Red_Dragon wrote:
 

Yea you better do some research, see how we got here and then you will realize the heights of irony you have reached.......... or not.   Bubbles are not just used so millionaires can continue to collect checks playing in front of cardboard inserts.

 KarmaKarma wrote: 
ayup ...

 Red_Dragon wrote:
 

Blame Harry Reid.

 R_P wrote:
 

ayup

 BlueHeronDruid wrote:
 

No surprise at all, just sayin'.

 Red_Dragon wrote:
 

And this surprises you why?

If the Republican-controlled senate pushes through a supreme court nomination before the election it will be the epitome of hypocrisy.

Republicans back Trump despite reports he called soldiers 'suckers' and 'losers': Reuters/Ipsos poll

If you’d tuned in to the first night of the 2020 Repub­li­can Nation­al Con­ven­tion (RNC) with­out any broad­er polit­i­cal con­text, no one could blame you for believ­ing that the Unit­ed States is fac­ing the scourge of a ter­ror­iz­ing for­eign threat, and that this threat is called ​“social­ism.” Of course, you’d be mis­tak­en, along­side a host of RNC speak­ers.

But that false nar­ra­tive under­girds the GOP’s play­book this elec­tion, as the par­ty has cho­sen to for­go writ­ing an actu­al plat­form and instead sim­ply run Don­ald Trump — a his­tor­i­cal­ly unpop­u­lar pres­i­dent — against a made-up men­ace, with Demo­c­ra­t­ic nom­i­nee Joe Biden serv­ing, sim­ply, as its fig­ure­head.

Yet, by using ​“social­ism” as a stand-in for any­thing they deem anti-Amer­i­can, Repub­li­cans are obscur­ing the fact that many of the poli­cies asso­ci­at­ed with con­tem­po­rary social­ism are actu­al­ly very pop­u­lar among the vot­ing pub­lic. And Biden, a life­long mod­er­ate, has con­sis­tent­ly made clear that he — unlike his for­mer rival Sen. Bernie Sanders (I‑Vt.) — is about as far as you can get from an avowed social­ist with­in the Demo­c­ra­t­ic coali­tion.

Still, even with Sanders out of the race, the GOP has appar­ent­ly decid­ed to go full steam ahead with its red-bait­ing line of attack.

RNC Speaker Facing Federal Charges Of Insider Trading

#CocaineConvention

The GOP, which criticized last week’s Democratic convention  for being short on policy, has not adopted, and will not adopt, a party platform at this week’s convention. The Republican National Committee did adopt this resolution:


“RESOLVED, That the Republican Party has and will continue to enthusiastically support the President’s America-first agenda; RESOLVED, That the 2020 Republican National Convention will adjourn without adopting a new platform until the 2024 Republican National Convention.”

There you have it, believe it or not.  America First!   I think that covers it. What else do you need to know? 

Time for a photo op of Trump hugging a U.S. flag.

Annnnnnd ... “Cut "...  annnnd . . . “Print.”

Our nation is in a free fall. But sure, let’s talk about Hillary’s emails again.
"As Americans grapple with public health, economic and racial-justice crises, Trump and his allies are talking about antifa, illegal immigrants and 'Obamagate'....”

The other kind of identity politics...
How white supremacy infected Christianity and the Republican Party

Robert P. Jones, chief executive and founder of the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), is fast becoming the leading expert in the values, votes and mind-set of White Christians. His work has explained how loss of primacy in American society fueled a white-grievance mentality — the same mind-set President Trump so effectively read and manipulated.

His latest book, “White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity,” is a masterful study documenting how white supremacy came to dominate not just Southern culture, but White Christianity. In it, he argues that “most white Christian churches have protected white supremacy by dressing it in theological garb, giving it a home in a respected institution, and calibrating it to local cultural sensibilities.” He also recounts ways in which White churches are moving to account for their past and explore their history with Black Americans.

Jones posits that it is not simply intermingling a celebration of the “Lost Cause” and religion that has led White Christians who do not think of themselves of racists to harbor views that reinforce racism; he also points to the theological worldview of White Christians, including “an individualist view of sin (which ignores institutional racism), an emphasis on a personal relationship with Jesus, and the Bible as the protector of the status quo.” If you want to know why White Christian ideology is the best predictor of racist attitudes (a shocking revelation for the author and likely many readers), the book is essential reading. (...)

People are hopefully treating Trump like he is some kind of historical aberration.  He is not; Donald J. Trump is an ugly mirror.

 westslope wrote:

How do you abandon deeply held beliefs about character, personal responsibility, foreign policy and the national debt in a matter of months? You don’t. The obvious answer is those beliefs weren’t deeply held. What others and I thought were bedrock values turned out to be mere marketing slogans easily replaced.

I Hope This Is Not Another Lie About the Republican Party  - NYT shared article

 Proclivities wrote: 
Exactly right.  Yeah, and it is still there.  We pretty much went there on every vacation.  My Dad really liked Tomales Bay and the drive through it.  He pointed out to us that it was created by an earthquake long ago.  It is the San Andreas Fault and where it turns out to sea and heads north.  We were going to Stinson Beach before they built the San Rafael Bay Bridge and used to take the ferry across that part of the bay to get there.  The first landmark on that side of the bay is San Quentin.  We'd drive down to it and there was a little overpass that we took and went right behind it on the way to Mill Valley and then up and over Mount Tamalpais down to 1.  And then Stinson Beach has ended up in a few things too including Fatal Attraction.  I could see Alcatraz from our house up in the Berkeley Hills and it was still very much open for business.

Then the most recognizable TV scene from one of my back yards is the opening scenes of Gilligan's Island where the Minnow is sailing out to sea for its 3 Hour Cruise.  That is actually the Newport Harbour entrance with the Wedge on the far side and my home beach, Big Corona in Corona del Mar on the near side.

The Tides Wharf & Restaurant

The unbelievably beautiful setting and view cannot be matched anywhere on the Sonoma Coast. Made famous in the early 1960’s as the backdrop for scenes of Alfred Hitchcock’s film classic, “The Birds”, The Tides remains a popular destination for locals and travelers from around the world.