samplegirl
samplegirl's JournalNeed Suggestions on Movies
I have always enjoyed the suggestions that fellow D.U.ers give.
Cold and dark in Ohio!
This is my eighteenth thanksgiving
here in D.U. And will be having dinner with the guy who introduced me to D.U. JohnnyRingo!
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
So not one House Republican
voted for capping insulin costs in the Build Back Better Act.
Not one of these people need help paying for it!
What businesses do you
no longer use?
Besides dozens of restaurants that are Republican establishments that I refuse to give my money to…
I’ve never been a Walmart person
Home Depot person.
Trying to shop only at Democratic establishments is hard these days.
Doing online shopping.
Was in this one local shop who sold all sorts of pro Republican stuff. Needless to say I exited quite quickly!
Really depressed today with all the
Gerrymandering about to take place in Ohio.
I really wish I could leave my state.
In the coming second American Civil War,
which side are you on?
Sure, it's unlikely. You may think it's impossible. But that's always what people think, until it's too late
By CHAUNCEY DEVEGA
PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 4, 2021 6:00AM (EDT)
A man hold his hand to his heart as a Proud Boys organizer recites the Pledge of Allegiance during a Proud Boys rally at Delta Park in Portland, Oregon on September 26, 2020. (MARANIE R. STAAB/AFP via Getty Images)
A man hold his hand to his heart as a Proud Boys organizer recites the Pledge of Allegiance during a Proud Boys rally at Delta Park in Portland, Oregon on
If there is a second American Civil War, which side would you choose? It may be wise to make that decision now, in the spirit of planning for the worst while hoping for the best.
A recent public opinion poll by the University of Virginia Center for Politics finds that a majority of Trump voters want to secede from the Union. Alarmingly, nearly as many Biden voters, 41 percent, also feel it may be "time to split the country." This is part of a larger pattern; other polls and research have come to similar conclusions.
It's important to resist false equivalence and superficial analysis here. It may be true that a large percentage of both Democrats and Republicans are willing to consider seceding from the United States, but their reasons and motivations are very different.
Today's Republican Party has, in practice, largely surrendered to neofascism and white supremacy — currents that were not far below its surface for many years. It has embraced and condoned the violence of the Jan. 6 insurrection, and has come very close to directly endorsing terrorism against its perceived political enemies.
For Republicans, America's multiracial democracy is anathema to their values and must be destroyed. Public opinion research has shown that tens of millions of white Republicans, especially Trump supporters, view Joe Biden as an illegitimate president who should be removed from power by whatever means necessary.
more at www.salon.com
Is anyone watching Yellowstone?
I’m reading good reviews. Maybe I’ll find time to watch it. Ohio is dark early and I hate the time change.
Ohioans who care about democracy must challenge the state
Once you accept that you have undemocratic statehouses attacking democracy every week and all you do is play defense on some of those attacks, you have literally set yourself up for guaranteed failure.” David Pepper, former chair of the Ohio Democratic Party, has an urgent message for every pro-democracy Ohioan: Go on the offense with your state rep and senator. Now. Find out whose team he or she is on — yours or the gun lobbyists, anti-abortion crusaders, ratepayer-robbing utilities, anti-trans bullies or right-wing operatives scaring the bejesus out of school parents with a fake crisis framed as leftist indoctrination to shame white kids.
Those who side with “the tyranny of the minority” in the Ohio General Assembly are easy to spot. They’re the ones voting for radical bills like enacting a total ban on abortion or waiving a license requirement for packing heat. Statehouse lawmakers pandering to extremists aren’t tackling real-life constituent problems (e.g. livable wages, affordable housing, health care, day care). They’re posturing as would-be autocrats with a ton of power to enact unpopular policy and inflame ridiculous “culture wars” that make life hell for the rest of us.
David Pepper, official photo.
In “Laboratories of Autocracy: A Wake-up Call from Behind the Lines,” Pepper is clanging the alarm about Ohio’s descent into extremism and corruption. He is desperate for you to hear what he has to say, “because the clock is ticking, and the next two election cycles are key.” He wants you to be freaked out over the autocratic trajectory we’re on with our far-right legislature as it openly engineers a voter-proof lock on minority rule. It’s a scary trend being replicated in statehouses across the country. Radical right politicians are passing laws widely opposed by a majority of voters — and almost no one knows about it.
Works for statehouse autocrats seeding the transformation from democracy to total dominion.
Pepper wrote “Laboratories of Autocracy” to shake up voters in Ohio and other states held hostage to partisan legislatures and to spell out what we stand to lose if we keep putting our heads in the sand. To be blunt: Politicians calling the shots on statewide policy — that affect everything from our quality of life and communities to fair elections — have decided they don’t need public input or consent to govern. The flourishing statehouse autocracies have largely escaped the attention of most people distracted by the 24/7 drumbeat of national politics, the mindless circus on Capitol Hill, the parade of Trump toadies prostrating themselves before the seditionist.
Pepper ruefully admits he feels a bit like Paul Revere racing to warn citizens that their democracy is under assault on the state level and time is running out to rescue representative government. He deftly weaves an insider’s account of Ohio politics with a play by play of great power being wielded with great anonymity. The mix invites misconduct. State politicians, flying under the public radar, know they can conduct the people’s business without scruples or shame — or consequence.
“The fact that [former Ohio House Speaker] Larry Householder gets re-elected amid the worst [statehouse] corruption scandal in Ohio history,” shows what happens when even a disgraced leader, at the heart of an explosive bribery and racketeering scheme, isn’t challenged in his own district, noted Pepper. No choice at the polls is a massive gift to notorious politicians happy to evade a robust debate about their record. No one ran against Householder except for write-in candidates and the indicted kingpin skated to victory.
More at Ohiojournal.com
Profile Information
Name: BettsGender: Do not display
Current location: Ohio
Member since: Fri Mar 19, 2004, 11:31 AM
Number of posts: 11,522
