Every day is a new circus.

[annabenedetti]

[h=1]Update: We Found a “Staggering” 281 Lobbyists Who’ve Worked in the Trump Administration[/h] [h=2]That’s one lobbyist for every 14 political appointees, and four times more than Obama had appointed six years into office.[/h]
At the halfway mark of President Donald Trump’s first term, his administration has hired a lobbyist for every 14 political appointments made, welcoming a total of 281 lobbyists on board, a ProPublica and Columbia Journalism Investigations analysis shows.

With a combination of weakened rules and loose enforcement easing the transition to government and back to K Street, Trump’s swamp is anything but drained. The number of lobbyists who have served in government jobs is four times more than the Obama administration had six years into office. And former lobbyists serving Trump are often involved in regulating the industries they worked for.

Even government watchdogs who’ve long monitored the revolving door say that its current scale is a major shift from previous administrations. It’s a “staggering figure,” according to Virginia Canter, ethics chief counsel for the D.C.-based legal nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “It suggests that lobbyists see themselves as more effective in furthering their clients’ special interests from inside the government rather than from outside.”

 

[Arthur Brain]

White evangelicals fear atheists and Democrats would strip away their rights. Why?
Right-wing media is warning of a civil war — and urging evangelicals to stock up on guns

Of those white evangelical Protestants, we found that 60 percent believed that atheists would not allow them First Amendment rights and liberties. More specifically, we asked whether they believed atheists would prevent them from being able to “hold rallies, teach, speak freely, and run for public office.” Similarly, 58 percent believed “Democrats in Congress” would not allow them to exercise these liberties if they were in power. . . .

But evangelical Christians would strip away atheists’ rights

However, we found that a smaller proportion of white evangelicals would behave with tolerance toward atheists than the proportion of atheists who would behave with tolerance toward them. Thirteen percent of white evangelical Protestants selected atheists as their least-liked group. Of those, 32 percent are willing to extend three or more of these rights to atheists. In fact, when we looked at all religious groups, atheists and agnostics were the most likely to extend rights to the groups they least liked.

Conservative Christians believe their rights are in peril partly because that’s what they’re hearing, quite explicitly, from conservative media, religious elites, partisan commentators and some politicians, including the president. The survey evidence suggests another reason, too. Their fear comes from an inverted golden rule: Expect from others what you would do unto them. White evangelical Protestants express low levels of tolerance for atheists, which leads them to expect intolerance from atheists in return. That perception surely bolsters their support for Trump. They believe their freedom depends on keeping Trump and his party in power.

There's a snapshot of that type of mentality on here from the likes of ffreeloader and fomerly, Musterion etc. They're seeing threats and dangers that aren't even there. How many atheists, agnostics or moderates are in favour of curtailing the rights of conservatives or even far right evangelicals? Don't recall seeing much of that on here but there's sure a case of plenty wanting to impose their own religious curtailing of rights in reverse if given the chance that has a certain irony right there. The more extreme, the more the hysteria.

 

[quip]

There's a snapshot of that type of mentality on here from the likes of ffreeloader and fomerly, Musterion etc. They're seeing threats and dangers that aren't even there. How many atheists, agnostics or moderates are in favour of curtailing the rights of conservatives or even far right evangelicals? Don't recall seeing much of that on here but there's sure a case of plenty wanting to impose their own religious curtailing of rights in reverse if given the chance that has a certain irony right there. The more extreme, the more the hysteria.

It's simply a paranoid phenomenon where conservatives view any progression of rights, which hold no benefit to them, exist as a violation/regression from theirs. A totally arrogant and self-serving position if you ask me.

 

[annabenedetti]

There's a snapshot of that type of mentality on here from the likes of ffreeloader and fomerly, Musterion etc. They're seeing threats and dangers that aren't even there. How many atheists, agnostics or moderates are in favour of curtailing the rights of conservatives or even far right evangelicals? Don't recall seeing much of that on here but there's sure a case of plenty wanting to impose their own religious curtailing of rights in reverse if given the chance that has a certain irony right there. The more extreme, the more the hysteria.

It's definitely a trend.

"America’s conservative movement, having morphed into a religious nationalist movement, is on a collision course with the American constitutional system. Though conservatives have long claimed to be the true champions of the Constitution — remember all that chatter during previous Republican administrations about “originalism” and “judicial restraint” — the movement that now controls the Republican Party is committed to a suite of ideas that are fundamentally incompatible with the Constitution and the Republic that the founders created under its auspices.

Mr. Trump’s presidency was not the cause of this anti-democratic movement in American politics. It was the consequence. He is the chosen instrument, not of God, but of today’s Christian nationalists, their political allies and funders, and the movement’s legal apparatus."


--excerpted from:

Bill Barr Thinks America Is Going to Hell
And he’s on a mission to use the “authority” of the executive branch to stop it.

 

[Arthur Brain]

It's simply a paranoid phenomenon where conservatives view any progression of rights, which hold no benefit to them, exist as a violation/regression from theirs. A totally arrogant and self-serving position if you ask me.

It's bizarre. Some seem to think that they're being persecuted because homosexuals are allowed to marry et al or that going to church will be outlawed at some point. There's no basis for such paranoia but that just doesn't seem to matter to some.

 

[ok doser]

... conservatives view any progression of rights ...

iow, social normalization of perversion through force of law

which hold no benefit to them

rather, which said conservatives recognize as being dangerous to children, family and society as a whole

A totally arrogant and self-serving position if you ask me.

because your thinking is that of a child, unable to see consequences and outcomes until it's too late

 

[quip]

iow, social normalization of perversion through force of law



rather, which said conservatives recognize as being dangerous to children, family and society as a whole



because your thinking is that of a child, unable to see consequences and outcomes until it's too late

Perfect! :first:

 

[ok doser]

doser notes that quip's thinking is retarded:

... your thinking is that of a child ...

quip responds with a retarded post:

Perfect! :first:

sigh

 

[quip]

doser notes that quip's thinking is retarded:

quip responds with a retarded post:


sigh

Not up on current trends eh? :chuckle:

 

[Arthur Brain]

Perfect! :first:

:chuckle:

It's almost fascinating to observe in some ways isn't it? Unfortunately and like circus clowns, just ain't funny though.

 

[annabenedetti]

Dr. Bandy Lee, forensic psychiatrist at Yale:

“It does not take a professional to notice anymore that almost everything Donald Trump or his supporters say are projections (displacing unbearable thoughts and characteristics of their own onto others in order to disown them). They even project projection.”

 

[ok doser]

Dr. Bandy Lee, forensic psychiatrist at Yale:

“It does not take a professional to notice anymore that almost everything Donald Trump or his supporters say are projections (displacing unbearable thoughts and characteristics of their own onto others in order to disown them). They even project projection.”

You're projecting projection projection.

 

[ok doser]

Will the circus stay in town for four more years?

It's looking increasingly likely, as the poor hapless Ms. P's attempt at impeachment has failed to bear the fruit she hoped, and as the poor hapless Democrat party fields an array of weak candidates leading into the nomination.

Stayed tuned!