In a civil suit he might get convicted, but in a criminal case, there is infinitely little chance that at least one of the 12 jurors wouldn’t vote to acquit.
Best way to “get Trump” is for Biden to pull a Ford and pardon Trump for any federal offenses (civil and state cases aren’t covered). Of course, there will be howls from anti-Trumpers, and he likely wouldn’t accept since it is acknowledgment of guilt. But it would make it harder to play the victim card.
I realize you mention Youngkin only in passing in the section on Cheney, but DAMN does he have presidential ambition. Which means Larry Hogan might as well resign himself to enjoying retirement.
Sure, Youngkin is going to campaign for every Republican candidate who'll let him because he's building up a horde of political IOUs. Positioning himself as the NON-asshole choice for those who don't care to choose between Trump and DeSantis as the greater asshole.
How does no one ever ask a follow up question - When stated that Republicans are under pressure to impeach Joe Biden - how is the next question for what would that be?
The stock market goes up and down; inflation is largely due to macroeconomics and (at this point, especially) world-wide issues, so I don't know how anyone (R or D) gets the credit and blame for these things. But making me a second-class citizen in my own country? Taking away my bodily autonomy? That's ALL on the Republicans, and they should pay for it.
Just a friendly reminder that the oft-cited “kill all the lawyers” Shakespearean quip is made during a discussion of how to overthrow orderly government. In other words, how does one ensure the success of an angry mob? First, kill all the lawyers.
"Populist hostility to immigration, pro-business economic policy, support for federalism, and social conservatism on religion and cultural issues": Minus the "populist hostility," these could be components of a center/center-right political platform that is very conservative but not antidemocratic. It's the hostility that pitches the program toward the far-right. What I'm suggesting is, the trumpist and European neofascist movements have underlying pedigrees and ideologies that need to be carefully explicated to expose their unique danger to democracy.
A lot of articles out today on how US manufacturing has really come back, the hourly wage is up for many workers, unemployment is incredibly low, gas prices are down, & there are job openings in just about every field for college grads & non- college grads. I understand that inflation is high, but that’s a worldwide problem, not just in the US.
So why are people writing about a recession? I’m not an economist, but in my town in Maine & throughout the state, the economy seems to be humming along just fine, though we could definitely use some immigrants to fill all those Help Wanted ads in our local paper every week.
Personally, the people I talk to are more upset about the recent Supreme Court decisions & the fact that the Orange Jesus is still walking around a free man.
Last election I had good results with polls. I just added 4 points to GOP in every swing state except out west as I don’t have a feel for AZ or NV. I picked every state except got burned on GA. I don’t know why pollsters don’t give this spread.
"But here we are; this is what we got. The legal system may be our last line of defense, and that's a shame."
That is more than a shame. More than sad. That is frightening when one considers that there are people in that system such as U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon. So, what else have we got?
Well, we've got Liz Cheney, who's become the prima facie example of why there's nothing inherently wrong or *evil* with being a conservative or a Republican if, while being those things, one steadfastly refuses to cross the red line into lip service to the Constitution, the rule of law and to our liberal democratic institutions and processes in the pursuit of political power or personal gain. That so many of her fellow conservatives and Republicans have crossed that line - or have failed to raise so much as a whisper to denounce and object to those who have - is the root cause of her now being so much in the limelight, and the reason we now must contemplate 'lawyers' as our last line of defense in this fight to 'save democracy' in our country. And as robust as her efforts are in that endeavor, Liz ain't gonna' be able to do it by herself. So, what else do we have?
Ourselves. Which is where the ultimate responsibility for the preservation of what we hold dear in our country is vested. And we should be contemplating our own roles as individuals in being that last line of defense for that which we hold so dear.
Don't ask me what *you* can do. I don't know. I know we all want answers to that question, but I don't have them. I can only speak to what I can do. Which is vote, of course. But also, I can take inspiration from Lincoln's words. And add resolve from Cheney's example to my determination to look for any opportunity to stand up for 'what's right' as I go about my daily life, be that in how I respond to a neighbor or co-worker promulgating the lies and deceit that have led us to where we now find ourselves, or donating money to a candidate who's worthy of representing me and the ideals that our country is supposed to stand for in our halls of government, or simply by speaking or behaving in a way toward someone of a different political outlook that shows them *I* am not their enemy, that their true enemy is to be found elsewhere.
These things I can do. And I will do them, along with anything else I can conjure. Beyond that, I can only suggest that we all contemplate the words of a former President of our country, which I heard as a child. And set aside all partisan bias and take them at face value. And hopefully adopt them as our own:
"In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from the responsibility. I welcome it."
It is indeed sad that many institutions have been weakened and that it has come down to the law. So far, it is holding but there are issues. One are the judges appointed by Trump. Many are good, but I wonder how many are similar to Aileen Cannon. If I recall, a number of those nominated were found to be unqualified by the bar association. And there is the report about Jones Day law firm and their work to support Trump's judicial picks. This institution is certainly under attack as well.
When you look at the statistical data, crime has been on a downward trend for quite some time.
Despite that fact, people have historically believed that crime is worse now than it was before--year after year despite the downward trend.
This is (TLDR version) an artifact of the media culture that we have--accounting for political messaging as part of that media culture.
Violent crime is currently up, but is still lower than it was in the 90s. This is attributable to several factors most of which have more to do with the psychology and culture of the time (the political and cultural extremism) than with law enforcement action.
Property crime continues to go down.
The reality is that crime is not an actual issue--it is in most cases an issue of perception vice reality. Your stance on crime vis-a-vis politics isn't about crime but about (political) identity, for the most part.
Americans relying on *lawyers* to save democracy (lol) might be the most depressing thing I've ever heard. I guess we should ask ourselves which side has the best lawyers that money can buy, the government or a very very rich billionaire? Because juries are composed of very simple people, only one of whom the best lawyer money can buy needs to turn into a 1-vs-11 juror. Wealth inequality leads to inequality of education, and inequality of education leaves us with very simple jurors uncapable of saving democracy.
By allowing private citizens to become more powerful than the government through wealth-hoarding, we have at the least sold ourselves to an oligarchy through our embrace of Reaganism and wealth-worshipping, and at the worst we have let democracy fall to an oligarchy through our embrace of Reaganism and wealth-worshipping. Here we are folks, at the center of our decadence and wealth-chasing fuckin HOPING that the lawyers will save us lmfao.
You can thank the Republicans for the economic illiterates and idiots. Republicans have waged a forty year war on public education by decreasing funding and/or trying to privatize public education with charter schools user taxpayer money or voucher programs for private schools. Add in that many people are just intellectually lazy.
This week's Paola Ramos's Field Report focuses on Republican Maya Flores and her Evangelical supporters. Flores is interesting because she is a former Democrat "converted" to the Republicans for religious reasons. And she flipped a traditionally Latino-dominated south Texas district from blue to red in a special election earlier this year. What makes this show poignant is Flores's sincerity, her basic decency, and her naïveté.
One of the basic ideas through Ramos's show is how many Latinos who habitually voted Democratic have come to discover that Democrats simply don't represent their values, which they define as God, family, country. The Republican Party, in their view of it, comes much closer to representing those conservative values than the Democratic Party, so why do they just mindlessly vote Democrat?
That's very powerful question to pose to Latinos who have voted for Democrats not out of conviction but out of habit. There are a lot of Latinos in Texas and elsewhere right now that are being confronted with that question, and what answer do the Democrats have for them? That they're not as mean as Republicans on immigration?
That is very weak tea compared to the need so many people feel for their politics to align with their deepest metaphysical longings. That's what explains both Meloni in Italy and Flores in Texas--there is this deep desire for a more meaningful politics, a politics that is not just about fixing bridges and paying medical bills, a politics that aligns the world down here with the world up there. Such a longing, whether on the Left or the Right, seeks a cure that is worse than the disease, but is nevertheless something that has to be understood and confronted by Democrats better than they do.
In a civil suit he might get convicted, but in a criminal case, there is infinitely little chance that at least one of the 12 jurors wouldn’t vote to acquit.
Best way to “get Trump” is for Biden to pull a Ford and pardon Trump for any federal offenses (civil and state cases aren’t covered). Of course, there will be howls from anti-Trumpers, and he likely wouldn’t accept since it is acknowledgment of guilt. But it would make it harder to play the victim card.
Ha, on the Tom Nichols meme
I realize you mention Youngkin only in passing in the section on Cheney, but DAMN does he have presidential ambition. Which means Larry Hogan might as well resign himself to enjoying retirement.
Sure, Youngkin is going to campaign for every Republican candidate who'll let him because he's building up a horde of political IOUs. Positioning himself as the NON-asshole choice for those who don't care to choose between Trump and DeSantis as the greater asshole.
How does no one ever ask a follow up question - When stated that Republicans are under pressure to impeach Joe Biden - how is the next question for what would that be?
The stock market goes up and down; inflation is largely due to macroeconomics and (at this point, especially) world-wide issues, so I don't know how anyone (R or D) gets the credit and blame for these things. But making me a second-class citizen in my own country? Taking away my bodily autonomy? That's ALL on the Republicans, and they should pay for it.
Just a friendly reminder that the oft-cited “kill all the lawyers” Shakespearean quip is made during a discussion of how to overthrow orderly government. In other words, how does one ensure the success of an angry mob? First, kill all the lawyers.
"Populist hostility to immigration, pro-business economic policy, support for federalism, and social conservatism on religion and cultural issues": Minus the "populist hostility," these could be components of a center/center-right political platform that is very conservative but not antidemocratic. It's the hostility that pitches the program toward the far-right. What I'm suggesting is, the trumpist and European neofascist movements have underlying pedigrees and ideologies that need to be carefully explicated to expose their unique danger to democracy.
I’m a little surprised we don’t hear the term “Liz Cheney Republican” more
A lot of articles out today on how US manufacturing has really come back, the hourly wage is up for many workers, unemployment is incredibly low, gas prices are down, & there are job openings in just about every field for college grads & non- college grads. I understand that inflation is high, but that’s a worldwide problem, not just in the US.
So why are people writing about a recession? I’m not an economist, but in my town in Maine & throughout the state, the economy seems to be humming along just fine, though we could definitely use some immigrants to fill all those Help Wanted ads in our local paper every week.
Personally, the people I talk to are more upset about the recent Supreme Court decisions & the fact that the Orange Jesus is still walking around a free man.
Last election I had good results with polls. I just added 4 points to GOP in every swing state except out west as I don’t have a feel for AZ or NV. I picked every state except got burned on GA. I don’t know why pollsters don’t give this spread.
"But here we are; this is what we got. The legal system may be our last line of defense, and that's a shame."
That is more than a shame. More than sad. That is frightening when one considers that there are people in that system such as U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon. So, what else have we got?
Well, we've got Liz Cheney, who's become the prima facie example of why there's nothing inherently wrong or *evil* with being a conservative or a Republican if, while being those things, one steadfastly refuses to cross the red line into lip service to the Constitution, the rule of law and to our liberal democratic institutions and processes in the pursuit of political power or personal gain. That so many of her fellow conservatives and Republicans have crossed that line - or have failed to raise so much as a whisper to denounce and object to those who have - is the root cause of her now being so much in the limelight, and the reason we now must contemplate 'lawyers' as our last line of defense in this fight to 'save democracy' in our country. And as robust as her efforts are in that endeavor, Liz ain't gonna' be able to do it by herself. So, what else do we have?
Ourselves. Which is where the ultimate responsibility for the preservation of what we hold dear in our country is vested. And we should be contemplating our own roles as individuals in being that last line of defense for that which we hold so dear.
Don't ask me what *you* can do. I don't know. I know we all want answers to that question, but I don't have them. I can only speak to what I can do. Which is vote, of course. But also, I can take inspiration from Lincoln's words. And add resolve from Cheney's example to my determination to look for any opportunity to stand up for 'what's right' as I go about my daily life, be that in how I respond to a neighbor or co-worker promulgating the lies and deceit that have led us to where we now find ourselves, or donating money to a candidate who's worthy of representing me and the ideals that our country is supposed to stand for in our halls of government, or simply by speaking or behaving in a way toward someone of a different political outlook that shows them *I* am not their enemy, that their true enemy is to be found elsewhere.
These things I can do. And I will do them, along with anything else I can conjure. Beyond that, I can only suggest that we all contemplate the words of a former President of our country, which I heard as a child. And set aside all partisan bias and take them at face value. And hopefully adopt them as our own:
"In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from the responsibility. I welcome it."
It is indeed sad that many institutions have been weakened and that it has come down to the law. So far, it is holding but there are issues. One are the judges appointed by Trump. Many are good, but I wonder how many are similar to Aileen Cannon. If I recall, a number of those nominated were found to be unqualified by the bar association. And there is the report about Jones Day law firm and their work to support Trump's judicial picks. This institution is certainly under attack as well.
When you look at the statistical data, crime has been on a downward trend for quite some time.
Despite that fact, people have historically believed that crime is worse now than it was before--year after year despite the downward trend.
This is (TLDR version) an artifact of the media culture that we have--accounting for political messaging as part of that media culture.
Violent crime is currently up, but is still lower than it was in the 90s. This is attributable to several factors most of which have more to do with the psychology and culture of the time (the political and cultural extremism) than with law enforcement action.
Property crime continues to go down.
The reality is that crime is not an actual issue--it is in most cases an issue of perception vice reality. Your stance on crime vis-a-vis politics isn't about crime but about (political) identity, for the most part.
https://www.statista.com/topics/2153/crime-in-the-united-states/#topicHeader__wrapper
Americans relying on *lawyers* to save democracy (lol) might be the most depressing thing I've ever heard. I guess we should ask ourselves which side has the best lawyers that money can buy, the government or a very very rich billionaire? Because juries are composed of very simple people, only one of whom the best lawyer money can buy needs to turn into a 1-vs-11 juror. Wealth inequality leads to inequality of education, and inequality of education leaves us with very simple jurors uncapable of saving democracy.
By allowing private citizens to become more powerful than the government through wealth-hoarding, we have at the least sold ourselves to an oligarchy through our embrace of Reaganism and wealth-worshipping, and at the worst we have let democracy fall to an oligarchy through our embrace of Reaganism and wealth-worshipping. Here we are folks, at the center of our decadence and wealth-chasing fuckin HOPING that the lawyers will save us lmfao.
You can thank the Republicans for the economic illiterates and idiots. Republicans have waged a forty year war on public education by decreasing funding and/or trying to privatize public education with charter schools user taxpayer money or voucher programs for private schools. Add in that many people are just intellectually lazy.
This week's Paola Ramos's Field Report focuses on Republican Maya Flores and her Evangelical supporters. Flores is interesting because she is a former Democrat "converted" to the Republicans for religious reasons. And she flipped a traditionally Latino-dominated south Texas district from blue to red in a special election earlier this year. What makes this show poignant is Flores's sincerity, her basic decency, and her naïveté.
One of the basic ideas through Ramos's show is how many Latinos who habitually voted Democratic have come to discover that Democrats simply don't represent their values, which they define as God, family, country. The Republican Party, in their view of it, comes much closer to representing those conservative values than the Democratic Party, so why do they just mindlessly vote Democrat?
That's very powerful question to pose to Latinos who have voted for Democrats not out of conviction but out of habit. There are a lot of Latinos in Texas and elsewhere right now that are being confronted with that question, and what answer do the Democrats have for them? That they're not as mean as Republicans on immigration?
That is very weak tea compared to the need so many people feel for their politics to align with their deepest metaphysical longings. That's what explains both Meloni in Italy and Flores in Texas--there is this deep desire for a more meaningful politics, a politics that is not just about fixing bridges and paying medical bills, a politics that aligns the world down here with the world up there. Such a longing, whether on the Left or the Right, seeks a cure that is worse than the disease, but is nevertheless something that has to be understood and confronted by Democrats better than they do.