163 Comments

As long as no one thinks that Kemp and Raffensperger are in any way decent people, because refusing to actually break the law is kind of a low bar.

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No one has written about the Mounk article. He seems to be saying that the current white majority will continue to maintain their majority by expanding their ranks to include any person of European ancestry. Did anyone tell Mounk that 67–95% (depending on location) of Mexicans are of European ancestry, specifically Spain? The white people so concerned about being replaced do not seem to be in any frame of mind to include Mexicans in their number. In fact, given their rhetoric, quite the opposite.

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Waiting to hear from Jewish Republicans on opinion of CPAC BS. I’ll probably wait more than a minute…

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Just as the Roman Catholic church learned nothing from the Nixon/Watergate cover-up, the Southern Baptist Convention learned nothing from the Catholic hierarchy's cover-up leading to the payment of millions in legal cases, jail time for miscreants, the booting out of bishops and cardinals, and an award winning movie covering the Boston diocesan crisis.

The arrogance and hubris in religious sects are astonishing, but believeable considering the self-righteousness.

No wonder the largest growing "religious belief" in America is the "Nones" (those who claim spirituality, but with no religious sect.)

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May 23, 2022·edited May 23, 2022

Merrick Garland was appointed Attorney General position mainly because he wasn't given a vote on his nomination for SCT Justice and he earned a great deal of sympathy from the left because of that. It should not have been assumed though that the skill set which makes one a good federal judge is the same as the skill set which makes on a good Attorney General. Garland clearly lacks the backbone to be AG. Biden needs to get rid of him. It's not going to get any better.

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The continued fixation on Trump is so interesting from the psychological perspective.

However...

In a speech delivered at a conference in honor of Du Bois at Atlanta University in October 1974 and reprinted in the February 1975 issue of Crisis, Henderson wrote, “If all racial prejudice and discrimination and all racism were erased today, all the ills brought by the process of economic class distinction and economic depression of the masses of black people would remain.”

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Let's get to the all racism erased part, then check back in. ok?

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First, you can never "erase " racism as it is tribalism and coastal liberals for example exhibit the most tribalism.

Second, there is not enough material real racism left, except the neoracism of the woke against whites.

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May 23, 2022·edited May 24, 2022

Stop bringing right-wing propaganda to the Bulwark. You don't see THIS kind of tribalism among liberals, coastal or otherwise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmHYuwOoR9A (starting at 1:25). By the way, you didn't seem to get the memo. Since Trump called Mo Brooks "woke", the term has become nothing but a fangless, all-purpose insult MAGA like to fling indiscriminately. (See what I did there).

You are here to bring nothing but bad faith and right wing propaganda.

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LOL. So "MAGA" is a cool pejoritive, but "Woke" is just silly old hat.

Woke is the same as neorasit. If you are woke you are infected with a fake scholarship parasitic mind virus. MAGA is awesome... who can say that "Making American Great Again" is a negative goal? However, woke... that is some sicko stuff. People that subscribe to it will be identified and marginalized... rightfully so.

What do you mean by right-wing? You mean those that appose the wokeism movement?

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MAGA is not a pejorative. MAGA is how adherents to Trumpism self-identify. but you already know that and said as much in your comment. "woke" is intended to be a pejorative, and you confirmed that as well. What is sicko is MAGA adherents taking CPAC to Hungary and listening to Orban tell them that sicko Tucker Carlson should be broadcast 24-7.

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Yes, it's interesting that so many GOP politicians still boast of their allegiance to Trump, and the party still puts him at the center of fundraising appeals, and 52 percent of Republicans responding to a poll said that "loyalty" to Trump is very important to them, and a large portion said that continuing to relitigate the 2020 election is very important to them.

From a psychological perspective, it's downright weird.

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Probably true. Extreme economic disparity is baked into the cake, but we need to start by removing the racism frosting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf0amSOuOX0

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The second point I should have made is that there is not much real white-perpetrated race bias today. Otherwise we would have whites targeting Asians. What we have is class bias. So solving the economic class disparity solves everything else.

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founding

"Otherwise we would have whites targeting Asians."

Um, do you not remember this from all the way back in 2021?

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/03/17/us/shooting-atlanta-acworth

Solving class disparity would go a long ways. However, it's too bad that the Republican party, despite trying to rebrand itself as the party of the [white] working class, is all in on making class disparity worse. Has been for decades.

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It is blacks targeting Asians. Again, it is class bias.

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founding

Not in the story I linked to you it wasn't.

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Wow. You found one story and from the NYT! Try pulling the statistics if you want to make a relevant point... because everyone can find a story.

Backs are highly over represented in violence against Asians. https://www.financegeek.org/chinese/black-on-asian-crime/

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Class disparity was shrinking under Trump. Probably explained why Democrats were so committed to defeating him as Democrats need their talking points.

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founding

Oh Jesus. See why we cannot have nice things. Fake news and fake "studies" everywhere.

It is widely known and accepted in the real world of non-alternate facts that, under Trump, real working class income relative to inflation moved up relative to the upper class.

Under Trump paychecks grew faster than inflation. Average weekly earnings for all workers were up 8.7% after inflation. Biden has destroyed that.

https://news.yahoo.com/irs-data-prove-trump-tax-130007569.html

https://www.factcheck.org/2019/06/are-wages-rising-or-flat/

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Regarding Russell Moore’s article- Far too often, religious leaders are but wolves in sheep’s clothing. They never turn down a chance to take a “righteous” stand against secular predators while refusing to look for or acknowledge the religious predators among them.

The SBC and Catholic Church are frighteningly similar in their approach to allegations of sexual abuse. Ignore, deny and threaten the victims.

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It is interesting how much time these people spend in Hungary and how much attention they pay to Hungary. I thought they were supposedly American politicians.

The racism seems to keep getting more and more open. Maybe all these years of denying that they are racist is bearing fruit. A lot of them are sure racist-adjacent and racist-enabling if not actually racist. But then, a lot of Americans are, too.

The give away is how triggered they all get when called on it.

I am really hoping that the DoJ is going to bust out some serious moves here some time soon... but I am not actually expecting it... and the 1/6 committee will be done when the next Congress is seated unless the Dems and the voters pull off a minor miracle. Instead will will have umpteen impeachments of Biden.

Without actual charges and prosecutions, all of the revelations of the committee are largely pointless. A large number of these people (especially the politicians) know that the Big Election Lie is--well--a lie. And the people at the base level believing and pushing aren't listening to the committee or pretty much anyone that will tell them that--they do NOT want to hear that.

It is all lies and fake news--to be ignored.

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"This Is the Southern Baptist Apocalypse"

Wake me up when it happens. I am sure their SBC god doesn't give a sheit. And like all things related to the white Christian [sic]. supremacist, utterly corrupt, cesspool-dwelling/Trumpian/Putinist/tankie GQP, little to zippo in consequences.

PS The Trump Base loves all this. Confirmation that libs/socialists/Dems/commies/the Islams/Clintons/Soros/Jews/Hunter's laptop are so unfair to them.

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founding

That conservative men can treat women like shit and get away with it and even rewarded is just proof to them that Democrat's are bunch of weak cucks.

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CBS reports that it was the only US or EU press outlet allowed to cover the conference. They somehow forgot to tell us who attended.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/viktor-orban-hungary-cpac-2024-decisive/

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"Pivotal political moment..." Are you kidding? Nothing, but nothing, shakes the Republican cult's self-righteous belief in its lies. Imagine a white jury in Alabama in 1920 in a trial of a black man. Exactly what role would evidence play in their verdict?

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I remember Trumpers saying things like "The more they criticize him, the more I'll defend him." Never mind whether there might be good reasons for the criticism.

That's still the attitude of the Trumpified GOP: If Trump or his loyalists do bad things and are called out for it, that just proves how unfair and corrupt the whole system is.

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Exactly. It'a perfectly closed circle.

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MAGA church pastors tell their flock to bear up bravely because they are being persecuted for Christ's sake. Here is an extremely militant example (starts at 1:25) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmHYuwOoR9A

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I have conservative religious relatives who are fed up with the GOP because they view Trump as so antithetical to their Christian values. It''s very strange that so many self-identified Christians think he's the greatest champion of their values.

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founding

Tares don't know that they aren't wheat.

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Yep, Jesus said the same thing. "Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’ "

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founding

Lord, Lord, did we not stockpile guns and ammo in your Name? Did we not encourage murderous rampages against blacks and hispanics in your Name? Did we not try to hang Mike Pence in your Name?

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Still disappointed that CPAC-Hungary gets one mention in the UGLY section. Look at the background and organizations of the featured speakers and you cannot help but conclude that it is exactly where today's GOP wants to take this country. It isn't extremism and it isn't hyperbole when they have specifically gone to Hungary and specifically engaged speakers who say the quiet parts right out loud...

Again, anyone interested should take a look at this twitter thread by Philip Germain, as it is quite good at pointing out the troubling backgrounds.

https://twitter.com/Philip_Germain/status/1527425209304657920

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founding

I hear Hungarian pornstars are way cheaper to rent over there than American pornstars here at home.

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Trumps first impeachment was good. The Senate's failure to convict was bad. Trumps second impeachment was good. The Senates acquittal of The Orange Menace without a trial or witnesses exposed the abject corruptness of Republicans - Very Bad. The failure of DOJ to enforce Congressional subpoenas - Bad. DOJ’s OLC memos - Bad. DOJ’s version of SCOTUS’s shadow docket. Both Homey-Drive By assasinations of the rule of law. Indictment and conviction of The Orange Menace of multiple felonies - Good. The fumbling inaction of Milquetoast Merrick, the poster boy for Democrats Lacking Spine - Bad. Garland’s resignation as AG and appointment of Eric Holder - very, very Good. Joe Biden and Chuck Shumer growing spines. Unlikely. The odds of Democrats fxxxxxking themselves while offering their soft underbellies to Cocaine Mitch and Co. - very high and very bad. But the Democrats just can’t help competing for the Pusillanimous Pussy of The Year Award. Very Very Bad!

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Garland may be leery of lighting the MAGA civil war fuse. Or perhaps an indictment will come after the hearings.

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Or perhaps he’s afraid of his shadow.

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That is a very unfair supposition and unworthy of the quality of discourse this forum aspires to.

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Terry, I am completely unimpressed with Merrick Garland as AG. I believe he is an excellent attorney and an honorable man but not the AG for todays US. Our institutional republic is under its greatest threat and Garland has not commenced prosecution of Trump or his band of violent seditionists. A DA in GA has impaneled a grand jury that is considering charges against Trump. Garland could join the case. What is public knowledge is enough to indict Trump for multiple felonies and as a Fed judge in CA opined there is sufficient evidence to suggest Trump committed a felony. What is Garlands response? Crickets. Time is an important element and Garland has been in office for a year and a half. Garland should resign and let Biden appoint a competent prosecutor such as Eric Holder. Unless you prefer to live in a theocratic dictatorship n

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You were doing great until the last sentence. Garland is not the last hope of the Republic. There are a few indicted candidates surviving GOP primaries right now. The last hope is actually voters who come out in force as if their life depended on it. I said so in 2016, and was poohpoohed. Voters only started getting serious in 2018 and even greater turnout in 2020. Yet there hasn't been the sort of turnout to repudiate MAGA once and for all. So for the fourth time, I am working hard on seeing record levels of turnout for the midterms, especially that half of registered voters who never vote or voting-age adults who have never registered to vote.

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You are correct: lack of voter turnout is perhaps the single most biggest problem complicated by voter ignorance and inability to distinguish between news and fabulous propaganda. Lack of voter turnout is a long standing disgrace. Refusal to creat a Federal holiday on Election Day is a thinly disguised ruse to suppress the vote. I can think of some measures that might ameliorate this existential problem but will not include them now - they are quite obvious and my guess apparent to most sentient citizens. Still, Garlands failure to act is a serious problem. He would have been an excellent SCOTUS Justice, but he is far too timid as a prosecutor in not prosecuting powerful, wealthy, former, and present, office holders committing the crime of sedition - often as conspirators.

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What is the purpose of these public hearings? To improve the public profile of those involved? If the hearings are not accompanied by immediate announcement of charges by DoJ, this dog-and-pony show will be a distant memory by Nov 2022 (let alone 2024). I wish the Jan 6 committee and the DoJ would coordinate to make this happen. Perhaps also create special courts to deal with those charged and speed up the process. If some of these vile characters are as bad as we are being told, there has to be a sense of purpose and urgency in dealing with them and their actions related to the insurrection. The way these hearings are planned currently is more appropriate for a much anticipated movie/album release, not for something that should be a collective, national emergency. I understand due process and all (& am not advocating for compromising any of that), but the response/actions hitherto betrays lack of seriousness.

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The Watergate hearings were first; the indictments came next. And yes, they should be prime time on every channel, same as Watergate. It was the hearings that got Nixon out. And they should have already begun - it takes time to get through to people's heads that 1/6 was really a coup attempt - far worse than Watergate.

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Actually it was the release of the tapes, after the hearings concluded, that Nixon sought to withhold. The tapes showed he conspired with his aides to convince the FBI to halt the investigation of the break-in. The tapes were made public. That caused his loss of support with Rs, and that's what convinced him to resign. See https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/05/watergate-smoking-gun-tape-released-aug-5-1974-753086.

No pundits think there's going to be such dramatic evidence of Trump's complicity, so these hearings will not take him down.

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I'm heartened to hear you think the hearings will influence voters to vote against Republicans. They would be only the 25% of R voters who do NOT believe the election was stolen and the 30% of the electorate who is independent. The 75% of Rs who believe the election was stolen will not believe anything they hear from the Committee, yes?

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Well, I'm glad you think they will be persuaded to not vote R.

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May 24, 2022·edited May 24, 2022

1. That's not my take. It's history's, as the link I provided shows.

I doubt Dean would disagree. His testimony was in the early days of the hearings, June, 1973. Nixon held on until August, 1974 when Dean's testimony was corroborated by the release of the tapes. Yes, his testimony tipped prosecutors to question witnesses along this line, so he contributed, but had the SC not forced Nixon to release the tapes, who knows what would have happened?

2. It was Eva who noted the hearings. I was responding to that. Not to Trump being indicted.

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Re the Rs then and the Rs now - there is so much more support for Trump among the R voters than there was for Nixon. His approval rating was below 30% before he resigned. That is what the R politicians respond to. Put the blame on the Trump supporters, not the R politicians.

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You mean back in the day when Americans were citizens first, and party affiliates second?

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Sadly, agree.

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Really - if Nixon were JD Vance, he would've said to the Court, "Come and get 'em."

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Of course coordination should not imply something nefarious and if the DoJ or Congress aren't convinced about something they hear from the J6 committee, they need not act on it.

Given the attention span of the viewers/electorate, it is important to not only communicate the narrative of how Jan 6th came about and the actions that led to the inssurection but also what the response is going to be. That is the part that needs to be coordinated. The response could be a combination of DoJ and legislative proposals that will be taken up immediately. Perhaps DoJ/congress need their own prime time slots to explain to the nation how they plan to respond.

I'm afraid without an articulation of the response from DoJ and Congress (or at least how they plan to respond), the hearings will be entertaining for a few days but an exercise in futility.

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The hearings are likely to present devastating evidence against Trump and his GOP collaborators. If the evidence pertained to a Dem, the GOP would move heaven and earth to have them indicted. What we see is that the GOP is already poisoning the well. In a sideways admission that the evidence is indeed devastating, Jim Jordan is out there claiming the J6 committee fabricated it.

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Didn't the DOJ request all the docs from the hearings? And the reaction from the Committee was tepid at best. They did all the work, and now DOJ wants to swoop in and take it? I don't fear coordination between these two entities. They are cooperating, of course, but not coordinating a la Barr and tRump.

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founding

Every hearing should be in prime time, not just the first and last.

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May 23, 2022·edited May 23, 2022

On that CBS News Poll about changing racial diversity in the US: Only the Independents get it sensibly.

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founding

How? By only being slightly less racist than the Republicans?

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No, by holding the position that a little bit of change over a long period of time is far different than a lot of change in a short period.

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founding

Oh, I missed that part of the poll.

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What part of change did you miss?

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