So what are Americans to make of the radicalization of the Republican Party?

Social platforms since the organization of Facebook present dangers to democracies. Movements have been built on social platforms that cause average citizens pause in deciding about a topic that leads to a political decision. People running for office are now judged in ways that may be more anti-social than political and that leads to a break down of leadership with strong beliefs in democracy.

We have witnessed the undermining of the American democracy with Former President Trump in leadership. The breakdown was profound, fought at every turn and gratefully so, but, it ended with a sincere attempt at a coupe of the presidency of January 6, 2021. To that end Trump could not carry out his hatred of this country without the use of social media.

Social hierarchies in democracies and authoritarianism: The balance between power asymmetries and principal-agent chains

Rationality & Society
March 13, 2020; Issue published: August 1, 2020
Volume: 32 issue: 3, page(s): 334-366
Author: Björn Toelstede,
Linköping University, Sweden
Department of Economics, Linköping University, House A Campus Valla, Linkoping 581 83, Sweden.

...During the last decade, (click here) the people of several countries fought for freedom and democracy (e.g. in the Arab world or in Hong Kong). Their countries had different starting points and they took different courses. We could observe not only regime break downs (e.g. Tunisia/Libya), revolutionary threat-driven reforms (e.g. Morocco/Saudi Arabia), popular pro-democratic movements (e.g. Tunisia/Hong Kong) but also civil warfare and authoritarian restoration (e.g. Libya/Syria). These incidences motivated me to think about the movement of countries between democracy and authoritarianism depending on their respective degree of social hierarchy.

Recent approaches on this subject focus either on the distinction between hierarchical/horizontal societies or on the pro-/anti-sociality of the same. They describe social hierarchies as ambivalent (Van Vugt et al., 2008), divide them into productive or dominance hierarchies (DHs; Rubin, 2000) or functional and dysfunctional hierarchies (Anderson and Brown, 2010). Henrich and Gil-White (2001) distinguish between two behaviors, dominance and prestige. Democracies rather reward prestige and punish dominance meanwhile authoritarian systems do the contrary. Dubreuil (2010) writes that “the [hierarchical] state can be simultaneously the most efficient and most dangerous tool under human control” (p. 230). Magee and Galinsky (2008: 21f.) define hierarchies as “differentiation across individuals or groups on any (commonly) valued dimension” which can differ between cultures (Bowles, 2009; Dubreuil, 2010: 176). For Lake (2009: 264), hierarchies are any form of social differentiation and stratification as well as differences in authority over others (here: power asymmetries). All these approaches distinguish either between pro- and anti-sociality or between hierarchical and non-hierarchical societies.

The combination of both, the degree of pro-sociality and the degree of social hierarchy, can be found in Aristotle (2009: 100f.). He distinguished between governments whose objective is the “common interest” (pro-social) and those who are “directed to the [selfish] interest” (anti-social). Furthermore, he defined three degrees of social hierarchy between non-hierarchical and strongly hierarchical. In short, he combined different degrees of power asymmetries with the pro- or anti-social use of power.

The question about social hierarchies is also present in contemporary political discussions. When talking about democratic transitions, the common standpoint often endorses the (immediate) establishment or extension of institutions and hierarchical escalation. For example, Tharoor (2014) and Friedman (2019) claim the missing hierarchy in Hong Kong’s pro-democratic protest movement as the main reason of its alleged failure. Another example for the endorsement of more power asymmetries is France’s reaction on the 2015/2016 terror attacks. Immediately after the attacks, the country responded by increasing the number of security forces (Toelstede, 2019a, 2019b). The widespread endorsement of hierarchy-reinforcing responses on public goods problems justify a model that allows to categorize countries according to their degree of social hierarchy....

The attempted coupe that would have lead to the end of democracy in the USA was based in social content far different than ever before attempted. It was penetrating and dangerous to the point where it forced every person that loves this country to become a cog in the wheel that would end Trump's reign. The desire for American power in the hands of one man is more than evident with CPAC and it's recent convention in Hungary. Viktor Orban is the least of the hatred spewed at that convention.

21 May 2022

By Flora Garamvolgyi and Julian Borger

A notorious Hungarian racist (click here) who has called Jews “stinking excrement”, referred to Roma as “animals” and used racial epithets to describe Black people, was a featured speaker at a major gathering of US Republicans in Budapest.

Zsolt Bayer took the stage at the second day of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Hungary, a convention that also featured speeches from Donald Trump, Fox News host Tucker Carlson, and Trump’s former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows.

The last featured speaker of the conference was Jack Posobiec, a far-right US blogger who has used antisemitic symbols and promoted the fabricated “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory smearing prominent Democrats as pedophiles....

CPAC spoke loudly and in one voice, it wants the end of democracy in the USA and wants to deceive the American people in the same way Viktor Orban deceives the people of Hungary. That is not even remotely American, it is out of an ideology that kills relentlessly and without apology.

The Republican leadership that heils to Trump is not based in the best outcomes for the USA nor is it a new spiritual reality lead by shaman and demons, this ideology is as old as the modern era and it is taking place where people measure their words and deny self-expression.

The ideology of Trump is simply bad. Period. No discussion. Those that see Trump as a new kind of leadership have invested heavily in the idea of having a man in the White House that bows to their desires and not that of a democratically lead country where every person has a voice in their votes through fair and open elections.

The dangers are real as demonstrated by Orban. Those that saw the end of Trump's reign need to be careful of those that are his minions with unproven ability to govern benevolently and uphold the Rule of Law with deep and unwavering loyalty to the USA Constitution. This is not simply flag waving, this is knowing the history of the demon and being willing to end it's power and influence.

The elections in the USA going forward will require special attention to detail to insure the best outcomes for the people as they are oppressed by those that would control ethnicity and destroy diversity.

The people of Hungary are not free. They ingest the propaganda for smiles and approval that will carry out still yet another election of the king of Hungary who embraces killing in any country. The GOP is following the methodology of Orban in his disintegration of democratic authority.

April 4, 2022

By Zack Beauchamp

On Sunday evening, (click here) Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán won reelection for the fourth time — emerging with control of over two-thirds of the country’s parliamentary seats in defiance of close pre-election polls. This fourth consecutive victory means he will remain the third-longest-serving current leader in Europe at nearly 16 years in power, behind only Belarus’s Aleksandr Lukashenko (28 years as president) and Russia’s Vladimir Putin (23 years as president or prime minister).

That Orbán’s peers in longevity are outright dictators is appropriate, as Sunday’s election was anything but free and fair. For the past 12 years, Orbán has systematically worked to turn Hungarian democracy into a sham: one where elections seem fair, but take place on uneven playing ground. Through tactics ranging from extreme gerrymandering to media control to unfair campaign finance rules, he has made it unthinkably difficult for the opposition to defeat his Fidesz party at the ballot box....

Putin wants to end NATO. With Trump, he nearly did. This will continue until the Kings of Putin realize they will never succeed. The American people have a responsibility to carry out their own aggression in the face of fascism. What did our fathers and grandfathers die for? The rule of Putin's kings?

Who was Margaret Sanger? An Icon of change for women. A pacifist. A mother.

In the early 20th century, (click here) at a time when matters surrounding family planning or women’s healthcare were not spoken in public, Margaret Sanger founded the birth control movement and became an outspoken and life-long advocate for women’s reproductive rights. In her later life, Sanger spearheaded the effort that resulted in the modern birth control pill by 1960.

Born September 14, 1879, in Corning, New York, the sixth of eleven children born to Michael Hennessey Higgins, a stonemason, and Anna Purcell Higgins, a devoutly Roman Catholic Irishwoman. Sanger’s life course was shaped by the poverty of her childhood and the death of her mother at age 50, which Sanger understood resulted from the physical toll of eleven pregnancies. Sanger later became a nurse, attending Claverack College and Hudson River Institute in 1896 and completing the nursing program at White Plains Hospital in 1902. That year she married William Sanger, an architect, and moved to Hastings, New York, where the couple had three children....

The modern day word for her would be activist. She wanted to end the poverty women faced in the 19th Century with having many children. She became iconic in the USA and Europe. Her criticism reached into the vestiges of World War II. She was vocal about USA neutrality. She was welcome in circles of power. Was she successful in her pursuits of influencing that power? 

In favoring neutrality she could be viewed as a Nazi sympathizer. It was never an obvious character trait, but, there comes a time when a country has to take a stand or be willing to surrender before the war is even begun for them. If Margaret Sanger had her way, the USA would be run by Nazis and there would be no freedom. The question is not about contraception or elevating poor women out of poverty or even population growth; the question is did Margaret Sanger and her influence change the course of history for democracy? The answer is no. The USA entered the war and fought along side allies to the end of Nazi power that committed genocide.

She had conflicting values due to the love of her sons. That is legal and it is important because it creates an intolerance of war that buffers the blatant power the USA has in it's own right. She is important to history and very important to the women's movement even today. No one needs demonize her for the love she held dear of her sons.

...February 3, 1942
Last night I dreamed of Hitler (click here) – Saw him in a room so close that I could see his eyes wink ... house I was in with others raided by Nazis. I hid under a table with others but one womans leg was discovered then we all were brought forth. Hitler came in to execute war plans & operations using this house as his base. A bird flew into the room from the window & lighted near me – It was white & a dove – Hitler caught it, held it up high over my head & told me to pick out a feather – I did so & awakened. (Journal Entry, MSM S70:513-514)

May 1942
Grant in Navy! ... expects to be called Somewhere any day. God forbid– (Journal Entry, MSM S70:570)

January 26, 1943
Millions of Women in Industry, Defense & other National Activities are needed unencumbered & unhampered for the duration as much as their husbands or brothers are needed as free men on the battle fronts. (MS to Kenneth Rose, MSM S22:108-109)

March 22, 1943
I do not know whether or not you listened to Churchill's speech yesterday, but I was never more disappointed in his views, expressing, as they did, the whole Tory clique of the City of London. It was what I call a nationalistic, jingoistic brain storm! (MS to Margaret Valiant, MSM S22:373)

August 12, 1943
Stuart may have to go Overseas – God knows I'll be crushed over that. It will be the end for me! (MS to Florence Rose, MSM S23:0062)

March 10, 1944
Planned Parenthood must be an important plank in the post war platform if enduring peace is to prevail. Global war demands global peace, and the gains which we are struggling to achieve in this country must be extended throughout the world if they are to be effective for us. In the United States we have achieved a favorable balance between population and resources which has contributed greatly to the raising of our national standard of living. But it will avail us little in the long run if European and Asiatic countries continue to overrun their boundaries, and to breed themselves into greater poverty, famine and ultimately into war. Therefore the fight for planned parenthood must encompass the world. ("Children of Tomorrow" speech, MSM S72:380)

May 10, 1944
What an amazing experience for you, as you say, to have two human beings fall through the air from that height – it is all too ghastly and horrible. I keep wondering what is going to happen after the war to men who live through experiences of that kind. (MS to Stuart Sanger, MSM S23:954)

September 19, 1944
Stuart is in France having left England with the others without a days vacation. I think the American Army is treating the American boys as if they were children, not letting them get away in case they get into trouble when not with his Uncle Sam. (MS to H. G. Wells, MSM S24:323)

October 27, 1944
Grant is out in that Philippine battle in a carrier ... its too horrible being at the end of a phone waiting. (MS to Margaret Valiant and Florence Rose, MSM S24:395)

August 10, 1945
Atomic Bomb over Japan startled the World. (Calendar Entry, MSM S80:647)

August 30, 1945
Stuart has come back from France but is not out of the Army. Grant was still in Okinawa the last we heard, we only hope he will not be sent in Japan. We as everyone else are terribly thankful that the war is over. (MS to Marion Willis Brock, MSM S24:1148)

October 25, 1945
Isn't it true, General, that until America, with her present power, stands for the rights of parents everywhere in the world to voluntary and healthful reproduction, neither a large standing army or the atomic bomb can save us from another war? (MS to General Douglas MacArthur, MSM S25:213)

The 1930s was a disgrace to the USA.

Nearly 1,000 uniformed men (click here) wearing swastika arm bands and carrying Nazi banners parade past a reviewing stand in New Jersey on July 18, 1937. The New Jersey division of the German-American Bund opened its 100-acre Camp Nordland at Sussex Hills. Dr. Salvatore Caridi of Union City, spokesman for a group of Italian-American Fascists attending as guests, addressed the bund members as "Nazi Friends."

These men organized after WWI. The second world war would begin with the election of Adolph Hitler in 1933.

...After becoming Chancellor of Germany in 1933, (click here) Hitler swiftly consolidated power, anointing himself Führer (supreme leader) in 1934. Obsessed with the idea of the superiority of the “pure” German race, which he called “Aryan,” Hitler believed that war was the only way to gain the necessary “Lebensraum,” or living space, for the German race to expand. In the mid-1930s, he secretly began the rearmament of Germany, a violation of the Versailles Treaty. After signing alliances with Italy and Japan against the Soviet Union, Hitler sent troops to occupy Austria in 1938 and the following year annexed Czechoslovakia. Hitler’s open aggression went unchecked, as the United States and Soviet Union were concentrated on internal politics at the time, and neither France nor Britain (the two other nations most devastated by the Great War) were eager for confrontation....

The history of this disastrous movement began long before the radical right wing of the Republican Party discovered how fear can capture votes.

The most important promoter of racial ideology in Europe (click here) during the mid-19th century was https://www.britannica.com/topic/race-human/Gobineaus-Essay-on-the-Inequality-of-Human-Races, who had an almost incalculable effect on late 19th-century social theory. Published in 1853–55, his Essay on the Inequality of Human Races was widely read, embellished, and publicized by many different kinds of writers. He imported some of his arguments from the polygenists, especially the American Samuel Morton. Gobineau claimed that the civilizations established by the three major races of the world (white, Black, and yellow) were all products of the white races and that no civilization could emerge without their cooperation. The purest of the white races were the Aryans. When Aryans diluted their blood by intermarriage with lower races, they helped to bring about the decline of their civilization.

Following Boulainvilliers, Gobineau advanced the notion that France was composed of three separate races—the Nordics, the Alpines, and the Mediterraneans—that corresponded to France’s class structure. Each race had distinct mental and physical characteristics; they differed in character and natural abilities, such as leadership, economic resourcefulness, creativity, and inventiveness, and in morality and aesthetic sensibilities. The tall, blond Nordics, who were descendants of the ancient Germanic tribes, were the intellectuals and leaders. Alpines, who were brunet and intermediate in size between Nordics and Mediterraneans, were the peasants and workers; they required the leadership of Nordics. The shorter, darker Mediterraneans he considered a decadent and degenerate product of the mixture of unlike races; to Gobineau they were “nigridized” and “semitized.”...

It is a paradigm worth recognizing in other cultures, but, never has it ended humanly or without ethnic cleansing or racism.

The country of India there has been a Caste System that oppresses people into poverty while maintaining the elite in their roles.

Manusmriti, (click here) widely regarded to be the most important and authoritative book on Hindu law and dating back to at least 1,000 years before Christ was born, "acknowledges and justifies the caste system as the basis of order and regularity of society".

The caste system divides Hindus into four main categories - Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and the Shudras. Many believe that the groups originated from Brahma, the Hindu God of creation....

Probably one of the more deadly paradigms that adhere to difference in a person as important to discriminate in governance is that of Islam. In the 21st Century, that entire jihad thing is grossly wrong and available yet today for radicals to harness and bring hate and fear to people to justify atrocities. Why is it that mass murder is viewed as necessary to anyone?

...The division (click here) between Shia and Sunni dates back to the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632. This event raised the question of who was to take over the leadership of the Muslim nation.

Sunnism is the largest and most orthodox branch of Islam. The word Sunn, in Arabic, comes from a word meaning "one who follows the traditions of the Prophet."

Sunni Muslims agree with many of the Prophet's companions at the time of his death: that the new leader should be elected from among those capable of the job. For example, following Prophet Muhammad's death, his close friend and adviser, Abu Bakr, became the first Caliph (successor or deputy of the Prophet) of the Islamic nation.

On the other hand, some Muslims believe that leadership should have stayed within the Prophet's family, among those specifically appointed by him, or among Imams appointed by God Himself.

Shia Muslims believe that following the Prophet Muhammad's death, leadership should have passed directly to his cousin and son-in-law, Ali bin Abu Talib. Throughout history, Shia Muslims have not recognized the authority of elected Muslim leaders, choosing instead to follow a line of Imams which they believe have been appointed by the Prophet Muhammad or God Himself....

Hate and fear go hand in hand. Where hate becomes justifiable within the politics of any form of governance, what will ultimately result is a judgement of one authority to solidify ultimate control of POWER.

The Rwandan Genocide is well known (click here). There was a power shift in the country and within 4 days hundreds of thousands of people were dead for no other reason, except, the desire for ultimate power.

FOUR DAYS.

FOUR DAYS.

FOUR DAYS.

This type of ideology is extremely dangerous. No one thought for a moment that Vladimir Putin would be so ruthless to achieve the end of every Ukrainian in the 21st Century. It may not have achieved the numbers of dead as with Rwanda, but, it has been vastly dangerous resulting in the deaths and displacement of nearly an entire race of people. 

This is not to be tolerated in American politics. The only movement within the USA that should be tolerated is the goal of peace and prosperity that equates happiness. The poor has opportunity to upward movement. The Middle Class has the ability to educate their children and improve their lives with real happiness within families and communities. The Middle Class is America. It is where wealth takes place to the wealthy. The Middle Class has to succeed to bring about a vibrant economy. Economic exploitation and the viciousness of capitalism to deliver exclusive wealth is not part of a healthy America. 

The white supremacist conspiracy theory has a long history in the United States and abroad.

May 17, 2022
By Fabiola Cineas

Before the gunman shot down 10 Black people in Buffalo, New York, (click here) at a supermarket on Saturday afternoon, he had stated his intent: “kill as many Black people as possible.” He reportedly wrote these words in a 180-page screed published online before he carried out what investigators are calling a hate crime and a racist act of violent extremism.

The 18-year-old white man, who claimed to drive hours to the zip code he targeted in Buffalo because it “has the highest black percentage that is close enough to where I live,” repeatedly lamented immigration, which he feared would result in “ethnic replacement,” “cultural replacement,” “racial replacement,” and ultimately, he wrote, “white genocide.”

This is the “white replacement theory” or the “Great Replacement” that has motivated similar mass killings in recent years — the racist conspiracy theory that holds that, through immigration, interracial marriage, integration, and violence, and at the behest of secret forces orchestrated by “global elites” (as the Buffalo shooter claimed) or Jews, white people are being disenfranchised, disempowered, and pushed out of “white nations.”

These ideas are not new. They have been documented for at least a century, the forces of white fear that shaped the national origin quotas of the 1920s. They have inspired mass attacks — and also smaller-scale instances of violence — that have claimed the lives of hundreds of people in the United States and abroad...

Former President John Tyler could still be impeached.

Dubbed “His Accidency” by his detractors, John Tyler (click here) was the first Vice President to be elevated to the office of President by the death of his predecessor.

Born in Virginia in 1790, he was raised believing that the Constitution must be strictly construed. He never wavered from this conviction. He attended the College of William and Mary and studied law.

Serving in the House of Representatives from 1816 to 1821, Tyler voted against most nationalist legislation and opposed the Missouri Compromise. After leaving the House he served as Governor of Virginia. As a Senator he reluctantly supported Jackson for President as a choice of evils. Tyler soon joined the states’ rights Southerners in Congress who banded with Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and their newly formed Whig party opposing President Jackson.

The Whigs nominated Tyler for Vice President in 1840, hoping for support from southern states’-righters who could not stomach Jacksonian Democracy. The slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too” implied flag waving nationalism plus a dash of southern sectionalism....

Harrison Ruffin Tyler at the age of 91 is iconic for the Supremacist/Nationalist belief that the USA is to be a white, Christian country. Below is a paragraph from the US Presidential page.

...When the first southern states seceded in 1861, Tyler led a compromise movement; failing, he worked to create the Southern Confederacy. He died in 1862, a member of the Confederate House of Representatives.

If we are to destroy statues dedicated to the Confederacy to sufficiently remove such ideas of coupe and treason from USA history, white people such as the former President Tyler has to be included in that priority to rid the public square of ideologues that embrace White Supremacy as the world order.

The really interesting tilt to this reality with Tyler is that he died in 1861. That is more than 160 years ago, yet, his grandson and great-grandson are still alive to carry forward the ideology that Tyler spoke. Even if they deny they agree with Tyler's perspective, there is a family heritage that causes concern and a focus to extremists that would see genocide as a resolve no different than Putin.

It is time for the people of the USA to end the bigotry and racism.

November 29, 2020
By Gillian Brockell

These days Harrison Ruffin Tyler, 91, (click here) is allowed only one designated visitor. Those are the pandemic rules at the nursing home in Virginia where he lives. So in September, when his last living sibling, brother Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr. died at 95, he found out about it on the daily visit from his daughter-in-law.

“He understood what was going on, he was upset,” said his son William Tyler, 58. But “he doesn’t have any memory of yesterday, he doesn’t have any memory of today.”

Due to a series of mini-strokes starting in 2012, Harrison lives almost without time. It would be quite a change for anyone, but it’s particularly so for someone like him, who grew up steeped in family history. Harrison was raised in his grandfather’s hunting lodge; his grandfather — John Tyler, the 10th president of the United States — was born in 1790....

Later

I am ending this early tonight. I will complete it tomorrow.

Thank you for your continued interest.

Comments:

Speaker Pelosi - The Bishop has it wrong. The type of relationship that exists with God is a personal relationship. It is that relationship regarding her accountability of her Earthly life that will interest God.

I find the Bishop’s declaration, opportune. He either has ambitions to be Cardinal or Pope himself. I would like to know if his unnecessary announcement about the Speaker’s right to communion was after a handsome donation to request his intervention.

To the Bishop of San Francisco,

The USA practices separation of church and state. Speaker Pelosi has an obligation to all people and faiths. Abortion is not about babies. They obtain citizenship at birth and not before. Abortion is about a woman’s health. There is no assault on babies in the USA. We welcome babies. What is at issue is the health of women and how that translates to the care of their families. 

The Bishop of San Francisco entered a dialogue that does not fall under his expertise. The law in the USA is best left up to legislators that know the issue and how to legislate. With all do respect the Bishop is confused to where his religious dogma ends.

ONE OTHER THING:

The Catholic Church based in Rome, Italy chronically has this problem with those that are practicing the faith while serving in office. Speaker Nancy Pelosi is dedicated to her faith and to the people of the USA. As Speaker she has a responsibility to all Americans and not just Catholic Americans. The Catholic Church should be proud to have a member of it's faith in one of the most powerful seats in the USA Legislature.

Additionally, Speaker Pelosi has a responsibility to all Americans and not just Catholic Americans. Her status with her faith is her own business not that of the USA federal government. Speaker Pelosi fully understands the impact abortion has on women's lives for the better. Abortion has always been defined in regard to the health of the mother, physical health, emotional health and mental health. She knows full well that abortion serves as a benefit to women that seek to have a better quality of life for their families.

What does abortion do for women? It allows them to compete for good paying jobs that can require a decade or more of learning. Abortion allows a woman to move from abuse to self-supporting while protecting her children when they to with her after a divorce from an abusive spouse. Abortion saves women's lives when they are faced with adverse outcomes to pregnancy, including in the African American community, preeclampsia ( high blood pressure, high levels of protein in urine that indicate kidney damage (proteinuria), or other signs of organ damage), eclampsia resulting from preeclampsia (seizures can cause episodes of staring, decreased alertness, and convulsions (violent shaking) and let's not forget depression. 

Post partum depression starts before delivery of the baby and continues due to hormone imbalances as well as pre-existing mental health issues. The most devastating mental health issues for women during the post partum period is Post-Partum Psychosis (click here). The people of the USA has witnessed the devastation of Post-Partum Psychosis when a women severely depressed actually murders her own children after the birth of a daughter. 

All these issues are serious problems women face when becoming pregnant for all the right reasons like family and personal fulfillment in being a parent. The Catholic Church's view is that of religious dogma and not modern day information. It is unfortunate because the Vatican has a scientific arm that could investigate this further if it harnessed the genius of it's nuns. 

If the Catholic Church believes it is a power player in any election, it needs to think twice because the non-profit status could be sacrificed when entering slight of hand defamation of character among government officials simply doing their job. The Catholic Church has no authority within the USA government structure and should maintain its interests where it belongs in saving the souls of those still engaging in sinful behavior.

Speaker Pelosi is one of the most ethical people in this country and is very concerned about women's health as well as happy lives for children with men fulfilled in their personal pursuits of employment, marriage and quite possibly small business interests. There is nothing here that a Bishop should concern himself with as Speaker Pelosi is an honorable woman, incredible leader and one that does not cross the line of church and state to replace the USA Constitution with the Bible. That ethical stance is not shared with political right wing Congresspersons who see the power of the USA open to be harnessed for wrong doing and exploitation of people. Enough of this displaced heralding by the Bishop, he owes people a letter of apology for his attempt at smearing Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

continued...

What is really interesting is the "Bush-Cheney" Republicans to this extremism that is gone mainstream with Trump's Republican arm.

 John McCain labeled his 2008 presidential campaign the “Straight Talk Express.” (click here) But that was just a slogan. In reality, McCain’s campaign was a desperately disingenuous project that saw the candidate and a cabal of corrupt aides lie to reporters and the American people, foster false impressions of their rivals, give Sarah Palin a national platform, and set the stage for the degeneration of the Republican Party into the antidemocratic confederacy it has since become.

The GOP’s debasement has had a lot to do with Donald Trump, but it did not begin with the 45th president. It had deep roots that were entangled not only with unprincipled strategists on the domestic front but also with oligarchs who were aligned with Russian President Vladimir Putin. And it continues to haunt the party, and the United States, at a moment when Putin’s military is waging a genocidal war against Ukraine.

That is the most important takeaway from the headline-grabbing pronouncements of McCain campaign aide turned “Never Trump” Republican Steve Schmidt, who is currently embattled in a Twitter war with the late senator’s self-dealing daughter, Meghan McCain....

The Lincoln Project helped defeat Trump in 2020. Why? Because Trump was/is a profound threat to democracy in the USA and the other allies of the USA. The people that organized and funded The Lincoln Project understood the danger of Trumpism and the peril of the USA into the future.

The Lincoln Project (click here)

December 17, 2022

By Steve Peoples

A small group of President Donald Trump’s fiercest conservative critics, (click here) including the husband of the president’s own chief adviser, is launching a super PAC designed to fight Trump’s reelection and punish congressional Republicans deemed his “enablers.”

The new organization, known as the Lincoln Project, represents a formal step forward for the so-called Never Trump movement, which has been limited largely to social media commentary and cable news attacks through the first three years of Trump’s presidency. Organizers report fundraising commitments exceeding $1 million to begin, although they hope to raise and spend much more to fund a months-long advertising campaign in a handful of 2020 battleground states to persuade disaffected Republican voters to break from Trump’s GOP. 

The mission, as outlined in a website that launched Tuesday coinciding with a New York Times opinion piece, is simple: “Defeat President Trump and Trumpism at the ballot box.”

The group is led by a seven-person advisory council that features some of the GOP’s most vocal Trump critics. Most, but not all, have already left the Republican Party to protest Trump’s rise. 

The principals include former John McCain adviser Steve Schmidt, former Ohio Gov. John Kasich adviser John Weaver, former New Hampshire GOP chair Jennifer Horn, veteran Republican operative Rick Wilson and George Conway, a conservative attorney and husband of Trump’s chief counselor Kellyanne Conway. 

In an interview, George Conway said he encouraged the new super PAC to involve Anonymous, an unnamed Trump administration official who authored a recent book warning the public against Trump’s reelection. The rest of the group ultimately decided not to take Conway’s suggestion....

The Republicans are having trouble AGAIN doing the right and best thing for the people of the USA.

US Senate Bill 963 (click here)

May 22, 2022
by Alexander Bolton

Senate Republicans are lining up against a House-passed bill (click here) that would authorize special offices within the government to investigate and monitor domestic terrorism, which is being pushed in the wake of a racist shooting in Buffalo that left 10 people dead.

The GOP compares the proposal, which sets up offices in the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and the FBI to target domestic terrorism, to the recently paused disinformation board set up by the Biden administration.

“It sounds terrible,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) of the House-passed bill, predicting it won’t get 10 Republicans in the Senate.

Josh Hawley, of course, is the one that was encouraging the violent crowd at the US Capitol before entering the building to place Joseph Biden at the top of the USA Executive Branch.

“It’s like the disinformation board on steroids. Another way to look at is the Patriot Act for American citizens,” he added, referring to the law passed immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that expanded the government’s power to monitor phone and email conversations and collect bank records.

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) says he will bring the bill to the floor this week as a response to the killings at a Buffalo supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood. The bill passed the House 222-203 on a mostly party-line vote, with Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) casting the only GOP vote in favor.

Democrats increasingly see the need for the government to take more action against the threat of domestic terrorism given a long string of incidents that includes the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and several mass shootings targeting Black, Hispanic and Jewish people.

But the efforts have run into opposition from the GOP....

The Communists have the floor.

20 May 2022

By Flora Garamvolgyi

The Hungarian leader, (click here) Viktor Orbán, has told a conference of US conservatives that the path to power required having their own media outlets, calling for shows like Tucker Carlson’s to be broadcast “24/7”. Orbán, recently elected to a fourth term, laid out a 12-point blueprint to achieving and consolidating power to a special meeting of the US Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), under the slogan of “God, Homeland, Family”, held in Budapest....

Trump already has his own media. This most assuredly solidifies the idea that the Republican Party is no longer the GOP of the USA, but, a foreign governing authority that has members in the USA under the guise of democracy, when they are absolutely looking toward authoritarianism.

Our Vision (click here)

In the year 2021, the media pendulum has swung dangerously far to the left. Silicon Valley, the mainstream media, and Big Tech have begun to forcibly silence voices that do not align with their woke ideology. Big Tech platforms demonetize, throttle, and cancel those who stray from the mainstream narrative. They are not just censoring content – they are determining what can and cannot be said. By controlling how information is shared, they control the narrative. They control the future. They control you.

To counter this dangerous exercise of Big Tech monopoly power, President Donald J. Trump and TMTG are building a media and technology company rooted in social media, digital streaming, and more. TMTG intends to even the playing field by providing people with open media platforms where they can share and create content without fear of reputational ruin.

Join us.

Authoritarianism the concentration of power in a leader or an elite not constitutionally responsible to the people.

Understand this, on January 6, 2021 the right wing extremists of the Republican Party attempted to coupe the elections and prevent the swearing of oath of President Biden. If that were to occur and Trump continued as the authority in the Oval Office, the USA Constitution would be null and void and Trump would have complete authority of the presidency and it's power. 

 

House Bill 350 codifies Domestic Terrorism as a national priority in prevention of the crime.

US House Bill 350 (click here)

May 19, 2022

By Darragh Roche

The House of Representatives (click here) passed new legislation designed to deal with the threat of domestic terrorism on Wednesday along a largely party line vote, with just one Republican in favor.

Members of Congress approved the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act by a vote of 222 to 203, with Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois joining Democrats in voting yes.

Four Republican members of the House didn't vote on the new legislation, which was passed in the wake of a mass shooting at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York, that left 10 people dead.

President Joe Biden has described the attack, which authorities believe may have been racially motivated, as "domestic terrorism."

The bill would create an office of domestic terrorism in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI. It will now head to the evenly divide Senate.

This is the list of Republicans who voted against the bill, grouped by state....

Hate Crimes have already been defined by law.

...A hate crime (click here) is a traditional offense like murder, arson, or vandalism with an added element of bias. For the purposes of collecting statistics, the FBI has defined a hate crime as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.” Hate itself is not a crime—and the FBI is mindful of protecting freedom of speech and other civil liberties....

Title 18, U.S.C., Section 249 

This statute makes it unlawful to willfully cause bodily injury (click here) —or attempting to do so with fire, firearm, or other dangerous weapon—when 1) the crime was committed because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin of any person, or 2) the crime was committed because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of any person and the crime affected interstate or foreign commerce or occurred within federal special maritime and territorial jurisdiction.

The law also provides funding and technical assistance to state, local, and tribal jurisdictions to help them to more effectively investigate, prosecute, and prevent hate crimes.

The law provides for a maximum 10–year prison term, unless death (or attempts to kill) results from the offense, or unless the offense includes kidnapping or attempted kidnapping, or aggravated sexual abuse or attempted aggravated sexual abuse. For offenses not resulting in death, there is a seven–year statute of limitations. For offenses resulting in death, there is no statute of limitations....

Title 18, U.S.C., Section 242 - Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law

Title 18, U.S.C., Section 245 - Federally Protected Activities

Title 18, U.S.C., Section 247 - Church Arson Prevention Act of 1996

Title 18, U.S.C., Section 248 - Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act

Title 18, U.S.C., Section 844(h) - Federal Explosives Control Statute

Title 42, U.S.C., Section 3631 - Criminal Interference with Right to Fair Housing

Title 42, U.S.C., Section 14141 - Pattern and Practice

I will rely on the information from Steve Schmidt to exam the intention of wrong headed GOP priorities for the USA power structure.

May 18, 2022

By Naveed Jamali and Maura Currie

June 2019 - Steve Schmidt quoted, "“29 years and nine months ago I registered to vote and became a member of The Republican Party which was founded in 1854 to oppose slavery and stand for the dignity of human life. Today I renounce my membership in the Republican Party. It is fully the party of Trump,” Steve Schmidt tweeted early Wednesday morning.

Schmidt went on to call the party “corrupt, indecent and immoral.”

Political strategist Steve Schmidt (click here) has made headlines recently over new revelations about his professional—and personal—relationship with the late Senator John McCain, as well as with the McCain family.

Schmidt, to hear him tell it, has nothing to sell or promote with this discussion of a campaign that took place a decade and a half ago. He's merely setting the record straight, and drawing a throughline from our nation's infancy to Sarah Palin to the present.

Schmidt joined Declassified With Naveed Jamali to discuss his frustration with McCain's choice of running mate in 2008 and the trajectory of the party he very publicly left in 2018.

I think that the overwhelming majority of Americans...recognize that Russia is a geopolitical adversary, and a great threat to the stability of the world and world peace. And that the fetishizing of Putin and Russia that takes place with Tucker Carlson, with Laura Ingraham, with CPAC, who is doing their convention in Budapest...really speaks to a reawakening of a political tradition in the country that's always been there—has manifested itself over time and a lot of different ways....

Domestic Terrorism has already been defined in law. (18 U.S. Code § 2331 - Definitions)

 As used in this chapter (click here) - 

(1)the term “international terrorism” means activities that—

(A)

involve violent acts or acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State, or that would be a criminal violation if committed within the jurisdiction of the United States or of any State;

(B)appear to be intended—

(i)

to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;

(ii)

to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or

(iii)

to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and

(C)

occur primarily outside the territorial jurisdiction of the United States, or transcend national boundaries in terms of the means by which they are accomplished, the persons they appear intended to intimidate or coerce, or the locale in which their perpetrators operate or seek asylum;

(2)

the term “national of the United States” has the meaning given such term in section 101(a)(22) of the Immigration and Nationality Act;

(3)

the term “person” means any individual or entity capable of holding a legal or beneficial interest in property;

(4)the term “act of war” means any act occurring in the course of—

(A)

declared war;

(B)

armed conflict, whether or not war has been declared, between two or more nations; or

(C)

armed conflict between military forces of any origin;

(5)the term “domestic terrorism” means activities that—

(A)

involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State;

(B)appear to be intended—

(i)

to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;

(ii)

to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or

(iii)

to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and

(C)

occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States; and

(6)the term “military force” does not include any person that—

(A)has been designated as a—

(i)

foreign terrorist organization by the Secretary of State under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189); or

(ii)

specially designated global terrorist (as such term is defined in section 594.310 of title 31, Code of Federal Regulations) by the Secretary of State or the Secretary of the Treasury; or

(B)

has been determined by the court to not be a “military force”.

Thanks to the "Chicago Tribune" for truth telling and strengthening the country.

In the early days, it was white men running the place. That has since changed and the change occurred with accurate reporting that brought dialogue.

May 22, 2022
By Rick Kogan

A newspaper is not, of course, a living thing. (click here)

It is, by its humblest definition, ink on paper, and that is the way it has been for a very long time. For the Chicago Tribune, that time began June 10, 1847, and over the next several Sundays, we will chart the 175-year history of this newspaper.

That is, of course, a lot to bite off, for it is a story that has unfolded against the backdrop of this remarkable city. Chronicling Chicago, as well as the “outside” world, has made for a colossal pile of Tribune pages, full of triumphs and tragedies, oddities and oddballs, events and people both wonderful and wild....

It all seems so stupid. Conservative White Men NEVER admit to being vulnerable and/or wrong !

Age Adjusted Death Rates (click here) 

The age-adjusted death rate (click here) for the total population increased 16.8% from 715.2 per 100,000 standard population in 2019 to 835.4 in 2020. Age-adjusted death rates increased in 2020 from 2019 for all race-ethnicity-sex groups, increasing 42.7% for Hispanic males, 32.4% for Hispanic females, 28.0% for non-Hispanic Black males, 24.9% for non-Hispanic Black females, 13.4% for non-Hispanic White males, and 12.1% for non-Hispanic White females.

The pandemic. The vaccine refusals. The variants. The chronic spread. The deaths that are still occurring. The stressed hospitals. It all was completely preventable.

There is a mindset to white men of the Republican and/or Libertarian variety that states masculinity is decided by toughness. That is literally killing Conservative White American Men. They do not listen to anyone, except, maybe another peer. But, for the most part Conservative White Men rather have their tombstone reflect their lives forever rather than living them.

And that is the truth.

I experienced it first hand with a member of my family. He was a self-made millionaire and golfer. He loved to golf. One day he was convinced he needed to consult with a dermatologist about the mark on his arm. It was melanoma. There is no cure melanoma. It is a life of chronically pursuing any spread of the tumor and defeating it as it erupts.

My Uncle was tougher than the tumor, you know. He went into surgery and that mark on his arm took one third of the skin and tissue on his left upper arm. The surgeon told him they got all of it, but, melanoma would occur again and he was to see his dermatologist regularly for anymore eruptions.

My Uncle died when he was 72 years old for no other reason except self-righteous neglect. The real disease for the people that rail against society and social norms is self-righteousness. Self-righteousness is a disease when every aspect of life dictates certain behaviors to save your own life, like getting a vaccine in the face of a pandemic, and a person simply won't accept that reality.

My uncle was self-righteous. He never followed up with doctors after his initial surgery, but, saw them regularly when it was too late to save his life. He died because his self-righteousness was out of control and no one, not even his wife, could convince him he was neglecting himself and not in control of his tumor's spread.

He was a great guy. He believed in God. He put his grandchildren through private Catholic school. All twelve of them. There is no doubt his faith was deep into his soul, but, faith is about the soul, not about having miracles. Expecting God to be able to care for a human body is arrogance and keeping score. That is not faith. Just because a man or woman is a devout practitioner of the faith does not mean anything about life on Earth, so much as the soul after parting the body. Don't expect God to save one's life from disease if one does not act upon the miracle of medical science in their vigilance and life sustaining interventions.

A miracle came to human beings in the form of a vaccine to fight off a deadly virus and it's deadly variants.

Indeed, acute stubbornness. How does anyone discount a vaccine? That makes no sense.

May 22, 2022

By Julia Prodis Sulek

The obituary of Stephen Elliott, who died of COVID-19 on Jan. 5, 2022, rests in the hands of its author, his son Ryan Elliott, on May 4, 2022, in Palo Alto. Ryan and brother Jason tried and failed to persuade their dad to get vaccinated.

Ryan Elliott (click here) couldn’t put off writing his father’s obituary any longer. Word was already spreading through Vallejo that his dad – a well-known commercial real estate broker and civic leader – had died.

But he had to work his way up to it. He and his brother, Jason, held warm childhood memories of their father teaching them to waterski at Lake Tahoe and drive off-road along the Rubicon Trail, but like many sons and fathers, their relationship was complicated. Their dad could be difficult – especially when it came to COVID-19.

The first week in January – nearly two years after the pandemic began and a year after the vaccine first became available – Ryan sat down with his laptop and began:

Acute stubbornness.

“Anybody could read into that and understand,” Jason Elliott said, “that odds are he probably didn’t have a vaccine.”

As Americans near a cruel milestone of one million COVID deaths, personal obituaries like Stephen Elliott’s, humble death notices written by family and friends, have become a heartbreaking historical record of the worst pandemic of our lives....

Humility as a practice, instead of gratefulness, is a character strength.

Self - Righteousness is arrogant, a character flaw and very, very dangerous.

There is no way any one person can know everything that is benevolent and good for their lives. To believe one is in complete control of their life outcomes is pure stupidity. 

Society in the USA has provided for education of professionals such as doctors to even the odds that life has handed to you. No one should ignore the greatness within our society that seeks to guarantee a healthy and happy life, through all of life.