139 Comments
Mar 1Liked by Robert B. Hubbell

I was listening last night to Adam Kinzinger on a zoom hosted by Illinois libraries and one of my main takeaways was fascists like chaos. They wake up in the morning excited by it while i, like many of us are exhausted by it. They are counting on us just giving up. We must not do that. Recognizing that they are creating chaos on purpose gives me the perspective i need to keep going. Kinzinger is one of my heroes.

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founding

True. And we are not giving up. Two of the individuals who have best elucidated the approach of authoritarians and would be fascist are:

1. Ruth, Ben-Ghiat: see her Substack Lucid and her many podcast and YouTube interviews, and her books.

2. George Lakoff: see his Substack FrameLab, yesterday’s episode being particularly important

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See Erich Fromm's "Escape from Freedom" (1941) for a great explanation of why people give up thinking. He wrote it about NAZI Germany but it fits MAGA like a glove.

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I will check it out JH !

There is also the nonfiction book by Milton Mayer, "They Thought They Were Free" in which he observes 10 ordinary German men's lives to try to understand how they became Nazis.

Perhaps this is a big part of the reason we will beat fascism this time- we have history to learn from.

https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/T/bo27509064.html

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I have that in my Kindle (very deep) library and forgotten to read it - time to get to it.

Thanks!

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I agree. Chaos is maddening. When I get mad I take action. Kinzinger is one of my heroes as well.

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Mar 1·edited Mar 1Liked by Robert B. Hubbell

It sounds like the court is more afraid of Trump than the other side with good reason. We all know who the treacherous-treasonous-traitor is, it is Trump! Therefore, the whole court or some members are probably afraid of his constituency attacking and killing them and their families. Treacherous-treasonous-traitor Trump leads the insane who follow him. There is no telling what they will do. I am glad that Tammy Duckworth put the IVF bill to a vote so people can see where their elected officials stand. Also glad that Biden has ads using Treacherous-treasonous-traitor-Trump's own words about the border as well as that of his fellow Republicans. MAGA Mike is out of his depth, and hopefully his state redraws the maps so that his district is not a sure thing and he gets ousted in November.

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The big challenge is communicating to voters and identifying who is for the banning of IVF procedures.

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Someone needs to run against him. If a Democrat runs for that Congressional seat, he/she may not win but he/she can bring attention to the issues. Johnson needs to be challenged.

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I agree. I know there is an organization working to fund Democrats in places where the Republicans are running uncontested and to fund them.

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Mar 1Liked by Robert B. Hubbell

Here, in Jackson, Mississippi at 1:00 p.m. today, I, along with others, will be meeting with Robert and Jill Hubbell at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, as they wind down their Mississippi River Diving Tour. I’m so excited; nothing will be getting me down today!!!

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Robert, did you chuckle a bit at Biden’s strategy of basically challenging Trump to have a discussion with him about the border? I thought it was brilliant and knew The Don would not respond. He’s too busy running around begging people for money to help him out. He is the proverbial guy on the corner with a metal can, asking for coins but in his case, he’s got a large bucket! I won’t be able to attend your get together with Jessica but I did donate to the fund.

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Mar 1Liked by Robert B. Hubbell

Thanks to ALL who are helping us GOTV in North Carolina.

I never plan to get a tattoo, but in the event I ever DO,

"BHA" sure sounds like something I would proudly wear permanently.

Anyone who wants to be able to keep the right to love who they want, have a family with who they want, and not have the government in their bedroom or exam room had better wake up and VOTE BLUE in 2024.

Project 2025 will take all your options away.

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I am one of the commenters who does not want to wait ten to twenty years to change the make-up of the Supreme Court. I agree with Mr. Hubble that the best way to do that is to get Biden elected and also have majorities in both Houses of Congress. They can pass a resolution to expand the court. We all need to make this a major issue during the campaign. We have to make enough noise about this so that it drowns out all the crap about Biden’s age and the misleading poll numbers. I am trying to figure out how to have peaceful public demonstrations in front of federal court houses to express how America has lost faith in so many judges and especially the Supreme Court. “Make Good Trouble” — John Lewis.

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I would love to see the SCOTUS expand, but it could be a long time before Dems have 60 seats in the Senate to pass that legislation. Surely no Republicans will vote for it.

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True. It's going to take some work. Thomas is 75 and Alito is 73. If we can generate enough focus on how terrible they have been for Americans, especially for women and younger people, we have a chance of getting them pushed off the court. If Biden gets elected he can flip the majority. The work we need to do is to keep the issue at the forefront. If the court sees that so many people will not follow their decisions they will have to do something. It seems impossible but it can be done if we make enough noise.

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Mar 1Liked by Robert B. Hubbell

I laughed out loud at this passage with Robert trying to dissect Trump’s word salad about languages:

“Trump's reference to “languages nobody speaks” may have been a reference to “Spanish”—a language spoken by 536 million people worldwide, 57 million of whom reside in the US. It is also possible he was referring to Slovene, the language Melania uses when yelling at Trump. But even Slovene has 300,000 speakers in the US—so it is hardly a “language the nobody speaks.”

While this is hilarious and witty as all get out, it probably gives Trump too much credit. He doesn't have a clue as to the babble escaping his lips. Another notable thing about his bullshit speech is that it was so full of lies that CNN pulled it off the air because their fact-checker couldn't keep up with the untruths in real-time. For as much as we rightly call out the media here, CNN seems to have made an editorial shift recently regarding lies in its broadcasts. Earlier this week, a CNN host argued with a Congressman on the lies he was spewing about the supposed “Biden crime family,” and now this. Both incidents were as refreshing as they are rare. Keep it up, CNN!

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It may be lies but unfortunately people either believe the comments or agree with them.

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You are surely right, Stephen. I know people who are the kind of MAGA supporters Trump dreams of, BUT the mass of independents, non-voters, and disgusted Republicans must be convinced about how dangerous he is, how he doesn't make sense, and that another Trump term would be a disaster for the country. Every crack in the facade of power hurts the Strongman and emboldens the opposition.

I note the mourners at Alexei Navalny's funeral today. Their presence will not topple Putin. But their honoring of Navalny will register to Russians and the world that Putin is not all powerful. Sending riot police to a funeral shows 1) your power and 2) your vulnerability.

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Yes, but it has presented the Biden campaign with yet another golden opportunity to call out this nonsense. Trump is unraveling in real time.

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I certainly hope he is.

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I laughed out loud at "Another notable thing about his bullshit speech is that it was so full of lies that CNN pulled it off the air because their fact-checker couldn't keep up with the untruths in real-time." Tfg's babble about "languages" was truly bizarre.

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Mar 1Liked by Robert B. Hubbell

Thanks for the boost, Robert! After yesterday’s bummer, I needed that. Biden’s got an uphill climb, but we HAVE to

get him over the top. To fail to do that is to fail our democracy. What would be left after another Trump term might not be worth saving.

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Mar 1Liked by Robert B. Hubbell

The more you accept responsibility and accountability the more true power you have. This notates personal power. Lose accountability and responsibility and what remains is dominance and supremacy. We have lost the integrity of the court since those individuals empowered with decision making are themselves corrupted. They have become political tools failing to hold themselves responsible or accountable. Thus, we have an Imperial Court. Belying their stated commitment to the law, precedent, tradition, they willingly override existing laws (without explanation) for political gain that will impact a nation and further divide out citizenry. Further, they too, will become superfluous, losing all power succumbing to the winds of a blow-hard, power hungry maniac for whom their stature will be of no consequence. So belittled are they, they seem not to notice the rapid, further decline of their body to total insignificance...except capitulation. A horror scenario.

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1. It's still not too late to file charges against the low hanging fruit -- Navarro, Bannon, Flynn, Scott Perry, Gym Jordan, Giuliani, Paul Gosar, etc. How about Ginny Thomas? None are immune.

2. The immunity defense does not work in civil cases. https://www.theusconstitution.org/litigation/blassingame-v-trump/

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Robert, I never disagree with you , but in this case I have to. We as American citizens can hold people accountable by voting for or against them in elective offices, but we cannot hold them accountable by finding them guilty or Innocent of a crime and, if convicted, meting out appropriate punishment. Only our courts of law can do that. The courts, and in this particular case our so-called Supreme Court, must do that for us in a timely (ha) fashion. You are right to urge us to vote in record numbers, but please do not let our courts off the hook to do their JOBS! I am not responsible for upholding, much less imposing, the rule of law.

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While I agree with you, I think you missed the point. There is no possibility that the federal courts will hold Trump accountable unless we defeat him at the polls. If we beat him, we should trust the courts to afford him all the process he is due as an American citizen. No one is putting that burden on you.

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Point taken. Too much to hope that he would be tried and convicted before November, which had been at least a reasonable possibility until now.

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Having a Justice on the court whose wife played an active role in trying to overturn a free election is a clear indication of how corrupt this court has become.

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That Thomas refuses to recuse himself is despicable, but more than that is the Chief Justice's complicit acceptance. Roberts should have demanded his resignation last year. Failing that, he should demand his recusal now. Robert's and Merrick Garland are both failures in my view when it comes to upholding the law and our Constitution. How much courage does it take to do their jobs?

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I think Garland went so far out of his way to be "fair" that he lost the opportunity to enforce the law. It also shows that if you have tens of millions of dollars to spend on appeals of appeals of appeals, no matter how frivolous, you won't be punished.

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Not sure he would have done anything if it had not been for the Select Committee forcing his hand. Sigh. As Robert might say, water over that dam. Look ahead and do what we can to elect Joe Biden and all down ballot Dems. (Isn't T running out of money?)

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Mar 1Liked by Robert B. Hubbell

In defense of Robert’s comments I don’t think he is letting “our courts off the hook.” He acknowledges the slow walking of the SCOTUS and their ability to hurry things along if desired . And yes Robert’s experience as a trial attorney serves his readers well. Delays are inevitable! It is the nature of the beast. And while everyone believes (hopes) Trump will be found guilty of criminal charges there are no guarantees a jury will agree. I have been called out for suggesting this but experience says it can happen. No trial attorney of any stripe will disagree and if they do they haven’t been around the proverbial block yet.

My position is this: stop with trying to analyze any of what is going on in the various trials. We cannot change anything. Even the campaign to write to the SCOTUS is a wasted effort - write to your representatives and newspapers or post on social media. Put blinders on and work in any and every way to get Biden re-elected. However for court watchers hop on over to Joyce Vance who does a bang up job of analyzing the various proceedings.

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Amen, Connie!

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Mar 1Liked by Robert B. Hubbell

Robert is not letting anyone off the hook, Jane. He is just reminding us that we cannot control what the Courts do. The only thing we can control is getting out the vote by reaching out to as many people as possible to remind them of the stakes of this election.

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My take on Jane's comment is that she is referring to Justice Roberts, not Robert.

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The SCOTUS needs a vasectomy.

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Mar 1Liked by Robert B. Hubbell

Regarding the Supreme Court's decision to hear the Immunity case. The court did not need to move with speed. They only needed to deny the stay. The fact they did not, in these circumstances, speaks volumes about the leaning of the Court.

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author

Good point.

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founding

Not denying the stay is what knocked me down hard. As I'm sure it did many others. I used to trust the Supreme Court a little bit just a little bit. And now I don't. What gives me strength these days is Navalny. If he could stand up to Putin under the harshest possible conditions we can stand up no matter how discouraged we might get. We can do this.

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founding
Mar 1Liked by Robert B. Hubbell

When Trump jabbers about languages no one speaks, the first that comes to mind is his incoherent rambling.

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Robert, I went on the Register Here link for the event you recommended hosted by ActBlue. I did not contribute, but I immediately got an email thanking me for a very large contribution. I wrote ActBlue and received a message that I would hear back in 7-10 days, which is obviously not going to help me. I then called my credit card company. A request to pay The supposed contribution had already been submitted (within minutes!). I had to cancel my credit card to stop payment.

I believe you need to know that this fraud is happening, I don’t know how and perhaps I am the only person to whom it has happened, but I know you do not want to be associated with a fraud practice. Thank you.

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Mar 1·edited Mar 1Author

Contest the charge on your credit card and stop the payment. Act Blue will then have to respond with evidence that the charge is legitimate.

I just re-read you note where you said that you had to cancel your credit card to stop payment. That is not the law. Any consumer can contest a charge on their credit card without having to cancel your credit card.

See this explanation from the Federal Trade Commission. https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/using-credit-cards-and-disputing-charges#exercise

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Can anybody offer an explanation or reassurance on Nancy's ActBlue situation. This sounds serious?

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Mar 1·edited Mar 1Author

Hi, Patrick. I checked the link personally and did not experience the same issue. Nearly three hundred people have clicked on the link and I have received only report like Nancy's. I obviously don't know what happened, but one possible explanation is that she inadvertently clicked on a "contribute" button and is already registered with Act Blue, so that's all it took to contribute. Just a surmise on my part.

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Thanks, Robert. Reassuring. I will follow through with support.

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FYI - Mine went through without a hitch using paypal.

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I clicked on the link and the same donation page I get every time I donate popped up. The event is clearly stated with other donors listed. There are a few steps that need to be taken before a donation is made. I go through PayPal even though Act Blue has my info. I have been donating through them since the beginning and have never had a problem.

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Yikes!

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Hi, Kathy. See my explanation above. Let's not jump to conclusions that Act Blue is making fraudulent charges. There are other innocent explanations.

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I'm not jumping to conclusions about Act Blue. I just thought you mentioned a different way to donate to get into the $15,000 match effort.

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Yikes, Nancy. I didn't hae that happen (yet at least), but the link takes me to a donation page instead of a registration page.

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founding

Same here. The link took me to a donation page, where I made a one-time donation and then got the link to sign up for the Zoom event.

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Trump’s “language” is the only one I am aware of which nobody else speaks. And we thank the Universe for that bit of grace.

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I'd love to see some reader comments that would help me be more informed about the Senator from Mississippi. Robert wrote: "Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi blocked unanimous consent, claiming that the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision did not “ban” IVF and that Senator Duckworth’s bill was a “vast overreach.” Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana - all trying to control women so that they can re-create Gilead in the old Confederacy. Or so it appears from here.

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I live in Mississippi, and the consensus on Hyde-Smith is that she's dumb as a box of hammers and easily manipulated. She was a Democrat once and was lured away by power.

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"You can have her

I don't want her

She didn't love me

Anyway..."

(apologies to Bill Cook, who wrote the song; Waylon Jennings had a great version!)

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dumb as a box of hammers 🤣 A much-needed chuckle

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....by power and money

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“Dumb as a box of hammers.” That’s a good one.😊🙏

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Sen Cindy-Hyde Smith is a “Christian”.

How the Christian Right Became So Hostile To IVF⬇️

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/02/ivf-anti-abortion-catholic-church/

“The hostility of many of these activists is motivated by their perception of assisted reproduction as a threat to traditional family structures—largely because the techniques can help LGBTQ people form families”

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She’s likely been told that and acts on it, but it gives her way too much credit to say that she thinks that. It's way too complex a thought for her. She does, however, hate LGBTQ persons.

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founding

Thanks for linking to this article. Jessica Craven also highlighted it in her CWCW Substack. It's a helpful explainer article.

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Cindy Hyde-Smith was elected to the Mississippi Senate in 2000 and served until 2012, when she was elected Commissioner of Agriculture. In March of 2018, she was appointed, by then Governor Phil Bryant, to fill the unexpired term of longtime Republican Senator Thad Cochran. In a November 2018 Special Election, she defeated Democrat Mike Espy to claim her current seat. At a campaign rally in northern Mississippi staged by a prominent Cattle Rancher, she is famously known for saying to a TV reporter, “If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row”! That’s our Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith! Some, refer to her as fondly, as Ku Klux Cindy!

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Sheesh! I remember the public hanging comment. Is she up for re-election? Who would run against her? I'd like to contribute to their campaign.

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Unfortunately, she doesn’t run again until 2026.

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Thanks for the info. I'll be saving my pennies 'til then.

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Please do…we need all the help we can get!

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Ku Klux Cindy. Bet she's no help to fellow women and their rights to health care of their choice. No doubt fits right in with Moms for Liberty though.

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100%!

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