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Yes, it was an assault on a broken system of democracy. As aptly pointed out recently by Timothy Synder, the parallels to the rapid collapse of the USSR (5 years, 7 months, 29 days after Chernobyl) are all too evident. The inability of a government to project a better future for its citizens after a prolonged stagnation can prove fatal to the government and many of its citizens. The rage and anger that resulted in January 6th, 2021, were predicitably the matches that lit the fire. All that was needed was planning and focused cheerleading for the rage to ignite.

The "monetization" of the political system has so totally corrupted and corroded the imperfect system of American democracy that the future is clearly at risk. Being politically involved should not mean having six fundraising emails a day from whatever political candidate or cause. It should mean being engaged in dialogue with elected officials about how things get better and what they are doing for their constituents.

Perhaps a small addition to the BBB bill might help. Let's impose a 100% exise tax on any federal political contribution totaling over $200 from any individual or related entity. The money could then be used to fund a public trust for elections and election integrity. Based on limited FEC disclosures, that would net somewhere between $3 and $5 billion per cycle. And, guess what, taxes require reporting and disclosure!

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I try to keep my spirits up, try to keep hoping this is somehow going to work out okay - but I am fearful that not going to happen, that it is already over. Trump keeps up with the blatant lies, and maybe forty percent of the population of the USA believes, and a huge portion of that group believe that violence in furtherance of their agenda is okay. Worse, here in Georgia where I live and in other GOP run states they have put people in place who will ensure that they decide election outcomes, not the voting public. I try to be hopeful for the future of American democracy, but in the face of present reality it certainly is not looking very likely.

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Hope you are well MS. I honestly think unless the AG shocks us nothing substantial will happen. He needs to be replaced with a pit I’ll for true Justice. Same with Biden. And most democrats. They need to be replaced with steel spines humans willing to get their hands dirty and finally go on the offensive against the fascist party of terrorist hypocrites. Until then we are doomed I’m afraid. It’s all noise to me. Every day is just more noise. Voting rights is #1. Period. I’m sorry but Biden is not strong. The orange cancer was just an actor that fed the lifeless soles that call themselves conservatives. There’s no such thing. If the Dems don’t go on offensive for rest of the year and win mid terms we are done I hate to say. Hopefully other countries will take fleeing Americans before we are wiped out. I think the fascist party will kill us before global warming does.

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We were listening live last year. I vividly remember standing in the kitchen and when Trump said he was going to walk with the crowd to the Capitol I laughed derisively and shared it with my husband. "Yeah sure. Is he going to ride a golf cart? Sure, he'll mingle with those people! Yeah, right!" Then things started to turn. I was surprised, although I'm not sure why. I had the same sinking feeling I did when the election was called for Trump. I don't think anything will surprise me about this stuff ever again.

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Nixon got away with it so #TraitorTrump figured he would, too, and so far he has. For justice to be served every one of the traitors who participated in the attempted overthrow of the US elections in 2020 and have continued to work to undermine elections by limiting voting access and pushing the Big Lie should be tried and executed for high crimes and misdemeanors. Remember how the Rosenbergs were executed for treason? This is worse.

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Hi Michelangelo, glad to hear your treatment went well.

Your program today was excellent, I was able to listen as I was driving up the California Coast (don't be envious, it was foggy and drizzly..)

I gotta say that President Biden grew a set and spoke out forcefully against the BIG LIE, would have liked to hear that last year, but better late than never. HAHAHAHA would have liked to see all the veins popping out on the BIG LOSER's forehead when he heard the speech.

I'm hoping the rest of the Democratic party wakes up and realizes the threat to our democracy and steps up. I think we have been so focused on Covid that we have lost sight of what a huge threat is looming with the Trumpers and his minions. Americans have been reminded today..

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Perhaps if you started with whyte people who are supremacists storming the former usa capitol, we can segue into folks not being thrown the book at because of the color of their skin. This is a supremacist nation and soon to be fascist nation. Now, keep in mind the uber rich funded the events

which occured a year ago and the subsequent voter suppression laws afterwards to insure white people never have to share this country.

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Today I am thinking about the families and the officers who died and were injured fighting to preserve Democracy.I am also trying hard to figure out where in the world I'd like to spend my retirement, unfortunately this country, which my father fought for in the Pacific and my brother died for in southeast Asia isn't going to be it. We no longer live in a Democracy, if we ever did. The corporatists have joined forces with the fascists in creating a country that is doing exactly what we were warned would happen. Since Reagan began the dumbing down of America, wee have seen the damage these people have done and, in some ways, it culminated in the events one year ago. Putin wins and Xi, who may be somewhat less benign, but nonetheless no less dangerous have taken over the World that we once knew. Trump is merely a pawn of the more powerful figures who now rule their countries by fiat. At this point in the US, the minority rules and will question any result that removes them from power. The revolution has already occurred and the 'good guys' lost as is often the case. I'm thinking Spain may be the place, other than the Catalans and the Galicians most Spaniards get along pretty well and their vaccination rate is in the 90s. They are rated in the top 5 in the world for healthcare and enjoyment of life. I have visited much of the East coast and found wonderfully welcoming people, unable to understand what happened to the US. Them and me both!

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January 6, 2022
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Excellent points! Thought about that as well, it's just that I live on the east coast and family would be easier to get to from Spain.

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I have friends that moved to Portugal and absolutely love it there!

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It is a very good place, I found the people all over the Iberian peninsula to be very friendly and it would also be great, thanks.

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The fact is, we are already at war with a crazed, evil, authoritarian cult. We need leaders who will fight against the bastards and put them down like a modern-day Whiskey Rebellion. These groups need to be infiltrated, undermined and destroyed. Garland is not up to the task. I also note that the Capitol Police need a lot more automatic weapons and rules of engagement to use them should such an obscenity be attempted again. I have plenty of popcorn ready.

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I’m late to the party on this thread but you echoed exactly what I was feeling last year. Hubby turned on TV because he is very civic minded to watch the electoral count and we watched the whole thing spiral out of control. Afterwards I was like you thinking Fake Bone Spurs was done and that this gave the GOP exactly what they needed to get rid of him for good. Shocking to see representatives STILL vote that night not to certify and then when McCarthy Buffoon went down to kiss the ring it was just unbelievable and realized then that there is no GOP anymore, just a money grubbing power grubbing racist misogynistic pile of garbage. So Fake Bone Spurs sat there for 187 minutes watching TV. I have no doubt Putin was also watching TV rubbing his hands like the Emperor in Star Wars.

We are hanging on by a thread and it is incumbent on all of us to stay with it, to think about what we would’ve done had they succeeded last year. But it’s hard, Mike, it’s hard….

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You hit it out of the park today on xm.

Personally I think a great awakening is going to happen and the GOPOP (party of putin) will have a come to Jesus moment. They may be traitorous rats, but they know where the life preservers are.

Thanks for being my voice

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I hate to admit it, but my husband and I are also convinced a right wing Christian Nationalist coup is more likely now than a year ago. We are prepared to sell our assets and flee, probably to Spain, if that happens. We speak Spanish and, if you have reasonable assets and income, it is relatively straightforward to apply for permanent residency there. That could eventually lead to citizenship in an EU country.

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Mike, I’m surprised you were as upbeat as you were given four years of GOP complicity with Trump, the razor thin hold Dems had in the Senate with members like Manchin, and institutional barriers including but not limited to the filibuster. But I don’t begrudge that you were hopeful that we’d reached a point where enough is enough. One of the most disturbing aspects of where we are now is that we are engaged in asymmetrical warfare. Trump and his GOP acolytes lie, we try not to. They break laws, rules, and norms, we try to adhere to them. We’d all like to see the Dems get “tougher” — but we wouldn’t be comfortable with them lying or breaking the law. We are straitjacketed in a constitutional system which has severe anti-Democratic biases and which give undue power to small, GOP controlled states. Biden won by 7 million votes but a shift of less than 50k votes in a few states would have given Trump a second term. Our room to maneuver is exceedingly narrow. Over the next year, we need to prioritize goals and work singlemindedly to achieve them. How to thread that needle should be at the top of everybody’s agenda.

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January 6, 2022
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Damn straight we need to fight for elimination of this archaic form of selection. Hamilton had it right, that electors should be chosen by the people, but he was overruled and they are chosen by state legislatures that are now be quietly (?) packed by local officials.

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For months now, I've been trying to mentally prepare myself for living in a permanent authoritarian fascist dictatorship beginning in 2025 (or sooner). Tell me, how on earth do I do that? Some friends have left the U.S. for other countries including my own son. I've been tempted, but I love Colorado! It will take some kind of miracle to get voting rights legislation passed and an even bigger miracle to have free and fair elections in many red states. I see the Trump swamp taking over the House in November and probably the Senate. I see them immediately impeaching Biden for no reason at all. At least no reason based on facts. Once they have control, they will NEVER relinquish it! Not without a civil war. I see many dark days ahead.

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I also know people who have fled the country. For me, being in California is sort of semi living abroad. In many ways we are like our own country. But the damage that could be inflicted by a fascist dictator is disturbing and does require consideration.

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Here in the Denver-Boulder area it feels like we live on an island of liberalism surrounded by an ocean of Trumpist sharks just waiting for the opportunity to devour us. Frightening times for sure.

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Yikes!

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Happy Patriots Day Everyone! As republicans rewrite history, July 4th will no longer be celebrated and January 6, Aka Trump Day, will be the new birth of our nation. I warned six months ago that

the biggest threat is the republican threat machine and now Garland gives a speech. It's like Hitler's army has taken over Austria, and we are now sort of realizing that something needs to be done about it. We can't have a 9-5 response, take perpetual days off, just fight this fight with normal Monday through Friday response. We have lost nine months, are almost out of time now,

and everything that needs to be done must be done, which takes a war-like(non-military) response. No more incremental BS. Unfortunately, it is up to the government to get us out of this

mess, but if we can all donate more now(yes, I know it never stops) for the next ten months and barrage our congress, media, and corporation with constant messages, (and stop buying Confederate cars ie Toyota, Nissan, Bmw, Mercedes, Subaru, Hyundai - I know they are reliable so buy a used one) this can have a large impact.

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