Rural Whites: Somehow The USA Must Defang Them

"Rural America is hurting. Trump is justifying attitudes that some scholars try to underplay. Can rural rage be pulled away from reactionary movements offered by the far right or will rural white rage consume America?"

Click on the link below for an evidence-based look at the problem, its cause, and how to resolve it:

Why America's Rural Whites Are Angry

Do NOT Underestimate The First Criminal Trial Of The Bastard

Click on the link below for one of the best-detailed analyses you will find regarding this first of many trials of the bastard:

The real DOJ corruption scandal at the heart of Trump's criminal trial in New York

What's Really Happening Within The Republican Party

"There are really two major Republican political stories dominating the news these days. The more obvious of the two is the attempt by former president Donald Trump and his followers to destroy American democracy. The other story is older, the one that led to Trump but that stands at least a bit apart from him. It is the story of a national shift away from the supply-side ideology of Reagan Republicans toward an embrace of the idea that the government should hold the playing field among all Americans level."

Click on the link below for an interesting take on the real problems within the US Republican Party:

The Republicans Are Toast

Immigration: A Look At How Trump & Biden Handled It

"We’re excited to share the first conversation in our WITHpod 2024: The Stakes series. For the first time since 1892, we have an election in which both candidates have presidential records, which provides a unique opportunity to cut through messaging and rhetoric and culture war flotsam and actually take a hard look at what each man has actually done as president. On The Stakes, WITHPod will choose specific areas of policy -- immigration, taxes, climate -- and talk to an expert about the two candidates' records on the topic. We’re starting with one of the highest salience and most complex policy areas: immigration. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy director at the American Immigration Council, joins to unpack immigration policies under Trump vs. Biden, border enforcement, the state of the asylum system and more."

I have posted previously about the fact that Immigration is not only good for the USA, but is needed (link). The above series of podcasts begins with the issue that polls show is the number one topic for Republicans. Click on the link below for the stated podcast:

The Stakes of Immigration

The 2nd Amendment To The US Constitution: Conservatives Are Lying

Click on the link below for a 10-minute video debunking everything conservatives believe about the 2nd Amendment:

This Maga DUMMY Just Failed The Easiest TEST

A Historical Look At Revolutions

"Fareed Zakaria is the host of CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS and a foreign affairs columnist at the Washington Post. He joins Preet to discuss his new book Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present, and how this current moment of global political fracture mirrors societal upheavals of the past."

Click on the link below for a podcast putting today's global turmoil in perspective:

Revolutions, from 1600 to Trump

Roger Ailes: The Bastard Behind It All

"Roger Ailes did more to degrade the tone of public life in America than anyone since Joseph McCarthy."

Click on the link below for a biography of the main influencer of forming the present Republican Party:

A short biography of a bully

Conservatives: Get Over It, Immigration Is Good And Needed

"While immigration remains a hot-button political issue that focuses on illegal immigrants and asylum seekers, it is crucial to move the discussion to a serious analysis of the importance of immigration for the nation’s demographic and economic growth, and how broad policies such as comprehensive immigration reform can address our future needs. The new census projections should play a central role in those discussions."

Click on the link below for the details "THEY" don't want you to know (to borrow a phrase from the pseudoscientists):

New census projections show immigration is essential to the growth and vitality of a more diverse US population

Cooperate, Be Nice, But Also Don't Be A Pushover: The Key To A Successful Society

One of the clearest divides between conservatives and progressives is how differently they view cooperation and self-interest. Click on the link below for a video debunking this binary:

What Game Theory Reveals About Life, The Universe, and Everything

Deregulation: A Base Motive Of Republicans

The controversy over medical abortion pills (actually, the non-controversy as it is safe and effective) is just one issue that Republicans/Conservatives/MAGAs are using to attack and remove ALL government regulations. Let's be clear, they want to replace EXPERTS with political appointees who will carry out their agenda. 

A key tool to implement this change is to change laws.  Click on the link below for links exposing this effort:

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-supreme-courts-assault-on-government-could-make-the-far-rights-dreams-come-true/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-chevron-deference-oral-arguments-federal-regulations/

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/supreme-court-launches-latest-salvo-in-war-on-federal-government

https://www.govexec.com/management/2024/01/supreme-court-appears-ready-end-deference-federal-agency-expertise/393404/

Feminism & Equality: A Different Perspective

"Equality has been at the heart of civil rights movements for decades but what we have failed to see is that in striving for equality we cannot help but reinforce the unquestioned preexisting structures of society which, themselves, may be at fundamental odds with true freedom for all."

Click on the link below for an in-depth look at what the feminist movement may be overlooking in striving for equality:

Forget Equality, Embrace the Feminism of Freedom

Puberty Blockers: Beware Of The Media

Right-wing media is awash with bogus "evidence" of the harm from puberty blockers. This link is a prime offender in promoting the bullsh!t, but don't let its name let you think it is valid. Here is the truth about this website (link)(link). 

Below you will find several links to VALID SUPPORT for puberty blockers:

What to know about puberty blockers

Puberty blockers for transgender and gender-diverse youth

Are Puberty Blockers Reversible?

2020 Was A "Dry Run"

Some Trump fake electors from 2020 haven’t faded away. They have roles in how the 2024 race is run

Republicans are trying harder than ever to suppress the youth vote

The Republican blueprint to steal the 2024 election

How election-denying GOP governors could tilt the 2024 presidential election

Will House GOP object to 2024 election results?

Seven ways Republicans are already undermining the 2024 election

How pro-Trump election officials could make sure your vote doesn't count

The Republican Party: A Puppet On Many Strings

"Republicans have been trending toward Putin fandom for more than a decade but with each passing year the stakes get higher, the propaganda gets more brazen, and what they're willing to support gets more grotesque."

Click on the link below to get the full picture of what is controlling the US Republican Party presently:

The Party of Putin and the Propaganda Leading the GOP to Trump and the US to Russian-Style Autocracy

The Conservative Idea Of Education

It is bad enough that the culture generally accepts childhood religious indoctrination, but this is WAY beyond the pale:

CREEPY Republican Selling Trump Propaganda To Kids

Donald J Trump: The Dullest Knive In The Drawer (BUT - - -)

"But hold on. I ask myself: How could Trump have become president, and now clinch the Republican nomination for the presidency for a third time, if he doesn’t have something in the brain bank? Even if Trump doesn’t read, can’t follow a logical argument, and has the attention span of a fruit fly, I keep believing he must have some intelligence.

"Well, it turns out there’s another form of intelligence, called 'emotional intelligence.'

"Emotional intelligence is a concept developed by two psychologists, John Mayer of the University of New Hampshire and Yale’s Peter Salovey, and popularized by Dan Goleman in his 1996 book of the same name.

"Mayer and Salovey define emotional intelligence as the ability to do two things: 'understand and manage our own emotions,' and 'recognize and influence the emotions of others.'

"True, Trump hasn’t displayed much capacity for the first. He’s thin-skinned, narcissistic, and vindictive. As dozens of Republican foreign policy experts have put it: 'He is unable or unwilling to separate truth from falsehood. He does not encourage conflicting views. He lacks self-control and acts impetuously. He cannot tolerate criticism.'

"Okay, but what about Mayer and Salovey’s second aspect of emotional intelligence — influencing the emotions of others?

"This is where Trump’s brain outperforms the brains of ordinary mortals. He knows how to manipulate people. He has an uncanny ability to discover their emotional vulnerabilities — their fears, anxieties, prejudices, and darkest desires — and use them for his own purposes.

"To put it another way, Trump is an extraordinarily talented conman."

Click on the link below for the full picture of his stupidity:

Seriously, again, how dumb is Trump?

An Evangelical Pastor Helps In Getting Democratic Party Votes

"Our guest this week recently traveled down to the border to confront the so-called “Army of God” as part of a larger project of providing alternative ideologies to Christian nationalism. Doug Pagitt is a pastor, author and the executive director of Vote Common Good, an organization aimed at influencing evangelical Christians. His group has been on a nationwide tour focused on directly engaging evangelicals in key swing states with the hope of swaying a critical percentage of them against former President Donald Trump. Pagitt believes a small portion of these voters are swayable and that if they are engaged, election outcomes can be flipped. He joins WITHpod to discuss the trajectory of evangelical politics, what he’s learned on tour, and what’s at stake in this year’s election."

Click on the link below for an hour podcast that delves into what one evangelical pastor is doing in an attempt to get fellow evangelicals who are wavering over Trump/MAGA to see enough reality regarding the 2024 vote to do the right thing:

Confronting Christian Nationalism From Within

Free Speech: IT IS NOT ABSOLUTE

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

There has been a consistent interpretation of the concept of the First Amendment to the US Constitution since its inclusion in the Bill of Rights as the FIRST of ten amendments: it is not absolute. A traditional phrase to teach this reality is: "You can't yell fire in a crowded theater.". In other words, if it incites harm, it is not constitutional. 

Given the above, it is objectively evidenced that many (? most) statements from every present-day conservative/MAGA Republican are unconstitutional. So, the question is: WHY ARE THEY ALLOWED TO USE MEDIA UNOPPOSED CONTEMPORANEOUSLY?  It is more than time to not only restore the Fairness Doctrine but make it inclusive of ALL media, with the requirement of instant/immediate fact-checking. With the wide knowledge base easily accessed by media today, this is now possible - - - use it!!!

Christian Nationalists: A Wide Demographic

"Based on a substantial survey of 22,000 adults from across the country, new polling from the Public Religion Research Institute on Christian nationalism confirms that Christian nationalism is strongly linked to voting for Republicans, higher church attendance and white evangelical Protestant affiliation. But not for everybody. The poll finds that a substantial percentage of Black and Hispanic Americans are Christian nationalists. It also finds that Black people who identify as Christian nationalists diverge politically from their white and Hispanic counterparts."

Click on the link below for more:

Meet the Christian Nationalist voter

The History Of Corporate Personhood Interference With US Democracy

"Have we reached the point where corporatism is triumphing over Democracy?"

Click on the link below for a summary of the issue:

Did Corporations Kill Democracy