All these Republicans who don't give a shit about the Ukrainians being murdered everyday by Putin's bombs and drone attacks find their voice over a Ukrainian murdered by an mentally ill guy in North Carolina. Why? Not because they suddenly care about Ukraine, but because they have found a tragic death they can weaponize against a Democrat who will flip a MAGA seat in the Senate. What disgusting animals these Republicans are. In a just world with a healthy political environment they would be shoved to the fringe even by other Republicans...
It’s a huge stretch on multiple levels to lay her death at the feet of Democrats. But then, they have Brian Kilmeade speaking for them,{“Kilmeade said that mentally ill homeless individuals who refuse help should receive "involuntary lethal injection... or something. Just kill 'em". This was said in response to a co-host's suggestion that such individuals should be jailed.”}* saying their quiet part out loud!! 🤮🤮
Kilmeade should be fired immediately for advocating the killing of human beings. There is no apology strong enough to mitigate the call for the murder of homeless human beings. Where is the outrage from all those God-fearing Christians? Hypocrites.
Worse than hypocrites, this is all part of their plan. One inch at a time. I can’t believe now that earlier in my life I couldn’t comprehend how the world let Hitler murder so many millions of humans. It’s all too abundantly clear now.
Yeah no, never gonna happen. You assume everybody should play by the same set of rules. As Ron Ziegler said under slightly different circumstances, That notion is "inoperative." #rulesofthegame
A huge stretch is a free throw for Republicans, especially for Trump, when the corporate media fails to challenge them on their bullshit instead choosing to adopt their narrative.
Yep. Anyone else remember Willie Horton? 1988. The Republicans went wild about this convict who committed violent crimes on furlough. It sank the presidential candidacy of Mike Dukakis, and instead we got Bush I -- who before getting defeated for a 2nd term appointed Clarence Thomas to SCOTUS. If you were around at the time, you were probably as outraged as I was to see *Clarence Thomas* appointed to the seat vacated by the great Thurgood Marshall. We remember the trashing of Anita Hill, who had the courage to come forward. White male liberals seemed incapable of challenging the credentials of any Black person nominated to what by then was widely considered "the Black seat on the Supreme Court."
The longer you live, the more mistakes you see repeated over and over again.
Never forget indeed -- I've been a reasonably sentient adult from Nixon to Ford to Reagan to Bush I to Bush II to Trump, and the only way I'll forget is if my brain gets wiped by dementia or a catastrophic accident.
Also remember this... Nixon was pardoned, we got Reagan. Reagan and HW Bush were allowed to skate on Iran Contra, we got W. W was allowed to skate on 9/11, war crimes and a devastated economy, we got Trump. Trump was allowed to skate on J6, stolen classified documents and more, and we got him back. Until a crooked Republican president is held accountable for his crimes in office, it will never change.
Right! As an editor & writer, I note especially your use of the passive voice: "was pardoned," "were allowed," "was allowed," "was allowed," "is held." We can identify the individuals and administrations responsible for each of these things. We can identify those responsible for stacking the Supreme Court with anti-democratic "justices." (Citizens United was decided in 2010 and IMO did a lot to make Trump possible.) But as to holding them accountable and -- more important -- preventing a recurrence? That'll take a level of honest self-examination that I'm not sure "we the people" are capable of, at least not till we deal with economic power. Contrary to the popular slogan, "kings" aren't our #1 problem or the challenge we have to confront in order to support democracy.
I agree. The real problem is the cabal of greedy right wing billionaires that control everything right now. If only we could muster the courage that Mamdani is showing in NYC and force thru a wealth tax. Frankly I'm in favor of a 100% tax on every dollar of wealth over $1B. No one can convince me it would hurt Bezos, Zuckerberg, Ellison, Musk or any of the others one bit.
Thank you, as always, for a stunning bit of fact checking. Cooper is the best candidate for any office North Carolina has had in many years. He is sane and balanced.
But if Cooper attempts to calmly rebut the GOP "Tough On Crime" pseudo-facts, they will have invented another dozen before he's finished with the first set.
Better to match their tenor and go...Epstein. Here we have a former RNC head who is pals with all the other GOP pols voting again and again to cover up the Epstein files [insert links of money raised by RNC for these GOP pols]. Yet another GOP drone who brings up the tragic murder of a Ukrainian girl to try and distract from his role in raising money for [insert names of GOP politicians], who are actively covering up the crimes of the most prolific serial pedophile in the history of the United States. Who else was involved with Epstein? Who was paid off with the $1.5 BILLION that moved through Epstein's accounts during his last year alive? Why doesn't the GOP want you to know?
Agree! The lies cannot go unchallenged/uncorrected but the fire hose of lies can overwhelm the truth. The Epstein issue has legs and the Ds have to press it with all they’ve got. But it can’t be the only thing. Highlighting how the GOP Big Ugly Bill hurts NC of greater I mportance. A lot of working people could give a 💩 about Epstein.
Because it's true. The job description of an RNC chair; is literally to raise money for the same GOP politicians who've voted repeatedly over the past two months to stop every proposal to release the Epstein files.
It is so obvious that we are, sadly, living in a post-truth era. The GOP seems intent on promoting lies. The election will show (hopefully there will actually be an election) how many ignorant and uninformed people fall for the lies. Thanks, Judd, for bringing the truth before us.
They work because they have been grooming vulnerable people for decades all the while making more and more vulnerable people with their greedy bastard’s policies. Who’s responsible for Fox News playing 24/7 on military bases for decades? Couldn’t the pro-democracy administrations have stopped that???
I’m fighting for everyone. People I love dearly are all those things and you might as well add women to your list even though there are many white women who are willing participants in the Cabal of Criminals
Correct! And what a sad commentary on our country is that. To extend the thought, it seems that a certain segment of the population really prefers hatred and anger over peace and prosperity.
This is an excellent example for a Candidate (Cooper) to do a press conference, lay out the facts similar to what you present, and ask voters "is Whatley the person they want representing them? Is making false statements preferable than promoting his record? Pretty sad if he has nothing to offer NC but BS in service of Trump."
Another problem we have is that, if Cooper did that, there would either be no coverage of the press conference or it would appear on Page 13. Sane, responsible responses don't generate clicks.
Unfortunately, that is often true. Still, Cooper could make this dichotomy part of his campaign efforts at the state and local level. NC voters are his focus today, not the national news.
Zarutska's death is indeed horrible, but to have Republicans try to leverage her murder for political capital is downright gross. It's sadly par for the course for the GOP, though, who are continually aiming to paint Democrats as soft on crime with the most sensational material possible.
Not to worry, Leon Musk is going to invest $1M to paint murals of the murdered woman all over the city. She will not be forgotten. Unlike the children who die in her home country every night by Putin's bombs. They are statistics, numbers, a straight line on a chart somewhere. They were someone's babies and they were blown to bits by Putin. Howze about a mural for them, Leon?
Off topic. Could you do a good deep dive (as Popular Info does) into Kirk's finances? While I'm beginning to see people commenting that his "grassroots" effort was actually bigly funded by R deep pockets, I think we need much more spotlight on this...
Even the "living the American dream" line is a crock of you-know-what being spouted by the Rs, unless you think living in fear of summary deportation is part of the dream. Trump and Stephen Miller have Ukranianian refugees from the war in their sights. And you know 99.9% of R elected officials will stand at attention and say "Yes sir- great idea!"
The topic raised by politicians really should be how we as a society have abandoned the care of the mentally ill. Mr. Brown appears to have called 911 because he was in a health crisis but was unable to get the support he needed. There is no one person to blame for this failing. As health care costs have risen, people with mental health issues are often left on the street to fend for themselves. Their troubling behavior often alienates them from family and friends, leaving them homeless and on rare occasions violent. We all should demand more from our elected officials.
Going back to Goldwater's campaign in 1964, Republicans have shamelessly smeared Democrats with being "soft on crime." Never fails; the lying is genetic at this point.
“Brown, who has a history of mental illness, "told officers that he believed someone gave him man-made material that controlled when he ate, walked and talked." When the officers told Brown they were not able to help him, he became upset and called 911.”
These are symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia. Most people with this mental illness given support and structure can stay on meds that can resolve these type of symptoms and help them to live functional and satisfying lives.
Guess who removed such support and structure from them!
Not hard to guess!! A Republican! I would not be surprised to find out that was part of the fascist plan to take over our democracy even way back then, given how the right wants to keep them off their meds and make sure they can access very lethal weapons!
“Reagan's budget cuts, combined with the earlier shift toward deinstitutionalization, left a critical vacuum in mental healthcare.
Homelessness and incarceration: Lacking community support and stable housing, many people with severe mental illness became homeless. Jails and prisons became de facto psychiatric facilities, a "re-institutionalization" in a new setting, because they were often the only places left to contain and manage the untreated mentally ill.
Increased criminal justice involvement: The criminal justice system was quickly overwhelmed by mentally ill individuals committing minor offenses, beginning a cycle of incarceration, stabilization, and release back to the streets.
Fragmented care: The shift to state-level funding created a patchwork system where quality of care became highly dependent on state and local priorities, with some areas offering services while others offered almost none.
A broken system: By the 1980s, the ideal of humane, community-based care had largely failed to materialize, leading to the current crisis of insufficient access to mental health services.” From Google’s AI
Thank you for the work that went into debunking the lies told by the political opponents. We need to create a Bold Faced Lie counter for every person running for office in any party. There must be some penalty for lying to voters for personal gain. At least a score people can check to see if they should trust a candidate's statements while campaigning.
I have no idea as to where the funding would originate, but it should be a non-partisan and non-profit organization.
Um, no. Even if Judd Legum holds that opinion, he could never print "it would hopefully derail the remainder of Trump's term" in anything not clearly labeled an opinion piece.
Pam Bondi puts child traffickers before innocent victims. This woman fled Ukraine, where children are kidnapped by Russia after their families are killed. Pam Bondi neglected the Epstein child victims as Florida's Attorney General, and now covers up for Trump and the pedo administration as the US Atorney General. See a pattern? Shame on every Republican today.
Don't worry about Roy Cooper. He has made a career of taking punches from NC Republicans. NC voters know Roy will fight for them, no matter what side of the aisle they are on or what the opposition says. He has proven his committment to the people of NC over and over again and they will stand with him.
All these Republicans who don't give a shit about the Ukrainians being murdered everyday by Putin's bombs and drone attacks find their voice over a Ukrainian murdered by an mentally ill guy in North Carolina. Why? Not because they suddenly care about Ukraine, but because they have found a tragic death they can weaponize against a Democrat who will flip a MAGA seat in the Senate. What disgusting animals these Republicans are. In a just world with a healthy political environment they would be shoved to the fringe even by other Republicans...
White woman murdered by a Black man.
Yep. Red meat for the red base -- and Trump in particular.
It’s a huge stretch on multiple levels to lay her death at the feet of Democrats. But then, they have Brian Kilmeade speaking for them,{“Kilmeade said that mentally ill homeless individuals who refuse help should receive "involuntary lethal injection... or something. Just kill 'em". This was said in response to a co-host's suggestion that such individuals should be jailed.”}* saying their quiet part out loud!! 🤮🤮
Kilmeade should be fired immediately for advocating the killing of human beings. There is no apology strong enough to mitigate the call for the murder of homeless human beings. Where is the outrage from all those God-fearing Christians? Hypocrites.
Worse than hypocrites, this is all part of their plan. One inch at a time. I can’t believe now that earlier in my life I couldn’t comprehend how the world let Hitler murder so many millions of humans. It’s all too abundantly clear now.
Yeah no, never gonna happen. You assume everybody should play by the same set of rules. As Ron Ziegler said under slightly different circumstances, That notion is "inoperative." #rulesofthegame
A huge stretch is a free throw for Republicans, especially for Trump, when the corporate media fails to challenge them on their bullshit instead choosing to adopt their narrative.
Very well put! I'm gonna remember that one.
Yep. Anyone else remember Willie Horton? 1988. The Republicans went wild about this convict who committed violent crimes on furlough. It sank the presidential candidacy of Mike Dukakis, and instead we got Bush I -- who before getting defeated for a 2nd term appointed Clarence Thomas to SCOTUS. If you were around at the time, you were probably as outraged as I was to see *Clarence Thomas* appointed to the seat vacated by the great Thurgood Marshall. We remember the trashing of Anita Hill, who had the courage to come forward. White male liberals seemed incapable of challenging the credentials of any Black person nominated to what by then was widely considered "the Black seat on the Supreme Court."
The longer you live, the more mistakes you see repeated over and over again.
Never ever forget, the Bush family gave us Thomas, Alito and Roberts. And we are paying the price decades later, and for decades into the future.
Never forget indeed -- I've been a reasonably sentient adult from Nixon to Ford to Reagan to Bush I to Bush II to Trump, and the only way I'll forget is if my brain gets wiped by dementia or a catastrophic accident.
Also remember this... Nixon was pardoned, we got Reagan. Reagan and HW Bush were allowed to skate on Iran Contra, we got W. W was allowed to skate on 9/11, war crimes and a devastated economy, we got Trump. Trump was allowed to skate on J6, stolen classified documents and more, and we got him back. Until a crooked Republican president is held accountable for his crimes in office, it will never change.
Right! As an editor & writer, I note especially your use of the passive voice: "was pardoned," "were allowed," "was allowed," "was allowed," "is held." We can identify the individuals and administrations responsible for each of these things. We can identify those responsible for stacking the Supreme Court with anti-democratic "justices." (Citizens United was decided in 2010 and IMO did a lot to make Trump possible.) But as to holding them accountable and -- more important -- preventing a recurrence? That'll take a level of honest self-examination that I'm not sure "we the people" are capable of, at least not till we deal with economic power. Contrary to the popular slogan, "kings" aren't our #1 problem or the challenge we have to confront in order to support democracy.
I agree. The real problem is the cabal of greedy right wing billionaires that control everything right now. If only we could muster the courage that Mamdani is showing in NYC and force thru a wealth tax. Frankly I'm in favor of a 100% tax on every dollar of wealth over $1B. No one can convince me it would hurt Bezos, Zuckerberg, Ellison, Musk or any of the others one bit.
No gun was involved so it's okay to make a big deal out of it per MAGA standards.
What terrible examples of the human race they are.
It's almost incomprehensible. Makes me Sick.
Thank you, as always, for a stunning bit of fact checking. Cooper is the best candidate for any office North Carolina has had in many years. He is sane and balanced.
But if Cooper attempts to calmly rebut the GOP "Tough On Crime" pseudo-facts, they will have invented another dozen before he's finished with the first set.
Better to match their tenor and go...Epstein. Here we have a former RNC head who is pals with all the other GOP pols voting again and again to cover up the Epstein files [insert links of money raised by RNC for these GOP pols]. Yet another GOP drone who brings up the tragic murder of a Ukrainian girl to try and distract from his role in raising money for [insert names of GOP politicians], who are actively covering up the crimes of the most prolific serial pedophile in the history of the United States. Who else was involved with Epstein? Who was paid off with the $1.5 BILLION that moved through Epstein's accounts during his last year alive? Why doesn't the GOP want you to know?
The point is; they go low...we go Epstein.
That can work, too. The two aren’t mutually exclusive.
Agree! The lies cannot go unchallenged/uncorrected but the fire hose of lies can overwhelm the truth. The Epstein issue has legs and the Ds have to press it with all they’ve got. But it can’t be the only thing. Highlighting how the GOP Big Ugly Bill hurts NC of greater I mportance. A lot of working people could give a 💩 about Epstein.
Because it's true. The job description of an RNC chair; is literally to raise money for the same GOP politicians who've voted repeatedly over the past two months to stop every proposal to release the Epstein files.
It is so obvious that we are, sadly, living in a post-truth era. The GOP seems intent on promoting lies. The election will show (hopefully there will actually be an election) how many ignorant and uninformed people fall for the lies. Thanks, Judd, for bringing the truth before us.
They promote lies because they work. (And they have no positive substance to run on).
They work because they have been grooming vulnerable people for decades all the while making more and more vulnerable people with their greedy bastard’s policies. Who’s responsible for Fox News playing 24/7 on military bases for decades? Couldn’t the pro-democracy administrations have stopped that???
You may be in terrible shape, but at least you're not Black, Brown or Trans.
🇺🇸
I’m fighting for everyone. People I love dearly are all those things and you might as well add women to your list even though there are many white women who are willing participants in the Cabal of Criminals
Correct! And what a sad commentary on our country is that. To extend the thought, it seems that a certain segment of the population really prefers hatred and anger over peace and prosperity.
This is an excellent example for a Candidate (Cooper) to do a press conference, lay out the facts similar to what you present, and ask voters "is Whatley the person they want representing them? Is making false statements preferable than promoting his record? Pretty sad if he has nothing to offer NC but BS in service of Trump."
The tough part is unless something inflammatory is said no one will hear it, especially not the Fox not News/Breitbart crowd!!!
Another problem we have is that, if Cooper did that, there would either be no coverage of the press conference or it would appear on Page 13. Sane, responsible responses don't generate clicks.
Unfortunately, that is often true. Still, Cooper could make this dichotomy part of his campaign efforts at the state and local level. NC voters are his focus today, not the national news.
Zarutska's death is indeed horrible, but to have Republicans try to leverage her murder for political capital is downright gross. It's sadly par for the course for the GOP, though, who are continually aiming to paint Democrats as soft on crime with the most sensational material possible.
Not to worry, Leon Musk is going to invest $1M to paint murals of the murdered woman all over the city. She will not be forgotten. Unlike the children who die in her home country every night by Putin's bombs. They are statistics, numbers, a straight line on a chart somewhere. They were someone's babies and they were blown to bits by Putin. Howze about a mural for them, Leon?
Exploiting a tragedy for political purposes makes the victim's family live it over and over again. But who cares about them, right?
Off topic. Could you do a good deep dive (as Popular Info does) into Kirk's finances? While I'm beginning to see people commenting that his "grassroots" effort was actually bigly funded by R deep pockets, I think we need much more spotlight on this...
Even the "living the American dream" line is a crock of you-know-what being spouted by the Rs, unless you think living in fear of summary deportation is part of the dream. Trump and Stephen Miller have Ukranianian refugees from the war in their sights. And you know 99.9% of R elected officials will stand at attention and say "Yes sir- great idea!"
The topic raised by politicians really should be how we as a society have abandoned the care of the mentally ill. Mr. Brown appears to have called 911 because he was in a health crisis but was unable to get the support he needed. There is no one person to blame for this failing. As health care costs have risen, people with mental health issues are often left on the street to fend for themselves. Their troubling behavior often alienates them from family and friends, leaving them homeless and on rare occasions violent. We all should demand more from our elected officials.
Going back to Goldwater's campaign in 1964, Republicans have shamelessly smeared Democrats with being "soft on crime." Never fails; the lying is genetic at this point.
Now only is it genetic, lying is now policy.
“Brown, who has a history of mental illness, "told officers that he believed someone gave him man-made material that controlled when he ate, walked and talked." When the officers told Brown they were not able to help him, he became upset and called 911.”
These are symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia. Most people with this mental illness given support and structure can stay on meds that can resolve these type of symptoms and help them to live functional and satisfying lives.
Guess who removed such support and structure from them!
Not hard to guess!! A Republican! I would not be surprised to find out that was part of the fascist plan to take over our democracy even way back then, given how the right wants to keep them off their meds and make sure they can access very lethal weapons!
“Reagan's budget cuts, combined with the earlier shift toward deinstitutionalization, left a critical vacuum in mental healthcare.
Homelessness and incarceration: Lacking community support and stable housing, many people with severe mental illness became homeless. Jails and prisons became de facto psychiatric facilities, a "re-institutionalization" in a new setting, because they were often the only places left to contain and manage the untreated mentally ill.
Increased criminal justice involvement: The criminal justice system was quickly overwhelmed by mentally ill individuals committing minor offenses, beginning a cycle of incarceration, stabilization, and release back to the streets.
Fragmented care: The shift to state-level funding created a patchwork system where quality of care became highly dependent on state and local priorities, with some areas offering services while others offered almost none.
A broken system: By the 1980s, the ideal of humane, community-based care had largely failed to materialize, leading to the current crisis of insufficient access to mental health services.” From Google’s AI
Thank you for the work that went into debunking the lies told by the political opponents. We need to create a Bold Faced Lie counter for every person running for office in any party. There must be some penalty for lying to voters for personal gain. At least a score people can check to see if they should trust a candidate's statements while campaigning.
I have no idea as to where the funding would originate, but it should be a non-partisan and non-profit organization.
I respectfully suggest an edit:
If Democrats retake the chamber, it would hopefully derail the remainder of Trump's term.
Um, no. Even if Judd Legum holds that opinion, he could never print "it would hopefully derail the remainder of Trump's term" in anything not clearly labeled an opinion piece.
Pam Bondi puts child traffickers before innocent victims. This woman fled Ukraine, where children are kidnapped by Russia after their families are killed. Pam Bondi neglected the Epstein child victims as Florida's Attorney General, and now covers up for Trump and the pedo administration as the US Atorney General. See a pattern? Shame on every Republican today.
Don't worry about Roy Cooper. He has made a career of taking punches from NC Republicans. NC voters know Roy will fight for them, no matter what side of the aisle they are on or what the opposition says. He has proven his committment to the people of NC over and over again and they will stand with him.
Have we forgotten the republicans’ hatred of immigrants? Could this have contributed to a mentally ill person murdering an immigrant?
Looks like the GOP dug up the Willie Horton smear again!