AND THE BULLYING GOES ON!

By Ruth A. Sheets

Recently, I read a piece online about Republican bullying.  I have considered this theme in the past, but still, few in power have been willing to do anything to stop the Republican attempts to bully our government, its officials, and anyone in the way, and their Project 2025 is a 900+-page guide to bullying the American people. 

I like the bullying analogy because it certainly feels like we all are being bullied by a group of people in power and/or with a whole lot of money, through the various media.  While addressing us,  they pretend to be our friends, to be working for us, to give us just what we want, while having no intention of taking us into account at all.

In addition to their media and social media presence, The bullies show up at rallies, gatherings of groups of the discontented, and wherever they can tap into the frustration people are feeling and redirect those negative feelings onto groups the bully does not like:  LGBTQ+ persons, women, teens, people of color, unions, teachers, etc.  The bullies select those seen as weak and ripe for attack, then bully their friends in power into passing laws that will harm those people.

There are numerous political bullies active in the United States today, mostly, but not entirely white men.  Among the most active: 

-             the super-rich like Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch, and many others who bully through their massive donations to political dark money groups and campaigns for candidates who are only running on the Republican ticket because they are easily manipulated, inexperienced, and often ignorant of what it means to serve in the role they are seeking (or rather to serve at all – they prefer to be served).  I guess they are after the power and money the job provides, not salary, of course, but the prominence, insider trading, and other  “perks” that will come their way (plus jobs with hedge funds and other huge money-making operations) when they leave office. 

-             Then there are the Supreme Court conservative6, the “cons.”  They need to be rightly called the bullies they are.  They hide behind something they and their predecessor, Justice Scalia called “originalism.”  It is nonsense, and just a way to bully the American people into believing the only way to understand Supreme Court rulings is to see the issue as the founders would have 237 years ago.  They make up things as they go along, cite 17th century witch-hunters and consider a 2,000 year old possible confrontation between Jesus and Roman Governor Pilate to justify their warped rulings against women’s right to bodily autonomy, and Trump’s right to immunity for whatever he does that the SC 6 agree is “official.”  The bullying in this case is near absolute because We the People have no say related to 6 justices nominated by Republican presidents for specific religious purposes that are not about the American people, probably their “salvation” or something.  

-             There are the scared mostly old white men in red state legislatures who choose to take away the rights of citizens of the state, to please themselves or someone else.  Like the Supreme 6, they make it up as they go along or find themselves bowing to their governor or Donald Trump, and not to the citizens who employ them.

-             Religious bullies have raised their heads trying to get privileges for their religious entity over others in a nation that can have no established religion, NONE!  They tell vulnerable Christians that Donald Trump is a messenger from god so they must support him and whatever he does because it is god’s will (then donate, of course).   Utter nonsense!

 

For the sake of all of us, these bullies need to be stopped.  Together, we could stand up and figure out who needs a moderate "punch in the nose" to make them stop bullying. That might include:

-             a serious "luck tax" on the very rich, say, with an income from all sources of over $3 million a year, Hmmm, 10%

-             pass 18-year term limits on SC justices as well as a strict code of ethics supervised by an independent board with real consequences, (, and expand the SC to cover all 13 district courts.

-             vote out those old state legislature  and governor white bullies and send them home to retire.

-             Remove tax-exempt status from churches that specifically promote the candidacy of people in particular political parties.

-             Begin regulating social media and heavily fining the owners and CEOs that use harmful deep fakes and destructive posts as reported by the media users and independent reviewers.   

-             Demand more of our mainstream media, better coverage of both campaigns, honesty when dealing with candidates who are not functioning, not just in one party, in short understand that their idea of “fair and balances” may be neither depending how it is covered.

-             We can stop the bullying and I believe Harris and Walz can get the process started or rather continue what has been attempted in the past 3 years or so. The bullying must stop!  We the People must demand it!  We do that at the ballot box in November.  Tell the world we will not be bullied anymore by a pack of unscrupulous actors who care nothing for anyone but their votes, as Trump told his followers.  The bullying will not stop by itself because the bullies benefit financially and politically from it, so it’s up to us.

WHAT’S UP WITH REPUBLICAN LEGISLATORS THESE DAYS?

By Ruth A. Sheets

Nearly every couple of days in the past few months, maybe way longer, news comes of another law being passed in a red state legislature and quickly signed by its governor that can and should be described as mean, even cruel.  I can’t help but wonder what is going on that red legislatures have become instruments of social warfare wielded by state governors with the state’s citizens the targets.

A lot of that social warfare has been going on in Florida where Gov. Ron DeSantis just has to nudge the state conservative legislators and it will be law, whatever DeSantis wants for his own personal vengeance, fear and hatred of the other, and some as yet, unidentified reasons.     These are not laws that are needed, as DeSantis claims.  They are laws of personal and political grievance.  The mostly white men among Florida’s conservative legislators don’t seem to have a problem with advancing the DeSantis fearmongering and hatred.

One would expect in a vulnerable state like Florida, the legislature’s attention would be on planning to cope with global warming, improving health care for the people of Florida, considering needed modifications to farming and fruit industries, preparing for the huge seaweed mat heading toward the coast, countering flooding challenges, or ending Florida’s food insecurity, the real problems facing the people of Florida.  Why would any legislature neglect the real problems to serve their governor’s whims?  That’s the question! 

I have been pondering for several years, since Trump was “elected” president, that any semblance of concern for the American people on the part of the Republican party seems to have drifted into oblivion.  It appears cleaving oneself to Donald Trump as leader requires sacrificing one’s moral compass, caring little or nothing for the people one is supposed to be serving, and finding ways to use cruelty to achieve questionable goals, goals which are rarely if ever stated, but must be present since so many Republicans have latched onto them.

The current targets of Republican legislatures, women of child-bearing age, the LGBTQ community and transgender youth in particular, Black citizens, asylum-seekers, public schools, and minority voters do not deserve this Republican vitriol.  I do wonder how Republican legislators get away with it and keep getting elected.  Here are a few potentials I am currently contemplating.

1. Voting suppression has been underway in the former Confederacy and Confederate wannabee states for a long time.  There is still a lot of resentment concerning the 1865 loss.  There is some kind of romance tied to the “Southern cause” that feeds a whole lot of ugly attitudes and behaviors.  Gotta still blame certain groups for the loss.

2. The current business world is obsessed with fascism, controlling other people,  making employees accept whatever pay bosses say is what workers deserve, and the unwillingness to pay their fair share of taxes.  This led to huge wealth in the hands of a few and many of them finance conservative white Republican legislators at all levels, as long as they do what the rich white guys want.

3. Evidence has shown that children are vulnerable to  indoctrination.  Republicans see that as an avenue for gaining power when they know the things they stand for are unpopular.  Go after the schools, public schools, of course, and dictate what is taught there under pain of dismissal, even arrest.  Few real teachers want to teach only what Republicans want taught if they have a choice. 

4. Book banning is a selling point for Republicans because one does not even have to have read the books they want to ban.  It just has to have a suggestive title, cover art, or author of color.  

5. Conservatives are obsessed with sex in all its forms.  Can’t teach sex and no discussions of menstruation for girls, I guess because ignorance for girls is bliss.  Getting teens pregnant works well for Republicans too.  Hey, in 13 years or so, those forced birth children can fill the factories of the legislators’ donors.

6. Evangelical and Roman Catholic Christianity in the United States has taken a turn toward support of fascism (which they call religion), claiming god tells them that people who don’t look like them, experience the world like them, and believe what they do are to be suppressed.  There is a history for them to follow.  1920s and 1930s Italy and Germany come quickly to mind.

7. Perhaps, when a political party chooses to follow a leader who has no moral compass, its leaders will see as acceptable, even valuable;  grabbing women’s bodies without consent; openly voicing racism and misogyny and expecting people to see it as normal; being uninformed and lying as often as possible, even tens of thousands of times, knowing they will rarely be challenged on the lies; inciting, supporting, or participating in an insurrection and 28 months later still not charged for it; stealing secret documents if you can get away with it, lying about having them, then claiming to have the right to them, expecting no charges.   It seems political bad behavior is the way to go to get power and attention and to avoid accountability, and Republicans are practicing every day. 

8. Red states have been heavily gerrymandered and the Supreme Court has said “OK, as long as it is political.”  (Gerrymandering is always political SC conservatives!)  So, the state legislatures have Republican supermajorities because the state’s people have been groomed to vote only “R” despite the fact those super majorities have done little to nothing to help them and have no intention of changing.

9. Hurting people works for a lot of folks as long as the targets are not themselves and their friends and families.  Since many white people in the red states have only white straight friends (or it seems that way), passing “bathroom” bills that force people to use the bathrooms of their birth gender, keeping trans girls from playing girls’ sports, denying care for transgender kids and youth, making drag shows illegal, keeping trans adults from getting care, taking over cities whose populations are mostly Black, make sense to them.  What happens when those targeted groups find ways to make the pain less, figure out how to get around Republican bullying?  Will Republican legislators move to inflict greater pain?  Will they trump up more crimes they can charge members of those “hated” groups with?  Richard Nixon and his team did it through their “war on drugs” aimed  at “Hippies and Black Americans” (part of his “Southern strategy”).

10. Hate, fear, anger, and resentment are powerful emotions that get adrenalin going.  Maybe people who have schooled themselves to feel very little can get high on those negative emotions.  To be truly effective, they need to be directed toward someone the person can convince himself/herself deserves their hatred.  Following up the hit of adrenalin, they can move to passing bills that will in some way hurt that target.  I suspect a broad smile lights up their faces as they enter their votes to inflict what the Republican legislators see as righteous pain.

11. Republican legislators, at least some of them know what they are doing is wrong, or at least they have a tiny twinge in the back of their mind that it is unamerican, unconstitutional, but they do it anyway.  When one of their target groups dares to challenge them, they will make the person(s) pay.  We saw that in Tennessee when the Assembly voted to expel 2 Black representatives for standing with protesters at the Assembly’s inaction related to gun violence after 6 gun deaths at a school not far from the state Capitol.  The Black legislators were reinstated by their cities.  Then, Montana did the same when the transgender representative dared to tell them their bad actions would cause harm to trans youth among whom there is already a high suicide rate.  She was silenced and is now suing because the action of the legislature is unconstitutional, first amendment, that free speech thing.

12. Our Federal government Republicans are also behaving badly, holding our economy hostage so they can seriously cut programs that serve disadvantaged people:  elderly, poor, disabled, American veterans.  That is shameful, but they are on a roll and will do as much damage as they can before the people stop them.  I just hope it isn’t so much damage that it cannot be repaired.   

This legislative violence started out with the goal of doing harm to the groups they planned to target.  Some groups were added later, like trans kids, but the writing, as they say was on the wall.  Each law has ancestors which took away bits of citizens’ rights.  Legislatures required Black drug users greater sentences than white ones using the same drugs; they put all kinds of conditions on abortion, who could get one, how long they would have to wait, the kind of invasive procedures would have to be done to the woman first, what kind of facility could house abortion providers, parental consent, etc.  Despite the Constitution giving every citizen the right to vote at age 18 and up, states began chipping away at those voting rights:  need I.D.s the Republican legislators would approve, voting locations limited in districts that are heavily minority or Democratic, permitting only specific people to use mail-in or absentee ballots and somehow those privileged people would have to deliver the ballots themselves, gerrymandering became very precise, surgically cutting up districts to give Republicans advantages they did not deserve, you get the idea.  

These ancestor laws have morphed into what is going on in the red states.  Texas and a couple of other states are incentivizing citizens to rat on people they think are getting or helping someone to get abortions and some state legislatures want to execute women for having abortions (sound like Russia, China, North Korea)!  They are also threatening anyone who crosses state lines to get an abortion.  (can we say “obsessed?”)  For those same red states, being transgender is a crime and parents who help their desperate children get trans care are abusers, criminals.

Colleges and universities are not allowed to make their fragile white students uncomfortable learning about diversity because, let’s see, white people want to pretend they are the only people on Earth who matter?   Everyone else is a potential servant or slave? 

I think, as I have for a long time now that conservative white people are scared, scared all the time.  They know in their “heart of hearts” they are no better than anyone else, which is why they have to keep feeding themselves with the Fox Not Nearly News lies.  They need to hang together in legislatures and pass appalling laws that will hurt those people they know are just as good as they are.  They warp Christianity to fit their equally warped world view, essentially creating god in their own image. 

All this effort by bigots like DeSantis and the other conservative white legislators and governors have one slight upside.  Democrats and independents are starting to wake up to the fascist laws that are descending on us.  People are talking to each other trying to figure out how to do an intervention to treat Republican insanity. 

Republicans no longer can be considered a worthy political party.  They lost that position when they let their racism, misogyny, xenophobia, homo/transphobia, pseudo-Christianity take over their thoughts and actions.  I can honestly say, “these are not good people, even if they themselves don’t realize it.”  I hope a lot more Americans will come to see that and vote them out of office.  We all must do whatever is necessary to get registered to vote and swear an oath to ourselves that we will vote in every election and vote for people who care about us and this nation.  That would be a start.  There are lots of people out here to help.  Call out Uncle John or Aunt Mary when they make racist, sexist or other unkind remarks and remind them that we’re all people of equal value, even them.  We can make things better.  In fact, we have to before global warming makes us all irrelevant.

ELECTION 2022

By Ruth A. Sheets

As Election Day is near and the polls open just under 60 hours from now, I thought I would reflect on some things I have noticed.  Unfortunately, it hasn’t been pretty.

I don’t remember an election in which so many candidates felt so free to display their racism, misogyny, homo/trans-phobia, ableism, and antisemitism.  Candidates said out loud what we have known they were thinking, but usually kept to themselves.  There may be a Democrat somewhere who has done this but I have not heard or read about them yet. 

1. Republicans put out ads showing images of Black characters while they claim Democrats are the cause of increased crime everywhere across the country.  They are tapping into the Willy Horton variety of ad that I first remember seeing used by Bush Sr. during the 1988 presidential campaign.  The goal seems to be, scare white people with those Black men who are going to come after them.  Dr. Mehmet Oz has PAC ads that accuse John Fetterman of releasing desperate criminals to terrorize the people (white people of course).  The truth of the matter is that the crime rates in cities and states with Republicans in charge are higher than in the “blue states and cities.  I admit I was surprised about that, so I had to look it up.  I guess the ads are OK, though since the terrified voices only imply that Black or Latinx people are committing the crimes.  Republicans claim to be the “law and order” party but we have learned that they don’t like the law much and only want order they can impose on the people they don’t like (consider January 6th and their attack on the police).

2. In primaries, many Republican candidates proudly stated their full approval of laws that make abortion illegal in all cases no exceptions, even calling for women who have had abortions given the death penalty (Missouri).  For the general election, they have either scrubbed their websites clean of any mention of abortion or just won’t talk about it or say “I’m pro-life” and naturally, no interviewers push for clarification of what that means.  Dr. Oz said who can get an abortion should be decided by a woman, her doctor, and local politicians.  During the primary he said there should be no exceptions to abortion bans.  In which case was he lying?  Doug Mastriano, running for Governor of Pennsylvania said “Women’s bodily autonomy is a joke.”  At least he said the same thing in both elections.  In general, the abuse female candidates are getting from male as well as female opponents is appalling and should not be permitted on the air, but . . . .

3. LGBTQ persons are targets of many Republican candidates who proclaim loudly that they should never have the right to marry.  The candidates can’t or won’t say why, but, who’s asking, no one I have heard.  The parents of trans children are being threatened with losing their children, jail, and more depending on the state.  Where is the why?

4. John Fetterman had a stroke just before the May primary in Pennsylvania and has been recovering well and on schedule according to his doctors and other doctors who work with people who have had strokes (including 2 sitting senators).  However, there are ads out implying he is incapable of doing the job of Senator because for now, his speech is impacted as is his auditory reception, very typical at this stage of recovery.  Fetterman agreed to “debate” Dr. Oz but the debate was clearly set up to maximize Oz’s glib talking skill and speed.  I am not sure why Fetterman agreed to the format unless he thought Oz would use a change of rules as Fetterman’s declaration of incompetence.  One would think a Doctor as Oz was, would know and do better, but alas, no.

5.  Antisemitism is still ugly, just as it was throughout history, but some Republicans have dragged it out again hoping to grab some voters who have some kind of grudge against Jewish people.  It appears it is working because more than one candidate has made antisemitic comments and faced only cheers from their audiences.  It appears they have just another group to hate aloud.  I guess their base’s hatred of everyone who is not rich, white, straight, “Christian” and male had to specifically include Jews.

We are in a deadly global warming crisis yet I have heard nary a mention of it by anyone.  Inflation has been blamed by Republicans on Democrats despite the fact that we have one of the lowest inflation rates in the world.  Democrats are finally trying to report on large corporate price gouging as a factor in today’s inflation, but can’t seem to get any traction.  I suspect it is because most candidates are raking in fossil fuel and other corporate price-gouger campaign money. 

Then, there is the large number of candidates running for the Republican vote who won’t publicly admit that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election.  They and he know he lost, but since the Republican Party has decided lying works so well for them, they endorse “the big lie” and go with the flow.

Republicans and some Democrats claim Democrats are lazy and just don’t like to vote.  I hope Dems will prove them wrong on Tuesday.  Those who make those claims, though forget to mention the voter suppression, gerrymandering, and other obstacles a lot of Democrats and even disadvantaged Republicans face too.  It is growing more and more evident that those white men in power will do and say almost anything to keep power.  They even support a few people of color and women whom they think they can control and get to do whatever they want, but whose presence is supposed to let We the People think they are trying to diversify.  Republican full embrace of Donald Trump and the downplaying of the January 6^th insurrection can let us all know about their desire for diversity.  It doesn’t exist.

There are a lot of good candidates out there who live by a set of principles that include justice for all, working to build a nation that truly values diversity not just as a talking point, consider a woman’s right to bodily autonomy as sacred, and care about our future, the future of our planet, and the children who will live that future, candidates with character.  Find those candidates and vote for them.

IT'S ABOUT THE BASE

by Ruth A. Sheets

The media keep reminding us that when a Republican does or says something most people would call outrageous, unamerican, racist, or sexist, they are doing it to court their base.  For years, we have heard these words or ones like them and wonder who this base is that must be courted with such insults, hateful speech, and disregard for their fellow Americans.  Currently, we are being confronted with hours of this "courting" as it is primary season and the Senate and House of Representatives are on the line. 

I have noticed a big difference in Pennsylvania in the ways Democratic and Republican candidates present themselves as they vie for their respective party's nomination.  Democrats state their case to the voters about where they stand and don't even mention their rivals for the nomination.  Republicans on the other hand, spend their time telling the world just how much they love Donald Trump and if and how much he loves them.  They tell us how much they love guns and how terrible their opponents are. Appalling PACs and SuperPACs for each do their best to malign the others, to the point of telling blatant lies.  For example, the most ultra-conservative candidate for office is portrayed as such an Obama lover she will build a statue of him next to Lincoln or somewhere, I can't remember.  The racism and misogyny are right out there for all to see, but, clearly, they imagine only the base will understand the "symbolism."

So, back to the base.  Who are these folks Republicans so desperately pursue for their votes and financial support?

Listening to TV ads and the constant bombardment of our airwaves since 2015, when Donald Trump entered the presidential race:  noting the language used, the targeted groups blamed for just about anything Trump could think of, the composition of audiences at Trump rallies, the uber-Trumpian media coverage, and more, there are a few things that make the Republican base stand out for me.

1. They are nearly all white folks.

2. They are mostly middle-aged and older.

3. They claim a "deep" attachment to conservative Christianity (Catholics and Evangelicals).

4. They HATE abortion, except when their daughter won't survive without one, then they call it something else.

5. They don't care much for women in general even though a significant portion of the base is female.

6. The men LOVE guns and the women of the base tolerate the male obsession with guns.

7. Many of the men like to wear camouflage, carry guns,  and to intimidate women and people of color, when they can, as long as there's no risk to themselves.

8. They believe Muslims are all terrorists who are trying to install Sharia Law even though they have absolutely no clue what it is.

9. They despise immigrants even though their grandparents came from . . ., but they came in the "right" way, not like the ones at the southern border. 

10. They have an idealized view of the past (nostalgia) that makes them long for "the good old days."

11. They tend to like conspiracy theories because those impossible explanations let them think they are part of a special club of brilliant people who know important secrets that will save themselves and everyone else from those awful people at the center of those conspiracies.  They seem to be attached to the term "pedophilia," too.

12. They are certain Republicans are the ones who gave them everything they have and will do it again when they get back into power.  They can't actually name any of the things Republicans have done for them, however, beyond giving them Donald Trump.

13. They let a few white women and non-white men hold a bit of power in their world as long as it's not too much and they can spout the same stuff their white men do, only louder and with more venom.

14. They NEED their daily fix of Fox News or OANN, or whatever right-wing conspiracy theory-wielding media and social media sources they can submerge themselves in.

15. They see themselves as the "real" Americans, "legacy Americans" as Tucker Carlson calls them in his fear of whites being replaced.

Would members of the base be recognized on the street?  Probably not.  That's unless they are wearing the ubiquitous MAGA hat, button, or even T-shirt, or maybe if they are coming out of a house with a Trump sign in the yard.

One can regularly check them out, though if attending MAGA rallies or visiting a Planned Parenthood.  They are the ones screaming insults at those not sharing their joy in making others uncomfortable.  When interviewed, they will find a way to get in a dig at those people who are causing all their problems.  They are rarely asked by interviewers to explain their "dig."  In fact, people rarely ask the base to explain anything.  There's a reason for that.

I can't help but wonder if the base knows what their favorite Republican candidates actually think of them.  Do they realize they are being used by men and a few women for their own personal power gains?  Do they understand that they are only of use to Donald Trump while they are cheering and clapping for him, repeating his nasty slogans, or screaming for whatever he says.  He believes himself to be a genius while he sees his cult followers as ignorant fools who can be manipulated to serve his will. 

Trumpian candidates like the menagerie running in the Pennsylvania Republican primary have followed Trump's lead while working to shape Trump into the cult leader they want him to be.  They too, have little respect for their base once they have maneuvered them into voting for them.  They target people who are scared their lifestyle may be changing and they might not always be on top.  They look for angry people who believe they have received a slight from someone who is not within their preferred group.  They also target mostly rural people who are generally disgruntled or dissatisfied with their lives. 

Republicans who cater to their base have been honing their skills with slogans, name-calling, and inuendo, promising to fix the world for the base.  They have few ideas and do little to actually help them, but do offer voter suppression, anti-abortion, and anti-immigrant rhetoric and laws to keep them satisfied and fired-up.  I guess in the yelling and controversy, the base doesn't notice that their representatives have done nothing to make their lives better.  But, Republican leaders are eager to blame Democrats and others to keep the base on edge, so they'll be cocked and ready for the next Republican power grab.

I sure do wish there were a way to let the Republican base see what the rest of the world sees, and know what the rest of us know.  Maybe they'd choose to be free of the role they have been manipulated into playing. 

However, maybe they do know.  Perhaps, as with their enthusiasm for conspiracy theories, they benefit emotionally from belonging to this exclusive club, the Republican base.

THE NEXT TARGETS

by Ruth A. Sheets

It should be unbelievable the fervor with which Republicans have jumped in recently with their anti-LGBTQ bills and laws designed to hurt children and adults, but it isn't.  Republicans have always despised the LGBTQ community, immigrants, Black Americans, well, anyone who is not white and male, and yes, rich, but not to the level they stalk these groups now. 

Republicans are pursuing this line of attack because they believe Rowe v. Wade will be overturned this summer or sooner and they are trying out (test ballooning) the next groups toward which to turn their venom.  They have to pick someone because once they lose abortion as a rallying point, they need a group to attack to maintain the attention of their base.  Hate, anger, fear, lying, cheating, and deceit have worked well for Republicans over time and are all they have.  Republicans have no positive, constructive ideas to offer.  Hell, they couldn't even support the most qualified candidate for the Supreme Court in decades because she was Black and a woman, two of their hated, feared groups. 

Republicans are regularly sending up test balloons to see which of their rights-limiting, bills and laws stick with their scared, malignant base.  Among their techniques, book banning, blaming/accusations of whatever they can dream up, "don't say "gay" acts, lying about a graduate study course Critical Race Theory taught in kindergarten, calling LGBTQ folks, and anyone they can, pedophiles, banning doctors from helping trans kids, and so much more. 

Republicans are also doubling down on women because they fear that despite their draconian anti-abortion laws, women will still find a way to get safe abortions.  Can't have that!  So, go after abortion even more strongly by wanting to criminalize everyone who thinks abortion should be a woman's decision.  In the meantime, also go after contraception, interracial marriage, and whatever comes into their pathetic white male, and white female surrogate brains. 

Can we expect help from our Congress or Federal courts?  No!  Democrats currently have among them some who are OK with all of the above and Republicans are just waiting for November when their seeds of hatred will drag their loyal base to the polls.  The courts are often willing to agree with whatever Republicans come up with (Texas abortion ban). 

One answer, we need to stop them by getting more Democrats to vote this year.  Oh wait!  I forgot, Republicans have targeted voting too, particularly voting by people of color and poor people, groups which tend to vote for Democratic candidates.  It is worth noting that if we can't stop the Republican rush to the bottom soon, we all lose, and will be paying for it indefinitely.

So, stop feeling stressed and let's get to work.  First of all, most of these attacks on women, LGBTQ persons, immigrants, and others began in the former Confederacy.  It seems those states just can't let go of the idea that certain groups are unworthy of rights and respect so, deserve white male ire.  They can make any laws they want to keep those people down.  Well, the Confederacy lost, so let's stop pretending this new iteration has anything to offer the rest of the country.  Unfortunately, the infection of dishonorable laws is spreading from its consolidation in Texas, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, to the Confederate wannabees:  Oklahoma, Kentucky, Missouri, Idaho, and Kansas, even to the "blue" states, pushing the disgusting anti-American legislation even further.  The purpose of all this evil is to keep everyone under the control of white men and the few white women they permit a bit of power. 

Republican insurgents are running for office even though our 14^th Amendment to the Constitution forbids it.  The same thing happened after the Civil War when rich white former Confederates ran for office to drive out the Black men who had been duly elected.  Repeating history is not a good idea.

We the People need to put power into the hands of the groups targeted by Republicans.  If Republicans propose a bill anywhere in this country right now, its aim is to harm one of their target groups or to give away some good stuff to the corporations who donate to their party's candidates.  We know this, so it means we who care must stand against and when possible, ignore the laws they rubber-stamp across the former Confederacy and vaccinate Americans against this horrific political illness.

Writing to and calling legislators who are on board with the Republican hate movement and writing letters to the editor can draw attention to the illegality and anti-American positions they are taking.  Republicans are targeting our children, our schools, our churches if they are not Catholic and evangelical, and they are working to take away rights of people living in this country to make decisions for themselves.  These are the same men who often put their friends, family, and neighbors at risk because like scared little kids, they wouldn't get vaccinated for COVID-19, (definitely the easiest vaccine I have ever had).  I can't help but wonder which group will be the next target after these child-men have put down women, LGBTQ persons, people of color, and immigrants.  Will they go after each other?  

I refuse to give up hope, though.  Democrats shouldn't give up either.  Right now, nearly everything I get from candidates and people currently holding office has its primary purpose, securing donations.  I understand it takes money to run a campaign against folks who have tax loopholes and other structures to oil the Republican machinery, but more important than the money is the message.

The Democratic message should be one of practical solutions to people's  real problems.  Dems need to point out where their constituents are strong and have weathered some hard times, giving them hope they can continue strong with some positive assistance.  Constantly reenforcing people's negativity and directing their frustration at other people may win some elections, but does not solve problems.

Dems must identify real needs as well as successes, and how the people can participate in the solutions to the problems.  Start simple.  Gas prices are outrageous?  Encourage people to now and then walk to somewhere they usually take a car and point out what they might notice along the way:  the spring colors, the butterflies, the deep blue of the sky, things they can't pay attention to while driving.  Encourage folks to raise the home or office thermostat in summer to, say, 78 or 80 degrees when it is hot so it won't be such a shock when coming in from the heat.  In winter, lower the thermostat a couple of degrees below 70 and wear a sweater around the house.  Mention these as money-saving activities.  Then provide practical help to get folks through the more difficult struggles.  Regularly check in with voters to see what they actually think and what they still need.

We could fix this Republican need to do harm if we acknowledge that we are all in it together, then help people to have a more communal approach to living.  Question every bill proposed in any legislature to see who gains, who loses, who is targeted, who is doing the targeting.  That's a lot of work, but if we can stop some of the destructive bills before they even reach the floor of a legislature for a vote, we could avoid a lot of pain and suffering.  It is worth employing our humanity to protect the humanity of our fellow Americans.

CAREER OPPORTUNITY IN TEXAS

by Ruth A. Sheets

On the 82^nd anniversary of the German attack on Poland that began World War II, I want to introduce you to a job opportunity inspired by the Nazis.  All you Texas Republicans, primarily men because conservative men do Nazi so well, get ready to earn a bundle for betraying your neighbors for $10,000 a pop.

Sound easy?  Of course it is, particularly if you are white.  It helps if you are also a misogynist and a self-righteous Christian too. 

“What do I have to do for such a bounty?” you ask.

Find a desperate woman of child-bearing age who may have become pregnant but can’t afford to keep the pregnancy or the pregnancy was caused by rape or incest, two very common occurrences in Texas, as you well know.  Note:  This works especially well if you are the implanter of the pregnancy.

Follow the woman around and watch to see where she goes and who she talks to.  If it looks like she is heading toward a Planned Parenthood center or some other abortion clinic, you get to sue that center or clinic or hospital, the person who drives her to the facility, and anyone else you can suspect of helping her, an automatic $10,000 per betrayal.  That’s a lot of money for almost no effort on your part. 

Where else in the United States of America can you get money for a simple betrayal?  Where else do you get to use your sadistic tendencies as well as your business acumen and well-developed misogyny to so much personal gain?  And you thought that kind of benefit died with the defeat of the Nazis at the end of WWII and the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe! 

Well, you’re wrong!  And, it’s right there in good ole Texas.  You can quit your old job and grab a few burgers and cokes and just sit and watch those baby-killing joints so you can nab as many pathetic women and their helpers.  The best part of this new career, your hypocrisy will be highly valued.  You say you got a girl pregnant once and she had an abortion because she was still in school and couldn’t take care of a child and you didn’t want to either?  No problem, no one will ask what kind of person you are really.  You just need to be an outward fanatic in a cause your Republican brothers see as essential to life in Texas.

If you are worried about people in your town shunning you when they learn of your betrayals, no problem!  Just do your stalking and betraying in a nearby community where you aren’t known.

JOB QUALIFICATIONS

- ability to dismiss feelings that the job might be unjust

- a nominal Christian faith that misses the love part and is into the do harm to those who are not like you part

- time to stalk women of child-bearing age and a willingness to betray them in their time of need

- a belief that democracy is whatever Republicans say it is

- a cut-throat competitive spirit to out-betray the other men and some women who are going after the same money 

Good luck.  Apply at the Texas State Legislature immediately.

NOTE:  This career may be coming to a Republican state near you.  Republicans are really good copy-catters, especially when it involves taking away people’s rights, that is, people who are not rich white straight Christian Republican men.

REPUBLICANS LEGISLATE FOR THEIR OWN COMFORT

I am amazed at the ways Republicans claim extreme patriotism.  I suppose if they claim it loudly enough their fans will keep believing it despite all evidence to the contrary.  Patriotism really does require more than parades and giant military budgets.

What is true?  The evidence seems to point to an understanding that Republicans believe in themselves alone.  They stand for what makes them feel good, important, powerful, comfortable.  And, they have very clever ad men and a few women who can craft ads and statements that make this self-centered approach to government seem right.  The problem with this form of governing is that a lot of people have gotten and are getting hurt.   

- IF Republicans (and conservatives) don't want to wear a mask to protect others from COVID-19, well, then, you feel you don't have to.  Demanding that you wear one is against your rights and no one else’s rights not to get sick count.

-   If you don't like the idea of abortion, or rather don’t like the independence the right to choose gives women, well, then, no woman should be able to have an abortion (unless, of course, the Republican woman (or wife or girlfriend of a Republican official needs one). 

- You Republicans don't want to pay taxes, no problem, pass a giant tax cut for yourselves and your rich friends and do it after midnight so it will be done before anyone or anyone who matters notices. 

- You want straight white men to rule everything like they used to in the "good ol' days,” no problem, pack the Supreme Court and other federal courts with judges who will work really hard to see that rich straight white men and their corporations win the most important cases (not all of them because people might notice and stop them). 

- Christian Republicans don't want their religious beliefs to be challenged, no problem, get the Congress and courts to let conservative Christian groups get all kinds of privileges that let them look holy, following “God’s will.”  You don’t want to bake a cake for a gay wedding, well, you don’t have to because such a simple act will defy God (or some other nonsense, as though God is so easily offended.  Hey, if you don’t want women to have access to birth control, claim God hates birth control – easy as pie when you have the courts packed and standing behind you.  And, more important, those religious claims only work for conservative Christians and perhaps some Jews, not Muslims,  Buddhists, or atheists, of course.

- Republicans really don't want to be acknowledged for the racists they often actually are.  No problem here either, when asked about Black Lives Matter, you talk about the “looting and violence perpetrated in the cities” (often caused by police and whites trying to incite trouble).  You deny the actions of white supremacists, claim they are “fine people” and essentially ignore their threats as so much less than what those NTIFA people are doing.  You are even given words to defend whites who were plotting to kidnap a governor, and you speak them aloud.

- You are OK with the way Donald Trump and his crew have handled COVID-19 because you are not on the front lines.  You do not live in the neighborhoods where the heavy pollution infests everything every day.  Your kids don’t attend schools that are poorly maintained due to lack of funds, so there is no effective ventilation.  You do not experience the stress of race and poverty every day of your life so your body is changed, making you more susceptible to the disease.      Therefore, you cry out that your kids NEED to be back in school.  Every store, restaurant, bar, salon, sports venue, etc. that you want to patronize should be open waiting for you, no matter the risk to the others in your community. 

- You have good healthcare, so anyone who doesn’t, it’s their own fault for not working as hard as you work.  You say nothing when your president and your attorney general bring a case through the courts to destroy the health program that is sustaining more than 20 million of your fellow citizens.

- You are afraid you might lose an election and might not be able to stay permanently in power.  Well, you’ve got that sewed up too.  You have a myriad of ways to suppress the votes of people you don’t like and whose vote you want to deny your opponents:  cut the number of polling places, try to stop vote-by-mail or make it really difficult – even during a pandemic, make anyone who has committed a crime pay all kinds of impossible fees and charges before they can vote even though the people of your state voted to give them back the vote, purge the voter rolls of as many people as you can get away with mostly people of color and young people, require voter I.D. even though ID fraud is very rare, make everyone voting by mail use 2 envelopes for their ballot or it will be discarded, work to destroy the post office when more people will vote by mail than ever before, and more.  

- You don’t like immigrants or fear they are too Democratic for your taste.  OK, just sabotage the census, counting only the people who look and act like you, who share your specific values (whatever those are).  Who cares what the US Constitution says!  You can also take kids away from their parents and toss them in cages to cause the greatest pain possible.  Oh wait!  you can force asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico where they fall prey to abusers.  You can keep believing a wall on the border will do something for you.

How is any of the above patriotic.  Patriotism is so much more than parades, flag waving, standing with your hand over your heart for the National Anthem.  Those are the easy things that prove nothing. 

So, ?again I say, I am amazed at the way Republicans/conservatives claim extreme patriotism.  There is nothing patriotic about the direction you Republicans have been driving our nation during the past 40 years or so.  You clearly have good PR, though.   

If you Republicans want to get back a small measure of your patriotism, well, you need to step up and do what you should have done back in May when the House passed the Heroes Act; Stand face to face (socially distanced) with Mitch McConnell and demand  hearings on the bill and vote on it.  Mutiny if you have to.  You need to skip the packing of the Supreme Court.  The people neither want nor need another rights denying Supreme Court justice.  We already have at least 3.  Spend the rest of Donald Trump’s term in office working for the people of this nation.  Pass the stimulus package to help even your constituents. 

I hear some Republicans and Donald Trump say they want to do a little something just before the election, perhaps to try to win over the gullible folks who can easily forget what you have done to them.  These are the ones you expect to believe your lies and ignore your cheating to maintain power.  I suspect those people are already snugly with you Republicans and their Donnie no matter what and no matter how much they are harmed by what you legislators have done.  After all, there’s always someone else to blame, a current Republican strategy.  

So, since it won't matter to your crowd, do the right thing for a change.  I know you've forgotten what that is since you haven't done it for so long, but I suspect if you ask a few Democrats and others who actually do care about this country and its people, you could learn or relearn how to do it. 

The GOP's End To Democracy

by muon

The word “coup” is defined as a seizure of power from the government, usually sudden and violent, usually having to do with military activity. But there’s another kind of subtle political coup that’s oh so much more diabolical because it happens slowly.

The government of the United States, as set down in our Constitution, is supposed to be a government of, by, and for the people. It’s a democracy in which its citizens ought to have the ultimate power by the use of their vote. And it was constructed with three branches ~ executive, legislative, and judiciary ~ which are supposed to remain independent of each other, so that no one man nor one group would be able to seize absolute power and destroy our democracy.

The Republican Party has been trying to do just that ~ stage a political coup at the Federal level of the government, and through non-democratic means. In order to maintain a majority in Congress, the GOP has developed gerrymandering and voter suppression to an art form. Because of Citizen’s United, they’ve been able to shift power from ordinary citizens to corporations and the very wealthy. Power has even been given to foreign interests who seek to fund candidates and influence elections.

In the past 2 years, the line between executive branch and the Republicans in the legislative branch has completely disappeared. Most GOP congressmen support Trump without question, giving him the confidence to act like a dictator, while they turn a deaf ear to the vast majority of voters. Laws these days aren’t legislated, but come down from the White House as executive orders, or as Trump probably thinks of them, empirical edicts.

Still, we used to be able to rely most of the time on the Supreme Court to be the fair and impartial conscience of the country (albeit, not always ~ Dred Scott, for instance). Now, beginning with the Merrick Garland fiasco, the GOP has repeatedly ignored procedures set down centuries before, in order to manipulate the judiciary to their own will instead of the will of the people.  The Kavanaugh nomination is only the latest symptom. Legal minds and institutions from all over the country say Kavanaugh doesn’t have the temperament for the Supreme Court. Even former Justice Stevens believes Kavanaugh shouldn’t be appointed. Yet, the GOP is plowing forward, ignoring prudence and precedence from the beginning. Nothing about this confirmation process has had anything to do with true democracy. It’s all about illegal seizure of power from the voters of the United States.

This is why the 2018 general election is so important. Voters on both sides of the political divide need to take their power back from congressmen who’ve been in office so long, they think somehow that it’s their birthright. We need to remove people from office who have no respect for the separation of the three branches of government, who think our government is about their own power and wealth.

Only one political party is seeking to merge the 3 branches of government into one. The Republicans are staging a coup, pure and simple. You need to vote this November before that right is taken from you as well.