Political Dog 101

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“Stupid Republican Politician of the Week”….July 5, 2021…Update …

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He’s this weeks’ choice….

Massie Says Soldiers Will Go AWOL Over Vaccinations

“Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) tweeted that members of the U.S. military have contacted him saying they will ‘quit’ if forced to get a COVID-19 vaccine,” the Louisville Courier-Journal reports.

“Others on the platform informed Massie that members of the armed forces cannot simply ‘quit’ the military.”

Honorable Mention….

Matt Gaetz Will Nominate Trump to Be Next Speaker

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has vowed to nominate former President Donald Trump to be the next Speaker of the House, Newsweek reports.

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  1. Just curious james if you would quit your job if they told you that you had to get vaccinated.

    Of course one cannot just “quit” the military.

  2. In the spirit of bipartisanship, I nominate Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) who commemorated Independence Day by Tweeting:

    ‘When they say that the 4th of July is about American freedom, remember this: the freedom they’re referring to is for white people, This land is stolen land and Black people still aren’t free.’

    • Agree or disagree, Cori Bush’s statement is more a statement of opinion or belief, rather than an example of outright stupidity.

      There are plausible arguments for each of her assertions: how else do you think this land was acquired ?, and are black people as free today in every respect as white folks? Why do their parents still have to give their sons “the speech” ?

      It’s not the rhetoric I would use, but it’s not demonstrably false in the way that almost all of the Republican examples are.

          • It’s silly, self-deceiving and even quite destructive to claim that no progress has been made in the last 58 years, but Cori Bush’s assessment that “Black people still aren’t free” still accords with far too much of what The Man, Rev. Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, said in Washington on 28 August 1963:

            “…

            “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon of hope to millions of slaves, who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But one hundred years later, the colored America is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the colored American is still sadly crippled by the manacle of segregation and the chains of discrimination.

            “One hundred years later, the colored American lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the colored American is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition….”

            https://kr.usembassy.gov/education-culture/infopedia-usa/living-documents-american-history-democracy/martin-luther-king-jr-dream-speech-1963/

  3. Of course July4 was about white people’s freedom. That is why we need to celebrate Juneteenth – and that is about black people’s freedom. It would have been nice if black people were given freedom on July 4, 1776, but Ignoring history isn’t helpful.

    Given some of the stupid comments made by Republicans, isn’t CG’s comment more an example, of extreme partisanship rather than bi-partisanship?

    I don’t agree with Cori Bush that “black people still aren’t free”. I would agree, however, that “white privilege” still exists. Jane yes, it is helpful to be reminded of that.

    • Even calling it “white privilege” — though of course not inaccurate in one sense — is a loaded term sure to make white people uneasy and resentful (and thus counter-productive to a worthy aim.) There are certainly millions of white people who (justifiably) don’t feel particularly privileged.

      Something like “non-white disadvantage” or “black disadvantage” is more accurate and less loaded.

      • White people don’t feel privileged because racism towards blacks is largely invisible to them. When I use my credit card, I NEVER get asked to provide identification. It has been several decades since I last had to prove my credit card was me. But I have witnessed a black friend on at least two occasions being required to provide identification. And this is just one example.

        I would prefer to believe that I don’t get privileges for being white, but I do.

  4. Meanwhile JD Vance, author of “Hillbilly Elegy” –and considered the less Trumpy of the GOP Senate camdidates in Ohio– has deleted tweets critical of Trump from 2016 and now says he was a great President.

    • Unlike some here?

      Vance “ gets” what the Republican Party is about today.

      If you’re an incumbent and not “right” with Trump?You’re in trouble.

      If you’re a newcomer and not “ right” with Trump? You’re likely finished before you started.

  5. State Senator and Cleveland Indians co-owner Matt Dolan, a legit anti-Trump Republican is running for the Senate in Ohio against the rest.

  6. Briefly, what Cori Bush said was demonstrably false and dangerous. That is not the point though. Because we have freedom for all in America, she has the right to say it.

    The concept of a “stupid politician” in the divided times we live in should not be misconstrued. It does not have to do with whether one agrees with something or not, because we are very divided. It also really does not have anything to with the facts involved.

    A politician being “stupid” is one that says something that either hurts them politically or hurts their party. Bush will be fine in her left-wing district just as Gosar and others will be fine in their right-wing districts.

    But Bush’s comments (like those of Tlaib, Omar, and others) will be used in Republican ads in various parts across the country as a claim as to “this is what Democrats believe.” As we see, Democrats seem unlikely to want to criticize her for her extreme comments, so there we are. The division and tribalism will continue and people will associate her and her comments with the party as a whole, and that is not “smart” politics.

    • I disagree with how Bush phrased what she said but I would never see fit to lecture a black American about how they should feel about freedoms in this country.

      If CG does more power to him.

    • I fully agree with CG’s comments about political wisdom, but the stupid GOP comments (even if they appear in Democratic attack ads) are more than harmful to the GOP; they’re just not flourishes of rhetoric or assessments of people’s conditions, they’re either demonstrably false, or such extreme distortions of partial truths that only the stupid could say or believe them.

      I also agree that some of my comrades’ statements are poorly-expressed (and in the case of Ilhan Omar, sometimes just wrong in the way that Stupid Republican Politicians’ utterances are). And if you’ve followed my own comments, you know how much I detest P.C., political wokeness and racial/sexual/identity guilt-tripping.

      However (to demonstrate my point through an old rhetorical device), it’s just as false — if not falser — to assert the direct opposite of Cori Bush’s statements;
      (1) the Indians’ lands weren’t stolen from them (even if exactly none out of hundreds of Indian treaties were finally honored), and
      (2) Black people (except in some limited senses) are not free today [even Tim Scott says he gets stopped for existing while Black].

      • Correction, I was trying to assert that it’s false to assert that:

        (2) Black people (except in some limited senses) are not free today [even Tim Scott says he gets stopped for existing while Black].

    • The question is….

      Is kowtowing to Trump’s ‘Big Lie’ worth anything outside safe Red races/elections?

      • What does anything discussed in this thread have to do with Trump’s lie about the election results?

        • Donald Trump HAS used race to advance his control of the Republican Party…

          This conversation spilled over into race….

          A topic that lies below the surface Trump’s efforts….

          One wonders some time how SC Sen Scott can find himself saying much or anything nice about Trump….

          CG?

          Trump’s ‘Big Lie’ IS a direct affront to poor black, brown, yellow and yes….white people…

          The ‘results’ are ALL about supporting a guy who does NOT want to pay taxes….
          Who wants to demonise those who skin color is now his…
          Whose history is anti-minority ….

          You buy into Donald Trump?

          You buy onto ALL that come with him….

          Don NOT try to deceive us….

          • Whatever Trump has said or done is not an excuse for the divisive extremism of Cori Bush or others on the Far Left.

            America is a lot bigger than Donald Trump. Always has been. Always will be. You are treating him like a “second coming.”

            • In fact U KNOW I use that term satirically like Jack use others….

              But I feel it IS appropriate to connect Trump to racism and the Right…

              He can’t pick a choose in what HE wants reality to be…

              Even if a LOT of his party supporters follow him and it has become the passwords for those running for office

              • You seem pretty mean towards jack and he seems pretty mean towards you, but that’s between you two I suppose.

                I do not know what the deflection into generic Trump bashing (as if there is a Trump supporter on here reading any of this) has to do with the discussions regarding either Massie or C. Bush.

                • I have said here repeatedly that I LIKE Jack….

                  He makes me better here….

                  He is upfront about breaking my balls….

                  We have differences and agreements….

                  I’m ok with him….

          • CG?

            U might want go back on the comments in this post….

            There ARE a whole LOT about race….

            And Donald Trump IS Republicans a LOT of people say here and out there in Red States….

            Lets NOT turn our backs on that, eh?

            • The “big lie” is a term that has been used in regards to the Election Results which is a different matter.

              Racial arsonists like D. Trump and C. Bush should both denounced.

  7. As mentioned, much has changed for the better since 1963. Dr, King believed in the promise of America and its greatness and effectively was able to persuade many people to support Civil Rights as a matter of morality. He called on America to “live up to the true nature of its creed.”

    Of course there are still problems to solve and America will always need to strive towards being a “more Perfect Union” but the claim that anybody in America does not have “freedom” is preposterous. I believe Dr. King would find it incredible that a Member of Congress would go out of their way to attack the country on Independence Day as irredeemable.

      • Well, the bit about “this land is stolen land” seems pretty clear that she thinks America itself is illegitimate.

        Of course, this will be in ads and fundraising appeals.

        • Lots of Native peoples in this country believe their land was stolen. They are still proud Americans who want what is best for the future for all in this country. None I’ve talked to think our country is “irredeemable”

          If a few do that’s their right and my right to disagree with them.

          That the country is “irredeemable” is a sentiment I’ve heard lately from Trump Republicans.

          But I know you don’t want to talk about that.

          • I routinely take issue with “Trump Republicans” and the Far Left.

            Two corrosive tribes that do not speak for the vast majority of those of us in Mainstream America.

    • And make no mistake conservatives in 1963 attacked King as unpatriotic.

      Have strides been made in racial equity since 1963? Of course. But then as now white guys lecturing African Americans as to how free they should feel in their own country is not a good look.

      • Those would have been mostly Democrats of course at the time. Nowadays, all but the most extreme of Americans have profound appreciation for what Dr. King did for Civil Rights. True progress.

        I do not think it should be controversial for any American to assert that America is a free country. It is a simple fact. Thank goodness we got rid of slavery long ago and thank goodness that we got rid of all vestiges of de jure discrimination and segregation many years ago as well. As mentioned, we will always have work to do.

        I do not think very many African-Americans in 2021 would agree that they are not “free.” I think it is a “bad look” for anyone to try to tell them they are not or that America and all that it represents belongs to them any less than any white person or anyone else.

        • I said they were conservatives. That they were still technically Democrats for maybe a few years after 1963 is a moot point as far as I’m concerned.

          • Let me try and use an analogy in very partial defense of Cori Bush’s comment.

            How (given what’s happened — such as at the Tree of Life — in the last couple of years) would he react if someone like Allen Dershowitz were to say:
            “Jews are not safe in America” or “Jews in America are no longer safe.”

            In one sense, you could call that false and a Stupid Remark. But it has just enough truth — since many Jews here do, justifiably or not, feel unsafe — not to qualify for Stupid Politician status.

            Of course, a similar argument could, very sadly, also be made about someone asserting that Asian-Americans or Muslims in America are not safe.

            • Jews have been and are safer in America than anywhere else in world history.

              And minorities in the United States have more freedom and opportunity than any other nation on Earth by far.

              • Of course “safe” and “free” mean very different things. Freedom often comes at the expense of safety.

                • There is always room for improvement in America. That is what makes America, America, and the Declaration of Independence, which started it all, made it possible.

                  Virtually nobody, certainly not a Member of Congress, would take the occasion of the Fourth of July to rhetorically attack America.

                  Maybe she can march in the St Louis parade next July 4 and burn some American flags (which I think America affords the freedom to do.)

                  • There is still much needed to improve life for African-Americans in the United States and there are many policy debates that could be had as to how best do that.

                    But if black people were not “free” in this country, Cori Bush would not be a Member of Congress, Barack Obama would not have been President, there would not be a long list of black millionaires and billionaires, and Bill Cosby would not have been released from prison due to a technicality.

  8. To get back to the subject of The Republican, the Vaccine and the Military…Because it is emergency authorized the Military has refrained from mandating the shot, however, if it gets full approval they will probably mandate it for sure. They already mandate many vaccines, shit we as civilians don’t get…As a soldier you can’t get sick from a disease that there is a vaccine for it will hurt military preparedness…you can’t have an army that can’t fight cause it is sick…

    And let’s be real, the military job can be much more dangerous than getting any vaccine.

    And I am not james but if my job mandated a vaccine to prevent illness I would take it..as would a majority of folks…

  9. Wow CG has really dominated this thread on dumbass Republican politicians with his FOX News fever dreams about minority Democratic urban congresswomen being insufficiently patriotic.

    I hope he had fun.

    • I know you prefer an echo chamber.

      I do not know why you bring up “minority” or “urban.” I would feel the same way if she were a rural white man and I think you realize that.

      I think there are lots of Members of Congress, in both parties, who are “insufficiently patriotic” but bringing this up was to point out the political stupidity of her comments.

      • Your fantasy of her burning an American flag in the streets of St. Louis next 4th of July is straight out of a Trump rally warm up act.

        You should be proud!

          • I’m not playing Straw Man with you.

            I see why you are doing this though. Your defense of Massie’s actions on Jan. 6 were countered with his sniveling pandering to insurrectionists at every possible turn since that day 6 months ago.

            Like I said. I hope it makes you feel better.

            • I have not defended any of Massie’s actions. He voted the right way on certifying the election that day though and I think you agree. I agreed with Liz Cheney that he should be primaried. (The primary opponent was worse though for some reason and it did not work out)

              None of this has anything to do with Massie’s opposition to mandatory vaccinations for the military.

              If you want to make the point that the military should mandate them, fine, but you have not even done so. All you have done is gone to Google to try to move goalposts.

              • I think the military should mandate vaccinations and those who don’t want to get them should be dishonorably discharged .

                I have previously stated that I think Biden made a major error in not requiring proof of vaccination for receiving stimulus money.(that alone would have likely pushed our vaccination level among adults to around 90%).

                I would now extend that to collecting unemployment benefits.No vaccination ,no money.

                This is the major public health issue of our lifetime.Those who refuse to be vaccinated are virus spreaders and deserve nothing but contempt as do politicians who shamelessly try to make it some issue 0f “freedom.” It’s not,It’s about public health .Its about preventing unnecessary deaths.

                  • I didn’t say it wouldn’t be “controversial.”

                    I said I was in favor of it.

                    I don’t give a damn how “controversial” it is.

                    This is a national health emergency.

                    • There is not one elected Democrat who would touch what you are suggesting with a ten foot pole and race is the primary factor why.

                    • Nor would any Republican because of course 40% + of Republicans are opposed to vaccinations.

                      You know.

                      Just in the interest of being uh “bipartisan.”

                    • The problem of the non-vaccinated goes far beyond D vs R and should be looked at as such.

                      The question is what would be the most effective ways to convince people to get the shots.

                      In regards to some, a very public and profound public ass-kissing of Donald Trump by the Biden Administration for Operation Warp Speed would immediately cause thousands and thousands to get the shot, but that would be considered too distasteful to attempt.

                    • Trump has previously stated that he thought people should get vaccinated but that he defended their “right” not to and I presume spread the virus far and wide.

                      I am unaware of any Democrats who have made this a “freedom” issue.Please let me know so I can denounce them.

                      Further in a speech a few weeks ago Biden mentioned the success of warp speed.

                    • If Biden gave Trump a big medal and praised him to the hilt for the vaccine, and talked about how great he was for it, the red hat wearing cultists would be lined up around the block to get the shot.

                      But Biden does not want to do that and you do not want to see Biden do that (and of course Trump doesn’t deserve it), so there we are. The public health risk (mostly to those people themselves) continues.

              • I support mandatory COVID vaccinations for the military. Of course!

                I also think the willingly unvaxxed should pay higher insurance premiums.

                Your thoughts CG?

                • I would want to hear what military leaders had to say. I would not rule it out, especially if other vaccinations are required in the military.

                  Anything regarding insurance premiums would be a non-starter politically for racial and economic reasons. That is a private sector manner though.

                • Yes I’m in favor of that too.

                  Since the insurance companies are far more likely to have to pay for these virus spreaders hospitalization ,add a surcharge to their health insurance.Also,allow governmental units and private companies who are self insured in offering health insurance to employees. to do the same.

                  • For instance, Cori Bush would call this “insurance apartheid.”

                    So, some Democrat would have to be pretty brave politically to suggest any such thing.

                    • Let her.

                      Ron DeSantis will be yapping about “freedom” for instance.

                    • Jas Cori Bush replaced Hillary Clinton in your obsessions? As Jack pointed out right wingers like DeSantis are more likely to claim any kind of vaccine requirements take away their freedumbs. Of course your only answer to that is to say you “disagree” and then move back to Hillary/Cori Bush fixation.

                    • I have not mentioned Hillary at all. You have. C. Bush is an elected official, and you played a role in that. Criticizing her is allowed, even if she is black, just like you are allowed to criticize Allen West and call him “crazy” even though he is black.

      • CG?

        As someone had pointed out…..

        It’s NOT. Just Black folks

        It’s people of cilor

        ALL OF THEM…..

        It’s different religions

        It’s according to sexual orienation

        It’s according to men or women

        It’s tired

        But the ‘Big Lie’ people seem to be intolerant of a lot things!

          • He often addresses people in ths manner.

            Sometimes ,when I haven’t even been around, he will post something beginning with “Jack?”

          • CG?

            U seem to want do that Trumpish bending reality thing….

            I AMM connecting ‘race’ to the ‘Big lie’ to mostly EVERYTHING Trump leads the Reupbkicans to….

            If we ignore it like u are trying to do ?

            We can say it isn’t there

            From politics, to vaccinations to jobs and the economy…..

            This IS the while point about people of color in America…..

            U playing it off here is a prime example

            The Capitol thing?

            White wingnuts!

            Oh it didn’t happen!

            Then U talk about these people here like rhey are alright?

            No fucking connection , eh?

            Gheez!

            • You don’t get it james.

              You wished America and all of us a Happy Independence Day as you always do, while Congresswoman Bush basically said “F you” to those who acknowledge Independence Day.

              But you don’t see the disconnect.

              • And what is the reason james you are either non-vaccinated or unwilling to admit if you are?

                I seem to think I remembered you saying when they first came out that you had gotten the first shot, but I may be wrong. I know that jack attempted to ask you if you were vaccinated many times and you completely blew him off.

                So, is this just a privacy thing or are you among the non-vaccinated for other reasons?

              • Sure i Do…..

                As U pointed put a while ago

                People of color are happy to be American

                that said?

                They would like to be treated more as equals

                They are not at times

                THAT IS the disconnect

                It is U who does NOT ‘get it’

                Nor do i think u want to…..

                Look at what has been typed her this afternoon

                U don’t understand?

                Race IS mentioned several times

                It is in the fabric of Republicanism

                • Wanting a more Perfect Union is one thing. We all should. There are many policy debates that should be had about how to go about that and what has worked and what has maybe not worked and could be more effective.

                  But saying that black people in America are not “free” is a very specific and false thing to say. It deserves condemnation, but again, my main point, was that it was a stupid thing to say politically.

                  • Ok

                    I would NOT agree that any minority osn’t ‘free’

                    I agree….

                    My point remains fair and equal choices and treatment…..

                    Not reading about Red state lawmakers trying to make it more difficult to vote their choices?

                    • He, he, he

                      I do rhis place to explore options and views

                      As we ALL DO

                      We test one another on our view to flush things out…,.

                      It IS ‘the way’ CG☺️

                      Heck even DSD gets on my case sometimes!

                      Why shouldn’t u get rhe treatment?

                      There have been some who could not stant the heat and dropped out

                      But u hang in there

                      Proper Respect…….

                      ‘Props’

  10. CG. Name one elected Democratic politician who has supported anti vaxx or encouraged those who are vaccine hesitant like Massie, Rand Paul and others have.

    • Cori Bush said publicly she was hesitant about getting the vaccine. She later said she would get it, but when news outlets did the survey on Members of Congress, her office did not confirm she did, according to the latest update I saw.

        • Say, “I did it and you should too.” Maybe she has now said that. I am not sure, but she had expressed reluctance about the vaccine at some point.

          • From Bush’s Facebook in January–“I’ll be taking the COVID-19 vaccine but like many I’m uninsured and had questions”.

            Her latest post regarding the vaccine warns against the Delta variant among the unvaccinated.

            • I’d be happy with Cori Bush being more vocal about getting her vaccine but if that’s the best example on the Democratic side of vaccine hesitancy you once again have lost.

              • I don’t know every elected official in the country. Before Covid, when vaccines were still important for many other things, there was a lot of anti-vaxxers on the left. Covid became a referendum on Trump though and many people simply went to their corners over it.

                There are far more non-elected than elected people though who should get vaccinated.

                What is the best strategy? You need different strategies for sure for African-Americans and for Trump supporters.

                It seems like getting the Trump supporters to line up would take the most obvious solution, but it’s too much to stomach for most so it won’t happen.

                • Every anti vaxxer I know is a conservative and none have said Trump getting the vaccine has changed their mind. It’s the one thing they are willing to break with him on. And I think that’s why Trump has been so mum about getting his jab or if people should get it. He knows where his bread is buttered!

                  • How many people do you actually “know?” Do you know james?

                    A big public show of kissing up to Trump about the vaccine would get them lined up and we all know it.

  11. The United States has yet to fully abolish slavery

    Although the 13th Amendment passed over 150 years ago, the US Constitution, to this day, allows for certain American citizens to be subject to involuntary servitude.
    By Abdallah Fayyad, Boston Globe Staff

    ..“The normalization of seeing Black people in nonpaid labor, in servitude — as needing to be punished, as being suspicious of having done something — is part of a legacy that dates back to the 17th century in our country,” Michele Goodwin, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, said in an interview. “These are the messages that Americans had to tell themselves to justify a child being sold at a corner block.”

    Advertisement

    The constitutionality of modern day slavery lies in an exception in the 13th Amendment, which reads, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” That means that while Americans have a constitutional right to not be enslaved, that right is unequivocally stripped away from them if they are ever imprisoned.

    After the 13th Amendment was passed, “Southern lawmakers went back and created laws that would be targeted at Black people,” Goodwin said. These were part of the Black Codes, a series of laws that criminalized behaviors that white lawmakers associated with Black people, who were subsequently arrested for things as simple as loitering. The result was the continued enslavement of Black Americans at the hands of the state.

    That practice continues in some forms today. Prisoners, who are disproportionately Black and brown, work at government facilities, like state houses or governor’s mansions, for little to no pay, despite this kind of work not being a part of their sentences. “The reason it’s been so normalized is because of the Black and brown faces associated with it,” Goodwin said. While at least four states allow for unpaid labor, other states pay prisoners wages as low as a dime an hour. California, for example, employs prisoners for janitorial work or to make things like license plates for anywhere between 8 and 95 cents an hour, and pays firefighting prisoners a measly dollar per hour. Massachusetts pays its prisoners as little as 14 cents an hour, and withholds half of their paychecks until after they are released….

    https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/07/06/opinion/united-states-has-yet-fully-abolish-slavery/

    The main comment I would make here is that I understand that often prisoners volunteer for work, sometimes for the nominal pay, sometimes just as an alternative to doing nothing all day, all week, all month.

    But there are I’m sure still Cool Hand Luke chain-gang situations where the inmates have no choice. For example are the residents of Parchman prison farm in Mississippi working the fields out of choice or compulsion?

    Of course someone (¿like James or Jack?) who knows more about the criminal-justice and penal systems might be able to tell us more, at least in their home states.

    .

    • Damn DSD!….

      Good get!

      One would assume it would be more about getting to do SOMETHING instead of nothing….

      But if you look across America…

      Sure… There ARE people subjected to involuntary servitude ….

    • Thousands of pages documenting slavery found in attic of Eastern Shore house

      About 2,000 pages of historical documents related to the lives of free and enslaved Black Americans from the 1600s to 1800s were discovered in the attic of a house in Maryland.

      The 200-year-old house was being demolished and the papers were put up for sale by a local auction house.

      Historians and members of the local Black community raised funds to preserve the documents and archive them for the public.

      More…

  12. Southeastern Mass’ own contribution to national stupidity:

    Only On 10: School committee member stands by controversial social media posts

    by KATIE DAVIS, NBC 10 NEWS
    Wednesday, July 7th 2021

    (Video at
    https://turnto10.com/i-team/only-on-10-school-committee-member-stands-by-controversial-social-media-posts )

    A local school committee member is raising eyebrows with her social media posts.

    Katie Ferreira-Aubin, who was elected to the Dighton-Rehoboth [Massachusetts] School Committee in April, is against requiring the COVID-19 vaccine for students, teachers or staff — even comparing the idea to the Holocaust in some of her posts.

    “When you explain things in that extreme, it does get people’s attention to kind of say, ‘OK, maybe our freedoms are being taken away right now.’ So, sometimes you do have to use extremes to get attention. But I stand by it,” Ferreira-Aubin told NBC 10 News.

    Asked whether bringing up the Holocaust was going too far, she said, “I don’t know. It got a lot of attention. So, maybe not.”

    Ferreira-Aubin said she knows some of her posts are controversial, but she believes that’s what it takes to draw attention to message, and she’s not sorry for her views.

    “If there is a mandated vaccine policy for public schools, now on the school committee, I will be very vocal. I know me and couple other members will be very vocal that we do not want this,” she said. “I think it comes down to the parent’s choice, not the school district’s choice.”

    There is no COVID-19 vaccine requirement to attend public K-12 schools in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and local districts are still considering their mask policies for the fall. Pediatricians are encouraging the vaccine for all children who are eligible, which is still limited to kids 12 and older.

    Ferriera-Aubin pulled her daughter out of Dighton-Rehoboth schools when the district had a hybrid schedule this past year that included distance learning, something she said didn’t work for her daughter or her family.

    “I did put her into private school, where they are full-time, five days a week,” she said.

    Since being elected to the School Committee, she’s campaigned against the potential of future vaccine requirements — and against masks in Dighton-Rehoboth schools this fall.

    “If we back down now, we’re going to lose,” she said. “If we don’t keep fighting, then mandated vaccines, they might happen. Mandated masks, they might happen.”

    NBC 10 reached out to the chairman of the School Committee on Wednesday but didn’t hear back from him immediately.

  13. How G.O.P.-Backed Laws in Montana Could Hurt Native American Voting

    Restrictions passed by the Republican-led Montana Legislature could have stark effects on Native American reservations, where voting in person can mean a two-hour drive.

    By Maggie Astor, The New York Times
    July 6, 2021

    …But under H.B. 530, a law passed this spring by the Republican-controlled [Montana]State Legislature, that would not have been allowed. Western Native Voice pays its organizers, and paid ballot collection is now banned.

    “It’s taking their rights from them, and they still have the right to vote,” Ms. Roundine said of fellow Blackfeet voters who can’t leave their homes. “I wouldn’t have wanted that to be taken from me.”

    The ballot collection law is part of a nationwide push by Republican state legislators to rewrite election rules, and is similar to an Arizona law that the Supreme Court upheld on Thursday. In Montana — where Gov. Greg Gianforte, a Republican, was elected in November to replace Steve Bullock, a Democrat who had held veto power for eight years — the effects of that and a separate law eliminating same-day voter registration are likely to fall heavily on Native Americans, who make up about 7 percent of the state’s population.

    It has been less than a century since Native Americans in the United States gained the right to vote by law, and they never attained the ability to do so easily in practice. New restrictions — ballot collection bans, earlier registration deadlines, stricter voter ID laws and more — are likely to make it harder, and the starkest consequences may be seen in places like Montana: sprawling, sparsely populated Western and Great Plains states where Native Americans have a history of playing decisive roles in close elections.

    In 2018, Senator Jon Tester, a Democrat, won seven of eight Montana counties containing the headquarters of a federally recognized tribe and received 50.3 percent of the vote statewide, a result without which his party would not currently control the Senate. (One of the eight tribes wasn’t federally recognized at the time but is now.) In 2016, Democratic Gov. Steve] Bullock carried the same counties and won with 50.2 percent. Both times, Glacier County, which contains the bulk of the Blackfeet reservation, was the most Democratic in the state….

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/06/us/politics/montana-native-americans-voting-rights.html

  14. Doesn’t quite qualify for Republican Stupidity, but …

    Republican Rep. Chip Roy (Texas) doubled down on Wednesday after a secret recording of a Capitol Hill event last week caught the Texas lawmaker hoping for “18 more months of chaos and the inability to get stuff done” so Republicans could take control of Congress in 2022.

    In a video posted by Democratic activist Lauren Windsor on Tuesday, Roy can be heard responding to a question about ongoing infrastructure negotiations between President Joe Biden and Congress.

    “I mean honestly right now, for the next 18 months, our job is to do everything that we can to slow all of that down to get to December of 2022, and then get in here and lead,” Roy was filmed saying, without his apparent knowledge….

    https://www.businessinsider.com/chris-roy-wants-more-chaos-so-gop-can-take-control-in-2022

      • Republicans ,like this guy Roy ,must enjoy

        “Chaos”

        After all they supported that fool Trump for four years!

        And “chaos” would be a charitable definition of that time of utter madness!

        • “We the People of the United States, in order to … insure domestic Tranquillity, ….”

          • Elected ole’ Joe Biden to replace ‘cap Choas’ by SEVEN MILLION VOTES and over 30 EV’s…..

            • Alternate Reality…….

              An expanding Universe …….

              But

              The REAL Reality continues

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