The GQP: Trumpist Death Cult

[High Plains Drifter 11049]

On 4/8/2021 at 9:36 AM, Red Five said:

 

 

My ass involuntarily clenches everytime I see that pic.

 

 

[TheStoicPaisano 9922]

8 minutes ago, High Plains Drifter said:

 

My ass involuntarily clenches everytime I see that pic.

Is she on the terlit?

Edited April 14, 2021 by TheStoicPaisano

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

Oh to be a fly at that buffet; hilarious....

 

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

Arizona is heading downhill in an alarming way...

 

[Biff Tannen 45687]

1 hour ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

Arizona is heading downhill in an alarming way...

 

Yeah, AZ going blue felt a little too good to be true.

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

Don't know if this has been posted (either this thread or elsewhere) but there was a really good article in Foreign Policy in February that dives into why the GQP is the way it is:
How to Live With Authoritarians
Democracies have to learn how to manage some people’s innate fears of change.

Quote

In a modern, multicultural society, certain citizens simply become overwhelmed by growing complexity and rapid change. These individuals fear a loss of their social order, status, and familiar way of life. Whether rational or not, this trepidation provokes intolerance of threats to the collective order, in which they are unusually invested. Trump’s support, then, is derived in large part from those who believe he understands and speaks to these kinds of fears.

This finding is not meant to excuse Trump, the overt racism of many of his supporters, nor the very real harm they have caused. It is simply derived from decades of research. About a third of the population in Western countries is predisposed to authoritarianism, which is about 50 percent heritable. Authoritarians have an inherent preference for oneness and sameness; they favor obedience and conformity and value strong leaders and social homogeneity over freedom and diversity. That diversity can take any form: whether based on racial or ethnic lines or moral and political difference. Authoritarianism is also associated with some cognitive limitations. Comparative data suggests that the United States may be somewhat overstocked with authoritarians, though they may simply be more easily identifiable in the country’s high-arousal political environment.

The recommendation for dealing with them is to go ahead and push for progressive change, but do so in a way that is not overtly threatening. "Defund the police," for example, is a really, really stupid advertising gimmick, because it promulgates a GQP response to a clear existential threat. "Put social workers on the police force" is a much more sensible slogan, and effectively accomplishes the stated goals of the "defund" movement.

Of course, on some issues, there's just no way to salve the wounded feelings of the Trumpkins: no amount of rebranding would have changed Barrack Obama into anything other than a black man, and that was just too much for these dingleberries.

[Celery Man 20950]

GQP representative Kevin Brady announcing his retirement

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/04/14/kevin-brady-congress-texas-retirement/

[SydneyCarton 48106]

15 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

GQP representative Kevin Brady announcing his retirement

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/04/14/kevin-brady-congress-texas-retirement/

I wager we'll be seeing Briscoe Cain move to Montgomery County any day now. 

[Beau Vine 54230]

51 minutes ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

Arizona is heading downhill in an alarming way...

Disagree -- the AZ GOP is self-immolating.  This guy is in it for the grift.  When that runs dry, he'll go away quietly.  AZ is consistently a mass migration state, and that has really reached extraordinary levels the past few years.  And that's diluting the support for the AZ GOP.  

[wildcat09 29354]

This could be posted in any number of threads, but this is where the GOP is going:

Quote

All hands on deck as we enter the counter-revolutionary moment.

Let’s be blunt. The United States has become two nations occupying the same country. When pressed, or in private, many would now agree. Fewer are willing to take the next step and accept that most people living in the United States today—certainly more than half—are not Americans in any meaningful sense of the term.

I don’t just mean the millions of illegal immigrants. Obviously, those foreigners who have bypassed the regular process for entering our country, and probably will never assimilate to our language and culture, are—politically as well as legally—aliens. I’m really referring to the many native-born people—some of whose families have been here since the Mayflower—who may technically be citizens of the United States but are no longer (if they ever were) Americans. They do not believe in, live by, or even like the principles, traditions, and ideals that until recently defined America as a nation and as a people. It is not obvious what we should call these citizen-aliens, these non-American Americans; but they are something else.

What about those who do consider themselves Americans? By and large, I am referring to the 75 million people who voted in the last election against the senile figurehead of a party that stands for mob violence, ruthless censorship, and racial grievances, not to mention bureaucratic despotism. Regardless of Trump’s obvious flaws, preferring his re-election was not a difficult choice for these voters. In fact—leaving aside the Republican never-Trumpers and some squeamish centrists—it was not a difficult choice for either side. Both Right and Left know where they stand today… and it is not together. Not anymore.

Those who wanted to Make America Great Again may refer to themselves as Republicans, though many realize that, apart from Trump, the party does not really care about them. Many may also, in some loose way, consider themselves conservatives. But among these plumbers, insurance salesmen, gym owners, and factory workers there’s one question you can pretty much guarantee they never discuss with their family and friends: “What kind of conservative are you?” This question has virtually no bearing on the problems that overshadow their lives.

It is still a question, however, that occupies intellectuals, journalists, and the world of think tanks. And this matters, unfortunately, because however sensible and down to earth the voters may be, an effective political movement needs intellectual leadership to organize and explain the movement’s purposes and goals. This leadership is still divided into—to name a few—neocons, paleocons (not to be confused with paleo-libertarians!) rad-trads, the dissident right, reformicons, etc. A lot of these labels are a distraction. But before I reject these disputes as mostly irrelevant, let me make a couple of points about why we can’t immediately leave this debate behind—and so why an essay like this is necessary.

“The conservative movement” still matters because if the defenders of America continue to squabble among themselves, the victory of progressive tyranny will be assured. See you in the gulag. On the off chance we can avoid that fate, it will only be if the shrinking number of Americans unite and work together. But we can’t simply mandate that conservatives “set aside” their differences, no matter how urgent it is that they do so. So my goal here is to show why we must all unite around the one, authentic America, the only one which transcends all the factional navel-gazing and pointless conservababble.

Practically speaking, there is almost nothing left to conserve. What is actually required now is a recovery, or even a refounding, of America as it was long and originally understood but which now exists only in the hearts and minds of a minority of citizens.

This recognition that the original America is more or less gone sets the Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy apart from almost everyone else on the Right. Paradoxically, the organization that has been uniquely devoted to understanding and teaching the principles of the American founding now sees with special clarity why “conserving” that legacy is a dead end. Overturning the existing post-American order, and re-establishing America’s ancient principles in practice, is a sort of counter-revolution, and the only road forward.

 

Knowing What Time It Is

Claremont was one of the very few serious institutions on the right to make an intellectual case for Trumpism. This is not an accident. Nor is it an accident that Claremont has never identified with any of the conservative (or liberal) factions. When commentators try to label us, they usually just say “Claremont conservatives.” “True MAGAs” is another label—occasionally used by those who think Trump voters inhabit yet another enclosure in the conservative zoo. In fact, however, they are not a partisan faction or an interest group at all. On the contrary, the position they represent transcends the conservative divisions by representing the true, non-partisan understanding of America. (Yes: this is a bold claim. I will defend it in a moment, along with the claim that Trump voters are essentially “Claremont conservatives.”)

The great majority of establishment conservatives who were alarmed and repelled by Trump’s rough manner and disregard for “norms” are almost totally clueless about a basic fact: Our norms are now hopelessly corrupt and need to be destroyed. It has been like this for a while—and the MAGA voters knew it, while most of the policy wonks and magazine scribblers did not… and still don’t. In almost every case, the political practices, institutions, and even rhetoric governing the United States have become hostile to both liberty and virtue. On top of that, the mainline churches, universities, popular culture, and the corporate world are rotten to the core. What exactly are we trying to conserve?

At a basic level, Trump understood this. His problem was that he lacked the discipline to target his creative/destructive tendencies effectively. But even with greater discipline, he still would have lacked the insight to discern and explain what needs to be destroyed and why. His presidency, especially in a second term, might have corrected this deficiency, except that Trump suffered greatly from an absence of good advisors who could help him make sound judgments. This is partly his own fault, thanks to his bombastic vanity, but partly not, since only a handful of such advisors exist—and these few, moreover, have long been unwelcome in the corridors of power inside the Beltway.

Conservatism, Inc. is worse than useless in this regard because it does not understand through perpetual study what Trump grasped by instinct. As if coming upon a man convulsing from an obvious poison, Trump at least attempted in his own inelegant way to expel the toxin. By contrast, the conservative establishment, or much of it, has been unwilling to recognize that our body politic is dying from these noxious “norms.” Keep taking the poison! it advises. A cynic might suppose that many elements on the right have made their peace with (and found a way to profit from) the progressive project of narcotizing the American people and turning us into a nation of slaves.

What is needed, of course, is a statesman who understands both the disease afflicting the nation, and the revolutionary medicine required for the cure. But no such figure has emerged, and it is unreasonable to pin our hopes on such a savior simply turning up.

What, then, are Americans to do?

 

Toward America

First, we need to set goals. It is not enough just to smash all the bad things. Mindless chaos or anarchy is no way to achieve justice. One of conservatism’s huge errors for the last several decades has been to think big concepts like justice and fairness don’t matter. So we allowed the Left to own these ideas. Big mistake! Authentic Americans are men, not gerbils—or robots.

If you are a zombie or a human rodent who wants a shadow-life of timid conformity, then put away this essay and go memorize the poetry of Amanda Gorman. Real men and women who love honor and beauty, keep reading.

Authentic Americans still want to have decent lives. They want to work, worship, raise a family, and participate in public affairs without being treated as insolent upstarts in their own country. Therefore, we need a conception of a stable political regime that allows for the good life.

The U.S. Constitution no longer works. But that fact raises more questions than answers. Can some parts of the system—especially at the local and state level—be preserved and strengthened? How would that work? How do we distinguish the parts that are salvageable from the parts that are hopeless? How did all this happen, anyway? The answers to these questions are not obvious. Having a coherent plan—thinking through what American citizenship used to mean, what made it noble and made the country worthy of patriotic love, and how to rebuild its best elements—requires input from people, and institutions, who have given these matters a lot of thought.

I can’t answer each of these questions in detail, or provide the comprehensive political plan we need. But I can tell you that the Claremont Institute is one of the few places where some answers can be found, and where the essentials for such a plan can be developed. And that gets us back to the question of the divisions within conservatism.

Lots of groups today will tell you what’s wrong with society, in light of their particular theory or doctrine. Anarcho-libertarians, Benedict-option Christians, Bronze-Age insubordinates…. the list of quirky responses to America’s accelerating decline goes on. Each of these schools has some important points to make. Yet none represents, or even claims to represent, the vast numbers of heartland voters who still call themselves Americans, and who can only be organized around a restoration (and explanation) of authentic American citizenship—even if that citizenship is now mostly a cherished idea rather than a reality. Claremont does make that claim. And because what the Claremont Institute understands goes to the roots of human nature, justice, and free government, its teaching may prove to be more useful than any other “doctrine” for recovering a decent way of life—the American way of life.

Part of what makes the Claremont Institute a bit oddly unique—recall its full name—is the belief that political philosophy actually matters for political life. That is why it has always had much more of an academic or scholarly orientation than other think tanks. This focus is not quite so odd when we reflect that the founding fathers read, and cited, quite a lot of political philosophy when they created a novus ordo seclorum and a “more perfect Union.” Nor does it seem quite so strange when we reflect on what is happening to our nation today. As fundamental concepts of equality, rights, consent, tyranny, and the right of revolution force themselves into our thoughts and our speech, Claremont’s devotion to exploring and explaining political philosophy now seems increasingly relevant and even urgent.

What, then, is this thing Claremont tries to teach?

When I say that MAGA voters are Claremont conservatives, and that this transcends any faction, I am referring to the idea that the United States was the first nation in the history of the world explicitly founded on the idea that government derives all its legitimacy from the inalienable rights of the people, and makes their consent essential to the common good and justice. American constitutionalism established a nonpartisan form of government that was genuinely unprecedented.

By saying this, I don’t mean that every prior nation, or regime, was evil—though most had little regard for the welfare of the common man. But even when a monarch or ruling family brought peace and safety to the people, this was simply a matter of luck. Aristotle, the first political scientist, explains in his Politics that the best approximation of justice one can practically hope for is to balance out the different factional interests, which usually boil down to the poor many (the “democrats”) and the rich few (the “oligarchs”). Theoretically, you could have a perfectly wise and just king who ruled purely for the common good, but this was so unlikely as be hardly worth considering. (Monarchy, even in Christian kingdoms, also has a strong tendency to descend into tyranny—a lesson underappreciated by some on the right.)

America’s re-conception of “democracy” differed from what that word had usually meant up to that point. For Aristotle and other political theorists, democracy referred to the factional interest of the poor and the many against the rich and the few. That simply amounted to the majoritarian rule of the mob. But when the American founders rebelled against a divinely anointed king and established republican government on the basis of the natural equal rights of all human beings, they inaugurated a truly radical idea.

The rule of the majority in America would be limited in principle to doing what could only rightly be done by all the people. That is, the majority acting in and through the Constitution, could not infringe the rights of the minority. The government derived its authority from consent of all the American people, who created the Union to protect their natural rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That meant no more kings exercising authority by “divine right”; no more hereditary aristocracy; no more established churches; and no permanent bureaucracy staffed by unaccountable “experts.” For the first time, the idea of a social compact uniting all the people would form a truly nonpartisan regime.

The great difficulty is that this idea only works if everyone agrees—that is, if everyone “gets it” and acknowledges that we are all fellow citizens (friends, ultimately) and that any temporary majority in power must represent the rights and interests of all.

This is the vital heart of what made American self-government work as long as it did. And it is the repudiation of this idea that animates the progressive, or woke, or “antiracist” agenda that now corrupts our republic, assaults our morality, and suffocates our liberty.

 

State of Disunion

Claremont’s intellectual founder, the late professor Harry Jaffa, explains this, and shows why a majority of people living in the United States today can no longer be considered fellow citizens:

The moral education of the whole community in the common natural rights of humanity, as the ground of the social compact, is a necessary condition of free society, of a polity in which majority rule may be combined with minority rights….

By reason of their understanding of what unites them on the fundamental level, the citizens of a free society, while becoming partisans (and even “factions”) with respect to the interests that divide them, will be able to transcend these distinctions, when these threaten the genuine interests they share as fellow citizens. It will teach them, above all, as members of a majority, not to permit the endangering of those rights of the minority, which ought to be their common care.

… [A] free society cannot be neutral towards the convictions of its citizens with respect to their mutual rights and duties. It cannot be neutral towards the morality of citizenship, without being neutral towards itself….

Without that frequent recurrence to (that is to say, frequent re-education in) fundamental principles enjoined by the great documents of the American Revolution “no free government… can be preserved to any people.” These principles as the ground of our patriotism must be defended, whenever the nation itself is defended, if necessary, by the sword. But they cannot be defended politically or by force, if they are not defended first and last, in the souls of the citizens.

 

Jaffa’s students (many connected with the Claremont Institute, but also at places like Hillsdale College) have spent the last 40 years articulating the premises and implications of that somewhat complicated set of ideas. Again, here is not the place to explain this comprehensive political philosophy. The Institute has lots of publications, and several fellowship programs, that provide different pathways to this teaching. This educational project, to the matter at hand, has been partly a failure and partly a success. It has failed inasmuch as we did not persuade a sufficient number of citizens to prevent the political disintegration now occurring before our eyes. Success, over the long term, may still be possible, but it is an open question. In any case, the ultimate outcome will not be due to a lack of trying.

In 1979, the year the Claremont Institute was founded, Charles Kesler—now the eminent gray-haired editor of the Claremont Review of Books—was a young graduate student in political philosophy at Harvard. In a long cover story for National Review (then in its heyday), Kesler wrote, “When the central ideas of our political tradition become blurred and obscured, when Americans no longer understand what it is that makes them a people, then they will cease to be a people, and that noble and reasonable tradition will decay into ideology.” When that happens, the “spiritedness, the prideful assertion of dignity and independence” that characterizes American citizenship “is severed from its connection to reason” and American self-government “collapses upon itself.”

I mention that 42-year-old essay because it shows how long, and how consistently, Claremont scholars have been making these arguments.

Again, this points to both failure and success. In terms of the latter, it is not well appreciated today how Jaffa, Kesler, and other Claremont writers played an enormous role in pushing William Buckley, National Review, and the whole conservative movement toward a greater focus on, and appreciation for, the American founders. A good argument can be made that were it not for Jaffa’s 60 years of influential scholarship (he died in 2015 at the age of 96), the New York Times and its allies would not have found it necessary to launch the 1619 Project. This assault on America’s history and meaning was deemed necessary, at least in part, because of the work of the Claremont school. Without its decades of advocacy and educational programs, the American founding—the Spirit of ’76—would be even more distant and unfamiliar today than it already is.

This understanding of fundamental principles is also why Claremont may be the only “conservative think tank” that can continue to carry on its work—essentially unaltered—in the face of the great revolutionary change we are now experiencing. This is another way of making the point I argued earlier: America, as an identity or political movement, might need to carry on without the United States.

This brings us back to the question of whether the MAGA voters, and Claremont, can become an effective political force. To do so will require not only an understanding of the right principles, but also the detailed knowledge and practical wisdom needed to apply those principles to our specific circumstances. This skill or wisdom points to the virtue of prudence, which Aristotle regarded as the comprehensive moral virtue, and the defining characteristic of the statesman.

In the meantime, give up on the idea that “conservatives” have anything useful to say. Accept the fact that what we need is a counter-revolution. Learn some useful skills, stay healthy, and get strong. (One of my favorite weightlifting coaches likes to say, “Strong people are harder to kill, and more useful generally.”) Also, read some books, like this one, and this one, or any of these; and consider one of the Institute’s fellowship programs, for yourself or a smart young person you know.

It’s all hands on deck now.

I've bolded some of the most notably fascist parts of this. He doesn't come right out and say that the American government needs to be destroyed and replaced with a white supremacist state and that they need to round up all of us who disagree and send us to death camps, but all of the foundations for that argument are there. Those of us who are born here but disagree with him, who he recognizes are a majority of American citizens, aren't really American. We're zombies or human rodents who have corrupted all of America's once-great institutions, so those institutions must now be destroyed.  This is "what should we do about the Jewish Problem?" except not for an ethnic minority, but roughly 200+ million Americans of various racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds.

The scary thing is that this isn't some fringe nonsense. This is what constitutes conservative "intellectualism" today. It's not just hucksters and tv pundits preaching white supremacist rhetoric for ratings, their "intellectuals" are also laying the intellectual and moral foundation for exterminating the rest of us. And there is nobody prominent in American conservatism today offering an alternative. This is the only road being built for American conservativism; there is no other road it can possibly go down.

[Willfully Horn 8017]

33 minutes ago, Walden Ponderer said:

Don't know if this has been posted (either this thread or elsewhere) but there was a really good article in Foreign Policy in February that dives into why the GQP is the way it is:
How to Live With Authoritarians
Democracies have to learn how to manage some people’s innate fears of change.

The recommendation for dealing with them is to go ahead and push for progressive change, but do so in a way that is not overtly threatening. "Defund the police," for example, is a really, really stupid advertising gimmick, because it promulgates a GQP response to a clear existential threat. "Put social workers on the police force" is a much more sensible slogan, and effectively accomplishes the stated goals of the "defund" movement.

Of course, on some issues, there's just no way to salve the wounded feelings of the Trumpkins: no amount of rebranding would have changed Barrack Obama into anything other than a black man, and that was just too much for these dingleberries.

Chamberlain was wrong.

[Brisketexan 105142]

7 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

This could be posted in any number of threads, but this is where the GOP is going:

I've bolded some of the most notably fascist parts of this. He doesn't come right out and say that the American government needs to be destroyed and replaced with a white supremacist state and that they need to round up all of us who disagree and send us to death camps, but all of the foundations for that argument are there. Those of us who are born here but disagree with him, who he recognizes are a majority of American citizens, aren't really American. We're zombies or human rodents who have corrupted all of America's once-great institutions, so those institutions must now be destroyed.  This is "what should we do about the Jewish Problem?" except not for an ethnic minority, but roughly 200+ million Americans of various racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds.

The scary thing is that this isn't some fringe nonsense. This is what constitutes conservative "intellectualism" today. It's not just hucksters and tv pundits preaching white supremacist rhetoric for ratings, their "intellectuals" are also laying the intellectual and moral foundation for exterminating the rest of us. And there is nobody prominent in American conservatism today offering an alternative. This is the only road being built for American conservativism; there is no other road it can possibly go down.

This has been our concern, dude.

[Beau Vine 54230]

15 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

His problem was that he lacked the discipline to target his creative/destructive tendencies effectively.

That's a hell of a combo adjective.  

 

BTW, please tell me that this Claremont place is not affiliated with the universities there...

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

9 minutes ago, Willfully Horn said:

Chamberlain was wrong.

I'm not advocating giving in a single inch on policy. I'm advocating punching them in the fucking nuts, but wearing American flag t-shirts while doing so.

[Bama Chick 28596]

Carnival barkers, the whole sorry lot of them.

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

44 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

This could be posted in any number of threads, but this is where the GOP is going:

I've bolded some of the most notably fascist parts of this. He doesn't come right out and say that the American government needs to be destroyed and replaced with a white supremacist state and that they need to round up all of us who disagree and send us to death camps, but all of the foundations for that argument are there. Those of us who are born here but disagree with him, who he recognizes are a majority of American citizens, aren't really American. We're zombies or human rodents who have corrupted all of America's once-great institutions, so those institutions must now be destroyed.  This is "what should we do about the Jewish Problem?" except not for an ethnic minority, but roughly 200+ million Americans of various racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds.

The scary thing is that this isn't some fringe nonsense. This is what constitutes conservative "intellectualism" today. It's not just hucksters and tv pundits preaching white supremacist rhetoric for ratings, their "intellectuals" are also laying the intellectual and moral foundation for exterminating the rest of us. And there is nobody prominent in American conservatism today offering an alternative. This is the only road being built for American conservativism; there is no other road it can possibly go down.

I looked up the author, Glenn Ellmers. Is he really a writer for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission? (I didn't do a thorough search).

Your second paragraph though is so spot on. Back when Richard Spencer was all the rage, you could see that merging between the (I don't know a good word here) "elite" academics who were wising up to the future demographics and the skinhead/Daily Stormer types who were undergoing a makeover to appear more respectable. Sort of a trend back towards Chamber of Commerce Klan and the wordsmiths who wrote pretty to apply the polish to the white supremacy for the educated. Spencer was ascendant with Trump's election but Charlottesville and other controversies didn't go well for him.

However, all those academic types not being the 'face' of the movement just kept right on writing and generating more material for their cause. I think it is why Stephen Miller was so successful behind the scenes. He was adept at writing supremacy into the very mundane bureaucratic policies so that it was second nature. Just as the old loan policies were written to benefit certain demographics, when one adopts the view as outlined above in your piece, then turning the 'majority' into second class citizens, or noncitizens is easy to do, easy to rationalize, easy to implement.

Oh, as an aside, Mr. Miller's parents have donated to the Claremont Institute...

[Fudge Nuggets 19190]

On 4/11/2021 at 10:16 AM, MissingInAction said:

Well I came face to face with a Q tard the other day. Met some friends for beers on a patio with a good breeze , so i felt comfortable Rona wise.

One dude I didnt recognize at the table had the MAGA look going sans the fucktard cap.

I get into a conversation with my pal who works at a nursing home concerning the pandemic, vaccines, etc. MAGAt cant help himself, "I cant believe anyone still thinks that shit is real!" 

My friend enlightens him that she lost 12 residents and two coworkers to the disease. 

MAGAt: "It's all a scam! They just had the flu! Dont let the libtards fool you!"

All we could do was ignore him knowing it was pointless to argue with such a complete dipshit. Also knowing an argument was exactly what he wanted so he could parrot everything he has been propagandized to repeat.

 

Should have taken a beer bottle and cracked it over his skull. 

[StassneyHorn 6576]

Kelli Ward, the AZ GOP chair, said the GOP governor Ducey was responsible for killing people because he didn’t expand access to Hyroxychloroquine during the pandemic. A state GOP Senator is called for her to resign. Yesterday. Not 8 months ago

[Fudge Nuggets 19190]

1 hour ago, Walden Ponderer said:

Of course, on some issues, there's just no way to salve the wounded feelings of the Trumpkins

Fuck their feelings. They don’t like it, they can fucking leave. 

[Willfully Horn 8017]

1 hour ago, wildcat09 said:

This could be posted in any number of threads, but this is where the GOP is going:

I will definitely finish that article later, after calming down. I began and immediately my head filled with blood, there was a pounding in my ears, and all I could see were stars and black spots:

”They do not believe in, live by, or even like the principles, traditions, and ideals that until recently defined America as a nation and as a people.”
 
If longevity brings weight to the discussion, my Quaker ancestor, Luke Dillon, came over from Ireland in 1716. Speaking on his behalf, Glenn Elmers, EABOD.

The principle ideals of this country are found in the Constitution and its Amendments. In seeking to circumvent the law of the land, it is the right who have betrayed America.

 

[Fudge Nuggets 19190]

1 hour ago, Celery Man said:

GQP representative Kevin Brady announcing his retirement

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/04/14/kevin-brady-congress-texas-retirement/

Fuck that mother fucker. Problem is we will wind up with someone even worse. My bet is on our asshole county judge that has been involved in a couple of car crashes while whacked out on Ambien and other pharmaceuticals. 
 

He now has a tax payer funded personal driver because he’s a danger to society. I would be shocked if his driver isn’t a friend / family being paid  an exorbitant salary. 

[Beau Vine 54230]

18 minutes ago, Willfully Horn said:

I will definitely finish that article later, after calming down. I began and immediately my head filled with blood, there was a pounding in my ears, and all I could see were stars and black spots:

”They do not believe in, live by, or even like the principles, traditions, and ideals that until recently defined America as a nation and as a people.”
 
If longevity brings weight to the discussion, my Quaker ancestor, Luke Dillon, came over from Ireland in 1716. Speaking on his behalf, Glenn Elmers, EABOD.

The principle ideals of this country are found in the Constitution and its Amendments. In seeking to circumvent the law of the land, it is the right who have betrayed America.

 

Your head is really gonna explode when you get to:

Quote

The U.S. Constitution no longer works. But that fact raises more questions than answers. Can some parts of the system—especially at the local and state level—be preserved and strengthened? 

 

[Horn Under a Bad Sign 20400]

David Dewhurst, our former Lt. Governor, accused of domestic violence.

https://www.click2houston.com/news/texas/2021/04/14/former-texas-lt-gov-david-dewhurst-arrested-on-domestic-violence-charge/

Last year, his girlfriend, who was 35 years younger than he is,  attacked HIM and broke two of his ribs.  

Domestic violence seems to be part of the Republican brand.
 

[MC Fresh Breath 4074]

On 4/12/2021 at 4:02 PM, Tom said:

LOL at the idea of Pence being a contender in 2024.  Trump's base isn't going to forget or forgive that Pence didn't do his job and stop the steal on January 6. 

 Trump is also loud, full of bluster, and a lifelong self-promoting conman.  Pence has the personality of a wet sock.

Yep.  Hawley raised $3 million after objecting to the EC votes.  Greene raised something close to that after embracing even more conspiracy theories.  #doomed

[Js1 85338]

1 hour ago, Bama Chick said:

Carnival barkers, the whole sorry lot of them.
 

The new talking point is that Harris hasn’t done any solo press conferences. 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

 

[Biff Tannen 45687]

On 4/14/2021 at 10:09 AM, Willfully Horn said:

I will definitely finish that article later, after calming down. I began and immediately my head filled with blood, there was a pounding in my ears, and all I could see were stars and black spots:

”They do not believe in, live by, or even like the principles, traditions, and ideals that until recently defined America as a nation and as a people.”
 
If longevity brings weight to the discussion, my Quaker ancestor, Luke Dillon, came over from Ireland in 1716. Speaking on his behalf, Glenn Elmers, EABOD.

The principle ideals of this country are found in the Constitution and its Amendments. In seeking to circumvent the law of the land, it is the right who have betrayed America.

 

180 degrees from reality my friend.  180 degrees.

[cam4mav 771]

On 4/12/2021 at 10:39 AM, Beau Vine said:

 

Jeremy Renner really let himself go post Avengers

Edited April 15, 2021 by cam4mav

[Sawbonz 27562]

On 4/14/2021 at 12:08 PM, Js1 said:

The new talking point is that Harris hasn’t done any solo press conferences. 

I thought she was secretly running the country because Biden has dementia. Now she’s MIA?

[atomheartbevo 89670]

2 hours ago, cam4mav said:

Jeremy Renner really let himself go post Avengers

[mchookem 16336]

On 4/12/2021 at 8:49 AM, Beau Vine said:

 

i've watched this 3 times and it keeps getting funnier 🤣🤣🤣

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

Is anyone it is surprised it's Florida?

No?

So, when you have a child who needs a genital inspection to determine the gender, which gender is the adult? (It's actually the child's health care provider, but wow, talk about making something private, public). I don't care how many trans children there are, one child subjected to this type of harassment is one child too many.

 

[High Plains Drifter 11049]

On 4/14/2021 at 9:29 AM, Celery Man said:

GQP representative Kevin Brady announcing his retirement

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/04/14/kevin-brady-congress-texas-retirement/

 

well well well

 

Brady, a South Dakota native,

 

[Neonmoon 38129]

1 hour ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

Is anyone it is surprised it's Florida?

No?

So, when you have a child who needs a genital inspection to determine the gender, which gender is the adult? (It's actually the child's health care provider, but wow, talk about making something private, public). I don't care how many trans children there are, one child subjected to this type of harassment is one child too many.

 

If I was a physician, I would refuse that job on principle 

[Francisco 2.0 32393]

Launching a website for the MAGA folk is hard work.

https://www.newsweek.com/mike-lindell-telegram-fans-confused-social-media-frank-vip-access-fails-launch-1584138?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1618574158

 

Quote

Fans of MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell on the chat app Telegram were confused on Friday as his new social media network failed to come online.

In a video posted to a placeholder website this month, the Donald Trump-supporting businessman said people seeking early entry could submit their cell phone numbers to get VIP access to the platform that would start "Thursday night at midnight."

As the hours passed and Thursday turned to Friday morning, some Telegram followers of Lindell's verified Telegram channel were left puzzled.

 

Quote

I expected a VIP launch midnight Thursday but nothing. What's up?" one user wrote. Another person said: "It seems the site did not go live the way it was supposed to. Not sure what the issue is but it is a huge letdown that's for sure. After all the hype."

Broadly, there was a sense of deflation. As a third user wrote on Friday morning: "No communication, no text....no one knows what is going on. Doesn't feel good."

 

Spoiler

The reason for the apparent delay was not immediately clear. Lindell was contacted for clarification by Newsweek on Friday, sent via the official MyPillow press email.

In recent weeks, Lindell had promoted the platform as a free speech hybrid of Twitter and YouTube, claiming that it may eventually boast hundreds of thousands of users. He claimed dedicated servers meant it would be resistant to takedown attempts.

While it was pitched as a free speech website, Lindell said swearing, adult content and taking "God's name in vain" would be against the rules of the platform.

Some Telegram fans who sent their phone numbers to the placeholder website's form reported receiving error codes, or no codes at all. Some suggested there may have been a timezone mixup with the launch. Others noted they were waiting patiently.

One user, Shirley James, complained that the rollout did not happen as planned, writing in a comment section under Lindell's latest post: "I'm not feeling very VIPish."

Another Telegram user, Lisa Perez, added: "Well, it did not launch at midnight for us VIP like it was supposed to. Or did I miss something. Midnight their time is 2 a.m. here, I waited for it and nothing." While user Frank Combs voiced a theory: "I just thought of something everybody, instead of midnight tonight, maybe Mike meant noon?"

Lindell, who was banned from Twitter in late January for repeatedly spreading election misinformation, said in an interview on Steve Bannon's War Room podcast on Thursday that it would likely go live "sometime on Friday," without elaborating.

A disclaimer on the platform's domain, FrankSpeech, warned that people who submit numbers more than once may be blocked—a measure to prevent an influx of spam. The full social network is planned to go live for the public on April 19, Lindell claimed.

 

 

 

[Js1 85338]

1 hour ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

Is anyone it is surprised it's Republicans?

No?

Of course not. 

They're obsessed with children's genitals.  Pure projection that the Dems were the pedophiles. 

This is the new crusade

Pro-life until born or until they need their genitals inspected. 

[MissingInAction 25077]

14 hours ago, Sawbonz said:

I thought she was secretly running the country because Biden has dementia. Now she’s MIA?

I was born a poor black child...

[TwiceHorn 31472]

On 4/12/2021 at 3:17 PM, Mrs Whiggins said:

That's almost a Traveller hair style. Needs more paste/gel.

You sayin he's a pikey?

[Pato del Muerto 52498]

18 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

Launching a website for the MAGA folk is hard work.

https://www.newsweek.com/mike-lindell-telegram-fans-confused-social-media-frank-vip-access-fails-launch-1584138?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1618574158

 

 

 

  Hide contents

The reason for the apparent delay was not immediately clear. Lindell was contacted for clarification by Newsweek on Friday, sent via the official MyPillow press email.

In recent weeks, Lindell had promoted the platform as a free speech hybrid of Twitter and YouTube, claiming that it may eventually boast hundreds of thousands of users. He claimed dedicated servers meant it would be resistant to takedown attempts.

While it was pitched as a free speech website, Lindell said swearing, adult content and taking "God's name in vain" would be against the rules of the platform.

Some Telegram fans who sent their phone numbers to the placeholder website's form reported receiving error codes, or no codes at all. Some suggested there may have been a timezone mixup with the launch. Others noted they were waiting patiently.

One user, Shirley James, complained that the rollout did not happen as planned, writing in a comment section under Lindell's latest post: "I'm not feeling very VIPish."

Another Telegram user, Lisa Perez, added: "Well, it did not launch at midnight for us VIP like it was supposed to. Or did I miss something. Midnight their time is 2 a.m. here, I waited for it and nothing." While user Frank Combs voiced a theory: "I just thought of something everybody, instead of midnight tonight, maybe Mike meant noon?"

Lindell, who was banned from Twitter in late January for repeatedly spreading election misinformation, said in an interview on Steve Bannon's War Room podcast on Thursday that it would likely go live "sometime on Friday," without elaborating.

A disclaimer on the platform's domain, FrankSpeech, warned that people who submit numbers more than once may be blocked—a measure to prevent an influx of spam. The full social network is planned to go live for the public on April 19, Lindell claimed.

 

 

 

Just imagine the kind of people that would stay up late into the night to be there for the launch of a new social media app that will have zero content because it’s...new. 

Edited April 16, 2021 by Pato del Muerto

[mchookem 16336]

that FL trans bill is just fucking GROSS 😝

[StassneyHorn 6576]

Whens pizzagate/QAnon protest over the government inspecting kids genitals? I’d support it

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

24 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

You sayin he's a pikey?

Eeeh, well, that's not a nice term so I'll just leave that one alone.

Sizable families in Tennessee especially Memphis area and in some other states nearby.

 

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

4 minutes ago, StassneyHorn said:

Whens pizzagate/QAnon protest over the government inspecting kids genitals? I’d support it

I was looking over the explanation, and best I could figure out without looking up the bill word for word, is that if there is a question regarding gender specific to a student wishing to participate in a sport (and it seemed to me as if this was addressing the m2f mostly) then some type of medical documentation by the student's HCP would have to be shown confirming gender (female) or the student couldn't participate. So effectively shutting out m2f participation. In addition, imagine a young woman who has masculine features, being pulled off the court because some opposing coach wants to raise a protest or something. Don't tell me someone wouldn't try that, cause you know they're out there. The whole thing makes a mockery of children who are in any way 'different' from what these pseudo 'freedom fighters' believe children should be, act, behave, or what have you and into whatever box they want to place people. I get that many adults poke fun at Fred Roger's idea of children being unique and special and even he had to overcome his own biases and prejudices throughout his life, but dang people, if we truly are to be pro life and to honor that which is essential, that was always one of his most beloved phrases, Antoine de Sainte-Exupery's, "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." He wasn't wrong. We are unique, we are special. We share so many things by just being ourselves and loving one another.

These legislatures and those who support this wish to destroy that very essential being and it breaks my heart.

 

[Beau Vine 54230]

Just perfect:

 

[Js1 85338]

Q Klux Klan

 

[High Plains Drifter 11049]

 

"uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions" = Facism

"the progeny of European architecture" = white supremacy

[Biff Tannen 45687]

3 hours ago, Js1 said:

Of course not. 

They're obsessed with children's genitals.  Pure projection that the Dems were the pedophiles. 

This is the new crusade

Pro-life until born or until they need their genitals inspected. 

This is fucked up and 100% correct.

[Biff Tannen 45687]

1 hour ago, Js1 said:

Q Klux Klan

 

Holy god.  They are just SCREAMING the quiet part out loud now.

[TheStoicPaisano 9922]

Shine a light!

 

[Gatorubet 30239]

Carnival barkers, the whole sorry lot of them.

If I could go back in time and give Steve Scalise’s shooter money for more range time, I would.