"Remember when the Republican Party brand was all about freedom?"
No, I don't. Ever since I was a young lad (Shaker Heights, Ohio in the mid-to-late-1960s), all I can remember about the Republican Party was their efforts to keep people from voting (a strictly local effort back then, mind you) for then-Democratic-mayoral-candidate Carl Stokes. And then came Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon and the "Southern Strategy". (Stifling Black votes was a *HUGE* part of that -- but, again, mainly at the local level) Then came Ronald Reagan -- and, IIRC, the first efforts to keep people (not *just* Blacks, now, but Hispanics/Latinos, students, and other perceived political foes) from voting on a *National* level. So, no; I can't remember the Republican Party ever being about "freedom". I can only remember it being about "You can't vote!"
It was never actually about freedom, of course. But they talked like it was. And to some extent they acted, at least performatively, as though they believed it was. But they have shed any pretense, for sure.
The Republicans have only two strategies:wage suppression and voter suppression. They have no interest in governing,they only want to rule. They will use any means at their disposal to block the will of the majority.
We keep talking about the republicans like they are these masterminds of corruption. They are morally corrupts for sure but they didn't get here on their own. The billionaire support and direction that the billionaires have been giving to republicans is astonishing. The enemy of democracy are the billionaires holding the coin purse and puppet strings. The republicans did not come up with all of this on their own, even 45 has been under the influence other billionaire money. Look behind the Tubervilles, McCarthy's, etc and they are all on a billionaire's teat.
My home state of Ohio is absolutely hell-bent on wearing the crown of Most Corrupt State in the Union. The ballot language proposed for November is actually SHORTER, and more coherent, than what the criminals...er, Republicans, substituted. And the fiasco around the gerrymandered maps just gets more bizarre by the day! The map the criminals...er, Republicans rammed through is worse than what was deemed illegal. All this, and our criminal...er, Republican Sec of State, LaRose - the creep running against Sherrod Brown for Senate - is spending around $600,000 to move the SOS offices into a new, out-of-the-way building, that JUST SO HAPPENS to also house his campaign headquarters. All this just months after our former State Speaker of the House was convicted of corruption, and sentenced to 20 years. And the beat goes on here in the Buckeye State!
Daniel, writing to you as a native Ohioan in the fake elector state of Arizona. Midwesterners have lost their “polite status,” it would seem. And while I was not in Ohio to experience LaRose, I miss Cincinnati LaRosa’s pizza something fierce! Lol! Thanks for calling out the BS. I was pleasantly surprised to see the results of the special election and I am feeling optimistic about 2024. 💙
Guess all states have their issues, huh? I'm in the Cleveland area, so not familiar with your favorite pie, but I have a nephew on the Kentucky side of Cincy, so next time I visit, I'll force him to indulge me!! And if you find yourself in the Cleveland area for whatever reason, I can't recommend Petti's Pizza any higher than you do LaRosa's! With what's going on in Ohio these days, we can't afford to be polite anymore. But, so far, we're not being subjected to the likes of Kari Lake, thank goodness!!
Yep, she is pretty cuckoo! No doubt and ahe just won’t stop. I’m glad our governor, atty general, and sec’y of state are all blue now. Really, really hoping we can get our Legislature to become all blue in the coming years. We are purple there. ...Petti’s pizza, I’ll make a mental note of it.
Yes, I like that too. What I like about a flopping fish on the dock is that they know there is a point at which they will die out of water and the closer they get to death, the harder and more desperately they will flop. That's how Republicans seem to me.
Not Over till The Fat Lady sings ! . .oh wait . .He Is the Man Woman(cameratv) Person. .and probably not the athletic 215lbs claimed. . .and Germanic enuff for a clown Brunhilde . .
The biggest reason they’re fighting so hard to restrict the vote is similar to the rise of Nazi Germany. Hitler was able to force his appointment as Chancellor, since the Nazi party had done well enough in the Reichstag elections to be the largest party in the parliament. Thus, they could sabotage any other person that was put in the role. That made it a legal takeover of the German government. This is why the current MAGAts in the Republican Party are trying to use legal means (even if they are unethical) to gain the upper hand.
What I don't understand is why so few people, especially those who claim to be "progressive", aren't standing up against this crap in large enough numbers to make a good case against this. And the media isn't doing much to wake people up, either...
I think many on the left simply think it's self-evident and doesn't need pointing ouit. We can be a bit dense about the impact of lies and propaganda. The fact is it requires constant pushback.
And where are the many Democrats doing the pushback? A lot of what I see, especially from those in Congress, is crying and complaining about the Republicans, but aren't standing up, united and strong against what the Republicans are doing, or even trying to unite the people behind their effort to undo what the Republicans are doing. That's just about as bad as what the Republicans are doing...
Re: Alabama's defiance of the Milligan decision...the state is evidently banking on a "change of heart" by Justice Brett "I love beer" Kavanaugh, who, in his concurring opinion in Milligan, allowed that Sect.2 of the VRA "can't go on indefinitely", in the manner of the Shelby County opinion shutting down "preclearance", saying essentially its time has passed, and we all move on. So it will be very interesting indeed if Kavanaugh puts down his flagon of brewski and recants his original decision on appeal and flips, agreeing NOW that it's time to "sunset" Sect.2. Who knows, because Alabama NEVER made the "sunset" argument originally, but now may take advantage of the opening that Kavanaugh suggested when arguing the appeal in front of SCOTUS...don't count on that second Congressional district in AL just yet, nor any other in LA, GA, or other venues where a Milligan challenge is mounted by progressive organizations
Great article that sums up the grotesque tactics of the current Republican Party. They are definitely in the final stages of Political Drunkenness I describe in my latest article. Take a read and see if you agree:
Sorry, but to my eyes at least it looks like the Democratic Party in cahoots with big tech and the intelligence community are the true threat to our democracy.
It's funny, Matt Taibbi made this whole splash with cherry picked information handed to him by Musk as part of the "Twitter files" in which he tried to implicate Biden in some untoward influence over tech when he wasn't even president. Who was president? Oh yeah, Trump! And Taibbi even had to admit that Trump used Twitter to suppress stories himself. As President. So this idea that somehow Democrats have some unique infuence over big tech is absurd. Look at who the biggest pages on Facebook are: yes, right wing pages. And no one has weaponized the intelligence community and DOJ as president more than Trump. What evidence is there that this is somehow a Democratic thing? You are citing people who are openly hostile to Democrats. They have an agenda and you are just parroting Trump/Jim Jordan talking points.
Good try, but the preponderance of the evidence goes overwhelmingly the other way. You could call it cherry picking were there not so damn many cherries to pick, hundreds in fact, which go all the way back to 2016 and before (remember Russia Gate?) and have nothing to do with Biden. Mentioning his name in this context is just a red herring.
Incidentally, in addition to Taibbi and Greenwald, I would recommend Michael Tracy's tweets for anyone interested in this question. Those three are, in my view, the most talented independent journalists in America right now.
"Remember when the Republican Party brand was all about freedom?"
No, I don't. Ever since I was a young lad (Shaker Heights, Ohio in the mid-to-late-1960s), all I can remember about the Republican Party was their efforts to keep people from voting (a strictly local effort back then, mind you) for then-Democratic-mayoral-candidate Carl Stokes. And then came Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon and the "Southern Strategy". (Stifling Black votes was a *HUGE* part of that -- but, again, mainly at the local level) Then came Ronald Reagan -- and, IIRC, the first efforts to keep people (not *just* Blacks, now, but Hispanics/Latinos, students, and other perceived political foes) from voting on a *National* level. So, no; I can't remember the Republican Party ever being about "freedom". I can only remember it being about "You can't vote!"
It was never actually about freedom, of course. But they talked like it was. And to some extent they acted, at least performatively, as though they believed it was. But they have shed any pretense, for sure.
The Republicans have only two strategies:wage suppression and voter suppression. They have no interest in governing,they only want to rule. They will use any means at their disposal to block the will of the majority.
We keep talking about the republicans like they are these masterminds of corruption. They are morally corrupts for sure but they didn't get here on their own. The billionaire support and direction that the billionaires have been giving to republicans is astonishing. The enemy of democracy are the billionaires holding the coin purse and puppet strings. The republicans did not come up with all of this on their own, even 45 has been under the influence other billionaire money. Look behind the Tubervilles, McCarthy's, etc and they are all on a billionaire's teat.
My home state of Ohio is absolutely hell-bent on wearing the crown of Most Corrupt State in the Union. The ballot language proposed for November is actually SHORTER, and more coherent, than what the criminals...er, Republicans, substituted. And the fiasco around the gerrymandered maps just gets more bizarre by the day! The map the criminals...er, Republicans rammed through is worse than what was deemed illegal. All this, and our criminal...er, Republican Sec of State, LaRose - the creep running against Sherrod Brown for Senate - is spending around $600,000 to move the SOS offices into a new, out-of-the-way building, that JUST SO HAPPENS to also house his campaign headquarters. All this just months after our former State Speaker of the House was convicted of corruption, and sentenced to 20 years. And the beat goes on here in the Buckeye State!
Daniel, writing to you as a native Ohioan in the fake elector state of Arizona. Midwesterners have lost their “polite status,” it would seem. And while I was not in Ohio to experience LaRose, I miss Cincinnati LaRosa’s pizza something fierce! Lol! Thanks for calling out the BS. I was pleasantly surprised to see the results of the special election and I am feeling optimistic about 2024. 💙
Guess all states have their issues, huh? I'm in the Cleveland area, so not familiar with your favorite pie, but I have a nephew on the Kentucky side of Cincy, so next time I visit, I'll force him to indulge me!! And if you find yourself in the Cleveland area for whatever reason, I can't recommend Petti's Pizza any higher than you do LaRosa's! With what's going on in Ohio these days, we can't afford to be polite anymore. But, so far, we're not being subjected to the likes of Kari Lake, thank goodness!!
Yep, she is pretty cuckoo! No doubt and ahe just won’t stop. I’m glad our governor, atty general, and sec’y of state are all blue now. Really, really hoping we can get our Legislature to become all blue in the coming years. We are purple there. ...Petti’s pizza, I’ll make a mental note of it.
A Faustian Bargain
They knew he was a Total spoiled brat Jerk
but maybe with Guard Rails it could work
And doin What you have to! to Win . .In Politics
is no Big Sin. .until .. Yuge Surprise .. a He Touches
It Dies . .put The Grand Old under the dirt . .
#Karma Shave
Thank you for drawing attention to the GQP's shameful attack on democracy.
Democrats have to just work to get them voted out. It will be a heavy lift but I'm in for it.
So true about the desperate Replifascicans - but perhaps an even better analogy is a cornered rat.
Yes, I like that too. What I like about a flopping fish on the dock is that they know there is a point at which they will die out of water and the closer they get to death, the harder and more desperately they will flop. That's how Republicans seem to me.
That's a very good point in its favor. I'm hoping the Republican party is so completely crushed in 24 that it ceases to be a major party.
Tick tock
Not Over till The Fat Lady sings ! . .oh wait . .He Is the Man Woman(cameratv) Person. .and probably not the athletic 215lbs claimed. . .and Germanic enuff for a clown Brunhilde . .
The biggest reason they’re fighting so hard to restrict the vote is similar to the rise of Nazi Germany. Hitler was able to force his appointment as Chancellor, since the Nazi party had done well enough in the Reichstag elections to be the largest party in the parliament. Thus, they could sabotage any other person that was put in the role. That made it a legal takeover of the German government. This is why the current MAGAts in the Republican Party are trying to use legal means (even if they are unethical) to gain the upper hand.
What I don't understand is why so few people, especially those who claim to be "progressive", aren't standing up against this crap in large enough numbers to make a good case against this. And the media isn't doing much to wake people up, either...
I think many on the left simply think it's self-evident and doesn't need pointing ouit. We can be a bit dense about the impact of lies and propaganda. The fact is it requires constant pushback.
And where are the many Democrats doing the pushback? A lot of what I see, especially from those in Congress, is crying and complaining about the Republicans, but aren't standing up, united and strong against what the Republicans are doing, or even trying to unite the people behind their effort to undo what the Republicans are doing. That's just about as bad as what the Republicans are doing...
Re: Alabama's defiance of the Milligan decision...the state is evidently banking on a "change of heart" by Justice Brett "I love beer" Kavanaugh, who, in his concurring opinion in Milligan, allowed that Sect.2 of the VRA "can't go on indefinitely", in the manner of the Shelby County opinion shutting down "preclearance", saying essentially its time has passed, and we all move on. So it will be very interesting indeed if Kavanaugh puts down his flagon of brewski and recants his original decision on appeal and flips, agreeing NOW that it's time to "sunset" Sect.2. Who knows, because Alabama NEVER made the "sunset" argument originally, but now may take advantage of the opening that Kavanaugh suggested when arguing the appeal in front of SCOTUS...don't count on that second Congressional district in AL just yet, nor any other in LA, GA, or other venues where a Milligan challenge is mounted by progressive organizations
Projection of Democrat behaviour at its best!!!
Great article that sums up the grotesque tactics of the current Republican Party. They are definitely in the final stages of Political Drunkenness I describe in my latest article. Take a read and see if you agree:
https://open.substack.com/pub/thinkeratthegates/p/the-stages-of-political-drunkenness?r=28s97t&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
The Guard Rail . .
and There once was a silly General Milley
who didn't realize It's All about Killing
and Slitting a Prisoner's throat . .unless
you're a Snowflake dope.. doesn't mean
No Medal ! . .since some Duty supposedly
(for Losers) not fulfilling . ..
#Not a Savvy Genius
“Take it away” sound like a song lyric fit for the occasion.
Sorry, but to my eyes at least it looks like the Democratic Party in cahoots with big tech and the intelligence community are the true threat to our democracy.
Based on what? Please explain. Not dissing or dumping on you, I sincerely want to know.
I base it on listening to Glenn Greenwald on Rumble. Here is a link: https://rumble.com/c/GGreenwald. Also on Matt Taibbi and Walter Kern's weekly conversations on Substack: https://www.racket.news/s/america-this-week
It's funny, Matt Taibbi made this whole splash with cherry picked information handed to him by Musk as part of the "Twitter files" in which he tried to implicate Biden in some untoward influence over tech when he wasn't even president. Who was president? Oh yeah, Trump! And Taibbi even had to admit that Trump used Twitter to suppress stories himself. As President. So this idea that somehow Democrats have some unique infuence over big tech is absurd. Look at who the biggest pages on Facebook are: yes, right wing pages. And no one has weaponized the intelligence community and DOJ as president more than Trump. What evidence is there that this is somehow a Democratic thing? You are citing people who are openly hostile to Democrats. They have an agenda and you are just parroting Trump/Jim Jordan talking points.
Good try, but the preponderance of the evidence goes overwhelmingly the other way. You could call it cherry picking were there not so damn many cherries to pick, hundreds in fact, which go all the way back to 2016 and before (remember Russia Gate?) and have nothing to do with Biden. Mentioning his name in this context is just a red herring.
Incidentally, in addition to Taibbi and Greenwald, I would recommend Michael Tracy's tweets for anyone interested in this question. Those three are, in my view, the most talented independent journalists in America right now.
Elon Musk seems to disagree with you on this point.