In an event at the White House today, President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and the First Lady and Second Gentleman, along with lawmakers and those who worked for the causes the law embraces, celebrated the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the new law that lowers prescription drug costs, invests in new technologies to combat climate change, and raises taxes on billion-dollar corporations both to fund the new investments and to reduce the federal deficit.
It is and they know....as they wipe their social media of any mention of that stance, but thank you, Graham, for putting it front and center with headlines. The Q theories have led to the a man killing and wounding his family in Michigan. It's not a surprise that death star likes them. May Putin wobble right out of power, but we have to ask how many people will fall out of windows first. R ads here in Oregon are very negative. D ads tout plans not platitudes and accomplishments if they have held office before. Jamie McLeod Skinner has on her s**t kicking boots in one ad as R try to make her into someone from CA....she holds track records in high school in Ashland, OR.
not sure Putin wobbling out of power would be a good thing. sounds like anyone else who follows him... will be much more of a war-monger. right now, those are the people who are criticizing him. he's not pulling out all the stops on Ukraine that they want is what it appears.
Good point. You are right that the ones openly critical of Putin are even more extreme and dangerous. But if Putin were perceived as weak enough, perhaps his other opponents might head for the streets - younger people who don't want conflict with the West and are horrified by Ukraine. The flood gates could be opened by the bad guys.
I think political chaos in Russia is inevitable. It's a tradition. Let's just hope the nuclear codes are held by those with some sort of ethics.
The Russians are losing their criminal war on Ukraine. Anyone who pushes out Putin just might have enough sense to blame Putin for the whole debacle and get out.
Who knows. There’s such a propaganda war going on. Pro-Russia sources continue to insist that Russia is a fearsome monster that will absolutely win. Facts on the ground don’t match that claim.
I think the overall problem with Russia is most citizens there honestly don't know Putin is a despot. How can they rise up or even support a new leader via coup when they don't know what's going on. I've spoken to people who have family there. They call and try to inform their loved ones, but aren't believed. They think We are being lied to. I have considered it, but know that this opinion is worldwide, not just our little corner.
I understand and I agree with Bill below. We can only hope for some kind of resolution that doesn't destroy the rest of us. As he notes, it is likely to get chaotic.
It’s actually WWG1WGA, “Where we go one, we go all.” It was first used in the Ridley Scott movie, “White Squall,” but QAnon crazies, particularly Flynn & his family, purport that it was engraved on a bell on one of JFK’s sailboats (it wasn’t).
From a phrase read from a ship's bell by a character in the 1996 movie White Squall. The phrase itself means "Where one of us goes, we will go together," or "We will go together with any one of our members."
Base on the "way back history" they used to overturn Roe they would claim this for women's right to vote by claiming that the 19th amendment wasn't correctly ratified. Or maybe a married woman must be supervised in voting booth. Sounds crazy but so does Dobbs and Citizens United.
Dobbs, Citizens United, and several other of their decisions do not just 'sound' crazy, they are Crazy.
Dobbs was not only Bat Sheet Crazy, but would have received an 'F' for Alito in Law School. Horribly Multi-faceted Wrong decision. Very Un-Constitutioal!
I hope you are right - I have talked with some women here in Gilead Tennessee who are all for this. My mind still has the memory emblazened in it forever of too many women failing us in 2016 and not voting HRC - a would-be president who would still have a couple years left in perhaps a historically great presidency. So sad, what could have been.
It's important to remember that this "strategy" has been going on for some time now. Back in the summer of 2020 the GOP decided to go with NO platform,.... as in None At All. This was interpreted to mean, Whatever-Chump-Wants (us-to-do).
With nothing but a vacuum and just Chump holding rallies and *ucker Carlson holding court, each professing only Hate-The-Libs (translation: Democracy) the result was predictable with their illiterate base going from Low IQ to Full Q which is where we are just two years later.
Sadly, Lapdog Lindsey really has nowhere else to go. To even try to stay relevant and in the "news" the only ones he can speak to are the very ones the GOP trained to lower their IQ from the depths they even started from (see above).
How he/they believe doubling down on eradicating women's rights to be a winning strategy makes one realize that Mr Graham has been drinking the very same Kool-Aid they've sold to their circus seals. Of course, should his circus masters Chump & Carlson decide to change "strategies", Lindsey can do that, too:
Got that right. He has company. Rubio, Cruz many more. These effin' morons have significantly degraded the quality of our national government. And understatement.
I remember Miss Pittypat, Charles Hamilton's silly aunt in Gone With the Wind, known for her frequent swooning spells and her inability to get facts straight. .
What an awful thing to say. Miss Pittypat may not have been too bright, but she was a sweetheart and nothing like Lindsey. If you want to compare him to anyone in GWTW, try Jonas Wilkerson, Tara's former overseer.
Wish I could take credit for it but, that goes to another real American. I think everyone that develops any one of the many appropriate positive responses to the factions trying to destroy the country would be proud for you to extend and increase their contribution(s). So, Go For It.
Sadly, even with a no-policy hate-based nonplatform, they still got over 70 million votes. Some seem to think by doubling down they can improve their chances. In a logical world they would do much worse. The next two months will reveal the mental status of the country.
Classic “dog catches car — now what?” moment for the GOP. Some prognosticators predicted that SCOTUS’s right-wing justices would follow CJ Roberts’s strategy of whittling down Roe without explicitly overturning it so they would still have it as an issue. The predictions were wrong, of course, and the backlash is something the oh-so savvy, Very Serious Person MSM pundits didn’t predict. Now Roberts is whining that public opinion is being mean to him and his precious legacy of calling balls and strikes. But Roberts took a wrecking ball to voting rights, with the Selby decision and the various cases approving badly gerrymandered districts, and the Citizens United case opened the money floodgates. If Roberts is the umpire he’s being paid by one of the teams.
I have no sympathy for the SCOTUS justices who followed their ideology instead of legal precedent and actual justice, resulting in public loss of respect for the court. It’s hard to respect the playground bully. They created the mess and they need to stop whining and fix it.
Lindsey Graham has been unhinged for a long time! An amazing Republican trait for several years now! It just seems to me like it continues to worsen! We need to keep that Blue Wave going! No time to relax!
How could one forget. Almost the entire RepubLieCon side of the Senate has been very chummy with Vlad the Annexer since 2016 (if not before).
Still, Lindsay was not one of the 'Prostrate Eight' who decided to celebrate the 4th of July, 2018 in Moscow, reportedly returning with bags of Gold (earning them the Team name of "Moscow Mules").
Nor was he #MoscowMitch, who also reportedly visited returning with more bags of Gold.
Sharon, do you have any more specific info on his relationship as I do not remember any of his Russian Escapades. (Now, Madison Cawthorn, may the gods rest his sorry behind, I do remember.)
In Michigan there are only 2 ads playing for our Governor's race. The first features our fabulous Gretchen Whitmer. The second features her only opponent - in an ad FOR Whitmer. The Republican declares she is against abortion. The reporter asks, "Even for rape & incest of a 14 year old girl?" "Exactly." Waving Blue here!!
TY. I had heard talk weeks ago, but did not know it was that far along. I don't think I need to remind Sen Schumer that the session is getting shorter not longer as for some other bills. However, I imagine they want to wait for the most timely moment to make sure everyone is paying attention.
Thank you for the positive truth about what our dedicated national leadership is accomplishing. It is tremendous and is reversing so much of the damage done not only by Trump and his acolytes but Republicans and their billionaire "friends" . It will take years to rebuild but the beginning is robust. Look at the development of semiconductor, etc. plants!!! NOW--on to the corruption, lies, and active attempts to destroy this country from within. Keep shining the light of truth, HCR---may that light burn away the darkness that envelops the GOP and all things they touch---the development with T* and Qanon is truly frightening---this is more than just a "cult"---it is a belief system that promises destruction, slaughter, and more---truly a False Religion of what can be called demonic proportions.
Damn, and I thought that we really aren’t that stupid, but seems we (so many of us) really are. It takes a special kind of “deliberately ignorant” to buy that Schitt. Nazis started out as a cult…
After a point. I think human nature, including mine, is vulnerable to cult dynamics, but most of it moderate it with some degree of self-questioning and critical thinking; some awareness of context and and our own process. Full blown cults are closed to counter evidence, such as the relative safety and protection from the immunological "This is a drill" of a vaccine versus invasion of one's DNA by a predatory virus.
I think the Nazis were a cult throughout WWII, and fascists (and other despots) go to great lengths to keep their following trapped in a cult mentality emotional whirlpool.
Extreme classic cults do extreme things, from the suicides of Jonestown, to the Third Reich. Sometimes what they purport to believe ludicrous things, such as Heaven's Gate cult belief that taking cyanide, which they did, to allow them to join the "spaceship" hidden in the tail of the comet Hale-Bopp. It's utterly absurd, but absurdity as a basis for actions can be uniquely dangerous.
JL, this is apropos of nothing: I am watching “Night Sky” on Amazon Prime. Just starting, so I won’t be able to give a spoiler alert and wouldn’t anyway....it’s about a couple (Sissy Spacek plays Irene, the wife) and her husband Franklin (don’t ask me his actor name) and they seem to be in touch with outer space and can go “there” from the basement in their house, where they seem to have a headquarters for the spaceship. Your comment somehow reminded me....it’s quite good if you need a distraction from the circus here at home.....
Sometimes fiction is a better medium for human truths than unadorned data. While science and math decode the core patterns of our circumstances, the arts transmit the sentient experience we humans inhabit in resonant ways. The play "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (which I suspect is terrible or objectionable because it never seems to be assigned or quoted) is claimed to have had a significant impact on public opinion about the evils of slavery, even though that would seem to have been (and apparently wasn't) universally self-evident. Plays of Shakespeare have provided meaningful metaphors for real-world personality types. Thomas Nast's political humor was cited in my school history book as having impact on public awareness. See Drydren's / Handel's Ode to St. Cecilia's day for extravagant claims about the power of music. "Let me make the songs of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws." - Andrew Fletcher
It is absolutely essential that President Biden expand the Supreme Court. It has become far too political and is putting the U.S. back into the dark ages.
If we can win the midterms and have a majority in both houses, this might be possible. I think we The People have got to get busy organizing around demanding this be done. The SCOTUS is really out of control. I get my blood boiling whenever I think how Moscow Mitch swindled Obama’s right to nominate and confirm Garland. It’s outrageous! Grrrrrrr......
Nearly every day, I send a Resistbot message to ‘federal’ - my Congress critters and President Biden - to Expand the Courts. (The lower courts need expanding too, to handle the workload and reduce the impact of Trump servants like Cannon in FL and that anti-health-care guy in Texas. ) It’s quick to send, and adds each time to public pressure to do it.
“Meanwhile, Russian president Putin’s power at home is wobbling. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz tweeted today that he had a 90-minute phone call with Putin in which he demanded that Russia withdraw its troops from Ukraine and recognize Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Fifty Russian municipal deputies have publicly called for Putin to resign.”
no. they are more dangerous than he is. they're the hawkish oligarchs, not true dissidents wanting peace. they're the only ones who can speak out. as far down the fascist road as we are looking here, those 'speaking out' in Russia are NOT who you think. and don't want what we want.
Point out: Graham's National Abortion Ban not only takes away the state's right to set their own law, it does not "raise" the ban to 15 weeks for states that enact "heartbeat" bills nor "conception" limits.
He was also asked at the press announcement what about nonviable conceptions detected at, say, 16 weeks gestation, and his response was in essence "too bad."
As an OB/GYN, I REPEAT - medicine has NOTHING to offer previable fetuses. Unless development has reached the point ventilation can be performed, death is inevitable. This is why the term "viability" in Roe is pertinent. These bans lead to criminal investigations of caregivers and ultimately pregnant women, for outcomes that no one had control to change.
Many people point out (AGAIN) that Senator Graham has NO UTERUS, NO Marriage, NO (known) partner, and NO children.
The GOP/GQP are not stopping at "forced birth." They aim to take away access to contraception, marrying who you love, and other rights. They are going to take away Social Security that people have invested in over years, and remove other social "safety nets".
They are completely ignoring and against Jewish tradition and "definition" of life beginning with first breath and ending with last breath.
Meanwhile, in neighboring Minnesota, the Republican candidate/baby doctor Scott Jensen is playing the wink-wink, Kavanaugh/Barret SCOTUS testimony routine that abortion is a protected right, while being on record for legislation to ban abortions. Love to ask him whether he'd sign legislation to overturn that right?
Thank You Beverly!! I see hope in Michigan. Our Governor Whitmer's most poweful campaign commercial features her opponent insisting that banning abortion for 14 year victims of incest is exactly what should be the law. Also, when the co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party called Pete Buttigieg (whose home is here in Grand Traverse county) "a weak little girl" all our area Repiblican state representatives and candidates renounced her!
Governor Whitmer is both a good leader/governor AND BRAVE.
The fact these anarchists and anti-government types who have taken over the GOP are using armed threats and actually planning kidnapping and other harm to officials needs to be taken VERY SERIOUSLY. Intimidation, violence and voter suppression remains real, since BEFORE the U.S. Civil War, the Jim Crow Era, the Civil Rights work of the 1950-1960s, and continuing unabated through the present day.
45 NEVER intended for there to be a President following him. He always has, and continues now both on his "social media" and in rallies, to say the quiet part out LOUD, that he intends to rule for life.
And there is so much racist ire out there tRump can stir up to fuel and support his dictatorship. I take heart that many businesses are ending their allegiance (and donations) to tRump. But it is just a financial decision, no conscience or care involved. Thanks for your insights Beverly. Oh, we still have so much work to do.
We are lucky, and we worked very hard to get her elected. She walked or crosscountry skied through every Michigan county,, city and village during her year long campaign. And she listened.
Perseverance furthers. Successful progressive movements have kept specific truth in the foreground until it penetrates the smokescreen of deliberate distraction, and begins to bother us, or to dawn on us that there are alternatives, or both.
Once light beings to leak into the lair of greed-roaches, they get very worried and agitated. Sometimes violent. Enough light, and they scurry.
But corruption ebbs and flows in differing countries and eras, and affects societies unevenly. It's always an uphill battle, but life is so nasty (and too often, brutish and short) down there in "the swamp", and the battle on this soil has been getting tougher.
Not too quiet, but strong, informed and firm. My wife once taught taught at a high school where an out of control gang problem was emerging. One principal had the air of authority to handle them, after another didn't.
Greta turns the tables on Trump's insults, and has projected herself as the teenage adult in the room. All the more important in a madhouse where actual, universal "free speech" is conflated with money.
Today’s Letter, which arrived before midnight (a sign of married life?) began with an event at the White House. Senator Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) announcement that he will introduce a national abortion ban came next. ‘CNN Capitol Hill reporter Melanie Zanona reported this afternoon that at least 80 House Republicans are introducing their own bill, similar to Graham’s.’ (Letter) Moving along, the Letter took us to DJT’’s Truth Social network, where the showman has been talking the QAnon talk. HCR ended with Russia, which is almost as omnipresent as DJT. ‘Missy Ryan of the Washington Post reported that a senior U.S. official has revealed that since 2014, Russia has spent at least $300 million in more than 24 countries to weaken democracies and strengthen global forces friendly to Putin’s interests.’
The Letter felt to me as though it was quaking and shaking in its reflection on the USA. New York City, where I live, feels separate from the country, but it’s connected. Is any place in the USA free of the feeling that random violence may strike at any time? The Letter composed by HCR’s mind and hand is a steadying force and its truth does not shield us from the rage on board.
I think the random violence has already begun and has been going on for quite awhile, maybe “disguised” as other things, caused by mentally ill shooters. We see how many of these wackos are connected to dump. He is fomenting the violence on his pitiful “platform:, but the word is out in Q World in spite of all the ineptitude....scary.
'Tomorrow, PRESIDENT BIDEN IS HOSTING a WHITE HOUSE SUMMIT TO ADDRESS THE GROWING THREAT OF HATE-FUELED VIOLENCE IN OUR COUNTRY.'
'Five years ago, we filed our Unite the Right lawsuit because those in power were not stepping up to address the growing crisis of extremism. On the contrary, many were fueling the crisis with bigoted policies and rhetoric.'
'So we’re heartened that President Biden -- who has highlighted the attack on Charlottesville as motivation for his presidential run -- is taking key steps forward in confronting this crisis, with his recent address on democracy and now this important White House event.'
'The “United We Stand” Summit will detail recent efforts to address the threats facing our communities and democracy, including with anti-hate crime legislation like the Jabara-Heyer Act, named for Khalid Jabara and Heather Heyer. And -- because far more needs to be done as extremism is increasingly normalized in our politics and society -- the summit will provide a forum for local leaders to share effective strategies aimed at violence prevention, accountability, deradicalization, and healing divisions within communities.'
'We’re honored that IFA has been invited to participate in tomorrow’s event -- a clear recognition that the work we’ve done together taking on neo-Nazis and white supremacists has made a powerful impact.'
'But we’re not the only ones invited. Everyone is welcome to join the livestream beginning at 10am ET.'
'And we do hope you’ll tune in, because we need as many people as possible to be part of this national conversation and the work that comes after. The challenges before us are enormous and can only be overcome when those on the side of tolerance, equality, and inclusive democracy stand together and fight back.' (Integrityfirstforamerica) See link below.
I don’t know, but I feel a little guilty for feeling jubilant about all the apparent self-destruction of the MAGA crew. Okay, glee better describes the feeling. I’ve always, always, always cared about teo things in any candidate: do they support a woman’s right to choose and have they ever cheated on their spouse and lied about it. A liar, is a liar, is a liar. I would never knowingly vote for one.
There had been a time when I thought Lindsay Graham was a fairly decent representative of the people. Unfortunately, his Kool Aid addiction has affected his brain.
He wants to remain relevant??! The poor sap could have picked a better way. I wonder how relevant he’ll be when historians look back on him and the other cretins in the gop 100 years from now.
The underlying problem with ANY legislation concerning peoples' reproductive and sexual lives, whether positive or negative, is that it shouldn't exist. Certain aspects of human life should be quarantined from government interference, as religion is the in the First Amendment to the Constitution ("Congress shall pass no law concerning an establishment of religion") Sorry if I misquoted that - didn't check.
What an absolute mess Trump has perpetuated. I will admit that I thought Trump did nothing during his term, yet he did plenty to divide the American people and line his pockets.
Maybe, just maybe he will pay the piper in someway for his deeds.
Yet, Lindsay Graham continues to dig his own grave.
He did something: "Trump had the third-biggest primary deficit growth, 5.2% of GDP, behind only George W. Bush (11.7%) and Abraham Lincoln (9.4%). Bush, of course, not only passed a big tax cut, as Trump has, but also launched two wars, which greatly inflated the defense budget. Lincoln had to pay for the Civil War."
For which Republicans instituted graduated federal income tax, a historical note I picked up from HCR. I recall someone of note complaining during the reign of Bush II that his policy was spend and don't tax.
If you chart what has happened to middle class and underprivileged opportunities, job security, social harmony, international stability, natural disasters and environmental sustainability, and many other markers that can be empirically tracked for the lat 40 years, their performance record is uniformly terrible, save for the fortunes of their plutocratic clients, but they vociferously blame all of it on others, and promise to make America "great again". Note that they never bother to detail when it was the America was "great", when it ceased to be, and specifically how, and their cult never asks them to take this beyond talking points. Not much of a "business plan" and a hell of a way to run a country.
While supporting my own Virginia candidates for "Roevember," I remain fixated on Pennsylvania's senatorial race between Fetterman and Oz. I want to donate every single time I receive an email from Fetterman's campaign. Why is that?
When John became ill, his wife, Gisele Fetterman, stepped in to help the campaign while he was recovering. This SLOP (Second Lady of Pennsylvania) is no slouch! As Red, Wine & Blue tells it: "In 2016, a call for jury duty was a dream come true for Gisele Fetterman, our special guest for our next National Troublemaking Training. When Gisele, who was formally an undocumented immigrant, got the call to serve, it made her feel accepted in America. Choosing to give back to the country that she was now a part of, Gisele founded Free Store 15104, which distributes goods to people who are struggling with food and clothing insecurity. She also co-founded 412 Food Rescue and For Good PGH, which promotes diversity and inclusivity!" Here's the RW&B link for the "training" to be held Thursday, September 15, at 8:00 pm ET:
Nice information re: Gisele Fetterman: thx! But her husband & Oz are not in a gubernatorial race but in a US senatorial race for the seat of retiring gop senator Toomey.
Texas will not publish maternal death rates until after the mid-terms. I had to stop reading for several minutes to absorb what that means. These people (Abbott, et. al.) are not 'pro-life'.
Somehow, doubling down on forced birth seems like a bad strategy for the unhinged Republicans.
It is and they know....as they wipe their social media of any mention of that stance, but thank you, Graham, for putting it front and center with headlines. The Q theories have led to the a man killing and wounding his family in Michigan. It's not a surprise that death star likes them. May Putin wobble right out of power, but we have to ask how many people will fall out of windows first. R ads here in Oregon are very negative. D ads tout plans not platitudes and accomplishments if they have held office before. Jamie McLeod Skinner has on her s**t kicking boots in one ad as R try to make her into someone from CA....she holds track records in high school in Ashland, OR.
not sure Putin wobbling out of power would be a good thing. sounds like anyone else who follows him... will be much more of a war-monger. right now, those are the people who are criticizing him. he's not pulling out all the stops on Ukraine that they want is what it appears.
Good point. You are right that the ones openly critical of Putin are even more extreme and dangerous. But if Putin were perceived as weak enough, perhaps his other opponents might head for the streets - younger people who don't want conflict with the West and are horrified by Ukraine. The flood gates could be opened by the bad guys.
I think political chaos in Russia is inevitable. It's a tradition. Let's just hope the nuclear codes are held by those with some sort of ethics.
The Russians are losing their criminal war on Ukraine. Anyone who pushes out Putin just might have enough sense to blame Putin for the whole debacle and get out.
That would be the easiest and most economical for them. Maybe Putin will be falling out of a window soon.
And maybe tfg will too!
🤣🪟😱
Who knows. There’s such a propaganda war going on. Pro-Russia sources continue to insist that Russia is a fearsome monster that will absolutely win. Facts on the ground don’t match that claim.
I think the overall problem with Russia is most citizens there honestly don't know Putin is a despot. How can they rise up or even support a new leader via coup when they don't know what's going on. I've spoken to people who have family there. They call and try to inform their loved ones, but aren't believed. They think We are being lied to. I have considered it, but know that this opinion is worldwide, not just our little corner.
It's heartbreaking.
I understand and I agree with Bill below. We can only hope for some kind of resolution that doesn't destroy the rest of us. As he notes, it is likely to get chaotic.
And I remember tfg when asked about the Q...he never heard of it! Sure!!!!
He is just using them to get his narcissistic attention and keep the chaos flowing.
Pensa, he’s a user alright, among other nasty things.
In that Q meme Heather referenced and included in her notes under ☢️ picture, it says “WWGIWGA.” No clue what that acronym is.
It’s actually WWG1WGA, “Where we go one, we go all.” It was first used in the Ridley Scott movie, “White Squall,” but QAnon crazies, particularly Flynn & his family, purport that it was engraved on a bell on one of JFK’s sailboats (it wasn’t).
Thanks, Linda. Wow.
How long do we think before DOD returns Flynn to Active Duty so they can Court Martial him??
Does anyone think DOJ would move any faster?
Just looked it up:
From a phrase read from a ship's bell by a character in the 1996 movie White Squall. The phrase itself means "Where one of us goes, we will go together," or "We will go together with any one of our members."
Wiki.
Thanks, Ricia!
As an old friend commented to me last night, "SCOTUS should have taken away the Vote from women before overturning Roe................"
I guess they weren't as strategic as they thought they were. :0)
Given this SCOTUS, I wouldn't put it past the R's to try to do just that-take away women's right to vote.
Base on the "way back history" they used to overturn Roe they would claim this for women's right to vote by claiming that the 19th amendment wasn't correctly ratified. Or maybe a married woman must be supervised in voting booth. Sounds crazy but so does Dobbs and Citizens United.
Dobbs, Citizens United, and several other of their decisions do not just 'sound' crazy, they are Crazy.
Dobbs was not only Bat Sheet Crazy, but would have received an 'F' for Alito in Law School. Horribly Multi-faceted Wrong decision. Very Un-Constitutioal!
And then there would be Hell to pay!
I hope you are right - I have talked with some women here in Gilead Tennessee who are all for this. My mind still has the memory emblazened in it forever of too many women failing us in 2016 and not voting HRC - a would-be president who would still have a couple years left in perhaps a historically great presidency. So sad, what could have been.
👍
👋 👋 👋
It's important to remember that this "strategy" has been going on for some time now. Back in the summer of 2020 the GOP decided to go with NO platform,.... as in None At All. This was interpreted to mean, Whatever-Chump-Wants (us-to-do).
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/08/25/the-2020-republican-party-platform-letat-cest-moi/
With nothing but a vacuum and just Chump holding rallies and *ucker Carlson holding court, each professing only Hate-The-Libs (translation: Democracy) the result was predictable with their illiterate base going from Low IQ to Full Q which is where we are just two years later.
Sadly, Lapdog Lindsey really has nowhere else to go. To even try to stay relevant and in the "news" the only ones he can speak to are the very ones the GOP trained to lower their IQ from the depths they even started from (see above).
How he/they believe doubling down on eradicating women's rights to be a winning strategy makes one realize that Mr Graham has been drinking the very same Kool-Aid they've sold to their circus seals. Of course, should his circus masters Chump & Carlson decide to change "strategies", Lindsey can do that, too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0QjNNib_3c
Will Lindsey now propose gun legislation in line with those in European countries?
Doubt it--the R's gotta have guns so they can incite more violence.
None of his cronies would go for that. They are owned by the NRA.
None of his cronies would go for that. They are owned by the NRA.
Can I borrow that name - Lapdog Lindsey - I haven't seen it before, and it is oh so appropriate.
Lindsay is a despicable hypocrite. How does he even sleep at night.
Got that right. He has company. Rubio, Cruz many more. These effin' morons have significantly degraded the quality of our national government. And understatement.
Personally, I'm rather fond of a nickname I read on another substack, "Pittypat". So descriptive.
I remember Miss Pittypat, Charles Hamilton's silly aunt in Gone With the Wind, known for her frequent swooning spells and her inability to get facts straight. .
What an awful thing to say. Miss Pittypat may not have been too bright, but she was a sweetheart and nothing like Lindsey. If you want to compare him to anyone in GWTW, try Jonas Wilkerson, Tara's former overseer.
Pittypat and goes with the pearls
I hadn't come across that moniker but guessed it was him.
Wish I could take credit for it but, that goes to another real American. I think everyone that develops any one of the many appropriate positive responses to the factions trying to destroy the country would be proud for you to extend and increase their contribution(s). So, Go For It.
Mr. Graham is like a rabid weasel.
That’s an insult to rabid weasels!
Sadly, even with a no-policy hate-based nonplatform, they still got over 70 million votes. Some seem to think by doubling down they can improve their chances. In a logical world they would do much worse. The next two months will reveal the mental status of the country.
👋 👋 👋
Classic “dog catches car — now what?” moment for the GOP. Some prognosticators predicted that SCOTUS’s right-wing justices would follow CJ Roberts’s strategy of whittling down Roe without explicitly overturning it so they would still have it as an issue. The predictions were wrong, of course, and the backlash is something the oh-so savvy, Very Serious Person MSM pundits didn’t predict. Now Roberts is whining that public opinion is being mean to him and his precious legacy of calling balls and strikes. But Roberts took a wrecking ball to voting rights, with the Selby decision and the various cases approving badly gerrymandered districts, and the Citizens United case opened the money floodgates. If Roberts is the umpire he’s being paid by one of the teams.
I have no sympathy for the SCOTUS justices who followed their ideology instead of legal precedent and actual justice, resulting in public loss of respect for the court. It’s hard to respect the playground bully. They created the mess and they need to stop whining and fix it.
What league is Roberts talking about? Kavanaugh's beer league?
Lindsey Graham has been unhinged for a long time! An amazing Republican trait for several years now! It just seems to me like it continues to worsen! We need to keep that Blue Wave going! No time to relax!
Now as unhinged as a ping-pong ball in a concrete room. How did he win re-Election in 2020 even in SC??
Must have been with money from Putin/Trump. He got very chummy with Trump! Remember!
How could one forget. Almost the entire RepubLieCon side of the Senate has been very chummy with Vlad the Annexer since 2016 (if not before).
Still, Lindsay was not one of the 'Prostrate Eight' who decided to celebrate the 4th of July, 2018 in Moscow, reportedly returning with bags of Gold (earning them the Team name of "Moscow Mules").
Nor was he #MoscowMitch, who also reportedly visited returning with more bags of Gold.
Sharon, do you have any more specific info on his relationship as I do not remember any of his Russian Escapades. (Now, Madison Cawthorn, may the gods rest his sorry behind, I do remember.)
No, Westtrekker, I don't have specific info... but he suddenly was spending lots of time with tfg! And, I feel tfg owes his soul to Putin!
tfg certainly believes he owes his soul to Putin - and possibly to whomever holds the PP Tapes.
In Michigan there are only 2 ads playing for our Governor's race. The first features our fabulous Gretchen Whitmer. The second features her only opponent - in an ad FOR Whitmer. The Republican declares she is against abortion. The reporter asks, "Even for rape & incest of a 14 year old girl?" "Exactly." Waving Blue here!!
Reps have to replace unmasked items lost to Covid.
They must know ... can they be that Stupid or Self-Righteous?
So, which Dem(S) is/are going to introduce a bill in the opposite direction??
Nothing radical, just medically sound with equal rights forefront?
There’s a bill to codify the right to cont one’s body in the Senate now, and Schumer has pledged to bring it to a vote this session.
TY. I had heard talk weeks ago, but did not know it was that far along. I don't think I need to remind Sen Schumer that the session is getting shorter not longer as for some other bills. However, I imagine they want to wait for the most timely moment to make sure everyone is paying attention.
In order to introduce abortion legislation that represents all interests fairly...we should perhaps return to the original ruling, 'Roe vs. Wade'.
Not sure who McConnell despises more now, Graham or Trump.
I’m rooting for injuries in this contest!
Thank you for the positive truth about what our dedicated national leadership is accomplishing. It is tremendous and is reversing so much of the damage done not only by Trump and his acolytes but Republicans and their billionaire "friends" . It will take years to rebuild but the beginning is robust. Look at the development of semiconductor, etc. plants!!! NOW--on to the corruption, lies, and active attempts to destroy this country from within. Keep shining the light of truth, HCR---may that light burn away the darkness that envelops the GOP and all things they touch---the development with T* and Qanon is truly frightening---this is more than just a "cult"---it is a belief system that promises destruction, slaughter, and more---truly a False Religion of what can be called demonic proportions.
Your assessment of the Q-effect is chillingly accurate.
agree
Damn, and I thought that we really aren’t that stupid, but seems we (so many of us) really are. It takes a special kind of “deliberately ignorant” to buy that Schitt. Nazis started out as a cult…
After a point. I think human nature, including mine, is vulnerable to cult dynamics, but most of it moderate it with some degree of self-questioning and critical thinking; some awareness of context and and our own process. Full blown cults are closed to counter evidence, such as the relative safety and protection from the immunological "This is a drill" of a vaccine versus invasion of one's DNA by a predatory virus.
I think the Nazis were a cult throughout WWII, and fascists (and other despots) go to great lengths to keep their following trapped in a cult mentality emotional whirlpool.
Extreme classic cults do extreme things, from the suicides of Jonestown, to the Third Reich. Sometimes what they purport to believe ludicrous things, such as Heaven's Gate cult belief that taking cyanide, which they did, to allow them to join the "spaceship" hidden in the tail of the comet Hale-Bopp. It's utterly absurd, but absurdity as a basis for actions can be uniquely dangerous.
Well, maybe there is a comet coming round soon that they can all prepare to join? T'wold solve some problems in America and thereabout.
They sorta tried that with COVID, but with much "collateral damage".
JL, this is apropos of nothing: I am watching “Night Sky” on Amazon Prime. Just starting, so I won’t be able to give a spoiler alert and wouldn’t anyway....it’s about a couple (Sissy Spacek plays Irene, the wife) and her husband Franklin (don’t ask me his actor name) and they seem to be in touch with outer space and can go “there” from the basement in their house, where they seem to have a headquarters for the spaceship. Your comment somehow reminded me....it’s quite good if you need a distraction from the circus here at home.....
The circus here at home is our life and possibly our future. I know you don’t ignore that, but fiction seems so blasé at present.
Sometimes fiction is a better medium for human truths than unadorned data. While science and math decode the core patterns of our circumstances, the arts transmit the sentient experience we humans inhabit in resonant ways. The play "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (which I suspect is terrible or objectionable because it never seems to be assigned or quoted) is claimed to have had a significant impact on public opinion about the evils of slavery, even though that would seem to have been (and apparently wasn't) universally self-evident. Plays of Shakespeare have provided meaningful metaphors for real-world personality types. Thomas Nast's political humor was cited in my school history book as having impact on public awareness. See Drydren's / Handel's Ode to St. Cecilia's day for extravagant claims about the power of music. "Let me make the songs of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws." - Andrew Fletcher
Unfortunately evil clowns are evil.
👋 👋 👋
It is absolutely essential that President Biden expand the Supreme Court. It has become far too political and is putting the U.S. back into the dark ages.
If we can win the midterms and have a majority in both houses, this might be possible. I think we The People have got to get busy organizing around demanding this be done. The SCOTUS is really out of control. I get my blood boiling whenever I think how Moscow Mitch swindled Obama’s right to nominate and confirm Garland. It’s outrageous! Grrrrrrr......
Nearly every day, I send a Resistbot message to ‘federal’ - my Congress critters and President Biden - to Expand the Courts. (The lower courts need expanding too, to handle the workload and reduce the impact of Trump servants like Cannon in FL and that anti-health-care guy in Texas. ) It’s quick to send, and adds each time to public pressure to do it.
👍🏼
I've been reading for a few years and finally subscribed today. Thank you, and keep 'em coming!
Thank you for being here, Michael.
Welcome, Michael.
Paid LFAA member; welcome Michael.
Welcome aboard!
Welcome, Michael, to an incredible group! But you already know that....Glad to have you around.
Welcome to the group Michael.
👏👋👋👋 Welcome!
Welcome Michael!
Welcome aboard.
Welcome, Michael!
Welcome, Michael! to a great group.
Adding to the welcomes, Michael!
“Meanwhile, Russian president Putin’s power at home is wobbling. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz tweeted today that he had a 90-minute phone call with Putin in which he demanded that Russia withdraw its troops from Ukraine and recognize Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Fifty Russian municipal deputies have publicly called for Putin to resign.”
The more wobbly, the better!
IMO, fifty Russian politicians speaking out and not fearing for their lives is incredible. The end is near!
no. they are more dangerous than he is. they're the hawkish oligarchs, not true dissidents wanting peace. they're the only ones who can speak out. as far down the fascist road as we are looking here, those 'speaking out' in Russia are NOT who you think. and don't want what we want.
At least they must see the economic stupidity of invading Ukraine.
seems like they would, tho who knows? and maybe it's driven more by ideology than economics?
Indeed! That’s fifty very brave Russian municipal deputies.
Brave or egotistical?
In Putin’s Russia any low-level (municipal) official who publicly criticizes the top dog is definitely brave and/or suicidal.
Yes, there's a track record of low level politicians "falling out of windows" or "sinking on their yachts."
Point out: Graham's National Abortion Ban not only takes away the state's right to set their own law, it does not "raise" the ban to 15 weeks for states that enact "heartbeat" bills nor "conception" limits.
He was also asked at the press announcement what about nonviable conceptions detected at, say, 16 weeks gestation, and his response was in essence "too bad."
As an OB/GYN, I REPEAT - medicine has NOTHING to offer previable fetuses. Unless development has reached the point ventilation can be performed, death is inevitable. This is why the term "viability" in Roe is pertinent. These bans lead to criminal investigations of caregivers and ultimately pregnant women, for outcomes that no one had control to change.
Many people point out (AGAIN) that Senator Graham has NO UTERUS, NO Marriage, NO (known) partner, and NO children.
The GOP/GQP are not stopping at "forced birth." They aim to take away access to contraception, marrying who you love, and other rights. They are going to take away Social Security that people have invested in over years, and remove other social "safety nets".
They are completely ignoring and against Jewish tradition and "definition" of life beginning with first breath and ending with last breath.
VOTE. VOTE. VOTE. ROEVEMBER is coming.
Meanwhile, in neighboring Minnesota, the Republican candidate/baby doctor Scott Jensen is playing the wink-wink, Kavanaugh/Barret SCOTUS testimony routine that abortion is a protected right, while being on record for legislation to ban abortions. Love to ask him whether he'd sign legislation to overturn that right?
Thank you for providing these details.
Thank You Beverly!! I see hope in Michigan. Our Governor Whitmer's most poweful campaign commercial features her opponent insisting that banning abortion for 14 year victims of incest is exactly what should be the law. Also, when the co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party called Pete Buttigieg (whose home is here in Grand Traverse county) "a weak little girl" all our area Repiblican state representatives and candidates renounced her!
Governor Whitmer is both a good leader/governor AND BRAVE.
The fact these anarchists and anti-government types who have taken over the GOP are using armed threats and actually planning kidnapping and other harm to officials needs to be taken VERY SERIOUSLY. Intimidation, violence and voter suppression remains real, since BEFORE the U.S. Civil War, the Jim Crow Era, the Civil Rights work of the 1950-1960s, and continuing unabated through the present day.
45 NEVER intended for there to be a President following him. He always has, and continues now both on his "social media" and in rallies, to say the quiet part out LOUD, that he intends to rule for life.
And there is so much racist ire out there tRump can stir up to fuel and support his dictatorship. I take heart that many businesses are ending their allegiance (and donations) to tRump. But it is just a financial decision, no conscience or care involved. Thanks for your insights Beverly. Oh, we still have so much work to do.
Hurrah for Gretchen Whitmer! Michigan is so lucky to have her.
We are lucky, and we worked very hard to get her elected. She walked or crosscountry skied through every Michigan county,, city and village during her year long campaign. And she listened.
Thank you. The truth must be bolder and louder than the lies. Thank you.
Perseverance furthers. Successful progressive movements have kept specific truth in the foreground until it penetrates the smokescreen of deliberate distraction, and begins to bother us, or to dawn on us that there are alternatives, or both.
Once light beings to leak into the lair of greed-roaches, they get very worried and agitated. Sometimes violent. Enough light, and they scurry.
They just hide for awhile
Or "possess" another warm body. Same script, different actors.
But corruption ebbs and flows in differing countries and eras, and affects societies unevenly. It's always an uphill battle, but life is so nasty (and too often, brutish and short) down there in "the swamp", and the battle on this soil has been getting tougher.
Hard to be louder than Rupert’s 90-decibel propaganda machine that grinds on 24-7
No need to be louder. The quiet channel is more effective, and easier to maintain. It does take persistence.
Not too quiet, but strong, informed and firm. My wife once taught taught at a high school where an out of control gang problem was emerging. One principal had the air of authority to handle them, after another didn't.
Greta turns the tables on Trump's insults, and has projected herself as the teenage adult in the room. All the more important in a madhouse where actual, universal "free speech" is conflated with money.
Today’s Letter, which arrived before midnight (a sign of married life?) began with an event at the White House. Senator Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) announcement that he will introduce a national abortion ban came next. ‘CNN Capitol Hill reporter Melanie Zanona reported this afternoon that at least 80 House Republicans are introducing their own bill, similar to Graham’s.’ (Letter) Moving along, the Letter took us to DJT’’s Truth Social network, where the showman has been talking the QAnon talk. HCR ended with Russia, which is almost as omnipresent as DJT. ‘Missy Ryan of the Washington Post reported that a senior U.S. official has revealed that since 2014, Russia has spent at least $300 million in more than 24 countries to weaken democracies and strengthen global forces friendly to Putin’s interests.’
The Letter felt to me as though it was quaking and shaking in its reflection on the USA. New York City, where I live, feels separate from the country, but it’s connected. Is any place in the USA free of the feeling that random violence may strike at any time? The Letter composed by HCR’s mind and hand is a steadying force and its truth does not shield us from the rage on board.
I think the random violence has already begun and has been going on for quite awhile, maybe “disguised” as other things, caused by mentally ill shooters. We see how many of these wackos are connected to dump. He is fomenting the violence on his pitiful “platform:, but the word is out in Q World in spite of all the ineptitude....scary.
You are so right, we deny at our peril…
Rage that is directed at all of us. Thanks to Rupert’s stoking of the fires that divide us.
The storm is coming? Yeah, WTF.
Yeah, W.T.F., Lynn.
'Tomorrow, PRESIDENT BIDEN IS HOSTING a WHITE HOUSE SUMMIT TO ADDRESS THE GROWING THREAT OF HATE-FUELED VIOLENCE IN OUR COUNTRY.'
'Five years ago, we filed our Unite the Right lawsuit because those in power were not stepping up to address the growing crisis of extremism. On the contrary, many were fueling the crisis with bigoted policies and rhetoric.'
'So we’re heartened that President Biden -- who has highlighted the attack on Charlottesville as motivation for his presidential run -- is taking key steps forward in confronting this crisis, with his recent address on democracy and now this important White House event.'
'The “United We Stand” Summit will detail recent efforts to address the threats facing our communities and democracy, including with anti-hate crime legislation like the Jabara-Heyer Act, named for Khalid Jabara and Heather Heyer. And -- because far more needs to be done as extremism is increasingly normalized in our politics and society -- the summit will provide a forum for local leaders to share effective strategies aimed at violence prevention, accountability, deradicalization, and healing divisions within communities.'
'We’re honored that IFA has been invited to participate in tomorrow’s event -- a clear recognition that the work we’ve done together taking on neo-Nazis and white supremacists has made a powerful impact.'
'But we’re not the only ones invited. Everyone is welcome to join the livestream beginning at 10am ET.'
'And we do hope you’ll tune in, because we need as many people as possible to be part of this national conversation and the work that comes after. The challenges before us are enormous and can only be overcome when those on the side of tolerance, equality, and inclusive democracy stand together and fight back.' (Integrityfirstforamerica) See link below.
https://www.integrityfirstforamerica.org/
Fern, I posted the article (after reading it!) on FB. Great news, but so much more to be done, as you note. Thank you!
10 am on Thursday, Sept 15. I will listen at 8:30 pm in India. Thanks for this info. Fern, you are the best!
Very happy that you will be with us.
You are truly “something,” newlywed. ❤️
Lindsay Graham is one of the most loathsome creatures to ever walk the earth.
Mitch McConnell fills the #1 slot for me.
Can’t say that I can argue with that.
He's vying with McTurtleneck for me. Graham blows with the wind. At least McTurtleneck has been consistent in his evil ways.
I love turtlenecks, used to anyway.
🤣😂
Is it possible that he knows this bill is poison, and it's his way of throwing the midterms to the Dems? After all, his seat will always be safe.
I don’t know if his seat is safe. He may be vulnerable to being primaried from the right.
Well less so now I guess with this.
Graham was just re-elected in 2020, when he beat Jaime Harrison’s well-funded run, so has no worries about primaries etc., until 2026.
I couldn’t agree more, Mark! Puke!
definitely got a point... lotsa slimeballs
Let's not forget Jordan & McCarthy.
man... i really try to forget those two... ugggh
Gives me the creeps, SPooky, just reading that list. OMG.
I don’t know, but I feel a little guilty for feeling jubilant about all the apparent self-destruction of the MAGA crew. Okay, glee better describes the feeling. I’ve always, always, always cared about teo things in any candidate: do they support a woman’s right to choose and have they ever cheated on their spouse and lied about it. A liar, is a liar, is a liar. I would never knowingly vote for one.
well... let's see if he slimes out of this one before we get too gleeful... cuz he usually does
Ugh. The day they announced Biden won, I somehow knew we still couldn’t breathe easily yet. I still feel that way, Suz.
yup... me too, Deborah... let's see what happens.
There had been a time when I thought Lindsay Graham was a fairly decent representative of the people. Unfortunately, his Kool Aid addiction has affected his brain.
cForrestm, and no John McCain to keep 'ol Lindsey under control. He was semi-tolerable when they were friends....
The unbridled love of power traditionally renders consciousness, character, and deeds highly toxic (and absolute power corrupts absolutely).
Not since he played golf with the devil
The Devil lets him "win".
This is enlightening: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/25/magazine/lindsey-graham-what-happened-trump.html
He wants to remain relevant??! The poor sap could have picked a better way. I wonder how relevant he’ll be when historians look back on him and the other cretins in the gop 100 years from now.
You have hit the point exactly. I had to pick my jaw up off the floor when I read that.
The underlying problem with ANY legislation concerning peoples' reproductive and sexual lives, whether positive or negative, is that it shouldn't exist. Certain aspects of human life should be quarantined from government interference, as religion is the in the First Amendment to the Constitution ("Congress shall pass no law concerning an establishment of religion") Sorry if I misquoted that - didn't check.
Thank you Heather.
What an absolute mess Trump has perpetuated. I will admit that I thought Trump did nothing during his term, yet he did plenty to divide the American people and line his pockets.
Maybe, just maybe he will pay the piper in someway for his deeds.
Yet, Lindsay Graham continues to dig his own grave.
Be safe. Be well.
He did something: "Trump had the third-biggest primary deficit growth, 5.2% of GDP, behind only George W. Bush (11.7%) and Abraham Lincoln (9.4%). Bush, of course, not only passed a big tax cut, as Trump has, but also launched two wars, which greatly inflated the defense budget. Lincoln had to pay for the Civil War."
https://www.propublica.org/article/national-debt-trump
For which Republicans instituted graduated federal income tax, a historical note I picked up from HCR. I recall someone of note complaining during the reign of Bush II that his policy was spend and don't tax.
Republican policy for a very long time has been spend all the money, then blame Democrats for the consequences.
If you chart what has happened to middle class and underprivileged opportunities, job security, social harmony, international stability, natural disasters and environmental sustainability, and many other markers that can be empirically tracked for the lat 40 years, their performance record is uniformly terrible, save for the fortunes of their plutocratic clients, but they vociferously blame all of it on others, and promise to make America "great again". Note that they never bother to detail when it was the America was "great", when it ceased to be, and specifically how, and their cult never asks them to take this beyond talking points. Not much of a "business plan" and a hell of a way to run a country.
Chump never wasted a nanosecond of his ultimate power.
For his own gains. We were just background noise to him.
While supporting my own Virginia candidates for "Roevember," I remain fixated on Pennsylvania's senatorial race between Fetterman and Oz. I want to donate every single time I receive an email from Fetterman's campaign. Why is that?
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/09/13/simple-yes-or-no-fetterman-demands-oz-share-position-gops-federal-abortion-ban?utm_source=daily_newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=daily_newsletter
When John became ill, his wife, Gisele Fetterman, stepped in to help the campaign while he was recovering. This SLOP (Second Lady of Pennsylvania) is no slouch! As Red, Wine & Blue tells it: "In 2016, a call for jury duty was a dream come true for Gisele Fetterman, our special guest for our next National Troublemaking Training. When Gisele, who was formally an undocumented immigrant, got the call to serve, it made her feel accepted in America. Choosing to give back to the country that she was now a part of, Gisele founded Free Store 15104, which distributes goods to people who are struggling with food and clothing insecurity. She also co-founded 412 Food Rescue and For Good PGH, which promotes diversity and inclusivity!" Here's the RW&B link for the "training" to be held Thursday, September 15, at 8:00 pm ET:
https://secure.everyaction.com/Dl2ootDEHEaJFvYTIEmoBA2?utm_campaign=Training&utm_source=email&utm_medium=email+&utm_content=SLOP&emci=1bdb8f13-ec31-ed11-ae83-281878b83d8a&emdi=dee5d001-a432-ed11-ae83-281878b83d8a&ceid=101059
And Just FYI: January 6 Select Committee's goal is to restart public hearings on September 28.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/house-jan-6-committee-chair-032137912.html
Nice information re: Gisele Fetterman: thx! But her husband & Oz are not in a gubernatorial race but in a US senatorial race for the seat of retiring gop senator Toomey.
I realized that 20 minutes after I posted it, Linda. T hen left my computer for several hours and forgot. Thanks for the reminder.
There, I fixed it!
Thanks Lynnell. Red Wine & Blue is Terrific!
Texas will not publish maternal death rates until after the mid-terms. I had to stop reading for several minutes to absorb what that means. These people (Abbott, et. al.) are not 'pro-life'.