Friday Talking Points -- What Will Putin Do?
The world pauses and holds its collective breath as we all wonder the same thing: What is Vladimir Putin up to? Will he invade Ukraine? Is this all some sort of bluff or feint? Or is he deadly serious about reconstituting the Soviet Union's sphere of influence (of satellite states subservient to Moscow)? Is he just waiting for the Olympics to end as some sort of favor to China? Or will the troops eventually go home and the whole crisis blows over?
Nobody knows the answers to those questions except for Putin himself. President Joe Biden and the United States have a limited number of options before anything happens, and a limited number of realistic options even if an invasion begins. We are not going to send U.S. troops and aircraft to fight Russian forces in Ukraine itself. That is clearly off the table. Militarily, we are essentially going to sit back and watch whatever happens from the sidelines. Which is a good thing, because direct military conflict between the two largest nuclear powers on the planet wouldn't be good for anybody concerned. But it would still mean watching it all play out in real time on our television sets, if the invasion actually happens.
Of course, the Biden administration has been saying for weeks now that an invasion was "imminent," and yet no invasion has yet begun. Today, Biden said directly that he had intelligence that Putin has already made up his mind and would invade, which made some news. At some point, if Putin is content to just stall, this is going to become a credibility problem. Warning "the sky is falling" when the sky does not, in fact, fall can lead people to completely tune you out. Or maybe a different mythological metaphor is necessary: maybe Biden is crying wolf, but even if we start ignoring it that doesn't mean the wolf won't eventually attack anyway.
If Putin does invade, Biden may pay a political price here at home. After repeatedly threatening crippling sanctions, he's going to have to follow through. But this could roil world energy prices, since Russia's biggest export is fossil fuel. In other words, gasoline prices here (which are already high) could spike. And that becomes a political problem for any sitting U.S. president. Biden's already paying a political price for high gas prices, so if things get markedly worse the political price he pays is going to increase right along with the price at the pump.
If Putin does not invade, however, then Biden will emerge stronger politically. The shorthand version will be: "Putin blinked." That's always a political asset for any U.S. president, obviously. Who knows how true it might be -- Putin might have been planning all along to just scare the living heck out of everyone without actually invading -- but that's how it will be seen here, rightly or wrongly.
In any case, Republicans certainly won't have any cohesive way to complain about Biden even if Putin does attack. The Senate was poised to pass a sanctions package that would have threatened very specific steps towards Russia as a consequence of any invasion. Republicans even wanted sanctions that would have kicked in immediately, to punish Putin for even threatening an invasion. But in the end, nothing happened. The Senate could not agree on anything, so no actual legislation appeared or was voted on. They did manage to pass a very weak non-binding resolution that essentially said: "If Russia invades, we're going to be very, very angry," but with no real details. Even passing that was in doubt, since Rand Paul might have gummed up the works (it had to pass by unanimous consent, so one senator could have torpedoed the whole thing).
This does not exactly make the case to the world that the American system of government is up to the challenge of speaking as one voice in times of crisis. But it should make it impossible for Republicans to second-guess Biden's moves no matter what happens, since all Democrats will have to do is point out that they couldn't get their own act together before the fact.
Add to this the fact that one senator has been having a hissy fit over Biden's Afghanistan pullout and by doing so has delayed for months a confirmation that finally did go through (with a whopping 83-13 vote) this week. Josh Hawley personally delayed Russia expert Celeste Wallander being confirmed to her important job at the Defense Department, which is pretty much the definition of rank partisanship interfering in a national security matter. Which Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wasn't shy about pointing out: "To intentionally delay the confirmation of a critical Department of Defense nominee and a Russian expert at a time when tensions persist in Ukraine and Eastern Europe is supremely reckless and is making the American people less safe."
Meanwhile, Fox News seems to have morphed from a Republican Party propaganda outfit into a Russian government propaganda outfit, as their coverage is heavily slanted towards Putin's talking points. Ronald Reagan is doubtlessly turning over in his grave at all of this, one assumes. Who ever would have thought the right wing in American politics would champion the views of Russia, after all? But that's where we seem to be.
Of course, that's when the right-wing media echo chamber wasn't disappearing down a rabbit hole in search of something they could (and you can't make this up) pin on Hillary Clinton. Talk about living in the past! Their breathlessly overblown claims were quickly debunked, out here in the real world, but that didn't stop them from fulminating about it all week.
Meanwhile, the legal woes of Donald Trump continued to pile up. His accounting firm dropped him as a client and disavowed all the financial statements they had previously stood behind for Trump and his businesses.
A judge in New York ruled that Donald Trump, Donald Trump Junior, and Ivanka Trump will all have to sit and answer questions under oath in a civil investigation into false claims about Trump's wealth and outright fraud. Doubtlessly he'll appeal, but the time could be approaching fast when we get to see Trump either repeating "I'm taking the Fifth" or sweating while trying to answer questions about his past sins.
Taking the Fifth Amendment, in this particular instance, could be risky for the whole Trump clan, though. In a civil case, the prosecutor can introduce the fact that a defendant refused to answer questions as proof of guilt (which is not allowed in criminal cases).
It was also confirmed today by the National Archives that there were indeed classified documents in those 15 boxes that sat at Trump's Florida resort all year, and that they had been in communication with the Department of Justice, since mistreating classified documents is, of course, a crime. To say nothing of all the violations of the Presidential Records Act that keep mounting up.
Throughout it all, Trump continues to successfully grift his rubes out of every dollar he can manage to hustle, reports the New York Times. Although his wife Melania isn't doing quite as well on that front, as it was revealed that she actually had to buy her own crap (including a hat and an N.F.T.) through a few shell companies, so she wouldn't be embarrassed that nobody bid the exorbitant prices she was asking.
Senator Josh Hawley seems cut from the same cloth, as he's now hawking mugs with the image of his salute to the rioters on January 6th of last year. Shamelessness is in, for Republicans (especially when you can make a fast buck at it).
Speaking of the insurrection, the Washington Post published the frantic texts that Trump's chief of staff (Mark Meadows) was receiving on January 6th from all and sundry. Consider it light bedtime reading.
The Republican Party now seems to be openly standing up for sheer lawlessness, which we wrote about at length earlier in the week.
That's when they're not being downright incoherent. One GOP woman running for governor in Georgia under the slogan (prominently painted on her bus): "Jesus Guns Babies". Seriously? What precise theological creed is that? Or is it a grammatically incorrect sentence by someone unclear on the difference between nouns and verbs? Jesus guns babies? Who knows... the most amusing reaction we saw came from Twitter: "Jesus. Guns. Babies. Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV."
Speaking of guns, an interesting development happened this week as Remington agreed to pay the families of the Sandy Hook victims a whopping $73 million dollars. Perhaps settlements like this might induce some changes in the gun industry as a whole? One can only hope....
And finally, we have to end on a sad note, because this week saw the passing of P.J. O'Rourke, a political commentator who influenced our own political views and writing. We first read Parliament Of Whores (which tackles what really happens in Congress) decades ago, and even though O'Rourke wrote from the other side of the political spectrum, we had to admire his prose, as he was a master of making complicated subjects not only easy to understand but downright funny. That's a rare thing for a conservative writer, which is why even when we didn't agree with his reasoning (which was often) we could still appreciate his wit and his command of the language.
So we have to end by saying: Requiescat In Pace, P.J. O'Rourke.
It was actually a fairly quiet week for domestic politics, so we're reaching down to the state level for this week's Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week award.
California's Governor Gavin Newsom, as he is wont to do, is getting out ahead of the pack in politics. He just announced a plan to move the state from a pandemic emergency into an endemic phase, which translates into moving the state back a lot closer to the pre-pandemic normal. The Washington Post has the details of his announcement:
California's governor announced a milestone Thursday, saying his state would become the first in the nation to treat the coronavirus as a manageable, endemic risk. His decision marks a significant new phase in the state's COVID response and could be a bellwether as officials elsewhere in the country look to resume a level of normalcy.
"We are moving past the crisis phase into a phase where we will work to live with this virus," Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said at a news conference.
"People are looking forward to turning the page," he added. "They also need to know we have their back, we're going to keep them safe, and we're going to stay on top of this."
California's plan, he said, shifts from a "crisis mentality" to emphasize prevention and adaptability, allowing officials to step up measures to detect and contain fresh outbreaks, as well as to look out for new variants. It also includes more public campaigns against misinformation and the stockpiling of tests and equipment rather than mask mandates and business shutdowns.
Republicans actually have the gall to complain about Democratic governors now relaxing standards, which is pretty incomprehensible when you consider how GOP governors have handled things, but here was Mitch McConnell, attempting to push a gigantic lie on the subject this Monday: "The scientific facts have not changed in the last few weeks. The only science that's changed in the last two weeks is the political science. The only data that's changed in the last two weeks is Democrats' polling data."
This is unadulterated moosepoop. As the Washington Post helpfully pointed out:
But the scientific context has changed.
Data compiled by The Washington Post shows COVID cases in the United States have dropped 44 percent over the past week. Hospitalizations are down 22 percent. And deaths slipped 6 percent....
This is the reality that most in the media and plenty of politicians have just refused to admit -- things are changing. Fast. The Omicron wave played out pretty much as advertised (from the early data from South Africa, where it first emerged). There was a breathtaking spike in the number of cases which happened faster than anyone had seen before in this pandemic. But the new variant was far less deadly than the earlier strains and more and more people have been vaccinated -- so that even if they did have a "breakthrough" case, it usually meant a mild case not involving a hospital or threat of death. Then the spike quickly peaked and Omicron ran out of steam, so the numbers went right back down at a pace that was just as breathtaking as the initial rise was.
The numbers are down. Not down far enough -- we're still averaging just over 100,000 new cases reported daily nationwide, but that is a lot better than it was in January, when we hit 800,000 new cases per day. Perspective is key, when looking at the raw numbers. We are now lower than the peak that hit last winter (250,000 new cases per day), and lower than the Delta peak at the end of last year (160,000 new daily cases). But we're nowhere near the level we hit in the middle of last summer, when only 10,000-15,000 new cases appeared each day. Still, the numbers continue to rapidly fall, so the real question is where they will bottom out. If that metric falls below perhaps 50,000 then everyone is going to start calling it an endemic rather than a pandemic.
Newsom got out in front of everyone else. His "SMARTER" plan (Shots, Masks, Awareness, Readiness, Testing, Education, and Rx) means the state will stockpile 75 million masks, push for more people to get vaccinated and tested, and monitor wastewater to track the spread of the virus (including any new variants that appear). He's planning for a return to normalcy but with a healthy amount of vigilance against any possible next waves.
This seems timely and smart, both from a scientific outlook and from a political one as well. Newsom hasn't always threaded this needle successfully throughout the pandemic, but then no governor has been perfect.
Being the first with a comprehensive plan for the endemic phase of COVID is just the latest in a long list of issues Gavin Newsom stuck his neck out on (most notably, allowing gay couples to marry in 2004 while he was mayor of San Francisco, which was long before the Supreme Court made it legal everywhere). There's a word that means getting out in front of a contentious issue and later being proved prescient, and that word is "leadership."
This week, Gavin Newsom showed real leadership. Which is why he is also our Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week as well.
[Congratulate California Governor Gavin Newsom on his official contact page, to let him know you appreciate his efforts.]
Before we begin, a special (Dis-)Honorable Mention is due for Senator Joe Manchin. Manchin singlehandedly stopped the Child Tax Credit payments that had gone out last year from continuing this year. And now the data is in, and it is brutal. The monthly child poverty rate increased nationwide by an astounding 40 percent in one month alone. This meant 3.7 million children fell below the poverty level in January, which was the first month that the $300-350 C.T.C. payments stopped being mailed out to parents. So those 3.7 million children can all thank Joe Manchin for their fate. For shame, Senator, for shame!
But Manchin didn't actually do anything this past week, it's just that the data were released. So we're going to go back to the Golden State for our other major award as well. We don't live there, so we can't say we followed the recall election in San Francisco all that closely. But this Tuesday the voters who bothered to cast a ballot (turnout was very low) overwhelmingly recalled three members of the school board in San Francisco.
Unlike such efforts elsewhere, the issue at hand was really one of competence. Or setting the proper priorities, perhaps. Politico has the details of how this whole recall election came about:
Incredulous parents watched last year as the seven-member board spent hours worked to rename schools and discard merit-based admissions policies at a storied high school, citing equity concerns, as classrooms sat empty of students. Then board member Alison Collins, one of the recall targets, sued the cash-strapped district for $87 million, claiming the district violated her free-speech rights when she was reprimanded for old tweets accusing Asian-Americans of "using white supremacist thinking to get ahead." A federal judge tossed the case.
Some San Franciscans grew angry enough to launch a recall drive that gained the support of deep-pocketed allies and prominent Democratic officials, vastly outraising the school board's defenders. Affluent technology industry players like former PayPal executive David Sacks and other wealthy donors, including charter school proponent and billionaire investor Arthur Rock, have opened their wallets to buoy the effort.
A San Francisco teachers union and labor allies backing the school board members have not kept pace, with opponents outraising them ten-to-one.
Board members abandoned their drive to strip schools, including Abraham Lincoln High School and Dianne Feinstein Elementary, of their names after the effort drew national ridicule, and a judge recently ruled the board had violated the law in rushing to end merit-based admissions for the selective Lowell High School. Proponents had argued the change would boost the school's diversity, but it infuriated parents who said it would undercut Asian-American students who made up just over half of the student body.
None of the recall targets -- Gabriela López, Faauuga Moliga or Collins -- responded with comments for the story. But their supporters lambaste the recall attempt as a waste of taxpayer sources [sic] and a ploy by Mayor London Breed and wealthy allies to reshape the school board.
When the returns came in, over 70 percent of the votes were for recalling all three. This is a local fight that involved very specific circumstances, but that hasn't stopped a lot of people from trying to draw national implications. It's tempting to do so, since San Francisco is one of the most liberal cities in the country. But the real lesson Democrats should take from this is that education is going to be a very big issue in politics this year, no matter where you live.
For driving this point home in a liberal enclave, the three San Francisco school board members who just got recalled have to be seen as the clear winners of this week's Most Disappointing Democrat Of The Week awards.
[Since being recalled means being ousted from office, Alison Collins, Gabriela López, and Faauuga Moliga are now private citizens, so you'll have to look up their contact information on your own if you'd like to let them know what you think of their actions.]
Volume 651 (2/18/22)
We realize we've been doing this too often, but the circumstances are not exactly "politics as usual" these days. Instead of our usual discrete (but never discreet) talking points for Democrats everywhere to use, we're going to publish an extraordinary letter in full, from one prominent Republican to another.
The Republican Party continues its slide downwards into being nothing short of an authoritarian cult of personality, but occasionally someone from within their own ranks strongly calls them out on the seriousness of what they are doing. This letter is one of those times.
It was written by former Republican National Committee Chair (and former governor of Montana) Marc Racicot, and it was published this week in the Billings Gazette. Unfortunately, it didn't cause much of a stir in the national political media, which is one reason why we are highlighting it here. The letter is written to Ronna McDaniel, the current R.N.C. chair, and it is not only self-explanatory, but absolutely scathing in its indictment of the R.N.C.'s recent actions.
So instead of political spin, here's some political truth, from one leading Republican to another.
Open letter from former Republican National Committee Chair Marc Racicot to the current R.N.C. Chair Ronna McDaniel
Dear Chairwoman McDaniel,
It is a sad day, indeed.
Having held the same position that you presently occupy two decades ago, I would never have imagined that the day would come when the chair of the Republican National Committee and its members would rebuke and desert two GOP members of the United States House of Representatives, who, consistent with the Constitution, their oath of office and their conscience, have been performing their assigned Congressional duties with honor and integrity pursuant to the lawful passage of a House Resolution.
The resolution in question, of course, concerns the Select Committee investigating the events of Jan. 6, 2021. I have carefully reviewed that document, House Resolution 509 (hereafter HR 509), as well as the Republican National Committee's "Resolution To Formally Censure Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger" (hereafter RNC Resolution). In order to get the facts straight, let me summarize the two resolutions as I understand them.
HR 509, after establishing the Select Committee, enunciates the purposes of the Committee, namely "to investigate and report the facts, circumstances and causes," of the "attack on the Capitol." In addition, HR 509 calls for a review of intelligence and law enforcement preparations and responses in order to identify corrective measures to prevent future acts of violence, improve the security posture of the Capitol and strengthen the security and resilience of democratic institutions against violence.
The RNC Resolution provides that "Winning back the majority in Congress... in 2022 must be the primary goal." That achieving that goal "must not be sabotaged by Representatives Cheney and Kinzinger who have demonstrated... that they support Democrat efforts to destroy President Trump" and, therefore they must be denounced for deliberately jeopardizing victory in November, 2022 even though, it is alleged in the Resolution, the Democrat [sic] Party's prospects are "bleak." And finally, before articulating the severe and formal censure, the RNC Resolution asserts that Representatives Cheney and Kinzinger "are participating in a... persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse."
I must confess, it is difficult to even know where to begin.
First of all, I would like you to know that confronting you and the Committee with the thoughts and observations contained herein is not something, for me, easily done. Knowing my own imperfections and mistakes, I initially contemplated refraining from preparing and dispatching this missive and critique. At the same time, my heart tells me that, as a citizen, a former elected state official and former Chair of the Republican National Committee, I must try to do what I can to take care of and protect our democracy and way of life.
Based on my decades of engagement in Republican politics, my intuition tells me that you and the other members of the RNC will come to regret, if you don't already, the passage of the RNC Resolution. It appears possible, and maybe even probable, that the RNC Resolution, with its incendiary language and histrionics, has advanced the very threat that you accuse Representatives Cheney and Kinzinger of creating, namely the diminution of the chances for Republican electoral success in 2022.
I believe you, and the members of the Committee, have substantially underestimated the Great Middle of America and what's happening with all of those good and decent people from sea to shining sea. Made up of Democrats, Republicans and independents, the Great Middle is in the process of organizing itself with a higher goal, quietly but surely, not by express agreement or party affiliation, but by standards of decency, integrity, honor and faithfulness to the best interests of the Republic.
Many intensely loyal Republicans, more polite and less dangerous than those who breached the Capitol, are, in larger and larger numbers, quietly but persistently looking for alternatives in the form of political movements and candidates of conscience, character, conviction and courage. They're not suggesting, hopelessly, a return to simpler times. They're calling, hopefully, for a return to simple, timeless and enduring values: presuming the best of each other, listening in good faith before acting or responding, exuding generosity and grace, self-correcting our own mistakes and being ambitious to accomplish something, not to be somebody.
In the Republican National Committee's search for power for its own sake and its obsession with winning at any cost, you have sacrificed, by your proclamation and its revelation of the presently existing soul of the party, the allegiance of a great many, and a growing number, of your most ardent and long-time supporters. Regrettably, it appears, "you have hitched your wagon to the wrong star."
But more important than ephemeral political calculations, in the political life of the United States there is no greater or higher loyalty as a citizen or an officeholder than a shared loyalty to the nation and the Constitution. Every citizen agrees to that premise as a condition of the social contract between the people and their government.
Hence, loyalty to a political party or candidate never trumps allegiance to the Republic.
The Oath of Office taken by every member of the United States Senate and House of Representatives, as well as the president, requires those office holders to "solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic [and] that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same." The Oath concludes with a solemn promise that "I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."
Bearing true faith means maintaining fidelity to the preservation of the union, fidelity to our fellow citizens, fidelity to a shared set of values and fidelity to the law and the Constitution. That transcendent fidelity or faithfulness to the Constitution is demonstrated by our continuing and unequivocal loyalty, first and above all else, to the United States of America, without interruption, without condition, without exception, without avoidance, without arrogance, without deceit, without connivance and without obfuscation.
The faithfulness referred to in the Oath of Office presumes not just faithfulness to the actual words of the Constitution, but faithfulness to its spirit as well. A spirit recognized and requited by humility, respect for others and the rights of others, honor, decency, integrity and self-discipline. Fidelity is the exact opposite of seeking power for its own sake or craving victory at any cost, each of which history has revealed time and time again to be a fool's errand.
All of the above is to say that I have discovered no facts nor evidence, anywhere, of the "sabotage" or "persecution" or efforts to "destroy" the former president that serve as the basis for the accusations cited in the RNC Resolution and lodged against Representatives Cheney and Kinzinger. Quite the opposite, the evidence reveals two Republican members of the House of Representatives honorably performing their investigative duties and searching for the truth as members of a duly constituted investigative committee. In other words, they're doing their job with fidelity and loyalty to the Constitution.
Parenthetically, it appears that the House Republican leadership not only made the wrong decision by refusing to participate in the legitimate business of the Select Committee, they made a serious tactical error as well. Now, having forfeited their opportunity to provide input into the Select Committee's work and deliberations, they are left with only one available option, namely, to close their eyes to the truth and curse the darkness.
How is it that an official inquiry undertaken to pursue and determine the truth can be so threatening? How is it that faithfulness to one's country and fellow citizens can be so precipitously and eagerly sacrificed in exchange for political victory, or the pursuit of power, or both? How is it that the responsibility to assess accountability, if the facts establish it, can be so easily dismissed? There has been no honest and reasonable answer to any of those questions.
Of course, the elephant in the room is the 2020 presidential election and the efforts of the unsuccessful candidate to overturn the results.
Although it is ever so neat and tidy to blame the defeat of the former president on the existence of decisive and widespread fraud, there is not even a scintilla of evidence, anywhere, to support such piffle. The former president didn't experience defeat in 2020 because of fraud. The truth is quite the opposite. The defeat of the former president is explained by the fact that legions of responsible citizens, part of that Great Middle of America, voted the way they did because they embraced the very fidelity to their country and its Constitution that the RNC claims to embrace in its Party Platform.
So what can be done now? My suggestion and request is that you lead the Committee through the process of withdrawing and dismissing the RNC Resolution rebuking and deserting Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. I urge the pursuit of this remedy with the understanding that we're human, that politics is a competitive enterprise and that sometimes we make mistakes. But I also believe in such a situation the final measure of our character is whether we have the insight and courage to humbly and honestly correct them.
Respectfully submitted,
Marc Racicot
-- Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
Cross-posted at: Democratic Underground
Yikes.
at first I thought great he's giving himself a Friday off, the so-and-so. But this letter is just way too damn powerful to not quote in it's entirety.
I'm prognostication that,
The Repugs are not a lock come November. Polls this early are meaningless and especially with all the problems the right is having -- coming to a House Select Committee hearing near you! Recall that bleeping Georgia elected two Democratic Senators. You think Trumpism had nothing to do with that?
FPC
Putin will extract what he can from the newly unified West and thence stand down. It's not 2014 anymore and nowadays ivading Ukraine has too little upside versus too much downside.
Must. Proof. Read.
Even Russian speaking Ukrainians do not favor unifying with Russia.
it's an awful lot of military mobilization for just a bluff. my guess is putin's probing for weakness, and will only invade if he sees it as advantageous.
JL,
a foetus is not a person. it doesn't even begin to be able to feel pain until around 26 weeks,
So, you seem to be OK with the idea of making abortion illegal at SOME point of a pregnancy..
Congrats.. You are with over 80% of Americans who feel the same way..
From your arguments, you also appear to base your opinion on the viability of the little person inside the woman..
Can you agree that, at some point in the future (likely sooner rather than later) medical technology will be at the point to where a 1 week old baby (gestation speaking) is "viable"...
Then what would that do to your abortion argument?? Would you change your position to make abortion illegal after 1 week?
You see the problem your current position has??
@Russ,
I thought you understood that our legal system and laws represent the moral and ethical beliefs that our country hold dear. Morality and ethics are the cornerstones upon which our laws are created.
Not all the time.. Nice dodge though..
You have a habit of spewing BS when you can't answer the question..
Says the person who posts articles all the time that unexplainably contradict the argument he is trying to make! And I was responding to YOUR COMMENTS… Not a sentence in the article that — once again — seem to contradict the arguments you have been making up until this point. Seriously, you have changed the goal posts multiple times during our conversations regarding this topic; but each time you have done it I have neutralized your new arguments just as quickly as the others.
"These endless quibbles!!"
-Romulan Commander, STAR TREK
You haven't neutralized anything.
You simple avoid answering the point, thereby PROVING that you lost the argument..
MORALLY.. ETHICALLY.. Is there ANY difference between killing a baby at 6 weeks gestation and killing a baby at 1 week post birth..
NO, there is not..
PROVE me wrong..
You can't...
Uhhhhmmmm.. no. A “unique” heartbeat means that the fetus has a detectable heartbeat separate from the mother’s… that is ALL!
BBBBWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Yes.. EXACTLY..
Which means it's a separate BODY than the mother's..
Which is EXACTLY my point.. :D
You have PROVEN my point beyond ANY doubt.. :D
Liz,
Oh, pray tell, how has the WHO politicized the pandemic?
WHO and the COVID-19 Pandemic
Much of the criticism of WHO asserts that it failed to exercise global health leadership and instead became a tool of Chinese politics, power, and propaganda. This critique holds that WHO had the ability to question China’s handling of the outbreak in Wuhan so that the organization could better prepare the world for a dangerous disease—but that WHO failed to act decisively. The criticism raises questions about WHO’s authority to challenge states during serious outbreaks for the good of global health. In contrast, praise for WHO often highlights how it has its deployed scientific skills, epidemiological expertise, medical know-how, outbreak-response capacities, and global networks in helping China and other countries. These commendations emphasize the imperative for WHO to work with governments in battling outbreaks.
https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/world-health-organization-and-pandemic-politics
The WHO became a tool of China in the beginning.. Then they became of tool of the Democrat Party when the Democrats' and China's goals aligned...
Or the Democrat Party became a tool of China and the WHO...
Either way, the politicization of COVID is well documented.
We're seeing it played out in Canada right now..
Russ, as to your FETAL PERSON PROTECTION ACT comment in #41 before??
SO????
Of course there will be some adjustments or exceptions made within the new FPPA... This always happens when new laws are created..
But the goal... Preventing the slaughter of innocent children by the tens of millions by the Democrat Party??
Pretty much worth it, don't you agree??
Why do you hate children so much that you would condone the wholesale slaughter of them by the tens of millions??
Is it because you can't be a parent??? Is that what this is all about?? You can't have kids, so you are going to support killing kids by the tens of millions??
Is that it??
cad
The Repugs are not a lock come November. Polls this early are meaningless and especially with all the problems the right is having -- coming to a House Select Committee hearing near you! Recall that bleeping Georgia elected two Democratic Senators.
BBBWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I just LOVE yer buoyed misplaced and totally hysterical and irrational optimism, cad.. :D
Despite ALL the facts to the contrary, YOU still believe that Democrats will hold onto their majorities...
That's great.. You continue believing that..
It will just make it that much sweeter for me when Democrats lose the House and Senate by wide margins.. :D
You think things are fun now!!?? :D Wait til ya see me after 8 Nov 2022.. :D
"You think I'm hostile now, wait til you see me tonight!!"
-Marissa Tomeii, MY COUSIN VINNY
:D
JL
it's an awful lot of military mobilization for just a bluff. my guess is putin's probing for weakness, and will only invade if he sees it as advantageous.
Exactly.. You obviously know more about military SOP than the guy who claims he served.. :D
Putin stands to lose a LOT of face and a LOT of credibility if he just packs up and goes home..
Only a military dullard (like cad here) would think this is all of a bluff...
"The Ottawa protest has presented your government with a wonderful opportunity to meet with and speak to ordinary Canadians lawfully and peaceably requiring the restoration of their constitutional rights," they wrote.
"However, in response to their singing, praying, dancing, candy floss, bouncy castles, speeches about the Constitution and outpourings of patriotic love for the country, your government has not only refused to meet with these citizens to hear their concerns, you have insulted, denigrated and lied about them, further dividing a hurting and broken nation."
-Open Letter To Trudeau From Canadian Clergy
Adolph Trudeau is really making a mess of our neighbor to the north...
@cad,
I just LOVE yer buoyed misplaced and totally hysterical and irrational optimism, cad.. :D
Despite ALL the facts to the contrary, YOU still believe that Democrats will hold onto their majorities...
That's great.. You continue believing that..
Biden gets no reprieve from bad poll numbers
President Joe Biden’s team had hoped the signing of the infrastructure law last year would be a turning point for the administration.
No such luck.
February’s Quinnipiac poll shows that just 37% of registered voters approve of Biden’s performance in office, while an eye-popping 56% disapprove. Biden’s approval rating among Hispanics sits at 36%, with 49% disapproving. He is underwater with women and barely breaking even with college-educated white women.
CNN’s most recent poll was even worse. It showed 58% disapproving of how Biden has fared as president, with 41% registering their approval. Among independents, Biden’s approval rating was just 36%. Of the respondents who disapproved, 56% couldn’t think of a single positive thing to say. The 1 in 4 who approved said much the same thing.
The right track/wrong track numbers are abysmal, with polls regularly finding the percentage of people who see the country moving in the right direction stuck in the 20s and 30s. The RealClearPolitics polling average finds 64.4% pick wrong track to 28.1% who pick right track — a gap of 36.3 percentage points.
Some individual surveys are worse still. An NBC News poll pegged the split at 72% wrong track, 50 points greater than those who picked right track. Gallup’s numbers for “satisfaction with the way things are going in U.S.” is near a 40-year low.
Whenever Biden has any good news (a drop in jobless claims), it is canceled out by something more negative (a spike in inflation that is eating into wage growth). Biden appears out of touch if he tries to take credit for the better economic numbers with prices rising faster than many people's incomes. He can’t take credit for Democratic governors and mayors easing pandemic restrictions because he is lagging behind them.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/biden-gets-no-reprieve-from-bad-poll-numbers
You need to come to grips with reality, cad..
Biden's number and the Democrats' numbers are going to continue to sink...
Right up til the November elections..
Yer deluding yerself if you believe that Democrats will be able to hold onto their majorities..
It's a sure thing that the Dems will lose the House.. Even vick agrees with me on that..
And even the Senate is going to go back to GOP control...
Civiqs polling that breaks down Biden’s approval rating by state paints a precarious picture for Democrats defending the 50-50 Senate they barely control with the aid of Vice President Kamala Harris’s tiebreaking vote. Biden is underwater by 30 points in Ohio, 29 points in Arizona, 26 points in Georgia, 23 points in North Carolina, 23 points in Nevada, 22 points in Florida, 18 points in Pennsylvania, 17 points in Wisconsin, 16 points in Colorado, and 10 points in New Hampshire.
Democrats are going to be relegated to Minority Party status for at LEAST a decade...
That's not my prediction.. That's the Democrats' predictions.... :D
Education is going to be a BIG part of the November mid terms..
As as the Weigantian™ administration has already conceded, the GOP is going to win that issue hands down..
Why is that we only see politicians tell "political truth" after they are no longer in power?
That's a HUGE part of the Democrats' problem..
They are only interested in "truth"... THEIR "truth"...
The simply ignore the facts that don't support their "truth"...
There are too many people that buy into the lies about the Big Lie being spewed by people like CW that seem to be woefully uneducated about how democracy is designed to work.
The only "Big Lie" here is Democrats' Russia Collusion Delusion..
80% of citizens want the big money out of politics yet they keep voting for politicians that tell them before the election that they will not be keeping their promises made during the campaign by taking big money to run their campaigns.
You know what that tells me??
People are giving the politically correct answer to the question..
How they vote is how they REALLY feel about it..
Voters don't care if it's big money or little money footing the bill..
Americans want their goals achieved and their values supported and the enemy's values totally decimated.. As is what is going to happen in November..
If it takes Big Money to do that?? So be it..
What if Ukraine really does have U-hauls that can make U-turns and fire U-bombs (weapons of mass destruction) out of U-tubes?
OK, now THAT was a good one, Don!! :D
Actually, the LACK of education is going to be a big part of the November mid-terms.
Not in the context of my point..
I am referring too the fact that Democrats only see children as pawns to be indoctrinated..
If they can't kill children.. They will indoctrinate children..
So, you seem to be OK with the idea of making abortion illegal at SOME point of a pregnancy..
no, that's not the case. i do have moral objections to abortions under some circumstances, but as a practical matter i don't think government-imposed limitations on first or second trimester abortions serve the public good. by the third trimester most foetuses can survive outside the mother, so the question of whether or not it's a "person" becomes much murkier.
Michale[8],
Well, that was pretty lame, even by the ususal standards.
What you fail to understand is that sort of nonsense doesn't fly with someone who has intimately followed the WHO since day one of this pandemic.
Try again, though, if you like!
Actually, let me correct that ... I have been following the WHO for all things COVID-19 related since well before the declaration of a pandemic.
So, you're going to have to do much better, Michale, in crafting persuasive arguments against the WHO if you wish to have a discussion about the politicization of a pandemic with me.
JL,
no, that's not the case. i do have moral objections to abortions under some circumstances,
OK, let's explore that...
but as a practical matter i don't think government-imposed limitations on first or second trimester abortions serve the public good.
We're not talking "public good".. We're talking about the child's good...
by the third trimester most foetuses can survive outside the mother, so the question of whether or not it's a "person" becomes much murkier.
But you still wouldn't support abortion limitations in the 3rd trimester???
i.e. if at 27 weeks a pregnant woman decides she doesn't want to have a baby, the doctor becomes responsible for trying to help the foetus survive and be adopted, if possible. however, even then i think it's a matter better suited to civil law than criminal law - too much grey area to contemplate incarcerating anyone for it.
Liz,
Well, that was pretty lame, even by the ususal standards.
It's been my experience (and the country's experience) that Democrats always think facts and reality are "pretty lame"... :D
What you fail to understand is that sort of nonsense doesn't fly with someone who has intimately followed the WHO since day one of this pandemic.
You mean, someone who has bought into the whole WHO spiel???
The WHO/CHINA connection is factually well-established..
So, you're going to have to do much better, Michale, in crafting persuasive arguments against the WHO if you wish to have a discussion about the politicization of a pandemic with me.
Last time I accomplished that, you had somewhere else to be and didn't want to continue the discussion..
Since I enjoy your presence, I am not anxious for a repeat...
Suffice it to say the WHO/CHINA connection is factually well established and anyone who refutes the connection has blinders on...
Of course there is a connection between China and the WHO. China is a member state of the WHO. Just like 193 other countries.
Shall a provide a tutorial on who the WHO is? :)
Gotta run to work!
Damn.
No, the Big Lie here is that citizens should only vote for Deathocrats or Republikillers because only Deathocrats or Republikillers can win the current election and this election is too important to risk doing anything that could change that perception in a multi-election strategy.
That seems to be a well established fact..
As an Independent/NPA myself, I would LOVE to see an Independent actually win an election...
But the facts and the reality of the here and now make such a feat all but impossible..
But how exactly do Americans get their goals achieved and values supported by voting for politicians that do not achieve their goals or support their values?
And yet, President Trump accomplished MANY pro-America goals in his tenure as POTUS..
And, once President Trump is returned to the White House where he belongs, he will do so again...
80% of citizens seem to value getting the big money out of politics.
Key words there being "SEEM TO"... Their voting record puts lie to their claims..
And 80% of citizens saying they want the big money out of politics means citizens do care who is footing the bill.
And yet, their voting record refutes their claims, eh?? :D
They just need to be educated on how to do it instead of being fed the Big Lie by propagandists like CW.
OR....
Or, they ARE educated about it and make their choices with their vote...
who the who?
lol
JL,
i.e. if at 27 weeks a pregnant woman decides she doesn't want to have a baby, the doctor becomes responsible for trying to help the foetus survive and be adopted, if possible. however, even then i think it's a matter better suited to civil law than criminal law - too much grey area to contemplate incarcerating anyone for it.
For needlessly and without good cause taking an innocent life???
Not a gray area whatsoever..
Of course there is a connection between China and the WHO. China is a member state of the WHO. Just like 193 other countries.
Now yer just being intentionally obtuse..
How WHO Became China’s Coronavirus Accomplice
Beijing is pushing to become a public health superpower—and quickly found a willing international partner.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/04/02/china-coronavirus-who-health-soft-power/
There is no sense in discussing it with you if you are not going to be serious about it..
huuuuurrrraaaammmpppphhhhhhhhhhh
There is no sense in discussing it with you if you are not going to be serious about it..
Yeah, well, that is my long held complaint about you and your "factually not accurate" nonsense.
Yeah, well, that is my long held complaint about you and your "factually not accurate" nonsense.
Except in my case, I am always factually accurate.. :D
https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2022/02/918/516/Liberal-Studies-2.19.22.png?ve=1&tl=1
This is why the GOP is winning the Education battles...
The left is losing its war on parents
The parents’ revolution has notched another win.
This week, three members of San Francisco’s Board of Education — Gabriela López, Alison Collins and Faauuga Moliga — suffered overwhelming defeat in a recall election brought by angry parents who felt they were more concerned with lefty politics than with children’s welfare. The parents’ case was strengthened by the fact that they were, well, right.
Siva Raj, one of the recall organizers, said, “The city of San Francisco has risen up and said this is not acceptable, to put our kids last.”
As COVID raged, the school board paid more attention to renaming schools — it wanted to rename Abraham Lincoln HS because its namesake didn’t show “that black lives ever mattered” to him — than educating kids. Again and again, the board placed woke politics before its actual job. (Collins had even accused Asians of using “white supremacist thinking” to get ahead.)
https://nypost.com/2022/02/17/the-left-is-losing-its-war-on-parents/
All Democrats know how to do these days is LOSE... :D
Why is Biden now less popular than Trump? He's earned it.
President Joe Biden is now so unpopular that he has fallen a bit below even Donald Trump’s dismal showing at this point in his presidency.
Real Clear Politics average of presidential approval polls has Biden at 41% approval and 53% disapproval. Trump’s corresponding 2018 approval number edges Biden at 41.4%, with disapproval at 53.9%.
How did it come to this? Biden started out with much higher approval than Trump, who was hampered in his first year by the false Russian collusion narrative and highly negative news coverage. But by the start of Trump’s second year, his numbers began slowly to improve; Biden’s have continued to sink. Now those converging lines have crossed.
“Lower than Trump” is hardly the first year result the White House expected. Biden received the most popular votes of anyone elected to the presidency. “Working class Joe” ran as a moderate who would restore sanity to Washington and move Americans forward together. He used the word “unity” eight times in his inaugural address.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/why-is-biden-now-less-popular-than-trump-hes-earned-it/ar-AAU1vgk
President Trump had better approval numbers than Joe Biden!!! :D
OH SNAP!!!!
That's just GOTTA hurt!!! :D
Mistakes began to pile up
Then the hits began to pile up. The White House declared July 4 was Independence Day from the COVID-19 pandemic, but was blindsided by the delta variant, followed by the omicron wave. Public confidence in Biden’s ability to manage the crisis plummeted.
In August, the botched pullout from Afghanistan and surprise Taliban entry into Kabul also drove numbers lower. Though many expected this to be a temporary blip, by Labor Day, Biden’s approval rating was firmly underwater and heading down.
Troops to Ukraine?: Biden is getting Ukraine and Russia right after Obama fell short and Trump was a disaster
The legislative foibles of the fall and winter – the collapse of the Build Back Better bill, the defeat of the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and no progress on immigration reform, minimum wage or student debt relief – sent the message that this White House could not deliver.
Then came inflation. The White House downplayed it, joked about it, said it was temporary, then slammed NBC News anchor Lester Holt for even asking about it.
And as reports of worsening inflation began piling up, Biden touted the supposed "strongest first-year economic track record of any president in the last 50 years." No wonder Obama adviser David Axelrod says it’s time for Biden to start "painting a credible, realistic picture."
Biden and the Democrats just can't help but digging a deeper and deeper hole..
The only question that remains is how deep is it going to get before November...
I define pro-America goals as getting the big money out of politics- nothing from Trump on that.
That certainly is *A* goal..
Not really as important as other goals..
I define pro-America goals as cutting the military budget by at least 50%. Nothing from Trump on that.
NOT going to happen.. Also, that would come under the heading of national suicide..
I define pro-America goals as banning fracking and ending or at least severely reducing dependence on fossil fuels. Nothing from Trump on that.
And, again.. NOT possible..
You seem to be intent on destroying this country, eh??
Why would you want that???
For needlessly and without good cause taking an innocent life???
Not a gray area whatsoever..
if that's the case, let's make sure all those children who flush their goldfish head straight to the slammer.
JL
i mean, if that's really your stance, you ought to join PETA.
the american enterprise institute says corporations are people, PETA says dogs and cats are people, anti-abortion activists say foetuses are people. it's like every entity gets to be a person except people.
if that's the case, let's make sure all those children who flush their goldfish head straight to the slammer.
An innocent HUMAN life... :^/
I'm not so sure a fetus qualifies as its own human life, any more than my pinky toe is a human life. A lot of folks act like it's self evident, but it's really not.
Do women commit murder every month when they ovulate and don't try to get the egg fertilized? Do men commit murder every time they intentionally ejaculate outside a female? Sperm are innocent human life too.
And even if one were to presume that a fetus is a person, does that by necessity oblige every woman to allow it to spend nine months using her body for its own purposes? Let's say AOC gets pregnant and by some freakish coincidence the only way for it to survive would be to transplant it into you. Do you consent?
Or more aptly, does Nancy Pelosi have the right to MAKE you consent?
Very good points, all!
Was i winning? What do I win? I hope it's pie!
Heh.
Of course I wouldn't suspect Michale of intentionally implying this, but many anti-abortion activists when they appeal to the "innocence" of the foetus are really saying that a pregnant woman is "not so innocent," and therefore of lesser value than the human goldfish growing inside her.
I for one prefer WINNING the comments section than WHINING the comments section. Whatever WINNING means.
nypoet22
Just because eggs, oil, water, flour, sugar, and fruit filling can all be mixed together and baked to make pie… no one would ever consider it to be a pie until it comes out of the oven. No one is gonna want a piece if you just dump all the ingredients in a bowl and just leave it like that!
Saying that a group of cells is a person the same way that a 35yo man is a person is just ignorant. If personhood begins at conception, then that person can be evicted at any time by the woman carrying it. You cannot force a person to have another living person inside of them. Women have the right to give up their parenting rights if they choose to give birth and that baby is considered a person. We do not allow post-birth abortions regardless of what Pro-Birthers try to claim.
And it is ridiculous to think that corporations are people. Until those who make the decisions (profits) can be held accountable for the crimes committed by the corporation/person, then they are not truly a person. A person has rights, but they also have a responsibility to be accountable for their actions. If a corporation does not meet both requirements, then they should not be granted one while sidestepping the other.
CW
Manchin singlehandedly stopped the Child Tax Credit payments that had gone out last year from continuing this year. And now the data is in, and it is brutal. The monthly child poverty rate increased nationwide by an astounding 40 percent in one month alone. This meant 3.7 million children fell below the poverty level in January, which was the first month that the $300-350 C.T.C. payments stopped being mailed out to parents. So those 3.7 million children can all thank Joe Manchin for their fate. For shame, Senator, for shame!
Manchin did NOT single-handedly stop the Child Tax Credit payments — ANY Senator that refused to support this legislation DESIRES for children to suffer… not just Manchin! Democrats must make this a very big part of their 2022 campaigns. Republicans simply do not care about anyone but the rich.
Hey All:
CW has always done a great job at "framing the narrative." Certainly better than most of the political and so-called professional left does. For many of us, that's why we're still here (since the aughts for some of us, I think).
While I'm not comfortable with the all-to-frequent cheap WWII comparisons we see, I'm wondering if the proper framing for the Pro-Putin Right Wing faction (Carlson, Vance, etc) is to evoke [all-caps apologies] "APPEASEMENT!"
What do you all think?
BTW
I'm comfortable if the answer is along the lines of "you're old, dude; better would be 'get off our lawn.'"
Stay safe; Peace.
JL,
And here I thought such ridiculousness facetiousness was beneath you..
At least, I concede when I am annoyingly facetious.. :D
The simple facts are these..
At conception, a baby has it's own unique DNA
At 6 weeks, a baby has it's own unique heartbeat
At 17 weeks, a baby has it's own unique fingerprints.
This is the SCIENCE that you people claim to be all about..
Now, ya'all can dehumanize the baby all you want.. Call it a feotus, a zygote or whatever.. It's a tried and true technique used by serial killers on their victims since time immemorial.. So, have at it..
But the FACTS and the SCIENCE remains..
It's a baby.. A living person who doesn't deserve to be torn apart or slaughtered by the tens of millions..
If ya'all can live with yourselves by supporting such a barbaric act?? Then more power to ya... :^/
But nothing will change the facts or the science..
And Roe v Wade is going to be thrown on the trash heap of history where it belongs..
@Speak2
While I'm not comfortable with the all-to-frequent cheap WWII comparisons we see, I'm wondering if the proper framing for the Pro-Putin Right Wing faction (Carlson, Vance, etc) is to evoke [all-caps apologies]
Actually, it's Biden et al who are the Pro Putin faction..
Even with all that Putin has done, Biden and the Democrats **STILL** support the Nord Stream 2 pipeline..
So, as usual, you are wrong, Speak2....
I'm not so sure a fetus qualifies as its own human life
OK.. Fair enough.. The SCIENCE proves it is it's own human life, but OK.. Sure.. You are not sure..
Since you are not sure, shouldn't you err on the side of SAVING life??? What is the inconvenience of the mother when compared to taking an innocent life???
I mean, think about it.. You're not sure yet you decide anyways that ripping this new baby apart is the correct choice??
Dood!!???
any more than my pinky toe is a human life.
Yer pinky toe does not have it's own unique DNA nor it's own unique heartbeat..
I am surprised I have to explain this.. :^/
And even if one were to presume that a fetus is a person, does that by necessity oblige every woman to allow it to spend nine months using her body for its own purposes?
The woman made the choice to participate in an activity where she knew FULL WELL this could happen..
So, yes.. The woman is obligated to accept the consequences of her CHOICE...
Let's say AOC gets pregnant and by some freakish coincidence the only way for it to survive would be to transplant it into you. Do you consent?
Of course not.. *I* have a choice.. Just like AOC had a choice when she paid someone to frak her...
Now AOC has to live with the consequences of her choice. She should not be allowed to be able to resort to murder to avoid the consequences of her choice..
"Simple logic..."
-Admiral James T. Kirk
So, we have established the facts and the science..
The woman DOES have the choice to participate or not participate in an activity that could result in pregnancy.
There's her choice.. Once she makes that choice then she should be forced to live with that choice.. Sure we can carve out exceptions for the health of the mother. That's logical.. But once the woman makes *HER CHOICE* she should not be allowed to back out of that choice when the consequences are inconvenient..
So, we have established that the woman has the right to choose.. But also has the responsibility of accepting consequences of that choice..
Now, we move on to the science..
At conception, a baby has it's own unique DNA..
At 6 weeks, a baby has it's own unique heartbeat..
At 17 weeks, a baby has it's own unique fingerprints..
As such, the SCIENCE proves that it's no longer the woman's body at issue here.. The baby is it's own unique body. And, as such, the woman has no more say over killing that baby than she should 1 week after actual birth..
Morally or ethically, there is no difference between killing a baby at 6 weeks gestationally and killing a baby at 1 week post birth...
Facts and science....
I'm not so sure a fetus qualifies as its own human life
Captain's Log STARDATE 02202022.05.. Acting Captain JL in command of the USS Enterprise recording. We've come across an object in space that is blocking our path. Mr Spock says it's life, but I am not sure.. Since going around it would add hours onto our journey and would be damn inconvenient, I have opted to rip that thing apart, even though I am not sure if it's a sentient life or not...
Mr Sulu, Mr Chekov.. Full phaser fire and spread of photon torpedoes.. Let's rip this sucker apart...
:^/
W.W.J.T.K.D
@Russ
A person has rights, but they also have a responsibility to be accountable for their actions.
Exactly.. And if a woman makes the choice to participate in an activity that could result in a baby being created (her actions) then she needs to be held accountable for those freely chosen actions..
I am glad to see you agree with me...
Exactly.. And if a woman makes the choice to participate in an activity that could result in a baby being created (her actions) then she needs to be held accountable for those freely chosen actions..
And she CAN'T be allowed to evade such accountability by giving her the legal option to kill her baby..
Whether she kills the baby at 6 weeks gestation or kills the baby at 1 week after birth..
Canada’s illiberal response to protesters
Ottawa’s Freedom Convoy occupation has been mishandled by the authorities
It is hard to understand, for those not on the ground, what it is like living in the section of downtown Ottawa occupied by the so-called Freedom Convoy of anti-government protesters. Residents tell stories of harassment, being kept awake by almost constant honking and feeling as if they are trapped within their own homes. The encampment itself is reported to be both a “state within a state” of co-ordinated services such as medics, electricians and healthcare as well as an unlawful street party, with sound stages, hot dogs and even a couple of saunas.
https://www.ft.com/content/1f83d3dc-a95b-4947-92ba-4f08899228a3?segmentId=b385c2ad-87ed-d8ff-aaec-0f8435cd42d9
It's funny to see ya'all's reactions to the Canadian Trucker Protest and compare those reactions to ya'all's acceptance and support of AntiFa insurrections in Seattle and Portland...
Thereby once again proving beyond any doubt..
It's SOLELY about political ideology..
Ya'all condemn actions by one group that is not politically acceptable to ya'all and condone, support and advocate actions by another group that IS politically acceptable to ya'all..
And the actions are the exact same actions.. :^/ Actually, the Canadian Truckers protest are a damn sight better than AntiFa's violent actions where people were injured and killed..
And from the NY Grime itself..
Can Dems Dodge Doomsday?
It may be a TikTok world, but sometimes old hacks know best.
James Carville helped Bill Clinton get elected against stiff odds. David Axelrod helped Barack Obama get elected against stiff odds. And Stan Greenberg was the first to identify the fateful trend of Reagan Democrats.
All three Dems are speaking out with startling candor about the impending Repubocalypse. Many Americans are fed up. The jumbled Covid response has eroded an already shaky trust in government. Inflation is biting. War is looming. Things feel out of control. People are anxious and reassessing their lives. Democrats have to connect with that.
The Democrats are stepping all over themselves. And Republicans are doing all they can to prevent the Democrats from accomplishing anything, and then are trashing them for not doing anything. Voters like to punish the people in power. So if the Democrats don’t figure it out, Jim Jordan is going to be running the House and pushing investigations of Biden and Hillary. They can’t quit her.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/19/opinion/democrats-biden-voters.html
I see quite a few Impeachments in Biden's future.. :D
Democrats gonna reap what they sow'ed...
The Durham deniers’ talking points remain gibberish. They are furiously attempting to hand-wave away the facts the special counsel has found.
One week ago today, Special Counsel John Durham filed a motion in the government’s criminal case against former Hillary Clinton campaign attorney Michael Sussmann. That motion, in requesting the court obtain Sussmann’s waiver of any conflicts of interest held by his lawyers on the record, provided in excruciating detail the factual basis for the purported conflicts.
In doing so, it revealed that “enemies of Donald Trump surveilled the internet traffic at Trump Tower, at his New York City apartment building, and later at the executive office of the president of the United States, then fed disinformation about that traffic to intelligence agencies hoping to frame Trump as a Russia-connected stooge.”
https://thefederalist.com/2022/02/18/5-media-lies-about-the-latest-special-counsel-revelations/
Once again, Democrats are being out'ed as the conniving liars that they are...
Here are five examples of how desperate Democrats are to make the facts go away..
Actually, when one takes into account vick's complete and utter STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS bullshit, there are six....
1. It’s Just Those Crazy Right-Wingers
Of course, while casting coverage of Special Counsel Durham’s investigation as the cries of cray-cray conservatives might resonate with their readers, as a substantive counter to the most recent revelations in the Sussmann case it falls flat.
Only corrupt, bigoted and hate-filled Trump/America haters buy into this talking point...
2. Pay No Attention to the Facts Behind the Filing
The second narrative pushed by Savage and then quickly parroted by his ilk is that the facts behind Durham’s most recent court filing are too dense for readers to bother using their brainpower to decipher. Yes, I am serious.
The facts “also tend to involve dense and obscure issues, so dissecting them requires asking readers to expend significant mental energy and time—raising the question of whether news outlets should even cover such claims,” Savage wrote in his Monday pro bono P.R. piece for Sussmann.
Amazingly, CNN quoted this passage in its coverage of the issue, demonstrating the utter lack of regard in which the leftist press holds its readers.
Basically, you Democrats' argument in this case is, "You people are too stoopid to understand the issues and facts, so it's all bullshit..."
Yea... Democrats are ALWAYS renown for making great arguments like this.. :^/
3. There Was No ‘Infiltration,’ So There Is No Story
A third counter pushed in response to Durham’s Friday court filing focused on Fox News’ coverage and its opener that read, “Lawyers for the Clinton campaign paid a technology company to ‘infiltrate’ servers belonging to Trump Tower, and later the White House, in order to establish an ‘inference’ and ‘narrative’ to bring to government agencies linking Donald Trump to Russia, a filing from Special Counsel John Durham found.”
Durham never said “infiltrate,” however, came the rejoinder. At least on this point, the press members suffering from “media vapors” have a point: Durham did not say “infiltrate.” Rather, Kash Patel, a former chief investigator for Devin Nunes on the House Intelligence Committee, used that word in an interview with Fox News, as the article later explained.
Durham said the data Sussmann provided to the CIA came from data tech executive Rodney Joffe obtained when he “exploited” his access to sensitive data from the Executive Office of the President (EOP).
This is simply an exercise in semantics... It's a perfect example of Democrats and their incessant ability to try and obfuscate the facts by keying in on a nonsensical and irrelevant data point.. It's basically the "what the meaning of 'is' is" argument.. :^/
Bashi does that a lot here as well..
It's just as lame and morally corrupt...
@m,
Morally and ethically there is a MASSIVE difference between aborting a 20 week old embryo and killing a 1 week old infant. For every similarity there is a difference. At 20 weeks there's no nervous system, no ability to feel pain, etc. etc. etc.
As to judging a girl for being pregnant, that may not be what she signed up for. She gets date-raped and unless she can prove it, she's the one on trial? There is an entire branch of philosophy dedicated to balancing the rights of different entities, and your stance on the subject is indefensible.
JL
One of the most famous philosophers to defend abortion accepted the premise of a fetus as a person and still found insufficient rational justification to ban the practice - see JJ Thomson's "violinist" analogy. You can make it about the rights of the foetus or you can make it about punishing a woman for what happens in her sex life, but you can't rationally do both at the same time. At least not without stomping all over the eighth amendment.
JL
Morally and ethically there is a MASSIVE difference between aborting a 20 week old embryo and killing a 1 week old infant. For every similarity there is a difference. At 20 weeks there's no nervous system, no ability to feel pain, etc. etc. etc.
And, as I pointed pointed out, feeling pain has nothing to do with sentient life..
She gets date-raped and unless she can prove it, she's the one on trial?
No trial.. And in that case, I understand the issues..
But the child should not have to pay for the sins of the father.. If the girl/woman is not ready or willing to be a mother, there is always adoption..
Why compound the crime of rape with murdering an innocent child??
There is an entire branch of philosophy dedicated to balancing the rights of different entities, and your stance on the subject is indefensible.
It's completely defensible..
The sanctity of life..
You can make it about the rights of the foetus or you can make it about punishing a woman for what happens in her sex life, but you can't rationally do both at the same time.
You're the only one talking about punishment..
*I* am talking about taking responsibility for one's decisions...
Something you Democrats claim is something that SHOULD be done..
Yet, have sooo much trouble actually following thru when it's inconvenient..
I came here in 2015 when CW was doing a better job of framing the narrative.
Yer such a JEEP.. :D
heh
Abortion is taking an innocent human life.. Pure and simple..
Now if that's what ya'all support, then own it...
Don't dress it up with meek obfuscations or fact-less mitigations..
Abortion is taking an innocent human life...
End of story...
If your unsure about whether it's life or not..
Isn't it better to err on the side of the sanctity of life and NOT on the side of a baby being inconvenient to the mother's lifestyle??
That right there seems to be a no-brainer...
The sanctity of life..
When it's easy. When they are innocent. When they are safe.
Black? Scumbag? Don't agree with your politics? Can't be bothered to get a vaccine? Good shoots and death penalties? Not so much, and that's the real test, sanctity of life when you don't particularly like them or actively dislike them. Get your post born house in order before you are taken seriously on the unborn...
Bashi,
Black?
Race has nothing to do with anything.. Only a racist would think otherwise..
Scumbag?
What part of INNOCENT is not clear to you??
As usual, only obfuscation and equivocation..
That's our Bashi.. :^/
The woman made the choice to participate in an activity where she knew FULL WELL this could happen..
So, yes.. The woman is obligated to accept the consequences of her CHOICE...
Ahhhh, so this IS about punishing women for having sex. Funny, the man who said he would pull out but didn’t because of his hair trigger doesn’t seem to share in the “accountability” for HIS actions! The guy didn’t have to have sex with a woman… gay sex is a sure fire way to avoid unwanted pregnancies.
And your science facts that you keep repeating because you think they prove something? They are just stages in the sexual reproduction of a given species. If those steps “prove” personhood; then you just cut the list of things we can eat down to almost nothing.
The sanctity of life..
So this IS a religious thing with you. Why is it that Rightwingers only bring up the “sanctity” of something when you are wanting to tell others how they must conduct their lives when the matter has no impact on your life at all? Don’t approve of abortion? Don’t have one. Don’t approve of marriage equality? Don’t marry someone the same sex as you.
And Republicans showed they care nothing about the “sanctity of life” when they allowed 3.7 children fall into poverty when they voted against Child Tax Credit!
Incels tend to hold very strong pro-birth opinions. Something about punishing the women who won’t have sex with them but will have sex with other guys.
But hay...
If you want to be a racist and make everything about race???
The NUMBER ONE killer of black Americans is abortion...
So, if you support abortion, then you don't believe that black lives matter...
What a racist position to take.. That black lives don't matter..
How could you have that belief, Bashi???
Russ[84],
Love it - very well said!
Human life begins at conception, continues along an unbroken continuum, with the space between no two consecutive seconds marking any meaningful level of progression/retrogression, until death.
For those who would justify abortion on the basis of criteria marking definite levels of development at specific points on the continuum, I would draw attention to what might be described as "the symmetry of life' epitomized by the observation that people start out in this life wearing diapers and unable to eat solid food, and often end up the same way".
When my mom died just weeks short of her 100th b'day, she had for years lacked many of the factors abortion advocates cite as criteria for 'personhood'.
Actually, I favor the legal right to abortion. In fact, I'd advocate for the right to 'retroactive abortion' for people who richly deserved it (such as our most recent ex president) but weren't subjected to it at the time. But I don't use that argument to attempt to rationalize the irrational, as some here do.
@rush...
Ahhhh, so this IS about punishing women for having sex.
What IS it with you people and punishment?? Are ya'all into BDSM???
This is about accepting responsibility for one's actions..
Ya'all are the ones who keep bringing up punishment..
Funny, the man who said he would pull out but didn’t because of his hair trigger doesn’t seem to share in the “accountability” for HIS actions!
I am all for that... Once you allow men's rights during pregnancy... IE allowing them to have a say in a woman's murder of HIS child.... then I will agree with you about enforcing men's accountability..
They are just stages in the sexual reproduction of a given species.
BBBBWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHA
There is NOTHING about sex or reproduction in the process of human life...
The sex and reproduction part comes BEFORE the life is created...
"Doi!!"
-Vanillope Von Schweetz, WRECK IT RALPH
So this IS a religious thing with you.
Only a moron would believe that the sanctity of life is about religion.. :^/
And Republicans showed they care nothing about the “sanctity of life” when they allowed 3.7 children fall into poverty when they voted against Child Tax Credit!
Democrats are in charge... If they couldn't get it done, it's on them..
Incels tend to hold very strong pro-birth opinions. Something about punishing the women who won’t have sex with them but will have sex with other guys.
You know a lot about incels.. Self-study???
Maybe that's why you chose the gay lifestyle.. Angry at women, eh rush?? :D
CRS,
Human life begins at conception...
Why yes...
Yes it does... :D
Thank you, Stucki...
Exactly.. And if a woman makes the choice to participate in an activity that could result in a baby being created (her actions) then she needs to be held accountable for those freely chosen actions..
And gun makers know that their products could be used to murder people, but they still choose to sell the guns. Their choice causes the death of the innocent. So when will you hold them accountable for what their choices result in?
Liz [86]
Thanks!
And gun makers know that their products could be used to murder people, but they still choose to sell the guns. Their choice causes the death of the innocent. So when will you hold them accountable for what their choices result in?
As usual, rush compares apples and alligators...
Yer defending murder, rush.. Black lives don't matter to you whatsoever..
These are the facts..
Listen [90]
Same is true of automakers, knife makers, ball bat makers, etc, right?
CRS,
Listen [90]
Same is true of automakers, knife makers, ball bat makers, etc, right?
Yep... And all those examples are JUST as irrelevant as gun makers in the context of women accepting responsibility for their own choices...
CRS
According to Michale’s logic, if you know that your actions could have unwanted results, but you choose to do it any way… then you must be held accountable for those unwanted results.
My zoology professor loved to point out that a fetus is no different from a parasite… it’s just one that we choose to allow to mature so that we continue our species. The unborn steals nutrients from the host; it taxes the host’s body and can cause health issues; and can lead to the death of the host.
I won't be able to host the CW Sunday Night Music Festival and Dance Party this evening so I'm hoping that someone (wink, wink) will take the reins! :)
[96]
Not a prayer in Weigantia's new and improved by trolls dystopia.
If only CW gave a fuck*sigh*
Eminem's reply to Rudy's complaints about his Super Bowl appearance.
Yeah, whatever Don.
nypoet22
54
Was i winning? What do I win? I hope it's pie!
Yes, sir. You were all definitely winning because you didn't promote the nonsensical notion and ridiculous false equivalency that being "pro choice" is the equivalent of being "pro death" when it isn't remotely. By preponderance of the evidence, do so-called conservatives give a shit about the "sanctity of life" or is there a plethora of proof all around (and archived herein) proving otherwise? Rhetorical question.
No need to restate what Bashi has already nailed down in his post, and Russ does a great job with the metaphorical use of pie. Speaking of which, if men could get pregnant, abortion would be as available as a piece of pie; choice would naturally be available to all. The true crux of the abortion debate isn't whether or not a "fetus" is a person with "certain unalienable rights" but whether a woman is.
When it comes to themselves, so-called conservatives these days are crying "tyranny" regarding the simple act of wearing a face mask in public for the common good; yet it is the same group that are happy to strip a woman of her choice the instant they become pregnant. Government mandating a choice for you but not for them is what they're advocating.
So, to recap: Being a so-called conservative these days means certain people should be subjected to control of government while others should be completely free to make their own decisions. There is a huge chasm between what so-called conservatives will accept being imposed on freedom in their own lives and what they will readily accept to be imposed upon certain others.
@kick/russ,
perhaps you've already read it, but i thought i ought to cite a quote from Dr. Thomson's essay, because I think it hits at the crux of the question:
I am inclined to think it a merit of my account precisely that it does not give a general yes or a general no. It allows for and supports our sense that, for example, a sick and desperately frightened fourteen-year-old schoolgirl, pregnant due to rape, may of course choose abortion, and that any law which rules this out is an insane law. And it also allows for and supports our sense that in other cases resort to abortion is even positively indecent. It would be indecent in the woman to request an abortion, and indecent in a doctor to perform it, if she is in her seventh month, and wants the abortion just to avoid the nuisance of postponing a trip abroad. The very fact that the arguments I have been drawing attention to treat all cases of abortion, or even all cases of abortion in which the mother's life is not at stake, as morally on a par ought to have made them suspect at the outset.~judith jarvis thomson
@caddy/don,
the world could do without any more abortion jokes, but i do believe an in-depth philosophical discourse on the viability of pie-based government would improve the public condition.
JL
It would be indecent in the woman to request an abortion, and indecent in a doctor to perform it, if she is in her seventh month, and wants the abortion just to avoid the nuisance of postponing a trip abroad. The very fact that the arguments I have been drawing attention to treat all cases of abortion, or even all cases of abortion in which the mother's life is not at stake, as morally on a par ought to have made them suspect at the outset
OR....
Or, it's better to make law to save the life of the innocent and then allow a judge or court to carve out exemptions in the cases, rarely though they occur, of the " a sick and desperately frightened fourteen-year-old schoolgirl, pregnant due to rape"
Don't you think THAT is the better way to proceed, JL??
To make the sanctity of life the proper goal of a law and then have the courts carve out the exemptions and exceptions where an abortion CAN be justified...
Surely you see the logic of such an approach, eh?? JL???
DH,
"If only CW gave a fuck*sigh*"
Sounds more like a whiner than a winner. :D
Ask not who's the board troll, Caddy- the troll is thee!
"I know, right!?"
-Felix, WRECK IT RALPH
@cad
Yeah, whatever Don.
I thought you didn't read our posts, cad???
BBBBWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Once again, cad gets caught in his bullshit.. :D
@cad
[96]
Not a prayer in Weigantia's new and improved by trolls dystopia.
If only CW gave a fuck*sigh*
So, you are calling Russ's ridiculous I LOVE ABORTIONS post a troll dystopia post???
Well, OK.. I wouldn't go that far.. But if that's yer claim... OK... :^/
@cad
You need to face reality, cad.. You've lost.. Accept it graciously and move on...
WARMINGTON: Police horses trample demonstrators at Freedom Convoy protest in Ottawa
Turns out the lasting image of the Freedom Convoy protest at Parliament Hill will not be bouncy castles but that of a woman with a walker being trampled by a police horse.
The violence the Prime Minister has expressed concern about during the three-week protest in Ottawa didn’t unfold until Justin Trudeau’s Emergencies Act police army was sent in to disperse the crowd.
https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/warmington-police-horses-trample-demonstrators-at-freedom-convoy-protest-in-ottawa
THIS is what Canada has become.. :^/
Hay Russ,
"In case you hadn’t caught on by now, every time there’s a media push blaming progressives, there’s something conservative Democrats are trying to cover up. This time it’s that they sent 4 million kids into poverty because they killed the Child Tax Credit."
-Democrat Cori Bush
Ya see... It's the Democrats' fault that the Child Tax Credit failed..
Man up...
Far left rejects fears they are denting Democrats’ midterm hopes
Evidence is piling up that voters are wary of the far left, but liberal champions such as Rep. Cori Bush aren’t backing down — they’re doubling down.
The successful recall election of three school board members in San Francisco over their woke priorities helped reignite Democrats’ concerns that left-wing slogans and policies are infuriating voters and will drag down the party in the midterm elections.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/feb/19/far-left-fights-back-against-fears-they-are-dentin/
The Hysterical Left owns the Democrat Party now..
The Democrat Party IS the Party of "DEFUND, DEMORALIZE, DEMONIZE THE POLICE"
This is fact...
Don,
Kelly McParland: Complacent Canada is changing — and our politicians haven't a clue
None of the three major parties shows any indication of understanding what’s happening around them, much less adapting accordingly
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/kelly-mcparland-complacent-canada-is-changing-and-our-politicians-havent-a-clue
You see, Don.. It's not the 2 Party system that is the problem..
It is the greed and the lust for power that is the problem..
And in that regard, the Democrat Party is MUCH MORE the problem than the Republican Party..
BLM privilege and Jan. 6 Capitol riot shame
When prominent young far-left activist Quintez Brown was arrested last week for trying to assassinate a Jewish mayoral candidate in Kentucky, he was portrayed sympathetically by the media and immediately bailed out of jail by his Black Lives Matter comrades, who crowd-funded the $100,000 cost.
Brown, 21, had BLM privilege. A celebrated gun-control advocate, anointed as a rising star by the Obama Foundation, he was an honored guest on Joy Reid’s MSNBC show. He was granted a biweekly opinion column in the Louisville Courier-Journal to spew boilerplate leftist, race-based, anti-cop sentiment.
And according to Andy Ngo, author of “Unmasked,” the definitive Antifa expose, Brown’s social media accounts show a disturbing allegiance to anti-Semitic causes, such as the Lion Of Judah Armed Forces, an armed black nationalist group which is linked to the virulently anti-Semitic Black Hebrew Israelites.
https://nypost.com/2022/02/20/blm-privilege-jan-6-ignominy/
You see, this is exactly the problem with you people..
You are so hysterical about a SINGLE violent Right Wing riot in a SINGLE building at a SINGLE location over the span of a few hours..
Yet ya'all condone and encourage and advocate THIS ^^^ kind of Democrat BLM and AntiFa terrorism....
Can anyone explain this blatant hypocrisy and double standards???
One of the bullets he allegedly fired from a Glock handgun at mayoral candidate Craig Greenberg came so close it grazed the man’s sweater.
But none of that is a problem for GoFundMe, which routinely cuts off crowd-sourced donations to nonviolent Canadian truckers and nonviolent Jan. 6 defendants but never interferes with BLM’s cash.
Nonviolent, unarmed Jan. 6ers can’t get bail, are vilified as domestic terrorists, and are banned from crowd-funding resources to pay crippling legal expenses.
Nonviolent Canadian truckers also are vilified, refused crowdfunding, have their bank accounts frozen and their small-fry donors doxxed.
Notice the discrepancy in treatment?
Where is the 6 Jan level of condemnation for these acts from ya'all???
{{ccchhhiirrrrppppp}}{{ccccchhhhhiiiirrrrppppp}}
Non-existent...
Ya'all don't even CONDEMN these acts at all.. SILENCE GIVES ASSENT.. It's a Democrat mantra... They even make money off the sales of T-SHIRTS that say this very thing...
But let a Right Wing violent riot happen and ya'all scream to the high heavens..
Doesn't being so blatantly hypocritical even BOTHER ya'all???
Look at the Canadian Truckers protest.. Ya'all approve of Adolph Trudeau and his gestapo tactics, trampling elderly people with police horses..
Yet, a BLM thug tries to ASSASSINATE a mayoral candidate??? And ya'all are COMPLETELY silent on that..
SILENCE GIVES ASSENT...
Doesn't such BLATANT hypocrisy and double standards even BOTHER ya'all???
It is galling but by now we should be used to the protected status of radical leftist groups such as BLM and Antifa — not just in the media but in our criminal justice system.
BLM is treated like a sacred cow — despite the racial division and violent unrest it fueled during the 2020 summer of riots, despite the $30 million that has gone missing from BLM coffers, despite its dodgy tax status, despite the personal real estate spending spree of BLM’s co-founder, Patrisse Cullors, despite the complaints that BLM gave little financial support to families of black people killed by police.
The 2020 BLM riots injured or blinded more than 2,000 police officers, resulted in the deaths of more than two dozen people and property damage worth more than $1 billion of damage, the most expensive in insurance history.
But according to the Democrats, their pet media outlets, and a disturbing number of judges, the violent mayhem was morally justified, and so the vast majority of charges have been dismissed.
The 2020 BLM riots injured or blinded more than 2,000 police officers,
And ya'all whine and cry about a SINGLE Right Wing violent riot in a SINGLE building over the span of a few hours..
Ya'all don't care about cops unless you can use them to further your anti-Cop agenda...
It's sickening...
By contrast, we are supposed to believe that the Jan. 6 Capitol riots were the worst attack on American democracy since the Civil war, worse than 9/11, the president told us, and the rioters must be treated as terrorists on par with ISIS.
Yet, as RealClearInvestigations has found, the 2020 BLM riots resulted in “15 times more injured police officers, 30 times as many arrests, and estimated damages in dollar terms up to 1,300 times more costly than those of the Capitol riot.”
The sentences meted out over both riots also are vastly disproportionate.
For instance, two Brooklyn activists who set fire to an NYPD homeless outreach van in Greenwich Village in July 2020 were sentenced to six months in prison on Friday.
That’s almost three years less than the sentence handed down to the so-called QAnon Shaman, Jacob Chansley, who became the face of the Capitol riot after being photographed wandering around in a Viking hat and face paint. He committed no violence, damaged no property and was unarmed, but he spent more than ten months in prison without trial before he was slapped with a 41-month sentence plus three years of supervised release.
If it weren't for double standards, you people would have no standards at all... :^/
‘Unprecedented’ bias
Compare the zero-jail term given to BLM rioter Mohamed Hussein Abdi, who tried to set fire to a high school in Minneapolis and just was sentenced to probation earlier this month. Or BLM rioter Montez Terriel Lee, who was sentenced to 10 years in jail for burning down a pawn shop in Minneapolis and killing a 30-year-old man inside.
Unlike the piecemeal legal treatment of the BLM riots, the criminal investigation into the Capitol riot is the largest in US history.
The “scope and scale .?.?. are really unprecedented, not only in FBI history, but probably DOJ history,” boasted Michael Sherwin, the zealous federal prosecutor formerly in charge of the investigation.
But you didn’t need Sherwin to tell you that America is operating two unequal systems of justice when it comes to Democrat-friendly BLM and the Trump supporters arrested over the Capitol riot.
The final irony is that BLM now is using the mayhem they created as an excuse for leniency. Louisville BLM organizers reportedly claimed that their man Quintez Brown may have been suffering from PTSD after two years of social unrest.
How anyone with more than 2 brain cells to rub together can support the Democrat Party is mind-bobbling...
Sorry Democrats, Your Problem Isn’t Messaging
The voters know the difference between specious talking points and effective policies.
As the midterms loom, panicky House Democrats are painfully aware that the political portents do not favor them. They have been consistently behind on the generic congressional ballot, and their fate will be profoundly influenced by President Biden’s abysmal job approval numbers. Consequently, they badly need competent guidance from their leadership. They aren’t getting it. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is instead telling its members that their policies are not the problem. According to a recent Politico report, the DCCC insists that the source of their woes is GOP “culture war attacks” and the solution is better messaging.
https://spectator.org/sorry-democrats-your-problem-isnt-messaging/
The problem for Democrats is not that the American people don't like the Democrats' messaging..
The problem for Democrats is that Americans don't like the Democrat MESSAGE...
Advocating racist policies such as segregation and CRT... Support BLM terrorist assassins... DEFUND, DEMORALIZE, DEMONIZE THE POLICE... Children indoctrination.. Destroying women's sports in the name of forced science-less diversity.. Federalizing state elections to make it easier for Democrats to cheat..
Over and over and over again, the American people are saying NO to Democrat policies...
It's not yer messaging, Democrats... It's yer message...
Keep waving the flag, DH... :D
I support ya 110%!! :D
DCCC chair Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) is encouraging House Democrats to forcefully rebut Republican charges that they support defunding the police, open borders, critical race theory, and unnecessarily draconian COVID-19 mitigation measures. This will be a tough sell for Democrats, considering that many openly advocate these radical positions and very few have denounced them. Most voters remember those inconvenient facts, however, including Rep. Maloney’s constituents. He represents New York’s 18th congressional district and is one of the 70 incumbents the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee (NRCC) is targeting for defeat in the midterm elections.
Following the “better messaging” strategy, Maloney is trying to fend off Schmitt by flip-flopping on mask mandates. He recently revealed his epiphany on Morning Joe: “We as Democrats should not be, out of some sense of correctness, falling in love with [mask] mandates when they aren’t necessary.” This won’t help, however, unless he breaks with New York’s Democratic governor over her refusal to lift the mandates she has imposed on school children. As Johns Hopkins scholar Amesh Adalja, MD, tells Medscape Medical News: “Children are the lowest risk for severe disease.” Yet Gov. Hochul dropped mask mandates for everyone except the kids. This frustrated many parents. And, as we saw in Virginia, they vote.
Once again.. It's not the messaging..
Americans don't like the Democrat Party message...
Until Democrats change their message.. IE Change their policies..
Democrats will continue to lose over and over and over again...
The Democratic emphasis on better messaging rather than better policies is not merely a bad campaign strategy, it’s an insult to the collective intelligence of the electorate. It assumes voters can’t remember what Biden and the Democratic leadership promised them during the 2020 election, that parents can’t tell when politicians are putting the interests of their big donors before the wellbeing of their children, that consumers can’t calculate how much more they are paying for food and fuel than they were paying a year ago. It assumes that most Americans are idiots. This attitude has become the defining characteristic of the Democratic Party. Thus, the voters are about to send them … well … an unmistakable message.
How well Democrats heed that message will determine how long Democrats remain as the minority Party....
Nypoet (104)-
My joke, my choice. :D
He's got ya there, JL.... :D
Kelly McParland: Complacent Canada is changing — and our politicians haven't a clue
None of the three major parties shows any indication of understanding what’s happening around them, much less adapting accordingly
The events of the past three weeks — and for two years of pandemic before that — may have shaken that easy contentment. The Canada on display since March 2020 has hardly reflected the one we like to imagine. Institutions that don’t work, hospitals that are overwhelmed, a venerated health-care system that can’t cope, police forces that can’t keep order, borders that can’t be kept open.
Events of the past three weeks may have shaken that easy contentment
Leadership that has failed on so many fronts in so many instances. Experts who lack expertise, appointees who aren’t up to the job, talking heads who can’t keep their story straight or their advice consistent. A governing class seemingly dedicated more to division and disparagement than pragmatism or co-operation. In sum it’s produced an anger that is palpable and not anywhere like the placid and polite Canadian profile. For a long time now Canada has been neither peaceable, orderly or well governed.
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/kelly-mcparland-complacent-canada-is-changing-and-our-politicians-havent-a-clue
Thanx to Adolph Trudeau, Canada is fast becoming a 3rd world shithole...
Michale,
It's really not ALL that bad here. But, I am concerned by the lack of police action to remove the illegal protesting truckers for more than three weeks. There will be investigations and we will see what happened, what didn't happen and why.
Canadians will learn about the organizers and their asinine anti-government demands as set out in their memorandum of understanding. We will learn just how seriously we need to take this threat to our democracy.
I will have much more to say about this later. It's Family Day today!
Liz,
t's really not ALL that bad here. But, I am concerned by the lack of police action to remove the illegal protesting truckers for more than three weeks.
And that's where the double standards come in..
You seem to be totally accepting of violent riots where people are killed, wounded and billions in property destroyed..
But a PEACEFUL and legitimate protest???
THAT you are concerned about "lack of police action" to violently shut down a REAL and actual PEACEFUL protest...
Where is the logic???
Canadians will learn about the organizers and their asinine anti-government demands as set out in their memorandum of understanding. We will learn just how seriously we need to take this threat to our democracy.
Yea... And parents who are concerned about their children are "domestic terrorists" and require the Patriot Act.. :^/
https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2022/01/1862/1048/thumbnail_image001.jpg?ve=1&tl=1
According to the Democrat Party, THAT ^^^^ is a female...
:^/
I can understand why you can't see the logic in what I wrote and what I will write because you are starting from a premise that is not factual.
The occupation of downtown Ottawa and the blocades of border crossings are neither peaceful nor legitimate and, more than that, they caused the shutdown of workplaces.
Of course, Michale, asking you to get your facts straight is like asking a turtle to speed up! :)
I can understand why you can't see the logic in what I wrote and what I will write because you are starting from a premise that is not factual.
And yet, what I wrote is completely factual... I welcome you to refute my facts with facts of your own.. :D
The occupation of downtown Ottawa and the blocades of border crossings are neither peaceful nor legitimate
They were completely peaceful, as a normal rational person defines peaceful...
But I understand your confusion as you buy into the Democrat definition.. For you "Fiery Protest" = Peaceful protest..
As for "legitimate", I again point you to TWENTY TWO YEARS (collectively) of Democrat BLM and AntiFa protests and invite you to justify that in the context of your attitude against the REAL peaceful protests of the Canadian Truckers...
, more than that, they caused the shutdown of workplaces.
You mean, as opposed to Democrat BLM and AntiFa riots that DESTROYED work places??? Mostly of minority owned work places..
I am simply gabberflasted that you try to make a case on YOUR position while COMPLETELY ignoring 22 years (collectively) of REAL violent riots and your support of those riots...
The utter illogical and irrational thought process is mind-boggling...
And yet, what I wrote is completely factual... I welcome you to refute my facts with facts of your own.. :D
I just did.
They were completely peaceful, as a normal rational person defines peaceful...
Try telling that to the residents of downtown Ottawa, if you dare.
Facts aren't mine or yours, Michale, they just are. I wish you would get to know a few.
I am simply gabberflasted that you try to make a case on YOUR position while COMPLETELY ignoring 22 years (collectively) of REAL violent riots and your support of those riots...
Well, at least I don't take your lead and make false claims about it. ;)
Nibble on THAT for the rest of the day ... time to get to celebration of Family Day!
To make the sanctity of life the proper goal of a law and then have the courts carve out the exemptions and exceptions where an abortion CAN be justified... Don't you think THAT is the better way to proceed, JL??
no, i absolutely, positively, 1000% don't. both the suggestion of legislating what goes on inside women's bodies, and the way it's framed as somehow a moral crusade to protect all the innocent human goldfish, are abhorrent to me.
but then, unlike dr. thomson, i never stipulated the person-hood of a foetus prior to viability. even for her, it's a thought exercise rather than an rational concession. i can't quote the entire essay.
JL
@don,
my father told me that joke forty years ago, and it was just as awful then. yes, it's your first amendment right to tell as many gross jokes as you like.
JL
Yes, Don, if you knew anything about First Nations' ongoing struggle for justice and how that struggle is defined by dignity and respect, then you wouldn't tap out hurtful jokes like that.
Just like the occupying and blocading truckers, you have the freedom to write what you want. I have the freedom to denounce it.
@m,
whenever there's no consensus on what's true and moral in a given case, and one would have to be a gibbering idiot to believe on the issue of abortion that there is such a consensus, the burden should always be on the government to allow freedom of choice and prove a person's guilt if the choice they make is beyond the pale - not on that person to be unable to choose, and be required to prove their innocence if they choose in spite of the government's restrictions.
the key word here is CONSENSUS. you're arguing as if from a point of consensus on both the personhood of all foetuses and the value of preserving a foetus at a major cost to its host, when in fact no consensus exists on either point.
failing that, if a government must err, the american thing to do is to err on the side of individual liberty against government restriction. and to bring this argument full-circle, consensus is the crux of what's at issue in the mask/vaccine debate as well. in order for a government to presume guilt rather than innocence, requires massive public consensus. although i think it's beyond stupid, i must concede that consensus does not exist as to the public danger of people who refuse to mask. as such, the government can't dictate, and it's therefore the role of citizens in civil cases to police each other.
JL
Liz,
Well, at least I don't take your lead and make false claims about it. ;)
Please point to any of my claims regarding the Canadian Truckers protest that are false..
You can't because it just ain't so..
jl,
whenever there's no consensus on what's true and moral in a given case, and one would have to be a gibbering idiot to believe on the issue of abortion that there is such a consensus, the burden should always be on the government to allow freedom of choice and prove a person's guilt if the choice they make is beyond the pale - not on that person to be unable to choose, and be required to prove their innocence if they choose in spite of the government's restrictions.
Not factually accurate..
First off, the SCIENCE proves beyond any doubt that life exists..
You yourself state for the record that you are not sure if it's life..
Given these two facts, the *ONLY* rational option is to err on the sanctity of life and PROTECT that life..
THEN have the courts and the law carve out exemptions when/if circumstances warrant...
YOUR claim....
"the burden should always be on the government to allow freedom of choice "
.. is simply anarchy..
the key word here is CONSENSUS. you're arguing as if from a point of consensus on both the personhood of all foetuses and the value of preserving a foetus at a major cost to its host, when in fact no consensus exists on either point.
Between you and I, there is consensus and confusion..
You stated you are not sure if it's life..
Therefore the **ONLY** rational course of action is to err on the side of the sanctity of life..
Any other course of action is barbarism..
failing that, if a government must err, the american thing to do is to err on the side of individual liberty against government restriction.
Really??? So, err on letting people do whatever they want INSTEAD of err'ing on the side that protects life..
Do you REALLY believe that??
Because, if you do, you just HAVE to know it's going to come back and bite you on the arse, eh?? :D
although i think it's beyond stupid, i must concede that consensus does not exist as to the public danger of people who refuse to mask. as such, the government can't dictate, and it's therefore the role of citizens in civil cases to police each other.
So, you support the Canadian Truckers protest??? :D
I didn't think it would come back to bite you on the arse so fast.. :D
Don,
I like using the term First Nations to include First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples.
It was the whole feel of the joke that rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe hurtful is the wrong word. And, maybe it's just that I've spent a lot of time learning about First Nations rights - rights that most Canadians refuse to recognize out of sheer ignorance. And, its the fact that the struggle for justice continues and I don't feel like laughing about Indian jokes.
JL,
no, i absolutely, positively, 1000% don't. both the suggestion of legislating what goes on inside women's bodies,
Illegal narcotic laws..
Government regulates what goes on inside women's (and men's) bodies all the time. And a lot of it comes from the desire to save lives..
Such regulation is (I assume) acceptable to you..
How is abortion any different??
It's regulating what's going on in a woman's body to save a life...
No difference..
So, Michale, you support vaccine mandates, then?
Excellent!
So, Michale, you support vaccine mandates, then?
Hardly, since it's PROVEN that the vaccines simply do not work...
In general, I support a vaccine mandate for a REAL Pandemic that actually threatens the human race...
Think THE LAST SHIP or THE STAND or EXECUTIVE ORDERS..
But for something that has a 99%+ survival rate??
No way in hell would I support a vaccine mandate..
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell held maskless ball after reimposing mask mandate
Videos of maskless New Orleans mayor deleted following Fox News' inquiries
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/new-orleans-mayor-latoya-cantrell-maskless-mask-mandate
Apparently, you Democrats ONLY support mandates for the common people...
"MASK ARE FOR THEE... NOT FOR ME..."
What *IS* it about Democrats that the EXUDE hypocrisy from every pore of their bodies???
Democrats are engaged in a 'new politics of evasion' that could cost them in 2024, new study says
Three decades ago, Democratic policy analysts William A. Galston and Elaine Kamarck published a bracing critique of their party, warning against a "politics of evasion" that they said ignored electoral reality and hindered changes needed to reverse the results of three losing presidential races in which the party had won a combined total of just 173 electoral votes.
"A Democratic loss in the 2024 presidential election may well have catastrophic consequences for the country," they write, arguing that the Trump-led Republican Party presents the most serious threat to American democracy in modern times. The Democrats' first duty, they argue, should be to protect democracy by winning in 2024; everything else should be subordinated to that objective.
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But they argue that the Democrats are not positioned to achieve that objective, that, instead, the party is "in the grip of myths that block progress toward victory" and that too many Democrats are engaged in a "new politics of evasion, the refusal to confront the unyielding arithmetic of electoral success."
"Too many Democrats have evaded this truth and its implications for the party's agenda and strategy," the authors add. "They have been led astray by three persistent myths: that 'people of color' think and act in the same way; that economics always trumps culture; and that a progressive majority is emerging."
https://www.greenwichtime.com/news/article/Democrats-are-engaged-in-a-new-politics-of-16935734.php
We see this completely inability to accept the facts here in Weigantia™ as well...
Their analysis is a centrist critique of a party that they fear has moved too far to the left and in the process increasingly has lost touch with the swing voters who still have the power to decide elections. Its publication comes a week after voters in San Francisco recalled three members of the local school board in a battle that underscored the limits of left-wing politics even in such a liberal city and an outcome that set off alarms inside the party.
In their analysis of voters of color, Galston and Kamarck give special attention to Hispanics, a diverse community all its own and one that has shown signs of drifting away from the Democratic Party. Hispanic support for Democratic nominees dropped from 71 percent in 2012 to 66 percent in 2016 to 59 percent in 2020.
"Democrats," they write, "must consider the possibility that Hispanics will turn out to be the Italians of the 21st century - family oriented, religious, patriotic, striving to succeed in their adopted country and supportive of public policies that expand economic opportunity without dictating results." They note that ultimately, "Italians became Republicans. Democrats must rethink their approach if they hope to retain majority support among Hispanics."
Patriotic Americans of ALL stripes simply do not like nor buy what the Democrat Party is shoveling...
It's really THAT simple..
A building is on fire and you are told that down at the end of the west wing there is a 4 month old sleeping in a crib and down at the end of the east wing there is a cold storage device containing 12 frozen embryos awaiting implant. You can only make it down one of the hallways before the fire will completely engulf the place and which ever wing you do not choose will die.
So you really would choose frozen embryos over a living/breathing infant in order to save more lives?
Elizabeth Miller
147
So, Michale, you support vaccine mandates, then?
Excellent!
I see what you did there.
Of course he doesn't support vaccine mandates; he's a bona fide echo chamber/useful idiot of the GOP propaganda machine that tells the regurgitating rubes only 1% are dying from COVID. Do the math to determine the number of American deaths the GOP actually does find acceptable.
I still often hear them claim it's a hoax or that the vaccines don't work. When I hear this, I remind them that it is true that Donald Trump pretty much effs up everything he does and how Trump insists that the vaccines are his.
So, to recap: So-called conservatives are "all in" with governmental mandates for certain others while fully expecting no such mandates be placed on themselves... not exactly the moral and ethical bastions of pro-life advocacy that they make themselves out to be, but then we already knew that.