Scarlet

This was during the Omicron surge. But everyone is different and for me, a mask doesn't bother me at all so why not?

I had a guy ask me why I was wearing a mask in a liquor store. I asked him why he was wearing a hat. He just muttered something.

I was reading last night that the speculation is that he might have thyroid cancer. Supposedly he has a thyroid cancer specialist camped out at his villa in Sochi. Take it for what it's worth. Let's hope it's true and he dies soon.

And there it is. From the fascist playbook, chapter 1. Blame the media, then lie, and continue to lie because you know a certain percentage of the population is too dumb to figure it out. Putin would be proud of his understudies.

You saw it. What do you think?

The end game is the Dark Ages 2.0 with the corresponding decline in civilization especially in the standard of living we've come to enjoy. Take one aspect of this where Trumpists are proposing firing every "mid-level" civil servant in the federal government and replacing them with "their own people". With that pressure what scientist would want to work for places like the NIH, the CDC, the EPA, BLM, and on and on? And that doesn't even get into the kleptocracy that would form. See Jared Kushner. Nationalists also tend to wind up in wars in relatively short order.

The same could have been said for their foray into Afghanistan. The only thing the Russians have to show for 56 days of their war is untold carnage on both sides, loads of lost military hardware, demoralized and worn-out troops, dead commanders, a sunken flagship, etc., all for a few small gains in the east. I suppose that's the model Russian military campaign so you're probably right. Has throwing untrained and scared conscripts ever worked in the long run? At any rate, at this point they've definitely underperformed when we look back at thinking Kyiv would fall within a week.

Wait...but nobody's votes are being suppressed and no demographic is being targeted or whatever the Party talking point is.

That appears to be desperate sabre rattling from a failed regime getting it's hat handed to it by "weaker" neighbor.

Seems like this turned out to be a fiscally responsible move. But it was a worth it since he turned up how many illegals getting? What was the total? I think the last time I checked.... zero?

I'd agree up to the point that Sasse hasn't proven to be an insurrectionist who tried to overthrow a duly elected president. That's a big difference.

Or wearing pants. Wearing pants sucks. My Johnson gets cramped and uncomfortable every time I do. I can't image having to wear pants on a five hour flight. It's my constitutional right to flop my schwantz out whenever and wherever I want. This is tyranny!!

Can you imagine having to sit there after your country has been invaded by a murderous fascist while his ignorant, bloviating buddy lectures you like a 12 year old?

Keeping with the Republican's authoritarian theme, this situation is reminiscent of other places where a tyrant rose to power and good people (not that J.D. Vance is a good person) just allowed it to happen. He likens Trump to either Nixon at best or Hitler at worst but now carries his water? What the absolute f#&%?

This is a totally disheartening but crucial read on the authoritarian state of the GOP and what that means for the future of democracy in the USA. This is from a scholar of authoritarian dictatorships throughout history. Having started this thread a couple of years ago I was naively hopeful that the GOP was at an inflection point and would throw off the yoke of Trumpism and it's authoritarian bent but over two years later it's clear, the future, and present, of the Republican Party is authoritarianism. Think of where this will head when an axis is formed between the US, Russia, and China. The dark ages cometh again. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/04/16/history-shows-trump-personality-cult-end-00024941 The final bolded sounds familiar after headquarters puts out it's talking points. Good times ahead, y'all.

What a vile human being he is. He knows Sandy Hook wasn't a hoax but he was fine making money on the death of kids.

Probably won't want to show that in a Florida classroom for fear of triggering a slew of lawsuits

Another story buried in the news cycle. Mike Lee's involvement in scheming to overthrow democracy. Of course he's they guy that doesn't believe we live in a democracy.

Long thread and article on why Jared Kushner was given $2,000,000,000 to "invest" on behalf of Khashoggi's killer even though he has almost zero investment experience. Blood money. Every nook and cranny of this former administration was corrupt. I'm surprised by the lack of froth here over this especially considering Hunter's laptop was all the rage recently. Ok, not surprised.

But he's the Chosen One because he is flawed...or something like that