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In case you think things won't be bad enough if the Trump Traitors win the election in three weeks, it's now been reported that Trump is thinking of giving Marjorie Taylor Greene "a senior position in the Justice Department" in a second Trump Administration.

Remember - if they win three weeks from tonight, they make sure Trump wins on January 6, 2025.

Also- last week, just to show where they want to go, the Trumpscum submitted bills in the House to rescind Medicare being able to negotiate drug prices and removing the cap on insulin. It's almost like they want to kill their own voters, no?

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Oct 19, 2022·edited Oct 19, 2022

TC,

"It's almost like they want to kill their own voters, no?"

Answer: No. Republicans don't care one way or the other about their "base" and their health.

We both know Republicans have been paid by the Pharma lobby to do that lobby's bidding and only care about?

Nothing to do with caring about anything other than: Money.

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Yes. Money and power. Supply-siders have slways known that their policies help a small fraction of the population (10% maybe, in small ways, but well undet 1% in big ways) and that they degrade the lives of the rest of the population (to the point of causing significant suffering for the people in the bottom half of the income distribution and enormous suffering for people in the bottom 20%). Supply-siders know this and simply do not care. They sell their program to the base by promising to preserve the advantages that white Americans have always held over Americans with nonEuropean ancestors. They use the deeply ingrained racism of their base to “own” their base. No matter what they say or what their base tells pollsters and journalists, promising the preservation of systemic white advantages is what sells the Republican program to the Republican base.

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100% Will Rogers knew in 1932. “The money was all appropriated for the top in the hopes that it would trickle down to the needy. Mr. Hoover didn’t know that money trickled up. Give it to the people at the bottom and the people at the top will have it before night, anyhow. But it will at least have passed through the poor fellow’s hands.” One change from 1932, these cretins know that it will benefit the 1% and screw the “fellow at the bottom.” And they laugh at the MAGAts

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Super quote. Thank you for that.

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Yep. Worked for Nixon and Reagan and Trump. And now with the courts all loaded up with them, it’s even more important to get our base activated. Thank God for Stacey Abrams, Val Demings, the women and men of the Poor People’s Campaign, the people such as the organization I work for -- PACEsConnection.com -- speaking the truth about our nation’s historical trauma, systemic racism and oppression. Our history of intense trauma -- genocide and land theft of Native Americans, kidnapping and enslavement of Africans, centuries of racism, fear mongering, murder, incarceration of Black and Brown people -- gives rise to our people functioning in flight, fight, freeze mode. People are tired, afraid and easily manipulated by droning fear mongering news. Prayers for poll workers and voters, Democrat candidates and all of us.

The idea of the US becoming more authoritarian is terrifying. Help get out the vote. It’s not too late to address post cards, send texts, make calls.

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“The idea of the US becoming more authoritarian is terrifying.” Thank you. Having heard Asa Hutchinson this morning I am terrified. When Betsy DeVos is your person in charge of education, I know you are out to destroy public education. This confirms everything about the Trump Republicans of which Hutchinson is one. It’s all racism and money.

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Oct 20, 2022·edited Oct 20, 2022

This is a national plan of the Republicans. Here in NH, a minion of DeVos is part of the education commission and the Education Commissioner is totally opposed to public education-he's Hillside College graduate and has NEVER attended any public school. The Republican majority forced school vouchers through the legislature and had to hide it in the State budget to get it though. The legislature IGNORED the public's input opposing the idea. The financial damage is already staggering. Original budget for the first year was $130K. Less than a year later, it's now @ $8 Million. This pain will continue to grow since a goodly part of the public education budget comes from property taxes and will hit poor towns very hard. They'll have to cut services to students &/or increase property taxes even more or close public schools-which is the Republicans' goal.

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YES exactly right!

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Well said, thank you for your service!

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YES, exactly right

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Rex Page, you are at the bullseye of the target.

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Money and power. And really, money is a form of power, along with weapons and political control.

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Apparently the Democratic Senator from AZ who is not Democratic -- none other than kyrstencinema -- has gotten most of her $$$ from Big Pharma.

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Another way that proves they don't care about their constituents is their following TFG's lead re COVID vaccinations-more of their constituents died of COVID.

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And the technically advanced US led the world in COVID fatalities. Heck of a job!

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You know, I am finally realizing that I don't know what they want. Of course, it's easy to make a coherent list--money, power, ownership of the libs, Christian dominion in the US, and more--but, it no longer quite explains to me the wholesale madness that has taken hold of the astonishing number of elected Republicans that it appears to have done. There is also the cognitive dissonance in the confident citing of poll results reflected in today's " Letter" and in the mainstream press (supporting a very different narrative) and all concerned both rejecting polls and using them.

I wake up some days afraid the years since 2016--a lifetime ago--have really taken a toll and I am no longer young enough or sane enough to figure any of it out. In fact, should the dust ever settle, I expect all of us might discover that we have sustained some damage to our critical thinking skills.

Meanwhile, TCinLA, can you throw an old lady a bone and tell me what you think

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Oct 19, 2022·edited Oct 19, 2022

Never give your critical thinking skills away to authoritarians. It is exactly why they pound us senseless everyday. As a young person, I could not understand how passive the Jews appeared to be and how massive brainwashing of normal people could turn them into violent Nazi murderers. I studied Hitler's techniques of brainwashing to understand how he controlled people systematically. The republicans and trump are doing the same thing, supported by hostile foreign actors and conspiracy wing nuts. But remember, there are many more of us and we have to stay strong and be warriors. We won WWII. We will win this because we know history. We should have stopped this much earlier....like in 2016. But justice seems a lot slower than reality presents.

Taking breaks from all this is really helpful. Talk with like-minded others about all the good things happening. Spread the good things on fox. Do not watch too much propaganda or polls. Stay strong. Do something that makes you feel some power- like exercising your First Amendment right, or your body, which also helps your mind to become a Warrior. Spend time in nature and with furry four-leggeds. Make sure to find funny things and laugh about life do mitigate the effects of stress. Go to Youtube to find relaxation and sleep music, and guided relaxation and imagery that soothes your soul every night to replenish. Share massages with others. We need to stay strong and smarter than them. Smarter than them is certainly not that difficult.

Stay as positive as you can. And remember, the world put down Nazis and Confederates once, and we can do it again. Visualize winning every day like athletes and gold medal winners do. (I just had three weeks of vacation outside of America and I am raring to go once this jetlag passes!). We can not let these bastards win.

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Pensa, thanks for beating me to the punch on this one. I have been very active recently with post carding, registering voters and door knocking. Yesterday, I “hit the wall” so I headed outdoors with my dog. We spent about two hours walking along the Minnesota River. In the first 15 minutes, I saw more than dozen eagles, a Great Blue Heron, and a mama fox with three nearly grown kits. Blood pressure managed, anxiety handled. So grateful to live near such abundance and to just enjoy a cool, clear, crisp autumn morning.

When I returned home, I even turned off my phone and went into my art studio for a while. All of your suggestions are important; staying positive is critical. By all means be as active as you can, stay upbeat, and take good care. Lots of work yet to do.

Just one addition. Build a list of things you are grateful for and do it daily. Me? HCR. The people of Georgia! Watching Val Demings punch Rubio last night in the debate. All of us here. Most importantly? Living in a democracy.

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What a neat walk. I am enjoying just hearing about it. I spent most of yesterday in the am pruning my roses out front. It's not quiet because we have a big sewer project going on across the street. At least they are at the building the pump house stage and laying cement blocks is not very noisy. We do have lots of birds and bees in the yard and a few squirrels. We have nice pond and waterfall in the back yard. And yeah, it's going to rain here starting Friday.

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Hi, Michele, Can you think about that noisy sewer project as a symbol for the sewer we hope to be cleaning out in D.C. in a couple of weeks?

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Oh yes. I hadn't thought of it that way. The pumping station has been underground across the street for ages and now the pump house will be above aground. They dug a big hole for overflow, so maybe we can think of the R party of death as an overflowing sewer and they will be swimming with each other in a very deep cess pit. I am going to have fun with this. Thanks for the suggestion.

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Hearing or seeing others doing fun things also has a ripple effect on the system. You just demonstrated that! And I love Dean's imagery to transform new meaning to the noisy building of the sewer system! Perfect!

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I like it too. I can even imagine my very noisy gun nut R ass of a neighbor in the cess pit.

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You would never know that Demings punched Rubio by looking at the first media accounts. I figured she did, so ignored what i was seeing.

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I saw several short clips of the debate & she smacked him on every subject - he looked like a whipped puppy at the end - Well maybe not a puppy - cant think of something disgusting enough to compare. Sweaty face - really did not look like a happy camper at all. But she had so much to hit him with!

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Good to know. I regularly squash snails and slugs in my garden, so maybe something like that.

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MSNBC showed clips of that.

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I did the same. Saw a reading of Pirates Penzance and laughed myself into oblivion. If it goes to Broadway as is hoped- don't miss it!

Came home with engines revved for this homestretch.

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I must check that out!!

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Great sharing, Sheila. I have to say that I am addicted to HCR everyday, but it does not always leave me feeling perky. So, I need to do things like we are all sharing afterwards that help me cope and return to some sort of stasis.

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Thank you-- excellent addition to previous! Hopefully the massive voter turnout in GA is the harbinger of change we need! I'm envisioning your nature walk and smiling and considering taking up paint and brush too....

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Do it!!

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Pensa_VT, it's certainly tough to stay positive - especially when I see all the BS political ads - but your suggestions are spot-on. Spending time in nature is one of the few things that keeps me sane these days.

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Don't forget about our 4 legged furry friends - my 2 puppies help me have little laughs ( I call them wins!) throughout my day.

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We have a really cutie and he makes us laugh nearly every day.

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We have a 15 1/2 year old standard poodle. With a few surgical minor modifications she may be driving us to the poling place after she completes "Driver Education" !

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Hi, Ellen, If I have one item on my list of gratitudes it would have to be that, without conscious intention, I have gradually reduced not just my tv news time but my tv time in general so I find myself today having lived in a blissfully silent home for many years. And I have to confess that I love it.

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"Stay strong. Do something that makes you feel some power- like exercising your First Amendment right, or your body, which also helps your mind to become a Warrior..." Yes Ma'am!

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Thanks Pensa! Good advice and comfort. I have slept poorly

for weeks now. I wake at 4 or 4:30 and my mind starts down the rabbit-hole of fear and despair. Heather helps a lot and so do people like you. So, SOLIDARITY!

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I have slept badly since 2016.

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Scroll back to read suggestions for sleep issues and breathing! And remember, we are going to win this. Think positive and move positively. They want you to lose sleep! That is part of tyranny. We need to change the program to what WE want. There are more of us. And we have the power to create what we want. Write down every thing you want for yourself and for our country. That would be a good visualization for all of us to do. Then put it somewhere special. And look at it in a year or two years. You might be surprised, Leakie!

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Thanks for the suggestions. When you live in a state where all but the statewide elections are drawn for Republicans, who want only to take the state back to 1950, it's hard to believe in positivity. Districts are shaped like snakes pooping out hamsters, and hop from side to side across roads to capture R-voting houses and assure the continued backasswardness. But I will read the suggestions. Usually I can block out things I can't change (like Putin) and focus on what I can change (me), but as the Republicans increase the nuttiness and meanness, it's hard. For everyone, I imagine. Glad to know you are out there, Pensa!

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Pensa

Retired ICU nurse here. Hardwired to never get discouraged and never give up.

My go-to anxiety relief valve is remembering that I am making a difference. Sometimes the outcome isn't what I want, but I take comfort in knowing I always did - and do - everything I know to do.

For you who are stressed and despairing, focus on what you CAN do, not on what you can't.

Send $$$ to candidates in tight races, copy the list of all Dems who will be on your ballot and send to neighbors. Keep talking to your R leaning family and friends. Hit it hard for 3 more weeks. We can do this!

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One of the most positive, lovely people I have met in my life while I worked with death, dying and bereavement was an oncology nurse. She was such a great mentor in being present, loving and uplifting no matter what her patients were going through. Well loved by both staff and patients. Nurses have these little nubs on their backs where their wings attach. I have seen them!

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Is that what I feel on my scapulae? LOL! Thank you. I worked in Geriatrics for 35 years plus.

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Thank You ICU Nurse!!

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Thank you Pensa, Dean, and MaryPat for your kind words about nurses.

Nursing is not what we do, it's who we are.

I have a houseful of rescue Cairn Terriers (remember Toto)? They are fiercely independent, tenacious, and resilient. They NEVER give up. If nurses were dogs, we'd all be Cairns.

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It is who we are! I am a communuty health nurse. We don't stop "caring" (or being fiercely independent, tenacious and resilienient) with reirement!

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Cheryl, yes, we can.

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Thank you, Cheryl, for your difference-making, both in and outside the ICU!

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Oct 19, 2022·edited Oct 20, 2022

Oh, I love hearing all the things our community is doing to stay grounded. So I am adding a few more things for those who might like to try new things. Every morning I do thirty minutes of Lee Holden's " 7 Minutes of Magic." This is a dvd that you can choose 7 mins, 14 mins or 45 mins. depending on how much time you have. It is a mixture of movements that include qigong, yoga and tai chi. He stands on a platform in water surrounded by nature with beautiful, relaxing music. He guides you to breathe. BREATHING is CRITICAL when you are stressed or anxious, or cannot sleep. If you are feeling stressed in your body and mind, take a few minutes to slow your breathing down until your system feels relaxed again. It is the ideal way to control your stress. Research different ways to use breathing online and find one that works for you. Someone mentioned "forest bathing." Forests and gardens can bath you in oxygen and good juju-- breathe them in. If it is nighttime, breathe in the stars. Or look at photos or relaxation films of nature, or sounds of water. Playing music can impact your breathing-- find the music that feels just right to bring you into calm. Or better yet, play it, or draw to it, or just scribble (make ugly art!) and release the stress whilst you breathe. Moving your body, walking cycling, exercising is critical and helps with depression and anxiety and clearing the cobwebs. Gratitude for your life, friends animals, an earth that sustains us right the moment. Be Present with today and whom you are with. What I teach adolescents is to do a body scan before and after an activity to begin to be conscious of the change, if there is any. Check your breathing, any tightness held in the muscles and facial muscles. And whilst breathing during the activity release them all, feel them melt. You do not need to hold that tension.

Try to bring yourself and others up and not focus on all the downs or you could drown yourself in it. Do random acts of kindness which makes you feel wonderful. And share what you do here because it helps all of us to remember or learn new things.

My go to, especially at the end of a long day is a long, soaky bath. The Element, Water, for me is the greatest soother. Like Kenneth Grahame's "Ratty" in Wind in The Willows says of his beloved river, "There is nothing finer than simply messing about in boats on the river. In it, on it or looking at it." Growing up on the Pacific ocean, the waves, for me, were like breathing, in and out and gave me much solace during my teen years. Must be why love being in or on water and the gentle rocking currents of it.

An aside: If you want to see the most enchanting, animated, British version of "Wind in the Willows," check out the Cosgrove Hall Production. It is worth a joyful hour and a bit for your spirit.

Thanks to all who are sharing what helps to reduce stress! Keep it up! It is like having the HCR Sundays with Buddy and Peter's photos of our beautiful planet, and poems by Fern, but during the week.

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Breathing is crucial for stress management. I went to 3 different trainings once (Perr Support training, teaching hands on use of force for cops, and a tuba Masterclass). All 3 emphasized breathing.

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Ah! A tuba masterclass would certainly require focus on breathing!! Thanks for that giggle, Ally!

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Yeah, for me “playing music” is my solace/relief/creative outlet. Just a different definition of playing!

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Thanks Pensa, todays read actually upset my stomach. Felt like Puking.

I wish I could be like Sammy whose biggest concerns are where the best sun patch is for a nap or should he go have a snack or a nip of catnip.

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Same here, Hale. I wish I could channel my orange bo Apollo, whose only moment is “now”.

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Red cats rule!🐈

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Yes, they do…redheads do, actually! 🐈👩🏻‍🦰

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Salient advise, Pensa. Get out in nature, find what soothes your soul (forest bathing, rock hounding, floating the river, mountain climbing, beach walking; devote time for that every week if you cannot do it every day. Movement in nature (hiking, walking, swimming) gets the warrior and the thinker going. Furry friends (dog walking is a double blessing) and art feed the soul as well.

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Good advice. I am about done with the news. I can ignore most of it, but hubby is heaving heavy sighs at the news, at the incessant ads. Last night we turned off the national news and watched the first episode of The Magpie Murders on PBS.

I refuse to look at polls because the only one that counts is the vote. I think today we may look at our list of people we have donated to and make a few more donations.

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"Never give your critical thinking skills away to authoritarians. It is exactly why they pound us senseless everyday." Yes, Pensa!

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Good... keep beating the drum, Pensa. One of the biggest weapons the trumplicans have is the repititious MAGAts articles have. Too many people don't think beyond the three-word slogan. Go on telling it like it really is! (and while you're at it share heathercoxrichardson@substack.com).

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Stay positive; get exercise; get fresh organic produce, cook, and eat it! Be strong to do all the chores listed above.

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Pensa, think of it as an ugly divorce. Think of it as one spouse taking a razor to the other's clothing. Or think of it as one spouse draining the bank account and spending it lavishly just to leave nothing for the other. (I know, Democrats are the ones labeled as reckless spenders, but you get the point.) Whatever makes liberals groan makes the MAGA crowd giddy with delight, even if it means destroying community property. This psychology isn't rational, which is why it is so easily manipulated. The MAGA voters are simply high on vengeance and the thought of punishing liberals, and no other drug gives them that kind of high. It roughly calls to mind the iconoclasm of the English Civil War, where art and monuments associated with the Stuart reign and the Roman Catholic Church were thoroughly destroyed. Since most of the greatest art was religious, it pretty much meant the erasure of medieval English art. So they overthrew the monarchy and wiped out their national heritage. I'm sure it felt pretty good at the time to the people who carried it out.

McConnell made a point of saying that the proposal to phase out Medicare is DOA. But he didn't say if it was permanently DOA or just DOA for the rest of the year. He could be keeping it in an induced coma for when the Trumpists take over Congress and the base is delirious with iconoclastic fervor.

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Thanks, Jim, I enjoyed reading your thoughts and find them right on. It is like an ugly, toxic national divorce. And they don't care about anything or anyone except being the top dogs even if it destroys our nation. I do see that in my private practice how ruthless people can be to those they used to love. Narcissism is rampant in America. Technology has been used as a weapon against us and to increase isolation and self-absorption...like a very dangerous adolescent stage that I hope America will grow through rapidly...

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Thank you for those great reminders--you are spot on!

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This old lady has known who was evil since the John Birchers in the 60’s. Cults are still the same rigid crazy they always were. Now they are our friends and family. Sort of like Germany in the 30’s. Sorry TC, throw her a bone…

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You're right, Jeri, in the presence of real evil, there is no mistaking it. My whole body reacts.

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"My whole body reacts." We have had so many instinctual reactions dulled/dumbed down in our culture. Women especially need to tune into their gut in order to keep safe often. We need to not play down things. An example is some of the "hunting"practices in our state are downright barbaric. We do not question the motives and mindset of these cruel people enough IMO. Cruelty crosses lines. It does not limit itself to beating a trapped animal. I have written our (GOP) governor repeatedly but I get pat replies. Somehow cruelty to animals doesn't count in some minds. But they are not seeing how beating an animal takes a kind of mind that gets off on causing suffering and the victim could be anything or anyone. All in the "be civil" culture. Don't make waves. It's all in your head. It wasn't that bad. Don't be negative. Perhaps that's how we've gotten to where we are, by downplaying the cruelty of the GOP.

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It makes sense to me when I think of all these Repugnant "leaders" as puppets, with multiple puppeteers. Putin, Koch, Leo, MSB ...yanking the money strings. Bottom line is our chaos and their control, and ultimately destruction of U.S. democracy.

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“I wake up some days afraid the years since 2016--a lifetime ago--have really taken a toll and I am no longer young enough or sane enough to figure any of it out. In fact, should the dust ever settle, I expect all of us might discover that we have sustained some damage to our critical thinking skills.”

Dean, the stress of it all has certainly taken a toll on my physical health, but I think you and I are still quite sane and if we can clean away the crap, it’s much worse than dust, our critical thinking skills are just fine. Just the fact that you can question it says plenty about both. Peace be with you.

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I resonate completely with you, Dean

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Love it; I too have lost my sanity and cognitive ability to cope, having sustained too many concussions from banging my head against the wall and constant drip of irrational hateful propaganda, supported by mega-donors.

No offense to real estate agents and others who constantly market to their “data base,” but they do so because they believe “drip campaigns” work.

In this polarized and never ending battle to capture hearts, minds, & souls, it’s a cynical numbers game; they only need to tip the scales a little bit.

Under those rules of engagement, to some degree, it has been a fair fight.

However, voter suppression is a game changer, especially when it’s the gateway to codified change that handpicked partisan judges won’t rule against.

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Herewith a shameless personal plug: you can get "what I thinnk: over at That's Another Fine Mess.

https://tcinla757.substack.com/

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Well worth the short trip!

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The driver that transported me from LaGuardia into the city said it all. Look at Giuliani, sainted Mayor, top of his game, ready to retire, now a complete disgrace. What makes a celebrated man sacrifice everything?

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No, they just want to kill us.

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Sadistic sociopaths are often reassured of their own grandiosity by torturing opponents or the most vulnerable, but COVID showed they'd make cannon fodder of their own following to score a point. "Otherwise, I think they are indifferent to who and what is harmed by their behavior, so long as it strengthens their domination of power.

Absolute power, as well as an all-consuming lust for it, corrupts absolutely.

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From this perspective they look a lot like Putin and what he is doing to his citizens, untrained solders, in Ukraine.

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Bloodlust.

Like their Fuehrer, they just want to kill.

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Oct 19, 2022·edited Oct 19, 2022

"It is better, in the U.S. context at least, to think of authoritarianism as something like a contradiction nestled within the American democratic tradition. It is part of the whole, a reflection of the fact that American notions of freedom and liberty are deeply informed by both the experience of slaveholding and the drive to seize land and expel its previous inhabitants." Deeply informed. Stunning article. Thank You Mike S, I think.

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Oct 19, 2022·edited Oct 19, 2022

My honor.

I learned a lot.

Jamelle is one of the authors of the second best history book ever written. 1619 Book.

First best?

To Make Men Free:

History of the Republican Party.

By? HCR.

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Have HCR's here on my pile. Will order 1619. Thanks.

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Thank you, Mike s. For posting this gift link. Jamelle Bouis is very spot on in his analysis (as usual)

“As we look to a November in which a number of vocal election deniers are poised to win powerful positions in key swing states, I think that the great degree to which authoritarianism is tied up in the American experience — and the extent to which we’ve been trained not to see it, in accordance with our national myths and sense of exceptionalism — makes it difficult for many Americans to really believe that democracy as we know it could be in serious danger.”

November 8th is the day we can be sure which version of America will ascend: Democracy or Autocracy. Either way, the fight against autocracy is always with us. I think I was blind to that for many decades, and believed the Myth that we were exceptional and would “Of course not let THAT happen here.”

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Very easy for the rich to not care about Medicare and the price of insulin. They can afford any healthcare or drug they want. This is not true for the majority of us who have paid into Medicare and Social Security our entire working lives so we can have something to help in our older years when we hopefully can retire. I say this with as much venom as I can produce...a pox on all of them. And MTG in the Justice Department? God help us all.

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It seems the rich just want more money and the power that goes with it. The Republicand see money acquisition as a zero-sum game and have identifies Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid as easy pots of money to snatch away from the scum who don't deserve it. If they have power through control of the means of production, they can impose defacto slavery on everyone else.

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Schizo-Fascism.

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They’ve been killing their own base since March 2020...

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They've been killing their own base since 1981 (started with Reagan).

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I used to always ask fellow coworkers why they would vote against something that was in their best interests. No amount of explaining would ever change their mind.

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Marjorie Traitor Greene isn't even a lawyer and can't even be trusted to be on any house committees but she thinks she should be in the Justice Department? How do we even reason with these people who support these folks?

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Marjorie Traitor Greene? Is that "open source"? I want it!

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Does this mean that MAGA Seniors are just “dying” to vote for their GOP ?

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In my neck of the woods, far western NC, my evangelical friends are in fact willing to die for trump and the GOP. They heard every Sunday and Wednesday night too if it is God's will you die, you will go to a better place. No need for a a vaccine, local vaccine rate 54 %, death rate from covid one of the highest in the nation. It doesn't need to be this way.

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Not the wealthy ones, but then they don’t need a cap on insulin or cheaper drugs. They can fly to Europe for them.

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Oct 19, 2022·edited Oct 19, 2022

Are Democrats filling the airwaves and the ‘net with ads pointing out that Republicans want to stab the brave Ukrainians in the back, that they want to kill Americans by raising the price on insulin and other life-saving drugs, and that Republicans are lying to voters by taking credit for acts they voted against? I surely hope so. These are times when close elections are decided, as the undecided voters make up their minds. How the undecideds break is often decisive. (I have limited knowledge of how Democrats are campaigning; I’m in Massachusetts, where we see ads about Maggie Hassan ( who looks safe), Chris Pappas, and not much else.)

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It's easy to think that MTG is unpopular, given her belligerent ignorance. But the opposite is true. Trump announced that he'll give MTG a "senior position" (some have suggested VP) in his next administration because that will garner him MORE support. MTG is wildly popular amongst Republicans.

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She is a racist, loud-mouthed, imbecile...and that is also my opinion of anyone who supports her.

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My thoughts exactly. They aim to shoot themselves in the foot, but the foot keeps moving. We live in the Upside Down World.

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Not a new thing, but vote against the socialists. Has been their go to for more than half a century. Lies all the time, better covered than this time. Now they have the extra motivation, immunity and pardons. What’s not to like for criminals. And of course, investigate those Dems, like Hillary, again and again.

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Here in upstate NY, I am seeing alarmist TV ads about the so-called failure of bail reform in our state and crime in our streets, blamed on the "extremist" Democrats. Give me a break. There's no question in my mind that the focus on bail reform is designed to strike fear of the "other" (undoubtedly they mean Black men). Going for the racist vote.

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Ellen agreed. It's constant and will be a driving force for the GOP in a few weeks. The fear mongering is oppressive here in Upstate NY.

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And CBS runs "Bluebloods" Tom Selleck's popular program about a family of cops, in which a constant theme is very inaccurate depictions of the results of bail reform.

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“Willie Horton” ad type is a proven gop winner.

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Elise Stefanik is really stoking emotions.

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It’s appalling that the ‘Gang that can’t shoot straight’ and when it does shoot it’s invariably against the best interests of the United States and the great majority of American citizens is on the cusp of capturing at least one of Congress’s two houses.

Comparing what the Biden administration has accomplished vs. the Trump years is like day vs. dismal night. I fear for the soul of America. Hopefully, my faith may be restored on. November 8th.

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Oct 19, 2022·edited Oct 19, 2022

Is there not something fundamentally wrong when voters by wide margins support the most prominent positions of Democrats nationally but the party appears likely to lose control of the House and not gain seats in the Senate? And Republicans leaders strongly oppose what voters want and at the same time appear ready to cripple or take a sledgehammer to democracy?

We'll soon know if the Democrat turnout will be large enough to overcome gerrymandering, voter suppression, and the ceaseless propaganda spewing from right-wing media. Perhaps I'm guilty of wishful thinking, but I sense that polling is wrong and women will save the day.

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The massive rush to vote in Georgia is interesting. I'll be so proud of America, if this comes out right!

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I cannot possibly think a majority is voting for numbskull Herschel Walker. Georgians are worthy of Rev. Warnock. Go Georgia! Show the states how to vote!

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I’m going to vote early, I want to nail the Maggots coffin shut 😎

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If Walker wins, Georgia will never live down the shame.

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Oct 19, 2022·edited Oct 19, 2022

Anne, unfortunately, we don't know who is rushing to the polls.

Are they?

Farmers who think the "Dems" are going to make us all "communists"?

White men who have good jobs because their Daddy's connections got them that job, even though they had a dismal GPA in college, and are now concerned about "affirmative action" for blacks?

Catholics who, in their own understanding of "life", believe that everything conceived should stay alive to live a long, arduous, hungry, painful and profoundly poverty stricken American life?

Fundamentalists Baptists whose preachers have taught, for six years now, that Trump is the second coming of Jesus?

We just don't know who is voting but we do know: Everyone (hopefully) will be allowed to do so.

For better OR For worse.

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I know, Mike. Superstitious enough to beware of self-fulfilling prophecies, I decided to look at the bright side of the moon...

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I love to hold signs outside the polls all day on voting day. I am south of Boston, MA. Around 2 pm on election day in 2016 I felt kinda sick. I told my friend that joins me this day I was going home for an hour. I came home, got a drink of water and sat quietly in the sunny kitchen with my puppy on my lap. I started replaying the day in my mind. I felt sick to my stomach. I think, as awful as it sounds, I put together the picture of voters driving in and out of polling place, the vehicles they drove, and different conversations I had had that morn. I realized at that point tfg was winning the election. I took a couple Advil, refilled my water bottle and went back feeling even worse because at that point I realized I was profiling people. I hope hope hope voter apathy has lessened this season and people get up and vote.

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In my neighborhood, it makes me heave

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Me, too, but taking no chances. Housework is going by the wayside, I'm wearing the same jeans 3 days in a row now, and take-out for dinner seems likely---nothing is getting in the way of me writing to voters!!

www.votefwd.org

I have recruited my son and daughter in law, and my daughter do so also. I am praying the young voters get the word out.

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Good! (Remember to eat fruit and veg). Our best hope is with the young.

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LOL thanks Anne-Louise! I will. Lunch will probably be apples slices with some pb at the desk here!

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I’m working on my last 40 letters, another 60 are ready to go on the 29th! I added a personal touch re my mom and grandma had only had the vote less than 30 years by the time I was born...and THAT was probably why Election Day was such a big deal in my family. My grandma had already been married for many years and had had 6 children without being able to “consent” to any government actions affecting her life.

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Now, that's a personal touch worth mentioning, Carol. Good for you, your mom and grandma!

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Oct 19, 2022·edited Oct 19, 2022

Thank you, for the positive contribution you and your family are making to this election! Very important work.

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You're a postcard warrior, Miselle; that's what you are. Your jeans will wait and take-out keeps others employed!

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LOL

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Yeah Miselle! 👏🏻🗽

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I had an early morning hairdressing appointment--while I obviously could not write letters there, I used to time to talk to my hairdresser (who has been a tRump voter but is not happy with him). I am not sure if she would vote D or R, but I talked to her about the GOP plan for SS and Medicare. She was unaware of it. When she says there are crazies on both sides, I pointed out that there is a lot MORE of them on the Right. I told her that no side will ever be 100% what you want, but you can't just NOT vote. She said that people should not come here and expect to be given everything free, I countered, well, I'd rather poor desperate people get "everything free" than give tax breaks to the 1%. There was a lot more I pointed out as well. I think I have her convinced. And I urged her to tell her clients, most who are over 50, about the GOP plan for the "entitlements' (that word really upset her!)

Fingers crossed!

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There seems to be a long-standing battle between those who prefer authoritarianism and conformity and those who prefer collaborative diversity and solidarity.

"That is the issue that will continue in this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal struggle between these two principles -- right and wrong -- throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings." - Lincoln

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Telling quote. I wonder how many times citizens in a longstanding democracy have chosen to scrap freedom for authoritarianism. Especially when anti-democratic forces are committed to scrapping programs that directly help the lives of citizens.

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I never trusted the polling. Still don't. Who gets polled? Who actually answers a call from a number like that? What percentage of the calls are made to "landlines"?

This much I have heard as frequently reported: "women registering as new voters is through the roof". Will women save the day? Could it be the rise of the WOMAN - at last?

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I fear that young female voters don't realize what's at stake.

Hopefully the women registering as new voters are not like Amy Coney Barrett and Marjorie "Nut Job" Greene.

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I respectfully say, Ellen, that young women do clearly understand what is at stake. And will state that clearly at the polls.

🗽

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I hope you're right! :)

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I follow a lot of young activists on TikTok, and they very much do realize what's at stake. Generations will always have numbskulls, but these kids are alright.

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If they don't understand what is at stake then "old" female voters have been seriously remiss.

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Most I know aren’t paying attention, maybe I need new acquaintances

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Oct 19, 2022·edited Oct 19, 2022

So, Michael, which party has been most successful in letting voters know how it has improved their lives and made the economy work for them? Which party has done the best job of letting the voters know what it will deliver in 2023.

‘It’s the economy, stupid.’

'Based on a New York Times/Siena College poll of 792 registered voters nationwide from Oct. 9 to 12, 2022. Party identification is self-identified and does not include voters who lean toward one party; independents include only self-identified independents.'

'The poll’s findings reinforce the idea that for many Americans, this year’s midterm elections will be largely defined by rising inflation and other economic woes — leaving threats to the country’s democratic institutions lurking in the back of voters’ minds.'

'The biggest shift came from women who identified as independent voters. In September, they favored Democrats by 14 points. Now, independent women backed Republicans by 18 points — a striking swing given the polarization of the American electorate and how intensely Democrats have focused on that group and on the threat Republicans pose to abortion rights.'

'The survey showed that the economy remained a far more potent political issue in 2022 than abortion.'

So, Michael, back to your question, 'Is there not something fundamentally wrong when voters by wide margins support the most prominent positions of Democrats nationally but the party appears likely to lose control of the House and not gain seats in the Senate?

Yes, there is something fundamentally wrong, so, what can the Democrats do about it? They've got 20 days. 485, hours. 29137, minutes. 1748241, seconds. until Tuesday, November 8, 2022

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They had better start screaming, and not the whining I get in a mountain of emails.

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Twitter commenter said: Inflation comes and goes; but if we lose our democracy, it'll likely be forever.

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Oct 19, 2022·edited Oct 19, 2022

I read that Biden's speech yesterday about abortion was intended to re-invigorate voters initially outraged by the overturning of Roe v. Wade . The claim was that the fervor has waned. Which I understand to a point, given how many months have passed. But with what's happened since the ruling in red states and nationally (notably the Lindsey Graham proposal to ban abortion nationwide), the dire implications are now graphically clear.

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Oct 19, 2022·edited Oct 19, 2022

Michael, I'm not impressed that women's response to overturning Roe is cool. It may be that the initial reaction was driven by a determined faction, which may have exaggerated how widespread the response was. How much abortion will figure into the women's vote is not quantifiable. My main problem with this and other major issues is that the Democrats are not making the case. My frustration, which is a common one concerning the Ds , is very strong. I believe that they are failing us at this crucial time. That's a feeling. Please share yours.

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Oct 19, 2022·edited Oct 19, 2022

The national Democratic leadership never seems adept at making powerful and persistent ad campaigns regarding critical issues. I've seen improvements this cycle, especially regarding Social Security and Medicare, and here and there on some other issues. But not nearly enough on abortion. Let's face it, the big tent party behaves in a fragmented and inconsistent way.

It's ironic that disaffected Republicans working for the Lincoln Project arguably make the best campaign ads, though I've seen none recently on its website regarding abortion. https://lincolnproject.us/videos/

Why hasn't the DNCC made an abortion issue ad comparable to this extraordinary one by Mothers Against Greg Abbott and saturated TV and social media with it?

https://www.youtube.com/watchv=6BVD2Vu01EE

Obama campaigning in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Georgia as the election nears will help the cause. But with so much at stake, including democracy itself, we have to wonder why isn't the Democratic Party doing much, much more. The answer is ineffective leadership.

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Oct 19, 2022·edited Oct 19, 2022

'The first three words in the Constitution are the most powerful: We the People. They declare that the Constitution derives its power not from a king or a Congress, but from the people themselves. This concept of popular sovereignty—power to the people—is the foundation upon which the entire Constitution depends'. This is what is at stake for Americans -- for We the People.

The line I would draw for midterm elections' victory by the Democratic Party would be from National Security to the People's Rights -- what did Trump do with the classified and top-secret documents he stole -- how many did he possess -- how many are still missing -- who are Trump's favorite leaders --Kim Jong-un (remember the Love Letters) & Putin-- how transactional was Trump with the top-secret and classified documents in his possession -- the attempted INSURRECTION -- his role in it -- the Secret Service's role -- the roles the Republicans played -- the Supreme Court decisions, including Roe and state legislatures affecting our voting rights, abortion rights, etc.

Draw the picture of what the American people have lost from the beginning of the Trump administration until now. What are the Republicans' planning to do with our SS and Medicare -- how are they affecting our schools and the ability of our government to function? What's their plan to deal with inflation -- keep taxes at a minimum for the ULTR-Rich and for BIG BUSINESS?

What are the Republicans doing to WE the PEOPLE?

THE DEMOCRATS HAVE TO MAKE THE CASE.

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Yes, there is definitely something fundamentally wrong. It doesn't make any sense, but you have large numbers of people watching Fox News and paying attention to alarmist propaganda, and the Democrats are not effectively fighting back.

I heard a story on our local news this morning, a report about voters' priorities. It was mentioned that abortion was far down the list, and that most women will never need to have an abortion. As if women care only about themselves and not about the bigger picture of their rights.

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Perhaps it all boils down to entertainment. They find the melodrama, mockery and hatefulness fun, and exciting, like reality TV. No thought or reflection required, they think what they're told to think and enjoy being in like-minded, uncritical company. The women have long blond hair with ringlets, the men are Tucker Carlson with his melodramatics. (Makes it all the harder to understand the attraction of Steve Bannon, who looks just as unfit and uncouth whether his hair is combed or not).

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He’s the inner id of all the gop: white, privileged, uncouth, brutish, demeaning without consequence or accountability, slovenly, and making money.

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Your comment about local news is spot on and very troubling. Inaccuracy abounds, unchecked But I’m more infuriated that legions of us are writing post cards and knocking on doors while the DNC can’t seem to get out of its own way and put together bullet points of Biden’s most popular accomplishments. A top ten list repeated ad nauseam between now and Nov 8 should be a no brained.

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I agree. It seems to be the popular opinion that Biden hasn't accomplished ANYTHING. No one is promoting what this Administration has done, in spite of the barriers put in place by McConnell et al.

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Ellen, which local market reported about abortion. Thank you for your report.

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It was on WNYT, the NBC affiliate here in the Capital Region, but I think the story was produced by NBC News.

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Thank you, Ellen. To report a lack of interest on the part of women about abortion seems like a rather broad assertion without data behind it.

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Right you are, Michael.

It would help if there weren’t an epidemic of mendacious right-wing propaganda infecting the national discourse. It’s disheartening to see the absolutely disgusting lies, mis- and disinformation in the pro-MAGA TV ads, knowing that they are effective, at least to some degree, in suppressing voter turnout.

It would help if we had a robust political media taking an interest in policy issues rather than horse races and both-siding every conflict. It would help if the mainstream media reported as breathlessly about the popularity of Democratic policies, both actual and proposed, as they do about Trump and his latest argle bargle on Twuth Suckhole.

The news about the huge increase in turnout is encouraging, though.

These are indeed proverbial interesting times!

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American voters overall are uniformed and emotionally malleable.

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Love it how, if bread is expensive, chump looks good. Insane by any measure.

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I just don't get why so many people continue to vote Republican when it is the Democrats implementing policies that, as Heather writes, are "widely popular" (that I keep reading as "wildly popular", which sounds even better). Is it due to the influence of the Fox Entertainment (i.e. "News") Network? Is it because of the gradual "dumbing down" of Americans, many of whom now lack basic critical thinking skills? Is it because policies against the same people they hate (black and brown people) is more important to some voters than policies that help *all* Americans? Is because of dark money making large contributions to Republican candidates? In reality it's probably a combination of factors but I agree that there is something fundamentally wrong and I don't know what to do about it.

My hope is that the young people cut through the BS and vote in droves, along with the millions of women who are rightly concerned about laws that may impact not only their own lives but that of their daughters. I just fear that the courts packed with a majority of conservative judges and newly passed restrictive voting laws may have already pushed this country passed the point of no return. We've got to get this country back to a system of fairness and decent, civil dialog where we can agree to disagree without the threats of violence when one doesn't get their way.

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I think every school has it's bullies, and bullying gets to be serious business. Along with substantive lying, I see it at the heart of most of our species' preventable tragedies. Bullying takes many forms. Years ago I read a interview with Trump in which he bragged about damaging a critic by launching a suit he claimed he knew he could not win, which was pocket change for him but financially ruinous for his target. He was proud of that. I think that bullying acts out malignant narcissism, and extreme malignant narcissism is another name for extreme evil. We all have egos and self interest, but when self-regard and agenda becomes metastatic, it eclipses any other consideration, even our own species' survival. And I think bullies are often victims of bullying themselves, even some born with golden spoons in their mouths.

I also suspect that most of us if not all of us have a bit of "Mr. Hyde" in our nature and vary to the degree that circumstances and charlatans call that proclivity forward. History is full of it, including our nation's own. We seem to recognize the danger in the abstract but often are gulled by it when wrapped in rationalizations.

"Nip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud, is the only maxim which can ever preserve the liberties of any people." said john Adams. In a democracy, that takes self-discipline, and a willingness to call out injustice, just as a number of effective social movement have done in the past. Solidarity is not bee-hive uniformity, and real liberty presents a robust array diverse choices, over which controversies may well ensue. Solidarity keeps bullies at bay, allowing for responsible differences, and vigilantly defends universal justice and human rights; liberty and justice for all.

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Oct 19, 2022·edited Oct 19, 2022

That is correct, Mike. All women, but especially majorities of black women and young women.

Screw the polls. The poll makers just cannot admit the reality of the election this time.

🗽

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"Screw the polls." T-shirt and bumper sticker fodder!

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I sincerely hope you are right! I don't understand why any woman would vote for a Republican these days.

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I pray

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As we always have to! So be it!!

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Are the Democrats screaming in advertising campaigns and in the media the narrative that Republicans want to end or reform Medicare and Social Security? I cannot believe the many Greatest Generation and Baby Boomer, etc. voters who depend on and paid into those think that's okay. Who wouldn't want lower drug prices? The Democrats need to amp it up and get-in-your-face mad about the b.s. of the Republicans and all the negative undoing they plan to do. Voting for Democracy, (as I watch Ukraine desperately and valiantly fight for it). Blue, blue, blue, blue...

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Eisenhower was speaking before deregulation of the media normalized big lying as a primary product but he thought, "Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H.L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."

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But the cult has grown. Propaganda today would shock Ike. Well, maybe not, he had a front-row seat to the effects of it run amok.

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The last bit hasn't changed.

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Let’s paint a picture for young voters of mom and dad moving in with them at retirement because without Social Security and Medicare they can no longer afford their homes or healthcare. Let’s paint the picture of young people paying bills for mom and dad; of being their caregivers when their health begins to fail.

Right now these (selfish by nature) young people can’t see beyond tomorrow to see how the changes the Republiqans want to make today will ultimately impact their future. Let’s paint them a picture!!

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Excellent idea for opinion page. Three weeks to go.

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Valiantly. With unfailing courage. I've heard personally of so many cases of wives choosing to return from refuge in Europe, to be at their husbands' sides.

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Ads against Bolduc in NH are blasting him for wanting to kill Social Security and Medicare... on Boston channels. Ditto for Leavitt, the state rep candidate. I put her down as being too young and too stupid to understand; no knowledge of history of the 20th century.

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I rarely hear it mentioned, a travesty. Joe has but every Dem needs to scream it at 90 decibels

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Hear, hear!!

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Oct 19, 2022·edited Oct 19, 2022

Thank you Heather.

I find the fact that the Democrats are being held hostage by the Minority unsettling at best.

The Midterms, like it or not will determine the fate of this Nation. Never have the Midterms been as pivotal as now.

As much as I would like to say, we are living in the times that will catapult this Nation forward, it's the unknown of how this period in time will prevail is what keeps me up at night.....just like it is tonight.

Its 2:40 am EST and sleeping eludes me, once again.

Be safe. Be well.

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I have grown to quite like your:

"Be safe. Be well".

I have adopted into my own vernacular upon departure.

Thank you.

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Mike, so have I, and I'll throw into the mix something a friend has as the greeting on her voice mail to replace the ubiquitous "Have a nice day," this wonderful thought, "Make a good day for yourself."

My wish, as I start my own days that we can all do just that.

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Me, too, like Linda's message to "Be safe. Be well." Something I look forward to reading with each Letter.

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I, too, have stolen this. I often say to people in passing “Good morning/afternoon/evening” and a significant percentage of the time the response has been “what’s so good about rot?” Traditionally, my reply was “I am only wishing you a good day, not passing judgment on it”. I now add “Be safe, be well”.

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Excellent retort, Ally...Morning! and,

Be Safe! Be Well!

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I certainly am today. On Hawaii for a week; my gift to her for her 60th (which was in July).

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Morning Fab. I think we’ve got this and will prevail. Resoundingly well.

You be safe as well.

🗽

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While everything the Republicans want to change if they regain power is abominable and loathsome, nothing is worse than abandoning Ukraine!

“Republicans are also signaling a change in U.S. support for Ukraine. Although current Republican leaders have supported aid to Ukraine, House minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) suggested today that if the Republicans regain the majority thanks to more MAGA candidates, they will oppose giving more aid to Ukraine in the war with Russia. Putin has just launched the largest wave of airstrikes against Ukraine since the early days of the war, hitting civilian areas with the plan to cut off gas and electricity before the winter.”

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“To Russians, life is cruel, brutal, and short.” Therefore their worldview is about making sure it is that way for everyone else. Republicans have adopted this worldview, it’s now their platform.

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Oct 19, 2022·edited Oct 19, 2022

The far right in America has a long, long history of helping US avoid involvement in the spread of Fascism (Germany in early WW II) and promptly invading countries where the people who rebel against a brutal fascist dictator are labelled as communists (Vietnam).

So, no surprise that the far right is on the side of the spread of Fascism from Russia.

In fact, we can expect the far right resistance to grow and metastasize here through Fox News.

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Please Mike; please refrain from referring to Fox (Faux) as anything relative to 'news'. They aren't even if it's their name. I've found that 'words' matter.

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But it’s plastered far and wide and on every TV in most stores I go in. The masses of asses think it is. It’s the reason for the treason.

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"The reason for the treason"! LOL.

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Lol Jeri ! The masses of the asses have been duped. Reserve some of the best poison for their 'shepherds'. (and I'll make it rhyme another time - lol) Cheers Jeri !

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good point.

I will refer, henceforth, to Fox Propaganda.

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Mike, Why should we here - at the minimum here, lend any credence to them existing as anything relative to honest news by referring to them by their commercial name ? Thank you... love your comments and contributions here Mike.

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I think Republicans view Putin’s Russia as both a material donor ( NRA and other dark PACS), contributor through free SM influence, therefore a constituent and a benefactor.

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Putin has (for his own reasons) goodies for the GOP. I watched state run "Russia Today" (RT) for a while before and after the 2016 presidential election. They sounded like Fox. And that was just the stuff above board.

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The are the twins in Goebbels world…

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We will not abandon Ukraine.

🗽

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I told my grand to wait for it. She said all at her school supported Ukraine. Now Rupert has switched gears. I’ll ask her again soon. Putin counting on chump again, may he eat dirt, again…

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As the crazy train hurtles towards the midterms we can only hope that the track shifts to the left before it’s too late. Marjorie Taylor Greene to a senior position in the justice department? You gotta be kidding me. Hell, if they’re going to do that we might as well appoint Herschel Walker treasury secretary. Every day writes a new chapter of nutty.

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130,000 First Day Voters in GA per HCR! I voted by mail here in CA within 3 Days of the arrival of the Ballot. I am still sending donations to Stacey Abrams & other hardworking Teams.

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A vote for the "Republican Party".

A vote for Vladimir Putin.

[Show promises to defund Ukraine. Then...

Images of mass destruction. Images of civilians' bodies. Images of Kremlin spokesmen threatening to reduce America to radioactive dust...]

If you like all this, vote for the Russian Party.

*

Suggested advertising.

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That is very good!

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Has AARP quoted the Republican agenda of cutting Medicare and Social Security? They want to remove Medicare from negotiating drug prices. The greed and lack of humanity in policies like these is beyond belief. Their position on abortion controlling woman’s rights ito decide their own healthcare is outrageous. What is the repug’s position on vasectomy’s. ? Do men have the right to make that decision? Maybe all men at 40 should be forced to have a vasectomy? I doubt they want the government making those decisions. Welcome to the woman’s world

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Then there's this option:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61278539-ejaculate-responsibly

"In Ejaculate Responsibly, Gabrielle Blair offers a provocative reframing of the abortion issue in post-Roe America. In a series of 28 brief arguments, she deftly makes the case for moving the abortion debate away from controlling and legislating women’s bodies and instead directs the focus on men’s lack of accountability in preventing unwanted pregnancies."

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Oh my Lynell... Just the title may leave me sleepless. (lol)

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Love this.

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Oct 19, 2022·edited Oct 19, 2022

I am definitely in favor of all white men, born to wealth and privilege, having both a circumcision and a vasectomy at birth.

In one generation we could change America.

Perhaps I will head down to the Supreme Court and drop $2 million on each of them for their vote in my new Billionaire funded lawsuit arguing that white men born to wealth are too dumb and poorly evolved due to lack of past challenges to risk allowing them to breed.

A new genetic theory based on race: Wealthy white men are so poorly evolved that it would be unswise to permit them to breed because of the lengthy time over which their families have had no significant evolutionary challenges and hence, they are too dumb.

Vasectomy (forced with no choice) at birth.

:-)

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Mike, I think this is tongue in cheek, but why circumcision? Americans have such an odd take on it. It’s genital mutilation. But so many men have had it done to them, without consent, that they don’t believe it.

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I think that’s his point. At least that’s my read of it.

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Agreed!

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KR,

I just threw in what is already done without choice, mostly.

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Good question re: AARP

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I hope your missive reaches the 8-10% that makes these wins (in our Country), wins, despite any protestations. We do what the people like and support. We have democratic rule. It’s always on the ballot but rarely has it mattered as much as it does now. 1 out of every person you see is all it takes. Talk about politics. Talk about democracy. Talk to your neighbor. 10% wins.👏🏽🙏🏼

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Oct 19, 2022·edited Oct 19, 2022

It’s critical that voters who are most affected by a repub takeover of our government, aka a win in coming election, understand what they stand to lose. One man, a diehard repub for unknown reasons and I spar regularly and today, I listed what he gains and loses depending on who wins the election. The list is long for a senior citizen with limited income: reduced VA medical benefits (repubs tried to severely limit these) possibilities of changes in social security, postal services, food insecurity benefit, food stamps now called SNAP, rent control or subsidies for low income, control of costs specific medications like Insulin, affordable care act reduced benefits, compromised gun safety and control. And a federal ban on abortion, which will affect all citizens in some way. I’ll run out of space if I continue this list. The point is the repubs lie about their commitment to the American people. They raise the taxes of ordinary citizens and give tax breaks to the wealthy. They limit the liability and regulations of corporations. It’s midnight and if I don’t stop I’ll have nightmares about the far reaching changes in our Democracy if repubs win. I cannot understand how an educated person on a limited income can hold on to a repub party that plans to remove the safety net for our citizens, especially low or limited income people. But that’s been the story in the USA forever. Vote the party or the personality. Maybe, just maybe, this time, my argument is convincing.

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"Maybe, just maybe, this time, my argument is convincing."

Irenie, thanks for giving it a shot at least.

I would be interested to here the outcome, but, I am not optimistic about your efforts UNLESS you are this guy's daughter.

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Mike, I’m not his daughter and we won’t ever know the outcome of my efforts. I have my doubts. Isn’t that the power of the secret ballot? All our efforts, towards one goal, together. all the postcards we wrote and mailed. Do they work? We have to Hope.

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Keep trying.

Some of it will work.

No doubt.

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Well stated, Irenie. I truly wish more voters realized what is at stake and how important their votes for Democrats are. Scary times.

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Well done! I’d love to know your results.

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Gratitude to you, Dear Heather, for your courage and constant truths.

Where are Dems with their dollars and advertising? Where is the rabble-rousing voice? Where is the media? Sing it loud and sing it proud: we need advocacy!

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I understand that the vast majority of AM stations in the US are owned by republicans - and AM still seems to be the favoured radio medium for the country folk. So guess what message they are getting!

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Propaganda 101, 24/7

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I think the issue is with the DNC. Just not capable of creating powerful marketing.

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Not capable or not willing? Commenters, bloggers, progressive talk radio, op-ed writers have been lamenting Dem messaging for at least the last 15 years. This despite a plethora of messaging/marketing resources available. Faux newtertainment can be contradicted with a bit of effort as demonstrated by the Lincoln Project. Why don’t the Democratic campaign arms follow suit?

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It's crunch time here in Forsyth County, NC preparing for the election. Our precinct has 1300 doorhangers to distribute, about 5 volunteers to help, and early voting starts tomorrow. Yikes! Also on the agenda is placing dozens of hand made campaign signs with fun slogans like "This Budd's NOT for You!" (re:Ted Budd running for congress) "Abortion is Healthcare", "Roe Roe Roe Your Vote", "Censorship is the Child of Fear and the Father of Ignorance", "Keep Extremists off the School Board", etc.

You can check them out on Facebook at the Creative Sign Brigade page.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1985505531582505

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thanks for all you are doing in my hometown county.

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Close to Davidson, give them hell

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Republicans have destroyed the norms. If they win in 2022, they will destroy the rules. Vote for democracy.

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More advertising material.

Show 17th century doctors bleeding patients.

Show GOP leaders promising more Supply Side tax cuts for the super- wealthy.

Show GOP leaders praising British PM Liz Truss's Supply Side "medicine".

Show what happened to the £. And Liz Truss's about-turn.

VOTE GOP

DO IN THE DOLLAR!!!

*

Former Bank of England governor Mark Carney:

"Put it this way, in 2016 the British economy was 90% the size of Germany's. Now it is less than 70%."

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Oct 19, 2022·edited Oct 19, 2022

Peter,

I love the contrast of Doctors bleeding patients and Republicans praying at Reagan and Trump's feet.

That would be a totally awesome commercial.

Show a bunch of patients, pale and bleeding out, then, show a bunch of Republicans kissing the floor at Trump's feet.

Awesome.

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But Mike, it ain't just bleeding the already bloodless -- it's mass VAMPIRISM...

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Peter,

At least from my own 40 year backward look at Republican actions (I will not use the word "policy"), VAMPIRISM is the most appropriate word possible.

Well done with your internal thesaurus!

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PURPOSE :

To bleed the body politic, then transform it into their very own Frankenstein monster, their Golem, at their exclusive service.

Alas, I have no confidence in the Democratic Party's rustpile of a machine. Precisely because it IS a machine and (mal)functions like an old machine. America could do with a few John Heartfields...

https://www.retroavangarda.com/john-heartfield-and-the-dawn-of-photomontage/

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Thank you for sharing this “Art for Social Change” one of the most meaningful and creative ways to connect with a movement or idea. Not new, a historic communication. Poetry, theater, visual arts, music. And more. My favorite class for MA in Human Development helped me understand how this universal communication is often the first and last way to communicate. Including and especially in countries that repress Truth. My photography often tells a story. Think of public murals and sculptures. And mere words. Poet Emily Dickinson:

“Tell all the truth but tell it slant — (1263)

BY EMILY DICKINSON

Tell all the truth but tell it slant —

Success in Circuit lies

Too bright for our infirm Delight

The Truth's superb surprise

As Lightning to the Children eased

With explanation kind

The Truth must dazzle gradually

Or every man be blind —“

https://www.kqed.org/education/213364/what-role-can-art-play-in-creating-social-change-2

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Thank you for this link. Freedom fighting through art!

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People can understand images when they can't or won't understand words.

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Perfect.

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I envisions jars of leeches in those commercial ideas.

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I'm liking the way you're thinking here Peter.

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Thanks.

But I still cannot understand how people come to believe that the Republican Party is better for the economy, when they've wrecked it time and again... passing the wreckage on to their Democratic successors.

I think it's that old American faith in the party of Money, the party of Business...

I did wonder at one time whether businessmen might make better politicians, on the grounds that you need a mix of intuition and chutzpah to be a successful businessman. Sure, but they serve themselves, no one else. Not country, not people, nothing beyond the quarterly returns that concern themselves alone.

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Because, as I've commented here before, there are way, way too many people who only watch Fox; they don't read newspapers; they certainly don't read HCR; they have been groomed (I say that deliberately) to believe every crazy conspiracy theory. And even people who take in mainstream media are not hearing much, if anything, about President Biden's accomplishments.

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Sadly, even if confronted with it constantly, they just say “my-uh” or “yeah but that’s not true”.

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"...they've wrecked it time and again... passing the wreckage on to their Democratic successors." My husband and I have had many conversations about this very point. Why do people continue to believe that Republicans are better for the economy?! I don't get it.

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Propaganda works, republicans know this well

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I wonder if we don't have to stop using that respectable word "Republican" and speak only of the MAGA Cabal.

I don't take the publication from which the link that follows is lifted, but I do follow their headlines. Look at this one, just for starters:

https://www.chronicle.com/article/a-playbook-for-knocking-down-higher-ed?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_5331645_nl_Academe-Today_date_20221019&cid=at&source=&sourceid=

I come to think that Joseph Nemeth may be quite right in his assessment that MAGA's aim, or rather, that of its paymasters, is to burn down ALL the country's institutions and then replace them by whatever said occult paymasters require. But it does seem hard to believe that this "playbook" straight out of pulp fiction could be the work of Americans... except for those like Bannon who see themselves as paladins in a battle against the modern world.

Russians? Possible, except that the regime's main interest in Russia's own institutions of science and higher education seems to have been asset stripping... and now, sending students and teaching staff to get killed, all for nothing... China might be a better place to seek the hidden hand. Might... Or Muslim extremists. Anyway, America is not short of enemies. It's those within that trouble me... who have never been tender in my criticisms of the US. But that's a sign of caring...

What is striking, though, is how contagious madness seems to have infected a great swathe of American politics and politicians. You have to be stark raving bonkers to do this to your country! Now, I can think of any number of criticisms against the country, and I'm a foreigner. But to betray one's people... To hate them that much...

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"... to betray one's people... To hate them that much..."

... only, we are not one people - we hail from every place and class on the planet - many of whom are at odds with their "fellow Americans" - many still at war with old enemies ... all poured into the same mix ... some folks call it the "melting pot" - I say it is a threshing floor ... wheat from chaff ... thank goodness the river flows!!

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A very short and succinct response to “how can this happen in a Democracy?” (paraphrase)? Freedom of speech? Court rulings that hand /transfer power from people to corporations? Or simply, garden variety corruption? If we’re taking a fill in the blank test, go for it. Our human creativity “knows no bounds.”

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Heather’s wholly accurate recitation fails to mention the cause of Republican success and the logic behind the failure of Democrats unable to sell the incredible successes of President Biden’s all powerful policies and the potential of his presidency in Ukraine and dominating domestically: racism. Underlying the loathsome problems of our national sin of slavery and oppression of the indigenous peoples of America is white supremacy and so-called Christain Right, the American religion war against, not for, tolerance. Newt Gingrich is and was evil, but Biden’s approach ignores focusing racism as an American or human sin.. for one simple reason: we Americans are schizophrenic when color enters the picture. We have never faced that one down in either party. We’ve passed the ball on to the next generation with words, not enduring action.

In short, sex, love, passion and color have ruled in their different ways, and the soft underbelly of our national ambivalence in racial justice has crippled our nation and our society rendering all other decisions vulnerable. Our great campuses blink; not one university president has declared Trump and the GOP fascist. Sen. Ben Sass wormed his way out the racial door to Florida where the students have erupted. He never really confronted his white voters in a way that called the question.

Jews will not replace us? Ignored. The legacy of slavery in disenfranchisement of the Negro since the Civil War, Black women’s leadership in ALL matters is ignored. The BIG lie politicians rule with DENIAL and get away with it, with the silent killer RACISM powering Graham, McConnell, DeSantis, Scott, Johnson, Lake, Abbott, Cruz and Hawley and the SCOTUS stench of Gorsuch et al...

Neither party will confront what Lincoln feared and FDR ducked: gut punch racism.

Heather’s litany is 100% correct - and colorblind. She smells the cause and holds her nose.

Boston College educated one of the best and remains a problem. Words fail us.

Our national sin, human rights and democracy itself are compromised completely by human tribalism and the color thing. We say we are color blinded and we are. We remain emotionally segregated and eternally compromised. Stefanik is a lying hypocrite and a racist playing the white 21st that erupted November 5th, 1998 - see www.SBLewis.com. A Treatment Center with Black staff blew their minds. Stefanik chose racist Willsoro and Essex County to call home. She never lived here. She shilled for racist Trump and swept Tedra Cobb and will likely slam Matt Castelli.

The Civil War never ended for the racists of either party. Reformation died with Abraham Lincoln and Newt Gingrich & Company. JFK chose LBJ for a reason. Biden chose Harris and the fabulous Ketanji Brown Jackson following the great James Clyburn for a reason, infuriating and inspiring the GOP racist base.

The midterms are but the latest evidence. We will list the accomplishments and the threat of a GOP victory, we will plead for the young people to save us, but we will not address racism flat out.

Why? We are ambivalent and Putin, Orban and Trump know this only too well.

Dynamics of Prejudice was required reading by Eisenhower after WWII but he dared not desegregate his army. FDR turned the boats around rather than confront the oldest hatred known in Western civilization.

Until we truly love our fellow citizens to death, we will continue to rot in denial. Letters from an American is the best of it. Steve Is better and he’s flailing. He has not mastered the art of coddling and guiding us to a better world.

Steve who?

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Yes, yes, and yes. You have well explained American politics. Unfortunately, reducing racism, which is the crux of the solution you point to, is a longterm project, probably extending far beyond the collapse of civilization, which is the likely outcome of competition for living space that global warming will cause. Nevertheless, I like your philosophy. Thanks for that.

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Rex of the Left Coast, surely warming the world will drive migration, moving Darwin’s Children... but we, the grateful grandparents and grandchildren must face the consequences of our cowardice without moving the Dodgers back to Brooklyn. We can do it. Just takes a smile and a hug, friend Nadia Murad won a Peace Nobel shamming racism worldwide.. she wrote her book at Lewis Family Farm to warm up Oslo.. racial leadership can emerge from the streets of Cairo, Moscow, Istanbul, London, Zurich, Washington, or MBS country, just takes a smile and a look in the eyes by a grateful dark skinned woman with what it takes. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson may roll the stench, she is that good. Do not despair. Do not compromise. Get going and expect the best from the people most affected in your decency. We must roll them from the ground up, starting with the children.

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I do not despair. Neither do I see any sign Americans will work to eliminate fossil fuels, even though doing so would build the strongest, most resilient, and fastest growing economy since WWII. Climate scientists have known of the necessity since 1980, but Americans have done next to nothing. We need a WWII effort starting now, and roughly half of the population ignores the facts or, worse, denies them. I’m doing what I can, but I don’t expect to succeed. Yet, I do not despair. I’m just mighty damn pissed at white Americans, who are, the majority of them, the crux if the problem.

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Thank you Sandy. What I’d give to spend a day in your head. Such wide ranging experience and knowledge.

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WOW! And to add on, in Paolo Freire’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” he warns of the Oppressed becoming the Oppressor.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedagogy_of_the_Oppressed

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