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“Death To America.”

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The net result of one political party which lost big and finds itself leaderless, coupled with another political party which finds its leader lost, is mayhem and chaos, which spirals into hate and villianization. And, possibly, violence.

Welcome to what’s left of the red-state white-hot summer of hate, homophobia, racism, bigotry, Islamophobia, xenophobia, and any other “-ism,” “-ia,” and “-y,” you can place atop your particular personal prejudices, or, “theirs.”

Today, the nine-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, America finds itself more polarized, divided, angry, and on the brink of a national nervous breakdown than we were when the twin towers, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania all fell victim to the worst attack on U.S. soil — that wasn’t self-inflicted during our civil war. Or, from the British during our Revolutionary War.

How did we get here?

Well, here are the Cliff notes.

Decades ago, conservatives forgot what being a conservative was really about.

They abused their power and spent our money like it was, well, our money. And not theirs.

The Democrats were born without a spine and spent far too many of the Bush 43 years pretending what Republicans were saying was true. Especially about Democrats. And, you know Saddam Hussein. And WMD. And deregulation. And housing. And Iran. And oil.

George W. Bush sucked.

America let him.

(Probably because they all wanted to have a beer with him. Go figure.)

The mainstream media helped.

The economy melted down.

A lot of people saw their savings, 401k’s, and jobs go up in smoke, thanks to the unmitigated greed of a few people called “bankers,” “financial analysts,” “brokers,” and “money managers.”

Some of those people who saw their savings, 401k’s, and jobs go up in smoke realized they shared the blame for allowing politicians to let all this happen. But a few didn’t want to take the blame, so they got angry and formed a “Tea Party” because it’s really easy to blame some young black guy who has more smarts in his pinky finger than they do in their, um, pinky fingers. Collectively.

The Tea Party bosses got lots of money from scary capitalists like the Koch Brothers, even though the Tea Party members didn’t know it.

Because stupid people think it’s OK to say and do stupid things, the Tea Party started to say and do stupid things, like calling the president names, like “socialist,” “marxist,” “communist,” using the “N” word, making really bad signs, carrying guns, and getting together at rallies with folding picnic chairs, and yelling racial and sexual slurs. A lot.

Then, almost a year after it was front page news, the Tea Party realized a group of peaceful Muslims wanted to live the American dream of owning real estate and putting a really big building on a really small piece of land, which they owned and were in the process of adding on to, and this got the Tea Party people really scared, because it happened to be in “New York City,” two blocks from where “those people” bombed us nine years ago. (Never mind the fact that “New York City” isn’t part of the “real America.”) And those Tea Party folks thought it felt good to blame innocent people with names they didn’t like but sounded like their president’s name, (“Barack HUSSEIN Obama!”) whom they also didn’t like, and, well, everybody else in their klan was doing it so, hey, why not?

Deposition of Pastor Terry Jones

While all this was happening, Terry Jones, a so-called “preacher” with an eBay furniture business he operates out of his church, who uses members of his congregation for unpaid labor, who preaches family values yet won’t talk to his own daughter, decided it would be cool to be on the T.V. like those other big ministers, and so his god “told” him that Florida sounded like a great place to hold an international event. Since he didn’t like Muslims he decided their holy book was an easy target and he could make some money and become famous by burning books, and even though he had never even read the Koran, it must be “of the devil,” just like that old-time religion of 1.5 billion Muslims. He thought he heard his god say this to him, so he decided to throw a book-burning party and name it, “International Burn A Koran Day.”

And, what better day to use than 9/11?

So, that’s how we got here.

Any questions?

Oh, yeah, as to “Death To America?”

Deposition of Pastor Terry Jones

It’s what the radical folks in the Middle East say, because they hear megalomaniacs like some Florida preacher say he’s going to burn their holyist of holy books. It’s what the radical folks in the Middle East say, because we invade their countries, kill their families and rape their women and children, claim they have weapons of mass destruction, torture them, say their religion is “of the devil,” yet we claim we are civilized, but show no regard for them as human beings.

It’s what the radical folks in the Middle East say. Just like what a radical preacher in a tiny Florida town says about them. Just like what radical American politicians, like Michele Bachmann, who, about Islam, say, “Not all cultures are equal. Not all values are equal.” Or radical American politicians, like John McCain, who say, “Bomb, bomb Iran.”

“Bomb, bomb Iran.”

“Death to America.”

What’s the difference?

“Death To America,” if it comes, will be self-inflicted. It will come not at the hands of those outside America, but at the hands of all those in America, who claim to love their country, yet hate most everyone in it.

The people who attacked America on 9/11 will have won when we have become hateful and scared. But ask yourself, when we threaten to burn Korans, have we become hateful and scared? When we try to stop a religious community center from being built because it’s Islamic, yet welcoming of all faiths, have we become hateful and scared? When a radical Christian church that explicitly hates Muslims, Mormons and gays is launched, also two blocks from Ground Zero, yet goes unnoticed, have we become hateful and scared?

This is an old, old story. We are merely the latest players in this war as old as “our” Bible — and we will never be able to end it if we don’t stop threatening to burn theirs. We are never going to end it if we continue to invade and occupy other countries, treat Islam as if it’s “of the devil,” and treat Muslims as if they are “of the devil.” We are never going to end it if we protest their right to build a mosque, or a community. We are never going to end it if we don’t stop acting like Americans, and start acting like America.

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‘He Sued to Block Kids From Getting SNAP’: Trump Torched for Biblical Defense of Children

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November 13, 2025

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President Donald Trump came under fire on Thursday after using the Bible to call for protecting children during an event with First Lady Melania Trump.

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“The Bible tells us that one of the measures of any society is how it cares for vulnerable children and orphans,” President Trump told the assembled audience in the East Room of the White House.

“So important, it is so big in the Bible, so, as we make America great again, we are going to protect American children in foster care.”

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Critics were quick to chastise the president, whose administration has been fighting all the way to the Supreme Court to block funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

“You literally fought in court to strip families of food assistance,” declared California Governor Gavin Newsom.

“Your ICE agents pepper sprayed a baby last week,” charged House Homeland Security Committee Democrats.

“He sued to block kids from getting SNAP benefits just days ago,” wrote The Lincoln Project.

The Friendly Atheist’s Hemant Mehta posted a headline that read: “USAID cuts may lead to more than 14 million deaths globally, including 4.5 million children under 5 by 2030, researchers say.”

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‘Concepts of a Plan’: White House and GOP Under Fire for Health Care Cost Crisis

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It took congressional Democrats more than a year of work — plus several years of prior policy development — to create the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Now, Republicans are scrambling to fix it after passing President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which stripped away the subsidies that helped make buying insurance on the exchanges affordable.

And they have just weeks to make it happen, before the new premiums go into effect on January 1.

The House is back in session after Speaker Mike Johnson kept Republicans in their home districts for almost two months during the federal government shutdown. Now, Republicans and the Trump White House are starting to decide what, if anything, they will do to keep premiums — already published — from doubling or even tripling in certain cases.

“President Donald Trump’s Domestic Policy Council and senior health officials have been meeting privately for preliminary conversations on how to address the expiration of health insurance tax credits, according to a White House official and another person familiar with the talks,” Politico reported on Thursday. “Conversations about a White House alternative to Affordable Care Act subsidies, which will expire at year’s end, are in the ‘early ideation phase,’ said a third person familiar with the talks.”

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Capitol Hill is in a similar state.

Noting that “the clock is ticking,” NBC News reported that “Republicans, under pressure from Democrats after the government shutdown revived the health care clash, have not coalesced around legislation or even an abstract idea, and are only now starting serious discussions about putting proposals together.”

“As the party scrambles to craft an alternative, multiple Republicans are vying for Trump’s endorsement of ideas that could alleviate skyrocketing costs that are just around the corner,” NBC added.

Democrats want a three-year extension of Obamacare subsidies and tax credits, Speaker Johnson has said that is a nonstarter.

Some Republicans are starting to speak out.

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U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), a former Democrat, “warned, ‘not only is it morally bankrupt, it’s political suicide’ for Republicans to let the subsidies expire without an alternative in place.”

U.S. Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) prefers a vehicle like health care saving accounts that he claimed will lower costs by driving up competition. President Trump appeared to favor that approach, when he attacked health insurance companies in a social media post earlier this week.

Some are warning that bypassing the Obamacare exchanges could damage or destroy them.

“A tweet is not a health care plan,” Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF, told NBC. “If people could use these Trump health care dollars to buy insurance not regulated by the ACA, it would likely cause the ACA to collapse and upend protections for pre-existing conditions.”

Meanwhile, critics are blasting Republicans on Capitol Hill as well as the Trump administration for waiting so long before starting to try to create a plan.

Responding to the NBC News report, journalist Justin Baragona observed, “we’re still on ‘concepts of a plan’ here.”

“They’ve had 10+ years to work on this and have nothing,” wrote Laura Belin, a reporter for a progressive website. “Time to stop taking their supposed health care policy work seriously.”

“The White House is in ‘early ideation’ phase on ACA subsidies,” wrote The Bulwark’s Jonathan Cohn. “An issue already hitting millions of insurance buyers And that Democrats (not to mention analysts, journalists etc) have been saying needs attention for more than a year.”

Michigan Democratic State Senate Majority Whip Mallory McMorrow, a candidate for the U.S. Senate, wrote: “After Republicans refused to extend ACA subsidies, 4 Michigan insurers are dropping out of the ACA marketplace altogether. That’s 200,000 Michiganders who just lost their plans. Others are just going to cancel their plans. Which means more uncompensated care. Which means *everyone’s* healthcare costs will be higher.”

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Congressman Conway? Top Trump Critic Reportedly Eyeing House Bid

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6 hours ago

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November 13, 2025

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George Conway, the prominent attorney, Trump critic, and ex-husband of former Trump White House senior counselor Kellyanne Conway, may be considering a run for Congress.

According to a report at CNN and a post by New York Times congressional correspondent Annie Karni, Conway is eyeing a run for retiring Democratic U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler’s New York district.

CNN reported that Conway, 62, is “actively considering running for Congress from New York City, a source familiar with the matter tells CNN.”

Karni reported, “the Conway pitch being — what the House will need next year is an aggressive lawyer with an investigative background just going after Trump.”

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Conway is a former Republican who became an independent in 2018. He has a law degree from Yale, and successfully argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, obtaining a unanimous ruling. He is a co-founder of The Lincoln Project and currently co-hosts a podcast at The Bulwark.

Should Democrats retake the majority in the House of Representatives, it’s likely there will be numerous investigations into President Donald Trump and his administration — not to mention possible efforts to impeach the unpopular and controversial Commander in Chief.

Conway would have good company in a primary.

“Jack Schlossberg, former President John F. Kennedy’s grandson, entered the race this week,” CNN noted.

The Daily Beast adds that “much of the buzz around Conway stems from his personal life. While he and his 58-year-old ex-wife, Kellyanne, tried to make their marriage work amid his dramatic political realignment, the couple frequently made headlines. As Kellyanne served as senior counselor to Trump from 2017 to 2020, her husband routinely sounded off on her boss and advisers—including Stephen Miller, whom Kellyanne referred to as one of her ‘best friends’ in the current administration earlier this month.”

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Image by Presia Debauch via Flickr and a CC license

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