A study from a Swedish University?

Yawn .......... i could probably give you a study from the John Birch Society that will tell you the exact opposite.  

i could probably give you a study from the John Birch Society that will tell you the exact opposite. 

Please provide a link...

The overview of the Swedish study at the center of the article  looks pretty comprehensive to my untrained eyes.

Excerpted from the article.

V-Dem’s “illiberalism index” gauges the extent of commitment to democratic norms a party exhibits before an election. The institute calls it “the first comparative measure of the ‘litmus test’ for the loyalty to democracy”.

I know that two thirds of the Country had already suspected these study results but knowing that a third, (and shrinking), part of the Country will just ignore its results had me humming the old song, " She Blinded Me With Science", for some reason (smile)

It's nice to see you seeding, Sir. Great find!

How about a study that encumbers the Democrat parties tacit acceptance of the BLM/antifa  violence, rioting and looting?   How about their tendency towards a centralized, authoritarian government control

What totalitarian country/government do you think we can compare that to?   I have a couple in mind ......

I'd be more interested in a study of the cause and effect relationship of lead contaminated water in michigan and the rise of neo-nazi themed, teabag rambo militias in the affected areas.

I can help you out with that.  

A poorly run Flint, governed by Democrats for decades, was so far in debt that to save a couple bucks they switched their water to a cheaper source.   Then they failed to to treat the new water source properly so lead from the old infrastructure did not leach out in high concentrations unlike from the previous "treated" water source.

Then you blame someone else for your own failed management decisions.

Classic Democrat move ......

Militias in Michigan ...... yawn ..... worry more about those antifa pussies .... those little pricks are an absolute waste of carbon.

I can help you out with that.   A poorly run Flint, governed by Democrats for decades, was so far in debt that to save a couple bucks they switched their water to a cheaper source.   Then they failed to to treat the new water source properly so lead from the old infrastructure did not leach out in high concentrations unlike from the previous "treated" water source.

Posting uninformed bullshit doesn't 'help' anyone Sparty. 

An REPUBLICAN Governor appointed a REPUBLICAN 'Emergency Manager', whose authority superseded ALL of the elected officials in Flint. That 'Emergency Manager' is the one who switched Flint's water source and when the shit hit the fan, he and his staff LIED their asses off about the effects of their decision. Those LIES exacerbated and prolonged those effects on the citizens of Flint.  

Note that unlike you, I did not attribute your false claim to your whole party. 

Like i said, classic liberal approach.   Blame someone else for your own fuck ups.  

Where were the "elected" Democrats, shouting from the rooftops that changing the water without treating it will harm the people who elected them?   I'll tell you where.   They were where they usually are, standing out in left field with their heads up their butts.   They said nothing.   But yeah, blame the government that bailed the city out and saved their incompetent asses from having to file bankruptcy.

I agree with you on one thing though.   The state should have let Flint fail and forced the filing.    All the emergency manager did was give Democrats someone else to blame other than themselves.   Where the blame really belongs.

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removed for context

Well gee Sparty, judging from you comments, you are more than willing to blame everyone BUT the GOP 'Emergency Manager' and the GOP Governor who BTFW are the ones that made the decisions. 

Where were the "elected" Democrats, shouting from the rooftops that changing the water without treating it will harm the people who elected them?  

What part of the Emergency Manager's authority didn't you fucking understand Sparty? The Emergency Manager eliminated the salary for the mayor and city council, laid off many city officials and shut down the ombudsman and civil service commission. 

The elected officials of Flint had NOTHING to do with switching the water source to the river NOR was ANY information shared with them about the possible effects of the switch. The Emergency Manager was in control of the switch AND the water treatment plant. The state was informed to the issue BEFORE the switch yet that STATE Department of Environmental Quality failed to ensure that the water treatment plant was ready and able to add the anti corrosive BEFORE they mandated the switch over.

There is documentation for all of those facts, go look it up and get educated before you post any  more unfounded bullshit. 

Well gee Sparty, judging from you comments, you are more than willing to blame everyone BUT the GOP 'Emergency Manager' and the GOP Governor who BTFW are the ones that made the decisions. 

Well golly Dulay i never said that did i so stop trying to put words in my mouth thank you very much.  Snyder was great in his first term but sucked balls in his second.   You won't hear me defending his second term.

You are on the other hand have never held the any Democrats, who were directly elected by the people of Flint, accountable have you?

[deleted]

the cause seems to be debatable to the willfully ignorant and unaccountable, but the effect is still permanent brain damage common among the teabag rambo militia members in the afflicted areas.

Very few Rambo types in Flint.  

More like pants on the ground, hand out, food stamp types.   Of course many of them were already brain damaged considering the dipsticks they kept electing who failed them so miserably for decades.

You are on the other hand have never held the any Democrats, who were directly elected by the people of Flint, accountable have you?

Tell you what Sparty, document ONE decision in reference to the water crisis that the Democrats of Flint made and should be held accountable for. I'll wait...

Militia in Flint join calls for justice in water crisis

freep

An REPUBLICAN Governor appointed a REPUBLICAN 'Emergency Manager' ; and opening. whose authority superseded ALL of the elected officials in Flint.

You couldn't be more wrong if you tried. The Emergency Manager in Flint was a Democrat from the damn area. And the Flint Council and Mayor voted to change the water over- all were present for the Flint water plant ground breaking; and opening.  They lied at every level from the mayor and city council to the Democratic emergency manager. 

mlive

mlive

consumernotice

bridgemi

nationalreview

Before the appointment of the (Democratic) emergency manager, Flint’s elected mayor and city council (Democrats) had decided to sever the city’s relationship with its drinking-water supplier, which was at the time the Detroit water authority. Flint intended to join a regional water authority that would pipe water in from Lake Huron, a project that was scheduled to take three years to come online. In a fit of pique, Detroit (a city under unitary Democratic control) immediately moved to terminate Flint’s water supply, leaving the city high and literally dry.

Flint is a mess made by Democrats, made worse by the Democrats in Detroit, and ignored by the Democrats in the White House.

At this point, somebody — no one will quite admit to being the responsible party — decided to rely temporarily on the Flint River. The Democrats in the city government deny responsibility for this; so does Darnell Earley, the Democrat who served as emergency manager. Earley says that the decisions to terminate the Detroit deal and rely temporarily on the Flint River “were both a part of a long-term plan that was approved by Flint’s mayor, and confirmed by a City Council vote of 7–1 in March of 2013 — a full seven months before I began my term as emergency manager.”

Meanwhile, Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality — no hotbed of covert Republican activity — seems at the very least to have suppressed worrisome findings about Flint’s water supply, and may have done worse than that. The federal Environmental Protection Agency — whose Democratic chief was appointed by our Democratic president — knew for months that there were concerns about Flint’s water, and did nothing.

In sum: The Democratic government of a Democratic city destroys that city’s finances so thoroughly that it must go into state receivership; a Democratic emergency manager signs off on a consensus plan to use a temporary water source; the municipal authorities in that Democratic city responsible for treating and monitoring drinking water fail to do their job; a state agency whose employees work under the tender attention of SEIU Local 517 fails to do its job overseeing the local authorities; Barack Obama’s EPA, having been informed about the issue, keeps mum.

As a Michigan resident, the only thing Snyder only did wrong was trying to fix Flint and Detroit instead of simply prosecuting any and all corruption that was found. He should have let both go bankrupt; instead he trusted Democrats to fix things- by appointing Democratic Emergency Managers from the area. Democrats fucked up at every level; and blamed Snyder for allowing them to be that damn stupid. 

So look at the attached links- Mlive is definitely a left source. They don't even bother to deny the Democratic involvement at every level of the decision making process.

See links in post 4.1.2

You have been wrong about everything on the Flint water crisis; but keep digging.

"Like i said, classic liberal approach.   Blame someone else for your own fuck ups."

LOL.  the KING of "blame others for my incompetent mismanagement" is Trump, and as instructed to all Trumpsters in the O'Donnell Republican Playbook for the re-election of Trump.  "Blame China, Criticize Biden, Support Trump".

document ONE decision

Tell you what Dulay .... EVERY decision they did not fight that helped cause the problem.   You see, that's how leadership really works.   It's not just taking credit for the good things that happen.   It's also accepting responsibility for the bad.

But i understand how that might be confusing since Democrats have such a hard time with the latter.  

Blame China

Criticize Biden

Support Trump

Darnell Earley, the Democrat who served as emergency manager

You couldn't be more wrong if you tried.

There were 4 Emergency Managers for Flint. Michael Brown was the FIRST and he is a REPUBLICAN. Your own links state as much. 

Michael Brown is named Flint’s emergency manager on Nov. 29.

Within his first days in office, Brown eliminates pay for the mayor and city council, lays off several high-ranking city officials, and shuts down the city offices of ombudsman and civil service commission.

The Emergency Financial Assistance Loan Board appoints Ed Kurtz  to replace Brown , who was forced to step down as emergency manager because of a technicality that prevented him from holding office.  Kurtz appoints Brown city  administrator. Before leaving office, Brown  signs several resolutions , including an order to put a 6-mill tax before voters and selling Genesee Towers for $1 to a development group to be demolished.

So while YOU may want to JUMP to Darnell Earley, there were TWO Emergency Managers before that and THEY are the ones that made the decision to switch the water source to the river.

2012:   Brown and his replacement, Ed Kurtz , consider joining the   Karegnondi Water Authority , which will draw water from Lake Huron.

February-March 2013:   Officials at the highest levels of state government a the Department of Treasury and governor's office a correspond about Flint joining the KWA. DEQ director Dan Wyant writes to Treasurer Andy Dillon, warning of the potential for elevated levels of total trihalomethanes (TTHM) if the Flint River is used for drinking water. Officials press forward with the idea, even though one report advises the city to stay on Detroit water.

Detroit gets an emergency manager.

March 25, 2013:   Despite having been stripped of its power because of the state's emergency manager law, the Flint City Council   votes 7-1 to join the KWA .

Late March-April 2013:   Snyder   fails to negotiate a deal  between Detroit and Flint, one of its biggest water customers, according to Dillon.

Kurtz asks Dillon to sign off on Flint joining the KWA.

Detroit   terminates Flint's water contract , to take effect in 12 months.

June 2013:  Kurtz makes the decision to  use the Flint River  as a water source until the KWA is finished in 2016 after meeting with officials from the DEQ, LAN Engineering and the city's Public Works Department. Flint now has less than a year to get its water plant ready to treat water from the Flint River as opposed to distributing water treated by the Detroit system.

April 2014:   The DEQ and Flint's Department of Public Works gear up to start treating water from the Flint River. Corrosion control is proposed in the city's operating plan, but DEQ officials later tell the city it's not necessary.

Eight days before the switch, Flint's water treatment plant supervisor Mike Glasgow sends an email to the DEQ, warning the city is not prepared to handle the job. No one at the DEQ responds to the email and, eight days later, the switch is made. Officials toast glasses of Flint River water in celebration.

mlive

Here's what Ed Kurtz said during the investigation:

Former Flint EM: 'My job did not include ensuring safe drinking water'

In response to a congressional staffer's question whether he had a responsibility as emergency manager to prevent outcomes like lead poisoning, Kurtz answered, "No."

"From my view that was the responsibility of the (Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)," he said.

mlive

'My job did not include ensuring safe drinking water'

He totally took responsibility....not!

As the city manager he has the ultimate responsibility for the drinking water

How about a study that encumbers the Democrat parties tacit acceptance of the BLM/antifa  violence, rioting and looting? 

Maybe you can post a link from the John Birch Society study on that too. 

the Democrat parties tacit acceptance of the BLM/antifa

Please do link where any Democrat has told ANTIFA to "stand back, stand by".

Democrats condemn any violence and vandalism regardless of who commits it. They support the idea of BLM because it is obvious that historically black lives haven't mattered like they should. They as a group have not committed any acts of violence or vandalism. Democrats support the idea of being anti-fascist, they do not support the anarchists and criminal opportunists who come out of the woodwork when their is an anti-fascist protest.

While I condemn the violence and vandalism caused in the name of the antifa movement, I also recognize that the far bigger threat to America are right wing extremists who murder dozens and dozens of American citizens each year. These right wing white supremacist groups are both vile in their actions and their sick twisted ideology and the fact that the non-extremist side of the right wing refuses to condemn them in any meaningful way is telling. Instead the right acts as if the right wing extremists either don't really exist or aren't as big a threat which is simply empowering them, and they do it because they either secretly agree with their sick right wing ideology or they know they can't win elections without them.

You better hunker down ..... sounds real scary!

You can play your word games all you want.      The lefts silence, inaction and anti law enforcement stances this summer to the rioting/looting speaks for itself. 

At least to anyone who is really listening ......

The lefts silence

“The deadly violence we saw overnight in Portland is unacceptable […] as a country we must condemn the incitement of hate and resentment that led to this deadly clash. It is not a peaceful protest when you go out spoiling for a fight.” - Joe Biden

“There’s no place for violence, no place for looting or destroying property or burning churches or destroying businesses […] we need to distinguish between legitimate peaceful protest and opportunistic violent destruction” - Joe Biden

Perhaps you're only hearing silence because you are plugging your ears. The right wants to focus on the 5% of protests that turned violent instead of the 95% of them that didn't because they have a vested interest in protecting white supremacists and right wing extremists while they project their own failures on their opponents like most useless scum do.

Too little too late DP, too little too late.    Or perhaps you have forgotten such show stoppers as the Democrat supported Seattle "chop zone" and all the bullshit that followed there and elsewhere?     A 270% increase in gun violence in Portland alone so don't try to spin it any other way now.

So nah, it's too little too late DP!

Democrats are now reaping what they have sown in places like Seattle and Portland.  

Too little too late DP, too little too late

What was too little too late was Trumps response to the pandemic which has cost us tens of thousands of more American lives than should have died.

Your opinion on Democrats response to the few protests that turned violent (5% of the protests, 100% of FOX news coverage) matters less than the insane rantings of some mentally deficient Qanon conspiracy theorist. The facts show that you were WRONG about the left being silent so you had to fall back on "too little too late" instead.

What was too little too late was Trumps response to the pandemic which has cost us tens of thousands of more American lives than should have died.

Spin baby, spin.   Redirect and spin it like a whirling dervish ...... lol!

What was too little too late was Trumps response to the pandemic which has cost us tens of thousands of more American lives than should have died.

It knocks me out that Trump's team can be SO PROUD of 200,000 deaths - AND CLIMBING.

It knocks me out that China can be so dismissive of being the root cause of it.

[deleted]

Look squirrel...

Orban, the Hungarian autocrat, and Erdogan, the Turkish autocrat, are openly admired by Trump.  Trump's slavish cultists would willingly and happily follow him into an autocracy in the U.S.

The results of the study are not surprising.

Opinions | All the small things you can look forward to in a Biden administration

• White House news releases without typos, weird punctuation and other glaring errors.
• Official documents that read like official documents in tone and that come out by email or hard copy, as opposed to tweets.
• The absence of childish name-calling, insults, racist remarks, gaffes characterized as “ jokes ” and singling out of individual companies simply because they failed to boost the president’s ego.
• A White House press shop that earns the presumption of trustworthiness until proven otherwise and — at worst — relies on “I don’t know” or vague evasion rather than outright lies.
• News conferences in which the president does not personally insult members of the media, exclude them for writing things he does not like or dub them “the enemy of the people.”
• Presidential interviews with respected news figures, not sycophantic media personalities.
• A normal presidential schedule in   which hours of TV time   are not built in.
• No more Stalinesque Cabinet meetings   in which officials try to top one another   in fawning over the president.
• A president who communicates directly with the leaders of the House and Senate.
• An administration that knows climate change is real and that more intense forest fires don’t result merely from insufficient sweeping of the forest floor.
• An engaged   first lady   who takes up important public causes with tangible results.
• An administration without relatives working in the White House.
• A president who does not make money from funneling attention and revenue to his holdings.
• No judicial nominee who is rated “ not qualified ” by the American Bar Association.
• An administration in which “ Infrastructure Week ” is about infrastructure.
• A president who can comfort the nation in times of tragedy.
• A president who does not use the military as props.

Our Democracy in Peril: A series on the damage Trump has caused — and the danger he would pose in a second term

• A president who has some basic grasp of American history, including racial injustice.
• A president whose advisers are   not overwhelmingly White men .
• No presidential awards for political hacks, contributors and   toxic media figures .
• A president who never utters the phrases “red state” or “blue city.”
• A White House counsel’s office that at least tries to get it right by providing advice in accord with the Constitution and statutes and polices unethical conduct.
• An administration that favors easy access to voting.
• Policy pronouncements issued only after consideration by relevant experts and departments.
• A president who does not celebrate police brutality or   excuse war crimes .
• A president who does not   embarrass us   on the world stage.
• A president who knows that there are no NATO “dues” and consumers pay for tariffs.
• A president who understands the benefits of forward deployments and alliances.
• A president who does not encourage Chinese   detention camps   or defend the human rights record of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

We could go on, but you get the idea. When you start making a list, you realize just how abnormal and infuriating President Trump’s conduct and rhetoric have been. You also remember that having a president who is a decent human being and tries to put the voters’ interests above his own is no small thing.

msn

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Your wrong again, as usual.

prove it, or can't you, asz usual ?

No, he's right, as usual

Aren’t you going to miss Trump’s sarcastic sense of humor though?  Who else would use live media during the early stages of a deadly pandemic to sarcastically suggest putting bleach in your body?  What a card!

And yet when he is accused of it to his face he claims he was being sarcastic.  Which is it?  A lie or Trump being sarcastic?  Is Trump suffering from dementia?!  I thought that was a Biden trait.

Are you aware that bleach is a disinfectant?  You are pedaling in semantics here.

cnn

I don’t think you understand semantics.  If someone says “eating tissues is good for you”, and someone later says “he told me to ingest Kleenex”, it is essentially the same thing.  Dr. Birx understands this, as evidenced by the look on her face when he said what he said. Even Trump understands it, based on him not using your argument himself.  Stop embarrassing yourself already. 

On live tv Trump said that actual scientists were looking into injecting disinfectants into the lungs.  No actual scientists ever did any such thing.  It was a Trump brain fart from the most unintelligent armchair “scientist” on earth.  Even he knows what he was saying, which is why he later claimed it was sarcasm, extremely poorly timed sarcasm.  I don’t know why you are trying to defend him against something even he acknowledges he said.

Excellent article.  As you said, many of us have noticed this sobering shift these past 12 years but the GOP completely lost it's identity and oath to the country under the leadership of McConnell and Trump.  We cannot forget that it was done with full blessing from their followers. 

Not surprised coming from the group whos tagline should be 'anti'.

Yeah but ... save the zygotes!!!  You’ll have to pry my bump stock from my cold dead hands!!!