Putin Comments on Western Values
The textbook case of cognitive dissonance is when somebody you can't stand says something you agree with. What are you supposed to do? You can dislike them less or find some reason to disagree with what they have said, or both -- it is hard for human beings to hold conflicting thoughts. You want to be on the same side in everything, or on opposite sides. It's basic psychology: we want our thoughts and feelings to be consistent.
This crossed my mind as I flipped through yesterday's Washington Post and encountered a headline:
Putin slams trans rights and other values of the West.
(Online version: "Putin slams ‘cancel culture’ and trans rights, calling teaching gender fluidity ‘crime against humanity’") This is the least surprising thing in the world, isn't it? Of course Putin opposes rights for transgender people and "other values of the West."
Putin stressed that his country should adhere to its own “spiritual values and historical traditions,” while steering clear of “sociocultural disturbances” in the West.
These statements of Putin's do not induce the slightest amount of cognitive dissonance in an American reader. I do not like Putin and his authoritarian ways, I would not want to live in Russia, and I also like Western values and think "sociocultural disturbances" tend to be healthy for a community, strengthen individuals' sense of autonomy, freedom, and strength, and they are fun. I don't like him and I disagree with him: no dissonance.
Republican readers also will feel no sense of cognitive dissonance upon reading Putin's statements, but for the opposite reason. He embodies their ideal as a strong and manly leader, and of course he opposes trans rights and other values of the West, which they also oppose. They like him and agree with him: no conflict there.
I don't know if Republican leaders get literal envelopes of cash from literal Russian oligarchs. I don't know if Putin has his people call their people every morning to tell them what to do and say. I don't know how it works, but clearly there is a well-funded and well-organized global movement to eliminate individual freedom, to assign more power to the state and to the very rich, and Putin is a leader of this movement and one of its least embarrassed spokesmen. Because the movement opposes Western values, American politicians have to veil their motives, hiding behind religious privilege and using words like "truth," "patriotism," and "freedom" in ways that are the opposite of their usual meanings.
The global authoritarian movement has infiltrated American society in a way that I would never have imagined, growing up during the Cold War and after the Allied victory against the Nazis. Putin's words here would be unusual for an American, we normally speak up in support of personal freedom, we encourage differences among people and individual uniqueness as a cultural foundation. Our country's history has been a story of the broadening of acceptance for people as they are. Where Constitutional rights were initially awarded to the small group of white male landowners, over the centuries the gift of freedom has expanded to include more people. We rejected the ownership of human beings and gave rights to the descendants of freed slaves. We eventually gave many rights to women, including the right to vote. Our country recognizes that sexual orientation and gender identity are not qualities that should affect someone's right to participate freely in our society. The goal of Western values, I think I can say, is for "we the people" to explicitly include all the people. It is not a goal we have attained yet, but our historical momentum marches incessantly in that direction, even against constant opposition from the outside by leaders like Putin, and from within by Republicans, Nazis, white nationalists, and others.
I kind of like the ring of that phrase, "sociocultural disturbances." It is almost as if the West engages in some kind of ongoing revolution, pushing back against the suppression of liberties, one sociocultural battle after the other, expanding its definition of freedom until just about everybody has it. This is disturbing to the Putin/Trump authoritarians who feel they have the right to determine the standards and values that everyone should comply with, and it is empowering for the rest of us. This empowerment of the ordinary citizen can only come under democratic rule, where voters decide how policies will be implemented.
The simpler term instead of "spiritual values and historical traditions" would have been ideology. The are many kinds of "spiritual values" in Russia, as well as in our country; in the US these are not broadcast and enforced by the government, though Americans aligned with Putin's values do endorse the merging of church and state (as long as it's their church). "Spiritual values" in this kind of context comprise not only attitudes toward deity and the afterlife, but judgment and punishment of our fellow citizens as well. There is obviously nothing in Christian, including Orthodox, scripture about transgender people. Yet Putin as well as many evangelical Americans consider it a "spiritual value" to despise certain of their fellow citizens and to make their lives as miserable as possible, to deny them rights solely because they fail to comply with a particular in-group's social gender norms.
Western values encourage the expansion of history, as well. It is generally held that "history books are written by the conquerors," but an enlightened, scientific history is one that tells the story of a society without taking the point of view of one participant or group over another. Conquerors tend to be cruel, and the history of that cruelty can be told from the perspective of the colonialists or from that of indigenous, conquered, or exploited populations. This is the conflict behind the current Republican opposition to "Critical Race Theory" or any teaching where white people might have been unkind or unfair to a minority group. Western scientific values promote a historical narrative that is objectively accurate, not one that glamorizes the victors with fictions and half-truths.
Putin's allies are working hard to undermine our Western values in the US. Supporters of his ideology are moving into official positions in the states and counties, poised for the moment when they can eliminate the troublesome habit of a democratic vote and install their leaders regardless of the will of the majority. They are disrupting and changing the norms of our federal government processes to accommodate outbursts and violence, defying norms and laws, ignoring the dignified protocols that have evolved in centuries of governing by officials who respected Constitutional law. These opponents of Western values make up a small minority of our population but they are relentless, sneaky, and dangerous.
posted by JimK at 8:42 AM
212 Comments:
“Consider a country where a leader is elected in a free and fair election and then sets about chipping away slowly but surely at the pillars of democracy," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a recent speech in Ecuador .
"Now, imagine that leader then seeks to use the levers of democracy to pass anti-democratic reforms — eliminating term limits, packing courts, firing legislators. That’s the story of more than one democracy in our hemisphere. And it’s one of the ways that democracies can come undone.”
Blinken is right, which is awkward for his boss, President Joe Biden, whose panel pondering the merits and methods for packing the Supreme Court has just finished its inglorious work.
The Left, enraged that former President Donald Trump got to appoint three Supreme Court justices, is clamoring to undermine the Constitution in precisely the way Biden's State Department rightly condemns. And as Biden repeatedly makes clear, he'll give the Left whatever it wants.
The United States derives its great wealth and power not simply from its natural resources and modern technology, but from its adherence to the rule of law. By even discussing packing the Supreme Court, the president undermines judicial independence upon which the rule of law depends.
It was good to see Biden's court-packing commission dissolve this month without endorsing banana-republic moves to help the Left. But such a panel should never have been convened. The Supreme Court isn't broken and doesn't need fixing. The unilaterally partisan act of creating additional vacant seats and filling them with hand-picked allies — this is the true definition of court-packing despite whatever manipulative and partisan attempts are made to redefine it — is how judicial independence is destroyed.
Some things are properly beyond the pale in political discussion, which is something Democrats understood when Trump was president. They repeatedly attacked him for breaking norms. But now that they're in power, they're proving to be worse than he was. They assail every constitutional and legal check on their own power. They were the ones who abolished judicial filibusters, after deploying them to block former President George W. Bush's nominees, and they are now threatening the legislative filibuster as well.
Democrats increasingly demand to change the rules when they're losing the game. They don't believe in the First Amendment , the Second Amendment , the Fourth Amendment, or the Seventh Amendment . We'd better look further, for we suspect the entire Bill of Rights is in their sights one way or another.
Many on the Left are totalitarian in instinct. They regard those who disagree with them as stupid or evil, which is why they relish cancel culture. They have lost perspective and self-reflection.
They no longer care about procedures or safeguards. They have no problems storming people's houses over political disagreements or with sending the FBI to violate the rights of parents who speak out at school board meetings.
If Democrats keep winning elections, it'll be only a matter of time before the future of our republic hinges on the most unhinged people in the room
A shocking new report suggests that various Republican members of Congress were actively involved in organizing the Jan. 6 rallies in Washington, D.C., that culminated in the storming of the U.S. Capitol.
Two of the people who organized the pro-Donald Trump “Stop the Steal” rallies told Rolling Stone magazine that Republican Reps. Paul Gosar (Ariz.), Lauren Boebert (Colo.), Mo Brooks (Ala.), Madison Cawthorn (N.C.), Andy Biggs (Ariz.) and Louie Gohmert (Texas) were involved in planning both the former president’s strategy to overturn his 2020 election loss and the Jan. 6 riot by Trump supporters at the U.S. Capitol.
Gosar, however, stuck out to the unidentified organizers because he reportedly encouraged them to plan the election result protests by suggesting Trump would offer a “blanket pardon” to participants.
“Our impression was that it was a done deal, that he’d spoken to the president about it in the Oval … in a meeting about pardons and that our names came up,” one organizer told the magazine. “They were working on submitting the paperwork and getting members of the House Freedom Caucus to sign on as a show of support.”
One of the sources said Gosar told them at one point: “I was just going over the list of pardons and we just wanted to tell you guys how much we appreciate all the hard work you’ve been doing,” according to Rolling Stone.
As a result of Rolling Stone’s story, many Twitter users were reminded of this tweet Gosar posted on Jan. 6 that tagged Stop the Steal organizer Ali Alexander:
Paul Gosar
@DrPaulGosar
Biden should concede. I want his concession on my desk tomorrow morning. Don’t make me come over there.
#StopTheSteaI2021
@ali
"A shocking new report suggests that various Republican members of Congress were actively involved in organizing the Jan. 6 rallies in Washington, D.C., that culminated in the storming of the U.S. Capitol."
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......
The doctrines of our liberal culture have only become more absurd over the years, even as it’s clear that only a fraction of the country actually believes them.
You can point to any one of a series of examples. Take the case of Twitter suspending the account of Republican Rep. Jim Banks, who correctly stated that health official Rachel Levine “was born and lived as a man for 54 years.” Banks criticized the idea of calling Levine the “first female four-star officer to serve in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps’” because Levine's sex is male.
It is absurd enough to embrace the idea that there are no biological differences between men and women, especially when applied to women’s sports. But a Democratic Oklahoma state representative took it a step further, criticizing Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt for stating that there is “no such thing as non-binary sex.”
But Stitt, like Banks, is correct. There is no such thing as “non-binary sex,” just as it is true that Levine is not the first female four-star officer. Biology still exists. Science is real. It is not hateful conduct, as Twitter and that Oklahoma Democrat claim, to acknowledge that.
Not content with just warping biology to fit leftist dogma, liberal institutions have taken to butchering multiple languages. “Latinx” has now replaced “Latino” as a “gender-neutral” alternative. It is used by 5% of Latinos and 99% of liberal politicians and institutions. “Filipino” has likewise been replaced by the atrocity “Filipinx,” at least occasionally.
Meanwhile, former Sacramento Kings broadcaster Grant Napear is suing his former radio station for wrongful termination. Napear was fired last year during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement for responding to former Kings center DeMarcus Cousins by saying that “All lives matter…Every single one.” The radio station immediately fired him and claimed that his comments about all lives mattering did not reflect its views or values.
Seriously.
Each of these things sounds ridiculous to most people — certainly to all sane people. And yet this is what our dominant liberal culture is now pushing, as corporations obediently bow to made-up biology, edited foreign languages, and the idea that caring about equality is something you should distance yourself from. This cultural march is not going to stop on its own, or with the pushback of invested conservative activists. It will stop only when everyday people make it clear that they reject it.
Even if Merrick Garland has the FBI harass them...
Terry McAuliffe reeeeeallly takes the cake for hypocrisy
even though Glen Youngkin has repeatedly refused to endorse Trump's assertion that the election was stolen, McAuliffe has said Youngkin endorses trump's assertion
now, McAuliffe has said the Georgia governor's election was stolen from Stacy Abrams
btw, Doug Wilder, first black governor of Virginia has blasted McAuliffe
Youngkin dismissed Biden’s appearance in the state in a recent interview. “If President Biden wants to come campaign in Virginia, come on, spend all the time you want here,” he said, in remarks that echoed past GOP hopefuls. “You can’t help but look at President Biden and recognize what a failed presidency looks like.”
That McAuliffe is running against Donald Trump and not Glenn Youngkin, and on issues in Texas and Florida rather than Virginia, indicates he feels he will lose on a straight up comparison with Youngkin on Virginia issues. And indeed, the evidence—including Joe Biden’s collapsing approval numbers and overwhelming signs of parental anger—suggests that McAuliffe is probably correct that he would lose a Virginia-focused race.
Yet one of the problems with McAuliffe’s approach is reflected in his Richmond-area numbers with African Americans. As McAuliffe’s campaign has focused on a largely ideological appeal to Northern Virginia progressives, it has struggled to turn out those (such as African Americans) who are less enamored with the progressive agenda and worldview. McAuliffe’s campaign has approached this challenge as a logistical problem—inviting Stacey Abrams to the state to spread conspiracy theories about her own electoral defeat in 2018; playing a video in black churches of Vice President Kamala Harris urging parishioners to vote (likely an illegal appeal); and, most significantly, calling in Barack Obama. Will it work? Well, McAuliffe does not need 2008 or 2020 turnout to win. What likely matters is if this strategy succeeds in getting more Democrats to the polls.
As McAuliffe races to address his shortcomings with the black voters that his campaign has neglected, Youngkin’s fate may be decided by his success in mobilizing a group of similarly neglected voters. While many have argued that Youngkin has failed to distance himself enough from former President Trump and will pay for that choice on Election Day, in fact the evidence suggests the opposite may be true. If anything, Youngkin needs to ensure he is doing everything possible to turn out the Trump base in Southwestern Virginia.
The idea that Youngkin needed to run away from Trump has always been a bit of a fallacy. No matter what Youngkin did, the type of voters who vote on anti-Trump messaging were going to go against him. Such voters already believe that any Republican who does not explicitly accuse the party in general (and the former President in particular) of being a “threat to democracy” is themselves a danger to national security. The same is true of the abortion issue. Nothing short of threatening to veto any abortion restrictions and calling abortion a fundamental right, as Charlie Baker in Massachusetts and Phil Scott in Vermont have done, would ever suffice for a certain set of Northern Virginia Democrats who actually vote on those issues.
Despite McAuliffe’s best efforts, Youngkin shows signs of having cleared the threshold of acceptability with many Northern Virginia voters. Now, to close the deal, he needs to motivate the disengaged voters in Trump country—the Southwestern part of the state that is not historically deep-red Republican, but nonetheless voted big for Donald Trump. Before 2010, the 9th Congressional district had been in the hands of Democrat Rick Boucher. Gore received 42% in 2000, Kerry 39% in 2004, and Obama 40% in 2008 and 37% in 2012. The collapse to Clinton’s 27% and Biden’s 28% is recent and a personal consequence of Trump’s appeal to the working-class voters in this part of the state.
With Youngkin’s campaign focused on not turning off swing voters in the areas around D.C. and the Richmond suburbs, many of these voters in rural Virginia could be forgiven for thinking there is no election going on. In many cases, the issues discussed have little to do with them. They do not hear much from the candidates. It is hardly surprising that they are turning out at less than 60% of the rate of the state at large.
If, a week from today, Youngkin comes up just short, the chances are that it will not be because he failed to make a breakthrough on crime or education in Northern Virginia, but because his campaign did not take advantage of the opportunity over this next week to turn out Trump country in Southwest Virginia, just like a panicking McAuliffe campaign is desperately trying to turn out Richmond-area African Americans. In this scenario, McAuliffe’s anti-Trump campaign will have worked not by persuading Virginia voters that Youngkin is Trump in miniature, but by scaring Youngkin and the GOP into running an overly defensive campaign that prevented Republicans from appealing to the voters who should have been their most reliable base of support.
The good news is that Youngkin still has time to close the deal. McAuliffe’s attacks have clearly failed to destroy him, he shows signs in polls of having broken through with the mythical “Northern Virginia woman,” his opponent’s campaign is floundering, the Democratic President is deeply unpopular, the economy and foreign affairs are not going well, and the media is declaring the party “in disarray.”
Everything is in place to allow a Republican to capture the Governor’s mansion in a commonwealth where they haven’t won statewide office in over a decade. All Youngkin has left to do is to get Trump’s supporters to show up and carry him across the finish line. The good news is it’s a task that should be much easier than winning a few more wavering marginal voters in the deep-blue Northern Virginia. In fact, it should be eminently doable for Youngkin, with the right attention and focus. He has to go there and make the case that McAuliffe, like Biden, has handed control of his agenda to the extreme left—while reminding them that the new Democratic Party not only wants to teach their children crazy things, but also to kill their coal jobs, raise their gas prices and energy bills, eliminate private gun ownership, and micromanage every aspect of their lives.
Earlier this year, the Biden administration and congressional Democrats presented an ambitious agenda to claw back the 2017 GOP tax cuts and add new levies designed to help finance a planned $3.5 trillion partisan bill. Since the early summer, though, those plans have been pared back or discarded because of opposition from centrist senators who hold the keys to passing any form of reconciliation package.
Democratic Sens. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia have been flexing their outsize power to reduce the tax burden imposed as part of the package. The party can’t afford to lose either senator’s support, given that the Senate is split 50-50 and that Vice President Kamala Harris would act as a tiebreaker on any legislation the GOP opposed as a whole.
Sinema, in particular, has reportedly opposed increases in individual and corporate tax rates, measures that Democrats were counting on to offset the bulk of their spending proposals.
Instead, Democrats, in the past few days, have discussed new measures of raising revenue, including a tax on the unrealized capital gains of billionaires.
This is a big departure from the party’s previous goal of clawing in revenue by taxing a wider swath of the wealthy, those making above $400,000 annually. Instead, this tax on billionaires would likely only target fewer than 1,000 people, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The tax, though, would only raise a small amount of revenue relative to the Democrats' spending ambitions. Such a downsizing would force Democrats to significantly scale back or eliminate some of the biggest provisions in the bill. In recent days they have reportedly weighed dropping a proposal to expand Medicare benefits as well as a plan for guaranteed paid family and medical leave
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) disputed the Rolling Stone report citing him as one of the key members of Congress who spoke on planning calls for the Jan. 6 rally in Washington, D.C., tweeted CNN Capitol Hill reporter Melanie Zanona.
According to two organizers and one planner involved in the event, Brooks joined a slate of other Republican officials who participated in the planning calls with activists. Their accusations join along with a since-deleted video from far-right activist Ali Alexander, who also named Brooks as someone who helped come up with the idea about the Jan. 6 riot that left five dead and many injured.
"I was the person who came up with the Jan. 6 idea with Congressman Gosar, Congressman Mo Brooks, and Congressman Andy Biggs," Alexander said in the video. "We four schemed up on putting maximum pressure on Congress while they were voting so that — who we couldn't lobby — we could change the hearts and the minds of Republicans who were in that body hearing our loud roar from outside."
But Brooks disputed all four of the claims he was involved, instead, throwing his staff under the bus.
Speaking to reporters on Monday evening, Brooks said he didn't do planning for the event, but "I don't know if my staff did.. but if they did I'd be proud of them for helping to put together a rally lawful under the First Amendment at the ellipse to protest voter fraud and election theft."
Brooks previously confessed that he knew that things could get violent on Jan. 6, so he donned body armor under his jacket before he spoke to the crowd at the Ellipse.
It looks like Republicans need to keep their eyes out for a lot of busses headed their way.
Meanwhile GOPer Florida Gov. DeSantis offers $5,000 bonus to lure anti-vax police from out of state even knowing Data Shows COVID-19 as Leading Cause of Death in Law Enforcement This Year
Apparently cops' lives aren't worth much these days to Rump wannabes like DeSantas.
A reminder — the one-year anniversary of the 2020 presidential election is days away.
Yes, it is quite the milestone because the losing candidate, Donald Trump, still refuses to concede that he lost.
Get this — Trump now declares that Republicans won’t vote in the 2022 midterms or the 2024 presidential election if fraud is not uncovered to show he was the winner of the 2020 race.
Yet, most Republicans in Congress are still marching along with this farce, which is getting dangerously close to throwing GOP chances of gaining a majority in the House in 2022 over the edge — along with American democracy.
Republican political insiders are in a fright over Trump’s threat to tell their voters to stay home. They saw his lies about fraud depress GOP turnout for Senate candidates in Georgia in two run-off elections in January. They want Trump to quiet down.
But Trump feels he is bigger than the Republican Party. He feels free to crank up the volume.
Trump is now boldly asking followers in Congress to show their devotion to him by derailing the House investigation into the murderous assault on the Capitol by his supporters.
The “real insurrection,” he said last week, came not in the violence at the Capitol but on Election Day 2020.
Trump is also making a stir by trying to stop the facts about his behavior on Jan. 6 from becoming public. He is claiming executive privilege to keep White House records from the time of the insurrection away from Congress.
And he is advising his former aides not to testify about the Jan. 6 attempt to overthrow the government.
he House, along mostly party lines, responded by voting to hold Steve Bannon, one of Trump’s advisors, in criminal contempt for defying its subpoena.
But most House Republicans continue standing by Trump and Bannon.
According to a New York Times report last week, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has sent out word that GOP lobbyists and consultants risk blacklisting if they work with Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), Trump’s most prominent critic among Capitol Hill Republicans.
Incredibly, most Republican voters still dance to the chaotic beat of Trump’s lies.
A majority, 66 percent of Republicans, told a Yahoo News/YouGov poll in August they still believe “the election was rigged and stolen from Trump.” Just 18 percent say they believe “Joe Biden won fair and square.”
This mass deception also serves as a cover for Trump loyalists to pass new state laws to suppress voter turnout and give Trump sycophants control of counting votes.
And now he is threatening to discourage his followers from voting in upcoming elections.
The conservative Wall Street Journal editorial page responded by warning: “Mr. Trump may not be finished making his supporters pay for his narcissism.”
Trump’s “narcissism” requires his followers to ignore that his own attorney general concluded there was no fraud. So did more than 50 federal judges. So did Republican secretaries of state and even a series of election audits.
And there is more.
Revelations in freshly released documents show that Trump pressured his vice president to overthrow the election results. He also pushed loyalists in the Justice Department to do the same.
And he pressured Republican governors, and state legislators, even Republican secretaries of state, to find votes for him and falsely crown him the winner.
Republicans in Congress close their eyes to those facts.
Instead, they are captives — locked into an endless loop of lies run on high-speed repeat between Trump, conservative talk shows, elected officials and Republican voters.
That drumbeat of lies drowns out any counterpoint. It creates a separate reality.
Here is the proof:
A Quinnipiac University poll released last week found 66 percent of self-described Republican voters said they did not consider the January 6 Capitol insurrection to be “an attack on the government.”
That same poll found that 77 percent of Republican voters said they do not hold Trump responsible for it.
Say, what?
It is a matter of history that Trump asked the mob to come to Washington to protest Congress certifying the election. He spoke to the crowd before they attacked Congress.
Cheney is one of two Republicans willing to defy the mob-think on the right by serving on the Jan. 6 House Committee:
All of us as elected officials must do our duty to prevent the dismantling of the rule of law,” Cheney said last week, “and to ensure that nothing like that dark day in January ever happens again.”
Trump doesn’t want an election. He wants to claim he is a victim of another stolen election.
Talk show host Bill Maher recently warned that Trump is engaged in “a slow-moving coup.” He predicts that Trump, if he runs in 2024, will claim victory no matter the final vote tally — and this time the state and local officials who stopped him will be gone.
There is only one way to stop Trump’s coup attempt. A federal law protecting voting rights.
Unless full voting-rights protections are passed by Democrats now with their slim majority in Congress, historians will look back on 2021 as the year the American democracy died.
Trump is killing it — with help from Congressional Republicans. Democrats can’t be complacent Democrats as another year goes by.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott — who is on quite the rampage against the rights, and even lives, of Texas residents — has struck again. On Monday, the governor signed a law barring trans athletes from teams corresponding to their gender. The law requires students to play on teams based on the gender listed on their birth certificate, not the one they live as, even if they take gender-affirming hormones that could affect their athletic performance. This impacts not just minor students in junior high and high schools, but legal adults who are in college athletics.
The cover story for this attack on trans rights is that it's about "protecting" girls and women, on the unevidenced grounds that trans girls and women have unfair advantages in sports. Rep. Valoree Swanson, the Republican who is the lead sponsor on the bill, has been maximally smarmy in her rhetoric about her supposed love of girls, her desire for them to be safe, and her enthusiasm for their ambitions.
Swanson doesn't care about girls or women, and, in fact, is a classic Aunt Lydia type, a standard female misogynist. Like Abbott, she has a long track record of backing laws that will derail the ambitions of young women, make their lives much harder, and undermine both their health and safety. For instance, she not only voted for SB8, the infamous Texas law that bans abortion through a literal bounty hunter system, but also has a long history of sponsoring anti-abortion legislation, as well as opposing contraception education that can prevent abortions. Far from wanting young women to have fulfilling lives chasing their dreams, Swanson wants to wield forced childbirth as a weapon to derail their ambitions. The language about "protecting" girls is just bad faith posturing, trying to make a vicious attack on the rights of young trans people sound somehow ennobling.
The extreme bad faith driving the current anti-trans hysteria sweeping the country is evident in Virginia, where Republicans are campaigning for gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin by bashing trans people and hiding behind phony postures about the "safety" of women and girls as an excuse.
The deeply troubling situation in Loudoun County involves a rape that happened in the bathroom of one of the county's public high schools in May. Rumors started to fly throughout the community, aided by national right-wing media, that the accused rapist was "gender fluid" and was wearing a skirt during the attack. The implication was that the school's pro-trans policy regarding bathrooms allowed the kid to pretend to be female in order to lurk in the bathroom and attack students.
This right-wing spin on the story, unsurprisingly, turned out not be true.
The rapist — who has been identified in the press as a "boy" and whose gender identity and clothing was not discussed during trial — was convicted in juvenile court on Monday. Testimony revealed that the true story was one of dating violence, and has nothing to do with the bathroom policies at the high school. The rapist and his victim had been seeing each other and "had agreed to meet up in a school bathroom," and "chose to go in the girls' bathroom because the two had always met in the girls' bathrooms in the past." Once there, the boy the victim thought was her friend raped her.
"Yes, it is quite the milestone because the losing candidate, Donald Trump, still refuses to concede that he lost."
how long has it been that Stacy Abrams has refused to conceded she lost the Georgia gubernatorial election?
Terry McAulifefe this week brought her to Virginia and agreed the election was stolen fro;m her
even the Washington Post found McAuliffe's remarks despicable
"The cover story for this attack on trans rights is that it's about "protecting" girls and women, on the unevidenced grounds that trans girls and women have unfair advantages in sports."
there is plenty of "evidence", indeed, it is an easily verified fact, that guys who think they are girls still have elevated testosterone
"The rapist and his victim had been seeing each other and "had agreed to meet up in a school bathroom," and "chose to go in the girls' bathroom because the two had always met in the girls' bathrooms in the past.""
and because no one thinks its strange for guys to be there anymore
the real issue is the school board refused to take the assault seriously
there is plenty of "evidence", indeed, it is an easily verified fact, that guys who think they are girls still have elevated testosterone
Let's see your evidence of "elevated testosterone" and do tell, elevated over what?
Your stupidity is astounding!
The Volatile Mermaid (Resting Witch Face)
@OhNoSheTwitnt
If you can’t see that Marjorie Taylor Greene helped plan the January 6th terrorist attack then you need Jewish Space Laser eye surgery.
Scott Dworkin
@funder
· Oct 24
Here's video of Marjorie Taylor Greene at the White House in late December 2020 saying she had a "great planning session for our January 6th objection. We aren't going to let this election be stolen by Joe Biden and the Democrats.” Expel and arrest Greene.
"Let's see your evidence of "elevated testosterone" and do tell, elevated over what?
Your stupidity is astounding!"
first, let's make clear what you are asserting
you hold that guys who think they are girls have the same average testosterone levels as girls?
is that what you "think"?
"Here's video of Marjorie Taylor Greene at the White House in late December 2020 saying she had a "great planning session for our January 6th objection. We aren't going to let this election be stolen by Joe Biden and the Democrats.” Expel and arrest Greene."
personally, I find MTG as despicable as AOC
but we have a criminal justice system here that requires proof to convict someone
you have provided none
planning a demonstration is a constitutionally protected activity
President Joe Biden’s dropping poll numbers are worse than they seem. A deep dive into the data shows two overlooked problems that most news stories haven’t caught: an intensity problem and a national mood problem.
An intensity problem happens when a politician’s “hard” negative ratings rise much higher than his or her “hard” positive ratings. Voters who hold strongly negative views are less likely to shift to the positive side than are voters who hold only somewhat negative views — and that spells trouble in the next election.
Put another way, Biden’s supporters tend to be only so-so in their esteem, while opponents are more passionate in their enmity.
In the recent Quinnipiac University poll, for example, Biden’s overall job approval rating is 40%, with 53% disapproving. That’s not good. But when you look at internal numbers that didn’t make it into the headlines, it gets worse: The number of voters who strongly disapprove of the job the president is doing is more than twice that of those who strongly approve, 45% to 20%.
The same is true for Biden’s personal popularity. Among voters, he’s 46% favorable and 51% unfavorable in an Economist poll. However, the very unfavorable is bigger than the very favorable, 40% to 26%.
Biden also has an intensity problem when it comes to his handling of important issues. Economist polling found that almost twice as many voters strongly disapprove of Biden’s handling of jobs and the economy than those who strongly approve, 39% to 20%. In addition, 35% strongly disapprove of Biden’s performance on healthcare, while only 17% strongly approve, and 35% strongly disapprove of his handling of the abortion issues, while only 15% strongly approve. On crime, 38% strongly disapprove and 12% strongly approve.
Even on civil rights, a core Democratic issue, Biden’s approval rating is underwater at 42%, with 47% disapproving. Adding to the sting: Strongly disapprove is more than twice that of strongly approve, 35% to 16%. Immigration is worse. A late September survey found Biden’s approval rating on the issue is 24%, with 61% disapproving. Looking at intensity, 43% strongly disapproved and a mere 4% strongly approved.
None of this is good news for Democrats.
In addition to polls on Biden, survey data are capturing an increasingly troublesome public mood. The poll that received the most attention was conducted by Gallup, showing 52% of voters believe “government is trying to do too many things,” while 43% believe “government should do more to solve our country's problems.”
most people in the home states of Manchin and Sinema want Congress to drop Biden's huge spending bill altogether:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/more-people-in-manchin-s-sinema-s-home-states-want-to-hold-off-on-new-spending-polls/ar-AAPYV8a?ocid=msedgntp
"planning a demonstration is a constitutionally protected activity"
And what is planing attacks on Congress (participants brought weapons like guns and bear spray as well as zip ties for taking hostages), on VP Mike Pence (building a gallows and calling for him as they hunted him down inside the Capitol) and on Speaker Nancy Pelosi (we all heard them calling her in the videos, clear as day and saw the destruction inside her office)?
You better read the US constitution again and try to pay attention this time.
Oh so boys have "elevated testosterone" over girls is what you were trying to say without mentioning girls?
How long did it take you to figure that out?
Your stupidity is revealed to be more astounding each time you post another comment.
I suggest you quit embarrassing yourself and do the work your employer pays you to do.
"Testosterone should be a controlled substance " as the videotaped evidence of what happened in the Captol on Jan 6th clearly show.
"Oh so boys have "elevated testosterone" over girls is what you were trying to say without mentioning girls?
How long did it take you to figure that out?"
I didn't "figure it out" at all
it's a fact why having guys compete against girls in sports competition is unfair, contrary to your unevidenced assertion
"And what is planing attacks on Congress (participants brought weapons like guns and bear spray as well as zip ties for taking hostages), on VP Mike Pence (building a gallows and calling for him as they hunted him down inside the Capitol) and on Speaker Nancy Pelosi (we all heard them calling her in the videos, clear as day and saw the destruction inside her office)?"
and where is MTG doing that?
Organizers for the March for Trump and Stop the Steal rallies that preceded the U.S. Capitol riot told "Rolling Stone" that they held planning sessions for the events with Greene and five other Republican lawmakers, Andy Biggs, Lauren Boebert, Mo Brooks, Madison Cawthorn and Louie Gohmert.
Marjorie Taylor Greene ����
@mtgreenee
.
@realdonaldtrump deserves his day in court, AND we are definitely going to give him his day in Congress.
We have a rapidly growing group of House Members and Senators.
Jan 6 challenge is on. ����
Call your Rep: 202-225-3121
Call your Senators: 202-224-3121
#FightForTrump!
6:23 PM · Dec 21, 2020·Twitter for iPhone
Marjorie Taylor Greene ����
@mtgreenee
Dec 22, 2020
Replying to
@mtgreenee
action.greene2020.com
FIGHT FOR TRUMP - SIGN THE OFFICIAL PETITION
President Trump fought for us for 4 years! We must FIGHT FOR TRUMP now! Sign your petition.
This Tweet was deleted by the Tweet author....
you're still not showing where MTG planned bringing in weapons like guns and bear spray as well as zip ties for taking hostages or building a gallows for Mike Pence or destruction inside Nancy Pelosi's office
say, are you making this up?
In Virginia, parents have realized what’s at stake.
Public school enrollment in Fairfax County, one of the wealthiest in the country, continues to drop, even though schools have returned to in-person learning full-time. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe is rapidly losing support, especially among voters with K-12 children. And that’s because concerns about public education and the backlash against leftist efforts to keep parents out of it are organic, no matter how much Democrats would like them not to be.
Fairfax officials reported a total of 178,595 students in classes on Sept. 30, well below the 189,010 students who attended class during the 2019-20 school year before the pandemic. Some of this was to be expected, as Fairfax took off a year of in-person learning. But enrollment has not picked up since the return to the classroom, and it shows no sign of doing so. This means that a large number of Fairfax parents have finally realized that their children are better off in a private or charter school or at home.
These parents are right. Fairfax County is one of several in the state to incorporate critical race theory (or closely associated tenets) into its schools. Officials announced they would revamp the county's history curriculum to include teaching that “the U.S. was founded on protecting the interests of white, Christian men who owned property.” They also rolled out an initiative called “One Fairfax” that emphasizes “equity.” As part of this initiative, a Virginia elementary school shared on its website a radical video titled “Woke Kindergarten 60 Second Texts: Safe” that suggested police are dangerous to be around.
Parents don’t want their children exposed to this kind of toxic racialism. So they are doing the only things they can do: They are pulling their children out of an education system that wants to indoctrinate them, and they’re voting against a candidate who would take away their right to do so. Take, for example, the latest poll showing yet another drop in support for McAuliffe, who supports CRT and opposes parental rights to have a say in public schools’ curricula. While McAuliffe and his Republican opponent, Glenn Youngkin, are still tied at 48% support overall, McAuliffe only has 39% of the vote among parents of K-12 students. Youngkin has 56%.
This is bigger than just one political campaign. Backlash against the leftist education agenda is growing — not because these parents watch too much Fox News, but because they see what the public school system is doing to their children and they want out. These parents are becoming their own movement, and Democrats are beginning to see that as the threat it is. Just look at former President Barack Obama’s reaction to McAuliffe’s sinking numbers:
“We don’t have time to be wasted on these phony trumped-up culture wars, this fake outrage, the right-wing media’s pedals to juice their ratings. And the fact that Youngkin is willing to go along with it instead of talking about serious problems that actually affect serious people? That’s a shame. That’s not what this election’s about,” he said at a Saturday rally.
Actually, that’s exactly what this election is about. It’s about parental rights and the Left’s attempt to hijack the education system. That’s why McAuliffe’s campaign is flopping, Fairfax County’s enrollment numbers are dropping, and Democrats are scrambling to put up a last-minute defense. But it’s too late. Virginia’s parents have found their voice, and, finally, it seems they’re not afraid to use it.
Attorney General Merrick Garland defended his recent memo regarding violent threats against school board officials, attempting to set the record straight amid inflammatory attacks from Republicans during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday.
“The only thing the Justice Department is concerned about is violence and threats of violence,” said Garland. “That’s all it’s about.”
His memo, which came out earlier this month, directed the FBI to meet with state and local leaders to discuss strategies for addressing the recent spike in physical assaults, threats and harassment reported by school board members around the country as heated debates over COVID-19 policies and lessons on racism in public schools have led to clashes between parents and educators.
Merrick Garland
Attorney General Merrick Garland testifying before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday. (Tasos Katopodis/Pool via Reuters)
Throughout Wednesday’s hearing, however, Republican senators sought to portray the memo as much more than that, accusing Garland of weaponizing the Justice Department and infringing on parents’ First Amendment rights.
“Your memo treats parents speaking freely to be worthy of the department’s heavy investigative and prosecutorial hand,” charged Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the committee’s top Republican, in his opening statement. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., accused Garland of “siccing the feds on parents at school boards across America” and declared, “You should resign in disgrace.”
Garland’s memo quickly became a point of contention among Republicans after it was released on Oct. 4. But much of the outrage has centered not on the contents of the memo itself but on a letter sent days earlier to President Biden by the National School Board Association (NSBA). The letter, which called for federal law enforcement to respond to the “growing number of threats of violence and acts of intimidation” against public school officials, described recent attacks on educators as “a form of domestic terrorism” and urged the Biden administration to assess whether such incidents violate the Patriot Act and federal hate crime laws
slidin' Biden should resign for the good of the Democrap Party - he's an albatross!!!!!!!!!!
In 2009, a national, grassroots movement known as the Tea Party emerged in cities across the country to combat then-President Obama’s radical spending agenda and government takeover of American health care. Bureaucrats at the IRS and Department of Justice quickly took notice and got to work to stop it. After all, with midterm elections right around the corner, Obama’s political agenda was at stake.
“This was not an accident. This is a willful act of intimidation to discourage a point of view. What the government did to our little group in Wetumpka, Alabama is un-American,” Wetumpka Tea Party President Becky Gerritson testified at a June 2013 congressional hearing. “The demands for information in the questionnaire shocked me as someone who loves liberty and the First Amendment. I was asked to hand over my donor list including the amounts that they gave and the dates in which they gave them.”
“We knew we were being targeted because fellow Tea Party organizers across this nation were getting the same types of letters and questionnaires,” she continued.
While IRS officials in Washington, D.C., claimed the targeting was an isolated, rogue operation in an Ohio office, documents showed the IRS was asked by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Rep. Elijiah Cummings (D-Md.) to “look into” the groups.
Right on cue, IRS official Lois Lerner had a series of meetings with DOJ officials about how to criminally prosecute conservative groups with a goal of making them an example. Groups applying for tax-exempt status with the words “tea party” or “patriot” in their titles were singled out for extra scrutiny.
“One IRS prosecution would make an impact and they wouldn’t feel so comfortable doing the stuff,” Lerner said in a 2013 email. In another email, Lerner said the “Tea Party Matter is very dangerous.”
It was obvious the IRS was attempting to quash political dissent. Lerner eventually admitted the targeting was wrong, retired and then the IRS “lost” thousands of her emails.
Fast-forward to 2016, and politically motivated FBI agents, who regularly exchanged text messages about their disdain for former President Trump, used a fake dossier commissioned and paid for by the Clinton campaign to go after Hillary Clinton’s presidential political opponent.
While the FBI maintains the fake document wasn’t used to obtain FISA warrants against Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, bad information was. Years later and after significant damage, a FISA judge berated the bureau and ruled two warrants were illegal. Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith falsified information on FISA applications in order to get them approved.
“This manufactured scandal and associated lies caused me to adopt the lifestyle of an international fugitive for years,” Page said during a court hearing about the illegal surveillance. “I often have felt as if I had been left with no life at all. Each member of my family was severely impacted.”
Now that Democrats are back in charge at DOJ, the political weaponization of the agency has returned and concerned parents are the target.
After President Biden received a letter from the National School Boards Association (NSBA) requesting DOJ treat parents as domestic terrorists, with an assist from the Patriot Act, Attorney General Merrick Garland coincidently released an official memo warning the FBI would be monitoring school board meetings. During recent congressional testimony, Garland admitted the letter from NSBA, not an independent investigation or evidence of “threats,” was used for the DOJ memo.
After heavy criticism and outrage, with many school boards disavowing the letter, the NSBA backtracked and issued an apology.
“There was no justification for some of the language included in the letter. We should have had a better process in place to allow for consultation on a communication of this significance,” the NSBA wrote in a follow up letter. “The voices of parents should and must continue to be heard when it comes to decisions about their children’s education, health and safety.”
As of this writing, Garland hasn’t withdrawn the DOJ memo issuing federal law enforcement scrutiny to local meetings. NSBA President Viola Garcia has been appointed by Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to the National Assessment Governing Board, where she will give guidance on education policy. She is the author of the original letter calling for DOJ to go after parents.
Given the left’s history of using powerful government agencies to target political opponents, Americans opposed to Biden’s agenda should understand Garland’s memo about parents was simply a test run.
Top Democrats signaled a deal is within reach on President Biden's big domestic bill but momentum fizzled and tempers flared late Wednesday as a paid family leave proposal fell out and a billionaires' tax appeared scrapped, mostly to satisfy a pivotal member of the 50-50 Senate.
With his signature domestic initiative at stake, Biden will head to Capitol Hill on Thursday morning to urge Democratic lawmakers to bring talks on the social services and climate change bill “over the finish line” before he departs for global summits overseas.
That oughta scare the hell outta 'em
LOL!!!!!!
Besides pressing for important party priorities, the president was hoping to show foreign leaders the U.S. was getting things done under his administration.
LOL!!!!!!
The administration was assessing the situation “hour by hour,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.
LOL!!!!!!
It was a fast-moving day on Capitol Hill that started upbeat as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared that Democrats were in “pretty good shape.” But hopes quickly faded as Biden's big proposal ran into stubborn new setbacks, chief among them how to pay for it all.
A just-proposed tax on billionaires will be scrapped after Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia objected, according to a senior party aide, who requested anonymity to discuss the private talks.
The billionaires' tax proposal had been designed to win over another Democratic holdout, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, but Manchin panned it as unfairly targeting the wealthy, leaving Democrats at odds.
“People in the stratosphere, rather than trying to penalize, we ought to be pleased that this country is able to produce the wealth,” Manchin told reporters.
Next to fall was a proposed paid family leave program that was already being chiseled back from 12 to four weeks to satisfy Manchin. But with his objections, it was unlikely to be included in the bill, the person said.
Together, Manchin's and Sinema’s objections packed a one-two punch, throwing Biden’s overall plan into flux, halving what had been a $3.5 trillion package, and infuriating colleagues along the way.
In the evenly divided Senate, Biden needs all Democrats’ support with no votes to spare.
White House officials met at the Capitol with Manchin and Sinema, two senators who now hold enormous power, essentially deciding whether or not Biden will be able to deliver on the Democrats' major campaign promises.
A Sunday deadline loomed for approving a smaller, bipartisan roads-and-bridges infrastructure bill or risk allowing funds for routine transportation programs to expire. But that $1 trillion bill has been held up by progressive lawmakers who are refusing to give their support without the bigger Biden deal.
LOL!!!!!!
Despite a series of deadlines, Democrats have been unable to close the deal among themselves, and Republicans overwhelmingly oppose the package.
Applying pressure, Pelosi announced a Thursday committee hearing to spur the Biden package along toward a full House vote.
That oughta scare the hell outta 'em
LOL!!!!!!
Resolving the revenue side has been crucial, as lawmakers figure out how much money will be available to spend on the new health, child care and climate change programs in Biden's big plan.
Among Democrats, Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said the billionaires' tax may be difficult to implement. "There’s a lot of angst in there over the billionaires' tax,” Neal said.
Opposition from the two senators is forcing difficult reductions, if not the outright elimination, of policy priorities — from child care assistance to dental, vision and hearing aid benefits for seniors.
The once hefty climate change strategies are less punitive on polluters, as coal-state Manchin objected, focusing instead on rewarding clean energy incentives.
Said Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont Independent: “You got 48 out of 50 people supporting an agenda that works for the American people.”
"Said Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont Independent: “You got 48 out of 50 people supporting an agenda that works for the American people.”"
Sorry, Bernie
there are 100 Senators
and 52 of them oppose your socialist agenda
John Eastman, the former Trump lawyer who authored the infamous "coup memo" on how to overturn the 2020 election, was caught on camera saying his coup plan would have worked if it wasn't for former Vice President Mike Pence.
Lauren Windsor, a progressive activist who is known for posing incognito to draw out revealing statements from Republicans and conservatives, spoke to Eastman at an event hosted by The Claremont Institute, Eastman's employer.
Pretending to be an outspoken Trump supporter, Windsor tells Eastman, "I read your memo and I thought it was solid in all of its legal arguments. And I was floored that Mike Pence didn't do anything. Why didn't he act on it? You gave him the legal reasoning to do that."
"I know, I know," replied Eastman.
Last week, Eastman told "The National Review" that the memo "doesn't reflect his own views." The memo said that the Vice President had the ultimate power to reject or accept Electoral College votes. The plan was for Pence to reject Biden's electors and leave neither candidate with the required 270 electoral votes. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives would then vote for President Trump to keep him in office, effectively overturning the election.
Eastman said to "The National Review" that the plan was not "viable" and "crazy" to pursue. In a statement, The Claremont Institute said that the memo was "maliciously misrepresented and distorted by major media outlets," and that Eastman "did not ask the Vice president . . . to 'overturn' the election."
But when Windsor told Eastman, "All your legal reasoning is totally solid," Eastman replied, "Yeah, there's no question."
Windsor also asked Eastman why Pence didn't go through with the plan and Eastman responded, "Well, cause Mike Pence is an establishment guy at the end of the day," suggesting the memo was legally sound.
Referring to Eastman's interview with "The National Review", MSNBC's Rachel Maddow said while laughing, "I was wrong to see that as some kind of good sign that at least the insurrection guys felt bad and knew it was wrong."
Watch via MSNBC.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Wednesday defended a parent who gave a Nazi salute at a school board meeting as he railed against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland for directing the Justice Department to investigate the rise in threats against school officials.
The comment came during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about a recent memo sent from Garland to the FBI and offices of U.S. attorneys general.
In it, Garland asked federal officials to convene with local law enforcement to discuss strategies to address “a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers and staff” at public schools across the country.
Cruz argued that some of that harassment was nonviolent.
“I did a quick count just sitting here. During this hearing I counted 20 incidents cited,” he said. “Of the 20, 15 on their face are nonviolent. They involve things like insults. They involve a Nazi salute.”
“My God! A parent did a Nazi salute at a school board because they thought the policies were oppressive,” he exclaimed. “General Garland, is doing a Nazi salute at an elected official, is that protected by the First Amendment?”
[It is telling that out of the 15 nonviolent actions Cruz claims, the only one he chooses to defend is a Nazi salute.]
“Yes, it is,” Garland replied.
Cruz accused Garland of directing the FBI to “go investigate parents as domestic terrorists.”
The memo contains no mention of domestic terrorists at all, which Garland pointed out to Cruz. It asked law enforcement to look into threats and intimidation against school officials.
Throughout the hearing and over the past few weeks, Republicans have railed against Garland over the directive, accusing him of stifling parents from voicing concerns. School board meetings have become hotbeds for coronavirus anti-mask and anti-vaccine disputes, as well as debates over how children should be taught about race and systemic injustice.
Other GOP senators, including Josh Hawley (Ark.), Tom Cotton (Ark.), John Kennedy (Miss.) and Marsha Blackburn (Miss.), also gave animated performances at the hearing.
Garland was forced to repeatedly correct their exaggerated accusations. “We did not sic the FBI on parents,” he told Kennedy at one point.
The National School Boards Association wrote a letter to the president last month asking for federal assistance to address the growing number of threats and violence. It does include a reference to domestic terrorism. However, the NSBA later apologized and said it regretted that language.
It is telling that in their desperation to twist narrative to make Biden's DOJ look bad, the first thing Republicans can think to do is stand up for the freedom of speech for Nazis.
This is what happens when you lack actual facts to condemn a guy for - you just start making stuff up. But defending Nazis really just hints at the motivations that these fascist Republicans have behind their treasonous plans to destroy democracy.
"It is telling that in their desperation to twist narrative to make Biden's DOJ look bad, the first thing Republicans can think to do is stand up for the freedom of speech for Nazis."
another example of teaching falsity by the ironically named "Teach the Facts"
Republicans weren't standing up for the freedom of speech for Nazis
they were standing up for the freedom to accuse school boards being Nazis
but you know that
and you're lying
just like the guys yesterday that pretends to not understand that biological males have an unfair advantage over biological females because they have higher levels of testosterone
as Dave Chapelle told the group of trans who want to meet with him and yell at him: gender is a fact
try teaching that fact, TTF
"John Eastman, the former Trump lawyer who authored the infamous "coup memo" on how to overturn the 2020 election, was caught on camera saying his coup plan would have worked if it wasn't for former Vice President Mike Pence."
while I disagree with Eastman's theory, as Pence apparently did as well, he has a right to his opinion and it is wrong to conflate his theory with any violent acts on Jan 6
Progressive Democrats are warning party leaders that they could vote against the long-stalled bipartisan infrastructure bill even after the White House released a new framework for its $1.85 trillion social-spending and climate bill.
The continued threats from progressives come as Democrats were hoping to hold a vote on the roughly $1 trillion infrastructure bill, which includes about $550 billion in new spending, as soon as this week. Passing the package would show momentum for President Biden’s agenda, as he travels to the Glasgow climate summit and voters head to the polls in gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey. The bill would also reauthorize highway funding that is set to expire this weekend.
The Senate approved the infrastructure bill in August, but progressives in the House have said since the summer they wouldn’t support it unless the social-spending package also advanced. Lawmakers and the White House were hoping this week to make enough progress on the social-spending bill to win progressives over, but many signaled they weren’t sold.
Progressives entered a Thursday morning meeting with Mr. Biden signaling they needed certainty that the deal was in place before they would vote on the infrastructure bill.
“We need to have a certainty, either through legislative text, or uniform agreements that we can trust,” said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.). “Because there’s been so many changes in this process. So many people, you know, yes, no, doing the Hokey Pokey, one foot in one foot out.”
“We need to see the two bills simultaneously move together,” said Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.), underscoring that she would not vote for the infrastructure bill without guaranteed passage of the social welfare and climate bill.
One progressive House Democrat estimated that 40 lawmakers were ready to oppose the infrastructure bill if it came to the floor without a vote on the social-spending and climate bill. It is expected to include funding for expanded health coverage, housing, universal prekindergarten and child care, among other provisions.
The tension marks the latest turn in the tug of war between the party’s centrist and progressive wings to advance the two packages. While the infrastructure bill waits for a vote, Democrats have struggled to put together an outline on the parallel bill, with complex negotiations on the overall price tag, spending measures and tax plans.
Democrats can afford to lose only three votes in the closely divided House, meaning progressives can easily sink a bill if they remain opposed.
President Joe Biden has postponed his flight to meet the Pope so that he can stay in Washington DC several hours longer, and try and convince his own party to back his infrastructure bill.
LOL!!!!!!
Biden was due to fly to Rome early on Thursday, ahead of his Friday audience at the Vatican.
The president, a lifelong Catholic, has pushed his flight back by several hours to try and secure a deal. He is still expected to meet Pope Francis on Friday, and hold a meeting with Emmanuel Macron, the French president.
World leaders are gathering in Rome for the G20 meeting on the weekend. Biden will then travel to the UK for the UN climate summit in Glasgow on Monday and Tuesday. Biden will look especially stupid if his climate package is still not passed when he meets with real leaders in Europe.
His change in plans came after his flagship infrastructure bill appeared to be veering off course
LOL!!!!!!!!!!
...Without a competitive education, we sentence our progeny to industrial servitude while those who are educated amass power and wealth. Look around. We're in a new space race with China. We're behind in hypersonic technology. Our scientists say we must have a nuclear rocket to beat the Chinese to Mars, but millions of people believe that Clorox might treat the coronavirus. Some even tried it.
Biden wants to provide free or affordable post-secondary education, and has pointedly reminded us how useless a mere high school diploma is today — and that frightens some of us. George Carlin warned us that the overlords of society want you smart enough to operate the machinery, but no smarter than that. Some believe that to be true. Others in Congress tell us that such educational outlays in the budget are cost-prohibitive — while at the same time nodding reflexively each time we increase our bloated military budget.
This is not a recent development. Our dedication to education has fallen steadily during the last 40 years — and like most of the rot that has occurred in this country, I place the blame at the feet of Ronald Reagan and the ultra-conservatives he used to get elected and that he helped bring into the mainstream.
If you don't want to accept that Reagan was a feckless fool who destroyed unions, education, the free press and health care, and took us down the road to ruin, then look at the stench stirred up by George W. Bush and his infamous "No Child Left Behind" education policy.
That moronic mantra became every child left behind, creating an entire generation of Americans who were taught how to pass tests — but never how to think critically.
Many of those children who grew up being trained to pass tests are adults now and beginning to populate mid-level management positions in the American workforce. They have become part of what H.L. Mencken described as a "vast and militant ignorance" a century ago, which reminds us that arrogant ignorance isn't a new phenomenon — only that No Child Left Behind exacerbated the problem. "Team America World Police" and "Idiocracy" look more like documentary films than satire these days.
What's the most striking example of the lack of education? Two words: Donald Trump.
The idea that the most qualified candidate in the Republican Party for the highest office in the land could once again be a guy who was impeached twice and encouraged us to ingest Clorox and shine ultraviolet light inside our bodies — that's something even an overabundance of psilocybin in your bloodstream can't explain.
But a lack of education explains all of it, including but not limited to Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.
Our lack of education is the single greatest threat to the existence of our nation. Jake Sullivan is right: It's a national security issue.
"And though my lack of education hasn't hurt me none/ I can read the writing on the wall," Paul Simon also told us.
Today, I'm not sure how many people can even read that.
Charlie Kirk, founder of the conservative student group Turning Point USA, was speaking at an “Exposing Critical Racism” event at Boise State University recently when a man from the crowd stood up to ask a question “a bit out of the ordinary.”
As in, next stop Rwanda.
“At this point, we’re living under a corporate and medical fascism. This is tyranny. When do we get to use the guns?” the man asked, prompting cheers and applause from the crowd.
“That’s not a joke, I’m not saying it like that. I mean, literally, where’s the line? How many elections are they going to steal before we kill these people?”
Republicans are asking “When do we get to start killing people?” It doesn’t matter if they denounce violence. Their lies are inspiring it.
Naturally, Kirk denounced the question, suggesting the man was playing into “their all their plans, and they’re trying to make you do this,” Kirk said before reinforcing the man’s paranoid fantasies of political violence.
“Idaho could now could pick and choose through the state legislature which one of the federal laws they think actually applied to the Idaho constitution,” said Kirk.
Kirk also makes it clear that the reason he’s saying conservatives shouldn’t turn to violence immediately is only because that would “justify a takeover of your freedoms and liberties,” which he says is what “the other side” is waiting for.
He allows a follow-up, in which the asker just reiterates his question: “I just want to know, where’s the line?”
Kirk answers plainly:
“The line is when we exhaust every single one of our state ability to push back against what’s happening…”
So much for denouncing the question.
"Biden will look especially stupid if his climate package is still not passed when he meets with real leaders in Europe."
No, Europe knows exactly why Democrats can't get just about anything, much less a climate package through congress. They are well aware that the biggest climate change deniers on the planet call the Republican party home here in the US, and all they want is "Big, beautiful coal" and "Drill baby, drill!"
They know exactly which idiot announced he would pull out of the Paris climate agreement in 2017.
And they also know who signed an executive order to rejoin the agreement on January 20, 2021.
"No, Europe knows exactly why Democrats can't get just about anything, much less a climate package through congress"
yes, they know it's because no political skills and no authority in his country
so, they may have warm feelings toward him, as you would any amiable elderly fellow
but, they don't have much time for him
and he won't have any influence on them
he's irrelevant
"They are well aware that the biggest climate change deniers on the planet call the Republican party home here in the US, and all they want is "Big, beautiful coal" and "Drill baby, drill!""
everyone with any mind knows that global warming is inevitable
it will happen regardless of a global summit in Glasgow
its effect will be slow and humanity will adapt as it has to other climate changes over the millenia
c'est la vie
"They know exactly which idiot announced he would pull out of the Paris climate agreement in 2017.
And they also know who signed an executive order to rejoin the agreement on January 20, 2021."
America was in compliance with Paris guidelines
it happened by free enterprise not governmental inteference
The guy responsible for more COVID deaths than anyone will go to jail!
A criminal complaint charging former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo with a sex offense has been filed in a court in Albany, the state's capital, a spokesman for the New York state courts said on Thursday.
"As this is a sex crime, a redacted complaint will be available shortly," the spokesman, Lucian Chalfen, said in a statement.
Representatives for Cuomo were busy looking at internet porn and were not immediately available for comment.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday unveiled a $1.75 trillion economic and climate change plan that he said unified Democrats then was quickly rebuffed by members of his own party.
"We have a historic economic framework" that will create jobs and make the United States more competitive, Biden said after a last-minute trip to Congress to convince reluctant progressives to support the spending plan. He then departed for a summit of leaders from the Group of 20 countries in Italy.
He left behind a U.S. Congress bubbling with conflicts and unanswered questions.
How, exactly, could it come together?
It was unclear whether moderate Democrats who want a related bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure bill passed first are on board. Some progressive Democrats will only vote for the infrastructure bill with the more complicated spending measure, and multiple lawmakers would like to see changes to Biden's framework.
It was also unknown whether a handful of House Republicans were still committed to vote for the bipartisan bill, or if it even matters. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi discussed plans to hold a vote on Thursday on the infrastructure bill, and the House Rules Committee released a preliminary text of the 1,684-page bill.
"So we're on a path to get this done," Pelosi joked. "But for those who said I want to see text, the text is there. For you to review, for you to complain about, for you to add to or subtract from, whatever it is."
The fight over $2.75 trillion in spending that could destroy the U.S economy for years to come will play out in coming days with Biden thousands of miles away, dining on Haggis. He won't return to the Washington until Wednesday.
In a meeting with House Democrats on Thursday, Biden begged for their support, according to a person familiar with the matter.
"I need you to help me; I need your votes," the person quoted Biden as whining. "I don’t think it's hyperbole to say that the House and Senate Democratic majorities and my presidency will be determined by what happens in the next week."
Biden ran for president on a promise to reverse inequality in America, using education and social spending paid for by companies and the rich. He vowed to eliminate Republican tax cuts and seize the assets of the wealthy.
The president had hoped to reach an agreement before the Rome summit, where a dastardly global minimum tax will be high on the agenda, and a climate conference in Glasgow, where Biden hopes to present a message that the United States is back in the fight against global warming. Instead, he will look stupid in front of other world leaders!
The White House said the socialist spending plan framework Biden presented on Thursday would be fully paid for by repealing certain tax rebates passed under Trump and imposing surcharges on corporate stock buybacks and the earnings of the wealthiest Americans.
The framework includes $555 billion in wasteful spending for climate initiatives and six years of preschool funding, taking kids out of their homes to be supervised by government agents.
But it does not include the paid family leave promised Americans on the campaign trail or the wacky tax on billionaires, Democrats dreamed up on Wednesday. Influential lobby groups and constituencies were apoplectic over the absence of key Biden administration promises.
"We are outraged that the initial framework does not lower prescription drug prices," AARP, an advocacy organization for the elderly, said in a statement.
The absence of paid leave, Democrats noted, leaving the United States as the only rich country and one of the few nations in the world that doesn't provide maternity leave.
"The deal isn't done until the Senate acts.. this is not done," Senator Ron Wyden, an advocate of paid family leave, said.
Biden can only afford to lose three votes in the House to get either bill passed and progressives say they won't vote for it without the promised provisions.
In addition to their slight majority in the House, Democrats only narrowly control the Senate, with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris holding the tie-breaking vote, meaning legislation must win support across a wide swath of progressives and more moderate members of the party.
Great job on the economy, Slidin' Joe Biden!
The U.S. economy grew at a 2% rate in the third quarter, its slowest gain of the pandemic-era recovery, as supply chain issues and a marked deceleration in consumer spending stunted the expansion, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.
Gross domestic product, a sum of all the goods and services produced, grew at a 2.0% annualized pace in the third quarter, according to the department’s first estimate released Thursday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones knew it was bad but still had been looking for at least a dismal 2.8% reading. Instead, it was even worse!
That marked the slowest GDP gain since the 31.2% plunge in the second quarter of 2020, which encompassed the period during which Covid-19 morphed into a global pandemic that resulted in a severe economic shutdown that sent tens of millions to the unemployment lines and put a chokehold on activity across the country.
"The guy responsible for more COVID deaths than anyone will go to jail!"
Another GOPer lie.
Defeated ex-President Donald Trump, who was president when "a severe economic shutdown that sent tens of millions to the unemployment lines and put a chokehold on activity across the country" is not going to jail soon enough.
Bannon, on the other hand....
Dr. Deborah Birx, who helped run the coronavirus pandemic response for former President Donald J. Trump, told congressional investigators earlier this month that Mr. Trump’s White House failed to take steps that could have prevented tens of thousands of deaths.
In closed-door testimony before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, Dr. Birx said that tens of thousands of deaths could have been prevented after the initial phase of the pandemic if Mr. Trump had pushed mask-wearing, social distancing and other efforts to slow the spread of the virus.
“I believe if we had fully implemented the mask mandates, the reduction in indoor dining, the getting friends and family to understand the risk of gathering in private homes, and we had increased testing, that we probably could have decreased fatalities into the 30 percent less to 40 percent less range,” Dr. Birx testified, according to excerpts provided by the committee.
The committee’s interview with Dr. Birx was conducted on Oct. 12 and 13. In her testimony, she also lashed out at Dr. Scott Atlas, a former Stanford neuroradiologist who became an adviser to Mr. Trump and advocated for allowing the virus to spread through much of the population in order to let otherwise healthy people build up immunity against it.
She told the committee that Dr. Atlas had relied on incomplete information to draw dangerous conclusions that she felt could have long-term consequences for people who were infected with the virus and got sick.
“I was constantly raising the alert in the doctors’ meetings of the depth of my concern about Dr. Atlas’ position, Dr. Atlas’ access, Dr. Atlas’ theories and hypothesis, and the depths and breadths of my concern,” she said, referring to a group of doctors involved in the White House response who gathered regularly.
During her testimony, Dr. Birx said she repeatedly pushed Mr. Trump and others in the White House to do more to embrace efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus, especially in the fall of 2020. That was a period when Dr. Atlas was at the White House and Dr. Birx spent most of her time on the road, traveling from state to state to urge them to embrace prevention measures.
Asked whether Mr. Trump did everything he should have to counter the pandemic, she said: “No. And I’ve said that to the White House in general, and I believe I was very clear to the president in specifics of what I needed him to do.”
"Another GOPer lie"
I'm not a GOPer but you may be right that Cuomo wasn't the worst grim reaper
Fauci actually got the pandemic rolling by early on saying COVID wasn't that contagious and that masks don't work
history won't be kind to that publicity seeker
still, Cuomo is accountable for untold numbers of deaths
he belongs in jail
"Defeated ex-President Donald Trump, who was president when "a severe economic shutdown that sent tens of millions to the unemployment lines and put a chokehold on activity across the country" is not going to jail soon enough"
Trump tried to keep the economy open
it was liberal Democrat governors who shut their states down
Cuomo, again, and Newsom
and while we all contemplate what a lying loser Slidin' Biden is:
remember when he promised to forgive student loans?
kind of like when Obama was going to close Guantanamo on "day one"
lifting a pen for those "stroke of the pen" actions is like pulling a sword from a stone for Democrats
"Dr. Deborah Birx, who helped run the coronavirus pandemic response for former President Donald J. Trump, told congressional investigators earlier this month"
this lying hypocrite resigned in disgrace
there's no reason to pay any attention to what she says
she has no credibility
Maybe teaching the thinking is more important than teaching the "facts". If kids learn to think, they can figure out the facts. Democraps want scools to teach setlled "facts" and discourage kids from thinking about them too much.
Education is the top issue in the Virginia governor’s race.
That’s usually not a good topic for Republicans, because the Democrats typically make it a referendum on spending more money.
But this year, this issue is not how much money is being spent on education; it’s how the money is being spent in the public schools.
Last year, parents got a better glimpse into how local schools spend taxpayer dollars. It wasn’t pretty.
If money wasn’t being wasted on critical race theory, it was being wasted on critical gender theory. Parents watched in horror as their kids were taught less about math, science and critical thinking skills and more about how they were either racist or victims, about how they may not be either boys or girls, and worse, about how evil and corrupt America truly is.
One thing has become readily apparent over the last year and a half in the United States. Everybody needs more critical thinking skills and the courage to apply those skills to everyday life. We might as well start teaching them to the children.
You can’t believe everything you read in the paper these days. In fact, you really can’t believe anything you read in the paper. When our politicians say something, don’t take it face value. They may not be willfully lying to you, but they are not telling you the whole truth. When health experts like Tony Fauci say something, get a second opinion. Fauci is not infallible. And for God’s sake, be careful with the internet. There is a lot of nonsense being spewed forth on social media.
The fight over our nation’s schools is long overdue.
Our education establishment has been failing our children and our nation for far too long.
Too many of our kids can’t read at grade level, can’t write simple paragraphs, can’t do simple math, don’t know anything about history and aren’t prepared to make a positive contribution to society. This is especially true in schools that serve large minority populations, but the failure is not contained to urban schools.
We need a revolution that puts more power in the hands of parents and takes power out of the hands of education bureaucrats.
This is what next week’s election is all about.
Terry McAuliffe is the choice of the unions because he wants to maintain the status quo. He believes that public education is doing just fine, although notably he sent his own children to private school. He is not comfortable giving parents more say in how their kids are being taught. He is fine with how public schools are teaching critical race theory and critical gender theory. Whatever the unions want is fine with him.
And indeed, Democrats like McAuliffe are not really interested in giving kids more critical thinking tools to help them question authority and chart their own course in a free world that requires taking risks to succeed. They want the kids to learn far-left ideologies to make them better Democrats.
I don’t know if Glenn Youngkin imagined that education would be the No. 1 issue of this campaign when he decided to run for governor, but he is well-suited to take the fight to McAuliffe because he is at heart a disrupter who applies critical thinking skills to solve private sector problems.
In this crazy COVID-19 world we live in, where kids in blue states are required to wear masks outside as they play soccer, where Democrat mayors promise to fire thousands of police officers who refuse to take an experimental vaccine, where petty dictators close down small businesses based on little more than whims disguised as health mandates, and where over 50 percent of liberal voters think they have a better than an even chance of dying from COVID-19 even though statistics show in the worst-case scenario, chances are far less than .05 percent, we need less focus on critical race theory and more focus on critical thinking theory.
That’s what next week’s election is really about.
Former chief political correspondent Carl Cameron slammed the upcoming "Patriot Purge" as "really frightening" and "a betrayal to the audience."
Carl Cameron on Thursday accused his old network Fox News, where he was chief political correspondent until 2017, of betraying its audience with Tucker Carlson’s upcoming series about the Jan. 6 insurrection.
A widely criticized trailer for “Patriot Purge” — set to stream Monday on Fox Nation — includes the baseless claim that the U.S. Capitol riot was a “false flag” operation.
Hundreds of Donald Trump supporters have been charged in the Jan. 6 violence, stirred by Trump’s lies of election fraud. Trump was impeached for inciting the insurrection.
“There’s whole a bunch of extraordinary madness involved in this,” Cameron told CNN anchor Anderson Cooper. “Tucker’s trailer is meant to incite, it’s meant to make people angry.”
Cameron has slammed the “partisan misinformation” pumped out by right-wing hosts at his former employer before. He and Cooper acknowledged Carlson’s full series may not plunge as deeply into conspiracy theory territory as the promo suggests.
But Cameron, once known as “Campaign Carl,” said it was “really frightening and, frankly, it’s a betrayal to the audience, it’s a betrayal to the public.” [Not to mention the country.]
“Some of what is espoused or is meant to espouse just in that trailer suggests that there is more violence to come,” Cameron said. “And that’s a big, big rock around the author’s neck if that trailer and this upcoming thing actually does that. There are clearly huge divides in this country, the media shouldn’t be putting more gas on the fire.”
----- When the first coup doesn't work, try, try again. - Conservatives.
"still, Cuomo is accountable for untold numbers of deaths"
Well, let's see what other governors are responsible for excessive deaths...
The information is available here - just sort by the "Deaths/1M population column:
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/
1: Mississippi - 3,382
2: Alabama - 3,158
3: New Jersey - 3,147
4: Louisiana - 3,124
5: New York - 2,926
6: Arizona - 2,890
7: Florida - 2,770
8: Arkansas - 2,765
9: Massachusetts - 2,754
10: Georgia - 2,726
At the beginning of the pandemic, NY, NJ and Mass were at the top of the list, being the first hit while Rump was lying about how bad the "Kung Flu" was going to be, and was widespread in those population dense states before shutdown started. But if you've been watching these numbers since summer, you know that all those bible belt states started creeping up the list AFTER the vaccines became available. They are still working their way up the list.
Why in the world would someone NOT get vaccinated after more than a year of living through a worldwide pandemic?
That was a rhetorical question. We all know it's because of conservative media's anti-vax campaigns.
" we have a terrific Supreme Court now!!!"
GALLUP: Approval of U.S. Supreme Court Down to 40%, a New Low
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Approval down from 49% in July
Current reading is lowest in Gallup's trend; prior low was 42%
New high of 37% say court is too conservative
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans' opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court have worsened, with 40%, down from 49% in July, saying they approve of the job the high court is doing. This represents, by two percentage points, a new low in Gallup's trend, which dates back to 2000. The poll was conducted shortly after the Supreme Court declined to block a controversial Texas abortion law. In August, the court similarly allowed college vaccine mandates to proceed and rejected a Biden administration attempt to extend a federal moratorium on evictions during the pandemic.
These latest findings, from Gallup's annual Governance survey conducted Sept. 1-17, come little more than a year after 58% of Americans approved of the Supreme Court, among the highest readings in the trend.
The previous lows in Gallup's trend include 42% approval in 2005 after the court expanded government's eminent domain power, and again in 2016, after the Supreme Court ruled colleges could continue to consider using race as a factor in admissions, a decision most Americans opposed. In 2013, 43% approved of the Supreme Court after it issued rulings that expanded the rights of same-sex couples and weakened the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Now, a majority of 53% disapproves of the job the Supreme Court is doing, exceeding the prior high disapproval of 52% from 2016. A Sept. 9-13 Monmouth University poll found 54% of U.S. adults disagreed and 39% agreed with the Supreme Court's decision to allow the Texas abortion law to go into effect.
"At the beginning of the pandemic, NY, NJ and Mass were at the top of the list, being the first hit while Rump was lying about how bad the "Kung Flu" was going to be,"
Trump only repeated what the egregious Fauci told him
"and was widespread in those population dense states before shutdown started. But if you've been watching these numbers since summer, you know that all those bible belt states started creeping up the list AFTER the vaccines became available."
this is a perfect example of how stupid TTFers are
I wasn't talking about general pandemic management
Cuomo killed thousands of elderly residents of nursing homes by forcing the homes to house infectious COVID patients
it was criminal-level negligence
btw, Florida, which has had no mask or vaccine mandates, currently has the lowest case rate in the country
"Why in the world would someone NOT get vaccinated after more than a year of living through a worldwide pandemic?"
it's irrelevant
it's a personal choice and they only risk themselves
people in NY died in overwhelmingly higher numbers back before Trump's Warp Speed program had produced the life-saving vaccine
no Democrap has made such a substantial contribution to the war on the pandemic
moron typed: "There you go, lying again. That's all GOPers do -- lie, lie and lie some more"
moron quoted intelligent comment: " we have a terrific Supreme Court now!!!"
moron typed: "Approval of U.S. Supreme Court Down to 40%, a New Low"
intelligent response: this is a perfect example of how the Democrap Party has poisoned our national discourse
saying something is "terrific" is an opinion
by definition, it can't be a lie
Democraps hold there is no such thing as opinion
btw, I'm not in the GOP, I'm a libertarian
Though critical race theory's introduction to the public school system has only recently become a well-known issue, a recent report from the Heritage Foundation suggests it has been a problem in education for quite a while.
A sample of 554 different public school districts with more than 15,000 students found that 39% of them currently employ a chief diversity officer, or a high-ranking school official whose responsibility it is to implement various diversity, equity, and inclusion goals. The purpose of this position is to reduce achievement gaps, level the playing field, and make sure that less-privileged students are able to achieve just as much as others. But in reality, CDOs exist to push a toxic narrative about disparity, in which every single unequal outcome is the result of systemic racism, income inequality, or both.
They are pushing this narrative all over the country. In Virginia, for example, a diversity chief in Fairfax County said his goal is to make sure “that equity is at the forefront of every decision that we have to make.” In Austin, Texas, the chief equity officer said she wanted to create a comprehensive equity plan that would address systemic racism in the district.
Heritage’s study found that 79% of large school districts with more than 15,000 students have someone in a CDO position. Democratic states, those where at least two institutions (including chambers of congress and governorships) are controlled by Democrats, are more likely to have school districts that employ CDOs than Republican states. About 47% of school districts in blue states have CDOs, while just 32% of school districts in red states can say the same. Overall, just six of the 31 Republican states employ CDOs in more than half of their school districts.
And, yes, the political affiliation of the state is a vital factor, Heritage says.
From the report:
Even after controlling statistically for … other factors, the size of a school district and whether it is in a blue or red state remain strongly associated with whether school districts have CDOs. The influence of which political party controls the state actually grows larger when other factors are controlled. Blue states are 17 percentage points more likely than red states to have CDOs, after adjusting for other observable characteristics. This supports the conclusion that CDOs are designed, at least in part, to promote ideological goals.
Heritage concludes: “Given the rate at which CDO positions are being created for K–12 districts, it may not be long before the vast majority of all districts have this kind of position.”
In other words, parents should assume, if they do not already, that their public school district has begun to implement critical race theory in some form, whether by hiring a CDO, introducing “equity” goals, or encouraging students to think about our systems as unjust. If they can’t pull their students out of the public school system, they should find out exactly how critical race theory is represented in the district. And then they should act. Parents must make their concerns known to local school boards and elect officials who share those concerns.
The Left thought it would be able to turn the public school system into its own indoctrination camp without anyone noticing, but not anymore. The backlash against critical race theory has been swift and organic, and if the momentum holds, parents will be able to reverse all of the gains leftists have made over the past several years. But they have to keep that momentum going.
The U.S. economy is growing at its slowest pace since the recovery began. Faster inflation is likely to linger well into next year. Millions remain unemployed even as small businesses struggle to hire workers.
And Republicans are readying attacks on President Joe Biden over all of it.
GOP lawmakers and strategists are seizing on news Thursday that the economy expanded at an anemic pace in the third quarter to slam Biden and the Democrats, accusing them of bungling the recovery from the pandemic recession and then piling on trillions of dollars in spending programs.
Republicans plan to put economic issues front and center in the 2022 midterm campaigns by highlighting the soaring price of gasoline and some groceries and blaming Democrats for driving up inflation. It’s a double-barreled attack designed to zero in on the pain American consumers are feeling while ginning up opposition to legislation that Biden is hoping will become the linchpin of his economic agenda.
Voters are “sick and tired of paying higher prices for everything because of these big-government Democrats and their reckless spending,” said Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), who chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee. “We’re going to win back the majority on those kitchen-table economic issues that Democrats always fail to deliver on.”
Government data showed the U.S. economy grew at a weaker-than-expected 2 percent annual rate from July through September, the worst showing in a three-month period since the economic recovery began last year — and one that shows how much the surge in coronavirus cases due to the Delta variant and supply chain disruptions are dragging on growth.
New numbers on Friday showed prices are continuing to rise at a rapid clip, climbing 4.4 percent in September compared to the same month last year. That comes after the latest employment report earlier this month showed the economy added fewer than 200,000 jobs in September — far less than projected — while prices are continuing to rise at a rapid clip.
By next year, “the economy will reflect the problems that this country is having, and voters are going to act accordingly,” said Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), a deputy chair of the NRCC.
“If inflation is high, food prices are high, wages aren’t able to keep up with costs, the job market’s not coming back as quickly as we would like … it’s not going to be a difficult argument to make,” he said.
The Biden administration counters that the GDP numbers are backward looking, and he and many economists predict growth will jump back up through the fourth quarter this year.
But strategists and lawmakers say voters are likely to care little about fantasy predictions as long as the economic hurt remains obvious — not just higher prices, but more business closures as labor shortages persist, for example, and slower delivery times as supply chains remain clogged.
“The reality of the campaign situation is the Democrats are in charge and inflation is here,” said Curt Anderson, a Republican strategist. “That’s a really bad place for the Democrats to be.”
It's not just Republicans who are assigning responsibility to the administration for the rocky economic recovery, polls show. The percentage of Americans who have confidence in Biden’s ability to ensure a quick post-pandemic rebound dropped to 44 percent in October from 52 percent in January, an Axios/Ipsos poll this week found. All the losses were among Democrats and Independents.
"The backlash against critical race theory has been swift and organic" and largely funded by the very same right-wing groups who funded the "swift and organic" tea-bag party.
Melissa Ryan founded the consulting firm CARD Strategies, which tracks right-wing extremism. She says this kind of behavior (pretending to oust school board members and electing parents in their places) usually begins with real anger — in this case, on the part of parents, at COVID school shutdowns and restrictions like masks. But it's not entirely grassroots and spontaneous. "The flames are being fanned by national money and resources," she says. "It's basically the same groups and funders that were funding the Tea Party and frankly, it's the same tactics."
Here are some of the groups providing resources and support to school board protesters around the country. None have endorsed violence, threats or incitement. Nor are they all formally connected. What they do is offer help to parents who have questions or objections about what their children are learning in school or how schools are run. They issue press releases, sell T-shirts and lawn signs, produce flyers and publicize events on social media, supply information and legal advice, offer template letters, scripts for public testimony, and model legislation. They put out webinars and trainings to give practical assistance to those who want to target or disrupt school boards.
The Manhattan Institute, one of the most established conservative think tanks, published "Woke Schooling: A Toolkit For Concerned Parents" in June.
Citizens Renewing America, founded by President Trump's former budget director Russell Vought, published a 34-page guide for activists also in June, dedicated to "combating critical race theory in your community." The toolkit states the following: "CRT holds that racism is not just a belief held by individuals; rather, it is a system of oppression that has been built into the very structure of our society."
Parents Defending Education, founded earlier this year, provides resources to activists, pursues litigation, and publishes "incident reports" on districts around the country. President Nicole Neily previously worked at the libertarian Cato Institute and the Independent Women's Forum, another conservative group that has produced a template letter for activists challenging school mask mandates.
Turning Point USA, a group closely allied with Trump through its leader, Charlie Kirk, started School Board Watchlist, a website with the names and photographs of school board members around the country. They say they are "America's only national grassroots initiative dedicated to protecting our children by exposing radical and false ideologies endorsed by school boards and pushed in the classroom." School districts are called out for requiring masks and promoting "cultural literacy and sensitivity."
The Proud Boys, which the Southern Poverty Law Center calls an extremist hate group, has taken part in school board protests in several states.
The 1776 Project is a political action committee backing school board candidates nationwide who oppose antiracist curricula. They raised nearly $300,000 in the quarter ending Sept. 30, according to FEC filings.
PragerU is a nonprofit media company founded by the conservative radio host Dennis Prager. Last year they started an online community aimed at parents and teachers that claims 20,000 members. There are videos and books for children promoting a patriotic vision of American history and conservative heroes like Condoleezza Rice, alongside a "Parent Action Guide" for parents who want certain materials removed from classrooms, and a video documentary for parents about "the battle happening right now for the minds of our children."
Sixty-six former lawmakers, including two dozen Republicans, have signed on to a legal brief urging a federal judge to reject former President Donald Trump’s effort to block Jan. 6 investigators from accessing his White House’s records.
"From what is publicly known, it is clear that Donald Trump played an outsized — and likely central — role in orchestrating the events that gave rise to the January 6th attack," states the brief, which was expected to be filed Friday. "And many, and perhaps most, of the various means he used or contemplated are documented in the records the Committee seeks and are still not known."
"Senate Minority Leader McConnell explained, the efforts to overturn the election were not the official acts of a President; they were 'a disgraceful dereliction of duty,'" the brief states. "The executive privilege does not apply, thus ending the inquiry and dooming the motion presently before the Court."
The Supreme Court will soon reconsider the decision in Roe v. Wade (1973), which made abortion legal in America through all nine months of pregnancy. At that “point in the development of man’s knowledge,” as Justice Harry Blackmun put it in Roe, there was simply no consensus about when life begins. In other words, the fetus could not be said with any certainty to be alive and therefore wasn’t worthy of legal protection.
As a diagnostic radiologist—whose youngest patients are fetuses, who are very much alive—I submitted a friend-of-the-court brief in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization urging the justices to rethink Roe, a case premised on a claim about science. I was joined by two other female physicians, a neonatologist and an obstetrician, who also value their youngest patients, believing that whether inside their mothers or born, premature or full-term, they are worthy of respect and protection.
Ultrasound technology was in its infancy in the 1970s, when there was much more uncertainty about life before birth. The first ultrasound machines, introduced in 1958, were enormous, and the images were rudimentary. It was only in the later 1970s that fetal ultrasound became widely available, with increasingly detailed images of recognizably human babies. Black-and-white ultrasound images are now found on refrigerators of expectant parents across America. New three-dimensional images have put a human face on the person once dehumanized as a mere clump of cells.
Perfectly apparent now, to the justices sitting on today’s court as well as the public, are the liveliness and humanity of babies at 15 weeks of gestation—the age at which Mississippi proposes to protect them from elective termination.
Nestled within their mothers, these fetuses on average are 6.4 inches long and weigh 4.1 ounces. They have the proportions of a newborn—seemingly all head and rounded belly. The major organs are formed and functioning, and although the child receives nutrients and oxygen through the mother’s umbilical cord, the fetal digestive, urinary and respiratory systems are practicing for life outside the womb. The sex of the child is easy to discern by this point. The baby swallows and even breathes, filling the lungs with amniotic fluid and expelling it. The heart is fully formed, its four chambers working hard, with the delicate valves opening and closing.
A healthy baby at 15 weeks is an active baby. Unless the child is asleep, kicking and arm-waving are commonly seen during ultrasound evaluations. The fetal spine is a marvel of intricacy, and it is most often gently curved as the fetus rests against the mother’s uterine wall. Often, I watch as babies plant their feet against the uterine wall and stretch vigorously. Sometimes a delicate hand—with all five fingers—approaches the face and appears to scratch an itch. Fingernails aren’t visible, but they are present. We can see how the bones of the leg meet the tiny ankles and the many-boned feet.
At 15 weeks, the brain’s frontal lobes, ventricles, and thalamus fill the oval-shaped skull. The baby’s profile is endearing in its petite perfection: gently sloping nose, distinct upper and lower lips, eyes that open and close. With the advent of 3D ultrasound, we can now see the fetal face in all its detail.
These are the patients I encounter daily in my work as a radiologist. Clearly human, clearly alive, no longer mysteriously hidden from the eyes and knowledge of man, they ask us to consider them not disposable nonhumans but valuable members of our human family.
Yes, our understanding was different in 1973. But in Roe’s own terms, we have arrived at a much different “point in the development of man’s knowledge” about life in utero. The Supreme Court’s judgement should reflect that advancement and put an end to the casual cruelty of unfettered abortion.
The sheriff of Racine County in Wisconsin, Christopher Schmaling, presented evidence Thursday of felony election law violations in the county during the 2020 election.
Schmaling came out swinging against members of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, by whom he said "election statute was in fact not just broken, but shattered."
The sheriff's office received a complaint from a relative of a nursing home resident who died in October 2020. Despite suffering from severe cognitive decline prior to her passing, though, she still somehow managed to cast a vote via absentee ballot in the 2020 presidential election, according to state records.
The nursing home resident lived at the Ridgewood Care Facility. Following a complaint by the deceased resident's daughter, who found it suspicious that her mother was able to vote given her condition at the time, Racine County Sgt. Michael Luell launched an investigation.
Luell found that in 2020 there had been an unusual surge in voting activity at the care facility. Luell reported back that eight out of 42 families of residents at Ridgewood said their loved ones did not possess the cognitive ability to vote, despite having done so.
The county investigation pertained exclusively to the Ridgewood Care Facility, but Sheriff Schmaling said he expects that his presentation of the results of the investigation will lead to others who experienced something similar across the state coming forward.
Toward the end of the presentation, Schmaling called on the Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul to launch an immediate investigation into the incident.
The chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, Paul Farrow released a statement following Schmaling's presentation. "Anyone who cares at all about election integrity owes the Racine County Sheriff's Department a debt of gratitude for their work today," he said. "It is horrific that WEC's choice to violate state laws may have led to bad actors taking advantage of vulnerable citizens in nursing homes. It's time for Democrats, the Department of Justice, and the mainstream media to take election integrity concerns seriously."
Total vaccine doses administered per day has leveled off in recent weeks after rising in mid-September following President Biden’s announcement of vaccine mandates. About 220 million people, or 66% of the total U.S. population, have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, just 3 million more than two weeks ago, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As of Friday, about 57% of the total U.S. population is fully vaccinated.
57%?
nice going, Slidin' Biden
how will Americans survive three more years of this incompetent fool?
""The backlash against critical race theory has been swift and organic" and largely funded by the very same right-wing groups who funded the "swift and organic" tea-bag party."
the Tea Party movement was repressed by the the dictator Obama, who used the IRS to harass his political opposition
Nixon was impeached for the same
CRT is political indoctrination of kids and yo hardly have to be extreme right to see that
America democracy was not founded to suppress minorities
that's a lie
our country is not suffering from systemic racism
"Sixty-six former lawmakers, including two dozen Republicans, have signed on to a legal brief urging a federal judge to reject former President Donald Trump’s effort to block Jan. 6 investigators from accessing his White House’s records."
actually, Democraps in Congress are preventing the GOP from investigating both Jan 6 and the Democrap attempt to use a Russia hoax created and financed by Hillary Clinton to overturn the 2016 election that she claimed was stolen from her
"a complaint from a relative of a nursing home resident who died in October 2020. Despite suffering from severe cognitive decline prior to her passing, though, she still somehow managed to cast a vote via absentee ballot in the 2020 presidential election, according to state records.
The nursing home resident lived at the Ridgewood Care Facility. Following a complaint by the deceased resident's daughter, who found it suspicious that her mother was able to vote given her condition at the time, Racine County Sgt. Michael Luell launched an investigation.
Luell found that in 2020 there had been an unusual surge in voting activity at the care facility. Luell reported back that eight out of 42 families of residents at Ridgewood said their loved ones did not possess the cognitive ability to vote, despite having done so."
So Sheriff Christopher Schmaling potentially found 42 bogus votes from Ridgewood, or maybe only 8 or somewhere in between.
If all 42 residents votes were stolen from them, do you think that will swing Rump's 2020 loss in Wisconsin of over 20,000 votes to a the win column somehow?
Get real.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_presidential_election_in_Wisconsin
Thank goodness Democrats in Congress are making sure the GOP members do not paper over their own assistance with planning the events that played out on Jan 6. Those GOPer call Jan. 6, 2021, a "normal tourist visit!"
Let's compare repair cost records from the inauguration to those from cleaning up after Jan 6. We all know it was anything but a "normal tourist visit" because we saw the violence and destruction with our own eyes. Jan. 6 was a coordinated attempt to prevent Joe Biden, the duly elected president of the United States of America, from having his election certified by Congress in hopes of keeping the 2020 US presidential election loser in office.
Florida’s summer of suffering was also a summer of silence for Ron DeSantis.
The governor had nearly nothing to say about his state’s lengthy run as No. 1 in the nation in COVID cases, No. 1 in hospitalizations and No. 1 in deaths.
Instead, the governor held almost daily news conferences intended to burnish his presidential bona fides among the MAGA crowd, and boost his presidential ambitions.
Through it all, the governor pointedly ignored the elephant in the room: That Florida — his state, his responsibility — was the epicenter for a deadly new COVID outbreak caused by the delta variant.
With numbers finally falling, DeSantis now has the gall, the nerve, to take a victory lap.
“Florida Reaches Lowest Case Rate in the Nation,” trumpeted the headline of a Wednesday news release, which went on to say, “As a result of Governor Ron DeSantis’ leadership and our data-driven approach free of mandates, the State of Florida has one of the lowest COVID-19 daily average case rates in the last 7 days per 100,000 residents in the United States.”
Florida led the nation in case rates for much of the summer, and our governor was silent. Well, not totally silent. He did rail against mask and vaccine mandates, measures intended to prevent people from falling ill.
Now, a governor whose sole contribution to fighting the outbreak was to expand antibody treatments for people after they got infected is taking full credit for the decline in cases.
As others have already noted, it’s like a firefighter tossing a bucket of water on a house that’s already been burned to the ground and then declaring victory.
What a fraud. What a phony.
It’s so transparent, but far too many gullible Floridians and complicit politicians are going to buy and echo DeSantis’ savior rubbish. Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez already has.
Here’s an actual fact: Between the start of July and the end of October, about 21,000 people died of COVID in Florida, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Those four deadly, tragic months accounted for one in every three of the total COVID deaths — nearly 60,000 victims — since the pandemic began 20 months ago.
Compare that to California, a warm-weather state with nearly twice the population of Florida and a governor who believes in public health. California had just 8,600 deaths during that same summer surge, according to Johns Hopkins, representing about 11% of its total COVID deaths since the pandemic began.
Another fact: At one point during the surge Florida had more than 17,000 people hospitalized with COVID. And California, with twice the population? Its peak was fewer than 9,000.
Florida’s hospitals were under siege, prompting the head of the Florida Hospital Association — Mary Mayhew, DeSantis’ one-time secretary of health — to label the surge a “crisis,” with half the patients between 25 and 55 years old.
As we’ve said before, DeSantis was right to ramp up the availability of antibody treatment sites for Floridians. It probably saved lives and prevented some hospitalizations.
But the governor is now trying to draw a direct and dishonest line between those treatments and both falling hospitalizations and cases.
Antibody treatments can be effective at keeping already infected people from falling seriously ill, but they have nothing to do with the plummeting number of positive coronavirus cases.
That’s what’s driving the dramatic fall in hospitalizations, not antibody treatments given to already infected people. Johns Hopkins charts show the rise and fall of cases and hospitalizations are a mirror image.
There’s a lot DeSantis might have done to legitimately claim credit for saving lives and preventing suffering.
He could have made another major push for Floridians to get vaccinated. But he didn’t, possibly because his Republican Party is rapidly aligning itself with the anti-vaxxer movement. Plus, he hired a surgeon general who’s a vaccine skeptic. DeSantis is now hesitating on booster shots, which may account for why Florida ranks No. 33 among states in seniors getting boosters.
He could have given local governments, including school boards, the flexibility to make their own decisions about mandatory masking based on local conditions. But he didn’t, choosing instead to make masks a cultural wedge issue.
He could have at least acknowledged the COVID crisis his state was facing and urged his constituents to act thoughtfully and responsibly. But he didn’t, calculating that ignorance was political bliss.
And now, the do-nothing governor is trying to claim credit for this surge coming to an end.
It is DeSantis’ final and most essential command — to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. How Orwellian.
"If all 42 residents votes were stolen from them, do you think that will swing Rump's 2020 loss in Wisconsin of over 20,000 votes to a the win column somehow?
Get real."
ALERT!
TTF has made an error!
the comment being responded to pointed out that TTF has repeatedly said there was NO voter fraud in 2020
turns out TTF was wrong again!
the comment being responded to did not assert that Trump would have won
however, the Sheriff that disclosed this fraud does say he suspects this type of fraud took place at other facilities
the whole incident demonstrates how important it is to enact voter integrity measures
"Thank goodness Democrats in Congress are making sure the GOP members do not paper over their own assistance with planning the events that played out on Jan 6. Those GOPer call Jan. 6, 2021, a "normal tourist visit!""
the vast majority of protesters on January 6 were peaceful
even most of the ones who wandered into the Capitol
the Capitol sees huge demonstrations on a regular basis that attract fringe elements in addition to the intended crowd
usually, the police can handle them fine
there needs to be an investigation into the failure of the Capitol police
"the comment being responded to pointed out that TTF has repeatedly said there was NO voter fraud in 2020"
Really? Where?
I recall several posters pointing out that there was "no evidence of widespread voter fraud," and that Rump's lawyers, in 5 dozen court cases never produced any evidence of voter fraud.
I also recall a couple of TTF posts that pointed out that several Republicans had been caught doing voter fraud - typically voting for dead relatives. And a recent post where Republican Lt. Governor Dan Patrick had to pay out $25,000 to a Democrat who found evidence of a man (Holloway Thurman, Republican again) who voted twice in Pennsylvania.
I guess you were hoping you could twist peoples' words and hope they wouldn't notice. God you are desperate.
"however, the Sheriff that disclosed this fraud does say he suspects this type of fraud took place at other facilities" Given the age of those voters, and the ones caught doing fraud already, I'd bet money that most of the fraudsters voted for Diaper Don.
"the vast majority of protesters on January 6 were peaceful
even most of the ones who wandered into the Capitol"
Over 600 people in 40 states have been arrested so far for their "peaceful" actions; one estimate I saw had that at 1/4 of the number who could face arrests. Here are some of them and their charges:
https://www.usatoday.com/storytelling/capitol-riot-mob-arrests/
"the Capitol sees huge demonstrations on a regular basis that attract fringe elements in addition to the intended crowd"
There you go minimizing the criminal actions of the insurrectionists and white nationalists again.
Hitler's first coup wasn't successful either. You must be so proud of yourself white-washing these criminals' actions so that they will be in a good place to do it again - perhaps in 2024.
Why do you hate America so much?
A Texas “freedom defender” who led campaigns against COVID-19 measures has died after trying to treat his own infection — just weeks before the birth of his fourth child.
Caleb Wallace, 30, started “The San Angelo Freedom Defenders” and organized “end the COVID tyranny” rallies opposing mask and vaccine rules and to “secure God-given and constitutionally protected rights.”
“I care more about freedom than I care about your personal health,” he told City of San Angelo officials at a meeting last November, admitting he had been “bombarding” them with complaints.
His “freedom” group — which also compiled lists of local businesses requiring masks so members could avoid them — has gone offline since his sickness and death, the San Angelo Standard-Times noted.
Wallace first fell ill on July 26 — but refused to get tested or go to the hospital, his 8-months-pregnant wife, Jessica Wallace, told the local paper.
He instead took high doses of Vitamin C, zinc, aspirin and ivermectin, an anti-parasitic medicine normally used to deworm animals that health officials have urged people not to take to treat COVID-19.
“He was so hard-headed,” his wife told the Standard-Times. “He didn’t want to see a doctor, because he didn’t want to be part of the statistics with COVID tests.”
Jessica Wallace told the Standard-Times that her views “are less conservative” than her husband, who was also the coordinator for the West Texas Minutemen paramilitary group.
“Caleb would tell me, ‘You know masks aren’t going to save you,’ but he understood I wanted to wear them. It gives me comfort to know that maybe, just maybe, I’m either protecting someone or avoiding it myself,” she told the paper.
Even before her husband’s death, she called his sickness a “humbling, eye-opening experience,” telling the Standard-Times, “It’s made us realize that COVID-19 does not discriminate.”
Wallace’s father, Russell Wallace, told the New York Times that he still stood by his son’s stance against mask and vaccination mandates — but would now “look into” getting inoculated.
“Personally for me, I’m not so hesitant about the vaccinations now,” said the dad, who had also been hospitalized for 13 days with an infection.
“I’ve stared down that barrel and quite honestly, it scared the hell out of me,” Russell Wallace told the paper.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) tore into his Republican colleagues on Sunday, calling them willing participants of a “party of lies, of conspiracy, of dishonesty” after announcing on Friday that he will not run for reelection next year.
“You can fight against the cancer in the Republican Party of lies, of conspiracy, of dishonesty, and you ultimately come to the realization that basically, it’s me, [Rep.] Liz Cheney [R-Wyo.], and a few others that are telling the truth, and there are about 190 people in the Republican Party that aren’t going to say a word,” Kinzinger said in an interview with ABC News’ “This Week.”
“I haven’t seen any momentum in the party move away from lies and towards truth,” he added.
The six-term Republican would have faced an uphill battle if he were to run again due to congressional redistricting in his state that would pit him against Rep. Darin LaHood, who is a strong supporter of Trump. Kinzinger acknowledged that his decision not to seek reelection is “potentially” a win for Trump, but not one that “was my decision.”
“It’s not handing a win as much to Donald Trump as it is to the cancerous kind of lie and conspiracy, not just wing anymore, but mainstream argument of the Republican Party,” Kinzinger said. “This is not on, you know, the 10 of us that voted to impeach [Trump]. It’s not on Liz Cheney and I to save the Republican Party. It’s on the 190 Republicans who haven’t said a dang word about it, and they put their head in the sand and hope somebody else comes along and does something.”
Trump immediately celebrated Kinzinger’s announcement not to run by declaring, “2 down, 8 to go!” apparently referring to the 10 Republicans who voted for his impeachment.
Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio), one of those 10, is seemingly the second person Trump was referring to since Gonzalez last month announced that he will not seek reelection. Gonzalez would have faced a similarly challenging run against a Trump-backed candidate.
Kinzinger has so far been a bit vague about his plans once his term ends, only announcing the creation of his Country First PAC, which is designed to help other GOP candidates who voted to impeach Trump.
He insisted Sunday that his political career is not ending, however, but instead “beginning.”
"The six-term Republican would have faced an uphill battle if he were to run again"
which is the real reason he dropped out
his constituents don't support him
he could stay and be a ray of hope for the GOP, if you accept what he's saying
but he's not doing that because he knows he'll lose
he'll make more money starting a PAC
"I recall several posters pointing out that there was "no evidence of widespread voter fraud,""
ah, so you think when they said that they meant that the evidence just hadn't been found yet
I think they meant there wasn't any fraud
howza bout when they said this was "the most secure election in history"?
what did that mean on your planet?
"Given the age of those voters, and the ones caught doing fraud already, I'd bet money that most of the fraudsters voted for Diaper Don."
no, they weren't voting at all
they were manipulated by a fraudster who took advantage of them because of their age
"Over 600 people in 40 states have been arrested so far for their "peaceful" actions;"
a sliver of the people there
also, even of the 600, many were doing nothing more violent than strolling around the halls
that's not to minimize the actions of some
it's just that the Democraps have blown this up all out of proportion to distract Americans, who have clearly rejected the Democrap agenda
"There you go minimizing the criminal actions of the insurrectionists and white nationalists again."
well, no I'm not
if you've ever been to any demonstration in Washington, you know extremists on both the left and right always attend large gatherings to see if they can rile up any attention
the police are skilled at handling such things through lengthy experience
why did this get so out of control?
Negotiations on the infrastructure and social program bills have consumed Capitol Hill for months. Still, a new ABC News/Ipsos poll out Sunday finds Democrats are failing to sell the legislation to the public, who are skeptical they would help people like themselves, or the economy, if signed into law.
President Joe Biden was unable to secure a legislative win before departing on his second foreign trip since taking office, even after he laid out a framework for the package focused on social programs and climate change around which he believes Democrats can rally. He pitched that package, which no longer includes paid family and medical leave or free community college, as a "historic economic" opportunity on Thursday, but this poll reflects the continued confusion and intraparty mistrust over these bills.
Americans also do not feel like these bills would help them or the U.S. economy if they become law.
The ABC News/Ipsos poll, which was conducted using Ipsos' KnowledgePanel, found that only 25% think it would help them.
Former President Donald Trump did the tomahawk chop with Atlanta Braves fans at Game 4 of the World Series on Saturday night.
Trump stood beside former first lady Melania, as they chopped away with fans before the game between the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros from a private suite.
It was the first time Melania had been seen in public since July, when she was spotted leaving the Trump Tower in New York City with son Barron, and the first time she had been seen with her husband since April.
Trump was expected to be joined by political allies, including U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker.
Notwithstanding all the hysterical rhetoric surrounding the events of January 6, 2021, two critical things stand out. The first is that what happened was much more hoax than insurrection. In fact, it wasn’t an insurrection at all.
An “insurrection,” as the dictionary will tell you, is a violent uprising against a government or other established authority. Unlike the violent riots that swept the country in the summer of 2020—riots that caused some $2 billion in property damage and claimed more than 20 lives—the January 6 protest at the Capitol lasted a few hours, caused minimal damage, and the only person directly killed was an unarmed female Trump supporter who was shot by a Capitol Hill Police officer. It was a political protest that “got out of hand.”
At the rally preceding the events in question, Donald Trump had suggested that people march to the Capitol “peacefully and patriotically”—these were his exact words—in order to make their voices heard. He did not incite a riot; he stirred up a crowd. Was that, given the circumstances, imprudent? Probably. Was it an effort to overthrow the government? Hardly.
I know this is not the narrative that we have all been instructed to parrot. Indeed, to listen to the establishment media and our political masters, the January 6 protest was a dire threat to the very fabric of our nation: the worst assault on “our democracy” since 9/11, since Pearl Harbor, since the Civil War! (Really: Joe Biden said last April that the January 6 protest at the Capitol was “the worst attack attack on our democracy since the Civil War.”)
Note that phrase “our democracy”: Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, and various talking heads have repeated it ad nauseam. But you do not need an advanced degree in hermeneutics to understand that what they mean by “our democracy” is their oligarchy. Similarly, when Nancy Pelosi talks about “the people’s house,” she doesn’t mean a house that welcomes riff-raff like you and me.
I just alluded to Ashli Babbitt, the unarmed supporter of Donald Trump who was shot and killed on January 6. Her fate brings me to the second critical thing to understand about the January 6 insurrection hoax. Namely, that it was not a stand-alone event.
On the contrary, what happened that afternoon, and what happened afterwards, is only intelligible when seen as a chapter in the long-running effort to discredit and, ultimately, to dispose of Donald Trump—as well as what Hillary Clinton might call the “deplorable” populist sentiment that brought Trump to power.
In other words, to understand the January 6 insurrection hoax, you also have to understand that other long-running hoax, the Russia collusion hoax. The story of that hoax begins back in 2015, when the resources of the federal government were first mobilized to spy on the Trump campaign, to frame various people close to Trump, and eventually to launch a full-throated criminal investigation of the Trump administration.
From before Trump took office, the Russia collusion hoax was used as a pretext to create a parallel administration shadowing the elected administration. Remember the Steele Dossier, the fantastical document confected by the “well-regarded” British spy Christopher Steele? We know now that it was the only relevant predicate for ordering FISA warrants to spy on Carter Page and other American citizens.
But in truth, the Steele Dossier was just opposition dirt covertly paid for by the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign. From beginning to end, it was a tissue of lies and fabrications. Everyone involved knew all along it was garbage—rumors and fantasies fed to a gullible Steele by shady Russian sources. But it was nonetheless used to deploy, illegally, the awesome coercive power of the state against a presidential candidate of whom the ruling bureaucracy and their favored candidate disapproved.
The public learned that the Democratic National Committee paid for the manufactured evidence only because of a court order. James Comey, the disgraced former director of the FBI, publicly denied knowing who paid for it, but emails from a year earlier prove that he knew all along. And what was the penalty for lying in Comey’s case? He got a huge book deal and toured the country denouncing Trump to the gleeful satisfaction of his anti-Trump audiences.
What was true of Comey was also true of the entire intelligence apparat, from former CIA Director John Brennan to Adam Schiff and other Democratic members of the House Intelligence Committee to senior members of the FBI. All these people said publicly that they had seen clear evidence of collusion with Russia. But they admitted under oath behind closed doors that they hadn’t.
General Mike Flynn had his career ruined and was bankrupted as part of a political vendetta. Meanwhile James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Lisa Page, John Brennan, Peter Strzok, and all the rest of the crew at the FBI, the CIA, and other intel agencies suffered nothing. When it came to light that an FBI lawyer altered an email in order to help get a FISA warrant—in other words, that he doctored evidence to spy on a political opponent, which is a felony—he got probation. Andrew McCabe, meanwhile, a former FBI deputy director, just got his pension restored notwithstanding the fact that an Inspector General’s report concluded that he lied multiple times under oath.
The recent news that Special Counsel John Durham has indicted Michael Sussman, a lawyer who covertly worked for the Clinton campaign and lied to the FBI, is welcome news. Granted, it is too early to say where Durham’s investigation will ultimately go, but Sussman’s indictment seems like small beer given the rampant higher-level corruption that saturated the Russia Collusion hoax.
At least 74 million citizens voted for Donald Trump in 2020, which is at least 11 million more than voted for him in 2016. Many of those voters are profoundly disillusioned and increasingly angry about this entire story—the years-long Robert Mueller “investigation,” the two impeachments of President Trump, the cloud of unknowing that surrounds the 2020 election, and the many questions that have emerged not only from the January 6 protest at the Capitol but, even more, from the government’s response to that protest.
Which brings me back to Ashli Babbitt, the long-serving Air Force vet who was shot and killed by a nervous Capitol Hill Police officer. Babbitt was a useful prop when the media was in overdrive describing the January 6 events as an “armed insurrection” in which wild supporters of Donald Trump, supposedly at his instigation, attacked the Capitol with the intention of overturning the 2020 election.
According to that narrative, five people, including Babbitt, died in the skirmish. Moreover, it was said, Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick was bludgeoned to death by a raging Trump supporter wielding a fire extinguisher. That gem of a story about the fire extinguisher, reported in The New York Times, was instantly picked up by other media outlets and spread like a Chinese virus.
Of course, it is absolutely critical to the Democratic Party narrative that the January 6 incident be made to seem as violent and crazed as possible. Hence the crazed comparisons to 9/11, Pearl Harbor, and the Civil War. Only thus can pro-Trump Americans be excluded from “our democracy” by being branded as “domestic extremists” if not, indeed, “domestic terrorists.”
The Sixth Amendment of the Constitution accords American citizens the right to a speedy trial. But most of the political prisoners of January 6—many of whom have been kept in solitary confinement—are still waiting to be brought to trial. And although the media was full of predictions that they would be found guilty of criminal sedition, none has.
Indeed, the prosecution’s cases seem to be falling apart. Most of the hundreds who have been arrested are being charged with trespassing. Another charge being leveled against them is “disrupting an official proceeding.” This is a felony charge designed not for ceremonial procedures like the January 6 certification of the vote, but rather for disrupting Congressional inquiries—for example, by shredding documents relevant to a Congressional investigation. It originated during the George W. Bush administration to deal with the Enron case.
The indisputable fact about January 6 is that although five people died at or near the Capitol on that day or soon thereafter, none of these deaths was brought about by the protesters. The shot fired Capitol Police Officer Michael Byrd that hit Ashli Babbitt in the neck and killed her was the only shot fired at the Capitol that day. No guns were recovered from the Capitol on January 6. Zero.
The liberal commentator Glenn Greenwald further diminished the “armed insurrection” meme in an important column last February titled “The False and Exaggerated Claims Still Being Spread About the Capitol Riot.” The title says it all. Kevin Greeson, Greenwald notes, was killed not by the protesters but died of a heart attack outside the Capitol. Benjamin Philips, the founder of a pro-Trump website called Trumparoo, died of a stroke that day. Rosanne Boyland, another Trump supporter, was reported by The New York Times to have been inadvertently “killed in a crush of fellow rioters during their attempt to fight through a police line.” But later video shows that, far from that, the police pushed protesters on top of Boyland and would not allow fellow protesters to pull her out.
Four of the five who died, then, were pro-Trump protesters. And the fifth? Well, that was Officer Sicknick—also a Trump supporter, as it turned out—who, contrary to the false report from The New York Times that went viral, went home, told his family he felt fine, but died a day later from, as The Washington Post eventually and grudgingly reported, “natural causes.” No fire extinguishers were involved in his demise.
The January 6 insurrection hoax prompts lots of questions.
Why, for example, did the government mobilize 26,000 federal troops from all across the country to surround “the people’s house” following January 6? Why were those troops subjected to loyalty tests, with those discovered to be Trump supporters sent packing?
Why is there some 14,000 hours of video footage of the event on January 6 that the government refuses to release? What are they afraid of letting the public see? More scenes of security guards actually opening doors and politely ushering in protestors? More pictures of FBI informants (read: “fomenters”) covertly salted among the crowd?
My own view is that turning Washington into an armed camp was mostly theater. There was no threat that the Washington police could not have handled. But it was also a show of force and an act of intimidation. The message was: “We’re in charge now, rubes, and don’t you forget it.”
In truth, there is little threat of domestic terrorism in this country. But there is plenty of domestic conservatism. And that conservatism is the real focus of the establishment’s ire.
It is important to note that while the government provides the muscle for this war on dissent, the elite culture at large is a willing accomplice. Consider, for example, the open letter, signed by more than 500 “publishing professionals” (authors, editors, designers, and so on), calling on the industry to reject books written by anyone who had anything to do with the Trump administration.
These paragons pledged to do whatever they could to stop “enriching the monsters among us.” But here’s their problem: approximately 75 million people voted for Trump. That’s a lot of monsters.
Many people have been quoting Benjamin Franklin’s famous response when asked what sort of government they had come up with at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. “A republic,” Franklin said, “if you can keep it.” Right now, it looks like we couldn’t. It looks as if the American constitutional republic has given way, at least temporarily, to an American oligarchy.
As the years go by, historians, if the censors allow them access to the documents and give them leave to publish their findings, may well count the 2016 presidential election as the last fair and open democratic election in U.S. history. I know we are not supposed to say that. I know that the heads of Twitter and Facebook and other woke guardians of the status quo call this view “The Big Lie” and do all they can to suppress it. But every honest person knows that the 2020 election was tainted.
The forces responsible for the taint had tried before. Hitherto, their efforts had met with only limited success. But a perfect storm of forces conspired to make 2020 the first oligarchic installation of a president. It would not have happened, I think, absent the panic over the Chinese virus. But that panic, folded in a lover’s embrace by the Democratic establishment, was not only a splendid pretext to clamp down on civil liberties; it also provided an inarguable excuse to alter the rules for elections in several key states.
“Inarguable” is not quite the right word. There could have been plenty of arguments, and many lawsuits, against the way the executive branch in these states usurped the constitutionally guaranteed prerogative of state legislatures to set the election rules when they intervened to allow massive mail-in voting. But the Trump administration, though foreseeing and complaining about the executive interventions, did too little too late to make a difference.
Among the many sobering realities that the 2020 election brought home is that in our current and particular form of oligarchy, the people do have a voice, but it is a voice that is everywhere pressured, cajoled, shaped, and bullied. The people also have a choice, but only among a roster of candidates approved by the elite consensus.
The central fact to appreciate about Donald Trump is that he was elected president without the permission, and over the incredulous objections, of the bipartisan oligarchy that governs us. That was his unforgivable offense. Trump was the greatest threat in history to the credentialed class and the globalist administrative state upon which they feed. Representatives of that oligarchy tried for four years to destroy Trump. Remember that the first mention of impeachment came 19 minutes after his inauguration, an event that was met not only by a widespread Democratic boycott and hysterical claims by Nancy Pelosi and others that the election had been hijacked, but also by riots in Washington, D.C. that saw at least six policemen injured, numerous cars torched, and other property destroyed.
You will search in vain for media or other ruling class denunciations of that violence, or for bulletins from corporate America advising their customers of their solidarity with the newly installed Trump administration. As the commentator Howie Carr noted, some riots are more equal than others. Some get you the approval of people like Nancy Pelosi and at least the grudging acceptance of oligarchs of the other party. Others get the FBI sweeping the country for “domestic terrorists” and the lords of Big Tech canceling people who defend the protesters’ cause.
Someday—maybe someday soon—this witches’ sabbath, this festival of scapegoating, and what George Orwell called the “hideous ecstasy” of hate will be at an end. Perhaps someday people will be aghast, and some will be ashamed, of what they did to the president of the United States and people who supported him: proposing, for instance, to put Senator Ted Cruz on a “no fly” list, or Simon & Schuster canceling Senator Josh Hawley’s book contract. Donald Trump is the Emmanuel Goldstein (the designated principal enemy of the totalitarian state Oceania in “1984”) of the movement. But minor public enemies are legion. Anyone harboring “Trumpist” inclinations is suspect, hence the widespread calls for “deprogramming” his supporters, who are routinely said to be “marching toward sedition.”
Michael Barone, one of our most perceptive political commentators, got it right when he wrote of the rapid movement “from impeaching incitement to canceling conservatism.” That is the path our oligarchs are inviting us to travel now, criminalizing political dissent and transforming policy differences into a species of heresy. You don’t debate heretics, after all. You seek to destroy them.
Donald Trump’s accomplishments as president were nothing less than stunning. Trump was, and is, a rude force of nature. He accomplished an immense amount. But he lacked one thing. Some say it was self-discipline or finesse. I agree with a friend of mine who suggested that Trump’s critical flaw was a deficit in guile. That sounds odd, no doubt, since Trump is supposed to be the tough guy who mastered “the art of the deal.” But I think my friend is probably right. Trump seems never to have discerned what a viper’s nest our politics has become for anyone who is not a paid-up member of The Club.
Maybe Trump understands this now. I have no insight into that question. I am pretty confident, though, that the 74 million people who voted for him understand it deeply. It’s another reason that The Club should be wary of celebrating its victory too expansively.
Friedrich Hayek took one of the two epigraphs for his book, The Road to Serfdom, from the philosopher David Hume. “It is seldom,” Hume wrote, “that liberty of any kind is lost all at once.” Much as I admire Hume, I wonder whether he got this quite right. Sometimes, I would argue, liberty is erased almost instantaneously.
I’d be willing to wager that Joseph Hackett, confronted with Hume’s observation, would express similar doubts. I would be happy to ask Mr. Hackett myself, but he is inaccessible. If the ironically titled “Department of Justice” has its way, he will be inaccessible for a long, long time—perhaps as long as 20 years.
Joseph Hackett, you see, is a 51-year-old Trump supporter and member of an organization called the “Oath Keepers,” a group whose members have pledged to “defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic.” The FBI does not like the Oath Keepers. They arrested its leader in January and have picked up many other members in the months since. Hackett came from his home in Florida to join the Trump January 6 rally. According to court documents, he entered the Capitol at 2:45 that afternoon and left some nine minutes later, at 2:54. The next day, he went home. On May 28, he was apprehended by the FBI and indicted on a long list of charges, including conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding, destruction of government property, and illegally entering a restricted building.
As far as I have been able to determine, no evidence of Hackett destroying property has come to light. According to his wife, it is not even clear that he entered the Capitol. But he certainly was in the environs. He was a member of the Oath Keepers. He was a supporter of Donald Trump. Therefore, he must be neutralized.
Joseph Hackett is only one of hundreds of citizens who have been branded as “domestic terrorists” trying to “overthrow the government” and who are now languishing, in appalling conditions, jailed as political prisoners of an angry state apparat.
Hayek’s overriding concern in The Road to Serfdom was to combat the forces that were pushing people further along that road to servitude. His chief concern was unchecked state power. The Road To Serfdom was first published in 1944. In a new preface in 1956, Hayek noted that one of the book’s “main points” was to document how “extensive government control produces a psychological change, an alteration in the character of the people.”
“This means,” Hayek said, “that even a strong tradition of political liberty is no safeguard if the danger is precisely that new institutions and policies will gradually undermine and destroy that spirit.”
This dismal situation, Hayek continues, can be averted, but only if the spirit of liberty “reasserts itself in time and the people not only throw out the party which has been leading them further and further in the dangerous direction but also recognize the nature of the danger and resolutely change their course.” Note the power of that little word “if.”
It was not so long ago that an American could contemplate totalitarian regimes and say, “Thank God we’ve escaped that.” It’s not at all clear that we can entertain that happy conviction any longer.
That’s one melancholy lesson of the January 6 insurrection hoax: that America is fast mutating from a republic, in which individual liberty is paramount, into an oligarchy, in which conformity will be increasingly demanded and enforced.
Another lesson was perfectly expressed by Donald Trump when he reflected on the unremitting tsunami of hostility that he faced as President. “They’re after you,” he more than once told his supporters. “I’m just in the way.”
Bingo.
it’s particularly laughable to see road signs for Virginia Democrat Terry McAuliffe that in effect declare Virginia’s chaotic new election laws to represent “free and fair elections.”
It’s reasonable to ask what conditions are necessary for an election to be as free and fair as possible. Clearly, there’s nothing wrong with the idea of improving turnout and voter enthusiasm. But a voting system that is designed specifically to hide wrongdoing and corruption, to preclude the ability to find fraud, to prevent even routine measures to ensure the auditability and integrity of an election is not an election.
There are at least four indispensable conditions for truly free and fair elections. The process must first guarantee privacy. It must also eliminate the possibility of identity theft. It must minimize ballot handling by anyone other than the voter. And the process should be as decentralized and local as possible, allowing everyone to vote at a neighborhood precinct.
Let’s look at these in more detail.
1. Protect the Secret Ballot
Every voter should be able to cast a ballot in person, at a local precinct, and in the privacy of a real voting booth. There is no solution to today’s electoral chaos short of a Constitutional Convention that restores our elections to their original format: voting in person on Election Day. I think we also need to recognize that secret ballot is directly tied to freedom of conscience. It’s therefore looking more and more like a constitutional right.
Universal mail-in voting abolishes any guarantee of a secret ballot. Going postal with voting is a surefire way to induce harassment and coercion in any politically polarized household where everyone has access to the mailbox. Yes, people should have the option of requesting an absentee ballot. But the only way to guarantee secret ballot is to restore the local in-person option everywhere, including states that have long abolished it, including Oregon.
It’s simply wrong to force all voters to cast their votes by mail or to drive out to some unattended “secure” ballot box on the street to deposit it. In addition, polling places in local precincts should have real voting booths that secure privacy, not tables strewn with flimsy cardboard optional shields.
2. Remove the Possibility of Identity Theft
The primary purpose of photo identification of a voter is to prevent identity theft. To claim that it’s about voter suppression is patently bogus. No fair electoral process would do away with a photo ID requirement.
If leftists who speak against Voter ID were really interested in preventing voter suppression, they would consider spending a teensy bit of pocket change of the trillions in their proposed budgets to provide a photo ID to everyone eligible to vote. The Georgia voter ID law, so criticized by the left, in fact provides a free photo voter ID to anyone who doesn’t have one. Problem solved.
3. As Little Ballot Touching As Possible
Minimize the ability of others to handle your ballot (and for ballot harvesters to invent ballots). Nobody should ever be put in the position of having his official ballot handled by roommates, neighbors, or family members who happen to be fetching the mail. Neither should anybody be required to have her official ballot handled by the postal service unless she specifically requests it.
Your official ballot should be treated as a hyper-sensitive document, not like junk mail delivered months before Election Day. The best way to minimize the time your official ballot can be handled by others is to vote on Election Day at an official, local precinct, where it is handled for just a matter of seconds or minutes before you cast it.
4. Local Control
In 2016 President Barack Obama declared that our elections could not be rigged because “they are so de-centralized.” Indeed, de-centralization is key to election integrity. But in the Covid-produced elections of 2020, massive early voting by mail-in ballots was a huge step towards centralization. Only about 30 percent of votes were cast in person.
State and local officials eliminated nearly 21,000 in-person polling places out of the 116,990 that were active in the 2016 elections. According to the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission, the continuing decline in polling places is due to alternatives such as large early voting centers and mail-in voting.
Conservatives add to this problem when they vote early by mail out of fear that they’ll be told they already voted by the time they get to the polls, as happened in the recent election in California. Oddly, Democrats don’t seem to complain when tens of thousands of local polling places simply evaporate, even though they routinely argue that election integrity is equal to voter suppression. Also, way too many local election boards are corrupt due to buyoffs by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerburg and the left-wing billionaire class posing as philanthropists.
No voting process is perfect, but the above four conditions are critical to renewing trust in a system that has proven deceitful.
When we forget that we are one race—the human race—we begin segregating ourselves and creating division in our nation. This division has ripple effects on all aspects of society. Perhaps most concerning is the effect it has on education.
Our country was founded as one nation under God, and our children used to be reminded of it every day. It used to be standard practice that when the school bell rang, children would stand up, face the American flag, place their right hand over their heart and say the pledge of allegiance. Each day they would speak the words "one nation, under God." The symbolism was clear; we all stood united in our love of country and commitment to equality.
In the enduring song, "Georgia on my Mind," the great Ray Charles sang, "no peace I find" in his home state during the civil rights movement. Indeed, Georgia was at the heart of the movement, and a troubled time it was. Yet we persevered, and we won—schools were desegregated and our civil liberties were enshrined in the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Where did that victory go?
Both unity and victory have been undermined by critical race theory (CRT). This new approach to race actively divides our kids every day by leading them to believe that the color of their skin holds more importance than the content of their character. This is precisely the type of ideal that leaders in the civil rights movement fought against, yet here it is again, right here in Georgia.
After the Georgia State Board of Education passed a resolution banning CRT from classrooms statewide, the Atlanta School Board posted a response defending CRT, saying that "we will not change our focus" on "advancing equity and social justice within our schools."
And if flouting the governing authority wasn't enough, Atlanta-based Mary Lin Elementary School allegedly segregated students based on ethnicity. One mother of a second grader sued the district. "To our knowledge, (the principal) designated these black classes without the knowledge or consent of the families of the affected black students," her legal complaint said. "Instead, she unilaterally decided what was in the best interests of the black students, relegating them to only those classes she deemed appropriate."
This disturbing incident provides a glimpse at the true goal of critical race theory: resegregating our society by skin color, taking us right back to where we began.
Atlanta public schools even go as far as providing resources to teachers instructing them to complete a "classroom equity audit" and create "equity-centered environments." Teachers were advised to "make links that show how the historical roots of injustice impact the lived experiences and material conditions of people today."
Apparently, the best way to help Atlanta's underprivileged communities learn and become successful is to tell children that they are oppressed instead of encouraging them with the knowledge that they have the ability to do great things.
My uncle, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., wouldn't recognize this regressive version of the civil rights movement. Nor would his life and leadership mean anything to today's critical race theorists. He preached a vision of the world which focused on character, not skin color. To today's critical race theorists, my uncle was hopelessly naïve. They reject the vision that the civil rights movement fought for, and they will not stop until our institutions are torn down and remade.
Fortunately, thousands of school board seats are up for election in November. In Atlanta alone, nine seats are up.
School boards in Georgia and the Georgia State Board of Education play a crucial role in selecting curricula and approving texts used by classrooms and teachers across the state. This power helps decide what type of materials are being used to teach students. At an age when children are more susceptible to influence, this power holds the ability to shape the beliefs of the next generation.
That's why it's important for everyone who cares about our children to learn more about their own local school boards. Find out who's running. Learn what they believe. Will we have unity again, or allow our schools to further devolve into divisiveness? You can decide that direction by learning, and then by voting.
Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin has surged ahead of Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe in the final stretch of the race, polling averages show.
Polling averages compiled by FiveThirtyEight showed Democrat Terry McAuliffe with a sizable advantage for much of the race. But within the past few weeks, Youngkin has seen his support grow significantly among likely and registered voters.
As of Monday morning, Youngkin was ahead of McAuliffe by an average of 1 point. Approximately 47.7 percent of those surveyed said Youngkin was ahead in the governor's race compared with 46.7 percent who saw McAuliffe as the leader.
Youngkin officially surpassed McAuliffe in FiveThirtyEight's tracker just last week.
Virginians will head to the ballot box on Tuesday to decide who will lead their state next year.
Youngkin, 54, was formerly the co-chief executive of the private equity firm Carlyle Group. He's received the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, who called Youngkin "pro-business, pro-Second Amendment, pro-Veterans and pro-America." Youngkin has said he's "honored" to have received Trump's endorsement.
"This is a moment for us," Youngkin said at an event on Saturday. "We are going to send a shockwave across this country. And there's not going to be a Democrat in any state, anywhere in this nation, who's going to think his or her seat is safe."
Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers criticised Democrats for what he claimed amounts to a series of tax cuts for the wealthy in President Joe Biden's planned $1.75 trillion social and climate change bill.
Summers in a tweet Sunday criticized the bill for not doing more to close down tax loopholes and extract more from high earners.
The plan as it stands largely retains the tax cuts passed by the Trump administration in 2017 which provoked widespread anger from progressives because it eased taxation on the wealthiest.
"I am certainly no left wing ideologue, but I think something wrong when taxpayers like me, well into the top .1 percent of income distribution, are getting a significant tax cut in a Democrats only tax bill as now looks likely to happen," wrote Summers.
"No rate increases below $10 million, no capital gains increases, no estate tax increases, no major reform of loopholes like carried interest and real estate exchanges but restoration of the state and local deduction explain it."
Summers served as treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton, and as director of the National Economic Council under President Barack Obama.
He has been among the most prominent Democratic critics of Biden's economic policies.
Earlier in 2021 he warned that the money the Biden administration was pumping into the economy in the hope of counteracting the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic could fuel inflation.
Democrats received "scary news' on Halloween.
Chuck Todd, the moderator of Meet the Press, shared the findings of the latest NBC News national polling on Sunday that bode ill for President Joe Biden and his party one year out from the midterm elections.
"We have a brand new NBC News poll out this morning that's filled with some scary news for the Democrats. The overarching message: Americans have lost their confidence in President Biden and their optimism for the country," Todd said.
"Just 22% of adults say we're headed in the right direction. A shocking 71% say we're on the wrong track and that includes a near majority of Democrats who are saying that. President Biden's approval rating stands at a dismal 42%, versus 54% who disapprove," he said.
Democrats' $1.75 trillion economic and climate bill could end up delivering a tax cut for the richest 5% of Americans, a new analysis finds.
The Build Back Better framework released by the White House last week calls for tax increases on the richest families, including a surtax on multi-millionaires and billionaires.
Although it wasn't addressed in the framework, most observers expect the package will eventually include a repeal of the $10,000 cap on the federal deduction for state and local taxes, known as SALT. Many Democrats have said they won't vote for the legislation without action on the SALT cap.
The bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget found in an analysis released Friday that repealing the SALT cap would more than offset the planned tax hikes on the rich.
"A two-year SALT cap repeal -- if included -- would reduce taxes on the top 5% of earners by over $70 billion" in fiscal 2023, the CRFB said.
After factoring in the planned tax hikes on the rich, the package would translate to a $30 billion net direct tax cut for those in the top 5% when the SALT cap repeal is in effect, the analysis said.
The 2017 tax law signed by former President Donald Trump, to address income inequality, imposed a $10,000 limit on how much state and local taxes (including property taxes) that rich households can deduct from their federal taxes.
Looks like Democraps are not as stupid as I thought
Most think they have a better chance at keeping the White House if Biden retires:
A plurality of Democrats think the party has a better chance of keeping the White House in 2024 if Joe Biden is replaced as the candidate, according to a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll.
Pollsters asked Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents if they thought “Democrats have a better chance of winning the presidency in 2024 if Joe Biden is the party’s nominee, or if someone else is the party’s nominee?” Forty-four percent of respondents said they thought Democrats had a better shot at winning if Biden is replaced, while 36 percent said keeping Biden as the candidate would improve the party’s chances.
When asked whether nominating Donald Trump would help Republicans win the presidency in 2024, 57 percent of Republican respondents concurred, while 29 percent said the GOP stood a better chance of winning with a different candidate.
The full survey was conducted through interviews from October 18-22, among 469 Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents, and 413 Republicans and Republican-leaning independents.
The poll results come as Biden’s job approval rating remains low amid a period of inflation and supply-chain shocks. The Biden administration has struggled to process record numbers of migrants crossing the southern border, and was widely criticized for its handling of the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Biden’s approval rating sat at 42.7 percent as of Sunday in the RealClearPolitics polling average. Similarly, FiveThirtyEight‘s polling average showed that 43.2 percent of Americans approve of the president’s performance compared with 51.1 percent who disapprove.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., says he cannot yet support the Build Back Better budget deal containing much of President Biden’s domestic agenda and told House progressives to stop holding up a bipartisan infrastructure deal.
Speaking on Capitol Hill Monday, Manchin said he could not fully endorse the framework of the Build Back Better plan released by the White House last week until its potential effects on the deficit, inflation and the tax code are studied further. Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., have been at odds with the rest of their party — including the White House, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — over the size, scale and process of the deal.
The bipartisan infrastructure measure — negotiated by Manchin, Sinema and other moderates — easily passed the Senate in August, although a number of Democratic senators said they were supporting it only with the expectation that a larger budget package would also pass to fulfill the majority of the party’s domestic agenda. With slim margins in the House, progressives have the ability to kill the infrastructure bill until they’re confident Build Back Better has the votes to succeed.
With only 50 Democratic votes in the Senate, however, Build Back Better cannot pass without Manchin's support.
“This is not how the United States Congress should operate or in my view has operated in the past,” Manchin said, criticizing the House progressives. “The political games have to stop.” He added that “holding this bill hostage is not going to work in getting my support for the reconciliation bill.”
The House was set to vote on both the infrastructure and budget packages on Tuesday, but Manchin’s comments are likely to delay the process for an indefinite period.
Meanwhile the nation's bridges and roads crumble while the socialist "Squad" refuses to approve repairs until their Marxist bill passes.
This week’s Liberal Media Scream features a classic example of just how shocked the biased Left press is when the public doesn’t fall in line behind ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN, as well as their view of the world.
Talking about a new poll on key national issues, the leader of the pack, NBC’s host of Meet the Press Chuck Todd, appeared dumbfounded that the public is choosing Republicans over President Joe Biden. When a talk show host uses the phrase “believe it or not,” you know he doesn’t.
“Republicans, believe it or not, have double-digit leads in dealing with border security, inflation, crime, national security, the economy and, shockingly, on ‘getting things done,’” Todd said on his Sunday show discussing a new NBC News poll.
Todd led Sunday’s Meet the Press on NBC:
“We have a brand new NBC News poll out this morning that’s filled with some scary news for the Democrats. The overarching message: Americans have lost their confidence in President Biden and their optimism for the country, at least, they have right now. Just 22% of adults say we’re headed in the right direction. A shocking 71% say we’re on the ‘wrong track’ and that includes a near majority of Democrats who are saying that.
Virginia governor’s race: Glenn Youngkin may win due to ‘white backlash’…
EPA phased out a toxic pesticide in 2010. Before Trump left office, it was…
An October survey found that more adults considered the Democratic Party a bigger threat to American democracy than the Republican Party.
A new Marist poll has found that more Americans find the Democratic Party to be a bigger threat to democracy than the Republican Party.
The recent survey was conducted by the Marist Poll, a public opinion poll based in New York state's Marist College. Held since 1978, the institution was named by Bloomberg News as the most accurate in the United States during the 2016 presidential election.
Consisting of 1,209 adults, those polled were all above 18 years old, and the questions were given to constituents over the phone in both English and Spanish.
The poll, held from October 18 to October 22, found that 42 percent of those questioned believed the Democratic Party represented a more pressing threat to democracy, compared to 41 percent who believed the Republican Party was more at fault.
An additional eight percent felt that both parties were of an equal threat to the country, while the remaining nine percent were either unsure or had no opinion.
I know it's a bad fall for you guys, so I thought I'd throw you a bone:
that mean Supreme Court you complain about so much, that was largely appointed by the ay-friendliest President, like, ever
has ruled for trans
"The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a bid by a Catholic hospital in California to avoid a lawsuit over its refusal to let its facilities be used to perform a hysterectomy on a transgender patient who sought the procedure as a part of gender transition from female to male.
The justices turned away an appeal by Mercy San Juan Medical Center, a Sacramento-area hospital owned by Dignity Health, and let stand a lower court ruling that revived Evan Minton's lawsuit accusing it of intentionally discriminating against him in violation of California law because he is transgender. "
Newsmax's White House correspondent:
Emerald Robinson
@Emeral Robinson
Dear Christians: the vaccines contain a bioluminescent marker called LUCIFERASE so that you can be tracked.
Read the last book of the New Testament to see how this ends.
11:57 PM · Nov 1, 2021·Twitter for Android
Matthew Chapman replies:
Matthew Chapman
@fawfulfan
FYI: the COVID vaccines do not contain luciferase. It was used in some COVID research in 2020, but it's not a vaccine ingredient. https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSL1N2MT265…
BTW, the name "luciferase" has nothing to do with Biblical Lucifer. "Lucifer" literally just means "light-bearer" in Latin.
7:44 AM · Nov 2, 2021·Twitter for iPhone
the last TTF comment is so sad and desperate
good news in Virginia !
gay agenda's on the run
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2021/governor/va/2021-virginia-governor-and-other-election-results.html
When Terry McAuliffe kicked off his third gubernatorial candidacy last December, party elders figured that McAuliffe’s candidacy would prevent the worst-case scenario: namely, that Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, who was accused of forcing himself sexually on two women, would somehow win the Democratic primary. “Terry” had been a popular governor the first time around, Democrats told themselves, and was always an energetic campaigner.
“Certainly, he comes into the race in a very formidable position,” veteran Virginia political scholar Bob Holsworth said at the time. “At the same time, the open question in this campaign is whether he is the person for the moment.”
The answer turned out to be no.
On Tuesday, the tally, with 94% of the vote counted, is 50.7% to 48.6%. Meanwhile, in a potentially shocking upset in New Jersey, Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli holds a 1,200-vote edge over incumbent Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy with 97% of the total counted. If Ciattarelli holds on for victory, the result will defy the pre-election polling — and leave Democrats stunned.
In Virginia, the election hingesd on many factors. Here are seven reasons Semocarps lost:
Reason 1: McAuliffe’s previous tenure in office wasn’t an advantage.
Reason 2: Terry McAuliffe didn't said why he wanted to be governor again.
Reason 3: It’s the parents, stupid.
McAuliffe “I’m not going to let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decisions,” McAuliffe said. He punctuated that thought with these 12 fateful words: “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”
“That was a disaster for him,” veteran political strategist David Axelrod said Tuesday night as the votes rolled in.
Reason 4: As the race tightened, McAuliffe doubled down on his approach to education.
Reason 5: For his part, Youngkin threaded the needle nicely on Trump.
Youngkin quietly rebuffed his offer to come campaign. But Trump clearly appreciated that Youngkin never bad-mouthed him, and the 45th president responded accordingly: He told his supporters to flood to the polls.
Successfully negotiating the mine field of Trump’s prickly ego not only helped Youngkin win on Tuesday. It also illuminated the path for future GOP candidates competing in states and districts that aren’t deep Republican red.
Reason 6: Virginia gubernatorial elections are traditionally tough for the party in the White House.
Reason 7: Something was afoot Tuesday night, not just in the Virginia governor’s race — and not just in Virginia. In the Old Dominion, Republicans also picked up the lieutenant governorship — electing the first black woman to win statewide in Virginia history — while ousting a Democratic attorney general. In Minneapolis, voters overwhelmingly rejected a change in the city charter that would have restructured the much-maligned local police department. In Buffalo, a socialist who had won the Democratic primary for mayor was defeated by a write-in vote that went overwhelmingly to the incumbent. New York City’s new mayor is an ex-police officer who favors gun rights. Across the river in New Jersey — in the shock of the night —Ciattarelli has the incumbent Murphy on the ropes. This, in a state Joe Biden carried by 16 percentage points just one year ago.
Is President Biden a disappointment to voters, a drag on down-ticket Democrats?
Perhaps, but one plausible conclusion from Tuesday’s vote is that a majority of voters want Biden to be the president he promised to be. He was the moderate who defeated a slew of presidential contenders to his left — the one who vowed to work for all Americans, not just those who supported him. Yet he and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi somehow find themselves under the thumb of the left wing of their own party.
Joe Biden won New Jersey and Virginia in landslides against Donald Trump last year.
Now those two states are defeating Joe Biden and his sweeping, and at times, far-left agenda.
Six factors have been key to Glenn Youngkin’s win over former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe; meanwhile, they also help explain why Republican Jack Ciattarelli has come within a hair's breadth of besting once-popular New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy.
Here are the six keys to the GOP's successes:
1. Voters reject COVID mask and vaccination lockdowns. Both Republican candidates made clear they opposed harsh lockdowns, mandatory vaccinations and mask requirements. Murphy ordered every child over 2 to mask up, which didn’t sit well with voters.
2. Black voters didn’t turn out. Black voters were said to be crucial for McAuliffe’s victory, and they did not turn out as they did in 2020. Why? One reason may be mandatory vaccinations. Blacks have been hesitant to take the vaccine, and the firings of blue-collar workers and first responders who won’t accept it may be causing a backlash.
3. Biden’s approval numbers have collapsed. The debacle in Afghanistan, a southern border in crisis, soaring inflation and questions about Joe Biden's age and mental capacity, have created a brew of disenchantment among voters who are giving the president a thumb’s-down rating in approval polls.
4. Critical race theory backfired. Cultural issues like CRT and gender politics played a major role in the Virginia race. McAuliffe’s claim that parents shouldn’t play a role in what their children are taught, coupled with the recent alleged assault of one female student by a male in a skirt — are issues that rubbed suburban voters who don’t accept "woke" culture the wrong way.
5. It’s the economy, stupid! Massive supply shortages and soaring inflation may be having a more significant impact on voters' minds than had been supposed. People are seeing gasoline prices jump, and the party in power is paying the price.
6. Trump helped Republicans. McAuliffe and Murphy attempted to paint their Republican challengers as puppets of Donald Trump. Trump did not prove a liability at all, though, and he may have even helped. Voters are clearly feeling buyer’s remorse with Biden, as Trump’s own rising poll numbers suggest.
Why should Democrats pursue a multitrillion-dollar bill designed to alienate the voters they just lost in Virginia?
The Republican Party has just won every statewide race and has taken control of the House of Delegates. The sweep comes exactly a year after the Democrat, Joe Biden, won the presidential race there by ten points. In New Jersey, meanwhile, a gubernatorial contest that was supposed to come to a dull, foregone conclusion has gone right down to the wire.
These developments raise some important questions. Such as: Why on earth would Senators Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema, Maggie Hassan, and Catherine Cortez Masto continue to acquiesce with their party’s extraordinarily foolish attempt to shove a set of FDR-sized spending programs through a 50–50 Senate? Such as: Why on earth would a swathe of moderate House Democrats agree to go along with it, when, by all appearances, they are already going to have their work cut out for them next year? Such as: What, exactly, does the Democratic Party think it is playing at?
As is appropriate, the Virginia gubernatorial election was primarily about local issues — in particular, education. But this did not happen in a vacuum. According to the exit polls, President Biden’s job approval in the state is 45–54; 52 percent of Virginia voters consider the Democratic Party to be “too liberal,” as opposed to 13 percent who consider it “not liberal enough”; and 77 percent described themselves as either “conservative” (37 percent) or moderate (40 percent), compared with 23 percent who described themselves as “liberal.” This, evidently, is not an electorate that spends its days retweeting Bernie Sanders.
And if Virginia’s electorate isn’t, then Arizona’s, West Virginia’s, Nevada’s, and New Hampshire’s sure as hell aren’t. As ABC reported over the weekend, Americans just aren’t that into the idea of spending trillions upon trillions of dollars in order to satisfy Representative Jayapal. Overall, only 25 percent of Americans think the gargantuan packages would help them, with only 47 percent of Democrats agreeing. Asked whether the bill would help the economy, just 29 percent of independents said that it would. In a separate poll, Gallup picked up this trend, noting that, 52 to 43 percent, Americans believe that “the government is doing too many things that should be left to individuals and businesses.”
Joe Manchin, without whose vote the most ambitious elements of the Democrats’ agenda cannot pass, says that he remains opposed to “additional handouts or transfer payments,” new programs that “will never go away,” and “shell games” — which, in practice, means that he should be against pretty much everything that is on offer. In a statement recently, Manchin proposed that “great nations throughout history have been weakened by careless spending,” confirmed that he was aware of “the brutal fiscal reality our nation faces,” and asked, “How much is enough?” The result from Virginia should present him with his answer.
And if, for some reason it does not, it should inspire the mother of all revolts in the House. It is comprehensible that Nancy Pelosi would wish to end her career by shoveling as much money out of the door as is possible. But it is not at all clear why scores of House Democrats — many of whom prevailed in 2020 in precisely the sort of districts that Glenn Youngkin won today — would elect to follow her off the cliff. It cannot be repeated enough that there is no good reason for the United States, which remains intractably mired in debt, to follow up an unexpected $6 trillion, COVID-19-inspired spending spree with another unsolicited feast that, per White House chief of staff Ron Klain, is “twice as big, in real dollars, as the New Deal was.”
Before tonight, the Democrats’ big plans were already faltering. Tonight, per Ryan Matsumoto of Inside Elections, Virginia “swung 10-15 points to the right since last November” — a “type of swing” that “would be devastating for them in the House and Senate in 2022.” If that’s not enough to kill the bill, well, then the party really is lost to the swamps.
In addition to opposing racist CRT in schools, a philosophy that seeks to divide people by race, Glen Youngkin received 60% of the Hispanic vote in Virginia. His running mate is the first black woman to become Virginia's lieutenant governor. He also campaigned with the newly elected attorney general, who is the first Latino attorney general in Virginia.
Both the fired governor, Ralph Northam, and the fired attorney general, Mark Herring, are old white guys who have photos of them wearing KKK robes. While the fired lieutenant governor is black, who he has had credible sexual assault charges made against him.
In other words, it's morning in Virginia, a preview of November 2022.
Republican Winsome Sears was elected as Virginia's new lieutenant governor on Tuesday night, becoming the first woman and the first woman of color to serve in the position.
"I am at a loss for words for the first time in my life," Sears said in an address to supporters on election night. "...What you are looking at is the American dream. The American dream."
This is the not the first barrier Sears has broken. Sears, a U.S. Marine veteran, previously served in Virginia's House of Delegates. She was the first Black Republican woman, first female veteran and first "legal immigrant" woman elected to that position, she says on her campaign website.
Sears was born in Jamaica and moved to the U.S. when she was 6 years old, according to the local outlet the Jamaica Observer.
"When my father came to this country August 11th of 1963, he came at the height of the civil rights movement from Jamaica. ... And he only came with $1.75," she said in her victory speech. "...When I joined the Marine Corps I was still a Jamaican, but this country had done so much for me I was willing, willing to die for this country."
Throughout her campaign, Sears advocated for increasing pay for teachers and law enforcement, cutting taxes, and expanding veteran care centers. She also said that, as lieutenant governor, she will push for the creation of a Black Virginians Advisory Cabinet for the governor and for a "once-in-a-generation investment" in Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Sears campaigned alongside Glenn Youngkin, the Republican who was elected to the governor's seat on Tuesday in a closely-watched battle against Democrat Terry McAuliffe.
"It's a historic night, yes it is," Sears said. "But I didn't run to make history, I just wanted to leave it better than I found it. And with your help, we're going to do that."
Winsome Sears is former chair of the Black Americans Making America First political action committee, which according to its website is "dedicated to making America first by promoting the Trump policy initiatives." Among other things, the group advocates for curtailing illegal immigration, promoting Second Amendment rights, and "defending biblical marriage and preventing transgendered males from competing in women's sports.
Virginia Republicans completed a sweep of down-ballot statewide offices with victories for attorney general and lieutenant governor, including the first Black woman ever to be elected statewide in the commonwealth.
The wins echoed the Democrats’ defeat in the race for governor, and marked a dramatic turnaround in a state where the GOP had not won a statewide race since 2009.
In the lieutenant governor’s race, Republican Winsome Sears, who returned to Virginia politics after an absence of nearly two decades, defeated Democrat Hala Ayala. Sears becomes the first woman to serve as lieutenant governor and the first woman of color to hold statewide office.
In the attorney general’s race, Republican Jason Miyares, the son of a Cuban immigrant, defeated the Democratic incumbent, Mark Herring, who was running for a third term.
Both Ayala and Herring conceded Wednesday.
Sears rocketed out of political obscurity earlier this year when she won the GOP nomination on the strength of a campaign photo in which she posed holding a military rifle.
She will succeed Democrat Justin Fairfax, who unsuccessfully ran for governor. Her role as a tiebreaking vote in a closely divided state Senate has become even more important given GOP victories in other races. In addition to winning the governor’s mansion, the party has also regained control of the House of Delegates.
Democrats are oanicked about abortion legislation. Ayala made supporting a woman’s right to an abortion a key issue in her campaign, noting that the Senate is already an even 20-20 split on the issue. Sears has long opposed abortion, something she links to her Christian faith.
“I’m a Christian first, and a Republican second. I don’t want to hear about your economic policies and you’re going to build the country if we have to kill babies along the way,” she told an interviewer in 2019.
A former Marine, Sears had a brief stint in electoral politics 20 years ago as a one-term delegate in the General Assembly, representing parts of Hampton Roads. Her return to politics after a two-decade absence began when she served as national chairperson for Black Americans to Re-Elect President Trump.
Early Wednesday, Sears stood with her family in front of cheering supporters at a victory party in Chantilly, saying, “What you are looking at is the American Dream.”
When former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and ex-New York City Police Chief Bernie Kerik found themselves out thousands of dollars on hotel rooms and travel costs for their efforts to overturn Donald Trump's election loss, one person came to their rescue: Fox News host Jeanine Pirro.
The longtime cable news staple arranged for the Trump campaign to reimburse Kerik and Giuliani, payments that may jeopardize the former president's claim to executive privilege, according to a new report in the Washington Post.
In all, more than $225,000 in campaign cash went to both men — including close to $50,000 for suites at the tony Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., which Trump's inner circle took to calling the "command center," according to previous reports.
Before Pirro intervened, the Post reports that both men became increasingly concerned that Trump might stiff them.
"How do I know I'm gonna get my money back?" Kerik told the paper he thought at the time.
Pirro, who remains a favorite of the former president after years of watching the conservative network, was able to secure the payments by calling Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, who suggested that Kerik and Giuliani get the campaign to cover their expenses.
The Fox News host denied, through a Fox News spokesperson, that she acted on behalf of Giuliani or Kerik.
But experts say the payments imperil Trump's assertion of executive privilege in withholding hundreds of "command center" documents from the House select committee investigating the attempted Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection — a defense which typically does not apply to campaign activity.
"If he acts as a president, he gets these things we talk about — executive privilege and immunity," said attorney John Yoo, who served in the George W. Bush Justice Department as legal counsel. "But if he's acting as a candidate, he's deprived of all of those protections."
Richard Ben-Veniste, a former Watergate prosecutor, agreed with that assessment, calling Trump's defense "wildly broad."
"[This] further undermines a wildly broad assertion of executive privilege," Ben-Veniste told the Post. "Executive privilege is typically limited to the protection of communications involving a president's official duties — not to those relating to personal or political campaign matters."
fascinating
hopes Dems keep the focus on Trump
that worked so well for them Tuesday night
when Bill Clinton lost big in his first mid-term, he recalibrated and had a fairly successful presidency *if you don't count his predatory conduct with an intern)
Biden is not that smart
after Dems accused their opponents of being anti-vax and lost, this morning Biden unveiled new vaccine mandates
just in time to cause a worker shortage for Christmas
and with polls showing voters not in favor of the Dem handling of the economy, Nancy Pelosi is redoubling efforts to push though 6 trillion of spending
and the new package includes tax cuts for the wealthy in NY, CA, NJ, and Massachusetts!
please keep it up
LOL!!!!!!!!
oh, and do whatever's necessary to protect CRT and transgender bathrooms
ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IRONY: Poorly educated voters -- who believe in myths, hoaxes, and conspiracy theories -- say education is important. 😖
QAnon supporters meet in Dallas expecting return of JFK Jr. from the dead
DALLAS (KXAN) — As state and local elections continue into the evening on Nov. 2, QAnon conspiracy theorists gathered in downtown Dallas to await the return of John F. Kennedy, Jr., who died in 1999.
The gathering began at Dealey Plaza Monday night, The Dallas Morning News reports. Believers say the return of JFK Jr. in the city and spot where his father died in 1963 would begin the reinstatement of Donald Trump as president, according to several QAnon-affiliated social media accounts.
US intel report warns of more violence by QAnon followers
A popular QAnon influencer used the messaging app Telegram to repeat debunked claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election to their over 250,000 followers, Rolling Stone reports. The influencer theorized that John F. Kennedy, Jr., who died in a plane crash at the age of 38, will come back to life, and that another QAnon theory will be proven true: that every U.S. president and law since 1871 is illegitimate.
The “1871” theory relates to the passage of the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871, which QAnon believers say transitioned the U.S. into a corporation. “The theory is based on a false interpretation of the Organic Act,” writes BBC’s Shayan Sardarizadeh. “[The act] merely turned the District of Columbia into a municipal corporation, better known as a local governing body, and has no relation to a president or the U.S. as a whole.”
This “loophole” is believed to make Trump’s reinstatement possible — after which he would make JFK Jr. (who they believe has been in hiding) his vice president before stepping down. That would make Kennedy Jr. president. The prominent QAnon influencer, Rolling Stone reports, says once Trump steps down, he will become “1 of 7 new Kings. Most likely the King of Kings.”
QAnon is a wide-ranging and convoluted conspiracy theory largely supported by right-wing extremists. The group’s beliefs are hard to summarize, but include that the government is run by a cabal of pedophile and child sex traffickers, and that Donald Trump was secretly working against this “deep state.” QAnon believers blame Trump’s reelection loss on baseless claims of voter fraud, and many QAnon supporters were among the insurrectionists on the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
I hate to break it to you, but CRT is a myth
so is the claim that it isn't taught in public schools
the Dems in Virginia have gone through stages of self-deception
first, CRT was an insightful lesson about American history
then, when that wasn't polling well, the new claim was "CRT isn't taught in Virginia schools"
now, that they've lost, all the Dems are saying CRT doesn't exist
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!
IRONY: lunatic fringe progressives say Youngkin won by using racism even though the same voters voted for the first black woman to be lieutenant governor and the first Latino to be attorney general and the retiring Dems as governor and attorney general have photos of themselves in blackface and McAuliffe eagerly accepted their endorsement
ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!
America is on to you freaking hypocrites....
"The gathering began at Dealey Plaza Monday night, The Dallas Morning News reports. Believers say the return of JFK Jr. in the city and spot where his father died in 1963 would begin the reinstatement of Donald Trump as president, according to several QAnon-affiliated social media accounts."
hate to break it to you but Tuesday night proved the GOP doesn't need Trump to win
but, please, keep talking about him instead of the pandemic, inflation, border security, the deficit, Afghanistan, and Merrick Garland's attack on parents
IRONY: TTFer tries to be a smart-ass and proves he's just a dumb-ass😖
Go figure
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!
Democratic political strategist James Carville blamed his party's recent losses and weak performance in state elections on "stupid wokeness" on Wednesday.
"PBS NewsHour" host Judy Woodruff asked Carville what went wrong for the Democratic Party in the Virginia gubernatorial race in which Republican Glenn Youngkin beat former Gov. Terry McAuliffe.
"What went wrong is just stupid wokeness. Don't just look at Virginia and New Jersey. Look at Long Island, look at Buffalo, look at Minneapolis, even look at Seattle, Wash. I mean, this 'defund the police' lunacy, this take Abraham Lincoln's name off of schools, Teach the Facts. I mean that — people see that," Carville said.
"It's just really — has a suppressive effect all across the country on Democrats. Some of these people need to go to a 'woke' detox center or something," he added. "They're expressing a language that people just don't use, and there's backlash and a frustration at that."
Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy narrowly eked out a reelection victory on Wednesday, another indication of Democrats' diminishing strength in state elections.
Carville said that suburbanites in Virginia and New Jersey "pulled away" from such "wokeness." He pointed out that Youngkin never ran any ads against President Biden and suggested that the Republican candidate had simply allowed Democrats to "pull the pin and watch the grenade go off."
"We got to change this and not be about changing dictionaries and change laws," Carville said. "These faculty lounge people that sit around mulling about I don't know what. ... They're not working."
Carville has decried "wokeness" in the past, telling Vox's Sean Illing earlier this year that it was a "problem."
"Wokeness is a problem and everyone knows it. It’s hard to talk to anybody today — and I talk to lots of people in the Democratic Party — who doesn’t say this. But they don’t want to say it out loud," said Carville.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) in a Thursday morning appearance on CNN’s "New Day" defended his arguments over the social spending and climate package stuck in Congress, arguing that Democrats and President Biden will be hurt if the party moves too far to the left.
“I believe in President Biden. He really is in government for the right reason. We just have to work together. We can't go too far left,” Manchin said.
“This is not a center-left or a left country. We are a center — if anything, a little center-right country, and this means that's being shown. And we ought to be able to recognize that,” he added.
Manchin was responding to a question about remarks from Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), who said that Biden was elected to “be normal and stop the chaos” and not to be another FDR — a reference to President Roosevelt and the New Deal policies of the 1930s.
The senator said he believes Biden is a moderate, adding that members of the Democratic Party are “pushing him left.”
Manchin labeled himself a “responsible West Virginia Democrat,” adding that he is “fiscally responsible and socially compassionate.”
He urged members of his party to “come together” and “realize what can and can’t be done,” before urging them not to “force, basically, something that’s not going to happen to make people believe it will.”
Manchin’s comments come as pressure is mounting on Congress to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill and social spending package after Democrats experienced a trio of losses in Virginia on Tuesday, falling short in the governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general races.
Some have attributed the Republican victories in the Old Dominion to the internal disagreements within the Democratic Party, which have delayed negotiations for the two packages for weeks.
The West Virginia Democrat has has expressed concerns about the $1.75 trillion social spending package, urging his colleagues in the House to hold off on those deliberations to first pass the Senate-approved bipartisan infrastructure package.
Progressives, however, are demanding that the two bills are passed alongside one another, and are threatening to tank the infrastructure package if it is brought up alone.
Manchin defended his concerns with the social spending package Thursday morning, doubling down on his opposition to including paid family leave and Medicare expansion in the bill.
Democratic leadership had hoped to hold votes on the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the framework for the spending package as early as this week, though with negotiations still ongoing, that timeline looks unlikely.
Republican state officials reacted with swift rebukes Thursday to President Joe Biden's newly detailed mandate for private employers to require workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, threatening a wave of lawsuits and other actions to thwart a requirement they see as a stark example of government overreach.
At least two conservative groups moved quickly to file lawsuits against the workplace safety mandate, and a growing roster of GOP governors and attorneys general said more lawsuits were on the way as soon as Friday. Some Republican-led states had already passed laws or executive orders intended to protect employers that may not want to comply.
“This rule is garbage,” South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, a Republican, said Thursday through a spokesperson. “It’s unconstitutional and we will fight it.” His state's governor, Republican Henry McMaster, said he is planning to issue an executive order keeping state agencies from enforcing the rule.
States have been preparing for the requirement since Biden previewed it in September. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration requirements released Thursday call for companies with 100 or more employees to be vaccinated by Jan. 4 or be tested weekly. Failure to comply could result in penalties of nearly $14,000 per violation. Federal officials also left open the possibility of expanding the mandate to smaller employers.
The White House said the administration has the authority to take actions designed to protect workers and expects the rule to withstand legal challenges.
Republican governors or attorneys general in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and South Dakota said Thursday they would file lawsuits against the mandate. The Daily Wire, a conservative media company, filed a challenge in federal court on Thursday. So did companies in Michigan and Ohio represented by a conservative advocacy law firm.
Robert Alt, a lawyer representing the Midwest companies suing— manufacturer Phillips Manufacturing & Tower Company and packaging firm Sixarp — said both companies are already facing staffing shortages amid the pandemic. The mandate will make things worse, he said.
“It adds insult to injury and forces them potentially to fire trained employees," said Alt, president and CEO of The Buckeye Institute, a conservative advocacy group.
"While I agree that the vaccine is the tool that will best protect against COVID-19, this federal government approach is unprecedented and will bring about harmful, unintended consequences in the supply chain and the workforce,” Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb said in a statement.
At a news conference, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized what he called an “executive fiat” for the private sector.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds characterized the mandate as an imposition on personal choice, saying people should be able to make their own health care decisions. She recently signed a bill guaranteeing that people who are fired for refusing a vaccine can qualify for unemployment benefits.
Biden, displaying his senile side, in a statement Thursday, dismissed the argument from many GOP governors and lawmakers that a mandate for employers will hurt businesses' ability to keep workers on the job.
wokeness
noun [ U ] mainly US informal
US/ˈwoʊk.nəs/ UK /ˈwəʊk.nəs/
a state of being aware, especially of social problems such as racism and inequality:
His latest record displays his wokeness.
U.S. employers' hiring surged in October as the number of new infections caused by the COVID-19 delta variant slowed and the expiration of extended unemployment benefits moved farther in the rearview mirror.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 531,000 workers last month as the unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage points to 4.6%, the Labor Department said Friday. Economists surveyed by Refinitiv were expecting the addition of 450,000 jobs and the unemployment rate to slip to 4.7%.
The job gains in September were revised up to 312,000 from the prior reading of 194,000.
"The pace of hiring rebounded in October as Covid-19 restrictions eased and cases declined," said Jay Pestrichelli, CEO of ZEGA Financial. "The labor market is not back to pre-Covid-19 levels, but it has staged an impressive comeback over the past 18-months."
The labor market also received a boost as more workers sought jobs after the $300 per week in supplemental unemployment benefits expired in September.
Notable gains occurred in leisure and hospitality, where the addition of 164,000 jobs boosted the hiring total in the sector to 2.4 million workers so far this year. Within the space, strong gains were seen in food services and drinking places (+119,000) and in accommodation (+23,000).
Professional business services (+100,000) and manufacturing (+60,000) also showed sizable gains.
Employment decreased in local government education (-43,000) and in state government education (-22,000).
Average hourly earnings rose 0.4% in October and were up 4.9% year over year. Economists were expecting a 0.4% monthly increase and a 4.9% year-over-year gain...
"Ignorant lying is so much better!"
one of the more noxious elements of the "wokeness" movement is accusing everyone who disagrees with them of lying
this has poisoned our national discourse and Americans are sick of it
and that backlash cost the Democrats this week and will again next year if they don't make some swift changes
"a state of being aware, especially of social problems such as racism and inequality"
everyone agrees that racism is wrong
what the "wokeness" movement asserts is that only they understand the extent, cause, and solution
anyone who disagrees with this secular theology is deemed a white supremacist
which is risible in Virginia when the GOP just elected the first black woman lieutenant governor and first Latino AG while the Dems ran two guys for governor and AG who have been photographed in black face
and the Dems hired people to dress as KKK and pose in front of Youngkin's campaign bus
McAuliffe only apologized after his staff was caught by the media
and you have the nerve to accuse others of lying?
easy to see why America has rejected TTFism
"The labor market is not back to pre-Covid-19 levels, but it has staged an impressive comeback over the past 18-months."
the gains were concentrated in the months when Biden wasn't President
voters consistently recognize that Republicans are better than Democrats at managing the economy
The good news is voters in Virginia this week fired the first shot in the war to end the carnival of absurdity that has infected our politics over the past few years.
Enough of the racist poison. Stop abusing our children — no more lawlessness. End the assault on innocent, law-abiding citizens.
Indeed, “Parents Matter,” as Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin’s campaign insisted.
The sick, twisted, anti-American vitriol from washed-up hacks like Terry McAuliffe is losing its power, even in a deeply Democratic state like Virginia. In his petty non-concession speech late Tuesday night, Mr. McAuliffe looked like a cartoon version of The Joker with his crazy fake smile and wine-stained lips etched on his pale face.
The bad news — and it is truly terrifying — is that the Biden administration has three years left to destroy the country. Even if President Biden himself is impeached for high crimes against America, we are still left at this point with Vice President Kamala Harris.
And you cannot say you were not warned.
“We’ve been patient. But our patience is wearing thin,” Mr. Biden lectured America two months ago in one of the most extraordinary statements ever delivered by an elected president to the people he supposedly works for.
He tried to give you a choice. But you chose wrong.
Now, it will all be by force.
Mr. Biden ordered us to take our medication. But some of us refused. So, now he will force us all to take our medication.
Even with total Democratic control of the entire federal government, Mr. Biden cannot ram through his crazy agenda.
Soaring gas prices, inflation, bare shelves, the border invasion, arming America’s enemy in Afghanistan — it’s all reached pure, maximum insanity.
This is not stupid incompetence or doddering senility. This is a surgical and intentional assault on the American people.
As Mr. Biden slowly loses his political grip in elections like Virginia’s this week, he will turn to force. White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki — America’s Nurse Ratched — will hand out the pills at the window in tiny little paper cups in her neatly folded white cap.
“Now calm down,” you can hear her say in her unflappable, charmless tone. “The best thing we can do is go on with our daily routine —”
New rules issued Thursday by the Biden administration for public and private companies will require American workers to take their medication by Jan. 4. Any worker not vaccinated by Dec. 5 will be required to wear a mask on their face at all times announcing their unclean status.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is nuts. These people are pure evil. They hate America. They despise self-governance. And they want to destroy you.
Companies will begin paying fines to the federal government, starting at $13,653 for each offense. Those fines will escalate quickly into hundreds of thousands of dollars. All paid to the federal government.
In addition, companies all over the country must construct a massive new testing regime to perform weekly tests for all unvaccinated employees. In two months. During the holiday season.
Mr. Biden’s supply chain collapse highlights just how dependent America has become on just about everything from foreign countries, especially China. No wonder it is so hard to make anything here in America.
It is only going to get worse. Prices will only go up. Shelves will only get emptier. Americans will only get poorer.
But at least you cannot say you were not warned
Special counsel John Durham’s indictment of Igor Danchenko, the principal source for the bogus Steele dossier used by the FBI as a basis for the Trump-Russia investigation, further illustrates that Durham has his sights set on the Clinton campaign.
Danchenko has been charged with five counts of lying to the FBI in interviews during 2017, as the bureau struggled in futility to verify outlandish allegations that Donald Trump and his campaign were clandestine agents of the Kremlin. Those allegations were compiled in the so-called Steele dossier, which the FBI relied on in obtaining surveillance warrants from a secret federal court.
The dossier was generated by the Clinton campaign. Its principal author was former British spy Christopher Steele. Steele’s main source was Danchenko, a Russian native based in the United States who worked at the Brookings Institution — a Washington think tank whose former president, Strobe Talbott, is a college friend of Bill Clinton’s who worked in the Clinton State Department.
At Brookings, Danchenko worked with Fiona Hill, later a member of President Trump’s National Security Council (and a key witness in the first Trump impeachment over the unrelated Ukraine controversy). It was through Hill that Danchenko became acquainted with Steele, who ran a London-based intelligence firm upon leaving MI-6, the British spy service.
First, he fabricated the claim that the president of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce informed him that, during the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump was involved in a well-developed “conspiracy of cooperation” with the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In reality, the indictment says, this conversation never happened.
The chamber president is not identified by name in the indictment. After the Steele dossier became public, however, there was intense speculation that the chamber’s founder, Sergey Millian, was a Steele dossier source. As I recounted in my book on Russiagate, “Ball of Collusion,” Millian denied being a source and trashed the dossier as “fake news created by sick minds.”
Danchenko is also alleged to have concealed that one of his sources for the information he provided to Steele was a longtime Democratic Party operative who was close to the Clintons — having worked on both of Bill Clinton’s successful presidential campaigns and Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful 2008 presidential campaign. This source was revealed on Thursday to be Chuck Dolan, a public relations executive who had Russian contacts, and referred to as “PR Executive-1” in the indictment.
The FBI interviewed Danchenko because it was desperately trying to corroborate the Steele dossier claims. One question that Durham must be pressing is: What took the bureau so long? The Obama Justice Department brought the FBI’s sworn claims to the secret federal Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in October 2016. Though the FBI is supposed to verify its allegations before going to court, it apparently did not interview Danchenko, the main source for the dossier, until January 2017 — by which time it was obtaining its second 90-day spy warrant.
It appears that Durham theorizes that the Trump-Russia collusion narrative was a political attack manufactured by the Clinton campaign. Relying on Danchenko, Steele compiled the reports for Glenn Simpson, co-founder of intelligence firm Fusion-GPS, which specializes in digging up political dirt. Fusion-GPS was retained for the Trump project by Perkins-Coie, the Clinton campaign’s law firm.
In September, Durham indicted former Perkins-Coie attorney Michael Sussmann for making a false statement to the FBI while peddling Trump-Russia allegations that the bureau eventually found unsubstantiated. Durham alleges that Sussmann concealed that he was working for the Clinton campaign and a tech executive who was hoping for an important government job if Clinton was elected.
Durham’s charging instruments suggest that the Clinton campaign used its agents to peddle the Trump-Russia rumors to the government and the media, then used the fact that Trump was being investigated as part of its campaign messaging
The leading Catholic bishop in the United States admonished the growing interest in intersectionality and identity politics, saying they are "pseudo-religions."
Archbishop Jose H. Gomez, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, said "America’s new political religions" of "wokeness," "intersectionality," and "identity politics ," among others, "claim to offer what religion provides." He delivered the remarks via video on Thursday to the Congress of Catholics and Public Life as it met in Madrid that day.
"I believe the best way for the Church to understand the new social justice movements is to understand them as pseudo-religions, and even replacements and rivals to traditional Christian beliefs," Gomez said . "With the breakdown of the Judeo-Christian worldview and the rise of secularism, political belief systems based on social justice or personal identity have come to fill the space that Christian belief and practice once occupied."
While Gomez called the death of George Floyd , which attracted nationwide protests during the summer of 2020 from racial justice activists, "a stark reminder that racial and economic inequality are still deeply embedded in our society," the archbishop maintained that "we can only build a just society on the foundation of the truth about God and human nature."
"Today’s critical theories and ideologies are profoundly atheistic. They deny the soul, the spiritual, transcendent dimension of human nature; or they think that it is irrelevant to human happiness. They reduce what it means to be human to essentially physical qualities — the color of our skin, our sex, our notions of gender, our ethnic background, or our position in society. ... In denying God, these new movements have lost the truth about the human person. This explains their extremism and their harsh, uncompromising, and unforgiving approach to politics," he continued, urging the church "to understand and engage these new movements — not on social or political terms, but as dangerous substitutes for true religion."
Gomez's ideas echo warnings from authors such as John Mcwhorter and James M. Patterson , who have argued the growing notions within "wokeness" are inherently religious
Several baseless claims of election fraud are swirling around social media after Gov. Phil Murphy’s close win over Republican Jack Ciattarelli. With nearly all Election Day votes counted Friday evening, and a still unknown number of mail-in ballots still arriving at county election offices that will be counted through Monday, Murphy leads Ciattarelli by close to 53,000 votes, or 2.5%. The Associated Press called the race for Murphy Wednesday night.
Ciattarelli released a video on Twitter Thursday night urging supporters not to believe unfounded conspiracy theories, but also calling on voters to contact an “election integrity hotline” set up by the state GOP.
In Gloucester County, where Ciattarelli beat Murphy by almost 10 points, a statement issued by the county clerk said the people who posted images on social media of walking in the darkness outside the building and rummaging through recycling containers “were incorrectly claiming election fraud.” The clerk’s office stated it was contacted by the county prosecutor’s office regarding an investigation related to the videos.
“The materials in the recycling containers were not viable for any electoral use,” the statement said. The county prosecutor did not return calls seeking comment Friday.
The clerk’s statement said that on Nov. 3, staff members put three kinds of items into sealed boxes and placed them in the recycling containers:
-One box of outdated yellow business reply envelopes related to the 2021 primary election;
-Three boxes of outdated instructional inserts illustrating how to complete and return a 2021 general election mail-in ballot;
-One bag of shredded green certificate envelopes from some undeliverable 2021 general election ballots that were returned by postal officials and “spoiled ballots” brought in by voters for replacement because they had been torn, damaged or marked incorrectly.
“These items have no viable election use and were discarded in accordance with the law,” the statement added.-
Items found in trash outside a New Jersey elections office were not discarded or shredded ballots
Memba dis?
WSJ: Trump Says Judge’s Mexican Heritage Presents ‘Absolute Conflict’
Gomez himself was woke last year according to his wiki page:
"Racism"
In 2020, Archbishop Gómez issued a statement on behalf of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in which he condemned the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis as "senseless and brutal". He said that the protests following Floyd's murder reflected "the justified frustration and anger of millions", taking the opportunity to condemn the "humiliation, indignity, and unequal opportunity" based on race. The archbishop called for greater tolerance and to ensure that racism is removed from all aspects of the community to foster greater harmony.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/José_Horacio_Gómez
"The labor market is not back to pre-Covid-19 levels, but it has staged an impressive comeback over the past 18-months."
the gains were concentrated in the months when Biden wasn't President
voters consistently recognize that Republicans are better than Democrats at managing the economy"
Only those that consistently ignore facts, have trouble with math, and have a habit of cherry picking data to ignore anything and everything that makes conservatives look bad.
US BLS stats are available for anyone to check here:
https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/ces0000000001?output_view=net_1mth
You can add up the columns of data for yourself.
US total non-farm employees:
Jan 2020 - Jan 2021 inclusive: -9.183 million jobs (i.e. LOST)
Feb 2021 - Oct 2011 inclusive: +5.583 million jobs (i.e. GAINED)
(Sep & Oct '21 numbers are preliminary at 312k and 531k respectively.)
Biden is doing a MUCH better job than the Cheeto Benito. Biden has yet to show a single negative month of job growth, while a 1/4 of Rumpie's last year were losses.
Biden is slowly digging us out of the pandemic and economic hole that Rump left us with, not unlike Obama has to dig us out of the worst economics collapse since the Great Depression that Bush II left us with.
Given the disasters that the last 2 Republican presidents have left us with, it's amazing anyone would still vote for them on economic grounds.
"Memba dis?
WSJ: Trump Says Judge’s Mexican Heritage Presents ‘Absolute Conflict’
Gomez himself was woke last year according to his wiki page:"
From the WSJ article:
"In an interview, Mr. Trump said U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel had “an absolute conflict” in presiding over the litigation given that he was “of Mexican heritage” and a member of a Latino lawyers’ association."
Meanwhile, José Horacio Gómez Velasco is an archbishop in the Catholic Church.
"Gomez himself"???
Judge Gonzalo Curiel and Archbishop José Horacio Gómez Velasco are two entirely different people.
Did you think they were the same person since they both had Spanish-sounding names?!?!
At 7:46AM you were either not woke enough yourself to distinguish between the two, or you've hit the bottle early today.
The 17-year-old son of Virginia Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin (R) tried unsuccessfully to vote in Tuesday’s gubernatorial election, but officials say he didn’t break any election laws, The Washington Post reported Friday.
Youngkin’s son, who hasn’t been identified because he’s a minor, reportedly tried to vote twice at Great Falls Library in Fairfax County, Virginia.
Jennifer Chanty, a Democratic precinct captain, told the Post she turned him away after checking his ID, but that he returned 20 minutes later and claimed a friend the same age had been able to vote. Virginia doesn’t allow 17-year-olds to vote, but they can register in advance if they turn 18 by Election Day.
Local election officials told the newspaper that the teen didn’t cast a ballot and doesn’t appear to have broken any laws. [So a Republican guy illegally tries to vote twice with no consequences - why that just screams "election integrity," doesn't it?]
Since former President Donald Trump blamed his 2020 election loss on unfounded claims of election fraud, Republicans have tried to call into question national election security. It’s become an issue for the GOP up and down the ballot, with a majority of Republicans believing Trump actually won the election.
Retiring Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio) fears Donald Trump may try to steal the 2024 election if he doesn’t win the vote, warning that the former president is already laying the groundwork after learning from his failure to overturn the 2020 result.
“I think it’s all pushing towards one of two outcomes: He either wins legitimately, which he may do, or if he loses again, you just try to steal it,” Gonzalez said in CNN’s “Trumping Democracy: An American Coup” documentary Friday.
Trump has “evaluated what went wrong on Jan. 6: Why is it that he wasn’t able to steal the election? Who stood in his way?” explained Gonzalez, who has attributed his upcoming departure from Congress in part to the “toxic dynamics” inside the GOP.
“And he’s going methodically state by state at races from, you know, state Senate races all the way down to county commissioner races trying to get the people who ― the Republicans, the RINOs [Republicans in name only], in his words ― who stopped this, who stopped him from stealing the election,” he added.
Trump has teased running in 2024 multiple times, but has not yet officially thrown his hat into the ring.
Gonzalez, who voted to impeach Trump for his incitement of the Jan. 6 insurrection, said the violence was “an unconstitutional attempt led by the president of the United States to overturn an American election and reinstall himself in power illegitimately.”
“That’s fallen nation territory, that’s third-world country territory,” he added. “My family left Cuba to avoid that fate. I will not let it happen here.”
An Oregon couple who complained their rights were violated when they were told to wear masks in a bakery were arrested after showing police their video of the violent confrontation at the store, officials said.
Portland-area couple Ricki Collin, 34, and Amy Hall, 45, were charged with third-degree assault following their arrest in downtown Eugene on Wednesday, according to police.
The video shows a man and a woman walking into the Crumb Together bakery.
In the store, a person ― identified in some news reports as the store’s owner ― asks the couple to leave because they’re not wearing masks. They refuse, and a verbal confrontation follows. The woman can be seen shoving the owner, who then gets a baseball bat from behind the counter and again asks the couple to leave.
The woman and the owner get into a physical struggle that lasts for over half a minute. In the video, the owner can be heard screaming and yelling “Get the #$!& out!”
The couple flagged down nearby police and showed them their video, according to ABC affiliate KEZI Channel 9. They were arrested on the spot.
In addition to felony assault, Collin was charged with robbery for allegedly walking out of the bakery with the bat, according to officials. In the video, the man and woman seem stunned they’re being arrested.
The bakery owner was reportedly taken to a hospital for treatment for cuts and bruises.
Collin has a history of arrests, and has posted several videos of himself challenging people over mask requirements, KEZI reported.
"Gomez himself"???
Judge Gonzalo Curiel and Archbishop José Horacio Gómez Velasco are two entirely different people.
Did you think they were the same person since they both had Spanish-sounding names?!?!
No, sorry to disappoint you but all Mexicans do not look alike to me.
One's a US judge and the other is Catholic archbishop.
Archbishop Gomez is who you mentioned because he sees "wokeness" as competition to his religion.
He was actually born in Mexico, unlike Indiana born Judge Curiel, who 2016 candidate Rump attacked for being of Mexican descent.
"Archbishop Gomez is who you mentioned because he sees "wokeness" as competition to his religion."
Well, someone posted about Gomez, but it certainly wasn't me. It looks more like it was one of the conservatives decrying "wokeness" and advocating for more "real" religion.
Why anyone considers someone in the Catholic church to have some kind of moral credibility anymore is beyond me, and I certainly wouldn't be advocating for what anyone in the church hierarchy is blathering about.
The Catholic Church, like other conservatives, will say whatever it thinks is appropriate to maintain or extend its quest for power. Whether that harms other people is mostly irrelevant to them. I say "mostly" because they do at least pay some lip-service to some basic tenants of humanity - unlike much of today's national conservative movement driven largely by Evangelicals, which is quite ready to condemn everyone that disagrees with them - especially if they happen to be L,G,B,T, or Q.
"Several baseless claims of election fraud are swirling around social media after Gov. Phil Murphy’s close win over Republican Jack Ciattarelli."
people always talked among themselves but, now, we have the internet so any suspicious some ignorant person has is recorded
the question is: why do TTFers repeat it? this is the only place I read these rumors "swirling around"
the need for election integrity is self-evident
if you want to stop baseless claims, go back to having everyone vote in-person on elction day, unless there is a compelling reason for them to do otherwise
Democraps have caused this problem by trying to extend COVID period procedures indefinitely
"In 2020, Archbishop Gómez issued a statement on behalf of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in which he condemned the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis as "senseless and brutal". He said that the protests following Floyd's murder reflected "the justified frustration and anger of millions", taking the opportunity to condemn the "humiliation, indignity, and unequal opportunity" based on race. The archbishop called for greater tolerance and to ensure that racism is removed from all aspects of the community to foster greater harmony."
that's not the same as the excesses seen today
"Only those that consistently ignore facts, have trouble with math, and have a habit of cherry picking data to ignore anything and everything that makes conservatives look bad.
US BLS stats are available for anyone to check here:
https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/ces0000000001?output_view=net_1mth
You can add up the columns of data for yourself."
the sheer deceitful hypocrisy of TTFers is breathtaking
including Jan - June 2020 to compare Trump and Biden is preposterous and no American is failing for the liberal lies
"Biden is doing a MUCH better job than the Cheeto Benito. Biden has yet to show a single negative month of job growth, while a 1/4 of Rumpie's last year were losses."
Slidin' Biden, king of the Democraps, is approved by 38% of Americans, according to the latest polls
America doesn't believe you
"Given the disasters that the last 2 Republican presidents have left us with, it's amazing anyone would still vote for them on economic grounds."
you think that's amazing?
polls show Americans trust the GOP with the economy more than Slidin' Biden, king of the Democraps
"Did you think they were the same person since they both had Spanish-sounding names?!?!
At 7:46AM you were either not woke enough yourself to distinguish between the two, or you've hit the bottle early today."
this is a complete flight of fantasy brought to you by TTF (teach the fairytale)
no one implied that the priest and judge were the same person
"The 17-year-old son of Virginia Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin (R) tried unsuccessfully to vote in Tuesday’s gubernatorial election, but officials say he didn’t break any election laws, The Washington Post reported Friday.
Youngkin’s son, who hasn’t been identified because he’s a minor, reportedly tried to vote twice at Great Falls Library in Fairfax County, Virginia.
Jennifer Chanty, a Democratic precinct captain, told the Post she turned him away after checking his ID, but that he returned 20 minutes later and claimed a friend the same age had been able to vote."
so pathetic that a TTFer would be bringing u a mistake made by a minor
he asked is he could vote and they said no
so what?
"Local election officials told the newspaper that the teen didn’t cast a ballot and doesn’t appear to have broken any laws. [So a Republican guy illegally tries to vote twice with no consequences - why that just screams "election integrity," doesn't it?]"
he's a kid, but even if he were an adult, he committed no crime
why did McAuliffe not suffer consequences when he paid people to dress in KKK robes and pretend to be Youngkin campaign staffers?
that's a lot more serious than a kid excited his Dad was running and asking to vote
"An Oregon couple who complained their rights were violated when they were told to wear masks in a bakery were arrested after showing police their video of the violent confrontation at the store, officials said.
Portland-area couple Ricki Collin, 34, and Amy Hall, 45, were charged with third-degree assault following their arrest in downtown Eugene on Wednesday, according to police.
The video shows a man and a woman walking into the Crumb Together bakery.
In the store, a person ― identified in some news reports as the store’s owner ― asks the couple to leave because they’re not wearing masks. They refuse, and a verbal confrontation follows. The woman can be seen shoving the owner, who then gets a baseball bat from behind the counter and again asks the couple to leave.
The couple flagged down nearby police and showed them their video, according to ABC affiliate KEZI Channel 9. They were arrested on the spot.
In addition to felony assault, Collin was charged with robbery for allegedly walking out of the bakery with the bat, according to officials. In the video, the man and woman seem stunned they’re being arrested."
well, this story mentions a "push" so you'd have to see it to judge this situation
but the owner threatened these people a weapon and then accuse them of stealing it?
sounds like this will be thrown out of court
"Archbishop Gomez is who you mentioned because he sees "wokeness" as competition to his religion."
he says "wokeness" has become a religion and he's right
"Well, someone posted about Gomez, but it certainly wasn't me. It looks more like it was one of the conservatives decrying "wokeness" and advocating for more "real" religion."
no, he was just seeking recognition that it is a religion and not a fact
"Why anyone considers someone in the Catholic church to have some kind of moral credibility anymore is beyond me, and I certainly wouldn't be advocating for what anyone in the church hierarchy is blathering about."
the Catholic church is huge and there are bound to be the corrupt people involved
same is true of any huge group
just think of the Democraps
after the Russian hoax created by Hillary and the sexual predator behavior of her husband, why would anyone consider someone in the Democrap Party to have some kind of moral credibility?
beyond me....
"The Catholic Church, like other conservatives, will say whatever it thinks is appropriate to maintain or extend its quest for power."
same is true of Democraps
they couldn't care less about who suffers from their lies, especially if they happen to be L,G,B,T, or Q
remember Clinton was opposed to gay marriage and gay soldiers
why?
to maintain or extend its quest for power
why don't just concede that, contrary to progressive dogma, people are morally fallible?
Climate change is going to be worse than the Holocaust. It will give rise to a global epidemic of gang rape. There’ll be murder, war, slaughter. Your friends will die. Your children, too. The carbon-fuelled heating of the planet will bring ‘human life as we know it’ crashing to a violent, fiery end. It will be nothing less than doomsday.
These are just some of the hysterical claims that have been made in the discussion around COP26. As world leaders private-jetted their way to Glasgow for the latest UN gabfest on how to save the planet from mankind’s dirt, hubris and avarice, there was a severe outbreak of Climate Derangement Syndrome. Prime ministers, bishops, princes and noisy greens all tried to outdo each other with their apocalyptic warnings. It has been a grim competition of catastrophes, an orgy of hyperbolic prophecies that wouldn’t look out of place in the Book of Revelation.
It all kicked off months before COP26 opened. When the IPCC published its latest report in August, delirious scribes across the Western world were reaching for their thesauruses in order that they might drive home to dim readers just how nightmarish the future promises to be. It’s ‘code red!’ for humanity, they all insisted, uniformly. If we don’t get a handle on carbon emissions soon, ‘our future climate could well become some kind of hell on Earth’, said Tim Palmer of Oxford University. The planet is on fire and it’s our fault – we’re ‘guilty as hell’, declared the Guardian, coming off like a crackpot millenarian preacher. Every unpleasant weather event was laid at the feet of dastardly mankind. ‘With raging wildfires, floods and pandemics, it seems like End Times – and it’s our own damned fault’, said one writer.
This feverish holding-up of the IPCC report as some kind of God-like indictment of mankind set the stage for the derangement we have seen around COP26. The Archbishop of Canterbury, the supposed moral anchor of the nation, set the tone with his perverse insistence that the consequences of climate change will overshadow even the greatest crime in history – the Holocaust. It will be a genocide ‘on an infinitely greater scale’, he said. He has since apologised for this shameful marshalling of the horrors of the Holocaust to the moany middle-class cause of going green.
Boris Johnson, who just a few years ago was writing newspaper columns slamming eco-hysteria, says climate change is a doomsday clock counting down to a ‘detonation that will end human life as we know it’. If we don’t cut carbon emissions, it will soon be ‘too late for our children’, he said, the clear implication being that climate change will gift the next generation a Mad Max-style wasteland in which life will barely be worth living. ‘It’s one minute to midnight’, said Boris. Actually, chirped the Archbishop of Canterbury, ‘the clock has run out’. Make your minds up – is it apocalypse now or apocalypse very soon?
Time has ‘quite literally run out’, said Prince Charles. He says we need to take a ‘war-like footing’ on climate change. Climate change is ‘another form of wartime’ and we may soon have to ration things like air travel, said famed globe-trotter Joanna Lumley. If COP26 fails, it will be a ‘death sentence’ for humankind, said UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres. ‘We’re digging our own graves’, he warned.
more:
https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/11/05/climate-derangement-syndrome/
"this is a complete flight of fantasy brought to you by TTF (teach the fairytale)
no one implied that the priest and judge were the same person"
The text that was referred to was this:
"Anonymous Gomez is Mexican said...
Memba dis?
WSJ: Trump Says Judge’s Mexican Heritage Presents ‘Absolute Conflict’
Gomez himself was woke last year according to his wiki page:"
There is nothing in these 4 lines to indicate that the author changed the subject and Gomez was different than the subject of the WSJ article. It appears as if the author is trying to justify Trump's heritage complaint by showcasing Gomez's wiki page, as if Gomez's admission proves an "Absolute Conflict."
That may not have been the intent, but that's the way it came across.
"why did McAuliffe not suffer consequences when he paid people to dress in KKK robes and pretend to be Youngkin campaign staffers?"
Not sure if it's just your ignorance here or your profligate lying. This stunt was condemned by Democrats and pulled off by Republicans:
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - A campaign stop by the Republican candidate for Virginia governor Friday was overshadowed by a group of people holding tiki torches, reminiscent of extremists at a rally at the University of Virginia in 2017 where a person was killed.
WVIR reported the five people, wearing white button-down shirts and khaki pants with unlit torches in hand, stood next to Glenn Youngkin’s campaign bus while he was inside a restaurant. The Lincoln Project, a political action committee of Republicans and ex-GOP members against former President Donald Trump, put out a statement claiming responsibility.
“Today’s demonstration was our way of reminding Virginians what happened in Charlottesville four years ago, the Republican Party’s embrace of those values and Glenn Youngkin’s failure to condemn it,” Lincoln Project said in the statement.
Prior to that announcement, Youngkin told an NBC reporter he believed they were sent by his opponent, Terry McAuliffe.
McAuliffe’s team denied the accusation, saying, “This was not us or anyone affiliated with our campaign.”
“What happened today is disgusting and distasteful and we condemn it in the strongest terms. Those involved should immediately apologize,” McAuliffe campaign manager Chris Bolling said in a statement.
Virginia Democrats Executive Director Andrew Whitley also tweeted a response, saying it did not have any role in this event.
Virginia is set to choose between the candidates for governor in an election Tuesday.
Democratic Del. Sally Hudson, who represents Charlottesville in the General Assembly, condemned Friday’s torch-bearing incident as a “stunt.”
“Charlottesville is not a prop. Our community is still reeling from years of trauma - especially this week. Don’t come back, @ProjectLincoln. Your stunts aren’t welcome here,” she tweeted.
A civil trial opened Monday that will determine whether the neo-Nazis and white supremacists who organized the 2017 demonstrations should be held accountable for the violence.
Tiki torches were used by them when they marched on the college campus Aug. 11, 2017, the day before the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. Jason Kessler, listed as an organizer of the rally in a federal lawsuit, carried a tiki torch while participating in that march.
A counter-protester, Heather Heyer, was killed when someone drove a car into a crowd of people.
"so pathetic that a TTFer would be bringing u a mistake made by a minor
he asked is he could vote and they said no
so what?"
He's not just "a minor" - he is nearly of voting age and Younkin's son. He should know whether or not he is eligible to vote - especially after Repubelicans have made such a big deal about "voter integrity" and have been passing laws making it more difficult for minorities to vote.
When a black woman mistakenly tried to vote, she got sentenced to prison:
On Election Day 2016, Crystal Mason went to vote after her mother insisted that she make her voice heard in the presidential election. When her name didn’t appear on official voting rolls at her polling place in Tarrant County, Texas, she filled out a provisional ballot, not thinking anything of it.
Ms. Mason’s ballot was never officially counted or tallied because she was ineligible to vote: She was on supervised release after serving five years for tax fraud. Nonetheless, that ballot has wrangled her into a lengthy appeals process after a state district court sentenced her to five years in prison for illegal voting, as she was a felon on probation when she cast her ballot.
Ms. Mason maintains that she didn’t know she was ineligible to vote.
“This is very overwhelming, waking up every day knowing that prison is on the line, trying to maintain a smile on your face in front of your kids and you don’t know the outcome,” Ms. Mason said in a phone interview. “Your future is in someone else’s hands because of a simple error.”
Her case is now headed for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the highest state court for criminal cases, whose judges said on Wednesday that they had decided to hear it. Ms. Mason unsuccessfully asked for a new trial and lost her case in an appellate court.
This new appeal is the last chance for Ms. Mason, 46, who is out on appeal bond, to avoid prison. If her case has to advance to the federal court system, Ms. Mason would have to appeal from a cell.
Alison Grinter, one of Ms. Mason’s lawyers, said the federal government made it clear in the Help America Vote Act of 2002 that provisional ballots should not be criminalized because they represent “an offer to vote — they’re not a vote in themselves.”
She said that Ms. Mason didn’t know she was ineligible and was still convicted, and that Texas’ election laws stipulate that a person must knowingly vote illegally to be guilty of a crime.
“Crystal never wanted to be a voting rights advocate,” Ms. Grinter said Thursday. “She didn’t want to be a political football here. She just wanted to be a mom and a grandmother and put her life on track, but she’s really taken it and run with it, and she refuses to be intimidated.”
A Tarrant County grand jury indicted Ms. Mason for a violation of the Texas election laws, a spokeswoman for the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
Alison Grinter, one of Ms. Mason’s lawyers, said the federal government made it clear in the Help America Vote Act of 2002 that provisional ballots should not be criminalized because they represent “an offer to vote — they’re not a vote in themselves.”
She said that Ms. Mason didn’t know she was ineligible and was still convicted, and that Texas’ election laws stipulate that a person must knowingly vote illegally to be guilty of a crime.
“Crystal never wanted to be a voting rights advocate,” Ms. Grinter said Thursday. “She didn’t want to be a political football here. She just wanted to be a mom and a grandmother and put her life on track, but she’s really taken it and run with it, and she refuses to be intimidated.”
A Tarrant County grand jury indicted Ms. Mason for a violation of the Texas election laws, a spokeswoman for the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
“Our office offered Mason the option of probation in this case, which she refused,” the statement said. “Mason waived a trial by jury and chose to proceed to trial before the trial judge.”
In March 2018, Judge Ruben Gonzalez of Texas’ 432nd District Court found Ms. Mason guilty of a second-degree felony for illegally voting.
According to Tommy Buser-Clancy, a lawyer at the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, Ms. Mason should never have never been convicted. If there is ambiguity in someone’s eligibility, the provisional ballot system is there to account for it, he said.
“That’s very scary,” he said of Ms. Mason’s conviction, “and it guts the entire purpose of the provisional ballot system.”
If her eligibility was incorrect, he said, “that should be the end of the story.”
The appeals court’s decision could set an important precedent for the future of how the public interprets voting, especially if they’re confused, according to Joseph R. Fishkin, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin. He said he hoped that the court establishes a principle not to “criminalize people for being confused about the complexities of the interaction between the criminal law and election law.”
The office of the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, said that 531 election fraud offenses have been prosecuted since 2004. The outcomes of those cases were not immediately available. At least 72 percent of Mr. Paxton’s voter fraud cases have targeted people of color, according to The Houston Chronicle.
Ms. Mason’s cause has received support from the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. Clark Neily, a senior vice president for criminal justice at the institute, said the case represented an example of excessive criminalization.
“It’s putting people in a position where they can commit a criminal offense without even knowing that they’re in violation of any law,” he said.
Special Counsel John Durham's latest criminal case is as much an indictment of James Comey's FBI as it is of the primary source of the Steele dossier, whom Durham accuses of repeatedly lying to agents.
The Steele dossier was the central evidence used by the FBI to win four consecutive FISA warrants targeting Trump’s campaign — and in 39 pages of painstaking detail the indictment lays out just how flawed and fake central elements of the dossier were.
Those FISA warrants allowed the bureau to spy on former Trump adviser Carter Page and his many contacts in Trump world for nearly a year.
Igor Danchenko, Steele's primary source for the dossier, contrived an entire source for key allegations in the dossier and relied on a longtime Hillary Clinton-supporting public relations executive for other intelligence without telling the FBI, the indictment charges. That PR executive had extensive ties to Russian government officials, even as he provided Danchenko information that landed in the dossier.
For some reason, Comey's FBI couldn't detect these serious flaws even though a group of civil lawyers was able to locate several Russians suspected of being Danchenko's sub-sources, interviewing each of them and securing declarations that the information attributed to them in the dossier was wrong or contrived
Climate change is going to be worse than the Holocaust. It will give rise to a global epidemic of gang rape. There’ll be murder, war, slaughter. Your friends will die. Your children, too. The carbon-fuelled heating of the planet will bring ‘human life as we know it’ crashing to a violent, fiery end. It will be nothing less than doomsday.
These are just some of the hysterical claims that have been made in the discussion around COP26. As world leaders private-jetted their way to Glasgow for the latest UN gabfest on how to save the planet from mankind’s dirt, hubris and avarice, there was a severe outbreak of Climate Derangement Syndrome. Prime ministers, bishops, princes and noisy greens all tried to outdo each other with their apocalyptic warnings. It has been a grim competition of catastrophes, an orgy of hyperbolic prophecies that wouldn’t look out of place in the Book of Revelation.
It all kicked off months before COP26 opened. When the IPCC published its latest report in August, delirious scribes across the Western world were reaching for their thesauruses in order that they might drive home to dim readers just how nightmarish the future promises to be. It’s ‘code red!’ for humanity, they all insisted, uniformly. If we don’t get a handle on carbon emissions soon, ‘our future climate could well become some kind of hell on Earth’, said Tim Palmer of Oxford University. The planet is on fire and it’s our fault – we’re ‘guilty as hell’, declared the Guardian, coming off like a crackpot millenarian preacher. Every unpleasant weather event was laid at the feet of dastardly mankind. ‘With raging wildfires, floods and pandemics, it seems like End Times – and it’s our own damned fault’, said one writer.
This feverish holding-up of the IPCC report as some kind of God-like indictment of mankind set the stage for the derangement we have seen around COP26. The Archbishop of Canterbury, the supposed moral anchor of the nation, set the tone with his perverse insistence that the consequences of climate change will overshadow even the greatest crime in history – the Holocaust. It will be a genocide ‘on an infinitely greater scale’, he said. He has since apologised for this shameful marshalling of the horrors of the Holocaust to the moany middle-class cause of going green.
Boris Johnson, who just a few years ago was writing newspaper columns slamming eco-hysteria, says climate change is a doomsday clock counting down to a ‘detonation that will end human life as we know it’. If we don’t cut carbon emissions, it will soon be ‘too late for our children’, he said, the clear implication being that climate change will gift the next generation a Mad Max-style wasteland in which life will barely be worth living. ‘It’s one minute to midnight’, said Boris. Actually, chirped the Archbishop of Canterbury, ‘the clock has run out’. Make your minds up – is it apocalypse now or apocalypse very soon?
more: https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/11/05/climate-derangement-syndrome/
"Why do conservatives hate the Constitution so much?"
this is kind of strange, isn't it?
conservatives are fanatically compelled to protect the original intent of the constitution and to promoting judges who will prevent it from being re-interpreted into a hollow shell that changes with the latest woke wind
and this guy thinks he can get away with implying conservatives "hate" the constitution
I guess mental institutions are jammed with people who began to lose their grip on reality by defining it to accommodate their political advocacy whims
"this is kind of strange, isn't it?"
Not strange at all considering how the conservatives here are trying to white-wash the insurrection and pretend like it was just another day of protests down in D.C.
Trump and his obsequious toadies are now in the process of replacing election officials that thwarted his coup attempts. This will help insure that when he tries to do it the next time, he'll have Republican accomplices to his unconstitutional take-down of our election system.
"conservatives are fanatically compelled to protect the original intent of the constitution and to promoting judges who will prevent it from being re-interpreted into a hollow shell that changes with the latest woke wind"
No you're not. Conservatives have been stacking the courts for years with right-wing ideologues so they will "interpret" laws so that they favor Christians at the expense of anyone they don't like, whether it's Roe v. Wade, gay marriage, sex discrimination laws, or who bakeries can avoid serving.
It has been a long-term, strategic plan to undermine the separation of church and state and implement Christian Dominionism as the de-facto law of the land.
So yeah, it is clear you guys hate the Constitution and are ready to use an orange tin-pot dictator to advance your agenda.
Jan. 6 Rioter Wanted By The FBI Flees To Belarus
Evan Neumann reportedly has applied for asylum in the authoritarian country.
A man wanted by the FBI for his involvement in the violent Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol has fled the country and is seeking asylum in Belarus, the country’s state-run media reported over the weekend.
Evan Neumann faces six charges in U.S. District Court for his conduct on Jan. 6, including assaulting a police officer and engaging in physical violence in a restricted area.
In an interview with Belarus 1, the California man disputed the charges.
“I do not believe that I have committed any crime,” Neumann told a state TV host in a segment called “Goodbye, America!”
“One of the charges was very offensive,” he added. “It is alleged that I hit a police officer. There is no reason for this.”
However, there is documentation to support the charges. The criminal complaint includes bodycam footage of Neumann attempting to break through the outer barricades around the Capitol on Jan. 6, at one point reaching over the metal barrier to punch an officer with a balled fist.
Neumann told Belarus 1 that he fled the U.S. for Italy in March at the advice of a lawyer, and went on to rent an apartment in Ukraine for four months. He said he left Ukraine for Belarus after Ukrainian security services started following him, and that he arrived at the Belarusian border on Aug. 15. When he arrived there, he was taken into custody.
The criminal complaint notes Neumann attended the Ukrainian Orange Revolution in 2004 and 2005, which could explain why the country’s secret police may have taken an interest in him. He wore an orange and yellow scarf commemorating the event to the U.S. Capitol in January.
Belarus appears eager to use Neumann’s story to boost its anti-West propaganda.
In an excerpt from the segment translated to English by The Moscow Times, the host portrays Neumann as “the same type of simple American whose shops were burned by Black Lives Matter activists,” adding that he “lost almost everything and is being persecuted by the U.S. government” only because he “sought justice and asked uncomfortable questions.”
Belarus’ authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, claimed victory in a heavily disputed election last August, sparking massive protests and leading to renewed global scrutiny of “Europe’s last dictatorship.” Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, responded by brutally repressing dissidents and arresting thousands.
A year before the 2022 midterm elections, Republicans hold a clear lead on the congressional ballot as President Joe Biden's approval rating sinks to a new low of 38%.
A USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll, taken Wednesday through Friday, found that Biden's support cratered among the independent voters who delivered his margin of victory over President Donald Trump one year ago.
The survey illuminates the size of the hole Democrats need to dig out of as they look toward the elections in one year – on Nov. 8, 2022 – that will determine control of Congress and shape the second two years of Biden's term.
At the moment, views of the president have soured.
Among the findings:
Nearly half of those surveyed, 46%, say Biden has done a worse job as president than they expected
Nearly two-thirds of Americans, 64%, say they don't want Biden to run for a second term in 2024.
Vice President Kamala Harris' approval rating is 28% – even worse than Biden's. The poll shows that 51% disapprove of the job she's doing.
Americans overwhelmingly support the infrastructure bill Biden is about to sign, but not the ridiculously more expensive and further-reaching "Build Back Better" act being debated in Congress. Only 1 in 4 say the bill's provisions would help them and their families.
"Not strange at all considering how the conservatives here are trying to white-wash the insurrection and pretend like it was just another day of protests down in D.C."
no, it wasn't just another day of protests
the DC police weren't doing the job they have so much experience doing:
keeping officials safe
in what kind of "insurrection" are no shots fired
protesters in the sixties took over buildings at times
no one called it "insurrection"
the only one killed was a protesters
by a policeman who appeared to over-react
"No you're not. Conservatives have been stacking the courts for years with right-wing ideologues so they will "interpret" laws so that they favor Christians at the expense of anyone they don't like,"
perspicuity is the opposite of interpretation
"whether it's Roe v. Wade, gay marriage,"
neither is constitutional
even many liberal scholars agree
"sex discrimination laws, or who bakeries can avoid serving."
beyond constitutional
using government to enforce deviance
Another day, another retraction of a scientific paper for violating the code of diversity. On November 1, astronomer John Kormendy withdrew an article from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), after a preprint version that he had just posted on the web drew sharp criticism for threatening the conduct of “inclusive” science. Three days later, the preprint version was scrubbed as well (though a PDF can still be found here.) The paper had passed the journal’s three-person peer-review system and was awaiting publication. Kormendy’s forthcoming book on the same topic had also passed peer review and had been printed for distribution. Now distribution of the book has been put on hold, likely permanently.
Kormendy, an expert on supermassive black holes and professor emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin, acknowledges no errors in his research. “I didn’t do anything [methodologically] wrong,” he told me. “I trust my techniques; I trust the results. I checked for bias in great detail.” Nevertheless, he issued an apology on November 1: “I now see that my work has hurt people. I apologize to you all for the stress and the pain that I have caused. Nothing could be further from my hopes. I fully support all efforts to promote fairness, inclusivity, and a nurturing environment for all.”
What was so hurtful in his article? Kormendy had aimed to reduce the role of individual subjectivity in scientific hiring and tenure decisions. He created a model that predicted a scientist’s long-term research impact from the citation history of his early publications. He tested the results of his model against a panel of 22 prestigious astronomers, many of whom had advised the federal government on scientific research priorities and had served as jurors on high-profile astronomy prizes. That panel rated the research impact of the 512 astronomers whom Kormendy had run through his model; the panel’s conclusions closely matched the model’s results. Kormendy’s paper stressed that hiring decisions should be made “holistically.” Scientific influence was only one factor to consider; achieving gender and racial balance in a department was also a legitimate concern, he wrote.
Formulas for quantifying scientific influence on the basis of a citation record are hardly new. PNAS itself published the proposal for one such well-known measure, known as the “h-index.” But that was in 2005. In 2021, a different standard for evaluating ideas applies: Do they help or hinder females and underrepresented minorities in STEM? Kormendy’s model, tweeted an astrophysicist at the City University of New York, “JUST TOOK ANY TINY STEPS WE ARE MAKING TOWARDS EQUITY AND THREW THEM OUT OF THE WINDOW” (capitalization in the original). An astronomer in Budapest objected that Kormendy had failed to consult with “relevant humanities experts” about cumulative bias against females and minorities. Equally damningly, Kormendy had suggested that the profession should overcome its underrepresentation problem by hiring female and minority scientists, who, in the words of the Budapest astronomer, “match the success rate of the majority (i.e., men).”
After Kormendy withdrew the paper, a University of Texas colleague tweeted of her hopes that the work of doing “science inclusively” could now continue. Others directed pot shots at the panel of 22 raters for being a “bunch of old people” from Western universities who were not representative of the “astronomy community.” But that non-representation was exactly the point—scientific expertise is not democratic. These were scientists at the top of their field, whose accomplishments would in earlier times have been a source of authority.
Naturally, the fact that 19 of the panelists were men was a red flag. But Kormendy had tried to get more female raters; they turned down his offer to join the project in higher proportion than the males he solicited. (The three female panelists rated female astronomers higher than the male panelists did. Kormendy’s attribution of this discrepancy to bias on the part of the males won him no credit.)
None of the paper’s critics spelled out how publication metrics (known as “bibliometrics”) conflict with equity. Many have rebuffed or ignored attempts to seek clarification. Presumably, the critics intuit (correctly) that quantitative measures of scientific influence will show that white males have had the greatest impact on science to date. That finding would not be inequitable on its face, however, unless we define equity as equality of outcome.
The paper’s methodology came under desultory challenge as well. Bryan Gaensler, an astronomy professor at the University of Toronto, told Inside Higher Ed: “I don’t think the premise that motivated this work is correct, and I don’t think the actual work done should have passed peer review.” The work did pass peer review, however, and no one has claimed that the oversight process was manipulated. The solution to disagreements over premises or method is to publish a rebuttal, not to disappear the allegedly incorrect paper, absent a showing of fraud or belatedly discovered errors so great as to undercut the entire enterprise.
Even some of Kormendy’s rating panelists issued apologies after the fact for their participation. Brian Schmidt, chancellor of the Australian National University and a Nobel prize-winner, wrote on Twitter: “As an unintended consequence Of this article, I hope our field can be more Reflective of our hiring practices, and the inequitable gatekeeping that occurs into astronomy to this day. I am sorry for my involvement” [capitalization in the original].
The Kormendy retraction is now the fifth in recent years cancelling a scientific paper deemed to bear negatively on equity in STEM. Previous cancellations include a mathematical model to explain why evolution would select for greater variability in inherited traits among males of a species and an empirical study comparing the benefits of male and female mentorship in STEM (male mentorship proved more advantageous). The authors of the latter retracted article expressed “deep regret” for having “caused pain.”
And now, in addition to the inhibitions on publishing, the cancellation machine is explicitly wiping out judgments of scientific merit if they fail to meet a diversity quota. In October, a few days before the Kormendy retraction, a committee that awards fellowships for the American Geophysical Union cancelled the slate of finalists that peer scientists had forwarded to it because the three finalists were all white men. Better not to award a fellowship at all than to give it to a white male. The leader in the cancellation effort admitted that the finalists, who specialize in the study of snow and ice, were “truly, amazingly deserving.” But the cancellation would result in a “fairer process,” she told E & E News.
The cancelling committee presented no evidence of unfairness in the nomination process, apart from the unacceptable result. Indeed, the entire American Geophysical Union fellowship process was decidedly pro-female: female finalists overall had a nearly 50 percent greater chance of being selected for a fellowship than male finalists. That disparity is not regarded as unfair, just as the higher ratings given to female scientists by female raters in the Kormendy study were not regarded as biased.
From here on, no STEM job or honor awarded to a female or an underrepresented minority will be free from the justified suspicion that the selection was the result of “equity” concerns. The pressure on STEM laboratories and academic faculties to hire by quota rather than by scientific merit grows by the day. And the judgment of scientific research now hinges not on its validity but on whether it allegedly causes “hurt” or impedes the achievement of proportional representation in STEM studies.
The “only thing on anyone’s mind now is redressing inequities,” Kormendy told me, adding that he supports that “honorable” aim. But science is not about social justice. It’s about the advancement of knowledge via the free exchange of ideas and the careful testing of results. Step by step, we are shutting down the very processes of open inquiry and the cultivation of excellence that have freed humanity from so much unnecessary suffering.
The Trump Organization secured a victory on Monday as a Washington, D.C., superior court judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by the D.C. attorney general over actions by former President Donald Trump's 2017 Presidential Inaugural Committee.
The judge dismissed a claim by D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine that Trump's inaugural committee "wasted" $1 million in rented ballrooms at Trump's Washington, D.C., hotel, writing that they have not met the standard of proof that would allow the lawsuit to proceed
"In short, there is no genuine dispute that the value paid for the space at the Trump Hotel reaches the extreme burden that Plaintiff need to carry a waste claim to its fruition," Judge José López wrote.
The consumer price index is expected to have risen nearly 6% in October, the most in three decades. Inflation will likely remain elevated through next year, as rents and other costs continue to increase.
The Labor Department will report the latest CPI reading Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists polled by Dow Jones are expecting a jump of 0.6%, or a year-over-year gain of 5.9%.
“There’s a risk it could be even higher,” Grant Thornton chief economist Diane Swonk said.
If the CPI reaches 5.9%, it would be the biggest year-over-year gain since December 1990. Consumer prices were 5.4% in September year over year.
The spike in consumer prices is hotter and more enduring than many economists, and the Federal Reserve, had initially expected. Inflation has become the top concern of stock market strategists, who say much higher or stickier inflation could lead the Fed to speed up the wind down of its bond-buying program and move on to raise interest rates sooner than anticipated.
Texas resident Scott Henry had never run for any sort of political office and had no political aspirations of any kind.
But last week, he was one of dozens of parents across the country who won school board races by campaigning on providing a voice to parents concerned about critical race theory, school mask mandates, and the lack of transparency from school board members.
A successful businessman and parent who regularly volunteers at his local Baptist church, Henry says he only decided to run for the school board of Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District, based in a suburb of Houston, when he realized that the “gentlemen and ladies” on the board were ignoring parental concerns.
In an interview, Henry cited “the lack of transparency and accountability in our board” as the catalyst for his decision to run.
“A board should be open to the public and responsive to the public’s needs and wants,” he said. “We’re here for the parents first and foremost.”
Henry ran against incumbent Don Ryan and handily defeated him last Tuesday with over 17,000 votes, more than twice Ryan’s totals, according to elections website Ballotpedia .
Ryan had signed a September 2020 resolution declaring that systemic racism existed in the school district and that the district needed to “conduct an equity audit that will lead us to develop an equity policy/policies so we can better strive to close the gaps of opportunity and achievement among ethnic groups, races, genders and those of low socioeconomic status and learning differences.”
“Our message resonated because parents wanted change, they wanted better changes in our policies in Cy-Fair and they wanted to ban CRT,” Henry said, mentioning transparency from the school board as a policy that especially resonated with parent voters.
CRT is an academic theory that says racial minorities in America are continuously oppressed by systemic racism built into American institutions and culture. Its presence in public schools has been the subject of heated debate nationwide, particularly at school board meetings.
Henry’s campaign, which was backed by the Harris County Republican Party, knocked on over 24,000 doors over its course, a number that he said was greater than the get-out-the-vote effort in the area during the 2020 presidential campaign.
“Our message was simple and resonated with the majority of CFISD voters,” Henry said in a victory statement he provided to the Washington Examiner. “They wanted a much-needed change, better support for our teachers, respectful family boundaries, a renewed focus on academics, and transparency in our policies.”
Across the state, in the Dallas suburb of Southlake, Andrew Yeager, a businessman and adjunct professor who grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, emerged victorious in a special election to fill a vacant seat on the Carroll Independent School District’s school board, cementing a 4-3 conservative majority on the board for the first time that he could remember.
Yeager, like Henry, had no political ambitions, but an “overreach” by liberals on the school board to, among other things, police “intended and unintended microaggressions” and the suggestion of a fellow community member prompted him to run.
“I started speaking out against these radical ideas,” Yeager said, “trying to just have common sense solutions, and then someone asked me, 'You know, you’re very even-tempered, you’re trying to bring the temperature down, you’re about common sense solutions — would you consider running?' And that’s kind of how it happened.”
The father of three daughters, two of whom graduated from a local public high school and the third a current high school student, Yeager said that his election is “a chance to serve my community and give back because we felt the school prepared those two daughters for their careers.”
Yeager said he realized that his electoral victory was part of a nationwide trend, which he said is a good indication that “if you’re going to be a candidate for school board, you have to be in touch with parents' concerns.”
The race saw a record voter turnout for a special election, Yeager said. The local ABC affiliate, WFAA, reported voter turnout was a mere 10% below the 2018 governor’s race in the state. Yeager won with over 65% of the vote.
“Is the answer to have radical ideas or common sense ideas?” Yeager asked. “And that’s where I think the community came out and voted, very strongly, to say, 'Let’s have common sense ideas.'"
While Yeager and Henry won races in the Lone Star State, to the north, in Lansing, Kansas, Amy Cawvey won her race for school board on a similar parent-focused platform.
She says she was motivated to run after seeing the school board display little care for parental concerns on COVID-19 restrictions and critical race theory.
“I noticed the schools were not reacting and listening to what the parents wanted,” she told the Washington Examiner, before adding that this was especially the case with COVID-19-related restrictions and noting that the school board just barely, by one vote, elected to have in-person learning during the 2020-21 school year, nearly defying a survey of district parents that showed 80% wanted a return to the classroom for in-person instruction.
Cawvey said she has three children, and while only one is still of school age, she’s noticed a substantial difference in what the older two learned in school versus the youngest.
Chief among the differences has been the incorporation of critical race theory into school materials. Cawvey said the difference was noticed in no small part because COVID-19 school closures allowed parents to see what their children were learning.
“I’ve seen over the years that things from the East and West coasts come to the Midwest later," Cawvey said, citing critical race theory as the latest coastal idea to find its way inland.
“Our governor has not banned CRT in Kansas,” she said, referring to the state's Democratic governor, Laura Kelly. “So the last line of defense is the school board.”
“I really think you need parents ... on the school board,” she went on. “Just having educators doesn’t speak for everyone, especially the taxpaying parents.”
Three board seats were up for election last week in Lansing, with Cawvey finishing third out of six candidates to secure her electoral victory.
Cawvey was one of dozens of candidates endorsed by the 1776 Project, an anti-CRT political action committee founded by Ryan Girdusky, who said Cawvey and others the PAC endorsed were just “average parents concerned about the direction of public education.”
Girdusky said he founded the PAC to fund school board candidates during the throes of the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020 as he noticed that, with online schooling, parents were having their eyes opened to the realities of public school curricula.
“I couldn’t start a school,” Girdusky said. “I don’t have the academic background for that. But I can do school board elections.”
A Donald Trump supporter from New Jersey who assaulted law enforcement during the attack on the U.S. Capitol was sentenced to 41 months in prison on Wednesday, the stiffest sentence handed down so far in connection with the Jan. 6 attack.
Scott Fairlamb ― the son of a New Jersey trooper and the brother of a Secret Service agent who served on first lady Michelle Obama’s detail ― was sentenced by Judge Royce C. Lamberth.
A tearful Fairlamb said he had brought shame upon his family and asked the judge to “show some mercy” when sentencing him for his “completely irresponsible, reckless behavior” on Jan. 6.
“I take full responsibility,” Fairlamb said, adding that prosecutors had been “nothing but professional” from start to finish.
Lamberth said he couldn’t go below the sentencing guidelines given Fairlamb’s behavior, but added that Fairlamb had done the right thing by pleading guilty. No jury, he said, would have acquitted Fairlamb for what he did.
Fairlamb was the first Capitol riot defendant to take a plea deal for assaulting an officer on Jan. 6, and was the first defendant sentenced for a violent crime. He pleaded guilty to two counts: one of obstruction of an official proceeding, and one of assaulting an officer.
A federal prosecutor stressed the important of deterrence in the case, saying that the court must send a clear message that violent attacks in support of a political cause would draw a strong response from the federal government.
Harley Breite, a New Jersey-based attorney who represents Fairlamb and previously worked out with Fairlamb when Breite was preparing for a MMA fight, told the judge that the government was “absolutely fair” to his client and had “done noting but elevate the status of their office” despite claims from pro-Trump figures that Jan. 6 defendants have been treated unfairly.
Breite also said that Fairlamb no longer believed that the election was stolen and has “a different ideology” than when he came to the Capitol on Jan. 6.
“I think that he’s more aware of the divisiveness and the willingness of certain news outlets to serve and cater to an agenda rather than absolute truth,” Breite said, referring to pro-Trump outlets that had fed the former president’s lies about a stolen election.
Fairlamb’s sentence was the harshest sentence handed out yet in a Capitol riot case. More than 650 defendants have been arrested, but there are hundreds more criminals still at large. More than two-thirds of the individuals who were on camera engaging in chargeable conduct on Jan. 6 still haven’t been arrested, including more than 250 people who assaulted police during the U.S. Capitol attack.
"TTF was formed to save the status quo school board "
No it wasn't you moron. Look at the home page here to remind yourself why TTF formed in 2004.
Hint: it was to fight against religious extremists like TTF's very own troll
Reminder:
"Who we are
We are parents and supporters of students in Montgomery County, Maryland, who are committed to promoting tolerance and fact-based education in our public schools.
Why we are here
We are here to support a 21st century sex education curriculum for MCPS students. While continuing to stress the importance of abstinence for teens, we support a new curriculum that will expand upon the old one by providing our students with current knowledge about how to protect themselves, based on the latest science and advice from the medical and scientific communities. Also, based on mainstream science, we support a new curriculum that recognizes that sexual orientation is not a choice, and that homosexuality is not a disease.
You can inform yourself about the most recent drafts of the curricula by clicking HERE.
Stand up for what's right
Across the nation and in our own back yard, religious extremists are attempting to impose their beliefs on all of our children, and to dictate what our children learn about themselves, their bodies, and about the people around them. We need your support in opposing those who are trying to intimidate the school board, and who insist that the curriculum reflect their specific beliefs about the morality of particular behaviors. Click on "Take Action" above to find out more about what you can do to help."
"No it wasn't you moron. Look at the home page here to remind yourself why TTF formed in 2004."
they can write whatever they want on the blog, but it was originally formed to stop an effort to recall the MC school board
at the time, California voters had not long before recalled Gray Davis in California and liberals were panicked, worried that voters across America would recall extremists who had infiltrated local governments with radical views not supported by most Americans
"Hint: it was to fight against religious extremists like TTF's very own troll"
I haven't espoused any religious views at all and my views were mainstream in the not-very-distant past
even Obama pretended they were his views in his first term
"troll" is in the eye of the beholder
I seem a "troll" to you because you hold radical fringe lunatic views and you can't handle the truth, so, to you, common sense is inflammatory
it could just as well be argued you are a "troll"
"they can write whatever they want on the blog, but it was originally formed to stop an effort to recall the MC school board"
that's true
this is a reactionary site whose original goal was to defend the status quo and comfort the establishment
President Joe Biden’s approval ratings are nose-diving, according to a new poll from The Federalist and Susquehanna Polling & Research.
The poll, which surveyed 800 likely voters nationwide from Nov. 1 through Nov. 9 of 2021, shows Biden’s overall approval rating slipping to just 36 percent, with disapproval at 52 percent. One in five registered Democrats saying they did not approve of the job Biden is doing as president. Among voters who are registered as independents, only 29 percent said they approved of Biden’s job as president, while 50 percent said they did not approve of Biden.
YIKES!
The poll from The Federalist and Susquehanna also found widespread dissatisfaction with Biden’s economic and immigration policies thus far. On immigration, only 23 percent of voters surveyed approved of Biden’s efforts to stop illegal immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border, while 51 percent said they disapproved of Biden’s policies on immigration.
Similarly, 34 percent of voters said they approved of how Biden has handled economic policies, while 51 percent said they did not approve of the job he has done on the economy. When asked who they thought was most responsible for skyrocketing gas prices, a plurality of voters — 46 percent — said they blamed Biden and congressional Democrats. Only 7 percent blamed Republicans.
Critical race theory, which teaches that white people are inherently racist, is extremely unpopular nationwide across nearly all major demographics, the poll also found. When asked whether they believed critical race theory should be taught in government K-12 schools, 59 percent of likely voters surveyed said it should not be taught, with just 26 percent of voters saying the controversial curriculum should be taught in government schools. Even a majority of registered Democrats — 51 percent — said critical race theory should not be taught in schools.
Opposition to critical race theory also transcends race, according to the poll. A plurality of black voters polled — 49 percent — said critical race theory should not be taught, with 42 percent saying it should be taught in school. Sixty-one percent of white voters and 56 percent of Hispanic voters said that critical race theory should not be taught in government K-12 schools.
The American public also has very little regard for the trustworthiness of corporate media outlets, the poll found. When asked whether they “trust the corporate news media to tell the truth,” only 14 percent of respondents agreed. Seventy-eight percent of those polled said they believed “the corporate news media misrepresents facts to push a political agenda.” Among registered independent voters, a whopping 85 percent said they thought the news media mispresented facts to push political agendas.
The poll also found widespread pessimism about the future of the American public. Instead of asking whether the nation was on the right or wrong track, the poll asked respondents if they believed America is a nation in permanent decline, or if they believed the country’s best days were still ahead of it. Forty-six percent said they believed America’s best days were ahead of it, while 45 percent said they believed America is now a nation in permanent decline.
Virginia school board members call for books to be burned amid GOP's campaign against schools teaching about race and sexuality
Amid the GOP's nationwide push against teaching about race and sexuality in schools, two members of the Spotsylvania County School Board in Virginia advocated for burning certain books, according to the Fredericksburg-based Free Lance-Star newspaper.
This came as the school board directed staff to begin removing "sexually explicit" books from library shelves, after voting 6-0 in favor of the removal, the Lance-Star reported. The board has plans to review how certain books or materials are defined as "objectionable," the paper said, which opens the door for other content to be removed.
Courtland representative Rabih Abuismail and Livingston representative Kirk Twigg both championed burning the books that have been removed.
"I think we should throw those books in a fire," Abuismail said. Meanwhile, Twigg said he wanted to "see the books before we burn them so we can identify within our community that we are eradicating this bad stuff."
Book burnings have a dark history linked to censorship and repressive regimes, and are often associated with Nazi Germany. Infamous Nazi book burnings in 1933 targeted thousands of books deemed "un-German," including the works of Jewish authors like like Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud, as well as banned American writers like Ernest Hemingway.
The directive to remove "sexually explicit" books was seemingly prompted by a school board meeting on Monday during which parents expressed concerns about literature students can access via the Riverbend High School's digital library app.
One parent was apparently alarmed by the availability of "LGBTQIA" fiction, the Lance-Star said, and found a book called "33 Snowfish" by Adam Rapp especially troubling. The American Library Association named the book a Best Book for Young Adults in 2004. According to a Publishers Weekly review, the book is "dark tale about three runaways who understand hatred and violence better than love."
As the GOP vies to win back support from suburban voters post-Trump, Republican leaders and politicians across the country have increasingly looked to schools as a prime battleground for the many culture wars they're waging. The GOP has zeroed in on the issue of critical race theory, in particular, in this regard.
Critical race theory examines how the history of racism in the US continues to impact the country in the present day. It's a university-level theory that is generally not explicitly taught in public schools, but Republicans have misleadingly suggested that children are being indoctrinated with it.
Recent polls show that Republicans overwhelmingly oppose teaching students critical race theory, and as many as four-in-10 GOP voters oppose educating public school students on the history of racism in the US in general.
Virginia Governor-Elect Glenn Youngkin during his recent gubenatorial campaign vowed to ban critical race theory from the state's schools on his first day in office. A number of states already have similar laws in place.
Last month, Youngkin ran a campaign ad featuring a local mother, Laura Murphy, who fought to get Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison's "Beloved" removed from her son's AP English curriculum back in 2013 (her son was a senior at the time). Murphy referred to the book, which was about slavery in the US and won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, as "some of the most explicit material you can imagine."
"Book burnings have a dark history linked to censorship and repressive regimes,"
except that the comments you cited were pertaining to what children are exposed to, not censoring what adults can read
do you oppose child pornography laws? how about burning, and otherwise destroying, child pornography? do you think that is comparable to Nazism?
"As the GOP vies to win back support from suburban voters post-Trump, Republican leaders and politicians across the country have increasingly looked to schools as a prime battleground for the many culture wars they're waging."
the "culture war" was begun by radicals in public schools seeking to indoctrinate school children into a "woke" agenda
it's actually been going on for sometime but with kids learning online last year, parents were able to view what had previously been reserved for the classroom
"The GOP has zeroed in on the issue of critical race theory, in particular, in this regard.
Critical race theory examines how the history of racism in the US continues to impact the country in the present day."
it does more than "examine", it takes positions that are demonstrably false
examples: that police departments were designed to protect wealthy whites from poor blacks or that the Civil War was an uprising among slaves
"It's a university-level theory that is generally not explicitly taught in public schools, but Republicans have misleadingly suggested that children are being indoctrinated with it."
that's a lie
"Recent polls show that Republicans overwhelmingly oppose teaching students critical race theory,"
So does everyone other than the lunatic radical fringe. Opposition to critical race theory also transcends race, according to the most recent polls. A plurality of black voters — 49 percent — said critical race theory should not be taught, with 42 percent saying it should be taught in school. Sixty-one percent of white voters and 56 percent of Hispanic voters said that critical race theory should not be taught in government K-12 schools.
"and as many as four-in-10 GOP voters oppose educating public school students on the history of racism in the US in general."
sounds like a loaded question, let's see the precise phrasing
"Virginia Governor-Elect Glenn Youngkin during his recent gubenatorial campaign vowed to ban critical race theory from the state's schools on his first day in office."
which wouldn't present a problem to you since you say it already isn't being taught
say, you aren't lying, are you?
"a local mother, Laura Murphy referred to Toni Morrison's "Beloved", which was about slavery in the US and won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, as "some of the most explicit material you can imagine.""
can you tell us which passages she felt were in appropriate? maybe they were
this is a reactionary site whose original goal was to defend the status quo and comfort the establishment
From the TTF home page:
"We are here to support a 21st century sex education curriculum for MCPS students. While continuing to stress the importance of abstinence for teens, we support a new curriculum that will expand upon the old one by providing our students with current knowledge about how to protect themselves, based on the latest science and advice from the medical and scientific communities. Also, based on mainstream science, we support a new curriculum that recognizes that sexual orientation is not a choice, and that homosexuality is not a disease."
Does that sound like the 2004 status quo to anyone?
the curriculum was already approved at the time
TTF was formed to support the establishment school board that a small group was advocating the recall of
"based on the latest science and advice from the medical and scientific communities" is a joke
TTF has demonstrated often that science is there to advance their agenda and should be ignored if it doesn't
Here's a little 2005 reporting to remind everyone, including the lying banana republican, of the facts about who wanted to protect the status quo when MCPS wanted to update its curriculum in 2004.
"This web site and the related Yahoo group TeachTheFacts are part of a grassroots movement to support the new changes to the MCPS Family Life and Human Development curriculum. The changes were proposed by a citizens committee that included representatives of conservative groups, and after several years of discussion and revision the changes were adopted unaminously by the board of education in Novermber, 2004. The board's report, including descriptions of all the changes, can be found HERE...
We need to support the changes because some people in our county are trying to have them thrown out. These people claim that the changes undermine their religious values, offend them morally, and they also claim that people like them will be "discriminated against" if their children are taught the new things that are in the curriculum...
...The new curriculum introduces the topic of sexual orientation. That is, it talks about homosexuality. It talks about it without criticizing it, without calling is sinful, without judging gay people. The curriculum avoids political disputes about "ex-gays" and about controversial therapies designed to make gay people straight. It mentions that some families have gay parents. It mentions that if a kid had engaged in sex play with someone of their own gender when they were younger it doesn't mean they're gay. It does this without encouraging sexual experimentation, without "promoting" anything, it just simply tells students that such things exist....
...Last year a site appeared on the Internet, dedicated to kicking out the entire MCPS school board over this. The site, www.recallmontgomeryschoolboard.com, was widely regarded as a laughingstock, as the comments that were posted there went overboard to the point of hilarity. In fact, some blogs began republishing the outlandish things that were being said, for their humorous content. The Recall group finally put a password on the message board to keep the nonbelievers out, and eventually the site seemed to lose steam.
That web site was the location for messages and planning suggestions for a meeting held on December 4th, 2004, to organize against the school board and the new curriculum. Several of us attended that meeting who were not in agreement with those goals, but simply wanted to see what the hubbub was about.
For a guy like me, it was unbelievable.
The people there, one after another, talked about the "sodomites," and the "gay agenda" that was trying to corrupt our youth, and the necessity of imposing Christian morals on the public school system. Those people were adamant that their Crusade was very important, they were highly motivated, and they were organizing like crazy.
None of the core group of Teach the Facts knew each other before that meeting, but we got in touch through email and soon met, just a few of us, to figure out what to do. We started a blog, called "Vigilance," but soon realized we should set up a real web site, with the blog as one part of it. So we pooled our cash, bought a domain name and space on a web server, and went to town.
In the meantime, the Recall group was busy. They were trying -- mostly unsuccessfully -- to meet with local politicians, they were talking in the churches, passing around petitions, they were undermining the curriculum at every point they could think of. But some of the more savvy members realized it wasn't wise to state their goal as recalling the entire school board. So they started calling themselves something more benign-sounding, "Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum," and set up a web site with a blog of their own, and announcements etc..."
there you have it
a group was trying to recall the school board and TTF came to the rescue of the establishment
btw, the homosexual curriculum was advocated by teachers, whose union controls the school board in MC, regardless of some straw committee of parents the school board set up
there wasn't a groundswell of parents clamoring for a whitewashed discussion of homosexuality in classrooms
while the curriculum contains much information from medical groups, it was never based on any scientific study or empirical data, just social pressure
Often in politics, letting your opponents sink themselves is the best strategy - something Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has learned; President Biden can't stop, and Donald Trump finds impossible.
Missing from the celebrations and the recriminations from election night 2021 is that the Republican triumphs were set in motion by the D.C.-insider everyone loves to hate (especially Trump): Senate Minority Leader McConnell. As much as anything, the Democrats' inability to pass a popular infrastructure bill prior to election day and the open civil war within the party, doomed Virginia Democrats and nearly sank New Jersey Democrats, as well.
Back in the Spring, McConnell read the tea leaves and let the infrastructure bill pass the Senate. Infrastructure remains a popular government program - and I mean bricks and mortar construction, not the various Orwellian extensions Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) uses. In its August poll, YouGov found overall support for infrastructure at 51 percent to 19 percent, with more favoring than opposed in all partisan and ideological groups. Even conservative Republicans favored the bricks and mortar bill 40 percent to 31 percent. While that support may have eroded among the GOP of late, it seems rather likely this type of investment still maintains some Republican support and is likely still polling well with independents, who favored the bill by 30 points.
What McConnell set in motion was an epic fight within the Democratic Party, as progressives decided - in their infantile wisdom - to hold the popular bill hostage to their multi-trillion-dollar wish list. McConnell and the Republicans escaped the obstructionist epithet and let the internal fractures of the Democrats take center stage.
Passage of the bill after losing in Virginia was not much of a win for Biden, more like political crumbs.
Biden can celebrate his "win" all he wants, but the political carnage is likely to continue. Passage of the $1.75 trillion (or more) somewhat trimmed-down "Build Back Better" is hardly assured. The bill is only modestly less of a grab-bag of policy and spending sops for the seething mass of interests called the Democratic Party.
The new bill has some popular components, but, as with its now-dead predecessor, it also contains plenty of poison pills. Foremost among the problems is the demand to repeal the SALT tax deduction limit passed during the Trump administration. After caving in on one issue after another, Bernie Sanders is not exactly in a mood to hand a big tax cut to wealthy New Yorkers.
The Democratic civil war is the gift that keeps giving to McConnell.
Biden looks impotent - sidelined and waiting for Democratic congressional leaders to try to forge a compromise. Such a compromise might not even happen, leaving bitterness to fester on all sides.
And, even if some kind of deal is cut, the progressives have been completely humiliated. Their gambit to hold hostage the infrastructure bill failed spectacularly; their candidates and issues were routed at the ballot box, and the Democratic establishment is blaming them for the whole mess - and setting them up to be blamed for the inevitable loss of the House majority.
While the Democrats flail, Trump fumes to no benefit
One would think that Trump would be a prime beneficiary of the Democrats' daily debacle. One would be wrong.
The collapse in Biden's approval and fumbling by the Democrats has not been accompanied by a rise in the polls for Trump. While Biden has sunk to an average approval disadvantage of 43 percent approve to 52 percent disapprove, and a more recent deficit in the Rassmussen and USA Today polls of 20 points, Trump has barely budged.
YouGov has Trump at an anemic 39 percent approval (to 55 percent disapproval). Biden is at 42 percent approval. Trump continues to poll badly with independents, down by 9 points. Trump's overall numbers are unchanged from mid-October and September. Morning Consult has Trump down 44 percent to 53 percent (Biden slightly higher at 45 percent to 51 percent).
The news is a bit better in the ballot test with Biden. Trump leads Biden 44 percent to 40 percent in a recent Suffolk poll, 45 percent to 43 percent in Emerson and 38 percent to 36 percent in Redfield & Wilton (but tied at 42 among likely voters). But Trump scored 47 percent at the actual polls last year, meaning he has not even held on to his existing vote, not to mention gaining anyone.
Not surprisingly, even Republicans would prefer someone else as their nominee, with only 44 percent wanting Trump to make another run. That represents an over 40-point fall from his former approval numbers among Republicans.
Worse for Trump over the long term is that he has little to say outside of raging against his enemies, attacking Biden and grabbing credit for anything and everything he can.
Trump's claim that he put Glenn Youngkin over the finish line is so comic, even the most dedicated MAGA has a hard time swallowing it. Not only did Youngkin treat Trump like a 21st Century Typhoid Mary, but the Virginia exit polls showed Trump underwater on approval by 15 points, far worse than Biden. If anything, Trump was a drag on Youngkin's performance.
But Trump will still be able to make McConnell's life unpleasant.
There is zero chance Trump will stay out of the 2022 mid-terms. Trump will undoubtedly try to push his favorites through Republican primaries and will barge into races throughout the country. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and House Republicans are probably safe from Trump as individual House races are relatively small potatoes (and a GOP majority is practically a foregone conclusion).
But Senate contests and the control of the chamber will be a very big and high-profile deal. No amount of pleading and cajoling will stop Trump from stealing as much limelight as he can. He will be determined to "help" wherever he wants, regardless of whether that help is wanted.
The recent decision by Governor Chris Sununu to decline to run for a U.S. Senate could foreshadow trouble for McConnell. Who can blame Sununu for declining? The race would not only be hard-fought, but Sununu would have to contend with the threat of Trump parachuting in at any time.
Both parties enter 2022 with more political problems than solutions.
Republican prospects look much better, as they are carrying winning momentum and are not in the midst of a civil war. But they still have to contend with Trump dragging down their ticket.
Newly released internal emails reveal that the National School Boards Association coordinated with the White House and the Department of Justice before sending President Biden the notorious letter that compared concerned parents to domestic terrorists. Emails show that NSBA had coordinated with the White House for weeks beforehand.
Viola Garcia, the NSBA president whom the Department of Education later named to a federal board, sent a memo to NSBA members on Oct. 11 (but dated Oct. 12), providing a timeline of the NSBA's interaction with the White House ahead of the letter to Biden, which the NSBA sent on Sept. 29.
Five days later, on Oct. 4, the DOJ issued a memo directing law enforcement to investigate threats to school boards. On Oct. 22, the NSBA issued an apology for the letter.
"Concern over the current climate for school board members is also a top priority as disruptions at school board meetings grow and members face growing threats," Garcia wrote at the time, according to the memo obtained by Parents Defending Education through a Freedom of Information Act request. "NSBA has been actively engaged with the White House, Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Education, Surgeon General, and other federal agencies on pandemic related issues."
"In the September 14, 2021 meeting of the NSBA Organization of State Association Executive Directors liaison group, they were informed there had been a meeting with White House staff that morning and that NSBA was preparing to send a letter to the President. Subsequently, on September 17, 2021, the interim Executive Director emailed notice to the state association executive directors that indicated a letter requesting federal assistance would be sent."
"In response to the letter sent by NSBA, on October 4, 2021 the Attorney General announced in a memorandum widely shared throughout the U.S. Department of Justice that he was ordering all U.S. Attorney Offices and local FBI offices to reach out to local and state law enforcement officials to coordinate efforts on this problem within 30 days of the memorandum," Garcia also noted.
This statement contradicts Attorney General Merrick Garland's testimony to Congress on Oct. 27. When Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., asked Garland if he had "second thoughts" following NSBA's apology for the letter, he said that the DOJ memorandum did not rely upon the letter.
"The letter that was subsequently sent does not change the association’s concern of violence or threats of violence. It alters some of the language in the letter … that we did not rely on and is not contained in my own memorandum," Garland said.
"while the curriculum contains much information from medical groups, it was never based on any scientific study or empirical data, just social pressure"
There goes our banana republican, lying again.
The MCPS curriculum has overcome every legal challenge religious nuts tossed at it.
Your deep hatred for and compulsive attraction to L G B T and Q folk have won you nothing here in Montgomery County Maryland but we TTF readers see your obsession clearly.
Religious nuts wanted the MCPS school board recalled for daring to update the sex ed curriculum to include the facts that not every human being is heterosexual and that is normal. CRWhatever sued to keep the pre-2004 sex ed curriculum, AKA the status quo of not mentioning L G B T and Q even people exist, in place in sex education classes at MCPS.
Lie all you want.
Your lies will never change the facts.
Pray Away | Official Trailer | Netflix
I said:
"while the curriculum contains much information from medical groups, it was never based on any scientific study or empirical data, just social pressure"
one of the many the TTf nuts said:
"The MCPS curriculum has overcome every legal challenge religious nuts tossed at it."
this is called a non sequitur
"Your deep hatred for and compulsive attraction to L G B T and Q folk have won you nothing here in Montgomery County Maryland but we TTF readers see your obsession clearly."
didn't try to win a thing
"Religious nuts wanted the MCPS school board recalled for daring to update the sex ed curriculum to include the facts that not every human being is heterosexual and that is normal."
normality is subjective
by definition, it can't be a fact
hasn't anyone ever explained that to you?
"CRWhatever sued to keep the pre-2004 sex ed curriculum, AKA the status quo of not mentioning L G B T and Q even people exist, in place in sex education classes at MCPS."
the school board is the status quo
In a hypothetical 2024 rematch, former President Donald Trump leads President Joe Biden by 11 percentage points, a new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows.
In the new survey, 51% of likely voters in the 2024 election would vote for Trump, a Republican, while 40% say they would vote for Biden, a Democrat. Another 4% say they would not vote for either candidate, and 5% are not sure.
The poll comes as Biden’s approval rating sits near its lowest ebb since he took office in January. Meanwhile, voters view Trump more favorably than they did while he was in office, according to a September Iowa Poll.
ere's a dirty secret: Great nations rest on a great common culture. I say it's a secret because it's become almost taboo to discuss this historic fact; progressives across the globe have turned decisively against national legacies, and it's progressives who by and large dictate mainstream culture. But if the Democratic Party wants to avoid further electoral disasters like those in Virginia, Long Island and elsewhere, it would do well to relearn the obvious truth that a common culture that binds us is not only good and necessary, but popular.
Though it's chic these days in progressive circles to oppose the notion of a common culture, there's nothing inherently at odds between this idea and the progressive agenda writ large. Great progressives like Eugene Debs, George McGovern or Martin Luther King were critics of America but also patriots. Phrases like "death to America"—recently tweeted by the student body President of Kansas University—or the Seattle DA's tweet that "I for sure hate this country" would have been as foreign to Dr. King as support for political violence. Yet things have gotten so out a wack that the National Archive felt the need to warn us that our founding documents like the Constitution and Declaration of Independence contain what they call "harmful language."
But this version of liberalism is not just alien to progressives of old. Only a very small fraction of Americans, well under 10 percent, consider themselves progressive, and most reject the view of America as uniquely fallen. And the prevalence of the "woke" view in the media and popular culture, despite how marginal it is in American society, goes a long way toward explaining the Democrats' astounding losses at the polls last week.
This is really an argument about history, at the end of the day. Can we have a shared national culture is another way of asking if we can have a shared interpretation of our past. And the answer right now seems to be no. Consonant with its view of America as fallen, the (tiny) progressive Left believes that American history is uniquely shameful and racist, a view that provides the rationale for separating third graders by race and asking them to rank their "privilege." And despite their small numbers, the progressives have the educational and corporate establishment behind them.
What they don't have is the support of parents, who are clearly in rebellion. Increasing numbers are home schooling, or shifting to charters and private schools. And contrary to the progressive myth around this, it's not because they don't want to teach the tragedies within American history, or the changing nature of America. It's not that these parents don't believe instruction these days requires a greater emphasis on the role of ethnic minorities; it's that they believe this instruction should not reduce minorities to victims but should cast them as what they are—contributors to our national culture and economy within an admittedly imperfect system.
Ultimately, contrary to the the view of much of our academia and media, America is not a country based on racial commonality but a set of political notions. You know this is true because of the pull our nation has for immigrants; New Latin, African or Asian immigrants come to America for something different than what they had at home. They are seeking out our national ethos, best described by Frederick Jackson Turner 130 years ago: "a restless nervous energy" applied by a "dominant individualism."
Sadly, it is now the fashion to denounce things like hard work, punctuality, individualism and family as "white." But minorities, particularly immigrants, often show a greater proclivity to start businesses than many Americans and are generally more culturally conservative, both in the U.S. and the U.K., than the native born. Asian parents in particular have reacted negatively to motions to remove standards for academic high schools, which blame successful Asians for adopting "white supremacist thinking" as a San Francisco school board member put it.
Particularly concerning is the assault on math and science, where immigrants and their children now predominate. Science itself, as former Obama advisor physicist Steve Koonin notes, is becoming increasingly politicized. On campuses, militant groups like "Shut down STEM" seek to recalibrate science and math and even such seemingly innocent fields as astronomy to fill the progressive critique of western advances.
Meanwhile, the ideas critical to the operation of a diverse society—the rule of law, debate, objectivity—are now increasingly replaced by post-modernist ideas about race and gender, something the Biden Administration sadly seems to have embraced. And the media, rather than oppose illiberalism, now celebrates it. In too many cases, notes long-time liberal writer Andrew Sullivan, "the narrative replaces the news," often using convoluted, opaque and awkward language that would have offended a good socialist like George Orwell.
The good news is that Americans are pushing back, including people on the Left. The public now disdains the media at historic levels. The ratings for all the networks—particularly the ultra-politicized CNN—have cratered, while Hollywood's politically correct movies have done poorly. Hollywood's party line progressive orthodoxy clearly repels many Americans.
Corporate America might like to claim that embracing "social justice" as defined by the activist Left is good for business, but there's little proof that's true; Fox News's late night host Greg Gutfeld now enjoys higher ratings than his far more well-established network counterparts, while the anti-woke comedian Dave Chappelle has gotten rave notices from audiences, if not the party line-conforming critics. And the Daily Wire, a conservative website, commands more Facebook engagement than the New York Times, Washington Post, NBC, and CNN combined. By contrast, the well-funded progressive sites, Buzzfeed and VICE have been suffering with major layoffs and reduced valuations.
All of this points toward a hunger among Americans for a return to a shared culture and shared history—the one abandoned by the would-be cultural arbiters.
A shift in culture can't come fast enough; we're already seeing a large drop in patriotism among the young. Already more than one in three young people are lukewarm about their country and more than two in five favor such things as censorship of unpopular views, according to the Pew Research Center.
We need to recognize the genius inherent in our republic once again. Re-segregation as an ideal may be popular on the far Left but interracial dating and marriage are growing rapidly, and most minorities, like their white counterparts, now live in suburbia. The fastest growing race in America is mixed; one in ten babies born in the U.S. have one white and one non-white parent and 12 percent of all African-Americans are now immigrants from Africa, the Caribbean and elsewhere.
We are becoming, as Walt Whitman put it, "a race of races." This remains our country's promise, if we restore our lost sense of common purpose, and our belief in the American experiment.
Slidin' Joe Biden’s approval rating has ticked down to a new low, driven largely by more negative views among Democrats and independents, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Overall, the survey offers a set of harsh judgments about the president’s performance and the state of the economy. Together, they send a stark warning to Democrats about their prospects in the 2022 midterm contests.
Recent losses in the Virginia elections and a close call in the New Jersey gubernatorial race have put Democrats on edge, with reason. The Post-ABC poll finds that, if elections were held today, 46 percent of adults overall would back the Republican candidate for Congress and 43 percent would support the Democratic candidate. Among registered voters, the GOP advantage goes to 51 percent vs. 41 percent for Democrats, a historically strong result for Republicans on this measure.
The Post-ABC poll also showcases Americans’ current pessimism: Despite a mix of economic signals — falling unemployment and rising prices — 70 percent rate the economy negatively, including 38 percent who say it is in “poor” condition. About half of Americans overall and political independents blame Biden for fast-rising inflation, and more than 6 in 10 Americans say he has not accomplished much after 10 months in office, including 71 percent of independents.
White House officials have said that they are very optimistic that conditions in the country will gradually improve next year and that the president’s standing will rise.
At this point, however, Democrats acknowledge that they are at significant risk of losing their narrow majorities in the House and Senate in next November’s elections and that, under current conditions, the losses could be substantial.
Education issues, including the role of parents in schools and the way the United States’ racial history is taught, were credited with helping Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin (R) defeat Terry McAuliffe (D) in Virginia. Republicans have indicated that they will try to make education and parents’ rights a prominent part of their message and strategy next year.
The poll finds overwhelming support for parents having a say in what their children’s schools teach, including nearly half of adults saying parents should have “a lot” of say on matters of curriculum.
Overall, Americans are divided over which party they trust to handle education. That represents a significant weakening in what has historically been an advantage for Democrats on this question.
In a sharply divided country, Biden began his presidency with a slight majority approving of his performance, but his standing has steadily dropped since midsummer. His overall approval rating now stands at 41 percent, with 53 percent saying they disapprove. Those who say they strongly disapprove of the way he has handled his job represent 44 percent of adults. Biden’s overall approval rating is down from 50 percent in June.
Biden’s popularity also has slumped among his own base. Barely 4 in 10 Democrats strongly approve of Biden today, down from about 7 in 10 who did so in June.
Biden’s approval rating on the economy has also tumbled and now stands at 39 percent positive and 55 percent negative. That 16-point net negative rating compares with a September poll in which 45 percent said they approved of his handling of the economy and an April poll in which 52 percent approved.
The economic rating of Biden’s performance correlates with a gloomy assessment of the economy itself. Last month produced 531,000 more jobs and brought reports of higher wages. At the same time, inflation hit a 30-year high, and rising prices for food, gasoline and other products appear to be shaping Americans’ perceptions.
The Post-ABC poll also finds that perceptions of Biden’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which, early in his administration, was one of his most positive assets, has continued on a downward trend, tracking the effect of the highly contagious delta variant that set back a return to more normal life.
Today, Americans are roughly divided on Biden’s handling of the pandemic (47 percent approve, while 49 percent disapprove). In April, he was in positive territory by a 2-to-1 margin.
Recent months have been marked by Democratic infighting on Capitol Hill, criticism by Republicans of the president’s vaccinate-or-test requirement for bigger companies and other controversies. Today, just over one-third of Americans say Biden has accomplished a great deal or a good amount during his time in office, with more than 6 in 10 saying he has accomplished “not much” or “little or nothing.”
That verdict is not wholly partisan: Almost 9 in 10 Republicans say he has accomplished little or nothing, along with about 7 in 10 independents. Even one-third of Democrats say Biden has not accomplished much or anything during his first 10 months.
Similarly, 31 percent of Americans say Biden is keeping most of his major campaign promises, while 51 percent say he is not.
Nearly 6 in 10 Americans also say they are either very or at least somewhat concerned that Biden will do too much to increase the size and role of government in U.S. society.
A third of adults say that Democrats are in touch with people’s concerns, while 62 percent say they are not.
The education issue’s move to the forefront of the political debate has been propelled by colliding concerns about school shutdowns during the pandemic, vaccine requirements and mask mandates as schools reopened, and curriculum issues, principally over race and racial injustice. School board meetings have become battlegrounds in some places, with angry protests gaining further traction on cable news.
Groups that support the status quo school boards are viewed negatively.
Nearly half of Americans (48 percent) say parents should have “a lot” of influence in what their child’s school teaches, and 74 percent of registered voters in this group say they would vote for the Republican in their congressional district if the election were held today.
The Post-ABC poll was conducted Nov. 7-10 among a national sample of 1,001 U.S. adults, with 75 percent reached on cellphones and 25 percent on landlines. Overall results have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points; the error margin is four points among registered voters and is larger among other subgroups.
Lie: "Religious nuts....didn't try to win a thing"
Fact: The religious nuts tried to "enjoin Defendants (MCPS) from distributing and teaching materials allegedly endorsing a homosexual lifestyle."
That quote is from the beginning of Judge Williams' decision, the only victory for the religious nut status-quo seekers in the entire history of the MCPS sex education battle.
See https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/maryland/mddce/8:2005cv01194/130093/14/
"Your deep hatred for and compulsive attraction to L G B T and Q folk have won you nothing here in Montgomery County Maryland but we TTF readers see your obsession clearly."
this is what you said
it didn't say "Religious nuts" didn't win a thing
you said I didn't by my "deep hatred for and compulsive attraction to L G B T and Q folk"
I don't hate L G B T and Q "folk"
and I'm not compulsive attracted to them
and I haven't taken any action to try and win anything
all I've done is speak truth here
I have no relationship with the group that tried to recall the school board, although I occasionally defended them from unfair attacks here
btw, this site was formed to defend the status quo at the school board
but it's main pursuit has been to elevate the scientific establishment status quo from adviser to authority
historically, that's always been a mistake
Joy Reid is a racist sociopath. How else to explain her reaction to Kyle Rittenhouse breaking down in the witness box during his murder trial last week?
“White crocodile tears,” said the hate-mongering MSNBC prime-time anchor.
This is a woman on a seven-figure salary who went to Harvard and has more elite privilege in her little finger than the 17-year-old son of a single mother who was in Kenosha working as a lifeguard when all hell broke loose in the form of BLM-Antifa riots in August 2020.
Yet Reid continually plays the victim and makes her living punching down at white people less fortunate than she is.
Rittenhouse, now 18, lost his composure last week when he had to recount the moment he was cornered by two men, Joshua Ziminski, who was advancing on him with a pistol in his hand, and Joseph Rosenbaum, a deranged pedophile just out of a psych ward, who had already twice threatened to kill him.
His face crumpled as he tried to squeeze his eyes together to stop the tears, and his body shook with great shuddering sobs. This is exactly how a brave, manly young man behaves when he doesn’t want to cry or show weakness.
Up until that moment, he had answered questions with admirable composure. But the memory of taking two lives, albeit in self-defense, clearly rests heavily on him, as it would on anyone with a conscience. His lawyer told the court on Friday that Rittenhouse is in therapy and has post-traumatic stress disorder due to the shootings.
The authenticity of his emotion was evident to anyone but a sociopath.
“Kyle Rittenhouse put on quite a show for the nearly all-white jury in his murder trial,” Reid sneered in response to his tears.
She described him as “a novice actor attempting to convey sorrow … It was a Razzie-worthy performance, in my view, but I’m not the target audience for this sick show.”
What a cold, heartless woman.
She is no better than the sadists on Twitter who post photos of Rittenhouse crying and fantasize about him spending the rest of his life in jail being anally raped.
Reid was outraged that Rittenhouse is “being prosecuted in front of a nearly all-white jury, before a white judge … in a country where white vigilantism is often excused, if not worshipped.”
Considering almost 90 percent of Kenosha County’s population is white, it’s hardly a surprise that a jury would be majority white.
She trotted out all the lies about the Rittenhouse trial, which one of her guests described as “white privilege on steroids.”
In that sense, she was echoing Joe Biden, who prejudged Rittenhouse as a “white supremacist,” and the Vermont ice cream merchants Ben & Jerry’s, which tweeted, “The Rittenhouse trial proves again that our justice system is racist. How would this trial be going if he was a Black 17 yr old that crossed state lines illegally carrying an AR-15 and shot 3 white protesters.”
Isn’t there any duty of care with these hate-mongers to get basic facts right?
Rittenhouse belonged in Kenosha, unlike the violent Antifa terrorists who were bused in from liberal wastelands far afield like Portland and Seattle to assault police and burn the town down. His father, grandmother, aunt, uncle, cousins and best friend live there. He worked as a lifeguard in Kenosha and had just finished a shift on the day in question, before he volunteered to help clean rioters’ graffiti off a local school.
He regards Kenosha as “my community.” He did not carry a gun “across state lines,” as media luminaries falsely claim. The AR-15 is kept in Kenosha in a safe. Nor was it illegal for a 17-year-old to possess a gun in Wisconsin, the court has heard.
But for Reid, he is guilty of murder because he was born white. Every night she spews hatred against white people.
Who knows what pathology drives her, but it’s not healthy, for her or any of her dwindling audience. Shame on MSNBC for elevating such a hate-filled racist to prime time.
She has zero charisma and her ratings are lackluster. But for some unfathomable reason, she has Teflon protection at the network, even after being caught with homophobic and anti-Semitic comments on her blog. She implausibly pretended her blog had been “hacked” and got a free pass.
But hateful bigotry still informs her every word. When talking about the Virginia gubernatorial election, for instance, she said Glenn Youngkin won because education is “code for white parents who don’t like the idea of teaching about race.”
When Winsome Sears became the first black woman to win the office of lieutenant governor of Virginia, rather than acknowledge the achievement, Reid griped that Republicans “demand credit” for voting for black candidates. Then she nodded along vigorously as her guest smeared Sears as a “black mouth … who justifies and legitimates the white supremacist practices.”
Reid has called black Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas “Uncle Clarence,” as in “Uncle Tom.”
You would think the daughter of immigrants would be more grateful to the country that gave her everything, but no. Any chance she gets, she attacks America as irredeemably racist.
Joy Reid is the embodiment of the “wealthy black elitists” whom Rep. Burgess Owens describes as having done the most damage to the black community — by joining forces with white leftists to divide Americans.
what hasn't been discussed much is how bad Biden is at personnel decisions:
1. Pete Buttagieg
while the transportation structure for transporting goods collapsed and ignited inflation, he was on "parental" leave with his gay partner
not that he'd know what to do
his experience consists of being mayor in a small town with one train depot and a bus station
2. Kamala Harris
tasked with fixing up immigration
a record number is streaming across the border without hindrance
of course, she ran for the Dem nomination, accused Biden of being a racist, and polled so badly she dropped before the first primary
3. Merrick Garland
he has used anti-terrorist legislation, passed in the wake of 9-11, to attack parents protesting school boards
yeeesh!
4. Janet Yellen
said the second stimulus wouldn't spark inflation
may be the decision that sinks Biden
5. Anthony Blinken
way to handle them Taliban
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/15/us/politics/beto-orourke-texas-governor-announcement.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&fbclid=IwAR29qVnLyXchlgt3ne4LKFaAEJci2Azx_yHYyi1IeN62wK_pHNEcErqbcx0
"what hasn't been discussed much is how bad Biden is at personnel decisions"
WOW!
He really is bad!
"Anonymous homosexuality can't produce life, why would we call that a marriage? "
Infertile heterosexual couples can't produce life either so do tell us how you apply the exact same insult to them as you do to homosexual couples.
< crickets commence chirping while we wait >
"I don't hate L G B T and Q "folk"
and I'm not compulsive attracted to them"
Correction, "not compulsively attracted to them."
They don't teach good English at Trump U, huh?
Sorry liar, but your actions speak so much louder than your text.
You post here compulsively day after day and you always put down non-heterosexuals.
"btw, this site was formed to defend the status quo at the school board"
You know absolutely nothing about how and why TTF formed because you were not involved.
This site was formed to support sex ed curriculum that did not leave out important facts about human sexuality.
"Infertile heterosexual couples can't produce life either so do tell us how you apply the exact same insult to them as you do to homosexual couples."
glad you asked
it's because heterosexuality produces life and homosexuality doesn't, regardless of the misfortune of some
facts are not insults
but your comment was an insult to infertile couples
"They don't teach good English at Trump U, huh?"
I wouldn't know
however, my grammar skills are off the charts
"Sorry liar, but your actions speak so much louder than your text."
actually, text is the universe here
I have no "actions" that could be misconstrued as you infer
"You post here compulsively day after day and you always put down non-heterosexuals."
telling the truth is not putting anyone "down"
sorry, but marriages require both genders to be valid
there good reasons for that
to disagree with you is not a putdown
"You know absolutely nothing about how and why TTF formed because you were not involved."
oh, there are tens of thousands of posts making clear that TTF (Teach the Crap) was designed to protect the progressive leftist status quo in Montgomery County
"This site was formed to support sex ed curriculum that did not leave out important facts about human sexuality."
this blog favors excluding any facts that counter the progressive view of homosexuality
it's here to promote a fairy tale
Famed Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein on Sunday blasted former national security adviser and felon Michael Flynn for his weekend call for “one religion under God.”
Bernstein told CNN’s Jim Acosta that Flynn’s unconstitutional, authoritarian vision of a national religion is especially alarming because he briefly held a critical position of power in Donald Trump’s administration.
“It’s so stupefying to think that we had a president of the United States that would entertain these knaves, fools, and dangerous authoritarian figures,” Bernstein said. “That’s what we need to look at [in] the big picture. Donald Trump looked for people to facilitate his authoritarian impulse.”
Bernstein said that people like Flynn and former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani are “saying out loud things that have never been said by an aide or close associates to a president of the United States.”
Flynn called for “one religion under God” at a far-right rally in San Antonio, Texas, on Saturday.
“If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion. One nation under God, and one religion under God,” Flynn said.
Flynn’s vision is completely antithetical to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion, and a separation of church and state.
Ohio Trump-supporting GOP Senate candidate Josh Mandel — a grandson of Holocaust survivors — tweeted in support of Flynn’s position. Mandel’s Twitter profile says he’s fighting to protect the Judeo and Christian “bedrock of America.”
He served as Trump’s national security adviser for 24 days. He was forced out in early 2017 after he lied to then-Vice President Mike Pence about discussing U.S. sanctions against Russia with that country’s ambassador.
It looks like the Christian Dominionists couldn't keep quiet about their plans anymore. So much for "separation of church and state" and the 1st Amendment. Apparently having Rump and his cronies try to destroy our democracy wasn't enough. Now they want to make us a failed theocratic state.
The depths that the religious right has taken this country to are only going to get worse if conservatives are keep getting voted into office - or they refuse to leave.
sounds like you're cherry-picking Flynn's comments
he has a constitutional right to desire "one religion under God"
most believers of any religion desire that
so, it all depends on what he's proposing to achieve that
moral suasion: fine
evangelism: fine
military imposition: not fine
and you have conveniently left that out in your sad display of gaslighting
get back to us when you have some details
I’ve been doing a lot of traveling lately, and here is what I’ve observed about America’s current response to COVID-19: It’s all over the map.
On the streets of New York, I saw people riding bicycles with masks on, and was asked to show a vaccine card before sitting down in a restaurant. At the famous arch in St. Louis, I saw people posing for photos side by side, no masks anywhere. In a Connecticut library speech, people were seated in clusters, socially distanced, masks up. At an Ohio event, every seat was full, side by side, distance not a factor.
I’ve been in hotels where clerks are still behind glass, and in restaurants where the waiters lean in unmasked to take your order. There are workplaces that are complying with the Biden administration’s mandate that everyone be vaccinated, and there are workplaces that are challenging it. Many large offices warn no shot, no job; some small offices say come in, we’ll take our chances.
In other words, COVID-19 practices, policies and attitudes all depend on where you go, what you do and who you do it with. There is no overriding national approach. No one size fits all. And there isn’t likely to be one again.
So the question is, as Captain America once asked his fellow Avengers:
“Are we done here?”
At what point is the COVID-19 plague over? At what point does the crisis morph into just another-thing-we-have-to-deal-with — like the flu, drunken drivers, food poisoning or the risk of robbery?
This question has been postulated by various media outlets lately. Of the many I’ve read, the quote that stands out comes from an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University who, when asked by the Washington Post when the pandemic would end, said: “It doesn’t end. We just stop caring.”
“Acceptable losses.” I wrote last year that ultimately that phrase would determine the duration of this pandemic. It still holds today. What are we willing to chance? What are we willing to lose?
Most people seem to have made up their minds. Many are no longer hiding. They are going to malls, going to churches. I just bought tickets for the Rolling Stones concert at Ford Field and there weren’t many left — and that place holds over 60,000 people! Last year, the idea of a rock concert that size would have been unthinkable.
But people can read. The numbers are out there. The fact is, the chances of dying of COVID-19 were always extremely small for most segments of the population. The chances of dying of COVID-19 now, if fully vaccinated, are extremely small for ALL segments of the population. A study from the Kaiser Family Foundation in July showed that — despite the handwringing over “breakthrough cases” — the mortality rate among fully vaccinated people was "effectively zero (0.00%) in all but two reporting states, Arkansas and Michigan where they were 0.01%."
How much smaller does it get?
So, statistically anyhow, the vaccinated potion of the American adult public — which is 70%, according to the White House, not even counting those who have natural immunity from having had the virus — would appear to be gripping the doorknob of a return to normal life.
Then why doesn’t it feel that way? Why does it feel like the weather report says sunny, but the skies look dark and full of rain?
The world looks different now, due less to the dangers of the disease than to the consequences of it. Your favorite restaurant now closes at 7 p.m. because it can’t find help. That boutique you used to love went out of business. That government office you need to visit still isn’t accepting in-person appointments. Your dental hygienist still dresses like a biohazard worker.
We keep waiting for a rewind to indicate all is well. Here’s the bad news. That rewind may never come. The world is not obligated to return to its 2019 appearance.
“Normal” may indeed be shorter evening hours, longer wait times, half-empty office buildings and people wearing masks here, there but not everywhere. Normal may mean masks permanently in courtrooms or on planes (although I’m not sure why a quiet, air-circulated environment demands face coverings, but some concert venues, where people scream and sing for hours, do not).
We should stop waiting for the world to return if we’re planning to return to the world. In some countries, it was always normal to wear masks due to concerns about spreading germs. It will likely be normal in America now, too. Showing vaccine cards may be a permanent practice for entering certain facilities — just like showing an ID card is now.
These things aren’t what determine normalcy. Normalcy comes when you factor all the weirdness in, then do what you were going to do anyhow. People always knew a bad case of the flu could hospitalize or even kill them. It didn’t stop them from living. A drunken driver or a speeding motorist could always cost you your life. It didn’t stop you from driving.
COVID-19 will be like that. It’s out there. It’ll continue to be out there. It will probably require regular shots to assure protection. But when you place certain fundamentals of life on one scale — socializing, working, traveling, embracing — and put COVID-19 worries on the other, more and more people are coming down on the side of acceptable risk.
So don’t expect a D-Day headline proclaiming coronavirus is defeated. Like many American issues, it will mainly diminish by neglect.
“We’ll just stop caring,” the epidemiologist said.
Or maybe we already have.
during the election, liberals said "so what if Hunter was paid a cool million by the Chinese"
now we know that China under its current dictator is the biggest threat to freedom since the mid 20th century
we need to scrutinize how indebted Biden is to them
Outgoing vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General John Hyten, said recently that China's military is developing at stunning speed, and that China poses a major threat to the U.S.
As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden said that the Chinese are "not bad folks, folks" and "they are no competition for us."
A few years earlier, Joe's son Hunter Biden partnered with the Chinese government to fund nuclear technology.
With President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping due to "meet virtually" Monday amid Chinese muscle-flexing vis a vis Taiwan and a softening of U.S. policy towards China, the time is ripe for a review of the financial ties linking the Biden family and political networks to the People's Republic of China.
Joe Biden has a long history of currying favor with China.
AP News: Biden signs $1T infrastructure deal with bipartisan crowd
What happened to all of Trump’s ‘infrastructure weeks'? Trump happened.
The many times Trump has derailed White House 'infrastructure week'
"the time is ripe for a review of the financial ties linking the Biden family and political
networks to the People's Republic of China."
Yaaaawnn.
"get back to us when you have some details"
Maybe you can have some "Ben Ghazi" style investigations over all that and find nothing again:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/23/us/politics/biden-inquiry-republicans-johnson.html
Republican Inquiry Finds No Evidence of Wrongdoing by Biden
The report delivered on Wednesday appeared to be little more than a rehashing of unproven allegations that echoed a Russian disinformation campaign.
Joe Biden has a long history of currying favor with China.
"Biden beat Rump again! Biden signs $1T infrastructure deal with bipartisan crowd"
well, hopefully it gets properly spent
Obama had a trillion to spend his first year on infrastructure that he said would go to "shovel-ready" projects
was mostly wasted
much went overseas or to failing alt-energy projects
and here we are, 12 years later, the infrastructure still crumbling
and Obama was competent compared to Biden
"Yaaaawnn."
thank you, Neville Chamberlain
when you wake up, you'll find the most most dangerous authoritarian regime since the mid-20th century has surpassed us and we are powerless to resist
then, you can wake up Sleepy Slidin's Joe Biden
"Republican Inquiry Finds No Evidence of Wrongdoing by Biden
The report delivered on Wednesday appeared to be little more than a rehashing of unproven allegations that echoed a Russian disinformation campaign."
a report from 14 months ago could find no proof Biden got some payment for Ukraine?
what's that got to do with China?
btw, the Hunter laptop with incriminating email has since been verified as valid
The White House dove into damage control this week after reports of dysfunction and infighting in Vice President Kamala Harris' office, with the administration trying to stop a drama-filled narrative from taking hold, according to five people who spoke to CNN about the horrid dynamics within Harris' office.
Two people close to Harris' team said some individuals inside the vice president's office are frustrated with what they see as a dysfunctional operation that has been at times waylaid by internal conflict. Some of that ire is directed squarely at Harris' chief of staff, Tina Flournoy, those people said. Another source close to the staff said there were "challenges and struggles" and heard complaints about Flournoy from staff.
Sabrina Singh, deputy press secretary to the vice president, told CNN in a statement that Harris' focus remains on her work.
"The Vice President and her office are focused on the Biden-Harris Administration's agenda to making sure racial equity is at the core of everything the Administration does," Singh said.
And White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Friday said, "I will say that the vice president has a challenging job, a hard job. But other than that, I'm not going to have any more comments."
Still, the West Wing is scrambling to figure about how to cover up the mistakes Harris' team, one source close to the White House said.
That help from the West Wing is a sign that the spiraling narrative is affecting the public image of Harris, who is planning a presidential run in 2024 since President Joe Biden is unlikely to seek reelection.
"and Obama was competent compared to Biden"
And both Obama and Biden outdid Rump on infrastructure.
Rump's infrastructure is a failed border wall.
Trump's $15 billion border wall is being easily defeated by $5 ladders
Trump emphasized job growth and the welfare of minorities
check-check
but he also had to deal with Hillary Clinton's attack on our democracy, saying it was stolen from her, and a pandemic
but not spending the money, as Trump did, is better than wasting it, as Obama did
so what do you mean by saying Obama "outdid" Trump?
how delusional can you be?
and what Biden does remains to be seen
but who can look at his first 10 months and feel confident?
according the polls, very few people
right now, it looks like the GOP will gain 70 seats in the House, 4 in the Senate, and governorships, legislatures, and, oh yes, school boards
Vice President Kamala Harris’ latest poll numbers aren’t just bad, they’re late night comedy-fodder bad.
ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel mock-pondered last week how Harris’ job approval rating could be even lower than President Joe Biden’s, when “she basically has nothing to do.”
“It’s like criticizing a backup quarterback,” Kimmel said. “'Tom Brady is OK. I don’t love the way Blaine Gabbert has his legs folded on the bench.'”
The problem for Democrats, however, is that Harris, 57, is the heir-apparent for the 78-year-old Biden, who not expected to seek a second turn.
Only 28% of registered voters participating this month in a USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll approved of her job performance.
So what’s going on?
She’s the No. 2 in the Biden administration and her boss’s numbers are not good.
Vice presidential favorability and job approval ratings are overwhelmingly influenced by how the president is doing, according to a 2017 study by political scientist Jody Baumgartner.
There's no reason to think that’s changed with Harris, despite the historic nature of her vice presidency, he said.
“I think there's plenty of people who don't know who she is, and even if they do, they have no idea what she’s doing or what she’s not doing,” said Baumgartner.
Vice presidential scholar Joel Goldstein said any vice president would want higher poll numbers than Harris has.
Kamala Harris and husband Doug Emhoff are associated with the immensely unpopular gay agenda and have marchers in the Capital Pride Parade
Andra Gillespie, a political scientist at Emory University, said it cannot be overstated how Harris' low ratings are anchored to Biden's drastic decline in popularity.
"Kamala Harris can't be the scapegoat every time Joe Biden has a bad day," Gillespie said.
One reason Harris isn’t getting numbers as high as Biden is due to a noticeable dip among Democrats in general, and especially from African Americans, a major constituency.
Eighty-three percent of Democrats approve of Biden’s job performance compared with 63% who approve of the job Harris is doing, according to the poll.
Likewise, 72% of Black voters give Biden high marks versus 51% of the same voting bloc who likes Harris’ job performance.
"Black voters for Kamala Harris should be in the 80%-90% approve,” said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center. “Those are numbers that have got to be higher."
Further down the tabulations, the survey shows liberals like what Biden is doing significantly more (81%) than they approve of Harris’ performance (56%).
Ricky L. Jones, chairman of Pan-African studies at the University of Louisville, said besides visibility, the vice president is also weighed down by a significant bloc of Black progressive-minded voters who soured on Harris – and parts of her record as a California prosecutor – during her failed presidential bid.
"I think the 'Kamala is a cop' analysis and a number of other things showed her to be a brazen and opportunistic political animal," Jones said. "And it is something that worries anybody who actually pays attention to politics and pays attention to her career."
The "Kamala is a cop" meme was used by many left-leaning activists, who hammered Harris in 2019 for her time as a prosecutor at a time when progressives were leaning into criminal justice reform.
Harris exited the race in December 2019 just before the Iowa caucuses, following reports of division within her campaign, struggles to raise campaign cash and plummeting poll numbers.
In her home state of California, for instance, a July 2019 poll of likely Democratic primary voters put her in first place with 19%, but by September. Harris had plunged to 8%, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.
"I think if she runs for president in the next cycle, I think she gets beaten in the primaries again," Jones said. "I don't think she'll get traction."
Evelyn M. Simien, a University of Connecticut political science professor, said Harris' historic status as vice president will always be tied by some Black voters to her past role in the criminal justice system and the racial implications of that debate.
"There's no sort of getting around it when it comes to her current role as VP," she said.
Simien adds how there is a sentiment that Harris is being trotted out as a prop while the administration has done little of substance for Black voters.
"There could be criticism leveled against her, is she symbolizing sort of a mammy figure?" she said. "You know, for Black women, is she reduced to nothing more than a symbol?"
Months after taking office Biden gave his vice president two significant issues to lead – addressing the root causes of migration at the southern border and protecting voting rights.
But in the Washington wilderness, those issues have borne few fruits.
The Democratic Party has historically taken Latinos for granted, something that we just witnessed play out in several elections across the country. Driven by two main issues–education and public safety–Latinos are emerging as a significant voting bloc capable of flipping blue seats red and realigning either party in regard to platform and policy.
In Virginia, Republican Glenn Youngkin defeated Clintonista Democrat Terry McAuliffe for governor. Youngkin ran on school choice, an issue dear to Latinos who understand that education is the key to prosperity and the middle class. A survey by AP VoteCast showed that Latino voters favored Youngkin, who received 55 percent of the Hispanic vote, compared to only 43 percent supporting McAuliffe. If Latinos had voted in the same pattern as other minority voters, it would have guaranteed a Democratic victory. They didn’t, which does not portend well for the future of the Democratic Party.
So did Latinos leave the Democratic party, or did the Democratic party leave them?
The Democrats have lurched left towards socialism, embracing values that vilify private property and individual rights. During Barack Obama’s 2008, 2012, and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaigns, Latinos were solidly Democratic voters, second only to African Americans in their loyalty. However, the Barack Obama that ran in 2008 and captured the hearts of Americans would be considered a right wing Republican by today’s standards.
The Democratic Party and Latinos have changed over the past decade and now seem irreconcilable. This is especially worrisome to Democrats since Latinos are the largest of the fast-growing demographic groups in the nation, growing by 23 percent from 2010 to 2020. Latinos now account for 62.1 million or 18.7 percent of the U.S. population.
Last year, the Biden-Harris ticket won a comfortable majority of Latinos across the country, but the administration’s poor handling of the border crisis directly impacts Latinos, and it is a serious mistake for anyone to believe that Latinos favor open borders. In fact, polls routinely demonstrate that helping illegal immigrants achieve legal status is of low concern to most American Latinos, who list jobs, education, housing, crime, and other such matters as of higher importance.
In the aftermath of their defeat in Virginia, a few, mostly older liberal commentators have begun warning about the Democratic Party’s leftward drift on cultural issues. Some have criticized Democrat candidate Terry McAuliffe for his failure to distance himself from the far left on CRT or the transgender bathroom and sports issues that had inflamed parents in Virginia schools.
It is easy to condemn McAuliffe for this choice, but the way he chose to navigate the race highlights a much larger problem for the party than many have understood. The challenge is that given the dynamics he faced within the Democratic electorate, it is unclear what other choice McAuliffe had. In all likelihood, McAuliffe did not decide to adopt his losing strategy thinking it was good. He probably deduced, correctly, that was simply the least bad option. And the alarming fact for Democrats nationwide is that if their least bad option was not good enough to win in a Biden+10 state earlier this month, there are a lot of other places it will not be good enough either.
McAuliffe’s choice on the cultural issues was both simple and impossible. If he spoke out against the radicalism of the left, he would be on the wrong side of a majority of Democrats, and potentially enrage 30% who would think him a bigot or at least pandering to bigots. If he supported their policies, he would offend the nearly quarter of Democrats who think the “woke” turn of Democrat politics is total nonsense, and potentially a danger to their kids – not to mention alienating a majority of independent voters McAuliffe desperately needed to win. So, facing this choice, McAuliffe did nothing, hoping he could hold the coalition together. Nothing may indeed have been his best option—but as we saw, it could not get him across the finish line.
McAuliffe’s conundrum shows why, for all the newfound recognition among some Democrats that radical social policies are liabilities, it is unlikely Democrats will be able to successfully execute the pivot they would need recover from their dalliance with the radical left. Despite the glee MSNBC and other liberal media outlets have shown since 2009 regarding the supposed extremism of the GOP base, it is increasingly Democrats who are out of touch culturally with American voters, and who are being held hostage by the extremism of their own base.
Take for instance the issue of transgender rights and gender policy. A recent survey from the liberal Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) demonstrates the enigma facing thoughtful Democrats on these issues. The PPRI survey indicated that Americans of all parties support not discriminating against LGBTQ individuals. This would seem to be an encouraging fact for Democrats. And yet, Democrats have not limited themselves to advocating for non-discrimination—rather, in many cases, they have abandoned that position in favor of stances where they are almost diametrically opposed to mainstream public opinion.
For example, 62% of Americans do not think those born biologically male should be able to play women’s sports. Yet 61% of Democrats think they should be able to do so. Opinion within the Democratic Party on the issue is therefore a mirror-image of that of Americans as a whole, and anyone opposing this would be advocating against a policy favored by a majority of Democrats. Thus, in order to be able to win a primary, a Democrat candidate would have to win the votes of people who support allowing trans individuals to play sports of the opposite gender, while winning a general election would likely require securing the votes of people who oppose such a policy. And to do that, the candidate would need to be able to explain to the public why they oppose transgender athletics on the merits. Instead, the default position of Democrats who have tried to take the majoritarian stance has been merely to explain that the Democrat Party’s position is “unpopular” in the nation at large. This does not really work in a general election, as it implies you still think the 62% of Americans are wrong or even bigots. This underscores the problem with even Democratic moderates. They tend to couch their moderation in tactical considerations, in effect insulting the morality of those whose votes they are supposedly trying to appeal to, while intimating that in their hearts, they aren’t really moderate at all.
Yet even this cynical political positioning to enable Democrat candidates to win over mainstream Americans may be a bridge too far for many Democrat voters. An increasing portion of the Democrat base is intolerant of anyone with a political profile capable of winning national elections.
Take for example Democrat voters’ views on a basic question, or rather, what a majority of Americans regard as a simple factual statement: the notion that there are only two genders.
Overall, 60% of Americans believe there are two genders, and 40% believe there are more or a range. However, not only do 61% of Democrats disagree with that statement, but a plurality actually feel their disagreement is important enough to be a voting issue.
Once more, opinion among Democrats is the exact inverse of that of the American people. Worse for Democrats, however, are the numbers of those who feel strongly. 42% overall feel strongly there are only two genders, compared with only 17% who feel strongly there are more. But among Democrats, those numbers are 23% and 30%. In other words, a fringe view, backed by around one sixth of the electorate, has a near plurality among Democrats. Worse, Democrats, unlike Republicans, have divisions. Among Republicans, 87% think there are two genders, while only 4% feel strongly that there are more. Democrats are much more evenly split. While 61% think there are more than two genders, a full 23% feel strongly that there are only 2 genders, making serious and bitter infighting among Democrats much more likely.
The gender issue is one of many that follow this pattern. It is not Republican primary voters who are out of touch with Americans. It is Democrats. And this is a key reason why Democrats are so despondent and Republicans so optimistic about 2022.
The more rational members of the party know they need to pivot, they know how to do it, but they nonetheless cannot do so because of the rigid ideological orthodoxy demanded by their base, an extremism that in many cases they themselves have sown. And that is why so many Democratic incumbents are headed for the exits rather than running for reelection. It is not that the situation is bad now and they don’t know how to fix it. It is that it is bad and they know they cannot do the things needed to fix it.
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