If we’ve learned anything at all over the past year or so, it’s that nothing is safe from the ravages of today’s Republican Party. Elections aren’t safe. Look at what they did on January 6. After a defeated Republican president incited a riotous mob of his supporters to attack the Congress of the United States in an attempt to overturn the election he had lost in November, 147 Republican members of congress voted not to certify the electoral outcomes in two swing states that went to Joe Biden, Arizona and Pennsylvania.
The ultimate goals of the GOP and the Christian dominionists are the same: to turn back the clock to around 1850. To take away not only women’s reproductive rights but also their right to vote. To Confine voting rights to white Christian males. To make slavery legal again. To make it legal to prosecute and persecute homosexuals. To replace public education with racially segregated religious schools. To prohibit all scientific research except that for developing more deadly weapons. To do away with all gun control and all environmental regulations. To make all religions other than fundamentalist Christianity illegal. Sound ridiculous and far-fetched? Movements to accomplish all of these goals are already happening.
Agree that they're aiming for pushing us back to where nobody had any rights save for the rich white slaveowners..but there are examples for all to see how it happens. Take a look at Afghanistan. Once a stable country with fairly progressive views, (really!) it has turned into what we would politely call 'hell on Earth' for anyone. It happened within a few decades. It can happen here. Don't ever believe otherwise, which is why everyone has to get out and vote that can. I wonder if Texans who can vote will finally get tired of this crap and get rid of the Republicans? After the last 2 years, I'd have moved out in disgust.
When was Afghanistan "a stable country with fairly progressive views"? Outside of the larger cities, it's long been fragmented, divided by language and ethnic group and geography. This is a big reason that outsiders' attempts to conquer it always fail.
I don’t think it’s really valid to compare the USA with Afghanistan, but I take your point: relentless, ruthless religious fanaticism can triumph anywhere.
The sad thing is that an apparently solid majority of Texas voters are as stupid, willfully ignorant, bigoted and cruel as the evil, vicious politicians they enthusiastically elect.
Thanks for making the connection to Brown v. Board of Education. It's important. It's also important to keep pointing out that these people aren't just Republicans, they aren't just anti-democratic, they aren't just misogynist and racist -- they're white supremacists. I've recommended Heather McGhee's book THE SUM OF US before, but I'm doing so again because she nails it with her "drain the swimming pool" analogy: rather than integrate public pools and other public places, the white supremacists (not all of whom were in the South) chose to shut them down, even though they were depriving themselves of the same public goods. They've been at it at least since the Reagan administration, hiding behind slogans like "The government is the problem." With Covid-19, they know they're putting themselves and their own kids at risk, but since they've got it worked out that it's hurting everyone they hate -- people of color, city people, anyone suspected of voting Democratic, etc. -- they don't care.
Nothing is safe from them. Nothing. They are a clown car of blind, lying, power hungry, suicidal lemmings, relentlessly driving themselves at speed over a very high cliff. They’ve left reason behind them, a thousand miles in the rearview mirror. The extent to which the “leaders” of this insatiable, racist, misogynistic power grab lie and “rationalize” bespeaks a deep and likely irreparable psychopathy – and is straight out of the Nazi playbook. The Nazis had no guiding principles; a close reading of their rise and fall quickly reveals a framework of ignorance, entitlement and decadence that was bound to collapse in shame and squalor. We are looking at that exact dynamic again, with the American right wing.
Unfortunately, this means that the rest of us have to fight like hell, never let our guard down, remain ever vigilant, and commit to protecting ourselves and others for the foreseeable future. We can go over the cliff with them, or we can save what is best about this country. We have the tools. We have indisputable lessons from history that show us how this happens. It remains to be seen if we have the foresight and the will.
In KY, an appeal to a lawsuit striking down the all-employee vaccine mandate for a local major hospital system was filed last week. Signatures included two doctors to whom I was referred for a broken wrist and another medical issue. Seeing the ortho doc tomorrow, and, after getting his assessment, will inform him I'm taking my booboo elsewhere. For the other situation, TBD. What scares me are these idiots are also practicing in the healthcare system.
Oh, Kentucky! The Leatherman Spine hospital and it’s team of crooked orthopedic surgeons who received MILLIONS in kickbacks from Medtronics—and their Bigshot, Dr. Steve Glassman FALSIFIED research results in their favor. Never mind that the patients suffered horribly from Infuse. Today, the doctors still have their ill-gotten $$$$$$, and their licenses to practice. I’d seek care out of state if I were you…
Jay-sus. I had no knowledge of Medtronics. Thank you for the alert. Today, the KY legislature opened its special session and debates mask/vaccination mandates. Our Gov. Beshear did his best to contain Covid, but most of our lawmakers (GOP) are cray-cray.
The GOP will do whatever they believe they can get away with, and it is up to us to stop them. They have no integrity, ethics, or shame. It is disgusting.
Disruption is their platform. Wearing us down is their strategy. If all those people truly did not believe what the medical community tells them, they wouldn't go to a hospital and clog up the ICUs and ERs keeping the rest of us in limbo when we need them.
Repugs really don’t have a platform anymore—family values? Conservative spending? Defense? Morals? Patriotism? GAG me. They are a generation of ME! ME! ME! Tantrums and disingenuous, self righteous indignation. Their “leaders” don’t lead; they just take up whatever mantle will make headlines and votes. America, the Despicable, Home of the Selfish Libertarian idea of “freedom” and the Deplorables.
I spent the last hour writing something that needs more work. But the gist of it is that Republican base has reverted to a tribal state that violently resists any ideas that do not originate within itself. Pretty sad, and very dangerous. Whether the ideas come from medicine, epidemiology, public health, or politics, the result is the same. They would rather die than take direction from outside their small circle, or from experts that include people of color, regardless of those people's professional accomplishments, knowledge, or the consequences of ignoring their urgings and recommendations. Ironically, we abandoned our military effort in Afghanistan, because the Afghan people would not adapt in ways that would allow them to defend themselves against the Taliban, but which would have required them to organize on a national basis, taking direction from a national government. Here we see a similar phenomenon regarding a national response to the pervasive threat of coronavirus being rejected on political grounds by leaders in states dominated by the Republican Party, and worsening the prospects for effectively neutralizing coronavirus by rejecting scientific knowledge and best practices because they did not come from within the Republican voter base.
A working democracy was the one thing the American Republic gave to the world, and which the Republican base rejects out of hand.
There is also the cold calculation by GOP leaders that spreading misinformation and fear regarding vaccines will ultimately kill more minorities/people of color than their own white people. The t-rump worshipers who die are seen by GOP leaders as collateral damage in an ongoing war.
All the bloodshed and war in our name. Now it's infected our whole society. Disdain, disgust and ill feeling... The only hope I feel is in all these great comments and in a quote from Hillary Mantel "The truly old should revert to myth, and live in the greenwood with Robin, spying out for the long curve of that arc that is said to bend towards justice."
Whenever someone of importance, or of no importance but otherwise recognizable, tweets or otherwise release gas, media makes sure we all pay attention. But what about the hundreds of millions of others of us who "follow" such people? I had dinner with one such person last night. She is a kind caring person, a patron to stray cats and rescue dogs. And she is a Republican, as are most people out here. She voted for Trump, and she refuses to get a vaccination. She seems happy, unaware of her inherent contradictions. I cannot understand it.
Thank you for this scathing indictment of the anti American actions being committed by our own domestic Taliban. Every voter needs to understand that we are sitting at a dangerous crossroads as we approach the 2022 elections. Democracy is on the table.
The ultimate goals of the GOP and the Christian dominionists are the same: to turn back the clock to around 1850. To take away not only women’s reproductive rights but also their right to vote. To Confine voting rights to white Christian males. To make slavery legal again. To make it legal to prosecute and persecute homosexuals. To replace public education with racially segregated religious schools. To prohibit all scientific research except that for developing more deadly weapons. To do away with all gun control and all environmental regulations. To make all religions other than fundamentalist Christianity illegal. Sound ridiculous and far-fetched? Movements to accomplish all of these goals are already happening.
Agree that they're aiming for pushing us back to where nobody had any rights save for the rich white slaveowners..but there are examples for all to see how it happens. Take a look at Afghanistan. Once a stable country with fairly progressive views, (really!) it has turned into what we would politely call 'hell on Earth' for anyone. It happened within a few decades. It can happen here. Don't ever believe otherwise, which is why everyone has to get out and vote that can. I wonder if Texans who can vote will finally get tired of this crap and get rid of the Republicans? After the last 2 years, I'd have moved out in disgust.
When was Afghanistan "a stable country with fairly progressive views"? Outside of the larger cities, it's long been fragmented, divided by language and ethnic group and geography. This is a big reason that outsiders' attempts to conquer it always fail.
I don’t think it’s really valid to compare the USA with Afghanistan, but I take your point: relentless, ruthless religious fanaticism can triumph anywhere.
The sad thing is that an apparently solid majority of Texas voters are as stupid, willfully ignorant, bigoted and cruel as the evil, vicious politicians they enthusiastically elect.
Thanks for making the connection to Brown v. Board of Education. It's important. It's also important to keep pointing out that these people aren't just Republicans, they aren't just anti-democratic, they aren't just misogynist and racist -- they're white supremacists. I've recommended Heather McGhee's book THE SUM OF US before, but I'm doing so again because she nails it with her "drain the swimming pool" analogy: rather than integrate public pools and other public places, the white supremacists (not all of whom were in the South) chose to shut them down, even though they were depriving themselves of the same public goods. They've been at it at least since the Reagan administration, hiding behind slogans like "The government is the problem." With Covid-19, they know they're putting themselves and their own kids at risk, but since they've got it worked out that it's hurting everyone they hate -- people of color, city people, anyone suspected of voting Democratic, etc. -- they don't care.
Nothing is safe from them. Nothing. They are a clown car of blind, lying, power hungry, suicidal lemmings, relentlessly driving themselves at speed over a very high cliff. They’ve left reason behind them, a thousand miles in the rearview mirror. The extent to which the “leaders” of this insatiable, racist, misogynistic power grab lie and “rationalize” bespeaks a deep and likely irreparable psychopathy – and is straight out of the Nazi playbook. The Nazis had no guiding principles; a close reading of their rise and fall quickly reveals a framework of ignorance, entitlement and decadence that was bound to collapse in shame and squalor. We are looking at that exact dynamic again, with the American right wing.
Unfortunately, this means that the rest of us have to fight like hell, never let our guard down, remain ever vigilant, and commit to protecting ourselves and others for the foreseeable future. We can go over the cliff with them, or we can save what is best about this country. We have the tools. We have indisputable lessons from history that show us how this happens. It remains to be seen if we have the foresight and the will.
I’m breathless about incentivizing parents to put their children in danger on the taxpayers dime. Pro life indeed.
It's not 'pro life'-it's 'pro-birth'. Big difference. One has consequences and the other one doesn't, according to the GOP.
In KY, an appeal to a lawsuit striking down the all-employee vaccine mandate for a local major hospital system was filed last week. Signatures included two doctors to whom I was referred for a broken wrist and another medical issue. Seeing the ortho doc tomorrow, and, after getting his assessment, will inform him I'm taking my booboo elsewhere. For the other situation, TBD. What scares me are these idiots are also practicing in the healthcare system.
Oh, Kentucky! The Leatherman Spine hospital and it’s team of crooked orthopedic surgeons who received MILLIONS in kickbacks from Medtronics—and their Bigshot, Dr. Steve Glassman FALSIFIED research results in their favor. Never mind that the patients suffered horribly from Infuse. Today, the doctors still have their ill-gotten $$$$$$, and their licenses to practice. I’d seek care out of state if I were you…
Jay-sus. I had no knowledge of Medtronics. Thank you for the alert. Today, the KY legislature opened its special session and debates mask/vaccination mandates. Our Gov. Beshear did his best to contain Covid, but most of our lawmakers (GOP) are cray-cray.
The GOP will do whatever they believe they can get away with, and it is up to us to stop them. They have no integrity, ethics, or shame. It is disgusting.
Disruption is their platform. Wearing us down is their strategy. If all those people truly did not believe what the medical community tells them, they wouldn't go to a hospital and clog up the ICUs and ERs keeping the rest of us in limbo when we need them.
Repugs really don’t have a platform anymore—family values? Conservative spending? Defense? Morals? Patriotism? GAG me. They are a generation of ME! ME! ME! Tantrums and disingenuous, self righteous indignation. Their “leaders” don’t lead; they just take up whatever mantle will make headlines and votes. America, the Despicable, Home of the Selfish Libertarian idea of “freedom” and the Deplorables.
I spent the last hour writing something that needs more work. But the gist of it is that Republican base has reverted to a tribal state that violently resists any ideas that do not originate within itself. Pretty sad, and very dangerous. Whether the ideas come from medicine, epidemiology, public health, or politics, the result is the same. They would rather die than take direction from outside their small circle, or from experts that include people of color, regardless of those people's professional accomplishments, knowledge, or the consequences of ignoring their urgings and recommendations. Ironically, we abandoned our military effort in Afghanistan, because the Afghan people would not adapt in ways that would allow them to defend themselves against the Taliban, but which would have required them to organize on a national basis, taking direction from a national government. Here we see a similar phenomenon regarding a national response to the pervasive threat of coronavirus being rejected on political grounds by leaders in states dominated by the Republican Party, and worsening the prospects for effectively neutralizing coronavirus by rejecting scientific knowledge and best practices because they did not come from within the Republican voter base.
A working democracy was the one thing the American Republic gave to the world, and which the Republican base rejects out of hand.
There is also the cold calculation by GOP leaders that spreading misinformation and fear regarding vaccines will ultimately kill more minorities/people of color than their own white people. The t-rump worshipers who die are seen by GOP leaders as collateral damage in an ongoing war.
All we need is one Blue State to go after guns following the Texas model supported by the Supreme Court...oh boy!!!
All the bloodshed and war in our name. Now it's infected our whole society. Disdain, disgust and ill feeling... The only hope I feel is in all these great comments and in a quote from Hillary Mantel "The truly old should revert to myth, and live in the greenwood with Robin, spying out for the long curve of that arc that is said to bend towards justice."
A republic if you can keep it. Sadly, we could not
Whenever someone of importance, or of no importance but otherwise recognizable, tweets or otherwise release gas, media makes sure we all pay attention. But what about the hundreds of millions of others of us who "follow" such people? I had dinner with one such person last night. She is a kind caring person, a patron to stray cats and rescue dogs. And she is a Republican, as are most people out here. She voted for Trump, and she refuses to get a vaccination. She seems happy, unaware of her inherent contradictions. I cannot understand it.
How far will they go…how high is the sky? Republicans are not dusting off old playbooks, just behaving instinctively.
Thank you for this scathing indictment of the anti American actions being committed by our own domestic Taliban. Every voter needs to understand that we are sitting at a dangerous crossroads as we approach the 2022 elections. Democracy is on the table.