No argument from me:
"The broader damage around the world will be extensive in terms of reputation, and that's why Putin doesn't mind at all that Trump lost. He's got to be happy to take his chips and count his winnings, which from the Trump era will be a shockingly quick decline in American prestige and moral high ground.
"Every moment the Americans spend on their own self-inflicted chaos helps China, it helps Putin, and, to a lesser extent, it helps the mini-dictators like [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan and [Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor] Orban, who breathe cynicism about politics, human rights, and democracy as their air," the official said. "They won't miss Trump; they'll be glad to see his drama leave so they can enjoy the poisoned political climate."
Business Insider
Comments
https://nbcnews.com/news/us-news/protesters-gather-outside-state-capitols-nationwide-chaos-sweeps-congress-n1253125
One legislator in OR even let the protestors enter the building when it is in session. This is absolutely unacceptable to the safety and security perspective. Remember, some states allow for open-carry guns. Over the summer, Michigan legislators bring firearms to the capital just to protect themselves.
https://cnn.com/2021/01/08/us/oregon-legislator-entry-protest-december-trnd/index.html
Joe Biden also recalling the Secret Service details who protected him when he was vice president (that should said something there).
Can one imagine what US's adversary (Russia, China, Iran and etc) think of our great democracy now?
January 8, 2021
I do hope this is a wake up call and to ensure absolute security is in place in order to protect everyone.
How the country come to this "divided" atmosphere is similar to what Joseph Goebbels's propaganda strategy that resulted in the rise of Nazi. Goebbels once said if you tell the lies over and over again, people will eventually believe the lies are the truth. This is exactly what Trump did to the general public on the election process, the non-GOP voters, immigrants, science and the environment. Today there is over 370,000 COVID-related death in US and this is real number from CDC. Wonder what these GOP followers do when they found out everything the GOP has been telling them are nothing but lies.
But Sven- that, you see, is exactly the problem. Trump prevented that by first convincing them that any information source that disagreed with him is "fake". Once that was done, the GOP followers were left with no information sources that could or would convince them that "everything the GOP has been telling them are nothing but lies".
It's a very efficient closed propaganda ecosystem. I would be willing to bet a lot of money that our very own Professor David Snowball could, if he so chose, provide a huge amount of detailed insight into the history and effectiveness of this type of attack on democracy. He's spent a lot of his life and teaching career dealing with exactly this sort of thing.
@David_Snowball- I realize that to maintain the neutrality of MFO you can't really respond as I've suggested, but I bet that you'd really love to.
Regards- OJ
The secret of freedom is educating the people, whereas the secret of tyranny is keeping them ignorant." ~Robespierre
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities” ~ Voltaire
They do seem fitting at the moment, and once again remind us of the price of ignoring history.
Variations on the repeating-history theme appear alongside debates about attribution:
Irish statesman Edmund Burke is often misquoted as having said, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” Spanish philosopher George Santayana is credited with the aphorism, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” while British statesman Winston Churchill wrote, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
When you can tell yourself such things then attacking the Capitol after the Trump "trumpet" becomes warriors of the "same language, of the same faith, of the same fundamental laws, of the same ideals: "saving the" US "from measureless degradation".
In my mind, knowing the people I grew up with in MS whose grandchildren were likely in or wanting to be in the crowd trashing our government, the problem is not facts, not truth, but is belief and faith. Childhood friends share Facebook posters of the faithful holding up Trump to the heavens asking for God's help to keep him in power. They get their knowledge of the world at church and from each other. Anything else is suspect.
A pox on all of them.
Pretty disgusting, yes. (And I've seen for myself the religious ignorance in the South, but it's not restricted to the South.) Particularly since, before retirement, I myself was a "religious leader." Ordained and served churches, anyhow--- if that qualifies. And HOW MANY evangelicals voted for the tRumpster AGAIN? Despicable. I conclude that they've morphed their faith into a tool of the State, but it's a twisted, misguided perception of what the State should be about. And it's a weirdly transmogrified "Christianity" that possesses them.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/01/evangelicals-catholics-jericho-march-capitol/617591/?fbclid=IwAR19izTVBqzNhOk-4gPbUBzrXtPyWC8dkae9NSyLB9vw3aKbYfFe2h40CkU
And:
"This is the central promise of the Trump administration: Real Americans—especially conservative people of faith—are under siege, and the president will defend them."
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/06/kayleigh-mcenany-trump-evangelicals/613471/
Of particular interest, are how the views on race and abortion shifted so dramatically over time and the reasons for it.
"...Southern churches, warped by generations of theological evolution necessary to accommodate slavery and segregation, were all too willing to offer their political assistance to a white nationalist program. Southern religious institutions would lead a wave of political activism that helped keep white nationalism alive inside an increasingly unfriendly national climate. Forget about Goldwater, Nixon or Reagan. No one played as much of a role in turning the South red as the leaders of the Southern Baptist Church..."
Makes my blood boil. And before moving out here, I was called upon to fill the pulpit on a Sunday many times at a local, mostly black church in my hometown. People are people. With aspirations and foibles. With a shared humanity. And just lately, one particular white bag of filth from out of town decided that the church building needed to go up in flames. But you can't kill the church by burning buildings, you turd. The church is the PEOPLE.
https://www.wwlp.com/news/local-news/hampden-county/maine-man-arrested-on-several-charges-including-attempted-arson-in-fire-at-mlk-church-in-springfield/
Hope everyone is staying safe and getting their shot as soon as possible.
I've long believed that the Evangicals are not even Christians, but indeed are worshipers of the Anti-Christ. Jesus preached love and tolerance, while they preach hatred and intolerance. Oh, they'll deny it from here to hell and back, but ask yourself, 'would Jesus turn his back on a gay? or transgender? or person of color? or a person of another faith?
and so it goes,
peace and wear the damn mask,
rono