Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

~~~

~~~

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Who's surprised?

 

When the Trumpublicans said they'd cut Social Security, the voters should have believed them. Now let's see how this plays out in the poorest red states. 

Always remember that the last time the Trumpublicans passed major legislation, it was to give billionaires tax cuts, which ballooned the deficit.

Now they want to cut grandma and grandpa's social security.




BREAKING: Senator John Thune SAID he will hold the global economy HOSTAGE to force CUTS to Social Security & THIS is the UNIFIED position of the Republican Party in both the House & Senate.



Trump is quoted, saying of Fuentes, "He gets me."

 


Here are some quotes by Fuentes:



On March 10, 2022, Fuentes praised "czar Putin" for the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, which he claimed was to:..

"Liberate Ukraine from the Great Satan and from the evil empire in the world, which is the United States."


Fuentes:


"I want this country to have Catholic media, Catholic Hollywood, Catholic government. I want this to be a Catholic-occupied government, not a Jewish-occupied government."



"Catholic autocracy? Pretty strong. Pretty strong record. Catholic monarchy? Catholic monarchy, and just war, and crusades, and inquisitions? Pretty good stuff." 

After the Afghan government fell to the Taliban while American forces were withdrawing in August 2021, Fuentes posted on the Telegram messaging service:

"The Taliban is a conservative, religious force, the US is godless and liberal. The defeat of the US government in Afghanistan is unequivocally a positive development." 

Fuentes wants the United States to be a White, Christian country and has specified that it is not a "Judeo-Christian" country. 

 In a documentary for the BBC, broadcast in 2022, Fuentes told the interviewer, Louis Theroux, that he believes it would be better if women did not have the right to vote.


At the dinner: 

"Ye criticized Trump for not doing enough to help pay the legal bills of those arrested in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots; and he also told Trump he might run for president against him and said Trump should instead be his running mate — all of which angered the former president, who attacked Ye’s ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, according to two dinner participants and Ye, who blasted out a 'Mar-a-Lago debrief' video to his 32.2 million Twitter followers the next day."

 

 “Trump is really impressed with Nick Fuentes,” Ye said in the video. 



"Fuentes said that he praised Trump as 'my hero' and criticized Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for his potential GOP primary challenge to Trump, but he also told him to his face at the dinner that the one-time 2016 insurgent was in danger of becoming a scripted establishment bore who could lose in 2024."


MT Greene appeared with Fuentes at a political conference, and now she's pretending she doesn't know him:









Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Good!

 

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes guilty of Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy 


 "The panel of seven men and five women deliberated for three days before finding Rhodes and a co-defendant guilty of conspiring to oppose by force the lawful transition of presidential power. Rhodes and all four co-defendants on trial were also convicted of obstructing Congress as it met to confirm the results of the 2020 election. Both offenses are punishable by up to 20 years in prison."

[snip]


“The jury’s verdict on seditious conspiracy confirms that January 6, 2021, was not just ‘legitimate political discourse’ or a peaceful protest that got out of hand. This was a planned, organized, violent assault on the lawful authority of the U.S. government and the peaceful transfer of power,” said Randall D. Eliason, a former federal prosecutor who teaches law at George Washington University.

Monday, November 28, 2022

Donald Trump hosted a virulent anti-Semite and White Supremacist for dinner at his Mar-a-Largo home






NICK FUENTES:  “Jews have too much power in our society,” he recently wrote on his Telegram channel. “Christians should have all the power, everyone else very little.”



Trump talks with white nationalist Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago dinner

 


The guy who wants to be POTUS again hosted Nick Fuentes, a virulent anti-Semite and white supremacist at his home last week. 


"Fuentes first gained notoriety for attending the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017. He was one of “very fine people on both sides,” as Trump said at the time...He has denied the Holocaust, opposes interracial marriage, and wishes for a return to Jim Crow segregation, among other racist beliefs. Fuentes recently said he’d prefer a Catholic monarchy to a democracy."


What do his adoring supporters think of that?


This is from Jonathan Swan who reported what a source who was at the meeting at Mar-a-Largo told him:


"New details from the dinner: Fuentes told Trump he represented a side of his base that was disappointed with his announcement speech and him not doing enough to help those charged for Jan. 6. 

Trump didn't disagree with Fuentes but said Fuentes also told Trump that he would crush potential 2024 Republican rivals in a primary, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. 

Trump asked for Fuentes' opinion on other candidates as well. Trump at one point turned to Ye and said, "I really like this guy. He gets me."



(S.K.: Well, yeah! A white supremacist GETS Trump. They know exactly how Trump thinks and feels. Fuentes has called for violence against the Jewish community.) 

Here's more of what Fuentes advocates: 

"My mission for 2024 is to raise an army of at least one thousand Groypers that will infiltrate Capitol Hill and the Trump administration as staffers and bureaucrats" for a fascist MAGA revolution." 

"Fuck democracy," Fuentes says. "Divorce, abortion, ghettos, crime, political correctness, diversity... track record of democracy, not so good. Catholic autocracy? Pretty strong... Catholic monarchy, just war, inquisitions and crusades: pretty good, pretty good stuff"


So Trump says Fuentes "gets him?" Trump likes Fuentes!


"Trump asked if Fuentes was on social media such as Truth Social, the former president's alternative to Twitter. Fuentes told Trump that he was on Truth Social but had been banned from the social media platform Gettr because Trump adviser Jason Miller, the CEO of the company wasn't a fan of his. 

Trump asked whether it was because Fuentes was on the "fringe" of his supporter base, the source said. Fuentes acknowledged that he was, saying he's "one of those people who got banned from everything." 

One week before he and anti-Semite Kanye had dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, Nick Fuentes was publicly calling for deadly violence against the American Jewish community: 

"White nationalist anti-Semite Nick Fuentes warns that if "the Jews" don't stop oppressing people like him, it will soon lead to violence: "When it comes to the Jews, every society where shit has gone down with these people, it always goes from zero to sixty." 



Trump’s former ambassador to Israel: 

Quote Tweet David M Friedman · 
Nov 25 

"To my friend Donald Trump, you are better than this. Even a social visit from an anti-Semite like Kanye West and human scum like Nick Fuentes is unacceptable. 

I urge you to throw those bums out, disavow them and relegate them to the dustbin of history where they belong. 


The fact is Donald J. Trump is not better than this. 

Trump is exactly this.

Can anyone explain why Trump would have anything to do with a pig like Nick Fuentes? 

I don't think Trump will be president again. 

But his stupid fawning over a piece of human waste -- Fuentes -- should make Trump a pariah to decent society for the rest of his useless and miserable life.






M.T. Greene and her Nazi-loving pal, Fuentes.

Saturday, November 26, 2022

SATURDAY NIGHT DANCING

 Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron:




Friday, November 25, 2022

Wednesday, November 23, 2022

Please watch this.

 



ANOTHER MASS SHOOTING IN AMERICA. THIS TIME IN VIRGINIA.

 

and I'm all out of "thoughts and prayers."


We are the only country that pretends there's nothing we can do about these firearm massacres

The fact is that there are many things we can do, but  America is led by cowardly politicians who are kept in power by the NRA and by their constituents who insist that the 2nd Amendment means no restrictions whatsoever on who owns weapons of war and what sort of weapons of war any American wants to own.

Now go sing "God Bless America! My home sweet home." while our neighbors bury their dead from another massacre by firearms.

What are YOU giving thanks for tomorrow?



UPDATE:


Former Secretary of State and presidential candidate, Mike Pompeo said this:

"Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday that American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten is “the most dangerous person in the world,” prompting disbelief from the union chief."


How long will it take for some triggered and/or deranged MAGAt to internalize those inflammatory words and go after Ms. Weingarten or other educators and shoot up a school to get rid of "The Most Dangerous Person in the world!?"

What kind of irresponsible, violence-provoking instigator of mayhem uses this dangerous language about a fellow American with whom he disagrees with? A pandering idiot looking to score points with Trump's thugs, law breakers, and goons -- the ones who attacked the Capitol and caused the deaths and maiming of LEOs. That's who. Mike Pompeo placed Ms. Weingarten in mortal danger. He just proved it with what came out of his own words.

Ms. Weingarten is NOT on an FBI Most Wanted List, nor has she been charged with any crime. Yet this pandering agitator for violence has declared Ms. Weingarten "the most dangerous person IN THE WORD!"

I fear for her and her family and hope responsible Americans reject Pompeo's fanatical demagoguery that risks the life of this woman who has committed no crime.

But the Mother Ship of Fools agree (naturally) with what Pompeo said:


"Anyone or anything who destroys or corrupts the minds of our children is an enemy of our republic." 😡

There she goes again, "An enemy of our republic." (This same woman called anyone who voted for Biden in the 2020 election her "enemy.")


The above is the opinion of a woman who's a teacher. 

It never enters her or her fellow commenters' minds that there are Americans in this country who believe it is THEY who are corrupting the minds of our children with their malignant rhetoric. But when one lives in a bubble and knows nothing but hatred for the other and fear of what they don't know, one says such provocative and life- threatening words.

Those words quoted above are the sort of words one hears from the Ayatollahs and every authoritarian tyrant and despot. Whoever doesn't think like them is their enemy.

We live in a sick society where too many people have too many guns. And when a sick or vengeful mind is triggered by words such as "...the most dangerous person in the world..." And "...enemy of our republic.."  Death is often the result of those violence-provoking words.









Maybe we should start calling GOPers RepublicGuns.


Tuesday, November 22, 2022

 

WaPo:


The Supreme Court on Tuesday denied former president Donald Trump’s efforts to block the release of his tax records to a congressional committee that has sought the information for years. 


 The court’s order means that the Treasury Department may quickly hand over six years of tax records from Trump and some of his companies to the House Ways and Means Committee.

Well, well, well...

 

it appears that Trumpy's stranglehold on the GQP may be slipping.


Former President Donald J. Trump spoke remotely during the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) Annual Leadership Meeting at the Venetian Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada on November 19, 2022.


There wasn't overwhelming support for the Twice-impeached Loserman:



"...even though Trump remains the dominant figure in the GOP, there is a crack in the cult. It may be a hairline fracture, and it may be temporary, but an array of Republicans all made the same case this weekend: Trump is a Loser. It’s time to move on. Via AP: 

“The details varied, but within most speeches was an extraordinary sense of defiance rarely seen since [Trump] seized control of the Republican Party six years ago.” Chris Christie says Republicans should stop being afraid to call Trump out by name. 

"You're going to run against him? Say his name. You think he did something wrong? Say his name," he said, and then proceeded to do so over the weekend. “We keep losing and losing and losing,” Christie told attendees at the Republican Jewish Coalition candidate gaggle. 

“The reason we’re losing is because Donald Trump has put himself before everybody else.” “It’s basically the third election in a row that Donald Trump has cost us the race, and it’s like, three strikes, you’re out,” declared outgoing Maryland Governor Larry Hogan. 

New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu urged his fellow GOPers to “stop supporting crazy, unelectable candidates in our primaries and start getting behind winners that can close the deal in November.” 

 And former Speaker Paul Ryan belatedly declared that he was a “Never Again Trumper.”



Could this be the beginning of the end for the 3-time loser, Toxic Orange Menace?

It certainly appears so.

Monday, November 21, 2022

Another Mass Shooting in Colorado

UPDATE: 

It's not difficult to understand why the mass shooting in Colorado Springs happened: 


"All over the country, Drag Queen Story Hours have been targeted by Proud Boys and other demonstrators, some heavily armed. In August, the Republican congresswoman Lauren Boebert tweeted a photo of a flier for a Drag Queen Story Hour at a Colorado public library with the words, 'Sending a message to all the drag queens out there: stay away from the children in Colorado’s Third District!' The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh described drag events involving kids as a cancer,' and wrote that 'just like cancer, stopping it is not a gentle or a painless process.' " 

[skip]

Ron DeSantis’s press secretary wrote on Twitter, “If you’re against the Anti-Grooming Bill, you are probably a groomer or at least you don’t denounce the grooming of 4-8 year old children.”


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


Grooming? Below is a photo of "grooming" children to accept as normal the fetishizing of weapons of mass murder.


Nothing celebrates the birth of the so-called Prince of Peace like a photo of you and your children holding a weapon of mass murder in front of a tree that supposedly symbolizes His birth. 

But that's what happens when certain cultures fetishize weapons of war.  

Colorado has had at least 61 mass shootings since the 2012 attack on an Aurora movie theater. 

The Gun Violence Archive takes a broader view than others of what constitutes a mass shooting.


The ridiculous woman in the photo below was very, very narrowly re-elected to the House. And our country is all the poorer for it. Her mindless promotion of weapons of mass murder contributes to what happened in Colorado Springs. And those tragedies will continue to happen so long as fools like Boebert continue to fetishize weapons of death.







The Colorado Springs mass shooter is reportedly the grandson of MAGA Republican Rep. Randy Voepel, who compared the J6 insurrection to the Revolutionary War.

Saturday, November 19, 2022

SATURDAY NIGHT DANCING

 

On of my all-time favorites: A Chorus Line!


One!


Friday, November 18, 2022

GOOD!

Garland names special counsel for Trump Mar-a-Lago, 2020 election probes 

Thank You Madam Speaker








Steve Schmidt: Nancy Pelosi is a true leader. There are few American politicians who have kept the faith during the troubled first decades of the 21st century. The Speaker of the House is one of them, and my admiration and respect for her does not flow from agreement over political issues or happiness over her voting record. Nancy Louise Pelosi is a leader of character and integrity whose public service has been honorable and loyal. 


 John Boehner: Congratulations @SpeakerPelosi on a remarkable, historic run of service in the People's House. We were able to disagree without being disagreeable. You've been unfailingly gracious to me and my family. 

 Al Gore:  Nancy Pelosi has been the greatest, most effective Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives in American history. Thank you @SpeakerPelosi for your dedicated service and leadership. 

Rob Reiner:  Speaker Nancy Pelosi: The most effective, accomplished, and consequential Speaker in our lifetime. With love and admiration, Thank You.  .

Heather Thomas:  When Nancy Pelosi first won Speaker of the House, I took my mother and oldest daughter to Washington to witness the and celebrate. Remembering that wonderous day now and marveling at how she changed all of us and our beliefs for what was and is power and possible.




"Ms. Pelosi is an original, and we are unlikely to see another leader of her ilk any time soon. She elbowed her way to the tippy top of the congressional boys’ club, then set about distinguishing herself as the most formidable, most effective House leader since the middle of the last century. Love her or hate her, you have to acknowledge the fundamental badassery." --Michelle Cottle, NYTimes


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

Shaw Kenawe: We’ll miss you Nancy.  Thank you for giving my daughter and granddaughter a role model of what strength, dignity, decency, and success look like.

Thursday, November 17, 2022

CULT OF SELF

And victimhood.

Trumpy wants to be your Preznit again! The King of the Cult of Self, Donald J. Trump.


From his self-pitying; self-aggrandizing speech @Mar-a-Lardo:




TRUMPY: “I’m a victim. I will tell you.” 

CNN: Again, yes, he said this with a straight face. 




 
TRUMPY:  “We don’t want to be critics. We don’t want to be complainers. I never wanted to be a critic.” 

CNN: He said this with a straight face. . 




TRUMPY:  “I didn’t need this. I had a nice easy life.” 

CNN: This is a regular Trump refrain. The notion is that he is only running because the problems facing the country are so great and only he can fix them. That his campaign is somehow a selfless act. 




 TRUMPY:  “We built the wall. We completed the wall. And then we said, ‘Let’s do more,’ and we did a lot more."

CNN: Trump did not complete the border wall. 



 TRUMPY:  “I was with President Xi, who’s now president for life. I call him ‘king.’ He said, ‘No, no, I’m not the king.’ I said, ‘Yes, you are the king. You’re president for life. It’s the same thing.’” 

CNN: Trump’s admiration for someone who can be “president for life” comes through here loud and clear.


Welcome to two more years of listening to Trump's warmed-over CULT OF SELF victimhood, self-aggrandizing, boring clap-trap and provable LIES!

He's learned nothing while he licked his wounds of defeat since the 2020 election. Trump is nothing more than a clown with millions of clown worshippers -- his own CULT OF SELFers who continue to encourage this losing LOSER.


Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Donald J. Trump, who in 2020 lost the presidency, the senate, and the house...

 

and whose preferred candidates lost in the 2022 midterms, who was impeached twice, who's under criminal investigation, who incited an attack on the U.S. Capitol, who stole top secret government documents and lied about it, that guy wants to be president again.




Trump, who as president fomented an insurrection, says he is running againDonald Trump, 76, refused to admit defeat in the 2020 election, was impeached twice and is the subject of multiple criminal investigations. 

His entry shifts the dynamics of the GOP field while increasing the likelihood that President Biden runs for reelection.


Mark Hertling:

 "After watching the Trump 'announcement,' I say this: 

 He is an evil, extremely dangerous man who threatens our democracy and our future. 

 Don’t tell me I’m breaching a 'civil-military control' protocol. I’m retired now and believe stating this is critically important to our nation."


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

Last night Trump claimed he wants to Make America Great And Glorious Again! MAGAGA! 


If he had read any world history, Trump would have known that those are the sort of words dictators and authoritarians have claimed all through the ages.


Monday, November 14, 2022

Midterms Update

 


Arizona Elects Hobbs for Governor 

Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, won the bitterly fought contest over Kari Lake, a right-wing former newscaster who was backed by former President Donald J. Trump.

Republicans Eating Their Own

 

The ever-disgusting, ever-cringe-worthy, EX-preznit, Donald J. Trump, proves once again what a childish little worm he is, as he attacks a fellow Republican.

It looks like the crybaby man-child will not hesitate to wallow in the gutter if fellow Republicans like Youngkin or DeSantis take the spotlight away from him and challenge him for the 2024 nomination. It'll break and destroy the current Republican Party; and as Lindsey Graham said himself, "we will deserve it."




"Former President Donald Trump lashed out at Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Friday morning in a racist post on his Truth Social platform. 

 Trump—who views Youngkin as part of the Republican establishment that wants to squeeze the former president out of the GOP—suggested Youngkin’s name 'sounds Chinese.' ”

[snip]


"This isn’t the first time Trump has gone on a racist screed against his political foes. Trump has repeatedly referred to Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao—who was a member of his cabinet—as 'Coco Chow.'

In August, the former president accused Chao, born in Taiwan, of attempting to 'get rich on China.' ”




I can't help thinking about the folks who hitched their wagons to this despicable cockwomble and thought that if he'd "just say the right things," he'd prove himself to be a likable, intelligent president. 

Those who supported and continue to support Trump will never see him for what he is: A malignant narcissist, racist, and man-child idiot.












THIS IS WONDERFUL!

 



The 2022 midterm elections were the best midterm results for an incumbent party president since 1950. 

And the first time since 1934 that the party in power didn’t lose a SINGLE state legislature chamber 

Americans are done with the GQP.

Saturday, November 12, 2022

SATURDAY NIGHT DANCING

 

Please! DO NOT try this at home!




Thursday, November 10, 2022

AIN'T NO LIE

 



Joe Biden had the best midterms for a Democrat president in 24 years.








Wednesday, November 9, 2022




Conservative Charlie Sykes wins the internet:


 “ Turns out the Red Wave is just ketchup on the walls at Mar-a-Lago.”

IT WASN'T A RED TSUNAMI...

 more like a red trickle.


BREAKING: 

Dash Dobrofsky 

@DashDobrofsky 

Fox News just put out an article that said "Ron DeSantis is the new Republican Party leader." 

The establishment right-wing media has officially decided to push Trump aside, just days before he is set to announce his candidacy from Mar-a-Lago. 

The Republican Party is divided.



The Trumpublicans did NOT give the Democrats a "thumping," as is usual in mid-term elections.


It appears Donnie's hateful hold on the GQP is waning.


Fetterman won!  😍

Ryan lost. 😡


At this time, the Warnock/Walker race is too close to call, and Georgia may have to hold a run-off if neither gets 51% of the vote.

Lauren Boebert lost her seat. YAY! One less loud-mouthed know-nothing but "owning the libs" is gone! YAY!

Hochul kept the NY governorship! YAY!

New Hampshire's Maggie Hassan beat the far-right election denier, Bolduc, by almost 10 points! YAY!

Massachusetts has its first ELECTED female governor (who is also openly gay!) YAY! Good going for Maura Healy!! And Andrea Campbell, is our first black female attorney general! YAY!


Kentucky voters reject antiabortion measure as abortion rights advocates score big wins



Conservative Jennifer Rubin:

"To put this in context, the average Senate loss for the party in the White House is four seats. The magnitude of Democrats’ success — and Republicans’ disaster — should sober the hyperbolic press, which was ready to perform last rites on the Biden presidency and the Democrats more generally. 

It does not take a political science degree to understand why Democrats outperformed historic results: Abortion matters. Senate candidates matter."

Monday, November 7, 2022

Sunday, November 6, 2022

YOUR SUNDAY MOMENT OF ZEN



"Chose your leaders with wisdom and forethought.


* To be led by a coward is to chose to be controlled by all that the coward fears.


* To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists who control the fool.


* To be led by a thief is to offer up your most precious treasures to be stolen.


* To be led by a liar is to be told lies.


* To be led by a tyrant is to sell yourself and those you love into slavery."


--Octavia E. Butler