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Kevin McCarthy (R-Okiefornia) is the kind of spineless, braindead, careerist scumbag who defines the term "California Republican office-holder." They may have pushed things to the point of getting their recall vote on Governor Newsom, but the only way they can win a statewide election is with another Arnold Schwarzenegger - the last statewide Republican officeholder - and the best they've got is Reality-TV "star" Caitlyn Jenner, and given how hated the Kardashian scum are in the state, that's not much.

Word is the new judge in the Arizona "recount" case (after they got the Trumper judge who put the million dollar fee on stopping things to recuse himself on Monday) is going to shut the clown show down tomorrow. The Cyber Ninjas are trying to get hired to fuck things up all over again in Michigan and Pennsylvania now. State Police are in the stadium now securing the ballots, and the droolers are being observed by actual reporters now, not the ONANists.

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Professor Richardson, the dark intensity of your missive today is difficult to endure because it is so important, so profound! As you write, "What is at stake is the future of the Republican Party. What is also at stake is the future of the country." It is almost too strange to be fiction, never mind reality.

The term The Big Lie has specific origins, "The original description of the big lie appeared in Mein Kampf. Adolf Hitler applied it to the behavior of Jews rather than as a tactic he advocated. Specifically, he accused Viennese Jews of trying to discredit the Germans’ activities during World War I." 1.

Joseph Goebbels wrote further, "“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” 1. The man who refuses to allow people to call him "the former president", but insists that he be called "the 45th President", thinks of himself and his followers as a government in exile.

We are in a dangerous place. "Lawyers from the Justice Department have been arguing in court lately that Trump’s continued lying about the election, along with the amplification of those lies by right-wing media, remains an ongoing threat." writes HCR.

1. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/joseph-goebbels-on-the-quot-big-lie-quot

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Tommy Robinson's Russian ties are not a surprise. Like Roger Stone's cutout was Julian Assange. Paul Manafort and Konstantin Kilimnik, Maria Butina and Paul Erickson, Rudy and Andrii Derkach, Donald T and Aras Agalarov, David Duke and Rinaldo Nazzaro. Christian Right leader Allan Carlson & Konstantin Malofeev, Flyn and Kisliak. And who did Eric Prince meet up in the Seychelles Jan 11 2017 by chance? And the this list goes on and on....

Why is that every faction leader of the Republican Party, whether it is in the NRA, the Christian Right, or "Terrorism Consultants" white supremist in the United States is only a few people or one away from a Russian agent? Richard Spencer, organizer of Unite the Right Organizer is married to Russian Nina Kouprianova, former translator for Russian Political Analyst, neo fascist Aleksandr Dugin, an special philosophical advisor to Putin?

Time for NSC and FBI to clean up this mess and serve some people one way tickets out of our country for good. Why are we putting up with this bullshit?

The Road to Unfreedom- Tim Snyder

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Dugin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_B._Spencer

https://observer.com/2017/09/interview-nina-kouprianova-wife-of-alt-right-leader-richard-spencer/

https://www.justsecurity.org/68420/confronting-russias-role-in-transnational-white-supremacist-extremism/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/blackwater-founder-held-secret-seychelles-meeting-to-establish-trump-putin-back-channel/2017/04/03/95908a08-1648-11e7-ada0-1489b735b3a3_story.html

the plot to destroy democracy-Malcom Nance

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Good morning, HCR and friends!

I can't wait to read the findings of a congressional commission on the 6th January insurrection, and all the more so, to see 45, his family, and lackeys (congressional and otherwise) convicted of treason by the DOJ.

I can't believe that I'm writing this: Brava to Liz Cheney for sticking to her guns (tongue in cheek!) while risking her standing in this warped GOP. It shows a healthy dollop of chutzpah and a moral spine, both of which are sorely lacking in McCarthy and other members of that Mafia, who can no longer be identified as a political party.

The ludicrous recounts of ballots that are taking place, plus the Big Lie and it's corresponding threats, re-echoed daily by 45 or his right wing media pundits leave me with a queasy feeling at the pit of my stomach. And yet, I refuse to allow them to overpower our democratic structures without a powerful grassroots struggle! We can be mighty if we stand together! We must, at the very least, give it a try!

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A question regarding today's letter: Why would a Secretary of State hand over official ballots to any private company?

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Good morning everyone! Except our troll and bot collection: I hope you have a terrible morning. So one of the things I find super interesting is which of HCR's letterset targeted by whatever Russian operative is in charge of monitoring and sending out the trolls. When she talks about historical stuff, they rarely bother. But when the malfeasance of the Repugnicans is revealed and open to discussion--whoops! Out they come.

TC, I do sincerely hope that a judge shuts down this whole thing because the same group is supposedly starting up the same stupid fake recount in Michigan. Meanwhile, anyone who has half a brain is quietly stepping away from their adherence to the Ghastly Old-Men Party. The DoJ has been working like crazy--on a skeleton staff because the Ghastly Ones are still holding up under-secretary appointments in hopes to slow Garland down. But I suspect that the people who were rehired after quitting the Barr-fest in disgust are very interested in keeping the ball rolling. However, the wheels of real justice rotate slowly and it could be some time before we see federal indictments of the Trumpistas coming down. What I am hoping for is some more energy coming from NY's prosecutors.

Meanwhile, Garland is also initiating investigations of the Louisville police department, and probably others beyond that one and Minneapolis. Breonna's family might (I am hoping) get some justice after all.

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I think it’s time to stop talking about what Trump followers “believe” and stop talking about trying to get them to see what is factual and true. Time even to stop talking about “lying.” We are dealing with a blatant attempt to make a coup. There’s nothing “delusional” going on here. There’s only an insurrection with a barely disguised attempt to create an avalanche of alternative reality in which any opposition is met with force. Americans who want a democracy are going to need to find new tools to cope with this juggernaut. We are going to need to fight fire with fire. I’m concerned that our “delusion”is that rational democratic tools can beat back this anti democracy army that’s being created right before our eyes. Dangerous times!!

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I see dangerous delusions in the GOP. It is like they all have serious personality disorders and some of the older ones, like Ms. Lindsey, has selective dementia. The mistruths, the stories they weave, should really be fiction but unfortunately they are not. This is going to be a battle to the finish. I just want us to the winners.

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While I applaud the stand Liz Cheney took following the insurrection, I don't trust Liz Cheney as far as I can throw her. That apple does not fall far from the tree. Her father did a similar move following Watergate. That said if I had to choose between her or Trump Sycophant Kevin McCarthy to lead the Republican party, the choice is a no brainer.

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From what I’ve read recently it seems to me that the GOP is in a position where they can’t win with Trump and they can’t win without him.

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Acceptance of the vote is the fundamental tenet of the peaceful transition of power in this country. If the majority of the members of the minority party will not accept this concept then we are in a crisis.

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Slightly off topic, but I would like to know when the American people are going to see some accountability in the form of indictments and criminal trials of trump, his minions, and the insurrectionists. As far as it looks now, many people got away with crimes against this country, tax fraud (doesn’t the SDNY have the goods on Trump?). etc. That they seemingly “got away with it” continues to fuel the bizarrely dangerous behavior and actions of trump cultists and sympathizers. trump continues to sit on his palace gold toilet throne demanding loyalty (to him only) while spewing nonsense rhetoric to do it all again.

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'"Maybe if they hadn't deceived me, I could have done something,'' he told me. "Maybe I could have stopped the Iraq War."'

'Bonk, a former deputy director of the agency's Counterterrorist Center and an officer responsible for intelligence on Iraq in the year leading up to the U.S. invasion in 2003, spoke with me on background in June 2010 about events leading to the disastrous war.'

'And Bonk's statements—about deceptions that prevented solid intelligence on Iraq from reaching President George W. Bush, as well as other information kept from the public during the buildup to war—are once again in the news ...'

'And for any analysts unclear on what the administration wanted to hear, Vice President Dick Cheney... made sure they got the message on August 26, 2002, when he delivered a public speech that had not been vetted by the White House or cleared by Bush. "There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction,'' he said. "There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies and against us."' (Newsweek: Dick Cheney's Biggest Lie, BY KURT EICHENWALD ON 05/19/15 AT 7:26 AM EDT}

It's natural to think of Dick Cheney, when I think of Liz Cheney. Her father was such a pivotal figure, the outsized Vice President of George W. Bush. I am not alone in thinking that he was the mastermind behind our invasion of Iraq. We go from Cheney's colossally horrific lie, what are the words to encapsulate what we did in the Middle East based on Dick Cheney's lie? Jump from Cheney's BIG LIE to Trump's. Slide from there to Liz Cheney, one of the very few Republicans, and the bravest of them, determined that American people know the truth. It is breathtaking to witness, from father to daughter.

Trump's LIE is already deeply embedded in the minds of many millions of American's. Could it spell catastrophe? My hunch is that Liz Cheney thinks it could. I believe that she's not standing up to the Republican Party out of self-interest as we have become accustomed to with other politicians.

Heather wrote:

'What is at stake is the future of the Republican Party. What is also at stake is the future of the country.'

Is Heather saying that unless the Republican Party parts with Trump and the LIE, it will not survive? If the Party sticks with Trump and the LIE, it will take itself and the country down?

The odds are that the Democrats will not do well in the 2022 elections. History tells us the president's party generally does poorly in the mid-term elections, and the Republican party is doing everything it can to gum up the works.

As nice and caring as Biden is; as skilled and efficient the administration has.... there is no peace, no security and no rest for the weary.

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Why not include the BLM protests? If they can find a honest (hard to imagine ) bi-partisan panel to investigate the 01/06/21 insurrection then the contrast between the BLM protests and the Trump insurrection is so great it would make the point even shaper.

The BLM protests were remarkably peaceful, see The Washington Post 10/16/20

Monkey Cage

Analysis

This summer’s Black Lives Matter protesters were overwhelmingly peaceful, our research finds.....

The BLM protests were about something real--cops killing blacks--and remarkably peaceful. The Trump insurrection was about the "big lie" and not peaceful.

Bring the contrast on!

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"Tying the Republican Party to the Big Lie that caused the January 6 insurrection is a dangerous game. It is still unclear what will come out about the insurrection and the media lies that supported it and continue to support it."

I still believe that something could break open that even these most soulless, anti-American, democracy-destroying, egomaniacal, gaslighting, opportunistic, duplicitous, Big Lying SOBs cannot slime bucket their way out of.

Thank you for reminding us that we do not know much of what the Justice Department or various intelligence agencies have or may get.

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I don’t get it. If all these people, including trump, believe trump is still the xxxxxxxxx, then how is it that President Biden is in the White House. If trump was still legitimately in office why wasn’t this stopped? How can they not see what’s before their very eyes?

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