Showing posts with label Donald Trump. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Donald Trump. Show all posts

Friday, March 17, 2023

The Atlantic Has A Question...Has Ron DeSantis Reached His Peak?

 

Specifically the magazine said, "Is Ron DeSantis Flaming Out Already?" It is more to the point that this guy is arrogant, is on a hate trip with blacks and the LGBTQ community, and did a rotten job with the handling of the Covid pandemic in Florida, in spite of the fact that he claims he did a great job controlling the virus. FACT: The state was number 3 in coronavirus cases and deaths. All because DeSantis and his lunatic surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo claimed vaccines didn't work.

The Atlantic piece by David Frum starts with...

"The Florida governor has a plan to win the Fox News primary—and lose everything else."

To me this translates into the fact that DeSantis is above all an ego maniac who craves attention and demands loyalty. We've been down this road before with Donald Trump and see where that led us. Straight into fascism, building an autocricy that was tumbled but remains in the background of the Republican Party, ready to leap forward again and demolish democracy. DeSantis has his own methods but he has picked up in the residuals of the Trump failed campaign.

DeSantis, like Trump, is not prepared on the issues that confront this country. Like the Russian invasion...

"When a reporter for The Times of London pressed the governor [on the Ukrainian war with Russia], DeSantis scolded him: 'Perhaps you should cover some other ground? I think I’ve said enough.'”

The fact is he had not said anything of substance about the issue. In trying to turn

this around, "DeSantis delivered a more definitive answer on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show..."
"DeSantis’s statement on Ukraine was everything that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his admirers could have wished for from a presumptive candidate for president. Vladimir Putin and his admirers could have wished for from a presumptive candidate for president. The governor began by listing America’s 'vital interests' in a way that explicitly excluded NATO and the defense of Europe. He accepted the present Russian line that Putin’s occupation of Ukraine is a mere 'territorial dispute.' He endorsed 'peace' as the objective without regard to the terms of that peace, another pro-Russian talking point. He conceded the Russian argument that American aid to Ukraine amounts to direct involvement in the conflict. He endorsed and propagated the fantasy—routinely advanced by pro-Putin guests on Fox talk shows—that the Biden administration is somehow plotting 'regime change' in Moscow."

Someone in his gang of minions has convinced DeSantis that this tough guy approach is what the American public wants, but several polls so far reveal that only Republicans are buying in. You don't win elections without contingencies from your opposition and the Independent vote. Frum says Republicans have built themselves a one-stage rocket...

|"one that achieves liftoff but never reaches escape velocity?"

Here are some good reason why DeSantis may be on the way to flaming out...
Florida Republicans will soon pass—and DeSantis pledged he would sign—a law banning abortion after six weeks. That bill is opposed by 57 percent of those surveyed even inside Florida. Another poll found that 75 percent of Floridians oppose the ban. It also showed that 77 percent oppose permitless concealed carry, which DeSantis supports, and that 61 percent disapprove of his call to ban the teaching of critical race theory as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion policies on college campuses. As the political strategist Simon Rosenberg noted: “Imagine how these play outside FL.”

With all these numbers against him, the Florida dictator looks like his candidacy will take the low road that does not lead to the White House. You can read the full story at MSN.com

 

 


Monday, November 28, 2022

ARIZONA...The Hotbed Of Anti-Democracy

 

I have lived in Arizona for over twenty years. We left Los Angeles because of the gangs that were slowly migrating up the coast where we lived. When we arrived here and discovered how conservative and far-right the state was (didn't do my homework), we didn't want to leave; rather we thought another liberal presence in the land of the sun could help change the state to, at least, moderate. We have had luck finding other liberals and now Arizona has definitely turned purple, we think on the way to blue.

But as it turns out the Donald Trump administration, which didn't make the state necessarily more red, did incite the brand of retaliatory politics that has resulted in the recent chaotic gubernatorial election. Kari Lake, a radical right Trumpster who is also a 2020 election denier, challenged Democrat, Katie Hobbs, who wasn't squeaky clean but a hell of a lot more honest and qualified than Lake. Hobbs had a narrow win but Lake is still contesting the certified voting results. 

Other Trumpsters and 2020 election deniers also lost, but Abe Hamadeh, in a tight race for...

"attorney general, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday contesting the preliminary results of an election that had already been headed to an automatic recount."

You can see the stupidity of these people who react with no thought to what they are doing. Idiots. Hamadeh had a guaranteed runoff. But, what puzzles me even more, probably shouldn't in Arizona, is the fact the races are so close. You would think when known anarchists are on the ballot the logic would be that it is a threat to our democracy, vote them down. Much of the country did in the blue tsunami, but not Arizona. The New York Times reports...

Mr. Hamadeh’s lawsuit, filed in State Superior Court in Maricopa County, names as defendants Arizona’s secretary of state — Katie Hobbs, a Democrat who won the governor’s race — as well as the county recorders and boards of supervisors in the state’s 15 counties. The Republican National Committee joined Mr. Hamadeh in the suit as a plaintiff.

 Inside The Arizona GOP' 'Anti-Democracy Experiment'...


And on Thanksgiving Day, it was reported that Lake filed a lawsuit against Maricopa County, demanding information about Election Day printer problems. She said, "I still have hope." Here's the scenario...

"Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake filed a lawsuit against Maricopa County officials on Wednesday, accusing them of breaking election laws and demanding they provide information about voters whose ballots were impacted by Election Day printer issues."

But, one of the most critical wins for Democrats was Sec. of State; the position controls state elections and Republican candidate and a Trump denier Mark Finchem had repeatedly said he may not certify some elections. With that area worsening on a daily basis, the Washington Post corroborates the problem in this piece, "Election denial is reaching new levels of absurdity in Arizona." Here's their

take...

"Arizona is home for many of the most fervent true believers in the election fraud myth. Their ire is directed toward election authorities in Maricopa County, home of Phoenix, where roughly 60 percent of the state’s votes are cast. After the 2020 election, the purveyors of the fraud narrative pushed the state legislature to authorize the so-called audit of the county’s vote. That effort confirmed Joe Biden’s victory, but it did nothing to quell the faithful’s suspicions."

That was followed by what WaPo calls the "fraud squad," illegal electors, led by gubernatorial candidate, Kari Lake. She, along with the Trump supported gang of mock politicians lost, and as far as I am concerned, Arizona is saved...for the time being. We still have a Republican legislature to deal with and Governor-elect Katie Hobbs has indicated her plan to work with them. Being the self-designated state pessimist, I have my doubts but unlimited hope for turning Arizona blue.

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

Will Extremism Haunt The Republican Party To Self-Destruction?


New York Times columnist, Charles M. Blow, says, "Extremism Is on the Rise … Again." And here I thought it had never abated. But Blow, being the excellent journalist he is, qualifies his headline, written before the Nov. 8 elections, citing one startling fact...
"There are 291 election deniers on the ballot."

You can see the 291 deniers in the "on the ballot" link, above, with names you will recognize like Kevin McCarthy, Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Ron DeSantis, Kari Lake, Herschel Walker; you get the idea. But Blow reports...

In a major speech Wednesday night, President Biden described election denial as “the path to chaos in America.” “It’s unprecedented,” he said. “It’s unlawful. And it’s un-American.” But in truth, the extremism, racism and white nationalism are neither un-American nor unfamiliar.

There are comparisons with the William Howard Taft administration in 1908, later Woodrow Wilson, who campaigned on an “America First” platform, which soon became "associated not just with isolationism, but also with the Ku Klux Klan, xenophobia and fascism." Wilson was a racist from the South and is measured against Donald Trump who Blow says...

"is one of the worst presidents — if not the worst — that this country has ever had."

More matching between Wilson and Trump...

It was Wilson who screened “The Birth of a Nation” at the White House, a film that pushed the “Lost Cause” narrative and fueled the rebirth of the Klan.

 Assessing threats of political violence and rising extremism on the far-right...


Trump hosted a screening of “2,000 Mules” — a fact-checker-debunked documentary that purported to show widespread voter fraud carried out by “mules” who stuffed ballot boxes with harvested ballots during the last presidential election — at Mar-a-Lago, which Trump has called the Southern White House. That film has helped boost his followers’ belief in his lie about the 2020 election.

Civil war has been talked up by Republicans and now they are targeting their own with in-fighting over the upcoming Dec. 6, runoff between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker. This is a must win for the GOP and it all boiled over recently between Mitch McConnell and Rick Scott of Florida...

"A long-simmering, mostly private tension between the two men and their allies came to a head this week as their respective political consultants resorted to publicly insulting each other, particularly over how each was approaching the upcoming Georgia election."

Democrats would welcome Republicans keeping their extremism internally as long

as there is no spillover to the rest of the country. Annihilating each other could be the answer to saving our democracy. Neither Trump nor Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has offered Walker help, and some say the GOP big guns are not so enthusiastic about Herschel Walker because his win will not give them control of the Senate. And finally, more talk of civil war, this time between Republicans...
"Marjorie Taylor Greene says she is ready [to] unleash a civil war in the Republican Party after its poor showing in the midterms.
"The Georgia congresswoman also indicated she would throw her support behind House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in an interview with Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast."

Have you heard the talk recently from a past GOP congressman who said Kevin McCarthy will be Speaker of the House in name only? He said Marjorie Taylor Greene will be the actual Speaker.

Did anyone see that coming? 

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

With 2022 Almost In The Books, What's Next

 

Some of the most undone work is the Arizona governor's race between Democrat Katie Hobbs and Republican Kari Lake. Hobbs leads the Trump lunatic Lake by only one point and Arizona is taking forever for the final vote count. This race has national ramifications in that a Lake win could boost her into the national picture. Rather than document the insanity of her campaign, you can see a compilation of my posts here. It is astonishing to me Lake has gotten this far.

Now, back to the national scene with a tug of war between Donald Trump and Florida governor Ron DeSantis for 2024. The Daily Beast says, "Trump Would Easily Crush DeSantis in Battle Today." That's today but in two years this country could be in a new civil war if the hate-mongers don't back off their rhetoric. 

Majority Of Trump Voters Say Civil War ‘Likely’ In Next Decade...


I recently finished The Next Civil War by Stephen Marche and it is frightening. One of the author's findings describes how the next one won't be fought on the battlefield, rather it will be neighbor against neighbor, depending on your political stand. Just think of the consequences especially if you live in a radically right area and you are on the liberal left. I urge you to read my post and if you really want a scare, read Marche's The Next Civil War.

And right in the middle of all this altercation is a war between Donald Trump and

Ron DeSantis that might just surpass 'winner takes all' to a conclusion of 'self annihilation.' It is an unfortunate fact but with the current situation in America this may be the happy ending. If this could take down the Republican Party to a point where they have to negotiate, we have saved our democracy. A recent Mother Jones headline: "The Party of Don’t Say 'Democracy'” says it all...
"Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) sent out a campaign with a solemn, all-caps heading: PARTICIPATING IN OUR CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC.

"As I read the email, I noticed that Boebert’s campaign uses a lot of words here to describe our form of government. It’s a “constitutional process.” It’s “representative.” But one word is glaringly absent: “democracy.”

Of course, Lauren Boebert is an idiot but her words reflect the position of the Republican Party. There's more...
Indeed, Republicans across the country are removing the word “democracy” from their lexicon. My colleague Pema Levy reported today that in Arizona, Senate candidate Blake Masters argued that the United States is not a democracy but a republic. “It sounds like a nerdy takedown,” she writes, “but it’s being bandied with frequency by Republicans who also support minority rule and supported overturning President Biden’s 2020 victory.”

Robert Reich says, and I agree, Democrats Can No Longer Compromise with “Authoritarian” Republicans. Republicans no longer understand or condone the word "compromise." From the right, no one since Everett Dirksen, U.S. Senator from Illinois, has mastered his ability to negotiate and compromise for the good of the U.S. Reich says...

President Biden must “push back as hard as he can” if Republicans take control of even one chamber in Congress following Tuesday’s midterm elections. He says the administration needs to be clear there is no compromise on the debt ceiling, which he expects a Republican-controlled Congress would challenge, potentially triggering a repeat of the political crisis in 2011 under former President Obama.

Well, the Democrats still hold the Senate and that position could strengthen if Warnock wins in Georgia. The House is still up for grabs but, at best, Republicans will end up with a small majority. The focus is then on 2023, then 2024 with plenty of time for the left to build momentum.

Thursday, November 10, 2022

GOP Red Wave Fizzles To A "Puddle"


The Washington Post coined the saying adding it was a "messy" one at that. At the same time, RawStory exclaims, "Not many signs of a red wave at this point’: Election experts say there’s lots of good news for Democrats." Okay, it wasn't a blue tsunami like Michael Moore predicted, but it also wasn't a blowout like Republicans envisioned. The governor's race in Arizona is still up for grabs with Democrat Katie Hobbs 50.1% of vote, Kari Lake 49.9%. 73% of votes counted.

The pundits have labeled Arizona a test of the future of democracy in this country. If the denier, liar and conspiracy specialist Kari Lake, supported by Donald Trump, wins, Arizona goes down the tube. Unfortunately, Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs did win reelections but, there is some good news... 

Democratic Secretary of State candidate Adrian Fontes held a lead over Republican nominee Rep. Mark Finchem, R-Oro Valley, when initial election results were published on Tuesday night, 59.4% to 40.6%.

And more on the good side: For U.S. Senate, Democrat incumbent Mark Kelly

51.2% and Republican Blake Masters 46.6%, 66.9% reporting. There are other Arizona races but none as important to the democracy to the state and the country than the above.  Just before 11 PM Tuesday on MSNBC Jen Psaki observed...
"This was supposed to be an election where it would be embarrassing for Joe Biden to wake up in the morning. And it's not going to be."

The Washington Post reported...

"Voters, it would appear, saw this midterm as something more than a referendum on the party in power; with Republicans putting forward a host of extreme, election-denying candidates and little by way of an agenda, it became a choice between two drastically different paths forward."

Further...
"Between former president Donald Trump’s continued domination of the news and the backlash against the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the right to abortion, Americans are — rightly — focusing on the question of what the opposition party stands for and what Republicans would do if they again found themselves controlling one or both houses of Congress."

The key here is the question of whether Republicans have an agenda? As an example, Arizona's gubernatorial candidate, Kari Lake's agenda is that she is an avid Trump supporter, that's it, a fact that has proved fateful for others like her across the country. There is still a lot to be determined and we aren't likely to have Georgia results on Warnock and Walker until Dec. 6, an important race for the control of the Senate.

With egg on their face, Republicans will still attempt to show us what they can do. History tells us that could be a disaster.

Monday, October 31, 2022

Arizona Focal Point in Democracy loss

 

The state of Arizona is now a dead-center on the issue of our loss of democracy. This honor results clearly from the candidacy of the lunatic, Kari Lake, who is running for governor. Frank Bruni of the New York Times dubs her as part of, "The Republican Double Standard That’s Endangering American Democracy. Here's the scenario...

"A Republican victory in a tightly contested race means that Democrats’ desires or schemes to corrupt it didn’t pan out. Let freedom ring! A Democratic victory means that George Soros cast a magic spell over voters while a global cabal of socialists and pedophiles used space beams to scramble the results that voting machines spit out."

Kari Lake doesn’t commit to accepting Arizona election result if she loses...


 This is the result of Bruni's analysis of Lake's interview with Dana Bash on CNN. In her appearance with Bash, Kari Lake made it clear she would accept no result except her win against Democrat opponent, Katy Hobbs. Lake later softened that stand. I live in Arizona, moved here from California some 25 years ago. We were blind-sided by the radical politicians, we were more concerned with affordable housing in the move. I have been a liberal activist since the first day.

Kari Lake was skewered on the latest Saturday Night Live, and her misguided rants over a fixed 2020 election and sophomoric idolatry of Donald Trump makse her a laughingstock among the thinking population. But many Arizonans are flocking to her side, making the competition with Hobbs very close. Bruni exclaims...

"Republicans are fashioning a politics without accountability. They’re rigging reality itself. And Lake’s interview with Bash was one of those moments that captured, in miniature, the broader dynamics and dysfunctions of its time."

Bruni continues...

"Look at all that doubt! It’s a garden, it’s a thicket, it’s a wild anti-Eden all its own. It must be tamed — and you know how? Elect Kari Lake. Bow to Ron DeSantis. Because they’re spotlighting that doubt. They’re boldly confronting it. They’re not letting evidence, or the lack thereof, get in the way of emotion."

GOP governor says Trump-backed candidate is misleading voters...


Even current Arizona GOP governor Doug Ducey said Kari Lake is full of misinformation and fully rejected her in the primary against Karrin Taylor Robson. Lake did win but Ducey wasn't sure whether Republican governors would support her. The gov has finally decided to support Lake, which indicates what kind of leader Arizona has had the last eight years. Bruni quips, "This is no laughing matter," continuing...

"If enough Americans exalt feelings over facts, insist on their preferred version of events rather than the actual one, refuse to subjugate their personal wants to any public good and reject the processes and institutions that enable group decisions, we have chaos. We all lose."

Bruni says he won't accept that result and neither will I.

VOTE KATY HOBBS GOVERNOR OF ARIZONA. 

 

Wednesday, October 26, 2022

MLK daughter says Kari Lake comment about her father "absurd"

 

I guess I am picking on Republicans but what can you say with the antics from those like Lauren Boebert, Paul Gosar, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Ron Johnson, to name only a few. The first three are members of the House, Johnson a Senator. Don't get me wrong, there are accusations of Democrat lunatics. Googling that, one in particular came up in the search. Congressman Steve Cohen from Tennessee. Didn't find much more than an incident in Trump's impeachment. 

So, I decided to see what Cohen stands for and found his issues far from lunacy. As an example, Cohen supports Biden's Student Loan Debt Relief; also for the President's pardons for marijuana possession; the congressman wants to name Russia a state sponsor of terrorism. Whatever Cohen says, it can't compare with statements like "the Lord has washed me in the blood of Jesus," from Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker. Bill Maher dubs him an "idiot."

But it is Arizona's gubernatorial candidate, Kari Lake, who takes the cake. Her

most recent idiocy was a claim...
“I’m a true believer that if MLK, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. were alive today, if JFK were alive today, if our founding fathers were alive today, they would be America First Republicans,” Lake promised. “I really believe that.”

So ludicrous it doesn't justify a reply. But MLK's daughter fired back...

King's daughter called Lake's claim absurd and noted that saying something like that was being dismissive of her father's 'seminal work and beliefs.'"

And, did you catch Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's latest stupidity?  She tried to make a show of herself standing up for Confederate soldiers and in her typical ignorance...

"despite Greene’s apparent rush to pay her respects to what she believed was a Confederate monument, the monument actually pays tribute to Union troops that battled the Confederates."

In The Ring of Fire progressive post by Farron Cousins, he comments...

"Two factions within the Republican Party are fighting for dominance right now, and the lunatics are winning by a lot. The Gaetz’s, Jordan’s, and Gohmert’s are the ones making the rules now, as they are the ones with the biggest reach and the ones being amplified by right wing media."

As Cousins exclaims the lunatics are winning, he adds more to the gang: "your Josh

Hawley’s and your Ted Cruz’s and of course your Rand Paul’s." The proliferation of these whackos, of course, started with the administration of Donald Trump. With his continued help, these crazed individuals, and many more like them, have managed to nearly bring down the nation. The epitome of this movement was the Jan. 6 insurrection of the U.S. Capitol. According to Time...

"More than 840 people have been arrested for storming the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, with charges ranging from obstruction of an official proceeding to assault. But 17 months after the attempted insurrection, a significant number of rioters are still awaiting their sentencing."

One interesting comment is that, although there may be some crazies in the Democrat Party, this list is Republican-heavy; the reality is that Democrats just aren’t keeping pace right now in the crazy department. But one looney stands out in the areas of stupidity and lunacy, Lauren Boebert, Rep. from Colorado, most recently when she proposed an amendment in the House with the result...

"Lauren Boebert's legislation got blocked thanks to House panel's rule targeting 'lunatics.' House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern (D-MA) has a new rule on his committee for people like Boebert. McGovern explained to Republicans that his new rule for his committee says if you're "batsh** crazy, you're not getting an amendment" after he blocked one of Boebert's amendments from going to the House floor."

Biden accuses Trump, "MAGA Republicans" of threatening democracy in prime-time address...


Turning now to the instigator of all this mayhem, Donald Trump's latest rally "Flies off the Rails," as reported by The Daily Beast...
"The QAnon-peppered programming frequently flew off the rails Saturday, as speakers took severe issue with everything from McDonald’s being part of the 'deep state' to “demonic satellites” controlling the voting system in the United States."

And here's a Tweet from the rally...

Opening prayer today at Eric Trump and Michael Flynn’s QAnon event: “God, open the eyes of Pres Trump’s understanding, that he will know how to implement divine intervention. And you will not surround him with RINO trash, in the name of Jesus.”

There is no doubt at this point that Donald Trump's input to these irrational

supporters is what keeps them flying off the rails. And the fact that he continues his terrorist activities, plus the fact he is threatening to run for President again in 2024, should chill the bones of any American who is in his or her right mind. Before I close, a return to Arizona where the politics are sown with lunatics and fertilized with the idiocy of Republican radicals.

Arizona's unesteemed chairperson of the Arizona Republican Party, Kelli Ward, has "lost her attempt to block a House committee subpoena for her phone records in connection with an investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol building and other events related to the 2020 presidential election," according to Politico. There are also a couple of daffy dingbats worth mentioning--that's all since they haven't been important enough to get a lot of media coverage.

They are Debbie Lesko and Andy Biggs, both full of misinformation and conspiracies but no substance. And the closing act is something I described as un-freaking believable. Wendy Rogers, an Arizona state Senator, urged voters to lie to poll workers on election day. E.J Montini, a local columnist, describes Rogers as a liar, sleezy and "the most unhinged member of the Arizona Legislature (which is saying A LOT). 

But, one of the best comments comes from the local paper's opinion column. Dan Peel of Phoenix suburb Scottsdale who said in comparing the races of Katy Hobbs (D), and Kari Lake (R), commenting on Hobbs' accomplishments and Lake whose only real issue is Donald Trump, "just step back and see the big picture. Even if you can only support Hobbs as the ant-Lake candidate, do it. Our democracy and state truly depend on your vote."

YES, not only the state of Arizona but the entire country depends on your votes for Democrats if we are to save our democracy. GO TO THE POLLS ON NOVEMBER 8, AND ENCOURAGE ANYONE YOU SEE OR TALK TO TO VOTE. LIKE MICHAEL MOORE SAID, THIS COULD BE A DEMOCRAT TSUNAMI.

LATE FLASH...

We had another governor in Arizona like Kari Lake wants to be...the bigoted Evan Mecham. Arizona business detested him, and his discrimination of Martin Luther King Day made the state a national embarassment as well as losing the Super Bowl in 1993. Kari Lake, the right-wing conspiracy theorist, follows in his footsteps with her latest salvo aimed at major league football and...
"Dares the NFL to Pull the 2023 Super Bowl from Arizona if She Becomes Governor and Declares Border ‘Invasion’"

Goodbye Super Bowl for 2023...

 

Thursday, October 6, 2022

The Next Civil War Expected Soon...


If the Trump minions' response after the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago documents Donald Trump took from the White House illegally is any indication, we can expect action in the near future, Ken Bensinger and Sheera Frenkel of the New York Times report. It all began after the FBI completed its search of Mar-a-Lago where the social networks lit up like the 4th of July...
"Posts on Twitter that mentioned “civil war” had soared nearly 3,000 percent in just a few hours as Mr. Trump’s supporters blasted the action as a provocation. Similar spikes followed, including on Facebook, Reddit, Telegram, Parler, Gab and Truth Social, Mr. Trump’s social media platform. Mentions of the phrase more than doubled on radio programs and podcasts, as measured by Critical Mention, a media-tracking firm."

And then it continued a couple weeks later when President Biden branded Trump and “MAGA Republicans” a threat to “the very foundations of our republic.” The NYT warns with the midterms coming, the threat could be compounded significantly. Here's a shocker that probably really isn't...

"Polling, social media studies and a rise in threats suggest that a growing number of Americans are anticipating, or even welcoming, the possibility of sustained political violence."

 Majority Of Trump Voters Say Civil War ‘Likely’ In Next Decade...


But what should we expect? While the radical right calls for an organized battle for control of the government, according to the Times...

"Others envision something akin to a drawn-out insurgency, punctuated with eruptions of political violence, such as the attack on the F.B.I.’s Cincinnati field office in August. A third group describes the country as entering a “cold” civil war, manifested by intractable polarization and mistrust, rather than a “hot” war with conflict."

I am reading The Next Civil War by Stephen Marche and it is frightening. One of the author's findings describes how the next one won't be fought on the battlefield, rather it will be neighbor against neighbor, depending on your political stand. Just think of the consequences especially if you live in a radically right area and you are on the liberal left. I urge you to read the NYT article and if you really want a scare, read Marche's The Next Civil War.

Thursday, September 22, 2022

Kari Lake Invites Jesus Christ to Arizona


In the Second Coming, the belief is that Jesus will return again after his ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. In a recent church setting, standing behind a pulpit, Kari Lake compared herself to Jesus. Trump did it and no one was surprised. Then why would it be different when a lunatic Arizona politician does it? This state seems to thrive with off-the-wall lawmakers and those who wanna be. Kari Lake wants to be governor and replace bush-league state head, Doug Ducey.

I don't want to be sacrilegious but I can't determine if Lake is "coming" or going. Here's the scenario...

While complaining about President Joe Biden’s speech condemning radical MAGA cultists, Lake said, “You can call us whatever you want, Joe. You can call us extremists. You can call us domestic terrorists. You know who else was called a lot of names his whole life? Jesus.”

Lake also compared the gang of misfit Republican MAGA thugs with Jesus, along with herself, which in itself is a sacrilege. Arizona columnist, E.J. Montini, goes on to paint the picture of a Christian turned un-Christian by saying and doing un-Christian things. Kari Lake clearly places herself in the latter category by her rants over migrants, Montini exclaims...

"As Lake did from behind that same pulpit, smugly echoing her Dear Leader’s disdainful remarks about migrants, saying, 'The media might have a field day with this one, but I’m just going to repeat something President Trump said a long time ago and it got him into a lot of trouble. They are bringing drugs. They are bringing crime. And they are rapists and that’s who’s coming across our border. That’s a fact.'”
To utter this rubbish in a church setting, supposedly populated by Christians, is beyond bizarre. Just as scary is Mark Finchem, Arizona candidate for Sec. of State, a position that gives him control over elections. This maniac joins with Lake in her never-ending accusation that the 2020 election was rigged. Here's Montini's take...
"When Lake and Finchem filed a lawsuit in federal court asking a judge to require hand-counting only for ballots in this November’s election – without providing proof that the system had been compromised – the judge tossed the case and let the less-than-dynamic duo know that they had wandered firmly into Lloyd and Harry’s simpleminded 'Dumb & Dumber' territory."
Kari Lake HUMILIATES Herself On Stage With Trump Supporter Comparison...


But it didn't stop there. They "appealed the judge’s ruling, saying they plan to take their case to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals." As a result, "the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, dominated by Republicans, has asked that Lake, Finchem and their attorneys face financial sanctions." Note that the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is dominated by Republicans. These two idiots are fighting their own party. Arizona residents are the losers...
"The taxpayer-funded hand recount conducted by the Cyber Ninjas, a group specifically selected by Republican Arizona Senate President Karen Fann with the expectation of finding fraud, instead found that President Joe Biden’s margin of victory was even larger than the official 

count."

Laurie Roberts, another top Phoenix columnist leads her column with...

"Kari Lake just demonstrated a level of ignorance about state government that is both astonishing and hilarious."

It seems that Lake promised an exposé about Katie Hobbs the former felt was so alarming she had her team triple-confirm; like a Republican ever confirms what they claim to be facts. And then came Lake's "Bad Stuff"...

"announcing that her opponent, Hobbs, fought to keep the Pledge of Allegiance, the National Anthem, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution out of Arizona’s classrooms."
Profoundly not true. Roberts confirms with the statement that Lake couldn't read, referring to the legislation she was quoting from. Then, Lake, in a campaign video "showed a document proving that Hobbs … did no such thing." It seems that Hobbs had voted no on an earlier bill, joined, by all other Democrats, re. religion that had nothing to do with what Lake was referring to. In other words, just adding to the many lies in her campaign. ARIZONANS VOTE FOR KATIE HOBBS!

 

Friday, September 9, 2022

Time to Load the Supreme Court with Liberals

 

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh told Sen. Susan Collins that he would not overturn Roe v. Wade. She voted for his court appointment then in June he and five other justices did in fact vote to overturn Roe. He lied and is he really fit to serve? Was Collins naive or did she just come dumb because there were signs all over the place what the decision would be. I know this is somewhat old news but it does reflect questionable acts of the conservative judiciary across the country.

Like Florida Judge Aileen Cannon, appointed by Donald Trump, who succumbed to his request for a "Special Master" to verify the Mar-a-Lago classified files that the former Oval Office lunatic had absconded with. Apparently the fact that the DOJ had already confirmed the fact they were all the way up to top secret and contained U.S. nuclear information did not register with Judge Cannon who recently was deemed "unfit for the bench," said political observers.

Conventional wisdom has it that the Roe decision will have an effect on the midterms, and that is already apparent considering my recent blog post, "Female Vote Could Decide Midterm Elections," which revealed that Roe's overturn...

"pissed off 67% of the female population that have been showing their opposition with demonstrations all over the country."

But back to Florida Judge Cannon, The Atlantic says...

"By appointing a special master to review the Mar-a-Lago documents, Judge Aileen Cannon gave Trump the special treatment he asked for—and undermined the values of her profession."
In this article, by legal expert Andrew Weissmann, he says, "Her ruling is untethered to the law and presents a skewed recitation of the facts." That says a lot for Cannon's ethics and raises the question of whether this all could be "payback" for her appointment. More from John Stoehr in the AlterNet...
"His [Kavanaugh] confirmation is getting attention for another reason. It came before the 2018 midterms. The conventional wisdom is that the confirmation of a credibly accused sexual predator nominated by another credibly sexual predator [Trump] to a lifetime job on a court that would rule on Roe animated women to produce that year’s blue wave."

3 Years ago: Collins: Kavanaugh won't overturn Roe v. Wade...



And, Common Dreams avows "The Current US Supreme Court Is Not Constitutionally Legitimate." That's a pretty hefty statement but Common Dreams is a hefty organization, a newsworthy non-profit with advocacy in multi-dimensional categories. Here's their take...

"On Friday, June 24, an extremist majority of the U.S. Supreme Court overruled more than 50 years of legal precedent, taking away a previously recognized fundamental right for the first time in the court's history."

The article acknowledges the fact that Roe's overturning...

"unleashed the full force of a regressive, coordinated state-by-state attack on the already perilously eroded right to access an abortion, on women's rights, the human right to bodily autonomy, privacy, and control over our own lives and dignity, and to life-saving healthcare and freedoms."

There are 74 million women and girls throughout the U.S. who have been raising


their voice of concern for months. It is also a fact that poor women, women of color, transgender, and gender non-confirming people will suffer the most. What is most bizarre is Justice Alito's comparison between Plessy v. Ferguson, (an 1896 Supreme Court case), not completely applicable, and Roe v. Wade leading to the conclusion by Common Dreams...

"This decision—in concert with a host of inconsistent, constitutionally indefensible, and regressive jurisprudence from the Court targeting voting rights protections, our safety from gun violence, the rights of immigrants, housing, public health, and protections from police violence and the coercive power of the criminal legal system—further confirms what the Poor People's Campaign has already declared: the current U.S. Supreme Court is not a constitutionally legitimate body."

Is it time for impeachment? 

 

 


Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Radical Information Can Destroy a Democracy...Here's how

 

Over thirty-five years in the junk mail industry, information was my crown jewel. Information about mailing lists, information about people (demographics); information about geography (demography). Without all this I could never have progressed as a data broker. It was plentiful and it was expensive but cost even more when collected and refined, then sold to a client for their mailings. I do not know the number of peoples' names I sold but it was in the multi-millions.

This was several years ago and the business has changed significantly since then. What hasn't changed is still the fact that nothing moves without information. In Salon recently, Chauncey Devega spoke with Stephanie Foggett, who is director of global communications at the Soufan Group, a global intelligence and security consulting firm. Foggett specializes in monitoring white supremacist, neo-Nazi and other right-wing extremist groups.

With the Covid pandemic in a slight decline, we now have monkeypox to deal with. And there is a constant reminder from Bernie Sanders and other Progressives that inequality is still raging in this country. Devega reminds us...

"Here in the U.S., Donald Trump's political cult and a Republican Party dominated by fascists are attempting to end multiracial democracy. This is a revolutionary struggle whose goal is to create a new American society, that in practical terms will be an apartheid Christian fascist plutocracy ruled without challenge or accountability by a small number of rich white men."

 The Pro-Putin Wing Of The GOP Echoes Kremlin Disinformation...


In Devega's exchange with Foggett, she...
"shares her views on how "malign actors" are using this moment of global disruption to expand their power by undermining liberalism and Western-style democracy, both internationally and in the United States."

Of special concern is the use of the Internet and conservative media by "the global far-right and their allies, along with the Republican Party and its agents." Including Fox News and conspiracy cults like QAnon. Foggett even predicts that military conflict between states is now a reality, in keeping with recent forecasts of another Civil War. But, it takes time she says, because more than ever today, we must know why we are doing what we are doing.

It is here where Foggett addresses "How the far right is winning the information war." With Republican disinformation of course, made popular during the Donald Trump administration...


"Every issue is being muddled with disinformation and half-truths and narratives that paralyze action by creating confusion and doubt. This makes it hard to chart a shared path forward."

In this "confusion," it is...

"very difficult to even have discussions about politics and current events when there is less of a shared understanding of reality, the truth and facts. Every issue is being muddled with disinformation and half-truths and narratives that paralyze action by just creating confusion and doubt."

And therein lies the problem. Republican disinformation creating a confusion because the GOP has no agenda other than to block anything the Democrats want to do. It sure isn't the Grand Old Party anymore.

Monday, July 25, 2022

Glad I'm 89...

 

The Jan. 6 Commission Hearings

Have you been watching the insurrection hearings from the Jan. 6, Commission? Republican Liz Cheney has done a remarkable job of illustrating Donald Trump's commitment to the demolition of American democracy. He promoted, then perpetuated, the insurrection of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Cheney, with a long lineup of Republican and Trump-loyal witnesses, has all but indicted T-rump, but the expedition to justice isn't over yet.

I've said before that I agree with little of the Republican ideology Cheney believes in, but I do believe sincerely in her commitment and determination to bring Donald Trump to justice. She is literally sacrificing her career in the U.S. House to get this job done. And it is tragic that she won't have the chance to work on the committee after the first of the year. Unless...there is a miracle. The latest polls show she is behind the Trump supported contender by 22 points. Ugh!

And while working on this post yesterday, Donald Trump and Mike Pence came to Arizona to do battle in our Republican governor's race. It features two misfits, Kari Lake and Karrin Taylor Robson, but then, Arizona is used to oddballs for this office. Remember Jan Brewer and now the current Doug Ducey, both of which leave much to be desired in the brains department...

"The dueling appearances underlines the importance of Arizona on the national stage, with the 2 August primaries likely to serve as a litmus test for Trump’s endorsement prowess ahead of the midterms, where the Republicans hope to win key state races and regain control of the Senate and House."
Jan. 6 Hearing Room Laughs At Video Of Josh Hawley Fleeing Capitol Riot...


But the real point in contention is, did the January 6 committee prove its case? CNN has "A point-by-point breakdown of its major claims and the evidence presented:"
"President Trump summoned the mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack."

"While the violence was underway, President Trump failed to take immediate action to stop the violence and instruct his supporters to leave the Capitol."

"You will see that Donald Trump and his advisers knew that he had, in fact, lost the election...President Trump corruptly pressured state legislators and election officials to change election results."

"President Trump engaged in a massive effort to spread false and fraudulent information ... and invested millions of dollars of campaign funds purposely spreading false information..."

"You will see that President Trump corruptly planned to replace the Attorney General of the United States so the U.S. Justice Department would spread his false stolen election claims."

"...we will focus on President Trump's efforts to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to count electoral votes on January 6th...in private and in public."

At the age of 89, one has a very different perspective on the above. It's not hopeless, it's really a contentment.

NEXT: What to expect and more from the Jan.6 hearings on the Capitol insurrection by Donald Trump.  

 

 



Thursday, March 3, 2022

Make No Mistake: Republican Putinism is Treason



One commits treason by adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. That is the simplest definition that sums up the GOP's recent tactics in addressing the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Robert Reich's sub headline...
"Make no mistake: Putin’s authoritarian neo-fascism has rooted itself in America. The cold war has already come home"

The political pundits are already saying this cold war will be much worse than the first. This is illustrated by the fact that Putin has placed Russia’s nuclear forces on alert. Reich adds the big difference is that fascism is no longer an external threat, we have spawned our own version right here in America. And it is my opinion that its soul origin is none other than Donald Trump. Here's how Reich explains it...

"Trump Republicans continue to refuse to acknowledge the outcome of the 2020 election, claiming without evidence that it was “stolen” from Trump. In many states, on the basis of this big lie, they are making it more difficult for people who don’t share their beliefs to vote."

That's just one example but a solid mandate confirming that the only way the GOP can win elections is by fixing the vote. There is a distinct similarity between Putin's attack on Ukraine and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, we are told. Both are a vicious assault on Democracy, something Republicans seem determined to abolish. It started with Donald Trump's 2016 election and has since been picked up by a GOP that is hell-bent on an authoritarian government.

Max Boot: 'The Republican Party Is Becoming An Increasingly Authoritarian Party'...


Here's Reich's take...
"Donald Trump has long admired Vladimir Putin who, evidence shows, personally authorized a secret spy agency operation to support a “mentally unstable” Trump in the 2016 US presidential election. Believing that a Trump White House would help secure Moscow’s strategic objectives, Russia’s spy agencies were ordered to use “all possible force” to ensure Trump’s victory."

Well, he made it and the world hasn't been the same since. But it didn't end with

Trump's defeat in 2020; the ex-White House maniac and his double-digit cronies are still challenging the election in Republican states throughout the country. It's cost taxpayers millions and all this moron does is push them for more. In 2019 Zelensky blew off Trump in helping rig the 2020 election. Today Ukraine's president is courageously fighting off Putin's assault.

President Biden indicated in his SOTU address that the U.S. is committed to stopping Russia from moving any farther west in Europe than Ukraine. Robert Reich concludes...

"In the months and years ahead, those of us in the west who believe in democracy, the rule of law, human rights and truth, must do everything we can to win back our fellow countrymen to these same overriding values."

Amen! 

Thursday, February 10, 2022

Joe Biden is a Victim of Reckless Republican Propaganda...Here's the Real Story

 

OK, let's accept the fact that no matter what President Biden does, the GOP erects an immediate wall to oppose it. Whatever - you name it. Minority Senate leader and power grabbing Moscow Mitch McConnell is the head wall builder, followed by Kevin McCarthy, House minority leader mixed with a plethora of Republican misfits. It is clear that the above has replaced an agenda for the right as they roll on with their plans to eliminate American democracy.

Overshadowed within all this is the agenda of Joe Biden which he describes as the perfect storm, consisting of four crises that must be addressed. They are, "fighting the coronavirus, restoring the economy, combating climate change and making the country more equal." Here's the scenario from The Washington Post...

Those four issues remain central to Biden’s presidency. “I think if you take a look at what we’ve been able to do, you’d have to acknowledge we made enormous progress,” President Biden said Wednesday [Jan. 20] of his first year in office.

From WaPo's Post Pundit Power Rankers in the beginning of the Prez's administration he was given a B+ on his first 100 days in office. Fast-forward through the crises to today and...

"Now, we’re back to assess a full year’s worth of White House decision-making. Like last time, our rankers have assigned Biden a grade A+ to F, taking into account such issues as the pandemic, the economy, foreign policy, voting and human rights, and presidential leadership. Also as last time, our readers — more than 4,400 of you! — got in on the grading. Your scores factor into the final average just like our pundits’."

 Biden highlights wins, struggles and top priorities after 1 year in office...


In the final score Biden had an average pundit grade of C+, average reader grade B, overall grade B-. There is a raft of scores on specific issues in this article like the economy, voting and human rights, foreign policy, etc. I urge you to read them all.

But, Matt Robison from AlterNet exclaims, "The reality is that Biden has done a great job — but the pundits can't admit it." He gives President Biden an A+ commenting, "Anything else is insane."

Robison points us back to a glut of Donald Trump stupidities...

water cannon of lies
a cabinet of grifters and thieves
disastrous and deadly Covid denial
child separation
the Helsinki Putin bootlicking affair

This is only five. There are fifteen more. This is how he visions another four

years under Trump...

"Faster global warming. Endless vendettas. Jailing dissidents. Clawing back LGBT rights. MAGA budgets and widespread hunger. Endless trade wars and rising nuclear standoffs. An impenetrable wall of judges. A chokehold on immigration. The end of democracy."

Then, Jennifer Rubin comes along with her opinion, "Biden is on a roll as commander in chief." A great read! That's good enough for me.

        

Friday, February 4, 2022

The Insane Republicans of Arizona

 

Remember the Florida recount of 2000, the hanging chads thing? It was Democrat Al Gore against Geo. W. Bush with the latter's lead so small Gore took it all the way to the Supreme Court which ruled the recount was over. Katherine Harris, then Florida's Republican Sec. of State ruled the election in favor of Bush. Harris was assailed by the left for her decision, but, evidently it was legal. Neither Gore nor a host of Democrats believed they had lost but had the brains to realize defeat.

If you are interested in that outcome, here is the 2018 article, "The Florida Recount Of 2000: A Nightmare That Goes On Haunting."

Fast-forward twenty years to the 2020 presidential election between Democrat Joe Biden and something or another Donald Trump. It was a reelection for the ex-White House maniac at a time when much of the public still didn't know how he won in 2016. And being the idiot Trump proved himself to be in his four years in office, he refused to believe he lost. He immediately started denying the results of state elections, enlisting governors and legislators to support him.

And that's when the mentally challenged gang of Arizona Republicans took up his mantle and ran with it, and I do mean ran. Head moron and Senate President, Karen Fann, brought in a mutually incompetent gang from Florida known as the Cyber Ninjas who cost the taxpayers of Arizona millions and came up with the fact that

Joe Biden did in fact win the 2020 election. Even then Fann and others from the GOP wouldn't give it up, likely because Trump wouldn't concede, still hasn't.

Here's how local Columnist Laurie Roberts puts it...

"You thought the audit of the 2020 election was over, that it ended in September when the Senate’s own Trump supporting auditors could find no evidence of widespread fraud.

"O ye, of far too much faith that, at some point, sanity will sink in.
"That the state Senate’s Trump contingent will accept the fact that their guy lost, freeing us poor taxpayers from having to continue shelling out money to chase a conspiracy that doesn’t – and didn’t – exist.
"They won’t and so we will. Open our wallets wide once again, that is."

This time the less than adequate Republicans think we had a hacker from either "China (or maybe Venezuelan?)" that compromised the voting machines and, "as the conspiracy theory goes, switched thousands of Donald Trump votes to Joe Biden?" Meanwhile the county has confirmed there was no hacking. Two sets of election experts confirmed this. What the hell do we need? And then they wanted computer routers from the county which was refused. 

So, here's where that led...

"Former Rep. John Shadegg, a former Republican congressman who is serving as a $500-an-hour special master, contracted by the county to answer the senators’ detailed questions about the routers."

There's more...

"To do that, Shadegg on Friday hired three IT experts, each of whom will travel to Arizona to examine the county’s routers and the Splunk logs that are used to analyze computerized data."

Shadegg has already billed the state $16,800 and no one knows yet how much the three experts will charge. Laurie Roberts goes on to question the reasoning of all this, what she calls, "a colossal waste of our money." The Republican legislature apparently doesn't care and the voters out there who put them in office don't have the brains to know what's going on. I recommend that you check this commentary out for a hilarious look into Arizona politics.

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