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The state of democracy in America.

Satchel

By Satchel
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Willfully Horn

Willfully Horn 8204

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On 12/10/2021 at 6:29 PM, Biff Tannen said:

The politicians are doing it to maintain power, full stop. The voters are too stupid to understand what they are doing and what the consequences will be. 

I’d add a third grouping, one that contains people who are aware of the unAmerican goals and cheer. On this site alone there are probably quite a few who deserve to be so recognized. I think it’s possible they are motivated by their investments not returning as they hoped, and are steamed the status quo market is killing it.

But, no matter why, only @Zeus has raised a hand. So far.

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Mrs Whiggins

Mrs Whiggins 13050

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C'mon guys, don't you know that *checks notes* Tristan publicly apologized to Khloe and that's really what's important right now? That a rocky relationship between two (um, okay more than two) people is everyone's business and our focus needs to be on healing that right now instead of the crumbling institutions upon which we rely to function as a democratic republic? That the day before the anniversary of an attempted thwarting of certifying election results in an attempt to keep an authoritarian ruler in office indefinitely aka a coup is nothing compared to the shattered hearts and dreams of people fans who like to compare and contrast their lives to those in the public eye. And LeBron and Tristan need to make up as well or at least stay focused so that the fantasy leagues of thousands lives of complete strangers don't hang in the balance.

Get it right people.

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Satchel

Satchel 6982

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What chaps me more than anything is the number of young people who know more about DaBaby than they know about the emerging threat to a democratic America. Hell, if more people don’t take stock and soon, they’ll look up and DaBaby will be outlawed.

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pyrohornIII

pyrohornIII 4844

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6 hours ago, Satchel said:

Does it concern the rest of you that so many people don’t seem worried about the threat to democratic norms in this country? As we sit idly by, Republicans are legislating radical changes to our electoral processes at the state and local levels to ensure what Steve Brannon calls 100 years of Republican reign (which is eerily similar to Hitler’s 1000 year Reich). It seems that the majority of the country is not taking this threat seriously. I don’t understand why.

I agree with Brisket on this.  Too many people believe that American governance is bulletproof to these types of coups.   Just like they believed the Titanic was unsinkable.  Until it wasn't.  

4 hours ago, Satchel said:

What chaps me more than anything is the number of young people who know more about DaBaby than they know about the emerging threat to a democratic America. Hell, if more people don’t take stock and soon, they’ll look up and DaBaby will be outlawed.

And how long has it been since they removed government from the mandatory list of classes?  I blame some of this on the fact that they get the dullest, dumbest people to teach government in high school.  Usually a coach.  

 

I think eventually the GQP will tell enough lies to enough people and then not follow through, thus they will lose votes.  But I fear either the earth will be well past the tipping point by then and/or Bezos and all the other upper  elite will have sucked all the money out of the world.  

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Satchel

Satchel 6982

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America is suffering from a collective inability to think critically. Prior to 2016, you could not have made me believe that we would all have our own personal truths or that anybody in this country would camp out in Dealy Plaza awaiting the return JFK and his son. It seemed kinda cool for awhile to encourage people to walk in their own truth, until Trump beguiled half of the country into believing  his delusional version of truth. As a result, nearly 70% of Republicans believe President Biden was not fairly erected 
It pains me to acknowledge that black people have fewer voting rights today than we had in 1965. Republicans, for the first time since the 1960s, oppose protecting the voter franchise for all Americans. Something is awfully wrong, and as optimistic as I usually am, I’m less sanguine about our future.

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pyrohornIII

pyrohornIII 4844

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I agree.  First it was the stuffed suit Quayle, then the idiot Palin, and they both paved the way for Trump.    

On the other hand, the further they move the scale to ignorant, the more voters they lose.  So maybe there's still a chance.  But self serving morons like Manchin and Sinema are like wolves in sheeps' clothing devouring the herd from the inside.  Being just like their Republican counterparts, just blocking and never offering any cogent or workable alternatives.

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ROFL BOX

ROFL BOX 6654

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10 hours ago, SmokeyTheBear said:

We as a country don't do well with slow moving things. This has been in the works for decades in broad daylight. But because it's not all done within a tweet, we can't see the danger. 

On the contrary, it has been said on many an occasion that the Founders designed our 3 legged system this way on purpose.  The ship ain't supposed to turn quickly.

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SmokeyTheBear

SmokeyTheBear 5569

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3 hours ago, ROFL BOX said:

On the contrary, it has been said on many an occasion that the Founders designed our 3 legged system this way on purpose.  The ship ain't supposed to turn quickly.

I agree on that. However, perception and awareness of that long turning of the ship into the iceberg is what I'm talking about. 

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Mrs Whiggins

Mrs Whiggins 13050

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15 hours ago, Satchel said:

What chaps me more than anything is the number of young people who know more about DaBaby than they know about the emerging threat to a democratic America. Hell, if more people don’t take stock and soon, they’ll look up and DaBaby will be outlawed.

The movie, 'Don't Look Up,' was focused on climate change as a threat, but one could certainly consider the main plot surrounding it as supportive of any topic in which we should pay more attention (as a danger).

With respect to young people, it's why the GOP has been holding conference after conference, and trying to get certain social media platforms goingfor recruitment (and radicalization)--or the juvenile LGB phrase--while it appealed to an older demographic of immature adults, it got rolling thanks to campaigns that encouraged its use by young people-the ones who find anti-authority appealing and yet value conformity to the group.

The white male GOP groups with power are not going to just give it away, so they are going to attempt to preserve it through a coordinated effort of recruitment towards groups they desire and encouraging pessimism/nihilism to groups they don't (never mind about disenfranchisement, a whole other strategy that has its own thread). Growing their young base is how the power is handed down.

 

I'm a Karen aged white mom, so what do I know?

I know that the young people CAN be much more than what we 'olds' think they are. And you know who gets young people talking? Other young people.

The amazing poetess, Amanda Gorman, got everyone buzzing. The K Pop crews that live in America--they are a force! There are more wonderful examples but I'll stop for brevity.

And we (olds) stupidly pat these enthusiastic talented engaged young people on the head when they are finished instead of bringing them and their ideas to share and learn more. Just as older adults can provide experience and hard won at that, so can young people provide their own experience and perspective.

That the Democratic Party seems (to  me) to be almost scared that they will turn away older voters (like me) is so amazingly stupid in some respects. I WANT my children to exist in a world where compassion and cooperation are seen as positives. Where ethics matter. Gorman did not write that poem for it to sit idle on a bookshelf or stuffed in a drawer.

 

A relevant excerpt from it for today....

If we’re to live up to our own time
then victory won’t lie in the blade
but in all the bridges we’ve made.
That is the promise to glade,
the hill we climb
if only we dare it,
because being American is more than a pride we inherit —
it’s the past we step into
and how we repair it.
We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation
rather than share it
would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy.

---Amanda Gorman

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Willfully Horn

Willfully Horn 8204

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I’m not up to date here, but I want to post this Stonekettle piece in this thread. It speaks to how we got to this place. Jim Wright (Stonekettle) was a military officer in intelligence, and served during much of the time this essay covers.

I hesitate to choose a quote, as this piece covers so much territory. This shit dates back to the 1950s.

 

https://www.stonekettle.com/2022/01/insurrection-one-year-on.html?m=1

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31984

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On 1/6/2022 at 8:22 AM, Sawbonz said:

Walk me through this one

Well, I think what he means is VRA was passed in 1965 and it has now been eroded considerably, almost down to nothing, but not quite.

But, it was probably five or more years before VRA started to have significant impact on minority voting rights.

So, it might be more accurate to say "more rights than in 1970 or 1975."

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WhatTheBuck

WhatTheBuck 28904

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23 hours ago, Willfully Horn said:

I hesitate to choose a quote, as this piece covers so much territory. This shit dates back to the 1950s.

Here are a couple which a number of us also pointed out in the Turd Blossom thread:

Quote

This morning, Karl Rove -- yes, that Karl Rove -- penned an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, that stodgy musty wool-smelling bastion of Republican ideology, where he straight-facedly declared with all the self-awareness of a dog licking its own asshole on a public sidewalk that the GOP has a "duty to condemn the riot and those who refuse to acknowledge it."

Quote

How did we get here? 

Well, guys like Karl goddamn Rove, that's how.

 

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WhatTheBuck

WhatTheBuck 28904

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Another quote from that article, also an observation we’ve made here before:

Quote

How did we get here? To this moment?

(...)*

President Barack Obama.

*That’s how.

Because the election of a young, dynamic, smart, educated, articulate, kind, compassionate, and funny liberal black man galvanized the foul racist mean underbelly of this country like nothing else ever had. 

Those who attacked the Capitol a year ago today. They are in almost every regard, the antithesis of Barack Obama, mean, crude, uneducated, ill spoken, filled with rage and blind ignorant loud blustering false patriotism.

If Obama divided the country, that’s how. Some white people went nuts over a black man being elected President. I never saw that coming. I’ve heard people use the term “blacklash” to describe the response. I’ve noted that the Jan. 6 insurrectionists were a mob so white that even the person holding the “Blacks for Trump” sign was a white dude.

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Satchel

Satchel 6982

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On 1/6/2022 at 8:22 AM, Sawbonz said:

Walk me through this one

Certainly. When Justice Roberts declared the racism that was reflected in voting laws throughout Texas and most of the South, dead, the rights of people of color were immediately imperiled.  As a practical matter, that meant every change that states or VRA-covered localities wanted to make regarding voting — from voter registration to reducing polling stations to changes in election laws — the burden was on them to prove that the proposed voting measures did “not deny or abridge the right to vote on account of race, color, or membership in a language minority group.” If they couldn’t make that case, the measure was not permitted. Now, with the eradication of racism, states like Texas are once again free to enact laws that are intentionally designed to suppress the votes of non dominant culture voters.

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31984

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1 hour ago, Satchel said:

Certainly. When Justice Roberts declared the racism that was reflected in voting laws throughout Texas and most of the South, dead, the rights of people of color were immediately imperiled.  As a practical matter, that meant every change that states or VRA-covered localities wanted to make regarding voting — from voter registration to reducing polling stations to changes in election laws — the burden was on them to prove that the proposed voting measures did “not deny or abridge the right to vote on account of race, color, or membership in a language minority group.” If they couldn’t make that case, the measure was not permitted. Now, with the eradication of racism, states like Texas are once again free to enact laws that are intentionally designed to suppress the votes of non dominant culture voters.

More importantly, those jurisdictions had to seek pre-clearance of any change to voting laws they proposed to make.

Like everything enacted in the last year.

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Satchel

Satchel 6982

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32 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

More importantly, those jurisdictions had to seek pre-clearance of any change to voting laws they proposed to make.

Like everything enacted in the last year.

You are correct. It’s pre 1965 all over again.

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Hookah Horns

Hookah Horns 3089

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On 1/5/2022 at 2:29 PM, Brisketexan said:

This.

We are in for a horrific outcome because

1) the GQP is a full-on authoritarian fascist movement dedicated to the goal of ending the US as a fairly representative republic, and

2) most people who could/would oppose them refuse to believe that the GQP is actually as bad as it is and actually intends to do exactly what it has said it wants to do.

Thus, we have zero chance to stop this.  The fascists are going to win, because everyone else is fucking naive.

 

EDIT: oh, and a key element of the GQP play is misinformation/sowing mistrust of the truth.  They do this by 1) saying that the evil commie dems are planning to do X (ban Christianity, shit like that -- over-the-top insane shit), knowing that none of that will happen, so that 2) when the rest of us point to the GQP's ACTUAL statements about their ACTUAL plans to seize power through violence, they can say "see, this is just hysteria, predicted bad shit like that doesn't happen," pointing to their own insane LIES (that of course did not come to fruition) as proof.  

Say insane bad shit will happen, it does not happen.  Then, when you plan bad shit and someone else says "hey, they are going to do bad shit," point to the example of your own insane predictions not coming true to neutralize any effort to act against your ACTUAL, REAL bad plans.

None of this is novel.  None of it.

They are masters at gaslighting, there's no denying that. 

I think a big part of the problem is the nature of the media. For one, it's more or less always blaring headlines about impending doom that hardly ever comes to pass. And now when there is actually an existential threat to the country that we need the media to hit people over the head with repeatedly, they generally refuse because of both-sides, bias optics bullshit. 

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Satchel

Satchel 6982

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https://twitter.com/Ram_Guha/status/1204973862355492864?s=20

Hitler's Propaganda Minister, Joseph Goebbels, said: "It will always remain one of democracy's best jokes that it provided its deadly enemies with the means by which it was destroyed."

 

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pyrohornIII

pyrohornIII 4844

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On 1/9/2022 at 3:09 PM, Willfully Horn said:

I’m not up to date here, but I want to post this Stonekettle piece in this thread. It speaks to how we got to this place. Jim Wright (Stonekettle) was a military officer in intelligence, and served during much of the time this essay covers.

I hesitate to choose a quote, as this piece covers so much territory. This shit dates back to the 1950s.

 

https://www.stonekettle.com/2022/01/insurrection-one-year-on.html?m=1

This is a great piece and worth the read.  Thanks for posting it.  

 

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Biff Tannen

Biff Tannen 46060

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On 1/9/2022 at 3:09 PM, Willfully Horn said:

I’m not up to date here, but I want to post this Stonekettle piece in this thread. It speaks to how we got to this place. Jim Wright (Stonekettle) was a military officer in intelligence, and served during much of the time this essay covers.

I hesitate to choose a quote, as this piece covers so much territory. This shit dates back to the 1950s.

 

https://www.stonekettle.com/2022/01/insurrection-one-year-on.html?m=1

Hey, Brisket has a blog.  But it is correct.

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Biff Tannen

Biff Tannen 46060

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20 minutes ago, StassneyHorn said:

I’ve posted this in another thread but you can tail Reps/Senators trades

https://app.capitoltrades.com/trades?page=1&pageSize=20
 

https://housestockwatcher.com

https://senatestockwatcher.com

 

Awesome.  Pass a law to outlaw congress critters from participating in the stock market during their tenures (+2 years)  and we could shut this down in 10 seconds.

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Satchel

Satchel 6982

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Why are people more concerned about the fake electors? From the Philly Inquirer:

In December 2020, the idea that state lawmakers could reject the presidential electors of the candidate who won fairly and squarely at the ballot box and replace them with electors from their own party on trumped-up grounds was too far out for most Americans to take seriously. After Jan. 6, it’s no laughing matter. There must be consequences for the people who actually thought this scheme could work in the 2020 contest, or else democracy may be murdered in broad daylight on or about Jan. 6, 2025.

 

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Satchel

Satchel 6982

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I wonder what’s next?
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/09/us/arizona-recording-police-8-feet.html

The governor of Arizona has signed a measure into law that makes it illegal for people to record videos within eight feet of police activity, limiting efforts to increase transparency around law enforcement operations.

The law, signed by Gov. Doug Ducey on Wednesday, goes into effect in September. Many civil rights groups and news media organizations have criticized the measure, which comes after the predominance of cellphone cameras increased public documentation of police activity, including in the high-profile police killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Eric Garner on Staten Island, N.Y.

State Representative John Kavanagh, the bill’s sponsor, said that there was little reason for bystanders to be within eight feet of an on-duty police officer and that the law would protect people from getting close to dangerous situations and prevent them from interfering from police work.

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