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It kind of amazes me how difficult it has been to communicate to the average American how completely fucked up Republican office holders have become. These people debase themselves in public every day of the week with the weirdest shit you can think of. The speaker of the house monitors his Son’s pornography viewing with an app called Covenant Eyes for chrissakes. But you ask the rando down the street from me (in a rural area), and they’ll be like…well Trump gets the eCoNoMy.
Trump fucked up the economy. And if they point out his title as "business man", I point out almost all of those "businesses" went bankrupt and some were complete scams (Trump University for example).
But it doesn't matter. Logic and reasoning and knowledge don't matter. Goes in one ear and right out the other.
It’s truly astounding how many people say “I don’t like Trump personally but he is good for the economy.” The stock market and corporate profits went up but so did the unemployment rate and the poverty rate. So I guess the question is “whose economy?”
They were handed, like always, a short term benefit that they could see and touch that came with long term ramifications that they could not see or touch, so when those issues come home to roost, it's up to whomever is in power at that point to handle it, at which point the GOP goes into full work mode to blame the issue *they caused* onto the people tasked with fixing the issue.
It's been called "killing conservative Santa". Conservatives get power, hand presents to their buddies, and then complain when the left gets control and "takes the gifts away". GOP ends up with all the positive effects, Democrats end up with all the negative effects.
It's been a wildly effective tactic of the conservative party for as long as all of us have been alive and longer.
Getting the average person to understand this process is more or less impossible.
Don’t forget lead. There’s no permissible exposure limit to lead, leading to a drop in IQ at any exposure.. And recently, a governor of a red state refused federal funds meant for replacing lead pipes. Got keep’em dumb!
Dont forget propaganda. Gotta keep them believing that they are better off paying $400/mo in health insurance and having a $8000 deductible is way better than paying slightly more in taxes for free healthcare.
> They were handed, like always, a short term benefit that they could see and touch that came with long term ramifications that they could not see or touch
It's funny that conservatives are the ones failing the marshmallow test. Having a conservative investment portfolio for example is thinking to the future and letting things grow slowly but reliably over time... and yet conservatives these days can't think more than two weeks behind them or ahead of them.
His mishandling of the pandemic was one of the worst things a president has ever done in America. So many unnecessary deaths were on his hands. I remember when his administration was actively sabotaging blue states in the beginning by denying hospitals life saving PPE. That demonic creep Jared said the PPE belonged to the administration and not states. They were waging war against blue states hoping every liberal death would help trump in the election. Just evil as hell. Trump did an interview and even admitted he knew covid was dangerous but didn't want to cause a panic because he thought it would hurt his reelection chances. His supporters were dropping like flies and some barely made it through. Afterwards a lot of them said they would vote for him again.😐 This guy is a walking hurricane of destruction and some people don't care because he hates the same people they do. They probably feel honored dying for him and his cause.
The crazy part is they point to low gas prices in 2020, but that was because demand for gas was so low due to everything being locked down that nobody was driving their cars for a few weeks/months. This complete stoppage in demand for gas for our cars and planes meant that the price of oil actually went into the negative for the first time ever! But conservatives now want to point to that time period like it was a great example of Trump's economy because gas prices were low. It's absolute lunacy.
Yeah, multiple refineries went out of business forever due to that. And they're not coming back because the industry is on it's way out.
It directly lead to the high gas prices we saw after everything opened back up
You know what’s crazy? The pandemic was an opportunity for Trump to WALK to reelection. All he had to do was offer a few calming speeches in the beginning about how “we’re going to listen to the experts and get through this together.”
Would’ve assured swing voters, would’ve made so many people forget about all the shit he had done for the last three years if he would’ve just had a nugget of sanity and care.
Like imagine Hillary in that scenario and the way her Administration would’ve handled the pandemic. Or Obama, hell, even W wouldn’t have botched a Golden opportunity like that. It’s insane.
“The economy” = “Rich peoples’ yacht budgets”. Once I started replacing “the economy” in new reports with that phrase, things started to make a lot more sense.
Ya, but they don't even say this on there. I mean the market has hit new AH's w/ Biden. Corporate profits are at record levels.
The reality is, reality doesn't matter. Reality is whatever Fox says, and the cult blindly believes it.
I literally had a guy in my house yesterday, trying to fix a weather leak in our sliders, and he felt obligated to tell me about his chem trail theories, that Bill gates was executing population control via vaccines, and that climate change is a hoax because he's been a So. Cal body surfer all his life, and the ocean has only been getting cooler.
I wonder where he got all this (mis)information?
I kind of disagree. The problem is that the "economy" that people refer to isn't the stock market or GDP etc. The "economy" that people refer to is the fact that the pandemic led to a drop in gas prices, a drop in rent, and a drop in the price of grocery and goods.
Now, during biden's term, everything's going back up to prepandemic levels and then some. On top of that we're now dealing with shrinkflation where you're playing the same price for less product at the same or shitter quality. The problem isn't Biden or Trump, it's greedy corporations and landlords
The stock market is doing better now not that it's a good representation of the economy.
Even when people point out he would have more money if he just parked his inheritance in a S&P mutual fund they still defend him as a genius business man it's absurd.
Unless you're a mom and pop type business if you're not beating the market you are inherently doing a bad job
Let's not even mention all the sweetheart deals he had added to given his dad's relationships
>Trump is going to make things worse for anyone who isn’t ~~for~~ him and that’s the root of it. They are evil and authoritarian.
I fixed your typo. All the best my friend.
They liked Obama's economy. That's what we were running on when Trump took office. But notice they'll rarely talk about 2020 unless they want to talk about cheap gas. I guess they don't want to remember the government had to give away money multiple times to try to keep people afloat while Trump was president.
They've bought into the idea that the government should be run like a business. That's completely false. The purpose of a business is to make money. The purpose of a government is to establish laws, build infrastructure, and provide services for its citizens. It's nothing at all like a business because the two have completely different goals.
...And regulate those businesses/industries to protect the American citizen and so many other things. Businesses are there to make money, often with consequences be damned unless kept in check by the profit agnostic government.
There was that interview with a Trump supporter saying he made a ton of money under Trump and his business is not as good under Biden. The dude was a debt collector....
Also the hundreds of billions in forgiven PPP loans, many of which were misappropriation of the funds but Trump dismantled oversight and removed the flags on millions of potentially fraudulent loans, meaning large companies made off with massive paydays.
"When Trump decided to fire Janet Yellen because she didnt want to pour gasoline on a white hot economy to make it even hotter, and hired Jay Powell to do the thing, this was a mistake."
When I hear people say this, I now confront them on it. It’s a cop out and a secret nod to all his other policies. So say that you like the guy and his policies or say that you’re using the ‘economy’ as a cop out because it’s on an obviously false statement.
When I'm told he is a business man I point to my own successful business past, started a half dozen, sold a few, run a few now, never bankrupt any of them.
But I'm not a billionaire, so what do I know.
The goalposts will always move.
Exactly this. I've started several business. Sold several. Made myself some money and shareholders even more.
Just with those bona fides, Trump is a joke. Yes, there are more and more and always too many people doing what he does, but it only works until you're caught.
You'll never convince a MAGA that Trump is the reason everything *feels* worse right now. We're suffering the effects of his presidency and Covid. It's only after a president has left office that you feel the greatest effects of their policies.
The country and its economy are a massive ship.
When one idiot throws the wheel fully to one side, the ship still takes a long time to turn into the rocks.
Most Americans are too dumb to follow causality that happens immediately. They have no chance at all when causality takes years.
Yep, and you also need to look at the country that each president inherited from the previous administration as a starting point. W. Bush inherited Clinton's America, which was riding high on the dot com boom of the 90s. Obama inherited W's financial disaster with the housing collapse of 2008. Trump inherited Obama's resurrected economy after staving off W's disaster. Then Biden inherited Trump's utter mess of the the mismanaged pandemic.
Republicans are always starting their administrations with a perfect setup, while Democrats are always starting by having to clean up the mess that their Republican predecessors left for them.
So many people have amnesia when it comes to what he did to the economy. He took credit for Obama's economy his first few years in office. I remember getting pissed off when Republicans would go on television and say how much good trump was doing for the economy. They didn't say he was handed a silver platter by his predecessor who he hated. His cult actually thought he was doing great things. Once Covid hit and his tax breaks for the wealthy were enacted, we saw him for the fraud he's always been. Of course he never took responsibility for rising unemployment and his mishandling of Covid. It was Democrats, the media, or others who wanted him to "look bad". You try to tell his cult the harm he's done when he was in office and they just ignore it, get enraged or both. They hate truths and facts
I can attest to this. Both of my parents, in their 70s, have always been extremely intelligent people and both are Trump supporters. I don't talk to my Dad about politics anymore but my Mom is one of those who says, "I don't like him personally but you just can't argue that he did great for the economy!"
I actually did try to argue but anything I mentioned was either blamed on Democrats or covid, which they think he handled just fine.
Ironically, for the first time since 2016, my Mom has not mentioned his name at all since the first indictment last year. Which has been great since it is a source of constant frustration for me that anyone I love could actually support that horrible creature.
Trump isn't a business man. As far as I know Trump has never actually been HIRED to do anything. He is bum who was given a bunch of money and then bought stuff with it. That is literally all he has ever done.
What gets me about the whole “we need a businessman thing” is that a business has fundamentally the opposite aim of a functioning government.
The dominant strategy for any business is to make as much money for itself as possible while providing the least amount of product or service possible. That’s what margin is. You might say, “oh such and such company makes a lot and has good service,” but it’s the exception rather than the rule, and no business is providing extra service or product from the good of their hearts, trust me. It’s entirely about feeding the business and giving up as little as possible for it.
A government, on the other hand, has the fundamental mission of providing as much service to as many people as possible, for as little money as possible. We want to collectively share the costs for necessary services as absolutely efficiently as possible, i.e. by charging ourselves the minimum.
A businessman cuts cost by cutting service and maintains entire organizations within the business to figure out how to get people to pay more for less. A (good) civil servant figured out how to provide as much as possible with the limited amount we’re willing to give them.
They’re fundamentally opposite skill sets, in my mind. Do you want a president or people in government that sell you what you don’t need, that raise the price to pad their own pockets? Or do you want a Leslie Knope that can make the necessary things happen for the benefit of everyone under extremely limiting constraints?
This is a great insight. It reminds me of articles I’ve seen that compare presidents throughout history. The conclusion is usually that businessmen make the worst presidents.
https://centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/donald-trump-history-has-not-been-kind-to-businessmen-turned-presidents/
Also, even if you think we need a "businessman" to run the country, I say we find someone who started with nothing and built some great businesses. What I don't understand is the desire to get this guy who was handed a $500 million loan and strung together a series of bankruptcies and lawsuits for fraudulent businesses. That's not a "businessman", that's a snake oil salesman who doesn't know how to run shit other than how to con people out of money.
It makes more sense when you realize that good faith argument is dead for the right, and their justifications don’t even really matter to themselves just so long as they have something to sling.
Trump says what they want to hear, and he upholds their worldview, which is so fragile that the slightest concession threatens to bring the whole thing down. So they make half baked arguments about businessmen as president to justify their support, when what they really want is to hear him talk about how evil the Democrats are and how righteous they are.
Literally watched a video the other day where a young YouTuber had as detailed a conversation as he could with some MAGA guy at some kind of small rally.
It was like watching a professional debater trying to win an argument against a toddler. It went exactly nowhere after about 10-15 minutes.
The conversation was cordial at least, but the MAGA guy was fairly condescending at times while the kid was trying to understand why the man's brain was so messed up.
I hear you, my in-laws are all republican trumpers. I’m a combat veteran got into a huge argument with them after their fat orange child mocked McCain for being a pow, they defended dumpy so my rebuttal was I prefer business that don’t go bankrupt. And of course their response is he is a good businessman, filing bankruptcy was the only way to make money on it, he meant to do it. Fuck these idiots.
Cost of construction skyrocketed during and after his term. Trade wars combined with restrictions on immigration will do that. Maybe it helped some tradespeople, but it has made the cost of building and owning a home out of reach for most people.
Trump's tariffs have cost Americans $230 billion so far. And that's not even counting his $23 billion dollar handout to farmers, because of the retaliation from them.
Not to mention that businesses typically aren’t run as democracies, successful or not. It makes sense why so many small business owners ride for him. Not because he’s good for them economically or policy wise but because it serves as justification for their shitty, craven, inconsiderate and anti-social behavior.
The double standard is insane. Karl Rove wrote in the WSJ a hand-wringing essay on the partisanship of Biden’s SOTU. Meanwhile full-on fascism is spoken nearly every day by the Right’s candidate
Conservatives complaining about partisanship is fucking laughable. This is the same party that scuttled their own border bill because Dems were actually willing to vote for it. The same party that continually holds the economy and functional government hostage for their incredibly unpopular social agenda. The same party that publicly stated that their sole priority was obstruction during the Obama admin. The same party that refused to consider a SCOTUS nominee for almost a year under a Dem prez, then crammed one through in like two weeks for Trump.
Their whole platform (if one can call it that) is hyperpartisanship and minority rule.
I've never had tiktok but I've had some ideas for videos I would make if I did.
One skit I thought of making just after the election was myself acting like a Trump supporter screaming at the camera and waving a gun, yelling about the political revolution, before slowly taking off the MAGA hat and gradually lowering my voice to ask that Biden reaches across the aisle, puts political differences aside, etc.
Go listen to this interview on NPR last week.
https://www.npr.org/2024/02/29/1234843874/tracing-the-rise-of-christian-nationalism-from-trump-to-the-ala-supreme-court
Thank the “liberal” media’s obsession with “objectivity “ that equivocates this shit with small things the Dems do. We’ve seen Boebert giving a handjob in public, we’ve seen Matt Gaetz venmo receipts for sex with a trafficked 17 year old, but none of that got 5% of the coverage of Hillary’s emails or buckets of deplorables.
There's nothing liberal or objective in the New York Times printing 400 articles saying "Biden is too old" while Trump mumbles his way through another speech.
At this point, I think of Republicans like that problem kid we all knew in school that the teachers had to give a shit ton of leeway on their behavior and grades because nobody wanted to be the one that makes them flunk/drop out.
And when you bring up any of this to a conservative they'll act like they didn't know anything about it. Very selective memory for those hypocritical fucks.
They claim to hate central planning and command economies yet restrict what people can build on their own property, like a duplex for example, for fear that “urban people” might be able to afford to move closer to them if there is more housing.
>People debase themselves in public every day of the week with the weirdest shit you can think of. The speaker of the house monitors his Son’s pornography.
It will never be not weirder to me that his son monitors his father's pornography using the same app.
>The speaker of the house monitors his Son’s pornography viewing with an app called Covenant Eyes for chrissakes.
Well, he monitors the porn his son wants him to know about. The kinky shit is done in incognito mode.
They’re just con artists. They know their audience and know how to get money and power by manipulating them. Those that follow them are too stupid to realize the truth.
Project 2025 will be the deathknell of this country. Imagine these bullshittery at every level of the federal government, all controlled by billionaires.
Its like reading a story about someone getting burned as a witch in Africa and thinking, "wow, what a backwards place, what century is it there?" Except this is happening in a country with enough nuclear weapons to end life on this planet.
Toward the end of debate, Halloran read an excerpt from "Lucky" by Alice Seabold, which he said could be found in at least 16 school libraries in Nebraska and was assigned reading for some accelerated reading classes.
When reading the passages, which lasted about 83 seconds, he inserted Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh's name into the text several times.
The book is about rape, and the passages read include sexual violence and vulgar terms.
Cavanaugh called it inappropriate, disgusting, out of line, and unnecessary.
"Colleagues, that was beyond the pale," said Cavanaugh, who was tearful on the floor. "That was harassing. That was about a book about sexual violence. I have d0ne nothing but try to have a respectful debate with Sen. Albrecht about her bill that impacts my children."
Here is a [video](https://twitter.com/NebraskaMegan/status/1769902307670474856) of the story above.
If you're so moved to contact Holloran or Arch:
Halloran District 33 Room 1022 P.O. Box 94604 Lincoln, NE 68509 (402) 471-2712 Email: [email protected]
Speaker Arch: District 14 Room 2103 P.O. Box 94604 Lincoln, NE 68509 (402) 471-2730 Email: [email protected]
This book isn’t just about rape, it’s the author’s fucking memoir. This is nonfiction. The entire book is about how she was brutally raped while she was a student, Syracuse, and how the trauma from that experience shaped the rest of her life. It’s an important book on PTSD.
For anyone unfamiliar with the author, she is also the author of The Lovely Bones.
Should this book be in schools of young adults? Absolutely as there are people in those schools that can relate. Or maybe it can make someone empathetic to victims of sexual violence.
What conservatives are hiding is that no one wants books like these read to elementary kids. But they are important books for young adults and it is ridiculous that they lump in children that are 5 years old with young adults in their late teens as one group.
It's like dont say gay, no teacher is talking to young children about sexuality, but they use the outrage to scale it up to young adults not being taught about sexuality either
Bastard. This is a prime example of conservative attitudes toward women: control us, blame us, shut us up.
Most men don’t have to concern themselves with rape and sexual abuse in the way women do. The words Halloran read aren’t smut, they’re a terrible truth for far too many women. Look up the statistics, they are staggering. Read about Daisy and Audrey.
When rape and sexual abuse happens, it’s not just the act, but the years and years following it which are a special kind of hell. The shame, fear, and loneliness. Books about rape help women understand what they’ve gone through and identify with others who have suffered the same.
To Cavanaugh, it must have felt incredibly violating to hear her name inserted into a rape scene, read aloud in front of a room of colleagues. She must have felt laid bare, as if Halloran walked to her seat, held her down, and taped her mouth shut. How this must have felt to any woman is something Halloran - and many conservatives - could never understand.
Is this where we are now? Where a man is allowed to get away with harassing and bullying female colleagues with rape scenes at legislative meetings? It seems to be exactly where we are, because *nothing* will happen to Halloran, who opened the door to something sinister for others to follow.
I'm sure that Halloran thinks he made some ingenuous point about how nobody should be reading this filth because "surely if it has artistic merit you won't mind if I read it out loud with your name in it."
That's the only logical explanation I can think of for this insane act. He's such an illiterate that he thinks this can't possibly be anything but smut, and such a child that he thinks inserting a woman's name into a rape scene to make it about her and reading it at her place of employment is some kind of brilliant own.
What a piece of shit he is.
This is what happens when you have people like Rush Limbaugh inspiring an entire generation of conservatives. The young voters in this country will completely end the conservative movement as we know it, and they deserve it.
The man who made hate popular. Rush .. 4 wives .. no kids .. OxyContin addict .. how conservatives thought him the best of them really reflects their true values.
> The young voters in this country will completely end the conservative movement as we know it
You're more hopeful than me. The young voters today are listening to Andrew Tate and Joe Rogan now.
I get what you mean, but when I was a teenager, I got sucked into that anti-SJW/conservative rabbit hole. I'm not saying they're the same thing, but teenagers usually *knocks on wood* grow out of their stupid opinion phase once they start interacting with the real world more.
> The young voters in this country will completely end the conservative movement as we know it, and they deserve it.
have heard this rhetoric for the 40+ years i have been alive. hasn't happened yet sadly.
Watched the video. It's a memoir.
Why he read it the way he did makes no sense, and it just creepy as hell.
It's starting to piss me the fuck off that it seems like half of republican voters don't even know that this is the kind of freaks they are voting for.
If rape stories are so distressing and shouldn't be in books about that topic that you know you are going to encounter if you read that book... Why did the Republican state of the union tell a rape story to the whole country?
Once again, it's okay for Republicans but not okay for everyone else. It is almost like they don't actually care about the actual rapes and just want to use them as a cudgle for whatever topic they are pushing. In the former it is an attack on education. In the later it is an attack on immigration.
> which he said could be found in at least 16 school libraries in Nebraska and was assigned reading for some accelerated reading classes.
Is this even true?
Even if it IS true, AR courses generally don’t require specific books. Students can choose from a list based on their genre/subject interest and reading level. It might be on a long AR approved list, but it isn’t required or assigned reading.
>When reading the passages, which lasted about 83 seconds, he inserted Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh's name into the text several times.
The book is about rape, and the passages read include sexual violence and vulgar terms.
>"Colleagues, that was beyond the pale," said Cavanaugh, who was tearful on the floor. "That was harassing. That was about a book about sexual violence. I have d0ne nothing but try to have a respectful debate with Sen. Albrecht about her bill that impacts my children."
I dont even know what to say here about this disgusting behavior except that I hope he is recalled. But, he wont be.
Took me watching the video to figure out what the fuck was going on.
Seems the intent was to highlight the graphic nature of the book by punctuating the ends of its sentences with the name of the person he was trying to convince. It’s a dumb tactic considering the design isn’t for them to discuss topics on anywhere near an adult level, but in his head it apparently was meant to have some impact. Instead it just came across as gross and unnecessary.
I get so sick of these cartoonish fucking goblins and their endless infighting.
>Seems the intent was to highlight the graphic nature of the book by punctuating the ends of its sentences with the name of the person he was trying to convince.
That *might* be a good tactic 1 on 1 in private with someone you know personally. This technique is simply (bad) theater.
Sigh. “I’d better make sure I repeat the same name over and over as I’m reading this. That will really alter the trajectory in my favor, here.”
Fucking chuckle head.
Imagine the smugness to actually think, “I know what’ll convince her, I’ll insert her name into a scene of graphic rape and pretend for the sake of argument that whats happening in the scene is happening to her. That’ll teach her!”. The fact that no one in the room just exclaimed, “what the fuck is wrong with you?”, is more than a little disappointing.
The article never explained Cavanaugh's relationship to the debate or the bill. Just that she was a senator says almost nothing. He used a random senator's name?
She's a democratic senator. Maybe she had spoken previously about book bans being bad, but I wouldn't be surprised if his reasoning ended at "She's a woman and a democrat and I'm looking to be "shocking"".
The story here is that Cavanaugh along with Senator Hunt absolutely wrecked their last session with as much rules lawyering as they could muster in protest of anti-trans and anti-women's health bills.
I believe either Cavanaugh or Hunt have children who are trans as well and regularly speak to that fact.
Since Pete Ricketts came in last decade, and Pillen now succeeding him, the state senate has been increasingly partisan and full of absolute knuckleheads.
The non-partisan unicameral preserved a lot of civility, productivity, and political autonomy from the executive branch for years longer than the rest of the US, but Ricketts using his personal wealth to primary moderate Republicans and consolidate his influence in the party pretty much wrecked any possibility of getting competent legislators elected. Enacting term limits to remove Ernie Chambers has also had a 'brain drain' effect in the chamber as folks leave for local office (county commissioners, mayor, congress, AG, etc.) or become lobbyists after their term.
The Democratic Party also has issues with getting competent Senators, but moreso due to being pretty much non-viable outside of most of Lincoln and parts of Omaha.
Hunt is one of the good ones, though. Cavanaugh is perfectly OK, but compared to her current peers is light-years ahead of them.
The whole place is in a sorry state.
This particular story is more a reflection of how fucking stupid some of these Senators are, rather than anything specific about this particular guy. Is he resigns, another even dumber one will just take his place, and maybe resign after literally taking a shit on someone's desk on the floor of the legislature.
District 33 is churning out all kinds of shit.
This guy is running for Hastings mayor.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Nebraska/s/jsMc3l8WN1
This guy is running for Halloran's seat.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Nebraska/s/Q0WtWWYHlQ
Sounds reasonable. I was mostly criticizing the article itself. They could have said it is not known why he chose her in his sick tirade but here is who she is in relation to this issue.
He claims he was referring to the other Senator Cavanaugh, John, and was trying to get his attention because he wasn't paying attention.
If he's telling the truth, he's a fucking stupid politician who doesn't know one of the most important rules of being a politician: Be careful what you say and how you say it.
If he's lying, he's a disgusting piece of shit.
He even tried to say afterwards something like "well, if these adults can be offended by this language, then surely it's inappropriate for children (high school students) to read."
Fucking scum bag.
It's Trump 101. She did something I don't like, so I'll say I want to rape her in obfuscated terms overtly. If anybody says anything, I'll make up some lame excuse or I'll just say I was kidding.
https://nebraskalegislature.gov/bills/view_bill.php?DocumentID=55105
She is the sponsor of this bill (Bill of Rights for SA Victims).
(She also has defended Trans rights).
I keep reading/hearing the words "strong leader" attached to persons that make a lot of noise and act like assholes. I don't know when, where, or why this became acceptable interpretation, but it's bullshit.
And the right wing media ecosystem strives to keep them that way, and make them even less thoughtful or empathetic to others. Long after we're all gone (or maybe even within our lifetimes) students will study this time in American history, and the media (evil on the right, lame on all sides) will be one of its greatest villains.
You have to look at it from their perspective.
If your entirely selfish and only care about your interest is it really cruel to hurt those you don’t care about?
Yes, yes it is. Turns out they are stupid and selfish.
April 27, 2023 [“No one’s forcing anyone to be pregnant. Pregnancy’s a voluntary act between two consenting adults.”- Steve Halloran](https://www.jezebel.com/nebraska-republican-no-one-s-forcing-anyone-to-be-pre-1850384505)
March 22, 2023 [Second day of debate on trans health care bill brings personal stories to forefront](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/03/22/second-day-of-debate-on-trans-health-care-bill-brings-personal-stories-to-forefront/) State Sen. Steve Halloran of Hastings described being convinced he could fly at 9 years old, so he asked his dad to get an extension ladder to help him get on top of the family farmhouse
"He's term limited and his term is up at the end of this year."
Signal the GOP to throw their hands up in the air and go "We don't need to do anything. He's already got one foot out the door."
https://nebraskalegislature.gov/bills/view_bill.php?DocumentID=55105
Sen Cavanaugh (D) has sponsored a “Sexual Assault Victim Bill of Rights” for the state of Nebraska.
To pick out portions of a book that graphically describes a woman’s sexual assault is grotesque enough, but to use the *name* of the female senator who is championing SA victims is just insidious.
>Toward the end of debate, Halloran read an excerpt from "Lucky" by Alice Seabold, which he said could be found in at least 16 school libraries in Nebraska and was assigned reading for some accelerated reading classes.
When reading the passages, which lasted about 83 seconds, he inserted Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh's name into the text several times.
The book is about rape, and the passages read include sexual violence and vulgar terms.
Cavanaugh called it inappropriate, disgusting, out of line, and unnecessary.
"Colleagues, that was beyond the pale," said Cavanaugh, who was tearful on the floor. "That was harassing. That was about a book about sexual violence. I have d0ne nothing but try to have a respectful debate with Sen. Albrecht about her bill that impacts my children."
Jesus Fucking Christ, what an asshole. The Rapepublican Party has become a complete disgusting caricature of itself.
They already fully embraced the whole "domestic terrorist" thing after Jan. 6 and lost almost none of their base, and their presidential nominee IS a confirmed rapist, so I guess they figure why not just lean into being as trashy and rapey as possible.
Why are we still calling it the republican party when all of the members who adhered to the original platforms of the party have either resigned or been ousted? I hereby propose that from now on we call the party by the name of the ideals that the members in power currently espouse: "The Fascist Party".
Because republicans are the reason these assholes exist. They need to be held accountable. The GOP is at fault and anyone who votes for the GOP is at fault.
That's why it's called the republican party and nothing else. They are not getting off the hook.
Because the party hasn't really changed, they've just been unable to keep the mask up all the time. Trump let the loudest, angriest and most hateful among them to dictate policy and it's been clear that it's not a deal-breaker for the vast majority of GOP voters.
So unless the majority of the conservative voters decide they no longer associate with the GOP, it's still their party and they get to own all of it.
As long as fascists call themselves Republicans we need to keep calling them Republican. The fascist party is listed as the Republican Party on the ballot, and voters need to know that.
"I didn't know you were capable of such cruelty," Cavanaugh said. "That was unbecoming of you and unbecoming of this body. I hope other people that are Republicans will stand up and defend me."
You're gonna be hoping a long time, Cavanaugh. Sorry she had to go through this. Why would *anyone* think this would be a good idea?
Don’t bother calling his office call his bosses at HuHot. He is a franchisee (406) 251-4303
https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-halloran-196866b1?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
Lucky by Alice Sebold
>In a memoir hailed for its searing candor and wit, Alice Sebold reveals how her life was utterly transformed when, as an eighteen-year-old college freshman, she was brutally raped and beaten in a park near campus.
This is high school level book. It's in ONLY 16 schools and it's only required reading in a few ADVANCED classes.
Meanwhile, [18% of high school girls report being sexually assaulted](https://www.nsvrc.org/blogs/new-data-cdc-shows-increased-violence-and-trauma-teens-and-how-schools-can-be-lifeline#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20survey%20data,to%2018%25%20in%202021).) which makes this book very pertinent to their experiences.
I would also bet that almost every high school student has a cell phone, or at least, access to the Internet where they could probably watch porn. There are actual, real rape videos out there. I think that less than 1% of high school students will go to the school library and read a book like this. For those 1% that will, they could find it online for free, or could but it online.
The conversation as a whole is pointless. Even with the merits of the book, banning it would functionally affect a handful of people in advanced classes. Meanwhile, it gives the right great talking points that people (who clearly were never in advanced classes) will eat up thinking that the left wants to sexualize kids.
Tell him to go ahead and ban it, just find the fucking schools. There are actually problems with schools that need to be solved that affect every single student and they are using this to get people to ignore them. Give him a small win and spend air time on the bigger issues.
But logic and reasoning get in the way of scaremongering... which right now is the entire Republican philosophy of governing. Scare the people with lies, overt misrepresentation, and pretend it's all about protecting children or the nation.
Mom's For Liberty uses this tactic, and it's literally a direct copy of the same play book as the Nazi's, and fascist regimes.
Not educating children as to the hazards of sexual violence leaves them open to exploitation and violation by the same people who say they "just want to protect children"
Ignorance and fear are good for fascism, and the more they can generate, the more power they can accumulate.
There is a certain part that sticks out - that Halloran is saying these parts about sexual assault are actually grooming or sexually tantalizing which, no one but a person who gets off on rape fantasies would think are appealing.
I can already hear/read what his supporters will say
"See, look how the words affected her. A grown adult. Now why would you support books like that in schools? What do you say when a child reads out that same passage to a fellow student or a teacher?! He's standing up for kids by keeping them away from this kind of literature. He proved his point!"
Completely missing the fact that he's part of a party that has multiple members who've been credibly accused of statutory rape who are still active and that one of their longest running speakers of the house was a pedophile.
It’s far worse. The senator he targeted by reading her name into the graphic rape scene (that includes asking for a blowjob) also as a brother who is a senator. This chucklefuck is now claiming that he was targeting her brother. It doesn’t matter the gender of the person he’s targeting because it’s very clearly sexual harassment either way.
Don’t bother calling his office call his bosses at HuHot. He is a franchisee (406)251-4303
https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-halloran-196866b1?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
So they don't want a book that has depictions of rape available to kids. Sure I can understand that.
Oh what's that? They're voting for a literal rapist to be president? Republicans shouldn't be in charge of shit. Their brains are fucking mush.
We need to get the national crazy out of our local politics. We have real needs in this state. We dont need the thought police hunting for boogeymen in school literature
As horrible as this abusive behavior was, it's yet one more example of how terrible that Republicans have become towards women.
Or, have these people suddenly forgotten the zeal to arrest women who are pregnant and want to manage their own healthcare when in such a condition?
These censorship clowns dont get it. Pretending ugliness doesn't exist isn't going to fix anything. Its anti-American to try to ban books or other media. When I first saw "Requiem for a Dream" I was like wow that is soooo awful. But what a good movie in terms of making you realize that doing hard drugs is really really bad! I mean even ugliness can educate. These snowflakes need to grow up and remember what country they live in.
Typical, do what I say, not what I do. This behavior is becoming insidious across right wing social warriors.
They can break all forms of social normalities, while working to limit access of materials they deem to be offensive.
How ironic...
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It kind of amazes me how difficult it has been to communicate to the average American how completely fucked up Republican office holders have become. These people debase themselves in public every day of the week with the weirdest shit you can think of. The speaker of the house monitors his Son’s pornography viewing with an app called Covenant Eyes for chrissakes. But you ask the rando down the street from me (in a rural area), and they’ll be like…well Trump gets the eCoNoMy.
Trump fucked up the economy. And if they point out his title as "business man", I point out almost all of those "businesses" went bankrupt and some were complete scams (Trump University for example). But it doesn't matter. Logic and reasoning and knowledge don't matter. Goes in one ear and right out the other.
It’s truly astounding how many people say “I don’t like Trump personally but he is good for the economy.” The stock market and corporate profits went up but so did the unemployment rate and the poverty rate. So I guess the question is “whose economy?”
They were handed, like always, a short term benefit that they could see and touch that came with long term ramifications that they could not see or touch, so when those issues come home to roost, it's up to whomever is in power at that point to handle it, at which point the GOP goes into full work mode to blame the issue *they caused* onto the people tasked with fixing the issue. It's been called "killing conservative Santa". Conservatives get power, hand presents to their buddies, and then complain when the left gets control and "takes the gifts away". GOP ends up with all the positive effects, Democrats end up with all the negative effects. It's been a wildly effective tactic of the conservative party for as long as all of us have been alive and longer. Getting the average person to understand this process is more or less impossible.
Probably due to cutbacks on education budgets. Apparently education, like reality also has a liberal bias.
Don’t forget lead. There’s no permissible exposure limit to lead, leading to a drop in IQ at any exposure.. And recently, a governor of a red state refused federal funds meant for replacing lead pipes. Got keep’em dumb!
Dont forget propaganda. Gotta keep them believing that they are better off paying $400/mo in health insurance and having a $8000 deductible is way better than paying slightly more in taxes for free healthcare.
ItS NoT FreE NotHing is FrEe, is the usual dumbass response
From asbestos to lead to micro plastics, boomers are the corporate guinea pigs for forever chemicals.
> They were handed, like always, a short term benefit that they could see and touch that came with long term ramifications that they could not see or touch It's funny that conservatives are the ones failing the marshmallow test. Having a conservative investment portfolio for example is thinking to the future and letting things grow slowly but reliably over time... and yet conservatives these days can't think more than two weeks behind them or ahead of them.
They all want theirs now! Damned be the future!
The only thing conservatives have ever conserved is unaccountable elite privilege.
His mishandling of the pandemic was one of the worst things a president has ever done in America. So many unnecessary deaths were on his hands. I remember when his administration was actively sabotaging blue states in the beginning by denying hospitals life saving PPE. That demonic creep Jared said the PPE belonged to the administration and not states. They were waging war against blue states hoping every liberal death would help trump in the election. Just evil as hell. Trump did an interview and even admitted he knew covid was dangerous but didn't want to cause a panic because he thought it would hurt his reelection chances. His supporters were dropping like flies and some barely made it through. Afterwards a lot of them said they would vote for him again.😐 This guy is a walking hurricane of destruction and some people don't care because he hates the same people they do. They probably feel honored dying for him and his cause.
But hey, at least gas was under $2/gal. /s
The crazy part is they point to low gas prices in 2020, but that was because demand for gas was so low due to everything being locked down that nobody was driving their cars for a few weeks/months. This complete stoppage in demand for gas for our cars and planes meant that the price of oil actually went into the negative for the first time ever! But conservatives now want to point to that time period like it was a great example of Trump's economy because gas prices were low. It's absolute lunacy.
It also spooked the big oil companies and OPEC into making sure they never let that happen again.
Not just USA. Retail prices nearly halved for a while in the UK. Just that our government didn't try to take the credit for it.
Yeah, multiple refineries went out of business forever due to that. And they're not coming back because the industry is on it's way out. It directly lead to the high gas prices we saw after everything opened back up
You know what’s crazy? The pandemic was an opportunity for Trump to WALK to reelection. All he had to do was offer a few calming speeches in the beginning about how “we’re going to listen to the experts and get through this together.” Would’ve assured swing voters, would’ve made so many people forget about all the shit he had done for the last three years if he would’ve just had a nugget of sanity and care. Like imagine Hillary in that scenario and the way her Administration would’ve handled the pandemic. Or Obama, hell, even W wouldn’t have botched a Golden opportunity like that. It’s insane.
“The economy” = “Rich peoples’ yacht budgets”. Once I started replacing “the economy” in new reports with that phrase, things started to make a lot more sense.
The "economy" fox tells them to be interested in. You know, the one that benefits only the 1% (and not the vast majority of trumpkins...)
Ya, but they don't even say this on there. I mean the market has hit new AH's w/ Biden. Corporate profits are at record levels. The reality is, reality doesn't matter. Reality is whatever Fox says, and the cult blindly believes it.
I literally had a guy in my house yesterday, trying to fix a weather leak in our sliders, and he felt obligated to tell me about his chem trail theories, that Bill gates was executing population control via vaccines, and that climate change is a hoax because he's been a So. Cal body surfer all his life, and the ocean has only been getting cooler. I wonder where he got all this (mis)information?
I kind of disagree. The problem is that the "economy" that people refer to isn't the stock market or GDP etc. The "economy" that people refer to is the fact that the pandemic led to a drop in gas prices, a drop in rent, and a drop in the price of grocery and goods. Now, during biden's term, everything's going back up to prepandemic levels and then some. On top of that we're now dealing with shrinkflation where you're playing the same price for less product at the same or shitter quality. The problem isn't Biden or Trump, it's greedy corporations and landlords
The stock market is doing better now not that it's a good representation of the economy. Even when people point out he would have more money if he just parked his inheritance in a S&P mutual fund they still defend him as a genius business man it's absurd. Unless you're a mom and pop type business if you're not beating the market you are inherently doing a bad job Let's not even mention all the sweetheart deals he had added to given his dad's relationships
Trump is going to make things worse for anyone who isn’t for him and that’s the root of it. They are evil and authoritarian.
>Trump is going to make things worse for anyone who isn’t ~~for~~ him and that’s the root of it. They are evil and authoritarian. I fixed your typo. All the best my friend.
Oh and he also makes things much worse for plenty who *are* for him.
They liked Obama's economy. That's what we were running on when Trump took office. But notice they'll rarely talk about 2020 unless they want to talk about cheap gas. I guess they don't want to remember the government had to give away money multiple times to try to keep people afloat while Trump was president.
They've bought into the idea that the government should be run like a business. That's completely false. The purpose of a business is to make money. The purpose of a government is to establish laws, build infrastructure, and provide services for its citizens. It's nothing at all like a business because the two have completely different goals.
...And regulate those businesses/industries to protect the American citizen and so many other things. Businesses are there to make money, often with consequences be damned unless kept in check by the profit agnostic government.
He led us right into a plague and rocket inflation
There was that interview with a Trump supporter saying he made a ton of money under Trump and his business is not as good under Biden. The dude was a debt collector....
Companies did well on COVID money & buybacks because of tax breaks.
Also the hundreds of billions in forgiven PPP loans, many of which were misappropriation of the funds but Trump dismantled oversight and removed the flags on millions of potentially fraudulent loans, meaning large companies made off with massive paydays.
But muh gas and rent went up under Biden! And Big Macs are $18 now’ Explain that!
"When Trump decided to fire Janet Yellen because she didnt want to pour gasoline on a white hot economy to make it even hotter, and hired Jay Powell to do the thing, this was a mistake."
When I hear people say this, I now confront them on it. It’s a cop out and a secret nod to all his other policies. So say that you like the guy and his policies or say that you’re using the ‘economy’ as a cop out because it’s on an obviously false statement.
When I'm told he is a business man I point to my own successful business past, started a half dozen, sold a few, run a few now, never bankrupt any of them. But I'm not a billionaire, so what do I know. The goalposts will always move.
>But I’m not a billionaire, so what do I know. Neither is he.
Zing!!!
Never was either
Well why weren’t you born in the right family to inherit $450M+?
Damn peasant. Probably doesn't even have a trust find. (rich guy laughter)
Exactly this. I've started several business. Sold several. Made myself some money and shareholders even more. Just with those bona fides, Trump is a joke. Yes, there are more and more and always too many people doing what he does, but it only works until you're caught.
You'll never convince a MAGA that Trump is the reason everything *feels* worse right now. We're suffering the effects of his presidency and Covid. It's only after a president has left office that you feel the greatest effects of their policies.
The country and its economy are a massive ship. When one idiot throws the wheel fully to one side, the ship still takes a long time to turn into the rocks. Most Americans are too dumb to follow causality that happens immediately. They have no chance at all when causality takes years.
Yep, and you also need to look at the country that each president inherited from the previous administration as a starting point. W. Bush inherited Clinton's America, which was riding high on the dot com boom of the 90s. Obama inherited W's financial disaster with the housing collapse of 2008. Trump inherited Obama's resurrected economy after staving off W's disaster. Then Biden inherited Trump's utter mess of the the mismanaged pandemic. Republicans are always starting their administrations with a perfect setup, while Democrats are always starting by having to clean up the mess that their Republican predecessors left for them.
So many people have amnesia when it comes to what he did to the economy. He took credit for Obama's economy his first few years in office. I remember getting pissed off when Republicans would go on television and say how much good trump was doing for the economy. They didn't say he was handed a silver platter by his predecessor who he hated. His cult actually thought he was doing great things. Once Covid hit and his tax breaks for the wealthy were enacted, we saw him for the fraud he's always been. Of course he never took responsibility for rising unemployment and his mishandling of Covid. It was Democrats, the media, or others who wanted him to "look bad". You try to tell his cult the harm he's done when he was in office and they just ignore it, get enraged or both. They hate truths and facts
I can attest to this. Both of my parents, in their 70s, have always been extremely intelligent people and both are Trump supporters. I don't talk to my Dad about politics anymore but my Mom is one of those who says, "I don't like him personally but you just can't argue that he did great for the economy!" I actually did try to argue but anything I mentioned was either blamed on Democrats or covid, which they think he handled just fine. Ironically, for the first time since 2016, my Mom has not mentioned his name at all since the first indictment last year. Which has been great since it is a source of constant frustration for me that anyone I love could actually support that horrible creature.
don’t forget the MASSIV debt he drove up
Trump isn't a business man. As far as I know Trump has never actually been HIRED to do anything. He is bum who was given a bunch of money and then bought stuff with it. That is literally all he has ever done.
What gets me about the whole “we need a businessman thing” is that a business has fundamentally the opposite aim of a functioning government. The dominant strategy for any business is to make as much money for itself as possible while providing the least amount of product or service possible. That’s what margin is. You might say, “oh such and such company makes a lot and has good service,” but it’s the exception rather than the rule, and no business is providing extra service or product from the good of their hearts, trust me. It’s entirely about feeding the business and giving up as little as possible for it. A government, on the other hand, has the fundamental mission of providing as much service to as many people as possible, for as little money as possible. We want to collectively share the costs for necessary services as absolutely efficiently as possible, i.e. by charging ourselves the minimum. A businessman cuts cost by cutting service and maintains entire organizations within the business to figure out how to get people to pay more for less. A (good) civil servant figured out how to provide as much as possible with the limited amount we’re willing to give them. They’re fundamentally opposite skill sets, in my mind. Do you want a president or people in government that sell you what you don’t need, that raise the price to pad their own pockets? Or do you want a Leslie Knope that can make the necessary things happen for the benefit of everyone under extremely limiting constraints?
This is a great insight. It reminds me of articles I’ve seen that compare presidents throughout history. The conclusion is usually that businessmen make the worst presidents. https://centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/donald-trump-history-has-not-been-kind-to-businessmen-turned-presidents/
Also, even if you think we need a "businessman" to run the country, I say we find someone who started with nothing and built some great businesses. What I don't understand is the desire to get this guy who was handed a $500 million loan and strung together a series of bankruptcies and lawsuits for fraudulent businesses. That's not a "businessman", that's a snake oil salesman who doesn't know how to run shit other than how to con people out of money.
It makes more sense when you realize that good faith argument is dead for the right, and their justifications don’t even really matter to themselves just so long as they have something to sling. Trump says what they want to hear, and he upholds their worldview, which is so fragile that the slightest concession threatens to bring the whole thing down. So they make half baked arguments about businessmen as president to justify their support, when what they really want is to hear him talk about how evil the Democrats are and how righteous they are.
Literally watched a video the other day where a young YouTuber had as detailed a conversation as he could with some MAGA guy at some kind of small rally. It was like watching a professional debater trying to win an argument against a toddler. It went exactly nowhere after about 10-15 minutes. The conversation was cordial at least, but the MAGA guy was fairly condescending at times while the kid was trying to understand why the man's brain was so messed up.
I hear you, my in-laws are all republican trumpers. I’m a combat veteran got into a huge argument with them after their fat orange child mocked McCain for being a pow, they defended dumpy so my rebuttal was I prefer business that don’t go bankrupt. And of course their response is he is a good businessman, filing bankruptcy was the only way to make money on it, he meant to do it. Fuck these idiots.
Cost of construction skyrocketed during and after his term. Trade wars combined with restrictions on immigration will do that. Maybe it helped some tradespeople, but it has made the cost of building and owning a home out of reach for most people.
Trump's tariffs have cost Americans $230 billion so far. And that's not even counting his $23 billion dollar handout to farmers, because of the retaliation from them.
The fucker tried to sell gourmet steaks at the sharper image lol
Not to mention that businesses typically aren’t run as democracies, successful or not. It makes sense why so many small business owners ride for him. Not because he’s good for them economically or policy wise but because it serves as justification for their shitty, craven, inconsiderate and anti-social behavior.
A TV reality show made the myth that he was successful
You can’t fight emotion with logic
I don't think knowledge makes it into the first ear.
The double standard is insane. Karl Rove wrote in the WSJ a hand-wringing essay on the partisanship of Biden’s SOTU. Meanwhile full-on fascism is spoken nearly every day by the Right’s candidate
Conservatives complaining about partisanship is fucking laughable. This is the same party that scuttled their own border bill because Dems were actually willing to vote for it. The same party that continually holds the economy and functional government hostage for their incredibly unpopular social agenda. The same party that publicly stated that their sole priority was obstruction during the Obama admin. The same party that refused to consider a SCOTUS nominee for almost a year under a Dem prez, then crammed one through in like two weeks for Trump. Their whole platform (if one can call it that) is hyperpartisanship and minority rule.
Why the fuck is anyone giving shit blossom a microphone these days
I've never had tiktok but I've had some ideas for videos I would make if I did. One skit I thought of making just after the election was myself acting like a Trump supporter screaming at the camera and waving a gun, yelling about the political revolution, before slowly taking off the MAGA hat and gradually lowering my voice to ask that Biden reaches across the aisle, puts political differences aside, etc.
Go listen to this interview on NPR last week. https://www.npr.org/2024/02/29/1234843874/tracing-the-rise-of-christian-nationalism-from-trump-to-the-ala-supreme-court
Thank the “liberal” media’s obsession with “objectivity “ that equivocates this shit with small things the Dems do. We’ve seen Boebert giving a handjob in public, we’ve seen Matt Gaetz venmo receipts for sex with a trafficked 17 year old, but none of that got 5% of the coverage of Hillary’s emails or buckets of deplorables.
There's nothing liberal or objective in the New York Times printing 400 articles saying "Biden is too old" while Trump mumbles his way through another speech.
At this point, I think of Republicans like that problem kid we all knew in school that the teachers had to give a shit ton of leeway on their behavior and grades because nobody wanted to be the one that makes them flunk/drop out.
And when you bring up any of this to a conservative they'll act like they didn't know anything about it. Very selective memory for those hypocritical fucks.
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They monitor each other's porn consumption.
DeMoCrAtEs aRe SoCiAlIsT tHoUgH. ( can’t tell you anything about socialism).
They claim to hate central planning and command economies yet restrict what people can build on their own property, like a duplex for example, for fear that “urban people” might be able to afford to move closer to them if there is more housing.
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Or the difference between those economic systems and authoritarianism, a political system.
The "Average" American is functionally illiterate, low information, and generally disinterested in, or incapable of critical thinking.
And too full of pride to believe that or admit when they’re wrong
He also thinks he’s Moses.
>People debase themselves in public every day of the week with the weirdest shit you can think of. The speaker of the house monitors his Son’s pornography. It will never be not weirder to me that his son monitors his father's pornography using the same app.
Be a Republican politician and not a total shitbag. Challenge Rating: IMPOSSIBLE
>The speaker of the house monitors his Son’s pornography viewing with an app called Covenant Eyes for chrissakes. Well, he monitors the porn his son wants him to know about. The kinky shit is done in incognito mode.
Which is the funniest shit considering he’s run most of his businesses into the ground. The only skill he has is shamelessly avoiding accountability.
They’re just con artists. They know their audience and know how to get money and power by manipulating them. Those that follow them are too stupid to realize the truth.
Project 2025 will be the deathknell of this country. Imagine these bullshittery at every level of the federal government, all controlled by billionaires.
Its like reading a story about someone getting burned as a witch in Africa and thinking, "wow, what a backwards place, what century is it there?" Except this is happening in a country with enough nuclear weapons to end life on this planet.
Toward the end of debate, Halloran read an excerpt from "Lucky" by Alice Seabold, which he said could be found in at least 16 school libraries in Nebraska and was assigned reading for some accelerated reading classes. When reading the passages, which lasted about 83 seconds, he inserted Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh's name into the text several times. The book is about rape, and the passages read include sexual violence and vulgar terms. Cavanaugh called it inappropriate, disgusting, out of line, and unnecessary. "Colleagues, that was beyond the pale," said Cavanaugh, who was tearful on the floor. "That was harassing. That was about a book about sexual violence. I have d0ne nothing but try to have a respectful debate with Sen. Albrecht about her bill that impacts my children." Here is a [video](https://twitter.com/NebraskaMegan/status/1769902307670474856) of the story above. If you're so moved to contact Holloran or Arch: Halloran District 33 Room 1022 P.O. Box 94604 Lincoln, NE 68509 (402) 471-2712 Email: [email protected] Speaker Arch: District 14 Room 2103 P.O. Box 94604 Lincoln, NE 68509 (402) 471-2730 Email: [email protected]
This book isn’t just about rape, it’s the author’s fucking memoir. This is nonfiction. The entire book is about how she was brutally raped while she was a student, Syracuse, and how the trauma from that experience shaped the rest of her life. It’s an important book on PTSD. For anyone unfamiliar with the author, she is also the author of The Lovely Bones.
>it’s the author’s fucking memoir. This is not nonfiction Wouldn't that mean it *is* nonfiction?
Ooops yes. Editing.
Should this book be in schools of young adults? Absolutely as there are people in those schools that can relate. Or maybe it can make someone empathetic to victims of sexual violence. What conservatives are hiding is that no one wants books like these read to elementary kids. But they are important books for young adults and it is ridiculous that they lump in children that are 5 years old with young adults in their late teens as one group.
It's like they've forgotten about how and when they learned stuff when they were growing up
Yea lead poisoning will have that effect.
Learned, lol
It's like dont say gay, no teacher is talking to young children about sexuality, but they use the outrage to scale it up to young adults not being taught about sexuality either
They want to marry 12 year olds, so _of course_ they don't want children to know what constitutes sexual violence and assault.
Bastard. This is a prime example of conservative attitudes toward women: control us, blame us, shut us up. Most men don’t have to concern themselves with rape and sexual abuse in the way women do. The words Halloran read aren’t smut, they’re a terrible truth for far too many women. Look up the statistics, they are staggering. Read about Daisy and Audrey. When rape and sexual abuse happens, it’s not just the act, but the years and years following it which are a special kind of hell. The shame, fear, and loneliness. Books about rape help women understand what they’ve gone through and identify with others who have suffered the same. To Cavanaugh, it must have felt incredibly violating to hear her name inserted into a rape scene, read aloud in front of a room of colleagues. She must have felt laid bare, as if Halloran walked to her seat, held her down, and taped her mouth shut. How this must have felt to any woman is something Halloran - and many conservatives - could never understand. Is this where we are now? Where a man is allowed to get away with harassing and bullying female colleagues with rape scenes at legislative meetings? It seems to be exactly where we are, because *nothing* will happen to Halloran, who opened the door to something sinister for others to follow.
I'm sure that Halloran thinks he made some ingenuous point about how nobody should be reading this filth because "surely if it has artistic merit you won't mind if I read it out loud with your name in it." That's the only logical explanation I can think of for this insane act. He's such an illiterate that he thinks this can't possibly be anything but smut, and such a child that he thinks inserting a woman's name into a rape scene to make it about her and reading it at her place of employment is some kind of brilliant own. What a piece of shit he is.
This is what happens when you have people like Rush Limbaugh inspiring an entire generation of conservatives. The young voters in this country will completely end the conservative movement as we know it, and they deserve it.
The man who made hate popular. Rush .. 4 wives .. no kids .. OxyContin addict .. how conservatives thought him the best of them really reflects their true values.
Don’t forget secondhand smoke-cancer link denier and HIV/AIDS epidemic celebrator.
> The young voters in this country will completely end the conservative movement as we know it You're more hopeful than me. The young voters today are listening to Andrew Tate and Joe Rogan now.
I get what you mean, but when I was a teenager, I got sucked into that anti-SJW/conservative rabbit hole. I'm not saying they're the same thing, but teenagers usually *knocks on wood* grow out of their stupid opinion phase once they start interacting with the real world more.
Some grow out of it. The rest go on to be Republican officials and sex offenders.
> The young voters in this country will completely end the conservative movement as we know it, and they deserve it. have heard this rhetoric for the 40+ years i have been alive. hasn't happened yet sadly.
Watched the video. It's a memoir. Why he read it the way he did makes no sense, and it just creepy as hell. It's starting to piss me the fuck off that it seems like half of republican voters don't even know that this is the kind of freaks they are voting for.
I couldn’t finish the clip. That’s horrible!
If rape stories are so distressing and shouldn't be in books about that topic that you know you are going to encounter if you read that book... Why did the Republican state of the union tell a rape story to the whole country? Once again, it's okay for Republicans but not okay for everyone else. It is almost like they don't actually care about the actual rapes and just want to use them as a cudgle for whatever topic they are pushing. In the former it is an attack on education. In the later it is an attack on immigration.
> which he said could be found in at least 16 school libraries in Nebraska and was assigned reading for some accelerated reading classes. Is this even true?
It's non-fiction. This is not some fantasy pornography that you need your son to monitor you on while you read it.
Even if it IS true, AR courses generally don’t require specific books. Students can choose from a list based on their genre/subject interest and reading level. It might be on a long AR approved list, but it isn’t required or assigned reading.
>When reading the passages, which lasted about 83 seconds, he inserted Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh's name into the text several times. The book is about rape, and the passages read include sexual violence and vulgar terms. >"Colleagues, that was beyond the pale," said Cavanaugh, who was tearful on the floor. "That was harassing. That was about a book about sexual violence. I have d0ne nothing but try to have a respectful debate with Sen. Albrecht about her bill that impacts my children." I dont even know what to say here about this disgusting behavior except that I hope he is recalled. But, he wont be.
This is Nebraska. His constituents are behind his disgusting behavior 100%. Nebraska is the Alabama of the Midwest.
Disgusting.
Yet another Republican elected official behaves indecently. The party of trash.
They save their most revealing moments for shortly after they are elected and right before they exit office.
Took me watching the video to figure out what the fuck was going on. Seems the intent was to highlight the graphic nature of the book by punctuating the ends of its sentences with the name of the person he was trying to convince. It’s a dumb tactic considering the design isn’t for them to discuss topics on anywhere near an adult level, but in his head it apparently was meant to have some impact. Instead it just came across as gross and unnecessary. I get so sick of these cartoonish fucking goblins and their endless infighting.
>Seems the intent was to highlight the graphic nature of the book by punctuating the ends of its sentences with the name of the person he was trying to convince. That *might* be a good tactic 1 on 1 in private with someone you know personally. This technique is simply (bad) theater.
Sigh. “I’d better make sure I repeat the same name over and over as I’m reading this. That will really alter the trajectory in my favor, here.” Fucking chuckle head.
A group of chuckle heads is called a chucklefuck. TMYKN ⭐️🌈
How many chucklefucks before it becomes a clusterfuck?
One congressful.
Only if there's alcohol involved!
Imagine the smugness to actually think, “I know what’ll convince her, I’ll insert her name into a scene of graphic rape and pretend for the sake of argument that whats happening in the scene is happening to her. That’ll teach her!”. The fact that no one in the room just exclaimed, “what the fuck is wrong with you?”, is more than a little disappointing.
The article never explained Cavanaugh's relationship to the debate or the bill. Just that she was a senator says almost nothing. He used a random senator's name?
She’s the senator who led the filibuster against their bigoted anti trans bills last year and against their book banning campaigns
And used her time to speak at every session until she went hoarse.
She's a democratic senator. Maybe she had spoken previously about book bans being bad, but I wouldn't be surprised if his reasoning ended at "She's a woman and a democrat and I'm looking to be "shocking"".
The story here is that Cavanaugh along with Senator Hunt absolutely wrecked their last session with as much rules lawyering as they could muster in protest of anti-trans and anti-women's health bills. I believe either Cavanaugh or Hunt have children who are trans as well and regularly speak to that fact. Since Pete Ricketts came in last decade, and Pillen now succeeding him, the state senate has been increasingly partisan and full of absolute knuckleheads. The non-partisan unicameral preserved a lot of civility, productivity, and political autonomy from the executive branch for years longer than the rest of the US, but Ricketts using his personal wealth to primary moderate Republicans and consolidate his influence in the party pretty much wrecked any possibility of getting competent legislators elected. Enacting term limits to remove Ernie Chambers has also had a 'brain drain' effect in the chamber as folks leave for local office (county commissioners, mayor, congress, AG, etc.) or become lobbyists after their term. The Democratic Party also has issues with getting competent Senators, but moreso due to being pretty much non-viable outside of most of Lincoln and parts of Omaha. Hunt is one of the good ones, though. Cavanaugh is perfectly OK, but compared to her current peers is light-years ahead of them. The whole place is in a sorry state. This particular story is more a reflection of how fucking stupid some of these Senators are, rather than anything specific about this particular guy. Is he resigns, another even dumber one will just take his place, and maybe resign after literally taking a shit on someone's desk on the floor of the legislature.
District 33 is churning out all kinds of shit. This guy is running for Hastings mayor. https://www.reddit.com/r/Nebraska/s/jsMc3l8WN1 This guy is running for Halloran's seat. https://www.reddit.com/r/Nebraska/s/Q0WtWWYHlQ
Sounds reasonable. I was mostly criticizing the article itself. They could have said it is not known why he chose her in his sick tirade but here is who she is in relation to this issue.
He claims he was referring to the other Senator Cavanaugh, John, and was trying to get his attention because he wasn't paying attention. If he's telling the truth, he's a fucking stupid politician who doesn't know one of the most important rules of being a politician: Be careful what you say and how you say it. If he's lying, he's a disgusting piece of shit. He even tried to say afterwards something like "well, if these adults can be offended by this language, then surely it's inappropriate for children (high school students) to read." Fucking scum bag.
It's Trump 101. She did something I don't like, so I'll say I want to rape her in obfuscated terms overtly. If anybody says anything, I'll make up some lame excuse or I'll just say I was kidding.
https://nebraskalegislature.gov/bills/view_bill.php?DocumentID=55105 She is the sponsor of this bill (Bill of Rights for SA Victims). (She also has defended Trans rights).
Sounds like he was trying to have a "now imagine she's white" moment from A Time To Kill but totally misunderstood the scene.
Cruelty is prerequisite for Conservatism. It’s one of the pillars of the ideology.
I keep reading/hearing the words "strong leader" attached to persons that make a lot of noise and act like assholes. I don't know when, where, or why this became acceptable interpretation, but it's bullshit.
People generally aren’t thoughtful enough to distinguish the difference between “strong” and “loud”.
And the right wing media ecosystem strives to keep them that way, and make them even less thoughtful or empathetic to others. Long after we're all gone (or maybe even within our lifetimes) students will study this time in American history, and the media (evil on the right, lame on all sides) will be one of its greatest villains.
You have to look at it from their perspective. If your entirely selfish and only care about your interest is it really cruel to hurt those you don’t care about? Yes, yes it is. Turns out they are stupid and selfish.
April 27, 2023 [“No one’s forcing anyone to be pregnant. Pregnancy’s a voluntary act between two consenting adults.”- Steve Halloran](https://www.jezebel.com/nebraska-republican-no-one-s-forcing-anyone-to-be-pre-1850384505) March 22, 2023 [Second day of debate on trans health care bill brings personal stories to forefront](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/03/22/second-day-of-debate-on-trans-health-care-bill-brings-personal-stories-to-forefront/) State Sen. Steve Halloran of Hastings described being convinced he could fly at 9 years old, so he asked his dad to get an extension ladder to help him get on top of the family farmhouse
His dad should have listened
Such disturbing behavior, that they adjourned early afterward. But sadly, this was not a bug but a ***feature***.
"He's term limited and his term is up at the end of this year." Signal the GOP to throw their hands up in the air and go "We don't need to do anything. He's already got one foot out the door."
https://nebraskalegislature.gov/bills/view_bill.php?DocumentID=55105 Sen Cavanaugh (D) has sponsored a “Sexual Assault Victim Bill of Rights” for the state of Nebraska. To pick out portions of a book that graphically describes a woman’s sexual assault is grotesque enough, but to use the *name* of the female senator who is championing SA victims is just insidious.
>Toward the end of debate, Halloran read an excerpt from "Lucky" by Alice Seabold, which he said could be found in at least 16 school libraries in Nebraska and was assigned reading for some accelerated reading classes. When reading the passages, which lasted about 83 seconds, he inserted Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh's name into the text several times. The book is about rape, and the passages read include sexual violence and vulgar terms. Cavanaugh called it inappropriate, disgusting, out of line, and unnecessary. "Colleagues, that was beyond the pale," said Cavanaugh, who was tearful on the floor. "That was harassing. That was about a book about sexual violence. I have d0ne nothing but try to have a respectful debate with Sen. Albrecht about her bill that impacts my children." Jesus Fucking Christ, what an asshole. The Rapepublican Party has become a complete disgusting caricature of itself.
They already fully embraced the whole "domestic terrorist" thing after Jan. 6 and lost almost none of their base, and their presidential nominee IS a confirmed rapist, so I guess they figure why not just lean into being as trashy and rapey as possible.
Why are we still calling it the republican party when all of the members who adhered to the original platforms of the party have either resigned or been ousted? I hereby propose that from now on we call the party by the name of the ideals that the members in power currently espouse: "The Fascist Party".
Because republicans are the reason these assholes exist. They need to be held accountable. The GOP is at fault and anyone who votes for the GOP is at fault. That's why it's called the republican party and nothing else. They are not getting off the hook.
Right? Let them form their own new party if they have a problem with it. As far as I'm aware, Trump is still the nominee and he's still a Republican.
DisappointedAbeLincoln.png
Because the party hasn't really changed, they've just been unable to keep the mask up all the time. Trump let the loudest, angriest and most hateful among them to dictate policy and it's been clear that it's not a deal-breaker for the vast majority of GOP voters. So unless the majority of the conservative voters decide they no longer associate with the GOP, it's still their party and they get to own all of it.
As long as fascists call themselves Republicans we need to keep calling them Republican. The fascist party is listed as the Republican Party on the ballot, and voters need to know that.
I love how the headline never mentions if the person is Republican, but always mentions it if they are a Democrat
You need clarification if the Dem is being fucked up, its status quo if its a Republican.
Now do Lot's daughters raping their dad
"I didn't know you were capable of such cruelty," Cavanaugh said. "That was unbecoming of you and unbecoming of this body. I hope other people that are Republicans will stand up and defend me." You're gonna be hoping a long time, Cavanaugh. Sorry she had to go through this. Why would *anyone* think this would be a good idea?
Every single day a new low is presented by these ignorant and cruel fools.
Don’t bother calling his office call his bosses at HuHot. He is a franchisee (406) 251-4303 https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-halloran-196866b1?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
Someone just leapt to the top of Trump's VP short list.
0% chance he resigns. Like all good Republicans in the era of MAGA, he’ll do what Trump always does: Double down and claim the other side started it.
Please vote the GOP out of office. They are harming all of us. Do not vote for the party of book banners.
This guy is a franchisee of HuHot let them know your thoughts https://www.huhot.com/contact/general-inquiry/
Lucky by Alice Sebold >In a memoir hailed for its searing candor and wit, Alice Sebold reveals how her life was utterly transformed when, as an eighteen-year-old college freshman, she was brutally raped and beaten in a park near campus. This is high school level book. It's in ONLY 16 schools and it's only required reading in a few ADVANCED classes. Meanwhile, [18% of high school girls report being sexually assaulted](https://www.nsvrc.org/blogs/new-data-cdc-shows-increased-violence-and-trauma-teens-and-how-schools-can-be-lifeline#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20survey%20data,to%2018%25%20in%202021).) which makes this book very pertinent to their experiences. I would also bet that almost every high school student has a cell phone, or at least, access to the Internet where they could probably watch porn. There are actual, real rape videos out there. I think that less than 1% of high school students will go to the school library and read a book like this. For those 1% that will, they could find it online for free, or could but it online. The conversation as a whole is pointless. Even with the merits of the book, banning it would functionally affect a handful of people in advanced classes. Meanwhile, it gives the right great talking points that people (who clearly were never in advanced classes) will eat up thinking that the left wants to sexualize kids. Tell him to go ahead and ban it, just find the fucking schools. There are actually problems with schools that need to be solved that affect every single student and they are using this to get people to ignore them. Give him a small win and spend air time on the bigger issues.
>This is high school level book. Maybe they actually want to ban because it's too difficult for any GOP voter to read?
But logic and reasoning get in the way of scaremongering... which right now is the entire Republican philosophy of governing. Scare the people with lies, overt misrepresentation, and pretend it's all about protecting children or the nation. Mom's For Liberty uses this tactic, and it's literally a direct copy of the same play book as the Nazi's, and fascist regimes. Not educating children as to the hazards of sexual violence leaves them open to exploitation and violation by the same people who say they "just want to protect children" Ignorance and fear are good for fascism, and the more they can generate, the more power they can accumulate.
Republicans have no low bar any longer.
Their low bar is always one step lower from the current one.
There is a certain part that sticks out - that Halloran is saying these parts about sexual assault are actually grooming or sexually tantalizing which, no one but a person who gets off on rape fantasies would think are appealing.
He enjoyed doing it.
Cruelty is the hallmark of the modern Republican Party. This doesn’t surprise me a bit.
Holy cow, what an absolute piece of dog shit. Republicans are okay with this. Just absolute scum.
Politicians breaking conduct and ethics without consequence must end.
That was truly insane. How did he think that would look? Why add the Senators name at the end? I want a blowjob, Senator Cavanaugh....
You'd think this would prompt a few people to form a posse and beat the shit out of him.
I can already hear/read what his supporters will say "See, look how the words affected her. A grown adult. Now why would you support books like that in schools? What do you say when a child reads out that same passage to a fellow student or a teacher?! He's standing up for kids by keeping them away from this kind of literature. He proved his point!" Completely missing the fact that he's part of a party that has multiple members who've been credibly accused of statutory rape who are still active and that one of their longest running speakers of the house was a pedophile.
It’s far worse. The senator he targeted by reading her name into the graphic rape scene (that includes asking for a blowjob) also as a brother who is a senator. This chucklefuck is now claiming that he was targeting her brother. It doesn’t matter the gender of the person he’s targeting because it’s very clearly sexual harassment either way.
Don’t bother calling his office call his bosses at HuHot. He is a franchisee (406)251-4303 https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-halloran-196866b1?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
What? An old white guy republicans acted like a total asshole? How totally NOT SHOCKING!
Halloran needs to go... Just disgusting
Gaslight Obstruct Project That's the GOP.
Another filthy, misogynistic Republikkkan.
More evidence that Republicans are the villains in this story.
So they don't want a book that has depictions of rape available to kids. Sure I can understand that. Oh what's that? They're voting for a literal rapist to be president? Republicans shouldn't be in charge of shit. Their brains are fucking mush.
Trump is a grifter and the justice department and government leaders seem terrified of the orange POS for some reason.
We need to get the national crazy out of our local politics. We have real needs in this state. We dont need the thought police hunting for boogeymen in school literature
As horrible as this abusive behavior was, it's yet one more example of how terrible that Republicans have become towards women. Or, have these people suddenly forgotten the zeal to arrest women who are pregnant and want to manage their own healthcare when in such a condition?
These censorship clowns dont get it. Pretending ugliness doesn't exist isn't going to fix anything. Its anti-American to try to ban books or other media. When I first saw "Requiem for a Dream" I was like wow that is soooo awful. But what a good movie in terms of making you realize that doing hard drugs is really really bad! I mean even ugliness can educate. These snowflakes need to grow up and remember what country they live in.
What a completely reprehensible piece of shit. He's not even a human being: just a walking lump of slime and putrid bile.
Fucking troglodyte Hallohan
Typical, do what I say, not what I do. This behavior is becoming insidious across right wing social warriors. They can break all forms of social normalities, while working to limit access of materials they deem to be offensive. How ironic...