Author | Lightnews

JEM Hall aka Ruraldogs

@ruraldogs.bsky.social

650 followers 1.1K following 650 posts

Borderline GenX/Boomer. Flash frozen in the Grunge era. Retired Art & Journalism teacher. Coined the phrase "Dog Rescue Facilitation." 🎯Freedom & Democracy Now > Faction Later 2028🎯 ⛔🚫Autocracy Oligarchy Timocracy Plutocracy🚫⛔

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JEM Hall aka Ruraldogs @ruraldogs.bsky.social · Sep 11

#SelectiveMourning is very much part of an #autocrat's manipulative #PoliticalPlaybook. It strives to define and amplify which #death we're supposed to grieve for as well as any non-loyalist death we should ignore due to lack of worth.

Have a read about this #autocratic #indoctrination tactic ⏬

Overview of selective mourning as a political component of an autocracy.

Overview of selective mourning as an autocratic manipulation tactic

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JEM Hall aka Ruraldogs @ruraldogs.bsky.social · 10h

I have no problem getting new blood in there. This has nothing to do with settling for the lesser evil . We are going to have to depend on anti-trump Republicans in this upcoming election to help get this done. Right now, all I care about is removing Maga from the driver's seat.

Reposted by JEM Hall aka Ruraldogs

Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 2d

Newsom: I cannot wait for all the punditry. Historic victories all across the United States of America. Proposition 50 winning by double digits. A new governor of New Jersey, a new governor in Virginia.

I’ll end as I began: thank you for giving a damn.

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Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 12h

And of the things in the book so far this might be the most impt for change:
“The Supreme Court’s handpicked cases look … like a legislative agenda.”

Yes. The Court currently controls its own docket, which gives it extraordinary power.
Congress could dictate most of the cases the Court can hear.

As chief justice, Roberts has also helped steer the Court to take up annual slates of political issues at the behest of right-wing groups fueled by Leonard Leo and his benefactors on the outside and aligned with Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and others on the inside. (At one point, McConnell gave a speech to a chapter of Leo's Federalist Society, criticizing President Barack Obama for daring to pledge to appoint judges who have "empathy." McConnell objected to such compassion: "Well think about that for a minute.
If you are the litigant for whom the judge does not have empathy that's not so good.") Under Roberts, the Supreme Court's handpicked cases look more like a McConnell-style legislative agenda than the docket of a truly independent court. Indeed-despite Justice O'Connor's strong admonition that a "change in the law upon a ground no firmer than a change in our membership" makes the Court look like a political arm-just months after he was confirmed to the Supreme Court, Roberts took up a case to begin to change the law on abortion. It was one of his first acts as the chief: his first tell. 16

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Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 12h

“John Roberts was photographed inside the event with his arm around Laura Ingraham, a fmr Thomas clerk who later became a FOX entertainment host known for defending Trump.”

This was in 05. Before Ingraham was on Fox. But it illustrates how close Roberts is to political actors.

f
f
althoug mor
Red Mass that day, on October 2, 2005, were John and Jane Rob-erts. Also in attendance were Supreme Court Justices Scalia and Kennedy, both of whom were born into Catholicism and were followers of that faith.
Who else was there? Justice Thomas, who had attended private Catholic schools as a child and then Catholic colleges and who returned to that faith after his confirmation to the Court. Notably, billionaire Harlan Crow would later commission a seven-foot-tall bronze statue in tribute to Thomas's favorite teacher, Sister Mary Virgilius Reidy, among the many valuable gifts from his billionaire benefactors that Justice Thomas did not disclose to the public until pushed to do so. Also in attendance that day were other prominent figures from other faiths, including Justice Stephen Breyer, President George W. Bush, First Lady Laura Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and White House Chief of Staff Andy Card. John Roberts was photographed inside the event with his arm around Laura Ingraham, a former Thomas clerk and fellow Catholic who later became a FOX entertainment host known for defending Trump.

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Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 13h

“The result in Citizens United vs FEC was *orchestrated* by the Roberts Court, which ordered an out-of-season oral argument” in time to affect the 2010 midterms.

To close watchers like Ms Graves, it’s long been obvious Roberts and his co-partisans on the court are carrying out a political plan.

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JEM Hall aka Ruraldogs @ruraldogs.bsky.social · 12h

So if someone you don't like wins the primary are you going to sit the next election out, knowing what's at stake if the blue party loses?

JEM Hall aka Ruraldogs @ruraldogs.bsky.social · 1d

💯🏆🏆🏆🤣

JEM Hall aka Ruraldogs @ruraldogs.bsky.social · 1d

If we get to vote. In the past month I have heard those five words repeatedly from publicly known, respected experts. Between Scotus 's pending blow to voting rights coupled with the Trump administration's planned interference in the midterms & beyond, I am genuinely worried.

JEM Hall aka Ruraldogs @ruraldogs.bsky.social · 1d

Retired, junior high art & journalism teacher here, still adhering to the who what where when why & how approach to information gathering. 🙂 I'm still mourning the loss of the tenets of ethical journalism in today's media & corporate driven AI so try to do my part here ❤️.

Reposted by JEM Hall aka Ruraldogs

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 4d

Bunkering down in military housing. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

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Grampa Jody @jodywagner.bsky.social · 2d

Have you read your positive news story of the day?
@mattcarless.bsky.social @joyces1.bsky.social @purpleduckydesigns.bsky.social @angietiradoart.bsky.social

‘Art is good for you’: how going to a gallery can boost your health

A first-of-its kind study links gallery visits with lower stress levels and better wellbeing

www.positive.news

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JEM Hall aka Ruraldogs @ruraldogs.bsky.social · 1d

Here's a great companion piece followed by thoughtful comments

youtu.be/2XZ9z6OewR0?...

The case for making art when the world is on fire | Amie McNee | TEDxManchester

YouTube video by TEDx Talks

youtu.be

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Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 2d

Obama: When I think back to a year ago, I remember talking to some people, who would say, this election doesn't matter all that much. That however the next president ended up being, it wasn't going to matter to them. If nothing else, the last nine months should have cured us of that idea.

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JEM Hall aka Ruraldogs @ruraldogs.bsky.social · 2d

3rd party NOW will split the vote and keep MAGA in place. They'd love that. If we are even allowed to vote in 2028, we get one shot to fix this. We have to unite for freedom first or accept autocracy forever. Dissatisfied factions won't matter with the latter.

JEM Hall aka Ruraldogs @ruraldogs.bsky.social · 2d

I hope people realize we may not see another election by 2028. Whoever the Democratic candidate is we have to unite, even if our personal ideals are not satisfied this round. Freedom before faction in 2028. Get all safeguards in place against autocracy & move on.

Freedom before faction 2028.

JEM Hall aka Ruraldogs @ruraldogs.bsky.social · 2d

Save that until AFTER Trump's gone and encourage others to do the same. What we need is a Democrat that has the fortitude to hold Nuremberg trials & get safeguards in place to prevent this from EVER happening again. Unite for freedom before faction for 2028, if we are allowed to ever vote again.

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Xiqwa Nadrasu Shadowalker @illuminatingworld.bsky.social · 2d

We have yet to enter “dark times.” We are only at its beginning… the reaching dark of dusk, when the wind is coldest.

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JEM Hall aka Ruraldogs @ruraldogs.bsky.social · 2d

Genuinely great, original quote. Thank you.

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JEM Hall aka Ruraldogs @ruraldogs.bsky.social · 2d

And that's the problem.

JEM Hall aka Ruraldogs @ruraldogs.bsky.social · 2d

speaking in NY. Since Trump revoked visas the no vote ensured a pre-recorded video address would be shown at the meeting. Trump's been stewing over it since the September vote. It's personal revenge masked as religious righteousness.

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JEM Hall aka Ruraldogs @ruraldogs.bsky.social · 2d

abuse of SNAP dependent Christians.

More than likely the "Prince of Peace" is ruling by a bruised ego rather than religious crusading because Nigeria (& 144 other member states) undermined his authority by voting against his UN General Assembly resolution banning Palestine's delegation from

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JEM Hall aka Ruraldogs @ruraldogs.bsky.social · 2d

Interesting that he is obsessed with "religious intolerance" in an area 6.6k+ miles from here, especially when we are supposed to be a secular nation and, under him, the US is rapidly & severely declining in myriad areas of domestic humanitarian concerns, including his recent, illegal

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JEM Hall aka Ruraldogs @ruraldogs.bsky.social · 2d

We are now at 64 unidentified individuals assassinated outside the US by the Trump administration with no proof that they are terrorists. So far only contradictions, stonewalling and lies offered up to US Senate committees official inquiries. Bodies not accounted for or returned.

NPR @npr.org · 2d

The U.S. military has carried out another lethal strike on alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean Sea. n.pr/47lM2Sa

US carries out new strike in Caribbean, killing 3 alleged drug smugglers

The U.S. military has carried out another lethal strike on alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean Sea.

n.pr

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Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 2d

Obama: The weird videos of a U.S. President with a crown on his head flying a fighter jet and dumping poop on protesting citizens… All of that is designed to distract you from the fact that your situation has not gotten better.

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Rachel Maddow @maddow.msnbc.com · 2d

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

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