Damn right it's about time. This has been their over-arching, fundamental objective all along.

They want to dismantle the New Deal. And take all those safeguards and government-secured protections AWAY from us. And violate the social contract that the New Deal set up - that "you, Mr. & Mrs. America, will NEVER fall into poverty and devastation and want, the way we saw happen to millions of our fellow citizens during the Great Depression. There will be a safety net in place - to catch you when you fall (or are pushed - like the GOP so earnestly longs to do)."

And our "friends" (HAH!!!! I just realized what happens when you take the "R" out of the word "friends": you get "FIENDS"!!!) among the GOP (initials which now and forever more must stand for the Grand Old Predators) want to take that away from you - and all the rest of us. Except for those who are already comfortably well-situated and don't need any extra help.

The ONLY way to make them care is to VOTE THEM OUT.

Repeat:

The ONLY way to make them care is to VOTE THEM OUT.

There MUST be consequences for doing this horrible, indeed even sinful thing. They have to lose their jobs. Unfortunately this will help them in their short-term re-election campaigns. Those donors will cough up an awful lot of money for campaign propaganda.

Which means NO ONE - repeat - NO ONE has permission to stay home on Election Day. NO ONE has ANY further permission to whine that "meh, both parties the same. They're all the same." NONE!!!

What I think is important to remember, though,

is that this is NOT an isolated incident. This is NOT one random comment in a universe of other things. There's a LOT of this stuff.

I am pleased to notice that, now, there are a few more voices piping up that mention "when you take it all up together," and other such comments. People are starting to connect the dots. It's not just one thing. It's A BUNCH of things. From and about and by Mike Flynn. And there's Manafort. And Gates. And Papadopulous, and Sessions, and Donnie Junior, and Jared, and Michael Cohen, and most if not ll of his Cabinet secretaries, and all these Russians who keep popping up in the stew pot. AND from trump himself starting with that Lester Holt interview - of HIM, in HIS own words. And then all the very public denials - of HIS. Taken all together, adding all this up, considering all these details that all seem to weave together, WHAT THE HELL ELSE COULD YOU CALL IT?

At the very LEAST, it's obstruction of justice.

And I love to see people starting to connect the dots, which all seem to lead to the same thing. For awhile, only Rachel Maddow did it, using her show as a platform. But now, she's no longer alone in that. It isn't a mass of people yet, but I'm seeing it more and more. And I'm seeing more relevant components being taken in. Like social media, which contributes tremendously to perception management on a mass public scale. And it's not just the manipulation and steering of public opinion toward an agenda. Prosecutors and defense lawyers can use it, too.

I saw, just today on MSNBC, a discussion about that, where various opinionaters explained the contribution of social media toward shaping and managing public opinion. The context was trump's tweeting admission of what looks like obstruction of justice. Social media has muscle! According to MSNBC legal analyst Danny Cevallos, "that's where criminals often make cases against themselves" - Danny Cevallos, MSNBC Legal Analyst. Slate's Dahlia Lithwick noted an increase in "judges dropping trump's tweets into footnotes..." Yep. Don't forget social media. Look what a role Facebook played last year. As the case is being made for impeachment for obstruction of justice, that element has to be taken in, too. It counts. And it matters.

K&R&R!

Kicked, Rec'd, and Retweeted!

THIS. This has been their objective for DECADES. This is what they mean by "free stuff."

That "free stuff" they disdain is HELP for others who need it. The poor. The homeless. The sick. The elderly. Children. Public schools. Environmental protection (how 'bout those children in and around Flilnt MI and the shitty tap water they have to drink).

Paul Ryan, as I've read, has been yearning to gut the New Deal. Do away with it. That's been his life's dream and his life's work, and why I understand he mandates that every one of his staffers read Ayn Rand. And, shockingly, he's purportedly a Catholic. So why does his heart's desire lie in 180-degree opposition to Jesus's teachings? You know, that stuff about "whatever you do to the least of these?" (Matthew 25; 35-45)

That's the whole deep dark idea behind this tax fraud plan. And yes, drive up the deficit WAY big so then you can come back and whine and yowl and crank up the ol' propaganda machine about these awful desperate deficits and we HAVE TO-HAVE TO-HAVE TO cut spending.

And where do you suppose they'll start cutting?

Hint: it WON'T involve taking anything from Corporate America or the already-have's and have-more's. It WON'T involve taking any of these extra lavish new - AND UNEARNED - comforts away from the already comfortable.

I'm a Catholic, too. All my life. The way I was taught, I can't get Matthew 25: 35-45 out of my mind. And I just have a visceral, built-in aversion to the whole idea of comforting the already-comfortable. Just can't get there. WTF do the already-comfortable need with still MORE comfort? And PARTICULARLY when so many others among us have little or no comfort at all? I just can't get there. Just can't make that fit. Can't get my arms, or my mind, or my heart around that.

Indeed. A terrific way to put it, greyl.

I found other photos, particularly more recent ones showing he's aging.

But the angle wasn't right or he was smiling or it was fuzzy. I wanted an easier side-by-side comparison. I think there's quite a remarkable similarity. And now that he's older (certainly older than this photo I used), he's looking a little craggier with more gray in his hair and with a little more jowl to the jaw line.

Welcome to DU, kst!

Thanks for the details here. Not enough of us drill down into things for a fuller understanding. Especially when time and personal pressures (and priorities) draw many of us away. I always appreciate it when somebody brings little background factoids and such to a post here. You can learn a lot, that way.

Appreciations here to all the DUers who do the research and find the links! Sometimes it's like taking a master class around here.

Edited to spell your screen name correctly! My apologies! Sometimes I don’t proofread as conscientiously as I should.

Agreed.

Luke Wilson could play him in a movie.

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