I must confess that I am not as bullish on America as most people. I am somewhat of a cynic when it comes to this American experiment and the whole "more perfect union" thing. I just don't believe that most Americans in the majority population share the same vision of America as the men who sat down and drew up the Constitution that hot summer day here in my hometown back in 1787.
Still, there are those who are more optimistic than I am, and so I want to share an opinion piece written by one such optimist.
His name is Larry English, and he is a lawyer in Louisiana who penned this article for The Advocate newspaper in Baton Rouge.
"Whenever I visit Washington, D.C., I head to the Jefferson Memorial late at night. The first time I visited I was moved to tears by Jefferson’s words, sent across the ages as a roadmap to a more “perfect union.” I read every word written on the rotunda and then sit and contemplate the meaning: “We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."
I paid another visit a few months ago with my wife who is an immigrant. As we walked out of the rotunda, she turned to me and said, “I now understand why you come here.”
Jefferson was a horrible human being. A slave owner and rapist that kept his own children enslaved even after his death. But I am able to separate Jefferson the man from Jefferson the founder. Just as I can separate Bill Cosby from Cliff Huxtable. Cosby is a rapist. Cliff Huxtable is the role model who inspired me to go to law school and develop a love of African American art that hung on the walls of his Brooklyn brownstone.
I have an admiration for the men who founded this country, despite the fact their human flaws led to the genocide of Native Americans and the enslavement of my family: because they created the greatest experiment in democracy the world has ever known.
They knew one day we would elect a talented autocrat; that his seductive siren to the dark side would attract millions. But they protected us from ourselves by dispersing power among the three branches of the federal government and to the states. And over the last few weeks, the system they created held.
Some members of the U.S. Senate and House attempted a legislative coup on Jan. 6. Their colleagues, historians and great-grandchildren will debate whether they are freedom fighters or insurrectionists.
However, our democracy was tested and we came through with flying colors. After the mob attacked the Capitol, Joe Biden did not go into hiding; the autocrat did. Conservative Republican state officials across the country refused to go along with the lie. Conservative Republican judges, many of whom abhor Joe Biden’s policies, nevertheless honored their oath to the Constitution.
For most of Black Americans’ history, we were subjected to state-sponsored terrorism. In 1870, in Caddo Parish, white mobs turned on newly freed slaves with such vengeance it became known across the world as “Bloody Caddo.”
The first time I saw a condom was the Sunday morning I went with my older brothers and grandparents to clean up our sanctuary, the Mt. Sariah Baptist Church in Cotton Valley. A White mob had spent the night before fornicating on its grounds and then broke into the church, trashed it and defecated on the offering table. I was 7 years old.
James Baldwin said for “black Americans the Statue of Liberty is simply a very bitter joke.” At any point before 1963, Black Americans could have taken up arms and stormed the United States Capitol and history would have recorded them as patriots.
They placed their faith in a system created by slave owners two hundred years earlier. As a child I watched then-Gov. Lester Maddox, of Georgia, stand in the state capitol holding an ax handle, spewing hate against Blacks and Jews. On Jan. 5, Georgia elected a Black preacher and a Jew to the U.S. Senate.
Juxtapose that against a group of affluent, well-educated white men and women sitting in the Capitol, attempting to block the peaceful transfer of power because their guy lost the election. They did so even after the mob had stormed the building.
What Jefferson, Washington and Hamilton knew was that the biggest threat to our democracy would not be from foreign actors, but from a mob seduced by an autocrat. It was not the Russians, Chinese or Muslim extremists who trashed the Capitol and went looking to hang Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi. It was our neighbors, inflamed by the lies of some of our elected leaders, who crashed through the doors.
Our democracy will be tested in the future. But as long as a majority of us choose the peaceful transfer of power over the mob, we can attain that more perfect union. And then we can all declare in the words of that old Negro spiritual '“Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we’re free at last.”' [Article]
The fact that folks with all the comforts and privileges that life has to offer, still choose to do things like what we saw on January 6th, should scare all of us. We might be in the majority now, but we all saw what happened four years ago, and it almost ended up destroying us. The next time we might not be so lucky.
The fact that folks with all the comforts and privileges that life has to offer, still choose to do things like what we saw on January 6th
ReplyDelete"Comforts and privileges" like having every mobile job in your county moved to China?
"Comforts and privileges" like being considered last for any job, put behind blacks, browns and females, even when you're the most qualified candidate?
"Comforts and privileges" like hysterical reactions to "It's Okay To Be White"?
"Comforts and privileges" like having to be constantly on guard, lest you lose your job, your home and your career because someone claimed you said something "racist"?
"Comforts and privileges" like being constantly told YOU are the cause of everything that's wrong with the world in general, and blacks in particular?
THOSE "comforts and privileges"? You can keep 'em.
Anymoose needs to assume the moniker "Sore Fucking Loser"when he whines on this site. Or maybe "Sour Grapes." "Sour Titty Milk?"
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said....
ReplyDelete"Comforts and privileges" like having to be constantly on guard, lest you lose your job, your home and your career because someone claimed you said something "racist"?
6:06 PM
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I find this complaint very odd. I don't know any white men who think like this. I'm a white woman, and I have four white, adult grandsons with whom I speak very frankly, as we are a close family. Actually, not one of them has expressed facing the problems you mentioned in your post.
I worked first in restaurants and then on a college campus for a total of about 57 years, and I never once worried I might say something racist because I don't think or say racist things.
I've been known to sound off, but I don't get accused of racism. I'm an egalitarian misanthropist: I hate everybody equally.
ReplyDelete“even when you're the most qualified candidate?“
ReplyDelete😆😂😆😂😆😂😆😂 Yeah, couldn’t possibly be because YOU were the less qualified applicant. Nah, white males are ALWAYS right and the most qualified and bestest ever.😆😂😆😂
I guess anon at 1806 really enjoyed the trump years. Why not? He got to celebrate mediocre white male privilege. The most unqualified person in history appointed several unqualified whites willy nilly. No wonder white folk were so upset trump lost. I guess if I were a white guy I’d be upset too. But I’m too big to gloat.😆😂
ReplyDelete“I never once worried I might say something racist because I don't think or say racist things.“
ReplyDeleteWe’re not dealing with the best and brightest if they can’t keep their racist Tourettes in check.😆
"HE MIGHT HAVE SAVED THE LIVES OF A FEW ELECTED OFFICIALS."
ReplyDeleteNah, I think he saved the lives of several insurrectionists. Had they tried to kill the people in the line of succession their guards would have opened fire. The S.S. agents who guard Pence and Pelosi have machine guns and would have started mowing down folks. I really don't think those fools were bad enough to keep charging as those around them started falling.
Hank Aaron went on national TV the other day showing how safe it is to get the Chinese Red Death Covid-19 Flu Vaccine in order to push fellow Negroes to get the vaccine....
ReplyDeleteHank died in his sleep shortly after getting this 100% safe vaccine without any signs of illness.
So much for promoting the vaccine there Hank
The Atlanta Braves said in a release that Aaron died peacefully in his sleep.
ReplyDelete18 days after getting the vaccine. Until your lawyers tell you he died of something he didn't die from, I'd be careful with the innuendoes.
America always talked out of both sides of its mouth and it hasn’t changed at its core yet. It was started as a land for freedom where only white men who owned land could vote while black folks were enslaved and poor folks pushed to the fringe. Makes sense the privileged storm the Capitol only when they feel they aren’t heard. Yet no one brings up the Million Man March when Farrakhan could’ve stormed it and taken over for a minute, or King’s March in Washington where he brought thousands to air out grievances in D.C. The only people that keep the American experiment alive are the people it tried to crush and I think it will fall as well because the people who benefit are the ones trying to destroy it.
ReplyDeleteThis blog’s trolls might be getting some interesting visits soon.
ReplyDelete“Knock-knock.”
“Who’s there?”
“FBI. Open up, Nazi.”
Biden orders review of domestic violent extremism threat
"I think it will fall as well because the people who benefit are the ones trying to destroy it."
ReplyDeleteYup, just like spoiled children they'd rather burn it all down than share. Typical.
And it's way past time that we as a country did something about the threat from domestic terrorists. We' been warning everyone of the threat since McVeigh blew up the Federal Building twenty-six years ago.
ReplyDeleteGambler2 said:
ReplyDelete>And it's way past time that we as a country did something about the threat from domestic terrorists. We've been warning everyone of the threat since McVeigh blew up the Federal Building twenty-six years ago.<
From your fingertips to the FBI's eyes, friend. I think, however, that the Feds will have to do some housecleaning to rid themselves of any internal dangers to their investigations. Fascistic dogma has infiltrated all arms of law enforcement.
Mystere said...
ReplyDeleteFrom your fingertips to the FBI's eyes, friend. I think, however, that the Feds will have to do some housecleaning to rid themselves of any internal dangers to their investigations. Fascistic dogma has infiltrated all arms of law enforcement.
1:13 PM
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I agree. The traitors in the military and all of law enforcement must be rooted out. Otherwise, we will not know who can be trusted, and a country without trust is doomed.
I guess “now is the time for healing” didn’t work, so the GOP has moved on to: “But, guys, aren’t we all equally responsible for right-wing terrorism?”
ReplyDeleteAnswer: no.
Blame deflection fail.
Kevin McCarthy: 'Everybody Across This Country' Is To Blame For Capitol Attack
"Anonymous" at 8:22am -- suggest you brush up on the "post hoc" fallacy.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_hoc_ergo_propter_hoc
https://www.livescience.com/why-do-dogs-bury-bones.html
ReplyDeleteBecause magats are too stoopid/lazy to do it for them.
Fake Noize hasn't given them their talking points.
drumpf doesn't have a dog but he wants to bury a bone in his eldest daughter. He has made no bones about this.
"A Texas man charged with illegally storming the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6. threatened to kill Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a Capitol Police officer, according to federal prosecutors.
ReplyDeleteGarret Miller, of Dallas County, Texas, posted often on social media about his involvement in the deadly riots during which insurrectionists stormed the Capitol, including sending a tweet saying “Assassinate AOC,” according to charging documents.
Miller was charged with several federal crimes and arrested Wednesday in Texas, Department of Justice filings show. He appeared in federal court in Dallas on Friday for an initial hearing and has a bail hearing Monday."
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/23/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-capitol-riot-461661
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I guess we are suppose to ignore all this and make nice with the Republicans that rioted in the Capital? Maybe when hell freezes over.
And the arrests just keep coming!
Thanks for the personal touch, Field. What a sad story. God bless you and yours.
ReplyDeleteThat's right, buddies. We told those fascists in no uncertain terms, "Not in my country, you don't!"
Biden is really picking up the ball. Organizing a response to domestic terrorism is an idea whose time has come. Again, I thank the Goddess for the good men and women of the U.S. military and our fine Capitol police force for not allowing this coup to succeed. Trump never had the support of the military, only scattered support from rogues officers across the land. We'll find the insurrectionists and give every one of them their days in court.
We're now hearing more about Trump's behind the scenes machinations to try to overthrow the election.
ReplyDeleteApparently, on the same day he was pressuring Georgia election officials to "find" 11,000 more votes for him so he could win that state, he was also plotting to try to promote a Trumpster inside the DOJ to be the head of that department. (Bill Barr had already quit at this point, after disappointing the president by failing to find evidence of any major election fraud.)
The idea was that, once acting atty general, this loyalist would LIE and tell Georgia lawmakers that, in fact, a DOJ investigation HAD found evidence of widespread voter fraud, thus giving them a pretext to ignore the vote count and give Georgia's electoral college votes to Trump instead of the actual winner, Biden.
In this 10-minute video, NY Times reporter Katie Benner breaks down all the additional sleazy Trump behavior we didn't already know about.
"Apparently, on the same day he was pressuring Georgia election officials to "find" 11,000 more votes for him so he could win that state ..."
ReplyDeleteCorrection: It was on the same day this conversation was revealed to the public. The conversation had taken place earlier.
California Hiding COVID Data From Public, Says Releasing Information Would Confuse Residents
ReplyDeletehttps://www.dailywire.com/news/california-hiding-covid-data-from-public-says-releasing-information-would-confuse-residents?%3Futm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=dwtwitter
January 22, 2021 10:59AM
ReplyDeleteImpeachment of an Ex‐President Is Unconstitutional
By Robert A. Levy
https://www.cato.org/blog/impeachment-ex-president-unconstitutional?&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social-media&utm_campaign=addtoany
Magats need not worry about whether impeaching drumpf a second time is constitutional. They refused to take their constitutional duty seriously when they had a chance to rid the country of drumpf a year ago. He has been impeached twice, a shame that will be ATTATCHED TO HIS ORANGE FAT ASS FOR ALL HISTORY.
ReplyDeleteps he CATO institute was founded by Charles Koch bros.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDeleteJanuary 22, 2021 10:59AM
Impeachment of an Ex‐President Is Unconstitutional
By Robert A. Levy
---------------------
Constitutional Law Scholars on Impeaching Former Officers
January 21, 2021
Now that President Trump has left office, may the Senate take up an article of impeachment, and try, convict, and disqualify President Trump from holding future office? We, the undersigned constitutional law scholars, conclude it can.
We take no position on whether the Senate should convict President Trump on the article of impeachment soon to be transmitted by the House of Representatives.
We differ from one another in our politics, and we also differ from one another on issues of constitutional interpretation. But despite our differences, our carefully considered views of the law lead all of us to agree that the Constitution permits the impeachment, conviction, and disqualification of former officers, including presidents.
https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000177-2646-de27-a5f7-3fe714ac0000
Politico is not exactly a left-wing website.
THE CONSTITUTIONAL CASE FOR THE IMPEACHABILIlY OF FORMER FEDERAL OFFICIALS: AN ANALYSIS OF THE LAw, HISTORY, AND PRACTICE OF LATE IrvlPEACHMENT
https://digitalcommons.law.msu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1022&context=facpubs
I can't believe there hasn't been a movie about O'Henry. RIP King
ReplyDeleteRogue police officers, I meant.
ReplyDeleteHey Anonymous dickhead!
If you had a good job five or ten years ago, you could have been smart enough to buy some pretty dope electronics from China. Nobody took your job. You didn't have one. I've been enjoying Chinese luxury goods for twenty-five years. The golden age was the 1990s. Then they realized they could sell their merchandise for a lot more
It wasn't 11,000 votes. It was 11,780 votes. "One more than 11,779," in Trump's own words from the surrealistic call.
ReplyDeleteComedy fucking gold. Comics are going to miss that guy, but I'm not.
In less than 72 hours, Joe Biden:
ReplyDelete—Killed 70,000+ jobs
—Eliminated women's sports
—Invaded Syria
—Left the National Guard to freeze in a garage
—Admitted he doesn't have a plan to fight COVID
—Broke his own mask mandate EO
—Ended US energy independence
Do you miss Trump yet?
Joe stalin biden
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdNrMp1HTrE&feature=emb_logo
Biden increasing prices of insulin, many will die
ReplyDeleteJanuary 23, 2021 by IWB
https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/biden-increasing-prices-of-insulin-many-will-die/
Biden Admin To INCREASE Drug Prices – Reversing Trump Policy Designed To Lower Insulin Prices
ReplyDeleteJanuary 24, 2021/in Economy, Elections, Healthcare, Policy, Politics, Science, Social Issues, Waste, Fraud and Abuse /by Dr. Rich Swier
https://drrichswier.com/2021/01/24/biden-admin-to-increase-drug-prices-reversing-trump-policy-designed-to-lower-insulin-prices/
"I guess “now is the time for healing” didn’t work, so the GOP has moved on to: “But, guys, aren’t we all equally responsible for right-wing terrorism?”'
ReplyDeleteNo. right-wing terrorists are responsible for right-wing terrorism.
"Biden increasing prices of insulin, many will die
January 23, 2021 by IWB"
This is simply not true. But facts don't matter to right-wingnuts.
Swier is a tea bag loon escapee from drumpf school of mental competence and stable geniusism. That is all.
ReplyDeleteLOL
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jD2XN0ovQek
Anonymoid troll 9:01:
ReplyDelete"Biden admitted he doesn't have a plan to fight COVID".
Not exactly. Biden said that Trump had no plan, so Biden must make one from scratch.
How typical of the right wing, to utterly fail and blame that utter failure on whoever comes to clean up the mess.
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteDo you miss Trump yet?
9:01 AM
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Yes, I miss Trump like I miss getting a root-canal, having major surgery, enduring kemo therapy and migraine head aches.
Now answer my question: do you get a copy of the lies you tell form you masters, or do you make them up as you go along? Either way, they are a piss-poor failure.
Do all a favor, and just go away.
Anonymous said
ReplyDelete—Admitted he doesn't have a plan to fight COVID
-----------------
Biden's plan to fight COVID is known by everyone but you. Biden would have had a plan before January 20, but the outgoing Trump administration would not cooperate with the usual peaceful transfer of power. Instead, they put all their energy into trying to overthrow the United States government by fomenting a failed coup.
One more question for you: Is the Trump stink gone from the White House yet?
ReplyDeleteRegarding the lie that Biden has increased drug prices:
IT'S JUST A PAUSE
A regulatory pause is a common tradition among incoming presidents to ensure that the unfinished policies from the prior administration align with the new one. In many cases, there are no substantial disagreements among the two administrations and the policies can continue on their normal path. But the pause gives incoming officials a chance to weed out the actions that go against the current president’s stance.
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/health-law-and-business/last-minute-flurry-of-health-rules-subject-to-biden-60-day-pause
The whole insulin thing is dumb. No government action has produced the soaring price of insulin — the private sector (pharma industry) did that all on its own.
ReplyDeleteThe absurdly high cost of insulin, explained
And Trump’s executive order was garbage anyway. It only attempted to lower drug prices for the poorest of the poor, not all insulin users, and quite possibly wouldn’t take effect at all, as Republicans made it ILLEGAL for Medicare to negotiate drug prices.
You can’t just wave laws away with an executive order. The drug companies would’ve sued to prevent it, and probably win.
Snopes: Will a Trump Order Drop Insulin Price to ‘Pennies A Day’?
Had three or four root canals and none have bothered me at all. The secret is to make sure the dentist gets the area good and numb. I require three injections most times.
ReplyDeleteMy 80 plus year old farm neighbor widow won't let her dentist get in the same zipcode with her teeth with a needle. She tells him to grind away without it. She's of German descent and more of a man than I will ever be.
Mike, I'm still laughing a few minutes after I read your post on root canals and your neighbor.. LOL!
ReplyDeleteLast updated: January 24, 2021, 14:58 GMT
ReplyDeleteUnited States
Coronavirus Cases:
25,575,095
Deaths:
427,65
3320 bodies counted Saturday the 23rd.
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/jan/22/facebook-posts/no-evidence-lawmakers-forced-national-guard-parkin/
ReplyDeleteAnymoose lied again @ 9:01 AM
Biden didn't ban any sports.
ReplyDeleteAmong the flurry of executive orders signed on Wednesday, Biden called on all federal agencies to enforce a US supreme court decision from last year that expanded the definition of sex discrimination to include discrimination based on sexual orientation as well as gender identity – with language that explicitly referenced the arena of high school and college sports.
Supporting the constitution is everybody's job, even traitorous fucking magats.
Magat's new boy toy, paralympic lying trash, Madison Cawthorn forced to admit there was not vote fraud.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.huffpost.com/entry/cnn-pamela-brown-madison-cawtjorn-owned-vote-fraud_n_600cff6dc5b6fe97669d1d90
He'll be drawn and quartered and have his head hoisted on a Pike on London Bridge before you know it. Magats can't abide the truth. It is like holy water to a vampire.
Sinator tom cottonmouth falsely claimed to be an Army Ranger for years. Who knew the liar was a liar?
ReplyDelete"Sinator tom cottonmouth falsely claimed to be an Army Ranger for years. Who knew the liar was a liar?"
ReplyDeleteAnyone who's been paying attention. Here is a listing of just some of Cotton's fact-checked statements. His lies-to-truth ratio is pretty bad.
Cotton is a Harvard grad, not a dimwit like Trump, so the lies are not as flagrant and obvious as Trump's. They require a bit of research to debunk. But they are still lies.
Cotton's also a warmonger, a hardcore anti-immigration warrior, and a guy whose response to the NYT's 1619 Project included the statement that slavery was a "necessary evil upon which the union was built."
He's a real creep, but one who doesn't get as much press as the attention-seekers like Ted Cruz or Lindsey Graham.
ReplyDelete"We might as well require... society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."
After witnessing the barbarous nature of those individuals storming the Capitol it has become obvious that attaining " a more perfect union" takes more than just lip service.
Anymoose @ 9:01 AM lied again about Biden violating own mask mandate. Easy to understand the moose's confusion since he can't read.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.snopes.com/fact-check/biden-violate-mask-mandate/
Sunday's body count was 1815. Count will surpass 430k bodies today.
Let's nip anymoose in the bud on this one....
ReplyDeletehttps://www.snopes.com/fact-check/biden-chinese-bodyguard/
No Biden does not have Chinese commie security detail. Sooner or later, anymoose would have reported this as gospel.
Democrat Joe Morrissey
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Morrissey
San. Josh Hawley (R-MO) exhibited "warning signs" of an extremist sympathizer long before he sided with a mob of people who set out to attack the U.S. Capitol, according to a recent report.
ReplyDeleteRead the article here....
https://crooksandliars.com/2021/01/josh-hawley-defended-mark-fuhrman-after-oj
This is a real good read.
Morrisey paid his dues. drumpf criminals haven't.
ReplyDeleteRudy is probably not having a very good day today.
ReplyDeleteElection technology company Dominion sues Giuliani for $1.3 billion over 'Big Lie' about election fraud
He is also quite likely to lose his law license as a result of his participation in Trump's fascist coup attempt.
“Do you miss Trump yet?“
ReplyDelete😆😂
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteRudy had that coming. Let's see if he keeps his law license now.
ReplyDeleteParadoctor, responding to an anonymous troll said...
ReplyDeleteNot exactly. Biden said that Trump had no plan, so Biden must make one from scratch.
How typical of the right wing, to utterly fail and blame that utter failure on whoever comes to clean up the mess.
10:57 AM
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Yeah, lying is the name of their game. I haven't seen a single anonymous troll tell the truth even once.
Activist Spotus declined to act on drumpf's criminal activities in emoluments thievery because he is no longer in office. They could have expedited the case to punish his orange criminal ass, but he did appoint three losers to protect him from criminal liability.
ReplyDeleteJason Isbell
ReplyDelete@JasonIsbell
·
Jan 19
One second of silence for each Covid death in the US and you’d be standing still for more than four and a half days.
-Doug in Sugar Pine
So Fergus ended his maladministration having been caught out telling 30,573 lies while in office.
ReplyDeleteApparently, American democracy remains too big to fail by a little bit, at least according to the moneyed interests who profit off of its existence.
That said, I am guardedly optimistic about the country's future, mostly because of the competence of the folks being hired to run it.
I feel like it is being underestimated how much difference it will make to no longer be laboring under the malice and incompetence of the rogues' gallery of bigots and imbeciles Fergus hired to "deconstruct the administrative state" instead of doing the damn job and running the country.
-Doug in Sugar Pine
From Carl Newman's Twitter feed:
ReplyDeleteMehdi Hasan
@mehdirhasan
·
Jan 23
To be clear, people don’t wake up one morning & suddenly want to assassinate a random member of Congress from NY since 2018 who has no leadership role.
That hate has to be inculcated & incited, which it was by the GOP and Fox, both of which demonized @AOC
& led us to this point
-Doug in Sugar Pine
Reality begins to set in again. From Pamela Merritt's Twitter feed:
ReplyDeletepourmecoffee
@pourmecoffee
·
2h
"Oklahoma trying to return its $2m stockpile of hydroxychloroquine"
-Doug in Sugar Pine
TRUMP WON!!
ReplyDelete