Sorry to be a broken record, but these issues again address what I mentioned during our last office hours. As Bannon said, "flood the (information) zone with s***." What tv news organization (49% said TV is 'often' their source) is going to provide this kind of depth? How many Americans will have the time desire and inclination to invest so much energy in getting to the bottom of such issues - we have 'grocery lists' to write. ;-) Sound bytes in conjunction with confirmation bias and an individual's residence in a chosen, closed media ecosystem provide an individual with the easier, simpler answer of us vs them. Sorry to be so negative, so I'll end with hope. Retired from teaching last year, but was impressed by the steps we'd taken in the Social Studies to help our high school students understand the nefarious ways of social media platforms and news organizations using tools from organizations like the Stanford Education History Group and UofWA's Social Media and the Classroom program. Asha, thanks so much for the clearly enunciated 3-step formula for dealing with such conspiracy theories. Will definitely pass on to my former colleagues as another tool for their tool kit.
We always encouraged our students to become lifelong learners, and I want to thank Asha and the rest of you for helping me to practice what I preached. Still. Love. Learning.
I am this year teaching SHEG's Civic Online Reasoning. My hope is that the next generation of American adults will be less prone to propaganda and misinformation.
Yes, I would like, as I am teaching it based on what SHEG provides on their site. I haven't been able to take their course on teaching it. Can you give me the school name and location? I can track down the rest.
Thanks for the comprehensive summary. Unfortunately, the nuance, the backdrop, the innocuous motives, will be lost on MAGA nation, Fox, and the Disinformation Industrial Complex. See eg how the GOP argues that Pelosi is responsible for the J6 insurrection; see Biden’s 10 classified docs found @ UPenn office is equivalent to MAL, per the GOP.
I appreciate your understated condescension. Your obvious intellect is hard to miss since you wear it on your sleeve for all to see. January 6th might have been a half assed riot, but it certainly was not an insurrection. I have not heard Ex speaker Pelosi was solely responsible for J6. We will never know her role as she avoided testimony. She is one of many who control security. Which begs the question as to why all these well paid hot shots in the FBI/CIA and sundry other agencies did not notice any abnormal warning signs? They had plants inside some of these organizations. Not all the footage of that day was released and I am sure you will applaud Speaker McCarthy's efforts to release all the video. Knowing how Progressives like you love transparency.
Literally nothing in your original statement was true. The federal government was controlled by Trump on January 6th, 2021. He was responsible for any failures of the various agencies under his administration. I'm sure you applaud the J6 Committee's findings, and the naming of a Special Counsel to hold accountable the people who were behind the attempted insurrection and overthrow of our government, and attemted reversal of a free and fair election. Knowing how right-wing extremists like you love taking accountability for one's own actions.
"Make America Great Again" is a bullshit phrase that means nothing, and is totally dependent on what the person using it considers "great." It also calls back to a mythical time when America was in fact "Great," and which it is no longer.
When was America "great", exactly? What made it "great"? And what is about America currently that makes it not "great"? Define your terms. Trump used it as a racist, misogynist, homophobic dog whistle that hearkened back to a time which never existed, when Blacks knew their place, women stayed home and raised children and cooked for their husbands, and gay men and women were closeted and stayed in the shadows.
Black people have never been comfortable being considered inferior, second-class citizens, and that's why the civil rights movement started in the 1940s (after the Civil War, the end of slavery and the promise of Reconstruction failed to do the job). Woman have always worked outside the home, and only those with privileged lives or husbands who made enough money to allow them to stay home could do so. This led to drug addiction and alcoholism among women who could not find fulfillment as wives and mothers. And of course, same-sex attraction and coupling have been with us since ancient times and in many different cultures. The Stonewall Riot and similar were the result of decades of gays being beaten and arrested by cops for the crime of simply existing.
So, if that's your idea of American Greatness, you can stick it where the sun don't shine. I prefer an America that honestly and forthrightly addresses the mistakes of its past, and teaches its children that the promises of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution have always been a work in progress, and that at no time was America perfected or "great."
Edward, with all due respect racism and related catch phrases are all you have. You are a sad little boy who hasn't grown up mentally and is unable to think for yourself.
I believe in equality for all today. You learn from the past and grow, you do not wallow in it and wear it like some hair shirt flogging yourself and berating others.
You sir are the bigot who thinks black Americans are too stupid figure out how to get an ID to get to the polling places vote. It is you who thinks minorities cannot comprehend math and English so the bar must be lowered. It is you who believes that those people of a different color or gender must be coddled with government largess because they cannot make it on there own. You must keep them on the plantation lest they think for themselves. One way you keep them down are crappy schools. You want obedient uneducated voters who work in low paying jobs and do as you say at the ballot box. It is you that obesses on rare cases of police brutality to incite the flames of hatred. You ignore the plight of illegal immigrants who by the 10s of thosusand who are dropped off in places and given" sponsors" (AKA pedophiles or sex traffickers) You ignore the black on black crime that is out of control in cities that have been run by people who think (I use that Term loosely) like you. You care more about the criminals and scumbags than the poor souls who are the victims.
Your problem is you ascribe "Greatness" with perfection. They are not the same. MLK was a great man, but he had flaws. Every person or country no matter their stature has clay feet. What makes America great is that it strives to be better and look to the future building from the past. We recognize we are not perfect.
If we are so bad, why are all these people leaving these Socialist nervana's for the hell hole of the Untied States? Name on other country in physical size, population
and demographics that comes close to the U.S.. Brazil? China, India or Russia.
All you can do is tear down, it galls you that we are who we are and what we have accomplished.
Never in all of recorded history has a country acquired so much power both economically and militarily and used it so judicially. There have been senseless wars, we are in one now thanks to President Biden. Vietnam and others.
So whine and act the part of the crocodile tear progressive who cares about the down trodden. The only thing you care about is growing the government and control of the people.
My god, so many words to say absolutely nothing - Sealioning at its finest, or, to quote Shakespeare, "A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, sinifying nothing."
As usual for the conservative, projecting your own failures and inadequacies onto someone you don't even know, while ignoring absolutely everything I said and failing to answer any of the actual issues I raised. Don't even begin to think you have any idea of what I believe. What a sad waste of humanity you are, dude.
Why don't you go ban some books, like your buddy DeSantis. Better yet, burn a few, like your ideological predecessors in Germany.
As for "Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice and moderation in defense of justice no virtue", I wonder if you would agree with the way Malcolm X framed it: "My reason for believing in extremism—intelligently directed extremism, extremism in defense of liberty, extremism in quest of justice—is because I firmly believe in my heart that the day the black man takes an uncompromising step and realizes he’s within his rights, when his own freedom is being jeopardized, to use any means necessary to bring about his own freedom or put a halt to that injustice, I don’t think he’ll be by himself." When he said that, Black people could not vote or could only vote through a very convoluted system of poll taxes and literacy tests, and the wealth gap between whites and blacks was staggering, and has not gotten appreciably better since. So, do "Black Lives Matter"? https://www.nber.org/digest/202208/exploring-160-years-black-white-wealth-gap
Do black lives matter? No more than yours or mine. The value placed on a life these days is only as important as the person or entity say it is. Rodney King's or George Floyd's life mattered only because one prominent person or group said it did. The vast majority of violence against blacks goes unnoticed. No one cares.
Malcolm X had a point to make. Black Americans males had the right to vote in the 1870s under the 15th Amendment. In many areas you are right it was almost non existent, in many places it worked. Women got the right to vote n the 1920's . In both instance this was long before Malcolm X showed up.
Great strides were being made in equality until the administration of Woodrow Wilson, who was a bigot. He set back human rights in this country decades. There were strides in equality up until the 1960's and the LBJ civil rights acts. It required a surgical skill to fix the issues that remained and he came along with a meat cleaver.
Ever since then things for the most part have gotten worse for blacks. Who is at fault. Who currently is in charge of the big cities for the most part? As a white person in NH is it my fault that Democrats and Blacks who are in many cases in charge of big cities screwing this up? In places like Baltimore, New Orleans, Chicago Blacks run the show, why are not these places Meccas of freedom and refuge? Why can't these children read or do math? 15K-30 per kid is being squandered. Every year they vote in the same incompetents. By the way NH the home of White privilege isn't doing all that much better.
I have heard nut jobs say that Pelosi was solely responsible for J6 because I do watch Fox News a couple of times a week just to see how they spin things out. So there's that. Kind of like their Dominion rigged the election garbage. As for your next point, anyone who followed twitter, gab, or Trump's own "Will be wild" statement could see that there were abnormal signs leading to the insurrection. Oath Keepers were publicly ranting on podcasts, radio and meetings (I know because my daughter studied them and wrote a paper in her law school domestic terrorism course)and gathering forces to take the Capitol. Roger Stone was running around with the Proud Boys in the open. The Proud Boys were also making threats to 'take the country back'. So, it wasn't exactly a little 'riot' as you like to put it. It was organized and planned by a host of people who took Trump's words (Much like 'stand back and standby") as their marching orders---because, you know, they were waiting for that kind of thing. See, if you've been reading court documents and following the trials of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys , you'd know a thing or two. Their M.O. was to use the throng of a host of different Pro-Trumpers who created mass confusion, others inflicting mass violence, to get to the chambers and stop the count. It's that simple
You can pretend that its didn't happen or that the whole thing was 'insignificant'. But you'd be lying.
First off it was not an insurrection. The definition of an insurrection is a violent uprising. There were no guns, no fire bombs. Very little damage was done. No government personnel were killed. Yes there were some who committed acts of violence, many more did not. Capitol police in many cases mingled peaceably with the crowd. Nancy Pelosi and others had plenty of heads up to bring in the National Guard. You seem to want to ignore the complicity of government incompetence referring to keep the focus on the Trump supporters. Most of those arrested were for trespassing charges, hardly the stuff of the French Revolution. You do not want to delve into any nefarious activities by the FBI on J6 th. The FBI has a long history of infiltrating groups and spread misinformation about people and groups. In the scheme of things it was insignificant compared to the 500 or so Antifa riots that have occurred over the past number of years. Far more dead and property damage than J6 even thought. You care not one wit about the children being brought into this country by our government and being turned over to so called "sponsors". You do not have any concerns about the ramifications of all this transgender nonsense. And that is what it is. Ukraine was a totally avoidable conflict, yet you continue to ruminate on J6, caring very little about governmental abuse that is taking place with those defendants. By the way, I am no liar. You have on blinders and a inability to critically think. You probably believe there are more than two genders and boys are magically girls just by saying so. Hey look!... There goes a unicorn.
Yes there were guns, this came out in the impeachment hearings which you can find online. Also there were bombs (they didn’t go off thankfully) - the person that set them is still at large, see google. Pelosi and others did ask repeatedly for the National Guard soon after the breach but the authorization for bringing them in was delayed by the military (I’m still not sure why, but this may be known). While, yes, most people were indeed just trespassing (and should be charged so), the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys were convicted by their peers of seditious conspiracy (historically a very difficult charge to be convicted of), so yes, insurrection — also reading literature from these groups is pretty clear that overthrowing the government IS their objective.
Talking about antifa, violence in any protest is wrong. There was specific violence in Washington DC attributable to antifa personnel during that summer, but most of the violence was determined to be from people who were not part of the organized groups protesting — those people should be found and charged (and often were). There were also counter-protesters (e.g. Proud Boys) that caused some of the violence that occurred during these riots (and yes a number of them were riots, although many of them were not as well).
I won’t address your transgender remarks as it appears from much of your writing you are generally not completely understanding the full scope of the issue and that is likely true here as well.
Reading The Freedom Academy is certainly a good start at increasing one’s understanding, which is why I read it regular. 🙂
To my knowledge there has only been one person charged with a crime of carrying a gun. He did have a large stash in his truck, but that was not readily accessible. There were numerous people who had knives. Not the stuff of an insurrection you keep carping about. If it were just the oath keepers and proud boys who were arrested then I would have little to quarrel about. It wasn't. All to many still in jail are their for petty offenses and are being denied their civil liberties. J6 has become synonymous with government overreach and tyranny.
The only person actually killed that day was Ashley Babbitt, shot by a cowardly/incompetent Capitol police officer who was black. I can only imagine you feigned outrage if she were black and the cop were white. Hypocrisy knows no limit in your world.
You conveniently omit some facts that the governmental agencies like the FBI may have had moles trying to stir the pot. The FBI should be disbanded and totally reformed. This is not their first rodeo when it comes to deception and going after law abiding Americans. MLK come to mind as does, yes, Randy Weaver, more recently Gov Witmer kidnapping hoax. I do not see you protesting the lack of arrest of those officials in those instances. The CIA is just as culpable as the FBI. Your outrage is only applicable when it comes to Conservatives. The CIA has overthrown many free and fair elections in other countries and they have now taken aim at elections in our own country. They are now sharpening their knives at Robert Kennedy Jr. He probably scares them more than Trump.
It has not been clearly established whether or not Trump authorized the use of National Guardsmen prior to the confrontation and the time line of locals to attempted to utilize them.
The January 6 commission was not an impeachment as you have indicted. It was a mock attempt to alter history by omission and distortion. It was as much a sham as were the 51 former "Intelligence" officials who swore night after night on CNN and other media outlets that there was no substance to the Biden laptop. This is the same group that is now (and rightly so) charging DeSantos the Republican with being a serial fraud while at the same time ignoring all of the Biden families misdoings or that guy Rep Stalwell in CA who couldn't keep his pecker zippered who actually had a Chinese spy, Fang Fang working for him.
Regarding your transgendered concerns. Oh!, my friend I do understand the transgendered issue. Again this is a case where you want to have your cake and eat it too. You cannot stand fore square on behalf of women's rights and tell me it is OK for guys to compete and pass off as a women. You cannot possibly say with a straight face that it is permissible for a man to go into a women's bathroom/locker room/ prison and violate their privacy.
You cannot claim to be a righteous person when more than 85,000 children who have crossed the border in this country are unaccounted for and are probably working in sweat shops or worse.as objects in the sex trafficking industry. Then there is this nonsense of exposing children to these freaks in the Ru-Paul school of pedophilia or even in the public schools.
Joe Biden is the biggest purveyor of pedophilia and child mutilation in the history of this country. If these kids crossing the border are so well taken care of, where are they? Where are all these "Leave it to Beaver" success stories. Your toadies in the press would be all over this stuff. Fawning to heap praise on how wonderful Biden's programs are working for the "Children".
Lets get one thing perfectly clear. Any time a Socialist such as yourself touts anything with the words "freedom", "Choice" "free speech" "election fairness" etc you damn well know that is the very topic they are trying to subvert. Transgenderism is just the flavor of the moment. What Ru-Paul does in his bedroom is his business, God bless him. When you include children, animals or non willing participants go to hell.
I have not been so active lately replying to gibberish! :)
Just noticed this post and the one from Bad Boris. You are right! I do live in a polar opposite reality to yours. Thank you for pointing that out. I make no apologies for trying to protect kids from pedophiles and freaks. Women from men pretending to be women. I would die to protect you and Boris's right to be silly and speak your mind. Many have paid that sacrifice. I will not stand idly by when you try impose this nonsense on society and take away Childs innocence or a women's dignity.
I too a little time to look at the Freedom page you seem so enthralled with. Your "scholar" is still touting that Hunter Biden is being framed, when even the NY Times had conceded the laptop story has merit. I will not be subscribing to this page anytime soon.
She seems obsessed with the notion of disinformation. Let the free market determine what is and is not valid not some self styled journalism Nazi.
I also reviewed her piece on CRT, The "lost cause" and the Jim Crow laws after the civil war. I did not read though I may have missed it what party in the South was promoting these ideas. Could per chance have been the Democratic party? Omission of historical facts by people who profess to be learned is in itself disinformation. Your hatred of Conservative ideas has blinded you to any new thoughts. That is indeed sad.
I presume you have exhausted your extensive vocabulary. Civil discourse does not seem to be your forte. Deductive reasoning appears to be Neanderthal as well. My apologies to the Neanderthals they had at least had an excuse. Now you are reduced to single syllable simple declarative sentences and four letter words. Good job!
Until I read this essay, I knew almost nothing about the Hunter Biden scandal. It was enough for me to know that the accusations sprang from the Benghazi Brigade, the gang who ignored the incessant flagrant transgressions of Trump but springs to life whenever a Democrat is caught jaywalking. I would pay attention if, say, Liz Cheney if she said Biden deserves to be investigated. The boys have cried wolf too many times for me to take them seriously.
The Laptop story is only going to result in an investigation that is going to cost the taxpayers millions of dollars, the GOP esp top clown Jim Jordan pandering their theatrics to their base, and talking points for Fox News propaganda. Hopefully the American public will see this is all nonsense and just move on and become more informative and elect more intelligent congressional reps in the future.
I just can’t past a blind laptop repairman (How?) and the laptop hard drive “chain of command” from the computer shop directly to Giuliani and his attorney! But that’s not to say the Republican House won’t spend the next two years investigating Hunter Biden’s laptop!! 😴
"I just can’t past a blind laptop repairman (How?)". You do know it has been about 250 year since Ben Franklin created bi-focals to help with problems like these. Based on what you said I would declare you a full fledged member of the smelly Walmart shopper brigade! Welcome Bro!
Regarding chain of command with forensics it is very possible to validate the authenticity of the laptop. Apparently the NYT/WAPO/CBS to name a few all say the laptop is legit. So what is it about a unbiased review of the facts and a full public accounting of same you have problems with.
Frank, you’re assuming that “facts” or the truth matter to the GOP. Obviously they don’t, even though Trump calls his tweets on his failing Truth Social platform a “truth”.
I looked at your biography and noticed you have a love for our four footed companion. I cannot imagine life without a pup.
I have never been on Truth Social so you could be correct. I have tired of Trumps bloviating, so I pass on that platform
Sadly I also noticed you are a "Trump hater" When you have hate in your heart it blinds you. I do not like Obama or Biden because I believe their policies harm America. Obama I believe was a good father and you could reason with him I believe unlike Biden who appears to have mental issues going way back. and is an empty suit..
When it comes to truth there can be shades of gray and honorable people can argue a point either way. Abortion is one such issue. Some issues however are not up for debate and Hunter Biden's lap top is one. Sure you can argue that it is all circumstantial up to this point which is true. That is the case in most legal matters that is why we have courts and trials.
The GOP certainly is not without it's faults but declare they do not have a valid case to be heard is ridiculous. Declaring that Democrats have a lock on truth is a kin to Fauci declaring he is science. It destroys open and honest dialogue and obscures truth.
Frank, admit it. You don't really give a damn about an "unbiased review of the facts and a full public accounting". You just want payback for the fact that Trump lost the election. That's all that's behind all the investigations and performative nonsense that "Fiscally-conservative" Republicans in the House are going to be doing, at taxpayer expense, for the next two years. It will be Benghazi all over again. But as long as you "flood the zone with shit" (as your buddy Steve Bannon put it) who cares?
Still awake...still confused as to how they make the leap to impeach Biden (whose involvement was tangential or less) based on the “shocking evidence” that Hunter was involved w/some dodgy dealings.
My brain just can’t twist tight enough to understand it.
Thanks for this. Like it or not, we’re all getting the Hunter Biden show sooner than later.
Thank you Asha. The far right GOP members always,always go to the well of bs when then they don’t have anything constructive to add that will benefit the country. So what will they do regarding Hunter’s laptop? My guess is that they will keep repeating their story (recall propaganda dissemination) thinking doing so will cause people to believe them without even verifying the facts. Will they keep at it past the expiration date? Probably, so have another drink.
In two weeks I'll start teaching my high school US government course again. For a bunch of reasons, I haven't taught it since 2016, a rather fateful moment in the history of US government of course. I always open with a media literacy component and this three step test is going to star in that lesson! Thank you so much!!!
Looking back a couple of lessons. My best accomplishment in 2022 was enrolling in The Freedom Academy. I will learn to trust your advice, I should have had a drink in hand reading this guide. I learned of the Jim Jordan and Lindsey Graham connection.
Great story. If you’re looking for another conspiracy theory, maybe Musk’s foreign financial partners gave him the money to buy Twitter for exactly this reason. The Twitter Files.
Jan 10, 2023·edited Jan 10, 2023Liked by Asha Rangappa
Thanks Asha. President Biden would sure sleep a lot better if Hunter Biden just exercised a modicum of judgment in his personal life. Does he not realize that most of these business opportunities that come his way are due to the position that his father has held?
Just wait until we get flooded with the "whataboutisms" related to the classified documents found at the Penn-Biden Center.
Sorry to be a broken record, but these issues again address what I mentioned during our last office hours. As Bannon said, "flood the (information) zone with s***." What tv news organization (49% said TV is 'often' their source) is going to provide this kind of depth? How many Americans will have the time desire and inclination to invest so much energy in getting to the bottom of such issues - we have 'grocery lists' to write. ;-) Sound bytes in conjunction with confirmation bias and an individual's residence in a chosen, closed media ecosystem provide an individual with the easier, simpler answer of us vs them. Sorry to be so negative, so I'll end with hope. Retired from teaching last year, but was impressed by the steps we'd taken in the Social Studies to help our high school students understand the nefarious ways of social media platforms and news organizations using tools from organizations like the Stanford Education History Group and UofWA's Social Media and the Classroom program. Asha, thanks so much for the clearly enunciated 3-step formula for dealing with such conspiracy theories. Will definitely pass on to my former colleagues as another tool for their tool kit.
We always encouraged our students to become lifelong learners, and I want to thank Asha and the rest of you for helping me to practice what I preached. Still. Love. Learning.
I am this year teaching SHEG's Civic Online Reasoning. My hope is that the next generation of American adults will be less prone to propaganda and misinformation.
It's an excellent program, Sandy, and set up by grade level. My librarian has additional materials if you'd like.
Yes, I would like, as I am teaching it based on what SHEG provides on their site. I haven't been able to take their course on teaching it. Can you give me the school name and location? I can track down the rest.
Thanks!!
Thanks for the comprehensive summary. Unfortunately, the nuance, the backdrop, the innocuous motives, will be lost on MAGA nation, Fox, and the Disinformation Industrial Complex. See eg how the GOP argues that Pelosi is responsible for the J6 insurrection; see Biden’s 10 classified docs found @ UPenn office is equivalent to MAL, per the GOP.
I appreciate your understated condescension. Your obvious intellect is hard to miss since you wear it on your sleeve for all to see. January 6th might have been a half assed riot, but it certainly was not an insurrection. I have not heard Ex speaker Pelosi was solely responsible for J6. We will never know her role as she avoided testimony. She is one of many who control security. Which begs the question as to why all these well paid hot shots in the FBI/CIA and sundry other agencies did not notice any abnormal warning signs? They had plants inside some of these organizations. Not all the footage of that day was released and I am sure you will applaud Speaker McCarthy's efforts to release all the video. Knowing how Progressives like you love transparency.
To paraphrase you, your obvious susceptibility to MAGA bullshit is hard to miss since you wear it on your sleeve for all to see. Get a life, my man.
So what part in my original statement was not true? I know it might give you brain pain but try to be specific.
Literally nothing in your original statement was true. The federal government was controlled by Trump on January 6th, 2021. He was responsible for any failures of the various agencies under his administration. I'm sure you applaud the J6 Committee's findings, and the naming of a Special Counsel to hold accountable the people who were behind the attempted insurrection and overthrow of our government, and attemted reversal of a free and fair election. Knowing how right-wing extremists like you love taking accountability for one's own actions.
What part of Make America Great Again bothers you?
I believe in the old saying: "Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice and moderation in defense of justice no virtue"
You apparently do not agree.
"Make America Great Again" is a bullshit phrase that means nothing, and is totally dependent on what the person using it considers "great." It also calls back to a mythical time when America was in fact "Great," and which it is no longer.
When was America "great", exactly? What made it "great"? And what is about America currently that makes it not "great"? Define your terms. Trump used it as a racist, misogynist, homophobic dog whistle that hearkened back to a time which never existed, when Blacks knew their place, women stayed home and raised children and cooked for their husbands, and gay men and women were closeted and stayed in the shadows.
Black people have never been comfortable being considered inferior, second-class citizens, and that's why the civil rights movement started in the 1940s (after the Civil War, the end of slavery and the promise of Reconstruction failed to do the job). Woman have always worked outside the home, and only those with privileged lives or husbands who made enough money to allow them to stay home could do so. This led to drug addiction and alcoholism among women who could not find fulfillment as wives and mothers. And of course, same-sex attraction and coupling have been with us since ancient times and in many different cultures. The Stonewall Riot and similar were the result of decades of gays being beaten and arrested by cops for the crime of simply existing.
So, if that's your idea of American Greatness, you can stick it where the sun don't shine. I prefer an America that honestly and forthrightly addresses the mistakes of its past, and teaches its children that the promises of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution have always been a work in progress, and that at no time was America perfected or "great."
Edward, with all due respect racism and related catch phrases are all you have. You are a sad little boy who hasn't grown up mentally and is unable to think for yourself.
I believe in equality for all today. You learn from the past and grow, you do not wallow in it and wear it like some hair shirt flogging yourself and berating others.
You sir are the bigot who thinks black Americans are too stupid figure out how to get an ID to get to the polling places vote. It is you who thinks minorities cannot comprehend math and English so the bar must be lowered. It is you who believes that those people of a different color or gender must be coddled with government largess because they cannot make it on there own. You must keep them on the plantation lest they think for themselves. One way you keep them down are crappy schools. You want obedient uneducated voters who work in low paying jobs and do as you say at the ballot box. It is you that obesses on rare cases of police brutality to incite the flames of hatred. You ignore the plight of illegal immigrants who by the 10s of thosusand who are dropped off in places and given" sponsors" (AKA pedophiles or sex traffickers) You ignore the black on black crime that is out of control in cities that have been run by people who think (I use that Term loosely) like you. You care more about the criminals and scumbags than the poor souls who are the victims.
Your problem is you ascribe "Greatness" with perfection. They are not the same. MLK was a great man, but he had flaws. Every person or country no matter their stature has clay feet. What makes America great is that it strives to be better and look to the future building from the past. We recognize we are not perfect.
If we are so bad, why are all these people leaving these Socialist nervana's for the hell hole of the Untied States? Name on other country in physical size, population
and demographics that comes close to the U.S.. Brazil? China, India or Russia.
All you can do is tear down, it galls you that we are who we are and what we have accomplished.
Never in all of recorded history has a country acquired so much power both economically and militarily and used it so judicially. There have been senseless wars, we are in one now thanks to President Biden. Vietnam and others.
So whine and act the part of the crocodile tear progressive who cares about the down trodden. The only thing you care about is growing the government and control of the people.
My god, so many words to say absolutely nothing - Sealioning at its finest, or, to quote Shakespeare, "A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, sinifying nothing."
As usual for the conservative, projecting your own failures and inadequacies onto someone you don't even know, while ignoring absolutely everything I said and failing to answer any of the actual issues I raised. Don't even begin to think you have any idea of what I believe. What a sad waste of humanity you are, dude.
Why don't you go ban some books, like your buddy DeSantis. Better yet, burn a few, like your ideological predecessors in Germany.
As for "Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice and moderation in defense of justice no virtue", I wonder if you would agree with the way Malcolm X framed it: "My reason for believing in extremism—intelligently directed extremism, extremism in defense of liberty, extremism in quest of justice—is because I firmly believe in my heart that the day the black man takes an uncompromising step and realizes he’s within his rights, when his own freedom is being jeopardized, to use any means necessary to bring about his own freedom or put a halt to that injustice, I don’t think he’ll be by himself." When he said that, Black people could not vote or could only vote through a very convoluted system of poll taxes and literacy tests, and the wealth gap between whites and blacks was staggering, and has not gotten appreciably better since. So, do "Black Lives Matter"? https://www.nber.org/digest/202208/exploring-160-years-black-white-wealth-gap
Do black lives matter? No more than yours or mine. The value placed on a life these days is only as important as the person or entity say it is. Rodney King's or George Floyd's life mattered only because one prominent person or group said it did. The vast majority of violence against blacks goes unnoticed. No one cares.
Malcolm X had a point to make. Black Americans males had the right to vote in the 1870s under the 15th Amendment. In many areas you are right it was almost non existent, in many places it worked. Women got the right to vote n the 1920's . In both instance this was long before Malcolm X showed up.
Great strides were being made in equality until the administration of Woodrow Wilson, who was a bigot. He set back human rights in this country decades. There were strides in equality up until the 1960's and the LBJ civil rights acts. It required a surgical skill to fix the issues that remained and he came along with a meat cleaver.
Ever since then things for the most part have gotten worse for blacks. Who is at fault. Who currently is in charge of the big cities for the most part? As a white person in NH is it my fault that Democrats and Blacks who are in many cases in charge of big cities screwing this up? In places like Baltimore, New Orleans, Chicago Blacks run the show, why are not these places Meccas of freedom and refuge? Why can't these children read or do math? 15K-30 per kid is being squandered. Every year they vote in the same incompetents. By the way NH the home of White privilege isn't doing all that much better.
Here's a wonderful article on "extremism in the defense of liberty": https://www.niskanencenter.org/on-the-saying-that-extremism-in-defense-of-liberty-is-no-vice/
Hello Frank.
I have heard nut jobs say that Pelosi was solely responsible for J6 because I do watch Fox News a couple of times a week just to see how they spin things out. So there's that. Kind of like their Dominion rigged the election garbage. As for your next point, anyone who followed twitter, gab, or Trump's own "Will be wild" statement could see that there were abnormal signs leading to the insurrection. Oath Keepers were publicly ranting on podcasts, radio and meetings (I know because my daughter studied them and wrote a paper in her law school domestic terrorism course)and gathering forces to take the Capitol. Roger Stone was running around with the Proud Boys in the open. The Proud Boys were also making threats to 'take the country back'. So, it wasn't exactly a little 'riot' as you like to put it. It was organized and planned by a host of people who took Trump's words (Much like 'stand back and standby") as their marching orders---because, you know, they were waiting for that kind of thing. See, if you've been reading court documents and following the trials of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys , you'd know a thing or two. Their M.O. was to use the throng of a host of different Pro-Trumpers who created mass confusion, others inflicting mass violence, to get to the chambers and stop the count. It's that simple
You can pretend that its didn't happen or that the whole thing was 'insignificant'. But you'd be lying.
Hi Madeleine,
First off it was not an insurrection. The definition of an insurrection is a violent uprising. There were no guns, no fire bombs. Very little damage was done. No government personnel were killed. Yes there were some who committed acts of violence, many more did not. Capitol police in many cases mingled peaceably with the crowd. Nancy Pelosi and others had plenty of heads up to bring in the National Guard. You seem to want to ignore the complicity of government incompetence referring to keep the focus on the Trump supporters. Most of those arrested were for trespassing charges, hardly the stuff of the French Revolution. You do not want to delve into any nefarious activities by the FBI on J6 th. The FBI has a long history of infiltrating groups and spread misinformation about people and groups. In the scheme of things it was insignificant compared to the 500 or so Antifa riots that have occurred over the past number of years. Far more dead and property damage than J6 even thought. You care not one wit about the children being brought into this country by our government and being turned over to so called "sponsors". You do not have any concerns about the ramifications of all this transgender nonsense. And that is what it is. Ukraine was a totally avoidable conflict, yet you continue to ruminate on J6, caring very little about governmental abuse that is taking place with those defendants. By the way, I am no liar. You have on blinders and a inability to critically think. You probably believe there are more than two genders and boys are magically girls just by saying so. Hey look!... There goes a unicorn.
Yes there were guns, this came out in the impeachment hearings which you can find online. Also there were bombs (they didn’t go off thankfully) - the person that set them is still at large, see google. Pelosi and others did ask repeatedly for the National Guard soon after the breach but the authorization for bringing them in was delayed by the military (I’m still not sure why, but this may be known). While, yes, most people were indeed just trespassing (and should be charged so), the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys were convicted by their peers of seditious conspiracy (historically a very difficult charge to be convicted of), so yes, insurrection — also reading literature from these groups is pretty clear that overthrowing the government IS their objective.
Talking about antifa, violence in any protest is wrong. There was specific violence in Washington DC attributable to antifa personnel during that summer, but most of the violence was determined to be from people who were not part of the organized groups protesting — those people should be found and charged (and often were). There were also counter-protesters (e.g. Proud Boys) that caused some of the violence that occurred during these riots (and yes a number of them were riots, although many of them were not as well).
I won’t address your transgender remarks as it appears from much of your writing you are generally not completely understanding the full scope of the issue and that is likely true here as well.
Reading The Freedom Academy is certainly a good start at increasing one’s understanding, which is why I read it regular. 🙂
Good morning Rob,
To my knowledge there has only been one person charged with a crime of carrying a gun. He did have a large stash in his truck, but that was not readily accessible. There were numerous people who had knives. Not the stuff of an insurrection you keep carping about. If it were just the oath keepers and proud boys who were arrested then I would have little to quarrel about. It wasn't. All to many still in jail are their for petty offenses and are being denied their civil liberties. J6 has become synonymous with government overreach and tyranny.
The only person actually killed that day was Ashley Babbitt, shot by a cowardly/incompetent Capitol police officer who was black. I can only imagine you feigned outrage if she were black and the cop were white. Hypocrisy knows no limit in your world.
You conveniently omit some facts that the governmental agencies like the FBI may have had moles trying to stir the pot. The FBI should be disbanded and totally reformed. This is not their first rodeo when it comes to deception and going after law abiding Americans. MLK come to mind as does, yes, Randy Weaver, more recently Gov Witmer kidnapping hoax. I do not see you protesting the lack of arrest of those officials in those instances. The CIA is just as culpable as the FBI. Your outrage is only applicable when it comes to Conservatives. The CIA has overthrown many free and fair elections in other countries and they have now taken aim at elections in our own country. They are now sharpening their knives at Robert Kennedy Jr. He probably scares them more than Trump.
It has not been clearly established whether or not Trump authorized the use of National Guardsmen prior to the confrontation and the time line of locals to attempted to utilize them.
The January 6 commission was not an impeachment as you have indicted. It was a mock attempt to alter history by omission and distortion. It was as much a sham as were the 51 former "Intelligence" officials who swore night after night on CNN and other media outlets that there was no substance to the Biden laptop. This is the same group that is now (and rightly so) charging DeSantos the Republican with being a serial fraud while at the same time ignoring all of the Biden families misdoings or that guy Rep Stalwell in CA who couldn't keep his pecker zippered who actually had a Chinese spy, Fang Fang working for him.
Regarding your transgendered concerns. Oh!, my friend I do understand the transgendered issue. Again this is a case where you want to have your cake and eat it too. You cannot stand fore square on behalf of women's rights and tell me it is OK for guys to compete and pass off as a women. You cannot possibly say with a straight face that it is permissible for a man to go into a women's bathroom/locker room/ prison and violate their privacy.
You cannot claim to be a righteous person when more than 85,000 children who have crossed the border in this country are unaccounted for and are probably working in sweat shops or worse.as objects in the sex trafficking industry. Then there is this nonsense of exposing children to these freaks in the Ru-Paul school of pedophilia or even in the public schools.
Joe Biden is the biggest purveyor of pedophilia and child mutilation in the history of this country. If these kids crossing the border are so well taken care of, where are they? Where are all these "Leave it to Beaver" success stories. Your toadies in the press would be all over this stuff. Fawning to heap praise on how wonderful Biden's programs are working for the "Children".
Lets get one thing perfectly clear. Any time a Socialist such as yourself touts anything with the words "freedom", "Choice" "free speech" "election fairness" etc you damn well know that is the very topic they are trying to subvert. Transgenderism is just the flavor of the moment. What Ru-Paul does in his bedroom is his business, God bless him. When you include children, animals or non willing participants go to hell.
I didn't just fall off the turnup truck
wingnut
You mean Frank? The poor man lives in a alternate reality, where everything is the exact opposite of ours. Kind of like Bizarro World.
Hi Ed,
I have not been so active lately replying to gibberish! :)
Just noticed this post and the one from Bad Boris. You are right! I do live in a polar opposite reality to yours. Thank you for pointing that out. I make no apologies for trying to protect kids from pedophiles and freaks. Women from men pretending to be women. I would die to protect you and Boris's right to be silly and speak your mind. Many have paid that sacrifice. I will not stand idly by when you try impose this nonsense on society and take away Childs innocence or a women's dignity.
Oh, god, you're back? Just shut the fuck up already.
I too a little time to look at the Freedom page you seem so enthralled with. Your "scholar" is still touting that Hunter Biden is being framed, when even the NY Times had conceded the laptop story has merit. I will not be subscribing to this page anytime soon.
She seems obsessed with the notion of disinformation. Let the free market determine what is and is not valid not some self styled journalism Nazi.
I also reviewed her piece on CRT, The "lost cause" and the Jim Crow laws after the civil war. I did not read though I may have missed it what party in the South was promoting these ideas. Could per chance have been the Democratic party? Omission of historical facts by people who profess to be learned is in itself disinformation. Your hatred of Conservative ideas has blinded you to any new thoughts. That is indeed sad.
I presume you have exhausted your extensive vocabulary. Civil discourse does not seem to be your forte. Deductive reasoning appears to be Neanderthal as well. My apologies to the Neanderthals they had at least had an excuse. Now you are reduced to single syllable simple declarative sentences and four letter words. Good job!
This is what happens when person gets drunk on the MAGA/QAnnon cool-aid.
It should be used as an example of how fake news was used to destroy democracy in political science classes for years to come
Thanks for sharing. The only way to beat disinformation is for truth from trusted sources. Thugs are so darn loud.
Brilliant! Thank you! And this makes me miss my dad who taught me to say (and think) "What is the source of your information?" from a very early age.
This makes my head hurt. Appreciate the information and breakdown.
Agree. Thank you, Asha, for poring through the Twitter files postings and then summarizing them. I just couldn't do it.
Many thanks! Clear, concise, and very timely. Appreciate all your hard work.
Until I read this essay, I knew almost nothing about the Hunter Biden scandal. It was enough for me to know that the accusations sprang from the Benghazi Brigade, the gang who ignored the incessant flagrant transgressions of Trump but springs to life whenever a Democrat is caught jaywalking. I would pay attention if, say, Liz Cheney if she said Biden deserves to be investigated. The boys have cried wolf too many times for me to take them seriously.
The Laptop story is only going to result in an investigation that is going to cost the taxpayers millions of dollars, the GOP esp top clown Jim Jordan pandering their theatrics to their base, and talking points for Fox News propaganda. Hopefully the American public will see this is all nonsense and just move on and become more informative and elect more intelligent congressional reps in the future.
I just can’t past a blind laptop repairman (How?) and the laptop hard drive “chain of command” from the computer shop directly to Giuliani and his attorney! But that’s not to say the Republican House won’t spend the next two years investigating Hunter Biden’s laptop!! 😴
"I just can’t past a blind laptop repairman (How?)". You do know it has been about 250 year since Ben Franklin created bi-focals to help with problems like these. Based on what you said I would declare you a full fledged member of the smelly Walmart shopper brigade! Welcome Bro!
Regarding chain of command with forensics it is very possible to validate the authenticity of the laptop. Apparently the NYT/WAPO/CBS to name a few all say the laptop is legit. So what is it about a unbiased review of the facts and a full public accounting of same you have problems with.
Frank, you’re assuming that “facts” or the truth matter to the GOP. Obviously they don’t, even though Trump calls his tweets on his failing Truth Social platform a “truth”.
Good morning Peter,
I looked at your biography and noticed you have a love for our four footed companion. I cannot imagine life without a pup.
I have never been on Truth Social so you could be correct. I have tired of Trumps bloviating, so I pass on that platform
Sadly I also noticed you are a "Trump hater" When you have hate in your heart it blinds you. I do not like Obama or Biden because I believe their policies harm America. Obama I believe was a good father and you could reason with him I believe unlike Biden who appears to have mental issues going way back. and is an empty suit..
When it comes to truth there can be shades of gray and honorable people can argue a point either way. Abortion is one such issue. Some issues however are not up for debate and Hunter Biden's lap top is one. Sure you can argue that it is all circumstantial up to this point which is true. That is the case in most legal matters that is why we have courts and trials.
The GOP certainly is not without it's faults but declare they do not have a valid case to be heard is ridiculous. Declaring that Democrats have a lock on truth is a kin to Fauci declaring he is science. It destroys open and honest dialogue and obscures truth.
All the best,
Frank
Frank, admit it. You don't really give a damn about an "unbiased review of the facts and a full public accounting". You just want payback for the fact that Trump lost the election. That's all that's behind all the investigations and performative nonsense that "Fiscally-conservative" Republicans in the House are going to be doing, at taxpayer expense, for the next two years. It will be Benghazi all over again. But as long as you "flood the zone with shit" (as your buddy Steve Bannon put it) who cares?
Still awake...still confused as to how they make the leap to impeach Biden (whose involvement was tangential or less) based on the “shocking evidence” that Hunter was involved w/some dodgy dealings.
My brain just can’t twist tight enough to understand it.
Thanks for this. Like it or not, we’re all getting the Hunter Biden show sooner than later.
Thank you Asha. The far right GOP members always,always go to the well of bs when then they don’t have anything constructive to add that will benefit the country. So what will they do regarding Hunter’s laptop? My guess is that they will keep repeating their story (recall propaganda dissemination) thinking doing so will cause people to believe them without even verifying the facts. Will they keep at it past the expiration date? Probably, so have another drink.
In two weeks I'll start teaching my high school US government course again. For a bunch of reasons, I haven't taught it since 2016, a rather fateful moment in the history of US government of course. I always open with a media literacy component and this three step test is going to star in that lesson! Thank you so much!!!
Thank you Asha! Gosh so much here to digest. You’ve done us a great service. Have to rgo through this a few times.
Thank You Asha,
Looking back a couple of lessons. My best accomplishment in 2022 was enrolling in The Freedom Academy. I will learn to trust your advice, I should have had a drink in hand reading this guide. I learned of the Jim Jordan and Lindsey Graham connection.
See you later this afternoon.
JK
Great story. If you’re looking for another conspiracy theory, maybe Musk’s foreign financial partners gave him the money to buy Twitter for exactly this reason. The Twitter Files.
Thanks Asha. President Biden would sure sleep a lot better if Hunter Biden just exercised a modicum of judgment in his personal life. Does he not realize that most of these business opportunities that come his way are due to the position that his father has held?
Just wait until we get flooded with the "whataboutisms" related to the classified documents found at the Penn-Biden Center.
Oh, they’re already going wild.