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It appears to me that there seems to be a “tell” for Republican miscreants: If they say that Democrats are doing “X”, you can bet money on the possibility that is it likely that “X” is actually being done by Republicans instead. Has anyone else noticed this over the last few decades. One great example is the ratio of Rs cheating in the voting arena versus Ds.

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I wake at night and check my cell, have the letters been published yet? Before calling this day complete, I must know about how the letters read. I wrap myself every word, every word I waited for, what is happening, what had happened in the world that lay in this early morning wait, for truth to spill out in the late hours, in the time I spend checking, are they in...and no matter what I find or read, and read again, I feel secure this is the truth. I feel the truth in the letters that gives me some kind of peace no matter how gruesome they are. Knowing truth is healthy. I stop churning, when will "they" take over, when will others not knowing, shuttle "them" in to wreck and destroy people and places and history and each other and nip at the world from pillar to post out of what? the need to possess and control and have...welcome to the dark ages now cleverly disguised as "now". But the letters strips and finds and exposes and speaks truth.

Drop by drop the letters come...salve to my restlessness and them. Feeling hope and promise even at a distance, I can go back to sleep again. The letters hit home, embrace home, calm home. I am grateful.

At 83, i am a first reader, along with thousands, here is the light I wait for every first morning. Amen.

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The late night quips write themselves.

Where are G. Gordon Liddy and Nixon's White House Plumbers when you need them? Was Trump taking Grover Norquist's wish to flush government down the drain literally? Republicans have been using the Constitution to wipe their a•• for decades.

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The Times' treatment of Hilary's emails vs tfg's trips to the loo plus his mishandling of top secret documents is such a sham. She lost an election because of their antics, but will he ever receive his just deserts -- anything beyond a slap on the wrist?!!!

On a positive note, I loved the recognition President Biden is receiving abroad.

"One diplomat for the European Union told Rothkopf these qualities [diplomacy/making alliances] are 'refreshing and, in a way, revolutionary.' A scholar of diplomacy put it like this: 'When there are lots of moving pieces in play, when there appears to be the chance for seismic shifts in power, these can call forth a golden age of diplomacy. And the coalition builders, the conceivers of grand alliances, the ones who work well with others, these almost always prevail in the face of a bullying despot.'"

Thank you for another compelling and most instructive letter, Heather!

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To the tune of my favorite Gilbert & Sullivan song:

[TRUMP, spoken] As you know, I'm meeting with President Putin on Monday. And we will, of course, ask the favorite question about meddling. I will be asking that question again. You know, what am I gonna do? He may deny it, I mean it's one of those things. All I can do is say, did you? And, don't do it again. But, he may deny it. He will You'll be the first to know. I'm very consistent. I'm a very stable genius. So we'll have to figure out what's going on...

\

[RANDY] He is the very model of a very stable genius

Of all the U.S. presidents he is the Mussoliniest

He learned a lot of things according to his Wikipedia

And demonstrates his ample intellect on social media

When people are in need he is the best at making fun of them

He knows eleven words although he can't spell even one of them

An overly flamboyant, orange, autocratic scuzzy man

Who's undermining everything Obama did because he can

He's undermining everything Obama did because he can

He's undermining everything Obama did because he can

He's overly flamboyant and an autocratic scuzzy orange man

[TRUMP, spoken] I'm a very stable genius

[RANDY] He's firmly resolute, but how he thinks and feels and talks depends

On any of the crap he may have heard that day on Fox & Friends

And though his brain is smaller than his tiny little penius

He is the very model of a very stable genius

Although his brain is smaller than his tiny little penius

He is the very model of a very stable genius

[TRUMP, spoken] I am doing a great job, that I can tell you

[RANDY] He's very good at pushing all the bullshit that he's peddling

But won't concern himself with matters such as Russian meddling

His campaign manager's in jail on charges that are felony

And no one really cares about him less than his wife Melanie

[RANDY, spoken] Sorry, Mel-AY-nie

[RANDY] He's really great with children when it comes to immigration

He thinks he's making progress with denuclearization

He's only hated from Seattle to the Carolinias

And likes to greet his lady friends by grabbing their vaginias

He likes to greet his lady friends by grabbing their vaginias

He likes to greet his lady friends by grabbing their vaginias

He likes to greet his lady friends by grabbing their vag-ga-ginias

[RANDY, spoken] Queen Elizabeth did not see that coming

[RANDY] He's certainly proficient at hacking hijacking an election

At NATO he is not afraid of not taking direction

Aside from all his ignorance, the chaos and subpoenias

He is the very model of a very stable genius?

Aside from all his ignorance, the chaos and subpoenias

He is the very model of a very stable genius

[TRUMP, spoken] I'm a very stable genius

[RANDY] He's firmly resolute, but how he thinks and feels and talks depends

On any of the crap he may have heard that day on Fox & Friends

And though his brain is smaller than his tiny little penius

He is the very model of a very stable genius

Although his brain is smaller than his tiny little penius

He is the very model of a very stable genius

[TRUMP, spoken] I am doing a great job, that I can tell you

[RANDY] He's very good at pushing all the bullshit that he's peddling

But won't concern himself with matters such as Russian meddling

His campaign manager's in jail on charges that are felony

And no one really cares about him less than his wife Melanie

[RANDY, spoken] Sorry, Mel-AY-nie

[RANDY] He's really great with children when it comes to immigration

He thinks he's making progress with denuclearization

He's only hated from Seattle to the Carolinias

And likes to greet his lady friends by grabbing their vaginias

He likes to greet his lady friends by grabbing their vaginias

He likes to greet his lady friends by grabbing their vaginias

He likes to greet his lady friends by grabbing their vag-ga-ginias

[RANDY, spoken] Queen Elizabeth did not see that coming

[RANDY] He's certainly proficient at hacking hijacking an election

At NATO he is not afraid of not taking direction

Aside from all his ignorance, the chaos and subpoenias

He is the very model of a very stable genius?

Aside from all his ignorance, the chaos and subpoenias

He is the very model of a very stable genius

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Feb 11, 2022·edited Feb 11, 2022

Pity the poor plumbers who had to unclog Trump’s toilet. The very idea of a president destroying documents so blatantly is shocking. Even for Trump. Same for handling top secret material with no concern for national security. Perhaps in prison Trump will receive true justice — cleaning toilets.

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It'd be nice to live in a country where politicians don't consistently break laws without fear of consequences. Half of the Republican party would be in prison right now if the law were applied equally to the rich and powerful. The worst part is they're right for thinking they can get away with it because of course they will.

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Why does anyone expect a racist and sexist political party to have integrity? Why does anyone think that the Republicans and Faux Noise, the place where all sexists and racists in America go to feel at home, give a damn about being hypocrites? OF COURSE they are going to attack a woman who wants to be in a position of power, be it Hillary or the new SC Justice. OF COURSE they are going to attack POC. OF COURSE they are going to give their racist hero a pass.

Are we so naïve that we don’t understand how the other side plays?

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The bookends of this letter is really remarkable.

On one end, the former leader of the free world and orange Buffon at large stands accused of stealing confidential documents, the ones he could not tear up, eat, or shove down the WH toilets.

On the other end, a dictator kleptocrat with nuclear weapons schemes to invade another former satellite state to destabilize Europe, NATO, and the world.

Both, in one way or another are new and old challenges/ threats to democracy. I’m not sure if it’s good to read the letters before bedtime anymore. Whewww!

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And have you seen this?

Watch the Jan. 6 assault from a press photographer's POV - Los Angeles Times:

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2022-01-04/photographers-point-of-view-of-the-capitol-riot-jan-6-anniversary

“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and hearing — the sharp chirp of the building’s security alarm cut through the air, and the shouting of the word “treason” echoed into the Rotunda as the massive mob poured in through the doors. I paused in the Rotunda, thinking about the irony of the fact that the people who just breached the Capitol building in a violent, seditious manner were shouting “treason” at the top of their lungs. I was in shock.”

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I never had Top Secret clearance, only NO FORN (No Foreign), but I worked where other people had Top Secret. We all received training on the proper handling of the documents that came into our possession, with periodic refreshers. One guy with TS clearance was fired for failing to properly lock a file cabinet at the end of the day. Don Jr recently made an offhand remark about reading sensitive materials. If Trump is not prosecuted for this, we are truly lost.

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Talk about distractions! Critical NATO diplomacy needed at the same time TFG’s mishandling of official confidential documents continues to make headlines. Former staffers are just now telling their stories after spending four years taping shredded docs together and retrieving them from the toilet? When will TFG just go away? Disappear? And what do the repubs think of the illegal handling of docs? They (or at least trumpees) still claim any Dem especially a presidential candidate should have gone to jail for their claimed mail scandal. And let’s hope at some point TFG and his buddies pay for their misdeeds. We need to get on with critical government business.

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I'm just going to LOVE that the Archivists are the ones that are finally gonna bring this house of cards down. Quiet, thorough, and precise. Superheros.

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I hope he called Nixon's plumbers to unclog the toilet.

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THE NYT HAS ‘IMMORTALIZED’ MY PHRASE “TRUMP IDIOTOLOGY”

“I applaud the backlash of some Republican political realists, including now-Minority-Senate-Leader McConnell, that the TRUMP IDIOTOLOGY on the BIG LIE and the House 1/6 Committee ‘witch hunt’ is harmful to Republican chances in the 2022 Congressional elections.

Though I find distasteful McConnell’s electoral strategy to avoid stating any GOP policies and simply bash the Biden administration, it is far better than fighting lockstep for whatever Trump proclaims.

As a person who lived during years of Joe McCarthy’s demagoguery, I was surprised by how swiftly his bubble was burst.”

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You have hit two news stories that have me enthralled. With the increasing reveals of what most of us knew all along, that Trump is a big old criminal and should have been given access to USA national security about as much as Putin. With Putin I wonder whether he is just trying to wear out NATO so that when Xi Jinping steps up to take over Taiwan, NATO will be weakened by handling the "Russian crisis in the Ukraine." I hope that it only serves to improve diplomatic discussions, strategies and outcomes. I am impressed with the straightforwardness of Lithuania's Prime Minister since her country is right next to Russia. I also understand that, other than Putin, no one in Europe wants to have another war. As if we haven't lost enough people to the pandemic. Of course people are dispensable to Oligarchs and Oligarch wannabes, aka DT.

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