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babylonsister
babylonsister's Journal
babylonsister's Journal
January 20, 2021
1 min ago
The Trump Presidency Ends With 400,000 COVID Deaths
“I don’t take responsibility at all.”
Nathalie Baptiste
On the final full day of Donald Trump’s presidency, the United States reached another grim milestone during four years marked by plenty of grim milestones. By most measures, 400,000 people in the US now have died from the coronavirus. It’s the highest death toll in the world—but tragically unsurprising given the trajectory of the past year.
The staggering toll was both preventable and entirely predictable. Even aside from his vast personal incompetence—we’ll get to that later—President Trump blithely put into practice cherished conservative principles that are incompatible with a decent pandemic response. Castigating and delegitimizing government institutions, demonizing minority communities, and playing into white grievances may help Republicans win elections, but when it comes to beating back a massive public health catastrophe, what’s paramount is robust public agencies, a strong health care system, and special attention to the vulnerable. In many ways, we were doomed from the start.
But then there is the unique, Trumpian imprint of mendacity and cruelty. In March 2020, when the virus was seriously spreading and the country was hobbled by a lack of tests and testing strategy, Trump responded to a question from a reporter with a single line that would go on to define his administration’s coronavirus approach and inexorably lead to the number of deaths on his last full day in office 10 months later. “No,” he said emphatically, “I don’t take responsibility at all.” As the death toll first climbed, then soared, Trump and his enablers continued to act as if the president was the real victim. “I am incredibly disappointed in the politicization of this COVID-19 response,” Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) said last March at a Congressional hearing. “The 24/7 criticism that the president is undergoing is unwarranted at a minimum.”
Trump never found a grudge he wouldn’t hold and a grievance he wouldn’t amplify. So it didn’t help that the virus’s first assault was concentrated in the Democratic stronghold of New York City, his hometown, the scene of many of his commercial and social triumphs that today has become hostile foreign territory to him and his merry band of family members and other sycophants. Plus, throughout the country, the virus was disproportionately killing people of color. For our white supremacist president, this deserved not even glancing recognition.
more...
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/01/the-trump-presidency-ends-with-400000-covid-deaths/
The Trump Presidency Ends With 400,000 COVID Deaths
1 min ago
The Trump Presidency Ends With 400,000 COVID Deaths
“I don’t take responsibility at all.”
Nathalie Baptiste
On the final full day of Donald Trump’s presidency, the United States reached another grim milestone during four years marked by plenty of grim milestones. By most measures, 400,000 people in the US now have died from the coronavirus. It’s the highest death toll in the world—but tragically unsurprising given the trajectory of the past year.
The staggering toll was both preventable and entirely predictable. Even aside from his vast personal incompetence—we’ll get to that later—President Trump blithely put into practice cherished conservative principles that are incompatible with a decent pandemic response. Castigating and delegitimizing government institutions, demonizing minority communities, and playing into white grievances may help Republicans win elections, but when it comes to beating back a massive public health catastrophe, what’s paramount is robust public agencies, a strong health care system, and special attention to the vulnerable. In many ways, we were doomed from the start.
But then there is the unique, Trumpian imprint of mendacity and cruelty. In March 2020, when the virus was seriously spreading and the country was hobbled by a lack of tests and testing strategy, Trump responded to a question from a reporter with a single line that would go on to define his administration’s coronavirus approach and inexorably lead to the number of deaths on his last full day in office 10 months later. “No,” he said emphatically, “I don’t take responsibility at all.” As the death toll first climbed, then soared, Trump and his enablers continued to act as if the president was the real victim. “I am incredibly disappointed in the politicization of this COVID-19 response,” Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) said last March at a Congressional hearing. “The 24/7 criticism that the president is undergoing is unwarranted at a minimum.”
Trump never found a grudge he wouldn’t hold and a grievance he wouldn’t amplify. So it didn’t help that the virus’s first assault was concentrated in the Democratic stronghold of New York City, his hometown, the scene of many of his commercial and social triumphs that today has become hostile foreign territory to him and his merry band of family members and other sycophants. Plus, throughout the country, the virus was disproportionately killing people of color. For our white supremacist president, this deserved not even glancing recognition.
more...
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/01/the-trump-presidency-ends-with-400000-covid-deaths/
January 20, 2021
Biden Announces ‘Immediate’ End to Trump’s Beloved Border Wall Project
TRUMPTY DUMPTY
Jamie Ross, Reporter
Published Jan. 20, 2021 6:02AM ET
Biden Announces 'Immediate' End to Trump's Beloved Border Wall Project
https://www.thedailybeast.com/biden-announces-immediate-end-to-trumps-beloved-border-wall-project?ref=homeBiden Announces ‘Immediate’ End to Trump’s Beloved Border Wall Project
TRUMPTY DUMPTY
Jamie Ross, Reporter
Published Jan. 20, 2021 6:02AM ET
President-elect Joe Biden has announced 17 executive actions he’ll take on day one of his presidency to undo the damage done by President Trump—including an immediate end to Trump’s border-wall pet project. The list, published by Biden’s transition team on the morning of his inauguration, says Biden will enforce an “immediate pause” on wall construction in order to carry out a review of the legality of “funding and contracting methods” that have been used to partially build the barrier so far. The list also says that Biden will immediately reverse three flagship Trump policies: His withdrawal from the World Health Organization, his “Muslim travel ban,” and his exit from the Paris Climate Agreement. Biden will also revoke the permit Trump granted to the Keystone XL oil pipeline, according to the full list published by his team.
January 20, 2021
Trump was just a no-class lowlife, to the bitter end
Dartagnan
Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)
Tuesday January 19, 2021 · 6:03 PM EST
Their manner of departure speaks volumes.
Slinking out of the White House, ahead of schedule, for one more fancy plane ride to their gaudy playground in Florida (on the taxpayer’s dime, of course), the Trumps will be demonstrating one last bit of crude, no-class behavior that’s been emblematic of their entire wretched tenure.
Donald couldn’t even bring himself to sit and attend the inauguration of the man who beat him. Never mind that in failing to do even this bare minimum he’d be thumbing his nose at a solemn national tradition going back 150 years, a hallmark of our democratic process. Never mind that, instead of an affirmation of national unity, these people instead turned it into a showcase for Donald Trump’s insecurities. Hell, Melania couldn’t even be bothered to do the courtesy of conducting a simple tour for her successor.
Both of which honors, I might add, had been bestowed on them with dignity and grace by their own predecessors, Barack and Michelle Obama.
snip//
For the rest of us, Trump leaves a nation racked with hundreds of thousands of wholly unnecessary deaths in his wake, deaths that leave in turn millions of grieving spouses, sons, daughters, sisters and brothers whose lives have been forever wrecked by his narcissism and sheer incompetence. He leaves an economy staggering and moribund for tens of millions of people. He leaves a population horrified and traumatized by the spectacle of seeing their most sacred institutions trashed in his name, just so he could tune in from the Oval office to satisfy his bottomless ego.
Of course he also leaves behind a long shitstain of corrosive, malignant policies, many of which (thankfully) will be reversed in the next 48 hours, others which will take months or even years to wipe away. He leaves hundreds—if not thousands-- of children permanently damaged by his forced separation of them from their parents. He leaves our federal agencies hollowed out as the political lackeys he appointed jump ship for their next sinecure (all except for the ideological fanatics who he appointed as lifetime judges, ensuring a continued, rabid conservative movement wholly unwanted by the vast majority of the population).
He leaves a country disgraced and distrusted, with good reason, by its former allies.
He leaves a generation of American school children with the lesson that Americans will reward racism, misogyny, crude and boorish behavior and criminal disregard if it’s wrapped in an arrogant, bullying insouciant package. He’s taught them to never admit when they’ve done something wrong. He’s taught them it’s acceptable to treat others, particularly others of different skin colors, like so much dirt. He’s taught many adults who should know better that they can practice such behavior as well, with no personal consequences.
snip//
What we saw on Jan. 6 was one last trashing of the country by a person who should have never been allowed near our government to begin with, let alone sitting at its pinnacle. At no time during his entire tenure did Trump exhibit the slightest ability to learn or grow from the experience, even as he was provided with opportunity after opportunity.
The fact that he now can’t even muster enough character to sit for his own send-off as power is transferred to his successor illustrates perfectly just how grievous of a mistake Americans made four years ago.
It was, just as Baker says, a “foolish and vindictive act of vandalism.” And like all acts of vandalism, it left us with nothing but a huge mess to clean up.
Trump was just a no-class lowlife, to the bitter end
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/1/19/2010336/-Trump-was-just-a-no-class-lowlife-to-the-bitter-endTrump was just a no-class lowlife, to the bitter end
Dartagnan
Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)
Tuesday January 19, 2021 · 6:03 PM EST
Their manner of departure speaks volumes.
Slinking out of the White House, ahead of schedule, for one more fancy plane ride to their gaudy playground in Florida (on the taxpayer’s dime, of course), the Trumps will be demonstrating one last bit of crude, no-class behavior that’s been emblematic of their entire wretched tenure.
Donald couldn’t even bring himself to sit and attend the inauguration of the man who beat him. Never mind that in failing to do even this bare minimum he’d be thumbing his nose at a solemn national tradition going back 150 years, a hallmark of our democratic process. Never mind that, instead of an affirmation of national unity, these people instead turned it into a showcase for Donald Trump’s insecurities. Hell, Melania couldn’t even be bothered to do the courtesy of conducting a simple tour for her successor.
Both of which honors, I might add, had been bestowed on them with dignity and grace by their own predecessors, Barack and Michelle Obama.
snip//
For the rest of us, Trump leaves a nation racked with hundreds of thousands of wholly unnecessary deaths in his wake, deaths that leave in turn millions of grieving spouses, sons, daughters, sisters and brothers whose lives have been forever wrecked by his narcissism and sheer incompetence. He leaves an economy staggering and moribund for tens of millions of people. He leaves a population horrified and traumatized by the spectacle of seeing their most sacred institutions trashed in his name, just so he could tune in from the Oval office to satisfy his bottomless ego.
Of course he also leaves behind a long shitstain of corrosive, malignant policies, many of which (thankfully) will be reversed in the next 48 hours, others which will take months or even years to wipe away. He leaves hundreds—if not thousands-- of children permanently damaged by his forced separation of them from their parents. He leaves our federal agencies hollowed out as the political lackeys he appointed jump ship for their next sinecure (all except for the ideological fanatics who he appointed as lifetime judges, ensuring a continued, rabid conservative movement wholly unwanted by the vast majority of the population).
He leaves a country disgraced and distrusted, with good reason, by its former allies.
He leaves a generation of American school children with the lesson that Americans will reward racism, misogyny, crude and boorish behavior and criminal disregard if it’s wrapped in an arrogant, bullying insouciant package. He’s taught them to never admit when they’ve done something wrong. He’s taught them it’s acceptable to treat others, particularly others of different skin colors, like so much dirt. He’s taught many adults who should know better that they can practice such behavior as well, with no personal consequences.
snip//
What we saw on Jan. 6 was one last trashing of the country by a person who should have never been allowed near our government to begin with, let alone sitting at its pinnacle. At no time during his entire tenure did Trump exhibit the slightest ability to learn or grow from the experience, even as he was provided with opportunity after opportunity.
The fact that he now can’t even muster enough character to sit for his own send-off as power is transferred to his successor illustrates perfectly just how grievous of a mistake Americans made four years ago.
It was, just as Baker says, a “foolish and vindictive act of vandalism.” And like all acts of vandalism, it left us with nothing but a huge mess to clean up.
January 20, 2021
History Will Crush Trump
January 19, 2021 at 2:01 pm EST By Taegan Goddard
History Will Crush Trump
https://politicalwire.com/2021/01/19/history-will-crush-trump/History Will Crush Trump
January 19, 2021 at 2:01 pm EST By Taegan Goddard
Jonathan Last: “So how will Donald Trump’s presidency be remembered by history? We already know the answer: He oversaw a disastrous response to a global pandemic, because of which more than 400,000 Americans died on his watch.”
“That’s it. That’s his legacy. And if he gets a second line in the history books it will be this: He incited an insurrection on the U.S. Capitol which led to a second impeachment.”
“Anyone who tells you that Trump will be remembered for the economic expansion of the first three years of his term is a fool. History has nothing to say about the economic performance during Clinton’s eight years. The Reagan economic boom is only a footnote to his tenure. Look: Barack Obama gets almost no recognition for the economy of his final seven years and that took place the day before yesterday.”
“That’s it. That’s his legacy. And if he gets a second line in the history books it will be this: He incited an insurrection on the U.S. Capitol which led to a second impeachment.”
“Anyone who tells you that Trump will be remembered for the economic expansion of the first three years of his term is a fool. History has nothing to say about the economic performance during Clinton’s eight years. The Reagan economic boom is only a footnote to his tenure. Look: Barack Obama gets almost no recognition for the economy of his final seven years and that took place the day before yesterday.”
January 19, 2021
Opinion
Why Joe Biden Will Be Our Most American President
WHO HE IS
He does not have to tell us what he’s lost. His job now is to make sure we do not lose our country.
Mike Barnicle
Updated Jan. 19, 2021 10:14AM ET / Published Jan. 19, 2021 5:00AM ET
On that day when he stood for hours at the foot of the altar inside St. Anthony of Padua Church in Wilmington greeting each of the hundreds who had come to pay tribute to his son, Beau Biden, the vice president of the United States had to wonder if the pain and heartache would ever stop. Nearly six years later Joe Biden, like so many others, deals daily with the forever fresh memory of loss simply by going to work, doing his job.
Tomorrow, Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States. He will follow four years of damage, lies, cruelty, ignorance and incompetence that resulted in our inability to cope with a global virus that has killed more than 400,000 Americans, crushed our economy, closed schools, stripped hope from millions, encouraged tyranny and treason, created deeper chasms of intolerance and opened fresh wounds of racism, all of it bullied forward daily by a man constantly running from accountability: Donald Trump.
snip//
Joe Biden, our next American president, has spent a long time thinking about and preparing for the oath he’s about to take and the job he’s about to do. He’s been ready for this moment for a long, long time.
Why Joe Biden Will Be Our Most American President
https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-joe-biden-will-be-our-most-american-president?ref=homeOpinion
Why Joe Biden Will Be Our Most American President
WHO HE IS
He does not have to tell us what he’s lost. His job now is to make sure we do not lose our country.
Mike Barnicle
Updated Jan. 19, 2021 10:14AM ET / Published Jan. 19, 2021 5:00AM ET
On that day when he stood for hours at the foot of the altar inside St. Anthony of Padua Church in Wilmington greeting each of the hundreds who had come to pay tribute to his son, Beau Biden, the vice president of the United States had to wonder if the pain and heartache would ever stop. Nearly six years later Joe Biden, like so many others, deals daily with the forever fresh memory of loss simply by going to work, doing his job.
“My God, the suffering that guy has endured,” his friend, former Senator Bob Kerrey was saying yesterday. “He has suffered immensely and that’s given him a rare ability to truly understand the lives of so many he’s now going to lead.
“In a very real way he’s maybe our most American president since Harry Truman. He is uniquely American. He’s not a celebrity. He’s not some Ivy League hot-shot. He’s Joe,” Kerrey continued. “He’s Joe Biden. He used to finish up a day’s business in the Senate by grabbing his lunch bucket, well not a lunch bucket but he’d grab his briefcase, walk down to Union Station, get on the train and go home. Nearly every day. That’s a huge part of who he is. A working guy headed home at the end of the day.”
“In a very real way he’s maybe our most American president since Harry Truman. He is uniquely American. He’s not a celebrity. He’s not some Ivy League hot-shot. He’s Joe,” Kerrey continued. “He’s Joe Biden. He used to finish up a day’s business in the Senate by grabbing his lunch bucket, well not a lunch bucket but he’d grab his briefcase, walk down to Union Station, get on the train and go home. Nearly every day. That’s a huge part of who he is. A working guy headed home at the end of the day.”
Tomorrow, Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States. He will follow four years of damage, lies, cruelty, ignorance and incompetence that resulted in our inability to cope with a global virus that has killed more than 400,000 Americans, crushed our economy, closed schools, stripped hope from millions, encouraged tyranny and treason, created deeper chasms of intolerance and opened fresh wounds of racism, all of it bullied forward daily by a man constantly running from accountability: Donald Trump.
“We need a president who knows mercy. We need a president who knows how to listen. We need a president with soul and grace—and that’s what and who Joe is,” Kerrey pointed out.
snip//
Joe Biden, our next American president, has spent a long time thinking about and preparing for the oath he’s about to take and the job he’s about to do. He’s been ready for this moment for a long, long time.
January 19, 2021
7 hours ago
It All Began With Russia: Donald Trump’s Four Great Betrayals of the Nation
The scandal set the stage for the horrors that followed.
David Corn
Washington, DC, Bureau ChiefBio | Follow
Donald Trump has betrayed the United States at least four times. He downplayed and failed to adequately respond to a pandemic that has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans and wreaked economic havoc for tens of millions. He mounted an extensive disinformation campaign to subvert the 2020 election, seeking to weaken American democracy and overturn the legitimate results. He did nothing while murderous insurrectionists attacked the US Capitol—he reportedly watched the assault with excitement—and prevented the orderly and peaceful transition of power. But his first great betrayal—the one that made the others possible—was Russia.
To the dying days of his presidency, Trump has insisted Russiagate was all a hoax. And in a cult-like fashion, the Republican Party has loudly and fervently echoed his denials and phony counter-accusations. When Trump, in one of his last acts as president, awarded Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Trump’s pit-bull defender, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the White House cited Jordan’s effort to “unmask the Russia hoax.” But the facts are quite clear—this was no hoax—and they are worth reviewing and remembering, as the first president who helped a foreign power attack the United States leaves office.
Here are the indisputable basics. Russian leader Vladimir Putin ordered a covert assault, employing information warfare, on the 2016 US election. A 2017 report of the intelligence community, the 2019 report of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, a 2018 House Intelligence Committee report, and a 2020 Senate Intelligence Committee report all stated that. The attack was real. Each of these reports—with the exception of the one from the House Intelligence Committee, which was written by highly partisan GOP allies of Trump—note that one critical aim of the Russian operation was to elect Trump. And it is certainly obvious that Moscow’s hack-and-leak covert action, which released stolen Democratic emails and documents, hurt Hillary Clinton’s campaign and boosted Trump, particularly when it started disseminating pilfered material hours after the emergence of the Access Hollywood video that showed Trump boasting that he grabbed women “by the pussy.” (The weaponized leaking of these Democratic records continued through the final four weeks of the campaign.)
So there’s one big incontrovertible fact: Trump won the presidency with Russian assistance. And another: Trump and his lieutenants aided and abetted Putin’s attack on the United States.
more...
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/01/it-all-began-with-russia-donald-trumps-four-great-betrayals-of-the-nation/
David Corn: It All Began With Russia: Donald Trump's Four Great Betrayals of the Nation
7 hours ago
It All Began With Russia: Donald Trump’s Four Great Betrayals of the Nation
The scandal set the stage for the horrors that followed.
David Corn
Washington, DC, Bureau ChiefBio | Follow
Donald Trump has betrayed the United States at least four times. He downplayed and failed to adequately respond to a pandemic that has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans and wreaked economic havoc for tens of millions. He mounted an extensive disinformation campaign to subvert the 2020 election, seeking to weaken American democracy and overturn the legitimate results. He did nothing while murderous insurrectionists attacked the US Capitol—he reportedly watched the assault with excitement—and prevented the orderly and peaceful transition of power. But his first great betrayal—the one that made the others possible—was Russia.
To the dying days of his presidency, Trump has insisted Russiagate was all a hoax. And in a cult-like fashion, the Republican Party has loudly and fervently echoed his denials and phony counter-accusations. When Trump, in one of his last acts as president, awarded Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Trump’s pit-bull defender, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the White House cited Jordan’s effort to “unmask the Russia hoax.” But the facts are quite clear—this was no hoax—and they are worth reviewing and remembering, as the first president who helped a foreign power attack the United States leaves office.
Here are the indisputable basics. Russian leader Vladimir Putin ordered a covert assault, employing information warfare, on the 2016 US election. A 2017 report of the intelligence community, the 2019 report of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, a 2018 House Intelligence Committee report, and a 2020 Senate Intelligence Committee report all stated that. The attack was real. Each of these reports—with the exception of the one from the House Intelligence Committee, which was written by highly partisan GOP allies of Trump—note that one critical aim of the Russian operation was to elect Trump. And it is certainly obvious that Moscow’s hack-and-leak covert action, which released stolen Democratic emails and documents, hurt Hillary Clinton’s campaign and boosted Trump, particularly when it started disseminating pilfered material hours after the emergence of the Access Hollywood video that showed Trump boasting that he grabbed women “by the pussy.” (The weaponized leaking of these Democratic records continued through the final four weeks of the campaign.)
So there’s one big incontrovertible fact: Trump won the presidency with Russian assistance. And another: Trump and his lieutenants aided and abetted Putin’s attack on the United States.
more...
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/01/it-all-began-with-russia-donald-trumps-four-great-betrayals-of-the-nation/
January 19, 2021
https://www.thedailybeast.com/joe-exotic-hires-pick-up-limo-in-expectation-of-trump-pardon?ref=home
Joe Exotic Hires Pick-Up Limo in Expectation of Trump Pardon
COMING OUT OF MY CAGE
Jamie Ross, Reporter
Updated Jan. 19, 2021 6:33AM ET /
Published Jan. 19, 2021 6:28AM ET
Joe Exotic Hires Pick-Up Limo in Expectation of Trump Pardon
https://www.thedailybeast.com/joe-exotic-hires-pick-up-limo-in-expectation-of-trump-pardon?ref=home
Joe Exotic Hires Pick-Up Limo in Expectation of Trump Pardon
COMING OUT OF MY CAGE
Jamie Ross, Reporter
Updated Jan. 19, 2021 6:33AM ET /
Published Jan. 19, 2021 6:28AM ET
At some point on Tuesday—Donald Trump’s last full day in office—the president is expected to unveil a list of more than 100 pardons, and one familiar face has perhaps got his hopes too high. Joe Exotic, whose entertaining yet ultimately criminal exploits kept the nation distracted in the early days of the pandemic, has reportedly hired some kind of hideous limousine/pick-up truck hybrid to collect him in the expectation of a Trump pardon. Perris Jones, a reporter KOCO5 in Oklahoma City, posted a photo of the truck—as well as the detail that Exotic will be immediately taken to a secure location upon his release to get his hair done before photos can be taken. Jones reported that Exotic’s team is “absolutely confident” that Trump will come through for him before he leaves office tomorrow.
January 19, 2021
The Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
1/18/2021
Martin Luther King Would Fuck the Insurrectionists' Shit Up (2021 Edition)
Throughout his too-short life, Martin Luther King, Jr. called "bullshit" on what was motivating racists who violently opposed the Civil Rights Movement and the work that King and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference were doing non-violently. He saw through the rhetoric and called it what it was: lies.
Here he is in December 1959 in his Address at the Fourth Annual Institute on Nonviolence and Social Change in Montgomery, Alabama, where Rosa Parks had taken her stand by not giving up her seat a few years earlier: "There is great need for positive leadership from the moderates of the white South in this tense period of transition. Unfortunately today, the leadership of the white South is by and large in the hands of close-minded extremists. These persons gain prominence and power by the dissemination of false ideas, and by appealing to the deepest fears and hates within the human mind." See, King understood that lying and fearmongering were the tools of those trying to maintain their white power structures.
That fear even bled over to other whites, ones who didn't believe what the racists believed but didn't act to stop them. King said, "There are in the white South millions of people of goodwill whose voices are yet unheard, whose course is yet unclear, and whose courageous acts are yet unseen. Such persons are in Montgomery today. These persons are often silent today because of fear of social, political, and economic reprisals."
And it's all, all, all just so fucking familiar, even now.
snip//
So Martin Luther King would fuck the shit up of the racist insurrectionists who tried to overthrow the legitimate government because he had seen through the same bullshit that was used as justification for their uprising. It wasn't to protect the vote or the Constitution or any of that. It was because they believed the lies and they acted on the fear and they wanted to assert the immoral power of their whiteness. King saw them all for who they are: cowards who cannot stand a future where that shield of whiteness doesn't grant them the shield of privilege.
The Rude Pundit: Martin Luther King Would Fuck the Insurrectionists' Shit Up (2021 Edition)
https://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2021/01/martin-luther-king-would-fuck.htmlThe Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
1/18/2021
Martin Luther King Would Fuck the Insurrectionists' Shit Up (2021 Edition)
Throughout his too-short life, Martin Luther King, Jr. called "bullshit" on what was motivating racists who violently opposed the Civil Rights Movement and the work that King and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference were doing non-violently. He saw through the rhetoric and called it what it was: lies.
Here he is in December 1959 in his Address at the Fourth Annual Institute on Nonviolence and Social Change in Montgomery, Alabama, where Rosa Parks had taken her stand by not giving up her seat a few years earlier: "There is great need for positive leadership from the moderates of the white South in this tense period of transition. Unfortunately today, the leadership of the white South is by and large in the hands of close-minded extremists. These persons gain prominence and power by the dissemination of false ideas, and by appealing to the deepest fears and hates within the human mind." See, King understood that lying and fearmongering were the tools of those trying to maintain their white power structures.
That fear even bled over to other whites, ones who didn't believe what the racists believed but didn't act to stop them. King said, "There are in the white South millions of people of goodwill whose voices are yet unheard, whose course is yet unclear, and whose courageous acts are yet unseen. Such persons are in Montgomery today. These persons are often silent today because of fear of social, political, and economic reprisals."
And it's all, all, all just so fucking familiar, even now.
snip//
So Martin Luther King would fuck the shit up of the racist insurrectionists who tried to overthrow the legitimate government because he had seen through the same bullshit that was used as justification for their uprising. It wasn't to protect the vote or the Constitution or any of that. It was because they believed the lies and they acted on the fear and they wanted to assert the immoral power of their whiteness. King saw them all for who they are: cowards who cannot stand a future where that shield of whiteness doesn't grant them the shield of privilege.
January 18, 2021
1/18/21 7:50am
James Carville Chortles At Trump's Latest Pardonpalooza Scandal
"Does anybody really think Trump is not getting his cut?" Carville said.
By Susie Madrak
1 hour ago by Susie Madrak
The latest Trump pardon scandal is that lawyers are making big bank to lobby Trump for pardons for their very wealthy criminal clients. (Filling the swamp!)
" I want to get your thoughts. This is not a surprise that the president is doing."
"It's not a surprise that we're outraged. But without me even looking at Twitter, I'm absolutely sure my feed is flooded right now with 'hate the game, not the player. Trump's doing what everybody else has done. Don't you remember Marc Rich?' What do we say to those who say this is business as usual?"
"First of all, the Marc Rich story has been investigated. Move on here," Carville said.
more...
https://crooksandliars.com/2021/01/james-carville-chortles-trumps-latest
James Carville Chortles At Trump's Latest Pardonpalooza Scandal
1/18/21 7:50am
James Carville Chortles At Trump's Latest Pardonpalooza Scandal
"Does anybody really think Trump is not getting his cut?" Carville said.
By Susie Madrak
1 hour ago by Susie Madrak
The latest Trump pardon scandal is that lawyers are making big bank to lobby Trump for pardons for their very wealthy criminal clients. (Filling the swamp!)
"I mean, the fact that you're taking money for it, it's just -- it goes against everything that we know. But it's Trump. So here we are," Michael Steele said.
" I want to get your thoughts. This is not a surprise that the president is doing."
"It's not a surprise that we're outraged. But without me even looking at Twitter, I'm absolutely sure my feed is flooded right now with 'hate the game, not the player. Trump's doing what everybody else has done. Don't you remember Marc Rich?' What do we say to those who say this is business as usual?"
"First of all, the Marc Rich story has been investigated. Move on here," Carville said.
"Does anybody really think Trump is not getting his cut? Does anybody really believe that all these lawyers are making all this money and he's sitting there say, 'Okay that's fine'? It is so fitting that this thing is going down in a flame of criminality, of criminals everywhere, of money flowing everywhere. It's a fitting end. it's -- he came into this thing like this, he's leaving like this. This is the perfect, perfect ending, just bribe as many people as you can, take your cut, get your rate. But this is just wonderful. I cannot get enough of this story.
"But at the bottom of this, does anybody think the lawyers are getting all this money? Come down to Louisiana, I've got 100 million acres of water I can sell you in the Gulf of Mexico."
"But at the bottom of this, does anybody think the lawyers are getting all this money? Come down to Louisiana, I've got 100 million acres of water I can sell you in the Gulf of Mexico."
more...
https://crooksandliars.com/2021/01/james-carville-chortles-trumps-latest
January 18, 2021
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/01/republicans-are-already-rewriting-trump-years/617715/
The Coming Republican Amnesia
How will the GOP recover from the Trump era? Pretend it never happened.
snip//
As Donald Trump lurches through the disastrous final days of his presidency, Republicans are just beginning to survey the wreckage of his reign. Their party has been gutted, their leader is reviled, and after four years of excusing every presidential affront to ‘conservative values,’ their credibility is shot. How will the GOP recover from the complicity and corruption of the Trump era? To many Republicans, the answer is simple: Pretend it never happened.
The plan might seem implausible, but I’ve heard it floated repeatedly in recent days by Republican strategists who are counting down the minutes of the Trump presidency. The hardcore MAGA crowd will stay loyal, of course, and those few who have consistently opposed Trump will escape with their reputations intact. But for the majority of GOP officials, apparatchiks, and commentators who sacrificed their dignity at the altar of Trump, a collective case of amnesia seems destined to set in the moment he leaves office.
People who spent years coddling the president will recast themselves as voices of conscience, or whitewash their relationship with Trump altogether. Policy makers who abandoned their dedication to “fiscal responsibility” and “limited government” will rediscover a passion for these timeless conservative principles. Some may dress up their revisionism in the rhetoric of “healing” and “moving forward,” but the strategy will be clear—to escape accountability by taking advantage of America’s notoriously short political memory.
more...
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/01/republicans-are-already-rewriting-trump-years/617715/
The Coming Republican Amnesia
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/01/republicans-are-already-rewriting-trump-years/617715/
The Coming Republican Amnesia
How will the GOP recover from the Trump era? Pretend it never happened.
snip//
As Donald Trump lurches through the disastrous final days of his presidency, Republicans are just beginning to survey the wreckage of his reign. Their party has been gutted, their leader is reviled, and after four years of excusing every presidential affront to ‘conservative values,’ their credibility is shot. How will the GOP recover from the complicity and corruption of the Trump era? To many Republicans, the answer is simple: Pretend it never happened.
The plan might seem implausible, but I’ve heard it floated repeatedly in recent days by Republican strategists who are counting down the minutes of the Trump presidency. The hardcore MAGA crowd will stay loyal, of course, and those few who have consistently opposed Trump will escape with their reputations intact. But for the majority of GOP officials, apparatchiks, and commentators who sacrificed their dignity at the altar of Trump, a collective case of amnesia seems destined to set in the moment he leaves office.
People who spent years coddling the president will recast themselves as voices of conscience, or whitewash their relationship with Trump altogether. Policy makers who abandoned their dedication to “fiscal responsibility” and “limited government” will rediscover a passion for these timeless conservative principles. Some may dress up their revisionism in the rhetoric of “healing” and “moving forward,” but the strategy will be clear—to escape accountability by taking advantage of America’s notoriously short political memory.
more...
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/01/republicans-are-already-rewriting-trump-years/617715/
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