#a-republic-if-you-can-keep-it — Public Fediverse posts

The Banality of Evil Meets A Republic If You Can Keep It: Part One, The Cowards and the Con

READING TIME: 6 minutes

SUMMARY: Our democracy is in deep trouble. Trump is destroying it much faster than we had thought possible. In the first of two posts examining the reasons for his success and the ways he’s done it, we will look at the role of the feckless Republican Congress and his mastery of narrative dominance. Republicans are willing to cede their check and balance powers as long as they get to stay in office. The electorate remains vulnerable to the persuasive power of the mere exposure effect. Both have and are continuing to contribute to the demise of our democracy. In part two, the hollowness of the state government and the coming economic crash are examined.

KEY WORDS: Hannah Arendt, Benjamin Franklin, Trump, the Republican Congress, Mere Exposure Effect, the Banality of Evil, Primaried from the Right, the Flying Monkey Squad, the Palisade Fire, the Eaton Fire, Mexico, Canada

COMMENTS: With No Kings this Saturday and special elections continuing to go to Democrats, what do you think our chances of keeping our republic are?

1. The Trump Regime in a Nutshell
   1. The Mystery of the Trading Futures
2. The Cowards: The Republican Congress
   1. Feckless Checks and Balances
   2. Keeping their Congressional Seat
   3. The Banality of Evil
3. The Con: The Mere Exposure Effect
   1. His Braying Board Nasal Tone
   2. Trust in Great Britain and Canada
   3. The Palisades and Eaton Fires in California
      1. Canada Sends Help
      2. Mexico Honors the Spirit of Cooperation Between Our Two Countries
      3. Exposing the Con
   4. A Republic If You Can Keep It
4. Image Attribution

The Trump Regime in a Nutshell

The Mystery of the Trading Futures

On Friday 20 March, Trump issued a social media decree that he would “obliterate” Iranian power plants unless the Iranians unblocked the Strait of Hormuz, following his favorite edict, f at first you don’t succeed, threaten them with worser things! Of course oil prices soared and markets around the world plunged.

Then on Monday 23 March mere minutes before Trump left a greasy TACO stain in his shorts, someone — or someones — began trading S&P 500 futures, the CME futures, and oil future like mad. It was almost like somebody knew that Trump was about to postpone his ultimatum and that that announcement would cause the markets to rebound.. Almost.

Trump claimed the reprieve came because of productive talks with Iran, which Iranian officials, curiously, denied. Now, who you gonna believe? The chronically and habitually lying authoritarian regime or the chronically and habitually lying authoritarian regime?

Isn’t that the Trump regime in a nutshell? You can’t trust a damn thing they say, and they’re all making a buck off whatever they’re up to in one way or another.

The Cowards: The Republican Congress

Feckless Checks and Balances

Famously, our government is a rock paper scissors game of checks and balances with every branch able to best one of the others. While the Judicial branch has done a reasonable job of checking and balancing Trump’s dumbass , the Republican Congress has been absent. Like vacuum of space absent.

Reporters, pundits, and Democrats have all speculated that there’s a split in MAGA, Republicans are fracturing, yada yada yada. Wake me up when someone actually does something meaningful to stop Trump from destroying our democracy, country, economy, and the world. Seriously.

Nearly everyday a Democratic Representative or Senator gets asked what their Republican colleagues REALLY think about Trump, and we’re assured that they hate him and wish he were gone. However, they feel like they have to vote with him and give public support otherwise they’ll be primaried from the right. And, if they’re primaried from the right, they’ll lose, and they won’t be in Congress any more.

Well, fucking cry me a fucking river.

Keeping their Congressional Seat

They’re telling us that the most important freaking thing in the whole wide universe is that they retain their congressional seat. Without them in office, well, damby-dumby, the whole world would be destroyed both literally and figuratively. They’re the only thing standing twixt us and pure evil.

Alternatively, we’re told that they fear Trump’s flying monkey squad who will descend upon them with pizza delivery orders and threats of violence, rape, and death that the Congressional security office cannot deal with. Not only do their lives depend on compliance with the destruction of the country, but so do those of their families.

Before you start feeling sorry for them, remember, they could always pull a Mad Dog Greene and retire on the day that their retirement benefits are guaranteed. Oh snap! That’s right. The only thing preventing the annihilation of the country is that Jim Risch remains in the Senate. The only thing preventing Armafuckingeddon is Trent Kelly continuing in the House. These people are super important.

The Banality of Evil

It’s what Hannah Arendt described as the “banality of evil.” They’re Adolf Eichmann processing the transportation paperwork sending Jews to concentration camps, not so much because of anti-Semitism, but because it is good for their career.

And, that’s the best case scenario. They’re willing to sit in Congress with their thumbs up their collective ass while Trump drives us over the cliff into the Greater Depression, climate disaster, and the destruction of our democracy because it is good for their career and the insider trading opportunities.

Worst cae? They want to become the Duma’s rubber kiss of Trump’s ass in our pseudo-democratic, single-party, minority-rule autocracy.

The Con: The Mere Exposure Effect

Another way the Republican Congress has been putting its thumb on the check and balance scales is by allowing Trump to rip the Executive Branch guardrails down by appointing a team of corrupt collaborators to his cabinet. Congress is standing on the Titanic’s deck taking selfies with the ice berg as Trump steers his shipwreck of state over the authoritarian cliff.

The engine that drives Trump’s authoritarian machine is his ability to sell his narrative. It is like… not his superpower… What? It’s more like he’s a Svengali mesmerizing his base and unwitting listeners into a trance. It must be his bored braying nasal tone that does the trick because, gawd almighty, for the life of me, I cannot understand how anyone who lived through his chaotic shambolic messy first term could ever have voted for him

His Braying Board Nasal Tone

The engine that drives Trump’s authoritarian machine is his ability to sell his narrative. It is like… not his superpower… What? It’s more like he’s a Svengali mesmerizing his base and unwitting listeners into a trance. It must be his bored braying nasal tone that does the trick because, gawd almighty, for the life of me, I cannot understand how anyone who lived through his chaotic shambolic messy first term could ever have voted for him again. He staged an insurrection! An insurrection! How is it possible that he got elected AGAIN?!?

The only satisfying explanation — other than having cheated, which he’s never won anything fairly or squarely in his like, so why would he have started in 2024? — is that he is the master of the mere exposure effect. He knows if he repeats the same bullshit often enough, you cannot help but start to believe it. Repetition wraps even the most outrageous lie in a veneer of truthiness (sorry Colbert).

Two of Trump’s main lies has been that our allies have betrayed us and are taking advantage of our good will and that our elections are vulnerable to being stolen and rigged. Since descending that golden elevator a lifetime ago, Trump has been hammering home the message that our elections are easy to rig — unless he wins, then they were great. He’s also turned on our liberal democracy allies, complaining that they don’t do anything for us. Recent polling shows that both messages are believed and eroding confidence in both elections and allies.

Trust in Great Britain and Canada

A new Gallup poll shows that the trust of the average American in Great Britain and Canada has fallen ten points in the past year and about twenty points from their apex during Obama’s second term. These are our two closest allies who have been with us through thick and thin, have their economies and customs closely linked to ours, and suffer the most when we blunder but benefit when we succeed. We should be holding them in the highest regard , but instead we are looking upon them with increasing doubt about their loyalty and suspicions about their motives.

They are both still viewed favorably, but the drops are precipitous and, of course, fall along party lines. They’re pretty much unchanged among Democrats but are reaching their lowest lows among Republicans with Independents landing square in the middle. If this trend continues, when Trump finally breaks with them, we’ve been primed to accept it.

Trump’s incessant carping on the unwillingness of Canada and England to help us pursue the Netanyahu-Trump Illegal War and his claims that Canada, the UK, and Europe are using us, taking more from us than they deserve both through trade and our military alliances have landed. They have found a home in the beliefs of his MAGA base and sympathetic independents.

The Palisades and Eaton Fires in California

Remember the Palisades and Eaton Fires in California? They happened in 2025, but I guess it was long enough ago to be considered ancient history, forgotten, and no longer pertinent. If you remember, they devastated parts of Los Angeles, but in days, our two close allies, neighbors, and friends, Canada and Mexico had sent aide.

Canada Sends Help

There is an agreement between the US and Canada to help each other suppress wildfires, so ground crews were dispatched between 11 and 13 January from the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. In addition, Quebec sent two water bombers in addition to the ones they had sent in August 2024. Not only that, seven of Canada’s thirteen provinces and territories offered crews and equipment. Their military, Coast Guard, and other government agencies also made crews, command center personnel, equipment, and support services available should they be needed.

Mexico Honors the Spirit of Cooperation Between Our Two Countries

Mexico also sent firefighters, doctors, engineers, and search-and-rescue teams on 11 January. I remember them marching into Los Angeles like heros come to save the day in a goddamn movie They sent them to honor the spirit of cooperation between our two countries. In other words, because neighbors help neighbors when they are in need. In part, to repay our aide and assistance to them over the years.

Exposing the Con

It once was a source of national pride to send aide to countries when disaster struck. America led the way around the world helping where we could when it was needed regardless of politics. We did it because we had so much we could be generous. We did it because it was the right thing to do. We did it because a world of strong cooperating friendly nations is a prosperous safe and secure world.

The aide that Canada and Mexico gave us puts the lie to Trump’s bogus claims of being used by our allies. The US benefits much more from NATO and our alliances because they help maintain stability throughout the world. The Russian War in Ukraine and the Netanyahu-Trump Illegal War in Iran demonstrate the futility and bankruptcy of war and the need to promote stability and trade to manage international conflicts.

A Republic If You Can Keep It

The other poll is even more alarming because it shows a drop in the trust that Americans have in our elections! A new Marist poll shows that two-thirds of respondents have confidence that their “state and local governments will run a fair and accurate election,” a drop of ten points. And, in a surprise twist that only Wes Craven could love, Democratic confidence has dropped by sixteen points, independents, eleven, and Republican confidence rose by three points.

Hunh? With this lie, Trump is laying the groundwork to challenge the validity of the 2026 elections. All he needs is confusion and chaos to declare that the elections were corrupt and to let him sort the nation’s ballots into “the right voters voting for the right candidates” and disqualifying all others.

So, while we may vote in a Democratic Congress to rein in his reckless, out-of-control, corrupt administration, we are in real danger of accepting his accusations of a rigged election and his steps for resolving the crisis he created. As Ben Franklin said, “A republic if you can keep it.”

In his first year of his second term, Trump has done much more to erode our democracy and hasten our transformation of an authoritarian oligarchy like they have in Russia. The corruption is rampant and out in the open. The defiance of the Constitution, Congress, and the law is blatant. Now we’ll see if the American people have the stomach for keeping our republic or are willing to collude with Trump in lining his pockets by selling the country.

Image Attribution

This image was found on Store Norske Leksikon and has a Creative Commons license.

Jack Smith on getting Trump convicted:

https://media1.tenor.com/m/rATs_T5PioMAAAAd/missed-misseditbythatmuch.gif

#ARepublicIfYouCanKeepIt #WhereJusticeIsAGamble #TheScarletPimpernel #Trump2

Jack Smith on getting Trump convicted:

https://media1.tenor.com/m/rATs_T5PioMAAAAd/missed-misseditbythatmuch.gif

#ARepublicIfYouCanKeepIt #WhereJusticeIsAGamble #TheScarletPimpernel #Trump2

Jack Smith on getting Trump convicted:

https://media1.tenor.com/m/rATs_T5PioMAAAAd/missed-misseditbythatmuch.gif

#ARepublicIfYouCanKeepIt #WhereJusticeIsAGamble #TheScarletPimpernel #Trump2

Jack Smith on getting Trump convicted:

https://media1.tenor.com/m/rATs_T5PioMAAAAd/missed-misseditbythatmuch.gif

#ARepublicIfYouCanKeepIt #WhereJusticeIsAGamble #TheScarletPimpernel #Trump2

Jack Smith on getting Trump convicted:

https://media1.tenor.com/m/rATs_T5PioMAAAAd/missed-misseditbythatmuch.gif

#ARepublicIfYouCanKeepIt #WhereJusticeIsAGamble #TheScarletPimpernel #Trump2

I see Trump is skating away after having stolen top secret docments.

#ARepublicIfYouCanKeepIt #JoeBiden #MerrickGarland #BillBarr #ChristopherWray #PeaceInOurTime

I see Trump is skating away after having stolen top secret docments.

#ARepublicIfYouCanKeepIt #JoeBiden #MerrickGarland #BillBarr #ChristopherWray #PeaceInOurTime

I see Trump is skating away after having stolen top secret docments.

#ARepublicIfYouCanKeepIt #JoeBiden #MerrickGarland #BillBarr #ChristopherWray #PeaceInOurTime

I see Trump is skating away after having stolen top secret docments.

#ARepublicIfYouCanKeepIt #JoeBiden #MerrickGarland #BillBarr #ChristopherWray #PeaceInOurTime

I see Trump is skating away after having stolen top secret docments.

#ARepublicIfYouCanKeepIt #JoeBiden #MerrickGarland #BillBarr #ChristopherWray #PeaceInOurTime

“We are all created equal, endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights: life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. We’ve never fully lived up to it — to this sacred idea — but we’ve never walked away from it either. And I do not believe the American people will walk away from it now.”

– President Biden, 24 July 2024

#Democracy #politics #arepublicifyoucankeepit
https://youtu.be/6vELEt0TsdE?si=hWeO8ZNsoKeTg7zq

“We are all created equal, endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights: life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. We’ve never fully lived up to it — to this sacred idea — but we’ve never walked away from it either. And I do not believe the American people will walk away from it now.”

– President Biden, 24 July 2024

#Democracy #politics #arepublicifyoucankeepit
https://youtu.be/6vELEt0TsdE?si=hWeO8ZNsoKeTg7zq

“We are all created equal, endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights: life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. We’ve never fully lived up to it — to this sacred idea — but we’ve never walked away from it either. And I do not believe the American people will walk away from it now.”

– President Biden, 24 July 2024

#Democracy #politics #arepublicifyoucankeepit
https://youtu.be/6vELEt0TsdE?si=hWeO8ZNsoKeTg7zq

“We are all created equal, endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights: life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. We’ve never fully lived up to it — to this sacred idea — but we’ve never walked away from it either. And I do not believe the American people will walk away from it now.”

– President Biden, 24 July 2024

#Democracy #politics #arepublicifyoucankeepit
https://youtu.be/6vELEt0TsdE?si=hWeO8ZNsoKeTg7zq

“We are all created equal, endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights: life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. We’ve never fully lived up to it — to this sacred idea — but we’ve never walked away from it either. And I do not believe the American people will walk away from it now.”

– President Biden, 24 July 2024

#Democracy #politics #arepublicifyoucankeepit
https://youtu.be/6vELEt0TsdE?si=hWeO8ZNsoKeTg7zq

““No Mortal Man is Above the Law,” sayeth the Supremes. Enjoy your Independence Day; if the Conflicted Convicted Felon is elected, it’ll be our last.” John Buss, Repeat 1968

Good Day, Sky Dancers!

Independence Day has always been my favorite holiday, and it’s my youngest daughter’s too. When we lived in the Quarter, we would always walk our 2 blonde labs to the Mississippi River Bank and watch the left and east bank boats launch a huge fireworks display.  Down here in the Bywater, it’s still the same short walk to the riverbank, but the Poland Avenue Wharf or the newest Crescent Park are the favorite places to go.  Cars always turn to our local NPR station for patriotic music and blast it loud. You can tell when it’s time for the display because all the bars and houses empty into the streets and head south to the banks of the Mississippi River. I have always wondered what past celebrations were like, but that’s a rabbit hole for another day.

I spent the pre-show hours with friends listening to his industrial band livestream their efforts while sitting in their driveway patio.  It seemed like a normal fourth.  While everyone headed to the river, I headed home to Temple to let her dig a burrow under me to hide from the noise. No displays for me in the last 10 years.  Just time at home in bed comforting Temple. The weird thing this year was the fireworks didn’t seem to bother her, and she spent most of the time spooning me.  Maybe she sensed that my fear was far greater than hers today.  It’s a thought.

Twilight’s last gleaming from last night at my neighbor’s driveway patio.

The swiftboating of the democratic candidate season has begun. My friend who owns the bar on the corner told me she’s hearing from others besides me who are looking for places to become expats.  Given the Le Pen elections, I’m researching the south of France right now, although they may soon have their counter-revolution.  Russia is happy about that one.  I’m sure they have high hopes for us.

If you haven’t seen this little speech, you really should. “Leader of the pro-Trump Project 2025 suggests there will be a new American Revolution.  Kevin Roberts said the revolution will be bloodless “if the left allows it to be.”  This is from the AP but sourced at Politico.

The leader of a conservative think tank orchestrating plans for a massive overhaul of the federal government in the event of a Republican presidential win said that the country is in the midst of a “second American Revolution” that will be bloodless “if the left allows it to be.”

Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts made the comments Tuesday on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, adding that Republicans are “in the process of taking this country back.”

Democrats are “apoplectic right now” because the right is winning, Roberts told former U.S. Rep. Dave Brat, one of the podcast’s guest hosts as Bannon is serving a four-month prison term. “And so I come full circle on this response and just want to encourage you with some substance that we are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”

Roberts’ remarks shed light on how a group that promises to have significant influence over a possible second term for former President Donald Trump is thinking about this moment in American politics. The Heritage Foundation is spearheading Project 2025, a sweeping road map for a new GOP administration that includes plans for dismantling aspects of the federal government and ousting thousands of civil servants in favor of Trump loyalists who will carry out a hard-right agenda without complaint.

His call for revolution and vague reference to violence also unnerved some Democrats who interpreted it as threatening.

“This is chilling,” former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson wrote on the social platform X. “Their idea of a second American Revolution is to undo the first one.”

James Singer, a spokesperson for President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, pointed to this week’s Fourth of July holiday in an emailed statement.

“248 years ago tomorrow America declared independence from a tyrannical king, and now Donald Trump and his allies want to make him one at our expense,” Singer said, adding that Trump and his allies are ”dreaming of a violent revolution to destroy the very idea of America.”

Roberts, whose name Bannon recently floated to The New York Times as a potential chief of staff option for Trump, also said on the podcast that Republicans should be encouraged by the Supreme Court’s recent immunity ruling.

Bannon is in jail right now, serving time for contempt of Congress.  The New Republic‘s Parker Malloy has a good point here.  “Why Does the Media Insist on Helping Steve Bannon Act the Martyr? NBC and ABC snagged pre-prison interviews with the far-right globalist. But to what end? They became tools in his propaganda machine.”  The press just falls right in line by normalizing this behavior.

NBC News’s Vaughn Hillyard and ABC News’s Jonathan Karl recently made a journalistic misstep by interviewing Steve Bannon right before he reported to prison. This move, which might seem innocuous at first glance, actually elevates Bannon’s “political prisoner” narrative, a misleading storyline that does little but bolster the War Room host’s victim complex.

By interviewing Bannon just before he heads to prison, both NBC and ABC are essentially giving him a platform to paint himself as a martyr.

It allows Bannon to control the narrative. This plays directly into the hands of Bannon and his supporters, who are eager to cast any legal action against them as part of a broader conspiracy to silence dissent. It’s a classic tactic: position yourself as a victim to garner sympathy and rally support.

But Bannon is not going to prison for his political beliefs or his support for Donald Trump. He’s going to prison because he defied a congressional subpoena. By allowing Bannon to put some focus on his claims of political persecution, these interviews shift attention away from his actual misconduct and the legal consequences of that misconduct. This undermines the rule of law and gives credence to the idea that powerful individuals can evade accountability by crying foul.

Beyond that, it normalizes extremist rhetoric. In his interview with Karl, Bannon doubled down on his inflammatory language, discussing “retribution” and the need for investigations and potential imprisonments of political figures. Bannon listed former FBI Director James Comey, FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, former Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and former Attorney General Bill Barr as people who should be “very worried” about prosecution under a second Trump administration. Bannon defended his use of the slogan “Victory or Death!” at the recent Turning Point Action convention and rolled his eyes at Karl for even asking him about his 2020 comments about beheading Dr. Anthony Fauci and FBI Director Christopher Wray.

Also, from TNR is this headline about the black man running for governor on the insanity platform. “MAGA Gov Candidate’s Ugly, Hateful Rant: “Some Folks Need Killing!” Mark Robinson, the GOP nominee for governor in North Carolina, has a long history of incendiary comments. But he may have topped himself this time.”

Mark Robinson, the extremist GOP nominee for governor in North Carolina, appeared to endorse political violence in a bizarre and extended rant he delivered on June 30 in a small-town church.

“Some folks need killing!” Robinson, the state’s lieutenant governor, shouted during a roughly half-hour-long speech in Lake Church in the tiny town of White Lake, in the southeast corner of the state. “It’s time for somebody to say it. It’s not a matter of vengeance. It’s not a matter of being mean or spiteful. It’s a matter of necessity!”

Robinson’s call for the “killing” of “some folks” came during an extended diatribe in which he attacked an extraordinary assortment of enemies. These ranged from “people who have evil intent” to “wicked people” to those doing things like “torturing and murdering and raping” to socialists and Communists. He also invoked those supposedly undermining America’s founding ideals and leftists allegedly persecuting conservatives by canceling them and doxxing them online.

In all this, Robinson appeared to endorse lethal violence against these unnamed enemies, particularly on the left, though he wasn’t exactly clear on which “folks” are the ones who “need killing.”

Robinson, a self-described “MAGA Republican,” has a long history of wildly radical and unhinged moments. He has linked homosexuality to pedophilia, called for the arrest of trans women, pushed hallucinogenic antisemitic conspiracy theories, endorsed the vile “birther” conspiracy about Barack Obama, described Michelle Obama as a man, hinted at the need to violently oppose federal law enforcement and the government, and posted memes mocking and denying the brutal, violent assault on Nancy Pelosi’s husband, among many other things.

My belief is he said the quiet part out loud. My governor isn’t calling for the death penalty for anyone who doesn’t fit the White Christian Nationalist mold or stays quiet, afraid, and hidden, but I do believe he’d do it if any other MAGA governor started the trend.  As JJ says, fear for people you love.  As to the swiftboating of Biden for a cold, let’s show you this oldie but goodie of just a smidgen of the swiftboating of Hillary. “Remember when Hillary Clinton had pneumonia and showed up anyway at a 9/11 memorial & media ripped her for that?”  (via @joannebamberg with Karolic Kuns and me in the amen corner.)

Even New York Magazine is in on it. “The Conspiracy of Silence to Protect Joe Biden. The president’s mental decline was like a dark family secret for many elite supporters.”  Biden, meanwhile, is on a prove-them all full of a shit tour of duty.  Here’s another ‘nattering nabob of negatism’ NBC News. (With no apologies to rotten apple dead Spiro Agnew.)

 President Joe Biden will hold a rally Friday in Wisconsin and then sit for his first televised interview since his disastrous debate performance last week, events could be crucial in determining whether he can salvage his embattled candidacy.

The interview with anchor George Stephanopoulos of ABC News is shaping up to be one of the most high-stakes moments for a president or a candidate in many years. Democratic elected officials, donors and voters will be closely watching to see whether he can still deliver in an adversarial setting and turn in a performance worthy of being the party’s nominee to defeat Donald Trump this fall.

The interview will “air in its entirety as a primetime special” at 8 p.m. ET Friday, ABC said, adding that a “transcript of the unedited interview will be made available the same day.”

Before that, Biden is expected to speak this afternoon at a campaign rally in Madison, Wisconsin. At the rally, Biden will “underscore the stakes of this election for our democracy, our rights and freedoms, and our economy,” a campaign official said. Also speaking will be Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, and Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., among others.

The White House said the interview team from ABC “will be with us all day in Wisconsin” and able to cover the rally event and to observe the president as he participates in his schedule, and said it has “some flexibility” around the length of the sit-down but “no exact estimate” of the duration of the conversation.

Read the next paragraph, which I will not print here, and try not to bang your head against your desk, wall, or coffee table.  Law Professor Richard W. Painter is floating a Constitutional Amendment on X.

Const. Amend. 28: “The President and the judges of the United States courts including the Supreme Court, shall be bound by the criminal laws of the United States and also by financial disclosure and conflict of interest laws enacted by Congress.” So who votes against?

If you want a real shock, go see The Economist Cover Picture today with the heading “No way to Run a Country.”  The attached story is “Biden Must Withdraw.”   This is from a country where the General Election just kicked the Conservative PM (a hedge fund manager) and replaced him with a Human Rights Lawyer and member of the Labour Party.  Fourteen years of Conservative Rule has just been tossed for something different.  Of course, CNN has joined the swiftboating effort. This is from Dr. Sanjay Gupta at CNN. “It’s time for President Biden to undergo detailed cognitive and neurological testing and share his results.”

So, I have to share this one from the New York Times even though I’m about to cancel my subscription. “Biden Tells Governors He Needs More Sleep and Less Work at Night.  The president’s opening remark to a group of key Democratic leaders — that he was in the race to stay — chilled any talk of his withdrawal, participants said.”  The usual suspects, Reid J. Epstein and Maggie Haberman, reported it.

President Biden told a gathering of Democratic governors that he needs to get more sleep and work fewer hours, including curtailing events after 8 p.m., according to two people who participated in the meeting and several others briefed on his comments.

The remarks on Wednesday were a stark acknowledgment of fatigue from the 81-year-old president during a meeting intended to reassure more than two dozen of his most important supporters that he is still in command of his job and capable of mounting a robust campaign against former President Donald J. Trump.

Mr. Biden’s comments about needing more rest came shortly after The New York Times reported that current and former officials have noticed that the president’s lapses over the past few months have become more frequent and more pronounced.

But Mr. Biden told the governors, some of whom were at the White House while others participated virtually, that he was staying in the race.

He described his extensive foreign travel in the weeks before the debate, something that the White House and his allies have in recent days cited as the reason for his halting performance during the debate. Initially, Mr. Biden’s campaign blamed a cold, putting out word about midway through the debate amid a series of social media posts questioning why Mr. Biden was struggling.

Mr. Biden said that he told his staff he needed to get more sleep, multiple people familiar with what took place in the meeting said. He repeatedly referenced pushing too hard and not listening to his team about his schedule, and said he needed to work fewer hours and avoid events scheduled after 8 p.m., according to one of the people familiar with what took place at the meeting.

After Gov. Josh Green of Hawaii, a physician, asked Mr. Biden questions about the status of his health, Mr. Biden replied that his health was fine. “It’s just my brain,” he added, according to three people familiar with what took place — a remark that some in the room took as a joke, including Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, according to a person close to her. But at least one governor did not, and was puzzled by it.

Jen O’Malley Dillon, Mr. Biden’s campaign chair, who attended the meeting, said in a statement that he had said, “All kidding aside,” a recollection confirmed by another person briefed on the meeting. Ms. O’Malley Dillon added: “He was clearly making a joke.”

So, I fully admit to being depressed and worried.  I know that BB stopped her NYT subscription.  I hope John Buss doesn’t mind. I shared this bit he posted to his FaceBook about canceling his. I seriously worry about him in North Carolina, too.  None of us in the old Confederate States are safe right now.

This is from a poll taken in April and reported by the AP on May 1. “Half of US adults mistrust media coverage of 2024 elections, a poll finds. About half of Americans say they are extremely or very concerned that news organizations will report inaccuracies or misinformation during the election. According to a poll, 42% express worry that news outlets will use generative artificial intelligence to create stories. (AP Video: Serkan Gurbuz)”

I think it’s likely that if they redid that this month, they’d find a statistically significant increase in the number of people saying that.  However, I admit that I live in the Southern City that promptly surrendered when Captain David Farragut of the Union Navy bombed two forts and arrived at the port.  We are a haven for the GLBT community.  We also have a strong Jewish presence and are well known for being a place of refuge for many diasporas.  Our new governor hates us and wants to take away our city charter, which is the legal means by which we don’t become the rest of the state.  You have to wonder how many cities like ours will come under direct attack if MAGA either gets its way or doesn’t.

The only way out of this is to VOTE and get everyone you know to VOTE because our lives depend on it.

I really hope you got to enjoy a little celebration on Independence Day.  I’m still on board with ensuring liberty and justice for all.  I am also standing by the Biden/Harris ticket.  Again, you realize that I have had a lot of gripes in the past about Biden and what happened to Anita Hill. It is somewhat karmic that what is going on now is somewhat built in by the bad decision he, Teddy Kennedy, and John Kerry made about Clarence Thomas. Forty-eight percent of the Senate was against his confirmation. He should’ve been Borked.  That, unfortunately, is toxic water under the bridge of democracy, but we have what we have now, and it is what it is.  Remember the words of Benjamin Franklin and fight for it.  The Roberts Supreme Court just took down the republic.

“A republic, if you can keep it.”

–Benjamin Franklin’s response to Elizabeth Willing Powel’s question: “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”

What’s on your reading and blogging list today?

I’m sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can’t stand the scene
And I’m neither left or right
I’m just staying home tonight
Getting lost in that hopeless little screen
But I’m stubborn as those garbage bags
That time cannot decay
I’m junk but I’m still holding up
This little wild bouquet
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A

https://skydancingblog.com/2024/07/05/friday-reads-twilights-last-gleaming/

#Repeat1968 #aRepublicIfYouCanKeepIt #CoupAttempt #democracy #IndependenceDay #insurrection #JohnBuss #LeonardCohen #MediaAndSwiftboating #Project2025 #Swiftboating

Friday Reads: Twilight’s Last Gleaming

““No Mortal Man is Above the Law,” sayeth the Supremes. Enjoy your Independence Day; if the Conflicted Convicted Felon is elected, it’ll be our last.” John Buss, Repeat 1968

Good Day, Sky Dancers!

Independence Day has always been my favorite holiday, and it’s my youngest daughter’s too. When we lived in the Quarter, we would always walk our 2 blonde labs to the Mississippi River Bank and watch the left and east bank boats launch a huge fireworks display.  Down here in the Bywater, it’s still the same short walk to the riverbank, but the Poland Avenue Wharf or the newest Crescent Park are the favorite places to go.  Cars always turn to our local NPR station for patriotic music and blast it loud. You can tell when it’s time for the display because all the bars and houses empty into the streets and head south to the banks of the Mississippi River. I have always wondered what past celebrations were like, but that’s a rabbit hole for another day.

I spent the pre-show hours with friends listening to his industrial band livestream their efforts while sitting in their driveway patio.  It seemed like a normal fourth.  While everyone headed to the river, I headed home to Temple to let her dig a burrow under me to hide from the noise. No displays for me in the last 10 years.  Just time at home in bed comforting Temple. The weird thing this year was the fireworks didn’t seem to bother her, and she spent most of the time spooning me.  Maybe she sensed that my fear was far greater than hers today.  It’s a thought.

Twilight’s last gleaming from last night at my neighbor’s driveway patio.

The swiftboating of the democratic candidate season has begun. My friend who owns the bar on the corner told me she’s hearing from others besides me who are looking for places to become expats.  Given the Le Pen elections, I’m researching the south of France right now, although they may soon have their counter-revolution.  Russia is happy about that one.  I’m sure they have high hopes for us.

If you haven’t seen this little speech, you really should. “Leader of the pro-Trump Project 2025 suggests there will be a new American Revolution.  Kevin Roberts said the revolution will be bloodless “if the left allows it to be.”  This is from the AP but sourced at Politico.

The leader of a conservative think tank orchestrating plans for a massive overhaul of the federal government in the event of a Republican presidential win said that the country is in the midst of a “second American Revolution” that will be bloodless “if the left allows it to be.”

Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts made the comments Tuesday on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, adding that Republicans are “in the process of taking this country back.”

Democrats are “apoplectic right now” because the right is winning, Roberts told former U.S. Rep. Dave Brat, one of the podcast’s guest hosts as Bannon is serving a four-month prison term. “And so I come full circle on this response and just want to encourage you with some substance that we are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”

Roberts’ remarks shed light on how a group that promises to have significant influence over a possible second term for former President Donald Trump is thinking about this moment in American politics. The Heritage Foundation is spearheading Project 2025, a sweeping road map for a new GOP administration that includes plans for dismantling aspects of the federal government and ousting thousands of civil servants in favor of Trump loyalists who will carry out a hard-right agenda without complaint.

His call for revolution and vague reference to violence also unnerved some Democrats who interpreted it as threatening.

“This is chilling,” former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson wrote on the social platform X. “Their idea of a second American Revolution is to undo the first one.”

James Singer, a spokesperson for President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, pointed to this week’s Fourth of July holiday in an emailed statement.

“248 years ago tomorrow America declared independence from a tyrannical king, and now Donald Trump and his allies want to make him one at our expense,” Singer said, adding that Trump and his allies are ”dreaming of a violent revolution to destroy the very idea of America.”

Roberts, whose name Bannon recently floated to The New York Times as a potential chief of staff option for Trump, also said on the podcast that Republicans should be encouraged by the Supreme Court’s recent immunity ruling.

Bannon is in jail right now, serving time for contempt of Congress.  The New Republic‘s Parker Malloy has a good point here.  “Why Does the Media Insist on Helping Steve Bannon Act the Martyr? NBC and ABC snagged pre-prison interviews with the far-right globalist. But to what end? They became tools in his propaganda machine.”  The press just falls right in line by normalizing this behavior.

NBC News’s Vaughn Hillyard and ABC News’s Jonathan Karl recently made a journalistic misstep by interviewing Steve Bannon right before he reported to prison. This move, which might seem innocuous at first glance, actually elevates Bannon’s “political prisoner” narrative, a misleading storyline that does little but bolster the War Room host’s victim complex.

By interviewing Bannon just before he heads to prison, both NBC and ABC are essentially giving him a platform to paint himself as a martyr.

It allows Bannon to control the narrative. This plays directly into the hands of Bannon and his supporters, who are eager to cast any legal action against them as part of a broader conspiracy to silence dissent. It’s a classic tactic: position yourself as a victim to garner sympathy and rally support.

But Bannon is not going to prison for his political beliefs or his support for Donald Trump. He’s going to prison because he defied a congressional subpoena. By allowing Bannon to put some focus on his claims of political persecution, these interviews shift attention away from his actual misconduct and the legal consequences of that misconduct. This undermines the rule of law and gives credence to the idea that powerful individuals can evade accountability by crying foul.

Beyond that, it normalizes extremist rhetoric. In his interview with Karl, Bannon doubled down on his inflammatory language, discussing “retribution” and the need for investigations and potential imprisonments of political figures. Bannon listed former FBI Director James Comey, FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, former Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and former Attorney General Bill Barr as people who should be “very worried” about prosecution under a second Trump administration. Bannon defended his use of the slogan “Victory or Death!” at the recent Turning Point Action convention and rolled his eyes at Karl for even asking him about his 2020 comments about beheading Dr. Anthony Fauci and FBI Director Christopher Wray.

Also, from TNR is this headline about the black man running for governor on the insanity platform. “MAGA Gov Candidate’s Ugly, Hateful Rant: “Some Folks Need Killing!” Mark Robinson, the GOP nominee for governor in North Carolina, has a long history of incendiary comments. But he may have topped himself this time.”

Mark Robinson, the extremist GOP nominee for governor in North Carolina, appeared to endorse political violence in a bizarre and extended rant he delivered on June 30 in a small-town church.

“Some folks need killing!” Robinson, the state’s lieutenant governor, shouted during a roughly half-hour-long speech in Lake Church in the tiny town of White Lake, in the southeast corner of the state. “It’s time for somebody to say it. It’s not a matter of vengeance. It’s not a matter of being mean or spiteful. It’s a matter of necessity!”

Robinson’s call for the “killing” of “some folks” came during an extended diatribe in which he attacked an extraordinary assortment of enemies. These ranged from “people who have evil intent” to “wicked people” to those doing things like “torturing and murdering and raping” to socialists and Communists. He also invoked those supposedly undermining America’s founding ideals and leftists allegedly persecuting conservatives by canceling them and doxxing them online.

In all this, Robinson appeared to endorse lethal violence against these unnamed enemies, particularly on the left, though he wasn’t exactly clear on which “folks” are the ones who “need killing.”

Robinson, a self-described “MAGA Republican,” has a long history of wildly radical and unhinged moments. He has linked homosexuality to pedophilia, called for the arrest of trans women, pushed hallucinogenic antisemitic conspiracy theories, endorsed the vile “birther” conspiracy about Barack Obama, described Michelle Obama as a man, hinted at the need to violently oppose federal law enforcement and the government, and posted memes mocking and denying the brutal, violent assault on Nancy Pelosi’s husband, among many other things.

My belief is he said the quiet part out loud. My governor isn’t calling for the death penalty for anyone who doesn’t fit the White Christian Nationalist mold or stays quiet, afraid, and hidden, but I do believe he’d do it if any other MAGA governor started the trend.  As JJ says, fear for people you love.  As to the swiftboating of Biden for a cold, let’s show you this oldie but goodie of just a smidgen of the swiftboating of Hillary. “Remember when Hillary Clinton had pneumonia and showed up anyway at a 9/11 memorial & media ripped her for that?”  (via @joannebamberg with Karolic Kuns and me in the amen corner.)

Even New York Magazine is in on it. “The Conspiracy of Silence to Protect Joe Biden. The president’s mental decline was like a dark family secret for many elite supporters.”  Biden, meanwhile, is on a prove-them all full of a shit tour of duty.  Here’s another ‘nattering nabob of negatism’ NBC News. (With no apologies to rotten apple dead Spiro Agnew.)

 President Joe Biden will hold a rally Friday in Wisconsin and then sit for his first televised interview since his disastrous debate performance last week, events could be crucial in determining whether he can salvage his embattled candidacy.

The interview with anchor George Stephanopoulos of ABC News is shaping up to be one of the most high-stakes moments for a president or a candidate in many years. Democratic elected officials, donors and voters will be closely watching to see whether he can still deliver in an adversarial setting and turn in a performance worthy of being the party’s nominee to defeat Donald Trump this fall.

The interview will “air in its entirety as a primetime special” at 8 p.m. ET Friday, ABC said, adding that a “transcript of the unedited interview will be made available the same day.”

Before that, Biden is expected to speak this afternoon at a campaign rally in Madison, Wisconsin. At the rally, Biden will “underscore the stakes of this election for our democracy, our rights and freedoms, and our economy,” a campaign official said. Also speaking will be Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, and Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., among others.

The White House said the interview team from ABC “will be with us all day in Wisconsin” and able to cover the rally event and to observe the president as he participates in his schedule, and said it has “some flexibility” around the length of the sit-down but “no exact estimate” of the duration of the conversation.

Read the next paragraph, which I will not print here, and try not to bang your head against your desk, wall, or coffee table.  Law Professor Richard W. Painter is floating a Constitutional Amendment on X.

Const. Amend. 28: “The President and the judges of the United States courts including the Supreme Court, shall be bound by the criminal laws of the United States and also by financial disclosure and conflict of interest laws enacted by Congress.” So who votes against?

If you want a real shock, go see The Economist Cover Picture today with the heading “No way to Run a Country.”  The attached story is “Biden Must Withdraw.”   This is from a country where the General Election just kicked the Conservative PM (a hedge fund manager) and replaced him with a Human Rights Lawyer and member of the Labour Party.  Fourteen years of Conservative Rule has just been tossed for something different.  Of course, CNN has joined the swiftboating effort. This is from Dr. Sanjay Gupta at CNN. “It’s time for President Biden to undergo detailed cognitive and neurological testing and share his results.”

So, I have to share this one from the New York Times even though I’m about to cancel my subscription. “Biden Tells Governors He Needs More Sleep and Less Work at Night.  The president’s opening remark to a group of key Democratic leaders — that he was in the race to stay — chilled any talk of his withdrawal, participants said.”  The usual suspects, Reid J. Epstein and Maggie Haberman, reported it.

President Biden told a gathering of Democratic governors that he needs to get more sleep and work fewer hours, including curtailing events after 8 p.m., according to two people who participated in the meeting and several others briefed on his comments.

The remarks on Wednesday were a stark acknowledgment of fatigue from the 81-year-old president during a meeting intended to reassure more than two dozen of his most important supporters that he is still in command of his job and capable of mounting a robust campaign against former President Donald J. Trump.

Mr. Biden’s comments about needing more rest came shortly after The New York Times reported that current and former officials have noticed that the president’s lapses over the past few months have become more frequent and more pronounced.

But Mr. Biden told the governors, some of whom were at the White House while others participated virtually, that he was staying in the race.

He described his extensive foreign travel in the weeks before the debate, something that the White House and his allies have in recent days cited as the reason for his halting performance during the debate. Initially, Mr. Biden’s campaign blamed a cold, putting out word about midway through the debate amid a series of social media posts questioning why Mr. Biden was struggling.

Mr. Biden said that he told his staff he needed to get more sleep, multiple people familiar with what took place in the meeting said. He repeatedly referenced pushing too hard and not listening to his team about his schedule, and said he needed to work fewer hours and avoid events scheduled after 8 p.m., according to one of the people familiar with what took place at the meeting.

After Gov. Josh Green of Hawaii, a physician, asked Mr. Biden questions about the status of his health, Mr. Biden replied that his health was fine. “It’s just my brain,” he added, according to three people familiar with what took place — a remark that some in the room took as a joke, including Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, according to a person close to her. But at least one governor did not, and was puzzled by it.

Jen O’Malley Dillon, Mr. Biden’s campaign chair, who attended the meeting, said in a statement that he had said, “All kidding aside,” a recollection confirmed by another person briefed on the meeting. Ms. O’Malley Dillon added: “He was clearly making a joke.”

So, I fully admit to being depressed and worried.  I know that BB stopped her NYT subscription.  I hope John Buss doesn’t mind. I shared this bit he posted to his FaceBook about canceling his. I seriously worry about him in North Carolina, too.  None of us in the old Confederate States are safe right now.

This is from a poll taken in April and reported by the AP on May 1. “Half of US adults mistrust media coverage of 2024 elections, a poll finds. About half of Americans say they are extremely or very concerned that news organizations will report inaccuracies or misinformation during the election. According to a poll, 42% express worry that news outlets will use generative artificial intelligence to create stories. (AP Video: Serkan Gurbuz)”

I think it’s likely that if they redid that this month, they’d find a statistically significant increase in the number of people saying that.  However, I admit that I live in the Southern City that promptly surrendered when Captain David Farragut of the Union Navy bombed two forts and arrived at the port.  We are a haven for the GLBT community.  We also have a strong Jewish presence and are well known for being a place of refuge for many diasporas.  Our new governor hates us and wants to take away our city charter, which is the legal means by which we don’t become the rest of the state.  You have to wonder how many cities like ours will come under direct attack if MAGA either gets its way or doesn’t.

The only way out of this is to VOTE and get everyone you know to VOTE because our lives depend on it.

I really hope you got to enjoy a little celebration on Independence Day.  I’m still on board with ensuring liberty and justice for all.  I am also standing by the Biden/Harris ticket.  Again, you realize that I have had a lot of gripes in the past about Biden and what happened to Anita Hill. It is somewhat karmic that what is going on now is somewhat built in by the bad decision he, Teddy Kennedy, and John Kerry made about Clarence Thomas. Forty-eight percent of the Senate was against his confirmation. He should’ve been Borked.  That, unfortunately, is toxic water under the bridge of democracy, but we have what we have now, and it is what it is.  Remember the words of Benjamin Franklin and fight for it.  The Roberts Supreme Court just took down the republic.

“A republic, if you can keep it.”

–Benjamin Franklin’s response to Elizabeth Willing Powel’s question: “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”

What’s on your reading and blogging list today?

I’m sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can’t stand the scene
And I’m neither left or right
I’m just staying home tonight
Getting lost in that hopeless little screen
But I’m stubborn as those garbage bags
That time cannot decay
I’m junk but I’m still holding up
This little wild bouquet
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A

#Repeat1968 #aRepublicIfYouCanKeepIt #CoupAttempt #democracy #IndependenceDay #insurrection #JohnBuss #LeonardCohen #MediaAndSwiftboating #Project2025 #Swiftboating

Friday Reads: Twilight’s Last Gleaming

““No Mortal Man is Above the Law,” sayeth the Supremes. Enjoy your Independence Day; if the Conflicted Convicted Felon is elected, it’ll be our last.” John Buss, Repeat 1968

Good Day, Sky Dancers!

Independence Day has always been my favorite holiday, and it’s my youngest daughter’s too. When we lived in the Quarter, we would always walk our 2 blonde labs to the Mississippi River Bank and watch the left and east bank boats launch a huge fireworks display.  Down here in the Bywater, it’s still the same short walk to the riverbank, but the Poland Avenue Wharf or the newest Crescent Park are the favorite places to go.  Cars always turn to our local NPR station for patriotic music and blast it loud. You can tell when it’s time for the display because all the bars and houses empty into the streets and head south to the banks of the Mississippi River. I have always wondered what past celebrations were like, but that’s a rabbit hole for another day.

I spent the pre-show hours with friends listening to his industrial band livestream their efforts while sitting in their driveway patio.  It seemed like a normal fourth.  While everyone headed to the river, I headed home to Temple to let her dig a burrow under me to hide from the noise. No displays for me in the last 10 years.  Just time at home in bed comforting Temple. The weird thing this year was the fireworks didn’t seem to bother her, and she spent most of the time spooning me.  Maybe she sensed that my fear was far greater than hers today.  It’s a thought.

Twilight’s last gleaming from last night at my neighbor’s driveway patio.

The swiftboating of the democratic candidate season has begun. My friend who owns the bar on the corner told me she’s hearing from others besides me who are looking for places to become expats.  Given the Le Pen elections, I’m researching the south of France right now, although they may soon have their counter-revolution.  Russia is happy about that one.  I’m sure they have high hopes for us.

If you haven’t seen this little speech, you really should. “Leader of the pro-Trump Project 2025 suggests there will be a new American Revolution.  Kevin Roberts said the revolution will be bloodless “if the left allows it to be.”  This is from the AP but sourced at Politico.

The leader of a conservative think tank orchestrating plans for a massive overhaul of the federal government in the event of a Republican presidential win said that the country is in the midst of a “second American Revolution” that will be bloodless “if the left allows it to be.”

Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts made the comments Tuesday on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, adding that Republicans are “in the process of taking this country back.”

Democrats are “apoplectic right now” because the right is winning, Roberts told former U.S. Rep. Dave Brat, one of the podcast’s guest hosts as Bannon is serving a four-month prison term. “And so I come full circle on this response and just want to encourage you with some substance that we are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”

Roberts’ remarks shed light on how a group that promises to have significant influence over a possible second term for former President Donald Trump is thinking about this moment in American politics. The Heritage Foundation is spearheading Project 2025, a sweeping road map for a new GOP administration that includes plans for dismantling aspects of the federal government and ousting thousands of civil servants in favor of Trump loyalists who will carry out a hard-right agenda without complaint.

His call for revolution and vague reference to violence also unnerved some Democrats who interpreted it as threatening.

“This is chilling,” former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson wrote on the social platform X. “Their idea of a second American Revolution is to undo the first one.”

James Singer, a spokesperson for President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, pointed to this week’s Fourth of July holiday in an emailed statement.

“248 years ago tomorrow America declared independence from a tyrannical king, and now Donald Trump and his allies want to make him one at our expense,” Singer said, adding that Trump and his allies are ”dreaming of a violent revolution to destroy the very idea of America.”

Roberts, whose name Bannon recently floated to The New York Times as a potential chief of staff option for Trump, also said on the podcast that Republicans should be encouraged by the Supreme Court’s recent immunity ruling.

Bannon is in jail right now, serving time for contempt of Congress.  The New Republic‘s Parker Malloy has a good point here.  “Why Does the Media Insist on Helping Steve Bannon Act the Martyr? NBC and ABC snagged pre-prison interviews with the far-right globalist. But to what end? They became tools in his propaganda machine.”  The press just falls right in line by normalizing this behavior.

NBC News’s Vaughn Hillyard and ABC News’s Jonathan Karl recently made a journalistic misstep by interviewing Steve Bannon right before he reported to prison. This move, which might seem innocuous at first glance, actually elevates Bannon’s “political prisoner” narrative, a misleading storyline that does little but bolster the War Room host’s victim complex.

By interviewing Bannon just before he heads to prison, both NBC and ABC are essentially giving him a platform to paint himself as a martyr.

It allows Bannon to control the narrative. This plays directly into the hands of Bannon and his supporters, who are eager to cast any legal action against them as part of a broader conspiracy to silence dissent. It’s a classic tactic: position yourself as a victim to garner sympathy and rally support.

But Bannon is not going to prison for his political beliefs or his support for Donald Trump. He’s going to prison because he defied a congressional subpoena. By allowing Bannon to put some focus on his claims of political persecution, these interviews shift attention away from his actual misconduct and the legal consequences of that misconduct. This undermines the rule of law and gives credence to the idea that powerful individuals can evade accountability by crying foul.

Beyond that, it normalizes extremist rhetoric. In his interview with Karl, Bannon doubled down on his inflammatory language, discussing “retribution” and the need for investigations and potential imprisonments of political figures. Bannon listed former FBI Director James Comey, FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, former Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and former Attorney General Bill Barr as people who should be “very worried” about prosecution under a second Trump administration. Bannon defended his use of the slogan “Victory or Death!” at the recent Turning Point Action convention and rolled his eyes at Karl for even asking him about his 2020 comments about beheading Dr. Anthony Fauci and FBI Director Christopher Wray.

Also, from TNR is this headline about the black man running for governor on the insanity platform. “MAGA Gov Candidate’s Ugly, Hateful Rant: “Some Folks Need Killing!” Mark Robinson, the GOP nominee for governor in North Carolina, has a long history of incendiary comments. But he may have topped himself this time.”

Mark Robinson, the extremist GOP nominee for governor in North Carolina, appeared to endorse political violence in a bizarre and extended rant he delivered on June 30 in a small-town church.

“Some folks need killing!” Robinson, the state’s lieutenant governor, shouted during a roughly half-hour-long speech in Lake Church in the tiny town of White Lake, in the southeast corner of the state. “It’s time for somebody to say it. It’s not a matter of vengeance. It’s not a matter of being mean or spiteful. It’s a matter of necessity!”

Robinson’s call for the “killing” of “some folks” came during an extended diatribe in which he attacked an extraordinary assortment of enemies. These ranged from “people who have evil intent” to “wicked people” to those doing things like “torturing and murdering and raping” to socialists and Communists. He also invoked those supposedly undermining America’s founding ideals and leftists allegedly persecuting conservatives by canceling them and doxxing them online.

In all this, Robinson appeared to endorse lethal violence against these unnamed enemies, particularly on the left, though he wasn’t exactly clear on which “folks” are the ones who “need killing.”

Robinson, a self-described “MAGA Republican,” has a long history of wildly radical and unhinged moments. He has linked homosexuality to pedophilia, called for the arrest of trans women, pushed hallucinogenic antisemitic conspiracy theories, endorsed the vile “birther” conspiracy about Barack Obama, described Michelle Obama as a man, hinted at the need to violently oppose federal law enforcement and the government, and posted memes mocking and denying the brutal, violent assault on Nancy Pelosi’s husband, among many other things.

My belief is he said the quiet part out loud. My governor isn’t calling for the death penalty for anyone who doesn’t fit the White Christian Nationalist mold or stays quiet, afraid, and hidden, but I do believe he’d do it if any other MAGA governor started the trend.  As JJ says, fear for people you love.  As to the swiftboating of Biden for a cold, let’s show you this oldie but goodie of just a smidgen of the swiftboating of Hillary. “Remember when Hillary Clinton had pneumonia and showed up anyway at a 9/11 memorial & media ripped her for that?”  (via @joannebamberg with Karolic Kuns and me in the amen corner.)

Even New York Magazine is in on it. “The Conspiracy of Silence to Protect Joe Biden. The president’s mental decline was like a dark family secret for many elite supporters.”  Biden, meanwhile, is on a prove-them all full of a shit tour of duty.  Here’s another ‘nattering nabob of negatism’ NBC News. (With no apologies to rotten apple dead Spiro Agnew.)

 President Joe Biden will hold a rally Friday in Wisconsin and then sit for his first televised interview since his disastrous debate performance last week, events could be crucial in determining whether he can salvage his embattled candidacy.

The interview with anchor George Stephanopoulos of ABC News is shaping up to be one of the most high-stakes moments for a president or a candidate in many years. Democratic elected officials, donors and voters will be closely watching to see whether he can still deliver in an adversarial setting and turn in a performance worthy of being the party’s nominee to defeat Donald Trump this fall.

The interview will “air in its entirety as a primetime special” at 8 p.m. ET Friday, ABC said, adding that a “transcript of the unedited interview will be made available the same day.”

Before that, Biden is expected to speak this afternoon at a campaign rally in Madison, Wisconsin. At the rally, Biden will “underscore the stakes of this election for our democracy, our rights and freedoms, and our economy,” a campaign official said. Also speaking will be Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, and Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., among others.

The White House said the interview team from ABC “will be with us all day in Wisconsin” and able to cover the rally event and to observe the president as he participates in his schedule, and said it has “some flexibility” around the length of the sit-down but “no exact estimate” of the duration of the conversation.

Read the next paragraph, which I will not print here, and try not to bang your head against your desk, wall, or coffee table.  Law Professor Richard W. Painter is floating a Constitutional Amendment on X.

Const. Amend. 28: “The President and the judges of the United States courts including the Supreme Court, shall be bound by the criminal laws of the United States and also by financial disclosure and conflict of interest laws enacted by Congress.” So who votes against?

If you want a real shock, go see The Economist Cover Picture today with the heading “No way to Run a Country.”  The attached story is “Biden Must Withdraw.”   This is from a country where the General Election just kicked the Conservative PM (a hedge fund manager) and replaced him with a Human Rights Lawyer and member of the Labour Party.  Fourteen years of Conservative Rule has just been tossed for something different.  Of course, CNN has joined the swiftboating effort. This is from Dr. Sanjay Gupta at CNN. “It’s time for President Biden to undergo detailed cognitive and neurological testing and share his results.”

So, I have to share this one from the New York Times even though I’m about to cancel my subscription. “Biden Tells Governors He Needs More Sleep and Less Work at Night.  The president’s opening remark to a group of key Democratic leaders — that he was in the race to stay — chilled any talk of his withdrawal, participants said.”  The usual suspects, Reid J. Epstein and Maggie Haberman, reported it.

President Biden told a gathering of Democratic governors that he needs to get more sleep and work fewer hours, including curtailing events after 8 p.m., according to two people who participated in the meeting and several others briefed on his comments.

The remarks on Wednesday were a stark acknowledgment of fatigue from the 81-year-old president during a meeting intended to reassure more than two dozen of his most important supporters that he is still in command of his job and capable of mounting a robust campaign against former President Donald J. Trump.

Mr. Biden’s comments about needing more rest came shortly after The New York Times reported that current and former officials have noticed that the president’s lapses over the past few months have become more frequent and more pronounced.

But Mr. Biden told the governors, some of whom were at the White House while others participated virtually, that he was staying in the race.

He described his extensive foreign travel in the weeks before the debate, something that the White House and his allies have in recent days cited as the reason for his halting performance during the debate. Initially, Mr. Biden’s campaign blamed a cold, putting out word about midway through the debate amid a series of social media posts questioning why Mr. Biden was struggling.

Mr. Biden said that he told his staff he needed to get more sleep, multiple people familiar with what took place in the meeting said. He repeatedly referenced pushing too hard and not listening to his team about his schedule, and said he needed to work fewer hours and avoid events scheduled after 8 p.m., according to one of the people familiar with what took place at the meeting.

After Gov. Josh Green of Hawaii, a physician, asked Mr. Biden questions about the status of his health, Mr. Biden replied that his health was fine. “It’s just my brain,” he added, according to three people familiar with what took place — a remark that some in the room took as a joke, including Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, according to a person close to her. But at least one governor did not, and was puzzled by it.

Jen O’Malley Dillon, Mr. Biden’s campaign chair, who attended the meeting, said in a statement that he had said, “All kidding aside,” a recollection confirmed by another person briefed on the meeting. Ms. O’Malley Dillon added: “He was clearly making a joke.”

So, I fully admit to being depressed and worried.  I know that BB stopped her NYT subscription.  I hope John Buss doesn’t mind. I shared this bit he posted to his FaceBook about canceling his. I seriously worry about him in North Carolina, too.  None of us in the old Confederate States are safe right now.

This is from a poll taken in April and reported by the AP on May 1. “Half of US adults mistrust media coverage of 2024 elections, a poll finds. About half of Americans say they are extremely or very concerned that news organizations will report inaccuracies or misinformation during the election. According to a poll, 42% express worry that news outlets will use generative artificial intelligence to create stories. (AP Video: Serkan Gurbuz)”

I think it’s likely that if they redid that this month, they’d find a statistically significant increase in the number of people saying that.  However, I admit that I live in the Southern City that promptly surrendered when Captain David Farragut of the Union Navy bombed two forts and arrived at the port.  We are a haven for the GLBT community.  We also have a strong Jewish presence and are well known for being a place of refuge for many diasporas.  Our new governor hates us and wants to take away our city charter, which is the legal means by which we don’t become the rest of the state.  You have to wonder how many cities like ours will come under direct attack if MAGA either gets its way or doesn’t.

The only way out of this is to VOTE and get everyone you know to VOTE because our lives depend on it.

I really hope you got to enjoy a little celebration on Independence Day.  I’m still on board with ensuring liberty and justice for all.  I am also standing by the Biden/Harris ticket.  Again, you realize that I have had a lot of gripes in the past about Biden and what happened to Anita Hill. It is somewhat karmic that what is going on now is somewhat built in by the bad decision he, Teddy Kennedy, and John Kerry made about Clarence Thomas. Forty-eight percent of the Senate was against his confirmation. He should’ve been Borked.  That, unfortunately, is toxic water under the bridge of democracy, but we have what we have now, and it is what it is.  Remember the words of Benjamin Franklin and fight for it.  The Roberts Supreme Court just took down the republic.

“A republic, if you can keep it.”

–Benjamin Franklin’s response to Elizabeth Willing Powel’s question: “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”

What’s on your reading and blogging list today?

I’m sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can’t stand the scene
And I’m neither left or right
I’m just staying home tonight
Getting lost in that hopeless little screen
But I’m stubborn as those garbage bags
That time cannot decay
I’m junk but I’m still holding up
This little wild bouquet
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A

#Repeat1968 #aRepublicIfYouCanKeepIt #CoupAttempt #democracy #IndependenceDay #insurrection #JohnBuss #LeonardCohen #MediaAndSwiftboating #Project2025 #Swiftboating

““No Mortal Man is Above the Law,” sayeth the Supremes. Enjoy your Independence Day; if the Conflicted Convicted Felon is elected, it’ll be our last.” John Buss, Repeat 1968

Good Day, Sky Dancers!

Independence Day has always been my favorite holiday, and it’s my youngest daughter’s too. When we lived in the Quarter, we would always walk our 2 blonde labs to the Mississippi River Bank and watch the left and east bank boats launch a huge fireworks display.  Down here in the Bywater, it’s still the same short walk to the riverbank, but the Poland Avenue Wharf or the newest Crescent Park are the favorite places to go.  Cars always turn to our local NPR station for patriotic music and blast it loud. You can tell when it’s time for the display because all the bars and houses empty into the streets and head south to the banks of the Mississippi River. I have always wondered what past celebrations were like, but that’s a rabbit hole for another day.

I spent the pre-show hours with friends listening to his industrial band livestream their efforts while sitting in their driveway patio.  It seemed like a normal fourth.  While everyone headed to the river, I headed home to Temple to let her dig a burrow under me to hide from the noise. No displays for me in the last 10 years.  Just time at home in bed comforting Temple. The weird thing this year was the fireworks didn’t seem to bother her, and she spent most of the time spooning me.  Maybe she sensed that my fear was far greater than hers today.  It’s a thought.

Twilight’s last gleaming from last night at my neighbor’s driveway patio.

The swiftboating of the democratic candidate season has begun. My friend who owns the bar on the corner told me she’s hearing from others besides me who are looking for places to become expats.  Given the Le Pen elections, I’m researching the south of France right now, although they may soon have their counter-revolution.  Russia is happy about that one.  I’m sure they have high hopes for us.

If you haven’t seen this little speech, you really should. “Leader of the pro-Trump Project 2025 suggests there will be a new American Revolution.  Kevin Roberts said the revolution will be bloodless “if the left allows it to be.”  This is from the AP but sourced at Politico.

The leader of a conservative think tank orchestrating plans for a massive overhaul of the federal government in the event of a Republican presidential win said that the country is in the midst of a “second American Revolution” that will be bloodless “if the left allows it to be.”

Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts made the comments Tuesday on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, adding that Republicans are “in the process of taking this country back.”

Democrats are “apoplectic right now” because the right is winning, Roberts told former U.S. Rep. Dave Brat, one of the podcast’s guest hosts as Bannon is serving a four-month prison term. “And so I come full circle on this response and just want to encourage you with some substance that we are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”

Roberts’ remarks shed light on how a group that promises to have significant influence over a possible second term for former President Donald Trump is thinking about this moment in American politics. The Heritage Foundation is spearheading Project 2025, a sweeping road map for a new GOP administration that includes plans for dismantling aspects of the federal government and ousting thousands of civil servants in favor of Trump loyalists who will carry out a hard-right agenda without complaint.

His call for revolution and vague reference to violence also unnerved some Democrats who interpreted it as threatening.

“This is chilling,” former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson wrote on the social platform X. “Their idea of a second American Revolution is to undo the first one.”

James Singer, a spokesperson for President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, pointed to this week’s Fourth of July holiday in an emailed statement.

“248 years ago tomorrow America declared independence from a tyrannical king, and now Donald Trump and his allies want to make him one at our expense,” Singer said, adding that Trump and his allies are ”dreaming of a violent revolution to destroy the very idea of America.”

Roberts, whose name Bannon recently floated to The New York Times as a potential chief of staff option for Trump, also said on the podcast that Republicans should be encouraged by the Supreme Court’s recent immunity ruling.

Bannon is in jail right now, serving time for contempt of Congress.  The New Republic‘s Parker Malloy has a good point here.  “Why Does the Media Insist on Helping Steve Bannon Act the Martyr? NBC and ABC snagged pre-prison interviews with the far-right globalist. But to what end? They became tools in his propaganda machine.”  The press just falls right in line by normalizing this behavior.

NBC News’s Vaughn Hillyard and ABC News’s Jonathan Karl recently made a journalistic misstep by interviewing Steve Bannon right before he reported to prison. This move, which might seem innocuous at first glance, actually elevates Bannon’s “political prisoner” narrative, a misleading storyline that does little but bolster the War Room host’s victim complex.

By interviewing Bannon just before he heads to prison, both NBC and ABC are essentially giving him a platform to paint himself as a martyr.

It allows Bannon to control the narrative. This plays directly into the hands of Bannon and his supporters, who are eager to cast any legal action against them as part of a broader conspiracy to silence dissent. It’s a classic tactic: position yourself as a victim to garner sympathy and rally support.

But Bannon is not going to prison for his political beliefs or his support for Donald Trump. He’s going to prison because he defied a congressional subpoena. By allowing Bannon to put some focus on his claims of political persecution, these interviews shift attention away from his actual misconduct and the legal consequences of that misconduct. This undermines the rule of law and gives credence to the idea that powerful individuals can evade accountability by crying foul.

Beyond that, it normalizes extremist rhetoric. In his interview with Karl, Bannon doubled down on his inflammatory language, discussing “retribution” and the need for investigations and potential imprisonments of political figures. Bannon listed former FBI Director James Comey, FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, former Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and former Attorney General Bill Barr as people who should be “very worried” about prosecution under a second Trump administration. Bannon defended his use of the slogan “Victory or Death!” at the recent Turning Point Action convention and rolled his eyes at Karl for even asking him about his 2020 comments about beheading Dr. Anthony Fauci and FBI Director Christopher Wray.

Also, from TNR is this headline about the black man running for governor on the insanity platform. “MAGA Gov Candidate’s Ugly, Hateful Rant: “Some Folks Need Killing!” Mark Robinson, the GOP nominee for governor in North Carolina, has a long history of incendiary comments. But he may have topped himself this time.”

Mark Robinson, the extremist GOP nominee for governor in North Carolina, appeared to endorse political violence in a bizarre and extended rant he delivered on June 30 in a small-town church.

“Some folks need killing!” Robinson, the state’s lieutenant governor, shouted during a roughly half-hour-long speech in Lake Church in the tiny town of White Lake, in the southeast corner of the state. “It’s time for somebody to say it. It’s not a matter of vengeance. It’s not a matter of being mean or spiteful. It’s a matter of necessity!”

Robinson’s call for the “killing” of “some folks” came during an extended diatribe in which he attacked an extraordinary assortment of enemies. These ranged from “people who have evil intent” to “wicked people” to those doing things like “torturing and murdering and raping” to socialists and Communists. He also invoked those supposedly undermining America’s founding ideals and leftists allegedly persecuting conservatives by canceling them and doxxing them online.

In all this, Robinson appeared to endorse lethal violence against these unnamed enemies, particularly on the left, though he wasn’t exactly clear on which “folks” are the ones who “need killing.”

Robinson, a self-described “MAGA Republican,” has a long history of wildly radical and unhinged moments. He has linked homosexuality to pedophilia, called for the arrest of trans women, pushed hallucinogenic antisemitic conspiracy theories, endorsed the vile “birther” conspiracy about Barack Obama, described Michelle Obama as a man, hinted at the need to violently oppose federal law enforcement and the government, and posted memes mocking and denying the brutal, violent assault on Nancy Pelosi’s husband, among many other things.

My belief is he said the quiet part out loud. My governor isn’t calling for the death penalty for anyone who doesn’t fit the White Christian Nationalist mold or stays quiet, afraid, and hidden, but I do believe he’d do it if any other MAGA governor started the trend.  As JJ says, fear for people you love.  As to the swiftboating of Biden for a cold, let’s show you this oldie but goodie of just a smidgen of the swiftboating of Hillary. “Remember when Hillary Clinton had pneumonia and showed up anyway at a 9/11 memorial & media ripped her for that?”  (via @joannebamberg with Karolic Kuns and me in the amen corner.)

Even New York Magazine is in on it. “The Conspiracy of Silence to Protect Joe Biden. The president’s mental decline was like a dark family secret for many elite supporters.”  Biden, meanwhile, is on a prove-them all full of a shit tour of duty.  Here’s another ‘nattering nabob of negatism’ NBC News. (With no apologies to rotten apple dead Spiro Agnew.)

 President Joe Biden will hold a rally Friday in Wisconsin and then sit for his first televised interview since his disastrous debate performance last week, events could be crucial in determining whether he can salvage his embattled candidacy.

The interview with anchor George Stephanopoulos of ABC News is shaping up to be one of the most high-stakes moments for a president or a candidate in many years. Democratic elected officials, donors and voters will be closely watching to see whether he can still deliver in an adversarial setting and turn in a performance worthy of being the party’s nominee to defeat Donald Trump this fall.

The interview will “air in its entirety as a primetime special” at 8 p.m. ET Friday, ABC said, adding that a “transcript of the unedited interview will be made available the same day.”

Before that, Biden is expected to speak this afternoon at a campaign rally in Madison, Wisconsin. At the rally, Biden will “underscore the stakes of this election for our democracy, our rights and freedoms, and our economy,” a campaign official said. Also speaking will be Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, and Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., among others.

The White House said the interview team from ABC “will be with us all day in Wisconsin” and able to cover the rally event and to observe the president as he participates in his schedule, and said it has “some flexibility” around the length of the sit-down but “no exact estimate” of the duration of the conversation.

Read the next paragraph, which I will not print here, and try not to bang your head against your desk, wall, or coffee table.  Law Professor Richard W. Painter is floating a Constitutional Amendment on X.

Const. Amend. 28: “The President and the judges of the United States courts including the Supreme Court, shall be bound by the criminal laws of the United States and also by financial disclosure and conflict of interest laws enacted by Congress.” So who votes against?

If you want a real shock, go see The Economist Cover Picture today with the heading “No way to Run a Country.”  The attached story is “Biden Must Withdraw.”   This is from a country where the General Election just kicked the Conservative PM (a hedge fund manager) and replaced him with a Human Rights Lawyer and member of the Labour Party.  Fourteen years of Conservative Rule has just been tossed for something different.  Of course, CNN has joined the swiftboating effort. This is from Dr. Sanjay Gupta at CNN. “It’s time for President Biden to undergo detailed cognitive and neurological testing and share his results.”

So, I have to share this one from the New York Times even though I’m about to cancel my subscription. “Biden Tells Governors He Needs More Sleep and Less Work at Night.  The president’s opening remark to a group of key Democratic leaders — that he was in the race to stay — chilled any talk of his withdrawal, participants said.”  The usual suspects, Reid J. Epstein and Maggie Haberman, reported it.

President Biden told a gathering of Democratic governors that he needs to get more sleep and work fewer hours, including curtailing events after 8 p.m., according to two people who participated in the meeting and several others briefed on his comments.

The remarks on Wednesday were a stark acknowledgment of fatigue from the 81-year-old president during a meeting intended to reassure more than two dozen of his most important supporters that he is still in command of his job and capable of mounting a robust campaign against former President Donald J. Trump.

Mr. Biden’s comments about needing more rest came shortly after The New York Times reported that current and former officials have noticed that the president’s lapses over the past few months have become more frequent and more pronounced.

But Mr. Biden told the governors, some of whom were at the White House while others participated virtually, that he was staying in the race.

He described his extensive foreign travel in the weeks before the debate, something that the White House and his allies have in recent days cited as the reason for his halting performance during the debate. Initially, Mr. Biden’s campaign blamed a cold, putting out word about midway through the debate amid a series of social media posts questioning why Mr. Biden was struggling.

Mr. Biden said that he told his staff he needed to get more sleep, multiple people familiar with what took place in the meeting said. He repeatedly referenced pushing too hard and not listening to his team about his schedule, and said he needed to work fewer hours and avoid events scheduled after 8 p.m., according to one of the people familiar with what took place at the meeting.

After Gov. Josh Green of Hawaii, a physician, asked Mr. Biden questions about the status of his health, Mr. Biden replied that his health was fine. “It’s just my brain,” he added, according to three people familiar with what took place — a remark that some in the room took as a joke, including Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, according to a person close to her. But at least one governor did not, and was puzzled by it.

Jen O’Malley Dillon, Mr. Biden’s campaign chair, who attended the meeting, said in a statement that he had said, “All kidding aside,” a recollection confirmed by another person briefed on the meeting. Ms. O’Malley Dillon added: “He was clearly making a joke.”

So, I fully admit to being depressed and worried.  I know that BB stopped her NYT subscription.  I hope John Buss doesn’t mind. I shared this bit he posted to his FaceBook about canceling his. I seriously worry about him in North Carolina, too.  None of us in the old Confederate States are safe right now.

This is from a poll taken in April and reported by the AP on May 1. “Half of US adults mistrust media coverage of 2024 elections, a poll finds. About half of Americans say they are extremely or very concerned that news organizations will report inaccuracies or misinformation during the election. According to a poll, 42% express worry that news outlets will use generative artificial intelligence to create stories. (AP Video: Serkan Gurbuz)”

I think it’s likely that if they redid that this month, they’d find a statistically significant increase in the number of people saying that.  However, I admit that I live in the Southern City that promptly surrendered when Captain David Farragut of the Union Navy bombed two forts and arrived at the port.  We are a haven for the GLBT community.  We also have a strong Jewish presence and are well known for being a place of refuge for many diasporas.  Our new governor hates us and wants to take away our city charter, which is the legal means by which we don’t become the rest of the state.  You have to wonder how many cities like ours will come under direct attack if MAGA either gets its way or doesn’t.

The only way out of this is to VOTE and get everyone you know to VOTE because our lives depend on it.

I really hope you got to enjoy a little celebration on Independence Day.  I’m still on board with ensuring liberty and justice for all.  I am also standing by the Biden/Harris ticket.  Again, you realize that I have had a lot of gripes in the past about Biden and what happened to Anita Hill. It is somewhat karmic that what is going on now is somewhat built in by the bad decision he, Teddy Kennedy, and John Kerry made about Clarence Thomas. Forty-eight percent of the Senate was against his confirmation. He should’ve been Borked.  That, unfortunately, is toxic water under the bridge of democracy, but we have what we have now, and it is what it is.  Remember the words of Benjamin Franklin and fight for it.  The Roberts Supreme Court just took down the republic.

“A republic, if you can keep it.”

–Benjamin Franklin’s response to Elizabeth Willing Powel’s question: “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”

What’s on your reading and blogging list today?

I’m sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can’t stand the scene
And I’m neither left or right
I’m just staying home tonight
Getting lost in that hopeless little screen
But I’m stubborn as those garbage bags
That time cannot decay
I’m junk but I’m still holding up
This little wild bouquet
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A

https://skydancingblog.com/2024/07/05/friday-reads-twilights-last-gleaming/

#Repeat1968 #aRepublicIfYouCanKeepIt #CoupAttempt #democracy #IndependenceDay #insurrection #JohnBuss #LeonardCohen #MediaAndSwiftboating #Project2025 #Swiftboating

Friday Reads: Twilight’s Last Gleaming

““No Mortal Man is Above the Law,” sayeth the Supremes. Enjoy your Independence Day; if the Conflicted Convicted Felon is elected, it’ll be our last.” John Buss, Repeat 1968

Good Day, Sky Dancers!

Independence Day has always been my favorite holiday, and it’s my youngest daughter’s too. When we lived in the Quarter, we would always walk our 2 blonde labs to the Mississippi River Bank and watch the left and east bank boats launch a huge fireworks display.  Down here in the Bywater, it’s still the same short walk to the riverbank, but the Poland Avenue Wharf or the newest Crescent Park are the favorite places to go.  Cars always turn to our local NPR station for patriotic music and blast it loud. You can tell when it’s time for the display because all the bars and houses empty into the streets and head south to the banks of the Mississippi River. I have always wondered what past celebrations were like, but that’s a rabbit hole for another day.

I spent the pre-show hours with friends listening to his industrial band livestream their efforts while sitting in their driveway patio.  It seemed like a normal fourth.  While everyone headed to the river, I headed home to Temple to let her dig a burrow under me to hide from the noise. No displays for me in the last 10 years.  Just time at home in bed comforting Temple. The weird thing this year was the fireworks didn’t seem to bother her, and she spent most of the time spooning me.  Maybe she sensed that my fear was far greater than hers today.  It’s a thought.

Twilight’s last gleaming from last night at my neighbor’s driveway patio.

The swiftboating of the democratic candidate season has begun. My friend who owns the bar on the corner told me she’s hearing from others besides me who are looking for places to become expats.  Given the Le Pen elections, I’m researching the south of France right now, although they may soon have their counter-revolution.  Russia is happy about that one.  I’m sure they have high hopes for us.

If you haven’t seen this little speech, you really should. “Leader of the pro-Trump Project 2025 suggests there will be a new American Revolution.  Kevin Roberts said the revolution will be bloodless “if the left allows it to be.”  This is from the AP but sourced at Politico.

The leader of a conservative think tank orchestrating plans for a massive overhaul of the federal government in the event of a Republican presidential win said that the country is in the midst of a “second American Revolution” that will be bloodless “if the left allows it to be.”

Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts made the comments Tuesday on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, adding that Republicans are “in the process of taking this country back.”

Democrats are “apoplectic right now” because the right is winning, Roberts told former U.S. Rep. Dave Brat, one of the podcast’s guest hosts as Bannon is serving a four-month prison term. “And so I come full circle on this response and just want to encourage you with some substance that we are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”

Roberts’ remarks shed light on how a group that promises to have significant influence over a possible second term for former President Donald Trump is thinking about this moment in American politics. The Heritage Foundation is spearheading Project 2025, a sweeping road map for a new GOP administration that includes plans for dismantling aspects of the federal government and ousting thousands of civil servants in favor of Trump loyalists who will carry out a hard-right agenda without complaint.

His call for revolution and vague reference to violence also unnerved some Democrats who interpreted it as threatening.

“This is chilling,” former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson wrote on the social platform X. “Their idea of a second American Revolution is to undo the first one.”

James Singer, a spokesperson for President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, pointed to this week’s Fourth of July holiday in an emailed statement.

“248 years ago tomorrow America declared independence from a tyrannical king, and now Donald Trump and his allies want to make him one at our expense,” Singer said, adding that Trump and his allies are ”dreaming of a violent revolution to destroy the very idea of America.”

Roberts, whose name Bannon recently floated to The New York Times as a potential chief of staff option for Trump, also said on the podcast that Republicans should be encouraged by the Supreme Court’s recent immunity ruling.

Bannon is in jail right now, serving time for contempt of Congress.  The New Republic‘s Parker Malloy has a good point here.  “Why Does the Media Insist on Helping Steve Bannon Act the Martyr? NBC and ABC snagged pre-prison interviews with the far-right globalist. But to what end? They became tools in his propaganda machine.”  The press just falls right in line by normalizing this behavior.

NBC News’s Vaughn Hillyard and ABC News’s Jonathan Karl recently made a journalistic misstep by interviewing Steve Bannon right before he reported to prison. This move, which might seem innocuous at first glance, actually elevates Bannon’s “political prisoner” narrative, a misleading storyline that does little but bolster the War Room host’s victim complex.

By interviewing Bannon just before he heads to prison, both NBC and ABC are essentially giving him a platform to paint himself as a martyr.

It allows Bannon to control the narrative. This plays directly into the hands of Bannon and his supporters, who are eager to cast any legal action against them as part of a broader conspiracy to silence dissent. It’s a classic tactic: position yourself as a victim to garner sympathy and rally support.

But Bannon is not going to prison for his political beliefs or his support for Donald Trump. He’s going to prison because he defied a congressional subpoena. By allowing Bannon to put some focus on his claims of political persecution, these interviews shift attention away from his actual misconduct and the legal consequences of that misconduct. This undermines the rule of law and gives credence to the idea that powerful individuals can evade accountability by crying foul.

Beyond that, it normalizes extremist rhetoric. In his interview with Karl, Bannon doubled down on his inflammatory language, discussing “retribution” and the need for investigations and potential imprisonments of political figures. Bannon listed former FBI Director James Comey, FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, former Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and former Attorney General Bill Barr as people who should be “very worried” about prosecution under a second Trump administration. Bannon defended his use of the slogan “Victory or Death!” at the recent Turning Point Action convention and rolled his eyes at Karl for even asking him about his 2020 comments about beheading Dr. Anthony Fauci and FBI Director Christopher Wray.

Also, from TNR is this headline about the black man running for governor on the insanity platform. “MAGA Gov Candidate’s Ugly, Hateful Rant: “Some Folks Need Killing!” Mark Robinson, the GOP nominee for governor in North Carolina, has a long history of incendiary comments. But he may have topped himself this time.”

Mark Robinson, the extremist GOP nominee for governor in North Carolina, appeared to endorse political violence in a bizarre and extended rant he delivered on June 30 in a small-town church.

“Some folks need killing!” Robinson, the state’s lieutenant governor, shouted during a roughly half-hour-long speech in Lake Church in the tiny town of White Lake, in the southeast corner of the state. “It’s time for somebody to say it. It’s not a matter of vengeance. It’s not a matter of being mean or spiteful. It’s a matter of necessity!”

Robinson’s call for the “killing” of “some folks” came during an extended diatribe in which he attacked an extraordinary assortment of enemies. These ranged from “people who have evil intent” to “wicked people” to those doing things like “torturing and murdering and raping” to socialists and Communists. He also invoked those supposedly undermining America’s founding ideals and leftists allegedly persecuting conservatives by canceling them and doxxing them online.

In all this, Robinson appeared to endorse lethal violence against these unnamed enemies, particularly on the left, though he wasn’t exactly clear on which “folks” are the ones who “need killing.”

Robinson, a self-described “MAGA Republican,” has a long history of wildly radical and unhinged moments. He has linked homosexuality to pedophilia, called for the arrest of trans women, pushed hallucinogenic antisemitic conspiracy theories, endorsed the vile “birther” conspiracy about Barack Obama, described Michelle Obama as a man, hinted at the need to violently oppose federal law enforcement and the government, and posted memes mocking and denying the brutal, violent assault on Nancy Pelosi’s husband, among many other things.

My belief is he said the quiet part out loud. My governor isn’t calling for the death penalty for anyone who doesn’t fit the White Christian Nationalist mold or stays quiet, afraid, and hidden, but I do believe he’d do it if any other MAGA governor started the trend.  As JJ says, fear for people you love.  As to the swiftboating of Biden for a cold, let’s show you this oldie but goodie of just a smidgen of the swiftboating of Hillary. “Remember when Hillary Clinton had pneumonia and showed up anyway at a 9/11 memorial & media ripped her for that?”  (via @joannebamberg with Karolic Kuns and me in the amen corner.)

Even New York Magazine is in on it. “The Conspiracy of Silence to Protect Joe Biden. The president’s mental decline was like a dark family secret for many elite supporters.”  Biden, meanwhile, is on a prove-them all full of a shit tour of duty.  Here’s another ‘nattering nabob of negatism’ NBC News. (With no apologies to rotten apple dead Spiro Agnew.)

 President Joe Biden will hold a rally Friday in Wisconsin and then sit for his first televised interview since his disastrous debate performance last week, events could be crucial in determining whether he can salvage his embattled candidacy.

The interview with anchor George Stephanopoulos of ABC News is shaping up to be one of the most high-stakes moments for a president or a candidate in many years. Democratic elected officials, donors and voters will be closely watching to see whether he can still deliver in an adversarial setting and turn in a performance worthy of being the party’s nominee to defeat Donald Trump this fall.

The interview will “air in its entirety as a primetime special” at 8 p.m. ET Friday, ABC said, adding that a “transcript of the unedited interview will be made available the same day.”

Before that, Biden is expected to speak this afternoon at a campaign rally in Madison, Wisconsin. At the rally, Biden will “underscore the stakes of this election for our democracy, our rights and freedoms, and our economy,” a campaign official said. Also speaking will be Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, and Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., among others.

The White House said the interview team from ABC “will be with us all day in Wisconsin” and able to cover the rally event and to observe the president as he participates in his schedule, and said it has “some flexibility” around the length of the sit-down but “no exact estimate” of the duration of the conversation.

Read the next paragraph, which I will not print here, and try not to bang your head against your desk, wall, or coffee table.  Law Professor Richard W. Painter is floating a Constitutional Amendment on X.

Const. Amend. 28: “The President and the judges of the United States courts including the Supreme Court, shall be bound by the criminal laws of the United States and also by financial disclosure and conflict of interest laws enacted by Congress.” So who votes against?

If you want a real shock, go see The Economist Cover Picture today with the heading “No way to Run a Country.”  The attached story is “Biden Must Withdraw.”   This is from a country where the General Election just kicked the Conservative PM (a hedge fund manager) and replaced him with a Human Rights Lawyer and member of the Labour Party.  Fourteen years of Conservative Rule has just been tossed for something different.  Of course, CNN has joined the swiftboating effort. This is from Dr. Sanjay Gupta at CNN. “It’s time for President Biden to undergo detailed cognitive and neurological testing and share his results.”

So, I have to share this one from the New York Times even though I’m about to cancel my subscription. “Biden Tells Governors He Needs More Sleep and Less Work at Night.  The president’s opening remark to a group of key Democratic leaders — that he was in the race to stay — chilled any talk of his withdrawal, participants said.”  The usual suspects, Reid J. Epstein and Maggie Haberman, reported it.

President Biden told a gathering of Democratic governors that he needs to get more sleep and work fewer hours, including curtailing events after 8 p.m., according to two people who participated in the meeting and several others briefed on his comments.

The remarks on Wednesday were a stark acknowledgment of fatigue from the 81-year-old president during a meeting intended to reassure more than two dozen of his most important supporters that he is still in command of his job and capable of mounting a robust campaign against former President Donald J. Trump.

Mr. Biden’s comments about needing more rest came shortly after The New York Times reported that current and former officials have noticed that the president’s lapses over the past few months have become more frequent and more pronounced.

But Mr. Biden told the governors, some of whom were at the White House while others participated virtually, that he was staying in the race.

He described his extensive foreign travel in the weeks before the debate, something that the White House and his allies have in recent days cited as the reason for his halting performance during the debate. Initially, Mr. Biden’s campaign blamed a cold, putting out word about midway through the debate amid a series of social media posts questioning why Mr. Biden was struggling.

Mr. Biden said that he told his staff he needed to get more sleep, multiple people familiar with what took place in the meeting said. He repeatedly referenced pushing too hard and not listening to his team about his schedule, and said he needed to work fewer hours and avoid events scheduled after 8 p.m., according to one of the people familiar with what took place at the meeting.

After Gov. Josh Green of Hawaii, a physician, asked Mr. Biden questions about the status of his health, Mr. Biden replied that his health was fine. “It’s just my brain,” he added, according to three people familiar with what took place — a remark that some in the room took as a joke, including Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, according to a person close to her. But at least one governor did not, and was puzzled by it.

Jen O’Malley Dillon, Mr. Biden’s campaign chair, who attended the meeting, said in a statement that he had said, “All kidding aside,” a recollection confirmed by another person briefed on the meeting. Ms. O’Malley Dillon added: “He was clearly making a joke.”

So, I fully admit to being depressed and worried.  I know that BB stopped her NYT subscription.  I hope John Buss doesn’t mind. I shared this bit he posted to his FaceBook about canceling his. I seriously worry about him in North Carolina, too.  None of us in the old Confederate States are safe right now.

This is from a poll taken in April and reported by the AP on May 1. “Half of US adults mistrust media coverage of 2024 elections, a poll finds. About half of Americans say they are extremely or very concerned that news organizations will report inaccuracies or misinformation during the election. According to a poll, 42% express worry that news outlets will use generative artificial intelligence to create stories. (AP Video: Serkan Gurbuz)”

I think it’s likely that if they redid that this month, they’d find a statistically significant increase in the number of people saying that.  However, I admit that I live in the Southern City that promptly surrendered when Captain David Farragut of the Union Navy bombed two forts and arrived at the port.  We are a haven for the GLBT community.  We also have a strong Jewish presence and are well known for being a place of refuge for many diasporas.  Our new governor hates us and wants to take away our city charter, which is the legal means by which we don’t become the rest of the state.  You have to wonder how many cities like ours will come under direct attack if MAGA either gets its way or doesn’t.

The only way out of this is to VOTE and get everyone you know to VOTE because our lives depend on it.

I really hope you got to enjoy a little celebration on Independence Day.  I’m still on board with ensuring liberty and justice for all.  I am also standing by the Biden/Harris ticket.  Again, you realize that I have had a lot of gripes in the past about Biden and what happened to Anita Hill. It is somewhat karmic that what is going on now is somewhat built in by the bad decision he, Teddy Kennedy, and John Kerry made about Clarence Thomas. Forty-eight percent of the Senate was against his confirmation. He should’ve been Borked.  That, unfortunately, is toxic water under the bridge of democracy, but we have what we have now, and it is what it is.  Remember the words of Benjamin Franklin and fight for it.  The Roberts Supreme Court just took down the republic.

“A republic, if you can keep it.”

–Benjamin Franklin’s response to Elizabeth Willing Powel’s question: “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”

What’s on your reading and blogging list today?

I’m sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can’t stand the scene
And I’m neither left or right
I’m just staying home tonight
Getting lost in that hopeless little screen
But I’m stubborn as those garbage bags
That time cannot decay
I’m junk but I’m still holding up
This little wild bouquet
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A

#Repeat1968 #aRepublicIfYouCanKeepIt #CoupAttempt #democracy #IndependenceDay #insurrection #JohnBuss #LeonardCohen #MediaAndSwiftboating #Project2025 #Swiftboating

@Alan I have been furious about this sort of thing all day! "Arresting Trump is a bad play for the Dems" yada yada.
It does give away a lot that the GOP, and their watercarriers in the media, automatically assume all prosecutions are political, rather than a matter of justice and equal enforcement of the law. Projection much?
#FailedMedia #ARepublicIfYouCanKeepIt

@Alan I have been furious about this sort of thing all day! "Arresting Trump is a bad play for the Dems" yada yada.
It does give away a lot that the GOP, and their watercarriers in the media, automatically assume all prosecutions are political, rather than a matter of justice and equal enforcement of the law. Projection much?
#FailedMedia #ARepublicIfYouCanKeepIt

@Alan I have been furious about this sort of thing all day! "Arresting Trump is a bad play for the Dems" yada yada.
It does give away a lot that the GOP, and their watercarriers in the media, automatically assume all prosecutions are political, rather than a matter of justice and equal enforcement of the law. Projection much?
#FailedMedia #ARepublicIfYouCanKeepIt

@Alan I have been furious about this sort of thing all day! "Arresting Trump is a bad play for the Dems" yada yada.
It does give away a lot that the GOP, and their watercarriers in the media, automatically assume all prosecutions are political, rather than a matter of justice and equal enforcement of the law. Projection much?
#FailedMedia #ARepublicIfYouCanKeepIt

@Alan I have been furious about this sort of thing all day! "Arresting Trump is a bad play for the Dems" yada yada.
It does give away a lot that the GOP, and their watercarriers in the media, automatically assume all prosecutions are political, rather than a matter of justice and equal enforcement of the law" Projection much?
#FailedMedia #ARepublicIfYouCanKeepIt