The "unidentified" moron who yelled "damn right!" was Floridabimbo Anna Paulina Lunatic, an illiterate too stupid to know the meaning of the word "conservative" as late as 2021 (according to her own statement).
I love that Virginia Foxx (NC) got caught yelling "Shut Up!" in the photo that went with that video. That giant, gaping "O" shaped pie hole, frozen in time. Her legacy, along with records for insider trading.
I agree with you. I keep thinking about how society, our country, and our institutions rely on trust to function. Even as simple as passing someone a $20 (just a piece of paper with green ink on it) to pay for lunch relies on the trust in its value beyond the cost of paper and ink. While none of our systems are perfect and have all failed us at times, it seems for us to function as a country we need to have some basic collective trust in elections, our justice system, our financial system, our military, our leaders, etc. The Trumpian side of our population seems fine with beating that collect trust to death and possibly to a point where we cannot rebuild it. This goes beyond just them booing and hissing at the other team in competition - they are breaking the game to point where it might not be played anymore.
Chris - True and scary stuff. But this coin has a reverse side that should be equally alarming: If the Trump/MAGA/GOP is currently constituted to try to overturn a legitimate electoral defeat, what makes anyone think they are not also constituted to engineer an illegitimate electoral "victory?"
That is, if, as is now obvious (though it's long been the case with certain elements of the Right), the ends of seizing and holding power justify ALL means to achieve them, why would the cheating and rigging stop with challenging electoral losses? Why not rigging their way to electoral wins?
This threat has been greatly increased by the antics of the Stop The Steal circus, which has caused defenders of democracy to circle the wagons around our "most secure ever" and "perfect" elections. Trust me, I work in election forensics and NO ONE wants to see papers like this one -- https://codered2014.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/theRealSteal-IntroAnalysisCombinedUpdated-js7_WWW.pdf -- or acknowledge that our computerized elections (pace Dominion) remain vulnerable to interference by both foreign and domestic operatives.
So my point is, all this justified indignation at and fear of a 2024 Stop The Steal Circus on Steroids leaves us wide open to Trump/GOP/MAGA election theft (by both overt and covert means) without any comeback. I can't say this was/is their intent (it would be pretty high-level chess), but it certainly is playing out that way. All I can say is BEWARE: Elections can now be challenged without being rigged AND rigged without being challenged. It's a bad place to be.
Judi - I'll go out on a limb and say that it likely *already has* happened. You may find this survey of the US Computerized Elections Era of interest: https://www.amazon.com/CODE-RED-Computerized-Elections-Democracy/dp/B087H83JCR/ref; updated with the E2020 forensics summary linked in my initial comment. I will say that Stop The Steal even had me doubting the validity (and utility) of my own work!
All very true, Chris. This has been my fear for so long, for me, this is all getting worse. There seems to be no bottom for any of them, even when you think you’ve hit bottom, it goes lower. Michelle Oboamas’ “when they go low, we go high”, is always something I think about. The GOP goes lower and lower and it is getting very frightening. With Johnson, it’s one of those things that you don’t know what you have until it’s gone. People hate MyKevin and now look who is in charge, even worse. Democracy is at stake and any of the scenarios we face are not good at all. Yes, a Biden win will be the best thing and that is what I am hopeful for. However, what will Trump do and how will it affect all of us, it will be ugly.
Are you not at least somewhat hopeful that on Jan 3 2025 Hakeem Jeffries will pick up the Speaker’s gavel and preside over a significant Democratic majority in the House when it gets to certifying electoral votes three days later?
Hakeem Jeffries is going to be the Speaker in 2025 when it will be time to certify Joe Biden's win. No need to worry there. And also Joe Biden has been doing a fantastic job since hos election in 2020. He doesn't care if Trump and his cult members do not believe that he won. As for Trump, the only election that's fair to him is the one that he wins and so who cares about what he believes. Joe Biden won the 2020 election and will win again in 2024. Donal Trump lost the 2020 election and he will lose again in 2024. Let's move on people
I pray you're right but this is far too critical for us to "move on, nothing to see here, Pollyanna and Skip and Becky and Davey can rest easy cuz our democracy is safe". You see unicorns and rainbows. I see a vast slow motion coup, fueled by naked avarice, a misogynistic need to control women and suppress their rights, and to denigrate and disenfranchise anyone who's not a Christian white guy!
The seeds for that coup were sown by Lee Atwater during 1988 presidential campaign and nurtured in the shadows (except for the overt Constitutional coup attempt in impeaching Clinton) during the Clinton administration. And that coup has been in progress and growing in scope and brazenness at least since the 2nd Obama administration.
Let me ask you this: in late October 2016 who did you think would win the election? Remember in the final few days of that campaign the Democrats were so sure of victory that instead hitting those four critical states in the Blue Wall to ensure that win, we sent Hillary and her proxies into fairly red states that had shown tinges of purple in an attempt to run up the electoral score and end with a flourish.
Let's not forget the words of renowned fictional physician, Leonard McCoy: Spock, I've found that evil usually triumphs - unless good is very, very careful.
We must not let up on the gas. We must not count our chicken before they hatch. We must not celebrate our touchdown on the 7-yard line. We must and will keep pushing until a Democrat has been sworn in as President on January 20, 2025.
When you went to sleep on the night November 8, 2016 did you expect to be greeted by president elect Trump the next morning?
Some days it just wears me out and I fear for the future. Thanks for fighting the good fight. As long as folks like you keep getting the word there is hope.
I find it interesting that people like Mike Johnson and his wife are so proud of their particular brand of Christianity when in their hermetic bubble.
But once out in the real world with many types of Christian beliefs and many more people of various creeds and many without they felt compelled to scrub their websites of their "worldview."
Likewise, Johnson now seems to want to downplay his extremely active campaign to undo the 2020 election.
If he had not said yet, he will state that he wants to look forward to the the past.
Always a tell for someone embarrassed by the past.
Every time I read an analysis of this subject, my stomach gets into knots. It's a reality that this country faces the threat of authoritarianism, coupled with or abetted by White Christian Nationalism. Cold reality.
So Vote for the Democrats on your ballot in any election between now and November 2024.
I know - and unfortunately am related to - many members of the Republican base. Since the 2015 escalator ride, they have one common response: I don't care.
I see a parallel. "The National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei; NSDAP), more commonly known as the Nazi Party, assumes control of the German state when German President Paul von Hindenburg appoints Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler as Chancellor at the head of a coalition government. The Nazis and the German Nationalist People's Party (Deutschnationale Volkspartei; DNVP) are members of the coalition. "
When these radical elements use the existing government structure to take over the positions of power we risk losing everything to them.
Chris, perhaps election fraud is not the proper term in preference for electoral fraud, a distinction with a difference. Was pandemic a top issue in 2020? https://youtu.be/iXXMnBzaFv0?si=xG_Gb-XWE_AfEva_
Chris, the funny thing is that people actually fall for this crap and there's a reason why we hold elections in the "fall", and we shall overcome someday? 😂
The "unidentified" moron who yelled "damn right!" was Floridabimbo Anna Paulina Lunatic, an illiterate too stupid to know the meaning of the word "conservative" as late as 2021 (according to her own statement).
Please don't insult bimbos and illiterates by lumping them in with Anna Paulino.
I laughed out loud.
:-D
I love that Virginia Foxx (NC) got caught yelling "Shut Up!" in the photo that went with that video. That giant, gaping "O" shaped pie hole, frozen in time. Her legacy, along with records for insider trading.
I agree with you. I keep thinking about how society, our country, and our institutions rely on trust to function. Even as simple as passing someone a $20 (just a piece of paper with green ink on it) to pay for lunch relies on the trust in its value beyond the cost of paper and ink. While none of our systems are perfect and have all failed us at times, it seems for us to function as a country we need to have some basic collective trust in elections, our justice system, our financial system, our military, our leaders, etc. The Trumpian side of our population seems fine with beating that collect trust to death and possibly to a point where we cannot rebuild it. This goes beyond just them booing and hissing at the other team in competition - they are breaking the game to point where it might not be played anymore.
Terrifying. 😱
Chris - True and scary stuff. But this coin has a reverse side that should be equally alarming: If the Trump/MAGA/GOP is currently constituted to try to overturn a legitimate electoral defeat, what makes anyone think they are not also constituted to engineer an illegitimate electoral "victory?"
That is, if, as is now obvious (though it's long been the case with certain elements of the Right), the ends of seizing and holding power justify ALL means to achieve them, why would the cheating and rigging stop with challenging electoral losses? Why not rigging their way to electoral wins?
This threat has been greatly increased by the antics of the Stop The Steal circus, which has caused defenders of democracy to circle the wagons around our "most secure ever" and "perfect" elections. Trust me, I work in election forensics and NO ONE wants to see papers like this one -- https://codered2014.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/theRealSteal-IntroAnalysisCombinedUpdated-js7_WWW.pdf -- or acknowledge that our computerized elections (pace Dominion) remain vulnerable to interference by both foreign and domestic operatives.
So my point is, all this justified indignation at and fear of a 2024 Stop The Steal Circus on Steroids leaves us wide open to Trump/GOP/MAGA election theft (by both overt and covert means) without any comeback. I can't say this was/is their intent (it would be pretty high-level chess), but it certainly is playing out that way. All I can say is BEWARE: Elections can now be challenged without being rigged AND rigged without being challenged. It's a bad place to be.
Wow! Well stated, Mr. Simon! I wouldn’t be at all surprised at a scenario like that. I pray that it never happens!
Judi - I'll go out on a limb and say that it likely *already has* happened. You may find this survey of the US Computerized Elections Era of interest: https://www.amazon.com/CODE-RED-Computerized-Elections-Democracy/dp/B087H83JCR/ref; updated with the E2020 forensics summary linked in my initial comment. I will say that Stop The Steal even had me doubting the validity (and utility) of my own work!
This. This is what keeps me up at night. 😔
All very true, Chris. This has been my fear for so long, for me, this is all getting worse. There seems to be no bottom for any of them, even when you think you’ve hit bottom, it goes lower. Michelle Oboamas’ “when they go low, we go high”, is always something I think about. The GOP goes lower and lower and it is getting very frightening. With Johnson, it’s one of those things that you don’t know what you have until it’s gone. People hate MyKevin and now look who is in charge, even worse. Democracy is at stake and any of the scenarios we face are not good at all. Yes, a Biden win will be the best thing and that is what I am hopeful for. However, what will Trump do and how will it affect all of us, it will be ugly.
Are you not at least somewhat hopeful that on Jan 3 2025 Hakeem Jeffries will pick up the Speaker’s gavel and preside over a significant Democratic majority in the House when it gets to certifying electoral votes three days later?
Hakeem Jeffries is going to be the Speaker in 2025 when it will be time to certify Joe Biden's win. No need to worry there. And also Joe Biden has been doing a fantastic job since hos election in 2020. He doesn't care if Trump and his cult members do not believe that he won. As for Trump, the only election that's fair to him is the one that he wins and so who cares about what he believes. Joe Biden won the 2020 election and will win again in 2024. Donal Trump lost the 2020 election and he will lose again in 2024. Let's move on people
I pray you're right but this is far too critical for us to "move on, nothing to see here, Pollyanna and Skip and Becky and Davey can rest easy cuz our democracy is safe". You see unicorns and rainbows. I see a vast slow motion coup, fueled by naked avarice, a misogynistic need to control women and suppress their rights, and to denigrate and disenfranchise anyone who's not a Christian white guy!
The seeds for that coup were sown by Lee Atwater during 1988 presidential campaign and nurtured in the shadows (except for the overt Constitutional coup attempt in impeaching Clinton) during the Clinton administration. And that coup has been in progress and growing in scope and brazenness at least since the 2nd Obama administration.
Let me ask you this: in late October 2016 who did you think would win the election? Remember in the final few days of that campaign the Democrats were so sure of victory that instead hitting those four critical states in the Blue Wall to ensure that win, we sent Hillary and her proxies into fairly red states that had shown tinges of purple in an attempt to run up the electoral score and end with a flourish.
Let's not forget the words of renowned fictional physician, Leonard McCoy: Spock, I've found that evil usually triumphs - unless good is very, very careful.
We must not let up on the gas. We must not count our chicken before they hatch. We must not celebrate our touchdown on the 7-yard line. We must and will keep pushing until a Democrat has been sworn in as President on January 20, 2025.
When you went to sleep on the night November 8, 2016 did you expect to be greeted by president elect Trump the next morning?
Some days it just wears me out and I fear for the future. Thanks for fighting the good fight. As long as folks like you keep getting the word there is hope.
I find it interesting that people like Mike Johnson and his wife are so proud of their particular brand of Christianity when in their hermetic bubble.
But once out in the real world with many types of Christian beliefs and many more people of various creeds and many without they felt compelled to scrub their websites of their "worldview."
Likewise, Johnson now seems to want to downplay his extremely active campaign to undo the 2020 election.
If he had not said yet, he will state that he wants to look forward to the the past.
Always a tell for someone embarrassed by the past.
Every time I read an analysis of this subject, my stomach gets into knots. It's a reality that this country faces the threat of authoritarianism, coupled with or abetted by White Christian Nationalism. Cold reality.
So Vote for the Democrats on your ballot in any election between now and November 2024.
What a depressing concept - pass the Prozac or Zoloft, please...
I wonder what'll happen among private citizens if Biden wins.
Private citizens will celebrate Biden's win in 2024 just like they did in 2020.
I know - and unfortunately am related to - many members of the Republican base. Since the 2015 escalator ride, they have one common response: I don't care.
This is a prime example of this mindset
Ken Buck is leaving Congress too.
I see a parallel. "The National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei; NSDAP), more commonly known as the Nazi Party, assumes control of the German state when German President Paul von Hindenburg appoints Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler as Chancellor at the head of a coalition government. The Nazis and the German Nationalist People's Party (Deutschnationale Volkspartei; DNVP) are members of the coalition. "
When these radical elements use the existing government structure to take over the positions of power we risk losing everything to them.
Chris, perhaps election fraud is not the proper term in preference for electoral fraud, a distinction with a difference. Was pandemic a top issue in 2020? https://youtu.be/iXXMnBzaFv0?si=xG_Gb-XWE_AfEva_
Chris, the funny thing is that people actually fall for this crap and there's a reason why we hold elections in the "fall", and we shall overcome someday? 😂