310 Comments

And this kind of absurd theater is why women should run the world. We don't have time for this shit.

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Hallelujah!

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I'm for that. Napa County has all women supervisors this year. Hooray!!!!

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Damn!

Go Napa!

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Fantastic,the president should have been V.P harris

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10hEdited

I used to think I would suffer from brain fog for the rest of my life..."𝐛𝐮𝐭" this changed everything.... https://t.co/g7h0bOndmB

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THIS A VIRUS! Do not click on this link!

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About time, Penny. The celebrity billionaires sheltering from the s***storm in their luxe wine country dachas need to be called out, to participate or leave.

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That is why we're stuck in a dysfunctional spiral of doom. If you capitulate, you're labeled "weak," and if you challenge a premise, you're "uppitty."

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If a woman is assertive, she's "shrill," or even a "dyke."

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Yes Betsy, and other convenient, inaccurate disparaging terms.

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My wife was the building official for two jurisdictions she supervised male building inspectors and plans examiners. she had to constantly contend with the males subordinates constantly torpedoing her, they would go over her head with scurrilous complaints, and her boss, Community Development, also a male, always believed them.

She would get knocked down for behavior, that if she was a male, would have gained her respect.

The Rebei's morning prayer: "Thanks hashem I was not born a woman".

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So accurate.

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I get so tired of being the thing that straight women are so afraid that they’ll be accused of being.

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An interesting note. Straight men who are uncomfortable around gays, are quite OK with Lesbians, and in fact fantasy about having sex with and converting them.

I understand why. It is dejure that when a man finds a female sexually attractive that they mentally undress and rape them, and because they are egotistic and narcissistic, they believe that gay men are doing to them what they do to women.

And the mere thought that a gay is having imaginary sex with them, is emasculating, makes him feel to be lesser than a man, more like a woman, and there in lies the feeling behind homophobia. Most men don't have the same attitude towards lesbians as they do gay men.

Homophobic men are misogynisic, they consider women to be lesser than creatures and men who would have sex with another man is to them, the same as women.

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spoken from someone with experience in the matter?

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Very interesting. Makes sense.

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I'm optimistic about leaders like Representative Barbara Lee, a self- avowed OG; you can't put a person "in her place," when she's IN her place.

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M T Greene, Lauren Bobert, Nancy Mace, Marsh Blackburn, Sarah Palin, Susan Collins, Loomer,

What nonsense to think women are better leaders because of their gender. Please grow up.

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There is not enough room here to list all the men who are crap leaders.

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Exactly look at the state of the world, most are men led. We've got one Keir Starmer, not the best, sadly neither are the women with him politics needs better than its got. Not the gender its the lack of ideas, communication and debate, that's what's needed

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Linda, I think your point here may be (and I agree if it is) that it doesn't f***in' matter what gender you are. It matters who you are, what you think, what your values are, and what you can do to help other people. This is what (gasp!) women's lib attempted to raise up. The physical disguise you are wearing at the moment is the only thing idiot people look at, and it doesn't matter a whit. I respect you if you are wearing a purple sweatshirt, and I don't if you are not?!! We humans are such idiots.

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Exactly we need qualified, capable, women and men of course.

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What do you think of Claudia Sheinbaum?

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“Senator, I mean DK Brooklyn, you know far more about that issue than I do, and I look forward to hearing your mansplaining, er, views in the months and years to come.”

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Aren't those all right-wing half-wits? Why do those names come to your mind, and not others? None of those names crossed my mind, thinking of qualified women such as Claudia Sheinbaum, the new and first woman president of Mexico. Heard of her? "Please grow up."

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I live in Mexico, and I LOVE Pres. Claudia Sheinbaum. She won't be bullied by Trump.

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I've loved everything I've heard from her, heard about her. It's quite something that she not only won in an even more sexist society than America, but by such a margin. And it is so refreshing and hopeful to hear a leader who is genuinely for the people. She leaves ALL the male leaders in the dust, every last one of them. More of her around the world!

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Oh ok there are exceptions

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DK.

What nonsense to think men are better leaders because of their gender. Please grow up.

Fixed it for you. You're welcome.

[No need to name names -- they're all over the news daily]

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These women are Quislings, the female equivalent of a house slave, like the brandy sniffing, oppressive house slave in Django Unchained.

Malcolm X on House Negro field negro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf7rsCAfQCo

They exist in all ethnicities, Jews who support NAZI's, blacks who support racists, Hispanics who support Trump, even Muslims who supported Trump.

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There was that black guy, Robinson, in NC, who said he wanted to bring slavery back and "to own a few myself." ??? People-unclear-on-the-concept.

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Mark Robinson, Lt Gov of NC is the person you are talking of, a real slime ball, a misogynistic perv who bragged about being a black NAZI.

Check out his wife, Yoland Robinson's wikiepedia page, like her husband she is a grifter.

With the exception of Mark, all other right wing blacks, male and female, have white spouses or paranours,, that seems to be relevant, that once inside the country club doors they look down on those outside

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I have found that fascinating.

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DK Brooklyn, men are typically more egoic than women. If you want a robust democracy, you need people with more awareness and compassion than ego.

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Bingo M Tree, but paradoxically more insecure the mirage of manhood is a tenuous act. All I need do is mention Viagra and Cialis or penis enlargement pumps.

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LOL!

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These are the nutcase exceptions.

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DK Brooklyn, those people are not women. Remember the 80s, when female job candidates wore navy suits with white shirts, cut their hair short, carried metal briefcases and pretended to be men so they would get the jobs?

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Yes, the promotion of women as equals to men has been proved: Women can be as corrupted and stupid as men. So much for the old-fashioned hope that “the weaker sex” would transform the national culture to something more intelligent and friendly.

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Some women Stan have learned to ape men to get ahead, but the few does not explain the many.

Maternal instincts translate into maternalistic behavior, and concerns, care for the less capable, the disempowered, the weak,the hungry, the starving, IOW empathy, a quality lacking in men, by nature,in men empathy is learned,in women it is biological.

A criticism of women is that they ae too emotional, but men are even more emotional than men. Anger, hatred, violence are emotion.

What is meant when they claim women are more emotional is that they are empathetic, soft.

Your chauvinismm, latent misgyny just bled through Stan. Would I be wrong to suggest that at a deep level you agee with Hegseth that women shouldn't serve in Combat.

An interesting charge because biologically women make better fighter pilots than men, quicker reflexes, lower center of gravity, and truth be known better known, they make better SEALS. All of the strength training and torture in special ops training is bullshit, a macho initiation ritual (speaking from experience, once they pass initiation they never have to endure that bullshit ever again. We had a 2 hr daily PT workout and a mile and a half or two hour run, hardly broke a sweat for someone in shape.

But women make better long distance swimmers than men, they have a greater tolerance for pain and cold than men, and with training are as competent at physical tasks and fighting as men. Special operators are made not born.

In my prime I weighed 135 lbs bare naked, I stood in the door of a C 130 or C131,the ramp of a C-5a, or CH-47, weighing 300 lbs or more, depending on the load I was to carry. On the ground I shed 45 lbs, the main and the reserve chute, the rest I humped miles over hill, dale, river and mountain, through jungle or arctic snow. I have never been bulked up he man, but I was stronger and had more endurance than the younger men on the team I led.

It is all in the mind, the will.

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Yeah, I loved it watching Black man after Hispanic man, etc., etc. being interviewed about why they wouldn't be voting for Kamala Harris. "She's too emotional." I was like "WHAT THE EFF??!!! WHO is up at 4 am tweeting out his rage in ALL CAPS?!!" (see, I can do it, too) It truly blew my mind.

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Pity you had to include Susan Collins … she’s not fit to be sent on errands to pick up products for the rest of them.

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Right

On

Rosie

💪🦾

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The theater goes on, regardless of gender. In general, women would be better in high offices, but we would still see this kind of thing. The ones who are better at appearing to respect the authorities would get the jobs.

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So what kind of shit do you want?

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🤣 Nice job, Rosie.

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No, you’re exactly wrong, Rosie. This is good information for dealing with people, anyone, anywhere, for any purpose.

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At a higher ed conference many years ago, and some of the speakers held informal sessions after their presentations. A black female professor from a major university (the 1st black tenured prof in her dept) talked about her tenure hearing. She and a white male were being interviewed for a single appointment, and she was being grilled and nit-picked to death by the all white, all male committee. She lost her temper and said something like "If I couldn't run rings around all you honkies, I wouldn't even be here." She got the job.

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There's a well-known phenomenon of auditions for major symphony orchestras. When they put the players who are auditioning behind a screen, the women players get picked most often. When they audition face to face on the stage, the same group has men players picked most often.

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I think there are dozens of similar stories. French wine experts were beating themselves up because in judging wines without labels, they ended up preferring California wines over French wines. Just name your favorite ineffable condition for judging, such as taste.

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Wow! Thx, Christina.

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I’m with you Rosie!!

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See my comment above.

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*High five to that.

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Great pun! Nail 'em, Rosie!

John T. Cullen JTC Sheep Heil!

johntcullen.substack.com

https://www.johntcullen.com

https://www.galleycity.com

MARA Make America Real Again (blue hat)

MUSARAL Make USA Real At Last (light blue hat)

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Women don't have time for theatrics or veiled agendas? That's an interesting take.

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No, Syd, but they have proven to be more pragmatic and less confrontational when faced by conflict or crisis. Most reported displays of violence are committed by men, and most of the remaining few cases are acts of self preservation.

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Violence? Where was that mentioned? But since you bring it up, how do we expect "less confrontational" leaders to react when confronted with violence?

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I expect them to react in a manner most likely to de-escalate conflict with the least damage or injury. The Iroquois matriarchy was keeping the peace until European trespassers introduced greed.

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I wish someone had done a comedy skit from that exchange. Priceless!

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Robert, I hope you fired him. Genuflecting and kissing the "ring" (or some other part of the human anatomy) are two of the main reasons we are in this awful mess.

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Not so! The legislative branch is supposed to represent the people, who are sovereign. The president's appointees are executors of the law. The problem now is that the legislative branch has become dysfunctional, because Republican senators genuflect to the executive. They still have one chance to redeem themselves.

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Sounds like a Mel Brooks bit.

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“I didn’t get a harumph out of that guy”!

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😁

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OPEN MESSAGE TO ALL CONCERNED,

What Trump does as president is solely due to Biden's failure to issue an executive order to arrest Trump and his fascist supporters in Congress, as well as his fascist judges on the Supreme Court.

Some argue that Biden lacks the legal authority to do so.

But I ask, is fascism and its horrific atrocities legal?

(Only a few days left)

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I totally agree! Presidents Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower to name a few would never have tolerated a convicted criminal and traitor to run for president let alone serve as one and the American people in the majority should never do so either.

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While I agree with you that Trump is unfit, you need to remember that he was ELECTED by most of the people who bothered to vote. His reelection is their fault, not Biden’s.

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The fact is, the majority did not vote for Donald J. Trump.

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Many stayed home!

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Lisa ; With all the voter "purges", "spoiled ballots" and vote challenges, not to ,mention the gerrymandering, missing mail in ballots and those with random small things, like the missing date on the outside of the ballot, I wonder if one can say it is a fact that X number of voters stayed home.

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Trump was elected by a small plurality, not a majority. That plurality was definitely created by Russian troll-farming, skillfully sowing disinformation over a year or two (or more). 77 million people voted for Trump. There are 340 million humans living in the US (ok, some of them are infants etc.) But the raw numbers say that 263 million U.S. citizens did *not* vote for Trump.

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Back to the stated thought; you don't get elected when you; with cause, don't qualify to be a candidate.

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And certainly not for Sec of Defense…when he’s never had a budget of this current Defense budget size, never had to make decisions for all of the US Forces in the world, never ordered all of these forces into combat, etc. He is a kindergartener compared to the generals currently serving .

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Worse than that he bankrupted two wingnut charities.

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I believe that they didn't want him and the votes showed it. Even though the Electoral "College" and the media were not admitting it. We should have a hand recount of ballots, especially in the swing states, at least two precincts per swing state. This Emperor has no clothes.

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SCOTUS has (in theory) given him permission in the form of blanket immunity. But I’m not a lawyer.

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Not in theory…. HAS!

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Biden should have arrested him the second he became President. Right now, let's hope Biden will at least protect the people The Dictraitor is going to try and persecute because they said bad things about him.

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DicTraitor. I like it. Better than tRump or orange clown.

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Me too.

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As much as I'd like to see the fat fool peering out from behind bars, to arrest him without probable cause, and detain him without a specific criminal charge, and imprison him without a trial and conviction by 12 of his peers, is the very epitome of fascism. One cannot fight fascism by being a fascist. Now, if you wanted to sew his lips shut and make him wear his trousers backward, we could debate that...

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He committed QUANTIFIABLE "HIGH TREASON AGAINST THE UNITED STATES" by fomenting the "January 6th Insurrection" BEFORE President Biden ended W Bush's asinine wars in The Middle East. What was the penalty for High Treason???

Oh yes: EXECUTION.

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That's true, and is what Jack Smith's investigation was all about. Unfortunately, he got elected before an indictment could be finalized and a trial completed, and the Justice Dept has a "policy" of not prosecuting a sitting president. It's another example of justice delayed is justice denied.

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Thanks to

His bought and paid for supreme court’s

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Was he not impeached for that offense? And let go by the Senate as I recall.

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What about opening the southern border? Bill, Dubya, Zombama, and Dr. Jill should all have face treason charges for that one.

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On some level a person has to feel bad that you and so many others have been taken in by lies and propaganda. The immigration problems are stuck in congress and have been for quite a while. Pointing fingers is what trumpers do because that's what the old man does. What aboutisms!

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lol you MAGA’s are so blind

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Right. No need to arrest him. EXECUTION is what the law calls for.

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John, those are quaint leftovers from the 20th century. the rule of law, truth, evidence, precedent have all been usurped and replaced by the corrupt 6 on the court. These times call for extralegal and extrajudicial procedures. We can still do the trials - the prosecutors are ready. Televised in real time. but he's got to be behind bars, and while we're at it, substantial recounts in swing states

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It certainly seems time for the honest and justice-supporting folk to make a "Citizens Arrest" of these miscreants!

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"Without probable cause"!? Where have YOU been?

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Eric - I worry that dumpster will arrest anyone he's said deserves to be in jail. that includes the "biden crime family" as well as (his words) the " vermin" left wingers.

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The overwhelming majority of politicians in office will never do anything creative or exceptionally intelligent in the interest of the public.

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No, what Trump does as president the second time around is due to the feckless republicans who had two chances to impeach and convict him but didn't. That would have prevented him from holding office again. Thank McConnell for that.

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It is THE most baffling aspect of this whole head-spinning era: how and why did so many who we might have assumed would "do the right thing" do NOTHING at all, other than make burbling noises from time to time for this or that camera/microphone. Sputter words like "free and fair....." or "without fear or favor"..... or "no one is above the....." and ".....our democracy....." and blah-blah-blah-dee-blahdee-blahdee-blah.

What are we to make of that whole GIGANTIC side of things?? What does anything of what we've all been raised to think of as true actually mean? I think anyone who heard Tammy Duckworth and Gary Peters at the Hegseth hearing today could believe that THEY (Duckworth and Peters) still "hold these truths to be self-evident...." and they inspire listeners - and yet, we are told it is about a sure thing that Hegseth, and all of thump's unqualified (and even worse than unqualified) nominees will be confirmed....

HOW and WHY is this happening??!!!

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Death threats, is my hypothesis. Nothing else could explain it. It's a great Mafia tactic.

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Yes, Joni Ernst got them for sure.

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The 14th amendment, section 3 disqualification clause was not applied to the crime of not upholding oaths of office , in high treason, all the way to the Supreme Court and throughout the Congress. They betrayed the Constitution, in support of greed.

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Decades of gathered kompromat held by various Intelligence services in the UK/US on politicians and sold by rogue agents to the highest bidder. This is why Epstein was silenced before he could talk.

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Following Arlen Specter’s calling out Teddy Kennedy during the Clarence Thomas hearings, some Republican should have intervened and asked Tim Kaine when he changed his mind about women, while he was wasting time asking Pete Hegseth all these hypotheticals.

Tim Kaine was quite happy to share the ticket with a rapist enabler.

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I know. I do feel that Biden, at 81, what has he got to lose?

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Nothing. He’s been dead for years. What’s Dr. Jill got to lose, though?

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Dang Tolerance paradox strikes again.

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True ; tRUMP betrayed the entire country and committed treasonous crimes. He even stole National security documents, which alone should have put him in jail or at least removed him from office. The entire sycophant mob should have been out of their positions of power.

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A president can't be prosecuted while in office! I'm almost positive he will do things that will require impeachment! However, we don't have control over the House now!

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That "sitting President can't be indicted" is policy, NOT law. Biden - or any previous President since it was implemented - could have removed it or rescinded it. Why didn't he? why didn't they? It is not a law, not at all, but it is treated as if it is a law. It is the most absurd card of the 3-card monte con being played and it should have been ended years ago. Now it has been a factor in the first 4 thump years and now again. Mueller cited it as "enough to indict....but the ' can't indict a sitting President...." thing and now again it is being cited. What a con. thump wins no matter what the crime or lie is; there's always a "loophole." Can you even imagine what it must have been like to have been his parents when he was a kid? No wonder he was sent to military school!

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For the republicans it is easy - are you in bed with trump. If yes, confirm regardless of qualifications or life actions.

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Bingo! Exactly! Will you give a million dollars ok you’re in.

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You are a really interesting man.

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HEGSETH IS UNQUALIFIED AND EXTREMIST😡😡😡

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and disgusting and egomaniac and amoral....and oh so much more.

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That makes him the perfect Trump cabinet official. A President totally unqualified to be President picking a cabinet equally unqualified.

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And, must have had different coaches than Mr. Reich did as he showed little respect for the committee members - talking over them, denying their evidence, whining witch hunt, and not taking the position that he would not shoot protestors in the leg because Jesus told him it's OK. According to Mr. Reich's theory, he will not get confirmed. Let us pray.

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Unfortunately, he is yet another sex-pest that will use the Kavanaugh/Thomas whiny-ass playbook.

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Yes, he is even worse than that./ He bankrupted two Wingnut veterans charities. See Jane Mayer's investigative report on him.

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This was fantastic. The conundrum I see is that Reich actually has a (big) brain, and significant integrity. Most of Trump's nominees have neither. Hegseth today was a perfect example. He was arrogant, deceptive, ignorant, smiling and slick. If he is confirmed, we will al pay the price.

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I hope they frag him.

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The difference is, Dr Reich that you believed you would be helping to run the government. Trump wants to destroy it and strip the economy. He doesn’t really care what we think. Pretty soon, he’ll sign an Executive Order making public disagreement with him a crime, on the pretext that it’s treason. No one will stop him.

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It’s beginning already…watch his behavior towards Pelosi, Gavin Newsome and all the other folks who stood up to him. The orange Yeti is a symptom of the illness our democracy suffers from. It’s a human form of a virus. We haven’t a shot for it yet. Except Artical 14, section 3. And only a week left to implement it.

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We should look deeper into how easy it would be to use the alexa or Google home devices to listen in on any kitchen chatter about what a criminal or dumbass our president is, or these Substacks to find dissidents, and the next thing you know we're all being round up.

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I see that happening. We are going to be

So stressed out and anxiety will be at a all time high for rashional non- MAGAS

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OMG, this is so enlightening! We are in so much trouble today. This hearing of yours seems almost innocent. When can we get TRUTH, ETHICS, and LOVE for all into our country again???

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That is very interesting, Mr. Secretary. You received sound advice. We are so used to the advice "sell yourself", the advice you received is far better.

Of course when you're dealing with totally incompetent people like Hegeseth, Gabbard, and Kennedy all you'll get is brown nosing to trump no matter what is asked.

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One thing that impressed me (negatively) was the profound LACK of respect shown by Brett Kavanaugh to the Democratic women on the Judiciary Committee. Of course, for the majority Republican men, that was probably a positive.

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Over the years I have been involved in twenty-odd hirings. If any candidates had done a meltdown like Kavanaugh, we would have considered him unfit for the job.

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I have noticed that the conservative (MAGA) men are really afraid of women and want to put us back in our places. I don't think so....... Is it the Big T that makes them that way.

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Well, when you consider all the made-up rubbish Brett Kavanaugh had to put up with from these Demsheviks women of both sexes on the Committee, he showed them too much “respect” already.

Christine Blasey Ford was just shaking mit up, like Anita Hill, E. Jean Carroll, Crystal Mangum, etc., etc.

Women are to be believed in inverse proportion to their support from the Demshevik establishment.

Check out Mark Judge and the Washington Post. This is going to be fun.

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I was going to suggest that you take this down to avoid giving those fools any good ideas, and then I realized they wouldn't know excellent advice and guidance if it bit them. As I'm your age, Professor Reich, and I was interested and tangentially involved in politics in those days, I find that there were people then I basically loathed who look quite good in comparison these days. Sigh.

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Biden is damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t. If he does, he’s setting precedent of arresting political foes - exactly the way a fascist would do. If he doesn’t he’s letting FirstFelon Trump off the hook from Justice AND Biden will be held responsible for the most horrible things Trump does in Office this second time around. Many will say he whiffed on the chance to STOP him.

Don’t worry, I’ll never be President. But if I was in Joe’s shoes, I’d carry out the punishment of violations committed on 1/6/21 as stated in the 14th Amendment, Article 3. This would nullify the ability of Trump and all those Republicans who went along with him on the insurrection. I’d put them in Guantanamo and tattoo the word TRAITOR on their forehead.

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Yes!

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I see that in my minds eye, thank you

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Gosh what a great honest story. I respect you even more now! If that's possible. Thanks Professor. We have a lot of bad actors vying for important jobs. Peace all. I hope we make it through.....

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A couple of drinks , Smoke something remember to stay calm , mention Donald Trump in every answer. Know that the republicans will give you a pass and let DJT do whatever he wants with our dept Department of Defense…

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Ugg

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I got so angry during today's hearing I grabbed the vacuum cleaner and did the house, twice.

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I wish I could learn to react by doing housework.

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Donald Hodgins, thanks for the laugh. I needed that after watching youtube clips of smug, evasive, and in bad faith at the hearing.

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The big difference though Robert?

YOU were qualified..

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