The Reprobate Republicans (updated 27oct23)

George Rebane

[This article, sans update, was published here in the 25oct23 issue of The Union.]

Recently I attended a luncheon sponsored by a local Republican club that featured as speaker one of the party’s eight candidates for US Senate.  She gave a barnburner talk outlining all the familiar iniquities of the Democrats both in Sacramento and Washington.  Specifically, she reprised the Democrats’ work in

• Always raising taxes;
• Issuing more stifling regulations;
• Mismanaging the economy;
• Indoctrinating Neo-Marxism in the media, education, and entertainment;
• Watering down critical curricula in our schools – dumbing down students;
• Rewarding criminals and punishing victims;
• Promoting trans-gendering in schools, denying parental rights to raise their children;
• Maintaining wide open borders for illegal alien entry;
• Projecting foreign policy weakness, inviting bad actors to make war;
• Etc, etc.

The problem with her enthusiastic rhetoric was that her Republican audience knew all that stuff, and most could have given that speech themselves.  What was sorely missing, and has been missing for years at such gatherings, is recognition of the dire straits the party is in, and what would be required for its resurgence in California.

Recounting the above list yet one more time is nothing but imitating a long-playing echo chamber which might be of interest to those conservatives who don’t pay attention to what is going on in the country and the world.  The problem is that most of those folks don’t show up at such luncheons and meetings.

So, the Republican Party, irrelevant statewide and nationally chaotic, continues to ignore the fact that it can right none of the liberal and woke wrongs without first regaining its stature as a recognized can-do political force in the country.  Endlessly repeating and pointing out the passing signposts to socialism has done nothing to change the direction of the country, and doing the same thing over and over again only confirms the definition of ignorance.

If Republicans are not putting their energies into planning and making progress on the party’s road to resurgence, then the rest of it will only be an ongoing stream of empty rhetoric growing weaker with the passing years.

[27oct23 update]  An added thought.  Given how other states are adopting our public policy insanities, California’s cancer has been aggressively metastasizing across the land.  The reason is clear and hangs on ‘other people’s money’ that can best be understood in light of what Garrett Hardin (q.v.) taught us about the behavior of commons (more here and here).  California has been very successful in taxing ‘the rich’, regulating the bejeezus out of everyone, and getting the feds to pony up every time we get our tit in a wringer, that it seems like a good idea for the folks in Ohio and Nebraska to copy.  As our snowballing national debt attests, with everyone piling on, this commons awaits its inevitable fate.

Comments

[Paul Emery]

The Repubs could start by dumping Trump and Jordan who are both massive losers. As long as they cling to them they don't have a chance. Ironically they are the best things the Dems have going for them which is an sad indication of the state of the Democratic party.

[Gregory]

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/elections/betting-odds/2024/president/

[Paul Emery]

Gregory

What odds do the Libertarians have for winning the Presidency?

[Gregory]

What would you guess, Punch?

[fishhole]

Ooopsy....!

USA wraps up fiscal year with $1.7 trillion budget deficit; UP 23%...

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/20/us-wraps-up-fiscal-year-with-a-budget-deficit-near-1point7-trillion.html

[Scott O]

re fishy 5:19 - And remember, that's with a "great" economy (according to Biden and Paul).
Combine the sinking economy with investors demanding an ever-higher return to finance our nation's debt AND a heaping helping of fed govt "investing" in the green (scam) economy, will give us quite a ride next year.
It's for the children.
Enjoy.

[Scott O]

re George's lament:
I can barely see the point of the Rs trying to re-take any kind of control in CA. The best they can do is represent the few rural conservative districts in the east and the north east of the state. Look at the electorate in CA state-wide. CA continues to slide downhill and the voters continue to vote for more.
Nation-wide, it doesn't get much better. 3 generations or more of children run through the left-wing controlled govt school system has produced quite a crop of completely uneducated dolts who have no understanding of history beyond "the white man is bad and has caused nothing but trouble in the world".
How does a conservative Republican speak to such people or try to obtain their vote?
On top of all that, we have the long-running wing of the Rs called the Country-Club Republicans. They are content to be a bunch of Dem-Lites and really have no love of the working blue collar class of voters. Think of folks like George Will, the Bush family and Romney.
Our nation is no longer united on basic common ideas and understandings of what a proper federal govt is for. This divide was not caused by Limbaugh or Trump or any one person. It was caused by what the founders of this nation warned us about. It was a govt set up for a people that would rely on the govt to provide them with physical protection from foreign enemies and criminals. To provide a fair and impartial system of justice. To give folks an opportunity to risk and dare and struggle to provide for themselves.
We are now a nation with a probable majority that expect the govt to provide them with the material things they want as a "right". These kinds of citizens do not like a Republic, they want mob rule. These kinds of citizens do not like a free market of commerce or ideas. They don't like that sort of thing because they know the free market rewards only those who will avail to make themselves useful to others in society and are willing to work hard at that task. They don't like the free market place of ideas because it only rewards those who have spent their lives learning about reality and have developed and formed their own opinions they can back up with arguments and facts.
I would ask how a politician running as a true conservative can appeal to that probable national majority by telling them the govt is going to give them freedom and justice but no free goodies? How can they run on a platform of telling the populace the SS system is a big Ponzi scheme run by the govt with forced participation and nothing to show for all of the money poured in but a huge pile of IOUs? How is our honest, conservative pol going to appeal to the modern crowd by telling them life is not fair and you might end up working hard and end up in the mud because the purpose of the govt is not to make everything end up equal for everyone? Good luck with that.

[Scott O]

Here's a great example of why the Rs are having trouble coalescing around a united front:
"John James won’t support Jim Jordan for speaker because he’s open to cutting spending"
The Dems all love endless spending with seemingly no limit and are glad to support each other's appropriations.
The Rs are actually the diverse party and have many who want to act like Dem-lite. They treat the fed budget as a piggy bank to bolster their standing amongst their constituents. It's been going on for so long, most Americans think it natural and want more of it all the time. We are a nation addicted to debt and it will be our ruin.
https://www.themidwesterner.news/2023/10/john-james-wont-support-jim-jordan-for-speaker-because-hes-open-to-cutting-spending/

[Scott O]

Here's another great example of the Rs problem:
"Mitt Romney Admits He Didn’t Know Anything About Burisma During Trump’s Ukraine Impeachment"
With friends like this, who needs enemies?
This was the R's candidate to run as president against Obama. He just wanted to be one of the cool kids accepted by the DC mob and actually has no conservative principles he will stick to. He voted for Trump's impeachment because he personally didn't like Trump and had no understanding of what the case was about.
https://thefederalist.com/2023/10/20/mitt-romney-admits-he-didnt-know-anything-about-burisma-during-trumps-ukraine-impeachment/

[Individual Juan]

Lol! Scotto still cannot bring himself to respond to George's comment about how screwed up the Republican party is without blaming the Libs. His screeds continue to blame everyone who is not a Matt Gaetz.

...but what about Burisma, Lol!, and Hunter's laptop, and what about the Dems?

Right-e-o Scotto, Burisma, and Hunter Biden are way more important subjects to be concerned with even though they are ancient history and Republicans have failed to make a case.

Release the Kraken!

[Scott O]

Lonely Juanita 8:30 - Dude - you really should read my posts before you comment on them. I pointed out there are folks that run as Rs just so they can occasionally get elected. They would never get elected as Dems so they pretend to be conservative Rs. I have no idea how this is the fault of any Dem.
I'm sure you would like the subject of the Biden crime family to go away, but the bank records are starting to reveal the details, although it will take time.
"Zlochevsky responded he did not send any funds directly to the ‘Big Guy’ (which [the FBI source] understood was a reference to Joe Biden). [The source] asked Zlochevsky how many companies/bank accounts Zlochevsky controls; Zlochevsky responded it would take them (Investigators) 10 years to find the records (i.e. illicit payments to Joe Biden).”

[Individual Juan]

like I said, scotto, obsessed with the Biden's, while the Republican clown show continues in the courts and in the House of Congress.

[Gregory]

"...while the Republican clown show continues"

Republicans eschew the Democratic clown gags like Drag queens for kids and gender choice for everybody. So?

Gavin Newsom is becoming the biggest gag line in the country.

[Scott O]

Lonely Juanita - "like I said, scotto, obsessed with the Biden's"
No, that's not what you said.
You alleged that I was blaming the Dems for discord among the Rs.
And I pointed out you were wrong, so you then decided to lie and claim you said something else.
Juanita is the one that brought up the nonsense that there is nothing on the Biden crime family and I was responding to that. Not my obsession, dude - you brought it up.

[Scott O]

Gregory - "Gavin Newsom is becoming the biggest gag line in the country"

Just wait until he's president, then he'll really provide us with a clown show.

[George Rebane]

Some of our readers cannot separate the affairs of the Biden crime family and the travails of the Republican Party as completely separate issues roiling our capital. Under this post we should focus our comments on the current problems of the GOP, which would not reveal anything about the commenters' attitudes toward the multitude of other issues we discuss here. This notion may escape some readers.

[Scott O]

from the WSJ -

"Matt Gaetz Tore the House GOP Apart"

This is laughably idiotic. Gaetz may have been the shout that triggered the avalanche, but the buildup of snow had been a long time coming. It took very little to set off the schism in the House and the split was festering from decades ago. I'm thinking about the time Newt had power and conservatives had high hopes some basic things would change.
The Dems have been hell-bent for years to lead us into mob rule and full socialism, and it seems a large number of Rs in office have been content to do nothing more than to softly play a game of simply trying to slow them down a bit.
Our fed govt has been growing for quite some time now in ways that are beyond simply matching the growth in population. The turmoil in the GOP is the turmoil of a person coming to grips with the realization that he has become addicted to something bad and must give it up and return to sobriety. And it is not easy and it sets off a time of inner struggle and pain and uncertainty. The idea that this turmoil is a problem for our fed govt is silly. The sun will rise and set and the IRS will sail on unperturbed.
In physical fitness regimes the slogan is apt - "no pain - no gain".
https://www.wsj.com/politics/matt-gaetz-tore-the-house-gop-apart-he-isnt-sorry-c7a7646d

[Gregory]

Golly!

Half the state budget is spent on education, and 100% of teacher training and certification is controlled by Democrats. How did that happen?

We need an alternative path towards teacher certification... I'd suggest a minimum SAT (above the current averages) and a MA/MS in one of a few solid courses (say English Lit, not a Grievance Study, or math, physics, chemistry, engineering...).

This could never get passed through Sacramento. A proposition perhaps?

[Individual Juan]

Reps. in the running for Speaker now are Jack Bergman (Mich.), Byron Donalds (Fla.), Tom Emmer (Minn.), Kevin Hern (Okla.), Mike Johnson (La.), Dan Meuser (Pa.), Gary Palmer (Ala.), Austin Scott (Ga.) and Pete Sessions (Texas). In 2020, all nine supported efforts to disenfranchise millions of Americans and inhibit the peaceful transfer of power.

So that is part of the problem.

I think that any election denier should be disqualified as speaker of the House.

Since Emmer has been called out by Trump for not being on the Trump crazy clown show train, I would say he might have potential for speaker of the House.

[Individual Juan]

Then you have Republican front runner, thought leader and guiding light, Trump who thinks he's running against Obama, thinks Biden started the latest Hamas Israeli conflict, and thinks Victor Orban is the president of Turkey and who he refers to, in glowing terms, as a one of the strongest leaders in the world 😂

[Gregory]

iJuan 654a

Mind reading again? Very silly to base one's politics on knowing what others are thinking.

ps power out a'gin

[Gregory]

Power restored.

"I think that any election denier should be disqualified as speaker of the House."

If any one of these three events had not taken place:
1) the censoring of the NY Post;
2) the letter signed by 51 former intelligence agents;
3) the pouring of 419million Zuckbucks to take over a number of public election offices,

Trump very probably would have won the election. Had all three been avoided...

[George Rebane]

Gregory, what's the story with your power? Do you have a generator?

[Gregory]

No generator. I've three AC "generators" with batteries, one for the TV in the living room, one for the Starlink and one for my bedroom (CPAP and clock radio) that kick in during power fails.

[Individual Juan]

Perfect! Mike Johnson should appeal to the wackydoodle 8 holding government hostage.

"An ideological member of the Christian right faction of the Republican Party, Johnson is known for his strong opposition to legal abortion access, medical marijuana, and same-sex marriage.[1] In December 2020, Johnson signed an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at the Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election. In January 2021, Johnson voted to overturn the election results in the state of Pennsylvania.[2] He has close ties to the fundamentalist Protestant groups Louisiana Family Forum, Alliance Defending Freedom, and Focus on the Family. Prior to his career as a politician, he worked with them to "represent churches, pastors and congregants whose vision of religious freedom conflicted with government regulations".[1] Johnson supports an end of American military aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia.[1]" Wiki

[Barry Pruett]

Johnson supports single issue spending bills too. As we head off the fiscal cliff and while most people not from the south totally disagree with Johnson on social issues, spending is our most important issue.

To address your points. In 2021, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that the manner in which the 2020 election was conducted was unconstitutional. https://www.pacourts.us/assets/opinions/Commonwealth/out/244MD21_1-28-22.pdf

As far as his Chirstian faith, it is this very faith and spiritualism that is lacking in America and which is causing most of our problems. Any person advocating for faith and spirituality is all good in my book.

[Individual Juan]

Thought leader Trump torpedoed Emmer's run for the speakership apparently because he's too reasonable.
Based on what we know about Trump, his ideal candidate for speakership would be a mind-meld between Putin, Dutero, Orbán, Kim Jong Un, MBS and others he looks up to.

[🐠]

So much concern and wringing of hands over the Republicans from the progressive left……!

You fancy lads need to buck up!

[Steve Frisch]

Actually I think the decline of the Republican Party in California is clearly tied to the fact that Republicans have not responded to changing demographics, values, and priorities of California voters.

The demise began in earnest with Pete Wilson’s support for Prop 187, and not due to the content of the Proposition but due to the language of exclusion that was used to promote it.

The decline continued as factions within the Republican Party in California moved further and further to the right on social issues in the 1990’s and early 2000’s, most notably abortion rights and gay rights, taking critical components of their previous governing coalition, pro choice Republican women and gay conservatives and first alienating them, then eventually purging them.

The demise has been consistently underpinned by Republican opposition to Social Security and Medicare, if not in legislative votes then in the rhetoric they have used to attack these programs. The demise has also been underpinned by opposition to immigration reform, denying another core Republican constituency, business, with no place to go for labor.

Finally, although opportunists in the contemporary Republican Party have adopted a populist language of supporting working class voters, their policies have been consistently hostile to labor, labor rights, fair tax policy, and many working class priorities, such as access to health care, affordable housing, and education. On this front Republicans have adopted many policies and populist messengers that appear to be pro-working class, such as messengers Trump and Vance, and lower taxes, and lower energy prices, but not enough to actually capture the working class as a core constituency.

In short Republicans in California have alienated more than 60% of Hispanic voters, 20% of Republican women , 10% of Republican men, a substantial minority of seniors and business interests, and enough workers that they cannot achieve a governing majority in California.

Who did this to the Republican Party in California? The answer is here, you did it. The Republican constituency, like most of the posters here, did it. The group that demands increasingly anti immigration, anti Hispanic, anti gay, anti worker, anti women’s rights, and just generally negative anti everything messaging did it because no political party can gain widespread popular support in a multicultural society by attacking what clearly constitutes a majority of the electorate.

What is the answer? Grow the fuck up and change your ways.

Republicans will never regain any relative power in California until they realize that the demographics, values and priorities of the overwhelming majority of voters has passed them by. Most Californians are never going to buy the oft repeated here socialist\marxist, woke, critical theory, or globalist tropes you guys are pushing. You are an anachronism, a vestige of 1960s Cold War conservatism, a minority within a minority, irrelevant in the halls of power in California.

Ironically I know there are issues that California republicans could lead to build more power, but the fringe represented here will never let them.

Mea culpa in advance to that picayune excuse for an intellect Greg Goodnight in case I misspelled anything.

[🐠]

What….no mention of Völkischer Beobachter?

[Gregory]

Had Fritsch actally managed to have children, he'd be more spooked about Transitioning kids in schools without parental approval.

[George Rebane]

SteveF 840am - Thank you for that comprehensive critique of the Republican Party. May I then presume that your assessment of the Democratic Party's contributions to California over the last decades should serve as a proper political template for the GOP?

[🐠]

Oh thank Christ…..

Mike Johnson elected House speaker three weeks after Kevin McCarthy's historic ouster

It’s safe for you stalwart gentlemen of the left to come out from under your beds now!

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mike-johnson-elected-house-speaker-three-weeks-after-kevin-mccarthys-historic-ouster

[Gregory]

I don't think the GOP or LIBs can replicate the Democratic Party takeover of California without a sluice for tax money into their coffers equivalent to the move of public employee unions into collective bargaining units.

Brilliant move by Jerry Brown v1.0 and completely ignored by Stephen Frischie in his latest mansplaining.

[Gregory]

Now that Stevie from Truckee is here, perhaps he'll have a few words for the overturning of California's assault weapons and the large capacity magazine ban by Judge Benitez.

[Gregory]

"What is the answer? Grow the fuck up and change your ways."

-Stevie McFuckface 840a

Really?

[Individual Juan]

...and Gregory is triggered...😰😂

[Gregory]

Juanny McFuckface 227p, here's one for you too.

[Individual Juan]

Comments by Gregory, true to his 4th grade emotional level.

[Gregory]

Individual Tranny 244p

Is that all you got?

[Individual Juan]

Barry@633am,

I found the following tidbit in a NY Times article. The reaction by Republicans/MAGAs exemplifies what extreme lengths Republicans will go to overthrow an election. They tried everything. And now they have elected an election denier to the speakership.

"Following the 2020 election, Representative Mike Kelly, a Republican from northwestern Pennsylvania, filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the results in the federal races and claimed that Act 77 was unconstitutional.

But his effort was sternly rebuffed by the state’s Supreme Court, which ruled that the law had been in place for well over a year with no legal challenge until Mr. Trump lost Pennsylvania.

“Unsatisfied with the results of that wager, they would now flip over the table, scattering to the shadows the votes of millions of Pennsylvanians,” Justice David Wecht wrote following the election. “It is not our role to lend legitimacy to such transparent and untimely efforts to subvert the will of Pennsylvania voters. Courts should not decide elections when the will of the voters is clear.”

An appeal by Mr. Kelly to the United States Supreme Court was also denied.

Yet the Republican attempts to overturn the 2020 election based on challenges to Act 77 continued. Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, a Republican, challenged the slate of electors from Pennsylvania on Jan. 6, 2021, claiming that the state’s lawmakers had passed Act 77 “irregardless of what the Pennsylvania Constitution said.”

Soon after, rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol. Later that night, Pennsylvania’s electors were seated."

[Individual Juan]

Barry, It will be interesting to see if single issue spending bills become more bipartisan.

I imagine it depends on if they are written/formulated in a neutral, not partisan manner. That is, written to improve the lives of the American people and not to score partisan points.

[Individual Juan]

...oh, there Gregory goes again! He is like Trump, he just cannot help himself.

[Gregory]

There Juannie goes again.

[Gregory]

...and... Justice David Wecht is a partisan Democrat.

[Gregory]

A few years ago Frisch, on RL Crabb's blog, did his best to rip me a new one.

My alma mater was portrayed as little more than a community college. Here is an alternative view:
https://www.niche.com/colleges/harvey-mudd-college/

[Steve Frisch]

Posted by: Gregory | 25 October 2023 at 01:41 PM

Yeah, "grow the fuck up" might have been a little tongue in cheek, or triggering, but the point I am making is pretty solid, if the Republican party is going to stand rigidly on past demographics, values, and priorities they are going to get left behind.

62% of Americans support Roe (and that is before Dobbs), 70% support achieving carbon neutrality, 70% believe in stricter gun laws, 90% believe in mandatory universal background checks, and 66% support banning military style assault weapons, 60% believe in immigration reform that includes DACA and a path to citizenship for people already in the US, 66% of Americans say democracy is in danger due to the January 6th insurrection.

So if Republicans are that out of step with the American public they really can't think that their party can do "what would be required for its resurgence in California," without seriously reconsidering some of their positions.

Republicans are in the wilderness in California because their positions and their political philosophy is out of touch with the voters. It really is that simple.

[Steve Frisch]

Gregory...

"...and... Justice David Wecht is a partisan Democrat."

Yep looks like a real loser...

https://www.pacourts.us/courts/supreme-court/supreme-court-justices/justice-david-n-wecht

You know Gregory if you believe in the rule of law, the answer to every ruling you disagree with can't be they are a partisan.

[Gregory]

It will be interesting to see how much the American people will be willing to pay to be colder and less well fed in the near future.

The 2A would need to be wiped off the books for you to have the gun laws you want.

And the public opinions you cite is after the censoring of opinions you hate.

[Gregory]

"You know Gregory if you believe in the rule of law, the answer to every ruling you disagree with can't be they are a partisan."

I believe in the rule of law and I disbelieve in your ability of sitting in judgement in partisan matters.

[Steve Frisch]

George, to answer your question above regarding whether Republicans need to adopt he policies of democrats to regain favor in California, I would say no, but they do need to moderate many of their positions.

Republican positions today are even more restrictive than they were in the early 80s with Reagan….who I was no fan of, but was much closer to middle of American thought than California Republicans today.

In August you posted about proposed changes to the California Republican platform to soften their stance on abortion and same sex marriage, which the party then rejected at their convention in September. The whole point of that effort was to open more potential voters in the middle.

In my humble opinion these two issues plus immigration reform with DACA and a path to citizenship would need to be moderated to recapture many California voters. In the case of abortion that would be less than Roe but at least 24 weeks to catch more than 50% of voters. On same sex marriage it would need to be full approval. Frankly almost everyone below the age of 40 thinks this is a non issue including the vast majority of younger republicans. On immigration even most California Hispanic voters agree there needs to be better control at the border, but they think the people already here deserve fairer treatment, thus DACA and the path.

[Barry Pruett]

Juan and Steve. The underlying premise is that the federal government can help the people of the USA. it is pretty clear at this point that such premise is faulty. Time to get rid of the majority of the federal government which is the source of the vast majority of our problems. Unlike during Reconstruction, federal intervention into our lives is unnecessary.

[Gregory]

"In my humble opinion these two issues plus immigration reform with DACA and a path to citizenship would need to be moderated to recapture many California voters"

My reading of GOP voters is they can do without those voters.

[Gregory]

"62% of Americans support Roe (and that is before Dobbs)"

That's a moot point. Roe is dead.

"70% support achieving carbon neutrality"

It's unclear to me there will be any votes in favor of middle class shivering and hunger.

"70% believe in stricter gun laws"

I don't, and I've got guns. You?

"90% believe in mandatory universal background checks"

Those exist now for sales. Doesn't work well, but I can live with them.

"66% support banning military style assault weapons"

Can't do it. Sorry.

"60% believe in immigration reform that includes DACA and a path to citizenship for people already in the US"

That might have been true a few years ago, but NOT NOW.

"66% of Americans say democracy is in danger due to the January 6th insurrection"

-Bullshit... there was no "insurrection".

[Scott O]

Frisch is hilarious. "If the Rs would just be sorta like Dems, they'd get more votes"

The fact is if the Rs in CA did everything that Frisch suggested, they would still be pounded as NAZIs, racists, etc, etc...

Frisch fails to acknowledge reality.
CA is losing population due solely to the Dems running the place into the toilet.
The Dems are now doing complete 180s on policy, due to rampant crime and loss of quality of life issues.

Frisch can't understand why CA conservatives don't just give up their principles and get along with the insane folks so they can get elected.

[Gregory]

From The Guardian:
Lewiston police have named Robert Card as a “person of interest” and said he should be considered “armed and dangerous”. An active manhunt involving hundreds of officer is under way.

Card is a firearms instructor at a US army reserve training facility in Maine, according to a state police bulletin seen by the AP news agency.

SO, that guy is beyond the reach of civilian gun laws.

[Barry Pruett]

He was also just discharged from a mental hospital. Shootings are symptomatic of our mental health problem in this country. Fix the mental health problem and now no more shootings. Government does not work because it often seeks to cure symptoms rather than the disease.

[Gregory]

But of course, there is no "fixing" the mental health crisis... there will always be someone in a mental health crisis, and there is no practical way to assure it isn't someone who is a firearms instructor in the U.S. Army.

So, a show of hands, please... who wants to turn in their guns?

[Scott O]

That Card guy is in a lot of trouble. He brought a firearm to "gun free zone" businesses.

[Barry Pruett]

What guns? We don’t have any guns🤷🏻‍♂️

[Barry Pruett]

The mental health problem is cured by giving people hope so that they can find meaning and purpose in life. Our government destroys hope by screwing up the economy, by over spending, by driving our issue into massive debt. The American people are good people and don’t need an overbearing government. The experiment in technocracy has been an epic failure. It is time to get back to individual liberty and away from collective control. Individual liberty builds hope. It is the only answer.

[Steve Frisch]

I think both Scott and Greg have missed the whole point of my post, you don't have to convince me that you are not racist nazis, or even the California democratic party, or even individual democratic party candidates, you need to convince the voters, and that is the epic fail that George originally posted about. The California Republican party has failed to create a narrative that convinces the majority of California voters that they can govern effectively, will represent their interests, and will have their backs. That is the reality...it is why they are in the minority.

When Greg counter argues the polling results above with HIS perception of them its an exercise in individual futility..it does not matter what he believes it matters what the voters believe and act on.

[Gregory]

It is difficult to govern from the middle when the left is siphoning off money from the top.

Yes, I am sure you think YOUR perception of polling results is the truth... but then you think that "assault weapons" are something you can have banned.

[Steve Frisch]

Debating the gun issue here is derivative to George's original post.

"If Republicans are not putting their energies into planning and making progress on the party’s road to resurgence, then the rest of it will only be an ongoing stream of empty rhetoric growing weaker with the passing years."

I ask what is your plan for the road to resurgence?

I have given you a pathway--be more relevant and in touch with the voters demographics, values, and priorities.

I don't think you can do that in a state where 47% of registered voters are democrats compared to 23% republican, where the number of independent voters are beginning to decline, where 47% of decline to state voters lean democratic and 26% lean republican, and where 45% of the electorate are non-white, without making some substantial changes to be more relevant.

You might start by not blogging in support of the Oath Keepers who are sitting in prison now, the positive attributes of slavery, and sounding like you fell off the John Birch bandwagon in 1962.

[Individual Juan]

Referring back to George R's original post, the Dems are blamed for things I don't think you can attribute to one political party - but I understand it plays well in the media.

A snapshot of the economy cannot be solely attributed to the party in power at that time.
I imagine the economy is like a large oil tanker, once it has momentum in a certain direction it can take a decade for a course correction to be notice.

"When Jimmy Carter took office in January 1977, unemployment had reached 7.4 percent. Carter responded with an ambitious spending program and called for the Federal Reserve (the Fed) to expand the money supply. Within two years, inflation had climbed to 13.3 percent."

https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=3360#:~:text=When%20Jimmy%20Carter%20took%20office,had%20climbed%20to%2013.3%20percent.

[Individual Juan]

Looks like I called it in my 24 October 2023 at 10:42 PM.

Mike Johnson not only wants to control women's vaginas, he wants to control what people do with their assholes.

"In 2003 Johnson wrote: “There is clearly no ‘right to sodomy’ in the Constitution. And the right of ‘privacy of the home’ has never placed all activity with the home outside the bounds of the criminal law.”

The wacky MAGA doodle contingent like Mike, and I guess the rest of the Republicans in the House were just to exhausted and wanted to get back to work to care how much of an extremist Johnson is.

Just another example of why the Republicans keep losing.

"Sodomy" and "sodomite" are some of the ugliest words in the English language. They of course are derived from the Canaanite city of Sodom, whose destruction along with Gomorrah is related in Genesis 19. Most people assume that homosexuality was the grounds for this divine retribution and that this is the reason that gay men have been branded "sodomites." The word itself, used as implying a sexual sin, does not appear until A.D. 395 in letters between Saint Jerome and a priest Amandus, but the details of the act and the nature of the sin are not explained.
A growing consensus about sexual orientation is that it primarily genetically determined, so gays and lesbians may not have any choice in the matter. There are two alternative theological positions that follow from the conservative Christian position: (1) If homosexuals are inherently evil, then that means that God created them such; or (2) more orthodox and acceptable is the view that all humans are created in the image of God and all that God creates is good. Therefore, if God creates gays and lesbians the way there are, then God must intend that they are an integral part of the human community.
Interestingly enough, Jesus did not interpret the sin of Sodom as sexual. First, Jesus says nothing specific about the sin of homosexuality anywhere in the Gospels. He does of course speak of sexual sins, but all of us, regardless of our sexual orientation, commit a few of these. Second, when Jesus instructs his disciples to preach in the towns of Israel, Jesus warns that those who do not receive them peacefully will be judged more harshly than the people of Sodom and Gomorrah (Matt. 10: 5-15)."

[🐠]

Posted by: Individual Anal Pleasure| 26 October 2023 at 01:26 PM

Jeez jeffy……put anything you want up your butt, assuming it will fit of course ….no one here cares!

[Individual Juan]

au contraire fishes on dope, Mike Johnson wants you to bend over so he can discipline you.

[🐠]

Posted by: Juan’s Chocolate Starfish| 26 October 2023 at 02:12 PM

Funny…..if somebody dares criticize fat, middle aged men shaking their equipment at children you’re there to defend them. Same now with homosexuals even though it really wasn’t the focus of the thread just something you desperately, desperately wanted to interject.

Does your wife know yet?

[Gregory]

Frisch 1136a

"You might start by not blogging in support of the Oath Keepers who are sitting in prison now, the positive attributes of slavery, and sounding like you fell off the John Birch bandwagon in 1962. "

I have never blogged in support of the Oath Keepers, have never written of the positive attributes of slavery and eschew Bircherisms. Thanks for not noticing... you're batting .000.

However, there is brand-spanking new case law that is running roughshod over the thirty year old state Assault Weapon (and the large capacity magazine) ban... it's unconstitutional. Period.

I can't wait until a new AR-15 in 6.5 Grendel is under the xmas tree for me. Not this Christmas, maybe next.

[Steve Frisch]

I was addressing George, so I’m still batting 1000.

[Gregory]

In your dreams.

[Barry Pruett]

There is a realignment coming. It is gonna be epic. Buckle up.
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/10/26/politics/us-strikes-facilities-syria/index.html

[Steve Frisch]

I think Barry is correct that there is a realignment coming,

It’s the realignment of former Republicans and Independents who support American democracy and responsible constitutional governance with Democrats to protect the nation from authoritarian rule. Democrats should welcome this realignment to save the Republic.

[Barry Pruett]

The realignment is certainly between those who value liberty and those who side with authoritarian rule. I would beg to differ on your assessment, however. Democrats support technocracy and the leviathan government. Establishment Republicans support the same thing but a lighter version. These people are not progressives, as they support a return to that which spawned our birth - tyranny of government. Progress is the advancement towards individual freedom combined with self-restraint not a return to government control of the people of ancient times. Only partisan Republicans and partisan Democrats support their respective parties at this point. The realignment in the USA started this week with the new speaker Johnson. It is the culmination of efforts since the Tea Party to reign in government spending and control. The century long era of big government has proven to be a failure and will die a slow and exhausting death, but the government will not go out without a fight.

[Scott O]

"who support American democracy and responsible constitutional governance..."

Lefties are so cute when they talk about the Constitution.
We do not have an "American democracy" - we have an American Republic.
Democrats want mob rule with the Constitution being merely a loose outline that can be interpreted so vaguely as to be almost meaningless.

Democrats today have become the tyrants our founders got rid of.
And far too many Rs want to join along just a few steps behind.
Our Republic was a grand and ambitious experiment that is succumbing to the exact pressures that the founders warned us of long, long ago.

[George Rebane]

SteveF 1136am - Did you make up the part about Oath Keepers?

Given the current make-up of California's population, I know of no effective plan for GOP resurgence. We are way too far gone to work for a reasonable comeback. The only solution for makers (individuals and businesses) is to separate themselves from the takers, hence the exodus. The state is irretrievably in the tank. (See also update to above post.)

[Gregory]

"It’s the realignment of former Republicans and Independents who support American democracy and responsible constitutional governance with Democrats to protect the nation from authoritarian rule."

So, people who formerly were Republicans and formerly were independents are becoming Democrats in order to govern according to Democratic principles.

We now have "election deniers", "climate deniers", "COVID deniers" in order to give license to our overseers (Democrats) to ignore opinions they want to run roughshod over.

Now we have Democrats aligning with the real Holocaust deniers in looking the other way when Jews are again slaughtered. Never again means never again, folks.

[Gregory]

"It’s the realignment of former Republicans and Independents who support American democracy and responsible constitutional governance with Democrats to protect the nation from authoritarian rule."

Protect American democracy sounds so good, doesn’t it?

Steve could taste victory with the latest struggle for the Speakership... but no Democrat reached across the aisle. Surprise, surprise.

How much should folks in Truckee shiver this winter? Steve?

[Gregory]

Well, the shooter in Maine is no more. He offed himself in a trailer at a recycling company he had worked at in the past.

So, people, how do you write gun law that protects against soldiers who go nuts?

A gold star for the forehead of Lauren Boebert who challenged the suitability of folks who think AR stands for automatic rifle for writing gun laws... this may be my first citation of her saying something appropriate.

[Gregory]

How is this for a solution to my poser above?

"A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

Any objections?

[Don Bessee]

Losing their own team in a big way -

Progressive commentator calls out San Francisco as 'terrifying' 'nightmare': 'You're going to get robbed'
'But you know what else isn’t effective? Using taxpayer money, funneling it to non-profits so they can literally buy crack pipes,' Ana Kasparian claimed

Progressive political commentator Ana Kasparian pulled no punches in her assessment of how bad liberal mecca San Francisco has become thanks to rising crime, homelessness, and Democrat policies.

During the latest episode of businessman and commentator Patrick Bet-David’s podcast, the "Young Turks" co-host called the California city a "nightmare" and warned visitors, "Your car’s going to get broken into, okay? You’re going to get robbed."

The conversation began with Bet-David bringing up Kasparian’s X post from last month in which she claimed, "California is *without question* a shit show under Newsom. But I guess propping up proven failures is what the Democratic Party excels at these days."

Kasparian, a Los Angeles native, told the podcast's co-hosts she believes her hometown and California still have "a lot of potential," but added, "there have been some policies implemented that have been disastrous."

She took aim at Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., and the state government, stating, "So, Gavin Newsom and the current Democratic legislature in the state of California have engaged in this trend of decriminalizing everything and refusing to regulate things." She mentioned that the state government has done this with prostitution, for example.

"No one is safe, everyone’s angry, and you see all sorts of terrible stuff happening right there in broad daylight in the middle of the street."

"They did the same thing with drugs," she continued, adding, "So what do you see in California? A bunch of people shooting up, OK? And smoking crack all over the place."

Kasparian added, "I’m sorry, I’m not interested in seeing that! I don’t think we should be, you know, dealing with that on the metro system. Why do taxpayers have to deal with that?"

"The Young Turks" co-host then tore into San Francisco: "San Francisco is terrifying. And it’s hilarious to me because the business community there wants to put lipstick on a pig. They want to put out this $4 million ad campaign pretending as though everything in San Francisco is all hunky-dory."

Kasparian wasn’t finished. She added, "I mean, it’s just not right. There are certain issues that we’ve had for a long time – the drug war was a failure, and so going back to the drug war I don’t think is going to be effective."

She then asked, "But you know what else isn’t effective? Using taxpayer money, funneling it to non-profits so they can literally buy crack pipes and hand them out at skid row."

Kasparian has made waves in recent months as a progressive tired of failing leftist policies and talking points. During the summer, she ripped leftists for promoting "gender-affirming care" – or transgender medical procedures for minors – stating that puberty blockers can cause "irreparable harm" to children.

More recently, the commentator ripped the left for obsession with race and gender, stating, , "The biggest ‘change’ that some of you might have noticed with me is that I’m done with the identitarian garbage. I’m done with it. It is a giant distraction."

https://www.foxnews.com/media/progressive-commentator-calls-san-francisco-terrifying-nightmare-youre-going-get-robbed

;-)

[Individual Juan]

Why Republicans keep losing

If we tax billionaires too much, they won't be able to buy the essentials they need, like NFL franchises, islands, and tax deductible think tanks founded exclusively to legitimize fringe beliefs about how billionaires shouldn't have to pay taxes.

The CBO says that the House's Israel aid bill is not offset at all. It will add 12.5 billion to the deficit in the next decade.
Cuts to the IRS will decrease revenue by 26.7 billion.

Ken Paxton, that fine and slightly impeached Texas representative of the DOJ, admit in a tv interview and on Tucker Carlson’s little thing that he blocked the counting of 2.5 million mail-in ballots from Harris county and if he hadn’t Biden would have won Texas.

The only way Republicans can win is by manipulating and limiting the rights of the public to cast their vote.

[Gregory]

So, Jeff 720a, that's why half a billion Zuckerbucks was spent buying registrars of voters in 2020?

[Paul Emery]

Gregory seems to forget that his guy Trump is the biggest political loser in modern history. Biden , not my personal choice, will win easily. Trump is the only thing that keeps the dems afloat. He's a dream come true for them.

[Gregory]

There you go again. Run out of warm and fresh donkey jizz?

Trump will be your president too, Punchy. Yours, mine and George's.

[Paul Emery]

So Gregory believes that Trump the loser is going to be our next President. Gregory, will you oppose Trump in this election?

[Gregory]

The polls don't seem to agree with you, Punch. He isn't "Trump the loser" with anyone of consequence.

Unless something happens, Trump is rolling towards the presidency. I don't know who I'll be voting for... mainly because I don't know if there will be a Libertarian on the ballot worth voting for.

[Paul Emery]

Wishful thinking Gregory. Trump could be in the slam by then. His history is that of being a loser the only President in modern history to lose the House, Senate and re-election in one four year term. Many things will happen between now and then including the resolution of over 90 felony indictments. He's the best ting the Dems have going right now. He's using the election as a fundraiser for his legal bills in case you haven't heard.

"Trump's Save America leadership PAC reported more than $24 million in expenses over the first six months of the year, with the vast majority of those costs – more than $21 million – going toward legal consulting for Trump and his associates."

[Gregory]

Throwing the leading GOP candidate for President in jail in an election year would cement our status as a mature Banana Republic, while cash flows from places like China and Ukraine into Biden family accounts from the family monkey business, selling access to the Big Guy.

[Gregory]

Here's some light reading for punchy:

https://themessenger.com/opinion/biden-family-loans-hunter-influence-peddling-foreign-money

[🐠]

…..punchy doesn’t read links.

[Gregory]

the links then come to punchy!

"In July, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) released an unclassified FBI record which included allegations to the agency of Biden and his son, Hunter, being paid $5 million each by a Ukrainian energy executive when the senior Biden was vice president. Most of the media has shown an utter lack of curiosity in following the money. However, the House Oversight and House Ways and Means committees have made strides in tracking millions of dollars which they allege were sent to Biden family members through a labyrinth of shell companies and accounts."

[Paul Emery]

Can you show me the proof that there were cash flows from places like China and Ukraine into Biden family accounts ? It is a fact that Trump is under indictment for 91 felonies and that is now in the courts. Show me the indictments against the Biden Family Gregory.

[Gregory]

What a simple creature.

[Individual Juan]

I know Pablo, "The Circle" is suffering from a bad case of mind warp.

On rightwing media Hunter rumors run 2 to 1 to presidential candidate articles, that is how obsessed the right is about all the Hunter "smoke".
Who are the crack addicts...the right wing is blowing way more Hunter crack smoke than the recovering Hunter is.

Just another indicator that the rightwing has flipped their clown car into a ditch.

[Gregory]

It isn't about Hunter crack smoke.
Thanks for chiming in, Jeff, but drop the clown car meme next time.

[Gregory]

"Finally, on June 30, 2020, the source was reinterviewed and delivered the bombshell allegation that he/she had been told by Mykola Zlochevsky, the owner of Ukrainian energy company Burisma, that he had paid then-VP Joe Biden and Hunter bribes of $5 million apiece to get a Ukrainian prosecutor fired."

https://nypost.com/2023/10/29/opinion/anatomy-of-a-biden-family-coverup-executed-by-our-own-fbi-and-doj/

None of this is new to folks who have been paying attention.

[Paul Emery]

Show me the indictments against the Biden Family Gregory. Trump has 92