I say YES. YOU say NO....Numero Tre! Enjoy!
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Illinois: I found that what I am experiencing with loss of some of my family related to their staunch support of Trump, the lies, etc is a form of grief: Ambiguious grief - Relationships ruptured by conflicting political beliefs and value systems fall into the category of psychological ambiguous loss. I have known these persons my entire life, yet they are - strangers who I know personally. As Nedra Tawwab put it, "It's really challenging to grieve living people." Those losses along with all the other losses (death of a brother who had alzheimers, a friend with newly dx. liver cancer, death of a dear friend etc) I'm experiencing is at times, as many of you in these threads have written, overwhelming. Yet, the wisdom, strength, and humor written in so many posts provide substantive nourishment to accept, to challenge, to rant and to cope while navigating these challenging times.
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magiclight
.Yes all that disillusionment of people that seemed so much like me at one time -- only difference was we didn't share political affiliations. We did all right on that level till the Reps. party at large went conspiratorial and nuts. Very sad indeed.0 -
This is a great way to sell books:
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A bit of the bubbly would be a magnificent go-with.
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Great thoughts magiclight, thanks for sharing.
Love the memes.
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Former Cop Beaten In Capitol Riot Calls Donald Trump 'America's Crazy Ex'
"He's just decided that if he can't have us, no one can," Michael Fanone said.02/01/2022
Michael Fanone, the former D.C. Metropolitan Police officer who was badly beaten by a violent mob during the Capitol riot last year, on Monday likened Donald Trump to "America's crazy ex."
"He's just decided that if he can't have us, no one can, and he's going to tear apart our democracy and our country if he can't get reelected," Fanone, who resigned from the police in December and is now a contributor for CNN, told anchor Anderson Cooper.
"There's just no bottom to what it is he's willing to say," Fanone said during a discussion about Trump's rally in Texas on Saturday. At the event, Trump called for protests in places where he is being investigated and dangled the prospect of pardons for those convicted for their roles in the insurrection at the Capitol.
"He still has a great deal of support in this country, and many of those supporters have already proven, like they did on Jan. 6, that they are willing to commit violence on his behalf," Fanone said of Trump.
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Btw, I also read that this police officer of 20 years resigned at the end of 2021 and is now a CNN on-air contributor.
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If you can accept the flow of life and give in to it, you will be accepting what is real. Only when you accept what is real can you live with it in peace and happiness. The alternative is a struggle that will never end because it is a struggle with the unreal, with a mirage of life instead of life itself.
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This man sometimes just amazes me:
Reality catches up with Mike Pence
Mike Pence might be the only person in America who thinks he's got a shot at the Oval Office. But the former vice president's bid to save his aspirations with the most logic-defying straddle in global politics is teetering disastrously.
Pence's political shop has emerged as the weak point in an attempt by former President Donald Trump's gang to cover up his coup attempt. The House committee probing the Capitol insurrection has now interviewed the ex-VP's ultra-loyal former chief of staff, Marc Short, and his former national security adviser, Keith Kellogg.Both men were at the epicenter in the days leading up to and during the Capitol insurrection and witnessed Trump's plotting and incitement. Unlike some of the ex-President's aides who threw themselves off a legal cliff, Short testified under a subpoena and spoke to the committee at length.
The questions now are whether the committee will call Pence himself— in what would be a significant escalation — or whether it even needs to since Kellogg and Short may have divulged everything their old boss might say. Ever since Pence concluded that Trump's crazed plan for the vice president to simply award him a second term on the basis of his election fraud fantasies was an absurdity, he has been deep in the political mire.
Eyeing a future White House run, Pence tried to brush the fact that he presided over Congress certifying Joe Biden's election victory under the constitutional carpet. With comical understatement, he said he and Trump will never agree on events of a day when a furious mob sacked the US Capitol chanting, "Hang Mike Pence." But he's also tried to claim his share of credit for the perceived success of the Trump-Pence administration to boost his hopes.This all richly ironic. Pence became a punchline for his craven loyalty to Trump during his term, smoothly ignoring the ex-President's extremism and lawlessness and regarding the commander in chief with the kind of adoring, faraway looks that tourists reserve for the carved faces on Mount Rushmore.
But now he's accused by the "Make America Great Again" crowd of one of the great betrayals in history — even though he had no constitutional option.The window that House investigators have managed to forge into Trump's West Wing through Pence's team may mark its most significant victory yet.
If the ex-VP's goose wasn't already cooked, it probably is now.0 -
Pence never did very much the whole four yrs. as Vice P. He just worked to keep Trump propped up -- and in the end was used as much as any of the Loon's lackeys. That he came through on the side of America in the end had more to do with his realizing that it wasn't going to be possible to appease the Loon. Had there been a crack he could weasel through; I have to think he well might have gone that way. He was all set to lose his bid to remain Indiana's Governor when he was tapped to be the Loon's VP. The Loon didn't want him, any more than his native state. A lot of people went along with him as VP thinking there would be a sanity at work, but if there in Pence it was VERY weak and ineffectual. Pence started out his four yr. run with lies and would have finished that way if he could. Pence doesn't realize in some things there is no redemption. He, like many others will find spending time with someone like Trump always makes you way less than you were.
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I wanted to put this on my Facebook page, but Reps are far too afraid to examine themselves truthfully:
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Retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a former national security aide who offered key testimony in President Donald Trump's 2019 impeachment for dealings with Ukraine, has filed a lawsuit against the former president, Rudy Giuliani and two former aides, accusing them of witness intimidation and retaliation.
The 73-page federal suit, filed Wednesday, says Vindman became "the target of a dangerous campaign of witness intimidation by President Trump and a group of conspirators" after testifying about Trump's efforts to push Ukraine into investigating the family of his then-2020 election rival Joe Biden.
"The conspirators agreed on common, unlawful objectives — to deter Lt. Col. Vindman from testifying in the future and to retaliate against him after he did so," says the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
In addition to Trump and Giuliani, who was Trump's former personal attorney, the suit names as defendants former deputy White House communications director Julia Hahn and former deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino. It seeks unspecified damages and an order banning the defendants from further illegal actions against Vindman.
In an op-ed published Wednesday, Vindman said he has no regrets about testifying against Trump and speaking out, but wishes "it hadn't ended my career and upended my life."
"I especially wish that it hadn't taken such a toll on my family," he wrote. "Public servants who do their duty, tell the truth and uphold their oaths of office shouldn't be subjected to intimidation and retaliation. I've been disheartened to see so little accountability for what I experienced and other abuses of power that took place during that time. I worry about what that means for future whistleblowers, regardless of issue or party, who also want to do the right thing."
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Lt. Col Vindman is a fine man. I too am sorry for what happened to him and feel like a fine soldier was taken away from us. I hope things work out in the end for him and his family.
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I hope Liz Cheney makes it because we at least know her and what to expect. She has shown great courage, but wouldn't think twice about being against us were it not for the Loon.
Can Liz Cheney's massive fundraising save her?
Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney isn't going to go down without a fight.
Targeted by former President Donald Trump and thrown out of her leadership position within the GOP, Cheney is raising vast sums of money as she seeks a fourth term.
And when I say "vast sums," I mean it. The latest campaign finance reports show Cheney brought in more than $7 million in 2021, and ended the year with $4.7 million in the bank. She spent $1.8 million last year.
That's a massive increase over the $1.3 million Cheney spent on the entirety of her 2020 reelection race. It's also nearing the $2.5 million that Wyoming GOP Sen. Cynthia Lummis spent on winning an open seat race in 2020.
And Cheney's 2021 haul dwarfs that of her main primary opponent. After launching her campaign in September, Harriet Hageman raised $745,000 through the end of 2021 and had $381,000 on hand. (Hageman's total is all the less impressive when you consider she has the full-throated endorsement of the former President.)
It now seems nearly a certainty that Cheney will raise and spend more for this race than any other federal contest in Wyoming political history.
What's far less certain is whether all of this money can save Cheney from paying the price for her willingness to vote to impeach Trump for his role on January 6, 2021.
The reality for Cheney is that the political universe that will decide her fate is a) very small and b) overwhelmingly pro-Trump.
To the first point, consider that Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon won a contested (and admittedly crowded) Republican primary in 2018 with fewer than 39,000 votes. (Cheney received almost 79,000 votes in a far less contested primary in 2020.)
To the second point, the Wyoming Republican Party voted last November to no longer recognize Cheney as a Republican. While the move was purely symbolic, it speaks to the level of unhappiness with her among the conservative activist crowd in the state.
A (relatively) small universe of voters -- many of whom have likely already made up their minds -- means that all of Cheney's money may matter less than she would hope. Her best (only?) strategy is to use her financial edge to grow the size of the Republican primary electorate beyond the hardcore Trumpist base.
The Point: You'd always rather be the candidate with more money than the one with less. But the size of Wyoming and the nature of the opposition to Cheney may combine to make her money advantage much less impactful than you might imagine.
-- Chris
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A greater poverty than that caused by lack of money is the poverty of unawareness. Men and women go about the world unaware of the beauty, the goodness, and the glories in it. Their souls are poor. It is better to have a poor pocketbook than to suffer from a poor soul. Jerry Fleishman
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Working way over-time to own the Libs I'd say. It is beyond ridiculous but some things like humility, dignity, caring etc. have long gone by the wayside for the Reps. party. What a pity!! They stood for something once. Now it is just degraded immorality and complete stupidity that sadly has worked for them. May it all blow up soon.
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No problem at all.
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Going to miss her but swill be back --un-like the guy who thinks she is done and over.
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So they don't really read it after all, just as suspected or known.
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The bible is banned, somewhat. When I took 12th grade English (public school), our teacher presented the Book of Job as a historical literary work. We all had to get permission slips from our parents to read it.
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In helping others, we shall help ourselves, for whatever good we give out completes the circle and comes back to us. -Flora Edwards
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Been this way for a really long time:
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There really are no surprises in the Reps. party anymore. Too bad people believed Abbott. A snake in the grass, stays in the grass. Should have looked for him there from the get-go.
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The major incompetence this time was ignoring what ice and wind can do to power lines, including fallen trees and branches. So far, the grid has held up its end but local power companies are dealing with downed lines and related power outages...but it is not over yet!
In state politics, most of the repugnicans' ads are including anti-Biden statements. Find it interesting that while running for a state office they look like they are running against true President. Just another example of loyalty to party rather than country.
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Did not Abbott learn the lesson from the power outage in Tx last year? What a flaming a**hole. Is he the best Tx can find as a leader? He has no leadership skills that are apparent to anyone who doesn't reside in Tx.
The repugnican hypocrisy in claiming the money for projects they voted "no" on is incredible and I love the one who said it was his agenda from the get go. Do they even read what they write or publish? Don't their constituents look at how they voted?
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WASHINGTON — The Republican Party on Friday officially declared the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and events that led to it "legitimate political discourse," formally rebuking two lawmakers in the party who have been most outspoken in condemning the deadly riot and the role of former President Donald Trump in spreading the election lies that fueled it.
The Republican National Committee's overwhelming voice vote to censure Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois at its winter meeting in Salt Lake City culminated more than a year of vacillation, which started with party leaders condemning the Capitol attack and Trump's conduct, then shifted to downplaying and denying it.
On Friday, the party went further in a resolution slamming Cheney and Kinzinger for taking part in the House investigation of the assault, saying they were participating in "persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse."
It was an extraordinary statement about the deadliest attack on the Capitol in 200 years, in which a mob of Trump's supporters stormed the complex, brutalizing police officers and sending lawmakers into hiding. Nine people died in connection with the attack, and more than 150 officers were injured. The party passed the resolution without discussion and almost without dissent.
The censure is the latest and most forceful effort by the Republican Party to minimize what happened and the broader attempt by Trump and his allies to invalidate the results of the 2020 election. In approving it and opting to punish two of its own, Republicans seemed to embrace a position that many of them have only hinted at: that the assault and the actions that preceded it were acceptable.
It came days after Trump suggested that, if reelected in 2024, he would consider pardons for those convicted in the Jan. 6 attack and for the first time described his goal as aiming to "overturn" the election results.
For Republicans in Washington, the party's actions threatened new division as their leaders try to focus attention on what they call the failings of the Biden administration.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, wrote on Twitter, "Shame falls on a party that would censure persons of conscience, who seek truth in the face of vitriol. Honor attaches to Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for seeking truth even when doing so comes at great personal cost." He did not mention that the party chair who presided over the meeting and orchestrated the censure resolution, Ronna McDaniel, is his niece.
Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) during a hearing of the congressional committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Oct. 19, 2021. (Al Drago/The New York Times)
The party's far-right flank has been agitating to boot Cheney and Kinzinger out of the House Republican Conference for months, a push that Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, the minority leader, has tried to brush aside. And their formal censure is sure to stir up those efforts again.
"We need to move on from that whole discussion and, frankly, move forward and get the House back in 2022," said Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif., who is facing a difficult reelection campaign in a newly configured district.
Most House Republicans tried to ignore the actions of the party Friday, refusing to answer questions or saying they had not read the censure resolution. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, called it "dumb stuff," while Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., lamented the distraction from "this abysmal administration's record."
Democrats, however, were incensed, especially at the censure resolution's description of the Capitol attack as "ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse" and the ongoing legal investigations of Trump in New York and Georgia "as Democrat abuse of prosecutorial power."
"The Republican Party is so off the deep end now that they are describing an attempted coup and a deadly insurrection as political expression," said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a member of the special House committee investigating the Capitol attack. "It is a scandal that historians will be aghast at, to think that a major political party would be denouncing Liz Cheney for standing up for the Constitution and not saying anything about Donald Trump's involvement in the insurrection."
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who is also on the committee, said, "Their party has degenerated into a cult to the former president, unwilling to acknowledge the truth, and I think they condemn themselves with their resolution."
In his own defense, Kinzinger said, "I have no regrets about my decision to uphold my oath of office and defend the Constitution. I will continue to focus my efforts on standing for truth and working to fight the political matrix that's led us to where we find ourselves today."
The resolution speaks repeatedly of party unity as the goal of censuring the lawmakers, saying the party's ability to focus on the Biden administration was being "sabotaged" by the "actions and words" of Cheney and Kinzinger that indicate "they support Democrat efforts to destroy President Trump more than they support winning back a Republican majority in 2022."
More practically, the moves of the party in Salt Lake City will make it easier for the Republican apparatus to abandon Cheney and throw its weight and money behind her main primary challenger, Harriet Hageman.
The censure resolution declares that the party "shall immediately cease any and all support of" both lawmakers "as members of the Republican Party for their behavior which has been destructive to the institution of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Republican Party and our republic, and is inconsistent with the position of the conference."
Kinzinger has already announced he won't seek reelection, as have several other House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for inciting the attack on the Capitol. Cheney, however, has vowed to stand for reelection.
Earlier this week, the Wyoming delegation to the Republican National Committee submitted a so-called "Rule 11″ letter, formalizing party support for Hageman. The existence of the letter was reported by The Washington Post.
The letter allows the Republican National Committee to send resources to the Wyoming branch of the party to spend on Hageman's behalf — essentially designating her as the party's presumptive nominee. The designations are common in Republican politics but typically are used to support incumbents who may be facing token primary challengers. Florida's delegation, for instance, filed a similar letter months ago that allowed the national committee to funnel resources to support the reelection campaigns for Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Marco Rubio.
Cheney, who faces an uphill battle in her reelection bid against a Republican Party aligned with Trump, said party leaders "have made themselves willing hostages" to Trump.
"I do not recognize those in my party who have abandoned the Constitution to embrace Donald Trump," she said. "History will be their judge. I will never stop fighting for our constitutional republic. No matter what."
Cheney's spokesman, Jeremy Adler, condemned the Wyoming party leadership and its chair, Frank Eathorne, for directing resources to Hageman. Eathorne did not respond to messages Friday; other members of the Wyoming delegation declined to comment.
"Frank Eathorne and the Republican National Committee are trying to assert their will and take away the voice of the people of Wyoming before a single vote has even been cast," Adler said.
Cheney has a commanding financial advantage over Hageman, according to federal campaign finance reports released earlier this week. Cheney entered 2022 with nearly $5 million in campaign cash, while Hageman reported just $380,000.
The censure resolution was watered down from an initial version that called directly for the House Republican Conference to "expel" Cheney and Kinzinger "without delay." That demand was dropped. However, the language condemning the attack on "legitimate political discourse" was then added.
William J. Palatucci, a Republican National Committee member from New Jersey, said those changes were made "behind closed doors." The final language was officially circulated to committee members Friday morning. He called it "cancel culture at its worst."
"The national committee attacking Liz Cheney is distracting and counterproductive," he said. "We should be spending our time shooting at Democrats, not Republicans."
c.2021 The New York Times Company
Oh, they do eat their own so translucently.
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