Republicans doing what? Causing what?

Republicans are against the public having healthcare for some reason.  Paxton, Texas leadership, and a good segment of the republican part simply want non-white people / all immigrants to suffer as much as possible.  As if just by living they have committed the worst possible crime.  Plus dreamers?  Look republicans keep passing laws that kids are property so they had no choice being dragged to the US with their parents.  Plus they have been here, raised here, never caused problems, added to the economy.   Denying them healthcare is stupid and just trying to hurt them.  Plus it costs taxpayers more as dreamers need care they must have but can’t afford to pay for.   Hugs

PSA: migrants desperately seeking shelter may be in your area. Call ICE asap if seen.

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Government run by gang thugs.  That is what maga and the maga republicans want.  tRump has always been a mob boss wannabe but was never good enough to really do it.  He is a school yard bully who never grew up and has only regressed over the years.  He thinks might make right, and that who ever can bully or threaten the most gets all the toys and their way on everything.   Is this how we think things should be run?  Is this for the good of the country?  And if this is the way the republicans are going to act then how should democrats respond?  Corporate media both print and video are afraid to attack tRump so they ganged up on Biden and the democrats, but they never pointed out that tRump was everything they attacked Biden for being.  Now the brownshirts and thugs are making congress people offers they don’t dare refuse.  Hugs

In recent days, allies of Trump adopted an approach that is not novel for the president-elect and his followers: Make life extremely uncomfortable for anyone who dares to oppose him. The swarm of MAGA attacks that Sen. Joni Ernst has experienced is a warning of what’s in store for others who express skepticism of his personnel choices. 

Read the full article. As I noted yesterday, among the attacks on Ernst are threats to resurface allegations of an adulterous affair.

If you are a bigot who hates gay people then you believe this false idea.  If you are a racist you believe that black / brown people are inferior and erode standards.  In fact that was said about blacks when the military was first integrated.  However that notion got totally destroyed due to the bravery and proficiency of the black divisions in the 1930s and 1940s.   Same with gay people.  Most people in the military don’t care your sex partner as longs as they are not forced against their will to join you.  It is only the bigots, the fundamentalist religious people.  It is the Christians like Hegseth who has said that the goal is to make the military Christians who want all the gay people out.  Notice it was gays he objected to, not lesbians.  The upper military brass has studied this, the idea of LGBTQ+ in the military and all the studies show that the military benefits greatly for allowing the LGBTQ+ to serve openly.  Look let’s be honest the military was full of gay people in the 1980s when I was in, both the Navy and the Army.  We just stood the chance of getting blackmailed or discharged if a bigot like Hegseth found out.  Again all of maga want desperately to return to the fantasy time of the 1950s thinking that was the best of times, but only if you were a white straight cis male.   The rest of the population suffered from the unfair laws.   Hugs.  

New: Pete Hegseth Lamented Don't Ask Don't Tell Change, Women in the MilitaryThe Trump nominee's views on women and LGBTQ+ individuals raise questions about his fitness

PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes.bsky.social) 2024-12-10T13:10:06.098Z

From the linked article which I suggest reading.

Hegseth’s views risk alienating large segments of the armed forces and undermining morale by suggesting that certain groups are inherently less capable of serving. The Department of Defense has long moved toward embracing equality and diversity as pillars of strength. A leader who dismisses these values could jeopardize decades of progress and fail to inspire trust and cohesion among service members.

In a time when military challenges require unity and innovation, the Secretary of Defense must represent the best of modern leadership—respect for diversity, evidence-based policy, and a commitment to national security above outdated biases. Pete Hegseth’s comments reveal a personal belief system with negative views which raises doubts about his fitness to lead the military

This is more gang thuggery.  Notice this part:  … as he threatened local officials to open the city and its county jail to the will of federal immigration agents.     Hugs

The very same weaponizing the government and the DOJ to attack enemies that tRump and the maga right claims is happening under Biden was routine under tRump.   Notice the use of the deep state tools to gather information including personal information which should have been protected legally.  That is why all these people who claim tRump won’t be vengeful and won’t weaponize the government are just blowing smoke, he will and he has.  Hugs

Oh wow, think of all those poor people who voted for tRump because they believe everything he says and think he is a smart businessman.  Too bad no one tried to explain to them that tariffs are paid by the consumer, that means the person buying the item.  Oh wait yes there were people trying hard to tell them that.  In fact the black woman they just couldn’t vote for was saying that very clearly as was everyone but right wing media that is deep into the cult of tRump.  Hugs 

Fox Business: “Dollar Tree could drop some products if tariffs are enacted”

PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes.bsky.social) 2024-12-10T17:58:54.369Z

This man has shown nothing but contempt for all normal behavior and respect for the those in congress.  He has done a lot to destroy the post office and to make it unreliable.  Remember that he was destroying sorting machines and shortening delivery routes during an election so many mail in ballots never got counted.  In deeply rural areas no other mail delivery service covers that area so they depend on the post office.  The post office is the only government service mandated in the constitution.  Remember DeJoy is a multimillionaire who owns a company that competes with and contracts with the post office that he is in charge of.  Sounds like a conflict of ethics that needs real instigating.  Hugs

As normal Musk is spouting off on stuff he knows nothing about.  Homelessness is caused by several factors, a major one being the cost of housing.  With hedge funds and wealthy investment companies buying up all the housing in an area and jacking up the rents while providing no maintenance support.   They don’t care, a large profit is demanded.  The fact that people can not afford to live these days because people like Musk demand ever more profit, a man who has so much money he could waste 44 billion on a whim and not suffer any lowering of his lifestyle.  That is what life is like for these clowns.  They have no conception of what life is like for the rest of us. By the way, the article he cites as his proof says the exact opposite of what Musk claims.  That is why you need to read more than the headlines and look at the pictures.  Providing housing does work, but as the article referenced states the programs need the correct amount of funding and supervision.  Hugs

 

The article does not support the contention that providing shelter to people who need it is fruitless or that all unhoused people are criminals. Rather, the article details how the converted hotels in San Francisco were “underfunded and understaffed,” leading to substandard living conditions.

Read the full article. As the linked piece notes, a large percentage of the homeless are children, veterans, queer kids rejected by their parents, and women escaping domestic violence. But they’re all violent, drug-addicted liars, according to Musk, whose tweet currently has 25 million views.

Delusion run strong in this one.  Need I say more.  A fox entertainment host is also claiming tRump will buy a large track of property for the US making more states.   Hugs

Donald Trump is once again “joking” about annexing Canada into the United States, this time calling Justin Trudeau the “Governor” of the “Great State of Canada.”Totally normal and not crazy at all

Republicans Against Trumpism (@rpsagainsttrump.bsky.social) 2024-12-10T05:53:56.198Z

Montana Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Families & Doctors, Blocks Ban on Healthcare for Transgender Youth

AffiliateACLU of Montana
December 11, 2024 1:15 pm

Incredible news! Montana’s Supreme Court just affirmed that the state’s gender affirming care ban is likely unconstitutional.

Incredible news! Montana’s Supreme Court just affirmed that the state’s gender affirming care ban is likely unconstitutional.This makes the state the first state Supreme Court to rule that trans medical care is protected.This applies REGARDLESS of what the US Supreme Court does.

Erin Reed (@erininthemorning.com) 2024-12-11T18:36:24.478Z

If you find my journalism important, including breaking huge news like this, subscribe to support it at http://www.ErinInTheMorn.com/subscribe.Full decision is not yet available but I’ll release it when I get it.

Erin Reed (@erininthemorning.com) 2024-12-11T18:43:34.987Z

Cultist Builds 22-Foot Bronze Statue Of Dear Leader

It is a cult.  Maga is not a political movement, it is a cult with their holy dear leader “prophet” religious leader tRump himself.  They even built golden idols of him for a CPAC convention.  I was going to post this story from the linked site, but considering what the site is the link goes to no, I can’t do it.   Hugs

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Breitbart reports:

President-elect Donald Trump is being honored with a larger-than-life two-story tall bronze statue, which is being shaped to capture his iconic defiance in the wake of the assassination attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania, last July.

Breitbart News has obtained exclusive photos of the statue, which is still under construction. Backers behind the project hope to unveil the finished product at Trump’s inauguration.

Crypto investors with the project $PATRIOT commissioned Ohio artist Alan Cottrill to create the bronze statue after Trump was nearly assassinated in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. Trump’s pro-crypto policies also helped motivate backers to support the project, Breitbart News has learned.

Read the full article. With its pedestal, the statue is expected to be 22 feet tall. Trump has linked to the Breitbart article on Truth Social. Because of course he has.

Even taller than Reagan’s!

GOP Rep Calls For Cuts To Social Security And Medicare And “Moving Back Retirement Age A Little Bit” [VIDEO]

Notice that while claiming the debt is too high tRump and crew are still trying to make permanent the huge tax cut to the wealthy give during tRump’s first term that added nearly 8 trillion in debt.  Plus these people claim there is no money yet always find more for the military, increasing the profit of the defense contractors / companies that not only give them large donations but that the congress people have stocks in.  They also never talk of why there is not enough money … the constant push to cut all the government’s revenue from those with the most money, the wealthy and large corporations.   The greatest times of property for the public and the country was when taxes were high on the wealthiest people and corporations, why because they have all the money and can afford the tax. 

Then Reagan began the shifting the tax burden from those most able to pay to the poorest members of society, those with no ability to pay.  Suddenly the country went from a boom in infrastructure and ways to increase financially upward mobility for the middle class to a system of oppression and drudgery for the lower incomes while the upper incomes lived in untold luxury. 

The republicans pushing for European countries to pay more for NATO was recently explained on a Sunday news show as the Senator said that by forcing the European governments to pay more for defense it would lower what they would be able to do for social welfare programs for the public.  Why do the republicans in the US want the rest of the developed nations to lower the spending on their people?  Because the people in the US constantly can see now that other countries can do it, that other countries take care of their public, the people living there.  The US gives billions to Israel which has free healthcare, something these same politicians say we can not afford in the US.  Profit is king in the US, people are expendable.   Hug

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“We all agree this is an unsustainable area that we’re in right now — almost $36 trillion in debt and we are spending more on the interest on our debt than we are going to spend on the National Defense Authorization Act this year. Over a trillion dollars.

“And so we’ve got to right the ship and it’s going to mean cuts. It’s going to mean cuts to the 24% of the discretionary spending that we have and it’s also going to mean looking long-term at the front end of some programs like Social Security and Medicare.

“Not taking anyone off of what they paid into so far. But there is some waste, abuse and fraud in Medicare that we can take those numbers back and add to our general coffers and our treasury.

“And on the front end on Social Security, I think there’s a way, when people are living longer, they’re retiring later, then on the front end we can move that retirement age back a little bit.” – GOP Rep. Mark Alford, today on Fox.

Alford appeared here last week when he called for impeaching “full of slime” Biden. Alford, a freshman and former TV reporter, appeared here in December 2023 when he introduced a bill seeking to defund the Pentagon’s investigation into white supremacist service members.

Rep. Mark Alford: "It's gonna mean cuts to the 24 percent of the discretionary spending that we have. And it's also going to mean looking long term at the front end of some programs like Social Security and Medicare … we can move the retirement age back a little bit."

Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2024-12-09T14:16:29.236Z

Here is a radical idea. How about getting rid of the tax cuts for billionaires?

and forcing congress to fund all of the I.O.U.s they put into the social security trust fund when they took money from it to fun the budget instead of raising taxes. A one time surcharge on billionaires should take care of it.

and scaling back an overly bloated military budget their own auditors can’t reconcile

Do Republicans REALLY wanna dance on that third rail, given how they barely control the House already? Y’all wanna test your whole “but we have a mandate” bullshit?

But don’t forget decades ago bothsides of the isle in congress took large amounts of money from the Trust Fund so they didn’t have to raise taxes. It was Gore in 1999 when he was campaigning that he promised to put the Trust Fund in a ‘locked box” to protect it. But , too little, too late.

“But we still need to give millionaires, billionaires, and soon-to-be trillionaires more tax cuts because they need it, and cutting SS and Medicare is how we’ll pay for it.”

This is something that a lot of people get wrong because the US debt is never explained. The US debt is held in bonds which anyone can invest in. Yes, it’s technically borrowing, but it’s borrowing like one lends money when they invest in even a 401k or savings account. That money earns interest. And the money “borrowed” from social security is really that the social security fund is held in interest-bearing bonds. What republicans want to do is cut medicare and social security so they don’t have to make good on those bonds.

How about taking away the pensions, tax benefits, security, and health insurance benefits of retired Congresscritters? They’re typically all wealthy, and are a drain on the budget. Hey, if we are all expected to tighten our belts, these fuckers should lead the way.

NYT: Trump’s Applicants Are Undergoing Loyalty Tests

 

The New York Times reports:

The questions went further than just affirming allegiance to the incoming administration. The interviewers asked which candidate the applicants had supported in the three most recent elections, what they thought about the events of Jan. 6, 2021, and whether they believed the 2020 election was stolen. The sense they got was that there was only one right answer to each question.

Applicants who said they gave what they intuited to be the wrong answer — either decrying the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6 or saying that President Biden won in 2020 – were met with silence and the taking of notes. They didn’t get the jobs.

Charlie Kirk, the right-wing activist and pro-MAGA podcaster, is among those conducting the loyalty tests, along with members of the personnel team. The more policy-focused interviews have been conducted by members of the transition staff and by potential agency heads, such as Kash Patel and Tulsi Gabbard.

Read the full article.

“Want a Job in the Trump Administration? Be Prepared for the Loyalty Test.” Gift article @nytimes.com http://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/07/u…

Jamie Gangel (@jamiegangel.bsky.social) 2024-12-08T23:27:55.583Z

New Jersey governor signs law blocking book bans

We need more of these laws protecting the representation of minorities and the ideas the fundamentalist right hate, such as female autonomy.   The only way to get more states to do this is to elect more progressives, become more vocal over what we want, and to support those who advocate for the full support of equality and inclusion of everyone in society, sometimes called DEI.   Hugs

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New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signs legislation aimed at barring public libraries and schools from banning books on Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, at the Princeton Public Library. (Mike Catalini / AP)
 
Gov. Phil Murphy, at the Princeton Public Library, signs legislation Monday aimed at barring public libraries and schools from banning books.
 

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, signed a law Monday prohibiting public schools and libraries from banning books and protecting librarians who obey state law.

Murphy’s signing of the Freedom to Read Act comes amid an ongoing push by conservative lawmakers and activists across the country to challenge books they consider inappropriate for minors, particularly those about LGBTQ issues and race. Lawmakers in at least 13 states this year have introduced legislation to disrupt library services or limit their materials, according to an NBC News tally.

“Across the nation, we have seen attempts to suppress and censor the stories and experiences of others,” Murphy said in a statement. “I’m proud to amplify the voices of our past and present, as there is no better way for our children to prepare for the future than to read freely.”

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy during an interview in New York, on Nov. 22, 2024.  (Jeenah Moon / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
 
Murphy during an interview in New York on Nov. 22.

In September, PEN America, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting free speech, reported that the number of books being removed from school shelves during the 2023-24 school year had tripled from the previous year, to more than 10,000.

 

The PEN America report, along with one from the American Library Association released that same month, outlined how frequently challenged books are often about or written by people of color or those who identify as LGBTQ.

In 2023, the American Library Association’s list of the 10 most challenged books nationwide included Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye,” a novel about a young Black girl who grew up after the Great Depression; Maia Kobabe’s “Gender Queer: A Memoir,” a graphic memoir about the author’s exploration of gender identity from adolescence to young adulthood; and George M. Johnson’s “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” a coming-of-age memoir about a queer Black man.

New Jersey -is the third state to sign a law prohibiting the banning of books at public schools and libraries, following Illinois and Minnesota.

The new law is set to take effect in a year from the governor’s signing. However, the state education commissioner and the New Jersey state librarian are permitted to start implementing it immediately “as may be necessary,” the law states.

“Through this legislation, we are protecting the integrity of our libraries that are curated by dedicated professionals and making those resources available to help every student to grow as a critical thinker,” New Jersey acting Education Commissioner Kevin Dehmer said in a statement.

Peace & Justice History for 12/9

December 9, 1917
British troops, known as the Egyptian Expeditionary Force and under the command of General Edmund Allenby, entered Jerusalem, ending 700 years of Muslim rule of the city, 400 under the Ottoman Turks.
The Turkish army withdrew, the city surrendered without a battle.
Thus began 30 years of British control over Palestine.
December 9, 1949
U.S. Representative John Parnell Thomas, former chairman of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was sentenced to 6 to 18 months in federal prison for “padding” Congressional payrolls and using the money himself (embezzlement).
He had pled no contest to the charges, and was pardoned by President Harry Truman shortly before the end of his presidency.


John Parnell Thomas
December 9, 1961
Members of the National Committee of 100, a movement of non-violent resistance to nuclear war and to the manufacture and use of all weapons of mass extermination, joined with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and held demonstrations at various U.S. air and nuclear bases in Britain. 

Bertrand Russell and the “Committee of 100″at an earlier action in 1961.
Members of the Committee of 100, including Bertrand Russell, considered civil disobedience a legitimate means in their struggle. The CND avoided all illegal activities.
The CND is still active today 
December 9, 1990
Solidarity trade union founder and leader Lech Walesa won Poland’s presidential runoff election in a 3-1 landslide. He thus became the first directly elected Polish leader. Poland only became an independent country at the end of World War I.

About Lech Walesa 

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorydecember.htm#december9

Scary stuff

As you can see below, that “sifting” has already begun.

Last month, Davis, who was among Trump’s candidates for Attorney General, posted this about Trump’s critics: “I want to drag their dead political bodies through the streets, burn them, and throw them off the wall.”

Davis last appeared here with he threatened to imprison “fat ass” New York Attorney General Letitia James.

In August 2024, Davis appeared here when he threatened to sue any publication or social media user who referred to Trump as a “convicted felon.”

In April 2024, he appeared here when he vowed to imprison Trump’s critics and prosecute Barack Obama for murder.

In February 2024, we heard from him when he declared, “What’s so bad about Christian nationalism?”

His first appearance here came last year when he threatened to “arrest and deport” journalist Mehdi Hasan and throw gay reporter Tim Miller in a women’s prison.

 

Welker: Economists of all stripes say that ultimately, consumers pay the price of tariffs.Trump: I don't believe that.Welker: Can you guarantee American families won't pay more?Trump: I can't guarantee anything..

Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) 2024-12-08T15:25:29.405Z

“Is the Cold-Blooded UnitedHealthcare CEO KillerGetting This Much Love Because He’s a White Man?

There’s just no damn way a Black man would get the same treatment.

(This is a valid POV. Also, if you go ahead and click the links, you’ll get simply the embed you clicked on. If you click the link above, you can see the whole story with the embeds. The whole story is here, with the embed links.)

By Lawrence Ware

The response to UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson being shot and killed in Manhattan last week has been…interesting, to say the least. Dude, whose identity remains unknown and is probably somewhere cooling in Istanbul while the Feds and everyone else continue searching for him, has turned into a something of a pop culture icon.

The online reactions of Black folks to the killer and Thompson himself have run the gamut, from outright hostility, like this guy…

…to intellectually nuanced and dense articulations of why they are unmoved about the killing of this white man who theoretically became rich off the back of the misfortunes of the sick. (Let’s call this intellectual hostility.)

What’s most surprising is the amount of love this hoodie wearing, N95-masked gentleman who used a silencers to kill a man in broad daylight in the heart of New York City is receiving. There has not been this much adoration for a white man since Channing Tatum took his clothes off dancing off beat in Magic Mike. I mean, there’s already been a lookalike competition:

https://www.theroot.com/embed/inset/iframe?id=tiktok-7445767917418876190&autosize=1

There are even folks thirsting over this dude like they have been walking though the Mojave desert and homie is a glass of water with some liquid IV:

But let’s be clear. Even though the NYPD (shockingly) said here that the killer is “light skinned:”

…ain’t no damn way a Black man would get this kind of love if he pulled the trigger. I’m quite positive that there are white people in the sundown town of Cullman, Ala. who are fine with a white man doing this crime but would pull out their big ass trucks with a Confederate flag on the front to find the perpetrator if he was Black.

Denzel Washington could have pulled the trigger, and folks would have thanked him for the years of joy he brought to their lives and thrown his ass under the jail.

The response to this murder (I refuse to call it an “assassination” because Thompson could have caught some lead for something as simple as sleeping with the nanny and her boyfriend pulling out the .44 on him.) is at once expected in our society and, well, pretty nonsensical.

And like all things that make no sense anymore, I blame this on Donald Trump…and that dude hasn’t even moved into the White House yet. I’m just glad the killer wasn’t a Black man, because we’d all be face-down in handcuffs getting profiled throughout the damn country.