You know which ones they are: Nineteen states have enacted 33 laws that make it harder for people to vote, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
Great enumeration. And Steve Bannon is calling for the Trump supporting army of 20,000 to engage in physical war now. Since he’s going to defy his subpoena, will he end up in jail? Will Mark Meadows et al? They ought to, but the optics are terrifying for the Democrats, clearly. The Democrats are worried, I suspect rightly, that images of Bannon being arrested would indeed provoke violence. But perhaps that’s what is necessary at this point: actually employing the rule of law and flushing out those who would kill the Constitution?
And that’s partly what has brought us to this sorry state of affairs. The Constitution clearly allows for imprisonment. So many shoplifters jailed, so few politicians. Ugh.
I just had another frightening thought. If Republicans win in 2022 and 2024, there would be no need for secession. They could impose their will on all other states.
I'm sure a certain former KGB Lt. Colonel of Foreign Intelligence has noted the following and has taken advantage of it. Why can't we? War is war and our democracy is under genuine threat.
<Narcissistic Personality Disorder:
In the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,
Fifth Edition (DSM-5), [1] NPD is defined as comprising a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), a constant need for admiration, and a lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by the presence of at least 5 of the following 9 criteria:
• A grandiose sense of self-importance
• A preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
• A belief that he or she is special and unique and can only be understood by, or should
associate with, other special or high-status people or institutions
• A need for excessive admiration
• A sense of entitlement
• Interpersonally exploitive behavior
• A lack of empathy
• Envy of others or a belief that others are envious of him or her
• A demonstration of arrogant and haughty behaviors or attitudes
In a proposed alternative model cited in DSM-5, NPD is characterized by moderate or greater
impairment in personality functioning, manifested by characteristic difficulties in 2 or more of the
following 4 areas [2] :
• Identity
• Self-direction
• Empathy
• Intimacy
In addition, NPD is characterized by the presence of both grandiosity and attention seeking.>
We have here a vulnerable fool serving as a central touchstone for several million other vulnerable fools. Are there no psychologists to offer means to shatter him? Again, a war is a war - either win or do not engage, and there is no room for fastidium.
Go to Gettysburg where, in 1863, thousands of men from New York and Maine held off attacks from from Mississippi and South Carolina for half a day. Thousands died as fighting continued into the evening at Little Round Top where men from Alabama were unable to prevail, retreating after a bayonet charge. A complete bloody mess of the dead - horses and humans- was a ghastly sight littering the farm land for weeks. While Non Violent solutions are much preferred, the North and South remain very different places for political affiliations and behavior.
The recent finding by a Federal judge against Florida's anti-abortion law is going to be appealed by Fla to the Federal Appeals Court for the district. That court has slowly, then rapidly during the Trump administration, been filled with right-wingers, who will almost surely overturn the judge's opinion. The GOP has for decades been getting "their" people into all levels of the judicial systems and state bureaucracies. The war Truscott describes has already been lost.
It does seem to me that the congressional Democrats should be focussing on passing at least one of the two voting rights bills before Congress. As much as I want to see the two infrastructure bills passed, without passage of a voting right bill it will all be for naught.
While recovering from a Gauley River Whitewater rafting trip last weekend, I was informed by our guide/shuttle bus announcer, Robert E. Lee had commanded his failed Confederate campaign on a hillside, viewable from my bouncing bus seat on a gravel back country road. Your post just prompted me to further research. Websites note annual re-enactments of our civil warfare. If this political madness continues, we won't need re-enactments. We'll be living the reality of an angry and divided nation. Again.
In so far as the Repubs are against mandates and masks, Carlson's Replacement Theory takes on a whole new meaning, only not that which he intended. I guess we replace them? Now that is a Replacement Theory I can LIVE with!!
A momentary infelicity? I was stopped by the statement, "Five states made it harder to vote for people with disabilities..." I assume you meant "Five states made it harder for people with disabilities to vote" as I have not heard of any attempt to block people from running, just to block certain people from winning by blocking their potential voters from voting.
"They never intended to 'secede.' They intended to win, and run the new country, which would be the South writ large, with slave-owners in power and slavery everywhere." OMG, you are so right, and that *is* what this is about.
This is probably the BEST summary of the state of our "union" I have read to date. I wish we could send it to every newspaper in the land. I shared it on Twitter and FB, but I wish for a far greater readership. It deserves to be shared widely.
The only way a trump america can survive is through war.. That's the real threat. When we're cut off from the rest of the world there will be no barrier to bad behavior. March on Canada, Mexico it doesn't matter what the reason. Get rid of those pesky middle eastern countries that are causing us such trouble. Im so glad Im 72 not 22. Vietnam was bad enough.
The best explanation yet that really illustrates the situation perfectly. What is most troubling though is while we naturally see them all as a very devious cunning dishonest unpatriotic and anti-democratic bunch (which explains their admiration for Trump, they see themselves as patriots fighting an enemy (us). We feel we are fighting for everything that is good and right and just. How do psychologists explain this? If the GOP were a foreign nation we'd certainly consider them as dangerous to our freedom as Russia or China, etc., If I were dictator for a day I'd abolish Republican party as an illegal entity being a threat to our democratic way of life and progression as a free society. I've been watching Hitler's Circle of Evil on Netflix. It is uncanny how much it reminds me of Trump and his inner circle. I do believe that had they all lived in Nazi Germany at the time they would have behaved exactly the same way as them. You may have read the following article or something like it about how we very nearly lost the freedom our armed forces fought and died for over the years.I know Lucian wrote eloquently on this subject too.
I just read an excellent article in New York magazine (online) about an event of which I knew nothing: the New York Police riot of 1992. Despite police denials, the riot was racist AF: It claimed that David Dinkins, the first Black mayor of NYC, was illegitimate pretty much because he was Black. Sound familiar? Another big issue is the notion that *civilians* (horrors!) should oversee the NYPD. And guess who was in the thick of it, egging the cops on? You guessed it: Rudy Giuliani. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/10/the-forgotten-city-hall-riot.html
Great enumeration. And Steve Bannon is calling for the Trump supporting army of 20,000 to engage in physical war now. Since he’s going to defy his subpoena, will he end up in jail? Will Mark Meadows et al? They ought to, but the optics are terrifying for the Democrats, clearly. The Democrats are worried, I suspect rightly, that images of Bannon being arrested would indeed provoke violence. But perhaps that’s what is necessary at this point: actually employing the rule of law and flushing out those who would kill the Constitution?
Rachel Maddow showed there have been no penalties within memory of people punished for ignoring Senate subpoenas.
And that’s partly what has brought us to this sorry state of affairs. The Constitution clearly allows for imprisonment. So many shoplifters jailed, so few politicians. Ugh.
And kids with weed.....
I just had another frightening thought. If Republicans win in 2022 and 2024, there would be no need for secession. They could impose their will on all other states.
I'm sure a certain former KGB Lt. Colonel of Foreign Intelligence has noted the following and has taken advantage of it. Why can't we? War is war and our democracy is under genuine threat.
<Narcissistic Personality Disorder:
In the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,
Fifth Edition (DSM-5), [1] NPD is defined as comprising a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), a constant need for admiration, and a lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by the presence of at least 5 of the following 9 criteria:
• A grandiose sense of self-importance
• A preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
• A belief that he or she is special and unique and can only be understood by, or should
associate with, other special or high-status people or institutions
• A need for excessive admiration
• A sense of entitlement
• Interpersonally exploitive behavior
• A lack of empathy
• Envy of others or a belief that others are envious of him or her
• A demonstration of arrogant and haughty behaviors or attitudes
In a proposed alternative model cited in DSM-5, NPD is characterized by moderate or greater
impairment in personality functioning, manifested by characteristic difficulties in 2 or more of the
following 4 areas [2] :
• Identity
• Self-direction
• Empathy
• Intimacy
In addition, NPD is characterized by the presence of both grandiosity and attention seeking.>
We have here a vulnerable fool serving as a central touchstone for several million other vulnerable fools. Are there no psychologists to offer means to shatter him? Again, a war is a war - either win or do not engage, and there is no room for fastidium.
Go to Gettysburg where, in 1863, thousands of men from New York and Maine held off attacks from from Mississippi and South Carolina for half a day. Thousands died as fighting continued into the evening at Little Round Top where men from Alabama were unable to prevail, retreating after a bayonet charge. A complete bloody mess of the dead - horses and humans- was a ghastly sight littering the farm land for weeks. While Non Violent solutions are much preferred, the North and South remain very different places for political affiliations and behavior.
The recent finding by a Federal judge against Florida's anti-abortion law is going to be appealed by Fla to the Federal Appeals Court for the district. That court has slowly, then rapidly during the Trump administration, been filled with right-wingers, who will almost surely overturn the judge's opinion. The GOP has for decades been getting "their" people into all levels of the judicial systems and state bureaucracies. The war Truscott describes has already been lost.
It does seem to me that the congressional Democrats should be focussing on passing at least one of the two voting rights bills before Congress. As much as I want to see the two infrastructure bills passed, without passage of a voting right bill it will all be for naught.
Powerful column, Lucian, and all too true.
In "Failsafe', there was a 'to the death' between accountants & convicts; unfortunately,
that feels like our Civil War 2.0.
I'll be w/ the CPAs
While recovering from a Gauley River Whitewater rafting trip last weekend, I was informed by our guide/shuttle bus announcer, Robert E. Lee had commanded his failed Confederate campaign on a hillside, viewable from my bouncing bus seat on a gravel back country road. Your post just prompted me to further research. Websites note annual re-enactments of our civil warfare. If this political madness continues, we won't need re-enactments. We'll be living the reality of an angry and divided nation. Again.
In so far as the Repubs are against mandates and masks, Carlson's Replacement Theory takes on a whole new meaning, only not that which he intended. I guess we replace them? Now that is a Replacement Theory I can LIVE with!!
A momentary infelicity? I was stopped by the statement, "Five states made it harder to vote for people with disabilities..." I assume you meant "Five states made it harder for people with disabilities to vote" as I have not heard of any attempt to block people from running, just to block certain people from winning by blocking their potential voters from voting.
huh?
"They never intended to 'secede.' They intended to win, and run the new country, which would be the South writ large, with slave-owners in power and slavery everywhere." OMG, you are so right, and that *is* what this is about.
This is probably the BEST summary of the state of our "union" I have read to date. I wish we could send it to every newspaper in the land. I shared it on Twitter and FB, but I wish for a far greater readership. It deserves to be shared widely.
The only way a trump america can survive is through war.. That's the real threat. When we're cut off from the rest of the world there will be no barrier to bad behavior. March on Canada, Mexico it doesn't matter what the reason. Get rid of those pesky middle eastern countries that are causing us such trouble. Im so glad Im 72 not 22. Vietnam was bad enough.
The best explanation yet that really illustrates the situation perfectly. What is most troubling though is while we naturally see them all as a very devious cunning dishonest unpatriotic and anti-democratic bunch (which explains their admiration for Trump, they see themselves as patriots fighting an enemy (us). We feel we are fighting for everything that is good and right and just. How do psychologists explain this? If the GOP were a foreign nation we'd certainly consider them as dangerous to our freedom as Russia or China, etc., If I were dictator for a day I'd abolish Republican party as an illegal entity being a threat to our democratic way of life and progression as a free society. I've been watching Hitler's Circle of Evil on Netflix. It is uncanny how much it reminds me of Trump and his inner circle. I do believe that had they all lived in Nazi Germany at the time they would have behaved exactly the same way as them. You may have read the following article or something like it about how we very nearly lost the freedom our armed forces fought and died for over the years.I know Lucian wrote eloquently on this subject too.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-senate-democrats-details-trumps-165701172.html
I just read an excellent article in New York magazine (online) about an event of which I knew nothing: the New York Police riot of 1992. Despite police denials, the riot was racist AF: It claimed that David Dinkins, the first Black mayor of NYC, was illegitimate pretty much because he was Black. Sound familiar? Another big issue is the notion that *civilians* (horrors!) should oversee the NYPD. And guess who was in the thick of it, egging the cops on? You guessed it: Rudy Giuliani. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/10/the-forgotten-city-hall-riot.html