Trump is likely done, but the next likely possible Republican candidate is Ron DeSantis. He’s potentially much worse than The Donald. His rule as governor of Florida has been a case study in Fascism.
Limiting free speech, discrimination, censorship, voter suppression, public health repression, immigrant mistreatment, and rampant gun violence are among the many shameful hallmarks of his tenure.
Is there not a reasonable, respectable, and at least somewhat compassionate Republican out there somewhere who might have a chance? Unfortunately, I don’t believe there is.
As for the Democrats, Biden has been ok, but with such a closely divided electorate, gerrymandering and voter suppression running rampant the Democrats are going to need a strong, social, semi-centrist candidate in order to have a good chance in 2024.
I have hope for the future, but we’ll all need to become much more proactive in order to bring sanity back to our government.
This is the season in which a number of religions, faiths or cultures of the world recognize one of their significant tenets as a major event with widespread celebrations.
In the United States, Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanza all fall in the month of December and are intended as a time of remembrance, reverence, gathering and recommitment.
While each has its own traditions and distinct ways of celebration, in a spiritual sense, I wish all would honor the essence of their beliefs; primarily peace, love and harmony… with Coexistence as their foundation.
I’m a baby boomer and proud child of the ‘60… Flower Power, Free Love and Peace. In 1978, The Who, one of my favorite bands, did a song named “Who Are You.”
The lyrics have been interpreted in many ways, but to me, it had to do with finding myself; who was I.
I’d had a very safe, loving early childhood, even somewhat entitled, but by my teen years, some realities began to sink in.
I witnessed the church I attended lock out blacks. I saw police dogs and fire hoses turned against peaceful demonstrators, sit-ins, riots and marches in the streets against discrimination.
People I knew were sent to a senseless war and being maimed or killed. Kids lost their lives and were beaten for standing up for their beliefs and, for the most part, women were being treated like second class citizens.
I was in Washington DC during the first poor people’s march. I fought against and resisted being drafted. I saw Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., President John F. Kennedy and his brother, Bobby assassinated.
These are a few the things that made me who I am… empathetic, spiritual and a democratic socialist
Tom Cotton Blocks Senate PRESS Act Designed to Protect Journalists
“Sen. Cotton’s hostility to press freedoms demonstrates exactly why these protections are needed, said one advocate, calling for inclusion of the bill in an end-of-year spending package.”
The MAGA World is bracing for the Jan. 6 committee to release its exhaustive report and make criminal referrals. It comes as new coup evidence emerges.
Talking Points Memo obtained text messages from 34 GOP lawmakers to Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, pushing conspiracy theories and the big election lie.
The vast trove of text, which Meadows selectively provided to the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, offers the most revealing picture to date of how Trump’s inner circle, supporters and Republican lawmakers worked behind the scenes to try to overturn the election results and then reacted to the violence that effort unleashed at the Capitol on January 6.
Dr. Ruth Ben-Ghiat is an expert on fascism and authoritarian political leaders. She had recently stated… “People need to start paying attention…
“DeSantis is NOT a more normal, better disciplined version of Trump… He is a dangerously power-hungry, self-serving, corrupt bigot.
He may be worse than Trump because Trump was a fool. DeSanctis has the potential to be a fascist, unafraid to impose his personal views on everyone, using the power of government.
If DeSantis is becoming many Republicans’ answer to their “Trump problem” his rise is because of his of authoritarian sympathies and attitudes, not in spite of them. He promises a more “respectable”-seeming version of illiberal rule than the baggage-laden outrage specialist that is Trump. No wonder dozens of billionaires have backed him…
But let’s be clear: The man whom Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post celebrates as “DeFuture” would, in fact, continue Trump’s relentless attempts to turn back the clock on social progress in America by silencing and disenfranchising tens of millions who don’t fit into Republicans’ white Christian vision for the nation.”
Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee to a federal court in Texas, spent much of his career trying to interfere with other people’s sexuality.
Last week, Kacsmaryk issued an opinion in Deanda v. Becerra that attacks Title X, a federal program that offers grants to health providers that fund voluntary and confidential family planning services to patients. Federal law requires the Title X program to include “services for adolescents.”
Before I get into the Christmas spirit and want to be more forgiving, I have to say this… It’s Freedom Of and From Religion
It seems many believe that only pertains to their specific type of religion. They think all others are either fake, false or fantasy and should be banned or ignored. They also believe the country’s government and laws should be based on their religious beliefs.
That sounds absurd to me. I can read and I’m fairly intelligent. The Constitution and the founding fathers intent is very clear; you have yours and I’ll have mine, but the government shouldn’t have any.
Our country’s founders — who were of different religious backgrounds themselves — knew the best way to protect religious liberty was to keep the government out of religion. So they created the First Amendment — to guarantee the separation of church and state.
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says that everyone in the United States has the right to practice his or her own religion (not necessarily yours or mine), or no religion at all.
Throughout history, people have fought wars over religious differences, have tortured and executed whoever they thought didn’t believe in their god(s), discriminated and persecuted “non-believers” and forcefully “converted” those they believed needed salvation.
A great deal of all that still goes on in countries around the world and unfortunately, we are facing a challenge here in our own “Land of the Free.”
Right-Wing Christians pouring dollars into, and pressure on our government and judicial systems in order to enact legislation and laws that support their specific faith is not what freedom of or from religion is about, it’s quite the opposite. It’s Theocracy in action.
elamink 
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