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For the record, another recent piece on the “complicity and stupidity” of the GOP:

https://thefederalist.com/2024/04/19/democrats-just-blew-off-impeachment-of-alejandro-mayorkas-and-republicans-will-do-nothing-about-it/

“Average Republican officeholder: Yeah, but we’re better than that.

Such is the winsome mentality of the elected Republican in Congress— losing with dignity is actually winning!

No, dummy. Winning is winning. And winning isn’t for the sake of itself. It’s for the purpose of wielding power. If Republicans can’t do that on a simple task like impeaching a derelict cabinet official, they’re about as useful as a set of “His and Hers” towels for Lindsey Graham.”

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Johnson clearly handed a “folder” in the SCIF. His flip flop coincides with his SCIF visit. Great example of how the Deep State intelligence actors coerce/bribe/threaten/blackmail the holdouts.

Two next steps in the plan:

1) Dems introduced bill yesterday to remove Trump’s Secret Service protection if convicted, which clearly is the outcome of the current trial. No juror can stand the heat of being outed and cancelled in NYC. He’ll then be incarcerated in NY’s Rikers Island.

2) Flip the House speaker either by vacating Johnson or getting a few GOP members to retire (to $$$ jobs) and electing Hakeem. The vote on Secret Service protection can go through.

SCOTUS intervention is the remaining avenue.

THEY’RE LAUGHING AT US.

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I’m convinced more than ever that we cannot elect our way out of this situation. Even if Trump were to win, he would only be a speed bump on the way to full-blown tyranny.

Yet, the thing that depresses me the most is the cowardice and acquiescence of our fellow citizens. What’s it going to take for people to take action or even just disobey the regime? After every outrage against social, cultural, or political norms over the past 7+ years I thought, “surely now people will wake up and put a stop to this nonsense.” But no dice. Look how long it has taken to see even a modest public backlash against the trans madness in women’s sports and locker rooms. I mean, where are the real men? How have fathers and husbands allowed things to get this far?

Will locking Trump up be any different? I seriously doubt it.

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Sad to say, you summarize my default attitude these days. There are signs of resistance of course, but the rot has gone deep. The spectacle of Dems waving their little Ukie flags yesterday in the House was revolting. We need a cultural transplant and I haven't seen signs of that, yet, no coalescing, just inchoate resistance at best. But there is almost certainly a true crisis headed our way, and that may make a difference. Things that can't last forever don't.

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Who voted for and against Speaker Mike's bill?

https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2024142?Page=2

Fascinating

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Cassander, I am curious on your perspective as to how this is fascinating...

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Total dysfunction of party discipline and the party system. At least as presently constituted. In both parties.

The 'conservative' representatives from my Red state all voted yea. Ro Khanna voted nay. Jim Jordan, Steve Scalise and Elise Stefanik voted yea. Matt Gaetz and MTG voted nay. AOC and the Squad voted nay. Adam Schiff voted yea. Jim Comer voted yea. Jamie Raskin voted nay. Nancy Mace voted nay.

What do 'Republicans' stand for as a party? What do 'Democrats' stand for as a party? Are there now three parties: the Uniparty, the MAGA GOP, and the Democratic Progs?

It seems there is overwhelming support among the Uniparty now for more War. Do the people who elect the House support more War? What happened to the border?

If Gaetz could oust McCarthy he has to have the votes to get Johnson. Does he?

It has to be the end of Mike Johnson. But who could possibly attract a majority to replace him?

And where does Trump really stand?

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Gaetz, MTG, Massie (and in my state, Miller) may not have the votes to oust Johnson. A deal with the Dems to keep Johnson has been rumored for several weeks. It's all very fluid.

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Acknowledged. But would the Dems really vote to keep Johnson?

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Depends on the circumstances. Obviously, if they could get their own guy--presumably Hakeem Jeffries--in they would do that. But that's probably impossible. There's also the scenario in which more of a GOP squish than Johnson is available. Might they support such a candidate? Never say never. Times are very different now.

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Thanks! I never realized on a quick review just how fragmented the vote was when considering the parties and the supposed factions within them. You raise a series of great questions.

It seems the House is a mess and it also seems it is being weaponized to stop Trump (by both sides of the aisle). All of these considerations and your questions and comments lead me to the conclusion that our two party system is not sufficient to properly represent us. Along with you (I'm sure), I wonder: 1) How did we get here and what mistakes were made? 2) How do we escape the limitations of the current system while at the same time improving on it?

The questions are very daunting. Yet the problems and issues and questions do need to be raised as a necessary prelude to bringing about any change. Thanks for doing so.

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Through all these many years I have never been a David Stockman proponent, apologist, adherent, or even paid much attention to what he had to say. When I did, I disagreed with him. But well, doggies, he done blowed it up real good here:

https://davidstockman.substack.com/p/speaker-johnsons-ignominious-betrayal

"In politics there are no permanent enemies or permanent friends...”

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“At the end of the day, what Washington now needs is a break-up of the GOP and the formation of a Peace and Freedom party from the remnants of the conservative GOP and the dovish left. Both have been ejected from the UniParty by today’s Republican and Democrat denizens of the world’s War Capital.” - From Stockman article cited above. Tremendous well written piece.

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I agree with Stockman that we need a Peace and Freedom Party.

Perhaps as an aside, I hope it will also advocate for the restoration of family values...and for government policies which strengthen the American family. In particular, I would like to see the value of 'work' restored in this country. If work were more meaningful, including meaningfully remunerative, I would like to think that many of the petty divisions in this country would fall by the wayside.

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I've been reluctant to come around to that for fear of Libertarians. They've all gone silent about the guy in Argentina lately, who wants to NATO (scrap the "N", substitute for "N"?). But it's coming to a crisis--or so it seems. The system as we thought we knew it isn't working for ordinary people. The problem as I see it is a lack of a common culture. Most third parties reject a common culture on principle. Putin?

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And...all of a sudden...it appears that Trump may not be the guy. Trump, who convinced many of us in 2016 that he was running against the War Party, may have joined it. In a strange way I can kinda excuse him...he must be in survival mode, all-consumed these days with saving himself. But, where to turn?

It is very depressing. I am left reminding myself that the night is darkest before the dawn.

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Credit to you for pointing out these seemingly unsolvable problems facing the US in a post-Constitutional era. A hydra-headed crisis with everything going wrong all at once…

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I do think Sundance is right about one thing- there really is a plan to lose the House before the election to allow a vote to disqualify Trump. I don't think Johnson, Massie, and Greene are a part of it, but it is definitely wanted by at least 20-30 GOP members in the House, and it includes all the people bailed out before their terms were finished. They want it, but they don't want to put their names on a yes vote- so sandbagging and losing the House majority is the plan.

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I concur. There are many on the right who are compromised with corruption and likely perversion with the CIA holding incriminating evidence from Mossad’s Epstein/Maxwell blackmail scheme. In addition they believe Trump will stop the flow of money into their coffers from which provides the funding for their lifestyle. But, like everyone, these are guesses as who can rationalize properly why so many so called conservatives betray the oath of their office and spit on the morals and virtues they profess to hold.

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That's my operative assumption as well.

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And remember what Johnson did on FISA.

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Sen. Rand Paul has directed a stern warning at former President Trump, cautioning that his continued backing of Speaker Johnson could alienate a significant portion of his base.

“If Trump supports this monstrous, unpaid for foreign aid debt buster, he will lose the very supporters who comprise his vanguard. Mark my words,” Sen. Rand Paul warned.

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My "Give-a-Sh!t Meter" on the Republican Party just hit zero.

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They don’t have the votes, particularly German and French, when they bring it up later this spring…but they are showing their utter ignorance and quite literally committing suicide in front of the World and could not care less….no responsibility…they just move to the next job or compound behind walls…

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Mark, have you noted that the IMF and World Bank spring meetings have been the last few days? The US/Brits pushing the confiscation of the Russian monies, which would be an act of war per the WB/IMF rules…

This threat, has already pushed a growing change in settlement payments: Japan and India, for example, already pay for Russian oil/gas with Yuan.

This would lead to a “crisis” with the US debt as the rest of the World is making other plans to bypass the US/West. Worth a war before the collapse?

Lastly, the rest of the world is signaling that whoever wins the US election, it does not matter: Trump is viewed by many abroad as only slightly better - some brakes on the crazy clown car - but ultimately others are just leaving the US behind and making their own plans for the future…imagine the “leaders” of the world say 20 years from now, and none of them are US/West…

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The 21st century will be India's to lose.

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They certainly think that way…they have an India Project 2047 as they build towards their 100 anniversary of independence. Modi is about to get stronger with the elections underway. They are very much retrieving their spiritual roots. The US has virtually no understanding of what is happening and is not even trying to comprehend. The Indians would love for the US to be what it once was, but they are moving on given our utter decline.

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I knew that that would be an act of war.

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Nothing new in the following rant about the worse-than-useless Republicans by Jesse Kelly with Tucker Carlson. But very satisfying nonetheless.

https://youtu.be/_potM4NB_a8?si=KF_UBZgHwlTFq67v

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Jews. Jews own both the Republicans and the Democrats. Not all of them - in the case of Republicans at least. It should be fairly obvious by now that AIPAC has something on Johnson - some form of blackmail - and have threatened him with it.

As for the US losing its reserve currency status, that much is already guaranteed, regardless of the actions they take now. Given how fast everything is happening now, I don't expect to have to wait long to see that materialize. A couple of years at most I'm guessing.

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In his most recent Market Report, Luongo was discussing how stupid or compromised Massie and MTG are for trying to remove Johnson, who is in a nearly impossible position. But then, in the middle of his train of thought, he noted that it would be almost impossible to fill the speaker role again before the elections, and this would have the salutary effect of stalling congress so they can't do any further harm until Trump comes to office.

I would be happy with a stalled congress at this point.

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I was surprised to see Luongo criticizing Massie for trying to do his job in a snake pit. I've never heard anything about Massie being compromised. He's definitely not predictable. This is seen as a negative in the Beltway where after working to get elected, finally getting to the Beltway, your vote doesn't matter. Only one vote matters, in this case the Speaker's. As such, US isn't "free," is not a representative democracy. It's mob rule. Rep. Massie is the only member of congress who asked for a day or two to read Trump's $2 trillion "virus bailout" in March 2020. For this Trump raged that Massie should be thrown out of the Republican Party, that he was just grandstanding. When GOP Speaker Johnson was elected I recall being shocked at his financial profile which to me looked verging on bankruptcy, at minimum he can't afford to miss one paycheck. He's refinanced and has outstanding loans to the hilt. This shows a lack of judgement and lack of discipline, the last kind of person to be in charge of US taxpayer dollars. In Nov. 2010 the Tea Party gave the GOP House a landslide of 63 new seats-which enraged the GOP which much prefers to be in the minority. They told the new people to shut up and sit down. Until 1994 the House had been controlled by democrats for 40 straight years and no one complained.

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yeah, Trump has my vote but not my confidence

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Apr 19
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Hardly.

My comment doesn't even scratch the surface of his analysis. His market reports are behind a paywall, but I recommend you listen to his interviews to understand the scope of the war that we are in. Here's one from last month with The Duran: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTYBqx0NiSA.

His discussion of Speaker Johnson was along the lines of his defense of Meloni in Italy: sovereigntist politicians doing the best they can in impossible situations in which they are totally encircled by sinister globalists. But he also concedes that it's possible these 'sovereigntists' are actually globalists in disguise.

The point is that we should not turn our guns on our guys just because they are compelled to compromise at times.

I will say that Johnson looks pretty bad right now. I still have hope for Meloni, even though she has had to compromise numerous times.

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At this point I don't know enough about him to agree. But I know enough about a ton of other Republican congress critters to know who our enemies are. They don't even make a secret of it. Look up Dusty Johnson (UP-SD) statements on the speakership controversies. He parrots the party gaslighting line perfectly. Use the tools you have when you have them but verify. If Massie is an agent of the Deep State I have no idea why he would be acting the way he is right now - plenty of others aren't challenging the UniParty at this point. It's those who have bad mouthed Trump and quit their positions in the lead up to the election that I would suspect first.

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he wasn't bashing him as unprincipled; he was bashing him as unstrategic.

But as I said, in mid-thought he hit upon the idea that it could all be a tactical maneuver to put a stop to any further congressional action, which would be sweet if they could pull it off. But unlikely.

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Our oppressors are and have always been those you cannot criticize.

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The Brits?

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We can criticize both, but you cannot criticize the……

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I found it odd that Sundance thought Massie was compromised when it seems just as likely if not more so that Johnson is the one who's compromised.

Talk about a rock and a hard place. Damned if he's removed, damned if he stays. At this point, it doesn't seem to matter which wing of the Uniparty controls the House, the Senate or the White House, so I say remove him anyway.

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Very interesting take on this chaos. I can only assume all of the elected officers are compromised and we Americans are watching their show

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Seriously, we are watching a show. I remember the last presidential election year, in which the global pandemic turned out to be a production planned far in advance, with a final dress rehearsal in October 2019. What is happening this year, that we will look back on and see that it was following a script?

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It's a struggle to stay sane in a world full of lunatics, isn't it? I suppose the best explanation for all this is that the Deep State has thrown out all the rules and burnt its bridges. It's using every dirty trick it can to hold on to its power. Johnson is just another "devout Christian" who is neither, Sundance has lost the plot (his blog is like a cult these days) and Trump doesn't have the brains or humility to listen to what his millions of supporters are telling him.

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Wasn’t Pence an untouchable devout Christian also? Yeah, how’d that work out. Disgusting how these cretins hide behind God’s name to shield themselves. Special place in hell for such creatures.

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Whenever a politician presents himself as devout I become suspicious. Pence, if devout, would not have stabbed his boss in the back and would not betray the people he swore to protect, under oath.

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Is it 'strategic' for Trump to try to win the election with pro-Israel, pro-Ukraine, anti-Russia votes and then govern as a MAGA President? Who knows?

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I’ve thought that too, but his continuing support of the men who betray the country like McCarthy and now Johnson has me baffled. I miss Kevin Nunes, he seemed honorable, and forthright.

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