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Apr 5, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

At some point several years ago, I moved from exhaustion to disgust. That he consistently lies and says things to harm people - disgusted! That it took this long to get him to court - disgusted! That he won't be back in court for the next step until December - disgusted! That I heard his voice again as he talked nonsense and spread a string of lies - disgusted! That the media will probably share more of him doing that over the next 8 months and beyond - disgusted! That so far he's gotten away with everything without being held accountable - DISGUSTED! Why or why does it take so many years (maybe a decade before it's over) for all of this to happen and eventually conclude? Meanwhile, the guy was President, instigated an insurrection, is running for President again, and will do who knows what next! I'm disgusted with him, his followers, the spineless Republican senators & representatives who won't speak out against him, the slow moving legal system...the list goes on. Why after falsely denying his election loss and intigating an insurrection is he even permitted to run for President again? He constantly attacks the department of justice and other aspects of our government. I'm disgusted our country doesn't have better protections against authoritaruan wannabes like him!

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Oh, amen, sister. A-men.

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This morning NYT:

“We cannot and WILL not normalize serious criminal conduct.”

--District Attorney Alvin Bragg

The bedrock of our judicial process is the rule-of-law. I think the founding principle of this is based on John Locke’s version of social contract theory, which says in brief that the only right folk give up so they can live in “civil” societies and all its wealth and comfort is the right (the only one??) to PUNISH OTHERS for violating rights, ONLY the right to be a vigilante!

People do not have the right to be their own judge, influence jurors, well, you get the picture.

Our systems are mostly designed for atomistic politics and policing, seemingly the easiest metaphor to help understand the philosophical underpinnings of our society both micro- and macro- and the casualties of our own limited beliefs and our adaptation towards comfort and plenty.

I’m wearing red, white, and blue (ok, jeans, an old and red Ralph Loren shirt and blue tennis shoes) to privately mock the man who almost dumped all that is good in our lifeworlds we find ourselves knitted and woven together into kinda’ haphazardly!

We must rise to the occasion, rally for our country, and resist authoritarian tyranny in order to preserve the LAND our feet and wheels and our lives (not lifestyle) depend on!

Stepping off my soap box now. Whose next? Hi ho ⚔️

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Apr 5, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

Exhausted for sure! When Don the Con returned to DeSantistan where he was greeted by “pillow man” and other well heeled boot lickers (pun intended) he gave another one of his exhausting speeches spewing hate, grievances and his routine poor me lines! Exhausting, nauseating and dangerous! Amidst all of the theatrics glimmers of hope can be found, like in WORSEconsin where voters overwhelmingly elected Janet Protasiewicz to their Supreme Court. Her opponent gave a hate filled “concession” speech that would have played well at the Kremlin’s southern branch. This all is happening during Holy Week so for those of us believers let us pray for our fragile democracy…..Godspeed🙏🇺🇸

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Apr 5, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

Taking a break from social media and political news from time to time is the only way for me to not become a babbling buffoon

Having interests and hobbies that take my mind off of the madness and insanity surrounding the mango Mussolini is therapeutic for my mental health

I feel for anyone who’s job it is to cover this nonstop

It seems that for some people it’s too addictive to stay away from

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It's like watching a train wreck. You really do know how this will end. You just don't know the details.

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Apr 5, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

He now wallows in and leaves behind a successful practice of ignoring or denying factual information, as well of course as the poo-flinging as incisive riposte. The possibility of private and public discourse is reamed in his wake.

I am reading Mehdi Hasan's book Win Every Argument in a conflicted sort of way. His analytics are useful for anyone, even for someone like me who isn't very into winning as such. But apart from his willingness to violate logic for forensic success, he fails to acknowledge that by and large wins and losses are awarded by the audience based on the status they assign to the principals, rather than on the validity or niftiness of the arguments and rhetoric. Women and Black people do not have the same access to using emotion in arguments that white men do, for instance. And cogent data makes little f-ing difference when a group with significant support is licensed to flatly deny it, or to make up their own. (Fact-checking referees would be more useful if their authority weren't discardable by the same chumps.)

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Apr 5, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

Yes

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Apr 5, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

I've been tired for a very long time, not least due to a constant, losing effort to convince folks that the levers of power are grounded in local and state level elections. However, there are occasionally some bright spots. Rubin's column on the Wisconsin election (this morning in WaPo) describes that well (she was a Republican until 2016 - an attorney who has become a beacon of thoughtful political metacognition - another cause for some hope).

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