Dreher and Greenwald are the 21st century equivalents of Lord Haw Haw and Tokyo Rose. It doesn't matter if they are true believers, if they are being paid by the Kremlin, or if they're being blackmailed. We shouldn't pay any serious attention to them, other than to note whether their propaganda is being swallowed by our neighbors.
I think those of us Never Trumpers believe the Republican Party needs better leaders. Almost all of the elected Republicans have proven to be spineless when it came to standing up to a wannabe autocrat taking over the party. But, sadly, at the end of the day, the problem is primarily the GOP voters. We have too many of them who self-isolate themselves from objective facts and choose instead to be brainwashed by a panoply of Trumpian social and traditional media sources. (I don't call those sources "conservative" because such a description would be a bastardization of the term "conservative.") Some Trump supporters, who have isolated themselves, even go so far as to believe the most far-fetched conspiracy theories such as the Qanon nonsense.
With these brainwashed Republican voters, we face exactly the same problem as families who have members who have joined a cult. Cult leaders purposefully isolate their followers from outside information. The way you deprogram cult followers is to physically get them outside the cult information bubble so they are exposed to objective and truthful information.. But how do you deprogram Trump supporters who are intentionally allowing themselves to be brainwashed and who self-isolate from information that doesn't fit the narrative of their cult? I wish I knew.
As a side note, one thing not talked about regarding Ginni Thomas is how she came to become so radicalized. No doubt, it came from self-isolation from truthful information and instead being fed conspiracy nonsense from a constant drumbeat Trumpian social and traditional media sources. The problem is Justice Thomas is in the same household as Ginni Thomas. Maybe he hasn't gone down the same conspiracy-nonsense rabbit hole as Ginni, but you have to wonder.
In a weird way, not taking the SATs into account is discriminatory. Students who score highly (or do reasonably well) on the test, but attend poorly performing schools, demonstrate solid academic potential.
There is a horrific irony to the claims of the American defenders of Putin (in alphabetical order beginning with Steve Bannon, Tucker Carlson, ....) as the upholder of "traditional Western values," which the atrocities in Ukraine have brought onto the front pages of every major newspaper today. But that is what happens when one defines "traditional Western values" as opposed to liberal democracy, equality, and humanity.
Is there anyone in Alaska not running for Congress? It's like an HOA board election up there. 50 total candidates has to be a pretty considerable percentage of the total Alaskan population.
How great was President Obama's performance at that 2011 dinner? It's hard not to love that guy. And Sununu is showing why these Republican governors of blue states have no interest in running for office beyond their state borders. You can speak the truth, and still be a Republican, and not suffer any electoral consequences (aside from primaries, possibly, depending on how they're run in your state), because your state's voters aren't insane.
Dumper was in Michigan Saturday night endorsing a couple of candidates that no one has heard of for Secretary of State and Attorney General. Even, according to news stories many attending did not know them either but that's how Dump seems to operate! The McClain dumb comment is an example of the quality of the Republicians we have already in Michigan. They control the State house but continue to blame the Gov for everything especially for our roads that they refuse to properly fund.
Dump was still spouting his "I won and won big" line of BS which sadly too many people still believe. When will it end?
The problem with all the 'Eric Adams has all the answers' takes is that he doesn't. And he especially doesn't on crime, because being tougher on crime does not stop crime from happening. If it did, there would have been no crime back when nearly every crime carried the death penalty. The most common crime to be executed for during the French revolution was pickpocketing; and every day yesterday's pickpockets would be executed, most of whom were doing said pickpocketing at the executions themselves.
This is especially true of gun crimes, which are almost always crimes of passion. It's usually a situation where there is a fight, and someone pulls a gun and fires at someone and kills a bunch of people. You can't fight that with tougher on crime policies, especially when the policies that would actually stop crimes, like seizing firearms, are impossible. It's even worse as more states continue to legalize unlicensed open carry; what are police supposed to do when everyone is packing heat? Police are a post-crime response force; they cannot preemptively stop crimes. They cannot stop shooters before they fire.
Adams saying he's going to stop gun crime by being harsher is like saying you're going to stop boats from sinking by making them wetter. You're not going to fix the problem that way, because the problem is people having easy access to weapons and being able to use them.
But hey, I'm sure the guy who put his brother in charge of things and who hawks the ponzi scheme that is crypto is the guy for the job. We already had a GOP con artist, why not put a democratic one in charge?
Sounds like Joe Kent is fine with the genocide of Ukrainians. And of course he wants to give the war criminal Putin what he wants. Kent says it's perfectly reasonable. Disgusting human being. Perfect Trumper.
The gist is that this didn't turn Republicans into Democrats but it did break through the silo and caused a significant change of opinion on topics and made these viewers much more skeptical of what they were getting exclusively from Fox.
It's really unsurprising that Hungary is in the position it is. They stopped being part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, which they had been part of for close to 1,000 years in the Holy Roman Empire's varying iterations - the center of reactionary conservatism in Europe. This was followed by the fascist dictatorship of Admiral Horthy from the early 1920s to 1945, during which they allied with Hitler. This was replaced in 1946 with one of the tightest Stalinist totalitarian dictatorships until 1990, and what replaced the communists wasn't all that "democratic" though it was vastly superior to Orban. With all that "democratic tradition," Orban is no surprise.
Two points on the ReTrumplican't candidate Joe Kent and his ignorant like-minded "traitor-speak" colleagues:
1. Kent offered, “It’s banana republic stuff when political prisoners are arrested and denied due process.” Obviously, he does not realize one cannot be a prisoner until AFTER the person is arrested, and also that persons arrested are given due process when court dates are assigned.
2. "Patriot" Joe, now wants to act in a way counter to the oath he took as a Green Beret to defend the country (i.e. the establishment).
He and his fellow dullards don't seem to realize that when their fantasy comes true and they overthrow the current establishment, they become the establishment. So does that mean that he and his fellow nimrods, i.e. the Secession Sisters and the Brothers Sexual Perverts would need to want to overthrow the new establishment?
Hungary was a willing and proud fascist vassal of Nazi Germany. Hungary's Government [sic] of National Unity ruled with the iron fist of the Nazi. National Unity initiatives included so-called "Jewish Laws," exclusion of Jews from national economic and cultural life, prohibition of sex between Jews and Gentiles, forced labor of Jewish men, establishment of Jewish ghettos, and eventual government sanctioned roundup and extermination of Jews as Hungary's contribution to the Final Solution. This is the proud heritage of Viktor Orban. This is the heritage of his right wing party, Fidesz, over which Orban has ruled with absolute control for the past 29 years. This is the heritage of Hungary's now institutionalized absolute fascism.
In Europe. Today. And now for years to come.
PS Would one of the networks please interview Trumpian bootlicker Sebastian Gorka about his stand on genocide in Ukraine? And, by the way, ask him too how he feels about Jews.
Are you suggesting that NATO physically intervene and attack Russia? As for threatening Putin et al. with prosecution for suborning war crimes, isn't it a bit late for that?
The war is already headed for mutual ethnic cleansing IMO. It's possible or even likely that NATO troops could end it more quickly and decisively, but it's fantasy to think the West can reshape Russia in its own image after 500 years of tsars, commissars and autocrats.
Dreher and Greenwald are the 21st century equivalents of Lord Haw Haw and Tokyo Rose. It doesn't matter if they are true believers, if they are being paid by the Kremlin, or if they're being blackmailed. We shouldn't pay any serious attention to them, other than to note whether their propaganda is being swallowed by our neighbors.
I think those of us Never Trumpers believe the Republican Party needs better leaders. Almost all of the elected Republicans have proven to be spineless when it came to standing up to a wannabe autocrat taking over the party. But, sadly, at the end of the day, the problem is primarily the GOP voters. We have too many of them who self-isolate themselves from objective facts and choose instead to be brainwashed by a panoply of Trumpian social and traditional media sources. (I don't call those sources "conservative" because such a description would be a bastardization of the term "conservative.") Some Trump supporters, who have isolated themselves, even go so far as to believe the most far-fetched conspiracy theories such as the Qanon nonsense.
With these brainwashed Republican voters, we face exactly the same problem as families who have members who have joined a cult. Cult leaders purposefully isolate their followers from outside information. The way you deprogram cult followers is to physically get them outside the cult information bubble so they are exposed to objective and truthful information.. But how do you deprogram Trump supporters who are intentionally allowing themselves to be brainwashed and who self-isolate from information that doesn't fit the narrative of their cult? I wish I knew.
As a side note, one thing not talked about regarding Ginni Thomas is how she came to become so radicalized. No doubt, it came from self-isolation from truthful information and instead being fed conspiracy nonsense from a constant drumbeat Trumpian social and traditional media sources. The problem is Justice Thomas is in the same household as Ginni Thomas. Maybe he hasn't gone down the same conspiracy-nonsense rabbit hole as Ginni, but you have to wonder.
In a weird way, not taking the SATs into account is discriminatory. Students who score highly (or do reasonably well) on the test, but attend poorly performing schools, demonstrate solid academic potential.
There is a horrific irony to the claims of the American defenders of Putin (in alphabetical order beginning with Steve Bannon, Tucker Carlson, ....) as the upholder of "traditional Western values," which the atrocities in Ukraine have brought onto the front pages of every major newspaper today. But that is what happens when one defines "traditional Western values" as opposed to liberal democracy, equality, and humanity.
Is there anyone in Alaska not running for Congress? It's like an HOA board election up there. 50 total candidates has to be a pretty considerable percentage of the total Alaskan population.
How great was President Obama's performance at that 2011 dinner? It's hard not to love that guy. And Sununu is showing why these Republican governors of blue states have no interest in running for office beyond their state borders. You can speak the truth, and still be a Republican, and not suffer any electoral consequences (aside from primaries, possibly, depending on how they're run in your state), because your state's voters aren't insane.
Dumper was in Michigan Saturday night endorsing a couple of candidates that no one has heard of for Secretary of State and Attorney General. Even, according to news stories many attending did not know them either but that's how Dump seems to operate! The McClain dumb comment is an example of the quality of the Republicians we have already in Michigan. They control the State house but continue to blame the Gov for everything especially for our roads that they refuse to properly fund.
Dump was still spouting his "I won and won big" line of BS which sadly too many people still believe. When will it end?
The problem with all the 'Eric Adams has all the answers' takes is that he doesn't. And he especially doesn't on crime, because being tougher on crime does not stop crime from happening. If it did, there would have been no crime back when nearly every crime carried the death penalty. The most common crime to be executed for during the French revolution was pickpocketing; and every day yesterday's pickpockets would be executed, most of whom were doing said pickpocketing at the executions themselves.
This is especially true of gun crimes, which are almost always crimes of passion. It's usually a situation where there is a fight, and someone pulls a gun and fires at someone and kills a bunch of people. You can't fight that with tougher on crime policies, especially when the policies that would actually stop crimes, like seizing firearms, are impossible. It's even worse as more states continue to legalize unlicensed open carry; what are police supposed to do when everyone is packing heat? Police are a post-crime response force; they cannot preemptively stop crimes. They cannot stop shooters before they fire.
Adams saying he's going to stop gun crime by being harsher is like saying you're going to stop boats from sinking by making them wetter. You're not going to fix the problem that way, because the problem is people having easy access to weapons and being able to use them.
But hey, I'm sure the guy who put his brother in charge of things and who hawks the ponzi scheme that is crypto is the guy for the job. We already had a GOP con artist, why not put a democratic one in charge?
Sounds like Joe Kent is fine with the genocide of Ukrainians. And of course he wants to give the war criminal Putin what he wants. Kent says it's perfectly reasonable. Disgusting human being. Perfect Trumper.
Matty Yglesias has an interesting piece up today at Bloomberg Opinion (paywalled):
What If Fox News Viewers Watched CNN Instead?
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-04-03/what-if-fox-news-viewers-watched-cnn-instead?srnd=opinion&sref=rMMJuv3g
The gist is that this didn't turn Republicans into Democrats but it did break through the silo and caused a significant change of opinion on topics and made these viewers much more skeptical of what they were getting exclusively from Fox.
It's really unsurprising that Hungary is in the position it is. They stopped being part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, which they had been part of for close to 1,000 years in the Holy Roman Empire's varying iterations - the center of reactionary conservatism in Europe. This was followed by the fascist dictatorship of Admiral Horthy from the early 1920s to 1945, during which they allied with Hitler. This was replaced in 1946 with one of the tightest Stalinist totalitarian dictatorships until 1990, and what replaced the communists wasn't all that "democratic" though it was vastly superior to Orban. With all that "democratic tradition," Orban is no surprise.
Trump getting Bin Laden is historically on par with that time Washington's army seized all the airports. ;P
Two points on the ReTrumplican't candidate Joe Kent and his ignorant like-minded "traitor-speak" colleagues:
1. Kent offered, “It’s banana republic stuff when political prisoners are arrested and denied due process.” Obviously, he does not realize one cannot be a prisoner until AFTER the person is arrested, and also that persons arrested are given due process when court dates are assigned.
2. "Patriot" Joe, now wants to act in a way counter to the oath he took as a Green Beret to defend the country (i.e. the establishment).
He and his fellow dullards don't seem to realize that when their fantasy comes true and they overthrow the current establishment, they become the establishment. So does that mean that he and his fellow nimrods, i.e. the Secession Sisters and the Brothers Sexual Perverts would need to want to overthrow the new establishment?
The SATs may not necessarily be discriminatory but the over reliance on them for college admissions does have discriminatory effects.
Let us not forget:
Hungary was a willing and proud fascist vassal of Nazi Germany. Hungary's Government [sic] of National Unity ruled with the iron fist of the Nazi. National Unity initiatives included so-called "Jewish Laws," exclusion of Jews from national economic and cultural life, prohibition of sex between Jews and Gentiles, forced labor of Jewish men, establishment of Jewish ghettos, and eventual government sanctioned roundup and extermination of Jews as Hungary's contribution to the Final Solution. This is the proud heritage of Viktor Orban. This is the heritage of his right wing party, Fidesz, over which Orban has ruled with absolute control for the past 29 years. This is the heritage of Hungary's now institutionalized absolute fascism.
In Europe. Today. And now for years to come.
PS Would one of the networks please interview Trumpian bootlicker Sebastian Gorka about his stand on genocide in Ukraine? And, by the way, ask him too how he feels about Jews.
"Perhaps acts of genocide require a more robust response than economic sanctions."
Meaning what exactly? Putin's 83% favorable rating in Russia suggests what will happen if the West ups the ante even more. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-31/russians-embrace-putin-s-ukraine-war-as-kremlin-muzzles-dissent
Are you suggesting that NATO physically intervene and attack Russia? As for threatening Putin et al. with prosecution for suborning war crimes, isn't it a bit late for that?
The war is already headed for mutual ethnic cleansing IMO. It's possible or even likely that NATO troops could end it more quickly and decisively, but it's fantasy to think the West can reshape Russia in its own image after 500 years of tsars, commissars and autocrats.
| “We must be pragmatic,” he said. His pragmatism appears to consist of granting Putin what
| he covets: “Putin has laid out what he wants in Ukraine — a decent starting point,” and his
| demands for control over Donetsk and Luhansk are “very reasonable.”
Didn't Chamberlain believe Hitler's demands for the Sudetenland were reasonable. How'd that turn out?