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As a one-time ‘blue water’ sailor, I appreciate having detailed nautical charts and electronic aides on a vexing voyage. President Biden, as captain of our ship of state, has clearly established an appropriate course which, as circumstances required, was adjusted midstream. His crew (the Democratic Congress), while encountering some back winds, has provided fulsome support to their skipper.

Trump has never relied on charts or electronic aides in office or afterwards. As president, He led our ship of state onto rocks on various occasions. As ex-president on policy he has been as vacuous as would-be-Senate-Majority-Leader-McConnell.

Two wannabe-leaders of the House, McCarthy and Stefanik (who replaced Liz Cheney in Republican House leadership) have now presented a one page Commitment to America ‘policy paper’ that reads like it was scribbled on a napkin after a boisterous night of drinking.

I would consider this ludicrous, were it not the only purported ship of state nautical charts provided by Republican ‘leadership.’ I find it frightening as indicative of a rudderless Republican ship of state.

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“Trump has never relied on charts or electronic aides in office or afterwards.” I do recall one exception, Keith: remember that weather map that he Sharpied to prove his off-course assertion that hurricane Dorian was heading to Alabama? While a potentially life-threatening hurricane was headed to the Carolinas, he continued displaying his doctored map for several days, forcing National Weather Service personnel to rush multiple corrections to alert those residing on the storm’s factually chartered path. But I’m sure you are correct, Keith: he doesn’t rely on any source of universally accepted knowledge. (BTW, I ’d love to see him try to identify 10 of the states in an unlabeled U.S. map 😉)

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Do you think he could pass citizenship test for immigrants?

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I do not think he could. There are numerous things many of us can do and things we understand that he does not have the slightest clue about. I am not exaggerating. It is astonishing.

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Since the ex president thinks bleach could cure COVID, it is highly unlikely that he could pass the citizenship test. Probably lots of his base couldn’t either.

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Joan NO! The only thing Trump knows about checks and balances [the constitutional interrelationship between the Executive, Legislature, and Judiciary] is what Wissenburg (in court with a guilty plea) the financial wizard at The Trump Organization, tried to explain to him in Checkbook 101. [Trump flunked.]

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That test might be a test for many of us🥴

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HAhahaha

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Am not sure I could…

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Sep 24, 2022Edited
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Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) thought the three branches were president, senate and house. Seriously.

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Glad Palin (who could see Russia from her house) was defeated in Alaska. (Maybe she was THINKING she could see it?)

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Not sure I would use the verb think with Palin.

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Nonetheless, November gives Palin one more bite at the apple. Let's hope that she's widely enough disliked (as has been expressed elsewhere following the primary) that she'll lose once again.

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She isn’t finished yet...planning to re-run against the woman who defeated her!

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All members of the House and Senate should be required to pass a citizenship test. Do they even understand the structure of our government? How can they swear to uphold the Constitution when they don't even know what it says?!

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That the people of Alabama could replace Doug Jones with this ignoramus football coach says a lot about the people of Alabama! And it’s not good….

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Not a surprise. I knew he would win as a former football coach. It's SEC country.

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Voter suppression had a lot to do with it

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He is an extra dose of stupid

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Duh! He is a Republican elected by Republicans!

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Ah, a former football coach who didn't need to know anything beyond football games. A travesty.

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Spot on Rose; let's see if the Special Master, Judge Dearie, can locate the Sharpie effort among the NARA documents at MAL.

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Rose Thanks for your Sharpie-eyed remembrance. I believe that Trump might be able to identify FL & NY. On a blank global map, I am certain that he couldn’t locate Ukraine. And, as he explained to Xi, it was fortunate that India didn’t have a common border with China. [Are their troops fighting in some video game?]

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I think he could find Tsar-a-Loco and yes, New York. And maybe places where he has golf courses or hotels.

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"Tsar-a-Loco"—Good one, Michele.

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My fav for that ugly pile.

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Hurricane Dorian’s tornadoes came right through my southeastern NC backyard, no place close to Alabama.

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Also I have noted that Biden was right on it for Puerto Rico this week. And gosh, not there throwing out rolls of paper towels.

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Me too. Remove FL, CA, AK, HI. Hell leave them in, it won’t matter.😜

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Keith, brilliantly written and honestly expressing the sad reality of the Republican party as well as describing the leadership of the captain of our ship of state. He knows how to navigate. He loves this country....he respects the ideal of democracy. His leadership is inspiring.....and I also have to include thank you to the many young men and women who are working hard beside him for the healthy growth and well-being of our nation and the world. They are being encouraged by a great mentor....actually President Joe Biden is providing proof that democracy works!

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Frightening. So frightening. Especially after viewing 6 hours of Ken Burns documenting the rise of the Nazi party in Germany and the massive sympathy/ disinterest here. The refusal to see the news that was in papers daily. And then there was Lindberg and his adoring followers. We seem to be that same country today. Sleepwalking into right wing vision.

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That feeling of “Oh Sh*t! We are doing the same thing today!” was my immediate reaction. Then it gave me a really weird calming feeling. All my marching, protesting, letter-writing, donating, and engaging have been what I should have been doing, because this thing is REAL, this fight, this creep of fascism, this fragility of democracy, is REAL. I don’t know how this will all turn out, but I want my grandchildren to say “She didn’t just sit around complaining!”

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Michelle. Calmness. I wish that was my reaction. I feel polar opposite

All these years of supporting Planned Parenthood and Guttmacher Institute and the Supreme court waves a wand …over. Just one example

they are going to go after soc security and obamacare and who knows what?

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By calmness I meant my seeing the similarities to the 1930’s and the people who protested then, affirmed my belief that action needs to happen. We are not delusional, or histrionic, which is something I often hear. No. This is real.

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Great point. Can’t help but see KB documentary through the lens of trump desantis and the maga movement.

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Seeing it now is why Ken Burns insisted it be broadcast at this time, not whenever it had been scheduled to be shown.

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I watched the first 2 hours last night, and it wasn't difficult to see some of the parallels between then and now. Scary.

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What really struck me was not just the parallels, but the MAGA repetition of the isolationists’ “America First” and the tiki torches March in Charlottesville. I hadn’t realized how closely the MAGAs copied Hitler.

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I agree 1000%. This has been apparent to me (and actually many others) since TFG was elected.

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And we don’t have the Japanese to blast us out of our stupor.

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Isolationism, but also the strength of the world’s oldest hate that always simmers in non-Asian societies.

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Always appreciate your input to the discussion, Keith. The American people are a practical group not tied to class restrictions. Depending on their internal compass, perhaps, mostly forged in their mother’s womb, they make most of their decisions. They know they need to be honest, even when they break rules and then, either choose to own up ...or choose to keep breaking them. Arguments are generally avoided...most every one just wants to peacefully get through their day and feel good about their behavior and interactions with others. Fighting happens when emotions become overly charged but rarely change how anyone behaves since they find change so difficult and often very repellent. Most Americans like to make their own changes. Many do it through education, contemplation, others through upbringing and life experience, inside a free society ...what works, and what doesn’t ...is the approach, almost everyone follows if they’re mentally capable of doing so.

Biden and his large team of government leaders are on a solid path; they’re making real progress and, even better, they’re animated and inspired by the biggest accomplishments of past administrations and their own solid internal compasses. They’re also pretty clear about not repeating the errors of their predecessors; they’ll make their own along the way. They’ve made a few, but they keep trying to correct course and they’ve succeeded many times in doing so. They’re very effective in a crisis; experience counts very much along with solid problem solving skills. It’s pretty plain to see. There’s a lot to still accomplish. Joe and his team are on course to doing a lot more. The midterms are a very good litmus test for how practical Americans really are. After all the din and roar and chicanery of the republicans... what have they accomplished for the American people? Let’s see how American citizens, who make the effort to vote, actually decide things.

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Attempted like

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But I, who loves to parse words and do research, taking a quick read of the Repub “platform,” have to say, it sounds good. Who could argue with the thoughts and goals? But unless you also read the words and know what the ideas really mean, and most of all compare them to past and current actions, you could think the repubs have come to their senses.

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MLM Of course you couldn’t parse the words in the 2020 Republican presidential convention party platform since, for the first time in my memory, they chose not to have one. [Might there have been a footnote: ‘See Trump Tweats for Republican policy?’]

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And therein lies the place we all need to really get to in all public discourse. Honest dialogue about past and current actions - and intent! The truth is that most human beings are closer in hopes and dreams than we are apart. Getting to that field where we can honestly have those discussions and debates -with civility and no guns - seems to be the absolute essential thing we are kept from naturally doing for our survival. Mother Earth will endure no matter what. Humans? …………..we keep being compelled to make a “Hell of Heaven”.

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Journalistic integrity should intervene somewhere

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MLMinET

They lie, lie, lie...they always lie!

Follow the money, Eh!?

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I thought it was interesting yesterday listening to McCarthy say that they were wanting to bring the economy back to the robust years before the pandemic. My mind immediately said “Thanks to Obama!” The former guy’s economy was in good, steady shape. It was his to F-up, which his choices did. Neither Obama, nor Biden inherited such a gifted, steady economy. Yet had to spend their first years heaving it out of deep abysses the previous administrations drove it into.

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I enjoyed your navigation analogy being a blue water sailor myself. I hope our fellow citizens do not lose their point of sail and get themselves stuck in the doldrums of inaction.

Adjusting sails is continually needed. We just need to keep a steady course to the port of call - Winning in November.

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Karen N

Watch out for that BOOM!

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So well put!

Don't forget, tfg wanted to detonate a nuclear weapon inside of a hurricane, thought he could adjust the course of a storm with a Sharpie on a map, and claims he can declassify Top Secret National Intelligence documents by simply thinking about it.

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But he has a dozen Sharpies

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And let us not forget that Rick Scott has presented an R platform that clearly lays out the details behind this one page "policy paper." Everyone in the R cult is trying hard to pretend it does not exist, but...too late. The genie is out of the bottle.

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How can you say he didn’t rely on charts or electronic aides in office? He used his sharpie during the hurricane and Stephen Miller was a droid on the Death Star before hitching his wagon to the Dumpster Fire.

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Laurie (MA, VT)

The only electronic aide little donny relied up on was in the nightstand drawer on the other side of the bed!

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I'm going out on a limb here. Maybe I'm seeing a convergence of views between Heather here, today's Opinion Piece on the predecessor to the Big Lie being the Big Joke, and David Brooks on Washington Week last night. Or, it might just be me seeing the obvious that everyone else has knownall along. Brooks got me piecing some stuff on my Friday night walk.

David Brooks suggested this speech as the Republican twitching (my word) to becoming the party of the working man (albeit that there are working women). I think there might be something here. I reflect here on that twitch.

Democrats propose and tell you what they are doing (you need?) and the working man wants to know how their leader will manage or what they will manage. We think everyone wants or needs to know what we will do and why. All voices need to be heard and everyone gets to talk about the best way and the best measure and how to calculate and have the right sampling of our choice democratic demographics, etc.

Their new swing, probably apparent in much of the MAGA stuff, is in taping into voter imagining, not bogging down of the nuances or nitty gritty or which of what we said we would do to make the price of gas or groceries or how fast some thing from Amazon gets delivered or whether there will be enough Cabagge Patch Dolls available by December 15th (OK, I am showing my age). This twist is from what we will do (a detailed platform) to what we will (vaguely and perhaps contradictory to what we would makes connections to) promise. I think it a Platform of Euphemisms, but I'm an old progressive, number cruncher. Later, they know they can find the data points to match the broad promises or just drop them for another one or two to repeat and hammer at as success (e.g., how the economy took off after Trump got elected based upon the stock market or minority economic improvement basf upon a small improvement in employment rate as boomers left jobs and a slight rise in hourly wage rates).

I think this swing (or twitch) could be big. It may just work with the demographics we have targeted, nurtured, and counted on at the voting booth. It might explain why rural America went Red in the North and West. Or why Blacks and Hispanic voters are slipping away. We are the party of doing things, but not connecting what we did to the tapestry that working class folks just pay attention to. We over inform with the facts and fail in forming the message. We analyze and argue about methodology, data quality, and under-deliver in discussion, interpretation, and application (relevance, what's improved?). We count on numbers to deliver and fail to realize that the folks who vote do so based upon conclusions that are shared with them. What does it mean, not what did you find against some purist criteria? They don't live by the numbers or vote by the numbers for each promise, but rather on how your interpretation, the application, is convincing to them.

Call that dummying it all down, but the average voter (I'm tweaking us here) votes on how they feel what you tell them supports their belief or macro-understanding. And maybe, as reflected in a couple of numbers they can rely upon: e.g., stock market performance, favorability ratings of president, CPI. I think this could be the pivot to recreate the Republican party. Then again, this could just be me finally seeing the obvious to everyone else.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/brooks-and-tumulty-on-putins-war-in-ukraine-and-the-state-of-republican-politics?utm_source=PBS+NewsHour&utm_campaign=6fb178beb5-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_09_16_05_40_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_47f99db221-6fb178beb5-321115761

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Fred: Call that dummying it all down, but the average voter (I'm tweaking us here) votes on how they feel what you tell them supports their belief or macro-understanding. And maybe, as reflected in a couple of numbers they can rely upon: e.g., stock market performance, favorability ratings of president, CPI. I think this could be the pivot to recreate the Republican party. Then again, this could just be me finally seeing the obvious to everyone else.” This is the proverbial nail being hit upon it’s tiny head! Thanks for the description.

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Hey, don't disparage all cocktail napkin scrawls! My most brilliant projects were birthed in bars! With no Republicans at the table.

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Mary Pat Were your most brilliant brilliant napkin projects when you first came to the bar or after a number of swizzles?

The Laffler curve, done on a napkin in the 1970s, was the basis for the economic ‘trickle down’ theory that commenced with Reagan’s major tax cuts and later Trump’s 2017 massive tax giveaway to the very wealthy and to corporations.

I agree with Paul Kaufman’s rejection of ‘trickle down,’ in part because of the yellow drizzlies on the shoes of these trickle down doozies.

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Ha! I said "brilliant", not evil. Plus, I don't really drink alcohol. I like to consider it.

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Keith the path of your life very much parallels my Dad’s.

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I meant PATH

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Keith Wheelock

Wait for it

The republican party symbolized

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJW-wAyMREI

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I remember this, lordy

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