The Rose Garden and White House happenings: Listening to voters’ concerns
PVW said:
nohero said:
"Those of us who discern in Donald Trump a clear and present danger to American democracy must be clear that we do not place that indictment on all Trump supporters. We do indict him and his acolytes, from the talking heads who shill for him on Fox, to the GOP politicians who put loyalty to Trump ahead of devotion to the Constitution.
100%
and why are we not indicting all Trump supporters?
drummerboy said:
and why are we not indicting all Trump supporters?
For myself, I'd say that I see accountability connected to awareness. I've never really agreed with the whole "ignorance of the law is no excuse" saying.
Ideally, sure, in an open and democratic society, every citizen would gladly take on the full responsibility of being as fully knowledgeable as possible about the choices facing them each election. In practice, not so much, and I have to plead guilty to this myself -- for local elections, I often find I have a passing knowledge, at most, about the candidates. And I'm someone who spends time on a political messaging board in my free time. Anyone of us on this thread is definitely out of the ordinary in the amount of time and attention we devote to thinking about politics.
A national election, especially for president, is very important, and people should be taking the time to really understand what's at stake. But no, I can't see holding your average voter to the same standard as, say, someone at a cable network whose job is literally following politics (or people like us who follow it out of deep interest).
Mayor Adams, a former police officer, is powerless to change anything in the liberal progressive climate which exists in NYC.
A one-year-old baby boy will never know his father.
drummerboy said:
and why are we not indicting all Trump supporters?
Are there any Trump supporters in our liberal progressive cities?
mtierney said:
Are there any Trump supporters in our liberal progressive cities?
you play stupid sometimes…
mtierney said:
Are there any Trump supporters in our liberal progressive cities?
Certainly. And there are people who have the time, means, and energy to understand what's at stake and who oppose Trump in our conservative suburban and rural communities.
Gettin all those tangled weaves in a bunch….
What if the U.S. Helps Hamas Win?
The path Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer have chosen means the end of any hope of peace.
By Bernard-Henri Lévy
March 26, 2024 at 4:08 pm ET
Let’s imagine that Israel yields to the pressure. Pushed by an American president already under fire from a segment of the electorate that objects to his support for a “genocidal” state, Israel refrains from entering Rafah to finish off Hamas’s four surviving battalions. Israel agrees to the general cease-fire of indeterminate duration that the U.S. administration seems to push amid increasingly virulent antisemitism.
The idea that Washington unconditionally supports Israel is a longstanding myth. While the U.S. often vetoes anti-Israel resolutions at the United Nations Security Council, the one that passed Monday was far from the first exception. Recall Resolution 1701 (2006) to halt Israel’s Lebanon offensive at the Litani River—thus sparing what remained of the Hezbollah units.
So the supposition that the U.S. pushes Israel into capitulating isn’t implausible. It is the path forward that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who styles himself the Jewish state’s shomer, or protector, has chosen. It isn’t hard to picture an Israel that is sermonized, impeded and prevented from dealing with Hamas the way the U.S. dealt with Al-Qaeda and ISIS a few years back—an Israel forced into defeat.
If that came to pass, what would happen? Hamas would declare victory—on the verge of defeat, then the next minute revived. These criminals against humanity would emerge from their tunnels triumphant after playing with the lives not only of the 250 Israelis captured on Oct. 7, but also of their own citizens, whom they transformed into human shields.
The Arab street would view Hamas terrorists as resistance fighters. In Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates—nations that signed the Abraham Accords or were leaning toward doing so—Hamas’s prestige would be enhanced. In the West Bank as in Gaza, Hamas would quickly eclipse the corrupt and ineffective Palestinian Authority, whose image would pale next to the twin aura of martyrdom and endurance in which Hamas would cloak itself.
After that, no diplomatic or military strategy would prevail against the iron law of people converted into mobs and mobs into packs. None of the experts’ extravagant plans for an international stabilization force, an interim Arab authority, or a technocratic government presiding over the reconstruction of Gaza would stand long against the blast effect created by the last-minute return of this group of criminals adorned with the most heroic of virtues.
Hamas would be the law in the Palestinian territories. It would set the ideological and political agenda, regardless of the formal structure of the new government. And Israel will never deal with a Palestinian Authority of which Hamas is a part. Goodbye, Palestinian State. Hope for peace harbored by moderates on both sides will be dead.
This is why the world has one choice. Instead of putting all their energy into trying to get Israel to bend, leaders should push Hamas to surrender. The Biden administration should redirect the time it is spending in useless negotiations with the Qataris—experts in double-dealing—to calling the Qataris’ bluff by demanding that they push the “political” leaders of Hamas, whom they host and protect, to live up to their responsibilities.
Those who portray themselves as praying for the end of this war and a negotiated peace on “the day after” must recognize there is only one path to that end. First, the release of all hostages. Next, the evacuation of civilians from the zone of imminent combat. When will the world recognize that Israel, having been forced into this war, is doing more than any army ever did to prevent civilian deaths?
And finally, in Rafah, the destruction of what remains of Hamas and its death squads. Without this military victory, the endless wheel of misfortune will begin to spin yet again, though faster. This is the terrible truth.
Mr. Lévy is author of “The Will to See: Dispatches From a World of Misery and Hope” and author and director of the documentary “Slava Ukraini.” This article was translated from French by Steven B. Kennedy.
mtierney said:
Gettin all those tangled weaves in a bunch….
What if the U.S. Helps Hamas Win?
The path Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer have chosen means the end of any hope of peace.
What was the goal of Hamas in the Oct 7 attack? If their goal was to derail Israel's growing rapprochement with its neighbors and increase Israel's international isolation (including deepening splits between Israel and its most important international partner, the US), then it seems Bibi is helping Hamas more than anyone.
jamie said:
OMG - the con never stops! What a scam! How is this guy even running!@
I think on the verge of no more separation of church and state.
I hate to provide the link - but the FAQs are pretty funny: https://godblesstheusabible.com/
In Trump's Bible (only $59.99, or 6 easy payments of $29.99/month), Noah yells "Lions, not sheep!" and leaves the sheep behind. Jonah is eaten by a whale, forgets all about it, then remembers his hardship when he's shown a whale during a cognitive test. And Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians never arrives because DeJoy threw out the sorting slaves from Paeonia and Thessaly, turning the Macedonian post office into a shitshow.
mtierney - what are your thoughts on enriching oneself by selling a bible that is "endorsed" by anyone? Will you be buying one? What other previous bible versions were endorsed by past presidents? Which one did Reagan like?
Mtierney,
Has it occurred to you that maybe Israel cannot destroy Hamas? Hamas may well live on as an idea periodic regenerating like ISIS.
Do understand that Israel's current path is leading to global isolation?
Do you understand that Israel is losing the support of younger Americans?
People like Biden and Schumer actually support Israel but are unwilling to follow Netanyahu into an isolated corner.
For some strange reason, tjohn, you and Jamie seem to believe I hold the answers to all things, including the Bible, and the solution to the Middle East conflict — in which generations of scholars and multiple wars have failed to produce resolution or peaceful coexistence.
mtierney said:
For some strange reason, tjohn, you and Jamie seem to believe I hold the answers to all things, including the Bible, and the solution to the Middle East conflict — in which generations of scholars and multiple wars have failed to produce resolution or peaceful coexistence.
Your leader is conning his followers to pay his for his personally endorsed bible. I'm only asking if you think this is proper? Could you imagine President Biden doing this?
Who endorsed the Bible you read?
dave said:
Biden should sell the Thomas Jefferson Bible
Thankfully, Biden doesn't have to market any scripture, he's just on the side of religious liberty in contrast to the heretic who's getting the GOP nomination.
Speaking of using religion as a prop - I still wouldn't be around when he opens it.
No he didn’t. The Ark was made by a supporter. It was unveiled at a private dinner at Mar a Lago with about 20 people.
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) January 28, 2024
I know, because I was one of the people who was invited and in attendance at the dinner which was very focused on the topics of spiritual warfare and Judaism. https://t.co/LbMEiMmGvP pic.twitter.com/FUoJamkTiw
A good observation -
It's a point I've made many times myself. But it's time to consider the strong possibility that Trump's disdain towards the practice and theological beliefs of Christianity is not a surprise to his followers. It's likely a selling point that Trump's version of "Christianity" is void of faith and morality. His pitch to his followers has a certain appeal: They can have the identity "Christian," and all the power that goes with it, minus the parts they don't like. No boring church services or Bible study. No tedious talk about "compassion" and "grace," which only gets in the way of the gay-bashing and racism. And definitely no need to worry about that Jesus guy, with all his notions about "loving thy neighbor" and "welcoming the stranger."
mtierney said:
For some strange reason, tjohn, you and Jamie seem to believe I hold the answers to all things, including the Bible, and the solution to the Middle East conflict — in which generations of scholars and multiple wars have failed to produce resolution or peaceful coexistence.
not at all. It’s just that you are so sure Biden is wrong that I thought you might have something to say about a way forward
tjohn said:
not at all. It’s just that you are so sure Biden is wrong that I thought you might have something to say about a way forward
Since the President, himself, is unable to accurately recall past events in his own lifetime, only time will reveal the answers to so many questions.
(For Bible discussion, please go to the Pope thread.)
From the WSJ opinion page today…
“The mainstream media seems determined to give ordinary Americans reasons to ignore it. This week’s collective tantrum at NBC News over the hiring of former Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel gave them one more.
“The network announced its hiring of Ms. McDaniel as a political analyst on Friday. She would provide, NBC politics editor Carrie Budoff Brownsaid in an internal memo, “an insider’s perspective on national politics and the future of the Republican Party.” We hold no brief for Ms. McDaniel as a spokeswoman for conservatives or Republicans, but NBC brass were trying to provide an alternative view of Donald Trump to the one viewers get from the NBC-MSNBC conformity caucus.
“Cue the moral outrage. On Sunday Chuck Todd, former host of “Meet the Press,” delivered an on-the-air jeremiad against his employers for engaging Ms. McDaniel. He and his colleagues were upset because “many of our professional dealings with the RNC over the last six years,” Mr. Todd explained, “have been met with gaslighting.”
“Morning Joe” hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski added their disapproval on air. Ms. Brzezinski insisted their objection wasn’t to a conservative Republican but to the hiring of an “anti-democracy election denier.” MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow devoted half an hour to the subject. It’s not about whether Ms. McDaniel is a Republican or Democrat, she said, “it’s about our system of government and undermining elections and going after democracy.”
“Ms. McDaniel’s chief affront seems to be that she participated in a phone call on Nov. 17, 2020, in which Mr. Trump urged two Republican canvassers in Wayne County, Mich., not to certify the election results. She also said that President Biden didn’t win the election “fair.” We don’t think the election was stolen, and Mr. Trump’s post-election behavior was awful, but spare us this high-minded excuse about “democracy.”
“If these harrumphing stars felt so strongly that challenging election results is unforgivable, they wouldn’t have given respectful, at times fawning, interviews to Stacey Abrams, long after she refused to concede the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial race, which she lost by 54,723 votes. We don’t recall hearing these defenders of democracy criticizing Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, for denying that Donald Trump was the legitimate winner in 2016, or the 31 Democratic House members who, on Jan. 6, 2005, attempted to stop certification of Ohio’s electors and so deny George W. Bush re-election.
“Several of these 31 “election deniers,” to use Ms. Brzezinski’s term—Sheila Jackson-Lee (D., Tex.), Barbara Lee (D., Calif.), Ed Markey (D., Mass.)—have appeared many times on NBC and MSNBC and been treated with deference.
“It’s also hard to take seriously Mr. Todd’s claim that the RNC under Ms. McDaniel was uniquely guilty of “gaslighting.” That’s the new term for the sophistry, dissimulation and, yes, outright dishonesty that’s unfortunately inseparable from partisan politics. Leave aside that many ordinary consumers of news have had ample occasion in recent years to feel “gaslit” by the mainstream press.
“The more salient point is that NBC has signed up Democratic gaslighters with regularity. Most recently Jen Psaki went straight from the Biden White House to her own show on MSNBC. Ms. Psaki’s many White House hits include calling the southern border “closed,” denying Americans were stranded in Afghanistan, and threatening tech platforms if they didn’t censor certain Covid views.
“On Tuesday the NBC brass bowed to their employees and cut ties with Ms. McDaniel. The network’s viewers will be fine without her analysis, but the episode explains why Americans don’t trust the news media. The network’s bosses were plainly trying to avoid the mistakes of 2016 by recruiting some non-crazy voices on the Trump-aligned right. Eight years ago mainstream outlets covered Mr. Trump with little but withering scorn, alienated millions of Americans who felt deep reservations about Mrs. Clinton, and after the election couldn’t explain how he won except by recourse to the false Russian collusion narrative.
“The tempest over Ms. McDaniel suggests the press is preparing to make the same mistake again. This is bad for the country, but it’s even worse for the press, which still doesn’t understand why it is so mistrusted.”
@jamie..has anyone complained to you about having a hard time of late selecting “copy”? It is mercurial, and requires several attempts at grabbing a choice.
Ronna McDaniel was part of the plot in her home state of Michigan to substitute fraudulent Trump electors for the Biden electors chosen by the voters.
Meet the Michigan Republicans who tried to overturn the 2020 election (freep.com)
So any comparisons made in that Wall Street Journal article should be ignored.
no problem to have Psaki have a platform?
WTJ EXCERPT….
“The more salient point is that NBC has signed up Democratic gaslighters with regularity. Most recently Jen Psaki went straight from the Biden White House to her own show on MSNBC. Ms. Psaki’s many White House hits include calling the southern border “closed,” denying Americans were stranded in Afghanistan, and threatening tech platforms if they didn’t censor certain Covid views.”
mtierney said:
no problem to have Psaki have a platform?
WTJ EXCERPT….
“The more salient point is that NBC has signed up Democratic gaslighters with regularity. Most recently Jen Psaki went straight from the Biden White House to her own show on MSNBC. Ms. Psaki’s many White House hits include calling the southern border “closed,” denying Americans were stranded in Afghanistan, and threatening tech platforms if they didn’t censor certain Covid views.”
Which of those was part of trying to illegally steal an election?
https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/28/us/donald-trump-bible-christianity-cec/index.html
“It is a bankrupt Christianity that sees a demagogue co-opting our faith and even our holy scriptures for the sake of his own pursuit of power and praise him for it rather than insist that we refuse to allow our sacred faith and scriptures to become a mouthpiece for an empire,” said Rev. Benjamin Cremer on X.
Jason Cornwall, a pastor from South Carolina, said on X that Trump’s Bible endorsement was a violation of one of the Ten Commandments of the Hebrew Testament that forbids taking God’s name in vain.
today, Americans watched yet another funeral of a police officer, gunned down at a traffic stop, by a repeat offender, who was riding with another criminal, collectively with 35 priors on their records!. NewYorkers and the police department were on hand to pay their respects to the Officer Diller’s family, his wife, and one-year -son at the funeral home wake.
Perhaps CNN and other liberal progressive news outlets were absent, (who watches news in the afternoon?) perhaps they will show up for the service tonight, and the funeral on Saturday, but I did not see their presence today — and I looked!
Who did I see? Former President Trump! He was able to reschedule somehow and he showed up. President Biden was doing a fundraising podcast! So, the next time you scratch your head and wonder how/why DJT retains his hold on so many voters across America, remember today.
and no comment on the absolute con of selling bibles? T**** must have been between trials to be able to attend.
jamie said:
and no comment on the absolute con of selling bibles? T**** must have been between trials to be able to attend.
Since you persist in writing about Bibles in the Rose Garden, though I was saving this carton for the Pope thread, here it is…
mtierney said:
Since you persist in writing about Bibles in the Rose Garden, though I was saving this carton for the Pope thread, here it is…
Thank you for not posting the hateful anti-Pope Francis cartoon in the Pope thread.
“Twenty-one times arrested,” Mr. Trump said outside the wake. “They don’t learn because they don’t respect.”
Says man who has been arrested four times in one year.
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But, also on the subway yesterday, this occurred (one of three reports of violence)..
https://abc7ny.com/subway-push-death-carlton-mcpherson-manhattan-shove/14572262/
The intuitive courage of one rider to deflect a possible escalating event is noteworthy — but while recidivism and bail reform are in play, the commuters face potential violence every day they ride the subway.