LOL!

 

 

BREAKING:

Bridget Ziegler, co-founder of Moms for Liberty, was busted for having a threesome with another woman. Her husband, chairman of the Florida GOP, was charged with abusing the woman in their threesome. 

These are the people who want to instill morality in schools by banning books.

The Killers of the Flower Moon

 

(I saw this 3 hour and 20 minute film 2 weeks ago. It is based on American history. Go see it.)

This is happening in Trumplandia, where those in charge do NOT want to teach American history, but rather American fantasy and ignore the truth.

When this happens in any part of our country -- when censorship hides the truth from certain segments of its population -- what prevents the authorities from lying about or hiding the truth from anything the government chooses?

History is NOT about protecting weak people's delicate feelings, but rather history means telling what happened.

The state government in Oklahoma has failed its constituents by covering up its own history.

From Jackie Flynn Mogenson's article in Mother Jones:

"The movie, [Killers of the Flower Moon] which is based on a book of the same name, tells the chilling true story of how white settlers carried out dozens of murders of members of the Osage Nation in the 1920s. It’s a dark—and essential—tale of American history that I, like KOTFM author David Grann himself, can’t recall learning about in school. 

But in Oklahoma, where the murders took place, teachers say they aren’t sure they’re allowed to teach it in class. 

 Under state measure HB 1775, schools are prohibited from teaching the idea that 'an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously' or that 'any individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race or sex.' 

 Of course, HB 1775 doesn’t specifically ban Killers of the Flower Moon. But the law is so vague that some educators reportedly say that they have avoided assigning the book and other texts out of fear of punishment. 

 According to the Oklahoman, for instance, a Dewey High School teacher said last year she decided against adding the book to her curriculum “because she feared discussing the racial dynamics of the Osage murders could prompt an HB 1775 complaint.” 

Citing these concerns, Native groups—including the Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Tribes (the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Seminole, and Muscogee nations) as well as the Osage Nation Congress—have formally opposed HB 1775. 

'The vague wording of the law has contributed to fear among school districts and teachers about teaching accurate historical information,' the council wrote last year, 'including accurate history of the experiences of Native American peoples in Oklahoma.' ”

I'll take "Things MAGAs Are Not Able To Understand" for $2,000, Alex

 

I was shocked...

 

to read this post by an American man who is 95 years old, and who 40% of the American voting public (MAGAs) probably agrees with:

"When I was born in 1928 we had a true democracy. 

As I’ve previously mentioned, the erosion of that democracy began when FDR introduced Social Security around 1935 during the Great Depression. Initially it was voluntary and tax deductible, but those gradually disappeared, too. 

The final blow was inflicted by LBJ in 1965 with the introduction of Medicare and has gone downhill ever since. Ergo, we no longer are totally free. 

Like the woman visiting from Russia seated next to me a a plane around 1990 said: “What Americans don’t understand is not everyone wants freedom.” Her words still ring in my ears."

S.K:

In 1928, even though women had gained the right to vote with the 19th Amendment that was ratified in August of 1920 (which American women had been fighting for since 1878), several states passed laws that prevented or made it extremely difficult for Black American women (and even Black men who won the right to vote with the 14th Amendment)  to be able to exercise that newly won right. 

As a privileged white male, the man quoted above, has no idea of how this continued to be an anti-democratic scandal in our history until LBJ passed the Voting Rights Act in 1965, so that those states that still practiced discrimination and prevented people of color from voting, could no longer do so.

But for the man who wrote the above quote, ours was a true democracy for HIM -- a white privileged American male. He was able to vote either because of his birthright or because it was bestowed upon him as soon as he became a US citizen. He had the right to representation, unlike the women who worked and paid taxes but were NOT allowed to vote and enjoy representation.  Man Born in 1928 had his rights, and the fact that some Americans did not enjoy those same rights matters not a whit to him. 

True Democracy?

Male Born in 1928:  "As I’ve previously mentioned, the erosion of that democracy began when FDR introduced Social Security around 1935 during the Great Depression."

S.K:

He believes that keeping American seniors, the disabled, widows, widowers, and children out of poverty through Social Security is somehow an erosion of our democracy. Yes, that's what he wrote. Now, he may have worked hard all his life and made plenty of money for his retirement and resents that he had to pay into the OASDI program (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance), because he probably believes that everyone has had the same privilege, luck, opportunities, good health, good education, and good income throughout their lives as perhaps he has, so why should he have to pay into a fund that secures benefits for those who were not as fortunate as he was? That's good ole Republican thinking: "I got mine; the hell with you!"

Or, as John Kenneth Galbraith once said:  "The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness."

Apparently "Male Born in 1928" doesn't believe in being his "brother's keeper."

“Am I my brother’s keeper?” —Followers of Biblical teachings often interpret this story as a reminder that they are, indeed, responsible for the welfare of other people. Someone who is his brother’s keeper looks out for and cares for others, even if they are not actually related to him or her. For example, a person who tries to be a “brother’s keeper” might donate his or her time or resources to help others and will place the needs of others before his or her own.

Man Born in 1928:  "The final blow was inflicted by LBJ in 1965 with the introduction of Medicare and has gone downhill ever since. Ergo, we no longer are totally free."

S.K:

MBin1928 has no idea of how many American lives have been saved through the Medicare and Medicaid programs or how disastrous life would be or would have been without Medicare and Medicaid for millions of Americans. I don't know if he uses Medicare for his health insurance, but I'll guess that without it and its supplemental insurance, reaching the grand old age of 95 would have been unsustainable and costly unless he (and maybe his wife if he has/had one) had perfect health up to now.  

Why he thinks securing health coverage for those who paid into the plan their entire life is somehow enslavement is a mystery. Perhaps he believes allowing millions and millions of Americans to become impoverished, homeless, and to die because of the outrageous costs of health care in this country is what true democracy is about?  This is what happens in many third world countries. Is this his vision for America, the richest country on the planet?  

Does he or any of his fellow MAGAs understand what "...promote the general welfare..." in our Constitution means? I'm pretty sure it doesn't mean to let our less fortunate fellow Americans die from being uninsured and needing health care or having little to no money to live in dignity in their old age. 

Man Born in 1928:  "Like the woman visiting from Russia seated next to me a a plane around 1990 said: “What Americans don’t understand is not everyone wants freedom.” Her words still ring in my ears."

S.K:

MBin1928 admits the words of a Russian national still resonate with him. Those words:  "What Americans don't understand is not everyone wants freedom." MBin1928 doesn't explain why those words "ring in his ears." Does it mean he found them to be profoundly truthful? That those words mean many people are happy to live under oppression? That they don't want freedom?

What is more oppressive than facing old age in abject poverty and chronic illness, or having the widow unable to feed her children and herself? Who believes that our fellow Americans choose that instead of freedom? 

Freedom is not having to worry that if one becomes sick, one doesn't lose all he or she has worked for in his/her life. Right now, that is what happens to many Americans who do not have Medicare/Medicaid and are subject to the arbitrary whims of an insurance company whose only interest are the profits from Americans who pay for insurance that often does not cover them when they are catastrophically sick or injured.

Does MBin1928 really believe that contributing to the general welfare so that other Americans (or even he and his loved ones) can live in dignity is a surrender of one's freedoms?

Does MBin1928 really believe that social programs that help the helpless, feed the hungry, and save the lives of the sick and injured is a threat to our democracy and not the guy who has promised to throw anyone in prison who opposed him in the last election and denied that he won in 2020; the same guy with 91 felony indictments and who was found liable for rape?

Does MBin1928 or other MAGAs like him think at all?

YOUR SUNDAY MOMENT OF ZEN

 

SATURDAY NIGHT DANCING

 

Gobble, gobble, turkey wobble dance:

THE FIRST THANKSGIVING???

 

WHY IS A TURKEY CALLED A TURKEY?

 

Remember Harlan Crow, the Texas billionaire...

who has a long history of giving millions of $$$ in gifts, flights, and vacations to Justice Clarence Thomas? 

His brother is getting sued for sex trafficking.   

Trammell Crow Jr.

Trammell Crow Jr., a Texas philanthropist and the brother of Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow , must face a lawsuit that accuses him of running and participating in a sex trafficking ring, a judge ruled.

MAGA!

MAGAs, and especially a certain blog that does not allow comments by those they disagree with, see nothing wrong with putting Trump back in the White House.

Apparently, they do not read history. Or worse, stubbornly will not see what is in front of their noses:

"On the campaign trail, Trump has made numerous public references to exacting revenge upon detractors and rivals, including promising to appoint a special prosecutor to “go after” President Biden for unspecified crimes. Earlier this month, in a speech and in a post on Truth Social, he referred to left-wing Americans as “vermin.” 

 Historians said such dehumanizing of one’s political opponents is frequently used by fascist dictators. Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung responded by saying, 'Those who try to make that ridiculous assertion are clearly snowflakes grasping for anything because they are suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome and their entire existence will be crushed when President Trump returns to the White House. 

 According to the Washington Post, Trump has privately said he would direct the Department of Justice to investigate officials from his first term who have since criticized his tenure, including: 

Former White House chief of staff and retired U.S. Marine Corps Gen. John F. Kelly 

Former Attorney General William P. Barr 

Former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark A. Milley 

Former Trump White House special counsel Ty Cobb' "

When fascists tell you who they are, BELIEVE THEM!

Here's a typical MAGA, who actually believes in a guy with 91 felony charges against him, a guy who was found liable for rape, a guy who was found liable for fraud, and a guy who incited an insurrection against the United States and who believed MAGAs were fine with calling for the death of his own vice president. And this MAGA thinks anti-Trumpers are delusional. There are millions of these unfortunate souls, and they vote:

"Paraphrasing Puck, 'What fools these America haters suffering from TDS ( Trump derangement syndrome) be.' They are living in another dimension void of the reality of a nation crumbling around them as a direct consequence of those things Biden has done and continues to do unchecked in any quarter aided and abetted by a ship of fools headed by the other racist America hater and halfrican Obama and his merry band of accomplices. And bringing up the rear is the latest darling of the left and RINOS that wolf in American Indian clothing Nicki Halle. While Trump may be no angel it is not by any measure or stretch of the imagination his intention to sellout the country to the Chinese and their fellow travelers for a fistful of dollars as tre current administration is in the process of doing. While I for one don’t count on it, hopefully a majority of voters will pull their heads out of their butts on election month and weeks next November."

Notice the disgusting racism with which this commenter casually attaches to former President Obama and former governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley? 

Nikki Haley was born in the USA and is as American as the disgusting person who denigrated her for her Indian ancestry. Bigots, racists, and neo-fascists are who support Trump.

Believe them when they tell you who they are and who they want as their leader!!

GOOD NEWS THAT ANGERS MAGAs

 

For Lisa, skudrunner, and all the people who stubbornly refuse to live in the real world:

h/t Infidel753:

BLS:  Bureau of Labor Statistics   CPI:  Consumer Price Index

*********************************

Gas prices could hit lowest Thanksgiving level in years(The Hill) 

The national average of gas prices could drop to the lowest level around Thanksgiving in years, according to new estimates. On Monday, AAA reported that the average national price of gas was about $3.31 per gallon — nearly a 10 percent decrease from last year’s average of $3.67 per gallon during the same period. The national average for gas prices has fallen or remained flat for about 60 consecutive days, according to a AAA press release last week.

GUEST POST BY DAVE MILLER

 

I think if Pres Joe wants to have any chance of winning, he's got to get moving on the campaign. Here's how I think he could do that.

First, acknowledge publicly the elephant in the room, his age. He needs to start being real in this. Yeah, he's older than a lot of can but make his age can be made into a virtue. A virtue that comes with years of experience of serving Americans.

All Americans.

Then detail specifically, in specific locations, how his legislation, like the Cares Act, the Infrastructure Build Back Better Bill is helping Main Street Joe.

The go even more public. And it starts, again with the age acknowledgement. He needs to say to his aides, staff and others, who if the media is to be believed, that they can't bring the issue up. That his age IS fair game.

And he needs to get out of speech venues. It's not his strength. It's Trump's, it was Obama's, but it's not Biden's.  He feeds off personal contact. Show up Joe. Just sit in neighborhood coffee houses. Watch a football game with some people. Talk to people. Show them personally you're not a fossil, that you've still got it.

And if you're really daring, go with them to see where they work, or their farm, unscripted. Your Secret Service will hate it, but they'll deal. Remember, they work for you!

America has little touch with our presidents anymore. Be the guy who brings that back, even if for one campaign. The power of a president asking the single guy for his vote, in his own small kitchen, can't be underestimated.

And that guy will bring his neighbors to you. Because HE will testify to what he saw in your eyes. You need direct touch, you're good at it, and it's a great way to personally tell people you're not too old for this.

You can't just make the "I'm not Trump" argument from the White House. Give us, many of whom are on the fence, the assurance that you're not too old and can be outside of your perceived advisors "protect Joe" bubble.

Then, get your stand-ins in public out on the campaign trail doing the same, making your case. Flood the airwaves with Cabinet Secs, Senators, Congressmen, not just with talking points, but listening to people. Send them to rural communities and to to campuses, without suits, to talk directly to people.

If you want to win over people, listen to them. Hear them.

Take no vote and no state for granted. California and Michigan are great examples. Don't assume your voters are hard Biden ppl. Ask for their votes.

Because we can't afford to let the GOP win this election. At least not this current iteration of the GOP.

YOUR SUNDAY MOMENT OF ZEN

 

SATURDAY NIGHT DANCING

 

 

"The Press and pundits can keep being surprised as much as they want. But since I came off the sidelines to go toe to toe with Donald Trump, we haven’t stopped winning and he hasn’t stopped losing."

President Joe Biden

17 Nov. 2023

MAGA Party Representative faces corruption charges.

 

BREAKING: House Ethics Committee finds 'substantial evidence' George Santos broke the law -

Santos Won’t Seek Re-election After House Panel Finds Evidence of Crimes 

The findings, which were referred to prosecutors, are likely to prompt another attempt to expel the embattled congressman from the House.

In the report:

‘Mr. Santos’s conduct “warrants public condemnation, is beneath the dignity of the office, and has brought severe discredit upon the House.”’ 

Watch him end up as the VP candidate on the Republican ticket. He seems fully qualified.

The MAGA CULT

 

The United States is in a very dark place. Too many people (MAGAs) have been bamboozled: 

 “One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.” ― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

Trump sounds more like Hitler every day.

Republicans Are Fighting a War on Democracy All Over America

 

David Rothkopf :

"That sound you hear, which sounds suspiciously like jackboots, is the Republican Party marching out of the closet and proclaiming its opposition to democracy. 

 After decades of promoting minority rule—but dressing up their intentions with a fig leaf of respect for America’s history, values, and tradition—the GOP has now dropped any pretense of caring about our Constitution or the principles upon which the United States was founded. 

 Although the embrace of Nazi rhetoric, techniques, and tactics by the party’s standard bearer should chill to the bone any American who cares about the country’s future — in recent days it has become absolutely clear that the leadership of the Republican Party has decided to publicly own their authoritarian aspirations."

[skip]

"...the most popular politician in their party openly mimics the language of Hitler, promises to throw his opponents in jail, pack the federal government with legions of loyal toadies, and fill camps with immigrants he wants to expel from the country. At the federal and state level, GOP officials are starting to favor the words and deeds of in-your-face fascism as their party’s main message and deliverables. 

Take the resounding Ohio vote to guarantee a right to abortion in the state constitution. The fact that the people of Ohio spoke, and the vote was not even close, did not matter a bit to that state’s Republican legislators. They immediately responded by saying the legislature will “consider removing jurisdiction from the judiciary over this ambiguous ballot initiative.” 

 In other words, they would make it impossible to enforce the new constitutional amendment, the will of the people be damned. That move was not an outlier. It is part of a pattern at the state level to give Republican legislators and governors the power to overrule the people who apparently, in their eyes, cannot be trusted to do the right thing at the ballot box. The stories occur so frequently that, at this point, we fail to be as outraged by them as we should be."

*****************************

Out of apathy or stupidity, too many Americans are whistling past the graveyard on the threat to democracy posed by Trump and his millions of cultists. 

And those Americans who fought and even died fighting Nazi Germany and fascism? What were their sacrifices for? To have a minority of ill-informed, aggrieved Americans work to reinstate as POTUS a fascist wannabe who refers to people who disagree with him (a Constitutionally guaranteed right) as "vermin?"

 

 

Do we all understand the danger that is Donald Trump?

 "ABC News has obtained video from Georgia prosecutors' interview with ex-Trump attorney Jenna Ellis, in which Ellis tells them she was personally informed by a top Trump adviser that Trump was "not going to leave" the White House — despite losing the 2020 election. 

 'The boss is not going to leave': Proffer videos show ex-Trump lawyers telling Georgia prosecutors about efforts to overturn 2020 election."

Trumpism is a cult:

This is their "Trump Christ" with Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted pedophile, and her boyfriend, Jeffrey Epstein, accused pedophile (he died in jail awaiting trial):

"When they tell you who they are, believe them." M.A.

 

Trump promises to put people who opposed him and tried to "take him down" in mental institutions before the end of his term if he is elected in 2024.

Has anyone ever heard any candidate for the presidency utter such maniacal threats like these? Ever?

These are the sorts of utterances vengeful, unhinged, and murderous wannabe dictators tell their followers in order to rouse them into mob violence.

No candidate for the presidency has ever spoken words like this or called their fellow Americans "vermin."

What have we become?

Donald J. Trump is a danger to our country.

Weak-minded MAGAs Follow Their Cult Leader

 

Trump's cult followers are quick to give their stamp of approval to his hideous "vermin" Truth Social post sent out on Veteran's Day.

If you know nothing about history, this will not frighten you. Those who do know history will be sickened by what Trump has unleashed upon our country. 

Dehumanization in Bosnia Definition: 

 "Dehumanization:Equating “the others” with animals, insects, or diseases until it overcomes normal human revulsion against murder." (Bosnian Genocide)

HELLISH MESSAGE ON VETERANS DAY FROM TRUMP

 

This is the most horrific thing I've ever read on Veteran's Day -- a day we all should honor those who served our country, and be humbled by their sacrifices for we the people.

Instead we have a maniac running for the presidency, who demonizes Americans he disagrees with, while sending a strong message to his cultists, especially the unstable among them, that our fellow Americans -- the Left in particular -- is destroying America, when, in fact, these sort of out-of-control hysterical accusations from him are actually doing that very thing. 

I have never heard hateful and dangerous language like this from a presidential candidate in my life, and it is highly disturbing to understand that millions of Americans see anything good in this demagogue who, by his language, seeks to vilify and diabolize Americans.

Trump is sick, and mentally unstable. Read his language to understand he should never be anywhere near any lever of power. He called the Left "thugs" and "vermin!"  

Trump has all the markings of what would be a vengeful and murderous dictator. He has said himself that he will be MAGA's retribution.

This is language and promises never before heard in an American politician, and it harkens back to 1930s Germany.

I am not exagerating. 

READ. HIS. LANGUAGE!

Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to our country. And it escalates daily.

John Kelly confirms Trump privately disparaged U.S. service members and veterans

YOUR SUNDAY MOMENT OF ZEN

 

 

 

WHO'S SURPRISED?

NEW: In a new press release, Ohio Republicans say they will not accept the results of Tuesday's elections and will continue to enforce their abortion bans in the state in defiance of the state's constitution and the will of the people.

 

Having Lost Abortion Vote, Ohio GOP Now Plans to Sabotage Results Ohio Republicans do not care about the election results. 

Sound familiar?

Ohio state Republican lawmakers are once again trying to overturn the will of the people, after a devastating loss on abortion rights. Ohioans overwhelmingly chose to enshrine abortion protections in the state Constitution earlier this week. Republicans had tried multiple times to block the referendum, called Issue 1, but they were handily defeated every time. 

********************************

Don't ever let anyone tell you, especially Trumpublicans, that they are liberty-loving Americans who respect our democratic republic and our democratic processes.

It is painfully obvious that Trumpublican politicians care nothing for the rule of law, and will continue to try to impose their will on even their own people when their own people vote against what the politicians/religionists want.

Make no mistake, we've seen this enough times to understand that today's Republican Party is anti-democracy and pro-authoritarian, and they care nothing for the rule of law.

Their hero, Donald Trump, has led them down the path of rejecting American democracy. 

Just look at what the Trumpublicans in Ohio are doing for proof.

WELP. THAT'S A FIRST FOR ME. WHAT ABOUT YOU?

 

One of the Republican candidates hoping to get the nomination of her party for POTUS, Nikki Haley, called another Republican (V. Ramaswamy) hoping to get the nomination of his party "SCUM!"

I'd say that Donald Trump's influence on the once proud Republican Party is complete.

"...SCUM..."

YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK

 

Republicans approved an amendment cutting Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg's salary to just $1. 

The GOP-controlled House moved to cut Pete Buttigieg's salary to just $1 per year. An amendment from Marjorie Taylor Greene to do it passed via voice vote and without opposition.

That will, of course, NEVER pass the Senate. So why did the fools in the House even propose this nonsense?

Because House Republicans are not serious legislators; they are nothing more than a revenge caucus, not interested in governing. 

Nine days from now we face a government shutdown, and the Republican fools are playing unserious games.

MT Greene is a disgrace.

Keep up the shenanigans, Republicans. And remember what happened last night.

 

KENTUCKY:

"Democratic Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear just won re-election, beating his Trump-endorsed opponent in a state that voted for Trump by 26% in 2020. 

This is a MASSIVE embarrassment for Donald Trump." --Brian Tyler Cohen

OHIO:

The right to abortion in the Ohio constitution looks like it's going to pass as of 9PM EST.  

If, as seems likely, Ohio does pass Issue #1 to protect a woman's right to an abortion, this will be catastrophic for Republicans and the MAGA cult. 

A red, key battleground state giving women access to abortion is bad news for the GOP in 2024.

VIRGINIA:

Democrats have retained control of the Virginia State Senate, denying Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin a legislative trifecta. 

Democrats have been projected to win 21 seats.

TRUMP HAS LOST HIS MIND!

 

                              WATCH THIS!

Trump in court today.

BREAKING NEWS: Donald just testified he was president in 2021. 😳 

When a prosecutor asked him if he prepared the 2021 financial statement himself, Donald responded: “I was so busy in the White House, focusing on Russia and China and keeping our country safe.” 

 The lawyer responded ,“You weren’t president [when they were drafted].” Imagine the coverage this would be getting if Donald were 80 years old!

FILE UNDER "WTF!"

 

This is the guy that the "law and order" and "Constitutionalist" Republicans  want to put back in the WH!

Trump and allies plot revenge, Justice Department control in a second term 

Advisers have also discussed deploying the military to quell potential unrest on Inauguration Day. Critics have called the ideas under consideration dangerous and unconstitutional.

"Donald Trump and his allies have begun mapping out specific plans for using the federal government to punish critics and opponents should he win a second term, with the former president naming individuals he wants to investigate or prosecute and his associates drafting plans to potentially invoke the Insurrection Act on his first day in office to allow him to deploy the military against civil demonstrations."

Andrew G. Bjelland, PhD.

"The Republican Party, rent by internal divisions, has imploded. Far too many Republican elected officials are Trumpist authoritarians and White “Christian” nationalists. They have no interest in governing on behalf of the entirety of 'We the People'. 

Worse yet our nation’s enemies thoroughly understand the extent to which America—the world’s dominant economic and military power—is hobbled by the political-religious polarization promoted by Donald J. Trump, Speaker Mike Johnson, Senators Ron Johnson, Josh Hawley, Tommy Tuberville and Rand Paul, and by Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz and others of their ideologically driven and anti-democracy ilk. 

A democratic republic cannot survive unless its politicians for the most part speak the truth; unless they make at least some effort to educate voters, rather than manipulate their negative emotions to ensure election; unless they are dedicated to sense of fair play grounded in two fundamental principles: mutual toleration and institutional forbearance. 

 'Mutual toleration' refers to the idea that as long as our rivals play by constitutional rules, we accept that they have an equal right to exist, compete for power, and govern. 

'Institutional forbearance'…means ‘patient self-control; restraint and tolerance,’ or ‘the action of restraining from exercising a legal right.’…[It] can be thought of as avoiding actions that, while respecting the letter of the law, obviously violate its spirit.”— How Democracies Die. by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt 

Republican mendacity, manipulative power politics, and abandonment of mutual toleration and institutional forbearance amply evidence that the GOP is no longer a party dedicated to democratic governance. 

 Republicans who exhibit some sense of fair play are driven from the GOP. Experienced 'moderate' republicans—those who occasionally dare to criticize Trump and compromise with Democrats—are at risk. Many of them are retiring in frustration and disgust."

YOUR SUNDAY MOMENT OF ZEN

 

From Eric Hoffer's book, "The True Believer:" 

 “The impression somehow prevails that the true believer, particularly the religious individual, is a humble person. The truth is the surrendering and humbling of the self breed pride and arrogance. The true believer is apt to see himself as one of the chosen, the salt of the earth, the light of the world, a prince disguised in meekness, who is destined to inherit the earth and the kingdom of heaven too. He who is not of his faith is evil; he who will not listen will perish.” 

“A doctrine insulates the devout not only against the realities around them but also against their own selves. The fanatical believer is not conscious of his envy, malice, pettiness and dishonesty. There is a wall of words between his consciousness and his real self.”

SATURDAY NIGHT DANCING

 

NO DRAG QUEENS WERE INVOLVED IN THESE CRIMES

 

We're the ONLY COUNTRY ON THE PLANET THAT HAS THESE MASSACRES ON A WEEKLY BASIS.

 

Mass Shooting in Cincinnati, Ohio leaves 6 Shot, Including children: 

Last night a mass shooting killed at least 1 and injured 5 others. 

It is being reported that many of injured were in fact children. 

According to Cincinnati Children's, the hospital is currently caring for three patients who are in critical but stable condition.  

The shooting happened around 9:30 p.m. near Jones Street and Wade Street, in the West End neighborhood. - 

Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval stated: "Right now, I’m asking for your prayers. 

We will keep you updated as our officers continue their investigation. But I promise this: we will give everything we have to deliver justice against this sickening, heartless violence."

Well, this is disturbing.

 

From Mother Jones:

"Mike and Kelly Johnson, each a fundamentalist Christian and culture war battler who advocates adhering to what they call a 'biblical worldview,' launched this initiative in 2019. After one such presentation on February 24, 2019, at the First Baptist Church in Bossier City, Louisiana, where they are members—an event that also featured Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council—a local television news show reported that the seminar’s goal was to 'keep God in Government.' Johnson posted the article on his congressional website."

[skip]

"At a 'Answers for Our Times' seminar held at the First Baptist Church of Haughton, Louisiana, in April 2019, Kelly Johnson proclaimed that 'biblical Christianity' is the only 'valid worldview.' Nothing else, she said, 'makes sense.' She contended that guidance to the problems of today can be found in the 'simple answers in the Bible.' 

Mike Johnson referred to the Bible as the 'owner’s manual' for 'how things are supposed to operate' and called for 'biblically sanctioned government.' Johnson complained that there is now 'total chaos on the street… God’s not at the top anymore.'

[skip] 

 "Mike Johnson sees himself as part of small band of righteous officials who take on the hard task of governing strictly according to the tenets of Christian fundamentalism. He and Kelly are true believers. He has long associated with Christian nationalism; crusaded against gay rights and same-sex marriage; decried no-fault divorce; and pushed for a total ban on abortion. Her Christian counseling practice has compared homosexuality to bestiality and incest. They share a dark view of the modern world. In a sermon he preached in 2016, Johnson declared, “We’re living in a completely amoral society.” And during a podcast last year with Jordan Peterson, the Canadian conservative provocateur, he said that “sinister” elites were responsible for orchestrating climate change as an issue to achieve global “control.”

Well, friends, what we have here is our own modern-day Savonarola! 

Girolamo Savonarola was an ascetic Italian Dominican friar from Ferrara and a preacher active in Renaissance Florence. He became known for his prophecies of civic glory, his advocacy of the destruction of secular art and culture, and his calls for Christian renewal.

These types of fanatical despotic religionists never end well. Here's what happened to Savonarola and his cohorts:

 "Savonarola and two of his supporting friars were imprisoned. On 23 May 1498, Church and civil authorities condemned, hanged, and burned the bodies of the three friars in the main square of Florence."

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If we are living in an "amoral" society as Speaker Johnson claims, it's only "amoral" because of the anti-human, anti-democracy nuts who believe in theocratic rule (Biblical Law), and it's because whackjobs like her actually think "beastiality" is the same as "homosexuality." She is, of course, stupidly wrong, as most of these fanatics who take the Bible literally are. She is comparing our homosexual brothers and sisters to BEASTS!

Beastiality is having sexual congress with animals who cannot consent to such activity, whereas, in a mutually consensual homosexual relationship, consent exists, therefore, it is NOTHING like "beastiality," and Mrs. Johnson is a lunatic for saying so. And it's also none of her and her husband's panty-sniffing business what consenting adults do in a relationship. But we've had these sort of "God knows best because he told me" crazies around forever, as my reference to Savonarola proves.

(Kelly declared that “biblical Christianity”—that is, a literal reading of the Bible as fundamentalists interpret it—is the only “valid worldview,” and nothing else makes sense. (This worldview includes creationism—believing that the Earth was created by God in six days 6,000 years ago—and the denial of evolution.)

We now have a fanatical theocrat second in line to the secular United States government, and that should give us nightmares.

Read and listen to what Mike Johnson and his wife believe and preach in the linked Mother Jones article above, and then get back to me and tell me the difference between their theocratic positions and that of the ayatollahs in the Middle East who reign supreme over their governments.

Just to remind everyone, especially those who don't read history:

h/t Dave Dubya:

"In a proclamation on February 1, 1933, Hitler stated, 'The National Government will regard it as its first and foremost duty to revive in the nation the spirit of unity and co-operation. It will preserve and defend those basic principles on which our nation has been built. It regards Christianity as the foundation of our national morality, and the family as the basis of national life.' "