Vance was the quickest and loudest to blame the shooting on Democrats.
“Eight years ago, in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election, J.D. Vance was a bitter critic of Donald Trump.
“Publicly, he called the Republican presidential candidate an “idiot” and said he was “reprehensible.” Privately, he compared him to Adolf Hitler.
“But by the time the former president tapped Vance to be his running mate on Monday, the Ohio native had become one of Trump’s most ardent defenders, standing by his side even when other high-profile Republicans declined to do so.”
“In particular, Vance’s vocal opposition to U.S. aid for Ukraine in its war with Russia has delighted Trump’s most conservative allies, even as it has upset some Senate colleagues.
“He understands what Trump is running on and, unlike the rest of the Republican Party in Washington, agrees with it,” conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, a vocal Vance supporter, told Reuters.” [“Unlike?” That should tell you something.]
“Scientists have confirmed a cave on the moon, not far from where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed 55 years ago, and suspect there are hundreds more that could house future astronauts.
“An Italian-led team reported Monday that there’s evidence for a sizable cave accessible from the deepest known pit on the moon. It’s located at the Sea of Tranquility, just 250 miles (400 kilometers) from Apollo 11’s landing site.”
“The findings suggest there could be hundreds of pits on the moon and thousands of lava tubes. Such places could serve as a natural shelter for astronauts, protecting them from cosmic rays and solar radiation as well as from micrometeorite strikes. Building habitats from scratch would be more time-consuming and challenging, even when factoring in the potential need of reinforcing the cave walls to prevent a collapse, the team said.
“Rocks and other material inside these caves — unaltered by the harsh surface conditions over the eons — also can help scientists better understand how the moon evolved, especially involving its volcanic activity.”
The media has suggested that this event “would usher in a new tone by Donald Trump,” saying he has a chance to redefine himself.
“Trump’s new tone sounds an awful lot like his old tone.” Especially because in a posting today he called his legitimate prosecutions hoaxes and witch hunts and frames himself as the victim.
Judge Eileen Cannon has decided to dismiss the case against Trump for stealing top secret documents, lying about having them, and violating the Espionage Act, not because he didn’t do it, but because she decided that the appointment of a special counsel was unconstitutional.
Special Counsels have been used in the U.S. since the 1800s and this decision was based on Clarence Thomas’s unprecedented advisory opinion that was not even related to the case they were trying. He threw out a suggestion that these special counsels could be unconstitutional (despite 150+ years of precedent) in an effort to help Trump.
But the dismissal CAN BE APPEALED, and that would take it out of Judge Cannon’s biased courtroom (she has been giving special treatment to Trump from the beginning) and into an appeals court. Eventually it could get to the Supreme Court, where Thomas has already said what he would do, but there are 8 other justices.
Brian Tyler Cohen and Glenn Kirschner discuss it in this video:
If you are looking for a book in a nearby library, WorldCat can tell you. And it’s FREE!
Just go to WorldCat.org and search for a book by author or title and WorldCat will tell you what libraries have the book, showing you the libraries that are closest to you (and how far they are).
You can also contact your local library and ask for something via InterLibrary Loan. Every library can borrow from other libraries, so your local library can get things on your behalf, even they don’t own a copy themselves.
Some snippets from an article that discusses GOP messaging about violence and fascism.
“The GOP elite has rallied around a new messaging strategy: emotionally blackmailing Democratic politicians, journalists, Hollywood celebs, and numerous other Trump critics into shutting up about the former president’s openly authoritarian vows and his extreme policy agenda.”
“Two of the finalists on Trump’s vice presidential shortlist quickly blamed the assassination attempt on talk about his authoritarian plans. ‘The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs,’ Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) wrote Saturday night. ‘That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.’ Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said the attack on Trump was ‘aided and abetted by the radical Left and corporate media incessantly calling Trump a threat to democracy, fascists, or worse.’ These messages are all part of a deliberate strategy.”
“The attempt on Trump’s life does nothing to change the reality that he is – in fact – running on an openly authoritarian platform. Trump and his closest allies are pledging to punish President Joe Biden and other top Democrats and jail his political opponents; unleash the National Guard and active-duty troops on Democratic-controlled cities whenever he wishes; end the Justice Department’s independence so he can use it to crush his foes, shut down his criminal cases, and erase any hope of accountability for his alleged crimes; retaliate against media outlets that cover him negatively; deport pro-Palestine protesters; oversee an unprecedented crackdown on immigrants, potentially erecting a vast network of camps on U.S. soil; further institutionalize his anti-democratic lies and conspiracy theories that led directly to the Jan. 6 attack; and even invade and bomb Mexico if he feels like it.”
“On the campaign trail, the former president has evoked the rhetoric of Adolf Hitler, accusing immigrants of ‘poisoning the blood of our country.’
“Saturday’s assassination attempt also does not change the fact that Trump has repeatedly and very publicly endorsed political violence over the years. Trump is calling now for ‘peace’ and ‘unity,’ but he has a lengthy track record of downplaying or excusing the harm done to the victims of pro-Trump violence.”
“Trump has campaigned as a populist strongman – that didn’t change overnight.”
The editors of the New York Times just published a 5,000-word editorial entitled: “Donald Trump Is Unfit to Lead”
Here is a snippet:
“Next week, for the third time in eight years, Donald Trump will be nominated as the Republican Party’s candidate for president of the United States. A once great political party now serves the interests of one man, a man as demonstrably unsuited for the office of president as any to run in the long history of the Republic, a man whose values, temperament, ideas, and language are directly opposed to so much of what has made this country great.
“It is a chilling choice against this national moment. For more than two decades, large majorities of Americans have said they are dissatisfied with the direction of the country, and the post-Covid era of stubborn inflation, high interest rates, social division, and political stagnation has left many voters even more frustrated and despondent.
“The stakes of this election are not fundamentally about policy disagreements. The stakes are more foundational: what qualities matter most in America’s president and commander in chief.
“Mr. Trump has shown a character unworthy of the responsibilities of the presidency. He has demonstrated an utter lack of respect for the Constitution, the rule of law and the American people. Instead of a cogent vision for the country’s future, Mr. Trump is animated by a thirst for political power: to use the levers of government to advance his interests, satisfy his impulses and exact retribution against those who he thinks have wronged him.
