We had all better hope the Big Lie tactics of the fascist movement in this country fail to prevent a blue November. Because there will be no “fascist reign” in this country if the millions who are wrongfully disenfranchised start feeling the jackboots of the MAGAts in concrete terms. Instead, our country will dissolve into an ungovernable cauldron of civil unrest, with neighbor poisoned against neighbor and guns everywhere. I honestly believe a victory for the MAGAts in November will be the end of this country. It really is that stark.
I still think FT 6 is under the radar and can generate a blue tsunami. Tempus fugit but millions of unrepresented folk trend Democratic. Last March we added 11,000 new Democrats in N. Carolina in one day. https://www.fieldteam6.org/
Allan is an interesting guy, very smart, whom I only knew as the debate coach at Brandeis when I was debating for UCLA. He hosted a great tournament there for some years to which I took a team I coached a couple of times, from St. Anselm’s in Manchester, N.H. While I was at Harvard Law. I only hope he is right this time.
The MAGAts like to think that a civil war would consist of them holding the rest of the country hostage and non-MAGAts rolling over. It would be no walk in the park for either side.
Colbert showed the portion of the Lex Fridman podcast in which Trump admits his Big Lie 1.0 wasn't the truth. Trump admits he lost but said it was "by a whisper." Like most liars, he can't stick to the same story forever.
In the upcoming debate Harris needs to ask the panel how many lies Trump spouted. If they say, they do not know Harris berates the panel for being not informed and ask how she can possibly counter lies when the panel does not know what the obvious lies are because they refuse to fact check as it is known they are capable of doing. This puts the panel as being for lies in the debate giving liars an unfair advantage. Harris can simply ask for the number of lies and what the top 3 are so she can reasonably respond and still have some time for the Dem party response to the panel's question. Making the debate panel responsible for a fair playing field and accountable. This forces the debate panel to acknowledge statements as being factual or not and require the event to be an even play field. Best of all it makes who is lying accountable because the strategy of multiple lies is impossible to counter without accountability because the time required to respond is not practical. The Dems need to put the media on guard for not being fair in their treatment and accountable for spreading lies. This includes lies about voter fraud.
“We all know, intuitively, that a lot of illegals are voting in federal elections,” but in the same sentence he says that he doesn't have any proof of that. The man is either an idiot or a liar, or both. By the same logic we all know intuitively that the sun goes around the earth.
How does one person so consistently help us recall significant facts and events from history and so ably relate them to the present and foresee the future? It is something to behold and someone to appreciate and trust for information and guidance. Would it make a difference if those who read and hear here were to barrage the various media with demands that they start acknowledging the mendacity and culpability of these Republicans and their devious campaign of lies? I believe the media all have websites with audience input platforms. Maybe we could all send messages and comments with the facts on a regular basis, daily even, until they listen and correct the record.
The Republicans are playing with fire..... If they shut down the government, the Democrats will hang the shutdown on them, since they control the House which appropriates the funds to run the joint. In the past, that has led to Republican losses in Congress. The apparent momentum is already with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz - do the Republicans really want to increase that.....?
Close the Supreme Court. Enforce the Voting Rights Act...by force if necessary. Otherwise it's all just noise. Trump and the Republicans will take the white house and Congress to finish off what little is left of our democratic institutions. The man said "Vote for me and you'll never have to vote again."
So in a round about way my little story shows just how unusual the need for proof of citizenship is:
Recently, I set up a trust for all my "vast" holdings!!! (😉) I was asked to bring ID with me as well as other documents. So, I brought a copy of my birth certificate along just in case. When I gave it to the trust attorney she said she didn't need a birth certificate but said it was so interesting to see one!
So, if I don't need a birth certificate to set up a trust for 'all that wealth' (😉) I'm not sure why it would be necessary to require all that to vote other than to make it so cumbersome that people just don't bother.
You don't need proof of anything to tote around a long gun in some states so why do you need to have proof of citizenship to vote.
Yes, I know, I'm stretching my examples but I think I should be allowed some convoluted 'logic'
to "prove" my point. I mean, is it any more circuitous than theirs?
If they can believe that Dems are pedophiles that drink babies blood, oh, yeah we must be draining all the blood from those babies that we murder after they're born, another great talking point; and if they can believe that kids go to school & are given sex change operations, then I can think that my examples I stated above are valid.
See what I did there? I did a trump "weave". I made several ridiculous statements & weaved it all together. I must be a great orator! I need to run this post past my friend who is a retired English teacher! I need to say that a really smart English professor gave it her thumbs up!!! And that I'm a genius!!!😉
Would it be so terrible if undocumented people were allowed to vote after establishing residence for, say, one year? By that time, they are as involved in the community as any citizen; they should be able to vote locally. Truthfully, their status is only a paperwork problem, one that we create for them in order to justify our bigotry. We demand a standard of them that those born here are not held to.
We can’t expect the corporate media to help us here, or anywhere else.
The corporate media are self interested entertainment businesses, operating within America’s vulture capitalism. Their product is the eyes and ears of the masses, which they agitate and attract by dangling shiny objects, then sell to their corporate customers as advertisement exposure. Social responsibility and rational debate grounded in empirical reality are countervailing to the business model of corporate media. Trump is the curiosity no one can resist and they lean heavily into Trump’s nonsense.
I watched Kristen Welker try to fact check Senator Tom Cotton recently on "Meet the Press", and he used the technique there. Just repeat the outrageous forcefully and expect the person to back down. To her credit she did not. He lied saying there was an Israeli arms embargo. He also denied that Trump is welching on his position on abortion.
Undermining the confidence in our elections is straight out of Putin and other foreign actors' playbooks. Cui bono---who benefits? Harris/Walz can explain that in an ad. The media should be asking that question over and over.
Thanks for the heads-up, Thom. Roy Cohn gave Trump another game plan---declare victory and go home. We are going to have to shout "SORE LOSERS!" as they walk out, but be ready to explain what they are doing.
Gish gallop takes its name from the creationist Duane Gish, who frequently challenged biologists to debates about evolution. His tactic consisted of talking fast and with confidence, bombarding opponents with falsehoods, non-sequiturs and enough cherry-picked factoids to confuse the audience. Scientists debating him faced the challenge of sifting half-truths from outright lies and finding the right evidence to refute them systematically, all within the few minutes allowed in response. Which effectively meant that when the bell went off, the Gish gallop left the scientist “stumped” and Gish declaring victory for creationism. Such a spectacle leaves the audience less informed than they were before the debate, all at the hands of a debater whose only goal is to discredit their opponent and “win” the debate.
trumpified Americans don’t care about truth, honor, or dignity. The golden escalator brought The Apprentice to a large swath of the voting public and the misfit generations of Confederate lands. He had them mesmerized after the years of weekly broadcasts where “You’re fired!” provided them near-orgasmic fulfillment.
Their pastors and priests organized sermons around the need to elect a broken man who had been sent by god himself to save them. The Apprentice would become the new face of Republican politics, Republican apparel, and Republican hatred for those who thought differently of him in any way.
The lies grew and became truth for trumpified Americans - and apparently corporate media. The lies spawned QAnon and subversive militias. Profits grew rapidly for social media companies and influencers. And now it seems they’re all comfortable with what they’ve become, democracy be damned.
Thank you Earl. I'd actually have some "voting restrictions" that would probably curl your toes in anger and disgust; things that just seem to make general sense to me . . . but I do think you're right about what you've written here.
"After all, what kind of idiot is stupid enough to risk going to prison to cast one vote out of millions? What possible payoff is there to that?"
This is the crux of the absurd (to thinking people) lie being told.
The only perps found guilty of voter fraud to date, AFIK, have been Republicans.
We had all better hope the Big Lie tactics of the fascist movement in this country fail to prevent a blue November. Because there will be no “fascist reign” in this country if the millions who are wrongfully disenfranchised start feeling the jackboots of the MAGAts in concrete terms. Instead, our country will dissolve into an ungovernable cauldron of civil unrest, with neighbor poisoned against neighbor and guns everywhere. I honestly believe a victory for the MAGAts in November will be the end of this country. It really is that stark.
I still think FT 6 is under the radar and can generate a blue tsunami. Tempus fugit but millions of unrepresented folk trend Democratic. Last March we added 11,000 new Democrats in N. Carolina in one day. https://www.fieldteam6.org/
https://www.fieldteam6.org/fund-the-mission
This afternoon phone banks to Florida, at 2 pm edt and Pennsylvania @ 4 pm. https://www.mobilize.us/ft6/event/581992/
FT6 also offers free texts into many areas. https://www.fieldteam6.org/free-byop-textbanks will be open.
On Saturday the textbanks, featuring mass texts to swing states https://www.fieldteam6.org/free-byop-textbanks
BTW, although he is oblivious to data analysis, Allan Lichtman predicted Harris will win! .
We can make him accurate.
Allan is an interesting guy, very smart, whom I only knew as the debate coach at Brandeis when I was debating for UCLA. He hosted a great tournament there for some years to which I took a team I coached a couple of times, from St. Anselm’s in Manchester, N.H. While I was at Harvard Law. I only hope he is right this time.
The MAGAts like to think that a civil war would consist of them holding the rest of the country hostage and non-MAGAts rolling over. It would be no walk in the park for either side.
Colbert showed the portion of the Lex Fridman podcast in which Trump admits his Big Lie 1.0 wasn't the truth. Trump admits he lost but said it was "by a whisper." Like most liars, he can't stick to the same story forever.
Saw that too Gloria, but I think he said the word "whisker".
That clip should be in a Democratic ad immediately. Thanks for bringing this to everyone's attention!
You're right. My phone changed words sometimes. It would be a good ad.
I saw a clip of that also!
In the upcoming debate Harris needs to ask the panel how many lies Trump spouted. If they say, they do not know Harris berates the panel for being not informed and ask how she can possibly counter lies when the panel does not know what the obvious lies are because they refuse to fact check as it is known they are capable of doing. This puts the panel as being for lies in the debate giving liars an unfair advantage. Harris can simply ask for the number of lies and what the top 3 are so she can reasonably respond and still have some time for the Dem party response to the panel's question. Making the debate panel responsible for a fair playing field and accountable. This forces the debate panel to acknowledge statements as being factual or not and require the event to be an even play field. Best of all it makes who is lying accountable because the strategy of multiple lies is impossible to counter without accountability because the time required to respond is not practical. The Dems need to put the media on guard for not being fair in their treatment and accountable for spreading lies. This includes lies about voter fraud.
“We all know, intuitively, that a lot of illegals are voting in federal elections,” but in the same sentence he says that he doesn't have any proof of that. The man is either an idiot or a liar, or both. By the same logic we all know intuitively that the sun goes around the earth.
Oxford Languages says "intuitive" means "based on what one feels to be true even without conscious reasoning."
I don't know who Johnson means by "We all," but as for me and my house, we all use conscience reasoning.
A liar can also be nutsy koo koo.
How does one person so consistently help us recall significant facts and events from history and so ably relate them to the present and foresee the future? It is something to behold and someone to appreciate and trust for information and guidance. Would it make a difference if those who read and hear here were to barrage the various media with demands that they start acknowledging the mendacity and culpability of these Republicans and their devious campaign of lies? I believe the media all have websites with audience input platforms. Maybe we could all send messages and comments with the facts on a regular basis, daily even, until they listen and correct the record.
The Republicans are playing with fire..... If they shut down the government, the Democrats will hang the shutdown on them, since they control the House which appropriates the funds to run the joint. In the past, that has led to Republican losses in Congress. The apparent momentum is already with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz - do the Republicans really want to increase that.....?
It doesn't help the GOP that they threatened this same ploy so many times since 2022.
It wasn't the Dems those times and it won't be the Dems this time.
Close the Supreme Court. Enforce the Voting Rights Act...by force if necessary. Otherwise it's all just noise. Trump and the Republicans will take the white house and Congress to finish off what little is left of our democratic institutions. The man said "Vote for me and you'll never have to vote again."
So in a round about way my little story shows just how unusual the need for proof of citizenship is:
Recently, I set up a trust for all my "vast" holdings!!! (😉) I was asked to bring ID with me as well as other documents. So, I brought a copy of my birth certificate along just in case. When I gave it to the trust attorney she said she didn't need a birth certificate but said it was so interesting to see one!
So, if I don't need a birth certificate to set up a trust for 'all that wealth' (😉) I'm not sure why it would be necessary to require all that to vote other than to make it so cumbersome that people just don't bother.
You don't need proof of anything to tote around a long gun in some states so why do you need to have proof of citizenship to vote.
Yes, I know, I'm stretching my examples but I think I should be allowed some convoluted 'logic'
to "prove" my point. I mean, is it any more circuitous than theirs?
If they can believe that Dems are pedophiles that drink babies blood, oh, yeah we must be draining all the blood from those babies that we murder after they're born, another great talking point; and if they can believe that kids go to school & are given sex change operations, then I can think that my examples I stated above are valid.
See what I did there? I did a trump "weave". I made several ridiculous statements & weaved it all together. I must be a great orator! I need to run this post past my friend who is a retired English teacher! I need to say that a really smart English professor gave it her thumbs up!!! And that I'm a genius!!!😉
That's funny, Return.
Would it be so terrible if undocumented people were allowed to vote after establishing residence for, say, one year? By that time, they are as involved in the community as any citizen; they should be able to vote locally. Truthfully, their status is only a paperwork problem, one that we create for them in order to justify our bigotry. We demand a standard of them that those born here are not held to.
Biden needs to use some of that new power that the Supreme Court gave Trump!
We can’t expect the corporate media to help us here, or anywhere else.
The corporate media are self interested entertainment businesses, operating within America’s vulture capitalism. Their product is the eyes and ears of the masses, which they agitate and attract by dangling shiny objects, then sell to their corporate customers as advertisement exposure. Social responsibility and rational debate grounded in empirical reality are countervailing to the business model of corporate media. Trump is the curiosity no one can resist and they lean heavily into Trump’s nonsense.
That MSM tendency can be weaponized. Beware a mid- October shiny object attack on the election.
I watched Kristen Welker try to fact check Senator Tom Cotton recently on "Meet the Press", and he used the technique there. Just repeat the outrageous forcefully and expect the person to back down. To her credit she did not. He lied saying there was an Israeli arms embargo. He also denied that Trump is welching on his position on abortion.
Undermining the confidence in our elections is straight out of Putin and other foreign actors' playbooks. Cui bono---who benefits? Harris/Walz can explain that in an ad. The media should be asking that question over and over.
Thanks for the heads-up, Thom. Roy Cohn gave Trump another game plan---declare victory and go home. We are going to have to shout "SORE LOSERS!" as they walk out, but be ready to explain what they are doing.
Alis, Republicans use the Gish Gallop tactic
Gish gallop takes its name from the creationist Duane Gish, who frequently challenged biologists to debates about evolution. His tactic consisted of talking fast and with confidence, bombarding opponents with falsehoods, non-sequiturs and enough cherry-picked factoids to confuse the audience. Scientists debating him faced the challenge of sifting half-truths from outright lies and finding the right evidence to refute them systematically, all within the few minutes allowed in response. Which effectively meant that when the bell went off, the Gish gallop left the scientist “stumped” and Gish declaring victory for creationism. Such a spectacle leaves the audience less informed than they were before the debate, all at the hands of a debater whose only goal is to discredit their opponent and “win” the debate.
trumpified Americans don’t care about truth, honor, or dignity. The golden escalator brought The Apprentice to a large swath of the voting public and the misfit generations of Confederate lands. He had them mesmerized after the years of weekly broadcasts where “You’re fired!” provided them near-orgasmic fulfillment.
Their pastors and priests organized sermons around the need to elect a broken man who had been sent by god himself to save them. The Apprentice would become the new face of Republican politics, Republican apparel, and Republican hatred for those who thought differently of him in any way.
The lies grew and became truth for trumpified Americans - and apparently corporate media. The lies spawned QAnon and subversive militias. Profits grew rapidly for social media companies and influencers. And now it seems they’re all comfortable with what they’ve become, democracy be damned.
TRUMP: “I would shut down the government in a heartbeat if they don’t get it and if they don’t get it in the bill.”
On what authority??
(Ooops, never mind ...)
Thank you Earl. I'd actually have some "voting restrictions" that would probably curl your toes in anger and disgust; things that just seem to make general sense to me . . . but I do think you're right about what you've written here.