The Republican Party, as an institution, has become a danger to the rule of law and the integrity of our democracy. The problem is not just Donald Trump; it’s the larger political apparatus that made a conscious decision to enable him. In a two-party system, nonpartisanship works only if both parties are consistent democratic actors. If one of them is not predictably so, the space for nonpartisans evaporates. We’re thus driven to believe that the best hope of defending the country from Trump’s Republican enablers, and of saving the Republican Party from itself, is to do as Toren Beasley did: vote mindlessly and mechanically against Republicans at every opportunity, until the party either rights itself or implodes (very preferably the former).
Of course, lots of people vote a straight ticket. Some do so because they are partisan. Others do so because of a particular policy position: Many pro-lifers, for example, will not vote for Democrats, even pro-life Democrats, because they see the Democratic Party as institutionally committed to the slaughter of babies.
We’re proposing something different. We’re suggesting that in today’s situation, people should vote a straight Democratic ticket even if they are not partisan, and despite their policy views. They should vote against Republicans in a spirit that is, if you will, prepartisan and prepolitical. Their attitude should be: The rule of law is a threshold value in American politics, and a party that endangers this value disqualifies itself, period. In other words, under certain peculiar and deeply regrettable circumstances, sophisticated, independent-minded voters need to act as if they were dumb-ass partisans.
The title of this article is "Boycott the Republican party."
And that is exactly what the article is advocating.
For very good reason in fact.
As you can see from the article below, the Republican party is now the party of Donald Trump, and therefore also the party of Vladimir Putin.
This is NOT the Red Scare of the 1950's for which Joseph McCarthy was justifiably vilified.
Unlike that case there is overwhelming evidence that we are under constant attack from a foreign entity determined to turn us against each other, and to undermine our democracy.
If the Republican party is unable to recognize that, or protect us from that, they have no right to represent us in Washington, or even in local state offices.
OT? Found this:
ReplyDeletehttp://churchandstate.org.uk/2017/05/has-evangelical-christianity-become-sociopathic/
"The evangelical Christian message is loud and clear.
They care for no ONE but themselves."
"Psychology Today listed sixteen characteristics of sociopathic behaviors, which include: Untruthfulness and insincerity, superficial charm and good intelligence, lack of remorse or shame, poor judgment and failure to learn by experience, pathologic egocentricity and incapacity for love, unresponsiveness in general interpersonal relations, specific loss of insight, and general poverty in major affective reactions
Delete(in other words, appropriate emotional responses)."
#1 i$$ue ABORTION=LABOR FORCE.
DeleteJe$u$ Bull$-HITers aka
Deletehttps://rationalwiki.org/wiki/John_Birch_Society
"The evangelical Christian message is loud and clear.
DeleteThey care for no ONE but themselves."
Well, DUH! Barry Goldwater knew that years ago. And warned against them.
money and guns. they care about that too
DeleteA small core of anti-abortion evangelicals is trying to convince the evangelicals that if they are truly pro-life they need to be pro-gun control and anti-NRA. If they're not, they're hypocrites.
DeleteI say let them fight brimstone with brimstone.
They might need to take a hard look at their positions and decide what is more important, a few fertilized cells or a 14 year old.
Shorter Trump: The Real Victim Of The Parkland Tragedy Was ME!
ReplyDelete...'Trump says it's unfortunate to have an awful "setback" like a school massacre when the economy is doing so well and Black and Hispanic unemployment are at all-time lows, which, again, they are not.'
Yes, Comrade Trump was addressing the nation’s governors about school safety following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Oops, no one must have fished his cheat sheet out of the trash, because only a sociopath can describe the slaughter of 17 kids and teachers as a setback from all of HIS great news on the economy.
https://crooksandliars.com/2018/02/shorter-trump-real-victim-parkland-tragedy
https://www.politicususa.com/2018/02/27/paul-ryan-refusing-allow-house-vote-assault-weapons-ban.html
DeleteHow terribly inconsiderate of those children and their teachers to die from their catastrophic gunshot wounds!
DeleteGeorgia Republicans Try Blackmailing Delta Airlines After It Cuts Ties To NRA
ReplyDeleteYou have to hand it to Republicans in a way. They're completely shameless and immoral, and they just don't care one whit about appearances. They're owned by the NRA more than made guys are for the Mafia. And they just don't fucking care who knows it.
https://crooksandliars.com/2018/02/georgia-republicans-try-blackmailing-delta
I think what they did absolutely deplorable. Republicans are brazen as Hell and show us on a daily basis why they should not be reelected to any office they currently hold. These southern Republicans are the worst! Plus, they are racists!
DeleteThey voted down the fuel tax relief bill for Delta.
DeleteVirginia, Washington State and New York all invited Delta to move their hub to their states.
Delta employs 31, 500 people in Georgia. If they believe a $40 million savings on taxes will benefit them in the long run, they'll move and give a big "screw you" to Georgia.
Meanwhile, Atlanta is on the short list for Amazon headquarters. Or could be.....was? Would serve Georgia right if Amazon dropped them from the short list for being right wing pricks.
I so hope this turns around to bite Carley and his ilk in the ass. With 30,000+ jobs gone *poof*, they might find themselves replaced some November.
I fucking HATE the democratic organizations and this shit. And I vote Democratic. This is just disgusting.
ReplyDeleteDCCC Advised Candidates Not To Discuss Gun Control Policy Right After Vegas Shooting
The campaign organization said Democrats should focus on offering thoughts and prayers.
...The revelation that the DCCC advised candidates to avoid “politicizing” the Las Vegas shooting occurs as the House campaign arm struggles to fend off progressive criticism of its electoral strategy, particularly through its involvement in primary elections.
Waleed Shahid is a spokesman for the left-leaning Justice Democrats, which backs a variety of candidates, including some the DCCC opposes. He called Lukaske’s email “a slap in the face to the movement” against gun violence.
“Politics is exactly how people come together to make change and hold those in power accountable,” he said.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dccc-las-vegas-massacre-email_us_5a9579f6e4b036ab0142c108
*This* is why I hate them.
Deletehttps://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dccc-laura-moser-democrat-texas_us_5a8f87a8e4b03b55731a6d6a
"Laura Moser, a U.S. House candidate from Texas’ 7th Congressional District, is one of seven Democrats running to unseat incumbent Rep. John Culberson (R). Her campaign has already garnered significant support, raising nearly $150,000 this year. But on Thursday, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee came out swinging against Moser’s bid, posting links that resemble opposition research meant to undermine her campaign, which some have called too liberal for what’s expected to be a contentious election."
"Moser, a journalist based in Houston, is the founder of Daily Action, a text-alert calling system meant to energize fellow progressives to take political action themselves. Her campaign website lists her support for a bevy of progressive causes, including single-payer health care, paid parental leave and campaign finance reform."
Meanwhile...
ReplyDeleteThe North Pole just got an extreme heat wave for the 3rd winter in a row
As snow falls in Rome, the Arctic is getting alarmingly hot in the middle of winter.
It’s been downright toasty at the North Pole, at least by Arctic standards.
The northernmost weather station in the world, Cape Morris Jesup in Greenland, saw temperatures stay above freezing for almost 24 hours straight last week, and then climb to 43 degrees Fahrenheit (6.1 degrees Celsius) on Saturday before dropping again.
But that Saturday temperature was a whopping 45 degrees Fahrenheit above what’s normal this time of year:
(image)
While there are year-to-year variations in Arctic temperatures, it’s concerning that this is the third year in a row where we’ve seen a heat wave during winter, according to Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado Boulder.
And the heat wave, along with an overall warmer winter, is having a direct impact on the Arctic sea ice that should be at its maximum extent this time of year but is instead at record lows. In January, we saw the lowest extent of Arctic sea ice for this time of year since records began in 1979.
Occasional rapid temperatures spikes are a common weather phenomenon, even in the Arctic. But scientists read the growing frequency — combined with the backdrop of rising overall temperatures — as a strong signal that the climate is changing at a stunningly rapid pace, even faster than they predicted just a few years ago.
https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/2/27/17053284/arctic-heat-wave-north-pole-climate
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/02/big-corn-says-no-deal-white-house-biofuels-meeting/
Delete"The meeting included Republican Senators Ted Cruz of Texas, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, along with Grassley and Joni Ernst of Iowa. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, and Energy Secretary Rick Perry were also due to attend, according to sources briefed on the meeting.
The White House had confirmed the meeting, but did not immediately comment after it concluded. Representatives for the other senators and the agencies also did not immediately comment."
FB>"Cynicism is a destructive force. It is one that seems to increase with age. And that is why the young have often been, throughout history, the harbingers of change. They are able to cast aside the repressive chains of the status quo, to see injustices from a new vantage point. They demand answers to questions that their elders forgot needed to be asked.
ReplyDeleteIt has been a long trope for those later in life to bemoan the qualities of the young. I heard it in the 1960s, during an era of unrest. The young protesters for civil rights and against Vietnam were dismissed as naive, idealistic, and unrealistic. Today we hear how the young are selfish, unable to think beyond their own needs, and addicted to their status on social media. (Never mind that it was many of their elders who used social media as unwitting tools of Russian influence in the last election). But in my travels, I come across a lot of young people. And I sense an energy and seriousness to deal with big problems that will only grow as they grow older - climate change being a prominent example. They understand the injustices on race, sexual identity, and gender. In an age of #MeToo, they will not stay quiet for what was once acceptable. And in an Age of Trump, they will fight for the expansive view of democracy their parents told them was the American destiny.
I am not surprised that it is the young who are leading the campaign for an honest gun debate in the wake of the Florida massacre. "Wow, they're so well spoken and poised," has been the incredulous response from some. Not me. I see it all the time. There is a lurking belief among the young that the American Dream will not be in their reach, that the cynical forces of power have rigged a system against them. But they are doing what young people have always done, they are demanding that we all recognize "We can do better." They are not going allow this to pass without their voices being heard, in the streets, through civic and community engagement, and at the ballot box."~VOTE~
Dan the Man Rather
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/02/judge-halts-california-plan-require-glyphosate-cancer-warnings/
ReplyDeleteFUCK Don no longer young!
ReplyDeletehttps://thinkprogress.org/don-young-holocaust-gun-control-623b787a6ea1/
FUCK!
"“How many millions of people were shot and killed because they were unarmed? Fifty million in Russia, because their citizens weren’t armed,” Young said.
“How many Jews were put into the ovens because they were unarmed?”"
FUCK!
I read the article, and my biggest criticism is that the seems to be against people voting straight-ticket Republican. And suggests we boycott by voting straight-ticket Democrat.
ReplyDeleteEver since I started voting I’ve always picked many more Democrats than Republicans because I agree overall with the Dem’s positions far more than the Republican’s.
I think it’s more important to be as informed as possible with each candidate than to vote straight ticket anything. If you can’t or don’t want to inform yourself and chose one party each time, every time, you’re contributing to partisan politics.
A lot of the problems I feel like we have today ARE due to politics being so much more partisan than they used to be. I can’t suggest voting strictly on partisan lines to anyone. I wish we had more viable candidates than just a Democrat and a Republican pretty much every election.
I do believe that a lot of Republicans’ problems today are due to blindly following a moron even he has terrible ideas. If they would stop being slaves to their party and instead stand up for what they believe in, like the few who voted against repealing the ACA, I think we may be able to effectively neuter Trump.
Country over party. Always. We can’t hate each other because our beliefs are different. We can get more done and solve more problems if we work together. We are all fellow Americans. I’d rather be an example of the change I’d like to see and stand up for what I believe in instead of being the most loyal liberal. And I do consider myself a liberal who occasionally disagrees with other liberals.
The problems with Republicans began a long time before Trump. Think the GOP opposition to any and all New Deal legislation; their opposition to Social Security since its inception; their opposition to the GI Bill after WW!!. And then there was Nixon. Need anyone say more.
DeleteBeaglemom
Nearly 40 years ago, when I first became eligible to vote, I occasionally cast a ballot for a Republican because they were clearly the better candidate. Back then, I may not have agreed with all of the policies of the GOP, but I was confident that many of the Republican politicians were there to honestly and faithfully serve their constituents.
DeleteHowever, in the decades since, the Republican party sold their integrity, their loyalty, and their souls to the highest bidder. They completely abandoned the vast majority of the people they were elected to represent and began to systematically dismantle the very programs and legislation that had long benefited the American people. Any policies that helped the less fortunate, preserved the environment, or protected the health and safety of the people was targeted for destruction, especially if it impacted the profit-making of big business in any way. Any opportunity to plunder the funds allocated for the 99% in order to add to the wealth of the 1% was pursued.
The party has been completely corrupted by voracious greed and an insatiable need for absolute power. They have often declared publicly that any small amount of compromise with the other side is considered abject failure. They proudly serve their corporate masters, lying to and betraying their constituents without remorse.
I'm sure there are some Republican politicians who still have a small remnant of integrity and desire to serve their voters left, but their willingness to blindly and silently follow and support the malignant policies of their party should condemn them all to losses at the voting booth.
Don't blindly vote for a candidate just because there's a "D" after their name on the ballot. There has been more than once that a so-called Democrat has been elected and then switched to their true allegiance of Republicans. Read all you can find about the candidates.
ReplyDeleteOT: eXXXciting! RiiiggghhttT!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.rawstory.com/2018/02/watch-ivanka-trump-claims-dad-sparked-exciting-conversation-domestic-abuse-new-interview/
That is how I vote anyway! Most Republicans tick me off and I don't trust them as far as I can throw them - individually and as a party!
ReplyDeleteTrump is the worst (along w/Pence, Ryan and McConnell) and it will not be difficult at all to vote against them in the 2018 and 2020 elections.
My reason for voting a straight Democratic ticket is simple. I've never encountered a Republican candidate whom I felt I could 1) believe or 2) trust.
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom
Lol. Now you are promoting 'democracy' by urging total non-democracy? Hahaahahaha!
ReplyDeleteTrump is going to serve a second term and YOU are going to put him there with your unfounded laughable drama.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/02/the-guy-trump-just-named-to-run-his-2020-campaign-has-been-interviewed-by-congress-on-russia/
DeleteRead this tOO!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/roger-stones-secret-messages-with-wikileaks/554432/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/we-got-bannoned-house-intel-dem-says-of-hope-hicks-testimony/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7e&linkId=48598254
ReplyDeleteBANNONed!
"Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday announced that the Justice Department’s inspector general will investigate the circumstances that led to a former Trump campaign aide’s surveillance.
ReplyDeleteThe Wall Street Journal reported that Sessions made the remarks about the investigation at a press conference when answering a question about a GOP memo that alleged abuses in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court warrants obtained to surveil one-time Trump adviser Carter Page.
The memo, commissioned by House Intelligence Committee Chairman and known Trump ally Devin Nunes, alleged the DOJ and FBI abused their surveillance powers when obtaining FISA warrants for Page, further speculating that an anti-Trump dossier from 2016 was the main reason for obtaining the warrants. The bureau, however, first obtained FISA warrants to surveil Page in 2014, when they suspected he had been compromised by Kremlin operatives.
“We believe the Department of Justice must adhere to the highest standards in the FISA court, and yes it will be investigated, and I think that’s just the appropriate thing,” Sessions said. “The inspector general will take that as one of the matters he’ll deal with.”"<kkkebler
Coming March 2nd...Trialer...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/weinstein/
"How the Hollywood mogul allegedly sexually harassed and abused dozens of women over four decades. With allegations going back to Weinstein’s early years, the film investigates the elaborate ways he and those around him tried to silence his accusers.
Coming to FRONTLINE Friday, March 2, 2018."
The republicans in Mi are trying to change the state constitution that would only allow straight ticket voting.
ReplyDeleteIf the republicans are for it, we know there is some devious reason behind it.
SCIENCE FYI>
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/28/cosmic-dawn-astronomers-detect-signals-from-first-stars-in-the-universe