Thank you TG. This is what I have been saying. I am listening to the Majority report melt down over Biden not stepping aside saying every everyone wants him to. They even claimed the Pelosi said he should, but that is not at all what he said. She said she loved him, his policies, and it was entirely up to him and the party would support him. But that doesn’t fit their narrative. I keep posting how the polling shows he should stay, but how long will that be with progressive shows constantly hammering he should leave. Only three groups want him to leave, the media for money and clicks views, the right who are scared he can beat tRump’s, and the progressive shows who are panicking and drank right wing Kool-Aid. Hugs. Scottie
Thanks to Ali for the link. But seriously why is no paper or his moral police followers who call gay people, trans people, and teachers groomers and pedophiles have not called for pedophile tRump to drop out. By the way, with WordPress new format this was a huge pain to post and took over an hour to do. Hugs. Scottie
Last batch of unsealed Jeffrey Epstein documents released
In total, 4,553 pages of documents were made public, and they included the names of more than 150 people connected to or mentioned in legal proceedings related to Epstein and his network, which allegedly centered on paying teenage girls and young women to engage in sexual acts with the wealthy financier and other powerful menunder the guise of massage therapy.
‘Outrageous to decent people’: Disgusted judge finally releases Jeffrey Epstein rape testimony that preceded sweetheart plea deal
Among the revelations contained in the transcripts are the statements from victims who were minors at the time they were paid to provide “massages” to Epstein — an exchange that quickly escalated into sexual abuse, trafficking, and rape, according to victims’ testimony.
Prior to marrying Melania in January 2005, Trump was calling Jeffrey Epstein in 2004 on the regular.
We see Donalds phone messages in the West Palm Beach indictment of Epstein, released today. His messages are in between girls calling to confirm “massage appointments” and… pic.twitter.com/eUeTWLq0lZ
‘Before marrying Melania in 2005’: What new documents claim about Trump-Epstein
New documents which were unreleased so far claim that Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein were closer than it was believed. Transcripts show Trump called Epstein many times between 2004 and 2006. The screenshots were sealed in 2008 as part of Alexander Acosta’s deal for Jeffrey Epstein and were released on July 1.
“Trump’s name appears over and over again on Jeffrey Epstein’s message logs in the grand jury docs released this week. It is also undisputed: Trump’s name appears 7 times on Epstein’s private jet flight logs, that Epstein flew on Trump’s jet with a young girl of indeterminate age, girls who Epstein trafficked worked at Mar-A-Lago, a girl Epstein trafficked mentioned visiting Trump’s casino in a recently released deposition transcript.
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This was from a link from Ali. I have asked Ali to be an author on the blog, she could then post these links she feels are important. This should put to rest the idea of replacing Biden. Even progressives I follow and love can not see that their denigration and desire to replace Biden is hurting the democrats, helping to elect tRump. Look, it is too late to change horses in midstream. This is being pushed by the news media because they want more advertising money and more of a horse race. Hell one station I just heard a clip from suggested Hillary Clinton to replace Biden? Why would they claim or say that?. It is a wish and daydream. None of the major democratic players and big money donors want the same candidate. I love the VP, and yet big money and democratic leaders are suggesting other people. Hugs. Scottie
Tysons, Virginia. Wasting time waiting for my Uber and my late flight out after speaking at an event the night before. I was in the lobby of the fanciest hotel I’ve ever stayed in — The Watermark. I sat in the lobby workstation watching a breathtakingly beautiful young woman take professional photos for her new career and trying to hide my excitement each time she came out in a new outfit. The photographer showed her each pose and then the young woman would imitate her. Sometimes with a laptop or a book in her lap.
She is going to have a beautiful LinkedIn profile.
I was invited to speak at a summit just outside of DC, and just got back a week ago. The Women’s Summit is a large annual conference hosted in part by Network Nova. I have to tell you something: the message from rural America never fails to captivate an audience. Especially an audience filled with activists in a solidly Democratic city and region.
But I am not writing to tell you what I spoke about. I am writing to tell you what I heard when I listened to the voters and activists in the room.
What you’ll hear me say is not at all what the pundits are saying about Biden after the disastrous debate. It is the opposite of the narrative being furiously flung at us each day by everyone from MSNBC to CNN to the New York Times to the nightly news to opinion pieces across the country.
I speak to actual people…the pundits feed off each other. I work with grassroots organizers to spread Democratic messaging…the pundits write clickbait headlines and stoke fear.
The debate.
First of all, I did not watch but a few minutes of the debate live. I chose to watch it in clips and videos afterward. I was horrified. I felt like I was watching a trainwreck in slow motion. Biden performed terribly and Trump lied continuously.
Honestly, I wish Biden had never accepted the debate premise because it’s pointless to debate a liar. It just gives Trump the runway to lie even more, and without pushback from the moderators, the debate went nowhere.
The voters and activists I listened to in Virginia weren’t wondering if Biden should step aside and none of them were kidding themselves about what they witnessed during the debate. They are solidly behind the Biden administration. Solidly.
The summit in Virginia was diverse. Hundreds of women gathered and many were Black women. I like to hear the viewpoints of folks who are neither rural nor white — I am not in enough diverse rooms. I get a different POV and that’s important. What I heard was real and heartfelt. They are behind Biden.
I listened as several Black women spoke about their admiration for Gavin Newsom and Gretchen Whitmer, but how pundits holding them up as replacements for Joe Biden is condescending and irritating. Joe Biden has a Vice President. A Black woman — Kamala Harris. The women wondered aloud if there would be such a push to replace Biden on the ballot if his VP were not Black.
Same.
They wondered why journalists and politicos demand that Biden step down, but not Trump. They wondered why so many articles are being written about Biden’s age and fitness, but not the same about Trump. They wondered why Democratic strategists are making voters fearful instead of leading with a steady hand. They wondered why Biden is taking all the hits while a felon with a rape conviction, his opponent, is not even addressed.
Same.
The biggest takeaway from the folks outside DC is they are angry that the “same shit” that happened in 2016 is rearing its head again. Several stated they are tired of the line “The DNC chose Biden.” They reminded me that primary voters picked him…Black voters picked him. They are sick of repeating it.
These voters and activists did not waver when they repeated over and over again that they have no hesitation in voting for Biden in November.
From that group of over 600 suburban folks to a group of about 20 rural Dems…
You know I am rural and I often speak in rural spaces. Most of these spaces are older and White. When I listen to voters in these spaces, they have zero doubt about who their candidate is…even after the debate. Do they doubt that it was an awful showing? They do not. They watched it with their own eyes. Do they wish Biden performed better? Seemed younger? Spoke more clearly and concisely? Yes. Will they still vote for him? Also yes.
Not one rural person I’ve spoken with wants to remove Biden from the ballot in favor of another candidate. They believe in the administration and they are fearful of another Trump presidency. They think Biden can beat Trump.
This is what rural voters have told me: Biden has been good for ordinary people. He’s worked for public schools and the LGBTQ community and student loan forgiveness and infrastructure and rural broadband. They’ve seen highway projects funded. They remember that Biden curbed COVID deaths and consistently pushes for union jobs. They know he will not sign away reproductive rights.
Listen, I am not paid by the DNC and I don’t earn a dime from my state party. I am a Democrat because the party aligns with most of my views, but I am not a party first person…I am a country first person. I can see with my own eyes what the Republicans are about and I already know what a Trump presidency will bring. We all know what it will mean.
I will never forget the maxim: Democrats fall in love. Republicans fall in line. I know many of us are not in love, but can we come together to beat a certain autocrat? To overcome the fascism and Christian nationalism creeping in?
I was as scared as any of us after the debate. I had a feeling of doom bearing down on me. After talking to so many voters since, even after reading so many terribly divisive pieces, I feel more calm. The voters I’ve listened to are not doing what the pundits claim they are doing. They have said that replacing Biden on the ticket will almost certainly divide the party. They have faith in the Biden administration. They have faith in his VP.
I am tired of pundits creating a narrative that I don’t see in real life. I don’t know why they do it? For clout? For clicks?
I hate that each of us is exposed to the fear every single day. I hate that many in the media are driving a wedge between Democrats with this incessant message of doom and gloom and the need for a new nominee.
I have no crystal ball, but I do have neighbors and friends and I know organizers across the country. I hope we can make it through this with a nominee intact and a win in November. I hope we can listen to our neighbors and mute the pundit-class.
Our country can’t manage another Trump presidency.
There have been several recent incidents where far-right, white supremacist groups have targeted LGBTQ people, including last weekend at a pride event in Idaho and a during a drag story hour at a library in California. J.M. Berger, a writer and researcher who focuses on extremist ideologies and has written four books on the topic, joins William Brangham to discuss.
Some Pride month events across the country, like Drag Queen Story Hours, have been targeted by far-right protestors.
Check out our Pride Store: https://professorpride.com/ 55 Years ago today was the Stonewall Riots, leading to LGBTQ freedom and Pride Month so we wanted to check in to see how this Pride month went
Students and teachers in Florida can now discuss sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms, as long as it’s not part of formal instruction. It’s an important change after a new settlement between state education officials and civil rights attorneys who challenged the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law. WMFE education reporter Danielle Prieur joins Stephanie Sy to discuss.
A lawsuit settlement in Florida over the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law will allow students and teachers to openly discuss gender identity and sexual orientation as long as it’s not part of classroom instruction. Jim DeFede from CBS News Miami has more.
On the campaign trail, Donald Trump has been outlining what he plans to do if elected in November. That includes rolling back the rights of millions of LGBTQ+ people. It’s part of a wider playbook to undo many modern civil rights advances for minority groups. White House Correspondent Laura Barrón-López reports.
Here is the main quote to remember when these people push these lies. Hugs. Scottie
“Recognizing the historical role of the Ten Commandments accords with our nation’s history and faithfully reflects the understanding of the founders of our nation with respect to the necessity of civic morality to a functional self-government. History records that James Madison, the fourth President of the United States of America, stated that “(w)e have staked the whole future of our new nation . . . upon the capacity of each of ourselves to govern ourselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments.””
Here’s the problem: James Madison never said that. The quote actually comes to us from this stupid hick–David Barton, an evangelical Christian nationalist hellbent on turning America into a theocracy. He included a version of that quote in his book “The Myth of Separation,” aloong with severall other completely made up quotes from Founding Fathers. In that book, he cited a source that turned out to admit the quote came from a “1958 calendar of Spiritual Mobilization.” The quote got a lot of publicity back in the ‘90s when conservative shock jock and all-around piece of shit Rush Limbaugh said it on his shitty radio show, at which point the editors of Madison’s papers stepped in to report, “We did not find anything in our files remotely like the sentiment expressed in the extract you sent us. In addition, the idea is inconsistent with everything we know about Madison’s views on religion and government, views which he expressed time and time again in public and in private.”
So yeah, the basis for Louisiana requiring schools to display rules like “don’t lie” is a lie. But of course it is. It has to be, because the US was quite obviously founded, as a country, with religious freedom as an important concept. Not only is it enshrined in the first amendment, but also in a multitude of other documents, and letters, and rulings for the past 150 years or so. They MUST lie in order to pass this legislation.
I have watched two of the Sunday “news” shows. They have each trashed Biden and said nothing negative about tRump. One after trashing Biden one show brought on a possible tRump VP who praised tRump no matter the question. Why?
Four political pundits were sitting around a table talking about how bad Biden is, how he lost the public faith, How he was so mentally confused, how the democrats had to replace him … And one woman giddily said all excited, “For a long time political pundits have wanted a real convention, a contested brokered convention, and it has always been pushed aside.” Then excitedly she said “This time we might get it, we might have one”!
They don’t care they are working to get tRump elected, which their corporate owners want, but they seriously want a horse race to gain viewers, to have exciting stories people will want to read, they will have more click and especially … more money will flow in. It is all about the more money, the greed. In their view the country be damned. Hugs. Scottie
Scottie's Playtime 