago. Oophs, they don’t wish to be reminded of their haste to trash.] President Biden is in the early miles of a marathon. He is dealing with some fractious Democrats and Republicans who steadfastly are running backwards with sharp elbows. I am betting that President Biden will be able to herd his rambunctious cats, that the Delta virus will subside significantly, the economy will be robust by early-mid-2022, that Trump will be embroiled in legal battles, and that President Biden’s record will help his team in the dash towards the 2022 election finish line.

I remember election night 1948. The pollsters had stopped polling weeks earlier, since it was such a certainty that Thomas Dewey would thrash President Truman. The pundits all ate crow. This time I hope that it is Turkey-chin McConnell.

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“I am betting that President Biden will be able to herd his rambunctious cats”….I love this description of the people who are actually trying to make this work! Ignore the poison from the Republicans…and the media….and stay the course….herd those cats!!!!

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Great post, Keith...I'm all in with you!

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“…running backwards with sharp elbows.” Now THERE’S a visual. 😊

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Beautiful visualization! The Universe hears. And so it is!

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Keith I like your vision!

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Oh glory

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Amen.

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From you lips...And love your “running backwards with sharp elbows” comment.

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But that doesn’t stop them from continuing.

Unless there are many major

changes, we repeat the past 5,50,100,200 years, as HCR points out, repeatedly.

We MUST do something different this time.

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October 2, 2021. Women’s March of, by, and for the People. Raise the roof, let’s sing our song. Our rights, our choice.

Unite! ✊🏻✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿

“America, America, may God thy gold refine, ‘til all success be nobleness and every gain devined.” Love me some Ray Charles on this day.

https://youtu.be/TRUjr8EVgBg

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I will be marching in solidarity with you, Christine, and all my sisters in Montpelier, Vermont.

🎶We shall overcome, we shall overcome some, some day!🎶

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My husband and I will be there too, Rowshan. Rain or shine.

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I wish I could go.

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If you're in the Burlington area, I could give you a lift.

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Thank you so much Rowshan. Sadly, I have to but my beloved dog to sleep today. I am pretty heartbroken though I know it's time.

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Such a hard day. I shall write your name on my sign when I go to our "stand and protest" event.

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Oh that would be great Ally. Thank you so much!

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It is so hard to love our fur babies enough to let them go, but they leave their paw prints 🐾 on our hearts forever.

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Thank you Danielle. They really do.

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Oh, my… We were just there a week ago. Exhausted and heartbroken - our consolation being a wonderful relationship, cherished memories and affirmation that, in the end, we did right by and for him.

Our condolences to you, and may God bless you in this painful, sober, and ultimately gracious and generous act. If Heaven is heavenly, then…

We’ll meet again

Don’t know where

Don’t know when

But I know it will be

Some sunny day >^..^<

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Thank you. I sure do hope so.

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Oh, I am so very, very sorry, Kim. It's such a painful time to go through. We love our furry friends as dearly as special family members, and our goodbyes to them are profoundly heartbreaking. I will be thinking of you and sending you comfort and strength. Hugs.

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Kim, I am so sorry. Thinking of you. 🌷❤

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I am so sorry Kim. It is heartbreaking as they are a part of our family. I will be sending thoughts of support and love your way. 💖

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Thank you Karen.

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Thanks you both. I really appreciate it.

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I'll be with you in spirit, 200%!

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Whenever I play "America the Beautiful" (which, IMO, should be the national anthem) I sing (in my head of course; multiphonics on tuba don't work for me) I sing parts of my two favorite verses:

O Beautiful for patrio't dreams

That sees beyond the years

Thine alabaster cities gleam,

Undimm'd by human tears

America, America,

God mend thine ev'ry flaw

Confirm thy soul in self control

Thy Liberty in Law.

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Indeed, a wonderful and noble lyric - and yet to be realized ideal.

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Indeed! 🇺🇸 🎵

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We have a functioning government. It consists of the democratic party that is made of conservatives, liberals and many in betweens. It is an example of how a democratic government works. The republicans only appear as a negative force. They're really not part of the equation when it comes to a functioning democratic government.

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Dear Heather,

How could we take a break from your writing, even for one night? No, I, for one, cannot take a break, as I would feel that I have missed a breath of vital truths. Who needs the daily schmooze outlets as long as we have HCR and her LFAA? Please don't diminish your import in our lives -- no, not even reminders of 45's reign of terror!

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I look forward to her postings daily but am glad that lately she's been taking breaks to get some rest! 💜

Our news media is so relentlessly negative that it makes wonder, who actually owns them? So I've come to rely on HCR and Dan Rather.

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Robert Hubbell is another great writer on Substack, and Judd Legum tracks the funding of GQP politicians by corporations and PACs (helps me know who to boycott).

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Right here with you, Rowshan!

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Republicans are united, and organized. They all voted against raising their own debt ceiling. They all voted for government default. They all voted against the coronavirus relief bill. They all support voter suppression. They all support tax cuts for the rich. They all voted to install right-wing, theocratic, partisan hacks on the Supreme Court. Every one of them. No one can accuse them of disarray. Un-American? Sure. Autocratic? Definitely. Anti-democratic? Without a doubt. But disorganized? Never. They march in lock step.

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With their right arms up in salute to their supreme leader, El Trumpe.

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Or El Trumpo!

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Or Trumpty Dumpty. One only wishes he would fall and not be reassembled.

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They are afraid not to. Its part of the show when you belong to a Fascist group led by a narcissistic leader.

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That’s not organized. That’s what I call smug. And entitled.

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More like afraid of their own base.

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I still struggle with their vision of end-game. Of course, they haven't told us what that is, so we have to guess.

It seems to me that they are too canny as tacticians to not have at least some concept of a goalpost. But what goalpost are they pursuing?

If the US becomes an autocracy, what would it do, beyond trying to "take over the world" by military conquest? We've seen how that went in Afghanistan: 20 years with boots on the ground, and before we can even get everyone out, the old system is firmly back in power.

What else does the US provide that the world actually needs? This is an honest confession of ignorance. I know we don't supply the world with petroleum, coal, iron, copper, or other rare metals; we aren't a major supplier of any manufactured goods, especially including semiconductor manufacturing. We still provide a lot of wheat and corn (I think), but climate change (which the Republicans don't want to address) is going to make a mess of that. Apart from global financial stability and a "shining beacon of freedom" to the world, which are not small things, what, EXACTLY, would the world miss if the US were to vanish?

I ask this because if democracy fails in the US, which seems to be the immediate goal of the Republicans, we will no longer be a "shining beacon of freedom," and will become yet another failed state littering the pages of history: and THAT will cause global financial chaos, and certainly the end of any US role in the economy. Is that what they want? But to what end?

Are they all closet religious fanatics who actually WANT a nation named "Gilead," modeled on Christian Puritanism?

Are they looking toward to the climate inviability of the "lower 48," and want an autocracy to take over Canada with that vast military might for "lebensraum?"

Are they so demented that they think a descent into autocracy will boost the "economy" and specifically, the stock market, which appears to be their sole measure of virtue?

Or is my initial premise simply wrong: is there, perhaps, no goalpost at all?

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Hmm. DS & JR, you are probably right.

Heather has proposed that the modern Republican core vision has been nothing other than the Southern vision from the mid-1800's, and it's the clearest and most sensible suggestion I've seen. You see that vision carried through the the entire Jim Crow period in the South, and brought back into national politics with Reagan.

Something has shifted, though. It doesn't feel like the Southern Vision is in charge any more. It's something more nihilistic. It shows up in #45's ramblings. In Marjorie Taylor Green's unhinged rants. In Jim Jordan's bullying abuse. In the fact that the Republican Senate has stopped supporting any legislation.

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Sounds like a bad version of "The Apprentice". We are a TV cable social media culture. Not much vision, thinking or future, for those participating in this activity.

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I think you give them too much credit for having a vision. It’s much simpler than that. They want power. They want to be in charge. They don’t care about beacons of freedom, or the global economy, or exports, or wheat and corn. Not one bit. They just don’t want to be told what to do - not by climate scientists, or medical experts, or world leaders, or liberals (especially liberals). Their grand philosophy is “you’re not the boss of me”. They want to be the boss.

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I am inclined to think that you are thinking more than most Republicans are. I imagine their world view is so llimited and narrow that a one party nation like Russia with elections seems like a democracy that produces more consistent results. And that economies based on selling flood zone land or pyramid schemes to unsuspecting buyers is entrepreneurial. The Kochs don't seem to care that their industries will someday be worthless. They aren't really all in the same boat as they seem to think they are. The insurrectionists will go to jail. And the leaders will find many more. Covid19 demonstrates their complete detachment from reality, including the leaders who are often as careless in their covid19 precautions as their talk. Rome didn't collapse because the leaders intended it to collapse. Their end goal was to keep coasting and basking in their glory.

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It's in (most of the) Dems best interest to maintain the status-quo as of 2015. So, they don't really want to change things (keep corporations in charge).

They obviously want to stay in power and if R's win, they lose.

But they resist major changes, because again, they would lose. (Again, not all, but most Dems).

So, they're trying to walk the tight line in between.

- which it so happens, is (still) resisting the will of the people. e.g. Climate change, health care*, Citizen's United, Abortion -- all have been majority desires, yet nothing ever actually done.

*Except ACA, but that is a republican foundation that morphed into an abomination - definitely better than what-was, but so very far short of what-should-be.

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Remember back a few years Republicans could not unite to pass laws or reject ACA, whereas the Democrats were united.

It’s easy to unite when you’re the minority. When you’re rejecting bills.

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They march in lock step, not to govern but to control...

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And to belong.

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This may not be new news, Heather, but thank you for repeating it to the many progressive and less progressive Democrats who read your Letter.

We all need to wrap our minds around this: only one party is attempting to govern, while the other is trying to fatally damage -- and take over -- our country. The outcome of this struggle has not yet been determined, but when it has it will surely not satisfy everyone and will be attacked from all sides.

My only real criticism of Biden and the DEM party leadership is that they are still playing catch-up with the GOP when it comes to messaging, and they are not yet (publicly) loudly acknowledging that the GOP has become an outlaw party, deeply involved in activities that are wrong, unpatriotic and simply illegal in many cases. House hearings regarding the Jan. 6th insurrection must start soon and be made easily available to all citizens on TV, radio and -- of course -- the internet. Every brainless, untrue and traitorous statement from the GOP must be called out, analyzed and exposed for what it is. Loudly. Repeatedly. Ad nauseum. Every accusation regarding "socialist" Democrats must be balanced and outweighed by simple, direct explanations of what the GOP is up to and why it constitutes Fascism. No, this is not exaggeration, just accurate labeling. Examine events in Nazi Germany and Italy in the 1920s and 30s; the similarities with the USA, 2016 to the present, are striking.

While the Justice Dept. must, MUST follow the law and the Constitution in its investigations of wrongdoing by Trump, his flunkies and his (mostly) tight-lipped GOP fellow travelers in Congress, it must also not be afraid to investigate vigorously and widely, follow evidence wherever it leads, indict suspected criminals without regard to any political fallout, and detain those suspects who -- the DOJ suspects -- will try to destroy evidence or flee or commit further crimes.

If the Congress is unable to pass essential voting rights and election reform legislation (even a somewhat trimmed back version that the two rogue DEM Senators can vote for), and/or the various wings of the DEM party are unable to bring robust infrastructure and social spending bills to a vote (compromised versions are better than nothing), then it will be up to Merrick Garland to do the work, take the heat and bring the GOP to its knees.

Like it or not, we are hanging by a thread.

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I agree that the Dem’s messaging is lacking. I really wish they would stop thinking that R’s will ever negotiate honestly ( police reform), and would 86 the myth of “bipartisanship” ( voting rights ). They still don’t get it.

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With the DOJ charging someone who stated publicly her intent to "put a bullet in Nancy's (Pelosi) brain" with "unlawful parade at the Capitol" I am losing faith in the ability or the integrity of the DOJ to adequately prosecute anything associated with the insurrection of 6 January.

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Excellent and I agree so the question is how to wake up the democratic party so that it improves its messaging I can’t imagine why it isn’t more proactive in creating themes, messages, etc. Unfortunately messaging seems to be where it is at these days rather than substance. Probably because everyone is overwhelmed and it’s the messages that get through not the content

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I think a pretty large percentage of "everyone" is either ideologically ill-disposed to having their minds changed or too tuned out of politics and history to follow current events with even a modicum of understanding or wisdom. People sometimes resign themselves to not understanding things and live from one entertaining distraction to the next while avoiding news like the plague. Others simply have little self-esteem, are ashamed at not understanding certain things and are uncomfortable with having to adjust their thinking to events, rather than being open to learning.

It's a kind of self-imposed ignorance, I suppose. It is hard for adults to change their minds about things, at least until events force them to, and debating is a talent (or skill) not all people think they have. In this environment I'm afraid messaging is more effective than well-reasoned argument. The GOP has been operating on this assumption for decades and discovered it works great at gaining power disproportionate to their numbers. Most Democrats, on the other hand, still have scruples.

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Hum. What we though of as representative democracy has become delegated responsibility for democracy and thereby abrogate us of any need to attend or be informed or think and talk about these big things? Rights without responsibility complete with guardrails least we do more than hear the high points. Now I'm cynical again.

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But will it generate advertising "clicks"? That seems the baseline.

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You captured the essence of my angst: That we will not achieve legislatively what we need as codified law to strengthen the threads that make democracy real.

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So true, every word

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