Friday Talking Points -- 50 Years From Watergate
We do realize that last week we semi-committed to publishing regular Friday Talking Points columns if there weren't any previous primetime Thursday-night hearings to cover from the House Select Committee on January 6th. However, there was one thing that came out of yesterday's hearing that is not getting nearly enough media or public attention, and we feel obligated to try to change this -- mostly because it is so important.
So we are not in fact going to provide a regular Friday Talking Points column. We will first spend a few paragraphs dealing with a few other bits of political news, and then the rest of this column will consist of an extended excerpt from a letter which was entered into the record during the committee hearing yesterday, a letter which deserves everyone's attention. Every American should read this letter in full, but since it is 12 pages long we will only be offering up the most sobering parts of it.
Today, coincidentally, is the 50th anniversary of the break-in at the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C. The Washington Post has been building up to this anniversary all week, for the obvious reason that the newspaper's big claim to glory rests on the fact that it was instrumental in taking down President Richard Nixon, due to his illegal activities surrounding the 1972 presidential election. It's an important historical marker to note, obviously. And more than just a little bit ironic, considering where we as a nation are today.
But before we get to the constitutional crisis we are currently experiencing, we did have a few random comments from the events of the last week. Because how could we fail to mention that Sarah Palin placed first in her primary for the vacant Alaska seat in the House of Representatives? This is in no way a guarantee she'll win in November, though, since she fell far short of 50 percent of the vote -- now she'll have to run against the three other top primary finishers, and with Alaska's new ranked-choice voting process, she could wind up being a lot of voters' last choices -- and thus lose. Either way, it'll be an interesting race to watch in the general election.
Down in Georgia, Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker is starting to realize what the political term "opposition research" truly means, as his various personal and political shortcomings are exposed, one after another. That's a very polite way of saying his lies are now catching up to him. The most-recent of these was the revelation that although Walker has been denouncing absentee Black fathers, he is actually guilty of the same thing he has been denouncing, thrice over. First it was revealed he had fathered a 10-year-old boy out of wedlock -- and that the mother had to take him to court to get him to pay child support. Then two more extramarital children were discovered by the media, leading to the extraordinary headline: "Herschel Walker Says He Didn't Try To Hide His Other Three Children."
But the biggest news of the week came from the two hearings the House Select Committee televised. Originally there were three such hearings scheduled, but (for somewhat-mysterious reasons) Wednesday's was postponed at the last minute. This leads us to believe that next week will also see two more hearings, but the committee's webpage currently has none listed, so we'll have to wait and see what happens.
Tuesday's hearing examined Donald Trump's Big Lie in detail, and exposed how many times Trump was told by all the serious advisors he had (or "Team Normal," as opposed to the legal clown car headed by Rudy Giuliani) that there was no basis in fact for any claims of election fraud at all. Trump was, as one witness put it "detached from reality," which is both an extraordinary thing to say of a United States president and also no surprise whatsoever about this particular one.
This detailed examination of how Trump was repeatedly told his Big Lie was nothing short of a big lie had a legal purpose, because it demonstrated what is known as "willful ignorance" -- which is no excuse for criminal behavior. A bank robber can't get up on the stand in his trial and claim: "I didn't know robbing banks was against the law," in other words. It is no legal defense at all, period.
The other big reveal to come from Tuesday's hearing was the fact that Trump's Big Lie was also a "Big Ripoff" -- since he used it to fleece his supporters to the tune of a quarter-billion dollars, promising them that all their money would go to an "Election Defense Fund" to fight Trump's legal battles in court. No such fund ever actually existed, of course. Grifters gotta grift, right?
Yesterday, we got Episode 3 of the ongoing miniseries of House Select Committee hearings. This centered around then-Vice President Mike Pence, and his role in preserving our democracy and upholding the United States Constitution. Pence, of course, is not exactly a liberal hero or anything, but when democracy itself is at stake any port in a storm is a welcome one.
There were many big revelations from the testimony yesterday, but the some of the biggest ones concerned a conservative lawyer named John Eastman -- who was instrumental in pushing a laughably bogus legal theory that Pence somehow had the power to overturn the will of the voters and just anoint Trump president for another term. Eastman himself even had to agree, when pressed by the vice president's legal counsel, that his "legal theories" would have lost nine to zero, if the Supreme Court ever heard them argued in a case. So even Eastman knew what he was proposing was both unconstitutional and illegal.
This guilt was confirmed both by a short mashup of Eastman's testimony before the committee, where he "took the Fifth Amendment" -- refused to answer a question on the grounds that his answer may tend to incriminate himself -- over 100 times. Further evidence of Eastman's knowledge of his own guilt and culpability was revealed in an email he sent asking the White House to include him on "the pardon list." Pardon list? The only possible reaction to this list's existence has to be (pun quite obviously intended): "Pardon me? What 'pardon list'?!?" Hopefully we'll be hearing more about this list in future hearings, since it so obviously shows how many were worried not just about their own guilty conscience but about their actual legal guilt. This was memorably captured by Pence's top counsel, who testified that he told Eastman, after January 6th: "Now I'm going to give you the best free legal advice you're ever getting in your life: get a great effing criminal defense lawyer; you're going to need it."
But the star of the hearings was retired Judge J. Michael Luttig, and the rest of this column is mostly what he had to say to the committee. First, here's what he told them during his in-person testimony, in his closing remarks (from a transcript of the hearing, all the way at the end):
I have written, as you said, Chairman [Bennie] Thompson, that today, almost two years after that fateful day in January 2021, that still Donald Trump and his allies and supporters are a clear and present danger to American democracy. That's not because of what happened on January 6th. It's because, to this very day, the former president, his allies, and supporters pledge that, in the presidential election of 2024, if the former president or his anointed successor as the Republican Party presidential candidate were to lose that election, that they would attempt to overturn that 2024 election in the same way that they attempted to overturn the 2020 election, but succeed in 2024 where they failed in 2020. I don't speak those words lightly.
I would have never spoken those words ever in my life, except that that's what the former president and his allies are telling us. As I said in that New York Times op-ed, wherein I was speaking about the Electoral Count Act of 1887, the former president and his allies are executing that blueprint for 2024 in open, in plain view of the American public.
I repeat, I would have never uttered one single one of those words unless the former president and his allies were candidly and proudly speaking those exact words to America.
Judge Luttig is one of the most respected constitutional lawyers on the conservative side of the American political divide. He was the one Mike Pence reached out to, for a definitive answer as to what his constitutional duties were, when it came to the joint session of Congress to certify the Electoral College's votes. That's how respected his legal opinion is, on the right.
For him to use the term "a clear and present danger to American democracy" is the constitutional and legal equivalent of a nuclear bomb. This is why he spent so much time stressing: "I don't speak those words lightly." And he was crystal-clear -- he said it not so much for what happened on January 6th, 2021, but for what is happening right now -- the ongoing attack on democracy itself led by Donald Trump and abetted by far too many Republican politicians.
We pointed this out in our own review of the hearing yesterday, but we strongly feel that more needs to be said on this existential issue. So we are eschewing our normal awards for Democrats this week and instead will move straight to the talking points part of the program, because Judge Luttig actually had a lot more to say on this subject; but because it was all contained in a letter he entered into the record (rather than live within the hearing itself), most people are unaware of just how serious Luttig considers America's present situation.
Volume 666 (6/17/22)
We suppose it is entirely fitting for today to not only be the 50th anniversary of Watergate, but also the 666th Friday Talking Points column to ever be published. Numerologists and Christian mystics, please take note (and then feel free to make your own "number of the beast" jokes, of course).
We are going to refrain from such humor, though, because the subject matter at hand is so serious. What follows is the beginning, the end, and the key passages in the middle of Judge Luttig's 12-page letter that was entered into the record of the House Select Committee yesterday. In fact, we strongly encourage everyone to read this letter in full, because what he has to say is both profound and alarming. This is a clarion cry for action -- and one that, quite sadly, will likely be ignored by the very people he is calling upon to act. This letter is the direst of warnings to America that her democracy is not just in peril, but in danger of disappearing. Which is why we are running it today, rather than some picayune partisan talking points.
Without further ado, here is what Judge Luttig had to say to the country at large. Please note that both emphasis and capitalization are from his original. And as we said, we strongly encourage everyone to take the time to read the full text of what Judge Luttig had to say, because it truly is that important.
Honorable Members of the House Select Committee --
A stake was driven through the heart of American democracy on January 6, 2021, and our democracy today is on a knife's edge.
America was at war on that fateful day, but not against a foreign power. She was at war against herself. We Americans were at war with each other -- over our democracy.
January 6 was but the next, foreseeable battle in a war that had been raging in America for years, though that day was the most consequential battle of that war even to date. In fact, January 6 was a separate war unto itself, a war for America's democracy, a war irresponsibly instigated and prosecuted by the former president, his political party allies, and his supporters. Both wars are raging to this day.
A peaceful end to these wars is desperately needed. The war for our democracy could lead to the peaceful end to the war for America's cultural heart and soul. But if a peaceful end to the war for America's democracy is not achievable, there is little chance for a peaceful end to that war. The settlement of this war over our democracy is necessary to the settlement of any war that will ever come to America, whether from her shores or to her shores. Though disinclined for the moment, as a political matter of fact only the party that instigated this war over our democracy can bring an end to that war.
. . .
The war on democracy instigated by the former president and his political party allies on January 6 was the natural and foreseeable culmination of the war for America. It was the final fateful day for the execution of a well-developed plan by the former president to overturn the 2020 presidential election at any cost, so that he could cling to power that the American People had decided to confer upon his successor, the next president of the United States instead. Knowing full well that he had lost the 2020 presidential election, the former president and his allies and supporters falsely claimed and proclaimed to the nation that he had won the election, and then he and they set about to overturn the election that he and they knew the former president had lost.
The treacherous plan was no less ambitious than to steal America's democracy.
. . .
False claims that our elections have been stolen from us corrupt our democracy, as they corrupt us. To continue to insist and persist in the false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen is itself an affront to our democracy and to the Constitution of the United States -- an affront without precedent.
Those who think that because America is a republic, theft and corruption of our national elections and electoral process are not theft and corruption of our democracy are sorely mistaken. America is both a republic and a representative democracy, and therefore a sustained attack on our national elections is a fortiori an attack on our democracy, any political theory otherwise notwithstanding.
Accordingly, if, and when, one of our national elections is actually stolen from us, our democracy will have been stolen from us. To steal an election in the United States of America is to steal her democracy.
. . .
Irrespective of the merits of the legal arguments that fueled the former president's efforts to overturn that election -- irrespective of them, though there were none -- those arguments, and therefore those efforts, by the former president were the product of the most reckless, insidious, and calamitous failures in both legal and political judgment in American history.
. . .
It is breathtaking that these arguments even were conceived, let alone entertained by the President of the United States at that perilous moment in history.
Had the Vice President of the United States obeyed the President of the United States, America would immediately have been plunged into what would have been tantamount to a revolution within a paralyzing constitutional crisis.
The former president's accountability under the law for the riot on the United States Capitol on January 6 is incidental to his responsibility and accountability for his attempt to steal the 2020 presidential election from the American People and thereby steal America's democracy from America herself. This said, willful ignorance of law and fact is neither excuse nor defense in law. Willful ignorance, thus, is neither political nor legal excuse or defense available to the former President of the United States, his allies, and his supporters.
. . .
The former president's party cynically and embarrassingly rationalizes January 6 as having been something between hallowed, legitimate public discourse and a visitors tour of the Capitol that got out of hand. January 6, of course, was neither, and the former president and his party know that. It was not legitimate public discourse by any definition. Nor was it a civics tour of the Capitol Building -- though that day proved to be an eye-opening civics lesson for all Americans.
January 6 was, rather, a defining, and a redefining, day in American history -- defining and redefining of America itself. On that day, America finally came face to face with the raging war that it had been waging against itself for years. So blood-chilling was that day for our democracy, that America could not believe her eyes and she turned them away in both fear and shame. Even so, many have already forgotten, and many more have chosen to forget. Some who rioted and occupied the Capitol that day had already decided how this war for our democracy must end, while others of their compatriots, upon sober reflection afterward, decided that no, no, this war must end now, before there is further bloodshed.
. . .
No American ought to turn away from January 6, 2021, until all of America comes to grips with what befell our country that day, and we decide what we want for our democracy from this day, forward.
The genius that is America's democracy is this. The Constitution vests all power in "We the People." We agreed in the Constitution to delegate our power to our representatives, only during their time in our service, and at that, exclusively for the purpose of representing our interests in the Nation's Capital, not theirs. Our democracy is the process through which our representatives, using the power that we have delegated to them, in turn and in trust, govern us. We choose in our national elections those who we want to represent us, including most importantly the President of the United States. It is for this simple reason that to steal an election for the presidency from us is to steal our democracy from us.
America's democracy was almost stolen from us on January 6.
Our democracy has never been tested like it was on that day and it will never be tested again as it was then if we learn the lessons of that fateful day. On the other hand, if we fail to learn the lessons that are there to be learned, or worse, deny even that there are lessons there to be learned, we will consign ourselves to another January 6 in the not-too-distant future, and another after that, and another after that. While for some, that is their wish, that cannot be our wish for America.
. . .
It is no wonder that America is at war over her democracy. Every day for years now we have borne witness to vicious partisan attacks on the bulwarks of that democracy -- our institutions of government and governance and the institutions and instrumentalities of our democracy -- by our own political leaders and fellow citizens. Every day for years now we have witnessed vicious partisan attacks on our Institutions of Law themselves, our Nation's Judiciary, and our Constitution and the Laws of the United States -- the guardians of that democracy and of our freedom. For years, we have been told by the very people we trust, and entrust, to preserve and to protect our American institutions of democracy and law that these institutions are no longer to be trusted, no longer to be believed in, no longer deserving of cherish and protection.
If that is true, then it is because those with whom we entrusted these institutions have themselves betrayed our sacred trust.
. . .
All of a sudden it seems that we are in violent disagreement over what has made America great in the past and over what will make her great in the future. In poetic tragedy, [a] political campaign slogan has become divisive political truth. And there is no reason to believe that agreement about America by we Americans is anywhere on the horizon, if for no other reason than that none of us is interested in agreement. In the moral catatonic stupor America finds itself in today, it is only disagreement that we seek, and the more virulent that disagreement, the better.
This is not who we Americans are or who we want to be. Nor is this America or what we want America to be.
Reeling from twin wars, leaderless, and rudderless, America is in need of help. Our polarized political leaders have shamefully and shamelessly failed us. They have summoned our worst demons at the very moment when we needed summoned our better angels.
. . .
Today's politicians believe that they never have to choose between partisan party politics and country, when in fact they are obliged by oath to choose between the two every day, and every day they defiantly refuse to choose. For today's politicians, never the twain shall meet between partisan ambition and country, and never the latter before the former, either. The politicians in today's America only sponsor partisan incitement and only traffic in the same, rather than sponsor bipartisan reason and lead in thoughtful deliberation. They have purposely led us down the road not in the direction toward the bridging of our differences, but in the direction away from the bridging of those differences. They have proven themselves incapable of leading us.
But still, all it would take to turn America around is a consensus among some number of these political leaders who possess the combined necessary moral authority and who would agree to be bound together by patriotic covenant, to stand up, step forward, and acknowledge to the American People that America is in peril.
In order to end these wars that are draining the lifeblood from our country, a critical mass of our two parties' political leaders is needed, to whom the remainder would be willing to listen, at least without immediate partisan recrimination. The logic for reconciliation of these wars being waged in America today dictates that this number needs to include a critical mass of leaders from the former president's political party and that those leaders need to go first. All of these leaders then need to summon first the moral courage and then the political courage, the strength, and the patriotic will to extend their hands, and ask of the others -- and of all Americans -- "Can we talk? America needs us."
While Memorial Day is still fresh in our minds, we would all do well to remind ourselves of the immortal words spoken to the West Point cadets at the United States Military Academy a half century ago: "Duty, Honor, Country." Those three sacred words of profound American obligation were spoken on that occasion to reassure those who had given their lives for their country in the past, and who would give them in the future, that their sacrifice would not be in vain. Those words are as apt today for this occasion as they were on that day for that occasion, if not more.
Then we need to get back to work, and quickly. We need to get back to the solemn business of preserving, protecting, and defending the Constitution of the United States and the United States of America.
The hour is late. God is watching us.
-- Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
Cross-posted at: Democratic Underground
CW
This leads us to believe that next week will also see two more hearings, but the committee's webpage currently has none listed, so we'll have to wait and see what happens.
I have heard the next hearing will be Tuesday, June 21, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern and will feature Brad ("I just want to find 11,780 votes") Raffensperger and Gabriel ("someone's going to get killed") Sterling.
There was a time, not long ago, when a quote like "Herschel Walker Says He Didn't Try To Hide His Other Three Children" would ONLY appear in the Onion.
Next Senate candidate: Antonio Cromartie
For those who don't know him, he's a former NFL star, college coach, and father of 14 with 8 women.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://fanbuzz.com/nfl/antonio-cromartie-kids/&ved=2ahUKEwiA7NvK9bX4AhVsk4kEHfpFByEQFnoECAQQBQ&usg=AOvVaw3eKx9ZX3H7q32j1W08q4UP
During the LOLPE's tenure, people trying to influence him would appear on TV, but speak as if they had an "audience of one."
"This is a clarion cry for action -- and one that, quite sadly, will likely be ignored by the very people he is calling upon to act."
I'm in the camp that Judge Luttig was not speaking to us nor was he speaking to the Select Committee.
He had an audience of 9 and he was framing a case that he hoped would ensure no adverse judicial decisions on these matters.
We'll see whether or not they ignore their calling to act. The cynical part of me is skeptical, but hope springs eternal and all that ...
Was Judge Luttig allowed to read his entire statement aloud or was it just summarily entered into the record?
Happy father's day to all the daddies in the house, and those who love them.
https://youtu.be/eRlKUj0c5sY
Hey, where'd you get the force from?
Caddy,
Where are you? I'm expecting you to get our Juneteenth festivities underway this evening ...
https://youtu.be/kjBZEMkmwYA
Follow
https://youtu.be/veiJLhXdwn8
My other favorite for the occasion
And something slightly more recent
https://youtu.be/2fZHou18Cdk
Really?
Drake has come out with a new album, his seventh studio album and I think I may actually pick it up! There was a very review of Honestly, Nevermind in the New York Times today.
Here he is with One Dance
Drake - 5am in Toronto
Drake - Dreams Money Can Buy
Billy Strayhorn - Something To Live For
Aretha Franklin - Mary, Don't You Weep
Nice selections, Joshua ... I'm going to bed now.
The ONE thing.... the one immovable fact... the one undisputed point about the 6JC...???
It's brought to you by the exact same people who pushed the bullshit Russia Collusion delusion...
The bullshit Russia Collusion delusion did not achieve the goal...
So, these moron haters come up with ANOTHER bullshit claim... The 6 Jan "insurrection"...
And, as every Weigantian with more than 2 brain cells to rub together concedes...???
The *SOLE* goal of the 6JC is to take down President Trump and prevent him from running for President in 2024...
That's the SOLE purpose of the 6JC.. It's not a search for facts... It's simply a take down... Just like the Russia Collusion delusion was a (failed) take down..
And the 6JC will fail as well..
That fact is also conceded by Weigantians with more than 2 brain cells to rub together..
So, this is the week..
Either Tuesday or Thursday, Roe v Wade and Democrat Eugenics v Casey will be thrown on the trash heap of history...
Of course, I will be live blogging the event whenever it happens.. :D
Naw, no need to thank me... It's what I do.. I bring the FACTS to the fact-less... I am like a Chief Justice of DREDD lore..
They bring the law to the lawless..
I bring the facts to the fact-less...
Just like the ONLY Judge worth watching.. Sly Stallone in JUDGE DREDD... :D
I am somewhat surprised that the vast majority of Weigantians missed a PERFECT opportunity to practice what they preached..
Many Weigantians claimed that they condemn political based violence no matter where it comes from on the political spectrum..
And yet, when there is an attempted assassination of a SCOTUS Justice by a Democrat moron???
"Is there another kind??"
-Colonel Nathan R Jessup, A FEW GOOD MEN
We get one sincere, albeit fleeting, condemnation from JL..
A lame, inane, milquetoast, generic condemnation of all violence from the moderator....
And from the rest???
{{cccchhhiirrrrppppp}}{{cccccchhhhiiiiiirrrrrpppppppp}}}
Nothing but crickets...
Which simply proves what I have been saying all along is abso-tively and posi-loutly 1000% factual...
Democrats LOVE political violence.... As long as it's being committed against the RIGHT people...
The facts prove this beyond ANY doubt whatsoever...
And, as every Weigantian with more than 2 brain cells to rub together concedes...???
The *SOLE* goal of the 6JC is to take down President Trump and prevent him from running for President in 2024...
And WHY is it so important for Democrats and Trump/America haters (I know.. redundant) to take down President Trump and prevent him from running in 2024??
Because Democrats KNOW that they can't beat President Trump in a FAIR and LEGAL election...
Democrats KNOW that they won't be able to cheat and use the COVID hysteria like they did in 2020...
So, Democrats KNOW that they are going to have to play it straight and they KNOW that they will LOSE in a fair and legal election..
That is why they are so hysterical about pinning something.. ANYTHING... on President Trump..
That was what the impeachments were all about... That was what the Russia Collusion delusion was all about...
And they ALL failed...
"Fail.. Fail... EPIC Fail..."
-NASA Doctor, ARMAGEDDON
And the 6JC is their 4th attempt at trying to take down President Trump..
And it will be an EPIC failure as well..
Yunno why???
Because that's ALL Democrats can do these days..
FAIL...
Democrats FAILED in Afghanistan...
Democrats FAILED with Build Back Broke..
Democrats FAILED with Right To Cheat In Voting laws...
Democrats FAILED in stacking the SCOTUS..
Democrats FAILED in getting rid of the filibuster...
The FACTS clearly prove beyond ANY doubt...
All Democrats know how to do is FAIL...
The Democrat Party = The Failure Party...
Ya'all must be soo proud of yer Democrat Party, eh?? :D
Oh hay.... Democrats...???
How's that "assault rifle" ban workin' out for ya'all??? :D
ANOTHER *FAIL* by Democrats... :D
There will NEVER be an "assault rifle" ban...
Yunno why???
Because "Looking Scary" is not a parameter that will fit into a law... :D
Here's my contribution to the Sunday Music Fest... :D
Dedicated to all patriotic Americans and President Trump... :D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oomCIXGzsR0
It just hit me..
The 6JC is the DS9 Episode TRIBUNAL...
Chief O'Brien is put on trial on Cardassia...
The legal system of Cardassia is a perfect explanation of how Democrats operate in the here and now...
Guilt is already assumed and the "trial" is simply a formality.. A show trial for the masses to rally behind...
If you watch the episode you will see how Democrats and Trump/America haters (redundant) are emulating Cardassian perfectly....
It's uncanny on how Democrat "reality" imitates art...
Or, if you prefer a TNG theme, the episode DRUMHEAD is a perfect copy of the 6JC....
Anything worth knowing you can learn from Star Trek... :D
@m,
You're a little late, but I'll listen soon. You are aware i hope that this (somewhat sad) music selection (looking at you, caddy) was intended to be themed based on the two national holidays this weekend. One honoring the contributions of fathers, and the other the anniversary of our great nation finally ending the last instance of legalized slavery in the 1800s.
And what is it with Merrick WannaBe-Justice Garland ignoring the law???
Democrat morons (I know.. Redundant) are blatantly violating Federal Law and Garland is ignoring it..
Which proves that Biden's Handlers' DOJ is nothing more than a political appendage that ignores lawbreakers that further the Democrat HateAmerica agenda... :eyeroll:
ther the anniversary of our great nation finally ending the last instance of legalized slavery in the 1800s.
And they couldn't come up with something better than "JuneTeenth"???
That sounds like a toddler who is just learning to enunciate dates....
I mean, com'on... JuneTeenth???
Wouldn't Emancipation Day be a helluva lot better???
I mean, it would be like calling FIRST CONTACT DAY, Pointy-Ear Day... :^/
It's soooo ... juvenile... It doesn't lend credibility to a noble holiday...
JuneTeenth??? :epic eyeroll:
By the bi, JL..
A belated Happy Father's Day to you.... :D
And yes... The ending of Ep 7 was epic!
I hope they pursue that line of drama... :D
@m,
I know you really believe that about cardassia and all, so I'm going to restrain my knee-jerk impulse to tell you just how insane it sounds to me, and request that you, Liz, kick, caddy, speak2, bashi, and any other souls who may be listening read in full George packer's "4 Americas." I feel like having all read it we may finally gain some shared narrative by which to interpret those facts we consider important.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/07/george-packer-four-americas/619012/
*MY* knee jerk reaction would be to dismiss it as a Left Wing Rag narrative..
But, in the interests of giving it a fair shake, I will read it in it's entirety... But I probably won't be able to do it til after 1330hrs EDT....
So I'll comment about it then...
But I will say, you have a high bar to hurdle to get me to believe that the 6JC is nothing but a Cardassian Court...
It's already universally agreed here that the sole goal is to bring down President Trump..
In other words, President Trump is guilty... The 6JC is just a show put on by a Hollywood mogul to show the masses...
But I'll give your article a fair shake..
It's already universally agreed here that the sole goal is to bring down President Trump..
No, not the sole goal. ONE of the goals, certainly, but not the only one by any stretch. And in the documented judgment of me, Liz and kick at least, NOT the most important goal. See Thursday's commentary for evidence of that.
Actually, Liz specifically stated that taking down President Trump was the sole goal...
This is well proven as Democrats won't even consider their screw ups that lead to the riot.... Of which there are MANY...
It's SOLELY about taking down President Trump..
Nothing else..
@m,
Those were your words, not hers. I think Liz was not fully aware of the precise words when she signaled agreement.
How else do you explain FOUR attempts to take down President Trump??
Four bogus bullshit attempts that ended in epic failure??
The mere fact that President Trump is at the top of Democrats' shit list proves the PTDS....
Has *ANY* other former POTUS ever garnered as much attention as Democrats are giving President Trump??
Never...
Not even ODUMBO lives in the heads of the GOP as much as President Trump has space in Democrats' so-called brains..
Democrats STILL obsess over President Trump.. So much so that they are totally incompetent in governing the country..
The facts are clear...
JL,
Further, how do you explain the disparity between Democrat/Trump/America hate's reaction to 6 Jan and the reaction to the attempted assassination of a conservative SCOTUS Justice???
You, personally, have a leg to stand on...
No one else here and no other Democrats has ANY moral foundation to condemn 6 Jan....
And, speaking of Juneteenth :eyeroll:
How do you view black Democrat demand for reparations in light of the facts of the obvious con that BLM was/is??
Biden Wrote a Stern Letter to Oil Refiners. His Government Should Take Over the Industry Instead.
A National Refining Company could lower gas prices without giving up on climate targets.
Yea... That's what communist/socialist governments do...
:eyeroll:
@m,
read the article. (un)just america isn't my faction.
JL
PS - the name "juneteenth" was probably coined by formerly enslaved americans who had just been freed. given that prior to that point they had been legally prohibited from obtaining any sort of education, i believe they're entitled to more leeway and fewer eyerolls.
the name "juneteenth" was probably coined by formerly enslaved americans who had just been freed. given that prior to that point they had been legally prohibited from obtaining any sort of education, i believe they're entitled to more leeway and fewer eyerolls.
It doesn't require education to differentiate between June 19th and Juneteenth...
It simply requires a level of maturity to speak clearly..
But no worries.. I have the same beef with "Eubonics" and using "ni**er" in every sentence...
It's a maturity thing... Something lacking with the Left Wingery....
read the article. (un)just america isn't my faction.
Of course it's not YOUR faction.. If it was, we couldn't ever discuss anything..
But as we have proven beyond ANY doubt, you are FAR from the quintessential average Democrat...
America/Hate is definitely part and parcel to your average Weigantian/Democrat psyche...
Like 'Hypocrisy'... It's not a bug.. It's a feature...
PS - the name "juneteenth" was probably coined by formerly enslaved americans who had just been freed. given that prior to that point they had been legally prohibited from obtaining any sort of education, i believe they're entitled to more leeway and fewer eyerolls.
But I understand what you are trying to say...
I'll give an effort not to show my contempt for the contemptible... :D
Joshua,
I am off for two days in a row!!!! this week so I intend to get up early on the first day and read it slowly. I can hardly wait. Now, I'm off to work, naturally.
US military will defend Taiwan 'if it comes to that,' Biden says
Wonder how long it will take for Biden's Handlers to walk back THIS claim... :eyeroll:
I did real all of Judge Luttig's J6C statement and thought he could very well be talking about a microcosm known as, ah, Weigantia.
I am off for two days in a row!!!! this week so I intend to get up early on the first day and read it slowly. I can hardly wait. Now, I'm off to work, naturally.
I have always wondered.. What do you do, Liz???
If you don't mind me asking...
I know that some people have made discussing personal stuff kinda dangerous and awkward... But I am sincerely curious as to what you do...
GOP member of Jan. 6 committee warns that more violence is coming
Of course more violence is coming..
And it's ALL coming from Democrats.. As is the norm..
Once the SCOTUS throws Roe V Wade and Democrat Eugenics V Casey on the trash heap of history, summer 2022 is going to make summer 2020 look like a fun family picnic by comparison..
Why is it that Democrats are so violent???
And why is that violence completely ignored by Weigantians???
It doesn't require education to differentiate between June 19th and Juneteenth...
are you kidding me? you're fully educated and still can't tell the difference between its and it's. ;)
END OF WATCH
Deputy First Class Glenn Hilliard
Wicomico County Sheriff's Office, Maryland
End of Watch: Sunday, June 12, 2022
And remind the few...
When ill of us they speak..
That we are all that stands between..
The monsters and the weak...
are you kidding me? you're fully educated and still can't tell the difference between its and it's. ;)
For example...??? :D
But I understand what you are saying...
I will conditionally concede... :D
Witness describes chaotic DC shooting that left 15-year-old boy dead
What IS it about Democrat run cities??? :eyeroll:
FINA faces backlash over new 'gender inclusion policy' for transgender swimmers
Athlete Ally and others criticized FINA for approving the new policies
Women's sports should be for women..
Not mentally/physically modified men who want to pretend they are women so they can compete without getting their MALE asses handed to them....
Period... Full stop... END TRANS...
Supreme Court rushes to end a term like no other
Abortion
2nd Amendment
Winter's coming, Democrats... :D
Speaking of Herschel Walker..
It's funny how Democrats condemn and denigrate him for being a father of a few kids...
Yet, a scumbag like George Floyd or Samuel DuBose who have fathered dozens and dozens of kids and just let those kids go to hell is martyred by Democrats and put on a pillar by Democrats...
At least Walker has made something of himself without being a scumbag druggie and woman beater...
You people can't say the same about Floyd and Dubose whose violent crimes against women and kids are well documented....
It simply proves the hypocrisy of Democrats who ONLY care about their political agenda and to hell with facts and reality...
OK JL...
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/07/george-packer-four-americas/619012/
I gave it my best shot...
But the article lost all credibility when it started going on and on about Republicans are just the Party of white America..
That is simply not factually accurate today..
In the here and now, the majority of black Americans are AGAINST Biden and the Democrats... Completely and utterly...
Hispanic Americans??? They are solidly in the GOP's corner these days...
Giving credit where credit is due, the article makes some good points...
But it's overall conclusions are rock-solid Democrat BS and has nothing to do with America in the here and now..
It paints an America as Democrats WISH it were and not the way America really is...
I know, I know... It's not the deep though cerebral assessment I know you were hoping for..
But you know me.. I am just a knuckle-dragging ground pounder whose idea of deep-thought is whether to load hollow-points or incendiary rounds... :D
But I have loads and loads of common sense and can realize that the elitist gobbly-de-gook from a Left Wing rag is simply a denial of the facts and the reality of the here and now...
And in the aftermath of the coming mid-terms, I think you are going to find that all that elitist BS from Left Wing rags is simply going to be puffs of smoke and mirrors when faced with the reality of a US Congress totally under control of President Trump's GOP.... :D
And THEN the fun will REALLY begin, eh?? :D
@m,
Exactly the reaction one would expect of a "real" American, though as a "smart" American i of course hoped you would have transcended your realness to see the bigger picture. :)
JL
On a related note, I think one of the reasons you and i tend to get along is that "real" is my second highest point of identification among packer's four paradigms. Your second highest is "free" i think.
And i put all those in quotes because none of them really fits the original meaning of the word. A "smart" American isn't necessarily all that smart, and a "real" American isn't more real an American than any other, it's just a useful way to think about the way we see our country.