From Pine View Farm

A Tune for the Times 0

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Truth in Labeling, Dis Coarse Discourse Dept. 0

Steve M. opines that, when many news reports refer to “conservative” Republicans, they are, in fact, misspelling the word “radical.” Here’s one example from his article (emphasis added):

Unsurprisingly, a GOP member of Congress has decided to suck up to Trump by backing his imperialist quest for Greenland:

    A Republican congressman from Florida introduced a bill Monday to annex Greenland and make it the 51st U.S. state as President Trump threatens to seize the autonomous Danish territory….

    Rep. Randy Fine said his new legislation would authorize Mr. Trump “to take whatever steps necessary to annex or acquire Greenland.” …

    “Greenland is not a distant outpost we can afford to ignore — it is a vital national security asset,” Fine said in a statement.

That’s from CBS News. Axios also reported on this, referring to Fine as “a staunch Trump loyalist from Florida.”

This is how the most radical Republicans stay under the radar. They’re described this way even if they’re extreme — and Fine is very extreme. Meanwhile, the media continues to portray the mostly very moderate Democratic Party as in thrall to dangerous radicals, and a large percentage of the public believes that.

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The Me Veneration 0

Robert Reich sums up Donald Trump’s approach to governance–well, really, to just about everything–in eight points. Here are the four that I think predominate; follow the link for the others and for the rest of Reich’s article.

(2) Law is irrelevant.

(snip)

(6) Personal enrichment by Trump and other officials is justified in pursuit of victory.

(7) So are lies, cover-ups, and the illegal use of force.

(8) Trump is invincible and omnipotent.

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American Stasi 0

Rick Strom reports on ICE agents’ handcuffing a pastor for peacefully protesting their actions.

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Unconstrained 0

Frame One:  Donald Trump says,

Click to view the original image.

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A Noble Experiment 0

At Psychology Today Blogs, Peter T. Coleman writes of a 1939 experiment that he finds quite telling in these Trumpled times.

No summary or excerpt will do his article justice. Follow the link and read his piece.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Another “responsible gun owner.”

Another exposed portable phallus.

Another child in a hospital.

We are a society of stupid.

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QOTD 0

Ruth J. Simmons:

It’s very important in a leadership role not to place your ego at the foreground and not to judge everything in relationship to how your ego is fed.

Q. E. D.

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A Tune for the Times 0

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Still Rising Again after All These Years 0

At AL.com, John Archibald takes issue with Donald Trump’s recent claims that white persons were badly treated after the passage of the Civil Rights Act. A snippet:

I’m a white guy from Alabama, where the governor and National Guard literally blocked qualified Black students from entry, so hold the damn phone. With all due respect, Mr. President, you got a lot of nerve to say that crap.

Or to believe it.

Because the Civil Rights Act – the Movement itself – didn’t just make life better for Black people. It made life better for poor white people too, no matter what the anger mongers might say. It gave them voice in elections and the tools to compete in the marketplace. It broke down walls and made America better. Particularly in places like my home.

His entire article is worth the few moments it will take you to read it.

Aside:

Trump’s remark provides another bit of evidence that Richard Nixon’s southern strategy has come full circle and consumed the Republican Party.

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Foxy Shady 0

Sam and the crew delight in a Fox News interview that goes absolutely not how Fox wanted it to go.

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American Stasi 0

He’s an American citizen, but he looked as if he might just possibly could be of Hispanic descent, so ICE agents rammed his car.

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Stanley Stealer 0

Florida woman.

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The Rule of Lawless, Republican Thought Police Dept. 0

Via The Charlotte Observer, Robin Abcarian notices a pattern. Here’s a tiny bit from her article.

Orwellian efforts to memory hole Jan. 6 include the Department of Justice deleting the public database that tracked criminal cases resulting from the day’s violence. References to the day as a “riot” or “insurrection” have disappeared from government websites, replaced with descriptions of “peaceful protests.” The FBI deleted its “wanted” posters for unsolved Jan. 6 cases. And of course, there are the blanket pardons of more than 1,500 rioters, many of whom viciously assaulted police officers.

I think you can draw a line between Wednesday’s killing in Minneapolis and the Jan. 6 riot: People who do Trump’s bidding know they have nothing to fear from the justice system, and may even be rewarded for their behavior.

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“History Does Not Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes”* 0

Sharon Zhang hears a rhyme that echoes 1930s Germany.

________________

*Mark Twain.

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QOTD 0

Carl Hiaasen:

They have a crystalline sense of right and wrong; it disappears when they walk out the door with their M.B.A.

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A Tune for the Times 0

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American Stasi, Reprise 0

Title:  MAGA Field Guide to Domestic THreats.  Frame One:  Woman with three small children labeled

Via Balloon Juice.

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Republican Thought Police 0

In a longer article in which he details Republican efforts to squelch disssenting voices and curtain freedom of speech, Brit “Red” Schulte reminds us that

Guidelines issued by the White House in September detail how the Trump administration will target and pursue anyone it deems to be motivated by “anti-Americanism, anti-Capitalism, and anti-Christianity” as domestic terrorists. Trump has also designated “antifa” as a domestic terrorist organization. Those of us who are anti-fascist know that “antifa” simply refers to a collective sense of being anti-fascist and believing that fascism is ultimately a real and present threat to all life. It is not a unified entity or organization. Antifa is a rallying cry, a politic, a historical reference that connects one to a legacy of fighting Nazism in Germany, and fighting other fascists in Italy, Spain, and elsewhere in the 1930s.

Afterthought:

I didn’t realize it until now, but I my father must have been antifa. After all, he fought Nazi Germany in WWII.

I wonder if Trump would jail him now, were he still with ut.

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American Stasi 0

Farron demolishes J. D. Vance’s claim that ICE has “absolute immunity” to kill whomever they want.

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