While hyperventilating over imagined affronts such as kitty litter in schools to accommodate kids who believe they are animals or teaching courses that may offend little white kids with history, the hope of the greatest generation is now clouded in fear. When Franklin Roosevelt told America, “We have nothing to...
Fear
Republicans have proved to be masters at soundbite manipulation. The GOP has gotten, mainly, poor white people in the Red States to oppose Medicare expansion, happily believing that rich people trickling on them will eventually improve their lot. Truth in schools is being portrayed as a threat to whiteness, and...
Either the political acumen of the voter is in dire need of reeducation, or Democrats need lessons in exploiting a golden opportunity. Republicans publicly pull off political tricks without recrimination. They manipulate the public with chicanery, walk away, and brag about it later. At the beginning of the Biden administration,...
I have rolled a question around in my head for months; why are Republicans so mean? I have concluded that it is not meanness, it is fear. The fear of betraying the religion of Trump and fear of being called stupid. Having a point and blind devotion to a point...
“[The debt limit suspension] ensures our federal government will not approach any kind of short-term debt crisis in the coming weeks or months. It secures our nation’s full faith and credit and ensures that Congress will not throw this kind of unnecessary wrench into the gears of our job growth...
If you were old enough and curious enough, most of us can remember where we were when tragedy struck. Historically sad events have a way of freezing that point in time like it is suspended in dry ice; only thawed by the heat of another heartbreak. Again, if you are...
Paraphrasing Pvt. Sam Watkins, 1st Tennessee, Co. H. ‘America has no north, no south, no east, no west,’ those words could apply to the pandemic. Watkins was lamenting brother against brother killing each other in the American Civil War. All of America is watching the unvaccinated kill each other and...
Civilized societies dictate that every opinion counts: but is that true? Put another way, yes, everyone is entitled to their opinion but the real question is; should every opinion count? Oh sure, there is value in hearing everyone out, but what happens once that opinion is given is what separates...
I tried sitting through FOX News’ commentary/critique yesterday, following Joe Biden’s report on the status of the nation, and in particular the American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. After a few minutes, and when one of the conservative panelists had the temerity and amnesia to call Joe Biden a liar, I...
From that moment in November of 1969, when former President Richard Nixon asked for a “silent majority” to support his ‘Vietnamization’ effort, utilizing the peace with honor strategy; America’s shotgun wedding to the GOP marriage of silent loyalty and moral obedience was consummated. Between the Nixon and Reagan administrations, Republicans...
Republicans swing the word freedom over the heads of their voters like the Sword of Damocles. It has become a meaningless mantra, cutting away real freedoms like affordable housing, healthcare, pay equity, and a clean environment. Freedom for a majority of Republicans has translated into the freedom to kill their...
Reminiscent of the unfounded fears spread around by conservatives about the Affordable Care Act and “death panels,” President Biden’s call for a door-to-door educational program about the coronavirus vaccine sent the GOP and conservatives into a paranoid tizzy. Republican members of Congress, fake news stations, and right-wing bloggers went into...
I was born in the 1950s when it was not illegal for black people in the south to vote—it was suicide. Pseudo-laws, tests, intimidation, hoods, ropes, and guns were the anti-democracy tactics of the day. Southern state officials could not legitimately ban black people from voting, so the strategy was...
What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the words, terrorism? 9/11? ISIS? The Taliban? While these examples are certainly just, they don’t always represent terrorism in its entirety. Dan Brown said, “History is always written by the winners”. Stereotypes and generalizations often cause the public...
For the past few weeks, I have heard from friends, colleagues, and enemies who say, ‘I never heard of ‘ Black Wall Street.’ Statements like that are why America needs Critical Race Theory in its’ school curriculum. I have spent my life, first as a child of public education and...
It is usually a minefield of critical backlash, and what about(s), when you compare the oppression of Jews to the descendants of enslaved Africans in America, but I am going to wade onto the battlefield. What I am not going to do is use the comparison of the holocaust and...
Some day, when Donald Trump is made king of the MAGA States of America—a commonwealth of the kingdom of the mole people, where he will reign over the primeval subterranean realms for a millennium, or until a hunk of Cool Ranch snackin’ lard gets lodged in his aorta, whichever comes first—people...
If it were a perfect world, I would like to think that the most recent attacks on young black millionaires are just a coincidence. In a perfect world, the success of blacks would be applauded as a plus for the country. Unfortunately, American history is littered with incidents of racial...
Once Senator Mitch McConnell staked out the politically uncompromising GOP opposition to ‘everything’ Democrats proffered, during the Obama administration, the redline was drawn. Slowly but surely, the so-called moderate Republicans like; Susan Collins, Rob Portman, and John Thune have repeatedly torn their knickers on the fence. Collins, for example, agreed...
The US calls it “forced diversion” and the EU uses “State Hijacking”. Belarus’s Lukashenko regime resembles a successful 1/6 with rogue international behavior, martial law and questionable elections, complete with client relations resembling the Soviet era. The latest is interfering with air transport to arrest a dissident journalist. RIGA, Latvia — European leaders...
Voter rights legislation is winding its way through Congress with the foregone conclusion that Senate Republicans will scuttle it. Equitable voting rights legislation for blacks in America has been a 400-year exercise in hypocrisy. One man, one vote has been turned on its head so often, Ringling Bros. should have...
Politico reports that David Cicilline (D-R.I.) has found a new way to put pressure on Republicans who are pushing the lie that what happened on Jan. 6 was no insurrection: Cicilline seeks to censure Republicans who dismiss Jan. 6 insurrection Progressive Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) is asking his colleagues to...
Fear of a Red Hat: as much as Liz Cheney is toast, more troubling is Elise Stefanik’s Führereid, because Trump is too stupid to see that he’s blazing an even tighter path to obscurity. As Greg Sargent observes, there is an increased likelihood of another attempt at stealing an election, further...
“A GIANT PULSATING MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE” Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share a virtual kitchen table with other readers of Daily Kos who aren’t throwing pies at one another. Drop by to talk about music, your weather, your garden,...
Have you ever asked yourself, why are so many GOP political theories race and gender-based? The latest is that voter ballots in Arizona were smuggled in from China. The GOP has decided the best way to expose this absurd idea is to exploit a silly stereotype and check the ballots...
Pennyfarthing doth doff his cap to John Oliver, the agreeable British bloke who plies his trade on this side of the pond to our immense and perduring delight. Oliver’s HBO show, Last Week Tonight, expertly meshes topical comedy with must-see segments on vitally important issues. It’s like 60 Minutes with...
I’m not a vindictive person. I’m really not. Certain things I’ve endured in my life I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy, such as depression, debilitating flu, and the Carrot Top Spa Day Experience in Vegas. Which is exactly what it sounds like. Not sure what I was thinking there. That...
Fear and loathing rises in the land of previous guy. The raid on Giuliani’s apartment and office netted the Feds 10 devices, laptops and phones. According to the Trump adviser, the (Giuliani) raid ignited a sense of fear inside the former President's orbit that Justice Department officials may be more willing...
Joe Rogan has a monumentally popular podcast. And he used to host Fear Factor, a show in which people ate an increasingly baroque series of bugs until they’d proven they could eat insects with an alacrity and fervor unsurpassed by all the other insect-eaters in the multiverse. And he’s a stand-up comedian or...
Armed with a civil war sword, Bruce Westerman (R-AR) crouched on a commode, ready for a last stand because the lost cause insurrectionists were crashing and trashing Capitol offices. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy abandoned Westerman to an uncertain fate, because McCarthy’s security deemed him not important enough to save. ““Westerman, the only...
Peak cynicism has arrived. Tucker Carlson pimps a version of the nanny-state with more police confrontations because he thinks cops should stop children from wearing masks by enforcing child abuse laws. Apparently making a child wear a mask is like punching them in the face or the equivalent of exhibitionism....
“Dadirri listens and knows, witnesses, feels, empathizes in the pain under the anger, and, if the anger is accompanied by action, seeks to understand the thoughts and feelings behind the action. Dadirri then seeks to find the source of that pain in knowledge-building for a deepening understanding of the more...
“Today, a jury did the right thing. But true justice requires much more.“ x Opinion | Caught on camera Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is found guilty of all three counts of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd.https://t.co/Wi66rRx6iO pic.twitter.com/alUPrS7W4u— Ann Telnaes (@AnnTelnaes) April 20, 2021 The...
Do we really have the will to prosecute Trump for anything? Or will he escape yet again because he’ll try to bargain his way out of an indictment because he holds something, something national security secret. This is probably how Kushner guaranteed his safety after leaving the Trump regime. For...
Received this e-mail yesterday from former Presidential candidate, Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D. TX), on behalf of his organization, Powered by People: Having these conversations now (and not in the weeks just before an election) shows our commitment to work with each other even when there’s not an election on the...
White America has been made aware there is a conversation black parents have been compelled to have with their children, literally, for centuries. The conversation, as it were, was thought to be a necessary evil to keep our children alive. Survival was always thought to be based on complying and...
Americans should listen to the rational Republicans willing to publicly lift the scales from their eyes, who say their brethren are cowardly. Current and former Republicans like the previous Republican National Committee Chair, Michael Steele, and former Rep. David Jolly have said over and over the current crop of GOPers...
I’ve never seen so many snowflakes in my life, and I grew up in Wisconsin. It’s still mind-boggling that so many Trumpaloompas thought they could storm the U.S. Capitol, openly engage in a violent insurrection, and then grab some Arby’s on the way home and chill with a box of Fiddle...