Quotes That Will Make You Shake Your Head

Today I've selected quotes from various news stories to give you a sense of what people are saying about the hottest subjects circulating the country.

Let's start:

"If there's one lasting legacy of Donald Trump it's that there are no longer any sacred cows on the American right. 

They have given themselves permission to literally say anything in the moment with regard to principal or ideology while at the same time wringing their hands over the supposed destruction of American culture by "wokeness" and political correctness.

 They no longer have any commitment to making sense and I'm not sure that anyone knows exactly how to combat such surreal intellectual anarchy." (Read article here)

By Heather Digby Parton - 6/25/21

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"There's no doubt in my mind that the 2020 election was "stolen. The truth will continue to come out. Something is going to happen. I don't think we're going to have to wait until the end of summer.

I think it's going to happen here fairly soon...they must create noise prior to the Arizona audit starting to really bubble out. They are going to have to do something."

(Read article here)

By Michael Flynn - 6/25/21

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"There's almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president.

I will always be proud that we did our part on that tragic day to reconvene the Congress and fulfill our duty under the Constitution and the laws of the United States."

(Read article here)

By Mike Pence 6/25/21

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"The large number of Republicans who believe this conspiracy theory is a glaring warning on the persistent acceptance of the stolen election narrative.

They believe him when he abjectly lies. It is a glaring warning that the Big Lie has created fertile ground for all sorts of insane conspiracies'."

(Read article here)

By Chuck Schumer - 6/25/21

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"The important aspect of this visit is leading this visit after the work we did in Guatemala and Mexico. It's not a new plan. But the reality of it is that we have to deal with causes, and we have to deal with effects."

(Read article here)

VP Kamala Harris - 6/25/21

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"It's a delicate dance between providing public access and protecting the public as well as the resource (decision to seal off the forest).

But public safety overrides access."

(Read article here)

Brady Smith - 6/25/21

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On Republicans passing a bill enacting stricter voting rules.

"It's all based on the former president saying, 'Well, I'm going to be back in August,' and everyone anticipating it like a second coming. 

I am no prophet, but I can tell you one thing: The orange rapture is not happening."

(Read article here)

By Arizona State Rep., Lorenzo Sierra 6/25/21

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That's all for today folks. Enjoy your weekend!

Texas AG Faces State Securities Fraud and FBI Bribery Investigation Yet Continues To File Lawsuits Against Democrats

You have to hand it to Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton. 

He's waging war against reality and Texas residents still like him.

Despite facing a securities fraud lawsuit and an FBI investigation into claims he used his office for bribery, Paxton keeps filing lawsuits against democrats and Joe Biden.

Most of his baseless charges (with the exception of one challenge to an executive order) haven't won in court yet. That hasn't deterred the hypocrite however.

Let's look at Paxton's track record thus far in his Don Quixote-like quest to paint an alternate reality for Texas, and America.

-- Paxton joined with Gov. Abbott to sue the Obama administration at least 48 times.

-- Paxton tried (and failed) to sue six battleground states for unconstitutional changes to the 2020 election laws. The case was tossed by the Supreme Court.

-- For nearly six years Paxton's been under indictment on three felony state fraud charges, and he's also under investigation by the FBI for allegedly accepting bribes from a real estate developer.

-- The State Bar of Texas originally dismissed a complaint that Paxton had committed professional misconduct by petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn President Biden's victory in four states.

But the Board of Disciplinary Appeals, a tribunal of 12 independent lawyers appointed by the Texas Supreme Court, overturned that decision last month.

The tribunal is investigating whether Paxton's lawsuit to overturn Biden's electoral win was frivolous, unethical, and filed in bad faith.

If the proceedings determines Paxton is guilty there will be a disciplinary process that could result in disbarment and suspension.

Despite Paxton's track record in losing lawsuits, he continues to for one big reason; many Texas Republicans are still drinking Trump Aide, and don't believe in any of the charges filed against him. 

Instead of losing voters for a career reeking of hypocrisy and lies, Paxton gains their support with every outrageous stunt he pulls.

It's a situation the whole country is facing as the Party of Trump attempts to claw it's way back into power.

American Myths Exposed: The Struggle To Create A Utopia Continues

When our forefathers gathered in Independence Hall and launched the great experiment - freedom for all - and codified it with the Constitution, the United States of America was born.

For generations we were taught in school that our country's founders were just short of saints. 

Like millions of other kids I bought the myth of George Washington fessing up to chopping down a cherry tree and saying "I cannot tell a lie."

But myths have a way of being exposed when we look back at history with a critical eye.

We can discover facts about our heroes and near saints, that have been silenced by a cabal of educators who don't want to admit past wrongs in American history.  

George Washington and Thomas Jefferson have been immortalized as fathers of this country despite the fact they were also hypocrites. Both had slaves. Freedom for all didn't include blacks in their minds.

School districts have traditionally guarded our founders and other so-called heroes by polishing their images in state-approved publications with narrow narratives.

All of which leads me to the current hot topic in America - the Critical Race Theory which has been embraced by civil rights activists throughout academia.

Conservatives are losing their shit about this shift to reality-based history. Especially Trump acolytes who avoid reality with a passion. 

They also see the subject as something worth attacking and further dividing people with. Expect to see the GOP use the Critical Race Theory in their midterm campaigns and beyond.

Perhaps one of the harder myths to debunk is that we are a United Nation, and America is a Utopia for oppressed people of the world.

It's difficult to admit that we're not. Being real is never easy.

However, I will always pick America over any other nation on this planet.

I've served in the Army, and saw combat in Vietnam. My ancestors who came to Middleton, Connecticut in1639 to escape an oppressive English King, fought for freedom in the Revolutionary Army under George Washington.

I believe our forefathers had the best intentions and that America is still the best messenger for freedom and human rights in the world today.

What I see happening now is the debunking of American myths. It was inevitable. We cannot move forward with a fantasy tale history where truth is buried in unmarked graves. 

Seeing the country so divided between conspiracy theorists and sane people is shocking and sad. 

But time marches on. The quest for Utopia will also continue as long as there are dreamers in this world willing to fight for equality and freedom.

How The Crazies Found Their Voice in America

I miss the good old days when the crazies in our society wore tinfoil hats and communicated with aliens from another galaxy.

Whenever they surfaced from their basements and hidey holes in the past, the crazies were treated with kid gloves and patted on the head. They were considered harmless kooks who didn't threaten anyone.

If they did threaten, or even harm someone, they were locked up in criminal mental institutions and given drugs to be docile until death. Never to be a threat again to humanity.

Fast forward to now.

The crazies found their voice with Trump. Who knew that there were millions of crazies in the country?

Part of me is in denial that this many crazies have infected every aspect of American life and are now seriously threatening our democracy.

Can't just blame Trump however. 

All the crazies were waiting and just needed a national leader to unify the cults (QAnon, etc.), the militias, the Christian Nationalists, the White Supremacist's, the Neo Nazis, and anarchists, and Trump was the Chosen One.

And why not? Trump could get away with openly lying and altering reality to address every fear that the country's crazies have been nursing for years.

No more laughing at the tin hat crowd.

They're busy suppressing voter's rights on a national scale and claiming the Jan. 6th insurrection was no more than some rowdy tourists overrunning the Capitol to "defend" democracy.

In retrospect I should have seen this coming when Trump went after Obama with the bullshit claim he wasn't born in America, and therefore couldn't be the president of the United States.

It was this early recruitment of the crazies that set the stage for the assault on democracy that we're witnessing today.

There's only one way to fight back. Stop the crazies from turning America into an autocracy by protecting our electoral system and voting them out of political offices.

How To Achieve Mass Appeal Without Telling The Truth

Americans are jaded.

Over the last couple of decades game shows have radically evolved to compete for an audience on TV.

Each new show had to push the crazy envelope a little more to keep audiences coming back.

The Price Is Right has been replaced by Naked and Afraid.

Traditional news has morphed into free-for-all partisan political propaganda war where the Left jousts with the Right nightly.

When Americans get bored bad things can happen. 

That's what happened when social media latched onto our addiction-prone brains. 

A portal opened up for every conspiracy in the world to the delight of trolls and people looking for action. Good. Bad. Or indifferent.

Reality could be challenged. Truth smothered in millions of lies spewing from characters that live in alternate universes like QAnon.

When Trump came to power he embodied all that was wrong with people. 

That didn't matter.

Suddenly politics had been elevated to not just high entertainment, but also a blood sport.

To achieve mass appeal Trump attracted attention by defying the world around him and saying things no American president had ever uttered before.

He was such a novelty and his way of telling lies were more novel than the truth. Who cared about the truth? It was boring.

People's favorite reality star turned POTUS captured the Republican Party and reduced it to a clown show following the ringmaster's demented orders.

In many cases the more extreme the lie, the more arousing it can be. It. Becomes. Sexy.

Media outlets like Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, encourages the crazies into getting in a social-validation feedback loop that is fertile soil for conspiracies.

Like the ancient Romans, millions of Americans want to see life-and-death extremes in society where the victor takes all.

Stuck In An Age of Heroes and Hypocrites Vying For The Nation's Soul

Far from an Age of Enlightenment: The Age of Reason, 21st century America is showing cracks in the foundation of our democratic society.

Unbelievable as it may sound, people are increasingly questioning reality. Politicians are telling the masses not to believe what they see or hear, unless it comes from Trump.

The nation is so polarized that lies become people's truths in a bizarre twist of partisanship gone batshit crazy.

Trump and his minions tried to steal the election last year and failed. But that didn't stop them from denying the reality of Biden's legitimacy.

The Republican Party/aka the Party of Trump, has chosen one man to be leader for life. By resurrecting Trump's putrid presidency his followers believe they're saving America from a long list of enemies ranging from Communists to liberals.

I've watched heroes - like Republican lawmakers in Georgia stand up to Trump and his acolytes as they tried to disenfranchise the state's voters with blatant lies.

I've watched a slew of hypocrites in both political parties, as lawmakers seek to stay in office by whatever means becomes available.

It's particularly irksome to watch lawmakers like Sen. Lindsey Graham flat-out lie (with videos available proving he lied), and he still gets a pass from the right-wingers that have infected the GOP.

If anything, Graham was just polishing his conspiracy disinformation creds to stay in good standing with the cult of Trump.

This is the first time in my 70-years that I'm this concerned about the demise of democracy and being forced to live in an authoritarian state.

The thought is inconceivable. But not impossible. Millions of Americans are attacking our electoral system and living in a state of denial who their president really is.

That's a breeding ground for another civil war that can only end in a loss for all Americans and our republic. 

The number one threat to America is domestic terrorists (particularly White Supremacists), and our former president who doesn't believe in reality, choosing instead to further false narratives to stay in power.

As a military veteran who fought for this country, my disappointment in the current challenge the nation faces, is vast and without precedent. 

My fervent wish before I die is for my children, grandchildren, and future generations to spend their lives free in a democracy.

Looking For Excellent Opinion Articles? Here's 2 Powerful Ones For Your Consideration

(Today I have two Op Ed articles so impressive I'm giving up my usual space to share them.)

The first piece was written by Lucian K. Truscott IV, and was published on June 19th, 2021 in Salon.

Donald Trump and the new Lost Cause

Lies are a denomination of power. The bigger the lie, the more power it represents. Right now in this country, we are being treated daily to the Big Lie that Donald Trump was the true winner of the presidential election of 2020, and the only reason he's not in the White House right now is because the election was stolen from him.

You may have noticed that the people pushing the Big Lie today are very good at it.

This is because many of them have been pushing an even bigger Big Lie for most of their lives: the lie of the Lost Cause, that the Civil War wasn't really fought over the disgraceful secession of the Southern states and slavery, it was instead a noble cause fought for the "honor" of the South, and that slavery itself wasn't bad or immoral, because enslaved people were happy workers living much better lives than they would have lived where they came from in Africa.

The Lost Cause was — or still is, because it lives today across a broad swath of America — the foundational ethos of racism and was used to perpetuate the racial crimes of the Jim Crow era, when Black Americans in the South were stripped of the right to vote and segregated from whites and subjected to the pernicious political and social discriminatory practices of white supremacy. (Read the rest here)

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This second Op Ed was written by Jack Shafer, Politico's senior media writer.

The Simple Remedy for Jan. 6 Trutherism

Just because Arizona Republican Rep. Paul Gosar voted against establishing a commission to investigate the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol doesn’t mean he’s not ready to use the power of his office to stage an inquiry into the topic by other means. 

This week, Gosar, a Donald Trump ally, all but donned a Sherlockian deerstalker hat and wrapped himself in a houndstooth cape in his pursuit of Jan. 6 truth as he cross-examined FBI Director Christopher Wray during a House Oversight Committee hearing.

Gosar claimed that protester Ashli Babbitt had been “executed” by a policeman who had been “lying in wait” for her and demanded to know why her killer had not been named. Did Wray know Babbitt was unarmed? Would Wray approve the release of all surveillance recordings from the Capitol? 

The release of all surveillance recordings of the suspected pipe bomber, not just clips? Wray backpedaled—the Babbitt killing wasn’t his case, nor did he control the Capitol tapes, and as for the pipe bomber, he offered that release only a clip was consistent with protecting the integrity of the investigation. 

But Gosar wasn’t really looking for answers as much as he was attempting to portray a governmental cover-up of Jan. 6. (Read the rest here)

I'll be back Monday with my usual posts. Enjoy and be safe.

Guest Post: Journalist Exposes GOP Underhanded Tactics To Push Unpopular Policies

From Business Insider - June 18th, 2021

By Eoin Higgins

The GOP is winning more battles than a minority party with an unpopular platform should. 

But they aren't paying as high of a political price because Republican lawmakers around the country are hiding their unpopular agenda behind confusing technicalities and baffling legalese.

Republicans are using obfuscation tactics to lead Americans to believe that laws are in place when they actually aren't, that gridlock in Washington is an unshakable truth rather than a parliamentary strategy, and that voting in the country is far harder than it is.

Republicans pass laws they know will never stand up in court, because the message of its passage is likely to change behavior even if the law ultimately falls. 

These officials pontificate self-importantly about the necessity of keeping parliamentary tradition and rules in place, and then turn around and break them whenever it's convenient. 

The GOP deploys whatever means are necessary to bend and even outright break the political rules of engagement.

READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE

Editor's Note: I seldom run opinion pieces by others, but this one was so outstanding I had to share.

A Gaggle Of Morons In The News

Morons in the wrong places is just a fact of life. 

Lawyers, and politicians are two professions that are overrun by gaggles of morons.

Let's look at some examples:

Ted Cruz posted a video of himself pledging allegiance to a flag on Flag Day suggesting there's been attacks by unseen forces trying to do away with it.

There hasn't of course. Instead of worrying about the power grid crisis in Texas, Teddy is trying to stir up controversy out of whole cloth.

It reminded me of when he decided to go to Cancun for a vacation while his constituents froze their asses off!

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Found out today that moron Mark Meadows, Trump's chief of staff, tried to get the DOJ to look into at least one conspiracy theory later dubbed Italygate after the 2020 election was over.

To briefly summarize; the theory held that people connected to the Italian defense firm Leonardo used satellites to change the vote counts in the 2020 election from Trump to Biden.

Just to be sure both Reuters and USA Today fact-checked the conspiracy theory around the time Meadows emailed it to the DOJ.

To no one's surprise it was a baseless claim.

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Back to the Lone Star state we have Gov. Greg Abbott a moron for all seasons.

He's spending tax-payers money - $250 million - to start funding a wall at the state's border with Mexico.

Once again a moron is putting politics above reality with tax-payer money that should go towards shoring up the fragile power grid.

Right now sweaty Texans are being told to pull their bootstraps up and don't use their electric power for anything if they can help it.

Sad.

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A Florida town with morons in charge passed an anti-homeless law that prohibits lying down in parks. A homeless man called the police on a family having a picnic. The family was escorted away.

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I hope you found these tidbits amusing. I could have gone on forever, but all good things must come to an end.

The Crazies Are Ready To Snap: Feds Warn QAnon Followers May Resort To Violence

QAnon adherents are growing impatient.

When their so-called "Storm" - also known as the Jan.6 insurrection attempt-  didn't turn out some followers left the fold in frustration.

The supposed reckoning of Trump's enemies, where they'd be tried and executed, simply didn't happen. In reality, there was never a chance that it would happen.

But when you have a cult like QAnon with followers who believe they are out to expose a cabal of Satan-worshipping cannibals operating a child sex trafficking ring, it's hard to reason with them.

The wackaloons are waging a war against the so-called "deep state" and doing their best to prop up "The Big Lie."

A new federal intelligence report released yesterday warns that QAnon nuts could target Democrats and other political opponents for more violence as the movement's false prophecies don't come true.

The report predicts that while some QAnon adherents will pull back, others "will likely begin to believe they can no longer 'trust the plan' referenced in QAnon posts."

When that happens and followers feel they have an obligation to change from serving as "digital soldiers" towards engaging in real world violence, it could become real ugly.

The report summarizes factors that will contribute to QAnon's long-term durability:

-"The COVID-19 pandemic,

-Social media companies allowing posts about conspiracy theories,

-Societal polarization in the country,

-and the frequency and content of pro-QAnon statements by public individuals who feature prominently in core QAnon narratives."

The next false narrative by "Q," is that Trump will become president again in August. There's a lot of jacked-up followers who are counting on that to happen.

When it doesn't happen because it's impossible, a lot of those disappointed loons may lash out violently. 

We know they're capable of it because twenty "Q" morons were arrested and charged in the Jan. 6 coup attempt.

Hopefully federal authorities will be ready this time.

Republican Lawmakers Forsake Constituents In Bid To Hold On To Power

The already severely damaged Republican Party has decided to "cross the Rubicon" and ignore the will of the majority of their own voters.

States with GOP legislative majorities are busy creating laws to keep themselves in power without regard to their constituents.

To illustrate this point Trump puppet Rand Paul claims that democracy "goes against our history." A dubious assertion to put it mildly.

What's happening is GOP lawmakers are increasingly feeling frustrated by voters' expressed will.

So now the new strategy is to argue that the will of the voters was never what America was about (!).

A prime example is Missouri state Rep. Justin Hill who was part of a legislative majority to oppose expanding Medicare in the state.

Despite the fact, last year voters in the state approved an expansion of Medicaid eligibility by a 6-point margin, with 82,000 more votes in support of the measure, Hill and his fellow cronies quashed it by not funding it.

Hill also introduced a measure in the legislature to challenge the results of the presidential election - not in Missouri but in six states that were the focus of the Trump campaign.

How corrupt is Hill? Consider that he missed his own swearing-in in January because it fell on the 6th - and he was at the Capitol urging rioters to attack.

The GOP's new emphasis on winning isn't simply about trying to work the refs or bending the rules to suit political ends. 

It's about changing the rules at the outset in order to make a rejection of the popular will something that's part of the legalized process.

We're seeing that now in other states that are working on restricting people's rights to vote.

To sum up this new assault against voting rights, Hill spoke for the Republican degenerates when he claimed, "Even though my constituents voted for this lie, I'm going to protect them," he told reporters. "I am proud to stand against the will of the people."

Enough said.