Forestluv

McConnell gives a 5 minute speech strongly condemning the insurrection and vows the results will be certified tonight. He didn’t say Trumps’s name or MAGA, yet he seemed to clearly repudiate it. I’ve never seen McConnell put country over party like that.

@Nyseto Introspective observation is a component of raising one’s baseline level of consciousness. @hoodrow trillson Please make your points without name calling.

A violent mob attempt to overthrow a government and nullify an election to protect an authoritarian leader is way beyond “stupid”. Let’s not minimize this. You clearly have sympathy for those on the right. There is nothing wrong with that, yet being unaware of it will distort your views and hold you back. I also have sympathies for certain groups which can distort my views, yet I’m generally aware of it. You’ve talked a lot about wanting to see the big picture and raise your consciousness. This is a good opportunity to look at attachments and identification.

Intention, motivation and agenda is distinct from justifying one’s behavior to attain those goals.

There is a distinction between motivation and justification. This mob was not seeking revenge on blm for a harm they suffered. They are motivated to overthrow a government and nullify an election to protect their authoritarian leader. If you want to increase consciousness, observe the cognitive dissonance. You asked how earlier how your view is incomplete. This here is a good example. Observe yourself rather than deflect.

They aren't motivated to "get even". They are fascists motivated to overthrow the government and nullify an election result. During the rally, Trump incited the mob to intimidate REPUBLICANS that refuse to vote against the election results. He specifically said that they needed to go after disloyal republicans. Pointing out mental gymnastics is not "demonizing" someone. Part of personal growth is introspection of one's beliefs. I have compassion for them, since I understand they have been conditioned with fear and misinformation. They are acting out their fear and delusions. Yet I don't apologize for them by blaming fascists. A higher form of love is hoping that they get educated and work through their conditioned fears.

I think many republicans in political office are playing the widespread fraud card to gain Trump's base for their own political aspirations. In the general population, I'd estimate 1/4 of republicans were skeptical of the election results, yet after the court process don't think there was widespread fraud. I would also make a distinction between incidents of fraud that occurs every election and widespread fraud sufficient to flip the election. I imagine there are a portion of reasonable republicans that think there was incidents of fraud, yet not widespread fraud. I think MAGA crowd is in their own social media echo chamber and have been so conditioned with fear and misinformation that they truly are scared and believe the election was stolen. I watched some interviews of Trumpers in the mob tonight. They 100% believe they election was stolen and they being patriotic and fighting to save America. That is Trump's new slogan. "Save America"

This has already gone through the judicial systems. Trump’s own justice department, dozens of Trump-appointed judges and republican election officials and republican state officials have all ruled that there is no credible evidence of widespread fraud. It’s all debunked conspiracy theories. What started as a failed authoritarian attempt has now degraded into a violent fascist insurgency. Yet this doesn't mean there weren't any incidents of fraud - which occur in every election. That is different than widespread fraud sufficient to flip the results of an election to a solid victory for the other candidate. However, most of the insurgents have been brainwashed and are acting out intense fear and hatred that has been conditioned into them via misinformation.

Trump may give a blanket pardon to anyone arrested.

It’s ironic how the right constantly talks about taking personal responsibility, yet they are unwilling to take any responsibility. Blaming this alt-right insurgency against the U.S. government on the left is ludicrous. There are some reasonable people on the right. They need to step up, take a principled stand and condemn this rather than blaming the left. Trumpers / far right can’t condemn it because they prioritize being against democrats / the left. Condemning this violent criminal insurgency would mean that they would have to agree with democrats. They can’t deal with that cognitive dissonance so rational / justify it in bizarre ways.

Inciting an insurgency against the U.S. government and being supportive of it, seems to meet the standard of impeachment and removal. Not many worse offenses than that.

Yes. If impeachment begins before Jan. 20th. A former president can be impeached and convicted to prevent him form ever taking office again.

I had a 4-aco-dmt trip similar to this. I think the last secret character is a server in a cafe in Medellin Colombia.

Yep

I don’t want to ruin the suspense. . . ?

Nearly all the remaining votes are in Dem strongholds of Atlanta. Dekalb county alone will net Dems 120k+ Wait for it. . .

Boho Beautiful

Looks like both Dems will win. The Ossoff - Purdue race is closer and Ossoff is down a bit with 77% reported. Yet most of the remaining ballots are in the Atlanta area where he should curb stomp Purdue to the tune of 85-15 Warnock should win by more than 1%, which is outside the margin of recount. Ossoff might be within the recount margin. If both win, there will be intense GOP in fighting and more Rs may feel empowered to distance themselves from Trump.

With 78% in, both races have shifted to lean Dem. Both Dems are outperforming Biden.

With 42% in, the NYT needle has both races as tilt Dem, yet too close to call.

It’s context-dependent. A problem occurs when this point (which is true is some contexts) is hyper focused on and extrapolated as the general phenomena. That leads to distortion. In this case, it will lead to denial of systemic racism and a dismissal of general racism. It would be more accurate to say that in the big picture there racism at individual and systemic levels - and within that racism, there are incidents in which the phrase “you’re racist” is inappropriately used as a weapon and victimhood. That is a more accurate larger context. Focusing on specific points within the bigger picture and normalizing them as the bigger picture creates distortion. I dated a one black woman in my life and I was shocked by how much racism was directly at us. I thought inter-racial relationships were supposed to be cool in America now and I was wrong. We were regularly mistreated in ways very different than with any white woman I dated. Vitriol, nasty looks, tones of voices, being ignored, slurs in bars, threats, verbal and physical harassment. However, imo my gf assigned racism too much. I’d estimate about 60% of the time I agreed, 20% of the time it could go either way and 20% of the time I thought it was just a happening that had nothing to do with race. Yet it would be extremely unfair to to her (and me) to focus on that 20% and say “you two are just using racism as a weapon and playing victim”. It would be much more fair to say we were routinely treated with racist intentions, yet at times she mis-label an occurrence as racist.

You are creating “left” and “right” constructs that seem incomplete to me. You get to explore and create your own reality. Have fun and enjoy the ride ?

@Village Tone down the anti-vegetarian/vegan rhetoric. @Husseinisdoingfine Don’t spread misinformation.

@Hardkill Unless Dems nuke the filibuster, Rs can pretty much block any legislation. Like they did to Obama. Plus, the last time Dems had a 50-50 tie, they played nice and shared power with Rs. And for simple majorities, Ds would not be able lose a single D vote - and conservative Dems like Manchin would be problematic. Yet it would still be a big shift. Ds would be able to set the agenda and be able to get through more moderate judges.