#gop war on education

[tomorrowusa]

Republicans don't want you to be educated because it's usually the ignorant and the gullible who believe their bullshit and conspiracy theories.

In a video posted on his website last week, Trump pledged to "fire the radical Left accreditors" and hire new ones "who will impose real standards on colleges." ° Some of those standards would include "protecting free speech," "removing all Marxist diversity, equity, and inclusion bureaucrats," and "implementing college entrance and exit exams to prove that students are actually learning and getting their money's worth." ° Last month, DeSantis sued the Biden administration over the college accreditation system, alleging it's unconstitutional, Inside Higher Ed reports. Students who receive federal aid must attend an accredited college or university.

Donald Trump, the founder and namesake of Trump University, is not a fan of accreditation. For Trump, a "university" is an opportunity to scam people and then pocket some loot.

Ron DeSantis, like Vladimir Putin, simply doesn't like any information system which he can't directly control; he feels nobody should challenge his view that slavery was "beneficial" to its victims.

Of course the GOP finds college loan forgiveness horrifying. In their view, if you're not rich and don't have a daddy to bribe an admissions officer then you should be working at sub-minimum wage for an Earth-unfriendly corporation owned by a Republican megadonor.

The GOP has embraced the role of being the anti-youth party. Maybe GOP really means the "Get Off my Party!"

Vivek Ramaswamy, currently in third place for the Republican nomination, wants to raise the voting age to 25. Ramaswamy is the youngest of the candidates for the nomination, but that doesn't mean he'd be any good for young people. He's essentially Trump with a Cincinnati accent.

It's an irony that the oldest president of the United States, Joe Biden, is more pro-youth than anybody in the Republican Party. Biden is exponentially better on issues which matter to younger voters: reproductive freedom, affordable college, income inequality, LGBTQ+ rights, climate/environment, ending racism, and decent healthcare.

It's not age but personal attitude which ultimately determines political philosophy. 37-year-old Vivek Ramaswamy and 44-year-old Ron DeSantis have the political equivalent of advanced dementia when it comes to positions on policies relating to younger voters.

#republicans #the gop #anti-intellectualism #republicans are anti-education #republicans are anti-youth #republican war on higher education #donald trump #trump university #accreditation #ron desantis #vivek ramaswamy #younger voters #election 2024

[joe-england]

'Poisoning the well': Florida middle schoolers to be dragged into DeSant...

#youtube #florida #slavery #gop #culture war #race #racism #msnbc #desantis #history #schools #propaganda #woke #john brown #thomas hamilton #education #black history #indoctrination

[qqueenofhades]

It's definitely a refusal to engage with or truly understand politics. I'm 24, I was in middle school during Obama's second term and 17 in 2016, and I feel like a lot of my peers just continue to be appalled at how bad things have gotten with the Republicans and why Democrats can't do anything to stop it. What's missing from their understanding is how long it took for the Republicans to get here. It didn't start in 2016. They worked for decades to do all the nightmarish shit they're doing now, and Democrats just haven't been able to do the same (because people refuse to vote consistently and give them the power to do those things). I feel like that's where the "both sides are the same" bullshit comes from - the idea that if the Dems wanted to stop the GOP, they would. It's a fundamental misunderstanding of how anything works, and often relies on downplaying how bad the Republicans actually are in order to support their 'Dems are just as bad' stance.

Things did get catastrophically worse when Trump was elected, and he broke things way more than they ever had been, but he doesn't exist in a vacuum and it took the Republicans a lot of fucking work for him to do what he did. The only way the Dems can counteract that is by having a party of people willing to put in a similar level of work, and that requires understanding our structures and how things work (executive orders are only temporary fixes and actual legislation takes time, compromise, and work), and a lot of these people just aren't willing to do it.

The thing is, yes, I absolutely do get the feeling that everything is terrible and we are doomed. I went through it when GWB was re-elected in 2004 and then again in 2008, worrying about whether Obama would get elected and end that particular run of Republican-induced misery (when John McCain looks like a fucking saint compared to the GOP candidates we are being offered now), and obviously plumbed the depths of despair in 2016 with Trump. But I don't remember ever thinking that I should just give up trying, stop voting, or any of that, and I don't think it was because I was some kind of special person who was just so tenacious. I obviously have not been a teenager in the present era and yes, that means I have different views on things from the next generation, but also: this has always happened. Moments of total political despair and feeling that everything is fucked are also not a new thing. We are going through it with Trumpism, the previous generation went through it with Reagan/Thatcher, the previous previous generation went through it with Nixon/Vietnam, the previous etc generation went through it with the Cold War, the previous etc. etc. generation went through it with World War II -- and so forth. There has never been any one point when everything was great and there was no work left to be done, because, y'know. That is not how either history or human nature works.

Hence, that is why I'm trying to figure out what in the fuck is going on right now, and whether it's just social media that have made things so bad (entirely possible). Critical thinking is a shambles, yes, but that's not necessarily something young people have chosen for themselves. The current world is a late-stage capitalist dystopia run by four or five trillionaire oligarch cartels and corporations, and obviously public education, basic civic responsibility, the teaching of any "controversial" history, and everything else that might threaten that setup has been systematically and methodically dismantled, politicized, or so infiltrated with false information that it's basically useless. That in itself is not young people's fault. They have genuinely been dealt a terrible hand in many ways, and I don't blame them for being angry about it. I too am angry about it! I do question, however, when the overwhelming sentiment became "well we should just give up and let the bad guys win, either because it's too much work to change it or because that will spark the Great Revolution and that's the only way to fix things ever, and doing anything else at all in the meantime is wrong."

Once again: I do not blame young people for being angry at the shitty situation they are currently facing. I do not blame young people for being disillusioned with the system and thinking that it can't solve everything at once. But yet again: there has never been any government, country, or organization in the history of ever anything everywhere that was able to do that, and the ones that tried, or insisted that they could do it, were infamously murderous bloodbaths, because breaking society (even with all its flaws) into a thousand pieces and thinking this will make My Preferred Ideological Utopia Now Appear is probably the deadliest belief in all of time and space. The world is flawed and has been for all time because humans are flawed and probably will be for all time. Being a grownup requires coming to an understanding of that fact and seeing what you can do in spite of that. People in every era have had gaps and biases and blind spots and other things that hobbled their understanding or made their efforts for change less perfect or complete than they would have wanted in an ideal world, and they have had to move past those anyway. The current generation is no different. Not to sound like a boomer, but even despite the mess they've been faced with, they need to figure out how to engage with it anyway and not just completely absolve responsibility because they can't fix it all at once. Which I don't think most young people do! There are plenty of them who really do get it and are engaged and idealistic and working for good change, and that's great! It's just the other part that worries me, and which is not as small as we would like to think.

And yes, part of this is just flat-out bad information and the stubborn lack of any desire to change it if it conflicts with pre-existing beliefs. (This is by no means exclusive to young people of this current generation, as it's another bad habit of humanity, but yes.) In the aforementioned "you're driving young leftists away :(" ask I got yesterday, there were also plenty of dubious and just-flat-wrong claims, such as that Democrats keep moving to the right "especially economically." That is just not true. In the last four years, the Democrats have moved the most economically leftward in all of American history and have finally and flatly rejected the Great Reagonomics Myth. Just because Clinton did Reagonomics-lite in the '90s (when most of the current generation of Online Leftists weren't even born), that is thirty years ago and in wildly different circumstances. These things are not difficult to look up. Do it. Try to educate yourself, even if the system doesn't want to do it. You can't just throw up your hands and insist that nobody taught you, so how could you know??? Put that "instant access to all of human history and knowledge" to use, even just a little. It'll be good for you!

Likewise, there was also the anon's befuddling insistence that I was "patronizing" or "shaming" anyone "further left than Biden," which reflects their apparent feeling that telling people to vote for Biden is a "personal attack" on their cherished beliefs, or whatever. I'm unsure how many times we have to keep repeating that voting for a candidate does not mean you are canonizing all their beliefs exactly as your own, and that it's just one tool to do the bare minimum to not live in a fucking fascist theocratic dictatorship, but yeah. I can guarantee you that I personally am well left of Biden. I can guarantee you that most people on Tumblr voting for Biden are probably well left of him as well. That does not negate the fact that Biden is the most progressive president America has ever had, regardless of how much Online Leftists shriek otherwise. It also does not negate the fact that this is by no means true of America as a whole (witness the large faction that still thinks Biden is a godless far-left evil socialist). It does not negate the many complex historical, political, social, cultural, religious, racial, etc reasons that have collided to produce the America where this is the case. Therefore, if I do not want to live in a society ruled by Trump and his orange Nazi minions, which is the case due to how badly the last 10 years have been fucked up, I will use the tool of voting for Biden! He can be successfully pressured to create positive change in the direction that I would like! Trump cannot and will not under any circumstances, regardless of the wild fantasies that suddenly he will transform into a perfect progressive on Gaza or whatever other issue! THIS IS NOT THAT FUCKING DIFFICULT!!!!!!!

Anyway. All of this is obviously complicated. Obviously things are bad and frightening and we want a solution that fixes all of it at once, instead of slowly, badly, and piecemeal. But as I said: that has never, not once, been the case in all of history, and we know what happens when people and/or governments with delusions of psychopathic grandeur try to do it. We do not want the "Final Solution" (which is infamous as what Hitler literally called the Holocaust). We do, in fact, want the careful step by step, we want things to get better and not just explode in a mountain of nihilistic doom, and that does take work, from everyone. So unfortunately, there is no real choice except to do it.

#anonymous #ask #history #politics for ts

[socialjusticeinamerica]

They don’t even know of a time when life was better in America. Actually Gen X was the first generation in America not to do better than their parents. The same being true for the last few years of the Boomer generation. Y also is struggling.

The lady Boomers and X’ers remember what it was like before Reagan took over and busted unions in 1980. Wages dropped, factory owners took their shops to the Deep South where unions had long since been busted or never allowed to set up in the first place. Then the oligarchs outsourced their work and shuttered factories nationwide.

Before Reagan one parent working 40 hrs a week at a union job could afford a mortgage, a new car, medical insurance, and college for their 2.5 kids. That also applied to “minorities” or marginalized people who benefitted from union protections and negotiated standard pay scales.

With Reagan a home went from two years salary to 10+ years salary. Tuition did the same. Cars that cost a month’s salary soared to a year’s salary. Wages have remained stagnant for about 40 years. The wealthy paid high taxes and we had everything. Now the remnants of the middle class pay the bulk of taxes while multimillionaires and billionaires pay little or even nothing. Credit card interest soared to over 20% in some cases while Republikkkans passed laws making it easier for those card companies to sue you whilst making it nearly impossible for you to sue them. Mentally disabled people were literally dumped into the streets causing widespread homeless which is criminalized in affluent areas and red states. Guns and drugs flooded the streets. Bigoted white nationalists became radicalized when Reagan granted Australian Rupert Murdoch citizenship so he could open Fox News and then shut down the Fairness Doctrine so propaganda could be spread under the guise of news.

All the societal problems we suffer today began with the birth of the modern RepubliKKKan party led by their racist Dotard Ronald Reagan in 1980. The GOP became an organized crime syndicate and the government became a tool for the rich. The middle class shrunk from a sizeable percentage of the population to a handful of areas in the north and along the west coast. Many foolish people believe themselves to be in the middle class but in fact they are just perpetual debtors.

If you’re young your first reaction might be to blame the Boomers because that’s incorrectly become a marketed belief. The Boomer generation fought against the GOP and its wars, racism, pollution, big oil, corporate welfare, and black hole military industrial complex. They were the hippies and political activists that marched on Washington and other places. They booted the racist Dixiecrats (southern conservative racist Dems) from the Democratic Party while shifting educated liberals left. Sadly the GOP under Nixon and his colleagues welcomed the racists and conservative nut jobs. Don’t fight a generational war when you should be fighting a class/culture/political war.

The younger generation needs to educate itself about the political parties and how life was better just a few decades back and begin to vote. Vote, then organize in the workplace through unions and in the streets to attract more young voters and to counter protest the Republikkkan right-wing oligarch take-over of America. Complaining and taking refuge in the internet won’t turn things around. Become politically active, become stoke, bring back lower tuition, affordable health care, labor unions, workers rights, voters rights, etc.

[anexperimentallife]

A few things you should know about shitty US electoral politics (long post)

Neither party gives a fuck about you, and the leadership of BOTH parties support the genocide in Gaza, but you already knew that.

HOWEVER, various prominent GOP figures ALSO supported a right-wing domestic coup attempt, want to ban abortion nationwide (overturning Roe v Wade was a step along the way to that), want draconian restrictions on birth control, to ban same-sex marriage, ban sex education, ban any and all queer-positive literature, want to "phase out" social security and medicare, to completely rewrite US history textbooks nationwide with a nationalist agenda that erases US crimes against non-white peoples (already done in some states), allow US law enforcement to stop anyone darker than mayonnaise and demand to see their papers, start a nuclear war, abolish the minimum wage, outlaw their political rivals, weaponize the justice department, FBI, and other federal agencies against their political rivals, outlaw dissent of any kind, and remove restrictions against using US troops against US citizens (see Tuberville's blocking of top military appointees so that a future GOP president can appoint GOP/Trump loyalists to those positions, the way they blocked judicial/SCOTUS nominees in order to get Roe v Wade overturned).

The GOP openly states that they know the only way they win elections is by keeping non-right-wing voters away from the polls, and they invest heavily in, among other things, online psyops to convince people not to vote. And it works, because right wing voters ALWAYS show up to the polls.

Every time a right wing candidate wins, Dem leadership goes, "Huh, I guess we need to field more conservative candidates if we want to win elections." The idea being that if they can somehow "meet in the middle," they'll get the conservative vote. (Hint: They won't.)

So what convinces the Dems to run more progressive candidates? Overwhelming support at the ballot box for leftist candidates on the local and primary levels--school board elections, senators and representatives at the state and federal level, sheriffs, judges, mayoral and city council races, and various other local and regional elected positions. That's it. The only two things they understand are money and winning.

Whomever wins the presidency and gets enough congressional support gets to appoint federal and supreme court judges, top military officials, and various other decision-makers. THIS IS HOW THE GOP WAS ABLE TO OVERTURN ROE V WADE.

The US can't be fixed in a single election cycle. Every cycle in which the GOP wins, however, pushes the Dems further to the right AND allows the GOP more power to enact their vision.

Yes, we need viable third parties. Unfortunately, barring a miracle, third parties and independents are right now viable only in some local, and possibly a few congressional races.

In order for third parties to be viable for things like presidential elections, we're most likely going to need ranked choice voting--which, again, we may eventually get by pushing progressive candidates at the state and local level--publicly-funded elections, the abolition of the electoral college (both Bush and Trump lost the popular vote, and were only awarded victory because of the electoral college), and the repeal of Citizens United (which essentially legalized large-scale corporate bribery of candidates).

Look, we all hate Biden, and refusing to vote for him (or whatever other shitbag candidate the Dems run) might feel good, but it is also likely to result in a GOP win--which means MORE support for genocide the world over, and the GOP gaining more power to enact their wish list, which I partially enumerated above.

How many people do you think will die under a nationwide abortion ban? How do you think it's going to work out if a far-right president has the authority to unleash US troops on protesters? How many seniors and disabled folks do you think will suffer and die if Social Security and Medicare are abolished? How many will suffer and die if Trump gets his wet dream of a nuclear war?

I mean, the US has already bombed its own people for not toeing the capitalist/white supremacist line, sponsored coups against foreign leaders and replaced them with dictators, and invaded or threatened to invade foreign countries for not bowing to US corporate interests (look up the origins of the term "banana republic," "overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom," and "1953 Iran coup," for just a few examples), experimented on US citizens without their knowledge (look up "tuskegee syphilus study," among many other things) and so on, and so on.

And if the GOP gains control of all three branches of government, it's going to get even worse.

Today's GOP is more rabidly extremist than at any other time in my life. And as I said, I'm OLD, dude. I was born the year Kennedy was assassinated. Among my early memories are watching the first lunar landing, watching Nixon's "I am not a crook" speech, and seeing news footage of the US withdrawal from Vietnam. And I'm telling you, today's GOP makes the GOP of my youth look practically benign in comparison.

I used to roll my eyes at the refrain of, "this is the most important election of your life," and the "blue no matter who" folks, but man... The 2016 election really WAS the most important, but only SO FAR.

Because the GOP--due to the facts that GOP/Trump supporters voted, and many others didn't--will most likely control the Supreme Court for DECADES to come, and currently control the Senate. If they gain the presidency, retain control of the Senate, and take control of the House, all may be lost.

Again, the far right openly states that keeping non-conservatives from voting is how they win, and they invest a lot in gerrymandering, voter roll purges, and online psyops to make that happen. Doing exactly what the fash want "but for leftist/progressive reasons" isn't the own you think it is. Funny--I hear the same folks who mock far right voters for voting against their own best interests say they're "protesting" by refusing to vote--when that's exactly how the far right wins.

Look, I'm old. I was planning to live my final years outside the US, eventually immigrating to the Republic of Ireland or Uruguay or somewhere like that, but now that I have a child, I'm being forced to return to the US for at least a few years so I can use my medical benefits to live long enough to see her grow up. If she ever needs an abortion, or birth control, or to fight a discrimination or sexual harassment case, or simply to speak her mind without fear of being arrested or killed for it, or needs social security or Medicare because of a disability, I want her to have those things.

Another argument I've heard is that, "Voting doesn't change anything." Well, when I was a kid, mixed-race marriages were FINALLY legalized across the US, and schools became multiracial. More recently, same-sex marriage was made the law of the land. Conservatives fought all of those things, but voting made them happen.

On the flip side, thanks to the far right takeover of SCOTUS, Roe v Wade was overturned as an end result of the far right winning elections. (And again, this is just part one of their plan for a nationwide abortion ban.)

So don't look at it as voting FOR whatever shitbag the Dems run; look at it as voting AGAINST a full-on right-wing takeover of the US and buying time to make some fundamental changes. Voting doesn't mean you can't ALSO march, etc.

Or I mean, if you want a nationwide abortion ban, a nuclear war, MORE genocide, and all the other stuff of right-wing wet dreams, and want a far right takeover of the US while you tell yourself, "Yeah, but I maintained my moral purity," then by all means withhold your vote. Just don't delude yourself about the outcome.

#rob gets political

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Wednesday declined to say slavery was a cause of the Civil War, arguing instead that it came down to “the role of government.”

At a New Hampshire town hall, a voter bluntly asked Haley, “What was the cause of the Civil War?”

Haley, the former South Carolina Governor and former U.N. ambassador who is aiming to present herself as the top Republican alternative to former President Donald Trump, gave a lengthy answer but did not mention slavery — the primary cause of the war.

“I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run ��� the freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do,” Haley said at the beginning of her response.

She went on to say: “I think it always comes down to the role of government and what the rights of the people are. And I will always stand by the fact that I think government was intended to secure the rights and freedoms of the people. It was never meant to be all things to all people.”

“Government doesn’t need to tell you how to live your life. They don’t need to tell you what you can and can’t do. They don’t need to be a part of your life. They need to make sure that you have freedom,” she said.

“We need to have capitalism. We need to have economic freedom. We need to make sure that we do all things so that individuals have the liberties so that they can have freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to do or be anything they want to be without government getting in the way.”

After the voter responded by saying he found it “astonishing” that Haley had not used the word “slavery” at any point in her answer, she asked, “What do you want me to say about slavery?”

Haley then moved on to the next question.

The exchange drew a swift response from Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison. “This isn’t hard: condemning slavery is the baseline for anyone who wants to be President of the United States,” he said in a statement.

President Joe Biden also responded with a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying, "It was about slavery."

Haley’s campaign responded by citing remarks she made addressing the issue during a New Hampshire interview Thursday morning.

“Yes, we know the civil war was about slavery,” Haley said in the interview. “But more than that, what’s the lesson in all this? That freedom matters. And individual rights and liberties matter for all people. That’s the blessing of America. That was a stain on America when we had slavery. But what we want is never relive it. Never let anyone take those freedoms away again.”

The response to Haley’s town hall comments follows similar criticism that a GOP rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, faced over his remarks about state standards that teach about the “personal benefit” Black people derived from slavery.

DeSantis was asked in July about the Florida Board of Education’s wording in its guidance for teaching about slavery and said, “I didn’t do it, and I wasn’t involved in it.” He went on to say, “I think what they’re doing is, I think that they’re probably going to show some of the folks that eventually parlayed, you know, being a blacksmith into, into doing things later in life,” referring to enslaved people.

Haley was Governor when South Carolina removed the Confederate flag from its Capitol following the 2015 shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston. She has previously talked about how the shooting was the most difficult time for her emotionally as Governor.

#us politics #news #republicans #gop #2023 #nikki haley #american civil war #slavery #2024 gop primary #new hampshire #Jaime Harrison #president joe biden #gov. ron DeSantis

[anniegetyourbubblegum]

I keep seeing posts from people in the US debating whether to vote for Biden in their upcoming elections to stop Trump from winning again or to punish the democrats for aiding Israel in the genocide of Palestine.

I'm argentinian and as far as I'm concerned, you should vote for whichever candidate you think will benefit you more, because you're from the US and that's all it's good for. The rest of the world will continue to suffer at your hands no matter what. Let me explain.

Democrats and republicans are not a representation of left and right wing politics: both parties are on the right side of the spectrum, only the GOP is more honest about it.

Republicans, as right wing parties do, run on promises of austerity, reducing taxes and being tough on crime. Democrats run promising to use tax money to ease your life: affordable healthcare, education and housing, all guaranteed so you can live the life of a first world citizen.

And then, they don't deliver.

You still have school shootings, massive incarceration, corruption in all levels of government, and the poorest pay a higher proportion of taxes than the richest. Healthcare, education and housing are extremely expensive and often require people to get into heavy debt to afford to have their most basic needs met, and that's only possible if you have good credit.

It's a reductive analysis for the sake of brevity, but you get the gist. The point is that having you be poor and afraid is the goal: it's a feature, not a bug.

You want to go to college? You need to buy a house? You want to start a family? Well, the military complex needs bodies! The US has far too many enemies to their way of life, so they'll need people to defend it! In exchange, they'll "guarantee" just enough money that you won't be destitute.

The US spends the most amount of money on their military in the world, by a long shot. To justify spending that kind of money, you HAVE to have wars. To have wars, you need enemies.

So, you get propaganda. "Muslims are extremists and hate our way of life." "Latin americans want to come to our country and steal our jobs." "China and Russia are communist countries that are waiting to destroy us." And you gobble it up.

You love it so much. It's in your news, in your videogames, in your movies and TV series and comic books. So, when they ask you to fight, you go running! You'll get some money out of it and you'll get to live your life the way you were promised. Sure, PTSD from the horrors is a given, but there's pills for that! And award winning movies about how difficult it is to go to war! It's all covered.

So the small, poor countries that you invade lose their money, natural resources, and their sovereignty but HEY, you brought democracy there! And the US is protected from this many enemies! Mission accomplished, right?

Well, as a citizen of a third world country whose current president is an insane pawn of the GOP, I'd like to say fuck you. He was placed so that the US could take our recently discovered lithium, and you'll get it. Enjoy your shitty iPhone 5000 I guess. It'll come at the small price of the hunger of my countrymen, but since Twitter user dan91883719 says argentinians all descend from escaped nazis, I guess it's alright.

Israel has killed Palestinians and illegally expanded its borders for over 70 years. Both democrats and republicans have sent aid and weapons to make this possible. It's in the US best interests to have conflict in the Middle East and have an ally control the area. Israel is a feature, not a bug.

And those of you who vote blue? You're trapped. Even if you know it's shit, you're unable to organize. Instead of rallying to form a new party, or a at least get a better candidate, you keep voting bad instead of worse and pat yourselves on the back for a job well done. Democrats are well aware of this and that's why they run on platforms that promise to make your life better and then sit back and say "our hands are tied" when you lose rights.

So, if you're still doubting it, vote for whoever the fuck you want. The war machine that you call 'country' won't stop no matter who's president, because those who hold the real power are already getting exactly what they want from it. Your suffering as US citizens is just as planned as the suffering of those who live outside of it.

TL,DR: Vote for whichever candidate you feel will defend your interests best. Lord knows it won't make a lick of difference for the rest of the world, because both political parties have the same plans when it comes to foreign policy.

#argentina #free palestine #the usa #2024 elections #Democrats #Republicans #gop #dnc #joe biden #donald trump #free gaza #gaza #genocide #it's obviously more complex than just this #but it's one in the morning and fuck it I'm tired #i understand how difficult it is to see your house is on fire when you're inside the house #but you still have to make an effort to put it out #vote 2024 #foreign policy

[neverchecking]

Um hi I am 🪷 From clouds Page and I wanted to be it on here if it ok

I just wanted to say I really love your work

And I have a huge question It not a requests but a ask

I am autistic high functioning one but it still hard to do things that you don't understand and you have to have yours comer plushy

I have one and even though I am in my Earl 20's I am crying like a baby over my plushy I had snic I was a kid it a cute Pokemon one and it a cute little mew doll and my rabbit and stuff dog. But the got torn up by my sister dog and they are trying to fix it

What would the link boy do

I know sage would try a fix it with touch stuff that the reader would like. Also I just know the gop that is on the itam look so soft and like slim I would beIN playing with it for so long

So my question is how would the boys fix it or think of the reade beIN so over stimulated and can't stop crying and can't cop with out her stuff plushies and would they make a smiler one until the fix it

I know four would quickly get the plushy fix and time with the song of time

And fd is a god he can use powers but the others I am confused on

Sage would be using his hand

Sorry for the long question I am just in a stage of cleaning down and trying to wait for my other plushy.

FROM 🪷Aron p.s I am not good at spelling and my autocorrect is a meany

Hello 🪷anon! Don't worry, I know who you are! Your request is currently a work in progress! You totally can be 🪷anon!

I'm so sorry about what happened to your plushy. I totally understand as I'm nineteen, almost twenty, and have my own comfort plush. I know I would be absolutely devastated if anything happened to her (Her name is Princess and she's a pink poodle :)). I can't imagine what it would be like for someone with Autism. I'm not nearly as educated on the spectrum or what it entails, but I know a disturbance like that can be especially hard. (Please take no offence to what I'm saying, I'm trying not to make this sound as bad as its coming out.)

Now, Time, contrary to how he looks, does know how to sew. He's not exceptional at it, but it's certainly passible. Sure, it's a little wonky, maybe crooked, but it's evident that he put a lot of effort into it. While it's a work in progress however, or after the initial incident, he remains a steady rock for you! If your okay with physical touch during this time, he's holding you to his chest and humming a soft tune under his breath while gently rocking back and forth. If not, he's counting breaths in front of you, tapping off his fingers to help you regulate.

Twilight cannot sew. Point, blank, period. His hands are too clumsy and his movements too rough for the thin, fragile string. However, he knows people who can. If your near Ordon, he's asking Ilia or Uli. If not, he'll take it to a tailor in the nearby village. If your not near a village, he's sucking up his ego and asking Legend. His pelt is always available if you need it, but so are his arms. Lemme tell you, he gives the best hugs. If you don't wanna hug him, that's fine, maybe Wolfie will make you feel better? If you don't want any contact, that's just as okay! Wolfie with sit with you until you feel better!

Sky is tricky because while he can play the harp/lyra/whatever that thing is, I can't say I see him being able to sew. His hands are too used to the thick sturdiness of wood or the gentle plucking of the strings. The repetitive motions confuse him and he just knots the string over and over again. He doesn't wait to ask Legend or Time however, and he'll even use tears to get what he wants. Like Twilight, his sail cloth is always available to you, and he also gives pretty good hugs. If you want your space, he's pulling out his latest project and working on it beside you, hoping the repetitive noises and motions help you ground yourself.

Now, Wars can't sew well either. But he can. He's not going to put your biggest comfort item at risk for that. He's not sucking up to Legend however. No, he'll instead hand over the needed dough to the nearest Tailor or, hell, even Time to get it done as quickly as possible. His scarf is also always available. It's a good way to ground yourself as he'll sit with one end, wrapping and intertwining it around his fingers and urging you to follow.

Legend, my lovely little rat, is the best at sewing hands down. He'll remain by your side, letting you take whatever comfort needed (Physical or otherwise), while he sews your comfort item back to its rightful state. He won't shoot any quips, nor even have a harsh tone with you and anyone who dares to even try and tease you are gifted with a dirty glare.

Wild cannot sew. Period. He'll also bribe Legend with food of some sort or some ancient tech to do it for him while keeping you distracted with food prep. You don't even have to do anything, but sit there and look pretty. If you want physical comfort, sucks for the rest of the chain because they are now on their own for dinner as you become priority number one.

Hyrule can sew! With resources as scarce as they are in his world, he had to learn to preserve what he had. Which included repairing his tunics, pants, boots, etc., etc.. So, he jumps at the opportunity to fix your comfort item. It's done pretty well too! Now, Hyrule probably uses some sort of Fairy magic to calm you, through touch or otherwise, and also hums to keep you grounded.

Four can also sew! He'd fix it up right away! In fact, he'd probably split to speed up the process. One of the colors, probably Vio, would sew the item easily and quickly while the others worked on comforting you. Cuddles? Done. You wanna hear them sing? Give them a song, darling. You just want your space to process your emotions? They're steering the others away. And then, when they combine to give you back the object, Four doesn't leave until he's certain your doing okay again. :)

Wind (This is entirely platonic) cannot sew. But, he's the youngest, so he can use puppy dog eyes and get Legend or Hyrule or Time to bend to his will and do it for him. He is then either distracting you with a game or adventure or small hike, or sitting with you and telling you all sorts of stories about his journey as a pirate.

Sage can sew! He learned after his original Champion's tunic had taken one too many hits and he refused to ask Natura (His Zelda) to fix it, or use the one she was dead set on him using. Of course, he could also use his hand to help, using Recall if the incident is recent enough. If it's not, he's more than happy to fix it himself. He's offering you his hand to take should you want it, using it to pull you into his lap if that's acceptable in the situation. If not, he's sitting with you. He's all too aware of what's it's like to be so...overstimulated, so he's not asking anything. Not humming or singing. Just sitting and acting like an anchor for you.

Fierce Deity can't sew. He can use powers to an extent, but he mostly has to use his scary dog privileges to get a tailor to fix it. He's built like a tank and has a core like a furnace though, so he's perfect for cuddles. If you wanna sob into his chest, he won't do anything but shield you from the view of others. He's another one to offer silent comfort rather than any form of conversation.

Bonus! First can sew! Not badly, nor too well, but it's average. He's humming lowly while fixing the object before giving it to you. He's brushing your knuckles before pressing a kiss to them, tapping your breaths along each bump when he pulls away. His scarf is also available to you. Whatever you need, darling.

I really hope this makes you feel a bit better 🪷anon! I tried using the little bit of knowledge I had to make this as good as it can be. I wish you all the best and wish I could've gotten to this sooner.

With all my love,

Cinder XOXO

#cinder rambles

[justinspoliticalcorner]

MADINA TOURÉ and IRIE SENTNER at Politico:

NEW YORK — Speaker Mike Johnson said he will call Joe Biden and demand the president send the National Guard to Columbia University — an escalation after protesters constantly shouted him and other Republicans down during a visit to the campus Wednesday.

Johnson, flanked by GOP lawmakers from New York and elsewhere, repeated his calls for the university’s embattled president to step down. But protesters shouted “who are you people?” “Mike, you suck!” and chanted “free Palestine,” making it almost impossible for the gaggle of reporters and others to hear the speaker. “This is dangerous. This is not the First Amendment, this is not free expression,” Johnson said. He later added: “If this is not contained quickly and if these threats and intimidation are not stopped, there is an appropriate time for the National Guard.” Johnson directly faced the Gaza Solidarity Encampment that has thrown the Ivy League campus into turmoil over the past week — demonstrations that have drawn bipartisan anger over incidents of antisemitism. Johnson earlier in the day called Columbia President Minouche Shafik a “weak and inept leader” who can’t guarantee the safety of Jewish students during a radio interview.

While he’s the most senior elected official so far to push for Shafik’s resignation, numerous Republican lawmakers — including New York’s GOP delegation — and at least one Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), are also pushing for her ouster. “My message to the students inside the encampment is go back to class and stop the nonsense,” Johnson said. “Stop wasting your parents’ money.” Johnson’s comments Wednesday capped off a week of chaos at the school that started when Shafik and other university leadership testified before House lawmakers, followed by her calling in police to arrest around 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had camped out on campus. The protests and arrests spawned similar demonstrations at NYU, Yale, MIT and beyond and have become the latest domestic flashpoint in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

“Columbia University is in a free fall,” House Education Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said Wednesday, accusing Shafik of presenting false testimony during the hearing. “I have a message for President Shafik and a message for you all too: The inmates are running the asylum,” she added.

[...] Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) — who has accused Columbia of bowing to “right wing pressure” with its arrests of students — dubbed Johnson’s visit as another tactic in a conservative attack on educational institutions and an effort to silence “anti-war and pro-Palestinian sentiment.”

Yesterday, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was hellbent on making Kent State look like a picnic by demanding President Biden call in the National Guard to quell pro-Palestinian protests on campuses nationwide. Speaker Johnson got deservedly shut down by protesters.

See Also:

HuffPost: Speaker Johnson To Columbia Protestors: 'Go Back To Class And Stop The Nonsense'

#Israel/Hamas War #Israel/Hamas War Protests #Ceasefire NOW #Ceasefire NOW Protests #Mike Johnson #Columbia University #National Guard #Minouche Shafik #John Fetterman #Israel Apartheid #Gaza Solidarity Encampment #Virginia Foxx #Kathy Hochul #Jamaal Bowman

[beardedmrbean]

WASHINGTON — The House passed GOP-sponsored legislation Friday aimed at providing parents with more information about their children's educations, marking the congressional Republicans' foray into culture war battles taking place across the country over what children are taught in public schools.

Lawmakers approved the bill in a 213-208 vote after voting on several amendments.

The Parents Bill of Rights Act would require public school districts to publicly post information about curricula for students, including providing parents with a list of books and reading materials available in school libraries. The congressional action comes as some elected Republicans in states across the country have been intensifying a push to ban some books or pressed for limits on teaching about issues related to racial equality, sexual orientation and gender identity in schools.

Under the measure, schools would be required to offer at least two in-person parent-teacher meetings annually, and school boards would be required to hear feedback from parents about students' educations.

Schools would have to publicly disclose their district budgets as well as the budgets of each school, including revenues and expenditures. They would also have to notify parents of violent activity occurring at schools or at events sponsored by schools.

And in an effort to protect students' privacy, the bill would require parents to consent before any medical exams, including mental health or substance use disorder screenings, take place at school.

Congressional Democrats have voiced opposition to the bill, and the White House has also rejected it in a statement of administration policy.

"The administration does not support H.R. 5 in its current form because the bill does not actually help parents support their children at school," the statement said. "Moreover, instead of making LGBTQI+ students feel included in their school community, it puts them at higher risk. The administration strongly supports actions that empower parents to engage with their children’s teachers and schools, like enabling parents to take time off to attend school meetings. Legislation should not politicize our children’s education."

The Senate, controlled by Democrats, is not expected to take up the legislation.

#nunyas news #the curriculum disclosure part of this #should be sop anyhow #taxpayer funded institutions should #be able to be scrutinized by the taxpayers #all of them

[republicansaredomesticterrorists]

Without a mandated vaccine the military will be incapacitated by a massive number of Covid cases. That is what Russian oligarchs want, that is why they buy Republikkkan politicians.

When you join the military you are required to literally every vaccine known to humankind and then even more if you deploy out of the country. George Washington began the practice during the War for Independence.

Republikkkans are all about feeding red meat to the base and they don’t care how many suffer or die or what damage is done to the country by their reckless actions. Very few current Republikkkan politicians have ever served and with each passing generation fewer and fewer rural Confederates serve. Repubs and rednecks think they control the military but in fact it’s always been predominantly working class urban whites from the north until Vietnam in the 60’s and 70’s. Since Vietnam it’s been a mix of those blue collar urban whites and “minorities.” Non-whites serve in numbers far greater than their percentage of the population. Further it’s estimated that 75% of military members vote Democratic.

What we are seeing in regards to refusing Covid vaccinations isn’t going to end with just that disease. The deplorable MAGA’s are already refusing ALL vaccinations. There have been polio outbreaks and there currently is a large measles outbreak here in the US. Some of these may start with unvaccinated immigrants, as Repubs claim, but diseases are taking root with poor white southern and rural Republikkkan conspiracy theorists and ignorant MAGA’s. This all began in the UK in 1996 when that crackpot doctor started the vaccines create autism hoax. Even though it’s been debunked and he admitted he fabricated it, it has taken route with the poorly educated crowd. Again southern and rural communities have had their educational systems plundered for decades by Republikkkan politicians and billionaires with for profit charter schools (DeVos et al).

So many of us on the left never dig deeper than the surface, that is they choose politicians based on personality or identity politics, I’ll vote for the person who belongs to my group or is a strong ally of my group. When you scratch below the surface and begin doing opposition research you’ll find that the Republikkkans are running a highly effective and hierarchical political machine. The Republikkkan party or GOP is a tool of the top 2% and big multinational businesses. They have been running the most sophisticated and organized political organization since the late 70’s that the world has ever seen. Billionaires and corporations have a vast network of right-wing foundations that fund everything most of you are against. They panicked when Hillary try to exposed this “vast right-wing conspiracy” and labeled her nuts which eventually took root in the American psyche. Today there are articles, books, documentaries, and even college courses that examine this vast right-wing conspiracy.

Ted Cruz, MTG, BoBo, Graham, etc are secretly planning a campaign against you. They are literally given legislation to introduce into Congress by the Koch and Walton families to name a few. They are given daily talking points and daily targets. Their “celebrity personalities” and media outlets are telegraphing the exact same messages, often word for word, every single day. Koch, Walton, etc pay an army of conservative lawyers and scholars to write and disseminate things they want made into law or policy. For decades the NRA has been paying a small army of lawyers to create a base of litigation that can be called upon as case history in future cases in front of higher courts. Occasionally they give the base some culture war things like expanding access to guns or banning abortion but that is just to keep the masses voting for Republikkkans. Their ultimate goal is unrestrained capitalism with legislation that preserves, protects, and expands their ability to amass wealth and power. In a few decades they will remake America into a clone of Brazil where the wealthy live in luxury inside gated compounds while the rest of us are literal peasants living in poverty and disease in favelas on the outskirts of society.

Do your own research. You can begin by googling ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council), the Federalist Society, and the Heritage Foundation to name a few. It’s a non-stop 24/7/365 war against Dems, unions, the poor, the middle class, the working class, people of color, lgbt, the handicapped, intellectuals, urban dwellers, coastal elites, immigrants, Jews/Catholics/Muslims and any non-evangelical or Protestant religion and many more groups.

This last part is a hard truth. While the Nazism, racism, discrimination, dominionism, and general bigotry and hatred is very real-it is not their ultimate agenda. Their ultimate goal is the accumulation of wealth and power at any cost. The bigotry and culture war nonsense are just tools to create an army of Republikkkan voters, foot soldiers for the right-wing. The Republikkkan politicians, deplorable racists, rural deploranles, militias, conspiracy theorists, and garden variety red state hicks are just pawns, tools, a means to an end. Multimillionaires, billionaires, and corporations only care about the color green. Don’t let them divide us with their lies and propaganda. Follow the money.

This is a war. We must defeat their pawns in elections, battle their foot soldiers in the streets, and most importantly prevent the oligarchs from buying our government.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Jason L. Riley

Published: Sep 5, 2023

Yes, this is another September “back to school” column. My apologies. But someone needs to keep pointing out that our national debate over which books to allow in classrooms, or how to teach slavery to middle-schoolers, is far less consequential than the continuing inability of most youngsters to read or do math at grade level.

In Florida, where GOP governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has taken lumps for a couple sentences in a 200-page black-history curriculum, only 39% of Miami-Dade County fourth-graders are proficient in reading, according to a Miami Herald report last year on standardized test results. By eighth grade the number drops to 31%, and math scores are just as bad. Who cares if kids have access to books by Toni Morrison or Jodi Picoult if most of them can’t comprehend the contents?

These dismal outcomes have persisted nationwide for decades, and the racial achievement gap is even more disturbing. The U.S. Education Department reported last year that in 2022 the average reading score for black fourth-graders in New York on the National Assessment of Educational Progress trailed that of white fourth graders by 29 points. This “performance gap was not significantly different from that in 1998,” the report added.

The progressive left’s response to these outcomes has been to wage war on meritocracy rather than focus on improving instruction. The goal is to eliminate gifted-and-talented middle-school programs, high-school entrance exams and the use of the SAT in college admissions. One defense of racial preferences in education for black students is that recipients, including those who go into teaching, are more likely to work in low-income minority communities after graduation. That’s true, but is it what economically disadvantaged students really need, more second-rate teachers?

In his lively autobiography, “Up From the Projects,” the late economist Walter Williams related an incident from his teaching days at California State University, Los Angeles in the late 1960s. A black student approached him at the end of the course and said he needed a B to graduate. The student told Williams that he wanted to teach school in Watts, a predominantly black section of Los Angeles. Williams replied that Watts didn’t need any more mediocre educators. He added, jokingly, “If you’d said San Fernando Valley”—a predominantly white area back then—“I’d have given you the B.”

Williams was appalled that many of his academic colleagues were holding their black students to lower standards. “There was no more effective way to mislead black students and discredit whatever legitimate achievements they might make than giving them phony grades and ultimately fraudulent diplomas,” he wrote. Sadly, the downstream effects of lax standards for black students that concerned him more than 50 years ago have only gotten worse.

Medical students in all 50 states must pass a licensure exam before they can practice. The exam has three parts, and Step 1 is administered at the end of the second year of medical school. It measures your grasp of basic science topics—anatomy, biology, biochemistry, pharmacology—and is highly predictive of how you will perform in medical school going forward.

A student’s numerical score on the Step 1 exam has long been the most important tool in evaluating candidates for the most competitive medical disciplines and residency programs. Three years ago, representatives of the nation’s leading medical groups voted to scrap numerical scores and report the results of the Step 1 exam as pass/fail.

The reason is simple, according to Stanley Goldfarb, an academic physician and former associate dean of curriculum at the University of Pennsylvania’s medical school. In a recent book on how social-justice activism has affected medical training, “Take Two Aspirin and Call Me By My Pronouns,” Dr. Goldfarb explained that black students underperform on the Step 1 exam. “The solution to the fact that white students score better on the exam was to eliminate reporting scores,” he wrote, which “makes about as much sense as Major League Baseball eliminating batting averages to assure that no ethnic cohort outperforms the others.”

Dr. Goldfarb’s book has an amusing title—which comes from an op-ed he wrote for this paper in 2019—but what it describes is nothing to laugh at. Those who complain about racial disparities in medical outcomes might consider how racial double standards contribute to them. Medical schools have been pressured to relax admission standards for diversity purposes, which has led to the relaxation of grading standards and licensure requirements.

Black doctors are more likely than white doctors to practice in medically underserved areas, but low-income blacks need second-rate doctors even less than they need second-rate teachers. For whatever reason, it seems lost on progressives that addressing the racial achievement gap in K-12 education would go a long way toward addressing the one in medical school.

[ Via: https://archive.is/HXGgR ]

==

[ Source: National Student Group Scores and Score Gaps (Reading, Grade 4) ]

[ Source: National Student Group Scores and Score Gaps (Math, Grade 4) ]

[ Source: National Student Group Scores and Score Gaps (Reading, Grade 12) ]

[ Source: National Student Group Scores and Score Gaps (Math, Grade 12) ]

This is honestly the thing that's the most troubling. There are activists in schools masquerading as teachers who insist it's a moral imperative to teach young children complicated postmodern intersectional conspiracy theories, yet can't - or won't - actually teach those same kids to read.

"Antiracist" teachers behaving like black kids don't need to learn to read, and it's more important that they understand their place in a perverted conception of social hierarchy, is a disturbing rehabilitation of the KKK's golden years.

#Jason L. Riley #bigotry of low expectations #merit #make merit matter #meritocracy #low standards #education #reading #literacy #antiracism #antiracism as religion #neoracism #religion is a mental illness

[socialjusticeinamerica]

*Spoilers in the linked article.*

I caught an early screening last night. It wasn’t well attended. The film is more like a Blumhouse horror movie on steroids than anything you may have conceived ahead of time. It is very dark, gritty, and oppressive. It reminds me of of seeing Platoon and leaving the theater tired as if I had been in the battle.

The film doesn’t really play off of current politics but rather fictional plot lines so as not to offend the current right and left wings in America. Despite this it is an intensely realistic war film and edge of your seat thriller. The main characters are war correspondents and their personal detachment from the frightening scenes of violence, near indifference in some scenes, becomes a subplot.

Civil War depicts the chaos, fear, violence, deprivation, depravity, and sheer terror one can only experience by having been in a war zone. Nick Offerman, as the President, is only in a few brief scenes and though the film stays away from real life connections his character is in his “third term” and has disbanded the FBI. Clearly this is Trumpian but subtle enough to fly over the heads of MAGAts. Rogue militia men, not much different than we see in Red States, armed with AR-15’s are present throughout the film and generate tension and sheer terror at some points. The acts of graphically realistic barbarity are hard to process.

The film is a cautionary tale of an America plunged into an utterly chaotic and brutal Civil War where no prisoners are taken, literally on the screen. There are no good guys or bad guys and very little context or background is given. The closing photo on screen during the end credits speaks volumes. This is not just what is highly likely to happen if the right-wing doesn’t get their way but what the cost will be to society. Chaos, disruption, breakdown in the supply chain, the resulting lack of food and fuel, breakdown of the power grid, collapse of law and order, domestic terrorism, anarchy, devaluation of currency, humanitarian crises, destruction of infrastructure, and a constant state of fear.

Ok, begin rant here:

Sadly about a third of the country wants this to happen and has not only been preparing for it but actually trying to provoke it. In the eighties and nineties we saw hopeless young marginalized people in rural join gangs and be willing to toss their lives away because their situation was near hopeless. They expected to die young and didn’t care if they did or what harm they caused along the way. They lacked educational opportunities or any meaningful employment. Now in the two thousands we see rural southern and western white youth with the same mindset. Red state Republican governance and corporate plundering has left them poorly educated with no chance at socio-economic advancement. The difference between the two groups being that the poor rural whites have been brainwashed into supporting their oppressors. Further they are armed with military assault rifles and own a plethora of combat tactical gear.

This stems in part from the unholy alliance of the NRA and the GOP (Republicans). However more to the point it stems from the desensitization that two decades of forever wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have caused. This was courtesy of grifter war criminals Bush/Cheney. Our streets are now flooded with hundreds of thousands of traumatized, disillusioned, and disgruntled veterans and their tales fascinate MAGAs to the point where they form militias. The Republicans, who vote against veterans aid consistently, have claimed the military and falsely profess admiration for it with empty lip service. Poor and poorly educated Republicans now worship the military like they are warriors on the Klingon home world. Nothing against active or retired military just the Republican pretenders. While Joe MAGA himself doesn’t serve, he feels the need to play pretend soldier and would in a heartbeat turn his life inside out and our nation inside out for a sense of belonging, ie the MAGA cult mentality. They want that post apocalyptic gun slinger world where they believe life is simple as long as you are carrying a gun. They have been conditioned not to think things through and see no other escape from a society that has become too complicated for them to navigate.

That’s the crux of my story, rural Republicans feel hopeless and have been radicalized by demagogues to the point they will wage war on the rest of the country. Republican politicians and their corporate/oligarch masters want to gorge themselves off of a civil war they believe they will win. See the movie Civil War and see what the ordinary MAGAt is hoping to do to the rest of us.

The movie, although brutal and not for the faint of heart, is a cautionary tale that we need to be aware of.

#Civil War movie #Alex garland director #dystopian near future political violence #political violence #civil war

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

"The selection of Mike Johnson as speaker of the House of Representatives represents the final stage of the takeover of the party by its white Evangelical fringe-right group which reflects a blend of politics last seen in Europe in the mid-seventeenth century. At its core is an intense hatred for science and higher education and a passionate drive for the subjugation and suppression of women and minorities. In many respects, it's a trip back to the America that antedated the civil war. But the most dangerous aspect of this group, well reflected in the conduct of Johnson, is a deeply anchored opposition to democracy, and a preference instead for "God-anointed" leaders like Trump and Johnson, whose identity is revealed not at the polls, but in the minds of its white male leaders."

[NZZ:: Robert Scott Horton]

* * *

 House Republicans collapse.

          House Republicans elected MAGA extremist Mike Johnson from Louisiana as the Speaker of the House. The election of Johnson represents a collapse and surrender of the several dozen remaining non-MAGA extremists to the minority MAGA fringe of their party. It is a debacle for the tattered remnants of the GOP, a fact confirmed by the crowing of Matt Gaetz, who conflates winning a brawl and governing a nation. Gaetz said,

MAGA is ascendant and if you don’t think that moving from Kevin McCarthy to MAGA Mike Johnson shows the ascendance of this movement, and where the power of the Republican Party truly lies, then you’re not paying attention.

          Matt Gaetz is correct that the “power of the Republican Party” lies in the MAGA extreme, but he couldn’t be more wrong in claiming that “MAGA is ascendant.” The extremist views of Mike Johnson, Matt Gaetz, and Marjorie Taylor Greene are badly out of step with the views of the strong majority of Americans.

          Republicans could not have chosen a worse emissary of the GOP message heading into the 2024 elections (except for the reviled Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene). As soon as Mike Johnson was elected, his extremist views came into sharp focus. See Talking Points Memo, Best Way To Make Someone’s Quiet Extremism Widely Known? Elect Them Speaker.  

          As explained in TPM, Johnson has been a key player in a far-right Christian organization (The Alliance Defending Freedom) that was behind Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health (overturning Roe v. Wade) and 303 Creative (legalizing discrimination against LGBTQ people). Per TPM:

The newly elected Speaker of the House once worked as an attorney for a far-right Christian legal group whose work you are almost certainly familiar with. The Alliance Defending Freedom — where Johnson was once an attorney and a spokesperson — is the group behind many of the most recent legal attacks on reproductive rights and the LGBTQ community. Most recently, the group represented the plaintiff in 303 Creative v. Elenis, in which the Supreme Court sided with the plaintiff arguing the First Amendment allows businesses to discriminate for religious reasons if the business offers “expressive” services. ADF was also part of the team defending Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban before the Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the case where the Supreme Court ultimately overturned Roe v. Wade.

          Johnson has published editorials that claim homosexuality is “inherently unnatural” and a “dangerous lifestyle” that would lead to legalized pedophilia and possibly even destroy “the entire democratic system.” He favors the imposition of a nationwide ban on the reproductive liberty of women. Johnson was the leader in drafting a brief asking the Supreme Court to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The brief is here: Texas v. Pennsylvania | Amicus Brief of 126 Members of House of Representatives.

          Republicans have made a grievous mistake in electing Mike Johnson, who is already being batted around by Matt Gaetz and other extremists who are claiming that Johnson made “doomed-to-fail” deals in order to become Speaker.

          For example, Matt Gaetz claimed that Johnson won’t propose a continuing resolution because “It’s not part of the plan,” even though Johnson sent a “Dear Colleague” letter that presupposes a continuing resolution by the end of November. Gaetz also claims that Johnson will not advance a bill funding Ukraine’s defense. (The substance of the prior sentences is derived from Punch Bowl News, which is behind a paywall.)

          Republicans elected Johnson because they were exhausted and because his record was below the radar. In a few hours on Wednesday evening, it became clear that Johnson will be an albatross around the neck of every vulnerable Republican in districts won by Joe Biden in 2020.

[Robert B.Hubbell]

#Robert Scott Horton #political #US House of Representatives #NZZ #Mike Johnson #authoritarianism

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

If Republicans take control of the House this fall, they plan on using debt limit talks — and the possibility of throwing the U.S. into default — if they don’t get their way on slashing government programs.

According to a new interview with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California), the party is planning on using must-pass debt ceiling legislation to force through the GOP’s agenda.

“You can’t just continue down the path to keep spending and adding to the debt,” McCarthy said in an interview with Punchbowl News, ignoring the fact that economists view national debt obligations as often signaling the health of the economy. “We’re not just going to keep lifting your credit card limit, right,” he continued. “And we should seriously sit together and [figure out] where can we eliminate some waste? Where can we make the economy grow stronger?”

When McCarthy refers to eliminating so-called waste, it is likely that he is referring to, among other things, the GOP’s plans to cut Medicare and Social Security, two of the most popular and vital anti-poverty government programs in the U.S.

Republicans have been attacking the programs over the past months. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) has threatened to put budgets up to congressional debate every year, which would almost definitely lead to cuts. Alarmingly, earlier this year, the Republican Study Committee, the largest Republican caucus in the House, put out a plan to raise the age at which people receive full benefits from both programs to 70, while implementing a rule that would raise the eligibility age over time.

The debt ceiling is an effective bludgeon for Republicans to use for this purpose. The debt ceiling accounts for government funding to provide promised payments for programs like Medicare and Social Security, as well as military salaries and other “existing legal obligations,” according to the Treasury Department.

Republicans had threatened to put the U.S. in default last September, after former President Donald Trump urged the party to do so. They appeared to be posing as deficit hawks — something they only do when a Democrat is in charge — while Democrats were debating the Build Back Better Act.

If they pull a similar move in 2023, it could be similar to 2011, when the GOP manufactured a debt ceiling crisis that ultimately “led directly to the worst recovery following a recession since World War II,” according to the Economic Policy Institute.

If the debt ceiling isn’t raised by fall of 2023, when the government is slated to run out of funding, the U.S. could find itself in a situation similar to last year, when it was at risk of defaulting on its loans. This could have triggered a global recession and would have disastrous short- and long-term consequences for the U.S., as the creditworthiness of the country would be ruined.

In other words, Republicans appear to be willing to hold the U.S. and global economy on the brink of disaster in order to force Democrats to capitulate to their demands.

This way, too, Republicans can blame whatever economic fallout will come with either a default, government shutdown or cuts to Medicare and Social Security on Democrats. By pursuing these cuts during a Democratic presidency, they can point fingers at President Joe Biden if they are pushed through — potentially providing the GOP with a weapon come the 2024 election.

Republicans are laying out other plans for if they take the House, which polls say they are likely to do. GOP members of the House Education and Labor Committee have made a list of prominent labor officials like Labor Secretary Marty Walsh and National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo as well as Biden’s pro-worker task force to target with hearings and attacks if they take control of the House.

#us politics #news #2022 midterms #2022 elections #2022 #twitter #tweet #sen. chuck schumer #sen. bernie sanders #truthout #rep. kevin mccarthy #recession #global recession #medicare #save medicare #social security #social security works #economics #economy #debt ceiling #biden administration #estate tax #sen. ron johnson #Marty Walsh #department of labor #Jennifer Abruzzo #National Labor Relations Board

[stressed-depressed-and-bored]

People always say “who is going to pay for it?” as if it’s some profound “gotcha!”

The rich. The rich can pay for it. They did in the past and they can do it again.

In the 1930s and 1940s the United States was facing a debt crisis much like todays. The government was running out of money coming out of the Great Depression and going into World War 2, and the economy wasn’t doing too well. Everything was falling apart, much like it is now. What was the solution?

And it worked. The US working middle class and the economy did awesome well through the 50s and 60s. The working middle class was wealthier than ever before and wealthier than it’s ever been. Regular people like you and me. Public infrastructure flourished. States had the budgets to build free colleges. College used to be free by the way. It wasn’t until Ronald Reagan’s advisors warned him how “dangerous” an “educated proletariat” was (those are his words), that major universities started to see cuts in public funding and had to start charging tuition.

Today, the top 1% is only taxed at 43% and has been dropping since Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Reagan also set the precedent of ignoring labor and union rights, violating both domestic (NLRA, Wagner Act) and international (United Nations bill of rights) law. This too has only ever been made worse by Republican policy as time has gone on with yet more tax cuts for the wealthy. Look up the actual policies. Don’t take a politicians word, read their actual policy. They will and do lie to you.

Do y’all understand now why the US debt is going up so fast? It’s because Trump cut that tax rate even more, amassing a whopping 20% of our current total national debt within only 4 years. The debt ceiling was raised THREE TIMES during Trump’s presidency, the uppermost tax bracket was cut even more, and massive corporate bailout loans were forgiven. Research the PPE loans. This has been Republican policy for 40+ years.

The systemic deconstruction of the middle class and the government in favor of corporate control. We are living in a repeat of the Gilded Age of the Industrial Revolution. The railroads and the banks own and control everything, including the government.

These are facts. Read it in any history book.

Or you can just ban those books too and pretend it didn’t happen. That would be a mistake though.

If you wanna know how our economy has REALLY been doing for the last 40 years, I suggest looking into the Economic Policy Institute. Or ask any working class American how they have been doing lately, especially those of us who are young, trying to make it.

Our current struggle is not caused by the “Woke Mob” as propaganda outlet Fox News will tell you.

(Do any of you even know what “woke” means? It means you are aware and attentive to the fact that systematic societal issues and flaws exist. Wether it be race issues, income issues, whatever. Being “woke” literally means you’re not a sheep who follows along anything that the media and government tell you. Thats what it means. Literally look it up. I grew up as this word came to popularity. It’s been around for a very long time. The GOP is taking advantage of the fact that you don’t know what it is, and using it as a fear mongering tactic to channel your anger at your neighbor instead of the corporations pulling the strings. It is corporate propaganda).

Our current struggle is caused by the class warfare waged by corporate scum as they buy all of our politicians in return for bailing out the government’s debt. Both left and right, our politicians have been bought. None of them work for you. They work for the big corporations lining their pockets through unlimited lobbying.

So, when y’all say “I don’t wanna pay for it”- don’t worry, you aren’t going to be paying for it. The middle class will not be paying for it. The multi-billionaire corporations stealing your labor will be paying for it. The rich goons who increase the price of your groceries and lay you off all in the name of making a few extra bucks will be paying for it.

Do some research and you’ll see exactly why and when we got into this mess.

It’s not that complicated. It really isn’t.

Tax. The. Rich.

#anti capitalism #capitalism #eat the rich #eat the 1% #tax the 1% #tax the rich #die corpo scum #end corporate lobbying #politics #economy #economics #taxes and taxation #wealth redistribution #socialism #woke agenda #wokity wokity woke #woke mob #reaganomics #ronald reagan #FDR #recession #working class #class war #capitalism sucks #corporations aren’t people