The New New Year
It seemed like 2020 would never end. It was just one disaster after another until you just about had to laugh, if you still could. We'd ask, what else can go wrong? And then something even worse would happen. In a couple of days we will flip our calendars over, and in a few more weeks America can start a new year.
In the meantime, the President who brought us 2020 will try to see how much disruption and misery he can cause before he is booted out of the White House. Trump has given up on presiding. As the country spirals into 2020's despair he wanders the golf course, inattentive and apathetic.
A suicide bomber took out a few blocks of Nashville: not a peep out of the President. COVID-19 killing three thousand people a day, every day, and not a peep. He got a relief bill and didn't sign it until unemployment benefits ran out for millions of citizens. Vaccine has been prepared for administration and there is no plan, millions of doses sitting in refrigerators while people die. Renters losing their homes and freezing on the streets, police and rightwing gangs joining forces to bring violence to US cities, with the President promoting rebellion on the day that the election results are officially certified by Congress.
It's crazy.
Dana Milbank at The Post writes it up as a King Lear story. And I guess this is how it happens. It seems so majestic on the stage, but the reality does not seem tragic or larger-than-life; this is the story of a miserable little man who got in over his head and refused to take on the responsibility he said he deserved. It is the story of a greedy, petty person who found it easy to complain loudly, but when he talked his way into leadership it was too hard for him. You can't really rule by tantrum; an organization as big as the federal government has policies and procedures, and you have to work with those. I remember George W. Bush saying, "If this were a dictatorship it would be a heck of a lot easier... as long as I'm the dictator. Hehehe." And as much as I hate to agree with him, he was right. It would be easier for the President if he just had to issue orders and people would jump to carry them out, or off with their heads. Also it wouldn't work. The country is just too big to follow one not-very-smart, not-very-mature person's whims.
This year there will be a sort of amendment to the calendar. The year 2020 will officially end on December 31st, as usual. The occasion will be celebrated by people sitting in their homes, possibly drinking, until after midnight. There will be no parties. Times Square will be evacuated. Midnight kisses are for pod members only.
Then, this year we will have a sort of Leap New Year, nineteen days that will be set aside for people to huddle in their homes, holding their breath and hoping we get through them. We can expect those weeks, from January first through January nineteenth, to be Republican Days of Hell, filled with rightwing violence and surging deadly disease. Washington's lies will reach a crescendo as reality-denying politicians make a last-ditch effort try to destroy American democracy and our country's way of life, and fail.
January twentieth will be the New New Year's Day. We will have a modest and dignified inauguration and no bragging about whose crowds were bigger. The new President will put his hand on a Bible that he actually reads and believes in, and will swear to uphold the Constitution, which he has actually read and understands. I expect some rightwing hooligans will try to spoil the ceremony but it doesn't matter, the weight of American history carries a lot of momentum and despite anti-American attempts at disruption our country will emerge from this dystopian phase of history intact and ready to move forward. We have an economy to fix, a disease to subdue, racial injustice and rightwing police violence to tamp down, the climate needs immediate attention. People need to get back to work, kids need to get back to school, businesses need to open, as soon as the coronavirus is beaten, which will become a possibility in the New New Year.
posted by JimK at 4:47 PM
214 Comments:
Cop Implicated in Black Man’s Murder Used Faith to Justify “Righteous Release”
Earlier this month, police in Columbus, Ohio shot and killed 23-year-old Casey Goodson Jr., a Black man with no criminal record who had just returned from going to the dentist and picking up food for his family.
The man who killed him was Franklin County Sheriff’s SWAT deputy Jason Meade. He’s currently on paid leave pending an investigation.
Over the past couple of days, though, more information has surfaced about Meade using religion to justify violence — or at least pointing to religion in defense of being the aggressor in any incident.
Meade has been the pastor of the relatively tiny Rosedale Free Will Baptist Church since 2014 — their website is currently “down for maintenance” which must be very convenient — and videos have surfaced in which he brags about the need to attack others first and how that whole “turn the other cheek” thing that Jesus is known for is a horrible idea.
A recording of Meade’s remarks, delivered at a 2018 convention of the Ohio State Association of Free Will Baptists, has brought religion to the forefront of a controversial police killing with opposing interpretations of the Gospel squaring off on Sunday mornings here in central Ohio. During those remarks, the SWAT officer described violence in the line of duty as a “righteous release.”
“I work for the sheriff’s office…. I hunt people — it’s a great job, I love it,” Meade told those in attendance. “I worked this job 14 years, you know I ain’t never been hit clean in the face one time? It’s a fact. It ain’t ’cause I’m so good… You know why? I learned long ago I gotta throw the first punch. And I learned long ago why I’m justified in throwing the first punch. Don’t look up here like, ‘Oh, police brutality.’ People I hit you wish you could hit, trust me.”
He makes similar comments in this 2018 video from the sheriff’s office in which they talk about “connecting with the community.” Meade is the guy in the middle.
The Columbus Dispatch also notes other comments he’s made using faith to justify violence:
Meade also said it’s contagious when someone “throws the first punch.” He likened it to David hitting Goliath using a slingshot.
“One of my SWAT guys throws a punch, I gotta throw one in too,” Meade said. “It’s the truth. We have this little saying, ‘Hey, if you’re going to get in trouble, I’m going to get in trouble, too. You
Notice that he doesn’t say he attacks someone only if it’s warranted, but rather as a sign of camaraderie.
None of this is evidence of his guilt. Pastors say insane things all the time; it doesn’t mean they’re murderers. But none of it is surprising either. Law enforcement is full of people who believe they’re acting on some kind of religious mandate and they frequently point to the Bible as justification for what they do. The fact that another white cop involved in another fatal shooting of a Black man also serves as pastor of a fundamentalist Baptist church is maybe the least surprising revelation in an incident that’s become all too familiar.
In a typical display of dishonesty, in the previous thread Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous screamed over and over that gayness should be "shutdown" and gays locked away because HIV was the big problem facing the United States, not COVID-19. They posted about millions dead globally over several decades to create the false impression that AIDS was a huge problem compared to COVID.
Well the truth is in 2018 18,000 people died from AIDS in the U.S. In less than a year over 350,000 have died from COVID. COVID is a far, far bigger and more deadly problem than AIDS and lying Wyatt and Regina lied again and again telling us it was the other way around, gays were the problem, not conservatives spitting all over mitigation measures.
Wyatt and Regina tried to make a bid deal out of using my legal name Priya instead of my old name Randy. They try to create a false impression of good will on their part while they tell one outrageous lie about gays after another. The ill will they show by lying like this blowing away a trivial gesture of doing the right thing by using my real name as a good person would.
In the previous thread Wyatt and Regina said me posting that the winter solstice is pagan and not christian was proof that the bible's teaching of man's total depravity was true and this was proof their god exists.
Then they later denied that their motivation for persecuting lgbt people was their bigoted religion. They lied and said they hadn't spoken about their beliefs on religion. This is who these people are, fundamentally dishonest to the core.
Wyatt and Regina dishonestly pretend their religion isn't the reason they oppose gays but have never been able to come up with a rational reason for banning gay marriage.
Gay marriage is good for gays and good for society, there is no secular reason to ban gay marriage.
The Republican governor of New Hampshire broke with conservatives, did the right thing and implemented a mask order.
Now armed protesters are gathering in front of his house.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous keeps falsely claiming conservatives are being responsible by wearing masks and social distancing but as we can see that's not remotely true. The vast majority of conservatives are violently opposed to COVID mitigation measures and are doing their best to help the virus spread.
As with everything else in Trump's presidency, his incompetence has resulted in a failure to deliver the COVID vaccines.
Trump promised to deliver 20 million does by the end of the year. Instead its been less than 1/10th of that.
Trump has never carried though on any national effort required of his administration. Trump watches TV and Tweets instead of doing what it takes to help the country through this.
Breaking: Operation Warp Speed has been a total failure. They're administering vaccines so slow you'd think they're trying to keep us infected.
JANUARY 6, the day Congress meets in a joint session to accept the results of the presidential election, should be a testament to America’s enduring democracy. Yet it may become a demonstration of its poor health. President Trump, along with craven enablers such as Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), is seeking to upend what should be solemn but largely perfunctory proceedings to ratify the victory of President-elect Joe Biden. The result could be a shameless show of support by numerous congressional Republicans for erasing the votes of millions of Americans — and, perhaps, mayhem incited by the president in the streets of D.C.
“Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!,” Mr. Trump tweeted earlier this month in an appeal to his supporters to come to the capital to buttress his campaign to overturn the election results. He followed up Sunday, “See you in Washington, DC, on January 6th. Don’t miss it. Information to follow!” And again on Wednesday, “JANUARY SIXTH, SEE YOU IN DC!”
That the president is actively seeking to incite street protests is a matter of more than a little concern to D.C. officials who — based on the behavior of some of Mr. Trump’s supporters at two previous rallies — fear there could be violence. While daytime demonstrations were largely peaceful on Nov. 14 and Dec. 12, destruction and bloodshed broke out when night came. During the Dec. 12 event, four people were stabbed, and members of the Proud Boys — a far-right group linked to white supremacy and categorized by the FBI as an extremist organization — were seen roaming the streets and assaulting bystanders. Black Lives Matter banners belonging to Black churches were torn down, and the leader of the Proud Boys proudly claimed responsibility for burning one of the banners.
Nonetheless, Mr. Trump — who told the Proud Boys during the first presidential debate in September to “stand back and stand by” — issued his uncamouflaged summons to “Be there, will be wild!” So much for the law-and-order president. Just as hypocritical are the Republican members of Congress — the latest being Mr. Hawley — who plan to raise objections to the certification of electoral votes for Mr. Biden. They cite completely baseless allegations, uniformly rejected by the courts, of voter fraud. Their aim is not, as they profess, to ensure election integrity, but rather to cater to the whims of a would-be autocratic president and burnish their credentials as Trump loyalists for future elections.
Republican congressional leaders have acknowledged that Mr. Trump’s desperate efforts to stop Mr. Biden from being sworn in to office are bound to fail. Not, though, before more harm is done to the United States’ political system and its standing in the world. We can only hope the damage from the chaos Mr. Trump is inciting doesn’t extend to human lives.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) — Yale Law School, Supreme Court clerk, Missouri attorney general and, according to the first line of his Twitter bio, “constitutional lawyer” — surely knows better.
His plan to challenge the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral college victory when Congress convenes for that purpose on Jan. 6 has no basis in the facts or the law. That is putting it too charitably, actually. It is, if anything, anti-constitutional — inconsistent with the Constitution’s vision of the ceremonial role of Congress in ratifying the election results.
It is doomed to fail — except, perhaps, at its scarcely disguised purpose of winning Hawley favor in the eyes of the Trumpian base. Think of it as the first act of Hawley’s all-but-inevitable 2024 presidential campaign. Think of it as what it is: a stunt.
Yet while irresponsible, Hawley’s move is not necessarily a terrible development. It forces a vote that will have the salutary effect of requiring his Republican colleagues to decide — and to put on the record —whether their loyalty is to President Trump or to the Constitution. Better to know than to guess. Better to inflict some accountability rather than to enable dodging.
Put another way: Any vote that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) fervently wishes to avoid is one I’m for. Put every member of the House and Senate on the record, and let them reap the consequences, for good and for ill, in the short term of political fallout and in the long view of history. Those who vote against certifying Biden’s victory can explain it to their grandchildren.
Conservative Church Holds One COVID Superspreader Event After Another
Christian worship leader and MAGA cultist Sean Feucht, the Bethel Church-affiliated singer who has been hosting COVID super-spreader concerts around the country (disguised as spiritual revivals), is still going through with a two-day New Year’s Eve COVID-stravaganza.
He’s appearing at the epicenter of two homeless communities in Los Angeles, likely spreading the virus to vulnerable people before running off, a trail of disease in his dust.
Los Angeles is struggling, like so many other large cities, with hospitals having to turn away patients because of all the COVID cases entering the building.
Feucht doesn’t care about them because he’s a selfish Christian.
[When Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous tell you most churches are behaving responsibly it is simply a lie. Conservatives are united against COVID mitigation measures with Trump leading the opposition]
US Again Breaks Daily Record With 3903 COVID Death
Remember a few months ago when Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous told us COVID was under control and it would soon no longer be a pandemic?
Its just a never ending string of lies out of these two.
Trump has been a disaster as the national leader. This is his fault.
Wyatt/Regina, renounce your war on harmless lgbt people and we can be friends. Do the right thing. Its better for us all.
On the previous thread Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "your only argument [in favour of marriage equality is "waaa we wanna".
They tried to claim they're not waging war on harmless gays, they suggested they didn't know what I was talking about when I said they opposed gays.
This comment is part of their war on gays. This is hateful opposition. Look how they trivialize the injustice they would force on gays, how they de-humanize gays by suggesting any concern for our well being and fair treatment is laughably unimportant, a joke to be ignored. This is religious bigotry.
Renounce that war, Wyatt/Regina. Come back into compliance with the social contract. Fairness first.
Gay marriage bans raise the HIV rate.
That is more than argument enough not to ban gay marriage.
Research shows marriage makes people happier and more productive. Banning gay marriage does nothing to benefit heterosexual marriages and needlessly harms innocent gays, lesbians and ultimately society. That again is more than argument enough not to ban gay marriage.
Wyatt and Regina saying there is no argument in support of gay marriage is a heinous lie. They tell lies like this over and over because they don't have a secular reason to ban gay marriage, they can't make a plausible sounding case to ban gay marriage without lying. These are not ethical people.
This is the destruction of anti-gay religion. LGBT people have the same right to have society make our lives better as any one else. Promoting a society that "discourages" or "distances" people from gays and gayness is a war on harmless lgbt people. No euphemism for that war makes it right or diminishes the unjust harm you cause because of religion.
There is no rational secular argument against gay marriage. Wyatt and Regina don't want to come out and say it, which is in itself dishonest and unethical, but the sole reason they want to persecute harmless lgbt people is due to their misguided religion.
To have the best possible society everyone's highest priority has to be maximizing the happiness for all in an equal and fair way. If you truly believe your religion is one of peace or love this has to be ultimately what your religion is about, this has to guide every interpretation you make of your holy book.
Looks like Waytt and Regina are afraid to take me on. They know they can't make a rational case for oppressing harmless lgbt people.
This comment by Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous from several years back shows they know they are setting an unrealistic boundary by demanding gays never have sex and this makes some gays promiscuous:
"Having broken societal taboos against sexual activity with those of their own gender, it's hard for [gays] to think of any compelling reason to follow any of society's other little rules [against promiscuity]."
Wyatt and Regina go on and on about the harm promiscuous gays cause and how gayness should be "shutdown until a vaccine is found" while they demand a social policy that makes HIV worse. Then they lie and say and "I never said I "oppose gays to minimize AIDS"".
This is what evil people do. If Wyatt and Regina aren't sociopaths they need to take a long hard look in the mirror and ask themselves if they want keep behaving immorally.
Renounce your war on harmless lgbt people. Put aside your religion and do the right thing.
Georgia Republicans Recruit Over 8000 Poll Watchers
This is another Republican tactic to suppress the black vote. Black people are rightfully distrustful of authority figures as they've been repeatedly wronged by them.
The poll watchers are there to intimidate black voters by telling them they don't have the right to vote and that they will be arrested if they do. This turns away a lot of eligible black voters who fear they will be unjustly arrested, its just not worth the chance to them to vote.
This is just one of the many corrupt tactics Republicans use to prevent democratic leaning minorities from voting. Republicans are trying to destroy American democracy.
NC Court Strikes Down Law Banning Same-Sex Partners From Getting Domestic Violence Orders Of Protection
The Raleigh News & Observer reports:
LGBTQ people in North Carolina can no longer be prevented from getting domestic violence protective orders, the N.C. Court of Appeals ruled Thursday. North Carolina had been the only state in the country to withhold emergency protections from people seeking protection from abuse by a same-sex partner.
That kind of protection is offered to couples of the opposite sex, and to married and divorced same-sex couples, but not for same-sex couples who are dating or who used to date. But that ban is unconstitutional, the appeals court ruled in a 2-1 opinion Thursday.
Big decision: The North Carolina Court of Appeals rules that a law denying Domestic Violence Protective Orders to same-sex partners violates the NC and US Constitutions. The court directs judges to apply the law equally, finally allowing same-sex partners to obtain these orders.
Trump Added $8T To Natl Debt He Promised To Erase
From the right wing Washington Examiner:
President Trump promised in the 2016 campaign to eliminate the federal debt over a two-term presidency. That pledge won’t come to fruition, and, in fact, he will leave office having added massively to the debt.
“His tenure has been marked by a total disregard for any concern about mounting debt,” said Jim Capretta, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a right-leaning think tank in Washington, D.C.
When Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2017, the total national debt was nearly $20 trillion, according to the Treasury Department. It has increased over roughly 30% since, nearly $8 trillion, to $27 trillion, as of Monday.
‘Affront to justice’: UN condemns Trump’s pardon of Blackwater guards who massacred Iraq civilians
Donald Trump’s pardon of four American security guards convicted of killing Iraqi civilians, including two children, in Baghdad in 2007 was “an affront to justice”, United Nations human rights experts have said.
Nicholas Slatten was convicted of first-degree murder, while Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard were convicted of voluntary and attempted manslaughter, over the massacre in which US contractors opened fire with machine-guns, grenade launchers and a sniper on a busy square in the Iraqi capital, killing 14 unarmed Iraqi civilians.
The four contractors, who worked for the private security firm Blackwater owned by the brother of the president’s education secretary, were included in a wave of pre-Christmas pardons announced by the White House.
Mohammed Kinani, the father of the youngest victim, nine-year-old Ali, said Mr Trump “broke my life again” on learning of the pardons.
Experts from the UN have now said the move by the outgoing president violated US obligations under international law.
Pastor Mocked Follower’s COVID Death in Sermon: “He’s Weak… He Has No Faith”
By Hemant Mehta
Not long ago, a 71-year-old man named Les Tom died of COVID, and his funeral was held at his church: Michiana Christian Embassy in Niles, Michigan.
But earlier this month, on December 13, Lead Pastor Rev. Jeffrey Whittaker delivered a sermon in which he appeared to mock Tom for catching COVID — as well as his family members and other congregation members for taking COVID precautions during that funeral service.
“We welcome masks, sit here, sit there; we answered people’s questions for Sheri’s funeral and for Les’s funeral and guess what, they were liars and hypocrites and cowards,” said Whittaker. “Why? Because ‘I want to come but I want to make sure I can social distance.’”
…
“We do not disrespect Les; he died of COVID because he’s weak, because he has no faith,” said Whittaker during the Dec. 13 service.
In that clip above, Whittaker also claims COVID isn’t a real crisis because only a small percentage of Americans overall have died from it. (The percentage is much larger among those who test positive for COVID, but he didn’t say that. Nor did he talk about the long-term health problems that may occur for those who test positive but survive the ordeal. Nor did he acknowledge that many of the 330,000+ Americans who have died from COVID were devout Christians.)
Now Les Tom’s family is furious at Whittaker — but he still won’t comment on it:
Whittaker declined to speak with ABC57 on-camera but said the comment was taken out of context and the short clip does not paint the whole picture of his two hour sermon.
You can watch the whole two-hour sermon here. This section appears a little after the 1:36:00 mark. I watched it. There’s no context I could find in which those comments sound any more sensible. Even if that damning remark about how Tom died because he “has no faith” was meant to be sarcastic, the COVID denialism surrounding it doesn’t make Whittaker look any better.
MINNEAPOLIS — White supremacists plotted to attack power stations in the southeastern U.S., and an Ohio teenager who allegedly shared the plan said he wanted the group to be "operational" on a fast-tracked timeline if President Donald Trump were to lose his re-election bid, the FBI alleges in an affidavit that was mistakenly unsealed.
The teen was in a text group with more than a dozen people in the fall of 2019 when he introduced the idea of saving money to buy a ranch where they could participate in militant training, according to the affidavit, which was filed under seal along with a search warrant application in Wisconsin's Eastern U.S. District Court in March. The documents were inadvertently unsealed last week before the mistake was discovered and they were quickly sealed again.
The teenager wanted the group to be "operational" by the 2024 election because he believed it was likely a Democrat would win, but "the timeline for being operational would accelerate if President Trump lost the 2020 election," according to the affidavit.
An informant told investigators that the teen "definitely wanted to be operational for violence, but also activism."
The Ohio teen, who was 17 at the time, also shared plans with a smaller group about a plot to create a power outage by shooting rifle rounds into power stations in the southeastern U.S. The teen called the plot "Light's Out" and there were plans to carry it out in the summer of 2021, the affidavit states.
One group member, a Texas native who was a Purdue University student at the time, allegedly sent the informant a text saying "leaving the power off would wake people up to the harsh reality of life by wreaking havoc across the nation."
The affidavit identifies three people by name and references others who were allegedly communicating with or part of the group. The Associated Press is not naming any of the individuals because charges have not been publicly filed.
The affidavit details an investigation into group members, who allegedly share white supremacist ideology. The document outlines how they communicated over encrypted messaging applications before three of them eventually met up in person. They also allegedly shared recommended reading on white supremacist literature, required a "uniform" to symbolize their commitment and talked about making weapons. The affidavit says the Ohio teen put Nazi flags in his room, but his mother told him to take them down.
Some group members also indicated that they were prepared to die for their beliefs. One man from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, allegedly told the Ohio teen: "I can say with absolute certainty that I will die for this effort. I swear it on my life." The teen replied: "I can say the same," the court documents state.
According to the affidavit, the Wisconsin man also told an undercover FBI employee in February that the group was interested in taking "direct action" against the system and said, "If you truly want a fascist society I will put in the effort to work with you but recruitment is long and not going to be easy."
He then outlined a "radicalization" process to instill a "revolutionary mindset" which ended with recruits proving they are more than just talk. He allegedly wrote that if it seemed too tough, "I recommend leaving now, we are extremely serious about our goals and ambitions."
The affidavit says the Ohio teen also spoke numerous times about creating Nazi militant cells around the country like those of the neo-Nazi network the Atomwaffen Division.
Atomwaffen Division members have promoted "accelerationism," a fringe philosophy espousing mass violence to fuel society's collapse. More than a dozen people linked to the group or an offshoot called the Feuerkrieg Division have been charged with serious crimes in recent years.
This investigation apparently began after a fourth man, from Canada, was stopped while trying to enter the U.S. The man told border agents that he was going to visit the Ohio teen, whom he had recently met over an encrypted app, according to the affidavit. Agents found Nazi and white supremacist images on his phone.
August 12, 2020 -- The total of number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide went over the 20 million mark on Tuesday, the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported.
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Dec. 31, 2020
Updated Jan. 1, 2021, 1:59 a.m. ET
The United States recorded its 20 millionth case since the start of the coronavirus pandemic on Thursday, surpassing a grim milestone just as the prospects for getting the virus under control quickly in the new year appeared to dim.
Half of those 20 million cases have been recorded just since Nov. 8, a reflection of how widespread and devastating the recent surge has been.
"The United States recorded its 20 millionth case since the start of the coronavirus pandemic on Thursday, surpassing a grim milestone"
the media echo chamber is so pathetic
do a google search for "grim milestone"
in this case, there's no case for the term
cases aren't "grim", deaths are
Cases most certainly are grim, a significant percentage of people who get COVID and survive end up with permanent serious health damage.
And 340,000 deaths are certainly grim - Trump has been a disastrous failure.
Romney Blasts Trump Admin’s “Inexcusable” Lack Of Vaccine Rollout Plan, Floats Own Distribution System
Via press release from Republican Sen. Mitt Romney:
That comprehensive vaccination plans have not been developed at the federal level and sent to the states as models is as incomprehensible as it is inexcusable.
I have experience organizing a major logistical event but nothing on the scale of what is called for today. Nor do I have any relevant medical or public health experience.
But I know that when something isn’t working, you need to acknowledge reality and develop a plan—particularly when hundreds of thousands of lives are at stake.
Not only do people who get COVID and survive often have serious heart, lung, and other organ damage, Republicans are trying to take away Obamacare's health insurance protection for those with preexisting health conditions and make having had COVID a preexisting health condition.
The evolutionary psychology of people results in a large percentage of conservatives having a natural psychological tendency want to lead their tribe in violent conquest over another and they can under the right circumstances have disdain for life as we see now with COVID and support for the fascist Trump.
Trash in my email box:
Senate Conservative Fund
Fellow American:
According to two new polls, the Republican Senate candidates are now leading in the Georgia runoff elections!
The Trafalgar Group surveys show Senator David Perdue (R-GA) leading Jon Ossoff (D-GA) by 2 points, and Senator Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) leading Raphael Warnock (D-GA) by 6 points.
This is very good news. Winning these runoff elections is critical to building a firewall for freedom to stop the Democrats' radical agenda.
But we can't let up now. We know that the other side is more than willing to break the rules to win elections so we need to help Perdue and Loeffler crush their opponents.
Please make an urgent contribution to the Perdue and Loeffler campaigns right now.
Your donation will go directly to their campaigns where they can use the funds for voter contact when it matters most.
Time is short, so please act right now.
The liberals want control of the Senate so they can abolish the filibuster and then pass legislation to raise taxes, bail out liberal states, expand taxpayer-funded abortion, undermine the Second Amendment, grant amnesty to illegal immigrants, pass the Green New Deal, pack the courts, and many more policies that will forever weaken our country!
We cannot allow this to happen. We must win these races.
Please donate $20, $40, $80, $100, $200, or any amount up to $2,800 to each of these candidates right now.
Together, we can hold the Senate and begin the process of taking America back in the next two elections.
Thank you for considering this urgent request and for doing so much to help fight for America's future.
Sincerely,
Mary Vought Signature
Mary Vought
Executive Director
Senate Conservatives Fund
THIS WITCH IS LYING THROUGH HER TEETH!
See for yourselves.
Georgia Senate Runoff December 27 Poll
TOTAL (with leans)
Jon Ossoff 50.4%
David Perdue 47.7%
Undecided 1.9%
TOTAL (with leans)
Raphael Warnock 49.6%
Kelly Loeffler 48.8%
Undecided 1.6%
"cases aren't "grim", deaths are"
"The liberals want control of the Senate so they can...bail out liberal states"
This is Republicans gas lighting the public again. Liberal states contribute far more in taxes than they get back from the federal government while red states use far more in government services than they pay in.
Liberal states support conservative states, not the other way around
Excerpted from the online book The Authoritarians
The following are typical beliefs for right wing authoritarians like the supporters of Trump:
___1.The established authorities generally turn out to be right about things, while the radicals and protestors are usually just “loud mouths” showing off their ignorance.
___ 2. Women should have to promise to obey their husbands when they get married.
___ 3. Our country desperately needs a mighty leader who will do what has to be done to destroy the radical new ways and sinfulness that are ruining us.
___ 5. It is always better to trust the judgment of the proper authorities in government and
religion than to listen to the noisy rabble-rousers in our society who are trying to create
doubt in people’s minds
___ 7. The only way our country can get through the crisis ahead is to get back to our traditional values, put some tough leaders in power, and silence the troublemakers spreading bad ideas.
___ 10. Our country will be destroyed someday if we do not smash the perversions eating away at our moral fiber and traditional beliefs.
___ 12. The “old-fashioned ways” and the “old-fashioned values” still show the best way to live.
___ 14. What our country really needs is a strong, determined leader who will crush evil, and take us back to our true path.
___ 16. God’s laws about abortion, pornography and marriage must be strictly followed before it is too late, and those who break them must be strongly punished.
___ 17. There are many radical, immoral people in our country today, who are trying to ruin it for their own godless purposes, whom the authorities should put out of action.
___ 19. Our country will be great if we honor the ways of our forefathers, do what the authorities tell us to do, and get rid of the “rotten apples” who are ruining everything.
___ 22. This country would work a lot better if certain groups of troublemakers would just shut up and accept their group’s traditional place in society.
High scorers [in agreement with these ideas] submit to established authority more than most people do, aggress more in the name of such authority, and are much more conventional.
Authoritarian Submission. Everybody submits to authority to some degree. But some people go way beyond the norm and submit to authority even when it is dishonest, corrupt, unfair and evil. We would expect authoritarian followers especially to submit to corrupt authorities in their lives: to believe them when there is little reason to do so, to trust them when huge grounds for suspicion exist, and to hold them blameless when they do something wrong. We don’t expect absolutes here; people are much too complicated to completely, always, blindly submit, no matter what. But IF the RWA scale truly measures the tendency to be an authoritarian follower, those who score highly on it should tend to do these things, right? So do they?
Well, they will tell you that people should submit to authority in virtually all circumstances. If you give them moral dilemmas (e.g. should one steal an absurdly expensive drug to save a life?) they’re more likely to say, “The law is the law and must be obeyed” than most people are.
High RWAs trusted President Nixon longer and stronger than most people did during the Watergate crisis.11 Some of them still believed Nixon was innocent of criminal acts even after he accepted a pardon for them.12 (Similarly the Allies found many Germans in 1945 refused to believe that Hitler, one of the most evil men in history, had ordered the murder of millions of Jews and others.
Over the years I have found that authoritarian followers blissfully tolerated many illegal and unjust government actions that occurred in the United States and Canada...
Authoritarian followers seem to have a “Daddy and mommy know best” attitude toward the government. They do not see laws as social standards that apply to all. Instead, they appear to think that authorities are above the law, and can decide which laws apply to them and which do not--just as parents can when one is young. But in a democracy no one is supposed to be above the law. Still, authoritarians quite easily put that aside. They also believe that only criminals and terrorists would object to having their phones tapped, their mail opened, and their lives put under surveillance. They have bought their tickets and are standing in line waiting for 1984, The Real Thing. There might as well not be a Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. And when the Military Commissions Act of 2006 is used to deny people the right of habeas corpus--one of the oldest rights in western law--it is unlikely that right-wing authoritarians will object to the loss of this constitutional guarantee either.
Authoritarian Aggression. When I say authoritarian followers are aggressive I don’t mean they stride into bars and start fights. First of all, high RWAs go to church enormously more often than they go to bars. Secondly, they usually avoid anything approaching a fair fight. Instead they aggress when they believe right and might are on their side. “Right” for them means, more than anything else, that their hostility is (in their minds) endorsed by established authority, or supports such authority. “Might” means they have a huge physical advantage over their target, in weaponry say, or in numbers, as in a lynch mob. It’s striking how often authoritarian aggression happens in dark and cowardly ways, in the dark, by cowards who later will do everything they possibly can to avoid responsibility for what they did. Women, children, and others unable to defend themselves are typical victims. Even more striking, the attackers typically feel morally superior to the people they are assaulting in an unfair fight. We shall see research evidence in the next chapter that this self-righteousness plays a huge role in high RWAs’ hostility.
Trump is so clearly a fraud and a con man that to suggest otherwise is in fact delusional and offensive to any rational person.
It is hard to take seriously a politician, friend, or family member who defends this criminal.
We're investigating Lindsey Graham's election tampering in Georgia.
Senator Graham suggested Georgia throw out mail-in ballots and questioned Arizona's voting security.
Japan has less than 1,000 COVID deaths. They never went into full economic shutdown. They have an unemployment rate of 2.6%. How did they do it? Virtually everybody wears a mask. Americans have no idea how stupid they look on the world stage.
Let's be clear: the rehabilitation of Ronald Reagan into a beloved statesman was not organic. It was a years long propaganda project by Republican PR groups who had no example of a modern successful GOP president and decided to just convince the public Reagan had been one.
Ronald Reagan committed treason when he negotiated secretly with Iran to hand onto the hostages until his Inauguration, in exchange for illegal arms sales, followed by illegally diverting that cash to fascist central American death squads.
The failure to hold him accountable and to impeach him was another brick in the road which led to where we are now: GOP Presidents are presumed to be above all laws and beyond all accountability
As COVID rages, Evangelical singer Sean Feucht defies health warnings to draw a crowd of 2500 to New Year's Eve gathering in Los Angeles - few masks and no social distancing.
Right wing christian Kirk Cameron also held a similar event in Ventura County
Bloomberg Quicktake
The wealthiest 500 people on the planet added $1.8 trillion to their combined neat worth in 2020. That 31% jump is the biggest yearly gain in the history of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Meanwhile the net worth of working Americans has plummeted.
A federal judge in Texas has dismissed a long-shot lawsuit by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.) that sought to overturn the presidential election, saying neither the congressman nor his allies have legal standing to pursue the case.
The judge’s Friday night ruling tosses out what many election law experts considered a far-fetched theory to challenge the formal mechanism by which President-elect Joe Biden will be affirmed as the winner of the race for president.
U.S. District Judge Jeremy D. Kernodle issued an order dismissing the case because, he found, neither Gohmert nor his fellow plaintiffs have a sufficient legal stake in the process to justify the lawsuit. Kernodle was nominated to the federal bench by President Trump.
The judge’s ruling comes less than 12 hours after lawyers for Gohmert filed court papers arguing that Vice President Pence has far more power than the government claims to alter the outcome of the presidential election. Gohmert’s lawyers filed a notice of appeal later Friday night.
Kernodle wrote that previous court cases make clear that an individual member of Congress cannot sue for a harm supposedly done to the larger legislature. Additionally, the judge found, Gohmert’s claim of harm is a series of hypothetical scenarios stacked on top of each other, further undercutting any authority for the court to intervene.
“Plaintiffs presuppose what the Vice President will do on January 6, which electoral votes the Vice President will count or reject from contested states, whether a Representative and a Senator will object under Section 15 of the Electoral Count Act, how each member of the House and Senate will vote on any such objections, and how each state delegation in the House would potentially vote under the Twelfth Amendment absent a majority electoral vote,” the judge wrote. “All that makes Congressman Gohmert’s alleged injury far too uncertain to support standing.”
Barack Obama's administration made the policy decision to look forward, not back, and to leave the misdeeds of George W. Bush's administration to history's judgment. That would be a mistake for the incoming Biden administration. Donald Trump and his henchmen have made a concerted attack on American democracy, and done so much corrupting damage that it would be dereliction to give them a pass.
Three areas in particular need investigation. One is the administration's denial of climate science, done at the bidding of the fossil fuel industry and its array of front groups. Another is the corruption Trump and his administration fomented within federal agencies. The last is the damage to the Department of Justice, where Trump cronies — to paraphrase the legendary 19th-century Chief Justice John Marshall — from the citadel of the law turned its guns on those whom they were meant to defend.
The climate denial and obstruction campaign has been deliberately obscured by its protagonists, meaning both the dark-money channels through which its funding flows and its confusing array of front groups. The scale and scope of this apparatus is stunning; its effects have been devastating. To expose this scheme will require a robust presidential commission like the one that looked into the 1986 explosion of the Challenger space shuttle. With leading independent citizens guiding it, a large and able staff, robust powers of investigation and public hearing, and the ability to refer cases on for further action, a presidential commission will be equipped to get to the bottom of what may prove to be the most insidious and systematic fraud in American history.
Fortunately, peer-reviewed science and investigative reporting has already looked into the dark-money scheme to attack climate science and to corrupt the political system around climate change. Much of the relevant information is ready to hand. Whistleblowers will no doubt emerge, once they have a trustworthy place to bring their concerns. And the papers and records of participants in this massive scheme will provide rich seams of evidence. This commission can get a fast start. We must never again allow American democracy to be so disabled by corrupting influence, and a full exposition of what went wrong — and how, and why — will be a powerful investment in the integrity of America's future governance...
...To address corruption within agencies of government, the oversight powers of Congress are particularly well adapted. A special committee of Congress, with its own staff and robust investigative powers, would be most effective. A government that serves the people must have the strength to resist special interest influence; members of Congress would be particularly adept at restoring the resilience of government against such influence.
A special committee provides a single repository for evidence and testimony, and could without hindrance investigate schemes that crossed agency and committee jurisdictions. The committee's findings and recommendations would go to the public, the administration and the regular standing committees of Congress; case referrals could go to inspectors general, licensing bodies or the Department of Justice, as needed. With an investigative committee on the job, regular standing committees would be free to pursue long-overdue legislative efforts without the burden of this urgent but additional work.
This brings us to the Department of Justice, erstwhile citadel of the law. Because much of the department's integrity was safeguarded by institutional norms and traditions, and because of the special nature of the department's responsibilities, respected Justice veterans should guide its restoration. President Biden's new attorney general should be tasked to form a bipartisan advisory committee, linked to the DOJ's inspector general and Office of Professional Responsibility, but with its own staff. Tasking clean-up recommendations to this group will allow the department's divisions to move forward with their regular duties. Personnel actions and referrals of cases may be necessary; institutional norms and enforcement must be strengthened; new safeguards will need to be constructed; and changes in administrative structure may be needed. The Office of Legal Counsel, for instance, has run so many political errands and is so discredited that it should perhaps have its work distributed elsewhere within the Justice Department.
The Obama administration was right that a new American government must move forward. We face big issues — climate change in particular, but many others as well — where the price of failure will be unacceptably high. But failure to look back is not an option this time.
If, in the new year, pandemic vaccines aren’t available as promised, Americans can’t return to work because economic relief isn’t delivered or an adversary successfully attacks the United States because national security agencies couldn’t pay for new defenses, a hefty share of the blame should be placed on a man you’ve probably never heard of: One Russell Thurlow Vought.
As President Trump’s budget director, he conspicuously failed in his stated goal of controlling the debt. Despite his efforts, the debt increased by $6 trillion on his two-year watch as director of the Office of Management and Budget, the biggest jump in history.
He also has been disastrous in his fiscal forecasts. On Feb. 10, he predicted 2.8 percent growth for the year, saying, “our view is that, at this point, coronavirus is not something that is going to have ripple effects.” A few weeks later, the economy collapsed.
But what Russ Vought is very good at is sabotage. He’s sabotaging national security, the pandemic response and the economic recovery — all to make things more difficult for the incoming Biden administration. That he’s also sabotaging the country seems not to matter to Vought, who has spent nearly two decades as a right-wing bomb thrower.
He has blocked civil servants at OMB from cooperating with the Biden transition, denying President-elect Joe Biden the policy analysis and budget-preparation assistance given to previous presidents-elect, including Barack Obama and Trump himself. Transition figures warn that it will likely delay and hamper economic and pandemic relief and national security preparation (the Pentagon is the other key agency resisting transition cooperation with the incoming administration)Thursday afternoon, Vought released a bombastic letter accusing the Biden transition of making “false statements” about OMB’s uncooperativeness — and then essentially confirming that it would not cooperate: “What we have not done and will not do is use current OMB staff to write the [Biden transition’s] legislative policy proposals to dismantle this Administration’s work. . . . Redirecting staff and resources to draft your team’s budget proposals is not an OMB transition responsibility. Our system of government has one President and one Administration at a time.”
Nobody should have expected otherwise from Vought.
He was the author of a Sept. 4 memo attacking critical race theory and canceling racial sensitivity programs, which he called “divisive, anti-American propaganda.” The issue, apparently prompted by a segment Trump viewed on Fox News, became key to the final weeks of Trump’s race-baiting campaign.
Vought was also the mastermind of Trump’s executive order that attempts to reclassify tens of thousands of civil servants who work in policy roles so they can be easily fired. Vought has proposed reclassifying 88 percent of OMB staff (425 people).
He was a key figure in the Ukraine imbroglio, freezing military aid to the country as Trump pushed for Ukraine’s president to announce a probe of Joe and Hunter Biden and the Democrats. The Government Accountability Office determined the budgetary freeze violated the Impoundment Control Act. Vought also ignored a subpoena during the impeachment inquiry.
Vought’s 2017 nomination to be OMB deputy director (he later served 18 months as acting director and has served five as director) was nearly undone over a 2016 article in which he wrote: “Muslims do not simply have a deficient theology. They do not know God because they have rejected Jesus Christ, his Son, and they stand condemned.”
Vought spent seven years on the vanguard of conservative extremism as a senior official at Heritage Action, the political wing of the Heritage Foundation. The group fought GOP leadership and pushed lawmakers into unyielding positions.
During that time, Vought wrote a series of rambling posts for RedState.com arguing that “incrementalism doesn’t work for the right,” that Republicans “are fundamentally in their DNA unwilling to fight” and that Republicans needed to have “a willingness” to shut the government down. He exhorted Republicans to “embrace the sort of brinkmanship that shows they are playing to win.” He railed against a 2012 infrastructure bill as “communism.”
Before Heritage, Vought worked for the right-wing House Republican Study Committee whose job, he said, “is to push leadership as far to the right as is possible and flat out oppose it when necessary.”
He has continued to lob grenades from inside the White House. At an antiabortion rally, he claimed credit for blocking Planned Parenthood’s funding. He infuriated Democrats by refusing to share projections with Congress.
But when it comes to governing, Vought has been a loser. He ran the botched White House response to the 2019 government shutdown, issuing legally dubious decisions and, as one Republican budget expert told The Post, “making up the rules as they go along.” It became the longest-ever shutdown and ended in Trump’s surrender.
Now Vought is intentionally botching the transition, without regard for the dire consequences Americans could suffer. This is what happens when you put an arsonist in charge of the fire department.
Other than President Xi and Mario Cuomo, Anthony Fauci is probably responsible for more COVID deaths than anyone else.
Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, people have been told to trust the experts. But what happens when those experts knowingly lie to the public?
This is the situation in which Fauci, one of the leading experts on the White House coronavirus task force, currently finds himself. Having admitted that he subtly shifted the goal posts on coronavirus guidance, Fauci owes the public an apology.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is one of the only political leaders willing to demand he do so. He has come under a good deal of criticism over the past week for calling out Fauci’s deception, but he makes a good point: Many of our elites, Fauci included, feel comfortable misleading or sharing only part of the truth with people because they think of themselves as the only ones capable of understanding our present crisis.
Fauci admitted as much in a recent interview with the New York Times. He confessed that he knowingly downplayed the percentage of people who would need to be vaccinated in order for the United States to reach herd immunity, and then he raised that number only because of a “gut feeling that the country is finally ready to hear what he really thinks,” the New York Times reported.
This is not the first time Fauci has been caught in his own web. He was one of the most prominent health experts to discourage people from wearing face coverings toward the beginning of the outbreak, even though the available data confirmed masks would help prevent COVID-19 carriers from spreading the virus. A few months later, after many states began mandating masks in public, Fauci acknowledged that he knowingly misled the public because the experts “were concerned that it was at a time when personal protective equipment, including the N95 masks and the surgical masks, were in very short supply.”
The same goes for Fauci’s many predictions about when normal life might return. Back in the spring, he was hopeful that some semblance of normalcy would return in the fall. In July, he predicted that everyday life would not be able to pick back up for “a year or so.” And now, he’s estimating that people will still be wearing masks and social distancing well into 2021. It seems that with every passing month, Fauci pushes the goal posts back just a bit further.
This approach might work well in the medical world — after all, it’s better for a doctor to overestimate risk and be proven wrong than to say things will be all right when they are not — but it does not make for good policy. We are now nearly nine months into 15-days-to-stop-the-spread, and the public is tired of being asked to make it over just one more hill. Compliance is waning, pandemic fatigue is spreading, and trust in what the experts have to say is at an all-time low.
What the country needs right now is honesty — not a pat on the back or a vague “we’ll get there when we get there.” People deserve to know just how long this shutdown could last, whether the coronavirus restrictions they’re being asked to obey actually combat the spread of the virus, and how much more they’ll be asked to give up before this thing is over. And if Fauci cannot give them the answers, he should reconsider his role and its purpose.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "Other than President Xi and Mario Cuomo, Anthony Fauci is probably responsible for more COVID deaths than anyone else. Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, people have been told to trust the experts. But what happens when those experts knowingly lie to the public?".
Wyatt and Regina have been pushing this heinous lie to take away attention from the real culprit in the COVID pandemic and that is Trump. Wyatt and Regina falsely claim Fauci lied when early on, following the best information at the time, he advised the general public not to wear masks due to the shortage so they could be saved for the health care workers that needed them most.
Shortly after giving that advice Fauci acting on new information then advised everyone to wear a mask and yet Wyatt and Regina deceitfully try to blame him for people not wearing masks while they give Trump a pass who still opposes the use of masks and is holding one big maskless non-distanced public event after another.
Wyatt and Regina don't give a damn about advising people to wear masks. If they did they'd give Fauci credit for now encouraging masks and condemn Trump for still encouraging people not to.
Right wing authoritarians like Wyatt and Regina are completely subservient to Trump and his corrupt actions that are killing hundreds of thousands needlessly. Loyalty to Trump before life, that's the right wing authoritirian's way.
Oh yeah, and it certainly isn't Cuomo's fault either. Trump hid the seriousness of the pandemic from Cuomo and other governors which allowed the virus to get firmly entrenched before Cuomo could act. Cuomo is a minor player, Trump is the national leader and it is his job to lead the nation through COVID. If it was true that Cuomo failed it was up to Trump as president to take over and save lives, instead Trump did nothing because he and Kushner liked that it was Democratic leaning New Yorkers dying. Conservatives did the same thing during Reagan's presidency with HIV. It was killing gays who they didn't like so Reagan let HIV get out of control and now HIV is transmitted primarily amongst heterosexuals. If Trump and Reagan had acted early when the people they didn't like were being killed many more people could have been spared.
From the FBI agent who led the investigation into the massacre of civilians by Blackwater mercenaries.
Having spent many hours with the innocent Iraqi victims who are permanently maimed and crippled because of the actions of these Blackwater guards, and the heartbroken family members of those killed, I am embarrassed for our country. I believe we will pay a heavy price in our relationships with other countries as a result of [Trump pardoning the murderers].
I'm so glad that I'm retired and will never again be asked to risk my life and those of my fellow investigators, only to have killers pardoned for purely political reasons.
There isn't a single COVID mitigation measure conservatives will follow and its all due to Trump's opposition to them from the very start until this very day.
Fauci is advising everyone to wear masks, Trump is mocking those who do.
WHY DO WYATT AND REGINA CONDEMN FAUCI WHO ASKS PEOPLE TO WEAR MASKS AND NOT TRUMP????
Virginia state Sen. Ben Chafin Jr. has died after contracting Covid-19, according to a statement from his office. He was 60 years old.
"State Senator Augustus Benton (Ben) Chafin, Jr., a native son of Russell County located in Southwest Virginia, passed away on January 1, 2021 from Covid-19 complications," the statement said.
The Republican lawmaker's family thanked the VCU Medical Center in Richmond for "its vigorous care and heartfelt support during his two weeks of medical services there."
Chafin, a cattle farmer and attorney, served Virginia's 38th District. He was elected to the state's House of Delegates in 2013 before moving to the Senate in 2014.
His office remembered him Friday as "a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, economic development and health care coverage for hundreds of thousands of low-income Virginians."
"He advocated jobs in his district, particularly in the coalfields where the decline of coal has devastated local economies," the statement said.
Blasphemy - The Original Thought Crime.
Imaginary crime against imaginary Gods.
[Religious conservatives put people to death for this as the bible and Koran command.]
Donald and his Republican pals have spent the past two months spreading lies about election fraud. While their lies have been dismissed by 90 courts of law, they now they claim the public distrusts the election results. This is the same distrust they manufactured with their lies. They claim their manufactured distrust needs to be addressed by Congress.
Eff the Republicans' manufactured concern about public distrust of the election results.
Mr JackNasty,
Democrats have a history of manufacturing public distrust of election results. Constant allegations that voter ID laws are racist, Gore still says the Supreme Court stole the election, and Hillary paid a foreign spy to make up the lie that she lost because the Russians somehow manipulated the vote.
Trump has two very legitimate complaints.
1. The media suppressed the Hunter Biden story and 17% of Biden voters said if they know then what they know now, the would have voted differently
2. Statistical analysis shows that a high likelihood that the results were altered. In previous elections, absentee ballots have been rejected because of irregularities at about 10 times the rate they did in 2020. Many key states would likely have flipped if previous rates if rejection held
3. Several key states violated their own state election laws in ways that would have altered the election
Obviously, we shouldn't overturn the election. But we need to consider reforms to prevent this from happening in the future, Democrats are trying to prevent reform by making asinine statements like. "Eff the Republicans' manufactured concern about public distrust of the election results."
Socialist countries where dictators win 99% of the vote say things like that.
Any honest person realizes that mail-in voting is an opportunity for election fraud. It should be restricted to those with compelling reason in the future.
"If he wants to lead the nation, he should run for office.”
That sounds like Nancy Pelosi discussing the prospects of a Gavin Newsom presidency, but it’s really Senator Marco Rubio calling out Dr. Anthony Fauci in a December 30 Fox News opinion piece.
For most of 2020, Fauci had been telling Americans that to reach herd immunity and make the coronavirus a non-issue, about 60 to 70 percent of the nation would need a vaccine. Then in a December 24 interview with the New York Times, Fauci said he had been looking at “polls” showing that only half of all Americans would take a vaccine.
Fauci thought “I can nudge this up a bit,” and boosted the number to 80-85 percent for herd immunity. So by “the beginning of the fall of 2021, we can start to approach some degree of normality.” If embattled Americans thought Fauci really had 2022 in mind it would be hard to blame them.
Rubio granted Fauci’s good intentions but “let’s be clear about what he was doing: lying to the American people in order to manipulate their behavior.” That was a long overdue spanking but Rubio was not the first to give Fauci the smackdown he deserves.
Anthony Fauci is a medical doctor whose bio shows no advanced degrees in molecular biology or biochemistry, so strictly speaking Fauci is not a virologist. Even so, the 80-year-old has held forth at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, as Rubio observed, without once having to face the voters.
The bureaucratic types have a personal kind of agenda. They make up their own rules as they go. They change them when they want to. That squares with Fauci’s changes on herd immunity, masks, school openings and such, but there’s more to it. Fauci does not mind going on television in front of the people, face out, and lie directly into the camera.
As Rubio has it, Fauci was “lying to the American people,” and his coronavirus task force partner Deborah Birx also has a problem on that front.
Birx recently violated her own guidelines with a post-Thanksgiving trip to a vacation home with family from two households. For virologist Angela Rasmussen of the Georgetown Center for Global Health Science and Security, this “disqualifies” Birx “from any future government health position.”
“I’ve been reluctant to criticize Dr. Deborah Birx,” Rasmussen tweeted, “because she’s the only woman in an overwhelmingly male coronavirus task force, and she has a long history of doing critical work to address the HIV/AIDS pandemic.” Even so, “That ends today, she lied to the American public.”
Highly qualified scientists—Rasmussen earned a Ph.D. in microbiology from Columbia University—have now branded Birx and Fauci as liars. For Marco Rubio, that’s a problem.
“Passing the buck to unelected technocrats avoids accountability and means falling back on two fallacies,” Rubio wrote. “First, that science gives us a straightforward playbook for answering questions facing decision-makers; and, second, that those technocrats are the only legitimate interpreters of the facts.”
So if Fauci won’t run for office, “he should give us an honest and transparent reading of the science, not polling data, and let the rest of us—policymakers and the American people who have elected them—do our jobs.”
Fauci may check the latest polls and “nudge” normality all the way into 2022 or beyond. For their part, embattled Americans might check out the December 17, “How to End Lockdowns Next Month,” by Jay Bhattacharya, professor of medicine at Stanford, and Oxford epidemiologist Sunetra Gupta.
They cite the Great Barrington Declaration, which they co-authored with Martin Kulldorff of Harvard Medical School. The key idea is focused protection of people who face a high risk of mortality should they become infected.
“COVID-19 is especially deadly for the old and others with chronic conditions,” Bhattacharya and Gupta explain, “but the lockdowns are deadly as well.”
Just because the theaters are closed doesn’t mean that we lack for drama. Our quivering reaction to the latest Chinese import may have shuttered Broadway, just as it has emptied restaurants and city streets—unless, of course, you are a member of the nomenklatura—but there is still plenty of excitement to be had in the unfolding entertainment of our political life, especially in the final episodes of what we might call “West Wing II—or Who Will Get to Write 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as His Return Address Come January 20?”
On Saturday, a group of 11 Republican Senators—including Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and Mike Braun (R-Ind.)—joined Josh Hawley of Missouri in declaring they will vote against the electors on offer in several disputed states at the joint session of Congress on January 6. At last count, at least 140 GOP representatives plan to vote against the slate of Democratic electors in those states as well.
In my view, this is as it should be, and not just because Republicans are now giving Democrats a taste of their own medicine.
Remember how the Democrats went wild in 2000 when George W. Bush won the election? Remember what they have been doing to Donald Trump since before he was inaugurated in 2016? Spare me the lectures about “civility,” “the peaceful transfer of power,” and the general awfulness of Donald Trump. Turnabout is fair play, especially in a game when letting things go means ensuring more of the bad treatment you just endured. If anyone has it coming, it is the Democrats—and they deserve to get it good and hard.
But that is not the only reason I applaud the decision of those stalwart Republicans to vote against the slate of Biden electors in those disputed states. There is also a matter of principle. In a statement released Saturday afternoon, the 11 senators joining Hawley clearly outlined the situation.
“America is a Republic whose leaders are chosen in democratic elections,” they wrote. “Those elections, in turn, must comply with the Constitution and with federal and state law.”
Who could disagree? Moreover, is there anyone who would take issue with their further observation that “when the voters fairly decide an election, pursuant to the rule of law, the losing candidate should acknowledge and respect the legitimacy of that election”? “Hear, hear,” I say. And I’d be happy to emblazon the next bit on a placard and walk around the Capitol waving it: “if the voters choose to elect a new office-holder, our Nation should have a peaceful transfer of power.”
But here’s the rub. Was the presidential election in those disputed states conducted in accordance with “the Constitution and with federal and state law”? Did “the voters fairly decide” the election?
I think there are serious questions about both.
As Mark Levin, among others, has pointed out, serious questions surround whether the disputed states followed the Constitution or even their own laws in the way they changed the election rules in the run-up to the 2020 election. If they didn’t, are their elections legitimate? And what about all the other anomalies, statistical and otherwise?
Bottom line, according to the senators’ statement: “The 2020 election . . . featured unprecedented allegations of voter fraud, violations, and lax enforcement of election law, and other voting irregularities.” Indeed, the allegations of fraud “exceed any in our lifetime.” They noted further that various courts, including the Supreme Court, had nonetheless refused to hear and consider the evidence of voter fraud.
The senators are asking for an emergency audit of election returns in the disputed states. Will that happen? And even if it does, would it make any difference?
President Trump has promised to reveal evidence of massive voter fraud in just a couple of days, January 6, when rallies supporting him are scheduled around the country. “Massive amounts of evidence will be presented on the 6th,” he tweeted. “We won, BIG!”
At this point, two months after the election, one may be forgiven for feeling a little jaded. Krakens have been promised. To date, they have failed to materialize.
Nevertheless, I think the GOP initiative is very much worth pursuing. In a sober essay at Power Line, John Hinderaker asks the key question: “How much voter fraud was there?” Answer: A lot, probably. The qualifier is necessary because, as Hinderaker notes, most of the evidence is “circumstantial.”
This is not to say that it is unconvincing. Far from it. Hinderaker cites an imposing study by the political scientist John Lott, who argues that “vote fraud may account for Biden’s win” in Georgia and Pennsylvania, as well as in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin. I think Lott’s analysis is compelling. Will it, even if upheld, make any difference?
Hinderaker seems convinced by Lott’s analysis, too, but concludes there is “no way” that such arguments “will result in the election being overturned.”
“At this point,” he says, “even if Republicans were able to show how, and by whom, fraud was perpetrated in various states, which likely would require confessions from Democratic operatives, it is too late to prevent Biden’s inauguration.”
He is probably right. But if he is, there is no doubt that Joe Biden would enter office “under a cloud of uncertainty.” The truth is that “close to half of the country doubts that he actually won the election.” That may be understating things.
As I say, I believe that Hinderaker is basically correct in his observations. My one hesitation concerns his categorical statement that there is “no way” that the election might be overturned. The chances, I agree, are slender to the point of anorexia. But I remember a wise observation by R. Psmith in P. G. Wodehouse’s treatise Leave It To Psmith. “In this life,” that incomparable bon vivant observed, “we must always distinguish between the Unlikely and the Impossible.”
It is doubtful that Joe Biden will not be inaugurated on January 20, however illegitimate his victory was. Nevertheless, what is unlikely is not, for all that, impossible, an observation I make not to impart false hope but merely to register an admonitory caution
"including the Supreme Court, had nonetheless refused to hear and consider the evidence of voter fraud."
Really? In just how many of those 60 cases that got dismissed, how much evidence of voter fraud was actually presented?
Oozy Rudy had a habit of claiming all sorts of voter fraud in front of the TV cameras, and not actually presenting any in front of the judge.
Go ahead.
I'll wait.
“How much voter fraud was there?” Answer: A lot, probably. The qualifier is necessary because, as Hinderaker notes, most of the evidence is “circumstantial.”
This is not to say that it is unconvincing."
Yeah, just like those reports of Obama's "birth" in Kenya, and his secretly being a Muslim.
...Or the pedophile ring being run by Hillary from the basement of a DC pizza parlor.
You guys are nucking futz.
So a quarter of Republican Senators and most(?) Republican House members are still pursuing a theocratic dictatorship with Trump and their last stand (it would seem) is on Wednesday where they're asking for a ten day delay in counting the electoral college votes. If they succeed in getting it that could be the end of American democracy. Once that ten day delay is up they'll just keep demanding more and more delays and Biden will never be president.
A significant minority of Republicans have been pushing to overturn this election on the allegation of voter fraud. That has been tried 60 times in court and no evidence was found to support the allegations. Despite that these fascist Republicans have taken every possible opportunity to try to override the will of the people to force a Trump on them they don't want and have clearly democratically rejected.
Louis Gohmert has called for violence and Trump has made it clear he's not opposed to that in support of his grab at dictatorship. Research consistently shows 25-30% of the population at any given time is supportive of a dictatorship and a large minority like this in the past has forced dictatorship on the majority as happened in Nazi Germany.
The Republicans opposed to counting all the electoral college votes seek to entrench Trump as dictator and they are going to do everything they can to bring that about and end the American democracy.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "Democrats have a history of manufacturing public distrust of election results. Constant allegations that voter ID laws are racist".
Voter ID laws disproporionately affect blacks who are much more likely not to have a driver's license or even a birth certificate and Republicans have taken all kinds of actions to make it harder to get those documents in black neighbourhoods. Pointing out that this is racist in no way suggests the actual vote count was changed as Trump and his supporters have dishonestly done.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said ", Gore still says the Supreme Court stole the election,"
The 2000 election was decided by only 540 votes and Republicans stopped counting the votes before the recount was done in democratic leaning Broward county. The margin in 2020 is vastly greater and the legitimate outcome not at all in doubt and Trump has had multiple recounts which haven't changed a thing.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said ".and Hillary paid a foreign spy to make up the lie that she lost because the Russians somehow manipulated the vote.".
That's entirely made up. There was never an assertion that the Russians changed the voted count in 2016, what every American intelligence organization said was that the Russians had an intensive multi-pronged effort to promote Trump and condemn Hillary Clinton. They got enough people to vote for Trump instead of Hillary for him to eke out a 77,000 vote win in 3 states. Hillary and the Democrats never disputed that the vote count itself was correct, as Trump is now doing.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "Trump has two very legitimate complaints. 1. The media suppressed the Hunter Biden story and 17% of Biden voters said if they know then what they know now, the would have voted differently".
That's not a legitimate complaint, there's been such a flood of lies from Republicans about Hunter and Joe its not at all surprising or untoward that the media ignored the allegations. The free press is not under any obligation to do Trump's bidding (yet) no matter how much you demand it.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "2. Statistical analysis shows that a high likelihood that the results were altered."
That's a well worn lie. This was presented in over 90 courts and no evidence was presented to support these claims.
Wyatt/Regina/bad aonymous said " In previous elections, absentee ballots have been rejected because of irregularities at about 10 times the rate they did in 2020.".
Where's your proof? You've made dozens of false claims like this.
"Many key states would likely have flipped if previous rates if rejection held"
An absolute lie. This was tried in 90 courts and no evidence was presented to support this claim. There is no evidence whatsoever that anything untoward happened with absentee ballots.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "3. Several key states violated their own state election laws in ways that would have altered the election".
Trump sued in court on those grounds and his case was found meritless several times. You right wing authoritarians are lying. There is no real doubt about the outcome of this election, the people demand Biden.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "Obviously, we shouldn't overturn the election."
You just finished alleging that corruption turned the election for Trump and it should be overturned! You're not serious about "we shouldn't overturn the elecition", you're telling lies to encourage people to believe it was stolen from Trump!
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "But we need to consider reforms to prevent this from happening in the future,"
NOTHING happened. There is no evidence of voter fraud or anything that could have remotely begun to change the count enough for Trump to have won.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "Any honest person realizes that mail-in voting is an opportunity for election fraud. It should be restricted to those with compelling reason in the future.".
Trump's voter fraud commission spent millions looking for fraud and disbanded in disgrace when they found none. Voting by mail is secure and safe, many states have been voting by mail for decades without a hitch. A pandemic with over 350,000 dead was more than compelling reason enough to have every one vote by mail. That you don't consider that compelling reason shows you just want to minimize mail in voting as much as you can because those votes lean Democratic. YOU are attacking democracy by attacking mail in voting.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said“How much voter fraud was there?” Answer: A lot, probably. The qualifier is necessary because, as Hinderaker notes, most of the evidence is “circumstantial.”
This is not to say that it is unconvincing."
The "circumstantial evidence" was obviously totally unconvincing as 90 courts rejected it.
If there was any actual voter fraud Republicans would have found it. Same with any wrongdoing by Hillary Clinton.
I look at the depravity of the right, REAL depravity like child separation, racism, institutional homophobia, sexism and treating women as either commodities or baby machines, xenophobia, politicizing disease protocols during a pandemic, etc etc etc and am baffled that ANYONE can see them as moral authorities or arbiters.
Trump Rages That COVID Death Toll Is “Fake News”
This is likely what has Trump screaming this morning:
Last week saw two new record daily totals of conformed Covid deaths of over 3,700, and as of Friday, the official U.S. death toll was 347,870. That’s according to the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 Dashboard, which is generally regarded as the official source for confirmed coronavirus figures.
But according to the latest available figures from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the true current death toll is likely much greater — and could surpass half a million in a matter of weeks.
CDC tracks the number of deaths reported in excess of the average number of expected deaths based on prior years, and the latest figures show that since the pandemic began, 431,792 more people than expected have died.
Romney Blasts “Egregious Ploy” By Cultist Senators
From a statement issued today by Republican Sen. Mitt Romney:
The egregious ploy to reject electors may enhance the political ambition of some, but dangerously threatens our Democratic Republic. The congressional power to reject electors is reserved for the most extreme and unusual circumstances. These are far from it.
More Americans participated in this election than ever before, and they made their choice. President Trump’s lawyers made their case before scores of courts; in every instance, they failed.
The Justice Department found no evidence of irregularity sufficient to overturn the election. The Presidential Voter Fraud Commission disbanded without finding such evidence.
My fellow Senator Ted Cruz and the co-signers of his statement argue that rejection of electors or an election audit directed by Congress would restore trust in the election. Nonsense.
This argument ignores the widely perceived reality that Congress is an overwhelmingly partisan body; the American people wisely place greater trust in the federal courts where judges serve for life.
Members of Congress who would substitute their own partisan judgement for that of the courts do not enhance public trust, they imperil it.
Were Congress to actually reject state electors, partisans would inevitably demand the same any time their candidate had lost. Congress, not voters in the respective states, would choose our presidents.
Audio: Unhinged Trump Tries to Bully Georgia Officials into Finding More Votes for Him
Trump told Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger that he was taking “a big risk” by refusing to cooperate by falsifying verified election results that showed Biden winning by 11,779 votes.
Trump also told Raffensberger and his general counsel, “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have."
Evangelical christians when asked how they can justify supporting someone as unethical as Trump have said "God sometimes uses bad people to do good things".
How is it a good thing for Trump to be telling Georgia to fabricate votes for him? How would it be a good thing for Trump to corrupt the system for his own benefit? Its time for evangelical christians to condemn Trump's corrupt behaviour instead of pretending this is somehow a good thing.
Carl Bernstein: Trump’s Threats To GA Officials Are A Criminal Act And “Far Worse Than Watergate”
“This was something far worse than Watergate. We have both a criminal president of the United States and a subversive president of the United States at the same time in this one person subverting the very basis of our democracy, and willing to act criminally in that subversion. This is the ultimate smoking gun tape and proof of his attempt to undermine the electoral system and illegally, improperly and immorally try to instigate a coup in which he remains president of the United States.
“In any other presidency, this tape would be evidence enough to result in the impeachment of the president of the United States, his conviction in the Senate of the United States, and really an immediate call by the members of Congress, including of his own party, that he resign immediately. All these Republicans, from Cruz to all the rest of them who have participated in this sham, really ought to be made to pay by history, as should their party. This is not some kind of forgivable act.
“This is not about two simple equal sides of an equation. There are no two sides to this question. This is about democracy, fundamental principles.
“We have, for the first time, a president of the United States who has exceeded McCarthy’s authoritarianism, his disrespect for the constitution and rule of law, and the Republican party of our time – with McConnell’s leadership, with McCarthy’s leadership — has gone along with it to their disgrace.” – Famed Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein, speaking this afternoon on CNN.
Here's how close we are to losing our democracy, imperfect as it is: from now on, if the Republicans hold the House and the Senate, they will invalidate any presidential election that doesn't go their way.
At the end of the call, the President of the United States repeatedly asks for access to voter data that he knows is barred to him by law. He wants access to the data through a quiet, back door agreement.
That's a big deal in and of itself.
It's time evangelical christians admitted their god isn't using a bad man to do good things, that Trump is just a bad person doing bad things.
Andrew Cuomo caused more COVID deaths than any other American. Now, he's screwing up vaccine distribution.
New York’s slow-footed COVID-19 vaccine rollout has been a mismanaged mess, critics said Friday, with recent data showing that even Florida has doled out shots at a faster clip than the Empire State.
New York State has injected less than a third of the vaccines it has — casting doubt on Mayor Bill de Blasio’s dream of jabbing a million city residents in January.
“It’s chaos out there. The state has no idea what it’s doing,” said Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin, particularly taking aim at the leadership of Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“The Cuomo handling of the vaccine is blithering incompetence.”
McLaughlin said that county governments like his have been largely sidelined during the vaccine’s launch, with Cuomo and his team micromanaging the process from Albany, getting bogged down in details rather than putting the jabs into the arms of those who need them.
“This administration can’t administer the vaccines that are in its hands,” he said.
Data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention current as of Dec. 30 — due to a reporting lag over the holidays — shows New York lagging behind Florida in its vaccine administration efforts.
Larry Schwartz, a former top aide to Cuomo now handling the state’s vaccine program, said Friday that 266,000 of New York’s 630,000 doses have now been administered, about 42 percent.
But some still felt that other states might be on to something New York isn’t.
“Perhaps Florida Gov. [Ron] DeSantis can come to New York and explain all this,” cracked New York City Councilman Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island). “This is not the well-oiled machine Cuomo’s PowerPoint presentation says it is.”
The Democrats will destroy themselves.
The Democratic majority in the House has proposed sweeping changes to language used in the chamber, eliminating gendered terms including "mother" and "husband."
The proposed rule package seeks to “honor all gender identities” by striking words including “seaman,” “chairman,” “father,” “mother,” “sister,” “husband,” and “wife” from use and replacing them with gender-neutral terms including “seafarer,” “chair,” “parent,” “child,” and “sibling.”
The resolution, proposed Friday by Rep. James McGovern, the chairman of the House Rules Committee, will be voted on after the 117th Congress is sworn in on Sunday.
If passed, the package will also strike the use of “himself and herself” in favor of the term “themself,” and track the “diversity” of witnesses appearing before House panels.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi praised the “visionary rules package,” saying it a statement the package “reflects the views and values of the full range of our historically diverse House Democratic Majority.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy mocked the proposed changes, calling them “stupid,” while Representative-elect Marjorie Taylor Green called the measures a “blatant denial of truth” and an “attack on families.”
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "Andrew Cuomo caused more COVID deaths than any other American. Now, he's screwing up vaccine distribution.".
Trump is the man in charge nationally, not Cuomo and distributing the vaccine to the country is his job. Trump promised to have 20 million doses applied nationally by the end of the year and instead has only managed to get about 10% of that done.
If Cuomo or any other state governor isn't doing the job its up to Trump to go in there and get it done for the people. Instead he has no plan and makes no effort to get this done. Combine that with his willful promotion of maskless gatherings without social distancing and the magnitude of the Trump disaster is earth shaking.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "The Democrats will destroy themselves."
Right, just like you repeatedly assured us Democrats were in for a big surprise on election day and Trump was going win in a landslide.
No matter the reality Wyatt/Regina's go to story is that Democrats are losing and Republicans are winning bigly. No wonder the Republican candidate for president has only won the popular vote once in the past several presidential elections.
In one of the greatest betrayals in U.S. history Trump stabbed Kurds in the back who had done most of the fighting to greatly diminish ISIS.
A new report details the horrific consequences of the U.S. withdrawal from Syria last year.
President Donald Trump made one of his most reckless decisions last October, when he tweeted he was ending the U.S. mission in Syria, to the great surprise of his own government and at considerable cost to U.S. credibility. Now, nearly a year later, a United Nations report makes clear the damage to the Kurds and Arabs that America left behind.
On Trump’s orders, the small group of U.S. Special Forces that had served as a buffer between the U.S.-aligned Kurdish militia and the Turkish army left their posts last year, clearing the way for a Turkish invasion. That impetuous decision forced Kurdish troops, which had done most of the fighting to destroy Islamic State’s caliphate, to align with Damascus in Syria’s civil war, and by extension Russia and Iran.
Another consequence is that the majority Kurdish population that lived in Syria’s border region with Turkey has been in the crosshairs of Turkey’s military and allied Islamist militias. A report released this week from the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria paints an ugly picture.
The report singles out that Islamist militia, known (ironically) as the “Syrian National Army,” for actions that likely amount to war crimes. Three of its brigades “repeatedly perpetrated the war crime of pillage in both the Afrin and Ra’s al-Ayn regions,” it says. The militias have also been credibly accused of the torture and rape of detainees...
It’s unlikely that Trump cares much about the consequences of his erratic decision-making from a year ago. He is touting his opposition to endless wars on the campaign trail. But his supporters should see the carnage in Syria as a teaching moment. At a very low cost, the U.S. was able train and assist a fighting force in northern Syria capable of defeating Islamic State, something larger regional powers such as Turkey, Iran and Russia proved unable to do. And for the few years that Turkey was kept away from the autonomous zone in northern Syria, Kurds were able to live in relative peace and prosperity, compared to the rest of the country.
Today the Kurdish civilians who allied with the U.S. against jihadists are at the mercies of jihadists aligned with Turkey. That is not only an injustice for the Kurds, but also a stain on American honour.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "Andrew Cuomo caused more COVID deaths than any other American.
That's a lie. Trump is responsible for the vast majority of the 350,000 Americans that have died from COVID. Trump hid the severity of the pandemic from Cuomo so it got out of hand before he knew what was happening. Trump has turned half the country against all possible mitigation measures for COVID, particularly mask wearing and not holding gatherings.
Citizens for Ethics
One way to compare the Obama and Trump presidencies:
Taxpayers footed the bill for, on average, 133 Secret Service protected trips a year for the Obama family.
That number skyrocketed to 1,625 Secret Service protected trips a year for the Trump family.
And I remember the hue and cry from the right every time Obama played a round of golf or the family traveled. Trump used our Air Force One as a back drop to his campaign rallies, not to mention the White House, and crickets.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous posted "House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy mocked the proposed [gender accomodating] changes, calling them “stupid,” while Representative-elect Marjorie Taylor Green called the measures a “blatant denial of truth” and an “attack on families.”
Nonsense. Calling someone you know as "he" "she" instead doesn't hurt anyone. If that's what she prefers its no skin off your nose to refer to her that way and common decency requires you to do so.
Using gender-neutral terms including “seafarer,” “chair,” “parent,” “child,” and “sibling.” harms no one and is very important to some people.
Research shows that not referring to trans people by their preferred pronouns and terms increases their suicide rate:
Numerous studies have shown that actively misgendering trans people leads directlty to the suicidality rate in the trans community. A 2018 study by the University of Texas published in the journal of Alison Health found that trans youth that were gendered the way they wished to showed 71% fewer symptoms of severe depression and 65% decreases in suicide attempts and a 34% decrease in suicidal thoughts.
The Williams Institute of UCLA also found that trans people who are misgendered showed higher rates of suicide attempts including being 50%-54% more likely to attempt suicide if they were harrassed at school for being trans, 60% more likely if it ws done by a doctor or health care provider and 57-60% more likely if ti was done by a government worker or a person in a position of institutional power. There are many other studies that have found the same thing.
Now of course to evangelical conservatives like Wyatt and Regina Hardiman, knowing that misgendering trans people drives them to suicide makes them all the more eager to do so.
Its just common courtesy folks. It means a lot to a transwoman to have you refer to her as female and means nothing to you to do so, so you just do it out of courtesy. Its the right thing to do.
This just in. Trump litigation score now 1 win, 61 losses.
On Sunday, a Democratic representative — who also happens to have been a pastor for 37 years — gave an official prayer to open the 117th Congress. With great pomp and circumstance, he closed his prayer by invoking “the monotheistic god,” Brahma, and the god who supposedly goes by many names. He then concluded with the most asinine thing I have ever heard. He ended with “amen … and a-woman.”
Yes, in a moment worthy of The Babylon Bee, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), added the nonsense neologism “a-woman” to the classic prayer ending, “amen.”
“We ask it in the name of the monotheistic god, Brahma, and god known by many names by many different faiths,” Cleaver concluded. “Amen. … and A-woman.”
“Amen” means “so be it,” “it is so,” or “verily.” Jews and Christians have used the term to conclude prayers for thousands of years. The word appears 30 times in the Hebrew Bible and 52 times in the New Testament. There is no connection — absolutely none — between “amen” and “men,” the far later English word for plural male individuals.
This truth is so basic that it honestly strains credulity that any educated Jew, Christian, or Muslim — much less a Methodist who served as a pastor for 37 years — would feel the need to make the term of assent “amen” inclusive by adding “a-woman.” Yet Emanuel Cleaver, who served as the pastor at St. James United Methodist Church in Kansas City, Mo., from March 1972 to June 2009, did exactly that — and it seems he is proud of it.
Naturally, many conservatives rightly mocked Cleaver for this absurd virtue signaling. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.) mentioned “a-woman” and added, “Amen is Latin for ‘so be it.’ It’s not a gendered word. Unfortunately, facts are irrelevant to progressives. Unbelievable.”
“Amen is a Latin word that means ‘truly’ or ‘so be it.’ Awoman is a nonsense word that means nothing. Dems find a way to make everything stupid and nonsensical. Utter clowns, all of them,” The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh tweeted.
Yet this “a-woman” fiasco should show Americans just how stupid and shallow much of Democrats’ pandering in the name of “inclusivity” really is.
Democrats have championed Marxist critical race theory, which teaches that hidden racism permeates American society so that if America’s institutions are colorblind, they must be racist in some hidden, mysterious way. That’s what “institutional racism” really means.
Democrats have trained themselves to see racism even in situations where the law clearly states that individuals are to be judged on the content of their character, rather than on the color of their skin — and this extends to other kinds of prejudice as well. Feminists must root out any trace of “patriarchy.” Islamists must fight “Islamophobia,” which they redefine to mean any suggestion that radical Islamist terrorism has any connection to Islam.
This Marxist quest to root out hidden prejudice culminates in the transgender movement’s quest to rid the world of “white cis-hetero-patriarchy,” the supposed dominance of white males who identify as male and who wish that heterosexual relationships were the norm
The Georgia code says that anybody who solicits, requests or commands or otherwise attempts to encourage somebody to commit election fraud is guilty of solicitation of election fraud. “Soliciting or requesting” is the key language. The president asked, in no uncertain terms, the secretary of state to invent votes, to create votes that were not there. Not only did he ask for that in terms of just overturning the specific margin that Joe Biden won by, but then said we needed one additional vote to secure victory in Georgia.
Trump recorded asking Georgia officials to 'find votes' | Full Recording
"The Georgia code says that anybody who solicits, requests or commands or otherwise attempts to encourage somebody to commit election fraud is guilty of solicitation of election fraud. “Soliciting or requesting” is the key language. The president asked, in no uncertain terms, the secretary of state to invent votes, to create votes that were not there."
he never said to make up fraudulent votes
he said "find votes" but his position is that there are votes that were missed
not saying he's correct but it isn't criminal
President Trump awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to GOP Rep. Devin Nunes on Monday, he “is a public servant of unmatched talent, unassailable integrity, and unwavering resolve.”
Nunes, 47, a California congressman and former dairy farmer who has represented the San Joaquin Valley since 2003, served as the House Intelligence Committee chairman from early 2015 through early 2019, where he helped unearth a host of problems with the FBI’s use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to surveil former Trump campaign associates, emerged as a vocal opponent of special counsel Robert Mueller’s bogus investigation into allegations of collusion between the Russian government and the Trump campaign, and defended Trump against allegations of abuse of power during the ridiculous Ukraine impeachment of 2019.
“Since his election to Congress in 2002 at the age of 29, he has been a tireless fighter for the farmers of California, waging a long and successful battle to bring water to the Central Valley. In 2014, Devin was selected to chair the House Intelligence Committee. As Chairman, he confronted Russian aggression and opposed the Iran Nuclear Deal. Against fierce opposition, he led the effort to declassify documents seized in the bin Laden raid that showed Al Qaeda’s collaboration with Iran,” the White House said in its announcement Monday, also saying, “In 2017, Congressman Nunes launched an investigation into the Obama-Biden administration’s misconduct during the 2016 election – and began to unearth the crime of the century.”
The award ceremony took place Monday afternoon.
“This is a great honor that I accept on behalf of the people of California’s San Joaquin Valley,” Nunes said in a short statement.
In early February 2018, Nunes and his GOP-led intelligence committee released a FISA memo, saying, “Our findings … raise concerns with the legitimacy and legality of certain DOJ and FBI interactions with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, and represent a troubling breakdown of legal processes established to protect the American people from abuses related to the FISA process.”
Nunes was met by swift backlash from many Democrats, and the lying Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff released his own memo later that month, claiming that “FBI and DOJ officials did not ‘abuse’ the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act process, omit material information, or subvert this vital tool to spy on the Trump campaign.”
But DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report in December 2019 largely vindicated the Nunes memo, criticizing the Justice Department and the FBI for at least 17 “significant errors and omissions” related to the FISA warrants against Page, for concealing potentially exculpatory information from the FISA Court related to denials by a number of Trump associates, and for the bureau's reliance on the Democratic-funded, discredited dossier by British ex-spy Christopher Steele.
Horowitz said FBI interviews with Steele's primary subsource “raised significant questions about the reliability of the Steele election reporting” and noted Steele’s main source’s account "contradicted the allegations of a well-developed conspiracy" in Steele’s dossier. Declassified footnotes now show the FBI was aware that Steele’s dossier might have been compromised by Russian disinformation.
Now-special counsel John Durham is investigating the origins and conduct of the Trump-Russia investigation. FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith admitted to Durham this summer that he falsified a document during the bureau’s efforts to renew its FISA authority to wiretap Page, editing a CIA email in 2017 to state that Page was “not a source."
Mueller’s investigation concluded that the Russian government interfered in a “sweeping and systematic fashion,” according to his April 2019 report, but the special counsel “did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities."
The special counsel also laid out 10 possible instances of Trump obstructing justice but did not reach a conclusion on that issue. Then-Attorney General William Barr and former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein concluded Trump had not obstructed justice.
“As a result of his work, he discovered that the infamous Steele Dossier was funded by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee,” the White House said of Nunes on Monday, adding that his “courageous actions helped thwart a plot to take down a sitting United States president" and that he "pursued the Russia Hoax at great personal risk and never stopped standing up for the truth.”
Trump recently issued pardons to a number of figures swept up in Mueller’s abusive inquiry.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "he never said to make up fraudulent votes he said "find votes" but his position is that there are votes that were missed not saying he's correct but it isn't criminal".
It was clear from the entire conversation Trump was asking him to make up votes, that's what he meant by "find me these votes however you have to do it
Face it Trump is a criminal and has taken every corrupt path he can to a dictatorship. If Evangelical Christians can't condemn Trump now they are just as bad as him.
Inspector General Horowitz investigated the Russia investigation and concluded there was nothing untoward or unethical in the way the Mueller investigation was carried out. He outlines some minor issues but that was it.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "The special counsel also laid out 10 possible instances of Trump obstructing justice but did not reach a conclusion on that issue. Then-Attorney General William Barr and former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein concluded Trump had not obstructed justice.".
Actually it was 12 counts and the Mueller report most certainly did not conclude that Trump had not obstructed justice, contrary to the grotesque mischaracterization Rosenstein and Barr unethically put out.
The 12 counts of obstruction of justice were laid out with all the forms and procedures that one uses when you are going to court to convict someone. Mueller knew the Justice Department wouldn't indict a sitting president and that it would be up to Congress to act. He provided Congress with everything they needed to make a criminal case against Trump and left it up to them but Republicans refused to act despite over 1500 former prosecutors saying if any other American had obstructed justice the way Trump did he would be in jail.
That's what corrupt dictators do, when their justice system investigates them they attack the investigators and falsely accuse them of crimes. It sends the message to anyone else who would hold the dictator accountable to the rule of law "You try to hold me to the law and I will destroy you".
At Crismas Wyatt and Regina were trying to tell me what a good idea it would be for me to debate a pastor.
Not surprising they would recommend a destructive course of action for me given their hatred of lgbt people.
Research Shows Religious Counseling Associated With Higher LGB Suicide Risk
Lesbian, gay, and bisexual people who sought mental health counseling from a religious or spiritual adviser were more likely to subsequently attempt suicide than those who sought no treatment at all, says a study from the Williams Institute.
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act provides for exceptions to generally applicable laws if those laws infringe on an individual's religious freedom. The law requires that the individual be granted an exemption from a generally applicable law unless the government can show that the law is the least restrictive means of achieving a compelling state interest. In fact, only the religious can qualify for such protection and, since the vast majority of Americans are Christian, the vast majority of RFRA cases are also brought by Christians. Special rights, indeed.
The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, a more specific form of RFRA, gives churches exemptions from local zoning laws. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Christian churches have taken advantage of that law to violate local zoning codes, something that no non-religious organization has any legal right to do. More of those special rights.
School districts all over the country have released time programs, breaking up the school day to let Christian students leave the school for an hour or two every week to go to a local church for religious instruction. And once again, this is something that no non-religious organization could even dream of doing. Hell, a school board that even suggested that students should be released from school to go to, say, a Center for Inquiry office to learn about humanism would be voted out in a heartbeat.
The ministerial exception automatically grants exemptions for religious organizations from state and federal anti-discrimination laws. The law already requires that every employer make reasonable accommodation to their employees' religious beliefs, and only for religious beliefs, including giving them days off for the sabbath.
If the non-religious present a cogent, logical argument for why a given law should not apply to them, say by showing that there is no compelling interest for such a law and the law infringes on their freedom, they can almost never win such an argument in court because the court only apply strict scrutiny in a limited range of cases. A religious person, on the other hand, can get relief from those laws merely by asserting that the law interferes with their religious freedom. Religious freedoms, you see, are far more important than non-religious freedoms.
LGBT people are nearly four times more likely than non-LGBT people to experience violent victimization.
Evangelical christians like Wyatt and Regina Hardiman want to prevent society from doing anything about this. They oppose teaching school children its wrong to bully people for being gay or lesbian. They oppose any acknowledgement or effort by law enforcement reduce the disproportionate level of violence against people for being lgbt. They say nothing should be done and instead more laws that protect the elderly and children should be passed despite them being the most protected and least victimized groups in society.
Wyatt and Regina deceitfully said they didn't know what I meant about them "opposing gays" when they do everything in their power to make the lives of gays and lesbians worse and more difficult. These are truly despicable people.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/01/04/us/joe-biden-trump/the-leader-of-the-far-right-proud-boys-was-arrested-in-washington?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&fbclid=IwAR1zPWcddHUVQFi2LUC7t-i6NDr7t0SViTYg2kffWOsJ9VyqSUBUGG0FnPk
so, the head of the Proud Boys was arrested tonight for burning a Black Lives Matter banner but Black Lives Matter activists routinely deface and destroy public property and the DC government looks the other way
the alleged incident occurred weeks ago
it's clear by the timing this arrest was to take away the leadership of a protest scheduled for Wednesday
the DC government is violating constitutional rights
btw, this is hilarious:
"Lesbian, gay, and bisexual people who sought mental health counseling from a religious or spiritual adviser were more likely to subsequently attempt suicide than those who sought no treatment at all, says a study from the Williams Institute."
Randy a couple of years ago accused me of causing him to have a mental breakdown by disagreeing with him in blog posts
so, I stopped interacting with him, citing the reason
this caused an outpouring of rants and epithets, saying I was lying
(of course, everyone who ever disagrees with Randy is "lying". no wonder he falls to pieces when anyone disputes anything he says)
now, he is saying anyone who talks to a religious leader will become suicidal
oy vey!
this guy, Randy, who gobbles up 90% of the posts on this blog with repetitious circles of accusations and personal attacks, is a hardcore psycho
just be glad, being a foreign troll, that he is safely barred from entry into the US
merely looking at him the wrong way may cause a violent outburst
Researchers Say Christian Nationalism is Making It Harder to End the Pandemic
By Hemant Mehta
We know the pandemic won’t end unless enough Americans are vaccinated, and one of the biggest barriers to people getting the shots they need may be Christian Nationalism (that we should be a Christian nation, that the government should allow (forced) prayer in public schools, etc), the ideology that involves rejecting science and pledging allegiance to right-wing political leaders.
According to new research published in the journal Socius by sociology professors Andrew L. Whitehead and Samuel L. Perry, who also wrote the book Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States, Christian Nationalists “are much more likely to question the safety of vaccines and to be misinformed about them.”
They’re standing in the way of out ability to overcome this virus.
Americans who agreed with the various measures of Christian nationalism were much more likely to espouse anti-vaccine attitudes, even after controlling for other influences, such as political party, political ideology, religiosity, race or even education.
In a piece for NBC News, Whitehead explains that while this survey wasn’t about COVID specifically, the results would likely be the same. That needs to be accounted for when trying to figure out how to roll out the vaccine.
This is a significant concern. Christian nationalist ideology will almost certainly serve as a barrier for a sizable minority of Americans who need the vaccine. Policymakers and health care professionals will need to attend to this hurdle as they plan and then execute any broad-scale vaccination strategy.
And you thought conservative Christian denial of evolution was bad.
The anti-science propaganda espoused by right-wing Christians is literally killing people — and may continue to kill people the longer the ignorant masses hold out getting their shots while encouraging others to do the same. Keep in mind that conservative Christians have also shown little regard for COVID restrictions, demanding that churches remain open or holding large maskless in-person events despite the dangers such gatherings pose to society.
Our nation’s ability to save ourselves will require convincing the public to trust science over religion — or at least trust scientists over Christian death cult leaders.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "Priya a couple of years ago accused me of causing her to have a mental breakdown by disagreeing with her in blog posts".
Thats a lie. That Crismas I posted that me sending links all over the world to my destroying Wyatt and Regina's anti-gay arguments was causing me severe stress, it had nothing to do with anything Wyatt and Regina said.
Wyatt and Regina said "merely looking at her the wrong way may cause a violent outburst".
Wyatt and Regina tell lies like this to demonize and dehumanize lgbt people like me in order to promote violence and oppression against us.
Obviously Wyatt and Regina made that last comment to antagonize me, they certainly aren't worried about my mental health. That's just an excuse for them being afraid to take me on.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "now, she is saying anyone who talks to a religious leader will become suicidal".
I never said that.
This is typical of the dishonest way Wyatt and Regina describe what others have said. I posted what the William's Institute research said which was that LGB people (not "anyone") were more likely to attempt suicide after religious counselling. Wyatt and Regina constantly twist like this what people say to them. Its just their "go to" tactic in their never ending bad faith arguments.
Look at this: England is imposing the toughest restrictions since March and they still will allow communal worship. And they are closing down liquor sales! I guess religious activity is considered more therapeutic than alcohol abuse by the British. As long as you aren't gay. If you are gay, you may become suicidal if you hear any suggestion that homosexuality is not a healthy and moral life style!
England will enter its toughest nationwide lockdown since March, with schools closed and people allowed to leave home once a day for exercise for at least six weeks, Boris Johnson has announced as the numbers of people in hospital reach new highs.
All pupils will switch to remote learning until the February half-term, the prime minister said in an address to the nation, and GCSE and A-level exams are unlikely to go ahead as planned. All non-essential shops will be told to close.
Under the third national lockdown, people in England will be ordered to stay at home until at least 15 February and advised only to leave once a day for exercise. MPs are expected to vote the tough new measures into law from Wednesday, though businesses will be advised to close from Monday night.
Across the country, people must now only leave home for work – and only if it is impossible to work from home – and for essential food and medicine. Exercise with one other person from a different household is permitted but the advice is to stay local and limit activity to once a day.
Other reasons to leave home will be limited to seeking medical care, fleeing the threat of harm or providing essential care.
All primary schools, secondary schools and colleges will be closed apart from for the children of key workers and vulnerable children. Exams are now unlikely to go ahead as planned for pupils in England, subject to a final decision with Ofqual. Nurseries, alternative provision and special schools will remain open and existing rules for childcare support bubbles will apply.
Students will not be able to return to university and will be expected to study online from their current residence until mid-February. In-person teaching can take place for a limited number of critical courses, such as medicine.
All non-essential retail and hospitality must remain closed or close if they are not already. Restaurants and other premises can continue delivery or takeaway but alcohol will no longer be permitted for takeaway or click and collect amid concerns about people congregating around pubs and bars with takeaway drinks.
Places of worship can remain open including offering communal worship – subject to social distancing – as can playgrounds but outdoor sports venues, tennis courts and golf courses must close. Outdoor team sports will not be permitted, but professional sports, including the Premier League, may continue.
"I posted what the William's Institute research said which was that LGB people"
glad to see Randy phrase it that way
I think most homosexuals are horrified to be lumped together with transgenders who suffer from a mental illness characterized by a delusion that aren't really the gender they are
LGBT is a slur on LGB people
Here's proof that lockdowns don't work.
California has had the strictest and longest lasting shutdowns of any state.
And Fauci says they are the state that worries him the mostest!
Following the holidays, COVID-19 numbers are on the rise once again throughout the United States. However, the latest crop of new infections has hit certain areas of the country much harder than others—and Anthony Fauci, MD, one of the most prominent members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, says one state's rise in cases is cause for serious concern. Read to discover which state's COVID numbers have Dr. Fauci worried, and for the latest on the pandemic, Dr. Fauci Just Said These 5 Very Scary Words About COVID-19.
In a Jan. 3 interview with Meet the Press, Fauci admitted that California's recent surge in COVID cases may merit a new wave of lockdowns.
"In California, which is really being stressed with regard to the hospital beds and the personnel who are really getting exhausted with the number of cases that are coming in…they already have decided on some form of lockdown in specific areas of the state," Fauci said. While the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) said he "[hoped] we don't have to do the lockdown" nationwide, he said it's "not out of the question," either.
"We feel that if you adhere to the public health measures, you can turn things around short of a uniform lockdown," Fauci explained. He noted that, even with the new, more contagious COVID strain that's been recently identified in the U.S., sticking to mask wearing, social distancing, and hand washing guidelines established by public health authorities is the best course of action to stop its spread further. "You've got to adhere to the public health measures," said Fauci. "And that will stop the spread of any strain."
You tell gays and lesbians that they can never have sex with anyone they're attracted to, can never be in a same sex monogamous marriage and that if they do so they'll be eternally tortured, of course that makes them feel suicidal. Hasn't christianity/Islam tormented enough people with threats of hell?
LGBT people have a right to a society that treats their lives as being as valuable as anyone else's, a society that works to help us thrive, just like anyone else. Anti-gay christians are needlessly harming innocent lgbt people and society by extension.
Just sign the social contract, renounce your war on harmless lgbt people.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "I think most h*sexuals are horrified to be lumped together with transgenders who suffer from a mental illness characterized by a delusion that aren't really the gender they are".
No, most gays and lesbians are supportive of transpeople. No harm done to you for going along with this "delusion" and its good for the mental health of trans people.
A 2018 study by the University of Texas published in the journal of Alison Health found that trans youth that were gendered the way they wished to showed 71% fewer symptoms of severe depression and 65% decreases in suicide attempts and a 34% decrease in suicidal thoughts.
You want to drive trans people to suicide. You think that's just punishment for living in a way you don't approve of.
I ask you, who does it hurt for me to live as a woman and for society to treat me as a woman?
Wyatt and Regina allege they're not responding to my comments because they'll make me have a mental breakdown, but here they are responding to my comments again.
Which is it you two, are you afraid your great argumentation will give me a mental breakdown or not?
So, tell me, king of 2021, seeing as you think it was okay for Trump to ask the Georgia secretary of state to "find" 11,780 votes (while threatening him with criminal prosecution), would you have been okay with it if he had said after the call "Yes I found 11,780 votes" and then changed ("recalculated") the vote totals to give Trump a win in Georgia?
"innocent lgbt people"
there you go again, Priya
36 million people are dead because lgbt folk incubated and spread a fatal illness by engaging in unsafe practices without regard to the health of their fellow global citizens
Wyatt/Regina you oppose gays being in monogamous relationships, you oppose those innocent people. If you were just opposing promiscuity we wouldn't be arguing about this.
Wyatt and Regina Hardiman are waging a war on harmless lgbt people.
Most HIV is transmitted heteorsexually. 18,000, people dead of AIDS in 2018, 400,000 dying in one year from COVID. If you are concerned about gays spreading HIV then why do you support banning gay marriage which make it worse?
You pretend to be concerned about people spreading HIV but you really aren't. You're just a religious bigot.
So, if you're an honest person kingof2021, would you have been okay with it if after the Trump phone call the Georgia Secretary of State changed the Georgia vote total to give Trump the win?
36 million dead so homosexuals could get their jollies...
that's not innocent
that's guilty
misspelled fiction or misspelled lie?:
"Most HIV is transmitted heteorsexually."
fact:
"Gay, bisexual, and other men who reported male-to-male sexual contact are the population most affected by HIV. In 2018, gay and bisexual men accounted for 69% of new HIV diagnoses and 86% of diagnoses among males"
that's right
2018
Beyond Ex-Gay is a community for survivors of any form of “sexual orientation change efforts” (SOCE), more commonly known as ex-gay therapy. Recently, they conducted a survey of the survivor community to gather some information about why people tried to change their sexuality and what they experienced, and the answers are revealing. Obviously this sample is biased because it’s all people who abandoned ex-gay therapy, but nonetheless, here are the stories of over 400 people who tried to “pray away the gay” — and failed.
Where Do “Unwanted Same-Sex Attractions” Come From?
Those who justify SOCE often claim that people who have “unwanted same-sex attractions” should have the right to pursue therapy to change those attractions. The use of that language — “attractions” instead of “orientation” — disguises the concept as something seemingly less permanent that truly can be changed. All major professional psychologists and psychiatrists recommend affirming whatever a person’s orientation is, and it’s telling that SOCE advocates never address why clients’ orientation might be “unwanted.”
Here were the top ten reasons the survivors entered ex-gay therapy:
⦁ To be a better Christian.
⦁ I believed it was what God wanted me to do.
⦁ I feared I would be condemned by God.
⦁ The desire to fit in with everyone, to feel “normal.”
⦁ Cultural pressure to conform to heterosexuality.
⦁ Desire to please family and friends.
⦁ I feared I would go to hell for being gay.
⦁ Fear of losing family and friends.
⦁ Misinformation of what it meant to be gay.
⦁ Self-hatred & internalized homophobia.
In other words, the driving factor as to why individuals has “unwanted” attractions is because their church, friends, family, and community all shame them into feeling that way. It’s a profit cycle, with SOCE advocates condemning gayness specifically to attract clients into ex-gay therapy — whose narratives they then use to continue condemning gayness.
Does Ex-Gay Therapy Cause Harm?
Any doubt about whether SOCE is harmful can be clarified by its survivors, 92 percent of whom said they experienced harm. In fact, 16 percent went so far as to say it “devastated my life,” with another 31 percent saying that they were “harmed a lot.” When answering another question about why they stopped pursuing ex-gay therapy, 22 percent said it was because they “had a nervous breakdown.”
The idea that discussing any idea with someone should be illegal is noxious. "Reparative therapy" is nothing more than that. Obviously, if someone comes to believe what they are doing is wrong, they may become depressed. We wouldn't make that illegal in any other context, why give sexual perversion some special preference allowing its proponents to shut down all speech against it? A good counselor should lead to the other ways to deal with the depression that results from discovering you were acting immorally.
Back to the issue being avoided:
36 million people have died from AIDS, which was largely spread through Western societies and beyond by unsafe homosexual practices.
If you favor a mask mandate now, why have you never favored a condom mandate as 36 million people died?
If you favor locking down churches and schools now, why did you never favor locking down gay bars and gay pride parades as 36 million have died?
Do you think posting dozens of deceptive posts, name-calling, hyperbole, and demagoguery would distract people from your hypocrisy?
Just curious...
Hey Wyatt/Regina, what happened to "I'm not responding to any of Priya's posts because my responses will give her a mental breakdown?
Its almost like you never really believed that in the first place, lol!
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "The idea that discussing any idea with someone should be illegal is noxious. "
Nonsense. Many discussions are illegal and should be. Its illegal to conspire to commit a criminal act for example.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said ""Reparative therapy" is nothing more than that."
Its illegal to sell fraudulent products, "reparative therapy" is a fraudulent product that causes harm to the users and can't change anyone's sexual orientation.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "Obviously, if someone comes to believe what they are doing is wrong, they may become depressed."
No where near as depressed as they will feel after getting religious counseling, that increases suicide attempts. This destructive "counseling" should be banned, for minors at the very least. Its one thing when adults do things to harm themselves, quite another when its forced on a child.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "why give sexual perversion some special preference allowing its proponents to shut down all speech against it?"
No one is "shutting down all speech", this is a targeted law to prevent harm just like many other laws. You're free to be as bigoted as you want otherwise.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "A good counselor should lead to the other ways to deal with the depression that results from discovering you were acting immorally."
So much for "I don't believe I have ever discussed my motivations for opposing gays", lol! A good counselor wouldn't tell someone they're behaving immorally when they're harming no one.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "36 million people have died from AIDS, which was largely spread through Western societies and beyond by unsafe homosexual practices.".
There they go repeating that lie. Most of the people who die from AIDS are heterosexual and yet deceitful Wyatt and Regina try to blame it all on gays to promote persecution against them.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "If you favor a mask mandate now, why have you never favored a condom mandate as 36 million people died?"
I do favour a condom mandate for those not in a monogamous relationship, gay or heterosexual, its religious conservatives who oppose the use of condoms that could save lives.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "If you favor locking down churches and schools now, why did you never favor locking down gay bars and gay pride parades as 36 million have died?".
18,000 people died of AIDS in the U.S. in 2018. Over 350,000 have died of COVID in less than a year. COVID is a far greater threat and requires more severe mitigation measures. Besides, gays weren't responsible for most of the deaths from HIV as you so dishonestly keep claiming. If you want to lock down gays, ban gayness, then you need to do the same with heterosexuality.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "Do you think posting dozens of deceptive posts, name-calling, hyperbole, and demagoguery would distract people from your hypocrisy?".
What hypocrisy? Show me where I've posted anything deceptive, hyperbolic, or demagogueery. All I've done is tell the truth, its immoral for evangelical christians to wage war on harmless lgbt people.
Folks,"reparative therapy" needlessly causes harm for a goal it cannot deliver. Like any other fraudulent product its time to take it off the market.
The American Psychiatric Association says gays who positively accept their sexual orientation are happier and better adjusted than those who do not.
"Reparative therapy" just reinforces destructive thoughts and increases suicide attempts.
Gays and lesbians have the same right to be happy as everyone else. Conservative christians immorally oppose this by doing everything they can to make life as hard and unhappy as possible for gays. "Reparative therapy" is just a cynical ploy treating gay people christians have misguided as disposable in their gas lighting the public to believe gayness isn't normal and natural.
Gayness is just like being left handed, its natural and normal for a minority of the population, all the major mental health organizations agree on this.
"harmless lgbt people"
36 million deaths is the epitome of harm
"Folks,"
whenever you see this from a TTFer, it's a attempt to make a lie look congenial
""reparative therapy" needlessly causes harm for a goal it cannot deliver. Like any other fraudulent product its time to take it off the market"
it's not a big business
in fact, it's generally done by non-profits
so "market" is another attempt at deception
if someone believes they can help another escape the homosexual trap by verbal counseling, they are entitled, constitutionally, to do so
Again, Wyatt and Regina keep trying to blame gays for heterosexuals dying of AIDS but the truth is that they don't care about reducing the spread of HIV in the gay (or heterosexual) community. If they did they wouldn't support gay marriage bans that raise the HIV infection rate.
Because of course if you're telling gays that they can't have a monogamous same sex relationship and many inevitably cross that unrealistic boundary you now have no leverage to discourage them from being promiscuous and practicing unsafe sex.
Wyatt and Regina admitted this several years ago when they said "Having broken societal taboos against sexual activity with those of their own gender, it's hard for [gays] to think of any compelling reason to follow any of society's other little rules [against promiscuity]."
But as they said, they don't post about gays and HIV to reduce promiscuity. They do it to promote hatred and oppression against all gays, monogamous or not.
"Gays and lesbians have the same right to be happy as everyone else."
there is no constitutional right to happiness
our founding documents do mention a right to "pursue happiness"
success is not a guaranteed entitlement
"Gayness is just like being left handed, its natural and normal for a minority of the population, all the major mental health organizations agree on this."
they are entitled to their opinion
when it's not based on empirical data, their opinion carries no more weight than any other
"18,000 people died of AIDS in the U.S. in 2018. Over 350,000 have died of COVID in less than a year."
36 million have died in total but the lunatic fringe have never considered locking homosexuals in their house over the decades like they suggest for everyone else now
I wouldn't favor that either
what we are discussing is your hypocrisy
So, what happened Wyatt/Regina? You said you couldn't respond to my comments because it would tip me over the edge into a mental breakdown and yet here you are responding again. Its almost as though you weren't sincere about that and you were just trying to slander me.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "36 million deaths is the epitome of harm".
Then why do you oppose monogamous gays and gay marriage if you're at all concerned about that.s, restrict gays, but not heterosexuals. Most of those deaths are heterosexual and yet you only want to blame and punish gays, how immoral of you.
I said ""reparative therapy" needlessly causes harm for a goal it cannot deliver. Like any other fraudulent product its time to take it off the market"
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "it's not a big business in fact, it's generally done by non-profits so "market" is another attempt at deception".
"We're only needlessly driving a small number of people to suicide, so its okay."? Gays are not a big percentage of the population, this targets a high percentage of them and is more intended to send a broader message to society that gayness is wrong and shouldn't be tolerated. This is factually incorrect and acting as though its true leads to poor decision making and poor outcomes because you are operating on a false perception of reality.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "if someone believes they can help another escape the h*sexual trap by verbal counseling, they are entitled, constitutionally, to do so".
There is no constitutional right to sell a product that doesn't do what it claims and that harms people. Bigoted christians create this market by threatening gays with eternal torture for engaging in a monogamous same sex marriage and then fraudulently claim to sell them the cure for the distress they caused which actually makes the distress worse. Its immoral and it should be illegal.
Well, its obvious Wyatt and Regina don't want to answer the question I put to them several times:
"If after the Trump phone call the Georgia secretary of state had changed the Georgia presidential election vote total to give Trump 11,780 votes would you have been okay with that?"
Wyatt and Regina said there was nothing wrong with Trump's call threatening the Georgia Secretary of State with legal action unless he "recalculated" the vote in a way that gave Trump the win there. Their silence on this question is their consent that they would not have objected if Raffensperger had changed the vote totals to give Trump the win.
At any given time 25-30% of the population is willing to support a dictator. Its a natural evolutionary tendency that helped tribes that were competing with each other. But we're better off cooperating with each other than trying to destroy each other. The natural psychological tendencies evolution gave us are counter productive in our modern technological world.
Unfortunately its a natural thing for conservatives to want to find a scapegoat for everything they don't like about their lives and to seek to harm that group. Please rise above this for the good of us all, stop your unjust war on innocent lgbt people.
The “Sedition Caucus” — or the “Dirty Dozen,” if you prefer, which includes Republican Sens. Ted Cruz (Tex.), Josh Hawley (Mo.), Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), Ron Johnson (Wis.), James Lankford (Okla.), Cynthia M. Lummis (Wyo.), Tommy Tuberville (Ala.), Steve Daines (Mont.) John Neely Kennedy (La.), Bill Hagerty (Tenn.), Mike Braun (Ind.) and Roger Marshall (Kan.) — had a bad day Monday. Sure, Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), in yet another act of contempt for her office, said she would join their efforts to overthrow the results of a decisive election, making for a “Dirty Baker’s Dozen.” Other than that, it was all downhill.
For starters, a number of Republicans have joined Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) in denouncing the attempted coup. Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), in a written statement, declared that “after two months of recounts and legal challenges, not a single state recount changed a result and, of the dozens of lawsuits filed, not one found evidence of fraud or irregularities widespread enough to change the result of the election.” Portman, therefore, concluded: “Over the course of my public service career, I have taken the same oath on numerous occasions, swearing to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. I plan on honoring that oath by supporting the state certifications and the will of the people. I will vote to certify in accordance with my duty under the Constitution.” Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), one of the Senate’s most conservative members, will also decline to join the mob.
Meanwhile, in Georgia, we got an earful from Republican officials outraged by President Trump’s attempt to strong-arm Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, into changing vote totals there. Gabriel Sterling, a Republican election official who previously denounced attempts to change the state’s results and threats made against public officials, spoke on behalf of sane Americans. “I wanted to scream,” he said of Trump’s call with Raffensperger, during a news conference on Monday.
“There are people in positions of authority and respect who have said their votes didn’t count, and it’s not true,” Sterling declared. “It’s Whac-A-Mole again. It is Groundhog Day again. I’m going to talk about the things I’ve talked about repeatedly for two months, but I’m going to do it for one last time,” he said.
Sterling provided a thorough debunking of the conspiracy theories Trump and his lackeys are pushing. The bottom line, he reiterated: “This is all easily, provably false. And yet the president persists.” As do his Dirty Dozen co-conspirators.
Raffensperger also denounced the attempt to force him to fabricate the results. He told CBS News: “We get complaints all the time. We investigate those. But we looked at their data. Their data is not correct. And we can go down that line point by point and show what our data shows.” Raffensperger also revealed that he was not planning to release the tape of the call with Trump, but then Trump lied about it on Twitter. Once again, Trump is his own worst enemy. In any event, Raffensperger said, “I know what we’re going to do. We’re going to follow the law. We’re going to follow the process.”
Meanwhile, big business came down on the side of “elections matter.” The Business Roundtable, made up executives from the country’s largest companies, put out a statement: “There is no authority for Congress to reject or overturn electoral votes lawfully certified by the states and affirmed by the Electoral College. . . . Business Roundtable opposes efforts to delay or overturn the clear outcome of the election.” A similar letter was signed by a group of 200 executives, who wrote: “This presidential election has been decided and it is time for the country to move forward. . . . Attempts to thwart or delay this process run counter to the essential tenets of our democracy.” Now, these business leaders need to remember the politicians who sought to overthrow our democracy when they start handing out campaign donations.
Hawley and Cruz, both likely harboring presidential ambitions, blew it. They apparently figured they would raise a fuss, and that the others would go along. Did they not anticipate that some of their colleagues would rediscover their oaths of office — or at least be bright enough to surmise that sedition could block the path to higher office? There is something fitting that two supremely ambitious men may have doomed their own quest for the presidency through an act of unbridled cynicism and contempt for democracy.
In any event, perhaps we have reached the best point for the Republican Party to divide in two. On one side are supporters of an authoritarian putsch. On the other is everyone else. The latter have plenty to do to come up with rational policy ideas, but at least they are not traitors to democracy.
"there is no constitutional right to happiness"
There's no constitutional right for religious people to relegate gays to second- or third-class citizenship either.
Research has suggested that people who exhibit psychopathic traits are likely to ignore lockdown restrictions.
Other “dark triad” personality attributes such as narcissism and Machiavellianism could also impact people’s willingness to comply with social distancing rules, a study suggested.
The research hinted that people with such traits may even have played a larger part in the spread of the virus, by ignoring restrictions such as social distancing, said Dr Pavel Blagov of Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington.
Blagov’s study suggests that people with psychopathic personality traits such as meanness are less likely to comply with lockdown restrictions.
Those with psychopathic traits such as poor impulse control were more likely to boast of behaviours that put others at risk, Blagov told Psypost.
"There's no constitutional right for religious people to relegate gays to second- or third-class citizenship either."
Hear Hear!
Evangelical christians have used "religious freedom" as a weapon to force society to discriminate against harmless lgbt people.
Randy's whole argument about why homosexuals shouldn't be locked down when the disease they have spread has cause 36 million deaths is that not all homosexuals engage in dangerously disgusting practices
but he says all churches should be shut down because of the practices of a small number f churches
see the hypocrisy?
"You said you couldn't respond to my comments because it would tip me over the edge into a mental breakdown and yet here you are responding again."
that was years ago when you accuse me of causing your mental breakdown
now, I don't respond to you because you're uncivil and it's a waste of time to dignify your behavior
"said there was nothing wrong with Trump's call threatening the Georgia Secretary of State with legal action"
actually, I didn't say there was nothing WRONG
I said there was nothing CRIMINAL
"There's no constitutional right for religious people to relegate gays to second- or third-class citizenship either."
I assume you are referring to social discrimination and there is indeed a right, and in some cases, obligation to do it
"Research has suggested that people who exhibit psychopathic traits are likely to ignore lockdown restrictions."
Randy always has some quack study that reinforces his biases
you know who else used "scientific" studies to reinforce their biases?
Nazis
"I assume you are referring to social discrimination and there is indeed a right, and in some cases, obligation to do it"
No, I was referring to Christians using the government to enforce their desired social order on the rest of society.
There is no empirical evidence that you are under any obligation to discriminate against LGBT people.
"I said there was nothing CRIMINAL"
Try looking up some laws then:
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/law-georgia-voter-intimidation-poll-watchers-and-challengers
Intimidation of poll workers and election officials is illegal at all stages of the election process, including during mail ballot processing and vote counting.
Protections for election officials and poll workers continue after votes are cast.
Georgia’s protections against intimidation of election officials and poll workers extend to the vote counting process and all other aspects of election administration. Intimidating election officials or poll workers during mail ballot verification or ballot counting processes is a felony. Ga. Code § 21-2-566(1)-(2).
Georgia law strictly limits the conduct of anyone seeking to challenge a voter’s right to vote.
Challengers must abide by strict regulations at all stages of the election process in Georgia. Any challenge that is intended to intimidate or results in intimidation is a felony under Georgia law. Ga. Code § 21-2-567.
Any challenge to a voter’s right to vote must be made in writing, prior to the voter casting a ballot, and must distinctly specify the grounds for the challenge. Ga. Code § 21-2-230(a).
A challenge must be based on specific personal knowledge or evidence that a voter is ineligible. Ga. Code § 21-2-230(d).
It is illegal under federal law to challenge any voter’s eligibility based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, language, appearance, surname, or religion. 18 U.S.C. § 242; 42 U.S.C. § 1983; 52 U.S.C. §§ 10301, 10303, 10503.
Challenges can’t be based solely on returned mail, the racial or ethnic composition of a polling place, or discrepancies between the voter registration list and any other list of people. 52 U.S.C. § 10101(a)(2)(B).
If a challenge is actually based on personal, specific knowledge or evidence, the voter must be given the opportunity to address the challenge before the board of registrars immediately. A voter who can’t immediately appear should be allowed to cast a provisional ballot. Ga. Code § 21-2-230(i).
"No, I was referring to Christians using the government to enforce their desired social order on the rest of society."
Christians have the same right as anybody else to vote their preferences. Socialists and other progressives constantly try to "impose their desired social order on the rest of society"
"Intimidation of poll workers and election officials is illegal at all stages of the election process, including during mail ballot processing and vote counting."
to say threatening to sue somebody for not doing their job is "intimidation" is a legally preposterous position
it would be laughed out of any court in the land
we all have the right to sue people
back to the topic that you'd like us to avoid:
not only did lunatic fringe homosexual advocates who support lockdowns now not support lockdowns and mandates for homosexuals while 36 million people died
they literally pushed through HIPPA privacy provisions making it difficult to know if someone is exposing another person to a deadly virus
let's not hear anymore about "innocent" or "harmless" lgbt folk
even if you remove the "t", they've caused much death and suffering
"Christians have the same right as anybody else to vote their preferences. Socialists and other progressives constantly try to "impose their desired social order on the rest of society"
You still can't read properly. I said nothing about voting for preferences. Socialists and progressive aren't trying to tell Christians they shouldn't be allowed to marry.
Capitalists have already made our country into a plutocracy. Congress no longer votes the will of the people, but rather the will of the corporations. Socialists and progressives have every right to try and pull us back toward a democracy before we reach the state of rich corporations owning everything while most of the US population works for indentured servitude wages.
"to say threatening to sue somebody for not doing their job is "intimidation" is a legally preposterous position"
The election officials did their job. There was no basis to threaten them with lawsuits. Lawyers get disbarred for filing to many frivolous lawsuits.
Intimidation isn't even a requirement though. Solicitation is enough:
Georgia Code Title 21. Elections § 21-2-603
A person commits the offense of conspiracy to commit election fraud when he or she conspires or agrees with another to commit a violation of this chapter. The crime shall be complete when the conspiracy or agreement is effected and an overt act in furtherance thereof has been committed, regardless of whether the violation of this chapter is consummated. A person convicted of the offense of conspiracy to commit election fraud involving a violation of this chapter which is a felony shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one year nor more than one-half the maximum period of time for which he or she could have been sentenced if he or she had been convicted of the crime conspired to have been committed, by one-half the maximum fine to which he or she could have been subjected if he or she had been convicted of such crime, or both. A person convicted of the offense of conspiracy to commit election fraud involving a violation of this chapter which is a misdemeanor shall be punished as for a misdemeanor.
Georgia Code Title 21. Elections § 21-2-604
(a)(1) A person commits the offense of criminal solicitation to commit election fraud in the first degree when, with intent that another person engage in conduct constituting a felony under this article, he or she solicits, requests, commands, importunes, or otherwise attempts to cause the other person to engage in such conduct.
(2) A person commits the offense of criminal solicitation to commit election fraud in the second degree when, with intent that another person engage in conduct constituting a misdemeanor under this article, he or she solicits, requests, commands, importunes, or otherwise attempts to cause the other person to engage in such conduct.
(b)(1) A person convicted of the offense of criminal solicitation to commit election fraud in the first degree shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than three years.
(2) A person convicted of the offense of criminal solicitation to commit election fraud in the second degree shall be punished as for a misdemeanor.
(c) It is no defense to a prosecution for criminal solicitation to commit election fraud that the person solicited could not be guilty of the crime solicited.
(d) The provisions of subsections (a) through (c) of this Code section are cumulative and shall not supersede any other penal law of this state.
QAnon Cultist Tells Trump Rally Attendees To Hug Each Other Because “It’s A Mass Spreader Event!” [VIDEO]
Mediaite reports:
Pro-Trump speaker Clay Clark at a Washington, D.C. rally on Tuesday afternoon encouraged fellow Trump supporters to hug each other at the event in Freedom Plaza. “Turn to the person next to you and give them a hug. Someone you don’t know, go hug somebody. Spread it out, mass spreader. It’s a mass-spreader event! It’s a mass-spreader event!” Clark yelled. “It’s a mass-spreader event! There you go, hug it out.”
Conservatives are responsible for the out of control pandemic.
"Conservatives are responsible for the out of control pandemic."
homosexuals are responsible for 36 million deaths
Priya's whole argument about why h*sexuals shouldn't be locked down when the disease they have spread has cause 36 million deaths is that not all sexuals engage in dangerously disgusting practices but she says all churches should be shut down because of the practices of a small number f churches".
Its pretty much every conservative church, Trump has turned conservatives against mitigation measures. 18,000 people died of HIV in 2018 and perhaps 500,000 will have died from COVID in a year. Its far more important to shut down churches, a minor imposition on them compared to Wyat/Regina wanting to ban same sex relationships.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "see the hypocrisy?"
I sure do. You condemn gays for HIV and not heteorsexuals and then you try to ban gay marriage which makes HIV infection rates worse.
I said "You said you couldn't respond to my comments because it would tip me over the edge into a mental breakdown and yet here you are responding again."
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "that was years ago when you accuse me of causing your mental breakdown".
Show us where I had a mental breakdown and accused you of causing it. It never happened, you are a liar.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "now, I don't respond to you because you're uncivil and it's a waste of time to dignify your behavior".
But you are responding to my comments. You accused me of being uncivil at Crismas but gave no examples, what are they? Its you who have been uncivil, calling me a gangrene on society when I'm hurting no one and asserting that gays deserve eternal torture for monogamous same sex relationships.
I said "Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said there was nothing wrong with Trump's call threatening the Georgia Secretary of State with legal action"
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "actually, I didn't say there was nothing WRONG I said there was nothing CRIMINAL".
And you've repeatedly dodged the question: "If the Georga Secretary of State had "recalculated" the vote as Trump coerced him to do would you have been okay with that? Your silence is consent my dear right wing authoritarians.
Good anonymous said "There's no constitutional right for religious people to relegate gays to second- or third-class citizenship either."
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "I assume you are referring to social discrimination and there is indeed a right, and in some cases, obligation to do it".
No, we're talking about you using the religious freedom as a weapon to force the government to discriminate against harmless lgbt people. The 14th amendment requires equality under the law, special rights for christians are unconstitutional.
Good anonymous said "No, I was referring to Christians using the government to enforce their desired social order on the rest of society."
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "Christians have the same right as anybody else to vote their preferences."
You don't have the right to vote to force the goverment to discriminate against harmless lgbt people.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "Socialists and other progressives constantly try to "impose their desired social order on the rest of society"".
Nonsense. In no way have we promoted having the government discriminate against christians. Its you who demand the government violate the 14th amendment and discriminate against gays.
Good anonymous said "Intimidation of poll workers and election officials is illegal at all stages of the election process, including during mail ballot processing and vote counting."
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "to say threatening to sue somebody for not doing their job is "intimidation" is a legally preposterous position".
That's exactly the sort of intimidation people are convicted of in court all the time. Trump intended it as a threat and it was taken that way. To say no one is intimidated by threats of criminal prosecution is what's preposterous.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "not only did lunatic fringe h*sexual advocates who support lockdowns now not support lockdowns and mandates for homosexuals while 36 million people died".
Its massively hypocritical of you to want to condemn and punish gays over HIV but not heterosexuals who are responsible for most AIDS deaths. Hypocrisy, lies, half-truths, and deceptions are who you are.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "let's not hear anymore about "innocent" or "harmless" lgbt folk"
You attack lgbt people whether promiscuous or monogamous. You wage an unjust war on harmless lgbt folk that's a fact.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "even if you remove the "t", they've caused much death and suffering".
And when it comes to HIV, heterosexuals have caused the most death and suffering yet like the hypocrite you are you don't criticize or seek to punish them like you do with gays.
Why do Wyatt and Regina rant about gays (but not heterosexuals) spreading HIV and then demand gay marriage bans that make HIV rates worse???
It doesn't get any more hypocritical than that.
Wyatt and Regina Hardiman aren't interested in making the world a better place, they're sadists who get pleasure out of punishing women and harmless lgbt people.
"That's exactly the sort of intimidation people are convicted of in court all the time"
since it happens, like, awllll the time
you shouldn't have any problem showing us one of those cases
(this will be funny!)
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "now, I don't respond to you because you're uncivil and it's a waste of time to dignify your behavior".
They've said things like this a few times but give no examples of me being uncivil.
I'll tell what's uncivil, repeatedly advocating only gays be punished for AIDS deaths when the majority of those deaths were heterosexuals.
Wyatt and Regina have repeated that lie again and again. That kind of repetitive dishonesty and hypocrisy is what's uncivil, not anything I've said.
"you shouldn't have any problem showing us one of those cases"
If I spent the time to find an example you'd just minimize and dismiss it and demand ever more proof from me. I'm not investing my time into your game of never enough.
Wyatt and Regina still haven't answered whether or not they'd have been okay with the Georgia Secretary of State "recalculating" the vote in Trump's favour after the phone call and threat of criminal prosecution.
If Raffensberger had given in to Trump and falsified the Georgia vote total you can guarantee not only would Wyatt and Regina be okay with that, they'd be defending the action.
They are right wing authoritarians who would be thrilled to have Trump destroy democracy. The main reason they support Trump is that he's advanced their war on harmless lgbt people. That's really what's most important to Wyatt and Regina, punishing lgbt people, monogamous or not.
"I'll tell what's uncivil, repeatedly advocating only gays be punished for AIDS deaths when the majority of those deaths were heterosexuals."
as I've said repeatedly, I don't advocate any lockdown on homosexual activity as a result of their complicity in the deaths of 36 million people
I simply point out the hypocrisy of those who favor a lockdown to combat the COVID pandemic but never considered it in the decades of a the AIDS pandemic
as for Randy's use of the term "punish", I've would assume that anyone who favors a lockdown has public health as a rationale, not retribution
what a twisted mind our foreign troll from the North has!
"using the religious freedom as a weapon to force the government to discriminate against harmless lgbt people"
this statement makes no sense
no one has ever suggested the government discriminate against homosexuals
also, lgbt people aren't "harmless"
36 million have died of AIDS and the main source of transmission has been unsafe homosexual practices
"If I spent the time to find an example you'd just minimize and dismiss it and demand ever more proof from me. I'm not investing my time into your game of never enough."
yeah, we'd hate to see Randy waste any time, ROFL!
I think it would take less time than the thirty or so posts he averages daily
especially since people are convicted of that sort of intimidation "all the time"
I told you Randy's response would be funny!
"still haven't answered"
Randy thinks he's the Grand Inquisitor
I don't think I'll answer some hypothetical scenario
Trump has simply said he thinks there was fraud and that he believes the Georgia Secretary of State hasn't found it
I don't agree with Trump but his desperate attempts to find a technicality to win the election is not criminal
accusations and threats to take legal action are not intimidation
"They are right wing authoritarians who would be thrilled to have Trump destroy democracy."
yes, Randy
everyone who disagrees with you is an authoritarian
and your idea to lock everything down and force everyone to wear a mask whenever they leave their house is positively libertarian
"Its pretty much every conservative church"
this is complete lie with no evidence backing it up
"Its far more important to shut down churches, a minor imposition on them compared to wanting to ban same sex relationships."
there you have it
banning worship services for the last ten months is a minor imposition but banning unsafe sexual practices directly linked to the transmission of an invariably fatal disease is unthinkable
perversion is sacred
unfortunately for your twisted mind, it is unconstitutional to "prohibit the free exercise of religion"
the Constitution doesn't say that about perverted sexual practices
"Intimidation isn't even a requirement though. Solicitation is enough:"
ah, well it would have to be willful solicitation of fraud
Trump has repeatedly said he thinks the Secretary of State has missed something
he hasn't asked him to make anything up
"Trump has repeatedly said he thinks the Secretary of State has missed something
he hasn't asked him to make anything up"
What a crock!
Here are Rump's actual illegal words:
"I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state."
Inform yourself, read this:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-raffensperger-call-transcript-georgia-vote/2021/01/03/2768e0cc-4ddd-11eb-83e3-322644d82356_story.html
Georgia runoffs cap a Democratic comeback: Last election of the Trump era may lock GOP out of power
One of Donald Trump's final legacies in office appears to be leading the Republican Party to defeat in Georgia
...One name that won't be on the list is Kelly Loeffler, whose loss in the runoff in Georgia was likely because of her servile bootlicking of Trump. His insistence that the vote was stolen is almost certainly one reason why the Democrats won. At the Georgia rally on Monday night, Trump predicted, "If they win, I'll get no credit, if they lose, they're gonna blame Trump." He's undoubtedly right about that. According to the New York Times, voter surveys showed that 56 percent of Georgia voters said they disapproved of Trump's handling of the results of the presidential election. It turns out that insulting their leaders and trying to coerce them into overturning an election wasn't such a great get-out-the-vote strategy.
What happens now is anyone's guess. But now that the Senate appears to be in Democratic hands I would be lying if I didn't admit to feeling a tremendous sense of schadenfreude at what's about to take place in the Republican Party. It couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch of people.
Eric Trump
@EricTrump
I will personally work to defeat every single Republican Senator / Congressman who doesn’t stand up against this fraud - they will be primaried in their next election and they will lose.
This claim about election fraud is disputed.
10:18 PM · Jan 5, 2021·Twitter for iPhone
"Here are Rump's actual illegal words:
"I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state.""
he didn't say "make up"
He said "find"
there is no proof he is soliciting illegal behavior
"Inform yourself, read this:"
if you have a germane quote, go ahead and post it
I would assume you haven't because you don't
""I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state.""
"he didn't say "make up"
He said "find"
there is no proof he is soliciting illegal behavior"
The vote had already been recounted THREE times and CERTIFIED.
Where do you think he was going to "find" 11,780 votes?
Someone would have had to MAKE them UP!
You should have joined Oozy Rudy on his "Overturn the Election" tour, that way he wouldn't have been so lonely when the courts kept throwing out his ridiculous lawsuits.
With "legal reasoning" like this it's no wonder Republicans keep losing all these court cases!
I said "I'll tell what's uncivil, repeatedly advocating only gays be punished for AIDS deaths when the majority of those deaths were heterosexuals."
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "as I've said repeatedly, I don't advocate any lockdown on h*sexual activity as a result of their complicity in the deaths of 36 million people".
Yes you do, liar: "last year alone, 700,000 people globally died of AIDS: why has been no lockdowns on h*sexual activity?".
Most of those deaths were heterosexuals but the lying hypocrite only wants to lockdown gays.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "I simply point out the hypocrisy of those who favor a lockdown to combat the COVID pandemic but never considered it in the decades of a the AIDS pandemic".
There's no hypocrisy, 20 times as many people have died of COVID as have died of AIDS in the USA, its much more serious. Hypocrisy is you chastizing gays for AIDS but not heterosexuals who make up most of the cases.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "as for Priya's use of the term "punish", I've would assume that anyone who favors a lockdown has public health as a rationale, not retribution".
You've repeatedly said you don't care about reducing HIV in gays, you advocate banning all gay sex, obviously your rationale is punishment.
I said "We're talking about you using the religious freedom as a weapon to force the government to discriminate against harmless lgbt people"
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous "this statement makes no sense no one has ever suggested the government discriminate against h*sexuals".
What an absurd and stupid lie. You've constantly demanded the government ban gay marriage and give christians the right to ignore anti-discrimination laws that protect gays. You've opposed schools teaching that its wrong to bully lgbt students.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "also, lgbt people aren't "harmless" 36 million have died of AIDS and the main source of transmission has been unsafe h*sexual practices".
Monogamous lgbt people are harmless and you wage war on them. The main source of transmission of HIV is heterosexuals - good people don't constantly repeat lies like you. You call me uncivil, repeating this lie over and over is uncivil.
I said "Wyatt and Regina still haven't answered whether or not they would have been okay with the Georgia secretary of state "recalculating" the vote totals to give Trump the win after his threatening phone call.
Priya thinks she's the Grand Inquisitor I don't think I'll answer some hypothetical scenario".
No surprpise there, your reticense to condemn this corruption is proof of your consent to it. You want Trump as dictator, that's obvious.
Wyattt/Regina/bad anonymous said "Trump has simply said he thinks there was fraud and that he believes the Georgia Secretary of State hasn't found it".
Like the pharisees, Wyatt/Regina hang their hat on the technicality that trump didn't specifically say "fake the votes" when its obvious from his pressure that was what he wanted - Raffensberger made it clear there was no fraud or votes to be found.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "I don't agree with Trump but his desperate attempts to find a technicality to win the election is not criminal".
The consensus of legal experts is that Trump broke the law when he threatened Raffensburger demanding that he "recalculate" (falsify) the vote count.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "accusations and threats to take legal action are not intimidation".
That's obviously false on the face of it. There's virtually no one who wouldn't be intimidated by the president, who has destroyed people's lives for disagreeing with him, threatening you with criminal action if you don't do what he says.
I said "They are right wing authoritarians who would be thrilled to have Trump destroy democracy."
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said yes, Priya everyone who disagrees with you is an authoritarian".
When you defend and minimize Trump's ever corrupt action and attempt to overturn democracy you are undoubtedly a right wing authoritarian.
I said "Its pretty much every conservative church [opposing COVID mitigation protocols"
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "this is complete lie with no evidence backing it up"
I've posted several links to churches causing massive outbreaks because no one wore masks or socially distanced. You have yet to provide a single example of a conservative church following protocols. YOU are the liar.
I said "[With COVD killing 20 times as many as AIDS] Its far more important to shut down churches, a minor imposition on them compared to wanting to ban same sex relationships."
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous aid "there you have it banning worship services for the last ten months is a minor imposition but banning unsafe sexual practices directly linked to the transmission of an invariably fatal disease is unthinkable".
You're not just demanding unsafe sex practices be banned, but all gay sex and not any heterosexual sex - you're obviously a hypocrite who's sole motivation is to harm innocent lgbt people. And most people with HIV live a full life expectancy with the drugs available - you liar.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "unfortunately for your twisted mind, it is unconstitutional to "prohibit the free exercise of religion"
That's right, its unconstitutional to prohibit the free exercise of religion, which is not to say religious freedom is absolute as conservative christians demand - you don't have the right to kill gays just because your bible tells you to.
Good anonymous said "Intimidation isn't even a requirement though. Solicitation is enough:"
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "ah, well it would have to be willful solicitation of fraud Trump has repeatedly said he thinks the Secretary of State has missed something he hasn't asked him to make anything up".
Like the pharisees Wyatt/Regina want to give Trump a pass because he didn't literally say "make it up" when a rational person would have taken his hour long exhortations to "recalculate" backed up with threats as a demand to make it up.
For Wyatt and Regina the "free exercise of religion" means that any time there's a need to balance the rights of christians and lgbt people, the law always maximally discriminates against gays and makes christians legally superior.
I called it weeks ago here. Let's hope there's nothing in his high school yearbook...
Joe Biden has selected Merrick Garland, a federal appeals court judge who in 2016 was rejected by Congress for a seat on the Supreme Court, as his attorney general.
Biden is expected to announce Garland's appointment on Thursday.
In picking Garland, Biden is turning to an experienced judge who held senior positions at the Justice Department decades ago, including as a supervisor of the prosecution of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
The pick will allow Senate Republicans to berate someone they spurned in 2016 but a delusional Biden may be banking on Garland's credentials and reputation for moderation to ensure confirmation.
Garland was selected over other finalists including Alabama Sen. Doug Jones and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates.
If confirmed, Garland would confront immediate challenges, including an ongoing criminal tax investigation into Biden’s son, Hunter, as well as calls from many Democrats to pursue inquiries into Trump after he leaves office. A special counsel investigation into the origins of the Russia probe also remains open, forcing a new attorney general to decide how to handle it and what to make public.
Garland would also inherit a Justice Department that has endured a tumultuous four years and would likely need to focus on not only civil rights issues and an overhaul of national policing policies after months of mass protests over the deaths of Black Americans at the hand of law enforcement.
Garland’s selection will infuriate Black and Latino advocates who had advocated for a Black attorney general or for someone with a background in civil rights causes and criminal justice reform.
I said "I'll tell what's uncivil, repeatedly advocating only gays be punished for AIDS deaths when the majority of those deaths were heterosexuals."
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "as for Priya's use of the term "punish", I've would assume that anyone who favors a lockdown has public health as a rationale, not retribution
You keep hypocritically advocating a gay only lockdown (and then lying and saying you don't) saying its about public health:
"last year alone, 700,000 people globally died of AIDS: why has been no lockdowns on h*sexual activity?"
but its obviously not about public health because you support bans on gay marriage that raise the HIV rate. You just want to punish gays because of your bigoted religion even though that's worse for public health.
"JANUARY 06, 2021 12:56 PM
Blogger Priya Lynn said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
JANUARY 06, 2021 1:10 PM
Blogger Priya Lynn said...
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look for this to get more frequent
usually indicates Randy is about to experience a mental breakdown
dodging the truth about the 36 million is the type of thing that can lead to anxiety in a normal person
for a hardcore psycho, well, let the funny farm know we got one coming their way!
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "dodging the truth about the 36 million is the type of thing that can lead to anxiety in a normal person"
But not you, clearly.
You keep blaming gays for deaths that are mostly heterosexual and you only want to punish gays. Its that sort of dishonesty and evil that typifies your religion. Christianity is big on punishing people for the sins of others. That's the very foundation of christianity, the innocent Jesus gets punished for the wrongs of others who go without punishment, a gross violation of one of the cherished principles of justice, you don't get punished for someone else's crimes.
That's why Wyatt and Regina want to punish harmless gays, their religion has perverted their natural sense of right and wrong making them think its okay to punish one person for the wrongs of another.
Merrick Garland ... LOL !.. said...
Biden plans to nominate Merrick Garland as his attorney general
"Anonymous Who's laughing now?"
Sadists like you, apparently.
Research shows internet trolls like Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous are sadists
A study published in a psychology journal concludes that online trolling correlates with sadism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism.
That's Wyatt and Regina Hardiman,all right. Look at how they're repeatedly lied about gays and HIV to promote hatred towards harmless lgbt people.
So, protesters supporting Trump's coup attempt have broken past capitol security, they haven't gone through metal detectors and they have driven Congress members from the building.
No longer the shining city on the hill, the United States has become a 3rd world banana republic.
"No, we're not right wing authoritarians" Wyatt and Regina say.
He's right down the street at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue seeing the Capital full of duly elected officials in the House and Senate be invaded by his thugs.
And he does nothing.
Jim was right.
This is worse.
And now he's attacking his own VP.
Welcome to rump's mental breakdown
Trump's been encouraging this ("Stand back and stand by"). Nope, nothing dictatorial about him, nosiree.
Wyatt/Regina "Nothing to worry about folks, this happens every election, no crime has been committed.
Justice Dept. Seeks to Pare Back Civil Rights Protections for Minorities
A late move by the Trump administration would stop enforcement of protections against discriminatory practices that have a “disparate impact” on protected groups.
The New York Times reports:
The Trump administration has embarked on an 11th-hour bid to undo some civil rights protections for minority groups, which could have a ripple effect on women, people with disabilities and L.G.B.T. people, according to a draft document, in a change that would mark one of the most significant shifts in civil rights enforcement in generations.
The Justice Department has submitted for White House approval a change to how it enforces Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits recipients of federal funding from discriminating based on race, color or national origin. The regulation covers housing programs, employers, schools, hospitals, and other organizations and programs.
Hard to overstate the impact this DOJ change will have on civil rights enforcement. Disparate impact has been used to show discrimination in housing, policing, education and employment, even when intent to discriminate could not be proven.
I thought Republicans were against anarchy and for law and order.
Turn on your television and watch the anarchy as Trump supporter lay siege to the Capital.
Crimes are being committed right now.
Randy, the foreign troll, thinks he can come here and lie and get away with it.
No, Randy, no one believes that AIDS is a heterosexual disease.
Homosexuals have AIDS far out of proportion to their rate in the population. Heterosexuals who get are straights who have sex with closeted homosexuals and, because of HIPPA regulations, have no clue they are slipping with perverted grim reapers.
Within the overall estimates, some groups are affected more than others. 70% of 2018 diagnoses were among men who have sex with men.
According to CDC estimates, the most common transmission category of new infections remained male-to-male sexual contact, which accounted for roughly 66.6% of all new infections in the United States in 2017.
In the United States, men who have sex with men (MSM), described as gay and bisexual, make up about 83% of the estimated new HIV diagnoses among all males aged 13 and older, and approximately 92% of new HIV diagnoses among all men in their age group. 1 in 6 gay and bisexual men are therefore expected to be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetime if current rates continue. The CDC estimates that more than 600,000 gay and bisexual men are currently living with HIV in the United States. A review of four studies in which trans women in the United States were tested for HIV found that 27.7% tested positive!!
In a 2008 study, the Center for Disease Control found that, of the study participants who were men who had sex with men ("MSM"), almost one in five (19%) had HIV and "among those who were infected, nearly half (44 percent) were unaware of their HIV status." The research found that white MSM "represent a greater number of new HIV infections than any other population, followed closely by black MSM—who are one of the most disproportionately affected subgroups in the U.S." and that most new infections among white MSM occurred among those aged 30–39 followed closely by those aged 40–49, while most new infections among black MSM have occurred among young black MSM (aged 13–29).
Mob breaches Capitol, spurring lockdown
Senate stops proceedings on electoral vote
3:22PM
Tear gas deployed in Senate chamber
3:22PM
Person shot inside U.S. Capitol as chaos unfolds
3:15PM
Protesters pray outside as chaos envelops Capitol
2:56PM
Trump tweets ‘stay peaceful’ after supporters breach Capitol
2:37PM
D.C. mayor announces 6 p.m. curfew throughout nation’s capital
2:29PM
Protesters storm past police, breach U.S. Capitol
Those transmission rates you mention are for the United States. Globally most HIV is trasnmitted heteroesexually.
Again, if you want to minimize HIV transmission you need to stop advocating for gay marriage bans that raise the HIV rate.
Gays are not responsible for promiscuity amongst heterosexuals. It is immoral for you to keep claiming they are. You are not concerned about the public health or reducing HIV transmission in gays or heterosexuals, you seek to harm innocent lgbt because of your bigoted religion.
18,000 Americans died of AIDS in 2018. Over 350,000 Americans have died of COVID this year so far. COVID is killing 20 times as many Americans as HIV. COVID is the immediate serious threat to the United States, not HIV mainly passed by heterosexuals.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "Heterosexuals who get are straights who have sex with closeted h*sexuals"
Again, most HIV is transmitted heterosexually. But for those "heterosexuals" who get HIV from closeted gays, that wouldn't be happening as much if bigots like Wyatt and Regina weren't forcing gays into the closet to hide their orientation. Then they have anonmymous sex to keep it a secret because bigots like Wyatt and Regina persecute them if they have an open monogamous relationship.
Don't be fooled people, Wyatt and Regina don't give a damn about lessening the transmission of HIV. They only bring this up to promote hatred of harmless lgbt people.
Putin is loving seeing anarchists storm the heart of democracy.
Maybe Grifter in Chief will get his Trump Tower Moscow now.
And folks, don't believe a word of any "statistics" Wyatt and Regina post. They often change whats in the articles they post to make them say the opposite of what they originally did. Wyatt and Regina say they consider this their right when they don't attribute the article to the original author. These are fundamentally dishonest people.
It's telling that Wyatt and Regina try to paint as equal the trivial deprivation of an hour not spent in church and the soul crushing, profoundly life altering life long deprivation of having a romantic/sexual relationship with the only gender one is attracted to.
Its that sort of grossly disproportionate treatment that they try to entrench in law at every level of government. That violates the social contract.
Republican congressman tweets: "This is a coup attempt"
Amid a breach of the U.S. Capitol by Pro-Trump protesters, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican from Illinois, tweeted calling it a "coup attempt."
Here's the tweet:
Adam Kinzinger
@RepKinzinger
This is a coup attempt.
2:24 PM · Jan 6, 2021
13.2K people are Tweeting about this
The Electoral College certification vote has been paused and the Capitol is on lockdown, according to Capitol police officers.
Is anyone really surprised by this?
We've been saying he's a wanna-be dictator for over 4 years now.
Republicans have been screaming for years that Democrats are out to "destroy America." Nothing they've ever done has even come close to this.
An old tweet comes true:
Lindsey Graham
@LindseyGrahamSC
If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed.......and we will deserve it.
5:03 PM · May 3, 2016
216.7K people are Tweeting about this
Yes Lindsey, you do deserve it.
But the rest of America doesn't.
Too bad you became one of his bootlickers.
Trump wanted this, Trump called for this and now other than a tepid tweet of opposition to it he's sitting back and enjoying democracy on a cliff edge.
"Humour him. What's the harm?" Republicans like Wyatt and Regina said each and every time the would be dictator trashed the norms and rule of law and now with their silence they give consent Trump's having derailed democracy.
Now some Republican senators are calling for Trump to be impeached, where were they last January when it counted and something could have been, should have been done?
Facebook Removes Trump’s Video Expressing Solidarity With Rioters: “It Contributes To The Ongoing Violence”
From Facebook’s vice president of integrity:
This is an emergency situation and we are taking appropriate emergency measures, including removing President Trump’s video. We removed it because on balance we believe it contributes to rather than diminishes the risk of ongoing violence.
CNBC reports:
President Donald Trump on Wednesday urged swarms of his supporters rioting in and around the U.S. Capitol to “go home now,” while continuing to falsely insist that his reelection was stolen.
The president’s remarks in a brief video on Twitter came after lawmakers on both sides of the aisle publicly urged him to speak out with force against the chaos caused by his base. The pro-Trump mob stormed the building, derailing Congress’ legal duty to confirm the election results — traditionally a brief, pro forma ceremony.
Nearly 40 seconds of the one-minute video, however, showed Trump offering sympathy for the rioters. “I know your pain, I know you’re hurt,” Trump said. “We had an election that was stolen from us, it was a landslide election and everyone knows it, especially the other side.”
"This is an emergency situation and we are taking appropriate emergency measures, including removing President Trump’s video. We removed it because on balance we believe it contributes to rather than diminishes the risk of ongoing violence."
"Now some Republican senators are calling for Trump to be impeached, where were they last January when it counted and something could have been, should have been done?"
back in January, he hadn't done anything meriting impeachment
now, he has
Canadians are deeply disturbed and saddened by the attack on democracy in the United States, our closest ally and neighbour. Violence will never succeed in overruling the will of the people. Democracy in the U.S. must be upheld - and it will be.
btw, tonight Biden will be certified as President
tomorrow, the VP, Cabinet, and Congress will meet and decide between impeachment and a 25th amendment solution
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "back in January, he hadn't done anything meriting impeachment".
He broke the law by witholding money Congress appropriated for Ukraine to defend itself against Russia, demanding a fake investigation into the Bidens in exchange.
That was more than enough to impeach him but corrupt Republicans refused to hold him accountable. That emboldened Trump as Democrats said it would and the inevitable result of Republicans failing to hold him accountable is why we are where we are today.
You just keep putting Trump above the law, how could you have not seen this comming???
"tomorrow, the VP, Cabinet, and Congress will meet and decide between impeachment and a 25th amendment solution"
You're painfully late to be coming to this conclusion, its unforgivable that you have minimized and defended Trump's corruption at every point. If you were an honest rational person you would have demanded Trump be convicted last January. It was obvious then who he was and the existential threat he represented.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous, you and evangelical christians are directly responsible for what Trump has done. You enabled and encouraged him every step along the way. You knew who Trump was from the beginning, you knew he was evil and corrupt and its unforgivable that you've waited until the country is in crisis to finally come out against him.
"back in January, he hadn't done anything meriting impeachment
now, he has"
Even Mitt Romney knew he deserved impeachment.
Maybe this time it will get somewhere, but I'm not holding my breath. Someone agrees with you that he deserves impeachment now... who-da thunk?
Ilhan Omar
@IlhanMN
I am drawing up Articles of Impeachment.
Donald J. Trump should be impeached by the House of Representatives & removed from office by the United States Senate.
We can’t allow him to remain in office, it’s a matter of preserving our Republic and we need to fulfill our oath.
4:38 PM · Jan 6, 2021
741.8K 175.6K people are Tweeting about this
Wednesday started with a rump group of House and Senate Republicans preparing to object to the Electoral College results to demonstrate their utter fealty. It ended with many of those same Republicans retreating from their deeply held beliefs about election fraud, tails between their legs.
It only took a violent seizure of the US Capitol building by violent rioters -- the first time the Capitol had been breached since 1814 during the War of 1812 -- to change their minds.
"I did think that today changed things drastically," Indiana Sen. Mike Braun, one of the 13 senators who had signaled he would object to the results, said in the wake of the storming of the Capitol. "Yeah, whatever point you made before that should suffice. Get this ugly day behind us."
"Obviously the commission we have asked for is not going to happen at this point," said Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, another previous backer of the Electoral College objection. "I understand that. And we are headed tonight toward the certification of Joe Biden as president of the United States."
Ditto Montana Sen. Steve Daines. And Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler. And Washington Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers. And likely many of the other Republicans who started Wednesday so gung-ho on challenging the results.
What the rapid change of heart indicates is that there never -- really -- was much of a principle at stake here for the Republicans who objected to the Electoral College results. It was solely a political calculation -- a way of appealing to Trump (and his base of voters) while not really having to worry about the election being overturned.
This was a political stunt. Except that the thousands of Donald Trump backers who, at the urging of the President took their unhappiness into the Capitol itself, didn't know that. They believed that the election really was rigged and stolen. Because Trump and his complicit media told them so -- and the vast majority of Republicans sat on their hands (and held their tongues) for fear of angering the President.
It should NOT take an open insurrection in the heart of our government for these Republican elected officials to realize that their words (or silence) have an impact that goes well beyond their own narrow political interests. That words matter. And that humoring Trump and his election fantasies have real-world consequences. And, as we saw on Wednesday, dangerous ones.
Republicans who needed to see the Capitol seized by insurrectionists to realize what their actions had wrought should not be applauded or congratulated. The writing has been on the wall for a very long time. They just chose to put their heads in the sand.
West Virginia Delegate Derrick Evans Films Self Breaking Into Capitol With Rioters
Derrick Evans, a newly elected Republican member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, numbered among the right-wing rioters who violently broke into the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday afternoon, shown in a video he posted to social media.
In the now-deleted video, Evans can be heard encouraging the crush of people around him to push into the building, which had been placed on lockdown after supporters of President Donald Trump began to clash with police outside.
At one point, Evans leads the crowd in a chant of “Trump!”
Once the rioters breach the Capitol, Evans yells, “They’re in! They’re in! They’re in!”
He then encourages the group to move into the building and can be heard screaming: “We’re in! We’re in! We’re in! We’re in! Derrick Evans is in the Capitol!”
“Keep it moving, baby!” he yells in the video he posted.
Evans turns the camera around at certain points, making himself clearly visible amid the sea of rioters in red “Make America great again” hats, carrying “Trump is my president” flags and wearing conspiracy theory garb.
“Who thought this was gonna happen today?” he says.
In a statement subsequently posted to Facebook, Evans refused to apologize for obviously participating in the break-in. Instead, he claimed, bizarrely, that he was a member of the media.
Trump encouraged his supporters to march on the Capitol earlier in the day during a rally to protest Democrat Joe Biden’s election win that was held just as Congress and Vice President Mike Pence began formally certifying the Electoral College count. Though some Republicans condemned the violent insurrection, Trump has resisted denouncing his supporters, telling them in one video posted to Twitter, “We love you. You’re very special.”
At another point in his footage, Evans can be heard laughing as a lone police officer inside the Capitol tries frantically to disperse the rioters. Reports, photos and videos from the scene do not indicate that police made a forceful initial attempt to prevent the pro-Trump crowd from marching forward until it was too late.
One woman died of a gunshot wound sustained inside the Capitol, although it is not yet clear how she was shot.
Evans has not taken down video of himself among the Trump supporters on the National Mall before the insurrection.
“All you liberals, lay down. We don’t care what you liberals think,” Evans says in a live-stream that remains posted to his personal Facebook page. “Patriots are rising up in this country ― better get used to it.”
The first-time lawmaker was sworn into office ― a process that includes swearing to uphold the U.S. Constitution ― last month. He was previously known as a local anti-abortion protester whose repeated harassment led one woman to file a restraining order.
West Virginia House Speaker Roger Hanshaw (R) condemned the riot in a statement but said he had not yet spoken to Evans about it.
“He will need to answer to his constituents and colleagues regarding his involvement in what has occurred today,” Hanshaw said. “While free speech and peaceful protests are a core value of American society, storming government buildings and participating in a violent intentional disruption of one of our nation’s most fundamental political institutions is a crime that should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
The last time the U.S. Capitol was stormed was during the War of 1812, when British soldiers attacked the building in late August of 1814.
Protests at state capitals across the country turned threatening Wednesday as demonstrators entered legislative buildings and police escorted elected officials from their offices in response to violent threats.
The protests against the November presidential election results, fueled in large part by unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud that were repeated often by President Trump and the White House, coincided with mob violence in the nation’s capital where Trump supporters overran U.S. Capitol Police and officers drew their firearms to protect lawmakers in the House and Senate.
In state capitals, police moved to protect elected officials who were threatened by pro-Trump mobs.
Staffers at the Utah state Capitol were ordered to evacuate the building, wrote Bryan Schott, who covers the legislature for the Salt Lake Tribune. In Georgia, police escorted Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) to safety as militia members gathered outside the Capitol building in Atlanta.
Protesters at a rally in Salem burned Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) in effigy, as city police urged people to avoid the area around the statehouse. Fistfights broke out in Sacramento, where police struggled to contain clashes between dueling groups of demonstrators.
In Kansas, state police monitored a group of protesters who entered the statehouse in Topeka. The state Highway Patrol said they had no plans to increase security, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal. The protesters later dispersed without incident.
Peaceful protests urging the overthrow of President-elect Joe Biden’s win in November gathered in Austin, Texas. Protests were calm and controlled in Little Rock, Ark., though some Trump supporters showed up with automatic firearms and riot shields.
"He broke the law by witholding money Congress appropriated for Ukraine to defend itself against Russia, demanding a fake investigation into the Bidens in exchange.
That was more than enough to impeach him"
untrue
"but corrupt Republicans refused to hold him accountable."
the Senators complied with the will of the people
it's how democracy works
the case against Trump was adventurous from a legal POV and, even if true, no significant
"That emboldened Trump as Democrats said it would"
yes, Randy, Trump was just a meek and mild fellow up to that point
did the other fellas in the nuthouse tell you that?
"and the inevitable result of Republicans failing to hold him accountable is why we are where we are today."
nope
"You just keep putting Trump above the law, how could you have not seen this comming???"
this is not Minority Report
in America, people are convicted for what they do, not what we think they might do
"You're painfully late to be coming to this conclusion, its unforgivable that you have minimized and defended Trump's corruption at every point. If you were an honest rational person you would have demanded Trump be convicted last January. It was obvious then who he was and the existential threat he represented."
this is not Minority Report
in America, people are convicted for what they do, not what we think they might do
President Donald Trump said there would be an “orderly transition on January 20th” after Congress concluded the electoral vote count early Thursday certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s victory hours after he appeared to excuse the violent occupation of the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.
Trump acknowledged defeat in the Nov. 3 election for the first time, after a day of chaos and destruction on Capitol Hill perpetrated in his name by supporters that halted business in Congress for more than six hours.
“Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th,” Trump said in a statement posted to Twitter by aides. His personal account was locked by the social media company for posting messages that appeared to justify the assault on the seat of the nation’s democracy.
Trump added, “While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!”
Assault on democracy: Sen. Josh Hawley has blood on his hands in Capitol coup attempt
No one other than President Donald Trump himself is more responsible for Wednesday’s coup attempt at the U.S. Capitol than one Joshua David Hawley, the 41-year-old junior senator from Missouri, who put out a fundraising appeal while the siege was underway.
This, Sen. Hawley, is what law-breaking and destruction look like. This is not a protest, but a riot. One woman who was apparently part of the pro-Trump mob was fatally shot by Capitol Police as lawmakers took cover. Some of those whose actions Trump encouraged and later condoned brought along their Confederate flags.
And no longer can it be asked, as George Will did recently of Hawley, “Has there ever been such a high ratio of ambition to accomplishment?” Hawley’s actions in the last week had such impact that he deserves an impressive share of the blame for the blood that’s been shed.
Hawley was first to say that he would oppose the certification of Joe Biden’s Electoral College win. That action, motivated by ambition, set off much that followed — the rush of his fellow presidential aspirant Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and other members of the Sedition Caucus to put a show of loyalty to the president above all else.
After mayhem broke out, Hawley put out this uncharacteristically brief statement: “Thank you to the brave law enforcement officials who have put their lives on the line. The violence must end, those who attacked police and broke the law must be prosecuted, and Congress must get back to work and finish its job.” So modest, Senator, failing to note your key role in inspiring one of the most heartbreaking days in modern American history. We lost something precious on Wednesday, as condolence notes to our democracy from our friends around the world recognize.
Among those Hawley got to emulate him was Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, whose very first act as a member of the world’s greatest deliberative body was to sell out his country by attempting to overturn the outcome of a legitimate election.
This revolt is the result, and if you didn’t know this is where we’ve been headed from the start, it’s because you didn’t want to know.
“The Frankenstein just tore down the doors to the palace,” U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Democrat from Missouri, told The Star. Which happened because, as he said, “One-third of the nation has bought into a bald-faced lie, and they are living in a fact-free America.”
“I’m currently safe and sheltering in place while we wait to receive further instruction from Capitol Police,” tweeted U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, a Democrat from Kansas. “Today is a dark day for our country. It’s unacceptable that we have a President who has repeatedly condoned and even encouraged this despicable behavior. It must stop.”
We’ll say again what Davids is too polite to say: Trump did not manage this madness on his own. Far from it.
REPUBLICANS KNEW TRUMP’S FRAUD CLAIMS WERE BOGUS
Just before the putsch began, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said sadly that we need to once again work from an agreed upon set of facts. Only now has he noticed that lying to the public on a daily basis poisons democracy.
“People have taken this too far,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said on Fox News. Until he had to run for cover, McCarthy was fine with this sick stunt.
U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, a Republican from Kentucky, said in a statement, “Today’s events at the U.S. Capitol are tragic, outrageous, and devastating. They are wholly inconsistent with the values of our constitutional Republic.”
Yes, they are. But they are wholly consistent with Trump’s calls to overturn this election to address nonexistent fraud. And they are wholly predictable, given the willingness of most Republicans to repeat these baseless claims.
When we wrote that Hawley’s actions were dangerous — and that those of Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt and others were too, in their pretending for far too long that the election wasn’t over — some readers found that absurd. “Oh my goodness, how will democracy and our country survive?” one reader wrote in sarcasm. “How will Biden possibly govern? The Star editorial board’s hysteria over nothing is approaching CNN levels.”
No doubt plenty of Americans will see even this free-for-all in the temple of democracy as defensible. And those of you who have excused all of the brazen lawlessness of this administration can take a little bit of credit for these events, too. They couldn’t have done it without you.
Hawley, Marshall and other Republicans who upheld Trump’s con about widespread fraud knew all along that his claims were bogus. Now that they’ve seen exactly where those lies have landed us, decency demanded that they try to prevent further violence by making clear that President-elect Joe Biden did not win by cheating.
Others did back off their claims that the election isn’t over, including newly defeated Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who said Wednesday night, “I cannot now in good conscience object” to approving the Electoral College vote.
Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham told his colleagues, “Count me out; enough is enough.” He said plainly that Biden had been lawfully elected. Republican Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey called Trump a demagogue, and Republican Utah Sen. Mitt Romney suggested that the better way to calm those who believe the election was stolen would be to tell them the truth that it was not.
Marshall, however, rose, rambled, and stuck to his corrupt insistence that Trump’s fraud claims warrant further exploration.
Hawley, as he likes to do, quoted Abe Lincoln, who was not there to object, and then doubled down on his pretended alarm about possible fraud.
For “those who have concerns about what happened in November,” he said, “this is the appropriate means, this is the lawful place where those objections and concerns should be heard.” And once again Hawley, as he likes to do, isn’t telling the truth.
In a dazzling display of hypocrisy evangelical christian Franklin Graham has said this about Trump supporters seizing the capitol building:
"I am deeply saddened by what took place in our nation’s capital today. Our country is in trouble. We need God’s healing and we need God’s help. Pray for peace and the protection of our nation. Let’s come together—on our knees."
Since Obama you people have acted as though any government by a Democrat is automatically illegitimate. Mitch McConnell bragged about unconditionally blocking anything Democrats try to do even if it was a Republican policy being moved forward like Obamacare. You hypocrites created the beliefs that resulted in this attack. Don't talk to us now about coming together, especially when you and Trump have waged a vicious war on harmless lgbt people.
I said "He broke the law by witholding money Congress appropriated for Ukraine to defend itself against Russia, demanding a fake investigation into the Bidens in exchange. That was more than enough to impeach him"
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "untrue".
There's that bad faith argumentation again. You know if Obama had done this you'd be demanding and proceeding with impeachment and conviction. You demanded Hillary be locked up for having a private email server just like Colin Powell and many Bush administration officials did. The double standards of right wing authoritarians like you are well documented in decades of psychological research
I said "but corrupt Republicans refused to hold him accountable."
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "the Senators complied with the will of the people it's how democracy works".
NO! They took an oath to uphold the constitution and the rule of law, not to violate the law just because it was popular with their voters. You don't get to break the law just because your supporters want you to.
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "the case against Trump was adventurous from a legal POV and, even if true, no significant".
Its that sort of lying that lead to the riots at the capitol. If Trump violating the law to bribe a foreign county to create a fake investigation into his opponent isn't a high crime then nothing is. The consensus of legal experts was that Trump's defence claim he can do anything he wants is what was "adventurous" from a legal point of view, to say the least.
I said "[Republicans violation of their oath to do fair and impartial justice in the trump Seante trial] That emboldened Trump as Democrats said it would"
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "yes, Priya, Trump was just a meek and mild fellow up to that point".
That's precisely the point you are denying - Trump has been corrupt all along, made one corrupt move after another and your continuted support for him was grossly unjustified from the time he fired Comey to end an investigation into his Russia collusion. You knew you were supporting a wannabe dicator from the start and have no excuse for not seeing this riot comming. Instead you enabled him every step along the way.
I said "and the inevitable result of Republicans failing to hold him accountable is why we are where we are today."
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "nope"
JFC, just admit the obvious for once in your life, you clearly can't refute this.
I said "You just keep putting Trump above the law, how could you have not seen this comming???"
Wyatt/Regina/bad anonymous said "this is not Minority Report in America, people are convicted for what they do, not what we think they might do".
LIke this was totally unforseen, Trump gave no hint in the past four years this is who he was, as you sarcastically said "yes, Priya, Trump was just a meek and mild fellow up to that point" - by your own admission this is obviously who Trump was and you deceitfully assert this caught you by surprise?! Eff your corrupt support of this dictator.
I said "You're painfully late to be coming to this conclusion, its unforgivable that you have minimized and defended Trump's corruption at every point. If you were an honest rational person you would have demanded Trump be convicted last January. It was obvious then who he was and the existential threat he represented."
"this is not Minority Report in America, people are convicted for what they do, not what we think they might do".
Spare us the B.S. that this was some sort of surprise you couldn't see coming. You knew from the time he corruptly fired Comey to stop an investigation into himself Inspector General Horowitz said wasn't biased against him and was properly predicated on the law.
Wyatt and Regina clearly haven't learned their lesson, I can't help but think if Trump hadn't told people not to vote in Georgia giving Democrats control of the Senate they would still be supporting his dictatorship.
If you can't admit you were wrong about Trump from the beginning and should have seen this coming from the start you are a danger to society and an enemy of democracy.
"No doubt plenty of Americans will see even this free-for-all in the temple of democracy as defensible. And those of you who have excused all of the brazen lawlessness of this administration can take a little bit of credit for these events, too. They couldn’t have done it without you."
Isn't it amazing, when Republicans win it's "God's will", but when Democrats win, I guess God was out golfing or something.
What I find amusing is that all the televangelists and right-wing religious leaders said that God told them personally that Trump was going to win in a landslide. So either they are all liars or God has a wicked sense of humor!
Christian Nationalism:
Like the biblical god evangelicals worship, Trump is a thin-skinned authoritarian with totalitarian tendencies. He craves love and punishes any disloyalty or slight. Evangelicals have been taught to worship and adore that type of being above all others. This strain of religion cultivates a veneration for extreme authority. Studies bear this out: religious fundamentalism and a tendency to submit to authoritarianism are highly correlated.
The problem is that [anti-gay evangelical christinas] Perkins & co. DO have as much claim to being Christian as do the inclusive, kind, live-and-let-live Christians who exemplify the best of the teachings attributed to Jesus. The Bible is extremely "adaptable" in its self-contradictoriness, and (as Susan Blackmore noted) has perhaps survived precisely because it can be used to justify just about any (im)moral stance.
Trump said "When somebody's the President of the United States, the authority is total, and that's the way its got to be."
Its been one thing after another like this with Trump from the very start and now Wyatt and Regina Hardiman want to claim it would have taken magic to foresee his latest attempt to overthrow the government??? Give me a break!
It really sucks, doesn't it, to have laws that require us to treat others like human beings.
But [anti-gay christian Tony] Perkins forgets that while good Christians like him face the unfathomably repulsive prospect of having to disregard another's sexual orientation or gender identity when serving customers or clients, when making employment decisions, when dealing with housing issues, by the very same token millions of queer people are forced to treat Christians the same way.
The very real difference though is that religion is a choice.
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Republicans wake up, way too late, to Trump’s assault on democracy
It took five years of Donald Trump shouting his authoritarian intent for Republican Party leaders to wake up and try to stop him.
It came way too late. The question is, what do they do about it now?
There is a straight line between the Republican Party’s failure to confront Trump when he first emerged in the GOP primary in 2015 and the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.
Trump was clear from the beginning of his candidacy that he had no regard for the U.S. Constitution, the rule of law or the idea of adhering to truth and facts. He made numerous statements during the 2016 campaign that indicated his intent to do anything with power he could, including bending or breaking rules to gain or hold on to that power.
And he made it a core objective of his to break the link between his supporters and reality, taking them deeper and deeper into a rabbit hole of conspiracies, lies and fantasies, and demonizing anyone who dared contradict him.
At every turn, with few exceptions over those years, GOP leaders accommodated and appeased Trump and his supporters rather than confronting him. If the GOP does take quick decisive action now to forcefully denounce Trump, the chaos he has unleashed is likely to continue.
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