George Rebane
[This article, sans update, was published here in the 25oct23 issue of The Union.]
Recently I attended a luncheon sponsored by a local Republican club that featured as speaker one of the party’s eight candidates for US Senate. She gave a barnburner talk outlining all the familiar iniquities of the Democrats both in Sacramento and Washington. Specifically, she reprised the Democrats’ work in
- Always raising taxes;
- Issuing more stifling regulations;
- Mismanaging the economy;
- Indoctrinating Neo-Marxism in the media, education, and entertainment;
- Watering down critical curricula in our schools – dumbing down students;
- Rewarding criminals and punishing victims;
- Promoting trans-gendering in schools, denying parental rights to raise their children;
- Maintaining wide open borders for illegal alien entry;
- Projecting foreign policy weakness, inviting bad actors to make war;
- Etc, etc.
The problem with her enthusiastic rhetoric was that her Republican audience knew all that stuff, and most could have given that speech themselves. What was sorely missing, and has been missing for years at such gatherings, is recognition of the dire straits the party is in, and what would be required for its resurgence in California.
Recounting the above list yet one more time is nothing but imitating a long-playing echo chamber which might be of interest to those conservatives who don’t pay attention to what is going on in the country and the world. The problem is that most of those folks don’t show up at such luncheons and meetings.
So, the Republican Party, irrelevant statewide and nationally chaotic, continues to ignore the fact that it can right none of the liberal and woke wrongs without first regaining its stature as a recognized can-do political force in the country. Endlessly repeating and pointing out the passing signposts to socialism has done nothing to change the direction of the country, and doing the same thing over and over again only confirms the definition of ignorance.
If Republicans are not putting their energies into planning and making progress on the party’s road to resurgence, then the rest of it will only be an ongoing stream of empty rhetoric growing weaker with the passing years.
[27oct23 update] An added thought. Given how other states are adopting our public policy insanities, California’s cancer has been aggressively metastasizing across the land. The reason is clear and hangs on ‘other people’s money’ that can best be understood in light of what Garrett Hardin (q.v.) taught us about the behavior of commons (more here and here). California has been very successful in taxing ‘the rich’, regulating the bejeezus out of everyone, and getting the feds to pony up every time we get our tit in a wringer, that it seems like a good idea for the folks in Ohio and Nebraska to copy. As our snowballing national debt attests, with everyone piling on, this commons awaits its inevitable fate.
rebanesruminations.com 
376 responses to “The Reprobate Republicans (updated 27oct23)”
So readers Gregory is unable to explain what laws were broken by Zuck. Typical for those who attatch themselves to Trump, the biggest political loser since the 1800’s. Same for Barry who is unable to present any evidence that Trump won the election by giving examples as to what State elections and how many electoral votes were “stolen” by the Dems. Kinda sad because he’s a lawyer and a good one but in this case he has no facts and he says facts don’t matter.
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Just beyond sad – “So readers Gregory is unable to explain what laws were broken by Zuck.”
He never claimed that Zuckerberg broke any laws, Paul.
It might help if you at least try to stick with reality.
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Leftenant Punchy,
I wasn’t kidding when I said you didn’t have a knack for rational conversations.
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Paul. I told you the states. PA and WI. However many electoral votes that us. Lol. You are listening to respond. You need to listen to understand.
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Its just an ongoing failure to comprehend by the oh so great ponytail of ignorance. LOL
😉
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“You are listening to respond. You need to listen to understand. ”
Leftenant Punchy listens to punch.
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Okay Barry. Now what legal process uncovered the votes that would shift the election and was that process followed?
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So Scott since Zuck followed the law then what is the problem?
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So Scott since Zuck followed the law then what is the problem?
If a Republican had done the same thing…legal or not….we would have had to listen to you whine about it for the next decade!
“He’s buying the election….he’s buying the election……!”
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Here you go, Punch:
“…the left used Zuckerberg’s gifts to exploit the pandemic to change long-established voting rules, with the clear goal of creating a structural bias to give Democrats a leg up. The money wasn’t spent evenly across the country but focused on counties where Democrats thought they would be more competitive.”
Punch, does that sound fair to you?
Continuing,
“In Wisconsin, for instance, Zuck’s money funded “vote navigators” to “assist voters, potentially at their front doors, to answer questions, assist in ballot curing” — fixing otherwise unacceptable ballots — “and witness absentee ballot signatures.” One activist there even tried to get direct access to the Milwaukee Election Commission’s voter database.
And it worked. Of 25 CTCL grants of $1 million or more to cities and counties in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia, 23 went to places Joe Biden won.
In Georgia, Doyle found, counties that received Zuck bucks were, on average, 2.3 points more Democratic in 2020 than 2016; non-funded counties barely moved.
All of this was happening in a close-fought race, with just tens of thousands of votes out of millions swinging the crucial Electoral College wins that sent Biden to the White House.
It is worth reiterating that the election wasn’t stolen. No one invented voters or changed votes. But private partisans shouldn’t be allowed to do the job of local election boards. And CTCL’s “non-partisan” designation seems like a lie because it concentrated in areas that helped Democrats most.
It reeks — but Democrats are striving to make the arrangement permanent. A law to try to stop private groups from working on elections was vetoed by Wisconsin’s Democratic governor.
They claim that states trying to stamp down on the funny business are jeopardizing democracy. But democracy should never be outsourced.”
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Now the above (the link is the same one I’d given before) leaves out what Zuckerbucks did that wasn’t too legal… he did all that with before tax dollars. CTCL is a ‘non-profit’ charity. The roughly 420 million should have cost the Zuckers well over 600mil and would have if they’d sent the money to political action committees instead.
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“So Scott since Zuck followed the law then what is the problem?”
Nice try at dodging your screw-up, Paul.
You wanted to have Gregory answer for something you knew damn well he never said.
You are getting to be a very tiresome little shit.
It’s clear that honest debate is not something you are capable of.
THAT’S the problem.
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Pretty sure Trump won’t be running but this might give the democrats pause…..
I mean talk about an incentive!
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Scott writes
“You wanted to have Gregory answer for something you knew damn well he never said.”
Gregory is quite capable of speaking for himself Scott.
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Punchy is quite capable of ignoring reality even when his nose is forcefully rubbed in it.
I’m not a Trumper, Punch. For the hundredth time,
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Gregory
You sure seem to support everything he believes in including the lie that the election was stolen.
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Talk about losing a key demographic for the dems! LOL
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/11/16/poll-donald-trump-leads-biden-florida-even-among-non-binary-voters/
😉
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Absolute bullshite, Punch
Please, a link or two.
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Gregory
A link?
This is not something that would be documented in the media. So far you have not spoken out about Trump spreading lies that the election was stolen. Not a peep from you. Lets make it simple. Do you agree with Trump that the election was stolen?
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” So far you have not spoken out about Trump spreading lies that the election was stolen. Not a peep from you..”
So, you agree you have nothing from me. Not a peep.
So, your statement to the contrary is fabricated from whole cloth… by you.
How about you retracting your charge.
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Gregory
Show me one quote where you state that Trump lied to the American public when he stated the election was stolen. Thats all you have to do. You can even restate today. Easy. Either you do or you don’t.
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Now I how how Tony Blinken feels when the boss goes off script….
I begged you for one thing …..DON’T MAKE ME FEEL SORRY FOR YOU……and you couldn’t even do that one thing for me.
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What a bullshite struggle session.
So, you’re sure any statement from Trump is false and he’d have to know it.
Sorry. I can’t play that game with you.
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Gregory
I was referring specifically to Trumps claim that the election was stolen
Once again Gregory sides with Trump. Not surprising response from our resident fake Libertarian
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Not surprising response from our resident fake Libertarian
You’re our “resident fake Libertarian”. Green even!
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Trump trump trump. Lol. I finna get you a MAGA hat Paul. 🤣
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From Sasha Stone’s substack:
“You wouldn’t know me if you met me in May of 2019, as I drove to a luncheon for Joe Biden sponsored by a big donor at one of the mansions in a wealthy pocket of Los Angeles. I’d been hand-picked as an influencer after rising in the ranks of Team Hillary on social media. I’d thrown myself into politics in 2015, panicking about climate change. “We have to win,” I thought.
By the end of 2020, just one year later, I’d have left the Democratic Party for good, been yelled at by Neera Tanden on Twitter, and lost a good many of my friends and very nearly everything else, and now, by 2023, all I can think is that the Democrats have to lose. They have to be voted out.
I’ve been trying to tell my story in a way that matters for three years. I have failed to convince or persuade anyone from my side. They still treat me like someone who has been radicalized online or is somehow mentally incapacitated. They still see Trump as an existential threat to “democracy” and the grassroots movement known as MAGA as domestic extremists, white supremacists and a threat to their way of life.
The truth is, it was never “democracy” they wanted. Too messy. Too many dissenting viewpoints and speech they didn’t like. It was totalitarianism, complete and total dominance of American culture they wanted: the internet, the corporations, the universities, and now, the government.
Trump’s win in 2016 turned our utopia into a dystopia, as we walled ourselves off in a fear bunker and listened to the media tell us about the “monsters” that roamed the perimeter. Just make the “monsters” go away.
They were every bad thing we deleted from our utopia. The “ists” and the “phobes.” We had to go along with every last thing that was demanded of us, from gender ideology – castrating, mutilating, and sterilizing children – to sending our kids off to school as oppressors or oppressed.
I pledge allegiance to the flag, wasn’t a thing inside our bunker. The flag was racist because the “monsters” were racists. Our lawn signs signal to our neighbors that in this house, we believe…Our tweets, our Instagram, our Facebook, what we ate, what we drove, how we spoke, what pronouns we used – all signal the right message to the right people. If anyone steps out of line, they are shunned, attacked, de”monized, or purged.
For me, the Summer of 2020 forced me out of the fear bunker. I packed a bag, opened the door, and decided to get to know the “monsters” I’d been conditioned to fear and dehumanize.”
That was for Punchy, but I doubt he read it.
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Gregory
Is Trump lying when he states to the American public that the election was stolen? Simple question, gove it a go.
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sp give it a go
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Posted by: Gregory | 17 November 2023 at 01:43 PM
That was for Punchy, but I doubt he read it.
Of course not…..Punchy doesn’t read links.
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To know if Trump is lying, I’d have to know what he is thinking. Does he think he is telling the truth?
I thought you knew that, Punch.
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Oh I get it Gregory. You are not lying if you think you are telling the truth. Bizarre point of view for sure. More about that later.
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Walk Like A Joe Biden
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULk8-DGC7Hs
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That’s the dictionary definition of the word, Punch. Look it up.
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Thats going to shake up the take em for granted attitude –
https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2023/11/17/black-chicagoans-rally-against-sanctuary-policies-promise-to-vote-for-gop/
😉
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Here, I don’t think you can reliably find a good dictionary.
“to say or write something that is not true in order to deceive someone”
cambridge.org
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Here’s the definition from Meriam-Webster
“to make an untrue statement with intent to deceive”
It appears Punchy has been using the sloppy definition popular among the left: a lie is a statement contrary to what they want to believe.
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Crazy cali pursuing a suit that has already been lost –
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-legal-theory-behind-california-s-climate-lawsuit-has-already-been-debunked/ar-AA1k70of?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=9f2ba3a5c16d4ed9a343ad774b84a3e2&ei=127
😉
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T
hanks for the definition of a liar Gregory. Trump was and is intentionally lying to the American public because the elections were not stolen because there is NO evidence they were. He also refused to accept the findings of his Attorney General and many more of his staff and advisors that the elections were legitimate. Here’s a quote from Bill Barr:
“In a video testimony aired on Monday (June 13) by the committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, former Attorney General William Barr described the mounting claims of voter fraud after the 2020 presidential election as “completely bogus” and said he told then-President Donald Trump that they were doing “a great disservice to the country.”
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Gregory
More factual information on the validity of the elections:
“As reported by Reuters here , state and federal judges – some appointed by Trump – dismissed more than 50 lawsuits brought by Trump or his allies alleging election fraud and other irregularities.”
https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-courts-election-idUSKBN2AF1G1/
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Here you go Punch…..Ellis refused to go with “Bonking” though.
BONKING…..bonking….BoNKinG!
https://www.mediaite.com/politics/best-christian-ever-ex-trump-lawyer-goes-scorched-earth-on-former-boss-who-screwed-a-porn-star-while-his-third-wife-was-pregnant/
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Ooops…..did I mention…..BONKING?
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So Punch, you think Trump must know he’s wrong because Barr told him so? And the WaPo did too?
Wow.
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Barr was his Attorney General who investigated the elections and found that there was no fraud. There was also investigations in every State before they certified that showed no fraud and over 50 failed lawsuits. So tell me Gregory specifically what information did Trump have to prove them all wrong?
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That’s not how it works, Punch. That would take me into mindreading territory. I can’t read his mind, and neither can you.
Do you think Zuckerberg’s near half billion dollars might have moved the needle? Hmmm?
Or perhaps the Hunter’s laptop shenanigans?
Either of those going away might have caused Trumps winning in 2020.
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I’m referring to actual voter count fraud Gregory. If we can agree that the vote count was legitimate we can go on to those conversations. Trumps alleging the votes were not legitimate was an outright lie and he knew it.
Here’s another Trump lie-saying he received 75 million votes, far fewer than the actual number. What was his source for that number? I contend he made it up and was intentionally lying when he stated it.
“Facebook’s ruling is an insult to the record-setting 75M people, plus many others, who voted for us in the 2020 Rigged Presidential Election,” he said in the statement. “They shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this censoring and silencing, and ultimately, we will win. Our Country can’t take this abuse anymore!”
It’s unclear who Trump was referring to when he said “plus many others.” And in reality, he received nearly 800,000 fewer votes than what he claims.
According to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, 74,223,369 people cast their ballots for Trump in the November general election. That’s 46.9% of the popular vote and 776,631 fewer than the 75 million Trump claims voted for him.
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-many-people-voted-for-trump-in-2020-election-2021-6
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I whatever subject I want, Punch?
That’s what I’m doing. The election was rigged, yes? Democratic Party thumbs were on the scales.
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Once again Gregory how was it rigged? Show me State by State numbers and point out the ones that were fraudulent that actually would lead to Trump winning the election.
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Once again?
Really?
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You keep trying to change the subject because there is no factual basis for claiming the actual votes were rigged. That was the specif Trump lie I have been referring to. Show me where a law was broken Gregory? If not there s no argument. Trump just didn’t get enough votes and you seem to not have an answer to that.
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