It makes one wonder what oaths the Oath Keepers actually pledged.  Wasn’t loyalty to one another among them?

In all fairness, cooperation with prosecution in exchange for lighter sentencing is a standard aspect of American criminal justice, and he shouldn’t be reviled any more in this case than in any other, IMO.

And who knows what evidence this turd is turning over?  At this point, it seems probable that there was some level of communication between the Oath Keepers and the Trump administration.

Information to that effect would be extremely valuable.

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With each passing year, as the ignorance of the average American becomes ever more profound, products are being put on the market, designed to extract money from their wallets.

For $329, you can have this “meticulously designed Tempest Weather System (that) leverages powerful machine learning and state-of-the-art modeling capabilities to provide the most precise, local forecast available – guaranteed. No moving parts, completely wireless, simple installation, with instant online access to weather data via free iOS and Android apps.”

So, now it appears there are people who believe that the most accurate local weather forecasts derive from data gathered in your backyard.  That’s just pathetic.

 

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This seems self-evident, doesn’t it?  American conservatives believe, if nothing else, that the United States is an almost holy nation, that God smiles on our endeavors, that rule of law lies at the core of what makes our nation the greatest in the world.

Well, what if it’s not that easy?  What if you’re convinced that socialists rigged the election and stole it from Donald Trump?  And, as the 45th president himself said, “You’ve got to go down to the Capitol and fight like hell, or you’re not going to have a country anymore.”  What if you simply believe that, because that’s what the president (and your personal hero) told you?

Trump and his top lieutenants knew goddamn well that the January 6th insurrection was an attempted coup, but the rank-and-file Fox News acolyte certainly didn’t.  In fact, 16 months later, the nation is still littered with Trump Won signs on its front yards.

Unfortunately, like everything else in our post-truth world, this is not a black and white issue.

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The assertion in the meme here is true, but it raises an importation question: how well equipped is our species to deal with events that were unthinkable just 10 years ago?  I’m referring to things like massive disinformation campaigns and the rejection of science, world fascism, environmental collapse, uncontrollable pandemics, and perhaps even nuclear war.

There are those believe that humankind has entered an evolutionary cul de sac, and there is substantial evidence that suggests that they may be correct.

Others believe that the world’s wealthiest people can ride out any storm, and that makes sense as well.

What seems to be unavoidable, however, is unprecedented levels of suffering for the common person.

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At a certain level, this is a private joke between my wife and me.  She is quite frustrated by the pace of the Justice Department’s actions against the architects of the insurrection, and tells me, “Just let me know when the first indictments are unsealed.”

Of course, there is nothing really “private” about it; we can all share in the drama that is about to unfold, and the sheer joy that all decent Americans will experience in seeing the core of our democracy upheld.

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Republicans say that most Americans are no longer interested in the insurrection (or whatever euphemism you prefer) of January 6th, 2021.

Yet shouldn’t we be skeptical of that? It seems hard to forget about the most horrific crime ever committed by a U.S. president.

That’s especially true given that the incident isn’t over; many voters still believe that the election was rigged and that our democracy has been stolen by the Deep State, the Hollywood elitists, the socialists, Big Tech, or some other boogieman.

 

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Yes.  It’s called being “woke.”  It’s a word that hateful people use to describe those who care about anyone but themselves.

It’s one of the very worst features of America 2022.

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“If (Republicans) ever run the country again, it’s going to be a disaster for America.”

That’s certainly the way all sane Americans look at this matter right this minute.  But I think what Howard Dean (American politician, prominent a couple of decades ago) said here is so obvious that the party can’t ignore it, and must immediately make an abrupt change in direction to avoid total decay into nothingness.

The first step is to expel Trump from relevance.  That may be like passing a kidney stone the size of a grapefruit, but it’s absolutely necessary if the GOP has any hope of removing the impression that the party is composed exclusively of neo-Nazis and mental asylum escapees.

From there, a straight line exists to Republicans’ getting their stuff back together.

The Fox News people will always find something to scare the hell out of old white people: immigrant caravans, high gas prices, the U.S. military involved in Ukraine, legalizing marijuana, critical race theory, woke books in schools, the removal of God from our society, gun control, you name it; the list is endless.

Again, first step: Trump is gone.

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Charismatic and free-thinking pastor John Pavlovitz writes: People deserve a God who is bigger than Franklin Graham’s and Marco Rubio’s and Marjorie Taylor Greene’s and the GOP’s God. Their God is small and terrified—and it suspiciously resembles them. (more…)

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Here’s another gem that Joe Biden probably didn’t write for his own delivery at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, but it certainly went over well.

Seriously, there is a character (other than Brandon) who is definitely not having a good year in U.S. politics, and that’s the 45th President of the United States.  In particular, the Congresspeople he supports are struggling in their respective races, which indicates that Trump’s losing control of the Republican party.

For example, in the Georgia governor’s race, Trump-backed former U.S. Senator David Perdue is trailing Incumbent Brian Kemp 27% to 53%.  That’s not really “trailing,” actually; that’s more like “getting his fanny whooped by.”

Yet the chain of causation on this is hard to establish.  Are these candidates  struggling because the have the support of a criminal conman?  Maybe.  But it could be what is called in statistics “selection bias.”  Perhaps these people were chosen to receive Trump’s support because they are overtly spineless and dishonest, and the American have decided they’ve seen enough spinelessness and dishonesty for an entire century, and have simply turned toward people with more traditional values.

In either case, it’s good news for what remains of the United States.

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