“Bending the knee to Trump is a break with core human values like empathy and decency – and democracy. It’s an expression of approval for lying, cheating, stealing, and attempted insurrection.

This is not simply expressing a preference between the two political parties. This is a far-reaching moral and political choice.”

~ Dan Froomkin

#Trump #Republicans #morality

https://presswatchers.org/2024/03/every-new-trump-endorsement-is-a-story-of-profound-moral-collapse/

"Mitch McConnell, a deeply malevolent bigot who hates democracy and cares only about the consolidation of money and power, announced today that he will step down as leader of the Senate Republican caucus after this November’s elections. …

But Mitch McConnell has never been the problem. A problem, sure. But the problem?"

~ Jamison Foser

#Republicans #Trump #McConnell

/1

https://www.findinggravity.net/p/mitch-mcconnell-was-never-the-problem

"E. Jean Carroll has endured almost five years of hell at the hands of this soulless monster. Even if she never collects a cent from the worthless bum, she has shown the world who he is, what he did, and how he behaves when a woman stands up to him. There should be some sort of civil award for truth-telling and courage for E. Jean Carroll. She certainly deserves it."

~ Lucian K. Truscott

#Trump #EJeanCarroll #defamation #SoulessMonster #crime #LawandOrder

https://luciantruscott.substack.com/p/ka-ching-183-m-65-m-833-million-verdict

"[Milei's] victory [in Argentina] is an international marker, of sorts, for America’s billionaires and largest corporations who share Milei’s desire to end liberal democracy and the so-called 'welfare state' both in Argentina and around the world."

~ Thom Hartmann

#Milei #libertarianism #Argentina #capitalism #RightWing #Republicans

https://hartmannreport.com/p/what-argentinas-new-grand-experiment

"We can arm our people, but we can't house our people. We can load them up like a heavy-weapons platoon, but we can't arrange a one-room efficiency for the winter. We can hand them an AR-15 and say, 'Go with god,' but we can't protect them, and we can't protect our fellow citizens against well-armed madmen. 'Shelter in place' has no chance against 'open carry.'"

#Maine #MassShooting #guns #OpenCarry #violence #AmericanExceptionalism #homeless

/2

Charles Pierce comments on a report by Jenna Russell in New York Times about the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine. Ellis interviewed two homeless men who told her they had moved into the Lewiston park to be near the police station, after new of the shooting broke. They had nowhere to go and thought that might be the safest place.

Pierce writes,

#Maine #MassShooting #guns #OpenCarry #violence #AmericanExceptionalism #homeless

/1

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a45654569/unhoused-men-lewiston-maine-shooting/

nostr:npub1scqmrkwlz5feqca2a26qpdxt747rxuad8u3h6kkktt79pvy8g3kqumjjta Yes, it appears they did just that.

nostr:npub1m8guzyehjtfnd52fc25z2m4wt2q8qefyfemx478tu7cl7yzet0zsvw0nnt Yes. And that makes their outsized influence on the US political process — and through the US political process, the entire globe — all the more troubling. Especially when the Supreme Court bends over backwards to assure that their minority control is cemented into place.

nostr:npub1v6jzr2ma688tcwmrcw8dkr9dsfu6s58ja49tgsrjfg8pdcgn39fs58azzl Same for me. I grow weary of dealing with it.

nostr:npub1l926dp3723cu4yw33my2qpgtelyf00pr9306qz6q9kt6mrrap7zqmj5g4w Yes. Well-stated. That sounds exactly right to me.

nostr:npub15eafd0t9w6vew6yac25205mtfhp5hq0jhs7ka7h86cyx7ssjkepqf8cxnl Perfect — Shelley is the perfect gloss here.

"McCarthy granted the Freedom Caucus a (still undisclosed) set of concessions during his effort to become speaker back in January, and one of those concessions was to lower the threshold for a motion to vacate to just one member. This creates a huge opening to disrupt congressional businesses over grudges, whether they be political or personal."

~ Joe Perticone

#Republicans #McCarthy #Congress

/1

https://presspass.thebulwark.com/p/kevin-mccarthy-is-out

"In the last week alone, Trump called for the execution of a witness in the J6 criminal proceeding (General Milley), called special counsel Jack Smith deranged, said Judge Engoron was deranged and should be disbarred, and said that someone should 'go after' the NY Attorney General. Each of those statements violates the conditions of his release in the DC and Florida federal trials and the Georgia state trial."

#Trump #crime #LawandOrder #violence #intimidation #threats #retribution

/2

"Though on the surface this discussion might seem esoteric, experts who track extremism in the US say that due to their influence on the Republican party, the rightwing intellectuals who espouse these ideas about the attractions of autocracy present a profound threat to American democracy.

Their calls for a “red Caesar” are now only growing louder …."

#democracy #authoritarianism #Caesarism #ClaremontInstitute #Republicans

/2

"As [Trump] continues to face criminal charges in four separate cases, it’s this one, the civil case, that strikes first. And despite Trump’s blustery demeanor and his now-tired cries of witch hunt, this inevitably hits him hard. It’s the end of the myth that he’s a successful businessman."

~ Joyce Vance

#Trump #crime #criminal #fraud #LetitiaJames

https://joycevance.substack.com/p/the-week-ahead-a19

"despised the sight of injured soldiers, slurred soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice as 'losers' and 'suckers' and refused to honor war dead on a rainy day in France because it would muss his hair, is it any wonder that his cult followers have adopted his hostility?"

#Trump #Tuberville #Republicans #military

/2

"There once was a time when politicizing the military was seen as an egregious violation of the responsibility to support the troops. But after the presidency of a man who avoided service by claiming he suffered bone spurs, attacked the heroism of the late senator and prisoner of war John McCain, insulted Gold Star families who suffered the loss of a child in combat," (continued at /2)

~ Steven Beschloss

#Trump #Tuberville #Republicans #military

/1

https://america.substack.com/p/the-demise-of-the-gop

"The Republicans’ willingness to invent a new reason [i.e., border security] for their threatened government shutdown suggests it was never about principle so much as about power. They are quite aware that the cuts the extremists are proposing before they will agree to fund the government are unpopular, so they have manufactured another reason for the shutdown that they hope will be more palatable to the country."

~ Heather Cox Richardson

#Republicans #shutdown

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/september-27-2023

nostr:npub12hrn9dw3fx27hhfawnsjy67507dj2va6pjf47y5q5ak23s8vn7zscg5vh7 Who's the y'all you're addressing?

Jim Stewartson on how and why christofascists are seeking to drive us all off the cliff:

"The instability, hatred and rising threats of violence, specifically the push towards 'race war,' 'holy war,' 'spiritual war,' etc. from propagandists is not just rhetoric. It’s the actual goal, not just of a few extremists, but of large swaths of society."

#christofascists #WhiteChristianNationalists #apocalypse #ReligiousRight

https://www.mind-war.com/p/cheerleading-the-apocalypse