"The Global Consciousness Project, also known as the EGG Project, is an international multidisciplinary collaboration of scientists, engineers, artists and others continuously collecting data from a global network of physical random number generators located in 65 host sites worldwide. The archive contains over 10 years of random data in parallel sequences of synchronized 200-bit trials every second."
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, January 29, 2024
Feelings, whoa, oh, oh, feelings Whoa, oh, oh, feel it Whoa, oh, again
— from the 1974 song “Feelings” popularized by Morris Albert
Louis Gasté (1908-1995), a French composer, in 1988 sued Morris Albert (b.1951) claiming that the song “Feelings” was plagiarized from his 1957 song “Pour Toi.” (French, meaning “For You”) He won the case and is now listed as co-creator.
Touchy-Feely vs Facts & Science
Very nearly 1000 books on a 16-page list could possibly, “contain material that might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex… whether consciously or unconsciously.”
When I read that passage quoted above — which was directly related to a recent news item about political officials banning books in public schools, and which was excerpted from a very high level government official’s letter — it struck me as being THE VERY THING that We The People had been warned about some time ago, that so-called touchy-feely nonsense, instead of genuinely thoughtful, even provocative civil discourse, would replace and substitute for education efforts, that an inordinate concern and worry for students’ FEELINGS — not facts — would lead to a substantial decline in the quality of education.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, January 28, 2024
Like it, or not, politics often thrives on fear — for the Republicans, especially, and particularly — but truth be told, the Democrats do their fair share of fear-mongering, as well, just not to the extent that GOPers do it. There are a variety of tricks — yes, tricks — that both party’s politicians do to ingratiate themselves to the electorate, and fear-baiting is but one.
And whether, or not, one considers the following fear-baiting, is up to the reader to decide.
But suffice it to say, rarely in the history of American politics has there ever been a time in which Democrats and so many Republicans have coalesced against a candidate, presumptive, or not, of their own party. The former, 45th POTUS is that man.
Many have said that, he is a danger to this nation, to its founding principles, and to liberty itself. The list goes on, and on, and on, and on.
There are numerous reasons why I count myself in that camp, though none of them are based upon fear, and rather, are based upon what he did during his term in office. Never before in the history of our nation has one man attempted to overthrow it. Never before in the history of our nation has any man (or woman) elected to the highest office in the land had utterly ZERO experience in elected office, public or military service, or volunteer service in any capacity, in any organization, whatsoever. And try as one might, there is little-to-nothing good which can be said about him.
When someone tells you who they are, believe them. That man has not only done so, but demonstrated as much. And based upon what he has done, and what he has said, it seems evident enough that he could do, and quite possibly would do, many, most, or worse, even all of the following.
Hey, I “get it,” which is to say that, I understand why and what it is that people see in that man. They like his bull-in-a-china-shop style, his take-no-prisoners approach, his my-way-or-the-highway manner, his bluff, bluster and false bravado, and they believe every word that drips from his lips, as if he were some type of prophet, some type of übermensch, or super-man, as Nietzsche called his concocted idyllic mythical character. It is all interpreted by his followers as “strength,” and “resolve.”
Yet… it is anything but.
But, FEAR NOT!
These words are worth remembering, and repeating, as you cast your ballot in November:
“This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.”
— Opening paragraph of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1st Inaugural Address, March 4, 1933
NOTE: The following is a hypothetical scenario, HOWEVER….
[Every incident mentioned in this article is based on an actual statement or action by Donald Trump, the people closely surrounding him, or something Trump has praised about his role model Victor Orbán.]
It was a hell of a year, 2025: the first year of the First Reich (as those formerly called Democrats referred to it) or The New America as the GOP now refers to our nation. One people, one nation, one leader: America, President-for-life Trump tells us, is now “truly great.”
It started with the election of November 2024, when the No Labels candidacy of Larry Hogan and Joe Manchin pulled enough electoral votes away from Biden — who was more than 10 million popular votes ahead of Trump — that none of the three tickets hit the necessary 270 Electoral College votes to win the White House.
It was a scenario similar to 1824 when John Quincy Adams lost the popular vote to Andrew Jackson but, because William Crawford and Henry Clay were also running for president, neither Adams or Jackson hit the threshold with the Electoral College and the vote went to the House of Representatives, which made Adams president in a series of backroom deals known to historians as the “Corrupt Bargain.”
In a similar way, the election of 2024 was thrown into the House of Representatives, per the 12th Amendment, with each state having one single vote. Since 26 states had Republican-controlled congressional delegations and only 23 had Democratic-controlled delegations (Pennsylvania is evenly split), the House voted 26-24 for Donald Trump to become the next president. He didn’t even need to threaten his vice president or invoke a mob.
At his swearing-in, Trump announced that he was going to fulfill his “dictator for a day” promise and pardoned himself, all Republicans who were in Congress in January 2021 and helped organize or support the attack on the Capitol, and all the January 6th seditionists.
He then announced that the 24 Democrats leading their congressional delegations who’d voted against him in the House were “guilty of sedition against the United States.” As he spoke, each was arrested and taken into custody.
A Texas House panel adopted 20 articles of impeachment against Attorney General Ken Paxton on Thursday.
The decision by the House General Investigating Committee comes a day after the panel heard from investigators who shared a long list of Paxton’s alleged illegal acts aimed at protecting a political donor.
“After a period of time for your review and reflections, I intend to call up the resolution adopting the articles of impeachment,” Chairman Andrew Murr, R-Junction, told House members Thursday evening.
It’s unclear when the full House might vote on the impeachment resolution. The final day of the legislative session is Monday.
If the House votes to impeach, the Republican attorney general would be suspended from his role pending action from the Texas Senate.
The articles of impeachment include disregard of official duty, misapplication of public resources, constitutional bribery and obstruction of justice.
The panel’s decision to move to impeach comes after four House-hired investigators revealed on Wednesday they uncovered evidence of multiple violations of the law and Paxton’s oath of office, including abuse of official capacity, misuse of official information, and retaliation and official oppression.
Many of the allegations were previously known, but Wednesday was the first time they were discussed publicly and in such detail.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, May 7, 2023
One of Texas’ most recent laws — Senate Bill 8, signed into law 19 May 2021 — which essentially turns the general public into vigilantes, and establishes a subjective quid pro quo, presuming — without evidence — that a woman is: 1.) Pregnant, and; 2.) That she’s undergone a legal, private, medical procedure – an abortion — is so bizarre that it defies imagination.
The Lone Star State’s Banana Republican Governor, a wheelchair-bound crippled hypocrite named Greg Abbott, also most recently deflected in a most bizarre manner when asked a question by a reporter September 7, 2021:
“Why force a rape or incest victim to carry a pregnancy to term?”
The Governor replied, saying:
“Aaah… it doesn’t require that at all, because it, obviously, it provides at least six weeks… aaah, for a person, aaah… to be able to, aaah… get an abortion. So for one, it doesn’t provide that. That said, however, let’s make something very clear: Rape… is a crime. And Texas will work tirelessly to make sure that we eliminate all rapists from the streets of Texas, by aggressively going out and… ah… arresting them, and prosecuting them, and, and getting them off the streets. So, goal number one in the state of Texas, is to eliminate rape, so there’s no woman, no person, will be a victim of rape.”
The also-crippled-in-the-head Guvnah Greggy-poo gives a good straw man argument defense. The reporter should have followed up by asking how the law reduces rape.
And just to remind readers what a “straw man argument” is, it goes like this:
A ‘straw man’ — an effigy, a fictitious, make-believe, person-like character — is established, and then, verbally pummeled as being the responsible party for whatever ails or problems exist. The ‘straw man’ needn’t be a person, of course, but it helps. A ‘straw man’ could be sharks, such as “sharks are the cause of death in oceans, not only because they eat fish and other animals like seals, but are known to kill and eat humans, as well. Therefore, sharks are evil, and because sharks will eat your babies, and your pregnant women, sharks must be killed… because sharks kill and eat babies and pregnant women… and the elderly. You don’t want your granny eaten by a shark, do you? Save your babies! Save your pregnant women! Save your granny! KILL ALL SHARKS!” The speaker establishes an effigy, and verbally pummels it, INSTEAD OF directly addressing the question.
While that example of a straw man argument should suffice to demonstrate the speciousness of such rhetorical devices, it should also be borne in mind that Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, February 2, 2023
You DARE question MY POWER?!?
I’ll show YOU who’s the boss, you little pissants!
Mitch McConnell
Senate Repugnicunt Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of KY has removed Senators Rick Scott of FL, and Mike Lee of UT from the powerful Commerce Committee in apparent retaliation for Scott’s challenge to McConnell’s leadership, and for Lee’s support of Scott’s effort.
The Commerce Committee has broad jurisdiction over numerous federal agencies, is considered a prestigious assignment, and McConnell had exclusive power to decide whether Scott and Lee would remain on the Committee because it was the third so-called “A-list” committee assignment both held.
Scott is also a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, while Lee is a member of the prestigious Judiciary Committee, and the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Scott had more seniority on the Commerce Committee than Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, who also serves on two other “A-list” committees — Banking, and Environment and Public Works committees — and Lee had more seniority than Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, who also sits on the Appropriations Committee and is the ranking Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee.
McConnell replaced Scott, Lee, and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin — who left the Commerce Committee to take a coveted seat on the Finance Committee — with Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, January 23, 2023
Perhaps the most “burning” question in many political observers imagination in the matter of George Santos/Anthony Devolder’s election is:
“How DID this happen?”
I’ll take that question for $1000.
In a word, “apathy.”
Constituents who entrusted their support to him in NYD3 were hypothecated.
Allow me to explain. They pledged their support (as evidenced by their votes), and when the pledge expired following the election’s certification, he took the Congressional Oath of Office, and to their dismay, voters discovered they did not control (own) him. After all, they DID allow him to run under their banner. Had they any control over their own party, they would have never done so… or, at least they want us to believe that.
Frankly, NYCD3 voters have no one to blame but themselves.
One of their several news outlets — no, NOT The Old Gray Lady, but the North Shore Leader — warned constituents long in advance (in September) that he was a fraud.
The metaphorical “voice of one crying in the wilderness” was largely ignored, until it was convenient for the OG to belatedly “pounce” upon the dirty deal done dirt cheap in December… after the election was over, and certified, and hope to draw some belated attention to themselves… long after the fact.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, January 22, 2023
The lying Republican elected to represent New York’s 3rd Congressional District (Queens/Nassau) is not just any old run-of-the-mill liar, he is a pathological liar.
His life, or rather, what he has presented as his life, is just one blatant falsehood after another. And that the good people of that portion of Long Island which he represents have elected him, speaks more to THEIR laziness and THEIR ineptness than to anything else.
The people of that district have stained THEIR own name, THEY have soiled their own shorts.
One of their local newspapers, The North Shore Leader, broke the story on The Fabulist, and did an at-lenght exposé of him BEFORE the election, and BEFORE the New York Times.
In a story published 20 January 2023 and headlined “The Leader Told You So: US Rep-Elect George Santos Is a Fraud — and Wanted Criminal,” they detailed how, at least four months earlier, they had broken the story, and wanting to endorse a Republican candidate, they could not, because of his wholesale lies about himself, which again, they discovered and reported BEFORE the New York Times.
The Veteran’s Service Animal died because George Santos/Anthony Devolder diverted the money raised for his own selfish use.
It is almost a pointless exercise to detail the hideous lies he has told about himself, each one more fantastic than the next, and with the discovery that they were all a pack of lies, he merely brushed them all off saying they were “embellishments” of his résumé.
Seemingly countless people have come forward, individuals who knew, or have known him personally, and without exception, they every one have essentially said the same thing: George Santos/Anthony Devolder is a liar.
Wikipedia page for user Anthonydevolder, who is, more likely than not, George Santos. Devolder is his late mother’s surname.
In the mean time, others who have been around him over the years have found evidence from a few years earlier when he was a drag queen.
While he has claimed to be openly gay, he was once married to a woman, and purports to have changed. Exactly how, he has not made clear, and refuses to speak to news outlets.
When news and video of his drag queen days made the national news, he denied it all.
When news of George Santos’ Wikipedia User ID page under the name of “Anthonydevolder” in the category of Drag Queen was made known, “edit wars” started upon it almost immediately, and the page was “blanked,” which raises several unsettling questions: “Why?,” and “who?” most notable among them.
HOWEVER… HuffPost recently published at least one news article about the recent discovery of an item which was Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, January 9, 2023
Representative Jim Jordan-R,OH4
Have you recently read any crap on Twitter?
It’s much too easy to read plenty of phony baloney malarkey on Twitter.
Of course, that’s not very difficult to do now that Elon Muskrat is actively burning down that house, and welcoming Neo-Nazis, White Supremacists, Big Lie promoters, QAnon conspiracy theorists, and other such ilk on board… again.
Here’s but one statement which I recently read on that social media dumpster fire:
“Incoming House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan has not authored, sponsored, nor passed one piece of legislation in his 17 years in Congress.”
Of course, there were other surrounding contextual words and remarks, some of which were opinion, others fact (sounds vaguely familiar, eh?), and it was quite obvious that the author had no love lost for Ohio’s 4th Congressional District Republican Representative.
And frankly, neither have I lost any love for that lunatic.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, January 8, 2023
Richard Hudson-R,NC8 physically retrained Mike Rogers-R,AL3 from attacking Matt Gaetz-R,FL1 after he verbally accosted Matt Gaetz following Gaetz’ “PRESENT” vote in the 14th round of balloting for Speaker of the House (SOTH), causing Kevin McCarthy-R,CA20 to lose, late Friday night, January 6, 2023
“Matt, you’re FINISHED!
I’m not gonna forget this!”
Ever wonder what barnyard animals
— pigs —
behave like?
Wonder no more.
Mike “Rugrat” Rogers, a Redneck Repugnicant from Not-So-Sweet-Home Alabama, a slave state, the asshole of Dixie, who misrepresents the state’s 3rd Congressional largely poor, uneducated and easy-to-command mostly-White District was drunk and disorderly, under the influence of intoxicating/spirituous beverage, according to at least one observer who was close enough to smell his breath, when “Rugrat” Rogers accosted Matt Gaetz-R,FL1 and attempted to start a fight with him on late Friday night, January 6th, 2023, after the 14th failed round of balloting for Speaker of the House.
No, Mister Mike “Rugrat” Rogers, YOU’RE the one who’s finished.
You’ve now made your Alabama shit stain mark
to a national television audience,
a global audience via the Internet,
and yourself a permanently indelible pock mark
upon your wretchedly failed party,
and sadly, upon American history.
Richard Hudson-R,NC8 physically retrained Mike Rogers-R,AL3 from attacking Matt Gaetz-R,FL1 after he screamed at and verbally accosted Matt Gaetz following Gaetz’ “PRESENT” vote in the 14th round of balloting for Speaker of the House (SOTH), causing Kevin McCarthy-R,CA20 to lose, late Friday night, January 6, 2023.
Congratulations, Mr. Asshole Weasel Drunk Redneck Mike Rugrat Rogers.
You shouldn’t have been on the House floor under the influence, and you sure as hell didn’t represent Alabama — or, maybe you did!
Alabama is full of assholes like him.
They’re called “weasels,” and are generally considered pests everywhere they’re found. Interestingly, a group of weasels is called Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, November 11, 2022
Thirteen days after the 2020 election, I had lunch with President Trump. I told him that if his legal challenges came up short, he could simply accept the results, move forward with the transition, and start a political comeback, winning the Senate runoffs in Georgia, the 2021 Virginia governor’s race, and the House and Senate in 2022. Then he could run for president in 2024 and win. He seemed unmoved, even weary: “I don’t know, 2024 is so far off.”
A common housefly alit and remained for several minutes upon Vice President Mike Pence’s head, Wednesday, October 7, during the 2020 Vice Presidential debate at the University of Utah, in Salt Lake City, with Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee.
In a Dec. 5 call, the president for the first time mentioned challenging the election results in Congress. By mid-December, the internet was filled with speculation about my role. An irresponsible TV ad by a group calling itself the Lincoln Project suggested that when I presided over the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress to count the electoral votes, it would prove that I knew “it’s over,” and that by doing my constitutional duty, I would be “putting the final nail in the coffin” of the president’s re-election. To my knowledge, it was the first time anyone implied I might be able to change the outcome. It was designed to annoy the president. It worked. During a December cabinet meeting, President Trump told me the ad “looked bad for you.” I replied that it wasn’t true: I had fully supported the legal challenges to the election and would continue to do so.
On Dec. 19, the president mentioned plans for a rally in Washington on Jan. 6. I thought that would be useful to call attention to the proceedings. I had just spoken with a senator about the importance of vetting concerns about the election before Congress and the American people. At the White House on Dec. 21, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan led lawmakers in a discussion about plans to bring objections. I promised that all properly submitted objections would be recognized and fully debated.
On Dec. 23, my family boarded Air Force Two to spend Christmas with friends. As we flew across America, President Trump retweeted an obscure article titled “Operation Pence Card.” It alluded to the theory that if all else failed, I could alter the outcome of the election on Jan. 6. I showed it to Karen, my wife, and rolled my eyes.
Plainclothes United States Capitol Police behind a barricaded door on the Floor of the House of Representatives, aim at an insurrectionist — one of thousands on January 6, 2021 who ransacked and destroyed government property and offices at the U.S. Capitol Building at the oblique request of then-POTUS Donald Trump in his failed conspiracy attempt to remain in power by providing several slates of falsified Electoral College Electors, then inciting violence during the certification process — following his re-election defeat in the November 2020 General Election to the Democratic Party’s nominee, former long-time U.S. Senator, then Vice President, Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, November 10, 2022
Yes, it’s TRUE:
Iowa Republican Senator Charles “Chuck” Grassley, now aged 89, (b.1933) was born before the invention of the chocolate chip cookie (late 1930’s).
And — believe it, or else — Iowa voters returned him to the nation’s Capitol to serve warm a seat another six (6) years in the United States Senate.
So, when was the chocolate chip cookie invented?
For that answer, we find this:
“The original recipe was created in the late 1930s by Ruth Wakefield who famously ran the Toll House restaurant in Whitman, Massachusetts. The delicious mix of crispy cookie and melted chocolate chunks first appeared in Read the rest of this entry »
NONE of that mass-produced, factory-farmed, Made-in-China, Made-for-China gobbledygook.
This does NOT need refrigeration!
And, these pieces are also cooked, of course.
Oh! And you KNOW, that since 2013, Smithfield Foods, in Smithfield, VA, a formerly-American-based company, has been OWNED BY THE COMMUNIST CHINESE “Shuanghui Group” (now known as “WH Group” because it sounds more “American,” you know) because Smithfield’s Wall$teet corporate owners sold their American birthright for a paltry bowl of porridge — a mere US$4.72B.
You DO recall that China is a Communist nation, don’t you?
WH Group’s “global headquarters is strategically located in Hong Kong, with regional headquarters in China and the U.S.,” while the “Headquarters Shuanghui Development in Luohe, Henan Province,” China, and WH Group’s U.S. Headquarters of their Smithfield Foods division is in Smithfield, Virginia.
WH Group is also one of the LARGEST FOREIGN OWNERS of American farmland, with 146,000 acres, and that separate sale (as part of Smithfield’s holdings) was worth US$500M, according to the USDA.
Put another way, 146,000 acres is 228.1252 square miles… that’s nearly 20% (18.79% exactly) of the entire state of Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, October 31, 2022
Liars, Lunatics, and Losers: Today’s Republican Party
The formerly “Grand Old Party” is now Not So Grand.
Can the once-Grand Old Party survive the onslaught which has filled its rolls with the likes of Donald Trump, Marjorie Taylor Green, Lauren Boebert, Paul Gosar, Herschel Walker, J.D. Vance, Tom Cotton, Rand Paul, Mitch McConnell, Matt Gaetz, Kevin McCarthy, et al, and other sycophants?
We’ll see… we’ll see.
“We, in America, have some of the cleanest air and cleanest water of anybody in the world. We don’t control the air. Our good air decided to float over to China’s bad air so when China gets our good air, their bad air has got to move. So it moves over to our good air space. Then, now, we’ve got to clean that back up.” — Herschel Walker, Georgia GOP U.S. Senate candidate, campaign event, Hall County, GA, Saturday, July 9, 2022
After the Uvalde, Texas school massacre, where 19 students & 2 teachers were slaughtered, Hershel Walker was asked about gun control, and said: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, October 30, 2022
You should know this:
IN LESS THAN 90 DAYS, YOUR CHANCE OF BEING KILLED IN ALABAMA WILL INCREASE.
WHY?
On March 11 this year (2022), Republican Governess Kay Ivey signed into law House Bill 272, which was proffered, and supported by the state’s GOP legislators, to wantonly arm the citizens, WITHOUT requiring proof of anyone’s ability to demonstrate competency, or properly handle, the concealed firearms they will soon be allowed to carry EVERYWHERE THEY GO. The law will become effective January 2023.
Of the 29 total votes against HB272, 3 were Republican, 2 Democrats did not vote, 2 Republicans were absent, Yeas totaled 70.
Even our Armed Forces, at the most fundamental level, MANDATE that EVERY SERVICE MEMBER demonstrate competency with numerous firearms, and other weapons of war.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, October 9, 2022
Neoliberalism’s Globalization scheme has failed… SPECTACULARLY.
And all it took was 50 years, a global pandemic, the practical decimation via “outsourcing” of the majority of the American domestic economy, an increase in homelessness, deaths of all kinds from all sources, addictions, crime, disease, mass incarceration, increase in preventable deaths from lack of healthcare, all-time high wealth dispartity, increase in poverty rates, tax cuts upon the wealthiest Americans and their corporations, after GOP POTUS Richard Nixon kissed Communist China’s Chairman Mao’s derriere through cozying up to Mao’s successor/henchman Chinese Communist Chairman Chou En-lai.
What is “neoliberalism”?
Well, one thing it’s NOT, is pro-American.
The sequence of events that led to ‘Brexit’ — a moniker referring to the British exit from the European Union — began as part of a neoliberal campaign to deregulate many previously-regulated industries, and create a ‘free market uptopia’ in the UK. They failed at every turn.
The other thing that IT IS, is a primarily a GOP-wielded tool… though, in all fairness, there have been some Democrats (like Bill Clinton) who enthusiastically supported it, along with the so-called “Three Strikes” laws which is a two-part scheme, consisting of a:
1.) School-to-prison pipeline, which then becomes a;
2.) Prison-packing scheme
— which has continuously disproportionately harmed our non-White brothers & sisters, primarily, and in that process turned America into a police state. In the United States, there are MORE TOTAL PEOPLE INCARCERATED than in all the prisons combined in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Russia, North Korea, China, and other despotically-ruled totalitarian regimes worldwide.
Applying a “Free Market” ideology to that scenario would dictate that capacities of the prisons should not be enlarged (in order to minimize operating costs), and instead, build Wall-$treet-traded PRIVATE FOR-PROFIT PRISONS — which is a very “pro-free market” thing to do, which again, is part and parcel of neoliberal behavior, strategies, and tactics.
Yeah.
But “neoliberalism” is a hard-line “modern spin” on some old ideas, at least as interpreted by an entire cadre of moderns (most of whom are in the current era).
“philosophical view that a society’s political and economic institutions should be robustly liberal and capitalist, but supplemented by a constitutionally limited democracy and a modest welfare state.”
Typically, individuals who subscribe to, and promote, such ideas often do so blindly, and unthinkingly.
Again, most — but, not all — whom have espoused, or supported neoliberal ideas have been (and are) GOPers and Radicalized Republicans.
The preposterous absurdity of that statement is self-evident, because if government is the problem, then the obvious solution to that problem is elimination of it (government); and the absence of government is a state of anarchy, chaos, and lawlessness. Yet, it was at that point in which radicalized Republicans who identified themselves as the “TEA Party” caucus (Taxed Enough Already), began in earnest to slowly dismantle government, bit-by-bit, piece-by-piece, and law-by-law.
POTUS Clinton was also largely sycophantic to the GOP’s destructive objective under the direction of GOP Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, when he proudly proclaimed in his January 23, 1996 State of the Union Address, that “The era of big government is over.” Yet, his go-along-to-get-along strategy proved inadequate when faced with the reality of the failures of Three-Strikes laws, creation of a school-to-prison pipeline as a private-prison-for-profit packing strategy, which incarcerated more non-Whites than Whites, especially through disparate sentencing for crack vs powder cocaine, and cannabis.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, October 3, 2022
Partisan politics makes enemies of men & women who would otherwise be friends.
Matt Gaetz is a prime example of that, as is Marjorie Taylor Green, and Colorado High School dropout Lauren Boebert, as is Ted “Canun” Cruz, as are several others. Those individuals exist to serve themselves, and their interests, personally, without respect for their constituency’s wishes, or expressed desires. It is the most egregious example and type of self-seeking, and a callous disregard for the well-being and lives of others.
During Texas’ statewide energy crisis (electrical & NatGas) Ted “Cancun” Cruz and his family fled to Cancun, Mexico, where they partied and vacationed for several days. Then, presumably struck by pangs of conscience, Ted departed earlier than his family — but only by a few days. Of course, the best part was hearing Ted try and justify his actions by saying something about “work,” which for him is warming a seat in the Senate.
That is, if one doesn’t count him as being a constantly-generating bag of hot noxious gas on Capitol Hill whom is known for its enormous volume of putrid output… which, of course, he is.
But Matt Gaetz… don’t you wonder what ever became of the investigation into his behavior with now-plead-guilty sex trafficking pal Joel Greenberg? Seems Federal Prosecutors found that the 2 most central and most important witnesses were “unreliable” — Joel Greenberg, and the then-17-year-old young woman —
Federal Prosecutors were examining whether Greenberg paid women to have sex with Gaetz,
and whether the two shared sexual partners,
including the 17-year-old girl at issue in Greenberg’s case.
— which would hamper any prosecution attempt — and so for that primary reason, declined to prosecute.
KEY BACKGROUND, via Forbes: “Greenberg, who was elected as tax collector in 2016, was arrested last summer on charges of stalking and using social media to impersonate an opponent. An ensuing investigation — including a raid of Greenberg’s home — resulted in him being accused of soliciting a girl between the ages of 14 and 17 for sex, wire fraud, conspiracy to bribe a public official and theft of government property. That probe reportedly found evidence linking him to Gaetz, prompting a Justice Department investigation into whether Greenberg procured women for Gaetz and whether the Florida Republican had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl whom he paid to travel with him.”
Given Greenberg’s case history, Jurors would most likely NOT be inclined to believe sworn testimony from him, who as a politician, fabricated a false story against a schoolteacher who was campaigning against him as Tax Collector. Greenberg anonymously sent letters to the school where the teacher worked, and falsely claimed that the teacher had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a student — an allegation similar to the Gaetz case — which was but 1 charge of 6 to which Greenberg plead guilty. The other charges to which Greenberg plead guilty were identity theft, stalking, wire fraud, conspiracy to bribe a public official, and sex trafficking of a minor.
“Nobody’s going to believe anything that Joel Greenberg says by itself. His statements would need to be corroborated by testimony or evidence,” said David Bear, a lawyer for the schoolteacher.
What a lucky strike for Gaetz, eh?
Gaetz Maintains Innocence As Associate Admits Introducing ‘Other Adult Men’ To Minor For Paid Sex In Guilty Plea Deal
— Introduced her to “other adult men” who “engaged in commercial sex acts” with her.
Exactly what are “commercial sex acts”? Is that anything like cattle insemination? What about its collection? Is that also a sex act? And, to the extent that humans are involved with animal sex acts, that makes for a good headline.
Gotta’ sell those papers, don’cha know?
But, what kind of human being would CONTINUOUSLYvoteAGAINST helping their own fellowman, especially during time of natural disaster?
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, October 2, 2022
In response to the question in the article linked below, “No. It does NOT absolve them of responsibility for their actions. It merely means “it’s all over but the crying.””
And this is the crying.
Emphasizing particularly that it is important to acknowledge someone akin to a debating partner, rather than a mortal enemy. It is a hallmark of civility.
As long has been said, disagreeing on the finer points of a narrow range of subjects doesn’t mean to be disagreeable, though some have so misinterpreted the aphorism. Everyone is welcome at funerals… save then-POTUS Donald Trump, whom Arizona Republican Senator John McCain specifically excluded by name before he died. Like him, or loathe him (ideologies, not personally), John McCain was a man of integrity and honor.
But, death is THE common denominator from which ALL humanity suffers.
Even at a funeral, the attendees all share a common bond — the deceased.
Funerals are NOT for the deceased; instead, they are for the living, to enable them an opportunity to publicly and collectively express their individual, private, and public, sense of loss and sorrow, at the deceased’s departure.
〝Eulogies, by their very nature, often lionize the dead,
and by so doing,
tend to give a flawed, romanticized picture of the deceased,
one that sometimes is not based in reality.
It paints a portrait of the person
as we WANT to remember them,
rather than how they were.〞
Obituaries, on the other hand, can be, and often are, written by another, sometimes not even a relative, such as with the death of a public figure, where elongated obituaries often become human interest feature articles, and can, and do, also sometimes mention difficulties, losses, struggles, and failures, not just the high-lights, or high points of one’s life.
Thinking forward, one will naturally be curious about who will attend Donald John Trump’s funeral. Naturally, there’ll be the likely suspects, Rudi Giuliani, Michael Flynn, Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, immediate family (children, their spouses & families), a few business associates, and perhaps a few others. But ‘who would want to attend’ such an event is about what I’m curious. How many extras would be hired to give the (false) appearance of being well-attended — as he did exaggeration at his Inauguration? Clearly, there he did not. The crowd size experts that estimated “numbers” of those attending the event was severally estimated by numerous independent agencies, to be between 300,000 – 600,000.
In stark contrast is the 2009 Obama inauguration’s estimated 1,800,000 attendance. That has to rile him something fierce. Of course, Trump’s obituary will likely lead with something like “he was best known for being the only twice-impeached POTUS, and instigator of the January 6, 2020 Insurrection, when murderous mobs armed with unconventional weapons literally broke into the U.S. Capitol Building, and roamed freely throughout, pillaging as they went…”
They Voted to Overturn an Election.
Did Their Obits Let Them Off the Hook?
By Michael Schaffer
09/09/2022
04:30 AM EDT
When Indiana Congresswoman Jackie Walorski died in a traffic accident last month, readers of the Washington Post write-up had to wait until the final paragraph — below the fulsome tributes from a bipartisan array of colleagues; below the discussions of her anti-abortion politics and her committee assignments — to learn about what may have been the most important vote of her career: On January 6th, 2021, she voted against certifying the results of the 2020 election.
…
It’s not that votes against certifying the election have been universally memory-holed. The New York Times obit for Hagedorn, for instance, led with his election-overturning vote. It’s that the coverage is all over the place. The same vote was mentioned low in the reports of his death offered by the Associated Press and his home-state Star-Tribune, and not at all in the Guardian, a publication that’s generally not especially friendly to baseless conspiracy theories about 2020 fraud.
U.S. Representative Jackie Walorski, R, IN-2 –CENTER– listens during a meeting between President Donald Trump and congressional members in the Cabinet Room of the White House February 13, 2018 in Washington, DC. – Alex Wong/Getty Images
Likewise, Wright’s vote made the last paragraph of the AP obit, but was unmentioned in the lengthy obituary in his hometown Dallas Morning News or the news account of his death in the Texas Tribune. (POLITICO didn’t run traditional obits, but its news accounts of the three deaths — which featured tributes from colleagues but no lengthy resume-recitations — also did not take note of the way they voted on January 6.)
This is all, on the face of it, rather strange. The last few years have featured no shortage of assertions in the media that the preservation of democracy ought to be the profession’s highest calling. The vote on whether or not to certify the election was a seminal one, a moment to pick sides. No less a figure than Mitch McConnell called it “the most important vote I’ve ever cast.” So why not treat it as similarly defining for that vast majority of legislators with careers that have been shorter than McConnell’s?
Part of what’s going on here is our society-wide taboo against speaking ill of the dead and a major-media taboo against appearing biased. The deaths of all three members of Congress were greeted with genuine sorrow by Republican allies and generous aisle-crossing statements by the likes of Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi — warm remembrances attesting to faith and friendship and devotion to public service. Why muck it up by mentioning something controversial?
Rep. Jim Hagedorn addresses a crowd at a campaign rally for President Donald Trump in 2020. — Bruce Kluckhohn/AP Photo
Beyond the fact that mucking things up is what the news media is supposed to do, that speak-no-ill logic assumes that a vote to overturn the election was a bad thing — a statement a substantial minority of Americans disagree with, for better or worse. Presumably, if you believe the election was fatally marred by irregularities, you still agree that the vote to reject it was an important one.
More practically, unexpected deaths of sitting members of Congress are also a place where the measured judgments of people writing for history bump into the reality of Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, September 26, 2022
Pulitzer prize winning, nationally syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts, who also happens to be a Black man, wrote recently about the moron who the Georgia GOP trotted out to represent their interests — the former footballer, wife beater, philanderer, mentally unstable liar, Herschel Walker.
Pitts’ observations are spot-on.
But moreover, what this matter speaks to, is the wretchedly miserable condition of the Georgia GOP.
The GOP only trotted out that moron because he’s Black.
Now, you tell me…
Is that not pandering to racism, and race-based politics — fielding a candidate EXCLUSIVELY because of skin color?
It’s the very height of arrogant cynicism, and an exemplary model of political “tone deafness,” to obliquely assert, and hold as true, that the only reason Black folks vote, is to vote for Black folks.
U.S. Senator, Reverend Raphael Warnock, GA-D (wearing tie); Herschel Walker, GOP candidate for Georgia U.S. Senate
—excerpted—
“When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.”
— Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou, meet Herschel Walker, Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate.
Here he is on the Inflation Reduction Act: “A lot of money, it’s going to trees. . . . We’ve got enough trees. Don’t we have enough trees around here?”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, September 12, 2022
The reader should bear in mind that, in Alabama, there are: 399 TOTAL Law Enforcement Organizations 297 Municipal PDs 67 Sheriff’s Departments 25 Community College/University PDs 7 Judicial/Drug Task Force 2 Airport PDs 1 Special Investigations (fire/explosion)
CRIME IN ALABAMA
Alabama, like many, or even most, states, likes to crow about how much they appreciate, or even revere, their Law Enforcement Officials (LEOs). And, under a Republican ultra-majority dominated legislature, executive branch, and judiciary, for well over a decade, one would imagine that by now, the controlling party, since 2011, would have gotten a firm grip on problems facing residents — to either resolve, ameliorate, or eliminate them.
They have not.
Consider crime. Often touted as a Republican talking point, e.g. being “tough on crime,” one would imagine that not only the Corrections system would have corrected and reformed those entrusted to its “corrections,” but that Law Enforcement agencies statewide would be supported, strengthened, and improved by the Republicans to protect the public, and uphold the laws, as is their charge. The state’s prison system, like the ignored metaphorical “elephant in the room,” has long teetered on a Federal takeover for overcrowding, violence, inhumane conditions, and corruption, while Alabama’s LEOs and their agencies continue failing their charge of public protection by not arresting offenders, solving crimes, and bringing swift justice for the offended victims.
And that proverbial “three-legged stool” has at least one woefully short leg. And that, is solving crimes.
In law enforcement jargon, crimes are considered “cleared,” or solved, when a suspect is arrested, and sometimes, several crimes can be cleared with one arrest. But not always. That terminology is used nation-wide at all levels of law enforcement, Local, State, and Federal.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, September 4, 2022
History repeats itself, we’re told.
… but only if we ignore it, wrote George Santayana.
George Santayana in Rome, 1944.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
– George Santayana (1863-1952), Spanish philosopher writing in his 5-part book “The Life of Reason” Volume 1 “Reason in Common Sense,” (published 1905-1906)
One only need look at Georgia to see that GOPers are doing it again.
What are they doing again?
“It” is using the same old failed plays to win.
This time they’re using Hershel Walker like a subway token, just like they did Herman Cain.
They’re parading an utterly unqualified, out-of-touch-with-reality, ultra-wealthy individual as a candidate for high-level elected public office at the Federal level.
Hershel Walker, love him, loathe him — or ambivalent — has never held any elected office, much less held an office of public trust… just like another recent failure who retired to a palatial Florida estate which doubles as a high-priced “Members Only” club. So, why would ANYONE in their right mind imagine that Hershel Walker — in any way, shape, or form — would somehow be “qualified” to be a United States Senator from Georgia?
“No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.”
[U.S. Constitution, Article I, section 3, clause 3]
That bar is low enough that anyone — literally, anyone — could be a U.S. Senator. And according to that low standard, even a convicted felon still imprisoned could be a U.S. Senator. How preposterously absurd is that?!? Hershel Walker, as most anyone who’s been paying attention for the past several years, ought to know that Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, August 25, 2022
Contrary to what some political pundits, prognosticators, soothsayers, and talking heads say, Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race has not “turned ugly.”
It has always been ugly.
Keystone State residents are faced with what has, once again, become a sad reality across this nation:
An extremely wealthy GOPer faces off against the Common Man.
And in that process, the GOPer merely shows their true colors. But unlike the true colors in Cindi Lauper’s song by that same title, they’re not beautiful. They’re grotesquely hideous, and a maliciously macabre mockery.
The nation saw it in Georgia with Kelly Loeffler, the unarguably wealthiest individual ever to warm a seat in the U.S. Congress — House, or Senate — whose financial net worth, with her husband Jeffrey Sprecher, owner and CEO of the New York Stock Exchage, was then valued at upwards of $800 million.
In fact, under Trump’s tax law changes, the entire purchase price of a new or used aircraft bought by a company can be a 100% tax deductible write-off against its earnings.
What the multi-millionairess did, was to create an “ownership trust,” which is a company that owns the plane, rather than herself personally. By so doing, it offers some degree of anonymity by giving it the appearance of being isolated from the individual(s) whom actually control it. Essentially, it’s a type of “shell company” set up exclusively for the purpose of ownership, and nothing else.
Tripp is an alum of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and one would expect more from a university-educated woman like her, and certainly much, much, more from the one who hired her — Oz, a very wealthy (as in multimillionaire wealthy) retired cardiologist. Of course, Oz has his own baggage, but the difference is, he doesn’t carry his own luggage — he has a porter to carry it for him.
But Tripp’s remark not only shows ignorance, it shows Oz’s true colors… his yellow belly, and forked tongue.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, July 17, 2022
“Grooming” is a word that gets thrown around a lot these days; from serial sexual abuse to personal hygiene, “grooming” has become a favorite Word of the Day by the GOPT — Grand Old Party of Trump.
And well it should, because that party specializes in projection, an abusive manipulative psychological distraction technique that casts blame for a problem upon one’s opponent, or enemy, claiming that they are the ones doing the very thing the accuser is doing.
By blaming another, it keeps observers distracted from what the accuser actually is doing, by busying themselves with investigating whether, or not, the one being accused is genuinely guilty as charged by the accuser, or not.
As a longtime and ardent observer of matters political, I have absolute certainty that you’re keenly aware of such actions.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, July 16, 2022
The United States Constitution has been amended 27 times.
Of those 27 amendments, there is but one solitary matter which has consistently appeared over the years.
And similarly, there is but one matter which has consistently been problematic for the United States.
That solitary matter has been addressed in the Constitution, to be affirmed, confirmed, and reaffirmed, time, and time, and time again.
And that single, solitary matter, is voting.
Exactly 5 of the 27 amendments — or 18.5% — to the U.S. Constitution have dealt with matters related to voting. If by the number of instances in which the matter is addressed is any indication of its importance, there is NO MORE greater matter to civil society, and by extension, to our democratic republic, than voting.
And yet, as evidenced by the corollary to those same amendments, voting has been, and continues to be, the single most abused, and misused tool of those who attempt to wrest power AWAY FROM the people, and accumulate it to unto themselves, and/or their favored political party.
Voting gives POWER TO THE PEOPLE; and that is precisely why some do NOT want We The People to have power, as our Constitutional Democratic Republic mandates.
Here are the amendments to the Constitution, as they read, which have all dealt with matters of voting.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, July 3, 2022
When asked today (Sunday, 03July2022) by Dana Bash, CNN News Anchor, and Chief Political Correspondent about the matter excerpted and linked below, South Dakota’s GOP Governor Kristi Noem refused to answer a direct question about a real-life situation, if it were to have occurred in South Dakota.
The matter is a very real one, and it is the tragic sexual abuse of a 10-year old girl who became pregnant as a result of that abuse, and was referred by a Child Abuse physician in Ohio to an OBGYN colleague in Indiana.
These matters, while previously in the realm of the fictitiously surreal, as in “The Handmaid’s Tale” — a dystopian 1985 novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, in which a militaristic totalitarian theocracy has overthrown the United States government, as the story’s plotline explores themes of the women subjugated by the extremist, oppressive government, and the various ways by, and through which they gain agency in that society — sadly, have now become reality. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, May 27, 2022
“Common sense isn’t so common, anymore,” goes one woefully pithy saying.
And, it certainly seems true — at least when it comes to matters of politics in this period.
But, exactly WHAT IS “common sense”?
Common sense could be the proverbial “moving target” which changes with every whim, and puffing wind of doctrine.
But, let’s hit the “pause” button for a moment and examine some matters surrounding firearms, aka “guns” and at least the two most recent tragedies in Buffalo, NY and Uvalde, TX, both sites of mass murders by 18-year-old gunmen armed with AR-15 style rifles.
Campaign flyer for GOP Arkansas U.S. Representative, Jay Dickey, CD-4.
Hyperbole aside, is there ANYTHING which could have been done to have prevented either holocaust?
Quite possibly, yes.
So, let’s examine some facts, and what laws ALREADY EXIST (or not) pertaining to firearms that might have prevented such carnage, and if they were useful — or not.
First, in BOTH cases, the perpetrators were aged 18.
Second, in BOTH cases, the firearm used — an AR-15 style rifle with a high-capacity ammunition magazine — was legally purchased.
Incidentally, that was also the firearm of choice used in numerous other massacre-style killings.
With respect to the Federal Government, there is NO law requiring establishing a comprehensive database of such massacres, and because of that, there is none. The ONLY such databases are maintained by private, non-governmental entities. That should not be so.
The Department of Justice maintains all sorts of statistics about crimes, and their perpetrators, but not on matters like this.
Why not?
That’s because a GOP Representative from Arkansas’ 4th Congressional District, Jay Dickie Jr. (1939-2017), put a “rider” onto a budget item in 1996 which has since been monikered as the “Dickie Amendment” which specifically forbade the Federal Government from studying such things.
At the time of his terms in the House of Representatives, Dickie described himself as an ardent Second Amendment supporter, which essentially translated into being “the NRA’s point person in Congress,” as he later described his role in a July 27, 2012 Op-Ed co-authored with Dr. Mark Rosenberg, MD.
U.S. Senators • Richard Shelby – R, AL; Jerry Moran – R, KS • John Kennedy – R, LA • Steve Daines – R, MT • John Hoven – R, ND • John Thune – R, SD • Ron Johnson – R, WI -and- U.S. Representative • Kay Granger – R, TX-12 all met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the Kremlin in Moscow, July 4, 2018.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says a visit by Republican members of the U.S. Congress should improve ties between the two countries’ legislatures.
The U.S. lawmakers are in Russia this week on what they say is a mission to try to help revive relations, which are severely strained, and observe how Russia’s economy is doing after four years of Western sanctions.
At a meeting on July 3, Lavrov said he hoped the visit will “symbolize the renewal of relations between the parliaments” of the United States and Russia, something he said was “very timely” ahead of the summit in Helsinki — the first full-fledged meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
“We come here realizing that we have a strained relationship, but we could have a better relationship between the U.S. and Russia, because we have some common interests around the world that we could hopefully work together on,” Senator Richard Shelby (Republican-Alabama) told Lavrov at the start of their meeting. “We could be competitors — we are competitors — but we don’t necessarily need to be adversaries.”
The U.S. lawmakers were also meeting with State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, a close ally of Putin, and Konstantin Kosachyov, the chairman of the Federation Council’s International Relations Committee.
The Duma is the lower house of Russia’s parliament, and the Federation Council is the upper chamber. Both are dominated by parties loyal to the Kremlin, and virtually all legislation passed by the parliament has the blessing of the Kremlin.
Before arriving in Moscow late on July 2, the U.S. legislators met in St. Petersburg with the city’s governor, Georgy Poltavchenko, and expressed hopes for improving relations. Poltavchenko told them he was “ready for cooperation on all fronts.”
The legislators were invited to Russia by U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman and are considered to be sympathetic to or allied with U.S. President Donald Trump, who plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 16 in an effort to revive Russia-U.S. ties after years of deterioration.
“We will have to wait and see, and go from there, but we recognize that the world is better off, I believe, if Russia and the U.S. have fewer tensions,” Shelby said.
Senator John Kennedy (Republican-Louisiana) told CNN he hoped the group would be able to meet with Putin, though Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov there were no plans for Putin meet with the legislators.
“I want to be able to meet with government officials, try to establish some rapport, talk about common interest, talk about common problems,” Kennedy said, emphasizing that his goal was to “establish rapport between the United States Congress and the Putin administration.”
All members of the delegation voted to pass the legislation last year that tightened and expanded sanctions on Russia, originally imposed over Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. The legislation, which Trump opposed, also makes it extremely difficult for Trump to lift the sanctions without congressional approval.
Kennedy said he wanted to see how Russia’s economy is doing.
“Some say it’s in shambles,” he told CNN. “Others say with the increase in the price of oil, it’s doing much better. Others say [Russia is] spending all their money on Syria and weaponry and the people are starving to death. Others say that’s not true. So I don’t know.”
Asked if he would bring up the topic of alleged Russian meddling in U.S. elections, Kennedy said, “Now, I don’t want to do anything to start an international incident, but I believe in talking frankly about these things.”
Kennedy told CNN that there had been a lot of “serious allegations that Russia has interfered with not just our elections,” but with elections in France and Germany as well as with Britain’s vote in 2016 to exit the European Union.
The congressional delegation arrived in Russia on June 30 and plans to stay until July 5. Also included in the group are Senators John Hoeven (Republican-North Dakota), John Thune (Republican-South Dakota), Jerry Moran (Republican-Kansas), Steve Daines (Republican-Montana), and one House of Representatives member, Kay Granger (Republican-Texas).
With reporting by Reuters, AP, CNN, and TASS
RFE/RL (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) journalists report the news in 27 languages in 23 countries where a free press is banned by the government or not fully established. We provide what many people cannot get locally: uncensored news, responsible discussion, and open debate.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, January 31, 2022
If you want to see, and hear, what an insipidly milquetoast governor Bill Lee is for Tennessee, simply watch a few minutes of his disgustingly loathsome address, delivered to the General Assembly, Monday, 31 January 2022.
It is weak, weak, weak.
As the namby-pamby, weak-kneed, say-little-do-nothing Republican Governor Bill Lee gave his State of the State address today, I thought his knees would buckle under the weight of his featherweight words.
His was a vapidly bland address, delivered in a monotonic voice, devoid of fervor or passion, full to overflowing with the null set of simply maintaining the status quo. Nothing new, nothing exciting, nothing life-changing… a real snooze-fest.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, November 27, 2021
There’s nothing quite like the truth, is there?
It’s 6 of one, and half a dozen of the other. Same thing, just expressed differently, right?
The article from which these observations were made is linked at the bottom. And while the ideas expressed are from the article, the rephrasing is unique.
For example, The Hill wrote that:
“Almost one-quarter of Texans are unwilling or unlikely to get the COVID-19 vaccine, a new poll from The Dallas Morning News and the University of Texas at Tyler found.
“The poll found 5 percent are unlikely and 18 percent unwilling to get the coronavirus vaccine as vaccine mandates are becoming more popular in the country.
“The percentage of parents who will not get their children vaccinated is even higher, with 9 percent saying they probably won’t get their children vaccinated and 28 percent saying they will not.”
The poll, conducted among 1106registered voters November9–16, 2021, found that 5% are likely and 18% are willing to die from coronavirus disease, even though vaccines are free, and have been proven significantly helpful against infection, and severe disease.
The number of parents who are willing to sacrifice their children to coronavirus disease is even greater, with 9% saying they probably will sacrifice their children to coronavirus disease, and 28% saying they definitely will.
We know, for a hard-cold fact that unvaccinated folks are at a SIGNIFICANTLY GREATER risk of becoming infected with COVID-19 –AND– of dying from the disease. And, it is unvaccinated folks who are clogging up hospitals, and using a disproportionate share of healthcare resources.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, October 3, 2021
GOP Voters DidNOTWant A Second Helping Of Trump
And, in their estimation, Trump v2.0, i.e., Trump 2024, is 100% OUT OF THE QUESTION.
Comments from the focus group referenced in the article linked below illustrate the GREAT NEED for our nation to be focused upon PROGRESS & CHANGE.
Regardless of anyone’s opinion, or any nation’s actions, catastrophic, or otherwise, tomorrow will happen.
It’s inevitable.
PROGRESS WILL OCCUR.
BUT, we could all do something to PREVENT bad things from happening, and should. We should improve conditions for our residents and humanity, rather than to allow them to suffer by negligence and neglect.
And yet, whether we do, or don’t, the sun will still rise.
Time marches on.
Recall the adage,
“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.”
That quote is by Dr. Jessie Potter, PhD (1922-1994), Founder/Director, National Institute for Human Relationships, Oak Lawn, Illinois; faculty member University of Illinois Medical School, Northwestern University Medical School, who was featured speaker at the Friday opening of the seventh annual Woman to Woman Conference, in an article entitled “Search For Quality Called Key To Life” by Tom Ahern, published in “The Milwaukee Sentinel” of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on 24 October 1981; the quote appearing on Page 5, Column 5.
In my estimation, and in the estimation of that focus group’s members, America and American policy – domestic, and international – has REGRESSED, rather than progressed.
Progress supposes improvement. It’s like progressing from 3rd Grade to 4th Grade, or beyond. Progress implies a journey, and ALWAYS supposes improvement — getting from “Point A” to “Point B,” and beyond.
Like the primarily-Republican voters in this focus group, I too, have voted FOR candidates who were neither my first, nor best, choice. Sometimes, you vote for “the devil you know,” rather than “the devil you don’t know.”
I voted for Hillary, though I utterly loathed her for various reasons; besides being a proverbial “lightning rod” for controversy and division, rather than unity, another one being that she demonstrably screwed Bernie, and though what she did was not illegal, it was exceedingly unethical, and that she did it in secret, was very telling about her character. Had she not done that, Bernie would have most likely been the Democratic party‘s nominee – NO ONE ELSE had crowds the size of his – NO ONE.
But, because she had governmental experience, and was the nominee, I held my nose and voted FOR her. Similarly, I voted FOR Biden, though again, I much rather preferred Bernie, because I thought and hoped that Biden would essentially be a “yes man” to the party’s Progressive ideas. And quite frankly, I don’t think he’s ever demonstrated effective LEADERSHIP with ideas.
BIDEN is a conciliator, and after the previous administration, our nation was very ready for significant “conciliation.”
“Boring government” can be a good thing, per se — at least insofar as what it’s compared to in the immediately preceding administration.
Bold new ideas are not Biden’s forte. That’s Bernie’s bailiwick. And, as we all know, sometimes, “you gotta’ go along, to get along.”
We’re not even a year — 8 months 13 days, or; 36 weeks 3 days, or; 255 calendar days – into this administration, and yet, the prognosticators, pundits, and political soothsayers are busy at work. In my way of thinking, that demonstrates a deep longing for CHANGE. Not change from the GOP, but fundamental, wholesale CHANGE in governmental operations, i.e., PROGRESS.
Do we need change in our nation?
You bet your sweet bippy we do!
The colloquialism “politicians are like diapers on babies; both need changing regularly” is not mere hyperbole, it is true.
Consider our income tax system.
No one genuinely “likes” paying taxes – has anyone, ever? Even though it’s a patriotic duty, I don’t think so. But in your and my lifetime, the graduated income tax system in our nation has been highly compressed (there are now fewer brackets than ever), and the top rate for the highest income earners (multi-millionaires & multi-billionaires) has been so significantly reduced, that the net effect is a so-called “flat tax,” in which everyone – the wealthy and the impoverished – pays the same percentage rate, regardless. That’s an inherently unjust system, simply because the wealthy and the impoverished pay the same price for a gallon of milk, or loaf of bread. It just takes a BIGGER BITE out of the poor man’s paycheck, than it does the wealthy… who probably owns the farm –and– the bakery –and– the store that sells it.
It simply boggles my mind to know that Jeff Bezos, by FAR the world’s wealthiest man -and- his corporation Amazon, PAID NO INCOME TAX LAST YEAR… or, the year before, or the year before that. And he wasn’t the only one, not by a long shot. Elon Musk and Warren Buffett are also on that list of shame. Men whose names are practically household words, like Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch and Mark Zuckerberg all come to mind. They too, paid little, if any, personal income tax compared to the Average American. To my way of thinking, that’s just plain wrong. Maybe you think differently.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, September 20, 2021
One would NOT mention something if it were NOT part of the equation.
It’d be like mentioning Tostitos at a cake-baking contest, the theory of relativity to 3rd Graders, a taco soup recipe to Chinese citizens in Shenzhen, or the merits of a ’57 Chevy during discussion of a cardiac surgical procedure. TOTALLY out of place.
The very fact that SHE — Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett — mentioned it, is sufficient.
“My goal today is to convince you that this court is not comprised of a bunch of partisan hacks.”
— Supreme Court Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Sunday, 12 September 2021, at the McConnell Center, University of Louisville, KY, a venue created by Kentucky Republican Senator Mitch McConnell
Similarly, one would NOT need to be convinced if a thing, saying, or claim had utterly no credibility. It’d be like claiming (falsely) that “the sun rises in the west.” Any casual observer can plainly see that the sun appears to “rise” in the east, because of the Earth’s rotation upon its axis. That is to say, Earth spins in an “easterly” direction.
But, what else could be said about a court that INCREASINGLY issues “emergency” rulings, colloquially known as the “Shadow Docket,” WITHOUT proceedings, WITHOUT hearing ANY argument?
That tactic DENIES citizens their Constitutional RIGHT TO BE HEARD IN AN OPEN & PUBLIC COURT OF LAW.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, August 30, 2021
Guess who’s saying “Death to Republicans!“?
The coronavirus.
Morons.
The leader of an anti-mask movement in Texas has died from COVID-19.
Caleb Wallace, 30, who created a group called the San Angelo Freedom Defenders that conducted a rally to combat what he called “COVID-19 tyranny,” has died after spending over a month in the hospital, according to a message posted by his wife, Jessica Wallace, on a GoFundMe page to raise money to cover his hospital bills.
“Caleb has peacefully passed on. He will forever live in our hearts and minds,” Jessica Wallace wrote in a post on Saturday.
Caleb Wallace checked into the Shannon Medical Center on July 30 after contracting COVID-19, according to The New York Times.
Earlier that month, he organized a rally for people who were frustrated with the COVID-19 mitigation measures that had been put in place to contain the current surge in infections.
Caleb Wallace reportedly started feeling symptoms associated with COVID-19 — shortness of breath, high fever and a dry cough — on July 26, and they worsened the next day, according to the San Angelo Standard-Times.
He initially refused to go to the hospital and get tested for the virus, instead opting to take ivermectin — an anti-parasite medication used mostly in livestock that the Food and Drug Administration recently urged people not to take to treat COVID-19 — along with high doses of Vitamin C, zinc, aspirin, and an inhaler.
“Every time he would start to cough, it would turn into a coughing attack, and then that would cause him to completely go out of breath,” his wife Jessica said. “He was so hard-headed. He didn’t want to see a doctor, because he didn’t want to be part of the statistics with COVID tests.”
On July 30, however, a relative took him to the hospital, where he remained until his death.
Within days after his hospital admission, he was placed on a ventilator – a “breathing machine” that mechanically inflates the lungs with oxygenated air through a tube stuck down the throat.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, August 21, 2021
Florida man, eh?
El Stupido MAXIMO!
Ron DeSantis, Republican Florida Governor
Goddamn Ron Deathsantis is a FUCKING MORON!!
Let’s put this in perspective, shall we?
Try this on for size:
DeSantis maintains clothes can be detrimental for children’s development and that younger children simply don’t wear clothes properly. But board members in the counties of Broward, home to Fort Lauderdale, and Alachua, home to Gainesville, decided not to allow parents to easily opt out of the clothing mandate as surging cases of severe second degree sunburn fueled by climate change began straining hospitals.
How does THAT fit, eh?
Yup.
Deese Flahda fokes ah nutz!
Oh… and WHO IS LITERALLY DEFUNDING GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS, INCLUDING PUBLIC SCHOOLS?
Yup. You guessed it!
Goddamn Republicans.
Banana Republics are run by Banana Republicans.
Banana Republicans specialize in, and are expert at, a psychological manipulation technique called “projection.”
Projection is the practice of accusing others of doing the very thing that the accuser is doing. They “project” the action upon others whom they hope to revile by so doing.
Banana Republicans accuse Democrats of “defunding” the police, and yet, here they (Ron Deathsantis being their chief exemplar) are, LITERALLY defunding the “socialist” public schools.
Oh… and ANOTHER THING:
Banana Republicans decry “socialism” (though they NEVER actually define it) as being government involvement in anything.
So, using that measure, that metric, that (perverted) “definition,” ALL government is socialist — which makes Ron Deathsantis the Chief Socialist of the Socialist State of Florida.
Y’all BOTH keep up the good work — COVID & GOPers!
If our nation had a single-payer type healthcare delivery system as an option, those type problems (unpaid costs of care) would NOT exist.
Obviously, our nation’s excellent world-class healthcare delivery system is working quite well… for the Wall$treet banksters who run it.
——//——
Facebook post shared by Scott Apley mere days before he caught COVID-19, was hospitalized, and died.
In a Facebook post made Wednesday morning, the Galveston County Texas Republican Party wrote that Scott Apley, a member of the State Republican Executive Committee and Dickinson City Council, who was hospitalized with COVID-19, had died mere days after he shared a post on social media questioning the effectiveness of the coronavirus vaccine.
While the TX GOPers did not mention Apley’s cause of death, a GoFundMe page established for his survivors to help with medical and final expenses stated that, “on Sunday August 1st, H Scott Apley was admitted to UTMB Galveston with pneumonia-like symptoms and tested positive for COVID.”
Apley, who was 45, is survived by his wife, Melissa Apley, has also tested positive, but has not been hospitalized, and their infant son Reid, who is being cared for by Melissa’s mother, according to the GFM fund-raising page.
Melissa Apley, their infant Reid Apley, and Scott Apley.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, August 2, 2021
If coronavirus disease could talk, that’s what it would say.
Because right now, those whom have resisted getting vaccinated are largely conservative White Republican men.
A recent poll conducted by Monmouth University’s Polling Insitute found that 73% of self-identified Republicans oppose face mask and social distancing guidelines in their state, while 16% of those who remain vehemently opposed to getting the vaccine “believe Covid is a hoax or they are unlikely to get infected. Which means there may be very little that can be done at this point to change their minds,” said Patrick D. Murray, Founding Director of Monmouth University’s independent Polling Institute. Among those who admit they will not get the vaccine if they can avoid it, 70% either identify with or lean toward the Republican Party, and only 29% of Republicans blame vaccine opposition for most of the recent rise in COVID-19 infection cases.
Ron DeSantis (b.1978), Republican Governor of Florida since January 8, 2019, barely defeated Andrew Gillum, the Democratic Mayor of Tallahassee by a margin of 0.4%. At age 42, he is the nation’s youngest governor.
And they’re dying like flies in places like Florida, where Republican Governor Ron DeSantis — who himself is vaccinated with the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen single-dose viral vector-type vaccine — has steadfastly refused to do anything to protect his state’s citizens from the ravages of coronavirus disease infection, and has staunchly refused mandating face/nose covering use in public spaces, and even recently signed an executive orderPROHIBITING school districts from requiring staff and students to wear protective masks.
That, as news of findings published by the CDC of an outbreak in Provincetown, Barnstable County, Massachusetts – a resort town and summertime getaway location on the tip of Cape Cod – occurring among fully-inoculated individuals after participating in summer events and large public gatherings between July 3 and July 17, in which 469 cases of COVID-19 infection were identified among Massachusetts residents who had traveled there, of which 346 (74%) occurred in fully vaccinated persons. Testing identified the Delta variant in 90% of specimens from 133 patients.
The “great unknown” — even among researchers — throughout development, testing, and emergency approval of the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNtech mRNA type vaccines, and the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen viral vector type vaccine has been: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, August 1, 2021
California U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell (RIGHT), a Democrat for the state’s 15th Congressional District, listens to testimony of U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn describing the Trump-led terrorist attacks upon Congress at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 as Congress was preparing to certify the election results.
The Alabama GOP Mo-ron Brooks, POS45, and his corrupt lying entourage will likely end up in prison… hopefully – if there’s any justice at all in this violently topsy-turvy world.
In a Federal Court filing Tuesday, July 27, 2021, the United States Department of Justice served notice that they will not be representing Alabama GOP Representative Morris “Mo” Brooks-CD5 in California Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell’s-CD15 lawsuit against him, Donald John Trump, Donald J. Trump, Jr., and Rudolph Giuliani.
“Brooks submitted a request to the Department of Justice (“Department”) for certification under the Westfall Act that he was acting within the scope of his office or employment as a Member of Congress at the time of the conduct alleged in the Complaint. Brooks later petitioned this Court for a scope-of-employment certification, and the Court called for the United States to respond by July 27, 2021.”
And frankly, while there’s evidence both ways, there is at least ONE thing we are absolutely certain of, which is that education cures and eliminates ignorance. So, score one for the “Nurture” column.
And, if you’ll recall, there were at least two (and, perhaps more) hit comedy motion pictures which played upon that theme: One in 1983 called “Trading Places,” starring the inimitable clown-men Eddie Murphy, and Dan Akroyd, supported by Don Ameche, Ralph Bellamy, and the ever-lovely and talented Jamie Lee Curtis; then in 1985 a motion picture with an obliquely similar theme entitled “Brewster’s Millions,” starring late funnyman Richard Pyor, and John Candy, supported by Hume Cronyn, Jerry Orbach, and Yakov Smirnoff; and yet another, although somewhat-lesser-known — though certainly with no less star power — in the 2014 title “Breaking the Bank,” staring Kelsey Grammer, supported by Susan Fordham, Richard Cordery, and Pearce Quigley.
In all three motion pictures, the protagonist is placed in an unexpected predicament by either the sudden presence, or lack of, abundant wealth. What they do with their lives in those stories, is comedic – though no less authentic examples of – nurture, combined with a healthy dose of nature.
And we can certainly see real-life examples of such stories in those who win phenomenal sums in lottery. Late West Virginia businessman Andrew “Jack” Whittaker, Jr. (1947-2020) is perhaps the most notable real-life example of a tragic, everything-goes-wrong-after-winning-the-lottery life story. A self-made construction business millionaire worth at least $17 million, on Christmas night 2002, then-aged 55, he purchased a winning Powerball lottery ticket which at the time was the single-largest lump-sum payout in U.S. lottery history — $315 million, which after taxes was valued at $113.4 million. In later years, he was very public about his sorrow at winning, and in a 2007 interview, stated that he wished that he’d torn up the ticket, saying,
“I’m only going to be remembered as the lunatic who won the lottery. I’m not proud of that. I wanted to be remembered as someone who helped a lot of people. I’ve had to work for everything in my life. This is the first thing that’s ever been given to me. Since I won the lottery, I think there is no control for greed. I think if you have something, there’s always someone else that wants it. I wish I’d torn that ticket up.”
But more to the point — the point being, stupidity on very public display.
In an emailed communique recently, Tennessee Banana Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn wrote the following, and shared YouTube video of her ignorant remarks which she made from the U.S. Senate floor about the House, no less.
From an email communique from Republican Marsha Blackburn, U.S. Senator for Tennessee:
MASK MANDATES ARE ABOUT POWER
Washington elitists are willing to do whatever it takes to keep the American people under their control. The new guidance from the CDC doesn’t follow the science and puts the wellbeing of children in K-12 schools at risk. There is no valid reason to require a vaccinated person to wear a mask. Mask mandates and lockdowns are all about power.
What she DELIBERATELY does is couch “freedom” as being able to do any damned old thing that you want, WITHOUT regard for anyone else.
That is NOT “freedom.”
That is selfishness and stupidity.
Musician/singer/song-writer Eric Johnson, in his song “Sad Legacy” from his 2005 album entitled “Bloom,” wrote in part that,
“There’s no such thing as freedom Without some responsibility. All this shock and surprise… But we’ve been throwing out a mean boomerang, And now it’s coming back at us.”
As has oft been stated, “your right to swing your fist ends where my nose begins.”
Furthermore, in her remarks, she deliberately DENIES the scientific facts.
J.D. Vance, memoirist author of Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, which twice became a NYT best-seller in August 2016 and January 2017, a limited-release motion picture, and was later adapted for Netflix, is an attorney/venture capitalist campaigning as a Republican for Ohio’s 2022 election for its Class III U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Rob Portman.
Mr. Vance spoke Friday, July 23, 2021 at an Intercollegiate Studies Institute-sponsored Future of American Political Economy Conference, and in large part, claimed – without any citation of evidence – that childless politicians who he said “don’t have a personal indirect stake” in improving the country, are responsible for what he called “cultural wars,” which he said are waged by “the left.”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, July 14, 2021
Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr departs his home September 10, 1998, in McLean, VA. The 445-page Starr report on the investigation into the affair between President Clinton and former White House Intern Monica Lewinsky was delivered to Congress Wednesday afternoon. KHUE BUI/AP
Here’s your QAnon pedophile network boss.
Would you be surprised to know that it’s Kenneth Starr?
Remember: The [radical right-wing] QAnon conspiracy theory [falsely] claims that Democrats are involved in a global cannibalistic pedophile network, and that anti-Trumpers were directly involved in an attempt to destroy the 45th President’s efforts in office because he was onto their game and was rooting them out of “deep state” government bureaucracies and big business. The never-Trump movement began as intra-party opposition by prominent conservative Republicans to prevent him from being nominated, and later morphed.
And it is worth noting, that the pernicious QAnon conspiracy theory has long been discredited by numerous independent individuals, none of whom worked together, and that like many other conspiracy theories – and viruses – continually evolves, ever changing various elements of itself to potentially become as damaging as possible.
There’s always at least one element of truth in every lie, no matter how far-fetched the lie is, for without it, the entire house of cards falls apart. That’s just how fragile conspiracy theories are. They CANNOT survive independently, and like all parasites, need hosts in order to perpetuate.
Great Saint James (top center) and Little Saint James (lower center) islands in the U.S. Virgin Islands were owned by Jeffrey Epstein.
And in this instance, pedophilia is the solitary bit of truth.
From that single germ, the conspiracy begins to grow. Assertions of the existence of international cartels or networks are built upon the fact that Epstein was known to frequently fly abroad to various nations, and between 1995 and 2013 logged at least 730 flights to and from Teterboro Airport, NJ – a small, general aviation reliever “corporate” airport, just 12 miles from midtown Manhattan, where he maintained a seven-story, including basement, 18,814 square foot residence at 9 East 71st Street, on the posh Upper East Side of Manhattan. The pilots’ flight logs of his travel to and from Teterboro Airport represent only about a third of his total air travel between 1995 and 2013, and consist of thousands of flights. He was arrested at Teterboro Airport July 6, 2019 returning from Paris.
His international travel was facilitated by ownership of several jet aircraft and helicopters, including a Cessna Citation jet, a Gulf Stream jet, and a Boeing 727 jet airliner nicknamed “Lolita Express,” along with two Caribbean islands — the 78-acre Little Saint James, and the larger adjacent 165-acre Great Saint James, in the U.S. Virgin Islands — and was known to host notable guests on the them, among whom are known to have been former U.S. President Bill Clinton, accompanied by his Secret Service agents, because flight itineraries, manifests and passenger lists detail that he flew there as Epstein’s guest at least 26 times.
Jeffrey Epstein, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Department booking photo, 27 July 2006, following his indictment for soliciting prostitution.
Other notable personalities who Epstein hosted regularly included such high-profile individuals as Donald Trump, renown Harvard University Professor of Law, emeritus, Alan Dershowitz, the UK’s Prince Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, June 28, 2021
“Redistricting is like an election in reverse! It’s a great event. Usually the voters get to pick the politicians. In redistricting, the politicians get to pick the voters!”
— Thomas Hofeller (1943-2018), Republican National Committee Redistricting Director, GOP strategist and district mapmaker at “Redistricting & Census 2000,” an event sponsored by the National Conference of State Legislatures, (see video at 33:50–34:24), at Henry Gonzales Convention Center, San Antonio, Texas
Should politicians choose their voters?
Or, should voters choose their politicians?
That’s the essence of what will be the next great political fight to come from Republicans.
And, if things go the way that many expect them to go, the GOP will crown themselves the victor.
“The fix is in,” as the saying goes.
Here’s one recent news item detailing how the formerly-Grand Old Party will manipulate the system:
Republicans Eye Nashville Crack-Up To Gain House Seat
By Reid Wilson – 06/20/21 04:32 PM EDT
“Republicans plotting to maximize their advantages in state legislatures across the country during the decennial redistricting process are considering cracking apart Tennessee’s largest city, an ambitious move that could signal how aggressively the party will try to rig maps in its favor in the coming months.
“In preliminary conversations, top Republicans in the Volunteer State have contemplated dramatically redrawing the boundaries of a district anchored in Nashville, one of just two U.S. House seats in Tennessee held by a Democratic member of Congress.
“The move would put the squeeze on Rep. Jim Cooper (D), the dean of Tennessee’s congressional delegation and a presence in Washington since he first won his district in 1982, save for an eight-year absence after he lost a race for a U.S. Senate seat in 1994.
“Cooper has never had trouble winning reelection: He ran unopposed in 2020, and he hasn’t taken less than 62 percent of the vote since the Republican wave of 2010.
“Cooper’s strength lies in Nashville’s Davidson County, home to about four in five of his constituents. The county gave President Biden almost two-thirds of the vote in 2020, while the smaller but more Republican suburbs in Dickson and Cheatham counties voted heavily for former President Trump.
“Nashville and Davidson County have been wholly contained within one congressional district since at least the 1950s, a logical function of its role as the population epicenter of Middle Tennessee.
“But if Tennessee Republicans decide to divide Davidson County between neighboring districts, Cooper may find himself facing the unpalatable decision to run in a district that is much more favorable to Republicans: All three of the neighboring districts — held by Reps. John Rose (R) to the north and east, Mark Green (R) to the west and south and Scott DesJarlais (R) to the southeast — gave Trump at least two-thirds of the vote.
““Tennessee has changed dramatically, in a lot of ways,” said Gregory Gleaves, a Republican strategist in Nashville. “I don’t think it would be that unusual for Nashville to get split. It happens in other states. There’s no law saying Davidson County is the one county that can’t be split.”
“Democrats would have little ability to resist the GOP power play. Republicans hold 26 of 33 seats in the state Senate, and 74 of 99 seats in the state House of Representatives. Gov. Bill Lee, also a Republican, has the final say in approving any new district maps.
“It’s always going to be chopped up to the advantage of the ruling party. So that’s expected,” said state Rep. Antonio Parkinson (D), the chairman of the Tennessee state legislature’s Black Caucus. “It makes it harder for Democrats to get elected.”
“Cooper’s office did not respond to a request for comment. But he is no fan of partisan gerrymandering: Cooper introduced legislation earlier this year that would require states to create independent and bipartisan redistricting commissions.
“Voters should continue to choose their elected officials — not the other way around,” Cooper said in a statement introducing the bill in January. “The redistricting process shouldn’t be about protecting the powerful and we need to fix it.”
“The U.S. Census Bureau has not put out block-level population data that will inform state legislative mapmakers, after the pandemic delayed data collection and analysis, so any potential plans to split Nashville are preliminary at most.
“But redistricting experts say they see the move to divide Tennessee’s biggest city among multiple districts, diluting the power of Nashville’s voters and giving Republicans a chance to pick up a seat, as emblematic of a strategy the GOP will use in other states.
“This is a common tactic used by state legislators especially in order to crack voters into different districts,” said Ari Goldbloom-Helzner, a computational research analyst at the Electoral Innovation Lab at Princeton. “It makes it difficult for those groups to constitute a majority in electing a representative of their choice that represents their community.”
“Several other cities have been chopped between districts for partisan gain, too: In the last decade, Texas Republicans split Travis County, home of liberal Austin, among five separate congressional districts, four of which are held by Republicans. Pennsylvania Republicans drew district lines so bizarre in the increasingly Democratic Collar Counties around Philadelphia that the state Supreme Court set a new map of boundary lines in place for the 2018 elections. In Michigan, liberal Lansing is divided between districts held by Reps. Tim Walberg (R) and Elissa Slotkin (D), after Slotkin defeated Republican incumbent Mike Bishop in 2018.
“As the Census Bureau prepares to deliver new block-level data to states, Republicans and Democrats are beginning to outline strategies they will implement to take full advantage of the control they wield.
“Republicans, by dint of their advantage in so many state legislatures, will have a leg up. The GOP holds complete control over the redistricting process in 20 states that will collectively send 188 members to the House of Representatives.Democrats control the entire process in only seven states that account for 72 members of Congress.
“Sixteen states will draw new boundary lines through independent or bipartisan commissions or through power-sharing agreements because both Democrats and Republicans hold at least one lever of government. The seven remaining states send only one at-large member to Congress.
“The Republican advantage is less than it was a decade ago, just after the 2010 election handed the GOP control of a large number of governorships and state legislative chambers. But recent Supreme Court rulings have removed some of the guardrails that constrained legislatures last time around, potentially giving Republicans and Democrats alike greater freedom to exercise their control over the redistricting process.” https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/559207-republicans-eye-nashville-crack-up-to-gain-house-seat
If it’s wrong for one party to do it, it’s wrong for the other party to do it — regardless of which one is in power. Both parties would decry such an unjust and inequitably lopsided measure if the other one did it.
It’s not mere politics. The problem is very real, and is a dangerously destabilizing force upon our free and independent Constitutional processes, most notably upon voting, by making it ineffectual, null and void, and jeopardizing our national security and our democratic republic. In essence, it is a theft and usurpation of power out of the hands of The People, and into the pockets of politicians.
All that is thanks in large part to Thomas Hofeller, a Republican strategist who some say “perfected” the art of gerrymandering – a manipulative process designed to usurp power from the people, and instead, give it to politicians.
However, HR1 and companion bill S1, would put a stop to such abusive practices by establishing independent, nonpartisan redistricting boards in all 50 states, which is but one reason why that bill is so very important. It also puts an end to the abuses of “dark money,” and brings to a screeching halt the disastrous “money is free speech” SCOTUS ruling in Citizens United.
After Hofeller’s death, his daughter Stephanie discovered what amounted to a veritable treasure trove of information, all which was from his work drawing maps that would significantly benefit Republicans. What was embarrassing, was that all of his work was designed to limit the political influence of Blacks, Hispanics, and other non-White people. Stephanie’s discovery of his arguably racist work was so shocking, that the Republican party in North Carolina – where Hofeller’s maps work was successfully utilized by the GOP – sought to legally prevent her from publicly releasing his work.
Thomas Hofeller’s work creating gerrymandered exclusionary political maps was nationwide and included redistricting in Arizona, Florida, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia, as well as Nassau County New York, and Galveston, and Nueces counties in Texas.
Hofeller was also significantly responsible for the idea of a prospective Census question “Is this person a United States citizen?” which was eventually nixed by the judicial system.
Stephanie said that her father’s stated objective was to use the manipulative process of gerrymandering to “create a system wherein the Republican nominee would win. State legislature, it doesn’t matter who votes for what. Congress, it doesn’t matter who votes for what. And president, it doesn’t matter.”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, June 2, 2021
The Insurrectionist wing of the Republican Party has problems.
Fox News Republicans…
…Live in their own little world.
But most objective observers already knew that – or, at least, strongly suspected it.
Now, scientific research has shown it to be true.
On practically every issue in society touching upon government has policy, or law, Fox News Republicans are far right wing extremists on everything.
And, their opinion of the 45th President is similarly high – and disturbingly so, at 98%.
The negative correlation – that of overwhelmingly negative views of high-profile Democrats – is no less than 93%.
There is in many cases a disparity between Fox News Republicans (FNRs) and Republicans (Rs). For example, FNRs gave the 45th President an 80% Strongly Approve (SA) rating, while Non-Fox News Republicans (NFNRs) gave him 42% Strong Approval (SA). There were similar disparities between FNRs and NFNRs on matters of economic importance, with FNRs expressing 86% SA, while NFNRs were 53% SA.
Even on handling of the coronavirus pandemic, FNRs were almost double the SA difference with 59%, while NFNRs were 29%. And on dealing with protests following police killings of Black Americans, FNRs had 55% SA, while NFNRs had 28% SA.
The disparity, chasm, and gulf between FNRs an NFNRs demonstrates that the Once Grand Old Party is not merely fractured, fissured, or split, but broken asunder, and perhaps beyond repair.
The differences and the issues were almost stereotypical in their responses, whether Abortion, Appointment of SCOTUS Justices, Jobs/Unemployment, Immigration, Federal Deficit, Trade Agreements, Healthcare, coronavirus pandemic, Foreign governments’ interference in US election, Racial inequality, Increasing disparity between rich & poor, and climate change. The differences between FNRs an NFNRs was at least 3%, and as great as 20%+.
And this is telling, as well:
“Fox News Republicans are more likely than all Americans and non–Fox News Republicans to say that Confederate symbols are more symbols of Southern pride than symbols of racism. More than nine in ten Fox News Republicans believe that both Confederate flags (92%) and monuments to Confederate soldiers (94%) are symbols of Southern pride. Non–Fox News Republicans are only somewhat less likely to say the same about flags and monuments (81% and 87%, respectively). All Americans are much more divided, with 47% who say the flag is a symbol of Southern pride and 59% who say the same of Confederate monuments.”
And interestingly, they also believe that they are victims of discrimination:
“Consistent with their other views on discrimination, more than eight in ten Fox News Republicans (83%) agree with the statement that “discrimination against white Americans has become as big a problem as discrimination against Black Americans and other minorities.” Two-thirds of non-Fox News Republicans (66%) agree with the statement, compared to just 42% of all Americans.”
Fox News Republicans
• Urban/Suburban 79
• White 81
• Male 57
• Evangelical/Mainline Protestant 36/21
• No College Degree 70
• Attend religious services once or more weekly 46
• Almost evenly distributed ages 30-65+ 30-49/30; 50-64/28; 65+/32
• Household income $50,000-$100,000 43
Too bad he didn’t hit his head and die. The world would have been much better off without “Moscow” Mitch McConnell, seen here as then-Kentucky Republican Senate Majority Leader proudly displaying the Nike brand athletic shoes which he blames for his fall which ironically, injured his LEFT shoulder.
The Senate’s self-proclaimed “Grim Reaper” has returned.
Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell of KY is keeping his Republican conference largely unified, and it’s creating major obstacles to President Biden’s legislative agenda.
McConnell has maintained the loyalty of his fellow GOP senators despite repeated attacks by former President Trump, who has called on Senate Republicans to oust him as their leader.
And it was McConnell’s opposition to a House-passed bill establishing a bipartisan January 6 commission that snuffed out the legislation in the Senate on Friday.
One GOP senator said the measure would have garnered enough votes to pass the chamber and eventually land on POTUS Biden’s desk had McConnell not gotten involved.
“The vote on the commission would have had 60 votes in the absence of McConnell’s position,” said the Republican lawmaker who ended up voting against the bill.
The senator said the vote outcome was a good example of just how influential McConnell is in the conference.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, May 24, 2021
Democratic senators say if the Supreme Court strikes a blow against Roe v. Wade by upholding a Mississippi abortion law, it will fuel an effort to add justices to the court or otherwise reform it.
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority this week agreed to hear the Mississippi case, which could dramatically narrow abortion rights by allowing states to make it illegal to get an abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
“It will inevitably fuel and drive an effort to expand the Supreme Court if this activist majority betrays fundamental constitutional principles,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“It’s already driving that movement,” he added.
Senator Blumenthal said it doesn’t mean that a Congress led by Democrats would immediately be able to add justices to the court, but he suggested it would add momentum to reform efforts at a minimum.
“Chipping away at Roe v. Wade will precipitate a seismic movement to reform the Supreme Court. It may not be expanding the Supreme Court, it may be making changes to its jurisdiction, or requiring a certain numbers of votes to strike down certain past precedents,” he said.
No one knows for sure when the Supreme Court will hand down its decision on the Mississippi abortion law, but it is widely expected to hear arguments after it convenes in October. That could set up a decision next year.
Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D), another member of the Judiciary Committee, said the court’s review of the Mississippi law raises serious concerns.
“It really enlivens the concerns that we have about the extent to which right-wing billionaire money has influenced the makeup of the court and may even be pulling strings at the court,” he said.
“We’ve got a whole array of options we’re looking at in the courts committee,” Senator Whitehouse said of the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States, which President Biden established by executive order in April.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, May 13, 2021
“If I don’t have gas, I don’t work,” said Ronald Ross, 47, a DoorDash driver in Atlanta, as he fueled up his Chevy sedan.
Asked about government requests to avoid hoarding, he said: “Forget that. It’s first come first serve. People have to look out for themselves. As long as they’re peaceful and all.”
I ordered pizza recently from Little Caesars – they use DoorDash. They don’t have their own delivery driver employees like most other pizza companies do – even small ones. And unlike other standard traditional transactions in which one pays the vendor for their product, in the DoorDash model, you pay them EVERYTHING. The merchant does not bill.
DoorDash charged very handsomely for the service (various “fees” and such), and their total was about $10 – almost ½ the pizza price – most of which ($9) went to them.
HYPERCRIMINALIZATION:Georgia’s new law codifies mass disenfranchisement and intimidation and further expands criminalization policy in the voting process.1.Mass Challenges:Codifies that a single person can challenge the voter registration of an unlimited # of voters at once, resulting in that voter being purged. (lines 575–576)
1. Mass Challenges: Codifies that a single person can challenge the voter registration of an unlimited # of voters at once, resulting in that voter being purged. (lines 575–576)
2. Mass Challenges: Codifies that a single person can challenge the rights of an unlimited # of voters to cast their ballot in the upcoming election. 364k Georgians were frivolously challenged in the runoffs. In just 29 counties, 15,000 Black voters, 2,000 Hispanic voters, and 1500 AAPI voters were challenged.(lines 622–623)
Georgia’s nickname is the “Peach State,” and it is one of the 13 original colonies.
3. Mass Challenges:Mandates counties hold mass challenge hearings that challenged voter must show up to—within 10 days of frivolous challenge. (line 581)
4. Line–warming/Criminalization: Makes it a crime for volunteers or groups to hand water or snacks to voters in line. (lines 1873–1875)
5. Line–warming/Criminalization: Makes it a crime for *voters* in line to accept water or snacks from a volunteer or group. Bill later amended to allow an “unattended receptacle” near line. (lines 1873–1875, lines 1887–1889)
6. Criminalization: Creates a new misdemeanor for voters if the voter allows someone other than those authorized under state/federal law to see them marking their ballot at home. (lines 1339, 1347–1349)
7. Criminalization:Creates a new felony for anyone that witnesses someone else mark their *absentee* ballot at home — unless they are providing legally authorized assistance or are a child. (lines 2449–2454)
8. Criminalization: Creates a new misdemeanor for handling a completed application for anyone not authorized by law to assist voter. (lines 979–981)
9. Criminalization:Adds new misdemeanor for photographing your own *absentee* ballot or someone else’s. (expanding existing law to ensure VBM also criminalized) (line 2460)
10. Intimidation: Creates new fraud hotline that will accept “anonymous tips” and AG can launch investigations or prosecute within 3 days. (lines 171–178)
POWER GRABS/CONSOLIDATION OF ELECTION AUTHORITY: Georgia’s new law removes significant power from the Secretary of State and gives the GOP–led, gerrymandered state legislature majority control of the State Election Board.
11. Removes SOS Power: Removes the Secretary of State as Chair of the State Election Board (line 185).
12. State Legislature Controls SEB: Grants state legislature power to appoint new chair of State Election Board (SEB). Meaning state legislature will choose 3 out of 5 State Election Board members going forward, a majority. (lines 185 –189)
13. Removes SOS Power:Removes the SOS as a voting member of the State Election Board (lines 252–253).
14. Removes SOS Power: Bill amended at last second to remove SOS power to appoint members of performance review board. (lines 500–503, line 521, line 540 || vs. lines 499–502, line 520, line 540 of bill as passed SEI committee: LC280338S)
15. Removes SOS Power: Requires SOS provide all necessary support/assistance to SEB for county takeovers at the sole discretion of SEB (lines 270–281).
16. Removes SOS Power:Bans SOS/counties from proactively sending vote by mail applications without a request. (lines 966–970)
17. Legislative Power:Allows state legislature to overrule any emergency election rule (lines 2491–2494)
COUNTY ELECTION BOARD TAKEOVERS:Georgia’s new law removes judicial oversight from the county intervention process and grants a GOP–controlled State Election Board the power to replace county BOEs and local elections officials that have significant voter access and election certification responsibilities.
18. No Judicial Oversight: Removes judicial oversight from county takeover process. Georgia already had a process to deal with low–performing counties, but it required judicial oversight of the State Election Board (SEB). The new process replaces judicial oversight with opaque investigation/takeover powers. (See Georgia Code § 21–2–32 for previous process)Read the rest of this entry »
Rick Roeber expelled after GOP House-led investigation
By Tim Darnell, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Saturday, 24 April 2021
The Missouri House of Representatives voted Wednesday to expel a suburban Kansas City lawmaker over allegations he sexually abused two of his children years ago.
By an almost-unanimous vote, the GOP-led House expelled Rick Roeber, a Republican who was elected in November to represent the Lee’s Summit community.
Republican child sex abuser Rick Roeber of Missouri State House
The vote came after an ethics committee report on Monday that formally accused Roeber of sexually abusing two of his now-adult children when they were 5 and 9. The committee found their allegations credible.
The expulsion was the first time the Missouri House had expelled a member in more than 150 years.
No one opposed Roeber’s ouster, though one lawmaker voted “present” to sidestep taking a position.
“It is unacceptable what he has done to the home life of these children,” GOP House Speaker Rob Vescovo said, according to The Associated Press, during a speech from the chamber floor. “And I find him in the worst capacity to represent the people, and more specifically represent the children, of the 34th District or the children of the state of Missouri.”
Roeber previously told the committee that he didn’t sexually abuse his children.
Several of Roeber’s children testified to House investigators this year he also frequently beat them with a belt, choked them and once drowned a litter of puppies.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, April 24, 2021
Is Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Green Pretending?
Cue Eric Clapton’s 1989 hit “Pretending.”
Clay Bennett is a native Alabamian, and Pulitzer prize-winning, long-time political cartoonist for the Chattanooga Times-Free Press.
While Marjorie Taylor Greene has claimed business success credentials as a candidate for Georgia’s 14th Congressional District – while spouting the bizarre lies and not-even-specious rhetoric as part of the QAnon conspiracy – what she has NOT said is that Federal subsidy of low-income housing, and Federal tax credits associated with them, has played a significant role in that “success.”
The 14th CD is located in the state’s uppermost northwest corner, bordering Alabama and Tennessee, a portion of which is considered part of the Chattanooga, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Located slightly north of the state’s capitol city, from 1992-2018, GA’s 6th CD has, until recently, been a largely Republican-dominated suburb of the Atlanta MSA which has produced the likes of Newt Gingrich, Johnny Isakson, and former Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price.
Georgia’s 14th CD includes Dalton, which has long been known for the numerous carpet and floor covering firms which supply a significant portion of all carpet sold domestically and internationally, and with at least 150 factories, is colloquially known as the “Carpet Capitol of the World.”
It is in that region that Marjorie Taylor Greene projected herself to district 14 voters not as a “carpetbagger,” nor as a “scalawag” – even though she is an opportunist Republican profiteering from Federal poverty programs – but as a business owner/entrepreneur alongside her spouse, Perry.
The term “carpetbagger” refers to:
“a traveler who arrives in a new region with only a satchel (or carpetbag) of possessions, and who attempts to profit from or gain control over his new surroundings, often against the will or consent of the original inhabitants.”
While scalawag refers to:
“White southerners who, for various reasons, saw more of an advantage in backing the policies of Reconstruction than in opposing them.”
And in an ironic video she recently shared with her supporters, she attempted to cast aspersions upon, and belittle fellow Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York’s 14th CD with whom she indicated that she’d spoken, and challenged her to a debate on her “Green New Deal” saying that “she just has a government job” – the same type job Greene has.
“2. As a business woman in the construction industry, I’ve spent the last two decades alongside my husband, Perry, building our company and creating in jobs. The politicians in DC and really at all levels of government have let us down.”
2. As a business woman in the construction industry, I've spent the last two decades alongside my husband, Perry, building our company and creating in jobs.
The politicians in DC and really at all levels of government have let us down.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, April 23, 2021
50th Tennessee Governor Bill Lee (R)
It makes me wonder… why are Banana Republicans so interested in others’ genitals – especially CHILDREN’S GENITALS?
Sounds VERY creepy to me.
In fact, it sounds very much like something a pedophile would do, or support.
What’s the possibility, eh?
Now, I’m not suggesting that the bill’s authors are pedophiles, but “if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck,” it’s probably a cow… right?
Maybe a pedophile influenced, or wrote the bill, eh?
But then, why are Tennessee’s GOP legislators listening to pedophiles, eh?
Of couse, this sounds very much like a remedy in search of a problem, rather than vice versa. Seriously. I mean, how “bad” a problem is the so-called “problem” it purports to remedy?
I’ve yet to read any news items about any such matters. You know… something like “Man Shoots Trangendered Victim In Public Toilet,” or “Teacher Shoots Transgendered Teen In Lockerroom” something else patently and absurdly similar. After all, we’re assaulted daily, 24/7 with Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, April 13, 2021
U.S. Banana Republican Representative for Illinois’ 3rd Congressional District Jim Banks – just look at the smirking smug look on that mofo’s face.
Banana Republicans are liars.
Period.
Full stop.
They will say, or do, anything to get, and retain, power.
Their last leader was a Liar of the First Order. Nothing he said could be believed.
Nothing.
Ever.
Nothing that he and his über-wealthy multi-millionaire henchmen – also known as his cabinet and administration – did ever benefited the working families of America.
Nothing.
Ever.
They don’t give a shit about you, until something happens to them.
Look at Kentucky U.S. Representative Andy Barr, a Banana Republican who ostensibly represents the 6th Congressional District in that state. His wife died aged 39 of MVP – Mitral Valve Prolapse – after being diagnosed with it some years earlier. Sure, that’s a sad thing to have happen. And it happens much more frequently than one would imagine. But, this is the VERY first time that a Banana Republican has done any goddamn thing about it.
What we need to do is eliminate the hypocritical Banana Republicans.
Just look at the miserable POS Wilbur Ross, the lying asshole who was his Secretary of Commerce, who sought to exclude counting people in the Census, and actually went to a Supreme Court fight to attempt to shaft Americans.
Fortunately, the SCOTUS said “NO,” to his illegal, and anti-Constitutional ideas.
And then, there’s the scumbag who was POS45’s Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, who aided and abetted Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, April 10, 2021
A gun in every pocket.
Not a chicken in every pot.
No pot there, either.
Not even medical.
The state wants people to kill each other.
But not in the womb.
That’d be wrong.
Shooting people to kill them, is A-OK.
Shooting pregnant women is not.
Might harm the unborn, you know.
Tennessee’s Republican Governor Bill Lee has signed NRA-written legislation that allows any adult aged 21, or older, to carry a handgun either openly, or concealed without any special training, education, or permit. Active duty Military Service Members aged 18 to 21 are excepted.
Tennessee’s Law Enforcement Agencies throughout the state, including the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, have told the Governor that they thought his idea was poor policy, but he ignored them, and signed into law a bill that removes restrictions on carrying firearms, either concealed, or openly.
Despite law enforcement’s opposition to his legislation that would end gun permits in Tennessee, Governor Bill Lee told a gathering from the National Rifle Association that his legislation would “make Tennessee safer.” However, he failed to mention how it would.
A spokesman for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation told a Senate committee, “The bureau has been consistent [in opposition] on this from a public safety standpoint.” The TBI and Tennessee Sheriff’s Association oppose eliminating requirements for concealed carry gun permits.
Governor Lee’s Press Secretary Casey Black said, “The ‘Constitutional Carry’ legislation is a key priority in the governor’s public safety package, which is focused on protecting law-abiding Tennesseans’ Second Amendment rights, while also significantly increasing penalties for criminals who steal firearms.”
ALEA, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, was a creation of 
Warm Southern Breeze 