The New Democrat

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Bernard Goldberg: When Even Murder Is Tolerated

Posted on December 24, 2024 by Rik Schneider

Source:Bernard Goldberg with a left at militant-left “rockstar” Luigi Mangione.

Source:The New Democrat

“Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Thompson’s death on a midtown Manhattan street “was a killing that was intended to evoke terror. And we’ve seen that reaction.” —AP News Report

It didn’t take long, did it? Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was shot and killed, and before police finished cordoning off the crime scene, social media was on fire, turning the alleged shooter into some kind of folk hero.

To more than a few Americans, Luigi Mangione, the man arrested and charged with killing Thompson, wasn’t a cold-blooded killer, but rather a righteous vigilante standing up to corporate greed. He’s even been dubbed the “hot assassin” because of a picture that revealed him shirtless showing off his abs.

Here’s the reality: a man was murdered — shot in the back on a New York City street. You’d think that, at the very least, we could all agree that that’s wrong — without adding … but there are times when even murder is understandable.”

From Bernard Goldberg

If you are let’s say a Baby Boomer (someone born in the 1940s or 50s) like a Bernard Goldberg, or older than that, or you are just someone with a solid understanding of American history, but are younger than a Boomer, then you are familiar with the militant far-left in America. Groups like The Weather Underground and the Symbionese Liberation Army, Students For a Democratic Society, and others from the 1960s and 70s.

These groups have always believed that progress is not enough and sometimes democracy is not enough to achieve their political objectives. And sometimes you need violence and undemocratic means to achieve their goals and you need to “take a strike at The Man”, even if that means murdering people, to bring attention to the issues that these groups care about.

That’s what Luigi Mangione was doing when he murdered United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson a few weeks ago. He was “striking out against The Man” to bring the attention to what the far-left sees as problems with the American health care system. They hate the facts that our health care system is private and for-profit.

So when a Luigi Mangione, or some other militant leftist comes along and does what this guy did and he also looks like he could be a Hollywood actor, or a boybander, they celebrate him as some type of a rockstar, doing what they only had the guts to do themselves.

As my colleague Fred Schneider said last week:

“But there’s only 1 political faction in America that could possibly believe that killing a CEO of a health insurance company, simply because they are a health insurance CEO, and the killer thinks that person is part of the problem… if not a good idea, is perhaps justifiable homicide, or something.

And there’s only 1 political faction in America that would make a murderer of a CEO a pop culture, rockstar, or something, and celebrating this man online and on social media and trying to profit off him with all the videos and the merchandise. And that would be far-left in America, which are made of of some Democratic Socialists, but militant Socialists, the WOKE Left, who believe that progress is never enough. Because it’s the system that’s the problem itself, who believe that we’ll never achieve a “just and fair society”, until we take down the system. Or as they would put it: “The Man”.

To the WOKE Left in America, Luigi Mangione is a “totally awesome rockstar”, who took a brig strike at “The Man”. So they’ve been celebrating him, at least since he’s been the news and they read his manifesto. But for the rest of the country, including people who also don’t approve of our health care system, but who believe in the rule of law and who are pro-life in the real sense, (meaning people who believe in protecting innocent lives) Luigi Mangione is just another famous murderer in America. And unfortunately we’ve had too many famous murderers in America.”

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Posted in Bernard Goldberg, The New Democrat | Tagged 2024, America, Baltimore, Bernard Goldberg, Brian Thompson, Far Left, FBI, Health Care, Luigi Mangione, Manhattan, Maryland, Militant Left, New Left, New York, New York City, Socialists, Southern District of New York, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Government, United Health Care, United States, Washington, Washington DC, Woke, WOKE Left | 1 Comment

The Hill: Matt Gaetz Ethics Report Finds ‘Substantial Evidence’ of Statutory Rape, Drug Use & Law Violations

Posted on December 23, 2024 by Erik Schneider

Source:The Hill with a look at former U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz (MAGA, Florida)

Source:The New Democrat

“The report accusing former republican congressman Matt Gaetz of sexual misconduct, illegal drug use and receiving improper gifts was released today. The report found ‘substantial evidence’ of statutory rape, drug use. President Joe Biden commutes death row prisoners. Plus, accused UHC CEO killer Luigi Mangione plead not guilty today in a Manhattan courtroom.”

From The Hill

“The House Ethics Committee found “substantial evidence” that former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) paid a 17-year-old high school student for sex when he was 35, used illicit drugs like cocaine and ecstasy, and obstructed Congress’s investigation into his conduct.

Those conclusions come in a highly anticipated report released Monday that capped the panel’s years-long, on-and-off investigation into the former Florida congressman.

The House Ethics Committee found “substantial evidence” that former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) paid a 17-year-old high school student for sex when he was 35, used illicit drugs like cocaine and ecstasy, and obstructed Congress’s investigation into his conduct.

Those conclusions come in a highly anticipated report released Monday that capped the panel’s years-long, on-and-off investigation into the former Florida congressman.

“The committee concluded there was substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules, state and federal laws, and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, acceptance of impermissible gifts, the provision of special favors and privileges, and obstruction of Congress,” the report says.

Gaetz has repeatedly denied having sexual contact with a minor and other wrongdoing. Last week, in anticipation of the report’s release, Gaetz said he had engaged in “embarrassing, though not criminal” past behavior.

On Monday, he filed a last-minute lawsuit to block the Ethics Committee from releasing the report.

“These claims would be destroyed in court — which is why they were never made in any court against me,” Gaetz told The Hill on Monday ahead of the report’s release, in reference to the Department of Justice (DOJ) declining to file charges after investigating Gaetz for similar matters.”

From The Hill

As I said last week on The New Democrat about my feelings about Matt Gaetz:

“How much do you want to bet that if Matt Gaetz was never elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (which would’ve been his real public service to America… staying out of public office) that he would be some MAGA Bro in Florida, with his own podcast, going online and on air, probably drunk, smoking weed, slapping the asses and grabbing the breasts of the women who worked for him when they walked by to give him news updates, or whatever they gave him or wanted to tell him, and perhaps would go on Greg Gutfeld’s show on FOX News, as an analyst, or something. I would take that bet.

Matt Gaetz is a MAGO Bro, perhaps even a MAGA militant, who got elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Which is a serious job for serious people. (Despite all the nasty but credible rumors to the contrary) But he’s no more serious as a person, then your average professional “reality TV star”, who earns their living by getting into trouble and dumping drinks on people and getting into fights at nightclubs.

So this is what happens when professional political celebrities like a Matt Gaetz, or perhaps in the future a Marjorie Taylor Greene, or Lauren Boebert, (whose already had her own legal issues and had to move out of her House district, just to barely get reelected again) get serious positions in government. These jobs blow up in the faces because they’re simply not professional, mature, and responsible enough for them. They’re the political version of late night or overnight talk show hosts, trying to make it in prime time, with their first opportunity.

This part right here sounds very George Santos of Matt Gaetz: “Converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gifts,” according to an announcement by the panel last summer”.

As I said on my Threads page about an hour ago: “Just the fact that Matt Gaetz is admitting to “embarrassing behavior”, says a lot. He’s really worried about the House report going public.”

To paraphrase The Great George Carlin: we get the politician and “public servants” that we deserve. Meaning, in any democracy, we get the people who got the most votes in the election that they ran in. And I’m sure former Representative Matt Gatez did a lot of bad things here. My post about this last week about this story makes it very clear how I feel about this man.

But at the end of the day:

this man even will all the baggage and the fact that Donald Trump’s own DOJ had this man under investigation for the exact same issues back in 2018 the House Ethics Committee investigated him for, including in this Congress and he still got reelected anyway in 2024. And the only reason why he’s out of public office now, because he resigned because he was worried about what the House Ethics Committee had on him and perhaps didn’t want to risk being censured and getting kicked out of the House. All these facts at least suggests that the voters in his district didn’t care, or weren’t paying attention to this.

But as MAGA Republicans like to say: we don’t live in a democracy. We live in a republic. And just because Matt Gatez’s own voters wanted him back in the House for the 119th Congress, doesn’t automatically mean that’s what they get. Mr. Gaetz is responsible for living by and following by the same rules as every other American citizen. And he resigned from the House simply to try save what’s left of any future political career.

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Posted in The Hill, The New Democrat | Tagged 118th Congress, 2024, America, Far Right, Florida, House Ethics Committee, House Republicans, MAGA, MAGA Bros, Matt Gaetz, New Right, Populism, Populists, Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican Party, Tea Party, The Hill, The Hill Newspaper, U.S. Congress, U.S. Government, U.S. House of Representatives, United States, Washington, Washington DC | Leave a comment

Luigi Mangione: The New Left Anti-Hero

Posted on December 20, 2024 by FredSchneiderUS

Source:Don Lemon talking about Luigi Mangione.

Source:The New Democrat

“Luigi Mangione has returned to New York after waiving extradition. Still, many Americans view Mangione as a sort of folk hero rather than a cold blooded killer. What is fueling this public support? Are authorities making him a martyr? Tune in for Don’s take!”

From Don Lemon

“More than forty years ago, Richard E. Meyer, a scholar of American folklore, noted the essential difference between the outlaw—which Meyer defined as “a distinctively, though not exclusively, American folktype”—and the mere criminal. He wrote that “the American outlaw-hero is a ‘man of the people’; he is closely identified with the common people, and, as such, is generally seen to stand in opposition to certain established oppressive economic, civil and legal systems peculiar to the American historical experience.” (The italics are Meyer’s.) The outlaw-hero’s persona is that of a “good man gone bad,” not unlike the oncology patient Walter White, of “Breaking Bad,” who started cooking meth because his insurance didn’t cover his cancer treatments. To remain in good standing as an outlaw-hero, a man’s crimes must “be directed only toward those visible symbols which stand outside of and are thought of as oppressive toward the folk group,” Meyer writes. In exchange for both his audacity and his discretion, “the outlaw-hero is helped, supported and admired by his people…

By contrast, Mangione lasted all of five days on the lam, and appears not to have redistributed any of UnitedHealthcare’s revenues. In other ways, though, he comfortably fits into Meyer’s taxonomy of the antihero. The U.S. health-insurance system is both “oppressive” and quintessentially “peculiar” to America, as the only developed nation in the world that does not provide universal health care. It has been widely speculated that Mangione’s alleged descent into violence may have been spurred by a debilitating back injury and subsequent spinal-fusion surgery. A health-care C.E.O. who receives ten million dollars in annual compensation is likely disqualified from membership in a “folk group,” and another note that Mangione reportedly wrote indicated that he did not want to endanger that group. (“What do you do? You wack the CEO at the annual parasitic bean-counter convention. It’s targeted, precise, and doesn’t risk innocents.”)

Like Floyd, Mangione may also have a knack for the myth-building flourish. Bullet casings left behind at the murder scene read “deny,” “defend,” and “depose,” borrowing from the obstructionist nomenclature of the health-insurance industry—as if its bureaucratic weapons were being turned against one of its own. And, although the manhunt for Mangione came to an ignominious end, early on, he hinted at being a more artful dodger, as when he allegedly left the perfect gag gift for the N.Y.P.D. in Central Park: a backpack stuffed with Monopoly money…

Afascinating artifact of the Mangione affair is the emergence, on TikTok and elsewhere, of the health-insurance murder ballad. (One of the most popular uses “deny, depose, defend” as a refrain.) This nascent subgenre flows directly from Woody Guthrie’s suite of murder ballads, which gave the workingman’s lament an infusion of antihero glamour. The subjects of Guthrie’s songs included Billy the Kid, Jesse James, and Charley Floyd, and it was in a song about Floyd that the bard of the Dust Bowl drew the brightest line between outlaw and oppressor: “Some will rob you with a six-gun / And some with a fountain pen / And as through your life you travel / Yes, as through your life you roam / You won’t never see an outlaw / Drive a family from their home.”

From The New Yorker

If I had to guess, I would imagine that the American, private health insurance, industry, is about as popular as peanut butter on hot dogs. Or giving your kid broccoli for desert. So I’m not saying that it’s just the far-left in America, (who’ve been trying to outlaw health insurance and perhaps private health care, since he 1960s, if not longer) are the only people that currently disapprove of the American health care system.

But there’s only 1 political faction in America that could possibly believe that killing a CEO of a health insurance company, simply because they are a health insurance CEO, and the killer thinks that person is part of the problem… if not a good idea, is perhaps justifiable homicide, or something.

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Posted in New Left, The New Democrat | Tagged 2024, America, Baltimore, Brian Thompson, Don Lemon, Far Left, FBI, Jessica Winter, Luigi Mangione, Manhattan, Maryland, New Left, New York, New York City, Socialism, Socialists, The New Yorker, U.S. Attorney Southern District of New York, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Government, United Health Care, United States, Washington, Washington DC, Woke | 2 Comments

George Carlin On Political Correctness

Posted on December 20, 2024 by kireschneider

Source:Frustrated Idealist– The Great George Carlin in 1990.

Source:The New Democrat

“George Carlin talks about how groups and institutions are inclined to restrict the vocabulary you use with emphasis on the feminist movement.”

From the Frustrated Idealist

“One of my favorite George Carlin bits in which he describes the sterilization of the American language. From the 1990 special Doin’ it Again.”

Source:Rob Logan– The Great George Carlin in 1990.

From Rob Logan

“Now I’ve probably got the feminists all pissed off at me because I’m joking about rape. Feminists want to control your language. Feminists want to tell you how to talk.

And they’re not alone, they’re not alone. I’m not picking on the feminists. They got a lot of company in this country. There’s a lot of groups, a lot of institutions in this country want to control your language. Tell you what you can say and what you can’t say. Government wants to tell you some things you can’t say because they’re against the law. “Well, you can’t say this because it’s against the regulation.” “Well, here’s something you can’t say because it’s a secret.” “You can’t tell him that, because he’s not cleared to know that.”

From Genius

“Political correctness is fascism pretending to be manners.”

From Good Reads

George Carlin: “There is 1 group that takes itself a little too seriously. And it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to piss off a feminist. All you got to do is run into NOW headquarters or Ms. Magazine and say: “Hey, which 1 of you cute cupcakes want to come home with me, cook me a meal, and give me a blowjob?”

From what I wrote about George Carlin and feminists from back in 2019:

“Yeah, if you’re trying to piss off a feminist or any woman who is to the left of I don’t know Phyllis Schlafly ( just to throw out a name ) that would probably do the trick. But how big a population could American women who are to the left of Phyllis Schlafly be anyway, 70-80%: oh wait, we’re only talking about out of a 100, so I could see where George might be onto something here.”

I think a major point, if not the whole point of George Carlin’s comedy, was about the truth, personal freedom, and individuality, which both include freedom of speech.

And George Carlin’s idea of freedom of speech is not the freedom to be liked and popular. He wasn’t interested in being part of some clique in high school, that had most of the cool people in it, who were really just clones of their cult hero. He thought people should know the truth and be free to think and act for themselves, even and especially when the truth was hard to hear, especially from the most oversensitive among us. Even if that offended the hell out of overprivileged people in America who thought they know what’s best for everyone because they have more money and education than most people.

On the outside, whether you are talking about radical, militant feminists, or radical, new-left hippies from the 1960s and 70s on the far-left, (who are called WOKE today) or people who were called the Christian-Right in the 1970s and 80s, even 90s, who became the Tea Party during the 2010s, who are MAGA today (and I’m talking about MAGA militants) you would think they would be in a cultural war and it would like Israeli Zionists, versus the Arab Nationalists in Palestine. You would think that the only thing that they have in common, is that they want to destroy each other. Preferably before the other side destroys them. (Unless they’re suicidal)

But WOKE and MAGA actually have a lot in common. They both think that they know what’s best for every American and what it means to be decent, moral person. And anyone who disagrees with them is some type of bigot (according to WOKE) or Un-American. (According to MAGA)

George Carlin died in 2008. But it’s safe to say he wasn’t a fan of the Christian-Right. It’s about as safe to say that is it’s about as safe to say that if you jump in a lake, there’s a real shot of you getting wet. I mean the mean the man was a freakin Atheist, for crying out loud. He wasn’t a fan of Islamism either. But you just look at his material against militant feminism and left-wing political correctness, it’s also safe to say that he wasn’t a fan of what’s called WOKE today. Not that he saw America as some type of utopia or something, but that wasn’t trying to take down the system and try to replace America with something that’s a hell of a lot less individualistic a lot more authoritarian.

To go back to my original point about Carlin, he believed in the truth. Which is sort of like saying that someone believes in clean water and fresh air. You would think that would go without saying. But welcome to America, the land of the over protected, even from ourselves. (If the far-left or far-right ever got complete control of this country) And George Carlin was completely against that type of political and social collectivism.

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Posted in George Carlin, The New Democrat | Tagged 1990, 2024, America, Authoritarianism, Collectivism, Communism, Far Left, Fascism, George Carlin Comedy, George Carlin HBO Special, George Carlin Standup Comedy, Manhattan, New Left, New York, New York City, Political Correctness, Radical Feminism, Radical Feminists, Socialism, Statism, The 1990s, United States, Woke | Leave a comment

Hunter: The Beautiful & The Dead (1986)

Posted on December 19, 2024 by Ederik Schneider

Source:Apple TV– actress Persis Khambatta as Dhari Ziad.

Source:The New Democrat

“Hunter and McCall are called to investigate the car bombing of a Middle-Eastern consulate member for which a student terrorist group claims responsibility.”

From IMDB

“Hunter and McCall are called to investigate the car bombing of a Middle-Eastern consulate member for which a student terrorist group claims responsibility.”

Source:YouTube– actress Persis Khambatta as Dhari Ziad.

From YouTube

“When a dead girl disappears from Hunter’s living room, Hunter and McCall follow a trail of intrigue, adultery and murder.”

Source:IMDB– actress Katherine Justice plays Shirley Humphreys in this episode.

From IMDB

In early 2021, perhaps earlier than that, Charge started putting the old Hunter episodes on their network. And they did that for about a year or so. And then GetTV picked up the TV series as well about 1-2 years later and are stilling showing Hunter on the weekends.

I’m a Gen-Xer and growing up in the 1980s, this was 1 of my favorite TV shows, especially before my family got cable in the late 80s. And it’s 1 of the my favorite cop shows as well. So I’m watching all these Hunter reruns mostly on the weekends. And a few episodes really stand out with me to the point I personally recoded a lot of them on my DVR. 2 episodes in particular are 62 Hours of Terror and The Beautiful and The Dead, both from season 2 and both from 1986.

If you are familiar with Fred Dryer (who played LAPD Detective Sergeant Rick Hunter) on the Hunter TV series, you know that before he got into acting in the 1980s, he was an All Pro defensive end for the Los Angeles Rams in the NFL in the 1970s.

So we’re talking about a 6’6 240-245 pound man, all muscle, who plays an LAPD detective sergeant and lead investigator on all his cases. But that’s just from the outside. He’s also a very funny man, who always has a great wisecrack ready to go, or some sarcastic, physical comedy, ready to show as well. And they added his comedic humor, with Stephanie Kramer’s who played Sergeant Hunter’s partner on this show. (Detective Sergeant DeDee McCall) And she’s an excellent comedic actress herself.

If you are familiar with this TV series, it’s basically an action/comedy, that’s advertised as police detective show. The detectives are very funny, a lot of the guest actors are also very funny. The storylines and writing and funny as well. But it’s also a serious cop show about how two senior, LAPD detectives, solve cases together, but who have a lot of fun with each other while they’re doing that.

The two Hunter episodes that this is about, is what I’m talking about. But there’s more to it than that. The fact that LAPD would be investigating Middle Eastern terrorists, as well as officials who were involved in these terrorist acts, but then the fact that a woman (played by Persis Khambatta) from the Baraqi embassy (a made up country) American boyfriend (played by Rod Arrantis) who is really the terrorist here, because this woman really wants to kill her husband whose is cheating on her, (even though she’s doing the exact same thing to him) makes this episode even more fascinating to me.

But then this woman is so cute and beautiful, (reminds me of actress Anne-Marie Johnson) you would think she would be the last person who is behind this terrorist plot, but she’s plays the innocent woman so beautifully (in more ways than 1) that you would have to be a great detective like Rick Hunter to figure this out. But it’s her boyfriend Harry Malone (played by Rod Arrantis) who gives Sergeant’s Hunter and McCall the giveaway to this plot by volunteering that Dhari Ziad (played by Persis Khambatta) is 1 of his clients that he was protecting. Puts Hunter and McCall on to him and that’s how they figure this case out.

As far as The Beautiful and The Dead, it’s a great Cold War, intelligence/detective story. You have a Russian citizen Leo Zukoff (played by Kabir Bedi) who is really a Russian intelligence officer, pretending to be a small businessman in Los Angeles. But what he’s really doing is knocking off people who get in his way and threaten to exposed himself for what he is, which is a Russian intelligence officer and mobster. Hunter and McCall figure that out pretty quickly. But it takes them most of this 2-part episode to figure this out.

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Posted in Classic Movies, The New Democrat | Tagged 1986, America, Apple TV, Asia, California, Cold War, Eurasia, Fre Dryer, Hollywood, Hunter, Hunter TV Series, Hunter TV Show, IMDB, India, Kabir Bedi, Katherine Justice, LAPD, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Police Department, Moscow, NBC, Persis Khambatta, Republic of India, Rod Arrantis, Russia, Russian Federation, Sexy Women, Slavia, South Asia, Soviet Union, Stephanie Kramer, The 1980s, United States, YouTube | Leave a comment

David Pakman: You Can See The Moment His Brain Breaks

Posted on December 19, 2024 by Derik Schneider

Source:David Pakman Show with a look at U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (MAGA, Alabama)

Source:The New Democrat

“Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville parrots anti-vaccine propaganda in the context of RFK Jr’s nomination by Donald Trump to be Secretary of Health and Human Services”

From the David Pakman Show

Just to give you an idea of how “impressive” Senator Tommy Tuberville (MAGA, Alabama) thinks of Robert F. Kennedy JR… this is what RFK’s wife Cheryl Hines said about her husband today:

“RFK Jr. faced a tricky dilemma as he sat with Donald Trump on the jubilant president-elect’s plane shortly after the election. Trump has made no secret of his liking for McDonald’s fast food and the table—where Elon Musk, Donald Trump Jr., and House Speaker Mike Johnson were also seated—was set with trays full of Big Macs, fries, and soda. By the same token, Kennedy is disdainful of junk food, calling it “poison.” But according to his wife, actress Cheryl Hines, Kennedy decided he had no choice but to take his “poison.” She told TMZ: “I don’t think he had a choice … it’s all they had.” But Hines isn’t worried that he’ll be swayed by Trump’s bad eating habits in Washington, D.C. if he is confirmed as the nation’s next health chief…

From the David Pakman Show

The Daily Beast: Cheryl Hines said husband Robert F. Kennedy Jr. decided he had no choice but to take his “poison.”

Derik Schneider: Was RFKJR kidnapped? Perhaps forced to eat McDonald’s with a gun pointed at him?

From The Daily Beast

So apparently Senator Tuberville is impressed by people who get forced to eat food that they don’t like and think that it’s bad for them. Or perhaps get kidnapped and are forced to eat what they don’t like, what they know is bad for them, by gunpoint.

Apparently Senator Tuberville is not familiar with Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution, that covers Congress and it’s role in the U.S. Government, including the Senate’s advise and consent policy:

“Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville said Thursday that it’s “not our job” to vet President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees.

“Who are we to say that we’re a better picker of people than Donald Trump?” Tuberville told CNN’s Manu Raju.

Raju reminded Tuberville that advising and consenting on presidential nominees is a core responsibility of the Senate.

Tuberville acknowledged that in part, saying, “We’re advise and consent. But that’s more the Democrats.”

“But don’t you think both sides should do the vetting?” Raju asked.

“Well, you know, to some degree,” the Alabama lawmaker said. “I mean, but we have to be convinced. I mean, they should do all the background work. They should go after our nominees.”

He added: “Donald Trump did all the vetting they needed to do on [Secretary of Defense nominee] Pete Hegseth. And I just can’t believe we have people on our side, they’re saying, ‘Well, I’ve got to look at this.'”

From Newsweek

Conservative Republican Bill Kristol who’s never been accused of holding back when talking about how he feels about the MAGA Party (that used to be the Republican Party) made a great comment about Senator Tuberville last year:

“Gotta say that @SenTuberville is rapidly rising in the heated competition for the medal as the most smug, self-satisfied, and stupid member of Congress.”

From Bill Kristol

Perhaps David Pakman believes that Tommy Tuberville’s brain just broke today over vaccinations. But this guy is the Marjorie Taylor Greene of the U.S. Senate. Perhaps less violent and not as loud. But that might only be because he’s 20 years older than Representative Greene.

As Ronald Reagan said: people vote with their feet. Which means we’re free to live anywhere we want in America, in any state or town, or city, etc. But the thinking, or lack of thinking (to be more accurate) that still goes on in Alabama today, is why they’re still an underdeveloped state, that perhaps only looks well off compared to their next door neighbor Mississippi. Because most Americans don’t want to live there.

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Posted in David Pakman, The New Democrat | Tagged 118th Congress, 2024, Alabama, America, Bill Kristol, Cheryl Hines, CNN, David Pakman, David Pakman Show, Far Right, MAGA, Manu Raju, McDonald's, New Right, Newsweek, Populism, Populists, Republican Party, Robert F. Kennedy JR, Senate Republicans, Senator Tommy Tuberville, Tea Party, The Daily Beast, Tommy Tuberville, U.S. Congress, U.S. Government, U.S. Senate, United States, Vaccinations, Washington, Washington DC | Leave a comment

Bernard Goldberg: Is Woke On The Ropes, Thanks to Mr. Trump?

Posted on December 18, 2024 by Rik Schneider

Source:Bernard Goldberg with a look at WOKE in America.

Source:The New Democrat

“The cultural pendulum may be swinging back…
Now, onto today’s column…

Is “woke” on its way out now that Donald Trump is on his way back in? Is a seismic shift in American culture just over the horizon?

Ever since hyper-politically-correct culture took hold in America about 15 years ago, if you told a certain kind of joke, or God forbid, wore a red hat that didn’t say “Save the Whales”— you were practically asking to be dragged in front of the woke inquisition — if not get physically attacked.

Rahm Emanuel — the longtime Democratic insider — was on to something when he said, “The woke police don’t even have to read you your Miranda rights.” They don’t need evidence that what you said really was bigoted and mean-spirited. They just need to be offended — or claim they are — and you’re guilty.

But now it looks like we’re at an inflection point. The cultural pendulum seems to be swinging back. And Donald Trump may be why it’s happening.”

From Bernard Goldberg

To answer Bernard Goldberg’s question: we don’t know yet. I think as long as there are left-wing political movements, that are primarily made up of people who are very young and just in college or just out of college, who are probably rare voters, instead of part-time voters, there’s going to be some movement that’s either WOKE, or is called something like that.

And unfortunately there will always be not just a Political Correctness Police, but there will be at least two PC departments in America: one for the far-left that attacks anyone who even criticizes any member, of any minority group in America. And one on the far-right that goes after people who even criticize Donald Trump, or whoever their current cult leader is, or one of their most influential MAGA members.

As my colleague said Erik Schneider last week:

“The negative WOKE solution here would be something like to blame the American system and argue that: “It’s our racist and materialistic system that are holding people of color and others down. And you won’t fix this problem, until you tear down the American system and replace it with something that’s just.”

I’m with Michael Shermer on this in the sense I don’t define myself as WOKE. I much rather find ways to solve problems, than to look at the political calculations of them and try to blame the other side for the problem itself. Which is basically what WOKE has become. The WOKE militants seem to be more interested in exploiting the problems of America and finding ways to blame people they disagree with, including Democrats, then to actually solve the problems that they claim to care about. ”

And as far as the fact that Donald Trump got elected President again and that somehow suggests that WOKE was defeated and we’re now moving back to a MAGA era… Mr. Trump only won 49% of the popular vote. Which means that more Americans voted against him, then for him. And the first MAGA person who sees this will say:

“We don’t elect our President’s based on the popular vote”.

And I would probably say something like in response:

“Thanks for the tip, Captain Obvious”. That’s not the point.

Mr. Trump wasn’t elected President of the United States to end WOKE or American democracy. He was elected President to bring down the cost of living. That’s what most of national polling suggests, at least outside of MAGA. And he was elected to a certain extent to get illegal immigration under control. But not to end American democracy, or throw out the U.S. Constitution and our Bill of Rights.

But not only that, but House Republicans had a very tight majority already and will have a bare majority in the next Congress. Senate Republicans won back the Senate, but will also have a very small majority in the next Congress, with a solid bloc of Republicans who aren’t MAGA members.

I don’t think Bernard Goldberg is suggesting that Donald Trump’s 2024 election as President suggests some revolutionary change in American politics for the Right. But you would have to ask him that yourself. But Republicans right now would be looking at attempted political suicide, if they even consider going past their mandate and thinking that Americans now want a MAGA republic. What American voters want is for government to work and to do the basic functions of government. Not elect Donald J. Trump as King and all his supporters in and out of government as members of his MAGA royal family.

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Posted in Bernard Goldberg, The New Democrat | Tagged 2024, 2024 Presidential Election, America, Bernard Goldberg, Donald Trump, Donald Trump For President, Far Right, MAGA, Michael Shermer, Nationalism, Nationalists, New Right, Populism, Populists, Republican Party, Tea Party, The White House, U.S. Government, United States, Woke | Leave a comment

Chris Cillizza: Today is a VERY Bad Day For Matt Gaetz

Posted on December 18, 2024 by Erik Schneider

Source:Chris Cillizza talking about Matt Gaetz’s political hurricane storm.

Source:The New Democrat

“CNN is reporting that the House Ethics Committee report on Gaetz WILL be released before Christmas. Run Roh.”

From Chris Cillizza

“The House Ethics Committee secretly voted earlier this month to release its report into the conduct of former Rep. Matt Gaetz before the end of this Congress, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the matter.

The report is now expected to be made public after the House’s final day of votes this year as lawmakers leave Washington for the holidays, those sources said.

The vote, which has not previously been reported, amounts to a stark reversal for the panel after it had voted along party lines in late November not to release the results of the investigation. The decision to release the report suggests that some Republicans ultimately decided to side with Democrats on the matter, and it is unclear if the committee will once again change course now that it has voted.

When the committee voted last month to shelve the report, Gaetz was President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to be attorney general. Since then, Gaetz withdrew himself from consideration for the Senate-confirmed post, though he maintains frosty relations with many in his party and is still active in GOP politics.

It is exceedingly rare for an ethics report to be released after a member has left Congress, though it has happened on a couple of occasions in the past. The committee revisited the issue behind closed doors earlier this month after a feud over the report spilled into public view before Thanksgiving.

The Ethics Committee’s report concludes a years-long probe into numerous allegations against Gaetz, including whether he engaged in sexual misconduct, used illicit drugs, “shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gifts,” according to an announcement by the panel last summer.

Gaetz has vigorously denied all the allegations and has characterized the investigation as a witch hunt.

In a post on X in response to CNN’s reporting on Wednesday, Gaetz emphasized that he was “FULLY EXONERATED” by a separate Department of Justice probe. And he said he “NEVER had sexual contact with someone under 18” — a claim that is addressed in the House Ethics report, CNN has previously reported.

“My 30’s were an era of working very hard – and playing hard too. It’s embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life. I live a different life now.”

Speaker Mike Johnson has said that he does not believe the report should be released, since Gaetz is no longer a member of Congress after he abruptly resigned once Trump announced him as his initial attorney general choice. Johnson has acknowledged he has no role on the operations of the panel, which has traditionally operated separately from leadership. Many lawmakers believed that Gaetz resigned to try to bury the investigation.

Gaetz, who was reelected to the seat last month prior to his resignation, has said he has no plans of returning to Congress next year.

“I’m still going to be in the fight, but it’s going to be from a new perch. I do not intend to join the 119th Congress,” he told Charlie Kirk in an interview last month.

“I’m going to be fighting for President Trump. I’m going to be doing whatever he asks of me, as I always have. But I think that eight years is probably enough time in the United States Congress,” he said.

He also recently announced that he will be joining One America News Network in January.

A spokesman for the committee did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

This story has been updated with additional reaction.”

From CNN

How much do you want to bet that if Matt Gaetz was never elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (which would’ve been his real public service to America… staying out of public office) that he would be some MAGA Bro in Florida, with his own podcast, going online and on air, probably drunk, smoking weed, slapping the asses and grabbing the breasts of the women who worked for him when they walked by to give him news updates, or whatever they gave him or wanted to tell him, and perhaps would go on Greg Gutfeld’s show on FOX News, as an analyst, or something. I would take that bet.

This part of the CNN report I believe is key here and why former Representative Gaetz resigned last month:

“The Ethics Committee’s report concludes a years-long probe into numerous allegations against Gaetz, including whether he engaged in sexual misconduct, used illicit drugs, “shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gifts,” according to an announcement by the panel last summer.

Gaetz has vigorously denied all the allegations and has characterized the investigation as a witch hunt.

As I said on my Threads page about an hour ago: “Just the fact that Matt Gaetz is admitting to “embarrassing behavior”, says a lot. He’s really worried about the House report going public.”

This is what I said on Threads about this about an hour ago:

“Just the fact that Matt Gaetz is admitting to “embarrassing behavior”, says a lot. He’s really worried about the House report going public.”

From my Threads page.

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Posted in Chris Cillizza, The New Democrat | Tagged 118th Congress, 2024, America, Bros, Chris Cillizza, CNN, Far Right, Florida, House Ethics Committee, House Republicans, MAGA, MAGA Bros, Matt Gaetz, New Right, Populism, Populists, Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican Party, Tea Party, U.S. Congress, U.S. Government, U.S. House of Representatives, United States, Washington, Washington DC | 1 Comment

Ron Brownstein: Donald Trump is About to Betray His Rural Supporters

Posted on December 17, 2024 by FredSchneiderUS

Source:CNN with a look at part of Donald J. Trump’s 2nd presidential agenda.

Source:The New Democrat

“CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein joins CNN’s Jessica Dean to discuss how Trump’s policy agenda, including tariffs, mass deportation, and cuts to Medicaid could conflict with the interests of his rural supporters.”

From CNN

“Small-town America voted heavily in his favor—but the policies he’s pledged won’t reward that faith.

Donald trump’s support in rural America appears to have virtually no ceiling. In last month’s election, Trump won country communities by even larger margins than he did in his 2020 and 2016 presidential runs. But several core second-term policies that Trump and the Republican Congress have championed could disproportionately harm those places.

Agricultural producers could face worse losses than any other economic sector from Trump’s plans to impose sweeping tariffs on imports and to undertake what he frequently has called “the largest domestic deportation operation” of undocumented immigrants “in American history.” Hospitals and other health providers in rural areas could face the greatest strain from proposals Trump has embraced to slash spending on Medicaid, which provides coverage to a greater share of adults in smaller communities than in large metropolitan areas. And small-town public schools would likely be destabilized even more than urban school districts if Trump succeeds in his pledge to expand “school choice” by providing parents with vouchers to send their kids to private…

From The Atlantic

This takes me back to Donald Trump’s last Meet The Press interview with Kristen Welker, where he admitted that he might not be able to bring down the cost of living, because it’s too high.

Now imagine if you were on some month long meth high, (and somehow managed to survive that) or were drunk for a month straight, (and somehow managed to to survive that) perhaps you were vacationing on Planet Zoron (or some other made up Star Trek planet) and you saw Donald Trump there and he was completely honest about everything. Perhaps not intentional, but he simply couldn’t lie about anything, perhaps by force. Perhaps someone spiked his Diet Coke with truth serum.

So now this made up character (lets call him Honest Don) is being interviewed by Kristen Welker, or some other NBC News anchor, or some other news journalist was asking him questions about what his 2nd presidential agenda will be, what he would do as President again, etc, and she asked him the same questions. And remember, Donald Trump can’t lie anymore in this hypothetical. His answers to these questions might sound something like this:

“Well, running for President of the United States and being President are two different things. You have to say and do things just to get the job. But once you have it, saying what you are going to do and actually doing what you are going to do, are two different things.

My MAGA base, as well as a solid majority of Independent voters, believe everything that I tell them. So I can just make up things and say I’m going to do things, promise to do things that are simply impossible to accomplish. And they eat everything that I feed them.

Which gives me a great advantage over every Democratic, as well as Republican opponent that I’ve ever faced, because my opponents are always expected to be honest and truthful about everything. Or the media and voters slam them anytime they’re wrong or dishonest about anything, anywhere, at anytime.

Just because I ran on tariffs, and mass deportations doesn’t mean I’m actually going to do them as President of the United States. I can’t afford to have a weak economy and low job approval going into 2026, because then I won’t be able to get anything done. And that could risk Democrats winning back Congress, which would make my life very difficult.”

Ron Brownstein’s colleague over at The Atlantic Magazine wrote the Wednesday after Election Night this year:

“Americans who care about democracy have every right to feel appalled and frightened. But then they have work to do.

An aspiring fascist is the president-elect, again, of the United States. This is our political reality: Donald Trump is going to bring a claque of opportunists and kooks (led by the vice president–elect, a person who once compared Trump to Hitler) into government this winter, and even if senescence overtakes the president-elect, Trump’s minions will continue his assault on democracy, the rule of law, and the Constitution.

The urge to cast blame will be overwhelming, because there is so much of it to go around. When the history of this dark moment is written, those responsible will include not only Trump voters but also easily gulled Americans who didn’t vote or who voted for independent or third-party candidates because of their own selfish peeves.”

And Mr. Nichols would later go onto say that the only reason why Donald Trump ran for President of the United States again, was to stay out of prison. Not to become an American dictator, or do anything that could jeopardize the American economy. Simply because he wanted to try to look tough on China and Europe. I think he’s right about that, but we’ll have to see how his presidency goes to see whether he’s right or not about that.

But to go back to my original point about what Donald Trump would be like, if he’s literally forced to be honest about everything, every time he spoke about anything… my advice for him (if he we ever spoke) would be to go back on every MAGA promise that he made. Especially the tariffs and mass deportations.

What would a President Trump have to lose at this point? He’s never going to prison. He’s going to die as a very wealthy man. He can just concentrate on the basics as President and just do the job. That might be boring for him. But he’s never worked very hard anyway in life, especially as President of the United States. And none of his base would leave him because he’s their cult leader.

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