501 Comments
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Jeff Tiedrich's avatar

I confess I really wanted to follow up the sentence "that adults dressed in costumes, reading to children in libraries, is going to result in the collapse of western civilization" with "that strange women, lying in ponds, distributing swords, is a basis for a system of government." you're welcome that I didn't

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Kay-El's avatar

Lol, the Lady of the Lake reference would go over most MAGAs heads.

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Deb's avatar

John Cleese (I've been a follower) has been very active on Xitter. He's been excoriating both Dipshit Donnie as well as all his MAGA morons. He's also been screaming at our media and asking when, if ever, they'll begin to point out that Donnie's been spewing nothing but gibberish for months.

One of MAGA moron's responses? "What happened to you? You used to be funny?"

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un poco loco's avatar

so I guess if you're stupid enough to be a MAGAt, you didn't get Monty Python AT ALL the first time around...

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Deb's avatar

Sounds about right! 🤣

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A.J. Madison's avatar

That entire scene in MP&tHG was a rant about crap governance. From archaic methods of picking rulers, to anger at demented, corrupted democracy (you think its bad here, their system has institutionalized conservative rule, that had to go 100% into the crapper for a decade before the populace can vote someone even slightly liberal as a PM). So of course it would go over the heads of the MAGAhats.

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SPW's avatar

Or most likely, at all. Monty Python is Einstein to those fools.

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un poco loco's avatar

They did all go to either Cambridge or Oxford. (Except for Terry Gilliam, I think -- he was American and didn't go to England until after he graduated from college.)

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

Of course they didn't! But like children, who hear a joke that goes over their head, they'll laugh along and pretend to get it.

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Kay-El's avatar

I guess being funny and being aghast at Donny Orange isn’t compatible. 🙄

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un poco loco's avatar

I don't even think the Orange Jenius is particularly funny, especially when he tries to be. He's just monumentally weird and creepy. I'm not inclined to laugh; just want to make it go away...

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P123Sunny's avatar

But they were intensely focused on JOE BIDEN’S decline🙄 (& all at the same time, coincidentally :/ ). Now the corp. media and ESPECIALLY the Pundit / Podcast Industrial Complex has to deal with LDFF’s glaring issues - Talk about *awkward*!!!🔥

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Maui Wahine's avatar

Thank you for reporting from Xitter land. I left when Musk bought it. Someone should collect all the Cleese and similarly-minded tweets and publish a coffee table book. Iʻd buy it.

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Deb's avatar

Congratulations on leaving the cesspool. One of these days I just may throw in the towel as well…but I’ll stick with it until after the election and whatever fresh hell comes immediately after!😵‍💫

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Rebecca Elliott's avatar

I'm still there, barely. The daily digest no longer comes to me, so I only go when I see a link at one of my other sites, and I only go to THAT link. I don't much miss it.

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un poco loco's avatar

I got kicked off for saying something disrespectful (and kind of, er, profane) about/to Greg Abbott. The only way I'm getting back on (as me anyway) is if I withdraw the comment, and I am NOT going to withdraw any comment I made about that shithead. There are a couple of people I wouldn't mind seeing regular updates from (like a cousin I found there) but it's not worth the price.

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LeeAnn Young's avatar

If you wrote it about the Sadistic Psychopath, I don’t know how it could be profane since he is evil incarnate. I assume ChristoFascists believe in Heaven AND Hell, so I think Lucifer should come and pick up his missing followers such as all the MAGA and their cult leaders, take them back, and not let them loose again.

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un poco loco's avatar

that would certainly make earth a better place... :)

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Cats🐈‍⬛'s avatar

I despise abbott and paxton (among others) as much as you. Perhaps being banned is a badge of honor! I would like to see both of those subhuman shit shows enjoy the razor wire they put in the waters of the Rio Grande River by taking a nice, long, warm bath in it…and realize there will not be anyone to save their stupid, ugly asses because the National Guard will just stand by and watch them drown due to orders from abbott himself.

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un poco loco's avatar

I do rather view it as a point of pride!

One thing that bothers me about all of this is that it's not the National Guard following his orders as often as it's his own military. He doesn't have direct authority over the actual National Guard, but he does over the Texas Military Dept, and they've got a lot of troops -- the TX Army National Guard, the TX Air National Guard, and the Texas State Guard. Don't let the "National" part fool you -- these are all state troops, under Abbott's command.

That agency was originally the War Department when TX was a republic and into statehood, and the Texas Army/Guard fought wars as part of it. The Rangers were under the War Dept until the 1930s, but they became DPS, basically, and the agency was renamed the Adjutant General Dept at some point. After Abbott was elected, it became the TX Military Dept. This is why I was a little freaked out when that standoff was going on down at Eagle Pass -- it was looking a little like Abbott might want to start Civil War part deux.

And now it looks like he & the felonious AG just want to restart the Mexican-American war again, but against actual Americans, some of whose families have been here much longer than the white carpetbaggers. Makes me crazy. Even if I got back on xitter, I'd probably be banned again lol...

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Hank Napkin's avatar

I do however dread the idea of a 'Fawlty Towers' remake/reboot. As if 'Hold the Sunset' wasn't bad enough...

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Mike Hammer's avatar

What heads? They’re one brain cell short of anencephaly.

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

😉🤣😂🤣😂

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Alee Robbins's avatar

Oops, just went over mine. Had to Google it.

Does that make me a MAGA?? (Please say no) 😝

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Kate's avatar

No. It makes you bright — knowing when you don’t know something and finding a source of information to give you that knowledge. That makes you unbelievably different than a Maga.

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Alee Robbins's avatar

Whew, I can breathe again. Thanks!!

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Linda McCaughey's avatar

Just saw one of those proclaiming devotion to the Fourth Amendment; you know---the "gun rights" one. Also hadn't a clue what the First Amendment was....

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DR Darke's avatar

My ex-wife, not a Monty Python fan, didn't get why my best friend and I would keep quoting that line. We finally sat her down with the DVD of MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL—while she's still not a Monty Python fan as far as I know, she finally gets the reference.

It is a brilliant comeback to governments that treat certain elements as somehow "holy" and above reproach....

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Eva Porter's avatar

My husband and his brothers were huge fans. Every now and then when it's apropos of the situation, my husband will come up with this gem: You can't expect to wield supreme power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!

Makes me laugh every time.

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Kate's avatar

I’m on your ex-wife’s side. I get the reference, but I don’t have the love for MP my husband does.

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Kay-El's avatar

I just happen to be a fan of the Mists of Avalon and Rick Wakeman’s album King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Besides, I didn’t say not knowing would turn you into MAGA. 😂

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un poco loco's avatar

When I was a kid, I didn't have a wealth of reading material, but when I was 10 or so, a family friend gave me a set of books of collected myths and fairy tales. It was beautiful -- I think Victorian, maybe, with elaborate bindings and Pre-Raphaelite-like illustrations. My favorite was the one that included the Arthurian cycle, recounted in great detail. (I think it included most of the medieval tales... part of me lived there for a while. I wish I could see them again, but my mother gave away the books when I left for college.)

I was already a fan of Monty Python -- PBS started showing episodes late evenings in the early 70s (along with Doctor Who). The movie came out when I was in college, and of course I went multiple times, until I could quite annoyingly quote all of the lines. (Still can lol. I can also go on at great length about dead parrots.) And it most certainly had nothing in common with MAGA.

PS -- also love Wakeman; have King Arthur still...

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Kay-El's avatar

Yep, I do too and Journey to the Center of the Earth. Not sure I still have Six Wives of Henry VIII

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Sep 8
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Alee Robbins's avatar

Thank gawd. 😂

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Patrick Daniels aka Cromulent1's avatar

WOW, haven’t seen, nor heard anyone mention Rick Wakeman in years! Are you Keith Emerson fan as well?

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Nevertheless, She Persisted's avatar

went over mine too, I freely admit.

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arne link's avatar

Good. Thanks for sharing. I feel less ignorant now.

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Abigail Norling's avatar

NO!~

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D.Allen's avatar

Most likely it just makes you young.🤣

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P123Sunny's avatar

😂

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Betsy L's avatar

No. You are not a MAGAt. You write in understandable sentences and spelled everything correctly.

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Rebecca Elliott's avatar

Nope. You know how to google. AND to understand what google brings up.

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Lynne Murphy's avatar

Me too

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Barbara B's avatar

No. You are not a MAGA. After all identifying something you didn’t know, you sought actual information!

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HI2thDoc's avatar

The white supremacist arm of the MAGA movement is enamored of the Norse/Odin mythos, and as far as I know have not put their grimy paws on the Arthurian legend yet.

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Ethereal fairy Natalie's avatar

That's because the Norsemen were the ultimate pasty white guys!

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HI2thDoc's avatar

And they were killers greatly feared, so these MAGA bullies admire them

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D Kitterman's avatar

The Norse people were hardy in the extreme, tough, and relentless, so let's carefully not MAGApomorphize them insultingly. 😉

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Patrick Daniels aka Cromulent1's avatar

The only things Sconnie denizens understand is beer brats and Packer football. Your comment is spot on Kay-El!

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NEAL O'CONNOR's avatar

I don't think that Jeff has many MAGA fans...

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JOSEPH PEDALINO, JR.'s avatar

Fortunately they don’t read, they only parse headlines posted by the russians on fb.

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Ed Cooper's avatar

Only most ?

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Kay-El's avatar

Lol, I have to think there’s a few that aren’t totally illiterate, but that may be completely wrong.

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Cassandra Here's avatar

I had to stop reading after your bit about kids and schools. I think I’m going to have a stroke.

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Stephanie Lajeskie's avatar

Especially since we CAN IMAGINE little Jimmy leaving for school, and rather than coming home at the end of the day as a girl, he doesn’t come home at all.

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Katy Griffith's avatar

I was thinking the same thing

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Vickie Berry's avatar

I cried.

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un poco loco's avatar

I think that would have been an excellent choice! Monty Python-derived idiom is exactly the sort of language that should be used with anyone degenerate enough to be a MAGAt. Why shouldn't WE get some enjoyment out of this? I mean beyond the schadenfreude of watching the Couch-Fucker's stupid human tricks...

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Morgan OCailleigh's avatar

That would have worked for me. I have a 2020 shirt that says that very thing.

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Jeff Tiedrich's avatar

I find an excuse to quote it probably at least five times a week and you can't imagine how tired Ms. Spouse is of hearing it

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Kay-El's avatar

It can’t be said enough, until this bullshit ends.

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Tim Trew's avatar

See the violence inherent in the system!

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D.Allen's avatar

🤣🤣

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Kate's avatar

Yeah, I kind of get your wife.😘🤣

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D Kitterman's avatar

Ms. Spouse must be a spectacularly brilliant and patient partner.

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A.J. Madison's avatar

BTW, Jeff. Thank you for calling W. a war criminal. I 'm sure you know, but want to repeat it here for those that don't know, that up to a million people are dead because Shrub, "Too Stupid To Understand the Lesson of the Vietnam War" and Cheney started a war of colonialism. They should have been prosecuted for war crimes. That they failed in the goal of their war, makes their grievous error in judgement even more reprehensible.

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Zija Pulp's avatar

You are exactly right: W and Cheney definitely should have been prosecuted for war crimes. The utter disregard toward human life flattens me.

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Mark Nelson's avatar

Lol...no worries...I have it memorized! 🤣

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Robert Eckert's avatar

Moistened tarts handing out cutlery is sounding like a better system of government all the time.

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Kimmy's avatar

I’m an so very disappointed in that phrase being cut from that paragraph now 😂

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P123Sunny's avatar

Cutting room floor is always a tough one

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Jennifer's avatar

Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses! Not some farcical aquatic ceremony!

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Cat Cafe's avatar

I thought we were an anarchic-socialist collective!

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Jennifer's avatar

You're fooling yourself

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Susan P Thatcher's avatar

You are invited to join my page, The Grand Duchy if Medieval Merriment. Anyone who sling an MP reference.

Actually, strange women lying in minds distributing swords is a better system than what he's iofering.

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Cassandra Here's avatar

Or as from Monty Python’s Holy Grail, “some watery tart.”

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Lisa T. Sandoval's avatar

😆

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Chris Ortolano's avatar

Hey Jeff, did you see the new NYT shit poll out today? They even took to whining about the quality of their poll over all other polls. The media sucks and is now complicit in aiding the treason weasel.

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Betsy L's avatar

Excaliber!

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S Brown's avatar

Watery bints lobbing scimitars as a system of government? This is a anarchosyndicalist commune !.

You really should have said it 😳🤣

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Ransom Rideout's avatar

"every other country in the world thinks we’re nuts"

And they are right.

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Susan Keefer's avatar

I posted a meme on Twitter saying that “If politicians were killed with guns as often as our children are we would have meaningful gun reform by now.”

The MAGAt gun freaks went nuts. 😂

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Karla's avatar

Good for you. I bet the prison time for one politician is greater than the prison time for a classroom full of children and it’s sickening to think about.

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KL Pierce's avatar

The GQP was just fine with a violent overthrow of our government on 1/6.

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HI2thDoc's avatar

What can they say in response that makes any sense? Just shows their delusional state of mind.

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Patrick Daniels aka Cromulent1's avatar

Well done Susan!

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Susan Keefer's avatar

Thank you!

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D.Allen's avatar

I can only imagine their freakness at that!

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Rick Calegari's avatar

Like

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Kathleen Weber's avatar

📸📸📸Don't miss this photo! 📸📸📸

https://x.com/atrupar/status/1831861867209470277/photo/1

Clearly, JD Vance has a glass wall to hide behind, and lots of Secret Service agents. Notice the two cops standing on the roof of the building. But teachers, children, Walmart shoppers, and postal employees don't have anything like that. JD says "those are the facts of life!" 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️

Confidential: Nov 5 will also be a fact of life.💥💥💥

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DR Darke's avatar

I have to say, that picture of Vance standing in a literal CAGE of bulletproof glass (it's glass, not plastic, though it's several layers thick and treated to absorb the impact of bullets without shattering) talking about "school shootings are a fact of life"?

Is peak Republican.

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HI2thDoc's avatar

Like they and the NRA ban firearms at their own events. What happened to their assertion that having armed angry aggressors everywhere makes it safer for everyone?

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Mary Hall's avatar

I have a fantasy where the NRA or some other Rethuglican organization that does allow guns is having their hate meeting and someone throws a string of lit firecrackers into the room. Hilarity ensues. The end.

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D.Allen's avatar

Then they find out who ignored their ban on firearms.

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Lynne Atwell's avatar

I think that is called hypocrisy.

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HI2thDoc's avatar

I have noticed that conservatives are immune to hypocrisy and irony. It just doesn't exist in their minds

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Rick Calegari's avatar

Peak Republican lunacy. These fuckwads in Congress continue to be bought and paid for by the NRA so it's not likely to change their barbaric sick guns over kids platform anytime soon. Our hope is that some of these assholes will be voted out, indicted, Kamala wins which should set the pace for more sensible gun control. BTW, that line about Rick Santorum and marrying his dog is funny as hell.

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Nancy Potter's avatar

Because in their mind, any person who didn't lie and cheat to get themselves into a place where the government provides them with protection and a bulletproof shield is just a loser who should have planned better.

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Kay-El's avatar

🎯

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Jill Palethorpe's avatar

Does the douchebag aquarium have a back? Just asking.

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Kathleen Weber's avatar

No need for that. JD only wears clothes on the front.

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Teri's avatar

😂😂😂🛋️🛋️🛋️ Hey, great idea if JD wants to get all sexy while keeping up on the campaign trail!! 💺💺💺🪑🪑

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Teri's avatar

My question too. How about a roof? Can AKxx or any other weapon penetrate bulletproof Douchebag Aquariums? Common sense would say, no, doofus, it's bulletproof. But gun ammosexuals have ... IEDs & whatever else they can kill with.

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D Kitterman's avatar

Drones with knife-sharp blades!?

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Sandy B in NorCal's avatar

I LOVE "douchebag aquarium!"

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Donatella  Dillon's avatar

Back with no protection has possibilities… hey, it would be a fact of life

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JOSEPH PEDALINO, JR.'s avatar

Maybe a back but no bone.

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kdsherpa's avatar

Probably plastic. (Like him.) Glass shatters.

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RZAngel's avatar

JD will eventually, inadvertently admit that the reason he wants women to bear more children is to make up for the ones lost is school shootings. Don't take the guns away. Just replace the children. I'm convinced he is a sociopath just like the Dumpster.

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Katy Griffith's avatar

Maybe tRump & Vance & other MAGAts running for office should have campaign rallies with a SRO & a teacher with a gun covering them in case someone with an assault rifle tries to take them down

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Marian Vitale's avatar

I moved to Europe nine years ago, and I can attest to the fact the question I get over and over is "what is the deal with the GUNS over there??" People are stunned when I explain things like "active shooter drills".

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CAM from 🇨🇦's avatar

I live in Canada where weapons like an AR-15 are illegal to carry and gun purchases must be registered. Yes we have had school assassinations, but nothing like the US. Our population is 1/10 the size of yours, but our school assassination rate is not even close to your rate on a per capita basis as well as on the rate of such occurrences. Guns kill people, AR-15s disfigure people to such an extent that in a multiple victime scenario medical teams must resort to DNA analysis to identify the victims. Enough is fucking enough, already.

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Steve's avatar

As a Canadian as well, the differences between the rates of violence on a per-capita basis between both countries is jaw dropping. Here we are, an imaginary line away, with (on the surface) a culture so similar you can hardly distinguish a Canadian from an American. We're also made up of the same immigrants that flooded North America over the past two centuries, yet our culture is so much less violent. What does that tell you about government policies? Americans can have their wonderful, glamorous lifestyles. Give me Canada any day. I'd rather drive a Chev than a BMW in order that we don't have to live in fear.

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CAM from 🇨🇦's avatar

Thank you for your comment. However, I would add a significant difference in the make up of immigrants. In Canada 20% of its population if of French descent, 7M residing in the Province of Quebec and about 1M scattered across the other provinces. The US has many Francophones who immigrated to Canada but who ultimately elected to continue their journey to the US and make it their final destination. Several members of my family fall under that umbrella. Conversely, in the US Latinos make up 18.9 % of its population, while their representation in Canada is a mere 3%. While I agree that Canadians and Americans share a similar culture, Canada’s French-Canadian culture adds a significant dimension to our respective differences. As well, the US identifies itself as a melting pot of ethnic groups, while Canada refers to itself as a bilingual and bicultural society. Our diverse population is now a distinctive feature of our society. And of course our gun laws are much more stringent, our universal healthcare is available to all citizens and permanent residents, our national abortion law does not infringe on anyone’s religious or societal views, and gerrymandering and strict regulating of donation limits to political parties and candidates is strictly enforced.

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SPW's avatar

For all the reasons y’all have cited, this is why I love your country and its people. Y’all have made mistakes dealing with your native peoples too but seem to be on the way to correcting them. We never have looked back. It’s getting more and more obvious that many of us have lost any respect for themselves and therefore for others. Trump has amplified all of that. My late husband played a couple of years with the Hamilton Tiger Cats but was injured, stopping his football career. We had friends there. I wanted to stay but it wasn’t in the cards. I do have great memories of your country though.

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CAM from 🇨🇦's avatar

Thank you for your kind words. They are very appreciated.

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Katy Griffith's avatar

Maybe Canada isn’t pelted constantly with Russian, Iranian $ Chinese bots that fill the social media scene with lies about elections, guns & misogynistic crap that is designed to create chaos & divide us. We have enough racism without foreign interference making things worse.

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CAM from 🇨🇦's avatar

Alas, bots are not unique to the US and to set the record straight, Canada’s democracy is under attack by many rogue nations some of which you you seem to be equally aware of in your country. So the short answer is yes, we have them in equal measure.

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Teri's avatar

I remember 2O-25 years ago, Madonna moved to Europe bc America was "too violent". She was right, decades ago.

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TAParry's avatar

My former husband grew up in the Soviet Union, was drafted, assigned to the Army (the draftees were told what branch of the service they would be inducted into, in Nikolai’s case in a large train station in Ekaterinburg surrounded by other scared 18-year-olds). He ended up a Spetsnaz helicopter group leader in their war in Afghanistan. He and all of his men made it out alive (that was his only goal). Fast forward to 2002. We’d been married for five years. He was walking around the block on a beautiful early fall evening in one of Cleveland’s loveliest old neighborhoods (Chestnut Hill) when a man on a bicycle came up behind him and fired five shots with a semiautomatic pistol. Two hit him. The second demolished both bones in his right forearm. He had lost so much blood that he had to be stabilized for about a week before the 6-1/2-hour operation to try to Frankenstein his arm back together. Unbeknownst to me he had bought an airline ticket back to Moscow and left the U.S. the next day, when most people wouldn’t be walking, with one tiny bag in hand. He said “I have to get out of this violent country.” And my life was forever changed.

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D Kitterman's avatar

Just WOW!

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Steve's avatar

Add Canada to that list. We're an imaginary line away, but universes apart (thank the Gods)

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Mike Hammer's avatar

Here in America you get arrested for getting an abortion across state lines, but it’s legal to purchase out of state assault rifles. Yeah, we’re fucking nuts.

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Mary's avatar

Actually they think that is “pro life”.

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Mike Hammer's avatar

They want to trump (sorry) our first amendment rights with their “second amendment rights.”

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Teri's avatar

I don't get why Dems don't shout from the rooftops, 2A was back when a musket had to be manually reloaded after being fired? Right? So much for hardcore "Constitutionalists" or "Originalists" bullshit. Why isn't this brought up?? Ok, bc money

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Steve Kelly's avatar

Greed Kills.

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P123Sunny's avatar

Can’t bring myself to ‘like’ that, but you know what I mean - well said.

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Teri's avatar

Living in CA, you couldn't pay me enough to visit an "open carry" state. Seeing a gun/s casually at a coffee shop or store would terrify me.

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Major Kong's avatar

I walked out of a Denny's when some asshole came in with a pistol on his hip. What, you can't order your Rooti Tooti Fresh N' Fruity without a gun?

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Katy Griffith's avatar

They think it makes them look more important or relevant when they carry a gun-have to admit that it does get your attention but it’s hard to know who’s the good guy from the bad guy. It’s like the old Wild West with gunslingers walking into a saloon

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Kay-El's avatar

I live in one, but my city prohibits it as do others here. In over three years living there, I’ve never seen one person carrying, here or in other towns.

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Sep 8
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D Kitterman's avatar

These are bully-cowards with sexual performance issues. Just stewing for a fight to "feel" like their grotesque concept of manliness.

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Kathleen Weber's avatar

Both 🎸🎸🎸Jeff 👑👑👑 and Alexandra Petri criticized the MSM coverage of Trump's wingnut speech to the Economic Club of New York. She says the headline should read:

“Would-Be President Rambles Unintelligibly For Eighty Minutes After Promising He Would Speak About The Economy; At Intervals We Glimpsed Something In The Torrent Of Words That If Pulled Out And Dried Off Might Become A Policy Idea, So We Sent Several Guys In After It, But None Of Them Returned Alive, Except For One Guy Who Just Said ‘The Horror, The Horror’ After We Retrieved Him And He’s Now Staring Off Silently Into The Void. Is Donald Trump Entirely Well? Harris Also Delivered Remarks But Not As Many As We Wanted.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/09/06/trump-speech-parody-childcare

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counterlife's avatar

Interesting that WaPo assigns their "parody" writer to telling the truth about most of them and Trump. It won't change the basic bias for Trump because Bezos wants some more tax breaks. Imagine that, someone with obscene wealth and the power that comes with it thinks he needs more. "Enough" means "more" for those freaks. Always.

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Mary Hall's avatar

So many billionaires become money hoarders. It's a mental illness because they will never have enough.

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Kathleen Weber's avatar

I don't think anyone assigns a topic to Alexandra except in the rare cases that she is sent on the road to cover an event. She is so beloved by her fans that there would be riots in the streets of Washington if she was ever fired.

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Neal Stiffelman's avatar

Always the best American commentator, she really delivered on this one.

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HI2thDoc's avatar

And the media finds a way to give him favorable coverage for that rambling wreck of a speech

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Teri's avatar

Yeah, I was pleased to read Petri too. And WAPO's #Phillip Bump is speaking out, but buried inside the paper.

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Kathleen Weber's avatar

True!

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Richard's avatar

I had missed that article. Thanks, it is so very good.

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Barbara B's avatar

I love Alexandra Petri.

Ron Charles wrote a review in the Washington Post of Trump’s new photobook. You’d enjoy it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2024/09/04/donald-trump-save-america-book/

My favorite line is in about the middle of the paragraph that starts

“Arriving just two months before the presidential election,….” and contains an adjective and a proper name i would have been hard-pressed to fit together in a sentence.

i know from having discussed this review with a few other people that others may have different favorites and that’s okey donkey.

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Kathleen Weber's avatar

I read and enjoyed it too!

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Kay-El's avatar

Some weirdo asked what have the democrats done for you? My answer: “I think the more pertinent question is what has the GOP done for you? Besides threaten to take away health care, destroy reproductive freedom, give tax cuts to the top 1%, lie about a “stolen” election, enact voter suppression laws. Are those the kinds of things you admire?” Their comeback :”you lie”. This is what we’re up against. No facts, no critical thinking. Yet they think that Donny Orange makes sense. My head hurts.

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Walt Svirsky's avatar

The MAGATS have utilized all of their available RAM just remembering what channel Faux News is on and which end of the gun shoots.

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Janan Broadbent's avatar

That is a good one!

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Nunya's avatar

I had a similar “discussion” with a MAGAt yesterday—or, it could have been a Russian troll, since he wrote with an accent. The exchange devolved into him repeatedly asking me “What is your profession?”; he had already said he had an advanced degree in blah blah, with a specialty in Russian, and he was insanely rich, to the point where “the rest of you can only dream of having my life!” So I said, “If you want a dick measuring contest, why are you bothering me, since I’m female? Or is that the only way you can win?” Then he disappeared and I never heard from him again.

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Nevertheless, She Persisted's avatar

Right. When presented with evidence of ANY kind, they simply say that it isn't true. After all, this is what Dear Leader does, and THIS is why they like him so much: he thinks like them.

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Kay-El's avatar

Or is it they think like him? Tomato, tomahto.

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Patrick Daniels aka Cromulent1's avatar

Nihilism is definitely a GOP problem!

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Barbara B's avatar

You might take a different approach by saying traditional conservative Republicans are recognizing this party has abandoned them.

As the Republican mayor of mesa ariz said @ the DNC: “The Party of john mccain is gone. We don’t owe a damn thing to what’s been left behind. “

Might ask why they think people like Dick Cheney and judge Luttig are voting for Harris— because they see Trump as a threat to the country.

As another Republican said @ the DNC, im not voting for Harris because Im becoming a Democrat, i’m voting for her because i am a patriot.

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Kay-El's avatar

This person was a MAGA, not a classic Republican. A classic GOP would have answered me very differently. I know, because I’ve had reasonable discussions, though those are few and far between.

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Tess's avatar

As a former elementary school principal, for a school shooting drill, I had to walk around school making sure doors were locked and curtains were closed in all classrooms.

It was sickening and gut wrenching-even as a drill. My heart aches every time I hear about a school shooting. It’s not a fact of life you asshole!

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Cassandra Here's avatar

I was the head of a non-sectarian, college-prep upper school. Same drill. I still have flashbacks of the swat team drill, where the team mounted a surprise attack on the school and showed us how it would be handled. No students were in attendance; it was done during teacher prep week. None of us knew it was going to happen; the board and head of school set it up. It was horrifying. I am so glad that I am retired.

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Tess's avatar

Yes…we had that too with no students but a swat team for a drill. Staff was scared shitless…I can’t imagine sweet little kids having to hear gun shots and shouting.

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Dave Drell's avatar

This country is one sick puppy

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SeekingReason's avatar

Tess, it is truly horrifying to make our brightest teachers/principals + very young students go through this traumatic war zone practice. It is beyond unacceptable! And we need to address this perpetual right wing media lies that create deadly situations. Enough of the free speech bullshit. It is ILLEGAL to intentional lie and have that lie result in harm, on radio. Why the hell isn’t it applied to tv. We need to remove the right wing monopoly. And I have no doubt about the funding for that coming from Putin (and other fascists) as well.

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Bonnie Boyce's avatar

What tRump, the Republican Party, and right wing commentators are doing is the equivalent of shouting “FIRE!” in a crowded theater.

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Let me sum up's avatar

It's not popular to point out, but Clinton's 1996 telecomm "reform" certainly didn't help.

Of all the awful, unnecessary triangulating bullshit he did (and this includes immigration and public benefits), I think this has has the most detrimental impact on our body politik.

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Mary Hall's avatar

ALL. OF. THIS. Clinton and Obama both catered the Rethuglicans who worked day and night to take both of them down. When they go low, I say kick them in their fking teeth.

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Let me sum up's avatar

Hello new internet best friend. One of the things Walz will say (if, miraculously we get a trifecta nationally) is that Ds drove straight ahead in MN in 2022 after they wasted their last trifecta in around 2014 seeking "consensus." You can't unilaterally disarm (hate to use that analogy here but it fits). What did Ds do w a brief national trifecta under Obama? We got fucking "family immigration detention" locking up moms & tots. And now Ds keep repeating the tired "border security" mantra w comprehensive immigration reform an afterthought. (No shit we all oppose fentanyl). The invading hordes at the border are overwhelmingly moms & tots again, and to paint that as anything other than a humanitarian issue buys right into the Rs' racist bullshit.

Meaningful voting rights legislation, packing the Supreme Court and doing a rapid legalization program w eligibility for citizenship would secure an indefinite D majority and banish the magats back to the caves they crawled out of. Rs can suppress the vote endlessly but I'd be shocked if Ds pulled off the equal & opposite measure of legalization.

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Teri's avatar

HELL YEAH!

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Teri's avatar

Bet turd & couchfxxxx kids ALL attended or attend private schools.

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Tyson's avatar

I cannot imagine how terrifying the prospect of a mass shooting is to kids, esp teenagers. I was emotional as hell during my hs years, but most of it was really stupid shit, irrelevant and inconsequential.

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Susan Niemann's avatar

I know I keep asking “Is this real life” but insanity is being normalized. It does NOT have to be a fact of life. And the only way to get America back on track is VOTE BLUE. I feel so pissed off right now. We CAN do better!!!!

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Cassandra Here's avatar

I want to say something in response, Susan, but I cannot find the words. We are working our butts off here in Nevada and nationally. I’m deeply pissed off and not good company. I don’t know where to go to scream.

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Mary Hall's avatar

My favorite place for a nice, soothing primal scream is in my car. Alone, of course.

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Cassandra Here's avatar

I was listening to the news (NPR) and I was so angry that I hit the steering wheel with the palms of my hands. My Apple Watch sent me an urgent alert: It looks like you’ve been in an accident. I can call 911 for you. Yikes.

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Lynn O’Neal's avatar

I’ve done that too.

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Susan Niemann's avatar

😂 Ive done that to my watch too! HAHA!

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Kathleen Weber's avatar

You know what helps me, Susan? I lived for eleven years in Manhattan, which happens to be the world's largest open air insane asylum. After a while, you don't ask questions. You realize that the human mind is easily bent.

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Susan Niemann's avatar

The world’s largest open air insane asylum! Outstanding way to put it! 😂 what then is the excuse for rural NE Missouri?! 🙄

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Lynne Atwell's avatar

A smaller open air insane asylum?

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Susan Niemann's avatar

😂😂😂

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Mary Hall's avatar

At least weed is legal in MO.

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Dana Jae Labrecque's avatar

Every day I feel like we are all waking up in a Chris Nolan film.

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Hannah Olufs's avatar

Or Tim Burton lost it.

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Tess's avatar

Ditto-SO PISSED OFF!

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SeekingReason's avatar

It is frustrating to realize that people don’t know that the US of A is the ONLY so-called Advanced country on the planet to have loose gun laws, allow multitudes of mass murder of children, and believe there is no way to change it. Australia had a similar gun culture to ours before a mass shooting changed their laws that every politician backed because the thought of another mass murder was untenable! We are allowing the NRA and the dumbest people on our planet, referred to as MAGAs bulldoze us. We can stop this. We start by incarcerating trump et al for the domestic terrorist attack on J6. And we impeach AND remove Congress members and SCOTUS who supported it. These laws are in place. We will turn Congress Blue along with our Harris-Walz presidential ticket to ensure this is carried out. We have numerous examples to follow on how to get guns OUT of the hands of citizens. And it’s really a no-brainer not to allow military weapons outside of the military!

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Dana Jae Labrecque's avatar

“…that every politician backed.” Australia’s politicians must not be bought by oligarchs. Too many in the House and on the SCOTUS here are owned.

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Major Kong's avatar

No, Australia's oligarchs move here and own right wing news empires.

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Dana Jae Labrecque's avatar

True that. Murdoch. Ugh. I’m unaware of others.

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Janan Broadbent's avatar

In 💯 agreement. Often I think of a “benevolent dictator” that may be needed to accomplish all that. What was different about Australia so that they accomplished this? A woman in charge? I I don’t mean or intend to demean men, but often this seems to be the key.

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P123Sunny's avatar

So in a country with a for-profit healthcare industry that thrives on DENYING individual claims - where many people often cannot afford basic meds and/or procedures… We are supposed to believe that ‘schools’ are performing gender/transitional surgeries. FOR FREE… amirite

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P123Sunny's avatar

(Welp, pairs well with ‘get off your butt and keep working til you’re 75 - and oh btw pls kick in and help w/ grandchild care’…) just omg

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Dave Drell's avatar

You are right- and rightfully it’s crazy

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SuNew's avatar

May the Douchebag Aquarium be filling up with toxic algae November 6. 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼

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Susan Keefer's avatar

The mainstream media will not change at this point. The Sunday morning shows are ridiculous.

We have to save our democracy in spite of them.

Fuck the MSM!

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SeekingReason's avatar

Susan, please refer to the corporate media. There has not been mainstream media for years. Almost every media source has been bought by the right so we should know what to expect. They are on trump’s side.

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kdsherpa's avatar

Thank you. That is the correct reference. I will use that phrase from now on.

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arne link's avatar

We can just call it "corpmedia". It rolls off the tongue.

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Susan Keefer's avatar

I know it’s corporate owned media, but it is still referred to as MSM.

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Carrie Duncan's avatar

I love that there are those pushing back and examining words for accurate description. Though it's taken a minute (a couple of weeks) for the re-examination to result in the plainspeak that is "corporate media," I think it's a growing thing, to push back on the Orwellian twisting the right has been undertaking. We can expect more of this, I hope (just like "conservative" is now improperly used to refer to the Republican party), and I'm here for it. Many don't read past headlines, so these unconscionably skewed headlines are most people's truth. Corporate media deserves the demotion from "mainstream." They work for their stakeholders, not their readers.

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Mary Hall's avatar

Orwell wrote "1984" as a warning but the Rethuglicans are using it as a handbook.

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SeekingReason's avatar

It matters how we refer to it. It makes it sound like they are not doing their jobs when, in fact, they ARE doing their jobs. They work for MAGAs & Putin.

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Morgan OCailleigh's avatar

Change your words. It matters.

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Mary Hall's avatar

We could borrow a turn of phrase from that great orator $arah Palin and call it the "lamestream media."

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Lucy Guerlac's avatar

And each of the corporate media people must be called out by name. It should only be public humiliation for these tools!

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Marty's avatar

We need a list of honest media and only read/follow those on the list. Here’s a start: Atlantic, Rollingstone,

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Susan Keefer's avatar

MeidasTouch.

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Teri's avatar

I find MT videos to be in desperate need to be more succient. 20 min vid that contains 5 min of news. Huge waste of time

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Carrie Duncan's avatar

At this point, most major media having been targeted, and watching the overnight shifts to "in the tank for Trump" so abrupt as to be insulting and deeply unsettling, they've all kinda lost me. I liked AP and Reuters but something's happening there, too, and am glad The Atlantic and Rolling Stone have hung in. I do like the Guardian but wonder if it's only a matter of time before they can't turn down the money. Lawrence only on MSNBC, no other cable, Angry White House Staffer on Patreon (great int'l discussion and I learn as much from the commenters about what isn't being covered, too--like I do here). X for MeidasTouch, Mueller She Wrote, Politics Girl (YOW lately), Angry WHS, and a bunch of lawyers and historians for what to read more on. Substacks HCR, JoJo from Jerz, Joyce White Vance, Judd Legum, Robert Reich, and Jeff Tiedrich, my first read every day. Podcasts (another thread, maybe). A widening multimedia pool of logical content creators who speak elsewise-banned truths, voices not beholden to oligarchs.

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Marty's avatar

Fantastic list! Thank you.

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kdsherpa's avatar

Interesting that you write "only Lawrence O'Donnell" at MSNBC. I am there, too. I used to happily watch 2-3 hours every night, learning different things from each anchor: always Rachel and Lawrence, and sometimes Peter Jennings as well. Now I can't stomach any of the rest of them. What happened?? Ali Velshi is SUPERB! I can't believe that he wasn't given the 9:00 slot. Alex Wagner? Really?? I can't stand smarmy Ari Melber, and can't figure out how he lasts. Stephanie Ruhle is much too cute for me. Chris Hayes is a downer. Getting to like Joy Reid, once she quit messing around with bizarre hair styles and clothes. Nicolle Wallace is turning out to be excellent. Maybe she doesn't want a prime time slot because of her young children? But PLEASE: at least put Ali at 9, just before Lawrence at 10!!

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Carrie Duncan's avatar

Oh agreed--I do watch Nicolle and like her a lot. Would prefer Ali to Ari by a mile, ugh on Alex, and I very much like Joy Reid, who happily will not let someone deflect on a question (and is also a vision now that she's nailed down that fantastic style). Chris should never have been given an anchor job, he's way too intense; he should be town-hall style every day. Funnier and quicker and really broad knowledge. Down from 4 hours a day, daily TV for me now is Lawrence only, with a twice-weekly flight of Nicolle (i.e., ~1/2 hr).

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kdsherpa's avatar

And, of course, I assume Rachel on Mondays? (I forgot most of the time, though.)

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Teri's avatar

Thanks for that list. Looking for more non-corpmedia

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Carrie Duncan's avatar

Somehow my favorite everyday news source was omitted. Wonkette.com has been my go-to for stories that should be covered that never are (plus all of the ones that must be, only without the annoying and currently irrelevant "both-sidesism"), a large roster of quite blindingly funny and insightful writers (when it's possible, e.g., not re Uvalde), a Friday-night cocktail recipe by a witty, erudite bartender who never lacks for imagination, and an Editrix in possession of both Himalayan-level ethics and care for her fellow humans. What an astounding house Rebecca Schoenkopf has built.

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SeekingReason's avatar

Free Speech tv delivers too…and you can watch it on You-tube or listen on YouTube or radio. Substack, of course, has great info also. Too many to mention, but substack-Judd Legum is an investigative reporter and does excellent work.

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Nevertheless, She Persisted's avatar

What do you think of The Young Turks, on YouTube?

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Lynne Atwell's avatar

They recently interviewed Rudy Giuliani. Who needs to listen to him lie?

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Susan Keefer's avatar

Not much.

I like Brian Cohen and Glenn Kirschner and of course Democracy Docket.

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Marty's avatar

Haven’t listened to them since Air America!

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L P Inness's avatar

Guardian, Tangle

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Kathleen Weber's avatar

📸📸📸Don't miss this photo! 📸📸📸

https://x.com/atrupar/status/1831861867209470277/photo/1

Clearly, JD Vance has a glass wall to hide behind, and lots of Secret Service agents. Notice the two cops standing on the roof of the building. But teachers, children, Walmart shoppers, and postal employees don't have anything like that. JD says "those are the facts of life!" 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️

Confidential: Nov 5 will also be a fact of life.💥💥💥

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HI2thDoc's avatar

Just another huge indicator that he is hopelessly out of touch, like he is about everything else. Shameless self promotion is his only strength

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P123Sunny's avatar

👍‼️

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kdsherpa's avatar

"THE US HAS HAD 57 TIMES MORE SCHOOL SHOOTINGS THAT THE OTHER MAJOR INDUSTRIALIZED NATIONS COMBINED" Shout it from the rooftops! Put it in the headlines of every newspaper in the country! Let this be the lead story of every TV news program! Preach it in the churches! Teach it in the universities! LET IT BE KNOWN!!!

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Nevertheless, She Persisted's avatar

How the fuck is he going to improve security in schools after he fucking CLOSES THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION??? Oh, rely on local gubmint, you say? Tell that to school principals in Arkansas, where the state motto appears to be "at least we aren't Mississippi." I worked in state government, maternal and child health, in California, and I'm here to tell you, Arkansas and Mississippi are dead last in every measure of well-being; not only that, they rank far, FAR below almost every other state. So you're going to tell principals in Biloxi that they need to increase security, when they can't even buy enough books or fix the holes in the fucking roof, JD??!? Just fuck all the way off you piece of shit.

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Tess's avatar

BINGO!

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Dave Drell's avatar

I thought Louisiana was at the bottom.

But they want 10commandments posted …the Republitard want to post their own hypocrisy so the children can read it.

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Megan Ross's avatar

I just can't watch or listen to TRump anymore. It's just too frustrating. The lame-stream media should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves, but, I'm pretty sure they have no shame.

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kdsherpa's avatar

I'm so far beyond "frustrating"! Nauseating. Enraging. Horrifying. come to mind.

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Megan Ross's avatar

All of the above!

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Dave Drell's avatar

We all know what he is, and MSM is definitely supportive of this sub-human piece of fecal material.

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kdsherpa's avatar

Someone used the words "corporate media". I'm going to start using that instead of MSM.

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Megan Ross's avatar

I just didn't get it. It's truly befuddling.

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kdsherpa's avatar

It's all about $$$$$$$$$$$$$$. Huge corporations own all of the major newspapers and TV news stations, now. They don't care about truth. Only about the money.

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SeekingReason's avatar

Another thing….STOP traumatizing students and teachers with these idiotic terrorist drills! Don’t people understand what the hell this does to their psychological well being! No more bullet proof glass, no more bullet proof backpacks! NO MORE GUNS in the hands of too many nuts!

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Lisa T. Sandoval's avatar

I’m still trying to get over the school shooting drills and the five would-be shooters we experienced in my nearly 40 years in the classroom. Not a good look USA.

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Margaret's avatar

Five?!?!

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Let me sum up's avatar

It traumatizes me to even think about kids going through these drills. With fire & tornado drills, we had the advantage of knowing the likelihood of ever needing it was about zero - and if needed, it really was an act of a capricious vindictive god -we could roll our eyes & zero trauma.

I just can't stand it.

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Lisa T. Sandoval's avatar

I’m still trying to get over the school shooting drills and the five would-be shooters we experienced in my nearly 40 years in the classroom. Not a good look USA.

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