Well, will wonders never cease...(PO)

[Z is for Zangie]

Though Mastriano won as expected, it is common wisdom that Shapiro can easily beat him in the general...and Fetterman won of course the Dem nom ( I prefer Conor, ( and think he has a future in politics)but, any Dem is good at this point), whom as some trump voters actually said they would vote for him in focus groups ( lots of complicated reasons) and many Dems love him...But, the really good news is that Madison Cawthorn lost...this is a shocker even with all the bad press he has been getting, means they all aren't going to vote Trumpy ( though Dems had no real chance to win, and they told other Dems to get a Republican ballot and vote against him, one down, a few more to go ( I sure wish someone would take out Margorie Taylor Green, but, that would be a real shocker, surprise

[Mike]

Cawthorn being primaried, unfortunately, says nothing about the level of trumpism in the party. It speaks ONLY to the party’s demands for party loyalty.

Which, when you think on it, is trumpism too. Part of his appeal to the authoritarian party is his demand that all employees sign oaths of loyalty and legally binding non-disclosure contracts.

[Slip Shod]

Cawthorn being primaried, unfortunately, says nothing about the level of trumpism in the party. It speaks ONLY to the party’s demands for party loyalty.

Which, when you think on it, is trumpism too. Part of his appeal to the authoritarian party is his demand that all employees sign oaths of loyalty and legally binding non-disclosure contracts.

DEFINITION FOR OBSESSION (1 OF 1)
noun
the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc.

[Slip Shod]

We can't let our mindset harden into a concrete state. There must be room for alternative views. The moment you harden we've all lost.
It does not mean accepting, but it does mean allowing - slipshod
~
Elon Musk says we can't let humankind end in 'adult diapers' and that the environment would be fine if we doubled our population

[GuideToACrazyWorld]

Cawthorn being primaried, unfortunately, says nothing about the level of trumpism in the party. It speaks ONLY to the party’s demands for party loyalty.

Which, when you think on it, is trumpism too.

Party before country predates Trump by several decades. Trump might have removed all subtlety, but I don't think there was anything new about him.

[Slip Shod]

BREAKING: Washington gas stations run out of gas, add extra digit in anticipation of $10 dollar prices
A spokesperson at 76 confirmed to The Post Millennial that the gas pumps were reprogrammed to allocate for double-digit pricing.
-
I'm thinking ahead now & I hope this will be a relatively calm summer without the people taking to the streets. Fuel impacts everything

[GuideToACrazyWorld]

To me these primary results high light the diversity of our country. I didn't see any major surprises, but with Teeball I've been too busy to follow the most of the primaries in other states.

[Slip Shod]

Cawthorn, what a joker, what a lack of good judgment and a liability. Yeah, goodbye and don't come back. One less clown in Congress. Trump screwed up on that one

[GuideToACrazyWorld]

Yeah, goodbye and don't come back. One less clown in Congress.

You mean one different clown in congress...

[Slip Shod]

Yeah, goodbye and don't come back. One less clown in Congress.

You mean one different clown in congress...

There's others, I consider McConnell , AOC bunglers, and pelosi as corrupt as they come . Republicans and Democrats both doing backroom deals , career politicians in Washington for the one purpose of benefiting from their office. And I'm sure you've read how the leadership of BLM are living like Princes. BLM representing the people, I don't think so. Congress representing the people, I don't think so. It's not their money they're spending, hey let's send $40 billion to Ukraine
Do you seriously think that once elected to Congress anyone ever pays for a meal again, no it's cocktail parties, get togethers,
junkets around the world.
And when the mood strikes them it's voting themselves a pay raise.
I could go on .. the best free health care for the rest of their life, writing laws that apply to everyone else but not to Congress. So what about we the people - we the people let them get away with it

[Tarmaque]

I consider McConnell , AOC bunglers,

I disagree on both those counts. I think AOC is a nothingburger who has been catapulted to fame because conservatives have a fetish for pretty women and she defies their expectations. I don't think she's particularly effective, but neither do I suspect her motives. I think she is a reliable Democratic vote with little or no political capital to spend beyond that as a sophomore Representative, and as such is a convenient target for Republican wrath.

On the other hand, McConnell is no bungler. He has worked his whole life to reach what he considers the most powerful position in Washington, and he's probably right about that. He isn't a bumbler, but a cynical and highly corrupt manipulator of the system. He loves his position of power and has used it to great effect. You can call him corrupt, unconscionable, unprincipled, criminal, and even evil, but one thing he is not is a bungler. He knows exactly how much power he has (a lot) and is effective at employing it. He's a lot more effective than, for instance, Chuck Schumer, who should in theory hold the same amount of power but seems afraid to use it.

[Mike]

AOC, like the remainder of “the Squad”, is easy for the Right to vilify. She’s a woman, she’s liberal, she’s a minority, she’s intelligent, she represents the “inner city”. Everything they despise. She is the ‘replacements’. A stand-in for Saul Alinsky….

She’s certainly not an enormously powerful person, but she’s also not a “nothingburger”. She will become more interesting over the next few years.

[Slip Shod]

She will become more interesting over the next few years.

Oh yes, there is no doubt in my mind
There might be another brother somewhere she can marry
With rants against Israel, you know they just don't forget that kind of stuff and who knows how that'll play out -

[Mike]

Today, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill making it illegal to protest outside someone’s home. Sooo…. while they are complaining about private companies creating and enforcing rational terms of service, the Right is literally making it illegal for you to speak your mind in public. This immediately in the wake of preventing teachers from educating students about the real history of race in this nation.

Note the outstanding items here: first, they are now routinely doing their utmost to regulate private corporations! After decades of insisting that such regulation is morally and ethically unacceptable.

Second, they are utterly disregarding the First Amendment. With the CRT thing, they insist the right to speak freely ends the moment you enter the schoolhouse. Now they are saying it ends in the approximate vicinity of someone’s home. This is flatly unconstitutional. They don’t care. Are they imagining the same Court that’s about to roll back the right to privacy on abortion is also ready to roll back the First Amendment on party grounds?

Third, this shows that the phrase they love to use in the gun argument, “original intent”, does not matter to them. Not a bit.

Fourth, they routinely exclaim that it’s the 2nd that protects the First. Well…. not so much, apparently.

If there was ever any doubt whatsoever about their autocratic desires, this erases it.

Hypothetically, this should be a slam dunk constitutional case. But with this partisan Court? Who knows?

[Slip Shod]

@mike
You really don't know the difference between a public enterprise and an individuals personal private residence - pathetic. Entire premise of the Bill of Rights and Constitution was for an individuals freedom - first from government intrusion and secondly an individual's pursuit of Life & Liberty and his pursuit of happiness. I'm quickly losing respect for your opinions. Many of your arguments are juvenile

[Mike]

You really don't know the difference between a public enterprise and and individuals personal private residence - pathetic. Entire premise of the Bill of Rights and Constitution was for an individuals freedom - first from government intrusion and secondly an individual's pursuit of Life & Liberty and his pursuit of happiness. I'm quickly losing respect for your opinions. Many of your arguments are juvenile

Where exactly in the First Amendment did they limit the right of free speech to X number of cubits from someone’s home? I don’t recall seeing that qualification. I just looked, and it’s still not there. Again by comparison, he represents a party that increasingly claims there are zero limits on the right to publicly/privately arm oneself.

Last I heard, any street/road or walkway that is not on privately held property is part of the public square. No, my arguments are not juvenile; they are, in fact, solidly rooted in American law. Your above argument, otoh, is nonsensical. The entire premise of the Constitution was to create a system of governance that was more effective than that created under the failed Articles of Confederation. The Bill of Rights was added in order to get certain states to sign on to the new arrangement. And nowhere in that Bill of Rights are you guaranteed protection against hearing voices that disagree with you… though DeSantis certainly is trying for that with his recent spate of anti-LGBT, anti-CRT, and now explicitly anti-free speech legislation.

Btw, a fascinating tidbit. The President who gave us “free speech zones” whereby protesters were moved far enough away in the public enterprise that leadership could no longer hear them…. he gave a speech at his library today. And here’s the text: “The result is an absence of checks and balances in Russia, and the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq,“

A rather stunning Freudian slip. Clearly, he has begun to grasp something I noted back when Russia first invaded Ukraine: our nation, because of the 2003 destruction of Iraq, has almost zero moral high ground on the current war. His lies are echoed in Putin’s lies. His strong-arming is mirrored in Putin’s. His bogus rationales provide Putin all the ammo he needs on the world stage. Is this, in part, why the GOP has been so very weak in its condemnation of this invasion… and is it in part why some on the Right not only don’t condemn it, but appear to actively support it? Think of Tucker’s lambasting of “hate Russia”. Think of Rand Paul’s and Marjorie Greene’s undermining of the legislation designed to get weapons to Ukraine.

One final note. The GOP stands ready to introduce a national abortion ban bill should they win both Houses this November. It’s ready to roll.

[Slip Shod]

@mike - here's a question Mike you're so much smarter than the rest of us - a gathering, I call them a mob, signs, megaphones, chants outside of an individual's home/house terrorizing his family who have no idea what's about to happen or what's going on.. question mike, is that a hate crime?
Terrorizing screaming fire in a crowded movie theater, is that free speech?

[GuideToACrazyWorld]

I disagree on both those counts. I think AOC is a nothingburger who has been catapulted to fame because conservatives have a fetish for pretty women and she defies their expectations. I don't think she's particularly effective, but neither do I suspect her motives. I think she is a reliable Democratic vote with little or no political capital to spend beyond that as a sophomore Representative, and as such is a convenient target for Republican wrath.

I think that's all pretty clear. What I do find funny is that she seems to think she has more pull then she does, and gets frustrated when it doesn't work. Mostly I find her funny.

On the other hand, McConnell is no bungler.

I had a conversation with a friend the other night and something I said fits her, being an effective politician is very different then being a good one.

[GuideToACrazyWorld]

Today, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill making it illegal to protest outside someone’s home.

So much for freedom of expression...

Second, they are utterly disregarding the First Amendment. With the CRT thing, they insist the right to speak freely ends the moment you enter the schoolhouse

That''s a little silly. Every state in the country sets grade related curriculum, including what should and what should not be taught. This is not a violation of the 1st amendment, everyone is still free to say what they want, it's just what is taught at what age level that is being set. You may not agree with their curriculum it's not a violation of liberty.

[Tarmaque]

I had a conversation with a friend the other night and something I said fits her, being an effective politician is very different then being a good one.

McConnell or Cortez?

[GuideToACrazyWorld]

McConnell or Cortez?

McConnell. I don't think AOC Is particularly skilled at either. She just lives in one of the few districts where her rhetoric rings true enough to get her elected.

[Tarmaque]

McConnell. I don't think AOC Is particularly skilled at either. She just lives in one of the few districts where her rhetoric rings true enough to get her elected.

I thought so, but you said "she."

Cortez got elected in a reliably democrat district and primarily because she was more interesting than her democrat opponents.

Kind of like Hillary got to be a senator for New York. There was basically no possibility that the Republican would win that race, and she made it through the primaries on name recognition alone.

[GuideToACrazyWorld]

I thought so, but you said "she."

I probably did. I'm not sure what McConells sex is. It's really hard to sex a turtle in pictures...

That's right, it's a herpetology joke, deal with it.

Cortez got elected in a reliably democrat district and primarily because she was more interesting than her democrat opponents.

Kind of like Hillary got to be a senator for New York. There was basically no possibility that the Republican would win that race, and she made it through the primaries on name recognition alone.

Bingo. I find it so confusing when people are threatened by her. She will never be a serious national influences. In fact, I believe interest in her would have faded if the right leaning blogosphere wasn't so obsessed with her. I get it, she's a really easy target. I just consider focusing on her a giant strawman. If you want to deal with progressive ideas you should be responding to Elisabeth Warren.

[Tarmaque]

If you want to deal with progressive ideas you should be responding to Elisabeth Warren

Indeed, but Warren is really really scary. She's possibly the most powerful Democrat around today, bar Biden or possibly Pelosi. I have never understood how Pelosi achieved the amount of influence she has. She really needs to retire.

[GuideToACrazyWorld]

Indeed, but Warren is really really scary.

I have so much respect for her. She might be the one person in our federal government I respect the most. We also agree on very little because we have very different ideas about the role goverenment should play in our lives. She doesn't scare me, but she does worry me.

I have never understood how Pelosi achieved the amount of influence she has. She really needs to retire.

Same way McConnell did. Knowing how to make everyone she talks to think she agrees with them even if she thinks they are loony.