What turned out to be a very damaging decision was the insistence to only start counting the mailed-in ballots on the day of the election. As a consequence the illusion was created that Trump was winning. If the mailed-in results would have been released the moment the polls closed it would have been crystal clear Trump had lost.
Why do the D's keep running softball ads? Here is Mandela Barnes walking through the grocery store being an everyman talking about food prices. Here is Mandela Barnes making a peanut butter sandwich and being relatable as a nice ordinary guy who cares.
I wrote to the campaign last night asking this very question. Johnson has an endless well of highly attackable behavior, content and stupidity caught on video to draw from and they barely use it.
Johnson will be re-elected and it will be for one reason:
DEMOCRATS BROUGHT A FUCKING GALLON OF MILK TO A GUNFIGHT.
You know, if Trump truly believed the garbage he is spewing, he'd be chomping at the bit to testify and PROVE that he's right, and everyone else is wrong. The fact that he isn't is more proof that he doesn't believe his BS.
Trump and his followers (it is a cult) just keep repeating the lies in the (realized, to some extent) hope that they will be believed and become reality. I am so angry at my fellow Americans. Strength means lying and cheating and taking what you want even when you lost? F**k you. Enough. JVL had a brief piece today titled "What I want." Well, it's what I want too. Competence. Integrity. Honesty. Compromise dammit! This winner take all ethos is poison. Wake up everybody!
Thank you, Charlie, for highlighting Liz Cheney's warning. I thought her opening statement was one of the most powerful and moving moments of yesterday's hearing. Because so much of the Committee's presentation was new and compelling, Cheney's words have not gotten the attention they deserve. I hope we will hear a lot more from her between now and Nov. 2024.
The disgusting and sad thing is that more than 40% of the electorate would still vote for Trump and his obvious enablers and fellow travelers despite the preponderance of evidence--because they WANT that.
I am re-reading Hoffer's The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements (1951). He points out things learned understood after the experience with the mass movements of the 30s/40s that we have forgotten or are choosing to ignore.
"Where power is not joined with faith in the future, it is used mainly to ward off the new and maintain the status quo. On the other hand, extravagant hope, even when not backed by actual power, is likely to generate a most reckless daring."
"No faith is important unless it is also faith in the future; unless it has a millennial component. So, too, an effective doctrine: was well as being a source of power, it must also claim to be a key to the book of the future."
"Those who would transform a nation or the world cannot do so by breeding and captaining discontent or by demonstrating the reasonableness and desirability of the intended changes or by coercing people into a new way of life. They must know how to kindle and fan an extravagant hope."
Talking about the technical aspects of governing or policy is not doing that... which is why the Democrats have a hard time. Hope worked for Obama, but that hope was essentially betrayed and only really resided in Obama, not in people like HC.
What gives MAGA an amount of strength is its alliance with evangelicalism. Democrats have no such alliance. One of the things that made Civil Rights work was its alliance with religion and its use of religious language, imagery and a sense of hope.
King's I have a Dream speech is a MASTERWORK of that. King's background as a preacher was crucial.
MAGA will ultimately fail (after doing a huge amount of damage (and even holding power) precisely because it offers no real hope or change. It will trash this country for generations in the process.
Because the Democrats sometimes talk about change but do not deliver, is a reason why they cannot build a permanent strong movement. Hope collapses in the face of the inertia and BS of government in our system.
As a matter of course, I generally refrain from certain language when posting comments. However, on occasion, certain words are exactly what's called for to cut through to the heart of the matter in the presence of grown-ups. To wit:
Elon Musk is not a genius. He's not a visionary. I don't think, in reality, he's even all that smart. What Elon Musk is, at his very core, is a fucking asshole of the first order. And apparently a rather thin-skinned one. Worse, he's a sphincter possessing wealth of the first order, and the concomitant power and influence of same. And we are now privy to watching what happens when such a man with his head firmly planted between his butt cheeks sees a chance to profit rather than do something of service for a country friendly to our own and now under attack and fighting for its life.
Would Musk just be "following" that perhaps unwise "recommendation" if he thought he himself had something serious to lose if that were to be the fate of Ukraine? I expect if that were the case, he'd be among the loudest voices calling for our country to "do more".
In light of Musk's willingness to aid and abet many of the forces arrayed against liberal democracy and, in fact, our country itself, I see the distinction between him and the now perhaps most infamous and notorious rectum to walk upright on two legs during my lifetime fading fast, the biggest one of which seems simply to be the size of their bank accounts. Other than that, they pretty much smell the same. And unless or until we, as a society, find an effective way to tell people such as this to *fuck off* when their actions rooted in self-interest jeopardize the welfare of our society and country, to paraphrase a popular Country song from not long ago, there ain't gonna' be enough Charmin in the world to clean up their mess. Double quilted or not.
Perhaps I should apologize for all the scatological references. Not my intention to offend anyone. Sometimes you've just got to call 'em the way you smell 'em. And Elon, like Donald, stinks to high heaven.
Sad part about the RonJon part is that not very many actually laughed and there were a few cheers. The reality is that he should have been laughed off the stage.
There’s a contest between Trump and his MAGA base for most despicable. Trump makes stuff up and lies. Does his base actually believe Trumps delusional conspiracy claims or are they following their Orange Jesus of sedition? And Merrick Garland has yet to indict allowing Trump to incite more sedition and violence.
"The committee’s credibility has suffered without GOP cross-examination of the witnesses."
BULL FUCKING SHIT. Kevin McCarthy had *every* opportunity to install at least five GOP members on the committee, but threw a childish hissyfit-tantrum, grabbed his ball, and went home. And apparently Cheney and Kinzinger no longer count as "true" GOP in the eyes of the WSJ editorial-board, going by this?
RE: Fat Donnie's (latest,) perfidy.
No, the general electorate probably doesn't care, but HISTORY will-- and that's our consolation.
Thank you.
What turned out to be a very damaging decision was the insistence to only start counting the mailed-in ballots on the day of the election. As a consequence the illusion was created that Trump was winning. If the mailed-in results would have been released the moment the polls closed it would have been crystal clear Trump had lost.
Thank you Charlie.
Someone needs to do a deep dive into what the criteria are to be accepted into the Secret Service. Very important.
Why do the D's keep running softball ads? Here is Mandela Barnes walking through the grocery store being an everyman talking about food prices. Here is Mandela Barnes making a peanut butter sandwich and being relatable as a nice ordinary guy who cares.
I wrote to the campaign last night asking this very question. Johnson has an endless well of highly attackable behavior, content and stupidity caught on video to draw from and they barely use it.
Johnson will be re-elected and it will be for one reason:
DEMOCRATS BROUGHT A FUCKING GALLON OF MILK TO A GUNFIGHT.
You know, if Trump truly believed the garbage he is spewing, he'd be chomping at the bit to testify and PROVE that he's right, and everyone else is wrong. The fact that he isn't is more proof that he doesn't believe his BS.
Trump and his followers (it is a cult) just keep repeating the lies in the (realized, to some extent) hope that they will be believed and become reality. I am so angry at my fellow Americans. Strength means lying and cheating and taking what you want even when you lost? F**k you. Enough. JVL had a brief piece today titled "What I want." Well, it's what I want too. Competence. Integrity. Honesty. Compromise dammit! This winner take all ethos is poison. Wake up everybody!
Love you, Charlie. I needed to rant today.
Thank you, Charlie, for highlighting Liz Cheney's warning. I thought her opening statement was one of the most powerful and moving moments of yesterday's hearing. Because so much of the Committee's presentation was new and compelling, Cheney's words have not gotten the attention they deserve. I hope we will hear a lot more from her between now and Nov. 2024.
Elon Musk is not worthy of the time and space he occupies
The disgusting and sad thing is that more than 40% of the electorate would still vote for Trump and his obvious enablers and fellow travelers despite the preponderance of evidence--because they WANT that.
I am re-reading Hoffer's The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements (1951). He points out things learned understood after the experience with the mass movements of the 30s/40s that we have forgotten or are choosing to ignore.
"Where power is not joined with faith in the future, it is used mainly to ward off the new and maintain the status quo. On the other hand, extravagant hope, even when not backed by actual power, is likely to generate a most reckless daring."
"No faith is important unless it is also faith in the future; unless it has a millennial component. So, too, an effective doctrine: was well as being a source of power, it must also claim to be a key to the book of the future."
"Those who would transform a nation or the world cannot do so by breeding and captaining discontent or by demonstrating the reasonableness and desirability of the intended changes or by coercing people into a new way of life. They must know how to kindle and fan an extravagant hope."
Talking about the technical aspects of governing or policy is not doing that... which is why the Democrats have a hard time. Hope worked for Obama, but that hope was essentially betrayed and only really resided in Obama, not in people like HC.
What gives MAGA an amount of strength is its alliance with evangelicalism. Democrats have no such alliance. One of the things that made Civil Rights work was its alliance with religion and its use of religious language, imagery and a sense of hope.
King's I have a Dream speech is a MASTERWORK of that. King's background as a preacher was crucial.
MAGA will ultimately fail (after doing a huge amount of damage (and even holding power) precisely because it offers no real hope or change. It will trash this country for generations in the process.
Because the Democrats sometimes talk about change but do not deliver, is a reason why they cannot build a permanent strong movement. Hope collapses in the face of the inertia and BS of government in our system.
There simply aren't enough true believers.
I'm shocked didn't say something horribly bigoted aa a compliment
RE: Cheap Shots / Fuck off
As a matter of course, I generally refrain from certain language when posting comments. However, on occasion, certain words are exactly what's called for to cut through to the heart of the matter in the presence of grown-ups. To wit:
Elon Musk is not a genius. He's not a visionary. I don't think, in reality, he's even all that smart. What Elon Musk is, at his very core, is a fucking asshole of the first order. And apparently a rather thin-skinned one. Worse, he's a sphincter possessing wealth of the first order, and the concomitant power and influence of same. And we are now privy to watching what happens when such a man with his head firmly planted between his butt cheeks sees a chance to profit rather than do something of service for a country friendly to our own and now under attack and fighting for its life.
Would Musk just be "following" that perhaps unwise "recommendation" if he thought he himself had something serious to lose if that were to be the fate of Ukraine? I expect if that were the case, he'd be among the loudest voices calling for our country to "do more".
In light of Musk's willingness to aid and abet many of the forces arrayed against liberal democracy and, in fact, our country itself, I see the distinction between him and the now perhaps most infamous and notorious rectum to walk upright on two legs during my lifetime fading fast, the biggest one of which seems simply to be the size of their bank accounts. Other than that, they pretty much smell the same. And unless or until we, as a society, find an effective way to tell people such as this to *fuck off* when their actions rooted in self-interest jeopardize the welfare of our society and country, to paraphrase a popular Country song from not long ago, there ain't gonna' be enough Charmin in the world to clean up their mess. Double quilted or not.
Perhaps I should apologize for all the scatological references. Not my intention to offend anyone. Sometimes you've just got to call 'em the way you smell 'em. And Elon, like Donald, stinks to high heaven.
Sad part about the RonJon part is that not very many actually laughed and there were a few cheers. The reality is that he should have been laughed off the stage.
There’s a contest between Trump and his MAGA base for most despicable. Trump makes stuff up and lies. Does his base actually believe Trumps delusional conspiracy claims or are they following their Orange Jesus of sedition? And Merrick Garland has yet to indict allowing Trump to incite more sedition and violence.
From the WSJ-editorial Charlie linked to:
"The committee’s credibility has suffered without GOP cross-examination of the witnesses."
BULL FUCKING SHIT. Kevin McCarthy had *every* opportunity to install at least five GOP members on the committee, but threw a childish hissyfit-tantrum, grabbed his ball, and went home. And apparently Cheney and Kinzinger no longer count as "true" GOP in the eyes of the WSJ editorial-board, going by this?