I was born in 1941 Jeff. FDR was President - and I can validate every word you wrote about how the Republican Party has swung from mildly stick-up-the-butt competence to out and out Marge and Bobo level dumbass ignorant, fuck democracy, insanity.
I grew up in the 50s in an FDR Democratic family with deep Republican relatives. My dad and uncle discussed politics all the time. With no rancor whatsoever.
I sadly concur with your ENTIRE assessment Jeff. One of the fuckwads that chastised the “two Justins” in Tennessee had the audacity to compare what the “Justins” did (speak up about gun violence from the “well” of their House chamber) to the January 6th insurrection. I just watched a police captain in Louisville once again ask for “prayers” right after lamenting that one of his friends was killed and another seriously injured in the shooting that occurred this morning. God forbid one of these assholes ever takes a stand against the gun lobby. Another Substack writer asks in his column if it’s time for the Left to start ‘buying guns’? The Republicans, as repulsive and repugnant as they are, have operated at State and local levels with gerrymandering and election laws that really make it hard for the Dems to maneuver. We must do better....But it’s so hard to combat the DERANGED!
I have also wondered about getting gun reform by arming all the people they hate, poc, lbgtq, libs, etc. I feel like if all of a sudden the hard right Republicans were confronted with the possibility of coming up against armed people they don't like they would find a way to restrict guns. The problem is they would see any of them as a bad actor and shoot them and claim after they were in fear for their lives even though they were also armed to the teeth.
There was (is?) a gay self-defense group called Pink Pistols which decades ago recorded a few instances of wannabe gay bashers sent running with tucked tails by a few shots fired over their heads.
Though I'm antigun I joined one of their discussion groups to see what it was about, since I would absolutely love to see a few gay-bashers ventilated.
Discussion was about 1% gay, 99% libertarian horseshit. I left.
Gee, while walking today a friend of mine asked the same question, do we need to buy guns to protect ourselves now? This is batshit crazy! Every single day. This morning We woke to a lockdown in our neighborhood due to a domestic violent shooter! My Grandkids are just blocks away!
My outrage has been at red hot nuclear levels since these stories broke last week. This is not normal! What is happening with the Republicans is not normal. I have always been liberal but both my parents were your average conservatives who leaned Republican. If they were racist they hid it well since many of their friends were Black. If they were homophobes they hid that well since they had other friends who were out by the time we met them in the 70s. These were not just people they knew. These were people who came over and we went to their homes for get togethers. We were never church people so religion was just something that was out there if you wanted to participate.
Now for the part that doesn't make sense. My dad was from the South. His parents good ole Southern Baptists. Not sure how he escaped the racist gene or the religion gene. And then he had the audacity to go and marry the enemy. Mom was a child in WWII Nazi Germany living in Berlin with a Jewish Grandfather. Kind of living in plain sight kind of thing. But a decade later they met and after a few years got married. But to my American Grandmother she was the enemy. These two people raised 3 liberal kids. How is it that we can not all just accept that nobody is our enemy or to be hated? How do you rid yourself of racist bigoted behavior? Well one way is to be woke. My old generation conservative parents were Woke but we called it Aware.
As the Last of the Baby Boomers, I can vouch for Jeff being quite correct. Republicans back then were decent people even if both of you disagreed. Today's equivalent of Archie Bunker are the ones that crapped on and smeared poop in the Capitol, and attend Nazi gatherings.
Simply excellent in every way Mr Tiedrich! Especially the part about Injustice Thomas. Everyone needs to know the horrible truth of what is happening with the SCOTUS. It has become the SCROTUM.
Jeff, like you I was born in the 50’s and well remember a time where Democrats and Republicans were both grounded in reality. Both parties acknowledged the problems facing our nation, but differed on solutions. Democrats favored direct government action while Republicans favored market solutions (albeit with government incentives for private actors).
This all went sideways when Republicans realized that increasingly people favored the Democrats’ approach. Under Gingrich, et al., the Republicans decided that, if people didn’t like their solutions to problems, the winning strategy was to deny that problems existed. (Racial discrimination/what racial discrimination? Global warming/what global warming?) At the same time, they started making up problems out of whole cloth that lent themselves to their favored approach.
From this, it was a short step to the current situation where Republicans and their followers create an alternate reality comprised of alternate facts, as Kelley Anne Conway so disingenuously put it.
From this, it was an even shorter step to a style of governing devoid of policy, and dedicated to attaining and retaining power for its own sake. This is fascism, or as you put it in the title to this post, because fuck you, that’s why.
Amen. and.the how was Gingrich turning Congress into a casino and Allies via Reagan creating a would never have Nixon/Watergate with FOX as propaganda media. And wow, that sure worked to distort what people liked about Dem political solutions & instead feed them doubt,fear & anger.
49 for me and I was too young to 'like Ike" but everyone else in the country did. His warning about the Military-industrial complex follows ""In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."" added to of all people, Barry Goldwater's warning against marrying religion and politics and the republican party's incredible stupidity of thinking these warnings were a challenge to prove they could turn terribly bad ideas into this country's worse nightmares. between the NRA (which I thought had gone bankrupt?) and the fundamentalist so-called xristian right wing nuts we have come to a place where our vaunted democracy is slowly being pushed over the cliff.
Republicans are evil. I have to think the sane people of America see what's happening. If not, we need to help them see. I just cannot imagine living in a fascist country. These idiots who think this is what they want will be sorry if that's what we get; they will be treated just as bad unless they're wealthy. Our country would be unrecognizable to a lot of us. Kids and any babies born into a fascist country would never know what it means to have freedom. That is a scary, horrible thought. If we beat the evil and take the presidency, House and Senate, think of all the good we can do. While Dems are not perfect and people will disagree, they WILL do good things. We must Vote Blue.
I wish that it was enough to have a super majority but I think the worldwide corporations & the klaptocrats think a little thing like democracy unnecessary and an inconvenience. Replaced by what appears to be the Chinese solution.
Basically, Republicans are talking to the entire population of the United States in the same, condescending ‘fuck you’ way that the two heroes in Tennessee were spoken to by their bullshit, cheating congress of white racist morons. There are no real laws or rules being applied, just made up shit thrown in our faces, backed up by power mad judges and the corrupt Supreme Court. No care or concern for the rule of law, all people’s lives, rights or privacy - just into grabbing more wealth and more power with complete impunity.
I was born in the 50's, and my Dad was a Republican, but when he married a woman 43 years ago who had 2 gay sons and saw the discrimination and the corruption and nonsense of the Republican party he became a Democrat. I also remember watching Nixon resign on TV with my Dad. (Both of us news junkies!) My Dad used the word "crook" a lot! Thankfully he saw the light, but so many of their friends remain staunch Republicans and it's hard to be around them!
What would Abbott have done if it had been a BLM protestor who ran the red light and the same events then ensued with the counter-protestor getting killed? Yeah, sure. Clearly the jury who heard all the evidence and wrestled with it for 17 hours didn’t buy self defense. Apparently Stand Your Ground only applies if the guy with the pardon power thinks your ground is the Righteous one.
I am a few years older than you, Jeff, but I remember listening to William F Buckley, and although I disagreed, I didn’t hate the guy. These days, another story.
I don’t know how much of a backlash in the red states. Perhaps in the purple states we can win some of the statehouses and governorships, and make some progress. Wisconsin is a good sign. The Georgia state legislature wants to pick and choose their prosecutors, and Kemp, of course, went along with it. Hopefully, Fani can finish the job of indicting trump for his call to Raffensburger, etc.. Maybe a state or two will upend some other dickwads. I’m not very sanguine about a lot of this, but try to maintain some hope.
I was born in 1941 Jeff. FDR was President - and I can validate every word you wrote about how the Republican Party has swung from mildly stick-up-the-butt competence to out and out Marge and Bobo level dumbass ignorant, fuck democracy, insanity.
I grew up in the 50s in an FDR Democratic family with deep Republican relatives. My dad and uncle discussed politics all the time. With no rancor whatsoever.
Same
Lauren Boebert <— chair < — Luca Brasi
I sadly concur with your ENTIRE assessment Jeff. One of the fuckwads that chastised the “two Justins” in Tennessee had the audacity to compare what the “Justins” did (speak up about gun violence from the “well” of their House chamber) to the January 6th insurrection. I just watched a police captain in Louisville once again ask for “prayers” right after lamenting that one of his friends was killed and another seriously injured in the shooting that occurred this morning. God forbid one of these assholes ever takes a stand against the gun lobby. Another Substack writer asks in his column if it’s time for the Left to start ‘buying guns’? The Republicans, as repulsive and repugnant as they are, have operated at State and local levels with gerrymandering and election laws that really make it hard for the Dems to maneuver. We must do better....But it’s so hard to combat the DERANGED!
I have also wondered about getting gun reform by arming all the people they hate, poc, lbgtq, libs, etc. I feel like if all of a sudden the hard right Republicans were confronted with the possibility of coming up against armed people they don't like they would find a way to restrict guns. The problem is they would see any of them as a bad actor and shoot them and claim after they were in fear for their lives even though they were also armed to the teeth.
There was (is?) a gay self-defense group called Pink Pistols which decades ago recorded a few instances of wannabe gay bashers sent running with tucked tails by a few shots fired over their heads.
Though I'm antigun I joined one of their discussion groups to see what it was about, since I would absolutely love to see a few gay-bashers ventilated.
Discussion was about 1% gay, 99% libertarian horseshit. I left.
The problem is the super gun lovers already think it is true.
Gee, while walking today a friend of mine asked the same question, do we need to buy guns to protect ourselves now? This is batshit crazy! Every single day. This morning We woke to a lockdown in our neighborhood due to a domestic violent shooter! My Grandkids are just blocks away!
Q48 mass shootings- so far this year. We haven't yet gone 1/4 of the year!
Madness.
Sorry 148
My outrage has been at red hot nuclear levels since these stories broke last week. This is not normal! What is happening with the Republicans is not normal. I have always been liberal but both my parents were your average conservatives who leaned Republican. If they were racist they hid it well since many of their friends were Black. If they were homophobes they hid that well since they had other friends who were out by the time we met them in the 70s. These were not just people they knew. These were people who came over and we went to their homes for get togethers. We were never church people so religion was just something that was out there if you wanted to participate.
Now for the part that doesn't make sense. My dad was from the South. His parents good ole Southern Baptists. Not sure how he escaped the racist gene or the religion gene. And then he had the audacity to go and marry the enemy. Mom was a child in WWII Nazi Germany living in Berlin with a Jewish Grandfather. Kind of living in plain sight kind of thing. But a decade later they met and after a few years got married. But to my American Grandmother she was the enemy. These two people raised 3 liberal kids. How is it that we can not all just accept that nobody is our enemy or to be hated? How do you rid yourself of racist bigoted behavior? Well one way is to be woke. My old generation conservative parents were Woke but we called it Aware.
Todays Republicans would horrify them.
As the Last of the Baby Boomers, I can vouch for Jeff being quite correct. Republicans back then were decent people even if both of you disagreed. Today's equivalent of Archie Bunker are the ones that crapped on and smeared poop in the Capitol, and attend Nazi gatherings.
I got nothing to add to this. And I'm just as sad as thee.
Simply excellent in every way Mr Tiedrich! Especially the part about Injustice Thomas. Everyone needs to know the horrible truth of what is happening with the SCOTUS. It has become the SCROTUM.
Jeff, like you I was born in the 50’s and well remember a time where Democrats and Republicans were both grounded in reality. Both parties acknowledged the problems facing our nation, but differed on solutions. Democrats favored direct government action while Republicans favored market solutions (albeit with government incentives for private actors).
This all went sideways when Republicans realized that increasingly people favored the Democrats’ approach. Under Gingrich, et al., the Republicans decided that, if people didn’t like their solutions to problems, the winning strategy was to deny that problems existed. (Racial discrimination/what racial discrimination? Global warming/what global warming?) At the same time, they started making up problems out of whole cloth that lent themselves to their favored approach.
From this, it was a short step to the current situation where Republicans and their followers create an alternate reality comprised of alternate facts, as Kelley Anne Conway so disingenuously put it.
From this, it was an even shorter step to a style of governing devoid of policy, and dedicated to attaining and retaining power for its own sake. This is fascism, or as you put it in the title to this post, because fuck you, that’s why.
Amen. and.the how was Gingrich turning Congress into a casino and Allies via Reagan creating a would never have Nixon/Watergate with FOX as propaganda media. And wow, that sure worked to distort what people liked about Dem political solutions & instead feed them doubt,fear & anger.
Good commentary.
49 for me and I was too young to 'like Ike" but everyone else in the country did. His warning about the Military-industrial complex follows ""In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."" added to of all people, Barry Goldwater's warning against marrying religion and politics and the republican party's incredible stupidity of thinking these warnings were a challenge to prove they could turn terribly bad ideas into this country's worse nightmares. between the NRA (which I thought had gone bankrupt?) and the fundamentalist so-called xristian right wing nuts we have come to a place where our vaunted democracy is slowly being pushed over the cliff.
Republicans are evil. I have to think the sane people of America see what's happening. If not, we need to help them see. I just cannot imagine living in a fascist country. These idiots who think this is what they want will be sorry if that's what we get; they will be treated just as bad unless they're wealthy. Our country would be unrecognizable to a lot of us. Kids and any babies born into a fascist country would never know what it means to have freedom. That is a scary, horrible thought. If we beat the evil and take the presidency, House and Senate, think of all the good we can do. While Dems are not perfect and people will disagree, they WILL do good things. We must Vote Blue.
BC, fascism is already here.
Not completely yet.
No but we better ALL wake up and soon.
The trend is clear. The Führerprinzip is already established.
I wish that it was enough to have a super majority but I think the worldwide corporations & the klaptocrats think a little thing like democracy unnecessary and an inconvenience. Replaced by what appears to be the Chinese solution.
Basically, Republicans are talking to the entire population of the United States in the same, condescending ‘fuck you’ way that the two heroes in Tennessee were spoken to by their bullshit, cheating congress of white racist morons. There are no real laws or rules being applied, just made up shit thrown in our faces, backed up by power mad judges and the corrupt Supreme Court. No care or concern for the rule of law, all people’s lives, rights or privacy - just into grabbing more wealth and more power with complete impunity.
I was born in the 50's, and my Dad was a Republican, but when he married a woman 43 years ago who had 2 gay sons and saw the discrimination and the corruption and nonsense of the Republican party he became a Democrat. I also remember watching Nixon resign on TV with my Dad. (Both of us news junkies!) My Dad used the word "crook" a lot! Thankfully he saw the light, but so many of their friends remain staunch Republicans and it's hard to be around them!
What would Abbott have done if it had been a BLM protestor who ran the red light and the same events then ensued with the counter-protestor getting killed? Yeah, sure. Clearly the jury who heard all the evidence and wrestled with it for 17 hours didn’t buy self defense. Apparently Stand Your Ground only applies if the guy with the pardon power thinks your ground is the Righteous one.
Amen!
Madron
I love your off the cuff opinions!
I am a few years older than you, Jeff, but I remember listening to William F Buckley, and although I disagreed, I didn’t hate the guy. These days, another story.
Because Fuck You. that's why.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oesSyvh76g
THAT made the rest of my day! thank you
I don’t know how much of a backlash in the red states. Perhaps in the purple states we can win some of the statehouses and governorships, and make some progress. Wisconsin is a good sign. The Georgia state legislature wants to pick and choose their prosecutors, and Kemp, of course, went along with it. Hopefully, Fani can finish the job of indicting trump for his call to Raffensburger, etc.. Maybe a state or two will upend some other dickwads. I’m not very sanguine about a lot of this, but try to maintain some hope.