Trumps Indictment: Historical and Future Implications IV
The N.R.A's obvious desire to leave a stack of fully loaded weapons in every American basement completely obliterates any and all of their pro-life argumentation, which ought to recognize, but never does, that if they cared about the golden eggs laid by the storybook goose, then they ought to be more supportive of the mother goose. Even gun happy Teddy Roosevelt would have recognized their policy as anti-maternal.
As for originalist argumentation...it may be best to quote Carl Sagan...
"I don’t see how science can appropriate the moral role of religion. It can teach us skepticism. It can teach us what constitutes adequate evidence for belief. But it can’t tell us what to do. It can’t convert an “is” into an "ought.” This has traditionally been the role of religion. But all sorts of religions counsel all sorts of different behavior, and they often contradict one another. Is it plausible that all the precepts of the past are still valid today, despite the massive changes in the society, demographics, and technology? How do we decide what rules we should obey?" ❤☮️🌎 #carlsagan
Carl Sagan (Bookpress Interview 1992)
As for originalist argumentation...it may be best to quote Carl Sagan...
"I don’t see how science can appropriate the moral role of religion. It can teach us skepticism. It can teach us what constitutes adequate evidence for belief. But it can’t tell us what to do. It can’t convert an “is” into an "ought.” This has traditionally been the role of religion. But all sorts of religions counsel all sorts of different behavior, and they often contradict one another. Is it plausible that all the precepts of the past are still valid today, despite the massive changes in the society, demographics, and technology? How do we decide what rules we should obey?" ❤☮️🌎 #carlsagan
Carl Sagan (Bookpress Interview 1992)
The NRA, the GOP, the right wing of SCOTUS
The trumps, in fact all the right wing flesh eaters
care about is power and causing ills in your freedoms.
Their arguments are designed to blur truths and
bamboozle folk, they are deceivers. Chameleon like
they change their stripe to suit and do so second by
second. They've no beliefs except that of the lie.
They are all poorly. By any standards they are very
sick. Perhaps you need to get rid of the Constitution.
Is it that document which causes all your ills?
Unfortunately only the trumps of the world can do that.
For their own ends.
The trumps, in fact all the right wing flesh eaters
care about is power and causing ills in your freedoms.
Their arguments are designed to blur truths and
bamboozle folk, they are deceivers. Chameleon like
they change their stripe to suit and do so second by
second. They've no beliefs except that of the lie.
They are all poorly. By any standards they are very
sick. Perhaps you need to get rid of the Constitution.
Is it that document which causes all your ills?
Unfortunately only the trumps of the world can do that.
For their own ends.
I couldn't agree more with Rew's remarks...
"The NRA, the GOP, the right wing of SCOTUS
The trumps, in fact all the right wing flesh eaters
care about is power and causing ills in your freedoms.
Their arguments are designed to blur truths and
bamboozle folk, they are deceivers. Chameleon like
they change their stripe to suit and do so second by
second. They've no beliefs except that of the lie.
They are all poorly. By any standards they are very
sick. Perhaps you need to get rid of the Constitution.
Is it that document which causes all your ills?
Unfortunately only the trumps of the world can do that.
For their own ends."
And I will add, speaking as a lifelong citizen of the U.S.A., that I welcome any and all foreign argumentation regarding American policies and procedures, and anyone who doesn't approve of her input tacitly proves that not only do they not approve of having an open mind and an honest opinion, they simultaneously demonstrate that they do not approve of anyone having an independent thought, including themselves. Such is the relentless and heartless nature of the global conservative.
We all must realize, anywhere and everywhere, that public enemy number one to all humanity is the conservatively minded human anywhere.
And once again it is the French who remind us all that the hyperactive menace of conservatism will only be overcome when all other peoples set aside their differences and push together to topple the worldwide edifice of rage and revenge that is the indelible conservative stain that brings down every human potential for a better future.
As to the constitution...Rew is correct, and we Americans owe it to ourselves to always bear in mind the advice of the likes of Carl Sagan and Rew, and if we cannot reform our constitution into something more humane, then we need to keep our options open for a better law of the land document then the one we all have been making do with, in spite of all the attempts to sabotage it from conservative quarters.
"The NRA, the GOP, the right wing of SCOTUS
The trumps, in fact all the right wing flesh eaters
care about is power and causing ills in your freedoms.
Their arguments are designed to blur truths and
bamboozle folk, they are deceivers. Chameleon like
they change their stripe to suit and do so second by
second. They've no beliefs except that of the lie.
They are all poorly. By any standards they are very
sick. Perhaps you need to get rid of the Constitution.
Is it that document which causes all your ills?
Unfortunately only the trumps of the world can do that.
For their own ends."
And I will add, speaking as a lifelong citizen of the U.S.A., that I welcome any and all foreign argumentation regarding American policies and procedures, and anyone who doesn't approve of her input tacitly proves that not only do they not approve of having an open mind and an honest opinion, they simultaneously demonstrate that they do not approve of anyone having an independent thought, including themselves. Such is the relentless and heartless nature of the global conservative.
We all must realize, anywhere and everywhere, that public enemy number one to all humanity is the conservatively minded human anywhere.
And once again it is the French who remind us all that the hyperactive menace of conservatism will only be overcome when all other peoples set aside their differences and push together to topple the worldwide edifice of rage and revenge that is the indelible conservative stain that brings down every human potential for a better future.
As to the constitution...Rew is correct, and we Americans owe it to ourselves to always bear in mind the advice of the likes of Carl Sagan and Rew, and if we cannot reform our constitution into something more humane, then we need to keep our options open for a better law of the land document then the one we all have been making do with, in spite of all the attempts to sabotage it from conservative quarters.
French election demonstrated that the far right has considerable support among the French people. it was most likely the tactical maneuvers by the left and far left which prevented the far right from taking power. the current ruling party(center) has lost a lot of support.
The results are far from pretty, and far from some great achievement, in fact there could be a hung parliament. the rules regarding re-elections stipulates at least one year before another election, so there may not be a working parliament for a year , if there is there would have to be a coalition which either involve the left, far left and center or the right, far right and center
so, you can probably see how it's not much of an achievement
The conservatives in the UK harnered just under 10% less of the vote than the Labour Party but Labour Party won over 300 more seats than them
Interestingly, like France the UK election showed a considerable support for far right ideals, enough to grant Nigel Farage a seat in parliament after 8 previous attempts
Ultimately though, the UK vote wasn't necessarily a swing to the left, most of the commentators suggested the vote was more 'not the tories again' than anything else
it was a Labour government under Tony Blair which got into bed with Bush with yhe whole weapo s of mass destruction farce so I dunno if the world is any safer than it was this time two weeks ago
I dunno if the Democrats are going to be able to cancel god. The idea of separation is decent enough. But the reasons for doing it appear to be unpure. an attack on the Christian base of republicans. in my opinion a little spiteful, but I think it will backfire
I don't get why those two parties think their best chance of producing a president lies with those two candidates.
Not sure it will be a 'vote for the party' like that article suggested. UK elections are nothing like the US presidentials, and to be fair anyone who has commented on these threads or kind of threads voted for the person or voted against a person
The results are far from pretty, and far from some great achievement, in fact there could be a hung parliament. the rules regarding re-elections stipulates at least one year before another election, so there may not be a working parliament for a year , if there is there would have to be a coalition which either involve the left, far left and center or the right, far right and center
so, you can probably see how it's not much of an achievement
The conservatives in the UK harnered just under 10% less of the vote than the Labour Party but Labour Party won over 300 more seats than them
Interestingly, like France the UK election showed a considerable support for far right ideals, enough to grant Nigel Farage a seat in parliament after 8 previous attempts
Ultimately though, the UK vote wasn't necessarily a swing to the left, most of the commentators suggested the vote was more 'not the tories again' than anything else
it was a Labour government under Tony Blair which got into bed with Bush with yhe whole weapo s of mass destruction farce so I dunno if the world is any safer than it was this time two weeks ago
I dunno if the Democrats are going to be able to cancel god. The idea of separation is decent enough. But the reasons for doing it appear to be unpure. an attack on the Christian base of republicans. in my opinion a little spiteful, but I think it will backfire
I don't get why those two parties think their best chance of producing a president lies with those two candidates.
Not sure it will be a 'vote for the party' like that article suggested. UK elections are nothing like the US presidentials, and to be fair anyone who has commented on these threads or kind of threads voted for the person or voted against a person
MidnightSonneteer said:I couldn't agree more with Rew's remarks...
"The NRA, the GOP, the right wing of SCOTUS
The trumps, in fact all the right wing flesh eaters
care about is power and causing ills in your freedoms.
Their arguments are designed to blur truths and
bamboozle folk, they are deceivers. Chameleon like
they change their stripe to suit and do so second by
second. They've no beliefs except that of the lie.
They are all poorly. By any standards they are very
sick. Perhaps you need to get rid of the Constitution.
Is it that document which causes all your ills?
Unfortunately only the trumps of the world can do that.
For their own ends."
And I will add, speaking as a lifelong citizen of the U.S.A., that I welcome any and all foreign argumentation regarding American policies and procedures, and anyone who doesn't approve of her input tacitly proves that not only do they not approve of having an open mind and an honest opinion, they simultaneously demonstrate that they do not approve of anyone having an independent thought, including themselves. Such is the relentless and heartless nature of the global conservative.
We all must realize, anywhere and everywhere, that public enemy number one to all humanity is the conservatively minded human anywhere.
And once again it is the French who remind us all that the hyperactive menace of conservatism will only be overcome when all other peoples set aside their differences and push together to topple the worldwide edifice of rage and revenge that is the indelible conservative stain that brings down every human potential for a better future.
As to the constitution...Rew is correct, and we Americans owe it to ourselves to always bear in mind the advice of the likes of Carl Sagan and Rew, and if we cannot reform our constitution into something more humane, then we need to keep our options open for a better law of the land document then the one we all have been making do with, in spite of all the attempts to sabotage it from conservative quarters.
The Constitution, much like God, was once Sacred until it became twisted by the very party who professes allegiance to both, condemning the left as evil mongers who want to corrupt society by accepting "differences" ( translated LGBTQ+ ) and further subject their children to immorality through education.
Only "control freaks" would agree with Project 2025's agenda for Christian Nationalism. We are NOT "[ . . . ] One nation *under God*, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all".
We are a plagiarized nation who took that very PURE and INCLUSIVE pledge in 1954, and added the phrase "under God", translated the "White Christian God", thus alienating atheists, agnostics, Buddhists, Hindu, Daoist's, Muslims, and the like.
There is a HUGE misconception that the Founding Fathers were Christians. Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Madison and Monroe believed in Deism. Jefferson was an agnostic. His intellect and interest in science gave him much skepticism. Same with Franklin.
The biggest problem in America are congregations believing everything their pastors tell them to believe without researching or possessing historical knowledge of the truth. They also vote for who they are told to vote for because of a "War on Christianity".
Bullshit. This has never been or should ever be a Christian Nationalist country ruled by white supremist. It has taken us so long to get where we are right now. I never thought I'd see two women sitting behind the house speaker, or a black president or a women vice-president.
Progression is worth fighting for. A country is not FREE when religion rules it.
"The NRA, the GOP, the right wing of SCOTUS
The trumps, in fact all the right wing flesh eaters
care about is power and causing ills in your freedoms.
Their arguments are designed to blur truths and
bamboozle folk, they are deceivers. Chameleon like
they change their stripe to suit and do so second by
second. They've no beliefs except that of the lie.
They are all poorly. By any standards they are very
sick. Perhaps you need to get rid of the Constitution.
Is it that document which causes all your ills?
Unfortunately only the trumps of the world can do that.
For their own ends."
And I will add, speaking as a lifelong citizen of the U.S.A., that I welcome any and all foreign argumentation regarding American policies and procedures, and anyone who doesn't approve of her input tacitly proves that not only do they not approve of having an open mind and an honest opinion, they simultaneously demonstrate that they do not approve of anyone having an independent thought, including themselves. Such is the relentless and heartless nature of the global conservative.
We all must realize, anywhere and everywhere, that public enemy number one to all humanity is the conservatively minded human anywhere.
And once again it is the French who remind us all that the hyperactive menace of conservatism will only be overcome when all other peoples set aside their differences and push together to topple the worldwide edifice of rage and revenge that is the indelible conservative stain that brings down every human potential for a better future.
As to the constitution...Rew is correct, and we Americans owe it to ourselves to always bear in mind the advice of the likes of Carl Sagan and Rew, and if we cannot reform our constitution into something more humane, then we need to keep our options open for a better law of the land document then the one we all have been making do with, in spite of all the attempts to sabotage it from conservative quarters.
The Constitution, much like God, was once Sacred until it became twisted by the very party who professes allegiance to both, condemning the left as evil mongers who want to corrupt society by accepting "differences" ( translated LGBTQ+ ) and further subject their children to immorality through education.
Only "control freaks" would agree with Project 2025's agenda for Christian Nationalism. We are NOT "[ . . . ] One nation *under God*, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all".
We are a plagiarized nation who took that very PURE and INCLUSIVE pledge in 1954, and added the phrase "under God", translated the "White Christian God", thus alienating atheists, agnostics, Buddhists, Hindu, Daoist's, Muslims, and the like.
There is a HUGE misconception that the Founding Fathers were Christians. Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Madison and Monroe believed in Deism. Jefferson was an agnostic. His intellect and interest in science gave him much skepticism. Same with Franklin.
The biggest problem in America are congregations believing everything their pastors tell them to believe without researching or possessing historical knowledge of the truth. They also vote for who they are told to vote for because of a "War on Christianity".
Bullshit. This has never been or should ever be a Christian Nationalist country ruled by white supremist. It has taken us so long to get where we are right now. I never thought I'd see two women sitting behind the house speaker, or a black president or a women vice-president.
Progression is worth fighting for. A country is not FREE when religion rules it.
July 9, 2024
HEATHER COX RICHARDSON
JUL 10, 2024
In this morning’s Talking Points Memo, David Kurtz observed that “much of political journalism is divorced from policy and the substance of politics.” It’s all about a horse race, he wrote, while complex questions, competing public interests, and the history of an issue get distilled to “whether it’s good or bad politically.”
Today, he noted, that horse-race coverage means that “[a]n election about whether the United States will continue its two and half century long experiment in representative democracy, where a convicted felon is running to return to the office he tried to seize through extralegal means, where the specter of a new form of fascism looms on the horizon is suddenly consumed by a political death watch for the only person at present standing between democracy and another Trump term in the White House.”
Yesterday, President Joe Biden tried to quell that political death watch by sending a letter to congressional Democrats stating that “despite all the speculation in the press and elsewhere, I am firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump.” He noted that 14 million voters in the Democratic primary chose him, rather than a challenger, adding, “It was their decision to make. Not the press, not the pundits, not the big donors, not any selected group of individuals, no matter how well intentioned…. How can we stand for democracy in our nation if we ignore it in our own party?”
In an apparent attempt to get beyond the horse-race politics Kurtz identified and to make clear the substance of this election, Biden explained: “We have an historic record of success to run on.” He cited his administration’s creation of more than 15 million jobs, leading to historic unemployment lows; revitalization of American manufacturing; expansion of affordable health care; rebuilding the country’s infrastructure; lowering the cost of prescription drugs; providing student debt relief; and making a historic investment in combating climate change.
That vision, Biden wrote, “soundly beats” that of Trump and the MAGA Republicans, who are “siding with the wealthy and big corporations,” while the Democrats are “siding with the working people of America.” Trump and his people want another $5 trillion in tax cuts for the rich, he noted, and they plan to cut Social Security and Medicare, as well as end the ability of the government to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to bring drug prices into line with prices in other countries. “We are the ones lowering costs for families,” he wrote, “from health care to prescription drugs to student debt to housing. We are the ones protecting Social Security and Medicare. Everything they’re proposing raises costs for most Americans—except their tax cuts which will go to the rich.”
He went on to note that the Democrats are “protecting the freedoms of Americans,” while Trump’s people are “taking them away.” He pointed to the right-wing attacks on abortion rights, IVF, contraception, and gay marriage. Biden reiterated that he will sign a law making Roe v. Wade the law of the land if the nation elects a Democratic House and Senate. Finally, he pointed out that Democrats are protecting the rule of law and democracy, while Trump is actively working to destroy both. Trump, he wrote, has proven himself “unfit ever to hold the office of President.” “My fellow Democrats,” Biden wrote, “we have the record, the vision, and the fundamental commitment to America’s freedoms and our Democracy to win.”
Hours later, the New York Times joined the tabloid New York Post in noting that visitor logs showed that Dr. Kevin Cannard, an expert on Parkinson’s disease, visited the White House eight times between July 2023 and March 2024. After pressing White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre for information beyond her statements that Biden is not being, and has not been, treated for Parkinson’s and that he sees a neurologist as part of his annual physical exams, a CBS News White House reporter accused Jean-Pierre of deliberately withholding information. Jean-Pierre pointed out that “personal attacks” are not appropriate from the press corps and that the press team does its best to give the information they have. She said she took offense at the reporter’s tone.
Last night, White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor sent to Jean-Pierre a letter clarifying that the White House Medical Unit serves thousands of patients, many of whom are military personnel with neurological issues related to their service. Cannard was one of the team of specialists that annually examine the president. O’Connor’s office released the results of that examination in a letter dated February 28, he pointed out. It said, “An extremely detailed neurologic exam was again reassuring in that there were no findings which would be consistent with any cerebellar or other central neurological disorder, such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s or ascending lateral sclerosis, nor are there any signs of cervical myelopathy.” The president does have “peripheral neuropathy in both feet. No motor weakness was detected. He exhibits no tremor, either at rest or with activity.”
As media attention remains focused on Biden, a Supreme Court decision from last week that upends the modern American state and another that overturns the central concept of our democracy have disappeared from public discussion. In Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the court overruled the longstanding legal precedent establishing that courts should defer to a government agency’s reasonable interpretation of a law. Instead, it said, judges themselves will decide on the legality of an agency’s actions.
In Public Notice, Lisa Needham noted that right-wing judges have already blocked Biden administration rules that protect overtime pay for workers, prohibit noncompete clauses for truckers, and prohibit discrimination based on gender identity. As right-wing plaintiffs launch suits challenging rules they dislike, she notes, we should expect to see many more federal judges “deploying junk science and personal opinions to get to their preferred conclusion while ignoring the expertise of agency employees.”
Loper Bright was a slashing blow at the federal regulations that make up the framework of today’s government, but it paled in comparison to the Supreme Court’s decision in Donald J. Trump v. United States. In that stunning decision, the six right-wing justices—three of whom Trump himself appointed—declared that a president is immune from prosecution for crimes committed as part of his “official duties.”
This astonishing decision overturned the bedrock principle of the United States of America: that no one is above the law. But to be clear, the court did not give this power to Biden. Because it is not clear what official acts are—since no one has ever before made this distinction—it claimed for itself the right to decide what illegal behaviors are official acts and which are not. Since at least one of the justices (Samuel Alito) has flown flags demonstrating support for overthrowing Biden’s government and putting Trump back into office, and the wife of another (Clarence Thomas) worked with those trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, it seems likely that their decisions will reinforce Trump’s immunity alone.
An extraordinary effort to use the courts to set up a Trump dictatorship appears largely to have been hidden under the horse race.
Cont below
HEATHER COX RICHARDSON
JUL 10, 2024
In this morning’s Talking Points Memo, David Kurtz observed that “much of political journalism is divorced from policy and the substance of politics.” It’s all about a horse race, he wrote, while complex questions, competing public interests, and the history of an issue get distilled to “whether it’s good or bad politically.”
Today, he noted, that horse-race coverage means that “[a]n election about whether the United States will continue its two and half century long experiment in representative democracy, where a convicted felon is running to return to the office he tried to seize through extralegal means, where the specter of a new form of fascism looms on the horizon is suddenly consumed by a political death watch for the only person at present standing between democracy and another Trump term in the White House.”
Yesterday, President Joe Biden tried to quell that political death watch by sending a letter to congressional Democrats stating that “despite all the speculation in the press and elsewhere, I am firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump.” He noted that 14 million voters in the Democratic primary chose him, rather than a challenger, adding, “It was their decision to make. Not the press, not the pundits, not the big donors, not any selected group of individuals, no matter how well intentioned…. How can we stand for democracy in our nation if we ignore it in our own party?”
In an apparent attempt to get beyond the horse-race politics Kurtz identified and to make clear the substance of this election, Biden explained: “We have an historic record of success to run on.” He cited his administration’s creation of more than 15 million jobs, leading to historic unemployment lows; revitalization of American manufacturing; expansion of affordable health care; rebuilding the country’s infrastructure; lowering the cost of prescription drugs; providing student debt relief; and making a historic investment in combating climate change.
That vision, Biden wrote, “soundly beats” that of Trump and the MAGA Republicans, who are “siding with the wealthy and big corporations,” while the Democrats are “siding with the working people of America.” Trump and his people want another $5 trillion in tax cuts for the rich, he noted, and they plan to cut Social Security and Medicare, as well as end the ability of the government to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to bring drug prices into line with prices in other countries. “We are the ones lowering costs for families,” he wrote, “from health care to prescription drugs to student debt to housing. We are the ones protecting Social Security and Medicare. Everything they’re proposing raises costs for most Americans—except their tax cuts which will go to the rich.”
He went on to note that the Democrats are “protecting the freedoms of Americans,” while Trump’s people are “taking them away.” He pointed to the right-wing attacks on abortion rights, IVF, contraception, and gay marriage. Biden reiterated that he will sign a law making Roe v. Wade the law of the land if the nation elects a Democratic House and Senate. Finally, he pointed out that Democrats are protecting the rule of law and democracy, while Trump is actively working to destroy both. Trump, he wrote, has proven himself “unfit ever to hold the office of President.” “My fellow Democrats,” Biden wrote, “we have the record, the vision, and the fundamental commitment to America’s freedoms and our Democracy to win.”
Hours later, the New York Times joined the tabloid New York Post in noting that visitor logs showed that Dr. Kevin Cannard, an expert on Parkinson’s disease, visited the White House eight times between July 2023 and March 2024. After pressing White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre for information beyond her statements that Biden is not being, and has not been, treated for Parkinson’s and that he sees a neurologist as part of his annual physical exams, a CBS News White House reporter accused Jean-Pierre of deliberately withholding information. Jean-Pierre pointed out that “personal attacks” are not appropriate from the press corps and that the press team does its best to give the information they have. She said she took offense at the reporter’s tone.
Last night, White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor sent to Jean-Pierre a letter clarifying that the White House Medical Unit serves thousands of patients, many of whom are military personnel with neurological issues related to their service. Cannard was one of the team of specialists that annually examine the president. O’Connor’s office released the results of that examination in a letter dated February 28, he pointed out. It said, “An extremely detailed neurologic exam was again reassuring in that there were no findings which would be consistent with any cerebellar or other central neurological disorder, such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s or ascending lateral sclerosis, nor are there any signs of cervical myelopathy.” The president does have “peripheral neuropathy in both feet. No motor weakness was detected. He exhibits no tremor, either at rest or with activity.”
As media attention remains focused on Biden, a Supreme Court decision from last week that upends the modern American state and another that overturns the central concept of our democracy have disappeared from public discussion. In Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the court overruled the longstanding legal precedent establishing that courts should defer to a government agency’s reasonable interpretation of a law. Instead, it said, judges themselves will decide on the legality of an agency’s actions.
In Public Notice, Lisa Needham noted that right-wing judges have already blocked Biden administration rules that protect overtime pay for workers, prohibit noncompete clauses for truckers, and prohibit discrimination based on gender identity. As right-wing plaintiffs launch suits challenging rules they dislike, she notes, we should expect to see many more federal judges “deploying junk science and personal opinions to get to their preferred conclusion while ignoring the expertise of agency employees.”
Loper Bright was a slashing blow at the federal regulations that make up the framework of today’s government, but it paled in comparison to the Supreme Court’s decision in Donald J. Trump v. United States. In that stunning decision, the six right-wing justices—three of whom Trump himself appointed—declared that a president is immune from prosecution for crimes committed as part of his “official duties.”
This astonishing decision overturned the bedrock principle of the United States of America: that no one is above the law. But to be clear, the court did not give this power to Biden. Because it is not clear what official acts are—since no one has ever before made this distinction—it claimed for itself the right to decide what illegal behaviors are official acts and which are not. Since at least one of the justices (Samuel Alito) has flown flags demonstrating support for overthrowing Biden’s government and putting Trump back into office, and the wife of another (Clarence Thomas) worked with those trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, it seems likely that their decisions will reinforce Trump’s immunity alone.
An extraordinary effort to use the courts to set up a Trump dictatorship appears largely to have been hidden under the horse race.
Cont below
Cont from above
And now that this scaffolding is in place, Trump’s team has begun to try to make him look more moderate than he is. On July 5, Trump claimed not to know anything about the extremist Project 2025, which calls for an authoritarian leader to impose Christian nationalism on the United States, despite the fact that his own appointees wrote it, his own political action committee advertised it as his plan, and his name appears in it 312 times.
Agenda 47, the official Trump campaign website, has offered more information about how he will wield the absolute power he now claims. As Judd Legum pointed out today in Popular Information, a key author of Project 2025, Christian nationalist Russell Vought, has advanced a plan for killing any aspects of government his people dislike, and Trump has adopted that plan, vowing to cancel agencies or laws he dislikes by refusing to spend money Congress appropriates. This is known as “impoundment,” and Congress made it illegal in 1974 after President Richard Nixon used it to try to bend the government to his will. Trump says the 1974 Impoundment Control Act is unconstitutional because it interferes with the power of the presidency. He promised to use it to “crush the Deep State.” First on the chopping block will be the Department of Education.
The effort to make Trump sound more moderate continued yesterday, when the Republican National Committee released the party’s 2024 platform, in which it tried to fudge the issue of abortion while leaving language that supported a national abortion ban. The New York Times published an article reinforcing the idea that Trump is moderating, reporting: “Following Trump’s Lead, Republicans Adopt Platform That Softens Stance on Abortion.”
In the midst of this political coverage, a key story has been largely overlooked. Not only does the stock market continue to set record highs, but also, as Jim Tankersley of the New York Times reported, the so-called left-behind counties, distressed after the collapse of manufacturing in them, have “added jobs and new businesses at their fastest pace since Bill Clinton was president.” “That turnaround,” he notes, “has shocked experts.” More than 1,000 counties, mostly in the Southeast and Midwest, that grew at less than half the national rate in terms of both people and income from 2000 to 2016, have surged. From 2016 to 2019—mostly during Trump’s administration—those rural left-behind counties, which make up about 18% of the U.S. population, added 10,000 jobs. In 2023 alone, they added 104,000.
Tankersley notes that Trump overwhelmingly won the support of voters in these counties, but their circumstances did not improve during his administration. Under Biden, they added jobs five times faster than they did under Trump. Still, voters there appear to continue to back Trump.
Now that’s a story. Are they backing Trump because they care more about culture wars than their economic security? Or are they ill informed?
Meanwhile, Republicans in the House today passed the Refrigerator Freedom Act and the Stop Unaffordable Dishwasher Standards (SUDS) Act, prohibiting the Secretary of Energy from prescribing or enforcing energy efficiency standards for residential refrigerators, freezers, and dishwashers.
After noting that the average monthly cost of operating a dishwasher is two to four dollars, and establishing that the people pushing this measure had no idea how much a dishwasher costs, Representative Katie Porter (D-CA) said: “This bill… Congress at its worst. A bunch of people who haven’t unloaded a dishwasher ever telling the American people what dishwashers they should or should not have.”
—
Notes: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/july-9-2024And
And now that this scaffolding is in place, Trump’s team has begun to try to make him look more moderate than he is. On July 5, Trump claimed not to know anything about the extremist Project 2025, which calls for an authoritarian leader to impose Christian nationalism on the United States, despite the fact that his own appointees wrote it, his own political action committee advertised it as his plan, and his name appears in it 312 times.
Agenda 47, the official Trump campaign website, has offered more information about how he will wield the absolute power he now claims. As Judd Legum pointed out today in Popular Information, a key author of Project 2025, Christian nationalist Russell Vought, has advanced a plan for killing any aspects of government his people dislike, and Trump has adopted that plan, vowing to cancel agencies or laws he dislikes by refusing to spend money Congress appropriates. This is known as “impoundment,” and Congress made it illegal in 1974 after President Richard Nixon used it to try to bend the government to his will. Trump says the 1974 Impoundment Control Act is unconstitutional because it interferes with the power of the presidency. He promised to use it to “crush the Deep State.” First on the chopping block will be the Department of Education.
The effort to make Trump sound more moderate continued yesterday, when the Republican National Committee released the party’s 2024 platform, in which it tried to fudge the issue of abortion while leaving language that supported a national abortion ban. The New York Times published an article reinforcing the idea that Trump is moderating, reporting: “Following Trump’s Lead, Republicans Adopt Platform That Softens Stance on Abortion.”
In the midst of this political coverage, a key story has been largely overlooked. Not only does the stock market continue to set record highs, but also, as Jim Tankersley of the New York Times reported, the so-called left-behind counties, distressed after the collapse of manufacturing in them, have “added jobs and new businesses at their fastest pace since Bill Clinton was president.” “That turnaround,” he notes, “has shocked experts.” More than 1,000 counties, mostly in the Southeast and Midwest, that grew at less than half the national rate in terms of both people and income from 2000 to 2016, have surged. From 2016 to 2019—mostly during Trump’s administration—those rural left-behind counties, which make up about 18% of the U.S. population, added 10,000 jobs. In 2023 alone, they added 104,000.
Tankersley notes that Trump overwhelmingly won the support of voters in these counties, but their circumstances did not improve during his administration. Under Biden, they added jobs five times faster than they did under Trump. Still, voters there appear to continue to back Trump.
Now that’s a story. Are they backing Trump because they care more about culture wars than their economic security? Or are they ill informed?
Meanwhile, Republicans in the House today passed the Refrigerator Freedom Act and the Stop Unaffordable Dishwasher Standards (SUDS) Act, prohibiting the Secretary of Energy from prescribing or enforcing energy efficiency standards for residential refrigerators, freezers, and dishwashers.
After noting that the average monthly cost of operating a dishwasher is two to four dollars, and establishing that the people pushing this measure had no idea how much a dishwasher costs, Representative Katie Porter (D-CA) said: “This bill… Congress at its worst. A bunch of people who haven’t unloaded a dishwasher ever telling the American people what dishwashers they should or should not have.”
—
Notes: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/july-9-2024And
Abraham Lincoln warned us about the likes of MAGA...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln%27s_Lyceum_address
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln%27s_Lyceum_address
MidnightSonneteer said:Abraham Lincoln warned us about the likes of MAGA...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln%27s_Lyceum_address
Of course he did. Because all GREAT men of history saw the danger in religious zealots.
If this country goes Christian Nationalism, I'll fight the hell out of it until the goddamn day I die in hopes that my grand/great-grandchildren aren't persecuted for who they love or how they choose to worship.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln%27s_Lyceum_address
Of course he did. Because all GREAT men of history saw the danger in religious zealots.
If this country goes Christian Nationalism, I'll fight the hell out of it until the goddamn day I die in hopes that my grand/great-grandchildren aren't persecuted for who they love or how they choose to worship.
The G.O.P. have done a marvelous job of loading American brains up with the idea that they should never try to analyze anything for themselves, and they've used their tax cheat religious freedom to do it, in an age old intentional effort to undermine American political flexibility, which is what democracy is for. Democracy is not mob rule, as they regularly say it is, but Americans are now terrified of even broaching any controversial subject, because they've never learned, or have long forgotten, the civics lessons once taught in public schools, and reinforced at college with classical Greco-Roman studies, which of course emphasized rhetoric and poetics, where they might have learned and realized that G.O.P. argumentation is an appeal to the emotions rather than to reason.
Thusly we now have at least a couple of generations of American proletarians who are so focused on daily survival that they have little time left in their day to study political science, and its history, despite that very information being readily available on the internet. Even a cursory survey of the works and lives of Cicero, Polybius, and Demosthenes would expand their thinking almost overnight, with much of the material pre-dating Jesus.
Instead of the requisite reading, younger Americans are wasting themselves on viral videos and online gaming.
Thusly we now have at least a couple of generations of American proletarians who are so focused on daily survival that they have little time left in their day to study political science, and its history, despite that very information being readily available on the internet. Even a cursory survey of the works and lives of Cicero, Polybius, and Demosthenes would expand their thinking almost overnight, with much of the material pre-dating Jesus.
Instead of the requisite reading, younger Americans are wasting themselves on viral videos and online gaming.
Regarding education the GOP is hell bent
on radicalising the young to Christian
Nationalism. One wonders if they, the
radicalisers, are going to teach the young
to stone to death transgressors of gop
laws?
As an aside this sort of discussion needs
to be seen beyond these electronic walls.
on radicalising the young to Christian
Nationalism. One wonders if they, the
radicalisers, are going to teach the young
to stone to death transgressors of gop
laws?
As an aside this sort of discussion needs
to be seen beyond these electronic walls.
‘What the Hell is Wrong with These People?’: An Advent Message on Christian White Nationalism and the End of America
These so-called Christians don’t want the Jesus of the Beatitudes and the Cross.
They want a Jesus with an AK-47. ~ Greg Garret*
So I am offering this column as a warning to those Christians who still believe in love and light, to all small-d democrats who still believe in the American experiment: Do not underestimate the power or the gravity of this American impulse away from democracy, this movement that seeks to preserve power and status for straight white Christian men, this faithless faith in something other than the liberating God of the Scriptures.
“Do not underestimate the power or the gravity of this American impulse away from democracy.”
Don’t let it fester and grow in darkness. Shine a light on it. Challenge it. Preach, teach, write against it. Love. Organize. Pray.
Above all, don’t believe this moment can’t happen here as it’s happened elsewhere.
It can. It already has.
Some of those in our Sunday morning forum in Paris seemed shocked when Robert Jones said he believes it very likely that the 2024 election will be marked by violence. But it seems all too possible; too many Americans are governed by their fear instead of their hope, and I can easily imagine how some of those who call themselves Christian may reach for a gun or support a strongman or strongwoman rather than live with vulnerability and change and accountability.
Maybe some folks have stopped, but I still listen to the Scriptures, and in Advent we are told this: “Arise. Shine. For the light has come.”
America is not and never has been a Christian nation, but faithful Christians always have worked toward an America that is just and compassionate, and many Christians still do. In this dark moment, the light still shines.
So please, I beg you, don’t ignore the darkness.
And don’t forget the light.
https://um-insight.net/perspectives/%E2%80%98what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-these-people-%E2%80%99-an-advent-messag/
*Greg Garrett teaches creative writing, film, literature and theology classes at Baylor University. He is the author of two dozen books of fiction, nonfiction, memoir and translation, including the critically acclaimed novels Free Bird, Cycling, Shame and The Prodigal. His latest novel is Bastille Day. He is one of America’s leading voices on religion and culture. Two of his recent nonfiction books are In Conversation: Rowan Williams and Greg Garrett and A Long, Long Way: Hollywood’s Unfinished Journey from Racism to Reconciliation. He is a seminary-trained lay preacher in the Episcopal Church. He lives in Austin with his wife, Jeanie, and their two daughters.
These so-called Christians don’t want the Jesus of the Beatitudes and the Cross.
They want a Jesus with an AK-47. ~ Greg Garret*
So I am offering this column as a warning to those Christians who still believe in love and light, to all small-d democrats who still believe in the American experiment: Do not underestimate the power or the gravity of this American impulse away from democracy, this movement that seeks to preserve power and status for straight white Christian men, this faithless faith in something other than the liberating God of the Scriptures.
“Do not underestimate the power or the gravity of this American impulse away from democracy.”
Don’t let it fester and grow in darkness. Shine a light on it. Challenge it. Preach, teach, write against it. Love. Organize. Pray.
Above all, don’t believe this moment can’t happen here as it’s happened elsewhere.
It can. It already has.
Some of those in our Sunday morning forum in Paris seemed shocked when Robert Jones said he believes it very likely that the 2024 election will be marked by violence. But it seems all too possible; too many Americans are governed by their fear instead of their hope, and I can easily imagine how some of those who call themselves Christian may reach for a gun or support a strongman or strongwoman rather than live with vulnerability and change and accountability.
Maybe some folks have stopped, but I still listen to the Scriptures, and in Advent we are told this: “Arise. Shine. For the light has come.”
America is not and never has been a Christian nation, but faithful Christians always have worked toward an America that is just and compassionate, and many Christians still do. In this dark moment, the light still shines.
So please, I beg you, don’t ignore the darkness.
And don’t forget the light.
https://um-insight.net/perspectives/%E2%80%98what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-these-people-%E2%80%99-an-advent-messag/
*Greg Garrett teaches creative writing, film, literature and theology classes at Baylor University. He is the author of two dozen books of fiction, nonfiction, memoir and translation, including the critically acclaimed novels Free Bird, Cycling, Shame and The Prodigal. His latest novel is Bastille Day. He is one of America’s leading voices on religion and culture. Two of his recent nonfiction books are In Conversation: Rowan Williams and Greg Garrett and A Long, Long Way: Hollywood’s Unfinished Journey from Racism to Reconciliation. He is a seminary-trained lay preacher in the Episcopal Church. He lives in Austin with his wife, Jeanie, and their two daughters.
George Carlin as relevant as ever, and I had no idea that these two ever met...
https://youtu.be/nCGGWeD_EJk?si=4xgep1oZ3zikde7c
https://youtu.be/K98TQJ5ldW0?si=MSU1f8fOMzqjH1uN
https://youtu.be/nCGGWeD_EJk?si=4xgep1oZ3zikde7c
https://youtu.be/K98TQJ5ldW0?si=MSU1f8fOMzqjH1uN
My dad used to get this magazine...
https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2021/january-web-only/trump-capitol-mob-election-politics-magi-not-maga.html
https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2021/january-web-only/trump-capitol-mob-election-politics-magi-not-maga.html
