711 Comments

I’ve been a paid member since The Bulwark began. Happy to pay $100 or even $150/yr, but $300 is stiff. Any remedy?

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JVL - a note regarding body cameras, Mr. Chauvin and how it ties in with Trump.

Note that, as is often the case in today's biased and partisan media, there is a concerted attempt to clean Mr. Chauvin's image. Some have even argued that Chauvin did not kill Mr. Floyd, that Mr. Floyd caused his own death (due to drug use), that "the Media" lied and that Minneapolis was destroyed as a result of the riots that arose because of the outcry over Mr. Floyd's death.

Not since the attempt to "White Wash" the causes of the Civil War has White America attempted to cover for its numerous failings on racism. If the body cam issue were simply a one-off, then it could be chalked up as just cops being cops. However, when combined with all of the other numerous attempts by White Republicans to try and wish away America's racist past by banning certain books and teachings regarding slavery, segregation and the Civil Rights movement, this is merely part and parcel of the White Lash that is happening in this Country.

So, if you want to know why Trump can still win, that is why.

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It is all about perception. Trump has convinced his MAGA thralls that he is strong, smart, successful and inevitable.

Biden, meanwhile, is perceived by everyone to be a fossilized bumbler who has not accomplished anything.

None of it is based on facts.

The support Trump has gotten and continues to get is a national embarrassment, and will be written about for generations.

Shame on us.

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Stupendous ignorance unfolding in real time before our very eyes.

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So the Supreme court denies Jack smith. This is the end of the road. The majority is with Trump because some of them want a fascist regime and enough of the rest are too cowardly to oppose it.

Alito

Thomas

Barrett

100%, AMERICAMAGA

Gorsuch

Kavanaugh

Roberts

Want the sinecure from the new regime, nod and smile at the change all around

Others

Get your underwear ready, you're on your way to Gitmo.

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Naw, not the end of the road.

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JVL,

Merry Christmas and enjoy Midnight Mass if you can stay awake until that time.

RE: Florida gubernatorial race with Senora Caudillo de DeSantistan vs. Butthead.

This would be great; begging for a reprise of the claymation "Celebrity Deathmatch"...with the added component of the GOP "Three-Way Christian" Chieftan as a spoiler.

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Minneapolis continues to have problems. Its liberal city council still doesn’t want to build the police department back up. Black residents of the north side want police protection. The council is dragging their feet. They have a new, professional police chief that I fear they will lose. Too few brains on that council.

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My husband's buddy Dan says there are two types of people, the guilty and the screwed. The guilty are conscientious, responsible, they second guess themselves quite often, apologize when they fail, do a lot of hand wringing. The screwed are always victims, never wrong, never at fault, they never stop to think, they never apologize. They just barrel through life without ever considering how they may be the problem. The Democrats are a culture of the former types of people, the Republicans the latter. Each bucket may contain some of the other, but the dominate group culture breaks down like that and attracts more of the same.

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When is Trump going to name his running mate, and who's he going to pick? Among all the possibles, are there any who would cost him votes in the general? If there are, who are they and why would they cost him votes? Trump deliberately does things that would sink a normal candidate, so his pick may follow that pattern. He might pick Stephen Miller, for example.

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Even he is not stupid enough to choose a super-MAGA sidekick since it wouldn't garner more votes.

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Idea for Biden - Let's announce we are closing the border completely, & starting over developing border policy that accomplishes something for the US. This is like throwing away anything you haven't used in 2 years. It will be painful, but it will take over all the media narratives ;)

Christmas songs - Check out Tracy Chapman singing O Holy Night https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIQBSueFBzk

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The card game has been the same from the beginning - Trump holds the trump card. The confidential document fiasco was to move his case to SCOTUS where they were to find him allegeable to run. The DOJ got lucky with a couple more serious cases - but the trump card remains the same. Trump bought SCOTUS with his 3 appointments and Leonard Leo (and our corrupt Federalist Society) has Thomas and Alito on the payroll. They don't care if there is another Insurrection; it's good for Ginni and Thomas financially. And it saves the other 120 + Insurrectionists in Congress.

We hired Biden to fix the corruptness in SCOTUS - he needs to stack it now.

We hired the DOJ to protect our Constitution - Garland needs to send target letters to the Insurrectionists in Congress and ask SCOTUS to permit subpoena of their 1/6 records.

The media needs to stop this gibberish about election denial - all cases and recounts were done and the Insurrectionists were wrong in believing there was wide spread fraud. We can not accept the politicians and SCOTUS deciding that election denial and Insurrection are now accepted.

JUST DO IT.

Change the players at the card table - NOW

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JVL, the dichotomy between Dems and the GOP has long been there. The old adage is still true: "Republicans fall in line and Democrats fall in love." I think Democrats mostly like Biden but not love him. He is competent but not inspiring.

Rhetorical question for my fellow Dems: do you prefer Biden's accomplishments or Obama's soaring oratory? I've thought a bit about this and prefer the accomplishments.

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Practically speaking I'll take Uncle Joe's infrastructure. Here is Tippecanoe County, IN we have had a huge storm drain project, hundreds of miles of repaved and newly built roads.

The rail service is onboard to begin again from Indy to Chicago and our station will be on the line.

So yeah, Uncle Joe for sure.

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The one thing missing in all of these lists of how Mangolini failed is in my mind the most important. Through his bungling, throwing out what he deemed unnecessary pandemic protocol manuals and outright lying over a million Americans are dead from a virus he knew was airborne, deadly, and easily spread. Yeah yeah all those other things are important. BUT HE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR KILLING AMERICANS!!! We have such short memories. Look across the table this Christmas and see who's missing, or is suffering from long covid with mysterious ailments doctors don't know how to treat. This is what we should remember as number one on the list of his many failures.

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This feels like it must be a dumb question, but how do we email you, JVL? I can't find an email address.

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He use to say to respond to the Triad email & he would see but may not be true anymore.

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Ellen is quite right on both her points. But what do we see? Wall to wall coverage of throngs of people lined up at border crossings, chaos at input centers and the disruption of normal commerce with Mexico, hurting our own economy. I agree Dems aren't doing a good job of communicating what Biden and congress are trying to do about it.

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Hallelujah Noel be it Heaven or Hell

The Country we'll get we deserve.

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