When I was a kid in middle school we had a mock election (1972 election) and I actually "voted" for Nixon. As a kid I had no political party I had any feelings about back then and neither did my parents. They just voted for who they liked. Nowadays it does seem even more partisan than it did back then.
The difference now vs. years ago is that we used to only have 13 channels on TV and 3-4 were major networks. So everyone listened to the same news programs etc. Now, we have hundreds of channels, and state run TV by Fox, who became more and more partisan and phony. They knew that the mob mentality tactics would create a swell of people to listen to them. They captured the worst parts of humanity in this country and latched onto them using fear and manipulation.
I feel once the hearings are public some of the people will open up their eyes, but many will choose to remain closed. Yet, there will be a blue wave. Once the cat is out of the bag and out in the open the Orange nightmare is going to exit stage right.
I'm so sorry you were the victim of an attack like that. One of the reasons I never joined Facebook. I don't like "herd mentality" in human beings.
Like deetoo said, this was the only forum I joined too. I have some YT folks I follow and comment with but I know they are safe spaces there too now because they eliminate the trolls, however this is the only forum I've ever joined in my life!
Let me clarify - the verbal attack was out in public on the street in my [allegedly very left wing] neighborhood, not on FB or anywhere online. White dude in a MAGA hat driving a hoopty car... It had happened within a week of someone shooting into a busy restaurant right up that block, the shooter was screaming that "gays have to die" (which is why I reported my attack).
By limiting my FB interactions considerably, it's not so bad. As an old friend put it when I went back - "Welcome back. It's still a cesspool. But it's OUR cesspool."
The Fox crowd wont be affected by public hearings. They will edit everything to fit their narrative, and their viewers are too addicted to their echo chambers to ever actually watch the hearings. That group is as they are and will not change. The public hearings, however, will change the views of the roughly 10-15% of independant thinkers who dont know what to believe yet. That 10% is all that is needed, as once the support of impeachment hits about 60%, the GOP will turn on DT.
Of course I can't find the post now but someone asked what state I live in etc. As far as FB, I block people like crazy and don't take on new friends. The board I was on - I'm ashamed to say it - was for a television show (I used to run a website for it). I don't think these people are trolls. I'm not saying there weren't ANY but I'd be surprised. However, I've seen these people posting about the show. There was never a political discussion until yesterday. Anyway, I've left.
I live in New York State. I lived in NYC for 30 years. We have a lot of Republicans here. My sister is a Republican though she loathes Trump and didn't vote for him. She had a photo of Hillary on our refrigerator with a Hitler mustache, and she absolutely positively hates Gov. Cuomo with every ounce of her being. She was in the legal profession and says that Hillary should be in prison for Whitewater. This is what I live with. However, she campaigned for a Democrat running for family court judge. The woman running is from Puerto Rico. And when my sister's friend talked her up at a gathering, no one wanted to vote for her when they found out she wasn't Italian. She lost but has an important new job now.
Areas like this are Republicans - Nixon carried our county when he ran against Kennedy - but it's because we have a large portion of immigrants, and there was a time when Republicans actually helped small businesses. It was a different party then. This year our county flipped Democrat but it's said the "blue wave" in the state lessened.
@laura-f, that was an excellent article by Andrew Sullivan. Thanks for linking it. He sounds very much like Steve Schmidt, the Republican political strategist who worked for the Bush and McCain campaigns. He's been saying similar things and sounding the alarm ever since T. got into the WH.
I also think there needs to be a law requiring all presidential candidates to be vetted by congress for security clearance prior to entering the race, or at least prior to inauguration. It is a huge national security breach to have a president who is a compromised asset to some foreign power. Everyone else in government has to have a security clearance -- why should the president be an exception?
Agree with this 100%. My husband is a Federal Service employee and requires a fairly high level national security clearance for his job. His clearance requires him to regularly provide updated information (stocks we own for instance, our debts, foreign travel and contacts, any arrests, etc.). He also has to take regular, random drug tests.
It has always been absurd to me that my husband, who is all things considered a rather low level government employee, has to do this when the president, vice president, and members of Congress do not get any national security screening at all. Yet, they get to access all sorts of high level security information and make national security decisions.
Requiring that all potential candidates for president and vice president - if not Congressional candidates too - pass at least a basic national security screening BEFORE they can even run for office would nip a lot of problems in the bud. And it would weed out people who aren't truly committed to serving the best interests of our country.
Yes, there are some potential downsides such the process becoming politicized, but I think that can be worked out. It is just nuts that we require national security screening for low level civil servants, military members, and Federal contractors but NOT for the people at the top.
@suspira44, although I am a subscriber to the Washington Post, I will also sometimes read their online articles. Seems fairly safe, right? But I had to stop going into the Comments section following the articles, once I'd read some of the abhorrent stuff people would say. At some point during the back-and-forth comments, fights will break out, some with name-calling. It's all extremely upsetting, to the point where I've had to do a spiritual cleanse of sorts, just to get the yucky stuff off of me. Sometimes just getting out in the fresh air will do the trick. So I avoid those Comments sections.
I'm from NY too (though I live in CT now). The town I live in voted for all republicans in the latest local election. (somewhat affluent suburb town). I know how folks can be. The trouble is many affluent people in the N.E. vote republican around here although this GOP is not their grandfather's republican party at all. Many don't like Trump but voted for him in the last election. I've heard some say things like "I held my nose and voted for Trump". (UH WHAT???) It's insane. It's all about their bottom line wall street wallets, even though they don't realize it's never been the republicans who have balanced a budget or enabled low unemployment.
I had my hair done the one day and a woman heard me say something negative about the Orange nightmare and she said to my hairdresser - "OH MY SHE IS ONE OF THEM!!!!" (what?!) Thankfully my hairdresser let her know that is not right to act like that and got her to back off.
I have Facebook and I some news channel except fox. When T was just a candidate. The comments were more Pro-T. As the years have passed I have noticed about 90% is against T. Once in a while there are comments of Pro-T but most are either bots cause they post comments and hardly respond back and just there profile you can tell are fake. A lot are not even in this country and some I believe are just people posting crap for him to piss people off.
Thanks for writing what you did about finding our choir. I know you have mentioned this before here and in your heart warrior classes, but it is such a good reminder.
Also, the strength we gather from our choir can help carry us forward when we discover a new person in need of encouragement and hope. It is easier to be a light in their presence.
She won the popular vote by 3 million votes, even with all the voter suppression and redistricting.
you are right, but a lot of people voted against her. And the electoral college doesn't care how many votes you get. I flew to NYC to vote against George Bush and I didn't have to, because the electoral votes had already been decided. I could have voted for Hoot Gibson. The problem is the electoral votes in these huge red states.
A federal judge in Washington dismissed President Trump’s lawsuit seeking to block the House Ways and Means Committee from using a recently enacted New York law to request his state tax returns, saying that for now the case belongs before a judge in New York.
The House panel, chaired by Rep. Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.), has not requested Trump’s state returns. Trump’s attorneys filed the lawsuit in July preemptively, arguing that without an emergency court order blocking a congressional request, his New York returns might be disclosed before the president’s opposition could be heard in court.
Based on the current allegations, Mr. Trump has not met his burden of establishing [the court’s] personal jurisdiction over either of the New York Defendants,” the state’s tax commissioner and attorney general, Nichols wrote in a 19-page opinion.
In a statement, New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) said she was “pleased” with the court’s conclusion, adding: “The TRUST Act is an important tool that will ensure accountability to millions of Americans who deserve to know the truth. We have never doubted that this law was legal, which is why we vigorously defended it from the start and will continue to do so.”
If anyone is looking for a good overview of all of the info from the closed door depositions, put into a nice little timeline of events, to use as a cheat sheet when the hearings start tomorrow, I highly recommend the one put together by Terri Kanefield, an attorney and author, and MSNBC commentator. It helped me understand how everything fits together. Link:
https://impeachment-trump.com/
Jeanne, I'm wondering if perhaps starting a second thread JUST for the impeachment hearings might be worthwhile at this point? This thread is great for discussing Trump, but there is going to be a ton of information to discuss just on the hearings, and it might be good to separate that out as its own discussion. I didn't want to start it - thought I'd leave it up to Jeanne.
Happy impeachment hearings everyone! I'm excited for things to get underway tomorrow!
Kentucky Republican Gov. Matt Bevin conceded in his reelection bid against Democrat Andy Beshear on Thursday afternoon, over a week after the initial vote results were deemed too close to call.
Trump dominated Kentucky in the 2016 presidential elections, winning the state by 30 points and Bevin leaned on the president's popularity to carry him to the finish line. The Republican governor has alienated some supporters by pushing to cut state pension programs and hammering public school teachers for striking -- including his suggestion that the striking teachers indirectly bore responsibility for the shooting of a 7-year-old girl who remained at home because of school closures.
oh well let’s this be a lesson for 2020 race trump is not that popular only in his head!! Oh wait better let him campaign for Republicans. I think Trump said not to let him down ? they did
Trump takes his tax fight to the Supreme Court. Any thoughts? Will they take the case or will we see his taxes?
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trumps-efforts-shield-tax-returns-supreme-court/story?id=67018883
It’s disgusting that you were attacked in a racial way, or in any way. And for people to not support you at your next door.com is just as disgusting if not more. Lately I feel everything is upside down and backwards. Making me a little nuts at times. Please remember those are a segment of society, but there’s a whole lot more people that are different and in a good way.
Anita