But only one side knows that it is a war. The other side thinks its a quaint game of cribbage among old friends.

They are fighting a war. We are still acting like we are still having a friendly game of cards over tea.

And by "They" and "We" I mean their elected politicians and ours. I think most of our voters know this is war.

been real proud of the Democrats recently and thought they fought like hell.

Russians are sure winning this.. They are very close to destroying the EU and Western Europe. and The US of A.

Putin is killing people left and right all over the world. And our government is complicit. What are we supposed to do? This is not the plot line of Red Dawn. This is something way more terrible, something no screenwriter could have imagined.

The US just suddenly got a problem closer to home and stopped paying attention. Their plans to reorganize the global geopolitical landscape are still in play.

We're in serious trouble.

"The Far Right Aims to Take Control of the European Union Next Year," Jonah Shepp, New York Magazine, Aug. 3, '18. Excerpts:
The past year has been a historically bad one for liberal democracy in Europe. Right-wing nationalist and anti-immigrant political leaders and parties took power, consolidated power, or made major gains in elections across the continent, particularly in central Europe: Austria, Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, and Hungary.

The governing bodies of the European Union have been a perennial punching bag for the European right, which has accused them of undemocratically foisting liberal values and open borders on member states without their people’s consent. Some nationalists, like the U.K.’s Brexiteers (and Donald Trump), see the solution in shrinking or dismantling the union. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, an anti-Muslim Eurosceptic nationalist and currently the closest thing to a dictator in the E.U., has a better idea: Take it over, and destroy the liberal order from within.

In his annual speech to a community of ethnic Hungarians in neighboring Romania last week, Orban, who has presided over the almost complete erosion of democratic institutions in Hungary, declared that next year’s elections to the European Parliament would be the moment the right-wing nationalist wave achieved its real victory over the liberal elites who are out to “transform Europe, to ship it into a post-Christian era, and into an era when nations disappear.”
>“We are facing a big moment: We are saying goodbye not simply to liberal democracy but to the 1968 elite,” in an allusion to the year a wave of left-liberal protest movements overturned conservative governments in a number of European countries..

Orban is sometimes described as a European Trump, though it’s really more accurate to call Trump an American Orban, as the Hungarian strongman has been around much longer than Trump the notional politician. Orban sailed into a third term after a commanding victory in April’s parliamentary elections — a win on which Trump congratulated Orban in June, to the dismay of anyone who still vainly hopes for the U.S. to stand up for freedom and democracy around the world.

In power since 2010, Orban refused to take part in the E.U.’s refugee resettlement program and closed his country’s borders in defiance of Brussels, building a fence along its borders with Serbia and Croatia in 2015.
> He has undermined the independence of his country’s judiciary and smashed its free press: This week, supporters of his took control of a prominent television news channel. More, http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/08/far-right-aims-take-over-european-union.html

Especially didn't believe it woukd happen this fast.

The only good fascist is a dead one.

claim that democrats practice "mob rule" and are unfit to govern. to the ecstatic cheers of his brainless cult.

i'm about shaking i am so pissed.

this was on ABC, but my roku, so i don't know what show. but after trump they had mcconnell, and after mcconnell they had kellyanne conway. what the motherfuck is that all about?

see how you can stomach to watch it. It's hard just to read.

I would think regarding what trump LIES about, though, that it will just inspire Dems to fight harder and GOTV!..

i just had it on while i was working and the first 2 soundbites were fast, muted it on mcconnell after being enraged by trump, then saw that conway was gish galloping and switched the channel.

no, i cannot stand it. i haven't heard so much as a sound bite from Collins's BS apologia. I find out what was said from DU, twitter, and FB. And late night comedy. I do try to watch news but it rarely works out unless it's MSNBC; this was ABC.

corporate "news" in Nov 2002.

They already have the executive and legislative..

Same thing is happening in Poland right now.. and elsewhere---- Hungary, Latvia..... Estonia? not sure yet....

God I saw this coming 2 years ago,,,,

If Democrats do NOT take over the House.. it is over....finished....
And even then.... it may be over...

And DON'T criticize me for 'being negative' or whatever.... This is reality..

But, I keep firing with what ammo I have......

It's time dems start waking up.

God, somebody tell "them." Although i have no idea what thet can do.

and know this. I don't think it's generally understood by the majority of voters. My strong hope is that we Democrats elect leaders who will recognize the dire situation we face and lead with the intelligence, gamesmanship and passion to negotiate our eventual victory.

And is that intent now irrelevant enough that we can convince 2/3 of states to undo it?

give each state equal representation. Senators were originally chosen by state legislatures. The term was set to 6 years to provide stability and keep Senators from influenced by populism. LOL!

But the tyranny of the minority aspect remains. How convenient.

White male superiority. All others are inferior in the eyes of the law.

This, of course, CAN NOT BE. Everyone must have the rights set forth in the Constitution, numerated and unnumerated. EQUALLY.

The Senators were appointed by the power brokers of the day (in addition to slavery). The commerce clause is not an originalist idea and there are many more. Indeed, where does the Constitution say Judges are to use an originalist philosophy in there rulings. It doesn't but Conservatives conjered that up to hide that they were legislating from the bench.

And we’re just figuring this out now?

We should have been going no holds barred, scorched earth, damn the claims of hypocrisy since the Clinton days. The Яepublicans have. And there hasn’t been anything close to an equal response. 2009 was the time to neck stomp those scumbags and instead we got passive “outreach” and olive branches and calls for bipartisanship that was never, ever going to happen.

They play ruthlessly. They play to win at all costs.

The first part was pretty much under the radar. After the demise of the Fairness Doctrine the gloves truly came off.

Our side never seems to see it coming and never seems to have the counterpunching.

They got themselves a game plan and a road map way back in 1970 and they have been following it ever since. And now we are starting to wake up?

Jeezus Keeeerrriiiist on a trailer hitch.

More like a realist alarmist

Politics is war by other means.

Rethugs have very much seen it that way since the Nixon years. And as sad as it is to say, we should too.

Someone is saying it. High time to wake up from the Coma and Play To Crush the GOP, Burn the GOP and Take All The Power from All Things GOP.

Has been discussing the spread of Authoritarianism for a while now as we've discussed here on this site ....

We need to solve the problem we actually have, not the problem we wish we had.

The only possible reason for what they are doing is to go back to 1776 when the Constitution was written and brand new.

It makes complete sense.

so I can easily remind myself to come back in the morning and read the entire article.

Thank you for the OP.

It isn't alarmist that the looonnnnggg game is absolute power maintained..its been a 30 yr long game, made even more real with the redistricting in 2010. They only need 34 State legislatures to pass the motion for a constitutional conv.

This has been a bigger worry to me than Trump, Kav, etc.....they are all kogs in a wheel that could end up with the constitution ripped up and rewritten. Even the organization of government and 3 separate sectors could be scrapped.

Mock Const. Convention was held: Sept 21-26, 2016
https://conventionofstates.com/cos-simulation ... There is a final report posted there.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/23/us/inside-the-conservative-push-for-states-to-amend-the-constitution.html?mcubz=0&_r=0

"So far, 28 states have adopted resolutions calling for a convention on a balanced-budget amendment, including 10 in the past three years, and two, Oklahoma and West Virginia, this spring. That is just six states short of the 34 needed to invoke the Article 5 clause."

"Article 5 places no limits on a convention’s power. Some experts note that the Constitution itself arose from a convention called to amend its predecessor, the Articles of Confederation — and tore up the document and started from scratch."


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-republican-constitution-amendment-20161205-story.html
The possibility of a convention dominated by delegates from a single party is "alarming," said Carolyn Fiddler, a spokeswoman for the national Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.

"There are no rules. They can just throw out the whole Constitution if they want to," Fiddler said. "It's the wildest of Wild West situations."

And another:
https://www.cnn.com/2016/11/22/politics/constitutional-convention-explainer/index.html

We have sat on the side-lines for far too long. Wyoming has a population of 563,767, according to the last census, and gets 3 electoral votes. That translates to 187922 people per electoral vote cast. California's population in the last census was 39.54 million (I believe it is over 40 million now) with 55 electoral votes. That translates to over 720000 people per electoral vote cast. That is beyond messed up. We need to start boycotting and taking radical steps to cut their source of power off. We stop buying frivolous (most of what we buy) things, and take our money away from the banks and Wall Street so the companies that support these assholes feel our pain. They understand money and power. The power we have is to hit them in their pocketbooks and to get out and hold them accountable. We need to start getting involved in our local politics and holding those who claim to represent us accountable. I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!

The long term effects of this is downright terrifying, not just here but all over the world. I fear what things will look like in less than 5 years, especially as Climate Change ramps up and causes fighting over resources, misplaced populations, etc. We are NOT living in a fun time folks.

I don't know what to do yet, except vote. Also living in a rural area makes it hard to march... I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop in some sense, though Kavanaugh brings that a LOT closer IMO.

It is time to point out daily what a right wing scam the Electoral College is. Minus that bizarre system no Dubya no Orange Doofus.

Even if Democrats retake the House, the Senate, the White House these millions of right wingers are not going to disappear in some kind of political rapture--they will still be here fighting and voting and obstructing. They do this because they believe it is their duty, their mission to stop the godless "libtards" and they don't need to be excited and motivated to get out and vote.
This is war without end and unless those on the Left stick together and are vigilant and vote as if the future of the country depends upon it, then the right will prevail and they will do everything they can to maintain their power and control.
We had better hope that Ruth Bader Ginsburg remains in good health and able to stay on the Supreme Court until Trump is gone otherwise he will be able to fill a third of the seats on the Supreme Court and it will remain solidly conservative for a generation.