Sunday, April 28, 2024

"Second Deadline" Update: #October7wasPutin'sBirthday - In the Fascists' World Wide War on Women There is Through Line to Hamas (4/28/24)



#October7wasPutinsBirthday

In the Fascists' Wide War on Women There is Through Line to Hamas

Putin and the “Islamic Republic” are sponsors of Hamas. And lo and behold, here again is rape as a weapon of war.




"Prof Ruth Halperin-Kaddari said she saw footage of women in several locations whose condition left her in "no doubt" that they had been raped. There has been anger over the delay of some UN bodies to acknowledge claims of Hamas's sexual atrocities on 7 October."

  • Examiners found evidence that conflict-related sexual violence took place on October 7
  • There is “clear and convincing information” that sexual violence continues and hostages are still at risk.
  • The UN report should put to rest deniers’ appalling claims that allegations of sexual violence by Hamas on October 7 are unsupported
  • Hamas’ use of sexual violence as a weapon of war is clear.
  • Hamas must be held accountable.
As I told you at the beginning, it really is much more complex than you want it to be. So many among us have been so deeply played. This conflict was designed (in Moscow & Tehran) to break minds & divide people in the West & particularly in the run-up to the November 2024 U.S. presidential election.

The leaders of Hamas who live in luxury far from Gaza were paid very well for their blood sport. Hamas is not a liberation movement, it is more like the Wagner Group. I pray that your eyes are opened. Rape is not an act of resistance, nor is self-immolation. Please do not excuse the one or exalt the other. Such horrors. Yes, many have been so deeply played.

What must happen?

Hamas must be destroyed. Netanyahu & his cronies must be removed from power & face accountability for their crimes. There must be a two state solution. BTW, that’s something neither Hamas or the Israeli right wing really want. Yes, it’s much more complicated than you want it to be. Hamas instigated this war, & welcomed the deaths of its own innocents ...

Putin needed this distraction from his war crimes in Ukraine. The “Islamic Republic” needed this distraction from its own ongoing femicide. Netanyahu needed this distraction from the massive protests against him in the streets of Tel Aviv. And yes, Trump needed this distraction from Biden’s success and his own numerous civil & criminal trials. Make no mistake about what is really going on. Putin wants Trump to win so he can succeed in his war on Ukraine. Netanyahu wants Trump to win so that he can do what Trump has publicly exhorted him to do -“finish the job”

Yes, it’s a very complex situation, but this much is certain: Hamas must be destroyed. Netanyahu must be removed from power and face the consequences of his crimes. There must be a two-state solution with sovereignty and security for both peoples.

P.S. And I have told you over and over again, Hamas has been wildly exaggerating civilian casualties (particularly among women & children). Hamas has been forced to admit it. But, of course, no reset in the dominate pro-Palestinian narrative. 


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Tuesday, April 16, 2024

"Second Deadline" Update: The Greatest Bi-Partisan Action in American History (4/16/24)




The Greatest Bi-Partisan Action in American History

“Historically speaking, it is very significant when conservatives break with fascists.” – Tim Snyder (@timsnyder)

"I think Russian propaganda has made its way into the United States, unfortunately, and it’s infected a good chunk of my party’s base," says House Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) - CNN, Republican lawmaker says Russian propaganda has 'infected a good chunk' of GOP base, 4/7/24

Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), chairperson of the US House intelligence committee, says some of his fellow Republicans are “absolutely” repeating Russian propaganda on the chamber floor, echoing a similar claim made recently by another rightwing American lawmaker. “It is absolutely true we see, directly coming from Russia, attempts to mask communications that are anti-Ukraine and pro-Russia messages, some of which we even hear being uttered on the House floor,” the Ohio congressman told CNN’s State of the Union show. - Guardian, "House intelligence chair says Republicans are ‘absolutely’ repeating Russian propaganda," 4/8/24

The powerful messaging of the Lincoln Project, the brilliance of Stuart Stevens, the indomitable leadership of Lynn Cheney, the gravitas of Judge Luttig, the courage of Cassady Hutchinson. I offer them to you as proof that America is not divided down the middle, America is not half crazy, America is less than half crazy. I agree with them on almost nothing, they are conservative Republicans, and I am progressive Democratic, but they are not crazy, and neither am I, and we all belong to what I call the #UnitedFrontforSanityAndDecency, which is indeed a moniker for the Greatest Bi-Partisan Action in American History. That’s how I describe it. It is an empowering frame for patriots, it should be embraced. It is one of hope and clarity. But you will never hear it described in that way in the mainstream news media … BECAUSE … they are wholly invested in the horse race narrative, Blue v. Red, battleground states, “a country deeply divided,” yada yada yada, and that obsolete narrative doesn’t allow for the more complicated landscape we are actually living in …

Indeed, IF the evening news did cover this for what it really is - The Greatest Bi-Partisan Action in American History, the narrative of all that we have endured these last few years would read very differently ...

One of the bulwarks of this Greatest Bi-Partisan Action in American History, Republican Voters Against Trump, is investing tens of millions of dollars in advertising to tell the story of disaffected Republican voters and hopefully encouraging even more into not voting for Trump:

A Republican group dedicated to opposing former President Donald J. Trump is planning to spend $50 million to stop him through a series of homemade testimonial videos of voters who backed him in past elections but say they can no longer support him in 2024. The group, Republican Voters Against Trump, first emerged in the 2020 campaign and made a return appearance for the 2022 midterm elections. It is run by Sarah Longwell, a leading figure in Never-Trump politics whose focus groups and polling are a staple of center-right podcasts and have made her a go-to figure for political reporters aiming to decipher the motivations behind Trump supporters. Unlike Democratic organizations that aim to help President Biden by promoting his record in office, Ms. Longwell’s group focuses solely on attacking Mr. Trump through the voices of his former backers. The Republican Voters Against Trump website features 100 videos, from one to three minutes long, of Republicans speaking to a computer or mobile-phone camera about why they voted for Mr. Trump in 2016 or 2020 and will not do so in 2024. - NYT, Anti-Trump Group of Republicans Lays Out $50 Million Plan of Attack, 3/12/24

The ranks of disaffected Republicans is swelling.
MSNBC (11/21/23): Cassidy Hutchinson: 'We're fighting for our democracy' in 2024

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Sunday, April 14, 2024

'Second Deadline" Update: The Goddess of Justice (4/13/24)



The Goddess Justice
These are holy books. The facts they enshrine are hallowed.The laws and oaths they mirror are sacred. They are songs of devotion to the Goddess Justice.

And yet the dangers of Trump and MAGA are still looms over the 2024 election. What is wrong with us, with our body politic, with our system of government? How could this be? How could Trump be running again? How is he still the apparent choice of tens of millions of Americans? Like the real answers to most real questions, it isn’t simple. (It certainly isn’t because of any failure on the part of Robert Mueller, or even Merrick Garland. Twitterati who impugn the integrity or competency of these honorable public servants are just misdirecting their followers into despair and defeatism.)

To answer the question of how this abomination is still with us, we must first answer the question how did Trump become president in 2016. And the real answer to that real question isn’t simple either. Without decades of Fox News, radical right hate radio, news media consolidation, gerrymandering and dark money, without the Electoral College, and yes, without a serious, sweeping, sustained Russian intelligence operation to influence the 2016 election, Trump never would have been sworn into office.

The release of the Mueller Report and its damning findings was sabotaged by Trump’s AG Bill Barr. In a healthy America, Mueller revelations would have led to Trump being forced out of office, like Nixon. Likewise Trump’s two impeachment trials could have, would have, should have led to a forced resignation or removal from office. But one of the two major parties, the Republican Party, has lost its mind and its soul, and so our two party system has collapsed. 

And unfortunately, instead of dealing with the fall of the Republican Party, and reporting it as what it is, a catastrophic development, the mainstream news media has simply continued as if this is all just politics as usual, trying to frame it all as a partisan divide, instead of a dire fracturing of reality itself, in which all us left, right and center must choose the harsh reality over a massive delusion.

The Mueller Report, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Report and the January 6th Committee Final Report informed those among us willing to accept who and what Trump really is, and they also succeeded in snatching the factual narrative from the fire, preserving that factual narrative for history, or more accurately, moving forward, for HERSTORY. All of vital importance.

The Four Trump Indictments are of a different order. All four indictments were issued in 2023. The first indictment has turned into the first trial. It focused on election interference and hush money payments. It is now to begin in New York on April 15th, after having been delayed thirty days. The Georgia case as yet to receive a trial date, having just weathered a failed attempt to remove prosecutor Fani Willis. Federal prosecutors are battling through delays thrown in their way by corrupt judges are attempting to delay these trials until after the election, so that Trump can shut it all down should he win in November. Cannon in Florida, and radical right-wing Supreme Court (with three "justices" appointed by Trump himself). These four criminal indictments are real. They will result in convictions, if and when they are brought to trial. It is imperative that Biden wins to protect the DoJ’s two  prosecutions, IF they are successfully delayed until after the election. We must prevail in the 2024 election. This is the Second Deadline. The decisive battle.

Meanwhile, even though Trump is NOT YET convicted in these cases, all of the legal struggle, the criminal investigations, the subsequent indictments, the victorious civil cases brought by Tish James ($360 million) and E-Jean Carroll ($83.3 million), AND the 1/6-related civil cases in the pipeline, all of it has harried & weakened Trump politically, financially & yes psychologically. All of this pose a very real threat to him. It is bleeding him. Trump would be much stronger if all of these efforts hadn’t been brought through to final reports, criminal indictments and civil court verdicts.

We will see Trump politically defeated, financially ruined and convicted, and we will see the MAGA movement dwindle, diminish, deteriorate, with it’s worst elements slipping back into the sewers of psyche, and the rest of those who got swept up in the madness just trying to slip quietly back into normative ideological frames. Evil dies hard, yes, but this fascist movement will be brought down, it must be.

The reckoning is quickening now, but it has been underway for awhile.
  • 3 years later, Jan. 6 by the numbers: More than 1,200 charged. Prosecutors have secured more than 718 guilty pleas in Jan. 6 cases, 171 others have been found guilty at trial or otherwise found guilty. More than 460 imprisoned for their role in Capitol attack, hundreds of others have been sentenced for lesser offenses to periods of home detention or probation." - ABC News, 1/5/24  
    • "In remarks Friday, Attorney General Merrick Garland described the Justice Department's sprawling probe of the Capitol attack as "one of the largest and most complex and resource-intensive investigations in our history. 
New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks after Trump civil fraud ruling (CBS News, 2/14/24) New York Attorney General Letitia James spoke Friday night following a judge's ruling in her office’s civil fraud trial against Donald Trump and the Trump Organization. Judge Arthur Engoron fined the former president and his company $354 million. The decision also includes a three-year ban on Trump from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation. <
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Friday, April 12, 2024

"Second Deadline" Update: What They Are Planning for After the Election & What Are They Planning to Do If They Regain Power - Democracy v. Authoritarianism, Part 2 (4/12/24)



Altruism v. Sociopathy, Democracy v. Authoritarianism


It is very important that you understand what MAGA may try to do between the election and the inauguration, & what they are preparing to do after the take power, whether legitimately or illegitimately.

 

What They Are Planning for the Time Between the Election Itself & the Inauguration

 
First, Republicans need to make sure they’re in control of the House of Representatives on January 6th, 2025, when the new president will be certified. To do that, even though Democrats might have won enough seats to take back the House in the 2024 election, Speaker Johnson will refuse to swear into Congress on January 3rd a handful of those Democrats, claiming there are “irregularities” in their elections that must be first investigated …
There’s nothing Democrats can legally do to stop Speaker Johnson from pulling this off: he can postpone swearing a member in for as long as he wants. That keeps Speaker “MAGA Moscow Mike” Johnson in charge of the House, so they can also refuse to accept the Electoral College certificates of election from a handful of states where they claim there are “problems” …  Then, regardless of how many votes Biden won by, electoral or popular, the House simply refuses to certify the electoral college votes of enough states that the minimum of 270 isn’t reached. Under the 12th Amendment, like with the election of 1876, that throws the election to the House, where each state has one vote. While a majority of Americans live in a state run by Democrats, a majority of the states themselves are run by Republicans. Each state gets one vote for president in the House, and right now 26 state delegations are GOP-controlled, meaning that a majority of the House would simply vote to put Trump back into the White House, 26-23 (Pennsylvania’s delegation is 50/50). All totally legal. The Putin/Trump caucus in the House — led by Speaker Johnson — has largely given up on democracy when elections don’t give them power. As outrageous as this scenario sounds, they justify it to themselves as being essential to “save America” from “woke” Democrats … The best way to prevent this from happening is to widely publicize their scheme so public opinion will become so intense that they fear the consequences. It’s a thin thread holding our republic together, but at least it’s something. Pass it along. – Thom Hartmann, “The New ‘Over the Top’ Secret Plan on How Fascists Could Win in 2024” (2/26/24)

 

What Are They Planning to Do If They Regain Power

 

Project 2025 is an initiative of the Heritage Foundation, a rightwing think tank that has helped staff and set the agenda for every Republican administration since Ronald Reagan … GOP operatives have already crafted an expansive blueprint, 887 pages long, laying out in painstaking detail how they intend to govern, including plans to leverage virtually every arm, tool and agency of the federal government to attack abortion access. The document explicitly names their intention not just to rescind FDA approval for the abortion pill if they regain control of the White House in 2024, but to revive a 150-year-old law that criminalizes sending or receiving through the mail any “article, instrument, substance, drug, medicine or thing” that could be used to facilitate an abortion ... -  Rolling Stone, Inside the MAGA Plan to Attack Birth Control, Surveil Women and Ban the Abortion Pill, 12/22/23

 

Former President Trump's allies are pre-screening the ideologies of thousands of potential foot soldiers, as part of an unprecedented operation to centralize and expand his power at every level of the U.S. government if he wins in 2024, officials involved in the effort tell Axios ... Hundreds of people are spending tens of millions of dollars to install a pre-vetted, pro-Trump army of up to 54,000 loyalists across government to rip off the restraints imposed on the previous 46 presidents …His inner circle plans to purge anyone viewed as hostile to the hard-edged, authoritarian-sounding plans he calls "Agenda 47” … - Axios, “Behind the Curtain: Trump allies pre-screen loyalists for unprecedented power grab” (11/13/23)

Former top officials from Donald Trump’s administration are warning he is likely to use a second term to overhaul the nation’s spy agencies in a way that could lead to an unprecedented level of politicization of intelligence … POLITICO talked to 18 former officials and analysts who worked in the Trump administration, including political appointees from both parties and career intelligence officers, some who still speak to the former president and his aides and had insight into conversations about his potential second term. - Politico, “The prospect of a second Trump presidency has the intelligence community on edge,” 2/26/24 


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"Second Deadline" Update: The Subjugation of Women - Democracy v. Authoritarianism, Part 1 (4/12/24)



There is a through-line from Putin's war on Ukraine, to Putin ally Iran's war against its own female population, to the Putin/Iran Sponsored Hamas femicidal attack on 10/7, to the Putin sponsored Trump/MAGA subjugation of Red State women & girls. WWW 3 is a War on Women.

 

Since the fall of Roe v. Wade, in the Red States, misogynistic MAGA rulers are inflicting unbearable suffering to American women and girls.

Since SCOTUS with its three Trump-appointed justices put an end to Roe v Wade, abortion bans with NO EXCEPTION FOR RAPE OR INCEST have passed in Tennessee, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri & of course, Texas. Well, guess what?!?! Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, 26,000 women and girls in Texas were impregnated by their rapists  

And it isn’t just the victims of rape and incest who are being subjugated in this hateful and barbaric way. MAGA seeks control the lives and destinies of all women.  

Consider Texas' sadistic attempt to exert control of the life of Katie Cox:
 
Kate Cox, the 31-year old mother of two who recently sued the State of Texas for the right to terminate her fatal nonviable pregnancy, has fled Texas to receive an abortion according to her lawyers at the Center for Reproductive Rights ... From a statement from the Center for Reproductive Rights: After a week of legal whiplash and threats of prosecution from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, our client Kate Cox has been forced to flee her home state of Texas to get the time-sensitive abortion care needed to protect her health and future fertility. Kate has been unable to get an abortion in Texas, even though her fetus has a fatal condition and continuing the pregnancy threatens her future fertility. – Meidas Touch, Kate Cox Forced to Flee Texas After Court Halts Her Abortion, 12/11/23

This is not who we are. This is not what America has chosen to be over the many decades since the defeat of fascism in WWII. This is not what the West is, this is not what the Western Alliance is. This is what Putin’s Russia is, this is what the “Islamic Republic” of Iran is, this is what Hamas is, and yes this is what MAGA is.
 
Cox is now speaking out for Biden-Harris in battle ground states.

The brilliant Ruth Ben-Ghiat, historian of authoritarianism & author of "Strongman," confirms the powerful link between misogyny & authoritarianism:

In an authoritarian state, women are as much the enemies of the strongman as the press, prosecutors, and the opposition. We can correlate the appeal of strongmen to moments when men feel their status is threatened due to changes in gender roles and distributions of economic and social power.
Control over female bodies in the name of population growth is a throughline of authoritarianism, as are persecutions of LGBTQ+ individuals ...
In Europe and America, the century-long focus of the far right on demographic emergencies supposedly created by declines of White births and upticks in non-White immigration have created support for controls on female bodies. These controls are predicated on negating the personhood of women and consigning them to roles as vessels of population growth.
For men to preserve their “natural” right to dominate, and White Christian civilization to continue, women must be deprived of reproductive rights and demeaned, disciplined, and criminalized if they resist.
This larger frame of authoritarian gender politics is key for understanding the assaults on abortion rights that are making news today, as in the new ban on abortion in Arizona that has no exceptions for rape or incest. - Ruth Ben-Ghiat,The Republican War on Women is Straight Out of the Authoritarian Playbook, Lucid, 4/11/24

Please share this with everyone you know - the 'unbelievable' story behind Arizona's 1864 abortion ban (which the AZ State Supreme Court just upheld post-Roe):




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Wednesday, April 10, 2024

"Second Deadline" Update: Treachery (4/9/24)


Treachery
 
Last summer, on Fox News, in an "Exclusive Town Hall" moderated Sean Hannity (I know, WTF?!?!), RFK Jr. blamed the war in Ukraine on the United States. "Because of our pushing the Ukraine into the war ..." Even the craven Hannity was taken aback: "We pushed them to it or did Putin invade?" 

This perverse statement engendered revulsion among the defenders of democracy: 

Indeed, in this deadly dangerous third party candidacy, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is advancing the fascist agenda of Trump/MAGA and Putin (and indulging his own narcissism). Nothing more. Nada. Nyet. Nothing more.

Not only is he is proffering Putin’s talking points on Ukraine, he whitewashing the 1/6 insurrection, & equating Biden w/ Trump, saying that there is no difference between the two, even suggesting that Biden is "a greater threat to democracy." 

Not only has he associated himself with Flynn, Stone & other Trump/MAGA operatives, much of his financing is coming from radical right-wing billionaires 

Even before this sick move, he had become a menace. Anti-vaxxerism is itself a bioweapon, & RFK Jr’s public life had become a super spreader event. (Measles and Polio are making a come back thanks to this madness.) But now ... 

What could explain this utterly evil trajectory? A pathological illness? RFK Jr.'s descent into [Dr. Bandy Lee, please fill in the blank] is a tragedy, yes, another Kennedy family tragedy, just of a very different nature from the others.

BTW, the Kennedy family has publicly denounced him.

"The decision of our brother Bobby to run as a third party candidate against Joe Biden is dangerous to our country. Bobby might share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision or judgement. Today's announcement is deeply saddening for us. We denounce his candidacy and believe it to be perilous for our country." - Members of Kennedy Family Denounce Candidacy of RFK Jr.: 'Dangerous to Our Country' Meidas Touch, 10/9/23

Consider the artifacts of abominations I have gathered for you here. 

Any one of them should be damning enough to warn you off of RFK Jr. & agent saboteur candidacy. But taken all together ... WTF?!?!
  • RFK Jr. super PAC rolls out ballot access priorities, Politico, 12/22/23
    • Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq), 12/26/23: If this is all they can do, RFK will at most be on the ballots of three swing states (AZ, MI, GA). His own campaign admits his only hope is to keep both Trump and Biden under 270. He's a chaos agent, nothing more.
  • "RFK Jr. Joins the War on Climate Scientists" - Dan Farber and Evan George, Legal Planet, 2/27/24
    • "RFK Jr. has filled a top campaign position with an anti-vaccine activist named Del Bigtree who has called global warming 'an enslavement system.'"
  • RFK Jr. Defends January 6th Insurrectionists in New Statement - Meidas Touch, 4/5/24
    • Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski), 4/5/23: RFK Jr issued a reprehensible statement on J6 today (4/6/24] that looks like it was written by Tucker Carlson. He said, “reasonable people .. tell me there is little evidence of a true insurrection,” and he will investigate “prosecutorial misconduct” by DOJ.
  • RFK Jr. Endorses Rand Paul To Replace Mitch McConnell as Senate Republican Leader: ‘He’s Shown Great Judgment’ - Mediate, 2/28/24
  • RFK Jr.'s Siblings Issue Scathing Statement On His 'Perilous' Third Party Run: 'Dangerous to Our Country' - Mediate, 10/9/23
  • Mary Kennedy's body dug up, moved away from family - NBC News, 7/12/12
    • Proud Texas Democrat (@maketexasblue22), 3/27/24:  After RFK's second wife Mary and RFK Jr. had been separated for a year, Mary hung herself in a barn, her siblings sued Kennedy to have her buried in Westchester, N.Y., closer to where her four children lived. But Kennedy disregarded their wishes and won in court, and she was buried near Kennedy’s aunt and uncle, Eunice and Sargent Shriver. A few months later while he was dating Cheryl Hines, he exhumed her body and had her moved away from the main family plot and transferred 700 feet away and reburied in an empty part of the St. Francis Xavier Cemetery in Centerville, Mass where it was unmarked. He said so it would be less crowded. That's who he is.
  • RFK Jr. Was Jeffrey Epstein’s Guest, Butler Claims - Daily Beast, 1/6/24
    • "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was one of Jeffrey Epstein’s celebrity guests, the sex offender’s former house manager claimed in newly unsealed documents. The ex-employee, Juan Alessi, listed Kennedy as one of numerous high-profile visitors, along with Prince Andrew, Donald Trump, attorney Alan Dershowitz, hairstylist Frédéric Fekkai, beauty pageant stars, and at least one Nobel Prize winner ..."
    • 'Kids died.' The story of RFK Jr., anti-vaxxers, and a measles outbreak: Mehdi’s deep dive - MSNBC, 7/6/23

    Keith Edwards, Occupy Democrats: Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign just got rocked by an explosive bombshell as new video just surfaced that is damning smoking gun evidence that he is only running as part of a sinister plot to help Donald Trump get elected in November.

       

    Keith Edwards, Occupy Democrats: In an unhinged new interview, RFK Jr. revealed himself to be a spoiler who only joined the presidential race to steal votes from President Biden and help Trump win. Simply deplorable…

      


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