tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31522937280875168322024-03-18T13:41:35.403-06:00MUFTIC FORUM BLOGWELCOME TO THE BLOG
This blog reflects my views of current political issues.. It is also an archive for columns in the Sky Hi News 2011 to November 2019. Winter Park Times 2019 to 2021.(paper publishing suspended in 2021) My Facebook page, the muftic forum, posts blog links, permits comments, and sharing. Nonchat. private group: MUFTIC FORUM FACEBOOK GROUP allows comments . Non-political Facebook page: felicia muftic.
Blog postings are continuously being edited and updated.The Muftic Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713099112005113734noreply@blogger.comBlogger1311125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3152293728087516832.post-46840173154190600772024-03-17T07:33:00.008-06:002024-03-17T10:39:40.418-06:00Alive and active: voter suppression and the big lie. updated notes <p>With alarm, national and state GOP organizations have been taken over by-election deniers. It is suspected that they are laying the groundwork to protest the 2024 presidential elections should Donald Trump lose again. It almost worked in 2020, so expect the same playbook in 2024. The same lie has a new use, not only to find an excuse for Trump's loss and the justification for the Jan.6 insurrection but now to become part of a scheme. <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/election-deniers-playbook-2024" target="_blank">The Election Deniers’ Playbook for 2024 | Brennan Center for Justice</a></p><p> <a href="Election deniers take over GOP " target="_blank"> https://news.yahoo.com/election-deniers-taken-over-rnc-152548092.html</a></p><p><a href="https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2023/12/colorado-county-clerks-revolt-against.html" target="_blank">MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Colorado county clerks revolt against GOP election denialism pressure</a></p><p> One of the puzzles is that voters have less confidence in results in federal elections than they do in their state and local elections. States use the same methods for all candidates, federal and state, and do not have separate systems or totals in votes cast for federal and another for state/county. This means that the myth that the 2020 election was stolen has its believers, and fear tactics regarding that have been effective. It also means something unusual has happened or could happen in specific elections that rigged the outcome. Nothing widespread was ever found, but there have been prosecutions in Colorado in specific counties, Mesa, where the local county clerk was accused of giving specific access to her partisans to tinker with the machine's hard drives and now is facing a federal trial for that. <a href="Tina Peters federal vote integrity case" target="_blank"> https://coloradosun.com/2024/01/08/tina-peters-federal-suit-rejected/</a> The conspiracy theories regarding Dominium Voting systems have likewise been debunked, and it cost those who promoted those false theories a bundle of money:<a href="Dominion voting machines Court outcomes" target="_blank"> https://apnews.com/article/fox-news-dominion-lawsuit-trial-trump-2020-0ac71f75acfacc52ea80b3e747fb0afe</a></p>The Muftic Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713099112005113734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3152293728087516832.post-77534583092832371012024-03-16T15:54:00.005-06:002024-03-18T13:41:04.330-06:00Grocery price inflation: Biden is taking action<p> <a aria-hidden="false" class="x1i10hfl xjbqb8w x1ejq31n xd10rxx x1sy0etr x17r0tee x972fbf xcfux6l x1qhh985 xm0m39n x9f619 x1ypdohk xt0psk2 xe8uvvx xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1a2a7pz x1heor9g xt0b8zv" href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/1446981168941573/user/1598506623/?__cft__[0]=AZVufFjTrAJ3DK0qxqhMQ3qVn7hDMAYDmFLEgeNDfAISYj1U_LuzPILqr9lXKbm6dbOjzdxPbiK8MkPohvzeo5dSencwuucFgEmOEI8tJKFbQD0hb1S9muH8__-npeZcSmakwmbdWc4vGgQ3Wkcl3kwPWMEFyt42iBs-8eguX6D_uJveZKuVNR6Zq1WgCr8ogALhXLFpyozf9Ma07HChylbV&__tn__=R]-R" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; 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font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px; transition-property: none;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x10flsy6 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x x1tu3fi x41vudc x1lkfr7t x1lbecb7 xo1l8bm xzsf02u x1yc453h" color="var(--primary-text)" dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.1765; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; word-break: break-word;"><span class="x1lliihq x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6" style="-webkit-box-orient: vertical; -webkit-line-clamp: 2; animation-name: none; display: -webkit-box; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative; transition-property: none;">Biden planning to hit food ‘shrinkflation,’ corporate greed in SOTU</span></span></div></div><a class="x1i10hfl xjbqb8w x1ejq31n xd10rxx x1sy0etr x17r0tee x972fbf xcfux6l x1qhh985 xm0m39n x9f619 x1ypdohk xt0psk2 xe8uvvx xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1a2a7pz x1ey2m1c xds687c x10l6tqk x17qophe x13vifvy xi2jdih" href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/23/biden-food-shrinkflation-sotu-00142773?fbclid=IwAR1Gg2ZMj-PAB6pUO-9RM_oQe5HhsxciM1LyZmMO6PcaM8KygmeSub_OYGM#:~:text=The%20White%20House%20declined%20to,savings%20on%20to%20their%20customers.%E2%80%9D" rel="noreferrer nofollow" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; 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animation-name: none; background-color: transparent; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; transition-property: none;" tabindex="0"><div class="x6s0dn4 x1jx94hy x1exxf4d x1y71gwh x1nb4dca xu1343h xhw592a xwihvcr x7wuybg xb9tvrk x13fuv20 xu3j5b3 x1q0q8m5 x26u7qi x178xt8z xm81vs4 xso031l xy80clv xzsf02u x78zum5 x1fgtraw xl56j7k xgd8bvy" style="align-items: center; animation-name: none; background-color: var(--card-background); border-bottom-color: var(--media-inner-border); border-left-color: var(--media-inner-border); border-radius: 14px; border-right-color: var(--media-inner-border); border-style: solid; border-top-color: var(--media-inner-border); border-width: 1px; color: var(--primary-text); display: flex; font-family: inherit; height: 28px; justify-content: center; transition-property: none; width: 28px;"><span class="x4k7w5x x1h91t0o x1h9r5lt x1jfb8zj xv2umb2 x1beo9mf xaigb6o x12ejxvf x3igimt xarpa2k xedcshv x1lytzrv x1t2pt76 x7ja8zs x1qrby5j" style="align-items: inherit; align-self: inherit; animation-name: none; display: inherit; flex-direction: inherit; flex: inherit; font-family: inherit; height: inherit; max-height: inherit; max-width: inherit; min-height: inherit; min-width: inherit; place-content: inherit; transition-property: none; width: inherit;"><i class="x1b0d499 xep6ejk" data-visualcompletion="css-img" style="animation-name: none; background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v3/y5/r/0lU7bLEZGza.png"); background-position: 0px -246px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 26px 1522px; display: inline-block; filter: var(--filter-primary-icon); height: 20px; transition-property: none; vertical-align: -0.25em; width: 20px;"></i></span></div></div></span></div></div></div></div><div class="x6s0dn4 x3nfvp2" style="align-items: center; animation-name: none; display: inline-flex; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><ul aria-hidden="false" class="x1n0m28w x78zum5 x1wfe3co xat24cr xsgj6o6 x1o1nzlu xyqdw3p" style="animation-name: none; display: flex; line-height: 12px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px -8px 0px 4px; min-height: 15px; padding: 3px 0px 0px; transition-property: none;"><li class="x1rg5ohu x1emribx x1i64zmx" style="animation-name: none; display: inline-block; margin-left: 8px; margin-right: 8px; transition-property: none;"><div style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><a class="x1i10hfl xjbqb8w x1ejq31n xd10rxx x1sy0etr x17r0tee x972fbf xcfux6l x1qhh985 xm0m39n x9f619 x1ypdohk xt0psk2 xe8uvvx xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1a2a7pz xt0b8zv xi81zsa xo1l8bm" href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/1446981168941573/posts/3241864779453194/?comment_id=3246783788961293&__cft__[0]=AZVufFjTrAJ3DK0qxqhMQ3qVn7hDMAYDmFLEgeNDfAISYj1U_LuzPILqr9lXKbm6dbOjzdxPbiK8MkPohvzeo5dSencwuucFgEmOEI8tJKFbQD0hb1S9muH8__-npeZcSmakwmbdWc4vGgQ3Wkcl3kwPWMEFyt42iBs-8eguX6D_uJveZKuVNR6Zq1WgCr8ogALhXLFpyozf9Ma07HChylbV&__tn__=R]-R" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; animation-name: none; background-color: transparent; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition-property: none;" tabindex="0"><span class="x4k7w5x x1h91t0o x1h9r5lt x1jfb8zj xv2umb2 x1beo9mf xaigb6o x12ejxvf x3igimt xarpa2k xedcshv x1lytzrv x1t2pt76 x7ja8zs x1qrby5j" style="align-items: inherit; align-self: inherit; animation-name: none; display: inherit; flex-direction: inherit; flex: inherit; font-family: inherit; height: inherit; max-height: inherit; max-width: inherit; min-height: inherit; min-width: inherit; place-content: inherit; transition-property: none; width: inherit;">6m</span></a></div></li><li class="x1rg5ohu x1emribx x1i64zmx" style="animation-name: none; display: inline-block; margin-left: 8px; margin-right: 8px; transition-property: none;"><span class="x1rg5ohu" style="animation-name: none; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><div class="x1n2onr6 x1rg5ohu" style="animation-name: none; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><span style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><div class="__fb-light-mode x1afcbsf x1uhb9sk x1swf91x" style="--accent: #0866FF; --alert-banner-corner-radius: 8px; --always-black: black; --always-dark-gradient: linear-gradient(rgba(0,0,0,0), rgba(0,0,0,0.6)); --always-dark-overlay: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4); --always-gray-40: #65676B; --always-gray-75: #BCC0C4; --always-gray-95: #F0F2F5; --always-light-overlay: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.4); --always-white: #FFFFFF; --attachment-footer-background: #F0F2F5; --background-deemphasized: #F0F2F5; --badge-background-color-blue: var(--accent); --badge-background-color-dark-gray: var(--secondary-icon); --badge-background-color-gray: var(--disabled-icon); --badge-background-color-green: var(--positive); --badge-background-color-light-blue: var(--highlight-bg); --badge-background-color-red: var(--notification-badge); --badge-background-color-yellow: var(--base-lemon); --base-blue: #1877F2; --base-cherry: #F3425F; --base-grape: #9360F7; --base-lemon: #F7B928; --base-lime: #45BD62; --base-pink: #FF66BF; --base-seafoam: #54C7EC; --base-teal: #2ABBA7; --base-tomato: #FB724B; --blue-link: #0064D1; --blue-primary: rgb(0,136,244); --blue-secondary: rgb(4,59,114); --blue-tertiary: rgb(235,245,255); --blueprint-button-height-large: 48px; --blueprint-button-height-medium: 40px; --body-emphasized-font-family: Placeholder Font; --body-emphasized-font-size: 0.9375rem; --body-emphasized-font-weight: 600; --body-emphasized-line-height: 1.3333; --body-font-family: Placeholder Font; --body-font-size: 0.9375rem; --body-font-weight: 400; --body-line-height: 1.3333; --border-focused: #65676B; --button-corner-radius-large: 12px; --button-corner-radius-medium: 10px; --button-corner-radius: 6px; --button-height-large: 40px; --button-height-medium: 36px; --button-icon-padding-large: 16px; --button-icon-padding-medium: 16px; --button-inner-icon-spacing-large: 3px; --button-inner-icon-spacing-medium: 3px; --button-padding-horizontal-large: 16px; --button-padding-horizontal-medium: 16px; --card-background-flat: #F7F8FA; --card-background: #FFFFFF; --card-box-shadow: 0 12px 28px 0 var(--shadow-2), 0 2px 4px 0 var(--shadow-1); --card-corner-radius: 8px; --card-padding-horizontal: 10px; --card-padding-vertical: 20px; --chartreuse-primary: rgb(106,147,22); --chartreuse-secondary: rgb(50,65,19); --chartreuse-tertiary: rgb(226,255,152); --chat-bubble-border-radius: 18px; --chat-bubble-emphasis-ring-after: black; --chat-bubble-emphasis-ring-before: white; --chat-bubble-padding-horizontal: 12px; --chat-bubble-padding-vertical: 8px; --chat-incoming-message-bubble-background-color: #F0F0F0; --chat-outgoing-message-bubble-background-color: var(--accent); --chat-replied-message-background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.03); --chat-text-blockquote-color-background-line: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.12); --chat-text-blockquote-color-text-primary-media: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7); --chip-corner-radius: 6px; --comment-background: #F0F2F5; --comment-footer-background: #F6F9FA; --cyan-primary: rgb(0,142,213); --cyan-secondary: rgb(15,63,93); --cyan-tertiary: rgb(231,245,255); --dataviz-primary-1: rgb(48,200,180); --dataviz-primary-2: rgb(134,218,255); --dataviz-primary-3: rgb(73,156,255); --dataviz-secondary-1: rgb(118,62,230); --dataviz-secondary-2: rgb(147,96,247); --dataviz-secondary-3: rgb(219,26,139); --dataviz-supplementary-1: rgb(255,122,105); --dataviz-supplementary-2: rgb(241,168,23); --dataviz-supplementary-3: rgb(49,162,76); --dataviz-supplementary-4: rgb(50,52,54); --dialog-anchor-vertical-padding: 56px; --dialog-corner-radius: 8px; --dialog-size-medium-max-width: 700px; --dialog-size-medium-width: 100%; --dialog-size-small-max-width: 548px; --dialog-size-small-width: 100%; --disabled-button-background: #E4E6EB; --disabled-button-text: #BCC0C4; --disabled-icon: #BCC0C4; --disabled-text: #BCC0C4; --divider: #CED0D4; --event-date: #F3425F; --fb-logo-color: #2D88FF; --fb-logo: #0866FF; --fb-wordmark: #0866FF; --fds-animation-enter-exit-in: cubic-bezier(0.14, 1, 0.34, 1); --fds-animation-enter-exit-out: cubic-bezier(0.45, 0.1, 0.2, 1); --fds-animation-expand-collapse-in: cubic-bezier(0.17, 0.17, 0, 1); --fds-animation-expand-collapse-out: cubic-bezier(0.17, 0.17, 0, 1); --fds-animation-fade-in: cubic-bezier(0, 0, 1, 1); --fds-animation-fade-out: cubic-bezier(0, 0, 1, 1); --fds-animation-move-in: cubic-bezier(0.17, 0.17, 0, 1); --fds-animation-move-out: cubic-bezier(0.17, 0.17, 0, 1); --fds-animation-passive-move-in: cubic-bezier(0.5, 0, 0.1, 1); --fds-animation-passive-move-out: cubic-bezier(0.5, 0, 0.1, 1); --fds-animation-quick-move-in: cubic-bezier(0.1, 0.9, 0.2, 1); --fds-animation-quick-move-out: cubic-bezier(0.1, 0.9, 0.2, 1); --fds-animation-swap-shuffle-in: cubic-bezier(0.14, 1, 0.34, 1); --fds-animation-swap-shuffle-out: cubic-bezier(0.45, 0.1, 0.2, 1); --fds-black-alpha-05: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); --fds-black-alpha-10: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); --fds-black-alpha-15: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15); --fds-black-alpha-20: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); --fds-black-alpha-30: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.3); --fds-black-alpha-40: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4); --fds-black-alpha-50: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5); --fds-black-alpha-60: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); --fds-black-alpha-80: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --fds-black: #000000; --fds-blue-05: #ECF3FF; --fds-blue-30: #AAC9FF; --fds-blue-40: #77A7FF; --fds-blue-60: #1877F2; --fds-blue-70: #2851A3; --fds-blue-80: #1D3C78; --fds-button-text: #444950; --fds-comment-background: #F2F3F5; --fds-dark-mode-gray-100: #1C1C1C; --fds-dark-mode-gray-35: #CCCCCC; --fds-dark-mode-gray-50: #828282; --fds-dark-mode-gray-70: #4A4A4A; --fds-dark-mode-gray-80: #373737; --fds-dark-mode-gray-90: #282828; --fds-duration-extra-extra-short-in: 100ms; --fds-duration-extra-extra-short-out: 100ms; --fds-duration-extra-long-in: 1000ms; --fds-duration-extra-long-out: 1000ms; --fds-duration-extra-short-in: 200ms; --fds-duration-extra-short-out: 150ms; --fds-duration-long-in: 500ms; --fds-duration-long-out: 350ms; --fds-duration-medium-in: 400ms; --fds-duration-medium-out: 350ms; --fds-duration-none: 0ms; --fds-duration-short-in: 280ms; --fds-duration-short-out: 200ms; --fds-fast: 200ms; --fds-gray-00: #F5F6F7; --fds-gray-05: #F2F3F5; --fds-gray-100: #1C1E21; --fds-gray-10: #EBEDF0; --fds-gray-20: #DADDE1; --fds-gray-25: #CCD0D5; --fds-gray-30: #BEC3C9; --fds-gray-45: #8D949E; --fds-gray-70: #606770; --fds-gray-80: #444950; --fds-gray-90: #303338; --fds-green-55: #00A400; --fds-highlight-cell-background: #ECF3FF; --fds-highlight: #3578E5; --fds-primary-icon: #1C1E21; --fds-primary-text: #1C1E21; --fds-red-55: #FA383E; --fds-slow: 400ms; --fds-soft: cubic-bezier(.08,.52,.52,1); --fds-spectrum-aluminum-tint-70: #E4F0F6; --fds-spectrum-blue-gray-tint-70: #CFD1D5; --fds-spectrum-cherry-tint-70: #FBCCD2; --fds-spectrum-cherry: #F35369; --fds-spectrum-grape-tint-70: #DDD5F0; --fds-spectrum-grape-tint-90: #F4F1FA; --fds-spectrum-lemon-dark-1: #F5C33B; --fds-spectrum-lemon-tint-70: #FEF2D1; --fds-spectrum-lime-tint-70: #E4F0D5; --fds-spectrum-lime: #A3CE71; --fds-spectrum-orange-tint-70: #FCDEC5; --fds-spectrum-orange-tint-90: #FEF4EC; --fds-spectrum-seafoam-tint-70: #CAEEF9; --fds-spectrum-slate-dark-2: #89A1AC; --fds-spectrum-slate-tint-70: #EAEFF2; --fds-spectrum-teal-dark-1: #4DBBA6; --fds-spectrum-teal-dark-2: #31A38D; --fds-spectrum-teal-tint-70: #D2F0EA; --fds-spectrum-teal-tint-90: #F0FAF8; --fds-spectrum-teal: #6BCEBB; --fds-spectrum-tomato-tint-30: #F38E7B; --fds-spectrum-tomato-tint-90: #FDEFED; --fds-spectrum-tomato: #FB724B; --fds-strong: cubic-bezier(.12,.8,.32,1); --fds-white-alpha-05: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.05); --fds-white-alpha-10: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.1); --fds-white-alpha-20: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.2); --fds-white-alpha-30: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.3); --fds-white-alpha-40: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.4); --fds-white-alpha-50: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5); --fds-white-alpha-60: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.6); --fds-white-alpha-80: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8); --fds-white: #FFFFFF; --fds-yellow-20: #FFBA00; --filter-accent: invert(19%) sepia(70%) saturate(5671%) hue-rotate(203deg) brightness(96%) contrast(101%); --filter-always-white: invert(100%); --filter-blue-link-icon: invert(30%) sepia(98%) saturate(200%) saturate(200%) saturate(200%) saturate(166.5%) hue-rotate(192deg) brightness(91%) contrast(101%); --filter-disabled-icon: invert(80%) sepia(6%) saturate(200%) saturate(120%) hue-rotate(173deg) brightness(98%) contrast(89%); --filter-negative: invert(25%) sepia(33%) saturate(200%) saturate(200%) saturate(200%) saturate(200%) saturate(200%) saturate(200%) saturate(110%) hue-rotate(345deg) brightness(132%) contrast(96%); --filter-placeholder-icon: invert(59%) sepia(11%) saturate(200%) saturate(135%) hue-rotate(176deg) brightness(96%) contrast(94%); --filter-positive: invert(37%) sepia(61%) saturate(200%) saturate(200%) saturate(200%) saturate(200%) saturate(115%) hue-rotate(91deg) brightness(97%) contrast(105%); --filter-primary-accent: invert(27%) sepia(95%) saturate(3116%) hue-rotate(212deg) brightness(99%) contrast(105%); --filter-primary-icon: invert(8%) sepia(10%) saturate(200%) saturate(200%) saturate(166%) hue-rotate(177deg) brightness(104%) contrast(91%); --filter-secondary-icon: invert(39%) sepia(21%) saturate(200%) saturate(109.5%) hue-rotate(174deg) brightness(94%) contrast(86%); --filter-warning-icon: invert(77%) sepia(29%) saturate(200%) saturate(200%) saturate(200%) saturate(200%) saturate(200%) saturate(128%) hue-rotate(359deg) brightness(102%) contrast(107%); --focus-ring-blue: #0866FF; --focus-ring-outline-forced-colors: 2px auto transparent !important; --focus-ring-outline-link: 2px auto var(--focus-ring-blue); --focus-ring-shadow-default: 0 0 0 2px var(--always-white), 0 0 0 4px var(--focus-ring-blue); --focus-ring-shadow-inset: 0 0 0 2px var(--focus-ring-blue) inset, 0 0 0 4px var(--always-white) inset; --font-family-apple: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, '.SFNSText-Regular', sans-serif; --font-family-code: ui-monospace, Menlo, Consolas, Monaco, monospace; --font-family-default: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; --font-family-segoe: Segoe UI Historic, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; --fuschia-primary: rgb(250,45,138); --fuschia-secondary: rgb(118,14,62); --fuschia-tertiary: rgb(255,241,246); --glimmer-animation-direction: alternate; --glimmer-animation-duration: 1000ms; --glimmer-animation-timing-function: steps(10, end); --glimmer-corner-radius: 8px; --glimmer-opacity-max: 1; --glimmer-opacity-min: 0.25; --glimmer-spinner-icon: #65676B; --global-panel-width-expanded: 0px; --global-panel-width: 0px; --green-primary: rgb(43,154,53); --green-secondary: rgb(26,68,27); --green-tertiary: rgb(227,250,224); --header-height: 56px; --headline1-font-family: Optimistic Display Bold, system-ui, sans-serif; --headline1-font-size: 1.75rem; --headline1-font-weight: 700; --headline1-line-height: 1.2143; --headline2-font-family: Optimistic Display Bold, system-ui, sans-serif; --headline2-font-size: 1.5rem; --headline2-font-weight: 700; --headline2-line-height: 1.25; --headline3-font-family: Optimistic Display Bold, system-ui, sans-serif; --headline3-font-size: 1.0625rem; --headline3-font-weight: 700; --headline3-line-height: 1.2941; --hero-banner-background: #FFFFFF; --highlight-bg: #E7F3FF; --hosted-view-selected-state: #EBF5FF; --hover-overlay: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); --image-corner-radius: 4px; --input-background-disabled: #F0F2F5; --input-background: #FFFFFF; --input-border-color-hover: var(--placeholder-text); --input-border-color: #CED0D4; --input-border-width: 1px; --input-corner-radius: 6px; --input-label-color-highlighted: #0064D1; --inverse-text: var(--always-white); --list-cell-chevron: #65676B; --list-cell-corner-radius: 8px; --list-cell-min-height: 52px; --list-cell-padding-vertical-with-addon: 14px; --list-cell-padding-vertical: 20px; --magenta-primary: rgb(215,77,204); --magenta-secondary: rgb(96,36,91); --magenta-tertiary: rgb(255,239,254); --media-hover: rgba(68, 73, 80, 0.15); --media-inner-border: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); --media-outer-border: #FFFFFF; --media-pressed: rgba(68, 73, 80, 0.35); --menu-item-base-margin-horizontal: 8px; --menu-item-base-padding-horizontal: 8px; --messenger-card-background: #FFFFFF; --messenger-card-min-width: 360px; --messenger-reply-background: #F0F2F5; --meta-emphasized-font-family: Placeholder Font; --meta-emphasized-font-size: 0.8125rem; --meta-emphasized-font-weight: 600; --meta-emphasized-line-height: 1.3846; --meta-font-family: Placeholder Font; --meta-font-size: 0.8125rem; --meta-font-weight: 400; --meta-line-height: 1.3846; --mwp-header-background-color: var(--messenger-card-background); --mwp-header-button-color: var(--accent); --mwp-message-row-background: var(--messenger-card-background); --nav-bar-background-gradient-wash: linear-gradient(to top, #F0F2F5, rgba(240,242,245.9), rgba(240,242,245,.7), rgba(240,242,245,.4), rgba(240,242,245,0)); --nav-bar-background-gradient: linear-gradient(to top, #FFFFFF, rgba(255,255,255.9), rgba(255,255,255,.7), rgba(255,255,255,.4), rgba(255,255,255,0)); --nav-bar-background: #FFFFFF; --nav-list-cell-corner-radius: 8px; --nav-list-cell-min-height: 0px; --nav-list-cell-padding-vertical-with-addon: 16px; --nav-list-cell-padding-vertical: 16px; --negative-background: hsl(350, 87%, 55%, 20%); --negative: hsl(350, 87%, 55%); --new-notification-background: #E7F3FF; --non-media-pressed-on-dark: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.3); --non-media-pressed: rgba(68, 73, 80, 0.15); --notification-badge: #e41e3f; --orange-primary: rgb(208,108,20); --orange-secondary: rgb(94,49,14); --orange-tertiary: rgb(255,241,239); --overlay-alpha-80: rgba(244, 244, 244, 0.8); --overlay-on-media: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6); --page-footer-padding-vertical: 16px; --placeholder-icon: #65676B; --placeholder-image: rgb(164, 167, 171); --placeholder-text-on-media: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5); --placeholder-text: #65676B; --popover-background: #FFFFFF; --positive-background: #DEEFE1; --positive: #31A24C; --press-overlay: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.10); --primary-button-background: #0866FF; --primary-button-icon: #FFFFFF; --primary-button-pressed: #77A7FF; --primary-button-text: #FFFFFF; --primary-deemphasized-button-background: #EBF5FF; --primary-deemphasized-button-pressed-overlay: rgba(25, 110, 255, 0.15); --primary-deemphasized-button-pressed: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); --primary-deemphasized-button-text: #0064D1; --primary-icon: #050505; --primary-label-font-family: Optimistic Display Medium, system-ui, sans-serif; --primary-label-font-size: 1.0625rem; --primary-label-font-weight: 500; --primary-label-line-height: 1.2941; --primary-text-on-media: #FFFFFF; --primary-text: #050505; --primary-web-focus-indicator: #D24294; --progress-ring-blue-background: #0866FF33; --progress-ring-blue-foreground: #0866FF; --progress-ring-disabled-background: rgba(190,195,201, 0.2); --progress-ring-disabled-foreground: #BEC3C9; --progress-ring-neutral-background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); --progress-ring-neutral-foreground: #000000; --progress-ring-on-media-background: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.2); --progress-ring-on-media-foreground: #FFFFFF; --purple-primary: rgb(125,116,255); --purple-secondary: rgb(55,50,121); --purple-tertiary: rgb(245,241,255); --radio-border-color-disabled: var(--disabled-button-background); --radio-border-color-selected: var(--accent); --radio-border-color: var(--primary-icon); --radio-border-width: 2px; --radio-checked-icon-color-disabled: var(--disabled-button-background); --radio-checked-icon-color: var(--accent); --radio-checked-icon-size-large: 12px; --radio-checked-icon-size-medium: 12px; --radio-size-large: 24px; --radio-size-medium: 20px; --rating-star-active: #EB660D; --red-primary: rgb(251,60,68); --red-secondary: rgb(118,22,27); --red-tertiary: rgb(255,241,239); --scroll-shadow: 0 1px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1), 0 -1px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) inset; --scroll-thumb: #BCC0C4; --secondary-button-background-floating: #ffffff; --secondary-button-background-on-dark: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4); --secondary-button-background: #E4E6EB; --secondary-button-pressed: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); --secondary-button-stroke: transparent; --secondary-button-text: #050505; --secondary-icon: #65676B; --secondary-label-font-family: Placeholder Font; --secondary-label-font-size: 0.9375rem; --secondary-label-font-weight: 500; --secondary-label-line-height: 1.3333; --secondary-text-on-media: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); --secondary-text: #65676B; --section-header-addonend-button-padding-horizontal: 0px; --section-header-addonend-button-padding-vertical: 0px; --section-header-addonend-margin-horizontal: 8px; --section-header-addonstart-margin-horizontal: 12px; --section-header-padding-vertical: 16px; --section-header-subtitle-margin-vertical: 14px; --section-header-subtitle-with-addonend-margin-vertical: 6px; --section-header-text: #4B4C4F; --shadow-1: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); --shadow-2: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); --shadow-5: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5); --shadow-8: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --shadow-base: 0 1px 2px var(--shadow-2); --shadow-elevated: 0 8px 20px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 2px 4px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); --shadow-emphasis: 0 2px 12px var(--shadow-2); --shadow-inset: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5); --shadow-on-media: 0px 0px 1px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.62); --shadow-persistent: 0px 0px 12px rgba(52, 72, 84, 0.05); --shadow-primary: 0px 5px 12px rgba(52, 72, 84, 0.2); --shadow-responsive: 0px 8px 16px 0px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); --surface-background: #FFFFFF; --switch-active: hsl(214, 89%, 52%); --teal-primary: rgb(0,152,124); --teal-secondary: rgb(10,68,56); --teal-tertiary: rgb(227,247,241); --tertiary-label-font-family: Placeholder Font; --tertiary-label-font-size: 0.6875rem; --tertiary-label-font-weight: 500; --tertiary-label-line-height: 1.4545; --text-badge-attention-background: hsl(40, 89%, 52%); --text-badge-corner-radius: 4px; --text-badge-critical-background: #e41e3f; --text-badge-info-background: hsl(214, 89%, 52%); --text-badge-padding-horizontal: 6px; --text-badge-padding-vertical: 6px; --text-badge-success-background: #31A24C; --text-highlight: #0866FF33; --text-input-caption-margin-top: 10px; --text-input-field-font-family: Placeholder Font; --text-input-field-font-size: 1rem; --text-input-field-font-weight: 500; --text-input-field-line-height: 1.2941; --text-input-label-font-family: Placeholder Font; --text-input-label-font-size-scale-multiplier: 0.75; --text-input-label-font-size: 17px; --text-input-label-font-weight: 400; --text-input-label-line-height: 1.2941; --text-input-label-top: 22px; --text-input-min-height: 64px; --text-input-multi-padding-between-text-scrollbar: 20px; --text-input-multi-padding-scrollbar: 16px; --text-input-outside-label: #000000; --text-input-padding-vertical: 12px; --toast-addon-padding-horizontal: 6px; --toast-addon-padding-vertical: 6px; --toast-background: #FFFFFF; --toast-container-max-width: 100%; --toast-container-min-width: 288px; --toast-container-padding-horizontal: 10px; --toast-container-padding-vertical: 16px; --toast-corner-radius: 8px; --toast-text-link: #216FDB; --toast-text: #1C2B33; --toggle-active-background: #EBF5FF; --toggle-active-icon: #0064D1; --toggle-active-text: #0064D1; --toggle-button-active-background: #E7F3FF; --tooltip-background: rgba(244, 244, 244, 0.8); --tooltip-box-shadow: 0 2px 4px 0 var(--shadow-5); --tooltip-corner-radius: 8px; --typeahead-list-outer-padding-vertical: 2px; --warning: hsl(40, 89%, 52%); --wash: #E4E6EB; --web-wash: #F0F2F5; --yellow-primary: rgb(161,132,0); --yellow-secondary: rgb(72,59,12); --yellow-tertiary: rgb(255,246,161); animation-name: none; box-sizing: content-box; font-family: inherit; position: static; transition-property: none; z-index: auto;"><div aria-label="Like" class="x1i10hfl xjbqb8w xjqpnuy xa49m3k xqeqjp1 x2hbi6w x13fuv20 xu3j5b3 x1q0q8m5 x26u7qi x972fbf xcfux6l x1qhh985 xm0m39n x9f619 x1ypdohk xdl72j9 xe8uvvx xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x2lwn1j xeuugli xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x1n2onr6 x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg x1ja2u2z x1t137rt x1o1ewxj x3x9cwd x1e5q0jg x13rtm0m x1q0g3np x87ps6o x1lku1pv x1a2a7pz x6s0dn4 x78zum5 x1iyjqo2 x2lah0s xl56j7k x5ve5x3" role="button" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; align-items: center; animation-name: none; background-color: transparent; border-bottom-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-left-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-radius: inherit; border-right-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-style: solid; border-top-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: flex; flex-direction: row; flex: 1 0 auto; font-family: inherit; justify-content: center; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: inherit; touch-action: none; transition-property: none; user-select: none; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><div class="xi81zsa x1ypdohk x1rg5ohu x117nqv4 x1n2onr6 xt0b8zv" style="animation-name: none; color: var(--secondary-text); cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-weight: bold; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><span class="x1rg5ohu xxymvpz x1fiuzfb" style="animation-name: none; display: inline-block; filter: brightness(0) var(--filter-secondary-icon); font-family: inherit; transition-property: none; vertical-align: middle;"></span>Like</div></div></div><div aria-label="React" class="x1i10hfl x1qjc9v5 xjbqb8w xjqpnuy xa49m3k xqeqjp1 x2hbi6w x13fuv20 xu3j5b3 x1q0q8m5 x26u7qi x972fbf xcfux6l x1qhh985 xm0m39n x9f619 x1ypdohk xdl72j9 x2lah0s xe8uvvx xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x2lwn1j xeuugli xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1ja2u2z x1t137rt x1o1ewxj x3x9cwd x1e5q0jg x13rtm0m x3nfvp2 x1q0g3np x87ps6o x1lku1pv x1a2a7pz xsgj6o6 xzpqnlu x179tack x10l6tqk" role="button" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; align-items: stretch; animation-name: none; background-color: transparent; border-bottom-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-left-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-radius: inherit; border-right-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-style: solid; border-top-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clip-path: polygon(0px 0px, 0px 0px, 0px 0px, 0px 0px); clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); cursor: pointer; display: inline-flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 4px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; transition-property: none; user-select: none; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><i class="x1b0d499 x1d69dk1" data-visualcompletion="css-img" style="animation-name: none; background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v3/yu/r/1sOcyY3oTr-.png"); background-position: 0px -998px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 26px 1012px; display: inline-block; filter: var(--filter-secondary-icon); height: 12px; transition-property: none; vertical-align: -0.25em; width: 12px;"></i><div class="x1ey2m1c xds687c x17qophe xg01cxk x47corl x10l6tqk x13vifvy x1ebt8du x19991ni x1dhq9h x1o1ewxj x3x9cwd x1e5q0jg x13rtm0m" data-visualcompletion="ignore" role="none" style="animation-name: none; border-radius: inherit; font-family: inherit; inset: 0px; opacity: 0; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; transition-duration: var(--fds-duration-extra-extra-short-out); transition-property: none; transition-timing-function: var(--fds-animation-fade-out);"></div></div></span></div></span></li><li class="x1rg5ohu x1emribx x1i64zmx" style="animation-name: none; display: inline-block; margin-left: 8px; margin-right: 8px; transition-property: none;"><div style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><div class="x1i10hfl xjbqb8w x1ejq31n xd10rxx x1sy0etr x17r0tee x972fbf xcfux6l x1qhh985 xm0m39n x9f619 x1ypdohk xt0psk2 xe8uvvx xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1a2a7pz xt0b8zv xi81zsa x1xlr1w8" role="button" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; animation-name: none; background-color: transparent; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: var(--secondary-text); cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-weight: 700; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; transition-property: none;" tabindex="0">Reply</div></div></li><li class="x1rg5ohu x1emribx x1i64zmx" style="animation-name: none; display: inline-block; margin-left: 8px; margin-right: 8px; transition-property: none;"><div style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><div class="x1i10hfl xjbqb8w x1ejq31n xd10rxx x1sy0etr x17r0tee x972fbf xcfux6l x1qhh985 xm0m39n x9f619 x1ypdohk xt0psk2 xe8uvvx xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1a2a7pz xt0b8zv xi81zsa x1xlr1w8" role="button" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; animation-name: none; background-color: transparent; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: var(--secondary-text); cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-weight: 700; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; transition-property: none;" tabindex="0">Remove Preview</div></div></li></ul></div></div></div></div></div><div style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; transition-property: none;"><div class="x1n2onr6" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><div aria-label="Comment by Felicia Muftic about a minute ago" class="x1n2onr6 x1swvt13 x1iorvi4 x78zum5 x1q0g3np x1a2a7pz" role="article" style="animation-name: none; display: flex; flex-direction: row; font-family: inherit; outline: none; padding-left: 16px; padding-top: 4px; position: relative; transition-property: none;" tabindex="-1"><div class="xqcrz7y x14yjl9h xudhj91 x18nykt9 xww2gxu x1lliihq x1w0mnb xr9ek0c x1n2onr6" style="align-self: flex-start; animation-name: none; border-radius: 50%; font-family: inherit; margin-right: 6px; margin-top: 2px; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><span style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span class="xt0psk2" style="animation-name: none; display: inline; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><a aria-hidden="true" class="x1i10hfl x1qjc9v5 xjbqb8w xjqpnuy xa49m3k xqeqjp1 x2hbi6w x13fuv20 xu3j5b3 x1q0q8m5 x26u7qi x972fbf xcfux6l x1qhh985 xm0m39n x9f619 x1ypdohk xdl72j9 x2lah0s xe8uvvx xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x2lwn1j xeuugli xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x1n2onr6 x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1ja2u2z x1t137rt x1o1ewxj x3x9cwd x1e5q0jg x13rtm0m x1q0g3np x87ps6o x1lku1pv x1rg5ohu x1a2a7pz" href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/1446981168941573/user/1598506623/?__cft__[0]=AZVufFjTrAJ3DK0qxqhMQ3qVn7hDMAYDmFLEgeNDfAISYj1U_LuzPILqr9lXKbm6dbOjzdxPbiK8MkPohvzeo5dSencwuucFgEmOEI8tJKFbQD0hb1S9muH8__-npeZcSmakwmbdWc4vGgQ3Wkcl3kwPWMEFyt42iBs-8eguX6D_uJveZKuVNR6Zq1WgCr8ogALhXLFpyozf9Ma07HChylbV&__tn__=R]-R" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; align-items: stretch; animation-name: none; background-color: transparent; border-bottom-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-left-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-radius: inherit; border-right-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-style: solid; border-top-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #385898; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition-property: none; user-select: none; z-index: 0;" tabindex="-1"><div class="x1rg5ohu x1n2onr6 x3ajldb x1ja2u2z" style="animation-name: none; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; position: relative; transition-property: none; vertical-align: bottom; z-index: 0;"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="x3ajldb" data-visualcompletion="ignore-dynamic" role="none" style="height: 32px; width: 32px;"><mask id=":rbr:"><circle cx="16" cy="16" fill="white" r="16"></circle><circle cx="27" cy="27" data-visualcompletion="ignore" fill="black" r="6"></circle></mask><g mask="url(#:rbr:)"><image height="100%" preserveaspectratio="xMidYMid slice" style="height: 32px; width: 32px;" width="100%" x="0" xlink:href="https://scontent-den2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-1/48374165_10212685019152560_8709449594678804480_n.jpg?stp=cp0_dst-jpg_p48x48&_nc_cat=100&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=5f2048&_nc_ohc=dMi2OKldIc4AX9yyo1z&_nc_ht=scontent-den2-1.xx&oh=00_AfCjDiKcQ7H3HFV5c-Wk-QEEWwg58tb5HoqwkdSv6Myupw&oe=661D9591" y="0"></image><circle class="xbh8q5q x1pwv2dq xvlca1e" cx="16" cy="16" r="16"></circle></g></svg><div class="x14yjl9h xudhj91 x18nykt9 xww2gxu x10l6tqk xhtitgo" data-visualcompletion="ignore" style="animation-name: none; border-radius: 50%; bottom: 5px; font-family: inherit; position: absolute; right: 5px; transform: translate(50%, 50%); transition-property: none; z-index: 2;"><div class="x14yjl9h xudhj91 x18nykt9 xww2gxu x78zum5 x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6" style="animation-name: none; border-radius: 50%; display: flex; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><div class="x4k7w5x x1h91t0o x1o1ewxj x3x9cwd x1e5q0jg x13rtm0m x1jfb8zj x1beo9mf x3igimt xarpa2k x1n2onr6 x1qrby5j" style="align-items: inherit; animation-name: none; border-radius: inherit; display: inherit; flex-direction: inherit; font-family: inherit; height: inherit; place-content: inherit; position: relative; transition-property: none; width: inherit;"><span class="x6s0dn4 xzolkzo x12go9s9 x1rnf11y xprq8jg x9f619 x3nfvp2 xl56j7k x7amd0a xdk7pt x1xc55vz" data-visualcompletion="ignore" style="align-items: center; animation-name: none; background-color: var(--badge-background-color-green); border-radius: 999px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-flex; font-family: inherit; height: 8px; justify-content: center; transition-property: none; width: 8px;"></span><div class="x1ey2m1c xds687c x17qophe xg01cxk x47corl x10l6tqk x13vifvy x1ebt8du x19991ni x1dhq9h xzolkzo x12go9s9 x1rnf11y xprq8jg" data-visualcompletion="ignore" role="none" style="animation-name: none; border-radius: 999px; font-family: inherit; inset: 0px; opacity: 0; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; transition-duration: var(--fds-duration-extra-extra-short-out); transition-property: none; transition-timing-function: var(--fds-animation-fade-out);"></div></div><div class="x9f619 x1ja2u2z xzpqnlu x1hyvwdk xjm9jq1 x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x10l6tqk x1i1rx1s" style="animation-name: none; box-sizing: border-box; clip-path: inset(50%); clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); font-family: inherit; height: 1px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; transition-property: none; width: 1px; z-index: 0;">Active</div></div></div></div><div class="x1ey2m1c xds687c x17qophe xg01cxk x47corl x10l6tqk x13vifvy x1ebt8du x19991ni x1dhq9h xzolkzo x12go9s9 x1rnf11y xprq8jg" data-visualcompletion="ignore" role="none" style="animation-name: none; border-radius: 999px; font-family: inherit; inset: 0px; opacity: 0; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; transition-duration: var(--fds-duration-extra-extra-short-out); transition-property: none; transition-timing-function: var(--fds-animation-fade-out);"></div></a></span></span></div><div class="x1r8uery x1iyjqo2 x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1pi30zi" style="animation-name: none; flex-basis: 0px; flex-grow: 1; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 16px; transition-property: none;"><div style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><div class="xv55zj0 x1vvkbs x1rg5ohu xxymvpz" style="animation-name: none; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; max-width: calc(100% - 26px); overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; vertical-align: middle;"><div class="x3nfvp2 x1n2onr6 xxymvpz xh8yej3" style="animation-name: none; display: inline-flex; font-family: inherit; position: relative; transition-property: none; vertical-align: middle; width: 404.047px;"><div class="xdl72j9 x1iyjqo2 xs83m0k xeuugli xh8yej3" style="animation-name: none; flex: 1 1 auto; font-family: inherit; min-width: 0px; transition-property: none; width: 404.047px;"><div class="xmjcpbm x1tlxs6b x1g8br2z x1gn5b1j x230xth x9f619 xzsf02u x1rg5ohu xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x193iq5w x1mzt3pk x1n2onr6 xeaf4i8 x13faqbe" style="animation-name: none; background-color: var(--comment-background); border-radius: 18px; box-sizing: border-box; color: var(--primary-text); display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; overflow-wrap: break-word; position: relative; transition-property: none; word-break: break-word;"><div class="x1y1aw1k xn6708d xwib8y2 x1ye3gou" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; padding: 8px 12px; transition-property: none;"><div class="x1lliihq xjkvuk6 x1iorvi4" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; transition-property: none;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x10flsy6 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x x4zkp8e x41vudc x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" color="var(--primary-text)" dir="auto" lang="en" style="animation-name: none; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; word-break: break-word;"><div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;">There are indeed several problems with grocery prices. Everything else seems to be leveling off or at least similar to inflation of around 3% except groceries. Yes, he is doing what he can about it, and he is supporting plans to deal with shrinkflation, the practice of charging the same for every less product in the package, price gouging, and anti-competition practices such as stopping the merger of Kroger and Albertson/Safeway this month.</div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;">Fair or not, it is a political problem: <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/in-wisconsin-a-vote-for-biden-or-trump-could-come-down-to-grocery-prices/ar-BB1k5dSF?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=HCTS&cvid=02d57462d0cf47389848cd930402b6c4&ei=11" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem;">In Wisconsin, a vote for Biden or Trump could come down to grocery prices (msn.com)</a></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><a href="https://www.squirepattonboggs.com/-/media/files/insights/publications/2020/04/antitrust-enforcement-declines-under-trump-so-says-aai-report/antitrust_enforcement_declines_under_trump.pdf">antitrust_enforcement_declines_under_trump.pdf (squirepattonboggs.com)</a></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><div class="wDYxhc" data-md="61" lang="en-US" style="border-radius: 8px; clear: none; color: #202124; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div aria-level="3" class="LGOjhe" data-attrid="wa:/description" data-hveid="CBIQAA" role="heading" style="overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 20px;"><span class="ILfuVd" lang="en" style="color: #1f1f1f; font-family: "Google Sans", Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px;"><span class="hgKElc" style="padding: 0px 8px 0px 0px;">Feb. 14, 2024 (DENVER)—After a yearlong investigation, <span style="background-color: #d3e3fd; color: #040c28;">Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser today filed a lawsuit in Denver District Court to block the $24.6 billion proposed merger between Kroger and Albertsons</span>, two of the largest supermarket chains in Colorado.</span></span><span class="kX21rb ZYHQ7e" style="color: #5e5e5e; display: inline-block; font-family: "Google Sans", Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.34; padding-right: 0px; text-wrap: nowrap;">Feb 14, 2024</span></div></div><div class="g" style="clear: both; color: #202124; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.58; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; width: 600px;"><div data-hveid="CA8QAA" data-ved="2ahUKEwipyunHx_6EAxWiL0QIHS_wBOMQFSgAegQIDxAA" lang="en"><div class="tF2Cxc" style="clear: both; padding-bottom: 0px; position: relative;"><div class="yuRUbf" style="font-size: small; line-height: 1.58;"><span jsaction="rcuQ6b:npT2md;PYDNKe:bLV6Bd;mLt3mc" jscontroller="msmzHf"><a data-ved="2ahUKEwipyunHx_6EAxWiL0QIHS_wBOMQFnoECA8QAw" href="https://coag.gov/2024/colorado-attorney-general-phil-weiser-files-lawsuit-to-block-proposed-kroger-albertsons-merger/#:~:text=Feb.,largest%20supermarket%20chains%20in%20Colorado." jsname="UWckNb" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://coag.gov/2024/colorado-attorney-general-phil-weiser-files-lawsuit-to-block-proposed-kroger-albertsons-merger/%23:~:text%3DFeb.,largest%2520supermarket%2520chains%2520in%2520Colorado.&ved=2ahUKEwipyunHx_6EAxWiL0QIHS_wBOMQFnoECA8QAw" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); color: #1a0dab; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;"><br /><h3 class="LC20lb MBeuO DKV0Md" style="display: inline-block; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.3; margin: 18px 0px 0px; padding: 5px 0px 0px;">Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser files lawsuit to block ...</h3></a></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>The Muftic Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713099112005113734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3152293728087516832.post-57896967772267237212024-03-15T09:15:00.062-06:002024-03-18T06:43:05.545-06:00Speaking to fear. Some are truly afraid, not from ignorance, but of societal changes<p>Speaking to the fearful is a messaging challenge. How do you even begin when fear is what Donald Trump is selling...fear of immigrants, fear of crime, fear of being left behind in the economy, fear of others not like themselves. Lack of knowledge is part of it, but changes are going on now that are profound and often felt if not put into words. Some are truly afraid, not because of ignorance but because of societal changes. These changes have been coming for a long time, and those who want to turn back the clock and those who embrace changes to modern society are still clashing. Change comes easy for some, and for others, it scares them. Politicians usually respond by digging in or hurling insults at their opponents to support their immediate public policy issues on immigration, women's role and ability to control their lives, sexual orientation, and election "integrity" that affects minority access to the ballot. Most do not see their fears in the context of history or as part of a larger movement. They just feel it in their bones. Others understand it and ride it to power, as Donald Trump is trying again and again to keep the fear, hate, and victimization exaggerated and heated as his case for election. Only he can fix it, he opines, so vote for him. </p><p> What has also become clear is that the fear of these societal changes affects many. Democrats must find a way to recognize the fear, address it, acknowledge it, respect it, and not make it worse. It does not mean agreeing to roll back the clock to 1938 or the 1950s, but perhaps a shift in attitude would help to be more empathetic with policies that respect the fears, acknowledge them, and provide the facts and data that mitigate them. Some will listen. Not everyone has lost their ability to reason and think. In fact, the GOP is losing followers as the number of registered independents has soared, and Democrats have gained some. Voter registration is fluid in 2024 as citizens begin to tune into their choices. That is one part of the equation. </p><p>The next step is to go forward and present plans that at least smooth out the rough spots and make the case that even the fearful will be better off in time, more peaceful, and more prosperous. A fanatical minority attempting to seize power and suppress others guarantees chaos, or the less kind word, turmoil, and even violence: endorsing the violence of January 6, using terms like "bloodbath if I don't get elected", "things will be wild," calling the violent actors patriots, and executing generals who fail to obey him, including use of the active military to put down demonstrations by those who oppose him. A platform of revenge, retribution, and favoring loyalty over ability is not how economic prosperity is nurtured. </p><p>The good news in political messaging is that optimism usually wins over a darker vision of change for the worse. It is that track that Biden is following. However, it is not a strategy limited to presenting hope and plans for a better future. Biden and his supporters need at every opportunity to point out the contrast with the jarring, violent, racist conflicts Trump is promising to use to promote himself to become a "strong man", dictator, or autocrat. That is not a fabrication of accusations when using Trump's own words and his past and current actions and attempts to verify that Trump is not just bloviating or Trump being Trump. He has already attempted to promote and use political violence in the past. No need to exaggerate or lie. His words are right in your face and his history and acitons speak louder than words..</p><p> .<a href="Trump fans the flames of violence history" target="_blank"> https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2020/08/trump-fans-flames-of-violence-yet-calls.html</a></p><p>Some currents underlie the fears felt by many on the right. Society is indeed experiencing rapid change, and many fear it. The following is a personal account of how I came to understand what is happening.</p><p>In 1960, after a year abroad and face-to-face with communism and societal and religious cultures, including Islam, I returned to my senior year in college at Northwestern. I had the advantage of independent studies in my senior year, and my focus was on the cultural differences I had encountered, which had been so far removed from my bible belt upbringing in northeastern Oklahoma, or even in Evanston, Illinois, for that matter. I needed to get a better understanding so I could digest what I had just experienced. It shaped my views for a lifetime, including what became issues 65 years later of cultural wars, racism, and civil and individual rights.</p><p>Among those classes and studies at Northwestern were standouts: The most impressionable one was examining the clash between traditional societies and religion, which I saw firsthand as my small independent studies group delved into Middle Eastern history and current events. We read the Koran, we read Zionist literature, and we read a book called "A Village in Anatolia," which gave an autobiographical account of a young man, a teacher, from and in a Turkish village with very insightful comments on the role of women and politics in a traditional Turkish society. We concluded that Islam did not practice much "empathy," walking in other people's shoes. Was that wrong? If not wrong, at least it was different. Furthermore, where I grew up in Muskogee, Oklahoma, neither did the bible belt Christians possess empathy or tolerance.(Oklahoma is one of the heartlands of the current Evangelical Christian movement). Oklahoma, in my youth, was the epitome of Jim Crow. However, our 1960 seminar concluded that there would be a huge, even violent, reaction to modern society that accepted and supported these new attitudes of women's role, tolerance and acceptance of others' viewpoints, and energy production self-interests. (Many in my group were from families engaged in energy development in the Middle East). I was there with a different motivation since I was about to begin life marrying someone from the multi-cultural, ever-clashing Balkans. Mine was no abstract laboratory of thinkers; it was hands-on. Now what?</p><p>What I didn't see is that the clash of traditional roles and viewpoints was also affecting Christianity and Judaism, not just Islam. In her book, The Battle for God, Karen Armstrong, published in 2000, brought home the upheaval, the clash between the old and the modern, that was showing itself in full bloom. All three religions had their roots in Abraham's story. What was a sin in all three were similar, and all believed in the same God, though they were called different words in different languages and theological references. However, all three were impacted by the clash of tradition vs modern society, and the reaction was already profound and palpable in politics, wars, revolts, and generational changes in values. </p><p> I plead guilty to a lack of empathy. I promise to try to be better at understanding, just as I was able to do in straddling the tolerance and attitudes of a multicultural and multigenerational family myself. However, time marches on, and we have to deal with what is reality now in politics. It does not mean we who embrace modernity have to give that up, but it does mean we have to change our approach and attitudes and show how public policies and political approaches give a chance for all to have their place. The greatest difference between Democrats and the current GOP is that Democrats do not want the government to be the tool for forcing others to adopt cultural and religious practices and beliefs, and the other party wants the opposite. </p><p>Here is where I would start. I think the traditionalists go wrong because they want to protect their viewpoints and force others to obey them through government edicts and laws imposed on those who find such viewpoints abhorrent or a painful health or economic burden. What the Democrats must do is point out individuals are not being asked to have abortions or not use contraceptives or IVF, but to let individuals make that choice, respect it, but not force others to bow down and obey their religious-based beliefs and interpretations of scriptures with which they disagree. That has always been the Democrats' stated view, but not the emphasis that what choice means is really a choice, not an edict resulting in a government prosecuting someone. The advantage of Roe v Wade is that it was held up as what the majority of society approved, life begins viability, and it is still the standard with which the overwhelming majority agrees per the polls. It is up to the clergy to make their case that abortion is murder, that life begins at inception, and that the pill is murder, too. Still, it should not be the government's job to be the enforcer in the kind of democracy we have, a multicultural, multi-religious, and diverse population. </p><p>Regarding women's role in modern society, those embracing modernism also recognize the economic necessity that requires women to work and have a political voice in shaping their lives so that they are treated fairly and equitably. However, women who choose to stay at home, home-school their kids, or must do that because of either religious beliefs or financial ones deserve respect, too. I have both modernists and dedicated conservative Christians in my family. </p><p>The question of sexual identification is another area of enormous cultural conflict. If anything, permitting people to come out of the closet and be open about their choices in life or to be just themselves has been a jolt and no doubt a jarring experience for traditionalists. However, the joy and peace of mind it brings to those now liberated to be free and open about it is to be respected and appreciated, not condemned and criminalized. As with matters of choice and women's roles, no one is forcing or should force anyone to become what they feel they are not. Have a heart, holier than thou people.</p><p> Biden was correct when it comes to the fear of immigrants and others. He recognizes an administrative failure to fund and implement existing laws that do provide respect and the goal of the US being a refuge to those who are being prosecuted or are victims of rampant crime in their native lands. Just enforce the existing laws and give the wherewithal to do it. Economic refugees have their place in contributing to the US economy as well, even if access is uncontrolled with open borders. What this approach does is respect a sane approach but eliminates the motivation of hate and fear that permeates the inhumane approach that Trump is exploiting for his political advantage with such racists comments as "adulterating our blood," "murders and rapists," phrases that are not born out by any data or statistics, but are just blanket fear-mongering to make followers think he is the only one who can fix what he promotes as the problem. He is not as the bi-partisan bill passed by the Senate demonstrates. Now, he wants the "crisis" that is not so much of a crisis after all. wait until he controls Congress, both Houses, and the Oval Office, so he can do it his way. Those "blood adulterers, rapists and murderers, human traffickers. and brown people", all of those he tells you to fear and you now believe him, will have another year to flood the borders. The reason is fear is his platform, his ticket to victory, and solving the problem now would take that plank away. Is it possible, fearful of immigrant folks, that you are being played?</p><p>Another element in fear-mongering by MAGA is that voter fraud is widespread, so votes do not count, and elections deserve to be overturned. The racist motivation is not disguised since most attempts to suppress the votes are aimed at areas with heavy Black populations. It is no coincidence. "<span style="font-size: x-small;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #231f20; font-family: schoolbook, Georgia, "Times New Roman", "DejaVu Serif", serif; letter-spacing: 0.18px; word-spacing: -2.16px;">Suppression efforts range from the seemingly unobstructed, like strict voter ID laws and cuts to early voting, to mass purges of voter rolls and systemic disenfranchisement. These measures disproportionately impact people of color, students, the elderly, and people with disabilities. And long before election cycles even begin, legislators redraw district lines that determine the weight of your vote."</span> <a href="https://www.aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/block-the-vote-voter-suppression-in-2020">https://www.aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/block-the-vote-voter-suppression-in-2020</a> </span> <br /></p><p>https://www.amazon.com/Village-Anatolia-Mahmut-Makal/dp/B0000CISI9</p><p><a href="The Battle for God" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_for_God </a> for a good synopsis.</p><p><a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/gallup-poll-reveals-gop-party-affiliation-drops-as-independent-voter-numbers-soar/ar-BB1k0udx?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=HCTS&cvid=c7b0b33202454ba1bb2b9072d273148d&ei=14" target="_blank">Gallup Poll Reveals GOP Party Affiliation Drops as Independent Voter Numbers Soar (msn.com)</a></p><p>Sen. Britt's stint in her kitchen in response to Biden's State of the United Address evoked some words of nostalgia by women my age, dressed in skirts and well-polished saddle loafers, dishing how nice it was in the good old days of the 1950s. So gentle, so kind. Here is my answer: <span style="color: var(--primary-text); font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem;"> </span><span style="color: var(--primary-text); font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem;">That was me. HS class of 1956.. I dressed like that, was valedictorian, and was nationally ranked in debate and extemporaneous speaking in mixed doubles and women (called girls then). I went on to Northwestern and felt my oats. Then I</span><span style="color: var(--primary-text); font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem;"> </span><a style="animation-name: none !important; color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; transition-property: none !important;" tabindex="-1"></a><span style="color: var(--primary-text); font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem;">went to New York to break into television, where women were not taken seriously, and I was told bluntly that no one would take a woman delivering the news as credible. I should stay home and raise children. I am not you women who pine for the good old days of 1956.. In fact, between 35 and 70% of people between the ages of 20 and 65 in today's society work outside the home, not only because they want to but because they need to in order to make ends meet. They have been enabled because of family planning, which fools want to take away to force them back to the kitchen. I spent the rest of my career mostly in PR and in positions traditionally filled by women, such as a county clerk. I always felt I was born 20 years too soon. Go back to your kitchens, ye followers of Britt, if that makes you happy. Not everyone is you. (PS I also raised three children and was married to the el remarkable man for 52 years who made much possible with his moral and helpful support.) I</span></p><div style="animation-name: none !important; background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; transition-property: none !important;"><div class="x1rg5ohu xxymvpz x17z2i9w" style="animation-name: none !important; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none !important; vertical-align: middle; width: 22px;"><div aria-hidden="false" class="x1hy63sm x1hc1fzr xhva3ql" style="animation-name: none !important; font-family: inherit; margin-left: 11px; opacity: 1; transition-property: none !important;"><span class="x4k7w5x x1h91t0o x1h9r5lt x1jfb8zj xv2umb2 x1beo9mf xaigb6o x12ejxvf x3igimt xarpa2k xedcshv x1lytzrv x1t2pt76 x7ja8zs x1qrby5j" style="align-items: inherit; align-self: inherit; animation-name: none !important; display: inherit; flex-direction: inherit; flex: inherit; font-family: inherit; height: inherit; max-height: inherit; max-width: inherit; min-height: inherit; min-width: inherit; place-content: inherit; transition-property: none !important; width: inherit;"><div aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="menu" aria-label="Edit or delete this" class="x1i10hfl x1qjc9v5 xjqpnuy xa49m3k xqeqjp1 x2hbi6w x9f619 x1ypdohk xdl72j9 x2lah0s xe8uvvx x2lwn1j xeuugli x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1ja2u2z x1t137rt x1o1ewxj x3x9cwd x1e5q0jg x13rtm0m x1q0g3np x87ps6o x1lku1pv x1a2a7pz xjyslct xjbqb8w x13fuv20 xu3j5b3 x1q0q8m5 x26u7qi x972fbf xcfux6l x1qhh985 xm0m39n x3nfvp2 xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x1n2onr6 x3ajldb x194ut8o x1vzenxt xd7ygy7 xt298gk x1xhcax0 x1s928wv x10pfhc2 x1j6awrg x1v53gu8 x1tfg27r xitxdhh" role="button" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; align-items: stretch; animation-name: none !important; appearance: none; background-color: transparent; border-bottom-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-left-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-radius: inherit; border-right-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-style: solid; border-top-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline-flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; transition-property: none !important; user-select: none; vertical-align: bottom; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><i class="x1b0d499 x1d69dk1" data-visualcompletion="css-img" style="animation-name: none !important; background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v3/yu/r/1sOcyY3oTr-.png"); background-position: 0px -782px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 26px 1012px; display: inline-block; filter: var(--filter-secondary-icon); height: 16px; transition-property: none !important; vertical-align: -0.25em; width: 16px;"></i><div class="x1ey2m1c xds687c x17qophe xg01cxk x47corl x10l6tqk x13vifvy x1ebt8du x19991ni x1dhq9h xzolkzo x12go9s9 x1rnf11y xprq8jg" data-visualcompletion="ignore" role="none" style="animation-name: none !important; border-radius: 999px; font-family: inherit; inset: -8px; opacity: 0; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; transition-duration: var(--fds-duration-extra-extra-short-out); transition-property: none !important; transition-timing-function: var(--fds-animation-fade-out);"></div></div></span></div></div></div><div class="x6s0dn4 x3nfvp2" style="align-items: center; animation-name: none !important; background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline-flex; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; transition-property: none !important;"><ul aria-hidden="false" class="x1n0m28w x78zum5 x1wfe3co xat24cr xsgj6o6 x1o1nzlu xyqdw3p" style="animation-name: none !important; display: flex; line-height: 12px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px -8px 0px 4px; min-height: 15px; padding: 3px 0px 0px; transition-property: none !important;"><li class="x1rg5ohu x1emribx x1i64zmx" style="animation-name: none !important; display: inline-block; margin-left: 8px; margin-right: 8px; transition-property: none !important;"></li></ul></div><p><br /></p>The Muftic Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713099112005113734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3152293728087516832.post-10904138384624555582024-03-15T06:31:00.010-06:002024-03-15T07:31:03.975-06:00A very important fact checking on Trump's talking points on the deficit, energy, and crime<p> For those who still care about data and facts to respond to Trumpian BS on energy, crime, and the deficit, Steve Rattner pretty well demolishes Trump's talking points. Take a look at this:</p><p><a href="https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/steve-rattner-fact-checks-trump-s-favorite-attack-lines-against-biden-206504517649">https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/steve-rattner-fact-checks-trump-s-favorite-attack-lines-against-biden-206504517649</a></p><p>Some highlights: Trump added over 5 trillion to the deficit with his tax cuts to the rich and other actions not attributed to Covic. Drill baby Drill is totally a B aimed at the ignorant. The US is producing more energy(from all sources) than any country in history, and the US has been energy-independent for the past 5 years and an exporter of energy. That just shows how deceptive his BS is on that point. Biden's war on energy is a fabrication. He also fact-checks Trump's claim that crime, violence, and against property are up.</p>The Muftic Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713099112005113734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3152293728087516832.post-43935407650093796442024-03-13T08:04:00.013-06:002024-03-14T05:55:08.597-06:00How the Supreme Court has contributed to democracy's demise<p> How the Supreme Court has unintentionally contributed to a feared democracy's demise is disturbing for those of us who love our country both when we win politically and when we lose. The three most US Supreme Court acts or inactions in my mind are the Citizens United ruling that permitted dark and secret campaign contributions, the ruling overturning the recent Colorado ballot case that inadvertently gave a permission slip for any failed insurrectionist or civil war participant to run for federal office, plus the Court greenlighting political gerrymandering by declining to restrict it, making legislative compromises nearly impossible and empowering extremists. </p><p> The recent Colorado ballot decision gave the green light for any candidate who loses a civil war or an insurrection to come back as an elected office and abuse, and sabotage institutions that stood in the wannabe tyrant's way. The US Supreme Court claimed political gerrymandering was not in their ability to rule, unlike race-based gerrymandering which they could. In so doing, the Supreme Court permitted the pernicious practice of drawing legislative and congressional district lines to give one or the other political party to carve out safe districts stacked for their party. This, in turn, ensures only the most hardliners and party loyalists get to go to a general election and to avoid being "primaried", the threat most elected officials fear the most. It is party discipline gone berserk and it ensures compromises are never reached, giving voters in a general election a choice between usually two extreme candidates.</p><p> When in conversations with my European friends and relatives they mention how corrupt our elections system is because of the money pouring into it, making elected officials appear to be for sale to the highest bidder. Once upon a time, I had an answer. Yes, thanks to our election laws, who contributes is public information so it becomes another element contributing to making decisions for whom we vote. That is no longer true. The Citizens United decision changed that by permitting corporations to contribute and to do it in the disguise of supporting some fine-sounding single-cause political action committee. That is the "dark money" reference we hear about. We no longer have a way to know which piper is playing whose tune.</p><p>The recent Supreme Court decision was another serious blow to democracy in the Colorado ballot case. Claiming it was a federal matter, as the court did, was not the problem. What the Court did was to tell Congress they would have to pass laws to enforce the clause. of the 14th Amendment that kept insurrections from running for public office. Hell will probably freeze over before that happens since Trump would benefit as would any similar power-hungry revolutionist from the left. Colorado's decision to define Trump as an insurrectionist upheld by the State of Colorado's supreme court decision was left untouched by the US Supreme Court. The original court case was decided with due process to make the case, fairly., that Trump was an insurrectionist in trying to overturn the 2020 election he lost. In short, the US Supreme Court tossed the ball into a trash can of political self-serving dealing. It paved the way for anyone (including Trump) to lead a civil war or a more or less obvious insurrection to run for federal office, to be elected to office, and to continue his insurrection by other means, including undermining the institutions that get in his way by only appointing loyalists to him instead of to the rule of law.</p><p>The next dastardly anti-democracy, anti-voter rights step by the US Supreme Court would be to uphold in full and in part to agree that all presidents would have immunity from being prosecuted for crimes they commit while in office. That would clearly be a license to kill opponents and to cheat and steal taxpayer money to feather their own nests of power and wealth. Be aware of what you wish because what is good for the goose will be for the gander. If democracy survives a second term of Trump. and wins immunity from being charged with crimes after his term for breaking the law while in office, any other future president from the left or the right will also have that immunity claim and protection.</p><p>In the meantime, anyone who tags Trump as an insurrectionist can now point to one court of law that defined him as one after a civil due process trial and appeals: the Colorado Supreme Court. Colorado could not enforce the federal constitutional 14th Amendment, per the US Supreme Court, but anyone who calls Trump an insurrectionist now has a basis in law to attack him with that designation.</p><p>The remedies are now left to Congress, to require political districts to be drawn by independent commissions in each state, to reverse those contribution provisions in Citizens United by requiring all political PACs to disclose their contributors and to define who, what, and how the 14th amendment clause concerning insurrectionists are to be enforced. Do not hold your breath. </p>The Muftic Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713099112005113734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3152293728087516832.post-21720364111273009682024-03-12T06:58:00.005-06:002024-03-13T07:32:21.521-06:00Trump seems determined to turn off older voters<p> Trump seems determined to turn off older voters. The demographic of voters over 65 is the second largest group of those who vote. " Cutting Medicare and Social Security" is not a phrase that will win friends and influence older voters. </p><p>Trump had been losing them, and now he is actively turning them off of his MAGA world. Vintage Trump. Instead of trying to bring more into his base, he is committing political malpractice because now he is saying he is open to cutting Medicare and Social Security, without saying how. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/11/politics/trump-entitlements-social-security-medicare/index.html#:~:text=Former%20President%20Donald%20Trump%20on,primary%20rivals%20over%20the%20issue." target="_blank">https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/11/politics/trump-entitlements-social-security-medicare/index.html#:~:text=Former%20President%20Donald%20Trump%20on,primary%20rivals%20over%20the%20issue.</a></p><p>Biden responded: <span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: PublicoText, Georgia, "Publico Text", "Times New Roman", Times, Baskerville;">“If anyone tries to cut Social Security or Medicare, or raise the retirement age again, I will stop them,” Biden said during a speech in New Hampshire. “This morning, Donald Trump said cuts to Social Security and Medicare are on the table again.” </span><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: PublicoText, Georgia, Publico Text, Times New Roman, Times, Baskerville;">https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/biden-pounces-trump-eyes-cuts-social-security-medicare-rcna142920</span></p><p> That there needs to be financial shoring up, who does it, and who gets hurt just leaves the threat out there. Do you really trust the GOP to do the best for Social Security and Medicare if they get their hands on Congress or the Oval Office? The GOP has had to destroy Medicare and Social Security on their radar, ideologically motivated since the day they were created. They seem to think turning it over to the Wall Street casino and letting for-profit insurers with their fancy advertising and high overhead run and ruin the programs. * </p><p><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/19/politics/biden-older-voters-2024/index.html" target="_blank">Why older voters have stuck with Biden more than younger generations | CNN Politics</a></p><p><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/older-voters-flee-trump-solidifying-biden-s-advantage-2020-race-n1242280" target="_blank">Older voters flee Trump, solidifying Biden's advantage in the 2020 race (nbcnews.com)</a></p><p><a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/29/biden-advantage-older-voters-00094515" target="_blank">Biden's old guy advantage with older voters - POLITICO</a></p><p><a href="https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/forgotten-purpose-civics-education-public-schools" target="_blank">Forgotten Purpose: Civics Education in Public Schools | NEA</a></p><p>https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/americans-oppose-most-trump-policies/ar-AA1mPgWu?ocid=socialshare&pc=DCTS&cvid=b1985bfa8fa14970849a5b58c9d57617&ei=18</p><p>https://www.newsweek.com/social-security-changes-planned-if-nikki-haley-wins-election-1859696 </p><p><a href="https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/number-of-individuals-who-voted-in-thousands-and-individuals-who-voted-as-a-share-of-the-voter-population-by-age/?currentTimeframe=0&selectedRows=%7B%22wrapups%22:%7B%22united-states%22:%7B%7D%7D,%22states%22:%7B%22all%22:%7B%7D%7D%7D&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Individuals%20who%20Voted%20as%20a%20Share%20of%20the%20Voter%20Population__Ages%2065%2B%22,%22sort%22:%22desc%22%7D">Number of Voters as a Share of the Voter Population, by Age | KFF</a></p><p> This demographic of voters over 65 is the second largest group of those who vote.</p><p><i>From my January 2024 blog post: Aside from the GOP hurling constant insults at Biden for his age (seniors know people's brains age at different rates, and so do their bodies), there is a reason why voters are showing a preference for Biden in a recent Q poll in Pennsylvania. and other polls dating to 2020. As an older person myself and with adult children and their spouses approaching or arriving at 65 years old, let me give six good reasons besides the GOP insulting Biden's age and abilities just because he is 3 years older than Trump. </i></p><p><i> 1) We lived long enough to remember what it was like before Roe v Wade and the days when women could not apply for credit without their husband's approval or any political statements made by women in media or in politics were considered not credible because they came from a woman's emotional brain. Age brings memories of when it was worse.</i></p><p><i> 2) We lived through Vietnam and the Cold War to see BS when we heard it as BS and to question BS and see Putin and China as the same adversaries as before: all about power, just without the ideology of Marxism as the reason. We understand how dictatorships, communists, fascists, or whatever work and what political freedoms mean. Age brings wisdom.</i></p><p><i> 3) W got a good education in civics and American history which the younger generation did not get.'<a href="https://citizensandscholars.org/resource/national-survey-finds-just-1-in-3-americans-would-pass-citizenship-test/">National Survey Finds Just 1 in 3 Americans Would Pass Citizenship Test - Institute for Citizens & Scholars (citizensandscholars.org)</a></i></p><p><i> 4) Moral leadership still has value, and Trump is not a moral person. P grabbing and infidelity are not moral. Lies, in the face of fact and data, are not moral either. There is still something credible about data and evidence. Age brings us memories of higher moral standards.</i></p><p><i>5) Civil rights and tolerance of others are a moral value and worth the struggle of the movement. Many old people have moved on to more tolerance on the basis of fairness and acceptance of diversity within their own families and in the workplace, sports, and military service. We remember the violence of the resistance to the civil rights movement...Age brings with it real-life experience.</i></p><p><i> 6) Policies that take away access and qualifications to Medicare and Social Security are a threat to old people's well-being. Every time the GOP advocates to "save" those programs by cutting access to them, seniors revolt and ask why not give them taxpayer support instead. Obamacare is a bridge to give affordable access to health care until those over 50 with aging bodies and health problems are not yet eligible for Medicare. Hands of Obamacare, GOP. Aging has special needs, and the government can help meet them. </i></p><p><i>*https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2017/sep/20/bernie-sanders/comparing-administrative-costs-private-insurance-a/ <b>Sanders claims the difference in administrative costs between private insurers and government-administered Medicare is 12-to 18% more for private insurers and 2% for Medicare. It is partially true, but most private insurance and Medicare Advantage cover prescription drugs, and Medicare itself does not unless you sign up for Medicare Advantage.(I do at the cost of about $45 per month on my PPO plan). Biden's initiatives resutlig in new laws also extend the life of Medicare by requiring drug companies to bid for becoming the preferred drugs(formularies) which will force the price of drugs down as it does with veterans admi;nistrated programs. Also, reducing the cost of insulin for seniors will help both, as well as capping the new law passed under the Biden term no more than $2K out of pocket co-pays a year for prescription drugs.</b></i></p><p><br /></p><p><i> This demographic of voters over 65 is the second largest group of those who vote</i></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div><br /></div>The Muftic Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713099112005113734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3152293728087516832.post-54263456968413061522024-03-11T07:26:00.024-06:002024-03-17T06:50:40.210-06:00Violence is the difference between an Orban dictatorship and a Trump one<p> <span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">What is an Orban (Viktor Orban of Hungary).democracy? Orban calls it an illiberal democracy. That is an oxymoron. Illiberal for sure, but a democracy in name only. He has seized and maintained power peacefully. What is a Trump plus Orban style of governance? Orban's methods are similar to Trump's proposal to become a dictator, strong man, and autocrat (all the same basic meanings). However, Trump promotes the use of violence to maintain control. </span></p><p><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">As Trump becomes an apprentice to a European dictator, Viktor Orban of Hungary, in their recent meeting at Mar -A-Lago, Orban touts his illiberal democracy to Trump's high praise. In 2022, Orban was re-elected to his 4th term in an election that even the EU observers reported was marred by the "pervasive overlapping of government and ruling coalition’s messaging that blurred the line between state and party, as well as by media bias and opaque campaign funding." Human Rights Watch stated that the election was "marred by serious concerns about its fairness," while Freedom House described the election as neither free nor fair.[" </span></p><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Media bias in Hungary is an understatement since opposition media licenses are not granted, so there is only one silo permitted in a country whose language is unique to that country. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2022/hungary In addition, elections are influenced by opaque campaign donations, and all the reins of government are in the hands of Orban loyalists. The skeleton and pretense of democracy remain; opposition party leaders are not jailed or murdered as in Russia, and all is peaceful. Peace is helped since 95% of Hungarian citizens are of one ethnic group (Magyar), so minorities do not have a chance, and neither do opposition groups. </span><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Here is what Trump has made public and told how he would become a "strong leader". He only needs to be a dictator on day one to begin the process of becoming one, and use of violence is one of his tools. He has told us and it is no secret. Trump has pledged to use the active military to put down US demonstrations, execute generals who do not obey, and use the DOJ to prosecute Trump's enemies. Trump would control "justice" through appointees and feel free to have total immunity, a license to kill opponents, steal, and cheat, and all of the control of the election process would be in his hands. His plan is to fire 50 thousand federal employees and replace loyalists, including federal law enforcement. He only needs day one to begin the process. </span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Trump has a long history of supporting violence to accomplish a political goal. Even if you think he is just bluffing and bloviating, then learn how he has promoted violence in the past. It is a big part of who he is Promising to free and forgive violent and convicted January 6 protestors is just the most obvious one, but his inciting violence or advocating it has a record. https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2020/08/trump-fans-flames-of-violence-yet-calls.html </span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2024/03/viktor-orban-dangerous-role-model-for.html </span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">https://www.cnn.com/2017/10/11/politics/donald-trump-media-tweet/index.html</span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/06/hello-dictator-hungary-orban-viktor-119125/</span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/01/09/trump-comments-violence-bedlam/</span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Hungarian_parliamentary_election#:~:text=Hungary's%20incumbent%20prime%20minister%20Viktor,certainly%20see%20it%20from%20Brussels%22.</span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">https://news.yahoo.com/trump-promising-supporters-d-second-034039743.htmlhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYLT_w_Dd2A</span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2023/12/if-you-think-trump-was-kidding-about.html</span></div>The Muftic Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713099112005113734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3152293728087516832.post-88914339516677189672024-03-10T07:38:00.017-06:002024-03-18T07:44:35.652-06:00Britt's human trafficking example bogus; the problem is real so pass the bill<p> <span color="var(--primary-text)" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Not only was Britt's SOTU response cringe-worthy, but it was also embarrassing factually. The example of human trafficking Biden's failure took place before Biden was president and not even in the US. I am an anti-human trafficking activist devoting six years to a prevention program in Bosnia. Human trafficking is no joke and we need to have the Bi-partisan border protection bill passed now so that there are enough resources to catch more of it. Britt voted against it in the Senate.</span><span color="var(--primary-text)" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> I was traveling with two beautiful teenage girls, my grandchildren, at the time of </span><span color="var(--primary-text)" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; transition-property: none; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a style="animation-name: none; color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;" tabindex="-1"></a></span><span color="var(--primary-text)" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space-collapse: preserve;">rampant human trafficking in the Balkans. At the airport, as we were leaving the country, the police separated my grandchildren from me to make sure they were not being trafficked and to question them separately. That takes enforcement training and enough personnel to fund that kind of vigilance and that is how it is done. That Britt's delivery had been coached and concocted and the setting was the kitchen may not have been by accident, but deliberately done to appeal to a segment of women. The voice she used has been called the fundie baby voice. <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fundie-baby-voice_l_65eb6b2fe4b05ec1ccd9e9b9?fbclid=IwAR3cyJ15Dd9uFaTJa1lxktseCsKjMBhr2L3QnuJ4WD48wH3VqyxHTFFBtnA">https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fundie-baby-voice_l_65eb6b2fe4b05ec1ccd9e9b9?fbclid=IwAR3cyJ15Dd9uFaTJa1lxktseCsKjMBhr2L3QnuJ4WD48wH3VqyxHTFFBtnA</a></span></p><p>What is really interesting is that the real Katie Britt did not appear in that infamous rebuttal and those that know her know she is a "normie" and a talented politician. I may disagree with her politics, but whoever staged her rebuttal did her no favors, and in fact, did her considerable damage. <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/katie-britt-alabama-republican-sotu-snl-b2511574.html">Pageant queen. Go-getter. NFL wife. Senator. SNL target: The ascent of Katie Britt | The Independent</a></p><div style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><div class="x1n2onr6" id=":r46:" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><div class="x1n2onr6" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><div class="xmjcpbm x1n2onr6" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><div class="x78zum5 x14ju556 x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6" style="animation-name: none; display: flex; font-family: inherit; line-height: 0; overflow: hidden; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><a aria-label="Anecdote from Sen. Katie Britt’s criticism of Biden’s border policies appears to be from before he was president | CNN Politics" class="x1i10hfl xjbqb8w x1ejq31n xd10rxx x1sy0etr x17r0tee x972fbf xcfux6l x1qhh985 xm0m39n x9f619 x1ypdohk xt0psk2 xe8uvvx xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1a2a7pz x1heor9g xt0b8zv x5yr21d xh8yej3" href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/09/politics/katie-britt-biden-border-policies-anecdote/index.html?fbclid=IwAR3v1B4yAOUOzmmJXkfS6OWoDgqV5qN_ebhrpJ8vCtT_MbGmA8x4OG4GoAk" rel="nofollow noreferrer" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; animation-name: none; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: inherit; height: 261.011px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition-property: none; width: 500.024px;" tabindex="0" target="_blank"><div class="x6s0dn4 x1jx94hy x78zum5 xdt5ytf x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6 xh8yej3" style="align-items: center; animation-name: none; display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative; transition-property: none; width: 500.024px;"><div style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 500px; transition-property: none; width: calc(-622.605px + 191.571vh);"><div class="xqtp20y x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; height: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 261.011px; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><div class="x10l6tqk x13vifvy" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; height: 261.011px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition-property: none; width: 500.024px;"><img alt="Anecdote from Sen. Katie Britt’s criticism of Biden’s border policies appears to be from before he was president | CNN Politics" class="x1ey2m1c xds687c x5yr21d x10l6tqk x17qophe x13vifvy xh8yej3 xl1xv1r" height="186" referrerpolicy="origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://external-den2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/emg1/v/t13/3742794174534321990?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.cnn.com%2Fapi%2Fv1%2Fimages%2Fstellar%2Fprod%2Fstill-20446413-1125365-418-still.jpg%3Fc%3D16x9%26q%3Dw_800%2Cc_fill&fb_obo=1&utld=cnn.com&stp=c0.5000x0.5000f_dst-jpg_flffffff_p500x261_q75&ccb=13-1&oh=06_AbHVrMQSDyEwBn900K0NKCzw2JZpTELx3_VZy9S2-LgegA&oe=65EF3C8E&_nc_sid=215617" style="animation-name: none; border: 0px; height: 261.011px; inset: 0px; object-fit: cover; position: absolute; transition-property: none; width: 500.024px;" width="357" /></div></div></div></div><div class="x1nb4dca x1q0q8m5 xso031l x1exxf4d x13fuv20 x178xt8z x1ey2m1c x9f619 xds687c x47corl x10l6tqk x17qophe x13vifvy" style="animation-name: none; border-bottom-color: var(--media-inner-border); 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display: block; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap; transition-property: none;">CNN.COM</span></span></div><div class="x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x9f619 x1lkfr7t x4vbgl9 x1rdy4ex xjkvuk6 x1iorvi4 xly2ba0" style="animation-name: none; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; margin-bottom: -4px; margin-top: -4px; max-height: calc(2.35294em); overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; transition-property: none;"><div class="x78zum5 xdt5ytf xz62fqu x16ldp7u" style="animation-name: none; display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px; transition-property: none;"><div class="xu06os2 x1ok221b" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; transition-property: none;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x10flsy6 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x x1tu3fi x3x7a5m x1lkfr7t x1lbecb7 x1s688f xzsf02u x1yc453h" color="var(--primary-text)" dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.1765; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; word-break: break-word;"><span class="x1lliihq x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6" style="-webkit-box-orient: vertical; -webkit-line-clamp: 2; animation-name: none; display: -webkit-box; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><span class="html-span xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x1hl2dhg x16tdsg8 x1vvkbs" dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; transition-property: none;">Anecdote from Sen. Katie Britt’s criticism of Biden’s border policies appears to be from before he was president | CNN Politics</span></span></span></div><div class="xu06os2 x1ok221b" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; transition-property: none;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x10flsy6 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x x4zkp8e x41vudc x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xi81zsa x1yc453h" color="var(--secondary-text)" dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; word-break: break-word;"><span class="x1lliihq x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6 xlyipyv xuxw1ft" style="animation-name: none; display: block; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap; transition-property: none;"><span style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;">Alabama Sen. Katie Britt graphically described a woman’s story of being “sex trafficked by the cartels starting at age 12,” during the Republican response to the State of the Union address on Thursday, using the story as an anecdote of, what she calls, President Joe Biden’s failed immigratio...</span></span></span></div></div></div></div><div class="x9f619 x1n2onr6 x1ja2u2z x78zum5 xdt5ytf x2lah0s x193iq5w xeuugli xsyo7zv x16hj40l" style="animation-name: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 6px; position: relative; transition-property: none; z-index: 0;"></div></div></div></a></div></div></div></div><div style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><div class="x168nmei x13lgxp2 x30kzoy x9jhf4c x6ikm8r x10wlt62" data-visualcompletion="ignore-dynamic" style="animation-name: none; border-radius: 0px 0px 8px 8px; font-family: inherit; 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display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding: 6px 4px; position: relative; transition-property: none; z-index: 0;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x10flsy6 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x x4zkp8e x41vudc x6prxxf xvq8zen x1s688f xi81zsa" color="var(--secondary-text)" dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; word-break: break-word;">https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4518062-white-house-hits-katie-britt-state-union-response/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CLast%20month%2C%20Senator%20Britt%20sided,House%20spokesperson%20Andrew%20Bates%20said.d</span></div></div><div class="x1ey2m1c xds687c x17qophe x47corl x10l6tqk x13vifvy x19991ni x1dhq9h x1o1ewxj x3x9cwd x1e5q0jg x13rtm0m x1hc1fzr x1mq3mr6 x1wpzbip" data-visualcompletion="ignore" role="none" style="animation-name: none; background-color: var(--hover-overlay); border-radius: 4px; font-family: inherit; inset: 0px; opacity: 1; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; transition-duration: 0s; transition-property: none; transition-timing-function: var(--fds-animation-fade-out);"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="xzueoph" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 6px; transition-property: none;"></div></div></div></div>The Muftic Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713099112005113734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3152293728087516832.post-19862528065701836082024-03-08T06:45:00.001-07:002024-03-08T08:48:43.956-07:00Messaging again: Biden's great night at the State of the Union<p>Clearly the delivery with vigor, passion, and aggression showed his strength may not be in his body but in his mind and tongue. He let the Irish in him rip. Bravo.</p><p><span face="Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Here was what rang my chimes.</span></p><p><span face="Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Biden was onto something last night..a theme that could be an umbrella of so much: Defending freedom abroad, defending freedom from foreign control, defending freedom for women and human rights at home. I nominate his best line of the night: "You can't love a country only when you win"Biden in onto something last night..a theme that could be an umbrella of so much: Defending freedom abroad, defending freedom from foreign control, defending freedom for women and human rights </span><span face="Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; transition-property: none; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a style="animation-name: none; color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;" tabindex="-1"></a></span><span face="Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">at home. I nominate his best line of the night: "You can't love a country only when you win" </span></p><div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a" style="animation-name: none !important; background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none !important; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none !important;">One of the strangest things about the choice of a woman to respond to Biden's address yesterday was to put a woman in the kitchen...and from Alabama, too...which has one of the lowest participation rates of women in the workforce in the US. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women of working age are over 57%, and in some age categories 70%. Pandering to women, younger women, as whoever staged that response in a kitchen was not a great statement to garner more <span style="animation-name: none !important; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none !important;"><a style="animation-name: none !important; color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none !important;" tabindex="-1"></a></span>votes from women. In 2022, West Virginia had the lowest labor force participation rate for women, at 49.5 percent. An additional three states were under 52.0 percent: New Mexico (50.5 percent), Mississippi (51.1 percent), and Alabama (51.3 percent).</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="animation-name: none !important; background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none !important; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none !important;">For the nation as a whole, the labor force participation rate for women was 56.8 percent in 2022. The age groups of 25 to 34 years, 35 to 44 years, and 45 to 54 years all had participation rates above 75.0 percent, with 25 to 34 years having the highest (77.6 percent).</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="animation-name: none !important; background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none !important; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none !important; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none !important;"><span style="animation-name: none !important; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none !important;"><a class="x1i10hfl xjbqb8w x1ejq31n xd10rxx x1sy0etr x17r0tee x972fbf xcfux6l x1qhh985 xm0m39n x9f619 x1ypdohk xt0psk2 xe8uvvx xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1a2a7pz xt0b8zv x1fey0fg" href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bls.gov%2Fopub%2Fted%2F2023%2Flabor-force-participation-rate-for-women-highest-in-the-district-of-columbia-in-2022.htm%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR2YpC050cnbg7ymt8bc9mze-g1wTu9XY1OgLCvygtDknUwTDGCnIDnIdzw%23%3A~%3Atext%3DFor%2520the%2520nation%2520as%2520a%2Cwas%252056.8%2520percent%2520in%25202022&h=AT2tyUgDYHr5Fz5CWuzL8c3q1DQxBTZkFYiC8K_zxFvNA__8TO96LC9BJe2AFzdaTv7D3TC5l830KYeeGLyh6Zc2x8sgXYWpe--To7stOccNMTvCIWSmknrL_rgs61IE7nFAGFtVN1YvqDY&__tn__=-UK-R&c[0]=AT3Bix2x70skDb1_y3JrBM-xbgs5e1eRulafVcaAKVo74COWtENpYEcjF-j08PnQr8pmzjOnovTcyZShT5atn368WiHlm7dokcRgcEmuGJ0xq-1uG8hlr33Hh4yIoQ" rel="nofollow noreferrer" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; animation-name: none !important; background-color: transparent; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition-property: none !important;" tabindex="0" target="_blank">https://www.bls.gov/.../labor-force-participation-rate...</a></span>.</div></div><p><span face="Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p>The Muftic Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713099112005113734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3152293728087516832.post-80571632458092593242024-03-07T09:43:00.019-07:002024-03-10T06:37:19.087-06:00MAGA is turning the world upside down: and it has nothing to do with being conservative.<p><br /></p><div><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 15px;">From a 17th-century English protest ballad:</span></div><div><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 15px;">Listen to me and you shall hear, news hath not been this thousand year:</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 15px;">Since Herod, Caesar, and many more, you never heard the like before.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 15px;">Holy days are despised, new fashions are devis’d.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 15px;">Old Christmas is kickt out of Town.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; font-family: Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 15px;">Yet let’s be content, and the times lament, you see the world turn’d upside down.</span></div><div><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 15px;"> (</span><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2020/10/the-world-turned-upside-down.html)</span></span></div><div><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">I listened to the pious members of the GOP the other day, those who claim to be conservatives and give lip service to that ideology as they pledged allegiance to Donald Trump. There is nothing conservative about Trump. He is a radical reactionary. He stands against nearly everything conservatives post World War II had ever supported. Instead, he is the epitome of upside-down and return to the 1950's and late 1930's. Both losers in the past.</span></span></div><div><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">Strange. </span></span><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 15px;">Maybe with my liberal, civil liberty social values, a belief in the democracy that we have had for 250 years as the best way for America to be governed, and belief in a strong national security defense, I am more of a conservative than I thought. If it ain't very broke, why break it to pieces?</span></div><div><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">Trump is promoting a return to the failures of years ago before World War II and the 1950s when that was when America was so great in his mind and in the minds of his hard corp true believers. </span></span><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444; font-size: 15px;">Conservatives, both Democrats and Republicans, have evolved since then, for the basic reason; those old policies failed.: the isolationists of the 1930s simply invited the US to be attacked by those who saw us weak; appeasement only whetted the appetites of expansionist enemies, and Jim Crow was a destabilizing oppressive attempt at unfair White domnation that fueled civic unrest in the guise of state's rights. It was not fair. </span></div><div><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444; font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></div><div><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444; font-size: 15px;">Trump is turning that world upside down in a return to past failures. </span><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444; font-size: 15px;">Accuse him of being a wannabe dictator? His response: Dictators are a good thing and I want to be more like the ones I admire. They are more effective than democracies because they can ignore public will or opposition and get their own agenda done. Accuse the military as being a joke when everyone else in the world has the opposite opinion?. His response: It is a good thing that draft dodging like his and his ancestors practiced is valuable because only losers and suckers serve in the military. What about his lustful, hyper-macho, libertine past? Trump can just point to his evangelical supporters who consider him Christ's second coming. What about this racist White thing, and wokism in the military and civil life? 1950's Trumpism is unspoken but implied in his anti-woke appeal.. Only white men are qualified to be in charge because everyone of another sex or race is inferior is a view not just of Trump's but he dog whistles at every chance. That Trump is inviting World War III with his appeasing, capitulating foreign policy? He advocates that the best way to peace is to Let Russia have Ukraine and eastern Europe and let China invade Taiwan. It is a good thing that enemies control their territory after which they lust. and who otherwise would be allies because we don't have to worry about the rest of the world who speaks different languages, we don't understand them, or who controls our seas and trade routes. Who cares about that? Not Trump. His reason? </span><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444; font-size: 15px;">We should care about our own people. Really? By controlling their lives, taking away their individual rights, reducing taxes on the rich, and not improving their health care, or not feeding the poor, not protecting us consumers from unfair, dangerous, monopolistic business practices, or adding to an environmental disaster ?. A protector of fraud and corporate corruption?How so? His answer? These lawsuits about fraud are all politically motivated; nothing to it; all BS. </span><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444; font-size: 15px;">It is a good thing that the government favors businesses whose value is how much they support the dear leader and not by their ability to compete in the marketplace. So all of this would make America great again? </span></div><div><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444; font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></div><div><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444; font-size: 15px;">Question: if America is such a failure, why are so many trying to get here legally and illegally? Maybe we have been doing something right? The problem with Russia, the Chinese, and dictators south of the border is that the best, the brightest flee them if they want to better their lives or avoid persecution. It is why the Berlin Wall went up because those under Communist rule found a better life in the west and it is true today, as well. Maybe copying them and overturning our democratic system is not such a great idea. Is it turning upside down what has worked for most people to be an upside?</span><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 15px;"> </span></div><div><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></div><div><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444; font-size: 15px;">It is not only Trump that is upside down. Once upon a time, not so long ago, the GOP stood for individual rights and a small government. It found that they were vulnerable to threatening adversaries so instead they formed strong alliances and recognized who their enemies were. Trump has turned that world upside down, with the only vestige of that era: demagogic appeal to racists who seek to disadvantage those unlike them. The GOP used to be proud Americans who honored those who died for our country to keep us "free" from foreign domination. Now, those who fought for value are suckers and losers. America, with the strongest economy in the world post-COVID-19 and the volunteer military the best trained and equipped in the world, is a failure. Trump and MAGA lie through their teeth to give the uninformed a reason to turn the world upside down and to give him full immunity to become a dictator, with the license to kill, cheat, and steal like those he so admires: Putin, Orban, and leaders of China and North Korea. </span></div><div><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">Whatever happened to a small government, conservatives? MAGA wants everything to be federal so that states cannot go off and do their own thing, nor can individuals who want the freedom to control their lives and health care. .. Take away federal programs that give the ability for so many to even have and afford health care or that keeps poor kids fed with healthy foods.. Make federal bans on abortion medical or medicinal, birth control, IVF births, and who they can marry, so blue states and those in red states have to obey the interpretation of what a favored religion edicts.. Have the Department of Justice and the Justice systems control the ballot box and voting that benefit MAGA power, including targeting the ability of what they see as certain undesirables to vote,.Use the active military to put down protests against MAGA's unpopular imposition of their preferred laws and iron-fisted action against the majority who disagree. Make the federal bureaucracy employees swear allegiance to Trump instead of to the rule of law and the Constitution or lose their jobs. Make federal action favor only those loyal to Trump by his appointees in all regulatory measures. Turn the Supreme Court into another power center to support MAGA forever. And appease and appease expansionist foreign adversaries so our country can dance to the tunes that benefit them, not us. How great is that? That did not work so well in 1941, did it?. </span></span></div><div><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #444444; font-size: 15px;">The next question is why? Perhaps there is no one reason, but I suspect much of it is fear of changing demographics and the usual craven lust for power with no complications from effective opposition. Win with the winner and you will be rewarded. Profiles in courage are losers by definition.</span></div><div><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">. </span></span></div><div><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"> </span></span></div><div><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="Montserrat, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">The </span></span></div>The Muftic Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713099112005113734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3152293728087516832.post-27090511756443569302024-03-05T06:58:00.055-07:002024-03-11T06:49:02.521-06:00Viktor Orban: a dangerous role model for America<p>As Trump hosts Viktor Orban of Hungary at Mar-A-Lago, he indicates the direction he wants America to take and refine a blueprint of how he can, too, become a dictator, America should be aware of what a Trump-Orban mode of governance would mean. John Bolton on MSNBC on March 8, 2024 said his greatest danger was his damage to NATO and holding up Finland and Sweden's admission to NATO. (Both are now bonafide members and Sweden joined March 7 ). He condemned Orban for betraying the 1956 Hungarian revolution, a revolt put down by Russia against their rule with tanks and bloodshed, because of Orban's current coziness with Putin and Russia, while being a member of NATO. (Bolton: Former UN Ambassador and National SecurityAgency advisor to President Trump) https://www.britannica.com/event/Hungarian-Revolution-1956/additional-info#history</p><p>Orban was tagged as a neo-fascist by the late secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, who knew one when she saw it because she experienced it firsthand. If you are one of Trump's devoted followers, no wonder you would honor Orban. He points the way to turn theories into reality. If you are not, be very afraid because this is Trump's vision for America. Say goodbye to freedom of the press, respect for minorities and their civil rights, and any control of corporate corruption. It would mean there would be complete control of all branches of government, both houses of Congress, the Supreme Court, and the executive/justice branch, and the conduction of elections. Loyalty would be demanded to the President and not to the rule of law as a condition of employment or appointment in government. </p><p>In 2022, Orban was reelected to his 4th term in elections the EU observers reported were <span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;"> marred by the "pervasive overlapping of government and ruling coalition’s messaging that blurred the line between state and party, as well as by media bias and opaque campaign funding."</span><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Rights_Watch" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #3366cc; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Human Rights Watch">Human Rights Watch</a><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;"> stated that the election was "marred by serious concerns about its fairness," adding that the "EU has responded insufficiently to the hollowing out of democracy and the rule of law in Hungary,"</span><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-49" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Hungarian_parliamentary_election#cite_note-49" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[</a></sup><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;"> while </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_House" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #3366cc; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Freedom House">Freedom House</a><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;"> described the election as neither free nor fair.</span><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-50" style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; text-wrap: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Hungarian_parliamentary_election#cite_note-50" style="background: none; color: #3366cc; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;">[</a>" </sup></p><p>Orban gradually consolidated his power peacefully and he had one advantage: citizens who were 97% percent of his same ethnic identification. That is not America. To say there would be chaos is an understatement if he tried the same techniques as Orban did. Trump has added one element to amassing power that Orban did not need to use: violence and the threat of violence. It worked in Colorado to cause many county clerk election officials to resign, and some were replaced by Trump loyalists. It worked in Georgia to intimidate election official witnesses. He attempted to use active military to put down civil protests and to give him legal cover in his attempt to overturn the 2020 election. He invited and exhorted violent militia members on January 6. Only Gen. Milley, the threat of resignation of nearly all of the top brass of the DOJ, and the bravery of Capitol and DC police stood in his way. He would make sure those who were more loyal to the rule of law than to him would not be his appointees in a second term. https://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/newsRoom/pressReleases/2023/PR20230503Elections.html</p><p><br /></p><p>The way Trump's government in exile in Mar-A-Lago operates now is an example of how he would like to govern in a second term and expand his power over the rest of the federal government. The past and current happenings would be extended to what he would dominate that is not already under his control. By using fear of primaries and tolerance and even exhortation of threats of violence against the disloyal and party discipline he already controls the House. Using appointment powers when he once was in power, he now controls the Supreme Court which has consistently ruled to favor his political strategies.</p><p>In a second term, among the tools at Trump's disposal would be the DOJ's federal control of the voting process with threats of prosecution or favoritism not to prosecute that would be used to overturn elections or would further destroy voters' confidence in the integrity of the process as it was administered by loyalists..The Supreme Court has consistently ruled to favor his political strategies, subverting voting rights laws, patting on the back partisan gerrymandering, and yanking from women their rights to control their own health care. Now, his appointed majority in the Supreme Court is slow-walking decisions that would give Trump an advantage to avoid criminal court appearances before the next election. His main tool to convince his loyal followers to go along is similar to the one Orban used to become the dictator of Hungary, racist fear of Syrian immigrants adulterating the Magyar blood. and fear of replacement by them. </p><p>From my May 2022 posting:</p><p style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><i>Such wide acceptance of replacement theory is becoming a threat to democracy itself. This embrace of Viktor Orban of similar racist policies of anti-immigration and Hungarian ethnic domination also brings with it an association with autocracy as a preferred method of governance instead of democracy. FOX's Tucker Carlson's enthusiasm for the autocratic ruler of Hungary inspired the US conservative pac, CPAC to hold a conference in Hungary and plans more. <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/viktor-orban-hungary-cpac-2024-decisive/" style="color: #cc6611; text-decoration-line: none;">Hungary's Orban opens CPAC by telling conservatives "we need to coordinate the movement" of allies - CBS News</a> Tread lightly, CPAC. You, too, will find yourself with not only the racist, anti-semitic white nationalism that is Orban's but saddled with his method of governing, which means no press freedom ( or press only permitted that is approved by Orban) and what we would consider in the US, a corrupt alliance between big business and government with rewards going to friends of Orban. An independent judiciary no longer exists. Hungary is not like the US. Orban could be as racist and nationalist as he liked since 97% of the country is Magyar (Hungarian) and speaks Hungarian. There are no large groups of minorities. That is not the US now and in the future. Takeover by someone like Orban appealing to white nationalists has not been. would not be, and will not be a peaceful process. For US white nationalists, Hungary is a fantasyland. The late Madeleine Albright, our beloved former secretary of state, tagged Orban as a fascist in her best-selling book, Fascism: A Warning "in 2018 mostly because of his racism and his opposition to "liberal democracy". </i></p><p style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><i><br /></i></p>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Hungarian_parliamentary_election#:~:text=Hungary's%20incumbent%20prime%20minister%20Viktor,certainly%20see%20it%20from%20Brussels%22.The Muftic Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713099112005113734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3152293728087516832.post-21978862323624790392024-03-03T19:33:00.009-07:002024-03-04T06:39:30.178-07:00How depraved humanity can be? Gaza may be the epic example.<p> <span face="Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The human tragedy of Gaza is horrific. When the history of this is written, I have one question for both my Muslim and Jewish friends. As the IDF carpet bombed Gaza, the area was laced with tunnels that could have been bomb shelters. Why didn't Hamas let the women and children seek refuge there? If the answer is carnage was the goal, benefitting Israel for revenge and Netanyahu's self-political preservation, and Hamas for its propaganda advantage, the slaughter of the innocents will forever stand as the epic example </span><span face="Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; transition-property: none; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a style="animation-name: none; color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;" tabindex="-1"></a></span><span face="Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">of how depraved humanity can be.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">MSNBC AM on 3/4/24...VP Harris to meet with Israel war cabinet member Benny Gantz today. Gantz is the leader of Netanyahu's opposition in the war cabinet. This hopefully signals Biden may begin to use leverage to get better control over the permanent cease-fire goal and a two-state solution in the long term. One thing is certain in the US, the goodwill Israel has counted on based upon Israel being a victim of the Holocaust has been turned on its head by Netanyahu's actions. Netanyahu is now seen by a large number of Americans as being the inhumane aggressor. I always had hoped Israel would be a refuge and a place where Jews could feel safe. However, the right-wing in Israel will in time be revealed as Israel's worst enemy, endangering its security in the region. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Netanyahu has done more to damage Israel's long-term security worldwide than anyone could do in recent history. There will be no peace in the region until Netanyahu is gone and Biden needs to use leverage to make that happen. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Those in America opposed to Israel's political and foreign policies have always been in danger of being accused as anti-Semitic. There is now a change. Netanyahu is seen as the villain by many Americans for the carnage he has inflicted on the innocents as an overreaching response to the October massacre by Hamas. His carpet bombing carnage and failure to care for the welfare of non-combatants have put the October Hamas atrocities in the rearview mirror and have offset and overwhelmed any sympathy for Israel as the victim. There is no longer the threat of being accused of being anti-Semitic when criticizing Israel. There is now a separate issue of Israel's behavior itself. </span></p>The Muftic Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713099112005113734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3152293728087516832.post-7266649400511021992024-03-03T07:11:00.041-07:002024-03-05T07:48:43.284-07:00Trump thinks fear of immigrants will get him the dictatorial power he craves. Is he wrong?<p>Trump thinks fear of immigrants will help get him the dictatorial power he craves. Is he wrong? It has gotten him far ever since he cut his teeth on birtherism and entered presidential politics on the golden escalator. Copycat Trump thinks he is onto a good thing. He may be evil, pandering to racism, the darkest side of humans, but he is not mistaken. It worked for others, too, to consolidate dictatorial power, especially those he admires like Viktor Orban of Hungary, Erdogan of Turkey, and Putin, as well. It is not in his interest to see a solution as the bi-partisan bill would have done. Instead, he continues to rant about the dangerous immigrants flooding into the country while destroying the funding and the ability to screen them the bill provided when he demanded the MAGA House members declare the bill DOA. Every one of those so dangerous immigrants who jump the river is on him from here on. Any thinking person should recognize that racist ranting is what it is...racist pandering to other racists..and a cynical campaign tactic. </p><p> When Orban visits Mar-A-Lago within a few days, and the two exchange trade secrets, the languages may translate, but the countries are very different. Orban's advice may work for Hungary about how to become a dictator by appealing to racist nationalists in a country that is 97% ethnic Magyar, while in the US the white population is under 60% and a significant number of them are not racist white supremacists. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/hungarys-viktor-orban-to-visit-former-president-donald-trump-at-florida-home-next-week#:</p><p><a href="https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2022/08/cpac-cheers-white-nationalist-dictator.html" target="_blank">https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2022/08/cpac-cheers-white-nationalist-dictator.html</a></p><p><a href="https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2024/03/viktor-orban-dangerous-role-model-for.html">https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2024/03/viktor-orban-dangerous-role-model-for.html</a></p><p> Sure we have an immigration problem, a broken system that is so dysfunctional, that jumping the river is an act of desperation by those fleeing violence and hopeless poverty. What we need is not a racist, anti-brown, White Nationalist, policy and slamming the door shut on all immigrants. Be careful what you wish. The unintended consequences are profound. What we need is sanity, a system that works as designed now, that conforms to our national ideals, ones that are not based on fear and hate. Trump just killed one that would have taken us there and funded it. </p><p>We have a political leader whose main platform is hatred and fear-mongering. Many who are ignorant or paranoid or racist do easily believe immigrants are what Trump calls them, rapists, murderers, poisoning our blood (pure Nazi words), and escapees from an insane asylum. Immigrants have a 30% lower incarceration rate than nonimmigrants. <a href="https://siepr.stanford.edu/news/mythical-tie-between-immigration-and-crime">https://siepr.stanford.edu/news/mythical-tie-between-immigration-and-crime</a> Be afraid of them is his motto he tries to ride the same driver of hatred of immigrants and others different from his supporters. </p><p>It is that fear factor ginned up by power-hungry demagogues that fueled the rise of modern-day dictators like Viktor Orban (fear of Syrian refugees), Erdogan (fear of Kurds), and Putin (Chechnya. Breslan School siege, and hyper Russian Orthodox nationalism) and historical ones like Hitler. (Hatred of Jews). Once in power, they stay in power as they use their newfound power to destroy even further any chance of democracy surviving or reviving.. In each of these cases, fear of others not of their pure blood or religion gave them the ability to convince fellow citizens to give up their form of democracy and their own personal civil rights to seek salvation in a "strong man", "autocrat'. a "dictator". In each of these cases, once these wannabe modern dictators got into office, destroyed immigration or subdued immigrants, they also seized and amassed power, feathered their nests, and kept power once the "crisis" was over. They remain in office until this very day. In Hitler's case, his militaristic economy and society ended in rubble and his own life came to an end in a Berlin bunker. Copycat Trump thinks he is onto a good thing. Those who put their faith in some strong man because of fear of immigrants were a bunch of fools who have been played successfully by power-seeking demagogues.</p><p>What we need is a sane immigration system that recognizes and administers immigration laws, well funded, with the capability to execute the laws that set priorities and screen immigrants desiring to enter the US. That sanity was contained in the Senate version of border security laws which House Speaker Johnson declared DOA under the orders of Donald Trump. If the Senate version had passed, Trump would have lost his best sales pitch, to keep the chaos flaming on the front burner so "only he could fix it". . His promise: he would round up and put into concentration camps at least nine million for processing the deportation of the undocumented, even those who were not rapists, or murderers, but otherwise law-abiding, moms, dads, and DACA kids. Expect even those with green cards and citizenship who look Hispanic to be stopped and questioned or produce their documents. The racial profiling and trampling of rights would be epic.</p><p>This is in addition to the historical and moral history of the US, a nation of immigrants, who have brought innovation, talent, and the storied work ethic of immigrants and first-generation and beyond descendants. </p><p><a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Beslan-school-attack">Beslan school attack | Siege, Massacre, & Aftermath | Britannica</a> Putin used this to consolidate his power.</p><p><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/kurds-fear-erdogan-win-amid-sharper-nationalist-rhetoric-2023-05-25/">Kurds fear Erdogan win amid sharper nationalist rhetoric | Reuters</a> Erdogan has used anti-Kurd rhetoric to gain and consolidate his dictatorship.</p><p><a href="https://www.euronews.com/2022/03/30/hungary-election-who-is-viktor-orban-and-how-has-he-stayed-in-power-for-so-long">Hungary election: Who is Viktor Orban and how has he stayed in power for so long? | Euronews</a></p><p><a href="https://siepr.stanford.edu/news/mythical-tie-between-immigration-and-crime" target="_blank">https://siepr.stanford.edu/news/mythical-tie-between-immigration-and-crime</a></p><p>:</p><p style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"> </p>The Muftic Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713099112005113734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3152293728087516832.post-41352518935654650002024-03-02T12:07:00.018-07:002024-03-03T07:05:57.046-07:00Trump's immigration/ deportation plan has serious consequences on some local economies.<p> </p><p>Those most hurt by Trump's plan to deport 9 million undocumented immigrants would be like mine, Grand County, Colorado, in a very destructive way, impacting construction, agriculture, and tourism. Those are our economic drivers and this would be a gut punch. Even think tanks supporting this plan agree that the most Trump could deport would be one million a year and part of his plan is to put them in concentration camps to sort them out...assuming his minions can find them. The impact would not only be devastating to Grand County it would break families apart, including the breadwinners of those families and mixed families containing both those with papers and those who do not. The court cases and actions and the personnel needed to undertake this would be mammoth and even at best, the anti-immigrant think tanks think the most they could process would be a million a year. Furthermore, the economic impact, and labor shortages we already have could not be made up from thin air nationwide. </p><p><a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/trump-s-historic-deportation-plan-would-hit-these-industries-the-hardest/ar-BB1jbwyD?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=HCTS&cvid=cece2bf51325435eb61d8da2bbc7a320&ei=18">Trump’s historic deportation plan would hit these industries the hardest (msn.com)</a></p><p>What we need is not a racist, anti-brown, White Nationalist, policy and slamming the door shut on all immigrants. Nonetheless, what we have is a broken system that is so dysfunctional, that jumping the river is an act of desperation, by those fleeing violence and hopeless poverty. </p><p>We have a political leader whose main platform is hatred and fear-mongering. Many who are ignorant or paranoid or racist do easily believe immigrants are what Trump calls them, rapists, murderers, poisoning our blood (pure Nazi words), and escapees from an insane asylum. (Immigrants have a 30% lower incarceration rate than nonimmigrants.) Be afraid of them is his motto he tries to ride the same driver of hatred of immigrants and others different from them. It is that fear factor ginned up by power-hungry demagogues that fueled the rise of modern-day dictators like Viktor Orban (fear of Syrian refugees), Erdogan (fear of Kurds), and Putin (fear of Muslims) and historical ones like Hitler. (Hatred of Jews). <a href="https://siepr.stanford.edu/news/mythical-tie-between-immigration-and-crime">https://siepr.stanford.edu/news/mythical-tie-between-immigration-and-crime</a> In each of these cases fear of others not of their pure blood or religion gave them the ability to convince fellow citizens to give up their form of democracy and their own personal civil rights to seek salvation in a "strong man", "autocrat'. a "dictator". In each of these cases, once these wannabe modern dictators got into office, seized and amassed power, they remain in office until this very day. In Hitler's case, his militaristic economy and society ended in rubble and his own life came to an end in a Berlin bunker. Copycat Trump thinks he is onto a good thing. He may be evil, but he is not mistaken. Those who put their faith in some strong man because of fear of immigrants were a bunch of fools, played successfully by power-seeking demagogues.</p><p>What we need is a sane immigration system that recognizes and administers immigration laws, well funded, with the capability to execute the laws that set priorities and screen immigrants desiring to enter the US. That sanity was contained in the Senate version of border security laws which House Speaker Johnson declared DOA under the orders of Donald Trump. If the Senate version had passed, Trump would have lost his best sales pitch, to keep the chaos flaming on the front burner so "only he could fix it", and to fix it. His promise: he would round up and put into concentration camps at least nine million for deportation the undocumented, even those who were not rapists, or murderers, but otherwise law-abiding, moms, dads, and DACA kids. </p><p>This is in addition to the historical and moral history of the US, a nation of immigrants, who have brought innovation, talent, and the storied work ethic of immigrants and first-generation and beyond descendants. </p>The Muftic Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713099112005113734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3152293728087516832.post-68799906263896918382024-02-29T07:29:00.006-07:002024-03-01T14:30:20.023-07:00The Supreme Court is slow walking democracy to its death<div class="x1e56ztr" data-block="true" data-editor="d460o" data-offset-key="7aq6t-0-0" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 8px; transition-property: none; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7aq6t-0-0" style="animation-name: none; direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><span data-offset-key="7aq6t-0-0" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"> I am livid, but not surprised by the Supreme Court's slow walking unto its death decision on a question of presidential immunity: In doing it, it is also slow-walking democracy to its death.SCOTUS has engineered a way to avoid answering it and keeping court action delayed on a fundamental question that will now go unanswered in time for voters to make a decision they can trust: by a jury of Trump's peers. The unanswered questions will stay unanswered: is the president above the law and did Trump commit a crime as charged in the indictments. for actions leading to and on January 6. We will now have eight more months of Trump whining about his victimization. how bad democratic governance is, and how he really won in 2020. The only institutions left to make the case for democracy will be Biden himself and the Democratic Party. </span>and enough brave citizens who care enough about democracy to make their voices heard.<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div></div><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Here is what is at stake: The answer in a democracy is that no president is above the law, and in a dictatorship, the president has the license to kill, cheat, and steal to stay in power for years, governing by fear and threats to quel any challenges to his power. Fear and threats are how Trump controls the House now, and he has made it clear if elected,, he will complete his power takeover of all three branches of government, with appointments of loyalists as it appears he has succeeded in the Supreme Court. </span> </p><p><br /></p><p>There are some theories floating around of how MAGA could try a repeat of 2020 and use a variety of maneuvers to deny Biden a second term even though he wins the electoral vote. will try the "steal" trick again and much depends on who is the speaker at the time electoral college votes are counted. I may be MAGA Mike Johnson or some other MAGA still holds the gavel. It is important that even if the Jan.6 Jack Smith action survives the immunity BS, it continues and finishes between November and January before total chaos happens. It also means that the more decisive the Biden vote is, the less credibility such a coup attempt would have. Here is one scenario: https://hartmannreport.com/p/the-new-over-the-top-secret-plan-518?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web</p>The Muftic Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713099112005113734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3152293728087516832.post-48175785108768520312024-02-25T06:46:00.023-07:002024-02-25T08:00:54.414-07:00Love a strong leader like Trump? Question: where is he leading you<p>A variety of polling, interviews by pollsters via focus groups of Trump supporters has a repeating theme: They want a strong leader and Trump is it. Leading us to what and where? The question the rest of us should be asking is not to argue he has demagogic entertaining oratorical and leadership skills, he has them, but to ask where do they want Trump to take America? This is the essence of the race for the White House in November. The contrast could not be starker.</p><p> Biden may be an oldie, but a goodie who got and gets helpful stuff done for people, from fixing long-neglected crumbling infrastructure, manufacturing sector restoration and job creation, lowering drug costs, and revitalizing alliances and leadership in the Western world. . Trump is an oldie but scary and even scarier because he is a strong leader who only wants to destroy things, not fix them. His vision of where he wants to lead this country is down a dark alley: suppression and persecution of those who oppose his power, a country roiling in internal conflict as once rights and protections they had are taken away, a country vulnerable to those who see us weak and vulnerable as it retreats to America First, believing capitulation to another country's interests is the way to security, and one whose power relies on support from those who feel and fear they are losers and victims, and many who hate and oppose others unlike them in race and religion. </p><p> He offers nothing to solve problems of most Americans have in the day to day lives. His party has no planks on issues. Even planks he once relied on are shifting beneath his feet as more feel the economy is improving. His anti-immigrant forever mantra has gotten nowhere even after his first term. In fact, it is backfiring as an appeal to the anti-immigrant crowd. Biden has called his bluff by exposing Trump's strategy to exploit the "crisis" as a campaign tactic instead of fixing a problem.</p><p><br /></p>The Muftic Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713099112005113734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3152293728087516832.post-31011872599623136872024-02-22T07:33:00.033-07:002024-03-11T09:38:45.706-06:00Splitting hairs. A basic question: did Trump commit an insurrection? Updated.<p> The Supreme Court ruling, the question of Colorado's Supreme Court finding that in the civil trial, Trump did commit insurrection , was left untouched. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/04/supreme-court-rules-in-trump-colorado-ballot-case.html It only focused on whether one state could determine the outcome should be a federal matter with Congress writing a law. Splitting hairs in definitions are often the meat and potatoes of prosecutions and courtroom haggling but they also are a weapon of political arguments. One question that deserved attention on a private Facebook group that interfaces the many sides of political discussion was if why the January 6 mob and even Jack Smith's indictment of Trump who were charged with a crime were not charged with insurrection, but interfering with an official process or vandalism or other charges. So the left was wrong, it follows, to call Trump an insurrectionist, and therefore he is not guilty of a crime that could, if found guilty, put him in jail or some other penalty like home detention or less. What they overlook, is that there are other criminal statutes involved easier to prove beyond a reasonable doubt which could land him in jail or other punishments. Outside the courtrooms, both sides can still be right at the same time: Trump is and is not an insurrectionist. It is an opinion to shape other opinions, but it is not yet a legal finding with one exception. Colorado's state justice system from lower to highest court did not disagree with that part of a civil suit brought by Republicans and independents attempting to keep Trump off the ballot. Update: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2024/03/04/trump-can-stay-on-colorado-ballot-supreme-court-rules/? In their ruling, the court did not rule not on the substance of whether Trump had committed an insurrection but on the power of a state to enforce the rule. It is a federal matter that needs legislation from Congress to clarify how to execute the removal and when under the 14th Amendment. This was not a surprise and the issue is now clarified. Trump's name was never taken off the Colorado ballot nor will it be because the Colorado Secretary of State said she would abide with the SCOTUS ruling. The insurrection issue was a civil finding that Trump did participate in the Colorado case. SCOTUS did not touch that. The key decision remaining is the Coourt ruling on Trump's immunity from criminal prosecution. This cannot be avoided. It is key to the preservation of democracy. The way SCOTUS set up its approach left the room it appears that Trump could have immunity from "some" acts on the perimeter. That would be a disaster if the Court ruled Trump had some protection because of immunity; he would be above the law exempted by a definition that split hairs. Either he is immune or he is not. There should be no loopholes. Politically, Biden's team would rather take on Trump than Haley, so it is becoming even clearer it will be an oldie but goodie v an oldie but dangerous and scary..</p><p><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 15px;">The only body so far to rule on the term insurrection after a trial and hearing evidence in a court of law found that an insurrection had occurred was the Colorado case, a civil suit to keep Trump off a ballot per the 14th Amendment.. In appeals to the Colorado Supreme Court. the state supreme court agreed on whether there was an insurrection and Trump either led it or provided aid and comfort, but it will probably fail in the appeal to Trump's biased Supreme Court on a totally unrelated issue that such interpretations and enforcement should be enforced at the federal level, not at the state level. We will soon get their ruling. The strongest argument made by the Trump team is that one state should not determine what other states rule in an election process and qualifications for president. Supreme Courts usually do not rule on whether the facts were faulty, but how the theory that sets the precedent of how the state acted affected the rest of the other states or other individuals or was or not relevant to the laws as written, were unconstitutional, and /or were in harmony with precedents set by other court rulings.</span></p><p>From a reply to the question raised by a Trump supporter on the private Facebook site is a little more complex and more in the weeds, but a good question was raised that required serious consideration. :Was there an insurrection or not and can the participants in January 6 be called insurrectionists and was that an insurrection or just a riot. Both being a riot and an insurrection could also be true. The riot was the weapon used as part of the insurrection plot. Until it is litigated in court, both sides can give their opinions on media with some reasons. It has been litigated only once, in Colorado, in the attempt to DQ Trump from the ballot under the 14th Amendment provisions. if the Supreme Court does not address that issue per se, those claiming Jan. 6 was an insurrection can continue to do so with even stronger justification. Jack Smith's January 6 case, if held before the November elections, could make the question unanswered also and he is not using the word insurrection, either. He is charging Trump with" <span style="font-size: x-small;"><span face=""Google Sans", Roboto, arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124;">conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiring to disenfranchise voters, and conspiring and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding. The indictment was issued by a grand jury</span><span face=""Google Sans", Roboto, arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124;"> ..." (Google summary) </span></span></p><p><span face="Google Sans, Roboto, arial, sans-serif" style="color: #202124; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/latest-federal-charges-donald-trump/story?id=101918701#:~:text=Trump%20has%20been%20charged%20with,determined%20to%20remain%20in%20power.">https://abcnews.go.com/US/latest-federal-charges-donald-trump/story?id=101918701#:~:text=Trump%20has%20been%20charged%20with,determined%20to%20remain%20in%20power.</a></span></p><p><span face="Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: #e7f3ff; color: #050505; font-size: 15px;"><i>From my FB posting today. Treason can only be charged in wartime. Insurrection is the non-wartime equivalent. The mob on January 6 was summoned to Washington by Trump or his lieutenants in on the conspiracy / for a wild time and were the tool and a weapon of masterminds of overturning the 2020 election. They were only part of the scheme and were connected to the false elector scheme to force or scare or threaten the VP to not certify the election contrary to the provisions of the Constitution. Whatever you split hairs on definitions, the whole scheme and the tools have "done wrong" and attempted to defy the Constitution. The victim in this was the official process that would have resulted in stealing the election from those who were in both the popular vote majority and the electoral college when the leader of this knew it was a lie about enough fraud committed. The Jack Smith testimony, a criminal process, will dwell heavily on all those around Trump that he lost and Trump's intent was to intentionally commit the criminal deed. . Just because prosecutors did not charge the militia heads with insurrection, does not mean that they did not commit it but that to achieve the goal, they may choose to prosecute the prime mover,s or the head of the snake...in this case Donald Trump. . Look at it as in mafia prosecutions that begin with charging the guy who strangled someone with murder, but not the head of the mafia with the murder who orchestrated the conspiracy. They used other legal tools to put the head of the crime family behind bars to achieve the goal of breaking up the crime family's criminal acts. Prosecutors have a choice of picking their battles and picking the easiest charges to make and they either go after the head of the snake as Jack Smith chose to do in his charges re: January 6 levied against one perp, Trump, or they go after all those who were part of the conspiracy to commit an insurrection as the RICO case in Georgia is attempting.. Just because the rioters were not charged with insurrection does not mean they did not commit insurrection and other prosecution tools addressed exact acts, vandalism, and interfering with an official government procedure. The only body so far to rule on the term insurrection after a trial and hearing evidence in a court of law found that an insurrection had occurred was the Colorado case. In appeals to the Colorado Supreme Court agreed, but it will probably fail in Trump's biased Supreme Court on a totally unrelated issue that it should be enforced at the federal level, not at the state level. One state should not determine what other states rule in the case. Supreme Courts do not rule on whether the facts were faulty, but how the theory that sets the precedent of how the state acted that affected the rest of the states ruled on the facts.</i></span></p><p><br /></p><p>Prosecutorial discretion in white-collar crimes can indeed be motivated by political considerations, but it is more likely to be motivated by whether prosecutors have a near certainty of a win in court (there is more than smoke; there is fire) and whether the issue affects a large number of potential and real victims unfairly treated and are the victims. The worst example possible of abuse and weaponization of a prosecutor's office that deviates from any of this is Trump's promise to prosecute his political enemies not loyal to him as he seeks revenge and retribution regardless of the merits, the rule of law, evidence, or impact on anyone except himself and his political power. The threat alone of prosecution is an effective tool of governing by fear of repercussions from not being loyal to the dear leader. That Trump whines he is the victim of that kind of prosecution is his way of denying any public evidence to the contrary, indictments by a grand jury (whose job is to see if there is fire, not just smoke), or investigative reports. If he thinks he will lose in court, he will deny justice, delay, delay, delay until he can pardon himself when he regains the Oval Office. The more you see him delay, delay, delay, the more he understands he would lose in a court of law if the trial was ever held. In its way, it is his admission of guilt. Facts count in courts, if not in social or Trump-friendly cable channels.</p><p>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>A personal note: I am not an attorney, but I did spend 7 years as director of an investigative and prosecution unit in the district attorney's office on consumer fraud and white-collar crime that had both criminal and civil authority. Prosecutors assigned to the unit made the decisions about whether or whether or not to pursue a case or not and why. Prosecutorial discretion in white-collar crimes or civil frauds depended upon the kind of proof and whether there was likely a chance prosecutors would win in court and if the law was broken that had had many victims. It also would serve as a warning to other wannabe fraudsters not to even try these practices. </p>The Muftic Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713099112005113734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3152293728087516832.post-35831107261419080732024-02-21T06:41:00.021-07:002024-02-23T08:07:26.093-07:00Christian Nationalists waiting in the wings for the second coming of Trump<p><br /></p><p> Christian Nationalists are waiting in the wings for the second coming of Trump as they seek to get even more political power to make their theocracy become a reality. <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/20/donald-trump-allies-christian-nationalism-00142086">https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/20/donald-trump-allies-christian-nationalism-00142086</a> They are already in positions of political power and are making plans to implement their movement by using the government to do their converting on their behalf. They are already planning to ride on the skirts of MAGA into the White House which will give them access to all of the reins of power. Those part of the Christian Nationalist movement like Speaker Mike Johnson, were third in line to the presidency. advocates theology that has something in common with the Taliban of Afghanistan that sets medieval rules and uses government to enforce what they believe is acceptable and unacceptable behavior in all phases of citizens' lives, private or public, <a href="https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-gop-is-becoming-american-taliban.html">MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: The GOP is becoming the American Taliban?</a></p><p>The most recent realization of the Christian Nationalist extremist to use government power to force the vast majority of women to bow down to their ideology is banning in-vitro fertilization. in the meantime, the state gets an F in infant and maternal mortality. https://www.marchofdimes.org/peristats/reports/alabama/report-card</p><p>So far as education is concerned, Alabama ranks near the bottom, number 45, as well, in the rankings of states. https://wallethub.com/edu/e/most-educated-states/31075</p><p>Alabama also ranks as the 49th lowest state in per capita income. https://www.statsamerica.org/sip/rank_list.aspx?rank_label=pcpi1</p><p>Alabama ranks in the top ten states depending upon federal funding as part of their state budgets. https://www.moneygeek.com/living/states-most-reliant-federal-government/</p><p> <span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Alabama ban on invitro fertilization is a backdoor attempt to say life begins with an embryo, not at viability. It lays to groundwork for banning any pills taken early in the abortion process and even to ban contraception. " In all, fewer than 15 percent of fertilized eggs will result in a birth..” per the National Institues of Health. Frozen eggs are potential human beings but rarely become actual ones until it is implanted in a human and develop successfully. Jul 14, 2020 per the National Institute of Health. </span><a class="x1fey0fg xmper1u x1edh9d7" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7670474/#:~:text"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7670474/#:~:text</span></a> The logic escapes me: ban the potential of birth by those who supposedly treasure life. The assumed purpose however is to get the Trump dominated Supreme Court to rule their way to pave the way government to control even more of reproduction rights </p><p><br /></p><p>From a November 2. 2023 blog posting: <a href="https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2023/11/is-few-weeks-away-but-events-dictate-i.html " target="_blank"> </a> I am grateful I do not live in a theocracy. When we became a nation with the adoption of the Constitution, the separation of church from state was at the top of the list of the Bill of Rights. The First Amendment to the Constitution clearly says the government cannot establish a religion, the foundation statement of the separation of church and state<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>. ("</i><span face=""Google Sans", Roboto, arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124;"><i>Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ") </i>The Christian right has been active in narrowing the interpretation of the First Amendment, and the Christian nationalist movement has made it a goal to eliminate this separation altogether. </span></span> Even Jesus referenced separating loyalties from government and God on matters of taxation.: <span class="ILfuVd" face=""Google Sans", Roboto, arial, sans-serif" lang="en" style="line-height: 24px;"><span class="hgKElc" style="padding: 0px 8px 0px 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #4d5156;"><span style="background-color: white;">"Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God the things that are God's" (</span></span><span style="background-color: rgba(80, 151, 255, 0.18); color: #040c28;">Matthew 22:21 NASB</span><span style="color: #4d5156;"><span style="background-color: white;">). </span></span></span></span></span></p><p> How freedom of religion came to be in the Bill of Rights was because of the diversity of experiences in the original colonies. The pilgrims famously sought religious freedom to practice their own brand of Christianity, but it was freedom for them, not everyone. Some colonies like Massachusetts had established state religions with results we ought to remember, such as Salem witch hunts, hanging or burning at the stake of heretics, The Scarlet Letter, and Puritan overreach causing breakaway founding of Rhode Island by Roger Williams for religious freedom. The success of the Virginia and Pennsylvania colonies not having a state-sponsored religion had been triumphant in keeping internal peace. Fresh in the founders' knowledge of English and European recent histories were centuries of war between protestants and Catholics, the root of many conflicts. </p><div><br /></div>The Muftic Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713099112005113734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3152293728087516832.post-17546206227059982082024-02-18T09:12:00.013-07:002024-02-25T09:07:23.922-07:00Trump, the pied piper of our era<p> <span color="var(--primary-text)" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Trump is the pied piper of our era. I have been forever puzzled how Trump has such a cult following after the liability of fraud that exposed him as a con man, from the recent real estate judgment, the Trump tower rip-off judgments. He claims his power is his oratory and words, and he exudes competence as he leads his followers into a route of foolishness. His core followers believe his every word and excuse his losses in court and the damage he does to national security. </span></p><p><span face="Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f0f2f5; color: #050505; font-size: 15px;">Biden is an oldie but goodie, Trump is an oldie but scary. Trump may win the oratorical contest, but his craziness on national security, being consumed by revenge on those not loyal to him, and his desire to upend democracy to make himself a dictator is gold for fools.. </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space-collapse: preserve;">He is like the pied piper, "who attracts a following through charisma or false promises.. ". </span></p><p>The next question is where is this pied piper leading us? For that, go to my Feb 25 posting via the following link:</p><p><span style="font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2024/02/love-strong-leader-like-trump-question.html">https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2024/02/love-strong-leader-like-trump-question.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Per Wikipedia "</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The legend dates back to the Middle Ages. The earliest references describe a piper, dressed in multicolored ("pied") clothing, who was a rat-catcher hired by the town to lure rats away[1] with his magic pipe. When the citizens refuse to pay for this service as promised, he retaliates by using his instrument's magical power on their children, leading them away as he had the rats......[2]"</span></p><div style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><div class="x168nmei x13lgxp2 x30kzoy x9jhf4c x6ikm8r x10wlt62" data-visualcompletion="ignore-dynamic" style="animation-name: none; border-radius: 0px 0px 8px 8px; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; transition-property: none;"><div style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><div style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><div style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><div class="x1n2onr6" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><div class="x6s0dn4 xi81zsa x78zum5 x6prxxf x13a6bvl xvq8zen xdj266r xktsk01 xat24cr x1d52u69 x889kno x4uap5 x1a8lsjc xkhd6sd xdppsyt" style="align-items: center; 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animation-name: none; background-color: transparent; border-radius: inherit; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; max-height: 1.3333em; outline: none; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; transition-property: none; user-select: none; z-index: 1;" tabindex="0"><div><span style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span class="x1e558r4" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; padding-left: 4px; transition-property: none;"><br /></span></span></div></div></span></div><div class="x1c4vz4f x2lah0s xci0xqf" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #65676b; flex-grow: 0; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; transition-property: none; width: 7px;"></div><div class="x9f619 x1n2onr6 x1ja2u2z x78zum5 x2lah0s x1qughib x1qjc9v5 xozqiw3 x1q0g3np xykv574 xbmpl8g x4cne27 xifccgj" style="align-items: stretch; animation-name: none; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #65676b; display: flex; flex-flow: row; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; justify-content: space-between; margin: -6px; position: relative; transition-property: none; z-index: 0;"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>The Muftic Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713099112005113734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3152293728087516832.post-10279872923102451182024-02-18T07:22:00.023-07:002024-02-25T06:02:00.137-07:00 Europe awoke as the zombies are sleepwalking in the MAGA House. <p>Stop whining, MAGA isolationists and American Firsters.. Europe awoke and so should you. <span face="Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> The zombies are sleepwalking in the MAGA House. Arising from the dead of the 1930's, America Firsters are rising again. We know how that turned out. Appeasement hen only opened to door to the Nazis who thought they could walk into Poland and France without opposition and America would just stay out of it . Japan saw the US American Firsters as a weakness and Pearl Harbor happened. Ukraine is the 2024 version of Sudentenland as England thought handing that part of Czechoslovakia over to Germany's annexation would bring "peace in our time". </span></p><p><span face="Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: black; font-size: medium; white-space-collapse: collapse;">The old axioms are as true today as they ever have been: The best offense is a great defense. Aggressors fear they will be met with overwhelming military resistance is the best way to stop an invasion. For those reasons, Trump is a danger to our own national security and makes it more likely we will be putting our boots on the ground in Europe if he has his way by weakening US commitment to Ukraine now and if he gets elected in November..</span></span></p><p><span face="Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: black; font-size: medium; white-space-collapse: collapse;">Update Feb 23-25 to an earlier post https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2024/02/message-to-magas-in-house-you-should.html: </span></span><span face="Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Plan B: Should Speaker Johnson beat down a movement to force him to bring Ukraine aid to the floor, because he knows he would lose, if that fails, there may be a plan B to support Ukraine. While this concept was applied to post-Ukraine, assuming it survives this conflict, I wonder if it could be applied to funding military aid. Use of Russian treasure held in Western banks could be tapped. Post-conflict reconstruction was discussed recently by Fareed Zakaria on CNN. </span><span face="Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Western Nations holding Russian funds should freeze them and set up a reconstruction fund for Ukraine, not only funding Ukrainians from Russian money but also providing a reconstruction fund kept out of the hands of Russia. </span><span face="Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> I am not sure of the legality of this but after I wrote this, I heard the former ambassador to Russia on MSNBC suggest this. He carries enormous weight. We will know the week of Feb. 25 when the House returns to work. and the discharge petition forces Mike Johnson to bring to a vote. <b>Update Feb 25.: on MSNBC review I heard an interview I missed .. Rep Jim Hines believes that will be the ultimate solution. The only question is whether to take the interest of the 300 billion Western banks have in Russia or the principle. If the bulk of it is in Swiss banks, that will be a difficult job, but for the first time in history, the Swiss have been supporting one of the combatants, Ukraine and NATO, instead of being neutral.</b></span></p><p><span face="Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">https://www.eda.admin.ch/deza/en/home/countries/ukraine.html#:~:text=Switzerland%20supports%20Ukraine%20on%20its,democracy%20and%20strengthen%20local%20governance.</span></p><div><span face="Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><p><span face="Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><span face="Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For those who whine Europe is not paying its fair share in NATO wake up. Both France and Germany just signed treaties to send billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine. This is on top of the European Union pledging $54 billion to keep the civil side of Ukraine afloat. The average contribution per NATO member is 2%</span><span face="Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> They see the danger even if MAGA does not. However, that does not show how much in dollars have been contributed to Ukraine in weapons, financial, and humanitarian aid in addition to their 2% of GDP commitment to their own militaries. Next to the USA, Germany is the largest contributor of military aid. <a href="https://www.ifw-kiel.de/topics/war-against-ukraine/ukraine-support-tracker/" target="_blank">https://www.ifw-kiel.de/topics/war-against-ukraine/ukraine-support-tracker/</a></span></p><p>If Russia senses US commitment to the Ukraine war is denied, and there is dissension among other NATO allies, he may think the coast is clear to move into the Baltics. That would indeed trigger NATO's mutual defense treaty. Even if Trump were elected n 2024, he could not unilaterally pull out of NATO per recent legislation passed by Congress, but he could do a lot of damage by slow walking or stonewalling weapons supplies, as war wages in Europe, until the American public cannot stand seeing the carnage and demands involvement, as it always has. Don't think Trump could do that? He has not even been elected yet, and he has ordered his flunkies in the House and the Senate to do just that. ..sabotage military aid to Ukraine.. Even old time GOP hawks clicked their heels and saluted their dear leader.</p><p>NATO feels that it cannot keep Russia at bay because the US is the arsenal of the West, and the gap of sucth a loss they cannot fill in time to stave off the Russian bear's invasion of the Baltics and Poland. Germany is just opening new facilities to manufacture weapons now.</p><p><span face="Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> What a bunch of fools the isolationist wing of the MAGA movement is as they follow their leader down a destructive path<a href="https://apnews.com/article/germany-france-ukraine-zelenskyy-security-eefc83817062c5bb5d7a9e16a276aeaf" target="_blank"> https://apnews.com/article/germany-france-ukraine-zelenskyy-security-eefc83817062c5bb5d7a9e16a276aeaf</a> </span></p><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; transition-property: none;"><div class="x1iorvi4 x1pi30zi x1l90r2v x1swvt13" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id=":r4h:" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; padding: 4px 16px 16px; transition-property: none;"><div class="x78zum5 xdt5ytf xz62fqu x16ldp7u" style="animation-name: none; display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px; transition-property: none;"><div class="xu06os2 x1ok221b" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; transition-property: none;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x10flsy6 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x x4zkp8e x41vudc x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u x1yc453h" color="var(--primary-text)" dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; word-break: break-word;"><div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;">Mike Turner's ill-timed political maneuver on the same day Navalny dies only serves to remind those who seem to be unable to understand who America's enemies are or not: He may have intended to try to blame Biden for being asleep at the national defense wheel while the MAGA isolationists want to take America's hands off the wheel entirely with the vote on Ukraine aid is on the table at the same time. </div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;">At the same time, Speaker Mike Johnson Tuberville's Ukraine aid. The House goes in recess and leaves the bill in limbo. Perhaps, he too, will face reality, but for now, he cares nothing about the security interests of the US as he echoes the American Firsters of the 1930's. https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2024/02/15/johnson-intended-to-stop-ukraine-aid-not-pass-an-immigration-bill/?sh=6857f7076e86..(In case you forgot:https://www.npr.org/2023/12/19/1220492250/tuberville-drops-blockade-military-promotions)</div></div></span></div></div></div></div><div class="x1n2onr6" id=":r4i:" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><div class="x1n2onr6" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><div class="xmjcpbm x1n2onr6" style="animation-name: none; background-color: var(--comment-background); font-family: inherit; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><div class="x78zum5 x14ju556 x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6" style="animation-name: none; display: flex; font-family: inherit; line-height: 0; overflow: hidden; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><a aria-label="Rep. 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display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.1765; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; word-break: break-word;"><span class="x1lliihq x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6" style="-webkit-box-orient: vertical; -webkit-line-clamp: 2; animation-name: none; display: -webkit-box; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><span dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;">Rep. Mike Turner: The White House seemed to be 'sleepwalking' on Russian national security threat</span></span></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></a></div></div></div><p><br /></p>The Muftic Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713099112005113734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3152293728087516832.post-42548462735510422732024-02-18T06:43:00.005-07:002024-02-18T12:38:06.415-07:00A lesson for those who lust for a "strong leader" to replace democracy<p> A reminder. <span color="var(--primary-text)" style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This is what happens in a dictatorship when some dare go against the strong leader, It is not just a single opposition leader who loses his life, it is a large body of Russians themselves who have no power to protest what they see as the corruption of their "strong leader". The advantage of a democracy, you can object and complain without losing your head, life, or hope or the power to change the strong leader's behavior. </span></p><p><span color="var(--primary-text)" style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><span style="color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a class="x1i10hfl xjbqb8w x1ejq31n xd10rxx x1sy0etr x17r0tee x972fbf xcfux6l x1qhh985 xm0m39n x9f619 x1ypdohk xt0psk2 xe8uvvx xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1a2a7pz xt0b8zv x1fey0fg" href="https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/politics/2024/02/17/florida-leaders-blame-putin-for-navalnys-death-trump-stays-silent/72641382007/?fbclid=IwAR2rLcvdjlS9dgf5g6eNs11jkBue0NsdBBdkUYtER-yjv-ORHU58PsyfiqU" rel="nofollow" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;" tabindex="0" target="_blank">https://www.palmbeachpost.com/.../florida.../72641382007/</a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> No wonder Trump is silent on Navalny's death
</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This comes at a sensitive time for Trump who is fighting to get immunity from prosecution for crimes committed while in office. The reason: full immunity would give Trump the license to kill, cheat, and steal.....The kill part is the key word here that Navalny's death reminds us it is why autocracies are bad stuff.. The appeals </span><span style="color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit;" tabindex="-1"></a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">court got the point; let's see if anyone else does, including the Supreme Court</span></p><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; transition-property: none;"><div class="x1iorvi4 x1pi30zi x1l90r2v x1swvt13" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id=":R1alalqlaikpl9aqqd9emhpapd5aqH2:" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; padding: 4px 16px 16px; transition-property: none;"><div class="x78zum5 xdt5ytf xz62fqu x16ldp7u" style="animation-name: none; display: flex; 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align-self: inherit; animation-name: none; display: inherit; flex-direction: inherit; flex: inherit; font-family: inherit; height: inherit; max-height: inherit; max-width: inherit; min-height: inherit; min-width: inherit; place-content: inherit; transition-property: none; width: inherit;"><i class="x1b0d499 xep6ejk" data-visualcompletion="css-img" style="animation-name: none; background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v3/yd/r/hskDM76yLzF.png"); background-position: 0px -246px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 26px 1556px; display: inline-block; filter: var(--filter-primary-icon); height: 20px; transition-property: none; vertical-align: -0.25em; width: 20px;"></i></span></div></div></div></div><div class="x6ikm8r x10wlt62" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; transition-property: none;"><div class="x1n2onr6" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><a class="x1i10hfl xjbqb8w x1ejq31n xd10rxx x1sy0etr x17r0tee x972fbf xcfux6l x1qhh985 xm0m39n x9f619 x1ypdohk xe8uvvx xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1a2a7pz x1heor9g x1lliihq x1lku1pv" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/navalnys-death-deprives-russias-opposition-leader-hope-2024-02-16/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_campaign=Weekend-Briefing&utm_term=021724&user_email=2254787f2de6133291d8de56d5223ad0836fd31a4ba928a7dc8ea959298ab6f4&fbclid=IwAR3aU7nX5GUfWVoAEks_dw3u3M3f7fNKT4H03_J66Hgo-uV_I2KKK5-fxoA" rel="nofollow noreferrer" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; 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padding: 12px 16px; position: relative; transition-property: none; z-index: 0;"><div class="x9f619 x1n2onr6 x1ja2u2z x193iq5w xeuugli x1r8uery x1iyjqo2 xs83m0k xsyo7zv x16hj40l" style="animation-name: none; box-sizing: border-box; flex: 1 1 0px; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 6px; position: relative; transition-property: none; z-index: 0;"><div class="x1e56ztr xtvhhri" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 8px; text-transform: uppercase; transition-property: none;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x10flsy6 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x x1tu3fi x3x7a5m x1nxh6w3 x1sibtaa xo1l8bm xi81zsa" color="var(--secondary-text)" dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.8125rem; line-height: 1.2308; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; word-break: break-word;"><span class="x1lliihq x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6 xlyipyv xuxw1ft" style="animation-name: none; display: block; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap; transition-property: none;">REUTERS.COM</span></span></div><div class="x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x9f619 x1lkfr7t x4vbgl9 x1rdy4ex xjkvuk6 x1iorvi4 xly2ba0" style="animation-name: none; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; margin-bottom: -4px; margin-top: -4px; max-height: calc(2.35294em); overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; transition-property: none;"><div class="x78zum5 xdt5ytf xz62fqu x16ldp7u" style="animation-name: none; display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px; transition-property: none;"><div class="xu06os2 x1ok221b" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; transition-property: none;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x10flsy6 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x x1tu3fi x3x7a5m x1lkfr7t x1lbecb7 x1s688f xzsf02u x1yc453h" color="var(--primary-text)" dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.1765; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; word-break: break-word;"><span class="x1lliihq x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6" style="-webkit-box-orient: vertical; -webkit-line-clamp: 2; animation-name: none; display: -webkit-box; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><span dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;">Navalny's death deprives Russia's opposition of a leader and hope</span></span></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></a></div></div></div>The Muftic Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713099112005113734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3152293728087516832.post-89028600029526326032024-02-16T16:08:00.005-07:002024-02-21T16:41:30.562-07:00MAGA in the House taken for suckers by key witnesses in the Biden impeachment inquiry..twice<p>MAGA in the House taken for suckers by key witnesses in the Biden impeachment inquiry--twice. The plot has a new twist. https://www.thedailybeast.com/gops-biden-impeachment-witness-told-feds-he-got-stories-from-russian-officials</p><p><span color="var(--primary-text)" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Another key witness in the Biden impeachment fiasco bit the dust. The first turned out to be a Chinese agent and is MIA</span></p><div style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><div class="x1iorvi4 x1pi30zi x1l90r2v x1swvt13" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id=":r6v:" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; padding: 4px 16px 16px; transition-property: none;"><div class="x78zum5 xdt5ytf xz62fqu x16ldp7u" style="animation-name: none; display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px; transition-property: none;"><div class="xu06os2 x1ok221b" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; transition-property: none;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x10flsy6 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x x4zkp8e x41vudc x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u x1yc453h" color="var(--primary-text)" dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; word-break: break-word;"><div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span class="x3nfvp2 x1j61x8r x1fcty0u xdj266r xhhsvwb xat24cr xgzva0m xxymvpz xlup9mm x1kky2od" style="animation-name: none; display: inline-flex; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; margin: 0px 1px; transition-property: none; vertical-align: middle; width: 16px;"></span> MIA <span style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><a class="x1i10hfl xjbqb8w x1ejq31n xd10rxx x1sy0etr x17r0tee x972fbf xcfux6l x1qhh985 xm0m39n x9f619 x1ypdohk xt0psk2 xe8uvvx xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1a2a7pz xt0b8zv x1fey0fg" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/11/gal-luft-biden-china-agent-chargedhttps://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/gop-house-informant-indicted-allegations-was-agent-china-rcna93633?fbclid=IwAR1CbrRwWz_3iElrsMKZqAEMSi-oUUGnvxpkK6sIgUKKeu1bI9v7CoQUxG0" rel="nofollow noreferrer" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; 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animation-name: none; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: block; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition-property: none;" tabindex="0" target="_blank"><div class="xmjcpbm x80vd3b x1q0q8m5 xso031l x1n2onr6 x1lku1pv" style="animation-name: none; border-bottom-color: var(--divider); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-family: inherit; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><div class="x9f619 x1n2onr6 x1ja2u2z x78zum5 x2lah0s x1qughib x6s0dn4 xozqiw3 x1q0g3np xykv574 xbmpl8g xsag5q8 x1pi30zi x1swvt13 xz9dl7a" style="align-items: center; animation-name: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-flow: row; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; justify-content: space-between; margin-left: -6px; margin-right: -6px; padding: 12px 16px; position: relative; transition-property: none; 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display: block; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap; transition-property: none;">NPR.ORG</span></span></div><div class="x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x9f619 x1lkfr7t x4vbgl9 x1rdy4ex xjkvuk6 x1iorvi4 xly2ba0" style="animation-name: none; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; margin-bottom: -4px; margin-top: -4px; max-height: calc(2.35294em); overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; transition-property: none;"><div class="x78zum5 xdt5ytf xz62fqu x16ldp7u" style="animation-name: none; display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px; transition-property: none;"><div class="xu06os2 x1ok221b" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; transition-property: none;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x10flsy6 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x x1tu3fi x3x7a5m x1lkfr7t x1lbecb7 x1s688f xzsf02u x1yc453h" color="var(--primary-text)" dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.1765; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; word-break: break-word;"><span class="x1lliihq x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6" style="-webkit-box-orient: vertical; -webkit-line-clamp: 2; animation-name: none; display: -webkit-box; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><span dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;">How the ex-FBI informant charged with lying is tied to the Biden impeachment inquiry</span></span></span></div><div class="xu06os2 x1ok221b" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; transition-property: none;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x10flsy6 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x x4zkp8e x41vudc x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xi81zsa x1yc453h" color="var(--secondary-text)" dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; word-break: break-word;"><span class="x1lliihq x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6 xlyipyv xuxw1ft" style="animation-name: none; display: block; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap; transition-property: none;"><span style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;">Alexander Smirnov has been accused of making false statements to the FBI — claims that House Republicans have used in their probe of President Biden.</span></span></span></div></div></div></div><div class="x9f619 x1n2onr6 x1ja2u2z x78zum5 xdt5ytf x2lah0s x193iq5w xeuugli xsyo7zv x16hj40l" style="animation-name: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 6px; 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animation-name: none; background-color: transparent; border-bottom-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-left-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-radius: inherit; border-right-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-style: solid; border-top-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline-flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; transition-property: none; user-select: none; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><div class="x9f619 x1n2onr6 x1ja2u2z x78zum5 x1r8uery x1iyjqo2 xs83m0k xeuugli xl56j7k x6s0dn4 xozqiw3 x1q0g3np xn6708d x1ye3gou xexx8yu xcud41i x139jcc6 x4cne27 xifccgj xn3w4p2 xuxw1ft" style="align-items: center; animation-name: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-flow: row; flex: 1 1 0px; font-family: inherit; 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box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding: 6px 4px; position: relative; transition-property: none; z-index: 0;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x10flsy6 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x x4zkp8e x41vudc x6prxxf xvq8zen x1s688f xi81zsa" color="var(--secondary-text)" dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; word-break: break-word;">Send</span></div></div><div class="x1ey2m1c xds687c x17qophe x47corl x10l6tqk x13vifvy x19991ni x1dhq9h x1o1ewxj x3x9cwd x1e5q0jg x13rtm0m x1hc1fzr x1mq3mr6 x1wpzbip" data-visualcompletion="ignore" role="none" style="animation-name: none; background-color: var(--hover-overlay); border-radius: 4px; font-family: inherit; inset: 0px; opacity: 1; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; transition-duration: 0s; transition-property: none; transition-timing-function: var(--fds-animation-fade-out);"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="xzueoph" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 6px; transition-property: none;"></div></div></div></div><p><span color="var(--primary-text)" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Another key witness in the Biden impeachment fiasco bit the dust. The first turned out to be a Chinese agent</span></p><div style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><div class="x1iorvi4 x1pi30zi x1l90r2v x1swvt13" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id=":r6v:" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; padding: 4px 16px 16px; transition-property: none;"><div class="x78zum5 xdt5ytf xz62fqu x16ldp7u" style="animation-name: none; display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px; transition-property: none;"><div class="xu06os2 x1ok221b" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; transition-property: none;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x10flsy6 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x x4zkp8e x41vudc x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u x1yc453h" color="var(--primary-text)" dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; word-break: break-word;"><div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span class="x3nfvp2 x1j61x8r x1fcty0u xdj266r xhhsvwb xat24cr xgzva0m xxymvpz xlup9mm x1kky2od" style="animation-name: none; display: inline-flex; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; margin: 0px 1px; transition-property: none; vertical-align: middle; width: 16px;"><img alt="😡" class="xz74otr" height="16" referrerpolicy="origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/te6/1.5/16/1f621.png" style="animation-name: none; border: 0px; object-fit: fill; transition-property: none;" width="16" /></span><span class="x3nfvp2 x1j61x8r x1fcty0u xdj266r xhhsvwb xat24cr xgzva0m xxymvpz xlup9mm x1kky2od" style="animation-name: none; display: inline-flex; font-family: inherit; height: 16px; margin: 0px 1px; transition-property: none; vertical-align: middle; width: 16px;"><img alt="😡" class="xz74otr" height="16" referrerpolicy="origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/te6/1.5/16/1f621.png" style="animation-name: none; border: 0px; object-fit: fill; transition-property: none;" width="16" /></span>. MIA <span style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><a class="x1i10hfl xjbqb8w x1ejq31n xd10rxx x1sy0etr x17r0tee x972fbf xcfux6l x1qhh985 xm0m39n x9f619 x1ypdohk xt0psk2 xe8uvvx xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1a2a7pz xt0b8zv x1fey0fg" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/11/gal-luft-biden-china-agent-chargedhttps://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/gop-house-informant-indicted-allegations-was-agent-china-rcna93633?fbclid=IwAR1CbrRwWz_3iElrsMKZqAEMSi-oUUGnvxpkK6sIgUKKeu1bI9v7CoQUxG0" rel="nofollow noreferrer" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; animation-name: none; border-style: none; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation; transition-property: none;" tabindex="0" target="_blank">https://www.theguardian.com/.../gop-house-informant...</a></span></div></div></span></div></div></div></div><div class="x1n2onr6" id=":r70:" style="animation-name: none; 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z-index: 0;"><div class="x9f619 x1n2onr6 x1ja2u2z x193iq5w xeuugli x1r8uery x1iyjqo2 xs83m0k xsyo7zv x16hj40l" style="animation-name: none; box-sizing: border-box; flex: 1 1 0px; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 6px; position: relative; transition-property: none; z-index: 0;"><div class="x1e56ztr xtvhhri" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 8px; text-transform: uppercase; transition-property: none;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x10flsy6 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x x1tu3fi x3x7a5m x1nxh6w3 x1sibtaa xo1l8bm xi81zsa" color="var(--secondary-text)" dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.8125rem; line-height: 1.2308; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; word-break: break-word;"><span class="x1lliihq x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6 xlyipyv xuxw1ft" style="animation-name: none; display: block; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap; transition-property: none;">NPR.ORG</span></span></div><div class="x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x9f619 x1lkfr7t x4vbgl9 x1rdy4ex xjkvuk6 x1iorvi4 xly2ba0" style="animation-name: none; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; margin-bottom: -4px; margin-top: -4px; max-height: calc(2.35294em); overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-top: 4px; transition-property: none;"><div class="x78zum5 xdt5ytf xz62fqu x16ldp7u" style="animation-name: none; display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px; transition-property: none;"><div class="xu06os2 x1ok221b" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; transition-property: none;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x10flsy6 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x x1tu3fi x3x7a5m x1lkfr7t x1lbecb7 x1s688f xzsf02u x1yc453h" color="var(--primary-text)" dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.0625rem; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.1765; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; word-break: break-word;"><span class="x1lliihq x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6" style="-webkit-box-orient: vertical; -webkit-line-clamp: 2; animation-name: none; display: -webkit-box; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative; transition-property: none;"><span dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;">How the ex-FBI informant charged with lying is tied to the Biden impeachment inquiry</span></span></span></div><div class="xu06os2 x1ok221b" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; transition-property: none;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x10flsy6 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x x4zkp8e x41vudc x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xi81zsa x1yc453h" color="var(--secondary-text)" dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; word-break: break-word;"><span class="x1lliihq x6ikm8r x10wlt62 x1n2onr6 xlyipyv xuxw1ft" style="animation-name: none; display: block; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; position: relative; text-overflow: ellipsis; text-wrap: nowrap; transition-property: none;"><span style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;">Alexander Smirnov has been accused of making false statements to the FBI — claims that House Republicans have used in their probe of President Biden.</span></span></span></div></div></div></div><div class="x9f619 x1n2onr6 x1ja2u2z x78zum5 xdt5ytf x2lah0s x193iq5w xeuugli xsyo7zv x16hj40l" style="animation-name: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 6px; 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pointer-events: none; position: absolute; transition-duration: 0s; transition-property: none; transition-timing-function: var(--fds-animation-fade-out);"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="xzueoph" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 6px; transition-property: none;"></div></div></div></div>The Muftic Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713099112005113734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3152293728087516832.post-24273677104080737312024-02-16T06:44:00.008-07:002024-02-16T07:40:02.730-07:00R.I.P. Navalny. Corruption of dictatorships motivated your martyrdom<p>That Trump touts his dictatorship on day one and cites his role models for governing as Putin, Orban, and other tyrants in this world, is more than disturbing. Dictatorships and absolute immunity are the most corrupt form of government that exists, enabling the strong men (or whatever you call them) to feather their own nests and those who swear loyalty to them. Today the report is that Putin's nemesis Alexei Navalny died at age 47 after numerous attempts to kill him. Navalny's sin? He blew the whistle on the corruption and rot in the Putin regime and with that crusade, he rose to be Putin's only challenger. </p><p>A friend of mine has had a hard time dealing with her Trumpian offspring. She was a refugee from eastern Germany during the Cold War and smells and fears dictatorships and Russian control and methods. An adult child of hers, the owner of his small business, made the comment yesterday to her that she should hope Trump wins in 2024 because the country's economy was going to hell if Biden won. The roaring economy post-COVID and led by Biden must not have trickled down to his business or he sees the world through Trump-colored glasses. Why, the economy would collapse in rampant inflation, he opined. What could she say in response she asked me. Here is what she could respond.</p><p>Now she can cite Navalny. Trump's desire to be a dictator on day one, would bring a level of corruption that is part and parcel of a leader who thinks he does not have to abide by any laws. A dictator favors those who keep him in power, whether they are business or in political leadership. Foveratism is given to the loyal, not to the one with the best practices and proven ability. </p><p>Even the prospect of Trump rising to dominate the GOP primary shook confidence in the soundness of the US economy. The powers that rate the creditworthiness of the US, Moody's, lowered their rating just with the prospect of a Trump victory. The importance of that is its implications for rising interest rates, up, not down in the long term as lenders hedge against losses in a Trump return to the Oval Office. </p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2023/12/how-trump-election-would-create-chaos.html">https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2023/12/how-trump-election-would-create-chaos.html</a></p><p><br /></p>The Muftic Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713099112005113734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3152293728087516832.post-82328520972604132402024-02-14T07:53:00.016-07:002024-02-16T09:46:26.681-07:00Messagng again: short and snappy defensive/aggressive retorts<p><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Biden retorts to MAGA darts.. These are passive/aggressive and turn the tables while avoiding political science jargon.: Also: attack MAGA and Trump now ( not the whole GOP); later accuse candidates of being MAGA Avoid the MAGA cult phrase: still respect even the worst's motivations. Note the contrast-making.</span></p><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Biden's too old: Oldie but goodie; vs.Trump oldie but scary </span><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">Biden's too old: Yep. walking slower, but thinking faster, wiser, and better. Experience counts.</span><br /><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">On MAGA cult worship on Ukraine and wrecking NATO:: Being puffed up masculine while boot-licking and bellying up to a bully like Putin is not macho</span><br /><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">On loving a Strong leader": Dictators and autocrats feather their own nests and their loyalists, not yours.</span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">On presidential immunity from criminal prosecution after leaving the White House (from my earlier posting): License to kill, cheat, and steal while in office</span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">On election denial and fake electors: a failed scheme to keep votes against Trump, your votes, from being counted. They are planning to do it again</span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">On reproductive rights (federal bans): (here is where all GOP is worth attacking): GOP wants to take it away from all women; Dems want to restore them to all women</span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">On immigration crisis: (best from Gov. Hochul) Dems and conservatives produced a solution; MAGA broke it.( my words: they own it. pottery barn rules)</span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">On NATO and Trump's long-time plans to kill the allliance and let Russia do the hell they want with NATO allies: two most historically consequential stupid quotes: Neville Chamberlain on Nazi annexation of Sudetenland:: "Peace in our time" and gave the green light for Hitler to begin World War II. Trump: Let Russia do the hell they want with NATO allies. Belly up to an aggressor only whets their appetite.</span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2024/01/translating-trump-and-maga-euphemisms.html">https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2024/01/translating-trump-and-maga-euphemisms.html</a></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><br /><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>The Muftic Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713099112005113734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3152293728087516832.post-43996968607447099012024-02-12T08:08:00.022-07:002024-02-12T08:50:09.022-07:00Ageism as an issue gets a level playing field <p> The ABC/Ipsos poll is the first poll that shows Trump's age is also as big of a negative as it is for Biden since the Hur report.. This is despite the MAGA media that keeps hammering at Biden's age alone. and ignores the calcified mindset and misspeaks of Trump. The blowback began, MAGA. Careful what you think is a good strategy, it already has leveled the playing field. An Ipsos poll after the Hur report shows Americans think both Trump and Biden are too old for a second term.<a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/4308326-matthews-how-a-third-party-candidate-could-create-political-chaos/" target="_blank"> ipsos.com/en-us/majority-americans-think-both-biden-and-trump-are-too-old-serve-second-terms</a></p><p> So Biden missed a step in an interview by special counsel Hur the day after Hamas massacred Israelis. Maybe he didn't chew gum as he walked across the street that day. Per Hur, at least Biden was well-intentioned, if elderly. At least Biden on most other days has been the most effective in getting his agenda passed in Congress and held foreign enemies like Russia and China at bay since LBJ. Trump's brain is stuck on top of the golden escalator as he spews hate and fear of others who are not White and Christian and mixes up current leaders for his nemeses Obama or Nancy Pelosi. Trump is not well-intentioned,.</p><p>Here is another choice: One, Biden supports the form of government we have had for 250 years and the other wants to rip it up to benefit him if he gets in office again. Biden is wise and experienced and Trump is a wannabe dictator who wants to make America weak again, a real threat to our national security, to enhance his power to himself as a "strong leader".</p><p> However, the real danger to Democrats is what this equivalency does to the independent voters who think the solution lies in casting a vote for some third-party candidate that only helps Trump win unintentionally. What will be clear by Super Tuesday, if not yet dawning on them, that is dangerous wishful thinking. Reality check: third parties don't have much of a chance to even make an impact enough to win a national election because of the structure of the electoral college. The electoral college is state by state and all but two depend on the popular vote in their respective states and give the entire take all electoral votes to the winner. The role that third parties do play is to have enough votes in a swing state or two to split the support of the two candidates of the major parties and unintentionally swing the election to the candidate they did not support. Excellent analysis when that happened: https://thehill.com/opinion/4308326-matthews-how-a-third-party-candidate-could-create-political-chaos/</p><p>https://www.justsecurity.org/92090/the-real-robert-hur-report-versus-what-you-read-in-the-news/</p>The Muftic Forumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713099112005113734noreply@blogger.com0