Can you have unity with people that want to overthrow the Union?

And they are willing to blatantly facilitate their hold on power by now introducing many bills to make voting more difficult. The great masses of citizens do not contribute thousands, hundreds of thousands or millions to, in effect , buy legislators and enable them to stay in power / office. The rich , super rich and huge corporations do. Then of course, the elected recipients of said largesse , vote for the wishes of those that can , that will and that have paid to get them elected. Doesn't much matter if many citizens are frozen out of the elective process as long as republicans in particular can remain in office and write the laws in favor of those very large donors / corporations. Unfortunately, the democrats have to play the same game because of the nature of the election process as it stands. The democrats want to get into and remain in office as badly as republicans, however they historically have not relied on dirty tricks, lies, gerrymandering, fascistic , authoritarian tactics as republicans do right up to this VERY DAY. And are not as destructive and potentially destructive as republicans continually show, by their contempt of science regarding climate change, their recalcitrance against raising the minimum wage, instead giving the usual suspects huge tax breaks, loop holes and laws to fight workers from organizing and maintaining that there is no systemic racism in our society.

It's the same old shit from republicans and I cannot, for the life of me--get why ordinary citizens--regular working people-- can't see what they do, who they benefit and still believe the bullshit they put out day after day--RIGHT IN PLAIN SIGHT!!! Once people accept the basic premises of a cult---political --religious--or social--they (most) are obviously bound to and tightly wound into the cult and are lost to reason. Around 40 % of our citizens seem to be thusly affected. Shame, that.

 

Scratcho -
What you said above is spot-on, brother!! If some people would only open their eyes and see!!!!!

This goes back to - again - school effort / paying attention / putting in the work & study. Instead of thinking "school is stupid - why do I need to learn this stuff - this is boring" ............. they should have been paying attention and LEARNING. Then they'd at least have a good base of information to help them see through the bulls**t that's being spewed forth for the ACTUAL BENEFIT of a relative few people.

I know waaay too many people like this. I have numbers of them in my family and lifelong circle of friends. I can tell you that most of these people have STRUGGLED their entire lives. When I asked several of them what they thought about Moscow Mitch McConnell & the REPUBLICAN PARTY wanting to pay for the huge tax cuts to the ultra-rich by slashing Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and unemployment benefits ........... their responses were mostly in unison. "They're not doing that." - - - "I never heard that." - - - "I didn't know that." (Fox news devotees entirely) This is proving what you said about the REPUBLICAN PARTY and the BS they say & pull RIGHT IN PLAIN SIGHT. Fox conveniently doesn't broadcast news items that might paint the REPUBLICAN PARTY in it's TRUE COLORS - so the masses don't get riled up. I asked a good friend ( a union member) if he liked the fact that the REPUBLICAN PARTY has been trying to get rid of workers' rights, unions and collective bargaining for decades. His reply - "I never knew that." Talk about NOT SEEING what's in PLAIN, PUBLIC SIGHT !!!!!!!!! And that's just one item of conversation!!

Lack of education - lack of accurate, objective news, - lack of paying attention to multiple news sources, so one doesn't get "pickled mentally" by any one source. I DO NOT have confidence that the U.S. will be here as it is currently in another 10 to 20 years if people don't educate themselves RIGHT NOW from more than one source. There ARE NO ALTERNATIVE FACTS .............. as ditz-brain Kelly-Anne Conway proclaimed. Facts have NO "side", "slant", or "spin." THERE ARE NOT 2 sides to any fact!!! Facts stand alone - by themselves.

 

And you are spot on as well. Ignorance on the one hand and culpability on the other is a deadly combo, methinks. I really don't get it. REAL information can be culled from all the stark raving and ranting of one is really interested. And I too am worried about the future of this country because so many millions will seemingly accept authoritarianism , lies and legislators that prove by the day that morality is of no concern to them.

 

The good thing about trump is that he has shown us who and what republicanism / conservatism is all about. The bad thing about trump is that HE OWNS THEIR VERY SOULS.

 

Only if it's "their type" of authoritarianism...

 

Ugly but unfortunately very appropriate. For all the flag waving and self serving prattle about the constitution, they seem to have descended into the rathole of fascism.

 

E-X-A-C-T-L-Y.

The amusing ............. and scary part is .............. these same people accuse any non-REPUBLICAN of being "fascist." They (MANY in the REPUBLICAN BASE) don't even know what the word MEANS!!

I'm NOT a flaming liberal either. Center/left-leaning on most things.

 

To me there seems to be on the whole two types of Republican voter (with of course some overlap) the Culturalists and the Materialists

The Culturalists

I think it was Karl Rove who when asked what his electoral strategy was for the Republicans relied – ‘God Guns and Gays’ – and many Americans have told me that they would vote Democrat rather than Republican if only the Democratic Party had a different stance on religion (usually coming down to abortion) and guns.

The Materialists

Basically those that are out for their own material and selfish advantage. They are usually in the middling classes from struggling to comfortable and they do not want to pay taxes (or at least certain taxes) because they wish the money to go to them and not to others – for example many have told me they are against universal healthcare because they do not see why they should pay to help someone else that is sick when they are not sick.

*

 

yeah, kinda like "get your government hands off my social security." I remember some simpleton saying that.

 

Culturalists and materialists

Again I’m not talking about the loons and white supremacists here but the descent Americans that have heartfelt convictions or been seduced by Social Darwinist ideas

*

I can’t see how anyone with honest Christian beliefs who can look at Trump and the majority of Republican politicians and think of them as fellow Christians?

Many of these Republicans don’t seem to have even glanced in the New Testament let alone let alone taken note of its teachings – I’m an atheist and I sometimes think I know more about what’s in the gospels then they do.

So in general terms the Republican Party seems the party of sins like pride, greed, anger, desire and so on, it seems far from Christian.

But as I’ve said this often comes down to the abortion issue – thing is that many on the left are not pro-abortion as in they are rooting for women to have them, they would prefer it if women didn’t feel the need for such a procedure, but these left wingers know that as long as there is that desire to have them regulated and done under the best medical supervision, while doing all they can to limit the number that are asked for.

I remember someone that was pro drug legalisation and argued against prohibition saying that if there was a desire for drugs and they were illegal it just meant criminals would make money off supplying the demand and wouldn’t care if what they sold was unhealthy or fatal. But this same person also wanted to make abortions illegal to preform or have. I tried to point out the contradiction but it was as if his mind was split into two on these issues one a civil rights/legal issue the other a religious issue.

To me prohibition does work as said I prefer abortions to be regulated and done under the best medical supervision, but doing all I can to try and limit or stop the desire and need for them. This can be done because it has been in many countries but often the measures that are needed are opposed by the very people that wish to impose the abortion prohibition. Such things as clear sex education from an early age and free provision of birth control and birth control advise, also having a social, welfare and employment environment that does not put women under pressure to abort.

So I think it would be better to go with more left leaning policies put forward by people that actually want to help people rather than voting for right wingers pushing for knowingly flawed prohibition laws in a cynical attempt to get religious voters.

The Materialists

But if you look at the actions of those in the Republican Party (as opposed to the rhetoric) the reality is that most right wing politicians don’t care about the average middle class voters desires because many are of the same mind and therefore more interested in using their position to further their own interests and that is done by serving the interests of wealth not the middle classes. I’ve actually talked to people that have said that if they were in a position to fill their pockets with ‘campaign contributions’ (wink wink) they would do that.

Have the middle classes actually been well served by Republican politics, in many ways they have found themselves squeezed by falling or stagnated incomes while outgoings have risen. Republicans shout Clinton and Obama and socialists but the reality has been of Republican control that has been able to lessen or scupper even centre right Democratic agendas while promoting not the interests of the middle classes but of the wealthy.

Who are the ones that usually suffer from the policies that help wealth?

For example materialists support tax cuts put forward by right wing politicians believing they will get something out of it and sometimes they do but it’s never really enough to give then any real advantage while those above them gain hugely, but they always seem to fall for the same line – that the next tax cut will be the one that will favour them, it never does.

In fact if you look at places that most help the middle classes and encourage social mobility are the very places that US right wing politicians loudly proclaim as socialist and that should never be looked as a model for the US.

*

The Democrats need to bring the culturalists and materialists on board

Ask the materialism – what have the Republicans actually done for you?

Ask the culturalists – are the Republicans actually a model for Christian values?

 

Culturalisms don’t die they just rebrand.

It could be that either many in the Republican leadership have given up on the Materialists or think they have their voted sewed up but as a Party they seem to have gone all out Culturalists.

The new cultural battleground seeming to be ‘cancelling’ and ‘transgender’ which isn’t really new at all it is just a continuing of the old war on ‘political correctness’ and ‘gays’, with the exact same spurious arguments and thinly veiled bigotry.

It’s seems like real desperation of those trying to rebrand a failing product so people will buy it again peel back the label saying ‘All new Cancel Culture’ only to find a faded ‘Political Correctness’ logo beneath – even the old slurs about gays been paedophiles is now getting a dust off to be thrown at trans.

 

These people have been falling for the same lies for over 30 years, though. I'm not so sure asking questions will do any good.

 

Tyrsonswood

I hear you but I do keep trying to get through to these people – just as in the UK I’m still trying to get through to the leavers that were sold the Brexit fantasy – it can seem like a uphill task but hey utopia wasn’t built in a day

 

I remember reading that quote as well. Wannabe genius. These types of morons are the largest percentage of THE REPUBLICAN BASE. As the old saying goes, "They don't know whether their ass is punched or bored."

 

I agree. I've ACTUALLY seen instances where the Republican Party has rammed things through legislatively that some of my Republican friends didn't like - then blamed it on Democrats as being the culprits of those unsavory laws!!! A SUPER - GREAT example was when our then-REPUBLICAN governor and the REPUBLICAN CONTROLLED state legislature rammed through a bill to de-regulate electrical supply companies so, "Competition will bring down prices."

Well ............. guess what? Prices started to go up and haven't stopped. The price quotes mailed to state customers by "the competition" were only a few cents different from existing power suppliers. The public here in our state got pissed off and demanded town hall meetings with the governor. He attended a town hall meeting in a REPUBLICAN STRONGHOLD county, and many of his supporters demanded answers as to why their bills just keep rising. His televised answer to the crowd - "Well, the power companies here haven't had a rate increase for a while and they deserve one." The town hall crowd was gobsmacked and pissed off. And they were his supporters!!!!!!! They voted for him. Well ................ they got a good dose of HIM - and REPUBLICAN LIES and BULLSHIT rammed right up their asses.

But they still only vote REPUBLICAN. How many times can you stick a sharp stick in someone's eye, then tell them you're actually their friend. And when they take your hand, and they tell you, "Boy - I'm glad your here. I'm glad it's you" ............. and then you poke that sharp stick in their OTHER eye, and tell them, "It's the OTHER GUY that stuck you. That no-good S.O.B. did this to you." - - - And they 100% believe it.

Those SAAAAAD people are what you call L-O-S-T.

 

Federal judge rules 'QAnon shaman' too dangerous to be released from jail

Jacob Chansley, the self-proclaimed "QAnon Shaman" who participated in the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, will not be released from jail ahead of his trial, a federal judge determined on Monday.



Getty Federal judge rules 'QAnon shaman' too dangerous to be released from jail
In court documents cited by CNN, Judge Royce Lamberth argued that Chansley's statements holding former President Trump accountable for his alleged illegal entry into the Capitol building showed that Chansley was unremorseful about his actions.

"The court finds that no condition or combination of conditions of release will reasonably assure defendant's appearance as required [in court] or the safety of others and the community," Lamberth ruled.

"Defendant characterizes himself as a peaceful person who was welcomed into the Capitol building on January 6th by police officers. The Court finds none of his many attempts to manipulate the evidence and minimize the seriousness of his actions persuasive," the judge continued.

 

"I wonder if there's a place where I can stay in detention where I don't have cockroaches crawling over me while I attempt to sleep. I mean, I really haven't slept all that much, your honor. It would be nice if I could sleep in a place where there were not cockroaches everywhere."

Federico Klein, a former staff assistant at the State Department, was arrested after he was seen attacking police officers during the January 6 insurrection.

A Trump appointee who was arrested over the Capitol riot asked a judge if he could be transferred to a cell with no cockroaches

 

So basically that little cockroach doesn't appreciate his own kind?

 

They didn't tell the guy those cockroaches were his dinner?