The entire Republican Party is beset with cowardice. Most want TFG gone, unable to run in 2024, but no one will make it happen. They campaign with Trump, and then say that they can’t wait for him to die. Everybody wants someone else to take him out. The law? The 2024 primaries? The actuarial tables?
THE OPPOSITE OF EXCITING
REPUBLICANS PASS THE BUCK ON HOLDING TRUMP TO ACCOUNT
CAN’T QUIT TRUMP
MSNBC chyrons on All In with Chris Hayes
Some of us live in hope of indictments, but that takes as long as it takes. (Zen koan)
Chris Hayes had McKay Coppin of The Atlantic and Sarah Longwell, host of the Focus Group podcast, on two nights ago to talk about this.
Faced with the prospect of another election cycle dominated by Trump and uncertain that he can actually be beaten in the primaries, many Republicans are quietly rooting for something to happen that will make him go away.
The former president is 76 years old, overweight, appears to maintain the diet of a college freshman, and believes, contrary to all known science, that exercise is bad for you. Why risk alienating his supporters when nature will take its course sooner or later?
In my conversations with Republicans, I heard repeatedly that the least disruptive path to getting rid of Trump, grim as it sounds, might be to wait for his expiration.
McKay Coppin, “Republicans’ 2024 Magical Thinking”
Former Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI) told Coppin that this was “actuarial arbitrage” and in no way a joke. Meijer says that a number of other Rs have told him
I can’t wait for this guy to die.
Coppin continued
That really speaks to the desperation and the learned cowardice in the Republican Party.
He has been invited to talk about this on several news programs, so there turned out to be more to report than we saw yesterday.
Alice Merton - Lie To My Face (Audio)
The Inner Party Speaks
I am Trump’s age, and Joe Biden is older, so pardon me if I wish The Thing that Ate the GOP a long and unhappy life in prison.
I would be delighted to explain to Trump how not to be unhappy, if such a conversation were possible, but here we are. The koan of suffering strong is with this one. Don’t wait.
Lock. Him. Up.
Republicans in Congress and in the campaign world are deeply split, according to Coppin’s interviews, between those who hope that indictments and trials would derail Trump’s campaign, and those who fear that they would just shore him up with his base and increase it.
So anyway, how about…?
or
or
or
NYT: Manhattan Prosecutors Begin Presenting Trump Case to Grand Jury
The Manhattan district attorney’s decision represents a dramatic escalation of the inquiry, and potentially sets the case on a path toward criminal charges against the former president.
That’s the Stormy Daniels hush money case that Michael Cohen went to prison for these many years ago. There was also Trump’s affair with Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal, who was paid off by National Enquirer publisher David Pecker.
McDougal later said that she feilt guilty being in Trump’s apartment, but evidently not guilty enough to call it off.
Trump is on published video now, invoking the Fifth Amendment about 450 times over four hours, in response to about 450 questions about specific violations of the law. This is a civil case, so each one can be used against him in court. (With my superstrong ADHD, I can’t sit through that kind of guff. I thank those who can.)
Fine with me all around. We’ll have lots to talk about on the days that various indictments come down and trials are scheduled, or at least more documents are published, but I’m not holding my breath.
Apparently, though, some Rs are, and some want Trump to come under the 14th Amendment prohibition on running for office again. Of course, they had the opportunity to do that with the two impeachments, and they squandered it. Mitch McConnell could conceivably have whipped for conviction, and gotten the 17 votes needed, right?
McConnell, though, was a coward. He chose not to.
Chris again.
After the vote, having gotten Trump off, McConnell took to the Senate floor to say
President Trump is still liable.
He hoped that someone else would do what he was too chicken to do.
You knew we had to have this one, amirite?
The Wizard Of Oz(1939) - The Cowardly Lion Sings About Courage
Republican Voters
OK, that’s the Party professionals. What about the voters? This is where Sarah Longwell came into the conversation. She runs weekly focus groups, which are showing a drift toward DeSantis. But she changed the screen for some groups to those who viewed Trump very favorably, ride or die for Trump. Then she asked them, What if Trump runs as an Independent?
Out of this selected group of Trump voters, 28% said yes. The fear is that he could wipe out all Republican opposition with only this base. That 28% of Republicans is at most 14% of voters overall. Not enough to be useful in a primary, but enough to derail any other Republican in the general election.
Longwell’s results recently appeared in The Bulwark, her Conservative publication.
The Bulwark/North Star Opinion Research poll is consistent with several other polls that have found Trump fading with voters and losing to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in head-to-head match-ups.
We polled three different scenarios and each showed Trump locked between 28 and 30 percent support from Republican primary voters.
Further Reading on Helplessness
Grokking Trumpists: We are Not Helpless before These Losers
Oct 27, 2014 — GOTV (Get Out The Vote) is the greatest nightmare for Republicans today. Democrats of all sorts, cowed in a multitude of different ways over the last 50 years, will learn to believe in themselves, and to vote regularly, in both Presidential and off years, up and down the ticket, and even run for office. When we vote, we win. We have the numbers to flip all of the seemingly Red states of the former Confederacy, even Alabama, in the next few cycles.
Our book for today, which I will use to explain much of this, is Learned Helplessness: A Theory for the Age of Personal Control, by Peterson, Maier, and Seligman. It explains how helplessness arises in many different situations, how it operates, how it can be created and enforced, and also what can be done about it. Like using GOTV to get people out of the helplessness of "My vote doesn't matter."
Wrong-Wingers
The RNC is doubling down on two failed strategies
The Republican National Committee is urging Republican lawmakers to double down on anti-abortion stances and go on the offense in the 2024 election cycle. Also, a new report from the RNC proposes expanding ‘election integrity’ activities in response to perceptions of a rigged process.
Others are saying the quiet parts out loud, too.
Commissioner, Vice Chair Wisconsin Election Commission
NBC News: Two men say one of the Memphis police officers accused of killing Tyre Nichols pulled a gun on them
three years ago and threatened to shoot them both in the face.
"I'll blow your face off," fired Memphis Police Officer Emmitt Martin III reportedly said.
The making of a Torturer
The documentary Your Neighbour’s Son compellingly shows how ordinary recruits were trained to become torturers in less than three months.
They had no idea what they were selected for but were told that they had to be proud to have been selected as the unit they were selected for was an elite force. Immediately upon arrival at the training centre, however, a completely unexpected and unprecedented physical and psychological abuse started. The recruits were continuously insulted; humiliated; beaten, kicked, and flogged.
Emphasis added. There is a lot of other research on teaching people to torture other people. It always includes the ideas that the torturers are above all ordinary people, that civilization depends on them, and that the victims aren’t really human. See also Philip Zimbardo, The Lucifer Effect.
Get rid of all supposedly elite police units.
McCarthy/Biden Sit-Down
Show me your budget and I’ll show you mine.
President Joe the Coolest
McCarthy vowed to cut Medicare and Social Security as part of his campaign to be Speaker of the House. In advance of yesterday’s meeting, he ruled out cuts to Medicare and Social Security. So there still is no ask to present to Biden. No proposed wackadoodle budget, no specific cuts.
Our side:
We don’t negotiate with terrorists.
McCarthy:
The only irresponsible way is to play a political game and say you won’t negotiate.
He went over to the White House to do a buck and wing tap dance with no music. He has nothing to negotiate with, or over.
The meeting was held in private, with no press announcements. We’ll hear something soon.
Omar Vote
The Islamophobic vote on bogus charges of antisemitism against Ilhan Omar has been rescheduled for tomorrow, as Speaker McCarthy juggles persuasion of holdouts and members who cannot be present. She is the most consistent voice for human rights on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
George Who? What?
Yesterday.
You may have heard about his legal troubles, which continue to increase as more election reporting fraud is uncovered and comes to the attention of the FBI.
Mother Jones: 'Dumbfounded' George Santos relative shocked to learn they donated $5,800 to his campaign
DeSantis
More and worse censorship.
State’s new bill goes into effect prohibiting material unless deemed appropriate by a librarian or ‘certified media specialist’
More lawsuits.
There is talk of suing over the sex and violence in the Bible and maybe any book with straight people in it. Perhaps the Pastafarians will get into it.
Nikki Haley to Announce, Maybe on Feb. 15
James Sasso
Donald Trump Isn’t the Only One to Blame for the Capitol Riot. I’d Know.
Sasso served as senior investigative counsel for the Jan. 6 committee and worked on drafting its final report.
The Jan. 6 report focused on Trump inciting the insurrection, for good reasons. But there is just so much more in readily available documents. 140 Republicans voted against Biden’s Electoral College win. Some showed insurrectionists around the Capitol. Some conspired with Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, III %ers. All support White patriarchal Christianist Nationalist Supremacist hypocrisy and violence.
Regular Good News
Jamie Raskin’s Cancer Treatment
He told Chris Hayes that his chemo is going well, and he is well able to work. He is getting a lot of good wishes. You can send yours, or thoughts and prayers, or a Mazel Tov, or merit, or a touch from the FSM’s Noodly Appendage, as suits you.
You can also offer the merit of your training to the cruel, cowardly bullies we are up against, or pray that the scales fall from their eyes. Who needs it more?
Black History Month
No matter what the censorists do, the conversation gets stronger every year. I can’t possibly catalog everything that is happening this time, but Teh Goggle knows.
I can’t let this one pass by. Can you imagine the Republicans doing this? Well, we don’t have to imagine what they did under Trump. We were here.
BlackHistoryMonth.gov
February is Black History Month The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of African Americans who struggled with adversity to achieve full citizenship in American society.
Tyre Nichols Funeral
D. L. Hughley Guest Hosts The Daily Show This Week
Under slavery, Blacks could not learn to read. Under Republican book banners, they, and the rest of us are not allowed to read what most matters in school.
Good News Sources
You can find this list in my queued Emergency Backup Diary, and in the body of various GNRs. I have sometimes picked one source to mine for a GNR, but today I am taking just the best of the top items on each site.
Niger, one of the poorest countries in the world, has managed to more than halve the number of women who bleed to death after giving birth in health facilities in the last seven years. Blood loss is the leading cause of maternal deaths in low-income nations - but it now accounts for only one in 10 maternal deaths in Niger, compared to three times that in 2015. BBC
UNICEF just released its latest figures on the decline in global child mortality. In the space of a single generation, the number of children dying under the age of five has fallen by 59%. Four low-income countries, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda, and 15 lower-middle-income countries, including Bangladesh, Mongolia and Uzbekistan, have reduced child mortality by more than 75% since 1990.
Deaths have continued to fall in the last few years too. In 2021, over a million more children made it past their fifth birthday than in 2015. Of course, far too many still die unnecessarily of entirely preventable causes, and there is still so much work to be done. That should not however, diminish what might just be one of our species' greatest ever achievements, and one we wish more people knew about.
Philadelphia Renters Facing Eviction Can Lawyer Up for Free
The city’s “Right to Counsel” initiative is based on research showing that legal representation helps keep people in their homes.
What went right this week: ‘positive tipping points’, plus more
Research fuelled climate optimism, fossil fuels hit a peak, and six lifestyle changes were shown to slow dementia, plus more
Academics from the University of Exeter in England have tipped the notion of tipping points on its head, claiming that breakthroughs in low-carbon technologies could trigger an unstoppable wave of decarbonisation, or what they call positive tipping points.
In research published this week, the university said that small policy interventions to promote electric cars, green fertilisers, and plant-based alternatives to meat could give low-carbon solutions the edge over their CO2-belching equivalents, unlocking rapid emissions cuts.
and
The world ‘reached peak fossil fuels for electricity
“It’s all over except the shouting.” That’s the conclusion of a report into the role of fossil fuels in the electricity sector.
Published this week, it suggests that the world has reached peak fossil fuels for electricity generation. It forecast solar and wind capacity to increase at least threefold by the end of the decade, “pushing fossil fuel electricity into terminal decline”.
The research was compiled by the Rocky Mountain Institute, a US nonprofit. It echoes similar findings by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
My experience as a high-tech global market researcher tells me it will be faster than that. (I have in the past been accused of writing science fiction rather than analysis.) These people know about science and technology, but not really about markets.
Meet the Sioux Chef who’s putting Native American foods on the menu
To publish his first cookbook, The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen, which won the prestigious 2018 James Beard Award for best American cookbook, Sherman had to delve deep into researching food systems and seeking the knowledge of elders, historians, and ethnobotanists.
Earlier this year, Sherman opened Owamni, his first permanent restaurant location in downtown Minneapolis in an area known to Native Americans as Spirit Island. The restaurant offers guests Indigenous dishes that do not include colonial ingredients like wheat flour, sugar, pork, and chicken.
Instead, Owamni serves ingredients such as wild rice, nixtamalized corn from Mexico, bison, lake fish, dandelion, blueberries, and corn ash.
Wood Ash Corn Nixtamalization
Absent Federal Oversight of Animal Agriculture Safety, States and Others Step Up for Change
States are extending OSHA powers, overtime, and collective bargaining while labor-driven programs center workers.
'Deinfluencing' Explained: Why TikTok is Over Overconsumption
You might be familiar with the dopamine hit that comes when making a new purchase; the thrill of finding the perfect thing that will make your life better, your closet more complete, or your mood momentarily lifted.
Gosh, it feels good. But it isn’t good for us — or for the environment.
Deinfluencing is a new social media phenomenon where users attempt the opposite of influencer marketing, swaying audiences away from making a purchase that they don’t need. The goal is to prevent overconsumption and remind one another that we don’t need certain products to be valuable or worthy of belonging.
Deinfluencing all boils down to one concept: Buying something is never going to make you a better person, a more sustainable person, or a more well-rounded person.
Oregon project lets farmers test drive electric tractors
Robert Wallace, an expert on electric tech, is offering farms in Oregon free test runs of tractors from California-based startup Solectrac and outfitting them with data-gathering sensors to prove the tech.
Companies like Solectrac and Monarch are producing models of small tractors meant for farmers of berry farms, vineyards, and hobby farms. These tractors offer farmers long battery life, low carbon emissions, and even autonomous vehicles from Monarch.
With increasing fuel prices, big and small farmers alike are struggling to power their fossil-fuel-fed tractors and work their farms. Some large farms wind up spending between $2000 and $3000 a day on fuel alone.
See the tractor section of my EV porn board on Pinterest.
What Could Go Right? 99 good news stories
2022’s human rights victories, environmental wins, and health and development milestones
Tired of all the doom and gloom?
Maybe what you need is a weekly dose of optimistic ideas from smart people. Our weekly newsletter What Could Go Right? covers constructive ideas for a better future and collects global progress news. Sign up now, and we’ll send you our reading and listening guide to help you understand the remarkable progress humans have made in just the past few decades.
1. After decades of stalemate, the gun safety debate looks like it might finally have shifted this year. The United States Congress took its first significant act on gun safety in nearly three decades in 2022, 45 new gun safety laws were adopted in states, and 95 percent of gun-lobby-linked bills were blocked.
- Good For All News (Jane Goodall’s site, with hopeful news about conservation and activism)
Hopecast
Scientist. Activist. Storyteller. Icon. Jane Goodall blazed the trail and changed the world. Now, she’s studying new subjects – humans! This brand-new podcast will take listeners on a one-of –a-kind journey as they learn from Dr. Goodall’s extraordinary life hear from changemaking guests from every arena and become awed by a growing movement sparked by Jane and fueled by hope. Join us as we get curious, grow compassion, and take action to build a better world for all.
How Russians, Indigenous people and Belarusians are uniting to resist the war in Ukraine
Antiwar activists in Russia are finding support and solidarity in a growing resistance network comprised of Russian diaspora, Indigenous and ethnic minorities and Belarusians.
- Yes! (a magazine that emails a newsletter focusing on one or two good news stories)
How Black History Paves the Way for a Just Black Future
I don’t have to quote more to explain that, do I?
- Warp News (a mixed bag from Sweden — too many paywalled stories, but some good free ones)
13-year-old cured of "incurable" cancer
By modifying the genes in healthy T cells, doctors produced immune cells that could kill cancer cells that no other treatments could even detect.
- Upworthy Positive stories on many different topics; daily newsletter
34-year-old man is learning to read on TikTok in series of motivational videos
His reading skills have improved so much that he plans to read 100 books this year.
Classified Documents
Another FBI search of Biden locations for classified documents
The search, like at least two others conducted at locations associated with President Biden, was undertaken with the cooperation of the president and his legal team.
Fine. Now, what about Trump’s various properties? Pence? Who else?
Science! Animals! Weirdness
We had some good science news above, including environmental progress and cancer. Today turns out to be a really good day for JWST, too.
All of these spirals and dots are galaxies.
He is actually a bull, of course. That doesn’t change the weirdness.
OK, no, a capybara is not a hamster.
Isn’t living in the future wonderful?
Funny or Cry
Salt Lake Tribune Bagley
Utah is on the whole a conservative Mormon state, but that is not true of its cities, especially Salt Lake. Pat Bagley is worth taking a special look at.
I just saw this one in my local paper, the Columbus (Indiana) Republic (no longer The Republican). They used to run the very unfunny Branco and other conservative cartoonists regularly, but they are getting better.
More from the DK Image Library. I didn’t know about them until yesterday, but some of us around here did: NotNowNotEver, rebel ga, Rikon Snow, annieli, Undazed Unamazed, Magnifico, samanthab, rktect, LieparDestin.
There are lots more of these in the DK Image Library.
Oh, lets just have something completely different.
Linda Ronstadt "You're No Good" Live 1976 (Reelin' In The Years Archives)
Programming Note
State of the Union address and Republican response, Tuesday, Feb. 7. Coverage starts at
- 8 pm on C-SPAN and MSNBC
- 9 pm on CNN, ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC News
- Estado de la Unión, on Univision at 8:55
- Estado de la nación, on Telemundo at 8:50
GNR coverage on Wednesday, and again in my next GNR on Thursday, after we see more analysis and reactions by politicians and the media, and any snap polls.
Be prepared for pointing and laughing at the Republican response. Have popcorn available. I recommend against drinking games, but bingo cards are entirely in order.