Comments by "wily wascal" (@wilywascal2024) on "Stelter: I watched Hannity's show for a week. Here's what I found" video.

  1. ~ Should not Adam Serwar's truthful documenting and analysis of what is happening with the fascist Republican cult be enough to convince anyone able to be convinced? Is not Adam Serwar's statement the true definition of journalistic impartiality, objectivity and integrity? Is not Adam Serwar the antithesis of Faux News, and therefore what we should desire and expect from journalists? Just so you know, I have plenty of problems with the MSM treating Republican not operating in good faith with kid gloves, pretending there are two sides to everything when one side is complete bunkum, and with allowing themselves to be used as a tool to spread Reich-wing propaganda. But Adam Serwar's response here does not deserve criticism, but rather praise. Moreover, while Serwar's has a responsibility in his professional capacity as a journalist to adhere to ethical journalistic standards, it does not preclude that in his private life he works to convince others that he is correct in his beliefs.
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  2. Ignore the "Jo" moniker, who is almost certainly one of Putiin's sock-puppet propaganda pawns, with a new YouTube account less than two months old. They get paid $$$$ for every reply they elicit, and seek to insult and leave incendiary BS to elicit more replies so they can earn more $$$$. Best not to encourage them, provide them more incentive, or play into their hands, which is to sow discord, division, and disinformation. Instead of addressing them directly, if you feel you absolutely must respond, leave an unaddressed general reply to the comment with factual information rebutting their propaganda.
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  3. "We have met the enemy, and he is us!" ~ Walt Kelly "The secret of freedom is educating the people, whereas the secret of tyranny is keeping them ignorant." ~ Robespierre “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities” ~ Voltaire "There can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet." ~Abraham Lincoln “The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence." ~ Charles Bukowski "Everybody has a right to their opinion, but nobody has a right to be wrong in their facts." ~ Bernard Baruch, quoted in 1946 AP article. “It's easier to fool people than it is to convince them that they have been fooled.” ~ Mark Twain “It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.” ~ James A. Baldwin "When stupidity is considered patriotism, it is unsafe to be intelligent." ~ Isaac Asimov “If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon's but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other.” ~ Ulysses S. Grant, 1875 "When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” ~ Typically misattributed to Sinclair Lewis, the original source of this quote is unknown, but likely derived from labor activist Eugene V. Debs 1917 quote, "Every robber or oppressor in history has wrapped himself in a cloak of patriotism or religion, or both." Before World War II, Charles Lindbergh typified American heroism with his daring flights, including the first solo transatlantic flight, and his celebration of new technology. He parlayed his fame and heroic stature into a leading role in the America First movement, which opposed America’s entrance into the war against Nazi Germany. In 1939, in an essay entitled “Aviation, Geography, and Race,” published in that most American of journals, Reader’s Digest, Lindbergh embraced something close to Nazism for America: "It is time to turn from our quarrels and to build our White ramparts again. This alliance with foreign races means nothing but death to us. It is our turn to guard our heritage from Mongol and Persian and Moor, before we become engulfed in a limitless foreign sea." The America First movement was the public face of pro-fascist sentiment in the United States at that time. In the twenties and thirties, many Americans shared Lindbergh’s views against immigration, especially by non-Europeans. The Immigration Act of 1924 strictly limited immigration into the country, and it was specifically intended to restrict the immigration of both nonwhites and Jews. Once again, nationalism, aka fascism, has risen its ugly head in America, in European nations, and in some other countries around the world. The fight of good people against ignorance, the fears that sprout from it, the hate which then blossoms, culminating in the bitter toxic fruit of evil, senseless brutalities and deaths, is a constant, never-ending battle we fear, but it is a battle from which we must never shrink. In this era, the likes of Toxic Trump and Marginalized Greene have become the face of the new "America First" fascist movement built up over the last four decades by the GOP, Reich-wing plutocrats, demagogues, and media. But, as with Lindbergh, the American people gradually come to recognize their dysfunctional poison and reject it. Most Americans understand, accept, and appreciate that the enduring strength of America is that we are a nation of immigrants and multiculturalism, a "melting pot" where the best ideas rise to the top, and superficial differences are meaningless in the face of our common humanity and purpose. Most Americans want competent leaders who speak truth, who strive to unite, who are not corrupt, who care about them. So, it should come as no surprise that President Biden is already receiving high marks from the public, while Toxic Trump never managed to rise above even a 50% approval rating. To conclude where begun, the following quotes are submitted for further reflection: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." ~ George Santayana "History doesn't repeat itself. But it does rhyme. ~ Mark Twain "That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history." ~ Aldous Huxley "If men could learn from history, what lessons it might teach us! But passion and party blind our eyes, and the light which experience gives us is a lantern on the stern which shines only on the waves behind." ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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  4. Thanks for the recommendation, much appreciated. Somehow missed this, but it will definitely go to the top of my reading list. From a review, for more information to any others: 'Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America' by Kathleen Belew (Harvard University Press, 2018) The movement “brought together members of the Klan, militias, radical tax resisters, white separatists, neo-Nazis, and proponents of white theologies such as Christian Identity, Odinism, and Dualism” (ix). What was it about the movement that brought these ideologies together? The promise of violence — rather, the promise that members would get to inflict violence on other people. Belew writes that as the white power movement matured, it became more violent, and “[as] violence came to the fore of the movement, distinctions among white power factions melted away” (60). Belew calls this process “violent community formation” (34). Yet as a social movement, Belew makes a distinction between the white power movement’s “revolutionary violence” and the Ku Klux Klan’s “vigilante violence.” Vigilante violence “served to constitute, shore up, and enforce systemic power” (106). Given that the U.S. government has a long history of “defending vigilante violence by refusing to enforce the law” (99), law enforcement inaction and vigilante violence may be understood together as a case of one hand washing the other. Revolutionary violence, however, sought to overthrow the state. It is the white power movement’s goal of overthrowing the federal government that sets it apart in the history of white supremacy in the U.S.
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  5. "We have met the enemy, and he is us!" ~ Walt Kelly "The secret of freedom is educating the people, whereas the secret of tyranny is keeping them ignorant." ~ Robespierre “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities” ~ Voltaire "There can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet." ~Abraham Lincoln “The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence." ~ Charles Bukowski "Everybody has a right to their opinion, but nobody has a right to be wrong in their facts." ~ Bernard Baruch, quoted in 1946 AP article. “It's easier to fool people than it is to convince them that they have been fooled.” ~ Mark Twain “It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.” ~ James A. Baldwin "When stupidity is considered patriotism, it is unsafe to be intelligent." ~ Isaac Asimov “If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon's but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other.” ~ Ulysses S. Grant, 1875 "When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” ~ Typically misattributed to Sinclair Lewis, the original source of this quote is unknown, but likely derived from labor activist Eugene V. Debs 1917 quote, "Every robber or oppressor in history has wrapped himself in a cloak of patriotism or religion, or both." Before World War II, Charles Lindbergh typified American heroism with his daring flights, including the first solo transatlantic flight, and his celebration of new technology. He parlayed his fame and heroic stature into a leading role in the America First movement, which opposed America’s entrance into the war against Nazi Germany. In 1939, in an essay entitled “Aviation, Geography, and Race,” published in that most American of journals, Reader’s Digest, Lindbergh embraced something close to Nazism for America: "It is time to turn from our quarrels and to build our White ramparts again. This alliance with foreign races means nothing but death to us. It is our turn to guard our heritage from Mongol and Persian and Moor, before we become engulfed in a limitless foreign sea." The America First movement was the public face of pro-fascist sentiment in the United States at that time. In the twenties and thirties, many Americans shared Lindbergh’s views against immigration, especially by non-Europeans. The Immigration Act of 1924 strictly limited immigration into the country, and it was specifically intended to restrict the immigration of both nonwhites and Jews. Once again, nationalism, aka fascism, has risen its ugly head in America, in European nations, and in some other countries around the world. The fight of good people against ignorance, the fears that sprout from it, the hate which then blossoms, culminating in the bitter toxic fruit of evil, senseless brutalities and deaths, is a constant, never-ending battle we fear, but it is a battle from which we must never shrink. In this era, the likes of Toxic Trump and Marginalized Greene have become the face of the new "America First" fascist movement built up over the last four decades by the GOP, Reich-wing plutocrats, demagogues, and media. But, as with Lindbergh, the American people gradually come to recognize their dysfunctional poison and reject it. Most Americans understand, accept, and appreciate that the enduring strength of America is that we are a nation of immigrants and multiculturalism, a "melting pot" where the best ideas rise to the top, and superficial differences are meaningless in the face of our common humanity and purpose. Most Americans want competent leaders who speak truth, who strive to unite, who are not corrupt, who care about them. So, it should come as no surprise that President Biden is already receiving high marks from the public, while Toxic Trump never managed to rise above even a 50% approval rating. To conclude where begun, the following quotes are submitted for further reflection: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." ~ George Santayana "History doesn't repeat itself. But it does rhyme. ~ Mark Twain "That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history." ~ Aldous Huxley "If men could learn from history, what lessons it might teach us! But passion and party blind our eyes, and the light which experience gives us is a lantern on the stern which shines only on the waves behind." ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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  6. The problem at the heart of all this is a Republican cult built up over four decades by the GOP, plutocrats, Reich-wing demagogues, Reich-wing Christian nationalism religious leaders, and Reich-wing print, radio, TV, and social media, programmed 24/7, radicalizing them and creating mass delusion. A straight line can be drawn through to the inevitable catastrophic conclusion witnessed today from Lee Atwater, Roger Aisles, Pat Buchanan, Rush Limbaugh, Pat Robertson, Newt Gingrich, Ann Coulter, Karl Rove, Lou Dobbs, Mitch McConnell, Billy Graham, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Jim Jordan, to Donald J. Trump, Matt Gaetz, and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Sure, some in the Republican cult truly are that ignorant or gullible; but most are willfully ignorant, being fed the lies they want to hear. They bear personal responsibility. Part of it's a cultural problem, as some mostly older white people's mistaken perception is that the America they knew is slipping away. Well, America is still America, but--like most nations--is constantly evolving, as progress invariably rolls on, but they are unwilling to accept that, or change with the times. Those Americans elected that pitiful, pathetic puerile President, and have continued to support him no matter what travesty he committed! The creators of the Republican cult have always been weak men, and now find themselves harnessed by those they sought to enslave, subject to the fickle whims of a moronic madman and the mob whose ignorance they relentlessly nourished and cultivated. They created the beast, thought they could ride the tiger, exploit it for their own greed, vanity, and power, too stupid or uncaring to realize that it would instead inevitably come to consume them. American conservatism has always been the endless, futile quest to justify greed, but the coin of the realm in GOP land is fear; it’s what they peddle, it’s what they traffic in, it’s what they carry in their pocket at all times. Then, they turn that fear into hate. And that hate is the poison killing them, America, and all of us. It’s the poison to which the Republican cult has become addicted. Republican cultism is the disease, Toxic Trump is merely the most visible symptom and but one carrier of that disease. It existed before Trump, and it will continue when Trump is gone—unless or until the problem is adequately addressed. COVID-19 is also a disease; but a virus is blameless, unlike those who engage in willful ignorance. America would have confronted and easily conquered COVID-19 disease, had America not already been diseased for so long with Republican tribalistic partisan cultism. Racism, xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny and religious bigotry all were central to the formation of the Republican cult, and remain its lifeblood. "United we stand, divided we fall." A simple concept, really, that too many Americans seem to have forgotten or abandoned. Our nation is like an airplane; it requires both the left and right wings working together in tandem to operate properly and safely. Only problem is the Reich-wing decided to try flying solo, forcing us all into a nose-dive! Care about the issues, disdain political gamesmanship, while still recognizing politics is an inseparable and necessary element. Have always respected and valued loyal opposition, even if in disagreement with the ideology. Fact is, though, the GOP has abdicated the requisite role of loyal opposition to become a mindless, tribalistic, hyper-partisan Reich-wing cult that places greed and political party over truth, reason, decency, and country.
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  7. Tucker Carlson and Faux News: mainstreaming American fascism purely for profit. FAUX News is happy to push Russian propaganda for Putin and disinformation for plutocrats and fascists, but the truth is verboten on Reich-wing media! Sad, pathetic, disgusting and dangerous. America's enemies don't need to spread disinformation, doubt, discord, and division to weaken America, kill Americans--Republican politicians, Reich-wing demagogues, Faux News, OAN, Newsmax, Breitbart and the rest of the Reich-wing media do that so effectively for them, already. More Americans need to realize that the GOP has abdicated it's duty as loyal opposition, and that its prioritization of party over country and welcoming embrace of violent radical Reich-wing extremists diminishes both our government and our national security, endangering ALL Americans, as well as weakening and endangering America itself.
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  8. "Until Republicans return to reality and become responsible, they should not be trusted with power again." That's been obvious for some time, the same warning others like me have been advocating, but it's good that Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney is amplifying that message. More Americans need to understand this. The constant lies, denials, deceits, delusions, gaslighting, dog-whistles, crackpot conspiracy theories, projectionism, Whataboutism, bogus victimhood, and hypocrisy of Republicans is disgusting and alarming. The Republican cult has poisoned itself with its own propaganda, choosing to live in a dystopian fascist Orwellian fantasy world. The Republican cult has been radicalized to such extent that it poses a clear and present danger to our society, our democracy, and our country. Republicans have been programmed into a mindless fascist partisan cult that is unhinged, delusional and evil. And it's extremely dangerous to our security, to our democracy, and to our country. They're essentially a domestic terrorist group, and we should be targeting the leaders of that group with the same vigor and determination we would a foreign terrorist group attacking our country. Don't know of a time since the Civil War when our nation has been at greater peril, and we need to recognize that, acknowledge it, and act upon it accordingly.
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  9. As political commentator and former Republican presidential advisor Mark McKinnon so aptly put it recently, "The Republican party is at dysfunction junction." May disagree with conservative ideology and with their stances on many issues, but do value and respect LOYAL opposition--a duty that the GOP has for too long forgotten and abdicated, putting personal and party interests before country. That is not only harmful to their party, it is harmful to our democracy and institutions. And it has come to represent a clear a present danger to our nation, a serious threat to our very security. All of this is mentioned because it is firmly believed that this is not a time for diplomatic, soft-spoken words. This is not a time to be timid or Pollyannaish about our current political landscape, but a time for frankness, a time for acknowledgment of defects, a time for courageously confronting stark unpleasant realities. Our democracy is a fragile construct, only as sturdy, vibrant, and enduring as we maintain it, requiring constant vigilance and due diligence. Just as we don't forget Pearl Harbor, or 9/11, even more so the attack against our nation's Capitol on January 6, 2021 by fascist Reich-wing domestic terrorists incited to insurrection by a deranged President against his own government must never be forgotten or forgiven. Thus, we MUST condemn both cowardly, corrupt Republican so-called "leaders" defying truth, justice, duty, democracy, and Constitution--and their dysfunctional political party that behaves as a cult--in the strongest possible terms, using the most muscular language that can be mustered. For it is necessary; the very fate of our nation depends upon it. Disaster was narrowly averted with the defeat of Trump, with Democratic control of the House and Senate, but the battle for the soul of this nation is far from over, and we must never again allow ourselves to become complacent. And so it is vitally imperative that we remind each other of this, that we impress these things upon our children and fellow citizens of this nation. "Call this civic barbarism. Instead of promoting the values of responsible citizenship, Trump, Republican leadership, and their media enablers have elevated and blessed the very worst among us. They are making many Americans less suited for self-government and more dangerous to their neighbors. And they are doing so for the reason some of the Founders most feared: To lead the mob against true democracy." ~ Michael Gerson, from 'Trumpism is American Fascism'
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  10. "We have met the enemy, and he is us!" ~ Walt Kelly "The secret of freedom is educating the people, whereas the secret of tyranny is keeping them ignorant." ~ Robespierre “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities” ~ Voltaire "There can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet." ~Abraham Lincoln “The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence." ~ Charles Bukowski "Everybody has a right to their opinion, but nobody has a right to be wrong in their facts." ~ Bernard Baruch, quoted in 1946 AP article. “It's easier to fool people than it is to convince them that they have been fooled.” ~ Mark Twain “It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.” ~ James A. Baldwin "When stupidity is considered patriotism, it is unsafe to be intelligent." ~ Isaac Asimov “If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon's but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other.” ~ Ulysses S. Grant, 1875 "When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” ~ Typically misattributed to Sinclair Lewis, the original source of this quote is unknown, but likely derived from labor activist Eugene V. Debs 1917 quote, "Every robber or oppressor in history has wrapped himself in a cloak of patriotism or religion, or both." Before World War II, Charles Lindbergh typified American heroism with his daring flights, including the first solo transatlantic flight, and his celebration of new technology. He parlayed his fame and heroic stature into a leading role in the America First movement, which opposed America’s entrance into the war against Nazi Germany. In 1939, in an essay entitled “Aviation, Geography, and Race,” published in that most American of journals, Reader’s Digest, Lindbergh embraced something close to Nazism for America: "It is time to turn from our quarrels and to build our White ramparts again. This alliance with foreign races means nothing but death to us. It is our turn to guard our heritage from Mongol and Persian and Moor, before we become engulfed in a limitless foreign sea." The America First movement was the public face of pro-fascist sentiment in the United States at that time. In the twenties and thirties, many Americans shared Lindbergh’s views against immigration, especially by non-Europeans. The Immigration Act of 1924 strictly limited immigration into the country, and it was specifically intended to restrict the immigration of both nonwhites and Jews. Once again, nationalism, aka fascism, has risen its ugly head in America, in European nations, and in some other countries around the world. The fight of good people against ignorance, the fears that sprout from it, the hate which then blossoms, culminating in the bitter toxic fruit of evil, senseless brutalities and deaths, is a constant, never-ending battle we fear, but it is a battle from which we must never shrink. In this era, the likes of Toxic Trump and Marginalized Greene have become the face of the new "America First" fascist movement built up over the last four decades by the GOP, Reich-wing plutocrats, demagogues, and media. But, as with Lindbergh, the American people gradually come to recognize their dysfunctional poison and reject it. Most Americans understand, accept, and appreciate that the enduring strength of America is that we are a nation of immigrants and multiculturalism, a "melting pot" where the best ideas rise to the top, and superficial differences are meaningless in the face of our common humanity and purpose. Most Americans want competent leaders who speak truth, who strive to unite, who are not corrupt, who care about them. So, it should come as no surprise that President Biden is already receiving high marks from the public, while Toxic Trump never managed to rise above even a 50% approval rating. To conclude where begun, the following quotes are submitted for further reflection: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." ~ George Santayana "History doesn't repeat itself. But it does rhyme. ~ Mark Twain "That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history." ~ Aldous Huxley "If men could learn from history, what lessons it might teach us! But passion and party blind our eyes, and the light which experience gives us is a lantern on the stern which shines only on the waves behind." ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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