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babylonsister
babylonsister's Journal
babylonsister's Journal
July 28, 2022
https://crooksandliars.com/2022/07/matt-schlapp-endorses-racial-purity-fine
Matt Schlapp Endorses Racial Purity As Fine Topic For CPAC
Viktor Orbán’s Nazi-esque rhetoric has outraged Holocaust survivors and caused one of his long-time advisers to resign, but CPAC organizer Matt Schlapp wants to hear more.
By NewsHound Ellen — July 28, 2022
In case you missed it, Orbán did a great job channeling Hitler over the weekend:
He even cracked a joke about Nazi gas chambers. In the context of an EU proposal to ration natural gas, Orbán said, “the past shows us German know-how on that.”
The remarks caused one of Orbán’s longest-serving advisers to resign Tuesday. Zsuzsa Hegedüs published a letter calling Orbán’s speech “a pure Nazi text worthy of Goebbels” and saying she had no choice but to resign. The International Auschwitz Committee of Holocaust survivors condemned Orbán’s comments as "stupid and dangerous."
Schlapp, on the other hand, sees no reason to disinvite Orbán from appearing as a keynote speaker at next week’s CPAC conference:
Schlapp’s willingness to mainstream and promote Nazi-like rhetoric tells you everything you need to know about the CPAC wing of the GOP.
Tucker Carlson will almost certainly be delighted.
Matt Schlapp Endorses Racial Purity As Fine Topic For CPAC
https://crooksandliars.com/2022/07/matt-schlapp-endorses-racial-purity-fine
Matt Schlapp Endorses Racial Purity As Fine Topic For CPAC
Viktor Orbán’s Nazi-esque rhetoric has outraged Holocaust survivors and caused one of his long-time advisers to resign, but CPAC organizer Matt Schlapp wants to hear more.
By NewsHound Ellen — July 28, 2022
In case you missed it, Orbán did a great job channeling Hitler over the weekend:
In the speech, Orbán said mixing between Europeans was acceptable, but Europeans mixing with non-Europeans created “mixed race” people.
“We are willing to mix with one another, but we do not want to become peoples of mixed race,” said Orbán. He added that countries where this was seen as acceptable are “no longer nations”.
“We are willing to mix with one another, but we do not want to become peoples of mixed race,” said Orbán. He added that countries where this was seen as acceptable are “no longer nations”.
He even cracked a joke about Nazi gas chambers. In the context of an EU proposal to ration natural gas, Orbán said, “the past shows us German know-how on that.”
The remarks caused one of Orbán’s longest-serving advisers to resign Tuesday. Zsuzsa Hegedüs published a letter calling Orbán’s speech “a pure Nazi text worthy of Goebbels” and saying she had no choice but to resign. The International Auschwitz Committee of Holocaust survivors condemned Orbán’s comments as "stupid and dangerous."
Schlapp, on the other hand, sees no reason to disinvite Orbán from appearing as a keynote speaker at next week’s CPAC conference:
Let’s listen to the man speak,” Schlapp said on Tuesday, per Bloomberg. “We’ll see what he says.”
“And if people have a disagreement with something he says, they should raise it,” he added.
“And if people have a disagreement with something he says, they should raise it,” he added.
Schlapp’s willingness to mainstream and promote Nazi-like rhetoric tells you everything you need to know about the CPAC wing of the GOP.
Tucker Carlson will almost certainly be delighted.
July 28, 2022
Clean energy package would be biggest legislative climate investment in US history
CNN Expansion DC - November 2021, Shoot ID: 1089822 , 11/16/2021, Ella Nilsen
By Ella Nilsen, CNN
Updated 11:47 AM ET, Thu July 28, 2022
The climate and clean energy deal puts billions of dollars toward clean energy manufacturing and tax credits for wind, solar and battery storage.
(CNN)Sen. Joe Manchin's stunning reversal on a clean energy package has suddenly put Democrats in a position to pass the largest climate investment in US history, and by far the biggest legislative win for the environmental movement since the Clean Air Act.
snip//
But despite the concessions on planet-warming fossil fuels, analysis from Schumer's office suggests the measures would reduce US carbon emissions by roughly 40% by 2030, putting President Joe Biden well on his way to achieving his goal of cutting emissions in half by 2030.
This package, if approved through the Senate's reconciliation process and passed by both houses of Congress, would be more than a massive legislative win for Democrats ahead of the midterms; it would help put the US back in a global position to lead on climate alongside the EU.
"By a wide margin, this legislation will be the greatest pro-climate legislation that has ever been passed by Congress," Schumer said in a statement Wednesday night. The agreement also got a seal of approval from Biden, who called it "historic" in a statement.
more...
https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/28/politics/climate-deal-joe-manchin/index.html
Clean energy package would be biggest legislative climate investment in US history
Clean energy package would be biggest legislative climate investment in US history
CNN Expansion DC - November 2021, Shoot ID: 1089822 , 11/16/2021, Ella Nilsen
By Ella Nilsen, CNN
Updated 11:47 AM ET, Thu July 28, 2022
The climate and clean energy deal puts billions of dollars toward clean energy manufacturing and tax credits for wind, solar and battery storage.
(CNN)Sen. Joe Manchin's stunning reversal on a clean energy package has suddenly put Democrats in a position to pass the largest climate investment in US history, and by far the biggest legislative win for the environmental movement since the Clean Air Act.
snip//
But despite the concessions on planet-warming fossil fuels, analysis from Schumer's office suggests the measures would reduce US carbon emissions by roughly 40% by 2030, putting President Joe Biden well on his way to achieving his goal of cutting emissions in half by 2030.
This package, if approved through the Senate's reconciliation process and passed by both houses of Congress, would be more than a massive legislative win for Democrats ahead of the midterms; it would help put the US back in a global position to lead on climate alongside the EU.
"By a wide margin, this legislation will be the greatest pro-climate legislation that has ever been passed by Congress," Schumer said in a statement Wednesday night. The agreement also got a seal of approval from Biden, who called it "historic" in a statement.
more...
https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/28/politics/climate-deal-joe-manchin/index.html
July 28, 2022
more...
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/3577296-gop-senators-block-bill-expanding-care-for-veterans-exposed-to-toxins/
GOP senators block bill expanding care for veterans exposed to toxins
Of course they did. 
GOP senators block bill expanding care for veterans exposed to toxins
by Brad Dress - 07/27/22 11:26 PM ET
Republican lawmakers blocked passage of a bill in the U.S. Senate Wednesday that expands healthcare coverage for military veterans who were exposed to toxins and burn pits during their service.
All Democrats and eight Republicans voted for the Sgt. 1st Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our PACT Act, but the 55 yes votes fell short of the 60 needed to end a filibuster in the Senate. Three Senators did not vote.
The PACT Act, which the House passed earlier this month, would enable additional healthcare coverage for more than three million veterans who were exposed to toxic burn pits and Vietnam-era veterans exposed to the deadly herbicide Agent Orange.
Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Penn.) said on the Senate floor that he didn’t support the bill because it would create $400 billion in unrelated spending, which he called a “budgetary gimmick.”
snip//
“If you have the guts to send somebody to war, then you better have the guts to take care of them when they get home,” Tester said. ‘If we don’t take care of our veterans when they come home, they’re going to say, ‘Why should I ever sign the dotted line. Because the promises I made and the promises the country made, only half that deal is being respected.'”
more...
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/3577296-gop-senators-block-bill-expanding-care-for-veterans-exposed-to-toxins/
July 28, 2022
Can Televised Hearings Change Minds Anymore?
It's a very different media landscape from the days of Watergate.
By ProPublica — July 27, 2022
by Stephen Engelberg
ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
In July of 1973, a young, preppy-looking lawyer named Gordon Strachan appeared before the Senate Watergate Committee and acknowledged his role in the cover-up of America’s most consequential burglary.
When he finished, a senator asked 29-year-old Strachan if he had any advice for young people interested in public service. “Stay away,” he said. “It may not be the type of advice you could look back and want to give, but my advice would be to stay away.”
I was among the millions of Americans glued to the television that summer, a gangly teenager with dreams of working some day in politics. The Watergate hearings changed the nation’s perception of President Richard Nixon, laying the groundwork for his impeachment.
snip//
Many commentators have argued that given the current fractured political and media culture, Nixon would not have left office had the crimes of 1972 and 1973 taken place today; he could have been confident that 34 senators of his own party would stand by him, regardless of the evidence.
I’m not so sure. It’s certainly true that the major television networks broadcast gavel-to-gavel coverage on what amounted to nearly all channels available in that pre-cable period of our nation’s history. It would be decades before the creation of a network that would deliver an alternate reality in which an event like the Jan. 6 hearings could go mostly uncovered.
But the view that the America of 2022 is divided as never before ignores the staggering level of popular support Nixon enjoyed. His reelection in 1972 was one of the biggest landslides in American history, nothing like the knife-edge presidential races we’ve experienced over the past two decades. George McGovern, the Democratic candidate, ended up 18 million votes behind Nixon and carried only one state — implacably liberal Massachusetts — and the District of Columbia. The map on election night was a coast-to-coast sea of red.
As the facts about Watergate came to light after the election, minds changed. Strachan, the witness whose testimony made such an impression on me, testified that he was the courier who delivered cash from a White House safe to a Nixon campaign official. Strachan acknowledged that he “became more than a little suspicious” when the official put on gloves before accepting the package.
snip//
All of this is to say one should be cautious in predicting the effect congressional investigations will have on public opinion. Learning that Trump’s advisers were divided between Team Crazy and Team Normal, and that Team Crazy clearly had the upper hand, might disturb a fair number of voters. I’ve seen congressional hearings change minds, including my own.
Can Televised Hearings Change Minds Anymore?
https://crooksandliars.com/2022/07/can-televised-hearings-change-mindsCan Televised Hearings Change Minds Anymore?
It's a very different media landscape from the days of Watergate.
By ProPublica — July 27, 2022
by Stephen Engelberg
ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
In July of 1973, a young, preppy-looking lawyer named Gordon Strachan appeared before the Senate Watergate Committee and acknowledged his role in the cover-up of America’s most consequential burglary.
When he finished, a senator asked 29-year-old Strachan if he had any advice for young people interested in public service. “Stay away,” he said. “It may not be the type of advice you could look back and want to give, but my advice would be to stay away.”
I was among the millions of Americans glued to the television that summer, a gangly teenager with dreams of working some day in politics. The Watergate hearings changed the nation’s perception of President Richard Nixon, laying the groundwork for his impeachment.
snip//
Many commentators have argued that given the current fractured political and media culture, Nixon would not have left office had the crimes of 1972 and 1973 taken place today; he could have been confident that 34 senators of his own party would stand by him, regardless of the evidence.
I’m not so sure. It’s certainly true that the major television networks broadcast gavel-to-gavel coverage on what amounted to nearly all channels available in that pre-cable period of our nation’s history. It would be decades before the creation of a network that would deliver an alternate reality in which an event like the Jan. 6 hearings could go mostly uncovered.
But the view that the America of 2022 is divided as never before ignores the staggering level of popular support Nixon enjoyed. His reelection in 1972 was one of the biggest landslides in American history, nothing like the knife-edge presidential races we’ve experienced over the past two decades. George McGovern, the Democratic candidate, ended up 18 million votes behind Nixon and carried only one state — implacably liberal Massachusetts — and the District of Columbia. The map on election night was a coast-to-coast sea of red.
As the facts about Watergate came to light after the election, minds changed. Strachan, the witness whose testimony made such an impression on me, testified that he was the courier who delivered cash from a White House safe to a Nixon campaign official. Strachan acknowledged that he “became more than a little suspicious” when the official put on gloves before accepting the package.
snip//
All of this is to say one should be cautious in predicting the effect congressional investigations will have on public opinion. Learning that Trump’s advisers were divided between Team Crazy and Team Normal, and that Team Crazy clearly had the upper hand, might disturb a fair number of voters. I’ve seen congressional hearings change minds, including my own.
July 27, 2022
Out-of-Control Chinese Rocket May Land on Your Head Sunday
Jeebus. Doesn't seem prudent... 
https://www.thedailybeast.com/chinese-rocket-will-crash-into-earth-sundaypossibly-into-a-populated-community?ref=home
Out-of-Control Chinese Rocket May Land on Your Head Sunday
NOT AGAIN
Early predictions show “over 88 percent of the world’s population” lives in the potential landing zone.
Neel V. Patel
Senior Editor, Science & Innovation
Updated Jul. 27, 2022 4:38PM ET / Published Jul. 27, 2022 2:28PM ET
A used Chinese rocket booster is set to fall out of orbit and crash into Earth sometime in the next few days. The nonprofit Aerospace Corporation’s debris tracking experts predict that the rocket—a 10-story, 23-ton core stage of a Long March 5B mission launched July 24 to deliver the Wentian lab module to the country’s Tiangong space station—will careen to Earth on July 31 at 3:52 a.m. Eastern Time, plus or minus 22 hours.
While the chance of the rocket hitting a populated community is slim, it’s still possible. “Due to the uncontrolled nature of its descent, there is a non-zero probability of the surviving debris landing in a populated area—over 88 percent of the world’s population lives under the reentry’s potential debris footprint,” the Aerospace Corporation said in a statement. About 60 to 80 percent of the booster’s mass will burn up in the atmosphere, but that still leaves a hefty, fiery object ready to slam into the ground.
This is the third time that a Long March 5B booster has fallen back to Earth uncontrollably and raised alarms. In May 2020, a booster crashed into an uninhabited plot of land on the African West Coast.
The second Chinese booster incident, in May 2021, was more infamous. For several days, the space community had a harder time predicting and assessing where it would land. The world waited with bated breath for several hours until it was finally confirmed the booster landed in the Indian Ocean near the Maldives. NASA, among others, expressed severe irritation with the Chinese handling of the booster. (NASA did not respond to requests from The Daily Beast for immediate comment.)
China’s response over its uncontrolled boosters in the past has always ranged from complete silence to accusing the U.S. and others of scaremongering folks (which they’ve done again in response to this latest instance). Most core stages, reports Gizmodo, aren’t supposed to reach orbit, and their trajectories are instead designed to guide them back to landing in the ocean or a very remote location on land. China, however, has consistently elected to send its Long March 5B core booster into orbit and let it tumble back to Earth willy-nilly.
Debris trackers around the world will have a better sense in the next few days of where the booster may land Sunday, but it will still be tough to predict an exact location ahead of time. Sunday morning will be a tense time for a large swath of the world.
July 27, 2022
Performative Cruelty Is Republicans' Only Remaining Policy
by Mike Lofgren | July 27, 2022 - 7:01am
Do you remember the incident during the 2016 campaign when Donald Trump mocked a reporter with a physical disability? The crowd of his supporters thought it was screamingly funny. Or the following year when he told an audience of police "please don't be too nice" to suspects, suggesting they could bang the arrestee's head against the patrol car when putting him in the seat?
We should disabuse ourselves of illusions that Republicans want power for any purpose other than to exercise power, and to exercise it arbitrarily, unfairly, and with vindictiveness.
This is known as "performative cruelty:" putting on a show of belittling or humiliating people to make oneself or one's group appear stronger. "Performative" means it is generally in a public setting. Over the course of Trump's administration, it became evident that his supporters voted for him not out of economic anxiety or any other of the New York Times' comforting myths, but to have a champion who would be mean and nasty towards the groups that they hated, feared, or resented.
Trump came and went, but performative cruelty embedded itself deeply in the Republican Party. There are now hordes of politicians like Matt Gaetz, Margery Taylor Greene, Ted Cruz, and others who are apparently devoid of an actual sense of humor (which requires enough sense of irony to suggest an awareness of the human condition) other than the sadistic and crudely sarcastic humor of eighth graders bullying someone in the lunchroom.
The term performative cruelty is usually defined as a verbal performance, but I believe its meaning should be expanded to embrace the policy arena. Republicans are engineering legislative acts, court rulings, and executive actions primarily to punish their opponents and satisfy their own supporters' vindictiveness towards their perceived enemies.
This accounts for the unseemly rush throughout the red states to pass the most draconian anti-abortion law possible, including disregard for rape, even child rape, and disdain for the life of the mother. They also want to criminalize the actions of any doctors involved (they are practitioners, after all, of hated science). Some legislatures are seeking to restrict travel to another state for purposes of abortion – a clear violation of the commerce clause and the 14th Amendment, but with a rogue and illegitimate Supreme Court, practically anything could now be ruled constitutional.
Should anyone think this is a consequence of Christian fundamentalists' frequent and nauseating declarations of their reverence for babies, they would have difficulty explaining the Texas legislature's cutting back of postpartum Medicaid. The Catholic Church, for its part, has been a fulltime anti-abortion lobbying organization (one that is somehow tax-exempt). But for some Catholic clergy, the untouchable sanctity of young, innocent human life apparently does not extend to altar boys.
People not directly impacted by the abortion statues should not conclude they won't eventually be targeted for some transgression or other. Moreover, one has to conclude that this frenzy of legislating isn't even about abortion per se. It's gone beyond that to punishing female Jezebels for their alleged licentiousness. It won't just be abortion doctors who are persecuted, but ultimately scientists in every field Republicans find heretical, like evolutionary biology, climate science, or microbiology. The friendly nurse who dispenses COVID vaccine at your pharmacy could become an accused felon charged with secretly injecting patients with mind-control chips.
With respect to firearms violence, this calculated cruelty has been increasingly evident since the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre. The expressions of GOP officials have gradually evolved from a perfunctorily mumbled "thought and prayers" to the announcement by the chief law enforcement official of Texas, Ken Paxton, after the Uvalde atrocity: "Life is short" and "God has a plan." These folks always drag their deity into the muck to rationalize their indifference to human suffering. In a few years we can look forward to some GOP official exclaiming "massacres are awesome!"
That would at least dispense with the lies and evasions. A few seasons ago, Republicans justified separating migrant mothers from their very young children at the border as a necessary deterrent to illegal immigration. Since it had no measureable effect of the policy on migration flows, it became evident that the Trump administration did it for the same reason candidate Trump wanted cops to slam suspects' heads into squad car roofs: the cruelty is the policy.
A decade before that, the debate was about the torture of suspected international terrorists. Republicans' first tactic was to deny that torture was torture, when the techniques used met every domestic and international legal definition of it. Then, it was admitted that the CIA tortured maybe a little bit, but it was necessary to extract vital information in a highly-implausible ticking time bomb scenario (a genuine example of which no one could produce). It descended into bathos when Bush administration officials obliquely justified torture by reference to the fictional drama series 24. Apparently they also thought that Jack Bauer was a real guy.
We should disabuse ourselves of illusions that Republicans want power for any purpose other than to exercise power, and to exercise it arbitrarily, unfairly, and with vindictiveness. Neither do they care about human life by banning abortion: it is about subordinating women. Torture is not an unfortunate byproduct of the need to extract information in an acutely dangerous world: torture is the whole point.
What Republicans have become is best summed up in a kind of eerie prophecy by George Orwell's 1984, when the brutal interrogator O'Brien sets poor Winston Smith straight that the Party is not aiming to build utopia, but rather a permanent regime of institutionalized hatred and cruelty:
Little did we know when we read 1984 in high school that we were getting a preview of the GOP's governance blueprint.
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Performative Cruelty Is Republicans' Only Remaining Policy
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/mike-lofgren/102552/performative-cruelty-is-republicans-only-remaining-policyPerformative Cruelty Is Republicans' Only Remaining Policy
by Mike Lofgren | July 27, 2022 - 7:01am
Do you remember the incident during the 2016 campaign when Donald Trump mocked a reporter with a physical disability? The crowd of his supporters thought it was screamingly funny. Or the following year when he told an audience of police "please don't be too nice" to suspects, suggesting they could bang the arrestee's head against the patrol car when putting him in the seat?
We should disabuse ourselves of illusions that Republicans want power for any purpose other than to exercise power, and to exercise it arbitrarily, unfairly, and with vindictiveness.
This is known as "performative cruelty:" putting on a show of belittling or humiliating people to make oneself or one's group appear stronger. "Performative" means it is generally in a public setting. Over the course of Trump's administration, it became evident that his supporters voted for him not out of economic anxiety or any other of the New York Times' comforting myths, but to have a champion who would be mean and nasty towards the groups that they hated, feared, or resented.
Trump came and went, but performative cruelty embedded itself deeply in the Republican Party. There are now hordes of politicians like Matt Gaetz, Margery Taylor Greene, Ted Cruz, and others who are apparently devoid of an actual sense of humor (which requires enough sense of irony to suggest an awareness of the human condition) other than the sadistic and crudely sarcastic humor of eighth graders bullying someone in the lunchroom.
The term performative cruelty is usually defined as a verbal performance, but I believe its meaning should be expanded to embrace the policy arena. Republicans are engineering legislative acts, court rulings, and executive actions primarily to punish their opponents and satisfy their own supporters' vindictiveness towards their perceived enemies.
This accounts for the unseemly rush throughout the red states to pass the most draconian anti-abortion law possible, including disregard for rape, even child rape, and disdain for the life of the mother. They also want to criminalize the actions of any doctors involved (they are practitioners, after all, of hated science). Some legislatures are seeking to restrict travel to another state for purposes of abortion – a clear violation of the commerce clause and the 14th Amendment, but with a rogue and illegitimate Supreme Court, practically anything could now be ruled constitutional.
Should anyone think this is a consequence of Christian fundamentalists' frequent and nauseating declarations of their reverence for babies, they would have difficulty explaining the Texas legislature's cutting back of postpartum Medicaid. The Catholic Church, for its part, has been a fulltime anti-abortion lobbying organization (one that is somehow tax-exempt). But for some Catholic clergy, the untouchable sanctity of young, innocent human life apparently does not extend to altar boys.
People not directly impacted by the abortion statues should not conclude they won't eventually be targeted for some transgression or other. Moreover, one has to conclude that this frenzy of legislating isn't even about abortion per se. It's gone beyond that to punishing female Jezebels for their alleged licentiousness. It won't just be abortion doctors who are persecuted, but ultimately scientists in every field Republicans find heretical, like evolutionary biology, climate science, or microbiology. The friendly nurse who dispenses COVID vaccine at your pharmacy could become an accused felon charged with secretly injecting patients with mind-control chips.
With respect to firearms violence, this calculated cruelty has been increasingly evident since the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre. The expressions of GOP officials have gradually evolved from a perfunctorily mumbled "thought and prayers" to the announcement by the chief law enforcement official of Texas, Ken Paxton, after the Uvalde atrocity: "Life is short" and "God has a plan." These folks always drag their deity into the muck to rationalize their indifference to human suffering. In a few years we can look forward to some GOP official exclaiming "massacres are awesome!"
That would at least dispense with the lies and evasions. A few seasons ago, Republicans justified separating migrant mothers from their very young children at the border as a necessary deterrent to illegal immigration. Since it had no measureable effect of the policy on migration flows, it became evident that the Trump administration did it for the same reason candidate Trump wanted cops to slam suspects' heads into squad car roofs: the cruelty is the policy.
A decade before that, the debate was about the torture of suspected international terrorists. Republicans' first tactic was to deny that torture was torture, when the techniques used met every domestic and international legal definition of it. Then, it was admitted that the CIA tortured maybe a little bit, but it was necessary to extract vital information in a highly-implausible ticking time bomb scenario (a genuine example of which no one could produce). It descended into bathos when Bush administration officials obliquely justified torture by reference to the fictional drama series 24. Apparently they also thought that Jack Bauer was a real guy.
We should disabuse ourselves of illusions that Republicans want power for any purpose other than to exercise power, and to exercise it arbitrarily, unfairly, and with vindictiveness. Neither do they care about human life by banning abortion: it is about subordinating women. Torture is not an unfortunate byproduct of the need to extract information in an acutely dangerous world: torture is the whole point.
What Republicans have become is best summed up in a kind of eerie prophecy by George Orwell's 1984, when the brutal interrogator O'Brien sets poor Winston Smith straight that the Party is not aiming to build utopia, but rather a permanent regime of institutionalized hatred and cruelty:
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me? . . . How does one man assert his power over another, Winston? . . . By making him suffer . . . Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation"
Little did we know when we read 1984 in high school that we were getting a preview of the GOP's governance blueprint.
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
July 27, 2022
Can someone help me understand this?
Sarkazein
Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)
Tuesday July 26, 2022 · 9:55 AM EDT
Share this article
I've read about it for years and known about it for years. I've heard it used as a reason for persecution and assimilation. I've seen it blamed for everything from climate change to vote changing to somehow controlling the world. But I don't get it.
Why does nearly every idiotic hate group hate Jewish people? I don't know the root of this. I don't get why every single ailment that may affect someone must be because of "the Jews" or some such nonsense. In my younger days, I dated Jewish women. I am friends with a lot of Jewish people. Hell, I dated a Middle Eastern girl that claimed to be Hawaiian because her last name sounded vaguely Hawaiian (and 17-year-old me didn't know the difference, or care for that matter). It didn't make her bad or evil. We dated for almost three years. I ended up married to an Eastern European.
But every single hate group that has suddenly become prominent because, thanks to a single rotten Orange, they became empowered -- they all blame Jews in one way or another. Whether it's Jewish Space Lasers™ or some weirdo secret cabal or secret powers or otherwise somehow a monetary force of untold fortunes and abilities, Jewish people are always accused of somehow being behind all of this.
Weirder still, these people usually claim to be "Christian" of some sort, which is laughable. The last thing these people are are followers of any organized religion. I was raised Catholic and made to go to church until 18 years old. I admittedly haven't been with any regularity since the "freedom" of not having to go to church, but for some people, it's important. Going to (a real) church and following the teachings clearly isn't anywhere close to important to the people claiming to be the strongest advocates of the practice.
But at least in America, the "Evangelical Christian" seems to hate everything not exactly to their liking, which is the opposite of pretty much any real religious teaching. It goes against everything that is said and taught (like, I don't know, the ten commandments), yet it's a crutch constantly leaned on as an excuse for persecution. Even outside of the US, we have various "religious" factions warring against each other in the name of some god that in reality wouldn't agree with a damn thing they say or do.
So, my question is, especially here but seemingly worldwide, why are Jewish people singled out as some master race controlling everything? Is it because some Jewish people are famous or funny or just generally successful? Is it because they've always been the target for some reason? Is there something I just don't get about how you can absolutely hate someone (or even an entire group of people) without knowing them at all?
I'll leave with this. A new 7-11 opened near me in the past few years. I went there to get beer once it opened, and I was sort of staring at the guy checking people out. He could see me staring at him and was getting agitated. What I was doing was staring at his nametag so I could say his name right (he's an Indian guy named Sukreet, and you just know he's got shit for that from some people that intentionally mispronounced it). I got to the front, put the beer down, and said, "Not to be rude, but is your name pronounced Sue-crete?" He suddenly smiled big and said, "Yes!" Ever since then, when I go there for something, it's "How are you, my friend!" and stuff like that. The smallest things make the biggest difference.
The point of my little 7-11 story is that if you take even the smallest gesture to be friendly, be human, the results are usually good. And I don’t understand why such a simple thing is so impossible for some people. I don’t get how there is apparently zero attempt to connect and understand. I don’t know 7-11 guy beyond his name and his job. He knows me as the nice guy that got his name right. Took two minutes, maybe? But that tiny effort made a friendship, not an enemy.
Is the hateful right so completely unwillingly to spare two minutes? They waste a lot more time hating and attempting to somehow prove their hate with nonsensical memes and posts. Isn’t there something better for a “Christian” to be doing? And why is it always Jewish people or beliefs behind everything they don’t agree with? And where do they get this unlimited supply of monies and resources (which oddly fuel the far right wing but more lately the mainstream Republican party)?
"Can someone help me understand this?"
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/7/26/2112636/-Can-someone-help-me-understand-thisCan someone help me understand this?
Sarkazein
Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)
Tuesday July 26, 2022 · 9:55 AM EDT
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I've read about it for years and known about it for years. I've heard it used as a reason for persecution and assimilation. I've seen it blamed for everything from climate change to vote changing to somehow controlling the world. But I don't get it.
Why does nearly every idiotic hate group hate Jewish people? I don't know the root of this. I don't get why every single ailment that may affect someone must be because of "the Jews" or some such nonsense. In my younger days, I dated Jewish women. I am friends with a lot of Jewish people. Hell, I dated a Middle Eastern girl that claimed to be Hawaiian because her last name sounded vaguely Hawaiian (and 17-year-old me didn't know the difference, or care for that matter). It didn't make her bad or evil. We dated for almost three years. I ended up married to an Eastern European.
But every single hate group that has suddenly become prominent because, thanks to a single rotten Orange, they became empowered -- they all blame Jews in one way or another. Whether it's Jewish Space Lasers™ or some weirdo secret cabal or secret powers or otherwise somehow a monetary force of untold fortunes and abilities, Jewish people are always accused of somehow being behind all of this.
Weirder still, these people usually claim to be "Christian" of some sort, which is laughable. The last thing these people are are followers of any organized religion. I was raised Catholic and made to go to church until 18 years old. I admittedly haven't been with any regularity since the "freedom" of not having to go to church, but for some people, it's important. Going to (a real) church and following the teachings clearly isn't anywhere close to important to the people claiming to be the strongest advocates of the practice.
But at least in America, the "Evangelical Christian" seems to hate everything not exactly to their liking, which is the opposite of pretty much any real religious teaching. It goes against everything that is said and taught (like, I don't know, the ten commandments), yet it's a crutch constantly leaned on as an excuse for persecution. Even outside of the US, we have various "religious" factions warring against each other in the name of some god that in reality wouldn't agree with a damn thing they say or do.
So, my question is, especially here but seemingly worldwide, why are Jewish people singled out as some master race controlling everything? Is it because some Jewish people are famous or funny or just generally successful? Is it because they've always been the target for some reason? Is there something I just don't get about how you can absolutely hate someone (or even an entire group of people) without knowing them at all?
I'll leave with this. A new 7-11 opened near me in the past few years. I went there to get beer once it opened, and I was sort of staring at the guy checking people out. He could see me staring at him and was getting agitated. What I was doing was staring at his nametag so I could say his name right (he's an Indian guy named Sukreet, and you just know he's got shit for that from some people that intentionally mispronounced it). I got to the front, put the beer down, and said, "Not to be rude, but is your name pronounced Sue-crete?" He suddenly smiled big and said, "Yes!" Ever since then, when I go there for something, it's "How are you, my friend!" and stuff like that. The smallest things make the biggest difference.
The point of my little 7-11 story is that if you take even the smallest gesture to be friendly, be human, the results are usually good. And I don’t understand why such a simple thing is so impossible for some people. I don’t get how there is apparently zero attempt to connect and understand. I don’t know 7-11 guy beyond his name and his job. He knows me as the nice guy that got his name right. Took two minutes, maybe? But that tiny effort made a friendship, not an enemy.
Is the hateful right so completely unwillingly to spare two minutes? They waste a lot more time hating and attempting to somehow prove their hate with nonsensical memes and posts. Isn’t there something better for a “Christian” to be doing? And why is it always Jewish people or beliefs behind everything they don’t agree with? And where do they get this unlimited supply of monies and resources (which oddly fuel the far right wing but more lately the mainstream Republican party)?
July 27, 2022
Posted on Tue, Jul 26th, 2022 by Jason Easley
A Big Fox News/Trump Lie Just Got Wiped Out By The 1/6 Committee
Fox News and some Republicans have been saying that Trump ordered National Guard troops to the Capitol, but the 1/6 Committee has released testimony saying that Trump never gave a National Guard order.
The story from Mark Meadows that Sean Hannity and others have often repeated on Fox News is that Trump ordered 10,000 National Guard troops to be ready to go to the Capitol, but Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi rejected the troops.
Trump made the same claim numerous times in 2021.
No matter how often the lie has been debunked, it still continued to be pushed on Fox News and other conservative media.
On Tuesday, the 1/6 Committee released testimony from Trump’s acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller stating that there no such order or plan for National Guard troops at the Capitol:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1552041350941532168
Miller said, “There was no direct, there was no order from the President. We obviously had plans for activating more folks, but that was not anything more than contingency planning. There was no official message traffic or anything of that nature.”
Miller’s testimony brings up an interesting question. If the Department of Defense was planning, why didn’t anyone in Trump’s White House pass that message along so they could be deployed?
The Defense Department was waiting for a call from Trump that never came.
The are many Big Lies surrounding Trump and 1/6, but one of the biggest has been that Trump tried to act but was stopped by Nancy Pelosi.
That lie has been put to rest six feet under by the 1/6 Committee.
A Big Fox News/Trump Lie Just Got Wiped Out By The 1/6 Committee
https://www.politicususa.com/2022/07/26/1-6-committee-fox-news-trump-lie.htmlPosted on Tue, Jul 26th, 2022 by Jason Easley
A Big Fox News/Trump Lie Just Got Wiped Out By The 1/6 Committee
Fox News and some Republicans have been saying that Trump ordered National Guard troops to the Capitol, but the 1/6 Committee has released testimony saying that Trump never gave a National Guard order.
The story from Mark Meadows that Sean Hannity and others have often repeated on Fox News is that Trump ordered 10,000 National Guard troops to be ready to go to the Capitol, but Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi rejected the troops.
Trump made the same claim numerous times in 2021.
No matter how often the lie has been debunked, it still continued to be pushed on Fox News and other conservative media.
On Tuesday, the 1/6 Committee released testimony from Trump’s acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller stating that there no such order or plan for National Guard troops at the Capitol:
To remove any doubt: Not only did Donald Trump fail to contact his Secretary of Defense on January 6th (as shown in our hearing), Trump also failed to give any order prior to January 6 to deploy the military to protect the Capitol.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1552041350941532168
Miller said, “There was no direct, there was no order from the President. We obviously had plans for activating more folks, but that was not anything more than contingency planning. There was no official message traffic or anything of that nature.”
Miller’s testimony brings up an interesting question. If the Department of Defense was planning, why didn’t anyone in Trump’s White House pass that message along so they could be deployed?
The Defense Department was waiting for a call from Trump that never came.
The are many Big Lies surrounding Trump and 1/6, but one of the biggest has been that Trump tried to act but was stopped by Nancy Pelosi.
That lie has been put to rest six feet under by the 1/6 Committee.
July 26, 2022
Democrats Want to Sideline Secret Service Watchdog
Grand idea.
https://politicalwire.com/2022/07/26/democrats-want-to-sideline-secret-service-watchdog/
Democrats Want to Sideline Secret Service Watchdog
July 26, 2022 at 4:17 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 0 Comments
“Two top House Democrats are calling for the Department of Homeland Security inspector general to recuse himself from the investigation into Secret Service text messages, saying his failure to inform Congress for months that messages, saying they lost confidence after he failed to inform Congress for months that messages around January 6 may have been erased,” CNN reports.
July 26, 2022
Ukrainian Soldier Amputees Arrive In Minnesota For Free Prosthetics
The five Ukrainian soldiers arrived at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Saturday and were greeted by dozens of Ukrainian-Americans and others, who sang Ukraine's National Anthem.
By Ed Scarce — July 26, 2022
An inspiring story that should make any American proud. Fox News viewers and others though probably have different ideas.
Source: Fox News
🇺🇦 This is how soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces who flew in for free prosthetics were met in Minneapolis. #StandWithUkraine
https://twitter.com/i/status/1551523761148628993
Ukrainian Soldier Amputees Arrive In Minnesota For Free Prosthetics
https://crooksandliars.com/2022/07/ukrainian-soldier-amputees-arriveUkrainian Soldier Amputees Arrive In Minnesota For Free Prosthetics
The five Ukrainian soldiers arrived at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Saturday and were greeted by dozens of Ukrainian-Americans and others, who sang Ukraine's National Anthem.
By Ed Scarce — July 26, 2022
An inspiring story that should make any American proud. Fox News viewers and others though probably have different ideas.
Source: Fox News
Ukrainian soldiers who lost their limbs fighting to defend their country from Russia’s invasion over the last few months have arrived in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where they will be fitted for prosthetics.
The five Ukrainian soldiers arrived at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Saturday and were greeted by dozens of Ukrainian-Americans and others, who sang Ukraine's National Anthem.
The greeters also held up signs that read, "Welcome Heroes," with balloons reflecting Ukraine's iconic blue and yellow.
Minneapolis’ FOX 9 reports the trip was initiated by Minneapolis prosthetist Yakov Gradinar of Limb Lab, a Rochester-based prosthetics service.
We started to think how we from Minnesota could help Ukraine...instead of sitting and talking about it, we decided (we could) help," Gradinar said. "Losing a limb is like losing a close friend or family member. It's very exhausting, physically, and psychologically. In war, you are even more handicapped."
The five Ukrainian soldiers arrived at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Saturday and were greeted by dozens of Ukrainian-Americans and others, who sang Ukraine's National Anthem.
The greeters also held up signs that read, "Welcome Heroes," with balloons reflecting Ukraine's iconic blue and yellow.
Minneapolis’ FOX 9 reports the trip was initiated by Minneapolis prosthetist Yakov Gradinar of Limb Lab, a Rochester-based prosthetics service.
We started to think how we from Minnesota could help Ukraine...instead of sitting and talking about it, we decided (we could) help," Gradinar said. "Losing a limb is like losing a close friend or family member. It's very exhausting, physically, and psychologically. In war, you are even more handicapped."
🇺🇦 This is how soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces who flew in for free prosthetics were met in Minneapolis. #StandWithUkraine
https://twitter.com/i/status/1551523761148628993
It’s been a long journey for a group of Ukrainian soldiers that arrived in Minnesota this weekend. The five soldiers lost their legs while fighting for their homeland, and now they're in the process of recovering at Minneapolis’ Limb Lab. https://t.co/qbzVbgzGrg
— FOX 9 (@FOX9) July 24, 2022
— FOX 9 (@FOX9) July 24, 2022
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