Tuesday, February 09, 2021

Trial number two.

 


Donald trump's impeachment trial in the senate started today, and while I wasn't able to watch it live, I was able to watch later thanks to all the reruns on the nightly news shows. 

While watching Bruce Castor, the only person I could think of was Bill Cosby. He must have been sitting in his prison cell and cursing his luck because Bruce Castor chose not to personally prosecute him back in the day. If he did, Bill Cosby would be a free man. To say Castor embarrassed the Pennsylvania legal fraternity today would be an understatement. His performance wasn't even worthy of a  first year law student in a moot court class let alone a seasoned prosecutor arguing on behalf of a former president of the United States in an impeachment trial. Mr. trump himself was pissed about the quality of representation that was on display for him. But this is what happens when you lie and lie and lie. You can't get good help, because there is just so much that lawyers will put up with from their client.     

Castor's side-kick, David Schoen, was not much he better.  At one point in his meandering presentation he actually seemed to argue that the Constitution was unconstitutional. I say he seemed to argue because I had such a hard time following what he was trying to say. Had this been a trial in an actual courtroom I would have asked for a directed verdict and I am pretty sure that it would have been granted. Trump's team of lawyers were so bad, that one republican Senator, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, actually changed his mind and voted that the impeachment could go forward even though trump was out of office. Do you know how bad you have to be to flip one of these sycophantic trump loving republican politicians to vote against trump? 

Sadly, this is all for show, because incredibly 43 republican senators voted today that the trial should not even go on. They did this in spite of the fact that most legal scholars (including most conservative ones) agree that a president can absolutely be impeached after he leaves office. These republicans are so afraid of trump that they are terrified that they might piss him off. Cowards like Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz won't risk their political future in the republican party by raising the ire of their petty and vindictive leader.    

"We heard arguments from both sides on the constitutionality of having a Senate trial of a president who has since left office. A sufficient amount of evidence of constitutionality exists for the Senate to proceed with the trial. This vote is not a prejudgement of the final vote to convict," Cassidy's statement read." 

Bring back Rudy.


75 comments:

PilotX said...

Fake news! His defense was stellar and perfect! 😆😂

Anonymous said...

This was always only going to be a symbolic trial. Republican senators are far too frightened of Trump's followers to ever vote to convict him.

But they know it is also bad look to suggest that Trump is innocent of inciting the MAGA mob to storm the Capitol. This won't pass the smell test. Any Republicans or swing voters who are even marginally in touch with reality know damn well that Trump isn't innocent, after months of his 's "stop the steal" lies and his phony lawsuits and his threats to election officials and state legislators. Pronouncing him not guilty might lose them some votes as well.

So they've invented a third option. They'll declare the entire proceeding to be illegitimate, allegedly because the Constitution says you can't impeach an ex-president (note: the Constitution says nothing of the kind), and therefore the fact they are voting to acquit mustn't be interpreted as an actual acquittal but rather a nullification of the right to hold a trial.

They will probably get away with it, too. Even the saner wingnuts don't understand the law, are afflicted by partisan loyalty and motivated reasoning, and will ultimately find it easier to swallow the "impeachment of ex-presidents is unconstitutional" lie easier than the "Trump is an innocent victim of a witch hunt" lie.

So if Trump is ever to be punished for his misdeeds, it won't be by Congress. But maybe by financiers bankrupting Trump or prosecutors jailing Trump? We can only hope.

PilotX said...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2021/business/usps-performance-whats-next-biden/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR1iQRneA3ZC7PJWecwXRw09G9l72xPYL2O-4-RmpjtJJhOcDfTGaNAjLkg

dinthebeast said...

Had Fergus not lied his ass off about the election being stolen from him, there would have been no assault on the capitol. Full stop.
He's guilty as charged, and there's no other reading of that fact that exempts him from culpability.
The goddamn Republicans in the senate would not vote to convict him if he was sitting in the chamber dissecting a baby on camera.
So we should call witnesses. Lots and lots of witnesses, telling over and over in grisly and gruesome detail exactly what the MAGA horde did for their orange godlet.
Make those bastards squirm and whine until they would agree to anything just to make it stop.
They still won't vote to convict, but their ultimate electoral defeat can be mined from the hours and hours of testimony and their votes to acquit.
Sadly, we probably won't get witnesses either.
So we must simply beat them all with their votes to acquit.
Give Biden a filibuster proof supermajority for the second half of his first term whether he needs it or not, because these bastards have to go.

-Doug in Sugar Pine

Mens Fashion said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
BootsandBraids said...

Does Castor's poor performance even matter? It's all for show as none of the GQP has the balls or integrity to impeach.

mike from iowa said...

So much for magat's claims that Blue Lives Matter. They don't. They never did. They were just pawns to be used and abused by lying seditious magats for personal magat gains.

Said it many times, there is no crime a fucking magat wingnut could commit that other wingnut magats would convict him/her for.

mike from iowa said...

https://www.npr.org/2021/02/10/966207859/michigans-top-republican-calls-u-s-capitol-attack-a-hoax

The savagery and incompetent failure of magatitus lives on.

Paradoctor said...

In trial #1 we said that if the Senate doesn’t convict then he will break the law again. The Senate didn’t convict. Now we have trial #2, which confirms our prediction.

anotherbozo said...

I'd like to point out that the eloquent Rep. Joe Neguse from Colorado did NOT go to an ivy-league school. But he was brilliant anyway. Not a word wasted. I suspect a bright future for this son of Eritrean immigrants.

mike from iowa said...

3157 moar bodies confirmed yesterday, February 9th.

mike from iowa said...

https://time.com/5937491/rudy-giuliani-ukraine-trump-impeachment/

Transcript of Screwdy Rudy and Ukrainian officials with S Rudy demanding an investigation to help save drumpf's precedency.

Bet magats pooh-pooh and try to ignore this attempt to extort and exhort cooperation from Ukraine.

Gambler2 said...

Trump has never been held accountable for any of his many crimes. I doubt the senate will convict him. However, the case in Georgia may be Trump's Waterloo. We can only hope.

dinthebeast said...

It's looking that way:

Fulton County prosecutor Fani Willis sent a letter Wednesday to state government officials, including [Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger], requesting that their offices preserve documents related to the call, according to a state official with knowledge of the letter. NBC News verified the contents of the letter, which explicitly states the request is part of a criminal investigation into several charges ranging from false statements to "any involvement in violence or threats related to the election's administration."

Fergus just can't keep from running his mouth and some folks don't take kindly to being slandered in the national press, and Fergus seems to be unable to imagine any future situation in which the folks he is slandering might hold sway over his personal freedom.

-Doug in Sugar Pine

Gambler2 said...

Holey Smokes, has anyone out there been watching the impeachment process on TV? The video with timeline presentation today by the House Managers was riveting!

Gambler2 said...

https://politicalwire.com/2021/02/10/house-managers-show-stunning-video-of-capitol-riot/#disqus_thread

Anonymous said...

From David Plouffe on Twitter:

“Too many of the jurors are accomplices.”

dinthebeast said...

The man has class:

onsequence of Sound
@consequence
·
2h
In the aftermath of country artist Morgan Wallen getting caught on video using a racial slur, @JasonIsbell
has vowed to donate all of his proceeds from Wallen's version of "Cover Me Up" to the Nashville chapter of the NAACP

-Doug in Sugar Pine

dinthebeast said...

Not that it will matter, but Fergus just got his flabby ass nailed to the wall:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1359598044312985607

-Doug in Sugar Pine

Flying Junior said...

Mike,

Right. Blue Lives my ass. Those sick fucks were beating the police mercilessly. Complete anarchy.

Gambler,

Hoky-Smokes

I couldn't believe my fucking eyes. Those fucking demons were brutal. So it was clearly well over 100 celebrants, for lack of a better term, who breached the Rotunda. It is a tragedy that the one officer shot at the attackers breaching the glass doors with battering rams. But I don't blame him. His life was in imminent danger. I applaud the Capitol Police for their restraint in no ordering any additional gunfighting. Clearly, clubs, maces and war hammers would have been more appropriate weapons to deploy against this medieval mob. I think there shall be several commendations of valor given to the Capitol Police for bravely defending the seat of American Governance. I remember the two or three policemen pushing back on steel barricades as crowds of MAGAts rushed to trample them. Beating the police with American flags. Utterly surreal.

Fuck anyone who won't admit culpability. Antifa false flag? Not gonna fly this time, bitches.

Anonymous said...

Word on the block: The capitol was attacked by a crazy mob of white N_ _ _ _ _ S on January 6th.

Anonymous said...

"It is a tragedy that the one officer shot at the attackers breaching the glass doors with battering rams. But I don't blame him. His life was in imminent danger. I applaud the Capitol Police for their restraint in no ordering any additional gunfighting."

I'm not seeing much of a tragedy. I wouldn't consider the deaths of any of the awful people who stormed the Capitol to be a great loss.

This was not a normal riot control scenario. The cops couldn't just retreat and regroup in this situation, as they're sworn to defend the lives of the legislators and their staff, as well as any others in the building. And this wasn't merely a rowdy protest that somehow got out of hand. It was a pre-planned attempt to undo democracy, to violate the will of the people in electing a new government.

If the cops had brought out automatic weapons and mowed down hundreds of the MAGA thugs on the steps of the Capitol, that might not have been a good look on the nightly newscast, but it would have been fully justified.

We are used to having the ability to enter many federal buildings as tourists or to observe government business taking place, but that isn't a guaranteed civil right, and certainly there is no right to use violence to block the transition of government simply because we don't like the outcome of the election. The freedom of people to enter the Capitol or the White House under normal circumstances may be blinding people to the obnoxious, abnormal nature of what happened on January 6th. As a thought experiment, imagine what would have happened if the MAGA thugs had instead tried to storm the Pentagon, or CIA headquarters in Langley. Amateur detectives wouldn't be trading pictures of the suspects on Twitter in order to help the FBI find them. We'd already know exactly where to find all of them: the morgue.

Gambler2 ASKA White Woman said...

Anonymous said...

Word on the block: The capitol was attacked by a crazy mob of white N_ _ _ _ _ S on January 6th.

11:26 PM
-----------------
Obviously you mean nitwits, since no person with half a brain would think they could overturn an election by attacking our congress. Dumb, stupid, ignorant nitwits, mostly losers.

Most Arrested at Riot Had History of Financial Trouble

February 10, 2021 at 6:59 am EST By Taegan Goddard 140 Comments

Nearly 60% of the people facing charges related to the Capitol riot showed signs of prior money troubles, including bankruptcies, notices of eviction or foreclosure, bad debts, or unpaid taxes over the past two decades, according to a Washington Post analysis of public records for 125 defendants with sufficient information to detail their financial histories.

https://politicalwire.com/2021/02/10/most-arrested-at-riot-had-history-of-financial-trouble/

Gambler2 said...

Flying Junior said...

Fuck anyone who won't admit culpability. Antifa false flag? Not gonna fly this time, bitches.

10:46 PM
----------
I'm with you. I couldn't have said it better, myself.

dinthebeast said...

Two words on the police response as it should have been: Kent State.

-Doug in Sugar Pine

Flying Junior said...

IMNHO the police did the right thing by not slaying vast numbers of MAGAts.

Just imagine the propaganda value of such a massacre for the other side.

But it was also the right thing to do. What I don't get is why they were so unprepared given all of the warnings. Plans for violence were published in public forums that anyone could have read.

dinthebeast said...

Some stuff I found on Carl Newman's Twitter feed:

1) Elie Mystal
@ElieNYC
·
14h
Given that the @GOP
doesn't actually give a damn when white people murder cops, can we just all agree that the "blue lives matter" crowd was really just saying "black lives DON'T matter" the entire goddamn time?

You know, like ALL THE BLACK PEOPLE have been telling you?

2) Ryan Goodman
@rgoodlaw
·
5h
A central paradox of the trial:

(1) Trump’s lawyers will argue that Trump’s supporters on Jan 6 were not controlled by Trump.

(2) Republican Senators will vote to acquit because they believe that Trump’s supporters are highly controlled by Trump.

(h/t: Prof. Stephen Holmes)

3) Qasim Rashid, Esq.
@QasimRashid
·
6h
When cops kill unarmed Black people GOP chants “Blue Lives Matter!”

When white supremacist insurrectionists beat cops to death GOP stays silent.

It was never about cops. It was always about power & racism.

-Doug in Sugar Pine

Anonymous said...

“Just imagine the propaganda value of such a massacre for the other side.”

The other side, in this case, are already deranged. I’m not sure they are capable of being made any angrier by witnessing a massacre — they are pretty much at DEFCON 1 all the time anyway, hopped up on crazy talk from tinfoil hat Internet forums.

But most of these goons are also standard-issue cowardly bullies, and what emboldens them the most is a lack of consequences for their actions. Hitler did not calm down and become a more reasonable dude because he got a slap-on-the-wrist jail sentence of only nine months for trying to overthrow the German government the FIRST time, in 1923. It just encouraged him to be more organized the NEXT time.

When it comes to extremist movements, I’m with the Roman Emperor Caligula: “Let them hate, so long as they fear.” I want to see heads on pikes. That’s what will make the message sink in for these MAGA-hatted neckbeards that they can’t just do whatever the hell they like.

mike from iowa said...

Last updated: February 11, 2021, 13:27 GMT
United States
Coronavirus Cases:
27,897,214
Deaths:
483,200

3255 moar bodies entered involuntary servitude to drumpf/noem propaganda.

Anonymous said...

Ohio Feral Negro Serial Killer of at least 11 WOMEN, Anthony Sowell, 61, Dies In Prison!

Anonymous said...

THANKS TO THE NFL and its PLAYERS PANDERING AND CATERING TO THE TERRORIST ORGAINZATION #BLM BLACK LIVES MATTER - SUPERBOWL VIEWERSHIP RATINGS SINK LOWER THAN THE TITANIC

Gambler2 said...

Flying Junior said....

What I don't get is why they were so unprepared given all of the warnings. Plans for violence were published in public forums that anyone could have read.

3:09 AM
---------------
The only reasonable explanation is that Trump set up the situation. During November and December, he filled key positions with his cronies who made sure the capitol was not adequately protected. Then he refused to release the National Guard as the victims of his failed coup were on their cell phone begging him for help. You see, Trump is even worse that we thought!

Gambler2 ASKA White Woman said...

Anonymous said...

"But most of these goons are also standard-issue cowardly bullies, and what emboldens them the most is a lack of consequences for their actions. Hitler did not calm down and become a more reasonable dude because he got a slap-on-the-wrist jail sentence of only nine months for trying to overthrow the German government the FIRST time, in 1923. It just encouraged him to be more organized the NEXT time.

When it comes to extremist movements, I’m with the Roman Emperor Caligula: “Let them hate, so long as they fear.” I want to see heads on pikes. That’s what will make the message sink in for these MAGA-hatted neckbeards that they can’t just do whatever the hell they like."

6:14 AM
--------------------
I tend to agree with you here. Maybe if the cops had killed a few in the first wave when they were first breaking in, the others would have backed off? As one who has followed the activities of some of the white supremacists groups, I know they tend to be cowardly and only attack when their victims are unarmed and vastly outnumbered.

Please consider picking a screen name, so I can identify your posts.

Gambler2 said...

Anonymous said...

THANKS TO THE NFL and its PLAYERS PANDERING AND CATERING TO THE TERRORIST ORGAINZATION #BLM BLACK LIVES MATTER - SUPERBOWL VIEWERSHIP RATINGS SINK LOWER THAN THE TITANIC

10:28 AM
----------------
LOL! LMAO! This claim is ridiculous! You are blaming low Super Bowl viewership on BLM? How old are you, ten?

Viewership was low because many people watching turned away from it when it became boring. I managed to hang in there until shortly after the start of the second half. I don't know what happened to the Chiefs, but they sure weren't playing like an NFL football team.

Anonymous said...

You are blaming low Super Bowl viewership on BLM?

Do you REALLY not know how offensive NFL fans find "taking a knee" during the National Anthem?

You are BEYOND stupid and clueless.

As for myself, I find the Negro Felon League itself to be offensive.

Gambler2 said...

Anonymous said...

Do you REALLY not know how offensive NFL fans find "taking a knee" during the National Anthem?

You are BEYOND stupid and clueless.

As for myself, I find the Negro Felon League itself to be offensive.

11:34 AM
--------------
I don't know how many NFL fans find taking a knee offensive, but I would guess they are white supremacists and have very little regard for black lives.

Have a nice day.

Paradoctor said...

My view is that football is on the way out because nobody can deny anymore that it's a brain-damage sport. Of course the fans can't afford to admit that they have wussy qualities like compassion and decency, so they need a face-saving excuse to leave the stadium. So, the players are taking a knee? How dare they! I'm boycotting!

As you can see, my opinion of the human race is very high... and very low.

Anonymous said...

"My view is that football is on the way out because nobody can deny anymore that it's a brain-damage sport. Of course the fans can't afford to admit that they have wussy qualities like compassion and decency, so they need a face-saving excuse to leave the stadium. So, the players are taking a knee? How dare they! I'm boycotting!"

If pro football ends because of traumatic brain injuries, it will probably be because of lawsuits rendering the sport unprofitable or government regulations banning the sport, and not because of fans deserting it. Call me cynical, but I think a great many of the fans don't, in fact, have wussy qualities like compassion and decency. Particularly the folks getting upset over players taking a knee. They would keep watching, even if the athletes got pulverized into mulch.

After all, people still happily watch MMA fighters get kicked in the head and NASCAR drivers crash into walls and get consumed in the ensuing fireballs.

mike from iowa said...

Kaepernick taking a knee to protest police violence on Blacks was hijacked by hypocritical magats and made into a disrespecting the flag moment. Just like magats hijack all good ideas and turn them into shit.

You have first hand knowledge of what magats really think of cops and the flag.

dinthebeast said...

Really. How can brain-wizards who believe the world is run by cannibalistic pedophiles really get wound up over the execution of a few rioters?
Well, they can, because their propaganda specifically prepares them to do so, and it's effective enough to have gotten them to swallow the whole cannibalistic pedophile story, so it can pretty much get them to believe anything.
That's why Driftglass calls them infinitely reprogrammable meatsticks.

-Doug in Sugar Pine

PilotX said...

😆😂 The same people who have a problem with athletes taking a knee have no problem with beating cops with an American flag. 🤔

dinthebeast said...

Maybe they should try masturbation after all:

Blue Girl, Democrat&Antifascist
@BGinKC
·
4h
A leader of the Proud Boys was busted because he LOGGED IN TO HIS PERSONAL GOOGLE ACCOUNT FROM A CAPITOL COMPUTER.

Okay, I have to ask the obvious question.

If these guys are so stupid, who're they supposed to be superior to?

-Doug in Sugar Pine

Anonymous said...

The Democrats are not sincere in holding responsible *everyone* who was responsible for the Jan. 6th coup attempt.

Because if the Democrats were sincere, they would be compelled to go after many of their own Republican colleagues who are guilty of helping to organize the coup or promoting the propaganda (Stop the Steal) that drove the coup--like Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley and others.

God forbid the Democrats violate their precious "bipartisan unity" with their political tag-team partners, the Republicans.

It's almost as if the Democrats and Republicans are just playing Good Cop-Bad Cop or engaged in the political version of a staged Professional Wrestling "conflict." ;-)

Democrats seek to whitewash Republican Party role in January 6 coup
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/02/11/pers-f11.html

Anonymous said...

"The Democrats are not sincere in holding responsible *everyone* who was responsible for the Jan. 6th coup attempt."

The Democrats can't hold everyone responsible. They can't really even hold the main guy responsible, as Trump's party is determined to defend him.

All they can do is hold hearings to register their extreme disapproval and create a public record of Trump's misdeeds. It's a shitty situation, but here we are.

dinthebeast said...

Fani Willis, on the other hand, as the lone law enforcement official whose office isn't involved with the crime itself, may have a chance at getting the despicable fuck in front of an actual jury.

-Doug in Sugar Pine

PilotX said...

This is where we are in America. Guess which party she’ll choose. And we thought Idiocracy was just a movie.😖

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2021/02/09/election-hearing-witness-mellissa-carone-state-house-run/4452655001/?fbclid=IwAR1Mi51JaV4RO_Q0Lp4j7Y8m9IUGoAK7yGWy2gEb0Hh_kPa6l0jpN344zuk

Anonymous said...

I have a feeling Mellissa Carone’s political career will be a source of endless mirth. If we have to put up with terrible freakshow Republican politicians, I figure they should give us lots of opportunities to laugh at them, and Ms. Carone will at least do that.

Anonymous said...

Project Veritas has been blocked from Twitter, because they are scumbags.

Next, they need to be blocked from existence.

mike from iowa said...

Buffalo wasicu pigs that assaulted 75 year old man get off scott free. No grand jury indictment for them.



https://www.foxnews.com/us/buffalo-police-officers-seen-shoving-elderly-protester-have-charges-dropped

Gambler2 said...

Capitol Riot Led to Massive Injuries for Law Enforcement

February 12, 2021 at 12:03 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 79 Comments

New York Times: “The Capitol assault resulted in one of the worst days of injuries for law enforcement in the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. At least 138 officers — 73 from the Capitol Police and 65 from the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington — were injured, the departments have said. They ranged from bruises and lacerations to more serious damage such as concussions, rib fractures, burns and even a mild heart attack.”
https://politicalwire.com/2021/02/12/capitol-riot-led-to-massive-injuries-for-law-enforcement/#disqus_thread

Yeah, the magas really love and support the police, just not the ones who guard the capitol of the United States.

PilotX said...

“I have a feeling Mellissa Carone’s political career will be a source of endless mirth.“

Maybe this can also help dispel the notion that term limits are good. If you have a perfectly sane rep why be forced to trade them in for the Joker?

PilotX said...

“Yeah, the magas really love and support the police, just not the ones who guard the capitol of the United States.“

Conservative are just hypocrites. America is the greatest country....well except for its government, immigration policy, taxes, soft policies on crime, the welfare state, the cities, gun restrictions, regulations, public schools, PC culture, media and “the left”. But other than that this is the greatest country god ever created.

Anonymous said...

“Maybe this can also help dispel the notion that term limits are good. If you have a perfectly sane rep why be forced to trade them in for the Joker?”

I think advocacy of term limits is rooted in a conservative belief about government uselessness and corruption.

Wingnuts have convinced themselves that the government doesn’t actually do anything (except for taxing the hard workin’ white man to support the fabulous lifestyles of “lazy, undeserving” minorities), so they don’t acknowledge that veteran politicians might have a valuable skillset that comes from years of experience in government, which you are throwing away if you term limit them out of office.

Wingnuts also often believe in the “power corrupts” trope that says politicians become more crooked the longer they remain in office. This is dubious. It seems to me that unethical politicians were mostly already unethical before ever running for office.

Anonymous said...

Term limits on the US president only came in because Republicans got mad about losing to FDR over and over again.

Gambler2 said...

Anonymous said...

Term limits on the US president only came in because Republicans got mad about losing to FDR over and over again.

1:47 PM
------------------

I remember this well. The amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1951. I was fifteen and had been a political junkie for about seven years by then.

dinthebeast said...

If you want to know what legislative term limits do, check out the Missouri state legislature.

-Doug in Sugar Pine

PilotX said...

“If you want to know what legislative term limits do, check out the Missouri state legislature.“

Then again it’s Missouri.🤷🏾‍♂️😆

Faith_and_Fairness said...

@Gambler2 in response to presidential term limits: "I remember this well. The amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1951. I was fifteen and had been a political junkie for about seven years by then."

===========================================================================

Quite an enlightening backdrop, Ms. Gambler. Like you, my love of politics, civics and government was cultivated at an early age. Recently remarked to a family member that it's my hope the Dept. of Education can facilitate a national program introducing basic civics for middle school students transitioning to high school then a comprehensive curriculum that includes a community service project to be completed in junior or senior year of high school.

Gambler2 said...

Faith and Fairness said...

Quite an enlightening backdrop, Ms. Gambler. Like you, my love of politics, civics and government was cultivated at an early age. Recently remarked to a family member that it's my hope the Dept. of Education can facilitate a national program introducing basic civics for middle school students transitioning to high school then a comprehensive curriculum that includes a community service project to be completed in junior or senior year of high school.

7:15 PM
---------------
Yes, that is my hope too. Perhaps we should both send the new Secretary of Education an email requesting that he consider your recommendation. I'll try to find an address and post it here. Maybe other folks on this blog will send an email too. What do you think?

Faith_and_Fairness said...

@Gambler2 Posting 8:44pm.....

I do agree with your idea, which one could say is really a call to action. If concerned citizens are able to contact the U.S. Educ. Dept. or their respective state leadership, advocating for a national civics curriculum, this would underscore assisting our youth and young adults with better understanding how government works.

dinthebeast said...

"Then again it’s Missouri"

True, but some of my favorite bloggers and activists live in or come from Missouri, and they have convinced me that the hollowing out of the talent and experience in the state lege there has made the situation measurably worse.

As for the civics education idea, I don't know what the curriculum is like now, but in California in the sixties and seventies when I went to school civics was a one semester class in high school and there was literally no other instruction on it. Everything I know about how the government works I had to teach myself, and I only really got interested in it when George W Bush showed up and I couldn't for the life of me understand how someone like him could become president. Once I figured that out, the rest of it was just part of the same story, full of names that were vaguely familiar to me that I hadn't wanted to pay attention to while they were in the media, but took their places it the story that was increasingly infuriating as it unfolded all of these years later.
Had there been any effective education about that story while I was in school, I might have been a more active participant much sooner.
I think of how Molly Ivins described trying to convince people to pay attention to politics: you don't have the choice to be involved or not, politics affects you whether you think you are involved with it or not.
She blamed it more on the media than the schools, though, describing typical political reporting in her day as "house measure 27 was passed out of committee today and will get a full floor vote..." and then you're already asleep, while she preferred to lead with how political news would actually affect her readers: "You're getting screwed again!"
One thing you have to give Fergus, he did make politics interesting to a lot of those unengaged voters, but he did it by turning the government into a goddamn train wreck.
I look forward to government being boring again for a while.

-Doug in Sugar Pine

mike from iowa said...

Had civics class, one semester, in 8th grade, 1967 @ Wilson junior High, Cherokee iowa. Once you reach the Cherokee city limits it is all downhill from there until you exit. Then it is all uphill.

Faith_and_Fairness said...

Ironically, Doug, the same could be said for the first wave of unengaged voters who basically catapulted 2008 politics into the stratosphere with the election of Pres. Obama.

Of course, as we opine the value of civics engagement, it's more clear than ever how this lack of foresight resulted millions of Americans either becoming disenfranchised or opting out in the 2016 general election because there was no understanding about what it takes for good government to work.

mike from iowa said...

5463 bodies accumulated for drumpf/noem body count. Slowly approaching half a million corpses in a hurry.

dinthebeast said...

Yeah, and those political dropouts came roaring back in 2020, and it turns out that we didn't really know much about how they would all vote, thus the Democrats' piss poor performance in congressional elections last year.
Don't take folks for granted, they fucking hate that.

-Doug in Sugar Pine

Anonymous said...

Nazi show trail by the dummycrats(commies)

Gambler2 said...

Anonymous said...

Nazi show trail by the dummycrats(commies)

6:18 PM
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Idiotic post by an anonymous troll who is very ignorant. Nazis didn't have show rials, they didn't have trials; they just killed people who opposed them like the rioters at the capitol tried to do.

Anonymous said...

The left (communist) thirst for power and domination is self evident.......

mike from iowa said...

If libs thirsted for power, blue states would be gerrymandered at least as funky as red states are. If Libs thirsted for power. they would have sued drumpf's illegally elected ass through the courts before drumpf made girlie men of the lifetime appointments.... judges and justices who read and follow the constitution and it's precedents like all Dems choose.

dinthebeast said...

The danger of widespread propaganda is that it can render significant portions of those who consume it impervious to actual facts. But only in information form, as those facts don't care whether one believes in them or not. Refuting the claims of the propagandized is only valuable as a service to others who may see them and mistake them for something other than the dangerous lies that they are. As for the propagandized themselves, they are no more likely to accept contravening information than any random heroin addict is likely to accept that their heroin use is bad for them.

-Doug in Sugar Pine

Anonymous said...

As for the propagandized themselves, they are no more likely to accept contravening information than any random heroin addict is likely to accept that their heroin use is bad for them.

You have NO idea how much that applies to you.

And you won't, until you die.

dinthebeast said...

Part of being able to accept contravening information is having the ability to identify it as true. Republican lies, are in fact lies, and I do not accept them as anything else. If the goddamn Republicans ever slip up and say something that is true, I have no problem acknowledging that, but it doesn't happen very often, so you don't see me doing it very much.

-Doug in Sugar Pine

Gambler2 said...

Anonymous said...

The left (communist) thirst for power and domination is self evident.......

10:43 AM
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That you are an idiot is self evident from you post.

Angel charls said...

Elke keer dat we het wachtwoord van Google of Gmail vergeten, blokkeert het alle manieren om in te loggen op het account. Voor het gemak van Google-gebruikers zijn er echter een paar alternatieven waarmee u gemakkelijk kunt inloggen op uw account en het nieuwe wachtwoord kunt instellen. Het kwijtraken van het wachtwoord van een Google-account kan nu worden opgelost met behulp van enkele effectieve methoden. U kunt het verloren of vergeten wachtwoord opnieuw instellen door de methoden voor het hersteltelefoonnummer of het alternatieve e-mailadres te gebruiken. Als u echter geen toegang heeft tot de e-mail of het telefoonnummer, kan het beantwoorden van de beveiligingsvragen een ander alternatief zijn. en als u technici wilt, bel dan Gmail Telefoonummer. Het ondersteuningsteam van Google werkt 24x7 om hulp te bieden aan de gebruikers

Anonymous said...

Black washing movies an tv shows commercials and plays that
was white an yellow and replacing white an yellow with black people
like Uncle Buck, Men in Black, Steel Magnolias, Marvel & DC Super hero's
an Super villains non hero's, The Karate Kid, Rosie the Riveter, Once Upon
a Time, For Honor ( Video Game ) Annie, Princess and the Frog, That Darn Cat,
Death at a Funeral, Shawshank Redemption, Django Unchained, Cinderella 1997,
Walt Disney Characters Cruella (Descendants) Princess Ariel an Lady and the Tramp
live action an Rapunzel, Frozen Kristoff, Mortal Kombat Mileena, Omni Man Amber,
Resident Evil Jill, The Wonder Years, Josie and the Pussycats, Charmed, The Wiz,
Rum Punch Novel, Adventures in Wonderland, Ben Hur, The Taking of Pelham 123,
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Wild Wild West, The Manchurian Candidate, Dr Do Little,
Death Note live action series on NetFlix, Afro Samurai, Sailor Moon TV [unaired North America]an future black washings in the years to come

The Bonfire of the Vanities, After the Fall, This England: The Histories,
The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Skyfall, Casino Royale, A Knight
in Camelot, Robin Hood Who Shot the Sheriff, Merlin, Max Payne movie,
King Lear, Hamilton Lin-Manuel Miranda, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,
The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again, Phantom of the
Opera Norman Lewis, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, A Streetcar named desire, I Am Legend,
Spartacus Peter Mensah, Baywatch, Race to Witch Mountain, Walking Tall, Journey 2:
The Mysterious Island, Gridiron Gang, Hercules,The Dark Tower

black washing happens more Marvel an DC alone
has a lot of the characters like Batman, Superman, Iron Man
etc... than what HOLLYWOOD done. all you need to do is type
black [ insert Hero's and or Super Hero's an Villain's names here ]
on Google and you'll get a plethora of them being black. Eurasian
people do exist. whether their half Japanese, Chinese, Korean
so those blacks that indict white people of racism an supremacy
when I distributed evidence in how many blacks that took the place
of white and yellow people how ironic is that should I consider the same
thing to them an they always say the list given to them is a drop in a bucket
and claiming black washing doesn't exist an making up all sorts of excuses
for their justification.